Guild Wars 2

Provide Options to Hide, Individually:
1. Chat box
2. Mini-map
3. Quest list
4. Party window (even the little head that’s there when not in a party)
5. Skill/utility bar

This is for those players who like to run with immersion. I am well aware that you can hide the entire interface, but there have been times where I wanted to hide just one thing and not have to lose everything else. The party ‘head’, for example, annoys me, to no end, sitting there when I am not in a party.

Improve Party List:

1. Indicate party leader in party list.
2. Show avatars of party members even if they are not in the same area.
3. Indicate health and conditions of party members, even if they are not in the same area.

This would allow party members to better assist their squad-mates, if need be, without having to be in the same region. For example: Member A has to go to Lion’s Arch and Player B chooses to stay in Sparkfly Fen. While Member A is in Lion’s Arch, Player B becomes a little overwhelmed with enemies; Member A notices the fluctuations of conditions and health of Player B and rushes to their aid, dropping what they were doing in Lion’s Arch.

Mini Pets:

1. Allow players to name their mini pets.
2. Allow players to manage mini pets in a manner similar to a ranger’s pets.
3. Allow players to change out their mini pets without having to carry them in their inventory.
4. Allow players to identify a key-bind to summon/de-summon their mini pets.
5. Allow mini-pets, not summons, to retrieve loot when the player is downed, but not when defeated.

Managing mini pets in a similar manner to how a ranger would manage theirs would allow the player to have access to all of their mini pets, at all times, without needing to carry them around. They would still be placed in the collection tab of the bank but could be accessed, anywhere, with a key-bind.

These features would allow for more player customization.

I say pets, and not summons, simply because a summon is nothing more than a spell used to conjure a spectral being. A spell, going based on lore (not GW lore), is no longer in effect when the caster is dead. When down, the caster would be too weak to be able to support the manifestation of the summon; not to mention the fact that they would be too focused on reviving themselves to do much of anything else. I was contemplating suggesting that this work for defeated players as well but decided not to on the grounds that the player is defeated, they can do nothing more than go back to town.

Add a Difficulty Toggle to Dungeons:

1. Difficulty of dungeons can be adjusted to the number of players inside of the instance:

A). Low – 1 to 2 players
B). Medium – 3 to 4 players
C). High – 5+ players (just in case they choose to increase the party size)

I have run across several players, myself included, who like to spend a portion of their time doing things alone, with the option of talking to, and including, other people. I believe that it is reasonable to allow ‘solo players’ to play the game without being limited to what they can, or cannot, do because of game design. I am not advocating that the dungeons be re-worked into cake walks; an adjustment method would be sufficient. Also, in an attempt to prevent exploitation, the following measure(s) can be taken:

1. The difficulty of the dungeon would self adjust according to the members inside of the instance. Meaning: if the dungeon is opened on ‘high’, and one player leaves, the difficulty would re-adjust to ‘medium’ to accommodate the smaller party size; this would work vice-versa as well.
2. Difficulty toggle would only be applicable to story mode.

Cont…

Incorporate a Duel Skill System

1. Make it to where each skill would have a slightly different effect in PvE versus PvP.

Example:

*Skill A (PvE) does 300 damage and cripples target for 6 seconds
*Skill A (PvP) does 250 damage and cripples target for 4 seconds

This would prevent anymore skills from getting nerfed due to being ‘too powerful’. This could also, potentially, make it less tedious for some players to participate in PvP because they would not have to re-spec their traits/gear as often.

Incorporate a ‘Save Trait Build’ feature:

1. Allow players to save one to two trait builds that can be accessed via the Profession Trainer.
2. To save a trait build, the player would be charged (x) amount of coin for the first save; the second save would require a fee (y) amount of coin. The fee would be adjusted according to the level of the player; the second save would be (x) percentage higher than the first. Any save after the second would cost the same amount as the second save did.
3. Saving a new trait build, after the existing save slots have been used, would overwrite an existing save. The player would be asked which save they wished to overwrite.

Allowing players to do so would allow them to quickly access various trait builds without needing to reset their trait points to fulfill different roles. This would be helpful to players who participate in WvW, sPvP, and for those who perform different roles in parties.

Incorporate a Rotating Skill Bar for Keys 6 to 0:

1. Would work in the same manner as weapon swapping for the 1 through 5 keys, including a similar cool down to swap skill bars.
2. Would allow players to adjust their utilities, in real time, with the environment.
3. Would only include a secondary skill bar to swap to.
4. Could not be used in WvW and sPvP.

This feature would allow another layer of customization to players. To help avoid exploitation, the cool down to swap utility bars could be slightly higher than that of weapon swapping. This feature would also allow players to set one utility bar for one purpose and the second for another.

There have been numerous times, mid-battle, when I have wished that I had set my utility bar to be more defensive rather than the general offensive set-up that I normally use. I am aware that incorporating this would chance the dynamics of combat; however, I believe that it will help to put more coin into the pockets of the players by lowering the amount of repair bills acquired because of being unable to change stances mid-battle.

Implement Dungeon Finder

I am well aware that this has been mentioned numerous times before but I have yet to see a suggestion that would work effectively. So I suggest implementing one that is similar to either the dungeon finder in Dragon Nest or the one in Forsaken World; I do apologize if a similar suggestion has already been made.

Dragon Nest Example:

Players A, B, and C form a party for Y dungeon and add a post, to a bulletin, requesting more members. The party leader can request, in the description, a specific class/build to fill the spot(s). Players D and E join the party; the leader can either approve the addition or remove the new players and wait for ones who fit the supplied description.

Forsaken World Example:

Players A, B, C, D and E all sign up for a queue system, indicating that they are looking for a party for Y dungeon. The queue system sends a small pop up window to the players indicating that it has found them a party for Y dungeon. The player can either approve or deny the invitation. If approved, the player is placed in a party with the other players that requested the same dungeon. If denied, the queue system will continue to look for players until the party has been filled. Once the party is full, the queue system will teleport the players to the entrance of the dungeon.

Both systems would allow the individual party members to continue doing their individual tasks while looking for a party for dungeon Y. There would be no more loitering around various maps, spamming map chat, looking for a party for dungeon Y.

I agree with most of what you said, so I’ll focus on where I disagree:
Pets getting loot
Since only a single class has pets… no.
Dungeons difficulty toggle for less than 5 people
That would be crazy hard to balance, and I really think it’s not a good investment of the devs’ time. It’s perfectly acceptable to have content designed for people that like to play in groups, just as there is a pretty large chunk of the game designed for people that like PvP. Just get a group or do something else.
Duel skill system
The game is barely a month old, expect major balancing for quite some time. After that is settled, sure, implement PvE and PvP skills if you must.
Rotating skill bar
What makes the utility skills interesting is precisely their opportunity costs. If you can just carry all of the good ones all the time, then you have no meaningful decisions to make in skill selection.

I suppose I should have been a little clearer when I had mentioned pets that I was referring to mini pets since every class can use them.

I also understand that adding a difficulty toggle to the game would be difficult; I wasn’t meaning to imply that I thought it was easy. Nor was I saying that group content isn’t acceptable. This game is full of things that can be done either solo or in a group; dungeons are the only feature that requires a party to complete. There is also a very diverse player community that plays this game; there are people who like to solo, PvP, PvE, PvX, partiers, crafters, philanthropists, and so on. The game, in general, caters to practically every group, except for those who like to solo things. I have also noticed, not saying you specifically Seven, that when those solo players speak up and request that something be done to the game to make it more solo-friendly, they’re told, basically, to shut up and deal with it. The community of the game, in general, is rather closed-minded and unwilling to accept change(s) that vary from the original Guild Wars or World of Warcraft models; when those suggestions are made, the proposer is typically given a rather cold, and some times, rude response.

I also wasn’t expecting that the duel skill system be implemented over night. The game is relatively new and implementing too many major changes can be drastically detrimental to the game. It is a suggestion to be kept in mind for a later date.

To be honest, about the skill bar suggestion, if I had it my way, I’d have all of the skill equipped so I could use them whenever I wanted. The suggestion was made as a means to increase survival when situations take a turn for the worse rather than getting WTFBBQPWNED when an event spawns right on top of you.

I will now edit my post to reflect that I had meant mini-pets and not ranger pets.

+1 for any change that provides access to all content to solo players. I’ve heard many folks give the response “this is an MMO” and “join a group or do something else” and they probably have a point, but I just wanted to express the opinion that not everyone enjoys playing the game the same way. Some people either enjoy the solo game more, or don’t have long chunks of time to stay in a group during a dungeon/mission without needing to be AFK for a while. In GW1 I still haven’t been through Urgoz or the Deep since my H/H team is limited to 8 and I prefer not to PUG. I’m hoping my preferred playstyle won’t prevent me from experiencing dungeon content in GW2.

Orion Templar.4589:

+1 for any change that provides access to all content to solo players. I’ve heard many folks give the response “this is an MMO” and “join a group or do something else” and they probably have a point, but I just wanted to express the opinion that not everyone enjoys playing the game the same way. Some people either enjoy the solo game more, or don’t have long chunks of time to stay in a group during a dungeon/mission without needing to be AFK for a while. In GW1 I still haven’t been through Urgoz or the Deep since my H/H team is limited to 8 and I prefer not to PUG. I’m hoping my preferred playstyle won’t prevent me from experiencing dungeon content in GW2.

Agreed!