Guild Wars 2

Kaiyanwan.8521:

PsyOnic.3108:

To not implement it at all.

+1

Or hand it out for free, or by doing a personal quest chain.

Imagine that, we would get some awesome award for playing a awesome quest. A reward for having fun.

Why on earth is it so hard for ANet to implement something like that?

Because a) they want it to take a long time and b) they want to force people to play all their content.

TooBz.3065:

Kaiyanwan.8521:

PsyOnic.3108:

To not implement it at all.

+1

Or hand it out for free, or by doing a personal quest chain.

Imagine that, we would get some awesome award for playing a awesome quest. A reward for having fun.

Why on earth is it so hard for ANet to implement something like that?

Because a) they want it to take a long time and b) they want to force people to play all their content.

Ah yes, I forgot about the total horror of actually playing the game.

That’s just too much you know.

Looks like 90% of their people don’t, at least if you check their achievement ranking.

So they start catering to the elite, while they promised a change in the fields of MMO?

Great. Welcome back to Everquest.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

Looks like 90% of their people don’t, at least if you check their achievement ranking.

So they start catering to the elite, while they promised a change in the fields of MMO?

Great. Welcome back to Everquest.

There is no way that ascended gear is catering to the elite. I remember Everquest, this game takes 1/100th of the time to get an item than it did in EQ. And you’re not competing with other players for that item.

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

It’s sure is nice of you to defend it.

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

Prove that, please. Attempt to prove it at the very least.

I at least tried to show that the majority of the “forum minority”, dislike it.

Say that the forum is 1% of the population…. 65% of that 1% dislike it. Now I can’t conclude that the remaining 99% of the population dislikes its, but I am more confident than you in saying so.

Plus I’m not too sure you even want to show that people like the idea either, you’re just praising by yourself…. And as opposed to showing (in a veil attempt) that there are more people that like ascended gear than those that don’t, you’re trying to downplay what I have to say when really you’re saying no more and probably less than me.

Zero Day.2594:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

Prove that, please. Attempt to prove it at the very least.

I at least tried to show that the majority of the “forum minority”, dislike it.

Say that the forum is 1% of the population…. 65% of that 1% dislike it. Now I can’t conclude that the remaining 99% of the population dislikes its, but I am more confident than you in saying so.

Plus I’m not too sure you even want to show that people like the idea either, you’re just praising by yourself…. And as opposed to showing (in a veil attempt) that there are more people that like ascended gear than those that don’t, you’re trying to downplay what I have to say when really you’re saying no more and probably less than me.

You’re the one who asserted the claim that more dislike it than like it. You’re the one with the claim that has to prove it. All I claimed is that the forum represents a tiny minority of the player-base.

Ahlen.7591:

You’re the one who asserted the claim that more dislike it than like it. You’re the one with the claim that has to prove it. All I claimed is that the forum represents a tiny minority of the player-base.

Fair enough, I attempted to prove my claim (sign). Once again, I can’t say for certain that the remaining population dislikes it, however I have more confidence in saying that it doesn’t. And if they don’t… there’s a problem with ascended and how it was handled… You’re going around saying that Oh they’re so easy to get, or at least acting like that…. when people generally seem to be unhappy about ascended gear….

Cookie for you, that you think it’s easy and think that the people on the forums should stop whining (when there seems to be a problem). Besides that, you’re the minority on the forums that actually likes doesn’t mind or even “likes” ascended gear.

If you’re claim is that the forums represent the minority, okay no problem there, carry on.

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Mackdose.6504:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Time gated materials, grind endless champ trains for mats and sitting at a crafting station are motivating? This is what people want?

Sure sounds fun to me! LOL

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Time gated materials, grind endless champ trains for mats and sitting at a crafting station are motivating? This is what people want?

Sure sounds fun to me! LOL

No, stats on the gear that are slightly higher than Exotic stats are the motivator.

Did you see how popular Diablo 2 was back in the day?

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Time gated materials, grind endless champ trains for mats and sitting at a crafting station are motivating? This is what people want?

Sure sounds fun to me! LOL

I think that people really blow out of proportion what an ascended item takes to make. A Greatsword for example will take 9 days, 1-2 hours a day to make. If the materials weren’t time gated, it would take even less.

Honestly? Before I made my first ascended item I too thought the materials were quite high, but after that I realized how little it actually takes to make one.

Mackdose.6504:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Time gated materials, grind endless champ trains for mats and sitting at a crafting station are motivating? This is what people want?

Sure sounds fun to me! LOL

No, stats on the gear that are slightly higher than Exotic stats are the motivator.

Did you see how popular Diablo 2 was back in the day?

10-15% dps increase with ascended weapons+full trinkets. Expect 20%+ with that and a full set of armor. “Slight”, indeed.

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Time gated materials, grind endless champ trains for mats and sitting at a crafting station are motivating? This is what people want?

Sure sounds fun to me! LOL

No, stats on the gear that are slightly higher than Exotic stats are the motivator.

Did you see how popular Diablo 2 was back in the day?

10-15% dps increase with ascended weapons+full trinkets. Expect 20%+ with that and a full set of armor. “Slight”, indeed.

Ugh.

It’s the same relative increase between Rare → Exotic. It’s a linear progression.

And no, I don’t care about Berzerker’s crit damage exponent.

The game is balanced around rares, anything over rare and your advantage is shaving seconds off of a boss you would have killed anyway.

Mackdose.6504:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Time gated materials, grind endless champ trains for mats and sitting at a crafting station are motivating? This is what people want?

Sure sounds fun to me! LOL

No, stats on the gear that are slightly higher than Exotic stats are the motivator.

Did you see how popular Diablo 2 was back in the day?

10-15% dps increase with ascended weapons+full trinkets. Expect 20%+ with that and a full set of armor. “Slight”, indeed.

Ugh.

It’s the same relative increase between Rare -> Exotic. It’s a linear progression.

And no, I don’t care about Berzerker’s crit damage exponent.

The game is balanced around rares, anything over rare and your advantage is shaving seconds off of a boss you would have killed anyway.

Provided you just play PvE. Really, we’ve had these conversations to completion so many times, it’s amazing we never make progress.

Mackdose.6504:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Time gated materials, grind endless champ trains for mats and sitting at a crafting station are motivating? This is what people want?

Sure sounds fun to me! LOL

No, stats on the gear that are slightly higher than Exotic stats are the motivator.

Did you see how popular Diablo 2 was back in the day?

10-15% dps increase with ascended weapons+full trinkets. Expect 20%+ with that and a full set of armor. “Slight”, indeed.

Ugh.

It’s the same relative increase between Rare -> Exotic. It’s a linear progression.

And no, I don’t care about Berzerker’s crit damage exponent.

The game is balanced around rares, anything over rare and your advantage is shaving seconds off of a boss you would have killed anyway.

Well, you should care. Because with the way gear is, berserker’s is almost always the best choice. And shaving a few seconds matters in WvW as well.

Other than just crafting the armor, why not have a way to ascend your current armor? You could always make use of the mystic forge for that. Hell, there’s an item called “Gift of Ascension” used only for ascending fractal backpieces.

If Anet decided to make these gifts of ascension account bound and made them available through other means (such as through karma and badges of honor), perhaps they could be used to ascend currently equipped armor?

Mackdose.6504:

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics.

Correct, at least for me.

Mackdose.6504:

ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get…

The pre-launch advertised design was that exotics would be relatively easy to get. This design was changed because gear progression enthusiasts bought the game despite the advertising, and wouldn’t repeat content without progression rewards.

The original design intent was that people would play because the content was fun. Maybe people hoped that repeating the content would be fun and thus the lack of VP wouldn’t bother them. That’s turned out not to be the case. Maybe the issue was that the game launched before sufficient horizontal progression was in place to keep people engaged and busy long term. Regardless, the inclusion of VP was a compromise between what was advertised and what all those other MMO’s offer.

What we will likely never know is what would happen in an MMO that eschewed VP and offered robust options for HP instead. GW2 aimed to be that game, and has not yet succeeded. Maybe if their initiative to add skill-based HP takes off, and they add more cosmetic options that players can get by repeating content, we won’t see more VP past Ascended. Time will tell.

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Mackdose.6504:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

This. The people who disliked ascended gear dislike it because it’s not GW1’s way of doing things.

Meanwhile, gear progression remains one of the largest motivators for MMO players by and large. Legions of players play fantasy games to make their character stronger.

This is why we have 80 levels and multiple rarities of gear. ArenaNet iterated on the gear plateau and created a PvE design that is inclusive to the different gear types, rather than exclusive.

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics. ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get and that players needed a longer journey. Ascended gear is that journey.

Time gated materials, grind endless champ trains for mats and sitting at a crafting station are motivating? This is what people want?

Sure sounds fun to me! LOL

No, stats on the gear that are slightly higher than Exotic stats are the motivator.

Did you see how popular Diablo 2 was back in the day?

10-15% dps increase with ascended weapons+full trinkets. Expect 20%+ with that and a full set of armor. “Slight”, indeed.

Ugh.

It’s the same relative increase between Rare -> Exotic. It’s a linear progression.

And no, I don’t care about Berzerker’s crit damage exponent.

The game is balanced around rares, anything over rare and your advantage is shaving seconds off of a boss you would have killed anyway.

Well, you should care. Because with the way gear is, berserker’s is almost always the best choice. And shaving a few seconds matters in WvW as well.

Just because something is numerically optimal doesn’t make it the “best.”

This is obviously where our disagreement lies

IndigoSundown.5419:

Mackdose.6504:

People don’t like Ascended because it felt like moving goal posts after they attained Exotics.

Correct, at least for me.

Mackdose.6504:

ArenaNet realized that Exotics were too easy to get…

The pre-launch advertised design was that exotics would be relatively easy to get. This design was changed because gear progression enthusiasts bought the game despite the advertising, and wouldn’t repeat content without progression rewards.

The original design intent was that people would play because the content was fun. Maybe people hoped that repeating the content would be fun and thus the lack of VP wouldn’t bother them. That’s turned out not to be the case. Maybe the issue was that the game launched before sufficient horizontal progression was in place to keep people engaged and busy long term. Regardless, the inclusion of VP was a compromise between what was advertised and what all those other MMO’s offer.

What we will likely never know is what would happen in an MMO that eschewed VP and offered robust options for HP instead. GW2 aimed to be that game, and has not yet succeeded. Maybe if their initiative to add skill-based HP takes off, and they add more cosmetic options that players can get by repeating content, we won’t see more VP past Ascended. Time will tell.

I think that shallow VP and horizontal progression (different gear sets, skins, runes and builds) co-exist pretty well so far.

I’d like to see more horizontal additions to the game after they finish ascended armor. I am really hoping that’s what comes next.

best and easiest way to add ascended is to make it Zerker stats only because lets face it the game is so dumbed down that zerker is all most of the players want anyway.

Moshari.8570:

Ahlen.7591:

Hopefully they implement it the same as the weapons. Which to me were implemented quite well (they’re very easy to get).

If this were true, you wouldn’t see people complaining about it. In particular, people with ALT’s. I have rarely seen people with more than one ascended weapon, and know from my casual playing friends, that none of them even have one ascended weapon. This does not make them “easy to get” Getting to crafting level of 500 alone is not “easy to get” since the majority of players do in fact have trouble getting the near 200 gold worth of materials to get to that point, much less the materials then needed to give them their ascended.

But I actually do not want to argue over how difficult it is to get ascended…but this does show the controversy regarding ascended weapons.

Instead, I want to keep this productive. Does anyone have ideas for implementing Ascended armor that would be less controversial than ascended weapons?

I got 2 crafted ascended and if i really wanted i could have about 5 right now. They are easy to get once you reach 500 in the crafting. Before that 500 in crafting thou it is hard.

The best way to implement ascended armor?

Not implementing it to be honest…

but if they must do it, then I’d say something similar as we used to infuse our armors back in GW1.

Make it part of our next personal quest (solo or group instanced, hard missions) and “infuse” them at the end.

that’s how implement something as part of content, bottle neck it for people already at “that phase of the game” and its not a grind or tedious task that nobody likes.

Also… its an incentive for people to purchase the “next expansion” (if there will be any) giving ANet extra profit besides the gem store.

“Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game. We want everyone on an equal power base. The rare stuff becomes the really awesome looking armours. It’s all about collecting the unique looking stuff and collecting all the other rare collectible items in the game: armour pieces, potentially different potions – a lot of that is still up in the air and we’ll finalize a lot of those reward systems as we get closer to release. And those come off of things like the bosses at the end of dungeons – the raids.”

Zero Day.2594:

“Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game. We want everyone on an equal power base. The rare stuff becomes the really awesome looking armours. It’s all about collecting the unique looking stuff and collecting all the other rare collectible items in the game: armour pieces, potentially different potions – a lot of that is still up in the air and we’ll finalize a lot of those reward systems as we get closer to release. And those come off of things like the bosses at the end of dungeons – the raids.”

Things change over time, holding someone to something they said a long time ago isn’t really fair, especially in the business/gaming world. Views change with the times and flow of popularity.

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

“Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game. We want everyone on an equal power base. The rare stuff becomes the really awesome looking armours. It’s all about collecting the unique looking stuff and collecting all the other rare collectible items in the game: armour pieces, potentially different potions – a lot of that is still up in the air and we’ll finalize a lot of those reward systems as we get closer to release. And those come off of things like the bosses at the end of dungeons – the raids.”

Things change over time, holding someone to something they said a long time ago isn’t really fair, especially in the business/gaming world. Views change with the times and flow of popularity.

But I purchased the game because of those statements.

Dark Catalyst.1028:

But I purchased the game because of those statements.

HA! So did I and I think a few other people…
But you know what,
“Things change over time, holding someone to something they said a long time ago isn’t really fair, especially in the business/gaming world. Views change with the times and flow of popularity.”
We should just let things go, and if we don’t like it… well I guess move on to another game. kitten us for buying into what they said, we are kittened and should have known better.

Zero Day.2594:

“Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game. We want everyone on an equal power base. The rare stuff becomes the really awesome looking armours. It’s all about collecting the unique looking stuff and collecting all the other rare collectible items in the game: armour pieces, potentially different potions – a lot of that is still up in the air and we’ll finalize a lot of those reward systems as we get closer to release. And those come off of things like the bosses at the end of dungeons – the raids.”

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

“Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game. We want everyone on an equal power base. The rare stuff becomes the really awesome looking armours. It’s all about collecting the unique looking stuff and collecting all the other rare collectible items in the game: armour pieces, potentially different potions – a lot of that is still up in the air and we’ll finalize a lot of those reward systems as we get closer to release. And those come off of things like the bosses at the end of dungeons – the raids.”

Things change over time, holding someone to something they said a long time ago isn’t really fair, especially in the business/gaming world. Views change with the times and flow of popularity.

But I purchased the game because of those statements.

Yes, and be totally honest, how many hours of fun/enjoyment have you gotten out of that $60?

When does that $60 purchase end as far as content goes? How much content has anet given out for free at this point?

Ahlen.7591:

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

“Everyone, including casual gamers, by level 80 should have the best statistical loot in the game. We want everyone on an equal power base. The rare stuff becomes the really awesome looking armours. It’s all about collecting the unique looking stuff and collecting all the other rare collectible items in the game: armour pieces, potentially different potions – a lot of that is still up in the air and we’ll finalize a lot of those reward systems as we get closer to release. And those come off of things like the bosses at the end of dungeons – the raids.”

Things change over time, holding someone to something they said a long time ago isn’t really fair, especially in the business/gaming world. Views change with the times and flow of popularity.

But I purchased the game because of those statements.

Yes, and be totally honest, how many hours of fun/enjoyment have you gotten out of that $60?

When does that $60 purchase end as far as content goes? How much content has anet given out for free at this point?

It’s almost been a full year since the ascended gear was released.

If people won’t let go of it by now, it’s useless trying to convince them to be reasonable.

Even better, presenting evidence that people aren’t missing anything by lacking pink gear makes them glom onto the “BiS” title that they’ve been trained to chase after even harder.

I don’t have a single piece of ascended. I don’t even have 400 in a craft. Yet here I am enjoying the game all the same.

I’ve defended Ascended gear as a long-term goal that doesn’t keep me from seeing any content. Apparently this doesn’t even register because OMG HIGHER STATS.

So why enjoy the game now, when you can have a carrot on a stick.

Kaiyanwan.8521:

So why enjoy the game now, when you can have a carrot on a stick.

But people don’t see it as a carrot on a stick, they DO enjoy it. I enjoy seeing my character grow, get more powerful, obtain more items, and having goals.

I see Ascended as something I get just by playing the game, because that’s how it happens! I go out, I do stuff (Killing bosses, WvW, dungeons, fractals, random farming) I come back and I have things to use to craft.

At some point enough people will have Ascended gear that Anet will have to deal with it by raising boss health or decreasing timers.

I’m sure Anet has a measure of difficulty for their content and they design fights to that difficulty level. The better gear you have though, the less difficult the content. When most people have Ascended gear, Anet is gonna have to up the difficulty in order to not have the game be too easy for those people. Those with alts, or new players will be left holding the bag.

Look at Tequatl. If you finish just as the timer expires, that’s 15 minutes. With Ascended gear and the estimated 20% DPS increase, you finish with a very comfortable 3 minutes to spare. It’s a lot more than a few seconds — and this probably the kind of content we’re likely to see in the future (more Tequatls).

Lord Kuru.3685:

At some point enough people will have Ascended gear that Anet will have to deal with it by raising boss health or decreasing timers.

Why? They can increase difficulty using mechanics. If Ascended gear is the plateau, wouldn’t it make more sense to not start monster power creep?

Mackdose.6504:

Lord Kuru.3685:

At some point enough people will have Ascended gear that Anet will have to deal with it by raising boss health or decreasing timers.

Why? They can increase difficulty using mechanics. If Ascended gear is the plateau, wouldn’t it make more sense to not start monster power creep?

That doesn’t get people logging on. The best way to do that would be to implement gear that will give you a 20% advantage over people in exotics and put the materials required to craft it behind a time gate and endless grind. Oh wait…

Do you think that playing against people with such an advantage, in a venue, like say WvW, is going to be fun when you’re only in exotics or worse?

Also, I wouldn’t be surprised if people start demanding that others ping their gear in dungeon groups or get kicked.

Someone mentioned EQ1 as an example of grind, but you know what? at least they didn’t make you grind the same content over and over and over again for that grind. Just recycled content here, as if the grind for ascended mats were the content. When new gear came, it was with an expansion, real expansions, and that first expansion they released was imo the best expansion any mmo to date has released. Here, you feel the grind, whether you are doing it in a newbie zone at lvl80, or in CS, it’s just mind numbing grind designed for carrot lovers. imo gw2 is the most grindy mmo I’ve come across in some 16yrs playing this genre. And funny, advertised to not be so. Yes yes you can just skip it… just like some people are 100% satisfied running around in MC and rare mixed gear today. Uh-huh…

Mackdose.6504:

Lord Kuru.3685:

At some point enough people will have Ascended gear that Anet will have to deal with it by raising boss health or decreasing timers.

Why? They can increase difficulty using mechanics. If Ascended gear is the plateau, wouldn’t it make more sense to not start monster power creep?

Monster power creep is the easier way. They have already shown over the course of a year that increasing difficulty in mechanics is not their strong point. Also, DPS is DPS — the ascended guy will do more damage to the tune of ~20% no matter what the mechanics (unless it’s forcing us to use environmental weapons)

Furthermore, (IMO) it’s unlikely Ascended gear is the plateau. They added a tier once, they’ll do it again. Plus, there are also level cap increases that have the same effect, just in a different way.

Lord Kuru.3685:

Plus, there are also level cap increases that have the same effect, just in a different way.

Which I, personally wouldn’t mind so much… K they make it lvl90 instead of 80, along with 10 more levels of content to play through, that’s okay…. At the end, getting 90 gear should be “easy” (through dungeon tokens, before they had crazy DR, at least for me was “easy”)… The rest of the gear to grind for are just specifically for looks.
The catch is, they most likely won’t release skins to chase for since they can be bought through the gem store and I think that that’s their intent (buy the looks through gems). Adding in new tier of gear didn’t do much, except make a “very little amount” of people cry.

The best way to implement Ascended armor? Via some challenging and demanding content, with high risk/high reward system.

Oh, I forgot it’s already too late & it’s a wrong game for such a concept anyway.

Zero Day.2594:

Lord Kuru.3685:

Plus, there are also level cap increases that have the same effect, just in a different way.

Which I, personally wouldn’t mind so much… K they make it lvl90 instead of 80, along with 10 more levels of content to play through, that’s okay…. At the end, getting 90 gear should be “easy” (through dungeon tokens, before they had crazy DR, at least for me was “easy”)… The rest of the gear to grind for are just specifically for looks.
The catch is, they most likely won’t release skins to chase for since they can be bought through the gem store and I think that that’s their intent (buy the looks through gems). Adding in new tier of gear didn’t do much, except make a “very little amount” of people cry.

You can bet they’ll have level 90 ascended gear if they raise the level cap. So the grind will never end.

I’m of the “best way is to not implement it at all” camp If they do I hope it has zero stat increase with infusion slots only and new skins. I have 7 different builds for WvW on my main and 3 alts. I hate the idea of grinding and farming mats to gear up all the builds. Then the thought of Anet rebalancing stuff, changing the meta rendering some of those said builds ineffective and having to farm and grind more gear out just adds to my distaste of ascended armor. I hate the idea so much I pretty much quit the game for the time being. Haven’t touched it in 3 weeks and when I do get the urge to play I log on, see what I need to make the weapons alone and say “the hell with this kitten” and log back off.

Ahlen.7591:

I think that people really blow out of proportion what an ascended item takes to make. A Greatsword for example will take 9 days, 1-2 hours a day to make. If the materials weren’t time gated, it would take even less.

Honestly? Before I made my first ascended item I too thought the materials were quite high, but after that I realized how little it actually takes to make one.

Yeah, I was guilty of this as well. It takes a lot of gold or effort to reach level 500, but when you get there it’s smooth sailing afterwards. The only real obstacle after that point is how quickly you can gather the account bound items. Actually, its pretty much just dragonite that’s a pain in the kitten, since it’s only attainable through large scale open world events (temples, WvW and world bosses) that either occur on a timer, or rarely have enough active players to complete. Everything else you can work on in your own time.

Its easy enough to buy the ascended inscription and materials. Last I checked the TP it works out to about 60-70g per weapon, which is a prohibitive but not entirely unreasonable cost.

For ascended armor, I’m mostly comfortable with the current setup – although I wouldn’t want to work as hard for a single piece of armor as I do on a weapon. Each piece should require no more than half of the items (especially dragonite!) needed for a single weapon, ideally…. about a third.

I would prefer if other options were available. It’d be great if you could purchase a set with fractal relics or dungeon tokens + gold. However, considering the series of hoops we have to jump through to get any ascended items apart from rings, I wouldn’t hold my breath for that to be implemented.

PsyOnic.3108:

To not implement it at all.

^^

Ascended gear was the worst addition to the game. Even if I spend a whole day brainstorming of possible bad additions to GW2, I wouldnt come up with a worse one.

Wolfheart.1938:

Ahlen.7591:

And crafting can be leveled with time (30 minutes a day to do Ori/Ancient wood runs).

And do the 30 minutes a day to mine Ori/Ancient also give you the 60+ globs of ecto and 60+ T6 mats needed to level up one profession?

Champion Farming in Frostgorge does that very quickly. Atm, I have enough Ori, Ecto from salvaging drops and T6 materials to craft another proffesion to 500. I just lack Ancient Wood, they don’t drop from salvaging that often as Ori

Ahlen.7591:

Wolfheart.1938:

Ahlen.7591:

And crafting can be leveled with time (30 minutes a day to do Ori/Ancient wood runs).

And do the 30 minutes a day to mine Ori/Ancient also give you the 60+ globs of ecto and 60+ T6 mats needed to level up one profession?

If that’s the only thing you do? No of course not.

Are you really expecting to max out on everything in the game, and get the next step up of gear without putting any effort in at all? Without playing the game?

Doing ANYTHING ELSE in the game will get you globs of ecto and T6 mats, are you expecting to sit in LA and just have materials flow into your collection?

Do you and others want to do nothing in the game and be rewarded?

Ahh, the typical brainless strawman “do you really expect to get X for doing nothing” argument. Maybe what they expect iss to be able to do something BESIDES feed the grind to be able to craft one, much less multiples if they have the temerity to roll alts.

Your specious argument is specious.

Ahlen.7591:

Sleel.8365:

Ahlen.7591:

Wolfheart.1938:

Ahlen.7591:

And crafting can be leveled with time (30 minutes a day to do Ori/Ancient wood runs).

And do the 30 minutes a day to mine Ori/Ancient also give you the 60+ globs of ecto and 60+ T6 mats needed to level up one profession?

If that’s the only thing you do? No of course not.

Are you really expecting to max out on everything in the game, and get the next step up of gear without putting any effort in at all? Without playing the game?

Doing ANYTHING ELSE in the game will get you globs of ecto and T6 mats, are you expecting to sit in LA and just have materials flow into your collection?

Do you and others want to do nothing in the game and be rewarded?

Ahh, the typical brainless strawman “do you really expect to get X for doing nothing” argument. Maybe what they expect iss to be able to do something BESIDES feed the grind to be able to craft one, much less multiples if they have the temerity to roll alts.

Your specious argument is specious.

No, your rebuttal is basically meaningless.

I’m asking, do you expect to get items for literally doing nothing. Because that IS what the opposition is suggesting. There are so many avenues for getting the things that you need to level crafting or get ascended, that honestly the only barrier to entry is effort. If the people who whine about ascended spent as much time in game gathering/crafting as they do whining about it, they’d have full ascended everything at this point.

Also the alt argument is idiotic at best. Ascended gear that you craft is account bound until you equip it, which means you only have to level that craft to 500 once and you are set forever, across your entire account.

Do you think 24/7 brainless champ trains are good for the game?

I’ve given up on trying to see a post as described below:

Amadan.9451:

no defender said something like:
it was awesome to get it, all that chain quests to do in order to get the materials, all those nice instance stories to go through and so much nice new mechanic to try in order to finish the quests…

Farmers/grinders operate on a completely different time scale and have poor understanding of math (“ascended weapon increases overall damage by 5-10% is negligible”, WTF?). You can’t argue with them without trying to diminish efforts on their part time job.

If AP is in any way close to reflecting the activity of the majority of the active player base (I think for most part, it does) then I’m going say this game is dying since ascended gear is so easy to get.
Anyway, it looks like it’s time for me to accept that they’ve finally won and Anet would rather make carrots instead of meaty content and abandon this ship.

Good luck everyone.

BlueZone.4236:

I’ve given up on trying to see a post as described below:

Amadan.9451:

no defender said something like:
it was awesome to get it, all that chain quests to do in order to get the materials, all those nice instance stories to go through and so much nice new mechanic to try in order to finish the quests…

Farmers/grinders operate on a completely different time scale and have poor understanding of math (“ascended weapon increases overall damage by 5-10% is negligible”, WTF?). You can’t argue with them without trying to diminish efforts on their part time job.

If AP is in any way close to reflecting the activity of the majority of the active player base (I think for most part, it does) then I’m going say this game is dying since ascended gear is so easy to get.
Anyway, it looks like it’s time for me to accept that they’ve finally won and Anet would rather make carrots instead of meaty content and abandon this ship.

Good luck everyone.

Yup. I stopped logging into the game about a week ago.

Have fun getting your ascended armor, all. And keep those mindless champ trains runnin’!

Ahlen.7591:

Zero Day.2594:

@Ahlen
Well glad you “like” or don’t mind ascended weapons…. you fall with the 21% of the people, or the 15%. As skewed as my poll may be…. I assure you, there’s more people that dislike this ascended business (or replace business with a cussing word).

Utter bull. The whiny forum minority doesn’t like ascended gear, but they are an insane minority. More than likely less than a single % of the entire player-base.

Remember, that the minority that does come to this board is the group that is most likely to be able to get ascended. The part this gear is actually aimed at (because sure as hell it’s not aimed at casuals – they won’t even be able to craft the weapons after all). The people outside forums are less likely to actively dislike it, true, but that would only improve the percentages for “don’t care” category. Those that like it will still be in minority.