Guild Wars 2

Man and I was looking forward to this update too , how disappointing. The main reason I purchased and invested time in this title is because it wasn’t a greedy gear grind raid fest. I can totally understand everyone’s haste to. If we’ve learned anything from mmo history is that this is usually how it starts.

I’m fine with this. I mean, we do countless dungeons to get meaningless pieces of armor anyway (just to look different).

Guess what? We would have done the same thing with these new dungeons. So why not make the gear a bit more powerful. Also…maybe the content is a bit more difficult in that area? New zones on the way. Setting up for an expansion…who knows.

It’s more content, and that’s all I care about. Staying the same strength and playing dress-up is all well and good. Getting better gear every 3 months, or so, is even better. Like your look? Use a transmuting stone.

As for the game changing…how many of you actually played more than 1 MMO (this and your main one actually)? These games never, with 100% certainty, stay the same. GW1? Well, that wasn’t really an MMO; more like a PSOesqe type of game. This game is a totally different beast.

It’ll most likely change several more times through the coarse of the year. We will most likely get more powerful gear before we hit that wall they were talking about. Thing is…where is it? PVE is tooo short/easy. PVP isn’t satisfying. WVW need a lot of work.

Either enjoy the ride, or go to a new MMO that will do the same thing. Change their original vision of the game through out it’s life span.

krookie.6378:

piitb.7635:

Ascended armor sounds like:

http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Infusion

If so, lol at all the people flying off the hinge about how this isnt like GW1.

Infusion in GW1 only offered protection against one OP skill used by Mursaat mobs. If Infusion in GW2 works similarly against this new race, then I don’t mind it.

On the other hand, I may have an issue if Infusion provides some sort of a benefit across the whole game.

Edit: One of the biggest draws to GW1 for me was the fact that I didn’t have to grind for armor to remain competitive. I could stop playing for 6 months, come back and still be able to do virtually anything.

If GW2 is going to adopt a gear treadmill model like WoW and I’ll have to grind for gear after every break I decide to take, I probably won’t be sticking with the game for too long.

The ascended armor sounds like it’s the way you kill karka, but again that’s only speculation not fact.

People need to unrustle their jimmies and just wait for Arenanet to clear the air or wait for the patch notes.

Frotee.2634:

Cynic.3496:

Gathslan.1870:

Cynic.3496:

Frotee.2634:

Gathslan.1870:

Cynic.3496:

I’m happy about this patch! I even hope they do add full progression raiding someday! You can’t keep people interested on cosmetic gains only and I think they finally realized that. It’s going to be nice to have a reason to login again.

yes you can, just read 99% of this threads comments

Seconded – you know there are still people playing GW2? The game where you quasi-automatically got max stat gear once you reached max lvl (which was 20)?
Do you realize there are probably quite a lot of people who bougt this game for the very reason that there was no carrot on a stick? Once they add full progression raiding, I’m done for good – like, from MMOs forever.

Thank you, uninformed people buying the game expecting the same old garbage we get in every MMO, for ruining my one not-standard MMO.

I think you should be playing console games…

Or you should play one of the thousand MMOs out there that cater to you instead of trying to change a game into your vision with kitteny feedback, oh and skill>gear less casual than aquiring better gear to win You should play console.

Generic response. Gear progression doesn’t mean less ‘skill’, it means they worked toward a goal. I still think you should play on console if you this everyone should always be equal and that everything should be handed to you like an infant.

So enlighten me – why is it necessary to change the ONE MMO (aside from GW1, which wasn’t really a MMO) which caters to OUR interests, when there are thousands of MMOs with a gear treadmill for YOU to choose from?
Why should those of us who bought GW2 precisly for the things it does (or did) differently leave? Why should we be punished when it is you who is unable to feel a sense of fun and accomplishment without a carrot on a stick?

I really DO hope we are worried over nothing, but the two German fansites are pretty much agreeing over this itty bitty detail. And being a native German, believe me when I say that I did not misread that statement. Again – it is not the 2% or something that makes this new armor more powerful. It is introducing stronger max gear only 2 months into the game ans the expectations raised by this…because those of you moaning about how you have no goal? You’ll be complaining again in 2 weeks max.

This game is fun as-is but it’s short lived. It’s not that I want GW2 to transform into something only I like but I think people need some type of grind to keep logging in. GW2 has their own numbers to look at but I’m pretty sure they are on the decline. Whether people like it or not, change will have to happen to keep the game alive and for expansions to be made.

Well if it’s only “slightly” stronger than exotics, then that’s optional, and they’re not wrong.

Exotics aren’t mandatory either.

People shouldn’t worry about this.
The game still live up to it’s promises.

Read this:

- Definition of Gear threadmill -
“Gear threadmill is when players have to grind for better gears to explore new content X/Y/Z.”

The game still live up to it’s promises of no gear threadmill even with the better stats ascended armors. It’s because either with white or exotic equipments, you’re still able to explore all the content the game has to offer. You don’t have to gear grind to survive and play all new content X/Y/Z. All contents are available for you already.

Here I fixed Ascended Gear system for you.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Ascended-Gear-2-0-The-Way-To-do-It-Right

You’re welcome.

Surely ArenaNet has people intelligent and creative enough to give people something to strive for that ISN’T gear treadmill?

The big thing about this game is there’s no content that you HAVE to do to be optimized stat wise. I imagine this is a big draw to the game for many of us. If you don’t want to run dungeons, you don’t really have to ever enter one. If you don’t like WvWvW you don’t have to play that either. Regardless of what you do or don’t like doing, there’s a pretty easy path to the best gear statwise, which is great.

Please don’t add any one thing that requires participation to get optimal stat gear. DEFINITELY don’t make it a dungeon grind. We’ve done that enough in other games and didn’t like it, that’s what brought us here. Let the dungeon grind be for looks only, for any interested in doing it and that’s it.

If this is really the case, and I guess we don’t really know yet to be fair, but hopefully Arena Net looks back at history rather quickly and see what happened to a few MMO’s that did something major like this.

SWG and the dreaded combat patch? I know several people on this forum played this back in the day and it was honestly a game changer. How is that game doing today by the way? Oh, and its successor? Dead.

DaOC and their Trials of Atlantis expansion pack anyone? They turned a once thriving PvP based game into a grind fest via master levels AND gear which forced people out by the hundreds. Status anyone? Dead.

Those are just two off the top of my head. My point being is major change and it really impacts the community.

New gear means older gear is then obselete. Prepare to grind more and more to get something better then the Exotic Karma Gear. That took so long for us to get a fullset of. Since the Karma Pricer are still a bit stepe per piece. There just seems to be not enough Karma rewards, and on top of that 500K+ Karma per legendary? Come on, that is a bit of insane amount of Karma needed just for the Exotics and a lendary.

Prepare to grind out a fullset of the asended gear, and Anet will of course make it cost something relentless per piece. GG anet -_-

Pawlegance.7012:

Shanaeri Rynale.6897:

I’m sure it’s great fun to ‘tease’ people with snippets like the tweet. But over such a big basic thing as this it would have been better to give a proper official forum blog, along with a don’t worry FAQ.

Never leave announcements of potentially explosive or easily mis-understood news to a third party.

On another note, ANet is pretty good at contradicting tweets. Well that and blog posts.

They even contradict themselves two years in advance, which takes some serious dedication.

John Stumme

These are getting built into the game itself, they will be there at launch. They are not something that we will tack on later, they are part of the cities.

Eric Flannum

So when we talk about activities, like when we talk about the bar brawl, or the shooting gallery, because they are actually in the game you can go in and experience them right now. And so there is actually very little chance that most things we talk about are not going to make it into the game just because we run out of time or anything like that. Because, as I said, we tend not to talk about things unless we’re very, very certain that we can do them. Certain as in they are in already.

So, it’s 1) a dungeon that gets harder the further in you go and Anet is already known for difficult dungeons.

2) Drops Ascended gear which is more powerful than exotics. Both in stats and ability to infuse it with stuff.

3) Is meant to prepare people for harder content that comes later.

How is this not a dungeon gear grind like every other MMO out there? You know, the ones you (Anet) originally were trying to be better than. A hard dungeon with required gear to prepare for other content for required gear = gear grind elitism, the thing most people wanted to avoid when coming to GW2.

While we’re all going back and forth on the stats… I think we can all agree that these skins better be awesome looking; cause honestly, I’ve found the majority to be a little lackluster (yes you can mix and match to make some uniquely cool, but on aggregate a lot of pieces are just lame).

AnubisMe.6579:

I don’t think what most gregs and neckbeards here on the forums don’t understand is that you represent 4% of the user base. Arenanet is already seeing large player base not being as active anymore due to the lack of end game stuff. People need something to work towards that is doable and sets them apart.

It’s probably exactly the other way round: Those of us who don’t want a gear treadmill are Arena Net’s most faithful fans, those that played and enjoyed GW1 over years. We are the players that probably won’t leave GW2 if a new gear treadmill MMO is released.

In Addition, no matter which WvW TS I joined today, everywhere people were upset about the possibility of a treadmill. I doubt that we are the minority.

piitb.7635:

The ascended armor sounds like it’s the way you kill karka, but again that’s only speculation not fact.

People need to unrustle their jimmies and just wait for Arenanet to clear the air or wait for the patch notes.

Like I said, I don’t mind if this Infusion thing is GW2’s version of GW1’s infusion.

However, this quote:

Ascended armors are “slightly more powerful than exotics” and can, in some cases, hold slots for infusions.

makes me think otherwise.

I’ll probably quit playing if ascended armor is better than exotic (other than cosmetically). I am having fun with GW2 because I’m not always trying to stay caught up with the latest and greatest stuff. I won’t have fun if I’m always chasing down the new equipment. If I’m not having fun, then I’m just going to quit playing.

That being said, I’m going to wait until we know some more details about this before I put any more thought into it.

Oh wow I really hope they do NOT do this.

the progression is already obvious – slightly better stats on gear to help with a slightly harder dungeon. But now that stats are better more difficult content will be required on a broader basis to keep the game interesting. But then even better gear will have to be given – followed by even more difficult content.

And BAM – gear grind wars

NO ! Just NO!

If that starts happening I’m out.

Stop getting your kittens in a bunch. You guys read one little article and think the whole world is ending. No one is making you do anything. You people are never happy. One second you are kittening about nothing to do in game, next its about a “gear grind”.

Like Naoko above me said:

Gear threadmill is a system which “you must have gear X to survive content X”.

We can do all content with exotic (or even masterwork) gear. So its not a gear threadmill of any sorts.

It isn’t even out yet, you as a player; casual or hardcore, have no clue what this is until it is released. Therefore your opinion on why this is good/bad or why you want/do not want it is plain invalid. You wouldn’t take advice about heart surgery from someone whom doesn’t have a PhD would you? Yeah. Me either. ANet knows what they are doing. They know that most of their player base is casuals. They do not want to make them quit because then they would be losing half (if not more) of their income. Sit back, trust ANet to do what they learned to do, and enjoy the game. When this new content comes out and you have experienced enough to have an honest opinion on it, only then should you give it.

Nate Gray.9241:

So, it’s 1) a dungeon that gets harder the further in you go and Anet is already known for difficult dungeons.

2) Drops Ascended gear which is more powerful than exotics. Both in stats and ability to infuse it with stuff.

3) Is meant to prepare people for harder content that comes later.

How is this not a dungeon gear grind like every other MMO out there? You know, the ones you (Anet) originally were trying to be better than.

The new Lost Shores dungeon is supposedly massive and has 9 mini dungeons in it.

This infusion business is probably a way of content progression, not gear progression.

i.e. You have to do some parts of the dungeon before you can rush to the big final boss.

“infusions”…if anything like gw1 i wouldnt mind it…its just a buff to fight certain monster and everyone in gw1 pretty much have infuse armor since its part of story line
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Infusion

NOT a fan of the “slightly stronger” gear that this patch is introducing.

It goes against the spirit of what GW1 (and I thought) GW2 was all about.

It introduces a gear grind/treadmill that the other game forced on everyone.

New armor/weapon skins? Sure!
New dyes? Sure!
IOW, cosmetic stuff is great!

But new gear that will become the standard to be competetive = bad idea.

To be honest this whole giving info through 3rd party site reeks of probing the playerbase and that they have 2 ways of handling the situation depending on the reaction of the playerbase /tinfoilhat

Also this doesn’t really sound like infusion the way it was done in GW1. Even if in the end the result is the same. In GW1 infusion was a story mechanic that everyone doing the story experienced when doing Prophecies. This on the other hand feel like segregating the community. Segregation is bad.

You guys don’t even know what you’re talking about yet.

Why not just wait to see what is in store before getting your collective knickers in a twist.

Ayane Hajinmon.9165:

“infusions”…if anything like gw1 i wouldnt mind it…its just a buff to fight certain monster and everyone in gw1 pretty much have infuse armor since its part of story line
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Infusion

AKA how to kill the new Karka enemy that the article already states can’t be normally killed and players will need to find out how…

I’ll take Jumping to Conclusion for $1000 Alex.

Relax people, the content isn’t even out yet so you have no idea how it will affect gameplay. For all you know the new armour could transport you to a cave in Rocky Mountains where other conspiracy theorists gather to discuss the faked Moon landings.

Where the heck did the community say they wanted higher stats gear?

Please show me that player feedback.

….

Don’t add a gear grind Anet.
Please don’t even think about raising the player level cap in the future.

Conner.4702:

To be honest this whole giving info through 3rd party site reeks of probing the playerbase and that they have 2 ways of handling the situation depending on the reaction of the playerbase /tinfoilhat

Also this doesn’t really sound like infusion the way it was done in GW1. Even if in the end the result is the same. In GW1 infusion was a story mechanic that everyone doing the story experienced when doing Prophecies. This on the other hand feel like segregating the community. Segregation is bad.

The infusion mechanic sounds almost exactly the same.

The Lost Shore dungeon is huge so they probably designed a nice story around how you have to infuse your armor as you trek inwards so you can defeat the Karka.

Shifu.4321:

Surely ArenaNet has people intelligent and creative enough to give people something to strive for that ISN’T gear treadmill?

It’s not gear threadmill. Gear threadmill system is where players have to grind for new gears “to explore new/higher contents”. This game already allows you to explore all 100% of the contents and future X/Y/Z content with the (white to exotic) armors. Ascended is really another option just like whether people choose to wear a fine, masterwork, rare or exotic gear to dungeon. All tiers can do dungeon raids well.

tkalamba.2541:

Ayane Hajinmon.9165:

“infusions”…if anything like gw1 i wouldnt mind it…its just a buff to fight certain monster and everyone in gw1 pretty much have infuse armor since its part of story line
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Infusion

AKA how to kill the new Karka enemy that the article already states can’t be normally killed and players will need to find out how…

That doesn’t make sense though. Karka are apparently invincible until a certain criteria is met by the player. If Infused armor can only be acquired through the new dungeon where you fight Karka… How do you fight Karka in that dungeon?

did everyone in this thread skip over the part what they said the fractels will take anywhere from 15 minutes to 40 minutes to complete. That not long at all and you people are all complaining omg rofl. Some of you must have never even attempted Arah there is no way you have. If your complaining about 15 min to 40 min then there is no hope here.

tkalamba.2541:

Ayane Hajinmon.9165:

“infusions”…if anything like gw1 i wouldnt mind it…its just a buff to fight certain monster and everyone in gw1 pretty much have infuse armor since its part of story line
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Infusion

AKA how to kill the new Karka enemy that the article already states can’t be normally killed and players will need to find out how…

yeah…and idk see why this is such a big deal for everyone to be freaking out about…i guess since i know what it is in gw1, i just assume its gonna be the same thing…so im more relax about it

piitb.7635:

Nate Gray.9241:

So, it’s 1) a dungeon that gets harder the further in you go and Anet is already known for difficult dungeons.

2) Drops Ascended gear which is more powerful than exotics. Both in stats and ability to infuse it with stuff.

3) Is meant to prepare people for harder content that comes later.

How is this not a dungeon gear grind like every other MMO out there? You know, the ones you (Anet) originally were trying to be better than.

The new Lost Shores dungeon is supposedly massive and has 9 mini dungeons in it.

This infusion business is probably a way of content progression, not gear progression.

i.e. You have to do some parts of the dungeon before you can rush to the big final boss.

That’s contradictory to what every article about it has said so far, not just this one article. Check the ones on other forums like MMORPG.com, they all echo the same thing. They all say the ascended will be stronger PLUS the POTENTIAL option for infusion. If infusion was the only thing that made them stronger, and not all of them come with infusion options, then they’re not ascended. In order to be ascended, they have to have the former or both, meaning in either case, they’re still better. It’s a stat creep, and as the gear has to be grinded for, it’s a gear grind. There’s really nothing more to it than that.

http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/previews/lost-shores-preview

New Item Quality Level – Ascended

While it remains to be seen exactly how many new items are being added in terms of new weapon or armor sets, we do know that a new quality level is being introduced: Ascended. This will be one step higher than exotic quality items, so it will be interesting to see how that impacts gearing up at level 80. As things stand currently, level 80 rares are basically something you only equip while piecing together an exotic set, and from there most people either salvage them for ectos or sell them on the trading post.

Hopefully the ascended gear will be somewhat difficult to obtain, otherwise it might end up greatly devaluing exotics moving forward. New items are also supposed to be hitting the current dungeon vendors, so I’m also curious to see how that will fit into the bigger itemization picture. According to ArenaNet, this new item quality is intended to help give the endgame a more distinct sense of progression, so I’d imagine that there won’t be a massive amount of ascended gear hitting the live game right away either way.

It’s also worth noting that with the update there will be a new resource to harvest, along with 200 new crafting recipes being added. Presumably these will be focused on the ascended quality level as well, so it will be interesting to see how expensive the new recipes will be to create given the current high production costs on exotic gear.

I share everyone’s concerns and I am going to wait patiently on this before really blowing up, but you have worded this in a way that screams “Gear treadmill.”, so for the love of the six gods… do this right or you are going to lose a lot of players and bring the ones you don’t want back to the game.

If the infusion is there to help you kill the Karka, i am absolutly cool with that. It would give us a sense of PvE progression within a storyline without hurting the game. However that infusion would need to be made avaiable outside of the dungeon for it to work, otherwise people that are not able to finish this instance would not be able to fight this mobs.

About the ascended gear being slightly better than the rest. Well, that just does not seem right to me. I am a hardcore player, i have the dungeon master title, and i am 100% sure i will be able to farm this gear with my group of friends. However it seems that this will toss out of the window the basis of guild wars 2 end game. It will introduce a change so big in the game that might just break everything. The gear threadmill might not be enough to retain those interested in that and will probably make those that dislike this kind of system go away.

I hope that the gear either only work in the new dungeon and have it’s stats normalized when outside of that dungeon.

oZii.2864:

did everyone in this thread skip over the part what they said the fractels will take anywhere from 15 minutes to 40 minutes to complete. That not long at all and you people are all complaining omg rofl. Some of you must have never even attempted Arah there is no way you have. If your complaining about 15 min to 40 min then there is no hope here.

Fractels sounds ginormous.

It has 9 mini-dungeons. So each of those mini-dungeons take about 20 minutes a piece.

Naoko.7096:

Shifu.4321:

Surely ArenaNet has people intelligent and creative enough to give people something to strive for that ISN’T gear treadmill?

It’s not gear threadmill. Gear threadmill system is where players have to grind for new gears “to explore new/higher contents”. This game already allows you to explore all 100% of the contents and future X/Y/Z content with the (white to exotic) armors. Ascended is really another option just like whether people choose to wear a fine, masterwork, rare or exotic gear to dungeon. All tiers can do dungeon raids well.

But a stats cap should exist. An equalizer. The current system is fine. Exotic is the final tier people will strive towards.
I don’t see the point of adding yet another tier.
It worked so well in GW1, I can’t believe they don’t see they did it so right there.

Another player’s 2 cents:
I’m also uncomfortable with ascended armor as it’s described in the massively and mmorpg articles. I thought exotic gear was supposed to be the best, and anything beyond that simply a cosmetic improvement. I’m concerned over how having gear more powerful than exotic would affect the balance of the rest of the game, since I’m just now getting to experience the higher level dungeons. My gut feeling is that, if what people are afraid of is true, ascended armor will only make the game more complicated, not more fun.

If this is a start to get gear treadmill im very happy. A meaning to play the game

AndrewSX.3794:

http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/previews/lost-shores-preview

---

New Item Quality Level – Ascended

While it remains to be seen exactly how many new items are being added in terms of new weapon or armor sets, we do know that a new quality level is being introduced: Ascended. This will be one step higher than exotic quality items, so it will be interesting to see how that impacts gearing up at level 80. As things stand currently, level 80 rares are basically something you only equip while piecing together an exotic set, and from there most people either salvage them for ectos or sell them on the trading post.

Hopefully the ascended gear will be somewhat difficult to obtain, otherwise it might end up greatly devaluing exotics moving forward. New items are also supposed to be hitting the current dungeon vendors, so I’m also curious to see how that will fit into the bigger itemization picture. According to ArenaNet, this new item quality is intended to help give the endgame a more distinct sense of progression, so I’d imagine that there won’t be a massive amount of ascended gear hitting the live game right away either way.

It’s also worth noting that with the update there will be a new resource to harvest, along with 200 new crafting recipes being added. Presumably these will be focused on the ascended quality level as well, so it will be interesting to see how expensive the new recipes will be to create given the current high production costs on exotic gear.

---

There we go. Ascended gear can be crafted.
Nothing new to see here. Moving on.

So they added armor that is slightly better than exotic, who cares?! It gives us something else to do other than grind Orr for legendarys, thank you ArenaNet for making this change I think it gives many people another reason for wanting to do this dungeon, making armor look “cool” is just not cutting it anymore, what if you don’t necessarily love the look of the armor, your just not going to do the dungeon? That does not make sense, there needs to be another incentive for doing high level end content.
Quit crying and enjoy this amazing game called Guild Wars 2

krookie.6378:

tkalamba.2541:

Ayane Hajinmon.9165:

“infusions”…if anything like gw1 i wouldnt mind it…its just a buff to fight certain monster and everyone in gw1 pretty much have infuse armor since its part of story line
http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Infusion

AKA how to kill the new Karka enemy that the article already states can’t be normally killed and players will need to find out how…

That doesn’t make sense though. Karka are apparently invincible until a certain criteria is met by the player. If Infused armor can only be acquired through the new dungeon where you fight Karka… How do you fight Karka in tha dungeon?

Reading this https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/releases/november-2012/

makes it sound like there’s more than one way to get the Ascended loot. Additionally, I don’t seem to see anywhere that says the Karka are in the dungeon. They seem to roam the Lost Shore, and even invade Lions Arch…

By the looks of it, Infusions are the only thing that are exclusive to dungeons.

Infact, the entire schedule of the event revolves around the Karka. They are the major emphasis of this content. It sounds to me Ascended gear is a story element, and obtaining it may not too difficult. The harder part will be the infusions.

New Item Quality Level – Ascended
While it remains to be seen exactly how many new items are being added in terms of new weapon or armor sets, we do know that a new quality level is being introduced: Ascended. This will be one step higher than exotic quality items, so it will be interesting to see how that impacts gearing up at level 80. As things stand currently, level 80 rares are basically something you only equip while piecing together an exotic set, and from there most people either salvage them for ectos or sell them on the trading post.

Hopefully the ascended gear will be somewhat difficult to obtain, otherwise it might end up greatly devaluing exotics moving forward. New items are also supposed to be hitting the current dungeon vendors, so I’m also curious to see how that will fit into the bigger itemization picture. According to ArenaNet, this new item quality is intended to help give the endgame a more distinct sense of progression, so I’d imagine that there won’t be a massive amount of ascended gear hitting the live game right away either way.

It’s also worth noting that with the update there will be a new resource to harvest, along with 200 new crafting recipes being added. Presumably these will be focused on the ascended quality level as well, so it will be interesting to see how expensive the new recipes will be to create given the current high production costs on exotic gear.

http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/previews/lost-shores-preview

This honestly DESTROYED my love for this game. I bought it because I was hoping for something different, a new MMO experience.

Yeah, dynamic events give it to an extent. However what I loved most about the game was the lack of gear progression.

Now that it’s in, the game is basically turning into WoW 2.0 slowly.

it seems whatever soul that was in this game, is no more.

Naoko.7096:

Shifu.4321:

Surely ArenaNet has people intelligent and creative enough to give people something to strive for that ISN’T gear treadmill?

It’s not gear threadmill. Gear threadmill system is where players have to grind for new gears “to explore new/higher contents”. This game already allows you to explore all 100% of the contents and future X/Y/Z content with the (white to exotic) armors. Ascended is really another option just like whether people choose to wear a fine, masterwork, rare or exotic gear to dungeon. All tiers can do dungeon raids well.

It’s not the stats. I’m a dungeon master who can easily do any dungeon except maybe a couple of arah paths without dying. but I’m opposed to this more out of a design/philosophical standpoint and the fact that it’s gonna be a slippery slope that might be too hard to resist once it gets going.

What’s stopping GW2 from implementing incremental places where better gear IS needed? Eventually dungeons and content will probably be hard enough that you would NEED those armor, and every future endgame content is designed around higher gear stats.

I could do UBRS, molten core on vanilla with mostly average gear, but vanilla Naxx? No way.

It might not happen, but hey, it’s better if they not implement this in the first place.

no f in luck.9513:

Webba.3071:

no f in luck.9513:

Sheesh, if u guys don’t want the new armour, don’t ware it… In fact just uninstall your game and let those who love new content, play the game! =)

You wont be playing for very long when most of the player base has quit.

It’s not most of the playerbase, its just the whining kids. Are those enjoying the game are playing it, that’s why the forums are so quite, people are fed up of all the negativity.

Back to game for me =)

You misunderstand just about everything to do with Guild Wars, both 1 and 2. The people worried about this are not kids and are not a minority here.

One of the bigger contributing factors to this game’s success is the simple fact that it is NOT Warcraft in all the crucial ways. All the people that flocked here to escape that gear treadmill drudgery are the backbone of this game and always will be. We want to have fun. Our incentive for playing is purely to have fun. Feeling forced to grind out new tiers of gear feels more like a job than a source of entertainment.

If you prefer the vertical progression gear treadmill, please go play one of the countless other MMO’s on the market that offer that instead of trying to change this game. Let this game be the alternative, a place for the rest of us who don’t like having our credit cards charged just so we can be forced to endlessly grind through tiers of gear.

It would be nice to have a Dev comment on this, so we aren’t picking up our torches and pitchforks, ready to defend the GW2 a lot of players love.

If this is indeed a new gear tier, I consider it a betrayal and a terrible misuse of resources.

Still, I’m reading into it as hopefully not being a new tier, “one step higher” could mean higher the same way that legendaries are over exotics, and quality could simply mean appearance.