ArenaNet: Linsey Murdock unveils High End Ascended Gear (2012-11-13)

[Alexanian]

Adding gear progression alone does not make this game WoW. I assume you havent played wow(or at least long) if your making those accusations. This only makes guild wars similar to the standard mmo model with an attempt to make it as casual as possible. And you know what, thats what I am looking for. a casual mmo.

Guild wars has set the new standard as far as FTP mmos goes. this is a major accomplishment. Now through studies they realized they do have to have some gear progression. Oops, sorry they changed their mind. You have been lied to.

I have been lied to many times, in life this will happen to you often. be prepared my friend, ppl lie. The garage that told you it would be under 200$, now it was 600$ cause they didnt see what actually had to be done until they got under the hood. It happens all the time. What changes, is how we deal with being lied to.

That is different for all of us, and not going to be settled on the forums. for me, I understand they needed to change so they could continue to make content for the game I enjoy playing. I don't mind working a little harder for the things I want. But everyone will have there tipping point. Some will go, new ppl will play, some will stay and ride it out. some ppl so full of pride will leave because the were lied to and thats enough for them to go.

I will stay, because everything in life changes. I except it.


PS: sorry for long winded post, idk what happened there

[bokiz333]

I'm pro long posts. So no worries.

It's in part being lied to. But lets be logical here. It's 3 months into the game and they're making this change. If you are right, they figured out they need to have this mechanic to keep certian players. Well then logically, they need to continue to introduce new levels and higher level gear to keep it going, this Ascended gear will certainly not keep everyone satisfied forever. So this game will definitely continue to have a gear grind.

So they've changed a CORE mechanic of the game. It's making it really a completely different game. So its in part the being lied to thing; but mostly, it's not difficult (people say give it time but I like projecting) to see where this will lead because we have many mmo's that went before this one that did the same thing.

Sure you wanted a certain type of mmo, but this was supposed to be for people who didn't want that type of mmo. This was the alternative. And now they switched to the standard. It's disapointing because I WANT to keep playing this game, but not if it's a completely different game if that makes sense.

[Delvoire]

It's 3 months into the game and they're making this change. If you are right, they figured out they need to have this mechanic to keep certian players. Well then logically, they need to continue to introduce new levels and higher level gear to keep it going, this Ascended gear will certainly not keep everyone satisfied forever. So this game will definitely continue to have a gear grind.

That's what they said though. This is the first subtle part of a gear progression to go with the future game updates they have in mind. It's the beginning of the journey.

I can easily say that I am in agreement with Alex on this. I never played WoW. I tried DCUO and SWTOR but got bored quickly. I love the casual feel to this game.

[Centaur]

If there was no demand for this change, they wouldn't make it. So it's only logical that there are people on this forum who welcome that change. But on the other hand, there is also a large group of people who intentionally chose this game because of the lack of gear grind and because the only gear rewards were supposed to be cosmetic. From the very start ArenaNet have made it very clear that that was the approach they were taking.
By introducing gear grinding they will probably make one group happy, and they may even win back some of the people who have left and returned to WoW, but at what cost? If the amount of people that will turn their backs on ArenaNet and lose faith in the promises they made is as high as I expect them to be, then this could easily do the game more harm than good. The official forum is filled with people who are outraged at this change, and we've already seen a couple of people on this forum too who intend to quit this game if this new direction turns out to be true. And frankly, if it does, then I will be one of them.

Let me be clear: this game definitely has issues, and it needs improvements and long-term goals. It needs something that people want to work for and that will give people a reason to play every single day. But I don't believe that gear grinding is the solution. As Fey already pointed out, there are many MMOs down that path, and in that field GW2 definitely isn't the best option. ArenaNet can do better.

[Bogus Dude]

I must be reading it wrong, the gear is aimed at specific content, as in countering certain skills like Spectral Agony from GW1, against foes not using those skills they will not gain a benefit and the weapons are otherwise comparable to current stuff. I'm seeing the longterm objective being one where hardocre players who have the time and inclination to fulfill all content need multiple armour sets, again which we're used to from GW1 only in GW2 the armour is geared towards content areas more. How will ascended gear be an advantage in WvW when the ascension mod is to protect against monster only skills? We often complain how with MMO expansions new content is often just more of the same in different skins, i kinda see this as new content attempting to actually be just that, new content that needs addressing in a new way!

I'll keep an open mind for now and pray they are not succumbing to the WoW fanboi whining we've been hearing demanding gear grinding to show how leet they are and give them the advantage they need to compensate their lack in skill. Progression in WvW is where you loose less games than you did before through skill progression and evolution, not gear.

[Tervet]

I am not a raider / gear grind type player. Never have been.

But I don't think this is a gear grind type of thing.

If I look at only the base stats in the example the asscended has a few points more then the exotic. If you factor in the gem upgrade on the exotic things appear to work out about even. This gives the ascended gear an open slot to use against the MONSTER only effect - agony.

The way I read it, only the dungeon players need to get the gear. But, I have been wrong before. We shall see.

[Vayne]

but there's also a stat difference. As it stands now, legendary weapons have the same stats as exotics.

What Anet has said to us time and time again is that you can get the m ax weapons from crafting, from karma and from running dungeons and from WvW. They're not making anyone play a style of game they don't want to to get max weapons. So if you don't want to do this dungeon, other people can get a higher level weapon than you can from crafting or karma, and then take that weapon with higher stats into WvW giving them an advantage.

The difference right now is minuscule...the precedent Anet is setting by doing this is not. If the stats are better on legendaries, which would make sense to most of the MMO world btw, Anet is still breaking a promise made to those who played the original Guild Wars. And you know. the only people it really affects are those who WvW. But they still bought the game under false pretenses.

I love the game, and I generally like Anet as a company, but if they go ahead this way, a whole lot of people will feel lied to...and rightfully so.

This is precisely the reason many of us were here in the first place.

[Delvoire]

Bogus Dude just hit the nail on the head and it actually just hit me while looking on the GW site.

but there's also a stat difference. As it stands now, legendary weapons have the same stats as exotics

They clearly said the legendary gear will match whatever stats that the new gear will have. So it just means now Legendary = Ascended instead of Legendary = Exotic.

[frunk]

This was just posted on the huge thread on the main forum.

I’d like to respond to concerns players have raised about ascended items. Please keep in mind that we’re releasing this as one portion of a massive November update that introduces and improves many aspects of challenge, progression, and rewards. With this and upcoming updates, we view ourselves as introducing large amounts of content with supporting systems and features, akin to an expansion pack, building on Guild Wars 2 through a series of live releases. So it’s important for us to be able to add an expansion pack’s worth of progression and rewards to support that content.

Our goal is not to create a gear treadmill. Our goal is to ensure we have a proper progression for players from exotic up to legendary without a massive jump in reward between the two. We will slowly add the remaining ascended gear items and legendary items in future updates to allow people time to acquire them as we add exciting new content that deserves exciting rewards. We will not be adding a new tier of gear every 3 months that we expect everyone to chase after and then get the next set and so on.

Ascended and infusion rewards will be available in both PvE and WvW over time, and be made available through all sorts of content around the world including existing content. PvP will remain unaffected to ensure our intended PvP balance going forward. We are also working on other reward and progression systems for the game that tie into current and new content and features. As you know we care very much about your support and opinion and are listening intently to what you say.

Finally we look forward to hearing your thoughts on the upcoming content, and we will ensure we share our thoughts with you on the experiences we share in the Lost Shores.

Chris Whiteside – Studio Design Director

[bokiz333]

Yes I saw that on the official forum. He's full of it.

It will be available in PVE and WvW IN TIME but for a few months there will be an imbalance in the WvW game. Also this isn't somethng you just roll out in a few day...they were planning this for a while obviously yet no mention of this till slightly prior to it being launched? Come on.

And this is a HUGE switch from what they said before. This is new gear, with better stats that wasn't available at launch, available right now through only one type of content. So they definitely misled people and flat out lied. So why should I belive anything Mr. Whiteside says now? In a year if they introduce new gear, they'll say "it's to give people a goal after legendaries and blah blah blah"...

I logged into WvW today...sat around the citadel for 10 minutes, couldn't get myself to go out and participate and logged out. I guess the game is ruined for me which is sad. GW2 had the most potential of any game in MY recent mememory. I wanted to be a long time player. And turns out I can't...you can't control how certain things make you feel.

Oh well, thanks for the memories. I'll still post in the forum so I can waste time at work!