What About Exotic Gear For Fractals That Allows Agony Resistance?

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:@Illconceived Was Na.9781 That friend also has no asc armor or weapons. She only has 1 slot backpiece, 2x asc earrings, 2x asc rings with only 2 infusions on each. She has 7x AR slots, and we won't be able to get her anymore, any time soon. Might I also point out that she is ready to play in T4 fractals, she just can't.

Actually, she's not ready; she doesn't have ascended gear. The topic of the thread is whether AR should continue to be a gate for fractals.

In effect, your request is that ANet change the mechanic so that people who choose not to spend the gold and choose not to get the expansions can have the same access to fractals as those who spent the time & gold and RL money. It's not a crazy suggestion — you're right about it being a barrier; it just doesn't seem likely that ANet would be motivated to do that. It reduces the incentive to purchase the expansions and it would likely annoy a good portion of the existing fractal community.

As I said earlier, it's almost certainly not a big population of people that (a) have someone as skilled as you are willing to teach and (b) are as skilled as your friend, to be able to start at T4 (if only they had the gear). There are far more people who will be not as well trained (probably self-taught) or need to work their way up to higher tiers and instabilities.

[Talindra.4958]

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

@infrequentia.3465 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

You don't get agony without central tyria masteriesyes you do.Correct, all ascended gear offers one infusion slot and anyone can buy infusions or use an r100 artificer to make arbitrary sizes of AR.

agony resist isn't tied to masteries.Not directly. The number of slots is severely limited by lack of masteries.

• Attunement is hard-gated by
  Follows Advice
• Purchase of mist essences is also hard-gated by the same mastery, so you can't infuse any rings either, unless you get enough drops.
• Infusion of backpacks (with few exceptions) & rings is slowed down by missing masteries. The required Gift of Ascension costs 500 ordinary relics & buying mist essences cost 750 essences (plus several gold). Acquisition is lower without the other masteries. It's not a huge difference for veterans, but for newbies it means waiting a lot longer.

its 2 slots less

2 out of 18 is not severely limmiting its 11,11% less

16 slots still gives 144 AR with +9 infusions ( his concern because of the +9 statted infusions)wich is enough to do every single fractal in the game right up to level and including level 100

It's 3 slots less. No 2 infusions on rings and no back piece infusion.

And no, you don't get agony resistance without Central Tyria Masteries.

• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fractal_Potion
• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Central_Tyria_mastery_tracks#Fractal_Attunement

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 That friend also has no asc armor or weapons. She only has 1 slot backpiece, 2x asc earrings, 2x asc rings with only 2 infusions on each. She has 7x AR slots, and we won't be able to get her anymore, any time soon. Might I also point out that she is ready to play in T4 fractals, she just can't.

Sorry Trevor, exactly what equipment she has and how many infusion slots she has???

[Talindra.4958]

@thrag.9740 said:Do escort, trio, mo every week a few times to cap magnetite shards. Buy cheap ascended armor. No crafting, ez solution.

This is actually clever

[TexZero.7910]

@Talindra.4958 said:

@thrag.9740 said:Do escort, trio, mo every week a few times to cap magnetite shards. Buy cheap ascended armor. No crafting, ez solution.

This is actually clever

It's almost as clever as just doing lower tier fractals, getting gold and buying the materials to craft armor while still having the ability to get armor and weapons as drops.....But that would be called playing fractals as designed and not just jumping to the end.

Alternatively, if your team is anywhere near capable you could just 4 man it and have her take a nice dirt nap during the fights until she has the gear.

[Linken.6345]

@Talindra.4958 said:

@thrag.9740 said:Do escort, trio, mo every week a few times to cap magnetite shards. Buy cheap ascended armor. No crafting, ez solution.

This is actually clever

If only they had hot bought tho, if you had read the thread she only got old paid core account.

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

@thrag.9740 said:Do escort, trio, mo every week a few times to cap magnetite shards. Buy cheap ascended armor. No crafting, ez solution.

I think she cannot do escort without HoT

[Vinceman.4572]

It really makes me cringe if somebody wants to play certain things in GW2 and is not willing to spend 10$ or 10€ to get the Heart of Thorns expansion nowadays. Seriously, even little children are able to save their money over months or even years to buy them things they like if you teach them. If it's your girlfriend, make her a present. I mean come on, it's 10 bugs. Wtf?

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

Well i dont agree that exotic set with infusions is a good idea. These days only cm parties ask for kp. In raids everyone want kp because they dont want to play with rare gear.

On the other hand players with core game (not f2p) should be abel to use core masteries

[Holykitten.3064]

51-100 was added when HoT released, with the Masteries in mind.Good for your Gf getting into T3 with what little ascended items she has, but it's not recommended that she continue to progress up the Tiers, without progressing her character with Ascended Armor and Weapons.It's part of the Fractals system to work your way up gear-wise and gaining Agony resistance on the way, that's the point of the Tier system. But you can still help her.You can help by funding her crafting, or help her complete achievements that reward Ascended Armor / Weapon boxes. You can even buy her the expansion(s) to get her those Fractal masteries.There's absolutely nothing wrong with the system as it is, otherwise we'd see more complaints.Fractals is considered the 5-man instanced End-game. Not surprised you'd need to have the armor/weapons to do it.

You'd be surprised how many other people basically pugged their way up the Tier, no help with gear or AR from friends/guild members (myself included).

[Henry.5713]

Been through a similar situation with a girl I dated in the past. Sounds like she does it for your sake or out of the wish to spend time with you rather than an actual interest in the game itself. Either play content she can handle while allowing her to slowly progress towards the content you are into or give it up if neither of you cares enough to go through that process. All there is to it.And buy her the freaking expasion - costs you less than buying her flowers would.

[infrequentia.3465]

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

@infrequentia.3465 said:

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

You don't get agony without central tyria masteriesyes you do.Correct, all ascended gear offers one infusion slot and anyone can buy infusions or use an r100 artificer to make arbitrary sizes of AR.

agony resist isn't tied to masteries.Not directly. The number of slots is severely limited by lack of masteries.

• Attunement is hard-gated by
  Follows Advice
• Purchase of mist essences is also hard-gated by the same mastery, so you can't infuse any rings either, unless you get enough drops.
• Infusion of backpacks (with few exceptions) & rings is slowed down by missing masteries. The required Gift of Ascension costs 500 ordinary relics & buying mist essences cost 750 essences (plus several gold). Acquisition is lower without the other masteries. It's not a huge difference for veterans, but for newbies it means waiting a lot longer.

its 2 slots less

2 out of 18 is not severely limmiting its 11,11% less

16 slots still gives 144 AR with +9 infusions ( his concern because of the +9 statted infusions)wich is enough to do every single fractal in the game right up to level and including level 100

It's 3 slots less. No 2 infusions on rings and no back piece infusion.

And no, you don't get agony resistance without Central Tyria Masteries.

• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fractal_Potion
• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Central_Tyria_mastery_tracks#Fractal_Attunement

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 That friend also has no asc armor or weapons. She only has 1 slot backpiece, 2x asc earrings, 2x asc rings with only 2 infusions on each. She has 7x AR slots, and we won't be able to get her anymore, any time soon. Might I also point out that she is ready to play in T4 fractals, she just can't.

it is 2 slots less.just because you won't get the 2nd back piece slot doesn't mean its not avaible

and the Potions DO work withouth mastery. Mastery just gives them BONUS stats

[Voltekka.2375]

Melandru backpack has a second slot, unlike all other crafted backpacks (Bough of Melandru)

[MarshallLaw.9260]

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:

@infrequentia.3465 said:

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" said:

You don't get agony without central tyria masteriesyes you do.Correct, all ascended gear offers one infusion slot and anyone can buy infusions or use an r100 artificer to make arbitrary sizes of AR.

agony resist isn't tied to masteries.Not directly. The number of slots is severely limited by lack of masteries.

• Attunement is hard-gated by
  Follows Advice
• Purchase of mist essences is also hard-gated by the same mastery, so you can't infuse any rings either, unless you get enough drops.
• Infusion of backpacks (with few exceptions) & rings is slowed down by missing masteries. The required Gift of Ascension costs 500 ordinary relics & buying mist essences cost 750 essences (plus several gold). Acquisition is lower without the other masteries. It's not a huge difference for veterans, but for newbies it means waiting a lot longer.

its 2 slots less

2 out of 18 is not severely limmiting its 11,11% less

16 slots still gives 144 AR with +9 infusions ( his concern because of the +9 statted infusions)wich is enough to do every single fractal in the game right up to level and including level 100

It's 3 slots less. No 2 infusions on rings and no back piece infusion.

And no, you don't get agony resistance without Central Tyria Masteries.

• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fractal_Potion
• https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Central_Tyria_mastery_tracks#Fractal_Attunement

@"Illconceived Was Na.9781" That friend also has no asc armor or weapons. She only has 1 slot backpiece, 2x asc earrings, 2x asc rings with only 2 infusions on each. She has 7x AR slots, and we won't be able to get her anymore, any time soon. Might I also point out that she is ready to play in T4 fractals, she just can't.

Trevor, I agree with some of your other posts and discussions, however in this particular case I am struggling to get on the same page. Don't get me wrong, I understand where you are coming from, but I cannot agree that removing the need for ascended armor in fractals is right.You yourself said that it is a massive investment to get full ascended gear whether you craft or pick up pieces and I'm sure that you (and many others) all went through the gradual process of building up your character to be at T4 level both in skill and gear comp. The process isn't designed to be skipped and in my opinion it will upset many people who did get there the regular way if we the requirements were lowered so much.Your friend, with all due respect, is not special to ANet or for that matter to a majority of players - it's not reasonable to ask to change the entire system on which fractals were built for him/her. I notice you also mentioned "new players" benefiting from this, but really it seems that we are breaking down some core elements of fractals. The costs if people used exotics would be less than 10% of ascended, with no time-gating involved with crafting.In general it would probably significantly disrupt the economy as the material demand would change.Your point about your friend being ready for T4s is irrelevant - preparedness in this case is made up of skill and gear - it has been so since the beginning.

Although I can see you have good intentions, consider this - Fractals were introduced November 16th, 2012 and completely destroying and reconstructing the way they function on a gear level 5 years later is not the right way to go.The economic impact would be too disruptive in my opinion.

[infrequentia.3465]

@Voltekka.2375 said:Melandru backpack has a second slot, unlike all other crafted backpacks (Bough of Melandru)

haha you funny.

its cheaper to infuse 8 backpacks then to make 1 bough of melandru

50 icy runestones ( 50g)15 bolt of damask ( 4g each7 evergreen lodestones ( 30s each)and a vision crystal

thats cheaper then 500 relics and 250 ecto's how?

[Voltekka.2375]

@infrequentia.3465 said:

@Voltekka.2375 said:Melandru backpack has a second slot, unlike all other crafted backpacks (Bough of Melandru)

haha you funny.

its cheaper to infuse 8 backpacks then to make 1 bough of melandru

50 icy runestones ( 50g)15 bolt of damask ( 4g each7 evergreen lodestones ( 30s each)and a vision crystal

thats cheaper then 500 relics and 250 ecto's how?

OH, my bad. I thought you didnt already have a backpack, sorry!

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

At this point, the OP has raised three distinct concerns in the thread:

• Should there be any gating to T4 fractals?
• If there is, what sort of gating makes sense?
• Should people have to own an expansion to participate in certain content?

For better or worse, T4 requires agony. As ANet has said, it would be a huge expense to remove or substantially change it. There are economic and social consequences. So regardless of whether agony still makes sense or not, it's going to be around for a long time.

And whether it's fair or not, ANet has to turn enough of a profit to keep funding development of the game in the manner to which we have become accustomed. Offering all the features for free is a sure-fire way to undercut their own sales, and thus ultimately worse for the game than worrying about the needs of those who aren't interesting in buying expansions.

---

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:She PURCHASED the core game during the first year of gameplay, long before fractals added the agony system.Fractals were added in November 2012. Agony, as a mechanic, has been in the game since November 2012.Ascended trinkets (with slots for simple infusions). Infused trinkets were added in June 2013.

Is this even fair though?Depends on the definition of fair. ANet needs to make a buck and they couldn't do it through the gem shop alone. Expansions are a big part of their income now & gating some features is a way to encourage people to pay the price.

The least they could do is enable Central Tyria masteries for Core Guild Wars 2 owners.No, the least they could do is abandon the game or not add any features for free. Those are both less effort.It might be reasonable to ask for free Central Tyrian masteries; it's reasonable for ANet to have decided to gate thsoe behind at least one expansion.

That's kind of a cop-out to a large margin of their original player base.Only if you think the original player base is has earned the right to get everything the game has to offer for all time, without spending more than they spent when the game came out.

[Geisterlicht.6083]

@"Trevor Boyer.6524

I thought a lot about your post, and while i disagree with the idea of letting people infuse exotic armor, I know the pain of leveling an altaccounts to 100.

The only solution that seemed fair to me, was a buff similar to the tear of alba.

It would last for two hours and unlock at one of the golem vendors after you successfully beat fractal 50.

Now the important part:This buff can only be bought once per day and costs 250 relics +5g.It gives 150 AR that do not stack with other sources of AR (infusions/attunements).

This way a capable person can convert all the pristines she gets into relics and buy that buff after doing 1x "recs+t4".The costs are low enough so the person can use the pots from the recommended chests.

This system allows you to run daily t4 on your alt until you get your ascended drops.

[Sister Saxifrage.7361]

No. The barriers to entry of ascended gear and AR are what make T4s bearable. If someone's not willing to put in the work, they should stick to the lower tiers.

Maybe you should just accept that passing on T4 chests is the price of spending time with your gf.

[CptAurellian.9537]

@Sister Saxifrage.7361 said:No. The barriers to entry of ascended gear and AR are what make T4s bearable. If someone's not willing to put in the work, they should stick to the lower tiers.

Maybe you should just accept that passing on T4 chests is the price of spending time with your gf.

I tend to agree. The quality of T4 groups can already be atrocious at times and I don't think that removing the last entry barrier will help. Besides, getting ascended stuff isn't that hard.

[needbeer.1687]

you dont need 150 ar in t4 fracs. you can get away with 135-140. sure its gonna hurt more but still doable. also theres the tear thing that gives more ar.i did t4's on my necro for months only having 130 ar. it was rough but i managed it.

[Yamazuki.6073]

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:nor do I want to pay for that for her characters

So... She is your girlfriend and you're not willing to spend a small amount of money on her, nor are you willing to spend a few hundred gold on her, nor give her your extra infusions? If you really wanted your girlfriend and friends to play with you then you wouldn't be placing them below something as unimportant as gold or items in a game. These are one time purchases and require no maintenance. The barrier is there to avoid having someone with no experience walk in and drag a group down. Gw2 has a very short level time to cap level, and getting into a full exotic set doesn't really take a whole lot of time even with casual play; this leaves a person with very limited experience and saying they should be able to walk into T4 and die over and over is silly.

[crepuscular.9047]

@Yamazuki.6073 said:

@Trevor Boyer.6524 said:nor do I want to pay for that for her characters

So... She is your girlfriend and you're not willing to spend a small amount of money on her, nor are you willing to spend a few hundred gold on her, nor give her your extra infusions? If you really wanted your girlfriend and friends to play with you then you wouldn't be placing them below something as unimportant as gold or items in a game. These are one time purchases and require no maintenance. The barrier is there to avoid having someone with no experience walk in and drag a group down. Gw2 has a very short level time to cap level, and getting into a full exotic set doesn't really take a whole lot of time even with casual play; this leaves a person with very limited experience and saying they should be able to walk into T4 and die over and over is silly.

well, they aren't married yet... otherwise, they may need a divorce lawyer

[Shane.8374]

I have been palying GW2 for 3 1/2 months. It is my first MMO ever. I work 50 hours a week and have an 8 year old, 4 dogs, a wife, and a home to take care of. Needless to say, I can't play 10 hours a day, although I do every now and then. For whatever reason. I decided early on that fractals sounded fun and I wanted to play them So I set a goal for myself, spent some time, spent some money, read allot, and I now have 95% of My ascended Viper gear on my ranger and enough extra trinkets I picked up along the way to get two other toons enough AR to do T2's. I still need to learn my rotations better, but I am working on it. The point being that since I decided I wanted to play higher level fractals, found out what I needed to do to make it happen , and am making it happen. Where there is a will there is a way. If someone wants to do certain content, they should be willing to do what it takes to get there. If not, there is plenty of other stuff to do. I know for myself, everytime set a little go for myself in this game, in the process of working towards it I find mutiple other things I have to accomplish first. Right now I am stuck in chapter 14 of Hot and I need 7 more matery points to unlock some poison thing before I can continue. Some mastery points you can't even get to without first unlocking other masteries. And on and on. I think it is all of these challenges that kind of keep me playing the game. I know I am still new, but there is never a moment when I am playing that I feel bored or have nothing to do. It is more like, which of the 15 things should I do first ?

[Trevor Boyer.6524]

I haven't even posted in this thread in almost a week and you guys are still in here talking about my relationship with my girlfriend. That's some serious fanboy shit going on in here. Go find someone else better to do.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Trevor Boyer.6524" said:I haven't even posted in this thread in almost a weekToday is 22 March. You last posted on 19 March.

you guys are still in here talking about my relationship with my girlfriend.You brought up the girlfriend and what you are or aren't willing to do for her, so I'm not sure why you think that's off-topic suddenly.

Still, most people are focused on the merits of the idea and about some of the misunderstandings posted to support the suggestion. Many people don't agree with the proposal and are trying to explain why. So perhaps you can address those concerns.