Guild Wars 2

I love the recent changes, it’s definitely an improvement. It feels like ANet have set it up for something larger when the heavy world updates roll out. To build on the design modifications going on, I’d like to share some of what I’d like to see in the future. And maybe you can share some of your own inputs.

Risen
As of now they are a lot like any other enemies you’ve faced since level one. It gets a bit old to see the same things repeated across enemies, and I think the risen should really differentiate themselves from those before them.

Enemies should have ways of fighting and require tactics. Instead of merely packing anti-CC skills and just wadding through them without really caring what they can do, it would be great if enemies had different strategies. For example:

- Brute – Melee players acquire constant stacks of bleed. At half health the Brute will raise its arms, taking only glancing blows. After three seconds he slams, knocking melee players back while dealing more damage the less health he has.
- Wizard – When two wizards come near each other, they’ll cause spouts of lightning to erupt in their proximity. When three wizards come close, a chaos storm will surround them.
- Pirate – Throws ricocheting daggers. The projectiles will bounce between players. Each hit renews poison duration.
- Preserver – Steals boons, place conditions on players. Nearby risen regenerate, nearby players take damage. Can fully replenish self from nearby risen corpse.
- Corrupter – Their arrows deal more damage the further a player is away. They have a rapid shot which deals accumulating damage and possibly chills if a player isn’t moving.

Just a few examples. Instead of merely smacking Brutes, a player need to be more aware of its proximity. Wizards become dangerous when close to one another. Pirates will need players to steer clear of one another, as close groups take the most ricochet damage. Preservers cause more trouble the more risen near them and the longer they’re in battle. Corrupters are dangerous at a distance and forces players to be on the move.

This is what I mean by strategy, the risen each have a strength, which will require tactics to fight. Especially so when different risen come together in a group.

Events
With only DEs in Orr, the place should be a hotbed of constant chaos. The place will come to chaotic life if there are always between 3 and 5 DEs happening, with risen swarming these places, creating anarchy. Wherever you go there will be mass fighting and places being swarmed, camps assaulted, and NPCs battling in the road, risen towers being taken by the Pact, siege weapons pounding them, siege weapons pounding the Pact.

Right now Orr has hot spots, but the entire Orr should be a hotspot of madness. When you leave the zone it should be to take a break.

Continued below

Boss
I find it odd that Orr lacks a massive battle on the scale of the dragons. Instead of a rehashed Tequatl, I’d like to see something huge wade across the landscape, wreaking havoc. So as an example I’ll introduce something new, let’s call it the Grotesqosaur. Lame name notwithstanding, this large risen beast, built from discarded risen parts, can appear either at Malchor’s, Cursed Shore, or Straits. It has a specific place it will appear in each of these zones, but it’s timer wont be set, and the zone will be randomly chosen.

Like the other battles, it’ll be huge and you’ll require methods to take it down. Maybe deal damage and have it move into a specific spot to allow an airship bombardment to take care of it.

Rewards
All in all the drops will be the same, but with constant DES and risen swarming them, the drops shouldn’t be a problem. However, I’d like the game to implement something, though this will count across the board. For each step in a meta event you take part in, the reward should accumulate. That way you’ll be rewarded for taking part from its beginning and sticking around, and also for partaking in the story thereof.

Keeps
Another idea I had that might add a certain epic flair to Orr would be if there was a keep that stood as strategic value to whomever controlled it. Now the keep will be under constant risen assault, and while it’s under player control, the waves will grow larger and feature more advance enemies. Eventually giants will slam into the walls, while wizards rain fire and catapults batter away.

The keep can act like a WvW structure of sorts. When risen control it, there will in response be more veteran risen, but while under Pact control, more friendly NPCs
will actively patrol.

These are just a few things that I think would bring some insane flavor to Orr, and some of these additions could possibly even be applied to other zones as well.

Added a few more ideas, and changed a few details for clarity.