Originally posted by QuicklyScott
This is what I don't understand about GW2.  Where is the hook - what keeps you playing?  If you can jump to the highest level to PVP, and content at level 80 doesn't really progress your character, just gives cosmetic bonuses, then how is it going to capitivate peoples' attention after the first couple of months?  When people just play for fun, the novelty can wear off pretty fast.

^^^^ I agree with what you say.  YOu get to max lvl and then what?  You already have the best armor level in the game.  You can pvp for fun, but once again there is no reward.

I know it is hard to understand for people like you - but many play a game, just because they like to play it. This whole grind towards items=reward thing has so many disadvantages and destroys competetive balance in PvP.

GW1 has always been regarded as one of the best PvP-MMOs of all time, because everybody has the same armor-stats. And GW2 will be exactly the same.

I disagree item improvmenty and upgrades are an important carrot and their absences will cost GW2 % of players in the multiple of tens. Or at least far less play time and $$ investment in the game. This is important, because it reflect enjoyment of the game.

Now i'll be the first to say the item treadmill is BS. But that doesn't mean there should be no item progression.  How about item progrssion but at a slow rate. Such as, with new dungeons etc. being released, you obtain like 1-2 slots of items that have upgrades and not massive one just slight bumbs. So like new max lvl dungeon is released it has rings that are ~5-10% more more powerful then the last. Well thats 5-10% seems liek a lot but think is it really? how many tiems do you have how much does that one contibute to your damage?  In the end thats no big deal but also allows for character devlopment in the Strength department (without making old content useless).

Oh and the (competitive) structured  pvp  use all the same equipment and are always maxed skilled and levels, so thats a non-issue.

Originally posted by QuicklyScott
This is what I don't understand about GW2.  Where is the hook - what keeps you playing?  If you can jump to the highest level to PVP, and content at level 80 doesn't really progress your character, just gives cosmetic bonuses, then how is it going to capitivate peoples' attention after the first couple of months?  When people just play for fun, the novelty can wear off pretty fast.

Why does gear grind have to be the hook to keep you playing, as opposed to enjoyment? Books don't give people gear, yet they hook people.

I never found the gear grind to be engaging, its basically a slot machine. Insert time and money and for 30 days you have a chance to get that piece of gear you want.

Originally posted by Stx11

Originally posted by Depravity44
...I really hope I'm not going to spend all these hours in this game just to find out that its a socialist nation at level 80.... :(

Sorry, but the "No Life/I have more time/money than you so I get better gear" games are that way -->

ANet has a very clear and consistent philosophy that SKILL is more important than GRIND (or P2W) so Top Tier/Top Stat Gear is relatively easy to obtain.

If you need gear with higher Stats to feel good about your time played/actually succeed in PvP there are plenty of other games that will provide that to you.

Have a great day! :D

Thanks you too!

Originally posted by QuicklyScott
This is what I don't understand about GW2.  Where is the hook - what keeps you playing?  If you can jump to the highest level to PVP, and content at level 80 doesn't really progress your character, just gives cosmetic bonuses, then how is it going to capitivate peoples' attention after the first couple of months?  When people just play for fun, the novelty can wear off pretty fast.

in wvw you get buffed up to 80 but you don't have your level 80 skills or traits you just have level 80 health..in instant pvp you have all your level 80 traits.

I only play games for fun these days.

I did all the gear grind progression stuff with EQ1 and EQ2 over many years.

These days, any mmorpg I play I get to end game and then get immediately turned off by dailies and repetitive dungeon crawls and raids for gear. They last about 3 months until I get bored out of my skull.

With GW2 I can do everything I like in mmorpgs and not have to worry about gear. Tradeskills, exploration, achievements and WvW and still be challenged at every step.

This is why for me GW2 will be a breath of fresh air.

"Gear increases your character's power which allows you to defeat more powerful enemies which drop gear which increases your character's power which allows you to defeat more powerful enemies… and so on."

This is what most are use to, and it has gotten pretty stale... Time for a change

http://www.darkademic.co.uk/blog?id=202

Originally posted by QuicklyScott
This is what I don't understand about GW2.  Where is the hook - what keeps you playing?  If you can jump to the highest level to PVP, and content at level 80 doesn't really progress your character, just gives cosmetic bonuses, then how is it going to capitivate peoples' attention after the first couple of months?  When people just play for fun, the novelty can wear off pretty fast.

I started playing chess when I was six.  I'm 41 now and I still play chess.

Why?

Originally posted by MMOExposed
No it won't. I can't stand whoever spread that rumor. Cause I seen it a lot around here

You have a source for that?

Originally posted by Depravity44

^^^^ I agree with what you say.  YOu get to max lvl and then what?  You already have the best armor level in the game.  You can pvp for fun, but once again there is no reward.

There are plenty of rewards, just no rewards with higher stats.

There are still different stats though, so no, not all armor will have the same stats. As some other people already mentioned, some armor may have +Malice and +Prowess, other armor may have +Concentration and/or +Compassion, etc etc...

Originally posted by heartless
This topic makes me think of Pavlov and his dogs.

I think about slavery.  You can free the slave, but they still want to work the fields for carrots. 

No, not all lvl80 items will have the same stats.

First off there are still differences in quality when it comes to items.
On the other hand the developer said that harder to get gear might not have
more stats in total but more differentiated gear with more interesting stats
on it.

If you want to compare that with wow, which everyone loves, it would be as if every
hardmode item had the same item level but different stat allocation and different looks.

Originally posted by Kaisen_Dexx

Originally posted by QuicklyScott
This is what I don't understand about GW2.  Where is the hook - what keeps you playing?  If you can jump to the highest level to PVP, and content at level 80 doesn't really progress your character, just gives cosmetic bonuses, then how is it going to capitivate peoples' attention after the first couple of months?  When people just play for fun, the novelty can wear off pretty fast.

Why does gear grind have to be the hook to keep you playing, as opposed to enjoyment? Books don't give people gear, yet they hook people.

I never found the gear grind to be engaging, its basically a slot machine. Insert time and money and for 30 days you have a chance to get that piece of gear you want.

Maybe for those people, the gear grind is the enjoyment, they don't have to be 2 different things.

Originally posted by sidhaethe

Originally posted by MMOExposed
No it won't. I can't stand whoever spread that rumor. Cause I seen it a lot around here

You have a source for that?

You don't need a source, it's common GW2 knowledge.

There will be no vertical progression (as in gear treadmill) but there will still be different stats to mix with. The OP asked if all max armor will have the same stats, and MMOExposed said that this is not true. And he's right.

Originally posted by Twisted77
Expansion packs?

No gear grind - #1 selling point for a true pvpr. Plus alts.... dont have to grind to get them competitve.

I'm not a true PvPr but I have to say, the no grind gear is a huge selling point for me. There will be more fun, and better ways to experience "end game"

Originally posted by Depravity44

Originally posted by QuicklyScott
This is what I don't understand about GW2.  Where is the hook - what keeps you playing?  If you can jump to the highest level to PVP, and content at level 80 doesn't really progress your character, just gives cosmetic bonuses, then how is it going to capitivate peoples' attention after the first couple of months?  When people just play for fun, the novelty can wear off pretty fast.

^^^^ I agree with what you say.  YOu get to max lvl and then what?  You already have the best armor level in the game.  You can pvp for fun, but once again there is no reward.

I believe this is one aspects of GW2 that is what many gamers wants.

MMO should be an never ending game, a game that you can play for fun for years without having a actual end. But we lost that definition throughout the years after WOW came out. Then every game afterwards have end game content.

Do you know how weird that sounded, End Game Content in an MMO, MMO should never end, and GW2 is making that true once again, you can play to level 80 and still do level 15 content, you can still do level 55 content if you want with the same exact character. World Boss that is level 20 is still a challenge for your level 80 character, a more immersive and real MMO experience.

I believe the only main difference for each level is the Mobs have more tools and abilities to kill you the higher you go, so if you want some easy to kill Bosses, stay at the lower levels forever if you want.

The one thing that I can tell you is that when I was in the BETA Weekend ( when i was finally able to log in) I played for 6 hours without feeling like I was grinding at all. I was still trying to figure out which weapon combination I like and how to combine them to be more efficient.

Like many have already stated, GW2 is not a gear grind game, if you are looking for Gear Grind games, TERA, TSW, SWTOR are all recently released or about to release games that offered exactly what you are looking for, plus many many more on the horizon , many many more that has gear grinds.