Legendary Relics are Coming Soon

[Gorani.7205]

I am actually quite confused about the decision to pretty much give the Legendary Relic to people own a single Legendary Rune for free.
This is very much contradicting how they treated legendary crafting in the past and very much out of line how they are treating the OW Legendary armour aquisition right now.
I have seven Legendary Runes and had them before SotO came out so I don't have to bother with anything that comes with the Relic now. But why would you wait for the Relic now, when you get it for free and get started with a Rune journey 1 out of 6 with the same step.
The announcement also means I can pretty much delete all those Emotion essences now piling up in anticipation and salvage the extra relics from achievements and WvW reward track boxes (which is a good thing for storage management, but will deeply impact how much SotO content I will be playing regularly - which already is quite low).

It is the  "super easy, barely an inconvenience" option that is just ... very confusing.

PS: As long as we get future relics from achievements & the reward tracks in WvW for unlocks, like it is now, I can live the the exspectations for upcoming expansions.

Edited January 26 by Gorani.7205

[Nash.2681]

Just went up, read the announcment... and now I'm sitting here shaking my had. What's going wrong at Arena.Net lately? I mean, it has tradition to chase ideas for a while and then drop them for new ones, but at least one could be rather be sure, that there are some basic principles that were always true.

And now? Sudden change of how legendary rune owners get compensated. The correct move from the start should have been "Listen up, we apologize deeply for totally forgetting about legendary runes. We made up our minds and decided, that everyone with 6 legendary runes gets the legendary relic right away, since relics take away the 6th rune bonus" (one could argue that the maximum of runes is 7, but then again, underwater combat is pretty much abandoned entirely so can't really blame players for skipping the 7th rune). Granting everyone with just 1 legendary rune the legendary relic seems a bit unfair, but well, I can get along with that. Still better than some obscure (pun intended) unlock progress based on the amount of leggy runes.

But what's a absolute terribly and unacceptable design choice, is the lowered functionality of the legendary relic: "new relic effects will need to be unlocked within each expansion in order to be accessible via legendary relics". I mean- what the kitten? What comes next? You say "[...]to honor existing functionality. We will continue to do this for previously existing types of legendary equipment.". But then again, you didn't hold back to change legendary runes, so I wonder what will be next? Will we get an announcment like "Hey all! After reviewing the latest development of the game, we came to the conclusion that the current system of distributing attribute boni is too complex for many players. Therefor we decided to take away all attribute boni from armor pieces and instead add a new item slot only for attributes, similiar to the PvP amulett. Legendary armor will retain its armor bonus and free skin change functionality and owners of legendary armor will get a free legendary attribute item. This item will contain all the current attribute combinations, however, all future attribute combinations will need to be unlocked...."? I know, I know, don't give them ideas, but I'm deeply stunned about this terribly design decision. I'm just expecting the worst from now on.

I mean, it's obvious that this change is ment to slowly introduce somekind of gear grind to keep people busy. But imo it's the complete wrong way to keep people occupied and active. If there's a decrease in player activity, it's probably due to a lack of content and not because of the horizontal progression. To me, this seems like the beginning of a huge change of the general philosophy the Guild Wars franchise always stood for and made it so attractive to me (and probably many others). My faith into Arena.Net just dropped below zero *sad violine noise*.

[MLinni.6109]

I like the solution ANET is putting for the runes losing functionality. I have made 7 runes but I don't begrudge anyone who is just making one rune to get it for free.

Regarding the unlocking of single relics in coming expansions for it: Yeah, you will have to work a bit. But you don't need to get every relic, they will probably be unlocked by collections. You have it in your achievement collection: it's available in the relic.

This serves several functions: Yes, you have to play a bit ("grind") to get all relics, but then again there needs to be some rewards in the upcoming expansions to make people want to play the content and earn rewards.

Also the relics of upcoming expansions will thus not be available for people without said expansion who are not able to earn them. Gotta sell expansions too. Without new elite specs there needs to be something else to "help" you want to buy said expansions.

You already get SotO relics, common relics, even the ones upcoming in SotO unlocked, that's already a large core set of relics. I don't see it as a "gear grind". You usually unlock relics by doing a story (OMG, PvE content!!!!) or can even get em from reward tracks in WvW and PvP. Unless that policy changes and they put relics behind brutal "Do XXX CM without armor and only one mainhand weapon" archievements, I don't see the problem.

[Nash.2681]

5 minutes ago, MLinni.6109 said:

Also the relics of upcoming expansions will thus not be available for people without said expansion who are not able to earn them. Gotta sell expansions too. Without new elite specs there needs to be something else to "help" you want to buy said expansions.

Yes they have to make money. Easy solution: you have legendary items + the required expansion = full unlock of everything. You have legendary items but not a specific expansion = have everything unlocked except the stuff from that missing expansion. Job done.

If you fail to see the shift in paradigm that goes along with this change, I can't help you.

[Emberheart.8426]

2 hours ago, Hotride.2187 said:

Very good way of putting it. I got full legendary so I can just play the game, whatever I like in it. Not what the devs just released and think I should play. There is WoW for thaf type of game and honestly its better in all aspects but the gear grind.

Yes, beating an easy boss without dying is now a grind apparently. There are almost no relic achievements that are even close to being a grind. I guess the word has lost all of its meaning for some people and they just throw it around for anything they don't like. Somehow I got the vast majority of SotO relics the first time I went through the story and then had to backtrack a little to get a few with non-grindy activities. What a travesty to have to do some content at some point.

[Nash.2681]

3 minutes ago, Emberheart.8426 said:

Yes, beating an easy boss without dying is now a grind apparently. There are almost no relic achievements that are even close to being a grind. I guess the word has lost all of its meaning for some people and they just throw it around for anything they don't like. Somehow I got the vast majority of SotO relics the first time I went through the story and then had to backtrack a little to get a few with non-grindy activities. What a travesty to have to do some content at some point.

And you know that it will stay like this in future expansions because...? I mean, if unlocking the relics will be so trivial that a single story play through will be sufficient, that we'll unlock them "on the fly"- why make this change at all?

[Ashantara.8731]

4 hours ago, Esty.8352 said:

Here's an idea ...

When the Legendary Relic comes out, anyone with more than 1 Legendary Rune will get a Relic Unlock Token for each additional Legendary Rune they created.  The Token will allow them to unlock any future Relic that becomes available immediately.  This way people will get some compensation for having creating more Runes

The reward for having a full set of Legendary Runes is... well, having a full set of Legendary Runes! No more running Dungeons for a full set of Superior Runes of the Monk or Nightmare, etc.

People really need to put things into perspective. If you really crafted a full set of Legendary Runes merely for the upcoming Legendary Relic, you are insane. 😄 Relics are easy to come by, and you only need one per build.

Asking for even more future advantages for having a full set of Legendary Runes is, quite frankly, a bit impertinent. 😉

[Luthan.5236]

13 minutes ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

The reward for having a full set of Legendary Runes is... well, having a full set of Legendary Runes! No more running Dungeons for a full set of Superior Runes of the Monk or Nightmare, etc.

People really need to put things into perspective. If you really crafted a full set of Legendary Runes merely for the upcoming Legendary Relic, you are insane. 😄 Relics are easy to come by, and you only need one per build.

It reminds me of my mother. When there are - in the super market - "points" or similar stuff ... to collect. On certain products. And you get something for free. When she says "pretty expensive" when you have to buy 10 time something that costs 2 euros ... (total "cost" 20 euros) to get something that is maybe worth 2-3 euros. When you actually are supposed to get stuff for free for buying somethign you actually buy anyways. (Maybe I'd decide to buy a bit more and less of other stuff - if this is about food. But I would not buy a product I totally dislike or buy that much that I'm gonna start to puke when I have it eat it - when you have to consume it quickly and it does not stay fresh for pretty long.)

Similar for Steam sales where people think they actually save money - then they get baited into buying a ton. And then actually never have time to play. (Bought too much.) I used to be like that in the past. (90 percent discount does not help me when I never play the game. Then it is worth 0 - would need 100 percent discount.)

It makes sense when you actually wanted the runes already. (And a lot might want/need them I guess.) And the compensation discussion was originally aimed at people who had the runes before the rune changes got made. (To compensate for the lost 6th rune bonus.)

As long as everyone gets at least 1/6 bonus multiplicated with the amount of runes (2/6 for 2 runes, 3/6 for 3 runes, ... , full relic for 6 runes) - it is fine. Anything more (like they announced now) is fine as well. It comensates for the lost 6th runes bonus. People that have made only 1 r une have only 1 rune. (And will later not have to get the 6th rune bonus again cause they get compansated early.) People that made 6 ... have 6. They already profit from having the 6 runes.

And for crafting only 1 now: We have the increased charm prices. (I crafted 1 yesterday.) This might drop later. (+ people with a full set already might be able to sell charms they receive nor from normal play/farm - at a higher price).

I only see a problem with the charm prices that currenyly affect the price of crafting of normal runes and relics. (Which might be annoying for new players with not a lot of money yet that do not think about legendaries yet.)

[SweetPotato.7456]

Crafting Materials Price Hike!!! should I sell mine now get some gold and buy later when the market dies down.

[Astralporing.1957]

4 hours ago, GalenWolffit.3842 said:

I'm not upset that they said 1 rune.  I'm upset that first they said 7, then they retracted that and went with 1.
The problem is not the number of runes.
The problem is that they made a public, official statement about what they were going to do, then invalidated that.

And I am baffled as to why so many people are having such a hard time understanding the difference.

They did not invalidate what they promised. They offered more than they promised. Honestly, i have no idea why you get annoyed for getting more, when what you really should be upset about is the part of the message you are ignoring (the one where they announce that Legendary Relic will not be a true legendary).

3 hours ago, Arianth Moonlight.6453 said:

you have no idea how legendary gear works, do you?

Maybe, but as it seems neither does Anet, so it evens out.

Edited January 26 by Astralporing.1957

[Phyb.6704]

WOOOOOO! New content!

They took away the set bonuses and destroyed tons of builds so they could give us legendary huge grinds to get back what we already bought, grinded and earned....... 

Gw2 content is totally not lazy. Look at all this effort!

[yann.1946]

6 minutes ago, ohericoseo.4316 said:

WOOOOOO! New content!

They took away the set bonuses and destroyed tons of builds so they could give us legendary huge grinds to get back what we already bought, grinded and earned....... 

Gw2 content is totally not lazy. Look at all this effort!

I'm curious how you can say this when the legendary relic is free for all the people who already had a rune. And it's not like the achievements are that grindy either

[leila.7962]

8 hours ago, Ashantara.8731 said:

It sure is a strange choice, but I think the devs just wanted to be done with the discordance surrounding the change in Rune functionality and the introduction of Relics. The discussions have been endless. So this is their way of saying, "Pleeeease, move on already!" 😉

The discussion was already over when they stated that people would have to work for it and that you would earn progress based on the amount of legendary runes that the player had.. It seemed a fair solution that would keep players engaged and working on their progress towards the legendary relic.. But now it seems they are just going against the goal of making people do their contents lol . Sometimes it feels like Anet loves to stir the pot ..

[Remus Darkblight.1673]

Am I the only person who intends to eventually craft a full set of legendary runes even after the relic?

What planet are people on where they seem to think that the legendary runes are completely functionless outside of being given a free relic for crafting them? If you only ever play one build why do you even want a legendary relic? Sure if you have legendary armour you can store a rune set per equipment slot, but any more and you're dedicating inventory slots to rune sets, it's still a QoL investment.

I've also got no problem with unlocking the new relics as they come out, it wasn't difficult to unlock the ones introduced in the last update, the QoL benefits are in not having to carry several soulbound relics on each character or purchase additional copies of the same relic for subsequent characters once unlocked.

This is honestly a very generous solution, even more so that the deadline to craft a legendary rune extends all the way up until the relic launches.

The people who are complaining that they made a full rune set but get the same reward for it as those who made one rune need to quit being so spiteful. You still have your legendary runes, what else were you going to do with those materials in the long run?

Edited January 26 by Remus Darkblight.1673

[Arianth Moonlight.6453]

5 minutes ago, Remus Darkblight.1673 said:

Am I the only person who intends to eventually craft a full set of legendary runes even after the relic?

nope, I'll finish mine once the relic is out and the price of the mats returns to normal.

[Remus Darkblight.1673]

Just now, Arianth Moonlight.6453 said:

nope, I'll finish mine once the relic is out and the price of the mats returns to normal.

Oh yeah for sure, I've still got armour sets and stuff to make so I'll wait for things to settle in any case. But the long term goal has always been to just get legendary everything for the QoL.

In the mean time I managed to make a legendary rune last night without having to purchase too much. Might even take the opportunity to sell some mats I still have while the prices are high.

[MLinni.6109]

1 hour ago, Nash.2681 said:

Yes they have to make money. Easy solution: you have legendary items + the required expansion = full unlock of everything. You have legendary items but not a specific expansion = have everything unlocked except the stuff from that missing expansion. Job done.

If you fail to see the shift in paradigm that goes along with this change, I can't help you.

I am talking about the shift in paradigm and why I think why they're doing that and you attack me for failing to see the shift in paradigm? Hokay.

You might disagree with me about this being a problem or not, that's fair. While the legendary armory has many advantages like flexibility for people, it also brings the problem with it that you cannot get people excited about < legendary rewards. Previously: Yay, ascended chest drop. Now: Yay, -1 bank slot, having to change stats to be able to salvage it for some mats, more work and you only really get a currency out of it if you already have the legendary weapons or armor you need.

So they have to do stuff like this to have some reward to offer apart from skins. And not everyone is interested in fashion wars.

[Smol.7985]

If something doesn't have 100% of the legendary functionality the other legendaries have , should it be even called legendary at all ?

[MLinni.6109]

6 minutes ago, Smol.7985 said:

If something doesn't have 100% of the legendary functionality the other legendaries have , should it be even called legendary at all ?

Yes, imo.  You can still use it on any character. Just unlock every new relic and it will be there to use on any character. I would start complaining if they'd gate keep any new relics behind unreasonable requirements. But if it's just doing the story or completing reward tracks, I don't have a problem with it.

[Jeydra.4386]

Not a fan of the new Legendary Relic mechanic where you need to unlock the stat to use it. Part of the reason I make legendaries is so that I can swap into a new build freely, without having to buy new items, no matter what happens. Having to unlock new relics is aggravating. It means there's still a gear grind after every balance patch.

I suppose it's still better than not having the legendary, since another reason to make legendaries is to save inventory space, but it's still aggravating.

[Nightcore.5621]

Does the legendary relic work like legendary armor where u unlock all stats or does they work like sigils where u need to craft each one of them each time ? Like if i craft a legendary relic do i get them all or only 1 ?

[MLinni.6109]

There is only one relic slot, you would choose one of the existing relics, same with runes and sigils. The relic slot is sorta the special function of the (6) Set Bonus you used to get from runes. For example, "Cleanse a condition if you use a shout". Previously, all runes were tied to specific stats they came with. Now you can cherry pick choosing a stat bonus you want in runes, and a special functionality in the relic slot.

You will be able to use the legendary relic on each character. All common and SotO relics will be available to choose whenever you want to switch them. With coming expansions, you will apparently have to unlock those new expansion relics to be able to also use them on any character.

[Divity.3049]

14 hours ago, DeanBB.4268 said:

What should Anet adjust? The price of recipes? The rest is all materials and provisioner tokens, isn't it? And you can even get provisioner tokens with materials.

They are legendary, thus an end-game goal. And having a full set is a massive QoL, worthy of the investment.

They can adjust material cost obviously and legendary items being and endgame goal has no importance to my question. "worthy of the investment" is debateable too

[Nash.2681]

25 minutes ago, MLinni.6109 said:

I am talking about the shift in paradigm and why I think why they're doing that and you attack me for failing to see the shift in paradigm? Hokay.

You might disagree with me about this being a problem or not, that's fair. While the legendary armory has many advantages like flexibility for people, it also brings the problem with it that you cannot get people excited about < legendary rewards. Previously: Yay, ascended chest drop. Now: Yay, -1 bank slot, having to change stats to be able to salvage it for some mats, more work and you only really get a currency out of it if you already have the legendary weapons or armor you need.

So they have to do stuff like this to have some reward to offer apart from skins. And not everyone is interested in fashion wars.

Attack you? Come on, some people are really sensitive nowadays...

Anyway, the legendary armory's only three advantages are its flexibility, the certainity to always have the best possible gear option ready and the free skin change. Yes, what you describe about ascended drops is absolutely true, but that's something people know before they get their legendary gear. And I assume the certainity  of having always up to date gear with full freedom of choice outweight that for most. And that's why it absolutely baffles me that some people are cool with this changes. Yes, they may seem minor for now and just be tiny steps. But those are steps in a direction that's absoltuly contrary to their philosophy so far.

[Pifil.5193]

1 hour ago, Nightcore.5621 said:

Does the legendary relic work like legendary armor where u unlock all stats or does they work like sigils where u need to craft each one of them each time ? Like if i craft a legendary relic do i get them all or only 1 ?

They work more like Legendary Armour for now, they will have all the Core and SotO Relics unlocked when you get the Legendary Relic and you can equip that Relic on any character and freely change the Relic effect without cost.

However, once Expansion 5 comes along you will need to unlock the new Relic effects to add them to your Legendary Relic. Currently you "unlock" Relics by binding them to your account.  You unlock the SotO Relics either from WvW/PvP reward tracks or as rewards from certain achievements. Once unlocked you can buy copies of them from the Relic vendors in PvE, WvW or sPvP.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/legendary-relics-are-coming-soon/

Quote

So, for relics only—and starting with the fifth expansion—new relic effects will need to be unlocked within each expansion in order to be accessible via legendary relics.