Curse

Fawxy Lawxy · Jun 01, 2011, 05:37 AM // 05:37

Mfw this thread should have been made in 2006.

Plutoman · Jun 01, 2011, 05:39 AM // 05:39

Gotta say I agree with him.

Essentially, his point is that max gear is pretty easy. Not just pretty easy, but really easy. And that's WITHOUT inscriptions. Essentially, collector's items, green weapons, they are all worthless. You merch them along with the rest. Who goes out to visit a collector? Absolutely no one.

I do remember the feeling of seeing a good gold weapon drop and thinking, heck yes! There's no reward in the drop system anymore. There's only a few wanted skins because ANet had to cut the drop rate to small decimals of a percent to keep the pricing high. I see a gold drop, and I think, another for the wisdom title. I'm pretty anti-grind, but there's a lot of ways to get max weapons without a grind, and I'd love to see the drop system actually bring rewards as you're playing.

My idea would be to have an inscription trader (mentioned above, I believe?), and make collector's items all inscribable. Including tormented, and etc. However, then I would want to have all the gold dropped weapons be uninscribable. It's still a piece of cake to get perfect weapons, and to have them the way you want, but then gold weapons that are good would actually feel like it.

Swingline · Jun 01, 2011, 05:46 AM // 05:46

For once I actually somewhat agree with you bright but whats done is done. I would actually like inscriptions if Anet didn't release all the desirable skins with inscription slots. That's what really killed this aspect of the game.

As for using heroes as an excuse to justify inscriptions, its all a load of bs. If inscriptions didn't exist then you could just craft the weapon for 5k and spend another 5k to mod it or use a green item.

There is another thing that suffered heavily because of inscriptions. The green Item was once the coolest weapon out there besides a 100% perfect oldschool gold. Now the best ones are used on heroes and the less popular ones are merch food unless they have a completely unique skin to them.

I really hope Anet sees the mistake they made by making inconsistencies between Prophecies/factions and NF/EotN. Im also pretty sure Anet was smoking crack during the creation of NF.

ruk1a · Jun 01, 2011, 05:54 AM // 05:54

Quote:

Originally Posted by aspi

Meh I totaly agree with Bright, weapons should be unique and you should use what you find/buy.
The no player left behind thing is old, when you want something go work for it.

I do that....... at work.

Elnino · Jun 01, 2011, 06:13 AM // 06:13

The inscriptions partially filled a hole in guild wars that needed to be filled at the start. Anet's philosophy is that every player should have access to every possible modifier in the game (this makes things balanced you know) and that the price of any item should only be dependent on the rarity of its skin, not it's modifier.

I do however believe that it was very lazy of Anet to kill the value of certain weapon skins by adding it to Nightfall and Eotn. If they had just added completely new skins, the market for all tyrian and canthan skins would still exist today.

I also believe that Anet needs to fill in the gaps that are missing within some of the weapons in this game. Everyone should have a choice of what skin they'd like and currently, that freedom is not present for wands and staves.

urania · Jun 01, 2011, 07:47 AM // 07:47

inscriptions, next to pvp-only max level character creation option, are one of the best things about GW.

if you think differently you shouldnt be playing a pvp game to start with.
go play lotro or wow and farm them raids with special OP loot round the clock, if thats more your cup of tea.

Bright Star Shine · Jun 01, 2011, 09:45 AM // 09:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Horus Moonlight

???

If aesthetics (and not functionality) comprised the market, there would be no rare mods; any mod that could be found should have a corresponding collector/green/weaponsmith.

I agree with you about the blues and purples. However, this can be fixed within the inscription system. Just make it so that perfect inscriptions cannot be placed on blues and purples.

You misinterpreted that post of mine. I meant that Anet should have added the few combinations that were left out at the collectors/greens/weaponsmiths to the collectors/weaponsmiths/green items that came in NF and EotN instead of just adding the inscriptions. There are already very few combo's left out, so it wouldn't have been that much of a hassle, but they choose the lazy/let's give every player a /youwin button like always way out.

Lord Natural · Jun 01, 2011, 02:55 PM // 14:55

While it has taken something away from the mystique of seeing something good drop, it was good for the game. The reality is it lets casual players have some fun with decent looking weapons, while the hardcore players will have the resources to do what they want regardless. Casual players who don't have hundreds or thousands of hours to devote to the game shouldn't have to be stuck with Droknar's weapon-smith weapons. Let them have some fun too.

Brian the Gladiator · Jun 01, 2011, 03:10 PM // 15:10

I'm still trying to find 40/40 caster sets.... and I don't give a damn what they look like. That's the problem with the market. People assume they are so easy to get that they just merch them emediately. If they were worth something, I might be able to find one for sale.

low demand dictates low supply and with no way of finding the obscure salesman for my obscure want/need, I am forced to go without.

P.S. if anybody reads this I need a 40/40 inspiration set, 20/+60hp resto staff, 40/40 air set, 40/20/enchant air staff, 40/40 water set, 40/20/enchant water staff, etc - the list goes on and on for just about every weapon type except fire magic and domination magic.

Tom Swift · Jun 01, 2011, 03:22 PM // 15:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brian the Gladiator

I'm still trying to find 40/40 caster sets.... and I don't give a damn what they look like.

If you don't care what they look like then you might consider crafting them from Leviathon pits or vasburg armory in factions for 5k plus mats - much cheaper than from players.

Certainly the air and water 40/40 sets can be bought there. For inspiration set you can get the focus there but not the wand - however the droknar's insp scepter has the stats you want and drok keys are not terribly pricey to buy.

This really is one of the major reasons the demand is low - unless it has a great skin or is a forget me not ins that can be transferred to a desired skin, the 40/40 functionality is available for about 12k for a set. So for function's sake alone they just aren't worth all that much.

Bright Star Shine · Jun 01, 2011, 07:00 PM // 19:00

The post about 40/40 sets brought something to my mind though.

I have to admit that the biggest flaw the non-inscribable weapons have is that 20/20 versions or any half decent versions for that matter of wands and foci are near impossible to find. But there are tons of collectors out there who give 20/20 wands and foci, same goes for weaponsmiths. But changing the droprates of those from 10^-100000 to something like 10^-1000 wouldn't have hurt that much I guess, and I would certainly encourage it.. (these numbers are completely made up of course..)

Also another flaw is the singlemod shields. Although it would take away a lot of the rarity of decent shields, it's still a flaw to have only 1 mod. But this one doesn't really bother me.

qazwersder · Jun 02, 2011, 10:39 AM // 10:39

I agree with bright star shine. As he said pretty much all combo's of stats were already available, there just wasnt that much reason for it.

I'm quite glad they never changed prophecies and factions drops to incribable (apart from deep/urgoz end chests), it leaves some valuable (and rare) weapons able to be dropped. Shame they added some skins from those campaigns in others as inscibable.

This comes from a guy who uses collectors, greens and weaponsmiths. I have no weapons of any significant value.

LifeInfusion · Jun 03, 2011, 07:07 PM // 19:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowerpoke

Usability is better than greed.

This.

Adam Smith's invisible hand idea is always at work. Even if there were no inscriptions things that are sufficiently rare will be expensive.

My only problem with inscriptions is that you can put max mods on non-max blue crap that isn't even rare and have an unconditionally better weapon than people that don't customize. That's a problem with people being dumb, not inscriptions.

Arato · Jun 03, 2011, 07:36 PM // 19:36

It's just as easy to get cheap perfect armor, why should weapons be restricted so that only the rich can acquire perfect weapons?

I love inscriptions, hell I love that Anet changed the way armor works, making headpieces universal dependant on what rune you put on it, and making insignias, so that you didn't pick your armor by stats, but by how you wanted to look.

Because let's face it, it really SUCKS in a lot of other games where you choose the stuff with the highest stats and end up looking terrible because of missmatched gear that all looks terrible, but it has the best stats! Weapons same way. I hate having to run around with a lame looking weapon, but it happens to be the best weapon to use stats wise. I play Lord of the Rings Online, and my first age legendary weapon looks like garbage, can't customize the look at all, but hey, it's the best weapon I can acquire.

But here's the fact, Guild Wars has been about vanity from the very beginning. Even before inscriptions, people had perfect collector weapons that looked like garbage, and farmed and farmed and paid loads a money for that perfect Chaos Axe or Storm Bow, just because they looked cool. Hell before inscriptions, the gold, purple, blue thing meant NOTHING. You could find random drop blues with maxed mods, which isn't the case anymore.

People are generally happy with getting "perfect" gear easily and paying extra for vanity (and in some cases, rarerity, there are some skins that don't look too great in most people's eyes, but since they're rare, bling bling)

Besides, doesn't it make your day when you see that low q rare weapon drop out of the chest in a dungeon? I know it made my day when I had an Emerald Blade drop (q10), back then they were pretty pricey, but because I liked the look so much (and knew it was valuable, didn't know the price would go down so much.. otherwise maybe I'd have changed my mind) I kept it

Going to Spamadan, I still see people selling rare weapon skins, or weapon skins that can be dedicated in the HoM, and they go for pretty good prices, over 100K worth of ectos usually. The market is there. Apparently the OP just isn't looking hard enough, or thinks that his "perfect" weapons of undesireable skins should be worth more.

MithranArkanere · Jun 03, 2011, 08:30 PM // 20:30

Quote:

Originally Posted by slowerpoke

Usability is better than greed.

Hey, look at that. Thread ended just by the second post.

The outmoded system with fixed variable properties existed to compensate the lack of variety in skins. It was an 'artificial rarity'.

Have you ever compared the number of sword skins there was when Prophecies was released with the number of sword skins that Nightfall added? Well, now there are daggers, spears, scythes, staves for another 4 attributes for the ritualists, staves for primary attributes that didn't have staves, plus shields with attributes for paragons.

When in the area you are playing there are just 3 different skin drops for 5..7 different weapons, of course all skins drops look the same.
When you get to the merchant to sell the stuff you picked, you'll be selling ascalon long bows, long swords and shinning mauls all the time.

But when you can get more than 10 different skins for more than 11 different kinds of weapons, you no longer need artificial rarity to prevent you from getting the same weapon all the time, when you get to the merchant, most of the merchant fodder will be several different skins, and on top of that, your many, many heroes could use some of those things.

Anyone expecting all players to waste time to equip over 30 heroes in 10 characters with greens, collector weapons or outmoded drops is plain... well... you know. I'd rather get some usable drops to give them on my way to the End Credits, without detours.

And remember that inscriptions and other upgrades don't have a trader and are not laying around in big piles, maxed variable upgrades still drop only from rares, and unless you solo farm, you won't get enough of those to say otherwise.

Bright Star Shine · Jun 03, 2011, 11:24 PM // 23:24

This post made me very confused.. I don't think you got my point. Or anyones for that matter..

Quote:

Originally Posted by Arato

It's just as easy to get cheap perfect armor, why should weapons be restricted so that only the rich can acquire perfect weapons?

Euhm, anyone can get perfect weapons. Hello greens/collector/weaponsmiths. No inscriptions never stopped this.

Quote:

But here's the fact, Guild Wars has been about vanity from the very beginning. Even before inscriptions, people had perfect collector weapons that looked like garbage, and farmed and farmed and paid loads a money for that perfect Chaos Axe or Storm Bow, just because they looked cool.

You do realize that this game was built on the idea that people would have easy access to perfect gear, but if they wanted pretty gear, they had to pay for it. Like you know, exactly how you described it.

Quote:

Hell before inscriptions, the gold, purple, blue thing meant NOTHING. You could find random drop blues with maxed mods, which isn't the case anymore.

This just doesn't make sense.. It's the other way around, NOW you can find blue gear and make it perfect, as to you couldn't do it before. You know, that thing that is flawed?

Quote:

People are generally happy with getting "perfect" gear easily and paying extra for vanity (and in some cases, rarerity, there are some skins that don't look too great in most people's eyes, but since they're rare, bling bling)

Again, you're agreeing with me..

Quote:

Besides, doesn't it make your day when you see that low q rare weapon drop out of the chest in a dungeon? I know it made my day when I had an Emerald Blade drop (q10), back then they were pretty pricey, but because I liked the look so much (and knew it was valuable, didn't know the price would go down so much.. otherwise maybe I'd have changed my mind) I kept it

I'm not talking about rare skins, there can be rare skins, I don't care, it's the inscriptions that bother me..

Quote:

Going to Spamadan, I still see people selling rare weapon skins, or weapon skins that can be dedicated in the HoM, and they go for pretty good prices, over 100K worth of ectos usually. The market is there. Apparently the OP just isn't looking hard enough, or thinks that his "perfect" weapons of undesireable skins should be worth more.

I don't want to make money, I have plenty, but a new player just starting off, struggling to maintain 20k in his storage would be incredibly happy with a nice drop that can set him up let's say 30k. But now he's only gonna get 300g for his q9 sword, because who cares, everyone can have perfect gear now. If anything and everything can be made perfect, you lose the purpose of having the weapons, and they all become worthless. You know, that thing that happened to the game in '06?

agrios · Jun 04, 2011, 12:50 AM // 00:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Outerworld

It would have been better if the inscription system had been introduced at the very start of GW imo.

QFT

Inscriptions should be in it from day-1.

melissa b · Jun 04, 2011, 01:05 AM // 01:05

I don't see the point to people making a qq thread about a functionally superior form of weapon customization. "Worst thing" - trying to make your qq thread dramatic?

Customer goes into restaurant...
I want number 1
Cashier...
Do you want to change any of the preselected condiments in your order
Customer
WTF? Why do I get to pick my condiments, that hurts my head, just go back to the old way where we just accepted whatever the f was tossed on the burger.
Cashier
???

Inscriptionable weapons have superior function customization...what's the drawback?

byteme! · Jun 04, 2011, 02:50 AM // 02:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by melissa b

I don't see the point to people making a qq thread about a functionally superior form of weapon customization. "Worst thing" - trying to make your qq thread dramatic?

Customer goes into restaurant...
I want number 1
Cashier...
Do you want to change any of the preselected condiments in your order
Customer
WTF? Why do I get to pick my condiments, that hurts my head, just go back to the old way where we just accepted whatever the f was tossed on the burger.
Cashier
???

Inscriptionable weapons have superior function customization...what's the drawback?

Read between the lines. Every argument and debate about this subject comes down to $$$. Case in point.

Quote:

I don't want to make money, I have plenty, but a new player just starting off, struggling to maintain 20k in his storage would be incredibly happy with a nice drop that can set him up let's say 30k. But now he's only gonna get 300g for his q9 sword, because who cares, everyone can have perfect gear now. If anything and everything can be made perfect, you lose the purpose of having the weapons, and they all become worthless. You know, that thing that happened to the game in '06?

That's just a small sample of an individual who's thinking about others. (newbies) Why he/she is remotely concerned about a third party and their profit margins whom he/she will never hear from is an enigma and sounds a little sketchy.

jimbo32 · Jun 04, 2011, 03:16 AM // 03:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by byteme!

Read between the lines. Every argument and debate about this subject comes down to $$$. Case in point.

It's not about $$$ for everyone. I'm one of those who prefers oldschool weapons, and it's not about money. For me at least, there's a thrill when I get a really good non-insc drop. It doesn't happen very often, but when it does, it feels great.

I realize that not everyone cares about what weapon skins they use, and that's fine. That's what collectors and crafters are for. But those of us who enjoy hunting for rare non-insc weapon drops are pretty much limited to Factions since the release of NF. Unisc still drop in Proph obviously, but those are mostly core skins which are all available with inscription slots elsewhere. They're also (imo) mostly kinda ugly.

The Halloween quest "Commandeering a Mortal Vessel" created a bit of a stir with weapon collectors due to EotN-only weapons dropping without inscription slots. The people that spent time farming there didn't all have dollar signs in their eyes.

Anyway, I agree with Bright - the inscription system as it's implemented wasn't ANet's best idea. However, I do think that uninscribable stuff with two mods (ie: shields, wands, offhands) should *always* drop with two mods. Or at least have a much higher chance of doing so. They're much harder to find with good mods than (say) a 15^50 sword or axe.