Guild Wars 2

Ok I’m just going to put it out there; I’m not heavy into gaming. But I did play Guild Wars and liked it for the most part. Now I just got Guild Wars 2, and the complex factor just totally turned me off to this game. I have a life, I only game as a hobbie. Now I just saw a youtube video of some guy crafting a legendary weapon, and he admits it took him 2 years to get all the materials to craft it. Not a complete matching set of armor and weapons, just a sword. 2 YEARS?! I just can’t wrap my head around that. Is this what this game is about? With what little time I do have to game, it could take me 4 years to craft that sword. Is this really what this game is like?

you can find other goal such as getting better at wvw or dungeons.

The only reason I would want a legendary is I can switch stats at will, and people wont’ kitten at me if I switch to a cleric sword etc.

Most people probably don’t have legendary weapons, they were meant to be the ultimate grind/accomplishment, don’t worry about it.

Well, that’s what Legendaries are like. That’s kind of the point of them, though. A huge, long term goal that, honestly, gives you an interesting look but that’s it.

To just play the game, you never have to even address anything that heavy. Gear that’s “good enough” is easy to come by most of the time. The stuff you have to really work for is supposed to be more cosmetic than powerful.

Just try the game for a while, and I think you’ll find it more casual friendly than you expect. It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad.

You don’t need them at all. They have the same stats as ascended which you can craft much quicker/cheaper.

I have been playing since launch and I now have enough mats for my first legendary.

I am going to craft it and sell it straight away because I hate the skins…

Holy mother of a blue guinea pig! Thunk! That was the sound of my jaw hitting the floor in disbelief. Just the way you guys answered that so casually is shocking enough, but to learn that it’s not just true, but so easily accepted? …. Wow …. Ok that settles it ….. My kids will never play an MMORPG. Fresh air and sports for my girls. Thanks for your candid replies.

Or you could just not bother crafting a legendary like most people.

Or you could just not bother crafting at all.

Yes well obviously I’m not going to bother now that I know it’s true. Doesn’t it bother anyone else that the game is like this? You paid for a game, after seeing all those cool armor and weapon sets, just to learn that in order to have them you have to play it to an unhealthy level, and then, play it even farther to, what looks like, an obsessive disorder.

You need to understand that Legendaries are COMPLETELY OPTIONAL, and you can get other weapons that are just as powerful far, far, far, easier. Legendaries are there simply to be a long term stretch goal, which rewards you with a weapon that looks different.

You can enjoy absolutely enjoy everything the game has to offer, without ever thinking about making such a thing.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Holy mother of a blue guinea pig! Thunk! That was the sound of my jaw hitting the floor in disbelief. Just the way you guys answered that so casually is shocking enough, but to learn that it’s not just true, but so easily accepted? …. Wow …. Ok that settles it ….. My kids will never play an MMORPG. Fresh air and sports for my girls. Thanks for your candid replies.

Not everyone care about getting a LV handbag.

But I think it depends on how you play. Some people play all days. They can probably get a legendary in 2 weeks.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Yes well obviously I’m not going to bother now that I know it’s true. Doesn’t it bother anyone else that the game is like this? You paid for a game, after seeing all those cool armor and weapon sets, just to learn that in order to have them you have to play it to an unhealthy level, and then, play it even farther to, what looks like, an obsessive disorder.

There are more to the game. Like having fun in Wvw, spvp. Or soloing dungeons. Even social or RP. Or just learning all the tricks with every class.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Yes well obviously I’m not going to bother now that I know it’s true. Doesn’t it bother anyone else that the game is like this? You paid for a game, after seeing all those cool armor and weapon sets, just to learn that in order to have them you have to play it to an unhealthy level, and then, play it even farther to, what looks like, an obsessive disorder.

Legendaries were made for the people that wanted a huge, massive goal to reach. That’s really the whole point of them, to give the people that need that kind of goal to enjoy the game something to shoot for.

I play this game pretty casually. I’m nowhere near a Legendary, nor do I have any intent to try for one. It’s simply not going to happen right now. But I can still enjoy the game.

Now, with that said… most MMOs are made to take up time. That’s a basic fact of the games. They want you playing and interacting with people, because interacting with people is part of the draw of an MMO. The more time you spend online, the more time you’re there for others to interact with, and hopefully the more you become invested in the game. It helps to keep you playing (and buying), and it helps to keep others playing (and buying). Do not approach MMOs lightly, even supposedly “casual friendly” ones like GW2. If you’re not careful, they can eat your life.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Holy mother of a blue guinea pig! Thunk! That was the sound of my jaw hitting the floor in disbelief. Just the way you guys answered that so casually is shocking enough, but to learn that it’s not just true, but so easily accepted? …. Wow …. Ok that settles it ….. My kids will never play an MMORPG. Fresh air and sports for my girls. Thanks for your candid replies.

must have… must have… must have naow. That’s just the mindset you want to ignore. Two years? yeah… passively. Anyway, since there are ascended weapons, legendary is more a cosmetic choice, apart from stat adjustments. On ascended, you can either pick up crafting or just go to events like Teq and hope for a drop, which will eventually happen. IMO kids shouldn’t play modern mmo’s anyway, too many greedy companies specifically target them for money due to lack of brain development on financial reasoning skills. Discretion advised.

In a general sense, yes this is “what the game is like”. Grinding for gear / skins is what it’s all about.

That’s not all there is, mind you. It’s a huge beautiful world to explore with lots of cool dev-made content and secret bits to discover. But yes, once you’ve played though the content, all that’s left to do is grind for shiny things and achievement points. WvW / pvp is a nice diversion, but it’s not really “for” anything. Remember, this is a themepark, not a “world”. It’s all about going on the rides over and over, and winning useless prizes.

You don’t absolutely need ascended or legendary gear. Exotic is generally fine and that’s much more reasonable to acquire (though also soul-bound so you can’t put it on a different character). But regardless of what gear you go with, it doesn’t’ change what the game is about.

The game environment is flexible enough for a lot of different play styles, including those obsessively chasing not-quite-arbitrary goals, such as specific skins. If you just want to play to have fun, you can skip ascended (and never mind legendary) gear. The choice is yours.

You DO NOT need a legendary. You can play this game fine without any grind at all.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Yes well obviously I’m not going to bother now that I know it’s true. Doesn’t it bother anyone else that the game is like this? You paid for a game, after seeing all those cool armor and weapon sets, just to learn that in order to have them you have to play it to an unhealthy level, and then, play it even farther to, what looks like, an obsessive disorder.

You’re not getting it.

You don’t buy the game and proceed to play it non-stop until you create your legendary.

Well, not unless you want to.

It is entirely optional.

Ignoring the fact that the OP has a decent chance of being disingenuous with their statements, there are actually a lot of other cool looking weapon skins that don’t require the amount of resource commitment like the legendaries do. For instance, I don’t even like the Quip’s model, so I found some other pistol skins that I liked.

Alternatively, you can always skip the grind by converting enough real-life cash into gems, selling them off for gold, and then buying the legendary straight off the trading post. Of course, I don’t think this will be possible with the new set of legendaries coming in HoT. But if you really don’t want to spend all that time grinding and have several hundred dollars to blow, have at it, Hoss.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Yes well obviously I’m not going to bother now that I know it’s true. Doesn’t it bother anyone else that the game is like this? You paid for a game, after seeing all those cool armor and weapon sets, just to learn that in order to have them you have to play it to an unhealthy level, and then, play it even farther to, what looks like, an obsessive disorder.

To be honest, a good chunk of MMOs are like that, particularly certain subscription mmos, and especially many Asian ones.

Guild Wars 2 is actually designed as one of the few MMOs where you CAN only play just a couple hours a week and still keep up with everyone else playing the game. People have put the game down for months or even a year, come back, and their level 80 exotic gear is still good enough for pretty much all the content in the game.

I personally don’t know of any other MMO that’s nearly as casual friendly in that regard.

Yes, there are some skins that look cool that take a lot of time/work to get, but that’s so the people who DO play every day have something to work towards. But unlike almost every other MMO that gear gives time little to no advantage over a casual player, they’re just pretty.

And there are many awesome looking skins that you can get quickly and cheaply.

As others have said, legendary weapons are more like designer clothes. It’s needlessly flashy and expensive, and that’s it’s only benefit over similar items. There’s some convenience since you can switch their stats on the fly, but they’re not actually better than Ascended weapons, which are far easier to get. Weather or not they’re cooler is a matter of opinion, really. Even some of the low level/tier skins are pretty nice, in my opinion.

And if you feel you can’t get any enjoyment out of the game because you have to settle for a cool sword made out of fire than the cool legendary sword made of lightning, well that’s just unfortunate for you, I guess.

For what it’s worth, the system for creating legendary weapons is getting revamped and they will have quests attached to getting them rather than trying to grind out money for rare parts.

You’re not looking at it right OP.

The game has a bunch of completely optional goals, ranging from, I can do that in a day, to I can do that in a week, to I can do that in a month, all the way up to OMG. YOU’RE KIDDING ME!

If you don’t want you do the OMG goals, then you don’t. I’ve played since launch, no legendary, not trying for a legendary, perfectly happy with the skins I’ve gotten with the goals I’ve set for myself.

While many above have answered the obvious aspect of the question, there’s also the underlying aspect. GW2 the product (i.e., the vanilla game) is the second-best gaming value for money I’ve bought. I’ve managed to fill thousands of hours with: exploring the world; doing the Personal Story; dabbling in dungeons and WvW; running dynamic events repeatedly in many zones; and alting it up to the tune of 8 professions at 80.

That said, most of the game’s long-term goals are cosmetic in nature, with the exception of Ascended gear. Almost all of these goals involve collecting “stuff,” and almost all take time, with great variation in the amount of time depending on the goal. At that point, the choice is to be content to do without them, or collect the “stuff” and (with limited playtime) realize it’s going to take a long time. Since you played GW, think of these items as the equivalent of the hard-to-get titles that players would grind at for months or years. A long-term goal that you can opt out of while still being able to enjoy the game.

Most all MMO’s offer an “endgame.” Endgame is basically things to do once you’re finished with whatever else the game offers. Developers extend the life of the game using rewards that take long-term commitment, ranging from weeks to months. Sometimes this is tied to specific content (e.g., raids), sometimes not. GW2 is no exception. Making a legendary weapon is the ultimate carrot placed before players because it’s the most involved of the “crafted” items. If you don’t want that carrot, if you can live with just doing the content the game offers until you get tired of it, then moving on, it won’t be an issue. If you’re looking for an “endgame” pursuit, though, then collecting “stuff” to make other stuff is pretty much it.

OP , you want to play the game or you want to look cool ?

you can enjoy the game without looking cool. it’s optional….

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Yes well obviously I’m not going to bother now that I know it’s true. Doesn’t it bother anyone else that the game is like this? You paid for a game, after seeing all those cool armor and weapon sets, just to learn that in order to have them you have to play it to an unhealthy level, and then, play it even farther to, what looks like, an obsessive disorder.

To be honest what else would you spend your gold on if not on a legendary. Op you clearly are either trolling or something with this post. Dont say other MMOs dont do something similar because they do. You dont have to have a legendary as many have stated, hell I have two and I actually played since launch. I played All aspects of the game from WVW, Spvp, and PVE dungeons/fractals. I only play about 4 hours a day but was able to make two legendary. ITS A GOAL/TIME SINK. There are so many cool skins you can craft.

This type of threads have been flooding the forums due to many new players influx demanding BIS gear right now. The entitlement is ridiculous. When Hot comes out you can maybe get your legendary but im sure many will complain of the difficulty to get one. dont feel sympathy for anyone demanding legendary be easy because what is the point? you have it, now what? everyone and their mothers will have it as well. Hell I see a complaint post on how to many people have legendary now LOL

the OP has a point

its pretty rediculous

but thankfully its not the endgame gear, its mainly for cosmetics, the only way it would suck is if you wanted the cosmetic.

using other mmo’s as a benchmark is a terrible troll attempt at a response

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Yes well obviously I’m not going to bother now that I know it’s true. Doesn’t it bother anyone else that the game is like this? You paid for a game, after seeing all those cool armor and weapon sets, just to learn that in order to have them you have to play it to an unhealthy level, and then, play it even farther to, what looks like, an obsessive disorder.

In order to have arguably the best weapon in the game? Does not bother me.

Plus, the person who took 2 years to get a legendary clearly didn’t work towards it specifically for those 2 years. What they probably meant is they played the game for 2 years and were casually collecting the components for them.

If someone honestly went out of their way to farm for gold so they could purchase the materials (or even the sword outright), it would have taken far less time.

Either way, this is an MMO, like any MMO they need to have time sinks for the people that play 10hrs/day. For those of us that play 1-2hrs/day, there will be items that cannot be obtained in a short amount of time. Otherwise every single person would have Legendary items.

There are plenty of players that have 5+ legendaries, heck I know someone who has every single one of them. The hard part is saving up the money to purchase the pre-cursor and saving up the money for the T6 mats/lodestones. You can either treat making gold like a job to get it over with, or you can get it leisurely. Leisurely will obviously take significantly longer than if you were to buckle down and treat it like a job.

I played GW1, to me legendaries are like FoW armor. Something to work towards. A flashy skin to sink time into, nothing more, nothing less.

Honestly, it’s no more ‘unhealthy’ to grind out a legendary than it was to gring out all the ecto and shards for the armor. Its the exact same concept. If you don’t want to do it, then don’t.

Wow, ok there….. for those of you, and you know who you are, the rest can disreguard this, if you read carefully what I typed, there was no trolling. It was simply a statement of disbelief. Having previously stated that the only other MMORPG that I’ve played was Guild Wars, and knowing that Guild Wars is no where near as complicated as Guild Wars 2, it goes to reason that I wouldn’t have that prior knowledge or experience of gaming long term on anything like this. I am a little disappointed that getting that flashy gear would take much longer than my attention span or real life would allow. I admit that this is probably not the game for me as I could not imagine spending more than a few months on one game (1-2 hours a day, 4-5 days a week). I will give the game a fair chance though and just go with the story, but I cannot see myself going beyond that. As for spending real world money to get that gear …. let me think about that … not a chance. If I wanted to throw money on a game that I’ve already bought, I would have gone with EVE, or WOW. That kind of spending, IMO, is for those that have too much money to know what to do with, or the just plain foolish. Note, I stated IMO. No need for hot headed retaliation. It’s just one of those things that, as you get older, spending money on something you can’t hold, use practically, or has any real world value, just doesn’t make sence. Ok I just revealed that I’m an old fart lol (a little exaggeration there). Anyways, there’s no need to carry this on any farther. I’m satisfied with the objectional responces I received and thank you for your thoughts.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

I’ve played was Guild Wars, and knowing that Guild Wars 2 is no where near as complicated as Guild Wars,

There fixed that for you.

But hey, getting a legendary in gw2 is just like getting the Vabbi armor in gw1 (1000 plat). It is only for people who play the game for a million of years and really just have nothing more to do.

Get an exotic set, which is quite easy at 80 and a few dungeons per week. Then perhaps craft an ascended weapon and enjoy life. The Ascended weapons stats are just as good as the legendary ones, except you cant swap stats. But hey, you dont need to swap them anyhow.

The game is made for everyone. People like you can play and have fun and get pretty good armor etc, and people who have no life or much free time can also keep having fun after thousands of hours in the game.

No big deal.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

I could not imagine spending more than a few months on one game (1-2 hours a day, 4-5 days a week).

Judging by your play style, you should just do some dungeon, wvw, spvp and not worry about legendary.

I’ll break down the time it takes to get a legendary.

30 hours for map completion. (if you are slow it can take up to 60 hours for first timer)
2 month of daily teq. Which takes 20 minutes.
roughly 800 gold for gift of fortune which takes 80 hours of farming.

now the precursor can take 100-800 gold depend on what you want so 10-80 hours.

So you’ll need 150-250 hours depend on what legendary you want. You also might be short of skill points(which you need 350).

So it’ll take you most likely 3+ month to get a legendary. Which don’t sound so bad but you have to play a playstyle you might not enjoy.

I dont even like legendaries

There aren’t many things the you can only get by crafting and Legendary weapons aren’t one of them. You can always buy one someone else crafted. But due to the demand and the difficulty of getting a Precursor weapon the Legendary is crafted from, it’s very expensive.

If you want to only use materials you gathered yourself, it will take you a bit of time even excluding the precursor from that list. You will have to collect numerous badges is specific dungeons, badges of honor from WvW a mat that costs 200 SPs, total map exploration. There is some actual grut work required to gather and craft everything and then wait on a precursor, which may be forever or costly MF slots.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Wow, ok there….. for those of you, and you know who you are, the rest can disreguard this, if you read carefully what I typed, there was no trolling. It was simply a statement of disbelief. Having previously stated that the only other MMORPG that I’ve played was Guild Wars, and knowing that Guild Wars is no where near as complicated as Guild Wars 2, it goes to reason that I wouldn’t have that prior knowledge or experience of gaming long term on anything like this. I am a little disappointed that getting that flashy gear would take much longer than my attention span or real life would allow. I admit that this is probably not the game for me as I could not imagine spending more than a few months on one game (1-2 hours a day, 4-5 days a week). I will give the game a fair chance though and just go with the story, but I cannot see myself going beyond that. As for spending real world money to get that gear …. let me think about that … not a chance. If I wanted to throw money on a game that I’ve already bought, I would have gone with EVE, or WOW. That kind of spending, IMO, is for those that have too much money to know what to do with, or the just plain foolish. Note, I stated IMO. No need for hot headed retaliation. It’s just one of those things that, as you get older, spending money on something you can’t hold, use practically, or has any real world value, just doesn’t make sence. Ok I just revealed that I’m an old fart lol (a little exaggeration there). Anyways, there’s no need to carry this on any farther. I’m satisfied with the objectional responces I received and thank you for your thoughts.

MMOs are a different bread of games. With you single player games you may play thru it a couple times and then move on to the next game. MMOs are growning changing worlds that add more areas for you to play in so if you like it you’ll stay with it longer because there is new stuff to do. The last MMO I was with I stayed with for 5 years, but the power creap and gear treadmill got to much for me to keep up with du to real life commitments. GW2 won’t have the gear grind and hopefully there isn’t much power creap with the addition of the mastery system. So I see myself staying for quite a while.

simplesimon.2084:

MMOs are a different bread of games. With you single player games you may play thru it a couple times and then move on to the next game. MMOs are growning changing worlds that add more areas for you to play in so if you like it you’ll stay with it longer because there is new stuff to do. The last MMO I was with I stayed with for 5 years, but the power creap and gear treadmill got to much for me to keep up with du to real life commitments. GW2 won’t have the gear grind and hopefully there isn’t much power creap with the addition of the mastery system. So I see myself staying for quite a while.

Generally for mmo’s, if it’s a game I like I avg about six years (many-many I only played a few months). One I played for nearly 15yrs, but I’ll just say a good portion of that was not on a live server except for about the first six years until they turned the servers into ghost towns after really poor development choices. I stopped that a few years back, but I have a current game I’ve been in almost six years (about 12yrs old), pay a monthly sub, and see no reason to ever stop playing as far as I can see. And play other stuff too.

I’m not a big fan of themepark mmo’s, but gw2 at least not being an f2p has kept my attention well enough. In any case, having been playing mmo’s for almost 20yrs, and liking MUD’s before that, it’s just a matter of pacing yourself, as I’ve seen lots and lots of people overextend themselves and burn out. Or even throw lots of money at it (in recent years) but wind up having no real time investment in the game, no real worth of it, no community, so fly away to something else to throw money at (modern marketing luvs those people).

The genre really isn’t for everyone, even though they more so try to market it as the be all and end all, really just for fast money potential. It’s too easy to market to someone less experienced with mmo’s, and unfamiliar to the long-term paced time investment of it, but to offer paid short-cuts to maximize a potential source of quick money. Anet isn’t actually too bad on that account, but to some degree the option is there if you feel so inclined to do so. Once you run into gated content, then that imo is where things go really bad, where you just can’t go anywhere unless you pay upon what you already paid, and then to pay again, hooked because you paid three times already and still the carrot just in view ahead. If anet started doing that here, I’d be gone tomorrow.

But here, just pace yourself, you’ll do fine. I’ve never bothered with such a weapon, but oddly after all this time I just happen to have most of the resources to make one soon if I want. I suppose I could have gotten one the first 3-6mo if I focused, but just not something that drives me in regards to mmo’s, something I already know of myself or my play style. o7

edit: not a direct reply to simplesimon other than agreement, aimed more at the OP and the general reader.

If you’re not interested in playing a game for more than a few months then any MMO is not for you. This is not some Nintendo game. MMOs are designed for you to play over the span of years

It is MMO, without long term/huge time sink goals it wouldn’t be an MMO. My understanding is people who play MMO like some aspect of it. GW2 has tons of aspects to like, and you’re in no way forced to do any long term stuff.

I don’t have any legendaries, played since launch, I will make one once the expac drops and I can get precursor without buying one on TP.

I got ascended armor though for 1 character, loved the process of time gated crafting and how every 3-4 days I got a piece. At the end it felt nice, a month long accomplishment.

Doesn’t mean I play 5h/day, far from. It’s all about the type of game you want to play.

It is actually brain numbing to read the OPs responses. You expect people to re read your posts yet you don’t even read other peoples? You say you are old yet you have bad punctuality, shorten words and are judging a whole game based off one weapon that is a final unnecessary goal.

I judge thou, troll.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Yes well obviously I’m not going to bother now that I know it’s true. Doesn’t it bother anyone else that the game is like this?

If the game would be centered about a legendary, yes I would be bothered. But it is not. A legendary is not needed for any kind of content. It is pure cosmetically for people that want/accept this “long term goal”.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

You paid for a game, after seeing all those cool armor and weapon sets, just to learn that in order to have them you have to play it to an unhealthy level, and then, play it even farther to, what looks like, an obsessive disorder.

Have you played other MMO games? Every MMO tries to keep the player in the game with things to do, even if the “main content” (maps, story, …) is already done. Some say, a MMO is, by its core, designed to be addictive and time consuming.

GW2 is much more “casual playstyle friendly” than the other MMO games you mentioned. If you want to play them instead of GW2 you may could be surprised negatively.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Ok I’m just going to put it out there; I’m not heavy into gaming. But I did play Guild Wars and liked it for the most part. Now I just got Guild Wars 2, and the complex factor just totally turned me off to this game. I have a life, I only game as a hobbie. Now I just saw a youtube video of some guy crafting a legendary weapon, and he admits it took him 2 years to get all the materials to craft it. Not a complete matching set of armor and weapons, just a sword. 2 YEARS?! I just can’t wrap my head around that. Is this what this game is about? With what little time I do have to game, it could take me 4 years to craft that sword. Is this really what this game is like?

Getting a legendary weapon in GW2 is like getting a Frog Scepter or Voltaic Spear in GW1.

No one needs that specific weapon, you can get the exact same stats much more easily and can complete everything in the game with many other weapons that are even easier to get. But some people choose to go for that one because they like the look, or the challenge of getting it.

2 years is probably the upper limit for making a legendary. That’s about how long it took me and I work full time, spend 3 hours a day commuting and do a lot of other things with my free time. I also didn’t focus exclusively on making a legendary when I was playing.

Finally to actually answer your question no, that is not what this game is about. That is one of many options for things to do within the game. There’s also the story line, exploration, creating and experimenting with builds, playing against other people in World vs. World and PvP. completing dungeons, collecting armor and weapon skins, mini pets and other items and probably other things I’ve forgotten.

MMOs typically aim to offer a large virtual world with a range of things to do, then players choose what they want to do within that. Just like real life. Your reaction is similar to hearing that some guy devoted 18 hours a day for 10 years to becoming one of the best investment bankers so he could be a multi-millionaire by the time he turned 30 and declaring that if that’s what having a job is then you’re never going to work at all.

It’s one option, and an extreme one, but by no means the only option for everyone.

If OP doesn’t like the crafting in this game he should try one of the others where it’s RNG whether or not you can upgrade a weapon or not, and if it fails, it breaks.

http://www.reddit.com/r/archeage/comments/2jqftz/a_deeper_explanation_of_armorweapon_upgrades/

It’s one thing to have RNG on vanity pieces. It’s another to have it on your regular gear.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

I will give the game a fair chance though and just go with the story, but I cannot see myself going beyond that.

Ah, I see you’ve already solved the problem yourself.

That’s all you need to do. As you’re playing through the story and the explorable maps it leads you to (and others if you want to check them out) you’ll be given weapons and armor as rewards and will find others on enemies. Unlike GW1 you can use armor as well as weapons from enemies, so you never need to buy or craft either. That equipment is more than sufficient to get you through the story, and almost everything else in the game.

There’s also many, many weapons and armor sets which look great and are far easier to get than legendaries.

For example the screenshot below is one of my personal favourite characters. She’s level 80 but she’s wearing a top you can get at level 2, a level 54 skirt and using a staff you get for free by playing GW1.

(Because of the wardrobe system, and getting free transmutation charges from login rewards and for completely exploring maps, you’re able to keep using all the skins you find even if they’re not available on higher level equipment. It’s an updated, much more flexible, version of the GW1 approach of offering every armor set at max level, including the starter armor.)

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Ok I’m just going to put it out there; I’m not heavy into gaming. But I did play Guild Wars and liked it for the most part. Now I just got Guild Wars 2, and the complex factor just totally turned me off to this game. I have a life, I only game as a hobbie. Now I just saw a youtube video of some guy crafting a legendary weapon, and he admits it took him 2 years to get all the materials to craft it. Not a complete matching set of armor and weapons, just a sword. 2 YEARS?! I just can’t wrap my head around that. Is this what this game is about? With what little time I do have to game, it could take me 4 years to craft that sword. Is this really what this game is like?

Like a legendary isn’t mandatory, it’s the same in power as an ascneded weapon. No benefits in gameplay…

Making exotics is enough for 99.7% of all content, except for high level fractals.
All exotics can be bought with wvw tokens, dungeon tokens, karma, crafted (LVL 400), received as drop..
Then there is ascneded, ascneded trinkets are available for some investment, in TIME. you do 10 runs of fractals an dyou can choose a ring, you log in for a month and you buy and amulet, you do guild missions for 2 weeks and you buy an earring…

Then there is ascended weaponms and armor. thise were added to the game as time and material sinks. they rerquire maxed crafting (LVL 500) TRhey are timeconsuming and marginally better in content at level 80. theat 4 regions in the game and 3 dungeons, and fractals.

dungeon runners will warn you dedicated dungeon weapons wil outdamage generic used ascneded (bloodlust / fire (~5-6% added dmg) and as example vs undead slaying and force (~15% dm g vs undead only (= only in Orr and Arah)) and as you will not make 3,4 or more ascneded weapon sets you’ll make 1 generic (always used weapon AND you will make exotics for specific tasks)

Legendaries are end game skins for ppl who find them very important… In practice most are very bling, though only a few are to people’s liking (generally), and the only advantage of legendaries over ascended is the fact you can select STATS. you can change your legendary from a zerk weapon to a dire weapon with 2 clicks when out of combat, as often as you want. You CANNOT change the sigils on the fly, so for dungeon you will STILL USE DUNGEON WEAPONS! maybe you’ll transmute your skin, but i do not thing anybody made 2 the same legendaries just to craft dungeon weapons. They are in NO WAY more powerfull then other weapons, making them the most expensive skins in the game… (well mostly)

It took me 2 years to make my first legendary. I was too occupied in exploring the game and spent tons of gold in the process that could have gone otherwise to my legendary goal. By then I get better at this game, knowing how to farm and what to do to maximize gold per hour income. Since the first one, every time I have some spare gold, I make the next legendary. For one year and a half I have made 8 legendary weapons in total; 5mMs for myself, 1 for a good friend and 2 to sell. I’m in the process of making the 6th one due to the lack of interest in the end game. From my experience, it’s a bit too soon for new players to be wary about making legendary. If it’s your end goal then you will see it sooner than you think by steadily working towards the goal.

Unless I somehow amass enough gold that purchasing a legendary or two is nothing but a fraction of my in game wealth, I will not have any.

I have numerous ascended weapons and gear though. I can craft them at a worthwhile pace and cost without investing unhealthy amounts of time to this game.

Balance in GW2 does exist on some levels. It’s just a matter of perspective.

If, as numerous studies show, that the average person plays the same MMO for ~2 years before getting bored/switching games, etc, it does make getting these time consuming kinda ironic. People want these skins to increase their enjoyment and actually play with them, but by the time they get them they don’t use them much as they are already ready to move on..

But I was understand the other crowd. The one where they feel that these shiney virtual skins/toys are a status symbol, where they accomlpished something others can’t and it makes they feel, at least for a little bit, like they are winners in real life i guess…

They’re called Legendaries for a reason. Legendary amounts of time, money or both are needed to craft one (sometimes irl cash if one gets desperate and has some to throw around).

If they were “common” skins you’d have them unlocked by now. Hell, just look up the stats for precursor drops, then check the prices for them on the tp (excluding the underwater ones for many, many a reason).

If you think doing something one enjoys for a long period of time is unhealthy then I sure hope you don’t do anything you enjoy. It might become a disorder, you know. (But seriously. Check your tone in forums. You have come across as a massive kitten).

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Wow, ok there….. for those of you, and you know who you are, the rest can disreguard this, if you read carefully what I typed, there was no trolling. It was simply a statement of disbelief. Having previously stated that the only other MMORPG that I’ve played was Guild Wars, and knowing that Guild Wars is no where near as complicated as Guild Wars 2, it goes to reason that I wouldn’t have that prior knowledge or experience of gaming long term on anything like this. I am a little disappointed that getting that flashy gear would take much longer than my attention span or real life would allow.

GW1 had obi armor, vabi armor and many other elite only for looks armor not to mention the farm for weapon skin drops. Are you sure you played GW1?

Took me 1.5 years of casual play (without a guild) to get my obi armor and I was fine with it. Learn patience.

Morpheus Kajiir.2975:

Holy mother of a blue guinea pig! Thunk! That was the sound of my jaw hitting the floor in disbelief. Just the way you guys answered that so casually is shocking enough, but to learn that it’s not just true, but so easily accepted? …. Wow …. Ok that settles it ….. My kids will never play an MMORPG. Fresh air and sports for my girls. Thanks for your candid replies.

While at it, maybe teach your kids the value of leisure time and how to spend it in an efficient way. There is nothing wrong with playing MMOs (though age is a huge factor). It’s more about manging your time and making reaslistic assessments of what you can and can’t do.

mulzi.8273:

If, as numerous studies show, that the average person plays the same MMO for ~2 years before getting bored/switching games, etc, it does make getting these time consuming kinda ironic. People want these skins to increase their enjoyment and actually play with them, but by the time they get them they don’t use them much as they are already ready to move on..

But I was understand the other crowd. The one where they feel that these shiney virtual skins/toys are a status symbol, where they accomlpished something others can’t and it makes they feel, at least for a little bit, like they are winners in real life i guess…

People want things for different reasons. There are some who want the flashy, some want the best in slot, some want enjoyment out of the game, some want all of the above, some have an unhealthy OCD with perfection, etc.

Calling longterm goals for players bad (or insinuating it) should make you reflect on what your priorities are in this game.

Now the argument could be made that the process for getting a legendary is not great, which I coul support, but arguing that they should be hand out freely would make this game unbelievable stale.

mulzi.8273:

If, as numerous studies show, that the average person plays the same MMO for ~2 years before getting bored/switching games, etc, it does make getting these time consuming kinda ironic. People want these skins to increase their enjoyment and actually play with them, but by the time they get them they don’t use them much as they are already ready to move on..

But I was understand the other crowd. The one where they feel that these shiney virtual skins/toys are a status symbol, where they accomlpished something others can’t and it makes they feel, at least for a little bit, like they are winners in real life i guess…

I guess I’m an exception since I don’t fit into either of those categories.

I still find it strange that some people will play 1 MMO exclusively until they get bored then pick another one and play that exclusively. I approach them just like my single player games, I’m actively playing multiple games at any given time and will stop or go back to them weeks, months or years later as I feel like it. (Which is why I prefer non-subscription games.) Which means although I might take breaks, even long ones, overall I end up playing the game for far more than 2 years. I’ll still go back to games I played as a child 10+ years later.

As for my legendary? I made it entirely for me, which is good because I made The Dreamer which at best is ‘just another legendary’ and at worst is a weapon some people actively hate seeing. In the months since I made it I’ve had precisely 0 compliments (excluding my guild saying well done for finishing it) and I count myself lucky I’ve had no nasty comments either.

I definitely feel like I accomplished something in making it, it took a lot of time and effort, but it comes entirely from me knowing I achieved that, just like when I finish something in a single player game. That (plus the absurdity of shooting unicorns) makes me smile every time I use it.

To be fair, after 200 hours I could craft a legendary right now, but I’m just not interested. It’s not hard if you don’t waste your time sitting in LA and talking, and instead go out and play the game.

Supposing you play for an hour or two a few nights a week, you could probably earn enough gold to just buy the legendary within a year.

It’s not a requirement and they’re not really any better than the ascended weapons out there, which are only a fraction of the cost. But if rainbow unicorn bows are your thing, then go for it?