Guild Wars 2

I bet anyone who played GW1 would feel really nostalgic about the Ring of Fire.

Also, it would be an appropriate place for extremely difficult open world content. It’s one of the most inhospitable places in Tyria.

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to have an open world area that’s more difficult than everything else in the game. Like the community would have to make an organized effort to explore and chart the area.

What do you guys think?

I feel like it’s a good place for Primordus to show up in another expansion.

Yes and no.

I do like the idea that’s not an issue at all. But this game has an issue gw1 did not. Solo in an open world can be impossible making it not fair to people who play at night, or when the map eventually dies it just becomes a ghost town.

Gw1 we had heroes and henchmen at all times.

The notion of challenge zones/modes has been bantered about at length. Inevitably, it also becomes a discussion of rewards. Hard content for hard’s sake doesn’t get played.

I’m not opposed to the idea of a hardmode zone, though. It’d be interesting for small parties and guilds to chase objectives for special currency to get things like armor skins and the like. Sort of a harder Silverwastes.

people will still complain, that’s not even enough content.

Rauderi.8706:

The notion of challenge zones/modes has been bantered about at length. Inevitably, it also becomes a discussion of rewards. Hard content for hard’s sake doesn’t get played.

I’m not opposed to the idea of a hardmode zone, though. It’d be interesting for small parties and guilds to chase objectives for special currency to get things like armor skins and the like. Sort of a harder Silverwastes.

Fractals gets played, and yes of course it has better rewards than the rest of the game. That’s fine. I like to play harder content but I feel like I should be rewarded appropriately and I think most of the players who play harder content feel the same way.

So in my vision of this super hard open world area, success would be highly rewarded. People would come for both the challenge and the rewards.

Sylent.3165:

Yes and no.

I do like the idea that’s not an issue at all. But this game has an issue gw1 did not. Solo in an open world can be impossible making it not fair to people who play at night, or when the map eventually dies it just becomes a ghost town.

Gw1 we had heroes and henchmen at all times.

I don’t think that’s a problem because we’re only talking about one zone. You’d just go somewhere else if nobody’s there. People who play at weird hours would have more trouble, but at the end of the day you can’t please everyone when it comes to a specific part of the game. Hopefully each player can find enough content that works for them. That’s the best you can do.

Another idea I had is there could be permanent effects when organized efforts are made. Zones would have to be unlocked by large groups of players making an organized effort. I’m thinking a huge world event that takes weeks or months to complete.

I’m thinking it will be the majority of the Primordus xpac maps. Meaning it will be necessary for story meaning don’t make it ridiculous. HOWEVER! I would support ONE map from the islands that has only minimal story involvement being a hardcore map or something.

Khristophoros.7194:

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to have an open world area that’s more difficult than everything else in the game. Like the community would have to make an organized effort to explore and chart the area.

After the Tequatl fiasco, if ArenaNet were to design a challenging open world experience, I’m sure they would just copy-paste the enemies from Orr and give them 10 times more health, while keeping everything else the same. I honestly wouldn’t look forward that kind of content.

Test.8734:

Khristophoros.7194:

Sometimes I imagine what it would be like to have an open world area that’s more difficult than everything else in the game. Like the community would have to make an organized effort to explore and chart the area.

After the Tequatl fiasco, if ArenaNet were to design a challenging open world experience, I’m sure they would just copy-paste the enemies from Orr and give them 10 times more health, while keeping everything else the same. I honestly wouldn’t look forward that kind of content.

What are you talking about? Look at the Silverwastes. That is very different from all the old content. It’s just not as challenging as what I’d envision the Ring of Fire islands to be.

I think the majority of the Ring of Fire is actually Primordus itself. It will be a lot of fun when it fully wakes up and take one flight around Tyria, burning everything to ashes. wink

Khristophoros.7194:

Fractals gets played, and yes of course it has better rewards than the rest of the game. That’s fine. I like to play harder content but I feel like I should be rewarded appropriately and I think most of the players who play harder content feel the same way.

So in my vision of this super hard open world area, success would be highly rewarded. People would come for both the challenge and the rewards.

Fractals’ rewards are trash for the time spent. You can earn so much more in half the time just farming ambient creatures….

But i would really like an area that can only be travelled in groups, under the risk of being destroyed if you so much as stray from the path…. an area with extremely good resources, but you have to fight big battles to get to the resources, and no wp to make your journey easier….

For example, the end of the road could be a town where you can buy all sorts of crafting materials for a really cheap price, but there’s a daily limit per player and you have to carry it back following the same road you took to reach the town. If you wp before reaching the map’s exit, you lose all the goods you bought/collected.

Aenesthesia.1697:

For example, the end of the road could be a town where you can buy all sorts of crafting materials for a really cheap price, but there’s a daily limit per player and you have to carry it back following the same road you took to reach the town. If you wp before reaching the map’s exit, you lose all the goods you bought/collected.

That’s an interesting mechanic, actually. I don’t know if it’s right for GW2, necessarily, but I’m certainly intrigued.

Like, say, you buy a box in the starting area, and if you can trade it in to the NPC (i’unno, some Unique Exotics expedition) for special rewards, but if you’re defeated, they break and you’d have to buy them all over again. And scattered around the zone would be special nodes with rarer materials, along with a special currency to trade in for venturing out.

I didn’t play much of GW1, but I would love to see all the places named on the map fleshed out, the Ring of Fire only being one of them. I’d like to see what the Crystal Desert looks like and the other places like the Deldrimor Front, Far Shiverpeaks, and Woodland Cascades. I like zones in MMOs and I like to play in different regions that have a different look and feel to them. I like to hop around and play in different places rather than park in one locale.

However, since they’ve already said they don’t intend to have a large game, zone-wise, I’m obviously in a huge minority of players on this.

Celtic Lady.3729:

I didn’t play much of GW1, but I would love to see all the places named on the map fleshed out, the Ring of Fire only being one of them. I’d like to see what the Crystal Desert looks like and the other places like the Deldrimor Front, Far Shiverpeaks, and Woodland Cascades. I like zones in MMOs and I like to play in different regions that have a different look and feel to them. I like to hop around and play in different places rather than park in one locale.

However, since they’ve already said they don’t intend to have a large game, zone-wise, I’m obviously in a huge minority of players on this.

Crystal Desert is one of the other areas I want. It was a great area in GW1 and it would be quite different from the other areas we have in GW2 so far.

Another area I think has high potential is the Isles of Janthir. They were not playable areas in GW1, but they were the home of the Mursaat which were pretty interesting enemies. I’d expect some pretty interesting ruins or perhaps the Mursaat secretly flourishing.

Khristophoros.7194:

Another idea I had is there could be permanent effects when organized efforts are made. Zones would have to be unlocked by large groups of players making an organized effort. I’m thinking a huge world event that takes weeks or months to complete.

I like the idea of week long content progression kind of like how WvW is a weeklong activity.

I’m unconvinced Primordus could get there, I guess it depends how deep his tunnels run for him to travel beneath the seabed to reach it. It’s also a considerable distance from his starting location just under the east of FG. I know he will have travelled, but perhaps not that far.

I like the idea of returning the that area though

Would be pretty nice it should be a 50$ expansion then ofc. But I doubt that anet is ever going to make hard content. The problem with open world is.. if it’s hard.. just get more people and it becomes easy mode.

Mo Mo.1947:

Khristophoros.7194:

Another idea I had is there could be permanent effects when organized efforts are made. Zones would have to be unlocked by large groups of players making an organized effort. I’m thinking a huge world event that takes weeks or months to complete.

I like the idea of week long content progression kind of like how WvW is a weeklong activity.

I was thinking it wouldn’t really be timed. It would just be so difficult that it would take a week or longer before a new area was unlocked. That seems more organic than “ok we’re doing an event to unlock this area now” every week.

Would be pretty nice it should be a 50$ expansion then ofc. But I doubt that anet is ever going to make hard content. The problem with open world is.. if it’s hard.. just get more people and it becomes easy mode.

There’s a cap on the number of people in an instance.

Randulf.7614:

I’m unconvinced Primordus could get there, I guess it depends how deep his tunnels run for him to travel beneath the seabed to reach it. It’s also a considerable distance from his starting location just under the east of FG. I know he will have travelled, but perhaps not that far.

I like the idea of returning the that area though

Get there? We never knew where he was to begin with. Just because his minions were directly under Tyria doesn’t mean he was. For example, Mordy’s minions in the Iron Marches, Zhaitan’s in Kryta, etc. I also heard a good theory that he IS the island(s). But then they would have moved at least a little by now… He’s likely in a volcano or something.

Im pretty sure HoT will be “harder content”.

I’d like to see some of the existing areas made harder though. So may areas in the world don’t fell like they are worth going to when you can just steam roll everything there.

All these people saying Primordus is and/or is part of the island apparently never played GW1, where we stared him right in the face deep under the Shiverpeaks.