I appreciate all the maps in this game, I really do. It’s depressing though, when I go on a map and see few to almost no other players.
When I started this game during beta weekends and at launch week, it felt like everything I do is so rewarding and I can pretty much just enjoy maps and get that sense of progression. For many players this feeling stops when your character hits 80 because progression begin to come in the form of Gold/Loot/Gear and this form of progression is a lot more difficult to balance.
First of all I’m against the common petition for a flat loot scaling on lower lvl maps like most people recommend, this will just encourage farmers to concentrate on the easiest map and farm there, leaving difficult maps empty. (Why farm at Cursed Shores anymore when Caledon Forest yields just as good drops?)
However, fine tuning small bits of events and bosses along with some additions can make a big difference.
Here are some of my suggestions:
- Re-introduce GW1’s Weekly scavenge hunt (like Nicholas the Traveler’s great grandson or something…)
- Reward for ‘waste of time’ champions that are spotted in many locations of the world.
- True Map Vision – reveals all ongoing DEs on the map, non-event Champion spawns, etc, available in any of the below forms: (Hidden JPs and other mini dungeons will remain hidden for players that want to discover them as they go)
– Guild Buff (similar to +10% influence buff), cost 1000 influence or more (guilds can use this Vision and run DEs with many guild members, so the cost needs to match the potential reward in influence.
– Asuran Scanner Item, consumable. Strike a balance btwn its cost and duration obviously.
- Orr needs something. Probably my least favorite maps in the game. Cursed Shores established itself as the endgame farming map well enough but Straits and Malchor sometimes are so empty that events are not even doable. Need more incentive for players to play on Straits and Malchor, either:
– Nerf the enemies (way too many Risen underwater, its just sluggish to even traverse the map because most waypoints are contested and when you try to swim from point A to point B u get dragged to the bottom of the sea with 8 risen eating your face out)
– Add more Pact soldiers. This is a war on Zhaitan. Pact soldiers should be stronger and have a stronger presence here, this is Tyria’s elites united. They shouldn’t only appear in Dynamic events or in towns or outposts, they should be out there, just…fighting.
In addition, buff the loot. Orr maps are designed for group play, but there won’t be any group play if most people avoid setting foot here because there’s no balance between the effort and the reward.
- Better reward for longer events, slower paced events in general.
There are more but I’m out of time, need to get back to work.
TLDR: Maps are well done, however there needs to be a better balance in terms of effort and reward to spread the players out. This is very difficult to do and requires a lot of input from actual players.