Exotic armory

[jhnsmth.2641]

This game should support all players, not just the rich ones.

 

Anet should introduce exotic armory where we could select stats like the legendary armory except the exotic stats

which are somewhat weaker.

The unlock mechanism could be acquiring (account bound) exotic items.

 

In this way this game would be more accessible like the Guild Wars 1 was.

 

[Danikat.8537]

I think the legendary armoury was added because Anet noticed a lot of people sharing legendaries between characters (and maybe lots of support tickets about legendaries which got lost or deleted in the process). That won't happen with exotics, not just because they're soulbound on use so they can't be shared but also because they're far cheaper than legendaries so it's not difficult to get individual ones for each character. (Until recently it wasn't possible to get more than 1 copy of some legendaries.)

 

Unless you're proposing either making exotics account bound or some sort of lower tier legendaries with exotic tier stats I can't see any benefit to this. Otherwise it just sounds like a way to be stuck with every exotic you use instead of being able to salvage or sell them when you're don't need them any more.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Danikat.8537

[sevenDEADLY.5281]

This has never been a feature for exotics.  This is specifically the only benefit of legendaries over ascended quality items as an intended purposeful design.  Exotics are so incredibly cheap as is and there is no reason to create endlessly stat selectable exotic items. 

[LSD.4673]

With the awful state of stat combinations and inventory management, they really should. 

You either destroy exotics, keep them and waste inventory space, or get ascended and blow lots of money to swap stats.

 

Cumbersome. Unnecessary. Expensive. 

Most cases people just pick a stat that works in multiple modes, like Marauder/Trailblazer, and leave it at that...

[T G.7496]

22 minutes ago, jhnsmth.2641 said:

This game should support all players, not just the rich ones.

Rich players are not rich by accident, you know.

Most have spent their time and resources wisely and gradually in the accumulation of end-game items like legendary equipment.

And all of them have lived through the period of exotic items, and then ascended items, en route to their end-game.

It's how the game is played.

It is also one of the least grindy, easiest to progress MMOs I have ever played.

[kharmin.7683]

I thought that the biggest draw to legendary items was the ability to stat swap?  Otherwise, they are mechanically the same as exotic items?  With this suggestion, why then would anyone work toward legendary items?  As an owner of exactly zero legendary items, I disagree with the proposal.

[NotTooFoolish.7412]

There are great ways to obtain materials required for legendary crafting. It is a time consuming process for many players, but the end result is worth it.

Drizzlewood is a great farm. If you are doing a lot of LW4 events, Trophy Boxes are a great investment, the value of materials gained often exceeds the 1G invested alongside the Volatile Magic. Daily Anomaly kill (it's an event that occurs every 2 hours on one 3 maps, info available on wiki under "et" or "event timers"), gives you a Mystic coin. Drizzlewood, WvW and PvP allow you to farm Mystic Clovers without any need of gambling for them in the Mystic Forge (if you do that, recipe for 1 is the safer option).

There are ways to acquire exotic gear with selectable stats (when you first customize them). One of the options for armor is Bladed Armor available with HoT in Verdant Brink.

Anet has given us also ways to acquire ascended gear without the need of crafting any of the pieces. We have fractals and raids for PvE as well as PvP and WvW as an option. Living World trinkets require a bit of work (gathering and maybe some events for the two magics), but would be accessible for most of players (due to Return to season).

It's a very sloppy summary, but the point is: options are there, some just require a bit of routine (even those do not have to be repeated every single day).

[mindcircus.1506]

33 minutes ago, LSD.4673 said:

With the awful state of stat combinations and inventory management, they really should. 

You either destroy exotics, keep them and waste inventory space, or get ascended and blow lots of money to swap stats.

Swapping stats on Ascended gear is not expensive.

[Danikat.8537]

4 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I thought that the biggest draw to legendary items was the ability to stat swap?  Otherwise, they are mechanically the same as exotic items?  With this suggestion, why then would anyone work toward legendary items?  As an owner of exactly zero legendary items, I disagree with the proposal.

Originally the only benefit of legendaries were the skins and effects. For the first year they had exotic stats and you couldn't change them. If you wanted different stats you had to get another exotic weapon and transmute it.

 

Stat-swapping was added when ascended weapons were introduced, but only because Anet were promoting ascended as a 'medium term goal' about half-way between exotics and legendaries and making a legendary and then having to make an ascended weapon to be able to use it wasn't exactly appealing.

 

It did make legendaries more appealing to some people, but I'm not sure it was the biggest draw. I'd frequently see players warn each other not to make legendaries unless you like the skin or you spend most of your time theory-crafting because in practice most players (even...or possibly especially hardcore end-game players who want the best possible build) will only use a few stat combinations on each weapon or armour piece so it's much cheaper and easier to make a few different ascended ones, and then stat-swap them in the Mystic Forge if necessary.

 

So I suppose this idea would bring it full circle where the only benefit of making a legendary would be if you like the skin because functionally they're identical to lower tiers, but I suspect at this point it would be seen as a downgrade for legendaries and very little benefit for those who have chosen not to make them because they almost certainly don't want or need that functionality.

[DanAlcedo.3281]

You pay more, you get more (QoL). 

 

That's exactly how it should be. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[LSD.4673]

1 hour ago, mindcircus.1506 said:

Swapping stats on Ascended gear is not expensive.

6 armour pieces, 1-3 weapons, 6 accessories, like 20odd combinations. You do the maths.

 

To try out different builds will set you back hundreds of gold in stat swaps on the insignias/materials. 

 

Hence nobody bothers with the non-essential stats. It's pointless diversity. 

 

For a game that claims to be about "fun" and casual-ness, it sure fails to follow that methodology on so many fronts.

[Omega.6801]

No

[kharmin.7683]

10 minutes ago, LSD.4673 said:

6 armour pieces, 1-3 weapons, 6 accessories, like 20odd combinations. You do the maths.

 

To try out different builds will set you back hundreds of gold in stat swaps on the insignias/materials. 

 

 

Or, spend the time/gold and make legendaries and stat swap pretty much at will?

[DanAlcedo.3281]

13 minutes ago, LSD.4673 said:

6 armour pieces, 1-3 weapons, 6 accessories, like 20odd combinations. You do the maths.

 

To try out different builds will set you back hundreds of gold in stat swaps on the insignias/materials. 

 

Hence nobody bothers with the non-essential stats. It's pointless diversity. 

 

For a game that claims to be about "fun" and casual-ness, it sure fails to follow that methodology on so many fronts.

 

Dude... Ascended gear is super cheap. 

Getting multiple sets of them is as easy as it was never before. 

 

And can I remind you that, unlike other games, your gear doesn't loose its value over time? 

 

Seriously. Gw2 is extremely casual friendly with its gear. Actually to much. 

 

But let's do the math. 

Let's say 10 pieces of gear (Armor and weapons) 

 

That's 300g for a new set, worst case scenario. 

 

Trinkets can be farmed with Map currency or just bought with lorels. 

 

300g is not alot of money for a permanent addition to your gear. 

 

 

[Sobx.1758]

22 minutes ago, LSD.4673 said:

6 armour pieces, 1-3 weapons, 6 accessories, like 20odd combinations. You do the maths.

 

To try out different builds will set you back hundreds of gold in stat swaps on the insignias/materials. 

 

Hence nobody bothers with the non-essential stats. It's pointless diversity. 

 

For a game that claims to be about "fun" and casual-ness, it sure fails to follow that methodology on so many fronts.

If you don't bother with non-essential stats anyways, then you should be perfectly fine with playing with ascended gear. If you want properties of legendary gear... make legendary gear. It's as simple as that.

 

Edited August 18, 2021 by Sobx.1758

[LSD.4673]

10 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

Or, spend the time/gold and make legendaries and stat swap pretty much at will?

...which is, as i specifically said, completely against the tenet of being "fun"/casual-friendly.

 

People harp on about the "gear grind" or treadmill or whatever in other games. Legendaries are a grind under a different name -- and that's fine, as items of presteige for people who want that grind. But for those who want to play casually, what are their options? Shelling out real money for gold to try out builds? Or simply sticking with the meta?

 

The vast majority choose the latter. It's what causes stagnation, and turns people away. It's to the extent that balance patches focus exclusively on meta builds, neglecting balance as a whole.

 

The "build/equipment storage" could have alleviated the problem, but Anet chose to milk the system...

[kharmin.7683]

As there is only a 5% difference between exotic gear and ascended/legendary gear, why can players not test builds using the significantly cheaper exotics and then gear up their ascended once they find that non-meta build that they like?

 

I guess my point is that there are options which don't discount the point of legendary gear which is the on demand stat swap.  That "grind" is what keeps a good portion of the player base playing the game.

[poocha.3209]

12 minutes ago, LSD.4673 said:

...which is, as i specifically said, completely against the tenet of being "fun"/casual-friendly.

 

People harp on about the "gear grind" or treadmill or whatever in other games. Legendaries are a grind under a different name -- and that's fine, as items of presteige for people who want that grind. But for those who want to play casually, what are their options? Shelling out real money for gold to try out builds? Or simply sticking with the meta?

 

The vast majority choose the latter. It's what causes stagnation, and turns people away. It's to the extent that balance patches focus exclusively on meta builds, neglecting balance as a whole.

 

The "build/equipment storage" could have alleviated the problem, but Anet chose to milk the system...

Comparing the so called "gear grind" from other MMOs to GW2, it IS extremely casual. I think you're missing a point here though. You can stop for 2 years, come back, and your gear is still relevant. You become even more relevant if you have legendary gear.

Legendary items ARE considered prestige but they are also insanely easy to obtain. I have been playing GW2 very casually (6-8 hours a week) for about two years, never shelled out money for gems to gold (only for skins and other QoL items), and was able to craft a full set of light legendary armor and 9 legendary weapons. It's mainly about being smart on how you play the game.

I don't agree with "exotic armories" as this completely negates the QoL that legendaries bring to the game. It's not hating on people who don't have them, but it's more of a motivation for people to aim for getting them because of the QoL it brings.

[Mungrul.9358]

2 hours ago, kharmin.7683 said:

I thought that the biggest draw to legendary items was the ability to stat swap?  Otherwise, they are mechanically the same as exotic items?  With this suggestion, why then would anyone work toward legendary items?  As an owner of exactly zero legendary items, I disagree with the proposal.

Nope, on initial release, Legendaries had exotic, static stats. The selling point was the cosmetics.

The suggestion to add stat swapping came from me.

[kharmin.7683]

1 minute ago, Mungrul.9358 said:

Nope, on initial release, Legendaries had exotic, static stats. The selling point was the cosmetics.

The suggestion to add stat swapping came from me.

I wasn't talking about initial release, although thanks for the clarification.  I never went for legendary items so I didn't know that the stat swap came later.  The point, now, against the thread proposal is that granting the same swap-ability to ascended gear would essentially defeat the need for legendary outside of cosmetics.

[Mungrul.9358]

Not a bad thing as far as I'm concerned. Personally, I don't think any QoL should be locked behind gear requirements, nor should they be sold through the gem store. They should be available for every player.

Grinding Gear Games manage it with PoE.

[kharmin.7683]

Perhaps, but for a game with the progression model that GW2 has, there needs to be something to keep players logging in and playing.  Legendary gear is one of the more major reasons, at least in my estimation. 

[Infusion.7149]

Someone posted a suggestion for ascended armory and this time it is exotic armory (when most are soulbound)...
What next, a rare armory thread?

 

Instead of kneejerk suggestion threads people need to ask "but why?".

Given the only exotics that are over 5g or so tend to be fringe stats such as plaguedoctor this is a terrible idea.

For ascended weapons there was a box given out for return to living story ; strikes are quick enough for ascended items as well.

 

See

 

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/User:Tanetris/So_You_Want_To_Gear_a_Character

Edited August 18, 2021 by Infusion.7149

[Danikat.8537]

40 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

As there is only a 5% difference between exotic gear and ascended/legendary gear, why can players not test builds using the significantly cheaper exotics and then gear up their ascended once they find that non-meta build that they like?

That's certainly been my approach.

 

Well, that combined with some literal theory-crafting. When I'm making a new build I don't need to actually test every stat combination because I know what I expect the build to do and how the skills work so I can eliminate a lot of the options without needing to test them (e.g. not testing sets that prioritise condition damage on a pure power build). I can usually get it down to 3 or 4 possibilities at most before I need to make or buy anything.

 

Although in some cases ascended is actually easier or cheaper. Like if I want to try some of the harder to find stat combinations on trinkets, it might be easier to 'borrow' blood ruby or mist trinkets from my other characters and change the stats than to make exotics with the ones I want, but that's an exception because exotic trinkets have always been a bit awkward.

Edited August 18, 2021 by Danikat.8537

[LSD.4673]

58 minutes ago, kharmin.7683 said:

As there is only a 5% difference between exotic gear and ascended/legendary gear, why can players not test builds using the significantly cheaper exotics and then gear up their ascended once they find that non-meta build that they like?

 

I guess my point is that there are options which don't discount the point of legendary gear which is the on demand stat swap.  That "grind" is what keeps a good portion of the player base playing the game.

But then, discounting the cost there, you have to deal with the silly inventory. That's what the "Build/Equipment Template" update thing should have addressed. But being limited to just 2 slots per character (with extortionate upgrades available on a per character basis) makes them extremely limited.

 

The only means of making your own build is to painstakingly make use of external sites like gw2skills...which is excruciating. 

There's a vast array of stat combinations out there, yet how many of them see use?

They'd see use if they could be easily selected and not be a burden to acquire and maintain.

 

In the meantime, we continue to see the exact same builds across the board...