Guild Wars 2

Most MMOS if not all focus their progression in 2 ways: increasing the level cap or adding more better gears. Both mechanics imply they need to add more High level content while the low level content is ignored.

My idea – which is not new to some MMOs – is to add levels to the skills which in GW2 style they don’t mean to be more powerful due to the scaling down system, but they need to have better visuals.

I will give different examples:
A lvl 1 “barrage” will have visually less arrows then a lvl 3 “barrage”
A lvl 1 “stomp” will make visually less dust then a lvl 3 “stomp”
A lvl 1 “minion” will be visually smaller then a lvl 3 “minion”
etc.

Ronah.2869:

My idea – which is not new to some MMOs – is to add levels to the skills which in GW2 style they don’t mean to be more powerful due to the scaling down system, but they need to have better visuals.

In general I would love that idea,… if GW2 was a singleplayer game. The amount of skill effects which are totally over the top and clutter the screen though… I don’t think it’s a good idea.

If they’d add a slider to decrease the effects, players who have reached the lv.3 stomp would feel cheated, don’t you think. All that hard work and others just turn it off / you turn it off by yourself in order to find the enemies in the chaos.

But the idea in general is awesome. Instead of increasing effects I’d say use different effects. Professions have their signature colours, so it would feel a bit odd to see guardians (blue) with green spelleffects… but there are tons of variations of blue.

…………………. Armor and Weapons: ………………….

There are currently many different places that could be more rewarding in the game and allow the player to progress toward something they want to show off what they like to do in the game. Places like jumping puzzles, Fractals of the Mists, and guild missions could get exclusive armor sets and weapons that you can unlock only by collecting their tokens.

• Each jumping puzzle you do could reward 1 Lost Token. These Lost Tokens can be traded eventually for armor or weapons from a collector in Lion’s Arch. The armor and weapons from jumping puzzles should have a theme of exploration, discovery, secrets, and intelligence shown off in them; perhaps weapons and armor made of clouds, magical runes, feathers and light.
• Fractals already grant tokens, but the weapons are still RNG drops and there is no armor set – only a back piece and weapons; a Fractals armor set could potentially look amazing if it has the same theme as the weapons.
• Guild Missions have an exclusive weapon set already, but releasing an exclusive guild armor set for Guild Commendations would be a great idea as well. If they use the same theme as the weapons, they might look absolutely amazing.

Permanent Unlocks

Additionally, unlocking any of these skins should unlock them on your account or character permanently; after which, the player may re-use the skin on as many times as they want. The same should be done for pretty much any skin in Guild Wars 2; most should be soul-bound unlocks, but some could unlock on the entire account permanently (like the Hall of Monuments skins and the Achievement point skins).

The Living Story has a habit of releasing one-time only skins that can only be applied to one piece of armor and never is usable again; instead, these skins from the Living Story should be permanent account unlocks that may be applied over and over.

Structured PvP and WvW should also reward exclusive unlocks that can be used infinitely on the player’s account; these two modes currently offer very little in terms of rewards overall, but if they rewarded exclusive skins, finishers and whatever else, I know I would play them simply to unlock those types of things.

Gem Store – Exclusive Rewards

The same unlock system should be done for any armor or weapon sets purchased in the gem store; they should be usable as many times as the player wants on their account. If someone spends ten dollars to buy a skin, it should definitely be usable as many times as they want for any character.

Speaking of the Gem Store, to reward players who actually buy gems with real money and support this game being free, Arenanet could reward exclusive armor and weapons to players. The more gems they buy with real money, the more unlocks they can choose.

There would be a full range of items to choose from: all weapon types, boots, shoulders, chest, leggings, helm, gloves, back pieces, aqua breathers and perhaps even mini pets, town toys, finishers, or tonics; there could potentially be other items as well. There may also be temporary awards (like a Royal Pass); adding in Royal Passes will encourage players to continually spend gems to keep their royal pass active.

Reward Ideas (every 400 Gems bought):

• 400 Lifetime Gems Bought: Choose one of the following Weapons, Armor pieces, Back Pieces, Mini pets, Toys, Finishers, or Tonics from this exclusive set; this will unlock it permanently on your account. Also awards 1 Royal Pass (2 weeks), and a random item from the Gem Store.
• 800 Lifetime Gems Bought: Choose one of the following Weapons, Armor pieces, Back Pieces, Mini pets, Toys, Finishers, or Tonics from this exclusive set; this will unlock it permanently on your account. Also awards 1 Royal Pass (2 weeks), and a random item from the Gem Store.
• 1200 Lifetime Gems Bought: Choose one of the following Weapons, Armor pieces, Back Pieces, Mini pets, Toys, Finishers, or Tonics from this exclusive set; this will unlock it permanently on your account. Also awards 1 Royal Pass (2 weeks), and a random item from the Gem Store.
• 1600 Lifetime Gems Bought: Choose one of the following Weapons, Armor pieces, Back Pieces, Mini pets, Toys, Finishers, or Tonics from this exclusive set; this will unlock it permanently on your account. Also awards 1 Royal Pass (2 weeks), and a random item from the Gem Store.
• 2000 Lifetime Gems Bought: Choose one of the following Weapons, Armor pieces, Back Pieces, Mini pets, Toys, Finishers, or Tonics from this exclusive set; this will unlock it permanently on your account. Also awards 1 Royal Pass (2 weeks), and a random item from the Gem Store.

Kulvar.1239:

I understand truly your opinion Conner because I hate it too.
It’s why I suggested an “hard mode” that is personal instead of general (Dynamic level setting)

Whether its a level adjustment or a flat rate like I said for a Hard Mode, either system is solid, and it does not require the creation of any additional zones. Adding additional exclusive areas that casual players will never hope to see because of the skill difference required will end up shutting them out. There’s also areas like Southsun Cove, which are much harder to do compared to either Frostgorge Sound or Orr, but the rewards are the same. The same difference happens in dungeons. Guild Wars 2 does not need any more of that!

Do we really need a Hard Mode in GW2? There are already some challenging maps, and they are empty. There are already some challenging paths in some of the dungeons, and nobody does them. GW2 just doesn’t seem as well suited to a HM experience as GW1 was. I do like the idea of using gambits. It’s voluntary, doesn’t affect anyone else, and you can tie a minor reward increase and maybe a title to it. If anything, the scaling could be adjusted a bit. Make champs a little easier when there’s only one or two people there and a little harder when the zerg is there.

As for dead maps, if we want people to go there, then there has to be some type of loot/reward that is unique to that particular map. In GW1, if you wanted ecto, you had to go to the UW. If you wanted a zodiac weapon, you had to go to the Deep or Urgoz. Totem Axe? To The Falls! It doesn’t have to be a weapon drop. It could be resources or a recipe for a unique armor skin to craft that drops randomly or a mini.

Earendil Starsailor.4675:

Do we really need a Hard Mode in GW2? There are already some challenging maps, and they are empty. There are already some challenging paths in some of the dungeons, and nobody does them. GW2 just doesn’t seem as well suited to a HM experience as GW1 was. I do like the idea of using gambits. It’s voluntary, doesn’t affect anyone else, and you can tie a minor reward increase and maybe a title to it. If anything, the scaling could be adjusted a bit. Make champs a little easier when there’s only one or two people there and a little harder when the zerg is there.

As for dead maps, if we want people to go there, then there has to be some type of loot/reward that is unique to that particular map. In GW1, if you wanted ecto, you had to go to the UW. If you wanted a zodiac weapon, you had to go to the Deep or Urgoz. Totem Axe? To The Falls! It doesn’t have to be a weapon drop. It could be resources or a recipe for a unique armor skin to craft that drops randomly or a mini.

And we gets these new rewards, of which all of could be bought on the Trading Post on day 1, if players really want it, meaning that only the 5 people that see a chance for profit will ever go to those empty zones for the new resource, weapon skin, etc. If you go the other route and make those new rewards soulbound, then you have the same kitten storm as you have with ascended gear right now.

Aside from that, Using Gambits like we did several months ago is also a valid way to increase the difficulty level (and lets people choose their own handicaps), but if there is no increase in rewards for the greater risk, then no one is going to care about it, which is why people don’t bother with the harder dungeon paths, and don’t go to Southsun over other level 80 areas. It doesn’t matter that Southsun is the only place to get Settler’s gear, because, you can buy it off the trading post for less than the time/gold investment you would be wasting to go there yourself.

Chris, is there any update regarding fractals in general? Maybe suggestions that we can tune in on or possible balancing of dredge fractal? In general, anything at all?

Improved character creation
if there’s one thing where it’s not pretty it’s the character creation and it’s flow of ugly/bizzare/missing features and mechanics.

I. The faces
Sweet mother of an Ettin!. That’s a lotta ugly right there. What’s with those faces, seriously? Like 2-3 models that don’t look like post alien abduction material, rest either ugly, weird, or weird AND ugly! Not to mention female faces that for some odd reason can’t seem to have a bit sharper facial features. For my eyes sake – open up a fashion magazine, type “beautiful woman” in google, see what their faces look like. Not everything you get is perfect but it’s a start.

The hairstyles
Not as bad as the faces, I’m very glad to notice someone cared to provide long hair styles for male humans and norns, but stilll – a lot more could be done here! hair is the first and foremost part of character customization. Because it’s unique enough to make it personal (color+style), and unlike facial features it’s easy to see from a distance without big zoom-in.

There are TONS of hairstyles that gw2 didn’t even touch for humans and norn at least. Some nicer hairstyles for male asuras wouldn’t hurt either!

Needless restriction depending on race
I want a beard or moustache i like – no problem – as long it’s human on norn. Sylvari? Na-ah! Not happening! Your facial “hair” is welded to the face model! Take it or leave it!

I understand not everything goes everywhere (horns exclusive to charr, ear customization to asura, glowing body to sylvari), but why can’t a human have a tatoo? Why can’t sylvari have customizable facial “hair”, why a norn can’t have certain hairstyles humans do and vice-versa?

If there’s one thing i hate it’s running in mmo full of clones dressed like clowns, and while the latter is not the case here, the former is a real danger with those very limited options, especially for male characters.

Unlocking skills, skills that can be unlocked by pvp,wvw, and pve that are most focused toward said game play would be nice.

unlocking loadouts, the ability to unlock load outs (skills, traits, equipment) that you can activivate outside of combat would also be nice.

Hard Mode is just a tweak of numbers. No one tests these hard modes because they are not meant as a game content but a niche. it is so easy for them to lower your stats but then people will complain the HM is unbeatable and they need a nerf which will make it closer to the Normal Mode.

If you want Hm, play without traits and armor and save in your bank some white low level weapons to sue in your own personal HM but do not complain about rewards.

Ronah.2869:

Hard Mode is just a tweak of numbers. No one tests these hard modes because they are not meant as a game content but a niche. it is so easy for them to lower your stats but then people will complain the HM is unbeatable and they need a nerf which will make it closer to the Normal Mode.

If you want Hm, play without traits and armor and save in your bank some white low level weapons to sue in your own personal HM but do not complain about rewards.

Not sure why so many are against hard mode. It has potential to progress your character even further, when you find nothing to do in the open world anymore. A challenge is something most GW2 players love, judging on the overly positive feedback on the Liadri-encounter and the mechanics associated as well as the SAB and it’s hard mode. People LOVED the challenge. And SAB hardmode hasn’t been nerved considerably, even though a few came out quite frustrated. This mode is meant to be really difficult and frustrating when not familiar with it.

Just a tweak of numbers? Well it certainly doesn’t have to be. New conditions like the ones suggested are a great first step.

Play without traits and in white gear? There is no reward which fits this risk setting. There can be no hard mode without appropriate rewards.

If you ask me, if Tribulation Mode and the Liadri encounter taught us one thing, it’s that there is a huge demand for hard mode in GW2. Generic rewards are imho a bad reward for tackling difficult challenges (I love the Liadri Mini and the different colors of the Tribulation Mode weapons), so a horizontal reward system would go well with it.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Play without traits and in white gear? There is no reward which fits this risk setting. There can be no hard mode without appropriate rewards.

Let me Emphasize this a little….

THERE CAN BE NO HARD MODE WITHOUT APPROPRIATE REWARDS

Edit : The Better Rewards being where the Horizontal Progression comes from. More Difficult content = Better Rewards. If you just tack on a hard mode, or tell us to go through Orr in White gear (which I’ve done before….), and don’t increase the reward, there is no progression in that, just a total load of a gimmick that doesn’t have the right to exist.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

A challenge is something most GW2 players love, judging on the overly positive feedback on the Liadri-encounter and the mechanics associated as well as the SAB and it’s hard mode. People LOVED the challenge. And SAB hardmode hasn’t been nerved considerably, even though a few came out quite frustrated. This mode is meant to be really difficult and frustrating when not familiar with it.

are you shure it is about the challenge and not the rewards? I am sure that many of the challenge lovers became so when they got something that others couldn’t.
If there wasn’t any min Landri at the end of it, do you think the same amount of people would have “loved” the challenge?

Chrispy.5641:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Play without traits and in white gear? There is no reward which fits this risk setting. There can be no hard mode without appropriate rewards.

Let me Emphasize this a little….

THERE CAN BE NO HARD MODE WITHOUT APPROPRIATE REWARDS

The same Marcus was talking about “loving a challenge” in the same post. Now I am pretty sure that the players DON’T love the challenge but the rewards

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Romo.3709:

Chris, is there any update regarding fractals in general? Maybe suggestions that we can tune in on or possible balancing of dredge fractal? In general, anything at all?

Hi Romo,

As soon as there any updates we can discuss we will let the community know.

Maybe we could do a CDI on the Fractals next year?

Chris

Discussion is good, but I think it might be more amusing to have some contests where players design something and a couple of offerings get added to the game.

Chrispy.5641:

Let me Emphasize this a little….

THERE CAN BE NO HARD MODE WITHOUT APPROPRIATE REWARDS

Is there any reward greater than bragging rights?

Nike.2631:

Chrispy.5641:

Let me Emphasize this a little….

THERE CAN BE NO HARD MODE WITHOUT APPROPRIATE REWARDS

Is there any reward greater than bragging rights?

And how are you going to show off your Bragging rights? If its a Title or Unique skin, guess what buddy? Its still a greater reward than Normal Mode. Fighting Liadri did it, and doing Tribulation mode did it as well. However, those only get you so far.

Chrispy.5641:

And how are you going to show off your Bragging rights? If its a Title or Unique skin, guess what buddy? Its still a greater reward than Normal Mode.

I don’t disagree. My point is more that the rewards should not in turn reduce the difficulty of that or future challenges. Hard mode should not invalidate its own hardness through vertical reward schemes .

Fighting Liadri did it, and doing Tribulation mode did it as well. However, those only get you so far.

I think for people who wanted to show their prowess was above the norm those two things worked quite well and that vein isn’t nearly played out yet. I’m entirely serious when I say bragging rights are the highest reward, and the game could do more to verify our accomplishments in ways others can see.

Ronah.2869:

are you shure it is about the challenge and not the rewards?

well 6 months ago I started a reddit-thread about what achievement people are most proud of… Clocktower was one of the top answers. What was the reward for it?

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1gyk41/achievements_you_are_proud_of/?sort=confidence

I too think that rewards like Liadri are that important for players not because of how amazing the model looks, but because having it shows other players how good you really are.

Hi everyone! Thanks for spending so much time and thought on this discussion.

-One of the silent players who is enjoying reading the ideas and is excited to see what comes out of them.

Unlocking HM should be an option that has great impact on your character. It should not be something you unlock automatically and should be a choice not a simple UI unlock. And all should start after you have got your map completion Star.

Hard Mode could be like Ascencion. Character is dropped to level 2, all hearts and personal story is cleared, all dungeon story modes are cleard again, and they need to be done until character can access to another dungeon paths, and so on.

- Foes are giving less xp, but better looking loot.
- Characters can not use high end armors or weapons (meaning level 80) until they achieve back that level.
- Ascension is permanent until character has been reach lvl 80 again.
- Ascended character will get title Ascended.
- Ascended character need to do map completion again and when it is done, star behind of character name sould be very shiny.
- Ascended characters are glowing.

…………………. Unlocking New Skills:………………….

Currently the way to unlock most skills is just buying them with skill points in the hero menu. Certain skills should be obtained through different, fun and challenging methods. Some skills may only be unlocked through new and challenging content, but some may be only skill points, some may be unlocked through a choice of the two, or a combination of both.

New Methods of Gaining Skills:

• Completing a certain Dungeon Path (such as Arah path 3 for a new necromancer skill)
• Defeating a certain enemy (such as Giganticus Lupicus, Subject Alpha, Shadow Behemoth, Fire Elemental, Tequatl the Sunless, the Statue of Dwayna, etc)
• Finishing a jumping puzzle or open world mini-dungeon.
• Living Story or Personal Storyline instances

New Skill Types

There could also be exclusive skills to places like World versus World, the Orders of Tyria (Whispers, Vigil, Priory), and other choices made during the personal storyline.

WvW Exclusive Skills Example:

Engineer – Elite Skill – Demolish: Place a time bomb on target wall or gate that will explode after 2 minutes if it is not destroyed; the explosion will instantly demolish the wall or gate. The bomb will take 50 Supply to build and has 150,000 health. Cooldown: 600s

• Method of Obtaining: Reach rank 500 in WvW and then spend 25 skill points on it.

Order Exclusive Example:
Whispers – Necromancer – Elite (Spectral Skill) – Spectral Invisibility: The necromancer becomes a spirit and is stealthed for 3 seconds; the necromancer may continue using other skills while transformed. Cooldown: 15s

• Method of Obtaining: Join the Order of Whispers on any character on your account and then spend 25 skill points on it.

Vigil – Warrior – Elite (Shout skill) – Confusing Shout: Nearby enemies are dazed for 3 seconds and given 10 stacks of confusion for 10 seconds. Radius: 900. Cooldown: 30s

• Method of Obtaining: Join the Vigil on any character on your account and then spend 25 skill points on it.

Other Content Rewarding Skills, Example:
Necromancer – Elite (Corruption skill) – Gorgon’s Stare: The Necromancer is Immobilized for 3 seconds. Turn enemies in target cone to stone for 3 seconds. Range: 600, Angle(cone): 90 degrees. Cooldown: 30s

• Method of Obtaining: Defeat the Statue of Dwayna in Malchor’s Leap with this character.

Elementalist – Elite (Cantrip skill) – Vibrating Earth: Send out 3 pulsating waves over 3 seconds through the ground that will knock down enemies for 1 second, damage them heavily, inflict 5 stacks of Torment, inflict 3 stacks of Bleeding, and Cripple them for 3 second with each wave. This skill casts instantly and does not interrupt other skills. Radius: 1200. Cooldown: 60s

• Method of Obtaining: Defeat the Molten Berserker in the Fractals of the Mists with this character.

The reason why I’m so in love with an idea of hardmode is because of this:

I don’t enjoy dungeons that much. I love roaming around in the world, team up with other players occasionally and explore interesting locations. The most fun: encounter champions with small groups, finding secret passages and starting secret events.

Progression in the open world without forcing me into lv.80 zones only would feel great. At the moment I have little reason to go certain zones because I won’t find too much people there. There is too little purpose / there could be much more to do in those HUGE zones.

So I’d love to progress while doing open world content. Let us look for hidden secrets which feel rewarding to find (not only in the sense of money but also lore and skill-progression / character development) so that people stumble upon dynamic events naturally.

Hard Mode would give lv.80 players another reason to revisit low level zones, if there is a mechanic which allows that. (Spirit Mode hint hint ^^ ). It’s some content tailored for all the people who loved Liadri, Tribulation Mode and the Clocktower.

Margareeta.3461:

Unlocking HM should be an option that has great impact on your character. It should not be something you unlock automatically and should be a choice not a simple UI unlock. And all should start after you have got your map completion Star.

Hard Mode could be like Ascencion. Character is dropped to level 2, all hearts and personal story is cleared, all dungeon story modes are cleard again, and they need to be done until character can access to another dungeon paths, and so on.

- Foes are giving less xp, but better looking loot.
- Characters can not use high end armors or weapons (meaning level 80) until they achieve back that level.
- Ascension is permanent until character has been reach lvl 80 again.
- Ascended character will get title Ascended.
- Ascended character need to do map completion again and when it is done, star behind of character name sould be very shiny.
- Ascended characters are glowing.

Hmmm… this reminds me of some other MMO I played in the past. It was like I had to choose if i want to get ascended and then all was like new again. All quests and stuff.

Redesigned armors and weapons showing you are on your Ascension Mode would be cool.

I imagine a dialogue between 2 players lvl 10 in a party:
- how did you get that armor?
- this is low level ascended armor. I am doing the Ascension mode
- how do you unlock that?
- you need world completion star on Normal Mode

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Romo.3709:

Chris, is there any update regarding fractals in general? Maybe suggestions that we can tune in on or possible balancing of dredge fractal? In general, anything at all?

Hi Romo,

As soon as there any updates we can discuss we will let the community know.

Maybe we could do a CDI on the Fractals next year?

Chris

That would be an awesome idea, but I’m also afraid that the said CDI would turn out very vicious, very quickly considering the community’s feelings about how their words were taken lightly in the past. That would also be fueled by players that are strongly voiced against any kind of rewards for past accomplishments. Regardless, the whole thing would evolve around Fractal Weapons and Dredge fractal level, so I don’t personally believe it would be very constructive.
On the other hand I strongly believe that there are some key points that need to be addressed. Some nonconstructive responses are bound to happen, but there are some very strong points and ideas pointing to specific areas in fractal system that are quite "flawed " at the moment, to use of a better word. Those areas are based on pristine fractal relics being useless, the overall rewards per time spent and the whole sense of progression that was wiped out.
So as much as I’m afraid to light the fuse to an already ticking bomb, I’m also all up for any kind of discussion about fractals in general, because frankly I miss having fun in them. So regardless the outcome, I’d love to see the said CDI happen.

It would be a big mistake though to fragment the playerbase. As much as I love the idea of new maps, it would just split a server in two. New zones? Yes, absolutely! But make these main content for ALL playertypes.

Margareeta.3461:

Hard Mode could be like Ascencion. Character is dropped to level 2, all hearts and personal story is cleared, all dungeon story modes are cleard again, and they need to be done until character can access to another dungeon paths, and so on.

- Foes are giving less xp, but better looking loot.
- Characters can not use high end armors or weapons (meaning level 80) until they achieve back that level.
- Ascension is permanent until character has been reach lvl 80 again.
- Ascended character will get title Ascended.
- Ascended character need to do map completion again and when it is done, star behind of character name sould be very shiny.
- Ascended characters are glowing.

To me this doesn’t sound like a hardmode but as leveling up an alt with much more grind than before. Nothing which makes any encounter more difficult but just having the leveling phase expanded. Some might buy crafting mats and level up via crafting.

I’m currently playing with the thought of making it possible to allow far progressed characters to start “hardmode events” in the normal open world. The key here: those mobs don’t aggro normal players and can’t be hurt by those (no zerging down a mob). These mobs just care about the “hardmode players”.

Not sure if this would be a good idea. Normal players wouldn’t get the same rewards (still they would get rewards), they can support hardmode players and could earn their participation that way.

It’s a bit like Guild Missions (guild race), where not-guildies can support (swiftness) players who have started the event. Instead of a guild as requirement, the requirement to start the event would be a “hardmode character”.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

Margareeta.3461:

Hard Mode could be like Ascencion. Character is dropped to level 2, all hearts and personal story is cleared, all dungeon story modes are cleard again, and they need to be done until character can access to another dungeon paths, and so on.

- Foes are giving less xp, but better looking loot.
- Characters can not use high end armors or weapons (meaning level 80) until they achieve back that level.
- Ascension is permanent until character has been reach lvl 80 again.
- Ascended character will get title Ascended.
- Ascended character need to do map completion again and when it is done, star behind of character name sould be very shiny.
- Ascended characters are glowing.

To me this doesn’t sound like a hardmode but as leveling up an alt with much more grind than before. Nothing which makes any encounter more difficult but just having the leveling phase expanded. Some might buy crafting mats and level up via crafting.

I didn’t mention crafting purposly, if you have done it in Normal Mode, it is not available in Hard Mode anymore, you have done it, and you really need to work for getting Hard Mode done.

It is personal decision, do you want to be ascended or not, do you want to get Hard Mode or not.

Yes leveling phase is expanded in huge way, you need to be done events more, all hearts are not leveling to you lvl 80 automaticly,

Loot is better looking, so you need to work for that loot. You are level 2 twice long than in Normal Mode and same thing in another levels.

what if ascended things come as an unlock from. once if you craft them or get the loot its add to your achivement unlocks.
less grinding, more fun. but there are still a dozen of stat what you can craft

Caveth.3268:

…………………. Unlocking New Skills:………………….

Currently the way to unlock most skills is just buying them with skill points in the hero menu. Certain skills should be obtained through different, fun and challenging methods. Some skills may only be unlocked through new and challenging content, but some may be only skill points, some may be unlocked through a choice of the two, or a combination of both.

New Methods of Gaining Skills:

• Completing a certain Dungeon Path (such as Arah path 3 for a new necromancer skill)
• Defeating a certain enemy (such as Giganticus Lupicus, Subject Alpha, Shadow Behemoth, Fire Elemental, Tequatl the Sunless, the Statue of Dwayna, etc)
• Finishing a jumping puzzle or open world mini-dungeon.
• Living Story or Personal Storyline instances

New Skill Types

There could also be exclusive skills to places like World versus World, the Orders of Tyria (Whispers, Vigil, Priory), and other choices made during the personal storyline.

WvW Exclusive Skills Example:

Engineer – Elite Skill – Demolish: Place a time bomb on target wall or gate that will explode after 2 minutes if it is not destroyed; the explosion will instantly demolish the wall or gate. The bomb will take 50 Supply to build and has 150,000 health. Cooldown: 600s

• Method of Obtaining: Reach rank 500 in WvW and then spend 25 skill points on it.

Order Exclusive Example:
Whispers – Necromancer – Elite (Spectral Skill) – Spectral Invisibility: The necromancer becomes a spirit and is stealthed for 3 seconds; the necromancer may continue using other skills while transformed. Cooldown: 15s

• Method of Obtaining: Join the Order of Whispers on any character on your account and then spend 25 skill points on it.

Vigil – Warrior – Elite (Shout skill) – Confusing Shout: Nearby enemies are dazed for 3 seconds and given 10 stacks of confusion for 10 seconds. Radius: 900. Cooldown: 30s

• Method of Obtaining: Join the Vigil on any character on your account and then spend 25 skill points on it.

Other Content Rewarding Skills, Example:
Necromancer – Elite (Corruption skill) – Gorgon’s Stare: The Necromancer is Immobilized for 3 seconds. Turn enemies in target cone to stone for 3 seconds. Range: 600, Angle(cone): 90 degrees. Cooldown: 30s

• Method of Obtaining: Defeat the Statue of Dwayna in Malchor’s Leap with this character.

Elementalist – Elite (Cantrip skill) – Vibrating Earth: Send out 3 pulsating waves over 3 seconds through the ground that will knock down enemies for 1 second, damage them heavily, inflict 5 stacks of Torment, inflict 3 stacks of Bleeding, and Cripple them for 3 second with each wave. This skill casts instantly and does not interrupt other skills. Radius: 1200. Cooldown: 60s

• Method of Obtaining: Defeat the Molten Berserker in the Fractals of the Mists with this character.

I don’t think that there should be actual, mechanical skills tied to choices in the Personal Story. I’d say skins for skills would be better (for example, Order logo’s on banners). Otherwise the choice for Order would be based more on the effectiveness of the skill for their build.

Also, I feel skills should be unlocked in a method suitable for that skill. For example, having to survive x amount of time using that skill is defense orientated.

Finally, I don’t think skills should be hid behind instanced content. Like the Order’s, maybe unique effects.

@Margareeta.3461: Worst idea ever… It’s “grind like a korean” mode.
—-
There are two categories of hard mode askers. These who want challenge (and an extend of the dynamic level can be enough). And these who want to feel over other players by showing them their rewards (skin, title, …). The second category do not deserve any regard.

Chrispy.5641:

And we gets these new rewards, of which all of could be bought on the Trading Post on day 1, if players really want it, meaning that only the 5 people that see a chance for profit will ever go to those empty zones for the new resource, weapon skin, etc. If you go the other route and make those new rewards soulbound, then you have the same kitten storm as you have with ascended gear right now.

Aside from that, Using Gambits like we did several months ago is also a valid way to increase the difficulty level (and lets people choose their own handicaps), but if there is no increase in rewards for the greater risk, then no one is going to care about it, which is why people don’t bother with the harder dungeon paths, and don’t go to Southsun over other level 80 areas. It doesn’t matter that Southsun is the only place to get Settler’s gear, because, you can buy it off the trading post for less than the time/gold investment you would be wasting to go there yourself.

People buy them from the TP because they are cheap. They are cheap because they drop in multiple places, many of which (the items, not the places) are farmed by the zerg in starting zones (read “Queensdale”). As for Settler’s gear, it’s niche gear and not in demand (and you can craft the armor and weapons).

Map specific items would bring more players to the map. It might not bring the whole zerg, but that seems like it’s a good thing. At this point, I’d rather go to a map with 10 people on it than one with zero. There doesn’t have to be one unique drop per map; in fact, several would be better. The UW in GW1 yielded ecto, eternal blades, Dhuum’s scythes, and mini Dhuums, all of which sold well in varying degrees. No wonder there were always people at the Temple forming groups.

Nike.2631:

I don’t disagree. My point is more that the rewards should not in turn reduce the difficulty of that or future challenges. Hard mode should not invalidate its own hardness through vertical reward schemes .

I think for people who wanted to show their prowess was above the norm those two things worked quite well and that vein isn’t nearly played out yet. I’m entirely serious when I say bragging rights are the highest reward, and the game could do more to verify our accomplishments in ways others can see.

Parallel Kingdoms does a good job of this. For instance, they have weekly contests (same contests every week). The person who wins each contest gets a hat specific to that contest. The hats add nothing to you stat-wise, but everyone knows you won the contest. The contests involved things like most player kills, most monster kills, most leather collected, etc. See here for more info: http://guide.parallelkingdom.com/index.php/Category:Hats

Many of these suggestions are not about Horizontal Progression, but about balance & class changes. We should try to focus on real horizontal progression.

• I REALLY REALLY like the idea of taking a pass over existing zones & adding lots of hidden jumping puzzles (complete with real puzzles, a few strategic enemies) hidden areas, collectable items (like zephyrite crystals), chests & maybe even new mechanics like climbing or parts of the map changing every day. There should be full sets of achievements & rewards for these JP. I think it’s important to note that you can’t just add like 10 of these kinds of places. The game needs like 50 of them. It’s like the dynamic events. DEs are at maybe half of what they should be to make a world that feels living & varied. But it should take at least as long to complete the new set of hidden areas & JP as it did to get world completion.

I definitely understand that this would take a long time & would be a lot of work, but this I think reflects the downfall of the LS. The content isn’t substantial enough to feel significant & progressive. LS is a fantastic distraction between expansions, but it doesn’t really feel like significant progression. Things like Ascended Armor are grind because you can’t create substantial, varied content in the LS. You then have to end up making things that are repetitive & number based. (get 5,000,000 of x) This kind of content is boring much of the time. But playing with a friend last night I realized some of the most fun I’ve ever had in the game is when we were exploring & trying to find our way through a JP maze. I think if there were a few more puzzles in them & a sprinkle of champs It would be amazing. Add to that a “find all the crystals” type collection & a host of achievements & good rewards (if I spend an hour in a puzzle I shouldn’t get 2 blues, I should get 1 gold, some asc crafting mats & some rares)

• Crafting Skins & fun (non-tonic) trinkets. hate to say, tonics kinda stink. They aren’t useable in combat & they are consumed. Of all the very limited fun that tonics are, these 2 things ruin them completely. Crafting would be a great horizontal progression if you could make special skins & fun trinkets. unfortunately the game is flooded with tonics & boring minis. The game doesn’t allow mounts so making & having cool mounts(one of the most fun horizontal progressions) is gone. most minis are boring humanoid characters rather than the super cute baby animals.

I think there needs to be a discussion on how the Gem Shop hurts horizontal progression. You can’t have a game where aesthetics are the end game & sell the new skins in the gem shop. That’s completely contradictory. Also, you can’t spend time developing for the Gem Shop rather than the game & expect people to feel the rewards are satisfying. Again, contradictory. People notice when you put all the effort into the gem shop items & the in-game ones are kinda lame. The fact that the game has only added 1 set of armor in more than a year, & the set looks bad is very very noticeable to players. I understand that it takes effort to make cool stuff, but that’s what makes rewards rewarding. I’d like to know if the devs have thought about how the gem shop directly hurts horizontal progression.

In terms of aesthetics, I am still in favor of adding medals that go on either side of your chest & shoulders.

I should probably bring up the Living Story, since it is one of the core Horizontal experiences we have.
First, I hope we can wrap up this Scarlet story sooner rather then later. In all honesty, this has been one big waste of time, all of the living stories up to now have been little more then filler, pointless side stories that have no relevance or impact in the long scheme of things, and only loosely connected to each other because ‘Scarlet did it’.
‘puke’

Not that I hate the character, but like every character, they are so poorly characterized as to be almost non-existent. You never spend any time with these characters, and yet we are expected to care about them.
They show up, spout a few lines of dialog, we learn absolutely nothing about them, and then they bugger off as if nothing happened.
I swear, most of the lore and background on these characters and events isn’t even shown in game, which from a game design standpoint if bloody criminal.

-

But I digress.

Honesty, what I’d like to see, as would a lot of people is that the Living Story be used as a vehicle to deliver the story about the Elder Dragons. Because come on! It’s been a year and not a peep.

How many dragons do we have to go through again? Half a dozen at least.
And are we going to be killing them off only once every two or three years? Do you expect us to stick around for a decade just to kill some fictional dragons?

Pick up the pace. If the Scarlet story ends with her unleashing an Elder Dragon upon the world, then maybe it wouldn’t have been a total waste of time.
But even then, ehhhh…..

The Living Story is a powerful tool, it just being used so poorly right now.
Quit wasting time, and get to the good stuff.

A way to unlock build sets. That is, if I want to have multiple builds for one character, I could unlock a way to click a button and switch between sets of traits, skills, and items (for free?) at locations in major cities, WvW staging areas, and Heart of the Mists.

A lot of the ideas I like have been mentioned by others, so I’ll try to gloss over them as I come to them. That having been said, I want to start with something specific.

What is the point of character progression, be it vertical or horizontal?

It’s not just to fill time. Simply throw someone time fillers and they’ll generally walk away. Rather, the goal is to make us even more invested in our characters and the game itself. That growing investment and involvement with the characters and the game is what makes it worth doing and helps to keep players coming back.

It can be the oddest little things that make players feel more invested, though. For example, in Pokemon X/Y, they’ve added in the ability to sit down on chairs and benches. It’s such a small thing really, but it makes you feel like you’re much more IN the game world when you can interact with it in sensible ways.

It’s also possible to destroy that feeling of investment. Any time a player runs into an unpleasant road block that forces them to choose between doing something they dislike or skipping a goal, some of that investment is lost. They either do something they dislike, which builds an unpleasant association with the character/game, or they simply give up on that goal, making future goals seem less important now that the character is “flawed”. This is why it’s important that there is NEVER only one way to get to a goal. There can be a faster or better way, but it should never be the only way.

Now, with investment in mind, let’s look at something a lot of us have been only barely touching on:

World Investment

Part of the goal of Dynamic Events, Personal Story, and the Living Story is to get us out and interacting with the game world. The problem is that they all use it as a stage, and little more. The world itself may be pretty, but most of the time the personality of the world falls flat, or is ignored entirely. After you explore an area, do you care about that lake you helped to protect? Or the story behind that skill point you claimed? Generally, the answer is “no”. There’s no reason to, really.

As new things are added, we need them to give us those reasons. They need to give us stories and lore. You want us to go find someone to unlock a new skill? Great, but who are they? Why are they there? Don’t send us out to find some random NPC in the middle of some zone, only to get our skill from them with a few easy clicks and a fight. Send us out to a story. An old charr, camped out on the edge of a lake, following the last order of “wait here for us” that his Legionnaire gave him before the rest of the warband set out in a boat and were never seen again. Have him ask us to bring back some token of them from the lakebed so that he can lay it, and them, to rest. And then, with that sad task finally accomplished, he teaches us the skill before resuming his silent vigil, because that’s how he honors them.

A powerful story is worth far more than a powerful challenge.

World Evolution

Another powerful way to get people invested in the game and their characters is to allow them to reshape the world around them. The catch is, that it has to be the characters ( and through them, the player) that’s behind it all. The recent Living Story events in Kessex may look like a step in the right direction, but really they’re not. Why? Because the character doesn’t matter. It doesn’t matter if the character spent fifty hours investigating the strange events in the zone when they started, or never set foot there. It doesn’t matter if they invaded the tower or not. It doesn’t even matter if they went through the ending events and helped to bring down the tower, because if they didn’t it’s assumed that someone else did. Players had no say in what happened, nor when, why, or how. In the end, our choices mattered about as much as yelling at characters on TV when they’re about to do something we don’t like.

This is one of the reasons why Personal Housing and Guild Houses are so often requested. They give us a place to make our own, where we get to reshape some small part of the world according to our wishes, even if it’s within limits set by the game. Our hard work can give us more options, and our own sense of style can shine through. Things happen there because we make them happen, in the way that we choose to make them happen. It’s a powerful piece of investment, despite the fact that it doesn’t directly affect the character at all.

Achievements and Challenge

There is, currently, a problem with Achievements. (Okay, yes. I’m sure there’s more than one problem with them, but for the sake of this entry, there’s only one that matters.) That problem is that once you get an achievement, all it usually gives you is some achievement points and that’s it. Other than the rewards from the Living Story and a few titles, all Achievements are pretty meaningless. You can’t show them off in any way, really.

In City of Heroes, we had badges. You could right click on a PC and call up their badge list. All the badges they had earned were there, grouped according to type. Different types had different looks to them, several of them having unique looks to them so you could spot them at a glance. Each Point of Interest in a zone had a badge, specific challenges had badges, defeating X number of a certain kind of enemy gave a badge, and so on. There were even badges (Accolades), for collecting all of a set of related badges.

( http://paragonwiki.com/wiki/Badges )

In GW2 terms, let’s say that you’ve just found all the Points of Interest that relate to the Order of Whispers. As you get the last one, a notice pops up that you’ve gotten the Accolade and title of “Whispered Legend”. Anyone that calls up your badge list can see that you’ve earned this badge, even if you’re not wearing the title right that moment. Have you gone through AC several times, eventually beating a set of optional challenges such as limited/no party deaths before the end? Congratulations, here’s the “Crypt Cleaner” Accolade and badge, ready for all to see. Have you gone through ALL story mode dungeons with limited/no deaths? Congrats, here’s the “Effortless” Accolade for you!

With a system like this, it would matter HOW you get the achievement points, not simply that you have them. It’s not a big thing, but CoH proved that there are people that will turn getting all of them they can into a game within the game. Even casual players would sometimes take a slight detour from their path to get a badge or two. Just make sure that none of the challenges are too impractical or “hardcore only”.

Character Customization

Of course, the skin locker idea is a big one here, but people have already laid out some great ideas for it so I’ll just let their words stand on their own. Instead, I’m going to steal two other ideas from CoH: Costume slots and Description.

Costume Slots are pretty straight forward. A character generally started with one, and then over time could earn a few more at certain levels. Further ones (unlocked across the account) were purchased in the game store, and one was unlocked using items collected only during the Halloween event (though it didn’t take much, and the items were often available from other players year-round).

Given GW2’s costume limitations (can’t mix armor classes), I could see it working thus: Each class starts with the base costume slot, which is set to the armor type their class normally wears, and one set for town clothes. As other costume slots are unlocked, they can each be set to one of the four armor classes (Light, Medium, Heavy, Town), but the stats are always from the base slot. All other slots are cosmetic only. The armor types of the non-base slots can be changed, perhaps with a small fee while visiting an “Outfitter” NPC.

Description is just what you’d expect, a long field for a character description. Like badges (above), it was called up by right clicking on a character. Some people used it to show RP information or character background, others used it to list accomplishments that were not reflected in badges. Some used it to state what kind of content they would liked to do. And yes, some simply left it blank because they didn’t want to mess with it. It was a small thing overall, just a minor text field, but getting the most out of it became an art in itself, and many a person enjoyed just watching characters pass by, reading the descriptions of the interesting looking ones. It was also a great aid to RP, and went a long way towards character investment for those that liked to RP.

Flash and Dazzle

I’ll wrap this up with one of the funniest areas, though it’s also one of the more oddly elusive. Sometimes, the way something is represented, is just as important as what it does. Maybe even more so.

Let’s take Engineers for an example. If you line up a bunch of engineers representing each race, you’ll see that they look nothing alike. Their cultural armors are different, and even their weapon styles stand out from each other. Ask them to throw down a gun turret, however, and they all throw out the same charr design. The same problem appears with Elementalists summoning elementals, or Warriors putting out banners. They all look the same.

What if, when throwing out those turrets, the Engineers had options for the appearances of the turrets? If there was a way to unlock different looking versions of the same skill? This is, again, character customization, but it doesn’t actually change the character at all. Rather, it changes how the character presents themselves through the skills and powers they use. So long as the process is reasonable, many people would be willing to work a bit to customize details like that for their characters.

By the same token, skills don’t have to do anything practical at all to still be important to a character. An example would be a “Conjure Fireworks Wand” skill for Elementalists. It allows them to create and dispense a flashy toy that fits with the Elementalist theme, just for fun. Or a warrior picking up skills that allow them to do a flashy weapon flourish with a sword or an axe. When asked “What does it do?”, “It’s fun!” is always good enough reason to pursue something.

Okay, I’ll leave off for now. Happy gaming, one and all!

It would be great if you guys could do something similar to the bonus mission pack and fill in the blanks from those 250 years, I’d love to see why Foalin turned to the nightmare court.

Earendil Starsailor.4675:

Chrispy.5641:

And we gets these new rewards, of which all of could be bought on the Trading Post on day 1, if players really want it, meaning that only the 5 people that see a chance for profit will ever go to those empty zones for the new resource, weapon skin, etc. If you go the other route and make those new rewards soulbound, then you have the same kitten storm as you have with ascended gear right now.

Aside from that, Using Gambits like we did several months ago is also a valid way to increase the difficulty level (and lets people choose their own handicaps), but if there is no increase in rewards for the greater risk, then no one is going to care about it, which is why people don’t bother with the harder dungeon paths, and don’t go to Southsun over other level 80 areas. It doesn’t matter that Southsun is the only place to get Settler’s gear, because, you can buy it off the trading post for less than the time/gold investment you would be wasting to go there yourself.

People buy them from the TP because they are cheap. They are cheap because they drop in multiple places, many of which (the items, not the places) are farmed by the zerg in starting zones (read “Queensdale”). As for Settler’s gear, it’s niche gear and not in demand (and you can craft the armor and weapons).

Map specific items would bring more players to the map. It might not bring the whole zerg, but that seems like it’s a good thing. At this point, I’d rather go to a map with 10 people on it than one with zero. There doesn’t have to be one unique drop per map; in fact, several would be better. The UW in GW1 yielded ecto, eternal blades, Dhuum’s scythes, and mini Dhuums, all of which sold well in varying degrees. No wonder there were always people at the Temple forming groups.

Several Things….

- You could not craft Settler’s Armor until the December 10th update. Before that, you had to have very specific conditions met in order to buy them on Southsun. So, even before, when you had to do some difficult stuff to get it, it did not motivate anyone to go there, niche gear or not (besides the fact that the only gear in this game that isn’t niche, is Berserker’s, because that remains the only stat combination where you can get every single Exotic piece of equipment and upgrade for.)

- Once any of them are sellable on the Trading Post, the cost will drop. Having unique items for every area is something the game really needs (And something I am going to cover in a later post), but, it doesn’t change the fact that the prices will become nothing on the trading post after several months, so in terms of a hard mode, just adding special items to harder areas of the game isn’t going to get anyone moving very fast except for those that see a gold to be made.

- Didn’t matter that Ecto’s were only found in one or two areas. I still had access to them, and I never went to those zones for months/years at a time. They aren’t as exclusive ad you may think they were.

DarksunG.9537:

…snip….

Vertical Progression – Higher Stats and Levels. Moar Power!! Gained through leveling up/finding gear with better stats.
Horizontal Progression – Better looking/exclusive weapons and Armor, Titles, Achievements, etc. Normally you have to work for it or do something amazing.

That’s Progression in its most basic form, which, most of the things covered in this thread have covered the Horizontal bit pretty well.

Palador.2170:

Flash and Dazzle

please see this post ::: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/CDI-Character-Progression-Horizontal/3418505

that like something similar?

Chrispy.5641:

please see this post ::: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/CDI-Character-Progression-Horizontal/3418505

that like something similar?

Yep. Something similar. I’d posted something similar in an earlier thread about a week ago ( https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Psst-Hey-you-let-s-get-horizontal/page/2#post3402950 ), but I wanted to get more into the WHY of what I was asking for.

It’s good to know I’m not the only one thinking this way, though.

A thought for letting our heavy-hitters of gold collecting slug it out for our amusement and for theirs.

Patrons of the City
Add 12 pedestals to Lions Arch, scattered around in somewhat out of the way palaces. At the start of each month a pedestal becomes “Up for grabs”. You can place a blind bid by interacting with the pedestal, which takes your coin into holding as the bid is placed. You can always increase your bid by throwing additional coin in. At the end of the month the highest bidder is revealed and used to model a statue that will stand on that pedestal for one year, they receive a ‘Patron of the City’ title, and their name & winning bid is permanently engraved into the interactive plaque at its base. Failed bids are then returned, another pedestal goes up for grabs, and the cycle repeats. After all 12 pedestals are filled, the first pedestal goes up for grabs and so on, recording ‘patrons of the city’ for all time. Pedestals, statues, and plaques would be unique to each server (no bidding while in overflow!).

That ought to pull a few tens of thousands of Gold out of the system from the very wealthiest and provide a title the puts ‘Golden’ to shame for sheer exuberant wealth .

I haven’t read through thread, but going to point out some Horizontal rewards currently available and how they can be added as rewards to other play styles (in particular dungeons as they is where I spend most of my time) or made more valuable in my opinion.

Finishers
Currently only obtainable through gem store or PvP Rank, making purchasable through currencies could give players someone to spend said currency on. Should be flavoured for related currency. Get Balefire dropping a fire rock onto foe, King Abelbern stabbing sword into foe with a flash of Foefire coming out, and Avatar of a God using a related effect on are a few examples. First two bought through related dungeon currency, last through Karma at the related temple for the god.

Weapon/Armour Skins
Adding ways to allow player to earn armour skins for their account. Either through completing achievements related to content, or purchasing them with currencies. Could be a “________ Design Pattern” that would unlock/reward a hidden achievement that adds related skin to the current achievement reward screen. For example could buy “Citadel of Flames Heavy Chest Design Pattern” to be able to create a CoF heavy chest skin. Could also give Karma/Badge vendors with unique skins a related design.
Since art, currency and achievement skin systems already exist should be lower barrier to get into game.
Adding backpiece skins would also help increase variety out there.

Mini-Pets
Again themed ones available for a greater variety of activities/currencies.
Personally if it could be made easier/cheaper for people to carry a mini-pet without having to avoid using deposit all I would actually carry one to show off. By the time I found out invisible bags existed I had long given up on mini-pets and the cost for a 20-slot invisible just is not worth it for something I already wrote off.

Toys/Town Clothes
Themed, accessible from a greater variety of activities/currency.
Something that allowed Town Clothes to let players move at swiftness speed inside of Cities would greatly help value/desire to collect. Keep it just inside cities to avoid having to block wearing them in other areas like the Axe did in WvW.
Toys would make Costume Brawl more accessible, though would bring in some vertical progression.

TL:DR = Make themed vanity items available inside current reward structures systems.

Nike.2631:

A thought for letting our heavy-hitters of gold collecting slug it out for our amusement and for theirs.

Patrons of the City
Add 12 pedestals to Lions Arch, scattered around in somewhat out of the way palaces. At the start of each month a pedestal becomes “Up for grabs”. You can place a blind bid by interacting with the pedestal, which takes your coin into holding as the bid is placed. You can always increase your bid by throwing additional coin in. At the end of the month the highest bidder is revealed and used to model a statue that will stand on that pedestal for one year, they receive a ‘Patron of the City’ title, and their name & winning bid is permanently engraved into the interactive plaque at its base. Failed bids are then returned, another pedestal goes up for grabs, and the cycle repeats. After all 12 pedestals are filled, the first pedestal goes up for grabs and so on, recording ‘patrons of the city’ for all time. Pedestals, statues, and plaques would be unique to each server (no bidding while in overflow!).

That ought to pull a few tens of thousands of Gold out of the system from the very wealthiest and provide a title the puts ‘Golden’ to shame for sheer exuberant wealth .

I am BEYOND in love with this idea and it could be extended to more than just pedestals: why not allow people to claim ownership of town POIs like bars, etc?

The absolute king of all: allow a player to buy their way onto the Captain’s Council. This would be a truly unique way to allow a single player to show off in the hugest way possible.

Kulvar.1239:

---

There are two categories of hard mode askers. These who want challenge (and an extend of the dynamic level can be enough). And these who want to feel over other players by showing them their rewards (skin, title, …). The second category do not deserve any regard.

I would not disregard an entire group of players on the basis that they want to show off what they accomplished, yes some can be kitten about it, but there are many whos day is made just by getting the odd compliment on their unique piece or by a newbie asking where they got that item.

A game is a competitive environment, as such trying to beat the other players is fairly normal. This can be directly in PVP or indirectly by completing challenges that others couldn’t.

Earendil Starsailor.4675:

Chrispy.5641:

And we gets these new rewards, of which all of could be bought on the Trading Post on day 1, if players really want it, meaning that only the 5 people that see a chance for profit will ever go to those empty zones for the new resource, weapon skin, etc. If you go the other route and make those new rewards soulbound, then you have the same kitten storm as you have with ascended gear right now.

Aside from that, Using Gambits like we did several months ago is also a valid way to increase the difficulty level (and lets people choose their own handicaps), but if there is no increase in rewards for the greater risk, then no one is going to care about it, which is why people don’t bother with the harder dungeon paths, and don’t go to Southsun over other level 80 areas. It doesn’t matter that Southsun is the only place to get Settler’s gear, because, you can buy it off the trading post for less than the time/gold investment you would be wasting to go there yourself.

People buy them from the TP because they are cheap. They are cheap because they drop in multiple places, many of which (the items, not the places) are farmed by the zerg in starting zones (read “Queensdale”). As for Settler’s gear, it’s niche gear and not in demand (and you can craft the armor and weapons).

Map specific items would bring more players to the map. It might not bring the whole zerg, but that seems like it’s a good thing. At this point, I’d rather go to a map with 10 people on it than one with zero. There doesn’t have to be one unique drop per map; in fact, several would be better. The UW in GW1 yielded ecto, eternal blades, Dhuum’s scythes, and mini Dhuums, all of which sold well in varying degrees. No wonder there were always people at the Temple forming groups.

Unique rewards for each area is a nice idea, there is a very easy solution to the tp problem, make the skins unsellable, the motivation should be earning a new skin for yourself, not making some gold.
Ideally gold should not be involved in HP at all, HP shows that your character has been places done things and accomplished feats where others failed, not that you spent 10 hours farming to get the gold for an item.

Housing addition
Housing is a popular choice here and from a development perspective you could tie in alot of existing content. (This would still be resource intensive), Each zone you complete could unlock a housing item, each full dungeon (all paths) the same. Then you could tie in living world with meta’s also awarding unique limited time housing items. Mastering a craft unlocking a station in your house.
Getting Champion slayer could unlock a pvp areana in your house, getting say r3 of the Wvw slayer could give an additional trophy room (similar to the tapestry unlocks in gw1 HOM).
Tying in existing areas and achievements with customization would revive many areas as people decide they like one item over another.
Each area could have rare furnishings that only drop in that area (account bound),or from certain bosses. Say an inquest reactor for the golem event, an wall mounted eye for one of the eye events etc.

For those people who keep wanting alts to be rewarded (not something I’m overly enthusiastic about as I prefair playing 1 character) you could award a special housing item for each profession to 80 and for each story completion for each order.

timmyf.1490:

I am BEYOND in love with this idea and it could be extended to more than just pedestals: why not allow people to claim ownership of town POIs like bars, etc?

I have to say the roleplaying possibilities of being able to buy a non-instanced bar for a year wherein the staff dialogue acknowledges you’re the owner is kinda sweet. Especially if its uniquely owned for that year. The competition for top bid on that could get amazingly fierce.

The absolute king of all: allow a player to buy their way onto the Captain’s Council. This would be a truly unique way to allow a single player to show off in the hugest way possible.

Yeah, I could get behind that.

Palador.2170:

In GW2 terms, let’s say that you’ve just found all the Points of Interest that relate to the Order of Whispers. As you get the last one, a notice pops up that you’ve gotten the Accolade and title of “Whispered Legend”. Anyone that calls up your badge list can see that you’ve earned this badge, even if you’re not wearing the title right that moment. Have you gone through AC several times, eventually beating a set of optional challenges such as limited/no party deaths before the end? Congratulations, here’s the “Crypt Cleaner” Accolade and badge, ready for all to see. Have you gone through ALL story mode dungeons with limited/no deaths? Congrats, here’s the “Effortless” Accolade for you!

I seriously love this idea! It’s an awesome way to refresh existing content without having to completely rework it. What if you paired this with rewards other then just titles?

New Dungeon Meta Achievements/Rewards
What if we had not only new titles, but also meta awards? Using AC as an example, you could have achievements like, “Hands off my ecoplasmic distillate!” where neither of the collectors is killed during the graveling fight in the lover’s crypt. But have something like 20 of these new meta achievements for each dungeon. Then, when you complete the meta for that dungeon you get a special reward specific to that dungeon.

Say for example, if you finish the AC meta you get a backpack skin that makes it appear as though you are a ghost and therefore have a faint blue, glowy particle effect around you. The CM gift could be a head armor skin that gives your character a Caudecus beard. SE could be a dredge mini. CoF could be lava footprints. Arah could be Zhaitan wings. (Just throwing stuff out there)

Fun Meta Achievement Ideas
AC – “And in this corner…” Get Kohler and the Cave Troll to fight each other.
Any Dungeon – “Can’t Touch This” Finish an entire path without any member of the party dying.
Any Dungeon – “The Destroyer” Slaughter all hostile enemies in your path.
CoE – “And Stay Down!” Knockdown Bjarl 5 times in 30 seconds.
CoF – “Stay Cool” Make it through an entire path without dying by fire.

I understand not everything goes everywhere (horns exclusive to charr, ear customization to asura, glowing body to sylvari), but why can’t a human have a tatoo? Why can’t sylvari have customizable facial “hair”, why a norn can’t have certain hairstyles humans do and vice-versa?

I second the parts about the tattoos and hairstyles. Is there a technical reason that humans and Norn don’t/can’t share hairstyles and tattoos?