I remember when this game was being advertised as being very casual and that you could jump into any aspect of it and have fun. I feel like Arena Net has drifted away from this in many ways. First, it was ascended items. We were told we would get our end game gear and never have to worry about it in the future. But no. More and more ascended items keep coming out. Next, it was spvp and tpvp and their attempts at making this so-called casual, fun mmo a certified esport. Now it’s tequatl. Arena net. If you think a random casual that plays this game for 2 hours a week can still have fun and remain in the swing of things through these changes, you are wrong. (I’m not even in this category, I play about 12 hours a week, but a few of my RL gw buddies are.) They simply can’t keep up.
Your games design is lovely. It’s beautiful, yet complex. A casual has a hard time retaining all of these complexities, while at the same time maintaining a grind to get better gear. A year ago, we chose a lower tier wvw server so we could do small group stuff and not just run around in a huge “competitive” zerg ball simply because it’s not fun. Cool you were world 1st teq kill and top wvw server? Well numbers are an amazing thing in this game aren’t they. Too bad that takes almost no individual effort (I transferred away from Blackgate, and have also killed teq.)
Please Arena Net. Stop going down this slippery slope that every mmo seems to go down. You guys are different. At least I think (hope!). We want challenging small group stuff that we can PLAY through now, with our current gear. That’s why we chose you. We love the gameplay. It’s time to cater to your beautifully crafted game and stop the useless progression by zerg game.