It’s been a long day at work, so please understand that if I come across as less than pleasant, it is not my intention.
When this thread was started, we were discussing vertical vs. horizontal progression.
We, en masse, were trying to discuss what types of vertical progression was acceptable and what kinds were not, and also suggesting ways to incorporate more horizontal progression.
What it has seemed to turn into is a large discussion of Ascended gear. We truly need more discussion of horizontal progression.
I am one of those players who truly does not care if I ever get ascended gear or a legendary. (if it happens someday, cool, but not actively pursuing it.) The key for me is that there be no content that requires ascended gear. I do not want to be locked out of something simply because my gear doesn’t cut it. Yes, I know that some players will be elitists and ask to ping armor, and if you don’t have ascended, you’ll get kicked. That isn’t what I mean.
Horizontal progression to me is having the world at my fingertips, and being able to gain shineys or awards that give me the sense of accomplishment other than having a specific set of gear that says “Hey, I’ve got money!!!” or “I can farm better than you can!!!”
I think that some of what we need is less Gem Shop items and more In Game items. Why should all the cool armor and weapon skins be Gem Shop? I am not opposed to them, but there needs to be a balance of in-game rewards as well. We have a number of sets of back items (just lovely…/endsarcasm) but “special” armor or weapon skins are almost exclusively gem shop items or BL Chest lottery, which again, is Gem Shop related in that you have to get the keys from somewhere since they don’t drop in the world very often. I can honestly say that the only keys I have ever gotten have been from PS rewards or purchased. I can’t remember any other time I have ever had one drop.
I also suggest that there be a chance to get unique skins from Champ encounters. I wouldn’t want them to drop from low-level champs, but anywhere there’s a level 75-80 champ that takes more than a few people and more than just spamming 111111611111 to kill. If that’s still too much, how about Temple events? or maybe completing the zone meta event for a level 80 zone?
Anyways, I digress. The point of this post is that we have pretty much forsaken the discussion of implementing any horizontal progression in favor of discussing the pros and cons of Ascended armor and how to go about getting it.
TL;DR:
Might it be a possibility someday to open a CDI solely on ideas for horizontal progression and leave this one to the discussion of Ascended gear?
Just waiting!
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