Guild Wars 2

Oh yeah, you know what I’m talking about, right? You’re all decked out in your ascended gear, looking good to the point that both men and women swoon as you walk by them (which you find both creepy and strangely intoxicating as the same time) and you look out, lord of your surroundings and say to yourself… now what? You have the power but you want to continue to progress your character, only now it’s horizontal. So, while Chris is busy getting the vertical stuff wrapped up I thought we could get started with the horizontal discussion in a thread dedicated solely to that. No more stat creep, no more power… then when Chris gets the horizontal CDI rolling things can either be cut and pasted there (if you like what you typed here) or whatever.

So, a clean, shiny fresh platform to discuss how you would like to see your character progress horizontally through the game. What tickles your fancy? Challenging ways to access new ascended skins? More titles? Achievements? How about a battery of new skills that can only be unlocked through various challenges?

Have at it!

I want my armor to be bifrost armor. I want legendary dyes that infuse dye slots with rainbows.

:)

I’m much more a fan of Legendary Dyes than Legendary Armor.

I want more activities and adventures to do with my guild. Maybe instanced dungeons with special bosses at the end that reward you with a skill… or an update to an existing skill.

Like, maybe there’s a Mesmer boss and when you defeat it, your Feedback dome gets an added electrical effect or something?

I would enjoy quests something like the Black Moa Chick quest. Finishing it, and helping others do so, was fun and made me feel special. =)

I posted this in another thread, but I feel it will fit here too.

So, I guess one thing I would like to see is Legendary Armor Skins. Now, this would not add stats or anything, but rather be a cool horizontal progression. Make it an awesome design that has cool animations, modify your emotes, etc. You could even make the design of other pieces change as you acquire another Legendary piece.

Acquiring these should be extremely difficult, whether through crafting, PvP, WvW, Dungeons, World Bosses, etc. I’m not sure how it would be implemented, but I think it would be awesome to have some cool armor of “Legendary” tier to really show you had to work hard for it.

Magnus Heartseeker.7958:

I posted this in another thread, but I feel it will fit here too.

So, I guess one thing I would like to see is Legendary Armor Skins. Now, this would not add stats or anything, but rather be a cool horizontal progression. Make it an awesome design that has cool animations, modify your emotes, etc. You could even make the design of other pieces change as you acquire another Legendary piece.

Acquiring these should be extremely difficult, whether through crafting, PvP, WvW, Dungeons, World Bosses, etc. I’m not sure how it would be implemented, but I think it would be awesome to have some cool armor of “Legendary” tier to really show you had to work hard for it.

I could see these allowing for stat changes similar to what the weapons can do as well, really add that level of enticing.

I would like to see more titles available to characters. Specifically more unique ones.
Examples:
- After killing 1000 Ascalonian ghosts you would achieve a title like “Ghostbuster”
- After dying from falling damage 100 times you would recieve one like “The Clumsy”
It would open up many more customization options for characters and allow us more flexible in outlining how we roleplay our characters.
Thanks for reading.

At the top my head:

• Unlockable skill animations.

• Weapon dyes! But weapon dye slots have to be forged.

• Aesthetics “sockets” on items that changes their appearance slightly like a glow or sparks.

sorry, I’ll probably be a strange beast.

But for me, the increase also is this:

+The exploration, treasure hunt, the discovery of new fantastic locations …

+Improved decorder developments cities.

+Progression of customization creations characters … (tattoos, horns, ears, hairstyles, change cursor more interesting.

new dungeons + chips and outfits.

+Craft: Armor Gw1 findable explorations in revenue.

+Addition of ruins or places “tomb raider” In the idea … with puzzles, levers, research, secrets.

+Underwater exploration

nikitnq.7143:

• Aesthetics “sockets” on items that changes their appearance slightly like a glow or sparks.

And rainbows!

Hard mode ( Vanquisher )
all dungeons hard mode 8 man

Weapon dyes ( maybe earned from this )
New Skills 1-5 for all weapons ( Earned from this )

Would be cool if in the future you could upgrade your Ascended armor, not stat-wise, but with different particle effects, glows, shinies, and possibly even upgrade them so you can change stats a la Legendary weapons. Stat level would remain the same, but now you become a little more versatile. Would need to be a long term goal.

Draknar.5748:

Would be cool if in the future you could upgrade your Ascended armor, not stat-wise, but with different particle effects, glows, shinies, and possibly even upgrade them so you can change stats a la Legendary weapons. Stat level would remain the same, but now you become a little more versatile. Would need to be a long term goal.

Personally I still like the idea of being able to use T-stones to replace the insignias on the armor without having to sacrifice a whole set of armor. You craft a knights insignia, for example, and use a t-stone to replace the Berserkers insignia in there.

LittleLepton.8915:

nikitnq.7143:

• Aesthetics “sockets” on items that changes their appearance slightly like a glow or sparks.

And rainbows!

yes, yes.
You can have your rainbows as well.

NoxInfernus.2361:

LittleLepton.8915:

nikitnq.7143:

• Aesthetics “sockets” on items that changes their appearance slightly like a glow or sparks.

And rainbows!

yes, yes.
You can have your rainbows as well.

^.^ yay!

Horizontal progress alone won’t be a successful change in Gw2.

To make the transition from a slow vertical progression into a full horizontal progression, we first need to understand the reasoning behind the vertical progression systems. Vertical progression systems were created to keep the players hands full as time passes by. The gear grind although a penalty for some, became the driving force that pushed the players playing the game over and over. For the F2P and B2P MMO industry, profit is proportional to the time players spend on the game.

A while back, before the Living Story, Gw2 became stall. A lot of players became bored with the content the game was providing. “I got the best gear till now. Now what?” This question was being asked over and over again.

Without even realizing, the gear treadmill many were so eager to attack as one of the gamers deadly sins, is in fact one of the main driving forces for a player keep playing the game. The repetitive task became so repetitive that it became fun. Extending it’s repetitiveness became tiresome and grindy. Another solution was needed. And to relieve the players of the burden of the gear treadmill, was created the time-gated content. Time-Gated content became a mid term solution between the horizontal progression and the vertical progression. But instead of providing fun content, it made the exact opposite. It forced the player into deciding when they can get things!

Horizontal progression, needs to be followe by a deep change in the content. Allowing the players to horizontally progress and still make them want to play the game is not an easy task, and needs some serious efforts on ANet side.

Skins upgrade.
Atm we have so many weapons and armor exactly with the same skins. One of the things that could be done, were gear upgrades using the mystic forge and maybe some newer tokens. Dungeons needs to get revamped to include harder modes (like a heroic as someone suggested in another thread), and allow the harvest of the newer tokens, to visually upgrade the weapons and armor.

Functionality upgrades.
The gear could have better functionality.
-Depending on the gear, it could allow to choose 1 of 2 stats combo (like the legendary weapons/armors to every stat).

WvW, PvP and PvE need to be mutually benefited from the time one player spends playing one of them. The existant glory NPC should be a permanent feature, allowing to trade Glory for ExP, and other things. Exclusive armors for individual gaming modes, that could be used at any of these 3 game modes, using a skin bank (Like the achievement point reward skins).

So progression should bring the will to play and the fun from doing it!

/cheers

- Housing. I hate being a level 80 Dragon slayer Hero, yet I’m forced to live outside in my ‘home instance’ – psst Dev’s, you might want to look at what Trion is doing over on Rift.
I’ve build myself up, now let me build up my home instance. Yes you started down that path … sorta … with these meta reward nodes/crystal, but it’s not enough.
You want to talk horizontal progression? Give us a whole section of our home city to customize.

For housing, Rune of Magic was also very good things.

Let us rebuild our HoM, or build it for the first time for new players.

Or, take it’s general idea and add some of it to the home instances. After all, its our ‘home’ instance and we’re ‘heroes’ so why wouldn’t we have things like a shrine to show off our minis, or armor (which could potentially double as a wardrobe), or titles. This gives us no only incentive to earn some of the existing horizontal features, but gives us a place to show them off as well, just like with the original HoM.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Let us rebuild our HoM, or build it for the first time for new players.

Or, take it’s general idea and add some of it to the home instances. After all, its our ‘home’ instance and we’re ‘heroes’ so why wouldn’t we have things like a shrine to show off our minis, or armor (which could potentially double as a wardrobe), or titles. This gives us no only incentive to earn some of the existing horizontal features, but gives us a place to show them off as well, just like with the original HoM.

I’d love this personally. It would also be nice to craft things to put in there utilizing unique things found in the world… a scale from Zhaitan, for example into a table or wall hanging. Things that are hard to come by and give you a few options to craft with. (A scale won’t always be a table, for example… you could choose a table, a wall hanging, maybe even a hammock.)

VOLKON.1290:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Let us rebuild our HoM, or build it for the first time for new players.

Or, take it’s general idea and add some of it to the home instances. After all, its our ‘home’ instance and we’re ‘heroes’ so why wouldn’t we have things like a shrine to show off our minis, or armor (which could potentially double as a wardrobe), or titles. This gives us no only incentive to earn some of the existing horizontal features, but gives us a place to show them off as well, just like with the original HoM.

I’d love this personally. It would also be nice to craft things to put in there utilizing unique things found in the world… a scale from Zhaitan, for example into a table or wall hanging. Things that are hard to come by and give you a few options to craft with. (A scale won’t always be a table, for example… you could choose a table, a wall hanging, maybe even a hammock.)

The crafting idea is sort of nifty when added to that. It would make for some interesting customization, and definitely a more visual ‘I have accomplished ’x’’ feeling.

To me, having something similar to hom is only logically.
- I killed Zaitan…. of course I’m keeping a kitten trophy!
- I have completed exploration 100%, I should have little tid bits kept from my travels for display
- I helped defeat Scarlet and save the queen, I should have something to display for that
- I played shrink for Destiny’s Edge, I sure as heck deserve something for that!
Etc Etc

Lots of options…

TheDaiBish.9735:

NoxInfernus.2361:

LittleLepton.8915:

nikitnq.7143:

• Aesthetics “sockets” on items that changes their appearance slightly like a glow or sparks.

And rainbows!

yes, yes.
You can have your rainbows as well.

Can we also have the Nyan Cat music playing while we run, for everyone to hear?

I would hope so. I mean what’s the point of playing without that? ;D

Personally, my list for horizontal is as follows:

• More skins and weapon skins. Like, a lot more. The game seems devoid of choices in this category. I can walk around LA and everyone is wearing the same stuff, because it’s the only stuff that looks good.

• More titles, means of achieving said titles, and making the WvW Ultimate Titles actually obtainable

• I’d like to see a progressive horizontal skill set. Something that maybe changes the color of guardian skills from blue > red and changes the skill animations accordingly. Doesn’t add any power, and let’s us customize our characters spell effects.

• Fixes for costume disparity: Why can’t I buy the good looking armor with my WvW badges? Why are there next to no skins in WvW? Where are the exclusive WvW skins for season participation? Inquiring minds are wondering

I’m sure I’ll think of more, but this is just what I have mostly been thinking about today to get the ball rolling.

I still would like the AP rewards panel thing (zenith/radiant/hellfire spot) to be implemented more. Let us pull any of the skins/minis from the Meta achievements from them as many times as we want. It should also include previous skins we got before the implementation of the meta achievements (mad king memories, etc.).

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The crafting idea is sort of nifty when added to that. It would make for some interesting customization, and definitely a more visual ‘I have accomplished ’x’’ feeling.

To me, having something similar to hom is only logically.
- I killed Zaitan…. of course I’m keeping a kitten trophy!
- I have completed exploration 100%, I should have little tid bits kept from my travels for display
- I helped defeat Scarlet and save the queen, I should have something to display for that
- I played shrink for Destiny’s Edge, I sure as heck deserve something for that!
Etc Etc

Lots of options…

You forgot we deserve something for being Trahearne’s Kitten/lackey.

TheDaiBish.9735:

Can we also have the Nyan Cat music playing while we run, for everyone to hear?

As long as the volume is controlled by a slider (like the bells and other instruments) so people can opt in or out as they choose, I’m all for this.

No, really.

For legendary dyes I want see-through-to-starfield dyes on my armor that use the shaders already in the game for Sunrise and Twilight.

(I have those on some of my character in DCUO. It does in fact ROCK.)

skullmount.1758:

I still would like the AP rewards panel thing (zenith/radiant/hellfire spot) to be implemented more. Let us pull any of the skins/minis from the Meta achievements from them as many times as we want. It should also include previous skins we got before the implementation of the meta achievements (mad king memories, etc.).

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

The crafting idea is sort of nifty when added to that. It would make for some interesting customization, and definitely a more visual ‘I have accomplished ’x’’ feeling.

To me, having something similar to hom is only logically.
- I killed Zaitan…. of course I’m keeping a kitten trophy!
- I have completed exploration 100%, I should have little tid bits kept from my travels for display
- I helped defeat Scarlet and save the queen, I should have something to display for that
- I played shrink for Destiny’s Edge, I sure as heck deserve something for that!
Etc Etc

Lots of options…

You forgot we deserve something for being Trahearne’s Kitten/lackey.

I had an ‘etc’ on there chuckle

skullmount.1758:

You forgot we deserve something for being Trahearne’s Kitten/lackey.

Ok… “Trehearne’s Kitten” (not an artifact of the filter, I actually said the word’s you’re seeing) is the MUST-HAVE mini-pet of the season.

Make it so.

Nike.2631:

skullmount.1758:

You forgot we deserve something for being Trahearne’s Kitten/lackey.

Ok… “Trehearne’s Kitten” (not an artifact of the filter, I actually said the word’s you’re seeing) is the MUST-HAVE mini-pet of the season.

Make it so.

While we’re at it…. how about minis of our GW1 characters, which vets can unlock through epic quests and tasks. Something scavenger like…like the black moa chick event line. Although, this might make non-vets feel left out… hmmm

Edit: Yes, the suggestion is intentionally out in left field. But I’d be game for more minis….that could be earned, like the baby black moa in gw1.

- id love they’d fix underwater combat in a way that makes it fun to do, and then add it to wvw or spvp or both :P (give all skills a underwater variety and remove underwater weapons)
- i also love more guild related activities
- more skills for all classes (build variety+)
- more dyes (glamour+)
- different spvp modes (i hated capture points way before gw2, and still do)
- a system that balances material prices to what anet intends for them to be (the higher the price difference the more quantity of mats you get for every node, or something similar)
- different trait builds saved on one character, maybe even each with its own set of gear etc..
- guild halls (i find it really weird this does not exist yet considering the overflow system works so similar, same basic location but with different groups of people, and guild unlocks decide whats what)
- make dungeons and fractals work like max 5 people overflow servers, so people don’t get kicked when the starter guy leaves (bug still in game after sooo long..)
- different guaranteed ways to get precursors (but still very hard to do) (been datamined but still not in game so i thought id put it in here anyway)
- more different dailies and more permanent dailies (crafting permanent daily would be great in my case, daily leveler also seems like something you could do every day)
- max daily achievement points to 5 each day OR make a daily meta achievement for 5 points which requires 5 dailies which each give no points.
- make living story less about single characters that change the world. make it so the areas change over time, one map each 2 weeks, starting with orr cause zaitan has been dead for over a year and still they haven’t taken back even a cm of land yet omgwtfbbqsauce
- more recipes with different stat combinations, and no more silly recipes that require more then 2 of a single material (eg 20 beets for refugee beet soup.. rly?) and no more consumables with stats that already exist.
- make more repeatable achievements (and more achievements overall). make the repeatable achievements infinite, each time you complete them they give more points, but they also become harder (eg salvage achievement. 1st time: 100×1.1^(0) #salvages, 2nd: 100×1.1^(1), .. salvage achievement for the 100th time: 100×1.1^(99). the 100th time you complete you’d need 1.252.783 salvages)
- more jumping puzzles! they are great :P
- link forum and ingame accounts so you can get achievements based on how active you are on the forums.
- no more RNG boxes (/sactastic tone: “thanks Gnashblade”)
- devs respond to every thread they read, even if its just a automated message that reads “we have read your thread and are considering what you posted” or something, that way players will feel a lot more heard, right now people are thinking the devs don’t care and don’t read.
- the next election would be better as a more European style democracy, with more then just 2 parties to choice from. i like the multi-votes-per-person system ONLY cause this is a game
- CHAIRS for the rp community.. they have been asking since forever, or at least crutches without back support to prevent some clipping issues.

but most of all
id want them to make dyes acc bound again, so i can look good on all my alts, without having to spend 1000 gold to unlock all dyes. also make dye achievements and titles like artist if you unlock 150 dyes

you might not agree with some things in the list and that’s great, cause that means you have the ability to have an opinion! however this is mine (opinion that is) and thus in my honest opinion these would all be great additions to the game.

thanks for reading!

I want a complete overhaul of racial elite skills, and I want them tied to a new comprehensive marriage system, which is also tied to a comprehensive housing system.

By completing nifty challenges with a character they will unlock “genetic traits” that they will pass on when they breed. At any point you can choose to “marry” two of your character and their “genetic traits” determines the racial skills available to their child.
As you complete challenges you also unlock decorations for your house —so your house is kind of like a “great hall” measuring the accomplishments of your dynasty.

You can either delete a character to make room for another, or ArenaNet will give everyone a free “dynasty character slot” for one character that you bred between two other characters.

I think this would open up a lot of unique new racial skills such as a cross between Hounds of Balthazar and Bear form. Imagine playing a Charr character with Human/Norn ancestors that can transform into an Bears of Balthazar Uber Charr!

A lot of people might think that this system would allow you to create OP combo’s (such as merging the intellect of an Asura with the brawn of a Norn) but I don’t think so. Plus, I think it would be fun. It would be like Sims meets GW2, and the housing system would allow you to record the accomplishments of your dynasty! I think this would go a long way towards truly making Tyria a Living World!!!

EDIT: In all seriousness, I’m just a little impatient for the actual CDI to get started, but Chris said he is having a busy day, so I shall wait.

I find this thread to be terribly forward and inappropriate. I will NOT “get horizontal” with you!

^_^

(I’m drafting a post/series of posts in google docs, presently, or I’d participate. Gotta get some “sizzle” into my ideas, it seems. But I seem to fail at smilies, so we’ll see how I do.)

Why is it appropriate? (except Finnway.2183 or there … um, I had trouble with the idea.)

GW1 Armor sets + New armor sets. Maybe some that actually look decent

I want more racial skills, utility skills and weapon types (whip, fan, etc.) and improvement on underwater combat. Please no more power creep via infusions. It’ll just be a treadmill in disguise.

Like already suggested: animation sets, new skills, cosmetic stuff and titles you get from doing challenging solo and group content, basically ways to customize (personalize) your toon(s) further.

oh and more stuff to decorate our home instance with!

What about a legendary quest?

• You start of with an exotic weapon of choice: a greatsword, a sword, a longbow, maybe a staff… basically anything. Important: you can choose a beginner skin you like for it too.
• Now, you embark on a dangerous journey… something similar to the GW1 storylines, cause I absolutely adored them. Every time you get the choice between a couple of things, and your choice affects what happens to your weapon: each time you get a new component after completing a story instance, you can add it to your weapon, modifying the skin slightly and making it more legendary by the step.
• When you’re halfway, your weapon can be upgraded to ascended level, you have reached The Source of Ascension.
• At the end of the epic storyline, your weapon becomes legendary and gets a new name, fitting to the adventures you have completed with it.

I was hoping the official thread would show up tonight.

-New weapons for each profession, with quests to unlock the skills.
-Weapon naming.
-Unlockable emotes.
-More titles.
-More minigames, especially polymock.
-More zones with actual Guild Wars lore.

Nar.8327:

Weapon naming.

Oh yes! Please, make it so!

I couldn’t wait to name my rifle “Charlene”

Guhracie.3419:

I was hoping the official thread would show up tonight.

This is the placeholder to get the ideas rolling as the weekend approaches.

Cyto.9401:

- max daily achievement points to 5 each day OR make a daily meta achievement for 5 points which requires 5 dailies which each give no points.

5?! I think 10-12 is a little more appropriate, considering most people can complete 5 in under 20min and I, being a casual, can get 8-10 without even thinking about it during normal play.

Either way this and many of your other points have nothing to do with the topic of horizontal progression. Your post was about changes you’d like to see in GW2. OP is asking about horizontal progression suggestions.

I agree with some of your points, though.

Draknar.5748:

Cyto.9401:

- max daily achievement points to 5 each day OR make a daily meta achievement for 5 points which requires 5 dailies which each give no points.

5?! I think 10-12 is a little more appropriate, considering most people can complete 5 in under 20min and I, being a casual, can get 8-10 without even thinking about it during normal play.

Either way this and many of your other points have nothing to do with the topic of horizontal progression. Your post was about changes you’d like to see in GW2. OP is asking about horizontal progression suggestions.

I agree with some of your points, though.

well i mainly want to limit the idea of dailies being the main part of your achievement points score, because that way only the ones that where there from the beginning have a chance of reaching the top.
i actually want a system that limits daily achievement points, and removes the limits on the repeatable achievements, and make those the primary source of achievement points for the achi hunters.
the repeat achievements would increase in numbers every time you complete them though, so to do the salvage repeat achievement the 100th time, you would have to salvage 1 million and more things. this would remove the limit of maximum achievement points that we have right now (count together all one time achievements, together with the repeatable achievements times the amount you get to repeat and get points for them, and then add the # of dailies since the launch of the daily system and you have the max possible points) and make the amount of achievement points potentially limitless (though millions of points would require insane amounts of time and money and dedication (maybe a extravagant goldsink?))

i agree that a lot of my points where not horizontal progression related :P but i keep this .txt file with all my issues with gw2 handy, and i just copypasted everything in here, hoping a dev would read it and maybe perhaps finally change 1 of the things on the list potentially. maybe? please? at least the dungeon leader bug? perhaps?

I would think that limiting the daily achievement point potential actually goes against the whole concept of horizontal progression. I can easily imagine that plenty of people use APs as one of if not the main source of progression as it is. If you limit daily potential suddenly that’s a whole group getting hit for no apparent reason.

Make an alt. Gear it

While I think it’s a good idea personally to limit the dailies to 5AP (to prevent people from grinding themselves into a coma), It really doesn’t solve any problem. Why should we care about AP? What does it do to make our character better or stronger? All AP does is give you a couple of skins as is now anyway, I just see no reason why we can’t let people who want to farm all the daily steps get the AP for a skin…

Now if they were giving out ascended gear for AP rewards, then yes, we’d need to limit the daily to 5 AP. But as it stands it’s just a few meh skins anyway.

Some more stuff I thought of over the night:

• Legendary questline. I don’t know anyone that gets excited about collecting 250 of every material required for the current crafting of one. There needs to be a Legendary Quest arc that gives us a reliable way to get a legendary.

• Account bound all magical items you use on your character. Why can’t I use my Guardian’s old gear on my Warrior? It’s not like I can sell it on the TP. Or do anything at all useful with it.

• New skill sets and 2-3 new trait lines that give us new combinations of stats. Why do I have to get condition damage to get precision on my Guardian? What a waste. Or let us choose from a pool of stats available to each trait line.

I like the idea of unlocking skill “variants”. For example, we have Moa Morph. What if you could unlock other types of morphs? Dolyak morph, for example. Or if you could turn someone into a newt. Yeah, I want Newt Morph.

VOLKON.1290:

I like the idea of unlocking skill “variants”. For example, we have Moa Morph. What if you could unlock other types of morphs? Dolyak morph, for example. Or if you could turn someone into a newt. Yeah, I want Newt Morph.

Yeah! I want my tornado to turn into a freakin hurricane man!