What's amazing is that Guild Wars 2 managed to last 7 years with little to no gear progression

[SkyShroud.2865]

I am more amazed at how there is little gear progression yet one able to screw up balance this much.

[coso.9173]

this is one of the reasons why i like this game. i can join in when i want, play for a time then leave and come back and still be able to play its content without spending weeks or months catching up in equipment

[Hashberry.4510]

An illusion of progression is what we need. Doesn't have to be vertical, but they have been playing with the same 3 movement skills for years, just wrapped in a different illusion. They need something else.

[Game of Bones.8975]

I’m surprised all the weapons in each class have very similar damage ratings.

You want power creep...add another weapon/armor rarity into the mix.

I thought I did once, slip something between Ascended and Legendary (an Ascended with animation). The more I looked at it I knew people would rather craft a Legendary with full abilities.

[Redavv.2643]

Introducing new stats as they do for time to time is more interesting than gear etc in my opinion

[Ultramex.1506]

Gotta love how you waste time after time to get "the best gear" only for it to be come obsolete with new updates, where is the sense of pride and accomplishment? At least with warframe, there are only 2 tiers: Normal and Prime. Umbra has same stats as Prime but different Polarities so this is what GW2 should do, new stats combination.

[TheGrimm.5624]

Either way you phrase it its about goals and objectives, for MMOs to continue they need to keep giving people things to do and achieve. GW2 has done well here, but... that's also for some people where new classes (aka elites) and races come in. Go too long without significant addition and you will lose more people as the re-playability comes to an end. We need new elites in the least.

[FrigginPaco.4178]

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Knighthonor.4061 said:Kind of crazy to think of a MMO doing such a feat. People didn't like this at first and many still don't like this. But somehow the game managed to last this long with little to no gear progression. I am now curious how long this can keep going to keep the lights on and content flowing going forward.

Gear progression as in being able to upgrade your existing gear or as in higher tiers with higher stats than ascended and legendary?

If the latter, what do we need that for? It would add even more imbalance to the meta.

Well, until they make something to where it would be necessary I think. I'll keep it short though, while there is currently no need for an increase in gear cap I would welcome it because I'm a little bit tired of floating around being able to mow down damn near everything. Least they could do is make monsters tougher or capable of more than just running up and hitting you. I don't need everything to be as dangerous as a Hydra encounter, but you know that'd be a good start really.

The whole concept of what is rewarding in Guild Wars needs a little bit of a redo in my opinion.

[Ronnie Hu.1694]

Fashion is the thing we grind.

[Tommo Chocolate.5870]

Personally I think this game has too much gear progression already, since once you reach level 80 four tiers of gear are completely redundant, and the fifth one is redundant for trinkets. I'd understand if different rarities of gear had different effects, but they don't - they just have different degrees of the same effect, with each tier objectively better than those below it.

@FrigginPaco.4178 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Knighthonor.4061 said:Kind of crazy to think of a MMO doing such a feat. People didn't like this at first and many still don't like this. But somehow the game managed to last this long with little to no gear progression. I am now curious how long this can keep going to keep the lights on and content flowing going forward.

Gear progression as in being able to upgrade your existing gear or as in higher tiers with higher stats than ascended and legendary?

If the latter, what do we need that for? It would add even more imbalance to the meta.

Well, until they make something to where it would be necessary I think. I'll keep it short though, while there is currently no need for an increase in gear cap I would welcome it because I'm a little bit tired of floating around being able to mow down kitten near everything. Least they could do is make monsters tougher or capable of more than just running up and hitting you. I don't need everything to be as dangerous as a Hydra encounter, but you know that'd be a good start really.

The whole concept of what is rewarding in Guild Wars needs a little bit of a redo in my opinion.

If you're tired of being able to mow down almost everything, surely a new, more powerful tier of gear would make things even worse, since it would make existing content easier than it is now.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"Tommo Chocolate.5870" said:I'd understand if different rarities of gear had different effects, but they don't - they just have different degrees of the same effect, with each tier objectively better than those below it.

This in incorrect. Lower tiers cannot equip superior runes and sigils, hence they can never get the same boni (or "effects", as you call them).

If you're tired of being able to mow down almost everything, surely a new, more powerful tier of gear would make things even worse, since it would make existing content easier than it is now.

It would also make exploration the least joy the game has to provide if each single enemy was difficult to defeat. Unless they significantly reduced the density of enemy encounters, which I would be okay with, because it would make the ones remaining more unique and fun.

[FrigginPaco.4178]

@Tommo Chocolate.5870 said:Personally I think this game has too much gear progression already, since once you reach level 80 four tiers of gear are completely redundant, and the fifth one is redundant for trinkets. I'd understand if different rarities of gear had different effects, but they don't - they just have different degrees of the same effect, with each tier objectively better than those below it.

@FrigginPaco.4178 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@"Knighthonor.4061" said:Kind of crazy to think of a MMO doing such a feat. People didn't like this at first and many still don't like this. But somehow the game managed to last this long with little to no gear progression. I am now curious how long this can keep going to keep the lights on and content flowing going forward.

Gear progression as in being able to upgrade your existing gear or as in higher tiers with higher stats than ascended and legendary?

If the latter, what do we need that for? It would add even more imbalance to the meta.

Well, until they make something to where it would be necessary I think. I'll keep it short though, while there is currently no need for an increase in gear cap I would welcome it because I'm a little bit tired of floating around being able to mow down kitten near everything. Least they could do is make monsters tougher or capable of more than just running up and hitting you. I don't need everything to be as dangerous as a Hydra encounter, but you know that'd be a good start really.

The whole concept of what is rewarding in Guild Wars needs a little bit of a redo in my opinion.

If you're tired of being able to mow down almost everything, surely a new, more powerful tier of gear would make things even worse, since it would make existing content easier than it is now.

The very first two sentences on my post should not be ignored in order to facilitate a sarcastic retort: "until they make something to where it would be necessary" & "while there is currently no need for an increase in gear cap..."

The idea here is that mobs capabilities rise to the bar to upon which the gear ceiling currently resides. Strikes may ask players to question if they need a cursory look at their gear, if it works the way they intend it to and is to be used as a gate to harder content. Plus, most people know that PvE is farm-for-mats central. Hence, that's where you'll do most of your fighting mobs and where the mowing down happens, even in upscaled events.

The Djinn are a nice example of something that's open world and not faceroll, but you also don't farm them for much of anything or even fight them out of much more than a desire to do so.

[Taygus.4571]

@FrigginPaco.4178 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@Knighthonor.4061 said:Kind of crazy to think of a MMO doing such a feat. People didn't like this at first and many still don't like this. But somehow the game managed to last this long with little to no gear progression. I am now curious how long this can keep going to keep the lights on and content flowing going forward.

Gear progression as in being able to upgrade your existing gear or as in higher tiers with higher stats than ascended and legendary?

If the latter, what do we need that for? It would add even more imbalance to the meta.

Well, until they make something to where it would be necessary I think. I'll keep it short though, while there is currently no need for an increase in gear cap I would welcome it because I'm a little bit tired of floating around being able to mow down kitten near everything. Least they could do is make monsters tougher or capable of more than just running up and hitting you. I don't need everything to be as dangerous as a Hydra encounter, but you know that'd be a good start really.

The whole concept of what is rewarding in Guild Wars needs a little bit of a redo in my opinion.

It's possible to make enimies tougher without increasing the gear cap.

The question is whether the majority of players, actually want that.

go solo champs or something...for the tougher experience without forcing everyone to play your way.

[FrigginPaco.4178]

@Taygus.4571 said:

@FrigginPaco.4178 said:

@Ashantara.8731 said:

@"Knighthonor.4061" said:Kind of crazy to think of a MMO doing such a feat. People didn't like this at first and many still don't like this. But somehow the game managed to last this long with little to no gear progression. I am now curious how long this can keep going to keep the lights on and content flowing going forward.

Gear progression as in being able to upgrade your existing gear or as in higher tiers with higher stats than ascended and legendary?

If the latter, what do we need that for? It would add even more imbalance to the meta.

Well, until they make something to where it would be necessary I think. I'll keep it short though, while there is currently no need for an increase in gear cap I would welcome it because I'm a little bit tired of floating around being able to mow down kitten near everything. Least they could do is make monsters tougher or capable of more than just running up and hitting you. I don't need everything to be as dangerous as a Hydra encounter, but you know that'd be a good start really.

The whole concept of what is rewarding in Guild Wars needs a little bit of a redo in my opinion.

It's possible to make enimies tougher without increasing the gear cap.

I'm aware of that and have even seen it on some mobs, but not to a degree of proliferation where it happens frequently enough or with enough diversity yet. The mob they showcased in the announcement for example, seems like it's going to do that and I'm all for it. (The Boneskinner)

The question is whether the majority of players, actually want that.

Well, I'm necessarily here to voice an opinion in that direction. I've respected their philosophy to avoid vertical growth for a long time, but the most of the Elite Specializations alone have completely blown that idea out the window.

go solo champs or something...for the tougher experience without forcing everyone to play your way.

Well, a few things about this:

1. Any random champ isn't any more significant than another, especially for the loot. And some are designed to be group bosses as opposed to something a person can reasonably solo. Regardless, I won't go up against something I know isn't solo-able.
2. Depending on the zone champions are intrinsically more or less challenging. Are they in Core Tyria vs Expansion Zones?
3. The tougher experiences simply don't lie in PvE in my opinion as the game currently stands, Raids and higher Fractals notwithstanding. If I want tougher content it typically means I go to WvW or PvP.
4. How precisely would I be forcing anyone to play my way? Find a mob you can't beat in open world? Wait for more people. That's the reality whether or not it's mechanically challenging or not. We play an MMO not a single player game, contrary to what the story would have you believe.

[Opal.9324]

The fact that there is no gear progression is one of the reasons I'm still playing. Every time I've played an MMO that had a treadmill, I ended up quitting because I just didn't feel like I was accomplishing anything. Doing the same dungeon over and over until it feels more like a job than a game just to get something that will become worthless in a few months sucks.

[Dante.1508]

Not amazing at all just shows gear progression isn't needed at all.

[Menadena.7482]

@Knighthonor.4061 said:Kind of crazy to think of a MMO doing such a feat. People didn't like this at first and many still don't like this. But somehow the game managed to last this long with little to no gear progression. I am now curious how long this can keep going to keep the lights on and content flowing going forward.

Not at all. Obviously a lot of people actually like the idea of not spending all of their time grinding for the next tier of stuff.

[Menadena.7482]

@kharmin.7683 said:

@Danikat.8537 said:

If anything it seems to me that other MMOs are moving away from the enforced gear grind as the reality hits that their audience has gotten older and has more real-life responsibilities which have to take priority.I would add that this demographic probably has more disposable income with which to buy gems for the items in the gem shop that they want especially if they do not have the time to grind for gold to convert. This might be one explanation for the more recent focus of the gem shop by Anet, whales notwithstanding.

Of course we do not play the 'buy everything in sight' game either unless you are talking people who are raking in the cash.

When something comes out that is selling for more gold than I currently have and is something I want ASAP I basically have two options. Spend, oh, 10+ hours grinding for gold in some metas or spend, oh, 10 minutes of my time from my job and convert that real world money to gold. Since I have a limited amount of play time per day guess which option will win?

Older gamers, with responsibilities, incomes, and probably disabilities, simply have different decision trees about what is the better option when it comes to acquiring something.