Guild Wars 2

There’s a lot of raging argument about both the Trinity (And GW2’s lack of) and Ascended gear (And the grind for it). I thought I’d like to post my thoughts on both topics, and how they are related.

The crux of the argument when people who are for grindy ascended gear is that “It’s not needed.” That all the game’s content (Except high-level fractals) can be done without ascended/exotics. Heck, they can even done naked, as demonstrated by a group recently.

Hence you don’t need ascended gear to function well, which is why grind for them is okay.

While whether you agree with this statement is your personal opinion, one of the major reason why people think this is because GW2’s non-Trinity combat mechanics do allow for this. Raw numbers are nice to have, but it’s not as important as positioning, dodging, and teamwork, as demonstrated by the AC naked run.

Now running dungeons naked is impossible in a Trinity game. The tank will die instantly. The boss will run over everyone and everything. Game over. For Trinity games, gear with proper stats is actually REQUIRED.

And I think that’s one of the real beauties of this game. Due to the lack of the Trinity, no content is really gated from you because of gear (Except fractals. But that is gated difficulty, not gated content.) (And Guild Missions, but that’s not gated by gear, it’s gated by the time required)

I guess this is why I really don’t mind ascended gear and the grind associated with them. I don’t need it to do content that I already love, and it’s a nice long-term goal to work towards. And I think it’s good to have long-term goals to work towards, goals which aren’t completely necessary.

While of course some people may disagree with me and want max stats very quickly, there are also people who do enjoy the gear treadmill and enjoy working towards higher stats. Both types of players play the game, and I think Anet struck a wonderful compromise between the two sides. A compromise that is possible due to this non-Trinity based combat mechanic.

TL;DR Non-Trinity combat mechanics allows for completion of content even without max gear, great compromise between people who like/hate gear treadmills.

+1 I think this is pretty much what I’ve been trying to say but you put it in a better way. I reqlly like the way gw2 set all this up and I also appreciate long term goals. After all, if I already had everything I wanted accomplished I dont know that I could find a reason to keep playing. I like playing the game so that would keep me for a while regardless but having a long term goal is great for me.

I agree. Yet, a lot of people feel it’s necessary to get them. A few reasons why, I believe, is because of past MMO experiences. Without that extra item, you won’t get past the boss. You won’t get to the juicy end. So you NEED those extra stats. There’s no arguing that ascended items have better stats then exotics. But the only content that requires them, and it’s not even the stats here, it’s just the infusion slot) is Fractals. So why the anger?

Conflict. A part of people want them, but they also don’t want to go get them, or they don’t like gear treadmills (even though this isn’t one, see World of Warcraft on what a real gear treadmill is) or whatever. People will complain saying they don’t want them, but on some level they do. If they didn’t care, if they really didn’t want them while being content with their exotics, they wouldn’t complain.

I’m not saying ascended items are the greatest. They did break Jewelcrafter a fair bit for example. But honestly I wish that some players would work out things for themselves then come to terms if they really want them or not. If you don’t want them, don’t get them. People who want them, like fractals, or get off on numbers will get them.

You could add an optional daily quest to jump off a bridge, the only reward being that you die and take a death penalty, no other reward at all. People will feel like they have to do it every day and complain about the cost.

Same thing goes for adding an item in the game that is a different color or category. They need to add an item type above Ascended and label it “My Precious”

Now, this isn’t denigrating people who want gear instantly. Those people play the game. But the thing is, there’s a lot of other people who DO want long-term progression of stats. The game can’t completely cater to one segment of the population, and what they do now is a great compromise.

Ursan.7846:

Now, this isn’t denigrating people who want gear instantly. Those people play the game. But the thing is, there’s a lot of other people who DO want long-term progression of stats. The game can’t completely cater to one segment of the population, and what they do now is a great compromise.

Jack of all trades. King of none.

Meh, we already knew that the numbers vs “skill” (more quick reaction time, imo) tilted heavily towards skill on the defensive side of things. Until ANet goes whole hog and implements hit zones and such offense will still be the focus of offense tho.

But with “skill” being what defines defense, all battles become a test of concentration. A test of how long can you keep focus on that mob so that you dodge or get out of the circles in time.

You don’t need ascended gear to play this game, unless they add agony to the rest of the dungeons or even open world bosses. Then and only then you will be required to have ascended gear. But for now Ascended gear in a way is optional, the stats are not much greater from its previous tier.

I was actually quite surprised at the relative ease of getting a full complement of exotic items, so the ascended stuff does not seem like a big deal at all for me, since it’s something else to work towards over time. They’re much more reasonable to acquire than legendaries, that’s for sure.

The system is actually very new player friendly too. On their way to level 80, they’ll be gaining a bunch of laurels and maybe guild commendations, so they can possibly get their ascended stuff as soon as they hit level 80. The rings from fractals aren’t too problematic either despite being a tad grindy, but that’s not any different than grinding for dungeon exotics.

However, I hope that there aren’t any more tiers made above ascended, as that will start to get annoying.

Derk.3189:

Jack of all trades. King of none.

Well yes. Is that really a bad thing though? You appeal to a broader playerbase. It’s a good thing.

The people that argue for the holy trinity can’t see how the MMORPG genre can evolve to resemble modern action games and yet still retain RPG trappings. They say that the trinity isn’t broken so it should be included in every MMORPG. They also say that Guild Wars 2’s dungeons are broken as a result of not having the trinity. Even if this were true they don’t consider that the vast majority of games ever made, yes even RPGs, don’t have the trinity system and they work just fine.

They know that the trinity is dependent on gear. They know it actually emphasizes gear over skill and even team work for that matter. Guild Wars 2 has taken a step in the right direction. There is still a lot of work to be done no doubt but you can see the potential. The trinity advocates don’t like the idea that monsters are coming after them even though they’re not the “tank”. They say dungeons in GW2 are zergfests and they keep dying over and over thinking that. They don’t realize that everyone has shared responsibilities of keeping teammates alive and monsters dead. They are simply afraid of change because it takes them out of their comfort zone.