This post is directed to Anet staff on the current state of XP and how it goes against one of the original concepts that made the game feel worthwhile to me, however if you agree, feel free to give your comments but keep on-topic as I really want to see a change (and I’m sure you do to). Also keep in mind this is in regards to Guild Wars 2, not […insert name of other MMO here…] so it is geared towards the first 3 years of this game so this is not an entitlement thing, it is to note the odd disappearance of something that the game developers did for us. If XP doesn’t matter to you, there will be nothing for you in this post… go elsewhere please, and hopefully […insert reward you enjoy…] won’t be completely removed from the game next.
Guild Wars 2 at the core has a few different reward incentives that been around since the start, one of which was XP. This directly rewarded you for everything you did in the game… basically a nod that your time was not wasted. I realize that we have karma, coin, items, map currencies, ect… but I don’t want to muddy up the waters with those items as quite frankly, there hasn’t been a big change in them.
This game differentiated itself in that after you hit level 80, you continued to gain levels. Even though the number didn’t go up and you received no more stats, over-leveling gave skill points which was then later changed to other items. However, up until now over-leveling always gave something. Regardless of how valuable you deemed the items to be, it was something for the time spent, something to trigger that ‘leveled again’, something that at least did a nod on how you progressed a level. Doing a quest, killing a monster, crafting an item, even rezzing someone gave XP that greeted you with the yellow floating numbers that said… ‘you did something’. I still believe that the ‘XP for anything’ helped make the game a user friendly community as it promoted helping others if not only for your own benefit (I’m not saying that was my motive to help, but it’s hard to argue against it).
Now I get the whole, ‘we changed what XP is used for in HoT’, however there seems to be a clear oversight. I understand that these oversights could happen… such as achievements that require quests to fail & having a back piece promoted in the expansion unable to be crafted which are ‘issues’ that are being addressed (I named a couple that were close to home for me), so I’m going to assume this might be the case here. Perhaps Anet didn’t plan on us maxing masteries… I mean, it could happen given the above.
Now that all the preface is out of the way, here is the issue as I see it… XP caps out. Yup, all this typing for just that. However, for some people this isn’t even a thought yet, for others it’s no news flash… but I’m positive that a reward removal is not wanted by anyone playing the game.
Basically, once you cap out both the Tyria & Maguuma Masteries, XP does nothing for you in game. The XP bar stays at ‘0/0’ forever, it does not appear to bank the points… they just get lost.
Here is why I’m confused and by all means… Anet, if you can shed any light on these questions please do so.
Was it intentional to remove an incentive to help others?
Why does end game content like Fractals give more XP for higher levels? If end game and everyone is fully leveled, how is the recent change to give more XP, ‘better rewards’?
Doesn’t this change diminish the usefulness of XP Boosts/Boosters from the Black Lion chests, BLT, daily rewards, etc.?
Over-leveling gave the illusion of character advancement. I could go out and feel I was advancing a character thru the game even though it was ‘max level’. What replaces that?
Why do I still get the yellow numbers that pop-up telling me I’m getting something that I’m not? Which is now more a slap in the face than anything else.
Now, I’m an optimist. I like the game but wanted to ‘call out’ this change with the hope that it’s not too late for Anet to do something about this. If the XP cap is removed, the above questions go away. Here are a couple suggestions off the top of my head to do with XP…
Add a generic repeatable mastery that could be selected that serves the same purpose as the old over-leveling (i.e. giving something upon completion and auto-restarting).
Convert the XP gain to another currency on the spot (i.e. like to Karma). Gave karma as an example because at least something can be done w/ Karma.
Turn it into a currency. Why not allow it as a way to buy items from Miyani at the forge or basic merchant items? This was actually my last suggestion, but the more I think about it… the more I like it. What harm would it cause by allowing us to buy certain account bound items with it? After all, isn’t that basically what we were doing with the over-leveled reward items anyways?
I’m normally a lurker… but the XP thing is bugging me more and more, so I felt that I had to say my peace or I had no one to blame but myself for not bringing up something that is gnawing at me.
TL:DR or if you made it this far, and think Anet should change current state removing/reworking the XP cap, please give a +1. Thank you.
(edited by Nevermore.1089)