Guild Wars 2

I can understand time gating crafting/items when they come out, but time gating everything years later just leaves everyone way behind.

I have to wait months for laurels to get the recipes to make the ascended gear that everyone already has. Seems kind of stupid.

I agree with the laurels acquisition rate. It would be really nice if there was an in-game way to earn laurels other than log-in rewards. The rate with this is just painfully slow.

It feels like a free to play game without the pay to win catch up mechanics that normally come with those.

I know the stat difference is minor, but it matters if you want to join a serious group.

You can get 55 laurels every 28 days. You will eventually come to a point like all of us where you have no other use for them other than to convert them to gold. Doing achievements also nets you laurels although it’s not really worth actively doing.

Things are time gated to make them profitable. By enforcing a time gate, they force players to either wait or buy from other players. This allows people to have something to sell on the trading post at a solid profit (unless it’s Leather, because Leather is the kitten step-child in these equations).

I guess I have a different perspective, perhaps, because I’ve seen the way that laurels have developed rather than what they are now.

It is much easier to get laurels now than it used to be. You get far more each month. Before you would get 1 a day, but have to complete 5 dailies to obtain one. You’d also get 10 from completing 4 monthlies.

I also see laurels as a bit of a bonus. They’ve always been an added extra in my eyes… something that rewards players that regularly play.

I can appreciate that waiting for laurels in order to buy ascended recipes can be frustrating. However, I would assume that a player aiming for ascended gear is so active in the game that they would be swimming in laurels. I can’t imagine too many people with the same problem, unless they’ve frivolously thrown their laurels at materials or are trying to gear lots of alts in quick succession.

Edit: I agree with Garth, too. Allowing them to be farmable would destroy a lot of things.
Also, with ascended gear, there’s either one “gate” or the other. You’re either limited on how fast you can craft by money or time.

Time gating isn’t new player friendly at all. I’m not even a new player, just returning after a while. I already had a few pieces of ascended gear and its still discouraging knowing how long it will take to be on a level playing field.

Murderin.8269:

to make the ascended gear that everyone already has

I doubt most people have much in the way of ascended items at all. Maybe a piece here and there, but generally the acquisition and the existence will turn all but either the most hardcore, completest or dedicated of players off. I haven’t spoken to anyone in game who has a full set of ascended gear or is aiming for it.They simply aren’t needed or required beyond high level fractals. Obviously if that is your aim though, then my point is moot.

Randulf.7614:

Murderin.8269:

to make the ascended gear that everyone already has

I doubt most people have much in the way of ascended items at all. Maybe a piece here and there, but generally the acquisition and the existence will turn all but either the most hardcore, completest or dedicated of players off. I haven’t spoken to anyone in game who has a full set of ascended gear or is aiming for it.They simply aren’t needed or required beyond high level fractals. Obviously if that is your aim though, then my point is moot.

I absolutely agree with your opinion and experiences.

Most people seem to agree that full ascended armour is only necessary for high level fractals. Some also say that they like to see the players in top WvW servers geared with ascended as it gives you a small advantage, although most of the time you’ll be protected by the zerg anyway.

Apart from fractals, PvE is oriented around being geared with exotics, but it is perfectly doable in rares or even masterwork. Ascended gear is unnecessary, but if you want anything I’d suggest ascended trinkets and weapons (for increased base damage) as this gives you the most stat gain for the cheapest amount.

Of course, gear doesn’t make a difference in PvP, so there’s no worry about that there.

As for if it was just your aim to be fully ascended, then it’s just one of those things you’re going to have to be patient about. A-net designed ascended gear to be a long term (and meaningful) goal, hence the time-gate on refining ascended materials.

Ayrilana.1396:

You can get 55 laurels every 28 days. You will eventually come to a point like all of us where you have no other use for them other than to convert them to gold. Doing achievements also nets you laurels although it’s not really worth actively doing.

The problem with that is do the math on getting enough for all the ascended recipes you want to make for your alts and a set of ascended jewelry for each alt – let’s say the alt number is 8 (one of each class, which is common). That is too long a time to reasonably gear up for these items.

Let’s say you throw out ascended recipes altogether. That’s still too slowly to reasonably gear up each character with 5 trinkets each.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can get 55 laurels every 28 days. You will eventually come to a point like all of us where you have no other use for them other than to convert them to gold. Doing achievements also nets you laurels although it’s not really worth actively doing.

The problem with that is do the math on getting enough for all the ascended recipes you want to make for your alts and a set of ascended jewelry for each alt – let’s say the alt number is 8 (one of each class, which is common). That is too long a time to reasonably gear up for these items.

Let’s say you throw out ascended recipes altogether. That’s still too slowly to reasonably gear up each character with 5 trinkets each.

The old method was 1 day completing dailies, and 10 a month completing monthlies. That’s 41 max, so you’re still better off in the current format.

Is this thread a thing? … almost NOTHING in this game is time gated ><

Kal Spiro.9745:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can get 55 laurels every 28 days. You will eventually come to a point like all of us where you have no other use for them other than to convert them to gold. Doing achievements also nets you laurels although it’s not really worth actively doing.

The problem with that is do the math on getting enough for all the ascended recipes you want to make for your alts and a set of ascended jewelry for each alt – let’s say the alt number is 8 (one of each class, which is common). That is too long a time to reasonably gear up for these items.

Let’s say you throw out ascended recipes altogether. That’s still too slowly to reasonably gear up each character with 5 trinkets each.

The old method was 1 day completing dailies, and 10 a month completing monthlies. That’s 41 max, so you’re still better off in the current format.

The argument isn’t that you don’t get more now than before. We all get that you do. The point is it’s still too slow a rate to reasonably gear up multiple characters with trinkets, to say nothing of ascended recipes for each of the armor weights – more than that unless you use the same stats on all your alts.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can get 55 laurels every 28 days. You will eventually come to a point like all of us where you have no other use for them other than to convert them to gold. Doing achievements also nets you laurels although it’s not really worth actively doing.

The problem with that is do the math on getting enough for all the ascended recipes you want to make for your alts and a set of ascended jewelry for each alt – let’s say the alt number is 8 (one of each class, which is common). That is too long a time to reasonably gear up for these items.

Let’s say you throw out ascended recipes altogether. That’s still too slowly to reasonably gear up each character with 5 trinkets each.

You can get ascended accessories by exchanging Guild Commendations. As for rings, if you’re regularly doing fractals you can net a massive number of rings to the point where you don’t know what to do with them. You can also get trinkets for a smaller amount of laurels in WvW if you also exchange with Badges of Honour.

As for gearing out 8 different characters with ascended gear… of course it’s going to be difficult because it wasn’t really intended that people do this- by no means is a player forced to. I know some people have 2 or 3 different characters equipped mainly with ascended gear for the purpose of high level fractals and achieving the perfect group, though.

It honestly seems like you’re making this problem yourself, by expecting every character you have to be equipped in BiS gear. It doesn’t really work like that in this game, at least not without a lot of patience and time.

Crimson Clouds.4853:

It doesn’t really work like that in this game.

Perhaps you’re right. I’m just playing this game WRONG.

Time gates reduce grinding.

If Anet doesnt want a certain item to be gained easily, they can either lock it behind a time gate or behind a massive grind/RNG.

I take time gates over grind and rng any day.

The game is perfectly playable with exotics. No need to be in a rush for ascended.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Kal Spiro.9745:

Celtic Lady.3729:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can get 55 laurels every 28 days. You will eventually come to a point like all of us where you have no other use for them other than to convert them to gold. Doing achievements also nets you laurels although it’s not really worth actively doing.

The problem with that is do the math on getting enough for all the ascended recipes you want to make for your alts and a set of ascended jewelry for each alt – let’s say the alt number is 8 (one of each class, which is common). That is too long a time to reasonably gear up for these items.

Let’s say you throw out ascended recipes altogether. That’s still too slowly to reasonably gear up each character with 5 trinkets each.

The old method was 1 day completing dailies, and 10 a month completing monthlies. That’s 41 max, so you’re still better off in the current format.

The argument isn’t that you don’t get more now than before. We all get that you do. The point is it’s still too slow a rate to reasonably gear up multiple characters with trinkets, to say nothing of ascended recipes for each of the armor weights – more than that unless you use the same stats on all your alts.

If it boils down to it being too slow, then yes I think almost everyone will agree. That I don’t believe is linked to laurels though since I find them one of the more reasonable acquisitions for ascended. Laurels simply slow the process down for the uber rich and level the field out somewhat as the devs wanted.

I will take the point that ascended really punishes you if you want ascended for a lot of toons or for a toon with multiple set ups though.

Ultimately, ascended exists for fractals. Considering how few people are likely to be super geared in full ascended for the rest of the game, I suspect most people could bridge the gap with stat food. It’s easy to get and overlooked by sooooo many people (as confirmed once by a dev a long time ago).

Is it slower than it needs to be? Yes, but that’s more to do with the mats required and the imbalance vs armour weights.
Is it intentionally this slow? Yes

Arkinos.7245:

Time gates reduce grinding.

If Anet doesnt want a certain item to be gained easily, they can either lock it behind a time gate or behind a massive grind/RNG.

I take time gates over grind and rng any day.

This game was good in the start. The real grinding and timegating started when they added ascended gear. Which was never needed. No need for time gating or grind. It’s just a cheap way for not including enough content and to easy content. I like to be able to have top tier gear without spending a large amount of time.

Well while you are waiting on Laurels you can get your crafting up to 500 and farm those ascended materials.

Laurels were added in response to players not wanting to do fractals to be able to get some of the rewards available from fractals. 1 per completion of the daily, 10 per completion of the monthly. When ascended weapons and armor were finally added ANet looked around for a currency that showed devotion to the game.

Since components crafted with ascended mats were time gated at one of each per day, why not make the final recipes partially paid for by a time gated currency? Crafting your ascended items are suppose to be a long term endeavor.

Simple to keep you logging in daily. The more you login the more you’ll be tempted to buy stuff from the gem store

pads out the game.

Timelord.8190:

I like to be able to have top tier gear without spending a large amount of time.

Well I think that is where the disconnect is. They clearly want top tier gear to be something you have SPEND that time and work towards, so that it feels like a real accomplishment. People with full sets of ascended gear have WORKED for it and presumably are happy with having something they worked hard for. Its not MEANT to be something everyone can just get without really investing themselves in the process.

And I say this as someone who will likely never have a full set because to me it ISNT worth the time. But it wasn’t made for me, it was made for those other people who enjoy putting in the work and having the nicest stuff they can get.

Celtic Lady.3729:

Ayrilana.1396:

You can get 55 laurels every 28 days. You will eventually come to a point like all of us where you have no other use for them other than to convert them to gold. Doing achievements also nets you laurels although it’s not really worth actively doing.

The problem with that is do the math on getting enough for all the ascended recipes you want to make for your alts and a set of ascended jewelry for each alt – let’s say the alt number is 8 (one of each class, which is common). That is too long a time to reasonably gear up for these items.

Let’s say you throw out ascended recipes altogether. That’s still too slowly to reasonably gear up each character with 5 trinkets each.

We all had to do this and slowly build up laurels. I see no reason why newer players should have it differently than older ones. The great thing about ascended is that it is account bound.

JoshuaRAWR.4653:

pads out the game.

This to a degree. I mean, what is the point of games but to have something to do? Even if they halved the time, people will QQ it’s still too long. You don’t even need ascended for 98% of the game anyway.

psionflames.5246:

Timelord.8190:

I like to be able to have top tier gear without spending a large amount of time.

Well I think that is where the disconnect is. They clearly want top tier gear to be something you have SPEND that time and work towards, so that it feels like a real accomplishment. People with full sets of ascended gear have WORKED for it and presumably are happy with having something they worked hard for. Its not MEANT to be something everyone can just get without really investing themselves in the process.

And I say this as someone who will likely never have a full set because to me it ISNT worth the time. But it wasn’t made for me, it was made for those other people who enjoy putting in the work and having the nicest stuff they can get.

The thing is, games shouldn’t be about work. It should be about having fun and master diffucult content in order to get the best gear.
They ruined their own no grind philosophy.

Randulf.7614:

Murderin.8269:

to make the ascended gear that everyone already has

I doubt most people have much in the way of ascended items at all. Maybe a piece here and there, but generally the acquisition and the existence will turn all but either the most hardcore, completest or dedicated of players off. I haven’t spoken to anyone in game who has a full set of ascended gear or is aiming for it.They simply aren’t needed or required beyond high level fractals. Obviously if that is your aim though, then my point is moot.

I’m not hardcore, completest, or that dedicated… and I have two characters that have been decked up in full ascended for many moons. High level fractals have dropped so many ascended chests that I just stopped making them and now I just put either zojja or wupwup on my alts… Wupwup makes great drunk gear

Time gates give you the illusion that there’s more content than there really is. They also get you to log in regularly and turns the game into a habit.

Time gating is something most, if not all mmorpgs do. There’s no way a themepark mmo like GW2 could keep people entertained without implementing some time gates throughout the game. I don’t think GW2 is any worse than other mmos out there.

the hyperbole in this thread is strong.

Murderin.8269:

I can understand time gating crafting/items when they come out, but time gating everything years later just leaves everyone way behind.

I have to wait months for laurels to get the recipes to make the ascended gear that everyone already has. Seems kind of stupid.

Cause they want you to continue to log in and play. Making things time gated keeps people playing.

With that being said, I really hate it when you gear for more then one build or gearing multiple characters.

I like using the WvW infusions to maximize stats on infusion slots, so Laurel consumption is high, omnomnomnom

The only Asc. gear I have is trinkets. None of my 8 80’s have 5 (1 has 4, iirc, the rest 0-3). Wait, I lie, I have 1 Asc Weapon (from a Teq’s Hoard, so useless to my builds) and 1 +Condi armor piece (also useless). I hope Asc. has worked for ANet, because it sure hasn’t for me. I could live with trinkets, as I’d outfit my alts eventually — but I do not engage with boring game systems, and crafting in GW2 is as boring a system as I’ve seen in any game.

And by “everything”, you mean ascended? The one tier only really required for the highest levels of one activity in the whole game?

Sounds completely unreasonable.

Please understand, it is the comment belief that if Ascended goodies were not time-gated, then many of us believe it would destroy the game economy. Many players take advantage of the TP as is, price hiking items that were ones never so expensive. Inflation in this game makes the U.S. Government look relaxed in their ways, lmao. (Okay, maybe that was a bad joke…)

Or it would make Ascended items therefore Ascended gear otherwise dirt cheap and since they are ‘stated’ to be the best stats of armor in game, well… that in and of itself should be worth something, you see. These are mats to make “end-game” armor.

Daily log in metrics are equivalent to subscription numbers for Anet. That’s the only reason for daily locked content and crafting.

With Veratas Armor/Wepons there is now the first Asc. set of recipes that you can buy in the TP.

Given that, I do not see a reasons why all others are only available for laurels.

Dayra.7405:

With Veratas Armor/Wepons there is now the first Asc. set of recipes that you can buy in the TP.

Given that, I do not see a reasons why all others are only available for laurels.

Opposite. You shouldn’t see why picking up the Verata’s recipes doesn’t suddenly have a bruiser come and beat you up for your gold/Laurels.

Anet should timegate WAY more items! Timegate means that player which play constantly have a way to make gold. If new players or returning ones or 1h/week player don’t like it, then they can buy everything from tp or with real money!

Actually everything with wich you can earn at least a little bit of money each day are the timegated things. -> Everything for asc or the stuff for mawdrey.
I hope that anet adds alot of items with the new expansion that work like mawdrey. Meaning ~1 month timegated to build, very expensive but easy to farm over time.

And with laurels… well we get way too much. Anet should decrease them to ~20 each month. If you don’t want to login each day or wait some month for the stuff, then buy it at TP or don’t play!

Murderin.8269:

I can understand time gating crafting/items when they come out, but time gating everything years later just leaves everyone way behind.

I have to wait months for laurels to get the recipes to make the ascended gear that everyone already has. Seems kind of stupid.

Time gating on ascended crafting is the only thing keeping those materials profitable. It’s a benefit for crafters to ensure that they can make easy money from crafting.

Time gates keep you playing after you’ve exhausted the content.

Once you no longer receive intrinsic reward from playing, the goal is to keep you in game waiting for extrinsic rewards.

Timelord.8190:

The thing is, games shouldn’t be about work. It should be about having fun

This is MMORPG. All MMOs are about work.

Timelord.8190:

master diffucult content in order to get the best gear.

This is called “gear grind” aka repeating same stuff over and over again to get BiS gear.

Timelord.8190:

They ruined their own no grind philosophy.

Nope. Atm you need to grind only to get in the closed beta.

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Nope. Atm you need to grind only to get in the closed beta.

That only increases your chances. You have a chance if you are signed up for the newsletter.

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Timelord.8190:

The thing is, games shouldn’t be about work. It should be about having fun

This is MMORPG. All MMOs are about work.

Timelord.8190:

master diffucult content in order to get the best gear.

This is called “gear grind” aka repeating same stuff over and over again to get BiS gear.

Timelord.8190:

They ruined their own no grind philosophy.

Nope. Atm you need to grind only to get in the closed beta.

You’re wrong about everything. Try again.

Timelord.8190:

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Timelord.8190:

The thing is, games shouldn’t be about work. It should be about having fun

This is MMORPG. All MMOs are about work.

Timelord.8190:

master diffucult content in order to get the best gear.

This is called “gear grind” aka repeating same stuff over and over again to get BiS gear.

Timelord.8190:

They ruined their own no grind philosophy.

Nope. Atm you need to grind only to get in the closed beta.

You’re wrong about everything. Try again.

Arguments?

Gibson.4036:

Time gates keep you playing after you’ve exhausted the content.

Once you no longer receive intrinsic reward from playing, the goal is to keep you in game waiting for extrinsic rewards.

how will i feel enticed to keep playing if i have nothing to do and crafting that one thing i wanna craft is forbidden because i have to make 1 material a day ? thus forcing me to literally wait a month if i have all the materials needed

if anything it makes players not wanna bother with the game anymore as all the sense achievement and exploration is taken away by being punished for working towards your goal

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Timelord.8190:

TheRandomGuy.7246:

Timelord.8190:

The thing is, games shouldn’t be about work. It should be about having fun

This is MMORPG. All MMOs are about work.

Timelord.8190:

master diffucult content in order to get the best gear.

This is called “gear grind” aka repeating same stuff over and over again to get BiS gear.

Timelord.8190:

They ruined their own no grind philosophy.

Nope. Atm you need to grind only to get in the closed beta.

You’re wrong about everything. Try again.

Arguments?

Just get a clue dude.

You dont have to grind for ascended armor, or weapons unless you decide that you NEED IT NOW!!!!

i have 4 ascended greatswords, an ascended dagger and an ascended sword, that ive made at my own time. Sure its taken me longer, but im doing it when i want to, im not forced to do it, which could be the case if ANET wanted to make this game like WOW, want to do new content, you need Ascended gear. Thankfully you dont.

I dont have any ascended armor at the moment, why? its not really needed, ill do it when i want to, when i feel up to it. At the moment im working on getting my characters that i play to have all ascended backpacks, why? because i want to. Thats the keyword, want i dont want ascended armor right now, i dont want full sets of ascended weapons right now. I want to finish my second legendary, i want to finish my ascended backpacks.

And of course this game is grindy or rather, it can be grindy, if you make it that way(it was grindy on release too, to some people. Dungeon armor? Do the same thing over and over and over again(Yay so much fun!), Map completion, ALL MMOs have a sense of grind to them) , its an MMO, they need to keep people playing. Some things are going to be timegated. However, most of the grind in this game is player created(My opinion of course, only grind to me is doing PVP).

Timelord.8190:

I like to be able to have top tier gear without spending a large amount of time.

What MMO offers the highest tier gear without a fair sized time investment to obtain though?

WoW, SWTOR, Aion, Rift, Tera, Wildstar, etc, you have to either grind reputation, tokens, raids, dungeons, PvP, etc to get that gear. All of that is time gated in one way or another (via point caps, lockouts, dailies).
Not to mention that it also relies on RNG being in your favor with drops and nobody else decides to roll against you when it comes to raid/dungeon drops.

Moonjelly.3742:

Timelord.8190:

I like to be able to have top tier gear without spending a large amount of time.

What MMO offers the highest tier gear without a fair sized time investment to obtain though?

WoW, SWTOR, Aion, Rift, Tera, Wildstar, etc, you have to either grind reputation, tokens, raids, dungeons, PvP, etc to get that gear. All of that is time gated in one way or another (via point caps, lockouts, dailies).
Not to mention that it also relies on RNG being in your favor with drops and nobody else decides to roll against you when it comes to raid/dungeon drops.

I doubt there is an MMO like that. But i’m hoping it all will change. Anet seemed to make this a no-grind MMO, but failed along the way.

Dante.1763:

You dont have to grind for ascended armor, or weapons unless you decide that you NEED IT NOW!!!!

i have 4 ascended greatswords, an ascended dagger and an ascended sword, that ive made at my own time. Sure its taken me longer, but im doing it when i want to, im not forced to do it, which could be the case if ANET wanted to make this game like WOW, want to do new content, you need Ascended gear. Thankfully you dont.

I dont have any ascended armor at the moment, why? its not really needed, ill do it when i want to, when i feel up to it. At the moment im working on getting my characters that i play to have all ascended backpacks, why? because i want to. Thats the keyword, want i dont want ascended armor right now, i dont want full sets of ascended weapons right now. I want to finish my second legendary, i want to finish my ascended backpacks.

And of course this game is grindy or rather, it can be grindy, if you make it that way(it was grindy on release too, to some people. Dungeon armor? Do the same thing over and over and over again(Yay so much fun!), Map completion, ALL MMOs have a sense of grind to them) , its an MMO, they need to keep people playing. Some things are going to be timegated. However, most of the grind in this game is player created(My opinion of course, only grind to me is doing PVP).

ascended isn’t needed for most the problem is we are being punished for working towards them with timegating , we already worked hard to get the materials and level up crafting why is the timegate necesary , also to You its not necesary but some people actually do fractals in wich players need infusions thus ascended gear is indeed necessary .

to you it might not be a problem because you unlike some you dont have 6+ characters to gear up so thats a month per character now in my case i ll have 8 characters soon so thats a Minimum of 12 months to fully gear all of them Assuming i had all the materials required wich i dont so that easily bumps the time a few months up .