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 Ascended gear is strictly better than exotic gear (so far) and can be acquired in Fractals of the Mists dungeon, created in the Mystic Forge, bought from a laurel merchant, or obtained via commendations from guild missions. Ascended gear is upgraded with infusions instead of gems/etc. Rings and back items were introduced with The Lost Shores, amulets with Flame and Frost: Prelude, and accessories with Frost and Flame: The Gathering Storm. They plan to eventually add entire sets. When ascended weapons are added, legendaries will have their stats increased to match. Rings and backs (maybe accessories, nobody knows yet) can be Mystic Forged to have some base agony resist on top of any infused agony. Upgrading will delete the infusion, so don't socket expensive ones before an upgrade. If you upgrade a Fractal Capacitor to its third tier, it gets no additional benefits, but it gains a new, glowing skin. This is the only item to behave this way. Ways to obtain Ascended gear
Elysiume fucked around with this message at Mar 2, 2013 around 22:31 |
| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:12 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 23:07 |
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To start this thread lightheartedly, I joked in-game that in order to equip Ascended gear you had to have the Ascendant title unlocked from your Guild Wars 1 Hall of Monuments. I wouldn't be surprised if that was actually up on a dry-erase board somewhere in the ArenaNet offices at some point during the discussion of this new item tier.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:17 |
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Let me try to get in early and pre-define some terms that are likely to be thrown around: Grinding: Doing something you don't want to do, but which is required before you are allowed to do the thing you do want to do. Gear Treadmill: When power from gear creeps up at the same rate that monster power creeps up. You keep 'progressing' without ever getting anywhere. Thus, a treadmill.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:19 |
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I wonder if this topic will be about how ANet went back on its promises and proclamations about what GW2 would be about, or if gear treadmills are not a bad thing.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:21 |
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I don't really see the point of content gating in this way, and it's why I haven't played an MMO in years before GW2. I liked being able to log on when I had some time, do whatever I thought was fun, and eventually make enough gold (my sweet butter money-train finally paid off) to get the gear I need and not have to worry. If they go through with this in the way it looks like they're going to, I'll be done with GW2. I only WvW/hate dungeons, and if I have to wait months for them to make it possible to get equivalent gear in WvW while getting stomped by people who can tolerate dungeons, the game just isn't going to be that enjoyable anymore. The information out there is still pretty paltry though, so I guess I'll have to wait and see. (If I do quit I'll throw all my gold your way for that Bolt though Elysiume! No point in buying a commander book if I have to run dungeons to play the game.)
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:24 |
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One of the ideas that many people liked was the idea of being able to get a set of gear (max stat) and then be done collecting gear. It fits in very well with a non-subscription game as a player can simply stop playing for days, weeks, or months and when they come back they will be at the same state they were when they left. Someone will chime in and say that you don't have to play at maximum efficiency or that its optional. Its optional in the sense that this is all optional. Video games are optional, the descriptor "optional" is overused and virtually useless when describing video games. Playing at maximum efficiency, or really in this case with max stated gear as this has nothing to do with player skill or efficiency, was a design choice of GW1 and the game was better for it. Having actual max stat gear (as in this is the top, the limit, no higher, ever) and having that gear easy to get, standardized what developers could expect from a player. With a wide range of "gear" creating challenges to overcome ends up with unsatisfactory results. Content is either too hard or impossible for people that haven't gotten enough "gear" or the people that got too much "gear" can breeze through it; sometimes both at the same time. Standardization of gear allows for tighter tuning of dungeons/bosses/etc. At the same time gear progression is illusory. That extra 5% damage becomes irrelevant when the monsters get an extra 5% health. At the end of gear progression there are simply a few more 0's tacked onto the end. Most of us have been here and done this before, so much so that any hint of this type of play is nauseating. And in parting, I am completely dumbfounded by the several voices that seem to insist that "gear progression" is the only way to design an MMO and that there couldn't possibly any other thing to base it around. Reverend Dr fucked around with this message at Nov 14, 2012 around 04:31 |
| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:29 |
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Reverend Dr posted:And in parting, I am completely dumbfounded by the several voices that seem to insist that "gear progression" is the only way to design an MMO and that there couldn't possibly any other thing to base it around. What's also amazing is equating all forms of progression as being the same.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:32 |
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Reverend Dr posted:And in parting, I am completely dumbfounded by the several voices that seem to insist that "gear progression" is the only way to design an MMO and that there couldn't possibly any other thing to base it around. Jackard fucked around with this message at Nov 14, 2012 around 04:35 |
| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:33 |
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Reverend Dr posted:One of the ideas that many people liked was the idea of being able to get a set of gear (max stat) and then be done collecting gear. It fits in very well with a non-subscription game as a player can simply stop playing for days, weeks, or months and when they come back they will be at the same state they were when they left. Sums it up for me. Maybe this is beyond the scope of this thread, but I've always wondered why hardly any games allow for something like multi-classing (that is, letting you change to another class and learn its skills, in case I don't have my RPG lingo right) at max level. Skill collecting in GW1 was very similar, and it allows for increasing the depth of a particular character without any of the problems with having to update gear. Maybe some old RPG conventions are too hard to break.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:37 |
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hampig posted:Maybe some old RPG conventions are too hard to break. Developers often take the easy way out and the easy way out in the RPG genre is to add more numbers.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:43 |
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It's my hope that they allow you to craft these items eventually, to at least to make professions relevant.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:45 |
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Lyer posted:It's my hope that they allow you to craft these items eventually, to at least to make professions relevant. You must have 400 in Cooking to equip Ascended Gear.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:49 |
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Argas posted:You must have 400 in Cooking to equip Ascended Gear. Cooking is the easiest/cheapest crafting profession to max, so I'm not sure if this was suppose to be a joke or not.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:50 |
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teagone posted:Cooking is the easiest/cheapest crafting profession to max, so I'm not sure if this was suppose to be a joke or not. It's also sort of the most useless profession, I think. At least the others can make exotics are contribute towards legendaries. Much of what you cook isn't very useful, cannot be broken down, and I don't think they're letting us vend them yet. +MF definitely gets sold, as well as some other +stats but there's not much of a market for cooks last I heard.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:52 |
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There isn't a market for cooks because everyone is a cook. There are other threads to discuss cooking.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:53 |
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Lyer posted:It's my hope that they allow you to craft these items eventually, to at least to make professions relevant. It is my hope that is a terrible idea and should never see the light of the day, people who play this game doesn't want an ever continuing slippery slope of a stat treadmill. Really, why do I have my head filled with images of George Lucas when I think of Anet these days? Palladium fucked around with this message at Nov 14, 2012 around 05:29 |
| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:55 |
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dunno if this has been posted yet https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/for...Chris-Whiteside they've confirmed that the ascended gear will be available from existing content
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:55 |
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The thing is, we know it'll never be trivial to get and we know it'll be harder to get than exotics (which is already too much for those who play multiple builds/multiple characters/or one character without much time), because unless that's true it would invalidate its sole purpose which is pleasing the people who like gear grind.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:58 |
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SheepNameKiller posted:dunno if this has been posted yet It was posted in the main thread, and it is just as self-contradictory as the announcement article posted yesterday. "We're not implementing a gear treadmill, but we're adding another tier of gear". Uhh...
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:58 |
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I'm gonna have a sober look at this agony thing when the game actually comes out. I mean, maybe getting the infusions won't be so bad. I don't think it's a step in the right direction, but I'll hold of my judgement until after I tried it out. That said, this is Anet. I'm sure they're going to be smart about this.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 04:58 |
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teagone posted:It was posted in the main thread, and it is just as self-contradictory as the announcement article posted yesterday. "We're not implementing a gear treadmill, but we're adding another tier of gear". Uhh... Obviously we don't know what they'll do in the future, but I'm optimistically interpreting his comments as "We're basically using Ascended gear to fill the space between exotics and Legendaries, and we don't plan on adding more tiers after this". I do have concerns with the agony system being a pain in the rear end though.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 05:02 |
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I'm not defending the changes Anet's planning here - honest to God, I've been on a GW2 break so I'm a bit out of the loop - but one thing I'd like to see is some people to talk about these alternate advancement methods that don't involve grinding or a 'gear treadmill'. That's not me being sarcastic, or doubting these methods exist. I'd just enjoy seeing them spelled out (if they have been, I've just plain missed them). The best I can come up with at the top of my head is 'all level 80 content can be done with anyone that has the current top level/relatively easy to attain gear, forever. All the rewards are cosmetic - titles, skins, etc. The only difference in challenge is the particular tactics required for a fight, and the mechanics involved.' Would it be fair to say that's what everyone expected and wants? Or is there a variation I'm missing?
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 05:02 |
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VictorGrunn posted:Would it be fair to say that's what everyone expected and wants? Or is there a variation I'm missing? That's about spot on. It's certainly what anyone who enjoyed GW1 was expecting.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 05:09 |
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SSNeoman posted:I'm gonna have a sober look at this agony thing when the game actually comes out. I mean, maybe getting the infusions won't be so bad. I don't think it's a step in the right direction, but I'll hold of my judgement until after I tried it out. That said, this is Anet. I'm sure they're going to be smart about this. If it's anything like Spectral Agony from GW1 then it's a terrible, terrible idea and I hope they reconsider it.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 05:14 |
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SSNeoman posted:I'm gonna have a sober look at this agony thing when the game actually comes out. I mean, maybe getting the infusions won't be so bad. I don't think it's a step in the right direction, but I'll hold of my judgement until after I tried it out. That said, this is Anet. I'm sure they're going to be smart about this.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 05:31 |
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My main problem as many have already said, is that this new tier essentially makes my current set of gear obsolete. By this weekend, all those lvl 80 exotic rings I crafted for myself and my friends, are technically obsolete in terms of maximum efficiency, and in the future, all exotic gear will basically be considered worthless other than as cosmetic skins. I'm used to this gear progression from WoW, Rift, and SWTOR, and it always annoyed me then how a patch or new expansion would just render all your old gear obsolete if you wanted to run new content. GW1 never changed its maximum stats, and it was able to create 3.5 expansions worth of new content without ever requiring you to upgrade your gear for bigger numbers, and I was expecting mostly the same from GW2. The infusion mechanic itself could have easily been tacked onto existing exotic gear as another type of upgrade slot, so the creation of another tier confuses me. I'm still curious how Anet will handle ascended armor and weapons given the lack of upgrade slots for runes and sigils, since it would be a big drawback to lack that flexibility. Makes me speculate that Anet will have some mechanic to basically upgrade your existing exotic into ascended gear so you can keep your desired rune/sigil/gem, similar to how you would need a precursor to upgrade into a legendary, but we'll have to see. Ascended gear will probably be craftable though since they already confirmed the existence of new recipes and crafting nodes. Basically I'm disappointed that Anet added a new tier that seems unnecessary other than for bigger numbers, but I'm waiting to see how it all pans out in detail since they're still holding back facts.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 05:52 |
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The issue here is psychological. There is no fight in this game that would be considered a WoW-style gear check. You could do all of Arah in greens (except for maybe that retarded Simin fight if you wanted to do it as designed). You may have a slight advantage in WvW, but even then, skill is 99% of pvp. There is and has always been a gear treadmill. You aren't handed exotics when you reach 80. A full set of exotics is around 15g for jewelry and 12g for armor or you can grind out 23 dungeon runs. If you are going to be doing the latest dungeons or farming gold/mats for the newest crafting recipes, there is no way you can even avoid making progress to ascended gear. After a week or two, everyone will have it and this argument will seem dumb in hindsight.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 06:22 |
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PlayStationGayStation posted:If you are going to be doing the latest dungeons or farming gold/mats for the newest crafting recipes, there is no way you can even avoid making progress to ascended gear. After a week or two, everyone will have it and this argument will seem dumb in hindsight. Reverend Dr posted:One of the ideas that many people liked was the idea of being able to get a set of gear (max stat) and then be done collecting gear. It fits in very well with a non-subscription game as a player can simply stop playing for days, weeks, or months and when they come back they will be at the same state they were when they left.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 06:32 |
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VictorGrunn posted:I'm not defending the changes Anet's planning here - honest to God, I've been on a GW2 break so I'm a bit out of the loop - but one thing I'd like to see is some people to talk about these alternate advancement methods that don't involve grinding or a 'gear treadmill'. The introduction of ascended gear shouldn't gate content in the sense that you can't run a dungeon without a certain set of gear. Additionally it sounds like infusions are meant to be dungeon specific progressions. I guess if you hypothetically took a break from the game, you should ideally be at the same starting point as everyone else when a new dungeon comes out, because no one will have the infusions for that dungeon. I'm pretty sure the plan is not to release new equipment that's ~8% better than the previous tier of equipment every month. It's more likely that the new tier is meant to be a time sink that's greater than exotics and less than legendaries. Stanlo fucked around with this message at Nov 14, 2012 around 06:36 |
| # ? Nov 14, 2012 06:33 |
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My main issue with having resists is eventually you will be required to have a set to even get an invite. Like people said in the other thread, no one wants to be part of the group that has to drag 1 guy to get his poo poo, so everyone can do the content. In a perfect world I'd roll with goons, but people that are willing to go aren't always online. E: Thinking about it some more, that sounds even worse. Instead of a single catch all resist that applies to new dungeons, I'm going to have to get a brand new set for each new dungeon. If ascended gear does remain the top tier for the rest of the game, it's guaranteed that the dungeons will still be relevant and that anyone coming back from an extended break may have difficulty finding a group that's willing help them get their stuff. Lyer fucked around with this message at Nov 14, 2012 around 06:50 |
| # ? Nov 14, 2012 06:41 |
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teagone posted:It was posted in the main thread, and it is just as self-contradictory as the announcement article posted yesterday. "We're not implementing a gear treadmill, but we're adding another tier of gear". Uhh... I'm starting to think it's a case of "well, we wish we actually had this item tier in at release". And I imagine that if they had, no one would be complaining about it.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 06:57 |
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PlayStationGayStation posted:After a week or two, everyone will have it and this argument will seem dumb in hindsight. The entire reason for this new tier of gear is for the people who complain that they have nothing to do once they have the highest gear. If, after a week or two, everyone has it and it's no big deal then it has failed miserably at its only purpose while annoying all the people who never wanted it in the first place.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:04 |
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I would like to clarify one thing. The infusion slot cannot be used for runes, is that correct? Gems and infusions only?
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:04 |
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Secret Sweater posted:I would like to clarify one thing. The infusion slot cannot be used for runes? Is that correct? We don't know. We've only seen/heard of accessory items which can't take runes anyway.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:05 |
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hampig posted:The entire reason for this new tier of gear is for the people who complain that they have nothing to do once they have the highest gear. If, after a week or two, everyone has it and it's no big deal then it has failed miserably at its only purpose while annoying all the people who never wanted it in the first place. If Ascended armor were made like current crafted armor, I'd expect to be using 20-25+ ectos per item along with 15-20 T6 fine materials to craft the insignia to make the Ascended item. This tier is being added because they felt it was too easy to completely deck yourself out in Exotic gear, and they want something that takes longer to work on and to complete but isn't at the level of Legendary grinds. If this stuff were in at release, I imagine most people wouldn't give two shits.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:12 |
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Willias posted:If Ascended armor were made like current crafted armor, I'd expect to be using 20-25+ ectos per item along with 15-20 T6 fine materials to craft the insignia to make the Ascended item. It is easy to deck yourself in one set of exotics, it is definitely not when you need multiple sets of with stats and skins you want. Besides, legendaries already fulfil the timesink part of the equation and catering to top 1% poopsockers who play the game 24/7 isn't exactly intelligent.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:25 |
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SheepNameKiller posted:dunno if this has been posted yet quote:Ascended and infusion rewards will be available in both PvE and WvW over time I really don't think that's good enough to be honest. You know how GW2 has this guesting feature that'll be in the game shortly after release? And how we still don't have it months later? It's not OK to release this gear and fob WvWers off with "oh, yeah, we'll get around to that eventually". We are guaranteed to go weeks where players have an edge over us because they did more dungeon grinding than we did. This whole thing reeks of a last minute idea being implemented in a rush.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:30 |
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Lyer posted:E: Thinking about it some more, that sounds even worse. Instead of a single catch all resist that applies to new dungeons, I'm going to have to get a brand new set for each new dungeon. If ascended gear does remain the top tier for the rest of the game, it's guaranteed that the dungeons will still be relevant and that anyone coming back from an extended break may have difficulty finding a group that's willing help them get their stuff. You're not precluded from joining groups currently and I don't think that will happen in the future. I mean, who knows, but the introduction of infusions doesn't necessitate a gear gate -- it could certainly be implemented so that this is not the case. Additionally, the purpose is exactly so that you don't buy one set of armor and are done with the game forever because then people who like acquiring new numbers have nothing to do. So maybe a new dungeon might come out, and you can't waltz through it wearing whatever you have currently, but ideally an adequate set of infusions is cheap and an efficient set is enjoyable to acquire.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:32 |
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I don't care about the gear treadmill aspect that much, though I will miss believing the rifle I got when I hit 80 and cashed in my AC tokens would be the last weapon upgrade I'd actually need. What I really hate about this is the return of Spectral Agony. In game one it was confined to only a few missions and most of its power was mitigated during the second mission that featured it. I really don't want to see it come back as a regular thing.
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| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:36 |
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| # ? May 18, 2013 23:07 |
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Stanlo posted:You're not precluded from joining groups currently and I don't think that will happen in the future. I mean, who knows, but the introduction of infusions doesn't necessitate a gear gate -- it could certainly be implemented so that this is not the case. I remember being a Death Knight decked out in the best crafted/quest reward tanking gear and having people kick me from heroic 5 mans because I didn't have the epics you got as a reward for running said heroics. It was only after I was carried by 24 of my closest friends and given 25 man raid gear that I was accepted into heroic 5 mans without any fuss. I do not believe for a second that the same will not happen here. It's happening with sub 80's trying to run AC/TA explore modes and it'll happen with the infusion dungeons. E: That's what I like most about the current model, I can get drat good gear without having deal with bullshit like that. If a new tier of gear is going to be implemented, go all the way with it; dungeons, karma, crafting, WvW. Lyer fucked around with this message at Nov 14, 2012 around 07:58 |
| # ? Nov 14, 2012 07:55 |
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