Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone!

This is my first time publishing anything here on the forums and I’m really looking forward to your feedback on some of the ideas I’ve been mulling around for a while. I apologize for the wall of text!

I’ve included section specific tl;drs for people who want to skim. I also want to make it clear that I understand that my mostly solo play style isn’t for everyone, and that MMOs can’t often cater to solo players. I do believe however, that by generating solo content through the re-use of existing assets, ArenaNet could expand GuildWars 2’s replayability and immersion within viable cost.

Home Instance (HI) Improvements

tl;dr Home Instances should be restructured (functionally) to resemble Guild Halls. This includes the ability to place decorations, purchase quality of life upgrades/services, and invest our time and energy into the HI’s value to us as players.

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There are a few improvements that could mature the HI system into a robust player housing-like system for individual players to invest in.

1) The placement of decorations would allow a player to customize their HI experience and make their “home” really a home.

2) The ability to acquire services such as:

• Repair Access
• Bank Access
• Trading Post Access
• Scribing Station
• Decoration Trader Access

The reason I suggest these improvements is to allow any player to invest time and wealth into improving and customizing their base of operations. The HI currently serves little purpose beyond being a node farm, and yet it holds so much potential. These improvements give solo players a reason to invest in the Scribing profession and drastically improve the value of the Gemstore Home Portal Stone.

I’ve excluded services such as the Mystic Forge and core Crafting Stations to help avoid drawing too many players away from the cities. Given ArenaNet’s preference for selling convenience passes (e.g. Lava Lounge Pass) however, I don’t believe this would be too much of an issue.

Solo Trials Feature

tl;dr Generate profession specific solo dungeons that demand a strong understanding of a profession’s unique mechanics. Each dungeon would have a core path, supplemented by a new path per Elite Specialization. Rewards, Achievements, or new forms of currency (in the wallet of course!) could be used as an alternative means of acquiring Legendary Armour for solo players.

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This suggestion stems from a lot of the discussion I’ve witnessed regarding Legendary Armour and the way it’s gated behind Raids. The immediate downside to my concept is that it would require some new content generation, and with that in mind, I see it being something ArenaNet could implement with an Expansion down the road.

I see these trials being designed to test a player’s true understanding of a particular class. The dungeon would focus on the playstyle and mechanics that make a given class unique, coupled with a strong understanding of general combat knowledge earned during regular play (here’s what a Break Bar does!). Not only would these trials hold the potential for fantastic replayability (practice, leaderboards, time trials, etc.), they would allow Legendary Armour to be earned by players who have mastered their favourite classes.

As an example, if a player is a Ranger, the core path of the trial could focus on manipulating your pet to draw or distract enemies, how to effectively use traps to your advantage, and how to properly move around the battlefield. A second path would exist to test a player’s control of Glyphs as a Druid, as well as how to properly use Celestial Avatar to keep an ally alive.

To layer it further, varying levels of optional difficulty could be introduced to challenge players who are already proficient. These trials could be built with existing assets and would have to standardize equipment and stats within the instance, but they would still require tremendous research, development, and testing in order to be successful.

Continued…

Miscellaneous QoL

tl;dr Controller support and optional subscriptions.

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Controller Support

This is something I’ve been looking for since the moment I began playing the original GuildWars. I understand the sheer amount of work involved in creating a separate UI for controllers, however I believe that the way we experience the game could shift dramatically if ArenaNet invested in this improvement. Yes, we can map controllers to the game manually, but the reality is that the UI is designed for a mouse and keyboard. Final Fantasy XIV and Elder Scrolls Online handle this amazingly.

Optional Subscriptions

I realize many people will immediately disagree with this idea, however I’m of the firm belief that regularly supporting a game’s development will yield faster, polished results. A lot of players have gripes about the amount of content ArenaNet releases to the Gem Store, but I think that with the option to pay a monthly subscription, many dedicated players would take up the torch to see this game succeed.

An optional subscription could include:

• An allowance of gems every month
• Access to all Expansions
• Permanent basic boosts (Experience, etc.)
• The satisfaction of regularly supporting the game’s health

In terms of logistics, I feel that the Elder Scrolls Online handles this optional subscription in a relatively fair and meaningful way.

Thanks for taking the time to read! I’d love to hear about your own suggestions on how these concepts or systems could be implemented. The more concrete solutions we introduce, the more likely we are to see changes make it into the game!

You might consider posting your suggestions in the official ‘QoL Suggestions’ Sticky thread where the Devs can peruse them.

And/or Google the thoughts/opinions on these suggestions in previous threads posted here. (I believe there’s a current subscription and home instance one on the first page 4-5 pages.)

Good luck.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You might consider posting your suggestions in the official ‘QoL Suggestions’ Sticky thread where the Devs can peruse them.

And/or Google the thoughts/opinions on these suggestions in previous threads posted here. (I believe there’s a current subscription and home instance one on the first page 4-5 pages.)

Good luck.

Thanks for your feedback! I might try to summarize them and include them in the ‘QoL Suggestions’ Sticky, however I deliberately avoided doing so originally because of how much I had written aha. I took a look at some of the other searches you mentioned and found that the topics were either different in substance or bombarded with negativity, so for now, I’ll keep this post as is. I’ll keep an eye open in case a constructive discussion emerges on any of these subjects!