Guild Wars 2

Larosh.1605:

I would totally agree with you but what I read between the lines is that with every new content they will introduce new infusions that I will likely want to link into my gear.
And if I can’t or don’t want to lose my current infusions I will have to get a new items to link them into.

And this would still be a threadmill even if there won’t be any additional gear tiers.

And I agree here. But we don’t know exactly how infusions will work. Hopefully, it won’t be a matter of entirely new sets of Ascended for each dungeon.

What I’ve been trying to say, is THIS is the debate we should be having, because this is what the blog post discusses. There’s no potential gear treadmill for stats, only infusions. But 90% of posters are saying “oh no, GW2 is done, QQ gear treadmill.”

I want us to be debating what the blog post says, so that we can give good feedback to ANet, not freaking out over assumptions of entirely new item tiers in the future.

TTGP.8517:

no1 complains about ascendent gear per se. they need infusions for the dungeon, fine, thats something u can disable outside of this dungeon. dont care since i dont run dungeons anyway. but they didnt need to implement higher stats on these items, messing aroud with players in wvw or players that just want the feeling of accomplishment finishing a character. this is where the gear treadmill starts and frankly with breaking that particular manifesto promise they lost my trust that ascendent will be the last tier of gear.

This is what I’m trying to dispel though, the idea that this is the beginning of a “gear treadmill”. I agree that it wasn’t really necessary to raise the stats on the new tier, however, it is extremely clear that they only added the new tier in order to A ) bridge the progression gap to legendary, and B ) enable them to add infusions as a way to mitigate new monster abilities.

They are so incredibly clear that they will only be adding more Ascendant items, starting with back and accessories. If people want to read out of context and assume there will be more tiers, fine, do that. But if you read the blog post thoroughly it says nothing about this.

She says over and over in the blog post that they’ll be adding more Ascended and Legendary items in future updates… You guys are taking one quote out of context and assuming that it means more tiers of progression, as opposed to many more items to fill out the Ascended tier.

You want a quote war? Fine. Learn to read. I’m getting annoyed by the level of ignorance on this forum.

Stop quoting this out of context:

The new additions in November are just the start of our item progression initiative.

Because HERE is the context:

As we introduce the new high-level content, we’ll also roll out complimentary Ascended and Legendary items

As we release more new end game content in the future, you’ll see more Infusions and Ascended item types being added to the game

Eventually, you’ll be able to kit yourself out with a full set of Ascended gear and high end Infusions to help give you the edge in end game content.

We designed the process of getting Legendary gear to be a long term goal, but players were ready to start on that path much sooner than we expected and were becoming frustrated with a lack of personal progression.

By adding challenging new combat mechanics to end-game content and ways to mitigate those mechanics through gear progression for high-end players, we can add personal progression without making the game feel like an endless treadmill of gear that is just out of your reach.

So yeah, stop cherry picking one sentence. It is clear that they want gear progression to be related strictly to infusions, and how infusions interact with high-level monster abilities.

In order to accomplish this they had to add ONE new tier. What else could they do? It’s not feasible to change every single exotic item in the game to reflect this new infusion system. Like it or not, you’ll have to progress through a new tier, but nowhere is it stated that there will be items beyond Ascended, merely infusions.

Read this again:

By adding challenging new combat mechanics to end-game content and ways to mitigate those mechanics through gear progression for high-end players, we can add personal progression without making the game feel like an endless treadmill of gear that is just out of your reach.

Simple. Anyone can get maxed Ascended gear in the future and compete in WvW on fair ground. Those who want to empower themselves in the hardest PvE content can use infusions to mitigate new PvE combat mechanics.

I can’t be the only one who is reading between the lines and not freaking out over one sentence.

Redtah.3016:

They already said they didn’t want gear treadmills and they are adding them. Whats to say they won’t add another tier of gear? There’s nothing its been not even 3 months and they went back on their word, why would I trust them to keep it this time?

Also if your already bored because there’s no gear progression you think you won’t be bored after you get 3 items….? Then 4 months from now you’ll get another 3 and quit for 4 months. What the hell is the point?

I’m as big a GW fan as anyone. I played the original from the beginning. All I’m trying to do is shine light on why this rage is so silly.

This is an impossible argument, which is why I don’t understand it. You say they’re adding a treadmill. I say no, they’re adding ONE new tier. That doesn’t instantly equate to abandoning all their principles. There’s been gear progression the entire time. White —> Orange. No one complained. OMG THEY’RE ADDING PURPLE, THE WORLD IS GOING TO END.

Why can’t I just write a neutral post and not be attacked? I repeat, I understand every. single. concern. I don’t want gear creep either. But the way GW2 is structured is radically different from the raiding progression of other MMOs. Adding one new tier doesn’t change that.

Constructive feedback. Let’s make sure ANet stops here. Let’s not act like rabid badgers.

Redtah.3016:

Death by Chickens.6902:

This outrage is hilariously stupid.

I guarantee an ANet dev will post in the next few days and explain that NO, they said nothing about adding new equipment tiers every 6 months, and as the blog explained, they saw a need to bridge the gap between Exotic and Legendary by adding ONE new tier.

You people are going to give yourself aneurisms over nothing. Stop freaking out. Constructive feedback is great, but ya’ll are taking it too far.

Except there didn’t used to be a tier difference from exotic to legendary… sorry to completely ruin your post with some simple point…. oh wait no I’m not.
THERE WAS NO GAP BETWEEN EXOTIC AND LEGENDARY WHY DID THEY ADD ONE?

Dude. I never said anything about a stat gap. I should have been more clear. It’s a PROGRESSION gap, as in once you get full exotic you’ve got nothing left to do besides the enormous wall to legendary. That’s what they said in the blog post. And I agree, with the caveat that they don’t plan on adding any more tiers.

Like I’ve posted over and over. I understand the concern. But we don’t know anything more than basic details from a single blog post. I’m hoping the infusions are a horizontal progression and not vertical.

cherrie.8907:

Please learn to read with understanding.

Legendary are items already in game and they have the exact stats of exotics, but are hard to get.
However, Legendary =/= Ascended.
And if you look at the new Ascended ring, the difference in stats between it and Exotic is more than between Exotic and Rare, so it’s not even a small difference, as mentioned.

What? I did accidentally write exotic instead of ascended, which is what I meant. I’m not entirely sure what you’re saying here.

I understand perfectly well all the objections. I’m saying I agree with people giving feedback to ensure it doesn’t get out of hand. I don’t agree with people freaking out like it’s the end of the world.

Yes we need clarification though. I got the impression that the ascended infusion system is designed to function as horizontal progression, to allow them to add a sort of PvE dungeon progression system, without continually adding whole new tiers of items, only infusions.

I could be wrong, I totally agree the wording in the blog is a little… iffy. But kitten everyone is acting like this is the end of GW2. I played GW for years and I don’t believe this is the direction they plan on going.

Dogblaster.6713:

Death by Chickens.6902:

This outrage is hilariously stupid.

I guarantee an ANet dev will post in the next few days and explain that NO, they said nothing about adding new equipment tiers every 6 months, and as the blog explained, they saw a need to bridge the gap between Exotic and Legendary by adding ONE new tier.

You people are going to give yourself aneurisms over nothing. Stop freaking out. Constructive feedback is great, but ya’ll are taking it too far.

There is no difference between legendary and exotic .. they are totally the same stat-wise

So they added something even better than legendary … use brain next time

Lol you just said there’s no difference in stats, then said ascended is better than legendary?

There’s no point in getting in an argument about this. Everybody is obviously assuming that ANet plans on adding more and more tiers of progression, when they’ve explained the reason for adding this ONE tier.

Give them feedback, make sure they don’t plan on continuing this. Great. But they had good reasons for giving people a halfway step so that players don’t feel stonewalled by the impossibility of exotic -> legendary.

ALL I’m saying is that this is getting blown out of proportion. There is no reason to believe they plan on adding new tiers every 6 months. And yet everybody is ASSUMING they will. The infusion system can be used to create different effects that can be applied to different dungeons, more of a horizontal progression. But it required that they add a new tier to implement the new system.

This outrage is hilariously stupid.

I guarantee an ANet dev will post in the next few days and explain that NO, they said nothing about adding new equipment tiers every 6 months, and as the blog explained, they saw a need to bridge the gap between Exotic and Legendary by adding ONE new tier.

You people are going to give yourself aneurisms over nothing. Stop freaking out. Constructive feedback is great, but ya’ll are taking it too far.

Jesus christ people. They’re adding a tier to bridge the gap between exotic and legendary, for perfectly valid reasons that they explained.

There’s no reason to think they’ll keep doing it until it’s a gear treadmill. I’m not saying there shouldn’t be a discussion, but you’re all freaking the hell out over almost nothing.

Oozo.7856:

The Necro, on the other hand, should be the dude you CANNOT get away from.

Unfortunately, that is not the way things are working right now. Any class built for mobility can easily get away from a necro.

It’s the necro that is stuck in a live or die fight once they engage or are engaged. That is not true when a mobile class engages a necro. They can pretty much disengage and leave whenever they want if the fight is going poorly for them.

Exactly. Sometimes I’m able to run people down, but it seems like so many classes have the tools to escape my necro, and if I waste a swiftness getting within range, then I’ve got nothing to run away if I get into a lopsided fight. How is that fair? I’ve managed to commit to a few wars of attrition and win in 1v2’s or 3’s, but this is far from the norm. DOTs simply can’t compare to DPS burst that can destroy my lifeforce bar and render that aspect of the class useless.

Jon, you’re implying that the one class that doesn’t want to get in a Necro’s face is the thief. Because that renders their most powerful tool (the ability to disengage) moot.

This… isn’t true. I have a 80 Thief and 80 Necro. My Necro gets torn to shreds in 1v1 with this class. Not always, if I manage to hit him with a blind, or guess the right spot to throw down a mark or well. But more often than not they hit me so hard my DS is instantly gone and I’m a sitting duck. I’ve put down fear marks on my feet, wells of blindness, anything to buy me the couple secs I need, but the thief just stealths, comes back full health and unloads. Why would I want to fight a war of attrition against a class like that?

I don’t think a single shadowstep would break the class, especially with a long cool down. I think it could fix the class. Against DPS burst builds it would allow me to drop all my condition dmg stacks, then run away, drop marks to keep them at a distance, fill my lifeforce bar and then make the tactical decision to reengage or run away. Currently I have no decision. Do I stay and fight to the death, or avoid the fight altogether? There’s little inbetween.

Here’s my 80 Charr Necromancer. I just love him to… death. The scythe really completed his look.

Well the trouble is I use wells, which I absolutely love for fighting in groups. Also saves the day when defending / attacking keeps and towers.

I have been thinking about dropping them and experimenting with some different things though. I just hate that having a vitality build I still feel quite vulnerable, especially if my wells are on cooldown. I suppose I can’t have the best of both worlds.

The idea of weapon or contextual based DS skills is interesting. What if Dark Path became a shadowstep, depending on you wielding daggers / axe, or staff / scepter? Dark Path is all but useless with the way I play, since I almost never want to be closer to the enemy.

I never have much of a problem closing in on enemies, I actually like the way Dark Path works.

I’m curious if anyone else feels that Necro doesn’t have enough ways to escape from harm? Fear is powerful, sure, but with such a short duration and the fact that it is single target, it rarely allows me a chance to escape in battles larger than 1v1. The staff is great, but the casting times / animations are just long enough that most classes have no problem rooting, stunning, dazing, knocking me down before I’m able to hit them with the #5 fear.

I think Necro desperately needs a ground targeted shadowstep skill (akin to Thief SB skill #5). The problem with Necro is that although the DS is useful, it does not give me enough of a buffer to protect from high burst DPS. Now, this is without spec’ing the DS trait line, which I haven’t used in a while. But its always seemed too lackluster, too many points just to get DS stability and more lifeforce. I’m sick of out playing everyone else, when all it takes is a single knockdown before I get swarmed by 20 angry Defenders in WvW. My DS gets destroyed in seconds, and even with 25k plus hp I’m dead rather quickly.

I see elementalists go into mist form and run away, guardians knock me around like a ragdoll, warriors roll up on me super fast, thieves disappear to safety… I don’t want more ways of getting close, I want some way of escaping that depends more on my situational awareness than chain crippling, fearing, hitting swiftness and hoping for the best.

Now, this is mostly based on my experiences in WvW, where necro is da bomb IF you can consistently stay out of range. As soon as the gap gets closed by more than a couple people I’m in serious trouble.

I have a GTX 670 (kitten OC’d edition) and the game has always ran terribly for me. I know it’s a problem with the game or drivers because lowering ALL the settings, including the resolution, has NO effect whatsoever on my framerate. If I was getting 30 fps at 1920×1200, max settings, I get the same framerate at 1680×1050 with all settings at min.

It’s been this way since launch for me. I’m incredibly frustrated by it, but whatever. There’s nothing to be done on my end, I’ve tried everything. I’m hoping they figure out what the problem is soon.

That sucks man. For everyone else, it would seem Trahearne’s bit of dialogue on reaching the researchers means that the script is working. I haven’t seen it not work for anyone after that point.

I’ve messed around with the quest some more, and for the life of me I can’t figure out what else could be a problem.

Sandie.1964:

I have done it your way quite a few times Death, I have done this mission over 7 times.

So you weren’t doing it my way? Then you did and it worked.

As far as I can tell nothing really matters about how you tackle the mission, except for the space of time between searching the first objective (green circle), and then proceeding past the barricades to the 1st research team.

I’ve tested this and the only time the mission didn’t work was when I was rushing through the barricades, ignoring mobs, etc. I’m pretty sure it’s because Trahearne is stuck in combat and his script doesn’t activate.

Can the two of you please try the fix I posted?

It’s not just nonsense. It really does work.

I only figured it out because of a friend that was stuck.

When I tried to do it with my thief and it didn’t work, I KNEW it was because I was trying to rush through the mission, and I knew without a doubt that my friend had been doing the same.

The way the mission is scripted, it definitely implies that the player should rush immediately through the barricades and up the hill. Most everyone seems to do this, but because the bug doesn’t halt your progress until reaching the 2nd group of researchers, no one could figure out where the problem was.

Another aspect of the problem -

Playing a large race SUCKS in this game. My main is a Charr, and between the camera and skinny FOV it feels like 1/3rd of my screen is taken up. It feels almost claustrophobic, and my god… jumping puzzles… ugh…

My sylvari is much more enjoyable to play. At least I can pretend the FOV is larger that way.

As most people have pointed out, your reasoning is terrible Jon.

1) So? If we want to tradeoff performance for FOV that is our right.

2) Are you serious? I’ve played a LOT of PC games at 90 FOV and I almost never notice any kind of issue with textures or LOD. These things usually don’t become apparent unless you go higher than 90. I have tried the windowed trick to get the screen wider, and it has no effect on the art.

3) This is bullkitten. So people with eyefinity setups or whatever, they can get an advantage. But not all us with single widescreen monitors.

If the problem is that due to the game engine it is hard to implement a FOV slider, that is one thing. But there is NO reason not to do it based on gameplay or art.

ANet. You’ve built a breathtakingly beautiful world. And you’ve given us a narrow FOV and a camera that’s about 2 feet off the ground and makes it very hard to look up. You need to change these things. I don’t know if you’re taking this issue seriously enough. Saying “oh, but WoW has a FOV of 75” is not an excuse.

I HAVE THE FIX (seriously)

Don’t listen to any other theories. This is it. I posted it in the other thread, but I want everyone to see. I guarantee this will work. The quest isn’t technically broken if you take your time. If you rush through this particular part though…

~ After searching the first objective for survivors, you need to actually fight the risen that spawn as you work your way to the 1st group of researchers. DO NOT just rush up the hill, ignoring the risen, to the next quest objective. I believe if the player (or more likely, Trahearne) are in combat when activating this step of the quest, it breaks the rest. ~

I played this mission properly on my necro. Took my time, killed everything. No problem. On my alt I tried to rush through, not fighting the risen between the first objective and the 1st group of researchers. Every single time the quest broke the same way – the 2nd team of researchers won’t follow. You know when you’ve done it right, because Trahearne should say, upon reaching the 1st group, “The next wave will face soldiers, not scholars” or something akin to that.

FIXED

To the people stuck on this quest (and the devs) -

After searching the first objective, you need to actually fight the risen that spawn as you work your way to the 1st group of survivors. DO NOT just rush up the hill, ignoring the risen, to the next quest objective. I believe if the player (or more likely, Trahearne) are in combat when activating this step of the quest, it breaks the rest.

I played this mission properly on my necro. Took my time, killed everything. No problem. On my alt I tried to rush through, not fighting the risen between the first objective and the 1st group of survivors. Every single time the quest broke. You know when you’ve done it right, because Trahearne should say something upon reaching the survivors.