Guild Wars 2

I’m going to start out by saying I do not expect this to happen, but, something that I would really, absolutely love to see with Legendary armor is some kind of system that would allow us to store, say 3, sets of runes in the armor and change between the active ones at will, much like we will be able to change the stats.

Why would this be amazing?

Being able to change the stats on a set of armor means that you can use the set of armor for every game mode available, right? Well, not quite. Problem is is that you have different runes, for different bonuses, along with the different stats that you use in the separate modes. For example right now on my ele, I have two sets of ascended armor, both with completely different stats and completely different runes. PvE is straight zerker with Scholar runes and WvW is a soldier/celestial mix with Strength runes. Each rune complements the game mode and armor set that I am wearing in different ways, making it optimal for the situation I’m in. If I had to go into PvE with my Strength runes, instead of Scholar, I will lose a substantial amount of DPS (I know because I originally had a set of all zerker armor with strength runes and used it for both, before converting my second set of ascended armor from another class, to the WvW armor for my ele and putting scholar on my zerker stuff. Saw about a 4-5% increase on overall numbers).

Now, that’s a class where I run power DPS in both WvW and PvE. Let’s take a look at ranger. Right now, a really strong WvW build is condition based armor (I’ve heard people say they use Sinister ((amazing stat combo by the way, great job here guys)), but have seen a lot of dire) with Trapper runes. In contrast, your typical PvE build will run either Zerker with Scholar (Dungeon groups love that stuff) or Sini with Balth runes. Either way, you have a rune set that is doing something completely different with bonus effects. The trapper build rangers run in WvW is so good because of the stealth, reveal them they go down a LOT easier, and if they had to pick one rune or the other, its going to take away from their gameplay.

Now, put ALL of that aside, and lets take a look at the content that this legendary armor is coming from. Raiding. Where you guys hope that we will have to use armor sets that we haven’t really looked at before. Typically, that also means you will change more than just stats because we need more variety. Therefore, runes would also be something that would be changed to give definition to the build. Taking that into account, the ability to change runes at will (without losing any of them because you will use the other set in the future) would help your dedicated raiders be able to clear the content with minimal intrusions.

You said armor runes, does this mean you want weapon sigils to work same way?

In short, yes, but honestly, it isn’t as needed. An ascended weapon whose exotic inscription costs 10g (current cost for sentinels which is most expensive you can buy outright) will cost no more than 70g (current cost for spiritwood is 5g per plank, 6 planks max ((wood is more expensive than the metal)) would be ~30g plus inscription plus the dowel at 30g). You’d be lucky to get a third of your insignia set for ascended armor for 70g. Current prices put just the insignias at over 260g. That’s close to four ascended staffs. Being able to switch between three sigils (even on a two-hander) would be nice, but not nearly as needed cost-wise as being able to switch between three runes on a set of armor.

In Closing

Team ArenaNet, I expect you to look at this post, scoff at it, and laugh thinking about what a ridiculous idea this is, because I’d have the same response as a player, looking at somebody else posting something like this. That being said, if you guys could pull this off, it would put your legendary armor on a whole nother level from anything else that you’ve given us. I haven’t talked to any other players about this, cause it is literally something that just hit me while I was playing another game and thinking about what was coming up with HoT, but I have a feeling many others would love to see this come in to. This is simply food for thought, something to make you go “What if we really did pull this off?”, because I think its something that could put your game over the top of your competitors.

- Edit: I just had an even crazier thought, something that would probably be much easier to implement too, what about just giving us an unequip rune/sigil/upgrade button on legendary gear (Yeah, I just included your legendary backpacks in this too, sorry!).

I have an idea I don’t see this happening either. Make legendary armor able to swap to what ever rune set you want with out needing to buy any.

I think it is fine as it is. Only thing that should be changed is that every piece of gear should be salvageable.

In stead, add legendary runes to the game. Functionally the same as exotic, but perhaps they add some sort of effect to the armor they’re slotted in, and can be right clicked and type switched like the weapons and armor.

Like, if legendary armo has particle effects, the runes would have material effects similar to the leg. hammer, or apply legendary visual effects to the runes 6-slot power.

It would be about 3,500 times easier to implement and of greater service to the player base to just add 6 rune slots to the character sheet and take runes out of the armor entirely. Then you could just move runes in and out of those slots freely.

Nike.2631:

It would be about 3,500 times easier to implement and of greater service to the player base to just add 6 rune slots to the character sheet and take runes out of the armor entirely. Then you could just move runes in and out of those slots freely.

I think the point of runes and gear being fixed that way is that it’s supposed to be a time and resource sink to keep the economy going. Many rune sets are worthless enough already. With this kind of unlock system they’d all be worthless.

There’s nothing worthless about having to buy/craft/acquire them before you can slot them. And they can stay soulbound on equip if you really insist on punching altoholics in the throat . (otherwise they could be account bound on equip and still retain considerable value)

Nike.2631:

It would be about 3,500 times easier to implement and of greater service to the player base to just add 6 rune slots to the character sheet and take runes out of the armor entirely. Then you could just move runes in and out of those slots freely.

Totally agree, should have been this way from the start.

Heimskarl Ashfiend.9582:

Nike.2631:

It would be about 3,500 times easier to implement and of greater service to the player base to just add 6 rune slots to the character sheet and take runes out of the armor entirely. Then you could just move runes in and out of those slots freely.

Totally agree, should have been this way from the start.

You do realize that if that had been the case that the economy would be nothing like it is today. The point of it ONLY being legendary items is that only those who pushed the grind in raids for it will be able to do it. I don’t see much more than 20-30% of the player base doing so. The economy will still strive because most of your players will still be willing to constantly buy new runes and get rid of old ones.

Gynok.1756:

I think it is fine as it is. Only thing that should be changed is that every piece of gear should be salvageable.

Err… Why would I want to salvage my legendary armor? Or my ascended armor for that matter? This is not a solution that makes sense.

Nike.2631:

It would be about 3,500 times easier to implement and of greater service to the player base to just add 6 rune slots to the character sheet and take runes out of the armor entirely. Then you could just move runes in and out of those slots freely.

Meh. I don’t have any problem whatsoever with having to buy new runes and get rid of old ones on my ascended armor. I got it for a stat increase. Why I would like to see this kind of service available to legendary armor is because its not a stat increase, its a convenience increase. What’s at the heart of convenience? Saving time and money friend. ArenaNet has tried to sell legendary items as the ultimate convenience, the ability to switch your build at will, but it doesn’t make much sense for me to run a condition build on my mesmer with the centaur runes I use to run my PvE power build, does it? It takes away from the freedom to change the build when you can change the runes to make the build work.

Aingeal an Lann.8750:

Gynok.1756:

I think it is fine as it is. Only thing that should be changed is that every piece of gear should be salvageable.

Err… Why would I want to salvage my legendary armor? Or my ascended armor for that matter? This is not a solution that makes sense.

You could replace runes on legendary armor with new ones without losing the armor so there would really be no reason to salvage BiS item. Although it’s unfair for those who had bought karma or wvw gear for not beign able to salvage their upgrades when they upgrade to ascended/legendary.

Legendary weapons do not let you do this for sigils so i do not think it will happen with runes.

Nike.2631:

There’s nothing worthless about having to buy/craft/acquire them before you can slot them. And they can stay soulbound on equip if you really insist on punching altoholics in the throat . (otherwise they could be account bound on equip and still retain considerable value)

I disagree with it not becoming worthless if every player in the game is able to do it. Targeting the legendary equipment for this is like adding another reward to players who put in the work to get the best loot (especially since when HoT drops all legendaries, and precursors, will become account bound and credit card warriors won’t be able to get them). If raids are the only source of legendary armor for two years (that’s less than how long they took to give us precursor crafting, you know), then for two years only the people who stick with the difficulty raids should bring in are going to have the satisfaction of being able to freely switch builds. Those that come to one raid, decide its too hard, and never come again (like Triple Trouble), will never get there. That right there will likely eliminate over 50% of the player base. The economy won’t take a terrific skyfall like if everybody had permanent access to runes.

And because legendary armor is going to be timegated, is going to take a grind, not everybody will get it at the same time. This means that it will be a gradual change in economy, not one gigantic step, which is healthier for the system.

Gynok.1756:

Aingeal an Lann.8750:

Gynok.1756:

I think it is fine as it is. Only thing that should be changed is that every piece of gear should be salvageable.

Err… Why would I want to salvage my legendary armor? Or my ascended armor for that matter? This is not a solution that makes sense.

You could replace runes on legendary armor with new ones without losing the armor so there would really be no reason to salvage BiS item. Although it’s unfair for those who had bought karma or wvw gear for not beign able to salvage their upgrades when they upgrade to ascended/legendary.

WvW gear is going to be salvagable with HoT according to recent reddit posts. I’m almost positive that karma gear used to be able to, but it was changed because people were salvaging the temple rune and selling them. Maybe they’ll switch it back with Heart of Thorns, but I wouldn’t count on it.

And yes, I can replace the runes without losing the armor, but I do lose the rune. That’s what this post was about. The cost of continuously buying new runes, and then repurchasing old ones when I want to go back to an old build I played, is really high. As a high end WvW player, I hate that I have to carry around five sets of armor because each one has separate stats and runes that works with a different build and is used at different times for advantage. And they are making it sound like raids are going to require the same thing. Many different stat combinations and rune choices to get through content effectively. All I’m asking is to reward those who put in the time to master the content by making it simplier and less expensive for them to continue to change for efficiency.

Jski.6180:

Legendary weapons do not let you do this for sigils so i do not think it will happen with runes.

I said to start with that I don’t expect it to happen, I’m just laying out why its a good idea, and why it makes more sense to do it for armor anyways. Ascended armor is 5-6x more expensive than an ascended weapon.

It’s breaking a core precept of GW2 legendaries:

Prestige and QOL advantages vs. gameplay advantages.

Windsagio.1340:

It’s breaking a core precept of GW2 legendaries:

Prestige and QOL advantages vs. gameplay advantages.

No, it would be a QOL advantage. As opposed to me carrying around five sets of armor like I currently do, I just have to carry around one, and four extra sets of runes. Saves a full 20 slot bag. That’s quality of life improvement.

My bad, missed the ‘change between active’ bit.

I thought you wanted multiple active rune sets at once ><

Windsagio.1340:

My bad, missed the ‘change between active’ bit.

I thought you wanted multiple active rune sets at once ><

No. I think it would probably be even easier for them to just let us unequip the runes from the armor. I’d be good with that. I just hate carrying around three sets of ascended armor for WvW and two sets of exotic for PvE on one character. It gets extremely hard to raid for extended periods because bags fill quick. Especially once you take into consideration the multiple weapons (at least one of every equipable, plus some in multiple stats/different sigil combinations) and secondary sets of trinkets. I could easily fill three 20 slot bags with just equipment I would use daily on my elementalist.

Aingeal an Lann.8750:

Windsagio.1340:

It’s breaking a core precept of GW2 legendaries:

Prestige and QOL advantages vs. gameplay advantages.

No, it would be a QOL advantage. As opposed to me carrying around five sets of armor like I currently do, I just have to carry around one, and four extra sets of runes. Saves a full 20 slot bag. That’s quality of life improvement.

Well, if you dont’ have to craft 4 other sets. You save money on 4 other sets too. So it is no longer just a QOL advantage.

Many people act like they are complaining about QOL when they just dont’ want to spend money on additional ascended set. Since they think they deserve to save money since legendary is so expensive already.

laokoko.7403:

Aingeal an Lann.8750:

Windsagio.1340:

It’s breaking a core precept of GW2 legendaries:

Prestige and QOL advantages vs. gameplay advantages.

No, it would be a QOL advantage. As opposed to me carrying around five sets of armor like I currently do, I just have to carry around one, and four extra sets of runes. Saves a full 20 slot bag. That’s quality of life improvement.

Well, if you dont’ have to craft 4 other sets. You save money on 4 other sets too. So it is no longer just a QOL advantage.

Many people act like they are complaining about QOL when they just dont’ want to spend money on additional ascended set. Since they think they deserve to save money since legendary is so expensive already.

Except I have already crafted/obtained multiple sets for my character. Its not why I’m proposing this idea. Yes, the cost of ascended armor is absurd, but its something I’m willing to put into making my character better. I just don’t want to have to go into raid with two bags full of gear so that I can switch and be effective for each fight. And yes, I realize that I won’t instantly be handed the legendary armor either, but once I get it, I’m not going to stop doing raids. One set won’t be enough just like one legendary wasn’t enough.

Also, changing the stats could be considered the same thing. It wasn’t just a QoL improvement if you want to take into account I don’t have to make five ascended staffs for berserker, cleric, magi, sentinel, and soldier’s anymore. I just need the one. This is literally the same thing, just taking it another step further for build flexibility and convenience for the player. That’s quality of life.