Guild Wars 2

Just a thought:

Many living story elements are temporary in order to foster a feeling that the world is changing and progressing. But the fractals (or at least some of them) are specifically supposed to be parts of Tyria’s past. And supposedly the intent was to periodically add new fractals to the mix.

Why not reuse some of the content from temporary living story events to construct new fractals?

Take the Molten Weapons Facility as an example. There probably shouldn’t be a fractal that is exactly like that dungeon, for a variety of reasons, but there could be a fractal that reuses part or all of the map (certainly some of the art assets), many of the same enemies, and probably even some set pieces such as the room where you dodge all the traps.

Turning that into a fractal would certainly take some work (difficulty scaling, etc.), but presumably no more work than creating a new fractal entirely from scratch, so if you would have been doing that anyway, this should be equal or less work and could be a way to increase the library of permanent content and let some players experience stuff they missed while still allowing the living world to progress.

Optionally, it could also serve as a way to reintroduce some temporary crafting materials (like azurite) as rare drops within the appropriate fractals, so they can continue to trickle into the economy. (I’m not sure whether that’s desirable, but if you wanted to do it this would be an easy opportunity.)

Would be fun, fractals are one year old already, we need some new to explore!