Guild Wars 2

Orr has a problem. A completely understandable one to be sure, but also a fixable one. The problem is that currently, there is only one level 80 zone, and it’s Cursed Shore. It’s where everyone in Orr hangs out, and why shouldn’t they, when as said, it’s the only level 80 zone. This leaves the rest of Orr a ghost town, which is rather problematic for two reasons; the first being that a lot of content is going to waste, and the second is that people are rapidly becoming very bored with running the same events over and over again.

When I first set foot in Orr, my initial reaction was “Awesome”. Here I am as part of an invasion force, trying to push into the enemy’s stronghold, as evidenced by the dynamic events based around this very theme. But as I continued my way inland it became clear that these events were in no way nessessary to advancement in the zones, and in fact the only one that really mattered was the one to unlock Arah.

My suggestion is as follows. Firstly, all of Orr should be level 80. Story quests may have to be slightly altered for this, but I believe this to be easily overcome. This alone would open up far more content for max level players, yet I believe that Orr can be far more than that. Orr should function as a giant warfront, with the Pact pushing against Zaitan’s minions right across all three zones. You can see that this is the intent of the dynamic events currently in place, but with the ability to just move onto the next zone, they’re not really providing that sort of experience. Here’s what I propose.

Until the dynamic events in one zone have progressed all the way to the end, the next zone is locked out. For example, the Pact must push the Orrian’s all the way back in the Straits of Devestation before they can enter Malchor’s Leap. Camps will constantly be under siege, as they are now, and losing them will be far more problematic for your world. If you can succeed in opening up the next zone, the first zone will lock down and cannot be taken back until the Orrians push you out of the next zone.

This would give the entire battle for Orr a new character. Players would experience far more content and have a real sence of acomplishment. They would feel immersed in a battle that felt truly dynamic, knowing that their deeds will have a great impact on the land they fight in. Orr should be the place where the biggest and best meta-events take place; a battle that rages across three zones would unquestionably provide that!

If Anet could impliment this, it would also open up the possibility of more events being added in, even Orrian fortresses manned by legions of the undead that must be taken to secure entry into the next zone. The keep lords could be Zaitan’s dragon minions (and we all love a good dragon fight!).

So, thoughts?

I think it’s cool but I think people would kick up a stink about it being too restrictive and I guess that’s a valid point. Some would complain that it’s now an MMORTS, others would probably just start swearing and saying things about your parents… People already complain enough that the waypoints are always contested, I actually like them that way, it means you have to fight for your place in Orr, which makes sense and is kind of already in the flavour of what you’re suggesting.
For every person who expresses an interest in an idea there are a bunch more telling the person who thought it up to die in a fire and probably an equivalent amount who liked it and said nothing.
I also think that, unless it was implemented to avoid this, people would focus only on the events that got them to their goal, meaning any extra content in the areas would effectively be missed by a large portion of the players and we know how much ArenaNet likes us seeing all the work they put into the world.
In any case, I like the idea at least but I think they restricted us in a way that isn’t too invasive on our invasion

A good idea. I was imagining something like this too, when I first went through Orr.

At the moment, all the personal story quests, NPC dialogue, etc. mention how Orr is a constant struggle to gain and hold new ground, and some of the DEs reflect this as well, but in practice, as you mentioned, it doesn’t feel that way, given that players can simply zone into the next zone and completely ignore everything going on in previous zones. It would be good to feel like the players are actually making a push into the heart of Zhaitan’s territory.

Some problems, though:

- What would happen to players in a zone if it became locked? Would they be ported back to the previous zone? Would they be allowed to run around in an area inaccessible to everybody else? What would happen if someone logged out in a zone that was locked when they logged back in?

- Later on, when the population inevitably declines and shinier, newer content is released, accessing Arah would become difficult, if not impossible, for players, unless they organised a group of players to retake the entirety of Orr, which would also be difficult, not to mention time-consuming.

- As great as an idea like this is, it’d probably require a decent amount of manpower that ANet probably don’t have to spare at this point in time, unfortunately. And as stated above, a good deal of the playerbase are likely to complain about any changes made, just because they can.

It certainly would make Orr more interesting, though (I’m sick of Cursed Shore and it’s DEs already, and I’ve only spent about ~6 hours there). It’d probably help deal with the bot problem, too

I don’t think the zone itself would become locked, rather the events would be. I would say that the zones controlled by the Orrians should have significantly more Orrians in them, or that there should be patrolling veteran or champion mobs that would come to the aid of any of the more common undead that were in a fight nearby. If a player or group of players wants to infiltrate that is their option but it should feel like being behind enemy lines, because it is. Meanwhile zones controlled by the players should be very safe. Maybe a few infiltrators or a random chicken or eagle to keep the players there on their toes but no significant numbers of random mobs everywhere. If something like this wasn’t implemented in Orr, it would be great for the endgame level of a future expansion.