Having only played the game for a short 3 months, I think I now appreciate better why most veterans considered this game ‘done’. I’ve never done much of dungeons as they don’t look fun at all, so I probably won’t comment too much on that. Personally, I feel that ANet should rework on the existing content and mechanics instead of introducing new content which are more of the same, just with different monsters.
Anyway, the following are just some of my thoughts to keeping the game fun for a long while @80:
- High level group events (dragons and Ulgoth for e.g.) need to be more challenging and dynamic. Currently, the 3 dragons become uninteresting after a few attempts, and the main issue I feel is that we can faceroll them too easily. Jormag is harder than the other 2 but it’s just lengthier that’s all, the fight itself isn’t interesting at all. My suggestion is to make the fight more dynamic, e.g., Shatterer will from time to time focus aoe attacks on areas where players cluster around; the issue I have is that it feels too scripted. I don’t really know what can be done for Jormag so I guess I’ll leave the creativity to ANet. As an exchange for making it harder, make the rewards significantly better for level 80 players, for e.g., given them a random level 80 exotic, a random shop item (from the value of a black lion key to a total makeover kit for e.g.), 1-2 rare materials and 2 more random gear subjected to MF.
- There has to be a better way to get players notified when a major group event is taking place. My suggestion is to notify players when it is about to happen by sending them a mail, if they have previously visited that zone, to reinforce the fight. Better yet, allow us to track which events we are interested to be notified. I think epic battles are only fun with a large group of people (if the server can take it) running around. One of my gripes is that I have to resort to a third-party source to stay informed of when an event might take place if I’m in a different zone. Being a ‘hero’, why can’t the Vigil call on me when they need help?
- The lack of a holy trinity needs to be compensated in some form to make an encounter more tactical. In group events which are not meant to be of epic scale, the champions should be cc-able but their damage should increase such that failing to cc would result in serious consequences. In epic group events, however, bosses should be un-ccable but have some ways to discourage players from clustering in one spot so that they always have to keep moving and death must feel imminent. And for such events, there could be some ways where various types of damage become more effective at varying phases. E.g. in phase 2, some bosses have increased toughness and condition damage becomes more effective at dealing damage.
- Improve the rewards for Cursed Shore and make it rightfully the current choice for level 80 gameplay. E.g., if all temples are taken, anyone in the area will get MF and GF buff for as long as the temples remain uncontested or for the next 1 hour (whichever is longer).
- Do something about WP costs. For a casual player like me, the amount of silvers I spend moving around can sometimes exceed what I earn for that session from loot alone.
Perhaps some of the things I’m suggesting here may have impact on the economy. My worry is that if things don’t get better, we’re probably gonna start hoping for henchman and heroes soon.