Guild Wars 2

Hello,

I have been a enthusiastic Guild Wars fan for nearly a decade now, and after playing this game since release there has been alot of good but change and content in this game but is severely lacking in terms of change you would expect from a dynamic world. I would like to make a suggestion to a problem I see that tends to lose regular players and discourages returning players to stay.

Problem:

Some players don’t feel like the dynamic of the “living world” idea is not being met. The living story, while good, is not immersive enough to maintain interest in the game, while it offers playable content it offers nothing in concrete progression or change. Such as anything new in terms of places to explore, personal character/story development, or world progression that is permanent.

From the viewpoint of people returning after an extended break of being bored or burned out, the game is exactly the same it was as a year ago with some novelty features that don’t directly contribute to interest in content. Those people ask “whats new?” and all that is really there for them is the current living story. The world itself is the same, most of the dungeons have not changed much, most of the zones are the same, and the same and huge areas of the map are still inaccessible. There is nothing to note worthy to draw in returning players to come stay awhile and play new content, explore, and have new experiences. The living story does nothing for these players as this content comes and and then it goes.

Too much resources and focus seem to be going into the living story leaving all other areas of the game neglected. Living story it seems is a very important part of the game to like, too important in fact, if a player doesn’t like living story it really effects their will to play, as it is the only part of the content that gets regular or even semi-regular attention. I feel like Anet has backed itself into a corner by promising temp content every two weeks and leaving everything else neglected. I don’t think many players would mind if you took a week or two more with living story and used some of those teams on other areas of the game.

While there are many different areas of the game to improve, my suggestion is mainly for PvE.

Suggested Solution:

Now while many are screaming for something like a box expansion, I feel that this is the old way of doing things and is not suitable for the model of this game. But, Anet does need to find a way to introduce new permanent content that offers new places to explore.

I suggest that Anet find the means to make continuations of the personal story that journey into entire zones every 6 months to 12 months. These updates should include new personal story quests, 4 – 6 new explore-able areas, 1 new dungeon complete with 1 story path and 3 explore-able, a new world boss, new baddies, and achievements related to content.

This would give the game more of a sense of a changing and evolving world that it lacks into its 2nd year. It gives a returning player that has just logged on after months something totally new to explore to make them stay in the game, maybe reconnect with old friends and guildies giving them more incentive to stay, and maybe buy some cash shop goodies. And for the players that plays regularly, it really gives them something to become immersed in that is not time gated or fragmented over two week periods that they can complete on their own time table.

For Example, personally, I would like to see the Crystal Desert. You could have the Pact journey into the crystal desert seeking the ascension trials to beat some threat (a dragon maybe?). Have players visit the different trials of ascension as parts of their story, even maybe fight their doppelganger like in Guild Wars 1. The dungeon and end story could be placed where Glint’s Dragon Lair was. The world boss could be something out of the corrupted Tombs of Primeval Kings. There is so much background lore to build off of in these areas its a shame that they sit there with unused potential.

I am sure it would do alot of good for new, returning, and die hard players to see the game expand. Comments and criticisms are welcome.