Guild Wars 2

I had an idea about how to implement a “raiding” style progression system to Guild Wars 2 without adding the annoying stat gear grind that is associated with Rift/WoW style raiding but providing the challenge/progression wanted by hardcore PvE players who love Guild Wars 2 and want to see if succeed. Since this idea has already been placed into the game via Agony Resistance for the Fractals of the Mists, applying it to a larger raid type setting wouldn’t be impossible

Let me set the scene here with a hypothetical “raid instance” that I will use to describe the idea.

Ice Dragons Embrace (Raid Instance for 10-20 people)

Instance would contain 7 bosses (for demonstration of idea only)

• 6 bosses setup in tiers (2 bosses per tier) and a final boss.

• All bosses would award the guild who downs them an “Ice Dragon’s Embrace Mark” to be used to “upgrade” the “guild as a whole” Icy Resistance level.

• When you enter the raid instance, you would be presented with a resistance selection screen just like changing difficulty in Fractals of the Mists. All guilds would start at ZERO Icy Resistance difficulty so the first week would be the HARDEST and only the top players would be able to down all the bosses.

• 1st tier would contain 2 bosses that would not do any “Icy Resistance” type attacks. They would drop a guaranteed rare item with a small chance of an exotic etc. on hardest difficulty (0 resistances).

• 2nd tier would have 2 bosses that would do light Icy Resistance type attacks that would hurt but you don’t really need Icy Resistance to live through. They would be tough but you could do it. They would drop a guaranteed rare item with a small chance of an exotic etc. on hardest difficulty (0 resistances).

• 3rd tier would have 2 bosses that had ALOT of Icy Resistance type attacks and the attacks would almost down anyone who got hit by them if they had full health. These would be a real challenge! They would drop a guaranteed exotic item etc. on hardest difficulty (0 resistances).

• Final boss would have abilities that would one shot down players if they had ZERO guild resistances. This would require perfect teamwork and player skill to down this guy with zero guild resistance. He would drop a guaranteed exotic item with a small chance (like 5-10% chance) of a precursor and/or raid exclusive armor/weapon claim ticket on hardest difficulty (0 resistances).

• It would cost 7 “Icy Dragon Embraces Marks” to upgrade one level of Icy Dragon Resistance. This would give all the players who entered this instance that resistance buff. It would help, just like in Fractals of the Mists to reduce the damage of these attacks.

• Each new level of the Icy Dragon resistance would make the fights more forgiving by reducing the damage of the special attacks by let’s say 10% BUT ALSO lower the rewards for doing them. This would allow even casual players to see the content which is important but also give people something to work towards.

• Provide SPECIAL achievements for completing the raid instance with lower levels of resistances. Provide special weapon/armor skins to mark achievements for people who completed the raid while having zero resistance. Make the zero resistance raids offer much higher chances at precursors to encourage people to keep trying to do a “zero resist clear” of the raid.

This idea of making the resistance be a buff that the guild earns and not something players would need to farm for, I think that would invalidated ALOT of peoples fear of any sort of “gear grind”.

Thoughts?

Only way I’ll “Raid” in GW2 is if it’s FoW/UW. And no gear prereqs to do it. Make it like it was in GW and have it unlocked per server thru HoH.Have mobs in UW drop a hard to find mat that is used for Obsidian armor and weapons. Obisidain armor and weapons would be craftable in FoW only. IF we ever get Elona then they could also add DoA and have Tormented weapons drop there.

There are no gear pre-reqs in the idea that I presented above. It doesnt matter what the zone is but since the story of GW2 is about the Elder Dragons I assume anything they come out with would have something to do with them.

I like Aggelos’ suggestions. It would give more for people to do and increase people’s activities with their guild. The guild system that was originally given to us was dull and with the addition of guild missions it has gotten better. This would only further the love people have for this game and the enjoyment they have with their guild. Making it difficult and having to implement resistances and dodging to succeed would bring many PvE players back into the fray.
I don’t agree with Galpher’s thoughts, though. GW2 should not be so directly connected to GW1. It is the same world, yes, but using the same dungeons and formats from GW1 to GW2 would just be lazy and boring. They are two completely different games, albeit with the same lore, but different nonetheless. Dropping a rare mat for upgraded weapons/armors would be awesome, but there’s no reason it can’t be crafted at the crafting stations in all the cities or combined in the Mystic Forge.

I like the idea of crafting mats needed to craft items from raid instances that would be cool as well. Killing the bosses could drop the crafting mats to make the new skins of armor from that raid instance. Very neat idea!

Interesting idea, but I personally don’t like anything the resembles fractals and agony resistance, although that’s the only way so far to make a raid and add some progression without tiers of gear.

On the other hand, rewarding a guild will mean that you’ll have to enter with your guild, and if you’re a member of a small guild, or in one that isn’t interested in raiding, you won’t be able to raid. On the other hand, using Ice Dragon’s Embrace Marks on a individual player will create similar problems as Agony resistance when it comes to finding players with enough resistance.