Guild Wars 2

Lutheran.9687:

Like a number of people I do question the shift in direction. I may not be an GW1 player, but it is a shift in direction for ArenaNet. Even so though I have to say I’m looking a bit forward to it. I have almost Full Exotics on my character. I just got done with Map Completion and Story Completion last night. I started asking myself what is there for me to do? Legendaries are great and all, but they are a long term goal. Not something I am expecting get done in a short time frame. So, I need something in between to keep my interest. That is where the new gear and dungeon come in. Something to work for in the middle while working on a Legendary.

I respect your opinion, just don’t complain when stat inflation rears its ugly head, can’t find a group unless you are fully Ascended kitted by the new Gear Score – GW2 Edition, when yet another new tier obseletes your hard grinded set or “why am I spending more gems to reskin my armor”

Not admitting that this is a gear treadmill is not realizing the facts or simply not telling the truth.

Gear treadmills are much like a zombie-plague – either you escape before it escalates or you will eventually become one of the zombies moaning incomprehensively about more nourishment right after you are done with what you have just gotten. GW2 was my safe haven from the zombies, come this Friday I will be on the search for a new place where I don’t have to listen to the zombies moan and more importantly where I dont turn into an elitist antisocial motherKITTEN again…

Never seen so much hyperbole in one place in my life. The patch isn’t even out yet, for crying out loud.

Theres another game I bought thats going f2p this month. Prolly play that instead even though it also has a bodacious gear grind. Always was a Star Wars nerd anyways. Only reason I bailed on it for GW2 was I was drawn to the GW2 mission statement of no grinding for gear. All I have done so far is grind for karma, badges, etc. So I really see no difference to this game and the others out there. Disappointing to say the least.

to answer the OPs question. Yes. Yes it will make me play more, and probably spend more.

Nah. It’s against my nature to play for gear. It’s a spiral that slows drives me insane just by picturing it in my head: Farm → Gear → Farm more → Better gear

Doubtful. I suspect I would end up quitting when it starts feeling like a treadmill. Do mind, I am not happy with what I’m hearing but I won’t decide till after the changes take place.

What I do know is that I got bored of the treadmill in other games like Aion and SWTOR. I stayed in SWTOR shorter because you recognise the symptoms more quickly and get fed up more quickly.

If more powerful gear comes out and it’s not the end of it I am sure that feeling will hit and once it does, it will be easy for me to quit and look elsewhere.

But we’ll see how it plays out.

To answer the thread topic: No. It will make me quit. Simple.

Sure! I would play more if they only gave me hats. The new content looks rather awesome. I’m not going to get all butthurt over something I do not yet understand.

Nope. If the content is not compelling, throwing another tier of gear in wont fix it.

No.

I like to see content. A gear treadmill makes content more boring for me. It simply doesn’t work for me. Even if the stats improvements are not that great, I do want to prepare my characters as best as possible for new content. So a new stats tier feels like mandatory to me. That can annoy me to the point where I stop playing a MMO if I get the feeling that the devs will add new tiers.

I liked GW1 so much because it lacked that gear treadmill. It is starting to feel as if different people are now calling the shots in GW2 dev team.

I expect it will make no difference to me. I ll keep playing. Three main reasons:
1. I want the new content
2. PvP and PvE are seperated and super gear will not bother me much.
3. Exotic armor was really easy to obtain, so I am not a sad panda.

Other than that, many details are unknown. Maybe exotic will be better in PvP because of the runes. In that case you ll need both gear sets and you ll need extra warehouse space

most people who are saying they will quit, won’t
hopefully you do though

the entitlement to getting more content through a system that doesn’t have a fee is ridiculous.

then bashing on the optional component of Trading Post is just silly.

what most of you are saying without realizing is:
“I want gear that doesn’t make me change my stats but then i also want new skins without having to go and get transmute stones because then i would need to pay money”

“I also want new interesting areas and content but don’t you dare make me buy into an optional gamble in chests to fund future production”

Complaining about changes that no one has even tried yet just makes you seem immature and prone to complaining.

When it launches and you try it out (with an open mind) and notice a problem post it with a possible suggestion. Anyone can complain just for the sake of complaining. The smart ones actually know how to contribute the fix though.

spoiled player-base is spoiled
could care less about the flaming I’ll get since I’ll go back to playing this game since I actually enjoy it.

Nope if i want a gear grind i will go back and play the mother ship of MMO’s WOW…. No more money will be spent here.

wts guild backpacks :| lots of them.

ArenaNet needs to look back at Guild Wars 1 and realize what went astray.

Campaigns after Prophecies saw players reaching statistical caps very early on – it was the content that came after that really challenged players. As you progressed further, you often encountered enemies and mobs with higher stats than what normal players could reach, and it gave players an incentive to figure out what skills or strategies to employ (well, at least before PvXWiki became too prominent).

The point here is that anyone can try these content, but they challenge players equally without giving them statistical crutches. If you couldn’t complete late-game areas (see DoA in Nightfall as an example), you had no reason to complain that it was because your gears weren’t up to snuff – the “best” armors and weapons statistically were widely available early on. You had to adopt a different approach, or simply admit that you weren’t good enough.

In GW2, I was somewhat disappointed by the relative lack of difficulty in general PvE. Compared to GW1, the only explorable areas that felt remotely challenging was Orr, and I see everyone in the forums wanting to tone down Orr. Sigh.

ArenaNet should definitely add more challenging areas. These don’t have to be lv80 areas – you guys could even modify existing areas so players have a smoother difficulty curve. I know for many players, jumping into Orr was a pretty stark change – not unlike players in Factions jumping straight from Shing Jea into Vizunah Square.

But please, no statistical progression. ArenaNet already has prior experience designing non-gated content – they just need to look at their previous game to do it.

It’ll force me to play more but enjoy less. Simply because I’ll have to do stuff AGAIN to get max gear.

Nope, since I sure as hell won’t have more free time on my hands. Actually, I even feel somewhat less motivated right now…that announcement was like a punch to the gut for me, and I still feel it.

Most definitely YES! Game would die without gear progression. Most my friends/guild have already quit because they’ve already gotten everything they can. Simple art changes won’t make the game survive. I have no idea why someone would want to be wearing the exact same boring gear stats as now 5 years down the road. I want cooler everything. I want gear with cool bonuses and powers. I don’t want my weapon 2 years from now being the EXACT same one I’ve been using for months. The more new content/items/etc the better. You’ve got me hooked arenanet!

I got tired of catching up gear wise over and over in other games. Im tired of getting tired of it, if you know what I mean. I will be playing less and spending less (meaning noting) in the cash shop.

Most certainly not.

It won’t make me play more… and it wont make me play less.

More content will make me play more, however. Whether that includes new gear doesn’t bother me at all if the content is actually fun.

I’m willing to wait and see.

Same here. I won’t support this game anymore. It has no more value nor flavour to me.

Frotee.2634:

Nope, since I sure as hell won’t have more free time on my hands. Actually, I even feel somewhat less motivated right now…that announcement was like a punch to the gut for me, and I still feel it.

Ugh, same. I’m feeling very demotivated right now. Should I bother gearing up my ele in exotics or will those shortly become obsolete? kitten I cant even sell them off to recoup my losses.) Will this game devolve into a generic threadmill grinder? That announcement was so ominous and depressing. Everything’s on hold right now.

Yes.

I will come back and try the dungeon, it seems interesting.

No.

When I first started playing Guild Wars, I was hooked. I stopped after Factions for a bit because of school, and picked it up again during Nightfall. I wasted so many hours on that game… close to 800 or more. The game was a true representation of how horizontal scaling needs to work.

The level 1-79 PvE experience was great in GW2 (except for the laughably bad personal story). But after that…. it just didn’t grab me the way Guild Wars did.

I’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that unless major changes to the game design are made I won’t be coming back to Guild Wars 2.

xeroslash.1032:

ArenaNet needs to look back at Guild Wars 1 and realize what went astray.

Campaigns after Prophecies saw players reaching statistical caps very early on – it was the content that came after that really challenged players. As you progressed further, you often encountered enemies and mobs with higher stats than what normal players could reach, and it gave players an incentive to figure out what skills or strategies to employ (well, at least before PvXWiki became too prominent).

The point here is that anyone can try these content, but they challenge players equally without giving them statistical crutches. If you couldn’t complete late-game areas (see DoA in Nightfall as an example), you had no reason to complain that it was because your gears weren’t up to snuff – the “best” armors and weapons statistically were widely available early on. You had to adopt a different approach, or simply admit that you weren’t good enough.

In GW2, I was somewhat disappointed by the relative lack of difficulty in general PvE. Compared to GW1, the only explorable areas that felt remotely challenging was Orr, and I see everyone in the forums wanting to tone down Orr. Sigh.

ArenaNet should definitely add more challenging areas. These don’t have to be lv80 areas – you guys could even modify existing areas so players have a smoother difficulty curve. I know for many players, jumping into Orr was a pretty stark change – not unlike players in Factions jumping straight from Shing Jea into Vizunah Square.

But please, no statistical progression. ArenaNet already has prior experience designing non-gated content – they just need to look at their previous game to do it.

Thank you! I thought I was the only one who absolutely loved how challenging Guild Wars was.

How I feel right now I won’t be playing for a bit. I might take a look at sPvP down the line if they improve it but I highly doubt I’ll be bothering with any more WvW or PvE. I’m not interested in farming for higher tiers of gear and am equally uninterested in playing with a gear disadvantage. Plus I don’t particularly enjoy being lied to so i guess this isn’t the game for me anymore.

Not to mention I’m still stuck on a level 45 story quest (at level 80) which is being fixed this week after being broken for well over a month. Nice.

Defora.3694:

They are not adding WOW like gear tiers that make old gear useless.

This is quote from News and Announcements:

Our Studio Design Director Chris Whiteside just posted this:
“I’d like to respond to concerns players have raised about ascended items. Please keep in mind that we’re releasing this as one portion of a massive November update that introduces and improves many aspects of challenge, progression, and rewards. With this and upcoming updates, we view ourselves as introducing large amounts of content with supporting systems and features, akin to an expansion pack, building on Guild Wars 2 through a series of live releases. So it’s important for us to be able to add an expansion pack’s worth of progression and rewards to support that content.

Our goal is not to create a gear treadmill. Our goal is to ensure we have a proper progression for players from exotic up to legendary without a massive jump in reward between the two. We will slowly add the remaining ascended gear items and legendary items in future updates to allow people time to acquire them as we add exciting new content that deserves exciting rewards. We will not be adding a new tier of gear every 3 months that we expect everyone to chase after and then get the next set and so on.

Ascended and infusion rewards will be available in both PvE and WvW over time, and be made available through all sorts of content around the world including existing content. PvP will remain unaffected to ensure our intended PvP balance going forward. We are also working on other reward and progression systems for the game that tie into current and new content and features. As you know we care very much about your support and opinion and are listening intently to what you say.

Finally we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the upcoming content, and we will ensure we share our thoughts with you on the experiences we share in the Lost Shores."

Chris Whiteside – Studio Design Director

Source: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/info/news/A-message-from-our-Studio-Design-Director-Chris-Whiteside

Ascended and infusion rewards will be available in both PvE and WvW over time, and be made available through all sorts of content around the world including existing content.

Looks like it won’t just be in the Fractals. Looking forwards to it.

Honestly, yes, it will. I have another little virtual task to try to achieve. Right now I am getting bored because my character has maxed gear, but legendaries are completely out of the question for a casual player such as myself.

It’s like playing Tetris that never increases in speed and doesn’t keep score. If the difficult and the rewards don’t increase over time I have nothing left to play for.

With their downleveling why would it matter if you had more powerful gear? it would just get tuned down like everything else…

These guys aren’t stupid and I think they can see that the longevity of this game won’t sustain itself unless some amount of progression at some level can happen at endgame. Right now if its not PVP you are into what really are people doing at 80? I don’t have a toon there yet but when I do what is it time to do? Finish the endless wandering around the world doing jumping puzzles and map completion? That is only going to hold appeal for so long before i just get bored and stop logging in… So some kinds of progression NEED to be in this game to keep the traditional MMO player engaged..

I will play the same amount I already do, maybe a little less because I think I’ll lost a bit of motivation for playing.

Or maybe I’ll notice the stupid grind and gear progression just like they have in WoW, I’ll get turned off and just quit, so if anything I’ll be playing less than now.

Considering I primarily play game for WvWvW… no, it will make me take my business somewhere else. This game was supposed to be for people who wanted horizontal progression and ArenaNet’s blatant pandering to the other site is deeply disheartening. You can’t satisfy both crowds and this wishy-washy attitude will just cause them to lose both.

Problem is, I don’t even want to get exotics for my alt anymore. Why should I? They’ll be made obsolete by some future dungeon anyway

Dear god I’m getting disgusted with the amount of self-entitlement on these forums. Why would you? How about because people arent created equal? Because the mere token fact that you bought the game does not mean you spawn into the gameworld with the best equipment and, gasp, my actually have to work or compete for it?!

I don’t know what your smoking or why everyone seems to think they’re deserving of something but I’ve got news for you. In the game, as in real life, kitten ain’t free and there are no handouts. The quicker you realize that, the more fun you’ll have in a game that doesnt force you to do anything. You want to get Ascended gear? Go for it. You want to wear the exotics you worked so hard for? Absolutely. You’ll always be ‘cooler’ than someone else, don’t you worry, and if you stopped focusing on getting freebees or crying that your gear is ‘obsolete’ (im sorry, did the patch remove its armor value and all stats too?) the more time you’d have to enjoy the game.

Play as much or as little as you like, its a game. I say again. It. is. a. game.

Good lord…bunch of babies I swear….

If the gear looks cool I will go for it just like I have done in every mmo I have ever played.

Rhyse.8176:

No.

In fact I havn’t even logged in since I read the announcement. The thought that everything I worked for, the world I explored, the skills I learned might all be obsoleted and replaced has stolen all enjoyment I get from playing. I’ve been there and played that game before, I don’t want it again.

Granted it might not happen that way, but the wording of the blog and Chris’s response both strongly suggest that it is. If that door is opened, my wallet is shut.

Glad to hear it! You shall not be missed! Especially because you hardly log onto GW2 anyways and haven’t in almost a month, yet you come on here and just complain when you don’t even play.

I will definitely stay and I am unbelievably ecstatic about the introduction of new powerful gear.
Why? Because having exotics really means nothing anymore since EVERY other level 80 you see has exotics. There is no uniqueness to people, and with new more powerful gear people will be UNIQUE and actually stand out.

New gear means something new to strive for, and for the more dedicated players that is absolutely fantastic news. People who were complaining about small endgame now have something to strive for, but ofcourse some people just need to complain and can’t just enjoy the beautiful creation that Tyria is.

It won’t make me play any less. I mean, really…its a game. Changing a minor game mechanic on the top end doesn’t invalidate anything done levels 1-80. Just means you have something more to keep you busy at 80 if leveling alts isn’t your thing.

I didn’t play GW1 for a gear treadmill, min/max, numbers game and every MMO I have played since has been exactly that. I had been looking forward to GW2 for a return to just playing because it was fun, enjoyable, and I liked playing around in said universe. Instead I come back to find an initially amazing title that is quickly following the same route as every other MMO.

No it will not make me play more. More than likely it will make me play less and eventually quit. I’ve never enjoyed gear treadmill games. I just don’t find constantly chasing a higher number to remain relevant in the game entertaining.

I also tend to take long breaks from MMOs and with GW1 I was able to dive right back into the game upon returning. With games like WoW I had to spend days and even weeks farming for gear just to catch up to the rest of the server before I can participate in the newest content.

If I have to play catch up in GW2 every time I decide to take a few months break, I simply will not play. I want to play the game, not chase numbers.

Definitely less. My 4 “alts” are now rendered an overcommitment. My “main” will need nothing new save a couple of items, and those make me angry enough that I won’t enjoy going for them. I will not be collecting alternate exotic sets for different builds. I will not be bothering with exotic exotics like whisperblade, because now it is legendary or bust. In short, my progression, the horizontal progression advertised as the a tenant central to the game, comes to a halt. And I really have no desire to sign on to another vertical progression scheme.

Gronba.8621:

Not admitting that this is a gear treadmill is not realizing the facts or simply not telling the truth.

Gear treadmills are much like a zombie-plague – either you escape before it escalates or you will eventually become one of the zombies moaning incomprehensively about more nourishment right after you are done with what you have just gotten. GW2 was my safe haven from the zombies, come this Friday I will be on the search for a new place where I don’t have to listen to the zombies moan and more importantly where I dont turn into an elitist antisocial motherKITTEN again…

Orrrr you could just get legendary weapons and never have to worry about being not on par with the new tiers. And then wait til legendary armor comes out and do the same. DONE.

Katostrophe.3274:

I will definitely stay and I am unbelievably ecstatic about the introduction of new powerful gear.
Why? Because having exotics really means nothing anymore since EVERY other level 80 you see has exotics. There is no uniqueness to people, and with new more powerful gear people will be UNIQUE and actually stand out.

Incredibly wrong. This destroys uniqueness. How many tier 3 cultural armor, whisperblades, mjolnirs, wall of mists, etc do you see? These make your character unique. It is a lot of work just to be different, so people will pick a couple to acquire if they want to stand out. But people aren’t going to spend the resources on these incredibly expensive items because they are too busy chasing tier 5 ascended armor because EVERYONE HAS IT and they need it too. Oh and everyone needs a legendary weapon now, even if they hate the skin, so be prepared to see rainbow staffs on everything from mesmers to necromancers in the near future. The people that don’t get this stuff just won’t be around very much, so you won’t be seeing much else in your dungeon raids.

Katostrophe.3274:

New gear means something new to strive for, and for the more dedicated players that is absolutely fantastic news. People who were complaining about small endgame now have something to strive for, but ofcourse some people just need to complain and can’t just enjoy the beautiful creation that Tyria is.

Tyria was a beautiful creation, but the people that hit ESC at every vista didn’t understand it. There was no shortage of goals or endgame, but the WoW conditioning led people to think there was.

ArcTheFallen.7682:

Gronba.8621:

Not admitting that this is a gear treadmill is not realizing the facts or simply not telling the truth.

Gear treadmills are much like a zombie-plague – either you escape before it escalates or you will eventually become one of the zombies moaning incomprehensively about more nourishment right after you are done with what you have just gotten. GW2 was my safe haven from the zombies, come this Friday I will be on the search for a new place where I don’t have to listen to the zombies moan and more importantly where I dont turn into an elitist antisocial motherKITTEN again…

Orrrr you could just get legendary weapons and never have to worry about being not on par with the new tiers. And then wait til legendary armor comes out and do the same. DONE.

Right. We can just get legendary weapons… lets see any character I play probably wants a 2-handed melee weapon, a 2-handed ranged weapon, a 1 handed weapon and an offhand as a basic minimum of options… 4+ legendaries to play? No grind there!

The jump from exotic gear to legendary gear in terms of time and effort are ridiculous.

There needs to be something between exotic and legendary to keep players interested.

Hence, we got ascended.

Yes. I’m a casual player and exotics are just so easy to get. Past that is the huge grind for legendaries which is something I’ll never get. So… there’s not a whole lot for me to log in for once I have my exotics.

To answer the thread title’s question: No.

I confess that when I played that other MMO, I did exactly this. I felt obligated to log on and do a dungeon every single day, just so I could fit in with the rest of the community and the rest of my guild that was also doing so.

It’s a shame that the other MMO has completely and absolutely codified MMOs like it has. Even if that other MMO was absolutely perfect, (It’s not.) the rest of the genre has no chance at survival. Any attempts to deviate from that other MMO will be instantly compared to that other MMO and denounced for being different, the result of something as simple as peer pressure. Any attempts to copy that other MMO will be laughed at and ignored. If they wanted mechanics similar to that other MMO, they would play that other MMO.

This leaves that other MMO with an effective monopoly over the genre. Any sort of MMORPG today has no choice but to be compared to that other MMO, with its veterans, fanboys and the like bringing the influence of that other MMO over to a game like GW2, intentionally or not.

MasterGeese.4756:

To answer the thread title’s question: No.

I confess that when I played that other MMO, I did exactly this. I felt obligated to log on and do a dungeon every single day, just so I could fit in with the rest of the community and the rest of my guild that was also doing so.

It’s a shame that the other MMO has completely and absolutely codified MMOs like it has. Even if that other MMO was absolutely perfect, (It’s not.) the rest of the genre has no chance at survival. Any attempts to deviate from that other MMO will be instantly compared to that other MMO and denounced for being different, the result of something as simple as peer pressure. Any attempts to copy that other MMO will be laughed at and ignored. If they wanted mechanics similar to that other MMO, they would play that other MMO.

This leaves that other MMO with an effective monopoly over the genre. Any sort of MMORPG today has no choice but to be compared to that other MMO, with its veterans, fanboys and the like bringing the influence of that other MMO over to a game like GW2, intentionally or not.

You are right, of course. But for Arenanet to go all out and market their game as THE ONE that dares to be different, getting millions of people to buy into that promise, only to betray them 3 months later, that’s downright comical.

Shootsfoot.9276:

Never seen so much hyperbole in one place in my life. The patch isn’t even out yet, for crying out loud.

So, we should just wait and see how it goes before expressing our opinions, even though we were sold a game without tiered vertical progression only to have it added?

No thanks, I’m going to be as up-front as possible with my dissatisfaction at this new direction. The official blog post says this is only the beginning, that’s not speculation. The picture in that post shows an item with higher stats than exotic, that’s not speculation.

This is absolutely the right time to call for an immediate review of the new direction being taken.

Sorry no to gear grind. If I wanna display my kitten I’d go play WoW. I’m tired of the “my gearpeen is THIS ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| LONG now” mentality. But of course character advancement is a big thing with these types of games. How do I make my character stronger? Maybe further advancement can be done thru other means such as additional skills. Maybe ascended skills that you can only earn after you beat a certain encounter (like the signet of capture system from GW1 but without the annoyance).

Shootsfoot.9276:

Never seen so much hyperbole in one place in my life. The patch isn’t even out yet, for crying out loud.

So disarm a bomb that is near to explode is useless? it may not explode at all! lets watch if it explode (w.tf its a bomb) and then lets decide what to do… lol…