I play MMOs for a few reasons. I like the scope, the size of it. A huge world to explore and discover. I like to create my own unique character and take it from zero to hero. And of course, the reward and the feeling of progression all of that gives me!
Progression
Anet said in the begining that they want you to feel like a hero from the start. Down bosses at level 1 and all the way through to lvl 80. That’s great, but I’m not feeling that progression in this game the way I think an MMO should have.
Gear and Crafting
Fighting bosses at lvl 1 is great but when I’m lvl 50 and I’m still getting gear that looks like lvl 1 gear I don’t really feel like I’ve come very far from the begining of my journey. When I spend the time and money to level crafting from 1 to 200 or 300 and everything still looks like the same old lvl 1 gear I don’t feel like I’ve progressed into being a skilled crafter at all! There needs to be more armor and weapon models!! I understand the gear grind in this game is cosmetic but that shouldn’t mean that the ONLY way to get awesome gear is to do dungeons.
PvP
PvP sounds like it has it right in that you earn glory points and buy better looking gear. But having to gamble my points to buy a pack of random pieces that need to be crafted together to make the gear I want in the Mystic Forge is a daunting process that causes me to shy away from PvP more than I would normally. Whats wrong with having sets of gear at different tiers that you can buy with glory points and then crafting “special items” from gear you get from the rabbit chests? Or even still allowing players to buy those packs from the vendors with their extra points if they want. I like an in depth system as much as the next person and I like the crafting idea with PvP, but I feel that PvP and crafting should more separate than packaged together.
Action Bar/ Skills
When most of the skills on your action bar changes very little from the early levels the feeling of progression feels even more distant. We are all aware of the customization options we get through weapon and utility skill swapping, but when you find a weapon that fits your play style you tend to find yourself using that weapon a lot and that means half of your skills are the same most of the way from level 1 to 80. This makes combat begin to feel boring. I think weapon trainers offering different weapon skills/abilities for different weapons, at different levels, that could be swapped in for other weapon skills would be well received and provide further customization to the players play style and the feeling of character progression.
Traits and Skills
In other MMOs classes are given different trees to spec in that changes the skills they have and the roles they exceed at. I can see this as being possible with with the way the trait system works in GW2, but it is FAR more complicated and may be entirely lost on the casual player.
World Map and “Zones”
The map is very nice and I love it. Something that would make it better though is to add a feature allowing you to change the zone selected where your current zones completion progress is displayed. This way you can find zones you haven’t finished without needing to travel there first. Also adding an outline to the zone your mouse hovers over may help the player to know the layout of the world. In addition I think a story line should be added to each zone beyond what the hearts provide. Similar to the personal story but this story doesn’t need to be instanced and would take the player from the start of each map/zone where creatures are lower level to the end of the map where creatures are higher level while giving the player that maps story/history and rewarding the player at the end of the chain the same as you are rewarded in your personal story. Everyone loves rewards, the kind you get in the personal story. The Karma system is great but can’t replace the feeling you get when you get a nice piece of loot at the end of a mission or battle.
Rewards / Loot
Rewards from veteran or champion monsters are depressing. You can spend 5 to 10 minutes pissing yourself while killing a giant shark or just a giant in general with 4+ other players all to get nothing more than some white trash item or salvage scrap or nothing at all. Difficult creatures/mobs should have a rewarding loot table.
Many great ideas have been implemented into GW2 that help put it above the others, but I’m afraid that if they rely on those implements alone and overlook the things that have been done right in the past they may be shorting themselves, the game, and the players. I love Guild Wars 2 and Arena Net and have my respect, but as a fan, a player and a part of the community I think it would be wrong not to address things like this.
Give a +1 if you agree on any of these topics. Leave your own comment.
(edited by Bolthar.7192)