Guild Wars 2

This is my question, very simple, very plain, too understandable for being ignored.

You, devs, say that you want more interaction with us, players. Well, then I’d like to know the answer to this question in order to know what I should do. Ascended gear is comming. I have 8 characters and I’d like to return to the game and to create more characters when more races or professions are released. But if ascended gear is as alt-unfriendly as weapons, I’m out.

So… will ascended gear be alt-friendly?

Thank you for reading.

Everything is soulbound now (except for fractal levels in a week and daily dungeon rewards). Why would that change?

Cassius.4831:

This is my question, very simple, very plain, too understandable for being ignored.

You, devs, say that you want more interaction with us, players. Well, then I’d like to know the answer to this question in order to know what I should do. Ascended gear is comming. I have 8 characters and I’d like to return to the game and to create more characters when more races or professions are released. But if ascended gear is as alt-unfriendly as weapons, I’m out.

So… will ascended gear be alt-friendly?

Thank you for reading.

depend what you mean by alt friendly, but i would hazard to guess probably not. ascended is personal charachter progression really.

there is a slight bit of alt friendlyness, alts can get more mats for vision crystals faster. thats about as much as you can expect really

No. They will use laurels or some other time gating, or laurels for the infusions, so the more alts you have the less likely it is that you will have the time or the will power to kit them out.

I have 18 fully exotic (some with multiple sets) toons on two accounts. Wexp being char bound has effectively killed off one account, and restricted me to pretty much one toon. Ascended weapons- got no laurels and not even finished one toon’s weapons and trinkets.

When ascended armor comes out I’ll need FOUR complete sets for one toon and still won’t even have the ascended trinkets done……

They need to make ALL ascended stuff tradeable before use (there is a tab to select it in TP already, so obviously at some stage they were thinking along the right lines), dungeon tokens tradeable, and make W exp account bound so that people with alts don’t feel like they are being pigeon holed into playing one toon – where most will then choose warrior as the current OP class (and soon more so with the new runes incoming).

Here is some rough calculation to equip an entire account with ascended armor and weapons for 8 characters. Note that it is estimated but you’ll need roughly about that amount of materials:

Mithril ores: 16,000
Elder log: 12,500
Iron ores: 14,250
Platinum ores: 6,500
Softwood log: 6,750
Seasoned wood log: 2,500
Hard wood log: 5,000
Silk scrap: 16,500
Thick leather section: 10,750
Wool scrap: 4,500
Cotton scrap: 2,250
Linen scrap: 4,500
Thin leather section: 3,000
Coarse leather section: 1,500
Rugged leather section 3,000

Obsidian shards: 30 per weapon / pieces of armor. 2 weapons + 6 armor pieces = 30 × 8 = 240 shards. 2100 karma per shards, 8 characters = 240 × 8 × 2100 = 4,032,000 karma

10 Crystalline dust per inscription / insignias, 8 × 10 = 80 dust per char, 8 char means 640 piles of crystalline dust

About 10 glob of ectoplasm per pieces, so about 640 Glob of ectoplasms

About 300 Theormocatalytic Reagent per piece: 8 pieces = 2400 per char, 8 char = 19,200 Theormocatalytic reagents. Each one cost 149.6 coppers. So total cost for reagents alone is about 287,23,20 coppers or 287g 23s 20c.

Each piece also cost 20 skill points. 8 × 20 = 160 spare skill points per character

Long answer… look directly above… short answer.. absolutely nothing in this game is alt friendly so no.

Stars.2179:

Here is some rough calculation to equip an entire account with ascended armor and weapons for 8 characters. Note that it is estimated but you’ll need roughly about that amount of materials:

Mithril ores: 16,000
Elder log: 12,500
Iron ores: 14,250
Platinum ores: 6,500
Softwood log: 6,750
Seasoned wood log: 2,500
Hard wood log: 5,000
Silk scrap: 16,500
Thick leather section: 10,750
Wool scrap: 4,500
Cotton scrap: 2,250
Linen scrap: 4,500
Thin leather section: 3,000
Coarse leather section: 1,500
Rugged leather section 3,000

Obsidian shards: 30 per weapon / pieces of armor. 2 weapons + 6 armor pieces = 30 × 8 = 240 shards. 2100 karma per shards, 8 characters = 240 × 8 × 2100 = 4,032,000 karma

10 Crystalline dust per inscription / insignias, 8 × 10 = 80 dust per char, 8 char means 640 piles of crystalline dust

About 10 glob of ectoplasm per pieces, so about 640 Glob of ectoplasms

About 300 Theormocatalytic Reagent per piece: 8 pieces = 2400 per char, 8 char = 19,200 Theormocatalytic reagents. Each one cost 149.6 coppers. So total cost for reagents alone is about 287,23,20 coppers or 287g 23s 20c.

Each piece also cost 20 skill points. 8 × 20 = 160 spare skill points per character

I have all these materials. Oops, i have two high level characters only…

Yes. It is alt-friendly.

Magnus Steelgrave.6580:

Long answer… look directly above… short answer.. absolutely nothing in this game is alt friendly so no.

Exotic gear is .. with exception of my first character i could equip all my other chars full exotic when they hit 80.

Ascended indeed is not .. you need masses of mats .. and also more Laurels and you can’t earn more Laurels no matter how much chars you have.

Its incredibly alt unfriendly as there is a lot of the stuff required for ascended crafting that is under time constraints, in addition to the rather prohibitive crafting cost.

Nope. The game stopped being alt friendly when they implemented time gates on the account level rather than on the character level. It’s also build diversity unfriendly since getting all all the gear for a separate build is not something you’ll do in a reasonable time frame.

Victory.2879:

No. They will use laurels or some other time gating, or laurels for the infusions, so the more alts you have the less likely it is that you will have the time or the will power to kit them out.

I have 18 fully exotic (some with multiple sets) toons on two accounts. Wexp being char bound has effectively killed off one account, and restricted me to pretty much one toon. Ascended weapons- got no laurels and not even finished one toon’s weapons and trinkets.

When ascended armor comes out I’ll need FOUR complete sets for one toon and still won’t even have the ascended trinkets done……

They need to make ALL ascended stuff tradeable before use (there is a tab to select it in TP already, so obviously at some stage they were thinking along the right lines), dungeon tokens tradeable, and make W exp account bound so that people with alts don’t feel like they are being pigeon holed into playing one toon – where most will then choose warrior as the current OP class (and soon more so with the new runes incoming).

19 alts here, all exotic, some with a mix of celestial and pink trinkets. 2 accounts as well.

Watched some players get their ascended weapons in two weeks.

Still have not figured out which weapon to go after because I can only pare those alts down to 3 at most based on the needs of my guild, my preferred playstyle and WvW.

I don’t have a “one size fits all”. And I’m struggling, feeling like ascended weapons has already put me in alt-jail (something I’ve never had to worry about before in any other MMO I’ve ever played in the last 13 years where I’ve typically run 3-4 accounts worth of alts.)

Haven’t even started crafting, although I’ve collected most of the materials for the ascended weapon itself. I’m already feeling it’s not alt-friendly.

I feel backed into a corner by being forced to choose one character. I will never be happy having my freedom cut off by restricting me to just one character. That freedom was a huge part of my fun in an MMO. The ability to situationally choose a profession for specific gameplay is the core of that freedom.

So technically, (see data in previous posts): not alt-friendly within a reasonable time frame.

Practically: not alt-friendly.

Emotionally: hell no. “Friendly” does not even belong in that context.

PS: It won’t be a warrior (although I have 4 fully exotic geared and then some. Thank gawd I don’t PuG.)

Yes, it is. You only need to farm, farm a lot. This is a farmfest game now. You need tons of thing and weeks of farm for keep the highest stats level for wvw. If not, you can keep in exotic (one gear tier below)

For PvE/WvW, the answer to your question will depend entirely on whether you want BiS gear or feel you can get by without it. If you want BiS, the game is not alt-friendly. If you don’t want it, it can be.

ezd.6359:

Stars.2179:

Here is some rough calculation to equip an entire account with ascended armor and weapons for 8 characters. Note that it is estimated but you’ll need roughly about that amount of materials:

Mithril ores: 16,000
Elder log: 12,500
Iron ores: 14,250
Platinum ores: 6,500
Softwood log: 6,750
Seasoned wood log: 2,500
Hard wood log: 5,000
Silk scrap: 16,500
Thick leather section: 10,750
Wool scrap: 4,500
Cotton scrap: 2,250
Linen scrap: 4,500
Thin leather section: 3,000
Coarse leather section: 1,500
Rugged leather section 3,000

Obsidian shards: 30 per weapon / pieces of armor. 2 weapons + 6 armor pieces = 30 × 8 = 240 shards. 2100 karma per shards, 8 characters = 240 × 8 × 2100 = 4,032,000 karma

10 Crystalline dust per inscription / insignias, 8 × 10 = 80 dust per char, 8 char means 640 piles of crystalline dust

About 10 glob of ectoplasm per pieces, so about 640 Glob of ectoplasms

About 300 Theormocatalytic Reagent per piece: 8 pieces = 2400 per char, 8 char = 19,200 Theormocatalytic reagents. Each one cost 149.6 coppers. So total cost for reagents alone is about 287,23,20 coppers or 287g 23s 20c.

Each piece also cost 20 skill points. 8 × 20 = 160 spare skill points per character

I have all these materials. Oops, i have two high level characters only…

Yes. It is alt-friendly.

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”

Cassius.4831:

ezd.6359:

Stars.2179:

Here is some rough calculation to equip an entire account with ascended armor and weapons for 8 characters. Note that it is estimated but you’ll need roughly about that amount of materials:

Mithril ores: 16,000
Elder log: 12,500
Iron ores: 14,250
Platinum ores: 6,500
Softwood log: 6,750
Seasoned wood log: 2,500
Hard wood log: 5,000
Silk scrap: 16,500
Thick leather section: 10,750
Wool scrap: 4,500
Cotton scrap: 2,250
Linen scrap: 4,500
Thin leather section: 3,000
Coarse leather section: 1,500
Rugged leather section 3,000

Obsidian shards: 30 per weapon / pieces of armor. 2 weapons + 6 armor pieces = 30 × 8 = 240 shards. 2100 karma per shards, 8 characters = 240 × 8 × 2100 = 4,032,000 karma

10 Crystalline dust per inscription / insignias, 8 × 10 = 80 dust per char, 8 char means 640 piles of crystalline dust

About 10 glob of ectoplasm per pieces, so about 640 Glob of ectoplasms

About 300 Theormocatalytic Reagent per piece: 8 pieces = 2400 per char, 8 char = 19,200 Theormocatalytic reagents. Each one cost 149.6 coppers. So total cost for reagents alone is about 287,23,20 coppers or 287g 23s 20c.

Each piece also cost 20 skill points. 8 × 20 = 160 spare skill points per character

I have all these materials. Oops, i have two high level characters only…

Yes. It is alt-friendly.

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”

I have rare materials like cotton etc. And money for everything else. It is stupid to store 16k mithril ores while i can buy it anytime.

I just wanted to say – MMO is not SIMS or other barby like game. Even when they make ascended gear more obtainable, someone will make 1000 alts and start to cry “omg i can’t gear all of them, give all items for free QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ”.

Apparently, people who make 8 and more characters, don’t play all of them, they just want to dress and undress them… don’t tell them (it is a top secret), but they don’t need all of them be full dressed. Or they will lose all motivation to play GW2 as a barby like game. When this happens, they just go to characters screen and make new characters. So it does not matter how many alts they have, they will do it all time. For “normal” people (who actually play their characters) ascended items are accessible. Just not in the moment new patch hits servers.

Nothing created since the launch of the game has been alt-friendly. “We (redacted) make grindy games”

ezd.6359:

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”
I have rare materials like cotton etc. And money for everything else. It is stupid to store 16k mithril ores while i can buy it anytime.

I just wanted to say – MMO is not SIMS or other barby like game. Even when they make ascended gear more obtainable, someone will make 1000 alts and start to cry “omg i can’t gear all of them, give all items for free QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ”.

Apparently, people who make 8 and more characters, don’t play all of them, they just want to dress and undress them… don’t tell them (it is a top secret), but they don’t need all of them be full dressed. Or they will lose all motivation to play GW2 as a barby like game. When this happens, they just go to characters screen and make new characters. So it does not matter how many alts they have, they will do it all time. For “normal” people (who actually play their characters) ascended items are accessible. Just not in the moment new patch hits servers.

Are you suggesting people want to get BiS gear for their alts because of how it looks?

Like, how those leaked images of Ascended armour look? Seriously?

On topic:
No, it won’t be alt-friendly. That would detract from the game’s new direction which is up, up, up and away!

Pariah.8506:

ezd.6359:

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”
I have rare materials like cotton etc. And money for everything else. It is stupid to store 16k mithril ores while i can buy it anytime.

I just wanted to say – MMO is not SIMS or other barby like game. Even when they make ascended gear more obtainable, someone will make 1000 alts and start to cry “omg i can’t gear all of them, give all items for free QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ”.

Apparently, people who make 8 and more characters, don’t play all of them, they just want to dress and undress them… don’t tell them (it is a top secret), but they don’t need all of them be full dressed. Or they will lose all motivation to play GW2 as a barby like game. When this happens, they just go to characters screen and make new characters. So it does not matter how many alts they have, they will do it all time. For “normal” people (who actually play their characters) ascended items are accessible. Just not in the moment new patch hits servers.

Are you suggesting people want to get BiS gear for their alts because of how it looks?

Like, how those leaked images of Ascended armour look? Seriously?

On topic:
No, it won’t be alt-friendly. That would detract from the game’s new direction which is up, up, up and away!

No. I think they don’t really need it, because they don’t play these characters. They need goals (achievements or something else) to motivate themselves. And ascended gear is one of those things. When all alts will get all items, they start to collect money for full sets of legendaries or something else. Does not matter what they say, because they don’t know what they want actutally, they want endless process but with visible end (or steps towards end goal).

The answer is obvious, since has anything regarding current ascended gear been alt-friendly?

Pariah.8506:

ezd.6359:

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”
I have rare materials like cotton etc. And money for everything else. It is stupid to store 16k mithril ores while i can buy it anytime.

I just wanted to say – MMO is not SIMS or other barby like game. Even when they make ascended gear more obtainable, someone will make 1000 alts and start to cry “omg i can’t gear all of them, give all items for free QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ”.

Apparently, people who make 8 and more characters, don’t play all of them, they just want to dress and undress them… don’t tell them (it is a top secret), but they don’t need all of them be full dressed. Or they will lose all motivation to play GW2 as a barby like game. When this happens, they just go to characters screen and make new characters. So it does not matter how many alts they have, they will do it all time. For “normal” people (who actually play their characters) ascended items are accessible. Just not in the moment new patch hits servers.

Are you suggesting people want to get BiS gear for their alts because of how it looks?

Like, how those leaked images of Ascended armour look? Seriously?

On topic:
No, it won’t be alt-friendly. That would detract from the game’s new direction which is up, up, up and away!

Lol that guy is so wrong. I want BiS gear on my alts (7 of them) because I want to be able to hold my own on any class in a PvP situation.

Nothing that includes time gating, times the obscene amount of mats some of the stuff needs equates with alt friendliness. All made account bound rather then at least character bound on top of that.

ezd.6359:

I just wanted to say – MMO is not SIMS or other barby like game. Even when they make ascended gear more obtainable, someone will make 1000 alts and start to cry “omg i can’t gear all of them, give all items for free QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ”.

Apparently, people who make 8 and more characters, don’t play all of them, they just want to dress and undress them… don’t tell them (it is a top secret), but they don’t need all of them be full dressed. Or they will lose all motivation to play GW2 as a barby like game. When this happens, they just go to characters screen and make new characters. So it does not matter how many alts they have, they will do it all time. For “normal” people (who actually play their characters) ascended items are accessible. Just not in the moment new patch hits servers.

Actually, you’re correct.. I don’t play all of them. Only half of my 80’s have gone through Fractals, Explorables and WvW.

Did the most experimentation with them in Fractals, as my guild is 4-manning those and we were refining for group synergy and ability to see effectively. Would love an option to set the camera mid-height, mid-screen.

I miss the days when I would play 3 at once manually, main tank raid leading while healing and doing damage. I tend to get bored very quickly only playing one character in raid instances, particularly when doing them with the recommended number of players. 20-man content with only 5 is more fun.

I also miss the DAoC MLs, where a group of 8 of us wielding 15 characters was the first to complete the highest end (raid) content using the least amount of players. And least amount of characters.

You’re right, some of us find fun in different ways using multiple alts.

.

Cassius.4831:

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”

Maybe not all. Here are the pics. Note almost all of the mats are refined, which means x2 or x3 or x4 for the original scrap depending on the type.

I notice I am still lacking on the tier 2 wood and metal departments.

To gear 8 characters to maximum would take you more time than it would take the developers to introduce another tier after ascended. Which is probably the point.

Keep the hamsters running on the hamster wheel… forever.

I would like to add something to this discussion worth pondering, especially if a developer is reading this…

A game that has an alt unfriendly gear treadmill is in direct conflict with the personal story and living story systems. Players are encouraged to gain new experiences through story driven gameplay but are discouraged to play them due to the gear treadmill.

But I’m sure Arenanet knows their game design doesn’t make sense. Right?

Stars.2179:

Cassius.4831:

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”

Maybe not all. Here are the pics. Note almost all of the mats are refined, which means x2 or x3 or x4 for the original scrap depending on the type.

I notice I am still lacking on the tier 2 wood and metal departments.

Dude seriously?

Those should be enough for armor + (half of the weapons) weapons for 21 characters if ANet is consistent with the formulas.

(Oh I forgot to post the 72 deldrimor steel and 72 spirit wood plank )

Now for the customizable trinkets….

ezd.6359:

Pariah.8506:

ezd.6359:

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”
I have rare materials like cotton etc. And money for everything else. It is stupid to store 16k mithril ores while i can buy it anytime.

I just wanted to say – MMO is not SIMS or other barby like game. Even when they make ascended gear more obtainable, someone will make 1000 alts and start to cry “omg i can’t gear all of them, give all items for free QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ”.

Apparently, people who make 8 and more characters, don’t play all of them, they just want to dress and undress them… don’t tell them (it is a top secret), but they don’t need all of them be full dressed. Or they will lose all motivation to play GW2 as a barby like game. When this happens, they just go to characters screen and make new characters. So it does not matter how many alts they have, they will do it all time. For “normal” people (who actually play their characters) ascended items are accessible. Just not in the moment new patch hits servers.

Are you suggesting people want to get BiS gear for their alts because of how it looks?

Like, how those leaked images of Ascended armour look? Seriously?

On topic:
No, it won’t be alt-friendly. That would detract from the game’s new direction which is up, up, up and away!

No. I think they don’t really need it, because they don’t play these characters. They need goals (achievements or something else) to motivate themselves. And ascended gear is one of those things. When all alts will get all items, they start to collect money for full sets of legendaries or something else. Does not matter what they say, because they don’t know what they want actutally, they want endless process but with visible end (or steps towards end goal).

if you have 8 characters at level 80 you play them sometimes. After all you did get them to 80. I have 6 at level 80 (I use to have 7 but I deleted one). I know that while I always have a “main” who my “main” is changes fairly frequently. It’s a cycle that keeps me from getting bored with the game.

If the ANet team makes it so that I don’t feel like I can’t play those characters and need to settle on one, I will get bored and frustrated. And before anyone says “you don’t need ascended gear”, this isn’t about the reality of what you need to play the game, it’s about perception and satisfaction you get from playing the game.

Look at it this way, you get satisfaction from having a goal, grinding out another piece of equipment or whatnot, I get satisfaction from playing different fully equipped characters and trying out different builds.

You may not understand why I enjoy this, but frankly, I don’t understand why you enjoy the grind.

Edit: reading your post again, in struck me that we really do have two entirely different ways of looking at things. In your view, I will complain because I always want more for free. But in reality, I don’t want there to be more, I want to be able to explore what’s there. For example, I don’t have a legendary and I don’t want one, except as a means to avoid any future grind on that weapon.

I have 5 lvl 80. I play 4 of them. I could only equip 2 of them with ascended weapons because of the money and farming needed.

So much for “Guild Wars is a game where everybody can get max stats gear easily”.

I wouldn’t count on it. Already abandoned my alts a long time ago. I have a job, my play time is limited, so I’d like to have some fun in between the grinding.

ezd.6359:

Pariah.8506:

ezd.6359:

Hahaha, all of them? you know the rules…. “#32 – Pics or it didn’t happen”
I have rare materials like cotton etc. And money for everything else. It is stupid to store 16k mithril ores while i can buy it anytime.

I just wanted to say – MMO is not SIMS or other barby like game. Even when they make ascended gear more obtainable, someone will make 1000 alts and start to cry “omg i can’t gear all of them, give all items for free QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ”.

Apparently, people who make 8 and more characters, don’t play all of them, they just want to dress and undress them… don’t tell them (it is a top secret), but they don’t need all of them be full dressed. Or they will lose all motivation to play GW2 as a barby like game. When this happens, they just go to characters screen and make new characters. So it does not matter how many alts they have, they will do it all time. For “normal” people (who actually play their characters) ascended items are accessible. Just not in the moment new patch hits servers.

Are you suggesting people want to get BiS gear for their alts because of how it looks?

Like, how those leaked images of Ascended armour look? Seriously?

On topic:
No, it won’t be alt-friendly. That would detract from the game’s new direction which is up, up, up and away!

No. I think they don’t really need it, because they don’t play these characters. They need goals (achievements or something else) to motivate themselves. And ascended gear is one of those things. When all alts will get all items, they start to collect money for full sets of legendaries or something else. Does not matter what they say, because they don’t know what they want actutally, they want endless process but with visible end (or steps towards end goal).

I don’t think you can say what others are doing, I currently play 7 characters on a regular basis (wvw gets a bit repetitive if you’re always playing the exact same toon) but it’s getting harder to do so and justify it with subpar stats and the ever increasing time required to gear them appropriately.

ezd.6359:

No. I think they don’t really need it, because they don’t play these characters. They need goals (achievements or something else) to motivate themselves. And ascended gear is one of those things. When all alts will get all items, they start to collect money for full sets of legendaries or something else. Does not matter what they say, because they don’t know what they want actutally, they want endless process but with visible end (or steps towards end goal).

So basically what you’re saying is that every account should be hardcapped at only one character slot. Because that’s how you like playing your game.
Alts shouldn’t exist because you don’t rely on them.

Well let me redpill you: People like to play differently.
I always try and fill the spot my party needs most, which means I will play a Thief / Guard / Mesmer / Necro depending on what instance we’re doing and what professions are already on the team. And I want to fully be able to do my part as best I can, which partly also means having the best stats on my equipment.
How is that a crime?

Stars’ list is so frightening that every MMO developer would probably shudder just reading it.

It’s not, not one bit. Currently crafting ONE ascended weapon costs roughly 60 gold unless you really enjoy picking hundreds of materials. I know some classes can use up to 9 weapons but let’s make it 8 for the example that’s 480 gold for just one character.

Depending on how much a person plays this game per day/week this can take a very long time.

I have 4 characters which only 2 are very active, the other 2 are still well geared but highly unlikely they’ll see an ascended weapon (or armor in the future).

Thinking it well enough, GW2 is a very grindy game and it is just as much as those free 2 play asian games floating around.

ArmoredVehicle.2849:

Depending on how much a person plays this game per day/week this can take a very long time.

I can’t speak for everyone, I can only speak for myself.

Creating an alt and gearing it up to maximum stats requires a heavy time and money investment. I say money because I choose not to grind. To avoid the grind I spend real money to buy gems and convert it to gold. When I sit down and do the math, each character could cost 50$ or more.

In addition, getting ascended gear with different stat combinations is also discouraging me from experimenting with different builds and styles of play due to the time and money investment.

I wish I could sit down and have a discussion with them face to face and explain to them why I believe the direction they are taking with this ascended gear is bad for the health of their game.

Calae.1738:

I wish I could sit down and have a discussion with them face to face and explain to them why I believe the direction they are taking with this ascended gear is bad for the health of their game.

I would love for something like this to happen, but we’re never going to get past their wall of PR. That, and some of the people working at anet probably secretly wish it was more like WoW.

will ascended gear be alt-friendly?

No….short answer…

Long answer…we won’t know until its released, but based on the past year we can assume it will be a huge grind, a huge money sink and completely alt unfriendly…that’s the trend Anet are setting.

This was the initial plan. But now they contradict theirself: The ‘play your way or how you want’ slogan doesn’t work. Even WoW is more altfriendly and diverse than GW2 now.

Just this: if you play a certain build it requires certain stats to be effective. If you just want to play differently you have to kittenING CRAFT ANOTHER kittenING SET OF ASCENDED AND FARM THE kittenING TRINKETS OVER AND OVER AGAIN. I mean this is just for one kittening Profession. Just imagine you have 8 Professions (Like me). What the hell? I mean REALLY, are you kittening serious? Do you really want to go back to medieval times of RPGs?

The magic find and wallet changes are alt friendly, also fractal level.

emikochan.8504:

The magic find and wallet changes are alt friendly, also fractal level.

Magic find and wallet changes have absolutely nothing to do with ascended gear. Even the fractal levels dont relate much, since at most you could say it makes FotM a little bit more alt-friendly – but not much since it would still require players to grind ascended gear for all the chars to have the required AR.

Ascended gear will work the same way the rest of high end gear works in this game. Once you equip it, it belongs to the character wearing it.

As to this game being alt-unfriendly…. Go play GW1. Go play WoW. Then kitten about ‘alt unfriendly.’ This game functions no differently then essentially any other MMO in these regards.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

This game functions no differently then essentially any other MMO in these regards.

That is not entirely untrue. I still wish Gw2 would aim for being different from all the others though. I thought that was a part of the master plan.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Ascended gear will work the same way the rest of high end gear works in this game. Once you equip it, it belongs to the character wearing it.

As to this game being alt-unfriendly…. Go play GW1. Go play WoW. Then kitten about ‘alt unfriendly.’ This game functions no differently then essentially any other MMO in these regards.

Regarding gear acquisition, GW2 is way different then its predecessor.

I have another sentiment about Asc. Gear being alt friendly: It is and it isn’t. Laurels are account bound. That is friendly. Rings you get in Fractals are account bound. That is alt. friendly. Asc. Crafting is alt friendly, because the gear is account bound. I find getting trinkets and ascended back pieces to be an annoyance.

Fractal level is now account bound (It was before too really, you just went back to your main fractal character at the start of the Jade Maw Fractal) so that is (and was) friendly. It’s also lame that it wasn’t like how it’s going to be from day 1 but that is an issue for another topic.

Reesha.7901:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

This game functions no differently then essentially any other MMO in these regards.

That is not entirely untrue. I still wish Gw2 would aim for being different from all the others though. I thought that was a part of the master plan.

It is, but only to an extent. They can only change or deviate from the ‘acceptable norm’ by so much. Keep in mind that anytime they’ve tried anything new (radically or otherwise) people have exploded.

So, they have to compromise. Some things will differ, but still keep the base principles the same, ie – 5 man dungeons, but no necessarily ‘distinct’ partly leader (anyone can invite/accept a member). Some things will remain essentially the same as other MMOs, ie – soulbound armors and weapons. While yet others will seek to blow us out of the water, ie – the removal of the original trinity concept. This helps to provide players with a mix of ‘familiar’ features, while introducing the new. It pushes the boundaries of the player’s comfort zone, while not completely smashing through them unnecessarily.

caiomacos.1694:

Regarding gear acquisition, GW2 is way different then its predecessor.

Acquisition varies from game to game. That’s typical. I was referring to the soulbinding. Which is what is in question, since soulbound armor is ‘alt unfriendly.’ In this regard, GW2 is no different than typical MMOs.

Iason Evan.3806:

I have another sentiment about Asc. Gear being alt friendly: It is and it isn’t. Laurels are account bound. That is friendly. Rings you get in Fractals are account bound. That is alt. friendly. Asc. Crafting is alt friendly, because the gear is account bound. I find getting trinkets and ascended back pieces to be an annoyance.

Fractal level is now account bound (It was before too really, you just went back to your main fractal character at the start of the Jade Maw Fractal) so that is (and was) friendly. It’s also lame that it wasn’t like how it’s going to be from day 1 but that is an issue for another topic.

True but there’s no WvW/PvP activity that is specialized into creating ascended gear.
And WvW players have a way bigger need of different gear and optimized gear than PvE players do.

ezd.6359

I have rare materials like cotton etc. And money for everything else. It is stupid to store 16k mithril ores while i can buy it anytime.

So you don’t have them.

ezd.6359

I just wanted to say – MMO is not SIMS or other barby like game. Even when they make ascended gear more obtainable, someone will make 1000 alts and start to cry “omg i can’t gear all of them, give all items for free QQQQQQQQQQQQQQQQ”.

Apparently, people who make 8 and more characters, don’t play all of them, they just want to dress and undress them… don’t tell them (it is a top secret), but they don’t need all of them be full dressed. Or they will lose all motivation to play GW2 as a barby like game. When this happens, they just go to characters screen and make new characters. So it does not matter how many alts they have, they will do it all time. For “normal” people (who actually play their characters) ascended items are accessible. Just not in the moment new patch hits servers.

Quip on engineer, Bolt on mesmer, others with full (except some trinkets) 80 exotics. I think I had at least +200 hours in engi, mesmer and necromancer (in each of them), and a lot amongst every character. Every profession “maxed” at 400. About 9.5K AP in September(when I left the game)

Do you think I’m a casual player?

Stars

Maybe not all. Here are the pics. Note almost all of the mats are refined, which means x2 or x3 or x4 for the original scrap depending on the type.

You have won, sir :P

Calae

To gear 8 characters to maximum would take you more time than it would take the developers to introduce another tier after ascended. Which is probably the point.

That is. It would be nice to see an answer from dev team btw, but since two days have passes I’ve lost my hope

LanfearShadowFlame

As to this game being alt-unfriendly…. Go play GW1. Go play WoW. Then kitten about ‘alt unfriendly.’ This game functions no differently then essentially any other MMO in these regards.

I haven’t played WoW, but as a former GW1 player with GWAMM title, 50/50 HoMM and 7 lvl 20 full equipped characters (I had all but warrior), I can assure you that GW1 is a lot more alt-friendly than GW2

It is as much as say exotic is alt friendly. To get both ascended gear and exotic gear you can carry over rewards from ruining events and doing days / monthly to your alts. Now if you want to take ascended or exotic gear you already have and put it on an alt you cant but this is true for armor in most games.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Ascended gear will work the same way the rest of high end gear works in this game. Once you equip it, it belongs to the character wearing it.

As to this game being alt-unfriendly…. Go play GW1. Go play WoW. Then kitten about ‘alt unfriendly.’ This game functions no differently then essentially any other MMO in these regards.

Soulbound seems to be the trend in the last decade. Wasn’t before then. The question isn’t: compare GW2 high end gear acquisition to other MMO’s. The question is: “will Ascended gear (GW2) be alt-friendly?”

The answer is “no”.

Yes, you can say Ascended gear is not any more (or less) alt-friendly than other current MMO’s.

The comparison being asked was GW2 Ascended armor to GW2 Ascended weapons.

The core of that question rests on:

The “freedom to play the way you want” as a concept has been increasingly negated as ANet puts in more directed game play and incorporates more mechanics that move the game closer to those games many of us left, hoping for something refreshingly different.

Next game I am considering playing your toon can switch to any other class. Now that is “alt friendly”. If a single toon can have all classes and all skill crafting available, thats the game for me.