Guild Wars 2

As someone from New Zealand, all the one time events are at a time I can’t make. Thus I feel treated like a second class citizen compared to other players. On it’s own I would have been content adding my voice to those complaining.

Then there is ANET’s manifesto:

“Here’s what we believe: If someone wants to play for a thousand hours to get an item that is so rare that other players can’t realistically acquire it, that rare item should be differentiated by its visual appearance and rarity alone, not by being more powerful than everything else in the game. Otherwise, your MMO becomes all about grinding to get the best gear. We don’t make grindy games — we leave the grind to other MMOs.”

-Mike Obrien, President of Arenanet

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.”

– Colin Johanson

Finally, since combat is such a core part of the gameplay of any MMO, we’ve put a lot of emphasis into rethinking combat. So much of traditional MMO combat is rote and repetitive. You execute the same strategy over and over again, just augmented over time with better and better gear. After a while it starts to feel like you’re playing a spreadsheet. Combat needs to be about making creative choices, and it needs to feel immediate, active, and visceral.

-Mike O’Brien

This manifesto is a major reason why I decided to buy GW2. But every piece of evidence I’ve seen says Ascended gear goes against that manifesto. I want to be wrong on this. I want to see evidence showing that Ascended gear isn’t so bad. But every time new evidence comes out, it makes things look worse.

Frankly, I feel lied to. I know I’m not the only one.

You are definitely not the only one. I feel like they’ve punched their entire fanbase in the gut.

Seems I tripped the kitten filter in my title. Another forum bug.

Quoting AN’s manifesto proves nothing anymore.

Kitten that censor is ruthless.

Like this event.

Re-reading the manifesto, I still love what they said GW2 would be. But now, reading those words feels like salt in the wounds.

I wonder the same.

You do know you don’t HAVE to get the gear right?

you do know you could just pretend as if it never existed and go about playing the game you see fit.

their not saying “if you don’t get this gear, you wont be good, and everyone will hate you”

there are current lvl 80 dungeons that you can easily complete with just a couple exotics. ya the gear makes those experiences easier, but will you be one of those people that complains about that too?

I hate a gear grind just as much as the next guy, but all the gear i got just sort of falls into place, i didn’t have to go out of my way and spend hours and hours focusing on one piece of armor. even if i did, that’s my fault. not anets.

bottom line?

it wouldn’t be called ascended gear if it where easy to get

i don’t see why people are nitpicking at something they don’t even have an obligation to do. That’s like me getting mad for going to college even though im the one who signed up. it just doesn’t make any sense to complain when you have 100% control over how you spend your time.

Edited post to remove a violation of the code of conduct.

Greenbuddhas.4508:

You do know you don’t HAVE to get the gear right?

I see several ways that they could become mandatory:
1 – If I want to do Fractal dungeons with better rewards, getting the powerful infusions is mandatory.
2 – If I want to compete in WvW, I’ll need to have my stats match the enemies. Meaning best in slot gear is mandatory.
3 – If PUGs ever get into the habbit of asking for people to ping their gear, they will only take the people with the Ascended gear. Thus a third possibility of mandatory Ascended gear
4 – People will complain if ANET makes new content that is too easy. Scale any new content to exotics once full sets of Ascended items are out and they will be too easy. Thus I expect ANET to scale new content for Ascended items, making them mandatory.

But that isn’t what I was complaining about. I was complaining that ANET said that rarer gear wouldn’t have better stats. With Ascended stats it does. Therefore I feel lied to.

But it doesn’t matter if the gear is mandatory or not. Only that all the evidence says that the manifesto was a lie.

there are current lvl 80 dungeons that you can easily complete with just a couple exotics. ya the gear makes those experiences easier, but will you be one of those people that complains about that too?

Getting a full set of exotics was a bit of a grind, but only because I made mistakes. For example, sinking a lot of coin into crafting so I couldn’t afford them.

I hate a gear grind just as much as the next guy, but all the gear i got just sort of falls into place, i didn’t have to go out of my way and spend hours and hours focusing on one piece of armor. even if i did, that’s my fault. not anets.

Tell me, how long do you expect it to take you to get a single Ascended item ?
What about a full set ?

Now, once you have provided the numbers answer the following question: Does that much grind fit with the promises ANET made in their manifesto ?

bottom line?

IT WOULDN’T BE CALLED ASCENDED GEAR IF IT WHERE EASY TO GET

Eh ?
I fail to see how that line makes any sense as a response to my complaints. Even if you think the complaints are about the grind, instead of being about ANET lying.