Karma should have a dominant role in the game’s reward structure.
I propose that continued development in Gw2 place a large emphasis on karma based rewards. I feel significant development of karma based rewards will result in a large amounts of currently stale content to become relevant again. These points are based off of my personal opinion that this game’s core experience is actually it’s leveling experience. I wanted to brainstorm some ideas which would bring the “magic” of the leveling experience back to max level players.
Karma as we currently experience it:
1. Karma is account bound and is mostly disconnected from the gold economy.
2. Karma is a reward for most activities and is already integrated deeply into the game.
3. Karma has limited uses for a max level player, and the emphasis shifts over to gold for progression.
4. Karma is a currency reward which allows players to choose how they wish to be further rewarded.
Considering these points, here are a few of my thoughts regarding karma as it relates to Gw2’s reward structure.
1. Karma currently does not have enough uses at max level. The leveling experience places much emphasis on the acquisition of karma, but the need for karma as it relates to progression falls off at max level (outside of legendary weapons). I think the gear changes on the temple vendors were a step in the right direction and I would like to see more of that sort of thing but with the addition of location relevant cosmetic items (more on this later).
2. There should be more of a connection between dynamic events/hearts/map completion and equipment/skins/cosmetic rewards. The game already provides karma as a reward in all the right places; there should be more of a direct connection between completing all of these activities (even events in low level zones) to interesting item acquisition. This game’s leveling experience makes up much of the core game play and should provide a sense of progression at 80. Speaking personally, I would say that I desire to spend more time in all of the game’s leveling zones but I am missing much of the fun as it relates to a relevant reward. I enjoy Orr/Frostgorge/Dry-Top but I would like the other zones to be more relevant.
3. Region specific armor and weapons should be implemented in most of the zones. First of all, we need more armor skins in the game that don’t come from the gem store. Having region specific weapon and armor skins on karma vendors in each zone would be awesome. You could have a Shiverpeaks armor and weapon set, as well as a Krytan, ect. These items would be found only on vendors in their respective areas.
4. Dry top currency (geodes) could serve as a model for other zones. I propose introducing other unique region specific currencies in addition to karma to ensure that people who want a Shiverpeak’s weapon/armor set actually spend time in Shiverpeak zones. We already have a currency for the Maguma jungle zones.
5. Vendors for special karma rewards (weapon and armor skins) should be accessed only under certain conditions. An example of this might be placing certain vendors with location specific cosmetic items behind certain barriers like meta events or even in WVW at the center of the castle in Eternal Battlegrounds. Again, I would also recommend the use of a region or activity specific currency.
6. People currently only farm dynamic events which involve champions or several packs of monsters. The main reward in these situations is never actually coming from the events themselves but from monster loot. I would like to shift the general incentive to do an event to the event itself.
7. Most things should be purchasable with karma since most activities reward it. What if things like Cultural Armor Skins, Crafting tools and reagents, Transmutation charges, ect. could be purchased with varying amounts of karma?
8. Gold should be reserved as a secondary currency for use with trading post. I am not an economist, and so I am not sure how to keep gold’s value tied to something but I do believe that it should be disconnected from karma, and that karma should remain disconnected from the gem store. We need more items only obtainable by playing the game itself.
That’s it for now. Much of these suggestions come from what I would personally like to see while I wait for expansion content. What do you guys think?