Guild Wars 2

Webba.3071:

Crater.1625:

Looks like the blog is out.

And, in all likelihood, so am I. It’s just an additional tier past Exotics.

Look at bit more closely, the ascended stuff doesnt have an upgrade slot. The stats are the same as exotic gear when you add the upgrade and it looks like the infusion is just for protection against agony. In other words, this gear will not have higher stats than exotic gear. Can I be the first to say, sincerely, nice work Anet.

This may be true, and infact might be the saving grace for me(verdict is still out, I have Worldofwarcraft.com open right now to resub… )

However, my question is: How will this effect the current dungeons and “requirements” that the silly playerbase will instill?

LFG, must have X amount of defensive infusion, pst.

So if people want to see this dungeon, farm it until they drop = other dungeons empty?

NOTE: They used the same mechanic in the original game. It allows players to have additional customization with the mechanics that they’ll throw at us in endgame. The whole world is still yours to play and the stats of the new armor type are not going to give you the edge that will allow you to sweep the maps any faster…

Granted, I wish they would have had this system out at launch, but it’s where they need to take the game. The game cannot just sit in one place and expect to grow.

And how are they betraying you? Did they close off the rest of the content they built and say that this new dungeon is all you can do? If you were happy with what you were doing before, this new addition isn’t going to change anything for you. Just keep trucking…

drwookie.6391:

That is a grind grind/gate for dungeons. That is, in my opinion, bad form and for sure against their “Manifesto” that they were so proud of from the beginning.

Not only that but the base stats are better and each update will have more, meaning a fully acended player will easiily outgear a fully exotic player.

Not happy about this at all, more so the fact that just 2 days ago i spent 5 gold on the guild back item and now it’s already out of date come this gear treadmill (i mean update in a few days).
-
Anyways, so much for the “wait for the update to complain posts”, we’ve been proven correct and they are bringing in a gear treadmill/power creed into the game that was ADVERTISED to not have one.

Thanks Anet, you’ve saved me some money as i won’t be giving you anymore via your gem store.

Teva.2807:

Okay. Wtf. Everyone wants gear treadmill, they get gear treadmill, and now everyone is QQing. Im sorry but thats not arenanet’s fault, its yours for “Forcing them” to implement it.

A lot of anger will be rightfully directed towards those MMO hoppers who demanded the treadmill at the expense of all the players who sincerely bought into Anet’s manifesto.

zaxziakohl.5243:

drwookie.6391:

" By adding challenging new combat mechanics to end-game content and ways to mitigate those mechanics through gear progression for high-end players, we can add personal progression without making the game feel like an endless treadmill of gear that is just out of your reach. Original Guild Wars fans may recognize that we took a familiar approach to our new progression. The first end game mechanic we will introduce is Agony, which will be encountered in the Fractals of the Mists dungeon, and is mitigated by Infusions."

Are you freaking serious? That is a gear gate. You have a condition/effect that requires certain armor to fight against it. That is EXACTLY why I never played WoW past the initial release, and is likely the reason I won’t be purchasing any future expansions from GW2.

They seriously lost me as a long term customer from that decision.

Really? You can do numerous levels of this dungeon without the gear. It’s only as you get higher into the dungeon that the gear is needed. This means you can experience the entirety of the dungeon, without upgrading your gear. Difficulty gets too high? Start over. It’s not as if you wouldn’t be getting the gear anyway seeing as you are going to be doing the dungeon.

If you aren’t going to be doing the dungeon, then you don’t need the gear.

Honestly, the stats are slightly better, yes. But they lack customizability, that’s the price that’s being paid. The gear doesn’t come without a penalty. You might get an extra 2 points per stat, but chances are you won’t always be able to get the stats you want, and you can’t choose what stats the upgraded portion will be.

IMO by removing that customization, they are providing balance.

If you want to have your gear statted how you want it, then you sacrifice some points. If you want to have more points you sacrifice build choice.

This is fair.

As long as EVERY future dungeon works the same way as this fractal dungeon, whereby it gets “progressively harder” and does not initially require Infusions to counteract agony.

My concern from the way she is so enthusiastic and positive about the mechanic is that this is the beginning of a “Gear gate”, where your gear needs to match the dungeon in order to even have a chance at fighting. That doesn’t make a dungeon challenging, it just gates it and requires you to farm the dungeon below it before you can play in that dungeon. That is no fun. If the dungeon is level 80 and I am level 80 I shouldn’t need to farm other dungeons just to get what I need to try that dungeon.

(Btw when I said I mostly do WvW….I tend to do every dungeon once and then I’m doing. I never grind or farm anything. I have absolutely no interest. I have ignored all dungeon gear and I’ve been so happy that I can simply buy similar crafted gear from the money i make in WvW.)

Rainshine.5493:

Webba.3071:

Crater.1625:

Looks like the blog is out.

And, in all likelihood, so am I. It’s just an additional tier past Exotics.

Look at bit more closely, the ascended stuff doesnt have an upgrade slot. The stats are the same as exotic gear when you add the upgrade and it looks like the infusion is just for protection against agony. In other words, this gear will not have higher stats than exotic gear. Can I be the first to say, sincerely, nice work Anet.

Add them up. Ascended is still better.

Yeah, you’re right, that’s why I deleted my post. Even if the infusion adds no stats to the item they have added new gear two months into the game with higher stats. I could handle item progression, maybe, if it was done at a measured pace but this is nuts. I think the people who want this are going to be surprised to find out how few of them there are.

Jaxichael.2590:

NOTE: They used the same mechanic in the original game. It allows players to have additional customization with the mechanics that they’ll throw at us in endgame. The whole world is still yours to play and the stats of the new armor type are not going to give you the edge that will allow you to sweep the maps any faster…

Granted, I wish they would have had this system out at launch, but it’s where they need to take the game. The game cannot just sit in one place and expect to grow.

And how are they betraying you? Did they close off the rest of the content they built and say that this new dungeon is all you can do? If you were happy with what you were doing before, this new addition isn’t going to change anything for you. Just keep trucking…

In the previous game, were players stacking infusion only gear? Or did they equip only a few pieces of infusion gear, mixed with their regular exotics? I.E. Will people be running this dungeon in full infusion gear if they are able to obtain it, vs a mix of infusion and exotic?

Jaxichael.2590:

And how are they betraying you? Did they close off the rest of the content they built and say that this new dungeon is all you can do? If you were happy with what you were doing before, this new addition isn’t going to change anything for you. Just keep trucking…

The gear can be used anywhere in the game and will be better in every way than Exotics. I’m not sure how else to say it because it’s pretty kitten clear.

If I’m going to be forced to grind gear I might as well do it in WoW where my good friend is already. I’m only here because I liked this game but if it’s going to turn into every other dumb game I might as well do dumb stuff with good friends, right?

I literally am in shock that they are seriously doing this. Why even have that Manifesto video?

SpyderArachnid.5619:

Webba.3071:

Crater.1625:

Looks like the blog is out.

And, in all likelihood, so am I. It’s just an additional tier past Exotics.

Look at bit more closely, the ascended stuff doesnt have an upgrade slot. The stats are the same as exotic gear when you add the upgrade and it looks like the infusion is just for protection against agony. In other words, this gear will not have higher stats than exotic gear. Can I be the first to say, sincerely, nice work Anet.

Work on your math a bit there. Ascended gear is stronger than Exotic gear. They are not the same.

Yes, I noticed. You may have noticed I deleted that post. I read her words as saying no stat increase without looking at the picture. I’m not a moron, just naive.

3% extra magic find per trinket, a whole 15% magic find with all ascended trinkets. GG.

I want a refund.

alanis.6094:

I literally am in shock that they are seriously doing this. Why even have that Manifesto video?

That was a long time ago things change.

This Agony condition worries me. Especially the part of the blog which describes how you won’t be able to progress further unless you have an X amount of defense against it.

It’s just going to exclude people from content.

I’m not really feeling this new direction. No sir.

fixit.7189:

So it is true, gear grind is now in and these new items are far better than exotics especially with infusion slots.

Time to reword the manifesto, ANet.

2 stats is “far better”? lol.

Anet: Do NOT implement this new ascended gear as was stated in the blog. There are already plenty of games with a carrot-on-the-stick, never ending, gear grind already.

GW1 didn’t see any real gear changes until expansions. Here we are only a few months in and we’re already getting another tier???

You will drive customers away in the same way that SOE did. You do not need to compete with WoW for numbers.

bcbully.7289:

alanis.6094:

I literally am in shock that they are seriously doing this. Why even have that Manifesto video?

That was a long time ago things change.

There were certainly happy to keep advertising using it very recently.

So now in effect.. I need to dungeon crawl (lots) in order to stay on par with other WvW players?

https://d2vn94glaxzkz3.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ascended-EN.png

gg anet gg.

this biggest mmo scam of all time.

After reading the blog…you can see the items go up in LITERALLY 2 points per stat aka 10 to 12 precision etc etc…

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/?utm_source=client

Personally I kittening love you ANET…thank you for this. I can’t wait! If you feel 2 points of stats are going to be that big of a deal for dungeon content that scales you down ( except arah obviously ) and wvw…then well we simply disagree…WTB PvE Leaderboard website. Willing to help with its construction / maintaining.

this is bad, not only do they add gear with better stats they add a dungeon specific stat on it so you cant even run the dungeon in your slightly lesser legendaries if you wanted.

Ans so gear becomes > Skill.

In one fell swoop.

So will they be updating Wv3 gear as well or just ignore it and let Ascended gear rule it?

What’s annoying me most of all is you can only get this via the dungeon and all the stats go to any aspect of the game, meaning you NEED to do dungeons to remain on a level playing field in other areas of the game that aren’t this dungeon.

Bloomin shame, i hate being lied to.

Svenn.5209:

2 stats is “far better”? lol.

2 stats PLUS infusion > exotics.

Major difference, dude.

I’ll be honest, I like the idea of agony. It sounds similar to elemental resistance, and provides more customization/strategy as to what sort of infusion you want (like with the runes). And since it is only within that dungeon, its optional.

What I don’t like is that Ascended Armor is statistically superior to Exotic armor.

What I especially do not like is this line.
“The new additions in November are just the start of our item progression initiative.”
I’m down for new content. I love new content. However, I don’t see why the numbers have to keep on getting bigger.

krookie.6378:

This Agony condition worries me. Especially the part of the blog which describes how you won’t be able to progress further unless you have an X amount of defense against it.

It’s just going to exclude people from content.

I’m not really feeling this new direction. No sir.

Exactly. It’s a “gate”. It is a mechanism so that people have to farm Dungeon Level 1 before they can proceed to DUngeon Level 2. It allows them to realize more “difficult” dungeons in the future that aren’t actually more difficult (skill-wise), but just require more “Infusion” to counteract more “Agony”. It’s an artificial gate so that people have to spend more time on earlier content (farming it for the proper gear) before they can experience more.

krookie.6378:

This Agony condition worries me. Especially the part of the blog which describes how you won’t be able to progress further unless you have an X amount of defense against it.

It’s just going to exclude people from content.

I’m not really feeling this new direction. No sir.

It’s not a new direction, this system already existed in Guild Wars.

While I am not a fan of the stat boost over exotics (not because I care that there is a tier above exotics, but because the WvW aspect of the game will be affected by the tier discrepancy), everything else about the armor is just stuff they already used in the previous game. Not sure how that is surprising.

cesmode.4257:

Jaxichael.2590:

NOTE: They used the same mechanic in the original game. It allows players to have additional customization with the mechanics that they’ll throw at us in endgame. The whole world is still yours to play and the stats of the new armor type are not going to give you the edge that will allow you to sweep the maps any faster…

Granted, I wish they would have had this system out at launch, but it’s where they need to take the game. The game cannot just sit in one place and expect to grow.

And how are they betraying you? Did they close off the rest of the content they built and say that this new dungeon is all you can do? If you were happy with what you were doing before, this new addition isn’t going to change anything for you. Just keep trucking…

In the previous game, were players stacking infusion only gear? Or did they equip only a few pieces of infusion gear, mixed with their regular exotics? I.E. Will people be running this dungeon in full infusion gear if they are able to obtain it, vs a mix of infusion and exotic?

It’s not anything like the original game. In GW1, infusion made you take less damage from a particular mob that showed up later in the story. It did absolutely nothing else. Runes there functioned like runes here, except without set bonuses.

drwookie.6391:

From the sound of her “enthusiasm” in the blog, it seems like this is only the beginning. I don’t want to care about being “Decked out in full Ascended armor with infusions”. THat’s not why I play this game. I play it for WvW and if this gear-grind is a trend then it will most definitely have a negative impact on WvW, and that is when I’ll be gone.

The Future of Items Progression

This is just the beginning. In November, we’re only adding the first level of Infusions and Ascended Rings and Back slots, so that leaves us a lot of room to build upon these levels of Item progression in future content.

The new additions in November are just the start of our item progression initiative. We’re going to add tons of new high-level content to Guild Wars 2 in the future. As we introduce the new high-level content, we’ll also roll out complimentary Ascended and Legendary items (to say nothing of the other rewards you can earn by playing the content).

…….welp. Swaping GW2 off the SSD and WoW back on to it.

If I wanted to play an MMO like all the others out there, I would still be playing one of the many that were out there before. I wouldn’t have waited all this time for this one based on the claim that it would be different.

Zanthrax.6538:

After reading the blog…you can see the items go up in LITERALLY 2 points per stat aka 10 to 12 precision etc etc…

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/?utm_source=client

Personally I kittening love you ANET…thank you for this. I can’t wait! If you feel 2 points of stats are going to be that big of a deal for dungeon content that scales you down ( except arah obviously ) and wvw…then well we simply disagree…WTB PvE Leaderboard website. Willing to help with its construction / maintaining.

2 stat AND infusion slot, so you cant run the dungeon with your non ascended gear because agony will kill you. so you are forced to grind it with each live expansion in order to continue deeper in the dungeon.

MajorMelchett.6042:

What’s annoying me most of all is you can only get this via the dungeon and all the stats go to any aspect of the game, meaning you NEED to do dungeons to remain on a level playing field in other areas of the game that aren’t this dungeon.

Bloomin shame, i hate being lied to.

To be fair the blog does indicated that this sort of items will be available in other areas of the game in the future. Unfortunately it also indicates that this is to be the first of many. If it was a one off thing to balance the game after release (aka legendary armour) I would be fine with it but sadly that doesn’t look like it will be the case. Ah well, I have more important things to do with my time anyway.

Zanthrax.6538:

After reading the blog…you can see the items go up in LITERALLY 2 points per stat aka 10 to 12 precision etc etc…

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/?utm_source=client

Personally I kittening love you ANET…thank you for this. I can’t wait! If you feel 2 points of stats are going to be that big of a deal for dungeon content that scales you down ( except arah obviously ) and wvw…then well we simply disagree…WTB PvE Leaderboard website. Willing to help with its construction / maintaining.

Svenn.5209:

fixit.7189:

So it is true, gear grind is now in and these new items are far better than exotics especially with infusion slots.

Time to reword the manifesto, ANet.

2 stats is “far better”? lol.

Let me add it up for you:
Exotic ring totals (with gem upgrade):
63 Power
63 Precision
7% Magic Find

Ascended ring totals (base stats without infusion upgrades):
68 Power
68 Precision
10% Magic Find

The Rare version of that ring has the following stats (for comparison):
52 Power
52 Precision

fixit.7189:

Ans so gear becomes > Skill.

In one fell swoop.

So will they be updating Wv3 gear as well or just ignore it and let Ascended gear rule it?

You do have a point here. No infusions, no ascended gear, you lose.

It seems the problem here isn’t in the gear, but the fact that everyone feels they have to “keep up with the Jonses” so to speak.

• The new mechanic isn’t advantageous outside the new dungeon.
• The new gear loses customizing options. So there is sacrifice.
• You still have the same access to everything you had before.
• This does not affect if you can complete your map, or do hearts, or finish events in orr, or play the other dungeons with your guildies.
• This will not affect owners of legendaries, as they will be upgraded.

• Casual players still get access to everything they wanted before.
• Hardcore players get access to what they have been begging for.

Lets be honest, the casuals are the ones complaining. They aren’t going to need the gear. The only reason they would need the gear, would be if they grind the new dungeon, and they won’t grind the dungeon because getting up to that difficulty would take hours to do, and thus become…..that’s right, hardcore not casual.

Seriously. I don’t do dungeons, and I like the idea of the new content. This means I will probably never get access to this gear. However, since I can play all the current content in GREENS I don’t think the new Ascended gear is going to be a problem if I don’t have it….

Seriously people.

• You don’t need the highest gear.
• You want it because it’s the best and others will have it.

It’s like life, you can live it just fine without all the best things from the finest places, but you want it anyway, just to say you have it. It’s ridiculous. Be happy you can live it and enjoy it at all. Same goes for the game. You enjoyed it before, if your enjoyment is ruined because you can’t have the best of the best just to have it, then that sounds like a personal issue, and is not a problem with the game at all.

Instead of stupid ascended gear and infusions, couldn’t there be new insignia’s for armorsmiths, leatherworkers and tailors to craft that provide resistance? Come on… easy solution and props up the crafting people.

well i think i may go back to tsw now or give mop a shot. both do dungeons far better than gw2 does.

did you people not learn anything from the past 7 years of wow clone failures?

nevermind making liars of yourselves and dupes out of us.

nice bait and switch scam you got going here. you sell us something on the basis of it not being a wow clone, then you turn it into a wow clone 3 months in.

Players will be able to acquire Ascended Rings in the Fractals of the Mists dungeon

And if i want the higher stats for WvWvW/other PvE content and don’t like to do dungeons?.

It’s nice we can get the ascended back items via the forge (and they better use the guild back items in the formula!) but gating off the rings (other future items) to the dungeon is just wrong.

I only dislike the fact that now in order to be at 100% level in wvw you have to do dungeons. I chose this game because I didn’t have to do dungeons to get the best gear.

I posted earlier saying I’d wait before despairing at the change.

I waited.

Now I’m officially despairing.

What the _ are you thinking??

Congrats on placating the clinical needs of the WoW babies for incremental gear upgrades. That should last all of a week. Then you’re back to hearing them whine again, with the only change being the fans of the original vision for the game now feel betrayed.

Haven’t you seen the downward spiral this is taking wow? Haven’t you heard of the dreaded “Item squish” they’ll eventually have to do since this has reached ridiculous levels? You were doing so well in breaking the molds of MMO design, why copy one of the WORST aspects of it?

Onshidesigns.1069:

This game doesn’t have a monthly fee. Gear treadmills will cost AN money because players will grind for their gear. Using up server bandwidth and not ever spending any real money in the cash shop.

Which is why I assumed from the moment I read about this new gear and the infusions that people will either be able to buy it rather than do dungeons (for hundreds and hundreds of gold, of course, necessitating either bot-like grinding or a trip to the gem store) or that there would be some other tie-in to the cash shop.

If there isn’t, I’ll be very surprised and impressed even if I still have no intention of setting foot on a dungeon gear grind treadmill.

Sweet, these changes seem even cooler then I originally thought, thanks for the update Anet!

Ahh yes don’t let the door hit you all on the way out, I mean I completely understand that the game is ruined and unplayable because new items have +5 to a stat out of 80. I mean how will you ever be able to complete with our awesome +5 power?

It sounds like this is a one time thing. Exotics were too easy to get so they are adding another layer of progression between exotics and legendaries to help even things out. It is a welcome change in my book.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en-gb/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Bye GW2.

It this is the only tier that’s ever added, as in GW1, I will be content. Ascended items, and Agony hail back to Prophecies, which also gated content in a similar way. You needed to be Infused to progress with the story, missions and further character development (certain skill merchants).

I do wish Exotic items had remained the top tier and as a level 400 jewelcrafter, I feel a bit worried for my market… but it’s not a dealbreaker. Yet.

cesmode.4257:

Jaxichael.2590:

NOTE: They used the same mechanic in the original game. It allows players to have additional customization with the mechanics that they’ll throw at us in endgame. The whole world is still yours to play and the stats of the new armor type are not going to give you the edge that will allow you to sweep the maps any faster…

Granted, I wish they would have had this system out at launch, but it’s where they need to take the game. The game cannot just sit in one place and expect to grow.

And how are they betraying you? Did they close off the rest of the content they built and say that this new dungeon is all you can do? If you were happy with what you were doing before, this new addition isn’t going to change anything for you. Just keep trucking…

In the previous game, were players stacking infusion only gear? Or did they equip only a few pieces of infusion gear, mixed with their regular exotics? I.E. Will people be running this dungeon in full infusion gear if they are able to obtain it, vs a mix of infusion and exotic?

Understandable. It is progression, but it’s not game breaking. Players who have saved up for their current exotic gear can still benefit from it, and as they take on this new dungeon it will become easier as they start obtaining Ascended.

And I know a lot of the negativity is based on the fact that the initial implementation of this gear is “just the beginning”, but a 36+ page thread before a system is even introduced? That’s amazing.

zaxziakohl.5243:

Lets be honest, the casuals are the ones complaining. They aren’t going to need the gear. The only reason they would need the gear, would be if they grind the new dungeon, and they won’t grind the dungeon because getting up to that difficulty would take hours to do, and thus become…..that’s right, hardcore not casual.

This is not about casual and hardcore, its about the GW way of doing things and the WOW way of doing things. You really going to call those people with 5000 hours of GW1 playtime casual? This does seem a lot like Anet throwing in the towel regarding their vision of MMOs. Its sad, more than anything else and doubly sad because so many people such as yourself misunderstand it.

I highly doubt this would be a one time thing. Once everyone has all ascended gear and this new dungeon is a pushover, people will be clamoring for the next one.

“Well, lets make the next one harder boys, and give them more ascended to cope with it”.

Sigh.. Not only will there be a gear treadmill but now dungeon crawlers will have a stat edge in wvwvw aswell.. I thought I had seen the end of that in vanilla wow but then came lotd in warhammer and now this in this game..
sigh..

Sigh.. Not only will there be a gear treadmill but now dungeon crawlers will have a stat edge in wvwvw aswell.. I thought I had seen the end of that in vanilla wow but then came lotd in warhammer and now this in this game..
sigh..Now I really wish I hadn’t spent so much cash on gems…

Wallach.7291:

krookie.6378:

This Agony condition worries me. Especially the part of the blog which describes how you won’t be able to progress further unless you have an X amount of defense against it.

It’s just going to exclude people from content.

I’m not really feeling this new direction. No sir.

It’s not a new direction, this system already existed in Guild Wars.

While I am not a fan of the stat boost over exotics (not because I care that there is a tier above exotics, but because the WvW aspect of the game will be affected by the tier discrepancy), everything else about the armor is just stuff they already used in the previous game. Not sure how that is surprising.

What system is that? Armor infusion against Mursaat? It’s not even close to the same thing. Hell, with a decent hero team in GW1 you don’t even need infused armor. I rolled through Prophecies with Discordway.

This new Agony thing is basically a way to keep people out of certain content because you’re going to need a certain amount of Agony protection to advance past a certain point. It’s basically counter to everything that GW2’s stood for.

Zanthrax.6538:

After reading the blog…you can see the items go up in LITERALLY 2 points per stat aka 10 to 12 precision etc etc…

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/?utm_source=client

Personally I kittening love you ANET…thank you for this. I can’t wait! If you feel 2 points of stats are going to be that big of a deal for dungeon content that scales you down ( except arah obviously ) and wvw…then well we simply disagree…WTB PvE Leaderboard website. Willing to help with its construction / maintaining.

You DO realize that Magic Find is the major stat point there? The total stat point increase from exotic to ascended isn’t just 2. It’s TEN points from the two minor stats alone. Add in the major stat and it’s probably more like 15. On a single item. Multiply that by 12 (6 armor pcs and 6 accessory pcs) and you’re looking at a stat increase of AT LEAST 180, and is probably closer to 200 since stuff like chest have bigger disparities, which is pretty big in my book.

And that’s not even considering the weapon, which traditionally has the biggest gap between item tiers. And has a damage increase.