Legendary weapons should be a step above ascended

[Gany.1793]

I definitely have to agree with the general sentiment...stat boosts for Legendary takes them from being a cosmet/prestige element into being a necessary game item.

 

One thing I WOULD like added to the Legendary weapons is....their Legend!!! I love the Shinning Blade because we actually know the story of this weapon...well, basically, could use a touch of fillin to the Lore. In LW 4.1 we actually got a bit of possible reference for Astrilaria, perhaps being related to the Astralarium in Istan, but I for one would love to know the Legend that goes with the Legendary Weapons. Then when someone asks "What is that weapon" you can say "The Shinning Blade, mystic defender of the Salmaic Throne of Kryta, forged by the ancient Sage race!"

 

I remember from launch I was a bit annoyed that their were no stories for these weapons. I mean...its a Legendary Weapon....a weapon of Legend....and we have no legend for it? I would think the narrative department would love to create stories about these weapons...here...let me help with an idea for two of them:

 

>ASTRALARIA:

> Forged by the first GiantKing of the Jotun Empire, it was the culmination Jotun smithing and astral magics, imbued with the spirit of the Jotun peoples. Handed down from GiantKing to GiantKing, it became the symbol of the Jotun Empire. After the last rising of the Elder Dragons, when the Jotun turned their backs on Magic and swore off its use ever again, the last true GiantKing smashed Astralaria as a symbol of the end of an age of Magically superior Jotans. The shards of this ancient axe have been lost to time, as the methods of how to construct it, but the secrets of its ancient heritage lie within the remnants of Jotan stone writtings and the very stars themselves.

 

or, if you are in the mood for something a bit more whimsical

 

>MOOT:

> Long, long ago, Norn from all over Tyria gathered for a mighty Moot. Legend holds it was the largest Moot ever held, lasting 12 days and 12 nights. Tales where told of great heroism, skills were tested, ale was inhaled. On the last night of this debauched legend, the gathering had attracted the attention of GlimmerFrost, the oldest of the old Ice Craigs. Slowly it approached the moot, noted by none since all were either sleeping or drinking and dancing. With a savage roar, it burst into the center of the gathering and attacked those gathered. One particular Norn, his name if not his legend lost to the ravages of time, fueled with ale and bravado, had been telling his latest tall ta...ummm...legend, when the beast attacked. To drunk to be afraid, he instead took umbrage and picked up a chair. Breaking the chair on the back of GlimmerFrost, the norn was left with only two sticks in his hand and a now irate Ice Craig turning its attention on him. Undaunted, he looked around and his eyes fell on the large mirrored-globes used to decorate the gathering space. He swung into action, shoving the stick into the balls and tearing them from the decorations. He then turned on the Ice Craig and unleashed his mightiest blows, sparks flying as he pounded GlimmerFrost into submission.

 

Some say he killed the Ice Craig, others that he befriended it and spent the rest of the night drinking, joke and boasting together before going their separate ways in the morning. What is true? Who knows. This was long ago and true ending, like the maces of mirrored light themselves, is unable to be found.

 

 

Just a few quick ideas....and it would be easy to implement. To craft the weapons we have to buy books...why not have us put them in the Mystic Forge when done and get, in return, a book, using the new book interface, that tells the tale...perhaps even with pictures? Man, now that would be great, imho.

 

Gany

[Incurve Giidis.7829]

> @"Vulf.3098" said:

> Compared to other MMO's that take several weeks of grinding raids and relying on RNG to get the best end game stat gear makes gw2 pretty minimal in comparison. The fact I can grind RIBA, Lake doric and ls3 for about 3 days to and have a full set of Ascended gear is amazing.

 

 

It takes roughly a day to get a single trinket in bitterfrost frontier, with a default of 5 open 80 toons. Longer for the pricier ones, and if you're at 0 currency you'll need to salvage other maps' currency to even reach the UM requirement. Don't think other maps are optimal, some aren't even repeatable on alts.

Dunno about riba as i dont like farming that too much, but saying 3 days for an average player would be a good joke.

 

Considering the cost of optimally gearing your default given 5 toons in ascended will basically equal the cost of a legendary weapon, it's pretty ridiculous to hear that this game has no apparent grind compared to the bigger offenders. Especially when alongside this natural grind there is either p2w or grind for basic game features like a minimum of 9 character slots and reasonable inventory space.

 

Hell, even 2 sets if you overlap so perfectly, will be a defined grind just because the RNG and the joy of actually dropping end game gear is universally unreliable, i dare say. This may stop being a grind once you have maxed your crafts, are swimming in spirit shards, mats and whatnot. Not recognizing the initial grind is pretty amusing however. Long term players having lost touch with reality

[Gany.1793]

While it is true that with advanced characters (2 or 3 years?) the grind is nearly non existant, it has always been ArenaNet's goal to have an end to gear treadmills. To have a max stat and level which, once you get, you don't need to go higher. At least, this has always been my understanding of it. In that same spirit, Ascended vs Legendary has always been, I believe, a matter of just cosmetics and prestige.

 

I don't think this will be changing due to the fact that GW2 is largely a "casual" game. You can play for a week, then take a month off, come back and play just an hour a day and just a day or two a week, and be perfectly ok with it. In many other MMO's, it seems you play the game, get max lvl, get maxed gear, and then next year you have to do another bump of levels and gear. GW2 doesn't do this. Once you get lvl 80 and ascended....that's it. You don't have to do more. True, new stat sets come out, but even then they have made it very easy to alter your current gear to a newer stat set (even the newer trinkets can be reset), yet your older one would also work just fine for most things. You don't NEED to change your stat set.

 

As a result, GW2 is definitely an end to the EG3 (End Game Gear Grind). 80 and ascended? Done. That way you can just come one for an hour or two whenever you get some free time and still be able to enjoy playing the game without needing to go get new eq every year or so.

 

Least ways that is my view of it :)

 

Gany

[nosleepdemon.1368]

Legendary weapons already are a step above, or do you simply not mind dropping mats and gold for new sigils each time you stat swap?

[lokh.2695]

> @"nosleepdemon.1368" said:

> Legendary weapons already are a step above, or do you simply not mind dropping mats and gold for new sigils each time you stat swap?

 

Legendary weapons are currently missing that feature. While the stats can be swapped, infusions and sigils are lost if you equip new ones, unlike the legendary armor pieces or trinkets.

[sniperman.1738]

This game does not need a gear treadmill, so no we don't need legendaries being any step above ascended, as I said before to ascend is to be legendary therefore they are equal in power.

[crosknight.3041]

No

A) legendaries in gw2 have always been equivalent to the best you static stat items you could get, used to be equivalent to exotics but when ascended items came out they buffed the legendaries to be at same level

B_) legendary weapons made from lucky precursor drops CAN BE SOLD on the TP. Dont want to give those creditcard heros more validation

-yes i know credit card heros can still buy most of the mats they need, they cant buy crafting level or the rngitem/specific gifts needed though so still some effort has to go into the legendary

C) the ability to swap your stats at anytime provides a substantial advantage in some situations, with sigil swap eventually coming. Once sigil swap happens a single character can more easily fill a desirable role (example: my ele often is switched between a minstrel healer and a dps depending on the fight: still want preset builds though). Also you have most if not all stats available for legendaries

D) legendaries are primarily for cosmetics.

[Astralporing.1957]

> @"blambidy.3216" said:

> From my understanding there is a video of stat difference in ascended and legendary. Not that legendary is above but, the stats of legendary are calculated differently. I honestly forgot what made them different in stat wise.

Scaling. They work slightly different when used in sub-80 content.

At level 80 however they work exactly the same.

 

 

[Vulf.3098]

> @"virgin suicide.6038" said:

> It takes roughly a day to get a single trinket in bitterfrost frontier, with a default of 5 open 80 toons. Longer for the pricier ones, and if you're at 0 currency you'll need to salvage other maps' currency to even reach the UM requirement. Don't think other maps are optimal, some aren't even repeatable on alts.

> Dunno about riba as i dont like farming that too much, but saying 3 days for an average player would be a good joke.

>

> Considering the cost of optimally gearing your default given 5 toons in ascended will basically equal the cost of a legendary weapon, it's pretty ridiculous to hear that this game has no apparent grind compared to the bigger offenders. Especially when alongside this natural grind there is either p2w or grind for basic game features like a minimum of 9 character slots and reasonable inventory space.

>

> Hell, even 2 sets if you overlap so perfectly, will be a defined grind just because the RNG and the joy of actually dropping end game gear is universally unreliable, i dare say. This may stop being a grind once you have maxed your crafts, are swimming in spirit shards, mats and whatnot. Not recognizing the initial grind is pretty amusing however. Long term players having lost touch with reality.

 

I said I as in me. I am not an average player which is where you made the mistake of misinterpreting what I said. Other maps are most certainly worth doing aside from Draconis Mons because I just despise that place after doing Aurora. There is also the Orrian Pearl gamble and home instance nodes from friends. Riba and Lake Doric leather farm are for making raw gold. I make well over 100g a day by doing RIBA, Lake Doric, t4's/cm and even more if I clear all the raid wings that day.

 

Okay yes if you look at it in a short term vacuum then yes this game can seem like it is a grind but once you gear all those characters you are done. Compare this to WoW where the average player will never see end game gear because the best gear is locked behind Mythic Raiding it is not even close to being a grind as you think it is. To make things worse even the people that Mythic Raid in that game do not ever truly become "Fully geared" because of huge swings in RNG with item lvls and the fact that gear becomes obsolete in that game via new expansion or new raid tier. Thus where the term gear treadmill comes from.

 

A lot of that is mostly an issue with gold farming which a brand new person will have no clue about. No one said there was zero grind in this game but compared to other games Gw2 is not even remotely close to being a grind which was the point I was making.

 

 

 

 

[Astralporing.1957]

> @"Vulf.3098" said:

> Okay yes if you look at it in a short term vacuum then yes this game can seem like it is a grind but once you gear all those characters you are done.

Anet makes a point to shake the meta around to force people to change ther gear every now and then. Even if there's no gear treadmill, and even if the situation is way, way better than in those games with said treadmill, your gear is nowhere close to being safe in the long run.

 

 

[Vulf.3098]

> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> Anet makes a point to shake the meta around to force people to change ther gear every now and then. Even if there's no gear treadmill, and even if the situation is way, way better than in those games with said treadmill, your gear is nowhere close to being safe in the long run.

 

I would agree with you if you couldn't change the stats on ascended gear easily. I took a 2 year break and the amount of time it took me to stat swap the "outdated" ascended gear to meta stats was minimal.

 

Now the annoying thing they do is when they add new stat combinations you can not easily change to because the items to do so are not in game. Eg Grievous and Harriers at the start of PoF.

 

 

 

 

[sephiroth.4217]

> @"TheOrlyFactor.8341" said:

> The last thing this game needs is a gear treadmill and this is a push towards that.

 

I said the same thing when they decided to release Ascended... So no skin off my back if they make legendaries a step above, we've already crossed that line.

 

The other option is dropping ascended damage by 5% or something, no added power creep in the process.

[Miss Lana.5276]

> @"lokh.2695" said:

> > @"nosleepdemon.1368" said:

> > Legendary weapons already are a step above, or do you simply not mind dropping mats and gold for new sigils each time you stat swap?

>

> Legendary weapons are currently missing that feature. While the stats can be swapped, infusions and sigils are lost if you equip new ones, unlike the legendary armor pieces or trinkets.

 

Infusions are a matter of silver to remove. Sigils, however, are be a pain in the butt. Without considering cash>gems it's more efficient cost-wise to lose the sigil and just buy another one. Nowadays with bifrost and twilight I don't even bother changing the sigils for different builds.

[Astralporing.1957]

> @"Vulf.3098" said:

> > @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > Anet makes a point to shake the meta around to force people to change ther gear every now and then. Even if there's no gear treadmill, and even if the situation is way, way better than in those games with said treadmill, your gear is nowhere close to being safe in the long run.

>

> I would agree with you if you couldn't change the stats on ascended gear easily. I took a 2 year break and the amount of time it took me to stat swap the "outdated" ascended gear to meta stats was minimal.

>

Sure, it's not as costly as getting the new gear, but it's still not "nothing" - and even some of the veterans may consider those significant (especially if some more costly/harder to get inscriptions/insignia, runes and sigils are involved).

 

So, basically, even once you gear up all those characters, you are not really "done".

[Vulf.3098]

> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> Sure, it's not as costly as getting the new gear, but it's still not "nothing" - and even some of the veterans may consider those significant (especially if some more costly/harder to get inscriptions/insignia, runes and sigils are involved).

>

> So, basically, even once you gear up all those characters, you are not really "done".

 

You are done because they do not nerf or add new stat combo's often enough for it to matter.

 

 

[blambidy.3216]

> @"Astralporing.1957" said:

> > @"blambidy.3216" said:

> > From my understanding there is a video of stat difference in ascended and legendary. Not that legendary is above but, the stats of legendary are calculated differently. I honestly forgot what made them different in stat wise.

> Scaling. They work slightly different when used in sub-80 content.

> At level 80 however they work exactly the same.

>

>

 

Dang that sucks. But I guess it’s good cause legendary? The fact that u can switch stats is good too.

 

 

[STIHL.2489]

I have got to ask.. just for my own sanity.

 

If legendary weapons weer buffed .. say 5% better.. how many people would in fact be affected by this to the point that they would need to grind one out for this very reason.

 

I mean..in all seriousness, Open World & Dungeons. would not be affected at all, I would imagine up to Mid Level fractals would also not be affected by this either. and even then. Raids and T4 Fractals are commonly static/guild, so they would not be affected that much either.

 

So who would this really hurt? (outside the WvW players.. sorry guys.. but lets get real.. Anet hates us anyway)

[Osi.3504]

Not a good idea, having the ability to switch stats at will and not have to carry multiple armor sets should be worthwhile enough.

 

Anet just needs to stop rewarding ascended/other items with the same ability (if i'm not mistaken) and keep it legendary only so it's unique. Watering down that ability would in-effect make legendary items useless unless more tiers come out, or people solely want the skin.

[Ameepa.6793]

> @"STIHL.2489" said:

> I have got to ask.. just for my own sanity.

>

> If legendary weapons weer buffed .. say 5% better.. how many people would in fact be affected by this to the point that they would need to grind one out for this very reason.

>

> I mean..in all seriousness, Open World & Dungeons. would not be affected at all, I would imagine up to Mid Level fractals would also not be affected by this either. and even then. Raids and T4 Fractals are commonly static/guild, so they would not be affected that much either.

>

> So who would this really hurt? (outside the WvW players.. sorry guys.. but lets get real.. Anet hates us anyway)

 

Sounds like you are not very familiar how people and mechanics in MMOs work.

 

If something that improves characters statwise excist, the player will be expected and required to have that. First by other players (LFG: only full MaxTierGear!) and later by the content since the new stuff have to be balanced around the maximum gear or people will complain that it's too easy. It also makes a big difference in PvP situations like WvW.

 

So an answer to your question is that everybody who does anything group related, including WvW (you cannot just ignore them), would be seriously affected sooner or later. Only 100% soloers would be almost unaffected if not counting them being called casual scrubs more often than now.

[Llethander.3972]

~~Legendary Weapons used to be a stat level above Ascended. They dropped the stats to be even with Ascended gear at the same time they made it so we could swap the stats on the fly.~~ Considering the Legendary Weapons used to be locked to whatever stat set you chose initially and had to be transmuted to a different weapon, I think this is completely fair. You want to be able to stat swap on the fly without having to spend mats in the mystic toilet? Get a Legendary. Don't care about that? Go Ascended instead.

 

~~Edit: Either that or I'm mis-remembering the stats and it was only weapon damage that was different. Not 100% sure. Feel free to correct me.~~

 

Edit2: Ah, here we go.

 

Legendary Gear and Precursors

 

We aren’t quite ready to go into all the details here, but what I can say is you will see a specific way to build precursor items on your way to a legendary. On top of this, you’ll also see new legendary weapons and new types of legendary gear in 2013. Building your precursor will require a large amount of the new crafting material rewards listed above, 500 in crafting, and likely a combination of other items earned for completing more specific content in the game.

 

In addition, we’ll also improve the functionality of legendaries, allowing you to set their stats when out of combat to any stat combo available, so you don’t need to transmute stat changes for legendaries. Legendary gear will remain with the same tier of stats as ascended gear and will not be made more powerful than other gear, it will simply be slightly more convenient since it will no longer need transmutations to change stats.

 

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/looking-ahead-guild-wars-2-in-2013/

[Crossaber.8934]

Legendary has the same stat as exotic at launch. Exotic was the highest stat tier by that time. This is a very obvious intention for legendary gear have equal stat to the game’s highest tier below legendary tier. Which happened to be ascended tier that was introduced later and legendary was adjusted to ascended stat level.

 

Unless they are about to add another stat tier after ascended, legendary should always equal to ascended tier.

[Magnus Godrik.5841]

I feel they should stay the way the are now stat wise. Sigil's and infusions should be swappable like it is in legendary armor.

[sorudo.9054]

> @"STIHL.2489" said:

> Well this suggestion was bound to happen... and no doubt will happen again.. and again.. and again.. until Anet gives in and provides Legendary items a stat boots to placate their players.

>

> Why delay the inevitable.

>

> Do I think this would be a massive train wreck, alienate huge portions of the player base, and cause massive fiscal loss to Anet.. yes.. yes I do.. but, lets get real, this request will never stop... so.. much like anything that is going to end badly., waiting will not improve the situation.

 

if i could just buy them for 100g then sure, let's add it but as long as it only alienates the majority of the players (they already do this in raids) it's a no.

[Astralporing.1957]

> @"STIHL.2489" said:

> I have got to ask.. just for my own sanity.

>

> If legendary weapons weer buffed .. say 5% better.. how many people would in fact be affected by this to the point that they would need to grind one out for this very reason.

>

> I mean..in all seriousness, Open World & Dungeons. would not be affected at all, I would imagine up to Mid Level fractals would also not be affected by this either. and even then. Raids and T4 Fractals are commonly static/guild, so they would not be affected that much either.

>

> So who would this really hurt? (outside the WvW players.. sorry guys.. but lets get real.. Anet hates us anyway)

That's pretty much the difference between exotics and ascended - and (although many people back in 2013 were saying the very same things you're saying now), that difference ended up not so insignificant after all. I see no reason to think that legendaries would be any different.

 

 

[STIHL.2489]

> @"Ameepa.6793" said:

> > @"STIHL.2489" said:

> > I have got to ask.. just for my own sanity.

> >

> > If legendary weapons weer buffed .. say 5% better.. how many people would in fact be affected by this to the point that they would need to grind one out for this very reason.

> >

> > I mean..in all seriousness, Open World & Dungeons. would not be affected at all, I would imagine up to Mid Level fractals would also not be affected by this either. and even then. Raids and T4 Fractals are commonly static/guild, so they would not be affected that much either.

> >

> > So who would this really hurt? (outside the WvW players.. sorry guys.. but lets get real.. Anet hates us anyway)

>

> Sounds like you are not very familiar how people and mechanics in MMOs work.

>

> If something that improves characters statwise excist, the player will be expected and required to have that. First by other players (LFG: only full MaxTierGear!) and later by the content since the new stuff have to be balanced around the maximum gear or people will complain that it's too easy. It also makes a big difference in PvP situations like WvW.

>

> So an answer to your question is that everybody who does anything group related, including WvW (you cannot just ignore them), would be seriously affected sooner or later. Only 100% soloers would be almost unaffected if not counting them being called casual scrubs more often than now.

 

First off, Since the content didn't get harder, there is zero reason to expect or demand this gear, to do that content so that whole argument is moot.

 

Secondly, a game company can't design around the whimsical and in some cases unfounded demands of a small subset of their player population that demands nothing but the apex of gear or min-max stats, or meta builds. Before Players used to demand AP's or in some cases banned rangers, now they use DPS meters, and Elite Specs. truth is, a game can't be held hostage to that kind of player environment. They are not part of the design decisions, as they make up a small subset of the game, a very small subset of the game.

 

Anyone that would suddenly demand legendary gear because it has a 5% stat increase to run CoF or AC or even T2 Fractals, , is not the demographic that this game needs to be hindered by.

 

Also.. since the brand new Raids were balanced against Exotic (not Ascended), there is no reason to make new content balanced for anything above Exotics, as such, even f they did buff legendary, they have no reason balance content above Exotic. This would slowly make more 'end game' content easier for the casual group, which is what some of them say they want. So, as opposed to making content easier, Anet could just make characters stronger. Same effect, different direction.

 

To those that would complain things are too easy.. lets be real.. they would say that no matter what, and between you and me.. I kinda hope that Anet learned not to pander to them.

 

Finally, WvW. Lets be real here, the class balance in WvW is beyond broken, I have watched Scourges crush 3 people with ease, I have seen Thieves and Mesmers lead 10+ zergs on wild chases... the balance in WvW is so wonky that 5% stat variable would make absolutely zero difference. If WvW was somewhat close to balanced.. I'd be on your side.. but lets be honest, that game mode can and is being ignored.