Guild Wars 2

So there is a lot of complaining about the new ascended backpiece and rings. Lots of very emo people about a change that really is very minor in terms of the impact of the 3 gearslots on the game itself. No, it is not some kind of insane grind, not at all.

(On a separate note, it actually feels like some people are “grinding” the whine-o-meter on the forums, if you get my meaning.)

However, in game, I notice something very different to what is on the forums.

I see people making groups for FOM, all the time, day and night. Right now, there’s just line after line of people making groups in LA to do FOM at varying difficulty levels ranging from 1 to 6, and groups going to AC and CM explorable.

I see people talking about the new dungeon and enjoying it a lot, as it is probably the best dungeon in the game.

People are playing more. They are not running Orr for the 100,000th time. They are in fact, having fun, and feel like they’re progressing by going up the difficulty levels of FOM.

No one is talking much about their ascended items. The occasional person links an item and everyone says grats. It has no impact on WvW, and no one cares what you’re wearing when doing the new dungeon.

People wear their “FOM level” with a degree of pride. There is a sense of progression and ego, like being a hardcore raider, but it’s not about the gear: it’s about the skill in going up the levels and being a level 10+ FOM player.

But here’s the main thing.

Just consider if you will what things would be like without the FOM level, without this new sense of progression.

We would still be in Orr farming karma. Please tell me that wasn’t starting to get old, or would have gotten old by December.

We actually have been given something new to do. And we don’t need to do it, but we can – and it is fun to do. This strikes me as a very good thing.

The game is progressing, and continuing to develop and add new things.

I don’t want a stagnant game. I do not want for gear to matter, it should be a game of skill before all – and it still is. All they have done is add a bit of “dungeon level” progression for those who want to go a bit further in their PVE.

- Agony is pretty much a mechanic just to add to this sense of progression.

- Agony does not affect fights against other players in WvW. People with ascended gear will not two shot you in WvW.

- It doesn’t make people more powerful than you outside of that 1 dungeon.

They will not do 2x your dps, or fly like rockets into the sky leaving you behind. They have a tiny bit more stats on 3 item slots, and the ability to slot for agony resistance to do 1 dungeon at level 10+.

That is all that has happened. Let’s take a deep breath, put away the handbags and stop acting like children. No one came to your house and lied to you and slept with your sister.

All they did was add a new backpiece (btw it feels like that’s the “event upgrade slot”, I bet every new event has a new backpiece of some sort) and rings, and a way of progressing up the levels of a new and well designed, fun FOM dungeon, to which they can add fractals later to add even more variety.

Relax and enjoy.

Or don’t. It’s not like you’re paying a sub. Just go play something else till you cool off and want to play GW2 again, it’s not going anywhere.

Believe me, after playing WoW or Rift for a week, you’ll be wanting to return. Or go play Black Ops 2, now that is one seriously bug-ridden game. Anyway.

11/14 of your gear slots remain exotics.

Flame on!

ANET is gambling that these people will spend money in the cash shop. They also are gambling that people won’t eventually get bored of grinding for these gear.

The people who are quitting this game over the changes likely don’t like WoW or Rift. We don’t like Gated content nor do we like gear treadmills

That said, the fractals is actually pretty good; however, it gets old quick. I’m already board with them and I’m only level 6.

Futhermore, do you really think its a good game design to make gear tied to RNG?

And why would I want to play GW2 in the future if I know that I’m going to be left behind and blocked from doing content because I don’t have the armor to complete it?

20%+ vs exotic. It’s not minor.

The OP’s argument can be summed up thusly:

1. People are playing Fractals,

2. therefore ascended gear is okay.

Hmm, not convinced.

axiology.5807:

The OP’s argument can be summed up thusly:

1. People are playing Fractals,

2. therefore ascended gear is okay.

Hmm, not convinced.

That’s really not what I said at all.

Generally, I really don’t have a strong opinion on the matter. I do tend to lean towards the side of posters stating how ArenaNet has tweaked their design against their original statements. Yet even with that small bias I don’t necessarily think the gear itself is inherently bad for the community, or good for the community. That will only take time to tell.

The whole reason why I wanted to post on your thread is mainly I haven’t seen people saying the dungeons themselves are bad. On the contrary I’ve seen a pretty unanimous discussion that the dungeon is extremely fun.

The arguments I have seen are mainly on the issue of progression gear wise, and people not being able to find groups. I’ve yet to even attempt this content so I cannot post my opinion on this issue.

However, I have not seen really anyone say; “These dungeons aren’t fun.” Then again, maybe I missed those posts.

Columba.9730:

20%+ vs exotic. It’s not minor.

It is not 20%, closer to 15%

Even if it was, that’s 3/14 slots ascended, so only a 3% increase in power.

3% is not going to change anything really. It’s enough of a carrot without being anything near an obligation.

TheUndefined.1720:

However, I have not seen really anyone say; “These dungeons aren’t fun.” Then again, maybe I missed those posts.

They are fun the first couple of times you do them, because you are still learning how the complete them. After that, they are woefully repetitive.

Xpiher.5209:

TheUndefined.1720:

However, I have not seen really anyone say; “These dungeons aren’t fun.” Then again, maybe I missed those posts.

They are fun the first couple of times you do them, because you are still learning how the complete them. After that, they are woefully repetitive.

Lol well there goes my argument. XD

As far as I know no one has a problem with fractals being added to the game.

Tell me OP how would Ascended gear with the same stats as Exotics but with an extra slot have prevented them form adding new content?
People would still have had their dungeon progression and the rest of us would have had the game we bought and loved.
Don’t call me a child and tell me to put down my handbag.

Columba.9730:

20%+ vs exotic. It’s not minor.

From the current rings I’ve compared it’s more like 23.5% if you’re using crit damage % and 12.25% if you’re using condition damage.

Even 12.25% is huge though, it’s the current equivalent as playing without your helm and gloves equipped.

I really don’t have the enthusiasm to run a dungeon over 200 times to get one piece of gear. In Guild Wars you ran a mission to get ascension on your gear, so why Anet has gone with this “make them all grind for it” mentality is beyond stupid.

To Mike O’Brien

Why have you created a game that requires players to grind the same content over and over to obtain something? when you publicly made a statement saying that your game does not require a player to grind? when it most blatantly does.

Mike won’t answer because he knows they know the game has gone in a completely different direction than they claimed in their manifesto. The team has lied constantly about GW2 before release, during interviews and Beta weekend events. I’d put any money on it, if a case of wrongful/fraudelent advertising was taken up in court, Anet would be making out of court settlements.

xiv.7136:

I see people making groups for FOM, all the time, day and night.

this is completely true…

Before people just asked and played dungens….

Now players try to make groups for hours rather than playing the game…..

Also forcing player to do fractals is the reason why players actually try to play fractals…

Tell me would you enjoy a race on a straight road with a volskwagen Golf against a ferrari?
No?
That is why people are grinding new Ascended gear….
Players wouldlike wvw for example (and dungeon also) to be EVEN and skill based rather than equip based.

Reality is even our server quite knew for being friendly and casual oriented (whiteside ridge) is having huge issues with fractal levels….just to start with the most common problem….

P.S. and really FEW groups do other dungeons now….they just need MORE TIME to spam MAPCHAT to get a group…
That doesn t mean they play much as before….

What we need more of are newbies to the franchise with terrible math skills to come in and belittle everyone who has concerns.

I mean seriously, when are they ever going to be represented on these forums?!??!

The mistake people make is in thinking the game will not continue to change.

Early on, it was hard to get exotics. Because there weren’t many level 80s farming Orr, etc.

Now exotics are easy to get. You will pretty much have a full set of them waiting for you when you hit level 80.

It will be the same with ascended gear. Don’t mistake how it looks now for how it will look in just a few weeks.

xiv.7136:

So there is a lot of complaining about the new ascended backpiece and rings. Lots of very emo people about a change that really is very minor in terms of the impact of the 3 gearslots on the game itself. No, it is not some kind of insane grind, not at all.

(On a separate note, it actually feels like some people are “grinding” the whine-o-meter on the forums, if you get my meaning.)

However, in game, I notice something very different to what is on the forums.

I see people making groups for FOM, all the time, day and night. Right now, there’s just line after line of people making groups in LA to do FOM at varying difficulty levels ranging from 1 to 6, and groups going to AC and CM explorable.

I see people talking about the new dungeon and enjoying it a lot, as it is probably the best dungeon in the game.

People are playing more. They are not running Orr for the 100,000th time. They are in fact, having fun, and feel like they’re progressing by going up the difficulty levels of FOM.

No one is talking much about their ascended items. The occasional person links an item and everyone says grats. It has no impact on WvW, and no one cares what you’re wearing when doing the new dungeon.

People wear their “FOM level” with a degree of pride. There is a sense of progression and ego, like being a hardcore raider, but it’s not about the gear: it’s about the skill in going up the levels and being a level 10+ FOM player.

But here’s the main thing.

Just consider if you will what things would be like without the FOM level, without this new sense of progression.

We would still be in Orr farming karma. Please tell me that wasn’t starting to get old, or would have gotten old by December.

We actually have been given something new to do. And we don’t need to do it, but we can – and it is fun to do. This strikes me as a very good thing.

The game is progressing, and continuing to develop and add new things.

I don’t want a stagnant game. I do not want for gear to matter, it should be a game of skill before all – and it still is. All they have done is add a bit of “dungeon level” progression for those who want to go a bit further in their PVE.

- Agony is pretty much a mechanic just to add to this sense of progression.

- Agony does not affect fights against other players in WvW. People with ascended gear will not two shot you in WvW.

- It doesn’t make people more powerful than you outside of that 1 dungeon.

They will not do 2x your dps, or fly like rockets into the sky leaving you behind. They have a tiny bit more stats on 3 item slots, and the ability to slot for agony resistance to do 1 dungeon at level 10+.

That is all that has happened. Let’s take a deep breath, put away the handbags and stop acting like children. No one came to your house and lied to you and slept with your sister.

All they did was add a new backpiece (btw it feels like that’s the “event upgrade slot”, I bet every new event has a new backpiece of some sort) and rings, and a way of progressing up the levels of a new and well designed, fun FOM dungeon, to which they can add fractals later to add even more variety.

Relax and enjoy.

Or don’t. It’s not like you’re paying a sub. Just go play something else till you cool off and want to play GW2 again, it’s not going anywhere.

Believe me, after playing WoW or Rift for a week, you’ll be wanting to return. Or go play Black Ops 2, now that is one seriously bug-ridden game. Anyway.

Flame on!

They could have done the exact same thing without the gear increases and all your points would have still been valid.

IMHO that 20% (or whatever) only matters in W3. So that part of the playerbase has a legit point.

For the rest of that game it matters not at all. I have exactly 2 pieces of exotic gear, the rest rare including weapons. I can run any dungeon, go to any area, and have run fractals multiple times. Don’t make it sound like without that gear suddenly the game is unplayable.

xtorma.1283:

xiv.7136:

…

They could have done the exact same thing without the gear increases and all your points would have still been valid.

Actually that is true. I agree completely.

What I’m saying I guess is that the gear increase is so minor, it doesn’t really change anything.

It provides a tiny carrot for those who want it, without actually affecting the game for those who don’t want to go for it.

Problem there is I don’t like doing dungeons so now because of that I’m at a disadvantage whereas before I could chose how I got my exotics, that choice is now gone and impacts wvwvw because of this.I have no problem with dungeons,I don’t play that side so don’t care what they do with them,I do care about another tier of gear though that forces grind that gives people an advantage against people that really couldn’t care less about dungeons.

Except it doesn’t. Really, you will never know if someone has ascended items vs your exotics right now, in WvW. They don’t add that much.

Exotics are a full tier of 14 itemslots above Rares.

Ascended is 3 itemslots with stats going towards agony resistance, a PVE dungeon mechanic for FOM.

11/14 of your gear remains exotics.

xiv.7136:

The mistake people make is in thinking the game will not continue to change.

Early on, it was hard to get exotics. Because there weren’t many level 80s farming Orr, etc.

Now exotics are easy to get. You will pretty much have a full set of them waiting for you when you hit level 80.

It will be the same with ascended gear. Don’t mistake how it looks now for how it will look in just a few weeks.

People did not make a mistake , that was how the game was advertised- not that it would not change but-that it would not have gear progression.

It might be somewhat easy to get exotics, more so for some than for others.
The point is that you could take your time to do so without grinding because it was supposed to be the best of the best. You could also acquire Exotics through various different avenues.
Never-mind the multiple sets for aesthetics, stats and different builds.
It gave people choices in how they played the game and for what purpose.

With Ascended armor you now have to grind your kitten off to get a stat boost you might not want, just so you can do it again when the next item or Infusion comes out.
That completely defeats the purpose of the original game design.

It’s still a sign of the beginning of bigger future gear changes, to think this is the only time this will happen now is foolish.Anet have set a new precedence now,this is just the beginning.

Morrigan.2809:

xiv.7136:

…

People did not make a mistake , that was how the game was advertised- not that it would not change but-that it would not have gear progression.

It might be somewhat easy to get exotics, more so for some than for others.
The point is that you could take your time to do so without grinding because it was supposed to be the best of the best. You could also acquire Exotics through various different avenues.
Never-mind the multiple sets for aesthetics, stats and different builds.
It gave people choices in how they played the game and for what purpose.

With Ascended armor you now have to grind your kitten off to get a stat boost you might not want, just so you can do it again when the next item or Infusion comes out.
That completely defeats the purpose of the original game design.

I agree with you right now. There is only 1 way to get ascended items for those 3 slots. Totally agree.

But in just a few weeks, there will be more ways to get those same items. I bet one will be for karma, since that’s how we got exotics from Orr.

Don’t forget that we could not get power/toughness/vitality exotics from the trade post. We had to get karma for that. That’s kind of where ascended gear is right now.

In fact, I’d take bets on where the ascended gear vendor for karma is going to be. My bet is Lion’s Arch, consortium office place, that little room next to the portal.

EDIT: I just realised I’d better start saving up both karma and WvW badges. I bet once it gets announced ascended back and rings will be available for both those things, there will be a rush to accumulate them.

xiv.7136:

xtorma.1283:

xiv.7136:

…

They could have done the exact same thing without the gear increases and all your points would have still been valid.

Actually that is true. I agree completely.

What I’m saying I guess is that the gear increase is so minor, it doesn’t really change anything.

It provides a tiny carrot for those who want it, without actually affecting the game for those who don’t want to go for it.

As they add more and more ascended gear slots, it will eventually become noticable, especially in wvw. It will eventually be like allowing people to grind for orb bonus’. You have a point about the people who drone on and on, but those folks who come here once, and state thier opinion, and never come back are true casualties in a war that never had to be fought.

So…. Where is all the complaining about wvwvw not being fair for upscaled players fighting against decked out 80s? You won’t notice any real change in damage from going from exotic to ascended, he’ll you hardly notice anything from Masterwork to Exotic, but you notice a hell of a lot of difference from upscaled lowbie to geared 80. People need to stop the crying about ascended gear already. A new tier isn’t going to make anything easy mode nor is it going to make anyone god mode. It will make things slightly, and I do mean slightly, easier but unless you’re going from white/fine gear to ascended you’re probably not going to notice any change at all, much less those going from exotic to ascended.

xiv.7136:

So there is a lot of complaining about the new ascended backpiece and rings. Lots of very emo people about a change that really is very minor in terms of the impact of the 3 gearslots on the game itself. No, it is not some kind of insane grind, not at all.

(On a separate note, it actually feels like some people are “grinding” the whine-o-meter on the forums, if you get my meaning.)

However, in game, I notice something very different to what is on the forums.

I see people making groups for FOM, all the time, day and night. Right now, there’s just line after line of people making groups in LA to do FOM at varying difficulty levels ranging from 1 to 6, and groups going to AC and CM explorable.

I see people talking about the new dungeon and enjoying it a lot, as it is probably the best dungeon in the game.

People are playing more. They are not running Orr for the 100,000th time. They are in fact, having fun, and feel like they’re progressing by going up the difficulty levels of FOM.

No one is talking much about their ascended items. The occasional person links an item and everyone says grats. It has no impact on WvW, and no one cares what you’re wearing when doing the new dungeon.

People wear their “FOM level” with a degree of pride. There is a sense of progression and ego, like being a hardcore raider, but it’s not about the gear: it’s about the skill in going up the levels and being a level 10+ FOM player.

But here’s the main thing.

Just consider if you will what things would be like without the FOM level, without this new sense of progression.

We would still be in Orr farming karma. Please tell me that wasn’t starting to get old, or would have gotten old by December.

We actually have been given something new to do. And we don’t need to do it, but we can – and it is fun to do. This strikes me as a very good thing.

The game is progressing, and continuing to develop and add new things.

I don’t want a stagnant game. I do not want for gear to matter, it should be a game of skill before all – and it still is. All they have done is add a bit of “dungeon level” progression for those who want to go a bit further in their PVE.

- Agony is pretty much a mechanic just to add to this sense of progression.

- Agony does not affect fights against other players in WvW. People with ascended gear will not two shot you in WvW.

- It doesn’t make people more powerful than you outside of that 1 dungeon.

They will not do 2x your dps, or fly like rockets into the sky leaving you behind. They have a tiny bit more stats on 3 item slots, and the ability to slot for agony resistance to do 1 dungeon at level 10+.

That is all that has happened. Let’s take a deep breath, put away the handbags and stop acting like children. No one came to your house and lied to you and slept with your sister.

All they did was add a new backpiece (btw it feels like that’s the “event upgrade slot”, I bet every new event has a new backpiece of some sort) and rings, and a way of progressing up the levels of a new and well designed, fun FOM dungeon, to which they can add fractals later to add even more variety.

Relax and enjoy.

Or don’t. It’s not like you’re paying a sub. Just go play something else till you cool off and want to play GW2 again, it’s not going anywhere.

Believe me, after playing WoW or Rift for a week, you’ll be wanting to return. Or go play Black Ops 2, now that is one seriously bug-ridden game. Anyway.

11/14 of your gear slots remain exotics.

Flame on!

You made some valid points.

I love the new gear and new dungeon idea its great!.

Bhuta.1480:

It’s still a sign of the beginning of bigger future gear changes, to think this is the only time this will happen now is foolish.Anet have set a new precedence now,this is just the beginning.

It is only the beginning, they stated that all types of gear will be ascend (correct me if I am wrong). I don’t care about collecting for gear, my problem is more that you have to do a number of these mini-dungeons in 1 night to gain the level. You need people who are prepared to stay 2 to 3 hours to do the 3 dungeons AND then also at some point they ll need gear. People will be excluded based on their level and gear and progression will come to a halt for the initially slow or the new people.

You say…
In dungeons and wvw equi do matters a lot…

I tried wvw for the monthly once and was killed every pvpattempt i tried.

When i got to exotic i couldsuddenly 1VS3 and win (obviously pugs…..)

If you play wvw a little you see sometimes you can manage groups of players other you struggle in 1VS1…

That is NOT about skill….is about gear…

Artorous.8573:

So…. Where is all the complaining about wvwvw not being fair for upscaled players fighting against decked out 80s? You won’t notice any real change in damage from going from exotic to ascended, he’ll you hardly notice anything from Masterwork to Exotic, but you notice a hell of a lot of difference from upscaled lowbie to geared 80. People need to stop the crying about ascended gear already. A new tier isn’t going to make anything easy mode nor is it going to make anyone god mode. It will make things slightly, and I do mean slightly, easier but unless you’re going from white/fine gear to ascended you’re probably not going to notice any change at all, much less those going from exotic to ascended.

If this were the case, then my question is why do it? Why cause so much division over something that supposedly makes 0 difference.

Hello,

There is already several threads about the Ascend Gears:

Thoughts on Ascended Gear? [Merged threads]
I’ll be honest about the gear and gearchecks

Therefore this one is now locked.

Thank you for your understanding.