Guild Wars 2

The point of this wasn’t to say that I prefer subscription fees to buy-to-play models, I don’t. The point was to say that I hope it’s not too late for the developers to get back to the ideals they had in mind when they set out to make this game (those expressed in the linked article). If they’re “all in” with type of content we’ve been getting in the Living Story, then so be it. But I don’t feel it’s too late to get back to what I feel made this game special in the first place. And so long as I feel that way, I think its worthwhile to voice my opinion here, in a constructively critical manner, in hopes that we can get away from the design philosophy of “spending all this time racing to add as much filler content as possible to keep players chasing the carrot” and back to the business of “creating fun”.

As always, I invite you to share your thoughts on the subject; but I ask that we keep our discussions civil and our criticisms constructive.

Hype, lies, whatever you wanna call it.

This part specifically makes me lol because this game is littered with daily crap.

I can’t tell you how many times I played Quest for Glory; the game didn’t give me 25 daily quests I needed to log in and do—I played it multiple times because it was fun!”

and

Can we focus our time on making meaningful and impactful content, rather than filler content meant to draw out the experience? Can we make something so much fun you might want to play it multiple times because it’s fun, rather than making you do it because the game says you have to?

No, apparently you cannot, ANet.

5+ for the effort, but since ANet doesnt take feedback its wasted.

And you are wrong if you think theres no direction for GW2. Its headed for the east and will get same tratement in the west like other NCSoft games (Aion/Lineage)

Oh, and for the poster above, there are so few new players incoming that its not really a concern

Vayne.8563:

Nice opinion piece…which is pretty much just that. A very long opinion piece, but you blow it at the end.

You say this could be avoided,. but you don’t really know that. It’s pure conjecture. I’m not sure you’d said anything here that hasn’t been said in countless threads.

LOL. Do you even read the stuff you post? If what he said has been stated previously in “countless threads”, maybe … just maybe … it goes beyond pure conjecture and maybe … just maybe … a lot of it could indeed have been avoided if ANet had just taken all that ’countless" feedback seriously.

Vayne.8563:

Nice opinion piece…which is pretty much just that. A very long opinion piece, but you blow it at the end.

You say this could be avoided,. but you don’t really know that. It’s pure conjecture. I’m not sure you’d said anything here that hasn’t been said in countless threads.

It’s just his opinion? Is it somehow worth less than any other post? I was pretty sure he made it clear this was his opinion, what with the heavily personalized introduction.

Your post comes across as solely attempting to devalue the worth of the OP.

@OP, thanks for the achievement; 20 pts closer to my new shiny helmet! But seriously, great post. As Vayne so eloquently pointed out, a lot of people echo this opinion but it’s nice to see someone who’s clearly passionate about how they feel and felt for the game over its lifetime elaborate on that in a post such as yours.

• Dailies/monthlies could have been something amazing, a “bonus” for logging in every day, if only they weren’t the only way of acquiring laurels.

• Ascended could have been a long term goal everyone would work for, due to the sheer convenience of it, but nobody felt forced to do, if instead of being statistically superior they were simply offered something else: the ability to switch stats “on demand” when outside of battle.

• Additionally, by having agony resistance, they could be used as a means of soft vertical progression in the PvE side of things, without affecting WvW. Parts of the open world could have enemies with agony. Optional (keyword) new places where agony was present and, while not mandatory, agony resistance would prove very useful.
• You could even add other forms of agony other than the “poison on steroids” it is. Further “agony” conditions in those places that would be several diminished by agony resistance.
• Fractals could still be fractals, the “hard vertical gated” content for the vertical progression fans.
• Furthermore, it would stop the ridiculous stat inflation WvW is already subject to…

• You could have had an end game focused on building a wardrobe. With increasingly difficult to acquire skins behind difficult bosses, and a PvE focused around the incredibly solid dynamic fighting system you created.

• Legendaries could have been tests of game knowledge and skill, requiring the player to best different areas of the game, instead of grinding to amass a gigantic laundry list of “ingredients” to cobble together.

• You could have had a solid WvW experience… Something so very few games have ever managed on an similar scale… Instead of the increasingly trashy “grind and blob ’round the clock” mess it’s becoming

You could have done so many things… You should have, actually, given your promises… But you didn’t. You still can change most of it, but I’m not holding my breath.

I’ve mentioned before that GW2 felt schizophrenic, regarding something else at the time. I fear that particular disease has spread. Currently the game feels… Lost. Without direction. Like it’s trying to be everything, and do everything on a surface level, with no real idea where it’s going from there. Like a kid in a playground that is trying so hard to belong to every group that ends up never being a part of any. “We don’t want grind! Just grind! Ok a little bit! But not too much! Grind this much exactly! But do it everyday. We’re all about the PvE… PvP, I mean. E-SPORTS! HERE IS ANOTHER STORY OF SOMETHING WHO CARES WHAT! PLEASE LOVE ME!”

ACT IV: Eulogy

Almost a year ago I saw something. I saw a lot of potential. I saw the game I’ve been waiting for since I was 15. Unfortunately that’s not the game I’m playing anymore. GW2 today isn’t that game. In fact, I don’t think it knows what game it is either. It reminds me of the Jarhead fiasco – A great movie in its own right, that faced incredibly harsh criticism mostly because it was marketed as something it was very clearly not (i.e.: an action movie). GW2 set itself up for a specific audience. It waved the flag, set the speech, and took all the nice pictures kissing babies and such… Now it’s turning around, saying it’s something else, but not really, but, but, but… Make up your minds ANet. Choose a direction and embrace it.

Don’t look at this as an “I quit!” post. I didn’t, not yet. I’m hanging around (with rapidly fading enthusiasm, I admit) to see what happens for now. When it gets too much for me I’ll quit then. I’m hoping that, somehow, GW2 can still become that game I was waiting for. Either ways, the game needs to decide what it wants to be.

Around 17 thousand characters later, 8 standard pages, I’m done (man the posting system is gonna have a fit with this one…). Thanks for reading, honestly. If anyone at ANet reads this, my sincerest thank you and best of luck whichever path you choose.

PS: Give yourselves some sort of achievement for reading all of this, jesus christ…

4/x

• For a game with such a focus on aesthetics and cosmetics as end game it is still egregiously impractical and expensive to just switch looks (no wardrobe system for example). Every time I want a new look I’m expected to not only acquire said look, but to either farm an entire new armor set to place it on, or erase the old look I acquired on top of being forced to acquire a “premium-shop-only” item – Transmutation crystals. It’s simply not a viable system for a game that wanted its end-game to revolve around these cosmetics.
• The “Pact” storyline is still a depressing excuse for… anything really. Particularly “Victory or Death” which is still the single worst “final boss fight/dungeon” I’ve ever seen in a game.
• sPvP is still a completely separate entity that segregates PvE/WvW progress from itself. Of course level and gear stats need to be separate due to the nature of PvP, but what about the rest? Why different currencies? Why can’t I keep my PvE aspect in PvP or vice versa? Why is progression in PvP so… asinine? Feels like the entire progression in that mode was a rushed afterthought that has never been addressed. Even dailies/monthly (which, ironically, you have no real reason to do if you’re strictly a PvP player) are stuck in the uninspired linear “do these 4 every day forever” mess of 6 months ago for the rest of the game…
• PvP is still stuck to that one game mode, with classics like CTF, KotH or good’ol team deathmatch still ruefully neglected.
• The dungeon system is still a mess, with a full set of gear requiring me to grind a dungeon to utter exhaustion (timed gated grind, of course), after which I never wanna see that dungeon again.
• WvW still lacks proper structure and organization, such as proper commander support, being filled with more and more game breaking trash such as leveling grind with gamebreaking “traits”, and now the horrid bloodlust buff (the new redesign of the middle of the borderlands is great, mind you, it’s just the bloodlust that sucks horribly).
• Most PvE encounters are still uninspired and linear, with the AI behavior being somewhere along the lines of “run at enemies and attack till they die”.
• For all the temporary content, the permanent additions are still rather lacking, with the downside that anyone unfortunate enough to join in or comeback now will naturally feel confused and utterly uninvested in the current events.
• Some balance issues with broken or useless traits/skills (classes? hinthintrangerhinthint) have yet to be addressed one year later…

… etc.

And unfortunately, this seems like the way it’s going to be… ANet have made their new strategy clear. They’ve thrown their manifesto out the window. You can safely disregard everything they’ve said before (and take anything they say now with mountainous piles of salt, cause you know it’s only sticking as long as it is convenient). Vertical progression, grind, temporary chores and time gating are the new kitten, and it’s here to stay. The rest is secondary. We’ve come a long way in a year…

“Still you are blessed, compared with me!
The present only touches you:
But oh! I backward cast my eye,
On prospects dreary!
And forward, though I cannot see,
I guess and fear!”

ACT III: Could have, should have, didn’t.

You know what the saddest part of all of this was? It was all so…predictable. So avoidable. It’s easy to see why it happened, but it was so easy to avoid…

The game shipped out incomplete, unfinished and rushed out the door. This is a fact the developers themselves have admitted to several times now – as if one needed anything other than observation. Hell, most of Orr didn’t even work on release (arguably a lot of it still doesn’t, glitching and stalling frequently). Seeing as you can’t start building a roof without the foundations being finished, naturally, the late game was the most unfinished. In a game where reaching end game was relatively simple, a lot of complaints followed swiftly regarding the poor state of the end-game (see above). ANet (and NCSoft?) started feeling the pressure and took the path of least resistance – add more grind. Add something shiny for people to look at, and make it stronger so they’re forced to go for it. Add some tight time gating and voilá, instant end-game that’ll tie off your population for a few months! And I can’t even begin to talk about the mess PvP became trying to be League of Legends despite being a completely different game (and how that affected WvW…).

Pity. A real pity.

3/x

Everything was in place. I got the game, and for a while, it was good. My friend was right, getting to lvl 80 and BIS gear (exotic at the time) was trivial. Sure, the game wasn’t perfect, it had a lot of flaws even, but the core was solid enough to keep me playing. I made a lvl 80 of each class. Tried all races. Even got some classes multiple sets of gear. The combat was good, and I felt free to play however I wanted. Sure, the end-game was lacking, particularly the PvE side of it, with incredibly boring and uninteresting “tank n’ spank” encounters being the norm. The entire later portion of the game, particularly, was so obviously rushed out the door… But that was OK. The game promised on-going development, and it was showing signs of keeping to it, so no big deal. I can wait as long as the game stays enjoyable. Dynamic combat and little to no grind? This game was aimed at me!

And for a while, it was good.

ACT II: The best laid plans of mice and men…

“But little Mouse, you are not alone,
In proving foresight may be vain:
The best laid schemes of mice and men
Go often awry,
And leave us nothing but grief and pain,
For promised joy!”

Change was coming. It began with Fractals of the Mists. A whole new dungeon, directed at the vertical progression crowd! Nothing wrong with that by itself. After all there’s nothing wrong with having parts of your game dedicated to different types of players. Sure, it may not be my thing, but so what? Let’em have it if they want it. Slightly less acceptable was what they came bundled with: Ascended rings and backpacks. In retrospect, it should have been an obvious omen. A symptom of that disease I loathed. But alas, I chose to give the ANet team the benefit of the doubt. Sure, it was a bad antecedent, but right then and there it was just a couple of rings and a backpack… Not that big a deal. After all, their entire game up to that point had been built and sold on a concept that was diametrically opposite to the idea of vertical progression. That was what they used to sell their game. That was the audience they had called for, and the one that had answered.

Fast forward 10 months, and it’s easy to see I was wrong. Oh, how hopelessly optimistic, how drowned in hope and denial, my “gambit” now seems. More ascended gear followed, with more promised to come. All of it with superior stats. All of it hard of acquisition, all of it heavily time gated. Nice and slowly the game covered itself with a viscous layer of the very material it once denounced! In my mind I can’t shake off the image of campaigning politicians. The game that was once proud of letting you play how you wanted is now burying you with chores. Dailies, monthlies, temporary content, time gating and other artificial limitations piled on top of more gear and leveling (WvW) grind… Chores you must do TODAY OR NEVER AGAIN!!, every day, the way they want you to or not at all.

Hey ANet, I have a secret tip for you: Chores aren’t usually associated with fun. It used to be that I could play the game the way I wanted, when I wanted. No time to play today? No problem. Maybe I’ll play double tomorrow. Or maybe this week isn’t good, I’ll play extra next week when I can. Not anymore. Now ANet had taken upon itself to ration out my playtime for me. “Log in, do your daily/monthly, do your ascended crafting – all of it. Do you want any Celestial stuff in the near future? Do that too then. And don’t forget dungeon runs, fractals, bosses, and whatever else you give a kitten about in this game. Once per day! And no you can’t do extra tomorrow! It’s our way or the hard way!”. Augh. Honestly, does anyone in your offices think this is fun? With every update there’s more and more crap that’s piling up on the treadmill list…

That said please, PLEASE, don’t get me wrong or intentionally try to misinterpret my words. I’m not against additional content. I’m against additional, forced, treadmill content. As I said before, I’m not against Fractals and ascended being directed at the vertical progression nuts… Let’em have it if it floats their boat. I’m against it sipping into the rest of the game. I’m not against dailies and laurels. I’m against them being the only way to acquire laurels, and them being time gated. I’m not against living story updates. I’m against timed updates that you need to do now to collect the reward/achievements or never again (unless you’re lucky). I’m against focusing on throwing more arbitrary temporary stuff at us instead of fixing the core flaws the game shipped with. Which leads us to a final grievance…

…Most of the flaws the game shipped with are still there. A year of temporary content later and most of the core problems are the same. If anything, they’re actually aggravated by all the additional forced grind and vertical progression.

2/x

Prologue:

To anyone that knows and appreciates my “mile long” posts, this is probably the second last post of this kind I’ll do for a while, if ever, with the final one being reserved for the state of the Ranger, the first class I’ve ever played. In short, it feels ultimately pointless, like shouting at the void, with the sole reason for my persistence being some sense of absolution. “I tried my best”, I tell myself. Ultimately I’m just a random guy on a forum and most of my effort seems to be going to waste, so “meh”. Thank you, all 2 of you (including myself and my ego) that care.

So, without further to do: Yes, it will be long. No, there is no tl;dr. Grab a chair.

ACT I: What was advertised

My, my. It’s been around a year now, hasn’kitten Quite a lot has changed. I remember when I bought into this game. I had been interested in it for a while when a friend, which had been here since the beta weekends, offered me the free trial that came with the first Southsun update. I found myself surprisingly interested.

At first I was cautious. I went through the MMO phase when I was around 15-17. I’ve grown out of it. If you like it more power to you, but as far as I’m concerned most MMOs I’ve ever seen or heard of were the same pointless waste of time – vertical progression and grind. Uninteresting “locked in” combat and gameplay, a “world” peppered by useless cardboard cut out figures that offer you the same 2 or 3 variations of fetch quests or head hunting missions (“Am I finding or killing how much of what this time…?”), and a core surrounding repeating the exact same kittening thing from start to the day you quit, only to see arbitrary numbers pop up that define how powerful you are, all while playing in a world full of players you hate as their mere presence hinders your progress. Basic linear gameplay and aggressive vertical progression assured that the majority of what mattered in any encounter was not your knowledge of the game mechanics, not how much you’ve learned and could apply, but how much time I had sunk into the game. A kitten slap contest between two creatures to see which was wearing the heavier gloves. I abhorred them. I tried as many as I could hoping to find that mythical creature, that MMO that had actually good gameplay and no grind. Eventually I gave up. I simply assumed that it couldn’t be done, as nobody interested in making those kind of games possessed either the knowledge, insight or interest to make such a beast.

When I saw Guild Wars 2 I saw hope. Here was an MMO with what seemed like a solid combat system (“action based combat” they call it, apparently). Sure, it’s not perfect. There are a lot of “lock ons” and similar crap, but an immense improvement over anything I’d seen before. There was movement. There was aiming (to some degree at least). There was a system that actual rewarded people for what we in the fighting game community call “footsies” (look it up), at least after a fashion. It was remarkable. Furthermore GW2 proposed something else, something I’ve longed for but had never seen done – It proposed to make you actually want to play with other people in the world you’re in. HOLY kitten!? For real?! An MMO where I am happy to see other players? Instead of looking for any way to demotivate them from permeating the same area as me, lest they end up robbing me of my loot and exp? Surreal.

But there was one more thing. The combat was the core. Even if everything else was in place, I wouldn’t have joined this game if its fighting consisted of the “same ol’ stand in place and trade abilities” combat I detested. The change to the loot, exp and reward system (“everyone is a friend”) was a massive motivator. But the final piece of the puzzle was yet to be decided. One thing was still left, without which I wouldn’t have considered my purchase: What about the grind? What about vertical progression? At the time, a friend assured me getting to max level and BIS gear was relatively simple, trivial even, if cosmetic was not to be a concern. But I did my own homework. I studied the game’s prices and gear availability during the free trial. I looked up developer interviews and the so called “manifesto”. All pointed to the same thing: End game in GW2 was to revolve around horizontal progression, not vertical. “We don’t make grindy games” was a phrase that was thrown around often and proud.

1/x

Namu.5712:

Daywolf.2630:

Ash.2175:

I mean doing more damage is always good, but at this point I would only go for an ascended weapon for cosmetic reasons. What do you guys think?

Ascended trinkets + Ascended weapons + Ascended armor set =
lfg tool: lf1m only full linked ascended need apply!

Tired of reading this crap

Make your own group, and stop worrying about how others play.

Then stop reading it, and stop worrying about what people think.

Namu.5712:

Daywolf.2630:

Ash.2175:

I mean doing more damage is always good, but at this point I would only go for an ascended weapon for cosmetic reasons. What do you guys think?

Ascended trinkets + Ascended weapons + Ascended armor set =
lfg tool: lf1m only full linked ascended need apply!

Tired of reading this crap

Make your own group, and stop worrying about how others play.

You can show hostility, but it’s what you’ll see. Even if they don’t call for links, less people are going to put you on their friends list for regular groups, even if they are not elitists. You’ll see the difference, just like when you may build stacks of bloodlust, and others will see the difference as well.

As for me, I hunt chests, from bosses, temples, JP’s, whatever, so don’t start thinking I’m just getting my copy and paste ready for the lfg tool. But when you add it all up, that’s just how it’s going to be. Especially as the game becomes more and more grindy as it has been becoming. Been at this mmo gaming for a very long time, I’ve seen it all happen many times over.

One year after launch and still no proper cosmetic progression. Instead the loot grind is more tedious than ever.

This is how you sink a game.

you finally learn to give up doing your dailies. I’ve been doing my dailies everyday without missing even a single one since the early start weekend. The first step is the hardest but man, once you’ve missed one, you don’t really care about it anymore. I urge anyone else who feels like it’s a chore to just leave it. Your time is worth more.

Have No Faith In Me.1840:

You don’t even need to grind to get ascended gear.

You will get the materials to make it by playing the game at any speed, in any way.

You and all of the other complainers are over dramatizing the entire issue.

Look at what is required to make them, and look at all the options of obtaining them. You get all of the materials without trying. Now relax.

I just need to craft 20 weapons before i can start to actually play this game. Of course after that there will be ascended armors. Now i need to do things like auto attack champions, keep alts in jp, do orr temples (of course not baltha because there is some chance to fail). In www when you get inside tower/keep you can’t stay and defend door because you need to rush in and hit champ so you get materials.

No you get your head outside of you know what. If I don’t like the direction where the game is going I have the right to voice my opinion. I like GW2, it was more than worth the 60 bucks but I’d like to keep playing for longer and adding grinding in spades just to get BiS slot will hurt my enjoyment of the game.

And heck no, a casual player isn’t gonna have 105 globs of ecto, 105 t6 mats, 500+ orichalcum ores, 500+ ancient wood logs, 80k karma (karma nerf anyone?), 900 mithril ores and whatever else you need to craft your first weapon. I compiled the list earlier but the thread was deleted, not worth posting it again because people are gonna tell me that 100 keeps to get enough empyreal fragments for 1 weapon is okay.

I would like to stop playing my Guardian for once and bring my Necro in WvW, but to think that I lose 2,5k HP + bonuses from WvW ranks and go from full ascendeds to full exotics…

P.s. plz stop spreading misinformation, they didn’t state ascended is gonna be the last tier. Check Colin’s latest interview

I love Guild Wars 2. I can’t talk it up enough to all my friends and many of them played it casually. The problem is we have jobs and Guild Wars 2 pre-ascended allowed us to gear up and try new builds and new ways of playing the game in about 2 week’s casual time like you stated. Guild Wars 2 was one of the few games out there that allowed us to feel like we were not falling behind the curve. We could be in BiS gear and enjoy any aspect of this great game without it feeling like a chore. If the optimal meta builds changed it didn’t take a large investment of time or money to adjust to the new status quo.

Then fractals came and with it Ascended gear.

Just like that we had the start of a vertical progression gear treadmill. I’ve had my fill of gear treadmills. Every Korean MMO under the sun does gear grinding and BiS bragging rights. WoW, one of the penultimate MMOs even does this with 20 man and 10 man raiding. We have already experienced those games. We don’t want to experience them again with a new skin. With ascended gear this game took a major step in the direction of being like every other game already on the market. And my friends and I took a step away. We quit.

Finally they added a way for someone like me who had zero interest in Fractals of the Mists to get BiS again by playing the game normally. I returned, but couldn’t help but notice the time-investment required to get Ascended gear outside fractals. This worried me because pre-ascended we could, with relative ease, change builds and play styles. Now If I invested my time in accessories perfect for Build A and decide that I would prefer to play Build B which needs a whole new accessory set to be optimal. All of a sudden this time sink would hit me again. The ability to rapidly change builds and play styles was removed. Take a look at your Skills and Traits menu and the fee for re-rolling your traits. Account bound Ascended items are counter-intuitive to the original design of the game.

With Exotics being the BiS slot option and not being account bound I had the option of hoping that I got the stat point arrangement as a natural drop or selling everything that didn’t match my ideal build so I could purchase the items that I needed. The design of Ascended items removed this flexibility.

Guild Wars 2 needs to rediscover its original motivation and design and innovate off of those ideals. It does not need to copy design and elements from a niche market that has fatigued its player base. The promises made at the start of Guild Wars 2 made us love it and hold out hope for it. But the longer time goes on the more it seems like those promises were made by politicians. We’re promised something different, but we get more of the same.

Out of 20 of my real life friends that played this game regularly, only I remain.

I have 20 weapons to replace on my characters before they regain BiS status. I was enjoying the game with BiS gear before ascended and was working towards getting some legendary weapons and the armor that looked the coolest. Now I still need to do that but with the nagging notion that my characters are not perfected. With the extreme time investment needed to get ascended as a non-fractal player, I fear reading the class balance section of the patch notes.

Ascended items aren’t required for general accessibility of PvE or WvW. Eventually small changes can add up into something bigger. Once this ascended cycle is complete and there are enough installed sets will we be seeing patch notes that read something like:

• Players now have access to the continent of Cantha. Players are strongly recommended to have ascended gear with agony infusions to counter the Agony from creatures in the region.

• Added new skills that give the players access to Agony.
• Agony effects obtained from other players will last 30 seconds.

• Agony Resistance Infusions can now be purchased with 30 laurels in every major city.
• Special WvW Agony Resistance Infusions can be purchased with Badges of Honor in your world’s Citadel.

I fear this day because the frame work is being laid for this to be a possibility. Vertical progression is an answer to high level retention. It’s the easy answer, not the right answer.

Ascended is here to stay and I accept that. But its convoluted and time consuming nature of acquisition is putting a negative pressure on players like me. I don’t like when my games transition into chores and work. I don’t have the time or patience for it anymore. Bottom line, chores are not fun. Player uncertainty in the stability and direction of your product is a major detriment in the games as a service era.

Thank you Arena Net for providing me with a game that for the majority of the past year was an incredible amount of fun to play. I hope that in this upcoming year I’m still logging into Guild Wars 2 because it is fun to play, not because I have to.

This is my story.

morrolan.9608:

Irrodesia.3907:

Part 3: The Problem

Pulling three quotes from Is it Fun? Colin Johanson on how ArenaNet Measures Success

I’d really like to see a comment from Colin on if he thinks they are still adhering to this and if so how can he possibly think the grind and cost for these weapons is ‘fun’.

He won’t comment. Any attempt to address the accusations that they’ve changed their philosophy is irrelevant to what they’re trying to attain — whatever it is. The best we can expect is dribbles of PR. The recent Pax interview was a masterful piece of PR. He almost had me with the statement that went something like, “We intended exotic to be a lot harder to get.” Then I reread the Eurogamer interview from 2011. The two just don’t mesh.

No, there’s something different at ANet. It might be a shift in management philosophy, a decision to cater more to mainstream MMO gear pursuers in order to maximize profit, a realization that despite GW2’s content being fun, too many players will not repeat content “just for fun,” or even the (/cynicism on) realization that they might as well hook as many demographics as possible because it’s not like the fans who wanted GW 1.5 have any other games they can go to to pursue horizontal progression (cynicism off).

Part 3: The Problem Cont.

Part 3: The Problem

Disclaimer:
My thoughts/views may or may not differ from those of the reader. My personal opinions in no way shape or form are meant to insult or offend those who support Ascended gear or the direction the game is taking.

Brace yourselves, this is a long post.

Part 1: Is Ascended Gear Required?

Thoughts on the insane amount of Materials and Time Gating to acquire a single Ascended Weapon? As if this is what GW2 really needed in order to survive its second year on the market……

Hey GW2 you should consider paying a salary to all of your customers because playing GW2 is a full time job. For anyone who actually enjoys acquiring all this virtual non-sense can you please acquire and mail me the items in this below list? Thanks….

http://dulfy.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/gw2-ascended-greatsword-crafting-32.jpg

Now multiple that out for one to six weapons per character. Then multiple that by however many characters you have. And note that they said they wouldn’t add a new tier of gear this year.

“We don’t make grindy games” indeed.

Desthin Sinkropht.4123:

You wanted more numbers? You got:
Ascended gear.

Well, the game’s out a year and we got a few time gated trinkets. That does not make a full set of gear yet. So for the people who want gear progression it’s too little too late if you ask me. It certainly was for me.

Desthin Sinkropht.4123:

You wanted to remove gear grind? You got:
Time Gated Crafting, ensuring that the vast majority of players can easily keep up.
Long periods between gear releases, ensuring that even the most casual player can have the gear with minimal effort.
Farming Events Where the casual player can join in the living story to get enough materials to cover just about anything

There is still gear grind. Just because it looks different doesn’t make it a good thing.

Time gating is crap. It’s completely artificial and all it does is slow people down who have more time to play. A known side effect are the people who log in just to do their daily and log out again. Wonderful idea.

Farming events yes. You know the solution to grind is not introducing grind and then make it dead easy to do so. That gets old real fast.

Oh and I leveled a toon to 80 in a couple of weeks and had enough karma and gold to instantly fully equip my character in exotic gear top to bottom, with the addition of an ascended amulet. On the same day I turned 80 I could afford this. No need to do anything, it was already done before turning 80.

It’s so kitten easy it makes it pointless. I quit because I was done. I finished my toon. I didn’t have a reason for any dungeons because none of the heavy armour options for dungeon gear is appealing to me….so there it was. I was all done. I thought of leveling an alt but couldn’t be bothered. Already had 40 gold spare and over 100k karma and my alt is level 11….I mean c’mon.

It’s so easy it’s become completely pointless.

That’s not a good thing in my book.