Anet, you’re probably aware of this one dimension of current dissatisfaction with the guild reward system, but just in case, I hope this post gets your attention and this particular dimension gets on your list of challenges to solve during your redesign efforts.
TLDR: Guildmates like to do things together, and that means running dungeons together. Setting up regularly scheduled farming events, etc. And just generally supporting each other in accomplishing each member’s end-game goals. In a similar manner, gaming couples and family members and friends who game together do the same thing, but on a smaller scale. But a huge problem with your current token reward system for prestige dungeon armor is that each set of armor is dungeon-specific. Which means that for any of your social gamers that I’ve described (which I’m sure comprises a huge percentage of your total player base), if I want the armor from Dungeon X and my guildmate/spouse/friend/family member wants the armor from Dungeon Y, then we have to -each- do literally twice the work of any one solo “hardcore” gamer to mutually support each other in our dungeon farming efforts.
As I see it, the simplest way to solve this problem is to make all dungeon token rewards “neutral”, in that all the 8 different prestige sets can be purchased with the same common currency, regardless of which dungeon the currency was earned in. Yes, I know you feel this will encourage players to farm the easiest path possible—and it well might do so—but the answer to THAT problem is to make all paths from all dungeons equally fun and rewarding in their own unique way so that they’re all desirable. But do so without resorting to this uber grind you have now. Why not solve THAT problem by, say, having each different path (out of 24 total) become well-known for having a high percentage drop rate of desirable rare crafting mats? Or something along those lines?
I hope that single, concise TLDR summary illustrates the fundamental problem with at least one aspect of your current rewards system and offers one possible solution. The current system is untenable and reviled by most of us because casual/social gamers are actively punished compared to lone-wolf “leets” and “hardcores” who will just PUG their brains out to get what they want. With the current reward system, a guild/family/friends who would love nothing more than to support each other and help each other get through these challenging dungeons to achieve their longer-term goals is actually faced with either: A) far more real effort than a so-called “hardcore” player, or B) saying to each other "gee, I can’t help you; we should each just go PUG for our respective goals because it’s already hard enough grinding through X set of runs for just one dungeon alone.
There are other significant problems with your current dungeon system: Too much repair cost, not enough monetary rewards, not enough chance of at least rare drops that might be actual desired gear upgrades, loot that doesnt’ scale to your current level even if you thrash for 1-2 hours in the explorable modes, and on and on. Not to mention that boss/trash mechanics are far too random and senseless to be actually “fun” challenging instead of just “wtf frustrating and boring” challenging. But I’m not here to beat that horse any deader than it’s already been beaten. If you at least solve the primary issue I describe in this thread SOON, that alone will be a huge improvement in the overall desirability of doing your dungeon content.
(edited by shaktiboi.5194)