So any WvW rewards on par with that dungeon loot ?
Would be sucky to spend 1000 badges or 200k karma for sub par gear to get owned by dungeon rats :)

lets see what this brings, but iam not realy against it, tbh Anet has some balls making a move like this.
Prolly gonne peek inside a dungeon again, but i realy dislike running them over and over to get better geared.
Done that in WoW for 8 years, not gonne play a mmo that forces me to do it again.
Give me on par WvW pvp gear and i dont mind it.

Originally posted by Whitebeards

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by Whitebeards

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by Nitth

---

Originally posted by 1vald2
Anyways, pointless talking to 99% of the people on this forum. You can smell the troll even before clicking on the threads

---

Whats the point of a discussion if everyone has a unified viewpoint?

That would make sense if those people wanted to have a discussion but it's always the same 5 or 10 people with an agenda looking for the latest drama to latch onto.  It's not about game discussion.  Hell, some of them even got refunds on the game yet still come in to "discuss" their disgust.

And you don't have an agenda? i am neither a hater or a fanboy but someone  who is happy to see gear progression in GW2.  

But from where i stand i don't see how you are any different than those you keep pointing fingers at? in every single reply of yours you bring the word 'agenda' even though it is very clear that you have your own agenda which motivates you to defend GW2 and Anet at every given oppertunity.

Of course I have an agenda.  I actually play the game and like it.  I've been playing GW for years now.  I know exactly what I'm getting into and what I like and don't like about ANet.  I just choose my battles and don't hop on the latest hate train like those who pick something out of every press release and update.

By the way, if you're looking for progression like you see in other games, you're going to be very disappointed.

Then please stop bringing up it in every single reply? everyone who posts here has an agenda. 

As far kind of progression i am looking for. Anet has stated in article that they will keep on introducing new ascended gears and upgrades. Right now even if the increase is little under 10%, it is good enough for me to upgrade my gear and weapons.  For a game whichw as all about cosmetic grind, any amount of difefrence in stats is good enough.

NO.  Deal with it.  There is a difference between having an agenda to discuss and enjoy the game and having an agenda to troll.  We're all allowed to have the agenda to discuss game points and enjoy them.  We're not allowed to go trolling with an agenda to stir shit up and cause trouble.  Get it?

You can have that now with Legendary weapons.  Ascended gear won't be better than Legendary and any Legendary items will be upgraded to be on par with Ascended.  Ascended will be less rare than Legendary, that is all.  They will keep adding Ascended and Legendary weapons to fill in missing slots.

Where did you get that Guild Wars is about cosmetic grind?  There *is* cosmetic grind, but there has always been progression in the game of some sort or the other.  Mostly it has been about faction skills, heroes, and getting the best mods on weapon type you want (or farming the greens that hold those).  Why would you think GW2 was going to be different?

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Jimmydean
Pretty sure Anet just scrapped everything GW2 was based upon.  And it might be enough to make me log in again.

They didn't scrap anything - understand the lore of the GW universe and all they are doing is returning things that were in GW1.

Infusion never added a new tier of items or made the items have higher stats.

It simply meant you would take less damage from a mursaat skill based on the amount of infused armor pieces.

You would grab any armor you already had and infuse it.

Infusion was to counter any mob that could cast the monster only skill, Spectral Agony.  Only a handful of mobs could cast that.  Infusion here counters the Agony condition.  We'll see how many mobs can cast that.  I always thought it was lame that they didn't add more mobs that could cast Spectral Agony, especially if Fissure or UW.

I don't think this sort of progression is bad at all.  For one, the Legendary items will be upgraded to keep their place as BiS.  So they are just making a difference between Exotic and Legendary.  Ascended will be of Legendary quality but less rare.

It sounds like a win and in keeping with their gear philosophy.  What will matter is the content they add to obtain the gear.  If the content is fun and accessible then so much the better.  If it's not or it starts to mirror raid style exclusion, then I'm sure they will hear about it.  One thing very positive that stands out in the article, to me, is they are also adding scavenger hunt style acquisition to loot as opposed to just token bartering or crafting.  Crafting is getting an update as well.

ANet has added progression before in GW1 with Heroes.  Progression doesn't always have to be about gear.  Finally ANet never said there would be no progression, but that you're not getting RIFT style obsolescence and gear treadmill style grind.

Maybe it's just because I played GW1 for a long time, but this seems in keeping with ANets philosophy and shows they are at least listening.

Is this really a bad thing and how so?

The only mobs that could cast Spectral agony were the Mursaat. Their side kicks, the Jade conatructs would apply spectral agony on hit - fairly localized mob (southern shiverpeaks and ring of fire with a reaperance in War in Kryta) - any armor, max, non max, elte or otherwise could be infused and it would give no power vs any other mobs. Ascenant items are better vs everyone.

Again they didn' have to add a new item tier with higher stats.s

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by nationalcity

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Did you requote that with nothing else as if you're telling us all something?  Funny how people like you stop reading when it suits your needs.  All you had to do was read a few more lines.

They're adding progression of a sort, still probably nothing to make treadmill runners happy, while keeping with their gear philosophy.  And this is bad how?  More content with more weapons and armour of equivalent power is somehow bad in opposite world?

What do you mean when you say why is this bad?

You have actually seen the GW2 devs talking about the game right?

I mean come on they said spefically they were not going to go down this route and guess what now they are thats why its BAD....

It may just be a cape and a ring atm but soon its gonna be a full set and what do you thinks gonna happen after that set is obtained by everyone you think this is gonna be the end of it?

The thread on the offical forums has like 50,000 posts and you say why is this bad.....

How is it bad?  What is there not to understand here about the question.  It's simple really.  Explain why you think this is bad, not rattle off some vague stuff about "go[ing] down this route".

What route?  Did Arena Net come out and say there will never be progression changes?  There were progression additions in GW1, why not GW2?

Even if they did make a change to their design, so what does it matter if it still fits within the philosophy of no gear-treadmill / no planned obsolescence.  That is what their philosophy is about, that and keeping stat inflation to a minimum because it is a balance nightmare.

After people obtain the Ascended gear they can keep working for Legendary which is still BiS.

You keep telling yourself that while your grinding for your Ascended gear 8P

And second of all I don't have to explain anything to you https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Thoughts-on-Ascended-Gear-Merged-threads says it all are you asking everyone there to explain to you why its a bad idea didn't think so.....

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Rimmersman

Originally posted by Jimmydean

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Jimmydean
Pretty sure Anet just scrapped everything GW2 was based upon.  And it might be enough to make me log in again.

They didn't scrap anything - understand the lore of the GW universe and all they are doing is returning things that were in GW1.

 

 

Lore has nothing to do with gear stat progression. But I'll take your comments under advisment. I'll place them right next to all of Aerowyn's posts about the entire game being endgame, and how exotics are the best items in game so there is no gear progression.

 

+1

There is no gear prgression - RELOOK at the pics. The stats are the same on those 2 pcs of armor - the only difference is one has the stats + a rune and the other is all stats + an infusion slot. IT IS NOT GEAR PROGRESSION lol

No.

You are wrong.

The Ascended item is +50, +50, +10%, +18, +18.

The exotic item is +48, +48, +7% (+3%+4%), +15, +15.

Look again.

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by nationalcity

You keep telling you yourself that while your grinding for your Ascended gear 8P

And second of all I don't have to explain anything to you https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Thoughts-on-Ascended-Gear-Merged-threads says it all are you asking everyone there to explain to you what its bad didn't think so.....

Ah, I see you can't support your position with an argument or explain yourself.  Keep parroting then, gotchya. kthxbai.

 3 reasons:

- mandatory grind is extended (unless you believe max stats isn't mandatory);

- old content ia made easier (unless you don't think +10% stats doesn't make it easier):

- new content isn't more challenging - dodging a sword that deals 10k damage or 1000 damage is as hard.

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Rimmersman

Originally posted by Jimmydean

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Jimmydean
Pretty sure Anet just scrapped everything GW2 was based upon.  And it might be enough to make me log in again.

They didn't scrap anything - understand the lore of the GW universe and all they are doing is returning things that were in GW1.

 

 

Lore has nothing to do with gear stat progression. But I'll take your comments under advisment. I'll place them right next to all of Aerowyn's posts about the entire game being endgame, and how exotics are the best items in game so there is no gear progression.

 

+1

There is no gear prgression - RELOOK at the pics. The stats are the same on those 2 pcs of armor - the only difference is one has the stats + a rune and the other is all stats + an infusion slot. IT IS NOT GEAR PROGRESSION lol

No.

You are wrong.

The Ascended item is +50, +50, +10%, +18, +18.

The exotic item is +48, +48, +7% (+3%+4%), +15, +15.

Look again.

It is like in GW1 - people demanding 15% above 50% mods when they did only one point damage above 14% above 50%. People dont understand math - it is not that much more - in fact another item done right - might have more. Game is still too new to say. 

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Infusion was to counter any mob that could cast the monster only skill, Spectral Agony.  Only a handful of mobs could cast that.  Infusion here counters the Agony condition.  We'll see how many mobs can cast that.  I always thought it was lame that they didn't add more mobs that could cast Spectral Agony, especially if Fissure or UW.

I don't think this sort of progression is bad at all.  For one, the Legendary items will be upgraded to keep their place as BiS.  So they are just making a difference between Exotic and Legendary.  Ascended will be of Legendary quality but less rare.

It sounds like a win and in keeping with their gear philosophy.  What will matter is the content they add to obtain the gear.  If the content is fun and accessible then so much the better.  If it's not or it starts to mirror raid style exclusion, then I'm sure they will hear about it.  One thing very positive that stands out in the article, to me, is they are also adding scavenger hunt style acquisition to loot as opposed to just token bartering or crafting.  Crafting is getting an update as well.

ANet has added progression before in GW1 with Heroes.  Progression doesn't always have to be about gear.  Finally ANet never said there would be no progression, but that you're not getting RIFT style obsolescence and gear treadmill style grind.

Maybe it's just because I played GW1 for a long time, but this seems in keeping with ANets philosophy and shows they are at least listening.

Is this really a bad thing and how so?

The only mobs that could cast Spectral agony were the Mursaat. Their side kicks, the Jade conatructs would apply spectral agony on hit.

Again they didn' have to add a new item tier with higher stats.

The delivery mechanism doesn't really matter does it?  In the end Spectral Agony could be applied by a few mobs.  My point is that it could have been a lot more, but it wasn't.  Hopefully the Agony condition will be used more extensively and somewhat more randomly in level 80 content going forward.  It adds some diversity to mobs and combat.

No they didn't have to add gear, but then again they don't have to do everything in GW2 exactly like GW1 do they?  They didn't add much gear progression in GW1 except greens (remember how people bitched about that?).  They added progression via heroes.  Should GW2 mirror that then?

The stats are going to mirror legendary gear but be less rare.  Legendary are already in the game so, while they're adding a middle tier between Legendary and Exotic, it's not like they're adding a new much higher tier that obsoletes existing items.  Again, how is that bad?  Does it actually break their no-treadmill / no-obsolescence design model?  It could, but it doesn't seem so.

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Infusion was to counter any mob that could cast the monster only skill, Spectral Agony.  Only a handful of mobs could cast that.  Infusion here counters the Agony condition.  We'll see how many mobs can cast that.  I always thought it was lame that they didn't add more mobs that could cast Spectral Agony, especially if Fissure or UW.

I don't think this sort of progression is bad at all.  For one, the Legendary items will be upgraded to keep their place as BiS.  So they are just making a difference between Exotic and Legendary.  Ascended will be of Legendary quality but less rare.

It sounds like a win and in keeping with their gear philosophy.  What will matter is the content they add to obtain the gear.  If the content is fun and accessible then so much the better.  If it's not or it starts to mirror raid style exclusion, then I'm sure they will hear about it.  One thing very positive that stands out in the article, to me, is they are also adding scavenger hunt style acquisition to loot as opposed to just token bartering or crafting.  Crafting is getting an update as well.

ANet has added progression before in GW1 with Heroes.  Progression doesn't always have to be about gear.  Finally ANet never said there would be no progression, but that you're not getting RIFT style obsolescence and gear treadmill style grind.

Maybe it's just because I played GW1 for a long time, but this seems in keeping with ANets philosophy and shows they are at least listening.

Is this really a bad thing and how so?

The only mobs that could cast Spectral agony were the Mursaat. Their side kicks, the Jade conatructs would apply spectral agony on hit.

Again they didn' have to add a new item tier with higher stats.

The delivery mechanism doesn't really matter does it?  In the end Spectral Agony could be applied by a few mobs.  My point is that it could have been a lot more, but it wasn't.  Hopefully the Agony condition will be used more extensively and somewhat more randomly in level 80 content going forward.  It adds some diversity to mobs and combat.

No they didn't have to add gear, but then again they don't have to do everything in GW2 exactly like GW1 do they?  They didn't add much gear progression in GW1 except greens (remember how people bitched about that?).  They added progression via heroes.  Should GW2 mirror that then?

The stats are going to mirror legendary gear but be less rare.  Legendary are already in the game so, while they're adding a middle tier between Legendary and Exotic, it's not like they're adding a new much higher tier that obsoletes existing items.  Again, how is that bad?  Does it actually break their no-treadmill / no-obsolescence design model?  It could, but it doesn't seem so.

No, the legendary are going to mirror ascendamt - at the moment legendary are exactly the same as exotic, so legendary will be boosted to match.

I posted this in a different thread which was closed and redirected here so I'll give it another go:

Originally posted by Cavod

Hey guys and/or gals making light of the stats, you might like to hear this about GW2 stat distribution on gear and know that the image posted is a little misleading.

 

Items have dominant and secondary stats.  The dominant stat will always be 'worth more'. example MF is always considered dominant.

 

So a 3% MF difference is a bit more than "a couple stat points".  Specifically here we see that 3 MF is in place of a "34" "45" "67" "101"  in a different stat depending on the slot.   So what may look like a +3 is actually more than +3.  That's on top of the already +5 x2 shown in the example given in the blog.(my first link)

 

Good thing crit damage % isn't a dominant stat.  Even so, if they include equal crit damage increases to the new gear it will impactful.  In the case of a dual wielder, you have 14 gear slots.  An increase of at least 1% would have to be present for crit damage which amounts to +14% crit damage over people without ascended gear.  This is the minimum increase.(margin of error being 2?)

 

On a 5k crit that's 700 extra damage.

 

Furthermore, in the blog post she said they plan to extend this further than rings/back.   Once you add together the difference between a full set of exotics versus ascended you can actually have something a lot more significant "a few points".

 

 

Let us not forget the awful LotRO-esque "radiance" system.

 

 

tl:dr= The actual potential the stat increase makes is nothing to scoff at.

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Rimmersman

Originally posted by Jimmydean

Originally posted by botrytis

Originally posted by Jimmydean
Pretty sure Anet just scrapped everything GW2 was based upon.  And it might be enough to make me log in again.

They didn't scrap anything - understand the lore of the GW universe and all they are doing is returning things that were in GW1.

 

 

Lore has nothing to do with gear stat progression. But I'll take your comments under advisment. I'll place them right next to all of Aerowyn's posts about the entire game being endgame, and how exotics are the best items in game so there is no gear progression.

 

+1

There is no gear prgression - RELOOK at the pics. The stats are the same on those 2 pcs of armor - the only difference is one has the stats + a rune and the other is all stats + an infusion slot. IT IS NOT GEAR PROGRESSION lol

No.

You are wrong.

The Ascended item is +50, +50, +10%, +18, +18.

The exotic item is +48, +48, +7% (+3%+4%), +15, +15.

Look again.

It is like in GW1 - people demanding 15% above 50% mods when they did only one point damage above 14% above 50%. People dont understand math - it is not that much more - in fact another item done right - might have more. Game is still too new to say. 

That was +1% damage of BASE WEAPON DAMAGE.

The higher based damage weapons were 19-35 (hammer) and 9-41 (scythe). And this was reduced by armor which means the base damage of these weapons was around 10, when guys wielding these weapons hit the mobs for 50-100, so we are talking about 1% of 10-20% of the damage.

Really insignificant.

Still, with Nightfall they made it so easy to get 15^50 that it became trivial.

Not exactly the case in here and as they say it is just the begining.

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by Whitebeards

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by Whitebeards

Originally posted by Torvaldr

Originally posted by Nitth

---

Originally posted by 1vald2
Anyways, pointless talking to 99% of the people on this forum. You can smell the troll even before clicking on the threads

---

Whats the point of a discussion if everyone has a unified viewpoint?

That would make sense if those people wanted to have a discussion but it's always the same 5 or 10 people with an agenda looking for the latest drama to latch onto.  It's not about game discussion.  Hell, some of them even got refunds on the game yet still come in to "discuss" their disgust.

And you don't have an agenda? i am neither a hater or a fanboy but someone  who is happy to see gear progression in GW2.  

But from where i stand i don't see how you are any different than those you keep pointing fingers at? in every single reply of yours you bring the word 'agenda' even though it is very clear that you have your own agenda which motivates you to defend GW2 and Anet at every given oppertunity.

Of course I have an agenda.  I actually play the game and like it.  I've been playing GW for years now.  I know exactly what I'm getting into and what I like and don't like about ANet.  I just choose my battles and don't hop on the latest hate train like those who pick something out of every press release and update.

By the way, if you're looking for progression like you see in other games, you're going to be very disappointed.

Then please stop bringing up it in every single reply? everyone who posts here has an agenda. 

As far kind of progression i am looking for. Anet has stated in article that they will keep on introducing new ascended gears and upgrades. Right now even if the increase is little under 10%, it is good enough for me to upgrade my gear and weapons.  For a game whichw as all about cosmetic grind, any amount of difefrence in stats is good enough.

NO.  Deal with it.  There is a difference between having an agenda to discuss and enjoy the game and having an agenda to troll.  We're all allowed to have the agenda to discuss game points and enjoy them.  We're not allowed to go trolling with an agenda to stir shit up and cause trouble.  Get it?

You can have that now with Legendary weapons.  Ascended gear won't be better than Legendary and any Legendary items will be upgraded to be on par with Ascended.  Ascended will be less rare than Legendary, that is all.  They will keep adding Ascended and Legendary weapons to fill in missing slots.

Where did you get that Guild Wars is about cosmetic grind?  There *is* cosmetic grind, but there has always been progression in the game of some sort or the other.  Mostly it has been about faction skills, heroes, and getting the best mods on weapon type you want (or farming the greens that hold those).  Why would you think GW2 was going to be different?

People who have opinion different than yours are not trolls they are just people who feel differently about new changes. And who appointed you the forum mod here? you don't have to worry about what is allowed here or not.

I could care less if you think your agenda is better or more just.

I simply wanted to point out your hypocricy for bringing 'agendas' in every post and dismissing what others have to say about the current issue on basis of that. Even though your agenda is to defend the game and cover up any negativity about the new changes. I don't think you get paid enough for this.

As far s where i got that GW2 was about cosmetic grind only. I am just going by what i have read so far and what ANet has been saying regarding horizontol progression. That is why it is a big shock for lot of players. And i understand their sentiments.

Exotic was suppossed to be the top gear where everyone has similar stats and the only thing that would change is appearance. That was original Anet stance regarding end game progression. If not they could have made legendaries with better stats before release but they didn't. So clearly now there is sudden shift in their original stance.

I knew I read this somewhere.. Took me awhile to find it.

"We don’t need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional, so those who find it fun to chase this prestigious gear can do so, but those who don’t are just as powerful and get to have fun too.” – Colin Johanson

http://www.arena.net/blog/is-it-fun-colin-johanson-on-how-arenanet-measures-success

First, let me address the ongoing misinformtion meme that has popped up in this thread. GW2 sPvP and WvW are both very compelling for those who enjoy those forms of game play. However, they are not the focus of the game, at the expense of PvE. This is one of the best, most expansive PvE based MMOs on the market. Stop saying this game doesn't offer a solid PvE experience, it just betrays the fact that you don't know anything about the game!

Ok. That said...

What do we have for ascended gear on release of Fractals of the Mist? Rings and a back piece. The back piece has some potential to provide advantage outside of FotM, given the general lack of back armor in the game. The rings, however, have slightly better stats than Exotic Rings as an offset to the fact that the Ascended Rings have no enhancement slots! My guess is that fully enhanced Exotics will have stats pretty much on par with Ascended Rings.

Agony and Infusions. Agony appears to be limited only to the Fractals of the Mist Dungeon. Infusions and anti-Agony item stats offer zero benefit outside of FotM.

FotM gets more difficult with each phase/wave of three Fractals a group completes. It makes sense that the introduction and ratcheting up of Agony will play a major role in difficulty scaling as a group pushes the wave progression during a session. With greater difficulty comes greater reward, but I would anticipat that a group that has the time to complete to three wave runs will still earn a fair amount of reward for the effort, even if a group with infused gear completing a six wave run in the same period of time earns a bit more.

The dungeon doesn't preclude casuals, who probably wouldn't have time for a full six wave run anyway. They can even earn Ascended gear and infusiuons, even if at a slower rate, which will open up deeper runs on those occassions when they are able to devote an entire evening to pushing a run to the party's limits.

This is a pretty creative way to scratch a particular dungeon progression itch, with out producing a negative impact on casual players and tose who decide to pass entirely on FotM.

Originally posted by fiontar

First, let me address the ongoing misinformtion meme that has popped up in this thread. GW2 sPvP and WvW are both very compelling for those who enjoy those forms of game play. However, they are not the focus of the game, at the expense of PvE. This is one of the best, most expansive PvE based MMOs on the market. Stop saying this game doesn't offer a solid PvE experience, it just betrays the fact that you don't know anything about the game!

Ok. That said...

What do we have for ascenced gear on release of Fractals of the Mist? Rings and a back piece. The back piece has some potential to provide advantage outside of FotM, given the general lack of back armor in the game. The rings, however, have slightly better stats than Exotic Rings as an offset to the fact that the Ascended Rings have no enhancement slots! My guess is that fully enhanced Exotics will have stats pretty much on par with Ascended Rings.

Agony and Infusions. Agony appears to be limited only to the Fractals of the Mist Dungeon. Infusions and anti-Agony item stats offer zero benefit outside of FotM.

FotM gets more difficult with each phase/wave of three Fractals a group completes. It makes sense that the introduction and ratcheting up of Agony will play a major role in difficulty scaling as a group pushes the wave progression during a session. With greater difficulty comes greater reward, but I would anticipat that a group that has the time to complete to three wave runs will still earn a fair amount of reward for the effort, even if a group with infused gear completing a six wave run in the same period of time earns a bit more.

The dungeon doesn't preclude casuals, who probably wouldn't have time for a full six wave run anyway. They can even earn Ascended gear and infusiuons, even if at a slower rate, which will open up deeper runs on those occassions when they are able to devote an entire evening to pushing a run to the party's limits.

This is a pretty creative way to scrath a particular dungeon progression itch, with out producing a negative impact on casual players and tose who decide to pass entirely on FotM.

with the promise of more to come. Not speculation but their own words.

Infusion and agony on their own are ok, even if giving overpowered skills to mobs that then are manageable with gear is a very uninspiring way of creating challenge.

No need to create a gear tier that is in essence is a nerf to all the existing level 80 content.

I know that this thread is filled with trolls that don't give a damn about GW2 (maybe eome are affraid a game without forced grouping and where you have no power other others is successful) but there is no point pretending certain things are wrtten in the blog post - they are there, mention of a full ascendant kit which means a 10%buff in stats vs all the current level 80 content, that is harder to get than exotic (meaning casuals might never catch up).

Aside from the trolls that bitch about anything resembling GW2, there is a ton of people comingout protesting against the change of direction.

Just look at the official forums,how many are posting for the first time in there.

The game isn't instantly turned to crap by this move but IT GAINS NOTHING.

THERE IS NO BENEFIT COMING OUT OF MORE GEAR TIERS!

All the items that aren't max stats are crap, are fillers, are merchant fodder and they will always be.

Some may get all excited about getting a new shinny with a bigger number.

I and a portion of the GW2 player base (including GW1 vets) are way over that.

remind me to write ANET a letter tomorrow thanking them for being so unclear and vague about something SO IMPORTANT (and yes i truly think it's important right now)...

Gave me many amusing posts to read.

Please don't ignore the fact that the increased stats on ascended gear are meant as an offset to the lack of enhancement slots. There may, or may not, stil be a slight advantage in overall stats when comparing a piece of ascended gear to a piece of fully enhanced exotic gear. Even if there is, it will not be 8%, or 10%, or what ever number people are pulling into the discussion.

Yes, we know that eventually there will be full sets of Ascended gear. Put this in the context of the comment that Fractals of the Mist will be expanded over the course of the "years to come". No, we do not know how the stats of Ascended Armor will compare to Exotics and all we can do in that reguard is speculate. Trinkets and even back armor are strait forward. The enhancements for them are straight stat boosts. Armor uses Runes for enhancement. Runes include some specific stat boost, but many also offer other boosts or effects beyond the basic stats.

It remains to be seen how they will adjust Ascended Armor for the lack of Enhancement Slots. My speculation is that there will be numerous sets that operate like runed gear. However, since the rune sets wil be built into each piece, getting sets wil require a lot ore work than buying a set of runes of the Trading Post, while also removing the customization normal gear offers.

What's the purpose? It's not to introduce gear inflation to the game proper. It's all about offering a form of gear progression with in the sandbox (I'm not using the term as used when discussing MMOs) that is Fractals of the Mist. It seems to me that FotM has potential to provide an experience similar to what is found in some of the multi-player dungeon crawl games, with in the greater context of GW2.

GW2 offers an expansive, immersive PvE world with great breadth and depth, which is greatly enhanced by Dynamic Events and Level Scaling. It offers a fair to good story mode on par with most single player RPGs. It offers WvW, which is the best open zone, structured, objective driven mass combat mode found in any MMO since Dark Age of Camelot. It also offers a pretty compelling structured PvP mode that looks to improve and grow over time. Add in FotM and it's clear that GW2 is meant to be many games all in one, which is great for broadening appeal and offering more options for players who want a change of pace from their prefered game mode.

I felt let down by the promise of Activities, when the game launched with only the Norn Keg Brawl, rather than the half dozen to dozen activities that Arenenaet had hinted at, but I expect that activities will eventually become more prolific in the game over time, further expanding the concept of having many outlets and styles of play all with in the greater game.

I think this is a concept that Arenanet will continue to expand upon and I suspect that in the months and years to come, Fractals of the Mist won't be the only major alternative game mode that the game will see.

Originally posted by Gaia_Hunter

Originally posted by fiontar

First, let me address the ongoing misinformtion meme that has popped up in this thread. GW2 sPvP and WvW are both very compelling for those who enjoy those forms of game play. However, they are not the focus of the game, at the expense of PvE. This is one of the best, most expansive PvE based MMOs on the market. Stop saying this game doesn't offer a solid PvE experience, it just betrays the fact that you don't know anything about the game!

Ok. That said...

What do we have for ascenced gear on release of Fractals of the Mist? Rings and a back piece. The back piece has some potential to provide advantage outside of FotM, given the general lack of back armor in the game. The rings, however, have slightly better stats than Exotic Rings as an offset to the fact that the Ascended Rings have no enhancement slots! My guess is that fully enhanced Exotics will have stats pretty much on par with Ascended Rings.

Agony and Infusions. Agony appears to be limited only to the Fractals of the Mist Dungeon. Infusions and anti-Agony item stats offer zero benefit outside of FotM.

FotM gets more difficult with each phase/wave of three Fractals a group completes. It makes sense that the introduction and ratcheting up of Agony will play a major role in difficulty scaling as a group pushes the wave progression during a session. With greater difficulty comes greater reward, but I would anticipat that a group that has the time to complete to three wave runs will still earn a fair amount of reward for the effort, even if a group with infused gear completing a six wave run in the same period of time earns a bit more.

The dungeon doesn't preclude casuals, who probably wouldn't have time for a full six wave run anyway. They can even earn Ascended gear and infusiuons, even if at a slower rate, which will open up deeper runs on those occassions when they are able to devote an entire evening to pushing a run to the party's limits.

This is a pretty creative way to scrath a particular dungeon progression itch, with out producing a negative impact on casual players and tose who decide to pass entirely on FotM.

with the promise of more to come. Not speculation but their own words.

Infusion and agony on their own are ok, even if giving overpowered skills to mobs that then are manageable with gear is a very uninspiring way of creating challenge.

No need to create a gear tier that is in essence is a nerf to all the existing level 80 content.

I know that this thread is filled with trolls that don't give a damn about GW2 (maybe eome are affraid a game without forced grouping and where you have no power other others is successful) but there is no point pretending certain things are wrtten in the blog post - they are there, mention of a full ascendant kit which means a 10%buff in stats vs all the current level 80 content, that is harder to get than exotic (meaning casuals might never catch up).

Aside from the trolls that bitch about anything resembling GW2, there is a ton of people comingout protesting against the change of direction.

Just look at the official forums,how many are posting for the first time in there.

The game isn't instantly turned to crap by this move but IT GAINS NOTHING.

THERE IS NO BENEFIT COMING OUT OF MORE GEAR TIERS!

All the items that aren't max stats are crap, are fillers, are merchant fodder and they will always be.

Some may get all excited about getting a new shinny with a bigger number.

I and a portion of the GW2 player base (including GW1 vets) are way over that.

 

I agree, but according to some in this thread thats ok this is nothing to worry about its only two pieces....

Some of us can't have our own opinions without people asking us to explain why we don't like it, I mean because I know if I explain to you why I don't like it its gonna change your opinion don't think so....

Mother of god.. This thread is hard to find things in... So huge.

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/game/gw2/Thoughts-on-Ascended-Gear-Merged-threads/page/120

That is some communication at least. I still have questions and basically all it says to me is.. Our tiered gearing is going to be slow. -shrug- 

Least they plan on making it available through PVE and WVW. 

Also... With it only being three months in.. I'm pretty confident in saying that this was the plan all along.