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

[Steel]

Ascended gear is more like gw1 IMO than most would see it as such. The stats are better but small similar to gw1 +30 health weapon upgrade vs a +28 health weapon upgrade and ascended is on par with mursaat debuff. Instead of infusing your armor they give you something more to do to get it than gw1 run here talk to npc boom you are infused. I think a full set of ascended gear vs exotic will give you an increase in stats similar to 1-5 stacks of might boon. Not positive besides sPvP we all max out. PvE no gear grind makes peeps walk away more often than not since games are illusions 0's & 1's. No more progression no more fun. Anet seems to be on right track handling it. Not like lotros roi legendary weapons vs RoR legendary weapons. I may be wrong though we will see.

[Vayne]

My good friend Mr Vayne. I'm sure you are right. It's just that I'm a bit slow you see. And I get confused really easily. You have to excuse me please.

The thing is, when they said they introduce a tier that was missing to bridge that gap as maybe it was always intended, I'm with them...I'm its hard for me beign not so bright and all, but I tried really realyl hard and followed them on that. It was intended and came late and it's to bridge that gap...(immaginiary gap since legendaries = exotics but I digress) but ok, I grasped that concept.


But here's where i'm puzzled, as I often am you see....why did tehy say there's more comming? Why did they say that they can't be 100% more tiers are not comming when flat out asked? Why did they say that vertical progressing is something that they care about now? That doesn't smell like a one time adjustement. And thus I am perplexed. Dumbfounded. Stupefied. I'm terribly wexxed. Perhaps even boggled.

There's more coming, because they've introduced a ring and a backpack in this update. Of course there's more coming. As far as I know they never said this resistence is going to be used in world. It's only in fractals of the mist. Since that's unending, you'll need it to do that stuff, but not open world stuff or WvW. That's how I read it.

There's more coming can be LOTS of things. There might even be WvW gear that has similar stats without having to go into PVe at all. That could be more coming too.

More coming is a marketing term that could mean anything at all.

And I'm not accusing you of being slow. I know that's not true. I'm accusing you of pre-empting what happened. How many times have I seen this happen so far in this game. I remember the kerfluffle over the cash shop. It was MUCH bigger than this, and in the end, it ended up being a storm in a tea cup. No one is talking about that anymore.

And in three months, no one will be talking about this.

[frunk]

I see three problems with Ascended gear that won't go away quickly, even if it is as innocent as Vayne hopes.

1. Content Degredation - Presuming that most of the PvE content is geared towards the current power levels, increasing the power levels at 80 means the content will gradually get out of whack. So much for everything being endgame.

2. The Legendary Promise - Stating that Legendaries will always be as good as the best available means that suddenly they aren't cometically better they are actually better. Who wouldn't want inflation proof gear, ones that will get free upgrades when new items are introduced? Now you aren't grinding because of the challenge or the cosmetic improvement, but for the insurance and the guarantee. So much for the grind not giving you better gear.

3. Do what you want - There are a few main routes of activity in the game (not counting sPvP since it isn't affected). PvE, Dungeons, WvW and crafting come to mind. All of them give you the ability to obtain max power gear. Now, dungeons are the way to get the best. They've stated that other ways of getting the gear will become available, but how long is the delay and why? Why force those who want this gear to do dungeons? Why, in a game that trumpeted our ability to do what we enjoy, are we forced down a narrow path? So much for freedom of activity.

[Tabbycat]

Please forgive me for a moment but I just feel the need to post my thoughts about this. I don't know if any of you will agree with me and certainly it's fine if you don't but...

I read the forum posts from these people who claim to love playing GW2 and they are all ranting and raving about the new Ascended armor and how ArenaNet is going back on their promise of not having any type of gear grind.

Some people are so upset they are asking for refunds on a game they purchased way back at head start because they feel the aren't getting the product the originally bought.... even though they have hundreds of hours of play time logged. It just boggles my mind.

I can understand being upset about change. But to quit over something like this is just.. I don't get it. I played GW1 and of course I enjoyed playing it and had a lot of fun too. I play GW2 because it's fun. Having some small change in the gear isn't such a big deal to me that it would cause me to quit the game.

Maybe someone else can help me understand their reasoning because I really don't get it.

[robinsiebler]

I want a refund because I haven't had enough fun! Oh, wait. That's not true! What is ascended gear anyway?

This message was brought to you by a Kitten Who Only Role Plays

[Lucread]

The mentality makes absolutely no sense to me whatsoever.

I actually a guild chat about it in game today where I stepped around every argument making the whole complaint seem pretty stupid even to those who were regurgitating it. I honestly believe that this free new stuff is nothing more than an excuse that people are latching onto to express their evolved dislike or boredom with the game. The sad thing is that actual dislike and/or boredom of the game is understandable... games are not for everyone and after playing for periods of time, your emotions towards them can change (people come and go all the time for various reasons, and boredom is a big one in video game land).

I just wish people could take a step back and realize that they're problems are much deeper than "Anet went back on their promise," blah blah blah, whaah whaah whaah. The only argument that even makes a little bit of sense is that it hurts WvW players since there is no PvP exclusive answer to it... YET... but really, if that's all you do on GW2, maybe you'd have more fun with something else... like League of Legends, for example.

That's my opinion, anyway.

[Centaur]

threads merged.

[Vayne]

Please forgive me for a moment but I just feel the need to post my thoughts about this. I don't know if any of you will agree with me and certainly it's fine if you don't but...

I read the forum posts from these people who claim to love playing GW2 and they are all ranting and raving about the new Ascended armor and how ArenaNet is going back on their promise of not having any type of gear grind.

Some people are so upset they are asking for refunds on a game they purchased way back at head start because they feel the aren't getting the product the originally bought.... even though they have hundreds of hours of play time logged. It just boggles my mind.

I can understand being upset about change. But to quit over something like this is just.. I don't get it. I played GW1 and of course I enjoyed playing it and had a lot of fun too. I play GW2 because it's fun. Having some small change in the gear isn't such a big deal to me that it would cause me to quit the game.

Maybe someone else can help me understand their reasoning because I really don't get it.

A lot of people bought this game, because they really really really were tired of the MMO status quo. Some had given up on MMOs altogother and some have put countless hours into games with gear grind, and swore, never again.

Anet promised a game without gear grind and made statements about the game that have changed. This change is reminiscent enough of the gear grind they tried to leave behind that they feel lied to by Anet...that Anet has gone back on its promise.

The thing is, I can see their point completely while still disagreeing with it. I don't believe this constitutes gear grind.

Today, I spent a ton of time in the new dungeon, to the point where I had died enough times at one point to have broken every single piece of armor. I was naked in a dungeon.

Had this been amy other MMO I can think of I'd have been dead, helpless and completely ineffective, but this game isn't quite as gear dependent as others and I was still able to help my side, at one point being the last guy alive and rezzing other people.

So the small percentage difference in stats between legendary and exotic shouldn't realliy make that big a difference, but people don't think that way. They think that they bought into a game because of something that's no longer true.

I don't agree with that statement, but I can see where others would think it.

[Xovian]

Personally i see the new gear as being along the lines of sPvP armor. You can't enhance sPvP armor outside of runes. There is no "berserker, there is no "carrion" there's no "choice" with the gear, it's simply static and is what it is.

I see the new gear as being similar, the choice becomes non-existent, but it's stats over all are likely to remain consistent with what we have (if it's between exotic and legendary, then overall it's the same as legendary. Legendary is not some super jump over exotic either so it's worth noting). If they go over, then it becomes an issue IMO, because at that point then they've lied. They'd also agitate those who do have legendary weapons, simply because legendary state wise is the same damn thing as an exotic, just a better skin.

The only careful balancing act i see Anet having to watch closely is the new damage type as they move forward with this. Percentage based damage and reduction is a very tight rope to walk along, a step either way and all they have tried to achieve will be thrown right back in their face and with a high degree of negativity. If they keep it in certain locations only, like said dungeon, it will be a non-issue for many. If it starts effecting the rest of the game to a high degree, then i'd agree with those who are raising complaints.

As a person who is in full exotics (x2) even water weapons (11 total mystic weapons on my character), I too have a vested interest in what i've already achieved. However, thus far i do not see this gear having any effect just yet. It remains to be seen till they release their "high end" version of the gear, and where it's actually useful.

[Jim Hunter]

Some smarter people than I have already done the math and supposedly the ascended gear gives a 14% increase over exotics and that is only with the fine upgrade that they have shown us so far.

They said legendary would get a bump in stats and It sounds like legendary will be even higher than ascended. So exotics have basically become the new masterwork and that's only until people start getting legendaries and they introduce a new tier.

For those who say we can't know for sure that they will keep introducing new tiers please just take a couple minutes to think about why they would do it in the first place. They certainly aren't making the people opposed to gear grinds happy with this, even the people that aren't outright quitting are worried about it.

The people who are happy about it are the ones that enjoy grinding for better stats. If that's the new target audience then a net is going to do what it takes to keep them happy by putting in new tiers every few months.

So even if a 14% start increase isn't a huge deal to you right now how will you feel a year from now when ascended gear is worthless compared to whatever new gear they have out at that point.