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

[Vayne]

I think people who want people in every zone aren't really thinking clearly.

If the entire population where to spread out on each server to every zone, there wouldn't be enough people anywhere to do anything. Games like this work because there are gathering places. I saw the same thing in Rift. Most of the lower level zones don't really require you to have dozens of people for each event. Very few events require more than four, five people. And if you announce in map chat that a big quest chain is starting you'll be surprised at how many people show up for it.

But what are the odds, wandering around the wilderness, at any given time, that you'll run into more heroes? If you did, it would make being a hero a lot less impressive, if you ask me.

Games like this have currents and those currents flow throughout the game. Compared to most MMOs, where there is no down-leveling, there' ZERO reason to go into early zones. Or very little. Here, I can enjoy things in other zones and STILL get some drops at level, even in starter zones and people are still complaining.

Compared to most games, this game is a dream. It's a step in the right direction from most other MMOs out there and all the really popular ones.

But there are always going to be currents in all MMOs where most players congregate. Do you realize in the beginning they had a lot of high level drops for high level players in lower zones...and they changed it because it didn't work. They changed it because people would sit and farm low level zones and never go into the higher level zones.

Higher risk in games is always going to equal higher reward. Where do you have more risk, Orr or the Plains of Jarin (sorry Guild Wars 1 reference lol). I mean starting areas, being massively easy, shouldn't offer the same rewards as higher level zones. If they did, there would never be enough people in those zones to complete content.

Recently, Anet has made changes were even if you're 80, you still have a damn good chance of getting the drops you need in all zones 55 and higher. But even in low level zones I still get drops at level. What you don't get is a chance for rarer crafting materials, and that's the real problem.

And I don't see any easy way to solve it. People keep suggesting give people better rewards for going back to easier levels....and I say that's just not going to work.

[Sericenthe]

Currents are fine as long as all the currents don't point in one direction. Right now they do. I'm fine with the one direction thing if it's a one time event, but other than that it shouldn't happen. They've admitted the mistake so I can move on but let's pray they learn from the mistake and never offer items of higher value in one place ever again.

And fix the drops please. Thanks.

[Fey]

I think people who want people in every zone aren't really thinking clearly.

Thank you. This^. You could also say the same thing about most complaints that fly around. People saying they want all these changes without the realization of what might actually happen. It's like making an ice cream sundae and loading it up with EVERY topping available. Seemed like a good idea at first, you regret it halfway through.

[Vayne]

Currents are fine as long as all the currents don't point in one direction. Right now they do. I'm fine with the one direction thing if it's a one time event, but other than that it shouldn't happen. They've admitted the mistake so I can move on but let's pray they learn from the mistake and never offer items of higher value in one place ever again.

And fix the drops please. Thanks.

The point is currents also change. MMOs make these changes all the time, some work, some don't. When they don't work they get fixed. It's neither static nor permanent.

I'm a long term guy. I think in terms of a year from now, six months from now, I'm probably still going to be playing this game. I'm having fun. A month here or there where things don't go my way isn't a problem because it'll get fixed.

And you know, because the fractals are part of the monthly, I ran three yesterday with my wife, at level 1. I'm up to level 4 now but she's not. During that run, I get two exotics, one of which was, oddly, account bound, but is perfect for my mesmer, when she gets to 80. The other I sold on the auction house for 3.5 gold. Pretty cool.

I still don't do extra runs for the Fractals to farm, I'm not a farmer. I'll do a couple more because my wife hasn't finished her monthly yet. But even without that, I'm still making money running around. Magic find gear is pretty helpful for that though, as well as some of the consumables, like omnomberry bars.

I do honestly believe rares dropped too often before and don't drop often enough now. Anet needs to find a balance, but I wouldn't expect it to ever go back to where it was originally.

[Sericenthe]

I haven't see a single yellow or exotic since the nefarious patch. And I've been playing as much as I did before. That's wrong. Appears if I went to Fractals I would have. That's wrong.

[bokiz333]

I haven't see a single yellow or exotic since the nefarious patch. And I've been playing as much as I did before. That's wrong. Appears if I went to Fractals I would have. That's wrong.

I got 2 exotic drops in the past few weeks...both in FotM. One was an account bound Heavy Armor...umm ok?

[Vayne]

I haven't see a single yellow or exotic since the nefarious patch. And I've been playing as much as I did before. That's wrong. Appears if I went to Fractals I would have. That's wrong.

I agree. It's wrong. 100%.

Mind you I have seen yellows out of the fractals, but prior to the fractals I don't think I ever got an exotic as a drop...maybe once...not 100% sure. But yes, yellows have been more scarce....not to say they're not dropping.

What's wrong is that there is a place in the game where stuff drops more so people will go there. Until that changes, it's not an optimal situation. That said, I don't play for yellows and I only care about them marginally. I play for other reasons. But I see why you'd be annoyed by that.

Those who played the original Guild Wars were probably less likely to worry about drops as much as those who played other MMOs. Drops simply mattered less.

And it will be fixed. That's what I was saying earlier. In the long term, this is all meaningless. A month from now no one will talk about it and no one will care, like the auction house, like the dye situation, it'll just pass.

But while it's going on, I agree it can be annoying as hell.

[Sericenthe]

I got 2 exotic drops in the past few weeks...both in FotM. One was an account bound Heavy Armor...umm ok?

Yeah, that's a major problem. An MMO cannot have ALL the good drops be in one spot. I don't want to do Fractals and it appears I am being forced to.

I agree that it will be fixed but I don't understand why it's taking so long.

[Gismo]

Fix the drops, sorry have they been broken? I picked up a yellow last night off a corpse in the middle of dynamic event in Straits of Devestation last night. Usual assortment of greens and blues too so if it's been broken, that has passed me by. Redid The Hidden Garden again and took home 5 greens just for the kill variety for my dailies.

I've only done a couple of fractal maps and I can't say that the drops were better there than anywhere else.

[Sericenthe]

Fix the drops, sorry have they been broken? I picked up a yellow last night off a corpse in the middle of dynamic event in Straits of Devestation last night. Usual assortment of greens and blues too so if it's been broken, that has passed me by. Redid The Hidden Garden again and took home 5 greens just for the kill variety for my dailies.

I've only done a couple of fractal maps and I can't say that the drops were better there than anywhere else.

Good for you. Problem is Arena's already admitted that they screwed something up. They also have posted no fix. And my experience (along with 100's of others) is that the drops now suck. Especially on Vets and Champs which often drop nothing.