Guild Wars 2

/cheer! go team!

Bump for visibility! COME JOIN US! We’ve got potatoes and Canadians! They’re both yummy in their own way.

Hey there ANET, real quick: Could you fix the Guild Bank so one can combine items in it like every other place [bags, personal bank]? At the moment, one needs to drag stuff out of guild bank into inventory, combine, and then put back into guild bank. It’d be nice to be able to drag and drop like normal.

Thanks!

It’s not just clicking skills with the mouse, as it is aiming ground targeted skills in a hectic environment

Hey ANET, Would you mind giving us the ability to change the mouse cursor size and color? It might help a few people keep track of things better in group environments. That’s all, Thanks.

Bump for more Tarnished Cultists

runeblade.7514:

This thread gave me cancer.

They strictly advertised this game to have zero trinity and the game is fun without it.

They also advertised this game as “Taking everything we loved about Guild Wars…” | “non-grindy…” | “if you hate MMOs…” | moving away from “oh, I swung my sword again” and more. While some of these are patently false and others are half-truths at best, the number of cancer patients would have significantly increased if “strictly advertised” is the criteria from which cancer was awarded.

I was initially surprised, not only at the amount of “no” votes, given the prevalence and vehemence of the Online Modern Tyrian Defense Corps, but more specifically at the amount of “wouldn’t have been here in the first place” votes. With that said, I too join my voice to that chorus. Whilst I must admit that GW ranks amongst my all time favorites of any age, genre and medium: My Zealous, Proselytizing, loyalty to the Franchise may have been enough to get me into the subscription-door, but I strongly doubt it. Even if it had, I would have de-activated long ago, due to the experiences I’ve now had 250 years later and reflecting upon all that we have lost in that time.

Respectfully,
Monk Anchorwind.

I double-tap to dodge all the time(1). I’ve dodge set to a single press key(2) as well but infrequently use it. Find your comfort zone and practice at it. You’ll get the hang of it, but dodging does come in handy from time to time. It’s a good [player] skill to have.

(1): Level 80 – Warrior, Mesmer, Thief, and working on my Guardian.
(2):V. I have no special gaming mouse, keyboard, controllers, et al.

Bri.8354:

…to be in the same state my favorite profession in GW1 (dervish) was.

Wait. You had trouble finding groups as a dervish? That’s a shame. Our core guild “M-Team” was 3x Monk [myself included], 3x Mesmer, 1x Melandru Dervish and whoever else was available for our 8th member (usually our elementalist, we have a lot of couples in our guild – even numbered parties for the win). We relied on our Dervish quite a bit as the sole front-line woman, as our primary condition-removal, and as PBAoE damage support. While our Mesmers did most of the offensive output, and I directed traffic from the back, our lives were made much easier by having a dedicated Melandru Dervish. /sigh. The good ol’ days.

Anyway. While the ‘roles’ in ’GW’2 may not be as clearly defined, you’ll find a place to fit in .

I’m a Primarily PvE Player. I enjoy Underwater Combat quite a bit with my Mesmer. Less so with my Guardian and Warrior and not every much with my Thief. As such, “Would I Play There?” Would depend largely on if the area was worth playing, as there are other underwater areas [not entire maps, just areas] already.

Implement a Story-Rich, Level 80 Map with decent rewards and no reliance on gimmicks [buckets of hp, etc] and I’m there!

I would support such flexibility, however I believe it is unlikely as it would make us more powerful.

Shayne, I agree with many of your key points [as I understood them]. What truly saddens me is the ‘double tap’ from certain players as well as the abandonment of what once was. I read your posts, sympathized, empathized, and wanted to roll up my sleeves and help fix it. Then I remembered that you are likely about to be told: a) this game is not for you (/holdsdoorandgestures), b) Ascended Gear, Laurels and _______ are all optional and thus the solution is not to fix the problem but instead to avoid the problem areas. or c) some needless personal attack.

While you are not alone in your concerns, I too ponder the futility of present and future investments.

Respectfully,
Monk Anchorwind

To Date: One. A straw effigy named ‘Mojo’ that my Mesmer is happy to use. I obtained it in the [level 1-3?] Ascalon Fractal, sometime earlier this year. The rest of my drops, since release, have been an exercise in disheartenment.

DoctorOverlord.8620:

where even the bloody insects could heal each other.

They could. We could also utilize interrupts to prevent them from doing so. We could use punishment hexes to remove the effectiveness from their healing. We could prioritize targets, with direct and indirect damage to overwhelm their healing attempts. We had, at our disposal, the capability to counter their skill with skill of our own. The same can not be said presently in equal measure.

Vayne.8563:

Anchorwind.9016:

Within the GW model, I [as many others have] enjoyed the tactical nature of squad-based synergies and counter-play. I applaud the developers of GW for having a system that places ‘weaker’ builds on foes in appropriate areas and ‘stronger’ builds on foes in appropriate areas without resorting to ‘buckets of HP’ and other duller replacements. I give Slavers’ Exile as an example. Many of the foes in Slavers’ Exile had builds that encouraged their foes [we, the players] to possess a higher skill level than foes in other areas. Fortunately, Slavers’ Exile was also labelled appropriately [Elite]. By diversifying the builds we faced, and giving foes builds [more] worth having, we received difficulty increases without needless tediousness presently seen. Effectively built and run squads could still move out with purpose in any given area, a talent lost in 250 years with up/down scaling and buckets of HP.

Skill[s] over Stats. Perhaps a philosophy lost in the mists.

The real question is what percentage of people want it.

I would offer the answer to that is, unfortunately, another variable. Is the added difficulty due to new AI that encourages better player skill, or a wider variety of team-play*? Or is the added difficulty due to gimmicks, that will discourage many for various reasons? Perhaps the added ‘difficulty’ is due to stat-increases on mobs, but does not require better gameplay, just more time invested [due to having to repeat the same tasks more to accomplish the same result]?

The best contribution to this concern I can offer is: Difficulty is itself not a barrier for many when implemented properly. Cheapness, tediousness, and needlessness are barriers that discourage.

Cheapness: Stealth, as an example. How many have not been frustrated that they died, but because of the manner in which they were killed? It wasn’t “I was defeated by a superior opponent” but instead “Oh great, I didn’t even see most of that fight, and can only flail around and guess…this is fun” laced with heavy sarcasm.

Tediousness: Buckets of HP. How many arrive at the point where we wish for the “Get on with it” button. We’ve dodged plenty of attacks, we’ve burned through our entire skillbars, on multiple weapons, but we’re still in the same spot against the same foe – not because we lack skill, but because of the tediousness of the foe.

Needlessness: Monster-Only Exclusive abilities, Unstrippable Boons, and other ‘Handwavium’ hard-coding to intentionally make a fight frustrating. While I do not think this is a significant across-the-board concern yet, it would take little for it to become so. Alternately, Long Recharges on so many of our skills. The pace of combat has slowed considerably in 250 years in terms of how often my #1 skill is used now vs my predecessors.

*As in: A Balanced Warrior, A Balanced Guardian, A Specialized Mesmer, A Specialized Elementalist, and a Defensive Engineer? As opposed to ‘4x-5xDPS’ due to large HP Pools and large periods of static combat.

Slightly longer than I anticipated.

Within the GW model, I [as many others have] enjoyed the tactical nature of squad-based synergies and counter-play. I applaud the developers of GW for having a system that places ‘weaker’ builds on foes in appropriate areas and ‘stronger’ builds on foes in appropriate areas without resorting to ‘buckets of HP’ and other duller replacements. I give Slavers’ Exile as an example. Many of the foes in Slavers’ Exile had builds that encouraged their foes [we, the players] to possess a higher skill level than foes in other areas. Fortunately, Slavers’ Exile was also labelled appropriately [Elite]. By diversifying the builds we faced, and giving foes builds [more] worth having, we received difficulty increases without needless tediousness presently seen. Effectively built and run squads could still move out with purpose in any given area, a talent lost in 250 years with up/down scaling and buckets of HP.

Skill[s] over Stats. Perhaps a philosophy lost in the mists.

BorrelmirScarhand.6527:

…This kind of took me aback a little. I thought the community in GW2 was above this…

In a strictly anecdotal manner, I too have noticed the attitudes that have been inherited in 250 years have been a turn for the worse. I compare the calmer, friendlier, European Districts of ages past with the oft vitriolic and/or juvenile map channel [particularly in Queensdale and Lion’s Arch, as of late] of the current Tyria and sigh with both sadness and confusion.

A simple answer may be to disable the communication platforms as a whole, but it is a shame that what might otherwise be an effective tool is instead something preferred to be discarded.

“Surely we’re a little bit more grown up” An honorable wish, despite the evidence to suggest a percentage of the population is contrary to that statement.

Perhaps, in time, the ‘time vs. reward’ scales will balance out across wider swaths of the world and some of these issues will resolve themselves. We should not be holding our breath, however.

rainbeetle.4579:

And I also agree with you, we certainly don’t have it yet in GW2 either – the way I understand it anyway – but I think there are a lot of fears (possibly unwarranted) that we are going that direction.

*Note: Full Ascended Gear [Armor + Weapons, etc] is already a step in that direction. Given the power increase between existing Ascended gear and other gear, we can speculate a statistical increase significant enough to warrant enough of the population to be concerned. We have been informed that Ascended will be the only tier introduced this year.

*Note 2: Future level caps increases may render current gear obsolete by nature of the gear not leveling with the character. The Development team has very clearly left the door open for level cap increases.

Banono.4597:

and a troll free environment to entertain us for years.

That’s the tough part right there though, isn’t it?

I have to agree, the painterly aesthetic is well done.

Mungrul.9358:

Oh gods, I miss my old Aspenwood Elementalist Griefer Mesmer build.
Basically, all of the spellcasting slowdown hexes I could cram onto a bar, that skill that damages on interrupt, and a couple of interrupts.
It would take the poor blighters 30 seconds to cast Meteor Storm, and right at the last second, I’d interrupt them.
I made sooooooooo many Elementalists rage-quit with that build.

Good times.

/sniff with happy memories. Don’t you miss strategic thought and tactical play?

Daecollo.9578:

Confusion should have a 2 second internal cool-down.

and the damage per confusion hit escalated significantly, so instead of players chipping themselves down, they can kill themselves in a single hit: else confusion becomes obsolete.

bigtime.7410:

Needs to be widened. How boring would it be if everyone had everything, everyone was the same?

You see the picture? Those are multiple sets of armor over the various campaigns and expansions. Some were considered more prestigious than others. Given they all had the same power level, I could [and did] swap back and forth freely based on mood and build requirements. It was fun. Nothing in there was particularly exclusive or incredibly out of reach. Nothing was unattainable. In fact, we helped each other get them. It wasn’t boring at all. We let our playstyles, personalities, and skills speak on our behalves, not some vain desire to look down our noses at the have-nots. Those days may be well and over, but everyone having something is always better than someone having everything.

PopeUrban.2578:

CobaltSixty.1542:

You would kitten a brick if you knew the kind of shutdown mesmers (and necros to an extent) could bring in GW1. Especially to a melee profession.

Confusion is tame in comparison.

Oh they were AMAZING against casters too. Mesmers were just the one class that could perfectly shut down anything if they built for it (but sacrificed being able to take down other things in the process)

I’m gonna cast a – nope
Well maybe a – nope OW
Well what about the… wait why is that on cooldown when I didn’t use it?
Well maybe I’ll just wand him to… wait why am I getting hurt when I wand?
And why am I also blind at the same time?
AND WHY IS THAT GUY USING THAT SPELL I CAN’T USE BECAUSE IT MYSTERIOUSLY WENT ON COOLDOWN?

At least you can clear pretty much all of GW2 mesmer annoying hex effects with one button… and you have your own button.

Level 80 Exotics Mesmer here who misses my REAL Mesmer. /sniff.

critickitten.1498:

This game no longer feels like a game that “takes everything I love about GW1”, nor a game that encourages me to “play the way I want to”.

For what is worth, Critickitten, you are not alone in your stance that this game does not take everything we loved about GW. We, those that agree, have not all left Tyria [250 years later]. Some of us hope to see the magic of the original Prophecies [all the way through] Winds of Change come to this new ‘sequel.’ Some of us quietly hope for an announcement for a GW3, a true heir to GW whilst others of us accept that a golden age, and the years of enjoyment in it, are gone. If you must go, go in peace, for you will receive some [goodwill] from GW Faithful but less from the populations we’ve inherited from elsewhere.

If you would like to reiminisce about the good old times. Look me up. We’ll talk
Monk Anchorwind.

Treeline.3865:

Anchorwind.9016:

Treeline.3865:

Calculated, does it make sense you can loot at least 30 pieces of this rarity every day if you bother?

In the current vertical-progression model, yes [said with great sadness]. As “Rare” grade loot is useful but not of the same caliber as Exotic and Ascended. Furthermore, “Rare” will be further degraded in time due to power creep as more tiers are added, et al. Therefore, “Rare” is simply a stepping stone to further tiers and as such likely should be more available as we will, and already have, move[d] on from them to other tiers.

…should that make exotic gear drop more, because it is now a bit more obsolete? .

For the record, I am a Horizontal-Progression Fan. Thus, I will attempt to restrain my cynicism. || If a new tier is implemented and the movement of the world gravitates towards the acquisition of said new tier, it might actually make sense to make the previous tiers more accessible to allow players a more ‘shallow’ curve, or perhaps not notice the progression as much. A more natural, organic, evolution if you will. By keeping the rarity of each tier intact, a player will get to a point [in this case “Rare?”] organically (through normal play) and then be left behind. If the organic evolution point continues to be at “rare” and more tiers are added post-rare, the push towards specific farming activities becomes almost encouraged from a development standpoint – even more so than it is currently. If a tier is added, make a tier more accessible, so the organic progression of a player continues.

Thoughts?

Treeline.3865:

Calculated, does it make sense you can loot at least 30 pieces of this rarity every day if you bother?

In the current vertical-progression model, yes [said with great sadness]. As “Rare” grade loot is useful but not of the same caliber as Exotic and Ascended. Furthermore, “Rare” will be further degraded in time due to power creep as more tiers are added, et al. Therefore, “Rare” is simply a stepping stone to further tiers and as such likely should be more available as we will, and already have, move[d] on from them to other tiers.

100 People Say No

I wonder if it would be mechanically possible to implement a ‘trait’ [for lack of better words] just for downed. Option 1) No Change. Option 2) Deal significant bonus damage to downed opponents but lose the ability to be downed yourself [instant defeated]. This Trait cannot be switched out-of-combat like weapons, but can be switched like perm. traits would.

Option 1 allows Groups to continue to operate as intended and Option 2 allows skilled players to potentially succeed against superior numbers.

1) Install Preview option in Trading Post. 2) Make all [or as many as possible] purchases from the Trading Post account bound. No more buying and re-selling. You want something? Buy it and use it. You don’t want something? Don’t buy it.
-
After X time elapsed of the inability to re-sell items, prices will stabilize. They may not plummet, but stabilize.

danbuter.2314:

I’m guessing there’s a mesmer build that would work. I’m not too keen on that class, but it may be the only real option. Dagger/Dagger elementalist kind of works, but it’s too “magic” for me.

Sword/Sword + Greatsword Mesmer. I gather that you’re not fond of light armor in general, however.

Aza.2105:

Mob HP should increase depending upon how many people are present. This would stop the mobs from instantly dying to a zerg.

So if I get a guild team together, my fights become the same speed or slower because my opponent magically becomes stronger? Buckets of HP is contrary to the answer.

Tipsy.5802:

Mmo’s are all about getting together with friends

I have an idea about meeting friends and making new ones.

Seveer.6421:

I highly support this idea, I would PAY for this

Moxxi’s Golems should also come around to the table and offer Food/Drink items to the players. Perhaps [at random] they could Boost/Dampen your ‘Luck’ at your respective table for a time? Buyer beware.

The ones we’re missing from Guild Wars.

Mike O’Brien:

In GW1 we never advanced the level cap through four campaigns/expansions. The game design didn’t allow for it. But GW2 was designed without those restrictions, and we’ve always expected that we will someday raise the level cap in GW2.”

I would be fine if GW2’s level cap was at 30 and trait points were obtained through quests, and horizontal progression ruled the day. However, those days are behind us it seems.

Lore: Swearing that she wouldn’t be outdone by Tixx and his flying golem: Moxxi vanished from the world, last seen near the Rata Sum Port Authority. Moxxi’s krewe had been working on a massive luxury super-submarine with enough armaments and speed to out-run and out-gun Zhaitan’s Navy, Inquest Sabateurs, and whoever else might be foolish enough to try to disturb the flow of money into Moxxi’s pockets. When she saw the Infinarium, however, she knew the Mystiquariam had to fly and submerge! Moxxi would be not only the richest but the smartest! The true genius! Something went wrong in their power-core expansions processes, though. The entire Mystiquariam got sucked into the mists. Sensing the opportunity to be permanently beyond the jurisdiction of Tyria’s governments, Moxxi began sending out calls to all potential wealthy participants, and shady merchants. There was going to be a new funhouse – Inquest be @#$%ed -, and Moxxi was going to profit from it all.

Function: A multi-room social lounge for games and instanced PvE combat…and black market arms trading. A platform for ANET to keep [trading post] prices in check, maintain availability of goods [albeit at significant cost], and provide alternative means for gear acquisition.

Currency 1: Chips. Copper, Silver and Gold. To be purchased via NPC [1:1 Ratio to Coins] and won through games. Used for games, and rewards. Not refundable back to coins.

Currency 2: Winner’s Tokens. Acquired by winning games only. To be used in addition to chips to purchase rewards.

Example Reward: The “Almost Legendary Chest” A chest guaranteed to drop a ‘Precursor’ [selected randomly]. Cost: 300 Gold Chips and 1000 Winner’s Tokens.

Example Reward 2: The Scythe Staff Skin. [Black Market Arms]. Cost: 50 Gold Chips and 250 Winner’s Tokens (Note* Future Skins would not Appear in the Mystiquariam until X Time after the event that offers it ends)

Other Rewards: Everything from ‘Everyday’ items, to dye packs, to Mini Pets. Moxxi’s connections are vast!

Room 1: The Social Games. Put in instanced tables for Hearts, Chess, Checkers, etc. Players at an instance will be placed into a party, for /party chat purposes. Others may ‘Observe’ the instance and communicate using /map. Three types of Table: 1) Beginner/Social. No Entry Fee, No Reward. 2) Tournament. No Entry Fee, Ranked Play, Winner’s Tokens. 3) Wager’s. Everyone puts up a flat-rate ante, and winners make money, not ranked.

Leaderboard: Per Game. Devise a system [-1 for losing, +1 for winning, +2 for winning against a superior ranked opponent, -1 for a draw to a junior ranked opponent] and display it for all to see.

2 Player Wager’s Table: 50 silver ante. 1 gold Total. Winner takes 75 Silver. House takes 25 silver.

4 Player Wager’s Table [Hearts, etc]: 50 Silver Ante, 2 Gold Total Pot. 1st Place takes 1 gold. 2nd Place gets their 50 silver back. 3rd/4th place loses. The house gets 50 silver.

New Title: [Chess] The Strategist. X of Y Games won in Chess.

New Title: [Hearts] Heartbreaker. X of Y games you broke hearts.

New Title: [Hearts] Heartbroken. X of Y games you took the Queen of Hearts.

Room 2: The Casino Games. Put in instanced tables for Blackjack, Hold-‘em, etc. Players at an instance may speak freely, as there are no observers. Four Tables: 1) Tutorial. No reward. 2) Copper only. 3) Silver only. 4) Unlimited. Tables 2-4 receive Winner’s tokens and Chips.

New Title: The High Roller. X of Y Chips won in the Casino.

Room 3: The Vanquisher Arena. Put in instanced Arenas for Solo and Party fights. Simulate each map in the arenas with appropriate rewards. A wave of ‘Queensdale’ merits a chest containing gear exactly the same as would be found in Queensdale but a wave of ‘Cursed Shore’ merits a chest containing drops of gear containing higher level gear [higher level map]. Cleared arenas may be contested again at higher difficulty settings [and with better rewards]. No waypoints. Revive each other or be kicked out of the instance [and for solo fights, don’t die.]

Leaderboards: Daily/Monthly/All Time | Fastest Clear, Hardest Setting, Number of Clears.

New Title: Legendary Vanquisher. X of Y Arenas Cleared .

Room 4: The NPC room. Chips Vendors, Rewards Vendors, Bank Access, Portal to the Outside.

Design Note: For the Cards | Diamonds -> (Ether) Crystals -> Asura. / Hearts -> Logan and Jennah -> Human. / Clubs -> War and Bludgeoning – > Charr / Spade -> Shovel – > Dirt -> Sylvari. Norn can get the back of the deck.

Design Note 2: Destiny’s Edge Chess Pieces. Logan vs Rytlock. Eir vs Zojja. Caithe vs Faolain. [Mix and Match?]

Personal Note: [Hearts] No Jack of Diamonds Rule!

Final Note: All numbers are strictly hypothetical, and were thrown in to better illustrate the mechanics.

Thoughts?
Monk Anchorwind [Quin]

I dislike how stealth is handled in general, and I routinely play a mesmer. My issue lies more in rewarding cowardice and “cheap” tactics. Popping up out of seemingly no where, spamming a single button [heartseeker], and then stealth finisher. Alternately, Popping up out of seemingly no where, failing to accomplish a down and vanishing back into nothingness. Either way, the [amount of?] stealth involved cheapens the entire process. I would advocate for a reworking of many stealth-based skills to other equally-survivable alternatives: Such as [For mesmer] change Mass Invisibility and Decoy from Stealth to Distortion . The Mesmer still possesses two skills that may assist in his/her survival [by dodging attacks for a bit], but can still be seen and chased by opponents – just like every other non-stealth profession.
-
Alternately, I would be open to the idea of damage breaking stealth. I would be open to the idea of having ‘revealed’ last longer but giving thieves and mesmers some other benefit to offset. I would be open to characters being outlined [targetable?] but camouflaged wherein keen eyes can still track movement, but the chaos of battle will still prove to be confusing enough. I would be open to stealthed characters incurring a significant movement speed penalty to move ‘stealthy’ [silently]. I would be open to forbidding stealth finishers outright.
-
I am open for discussion, I am open for mechanical trials [preferrably with more trial and less error], but I do wish for the quantity or quality of stealth to be altered in such a way to allow us to confront our attackers and defend ourselves properly, without having to resort to being spiked or watching them run away -and- in a way that allows the professions to continue to be viable in play.

Krewe,

Thanks to those that participated. While there were more good ones than not, I have to say that LumAnth.5124 wins. The updated [inspired] capture has been posted. Let’s continue a trend of friendly, funny, un-official events. …and always be loyal to your krewe.

Lil Puppy.5216:

Back in my day we called this Kiting, you youngsters and your new fangled slang.

Back in my day, a Kite wasn’t much of a combat tool, but a harmless child toy that fluttered in the wind. Dodging and Counter-Attacking were just normal combat tactics. You youngsters and your new fangled slang. !

100 People Say No

Frank.7452:

That’s odd Anchorwind, I only received 1 laurel on a level 80.

And yes, WvW folks were able to finish the combo field and underwater kills at the same time by grouping up on krait. It took about 5 minutes to finish.

1 Laurel for pre:1900 daily and 1 for post:1900. Not 2 for each. I apologize for any confusion.

Raine.1394:

Anchorwind.9016:

Did Pre:1900 Dailies and Post:1900 Dailies. I found that turning on my Commander Shield and leading a small team to annihilate the countryside was quite effective. It took people a bit to understand the Team-Combo one, but the rest wasn’t anything extraordinary nor substantially different than normal PvE play. I imagine WvW folks might have to go out of their way momentarily to gather and kill krait [underwater] but otherwise would proceed as normal thus far. As far as ’nerf’ing earnings. Not only did I receive my normal earnings, but I also received 2 laurels and a black lion salvage kit in addition. They buffed the earnings. Why would ‘nobody’ want buffed earnings?

Commander, if you had read the forums you would understand that many people who had been happily doing dailies for months were actually unable to complete them for the first time since launch. In other words, for many people, they improved it worse. So, not only did they not receive their normal earnings, they also didn’t receive any laurels. That’s why you see the this theme repeating in various threads.

/sigh. I am reading the forums. I understand frustrations and broken promises [Like Vertical Progression?] My point was to the original poster that ‘nobody’ was going to do dailies and yet when I stepped out into the world I saw more people than I usually do and received more rewards than I usually do. Both of those can’t be coincidence.

Did Pre:1900 Dailies and Post:1900 Dailies. I found that turning on my Commander Shield and leading a small team to annihilate the countryside was quite effective. It took people a bit to understand the Team-Combo one, but the rest wasn’t anything extraordinary nor substantially different than normal PvE play. I imagine WvW folks might have to go out of their way momentarily to gather and kill krait [underwater] but otherwise would proceed as normal thus far. As far as ’nerf’ing earnings. Not only did I receive my normal earnings, but I also received 2 laurels and a black lion salvage kit in addition. They buffed the earnings. Why would ‘nobody’ want buffed earnings?

I’ll play. My Mesmer cooling off in the Jungle.

To answer the Original Question: “Why does ascended armor need better stats?” The answer is ‘It doesn’t.’ Agony Resistance and all other stats are not inherently related. This move has perhaps dangled the carrot for some, alienated others, but for people like me: Wait and See. A Ruby Orichalcum Ring of the Berserker [Exotic] is 92 Power/ 63 Precision and 6% Critical Damage boost. The Red Ring of Death [Ascended] is 103 Power/68 Precision and 8% Critical Damage boost. The latter hits harder, criticals more often and criticals for more damage. How wide would the gap be between a fully Exotic Grade person and a fully Ascended grade person? We don’t know yet [hence wait and see] but it might be significant enough to a) drive more people away from the game, and/or b) drive more people into [insert ascended farming method here].

Conncept.7638:

Deroy.2457:

Conncept.7638:

It really doesn’t, but then again why not? Really, so long as they make it just as available as exotics (which they are in the process of doing) it doesn’t affect the game either way.

If it’s going to be as available as exotics then there’s absolutely no point in having any level 80 exotics in the game. Exotics will be redundant.

But if that’s true, then under the old systems, rares were redundant. And if level 80 rares were made the highest tier, level 80 masterwork would be redundant.

Unless we have one tier of gear, anything below it will be ‘redundant’, as you put it. So long as the bar is set, so that people know where to reach, it doesn’t even matter where it’s set.

The issue lies within bars that are not set and kept. For those that have obtained their exotics and have reached their potential, adding another tier now lowers them vs. their new potential. How many more tiers are there going to be? How fast are they going to be implemented? How much power creep is going to set in? So many questions with potential negative impacts that could all be resolved with a horizontal progression

You might want to try the forum “players helping players” or the forum that recruits for guilds. The 3rd Party site has its value as well.

marnick.4305:

How is this different from GW1 where obsidian was bought with ectos and obsidian, both of which were readily available from the traders?

A number of differences.
1) Obsidian was a cosmetic option. Courtesy of Horizontal Progression [Thank You!] those of us that worked towards Obsidian Armor did it simply to prove our mastery of the mists or work on our 50/50 path, or some other personal goal, not because they would always be ‘Best In Slot’ or have a significant appearance difference to most other armors of the age [as in Twilight vs most other Greatswords].
2) The Underworld and Fissure of Woe were in areas that were not difficult to get to, in a game where getting a character up to speed was pleasantly quick. Thus, guilds like mine could rotate entire teams of characters through the aforementioned maps – experimenting with different Player/Build/Hero teams. The variety of tactics and gameplay helped break-up the repetitiveness of some of the trips down there.
2b) With free map travel and repeatable missions/vanquishes et al., variety was rarely an issue anyway.
3) Reasonable Drop Rates. Actually earning our own drops wasn’t difficult. We needed not the traders you referenced.
4) Accessibility. What were the requirements to obtain Obsidian Armor? For My Monk: 60 Platinum, 350 Cloth, 35 Tanned Hide, 105 Ecto, 105 Obsidian, and a successful Fissure of Woe Run [up to unlocking the Forgemaster]. No extra caveats, or requirements. Just play your style and save up, making traders convenient for some, but ultimately less tantalizing for others.