That gear is only a tiny amount better than previous, with the most expensive part (A full armor set) being an only 2%~ increase in damage, whereas weapons (Still kinda pricey but still only one item compared to the 6 of armor) and trinkets (Takes mainly daily log ins) add up to around 10%. Like, you'd want the armor if you're among the 5% of the playerbase doing the very difficult raiding or high level fractals (Minidungeons), though having a good class composition or build is way more important.
Mastery is... weird, ideally it should be an overarching goal to work towards while doing other things. With the early expansion mastery abilities, it absolutely isn't. To the point where during the first quarter of my time with the new content I absolutely loathed it. Nearly all the first and second tier masteries should be baseline or with the exp required halved (or more), traversing the new maps without them is a painful chore. Later on, and with the core game masteries, it actually is that, with mainly stuff for slight travel or reward benefits.
It's... a troubled expansion to say the least though. A lot of the reason I personally play, character customization and combat/build mechanics, weren't expanded upon nearly as much as I hoped. At least without a sub fee it'll be painless to return with later updates.
I mean, the expansion is kinda only half done. So much is "in progress" -- legendary progression, raid development, even some of the backpacks that are outare really only half-possible to get.
Regarding ascended gear, you should really consider the effects of social pressure. Ascended armor has become "recommended" by developers for top tier content. It used to be an optional token bonus for opt-in grinding; hell, most of the people I play with in World vs World would opt for exotics anyway, but I do believe that the pressure is tightening to opt-in.
That's the pervasive and scary thing: the subtlety. Everything is just so slowly, slowly becoming a de facto endgame. Less and less is truly optional when every option is the same amount of investment and work.
Great post. I really loved the original Guild Wars and expansions, but had a hard time getting into GW2. While they sold the original as a casual experience, this one felt too much like an actual mmo to me. GW2 is a great game, just not the GW experience I originally fell in love with. I still occasionally boot the game up to see whats changed, hoping it will grab me.
We find ourselves kindred spirits, friend. I look for what I had in Guild Wars 2 — and bits of it is still there, lore remnants, little hints back to the old days, but it feels like someone else's story. Something was reduced for a persistent world.
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