Make Ectoplasm and Obsidian Shards more available

Ok, I know Fissure armor is meant to be the "uber" armor in this game and that is optional... but this is simply ridiculous.

Obviously if it was included with the game it was meant to be obtained. Obviously there are those who are simply obcessed with having the best looks.

With that said, the prices for this armor encourage either hours of "grinding" or buying gold through Ebay, despite you claiming that you discourage repetitivce farming (Despite what Gaile Gray or anyone else may say on this forum, I remember clearly the official website saying something about how they discourage it and plan to make it obsolete).

What I propose is this - Make Ectoplasm and Obsidian Shards craftable and/or dropped by enemies more often.


This suggestion is nothing without numbers, no?

Current cost of Ectoplasm in the US districts- 10k
Current cost of Obsidian Shards in the US districts- 3k

Number of Ectoplasm required to make chest piece of Fissure Armor - 45
Number of Obsidian required to make chest piece of Fissure Armor - 45

[45 x 10,000] + [45 x 3,000] + 15,000 = 600,000

600k is the cost of the Ectoplasm, Obsidian Shards, and 15k payment for crafting the armor. That estimate does not include the cost of other materials used to craft the armor.

Now let's say the person who wants this armor can farm up, say, 5k per hour.

[600,000 / 5000 = 120] x 60 = 7,200

You will be farming for 7,200 Minutes (or 120 Hours) just to get the cost of the Obsidian Shards, Ectoplasm, and 15k fee for the armor, again, not including other materials.

That's a pretty big figure for a single PIECE of equipement (Not even the whole set), yet this game does not encourage grinding? Just because it isn't a required piece of equipment doesn't mean it does not encourage grinding - It's in the game, it's meant to be obtained by someone.

I also feel that if the prices go down, so too would the number of people resorting to ebay and IGE.

Again, I know I will probably be flamed for purposing making a "uber" item drop more often or become craftable, but I'm fairly certain I'm not the only one who thinks this.

"You suck!" "You aren't so Big!" "I already paid 10k for an ectoplasm! If you lower the price, your stealing my gold!"

I generally agree with you, though I can see the other side of the argument as well.

Meh. I have mixed feelings about this one.

Fissure armor is optional, and doesn't really give you an advantage in stats over someone else with Droknar's Forge armor.

That said, if you dont like the grinding, then why bother get Fissure armor, it's only optional after all, so it makes this particular type of grinding purely optional too.

When you play through the regular levels and missions, there's no grinding. This is because you can still go through about 50% of the game with crappy armor and items, and somewhat low level. I also believe that the early missions are quite easy, up until Kryta. This fits into the no-grinding philosophy of Anet.

So the grinding you are talking about is the optional kind I think. Anet probably meant no-grinding to get to the end of the game. Fissure armor is sort of like a side-thing.

I 100% agree with you, BigTru.

The economy in this game is driving me nuts. Suddenly, things that would have, before, been worthwhile are worth jack (dye and runes for example) now.

However, you still have to have stuff like obsidian shards and ectoplasm to get the high end armor. Those items are still worth lots of money. Hell, at this point, I wouldn't even stockpile the items. I'd just sell them so I could have some money. At the rate I play, I might make 10k a week. You're talking at least 6 weeks of nothing but farming just to get one piece of gear at that rate. (and I always end up spending that money on more imediate needs)

It's ridiculas.

I don't care how much you think grinding should be important for getting the fissure gear. No one should have to grind to this degree for anything. This is Guild Wars. These things should be obtainable. Esp. with the lack of customization in other respects. (in other words, if there were 20 different types of armor PER class, I wouldn't have a problem with one being really hard to get. But when there's only about 4 (8 if you include ascension gear) per class....)

My question is why is an obsidian shard only worth 3K? The trader has none of them. I had a guilde stnad in each district in ToA an tell me every time a person said WTS: Shard or the like. This is what I discovered: More people are selling ectoplasm than are selling shards. By a rate of almost 4 to 1. So why are shards worth 3K while ecto is worth 10-12K?

I mean I go to sell 100 shards to this guy and tell him that the price is 5K each. He can either pay me 500K for them, waste a very long time trying to find a hundred of them at 3K each, go attempt to farm them, or call me a scammer. Sadly he chose the last option. I mean people don't understand that it's a sellers market with this stuff. You can always find a buyer at 3K each but can you people trying to buy find a seller in a reasonable length of time at 3K each?

Usually, I'm not for a lot of these posts about the rarity of items. However, this is one that I agree with. I do agree with you on the fact that shards/globs need to drop more frequently, or be able to be crafted somehow. (probably some artisan somewhere, correct me if there isn't) They're just a massive timesink meant to keep you doing something...
I think the whole cost/time invested for these armors rivals the Vex Thal Key quest in EQ... just a massive timesink to keep players around...
Utter trivialness if you ask me.

*pokes mod stick*

dont need it so wont bother with it
If I have enough to get well I will then
but playing dressing up my dollies was not why I got the game anyway
it seems people only want it because its so expensive doesnt look that hot and no extra skills or anything
no big deal if they want to play dress up then let them it doesnt change the game play

i got 7 ectos last night in 2 runs
either i was very lucky or they seem to drop more often now
and yes i solo

100% agree with time sink, and with all the new nerfing, going through the main missions and such, as intended, i barely get enough to buy the lowest stuff, which encourages me to grind to get a neccesity like droks armor, i was able to make about 15k a week if i was lucky, i can barely keep 1k in my storage, because i keep having to upgrade armor/weapons and i'm not even buying the aesthetic ones, the game is starting to promote grinding, especially to people just starting off

meh, "grind wars"

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of course you get 7+ ectos when solo'ing, you get all the drops, kinda stupid question/statement to say

I think its right like it is, it gives some of the hardcore PvE players a goal to aim for, also it keeps the FoW armour in the whole wow thats cool (or you have to much spare time) section of the game.

Please try soloing UW before you post something like this. Getting more than 2 ectos per run is very rare. Generally, people find 0-2 ectos per run.

To everyone: If you find the need to grind, by all means, GRIND. I think increasing the chances of dropping ecto or shard is a bad idea, because it would make the game even easier to play. Seriously guys, it is not hard to make 10k+ an hour right now. If you feel like you have no gold, maybe you should a)play more, b)look into other people's money-making ideas.

Exactly! 7+ is very rare for soloing...

I fail to see your point of view. What does the amount of time you spend looking for a glob have to do with difficulty?

Time Sink =/= Difficulty

You guys are ignoring spikydude's assessment. Fissure armor is totally optional. Hell, 15k armor from the grotto or citadel is completely optional. All it does is add aesthetic value to your character (and sometimes that's debatable, lol).

You are bitching about grind that only you are making yourself do.

PS, ecto drops a lot less than shards do. That's why ecto is worth more, obviously. And the reason why the trader has no shards in stock? They are cheap and can be acquired without having to hoard a lot of gold to buy one from said trader.

Mixed fealings too, Like the challange at one hand, at the other it seams impossible. Though let it stay the way it is. Its more of a dilema for the one that wants the armor then if they should change it.
If you want it do the work. If you do not want to do the work you wont get it .

It's only asthetics. If you want your armor to look good, you have to dish out the cash. If you don't want to put all that effort into it, wear your Droknar's armor and live with it... If you want nice things you need to work. Stop complaining...

Read the original post. Yes, it's optional, but if they didn't want people to have it, then why put it in?

120 Hours for one piece of armor? Nobody should have to grind that much for ANYTHING.

Hell, going through all the missions is optional, too, but you still aren't gonna make them take 120 hours per mission are you? (Ok, poor comparison... but you get the point...)

If you put this stuff in the game and make it take this long to achieve, obcoarse there will be many people who resort soley to Ebay. Fissure armor encourages this because it's so hard to obtain.

Besides, like someone else said, there is very few customizabilty in this game. If they had more than 8 armor sets per class, I wouldn't mind having an absolutely impossible armor to obtain. But they don't.



120 Hours is more than anything I've ever grinded too. Even FFXI wasn't that bad (unless you consider the Relic weapons... but they had so many weapons it didn't matter if it was impossible to get).

Have you ever considered that your calculations are WAY off? How does someone make 5000 gold in an hour when they're farming? I make 5000 gold in about 20 minutes. Plus, you were calculating for the most expensive piece. Besides, Fissure armor is the 'be all end all' of all armors. Once you get this, there is nothing (currently) more expesnive to get.

5k in 20 min where are you farming that...???

If I told you that it wouldn't be a secret, now would it? But trust me, it is definitely possible. I earn about 1000-2000 gold per run, 5 minutes to a run, easily making 5000.

for me 15k armor is an indicator how much effort one invested in the game.

normally if you can say 120+ hours for that armor, you know how much experience that certain player has.
i dont care if you gotta grind like a millstone for such a piece.

problem is, people pay real money for ig gold to afford this, i guess.
so like in real life, there a dorks. and like in real life, they are usually rich.
and if you want to show "yes i was stupid enough to buy a bentley" then do it.

same with fissure armor.

if you want to keep the components from appearing ebay, make the items "untradeable" like the "nodrop" from AO. well, i hated the whole nodrop concept, but it would help alot against ebaying.

ergo: from me, there is a NO on the higher availability.
and i dont even have ONE piece of fissure armor.
i got one shard, and two globes. one sold, the other one was a a present, for the guy that went in UW with us on his birthday.

Mabey you can make 5k every 5 minutes (yeah... right), but the majority of all people in this game cannot even make close to that. About 98% I'm guessing. Just because it is possible (if it is) doesn't mean it was intended, what with all the recent farming nerfs.

5k is the average amount most players get when farming.

and as for it being the 'be all end all' armor, please refer to my past posts.


Grinding takes no "expierience".

And the problem is that it isn't 120 hours for the whole armor. It's 120 for one piece.



I'm not asking for it to cakewalk to get, I'm simply asking for it to be reasonable. Even if the Ectoplasm and Obsidian Shards drop rate doubled (not suggesting doubling it), it would STILL be much harder to obtain than any other armor.

if one doesnt learn anything and gather experience in 500 hours of grinding, well.... then i dont know.

i always thought pve chars want theír "special achievement"... and after finishing the game you can:
pvp (sigils earn a lot, i heard ),
grind
help people

i think it was just karma, but the best drops i got from: helping lowlvls through missions and going to uw.
sure i didnt get much globes, but that sword i sold for 70k...

i like the drop rate... at this speed i can MAYBE afford the armor in one year...
i just dont want any ebayers to diminish my "accomplishment"

When I reached the fissure crafter guy, I thought it was gonna cost me 400k. I was excited, cuz I can do that...Too bad the day after was when they began to climb and I watched all my hope shatter -.-

I agree with the poster 100%, make it reasonable

I'm also against making the elite items easier to get. Some people like to grind, and want to have something to grind for. Just because something was added to the game, it doesn't mean it was meant for everyone to get. Everyone in theory could get it, but it's elite and expensive for a reason.

btw, I won't be farming for fissure armor.

Matt

It is ridiculous crying about something that is OPTIONAL.

Just enjoy the game unless you consider crying as enjoying.

EDIT: I bet that the people who are crying about the grinds of fissure armors or whatever are the same people who will cry about the game's lack of contents once they've gotten their fissure armors.

It's not impossible, you just have to work for it. Some people DO enjoy the "grind". Are all the whiners rushing places too?

i completely agreed. the 15k armors are no different defensive wise from the 1.5k droknar armors, so its completed a moot point to buy them unless you've got loads of cash to spare. its not uber, it just looks different.


read the numerous threads about farming because thats where its all at. a lot of places were already made public from previous posts.

Personally, I don't think that the scarcity/drop rate of ecto or shards needs any attention. There's many, many more issues that require resolution.

Fissure armor, from my understanding, is meant to be extraordinarily rare. My preference is to keep it that way. Why devalue it by making it commonplace? And no, I don't yet have a set, nor do I know if I will ever save enough to craft one.

For the pure PvE player, there's not alot of endgame goals to strive for, fissure armor being one of the very few. For that player to finally achieve the goal of being one of the rare (at the moment) people to actually manage to craft it is a reward to some, recognition of the time they've spent amassing materials and money. If every second person in any town had fissure armor, then it becomes meaningless.

If you are one of the players who wants it, then do the work required to earn it. If you think 1.5M is not worth it for armor that has the same stats as 7.5k, then dont.

If money and materials are important to you, because you wish to buy/craft armor and items, then take the steps necessary to develop your character, your farming strategy and locations, and your money management techniques to maxmize your wealth. It's not hard to make money, if approached with some consideration and forethought. And one piece of advice - being a consistent money maker has very little to do with finding some "uber" item and selling it.

Even with consistent income, and disciplined saving, and some lucky drops, it will most admittedly take a long time to save for fissure armor. As it should be, in my opinion.

Let's not forget that this game is still only 3 months old, at least officically speaking. With the possibility of a game lifespan lasting years, I don't see the big hurry to rush and get your fissure armor today.

I'm actually hoping that more armor options are made available in future content updates for endgame players, with the same degree of expense and difficulty in procurement as fissure armor. Again, as something to strive towards, as well as providing a sense of unique individuality.

Very good and soothing points!

And nobody has to.

Where, in any of my posts, did I EVER say I wanted to make it commonplace?


Quests are optional. Missions are optional. ALL armor is optional. Does that mean that they shouldn't be shown attention and be able to be completed in a REASONABLE amount of time just because they are all optional?

Quests and missions that give tangible and useful rewards and benefits are far different than a set of high-end armor that doesn't change anything but how you look.

Oh yeah, thanks for taking the wording so literal/out of context. Great job smart ass.

Way to read all of the posts before replaying, quick draw mcgraw.

I did, however I doubt you have seeing as you are bringing up old points that have already been posted and are just repeating the same thing I've already replied to.

Oh, I read them all. I just wanted to reply to that one particular bit of insight there because I've already voiced my opinion on the matter in the first reply to the thread.

All 15k set armors are supposed to be special. If not, why don't they give everyone auras or rank emotes?

If you make obsidian/ecto easier to get, more people will have fissure armor, it will become a standard thing, and you will just end up looking like everyone else. Now isn't the whole point of fissure armor to look cool and unique?

Oh and stop being lazy, if you cant make atleast 10k an hour farming, your not doing it very well. And don't ask me how to farm. You can find all kinds of great info in these forums with a little searching.