Guild Wars 2

+5 condition damage isn’t a big increase at all. Considering it’s a “fine” level one, let’s say they cap out at +10 condition damage. With 14 gear slots, that’s over +140 condition damage that you are missing out on, which is roughly 12% increase on a pretty standard 1100 condition damage build.

Honestly, it’s not about a stat increase like that. I played WoW using (mostly) welfare gear and I functioned just fine, but I had to filter myself out of the cutting edge content. What it is about, however, is that once you introduce stat creep through a gear grind, you promote an entirely different mindset out of players. Player skill or build can easily trump supposed stat increases from ascended gear, but it is FAR easier to filter players based on a concept like gearscore. This is what we are fearing right now, especially if infusions are left open ended for more stat creep.

I am all for a level 80 grind, because I’ve hit that wall (and I still have exploration to finish!), but a gear treadmill is not what I want.

Give us:
-More jumping puzzles
-Time trials on jumping puzzles
-More places to explore with adequate rewards
-Minigames
-Skins
-Unlock new visual effects on skills (blue fire!!)
-DIFFERENT stats or stat combos

But not a gear treadmill. If people start filtering WvW or dungeon runs based on their gear (no ascended = no thx), I will cry the manliest tears I can – but I will still cry.