Guild Wars 2

Naoko.7096:

This is why the element of progression must be strong in any mmo to avoid low concurrency of players online per day.

Totally agreed.

More content: more events, more places to explore, harder dungeons, more costumes etc. or more statistics.

But this is a never-ending cycle of creating content vs consuming content . Some players are already used to AAA titles every 6 months, so they need the “dopamine” every 2~3months. Rushing a game is pretty much the staple for hardcore gamers, who ignored most of the nitty-gritty content and goes for the plateau/ending/credits.

But I thought GW2 is for low-commitment players? If there’s not enough concurrency the servers will merge?

People just want more powerful gear, just give them.

We can weep in the corner while they turning GW2 into another WoW wonderland.

*waits for ANet to start implementing more RNG thingies.

Azjenco.9425:

Hmm, +5 condition damage… Is that it? Is that what infusions are all about.

I honestly thought it was going to be something new, something interesting, like…
- every fifth hit activates 2s of might
- when damage goes under 20%, gain 2s swiftness
- whenever you gain regen, the next hit will be critical
- after being revived, your ability with the longest cooldown remaining will be restored
- when you’re knocked down, adjacent enemies get’s pushed away
… you get the idea…
Maybe it could even have been something unique that we haven’t seen before.

But this just feels so… uninspiring. Color me unimpressed.

Don’t give them weird ideas like “Gaining 1s of Quickness after weapon swap” …

Nerf the weapon? This is complex. I think a legendary GS still be useful for Warriors.

Ranger:

The pet is still annoying, I would rather re-roll a warrior or use other range-focused characters.

Banewrath.5107:

I myself don`t see how so many people could be content with using the same equipment they got within the first few months of release for the length of their lifespan with the game. Sooner or later they would have to add a way to upgrade equipment or add in more. It just came sooner rather then later. I don`t think it`s a bad thing though considering how easy it is to get current exotics or dungeon equipment.

It is too easy to get exotics.

This is the point of the game..

I don`t see how people could be content with using the same equipment.

Because you are too ‘used’ to consume content, you could have tweaked your builds, roll another alt, roleplay… or even get a real life for a month or 2 then return and jump into the fun without grinding for new equipments.

It just came sooner rather then later.

Good for us to know that ANet is going to cater to other MMOgamers out there instead of retaining its design principles.

I don`t think it`s a bad thing.

It is a good thing for you, bad thing for some of us.

IndigoSundown.5419:

Can anyone link a statement where ANet promised that Exotic would be the max gear level? Without that…

ANet didn’t promise Exotic will be max gear level, but they didn’t promise Ascend will be the last either.

Snake-oil salesman at work.

Cheers!

I think Zerkers should be ground targeting, this will solve some WvW issues but will increase difficulty of Mesmer game.

Ideas?

nofo.8469:

Vladamire.2049:

nofo.8469:

Vladamire.2049:

nofo.8469:

warmonkey.8013:

nofo.8469:

warmonkey.8013:

nofo.8469:

Rangle.2539:

But all MMO need progression. New tier will give that progression.

Yer there has never been a successful MMO released without progression content, we need new tiers but patience, we need for the majority of people to have at least experienced ascended first.

lmao.

i mean you’re just so wrong i don’t even..

good god, but you’re just so wrong, haha.

keep talking kiddo, i’m sure your exhaustive knowledge of the last 3 years of the gaming market won’t let you down
haha

Really? Please list one.

I am more than willing to be corrected, just provide some substance please.

daoc.

Realm ranks were linear progression.

What happened to DAoC when they put in the gear treadmill called artifacts? Thats right! The game died.

The game is still alive and well I don’t know what you are talking about.

But stay on topic please everyone

We want to brainstorm ideas on how to even further improve the excellent direction this game is taking.

Yes because of the 5000 people that play it today really compares to the 300,000 that played it in its prime, also known as the time before ToA. This so called idea might be excellent to you, but to me its pure crap. This idea needs to be flushed down the toilet along with the moron who came up with it.

I remember ToA, exploring the ocean depths and raiding those mighty ML encounters was fun and extremely epic.

I remember when I got my axe of malice to level 10 I felt like a walking god. That’s what this game needs, ascendant and legendary weapons and armor to level off killing a specific kind of monster or player.

Also master levels would be great, imagine having even more awesome and unique abilities to gain after you hit level 80.

Why don’t you play a single player RPG instead? Skyrim is a good fit.

I’m not aiming at you, it is just that by catering to power-seeking people – few other people has to suffer. Because there is always not enough power.

Why can’t we all roleplay as farmers/villagers/townguards trying to protect our villages/cities, but must roleplay as singular HERO standing over dragons or being a GODLIKE kitten winning 1v3 in WvW?

fellyn.5083:

warmonkey.8013:

fellyn.5083:

toomuchtatose.6874:

fellyn.5083:

I’m excited for the ascended stuff. Looking forward to it.

People still completely over reacting.

So objection = over-reaction.

You are also over-reacting (excited).

No, saying you’re going to quit and Anet are baby killers and all the other nonsense people are saying when they haven’t tried it is over reacting.

I’m just excited for new game content.

What’s there to try about it? I’m familiar with the concept of a gear treadmill, of mudflation, of tiered content. I don’t like that garbage. Why should I try it? Every other MMO out there right now has that stuff. I already know I don’t want it or like it. That’s why I bought a game that told me there wouldn’t ever be this kitten.

I’m sure the new content is fun to play, but I’m not going to do it, because I’m not a hamster and I’m not getting in that wheel. That is not fun for me and so I won’t do it — and because that’s how the game is going to play out, I won’t play it, either. Never again will I put myself in a position where I need to eternally chase after gear. If you’re going to do that, might as well remove the level cap and continue stat increases on level-up — after all you’d be getting ‘rewarded’ for time spent playing the game, and that’s all this gear bullkitten is anyway.

And then, years from now, whoever is the most skillful at the game wins!*

*skill determined entirely by hours logged on the account.

Because it’s not a gear treadmill. Yet. It’s one additional tier of equipment. Wait until next time if it happens again to react.

I’ve played GW1 since release and Anet has done alright in my book, since then. I’m willing to give them the benefit of the doubt that they know what they are doing right now.

They made a lot of controversial changes to that game that had just as many people (GW1 in it’s prime had a 5mil+ player base) saying they’d quit over them. But in the end it all worked out and I think we can all agree GW1 was and still is an amazing game.

They see the big picture, we don’t. So until it’s all revealed I’ll keep my negative criticism in check and continue enjoying the game for the time being.

They never provide the “big picture” to us. Why new tier? Nobody can explain the +stats for new Ascend equipments.

Lacking information, some gamers will see less appeal in following the “informal contract” and leave. Passionate ones will criticise in the hope that ANet will cave under pressure.

Unless there is a rational explanation (e.g. casual explanation) of why stats increase is needed, people will perceive new tier as unnecessary and sign of new gameplay direction – both are harmful for consolidating stable playerbase.

Thank you for testing

nofo.8469:

toomuchtatose.6874:

nofo.8469:

Well, I would like to enjoy the content with everyone as well. But if there is someone without agony resistance then I will need to filter them out so I can enjoy the content.

It’s a downside really but it is a necessary evil in order to enjoy this wonderful content ANet has made for us.

Instead of inclusive DE-kind of content, we have this exclusive elitist dungeon-style of content.

Necessary evil for the purpose of progression.

What is so necessary about it?

Because ANet stated themselves progression content is happening.

If you want to progress, you need to know group’s capabilities.

How are you to know capabilities of everyone without GS/inspect or something else?

Why don’t we have something like Halloween labyrinth where there are group event bosses which are able to one-shot every around them… yes.. those does not incentivise everyone to GS/inspect their parties/allies.

Isn’t that progression too? That’s also grinding, a good time-sinker, make the group-event boss drop like 5tokens (out of 1500 required) for the backpack or something.

While letting the players experience first-hand agony where the boss is roaming around.

fellyn.5083:

toomuchtatose.6874:

fellyn.5083:

I’m excited for the ascended stuff. Looking forward to it.

People still completely over reacting.

So objection = over-reaction.

You are also over-reacting (excited).

No, saying you’re going to quit and Anet are baby killers and all the other nonsense people are saying when they haven’t tried it is over reacting.

I’m just excited for new game content.

I see, those are the most vocal (very excited) I guess.

Most people I know of IRL (including me) are purely disappointed and never appear on forums/in-game, they are just not excited.

nofo.8469:

Well, I would like to enjoy the content with everyone as well. But if there is someone without agony resistance then I will need to filter them out so I can enjoy the content.

It’s a downside really but it is a necessary evil in order to enjoy this wonderful content ANet has made for us.

Instead of inclusive DE-kind of content, we have this exclusive elitist dungeon-style of content.

Necessary evil for the purpose of progression.

What is so necessary about it?

Wait for another few months, ANet promises.

This event caters to WoW crowd, not you. I don’t like dungeons either.

Well, the OP did make a point.

It forces “extremely casual players” to log in and enjoy the new content.

I would not know if this is sustainable on the long run.

If ANet can create such events consistently, we might have another sustainable MMO, just not the GW2 we are initially being sold.

Wait for market to stablise, unless you want to speculate XD

Snoring Sleepwalker.9073:

MatthewMedina.5419:

that means it’s impossible for us to choose a time that offers us a chance for everyone to attend.

So why have one time events when you know that it’s impossible for everyone to attend ?

Why schedule them in such a fashion that the people who miss out on one are likely to keep missing out ?
Why give the impression that your American and European customers are more important than your Oceanic customers ?

Having said that, this decision is something that we realized would not make everyone happy.

I don’t recall anyone ever complaining that a game didn’t have one time events. Only that they missed out on events when the developers chose to include them.

So that leaves one obvious solution that should please everyone: Don’t have one time events in the first place.

For this case, they had to do the one-time event to capitalise on new zones.

The events should last longer though.

fellyn.5083:

I’m excited for the ascended stuff. Looking forward to it.

People still completely over reacting.

So objection = over-reaction.

You are also over-reacting (excited).

Fiontar.4695:

I will be shocked beyond belief if Infusions ever are needed for progression in World PvE or in any of the other Dungeons available in game. I can’t rule out some other form of PvE content in the future that would take advantage of infusions, but Arenanet seems committed to expanding FotM on a fairly regular basis in the months and years to come. It’s possible we may see more stand-alone dungeons in the future, but I have a feeling that FotM will be the main focus for ongoing Dungeon development.

Ascended equipments (w/o infusion) makes Sigils, crests, runes and gems obsolete.

You wouldn’t want to get some superior divinity runes because you can just grind for Ascended equipments which comes with better stats with options for infusion (which means possibly more stats enhancements).

Sigils, crests, runes and gems become fodders for stats-giving Infusions just like Exotics become fodder for Ascended.

Initially, GW2 is like a carebear PvE MMO

People who wanted PvP will complain about the lack of substance in PvP or issues with WvW.

But people who likes to explore, jump-puzzles, DEs love the game so much because the next guy who is beside you is definitely a positive sign and less likely to screw your day in PvE.

The more people in the same zone, the better your PvE experience.

Because of levelled zones, people eventually move to higher levelled zones.

Slower PvErs suddenly found themselves alone, abandoned and playing a single player game.
Faster PvErs suddenly found themselves enclosed in some clusterkitten doing the same old event all the time.
Slower PvErs feel the need to power-level. Faster PvErs make alts.
PvErs start to burn out because they diverge from their “original” playstyles.

With the new patch, GW2 is less likely to be carebear and more hostile for casual games

Initially being killed in WvW and feel that it is because of equipments?
Now because of the patch GW2 attract power creeping into PvE/WvW game, People will scream Cheap because someone else has better equipments, not because of skills or professions.

Dungeons which fosters teamplayer will now also foster competitive teamplayers, some players already had poor experiences in dungeon teams, players are more likely to experience more hostile behaviour in the future from their teammates.
In such competitive environment, people will less likely to invite PuG without high achievement points into their dungeons.

drifter.8453:

toomuchtatose.6874:

How about you moving to other zones since new patch allows you to get level 80 loot from level 55+ zones?

I never once got 80 loot in a 55 zone. I figure If and when a piece of loot ever drops in a 80 zone you think the loot would be 80 since it’s in a 80 zone, nope it always ends up being 70ish. Not only it is 70ish it is a blue and it never matches my type of gear, meaning If I wear heavy I got the other flavors. But nice try.

So yea, don’t blame me, ANet failed you

Obviously, there are people who do not buy into the “Horizontal Progression” argument.

Too many MMOs polluting us with lack-of-quality-content.

Now it looks like grinding = content-consumption.

And I thought GW2 is supposed to be low-commitment game?

Synitare.3176:

Eleazyair.5716:

I have a feeling that Anet will lose a chunk of their player base from their mess up.

They already have. I’m assuming that the “refer a friend” happening on the same weekend that they alienated half their player base by betraying their “manifesto” is no coincidence. Kinda feels like they’re pushing us out and hoping to steal some of WoW’s cake in one fell swoop.

MMO targets are saturated?
Only pie they can steal is from WoW, I guess.

Every MMO need to out-WoW WoW in these few days. /sarcasm

Fiontar.4695:

In a genre where expansion packs routinely trivialize hard earned raid gear with insane gear inflation that sees new greens trumping the old top tier gear, this very minor gear inflation is close to nothing.

We still don’t know what their big expansion strategy is. Will they raise the level cap with a yearly expansion? Or, will they stick with 80? If there is no level cap increase, do you really think the game would thrive with out some form of ongoing progression?

By the outrage expressed by the vocal minority, you’d think that they had spent hundreds of hours earning the Exotic Gear that will no longer be the pinnacle of power as Ascended gear enters the game! The easiest to acquire Exotics just do not take very long, no matter which of the available paths you chose to take in acquiring them. Arenanet isn’t trivializing some extremely long and difficult Exotic gear grind with some arbitrary gear inflation treadmill.

The inflation is minor. Starting with just Rings and Back Armor, with additional pieces providing a horizontal progression to the ascended tier of gear, Arenanet can add some sense of progression to match the expansion of Fractals of the Mist over the months and years to come.

Hello? Are we on the same page?

http://www.gw2db.com/items/71368-solaria-circle-of-the-sun <- not insane gear inflation?

Gradual gear inflation is really just gear inflation, it can be slow drug like tobacco. Once you got hooked onto the idea that you need to grind in order to enjoy the next thing as the other guy.

Never had I died in WvW thinking the other guy has better gear than me, although I’m only wearing rares. In the future, even with I equip myself with exotics I might want to think twice if that guy was really just pimping stats.

And because of gear inflation this game will ALWAYS be compared to WoW.

Vocal = Minority.

People around me = Majority.

You are probably not informed by the “real majority” → I think they already moved back to WoW.

How about you moving to other zones since new patch allows you to get level 80 loot from level 55+ zones?

chronus.1326:

phanmc.6759:

knee-jerk reaction to the public outcry for gear progression

What public outcry?

The only public outcry here is this one. Exactly in what form did those allegedly great number of people reach ArenaNet? This is the place where you talk with the developers. If somebody plays an MMO and knows what an e-mail address is, he knows what a forum is too.

There was never any outcry for progression from the gamers. This is the place where communication is possible with the devs and there was zero outcry here. There is no other method through which anyone could have achieved any kind of a meaningful result. You cannot even normally find the emal adresses of the devs wthout coming up to the man side and incidently finding the forums too.

Unless the criers were ninjas, there was no outcry.

At least most of the outcries are channelled into forums which can be managed… If this disappointment overflow to other social channels like FB, Twitters etc. etc. → Imagine the negative words of mouth.

PS. Some already did went to youtube and even more public channels.

Onshidesigns.1069:

This idea will still give people a reason to buy gem store skins to apply to a exotic. It also adds more end game by letting you upgrade your whole wardrobe of exotics to ascended or closer to it.

Letting us upgrade exotics may solve these problems.
*infusion slot upgrade
*increase their power to ascended

They get less money from their cash shop if your idea is implemented.

Razamis.1062:

I can’t believe anyone would drop money in this game for gems. You get everything you need just from playing the game, there is absolutely no reason to buy gems.

If you are dropping $50/month into this game when it isn’t needed, perhaps you should give some of that wasted money to charity.

I find it sick how some players can proudly boast how much they spend in the gem store. Like most players, I haven’t spent a dime in the gem store and never intend to.

You should believe it, people has been throwing money on more “illogical” things.
Games are still fine, they provide entertainment service.

Naoko.7096:

I perceive the update to be more like strengthening the progression between exotic and legendary. The progression between these 2 tiers really needs a serious emergency fix imo. (I reached exotic like in 2 days after Lv80? I calculated legendary going to take unrealistic 8 months on my pace if I play 4-8 hours per day? That’s a big gap.)

Try crafting something more exotic like Foefire Essence.

New intermediate tier is required Nobody doubt about that.
Better stats on new gear? Why?
Hard to craft exotics = more worthless Unless you go for vanity, but you might as well aim straight for legendary.

They could have upgraded some exotics to Ascended quality, give them same stats as exotic but provide increased PvE functions via Infusion slots – to satisfy Dungeoners, PvPers and people with principles, as well as people who already invested on these “semi-legendaries”.

Anyways the update is more than just Ascended Gears. If Ascended quality really need the stats+ we will need time to see. First impression from most complainers is that stat+ is just lowballing current players, and dissuading virgin MMO players since “GW2 is just another Grind MMO like WoW, need alot of commitment” rethoric coming from the uninformed

Slic.2406:

toomuchtatose.6874:

AW Lore.5682:

“And guess what? These ascended items, they’re going to be a 50-100x worse grindfest than the exotics you spent time/patience getting. And the legendaries that will be even higher stats? Well.. Yeah.”

and how do you know they will be 50-100 worse grindfest?

Without a grind-fest, then whats the point of introducing them when players can get them easily?

50x is an exaggeration but they must have thought of minimum exotic dungeon armour level kind of grind to entice stats-seeker to get the equipments, probably grinding enough to get 250 lodestone-rare mats?

Dungeon armour (exotic) grind mostly for vanity then.

There’s no good reason AT ALL to have the stats-seekers be given any advantage, aside from fancy looks and vanity. No reason. At all. And I spend mroe time in this game than 9/10 players. I don’t want this.

Where did their fairness/equality stances go? Where is GW1’s original, carried-over idea of ’a person who started < 1 week ago can gain access to all the tools a 2+yr vet can, the only difference becomes skill)? They blatantly broke their manifesto and promises, this is now just another treadmill MMO in disguise.

But you know… this game is not run by players or ANet…

displacedTitan.6897:

Leveling in this game is the most non-grind in any MMO I have seen. What games are you playing where it is less “grindy”. Certainly not WoW, SWToR or any of the current crop of MMOs. You can level in GW2 so many different ways, from crafting to exploring to dungeoning.

I think a lot of people need to step back and realize what the MMO genre is, its a timesink and abnegation. THIS IS NOT THE GENRE TO FIND HARD, SKILL TESTING GAMEPLAY.

But you lost me at “MMO Genre”
So FPS is a time-sink, RTS is a time-sink…

it is a matter of perspective.

AW Lore.5682:

“And guess what? These ascended items, they’re going to be a 50-100x worse grindfest than the exotics you spent time/patience getting. And the legendaries that will be even higher stats? Well.. Yeah.”

and how do you know they will be 50-100 worse grindfest?

Without a grind-fest, then whats the point of introducing them when players can get them easily?

50x is an exaggeration but they must have thought of minimum exotic dungeon armour level kind of grind to entice stats-seeker to get the equipments, probably grinding enough to get 250 lodestone-rare mats?

Dungeon armour (exotic) grind mostly for vanity then.

Cyric.7485:

GADefence.5634:

People are affraid (and rightely so) that this will become a gear threadmill. First, the stat is MF – if it’s another thing, say power, of thoughness, it’ll be a lot more. Second, if it was crit chance, that’s a total of what? Around 30-40% crit damage for an entire set? That’s a pretty huge DPS difference.

2, the stat also include infusion. You want to do fractals? Get infusion. Do fractals to get infusion. But to use infusion, you need ascended armour. Do fractals for ascended armour. Then the next dungeon comes out that needs infusion, did you get good infusion from fractals? No? Go do fractals until you have enough infusion since this dungeon is 40% harder. Done fractals and the new dungeon? New new dungeon. 80% harder then fractals, go do fractals to do the new dungeon to get enough infusion to do the new new dungeon. . .

That’s what people are scared of.

I see, I see…

Well, even with that in mind, it still seems like people are hugely blowing this out of proportion. As I said in my last reply, I was able to keep up with people in exotics when I was running around in masterwork/rare gear with no problems whatsoever so I really don’t expect this whole Ascended thing to have this immensely dramatic game altering effect that everyone is bugging out about.

We’ll just have to wait and see though, either way I’m just going with the flow, haven’t had a single thing in game shy of level ever stop me from doing much of anything and I don’t expect that to change with this.

I do not think this is blowing way out of proportion. 2 Mil copies of GW2 sold with at least a good percentage of players fully involved in the game but didn’t comment about the game even once in the forum.

The amount of hate posts about the patch are so minority you might as well think its noise compared to the players already online. The noise gets filtered.. and poof! down the road > This game is going to become another MMO.

I am already used and tired of this kind of trend in MMO, but will still log in during the event to enjoy the “atmosphere” and new content… Though some of my RL friends wouldn’t join me this time.

Nar.8327:

The initial box cost of GW2 was probably a great way of putting a dent in the initial development costs, but it’s microtransactions that make up the lifeblood of the game post-release, and provide their continued source of income.

All in all, this is why the latest update (and subsequent outcry) is so surprising. If the company is desperate enough to depart from its entire design philosophy to sell more boxes, it must mean that the cash shop isn’t doing as well as they need it to.

Or, more likely, the buildup of hype around GW2 is giving them quotas that a steady cash flow from satisfied players just isn’t enough to reach. Game companies seem to be doing this a lot in the last few years – tossing out a steady long-term income stream in favor of a short spike in profit. It touches on one of the reasons WoW has been so successful – yeah, sure, not everyone likes WoW, but even a skeptic has to admit that they do an admirable job of holding onto their player base over more than one or two fiscal quarters.

Well, the longer you have subscribed into something, the more likely you would hold on to it?

GW2 being a B2P (buy to play) game must have given alot of new gamers the impression that this game has no-commitment-fees (e.g. just a buy, play and throw game)

I dare say being a B2P game, GW2 has to try twice as hard as compared to other F2P games in order to sustain its player base.

Fiontar.4695:

Go play Fragments of the Mist and earn your ascended gear like everyone else.

I find this topic to be truly bizarre.

You do know that in the beginning the only ascended gear will be rings and back armor, right? The back armor has, perhaps, the most appeal. I think you will find the rings have a miniscule stat advantage over fully enhanced Exotic rings. Infusions mean ZERO/NADA outside of Fragments of the Mist, so they don’t even figure into the equation for those who don’t plan on running the dungeon.

In case you missed it, FotM is accessed via a portal in Lion’s Arch, so is very accessible and it even offers level scaling to level 80, in a similar fashion to WvW scaling, which will make it easy for more players to participate, even if a true level 80 with exotics will have a much better chance of getting deeper into the dungeon.

Put in proper context, Ascended gear isn’t anything to complain or worry about. FotM is a very exciting addition to the game and it’s too bad so many people are missing that because they have become obsessed over what is essentially a non-issue.

I’m more excited about nerfs/buff/tweaks/makeover they gonna do over the different professions.

From the tracker, alot of bug fixes are also being bundled together in the same patch.

Ascended equipments are fine, as long as it takes some quality grind to acquire and not a RNG drop/creation…

My wish of getting them to implement zone-specific rare/exotic drops from lower leveled zones remains unrepresented T_T

Cyric.7485:

GADefence.5634:

“this argument is in the realm of fanatical over reaction with a dash of elite fanboism and a whole bunch of I dont know.”

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/linsey-murdock-unveils-new-high-end-ascended-gear/

Notice the picture from ANet? The picture with an Ascended ring, that is better then the exotic ring?

The picture from ANet. The one that says “Yep this is what an Ascended item is”.

Our posts may be fanboy, but yours reeks of ignorance.

Quoting you mainly for the link and in regards to people spazzing out about being forced into a gear treadmill. People are seriously losing their minds over this barely even worth mentioning improvement? I must be missing something because looking at that picture of the Ascended beside the Exotic, I can’t comprehend what’s up with all this GW2 doomsday talk. For that specific example shown, you gain 5 additional Power/Precision and 3% more Magic Find… and that’s considered a gear treadmill? Excuse me while I LMFAO at this. I remember playing an Assassin in Aion (pre-everyone gets a stunbreaker) and barely even having blues but still wrecking people with yellows. Same goes for GW2, having a bunch of cheap masterwork/rares didn’t stop me from strutting my stuff all over WvW and dungeons.

That little rant aside, I hardly see how this affects anything in the gear treadmill department unless you’re a neurotic min/maxer.

Er.. this has nothing to do with gear treadmill, mostly about using “Power” gears to entice/retain players.

Er.. this has nothing to do with gear treadmill, mostly about using “Power” gears to entice/retain players.Nothing similar to other MMOs, really. /sarcasm.

CETheLucid.3964:

To these I say think before you reply. Read before you react. Think for yourself.

I am thinking for myself, btw.

Gradually I observed less and less people has been seen wandering around the sub level 80 zones, I found myself alone thinking if I should have power leveled to 80 instead of wandering around enjoying the scenery/chatter/lore…

Halloween event required me to approach some higher leveled buddy to get me to Sparkfly Fen, not cool. But for the carrot (the backpack) I still dig it. Dungeon + Jump Puzzles are still immensely fun of course.

Now they wanted to implement agony and stuff, I had to wrap my head around the mechanics that what ANet is trying to achieve here. Are they trying to exclude me from their content? And what about the runes/sigils I bought/craft?

I was sold on the premises (nobody promise me anything) that everything in-game = end-game, or at least lvl 80 (with easily accessible equipments) = end-game. Game is all about vanity and skills.

Now everything is just start-game.

Change is a creeping thing, you might fear it or you might like it.

I fear it, because this change has to do with power instead of vanity.

Instead of provoking me with AWESOME models and skins, they tried to entice me with equipments that I feel I must need in order to participate with my contacts/WvW. Being burnt out by other MMOs, it is perfectly logical to base my assumption from historical experiences.

I think the locusts are meant for those who are hardcore in playing multiple MMOs, and moving from one to another once they are bored with their current ‘conquests’, and therefore creating issues for MMO content developers to keep up with..

I know of a lot of hardcore gamers who understand that new content takes time to create and deliver, and unreasonable ones who wants their (next) gratification immediately.

Of course I might be wrong as I have yet to befriend any locusts online. By theory they should move between MMOs very frequently, looking for the next-in-thing.

CETheLucid.3964:

You had to be there for the backpacks and earn them via the scavanger hunt, you can’t buy them.

What you had before those runes are invalidated by the new runes you want to buy. You’re investing more money, so your initial investment was invalidated.

If you are talking about runes, not all builds require those runes. Ascended equipments (at advertised) do not use runes/sigils etc, they ignore current runes/sigils completely.

CETheLucid.3964:

There are near infinite halloween items on the market. A large number of people have the recipes for everything you can craft.

I coincide on this point, even for time-limited event, there are many people who showed up, grinded and TP their wares.

CETheLucid.3964:

Not likely. Did you read the recent announcement from Chris Whiteside by chance?

Should really slow everyones roll. They are listening to you. They clarified and offered you reassurance. What more can they do?

But alright, don’t let reason get in the way of your mass hysterics.

What is not likely about WvW changing?

Chris Whiteside didn’t specify anything concrete except they have something in the works. And who is Chris Whiteside anyway? I am hysterical, because I don’t have faith in ANet and they do not want to share us their “DESIGN GOALS”.

CETheLucid.3964:

Only if you’re a pedant about really minimal numbers.

You know, that idea (calculator wars) everyone says they hate right now, but will turn around and do in a heart beat for the mad skillz edge in combat.

And for every one of you talking out two sides of your mouth, you’re weak. You know who you are.

I’m weak, okay. You are strong. I am no good at PvE, PvP, you have skills…

CETheLucid.3964:

Absoultely false. Read the blog post. This isn’t WoW.

Given time, everything will be compared to WoW.

Jezath.7395:

toomuchtatose.6874:

SuddenlyOnFire.3162:

I am truly perplexed at the reaction of some people.
Are you guys really complaining about getting new stuff every month for free? Do you really don’t get it that they are throwing with content at us for free? Are you really saying I’m gonna stop playing their game because they added too much stuff and I want to prove how manly I am on the forums ?

Even if they do add a gear treadmill (which they don’t), even if they do add new item tiers on a regular base (which they will NOT do, stop reading between the bloody lines … “oh noes, why did they say 3 months? why not 4? is 3 a secret code for ‘mwuahahahaha’?”), they are still the best MMO company in my eyes. Because they kept the most important promise: Unparalleled content release rate which we don’t even have to pay for.

Am I also the only one who vaguely remembers the gazillion other trolls on the forum posting that there is nothing to do at lvl 80? I am quite positive that some them are also complaining here.

You should be perplexed, those level 80 trolls are the ones applauding for the new gears.

You must also understand that we (the gamers) also need to put effort & time to enjoy the new content, it takes both hands to clap.

I doubt complainers will stop playing the game, most will just be stopping their microtransactions and spend less time on GW2, thats all. This will hurt GW2, and bring it to a slippery spiral.

im sorry but the supposition in your post just gos too far.. I took a little offense at this as I am in no way a troll. I really enjoy this game and I also support the new patch fully, please go through my posts if you do not beleive me. I support this patch but I have never moaned about nothing to do at level 80.

============

I believe you, seriously. The trolls are those in Orr awaiting for more hoards while the rest of us are exploring, doing dungeons, RP-ing, etc.

I’m have 5 level 60+ toons and I believe I’m not even 50% in the game yet.

SuddenlyOnFire.3162:

I am truly perplexed at the reaction of some people.
Are you guys really complaining about getting new stuff every month for free? Do you really don’t get it that they are throwing with content at us for free? Are you really saying I’m gonna stop playing their game because they added too much stuff and I want to prove how manly I am on the forums ?

Even if they do add a gear treadmill (which they don’t), even if they do add new item tiers on a regular base (which they will NOT do, stop reading between the bloody lines … “oh noes, why did they say 3 months? why not 4? is 3 a secret code for ‘mwuahahahaha’?”), they are still the best MMO company in my eyes. Because they kept the most important promise: Unparalleled content release rate which we don’t even have to pay for.

Am I also the only one who vaguely remembers the gazillion other trolls on the forum posting that there is nothing to do at lvl 80? I am quite positive that some them are also complaining here.

You should be perplexed, those level 80 trolls are the ones applauding for the new gears.

You must also understand that we (the gamers) also need to put effort & time to enjoy the new content, it takes both hands to clap.

I doubt complainers will stop playing the game, most will just be stopping their microtransactions and spend less time on GW2, thats all. This will hurt GW2, and bring it to a slippery spiral.

Namu.5712:

They could have taken a cool approach to this. Rather then inserting a new tier of gear with the new content they could have simply created a sick gear set that is so amazingly detailed and awesome that you would be a fool not to run the new content for the gear. However, not everyone cares about looks, so while a great many people would be excited for the new content. Many just wouldn’t care. And just not bother because there is no “omg i gotta have that!” factor.

Which is why I think they need to shift their attention and focus on a much more controllable and predictable outcome. And that is peoples lust for competitive play and being the best.

Some people will grind for it and get bored XD nothing will change but nobody can accuse ANet for cheating us :P

But they are just taking an easy way out, I really like the blink blink backpack and don’t mind if the stats are lower than exotic…

johnnymanhands.7310:

Last night I spent a couple of hours idling in Lion’s Arch. Tonight I didn’t bother logging in at all.

I feel you. I don’t feel like logging in until the event.

Grinding is satisfying if you are certain about the end-point.

But if the end-point is always a moving target.. whats the point of grinding? It becomes a chore, you started to wonder if your ‘grind’ is well spent.

Namu.5712:

For me the game is fun. But is quickly getting…stale? maybe boring? I don’t know but somethings gotta give for me to want to log in. And this is after some months of hardcore WvW, perhaps its a bit of pvp burn out with no real progression competition wise… well server rankings but those mean nothing in the current state of WvW. Pve wise I like the mechanics but feels like there is something missing. And that’s not to imply that I think new gear is missing… just theres something that makes me say meh why bother.

It could be MMO burn out, pretty normal if you blow through content too quickly or intense. You will be burnt out by other game genre too.

Games getting stale are common, the magic is that the game (and its content) must be good enough for you to get back in after “periods of rest”.

Chrissle.8690:

There´s one flaw in your philosphy about only farming for looks though. Imagine a new dungeon coming out. Only new looks on the dungeon sets, not better stats. 50% of the player base likes the looks, 50% hate them. What incentive do the 50% that hate the looks of the new armor have to do the content? What ANet is trying to do is cater to all kinds of gamers, not just one kind. I´m not saying either way is better than the other but most of the posts I see in this thread is like this “waaah waaah mommy they are not doing what I want. How can they be so mean to me. I´m gonna quit this game and tell all my friends that they shouldnt play it anymore. Am I doing good mommy? waah waaah”. Kinda like that. Not all of you are like that but majority that I have read in this thread. =)

Someone from Marketing once preached If you want to serve all, you might as well serve none.

I do agree that it is hard to satisfy all stats nerd, power-gamers, casual gamers etc. But it is much easier to retain existing customers.

ANet now need to choose whether to retain its fiercely ‘conservative’ player base or ‘forward-looking’ ones. I doubt GW2 has what it takes to compete with other MMOs though…

Pants.8315:

It’s a gear step. A treadmill implies it’s continuous. No where have they stated they will be adding anything beyond Ascended gear. In fact they explicitly said they were not intending to keep adding better tiers of gear.

To repeat what others have been saying, please quote where did ANet says no more new tiers?

Until then, we can only stay pessimistic since the balls are in their court, not ours.

CETheLucid.3964:

warmonkey.8013:

Halloween did not introduce gear with stats greater than Exotic, it just introduced some pretty rad skins and a limited-time dungeon..thing.

I’m pretty sure the Halloween thing went off pretty well. Maybe I’m wrong, but it seemed like a success, people liked it.

And it didn’t introduce mudflation to the game.

Imagine.

New runes that could arguably compete/be better (superiors) then the current gear prior to the halloween update.

New halloween jewels in the upper levels which can be better then some of the jewels at launch.

Two new backpack items that blow away anything before level 80.

Where were the gear treadmill criers and tier grinding prophets then? How did those items effect the meta? Was it the end of the world then?

Were people excluded from this gear? Didn’t most twitchy folks buy the recipes on day one of the event?

Are people demanding you have this gear or GTFO? Is it necessary at all? Again, this game isn’t WoW. It doesn’t work the same way.

Anet was even kind and considerate to the folks who couldn’t even experience it because of Hurricane Sandy, let alone the gamers who were able to attend.

Was anyone left out?

A company that considers it’s fan base over the weather in a certain part of the country might deserve the benefit of the doubt.

(Not the first time they’ve done such a thing either. They have a history of that.)

The halloween event was a success. This new content update will be no different.

I have to wonder if some of you folks even read the blog post, more over then just looked at the pictures and flipped your desks.

I’m imagining that. It makes me laugh.

Given enough gold, you can get better runes and backbacks that what was provided post-halloween – This does not invalidate people’s investment.

Now with new update, exotics (equipment plateau) is going to be outclassed by ascended – This is radically a new tier, with new possibilities to be abused.

Too much of halloween items are going to spoil the market too, thats why it is a time-limited festival. But Ascended gears are going to change how you PvP, build your character, find dungeon buddies, etc.etc.

Nhemin.1520:

Only to come to another MMO that again, is in essence, the same thing with “cool flavouring” on it.

For the game to be “different” from other MMO’s, Gw2 team needs to get their heads straight and simplify all the crap they tried to be innovative with… Which clearly didn’t work out. Simplicity and functionality are everything in successful, FUN, games. Unless you’re telling that is not what you’re wanting?

Put it this way, game needs to change in a lot of ways and unless we the player base speak up, its just going to be another niche MMO with 1200 people playing across 3 servers. I’d like to not see one of my favourite games go down that path.

But keep being blindly passionate bro. thumbs up

That is true. But considering the player base are mostly noise, only the ‘minority’ or the ‘passionate’ ones speak up loudest :P

Best ideas usually come from developers themselves, players are mostly acceptance testing in my opinion.