OK, so I am sure this has been brought up before, but I wanted to throw my two cents in.
GW2 is an amazing, deep, and magnificent achievement in the world of gaming. Even when it comes to music it breaks new ground by allowing players to make their own playlists for battle, day, night, and so on.
Unfortunately, GW2 seems to have lost something very important in this process: Zone-based music. Zone based music isn’t just a nice touch; it is a vital part of immersing the player in the experience and the part of the world they are in. Music which changes zone-to-zone or even just region-to-region plays a HUGE part in making the player feel like he’s going to different places, and exploring new places. For the longest time I wondered why despite starting in Kryta (Queensdale), I still didn’t really feel like Meguuma jungle or the shiverpeaks were really a ‘different’ place. Then I realized that it was the music. in Aion, FF11, FF14, and Rift, as well as many console games, music changes associated with zones or regions helped you feel like you were going somewhere ‘new.’ In stead GW2 has the same music plastered over 90% of Tyria. Not that the music isn’t good; it’s great! But GW2 needs zone-based music. I don’t mind if the zone-based aspect is lost when a custom playlist is added; players who override the music generally aren’t the type who care much for the game’s music anyway. Or, conversely, if Anet can’t expend the resources needed to make the volume of new music needed to do this, just extend the Custom music such that players can set their own zone-based music?
Just my thoughts, and it is something I would really love to see come to the game. Recently playing in the FF14 beta I was reminded of this shortcoming, as in FF14 there is zone/region specific music, and the game REALLY drew me into it’s story and world in a way GW2 rarely did. Gameplay sucked, of course, compared to GW2, but that is just my personal opinion. I’d like to keep this topic focused on GW2 and zone-based music, not ‘which MMO is better.’
