Guild Wars 2

I’ve seen this pop up a lot in threads as of late, but it’s like a lot of people don’t know how good horizontal item progression can be for a game’s “end game”.

Imagine it this way:
Vertical progression: an endless rock climb up a cliff. Sure, the journey matters, but when you keep climbing, is there truly a point to it.
Horizontal progression: coming to a fork in the road. To the left you see an open beach where you can go take a swim, to the right there’s a snowy mountain ski resort, and ahead there’s a safari tour.
That’s the difference, the former invites going and going, you improve, but you don’t really have a destination. The latter has a stopping point, but here you have a bit more flexibility. Let me explain.

Sorry for using ascended gear, but it is a perfect platform to build comparisons. Alright, let’s take the ring used in the first picture we saw of ascended gear:
https://d2vn94glaxzkz3.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/Ascended-EN.png
First, you’ll see that the stats power and precision repeat. Potentially, ascended gear can reach a higher peak than exotics can, 5 for power and precision each, in the example.

Let me explain how these items can stand abreast in a horizontal progression model.
In your possession you have the opel ori ring, but then you find the Yakkington’s ring. Now, as horizontal items, Yakkington’s ring won’t have repeated stats, so the jewels three stats will be replaced with vitality, condition damage and healing. Immediately, you’ll be presented with a meaningful choice, and you wont just replace and sell/salvage the lesser item.
This will come down to build, playstyle and personal preference. Do you keep the opel ring with the less, though higher stacked stats (due to the jewel), or do you take the ascended ring, with strong all round stats, and an infusion slot.

As you can see, both items now have merits that can play off of one another. Instead of a system that replaces, the game now has an item system built around choices. Let’s say your build relies strongly on power and precision, then the opel ori is the clear winner, but if your build relies on power, condition damage, and healing, then you’d lean more towards the Yakkington’s ring. However, situations may arise where you become torn. Maybe you’d want the vitality and healing boost, and need to weigh if you’re willing to give up damage for survivability. By it’s definition this will make for a healthy market and deeper build planning, as not everything becomes stacking numbers on larger numbers, but rather fine tuning according to your style.

Let’s take it a step further and add a new tier of items and call them astal items.

Now, what makes an astral item stand out is the huge variance in the stats. Let’s say it has power, precision, MF, and vitality, thus falling somewhere between exotic and ascended amount of stats. Two things sets an astral item aside from the rest.
1. It will have an odd effect on it, for instance…
- every fifth hit received, activate 2s of might
- when damage received equals 20% of max health, refill endurance
- whenever you take a critical hit, your next hit will be critical
- after being revived, your ability with the longest cooldown remaining will be restored
- when you are knocked down, adjacent enemies get’s pushed away
IMO, the game needs more quirky, but character defining item traits like these.
2. It’s stat fluctuations will be a lot greater than the other two items. Meaning, one stat will be higher than ascended values, while three stats will be lower than exotic values.
This means that the item will have an all or nothing feel, being strong in one direction while neglecting the others, but also contains a gambit of sorts with the added effect.

Don’t take my suggestion with the astral gear too much to heart, it’s just a random idea, just to show to what a degree horizontal progression can push itself.
From what I suggested, the playing field will be as such:
Exotic: Items with the most flexibility. Due to the item upgrade slot, a player will have freedom of customization, meaning you can have some semblance of the stats you want, and can even push a few stats beyond ascended (or astral) figures.
Ascended: Items with over all stats higher than exotic gear, but always have six different item stats. There will be an edge in the for of infusions, but ascended stats can never be potentially higher than an exotic item with a jewel sharing stats. Ascended items will have an overall feel of strength.
Astral: A proposed item that can focus majorly in one area, while leaving the rest open. Requires a certain level of skill (or madness) to be done right. This sort of item is only an example of major flexibility of the system.

Alright, I’ve used examples of items already in the game, while adding an off the wall illustration of my own. But I really think this portrays rather effectively how the concept of horizontal progression can’t harm the game. In fact, it will only make the game more intricate by adding options and new ideas of how to play your character.

I can also probably add numbers to my examples, I guess it would explain a lot of things more clearly. However, I think I got a clear point across in the end.