Guild Wars 2

Wintyre Fraust.6534:

If what you find fun is the ability to max out characters and suit them up with maxed out gear and dress them up cosmetically and take them around the world doing stuff, playing with different builds and weapons, then – especially as a casual player – this game can no longer be fun, because in order to have a maxed out (stat-wise) character we’ll have to do nothing but gear grind – which is not what we do for fun.

thank you!
concise and to the point- good luck with getting that across in this tread.

Ok OP-
I like to play for what I want and enjoy too, since I already posted my playstyle as an answer in another thread I will just paste it here:

_I dislike games that set goals for me and I prefer to create my own goals for myself.

My short term goal is to take Balthazar since it is a personal grudge at this point. Another short goal is to do all the unpopular events in SoD, Malchor’s and CS just me and my husband, since we are currently playing the rebels who refuse to farm Plinx
We have completed those maps, it is just what we feel like doing at the moment.
Another thing I want to do is investigate a rarely done event in SoD since there is a theory that this event chain might drop Final Rest.
Medium term goal would be to collect more armor sets with different specs, since I like playing with builds. Also while I do all this, I need to get some money so that I can start my MysticForge rare skin recipe hunt.
Long term- I haven’t decided yet if I will be going for the Bifrost. You get the idea….

oh and i really want to go back and tank and spank Coll Skullcrusher and see if i can solo the Shadow Behemoth_

Those are the things I enjoy doing- it is fun for me.
I can still do those things yes, sure. Some of them are now a bit pointless, but I could still do them.
The reason I am not having fun anymore is that the recent patch left such a bad taste in my mouth and made such a radical change to the design of the game, that I now feel reluctant to invest time into something where the posts might shift in an eyeblink.
I don’t trust this game anymore.
My enjoyment came from the fact that I knew the landscape of the game and could create my own goals within that landscape. For years, if I felt so inclined.

edit: and just so you know I’m currently running around in my Whispers rares, with my exotics sitting in the bank because I’m tired of the skins.

phooka.4295:

Morrigan.2809:

This is the new gold standard for the genre, anything less (or that costs more) is simply unacceptable" Oct 2012

To abandon that and give us just another gear grinder in it’s place is unspeakably disappointing.

Basically, in october the 15th, they took the gold standard from us and in return gave us something less, which is simply unacceptable.

I think you mean Nov 15th, but yes in a nutshell.
Btw the Oct date on the quote is from the issue of the magazine- so sad how things can change in a month

Yashimata.2986:

It’s a protest. It’s meant to be in your face and get attention. You don’t just pack up and leave your protest once people have seen it. You keep getting in their face to let them know whatever it is that’s going on is not okay, you’re not okay with it, and it needs to change.

well said- and OP the reason why people keep linking the manifesto and relevant quotes is because this company sadly seems to have forgotten it existed.
I am sorry it annoys you but I hope it shames this company.

@ E Hefe

I’m sorry but I have to ask- are you stoned?
Because you do not seem to comprehend anything that is being said to you and you answer everyone with exactly the same line regardless of what they actually posted. People have very real reasons for their objections, they answer your post with reason and you say the same thing over and over again.
What is up with that?
If you didn’t want a discussion why start a tread?

Did you just start another thread because no-one agreed with you in the previous one you posted in about just having fun?

Everyone wants to have fun in this game, that is the whole point of the upset.

You seem to either not understand the issues involved or are living in a bubble where the others players in an MMo game somehow doesn’t affect you at all.

The world of Tyria is a living world, it needs players, players are being sucked into the Fractals because they want to stay ahead of the gear threadmill. Hence the maps are emptier, hence DE’s cannot be done.

Not all players want to be part of that- it is not hard to understand

Taking a break makes it worse.

Yes we were having fun before this patch- don’t let me even start on how my class was broken yet again, since that is off topic.

El Hefe.2814:

Morrigan.2809:

El Hefe.2814:

if you guys feel like you are grinding then take a break. the game is meant to be fun. if you have fun enough times you get a nice reward on-top of the rewards you earned while having fun. there is no reason to ‘grind’ out this gear. the pve in this game isn’t even competitive. so, if you feel yourself grinding, take a step back, take a few days off, and relax. the game is meant to be fun. if you arent having fun, then dont play. it will be here when you get back. free of charge.

I think you missed the point, no one in this tread likes to grind.
I do play the game to have fun, sadly now my gear is no longer the best, so that freedom is taken from me and I no longer feel that I have the leisure to pursue my own goals in the game because those now are either obsolete or dictated to me by the new gear tier- you try and explore the world for fun or do DE’s with everyone sucked into The Fractal dungeon.
As for taking a break and coming back- how many tiers will be introduced in the time I’m gone? All this happened over the space of one week- heaven forbid you take a month off, there might not be a game to come back to.
I was having a lot of fun, thanks

all the gear is optional. you can do anything you want with the gear you already have. what is ‘the best gear’? the pve in this game isn’t competitive. it’s meant to be fun. if you aren’t having fun, take a break.

You need people around you in order to do hard DE’s, which I happen to enjoy.
The maps are empty because people are being funneled into one corner of the game. Good luck and have fun doing Temple events by yourself.
I also enjoy crafting- I have 3 maxed- have you seen the recipe requirements for ascended gear?
The best gear in PVE is not about competition, it means that you can forget about gear and do whatever floats your boat.
I will say again, I was having fun until last Monday.

El Hefe.2814:

if you guys feel like you are grinding then take a break. the game is meant to be fun. if you have fun enough times you get a nice reward on-top of the rewards you earned while having fun. there is no reason to ‘grind’ out this gear. the pve in this game isn’t even competitive. so, if you feel yourself grinding, take a step back, take a few days off, and relax. the game is meant to be fun. if you arent having fun, then dont play. it will be here when you get back. free of charge.

I think you missed the point, no one in this tread likes to grind.
I do play the game to have fun, sadly now my gear is no longer the best, so that freedom is taken from me and I no longer feel that I have the leisure to pursue my own goals in the game because those now are either obsolete or dictated to me by the new gear tier- you try and explore the world for fun or do DE’s with everyone sucked into The Fractal dungeon.
As for taking a break and coming back- how many tiers will be introduced in the time I’m gone? All this happened over the space of one week- heaven forbid you take a month off, there might not be a game to come back to.
I was having a lot of fun, thanks

What saddens me most is that this game really did change the MMO landscape and what people expected from a game.
I reread an article published in a gaming magazine that summed up their review like this:
" It might sound hyperbolic but GW2 represents a sea change for the MMORPG in every way.
It takes the best ideas from the last decade of the genre, and combines them into one package.
This is the new gold standard for the genre, anything less (or that costs more) is simply unacceptable" Oct 2012

To abandon that and give us just another gear grinder in it’s place is unspeakably disappointing.

I agree with you about transparency.

What I would suggest is using the already in-game feedback box that was used during the betas to actually get a feeling of players feedback directly from within the game.
Not so many people visit the forums.

More frequent blog posts will not hurt either.
It was stated that they don’t want to discuss things prematurely since they don’t want to disappoint but it is not a tactic that works well and has lead to the current debacle.

Once off events imo should be reworked entirely, not sure how, maybe your suggestion is a viable option.

xiv.7136:

The mistake people make is in thinking the game will not continue to change.

Early on, it was hard to get exotics. Because there weren’t many level 80s farming Orr, etc.

Now exotics are easy to get. You will pretty much have a full set of them waiting for you when you hit level 80.

It will be the same with ascended gear. Don’t mistake how it looks now for how it will look in just a few weeks.

People did not make a mistake , that was how the game was advertised- not that it would not change but-that it would not have gear progression.

It might be somewhat easy to get exotics, more so for some than for others.
The point is that you could take your time to do so without grinding because it was supposed to be the best of the best. You could also acquire Exotics through various different avenues.
Never-mind the multiple sets for aesthetics, stats and different builds.
It gave people choices in how they played the game and for what purpose.

With Ascended armor you now have to grind your kitten off to get a stat boost you might not want, just so you can do it again when the next item or Infusion comes out.
That completely defeats the purpose of the original game design.

As far as I know no one has a problem with fractals being added to the game.

Tell me OP how would Ascended gear with the same stats as Exotics but with an extra slot have prevented them form adding new content?
People would still have had their dungeon progression and the rest of us would have had the game we bought and loved.
Don’t call me a child and tell me to put down my handbag.

SoulVoid.3852:

So I hear a lot of people complaining about it. But I’m just wondering one thing. Did ANet break the promise of ‘people playing the game only a little bit because that’s all they can play but being able to have the same gear stats as someone who plays 24/7’ (the only difference being what the armor looks like)? And are the stats game breaking compared to Exotics?

The short answer is yes, they did.
The more complicated answer is we don’t know how bad it is yet, since not a lot of players have the items yet.
Already it is causing a divide in the game.
We do know that more items will be added in the future.
As it is these items are more powerful than exotics.

Hsinimod.5784:

You are missing the point. Anet’s fault for not being clearer.

You are not supposed to beeline from Story to Story. You are supposed to do the content around you as you make your way to the Story. You are exploring and helping the world. You are a hero in need being pulled all over, and end up gaining experience by the time you find yourself at your Story.

The problem is, it can break immersion for those looking for that. You are told to “immediately” go somewhere, so the urgency makes it feel wrong to go romping off killing centaurs or ghosts. That was bad Story writing, to not make the gaps in levels suggest that the player should be exploring on their way to the next part.

Also, the Human story, you aren’t expected to fight dragons as a level 1. You don’t even know you are going to be a big shot hero. So it makes sense that you are doing personal life issues as you grow.

This is correct- also the personal story is a tiny fraction of the game, it sounds like you expect it to be all there is. What it is, is more of a reference point for you to start off with so that you can create your own experience in the world. The story is designed in such a way that it introduces you to different areas of the larger world at the appropriate level.

But it doesn’t really sound like you are interested in playing the game, just getting to max level as fast as possible. If that is true then you missed the point a bit but you can always just craft your way there and never leave town.
@ Ionko: there is no way you did everything in the area and are only lvl9. You must have missed most of it, not sure what to tell you.

Fourteen days ago these forums where largely positive and yes, you had interesting little threads about Quaggans and Skritt and Screenshots, because people where happy and wanted to share.
Fast forward to today- the reason why all these threads are being created is because it is the only thing on every player’s mind, it affects the whole community the game-world, map chat and the future of a game lots of people love and don’t want to see fail.

So yes, it is understandable that it is what everyone wants to talk about.

Once we have clarity- then it will be time to make quite little threads about Quaggans.
Until then not so much.

The merged threads are insensible because they are randomly merged so the gist of the individual conversations has been lost.
Add to that,they are hundreds of pages long.
It is a graveyard so that no-one has to see the posts.

By all means clutter up the front page, maybe then the message will get trough and the relevant people can realize that everything is not golden.

I would love to know too.

The reason this thread even exists is because of the total vacuum when it comes to someone in authority addressing very legitimate concerns.

@ Meinke to post such a reply shows a lack of understanding of the current situation and asking for a response from Devs is not a call out, nor is it attention seeking.

At this point it is really needed.
I do not expect CC’s to state company intentions but I do expect them to pass on the information to the relevant people, being Gaile or whoever.

Shpongle.6025:

Dude, just do what I do, play games when you feel like it. Counter Strike Global Offensive is an awesome game dude, CSS is great to, TF2 is so so funny and silly, and GW2 is like for weekends when you got time to kill.

I see alot of you youngbloods theese days giving way too much importance to virtual enviorments that are only digital. Go out, meet some new people, a gym or a pub whichever you want, socialise the old way, have some fun, talk to girls or boys whichever you fancy and just live. Live in the real world for a change, it might do you some good.

I don’t see what your post had to do with this tread, but you seemed to have missed the point that a lot of people playing this game are not “young bloods”

Personally I would love to play games whenever I felt like it but I have responsibilities in my life like a family and child.

So yes, I would like the time I have to devote to games not to waste my time

I liked Orr, not for the gear or the loot or the farming but because I found it interesting and I loved the events and the urgency.
So I used to play there for fun.

To answer your question, it is dead now.
You need a lot of players in Orr to do the Temple events, or even just the out of the way ones.
I died horribly too many times to count in the last couple of days trying to get Arah with 10 players.
Lets not even talk about the Zhol Quaffa event I tried to 2 man
0_0

Anishor.6921:

being a software developer I understand that response to such huge issues take time, so no I don’t think they’ve completely sold the farm so to speak yet.

God, I hope you are right

I bought a bank slot, the Witch costume for Halloween and some BL salvage kits, Fine Transmute stones.
I deleted my town clothes because they are hideous no matter how you dye them.
I really wanted to support this game but that was all I could realistically buy.

It there where:
character customization.
new hairstyles
new emotes/dances
costumes/town clothes
armor skins/weapon skins
heck even player housing

People would throw money at the cash shop in a never ending stream.

Thank You Op.
I agree, I would add that I think there is a general underestimation in the age of the player base as well as intelligence.
There was a thread on this forum about the general age of the GW2 players and it was not 18, with 13 hours a day to play.

The people crowing victory on this thread might just pause and consider for a moment that players like you might have gotten your way, but you have ruined a potentially great game and made it just like all the others just because you had to have what you have always had.
In a month you will move on and there will be nothing left.
The people this game was designed for are left out in the cold again.

EntDS.4687:

Maybe you should stop playing games then, you’re obviously too old for them.

Really?
I agree with the OP.
I too have a husband and a child and real life commitments.
I don’t have a TV because I value my free time.
I bought this game because I was told by the developers that they value my time as I do and that they made the game with people like me in mind.

I have played games for more than 20 years ,because they are fun.
If I am too old to play games, then you are too young to have an opinion- see how disrespectful that is?

^^ Ahhh I see – kinda like threads with direct quotes or links to articles

Ballistic.4531:

My thtread just got deleted, without a PM from the mod saying why or giving me an infraction. Stealth!

Until I get an official reason for it I’ll keep posting the image of how much they fail exactly.

I am a bit confused- are you using that pic as an illustration of unfair infraction?
Because it is, there is nothing wrong with that post, I saw it myself.

About your deleted thread, I take it that it was a different thread? What was it about?

Well guys getting an infraction for being polite is not nice but if so then so be it.
I just think it is important that the Devs actually get to see the feed back.
I see so many threads directly asking for feedback either get closed, or vanish.
I don’t think it is unreasonable to want some clarity and a direct answer.
But yes it will be closed with infractions all round

Hi
I just posted in a thread that is now gone with out a trace, not locked, gone.

If this is the case that threads are being deleted off the forums with no explanation, please reconsider.
I realize community managers and mods are there to keep the forums civil.

However if it is true that ArenaNet does take player feedback into account, you are doing no one a favor by deleting feedback relating to this current community split.

The players are giving feed back because they care about the game, the Devs need to be able to see that feedback in order to make an informed decision/ or not.
Merging threads into insensibly is not the answer either.
Thank you.
edit: if it was a case of the OP deleting the tread- move on nothing to see here. And my apologies

I loved everything about GW2 and it was my ideal game. Now I don’t know, I missed out on GW1 originally and have always regretted it. So yesterday I bought two accounts of GW1- going to give it a go. I just hope it stays online long enough.
I have spent way too much money on GW2, last week I ordered a $80 mouse, it hasn’t even arrived yet.

Nice post OP and you stated all the reasons why I pre-purchased GW2.
I really really loved this game until this change was announced and I logged on to play even though I felt it was a really bad move.
This weekend proved all my fears as you can already see this change affecting the game.
The vibe in the game was always fun and players where happy to be there. Now the mood is ugly, players are angry and rude. The world map is dead, you cannot complete events.
I missed out on GW1, so today I went and bought two accounts.
I am hoping that that might be my new home and that it lasts longer than 3 months.
Sadly it is the same company so who knows.

beautiful post OP

I agree totally, I am honestly completely confused as to why Anet thought it a good idea in the first place.

Give us more cool skins / more recipes to make them yes

Give us more cool things in the cash shop, there are loads of threads on the suggestion forum about stuff people will gladly pay money for. Just let us buy it outright.

Give us the fractal dungeon by all means, for those who like that kind of thing. With appropriate reward as in the OP.

Encourage people into the rest of the world by adding unique zone skins, drops and maybe roaming dailies, yes

Ascended gear, stat grind and gear creep,no thanks.

/signed
a worried FAN

I am surprised by this, it makes no sense to me since the whole idea behind down leveling was so that you could revisit lower lvls.

I honestly love exploring and I revisit lower lvls constantly.
Not for rewards clearly since they don’t compare to Orr and the waypoints suck up additional cost.
I did it because I love the world and it’s detail and all the interwoven stories in the different zones. I love the vibe in lower lvl maps since the players are a blast.
At the moment I am running around Caledon on my lvl 80 exotic, just because I have never seen the area.
The whole recent change completely baffles me since it seems to cut players off from the world more and more.
What is the point of spending years designing such an awesome world and then herding players into one little corner of it?
I just feel that all choice in how we play the game is being taken away form us

Great post OP.
Well thought out and constructive, I agree with everything you said and I really hope that this post gets seem by the appropriate people.

Great idea, I actually don’t understand why this was not done in the first place given the huge change the addition of vertical progression has brought to the game.

There is also a trader in the Piazza that sells you weapons for captain’s commendations.
I bought a bow as a skin for my thief for 25. but the real goods are very expensive- if you want to use it as weapons that is ;P

Aleister.5423:

So can’t complete the investigation on my level 15 mesmer as Kessex hills is way to high level for me, So much for our level 80 boost.

Cya all in the next trainwreck of an event.

Kessex hills is fine at lvl 15- I wandered there on my main at lvl 15, also a Mesmer.
It is not that hard- one end near Fort Salma is higher lvl25 I think – which is where I came in, but you can survive.
The up-leveling as far as I understand is for the dungeon and for the lost Shores Map at the end of the event. The map only up-levels for the weekend afaik

edit: also there are hordes of people you shouldn’t have a problem

AspectsOfWar.5602:

This is the first company who has made an MMO in the last 8 years who gets it. They understand the MMO community, they love MMOs themselves and are inspired to create the game they want to play. They communicate with the GW2 community, they understand the difference between whining and legitimate feedback. They understand what PvP is all about. I have not been more pleased with an MMO company.

I feel Blizzard had this at one point with WoW but has lost touch in recent years.

EA/Bioware did not understand the genre, community, or fine details of gameplay when it came to SWTOR. They emulated WoW (even the bad parts) because they did not have the inspiration to come up with their own ideas. They did not respect the community and made bad decision after bad decision expecting to have auto success due to the franchise. Eventually they failed with their lead designers “resigning” and the game going F2P.

Funcom repeatedly rushes what could have been decent games. All their MMOs are released too early with only starting content, and enormous amount of bugs. Their games always fail quickly.

Thank you ArenaNet for finally being the ones to get it right. This is the game I have been looking for since vanilla WoW. I can’t wait to see whats in store in the future.

Subtle OP, very subtle

I have gotten exactly one dye drop since the patch- before the dye profusion, I used to get at least one every day or two.
I have started buying them again on the TP- sad for my pocket. My husband did get Midnight fire and he was nice enough to give it to me
I even crafted a bunch on my cheff just to get my fix.

I would love a real response because it seemed to me that the quote in your OP is a media spin to try and contain the situation.
It is also contradictory and I feel kind of insulted by it to be honest.
I feel that given the amount of opposition to this new mechanic- we really should have a post/answer/some response by someone who is prepared to be honest about it at least.
If they really plan on bringing in gear progression from now on they should at least bite the bullet and say it outright.
This beating about the bush is making players trust them even less.

HawkMeister.4758:

Morrigan.2809:

What would make me happy is if they gave ascended armour the same stats as exotics and just added an infusion slot-ta da!
you can mitigate agony, don’t create power creep and introduce new mechanics via infusion slots without alienating your players.
Win win.

Wrong wrong.
That would make ascendant armor inferior as it can´t be upgraded with sigils&runes.

Infusion is useless outside of the Fractal, thus all the alienation is uninformed and overhyped.

I meant exotic armour as is with just an infusion slot added.
That way ascended armour stays useful for the purpose of mitigation needed in the new dungeon without introducing powercreep. For all intents and purposes it would revert to exotics outside of the dungeon.

HiddenNick.7206:

Morrigan.2809:

It was why this game appealed to a lot of players with lives, knowing that if you can’t play for some time, your char will still be there, your gear will still be the best and you can just pick up where you left off.

Dude they invented level skaling! Just to make you happy… To make you happy again it will just take some more invention.

What does level scaling have to do with it? (girl btw)
What would make me happy is if they gave ascended armour the same stats as exotics and just added an infusion slot-ta da!
you can mitigate agony, don’t create power creep and introduce new mechanics via infusion slots without alienating your players.
Win win.

Waar Kijk Je Naar.8713:

HiddenNick.7206:

I know there are a lot of people upset now… But why? Really? What have just happend that made so upset? Is it becouse AN just announced that the newest update will contain… Purple RING!? No? So maybe becouse it is slightly more powerfull then the exotic one? Hmm… So how much more powerfull is it? Lets take a look…

My level 80 guardian has 1500 power – so it’s just low as hell (and still I can do any dungeon whithin the game). And so called scary as hell ring will give my guardian additional 5 above that what can give him exotic ring. So that gets my character 0,003 more powerfull then those without the Ascended Ring of Uther Apocalypse!

Above that there were ALWAYS items better then others! Whites are weeker then blues and blues are weeker then greens. Level 79 character is weeker then level 80 character.

New items does not change a THING! They change NOTHING! They are just another type of achievement.
And did you ever played gw1? There were locations where you need armor infusion or exact class and exact build. How is the ring any different then that?

ANT did a lot work making you all feel equal when playing PvP (where ascended gear probibly will never appear). They even scale your level and gear when playing PvE! And you still think that they just want to throw that all away? Think again.

The ring is just the beginning. Eventually there will be a full Ascended set. And that’s 8,5% stronger than a full exotic set, not counting the Infusions.

Problems:
Power creep
Gear treadmill
Exotics becoming the new rares
People who play less can’t catch up
Vertical progression instead of horizontal

Gear is scaled by a percentage so a lvl 80 player with Ascended gear downscaled to 30 will be stronger than a lvl 80 player with Exotic gear downscaled to 30.

Hit the brakes BEFORE the car hits the wall.

This in a nutshell.
It is vertical progression when we bought the game on the premise of horizontal progression.
Exotic was supposed to be the top tier and that was supposed to be the end.
It was why this game appealed to a lot of players with lives, knowing that if you can’t play for some time, your char will still be there, your gear will still be the best and you can just pick up where you left off.
It is not that hard to understand really.

This is how I feel too OP.
It just makes me happy to play every time I log in- My husband and I have had some awesome adventures in Tyria.
Great post.
subtle too

apocalyps.7106:

Morrigan.2809:

I find that I have a lot to do still at 80 and I honestly prefer to play my 80 and not my alt. But I get that my playstyle is not yours.
It sounds to me that this new dungeon coming on the 15th is right up your ally.

can you please tell me what are your objective in the near future, you say you still have things to do, please tell me those things, as my original post wasn’t very very detailed.

Sure I can but let me tell you a bit about my playstyle and I think you will see.
I dislike games that set goals for me and I prefer to create my own goals for myself.
From your OP you sound like the opposite because you seem to need clear goals.
I also missed that you disliked dungeons so I guess the new dungeon might not be your cup of tea.
My short term goal is to take Balthazar since it is a personal grudge at this point. Another short goal is to do all the unpopular events in SoD, Malchor’s and CS just me and my husband, since we are currently playing the rebels who refuse to farm Plinx

We have completed those maps, it is just what we feel like doing at the moment.

Another thing I want to do is investigate a rarely done event in SoD since there is a theory that this event chain might drop Final Rest.

Medium term goal would be to collect more armor sets with different specs, since I like playing with builds. Also while I do all this, I need to get some money so that I can start my MysticForge rare skin recipe hunt.
Long term- I haven’t decided yet if I will be going for the Bifrost. You get the idea….

I can also see that this will not help you at all, but this is just how I play.

You might consider the new area- I don’t know how repeatable it will be but it is a new 80 map. The new dungeon does sound like what you want though- infinite- harder levels, better rewards the deeper you go.
good luck

edit: oh and i really want to go back and tank and spank Coll Skullcrusher and see if i can solo the Shadow Behemoth.

No I will not play more, in fact I will play less.
It makes me sad and I love this game but if they add a gear treadmill, I know I will lose interest and eventually quit.
I was under the impression that I would be playing this game for years and up until this announcement I was really enjoying myself.
oK off to cry now

I find that I have a lot to do still at 80 and I honestly prefer to play my 80 and not my alt. But I get that my playstyle is not yours.
It sounds to me that this new dungeon coming on the 15th is right up your ally.

“this will not end well”
grrrrrr makes me grind my teeth.

Feycat.4370:

Morrigan.2809:

ok I have to post again on this tread.
Even after I read the clarification by Lindsay, all I can think is wow.

What clarifications? Link?

Old link I know but I haven’t posted since yesterday
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/
you all know this by now

ok I have to post again on this tread.
Even after I read the clarification by Lindsay, all I can think is, no.
Sorry Anet but you went back on your word three months after launch.
What you should have done is increase dungeon rewards and boss drops, you should have level-scaled down more for lower content but increased the rewards to be level specific and added new DE’s to all maps like you said you would. Lastly you should have given us more cosmetic skins for both armour and weapons.
What you did, was cater to the lowest common denominator and you basically told everyone playing your game that people who researched it and supported it throughout it’s development don’t matter because WOW.
This makes me very sad indeed since I bought the game because of your manifesto- yes i was skeptical and I researched it and played in the betas and it proved to me that you meant what you said.
You are damaging your game beyond repair if you implement a gear grind and I really fear that this will be the end of GW2 and what could have been.