Over on Reddit this morning, there's an interesting topic discussing Ascended items and how the entry level for them almost forces all individuals to choose a "main". I must admit, it's something I recently discussed with friends and is also something I've had to deal with. With 5 level 80 characters, it has come to the point where I need to acknowledge I cannot spend equal time across all of them. Ascended items have dictated that I cannot get them up to the level needed in order to be fully geared.
As a result of this, and the fact Ascended items of any type take so long to get, I've decided to only play my ranger from now on. In many ways this is a good thing as it allows for total dedication (my legendary weapon will be for my ranger) but also makes me sad at the fact that I'll spend little or no time on the other professions I've lovingly worked on.
I'm sure that Ascended items will eventually become as common as Exotic and thus afford those of us who have multiple characters to equip them with the best available. Until then however, I'm resigned to the fact that less is certainly more. I can't be sure however if this is really a good thing, or whether I'm placing too much emphasis on Ascended items being better than what they really are.
What are your thoughts on the subject?
Comments
I don't really need ascended items to be honest. I was OP back when I used masterworks, so exotics are more than enough for me.
Where would those stat points make a noticeable difference anyway?
WvW? Generally speaking, if I find something I can't kill it's a zerg. A 1vZerg tends to end pretty quickly no matter how good your stats are, unless you are a thief and have stealth. Why can't necromancers have stealth?
sPvP? I can't use my fancy looking staff there, so how would getting an even more fancy looking one help me?
PvE? Apart from high level fractals and speed runs stats don't really make too much difference. So, it takes me 0.035 seconds less to kill yet another centaur? Totally worth abandoning all my other characters for!
I'll probably get some ascended items at some point, but for now I'm happy using exotics and slaughtering those foolish guardians who think their ascended armor is enough to protect them from me. Spoiler alert, it isn't
Are you a guardian? Let me introduce you to my Flesh Golem, he's getting a bit hungry.
What Yski said.
If it isn't ascended with Agony Resistance for high level fractals then ascended is overkill. If it is high level fractals then you are eventually going to be one-shotted by anything that hits you whether you have ascended or not. You MUST avoid taking the hit to begin with, making what armor you're wearing not important for defense, only for offense. Killing faster definitely can make the difference between living or dying, but ignoring all of your alternate characters because you can't get them all ascended gear is silly.
I agree that Ascended gear is making players choose which character to play as a main. I have heard it within my guild and in Lion's Arch map chat. While I do not believe this was the intended purpose when ANET introduced this tier of gear, but it is happening. Nobody wants to be left behind so they grind for the gear to keep up.
The game is designed so that every player is responsible for their own health pool (dodge, skill #6) so that many top level mobs either do armor-ignoring damage or do so much overkill damage that you would not survive regardless of gear/stats. So, if you are already a skilled player, you will not benefit much from Ascended gear because you know your skills and the game mechanics. If you are NOT a skilled player, or just a casual player, Ascended gear will not help you to survive the antics of top level mobs. Players want to see bigger numbers on their stat sheet but maybe this is not the way for ANET to introduce them (fractals.)
I have 6 level 80s. All exotics and 5 with multiple gear sets. No Ascended. This will have to be enough for me. I will play every one of my alts without Ascended gear until they adjust the current system. I know why ANET did it, but I don't care for how they did it. Laurels MAY fix it some.
The only people feeling restricted by ascended gear are those stuck in the mentality that BIS matters oh so much like in more archaic MMOs. Even with full ascended jewelry you only up your damage by a couple percent in Berserker to berserker comparisons... hardly enough to make a real difference, especially in the chaos of WvW. It will still come down to individual vs. individual.
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