I cant thank you all enough for the ideas and info. Last night played an ele to around lvl 15 and had a ball and got used to using the new mechanics. i think that playing a squishy first def helped me to learn to dodge or pay the price. Then after I felt i had a pretty good feel I started a charr warrior. man what a difference, its a buttload of fun for sure and i do love the fact that I do not have to rely on anyone but myself to heal and stay alive plus the rifle skills are great! Not sure if the rifle is viable at higher lvls but for now its seriously fun. I think tonight I may try out guardian and engineer before settling on one class to lvl to the top.
Rifle works fine at 80. It’s dps is to some degree dependent on the +Condition Damage stat, since it’s auto-attack constantly applies bleeds. As I said above, condition does not work all that well in large groups. However, even with a modest investment in +Condition, the final tick of Volley, and Kill Shot, the adrenal skill, hit for anywhere from 3 to 5k, and that is with no trait points spent in Strength.
Anet got greedy and now they are paying the price:
http://beta.xfire.com/games/gw2There’s no doubts about which direction this game is heading.
Yet another prediction of doom based on Xfire numbers. Accepting (generously) 27k players as the max on the graph shown, and 2,000,000 (from official announcements on sales by NCSoft), XFire players at peak represented no more than 1.35% of the total population. While those kinds of numbers might be statistically significant for Neilsen ratings, or political opinion polls, Xfire users do not represent a sufficiently random sample to attain statistical significance.
I agree that the Xfire numbers do not represent doom, but something can be drawn from the trends. The hours played is on a steady decrease, which is to be expected of a game as the content gets older, but look at what happened on the 15th through the 18th. It jumped up pretty high. Now look at what happened after it. The trend continued its normal pace. Ascended gear and dungeon didn’t seem to attract those players into playing any more than they already were.
Nor did FotM or Ascended do anything for my guild. My take on why they just stopped playing and have not returned? PvP. Their take was that neither Wv3 nor S/ /t Pvp had sufficient depth by comparison to both GW1 and other PvP games.
You don’t have to look at XFire to determine that numbers spiked during the event and are down since. All you have to do is log in and see if, how often and for how long you are shunted to an overflow. If the XFire and overflow trends are representative, it doesn’t necessarily follow that players who wanted gear escalation are not logging in to play. The observed phenomenon could also be the result of players who wanted gear rewards logging in more to play FotM, counter-balanced by a reduction in play by those who had a negative reaction to the gear.
OK, the difference between Red Ring of Death and Ruby Ori Ring of the Berserker (to compare apples to apples) is 12 points in the major stat, 6 in the minor stat and 2% critical damage. So, people are saying that one Ascended item is not going to make a significant difference in effectiveness.
A different approach would be to compare Ascended —> Exotic vs. Exotic —> Rare.
Red Ring (104, 69, 8%) —> Ruby Ori Ring (92, 63, 6%)
Ruby Ori Ring (92, 63, 6%) —> Ruby Mithril Ring (80, 55, 5)
We see additions from Exotic to Ascended of 12, 6 and 2%, whereas from Rare to Exotic of 12, 8 and 1%. Looks not that different.
Now, eventually, those increases will be propagated across 14 different items (back plus 5 jewelry, 6 armor, and 2 weapons — with double handed weapons being very close to 2 weapons in stats). Sure, we don’t know what the exact numbers will be on the unrevealed pieces, but for the sake of argument, let’s assume that the comparison between Rare-Exo and Exo-Ascended remains similar. Are you really going to argue that people transitioning from full Rares to full Exotics did not notice a difference in effectiveness? I sure noticed one.
Anet got greedy and now they are paying the price:
http://beta.xfire.com/games/gw2There’s no doubts about which direction this game is heading.
Yet another prediction of doom based on Xfire numbers. Accepting (generously) 27k players as the max on the graph shown, and 2,000,000 (from official announcements on sales by NCSoft), XFire players at peak represented no more than 1.35% of the total population. While those kinds of numbers might be statistically significant for Neilsen ratings, or political opinion polls, Xfire users do not represent a sufficiently random sample to attain statistical significance.
I played a necromancer in GW1, so naturally I played one here. I find the class to be very easy to level up; I can farm with it in the highest level areas with no difficulty; I have built to be in melee most of the time, no minions, and the character is nearly as tough as my warrior.
That said, if you prefer ranged, I don’t think Necro is the way to go. The necro’s weapons are staff (long range), scepter (medium range), axe (short range) and dagger (melee range). Staff and scepter are largely dependent on the stat “+condition damage” to be effective. Condition damage is fine when solo or playing with a friend, but in groups with more than 1 or two using it or in large events not so good., because condition stacking is limited. In addition, staff’s auto attack is slow. It reminds me of auto-attack speeds with two handed weapons in the game you just left. That said, the staff’s other 4 skills are useful in group play.
Axe’s short range allows for kiting melee mob’s, but imo dagger does better damage. Both require a heavy investment in the Power stat to get damage comparable to what some other classes get with little to no investment. Dagger/dagger’s main issue is that you mainly use the auto-attack. 3 of the other 4 skills are situational (siphon health, used when you need a boost; immobilize for pesky kiters; and condition transfer to target), so there is no rotation.
My engineer is only level 29, so my advice there may be limited due to lack of experience. However, I find that rifle is better than pistol/pistol or pistol/shield (the only options). Rifle’s basic attack seems to do better damage. Finally, unless I really need to kite, I spend most of my time using the grenade skills anyway. Once you figure out how to maneuver while spamming the ground-targeted grenades, all other options the class has for damage seem sub-par by comparison.
Arena Net is to blame for that, not the players, they are just acting in “self defense”.
Devil’s advocate question: What if the design of FotM was done as a reaction to certain players who raced through the token dungeons, got what they wanted, then complained about nothing to do? Does it not make sense then, that a developer might see a need to resort to mechanics to slow down progression?
He is farming the vials of powerful blood which are used in glass cannon gear and thus tend to be the most expensive.
Thanks, Lotus.
I do want Ascended gear. No, I don’t need it, but I do want it. Why? Because when I reach a goal (like finishing a zone) there is a feeling of accomplishment that is satisfying. It makes the fun of trying to reach the goal even more fun. I’m quite happy to do random stuff just for fun, although I prefer some aspects of game play over others. It’s just a nice little add-on to get pixelated rewards as well.
Henge of Denravi, which has felt like an under-populated server for some time, held both Dwayna and Lyssa at the same time yesterday. It can’t be that bad. My point being that server and time of day contribute a great deal to the perception of emptiness, or its opposite.
I think people are overlooking that gaining money is easier also. I mean, in one hour of on and afking and killing karka I made 2g. Fractal farmers make moar gold.
Inflation is never fun for buyers. But is part of an expanding economy.
Out of curiosity, is that with M/F gear and selling drops? Do karka just drop more coin? I found the Southshore zone to be uninspiring when I visited and have still been farming in Orr.
I was just browsing Exotic 80 daggers on the TP. The cheapest was 3g18s (Traveler’s). The cheapest that had neither Magic Find nor +Condition damage was Cleric’s at 3g70s. These prices are close to double what they were when my Necro got to 80 about 5 weeks ago.
I also noticed the chance to get rare materials using a Master’s Salvage Kit is 25%. Iirc it was 60% at one time. Black Lion kits the chance is listed at +50% for rare materials. I seem to recall that it was also better than Master’s.
Ectoplasm is required for exotic jewelry and weapons. It is also a component in at least one of the Ascended recipes.
I believe what we have here is reduced supply and increased demand for one material, and that is at least in part responsible for the increased costs of Exotics. Both of these factors were put in by developer actions. Was this intended as a means to slow down people’s gearing up with what will eventually be second-rate gear? Will it be addressed when/if they “adjust” the grind factor for Ascended items?
Thoughts? Please note that though I preferred more of a buyer’s market for Exotics, I am not asking for things for free. I am wondering about the game’s direction and developer intent.
No I don’t feel like a level 80, all the effort to get to 80, the weapons the gear, and for what.
I am still as likely to die in a lower level area, I am still likely to die because I pull too many mobs (thats 2 or more), I don’t get any level 80 rewards, and the rewards in lower level area’s are terrible.
And who want’s to struggle to stay alive in a lower level area, it’s just rubbish.
Oh wait, I’m a Ranger………………..
Since I didn’t see the /sarcasm at the end, this post baffles me. Last night two friends came along with me into the story mission “Attack on Claw Island.” At one point, I was interacting with Commander Claw-Island-Will-Never-Fall. One of my friends was with me. We finished the dialogue, and looked out to see that the other friend, a ranger, had aggroed most of the 20-30 undead in the mustering yard, and was in the process of kiting and killing them. It looked a little like an old-style raid, except in reverse and with movement.
I think majority of the people complaining now about rings never been in a raid based type of game or never actually been in a guild with regular week schedule for raids. FotM been out for what almost 2 weeks and people already up in arms about not having the current best items in game and that someone else has them why can’t they.
It’s not as if no one ever complained about drop rates in raid based games, either. However, a 1/week raid with a chance for the item you needed to drop, and then a chance you’d get it seems worse. It’s all about instant gratification. I believe the system was put in as it is as a reaction to speed-runs through regular dungeons.
Then Why call it GW2 since it is nothing like GW1?
That’s easy. Guild Wars is an IP as well as a game. GW2’s s background and setting evolved from that of GW1. There are a lot of references back to GW1, touches that I appreciate. Y’all are focused on one thing because it’s a hot button right now. If you step back from that a pace, you will achieve a better perspective.
It would be analagous to the suggestion that for people to enjoy a hamburger it must offer them sexual intimacy, security of housing, and the potential for self actualization.
That would be one kitten of a hamburger!
Back on topic: I think developer perceptions of GW1 were rooted in their statement in the initial announcement that they were making GW2, to the effect that they had tons of ideas about games which the structure of Guild Wars would not allow them to do. There is a lot of frustration when you have an idea but cannot make it happen, and that may color their view of their first game.
I’d have to say that, financially, Guild Wars was not a failure. Its fans probably don’t think of it as a failure. Nor does ANet, despite the statement that its horizontal progression was “not that fun” by Mike O’Brien. After all, that statement is about gear, and gear was not a major part of the original Guild Wars.
One of the biggest annoyances I have with many of the posts upset with ArenaNet, is that they do not even know what the word LIE means.
Even IF way back when, they said something would work one way and now it doesn’t, it does NOT mean you were lied to.
Lie:
a false statement made with deliberate intent to deceive; an intentional untruth; a falsehood.
So unless you really believe when they put out a given statement, it was their intent at that time to be untruthful, it is not a lie.Either we accept Chris Whiteside’s statement that this was planned all along, in which case they lied then, or it wasn’t planned all along and they are lying now. Either way, they lied. There is one thing a company can do to instantly lose all respect in my eyes and that is lie. I don’t like being lied to.
Ascended was planned all along? I don’t remember that part of it. I remember, “It was not specifically designed before launch. However the concept of progression rewards with a shallow curve bridging other rewards was. Hope that makes sense.” Vague as kitten in some respects, but clear in others. There was always going to be some vertical progression in the game (there were 5 tiers of level 80 gear, now there are 6), but that statement tells me that the current implementation of Ascended gear was not intended all along.
If you want to hang onto the idea that they lied, I cannot stop you, but it might be better to look at all the facts after a while, once their ideas for making the new gear more accessible are out, and people have cooled down.
The rarest items in the game are not more powerful than other items, so you don’t need them to be the best. The rarest items have unique looks to help your character feel that sense of accomplishment, but it’s not required to play the game. We don’t need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional, so those who find it fun to chase this prestigious gear can do so, but those who don’t are just as powerful and get to have fun too.
http://www.arena.net/blog/is-it-fun-colin-johanson-on-how-arenanet-measures-success
Just quoting this again to make sure the OP gets the message that he’s wrong. This statement explicitly states that the rarest items (ascended) are not more powerful than other items (yes, they are).
Actually, the rarest items are legendaries, and those will not be more powerful than Ascended will be. Of course, we took that gap to be between Exotic and Legendary. You can give them a chance to fix the Ascended accessibility, or you can uninstall and never give ANet the time of day, again. The first option might result in your being able to enjoy playing a game you are obviously passionate about. The second will mean you won’t, but you’ll get to be “right” about how ANet “betrayed” you.
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No one at ANet is going to tell us what really happened. While statements can be spun stating that the manifesto was this or that, their pre-launch PR created the impression that Exotic was max stat gear. The Flannum/Johanson video linked by Dalendria may not be the manifesto, but it is definitive in creating an impression.
So what happened? ANet found that a perhaps significant percentage of people who bought the game didn’t give a kitten about all of the things Gw2 had to do at endgame because these things did not come with a character-progression loot pinata. Now they are trying to please everyone, an endeavor that every company in the business tries to do, usually resulting in pleasing fewer folks than if they stuck to one approach.
Next development? If/when they roll out ways to get the Ascended rings and back pieces by means other than FotM, those who did the dungeon to get them will complain that their accomplishment has been devalued by people looking for something for nothing. Another option would be to make each other subset of the rest of the Ascended pieces available in different portions of the game. Want rings/back, do the dungeon. Want Earrings and Amulet, do Wv3. Want … etc. This would of course anger anyone who is not a completionist.
I find it a pity that there are so many more things to do in GW2 endgame than in any other MMO at launch I’ve ever seen, but those things were largely ignored because of lack of reward. Well, what’s done is done. At least the game does not have a sub.
I can go buy the best gear in the game for about 1.5 gold on the market if I want with no grind whatsoever.
Not even close anymore. The only exotic armor or weapons that are under 3g each are those with +condition damage, or maybe the odd MF piece. If you want Knight’s, Cleric’s or Berserker, be prepared to pay 3.5g and up.
Fwiw, rewards in both PvE and Wv3 seem to be based on whether you tagged someone. A minor increase in stats will make a difference in this. You will not get drops if you do too little damage. To some extent, this also affects DE completion level, although sometimes it seems like you can get bronze by just being in the area. You also do not get credit for a kill in Wv3 if you do not do “enough” of the damage that actually kills someone, whatever that threshold may be.
So, is the increase in stats necessary? No. Is it desirable? Yes.
One of my goals for this game was to have one character for each profession, fully geared in Exotics. The The current state of the game has made this harder, due to Ascended gear requiring many of the same mats, and those mats accordingly increasing in price. Also, exotics are no longer the top of the line, so I am contemplating whether to upgrade my goal.
So, I am still playing, but am in wait-and-see mode. If Ascended becomes more accessible, I may change my goal, but right now, even getting the 3 Ascended pieces on 8 characters does not look like fun to me. So, I log in to farm, do DE’s, etc. or to play with a friend.
As to a “second chance?” My reactions will be very-much based on whether and how soon they follow through with their statements about making the best tier of gear accessible in multiple game environments. I’m not asking for welfare gear, and am willing to play for it (if the game becomes work, I’m gone), I just don’t want to be forced into one type of play, nor do I want to be forced into play that involves “speed runs,” which is the predictable but unfortunate reaction to any repetitive, goal-oriented play.
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On my character selection screen, they appear from left to right according to how recently they have been played. I know of no way to change that order except by playing one, which puts it on the extreme left when you next go to character select, and moves the others one spot right.
Egad! How could I have left out my number one favorite thing from GW1 that was not in GW2. Elite skills. In GW1, your elite skill was often the backbone of your build. In GW2, in class after class, I find that my elite is something I do not look forward to getting because my options will mostly include things that will make little difference, or that are downright terrible (human transform elites, I’m looking at you). I usually find myself wishing that I could use the number 10 slot for a regular skill rather than an elite. For instance, putting a stun break or condition removal in slot 10 might allow me to put another useful skill in slots 7-9. If I had to state my biggest disappointment with GW2, it would be the implementation of Elite Skills and forcing me to slot one.
As much as I was concerned about the FotM and Ascended, I have read Chris Whiteside’s responses so far, and am going to continue playing the game. I may return to paying for gems once the promises to make the Ascended gear accessible in many aspects of the game are actually patched in.
And honestly speaking when I’m in a pug and with my PTV gear on after a long boss fight (e.g. moss man), trying to stay on top of my game whereas my pug member (with MF gear as he told us later) just get defeated with one shot agony down lying on the ground for the most part. And he managed to loot off lodestones and exotics from the chest showing it off made me very uncomfortable.
Nobody likes the freerider.
You do realize that MF gear only affects drops from mobs, not from chests?
Veteran Novices
That oxymoron made me laugh.
Back on topic: OP, it is not productive to make forum posts about peoples’ choices in PuG groups. All you will get is: agreement from those who agree with you already; flames from those who disagree; and you won’t accomplish anything since nothing will change.
You might be better served creating or joining a guild that includes people who think like you do. Why, there are some posting in this thread!
When I play to complete content, I see only the most efficient or quick solution and always opt for that route. If that involves some sort of “exploit”, so be it.
Instead of asking how exploiting could be fun, I would ask how it wouldn’t be. Or rather, what would be uninteresting about searching for and discovering ways to break the game or clear content? I’m a mathematician and frequent puzzle solver, and I take great interest in exploring the limits of what I can and can’t do, understanding where they put me, and using that knowledge to make solving problems much easier for me in the future.
While this is a fine approach to playing a game, fighting a mob when he cannot fight back was obviously not intended by the developer. This makes it an exploit which is a violation of the UA/ToS.
I just see a lot of complaining…
Why can’t we have meaningful threads here.
You don’t want to exploit you should have left the group don’t reap the benefits and then come here to complain.Make your own kitten groups people if you don’t like what people are doing no one is forcing you to do anything.
Complaining about complaining is never a good idea.
Meaning is subjective.
Agreed. The OP should have filed an exploit report, not made a forum post telling others how to use the exploit.
Everyone should have the right to play with who they want to, and excluding someone is part of that right.
Don’t listen to the gear grinders, they will leave the game long before the end.
People taking advantage of such exploits was part of why FotM was introduced in the first place. Speed runs to the acquisition of dungeon sets were not the way those dungeons were intended to be played, either.
This is a problem with catering to those whose goal is to get the new shiny. They tend to be more goal- than process-oriented, so doing what it takes to get to the goal faster is their MO. Report the Ogre cage exploit (yes, it is an exploit) and move on.
Re the discussion as to whether Ascended gear represents vertical progression:
Has anyone seen a non-level 80 Ascended piece? All the examples and links I’ve seen have been L80 required.
Prior to the Lost Shores update, Exotic level 80 gear had the best stats in the game. Legendary weapons had the same stats as L80 exotic weapons (hence the reassurance they would be upgraded when or before Ascended weapons appear). So, there was nothing better. Now there is. That’s one step up, with Legendary being the second step. So, Ascended represents a vertical increase.
Progression involves a series of steps, not just one. Going up the only step does not indicate progress, it indicate success. So, the current iteration does not represent a progression. Claims that it is the harbinger of progression are conjecture, not fact.
A separate issue is that the two steps we currently have are considerably more expensive in time and gold than Exotic was/is. Legendary was always expensive, but since the stats were no better, gaining one was like grinding for 5o titles in GW1. It gave bragging rights, not improved performance.
L80 exotics are also becoming more expensive as a result of this change. Ascended requires the same highest tier mats as Exotics. Increased demand for these mats has driven their cost up. For example, globs were over 30s each yesterday, where they were under 14s each not that long ago.
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I liked the slight range increases for Dagger/Fire 1 (300 to 400) and Dagger Lightning 1 (130 to 300).
1. Build complexity (It’s been said above, so I won’t elaborate).
2. Max armor/weapon is max. It remains to be seen whether Ascended then Legendary is the cap.
3. Numbers-balanced Alliance Battles > Wv3. If you got steamrolled in AB, it was because you lacked skill in building and/or playing. In Wv3 it’s because you are outnumbered.
4. Bosses felt challenging and the fights were often engaging. In GW2, too often they are just large health bags to be ablated.
5. Appearance customization. This may change over time, but for now while GW2 has many good-looking armor pieces, too many of the medium chests are long coats, and too many of the female light legs either are skirts or skirts over pants. Also, male hair styles look more like the styles I see at the mall. Where are the fantasy-ish male hair styles?
yes, but how much does gold scale at 80? Like quests give 2 silver ish atm. Can I expect 4-5 silver at 80? How about item drops, items yield 40-1 silver, what do lv 80 drops look like?
The level 70-80 hearts in Frostgorge Sound rewards cap at between 3 and 4 silver. There are no hearts in the three Orr zones. Gaining gold via hearts is not in the cards. Level 80 blues go for just under 1 silver and greens for between 1-2 silver, iirc. Gold drops are best sold on the market, as they go for ~20 silver or more, or get a Black Lion or Master Salvage kit and salvage them. If you get a Glob of Ectoplasm, those sell for >25 silver atm.
Did you change gear orientation (i.e., from balanced stats to glass cannon) when you bought the green 80 gear?
Does it affect what dungeons I can do? Or guilds that will want me?
No effect on dungeons. It’s extremely unlikely that guilds are based on order choice.
The three orders offer different story missions in the mid-game, and have different cultural armor/weapons. The Vigil-specific story focuses on direct confrontations, the Order of Whispers on snaking around, gathering information, etc. and the Durmand Priory’s on seeking knowledge. Since this is an MMO, most of the stories involve some type of combat, however in the mid-game, I found choosing the Vigil path to offer more combat that the other two. Since there are choices to make in each path, others experiences may differ based on the option(s) they chose. Also, once you get to the level 50 story, the story paths start to converge, so the differences become smaller.
I saw two separate groups lfm F1 today, on Henge of Denravi, a nearly dead server. Admittedly, it was Saturday, but I was not in LA for more than a few minutes across 3-4 separate visits.
You don’t NEED the infusion for anything but Fractals
Actually, you don’t need the infusion for fractals, either. Some people want it because they want to do fractals, and infusion will make that easier. Fractals is not required, so something that makes it easier is not a NEED. Other people who don’t intend to do fractals want infusion if it makes them more powerful. The one want is not more valid than the other just because a game mechanic exists that says that certain content is easier if you have x.
Now, if all infusion did was protect against agony, that would be one thing. However, I’ve seen references to a +Precision infusion, If true, that would be something that would be more generally desirable. Again, if its “precision only in FotM” that changes things.
It is too soon to determine if the current down-rating of GW2 will continue. The reduction is likely due to people incensed about the recent changes and taking it out by rating the game down. If ANet can take steps to address the recent concerns while also not alienating those who like the changes (as difficult as that may be), the trend may reverse.
Yes but it’s really difficult making players not congregate in one central location to advertise for groups and such.
Agreed…but then that should point to the need of getting a real looking for group system put into the game.
That way people don’t have to sit in one place all day spamming LFG and so on.
The likely scenario if a lfg tool were put in? Players would queue while congregated in one place in order to chat while waiting. I’ve seen this happen in games with LFG tools. A better idea might be to put a different dungeon entrance in each city and drop the idea of an lfg tool.
People complained about not having anything to do because they had gotten everything they wanted in a short amount of time, and could not be kittened to play the existing content just for fun. It should not be surprising then, that when ANet put in new shinies, they also put in ways to slow down their acquisition. Don’t expect them to make the same mistake twice.
Just because you don’t agree with a subject. Why because I called people whining care bears? For one whining itself is care bear regardless of the subject people should man up.
So, when GW2 actually looked like it was following its manifesto, and a subset of the players complained about no endgame because they sped-run their way through everything, that was also whining, and they should have just manned up. You cannot have it both ways. Guess what, they didn’t just man up and shut up, and there has been a change. So, there is a precedent for complaints getting responded to.
One night’s good drops does not constitute proof. Nor does a few bad runs for that matter. Let it settle out over time before you decide it is/isn’t fixed.
ANet has said they are making Ascended and then Legendary. The escalation may end there, it may not. Time will tell, not me, and not you. So in the meantime, it’s too soon to say they are turning GW2 into a perpetual gear escalation game.
I hope it ends there . . . for the time being. If two years down the line we have the cap at 120 instead of 80, I’d hope that Ascended is used as the pinnacle for the 80-100 levels and a new tier in 100-120. -snipped for brevity’s sake -
I’d hope no one would complain about better than 80 gear if there is a level cap increase. Since GW1 never got one, I, and maybe other folks assumed GW2 won’t have one either. It sure would get problematic with regard to Legendary items. Do they keep raising the stats on the Legendary items to be above w/ever tier might be introduced? Or do they say, “Well, that was the old Legend, now we have version 2.0.” I’ll bet that latter would be rage-inducing, albeit for a smaller group. Whatever they decide, it would be best if they thought carefully about all the ramifications before pulling the trigger.
I did a two hour farming run today in Malchor’s and Cursed Shore. I killed everything I came across, and did about 7-8 DE’s. I got one green and two rares. While the number of greens is not what I’m used to, the rares are. This was without MF except on the spear I have yet to replace. Could it just be the curse of the RNG?
Had you whined if it was already in the game from the star?
(1) That’s just it, it wasn’t in, nor was it supposed to be. If people are in error, it was in believing the advertising, not in expecting something that was not going to happen.
This is a mmorpg it evolves remember that in the manifesto? EVER evolving meaning your going to get stronger and need better items. If the advertising had said there would be gear inflation and grind, people would have bought, or not, based on thinking that is a good thing.
(2) That is your definition of evolve, it does not have to be the only one.
You can’t side grade that or horizontal it. What did you really want us running around for a year pushing to get skin pallettes.
(3) I wanted ANet to produce a game in which anything you chose to do was rewarding. They fumbled the ball on that. They’re trying to fix it, if you believe Chris Whiteside.
Do you really think that is going to hold a population. If you really did think that work you got some good weed your smoking.
(4) It worked in GW1. It could have worked in GW2. For some reason it hasn’t yet.
Give it a rest with these post because I’m sure they don’t care if care bears leave.
(5) I’m pretty sure they do. After all, they cared that the grinders were leaving.
And I still don’t see any official sites claiming doomsday. Not a podcast not a blog not mmorpg.com mmosite massively. No where and they are the commercial dollars you whining here means about 2 pennies thrown down the street.
Commercial sites don’t decide whether a game is a failure, communities do. Just ask Bioware.
A mmorpg will always evolve and have a gear goal. I lol that you guys expected a community to do mad king like events every month. And just change the look of your gear. You couldn’t possibly be that silly and think that lol……O……M…..G
It’s nice you are so easily amused. As to MMO’s always having a gear goal, see (1) above. Gear grinds in MMO’s were created to fuel subscription rates. Being B2P means no sub, so gear grind was not necessary for sub retention.
ANet has said they are making Ascended and then Legendary. The escalation may end there, it may not. Time will tell, not me, and not you. So in the meantime, it’s too soon to say they are turning GW2 into a perpetual gear escalation game.
This thread seems to be degenerating into an argument over whether people are allowed to play what they want with whom they want. If you look at it objectively, of course they are. People claiming otherwise, divorce the issue from fractals and ask yourself, “Do I want developers or other players telling me whom I must play with?”
The real issue is not elitists v. entitled, it is whether the gating mechanism is a good mechanic or not. If people want to be hostile, exclusive, insulting or rude, they don’t need a game’s gating mechanism. The feature may serve as a convenient outlet for such behavior, but it does not cause it.
It depends on the dungeon. I’ve done AC in greens, so the loss of the “best” stat on a piece in favor of magic find might not mean much. However, not all paths and not all dungeons are created equal. If you want one set for all dungeon play, and plan to also have/keep a MF set, nothing keeps you from equipping partial (some MF pieces with some pieces from the other set) to full MF if the dungeon you are running right then doesn’t require the full stat set.
In GW2 I farm only by doing mat runs in Orr. I don’t run past mobs, and often hop in to events I see so it probably takes me a lot longer than other people. Eventually I get tired of dodging CC (or not dodging it in some cases) in 90% of the fights so I quit. Event farming just doesn’t do it for me, so I don’t. After gearing my third 80 yesterday, I still have 60 to 70 gold. None of the 80’s have superior rune sets, so I still have a ways to go.
While I don’t hate mat runs in Orr, I would not be doing them if I didn’t want the money. In GW1 I did things to get money also, but I chose the things that I enjoyed doing, so farming was not a chore, it was playing the game. In GW2, it feels like just playing the game does not net you the money needed for gearing up, so you have to farm mats, farm events w/ magic find (without it, the drops don’t generate tons of income) or maybe (before FotM, anyway) farm AC.
I’m hoping that Chris Whiteside’s blog about reviewing the incentives in other areas of play provides more options.
Please . . . don’t get into a system of trying to measure loyalty . . . THAT is something that never ends well because then you get people saying they’re the TRUE fans because of A, while a bunch of other people say THEY are the REAL fans because they oppose A.
They both care about the game, and disagree vehemently on one point. They are both loyal to the game, but not in agreement.
Agreed. That is like the multitude of posts you see on any MMO forum: claiming that the “majority” of other players agree with the poster; that the poster’s guild is down in numbers, so the game as a whole is and is thus doomed; or that XFire numbers are indicative of total population.
On the other hand, I was surprised at ANet’s claim that the Ascended gear was put in to satisfy “some of our most dedicated players” who already had their Exotic and dungeon sets, and were bored. Seems to me like this statement is drawing a conclusion about dedication, which is very much akin to loyalty in my eyes. I know it was just PR speak, but it was a mistake.
*edited to fix the gaff Tobias caught
(edited by IndigoSundown.5419)
@Malediktus
That sounds like a great solution but I don’t know if they would implement it since it seems that the rng maybe be permanent to delay the community as a whole.
Agreed. If ANet PR speak is to be believed, they didn’t expect people to get their dungeon sets so quickly. If it is true, they won’t make that mistake again. This likely means that the mechanic put in to keep people at it is going to be under their control, whereas a token system is more under the players’ control. This is similar to the RNG/limited access model found in many MMO’s, the big one included.
Now, Chris Whiteside talked about making Ascended available in other venues. We shall see if and when this comes to pass. It might very well be that some of the pieces will be more widely available, or that they all will. I’m guessing that gear with Ascended stats will be available elsewhere, but without infusion slots. The ones with slots, keyed to difficulty levels in specific dungeons, will be gated only through the dungeon(s). I’d be fine with this, as everyone could get the stats, but to do the difficult content, you’d need to succeed at the difficult content.
ANet seems to be trying to please the most people possible, for which I cannot blame them. However, what often happens when you try to do this, is you end up cheesing everyone off to a greater or lesser degree. I wish them well of it.