I think many players want new areas to explore in this game whether it is Tyria, Elona or Cantha. The hard thing here for Anet is to give us something new in these new zones without raising the levelcap and still be worth while to explore and spend time in.
I believe this was something they tried to do with Southsun Cove and the result is that that zone isn’t that much worth to be in.(except the karka queen)
Now Guild Wars 2 has one thing common with pretty much every other MMORPG out there and that is grinding.
I’m a pve player and the places I see most players at is in either Queensdale or Frostgorge Sound where they’re champion farming, FotM and people farming worldbosses. Now we can argue pros and cons about things Anet release in LS but it’s quite obvious the champion boxes were a success along with the weapons that can be dropped in those boxes.
So here comes my list with things that would makes new added zones worth playing and exploring without splitting playerbase up too much and still leave the levelcap at 80.
Unique
Make the new zones unique, something that can only be obtainable through that zone. Like the Orr temples vendors armors but also weapons and trinkets. This game needs more models obtainable through pve. The dungeon armors is almost 16 months old now and when we see new sets it’s through the gem shop.
Grinding
The karmagear was easy to get and Anet did explain that they didn’t know people would get that much karma in such a short time. Raise the price for the pieces from 42k karma(Orr prices) to maybe 84k or 126k. Players like to feel unique and legendarys and dungeon armors are more than quite common now and when you see someone with gem shop armor it’s sometimes quite good looking but it’s not hard to get if you have money.
Dailies
An RPG is much about seeing progress through stats and aesthetics and seeing your character developing in generall. But make the new zones have daily events that maybe occurs once or twice that will lead you to a chest which contains a token/tokens for something you want to buy. A slow progress that’s not RnG based. Again this makes the zone unique. However we can at first point agree that this games doesn’t need more currency but with the new wallet system it doesn’t need to be so inconvenient. Say we get to travel in to Dominion of Winds or to a heavily populated Kodan zone. The tokens can represent some sort of honor value of some kind that shows the faction that you’ve helped them which gives it more rpg-feeling to it.
New enemies
I gotta say I loved the karkas. But that’s a personal preference. However this game could use new enemies. Something that ties the enemy to the region. Pretty basic but not as effective as previous suggestions but I always find it quite nice to see new enemies in game whether it is karkas or twisted.
Lore
This game needs more lore for old veteran GW players but still be enjoyable for those who haven’t played the first GW. It’s always nice for the experienced eye to see that they are running around in a world they took their first step into in 2005. Make relics, books or ruins or just a place in generall that might be preserved. This was something, which for some, made Southsun Cove a bit… meh… Just because it came more of a shock. Give the playerbase something we want not something we maybe want.
That’s my take regarding adding new zones. Bare in mind that this is something I was thinking could fit in a LS as much as an expansion but since we’re pretty custom with the LS it thought of it out of that perspective.