Know why I hate playing Proph & Factions?

Recently I was out doing some missions to clear some logs and after going back into town to sell I was once again reminded as to why I dislike Prophecies and Factions.....weapons/items without inscription slots.

I like being able to customize my weapons and when inscriptions were introduced, customizing became a lot more enjoyable.

Prophecies and Factions don't allow this and thus I find my enjoyment of these chapters less then in Nightfall or EotN. It's a shame there isn't an Inscription-smith who would add an Inscription slot to an item for a fee.

if you played the game before nightfall, you should be used to this...

Though you're not wrong, I see the opposite as you. I feel it's a million times more enjoyable to chest run (in my opinion) non-inscr. items because those items are truly rare. When you get an R9 with perfect mods it makes you want to run 200 more chests that day. The same is not true with EOTN and Nightfall chests.

In my opinion, nightfall and EOTN killed the "rare" find.

I dunno. In a way, I liked it. When you finally got a weapon worth using, it felt pretty good (mostly because you knew it'd sell well, if it had a decent skin). NF/GWEN, get any old drop and customize it to your needs. Feh.

Once I had weapons that I liked on all my characters, and I equipped all of my heroes, I quit caring about this. It quickly becomes quite meaningless.

Whether it's "perfect" or not, it's all merchant food. (I salvage an odd weapon upgrade or two, but I have so many, with no personal need for them, and they are such a chore to sell, it's not really worth the effort most of the time...)

So I enjoy Prophecies and Factions more because I don't worry about the quality of the drops. I get to play the game for the sake of the game. And for that, I think Prophecies is the most fun.

I'm in between on this one. On one hand I can now have all my ideal gear for all my characters and heroes; however, finding that perfect drop no longer has the magic it did before inscriptions.

I prefer inscription slot-less weapons. Less for me to salvage and take up storage. Finding a perfect weapon w/o an inscription feels great anyway c:

Heh been here since beta and while I may be used to it, I don't like it Just finding that I spend far less time in these two campaigns due to this.

Half the excitement of getting a max gold drop in Proph/Factions came when you ID'd it and found out what bonus it had on it. Inscription slots killed that part of the fun!

Inscribable weapons are good for Physicals, but to have to shell out 20k+ for a max Forget Me Not inscription for my Monk or Necro? Please...

wow I've yet to see anyone charging 20k for a forget me not. They can't be that rare? Yeah that's crazy to have to spend way more for that.

On a related note I've noticed that inscriptions haven't impacted totem axes all that much, they still sell for 4-5k. Perhaps because making your own costs about that and the time spent to find a +20% enchant mod.

Being used to it doesn't mean like it.

And as for me, I also dislike not being able to choose your own inscriptions but I main a Para so Proph and Factions drops are worthless to me anyway :P

non insc = insta fail merch junk

considering there are one hundred and one ways to get custom-modded r9 weapons in NF and EOTN (and z-chest), I like the higher stakes situation in Proph and Factions. When I got that gold r9 15^50 Zod sword farming the beginning of Urgoz before it got nerfed, that was such an awesome moment. Much more awesome than merching max gold r9 Greater Sage Blades from raptor farming because they are completely worthless due to saturation.

Imaginos: 20% Forget me nots do indeed go for about 20k, and yes they really are that rare. I've sold a couple for that, and seen others offering that much when I wasn't selling.

The inscription system is good:
- It softens price spikes. The main price of a weapon comes from its base, not from its variable properties, and the variable properties just come as a bonus. Instead prices of merchant value...100K+ne we get prices more like 5k..100k. which is good.
- It is more versatile, and lets you change more and try more things. You won't stick to and item, you can use a perfect kit, savage a mod, try another, and go back whenever you want.
- It's the PvP system, so it's more balanced and fair for PvP. The old system creates quite a lot of vey weird drops PvP-only players characters can access only by trading with PvE players. I'm not against trading, but every single property combination should be available to PvP players. We are closer to that thanks to the menagerie. Now it's the turn for item combinations not available to PvP-only characters.

3 days before the release of Nightfall, I was talking with a member of the alliance I was in back there about how they should replace in equipment all variable properties that cannot be changed with upgrades that modify that property, because that way quite some storage would be saved, since you would only need one piece of equipment and be able to change it later with upgrades.
He replied that if they ever did so, he would no longer be able to sell item for more han 100k and he would leave the the game.
There are inscibed weapons that are sold for more than 100k, and he didn't left the game, although he never spoke to me again, as if it was my fault my wish becoming partially real. And as a bonus, we now can have cool necromancer armor without uncool extra damage from holy.
But there was something left.
Guild Wars proverbial lack of retroactivity.
That's one of the few things I hate in GW: the huge lack of retroactivity.
New skills for foreign professions in nightfall, but no skills for foreign professions in Factions or Prophecies.
Weapons for foreign skills in Nightfall, but no weapons for foreign professions in Factions or Prophecies (with a few exceptions added much later)
Retroactive changes are always good, bcause they will save the disppointment to players that play the cpaigns in 'inverse order'.
Imagine the 'fun' that will have a player that favors a dervish when going to other campaigns... no new skills... just a single new scythes only at the very end of the game, no new armors...
Yeah, there's the plot, but an Nightfall Elementalist may enjoy the plot while yielding a new staff, wearing a pyromancer armor and casting meteor showers. While the dervish will have to go back to Nightfall to get any new armor, skills or weapons, if he didn't have them all already.
I hope they don't forget Retroactivity with GW2, because lack or retroactivity is almost alwas very dispapointing.


Although I do like playing in Prophecies and Factions, the only equipment drops I like are armors, because they have runes, "Higly Salvageable" ones, because I can get more materials from them, and rares, because they may contain maxed mods.

All the other just went down the flush. I don't care if a I get a 15%^50, it's as disappointing as a 10^50%. It will go to the merchant, because if in the future I want to change it, I will not be able to. And I do change them a lot!
My main weapon is usually a 15%^50, but if I get a skin I like more, I use the old skin for something else, and fully mod the new skin. And I cannot do that if it is not inscribed.
I don't want a weapon so I can spam hours in Kamadan or to create a post in some forum to sell it, neither to show off . If I get a weapon, I want to use it, and change it accordingly to what I want.
I can do so with my armors, so keeping the old system is as good as going back to the old armor system.

I see more fun being able to change my stuff that having fixed things I cannot mod. When it comes to Prophecies, all items that drop there drop somewhere else so it's not very important, but when it comes to Factions, there are items like the Jitte that are IMPOSSIBLE to get inscribed without relying on Zaishen or Elite area chests.

At least bosses and chests should have a chance to drop inscribed items.

This things must be dne with drops worldwide:
- Add a weapon upgrade trader.
- Add the 'missing' upgrades so any drop and unique item can be replicated with upgrades and insignia. There are many non-replicable combinations that are unfair for PvP characters. Like they added the menagerie so PvP characters can get evolutions, they must add more mods so PvP characters can get all combinations.
- Improve customization for caster weapons and add customized features for offhand equipment.
- Upgrade all weapon and off-hand to the inscription system, at least for bosses and chests.

Personally I wish they would take all the inscriptions out and players have to go back to playing the way it was in the beginning. Nothing screwed up the game more than open inscriptions and that zashien chest droppings. Nobody has to work for nothing anymore in this game it's handed to you like candy. But, I have since been calling this game Candyland so I guess it truely fits now.

I found a gold R9 White Reaver the other week and was so excited, I love that skin and it was R9! I Id it and it has 14^While Hexed. Needless to say, Proph crushed my dreams once again .

But yeah, I liked it when IDing an item was exciting. Inscriptions killed a fair bit of the fun for me with the whole 'every weapon is the same' idea going on.

Without inscriptions i'd never be able to fork out the 1923189238 ecto that I would need to equip my PvE chars for PvP.

That alone = inscriptions ftw

Ability to get 15/-1 health degen weapons (WTB one!), dual modded offhands/shields, armor vs foes, shields with non-att +1/20%, some actually usefull two-att staves > generic inscription stuff.

But ability to toy with mods on inscribable items is, of course, awesome.

In the end, i would like half of drops to be uninscripable and half inscripable in all campaigns.

In the end i think it's fine.

We got the weird/unique stuff from proph and factions. If we need cheap items with good stats we can get it from NF.

Sure as hell beats getting an eternal blade/obby edge and then realising it's uninscribable +19 while hexed crap.

Thanks for the info, I'll keep an eye out for perfect forget me nots from now on.

While I do understand the thrill of getting a very rare drop, I usually don't get them so really enjoy the ability to tweak my items to what I want to use.

I think greater sage blades are so saturated not because they drop from everything but because the broodmother is farmed 24/7 by everyone and their sister. If the broodmother was still an easy farm and dropped ectos you'd see their price bottom out too due to how amazingly farmable broodmother is.

I wish, like many others here that all the campaigns would drop inscribable weapons/items, or that you could go to a smith to have them add in the slot.

On another note, has anyone noticed the amazing lack of gold spear drops and scythes aren't that common gold-wise either. I seem to get a ton of bows and swords/axes and quite a few staves/wands, but almost never a spear or scythe that's purple or gold only some crap blues now and then.

.... And this thread is still open? Come on, I've seen more interesting threads than this being closed in no time flat.

Do not tempt the cats.....

I like inscription slots way more. I even get bugged drops in Prophecies, like an nowhere near perfect elementalist wand of trollslaying that halves casting time of domination magic skills!? what the hell is that!? will check later but it's really messed up.

I like the inscription systems, less wastage of good items.

I don't want to warm like a chore for ages just to get a weapon I want, for everything else, there is the Z-Chest.

My major gripe is the inconsistency.

Prophecies and Factions do NOT have inscriptions
Nightfall and EOTN do have inscriptions
+ the Zaishen Chest has all the items with inscription slots


I would prefer inscriptions for all chapters. Or none at all. Personally, I prefer inscriptions. Though it is true that part of the fun of Prophecies identification was waiting for "15^50". But this also has a negative side, tons of 14% vs hexed crap on nice skins.

IMO making the SKIN rare is way to go, not the inscription.



But I think the system is something they have to consider thinking about a lot for GW2.

Because besides +5 Energy and 15^50, the other inscriptions are really unwanted. It is also a question how many inscriptions do we want, we might end up with more than a whole pack of +x while enchanted, +x vs X, blabla weapons. I already have enough shields in STR and TAC to carry around, ask my Rangers who store the shields under their bow slots. :>

I liken it to a 57 chevy. There was a time "Prophecies & Factions" when 57 chevys were rare. Only a few people had one. They waxed them up (added the mods that were allowed) and then paraded them around from mission to mission in all their fine glory to roll over mobs and monsters. Then one day some evil wizard (Anet) in all its stupidity decided to put a 57 chevy factory (inscribeable anything) in the game when they released Nightfall. Now everyone and their mothers brother are running around with 57 chevys and the value of the REAL 57 chevy dropped like a hot potato or is that potatoe? Then to add insult to injury beyond the factory they put in a lottery for 57 chevys as well. Save up your zkeys and head on over to the zashien (chest) lottery and try your luck for just about ANY fashionable vehichle you ever dreamed of owning. From a Red Corvette to a Roadster, Coupe Deville, Lincoln, Mazaradi, Ferrari an on an on. Just put yer lil key in and wait for the freebie. Don't worry carebear candyland children they'll put Torment and Destroyer items somewhere real soon easy to get as well and you'll never have to work for anything in the game as it will be given to you for being good lil boys & girls. Have a sucker now.

Do you really think Guild Wars is a game where you can differentiate and elevate yourself with PRETTY GEAR? :>

Non insc weapons are not optimal and therefore bad. Anyone saying otherwise is bad too.

Inscription slots made the game better imo.
Instead of forking over 100k for that perfect weapon you can just upgrade them with inscriptions.
Plus it makes weapons more versatile.
In short, I like inscriptions quite a bit

Hmm yeah I can agree with you that it can be annoying.

I mean I've gotten a few weapons that were inscribed with some weird inscription, but when given that 15^50 they were perfectly good and with a skin I liked. So it's made life easier definitely.

But on the other hand as Belladona said, I think it wouldn't be good if all non-ins were removed from the game as it would kill that 'rare' aspect and excitement. Don't have much more to say on that point because Belladona pretty much said it.

I'm for separating form and function (with the exception of the FDS, IDS, VDS, Fiery Gladius, and staves, of course), as has been always done in GW to some extent IIRC. It's pretty good now, but I'd prefer it if only weapon skins, not their mods, were rare. This is one of the complaints I use to shut up my friend who wants me to play WoW - I don't want to be stuck using something hideous just because it's got the mods I need.

I recently went back to the beginning of Factions with a new character, and it's been really pissing me off every time I get a "highly salvageable" mod on a longbow or something. I don't use wood, I can't sell wood, WHY ON EARTH WOULD I WANT TO SALVAGE WOOD?! With my baby Para in NF, I can just salvage the "MfM" inscription off and save it for something useful, like trying to get a gem off a pair of Jeweled Daggers that my Derv picks up in Vabbi. But my baby Ranger is stuck pawning off the stupid thing because it's nigh-useless.

I started GW in 2007; bought Factions first and loved it. I got the game maybe a week after they decided to back-integrate insignias into Proph and Factions (yay). So what's always confused me is why they revamped the old armor system in favor of insignias but didn't do the same for weapons and inscriptions.

I also wish we had a weapon mod and inscription trader, but that's another story.

I think zchest making factions and prophecies items insc kinda killed it. Plus redoing same skins in eotn s well. And urgoz/deep chest with insc weapons. But it nice to put anything u want on a weapon.

If White Scythes/Reavers were inscribable, they wouldn't be worth much and you wouldn't be excited to find one in the first place.

So yes, you'd have a guaranteed 5k item, but you would never have a chance at a 100k+ item.

I appreciate the convenience of inscriptions, but I like how anet left some skins available in uninscribable-only versions to preserve their rarity. In fact, if it was my call, I'd leave a few more skins like that.

I really do not like inscriptions. My favorite part about Guild Wars was getting those special 15^50 items from Proph. Especially the R8s and R7s. When Nightfall came out, those drops became much more rare and harder to get. I like rare and hard to get, just not as much as they are now.

But eh I'm biased, I made a lot of money off mods cause I got lucky. When they were 30-100k.

Fed-ex quest in Prophecy.Thou its lead you to another area.Probable some EXP reward for a Prophecy char that level up much slower than other.

I have played GW for little over 4 years now & I like all the campaigns.I had been playing about 6 monts when factions came out & it was kool new territory to explore.1 day my wife (a warrior) & myself (an ele.) were out killing oni when a req. 8 oni blade dropped for me.OMG I thought I had hit the big lotto.I id it & it was perfect I had hit it big.I turned around & gave it to my wife cause she just fell in love with the skin.to this day she still has it & braggs about it.so yes I like factions & prophesies because sometimes you can get something realy nice.

This is exactly why i LOVE playing Prophecies and Factions - the drops are much better/cooler.

In the inscription lands all you get is PERFECT items, incredibly boring, almost every Purple or Gold is technically perfect but it's still completely worthless merchant food. Totally uncool. I find it far more fun to get actually rare and good drops from time to time, ones which can't be simply copied from a few worthless components.

It's the matter of feeling - I prefer to find weapons which feel good because they have some qualities which make them BETTER than every other random drop. BAD drops should exist so the good ones feel much better. Addition of fully moddable items completely KILLED that feeling, it now feels like finding piles of separate building bricks instead of actual original rarities, it's so incredibly uncool.

Hunting for and collecting virtual treasures is an important aspect of PvE for many players, and I really enjoy it myself. But hunting for building bricks and building your own copy of a 'treasure' doesn't feel any good at all.


The whole inscription system is after whole 4+ years still the Number 1 WORST thing that has happened to Guild Wars PvE. A massively huge mistake with no way of recovery, done wrong for a plenty of reasons.

PvE never needed absolute perfection to be so incredibly easy to get - difference in performance between perfect and having a couiple points off in a few spots is nonexistant. And it was already too easy in the original GW at release - all the collector/crafter stuff should have been near perf instead, so there was some room for improvement... and in fact I'd absolutely love if there was no such thing as obtainable perfection at all - that's a big wish for GW2 - there should ALWAYS be a hope of finding something better, even if it's just a tiny bit better. And moddability should be only used to give players the options to adjust an item to fit his own playstyle or build, but should never be used to turn any random drop into something perfect.

Uh... if you want to be constantly upgrading your gear by "just a few points", pretty much every other MMO is built that way.

This is the reason why i love prophs and factions, i hate eotn and Nf for inscriable item. in my opinion inscription ruined gw item market and gw totally.

What if they added an Inscription and Mod trader and made ALL weapons inscribable?