Your thoughts on the inscription system?

Not yet really explored Elona so no real opinion thou i did c 15^50 going for 3k which bothered me

*Off-Topic* I just spent 2 1/2 hours in FoW, Not only did i never get an obby drop (the monk that jsut sat there got 6 qhile i was nuking my butt off) every single thing that dropped was non-max. Ever happen to you?

I know ANet is not going to do away with inscriptions, but I believe changes need to be made. IMO, the drop rate on them needs to be greatly reduced, i.e. more inscribable item drops without inscriptions on them. Cutting the drop rate significantly would allow them to expand inscriptions to all three campaigns. If 15^50 is as hard to find as it was before then I think everything will be fine. You would still be able to remove one and put in on another inscribably weapon, there just wouldn't be millions of them available.

I like being able to change these mods from weapon to weapon, though the chance of destroying the item is scary. However, I do not like unlocking a non-max version of an inscription and not be able to use the max version of it in PvP. That's a bummer.

You know, Naruto, your childish temper tantrum over a game amazes me. So what if inscriptions are here or not? You can NOT inscribe any weapon that's not from Nightfall. So what if you took the time to farm for FoW armour? It was entirely your choice to waste time on armour that has the same benefits as other armour. Being rich does not make you any more skilled at the game than being poor. Having Fissure armour does not make you any stronger than having Droknar's armour. Guess what? The game is not about items or money. It's about story, gameplay and PVE or PVP. It's about who you can beat and what missions you've learned the tricks to. So you're taking your little temper tantrum out on inscriptions and other people just because YOU decided to waste money? Well I guess some people need a scapegoat... Oh and if you're still not satisfied, I found a purple fiery gladius. Nice skin, every one wants one. I used an inscription to make it 15^50 and gave it a +30hp mod. Every one wanted it and was willing to pay up to 100k for it UNTIL they found out it was purple rather than gold. So yeah. Guess what little group I'm bunching you into?

Game is almost ruined for me too... For a long time, the funniest part for me has been to Chest Run to get great rare drops with 15^50, and Farm with my 55 monk. Now both is ruined. If Anet dont fix this, I'm done too.

For all you that seem to think farming uber-rares is the only fun in this game...is this really the game for you?

I have played pretty much I think, (+2600 hours, very little farming though) and I like the inscriptions. For a player like me, that plays a lot but don't make chest runs or extensive farming, it was earlier very hard to get good rare caster items. In all my time I may have gotten one or maybe two rare caster items that was on the same level as a collector item. Of course, none of them was in my prefered proffession (necro), so no drop luck for me.

Inscriptions at least increases the probability to get decent caster item to sane levels. I have always been very happy that collector and green items provide a cheap way to get good items without needing to farm for hours.

Regards,
Cloudbunny

i've been playing since the the day Prophecies came out and I love the inscription system. I can make my own perfect weapons now -- and just the way I like them - skins, mods, everything!

plus, it used to be that blue items were completely worthless -- unless they were highly salvageable, you just merched them ...
now sometimes they have good inscriptions.

GW is and will always be focused on the casual player. the inscriptions goes a long way to ensure this is true for a long time to come, and is much needed. the game is not designed to have anything over 100k.

for those who want to leave: WoW expansion is coming out soon. grind to your heart's content there. GW will be a much better place with you gone.

I've been playing for about 6 months now, and finished the first two campaigns with various characters.
So, experienced? not nearly as much as others in this thread. But I've played around in the economy, and here's what I think of inscriptions:

1. I like them in principle for several reasons: To find a junk gold req 13 15^50....now that's not merchant fodder, it's a chance at good mods for my other weps!
Similarly, a re1 9 with bad mods? Easy to fix that. I just gotta find my mods...on the market or in chests and drops.

2. I do not like the frequency of the top-end inscription drops. I know, I know, it's randomized... but I've henched into vabbi (since I play slow) and have picked up three 15^50s already...and who knows how many more my henchies and heroes have eaten up? Shouldn't, couldn't, a 15^50 be the real treasure that several posters wanted? Hard to get, hard to find?

3. I do like that the scrips are NOT across many chapters. It is exactly that fact that protects the value of factions and prophecies golds. This came up in another thread--the value of "older" golds with 15^50 inherent, not inscribed, will remain relatively high...because that desireable weapon with that modifier is RARE...so eternals, storm bows, chaos axes, and the like, I think, will stay in the value ladder that the OP (I think) suggests should exist. Those rare items from prophecies and factions will be the items in the middle.

There is no such thing as a rare item in Guild Wars.

A rare item is one that actually improves your performance in game, like a staff with +20 energy, enchantment lasts 50% longer. Now that's rare.

After a couple thousands of item in the game now I just scoff when I see the word "rare" appears before a drop, which in some cases are not even max damage. Rare indeed. Hah!

Small-Penis-over-compensator?

I find these people amusing, like the other guy who replied he farms items to "show off".

Listen people. Anet is selling a story book that is in the form of a game. You follow the story and play the missions in the order *they* specified, and at the end you get a reward. That's it. No more "role playing" or "occupational" tasks like "running" or "farming". Don't like it?

Go play WoW.

i like them, i just wish they stacked

Er, even in top-level PvP there's been a strong push away from running superior weapon runes. Dropping to 14 for the sake of that extra survivability is perfectly acceptable and doesn't noticeably reduce your effectiveness. Most of your damage is going to come from skills, anyway, not your auto-attacks.
Nope. Greens can't be inscribed, dyed or salvaged. You might want to look into collectors' weapons, though, as they're probably closer to what you're after.
No, that is an overpowered item.

...A rare item is simply one that doesn't drop very often.

Personally I don't like the inscription system. Trading with Elonan items is dull.

But on the other hand now that most popular farming methods are dead and casual gamers might not be able to get money so easily and fast, it's friendly to have cheap items as well.

Weapons crafters and collectors, cheap easy max, low req, and 15^50 pre-nightfall. millions already out there.

I don't want to start a flame here, but I couldn't help but notice this. If you look at my join date, I seem like your average noob as well. I'm coming up on my 1 year anniversary this Wintersday event. Now of course that's not as long as a lot of people, but I know my way around Ascalon. =p Basically I'm saying you can't judge a person's experience by their length of membership on a forum

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Back on topic. I personally enjoy the inscription system. I believe it allows everyone, not just one side of the economy, to have easier access to that item they've always wanted. I also agree with the fact that it is Elonian only. I believe that this also helps with keeping the prices of the first two chapters intact. I wouldn't mind seeing this continue over into the new games as they are released as well.

From a sales standpoint Inscriptions are a great implementation to make things more newbie friendly and make the game boring over time, heres why:

-us old farts will still buy new chapters regarless cause we do for some strange reasons.

-Anet makes things easier for newer players eg inscriptions, who then tell their friends how great the game is and how newbie friendly it is getting their friends to buy and play together.

-Over time, everyone gets bored and either put the game down and reduce server load or PvP and waits for the next chapter (thats what Jeff believes) since Anet dont earn a single cent after we paid for the game.

-over time newbies that dont leave become old farts themselves and the cycle continues.

So the real question should be: What is Anet gonna do next that will change the game to appeal to new players that will likely be unpopular with the current player base?

Then you will have to ask yourself: Will i be part of this?

Well i am still playing so theres my answer for myself.

I personally like this new system. I wasn't so sure about it at first, but then I found out about a few key things.

1) There are still collectors and crafters that will make max damage weapons with an innate mod rather than an open Inscription Slot. This is really needed for new players that want/need a specific mod but can't pay the astronomical prices that a lot of traders ask.

2) Now if I find a weapon with a max Inscription, I don't have to worry if the weapon itself is max damage. I can at least salvage off the mod and get some money that way, or put that mod on a much nicer weapon (that has an inscription slot).

3) With a lucky drop and some careful planing, you could get a very nice inscription and keep it through the whole game. Imagine never having to worry about not being able to find the right weapon mod because you just transfer your old one over.

I like Insignias for a similar reason. When Nightfall went live, I had to seriously alter my main character's build. Because of this, his armor (or more specifically, the innate on his armor) became useless to me and I had to get a more useful armor. It's 15k Canthan armor, and it took me quite a while to be able to afford even that. I couldn't just go back and craft a whole NEW set, that'd be way to expensive. But, if my armor had Insignia slots instead, I could have just bought the proper ones and BAM new armor. This is MUCH better than the old system. Now if only I could find some male Ranger armor that I like, I'd be all over this insignia stuff

I always wanted to have a perfect purple weapon and I think I can make one now. Other than that I didn't give inscriptions much thought yet so I'll further stay out of the discussion at this point.

I like the incription system on Elonian weapons and think its a good idea but incriptions should never apply to Tyria/Cantha weapons mainly due to GW losing more long time players.