Traits
Right now for each trait you have to do something. Some of these “things” come organically – story achievements/dungeons(which you are expected to do as a part of the story experience- but more on this later), but some are convoluted extensions that force the player to do what you want them to. I’m fine with clearing temples for grandmaster traits, but for any trait below grandmaster, the gating system needs to be more lenient. They used to, after all, to be unlocked by a single manual. Don’t gate content that doesn’t need to be gated for the sake of forcing players to experience the content. If certain content becomes unpopular, then at least value the fact people are still playing the game, instead of thinking of ways players can be forcefully “guided” into experiencing the content.
Exoticizing Ourselves
It’s essential to have exotics to step onto the bigger stage. I asked a mega guild if they minded if a fully decked out rare berserker’s armor elementalist with exotic weapons could play a level 1-9 fractal with them, and they outright refused. They rather go PvP then low-level fractal! Each piece of exotic armor is 5 gold, which is 5 dungeon runs. Granted, it’s 6 days of grinding 5 dungeons everyday (3 AC, 2 CoF) to grab a full set of non-berserker’s on the TP now, but how is then meaningful progression? Isn’t that just a grind for stats and gear all over again? Ascended and exotic are tiers but they are essential tiers to the PvE experience to maximize characters. Are you saying that if you don’t grind, you can’t obtain the highest tier of PvE equipment? I don’t believe that is innovation at all, which was what GW2’s manifesto was constantly idealizing.
Finding the Community
Look at a recent post by “#1 Engi NA” Vee Wee – he clearly enjoys the grind and has an abundance of ascended gear – as he deserves, since he has a team of like-minded well geared players. We don’t all have that luxury. We don’t all have friends that want to run fractals from the ground up as they had done so when fractals first came out. It’s less than possible to find decent players to run fractals with as such players have already done the fractals, or are themselves subject to the whims of those already established, waiting to be dragged upward the gear grind. Many large guilds are just using the momentum of them being a huge guild to gain players but they don’t really give a kitten about individual members really. I tried making small talk but was of course quickly shut down because the guild already had an established clique of players, even though it was a “large, friendly guild”.
The Living World
The GW2 engine seems to be extremely limited to handle any definition or expectation of a “living world”. Lion’s Arch is still in shambles because there’s no update; if the world was living the guy still hammering away at the broken asuran gate would’ve affected it somehow by now. My point is that it’s unproductive to use nice sounding words that mask and betray player expectation. If it’s limited-time content then say so. It’s not a living world just so it can die permanently. I’m not calling for changes, but maybe a simple cycle of destruction/repair to be thought of in each living world update. Lion’s Arch, for example, can be destroyed every week/month as part of a similar chain of events. The world would be changing in cycles, predictable, but a living world nonetheless. This would atleast allow even the newer players to experience the changes they had missed in the game.
Content Renewal
I missed all the content that you had created over the entire span starting from flame and frost. It was part of a living world that died after it’s time had passed, effectively destroying the newest and shiniest content. I’d rather replacement than temporary resurfacing, if you catch my drift. Why can’t everyone experience the progression and direction of advancement this game is taking? What promise did Anet make that forces them to destroy their own content after the expiry date is up?