Gear set requirements

[Stahn123]

Was the intention of this to prevent people from actually only buying pieces of gear sets that complimented their build? Because all it's really doing is destroying play styles and the ability to mix and match gear for the effects players actually want. Every known dps build that relied on the Beastlord set as part of it not only did so for dps, but also to save on tokens to buy higher level gear and potions. You've basically just slowed down all progress, forced people to buy things they don't want or need, gave them less for what they already earned in conversion, and prevented them from buying the rest of the sets they wanted because they now have to go backwards and buy pieces they never wanted in the first place. At what point did this seem like a good idea??? Were you ONLY thinking of new players starting at level 1 when this idea was pitched? Because that would make sense, but basically anyone over the level of 32 that wasn't already in sov just got screwed out of what they'd already earned. Some of the most popular sets in the game aren't even a part of the sets required to move up or down in gear, and the gear doesn't actually have listed which other sets you need to unlock them which would be confusing to new players anyway. There's just so much either left out or not thought of that makes this very very bad for many players.

Just for myself, I was currently saving my tokens for 4 pieces of Vanq, luckily I'd gotten gloves in a bag prior to patch. Wearing mostly Beastlord and a few pieces of SC armor, I was well on my way to the 4 pieces of Vanq my build needed before hitting invader. I now have 800ish tokens. To buy what I need now to purchase the same items, I will need much more than that just to UNLOCK Vanq, nevermind the fact I had some royals and enough invader medallions to buy all but the chest piece had I wanted it. Now I can't even buy a single piece of Vanq because of the locking requirements. This was badly implemented in it's current form. Many people would get all the renown they could before 40 to skip a set because it was just THAT MUCH WEAKER and a waste of time and resources. The set wasn't improved, so now it's nothing more than a waste of time still but NOW it's ALSO a money sink that nobody actually needs or wants. There's a reason we skip conq if at all possible. Popular sets like Beastlord, used by many of the dps builds in the game, even in sov in some cases, need to at least be on par with conq and thus allow access to at minimum Vanq. This would make the transition smoother for those who know how to get to 40 with 50+ renown and not punish them for it while still making the quests a decent alternative for more than just access to the pocket book and a 2-4 piece set bonus. They are contested by both sides, some are in the rvr lakes or at minimum require crossing them and thus the possibility of being flagged while in battle with the bosses, and lastly the respawns aren't exactly short. If you miss it, unless it's your day off, it could knock out the chance for another day. It's similar to Runny Eye which are about Conq equivalent, so why not include it? You said this change was so people could play the way they wanted, but then the most popular sets don't even count towards that exact mentality, I'm having a hard time reasoning that out and seeing how those possibly line up. Had you asked the player base, this wouldn't be the first time you've heard it, I can assure you. Unless posts like this get deleted constantly, I have no doubts more of them will begin to pop up over the course of the next few days as people begin to question the thinking behind them and how they got shorted due to builds using certain pieces of certain sets and not others and they are now required to buy WHOLE sets they don't want, taking up bank space they don't have, for pieces they don't actually need. Either other sets need to count, or unlocks need to happen at less than full set requirements, and those need to be listed on the gear. Mixing and matching gear has always been a thing, this change basically robs people of that unless they play 3 times longer to buy full sets JUST to use pieces so they can then grind out the NEXT set or two, etc. We don't mind the idea of it, but the implementation needs some tweeking.

[Everdin]

A little bit to much text and sometimes hard to read but I agree with him!

[Stahn123]

Gear ToK Prerequisites
We're working on a system that will tolerate different gear mixtures as prerequisite for higher gear tiers, instead of strictly requiring complete sets. These mixtures of gears need to respect the minimum required tier though.

For example, 2 pieces of annihilator mixed with 3 pieces of mercenary would still unlock conqueror/dominator.

It is important to understand why higher tier gears are locked in a way that the game requires you to unlock lower gear tiers:
- Avoids the need to save every crest for the endgame gear by requiring you to buy gear along the way as a way of gear progression
- Allows the team to have basically same rewards for same content at all levels. Instead of complicated systems with lower rewards at certain RR thresholds like we had before

This is a good start, but when do sets like Redeye and Beastlord start counting towards that as well? Was Redeye not touted as the pve equivalent to Conq? A new player who takes the pve route would be using that to enter rvr at level 40 when they made it that far finally. This is good progress, and we see what you're trying to do and we aren't trying to sabotage it, and we the players aren't even saying it's a bad idea. What we ARE saying is that there are more loopholes and errors in the implementation and we are trying to help you see, address, and close them for a smooth transition like you keep telling us you're trying to make.

Redeye, while not often used or popular, is the first pve set that a new 40 would get that didn't take a warband to obtain and thus wear it into RvR. At the least, some of it's pieces should count toward a set some place to prevent having to go back to literally level 1 and starting from there. Surely you can see how that might be an extreme turnoff to a game?

Beastlord, last I went to get it, has quests requiring you to kill 25ish players for each piece of different classes or races. This is the same as the repeatable and unrepeatable quests given in the warcamps to do the same. How is it not pvp oriented when you literally have quest givers giving out the exact same task all over the world? It needs to be included some where in the mix as a tier set, as does the armor from HV as I've heard (haven't gone to get it yet) that it also requires rvr to complete it. The question is WHERE to put them, not IF they should be there.

Thank you for listening to us, we love the game and just want to make it work as you're trying too.

[Gangan]

(...) and lastly the respawns aren't exactly short. If you miss it, unless it's your day off, it could knock out the chance for another day. (...)

From patchnotes:

PvE Lair Bosses

The respawn time for Beastlord bosses has been reduced to 15 minutes.

[Butzinjo]

Gear ToK Prerequisites...

Redeye, while not often used or popular, is the first pve set that a new 40 would get that didn't take a warband to obtain and thus wear it into RvR. At the least, some of it's pieces should count toward a set some place to prevent having to go back to literally level 1 and starting from there. Surely you can see how that might be an extreme turnoff to a game?

I "only" have Red-Eye with my DoK. Made it to RR54 with no problems, collected Vanq-meds and completely skipped Conquerer, now I probably have to buy it just to put it in the bank...

Guess what, I think the DoK will gather dust in the future.

[Stahn123]

Gear ToK Prerequisites...

Redeye, while not often used or popular, is the first pve set that a new 40 would get that didn't take a warband to obtain and thus wear it into RvR. At the least, some of it's pieces should count toward a set some place to prevent having to go back to literally level 1 and starting from there. Surely you can see how that might be an extreme turnoff to a game?

I "only" have Red-Eye with my DoK. Made it to RR54 with no problems, collected Vanq-meds and completely skipped Conquerer, now I probably have to buy it just to put it in the bank...

Guess what, I think the DoK will gather dust in the future.

Which is the exact problem with this patch and why I'm trying to get them to make certain sets at LEAST match conq, thus opening Vanq. They've touted it as a "play your way" system that is everything but. I've got multiple destro toons behind on renown simply because it was impossible to gain any in orvr for over 6 months during my play window, and SC just don't pop. So the ONLY way people can get into rvr or even have a chance at gear, is to make some of the semi pve sets match a pvp set so the journey can begin without having to literally start from scratch.

[rejndjer]

yes you can "play your way". it 's just not very profitable in terms of gear progression, devs didn't lie.

[Gravord]

Requiring linear gear progression might not be ideal solution it inself, but you need to keep in mind alternative would be even worse. Nobody would enjoy being surrounded by awfull green gear players in their scenarios and other pvp activities and its exactly what would happen on mass. Players hoarding every bit of war crest, running undergeared on purpose to "reach the end gear" a little faster.
Enforcing stable progress of next tier of gear at least secures certain decent level of gear as they progress towards sovereign.
Active pvp produces crazy good crest gains as it is, allowing to stay up to date with gear while collecting crest towards next set. It might not be perfect across all levels but adjustments are likely to happen to sort that issue.

[Rochaid29]

Requiring linear gear progression might not be ideal solution it inself, but you need to keep in mind alternative would be even worse. Nobody would enjoy being surrounded by awfull green gear players in their scenarios and other pvp activities and its exactly what would happen on mass. Players hoarding every bit of war crest, running undergeared on purpose to "reach the end gear" a little faster.
Enforcing stable progress of next tier of gear at least secures certain decent level of gear as they progress towards sovereign.
Active pvp produces crazy good crest gains as it is, allowing to stay up to date with gear while collecting crest towards next set. It might not be perfect across all levels but adjustments are likely to happen to sort that issue.

I understand where you are coming from but I'd suggest you try a melee alt mid 20s and go out in orvr. Like I mentioned before, I helped flip CW and DW since my last login. I was never AFK for more than 3 minutes once for a bio break, that's all. I did as much as I could, I was never inactive and even as melee dps I jumped in the front lines (and died plenty) After those hours flipping those 2 zones, I got awarded enough crests to afford a SINGLE weapon. Nothing else. How am I supposed to progress now? orvr does NOT give me enough crests to afford a duelist set, at this rate I wouldn't have enough until I'm in my mid or late 30s.

"Ok.. try SCs then" ... it's an alternative yes. My last SC.. Top DPS/Top Kills/2nd in flag point cap contribution. Total gains = A LOT of xp, which I liked, and 8 crests. How many SCs do I need where I can score those numbers in contribution and the win of course in order to buy a full set plus the main and offhand weapon?

At this rate right now, time used/burned does NOT equal rewards. Doesn't even come close, and I haven't even mentioned the other big issue here.. the gating on sets. Why do I need to burn hundreds of hard earned crests in t1 and early t2 pieces for characters that are WAY past the level those sets are for just to be able to advance into the next tier? It's not about not wanting to put the time (when I can) or the effort, its just that I'm putting the time/effort to buy stuff I do NOT need, its just mental.

I'd like to point out that this is still a work in progress, I'm fully aware, and changes IF they come, will not happen in a single day. But I see a lot of players out there who are totally unaffected by these changes spewing numbers out of their behinds just to contradict the plight some of us are in. This is NOT helpful.

[Gravord]

Requiring linear gear progression might not be ideal solution it inself, but you need to keep in mind alternative would be even worse. Nobody would enjoy being surrounded by awfull green gear players in their scenarios and other pvp activities and its exactly what would happen on mass. Players hoarding every bit of war crest, running undergeared on purpose to "reach the end gear" a little faster.
Enforcing stable progress of next tier of gear at least secures certain decent level of gear as they progress towards sovereign.
Active pvp produces crazy good crest gains as it is, allowing to stay up to date with gear while collecting crest towards next set. It might not be perfect across all levels but adjustments are likely to happen to sort that issue.

I understand where you are coming from but I'd suggest you try a melee alt mid 20s and go out in orvr. Like I mentioned before, I helped flip CW and DW since my last login. I was never AFK for more than 3 minutes once for a bio break, that's all. I did as much as I could, I was never inactive and even as melee dps I jumped in the front lines (and died plenty) After those hours flipping those 2 zones, I got awarded enough crests to afford a SINGLE weapon. Nothing else. How am I supposed to progress now? orvr does NOT give me enough crests to afford a duelist set, at this rate I wouldn't have enough until I'm in my mid or late 30s.

"Ok.. try SCs then" ... it's an alternative yes. My last SC.. Top DPS/Top Kills/2nd in flag point cap contribution. Total gains = A LOT of xp, which I liked, and 8 crests. How many SCs do I need where I can score those numbers in contribution and the win of course in order to buy a full set plus the main and offhand weapon?

At this rate right now, time used/burned does NOT equal rewards. Doesn't even come close.

I'd like to point out that this is still a work in progress, I'm fully aware, and changes IF they come, will not happen in a single day. But I see a lot of players out there who are totally unaffected by these changes spewing numbers out of their behinds just to contradict the plight some of us are in. This is NOT helpful.

Weapons do seem a bit pricy in general i agree. Lets hold a bit and see if their cost is being adjusted soon.