Guild Wars 2

When I was researching this game years before it was released, all I ever read was how it was going to be different (and better) than other MMOs. One of the attractive points here was that endgame gear could be gotten by any way you wanted, whether dungeons, world drops, buying it with gold or karma, or making it, but either way, all gear would be equal, right? Clearly, now that is a lie. Everyone in WvW running around in this new armor (which is better than any other armor) will have an advantage over those who aren’t running around in it. No matter how small the advantage, and advantage is still an advantage. This is pure garbage, ANET. This is… revolting.

Ryth.6518:

Actually the forums aren’t the majority. You should have learned that from other MMOs.

And I think I am one of the judges because ANet feels the same way and I never saw them say otherwise. You can interpret their stuff the way you want but they NEVER said there wouldn’t be progression gear or content, and I know for fact because I talked to them at Comic Con exactly about their end game and they said they would have something similar to exactly what they are introducing now.

So sorry if you felt you were sold a fake bill of goods but they never said there wouldn’t be gear progression, they said there wouldn’t be a need for 10-25 man people and the need for a gear treadmill.

And your definition of treadmill vs theirs and mine is not the same.

You either didn’t read, or chose to ignore, what Colin stated about not having gear “progression”. The fact remains that there’s a significant number of people unhappy with this move. You can hunker down and pretend that perception isn’t reality. Whether or not Anet shares your definition is irrelevant. The customer pays the bills.

This is a very bad idea, and runs directly opposite to your promised goals for the game. Please back down from this while you can still do so gracefully. My thoughts while reading your press release went as follows.

“New high level zones”
“Great.”

“that require your grind out some infusion buff before you can go inside”
“Uh, okay. Inconvenient but alright, I guess I can just not go if I don’t want to grind out the buff.”

“Oh, and by the way, we’re introducing a new tier of gear that will completely invalidate your current exotics.”
“kitten!”

This is what made me quit WoW, and it will make me quit GW too.

While I appreciate a response, what I don’t understand is why he feels that there is a stat gap between exotic and legendary that needs bridging.

There is no stat gap at all, let alone one that needs bridging.

There is an effort gap, but as long as the only difference is a skin and “prestige” there is no issue.

It’s only by instituting a stat gap with this update that there would ever be a need to bridge it.

What I’m reading by the dev response, is a solution to a problem that only exists by implementing this solution…. They are in essence creating the problem, then implementing a half-fix simultaneously.

Does that seem odd to anyone else?

Dungin.2983:

I’m still not sure why you would invest 600 hours playing a game hear one announcement and uninstall it. The real question is how many people did this already and didn’t post about it due to endgame being a complete joke.

A secondary question would be why would you have such negative feelings over a game company that refunds your money after you play it’s game for 600 + hours?

Arena.net and Ncsoft seem pretty great to me. /shrug

becaus ei have my principles. i will not be blatantly lied to.

i have negative feelings about ArenaNet. GW2 up to this day is an awesome game, albeit bugged like hell. come November 16th, i’m not so sure.

i don’t have any negative feelings towards NCsoft, they processed my request promptly and to my satisfaction.

i just took a firm stand against this kind of behavior towards the customer base and in fact, this is the only way i can express my discontent as a customer.

Mr. Whiteside…

Your message does little to allay my concerns about upcoming changes in GW2.

As the game stands now, I have no interest in grinding for a legendary. I dislike most of the skins pertinent to my character, and given my commitments in Real Life, I see no point in the grind. And that’s a GOOD THING — other people can grind, if it makes them happy. But their desire to grind in NOW WAY makes their character “better” than mine, as it stands now.

You’ve wrecked that with the new gear.

My main character has a set of equipment she likes; I play the game for pure enjoyment at this point, and am pleased that I don’t need to grind gear as I did in WoW. I like my Mystic Longbow.

You have just undone my happiness. Now, if I want to do the latest content, I must get a legendary (the bows are just plain ugly or stupid, BTW), because you’ll be making legendaries/ascendeds BETTER than exotics. I’ll need to replace my current weapons and armor with new ones if I expect anyone to bring me along on new content.

Even worse, you’ve gated access to ascended items via multiplayer content. I play at odd hours and when I have a few minutes, or with family. I’m not anti-social, but I don’t like having my character’s viability locked to multiplayer content. It’s no different than forcing PvP players to do PvE for something necessary in WvW — a terrible idea that ruins one of the foundations of GW2, in that I should be able to play how I want.

I do nor want gear progression. You have JUST added gear progression. Why should I trust you to not inflate stats further in future content, and REQUIRE those stats to play new content?

Okay okay okay, we got some confirmation about how the system is going to work. It’s a gap closer between exotic and legendary not a treadmill starter. The gate mechanic is still there and that sucks BUT if it stays in that dungeon then it’s not really a big deal is it?

Can we let this beast die now? I’m ashamed I started this thread to begin with..

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Okay okay okay, we got some confirmation about how the system is going to work. It’s a gap closer between exotic and legendary not a treadmill starter. The gate mechanic is still there and that sucks BUT if it stays in that dungeon then it’s not really a big deal is it?

Can we let this beast die now? I’m ashamed I started this thread to begin with..

There was no gap between exotics and legendaries. Legendaries were exotics with a unique skin. The stats were the same.

The gap between exotics and legendaries will be introduced with this patch when legendaries get bumped in tier to be on par with ascended weapons.

tldr: this patch introduces the gap.

Mitsu.5193:

So much nonsense, they are adding a tier that to be completed requeres MORE grind than exotics but LESS grind the legendarys, sry but i dont sea a treadmill here.

I agree with you 100% there, exotic set are really easy to obtain and legendary really hard, there’s not a problem in my mind in adding an intermediate tier that will appeal, I think to most people.

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Okay okay okay, we got some confirmation about how the system is going to work. It’s a gap closer between exotic and legendary not a treadmill starter. The gate mechanic is still there and that sucks BUT if it stays in that dungeon then it’s not really a big deal is it?

Can we let this beast die now? I’m ashamed I started this thread to begin with..

Too bad, it’s what all of us were feeling the moment this announcement was made, was going to happen anyways. And the term “gap closer” doesn’t hide what this truly is in the slightest: power creep and gear grinding

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Okay okay okay, we got some confirmation about how the system is going to work. It’s a gap closer between exotic and legendary not a treadmill starter. The gate mechanic is still there and that sucks BUT if it stays in that dungeon then it’s not really a big deal is it?

Can we let this beast die now? I’m ashamed I started this thread to begin with..

No we can not.

There was no gap between legendary and exotic. They had the same stats.

They are creating the gap now… lol.

Also, this thread is made from lots of merging, you are just the lucky one at the top heh.

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Okay okay okay, we got some confirmation about how the system is going to work. It’s a gap closer between exotic and legendary not a treadmill starter. The gate mechanic is still there and that sucks BUT if it stays in that dungeon then it’s not really a big deal is it?

Can we let this beast die now? I’m ashamed I started this thread to begin with..

We´re not done here yet.

It´s a gab closer to a gab that they created with this gab closer.

Fingal Hoy.4129:

Mitsu.5193:

So much nonsense, they are adding a tier that to be completed requeres MORE grind than exotics but LESS grind the legendarys, sry but i dont sea a treadmill here.

I agree with you 100% there, exotic set are really easy to obtain and legendary really hard, there’s not a problem in my mind in adding an intermediate tier that will appeal, I think to most people.

Legendaries require a huge grind to get. So their answer to this grind is to add more grind?

Listen,

Whatever problem you guys are trying to solve here is solvable within your existing framework.

I think I get it. You want people to want Legendary stuff, and get after it. That’s part of the strategy. But you can’t just outright boost their stats, because then people are obligated to participate in that massive stupid grind.

So, you introduce Ascended items.

That’s where you messed up. You failed to solve the problem within your own unique character, and adopted what people say works.

The answer exists already – skins and sideways progression, MORE Legendary items.

The current legendary items didn’t inspire the masses, and were a little bit out of reach. Very true. So introduce some new ones… with unique (journey oriented) requirements and different skins.

I honestly thought until today that Ascended items was just a whole new set of gear skins, for every armor type, cool looking stuff we would want to go get. I thought it was funny that you didn’t just call them Legendary, but now I guess we know why.

Now of course it’s possible this is about money and player retention…

…in that case consider this: you will never truly compete with the 800 pound gorilla by giving up your competitive edge.

But you know what you can have? A smaller playerbase of people who like to spend money on your game, and would respond positively to “fundraisers” in the future if the need was present. Loyalty. More than any other type of business (outside of perhaps Religion) could ever hope to achieve.

Trust your PRODUCT, gentlemen. You know… the one you’ve been boasting about, taking pride in, and holding up as a shining example of “how we do it ’round here”. Fix the flaws and bugs, and give it time to blossom. You haven’t ever tried releasing a new set of exotic or legendary skins.

Trust your PLAYERS. Not these fly by night types who will bounce from MMO to MMO looking for that once great feeling they had… the never ending high of becoming God-Like in relation to wherever they started. No, trust the players who know what you are about. The ones who loved GW 1 not because of specific skills, but because it stopped forcing us to be button pushing monkeys and let us THINK about the game, PLAY against each other, and have a blast doing it. Or how about the ones who found this game as a last ditch effort to salvage a loved pastime that had been fouled by a never ending grind necessitated by an ever hungry mob of people who want a constant sense of growth for their in game persona.

Trust those players, because we invested in YOUR vision. Do you understand that?

Not once have I ever said that I was about to lose trust in this company or it’s people. I am saying it now.

Fingal Hoy.4129:

Mitsu.5193:

So much nonsense, they are adding a tier that to be completed requeres MORE grind than exotics but LESS grind the legendarys, sry but i dont sea a treadmill here.

I agree with you 100% there, exotic set are really easy to obtain and legendary really hard, there’s not a problem in my mind in adding an intermediate tier that will appeal, I think to most people.

The idea is that max stats should be easily gotten by all. This allows player skill and builds to be the difference, not stats.

Adding ascended items and making legendaries better than exotics just makes another layer of gear an issue, rather than focusing on other horizontal growth.

Gilandred.9870:

Ryth.6518:

Actually the forums aren’t the majority. You should have learned that from other MMOs.

And I think I am one of the judges because ANet feels the same way and I never saw them say otherwise. You can interpret their stuff the way you want but they NEVER said there wouldn’t be progression gear or content, and I know for fact because I talked to them at Comic Con exactly about their end game and they said they would have something similar to exactly what they are introducing now.

So sorry if you felt you were sold a fake bill of goods but they never said there wouldn’t be gear progression, they said there wouldn’t be a need for 10-25 man people and the need for a gear treadmill.

And your definition of treadmill vs theirs and mine is not the same.

You either didn’t read, or chose to ignore, what Colin stated about not having gear “progression”. The fact remains that there’s a significant number of people unhappy with this move. You can hunker down and pretend that perception isn’t reality. Whether or not Anet shares your definition is irrelevant. The customer pays the bills.

Colin didnt’ state gear progression, he stated gear treadmill.
——-
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.”
——-
They should just make the gear cosmetic (that will quiet the ‘treadmill’ crew though they are wrong on what a treadmill is) and make it that you can’t progress to new content unless you beat the previous progression dungeon, etc…via an achievement..so if you haven’t beating Progression Dungeon A, you can’t do Progression Dungeon B until you get the achievement.

So, um. No one read the entire post. Or did you guys just skim it?
-Ascended is a gear between Exotic and Legendary. Meaning that Legendary will possibly stay the max, while armor is tinkered with below it.
-Infusions: This item is found, by default, in Ascended gear. Players will be able to craft Infusion “gems”. These gems can be slotted into gear, what “type” of gear hasn’t been clarified.

So there is no real power creep until Legendarys themselves are considered outdated.

The work they are asking for is not terrible nor is it the end of the world. There is a HUGE difference between running a dungeon on a 1 week cooldown and HOPING you get an armor drop vs running a difficult dungeon and knowing something you can use will drop.

Fingal Hoy.4129:

Mitsu.5193:

So much nonsense, they are adding a tier that to be completed requeres MORE grind than exotics but LESS grind the legendarys, sry but i dont sea a treadmill here.

I agree with you 100% there, exotic set are really easy to obtain and legendary really hard, there’s not a problem in my mind in adding an intermediate tier that will appeal, I think to most people.

Cheap Exotics that make you look like crap are easy to gain.

I have been farming daily for my cool looking higher level exotics for the pass month. Those are not easy to gain. Ascended should just be better looking exotics, not more stats.

Legendaries did not have more stats, till now that they are releasing ascended. If they truly want Ascended to be the middle ground between legendary and exotic. Then it should have the same stats as currently exotic and legendary have but look better with some sound / animation effects.

Adding stats and gating is just lazy programming.

Sytherek.7689:

Mr. Whiteside…

Your message does little to allay my concerns about upcoming changes in GW2.

As the game stands now, I have no interest in grinding for a legendary. I dislike most of the skins pertinent to my character, and given my commitments in Real Life, I see no point in the grind. And that’s a GOOD THING — other people can grind, if it makes them happy. But their desire to grind in NOW WAY makes their character “better” than mine, as it stands now.

You’ve wrecked that with the new gear.

My main character has a set of equipment she likes; I play the game for pure enjoyment at this point, and am pleased that I don’t need to grind gear as I did in WoW. I like my Mystic Longbow.

You have just undone my happiness. Now, if I want to do the latest content, I must get a legendary (the bows are just plain ugly or stupid, BTW), because you’ll be making legendaries/ascendeds BETTER than exotics. I’ll need to replace my current weapons and armor with new ones if I expect anyone to bring me along on new content.

Even worse, you’ve gated access to ascended items via multiplayer content. I play at odd hours and when I have a few minutes, or with family. I’m not anti-social, but I don’t like having my character’s viability locked to multiplayer content. It’s no different than forcing PvP players to do PvE for something necessary in WvW — a terrible idea that ruins one of the foundations of GW2, in that I should be able to play how I want.

I do nor want gear progression. You have JUST added gear progression. Why should I trust you to not inflate stats further in future content, and REQUIRE those stats to play new content?

The problem is:

Many people that play the game 3-5 times per week for more than a few hours of time are ready for something new (hence why I’m not in the game and find the forums more entertaining.)

My translation of this post is as follows:

I would like the gear that I have to be the best of the best 1 year from now, so I can log on 3-5 hours per week and run the latest content. I’d like to take breaks for months at a time in a ‘persistent and changing world’ and be able to be on equal ground with all when I return on my whim.

While this is a nice idea it sounds a lot like a single player game. The people that are here the most will dictate the content. I am not saying I am an elite gamer by any stretch, the legendaries are way out of my league. You can’t develop content for people that pop in in a fairweather fashion to play.

As it was all this game had was an altoholic appeal (aka SW:TOR — we know how that worked out..) I hate alts. I don’t want to level my character to 80 to start another. In fact, I did start another, and didn’t even make it to level 10. Why?! Because zones are dead there is nothing to do at endgame except for jumping puzzles with greens that await and pats on the back in the form of achievements.

This isn’t Guild wars 1, in fact, Guild wars 1 was a glorified lobby game (aka single player — yes a game where you could form your own entire groups and never interact with a soul.) So sure, in GW1 you could come back months later and it would be like nothing changed. I bet I could log in now and fire up a group and my armor wouldn’t matter. I also would be playing completely alone. This is not to say GW1 wasn’t an amazing game, but it was not an MMO …BY definition.

I fire up an alt in GW2 and I am playing absolutely alone.

This patch doesn’t fix that, but it gets people playing together again, and in a new shiny area.

Dungin.2983:

This patch doesn’t fix that, but it gets people playing together again, and in a new shiny area.

So without ascended items and infusion people wouldn’t play together again, and in a new shiny area?

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Okay okay okay, we got some confirmation about how the system is going to work. It’s a gap closer between exotic and legendary not a treadmill starter. The gate mechanic is still there and that sucks BUT if it stays in that dungeon then it’s not really a big deal is it?

Can we let this beast die now? I’m ashamed I started this thread to begin with..

Eh, if it wasn’t you, then it would have been someone else. :/ At least you will be known!

I am just really against the gate. Everyone should be able to play the new dungeons without having to get the Ai to survive it. This content should have been more about skill and not about more gear (no matter how few there will be at the beginning) to get to enjoy the new content.

GW2 was supposed to be different, a bastion of hope for those who wanted skill to be greater than gear. We held dearly to that Manifesto and so it was truely heaven…for a little while.

Now that has change and it will become just another direct competitor to a game that will crush GW2 just like it has done to every other clone out there over the past 8 or so years.

GW2 was unique and now it will not be. Such a sad turn of events.

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Okay okay okay, we got some confirmation about how the system is going to work. It’s a gap closer between exotic and legendary not a treadmill starter. The gate mechanic is still there and that sucks BUT if it stays in that dungeon then it’s not really a big deal is it?

Can we let this beast die now? I’m ashamed I started this thread to begin with..

Except there is was/is no gap between exotic and legendary. They have the same stats. There is no need to “fill in” a non-existent gap. Legendary gear was never about feeding any sense of progression; it was about providing a sense of accomplishment, which is why the difference between top end gears was purely aesthetic.

There is no way to serve a sense of ongoing progression without a gear treadmill. If aesthetics provided that sense of progression, there would be no need to put higher stats on the Ascended gear. Period.

I understand Anet looking for neat end game things. That’s great.

Why not look towards things like a Hall of Monuments or player housing or some other ways to get neat stuff that doesn’t directly raise player combat stats.

There are lots of neat options out there.

Gilandred.9870:

Ryth.6518:

They should just make the gear cosmetic (that will quiet the ‘treadmill’ crew though they are wrong on what a treadmill is) and make it that you can’t progress to new content unless you beat the previous progression dungeon, etc…via an achievement..so if you haven’t beating Progression Dungeon A, you can’t do Progression Dungeon B until you get the achievement.

Now this, I can agree with:)

I also agree with this over raising the gear cap. This would have the added benefit of not negatively impacting WVW.

Enikuo.9205:

Wintyre Fraust.6534:

Mr. Whiteside confirmed that the manifesto is out the door. The design philosophy has changed. Rare gear is no longer about a sense of achievement, but rather must now feed a sense of progression. Linsey directly implicated that the_ “whole game is the end game” philosophy is dead, as they are concentrating on creating “end game content” and new “end game mechanics” for “high-end players” to serve a sense of progression that is, in her mind, a “basic need for players to feel like they are progressing and growing even after hitting max level.”.

This is one thing that confuses me. Down-leveling, loot scaling, and travel costs all work against that idea of the “whole game is the end game” – it funnels everyone into the Orr “endgame.” Did they intend the game to be so linear?

This. Exactly This.

People love to throw things back in game company’s face it is the new cool thing to do. So , people are dragging out Anet quotes, etc.

You could do that for any game. They are making adjustments based on stats and figures that you or I do not possess.

This short but sweet depiction above is why.

Gurpsmeister.9068:

WHOA calm down now. It’s not a power creep, it’s the insertion of a new tier to gap the ease of obtaining exotics and the difficulty of obtaining legendary stuff. If what they say is true than great, our tiers our now flushed out and we won’t have to see anymore.

I suspect they’ll make much use out of those infusion slots over time but whatever. Let this thread die now..pls?

There was never a stats gap between exotic and the then legendaries. Thus your arguement is void, as there will now be a stats gap between exotic and ascended/buffed legendaries.

Gilandred.9870:

Ryth.6518:

They should just make the gear cosmetic (that will quiet the ‘treadmill’ crew though they are wrong on what a treadmill is) and make it that you can’t progress to new content unless you beat the previous progression dungeon, etc…via an achievement..so if you haven’t beating Progression Dungeon A, you can’t do Progression Dungeon B until you get the achievement.

Now this, I can agree with:)

Why isn’t this what this patch was? Cosmetic gear (cool!), Dungeon Progression (I think some people would love that).

Everybody wins. Anyone have a problem with that?

I am new to MMOs….i have loved this game so far. Why is the new gear such a bad thing? Is it because everyone worked so hard to get exotics and now its obsolete? I just dont understand why having more armor options is a bad thing. Please don’t respond with an attitude….just asking an honest question.

AlteregoA.9635:

I am new to MMOs….i have loved this game so far. Why is the new gear such a bad thing? Is it because everyone worked so hard to get exotics and now its obsolete? I just dont understand why having more armor options is a bad thing. Please don’t respond with an attitude….just asking an honest question.

No offense, but there are thousands of posts explaining why in this thread.

Gurpsmeister.9068:

WHOA calm down now. It’s not a power creep, it’s the insertion of a new tier to gap the ease of obtaining exotics and the difficulty of obtaining legendary stuff. If what they say is true than great, our tiers our now flushed out and we won’t have to see anymore.

I suspect they’ll make much use out of those infusion slots over time but whatever. Let this thread die now..pls?

But it is a power creep. There is currently no gap. Legendaries are the same stat-wise as exotics. This only bridges the gap if there is a gap. There is currently no gap.

If ascended gear has the same stats as exotics, but bridges the skin gap to legendary, that is a totally different animal. And it’s one that would make a lot of us very happy.

That’s why people are continuing this thread.

Snerf.1650:

I understand Anet looking for neat end game things. That’s great.

Why not look towards things like a Hall of Monuments or player housing or some other ways to get neat stuff that doesn’t directly raise player combat stats.

There are lots of neat options out there.

Absolutely. There are far more meaningful ways to show progression than numbers. For example, why not let us do something with our personal instances? Instead of devoting all these resources to creating a treadmill which nobody wants devote them to creating actual progression within the world.

AlteregoA.9635:

I am new to MMOs….i have loved this game so far. Why is the new gear such a bad thing? Is it because everyone worked so hard to get exotics and now its obsolete? I just dont understand why having more armor options is a bad thing. Please don’t respond with an attitude….just asking an honest question.

You pretty much had it. Gear becoming obsolete is frustrating and if they do it once, it is likely they will do it again, causing you to endlessly chase gear. We’ll have to see what happens.

seems like a bunch of people really angry. Is it just because it makes armor obsolete and starts the player on a repetitive grind or what? I guess im confused because i feel like all this game is (which im totally enjoying) is a big grind to get better stuff.

Snerf.1650:

Gurpsmeister.9068:

WHOA calm down now. It’s not a power creep, it’s the insertion of a new tier to gap the ease of obtaining exotics and the difficulty of obtaining legendary stuff. If what they say is true than great, our tiers our now flushed out and we won’t have to see anymore.

I suspect they’ll make much use out of those infusion slots over time but whatever. Let this thread die now..pls?

But it is a power creep. There is currently no gap. Legendaries are the same stat-wise as exotics. This only bridges the gap if there is a gap. There is currently no gap.

If ascended gear has the same stats as exotics, but bridges the skin gap to legendary, that is a totally different animal. And it’s one that would make a lot of us very happy.

That’s why people are continuing this thread.

The gap isn’t in stats, it’s in difficulty to obtain. Exotics rain from the skies and are super easy to get. Legendarys are ridiculously difficult to get, there’s no middle ground. that’s what the Ascended stuff is supposed to be, something in between to allow a sense of accomplishment.

You know what I felt when I got all exotics? Nothing, it came so fast and so easy I felt no pride in being full orange. I’m hoping Ascended will allow me to feel a lil’ swell of WOOT as I work towards my legendary.

So yes, there was a gap. It’s addressed now and post go bai bai now?

Thanks everyone……I love this game so far and hope people dont stop playing.

again Mr Whiteside this whole progression goes against everything you all (ANet) said prerelease. thats the problem people have, you SOLD this game as a non treadmill non power creep game that is completely different from other MMOs.

NOW you are going back on that completely and making it exactly like those other MMOs.

The problem is this
New Gear with better stats = More PvE grinding
In WvW people with better gear will win. Guild leaders will ask their members to get the new gear. WvW will be imbalance for another few months while everybody gets the new gear.

I only play 2 hours a day at best and just got my map completion. Now i have to farm for a better gear after i got my exotics? This game is so no casual if this Ascended gear comes out.

So if i do not farm new gear i will end up having:
-Lower chance to win 1v1 in WvW with people with better gear
-Harder to go to future new content which will be release after this (because Anet will think we all have Ascended by then)
-Spend more gold on equipment and TP

Suggestions:
-Make Ascended only effective in PvE. Remove the stats from WvW. You did it for PvP why not WvW?
-Make Ascended stats same with exotic. But because you transmuted it with a upgrade, you have a better looking skin. Make the gear glow when the Infusion slot is used, Red=Off, Blue=Def, Omni=Green)

For the love of god Anet, DO NOT DO THIS.

Tbh, I’m not against this per se. Because I was starting to get a little tired of the game. New fresh content is always nice.

However, as I see it A LOT of people are against it, some even going as far as uninstalling the game. I made the mistake to use ferguson’s crossing as my server and for several personal reasons I can’t switch server. This means that there will be even less people on the servers.
People have really valid points and if you don’t start listen to things that really matter I can’t see guild wars lasting long unfortunately, it’ll be one of those deserted mmo’s where you’ll be lucky to see another player (not bot. Player) outside of a city.

Fungalfoot.7213:

Snerf.1650:

I understand Anet looking for neat end game things. That’s great.

Why not look towards things like a Hall of Monuments or player housing or some other ways to get neat stuff that doesn’t directly raise player combat stats.

There are lots of neat options out there.

Absolutely. There are far more meaningful ways to show progression than numbers. For example, why not let us do something with our personal instances? Instead of devoting all these resources to creating a treadmill which nobody wants devote them to creating actual progression within the world.

Probably because it costs much less resources to make up numbers than for example design new gear for cosmetics.

I’m not surprised that the new items are jewelry as they don’t have to design new looks for the items that way.

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Snerf.1650:

Gurpsmeister.9068:

WHOA calm down now. It’s not a power creep, it’s the insertion of a new tier to gap the ease of obtaining exotics and the difficulty of obtaining legendary stuff. If what they say is true than great, our tiers our now flushed out and we won’t have to see anymore.

I suspect they’ll make much use out of those infusion slots over time but whatever. Let this thread die now..pls?

But it is a power creep. There is currently no gap. Legendaries are the same stat-wise as exotics. This only bridges the gap if there is a gap. There is currently no gap.

If ascended gear has the same stats as exotics, but bridges the skin gap to legendary, that is a totally different animal. And it’s one that would make a lot of us very happy.

That’s why people are continuing this thread.

The gap isn’t in stats, it’s in difficulty to obtain. Exotics rain from the skies and are super easy to get. Legendarys are ridiculously difficult to get, there’s no middle ground. that’s what the Ascended stuff is supposed to be, something in between to allow a sense of accomplishment.

You know what I felt when I got all exotics? Nothing, it came so fast and so easy I felt no pride in being full orange. I’m hoping Ascended will allow me to feel a lil’ swell of WOOT as I work towards my legendary.

So yes, there was a gap. It’s addressed now and post go bai bai now?

First of all, not all exotics are easy to get. Some are rarer than others and cost quite a lot.

Second, their answer to a grind associated with getting legendaries is to add a lesser grind for another armor tier. It still doesn’t address the fact that legendaries are still an impressive grind.

They are basically adding grind to combat grind, instead of lessening the grind.

Loki.8793:

snipped

Think it this way.

Did they really need to add more stats to the new rarity class?

If what you say is true and they don´t add more tiers with better stats, what was the point of adding better stats to this tier?

Dungin.2983:

Sytherek.7689:

Mr. Whiteside…

Your message does little to allay my concerns about upcoming changes in GW2.

As the game stands now, I have no interest in grinding for a legendary. I dislike most of the skins pertinent to my character, and given my commitments in Real Life, I see no point in the grind. And that’s a GOOD THING — other people can grind, if it makes them happy. But their desire to grind in NOW WAY makes their character “better” than mine, as it stands now.

You’ve wrecked that with the new gear.

My main character has a set of equipment she likes; I play the game for pure enjoyment at this point, and am pleased that I don’t need to grind gear as I did in WoW. I like my Mystic Longbow.

You have just undone my happiness. Now, if I want to do the latest content, I must get a legendary (the bows are just plain ugly or stupid, BTW), because you’ll be making legendaries/ascendeds BETTER than exotics. I’ll need to replace my current weapons and armor with new ones if I expect anyone to bring me along on new content.

Even worse, you’ve gated access to ascended items via multiplayer content. I play at odd hours and when I have a few minutes, or with family. I’m not anti-social, but I don’t like having my character’s viability locked to multiplayer content. It’s no different than forcing PvP players to do PvE for something necessary in WvW — a terrible idea that ruins one of the foundations of GW2, in that I should be able to play how I want.

I do nor want gear progression. You have JUST added gear progression. Why should I trust you to not inflate stats further in future content, and REQUIRE those stats to play new content?

The problem is:

Many people that play the game 3-5 times per week for more than a few hours of time are ready for something new (hence why I’m not in the game and find the forums more entertaining.)

My translation of this post is as follows:

I would like the gear that I have to be the best of the best 1 year from now, so I can log on 3-5 hours per week and run the latest content. I’d like to take breaks for months at a time in a ‘persistent and changing world’ and be able to be on equal ground with all when I return on my whim.

While this is a nice idea it sounds a lot like a single player game. The people that are here the most will dictate the content. I am not saying I am an elite gamer by any stretch, the legendaries are way out of my league. You can’t develop content for people that pop in in a fairweather fashion to play.

As it was all this game had was an altoholic appeal (aka SW:TOR — we know how that worked out..) I hate alts. I don’t want to level my character to 80 to start another. In fact, I did start another, and didn’t even make it to level 10. Why?! Because zones are dead there is nothing to do at endgame except for jumping puzzles with greens that await and pats on the back in the form of achievements.

This isn’t Guild wars 1, in fact, Guild wars 1 was a glorified lobby game (aka single player — yes a game where you could form your own entire groups and never interact with a soul.) So sure, in GW1 you could come back months later and it would be like nothing changed. I bet I could log in now and fire up a group and my armor wouldn’t matter. I also would be playing completely alone. This is not to say GW1 wasn’t an amazing game, but it was not an MMO …BY definition.

I fire up an alt in GW2 and I am playing absolutely alone.

This patch doesn’t fix that, but it gets people playing together again, and in a new shiny area.

You’re quite wrong in your “interpretations.”

To begin with, I’m quite social in-game. Chatting in Guild Chat, helping people with various things; often, I play with family.

Nor am I super-casual. My “/age” is 411 hours on my main, 466 hours total across all characters. That much time should not be considered trivial or super-casual.

As you can see from those numbers, I, too, am a one-character kinda guy. Alts don’t interest me (much).

I was promised no gear progression after 80; many people have quoted ANet’s people saying exactly that. Many people have also done the math, and show that the ascended gear is definitely “better” (stat-wise) than current exotics. Thus gear progression has been added.

Now, if ANet were to commit, promise, that Ascendeds are the final tier of gear, and if they make Ascendeds available thru normal PvE and crafting and WvW, then I’ll have less to complain about.

you guys NEED to listen to your Customers, i would say the MAJORITY do not want this, i bet if you put up a poll this would tell you that.

Loki.8793:

-Facepalm- I can’t believe how whiny this community is, it’s nauseating.

It seems to me people are more upset about there being a new rarity of item that gives better stats rather than infusions being able to be applied only to this new rarity, which I find rather odd.

Why is it that people have no problem with the idea of exotics having max stats at launch? So what if anet wants to add a higher stated rarity? Is having less or more than 5 types of rarities blasphemous or something? I’m willing to bet most of the people complaining about acquiring ascended items now are only complaining because they found out they have to work a bit more to get max stats, something that wasn’t all that hard in the first place. I mean, seriously, getting full exotics isn’t even a grind. I got mine 2 days after reaching level 80 using the money and materials I gathered from just playing the game up to that point.

I want to make this clear, the act of adding a new rarity to the game does not mean gw2 has become a gear-treadmill. It means they have changed what they consider what maxed stats should be. That is the only thing that can be concluded from this. The only time this becomes a gear-treadmill is when anet starts to consistently add better rarities to the game every time they add new content. While I can’t guarantee this won’t happen, I’m fairly confident this will never be the case with anet.

People like to jump on the bandwagon and over-dramatize everything, but in the end all they’re doing is making fools of themselves. I’m willing to bet people wouldn’t have thought twice about ascended items if they were present at launch. People just don’t like change.

This community has done more to annoy me than impress me. I swear, the level of entitlement it has is just appalling. People don’t like the direction of the FREE content they get is going, so they instantly start whining and spelling doom and begging for nerfs when things don’t look good for them. Seriously people, grow up.

Probably because that “free” content is showing every sign of forcing players to grind new gear repeatedly, which the developers explicitly said would never happen. Just because it annoys you doesn’t make it any less valid.

Gurpsmeister.9068:

Snerf.1650:

Gurpsmeister.9068:

WHOA calm down now. It’s not a power creep, it’s the insertion of a new tier to gap the ease of obtaining exotics and the difficulty of obtaining legendary stuff. If what they say is true than great, our tiers our now flushed out and we won’t have to see anymore.

I suspect they’ll make much use out of those infusion slots over time but whatever. Let this thread die now..pls?

But it is a power creep. There is currently no gap. Legendaries are the same stat-wise as exotics. This only bridges the gap if there is a gap. There is currently no gap.

If ascended gear has the same stats as exotics, but bridges the skin gap to legendary, that is a totally different animal. And it’s one that would make a lot of us very happy.

That’s why people are continuing this thread.

The gap isn’t in stats, it’s in difficulty to obtain. Exotics rain from the skies and are super easy to get. Legendarys are ridiculously difficult to get, there’s no middle ground. that’s what the Ascended stuff is supposed to be, something in between to allow a sense of accomplishment.

You know what I felt when I got all exotics? Nothing, it came so fast and so easy I felt no pride in being full orange. I’m hoping Ascended will allow me to feel a lil’ swell of WOOT as I work towards my legendary.

So yes, there was a gap. It’s addressed now and post go bai bai now?

And I have been playing since release and have a lvl 80 with one exotic item and 7 alts on their way to 80 and WVW. I’d like all my alts to have full exotics sometime and the current difficulty and expense is just right.

All raising that ceiling would do is create unnecessary gear treadmilling.

You can still have a gap in effort between exotic and legendary while keeping the stats the same. Even now there are lots of exotic items that are very tough and expensive to get in the mystic forge. Are you aware of those?

I bought this game for many reasons. One of the main reasons was that at “end game” there was no tiered gear in terms of stats and that it was all cosmetic. Coming from other MMO’s this was a breath of fresh air.

Adding gear that “adds” stats is doing what they said they wouldn’t. It really is not hard to understand. As others have said, there is no “stat gap” between exotics and legendaries, only cosmetics and time. So for people arguing adding this “stat bump” gear is a “gap closer” between exotics and legendaries is FALSE, unless they are, with this patch, creating the gap by putting better stats on legendaries.

Adding gear that adds stats when all ENDGAME gear is suppose to be the same power wise, is a power creep.

People aren’t mad that content is being added to the game.

They’re mad that they spent 10-20g on a tier of gear that is now obsolete and will never be used again because the progression is now yellow rare > blue ascended. This game isn’t that hard, and the stat difference from yellow > orange does not warrant that kind of money if it’s not top-tier.

Agony, on the other hand, is just a sign of bad game design. There is simply no way to argue that this doesn’t go 100% against the GW2 Design Manifesto. And yes, this is a totally different mechanic from GW1, where it tookittenerally 5 minutes to get your full set of armor infused.

Edit: Lol, took and literally = tookittenerally.

Gurpsmeister.9068:

The gap isn’t in stats, it’s in difficulty to obtain. Exotics rain from the skies and are super easy to get. Legendarys are ridiculously difficult to get, there’s no middle ground. that’s what the Ascended stuff is supposed to be, something in between to allow a sense of accomplishment.

A sense of accomplishment should be from completing a hard dungeon like Fractal Mists without gear gating me out. I felt this way when I did SE and aggroed everything for fun, or COF magg and killed every mob on the bomb part. Gear is not an accomplishment and I don’t see why people think this.

People play action games just for this feeling. That’s why I’ll be putting this down for Assassin’s Creed.

FaultWeeyam.4302:

If this goes through, I’ve had it. I was betrayed by Blizzard the same way when Crapaclysm came out. Not doing again.

You all get betrayed by games a lot, wow.

Such a strong word for a piece of entertainment. It must be stressful working at arena net and reading these sort of things. Reminds me of the developer in ‘the game’ in The Guild obsessing over the various criticisms he received on message boards and through emails.

Really a betrayal? The drama. Not only is this game free that are TONS of other choices.