Guild Wars 2

And something else to note by being condition based.

Stacking conditions stack to 25 max on a single target. These stacks come from not just you, but any other players as well. It’s a first in first out design, so if you are the first one to apply stacks to a target, and someone else applies stacks after the 25 cap has been reached, yours are automatically pushed out the bottom, regardless if they are more powerful or have a longer duration…. This design sucks against a large boss fight because you are constantly competing with other condi players for a section of those 25 available stacks, thus losing an insane amount of damage. For smaller groups, where you don’t hit the 25 stacks, or just barely hit the 25 stacks, you’re fine. That’s why for PVE, condi builds are generally looked down on.

However, WvW condi builds are very good. Most of the time, even in large group fights, players will not have 25 stacks on them due to cleansing so you won’t lose out on damage by another friendly player. The main benefit of condition builds is that condi damage is only determined by condition damage, which is different than pure damage, which is determined by power, precision and ferocity. This means you can have 2/3 of your stats be defensive while still maintaining high damage output. Dire is a good condi bunker build as it gives Condi / vit / toughness. Rabid is also good (Condi / toughness / precision) for the added crit chance. This helps proc sigils and if your have the minor skill of applying bleeds on crits, this will also help that proc. Don’t be afraid of mixing the two.

Read… https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/mesmer/Guide-Lyssa-s-Grimoire-The-Mesmer-Handbook/first … as it’s a very good guide.

Torment isn’t capped at 8. 8 stacks is what you were able to achieve until the first one you applied fell off.

How I understand how it works…
Lets say you apply 1 stack of torment every second for a duration of 5 seconds. This means when you apply your second torment stack, the first one has already been on for 1 second, and when you apply your fifth stack of torment, your first stack you applied has been on for 5 seconds, thus falling off. In this situation, all you will be able to achieve is 5 constant torment stacks at a time. You can increase the number of stacks on a target at once with condi duration food (Koi cakes) or how quickly you can apply the torment stacks (haste or quickly switching between attacks that apply torment).

As far as the damage changing in the log, I’m not sure. But i do know that torment is special in the fact that the damage is increased against a moving target vs. one standing still. I also don’t know if the damage in the log reflects the damage increased by condi boosting effects. You use to not be able to see condition damage in the combat log until the last feature patch, and I’m not sure if it has bugs.

I am all for user input and having players vote for content is the best way to appease the masses.

Here is a step further:
I had an idea where Anet provides the player base with some type of engine where players can create unique weapons skins. These skins will be screened by Anet and the player base, then voted on monthly. For the winning skins in each category (sword, gs, staff, etc). They will be available in the gem store for a month until the next round is voted on. Since the players are creating, polishing and voting on them, hopefully it should be simple to just upload them to the gem store without much effort on Anets part. A new forum section could be made specifically for models “in project”.

edit: It’s a win-win, Anet will receive more revenue form the gem store and players can create what they want and willing to pay for.

For rares and exotics you need to buy the recipies from the person who trains you in the craft.

Those http://gw2legendary.com/ prices are off. They assume you get a mystic clover each time you use the recipe instead of the 1/3 average. Which is why the overall karma requirement is way off. The overall gold cost would go up decently bc of the ectos and coins required for the RNG gods.

Look everyone,

It doesn’t matter what your personal opinions are on the matter about how things “should” be because they are what they are. Yes Anet “should” take their players opinions into consideration, but here are the cold hard facts.

Months ago LinseyMudock, a dev, made a post that is still stickied at the top of the crafting section saying…

“We have been watching the prices climbing on Legendary precursors and share your concerns about some of them becoming too expensive. We will continue to monitor the situation and will make any adjustments we feel are necessary.”

This is when precursors shot from 100 to 200ish gold (for Dusk). Anet was worried about the prices then becoming to out of reach for players. Since then the price has constantly risen and they released a statement they are working on a “scavanger hunt” for precursors. In the mean time they even flooded the marked at the Karka event to drop the prices back down for a short period of time. Anet knows it’s a problem and is currently working on a solution to fix it. It doesn’t matter about the elitests because something will change, we just need to be patient. I agree Anet is taking their sweet time, but there are many other things that need fixed and polished in the game that affects more players than the precursor problem. Priorities people.

Again…

What has become of precursors is not what Anet invisioned. Play it smart and just wait. Focus on school or work and just save your gold for when they release a new and (hopefully) better way to obtain precursors you will be ready.

And my last point.

This reminds me of religion, everyone is a fanatic about how legendaries should be and they try to force it down people’s throats. Please understand that YOUR vision of what a legendary should or shouldn’t be is not the grounds of what Anet believes in. This isn’t WOW or some other MMO where legendary is soly defined by rarity and power. Let Anet define their own legendary items wether or not it conforms to the mold of other MMOs.

The following is my personal opinion:

>Legendaries are guaranteed after one can prove mastery of the game, somthing the current system does (for the most part) next to the RNG precursor.

>Legendaries should be account bound.

A precursor is NOT a legendary weapon, but a small fraction of what is needed. Many good alternatives to the current system have been presented over the last couple months, but it’s a moot point now because they are already working on changing it.

There is a line between putting effort and dedication into a game to earn an achievement and self satisfaction VS. having a mental illness and neglecting other aspects of your life to achieve shiny pixels on the screen, then forcing others to follow suite.

Why deny others of happyness and self satisfaction if they can’t live up to your standards or have deep enough pockets? Why make it so people are permentaly locked out of content if they can’t keep up with the best of the best? Time spent is time spent regardless if it takes a person a year to put the same amount of time some people put in in a few months. However with the ever inflating cost of precursors the people who space their time out will never catch up. With Anet’s chages I hope the precursors will be set in stone.

Again, I don’t care if your opion doesn’t mesh with mine. The fact of the matter is that changes are comming. The current system is broken, and Anet, the developer, the source that defines GW2 and all of it’s aspects, agrees. (And if Anet chooses to rely on RNG, I will bite the bullet and accept it.)

I recieve them form time to time from lvl 76ish – 80 risen humanoids from Orr. It’s a very rare drop tho. IMO just farm like crazy in Orr, either the karma train in the Straights of Devestation or defend the camps in the Cursed Shore. You may or may not see any of them drop, but by farming you get money with which you can buy them off the Trading Post.

[–]SocImag

I’ll put my hat in the ring for an ascended gear question: Ascended gear clearly goes against a lot of the expectations of the game’s oldest following; long-time fans of the original Guild Wars series who truly bought into the belief that you could make an MMO last without forcing players to log on every day to grind. Whatever people’s beliefs are about whether ascended gear is a good thing or a bad thing, it’s a different thing. On behalf of those of us who are quite put off by the introduction of ascended quality gear to the game, I have a few quick questions.

Will ascended by the last new gear level we see? Your statement on the forum said you aren’t interested in adding a new gear tier every three months, but a lot of people were unsatisfied with that answer.

Will it become easier to obtain ascended gear in the future? Many people are unwilling to grind FoTM to obtain gear that they consider necessary to keep up with other aspects of PvE, especially considering what many now are considering the advent of gear grouping in GW2 (ie, people are only accepting players into parties if they meet a required level/gear level/etc, something that didn’t really exist before).

[–]ArenaNetTeam[S] 20 points 6 minutes ago

Hi Soc,

Thanks for taking the time to send in some questions. We do not believe we have gone against any of our principals, but we do understand the concern regarding potential grind. We absolutely design everything we do with minimal grind and will continue with this principal moving forward.

1: I would prefer that we never say never but our intention is that in terms of ‘Named Tier (Rarity) of Loot’ Ascended will be with us for a long time and we will not introduce a higher tier of loot for the foreseeable future. There will be loot with different stats and new infusions within the current tier that will be spread over long periods of time (for example Ascended gear will be deployed over the whole of next year). 2: Ascended gear will be obtainable throughout the whole of the game aside from sPvP and in retrospect it would have been better to have rolled different acquisition methods out at the smae time os the FotM.

Chris
—————————————————
Only thing worth noting at this point, and what a lot of us have been waiting for… I guess…

Or it would show that we stand by what we say. We can stay here in this thread and pout about it, or we can try to do something that will make a difference.

If I were purchasing this game today, I would want to know what that ArenaNet did a 180 on their advertising.

We will be heard, maybe not by ArenaNet, but by other customers…

http://www.amazon.com/Guild-Wars-2-Pc/dp/B001TOQ8X4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353360100&sr=8-1&keywords=guildwars+2

and

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B008MAZ0PU/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

Another first time poster in this thread;. I’ve been following this from the get go and man am I disappointed. The entire reason I purchased this game was for the casual attitude and lack of gear grind. I have two guilds, one small with 4 players, the other larger with somewhere in the teens. I also know 5 other people personally who I have classes with. Both guilds and everyone I’ve talked to hate what ArenaNet has done. Most people’s reactions when they hear about the new tier = throws hands up and says something along the lines of “another failed WoW clone.” They proceed to say they are done with the game. I’ve purchased two accounts, one for my sister who played WoW with me. The reason we quit was the subscription cost and the grind/dailies. We wanted something casual. I purchased her account within the 6 month time frame, we will be applying for a refund. However I preordered mine, so I guess I’m kittened.

Honestly guys, this thread should have invoked some response, but it hasn’t.
But what can we do? IMO go to amazon and tell the other naive consumers what you really think about this game. You want to make a legal impact? Bad reviews at places who sell this game. A flood of bad reviews right before the holidays? That’s one way to be heard.
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001TOQ8X4/ref=cm_cr_mts_prod_img

Some other thoughts…

To fix this, remove agony and ascended gear. OR make ascended gear identical to exotics and the infusion slots not affect normal stats. (admittedly there is a TON of ways to undo this mistake).

If ascended gear would have been introduced a year down the line in a brand new expansion pack, i would have been fine with it. New level cap? New gear is expected… but 3 months? I just bought my karma gear, and have full exotics… now in a few months all my gear is obsolete? just because I’m a college student with a job and life? 180 on philosophy of this game, sickens me.

So either you are the most unlucky person alive, the forge is bugged or the drop rate is under .002% for rares, assuming you would get dusk the next time using the forge (2000/4 = 5oo tries, 1/500 = .002%)…

Either way I will not be dumping anything into the forge or buying from the TP until Anet makes another announcement (for precursors)…

I’ve received two “Bag(s) of Gold” over my character’s life span of 350+ hours and each time I’ve only received 3 copper out of each.

Judging by the name of these rare bags, is this what they are suppose to drop? Or is this a bug?

Food for thought:

“I want you guys to think about this a bit. Seriously. Why would we ever want to systematically discourage you from chucking things into the Forge or salvaging them as often or as fast as you want to? It is SO SO SO (I can’t stress this enough) important for items to be leaving the economy at a healthy ratio to the items being created and entering the economy, otherwise, there would be no economy. Everything would pile up and pile up until everything was worth nothing because the supply would be endlessly higher than the demand.” – LinseyMurdock

And the thread can be found here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/crafting/Mystic-forge-glitch-Unintentionally-suffering-from-DR/first#post390904

And I would believe Precursors be the main source for these items to leave the economy…

Is it fair for Anet to center the acquisition of precursors as a way to benefit the economy as a whole?

So it looks like the forge is here to stay, now the question is how to we work with it?

I think something needs to be changed, but how?

IMO #1 raise drop chances and #2 make them account bound… that way everyone must do it (and everyone benefits the economy) and with a much higher drop chance, one wouldn’t “burn out” and quit… this would also be a much easier solution than adding brand new content.

Part of the Asura’s personal story quest for those who picked the robot. You do a robot fighting competition and the last one you face is OVR-9000…

Again I would like to thank everyone for their input.

An Update:

So today while reading through the threads I stumbled across this said by a Dev named LinseyMurdock

“I want you guys to think about this a bit. Seriously. Why would we ever want to systematically discourage you from chucking things into the Forge or salvaging them as often or as fast as you want to? It is SO SO SO (I can’t stress this enough) important for items to be leaving the economy at a healthy ratio to the items being created and entering the economy, otherwise, there would be no economy. Everything would pile up and pile up until everything was worth nothing because the supply would be endlessly higher than the demand.”

And the thread can be found here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/crafting/Mystic-forge-glitch-Unintentionally-suffering-from-DR/first#post390904

What I gather form this is that Anet believes (and makes sense) that the mystic forge is an essential part of the economy because dumping excess items in, and removing them from the game, is directly connected with keeping the economy under control.

OK, I get that. I also understand that precursors are probably the #1 source of dumping materials into the forge. Having a fixed recipe may not be the best idea because it will let those excess weapons pile up in the TP.

So how do we adapt and still use the Mystic Forge?

The current ratio of precursors produced is just a killer for a player’s moral. Which again leads to either stopping or buying it from the trading post. Since the precursors on the trading post came from the forge in the first place, it just ends up being a downward spiral.

My Thoughts:

This will “kitten” people off, but I see it a two step solution:
1. Raise the drop rate for dumping in lvl 80 Rares to 1-2%
and
Raise the Drop rate for dumping in lvl 80 Exotics to 5-10%
(since 5 cheap rares roughly equal 1 cheap exotic)

2. Make precursors account bound.

This will not settle with those controlling and profiting from precursors. But what this will do is insure that each person who is going for their legendary must contribute to helping the economy. Having a higher drop rate will make it more “common” but it will also raise a player’s moral and happiness because it doesn’t look like some impossible challenge. (well it’s not suppose to be easy) Ok fine, my example has 10% for exotics, but this is just an example to try to get on the right path while appeasing the most amount of people. It’s not what I would call “easy” just “easier” than what it is now. Plus if it were to be “easier” (higher % drop) more people would go for it, and because they must use the mystic forge to obtain it (if it was account bount), it would lead me to believe more excess weapons would be dumped out of the economy.

This will also let people know that the precursor they get, and other are getting weren’t tainted from the exploits. Because each player must get their own. Are their still exploits that could let people get them? Possibly, but they won’t be able to profit from them because they are account bound.

This will also appease those who like the “gambling” aspect and want to keep it.

Another option was to create some type of “shards” (as mentioned earlier in the thread) that would be rewarded for failed attempts. (like 30%?) After a number of shards have been gathered, one could trade them in for a precursor or somehow have it increase their chances. This also looks like a good idea, but they would need to implement a lot more things to get it up and rolling than just modify what they already have.

Because of what I have listed, I’ve now arrived at:

Make precursors account bound
Increase the drop chance

Any Thoughts? And please read through the thread, there is a lot of good stuff and I really don’t want to have to repeat myself on why we’re discussing this.

Edit:
Actually a set recipe could call for X number of exotic lvl 80s or rares thus giving us a set goal while still taking items out of the economy… however would their be a price spike in the weapons… most likely… could people farm them and craft them? Yes… Again I’m just throwing out suggestions…

Thank you everyone for the insight.

@Wahaha.7938

Yes I would like it to be a test of “skill”. One does have to be skillful in order to grind out that amount of karma and gold (+other ingredients) in order to obtain the finial legendary weapon.

However, what I don’t consider skill is dumping weapons into the forge in hopes of a chance at a precursor. Which, next to random world drops, is the only way currently to obtain them. Yes, one can buy them, but where did they come from? Most likely the mystic forge. Which when one person can earn a precursor in 1 try vs thousands… it’s no longer skill but dumb luck. And again, I even hesitate buying from the TP because of the exploits in the past. I would hate to “support” someone who obtained it through an illegitimate means or “support” the people who have it monopolized.

I would like to keep it rare, but not make the process random of getting it. Yes the forge is mysterious, but when it comes down to the “pinnacle of weaponry” (as stated in the video below). I disagree with leaving ~25% of the finial recipe purely to chance (not including the clovers).
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MdA4MlrF5mA

Yes it’s been a short amount of time and I would love to see the prices stabilize. However, as it sits with the current information and observations, in my opinion, it appears to be flawed.

For those players who’ve received their legendary, they were probably very supported by their guild. As of now, when I see a completed legendary I think it of an achievement of a group of people instead of the person wearing it (moot point). However, I have seen other make the those comments I have listed above, and my feelings are turning from achievement to exploit whenever I see someone with a precursor. I would hate to see it dive down that road. By seeing a legendary I would like to know they earned it through achievements and dedication (which most of the recipe requires) instead of blind luck or exploits.

“Not verifiable” just means something that “can not be verified”… not definitive, not written and properly recorded, not reliable, etc…

I fail to see your point. All I see is something else other than “rarity”.

Again please make things clear and give thought on a meaningful response.

The Summary:

It is my belief that the current way to obtain a precursor is flawed. It tests luck, not skill. By not having something concrete it is a killer to a player’s moral, like those in the links. Legendary weapons by definition doesn’t constitute rarity, but “well known and celebrated”. While they are well known, they most certainly are not celebrated because of the belief that cheaters/exploiters will be the only ones who can obtain them. A set recipe would do wonders in promoting a healthy player base who are aiming for legendary weapons by giving them another option rather than blind luck or dancing to the tune of a potentially tainted precursor.

Again to clarify-

I am not asking for an easier way of obtaining a precursor, just a different option.

I am not asking to be handed a legendary weapon nor do I feel that I, nor anyone else deserves one if not willing to put in the effort.

I am simply asking to be tested for skill rather than luck.
(Clovers are the luck portion and even if we don’t get clovers we still make some progress by being rewarded other T6 mats).

Again, please offer meaningful input. I may or may not post in this thread again because I have said what I want to say and don’t wish to engage in a “flame war” of opinions.

My last statement. Regardless of what Anet stands behind, either RNG or something else in the future, it will not stop my quest for a legendary weapon and enjoying the game to its fullest.

The Fix:

Since people don’t trust the TP and the mystic forge is such a gamble, the easiest way to fix the problem is to make a set recipe. Other named exotic have them, whey not the precursors?
- This statement will make a lot of people mad, but I will repeat one of my earlier comments -

I am in no way asking for, nor suggesting, an easier way for obtaining legendary weapons or any of their components thus making them more “common”.

Having a set recipe doesn’t necessarily make it easier to obtain, but instead makes a definitive goal which one can aim and expect to hit once achieved.

“But won’t that make the ingredients spike in price?” – Not if the majority of the recipe is bought with Karma, Skill Points, Gems, or Dungeon Tokens.

“But if you want something concrete why not just buy it from the TP?” – Because, as stated before, #1 People don’t trust the people selling them and #2 They are too unstable in price and quantity.

In my opinion, those who would still be protecting the current system are those who are currently benefiting form it, or those who have already acquired their precursor and want others to go through the same thing. By not changing something because of this belief is not how a society advances. If there are problems with something, it should be fixed.

Another Option:
Precursors could also be a reward for some type of major achievement in game. An achievement that tests skill, not luck. Plus the Precursor could then be account bound and completely eliminate the TP worship of them.
-This idea will most definitely kitten those off who are in the business of buying and selling precursors for a profit.-

Another Option:
Increase the drop chance of precursors, however this would use the same system of luck and TP, both of which people don’t like or trust. This would also make it easier to obtain and diminish the “rarity”. It’s not an option I favor, but an option.

Before the solution, let me make one more comment about “entitlement”.

We are all entitled to the game and all of it’s content. If people aren’t willing to put in the work, than they won’t meet the base requirements for legendary weapons. However, Anet didn’t just sell us a game, they also sold us a philosophy (part of which stated in their manifesto). I believe that Anet is working diligently for their customers. The game they produced thus far is amazing. But we are customers and have the right to voice our opinions hoping that Anet will listen. I believe the vast majority of the player base would agree with me and I’m here to make an educated post stating why.

The Problem:

As of now, I believe everything that is required to craft legendary weapons is brilliant. Everything but 1 step, the acquisition of the precursor weapon. The legendary recipe tests the player in every aspect of the game and demands dedication and mastery in order to succeed. In my opinion, this is how it should be. However when we take a look at precursor weapons, they seem to break the mold. There are 2 main ways of acquiring these weapons. Random world drops from mobs or chests, or by using the mystic forge thousands of times in hopes one will be rewarded. Yes people will argue “if you want a concrete way of obtaining them, just buy them from the TP”. However, where did those in the TP originally come from? Blind luck/RNG.

As people post more and more failed attempts at obtaining the precursor through RNG…

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/117j15/130_exotic_greatswords_wasnt_enough/

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/117q1i/100g_350_attempts_at_duskdawn_in_1_sitting_200g/

(and so on)

…players do 1 of two things. They either migrate to buying them in the TP or give up. Problem: The vast majority of precursors are obtained through the mystic forge, people giving up on the forge means less will be produced = price will constantly rise in the TP due to a shrinking supply and increased demand.

Anet has already acknowledged that the price of the precursors are already a concern.

Looking at the above trend, I believe that prices will continue to rise and grow even more unstable.

Obviously, I am not the only one who knows about the 21 karma and Godskull exploits that produced a large amount of precursors cheaply and made certain people, or groups of people, a ton of money. Because it’s well know that precursors have been “tainted”, many people, including myself don’t trust the sellers in the TP because we would then be supporting someone who abused exploits.

The above lets me conclude that the current way of obtaining precursors is flawed.
It doesn’t test skill
It’s blind luck

For those that argue “Luck is great! It insures that only the top .001% have it and make it extremely rare.” First off, it will be rare by the other requirements involved and second, (imo) legendary weapons should be a reward for skill, not luck and exploits. Because many people believe the current system is “tainted” I would expect to hear more people calling those with legendary weapons “cheaters” or “exploiters” or “how much of daddy’s money did it cost?” Instead of actually congratulating them on an impressive achievement.

Yes another thread about Legendary/Precursor weapons. However, I feel like this is a well thought out and structured post that is more meaningful than the others who are creating threads out of anger and not offering any meaningful input.

To Clarify:

I would first like to start off by saying I do not wish to promote a flame war between opinions. I know other threads like this have been created and destroyed by those who #1 don’t read and understand what people are saying and #2 spam out responses without any meaningful information to the thread. I simply ask the readers and Devs to input their opinions without trying to criticize each other. Disagreeing is fine as long as some information that benefits the thread is presented. My goal is to promote something I feel would be beneficial to the game as a whole.

First to clarify and define the word legendary:
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/legendary

leg·en·dar·y (ljn-dr)
adj.
1. Of, constituting, based on, or of the nature of a legend.
2. a. Celebrated in legend.
b. Extremely well known; famous or renowned.

(I’ve looked at other websites and the definitions are all the same.)
Note that no where in the definition does it say rarity.

I understand that when people see the word legendary, the instantly think, epically those coming from other MMOs, extremely rare. And I can guarantee that the requirements for completing just the Gift of Mastery will alone guarantee the legendary weapons will be far and few between.

However, the biggest mistake when trying to compare legendary weapons to other MMOs. Anet, in their manifesto, stated that they are trying to completely redo the concept of MMOs . “We do not want to build the same MMO everyone else is building.” So why not take this opportunity to break the mold?

Before we dive deeper into the meat of the conversion, I would like to make one thing perfectly clear. I am in no way asking for, nor suggesting, an easier way for obtaining legendary weapons or any of their components thus making them more “common”. I am suggesting a change in the system so that those going for their legendary weapons can rely on something concrete and that truly shows their skill instead of luck, amount of personal wealth, or other non moral means.

(Part 1)

Since you mentioned the price of the precursor Dusk…

What I find EXTREMELY interesting:
Price has continued to rise ever since the first legendary weapons started cropping up. Dusk has quadrupled from 100g to 400g. Now we are all aware of people stock piling these weapons from exploits and forming a monopoly. BUT since now that people are going crazy AND Anet has acknowledged the price to be a concern, someone put up Dusk today for 315g…. Let that sink in, one is listed for 400g, the next is 315g… Why would someone with the rarest dropped/random item in game, sacrifice so much gold on an undercut? Especially when it would be extremely rare another would be posted for cheaper? Isn’t that the true value of the item?

It’s the first time the price has decreased since the bubble… I personally feel the people who are controlling Dusk’s monopoly are now threatened and scared by Anet acknowledging them. Now they are trying to drop the price so Anet doesn’t implement something that takes away their control.

This whole theory could be some crazy talking, but I remember reading posts of people stock piling precursors from using exploits. If some admit it, how many others have abused the system? Isn’t it funny that (generally) only 1 is in the TP at a time? It’s either forced to dance to the seller’s tune or gamble with the MF.

I don’t trust it, period. And I hope we get something concrete implemented.

Actually let me correct/clarify one thing. It’s WvW not PvP (I’m unsure if you are awarded badges of honor in PvP). However, you don’t have to kill or siege the enemy, you could just do the jumping puzzles and repeat with each character. This was stated earlier on and a viable means to “bypass” the “PvP” (WvW) requirement. Now why is this a requirement if it can be “bypassed”? I’m not 100% sure, but it does guarantee each person with a legendary has at least tried it. Furthermore, you do need to explore the WvW boarderlands (yes each one, three total) and all of the eternal battle grounds in order to achieve full map completion. Which can be hard for a server who’s bad at WvW because you can only get to certain places if your color controls them.

I am not a big fan of PvP/WvW, but I can understand why it’s in there. I sometimes actually enjoy WvW when it’s well organized and not a giant zerg. The idea behind obtaining legendary weapons is that one must master all aspects of the game, which the recipe and especially Gift of Mastery does thoroughly. I absolutely love this idea, test the player in all categories. Skill points, Karma, Gold, PVP/WvW, World Exploration, Dungeons (admittedly, imo, should be more than only one specific dungeon per legendary), and even Luck (clovers). However the step I hate is the RNG aspect of the precursor. It’s either dump items for an extremely rare chance or buy it from the TP where it is monopolized. Even the clover random chance gives back T6 mats which are needed in the recipe so you really don’t lose. Anyway, I’m not going to continue ranting about it because I hate flame wars. My philosophy and I hope it matches Anet: Legendary weapons should be awarded when a player demonstrates they have mastered the game and put in the necessary time and dedication to truly earn it. And are not solely reserved for the top .01% who can afford it nor limited in number of availability. We each payed money for the game, we each earn an equal opportunity to achieve this pinnacle.

To insure people don’t misinterpret my comment. I’m not saying it should be easy. I’m saying that the way the recipe is built (all but the RNG precursor) requires a mastery of the game. This mastery required, in itself, will make the legendary weapons truly legendary, both in demonstration of achievements and rarity of those who completed them.

I am in no way saying or asking for an “easier” means to obtain a precursor, just a solid, non-shifting one. I am, however, saying the current RNG system for precursors is flawed and doesn’t fit in with the rest of the recipe. There will be people on both sides of this argument, some are already invested in the precursor market and don’t wish for it to change. However, I feel that a set recipe of some kind would be beneficial. People would be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel instead of wondering around aimlessly trying to find it (aka moral).*

I understand that there is a BIG difference between what people think should be vs. what actually is. If the current RNG system is what Anet stands behind, so be it, it won’t stop me. However, the only way for Anet to listen and change is if their customers speak up, and I bet the vast majority would agree with me.

Edit: Just an FYI to those confused, the stats on Legendary weapons are identical to Exotics. It’s the skin that sets it apart.

Looking at the creation process of legendary weapons, we can see that each aspect of a player is tested, which I find amazing. Mastery utilizes karma, map completion, WvW. Fortune includes luck and money. Twilight or other gifts are unique to the legendary. However, it appears luck is in there twice. We gamble with clovers AND the precursor (with the precursor being 1/4 of the final combination)? The recipe should test each category equal, if not more bias to actual skill instead of luck.

Because it’s based solely on luck, rich specific people are in 100% control of the TP’s supply of these precursors and the price is simply out of hand. In short, there needs to be a specific recipe for precursors. It wouldn’t matter if they are account bound or not, however what NEEDS to be taken into consideration is that the recipe DOESN’T (solely) include mats that can be purchased from the TP because those mats will soar in price and people would look to monopolize those markets. Use pieces to craft the precursors that need karma and skill points. Even mystic coins would be fine because they are can be earned each day and for the monthly achievements.

A good example for Dusk:
Gift of Dusk – Karma (one for each precursor to make the recipe unique)
E. Scroll – Skill points
100 Mystic Coins – rewards for completing achievements
250 Ectos – luck from salvaging

With coins and ectos, yes they will increase in price, but they are also easily obtained through salvaging rares and completing dailies and monthly achievements.

I’m not against still selling precursors in the TP, but give us a static goal to shoot for instead of some ever inflating, luck based, component.