Guild Wars 2

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Those situations arent comparable.

But they are. An overall 8% change in the game balance is a lot.

Id take a lot of different rune sets over a 1% crit rate increase and a bit of extra power any day.

And your point is?

Thats about all your getting with the new equips

No. Using percentage as argument too we are getting 8% change. Not just 1%.

No. Its an 8% precision increase, but that only adds up to about a 1% increase in the actual critical hit rate.

Nar.8327:

fellyn.5083:

I don’t see how anyone can hate them when we don’t even know exactly how it’s going to work.

Drama queens.

P.S. No where did Anet ever say exotics would be the final tier of armor. People just assumed that. The only clarification they need to address if they will be making more tiers of higher powered armor in the future.

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

This image shows us everything we need to know to be concerned.

And it’s not about whether or not this is the “last” tier of items. It’s about the three months we’ve been playing, assembling our exotic armor sets to personal preference, only to have it thrust on us that all of it is going to become obsolete. This never happened in Guild Wars 1. That’s why we’re upset. If you put down Guild Wars after Prophecies and came back years later for Nightfall or EotN, your character would not have become less powerful than everyone else’s in that time.

Not sure if you know this or not, but this is Guild Wars 2 NOT Guild Wars 1.
I’m pretty sure Guild Wars 1 is still up and running, and if you people who are not happy with having no gear progression why not just go play that instead?

Just wondering….

Arnath.2319:

This Guild Wars 2 community makes me sick. Look at how you are all acting! Your behaving like pathetic spoilt children.

They have NOT broken any promises introducing Ascended gear, this is not a “gear treadmill” and it is not even a grind!

They are introducing TWO new items with this patch, a ring and a backpiece, the majority of you complainers will easily get those items within hours of the dungeon opening and you can all go back to your simple boring lifes until they introduce two more Ascended items a few months from now.

Its TWO items, only two, there is no grind there, stop pretending there is.

Ascended items are here to create the illusion of charector progression, it is gated on purpose so the very large amount of players who do enjoy a more stat increases progression with there hero will be encouraged to keep playing for a longer period of time.

Also, this is where the stat increase ends, if you payed attention to the blog you would noticed that this increase is a once off, yes they did say they would add more Ascended items but there stats what get any bigger than that.

I honestly hope all you complainers stop, take a deep breath, and think for a second instead of raging on the forums.

These changes are now inevitable, it is only TWO items to start with, that wont kill anyone, this wont be the end of the game. Life will continue i promise.

They also add full ascendent gear + weapons in future btw
Ascendent gear is the start of the treadmill .. because you will have to, on regural basis, upgrade your gear. Doent matter if once a year or once per 5 years.

This upgrade just proves that next expansion will gives us even more powerful items then the current ones = gear progression, not guild wars philosophy.

The exotic, which were the best from release should have been the best armor availible for entire lifetime of GW 2.

No, I hate the new ascended items.

…Is what I would choose if I was forced to pick either a “yes” or “no” right now. I’m just going to give it some time before I definitely decide whether I like it or not.

- Yes, I am happy with the decision to introduce new, different gear
- No, I am NOT happy with the decision to make it slightly more powerful than exotic. You are making full exotic gear completely obsolete in the long run.

Edit: Thanks nidwin…

Double Edit: They said the top-tier gear will be adjusted to remain so. So I still don’t see the treadmill if you choose not to do this one dungeon.

I never post on these forums. I’m usually having too much fun playing! Given the nature of these changes I have felt the need.

I’ve been playing MMO games as at a high level for the better part of a decade as a hardcore raider. The major thing that inspired my interest in this game, was that the skill of a player not the colour of their item text would be the deciding factor in their success.

I understand the concept of gates being introduced for longevity. When you sell a product to people on the premise that it’s their ability that will see them succeed not their gear, backtracking less than three months down the line feels like a betrayal. I run a small guild full of players who have strived to get to exotic gear knowing that from there, the world was their oyster. Time and money invested now seem less well spent.

I love the idea of new challenges and mechanics. The whole list of new content being added all sounds great… Right up to the point where the gear on my back rather than my skill and play style define my success. Make us use our deep toolboxes of slot and weapons skills. Make us use our combos or our dodges. Don’t make us rely on wearing an “Ascended Ring of Progression” to replace what you already implied we would never have to upgrade.

I don’t understand why so much rage.

If you see numbers, you’ll see that item progr. is null. I mean:

https://d2vn94glaxzkz3.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ascended-ES.png
Ascended ring: Base of exotic stats + extra stats from jewel / Infussion slot that would NOT give you extra stats instead of AGONY RESISTANCE.
Exotic ring: Base of exotic stats/ Extra stats from jewel

What’s the difference between those 2 rings when ascended ring is UNIQUE equipment? +5 power + 5 precission? WOW, I’M INVINCIBLE!

EDIT: Edited by one or two problems of typing xD

Voted: “I will leave Guildwars2 if they continue releasing Ascended items”

Loumy.7841:

Naoko did it occur to you that players who want to win in WvWvW need this new gear because of the better stats?
It’s not optional anymore…

There’s not even any notable difference between a fine and exotic gear.
Every 20 additional stats = 1% increase in actual combat.

Have you been in WvWvW?
I seen so many WvWvW wearing fine or masterwork gears and win exotics players.
How does wearing an ascended make you on the edge with other tiers?

The game is very balance as it is.
You shouldn’t worry.

bamono.7098:

I understand the agony thing, but isn’t just in the dungeon? Didn’t she also say top tier stuff will be adjusted to remain top tier? Where is the treadmill? .

P.S. Thanks Valhallen for explaining it. Like I said, first MMO. I’m not really familiar with “treadmill” and “gear grinding” lol but they’re pretty self-explanatory.

Legendary weapons will be adjusted, thats all. Under the proposed system, current exotics will eventually completely be phased out. This directly contradicts the core design principles anet themselves announced in their so called “manifesto”. They specifically marketed the abandonment of the traditional WoW-esque gear progression as a unique major selling point, beginning with gw1 and held true to it all that time through the entire life span of gw1, and openly said they would stick to it for gw2 as well.

Under these circumstances, I think it is ok to be slightly pissed now.

Swoo.5079:

Arnath.2319:

This Guild Wars 2 community makes me sick. Look at how you are all acting! Your behaving like pathetic spoilt children.

They have NOT broken any promises introducing Ascended gear, this is not a “gear treadmill” and it is not even a grind!

They are introducing TWO new items with this patch, a ring and a backpiece, the majority of you complainers will easily get those items within hours of the dungeon opening and you can all go back to your simple boring lifes until they introduce two more Ascended items a few months from now.

Its TWO items, only two, there is no grind there, stop pretending there is.

Ascended items are here to create the illusion of charector progression, it is gated on purpose so the very large amount of players who do enjoy a more stat increases progression with there hero will be encouraged to keep playing for a longer period of time.

Also, this is where the stat increase ends, if you payed attention to the blog you would noticed that this increase is a once off, yes they did say they would add more Ascended items but there stats what get any bigger than that.

I honestly hope all you complainers stop, take a deep breath, and think for a second instead of raging on the forums.

These changes are now inevitable, it is only TWO items to start with, that wont kill anyone, this wont be the end of the game. Life will continue i promise.

Did you miss the part where they said they will continue to expand it and eventually you will able to have a full kit of Ascended items?

And of course the same folks that had full exotics a few days after the game went live will have them in a few days (unless they make them achievable only to a minority, which is probably worse).

No i did not miss that part but clearly you missed that part where i mentioned that in my post!

Yes they will add more Ascended gear, i said that allready, but the stats wont increase, this is NOT a gear treadmill, this is not like WoW, this is not the end of the world.

This is a once off thing to keep a overwhelming majority of players happy.

I have to say after reading the blog I’m fairly disappointed. Count me as one of the people that loved the lack of gear grind in GW1 and was happy to hear it would continue in GW2.

Yes the stat differences are relatively minor, but my question is how does this end? Do we get a new set of gear to grind for with every content update? After I’ve filled out all my slots with ascended are you going to add a new tier above that?

It’d be one thing if the stats were the same and the infusion slot was the only difference. In fact, that’d be totally fine. Or if EVERY piece was craftable. But making this the next level up, making parts of it drop only in a super hard dungeon, that’s a total betrayal of your golden rules.

I’ll keep playing but I sort of doubt it will last as long as I thought it would.

Bhelliom.5324:

If we wanted gear progression i would go back to wow.. as well its already established and does it better.

Also the amount of bug fixes that could have been done instead of adding new stat progression gear…

This and This. And also force people to do dungeons over and over.
+1

Here are a few quotes from Linsey Murdock’s post about the upcoming new gear.

1) ‘we have found that our most dedicated players were achieving their set of Exotic gear and hitting “the Legendary wall".’

2) ‘Our desire is to create a game that is more inclusive for hardcore and casual players alike, but we don’t want to overlook the basic need for players to feel like they are progressing and growing even after hitting max level.’

3) ‘The only way to mitigate Agony damage is by building up resistance through Infusions, a new type of upgrade component that can be acquired in the Mystic Forge.’

First concern: Now it is my understanding only ascended gear can use infusions as an upgrade component. This therefore puts me into a thought process whereby ascended gear becomes, for the casual player, a necessity in order to do the new dungeon(s), due to the difficulty of doing it without a far of agony cleansing. Obviously this makes something of a barrier to entry where said casuals will have to acquire the gear via the trading post, which raises my next concern.

Second concern: Based upon the fact that this is introduced because of people hitting the legendary wall rather quickly, logic dictates that this new gear will be exceedingly expensive, else the ‘ascended wall’ will be hit by these players in a matter of days. I sincerely hope I am wrong on this one, but surely in order to stop the wall being reached so fast that the update doesn’t matter anyway, the costs have to be very high.

Final concern: Now if you read the second quote it seems contradictory. Because of concern 1 and 2. If this new dungeon has agony which is supposed to be an almighty new condition that sounds as though it must be cleansed to win, then surely that rules out appealing to a casual player. Again with concern 2, if it is to not disadvantage so greatly the casual and still be obtainable to the casual, then the ascended gear wall will be hit so fast as to make the updates prime focus a failure.

The only hope is that the infused upgrades do not give stat bonuses but only agony mitigation. If you look at the image the stat difference between an upgraded exotic and ascended gear isn’t enormous. Yet that gap could be so if infused upgrades give a bonus to stats as well as agony mitigation.

Dogblaster.6713:

Naoko.7096:

People are really so paranoid here. 56 pages.
Don’t worry too much. -_-

- PLEASE Read This -

They still live by their philosophy. Why can’t you guys see that?
More importantly, what are you guys afraid of?

GW2: Ascended gears are just another tier. It’s not a requirement to have it to experience any future new content X/Y/Z. You can have fun with all in-game content and dungeons with any tier equipments. You don’t need to grind to experience content X/Y/Z.

Traditional MMO: Better gears are needed to experience new contents, story in PVE and raids. Those gears are a mandatory requirement to reap the fun of the the new content X/Y/Z. Players are forced to grind just to experience newer content.

They are so different.
Yet, it ponders me why can’t people see it.

You dont get it do you, current ascendent gear will last for how long ? 3 months? year?

Then they introduce even more poverful ascendent gear so its start again. THis is not their philosophy..

Guild Wars philosophy = you obtained best gear (aka exotic) and there will never ever better gear. stat wise. Even after 7years the armor you equiped at release, was the best.

Every player was equal, WvW vs PvE players, those who dont likes dungeons had the same gear in wvw like those who runs dungeon only.
After this update, those who run dungeons and have ascendent gear, they will have advantage over those who dont, in wvw .. .DO YOU GET IT?

I don’t think that you get it… That is boring to most people hence the change.

This is Guild Wars 2 not Guild Wars 1. Things change. Either you adapt or you quit. (Or go back to Guild Wars 1.)
Sorry to see ya go, but don’t let the door hit ya in the buttocks!

less than 2 weeks ago i got the full mad king set on the premise that exotics were the top tier thus justifying the expenditure now they are obsolete , how long till the new ascended gear is obsolete?

the way i see it there are 4 main problems

1. new + stats depreciates older content cause without these you cant see all content
2. agony gating in the dungeon creates barrier to entry if going deeper than the first few bosses
3. need to pve to remain competitive in pvp
4. listening to QQ from people who complain it isn’t enough like the mmo they left and have now gone back to

what i believe should be done:

1 scrap stat increases or include ascended gear from more sources

2 if agony is a must for mechanics crate a new set of consumables that give agony mitigation/ dmg
ie “essence of the mists – protects you from agony by 5/10/15% for 30/60/120 min”
"glamour of the mists -deal 3% more damage to enemytype and have a 10% chance to reflect attacks "
these could be dropped by bosses as you go deeper and improve as challenges increase so you get longer lasting /better potency from later bosses with some entry level crafted

3. PVP ascended gear or no issue if you dont increase stats

4. learn lesson and stick to design principles in future, this is the important part because if you keep contradicting yourselves, it will kill off the player base as nothing you say will be trusted

for example
previous stance:
token drops were nerfed to stop people farming the first few bosses in dungeons to get exotics – not intended behaviour – players can do all bosses without exotics

current stance:
farm the first few bosses in fractals dungeon for ascended gear – intended behaviour –
you cannot progress to later bosses unless you do this

i’m sure the contradiction is pretty apparent, its moves like this that turn me off developers,
decide what your vision is and stick to it, don’t change things to accede to player crying, those players knew what they were getting into when the game launched, by changing the game for them you screw over the players who got the game for exactly what it is.

There will always be a subset of players that demolishes content faster than you expect and get bored, you can either cater to them or the rest of the player base

Flynch.6034:

yarpen.1364:

OMG PPL
its not better buy “3 precision”. Its better buy 8%. Its a lot.
Second if they intruduce ascended armors = armors get more defense. New weapons = more weapon damage. Better stats are making those difference even higher.

Its like rare vs exotic. Only a moron can tell that there is no difference at all.

Currently players are able to complete ALL content in the game without using Exotics. Exotics just make life slightly easier. This is not the definition of a requirement, it is the definition of player choice. This will be the same.

edit: regards to outside the dungeon that is. Inside of the dungeon, stats will be meaningless as we’re all going to be in different gear anyway, just with 1 or 2 items the same, at the start.

Read the blog post: You won’t be able to clear the new dungeon unless you have Ascended Gear.

In addition: No mechanic needs better gear, everything you can think of can be done with exotics, we don’t need higher stats to make new mechanics work. Higher stats only allow higher numbers, that’s all.

All they said is they added a new tier of gear.
It seems full exotic is too easy to get, and legendary way too hard.

It didn’t say they will keep on adding new tiers all the time. They just phase in the new tier smoothly, starting with a back item and rings….

Loumy.7841:

I hope there will be alternative ways to get this gear other than grinding dungeons.
I don’t mind paying real money for it, I can understand that companies need to make money to survive, and GW2 is a fun game that I want to support.
I can see myself grinding for some of the gear, and buy the rest of it for for gems or something.

I don’t have time to – or want to grind dungeons forever.

It says something about mystic forge and maybe you don’t need to grind. Maybe it will drop like green and blue stuff in the current dungeons. Maybe maybe, we don’t know until we try.

Pixelninja.6971:

Gear Treadmill = GAME OVER

No more Money from me.

It is a good thing then that Ascended items are in no way shape or form and in anyway even remotely close to a “gear treamill”.

Its also a good thing that Arenanet hates “gear treadmills” as much as we do and has not and will not introduce such a system.

Valhallen.1693:

bamono.7098:

Ok cool. I was afraid there was some glaring problem I couldn’t see.

The reason for the rage is many of us left World of Warcraft because we were tired of the gear treadmill. Guild Wars 2 was supposed to be a revolutionary next gen MMO that didn’t have said treadmill. Now, not even 3 months into the game, Anet has created a gear treadmill.

Having to work for gear to improve your character is called grinding or progression. That’s fine, and is expected in any MMO. Having to replace your “end game” gear with new “end game” gear when a new major content patch comes out is NOT progression, it’s a never ending treadmill. Ascended gear is exactly that. Here’s some quotes from Anet:

“New Condition: Agony

In the upcoming Fractals of the Mists dungeon, we’ll introduce a new monster condition called Agony.

This extremely dangerous condition ticks percentages of player health away and can’t be cleansed by normal means. Players who wish to delve deep into the Fractals will find that Agony makes progress increasingly difficult, until they reach the point where some defense against this condition is a must. The only way to mitigate Agony damage is by building up resistance through Infusions, a new type of upgrade component that can be acquired in the Mystic Forge."

“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.

As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content."

This is why we’re pissed.

Once Ascended gear (Armor, weapons, the works) is out there for all to get (and I think Anet deserves some credit for releasing this stuff slowly, over a period of time), it doesn’t matter. This is a framework they’re putting down. It says that some challenges will require infusions to prepare you for the content; NOT new gear. This is software, everything is malleable; all it takes is the ability to hot-swap infusions and you won’t be grinding gear, you’ll just acquire new forms of protection against the challenges you face.

If they do this right, it’s a good thing. I get the negativity, but personally (and I feel like the only one?) I think this is a positive change. It’s too early to call it the death of GW, as so many seem to be. It’s a feature, and carefully implemented, it’ll work well.

I disagree with the idea of ascended gears! please take into consideration people like myself who had to grind the kitten dungeons for like what…everyday..over a span of 2 weeks and under the effect of DR just for the silly tokens. I suggest that our devs test this out for themselves before pulling stunts like this.
GWs’ philosophy was never about stats/attribute scaling its should bemore or less focused on skill… of course it is understandable that there might be people who disagree and would simply say “hey if you are pvp-oriented, just head to the mist”
however i would like to remind you that wvswvsw do exist and guilds get together to win for their servers. with an inclusion of acended gears i see an imbalance and a whiff of unfairness.

my view(s) are:
- make ascended gears only usable in dungeons, or at least make them on par with exotics in world vs world. [down-scaling]
-remove the extra stats when out of dungeons

thank you

Naoko.7096:

People are really so paranoid here. 56 pages.
Don’t worry too much. -_-

- PLEASE Read This -

They still live by their philosophy. Why can’t you guys see that?
More importantly, what are you guys afraid of?

GW2: Ascended gears are just another tier. It’s not a requirement to have it to experience any future new content X/Y/Z.& You can have fun with all in-game content and dungeons with any tier equipments. You don’t need to grind to experience content X/Y/Z.

Traditional MMO: Better gears are needed to experience new contents, story in PVE and raids. Those gears are a mandatory requirement to reap the fun of the the new content X/Y/Z. Players are forced to grind just to experience newer content.

They are so different.
Yet, it ponders me why can’t people see it.

Seriously? I think you need to read the blogpost again.

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

Here, let me give you some nice quotes too:

“This extremely dangerous condition ticks percentages of player health away and can’t be cleansed by normal means. Players who wish to delve deep into the Fractals will find that Agony makes progress increasingly difficult, until they reach the point where some defense against this condition is a must. The only way to mitigate Agony damage is by building up resistance through Infusions, a new type of upgrade component that can be acquired in the Mystic Forge.”

Valhallen.1693:

bamono.7098:

Ok, not trying to have a fight about whether they should or not, I just don’t get why people are raging. It sounds like they’re keeping the top tier items top tier according to her own post. Why does everyone keep saying it won’t be?

The screen shot in the article shows that Ascended gear will have slightly better stats than exotics with gems already built in, plus a new slot for infusions. This obviously makes current exotics they will replace completely obsolete.

yep and this new changes will make me want to play the game again because i already feel bored after i had acquired all the exotic weapons and armors i want and i do not want to farm Plinx on Orr like the Risens for some useless “legendary skin.”

Korrigan.4837:

IonicBlaze.7948:

In my eyes A-net will lose more than win with this bullkitten

It’s pretty obvious when you look at the reactions. Only a tiny minority like the change, the vast majority dislikes it.

Not really. The amount of QQers on the forums is always higher than the amount of people who are happy with everything. That’s because people who are happy, and like the new changes, have no real reason to post on the forums, while the negative people make huge QQ threads like this one to show how unhappy they are.

A thread like this one doesn’t say a thing about the people who like it / people who don’t like it ratio.

Sorry I didn’t read through the whole thread, but I’m a bit confused about Ascended gear.

Will it only give you an advantage in the new dungeon? Or are the infusions something we’re supposed to shoot for to be efficient in any PvE setting? Also how is this going to effect PvP, if at all?

If it’s only for the new dungeon I’m partially ok with that. But what’s supremely troubling about this is that Arenanet wants to cater to the WOW/traditional MMO crowd over their new community. They might be telling us now that this is the only gear upgrade we’re getting, but it sounds like they want to leave some wiggle room for future ‘tiers’.

If this is all that MMO’s today have to offer I think I may just stick to single-player games.

Maybe they’re just testing the waters with this announcement. If not, it’ll be clear that the old vision of GW is gone and we’ll be left with something much more mediocre. That’s too bad, because the Halloween event and updates were smashing.

Flynch.6034:

yarpen.1364:

OMG PPL
its not better buy “3 precision”. Its better buy 8%. Its a lot.
Second if they intruduce ascended armors = armors get more defense. New weapons = more weapon damage. Better stats are making those difference even higher.

Its like rare vs exotic. Only a moron can tell that there is no difference at all.

Currently players are able to complete ALL content in the game without using Exotics. Exotics just make life slightly easier. This is not the definition of a requirement, it is the definition of player choice. This will be the same.

no
On wvwvw 5% more damage is huge difference. It can mean that your oponent get down or survive and use heal. On pve imo exotics are just waste of time because of this change? It’s probably better to stick with rares →skip exotic part → get ascended.
But for wvwvw this is just bad change.

Also anet said that ppl are getting legend too fast. But it’s because 95% of mats needed for legend can be bough with just gold.
For now I can get legendary in maybe a weak. Just need to spend a lot of real money to get gold to boy all those mats, precursos and lodestones. Than do 100% map, get some gift from dungeon and thats all.
Without using real money it’s just pointless. It would take ages for me to get 400 gold for precursor. But anet made it that way.

hplee.2839:

yep and this new changes will make me want to play the game again because i already feel bored after i had acquired all the exotic weapons and armors i want and i do not want to farm Plinx on Orr like the Risens for some useless “legendary skin.”

I would point out that gear “progression” is just as cosmetic as the “legendary skins” you farm but going by your posts on the matter, you seem too conditioned already to see why.

Arnath.2319:

This is a once off thing to keep a overwhelming majority of players happy.

Overwhelming majority? I suggest you read this thread again, for a reality check…

MrLee.6892:

Dogblaster.6713:

Naoko.7096:

People are really so paranoid here. 56 pages.
Don’t worry too much. -_-

- PLEASE Read This -

They still live by their philosophy. Why can’t you guys see that?
More importantly, what are you guys afraid of?

GW2: Ascended gears are just another tier. It’s not a requirement to have it to experience any future new content X/Y/Z. You can have fun with all in-game content and dungeons with any tier equipments. You don’t need to grind to experience content X/Y/Z.

Traditional MMO: Better gears are needed to experience new contents, story in PVE and raids. Those gears are a mandatory requirement to reap the fun of the the new content X/Y/Z. Players are forced to grind just to experience newer content.

They are so different.
Yet, it ponders me why can’t people see it.

You dont get it do you, current ascendent gear will last for how long ? 3 months? year?

Then they introduce even more poverful ascendent gear so its start again. THis is not their philosophy..

Guild Wars philosophy = you obtained best gear (aka exotic) and there will never ever better gear. stat wise. Even after 7years the armor you equiped at release, was the best.

Every player was equal, WvW vs PvE players, those who dont likes dungeons had the same gear in wvw like those who runs dungeon only.
After this update, those who run dungeons and have ascendent gear, they will have advantage over those who dont, in wvw .. .DO YOU GET IT?

I don’t think that you get it… That is boring to most people hence the change.

This is Guild Wars 2 not Guild Wars 1. Things change. Either you adapt or you quit. (Or go back to Guild Wars 1.)
Sorry to see ya go, but don’t let the door hit ya in the buttocks!

Yet according to a poll only 20% actually like this change. 80% dislike it and over 50% will leave over it. How is this the change needed when they will lose half there player base to a change like this?

Arnath.2319:

This Guild Wars 2 community makes me sick. Look at how you are all acting! Your behaving like pathetic spoilt children.

They have NOT broken any promises introducing Ascended gear, this is not a “gear treadmill” and it is not even a grind!

They are introducing TWO new items with this patch, a ring and a backpiece, the majority of you complainers will easily get those items within hours of the dungeon opening and you can all go back to your simple boring lifes until they introduce two more Ascended items a few months from now.

Its TWO items, only two, there is no grind there, stop pretending there is.

Ascended items are here to create the illusion of charector progression, it is gated on purpose so the very large amount of players who do enjoy a more stat increases progression with there hero will be encouraged to keep playing for a longer period of time.

Also, this is where the stat increase ends, if you payed attention to the blog you would noticed that this increase is a once off, yes they did say they would add more Ascended items but there stats what get any bigger than that.

I honestly hope all you complainers stop, take a deep breath, and think for a second instead of raging on the forums.

These changes are now inevitable, it is only TWO items to start with, that wont kill anyone, this wont be the end of the game. Life will continue i promise.

It’s not a grind now, but it will be in the future. Look at the blogpost. This is just the beginning.

“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. "

“As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game. Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content.”

They completly crushed their old item philosophy. It’s the beginning, the start of a treat mill and they start the hard way of making GW2 a random MMO waste.

nachtnebel.9168:

Flynch.6034:

yarpen.1364:

OMG PPL
its not better buy “3 precision”. Its better buy 8%. Its a lot.
Second if they intruduce ascended armors = armors get more defense. New weapons = more weapon damage. Better stats are making those difference even higher.

Its like rare vs exotic. Only a moron can tell that there is no difference at all.

Currently players are able to complete ALL content in the game without using Exotics. Exotics just make life slightly easier. This is not the definition of a requirement, it is the definition of player choice. This will be the same.

edit: regards to outside the dungeon that is. Inside of the dungeon, stats will be meaningless as we’re all going to be in different gear anyway, just with 1 or 2 items the same, at the start.

Read the blog post: You won’t be able to clear the new dungeon unless you have Ascended Gear.

In addition: No mechanic needs better gear, everything you can think of can be done with exotics, we don’t need higher stats to make new mechanics work. Higher stats only allow higher numbers, that’s all.

It’s an artificial way of increasing and scaling difficulty across the multiple (unlimited) runs. The stats will be the same, they can’t simply incrementally change the mobs on the fly as that’s harder to balance than having one single mechanic that affects everyone equally. The stat increase can be taken or left. It’s negligible.

I read the blog post – it’s clear to me that the first run will probably not even require the Agony-resists, and that the new gear is a requirement after the first few scaled runs. Else they’d give us a whole set straight off the bat.

Plunder.8195:

All they said is they added a new tier of gear.
It seems full exotic is too easy to get, and legendary way too hard.

It didn’t say they will keep on adding new tiers all the time. They just phase in the new tier smoothly, starting with a back item and rings….

Which is gear progression and therefore bad.

Gear is not obtained too easy, it’s rather the other way round, it takes a while to get a full exotic set with runes and sigils. Compared to GW1 there is already more then enough vertical progression in GW2.

“you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game”

More Ascended item types means Ascended pieces for more slots. At first you won’t be able to get a full set of Ascended gear because they won’t exist for some slots. So that’s not adding more tiers on top of Ascended, it’s just filling out the rest of the slots.

More infusions, well infusions are to deal with agony. Agony is found in the Fractals dungeon. So they can add increasing strengths of infusion, but it’s only useful in the Fractals dungeon.

If you aren’t farming far into the dungeon you don’t need infusions. If you are farming far into the dungeon, you’ll have them by then anyway.

The Ascended items have slightly higher stats than normal items. But, they have no normal upgrade slots. So the stats you would get from a normal upgrade slot is built in. Instead of a normal upgrade slot they have an infusion slot, which is useless everywhere else.

If you add up the power on the 2 items in the screenshot they gave, you gain 5 power. This is something you can easily go without if you don’t want to do the new dungeon.

As it is people are running dungeons in rare MF gear, which is a little worse than “proper” exotics.

So yeah, not sure what exactly warrants the amount of hysteria around the forum.

I wote nay, one of the big selling points for the game was the lack of a gear treadmill and not forcing ppl to grind.

nachtnebel.9168:

Flynch.6034:

yarpen.1364:

OMG PPL
its not better buy “3 precision”. Its better buy 8%. Its a lot.
Second if they intruduce ascended armors = armors get more defense. New weapons = more weapon damage. Better stats are making those difference even higher.

Its like rare vs exotic. Only a moron can tell that there is no difference at all.

Currently players are able to complete ALL content in the game without using Exotics. Exotics just make life slightly easier. This is not the definition of a requirement, it is the definition of player choice. This will be the same.

edit: regards to outside the dungeon that is. Inside of the dungeon, stats will be meaningless as we’re all going to be in different gear anyway, just with 1 or 2 items the same, at the start.

Read the blog post: You won’t be able to clear the new dungeon unless you have Ascended Gear.

In addition: No mechanic needs better gear, everything you can think of can be done with exotics, we don’t need higher stats to make new mechanics work. Higher stats only allow higher numbers, that’s all.

You do know that you can’t clear the new dungeon right? It’s infinite. Each level consists of 3 mini-dungeons chosen from a pool of 9 (with a boss every 2 levels), and you don’t need infusion till much later on. You can see all the content without touching infusion.

I strongly disagree with the increased stats, because it affects all content throughout the game, but honestly I don’t mind the infusion part.

Veldan.4637:

Korrigan.4837:

IonicBlaze.7948:

In my eyes A-net will lose more than win with this bullkitten

It’s pretty obvious when you look at the reactions. Only a tiny minority like the change, the vast majority dislikes it.

Not really. The amount of QQers on the forums is always higher than the amount of people who are happy with everything. That’s because people who are happy, and like the new changes, have no real reason to post on the forums, while the negative people make huge QQ threads like this one to show how unhappy they are.

A thread like this one doesn’t say a thing about the people who like it / people who don’t like it ratio.

Sorry bro, this is kind of a big deal for people who decided they loved this game after two months of playing it, despite the bugs, gold spamming etc. All the haters went back to their MMO of choice already.

Veldan.4637:

Korrigan.4837:

IonicBlaze.7948:

In my eyes A-net will lose more than win with this bullkitten

It’s pretty obvious when you look at the reactions. Only a tiny minority like the change, the vast majority dislikes it.

Not really. The amount of QQers on the forums is always higher than the amount of people who are happy with everything. That’s because people who are happy, and like the new changes, have no real reason to post on the forums, while the negative people make huge QQ threads like this one to show how unhappy they are.

A thread like this one doesn’t say a thing about the people who like it / people who don’t like it ratio.

I go see the forums almost daily despite the fact that I have nothing to complain about. You’re pulling this “only whiners post on forums” out of nothing to defend your minority side that likes the ascended stuff.

yarpen.1364:

Flynch.6034:

yarpen.1364:

OMG PPL
its not better buy “3 precision”. Its better buy 8%. Its a lot.
Second if they intruduce ascended armors = armors get more defense. New weapons = more weapon damage. Better stats are making those difference even higher.

Its like rare vs exotic. Only a moron can tell that there is no difference at all.

Currently players are able to complete ALL content in the game without using Exotics. Exotics just make life slightly easier. This is not the definition of a requirement, it is the definition of player choice. This will be the same.

no
On wvwvw 5% more damage is huge difference. It can mean that your oponent get down or survive and use heal. On pve imo exotics are just waste of time because of this change? It’s probably better to stick with rares ->skip exotic part -> get ascended.
But for wvwvw this is just bad change.

Also anet said that ppl are getting legend too fast. But it’s because 95% of mats needed for legend can be bough with just gold.
For now I can get legendary in maybe a weak. Just need to spend a lot of real money to get gold to boy all those mats, precursos and lodestones. Than do 100% map, get some gift from dungeon and thats all.
Without using real money it’s just pointless. It would take ages for me to get 400 gold for precursor. But anet made it that way.

You’re assuming that only a select few players will have access to this 5% increase because you’re assuming the gear can only be acquired inside a dungeon. It’s the old ‘PvE affecting PvP’ complaint, only it’s completely broken as the gear will be readily available to anyone. 5% across the board for all players is the same as 0%.

If the gear was gem purchasable only then you’d have a point, or if it was only available inside the dungeon. But it won’t be.

Yep, I’m excited for the new items.

That being said, I’m also slightly concerned that they’re adding a new stat tier already (even if it is only a 5% stat increase or something). If the items aren’t immensely difficult to get, I’ve no complaints; if they require some massive grind, I’ll be a little butthurt. No point feeling too strongly about the items before they’re out though. We don’t have enough information at this point, imo.

If I wanted to play GW1 I would do so. And I don’t , it’s terrible game. If they made GW2 to be improved graphics GW1 they Should say it. I bought GW2 coz it was NOT ment to be better looking GW1.

saurus.8290:

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Those situations arent comparable.

But they are. An overall 8% change in the game balance is a lot.

Id take a lot of different rune sets over a 1% crit rate increase and a bit of extra power any day.

And your point is?

Thats about all your getting with the new equips

No. Using percentage as argument too we are getting 8% change. Not just 1%.

2600 atk with exotic 2610 atk with ascended hows that a 8% change?

Ok. Its not 8% change… And I am lazy to do all the math to get the exactly value. That is not the point.

The point is they are increasing the final attribute value you will get with the new gear. In other words: your current exotic gear is not the best gear you can get. And the X content is not available to your chars without that new Y variable = Agony/Infusion from the new gear.

SiNoS.2147:

MrLee.6892:

Dogblaster.6713:

Naoko.7096:

People are really so paranoid here. 56 pages.
Don’t worry too much. -_-

- PLEASE Read This -

They still live by their philosophy. Why can’t you guys see that?
More importantly, what are you guys afraid of?

GW2: Ascended gears are just another tier. It’s not a requirement to have it to experience any future new content X/Y/Z. You can have fun with all in-game content and dungeons with any tier equipments. You don’t need to grind to experience content X/Y/Z.

Traditional MMO: Better gears are needed to experience new contents, story in PVE and raids. Those gears are a mandatory requirement to reap the fun of the the new content X/Y/Z. Players are forced to grind just to experience newer content.

They are so different.
Yet, it ponders me why can’t people see it.

You dont get it do you, current ascendent gear will last for how long ? 3 months? year?

Then they introduce even more poverful ascendent gear so its start again. THis is not their philosophy..

Guild Wars philosophy = you obtained best gear (aka exotic) and there will never ever better gear. stat wise. Even after 7years the armor you equiped at release, was the best.

Every player was equal, WvW vs PvE players, those who dont likes dungeons had the same gear in wvw like those who runs dungeon only.
After this update, those who run dungeons and have ascendent gear, they will have advantage over those who dont, in wvw .. .DO YOU GET IT?

I don’t think that you get it… That is boring to most people hence the change.

This is Guild Wars 2 not Guild Wars 1. Things change. Either you adapt or you quit. (Or go back to Guild Wars 1.)
Sorry to see ya go, but don’t let the door hit ya in the buttocks!

Yet according to a poll only 20% actually like this change. 80% dislike it and over 50% will leave over it. How is this the change needed when they will lose half there player base to a change like this?

What poll? Please link.

If it’s a poll from the Guild Wars 2 forums, then it’s not a very accurate poll since only 5-10% of the player base doesn’t even visit the forums.

Man this feels like the elections again!
Fox has a poll showing Mitt in the lead, but then you change it to NBC and it shows Obama in the lead!

LOL

Korrigan.4837:

Arnath.2319:

This is a once off thing to keep a overwhelming majority of players happy.

Overwhelming majority? I suggest you read this thread again, for a reality check…

These forums are what, like 1% of the Guild Wars 2 community. People who have to complain do so very loudly, while those who are happy rarely say a thing.

Also, i highly suspect that once Arenanet explains the system to you uneducated fools the majority of people complaining now will grow to like it too.

No to Ascended items that creates “gear progression”!!!

I do NOT want gear progression in this game. Please.

Dogblaster.6713:

Naoko.7096:

People are really so paranoid here. 56 pages.
Don’t worry too much. -_-

- PLEASE Read This -

They still live by their philosophy. Why can’t you guys see that?
More importantly, what are you guys afraid of?

GW2: Ascended gears are just another tier. It’s not a requirement to have it to experience any future new content X/Y/Z. You can have fun with all in-game content and dungeons with any tier equipments. You don’t need to grind to experience content X/Y/Z.

Traditional MMO: Better gears are needed to experience new contents, story in PVE and raids. Those gears are a mandatory requirement to reap the fun of the the new content X/Y/Z. Players are forced to grind just to experience newer content.

They are so different.
Yet, it ponders me why can’t people see it.

You dont get it do you, current ascendent gear will last for how long ? 3 months? year?

Then they introduce even more poverful ascendent gear so its start again. THis is not their philosophy..

Guild Wars philosophy = you obtained best gear (aka exotic) and there will never ever better gear. stat wise. Even after 7years the armor you equiped at release, was the best.

Every player was equal, WvW vs PvE players, those who dont likes dungeons had the same gear in wvw like those who runs dungeon only.
After this update, those who run dungeons and have ascendent gear, they will have advantage over those who dont, in wvw .. .DO YOU GET IT?

MMO needs progression. If not, it’ll die as a limited game with no growth.

The philosophy is just you making it up.
You perceived their philosophy in the wrong way to begin with.

Their philosophy is for you to have fun with every content the game has to offer without grinding. You are still able to experience every content X/Y/Z with a low-tier equipment.

You won’t have advantage towards others.
A fine and exotic don’t even have any notable difference. Do you realise that most of the WvWvW players are using the green masterwork tier? They can beat exotics equally. What difference does ascended makes? Few dozen stats = 1-2% increase in actual combat. You can’t beat someone who are 1-2% stronger than you?

The point is, the game must have progression, even if it’s small numbers.
Dedicated had fun when they go from white to blue. Blue to Green. Green to Yellow. Etc.

No, I hate the new ascended items.

No, for even slight gear progression!

Yes, for the new content!

illgot.1056:

Jrunyon.3012:

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Wagnard.4027:

Jrunyon.3012:

Those situations arent comparable.

But they are. An overall 8% change in the game balance is a lot.

Id take a lot of different rune sets over a 1% crit rate increase and a bit of extra power any day.

And your point is?

Thats about all your getting with the new equips

No. Using percentage as argument too we are getting 8% change. Not just 1%.

No. Its an 8% precision increase, but that only adds up to about a 1% increase in the actual critical hit rate.

no, 8% of 1% is .0008%, not 1%… stop using math to argue with please.

Wut..
Thats not what I said at all. Im saying the resulting precision gain from the ascended gear (your 8%) counts towards about a 1.5% – 2% increase in the critical hit rate. They are separate terms. Do you understand? And before you say it, yes I realize thats different then the 1% I originally posted. My point still stands however.

Parthis.2091:

Once Ascended gear (Armor, weapons, the works) is out there for all to get (and I think Anet deserves some credit for releasing this stuff slowly, over a period of time), it doesn’t matter. This is a framework they’re putting down. It says that some challenges will require infusions to prepare you for the content; NOT new gear. This is software, everything is malleable; all it takes is the ability to hot-swap infusions and you won’t be grinding gear, you’ll just acquire new forms of protection against the challenges you face.

If they do this right, it’s a good thing. I get the negativity, but personally (and I feel like the only one?) I think this is a positive change. It’s too early to call it the death of GW, as so many seem to be. It’s a feature, and carefully implemented, it’ll work well.

I agree that this is probably a good game design that would give people more incentive to play longer…if it were the only MMO on the market. The problem is, it’s not. World of Warcraft is the 800 pound gorilla, and the only reason Guild Wars 2 gained so much popularity, relative to the other non-WoW MMOs in recent years, is because Anet promised things would be different. Ascended items are a major step toward becoming a WoW clone.

Now it’s Ascended, next it will be superior ascended, followed by perfect, replaced by even MORE perfect…etc.

The ONLY reason I finally quit WoW and switched to this game was because they promised there would be no treadmill. You were supposed to level up, get your top level gear, then be able to do anything you wanted. NOT be forced to grind new gear every new dungeon, something that is heavily suggested in their recent article, and highlighted in the quotes I posted.

If I have to choose between playing a WoW clone, even one as pretty as GW2, and playing WoW, I’m going to play WoW.