Guild Wars 2

Let me begin by saying this is neither a discussion about ascended gear, nor a place to flame one another (or Anet) back and forth so that the devs have no motivation to read through the thread and nothing gets accomplished. It just isn’t. There are a ton of other places to post your thoughts about ascended gear. What this IS, however, is a place for us to peacefully share our ideas about what kind of progression mechanics we would want to see implemented in the game in the future.

Now. That being said, let’s begin. Anet is right to recognize that progression in MMO’s is important, and I do somewhat agree that the launch version of the game didn’t have nearly enough methods to progress your character. Progression is a huge part of why we play MMO’s. Progression mechanics make play feel rewarding, and they give us a sense of permanence. However, a lot of MMO’s on the market right now are trapped primarily in a gear based progression system, where ever 3 months or so all of your progress is completely overwritten and you’re forced to start over. Guild Wars 1, however, was different.

In Guild Wars 1, there were numerous ways to progress your character without invalidating your old progress. Yes, power creep did happen over time, but the old was never completely usurped by the new. For example, PVE only skills not only served as a gating mechanic, but gave us motivation to go out and accomplish things in the PVE world without ever causing any distress to the PVP crowd. Granted, that itself was usually a little bit grindy, but with newer technology and a much better resource pool, isn’t is plausible that something like this could be added to Guild Wars 2 in a way that doesn’t feel any different than playing the game normally? Something organic, and intuitive, and fun besides?

For example, what if PVE only skills could be tied to progress and objectives in a certain level 80 zone (think temple battles in Orr, but with said zone a lot more geared entirely toward a cohesive goal – As in, what if Orr was entirely about taking and keeping the temples, and all of the events and content tied into that as a considerable and legitimately rewarding challenge?) , and then used as a gating mechanic for a dungeon within that zone? What if we could add some extra incentive to do this by still making these skills somewhat effective outside of said zone, and in PVE at large?

As far as PVP and WVW goes, I’m sure there has to be some sort of progression mechanics that could be better implemented without creating a power gap between players who have a lot of time on their hands, and players who don’t.

Now, those are just my ideas for how better progression could be implemented into the game. I want to hear your ideas, and I want Anet to hear them too. Folks, we need to stop bickering, and instead come together in a positive way and brainstorm ideas of how the game could be better tailored to how WE want to play. So put your thinking caps on, and let’s put our heads together in the hopes that Anet reads this and something good comes of it.

Skill and Trait Hunting

They had the skill hunting in GW1, and finding Traits in the first iteration of GW2, which, to be honest, would have been pretty cool as a progression mechanic. It’d would have meant people would have progressed towards their play-style, rather than having everything at their feet already.

For future skills and traits, don’t automatically give it to the players, but make them hunt them down / work for them. Hell, if they introduce more trait levels, make people hunt the trait points down as well.

Skill Upgrading

Skill upgrades would improve the effectiveness of skills by giving them additional effects, which can be unlocked with skill points / found ect. Basically, this would be an expansion on the Trait system, specialised for the skills.

For example, Fireball: Increased Range OR Larger Splash area OR Applies Burning.

Ranks and Rep

A wasted opportunity IMO. Instead of elevating us in rank in the story, we stay a grunt, so to speak. Then out in the world we’d be able to raise our standing with that Order, giving us access to different items, titles ect.

Also, raising our reputation with different areas, thus lowering way-point costs and vendor costs, as well as unlocking new items.

Think of the rep in GW1.

Improve Achievements and Title Tracks

- Add titles along the way to mark your progress, as opposed to right just at the end.

- Skins (I like skins). For example, achieving Max rank in Drake Slayer would earn you Drakescale Armour, while Greatsword Master would earn you a kittenin’ Greatsword skin.

For Guild Progression

Guilds will be able to buy an instance for a certain amount of Influence.

When they buy this instance, at first, it’ll be empty, possibly with ‘critters’ they need to clear out.

The guild would then have to ‘research’ different ways for them to build their Hall. At first, the hall will be kind of shabby (think of a shed). But as you progress and master different crafting skills / hire NPC’s ect you’ll be able to build your Guild hall into something magnificent. Crafting benches could be added, as well as being able to hire Guild Craftsmen (for the Guild Gear), and other NPC’s that benefit guild members.

Of course, materials would have to be gotten from out in the world (Wood, Rock [added to the mining loot table]), meaning that Guild Hall progression couldn’t be made just inside that instance.

When built, the Guild would then be able to earn Achievements in PvE, WvW and SPvP to display in their Guild Instance, which they can invite people in to see.

Some ideas that come to mind with regards to PRESTIGE (contrary to stats addition/vertical progression), OPEN-ENDED (contrary to End-Game) based progression:

- You unlock skills as you do stuff (gain exp) in the game. One set of skills is profession related and other weapon related. The unlocking of skills is related to the use of certain abilities/weapons. Both profession and weapon related skills can be combined, through the use of complex algorythms to unlock further effects. Also, there would be a system focusing on interaction of skills between different players to increase the group/party members’ interdependance.

- Stats addition on gear should be limited to crafting material improvement (i.e. bronce -> iron -> steel), reaching a plateau once the best material is achieved. The idea is that once your weapon is made form the finest material, skill should determine a player’s talent. “It’s not the sword but the hand that wields it”. The more realistic and sustainable approach imo. Also, I think weapons would deteriorate over time to the point of becoming unuable (at this point you could use the weathered weapons as house decorations). On the other hand, weapons made with better materials would last much longer.

- A similar system as above but directed to player’s attributes (str, dex, end…). You character improves through training, experiences, etc… but eventually he’ll reach a plateau (“top form”).

- With regards to crafting, players would have the capacity to actually “design” stuff (I mean the visuals, certain mats would unlock more visual options/tools to choose from). Also, some profession would be able to repair items eventually.

- A housing system that works as an extension of your character. Following this, a different sort of house-related awards would be implemented. Some concept for guild headquarters. Of course, housing-related crafting profession.

- More complex rewarding system for exploration. This would be more complex and would include the necessity of supplies, weather influence, possibility of getting lost, etc.

- The would be really challenging content. This wouldn’t be based on lame power-creep a/o stats addition but on more complex boss mechanics that require actual skill (contrary to gear numbers), complex skill interaction triggering, environment awareness a/o interaction…

- More titles, in-game events to distinguish outstanding players, hall of heroes, NPC mentions, statuettes/pictures over the world, etc… Make the good players famous (contrary to lame stats addition).

- A further step would be to give the really good a/o dedicated players the posibility of creating player generated content, acting as kind of Dungeon Masters. Of course, some official monitoring would be required.

- Player run economy (ala EVE).

-Emphasis on the open-world (contrary to emphasis on instances).

…

Might come back a bit later with more ideas. (Btw, I haven’t said anything that isn’t invented yet)

Regards.

((EDIT: Typos. Sorry for possible mistakes, english is not my native language.))

Skipped.

The amount of resources, time and energy put into changing the game to a gear grind should be evident enough your feedback is not only useless, it is not regarded.

Did they ask players in advance on feedback on these measures, or did they spend all that time and energy rerigging the game only to mention it about 3 days before it was unleashed?

Take a hint, they do not care. It is their game and they can wreck it however they want.

As for me I do sPvP now, got about 1-2 more weeks before I jump the game entirely. I was so enthusiastic and supportive of this game right up until the farce was revealed.

GOSU.9574:

Skipped.

The amount of resources, time and energy put into changing the game to a gear grind should be evident enough your feedback is not only useless, it is not regarded.

Did they ask players in advance on feedback on these measures, or did they spend all that time and energy rerigging the game only to mention it about 3 days before it was unleashed?

Take a hint, they do not care. It is their game and they can wreck it however they want.

As for me I do sPvP now, got about 1-2 more weeks before I jump the game entirely. I was so enthusiastic and supportive of this game right up until the farce was revealed.

The OP asked for some Progression Mechanics suggestions and I responded for the sole sake of entertaiment.

But yeah, personally I’ve lost all hope and enthusiasm in this game, haven’t played in a week and don’t look to do so in the future. I have no intention of supporting this fiasco anymore.

I saw one addition of “power creep” and people are already losing hope in the game not going the vertical progression route? I question whether or not the progession minded players are the real audience to cater to here. They didn’t just give up because the game didn’t play their way, they kittened and moaned to no end and still kept playing. Who’s displaying more loyalty?

As for the OP, aside from skill collection, it’s going to be very hard to not have some form of character progression that isn’t vertical. Frankly speaking, I think the concept of resists is an interesting way to go regarding progression, the more powerful over all gear wasn’t necessary however.

If one needed decay resistance to survive in Orr, and this was a character bound stat, not something worn, that would present a sort of progression without power creep. Couple the decay resistance with passive skill acquirement proper for each weapon that could replace weapon skills, and we’d have a mechanic/“experience bar” that says “yeah, I killed a few hundred Risen, and I learned how to do it efficiently too.”

Though this is all easier said than done, especially where developing new skills is concerned.

Upgraded skill appearance

The ability to reslot a skill from a weapon to another (i.e. I could equip a sword offhand for Temporal Curtain and Phantasmal Swordsman)

Vanity pets, titles, gear, trophies for player housing, emotes

New utility skills and elite skills

Training in new weapons

AA points

In game leaderboard/monuments for top performers

Player generated events and dungeons (can locate in the mists), puzzles

Some people will crucify me for this, but: mounts