Unidentified Gear Explanation

A lot of people seem unhappy with this feature so let me explain the true purpose of this process and why it's actually a good idea.

The Elonian weapons and Sunspear weapons which we can get from the Piece of Unidentified Gear are in PoF what Plated weapons and Machined weapons are in HoT.In HoT we need the Machined weapons to get the Specialization weapons.And as you know it's a whole process with them:

First we had to salvage Reclaimed weapons for Reclaimed Metal Plate (later added to map rewards) which only have small chance to drop except from rare versions which are guaranteed to drop them. Then we have to use 2 or 3 plus all 3 map currencies from HoT to buy Plated weapons which unlock the Machined weapons collections and only after finishing that we get the Machined weapons so we can complete the Specialization weapons collections.

So yes the PoF Specialization weapons will require the Sunspear weapons for their collections.However in this case the process becomes different as there are multiple paths:

While we cannot choose the Elonian/Sunspear weapons as we can with Plated/Machined weapons we have the option to skip many steps in getting the Specialization weapons. We can go all the way starting from Piece of Unidentified Gear and hoping we get the right Elonian weapon from them. Then once we do we can upgrade it through crafting into the Sunspear weapon we need. But we can also get the right Sunspear weapon from the Piece of Unidentified Gear if we are lucky enough.But because these weapons can be traded then people who do not want to waste time on the whole thing can simply buy the right Elonian weapon and upgrade it or skip even that and just buy the right Sunspear weapon if money is not an issue.

So as you can see the "Identify Gear" thing is the equivalent of the Reclaimed Metal Plates. However unlike in HoT we don't have to do everything step by step to get the Specialization weapons as we will have the ability to get the required weapon instantly if we want to.So while you may find the process annoying at first it does save a lot of time once you decide to get the Specialization weapons.

As a side note I will mention that the new Specialization weapons will likely require the correct Mystic weapons too. Which means that Necromancers have a slight head start at this as the Torch is the only Specialization weapon from both HoT and PoF. So those who got the Wild Abandon will have an easy start to get the Guide for the Lost. Of course those who have all Mystic weapons unlocked in the wardrobe will have that head start for all the new Specialization weapons.

@Rikimaru.7890 said:As a side note I will mention that the new Specialization weapons will likely require the correct Mystic weapons too. Which means that Necromancers have a slight head start at this as the Torch is the only Specialization weapon from both HoT and PoF. So those who got the Wild Abandon will have an easy start to get the Guide for the Lost. Of course those who have all Mystic weapons unlocked in the wardrobe will have that head start for all the new Specialization weapons.

Was it ever confirmed that the new collections will require mystic weapons?

See, I'm not sure you realize that you've inadvertently said the exact problem with the ID system as it stands with just one word. "Hope". I don't do ecto gambling and I don't do precursor gambling for the same reasons. I'd rather put in the footwork and know that I am working toward an end goal. I don't want to spend more money in game than I am earning in the off chance of maybe getting something I want from a lotto. For things of this sort, I don't want it to be a luck of the draw scenario, especially when it also means a net loss of "income" in proportion to my time spent in the game. In short, if playing the map doesn't feel rewarding by me getting tangible rewards, then why bother in the first place?

This system works against itself and its purpose (as you see it) just to be a gold sink that will turn new players off from doing it as it has a horrible ROI at its current cost. Furthermore it runs into the problem that if people just opt to salvage for the base materials, those items' values are going to tank on the market in no time flat, further decreasing the overall ROI of playing those maps and getting those materials as well.

If the unID gear was implemented just for the Elonian and Sunspear weapon collections, I will eat my hat. It's too big an adjustment to loot tables and the economy to be mainly for collections. It's a solution for ... something. My guess is inventory space with a side of gold sink (in either ID cost or TP fees). We won't know much about the true effects and costs until we have lived with it a while.

To me it's stupid.If i drop something i am able to understand what it is.A mace, a leather chest armor, a ring, and so on.I MUST know what they are, and then decide if unidentify em or shard em.

So, a different stack of unidentified items per ITEM TYPE would be at least the base for a thing like that.

There is a set amount of RNG in the world, so for every game that makes strides to reduce theirs, another must pick up the mantle. I've been reading ArcheAge is reducing some of their RNG in the future, so GW2 must have drawn the short straw and are adding more to their game. :)

In all seriousness, rather than creating new forums in the hopes the long post in the old forums would just go away...

Ok, this time, really in all seriousness, it would all save us a lot of trouble if they just came out and explained all the details of it to us, so we can remove all the speculative posting and just post about facts. It could be something totally fine, and it could be something totally nasty. We're missing a lot of information.

If the cost of IDing is 'purely' a new gamble mechanic to roll on potentially 'more' rare/exotic items, then it makes perfect sense. It's a roll 'beyond' the normal amount of rare/exotic we get from quests, DE rewards, meta rewards, chest rewards, etc.

If all rare/exotics were sucked out of the world, and we must now 'pay' to have 'any' rare or exotics, then a Lucy...?

:3

I kind of like the new system for two reasons. It should save on inventory space and it reminds me of the old GW1 system where you had to identify gear using a kit to know what it is. In my eyes it doesnt add any additional RNG when ALL GEAR THAT DROPS is subject to RNG anyway. You kill an enemy it might drop loot, it might not. Is it a rare, masterwork etc. If its a plated weapon will it salvage into a plate.. RNG on top of RNG on top of RNG already exists. Lets give the new system a try and see how it turns out.

NO thanks. I am just praying that they don't change loot in the entire game to unidentified.

My only and thus biggest gripe with the Unidentified loot system is that it costs 1 Silver and 68 Copper to identify said items, per item. If you get a Blue item, that is valued 99 Copper, meaning you have lost money. If that item salvages into a single Mithril Ore, you can get about 99 Copper on the Trading Post, minus the listing and sales fee plus the cost for salvaging, meaning you have lost money.

If the system had no cost beyond needing to visit a NPC to identify your drops every so often, I wouldn't be semi-frustrated in advance about the system, but as-is, I can only foresee a loss in overall Gold earned from playing in the Path of Fire regions. Not identifying also means you are losing out on potential additional profits that exists in current loot drops, through Minor and Major Runes and Sigils, and you certainly won't be receiving any Globs of Ectoplasm. Again, I don't mind visiting a NPC, I even love the idea of stacking loot drops, but I do mind paying a rather expensive fee to play the lottery with earned rewards.

@Rikimaru.7890 said:A lot of people seem unhappy with this feature so let me explain the true purpose of this process and why it's actually a good idea.

The Elonian weapons and Sunspear weapons which we can get from the Piece of Unidentified Gear are in PoF what Plated weapons and Machined weapons are in HoT.In HoT we need the Machined weapons to get the Specialization weapons.And as you know it's a whole process with them:

First we had to salvage Reclaimed weapons for Reclaimed Metal Plate (later added to map rewards) which only have small chance to drop except from rare versions which are guaranteed to drop them. Then we have to use 2 or 3 plus all 3 map currencies from HoT to buy Plated weapons which unlock the Machined weapons collections and only after finishing that we get the Machined weapons so we can complete the Specialization weapons collections.

So yes the PoF Specialization weapons will require the Sunspear weapons for their collections.However in this case the process becomes different as there are multiple paths:

While we cannot choose the Elonian/Sunspear weapons as we can with Plated/Machined weapons we have the option to skip many steps in getting the Specialization weapons. We can go all the way starting from Piece of Unidentified Gear and hoping we get the right Elonian weapon from them. Then once we do we can upgrade it through crafting into the Sunspear weapon we need. But we can also get the right Sunspear weapon from the Piece of Unidentified Gear if we are lucky enough.But because these weapons can be traded then people who do not want to waste time on the whole thing can simply buy the right Elonian weapon and upgrade it or skip even that and just buy the right Sunspear weapon if money is not an issue.

So as you can see the "Identify Gear" thing is the equivalent of the Reclaimed Metal Plates. However unlike in HoT we don't have to do everything step by step to get the Specialization weapons as we will have the ability to get the required weapon instantly if we want to.So while you may find the process annoying at first it does save a lot of time once you decide to get the Specialization weapons.

As a side note I will mention that the new Specialization weapons will likely require the correct Mystic weapons too. Which means that Necromancers have a slight head start at this as the Torch is the only Specialization weapon from both HoT and PoF. So those who got the Wild Abandon will have an easy start to get the Guide for the Lost. Of course those who have all Mystic weapons unlocked in the wardrobe will have that head start for all the new Specialization weapons.

May I know the source of all your information? Your wording makes it sound like you have definite proof of how things work in PoF.

@Ojimaru.8970 said:May I know the source of all your information? Your wording makes it sound like you have definite proof of how things work in PoF.It's based on how we get the Specialization weapons from HoT. So unless ANET will omit any requirement for regional weapons in order to get the new ones it's almost certain the Elonian/Sunspear will be the ones we need for the collections. But currently it seems to be the same trope as before as we will get the Exotic weapons and Ascended as before. Exotic for merely unlocking the Elite Spec, but the Ascended version requires some work to get.

@Rikimaru.7890 said:

@Ojimaru.8970 said:May I know the source of all your information? Your wording makes it sound like you have definite proof of how things work in PoF.It's based on how we get the Specialization weapons from HoT. So unless ANET will omit any requirement for regional weapons in order to get the new ones it's almost certain the Elonian/Sunspear will be the ones we need for the collections. But currently it seems to be the same trope as before as we will get the Exotic weapons and Ascended as before. Exotic for merely unlocking the Elite Spec, but the Ascended version requires some work to get.

And you know this how? Also if you know so much what's the drop rate for said items etc? The numbers from testing didn't support what you were saying... So I want to know where you're getting your information from.

@Absconditus.6804 said:My only and thus biggest gripe with the Unidentified loot system is that it costs 1 Silver and 68 Copper to identify said items, per item. If you get a Blue item, that is valued 99 Copper, meaning you have lost money. If that item salvages into a single Mithril Ore, you can get about 99 Copper on the Trading Post, minus the listing and sales fee plus the cost for salvaging, meaning you have lost money.

If the system had no cost beyond needing to visit a NPC to identify your drops every so often, I wouldn't be semi-frustrated in advance about the system, but as-is, I can only foresee a loss in overall Gold earned from playing in the Path of Fire regions. Not identifying also means you are losing out on potential additional profits that exists in current loot drops, through Minor and Major Runes and Sigils, and you certainly won't be receiving any Globs of Ectoplasm. Again, I don't mind visiting a NPC, I even love the idea of stacking loot drops, but I do mind paying a rather expensive fee to play the lottery with earned rewards.

Agreed, if they had a system that meant I had to visit an NPC fine but I should know the difference between the different types of gear, I could deal with seeing an NPC for free to see how cool my gear is but I resent the idea that after playing for so long without ever having to identify loot that all of a sudden my character has developed brain damage and must now have someone else tell her that she has a sword, shield, ring etc... I'm also not the biggest fan of the idea of lose/lose. If I ID my gear then I am likely to lose gold, if I don't then I could lose gold. Either way, without better numbers I can't make a very good choice but the overall feel from testing it was NOT good. I'm with you on the never doing the gambling thing, I don't like it. I like sure things and this RNG factor bothers me. I keep waiting for a definitive answer to what rates we can expect and the overall reasoning behind adding this as a mechanic. Otherwise we're all going on our experience from testing. My experience showed me that the overall drop rate wasn't that great and I was going to lose gold.

@Khailyn.6248 said:I kind of like the new system for two reasons. It should save on inventory space and it reminds me of the old GW1 system where you had to identify gear using a kit to know what it is. In my eyes it doesnt add any additional RNG when ALL GEAR THAT DROPS is subject to RNG anyway. You kill an enemy it might drop loot, it might not. Is it a rare, masterwork etc. If its a plated weapon will it salvage into a plate.. RNG on top of RNG on top of RNG already exists. Lets give the new system a try and see how it turns out.

Currently I do not have to PAY for the RNG. I see ahead of time what I've got (unless it's in a bag and even then I do not have to pay to open the bag). I don't see this making the PoF areas very useful overall, why would I want to spend time in PoF when I can go to HoT and not have to spend anything to see what I've gotten from doing the meta or opening a chest?

Does anyone know what the cost per ID is yet? Was it in the stress tests?

@lordmitz.2047 said:Does anyone know what the cost per ID is yet? Was it in the stress tests?

@Absconditus.6804 said:My only and thus biggest gripe with the Unidentified loot system is that it costs 1 Silver and 68 Copper to identify said items, per item.

Unindentified gear should be split depending the quality. We should have green, yellow and orange.

@Daniel.5428 said:Unindentified gear should be split depending the quality. We should have green, yellow and orange.

What would be the point then?Nobody will spend money on green/blue items.

I dislike how there seems to be many people who think this is inventory space saving. It's not. You still get all the normal blues and greens and other junk along with it. I mean c'mon, do we really think Anet would give everyone extra storage space for free? It's also not like GW unID'd items because there we could see if it was a focus, hammer, wand or whatever that had a base value...but when we ID'd it then we got to see exactly what it was and how much it was worth. We could even wield unID'd weapons if we wanted, we just wouldn't get the items true stats until it was ID'd.

I think Riki is probably fairly close to the mark as to the reason for this stuff...but I still don't like it forcing you to pay to ID stuff to get your loot just because we apparently have too much gold.

@Shaaba.5672 said:

@lordmitz.2047 said:Does anyone know what the cost per ID is yet? Was it in the stress tests?

@Absconditus.6804 said:My only and thus biggest gripe with the Unidentified loot system is that it costs 1 Silver and 68 Copper to identify said items, per item.

Ahhhi missed that, thanks!I think having a cost to it is a terrible idea. I'm a very casual player and I don't have masses of gold, I like to save it up and buy skins off the AH when I get enough, I've never had over 200g at any time. A good chunk of my money comes from salvaging and selling mats, and that's going to be hit massively by this. I guess I'll wait until I see the execution before condemning it totally, but on paper it sounds awful