Guild Wars 2

There have been many suggestions in regard to the acquisition of the precursor weapon once the fabled scavenger hunt goes live. There is much potential in this method to have players experience all that Tyria has to offer, and players believe that a good start to implementing this system begins with a simple letter. Here is my legendary undertaking. Be sure to share your thoughts and additions to what you would like to see in the precursor scavenger hunt.

There have been many posts suggesting that upon completing 100% map exploration, a letter comes in the mail from a mysterious stranger (I always thought a descendant of Nicholas the Traveler would be a flavorful touch). I think an interesting touch would be to introduce the scavenger hunt with a riddle. A letter that says something along the lines of:

_”Hello Hero,
I have been following your travels. I have seen what you have seen, but the question remains – have you seen what you have seen? If you would like to get the most out of life, and make your travels meaningful, please meet me at [insert location].”

I’ll be seeing you soon,
Nicholai the Wandering Scribe_

This would send the player to a location where the NPC will describe a story about a weapon that holds great potential to be something greater – something legendary. He will initiate the hunt for the items required to gain access to the precursor.

*Please note that this description is for Precursor weapons ONLY. This is not a description for a new way to achieve legendary items themselves.

Requirements:
* 100% Map Completion
* 100% Personal Story Completion
* “Crash Landing” Achievement
* “Dispelling Shadows” Achievement
* “Cleanup Crew” Achievement
* “Svanir’s Bane” Achievement
* “Don’t Feed the Beast” Achievement
* “Kill the Hydra Queen” Achievement
* “Shattered” Achievement
* “That Had to Burn” Achievement

Components:
World Boss Component:
* x1 Frozen Tooth (Claw of Jormag Chest; ~1-2% drop rate)
* x1 Crystallized Ectoplasm (Shadow Beast Chest; 1-2% drop rate)

• x1 Malfunctioned Gizmo (Steam Ogre Chest; ~1-2% drop rate)
  * x1 Shaman Chief’s Pendant (Shaman Chest; ~1-2% drop rate)
  * x1 Perfectly-Aged Rum (Covington Chest; ~1-2% drop rate)
  * x1 Nightmare Carapace (Jungle Wurm Chest; ~1-2% drop rate)
  * x1 Shattered Remnant (Shatterer Chest; ~1-2% drop rate)
  * x1 Sunless Scale (Tequatl Chest; ~1-2% drop rate)
  Dungeon Component:
  Each path of each dungeon will have a chance to contain a “crest fragment”. When all fragments are combined, you will receive an item, “Crest of [dungeon]”.
  * x1 Crest of Phantoms
  * x1 Crest of the Noble
  * x1 Crest of Twilight
  * x1 Crest of Sorrow
  * x1 Crest of Flame
  * x1 Crest of the Waves
  * x1 Crest of Eternity
  * x1 Crest of the Dead
  For example, path one of Ascalon Catacombs will have a chance to yield “Fragment of Phantoms 1,” path two may yield “Fragment of Phantoms 2.” and path 3, “Fragment of Phantoms 3”. Upon gathering all of these, you can combine them into Crest of Phantoms.

Personal Story Component
* x1 [insert chosen faction] Recruitment Confirmation
-This component will be gained through your chosen faction after joining. Players who have completed this step will receive the item in the mail.
* x1 Zhaitan’s Head
-This component will be included in the rewards for completing Aarah story mode. Players who have completed this step will receive the item in the mail.

Meta Event Components

• x1 Blessing of Balthazar – gained from completing Balathazar Temple Meta
• x1 Blessing of Lyssa – gained from completing Lyssa Temple Meta
• x1 Blessing of Grenth – gained from completing Grenth Temple Meta
• x1 Blessing of Melandru – gained from completing Melandru Temple Meta
• x1 Blessing of Dwayna – gained from completing Dwayna Temple Meta

Upon receiving all items, the player will go back to the NPC. He will give a riddle about the Mystic Forge, and the combination of items to use to create a key to a secret area that contains a jumping puzzle. At the end, there is a chest with an emblem that can be traded to the NPC for a Precursor of the player’s choosing.

Well that’s all I have for now. I thank you all for reading and would love to hear some feedback in regards to what you think drop rates should be, difficulty of obtaining items, binding status of items (account/soul), etc.

I do like this idea more than just gambling exotics in the forge. I do have a few problems with it. Having the player complete every dungeon and every path in those dungeons multiple times is a great way to introduce more of the game and give some prestige to the legendary item. The problem is it requires a group. Not all paths are equal and most players refuse to do a lot of the paths. You could get your piece in CoF1 and 2 very quickly but 3 could take you a long time. Either you get lucky and find pugs that can do it or you can beg guild mates to help you out. I don’t like either of these situations.

This might not be a problem when it first starts but as people complete it they become less interested in repeating those unpopular dungeons. Also, as ANET adds new content they also thin out old content. This sounds a lot like the old book system they had in GW1. If you complete all the dungeons you get a reward, a very nice reward, but you could also turn it in early, without full completion, for a lesser reward. Early on this was annoying because some players really did not like specific dungeons so you would always go for the partial reward. Then they supplemented the books with their version of the dailies. Every day you could gain a decent reward for completing a specific dungeon and/or mission. There was only 1 dungeon chosen per day so if the player really disliked the dungeon then they had to forgo the daily reward.

So here’s what I think is needed to put this in:
1. Make the obscure paths and meta events more appealing.
2. Give a strong reason for players to want to complete these obscure paths/events even if they do not want/need the progress on the precursor.
3. Give some leeway if some players hate specific dungeon paths or events. The more dungeon paths the player dislikes the more he’ll need to work.
4. Some of the provided numbers are a bit harsh (but its still a good concept).

I enjoy your posts gnat, so I wish you luck with your ideas.

So instead of grinding gold/karma, you’d be grinding event chests for the 1-2% drop?

Nice, sounds like a massive improvement.

/sarcasm

“* “Kill the Hydra Queen” Achievement”

have you tried getting that achievement? I’ve stared at “The Lionguard are preparing to attack Laughing Gull Island and Taidha Covington” after clearing the blocking events for 8h in a row…

Jenny and Lindi and Hekja and Bill all taken care of, would not proceed with them gone, and this is something you’ll find written all over the place. No new content based on broken content >.<

GKC.3851:

beg guild mates to help you out.

beg? sounds like a rough guild…

Chances are too low. Make it 50% on all and I’m game. It’d still make you play the game a lot, without resorting to tedious one-path grind.