(This is kind of long – it started out as a comment, but I decided to make a post instead.)
Personally, I’m excited about the new changes and think that they’re a well thought-out step in the right direction. I appreciate the gradual changes happening in the game, particularly in WvW, and am pleased that there’s now a method for getting chests through ranks with rewards somewhat similar to the chests available from Daily Dragon Chests, etc.
I’m going to be harder pressed to drop WvW to, for example, rush off the catch the Shadow Beast event in Queensdale or catch the Claw of Jormag Event in Frostgorge Sound knowing that I can earn chests that also include Badges by increasing my rank. Knowing that I have roughly a 40-chest backlog of chests meaning that I’ll be getting double chests for the next 40 ranks is also pretty cool.
Regarding Laurels, I think the biggest problem with them is that they are a bit unfair to players who manage multiple characters (alts). Otherwise, I think that most of the rage surrounding them is coming from players who didn’t or don’t or don’t want to utilize other methods of gaining Ascended Gear. (Fractals or Guild Commendations, specifically.)
Regarding what to do with extra badges, (Since some players seem upset that they can’t burn their stacks of badges directly on Ascended gear without using any Laurels) I believe there’s entire exotic armor and weapon sets available that could theoretically be utilized to either try new builds on a main character or buy gear for alternate characters. Siege blueprints are also an option.
I’m often surprised with the general tone and overall feeling of animosity in the WvW forum. Our community expresses a lot of distaste for a game that we apparently loathe yet continue to play, based on how folks write and comment about changes. I feel like any change is sort of a lose/lose for ArenaNet, given how we as customers tend to respond. If I worked there, the repeated backlash the ANet team is subjected to wouldn’t exactly be incentive for me to cater to the community’s demands.
Allowing players to dump (in some cases) thousands of badges for Ascended items may not seem to impact the game economy directly, but it would make an immediate and measurable change on the existing demand for exotic jewelry that players can make or buy with karma. For players who don’t have a lot of Laurels, these pieces are usually the best in slot option until they can acquire enough Laurels, Commendations, Fractal Relics, or get lucky while running Level 10+ Fractals. In some cases, Exotic pieces might even offer more options since their “jewel” slot can be modified whereas Ascended items are static. (The net gain may be less, but Exotic Gear’s slot nature offers extra options and flexibility) Given that players can, (and apparently have) potentially earn hundreds of Badges a day through a few hours of dedicated (albeit somewhat unpredictable) fighting in WvW, I think it’s fair to say that the badge token generation is too volatile a resource to allow to be spent exclusively on otherwise time-gated gear.
So basically, to ANet – Not everyone is as upset as some players who are writing may have y’all believe. To my WvW community – I’m guilty of being a whiner too, but this backlash feels overly dramatic to me.