Glob Insanity

PvE cahr can and DO particiapte in PvP. It's a little more effort and harder to be flexible but it's still possible. I don't even have the granite/grotto armour but It's coloured, and I weild a max dmg Wilds hammer (Heavey war hammer, looks like a telegraph pole )
It's nice being able to stand out in PvP like that. When PvP get's a little boring I'll go and start doing mroe UW and Fissure runs too. The massive journey to obtain that armour is like the pot of gold at the end of a VERY VERY long rainbow.

I agree with most of the replies here.

Obsidian armor is not to be "Affordable" is there to be what it is. The Actual Fashion. The ectos and shards are like everyother crafting material, based on offer and demand. There is no unbalance in that system, the unbalance appears where there is a massive offer or a massive demand.

Things that are fashion, things that ppl like most, tend to cost u more. Like every "fahion" in life, it will pass.

My recomendation for u. Farm Uw and FoW, and cash ur ectos and shards, take advantage that the item is in high demand. Save up ur money, and be patient.

Price will go down, when a new fashion appears. Sorrows Furnace is comming soon, and after that the second chapter. In any of those new armors, or weapons may appear, and ppl will go as usually do, running to be the firsts to have em. Prices on Globs and Shards will go down, and while everyone fighting to get the "new" fashion, u pay a suitable price for "last years fashion".

The hole point of Obsidian armor is to have it if u like how it looks, as stated, stats are the same that 1,5k armor.

Brother Torkemada.

I can't add anything that hasn't already been said, but I do want to add my "me too" to this... you don't need it, it adds nothing, it's just jewelry as one poster excellently put it.

Nothing needs to change. Rare materials cost a lot. If they're scarce, the price goes up. Looks like the economy is working as intended...

me personaly i wont get that armor now at least. ive seen all the armors up close and none of them look that baddass. except for the necro armor those look tight. but the warrior one is wack except for the girl. the ranger armor looks so wack , elemnt only get spikes on the shoulders, mesmer you cant tell, and monks are plain. i dont like them personaly i hope they upgrade them.

i wonder how much globs are valued at the traders in europe. since they seem to have favor the less, its probably 100k XD

Main reason Ectoplasm is so high? Almost noone does UW at the rate that they do Fissure of Woe. I can get on my Monk and get an invite to a FoW party in minutes, sometimes seconds, without even asking. But when i advertise for an UW party i can spend an hour waiting for an invite while i constantly deny the barrage of Fissure party invites. Less people farming UW equals less Ectoplasm in the economy but the demand is still as high as before. Notice Obsidian has stabilized at about 3-4k.

If our standard is that an amount is impractical without massive farming 500k or and even 300k is unrealistic. My point is simply that if the armor's value is based on its uniqueness (which it is obviously since this armor does nothing extra than 1.5k armor), and if the best armor in the game is worth 100k, then there is no unique armor in the game. In this world there is nothing for a hardcore gamer to shoot for. Anet has made the best of both worlds. You can have max armor with just playing the game normally, and it has given more hardcore players something to strive for also. If all armor can be gotten without having to heavily farm and grind then that armor is worth virtually nothing. Honestly would 15% over 50% fellblades be worth that much if everyone had one? Would people gain some sort of pride in owning what everyone else has? Making a game balanced statistically is good. Making it where some players have no reason to play is not.

While I agree it was intended to be a huge gold sink it does not say "I use a bot." Some people are excellent traders. It only takes so many buying and selling days where you gain over 100k per sword bought and sold to get the money. Some people have better farming spots than others. Some people came across a perfect fellblade or crystaline.

what AN is doing right now is worse than grinding....

Sincerely, this post was meant to say "Hey, I don't like the idea of something being extremely unattainable and only becomming more and more unattainable. It was meant to say that 5k, fine, 7k, well ok, 9k, sigh I guess so, but 18k give me a break! Even the most hard core of farmers have a hard time achieving that in a reasonable amount of time. And I disagree 100% with your ignorance regarding fissure armor. It's not a "botters only" armor nor is it something showing that I'm a 15 hour a day junkie. It's to show something earned. But to have it hung in front of me like a carrot and he driver only adds more string to the pole is, in my opinion, just something to keep me around until an expansion comes out.

Not Elite, just because you can donate 10 hours a day to farming, does not make you any better than someone who only play's 1-3 hours a day. While I do not deny that many of those who have acquired the FoW armor already are not skilled, I just want to state that having this armor does not make them an elite player.

This made me laugh out loud.. So dramatic...

Dude, you aren't at any disadvantage by not grinding for that armor except the "disadvantage" (which it really isn't) of not looking as cool as other people. Seriously, it isn't as bad as grinding at all.. it is like.. optional grinding.. XD

(I know all grinding is optional, but you can still compete in this game if you don't grind and alot of the things in this game that are expensive are just for looks)

That was just earlier this morning. There's really a simple fix to this. All ANet has to do is increase the drop rate like they did with Shards and the price will go down.

the cost is supposed to be insane. duh? I'm on my 3rd shard, it'll eventually happen.

You want the armor to mean something, don't you? You all clearly had a liberal education. =P

Just a note to all the folks complaining... I bought a complete set of wander's armor for my monk, as well as pieces of censor's armor and tattoo armor. It was all bought at Droknar's Forge. For less than 2 ectoplasm I have the best rated armor in the game and I can mix and match for better defense against a multitude of situations.

How is the game unfair or unbalanced?

globs/ecto... same thing. i think you meant globs/shards

Hummm I noticed hardcore gaming was mentioned quite a lot... I think it's fair for a gamer that LIKES THE GAME A LOT (plays it accordingly long) to let him be able to afford the FoW armor, not only the ones who ARE IN THE GAME ALOT (play it for 10-14 hrs a day).
What I'm trying to say that 4-5 hrs daily is more than enough and should get you more stuff, more cash and should make it easier to attain FoW armor. There isn't many hardcore players around, but there shouldn't be too many 4-5 h players anyway. Most players I seen are regular 1-2 hour a day players who have their share of their fun doing that. I think 4-5 hours is OK (not by far good or healthy, but still), 10-14, that's just sick. Why should I ruin my life 'cause I want FoW armor?

Actually this armor issue doesnt bother me at all. The only thing the uber expensive armor has to offer is looks (supposedly, and rarity as well). But with the 1.5k armor, i can compete (technically) just as effectively. So thats quite fair in that aspect. If the armor has better stats as well, I would quit this game as I will never want to spend so much time nor effort just to compete on fair grounds (some games do give super rare equips with significantly better stats in such a way that the players wearing them will have considerable advantage over less well equipped players, which makes usage of skills less of a victory factor.)

What happens to players with more time or gold to spare? They get rare and better looking stuff without having any technical advantage over less well off players. That seems pretty balance for both worlds of players

I have posted my opinion earlier in this post, but i've kept reading and thinking about this, and this is how i will sumarize the Obsidian Armor problem.

"Obsidian armor is neither expensive or cheap by nature, its worth 15k like granite and grotto's armor, and it requires certain crafting materials, like any other armor. Ppl rushing into having this armor raises the crafting item values. But the armor is not expensive as a game rule, is expensive because lot of ppl want it."

Is the same with the black dye. And its the same with other items in game. they are overpriced by player's will and not by developers coding.

If suddenly the armor in fashion needed 4000 bones, we'll soon be hearing complains on how high is the price of the bone armor, cos bones are up to 4 or 5k a pack of 10.
Even when bones drop more often, and can be salvaged from losts of stuff... if the hole game comunity needs 4000 bones, believe me it wont be enough.

I think you all who are complaining about the prices of ectoplasm are stressing too much on the trader prices. Imagine this: instead of buying the materials, find it! What a concept... (oh and if you don't want to read all this, skip to the last paragraph)

If I'm with a good party, the times I've been through FoW or UW, everyone in the party gets at least 1 shard/ecto... so what's that... 125g for an ecto/shard? So hey, it'll take a while to find 105 shard and 105 ecto...

But really, do you want (a) spend time monotonously farming until you have enough money to pay for the ridiculously priced crafting material? or (b) have fun collecting the items and working your way through FoW and UW... (who knows, maybe there's a hidden crafter or collector in the zones... you'd never know if you farm for money)

And then it all boils back down to the: "You don't have to get this armor." If you do want it, then you have to work for it... but oh no! "I have to spend *time* to get it!"

And look, if Fissure armor were easy to get... then there's nothing that makes it unique anymore... it becomes commonplace and undesired.

Imho, it's just like life... there may be that extremely nice luxury car you want to get, but it's above your budget... so what do you do if you really want the car? Save for it. Will it take a long time, for most people: yes. What does that long length of time serve to do? It makes the feeling that once you finally are able to get the car oh-so-much better. Accomplishment. I know I will feel extremely pleased once I have enough to get that fissure armor (money and materials set.... 100shard/100ecto to go ). It's a feeling that you accomplished something great -- and worked hard for it.

Sorry for the long rant... Bottom line: Fissure armor is possible without having to buy from the material traders, so stop looking at those prices!