Ascension Spell Quality Progression

This needs looking at. So if I read this right a sage will be able to make an expert level spell but has no knowledge on how to make a lesser adept version of it?

Excatly that is the problem. You can craft the expert, but you cannot read it without finding the adept before. In addition I heard it seems to be difficult to find the right rawmaterials for the crafting, but I am not a crafter. Maybe I am wrong at this point.

At least you can say, DB makes it very difficult, to push us to buy for real money.

Raw materials for the journeyman level are insanely rare...
Never saw the raw for expert.
Never saw the adept level book

Yes and no. The primary component for journeyman (and expert) ascension arts are super rare drops. I have, literally, seen more masters in KA then I have illegiable scrolls (the upgrade primary component).

Vindication is sweet.

Confirmed adepts and masters are NOT dropping.

This is definitely a pay to win model on something as fundamental as our spell system.

Just wow.

The only reason I don't think people are freaking out at this point is that on a few people have even gotten to the point where they can go after adepts. Its gonna be a pissing match in a few weeks when everyone realizes they have to pay 15bucks a spell.

I think you have to see it from a business perspective also, there is a small percentage of the player base that are willing to fork out the cash to be uber immediately. As a business daybreak should make sure they tap in to these willing customers. No doubt in the future drop rates will increase and then the remaining majority of players will get their upgrades.

If something is not achievable through further game play and is only able to be bought with real money then that aspect of the game is certainly pay to win. I wouldn't be surprised if they started offering end game raid loot via station cash.

Ask Rift how that's working out for them.

I think its fair to assume drop rates will increase significantly in the future at some point, but if you are inpatient and you must win your parse you can fork out the cash for something that is completely optional for the current content in game.

What are you talking about increased drop rate? There are 2 tiers that are not dropping period.

If you start at zero the only way is up. Let daybreak make some money from the fools that are willing to splash the cash, then you can get the upgrades you 'need' so badly later down the line like everyone else.

Exactly

Is this some kinda daybreak troll post?

This doesn't even make sense. You will never be able to get these abilities without paying for them. The research time is 2 decades as in 20 years. This is clearly intended to never be possible so you have to pay for them.

I'm not going to pay to play candycrush.

I have yet to upgrade any of the new spells, but I already know ill be frustrated when its time to upgrade to Adept and Master.
I don't mind the components being rare, I do mind them not existing.

Let the components be in game, those that want o pay their way to the top will do so anyways.
Give the average player the option to work towards the upgrade.
Not everyone can pay to win.

It just pains people that someone may get something before them. If people can afford it I say let them, they are keeping daybreak in business after all. If you dont want spend the money that is your choice but the game does certainly not require these upgrades whatsoever.

Dithmir, I think your completely missing the point.

The items to make Adept and Master tier do not exist.
It is not logical to have some tiers of a spell be craftable and other tiers of the same spell time/pay gated.

And who made you the upgrade police anyways?

Genuinely curious: how do we know the items absolutely do not exist? The expansion is not even three weeks old, it's possible they haven't been found, or require a level or prereq that hasn't been achieved, or it could even be a bug. In all honesty, SOE/Daybreak have twelve years of *not* requiring (emphasis on *requiring*) real money to upgrade spells, so I truly doubt that they would start true pay-to-win (as opposed to pay-to-speed-up) now.

I imagine you are not a raider. In all the years EQ2 exist the gameplay was always the same. With every new addon you got a new lvl-cup, new armor or new AA-points. In this way you prepared yourself for the raid. By killing raidbosses you got again new masterspells and even better amor and step by step you arrived to the final boss.
Now DB anouced a new expansion with completly new and powerful spells. Of course not everybody needs everything at the toplevel, but you can be rather sure the raiders will need them sooner or later. At least most of them will believe so, because for them the gameproggress in the past went always in this way.

To wait 10 years is no option. To wait till maybe the droprate will improve is again no option, because it take too much time too. In one year we will see the next addon, with again new options. In one year the raidcontent of today is like the newspaper of yesterday.

In conclusion many people are afraid they will reach soon the point, buy the master or loose the fight.

Shmogre said it is not pay to win, only pay to speed up, but thats not tru. At least in the moment not to speed up, means never getting them.

Dithmir pointed out it is a business model. Well, at this point he is right, but it is a new model in absolut opposite direction to everything what we have seen before.
To give somebody a nice new bird, if he is willing to buy a preorder is one thing. It helps him a little bit, but it is not changing the balance of the game. To offer new important spells more or less only for money is something very different.

To say it clearly, i am a rather ritch man. I am able to pay 1000 US$ or more, but for sure I will not spend 1 cent. If I would do it I would become one of the people who killed finally the game. If only a few gamer agree to pay such an amount of money, it will become normal. We would see such "nice opportunities" in the future regularly.
Ritch player would buy the success, poor gamer would leave.

I see we are guessing about a lot of things. For now on, spell scrolls or primary component seem to be absent of the game or insanely rare.
Call me an optimist if you want, but I want to believe that DBG is not willing to change the game to turn it into a pay to win. In fact, people are only lvl 3 in their ascension classes. No need to hurry to go to master and above in 3 skills. So I do hope that items that are missing or very rare now will become more frequent (and be lootable in game, of course) later. For me, it is another way to time-gate people progression. Just has guided ascension scrolls are.

But a dev word here is needed. At least to stop people guessing the worse.

Did anyone else find themselves thinking that new armor must be a jockstrap? That typo is hilarious!!