No bind on pickup for RNG drops
Making FotM gear available without running the dungeon sounds good on paper.
But that would rather defeat the point. Why run the dungeon if you can just buy the gear? Most of the people who are interested in FotM gear are into WvWvW. People who have already done everything. People who have a decent amount of wealth. People who would be willing to buy the gear if it meant they could stick to doing WvWvW.
And from what I understood, ANet is already planning to put in means of getting the stuff outside of FotM.
And honestly, if they just added an Ascended tab to the Temple armors that you can buy with Karma and to WvWvW vendors, I think that would please most people.
Making FotM gear available without running the dungeon sounds good on paper.
But that would rather defeat the point.
Why should people be forced to spend their limited playing time in a tiny area of the game they don’t enjoy just to improve their stats for the parts they do ?
Why should they be forced to run it hundreds or thousands of times, with no progress made on any of those runs, just because the RNG hates them ?
Why run the dungeon if you can just buy the gear?
Because the dungeon can drop really valuable stuff that you can then sell for lots of gold. Because it’s a fun dungeon. Because you don’t have the gold you need to buy it and are hoping to get lucky.
Most of the people who are interested in FotM gear are into WvWvW. People who have already done everything. People who have a decent amount of wealth. People who would be willing to buy the gear if it meant they could stick to doing WvWvW.
What’s wrong with them buying the gear ?
And from what I understood, ANet is already planning to put in means of getting the stuff outside of FotM.
We can’t judge those plans without more detail. They might be planning to remove bind on pickup, they might be planning something rather stupid like Ascended gear drops in WvW being from jumping puzzles only. Or they might not have any plans yet, just a panicked promise.
We are talking about a company who locked the Ascended gear threadnaught with a message telling people to refer to a post made before we knew that they had gone with the stupidity of BOP RNG drops being required. A post that was insufficient even then.
And honestly, if they just added an Ascended tab to the Temple armors that you can buy with Karma and to WvWvW vendors, I think that would please most people.
That would help, assuming all stats available from FOTM are also in the temple vendors.
Why should people be forced to spend their limited playing time in a tiny area of the game they don’t enjoy just to improve their stats for the parts they do ?
Why should they be forced to run it hundreds or thousands of times, with no progress made on any of those runs, just because the RNG hates them ?
It’s a new dungeon. Unlike the other dungeons, it was not in the game from the beginning. I hope that ANet will eventually add the Ascended gear to crafting and the Temple Karma Vendors. However, if they added it from the beginning, tons of people would just craft the gear rather than run the dungeon.
And besides, none of the gear we have in the previous dungeons is craftable. They do have alternatives that are craftable, not to mention that some variations can be bought from the Temple Karma Vendors.
Because the dungeon can drop really valuable stuff that you can then sell for lots of gold. Because it’s a fun dungeon. Because you don’t have the gold you need to buy it and are hoping to get lucky.
Let’s be realistic now. Considering all the complaints that we have about Agony, you can pretty much bet on people crafting their Ascended gear before going into the dungeon. At least for the ones that believe that Ascended gear is going to become a necessity. And that’s a ton of people not doing the dungeon. New content that is not being done by a large portion of the player base? Sure sounds like a dumb idea.
What’s wrong with them buying the gear ?
Nothing, if the dungeon wasn’t new. As it is new, to guarantee that the content is popular and played, ANet pretty much has to make it dungeon-only.
We can’t judge those plans without more detail. They might be planning to remove bind on pickup, they might be planning something rather stupid like Ascended gear drops in WvW being from jumping puzzles only. Or they might not have any plans yet, just a panicked promise.
We are talking about a company who locked the Ascended gear threadnaught with a message telling people to refer to a post made before we knew that they had gone with the stupidity of BOP RNG drops being required. A post that was insufficient even then.
Well, the CC’s are like security guards. They’re there to keep the order, rather than to give answers.
And honestly, if ANet does actually take in the community’s opinion and adjusts their implementations based on that, we should see the Ascended gear made more accessible in smart ways. Those being crafting, Karma and WvW, rather than RNG bullkitten like Mystic Forge or event chests.
It’s a new dungeon. Unlike the other dungeons, it was not in the game from the beginning.
So ?
They could have got people in there by just having it be more profitable. Either through rare skins or a higher value in the vendor trash.
I hope that ANet will eventually add the Ascended gear to crafting and the Temple Karma Vendors. However, if they added it from the beginning, tons of people would just craft the gear rather than run the dungeon.
Then those who are interested in FOTM would still go in. GW EOTN dungeons only offered rare skins, gold and title progress. They were popular.
And besides, none of the gear we have in the previous dungeons is craftable. They do have alternatives that are craftable, not to mention that some variations can be bought from the Temple Karma Vendors.
The other dungeon gear is also not dropped via RNG. It’s obtained through tokens, which you earn on each run. Which means that as long as your group is good enough to complete the dungeon, you have made progress.
And that’s a ton of people not doing the dungeon. New content that is not being done by a large portion of the player base? Sure sounds like a dumb idea.
Most people will still try it, especially the people who are after gold. If it’s the only place that drops a new skin, that skin will be very valuable, so people will farm the dungeon just to get it. So why do you think a ‘large portion’ of the player base won’t try it ?
The monthly achievement alone would get a lot of people in there.
As for the people who won’t try it, what good does forcing them into it do ?
So ?
They could have got people in there by just having it be more profitable. Either through rare skins or a higher value in the vendor trash.
Making dungeons excessively profitable is like a big middle finger to the WvW folk.
Most people will still try it, especially the people who are after gold. If it’s the only place that drops a new skin, that skin will be very valuable, so people will farm the dungeon just to get it. So why do you think a ‘large portion’ of the player base won’t try it ?
Currently, most people who do not do FotM don’t do it because of the Agony system and the supposed elitism it brings. However, there’s tons of people who still think that way but are doing the dungeon because it’s the only way to get the gear. If they had another way to get it, they sure as hell wouldn’t be in the dungeon. After all, those people were against the whole idea.
As for the people who won’t try it, what good does forcing them into it do
It gets people in the dungeon. In the worst case scenario, it at least gives off the impression of it being popular. Because let’s face it, no developer team wants to discuss how their most recent addition to the game was both unpopular and disliked.
Making dungeons excessively profitable is like a big middle finger to the WvW folk.
The solution to that looks simple:
– Make WvW the best gold faucet. Which means that it drops more coin and items with higher average vendor value than anywhere else.
– Give the other places rare drops that only drop there. These will start out valuable, but the price will decline over time taking the profitability of the dungeon with it.
So WvW has guaranteed, but lower, profit while the dungeon has potentially greater profits with a greater risk. If the only people involved were people seeking the greatest profits, the market would settle to the point where both have the same profitability if you average it out over enough time. But people with a preference to one or the other will skew that.
If they had another way to get it, they sure as hell wouldn’t be in the dungeon. After all, those people were against the whole idea.
The only people who I saw against FOTM before it released were those who didn’t like Ascended gear. If there was anybody predicting elitism, they were drowned out by the Ascended gear predictions.
As for the people who won’t try it, what good does forcing them into it do
It gets people in the dungeon. In the worst case scenario, it at least gives off the impression of it being popular. Because let’s face it, no developer team wants to discuss how their most recent addition to the game was both unpopular and disliked.[/quote]
Forcing people into the dungeon also hurts ANET. If people had a choice, then the number of people choosing to go in tells ANET how much people like the dungeon. If nobody goes in, find out why, and don’t make that mistake again.
By forcing people into FOTM, ANET is skewing their data, forcing themselves to have to assume that the vocal minority actually represent the opinions of the playerbase. But there is no way to tell if the vocal minority represent the attitudes of the silent players or not.
Oh, and in case you think it’s just Ascended items that do this, It’s not. A guardian found a shortbow that was account bound on pickup. He isn’t the only one.
Why is ANET trying to make these items exist outside the economy ?