I have been reading through this thread for the last few days, and think it is clear what the majority of community feels about the new ascended gear. I waited to see if they were going to realize there mistake before I posted, and seeing as how the patch went live here I am.
Let me give you all a little incite as to what attracted me to purchase this game and invest money in the gem store. I am a young single father of two little girls, work full time, and have a fairly busy life. I love fantasy RPG games especially MMO’s, but as of late there are times I can’t play much. So the original GW2 I was sold was the no grind everyone is on equal ground game that it was before today. I hate grinding for gear just to have it outdated three, six, 12 months later, it feels like work, and if playing a game feels like work, than it is not fun. There are plenty of direct quotes in this thread to developers stating there would be, no grind, no gear treadmill, and that the game would be FUN. Guess what ArenaNet weather you see it or not you lied, no way to put a twist on what you have done. You straight up LIED to everyone that purchased your game.
IMHO ArenaNet has betrayed and lied to all of us that were looking for this new MMO that we was promised by ArenaNet during its development. We were told multiple times throughout development that GW2 is not going to be a grind fest, no fun, feel like work, treadmill style that almost every other MMO is today. We were told there would only be linear progression (cosmetic upgrades), and the game would not feel like work but would be fun. Well guess what, to me what this ascended gear will do is turn the game into a grind fest, no fun, feel like work, treadmill progression game just like the majority of MMO’s on the market.
I got my $60 worth out of the game no complaint there at all I love the world they created and innovative play style they used. I have invested $100 in gem store purchases, for bank slots, backpack, character slots, and a few of those evil BL keys for the Halloween event which i wont even get into that. All of which was money well spent with no regrets other than the keys :-(. However after they have gone completely against their design philosophy and lied to all of us, I will not spend another dime on the game until they undo what I see as the huge mistake of the treadmill ascended gear.
I absolutely love the GW2 world and game play, and am sure everyone in this thread feels the same or they wouldn’t be here expressing their feelings for keeping the game they love to play how it is. I’s also sure we all love new content, and I thank you ArenaNet for the content, just not the new tier of gear. You could have made this new gear and made it a prestigious thing, have it have some really cool looks, effects, or something along those lines. I would have had no problems playing and working towards getting so really cool looking stuff, knowing I don’t have to stress to get it because the stats are better than what I have or it has stats I have to have to go further in the game.
In all honesty I am so upset by this, I have not had the urge to log online. I may get back on one day since it is FTP, however I will NEVER trust the word of ArenaNet again in this project or any future games they may be part of. Obviously they do not stick to their word, and as of yet have not apologized to the community that is in an uproar over this horrible idea of adding another tier of gear.
I hope ArenaNet sees they have made a mistake changes it and does a actual apology for lying to all of us about the direction the game was supposed to go.