Progression in Heart of Thorns

[Sambal]

Hi, I started playing GW2 when it just released about 2 years ago. After a while I quit because I didnt like the progression in the end game. It seemed to me that people were just after the looks of their gear instead of the regular power upgrades in gear. I was just wondering if this would change in any way in the new xpac, if so I would like to come back if not I wouldnt.

Is this information already available and can some one please explain the current and future progression system in the game?

Thanks allot. Cheers!

[Deleted]

In short, no that isn't going to change.

There is actually gear progression in the game - upgrading from Exotic to Ascended (about a 7-8% increase in stats). It takes a lot of money / materials but is not time gated.

In Heart of Thorns, raids will be introduced which will give you the ability to create Legendary armour pieces. However, these will likely be the same strength as ascended pieces, and they will also likely require a lot of materials in addition to the 'precursor' items which drop in raids.

Guild Wars' gear treadmill has always been a status symbol. Wearing the hardest to get armour with the most expensive dyes, legendary weapons etc. This will not be changing any time soon.

[zito]

Gear progression is the same. No increasing the stat cap increase. Though in raids you can get legendary armor which has the same stats as ascended but you can change the stats on the fly

[Rivellana]

It hasn't changed. If you like a gear treadmill, you're not going to want to play it. Once you're in exotic gear you can do basically anything, ascended and legendary gear isn't a large increase to stats. Constantly having to work for gear upgrades over and over and over isn't the way this game is set up.

[Sambal]

Thanks for the replies, this has been very helpful to me. GW2 is an awesome game but this really is the main factor im missing. The getting stronger than other players in time gear wise and not just skill wise.

[Snowmist]

I need goals to keep playing end game in an mmo, so beyond capping your stats on gear and some cosmetic....what's left?

[Rivellana]

I need goals to keep playing end game in an mmo, so beyond capping your stats on gear and some cosmetic....what's left?

The same things that are in any other game that people enjoy. Working towards legendary weapons and ascended gear, playing PvP for the fun of competition, completing achievements for points and rewards, working on alt characters, personal story lines. The expansion will have new PvE content for players to explore, new story, and raids.

[Kazgrel]

There's 14306894267043785 other MMOs available that all scratch the same power creep itch. GW2 not being one of those is a nice change of pace. Here's to it staying that way forever.

[Deleted]

I need goals to keep playing end game in an mmo, so beyond capping your stats on gear and some cosmetic....what's left?

PvE content at endgame is largely map completion, grinding legendaries, champ trains / karma trains (fairly boring event farming) and fractals (mini-dungeons). In HoT, add raids to the list.

Your goals are your legendaries + your ascended equipment. PvE progression in HoT will consist of getting infused ascended equipment so that you can get agony resistance to do higher level fractals. This is essentially a gear check, because without agony resistance, you won't survive high level fractals, and you can't get agony resistance without infused gear. To get infused gear you first need ascended gear, which you get as drops from fractals, wvw chests, crafting etc.

It depends if you want to bother with the gear grind. I won't lie, most of PvE's endgame content is not reliant on personal skill, it's reliant on how much gold you have. This is what puts me off PvE. I don't feel like playing the auction house game just so I can afford top-tier equipment.

As for PvP, there are good changes coming in HoT and honestly PvP is where the longevity of the game lies for me. Bit hard to explain what you do, really. You run around and kill people, either solo, with a small group or with a big zerg. Or you can do structured PvP which are akin to battlegrounds.

That's honestly about it.

[zito]

I need goals to keep playing end game in an mmo, so beyond capping your stats on gear and some cosmetic....what's left?

There are goals, I don't understand why people think gear stat inflation is the only goal to work towards. If you want a power creep that is your one and only goal then go to Diablo.

[Arlee]

PvE content at endgame is largely map completion, grinding legendaries, champ trains / karma trains (fairly boring event farming) and fractals (mini-dungeons). In HoT, add raids to the list.

Your goals are your legendaries + your ascended equipment. PvE progression in HoT will consist of getting infused ascended equipment so that you can get agony resistance to do higher level fractals. This is essentially a gear check, because without agony resistance, you won't survive high level fractals, and you can't get agony resistance without infused gear. To get infused gear you first need ascended gear, which you get as drops from fractals, wvw chests, crafting etc.

It depends if you want to bother with the gear grind. I won't lie, most of PvE's endgame content is not reliant on personal skill, it's reliant on how much gold you have. This is what puts me off PvE. I don't feel like playing the auction house game just so I can afford top-tier equipment.

First... no you don't need to play the trading post game to get the best gear... sure you can do that but it's not at all required. Secondly you don't need full Ascended gear to do even high level fractals. You can get Ascended Rings, backs, amulets, and accessories without doing fractals at all (laurels, guild commendations, etc). You can also get the materials needed to then infuse those either without fractals (depending on which back you have) or in fractals which don't require 50 agony resist. Then once you infuse the back and rings you can put + 10 agony resist in those (which you can make from running fractals and combining the ones you get using Artifice). So between all the accessories, amulet, rings, and back slot you don't have to craft a single piece of ascended armor or weapon and you would still be able to reach +50 agony.

As for PvP, there are good changes coming in HoT and honestly PvP is where the longevity of the game lies for me. Bit hard to explain what you do, really. You run around and kill people, either solo, with a small group or with a big zerg. Or you can do structured PvP which are akin to battlegrounds.

You seem to be talking about WvW and PvP here interchangeably as if they are both PvP, which is problematic because that's not how they function in GW2. Don't be mislead in WvW by thinking it is PvP because it isn't. In WvW what gear you have does actually matter and many people who seriously like to WvW a lot do craft Ascended Gear for the stat increase.

In sPvP (which is what most people talk about when they refer to PvP on GW2) gear doesn't matter one bit because your gear has no stats. You do get an amulet you can select what stats it give to your character and what runes and sigils you use, but everyone has the same things to choose from. Because of this the things which matter the most in PvP are your build, individual skill, and teamwork with your team.

Now separately... goals in GW2. Basically it's up to the player to find and discover what they like to do in GW2 and set goals for themselves. With the expansion there will be certain things which will only be obtainable by participating in certain activities (like the legendary armor in raiding) so that can be a goal. Also there will be Leagues in PvP which will be interesting to see how they play out. There's also the new Elite Specs which can be a shorter term goal for people to work on, and also the new masteries which will take quite awhile to do and they offer new abilities and ways to do things. Your goal can be pretty much anything you want.

[Deleted]

First... no you don't need to play the trading post game to get the best gear... sure you can do that but it's not at all required. Secondly you don't need full Ascended gear to do even high level fractals. You can get Ascended Rings, backs, amulets, and accessories without doing fractals at all (laurels, guild commendations, etc). You can also get the materials needed to then infuse those either without fractals (depending on which back you have) or in fractals which don't require 50 agony resist. Then once you infuse the back and rings you can put + 10 agony resist in those (which you can make from running fractals and combining the ones you get using Artifice). So between all the accessories, amulet, rings, and back slot you don't have to craft a single piece of ascended armor or weapon and you would still be able to reach +50 agony.

Level 100 fractals will surely need more AR than your trinkets can provide. As I said in my post, that's what PvE progression will consist of in HoT specifically.

Raids are also tuned towards full ascended. Any serious raiding guild will expect your equipment to be full ascended and infused, and they will likely expect you to have the resources to change the stats depending on the build you're required to run, or have multiple sets.

You seem to be talking about WvW and PvP here interchangeably as if they are both PvP, which is problematic because that's not how they function in GW2. Don't be mislead in WvW by thinking it is PvP because it isn't. In WvW what gear you have does actually matter and many people who seriously like to WvW a lot do craft Ascended Gear for the stat increase.

WvW is PvP. Spin it what way you like, it's players fighting players. Just because it has PvE objectives built in, it doesn't mean that it isn't PvP. If you don't like fighting other players, you probably don't like WvW. If you do like fighting other players, you probably like roaming at least.

Regardless, 7-8% stat increase is hardly ever going to be significant in this game, unless you're roaming small-scale or in an organised zerg where you all have ascended gear. The difference between class' performance is too much. An exotic d/p thief will still be able to 1v1 a backline staff necro in full ascended with wvw infusions, and that thief can have as much ascended gear he wants but as soon as he goes against a burn guardian he's dead.

From the point of view of someone who spent a lot of time playing WoW, they don't want to have to sit in silverwastes farming bags for gold, or running dungeons which are very boring and soon to be nerfed in terms of their gold rewards. You can earn gold elsewhere, but every effective way of earning it is quite dull honestly and the game's endgame progression is focused around the auction house. Nobody can deny that - that's why legendaries are a massive material sink, that's why ascended gear is a massive material sink. If you can earn your legendary from scratch without using the auction house then you are the most patient person in the world.

[Svifnymr]

WvW is PvP. Spin it what way you like, it's players fighting players. Just because it has PvE objectives built in, it doesn't mean that it isn't PvP. If you don't like fighting other players, you probably don't like WvW. If you do like fighting other players, you probably like roaming at least.

WvWvW is PvP, indeed, but as Arlee said, when people in GW2 say PvP they usually mean the 5 on 5 PvP where gear is just an appearance. So you can't always use PvP as an overarching term to include both sPvP and Wv because there are huge differences. I think of Wv as GW2's answer to PVP Servers in other games, except it's opt-in and constant.

[Beefsquatch]

There are goals, I don't understand why people think gear stat inflation is the only goal to work towards. If you want a power creep that is your one and only goal then go to Diablo.

You completely missed the point. People don't need a gear treadmill to keep them happy. Honestly, capping out on gear stats wise early on and working towards cosmetics is an awesome idea.

But people still need goals to work towards. No one is saying GW2 lacks goals, but it lacks goals with incentives. You'll be hard pressed to find folks who play any RPG variant just for fun and fun only. Technically speaking, they aren't games for mindless fun. You want to feel like your character is progressing.

In GW2, the reward system is abysmal. Anything meaningful is a grindfest, and the other things mentioned like achievements...map completions..etc don't really offer any kind of reward that players would view worth the time and effort. There really aren't too many cool titles, can't grind mounts because there are no mounts in this game, working toward specific cosmetics are too grindy. Especially legendaries at the moment. So, what is there to do that offers a meaningful reward that can make a player want to invest a good amount of time and effort into?

[Usagi Senshi]

^ this guy gets it! I saw everything coming in HoT and immediately asked for a refund. I get cooler looking gear in FFXIV anyway with less of a grind (still a grind mind you but its more controlled plus I can use a proper dungeon system to do things at my own time). :P

Plus I'm still not a fan of their total reliance on using crafting to make just about everything. GW2's crafting system fucking blows tbh. Its pretty bad when the terrible revamped WoW:WoD system is better.

[Rivellana]

In GW2, the reward system is abysmal. Anything meaningful is a grindfest, and the other things mentioned like achievements...map completions..etc don't really offer any kind of reward that players would view worth the time and effort.

Clearly some players do, or there wouldn't be anyone left playing the game. And there are still plenty of people playing. The real point here is that not every person is the same type of player. Some want a gear treadmill, some do not.

[Beefsquatch]

Clearly some players do, or there wouldn't be anyone left playing the game. And there are still plenty of people playing. The real point here is that not every person is the same type of player. Some want a gear treadmill, some do not.

Some people don't mind the asian mmo like grind that GW2 has to offer. While there are all sorts of different kinds of players that like all kinds of things, the majority of players don't like heavy grinds for minimal rewards. It's no secret that the reward system in GW2 sucks big time. So I'm not sure why you're defending it and making this about a gear treadmill, something I haven't seen anyone ask for..like ever.

[Beazy]

Some people don't mind the asian mmo like grind that GW2 has to offer. While there are all sorts of different kinds of players that like all kinds of things, the majority of players don't like heavy grinds for minimal rewards. It's no secret that the reward system in GW2 sucks big time. So I'm not sure why you're defending it and making this about a gear treadmill, something I haven't seen anyone ask for..like ever.

Its GW2 were talking about, why are you PvE`ing for rewards in the first place?

Come at the mists bro`.

[Rivellana]

Some people don't mind the asian mmo like grind that GW2 has to offer. While there are all sorts of different kinds of players that like all kinds of things, the majority of players don't like heavy grinds for minimal rewards. It's no secret that the reward system in GW2 sucks big time. So I'm not sure why you're defending it and making this about a gear treadmill, something I haven't seen anyone ask for..like ever.

.....

The OP literally stated that they want regular power upgrades in gear. They want a gear treadmill. Are we reading the same thread?

There are plenty of people who enjoy the GW2 reward system. I have a guild full of people who like PvPing for cosmetic rewards, or finishing map completion, or getting as many achievements as possible.

If it's not something you enjoy, it's not the game for you. It's pretty simple.

[Kazgrel]

It's been 3 years now and people still complain that the game isn't a wow clone.