are you ok with everything being about gear?

[Cinnamohn]

Of course. In Guild Wars, I never felt like I was all that strong or powerful. Everything was always the same and there was no way to change that. But in WoW, I can become stronger and more powerful, and I can see it on a regular basis. And if I want to change up my appearance, I can go back to previous content and acquire whatever I wish, usually without the help of 4 others.

[Mayhem]

another idea would be getting stronger through practice, the often you use one spell the harder it hits

but that would give the people with the most spare time the most powerfull characters, well you could place a cap ofcourse, it would be just another form of upgrading past the lvlcap

[dryankem]

There needs to be a carrot on the end of the stick or you would just eat the carrot and leave. For some people it's not gear; my wife's progression is achievements, mounts and pets, my guild mates progression is gold, and I've seen some people that their progression is leveling (level to cap, then start a new toon). The carrot is an award for doing something over and over and without it there would be no point in playing as you would eventually hit the end.

Personally my carrot is gear.

[fengosa]

Call me crazy but I'd rather raid with my guidies than 9 random other ppl with a higher ilvl.

[Cinnamohn]

hahahahahhaha that's all I gotta say about this quote. Skill will beat out gear every time in PVP. The reason you scream its gear is because your not as skillful as you think you are

It's a case of "Who has more (or better) PvP gear?"

[SteakAndAlePie]

I am ok with it. I would prefer it the other way, but I know thats unrealistic. It would upset an unrealistic amount of players and for Blizzard to have "done" content still be relevant is a good thing.

[Kuniku]

hahahahahhaha that's all I gotta say about this quote. Skill will beat out gear every time in PVP. The reason you scream its gear is because your not as skillful as you think you are

if you have 2 players of equal skill then gear will make a difference ;op

[pimpeddakota]

It's a case of "Who has more (or better) PvP gear?"

Really..so it doesn't matter comp vs. comp or spec vs spec. Because I'll tell you right now there are plenty of BM hunters destroying people that are in pvp gear and the hunter is in pve gear, or pve geared DK tanks killing melee, or druids kiting people to death because of their healing etc etc etc...

No it's not all about pvp gear... it's about player+class+spec+gear vs p+c+s+g.

[melodramocracy]

These games are about acquisition, no matter how it's dressed up. If not gear, then it would be some other form of property, or perhaps a limited resource.

in some alternate universe, you could have a version of this game where land was fought over instead of gear.

[Kurzior]

Let me see if I understand you correctly. Characters who put more time and effort into advancing their equipment are performing better than characters that have just reached max level and haven't put any real time or effort into that yet? And you're asking if anyone has a problem with that? Nope, not really. The bottom line is that the entire model of WoW is to advance your character through quests/dungeons/raids/pvp to get better gear and make your character stronger. If that's not something you agree with, find a different game.

Beyond that, I also don't think absolutely everything is about gear. Particularly now with challenge modes. A branch of content where gear level is largely meaningless and player skill is held to a much higher standard. Those aside though, gear still only gets you so far. I was healing in a pug MSV the other night where we spent about 2 hours progressing on Feng, first because the tanks were still learning how to handle their special abilities on the fight, and secondly because our resto shaman was burning all her mana in phase 1 and didn't have anything left for the rest of the fight. She was pretty geared (moreso than my pally or our resto druid anyway), and still didn't do as much or as consistent healing as either of us. The point is, people who only look at gear and say 'that person is geared, they must perform well' are in for a big disappointment a large portion of the time.

Gear is really only 1 thing. It is a measure of exactly how much your character CAN do in a given situation. Skill alone determines how close you can get to that maximum mark. And believe me, there are a lot of people who don't even come close, and even in super hardcore guilds, very few players actually reach 100% simply because its so easy to make even a tiny mistake and miss out on perfection.

[pimpeddakota]

if you have 2 players of equal skill then gear will make a difference ;op

Yes in a perfect world if two players are equal skill and both on the same toons spec'd the same way then gear will make a difference. Congrats on "legendary" chance.

[MrHappy]

No gear requirements = no barriers to stop people just going into the final dungeon and killing it.

No gear requirements = no incentive to hone your skills with your current gear.

No gear requirements = hemogenisation.

The only place I feel no gear would be a benefit is in PvP. The playing field needs to be more even, so the good players can actually shine. Right now its just a case of 'who's got the best gear?' Which isn't about skill at all.

Agreed but even in PVP the fact that you get to wear your skill is an incentive in it of itself. You don't get 2200 rated armor by being bad. Also OP without gear what is the point of playing the game beyond max level. Better yet if you think about it every single game out there has some sort of "gearing" built into the system allowing you to be more powerful as you play. Look @ Zelda. How much fun would it be if you got all of the special weapons/armor right of the bat and could go and kill Gannon in the first 10minutes of the game or how much fun would you have killing the 1st boss with light arrows and 12 hearts. How much fun would Metroid be if you had the best weapon all the time.

Almost every single game have an incentive/reward model that makes you feel stronge/more powerful as you play to make you want to achieve the best. Just imagine how much fun would Pokemon be if you started out with a lvl 100 charmander?

[MoanaLisa]

Progression through gear is fine. Obsessing on gear to the point where you lose sight of the main purpose of the game, having fun, is not.

[schippie]

Every MMORPG is only about gear. And before GW2 players say that GW2 isn't i am going to say that's completely untrue. GW2 is not about stats still its about getting the most shiny gear (which doesnt change the concept really).

Is everything about gear? no atleast not in wow you can do other things besides grinding and working for gear.

- Collect mounts/pets.
- Train pets.
- Complete achievements.

All can give some sort of "status symbol" besides having the most shiny armor there is.

[the operator]

Don't say for rankings, 'cause with 10,000,000 players, rankings mean nothing.

i play for gear and rankings

with 10,000,000 players i rank in the top 100 nearly every week (for warlocks)

[Ghost Note]

Besides gear, what else is there? Achievements? The desire to become more powerful and better able to kill either more players or more difficult bosses is the primary motivation for subscriptions.

[the operator]

Besides gear, what else is there?

rankings... and looking badass

[Mazaxist]

I would love to see a secondary profession that would increase gear stats. you dont HAVE to have it, but if you are hardcore you do i guess.

for example if you have +155 intellect on one item - you could level it up by adding +1 intellect per whatever quest/daily/crafting chore you gotta do. would be pretty cool i think

[zephid]

This works just as well for PvE as it does for PvP.

No it doesn't since then there wouldn't be anything stopping players from just killing the end boss immediately.

[Thelxi]

Actually no... I don't want to turn this into a game vs game, but GW2 has a gear cap where, after you reach max level and get the gear there, everything is side-grades, not upgrades.

And to be honest, I think this is what MMOs should focus on, the fun rather then advancing through gear bonuses. If a raid/dungeon/event/etc is not fun enough to keep you entertained until next raid/dungeon/event/etc comes, then... the entire game is not truly fun, and the gear grind is all that's keeping it going, which is kind of sad.

There are other ways in which you could still feel you progress at max level. Types of rankings that give you some types of bonuses similar to those from guild rank or getting different versions of abilities that aren't more powerful then original ones but have different effects as to still make the people at max level feel they're advancing somehow but yet not cripple the fresh max levelers. Or different design in gear added more and more. There's tons of stuff that could help you advance at max level without crippling people who just dinged.

That is complete BS. I have an elementalist and mesmer in full exotics and the difference in dps and survivability is enormous compared to a fresh level 80 in blues or a scaled up level whatever. GW2 has just as much of a gear progression as any other MMO, only difference is that the bis gear is just much cheaper and faster to come by.