Nope, pre-flagging XP was the best time to grind gear score. At that point my server was running 40-60+ person deep chest runs nightly. It was quick and efficient. Flagging XP made people get greedy and start trying to flag up which ultimately ruined the cooperation that was going on.
This is a great change for the long haul just like the crafting changes.
If they changes keep rolling in this direction, I’m not sure there will be a long haul to look forward to 
5 Likes
Wow. Just… Wow.
Not only does it sound excessively convoluted and gimmicky, it also forces the watermark system on everyone ( a system that should have been removed not made worse and more widespread) I am a crafter and there is ZERO chance I am going to grind up my watermark to use gear I craft myself without a penalty (rebranding it as ‘expertise’ doesn’t change what it is). Seriously, I grinded my crafting up to 200 so I could make gear without grinding on the stupid watermark system. I absolutely refuse to participate in this obnoxious system with all the stupid and redundant 10 kinds of ‘gypsum’. If you implement a system where the gear I craft needs a secondary grind to use it without penalty…
16 Likes
I think the change sucks for other reasons, but buying high end gear is still valuable, because it doesnt need ti be replaced, and the perks are still there.
the problem is that the method for increasing expertise is based mostly on running POI trains and doing expeditions.
self crafting, pvp, economics etc are irrelevant
This is silly idea.
Gunna kill the AH, whats the point of buying better gear off there if it will just get ‘reduced’ anyway… no point crafting it for others, theyll just use what ever drops…
Gunna make it frustrating for any ‘new players’.
I duno… i dont see the benefit of this, just gunna take even more fun out of the game
3 Likes
welp fuck this im done.
8 Likes
As a pvp player I’m highly disappointed in this game.
I get it, pve and pvp are supposed to support each other, but the way I understood it, it was to provide pvp players and pve players a role in the community… not to make every single player do both as a hard requirement.
I spent most my time in opr and wars, I couldn’t be bothered with the hardcore myrk grind. So I did what every one would have done and bought gear of the market. literally spent thousands.
and now all of that is going to be pointless. Thanks AGS, clearly this is a great improvement to the game.
1 Like
So rather than grind through watermark, I invested heavily in farming and then crafting voidbent armor- which will now be reduced in power because I didn’t mindelessly chest run??
This is one almighty stupid, dumb, etc change!!!
2 Likes
Yeah it’s a great patch but it’s hard to grind end game zones on a dead server…
Can we get a clarification on whether or not our HWM will be reset? I think thats super unfair to people who have spent the better part of two months GRINDING watermark.
Your not supposed to be able to buy your way up man… you gotta earn it and grind it out lol seriously u can’t just be given the best! Gotta get it
This is so dumb. I’ve spent countless hours on voidbent armor and 580 weapon quests only to get everything nerfed to my watermark level. Why would you do this? And mind you after nerfing the drops to make it even more of a grind. I really had hopes for this game but it feels like it gets worse and worse with every patch…
1 Like
I did grind it out, many hours were spent farming all the materials to make both sets on a low population server…now it turns out I should have been following the chug chug train mindlessly opening chests…
2 Likes
As someone who did the same, I’d like to clarify there’s a difference between simply getting it and spending your time differently, in a way you enjoy, and spending the income/rewards to get gear.
Nice a good change for once. Less vg users the better
Buying on the market and crafting it… shouldn’t be better than what’s dropped, that’s being given the best when you haven’t gotten it dropped yet, its skipping straight to the front. When my WM is 600 my void bent will reflect it which I’m fine with.
then let’s agree to disagree
1 Like
Not a good change. I spent hundreds of hours in-game focusing on other content, rather than trying to boost a boring and undocumented system. If this change goes through as-described, I’ll probably lose interest in playing.
3 Likes
So grinding crafting to a point where you can make the gear for yourself and your friends doesn’t count? I spent most of my time and money grinding crafting because I didn’t want to chase a zerg opening chests. I don’t find that particularly fun or engaging. Now I gotta do that on top of my crafting? No thanks…
4 Likes