Why do you like or not like Ascension

I have read through the previous post, "Is Ascension really the answer?"

What I would like to know is why, in as much detail as possible, you either like or do not like Ascension. Detail is important. What specifically do you like or hate or do you like some things and hate others, etc. I have yet to get there and I your honest answers will give me insight into what to expect and how to navigate progressing.

Thanks!

That is a hard question to answer it really depends on your play style. I solo 99.9% of the time, so I don't use them really much at all, I'll use them every now and then to kill the mob of faster. They are not imo needed for solo play.

Now if you ask someone that groups a lot you'll get a different answer, someone that raids a lot again a totally different answer.

I do not like them because I think they took away a lot with the different classes so everyone can basically be a mage now, healers, tanks, and the likes. I think it was a stupid addition to the game and not needed.

But again it depends on YOUR play style.

mine is an easy answer.
*I* am a Ranger.
I use a bow for ranged combat, and swords for close combat, I use my tracking ability to find elusive targets, and can easily live off of the land (oh, yeah, sorry, that is EQ1 Ranger's/Druid's unique ability to forage, but the point still stands)
*I* am NOT a wizard/sorcerer/caster... that uses raven's egg, blood of a hen, little more blood, yeah,... eyeballs of a crocodile, body parts of a newt,...
Nor have I ever been interested in rolling such a character.
The ascension class is disgusted as the attempt to turn EVERYONE into a caster, thus limiting the classes that needed development/balancing. In said rejection of melee classes', and the present imbalance, this makes the environment less enjoyable to be within, as certain classes are marginalized due to their inabilities to contribute.

I love the ascensions. From a practical perspective there is no way I would be able to hold aggro without them as a Bruiser tank. My casting order on most boss fights is:

Taunt -> Red flag -> Ethershadow assassin -> Cascading force -> taunt -> Levinbolt -> Bulwark while casting Levinbolt -> and so on.

From the fun perspective it feels like something out of Dragon Ball-Z or Greek mythology. The idea of a martial artist that can also shoot lightning bolts and fireballs has been a video game trope since "Street Fighter" arcade games from the 1980s. I always kind of wanted to throw fireballs with my Bruiser and I am very glad that I can do that now. I don't see myself as a mage. I am an ascended martial artist. These new attacks are an indispensable part of my character now.

I think the worst aspect of them above and beyond anything is how daunting and confusing they are for returning players, and I can only imagine those poor new players who made the decision to use their 110 level boost. The means of procuring the pages needed, the recipes, having to have the previous one scribed to make the next one etc.
Then you add that to the information online being extremely vague in some areas, overly detailed in others, oftentimes contradictory from one source to the next and so on.
And on top of that there's a ton of other confusing mechanics that have been added or worse, remain broken from when I last played around 5ish years ago.
Coming back a bunch of months ago now and reading chat, it was like having to learn a new language. I know I'm kind of wandering, but just want to paint a clear picture of how absolutely confusing returning to this game can be. Ascensions are the thick layer of Gramma style lard and sugar icing on the cake.

The cashcow has been discussed at length so I'll just add this. It strikes me as odd that they're taking the gamble of longtime players spending more money than being able to get new subs from new players by having a less confusing system to get into. You'd think you would want to do both and create something accordingly.


The concept of them itself? I think a more true dual class method would have been cooler. Ascensions don't make anyone dual class. They just make everyone casters who no longer have to stand still to cast. I think some cases they fit, from an rp sense. Like Thaumaturgist and SK/Necro. Or Elementalist/Wizzie/Conj. But in other cases, why is a brigand shooting a blast of boulders out of their hands knocking down and blowing away a pack of mobs? Or a Paladin laying down death based spells?
In general mixed feelings on it.

The spells themselves, some are really cool and fun to use. Some nice kabooms and being able to move and cast is fun. But spells are spells and if they're good, they stay on the hotbar and if they're not, they don't.

Overall, it's something that has some good ideas at its core, but insanely sloppy execution. In reality though, does it matter? They aren't going away. People have paid way too much money leveling them. If they make it considerably easier to level them, those same people are going to get PO'd for the same reason.

What I don't like:

• Adds to the already high level of ability bloat (too many hot bars already!)
• Adds yet another leveling mechanic to the game, with it's own set of spell upgrades.
• Ruins many class fantasies. Albeit not all, for some classes it can enhance.
• Long cast times

What I like:

• Some of the spell effects are cool

It would have been more interesting if this concept built off the characters class, or subclass. At least have it designed around Fighter, Healer, Scout, Mage. But even still, we don't need a class on top of a class when we already have how many spells/abilities?

My AOE-class toons love Etherealist,because it gives them more blue AOEs.

I hate them because I've played a ranger since 2007 and now I'm a mage hybrid.

I didnt want to play a mage. I wanted to play a ranger.

Ascs are great for heroics though. Means I can run a group of six healers and still get done quickly; assuming their Ascs are leveled. Also, in heroics, if Ascs are leveled they can help make up for just being bad for some players in heroics.

Some may say that's a con, but to be completely honest there's plenty that wouldn't get groups without Asc, especially DPS. However, Asc can make up for lack of skill/effort in short 30 seconds fights. Which most heroics are only ~30 second fights. Not true in raids at all, but goes a long way in heroics.

Also nice for all priests to be able to feel like they're actually contributing to DPS on raid mobs. Excluding a few abilities like Icewater/instinct most base priest spells/ca's leave a LOT to be desired anymore. Pretty sure if not for Asc the priest add from the gold Ro dragon last xpack wouldn't have been kept up with.

They would need to do a serious overhaul on fights and mechanics if not for Ascs.

You fail to see the point. The ascension spells are not the solution to long winded heroic zones - they are the cause of them. The difficulty of the zones (mob HPs) has been tweaked up to cover the fact people have OP ascension abilities.

I recently came back to the game after 2 years away and I honestly think Ascension abilities have all-but ruined the game. I play a bruiser, channeler or defiler. None of those characters were rolled to be DPS wizards/warlocks, especially the bruiser. I don't want to be forced down the line of having to use those skills. Ok, you say, don't use them. Generally I don't use them - on healers I spend all my time healing and can't afford the long casting times in my rotation, and on my bruiser because the spells are all Apprentice level I throw out more DPS with CAs. But the fact is the spells are there and I know at some point I will be compelled to level them up and start using them and breaking all class identity.

If I had my way I would do away with the system altogether and rebalance the game accordingly, probably at the start of the next expansion.

Oh, and WTF with the fighter clicky spell???

This 1,000 times.

Well said Heccie!

I don't like ascensions.

How it annoys tank aggro rotation .. it annoyed at least at the start ... tanks could sometimes struggle to keep hate while casting ascensions. also some classes work not as well with ascension than others.

Also if u chose the wrong one at the start and spent money/time .. it's a pain to change. the fact that u need the previous tier to write the next it time wasting and on purpose but so annoying .. when low tier ones are rarer than high tier ones. though they made it better this xpac ... still a pain

and those ascension aren't different enough from each other and not properly balanced. Geo till behind .. in damage .. and while the buffing is nice, it's too melee oriented. No other ascension is mage oriented as counterpart.

could have made an ascension class better for melee classes and so on. And as said above, scout and fighters wanna stay scouts and fighters, ascensions slowed the pace of fights. If u want slow cast time, play wiz/lock ...

the idea would have been great if u actually could swap more easily depending on group but since ascensions were a cash grab, it's designed toward that and not toward great gameplay :/

I usually don't have time casting many ascensions while I'm tanking. Gotta keep that aggro.

If ascensions are here to stay, what could then be interesting is more diverse ascension classes. Ascension of Hate for tanks, Ascension of Love/healing for healers, Ascension of Trickery for rogues, Ascension of Rage for melee dps etc

Unfortunately, there is no way they will get rid of them now. People have put real money into them. It would cause a sh**-storm if they were removed entirely. They are here to stay now.

To the a fore-mentioned Heccie, I absolutely agree on that clearly defined statement.

I have a Berzerker also, and agro is now become a struggle indeed.
The whole character I honed to assure agro management, yet when MILLIONS of points of damage (that do not even move the beasty's hitpoints 2%) suddenly come from ONE. PERSON. of course! that will gain the beasty's attention,... which oft times requires the use of all of the agro/threat rising skills to regain agro,...
In addition, the super-long warm up of the ascension skills assure one. does. no. thing. else.
just twiddles their thumbs,... all while not increasing/maintaining the beasty's aggression,...

I do, however, see where this Ascension crap comes from:
Since the newly arrived infantile players expect to be given ev-ery-thing (whether they need it or not) now, Now! NOW!!! NOW!!!! and these same complained incessantly at DBG, they came up with the Ascension skills to coddle them, which in lower-teir content would dramatically hasten the defeat of said Epic x4 beasty.
Having forgotten, of course, that that which is worked towards is appreciated that much more.

Yeah, funny how money drives things, huh?
So.
How much money would be required (what Membership is not enough?) to have things done Right?

I don't see how it should make a difference if someone paid cold hard cash to improve their character's performance (DPS) in a particular expansion HAS to be carried on into subsequent expansions. If these people paid for their upgrades, more fool them I say. I just hope they got value for money for it.

I, for one, would respect DBG far more if they held their hands up and said "We made a mistake. We are going to put it right" and fix the class balance rather than try to milk the cash cow even further. By all means work the lore/storyline to get round it - say the Gods were getting too worried about how powerful players are getting and stripped the power from the universe, to be gone forever. I am not a screen writer so ....

Anyhow, I am old enough and ugly enough to know that it is financiers that pull the strings in companies and what they say, goes.

I posted my reasons in the other thread.

I'm on the "Anti-Ascension" bandwagon as well for may of the same reasons stated earlier.
1. They've stripped classes of their defining traits.
2. They're ridiculously overpowered.
3. Entirely too expensive/time consuming to upgrade.
4. Take forever to cast and be able to be recast.

Now, they're not all bad. It is nice to get Etherflash off at just the right time and pull a 14 Billion + parse on 1 encounter. It strokes the male ego quite nicely.

I do hope they move away from them though. There have been so many other 'needed' items left to the wayside once a new expansion goes live. (Red, Yellow, Purple adorns?) They don't need to be eliminated, but marginalized so that they're not a prime focus. Bring the focus back to the Profession Abilities and make the Ascension Abilities that little extra umph.