Question regarding dungeons for Leah Rivera — I think nearly everyone liked the Fractals of the Mists dungeon. It was a really new and interesting experience. Do you have any plans for something even more dynamic? For example, there was an interesting idea from one of our community members of having random dungeons in every map. A player gets a random piece of loot, a special item (map for example), if they use this item, it opens for them a random dungeon on the map—for 24 hours, for example. If the player decided to go there, they will face random creatures. What do you think about such an idea? Or maybe you have something better? How do you generate ideas? Are there any secrets or is it just a matter of brainstorming?
Leah Rivera, Game Designer: I’m always down for tackling dynamic content! I very much enjoyed working on the Fractals ankittenhrilled at how well it was received. As for future plans, I can’t divulge any specifics, but there’s a wide variety of projects that we’re working on to improve the game right now. Fans, like you all reading this, are vital to that process! You highlight the places we need to improve and allow us to focus our efforts and make Guild Wars 2 the best it can be.
Speaking of great community ideas, I think the idea of random dungeons in the maps would be a blast! I do wonder if the dynamic feeling you’re looking for would be better served in the open world though. The open world is built for that sort of thing! The addition of the other player element leads to unpredictable, unique experiences. Another player swooping in to lend a hand can be incredibly rewarding and lead to team building and socializing opportunities you can miss out on in dungeons. There are actually several hidden events, similar to what you mentioned in the world. I think taking those up a notch into a more player triggered, open world dungeon experience is a cool idea!
Idea generation for stuff like this is a give-and-take process between creative parties, very similar to what I just did in the previous paragraph. We’ll sit down in a meeting with a clear goal in mind and start discussing ideas. From there, the weaker concepts are eliminated and the stronger ones are built upon until we have some pretty decent content ideas. Then, those ideas go through a review process and are further refined or eliminated as need be. After that, we actually start building the content, which brings its own challenges into the mix! end
*Me*I like this idea, it could also be applied to holiday dungeons like a haunted castle with a vampire lord (Vampire Hunter D)or a mummy from Joko’s Army for Halloween, the Ice lord for winters day. Each year they could be different having them for about 2 weeks depending on the holiday and a year to change it. It couldn’t hurt. Just examples.