Guild Wars 2

Lyer.1905:

LFM FoM, must need ascended gear with infusions, link gear in whispers

Oh boy, this exactly is what I’m running away from bad bad bad memories.

I am against the stat increase and that ANet didn’t follow their own manifesto.

The stat diference is not a lot, it is about 8% (taking numbers from other people that posted, yes I’m reading most of this), the problem is not the new content, the problem is not the new updates, the problem is that we have been cheated with false promises. They now are using the carrot method, and as the blog post says “this is just the beginning”, that is why I mention again, I dislike this stat upgrade.

It’s like if they said, “No way, we’re not going to do that. That’s what other games do but GW2 is different” and few months later… “What? I don’t recall mentioning we wouldn’t do this.”

1. They said lvl 80 gear would be balanced and that it would be skill based and not stat based, in this case, they’re applying the carrot method so that you get the new gear and your legendary weapon (which I didn’t plan to get in the first place) to get the most of it.

2. They said gear would be mostly for looks as in GW1, well, not anymore.

3. They said we’d be able to get the gear in different ways, pve, wvw, dungeons, buying it, crafting, etc. well, that’s out too because you need to do the dungeon and craft it with what you get in the dungeon. You’d say “it’s the same as people farming for citadel of flame”, well, not, because that gear has the same stats as the others that can be found in a drop, people do that dungeon mostly for the looks only.

4. They said we’d have a nice economy with the crafting systems, well not anymore, and now even crafted jewellery is out the window because of these new items that are better, even if it was 0.01% better, the point here is, it is opening the door to higher stat level gear in the future…

5. They said that exotic armors and weapons would have the same power as the end-game, well, not anymore, they even are modifying the legendary weapons to match in power the new ascended gear… then you now have to focus your time in a dungeon to farm this new gear because you have to, not because you want to.

6. They said end-game would always be there always, oh but now end-game is now focused in a dungeon and in farmin for legendary weapons.

Even if it is a very small stat upgrade, 8% advantage is 8% advantage, and it will never be other thing than 8% advantage however you want to look at it. There’s no other way to call it than gear treadmill.

And yes, I do feel robed and cheated, they sold us a fake idea. Again, if they want to add new content I am more than happy with that, but don’t even think of changing the stats of items or upgrading the items to make other end-game content useless. I come from games where “Oh look, new gear that has 10 stats more than what you have, go get it because your’s is useless now” is very common and that’s why I purchased GW2, thinking it would be different than all the other games out there as stated in their manifesto, well, this is nothing like what they said.

- My previous post was deleted, who knows why, probably because it was a bit harsh, but it’s my opinion and that’s what I have to say of this update. Hope this one won’t be deleted…

Take it back ArenaNet, you’re still in-time, I don’t care if you don’t release it the date you said, just, simply, do it right.

Remember what you said about grinding Colin, no grinding. Ree, remember what you said, not building the same MMO again. “The most important thing in a game should be the player, we’ve built this game for them”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FU1JUwPqzQY

I wonder if anet will think about this again…

Garenthal.1480:

Fiasco.3501:

No screw you. Yes, ANet please make this new change and spice thing up. Thank you.

…it doesn’t spice anything up. If you want a gear grind, there’s countless other MMO’s available for that. Why does the MMO that promises to be different have to end up becoming WoW with better graphics? >_>

Gear grind is completely artificial in it’s ‘spicing’ ability. There are countless methods of adding non-gating progression and ArenaNet has proven that they are much more than capable of being imaginative.

Amra.6028:

Burn.5401:

Exactly. This gear is meant to be used specifically in the new dungeon and I suppose only the hardest encounters will require that special condition protection. Whiners gonna whine.

…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…”

There’s 9 “paths” within the dungeon. From the start, 3 “paths” are automatically chosen for you. Once you complete all 3 you arrive back at the start to be faced with another 3. After that, you get to fight a boss. After that, it goes back to the first step. Every time you complete a path (3 “paths”), the difficulty (agony) increases.

The dungeon goes on and on and may be limitless or until you’re overwhelmed by agony. The only need for agony protection is when you choose to continue going. If you just wanted to see all 9 paths or kill the 1 boss, you don’t need any, because if you did, well then, it’d simply be impossible since that’s how you get it.

As for the bosses, they may or may not be randomized. If they’re random, then that’s it. If they’re not, only those with full agony protection will ever see the last one and that one will probably drop the good stuff.

This is a fail second only at Dark and Light, NGE e Diablo 3…

I wish there would be some sort of official response to all of the “feedback”. Even though I don’t agree with the changes, it is getting out of hand at this point.

i think they have to think about it…it is nt only the englisch forum talking about it… this much voices they cant ignore

So I just spent 242k two days ago on a skin I absolutely HATED just because it had the stats I wanted (power vitality toughness) assuming it was going to be the best gear until the next expansion at the very least. (I know I could have grinded dungeons but I had the karma and I didn’t like any of the dungeon armors that had those stats I was going to transmute with T3 cultural armor set anyway).

So the karma I gathered in almost 3 months of gameplay is going to waste because you didn’t even bother to give a heads up that you were going to go completely against your game design?

I think I deserve a karma refund at the very least :S, seriously.

Bubbles.2507:

From GW2 manifesto

“Because, like Guild Wars before it, GW2 doesn’t fall into the traps of traditional MMORPGs. It doesn’t suck your life away and force you onto a grinding treadmill; it doesn’t make you spend hours preparing to have fun rather than just having fun;”

Screw me for believing this amirite?

Yep screw all of us who bought the game just because of our belief in their own manifesto.

ANet, I DON’T WANT VERTICAL PROGRESSION! Like many have said it, if I want that, I will get back to WoW, to SWTOR or whatever else. I am a casual player looking to have fun for a long, long time in this game. I know the stats increase are minimal, but isn’t this just the first step, a sign for things to come? What about the Manifesto, guys? Many of us love this game so much exactly because it’s different.

And you know what happens when you please the players who are hunting for stats? They want bigger stats! Just wait for two weeks and you’ll see the same ol’ threads pop up. And meanwhile you’ll slowly start to infuriate your fanbase.

So if this item progression was just an experiment to test the community, my vote is: drop it. You guys proved that you have a ton of imagination, there must better ways to fix this end-game debate.

Am I the only one who is not concerned about the Ascended gear? I shrugged at it, and I was more excited about the new map and the new event. Anyone else unfazed by this new tier of gear?

I have to say, for a game that so many people are calling ‘dead’ the update announcement is certainly bringing a great deal of response.

I was worried about gear serving to gate content until it was pointed out by Vexies on GW2Guru how we all get to experience the dungeon content since you get three random levels and the infusion just limits how far you can push in the random levels.

This sounds like it’s another one of those experimental ideas of ArenaNet. So far those ideas been working out pretty well IMO. If this one works it might become a standard like how dynamic content seems to be popping up in the talk of upcoming MMOs.

What I really wonder is whether ArenaNet planned this from the beginning and if they’re implementing it sooner because people tore through content so quickly

I am against a system where grinding to get the best stats will be required.

Grinding for skins no problem, it is about a personal choice, grinding for stats means the players with the ability to put the most time in get an advantage independently of their ability to master the game, in fact with the gem shop and the ability to get in game gold for gems and thus top level items from the trading post for real money it turns the game from its fundamentals.

I can already see the dungeon groups : “What, … you don’t have that gear, what a noob” where’s the fun in that?

You aren’t the only one, but you are one of the few. Gear in an MMO is a highly, highly controversial topic. Always.

Teva.2807:

Why is everyone freaking out and acting like this is “God 1 hit everything” gear? its only 8 more stat points, 3% magic find, and You cannot even apply a talisman/rune to it. Not to mention that the stats are ONLY power/prec/magic find. Also, it has similarities to legendaries. And yes, legendaries ARE better than exotics, even though it isnt by much. So basically, this gear is only good for dungeons since there is agony condition.

Power/precision/magic find? Sounds optimal for farming, but the worst possible combination for dungeons, and magic find is arrogant to bring into WvW. Legendaries are utility wise better than exotics for dungeons because although the stat amount is the same, the particular stats are the best possible combination for a dungeon going DPS: Power/vitality/toughness is the holy trinity of DPS dungeon stats.

I’m having a hard time believing this. It goes against everything that was supposed to make GW2 the new era in MMOs.

I’ve been spending all my ingame gold, and some real life cash for transmutation stones to buy/craft a set of exotic armour that looks just the way I like, and now this?

Power creep is the very last thing I was expecting. I really don’t have time to play a gear grind MMO. I never have. That’s why I chose GW2 in the first place!

Think I may have to take a break for a while, come back in a month or two and see if the madness has been nipped in the bud or not.

Yeah you are not the only one,

obiemvy.5632:

Another voice of displeasure here. I love the idea of infusion. But I hate that there are stat increases to this new armor. It’s basically ANet stating it’s alright to throw away their ideals that the majority of us came to GW2 for… I probably won’t quit GW2… but this is a deep blow to the heart and I don’t know how much longer I will continue to play if these “blows to my heart” continue.

I’m all for infusion slots, just not for stat increases. Infusions are an ingenious Idea! But they should be more like GW1, where you do a quest/event/dungeon to get your current exotic armor to become infuse-able. It shouldn’t be an increased new tier of armor with higher stats. Base stats should stay the same with the only change being the ability to have infusion slots upgraded to your current armor set.

Agreed, and furthermore this stat creep doesn’t put money in Anet pockets. We don’t pay monthly subscriptions here, making me put more time in to get new things doesn’t give Anet another month’s subscription. Granted people that play more may spend more in the cash shop, but you don’t need to start going back on the ideals laid out in development to get people to play more.

I’m not going to stop playing over these changes, but this is a big warning sign for me. The devs set the bar high in the manifesto, and to start falling back to the old MMO staples of character progression (gear ladders) shows a lack of forethought and commitment. Ultimately, the devs could do everything they want in this expansion without changing items stats. So why are they raising the stats? I only see worrisome answers to that question.

forget the new gear tier. if you’re trying to motivate players expand pvp. how come there’s no GVG in GUILD WARS ?

Add new PVP disciplines such as:

» GVG
» Team Arenas (deathmatch so to speak, not the “capture the point spvp stuff”)

Add a global ranking, titles and emotes (e.g. /fame) to pvp disciplines, maybe special rewards for GVG tournements that can be used in PVE too (cool skins, only available from pvp)

3 months in and this…

I’m so sad for my beloved game. Slow players are screwed as they won’t have time to make old gear before new gear comes out. To structured PvP I go.

Legendaries are NOT better than exotics. Unless you mean stat allocation-wise. But the stats are not better. Get your facts straight. And people are concerned because this is only the START to the treadmill. It will only get worse here on out. We need to take a stand NOW before it gets there.

Lack of a treadmill was a huge draw for many of us. And it was a core philosophy from Anet that they constantly brought up. Now they are going back on that.

Straight from Anet:
http://www.arena.net/blog/is-it-fun-colin-johanson-on-how-arenanet-measures-success#more-8572
“Fun impacts loot collection. The rarest items in the game are not more powerful than other items, so you don’t need them to be the best. The rarest items have unique looks to help your character feel that sense of accomplishment, but it’s not required to play the game. We don’t need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional, so those who find it fun to chase this prestigious gear can do so, but those who don’t are just as powerful and get to have fun too.” – Colin Johanson

Can we stop silencing the criticism with this containment thread too, or is that too much to ask for? The playerbase at large DOES NOT WANT a new gear tier. SOME PEOPLE might, but GW2 was never made for that obsessive, no-life audience. This is supposed to be a skill-oriented game where max stat gear is readily attainable.

This is the first step in gear progression with more armor and weapons coming later with other dungeons (see blog post). So right now the difference is not huge but add say 3% crit damage across 6 prices of armor and 6 accessory items and now you have 36% extra. It’s not what it is now its what it will become that people are talking about.

From there I don’t know where they are going to take it. Maybe we will get lucky and that will be that and just your infusions will have to change for end game pve and they will bring ascended level gear into wvw as a badge purchasable item and all will be even. Who knows?

nastyjman.8207:

Am I the only one who is not concerned about the Ascended gear? I shrugged at it, and I was more excited about the new map and the new event. Anyone else unfazed by this new tier of gear?

I’m with you. I look foward to the new map but unfortunately I will be out of town for the new event.

DoctorOverlord.8620:

I have to say, for a game that so many people are calling ‘dead’ the update announcement is certainly bringing a great deal of response.

I was worried about gear serving to gate content until it was pointed out by Vexies on GW2Guru how we all get to experience the dungeon content since you get three random levels and the infusion just limits how far you can push in the random levels.

This sounds like it’s another one of those experimental ideas of ArenaNet. So far those ideas been working out pretty well IMO. If this one works it might become a standard like how dynamic content seems to be popping up in the talk of upcoming MMOs.

What I really wonder is whether ArenaNet planned this from the beginning and if they’re implementing it sooner because people tore through content so quickly

Based on the fact that prior to this patch, ANet publicly spoke out about how gear grinding was against their philosophy…I’m going to go with no, they did not plan this from the beginning.

More powerful items are asked by those players who have a lot of time to spend farming an equip they need to compensate their lack of skill

piitb.7635:

Spend a week getting exotic gear. Good.
Spend a week getting the new ascended pieces. Bad
That about sums it up.

Spend a week getting the new ascended rings in a dungeon.
Spend a week getting the ascended backpiece by collecting forge mats.
Spend a week getting the December patch’s ascended gloves from Fractals-tier2.
Spend a week getting the February patch’s ascended pants from Fractals-tier3.
…rinse and repeat: new dungeon content and new ascended gear to “help” you enjoy it.

From the blog post:
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.

I agree, we’ve known for a while that there will be gear progression, I just hope it will be slow. I don’t even have all exotic or rare gear yet and other people having all exotic hasn’t stopped me from enjoying the game.

Better and more PvP options like balancing how WvW matches up servers better by looking at player numbers during certain times rather than last weeks score. Adding random arenas without objectives and adding Guild vs Guild battles.

Better drops (not better stats) from NPC’s especially boss mobs in dungeons. Give them a chance to drop ultra rare versions of the dungeon armor and weapons with additional looks or effects. Maybe even a chance to drop legendary weapons.

Add many of the Mystic Forge recipe weapons to the loot tables for world champion mobs with a small chance to drop.

Hiring more people in the art department to continually come up with new armor and weapon looks that can be found from world drops. We have “named” sets in game like Mhenlo’s armor http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mhenlo%27s_Armor_Set but it looks no different than the level 70 range exotic set.

A level 80 story line should be added and it should be a throwback to GW1. Take away our pre 80 choices of race, background and faction and give us an awesome story to play through like what we had in GW1. Many of us want something engaging that takes us to places that may be a work in progress (a few quests in an outpost in Elona, or one district in the Dominion of Winds for example). These places aren’t finished and will probably be in an expansion but these level 80 story lines could give us a taste of what is to come and a peak of the incredible lore in the world of Guild Wars.

There are already plenty of things to expand on for the endgame. It sort of feels that everything was put in the game half way done and they are wondering why it’s not working so their next plan is to introduce a gear treadmill.

Where are our mission challenges from GW1? Where are the really hard mobs from GW1? Where are the unique named “green” items from named bosses from GW1? Why does GW1 offer more PvP options?

I’m biased because I posted my opinion but just a few of my ideas could be expanded on and introduced to the game to offer an “endgame” without a gear treadmill. We were promised a game without grind and without a carrot on a stick and sadly it looks like the developers have changed their minds.

Edit: The new dungeon sounds great honestly, but the whole issue we have at hand could have been prevented by copying the gear infusion from GW1. You can even make the infusion process change the gear color to pink so people can show off their PvE Fractals of the Mists infused Exotic gear that doesn’t include a gear with better stats but still allows players to venture further and further into the dungeon.

Antitheist.5306:

Finally, it does not seem that there are plans for gear beyond this tier, so it’s not a treadmill.

Are you that naïve?

Crackbone.5710:

Korrigan.4837:

Nimraphel.7819:

Wintyre Fraust.6534:

jboynton asks: “How does GW2 maintain its position as a revenue driver without that income in future quarters?”

How does aborting the design manifesto – which, arguably, drove those sales in the first place – help raise revenue from a game that has no subscription? Are hardcore players the top consumers of cash shop items? I doubt it. Are hardcore gear-grinders going to produce the same kind of B2P expansion sales (when one comes out) as launch? If ANET alienates everyone who bought GW2 because of that manifesto, and because of the non-grind “whole-world” end game philosophy, what are those expansion sales going to be?

It seems to me we’re witnessing a potential SWG moment here; ANET can alienate everyone who came here specifically because of what GW2 was billed as, promised to be, and for three months now has delivered by changing the core nature of the game. And for what? Players that endlessly run from game to game seeking a means to satiate a never-ending quest for avatar progression/power?

This post cannot be stated enough. This is the crux of the matter.

Wintyre, my new friend, you nailed it. Couldn’t have said it better.

And you don’t think they’ve gone over this internally ad nauseum? You aren’t stating anything they haven’t discussed, of that I am sure.

Every argument and counter argument for the introduction of this new tier of gear has likely been gone over with a fine tooth comb.

Well, you could have said the same thing when the game first came out, when they said there would be no gear-grind treadmill. Only thing is, they said they listened to player feedback and then decided to go off in a different direction. Okay, if they decided to go on a different direction due to “player feedback”, we’re giving them some more player feedback, because apparently “player feedback” from forums and such is how they make their design decisions, even to the point of betraying their original manifesto.

Which brings us to another point: where did they get their “player feedback” in the first place? Forums? I have an idea: before a game company decides to betray everyone who bought your game due to a core design manifesto based on “player feedback”, why don’t you run a log-in poll or questionnaire so you can get a REAL idea about how the player base feels instead of just what the most vocal say on forums?

How about a login poll that asks: What content would you like to see added first? Followed by a multiple-choice list and a place to write something in. Or: “How would you feel about adding another tiered set of armor that would make some content in the game exclusive to those that had that armor?

I remember EQ used to run log-in questionnaires. I forget what the subject was, but once the overwhelming consensus on the forum was one thing, and the log-in poll showed that the actual player base felt exactly the opposite in overwhelming numbers.

i’m sure people in aion wow and swg said the same things bro.

piitb.7635:

Which situation is a bigger jump in power levels?

A newly dinged level 80 compared to an 80 in full exotics

or

A full exotic level 80 to someone wearing 2 pieces of ascended gear + exotics

Does not matter.
Ascended without upgrade slot is already ~7.5% better than Exotics. Still unknown how much the Infusion slot is going to add to that number.

I’m not too thrilled b/c it’s introducing a gear grind into WvW. There was a slight one already, but exotics were easy enough to get.

ninja sloth.2658:

I’ve been spending all my ingame gold, and some real life cash for transmutation stones to buy/craft a set of exotic armour that looks just the way I like, and now this?

And now they want us all to do it again with the new gear. It seems they want more of our money just like every other game company and they don’t seem to care about the negative results as long as the next quarterly report satisfies their stock holders. Forget about the long term. They’d rather skin the sheep instead of shaving it every so often. What a lazy, greedy, heartless move on ANet’s part, selling out to appease a fickle vocal minority of WoW trolls.

I have to agree with the OP. This extra “tier” is a minor increase compared to exotics for those who are worrying about those sort of things. If you don’t want to do the new dungeons you don’t have to – you are no worse off – but the folks who want to “raise the bar” can do so. It seems to me that ANet is being logical in trying to appease the power players and also to give people more of a reason to join a guild (which is a good thing IMHO) and vital to the longevity of the game.

Being around for quite a while in MMO’s I understand that peeps complain about anything new. I have thought for quite a while that people will never be 100% on the same page and will usually argue based on their own perspective rather than about the “good of the game”.

Anyway, I am applauding ANet on the new tier. It is needed IMHO and will stop the game from stagnating. I am giving them a C+ on getting rid of the botters (there is progress), and a D on fixing the broken events. Thus, I am not a unabashed fanboy blind to the issues.

Sirge.8934:

How have MMOs lacking gear treadmills, such as Guild Wars 1, kept an active player base through the years? Discuss.

Keeping an active player base only requires compelling gameplay, which GW1 has and GW2 does not. Gear treadmills are basically an admission that the game itself is not interesting enough to keep people playing, so the developers are going to just keep throwing goalposts in front of you instead. Without going into too much detail:

GW1 = fully customizable skill bars, endlessly shifting metagame, people changing up their skills and weapon/armor mods all the time to adapt and counter each other despite nothing really new being added to the game since 2007.

GW2 = skill bars mostly fixed to a weapon, utility skills have too long of a recharge or too subtle an effect to significantly change gameplay, general feeling of sameness in every encounter, people have no reason to change out of their optimized build and gear set.

Solution? Create more powerful gear so that you have a reason to go after new items. Abuse your new power until everyone else catches up, then get bored until more new powerful gear comes out, and so on… the definition of gear treadmill. Treadmills are about patching the holes in an inherently dumbed-down, uninteresting gameplay system to make you feel like you’re getting something in return for all the mindless grinding that you’re about to do to get it. Because what you’re not getting is fun, which echoes exactly what a lot of other complaints are saying about this game.

At the very least everyone should be able to agree on this:

Fun games do not need any other incentive to keep players interested. Period.

The question, therefore, is not “how do we expand” but “how do we make things that are already there enjoyable?” At the end of the day, games are about gameplay. You either have it or you don’t. And that more than anything is the wall that separates GW1 and GW2. If you have good gameplay, you don’t need updates. If you need updates, but they don’t improve gameplay, then you’re going to need updates endlessly.

I think they should do exactly what they are doing with Fractal mists, progression with out the gear grind.

pittb, I understand what you’re saying but that is currently. Don’t forget that the blog indicated that they are also going to make it viable to be decked out in full armor too. It’s not a slippery slop argument… they’re going to do it.

How this effects PvE is just as much my concern as it affects W3 since I play both equally as much. I haven’t completed my Orr sections for the map completion yet, but since many of the skill points are attached to temples, how many people are actually going to do them if they plan to skip from Exotics to Ascended? The temples (when not bugged) do require a bit of people and it’s already hard to find them without the added gear stat increase.

So not only does this affect my W3 experience slightly, but if people are already skipping Rares from Masterwork to Exotic, what is so hard to believe that people will skip from Rare to Ascended or Masterwork to Ascended? What then happens when enough people skip the Exotics that it actually affects group areas where Exotics are an added objective? How is that going to affect the Exotic market and crafting?

It’s more complicated a scenario than just a few people complaining about their W3 issues. There’s PvE issues too that will feel the effects of a tier of armor that will make Exotics an unnecessary time sink.

We also still don’t even know how it’s going to work with crafting. Are they going to add a new tier to crafting too so that once you reach past 400 you can craft Ascended gear? Are they going to leave it 400 then and making crafting worthless to do except if you want some extra Exp?

While I agree freaking out about something we don’t have enough information on is… silly. I do think there are a lot of unknowns that can effect a variety of people and they way they play the game. This new armor could very well be a game changer it may not be but Anet isn’t helping anyone by not being clear with what their exact intentions are regarding this and how it’s going to affect future content updates. Are we to except the gear ceiling to be raised again? I mean if they are making the statement now that Legendaries are the top spot of gear why should we do anything but work towards that and that only just so we can always be in top gear and not have to worry about gear tiering anymore?

At what point do we, as players, stop worrying that when we finish collecting a set that we won’t have to start the process all over again? I ask this because Anet said they wouldn’t do that yet they did, so what is to stop them from doing again and again and again? Where do we as players trust Anet won’t just do it again to continue to retain a player base that is not what their original goal was to retain?

piitb.7635:

Spend a week getting exotic gear. Good.

Spend a week getting the new ascended pieces. Bad

That about sums it up.

Pretty much… I’ve just hit 80 myself and am starting on the path to acquire exotics. I’m not worried that any items I pick up may soon be replaced by ascended gear as it’s all part of the journey.

Obtaining exotics isn’t required to enjoy the game or access the content, and it will be same for the new ascended gear. The one exception may be for the new Fractals of the Mist dungeon, but the blog indicates that Agony & Infusions become more prominent as you progress further into the dungeon, so I’m confident it won’t be an issue for pug groups.

piitb.7635:

Spend a week getting exotic gear. Good.

Spend a week getting the new ascended pieces. Bad

That about sums it up.

If you pay for my new Fine Transmutation Stones I’ll be fine with the update.
I’ll need like 25 or so.

We need a word from an ArenaNet dev on this topic. Not blog posts, but real people just posting their honest thoughts in this thread for us. We need some explanation as to their thoughts with Ascended gear and their future goals. We need clarification on this topic. You have an almost 100 page thread and we’re not making any progress until ArenaNet engages with us in this conversation. Please.

Natural.7013:

I am real happy they are putting what makes MMOs great into this game.

I am real unhappy that they are putting what makes other run of the mill MMOs tedious and soul-sucking into this game.

Just chiming in to say that I really disagree with this decision, and I am incredibly disappointed to see Anet take this route with their game. The game is great as it is, and really doesn’t need added gear grind.

I just lost a lot of faith in this company.

Daendur.2357:

More powerful items are asked by those players who have a lot of time to spend farming an equip they need to compensate their lack of skill

but even if you are the smartest player in the world, if you fight a full exotic stuff with the poor stuff, you will loose.

grind gear game = poor gameplay like GW2 =/= GW1

Ascended gear should be looked at as something that should’ve been in the game sine day one. It lets you take bonuses in exchange for your flexibility, and honestly, when damage and defence are multiplicatives instead of additives flexibility/balanced stats outweigh min/maxing. I will accept the existence of Ascended gear IF AND ONLY IF no other tiers of gear are ever added, they have no use. Now onto the real issue in this update.

Infusions
Infusion has a lot of potential to be used with new game mechanics like agony. For example: “This infusion provides half the normal defense against agony, but while suffering from agony you do X% more damage/crits cause fear/ etc. etc.” Or “this infusion provides double defense against agony, but you take X% more damage from normal attacks/deal X% less damage/etc. etc.” Infusions of this nature have the ability to create interesting trade offs where you build around having agony up often, or lower your DPS to take most of the agony for the party. What is NEVER ok is for infusion to provide stat boosts unrelated to new game mechanics as that gives back the flexibility you traded for the small ascended stat boosts.

Please do not post your thoughts about any aspects of the patch outside of what I’ve detailed, there are other threads for that.

“Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.”

When I purchased GW2, this is what I believed. I was purchasing something different. Something special. Arenanet, you have the power to keep this game special. Please make this decision carefully.

Actually, I do have a problem with new tier of gear. No space to put all these armors I’d like to get. There’s really no point having anything beyond a damage, support, magic find and if you’re into it, WvW set. That’s 4 sets of armor, which is 24 slots total taken up if you get a WvW set. Yeah, ANet, if you’re gonna add more armor, do something about the storage that doesn’t involve having to buy bank slots, because you can only have a finite number of those anyways. Yeah, I know GW1 was similar, but we didn’t have nearly the amount of items in GW1 that are in GW2 this early on. I bought one additional bank tab and its already full – I didn’t fill this many tabs this quick in GW1.

“This new rarity type falls between Exotic and Legendary on the spectrum of rarity and has slightly higher stats than Exotics.”

I read this and logged out. Lost all motivation to play. Will log back in when it goes live to see how it goes. Hope its not time to quit this game :/

The introduction of these asc gears is a signal that more tiers/more powerful gears will come.

So, no.