A step in between
Part 2:
You could say thats what storymode is for learning stuff and getting better. I think storymode isnt really cutting the edge, because the rewards are just not enough. Gearprogression is a big thing and also a great source of motivation and enjoyment. In gw2 all exotic gear has the same stats. There are no tiersets or whatever. So the natural first goal of a level 80 character is to get a full lvl 80 exotic set. You can get this prettykitteneasy through crafting, but because its easy, I dont enjoy that at all. As always: Maybe im the weird one here, but i enjoy getting my gear from dungeons far more. But again: This is not a thread about something ingame is broken. Storymode is great for the story and that is sufficient for me. I think there should be a way to get exotic gear through dungeons on the level of the old CoF. It doesnt need to be good looking, thats the point. From the point you acquired this theoretical armorset, all other armorsets are just an upgrade in terms of looks. I think this would also be pretty in terms with arenanets point of view to have a way ingame, that allows you to get not-so-awesome looking, exotic gear through no-so-hard dungeons. So after you acquired said gear, you would feel like you reached the point where farming harder content for awesome looking gear becomes the logical next step in your progession.
Another thing about dungeons in gw2 and in particular storymodes is the lootchests you get. They give really bad loot most of the time. Now you can boost your luck with magic find, but I think most people here arent oblivious to the whole debate about that in Diablo 3. Running in magic find gear always kittens your stats in one way or the other and you’re giving the other people you run with a harder time. This really really shouldnt be encouraged in dungeonruns. Using it in open world contet is fine, but you need to prevent this in dungeons. So somehow changing loottables to not profit from magic find would be great. At least in the „step in between“ mode id like to have.
Another thing I always enjoyed is puging. Which isnt really encouraged by the game. The game doesnt encourage you to run storymode more than once, and a pug may very well not be able to beat explorable mode by design. Again and again: This wouldnt be something I see as bad, if there was this step in between that actually was puging friendly.
Last thing i’d like to say is i really wouldnt have a problem with you guys taking your time to implement something like that. But if this proves to be a fruitfull thread, i’d like to hear from a dev if this would be a likely thing to be in the game or not. I’d like know that in the near future, because if it isnt, gw2 may simple be not for me. That wouldnt be a problem for me and it wouldnt be a problem for you. I would move on and certainly not be mourned. It would just be the way it is and thats that.
Sincerely
Ugrash