Phnglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu Rl’yeh wga’nagl fhtagn.
Why are all the Backpieces SO EXPENSIVE?
Phnglui mglw’nafh Cthulhu Rl’yeh wga’nagl fhtagn.
Unique back pieces are meant to be expensive and hard to make, even more an ascended one, and yet even more one that has an unique functionality (eating bloodstone dust). Don’t really see any need to fix there.
There are very cheap back pieces out there, and getting to 400 in any crafting profession is actually rather easy once you have the materials and relatively not too expensive if you don’t (actually, artificing, the one you need for the clay pot, is really one of the cheaper to level up, takes about 15g if you purchase all materials following the guides at http://www.gw2crafts.net/ ).
wrapped up in some crazy ritualist hoo-ha from Cantha.
A real grab bag of ‘you can’t hurt me. They’re called Guardians.
they’re kinda the best “cosmetic reward”, because they have the least effect on stats. if you are going to make a vanity item really expensive (be it in time or gold) i like that its the least “needed” piece.
many on the forum were less than impressed with just “getting back skins” by completing meta achievements………..now you have to really earn them (or grind for them, depending how fast you want it). i personally am in no rush to get this skin…even though it would look great on my sylvari mesmer. i’ll have it in time (when i ever decide to do fractals again).
also, consider this a test run for crafting precursors…because it almost certainly is.
MARA (EU) Gunnar’s Hold
This is a prestige item. The fact that it’s difficult to obtain is the point. It’s a status symbol. Wearing it tells people “this player has invested X amount of time/resources into the game.”
GW1 had lots of prestige items like this. GW2 has very, very few that can’t simply be bought by converting gems to gold, Mawdrey and the Fractal Capacitor among them. Please Anet, leave it how it is.
- You can buy masterwork (green) or rare back pieces from guild vendors for gold, or get them during your personal story.
- You can get exotic back items from the Temple vendors in Orr for 42,000 karma (the same as other armor pieces).
- Or they drop in dungeons with varying rarities and stats. These ones are tradeable so you can also buy them from the TP.
Things like the Spinal Blades and Mawdrey are the equivalent of named exotics you can make in the mystic forge. They’re something special to work towards if you want it, not the default items to fill that slot.
“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”
Price of foxfires is dropping now the initial wave of demand has passed. Apart from that there’s nothing really expensive required to make the Mawdrey backpiece, assuming you use your daily cooldowns to make the plant food.
Only problem with the backpieces being so expensive is that aside from the ascended ones, there’s a grand total of five combinations of stats that backpieces can give (Zerk, Magi, Rabid, Soldier, and Cavalier). One of which (Zerk), the only available one doesn’t even have an upgrade slot.
If there were reliable ways of getting backpieces of the other stat combinations (for example from dungeon tokens), it’d be less of an issue. But as is, I can agree with the OP. Even not counting the unique skins, you’re pretty much forced to grind out the ascended ones if you want something like Cleric’s, Assassin’s, or even the new Nomad’s.
I have masterwork berserker back items from the personal story. I’d like exotics.
- You can get exotic back items from the Temple vendors in Orr for 42,000 karma (the same as other armor pieces).
I checked for a berserker back piece at Grenth when the armour changed to zerks a week or two back, but the back item didn’t match the rest of the armour. Do you know of any zerks at another temple?
- Or they drop in dungeons with varying rarities and stats. These ones are tradeable so you can also buy them from the TP.
Can you give me an item name to search for on the TP, for an exotic berserker’s back item? If I get one for under 10g I’ll be forever in your debt. I’ll send you 10% commission, if you like.
Things like the Spinal Blades and Mawdrey are the equivalent of named exotics you can make in the mystic forge. They’re something special to work towards if you want it, not the default items to fill that slot.
I’m absolutely fine with the fancy prestige items being expensive and difficult, that’s why they’re prestigious, but where are the normal versions? Why can’t I craft them in much the same way as gloves, with whatever inscriptions I want, at under 10g for an exotic?
Edit: I checked the temples in game (wiki has been wrong about temple gear before, and item names at temples have not always agreed with their actual stats). I saw…
balth: cavaliers toughness power ferocity
dwayna: rabid condition precision toughness
lyssa: magi’s healing precision vitality
grenth: soldier’s power toughness vitality
melandru: was falling, so I stayed away to protect the recapture event; wiki (which is correct at present AFAIK) says it doesn’t sell back items
(edited by Morte.5916)
Purely making the combined mawdrey backpiece is fairly cheap if creating it yourself. It gets more expensive as you level crafts or buy time gated items on the tp, which is purely optional. The fact that it is heavily time gated makes it more expensive for impatient people, as you can make one of each of the plant foods for less than 2g but sell for around 13g or so.
I’m not so worried about the expenses, I’m kind of annoyed that they force us to use three tradeskills to achieve it if you don’t want to spend the money. I barely have any interest in tradeskills as it is so I already have a low drive to utilize them.
The fact that it is heavily time gated makes it more expensive for impatient people, as you can make one of each of the plant foods for less than 2g but sell for around 13g or so.
Impatient people are wonderful.
When LS2 started, the most money I’d ever had was 205g. I now have 460g, I’ve bought 7 strength runes, taken weaponsmith from kitten to 500, and made ascended sword/greatsword with three +5 infusions. All thanks to efficient foxfire farming and the two plant foods.
Now if I could just have four normal exotic berserker back thingies for my active characters, I’d go back to fleecing the suckers who lust after prestige items.
I’d would like some unique rewards for skill, but I guess that will be pvp new items… oh wait, you can hotjoin/afk solo to get them…. nvm.
You could do some guild missions and get the exotic Guild Assassin Backpack (zerker stats) for 5g and 5 commendations.
But yeh the point is that the stat difference in backpieces isnt a whole load. Compare the zerker backpiece you get from story to what i suggested above
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Berserkers_Spineguard_of_the_Berserker
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_Assassin_Backpack
Its literally 10 stat difference.
As for the ascended backpiece with infusion, its about 27 stat difference from the story back piece with exquisite jewel.
Its not a whole lot and thats the point. its more about the looks and for those people who want to go that extra step. It does take alot of resources to get the ascended ones and thats why I personally didnt bother with it.
seems like anet cant win no matter what they do, add cool stuff like this that takes time and effort to attain and people whine that they can’t get it, don’t add stuff like this and people whine that theres nothing to go after.
You could do some guild missions and get the exotic Guild Assassin Backpack (zerker stats) for 5g and 5 commendations.
Thanks, Dragster, for the information. And the perspective — it’s what I was thinking, but it’s nice to have a second opinion.
I think I’ll pass on Mawdrey — the skin doesn’t appeal to me, and the stats aren’t worth the effort. Also switching account bound gear around four characters is a pain — I bought a salvage-o-matic and went back to buying salvage kits on three characters. If I want a bit of bling I can buy the Phoenix staff skin that I really like, and use it on multiple characters.
On the plus side, therer’s the fact that they’ve given us the plant to dispose of bloodstone dust rather than say ascended sharpening stones. I feel OK about just destroying the dust now.
It’s only expensive (in the sense you’ll notice it) if you rush it.
You’ll pick up everything you need (except Watchwork Sprockets if you didn’t get that node in the four winds event recently) just from playing the game and harvesting when you come across harvest nodes over time.
If you want it, it’s not like you need it TODAY RIGHT NOW!!!!! you can get make it in a few weeks or months time, it’s not a race.
If you don’t really want it and this is just a whine about the price of rushing…then that’s more a you problem. Light of Dwayna is far more expensive and requires actively spending at least 50g at an NPC rather than farming mats over time at next to no cost to you.
Why can’t I craft them in much the same way as gloves, with whatever inscriptions I want, at under 10g for an exotic?
Good question. I’d love to know the rationale behind back items not being a craftable item. I imagine it has to have been asked somewhere along the line.
I think the mainproblem wih this backpiece is: It is the “only” unique reward we get in this season so far.
Sure we got “others”, like the new weaponset in dry top, however that`s it.
Overall we got nothing to brag about.
While I like the idea of this backpiece and the underlying mechanism to get it (I really love it), it is just a too “complicated” thing, to be the “only” reward so far.
Before someone argues about the other things we are able to get, ill ask you: How are they different from the rewards you get by doing any other activity.
Even the “unique” skin in Episode 1 is nothing special, since it is a map reward and that is something we had in other places (iron marshes have a nice hidden one )
This reward is great for something extra, however i feel it is unsuited to be a mainreward.
part of the reason is their rarity and another is that there are few unique backpieces skins in the game.
I wouldn’t mind these “vanity” back pieces costing so much if common equivalents for all stat combos were available for prices on par with other accessories of the same quality, even if they didn’t come with a visual at all.
Since I care nothing about the backitem’s look (and I’m not alone…I consider them FUGLY and detract from how I want my character’s ’look"), what is my incentive to obtain a decent, high end back item for the minimal stats they provide?
I get I’m in the minority and can buy SOME exotic ones at the Temples, but there are far too many stat combos missing. Can we get some craft able back items (and re-breathers), please?
Fate is just the weight of circumstances
That’s the way that lady luck dances
The only bad thing is my back is full, I have 5-6 backpiece ingredients from LS2 and that is flooding my inventory :’(
Time is irrelevant. The content isn’t going away so you can work on it at your leisure, even if it takes you a year.
What it honestly sounds like is that you want the backpiece right now, but your play schedule will only allow for you to work at it slowly.
That’s not really a problem that needs fixing. It’s a user issue. Patience is a virtue and whatnot.
It’s a medical condition, they say its terminal….
I actually agree with the OP, but only for the latter part, see, good content and rewards actually take into account that there are different kinds of players that need different approaches… How this should have been done:
1. Basically the first step was pretty cool, unlocking these items in various locations, and putting in some extra time.
2. The crafting for the first stage (aka. the pot) should have been a level 100 crafting effort.
3. Combining the items and the pot should have given stage 1 of the back piece, unlock said skin.
4. The next stage would be to ‘raise’ the thing, involving food at say 200 crafting.
5. The next stage would involve some more items, and some 300 crafting items
6. etc… you get the gist i’m sure…
So now you have an item that needs some questing, that can be done by anyone, and some basic crafting, easily attainable by anyone; thus everybody gets an easy nice skin as part of the LS. Then after that, people can work on the item in their own time, while already enjoying their backpack…
Working on something isn’t the problem, its that for some (crafting heavy players) this was an instant reward with minor time gating, while for many others, it is a long term project with absolutely no way to join in on the enjoyment of a new back pack item… That exclusion from the get go makes it a horrible designed reward, and if you look at a lot of the comments you can see exactly why it is… those snarky responses are not from people that have one lvl400 crafting profession, but from those who just had to farm / buy a bunch of firefox clusters and assemble the thing, and now pretend they had to put in all that work and how its ‘exclusive’… bs! …
it’s just a badly designed reward to put in a LS, or perhaps more accurate would be a well designed one but poorly executed…
25 okt 2014 – PinkDay in LA