The price of Astral Ward Exotic!! Armor is too high

[Manasa Devi.7958]

I'd be getting the astral armor for the skins, because I already have (skinless) legendary armor. I probably won't be though, unless somehow the game changes to drown me in essences and I won't know what else to do with them. It just doesn't look all that good to me, certainly not skins worth the effort.

[Balsa.3951]

1 hour ago, Lord Trejgon.2809 said:

my bad, when you said "already have legendary but just want the skin" I interpreted it as wanting the new legendary skin, not astral ward skins.

I think you are right in here 🙂

i see yes thats my bad. it could been understood like that. u right

[Zeph.5927]

Yeah, when they announced PvE legendary armor, I was like “cool, something I might be able to actually obtain”. Then I saw what was required to get the armor and how much it’s going to cost and I said “screw that”. Once again, Anet makes something take way too long and cost way too much to get what is in essence nothing more than a QoL feature (which is insane to me). Oh well, guess I’ll just keep using my three sets of ascended armor that I have and just rotate between them.

If something like this is supposed to help encourage more playtime/engagement from people, it’s having the exact opposite effect. I see this and think “yeah, I’ll just go do something else instead”.

[Gibson.4036]

2 hours ago, Manasa Devi.7958 said:

It just doesn't look all that good to me, certainly not skins worth the effort.

I'll be unlocking just to try for the Obsidian, so I wasn't too worried about whether I want the Astral Ward for skins.

Somone, however, has finally put a preview up on the wiki, and now I really want!

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Astral_Ward_armor_(medium)#/media/File:Astral_Ward_armor_asura_female_front.jpg

[MuscleBobBuffPants.1406]

1 hour ago, Zeph.5927 said:

If something like this is supposed to help encourage more playtime/engagement from people, it’s having the exact opposite effect. I see this and think “yeah, I’ll just go do something else instead”.

This is the key problem in their design philosophy.  The person who is guiding these decisions is trying to treat this kind of gear grind as "content".  But GW2 was never about the gear grind.  This is why they made rifts and legendary gear as part of the selling points for the expansion.  No most people really don't consider that "content",  they aren't interested in grinding gear/rifts for the next four months.  They want to explore, they want new worlds and cities, new challenges, new stuff to engage with.  One of the most exciting and resonating videos for this expansion was someone flying around on a griffin and exploring the map in fun ways.  THAT is the kind of content people want out of Guild Wars.  OTHER mmos might treat gear grind as content, which is fine.  More power to them.  But someone is trying to shoehorn that idea into GW2, which is not good.

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

I just wanted the hat, but there is absolutely no way I'm grinding through those same, mind-numbing events on those two infuriating maps over and over again, YET AGAIN, just to complete the mastery track needed to unlock the vendor selling the blasted hat... 🤬💢

[Manasa Devi.7958]

59 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

I'll be unlocking just to try for the Obsidian, so I wasn't too worried about whether I want the Astral Ward for skins.

Somone, however, has finally put a preview up on the wiki, and now I really want!

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Astral_Ward_armor_(medium)#/media/File:Astral_Ward_armor_asura_female_front.jpg

To each their own I guess, but to me it looks like just another generic outfit. Especially how it looks the same for every weight. You didn't have to wait for the wiki, btw, you can just preview it at Lyhr, if you have the Astral Ward mastery at 2.

[Gibson.4036]

1 minute ago, Manasa Devi.7958 said:

To each their own I guess, but to me it looks like just another generic outfit. Especially how it looks the same for every weight. You didn't have to wait for the wiki, btw, you can just preview it at Lyhr, if you have the Astral Ward mastery at 2.

I haven't got the mastery to level 2 yet, and keep forgetting to use the chat codes to take a look. I only seem to remember when I'm out of game.

I am a sucker for giant hats on Asura, so the preview really grabbed me. She looks just the right amount of adorable and incredibly awkward. 😄

[Sobx.1758]

2 hours ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

This is the key problem in their design philosophy.  The person who is guiding these decisions is trying to treat this kind of gear grind as "content".  But GW2 was never about the gear grind. 

And it still isn't, which is why ascended gear has the same stats as legendaries. You have choices, you do with them what you want. At no point you're somehow required by the game to farm up a single legendary piece of gear.

[MuscleBobBuffPants.1406]

26 minutes ago, Sobx.1758 said:

At no point you're somehow required by the game to farm up a single legendary piece of gear.

Ah nope you didn't read, let me re-read it for you.  "They are treating gear grind as content."  I didn't say it was required, but as content.  Hopefully you can re-read it again to understand.  It is not required, just a boring gear grind.  Would you like me to explain the words content and gear grind for you?  Hopefully you understand now, let me know if I can help you 🙂 

[Gibson.4036]

"It's not required, therefore you can't critique" has been a standard attempt to shut down conversation since November 2012.

[ugrakarma.9416]

50 minutes ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

Ah nope you didn't read, let me re-read it for you.  "They are treating gear grind as content."  I didn't say it was required, but as content.  Hopefully you can re-read it again to understand.  It is not required, just a boring gear grind.  Would you like me to explain the words content and gear grind for you?  Hopefully you understand now, let me know if I can help you 🙂 

Meta - zergs are by far most popular contento so....

[Ashen.4061]

On 8/28/2023 at 9:54 AM, DanAlcedo.3281 said:

To be fair, that we got OW legy armor is insane enough.

More demands is unreasonable.

People should be happy that they QQed enough to make this a reality when it never needed to be in the first place.

Such an elitist attitude. No reason there shouldn't be an open world method to obtain legendary armor. The current options were forced PvP/WvW or raiding, neither of which are activities that all people, or even most people, enjoy.

[Sobx.1758]

55 minutes ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

Ah nope you didn't read, let me re-read it for you.  "They are treating gear grind as content."  I didn't say it was required, but as content.  Hopefully you can re-read it again to understand.  It is not required, just a boring gear grind.  Would you like me to explain the words content and gear grind for you?  Hopefully you understand now, let me know if I can help you 🙂 

Appreciated the bad attempt at sarcasm, but no worries I did read exactly what you said. And no, they don't, because in order to attempt treating that "gear grind" as an actual content, they'd need to make it more important to actually pursue it. You know... like when the game follows the pattern where it just increases the number (gear with higher stats -> more dps, but basically nothing changes because mobs are getting their stats buffed too, so now you have to chase the gear in order to remain at the same relative place towards the newly introduced mobs). As already explained, that's not happening because you might as well craft ascended gear x years when it came out and you're still at the same power level as you were then without pursuing other gear like... you got it! Legendaries. Without change, still completely optional. And hint: legendary armor isn't somehow the main content here (or even "content" in general), not even close -it's just one of the rewards behind some of the content they've added.
Glad I could help you too 🙂 

 

24 minutes ago, Gibson.4036 said:

"It's not required, therefore you can't critique" has been a standard attempt to shut down conversation since November 2012.

Except that's not what is being said here, bad strawman attempt since...  who knows, maybe 2012 as well. Probably much longer though.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[MuscleBobBuffPants.1406]

9 minutes ago, ugrakarma.9416 said:

Meta - zergs are by far most popular contento so....

so........ grinding boring rifts is the new meta?  Sounds exciting!  

[Sobx.1758]

11 minutes ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

Nope, by content it means content for a game, like when someone sells you an expansion and says what kind of content will be in there.  You keep referring to importance or requirement, but again I tell you still didn't quite read the original post there, it never mentions requirements or importance.  Just content friend, but thats ok, hopefully that helps you understand.

Nope gear grind would be referring to as the words imply grinding for gear, like grinding through boring rifts for gear, in this case legendary gear.  That is the content and selling points of the expansion, if you want I can refer you to the SoTo expansion page and that help explain to you the word content better too friend.

Now you are already conceding that you understand the word content and that it is indeed content, but trying to clarify it as "main" content.  No friend, it is content, content of an expansion.  And as I have stated earlier treating the grinding for gear (hopefully you better understand those words now) as content (hopefully you understand that better), is not what I and many others who play this game are looking forward to when buying an expansion etc.

I don't know you, so we can't be friends. You appear to fail to understand (or remember? who knows) that what you wrote -and what I quoted- in that post is this:

Quote

This is the key problem in their design philosophy.  The person who is guiding these decisions is trying to treat this kind of gear grind as "content".  But GW2 was never about the gear grind. 

To which the direct answer was this: "And it still isn't, which is why ascended gear has the same stats as legendaries. You have choices, you do with them what you want. At no point you're somehow required by the game to farm up a single legendary piece of gear."

Your suggestion that the game somehow becomes about gear grind when it never was about it before is pure nonsense because it still isn't about that. That is what I wrote and that is what you cut out in your subsequent ""answer"" where you only quoted the last sentence and attempted telling me I didn't understand something. I did and you know I did. That's why you avoided the 1st two sentences which were the actual core of the response there 🤷‍♂️

Not interested in what you're trying to do here and I saw you repeating "just wait for quarterly reports!" over and over in another thread, so your goals seem to be clear. Good luck. 🙂

 

9 minutes ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

so........ grinding boring rifts is the new meta?  Sounds exciting!  

Fun -and subsquently what "sounds exciting"- is subjective. You are free to do whatever you want and no legendary item or non-legendary skin has anything to do with it. Not sure what point this is supposed to convey here, but it seems to be completely irrelevant to the thread you're currently in.

Edited August 30, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[Sobx.1758]

4 minutes ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

I said the words gear grinding, grinding for gear.  So in this case people are grinding rifts for gear legendary gear. 

If they want to, not because the game requires them to in any way or because legendary gear is somehow "THE content" here. Already explained that, make sure to address what you're quoting at some point instead of pretending I'm the one not understanding something here. Until then... 🙋‍♂️

Edited August 30, 2023 by Sobx.1758

[rawisz.6439]

10 minutes ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

It's ok friend, you seem to still not understand the words gear grinding.  I never mentioned requirements or stats or anything.  I said the words gear grinding, grinding for gear.  So in this case people are grinding rifts for gear legendary gear.  Hopefully that clears things up for you friend.  I can already see you aren't discussing the word content any more either.  I can tell you seem to be understanding that word better as well, I am glad my explanation is helping you understand.

No personal attacks friend, you seem to not understand that word either.  Thats ok should I explain those words ro you a well?  I just want to clarify make sure you aren't confused anymore or anything

Hope it helps friend 🙂 

You cant say that gw2 was never about gear grinding if thats your definition of it because core game started already with legendary weapons... So by your definitions its like that since day 1.

[MuscleBobBuffPants.1406]

1 minute ago, rawisz.6439 said:

You cant say that gw2 was never about gear grinding if thats your definition of it because core game started already with legendary weapons... So by your definitions its like that since day 1.

My definition of gear grinding is grinding for gear.  GW2 is about exploration, events, movement, skills, etc.  For me and many others that is the focus of GW2, I have no desire to grind for gear and I never did grind for gear.  It isn't my interest or focus for GW2 and that is what drew me to the game, the game itself isn't about gear grinding and we shouldn't make content in expansions about it.  Hope that clarifies it for you 🙂

[rawisz.6439]

3 minutes ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

My definition of gear grinding is grinding for gear.  GW2 is about exploration, events, movement, skills, etc.  For me and many others that is the focus of GW2, I have no desire to grind for gear and I never did grind for gear.  It isn't my interest or focus for GW2 and that is what drew me to the game, the game itself isn't about gear grinding and we shouldn't make content in expansions about it.  Hope that clarifies it for you 🙂

My dear friend u seems a little confused, how existence of new armor prevents you from doing explorations and events. How its diffrent then HoT with legendary armor, PoF with legendary amulet, LS4 & LS5 with leg trinkets and so on? Each of this expansions added similar level of requirments u needed for new stuff which all are optional, you in any way dont need them.

[MuscleBobBuffPants.1406]

Just now, rawisz.6439 said:

My dear friend u seems a little confused, how existence of new armor prevents you from doing explorations and events. How its diffrent then HoT with legendary armor, PoF with legendary amulet, LS4 & LS5 with leg trinkets and so on? Each of this expansions added similar level of requirments u needed for new stuff which all are optional, you in any way dont need them.

My friend I never said it prevents me, I said I would prefer the content shouldn't be about gear grind, rifts and legendary gear etc.  Never said anything about requirement either, you seem to be making the same mistake as others.  I said content, would you like me to clarify the word content for you?  I hope it helps clarify 🙂 

[rawisz.6439]

7 minutes ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

My friend I never said it prevents me, I said I would prefer the content shouldn't be about gear grind, rifts and legendary gear etc.  Never said anything about requirement either, you seem to be making the same mistake as others.  I said content, would you like me to clarify the word content for you?  I hope it helps clarify 🙂 

Ok, could you point out then content in for example EoD expansions which isnt about grinding for generation3 legendary weapon?

[MuscleBobBuffPants.1406]

Just now, rawisz.6439 said:

Ok, could you point out then content in for example EoD expansions which isnt about grinding for generation3 legendary weapon?

No problem, thanks for asking!  In fact, for me EoD really dropped the ball in that regards.  The jade bot was neat but just felt like some kind of toy.  The siege turtle was kind of fun, because my friend could ride a mount with me.  Exploration wise I thought the maps were OK, Echowald Wilds always felt pretty cool and fantastical, but I really didn't like exploring New Kaineng.  The story exploration was OK as well, again nothing too bad but it felt like a weird end to the dragon story when GW2's logo is a literal dragon, it just fell flat.

Actually my experience with EoD is what prevented me from preordering this expansion.  I just felt like the quality wasn't there.  Combine that with the elite specializations and lack of balance and wonky balance patches, my experience with the game in terms of movement, exploration, skills, etc. everything has felt disappointing.  I am not saying it can't be salvaged, but the direction of the company NEEDs to change.  

[WRay.2391]

Got a popcorn 😄
Overall, I think conversation is not going in direction on consensus. But I will try to clarify my understanding.

One side is trying to say that content produced by company is becoming grindy and should potentially be re-though, another side is trying to say that there is other content, just don grind for this one.

I kind of see why grind was introduced. If OW legendary armor was acquired by exciting mechanics without major grind a lot of people would complain about grinding in other modes, plus a lot of players would try to get it thus affecting economy quite a bit (no more armor upgrade needed, ANET needs to think about economy re-balancing). So I don't think this will be the case ever. OW is easily accessible to majority of players and getting legendary armor from there will be made painful as counter measure.

From the other side I would agree that I would prefer actual exciting method of getting armor other that grinding, preferably requiring solo play. This would mean you got the armor without anybody carrying you. I know that ppl don't like collections, I actually love doing them. Would be personally excited to be able to get armor similar to first 4 Gen2 leg weapons.

In ideal world I would like to see multiple way of obtaining OW armor: Grind rifts, if you like it. Complete hard solo tasks if you prefer it. kitten, pay abysmal amount of money and buy it if you want for TP overlords. Just gave armor some separate preffix/affix to distinguish way of acquisition.

[Linken.6345]

1 hour ago, rawisz.6439 said:

You cant say that gw2 was never about gear grinding if thats your definition of it because core game started already with legendary weapons... So by your definitions its like that since day 1.

Yes and they were the same grade as exotics with a fancy skin and soulbound to a character just like the exotics.

People even reskinned the legendarys into a exotic with the correct stats for their build since the stats they came with were crap.

1 hour ago, MuscleBobBuffPants.1406 said:

No problem, thanks for asking!  In fact, for me EoD really dropped the ball in that regards.  The jade bot was neat but just felt like some kind of toy.  The siege turtle was kind of fun, because my friend could ride a mount with me.  Exploration wise I thought the maps were OK, Echowald Wilds always felt pretty cool and fantastical, but I really didn't like exploring New Kaineng.  The story exploration was OK as well, again nothing too bad but it felt like a weird end to the dragon story when GW2's logo is a literal dragon, it just fell flat.

Actually my experience with EoD is what prevented me from preordering this expansion.  I just felt like the quality wasn't there.  Combine that with the elite specializations and lack of balance and wonky balance patches, my experience with the game in terms of movement, exploration, skills, etc. everything has felt disappointing.  I am not saying it can't be salvaged, but the direction of the company NEEDs to change.  

No wonder you dont know the differance bettwen the content and the rewards in SotO you have not even bought or played it.

Maybe you shouldent argue with people who have?

 

Edited August 30, 2023 by Linken.6345