The main difference between how the two of you experience the game is not gear or player skill.Mystry wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 9:24 pmI can talk about the experience of many players I've encountered who have quit the game shortly after reaching 40 and found that they were next to useless in ORVR/Scenarios because of the gear gap. And when you have low effectiveness because of that gear gap, you DON'T get drops in PvP because people do not die to undergeared players. Also you're straight up wrong that Ruin is good.Sulorie wrote: ↑Fri Mar 27, 2020 7:10 pm No, you can only talk about your own experience here, because people in their 30s already gather conq emblems, ruin is a quite good starter def set for tanks and Gunbad can be done with r31+ (?) as well. The first sets with wounds bonus are not far away and then you are fine.
When you don't like rvr zerging, look for smaller fights in rvr, yes those exist. Buff potions are earned by selling random green drops in rvr/sc to vendor and you even make a plus. When you want more gold, go farm like everyone else and learn a crafting profession. Blue talismans are no roadblock at all. You need no purple talismans for ~40 more stats on gear you drop soon anyway.
Those who rush to 40, instead if taking the time to learn the game in lower tiers, are those who struggle the moment they become rank 40. Well, actually they struggle all the way up to 40, because this can be seen on a daily basis.
Here's some math, and since you specifically mentioned tank gear, I'll use that:
The Ruin set for SM has the following stats:
3411 Total Armor (2781 from pieces and +630 from set bonus)
173 Total Toughness (118 from pieces and +55 from set bonus)
49 Wounds
31 Initiative
47 Strength
26 Weapon Skill
+7% Block/+2% Parry/+3 Morale Regen (Total from pieces and block set bonus)
It also has +1 to Path of Vaul, not that that matters.
Now for comparison, let's look at the end game Sovereign tank set for SM:
4260 Total Armor
40 Strength
224 Toughness
63 Initiative
37 Weapon Skill
8% Reduction in being Crit/9% Block/2 AP per Sec/1% Reduced Armor Pen
8 HP Per 4 Sec/4 Morale per Sec
For simplicity and equity's sake, I am only counting the same five pieces that Ruin has: Taen, Platecoat, Vambraces, Balancers, and Solerets. I have NOT included the jewelry, cloak or waist slots from Sovereign; the difference would be even higher with them. This also includes up to the 5 piece bonus that Sovereign would get from equipping those 5 pieces. No talismans or pots were used for this comparison.
The difference between starter sets and end game sets is just too large. A fresh 40 has no chance to even influence the fight in any way unless they are a healer and they aren't attacked by anyone, and the only reason that's the case is because heals are not mitigated by anything.
Do not mistake what I am saying: I do not think that players shouldn't get more powerful as they get better gear. What I'm saying is that there is too large of a difference between starter and end game gear. Add that on top of how your "do pvp to get green drops and vendor them" doesn't work when you have starter gear since drops don't happen if no one on the enemy team dies (and they won't if they are geared and you aren't), and you see fresh 40s struggling because they don't HAVE any means to get the ridiculously overpowered talismans and pots that are spammed by high end players. Aside from maybe mindlessly farming PvE which A. many classes are unsuited for and B. is extremely boring and C. PvE isn't even the point of the game; add all this up and you get a ton of people who just reached 40 and then quit a week later because they feel useless.
One of you two is a PuG player, the other one doesn’t play without a premade farming said PuGs, unless he solos on a DPS arch mage