Guild Wars 2

Players have been pointing out the inequity of Light Ascended Armor for a while now. As of this post, silk scraps are going for 2s24c a piece on the trading post, while mithril ore sits at 49c and thick leather sections go for 11c.

I’ve seen suggestions for silk gathering nodes before, usually envisioned as cloth racks in towns. That’s always left me scratching my head, because why would I be walking into a town and taking someones fabric without paying them?

The idea occurred to me that silk could be a naturally occurring substance in our upcoming jungle biome. What if there were silkworm colonies throughout Heat of Thorns zones where we could come in and harvest with the sickle tool?

The numbers of harvesting areas would have to be carefully considered not to flood the market with too much silk. Perhaps they could be small clusters of nodes fairly few and far between.

think silk is expensive cause everyone needs it. at least heavy ascended armor needs dat silk too, maybe not as much, don’t really kno, but still needs a good bit

Jaxom.7310:

think silk is expensive cause everyone needs it. at least heavy ascended armor needs dat silk too, maybe not as much, don’t really kno, but still needs a good bit

Yes, that’s one side of the equation.

One solution would be to change recipes to require less silk, but that’s pretty clunky compared to the other solution, which is increasing supply.

To increase supply, they could just give us more from salvaging, or they could give us the option of actively seeking it out through nodes, like mithril.

Jaxom.7310:

think silk is expensive cause everyone needs it. at least heavy ascended armor needs dat silk too, maybe not as much, don’t really kno, but still needs a good bit

All armour types need silk for ascended (the insignias primarily), which wouldn’t be a problem if not for tailoring… which needs a lot of silk.
But yes, ANet please give us silk worms! And cotton, and some sheep, and some flax. Should theoretically be able to make jute… not sure though not a tailor by trade.

CureForLiving.5360:

But yes, ANet please give us silk worms! And cotton, and some sheep, and some flax. Should theoretically be able to make jute… not sure though not a tailor by trade.

Yes, jute is a plant that grows in humid conditions. Could fit nicely into our new zones.

When the trading post had it’s own forums, this was a hot topic when Ascended armor came out. If I recall, John Smith pretty much said it’s working as intended (at least I remember other people quoting him saying that). I’m not saying we don’t need a reliable way to get all levels of leather and cloth, but I think Anet would rather have silk worth something other than vender value, like it was before ascended armor (and yes, I agree that it’s unfair that lights need 36 bolts of damask, while heavies only need….18?)

Edit: Who knows, maybe the new map reward system they just revealed will contain other things besides T6 mats and lodestone/cores. I wouldn’t complain if we could get silk, linen, cotton, and those levels of leather as other options.

Heavy takes 25

It also doesn’t help that Delrimor steel takes 100 mithril ore (50 bars) while Damask takes 300 silk (100 bolts) and I believe the other ascended materials are similar to Delrimor steel…

Ranatoa.4869:

Heavy takes 25

It also doesn’t help that Delrimor steel takes 100 mithril ore (50 bars) while Damask takes 300 silk (100 bolts) and I believe the other ascended materials are similar to Delrimor steel…

Ah, it’s been a while since I made my armor. And yeah, all this was to fix the ~6 million silk that was on the trading post at vendor value before ascended armor was released.

Ranatoa.4869:

Heavy takes 25

Yeah it get’s kinda expensive http://dulfy.net/2013/12/12/gw2-ascended-armor-crafting-guide/

25 damask for heavy
24 for medium
36 for light

Wallace MacBix.2089:

Ranatoa.4869:

Heavy takes 25

It also doesn’t help that Delrimor steel takes 100 mithril ore (50 bars) while Damask takes 300 silk (100 bolts) and I believe the other ascended materials are similar to Delrimor steel…

Ah, it’s been a while since I made my armor. And yeah, all this was to fix the ~6 million silk that was on the trading post at vendor value before ascended armor was released.

Which was barely enough for less than 1000 ascended armor sets, a drop in the ocean of what was needed. Anet (as always) overcompensated, and (again, as always) isn’t very eager to admit that, so it remains as it is.

Crafting a full set of light ascended armor for my ele was irritating. The one bolt of silk weaving thread per day wasn’t too bad, it was the material cost of silk itself that was painful. Now I cringe every time I think about crafting light ascended armor due to the cost of silk and linen.

I’ve made the suggestion for alternative means of acquiring cloths several times previously. I even went so far as to point out where the different types come from in real life and how we could use the existing sickle to gather fibers from similar types of nodes in the game ( we even have sheep we could sheer for wool already in the game).

Never see it happening though.

But yes… I feel the pain when it comes to crafting ascended armors. I will eventually have 7 characters of each weight (long story, don’t ask), each will eventually have their own set of armor. It’s a semi-daunting task. I don’t even want to think about ‘down the road’ if they add more races…

The major issue is that there is was a double nerf on silk, that didn’t apply to any other material (the ultra-common materials just had single nerfs, ie leather, iron, and soft wood). Bolts moved from requiring two scraps to three scraps; and released at nearly the same time, Damask required 100 bolts rather than 50.

Sarisa.4731:

The major issue is that there is was a double nerf on silk, that didn’t apply to any other material (the ultra-common materials just had single nerfs, ie leather, iron, and soft wood). Bolts moved from requiring two scraps to three scraps; and released at nearly the same time, Damask required 100 bolts rather than 50.

This is what should be fixed. Just normalize the material usage and prices will fix themselves.

Bolts require two scraps and Damask requires fifty bolts. Done. There is no need to add any new mechanics to the game. Just have a coder fiddle with the dials after their lunch break.

And the uproar from those that made the armor with the old recipes?

Gibson.4036:

And the uproar from those that made the armor with the old recipes?

Do a special collections reward for already made ascended armor that gives some sort of refund. Only appears for those who have already made the armor and newly crafted stuff doesn’t trigger it.

the economy dev will not give, unless he also takes. he wants silk to remain expensive.

if he gives you a “cloth node”, he will reduce bag/cloth armor drop rates to compensate.

I’d love this to be implemented so much!
Equally, I’d love to see them add stationary animals that can be killed like ambient creatures, and when killed can be gathered for leather (with a sickle).

To make up for this, they should make the sickle have 100 charges like the rest.

Gibson.4036:

And the uproar from those that made the armor with the old recipes?

I made that armor using old recipe, and i still advocate changing it. Where’s the problem exactly? Besides, it’s not like it would be the first time.

Astralporing.1957:

Gibson.4036:

And the uproar from those that made the armor with the old recipes?

I made that armor using old recipe, and i still advocate changing it. Where’s the problem exactly? Besides, it’s not like it would be the first time.

Same here, I’ve made armor using the existing recipes. I’d be happy for it to change in a heartbeat. I’m tired of feeling like I “need” to be farming in order to make either enough silk or enough gold to buy silk to make my daily thread. I have 0 issue with leather, mithril, and elder wood. Silk is an absolute nightmare for me.

I suspect crafting a new precursor will use 50+ deldrimor ingots and 50+ spiritwood planks. Don’t worry the prices will all be equal soon enough

Astralporing.1957:

Gibson.4036:

And the uproar from those that made the armor with the old recipes?

I made that armor using old recipe, and i still advocate changing it. Where’s the problem exactly? Besides, it’s not like it would be the first time.

Fair enough, though I expect not everyone will be as happy about it. I could be wrong.

Seemed to me like increasing the supply would be a more elegant solution. I recently ran across a post by John Smith asking how players would feel if silk was farmable, though it would be rare, which looks like they have at least entertained the idea.

ZudetGambeous.9573:

I suspect crafting a new precursor will use 50+ deldrimor ingots and 50+ spiritwood planks. Don’t worry the prices will all be equal soon enough

Good point.

Gibson.4036:

And the uproar from those that made the armor with the old recipes?

Sure, inevitably a few people would be annoyed by this (as they are when any change is made). I think that they’ll get over it pretty quickly.

I on the other hand would say, “cool! Now I can start to make that light Celestial set!”

Pifil.5193:

I on the other hand would say, “cool! Now I can start to make that light Celestial set!”

You can still start making it, I’ll just cost twice as much… Still need to finish my Zojja light set… Verata was a bit of a let down.

So I’m all for these silkworm colonies and all but what gathering tool would we use? Would we be using one of the pre-existing ones like the harvesting tool or would we getting a new one altogether?

Sickle seems like it would make most sense.

There’s no reason to spend development time on a new method of supply for silk. There’s plenty of supply, as should be clear from the original need for the inflated demand, which is what should be adjusted.

For the love of kittens, DO SOMETHING about this already. This is a game for casuals, right? I want my ascended set in the next three months, not six months to a year from now because I have to grind 10000 silk from random drops. “No grind” my butt.