Is Ascension really the answer?

I would agree with this statement. The amount of requirements to be "CD ready" is overwhelming. There is a huge gap between solo play and group and virtually no way to bridge it. It only got worse as the expansion aged. Fully infused, experimented, reforged, and refined MC gear had 5000 potency on it. However this gear got nerfed and is no longer available. Now there is basically no way to make the jump from solo to heroic without help from others.

At current new and returning players depend on the kindness of strangers or friends to drag them through zones for the first month. Part of the problem is gear is gated behind those stupid planar stones. So it takes about a month before people even have heroic gear. That is just a starting point.

This is really an itemization issue not an ascension issue. What was needed is some kind of T0 heroic zones or maybe a contested dungeon like Sky Shrine or "the Hole" to get basic gear without being gated by planar stones. Hopefully we get something like that in the next expansion.

They've painted themselves into a corner with over the top stat inflation and overly convoluted systems which evidently makes it difficult to create a balanced content progression. I don't like the way they handle ascensions, but they aren't the core issue with the game. They game itself is broken on a much deeper level. If you look at the game as it was from KoS through Skyshrine vs. how it is post AoM, you're dealing with two completely different games.

Meh...its just another button to push. As a healer, I really don't use them all that much. Too slow for most part.

The one thing I do use them for the most? Hehe...is to one shot a monster who happens to be standing on a harvest node that I want.

I have a different toon selling all the shinies. She makes anywhere from 2x to 4x this amount daily.

My game time is limited these days. But I do harvest around 2-4 hrs / week. I make approx. $200,00-250,000 plat / week selling rares, shinies and planars. I could make a lot more plat if I weren't making MC items to break down for infusers and weapons upgrades .

Just before EQ2Wire shut down, I was about to post an article by a guest writer of a major guild who had spent months with dozens of players tracking the page drops for Ascension spells. It was extrapolated that -- without paying cash -- it would take the average player several years to acquire all their Ascension spells in the highest quality. Wish I'd published it.

I don't think this would shock anyone that's engaged in the game. And I'd suspect the same is true for spells/CAs given current drop rates for both Ascensions and classes in current content.

But you don't need ALL the spells. Also, back then, you couldn't get the darn Illegible Scroll Pages as easily as you can now.

Makes a mockery of my character's class, unless it's a mage.

Don't like them; don't use them on any character other than a mage.

Edit; Hmmm...maybe this post should have been in the other thread.

I feel like there's some serious Stockholm Syndrome going on within the remaining playerbase.

Why? Cause some don't agree with "your" conclusions? Then we must be "ill"...too funnny. Or is possibly, that many of us realize it is a just game & having a few extra spells doesn't really take away anything from the game.

Don't even put them on your spell bar if they really bother you that much...problem solved.

Really, you need to evaluate Ascensions for efficiency just like your other spells. Note that "DPS" is "damage per second", and Ascensions take a long time to cast, so your profession spells are not cast to the wayside... some will be much more efficient than Ascensions.

If you don't know how to calculate efficiency (search these forums, people have posted their Excel spreadsheets before), you can still figure it out using ACT and a training dummy. This is how you develop the best casting order, with the most efficient spells being first.

Some of your profession spells are completely worthless in terms of DPS. Some Ascensions are pretty worthless. The key is to understand what your spells are doing and their efficiency when you are geared and buffed.

And with the horrible drop rate, most peoples only choice is to buy krono to sell to buy them. The misconception is you can level your Ascensions in a timely manner without spending a ton of coin. Most people can only get that coin through krono sales. Heck, leveling any spell is next to impossible in a timely manner.

Not really sure why you addressed me on this. I have no issues with Ascension spells or even how long it takes to level them.

My comment that (you quoted) was aimed at those who "do not" like Ascension spells and would have the game take them away from everyone else.

I wish you had published it but then again you will still find someone to have the eye blinkers on and not being able/willing to see what's going on here. A lot of tripple A game publishers these days hide behind this notion of "well its in the game for players to grind for but we also want to be nice to people who don't have enough time to grind so they can just buy them instead." Flawless logic but then they deliberately make the grind nigh on impossible to attain that you end up giving up or, go with the purchase or find alternative means to get the items (buy plats from shady sites or sell kronos for example) - the last 2 being relevent if you are seriously attached to the game.

To add insult to injury, as i alluded to in my previous post, the next expansion will see increase in level cap and we will see the grind resetted to apprentice again.

For Ascensions:

• 2 Whiteknights
• 1 bruiser.
• DBG Accounting team.

Against Ascensions:

• Everyone else.

It's quite clear that Ascenions were not a good addition to the game, and it has had a negative impact on the game (Alongisde many other aspects). However it is likely too late to change that. Worst bit is now they can hardly make them irrelevant as everyone will spout the "But I paid $500 to upgrade my spells last year!" argument.

"Everyone else"...right. Gotcha. Gleaned, no doubt, from this rarefied forum...where the extremes of all opinions get bandied about like they are gospel.

I never said Ascensions were a good idea. I'm saying that the whiners are being unreasonably pessimistic about how hard it is to level Ascension spells. It's ridiculously easy to make money selling rares and shinies, and Illegible Scroll Pages are increasingly common on the broker, which drives pricing down.

Not everyone needs Grandmaster, Ancient, or Celestial versions of the Ascensions, either. If you raid, then yeah, the difficulty of the content makes them worthwhile. If you're just grouping or soloing, you don't need to spend time and/or effort on huge upgrades. As with regular spells and CAs, if you ain't raiding, try for Experts and don't stress out about it beyond that.

If you are raiding, well, most raid guild members try to help one another with spell upgrade materials. I know my guild has been really good about passing masters and Illegible Scroll Pages around to those who need them.

Also, since only a tiny percentage of the playerbase ever bothers to read the forums, you have no basis for the "everyone" assertion.

When everyone I know who plays the game agrees on a subject (ie. Hating leveling Ascensions) and I make a post on here about it i'm not just one of the members of this rarefied forum, I'm speaking from experience.

I lol'd at the "2 whiteknights" because when it was posted they had to know it would bring on the rhetorical disapproval from those Whiteknights who are in fact the minority in this rarefied forum.

I'm not saying you or anyone else is one, but the census of the majority of posts here agrees with the post. Did you also happen to notice it's the most liked post in the thread?

How are you not burnt the heck out? I get burnt out just reading the laundry lists of things to do you post. Also you are not factoring in the time to get the harvest gear you need to reap these rares.