SpyderArachnid.5619

You do have to pay to access raids. Raids are only accessible in HoT and PoF. If you don't have those expansions, you can't raid.

If you need to change your stats that often that you would need this, then I agree with @Ashen.2907. Look into getting Legendary trinkets. Otherwise, salvage the buggers. You're missing out on stabilizing matrixes, which you'll need later (assuming you're running fractals of course). There are plenty of ways to get ascended trinkets with selectable stats, and they aren't hard to obtain either. Obviously if you are running fractals enough, buy mist trinkets. The Blood Ruby set is awesome as well, as those stats can be changed like armor/weapons. If you got laurels to waste, just go to a laurel vendor. I think it's like 30 or 40 laurels for one? Though the stats are limited. But yeah, just salvage the ones that don't have the stats you want. Then spend the matrixes on stat infusions or whatever. Until we get 500 Jeweler to make our own, there are plenty of places to just buy the trinkets you need with the stats you want. Otherwise, invest in Legendary trinkets if you change your stats that often.

The thing is it does affect you. It might not affect you directly, but it definitely affects you indirectly. An extreme example, GW2 player invites their friends to play GW2. They don't want to waste time leveling or getting the elite specs or waypoints. They just want to play with their level 80 friend who already has all that. So, they buy the skip stuff (80 boost, hero points, waypoints, etc). They are grouping up for world bosses, strikes, pvp, etc. You name it. You just so happen to be in those groups (not actually in their group, but doing the same content). Trying to kill that world boss and it fails? Well all those fresh new players with their boosted characters ruined that for you because they have no idea what they are doing. Strike? PvP? Heck, maybe even a fractal (not likely). Wondering why that meta failed after you tried so hard? fresh new players that boosted and bought their hero points and waypoints so they could try it out. You say it won't affect you if these people buy these things, but it does. It's not directly affecting you, no. But indirectly? It is. So next time you're doing Kuunavang and it fails yet again, wonder if there are fresh boosted new players that ruined that for you and if it would have succeeded if those players weren't there.

I have full map completion (core + expansions) and all three elite specs unlocked on my Mesmer. And I still have 464 excess hero points that I have nothing to spend on. That is almost enough excess hero points to get two more elite specs (It is only 250 hero points to max one elite spec). There are more than enough hero points in the game already. No need to add anymore. They are already repeatable for dailies as you said, so no reason to add more to fill that role. And since SotO did not add any new elite specs, there is no reason to add more hero points when you would have nothing to spend them on. Hero points were only added to the expansions because those expansions had elite specs tied to them. If a person only owns PoF, then PoF provides them the hero points to acquire the elite spec that came with that expansion. Same with HoT and EoD. SotO did not add any new elite specs, so no reason to offer hero points to fulfill their requirements.

Ah my bad. I didn't know your post was from the other thread. Thought it was from this one (that I made). 😉 This is why I dislike when they merge threads. It makes everything confusing.

I actually couldn't stand the axe thief lol. It just didn't feel good to me at all. Just felt more Ranger-y to me than Thief. Staff Warrior was neat, but felt like I was playing a Daredevil. Just didn't feel unique. Same with Rifle Mesmer. Was like I was playing a Deadeye. Sorry Thief, but everyone else has your elite specs now lol. Necro swords were... interesting. Ranger maces were clunky. Guardian dual pistol was just... no lol. Elementalist pistol was confusing. Mesmer rifle was fun. Thief axe was messy. Staff Warrior was alright. Revenant scepter was weird. Engineer was the one that I actually didn't try yet. Funny enough, I forgot all about them. I'll have to give them a go later to see what is going on with that.

Zerker gear is great for group content, as a DPS. It allows you to focus on dishing out pure damage while other professions heal/buff you. For solo content, get something with more survivability. You're basically a glass cannon in Zerker gear. Get some toughness/vitality to help you last longer. Some protection skills wouldn't hurt either, since you don't have others to rely on. When you're just free roaming/doing solo content, don't try to use a meta build that is designed for min/max group content. Run a balanced build to keep yourself protected and still able to do decent damage. Otherwise from what I read here, you just needed to run. Listen to the surroundings and pay attention to your quest steps. At that point in the story, you aren't meant to stay there and fight. You need to run and close the gate. If you ever struggle and feel like something is too much, don't get discouraged, ask for help. There is a LFG section in game for story help. As well, ask in map chat (preferably a city like LA/DR). One thing this game has going for it is a friendly helpful community. Most people are always willing to lend a hand if needed (especially to new players). Even finding a guild would help.

I'm the OP, and I already know about the WvW stuff. I've always known about it. I never said anything needed to be removed. I don't speak for everyone, I never did. I just made a post about it giving my own opinion on this. Please don't put words in my mouth and act like you know me. I just brought up this discussion to see what others felt about it, and it derailed into P2W drama and then I think it got merged with another thread.

Yeah, best to just ignore those. We got no dislike/facepalm, so they just use those instead. And people troll the forums doing nothing but those for no reason. Someone asked a question earlier if it was a random hero point or they could pick, and I just answered their question and let them know it was random. Got three "dislikes" for just trying to be helpful and answer someone's question lol. So yeah, they mean nothing. Just ignore them.

Still, the point was, that you can't buy everything with real money. You still have to do some work in game that money just won't buy. (well, unless you pay someone else to play for you...)😋

But you still have to go through the process of leveling all your crafting, since that stuff is account bound to make. So, you still have to put in some effort lol.

Not really sure honestly. Could be new players who use an 80 boost and want the elite specs right away. Then they get overwhelmed by info overload lol. Or could be for altoholics who are tired of running hero trains or farming hero points for their alts to have elite specs. So they just buy them instead.

I mean, you can't buy Ascended/Legendary armor, Ascended/Legendary accessories, rings, amulets, etc. Yeah you can buy Legendary weapons, gotta buy gold first, so not directly buying the weapons. 80 boost sure, if you want exotic celestial gear. Doesn't give you the elite specs and it auto picks your weapons and gear for you without any choice. So while there is some stuff you can just buy with real money, you can't buy everything. But I agree, that it isn't P2W. P2W means only being able to spend real money on something that would make you better/stronger than anyone else. This is definitely not it. It's pay to skip if anything. For me, it is just unsettling to see added to the gem store. Cause unlike waypoints, hero points actually require effort to earn. Wasn't a fan of the 80 boost either, but seems all games need to have those for some reason lol.

I didn't say that at all. You just mentioned how you bought hero points at the WvW vendor. I was just saying that, yeah, we already know you can do that. This topic is discussing how Anet just added them in the gem store to buy for real money and how people felt about it.

Yup. We know. This is a topic about how you can now buy them in the gem store for real money.