Guild Wars 2

One of the main attractions to GW2 would be gear progression, or lack off! Take that away and then I start comparing other stuff which GW2 lacks behind in badly. For starters GW2 balance team seem to take a while to fix bugs, and some bugs have existed since launch!

With the introduction of new Ascended gear GW2 I expect some will say well if I have to hardcore grind gear might as well do it in WoW!

GW2 always had gear progression. We’ve had the white -> blue -> green -> yellow -> orange tiers since at least the first public beta. (I don’t count legendaries because although they are technically a tier the stats are the same as exotic so they’re irrelevant to this discussion.)

The lack of gear grind was one of the main things that appealed to me about this game (and GW1 before it) but the addition of 1 tier with a pretty minor jump in stats hasn’t changed that for me. I’ve yet to find anything I can’t do in exotic (or even a mix of exotic, rare and masterwork) gear so IMO ascended is largely optional. I’ll get it sometime, on all 5 of my characters, but I’m in no hurry and it doesn’t bother me.

Danikat.8537:

GW2 always had gear progression. We’ve had the white -> blue -> green -> yellow -> orange tiers since at least the first public beta.

The lack of gear grind was one of the main things that appealed to me about this game (and GW1 before it) but the addition of 1 tier with a pretty minor jump in stats hasn’t changed that for me. I’ve yet to find anything I can’t do in exotic (or even a mix of exotic, rare and masterwork) gear so IMO ascended is largely optional. I’ll get it sometime, on all 5 of my characters, but I’m in no hurry and it doesn’t bother me.

I hate to go all slippery-slop on ya, but if they’re willing to add one new tier within the first year, who’s to say they won’t add another next year? After all, the people clamoring for a new tier this year and going to be doing the same thing next year, barring some harsh time-gating on obtaining ascended.

[Completing the Title]

When Gear Progression Pushes You Away

Introduce Skill Progression.

Their mistake was that exotics were too easy to obtain, far too easy. I have 4 fully geared and 2 partially geared exotics toons. This is totally acceptable in a WvW environment, but in PVE it leaves something to be desired.

darkace.8925:

Danikat.8537:

GW2 always had gear progression. We’ve had the white -> blue -> green -> yellow -> orange tiers since at least the first public beta.

The lack of gear grind was one of the main things that appealed to me about this game (and GW1 before it) but the addition of 1 tier with a pretty minor jump in stats hasn’t changed that for me. I’ve yet to find anything I can’t do in exotic (or even a mix of exotic, rare and masterwork) gear so IMO ascended is largely optional. I’ll get it sometime, on all 5 of my characters, but I’m in no hurry and it doesn’t bother me.

I hate to go all slippery-slop on ya, but if they’re willing to add one new tier within the first year, who’s to say they won’t add another next year? After all, the people clamoring for a new tier this year and going to be doing the same thing next year, barring some harsh time-gating on obtaining ascended.

Well they’re to say that. And they have. They said they needed a bridge tier and once it was out they would switch to horizontal progression.

They said they have no intentions of adding another tier. If they do then we have a problem, but it seems unlikely.

Yenn.9185:

Their mistake was that exotics were too easy to obtain, far too easy. I have 4 fully geared and 2 partially geared exotics toons. This is totally acceptable in a WvW environment, but in PVE it leaves something to be desired.

Yes, it leaves something to be desired. Content. Gear progression is not content – it’s only a cheap surrogate.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

Well they’re to say that. And they have. They said they needed a bridge tier and once it was out they would switch to horizontal progression.

Untrue. They said they are going to continue their “item progression” initiative. Check Chris Whiteside’s Reddit AMA shortly after November release.
And there was no need for a bridge, because there was no gap. Besi,des this doesn’t even explain the higher stats on ascended gear.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

They said they have no intentions of adding another tier. If they do then we have a problem, but it seems unlikely.

They said they have no intentions of adding another tier at the moment, and that they won’t do that this year. That’s all we were promised(*).
And that promise is worth as much as the old promise of not needing to grind for better stats, or needing to “prepare to have fun”. Remember, two of those promises were broken within first few months of the game.
Actions, not words. Words aren’t worth much these days.

(*) Also, remember, they also said they will continue item progression, and that they will definitely raise level cap.

@Astralporing: look at those “promises” in full context before flinging around the accusation of broken promises.

The not grinding for stats quote was in relation to an absurd amount of hours, and really none of the ascended gear has required a lot of time so far (possible exception of pieces only available via fractals). In fact, you can earn pieces just by playing normally and doing other content that you (hopefully) enjoy.

The “preparing to have fun” quote was aimed more at the distinction most games have between end-game and the game you experience while levelling. Even if you want to apply it to gear grinding, then the fact that the gear isn’t actually needed to complete most content (except ofc high level fractals) completely undermines your argument.

Yenn.9185:

Their mistake was that exotics were too easy to obtain.

Why is that a mistake?

FluffyDoe.7539:

[Completing the Title]

When Gear Progression Pushes You Away

Introduce Skill Progression.

Skills don’t take up inventory space or make you throw away all the gear you worked for..

Yenn.9185:

Their mistake was that exotics were too easy to obtain, far too easy. I have 4 fully geared and 2 partially geared exotics toons. This is totally acceptable in a WvW environment, but in PVE it leaves something to be desired.

You will acquire Ascended gear in two weeks time, then you will come back and whine about how easy ascended gear is and how much you are bored that there isn’t any other higher tier of gear to run the gear threadmill.

Yoda

Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny.

I don’t for a minute believe we are done with gear tiers. At one point pre-launch ANet said, “Legendaries will have the same stats as exotics, the highest tier of gear.” They also said, “We planned Ascended before launch.”

So, they conveniently forgot — pre-launch — to amend the former statement, despite that the latter statement means they knew the former was misleading. Instead they waited until some unknown number of fans who wanted progression plan A had spent their money, then said they were switching to plan B. ANet’s word is not worth jack.