I wanted to take a moment to thank the developers for making the decision(s) to make Tyria much friendlier to alts. I’ve been around since GW1 and I’ve followed the discussions about why certain systems were character-specific “progression” as opposed to account-wide. Notably I recall the dye debate during the beta weekends, more recently the debate over Wxp or the ongoing debate over ascended. As an avid player of alts (an altaholic if you will), a trait first nurtured in how alt-friendly GW1 was designed, I was always on the side of account-unlocks and throughout my time in GW2 I have felt pressure and restrictions to change or avoid that style of playing.
This most recent patch has shown me that across the company you guys have made a conscious and robust effort to redesign systems (I’m sure this wasn’t easy) and even make generous decisions (retroactively unlocking dyes for the account, permanently unlocking gem store skins with a single purchase) to accommodate the best interests of the players. You didn’t just do this with one or two systems, you did a sweeping change across many areas of the game and I can tell you that I personally have felt and greatly appreciate how big an impact this has made on my experience in the game.
Off the top of my head here are the systems changed to be account wide in this last patch:
- Dyes
- The Wardrobe and skin unlocks (legendaries, expensive high end skins, gem store skins, Living Story Skins)
- sPvP reward track unlocks (unlike explorable mode, the reward tracks are unlocked for the entire account)
- Wxp
- Ascended and Legendary items (easing pressure on spending choices).
- Merging of PvP and PvE reward tracks.
Since the patch I have felt more freedom than ever in the game.
Freedom to:
- Experiment with as many dye colours as I want on any character I choose.
- Consume those too-valuable-to-use Living Story skins I wasn’t sure about and increasing the depth of my aesthetic customisation option.
- Play any character I want in WvW without feeling like I am “progressing” the wrong one or I’m less effective than another character because of a lower rank.
- Invest valuable currencies (laurels, guild commendations, pristine fractal relics etc) into ascended items knowing that I can swap them between my characters if I want to try new builds or play one more heavily than the other.
- Play in sPvP without halting my aesthetic progression in PvE.
The impact this patch has had on me (a patch that added very little “new” content) and how I am able to play and enjoy the game is considerable. So often I am critical of this game and will give negative feedback but I truly believe this Feature Pack represents a significant positive shift in how GW2 is designed and I really want to highlight how supportive I am of this new direction (thank you CDIs?). To see such a positive shift in the game from all the different teams is very encouraging. Thank you.
So how has the Feature Pack changed GW2 for other players? Have you guys lost an evening to the wardrobe experimenting with your character’s look? Spent an hour or more perfecting your look with dye combinations? Post screen shots of them if you want to show off your results. Or have you played a character you wouldn’t play as much without Wxp or access to account wide ascended items?