Guild Wars 2

So they’ve said they have “plans” for ascended gear to be obtainable in, for example, WvW.

I want to know when. I don’t want any beating around the bush. Will they be obtainable in WvW BEFORE additional ascended gear is added? Or are they prioritizing adding more ascended gear before giving us other ways to obtain the gear.

FOcusing purely on dungeons initially for a new tier of gear is, in my opinion, telling us all where their priorities lie. It is saying that their major focus is on dungeon grinding, and the rest of the game is secondary. Exotics as a final tier worked because you could basically do ANYTHING in the game and be slowly working towards them (dungeons, crafting, karma, PVE, WvW). While it is great to hear that they “plan” to add ascended gear to the rest of the game….it is honestly sending the wrong message to release it ONLY in dungeons primarily.

All the other problems with a new tier of items with increased stats aside, I think this needs to be addressed. Yes it may be a “slow” gear treadmill, but it is a gear treadmill that at least for now is ONLY accessible in one area of the game, an area that perhaps not everyone wants to participate it. Prior to this content patch if you didn’t want to run dungeons your gear could easily match those who did (stat wise). This is setting a precedent where that is no longer the case.

When the next tier is released.

edit – assuming they are following their predecessors. when a new tier is released the old tier is moved into the other areas of the game for easier access.

My guess would be 3 months at the earliest. So yeah, either you grind fractals all day or enjoy being a second-class citizen (even though Arenanet said they were against that).

Fritz.5026:

When the next tier is released.

I’m actually looking for an honest answer. Basically my question boils down to their plan moving forward. What takes priority?

1. Adding more ascended gear (more accessories, armor etc…)
2. Adding more ways to get ascended gear

From the blog post and the clarification it seemed like number 1 was of FAR FAR higher concern for them….and the “more ways” to get it (WvW, etc…) was kind of a backburner “Oh don’t worry you will get it eventually also” kind of thing. While it is a “slow” grind for now….I plan on never doing the fractals. I have no interest in dungeons and I ESPECIALLY have no interest in “grinding” the dungeons (if I did do them, I would do them once for the experience/story and that is it). So if in 3 months they added more items to the dungeons, that will put me even further behind other people (in competitive play…WvW).

What makes you think they’ll add ascended gear to WvW badge npcs, when they haven’t even added more exo stat prefix choices for those? All there is is soldier’s, no zerker, no carrion, no rabid, no shaman, nothing of use.

They probably don’t even have 1 dev on WvW at this point.

Oh and for clarification: I didn’t post this in the main thread because I am really asking for a very specific question, a very specific clarification.

I realize I’m not going to get that clarification…but at least wanted to put it out there. I think it is VERY VERY important for the devs to state where their priorities lie. From the ways things have been set up for this content update, it appears it lies in the gear grind and dungeons. I want to hear:

“Hey our major priority now is to make all this gear accessible to every playstyle out there, so you don’t feel like you need to do one specific thing to get it. We will be adding that before we add any additional gear”

Like I said, I know it is unlikely to happen. But a guy can dream

drwookie.6391:

Fritz.5026:

When the next tier is released.

I’m actually looking for an honest answer. Basically my question boils down to their plan moving forward. What takes priority?

that was a logical and honest answer.

notice this section on the patch notes "The drop rarity of Rare and Exotic weapons from certain places in the world (champions, veterans, and players in WvW) has been increased. Rares and Exotics should be much more likely to drop and every champion should be guaranteed to drop loot. "

they are ensuring that the older tier is much easier to attain.

they will make sure the current top tier is easier to attain when they release a new tier.

this is the method nearly every gear grinder game follows.

i am sorry if its not what you want to hear, but the writing is on the wall.

Fritz.5026:

drwookie.6391:

Fritz.5026:

When the next tier is released.

I’m actually looking for an honest answer. Basically my question boils down to their plan moving forward. What takes priority?

that was a logical and honest answer.

notice this section on the patch notes "The drop rarity of Rare and Exotic weapons from certain places in the world (champions, veterans, and players in WvW) has been increased. Rares and Exotics should be much more likely to drop and every champion should be guaranteed to drop loot. "

they are ensuring that the older tier is much easier to attain.

they will make sure the current top tier is easier to attain when they release a new tier.

this is the method nearly every gear grinder game follows.

i am sorry if its not what you want to hear, but the writing is on the wall.

Ah good point. I didn’t think about that.

So that implies the rest of the game will be perpetually behind the “dungeon” aspect of the game? Again, it’s not for sure but I agree that is what it seems to suggest.

Honestly I wouldn’t care about that if the “dungeon runners” weren’t able to come into a competitive environment and fight those of us who choose not to run dungeons. They can bring their stat advantage (which may be “small” now but it is not clear how wide the gap will become before those of us who don’t run dungeons can obtain the gear) into a separate part of the game.

No matter how much WvW I may play, those who grind the dungeons can come in and instantly have a stat advantage. Will they defeat me? Perhaps not. But at least at the beginning of the fight they have an instant advantage. It’s like going into a duel where you have 1 bullet and the enemy has 2. You may still beat them, but they are still at a clear advantage.

I am in the exact same boat as you drwookie. I have had enough of the dungeon grind in the other MMOs I have played, and I do not plan on doing them.

Before that simply meant I wouldn’t have the cool armor and legendary skins, which I was fine with. They didn’t mean a thing in WvW (which I spend 99% of my time in game).

Yet now we have ascended gear, dungeon only with better stats. Sure there are promises of having it available through other means, but I am afraid, as has already been stated in this thread, that we will only have access to it after they have already moved on to another higher tier. Thus turning this game into every other game out there.

Why they do not use a system already in place within the game to make things equal for dungeon runners and non-dungeon runners baffles me- Karma. I don’t mind if I have to pay twice the karma price of Temple gear pieces for one piece of ascended; at least I would have access to it while the runners can get it faster. I had hopes of being able to buy dungeon tokens for karma as well sometime down the line, but this goes off tangent to the thread and I’ll just keep that rant to myself for now.