What are weaves for?

[I'm too old for this]

So ive been back playing for awhile and finally decided to look into weaves. issue is every topic i read about doesnt really discuss what they are for, only everyone complaining back and forth about if they suck or not.

I havnt done them....is there any reason to? Do i get any cool things from doing them that i can use in regular quick play?

[Dragontoast]

No real reason to.
The gear/level/talent mechanic it has is neat and I love it but the Weaves themselves suck.

Weaves are typically less than 1/4 of a standard map despite being visually awing and having unique mechanics that change gameplay. By the time you get to that big tree in the Grain mission you beat a Weave most likely.
You will get the same Winds of Magic again and again because they don't let you pick and didn't set a cycle pattern of some sort and there is no difficulty slider so to make weaves harder you have to play tons of easy weaves until the game starts to give you harder weaves.

There is a reason most people complain, it fell on its face but had potential.
Also there are no skins, hats, or paintings to earn by playing them and you can't complete daily/weekly quests by doing them so there is really not much reason to play them except to play them.

[Davrick]

You get XP. So if you're still leveling up your character, there's that. As far as any other benefits that apply to the normal game, I don't believe there are.

You also get Essence. You use Essence to build up your character in the weaves. Specifically, you use it to craft your weapons, and an amulet that serves as both your jewelry and your Talents. Once you have enough Essence, it's actually a pretty cool system. Much better that randomly rolling for gear. However, the gear you buy with Essence is only usable in the Weaves.

And that's it as far as concrete things you get from playing weaves. Other things:

You get fun (subjective, and very much a hotly-debated topic). Weaves work differently than normal maps. I enjoy them every now and then as a change of pace. Other people absolutely hate them. No way to know until you've tried it.

If you're into competition, there's a ladder system that you can try to get your name on. I personally don't care about ladders, but some people do.

I don't think I've missed anything, but if I have, someone will be along shortly to point it out.

[Davrick]

Originally posted by Dragontoast:

Also there are no skins, hats, paintings, or portraits to earn by playing them and you can't complete daily/weekly quests by doing them so there is really no reason to play them except to play them.

There are frames that you can earn for completing some of the Weave-based challenges.

[Dragontoast]

Originally posted by Davrick:

There are frames that you can earn for completing some of the Weave-based challenges.

I must have overlooked that when looking under the DLC challenges, well at least there is something I guess.

[Kaelus Von Sestiaf]

I think that's the biggest reason Weaves are as unpopular as they are: There really is no incentive to play them.

They're fun as hell, mind you, and definitely unique experiences when compared to the base game, but they offer no substantial reward for completing them other than frames for getting to x weave and such. There's xp, but that's about it. You're definitely not going to be playing weaves to farm xp, and much less to farm loot.

But they are really, really fun.

At the moment, the people who can get the most juice out of Weaves are players who already have all the loot they could want, so they only play for fun already.

[B-O-N]

You get better at the game.
Learn to survive in Cata 3+

[General Plastro]

As someone who already has all the loot i would want, i still loathe the Weaves mode, its a bizarre arena mode with bad map design.

I say Cataclysm is where most people who dont care for loot go for (its where i go at least), Weaves is still a rather poorly thought out mode IMO.

But then again, i dont really have much choice, theres barely anyone playing Weaves while Cata always has at least 4 to 7 lobbies at any given time (if not more)

[Derrame]

It's a game, the reason is to play it.