Guild Wars 2

i dont understand the logic behind the ascended armor and weapons because:
fist: it has only 10% difference from exotic in total, meaning the whole set has little effect on survivability and damage out put,probably the infusion slots are most noticeable difference,but in pve the infusions add like 4+power or 4+vitality which is joke.only in terms of ar resistance its usefull for fractals players and thats it.but not so much that makes player in exotic much weaker than player in ascended,again a little effect.
secondly: its obtainable through crafting only,why only crafting? no devs ever explained the logic behind it at all not till today,beside it is expensive to craft one yet to craft for all of your toons,why expensive? no explanasion as well here.

so it makes it totally skippable,why would i spend a lot of gold to get ascended while i am totally fine with exotics,in all content of the game.
i prefer to hold on to my gold untill it is enough to make legendary and not waste it on something that has little effect and actually waste of gold.

then don’t make ascended gear. It’s not a must have as you mentioned. Their intention was for exotic gear to be hard to get, or at least take some time, this was a miss on their part as we all know how easy it is.

Without the use of any runes:

A full berserker exotic set gives [+999 pow, +695 pre, +62% crit]
A full berserker ascended set with all +5 pow in all infusion slots gives [1157 pow, 745 pre, 75% crit]

A full soldier exotic set gives [999 pow, 695 tog, 695 vit]
A full soldier ascended set with full +5 pow in all infusion slots gives [1157 pow, 745 tog, +745 vit]

So no, not a lot of difference. You don’t have to get them. It’s optional.

@kopper
did u even listened to devs advertisment before release of the game,then let me tell u:
“play the game the way u want,no gear barrier,we are not offering traditional gameplay”
well exotics were easy to get right from lunch of the game by doing 2-3 weaks of dungeon and there is legendary that is difficult to get not the ordinary gear which by the way made everyone happy both hardcore and casuals.
now the game in changing directions toward traditional gameplay and thats what worry me.
anyway people like u ( “fanboy” no offence man but u sound like one lol)who are defending the devs even when they forget their promise remind me of rift the game i used to play and like but went down the toilet,when it went ftp and lost so many player,same people who were defending it admitted that they are sorry for not helping the game to get better.peace man

Stars.2179:

Without the use of any runes:

A full berserker exotic set gives [+999 pow, +695 pre, +62% crit]
A full berserker ascended set with all +5 pow in all infusion slots gives [1157 pow, 745 pre, 75% crit]

A full soldier exotic set gives [999 pow, 695 tog, 695 vit]
A full soldier ascended set with full +5 pow in all infusion slots gives [1157 pow, 745 tog, +745 vit]

So no, not a lot of difference. You don’t have to get them. It’s optional.

Not sure if /sarcasm.

I don’t know, it is close to 2.5% more critical chance and 13% more critical damage.
And saying that 158 extra power is not much is sort of brave.

Probably /sarcasm though.

lol yes, it was /sarcasm…

the logic is to add a gear treadmill and a power creep to our dieing game, so the hardcore who care about having the best will keep playing the game, but make the differences small enough that for people who don’t care won’t get all offeneded and quit the game. that is the logic becasue its an addition that wasn’t asked for or needed in the game or required.

As has been said before it was added as a panic reaction to people wanting somthing to grind for.

Currently ascended gear is only causing problems, especially in WvW, where power creep is rampant making that game mode even less enjoyable. Ascended gear gives you a considerable edge over your opponent making it a requirement.

Furthermore you can only get the gear (weapon and armour) through crafting. Needless to say it’s not the most exciting way to get BiS.

Last but not least since it is time and cost intensive so get you need to spend a lot time to fit out even only one character. That is first extremely alt unfriendly and second forces you into one build. A build if it is considered too powerful will get nerfed requiring you to start all over again. Whack-a-mole balance is all we seem to get (Warrior, Necromancer, etc.).

Well, ok to answer the original question. Yes it is a gear “treadmill” if you really strict on defining what a gear treadmill is. I believe most people think that gear treadmill is ever increasing power creep without stop; new gears with higher power introduced every six months. This isn’t true. As announced by Colin, “this should be it”. Ascended is the highest tier. There won’t be any higher, so it is hardly a “gear treadmill”

Why was it introduced? Yes, it was introduced to please the crowd that constantly complain that “there is nothing to do”, and “there is no progression” and “there is no end game”. It is in this mindset that ascended gear was introduced with expectation that a CASUAL player would be ABLE obtain the gears in medium length time, i.e., 1 month per piece.

With that in mind, if you are a player that wants EVERYTHING NOW, and are willing to grind for them, then you are, by [ANet’s] definition, not casual.

If you go into WvW and worry about having OCD about 10% stat disadvantage among 100 people of stats you don’t even know but worry about the theoretical side of it (- what if everyone has ascended stat and you are the odd one one – which probably isn’t the case anyway), then you again by definition are not casual.

Whether you agree with it, that’s a difference story.

Perhaps a casual player wouldn’t mind having subpar gear for a year before they can get the best. Perhaps a casual player wouldn’t mind going into WvW with 10% stat disadvantage considering the crowd is so big anyway.

Whatever is the case, ascended gear is not designed for casual players to be able to obtain quickly.

It seems that it is designed for the semi-hard core to hardcore players who want “something to do” after they’ve maxed everything. And yes there are those who will equip their entire accounts with all ascended, and yet it takes them shorter than a casual would to get his ONE toon equipped.

saye.9304:

well exotics were easy to get right from lunch of the game by doing 2-3 weaks of dungeon and there is legendary that is difficult to get not the ordinary gear which by the way made everyone happy both hardcore and casuals.

About a week after launch, I reached 80 with something like 280k karma, but never spent it. I always found it odd that people complained about the lack of karma back then, when I just solo’d events while doing zone completion and had that amount. About 2-3 days later, I crafted a full exotic set by farming T6 materials for about an hour a day (DR).

Around that time, more and more people started complaining on the forums about a lack of endgame. About a month into the game was when it topped out and people were quitting, which made it one of the shortest MMOs I’ve ever seen, since they usually last at least 3 months due to dungeon/raid grinding. A month or so after this, ArenaNet announced ascended gear along with fractals.

The problem with cosmetics is that not everyone cares and that’s what legendaries were. The people that complained wanted power progression (aka ascended gear) and raids. Fractals are meant to be the raid-like progression/grind experience, but without the raid number of people. Most of these people probably quit a long time ago (they were most likely the WoW players).

saye.9304:

the infusion slots are most noticeable difference,but in pve the infusions add like 4+power or 4+vitality which is joke.

Let’s say that as a whole, a full set of ascended gear is 10% better than exotics. Later on, maybe 6 months from now, ascended gear will be 15% better than exotics, and then 20% and so on. Infusions may seem weak now, but they are designed to be because they are how ArenaNet is going to add stat progression from now. Ascended sigils and runes will probably also happen at some point.

saye.9304:

why only crafting?

Crafting is the one thing everyone has access to, allowing even the most casual of players to eventually obtain it. For now, it’s crafting only because they don’t want a repeat of the exotic problem (drops were hard to get, dungeons were in the middle, crafting was a joke) – they don’t want to accidentally give away ascended gear because one was too easy. If crafting is intended to take X days, they method 2 also needs to be roughly equivalent, which is something they haven’t been exactly good at calculating.

Another reason is to get people to craft. Some crafting materials are produced much faster than they are consumed. They could potentially fix this problem. Maybe they are also going to require crafting for something else later on, so they want to get people ready or maybe they’re trying to get those who haven’t bothered to experience progression through crafting, plus it’s just another gold sink.

In my opinion, there are two types of hardcore players:

A) The one who want to go deeper in the game: making alts, trying builds constantly in order to approach a new level of optimization, exploring each zone of land (even the hidden ones, as the room of faces in Queensdale), because “if it’s there, you want to enjoy it”

B) The one who only make one character, repeat ad nauseam the same things (farm—>mine—>farm—>championtrain—>CoFp1OnLyZeRkNoN00bS—> mine—>farm), get the BiS for a berserker and don’t enjoy the game in its fullness because his goal isn’t the game itself, it’s only a path to get a high rank amongst other people like him.

I am in group A, and ascended items cut me tho opportunity of enjoying alts and builds even if I play 7-8 hours at a day or even more (AS I DID). I thought this game was for us (as it was advertised), but definitely arenanet betrayed us and gave this game to the people in the second group

So… I don’t care if ascended are needed, I don’t care if they are a long-term goal, I don’t care if they wanted to implement them before the realease (even in the case they lied to us, then)

I only want to enjoy this game and ascended items stops me for going deeper.

Warlord.9074:

the logic is to add a gear treadmill and a power creep to our dieing game, so the hardcore who care about having the best will keep playing the game, but make the differences small enough that for people who don’t care won’t get all offeneded and quit the game. that is the logic becasue its an addition that wasn’t asked for or needed in the game or required.

I think this answer is kinda close to the truth. The bigger truth that ArenaNet have missed, however, is that when you try and please everyone….

They should have just gone for making fun content. Unfortunately with the Living Story, they’ve failed pretty hard at that, too.

I don’t know where the future of this game is going, but I bet it’s small niche…which is a crying shame given the colossal potential it had and was frittered away…

Cassius.4831:

So… I don’t care if ascended are needed, I don’t care if they are a long-term goal, I don’t care if they wanted to implement them before the realease (even in the case they lied to us, then)

The whole ascended-was-planned-from-the-beginning argument is nothing more than a makeshift argument anyway. It was just as hastly thrown out as the gear itself to stop people from complaining. I’m the best proof it didn’t work.

Right now I don’t know whether I should be more upset that the entire manifesto was suddenly just a “declaration of intent” or that I was fed hollow arguments to make me shut up.

Cassius.4831:

In my opinion, there are two types of hardcore players:

A) The one who want to go deeper in the game: making alts, trying builds constantly in order to approach a new level of optimization, exploring each zone of land (even the hidden ones, as the room of faces in Queensdale), because “if it’s there, you want to enjoy it”

B) The one who only make one character, repeat ad nauseam the same things (farm—>mine—>farm—>championtrain—>CoFp1OnLyZeRkNoN00bS—> mine—>farm), get the BiS for a berserker and don’t enjoy the game in its fullness because his goal isn’t the game itself, it’s only a path to get a high rank amongst other people like him.

I am in group A, and ascended items cut me tho opportunity of enjoying alts and builds even if I play 7-8 hours at a day or even more (AS I DID). I thought this game was for us (as it was advertised), but definitely arenanet betrayed us and gave this game to the people in the second group

So… I don’t care if ascended are needed, I don’t care if they are a long-term goal, I don’t care if they wanted to implement them before the realease (even in the case they lied to us, then)

I only want to enjoy this game and ascended items stops me for going deeper.

I can so relate to this, and I do agree but nevertheless you do know this is just inviting a “you dont need ascendeds to play, exotics is sufficient” response.

saye.9304:

@kopper
anyway people like u ( “fanboy” no offence man but u sound like one lol)who are defending the devs even when they forget their promise remind me of rift the game i used to play and like but went down the toilet,when it went ftp and lost so many player,same people who were defending it admitted that they are sorry for not helping the game to get better.peace man

And anyone who is going to hold devs to their exact words from well well WELL before the game was out is absolutely naieve as to how the world operates because sometimes things come up that prevent things from going along exactly as planned. I’m not saying I like the way the devs took the game so far either so I’m not defendinf their decisions in the slightest but it turns my stomach everytime I hear someone ramble on about somre manifesto from ages ago… that was then, this is now, all the whining in the world won’t change it.