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[etiolate]

I am against resistance gear checks and this sounds like that sort of deal. The Ascended gear thing has turned what should be positive news into a giant fustercluck of angry fans. Yeah, there's a lot of dramatics, but there are also valid concerns, and a question of whether this sort of thing is even worth messing around with and if it actually addresses any of the main issues people have with the game in its current state.

I do want to see what else is in the patch besides the Ascended debate.

 

[Deitus]

I feel like a few people on this thread have been jumping to conclusions, and grossly over-reacting to this news, such that it is giving the impression that anyone skeptical or disappointed with the new systems looks like Chicken Little. Believe it or not, there are people who have some reservations about this content based on the little information we know, who aren't freaking out and getting out the pitchforks, but just want to express their concern.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I had hesitated to say anything further because of how any complaint has been just dismissed out of hand as an overreaction. Yesterday in guild chat, I was attempting to discuss this issue civilly, and I was told "If you don't like it, play another game," as if the only two options are unconditional love of every decision ArenaNet makes, or quitting the game. Thankfully, nothing in this thread has gotten quite to that point, but it still has gotten out of hand. Of course on the other side people are freaking out and ready to jump down the throats of anyone willing to defend ArenaNet on this decision. What I'm trying to say, is could everyone cut the dramatics and have a civil discussion here?


Anyway, my concern with this update is that it is the first major (permanent) content update to the game since release, and a lot of people have been looking forward to seeing how this game will be supported going forward. How are ArenaNet going to keep a game interesting to play over long periods of time without adding in more and more timesinks (as they have said they will not do). I have faith that they will continue with this approach, but frankly its not immediately obvious how they can accomplish such a feat, and the majority of games faced with the same dilemma settle for adding grind.

So, the first update is announced, and one of the major features announced in the update is another tier of gear to earn. We don't yet know how hard it will be to earn. We do know that it is being presented as one more thing to work towards after you have full exotic (based on their presenting this as closing the gap between Exotic and Legendary). The question is, what does this mean for the game going forward, and what kinds of additions can we expect in future content updates. The way I see it it can go two ways:

1) This is going to be the progression mechanic going forward. Every so often they will add new dungeons and content, and to go along with that new content they will add new gear to work towards that offers an advantage over the current gear. This has the effect of making the current tiers of gear obsolete in the long term, and may add a gear treadmill that was never supposed to exist in this game.

There is no evidence at all that this would happen. Anyone suggesting it is purely speculating, and seems to be looking at the worst case scenario. I don't think its a bad thing to discuss this scenario, as its important to talk about what we want and don't want out of this game, but it should be discussed in the context of "This will probably not happen because it would turn this game into something that ArenaNet doesn't want", rather that "OMG guys, they're totally ruining this game based on me extrapolating a data set of 1."

2) This is a one time deal, addressing a legitimate hole they have identified in the current progression. Future content patches will not continue to add tiers of gear, and will instead find a different way to incentivise players.

This is the most likely, and the best case I think. However, it doesn't at all address the issue that so many were hoping the first content patch would show how this game is going to maintain interest in the long term. It is a stop gap that will keep us busy until the reveal the real thing that will keep players coming back. That's not a bad thing at all, but then they need to knock it out of the park in the next major content update, which I would expect around January or early February.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. I've just been thinking about this since yesterday and trying to put all of my thoughts into words, and I apparently don't know the meaning of concise.

 

[Hawkian]

Thanks very much for the reasoned post, Sir Deitus!

1) This is going to be the progression mechanic going forward. Every so often they will add new dungeons and content, and to go along with that new content they will add new gear to work towards that offers an advantage over the current gear. This has the effect of making the current tiers of gear obsolete in the long term, and may add a gear treadmill that was never supposed to exist in this game.

I would quit. Mark my words, mock and cast aspersions on me forever, but that would make me abandon this game. They did a phenomenal job of having content in GW1 that was accessible to characters at the "stat-ceiling" (oddly enough... this meant having an "Ascended" character with "Infused" armor in Prophecies) without any further gear progression.

That's how I felt about being kitted out in Exotics in this game, and it was worrisome when there were first just rumors of "new more powerful gear." But the stat increase in actually is pretty token and negligible, and in the case of this update it's only even applicable to two accessory slots and one back piece. I have a feeling it's not going to be the biggest aspect of this patch by a long shot, and even when there are full new shiny ascended tier armor pieces to lust after, I can't imagine it being any more than token and negligible, something to do for a little while and be done with, nowhere close to the scope of getting a legendary. Of course, I'm speculating here as well. Really, we don't know anything at all about what's going to happen and that's maybe the best thing to keep in mind.

There is no evidence at all that this would happen. Anyone suggesting it is purely speculating, and seems to be looking at the worst case scenario. I don't think its a bad thing to discuss this scenario, as its important to talk about what we want and don't want out of this game, but it should be discussed in the context of "This will probably not happen because it would turn this game into something that ArenaNet doesn't want", rather that "OMG guys, they're totally ruining this game based on me extrapolating a data set of 1."

I could not have articulated this exact concept any better.

so many were hoping the first content patch would show how this game is going to maintain interest in the long term. It is a stop gap that will keep us busy until the reveal the real thing that will keep players coming back. That's not a bad thing at all, but then they need to knock it out of the park in the next major content update, which I would expect around January or early February.

I think that we may be placing undue weight on the Ascended armor/Infusions aspect of this content patch. That's just my speculation, I admit, but it's my instinct.

There's another large content patch in December for Wintersday, and another in January already confirmed.

 

[butzopower]

My Theory:

There was a leak in late October that suggested a few things that would be appearing in the November Update;

- 3 Day event to hide a mysterious threat.
- A new island in the game world.
- New PVE game mode
- New PVP features​

The big one is that third item; my thinking is that the Fractals dungeon represents an entirely new PVE mode, a randomized dungeon-crawl that gets progressively harder the deeper you go, sort of a hybrid between Horde mode and MMO dungeon crawls.

Characters who enter this new mode could be stripped of their gear and be automatically leveled to 80, as is the case with sPVP. I think this will be the case because of another panic-inducing feature in the preview; Ascended Gear. If this is indeed a new game mode, it seems obvious that Ascended Gear will be Fractals-exclusive; you can only wear it inside the new mode (or cosmetically when outside it, probably garnering a new tab like the Town Clothes). Likewise, Infusions are the Fractals-exclusive upgrade items.

This would allow for a completely isolated and internally balanced PVE mode so something like Leaderboards isn’t out of the question, with players fighting to get deeper and deeper into the fractals. The deeper you go, the more things you unlock for normal PVE play; titles, weapon and armor skins, mini-pets? The potential is unlimited.

That doesn’t even take into account that because the new mode is set in the Mists, ArenaNet has free reign to do whatever they want; add a new mini-dungeon into the shuffle every few months? Temporary holiday Fractals? Glimpses into the past or even future of Tyria? The Mists allows ArenaNet a sort of blank slate where anything can happen.

So it might not be just a new dungeon, stealing thunder from the old. It’s possibly an entirely new PVE mode that happens to be built around bite-sized dungeon content, but co-existing alongside them. Likewise, Ascended Gear and Infusions are not a new tier of loot we're being forced to chase after, but a completely different gear set exclusive to this new mode.

I really like this idea, reminds me of challenge mode in PSO.

 

[Zyrusticae]

Subject Alpha is one of the most well-tuned, compelling examples of the dynamic combat in GW2, and one of the best dungeon bosses I've encountered in a game. It makes perfect sense to me that they wanted to make sure you fight him multiple times. While at first it was frustrating and overwhelming to face him and learn which abilities he has on which path, now when I die to him I just curse myself for not playing better. I've done the teleporter path version a handful of times without being downed a single time now, feels awesome. It is not easy nor trivial, and really, just a generally good example of sound design with only a few flaws (the run back to alpha on the teleporter path is a little too much negative reinforcement since he resets )

This is exactly what I'm talking about.

I find it incredibly ironic that you refer to it as 'dynamic combat' when so much of it is just rote memorization of a routine. That is, by definition, NOT dynamic, but static.

But you know, it's very, VERY obvious your experience has been completely different from mine - I have never actually enjoyed a dungeon run in this game, not once. I don't know what I'm missing, but frankly, I really don't care. As far as I'm concerned they totally fucked up when only a small, tightly-knit portion of the community can actually enjoy them on any level.

Still peeved. Probably will be forever. And if they gate new content behind a dungeon with bloody gear checks, they can consider my monetary contribution as good as gone as well.

 

[Lone_Prodigy]

Couple questions:

1. Now that I'm level 40 I can start doing dungeons. Is there anything I should know/do differently? Have a more team-focused build? Is everyone autoleveled to 80?

2. Does anyone have any idea where the Lost Shores content will be? I figure I should start exploring more areas now so I don't waste time getting there when it starts.

 

[Hawkian]

Couple questions:

1. Now that I'm level 40 I can start doing dungeons. Is there anything I should know/do differently? Have a more team-focused build? Is everyone autoleveled to 80?

Daw, the first dungeon was available at 30. No one is leveled up in dungeons- they have minimum recommended levels and those above will be downleveled to that.

You'll want to switch up your build based on the needs of your individual team when you're in a dungeon, not generally switch up your current build for PvE.

Story mode is first for each dungeon, then explorable mode is available after completing it. Explorable mode is generally much more difficult.

2. Does anyone have any idea where the Lost Shores content will be? I figure I should start exploring more areas now so I don't waste time getting there when it starts.

Looks like you just take a portal from Lion's Arch.

 

[SnakeswithLasers]

Are dungeons efficient for leveling? I'm still tooling around trying to decide who will get to 30 first on my account, but once I'm there...?

 

[Mr. Luchador]

I see Theif have discovered their bullshit build.

 

[etiolate]

Couple questions:

1. Now that I'm level 40 I can start doing dungeons. Is there anything I should know/do differently? Have a more team-focused build? Is everyone autoleveled to 80?

2. Does anyone have any idea where the Lost Shores content will be? I figure I should start exploring more areas now so I don't waste time getting there when it starts.

1. You aren't auto-leveled to 80. Instead, hgiher levels are sidekicked down and the dungeon remains the level difficulty of that dungeon for everyone. As in, Ascalon Catacombs story mode will have level 30 mobs and everyone will be at level 30.

As for bringing stuff that helps your group, that can always be a good thing, unless your group may need more damage or something else. I would go in with a build your comfortable with and then change weapons or utility skills as it seems needed once inside.

For example, as a Mesmer, I sometimes use the trait that makes my Mantras heal and bring Mantra of Pain for damage and the group heal from the trait. I don't always do this, and it often gets put aside for the trait that makes my Focus skills reflect projectiles. Often the way this helps diminish the impact of ranged mobs and protect my group matters more.

On the other hand, I always use Time Warp because it helps everyone and is great for bosses.

For Twilight Arbor, I bring two condition removing utility skills. For a dungeon like Cadecus Manor, I don't worry about condition removal as much.

2. Lost Shores stuff will start in Lion's Arch and the new area will likely be accessed via Lion's Arch.

 

[usea]

I don't like the way I feel like I'm not really contributing to a group's success in dungeons. I specced my guardian for what I thought would be helpful, but I've still felt pretty useless. I can throw out a lot of boons, condition removal, and a moderate amount of healing. However, I do crap damage and I really can't keep anybody alive if they get hit. I feel like if I went afk, the outcome of a fight wouldn't change. I can't turn a loss into a win, and if we were gonna win anyway then going afk wouldn't stop it.

Are dungeons efficient for leveling? I'm still tooling around trying to decide who will get to 30 first on my account, but once I'm there...?

If your dungeon runs are relatively quick and painless, yes they're very efficient for leveling. But it's easy to waste a lot of time if you have poor dps or your group dies a few times.

 

[VanillaCakeIsBurning]

Can't say I enjoy the dungeons in this game. Mobs take a bit too long to kill and the enemies who one-two shot you are annoying due to the weird way dodge works.

I just stick to the normal pve stuff.

 

[pyrandes]

This is exactly what I'm talking about.

I find it incredibly ironic that you refer to it as 'dynamic combat' when so much of it is just rote memorization of a routine. That is, by definition, NOT dynamic, but static.

But you know, it's very, VERY obvious your experience has been completely different from mine - I have never actually enjoyed a dungeon run in this game, not once. I don't know what I'm missing, but frankly, I really don't care. As far as I'm concerned they totally fucked up when only a small, tightly-knit portion of the community can actually enjoy them on any level.

Still peeved. Probably will be forever. And if they gate new content behind a dungeon with bloody gear checks, they can consider my monetary contribution as good as gone as well.

Hmmm. I havent felt like I was watching a timer at all in these dungeons (however, some of them leave a bit to be desired), which to me feels like the most routine you can get.

Knowing what to do, and when to do it, in reaction to a tell is a player skill, imo; if youre not fast enough or dont have the knowledge of what to look for (or what to do) then youll get wacked.

Alpha, to use the current example, is dynamic. He is dynamic in the sense that you do not know when, or if, he'll use an ability at (x) time. All you know is the tell for an ability from him. Very different from, and pardon me from bringing this in, traditional mmo bosses where you know at (x) time the boss will do . Sure, Alpha has set abilities he does use, so that would be routine, but there's still the unknown on when he uses them, and on who (not to mention other possible distractions on the encounter).

As far as the new dungeon, it doesnt sound like the resist mechanic will be needed unless you plan on staying in there for at least (z) iterations (i dont know when it would kick in). So one could feasibly see all 9 minidungeons in Fractals by hopping out after doing a set of 3, resetting, and hopping back in. No gearcheck necessary. You may not get as many tokens this way, or rewards, but there ya go.

 

[Deitus]

Thanks very much for the reasoned post, Sir Deitus!

I would quit. Mark my words, mock and cast aspersions on me forever, but that would make me abandon this game.

And thank you for your response good sir.

I would also quit if they did that. I might not outright uninstall the game the day the patch was made, but it would kill any interest I had in the future of the game. Luckily for both of us, that is not happening, and it probably never will. When discussing the future of this game, and what we want out of it, its definitely worth discussing what we absolutely DO NOT WANT added to the game, so long as we're not dumb about it.

I think that we may be placing undue weight on the Ascended armor/Infusions aspect of this content patch. That's just my speculation, I admit, but it's my instinct.

I think you are absolutely right about that. This doesn't seem to be the most important thing being added in the update, its just the one that stands out the most, and that's why its getting such a big reaction. In all likelihood it won't be a big deal... it could be, but it probably won't. It's worth discussion and debate, but its not worth raging over until we know more.

There's another large content patch in December for Wintersday, and another in January already confirmed.

Yeah, I know about the Wintersday update, but I'm expecting that to be more along the lines of the Halloween update, a few small pieces of permanent content, and a whole lot of temporary content. It's good to know another update is coming in January though. I'm excited about the Wintersday content, but I have high hopes that the January update will be huge. I probably shouldn't concern myself that much with something so far out, but I can't help being curious as to how this game will be supported long term.

What we do know is that it seems tied to a very interesting, if vague new dungeon concept that I'm pretty excited about.

So please, don't tell me to quit the game. And unless you're going to give me all your gear right then and there (please send mail loaded with your best stuff to Planet Dudes), don't shout about how you're leaving forever over something so minor. If they pull this again in three months with another tier, though, I might be ready to move onto something else as well.

Pretty much this. Ultimately, all we can do is sit tight and wait for more information before we can decide whether this is ultimately a good thing or a bad thing for the game. In the mean time, we can continue to discuss what we are excited about, what we are skeptical about, etc., but let's not drown out legitimate discussion and debate with hyperbole on either side of the debate.

 

[etiolate]

The things I don't like in dungeons are the encounters that simply last too long due to elongated health bars. (The one final boss in SE exp mode where you have to switch between two golems is an example. The boss where you have to trigger three beams then run in to hit and then repeat is also just too slow and tedious for me.) The encounters that become corpse runs too often. (The protect NPC one in CoF.) And stuff that people just try to skip and I can't tell if that's by design or what, but there's elements of that in Twilight Arbor and CM exp mode.

 

[Zyrusticae]

Let me put it another way.

After playing a game like Tera, Guild Wars 2 is terribly muddled. The tells are frequently too subtle or just outright obfuscated, which makes the game far more frustrating than it should be. There are too many situations where a downed player can never be revived without the helper getting downed as well. Too many one-two shot scenarios if you're not running a toughness/vitality build. Difficulty spikes out the ass. And the goddamn laser field - seriously? At least make it trigger security mechs or something instead of resorting to the laziest possible failure penalty (death)!

I think my biggest problem with the game is the pacing. Damage is frequently insanely high, some of those attacks give you literally no time to react... the whole thing's just endless and constant frustration for me. I just can't put up with it.

Tera was definitely hard in places, but I never felt like it was just being unfair (with exception for one boss whose gimmick centers around insta-death). Part of that may have had to do with the fact that I was playing a dedicated healer and could thus cover for the mistakes of others. Either way, it felt better to me, and if the game didn't have a toxic community and one of the worst RNG gear grinds ever devised, I'd still be playing it. What a shame. Just can't win in this world...

 

[BrettWeir]

I see Theif have discovered their bullshit build.

How random.

 

[Boogdud]

You can't really blame the overdramatic people crying on the forums about gear creep and leaving the game. After all, it was the overdramatic crying about a lack of end game progression and having 'nothing to do' that got us the update.

Say what you want, but apparently it gets results.

 

[etiolate]

Credit to Butzopower for pointing this out on the wiki regarding the Lost Shores patch:

-A new resource to harvest with 200 new crafting recipes.

!!!

I missed this detail in all the grousing over gear grinds and gating and breaking keyboards and pushing over magazine racks. Exciting!

Yeah, I saw someone mention this. Glad for new recipes. I'm curious to see if its a new node or a new mob trophy.

 

[butzopower]

What if ANET is trolling us with GIANT ENEMY CRABS and BROKEN PROMISES. They haven't really leaked that much info, and really didn't leak any for Halloween, and what they have leaked should be obvious to them that it would stir some people up.

I'm not really concerned either way, since I haven't even gotten to 6 of the 8 dungeons yet, and still barely even have rare equips. At no part in the game have I really felt underpowered or unprepared except maybe the one time I tried running Arah. I'm pretty sure I'll be able to enjoy FotM as much as I would with or without the existence of a new armor tier.

 

[Retro]

I feel like a few people on this thread have been jumping to conclusions, and grossly over-reacting to this news, such that it is giving the impression that anyone skeptical or disappointed with the new systems looks like Chicken Little. Believe it or not, there are people who have some reservations about this content based on the little information we know, who aren't freaking out and getting out the pitchforks, but just want to express their concern.

I can't speak for anyone else, but I had hesitated to say anything further because of how any complaint has been just dismissed out of hand as an overreaction. Yesterday in guild chat, I was attempting to discuss this issue civilly, and I was told "If you don't like it, play another game," as if the only two options are unconditional love of every decision ArenaNet makes, or quitting the game. Thankfully, nothing in this thread has gotten quite to that point, but it still has gotten out of hand. Of course on the other side people are freaking out and ready to jump down the throats of anyone willing to defend ArenaNet on this decision. What I'm trying to say, is could everyone cut the dramatics and have a civil discussion here?


Anyway, my concern with this update is that it is the first major (permanent) content update to the game since release, and a lot of people have been looking forward to seeing how this game will be supported going forward. How are ArenaNet going to keep a game interesting to play over long periods of time without adding in more and more timesinks (as they have said they will not do). I have faith that they will continue with this approach, but frankly its not immediately obvious how they can accomplish such a feat, and the majority of games faced with the same dilemma settle for adding grind.

So, the first update is announced, and one of the major features announced in the update is another tier of gear to earn. We don't yet know how hard it will be to earn. We do know that it is being presented as one more thing to work towards after you have full exotic (based on their presenting this as closing the gap between Exotic and Legendary). The question is, what does this mean for the game going forward, and what kinds of additions can we expect in future content updates. The way I see it it can go two ways:

1) This is going to be the progression mechanic going forward. Every so often they will add new dungeons and content, and to go along with that new content they will add new gear to work towards that offers an advantage over the current gear. This has the effect of making the current tiers of gear obsolete in the long term, and may add a gear treadmill that was never supposed to exist in this game.

There is no evidence at all that this would happen. Anyone suggesting it is purely speculating, and seems to be looking at the worst case scenario. I don't think its a bad thing to discuss this scenario, as its important to talk about what we want and don't want out of this game, but it should be discussed in the context of "This will probably not happen because it would turn this game into something that ArenaNet doesn't want", rather that "OMG guys, they're totally ruining this game based on me extrapolating a data set of 1."

2) This is a one time deal, addressing a legitimate hole they have identified in the current progression. Future content patches will not continue to add tiers of gear, and will instead find a different way to incentivise players.

This is the most likely, and the best case I think. However, it doesn't at all address the issue that so many were hoping the first content patch would show how this game is going to maintain interest in the long term. It is a stop gap that will keep us busy until the reveal the real thing that will keep players coming back. That's not a bad thing at all, but then they need to knock it out of the park in the next major content update, which I would expect around January or early February.

Anyway, sorry for the long post. I've just been thinking about this since yesterday and trying to put all of my thoughts into words, and I apparently don't know the meaning of concise.

Gasp. A logical, well-thought out response? Quoting so this is on the new page, really needs to be seen and read more.

I really like this idea, reminds me of challenge mode in PSO.

That was my exact source of inspiration, actually. Love C-Mode.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

I thought GW2 was going to have 'User Created' treasure hunts and exploration games?

 

[etiolate]

Those were datamined, but haven't been officially put into the game yet. I would love for them to be in the game.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Well, yeah.

Why not flesh this huge world out a little more. All those vendors RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER selling the same 3 things. Come on.

Put some REALLY random events into the game. Ones that aren't on a 5 min loop. Ones that are well out of the way in the backwaters and stupid mountains of the world. Had more unique items into the game, things that really stand out.

 

[Lulubop]

Best up to date crafting guides?

 

[etiolate]

I'm really pissed off at ANet's forum moderators now. I have had two posts deleted for illegit reasons. You may be thinking that I am complaining because some immature or reactionary post by me got earmarked, but that's not the case.

I will post the infraction that I got here, because they never responded to my first email complaint and now the impetus on them to shape up or get called out. The post I replied to is in quotations, and my reply is in italics, and the moderation notice in bold.

This is an automated message. Your post in Thoughts on Ascended Gear? [Merged threads] was infracted.
Your original post in Thoughts on Ascended Gear? [Merged threads]:
"chuiu.4985:
The people are you pandering too, the ‘hardcore’ players. They are players who came from WoW, SWTOR, what have you. These are players who will leave the game to go play a different MMO regardless of what you add to the game. What you are doing right now is alienating your CORE fanbase. The people who have been waiting for this game for years. The people who want to play an MMO to have fun, not to continuously have to work on improving their gear.
Right now I have two level 80s with two sets of exotics each for 4 sets of armor. Before this patch I had planned on having 2 more 80s pretty soon (50 thief, 40 mesmer), and I had planned on getting another set of exotics for my main character because of another build I want to run for WvW. I have a legendary very close to being done (just waiting on Balthazar to not be bugged). Now I learn I have to completely regear my characters over the course of the game. I have to grind out these new rings and whatever you decide to add in the future. The backpieces alone will be hundreds of hours of grinding. And I learn if I want to have anymore 80’s I have to do the same thing all over on all of them. This is unacceptable.
I’ve logged hundreds of hours into this game and I don’t care about ‘character progression’. I just want to be able to play whatever character I want whenever I want with a full set of gear, just like I did for over half a decade in GW1. I have a Mesmer in GW1 that I’ve logged hundreds of hours on. He is using the same set of armor and weapons I obtained in 2005. I never had to change anything because he was perfect the way he was, I was satisfied with that. The only time I ever changed my other characters was to get the new skins for gear that I liked. I was always pretty happy with how hard or easy it was to get these things.
What you’ve introduced is going in the wrong direction. MMO’s do not need higher levels, more gear progression, and long grinds to keep players interested and having fun. You proved that with Guild Wars 1. You proved that with Guild Wars 2. The reason many more people are leaving this game is not due to the lack of gear progression but due to the massive number of bugs currently within the game.
WvW culling is out of control. We want to be able to see our enemies and our allies. Not our allies and invisible enemies (or enemies and invisible allies when we die).
Spvp lacks variety due to imbalanced builds and the lack of map variety. Everyone runs the same builds because all your maps have the same core function: capture points. Bring more map variety. Bring back the priests. Bring back flags (Capricorn would be great for this). Bring back relics. Introduce a MMO version of TF2’s payload. King of the hill. Anything! I assure you build variety won’t be as much of a problem when you start introducing different mechanics than just ‘capture this point’.
And hundreds of bugs plague skills and traits of all professions. I haven’t been able to run the build I want to on my Necromancer for months because the traits for it don’t work and a couple of my skills don’t do what they clearly say in the tooltip.
These are the reasons players are leaving your game. The gear progression junkies will play gear progression games that already exist. You can’t entice them with 1-2 pieces of stronger gear every couple months."

All this, and, again, I would add the poor loot tables that dish out too much vendor trash are another thing that hurts the game.

They've really pissed off the core fanbase with this and I’m not sure who the Ascended gear pleases so much that its worth the ire of everyone else. Even gear treadmill addicts don’t like resistance checks anymore.

Moderator Notes:
Posts that are rude, insulting, condescending, accuse others of hacking, call-out other players, contain personal attacks, off topic, disruptive, or derailing, are not allowed. As such, this post has been removed. Please refrain from making such a post in the future to avoid a temporary forum suspension. Thanks for your understanding and cooperation.
The message was deleted.

The previous post that was deleted was me remarking that another guild's emblem of a beaver waving with heart behind it was awesome, so this is the second totally bizarre moderation that I've received on their forums. I agree with someone and get infracted for a policy that has nothing to do with my post. I laugh at a guild flag and it gets removed for being offtopic. It's just fucking bizarre. Emailing them to appeal or complain has yielded nothing.

 

[Complistic]

Yeah, don't post there. I made 2 posts before getting banned.

 

[markot]

Anet? More like Bnet! Get it? B is worse then A! Actually, FNET! F FOR FAILLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL And net for the net in arena net.

 

[etiolate]

The hilarious bit is that the thread is full of histrionics and they're deleting stuff like that instead.

 

[Mr. Luchador]

Not enough expletives. Too much mentioning other games.

 

[inky]

I would say that is kind of funny. I've certainly posted way more grating stuff (could be considered 'on topic' at least) and haven't even received a warning. Of course I only posted there about 2 times because the apologists are even worse than in here. (Seriously, there are people who consider the clipping issues with armor/weapon models normal and something that we should expect out of every game/deal with it).

It's kind of infuriating the amount of ball-washing Official Forums produce, but that is some weird ass moderation.

 

[etiolate]

from Chris Whiteside:

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

 

[markot]

Its the definition of a treadmill.

Also no mention of the assed up resistence gear check shit or whatever they are calling it.

 

[Hawkian]

Markot, I've lost all sense of whether or not you're serious. Well done my friend, you are in the wildcard zone.

 

[Shambles]

Man the high level areas are absolute dog shit in this game. You can really tell the developers didn't want to give a full effort on the areas of the game they know only 20% of people will ever see.

 

[markot]

Markot, I've lost all sense of whether or not you're serious. Well done my friend, you are in the wildcard zone.

i m srs

 

[Proven]

The way I see it (optimistically) now, is that ANet is trying to do the things other MMOs do, but in a better way. The fact that they're placing Ascended as something to do on your way to Legendary sounds hopeful. While the stat increase over exotic is just under 10% (a lot), including your 916 base stats means that it's less than a 5% increase (will barely make a difference. Then, as long as the infused upgrades only work while Agony is present, or you ave to give up your runes to use them, I'll be happy.

Worst case but ANet type scenario: Legendary Weapons, Ascended Trinkets, and ________ Armor to be revealed in the next permanent content patch. Harder to get than Ascended items, but you can use Badges of Honor to speed things up.

 

[Hawkian]

Today I learned you can do more than one dungeon path on the same run.

 

[markot]

Today I learned GW2 is dead to me. DEAD.

Not a great idea to alienate your base when planetside 2 is just about to pop out of release and into releaseness!

 

[leng jai]

Today I learned you can do more than one dungeon path on the same run.

Explain

 

[br0ken_shad0w]

I'm really pissed off at ANet's forum moderators now. I have had two posts deleted for illegit reasons. You may be thinking that I am complaining because some immature or reactionary post by me got earmarked, but that's not the case.

Your mistake was posting in an official game forum.

 

[Achtius]

Today I learned you can do more than one dungeon path on the same run.

;o

also, is the ascended item supposed to be better compare to rare?

 

[Boss Doggie]

Oh, you can run multiple paths in a single entry now?

 

[Sir Abacus]

I wish there was a touch more info. I'm just starting to get my exotic pieces now and I'm wondering whether to hold off until I see what ascended is about.

 

[Warrior_Keoni]

I wish there was a touch more info. I'm just starting to get my exotic pieces now and I'm wondering whether to hold off until I see what ascended is about.

Just a few more days and you can probably wait on some of the exotics.

 

[Ferny]

Today I learned GW2 is dead to me. DEAD.

Not a great idea to alienate your base when planetside 2 is just about to pop out of release and into releaseness!

Yeah def trollin right about now.

 

[markot]

Yeah def trollin right about now.

I never played a troll in wow and I aint gonna start now!

Srsly though, planetside 2 was off my radar now its on mah computah.

 

[Proven]

Explain

;o

also, is the ascended item supposed to be better compare to rare?

Oh, you can run multiple paths in a single entry now?

There's a certain dungeon (can't recall the name) where over the course of one path, you find access to a route that normally belongs to another path. If you go down that path, kill the boss, you'll get credit for it. Then you can run back to the original path and still do that one.

 

[Hawkian]

I wish there was a touch more info. I'm just starting to get my exotic pieces now and I'm wondering whether to hold off until I see what ascended is about.

All that's being released in this patch is rings and back pieces. No regular armor slots.

 

[jersoc]

caught up on this thread at work. now i can reply.

i'll echo the person saying dungeons are boring. way too many dmg sponges in them and some are crazy ass long. 30-45 mins is right. 30 would be best. dungeons should be in and out. something you can do in a short amount of time so if you have an hour or something to spare you can still feel you did stuff. AC is like the perfect dungeon so far. but i haven't done much. i dont have time to spam LA, that shit is 15 years old and shouldn't exist.

not a fan of what the agony stuff could mean. resistances was the stupidest shit ever in wow raids. it does nothing for the game. if this is confined to one dungeon then fine. i hope this doesn't become permanent fixture in later dungeons.

not sure why anet didn't come out and say that they have no plans for tier loot once ascended is done. a whole lot of people pissed off could have been avoided if they actually released real info in that blog post. their communication about stuff has been less than stellar lately. it seems the only way to get things addressed is continue to raise a big stink about it. first FOV, then culling and now this. all things they said were fine and back pedaled on, well obviously not the last one cause ascended is newer.

edit: oh hey, at least they adding more rewards to wvw eventually. so once culling is fixed wvw should be great in a few months. unless your melee. then you can continue to sit on the top wishing..