Guild Wars 2

First of all, I want to thank Arena Net for releasing great story content so frequently. I like the new living story and played each episode with joy.

However, what absolutely grinds my gears is the new backpiece. I spent much gold & time on the first version and now I had to realize, that the second version needs even MORE time & gold to craft. And I have to admit, I don’t have time for that kind of grind. I’m not a full-time player and it seems to me that Arena Net is doing well in ruining the gameplay for players like me.

I can accept that I can’t have a legendary, and with some mumbling I also got over the fact that I’m casually dealing less damage than frequent players (because crafting an ascended weapon is just too far away) – I’m not even mad for never receiving any of the great skins that came out with living story 1, although I sacrificed days in this game. And who needs rewards for doing dungeons when you can have 200 useless tickets for every one of them? You need 400+, go, do the dungeon! and then repeat and repeat!

But I do have a problem with having to repeat crafting the backpiece for living story 2, with the exact same amount of Plates of Piquant Plant Food & Plates of Meaty Plant Food and this time, even MORE stuff you need to buy or craft (which is also just buying or farming the ingredients). I’m sick of this. But not only the crafting process is a chore, what really annoys me is that it’s still exotic – does that mean I’ll have to repeat the whole process again if I somehow manage to craft this one?

I loved guild wars 2 because it wasn’t all about grinding and gold, but I’m getting the feeling you can do less and less as a casual player. Sadly after finishing the story there’s nothing else to do but the same ever repeating events & searching for chests in hope of some loot. But you’ll never get loot. You’ll get ingredients for things you’ll never be able to craft.

[edit] This is what you have to do for the backpiece, in case someone doesn’t know what is needed to craft it.

• The backpiece can be upgraded to ascended already, so your argument “what really annoys me is that it’s still exotic” isn’t valid.
• You have been officially warned that the backpiece will be upgraded in future releases. You can keep the current backpiece if you like, though.
• Having or not having the vine makes zero impact on how fast mobs die, so your argument “I’m getting the feeling you can do less and less as a casual player” isn’t really valid.
• Looks are the endgame here, and a thematic non-sellable expensive backpack doubly so. You are not entitled to get everything unless you’re investing effort or money. You can as a casual player, though, buy gems, convert them to gold, buy most mats and grind for about 5 days (Fractals time-gating) to get everything if you don’t want to invest your time as the so-called elitists or no-lifers. The developers will thank you and have more money to make something new next time.
• Ascended weapons are less than 5% stat increase and make less difference than using proper food. This is a long-term goal for dedicated players, something to do for those who already got hundreds of gold by casually playing the smart way every evening for a long time. Getting these, again, is either a reward for investing time, or for investing money to convert to gold to buy mats, but you’re totally fine with exotics for any content.

I suppose the only thing that bugs me is the Mist Stone Fiasco.

I think fractals being the absolute only way to resolve that is kind of Bogus. x: