I’d like to start this post off with a bit of a side story. Skip down if you want to get right to the suggestion. Back when I was playing GW1 and eagerly awaiting the release of eye of the north, due to all the buzz of Gwens return. You can just imagine how sad I was when after all those years (in game and out) she didn’t remember me at all. Then as I was playing through and beat the game, one day on the wiki I saw there was a quest “Then and Now, Here and There”. In this quest, if you brought the old cape she gave you, you would go on one last personal adventure with her full memory of you intact. This was hands down my favor quest in the game. Its reward was crap and I could easily read all about it on the wiki, but I wanted to do it. I wanted to go on a quest with an old friend.
You could just imagine my excitement when A-net released the GW2 manifesto. They talked about how it would be our story, those we helped would remember us and we would have a real effect on the world. And I’ll admit my hopes were high. A-net has delivered quite well on most of its promises. This area though, I really felt fell through.
Right now, the game remembers your achievements in a couple forms. Heart vendors, some npc dialogue, and through the quest tree in your personal story to a slight degree. Though this is a large step forward compared to the old days of GW1 and most other mmo, I still wish to ask for more. One of the things said in the manifesto, was the line “The boss I just slayed just respawns 10 minutes later, it doesn’t care that I’m there.” I though to myself, how could they possibly pull that off? And well given it was around 4 years after the manifesto was released that GW2 actually came out, I had plenty of time to think. I want the world to remember me, my achievements. If I go into an area I want more then just the heart vendors to remember me. I want the centaur chief I beat to a pulp to stop shouting that I will never stop him though I have done it before.
The actual suggestion -
What I’d like to see done is a detection system, that just checks if the player has done the event before. Then change a little of the dialogue to reflect this fact. Maybe have it so if I visit home and talk to some old friends, they ask me about some of my exploits and talk about rumors they have been hearing of me instead of a two line I’m too busy to talk response. Just a small dash of detail, which I’m sure we have all noticed A-net loves to add to spice up the game. Though I’m sure this is actually much more complex than it seems it is something that would make playing through again so much more worthwhile. Fighting that pompous centaur chief for the 3rd time that used to run at the mouth instead having a bit of fear in his tone, or a bit of rage at seeing me again would be amazing. Or a good laugh at how word of mouth changes things, and rumor has it I’m a miniature norn going around throwing tanks at the undead during my battles with Zhaitan on a distant shore.
While I recognize that many other more important things still have yet to be added, this is something I’ve long hoped would be added in one form or another.