Guild Wars 2

This is a compilation of suggestions both from me and some with inspiration from others.

The design for things such as Ascended and Legendary, AP and PvP Ranks have been based on the Manifesto that was released; you are ment to advance and acquire these things through normal gameplay, over time, rather than through hardcore grinding and session playing, which leads to burnout.

THE ASCENDED TIER
The Ascended tier is a divisive subject within the GW2 community, but in the long run I believe it was positive for the game as a whole to add this tier.

In part because it re-vitalised the game and encouraged the creation of community; world tours, mining runs, temple runs, all of these activities and then some started appearing and re-appearing with the addition of Ascended Weapons and then Armors. It gives players a long-term goal to work towards, whilst at the same time ensuring the community remains alive and active. It fulfilled the same function as the HoM did in GW1, to an extent.

In part because Ascended opens up for some interesting mechanics to be used in crafting and the progression towards Legendaries, more of which will be mentioned below.

In part because Ascended allows for an expansion and depth to be added to current gameplay systems, such as Fractals, which will be brought up below.

With this being said, I believe there should be other paths towards gaining the Ascended Gear, as this would encourage people to get involved in more gameplay systems, consume more content and be able to mix-and-match different methods to acquire their sets, choosing what they enjoy the most.

• Fractals of the Mists
  The Fractal System is a one with great potential and could be an excellent alternative path to gaining Ascended gear and materials. First of all, however, I believe some additions and modifications need to be made to the Fractals.

The brackets and their reward system could be something along the lines of the following, with the rewards of previous brackets being included in the next brackets, and with the chances of gaining those rewards, and the amount one receives, increasing with each level and bracket increase.

I also believe that boxes should be replaced with a choice of stats, so that one can choose directly whether to receive e.g. Ring with Berserker stats, rather than have the current double RNG of actually getting a box, and then hoping that box contains the desired stats.

• Level 1-10
  Ascended Materials
• Level 11-20
  Ascended Ring (Non-infused)
• Level 21-30
  Ascended Ring (Infused)
• Level 31-40
  Ascended Weapon (Non-infused)
• Level 41-50
  Ascended Weapon (Infused)
• Level 51-60
  Ascended Armor (Non-infused)
• Level 61-70
  Ascended Armor (Infused)

You might notice that Infusions have been added to weapons and armors, which is another mechanic that could be used to make Ascended more desirable, intertwine it more with the Fractals and further increase the progression within this tier.

Infusing these Ascended pieces would allow us to progress higher through the Fractal levels, give us a long-term goal to work towards in Infusing our sets and would solve the issue of insufficient AR as one progresses throughout the Fractals, ensuring that it might actually become an “endless” dungeon.

Account-wide Agony Resistance
Considering how Fractal Level is now account-wide, it’s logical for Agony Resistance to become account-wide aswell, to allow our characters to consume content at the current account level they’re at.

For example, Agony Infusions could be removed from gear and added to the character panel, so that infusing gear would add 5 Agony Resistance to the account.

The new +1 Agony Resistance Infusions that drop from Fractals could, once merged into a +5 minimum, then be used to add that much AR to the account.

It’s a quality-of-life measure that would encourage using alts, since one wouldn’t have to grind for so many +1 AR’s to be able to progress past 30 on alts, and would still retain the Infusion System, except adding it to the account, which would also encourage spec experimenting, since one wouldn’t have to switch gear setups and infuse all over again.

• Ascended Salvaging
  Allow us to salvage Ascended items in return for Ascended materials, with the added chance of Globs of Dark Matter, perhaps Globs of Ectoplasm and +1 Agony Resistance Infusions.

• Ascended Crafting
  Most crafting disciplines at the moment have the ability to craft Ascended Weapons and Armors. I suggest expanding this path even further, allowing Jewellers to craft Ascended backpieces and trinkets.

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Account-wide Crafting
One measure that I’m surprised hasn’t been implemented is Account-wide Crafting disciplines. Since one character is able to max all crafting disciplines, and since the Achievement System is account-wide, there is truly no incentive for a player to go through the grind once more on a different character.

I suggest merging crafts across all characters to the highest one in each discpline currently on the account, and once unlocked at the highest level once it will be available to all characters on that account.

• ASCENDED PRECURSORS AND LEGENDARY GEAR
  I believe the opportunity exists to enshrine Ascended as milestone towards gaining a Legendary, rather than feeling as if one is wasting their time, spending resources and money to gain items that are on the same level as Legendaries, but sub-par in the sense that they lack stat-switching. I’ve seen much jaded talk about holding back on crafting Ascended in order to wait for the Legendary tier to be added to other slots.

Legendary Weapons are a great addition to the game, similar to how Ascended currently functions they encourage players to partake in activities across a broad spectrum, to enjoy the game to the fullest and work towards this long-term goal organically through normal gameplay.

The end goal should be to have Legendary Items available for all equipment slots currently in-game, and with the path to acquiring them, with perhaps the exception of Legendary Weapons because of the already-existing precursors, going straight through Ascended.

As was mentioned earlier, I proposed expanding the Infusion mechanism to incorporate Ascended weapons and armor, as this would allow us to progress further into Fractals, give the brackets more meaning and disperse the rewards across a broader range of levels, whilst also expanding the progression of the Ascended tier, another goal to work towards to infuse all of one’s gear.

This Infusion mechanism could then be used in the crafting of Precursors; the precursors for Legendary Weapons are already in-game as exotics, and changing this might be difficult at this stage, as I would propose using Ascended weapons as precursors instead.

However, for Legendary Armor and Trinkets, Ascended could be used as the precursors. Once a piece of Ascended armor has been infused, one is able to use it as a precursor component to crafting a corresponding Legendary piece; this will ensure Ascended is not perceived as a waste of time, won’t place it in competition to legendaries but will instead become an integral component to it, and will also connect these different kinds of progression to one another, so that those who have Ascended gear at the moment, and those who are working towards it, won’t feel as if their efforts were reset on a treadmill once other legendaries are gradually released.

One proposal given by Shriketalon.1937 was to craft Legendary Trinkets through the following method:

Uisng different orbs to craft exquisite jewels, these can then be combined in sets of 4 in order to create a “Chimeric Prism” and an “Iridescent Prism”. Combining these 2 with a “Chaos Diamond”, from salvaging Ascended items, and Thermocatalytic Reagents would then yield an “Inscribed Secret”.

This “Inscribed Secret” is then combined together with an Augur’s Stone and 2 items made from recipes containing the yet-to-be-added Ascended materials, Xunlai Electrum Ingots and Crystalline Ingots, which would then yield a Legendary Trinket.

See attachment at bottom for detailed description
Image is courtesy of Shriketalon.1937 (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/CDI-Character-Progression-Vertical/page/5#post3369475)

To conclude: One should be able to acquire Ascended items through a wide range of activities, ranging from Fractals and Crafting to general PvE. These Ascended items should then be expanded, allowing players to infuse them to gain Account-wide Agony Resistance. The Infused versions of these Ascended Weapons, Armors and Trinkets should then become the precursors for crafting their legendary counterparts, creating a chain of progression for players to go through until the end goal of full Legendary is achieved, through normal and organic gameplay.

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ALLIANCES, GUILDS AND SOVEREIGNTY – GUILD VS. GUILD/ALLIANCE VS. ALLIANCE
GvG would be another method of expanding the importance of guilds within the community, and could be used as a PvP, WvW and PvE mechanism.

It could be composed in different formats;

• Structured PvP
  Two Guilds fight eachother in the Mists throughout a rotation of all current maps, with the end score determining the rewards. This would not have a lasting impact upon the world, and would essentially be a form of PvP without outside factors such as gear affecting the outcome.

• WvW
  Guilds can claim castles, keeps and other objects within WvW, I say we give guilds a greater role to play in WvW and the outcome of battles. Allow them to challenge eachother for control of different objects, either in the current maps, which might be difficult because of how zerg capturing makes this function redundant, and because of the impact it might have on the rest of the world and other guilds.

The Edge of the Mists, however, might be a good place to test GvG out, allow guilds to fight for control of different areas and components of the map to grant boosts to themselves and their respective servers.

• PvE
  Now, this is where it becomes more interesting. Those who have played EVE Online know that Alliances and Guilds are able to control different zones and areas within the game in order to gain bonuses, boosts, buffs and rewards, with uneasy truces and eternal combat, drama and a truly living world ensuring that player politics is a highly decisive factor in the game’s direction.

A similar system could be implemented in GW2 with GvG and Alliance vs. Alliance in PvE being a system where these groups fight eachother for control of different zones or areas in the game. For example, gaining control of Frostgorge Sound might grant a Guild passive boosts and incomes to the Guild Bank, which can be utilized for different purposes, all to ensure Guilds become a more essential part of the game.

Rival Guilds and Alliances can then challenge eachother for control of these zones. Alliances could, for example, control entire areas, such as Shiverpeak Mountains, Ring of Fire and Maguuma Jungle, whilst Guilds control individual zones within these areas, such as Fireheart Rise and Snowden Drifts.

This control would not affect the playerbase as a whole from interacting with the zone, this system is instead placed in a different sphere than general PvE; the average player will not notice major changes in his gameplay, other than, for example, an extra text bar under the map name in World Map saying “Thiz zone is currently controlled by X, Y or Z from Alliance X, Y or Z”.

There are great details that need to be added to this system to make it work, but the benefits are that the world becomes more dynamic, Guilds become an integral part of the gameplay, rewards are increased for successful guilds, a competitive element is added to general PvE and player politics becomes a more active subject within the community.

To prevent stalemates after the initial rush for control, different systems could be put in place; for example, sitting on a single zone forever can be discouraged through passive debuffs that deplete the resources the Guild gains from control, and would require it to gain control of a new zone.

Guilds and Alliances can be given the option to maximize their benefits from control through the upgrades panel; e.g. constructing Mines, Lumber Mills and other items in the map to gain resources, which would be a requirement to gain any benefits at all, ensuring only active guilds are able to compete and control zones, and with overextending and prioritization becoming important factors, as, depending on the merits, influence and guild commendations the Guild and its members have and are able to acquire, one has to choose where to put one’s efforts.

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FACTIONAL REPUTATION AND WARFARE – CULTURAL ARMOR AND WEAPONS
Factional Reputation would be a great method for allowing for greater customization, as it would unlock paths for different races to gain access to the benefits of the others.

For example, a Norn who maximized their reputation with the Humans would gain access to that faction’s racial/cultural armor and weaponry. This might require a re-design to ensure these different armors and weapons match all races, but it’s an added incentive for exploring the world.

This could, of course, also become an interesting mechanism in the Living World, in GvG (see above) and in player politics and the Alliance System. Different factions could commit warfare against one another for control of different zones, with Guilds and Alliances being a part of this whole mechanism, allowing minor guilds, small groups and casuals/soloers to partake in the battle for zone control with factions to gain minor benefits.

We also have the Orders that seem to have been forgotten. Maximizing reputation with the different orders would grant access to their items and objects in a similar fashion, and these Orders could perhaps comprise an Alliance of their own against the major racial factions, adding another interesting story element to the Factional Warfare system and disturbing the balance of power in Tyria if the devs would like to see the LW go in that direction.

Factional Reputation, in any case, opens up for a wide variety of gameplay systems and new methods of cosmetic advancement, customization and character progression, which is only positive in my opinion.

PVE RANKS/PARAGON SYSTEM
We gain skill points, but we’re still locked down in levels in PvE. Some other games, such as Tibia and RuneScape, have no such lock on levels, but the whole game is based instead on gaining as many levels as possible.

What I suggest is adding a sort of PvE Rank System, similar to the one in PvP. Allow us to level to 80, and then expand into ranks beyond that, similar to the Paragon System in Diablo 3.

This rank system would be separate from levels, as we wouldn’t be gaining power. It would function as follows; a character that reaches level 80 would, in a party for example, have his level color changed to, e.g., blue, which would show his rank level, in a range of 1-80, to begin with. This rank could then be expanded in future updates, but 80 seems like a good number to start with, since that’s where PvP rank cap and Level cap are both at.

At each 5 and 10 level interval we would gain purely cosmetic rewards, for example, new titles and ranks, new portrait frames and so on.

See attachment at bottom for example

This PvE Rank System could be tied to the existing Achievement System, so that we might gain, for example, boosts to Karma Gain, Experience Gain, Magic Find and Gold Find at different intervals.

If ArenaNet desires, they could add different kinds of boosts to this system, for example passive movement speed boosts, loot pickup radius and so on, boosts that would be disabled in competitive environments such as sPvP and WvW, but be active in PvE, to reflect the fact that this is a PvE System.

PvE Leaderboards could then be added, showing the players with the highest PvE Ranks in the game.

This Rank System should be a blend between the WXP and sPvP Rank Systems in difficulty and time, since it’s ment to display personal dedication, experience and active time in the game, the design would be similar in its mindset to that of Ascended and Legendaries; it’s a nice goal to work towards, encourages one to take an active part in community activities, since all PvE activities would add rank points, and is ment to be maxed in an organic manner through normal gameplay.

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STRUCTURED PVP
sPvP, as it currently stands, is in an in-between. The roadmap that has been set out promises new additions and major changes, though it remains to be seen what the exact details of these changes are, but what PvP needs on a macro level to be able to be successful and expand and incorporate new elements is the following:

• New Game Modes
  Deathmatch, Capture the Flag, Battlegrounds and so on, the current seize-and-defend system isn’t bad, but it becomes tiresome, and the potential exists for sPvP to become much more engaging and fun than it currently is, and would allow for new game formats to be added…

• Rank System
  Ranks are being preserved, as has been stated, and it’s a positive thing too, as it encourages people to partake in PvP; without Glory and Ranks, sPvP would be even less active than it currently is, for the simple reason that there is no motivator for people to engage in active PvP, similar to how PvE would be dead without Legendary and Ascended grinding to encourage people to organize mining runs, world tours, temple runs and so on.

I would suggest expanding the Rank system to incorporate more rewards and new elements, preserving glory as a currency, or, at the least, replacing it with some similar system, which was mentioned though the details were vague.

Rewards aren’t the reason for PvP’ing, but they encourage the mass of the playerbase to become interested in, and engage with, the Mists. The exceptions are those groups of people who have a social circle within the game; e.g. IRL friends playing together, networks within guilds and so on, who have an established position and are competing in a different league compared to those who casually sPvP.

• Arenas and PvP
  Now, this would be an interesting component to add to sPvP. It would allow for GW2 to become a serious e-sport, if that is what it aspires to become, and could exist in formats of 1v1, 2v2, 3v3, 4v4 and 5v5.

Inspiration can be taken from WoW and GW1, who both have Arena Systems and where competitive playing is, and was, on a much higher level than it currently is in GW2. Despite the fact that GW2 states that it is based on skill alone with regards to PvP, there are too many different factors that influence the outcome of a match for the devs to claim that skill is the decisive factor in gameplay.

Skill can be defined in different ways, but playing skillfully, defending points, seizing others and using skills carefully is punished relative to zerging through the match, double-capping and clogging into groups to cap points or mindlessly killing enemies.

This is fine for the casual hot-join environment that sPvP at the moment is, similar to battlegrounds in WoW, and more engaging PvP can be found on the Solo and Team Arenas, but an Arena System a lá WoW would allow for much more skilled gameplay.

The Arena could be implemented in two different modes, one with organized gameplay, and one with hot-join gameplay, similar to Random Arena in GW1. A solution that could be used to address skill balancing without affecting PvE and WvW would be the PvP Effect that was used in GW1 to alter skills while active in Arenas.

This would, at the least, encourage more players to partake in PvP, allow for pure skill to play a bigger role in the outcome of matches and give factors such as LoS, CC and kiting a greater importance in Arena-style maps similar to GW1 and WoW.

SKIN WARDROBE, GEM STORE SKINS AND PERMANENT UNLOCKS
One thing that would encourage me to spend more on the Gem Store would be if the skins we purchase there became permanent unlocks, that could then be used, similar to achievement skins, an unlimited amount of times on that account.

These could be added to the Skin Wardrobe that has been suggested alot of times to be implemented for PvE, where we unlock skins rather than individual gear pieces. We have a Collections Tab already, and such a wardrobe in sPvP; adding it to PvE would greatly increase the sense of customization and allow for more cosmetic progression.

Transmutation Stones would still have to be used, of course, except for Gem Store Skins, which would be applied the same manner in which achievement skins are applied, as an added bonus to, and for, purchasing them.

See Attachment for Details
Courtesy of Shriketalon.1937 (https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/CDI-Character-Progression-Vertical/page/5#post3369475)

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HALL OF MONUMENTS, ACHIEVEMENT SYSTEM AND PLAYER HOUSING
One of the great things about the Hall of Monuments in GW1 was that it gave you an overarching goal so to speak; it inspired people to go out and enjoy gameplay and different parts of the game that one might never have tried out without the HoM. GW1 became re-vitalised through the implementation of the Hall of Monuments, because it gave people a goal to work towards, it implemented a new reward system that incorporated all areas of the game, and it encouraged both new and older players to once again become active members of the community, through dungeon running, mission running, vanquishing, zaishen dailies, farming and all manner of different areas of gameplay.

Looking back at it in hindsight, the rewards don’t matter much to me anymore, but the experiences I received from pursuing those rewards were invaluable; I became a part of the community, the game felt more alive, I enjoyed the experiences and was motivated to continue doing them because there was always 1 more point to get in the HoM, and in the end I was filling out the HoM because I wanted to gain as many achievements as possible. I still login at times just to look upon my HoM and can almost re-experience the images in my head when looking at the statues and armors, minipets and weapons and so on.

I think GW2 would benefit greatly from adding a Hall of Monuments to its core game, to give players a place to show off their achievements, trophies, accolades, titles, rewards, armors, weapons, miniatures and legendaries.

It would work similar to how legendaries and ascended have worked so far; it would provide players with an overarching goal and nudge them into engaging with the community and the gameplay, it would function as a path for people who have reached max level and are curious as to what to do next; “Oh, I could finish all dungeon paths and gain some statues, then finish all dungeon armors and show them off on mannequins in my HoM!”.

There are only benefits and no detriments, and it could be a part of a new Living World Update to retake and rebuild the Hall of Monuments in the game, as part of a Dynamic World Event with a progression tick box, similar to Tower of Nightmares.

This would also address the issue of player housing in a simple stroke.

One could also combine it with the Achievement System, similar to how maxed reputations in GW1 gave more glow to the Knight’s Statue in the HoM, the amount of achievement points one has could give the same effect to such a background statue in our HoM.

LORE CODEX
One thing certain other games have, such as SWTOR and Diablo III, which would be very useful in GW2, is a Codex where the lore and story of the game world is stored.

We already have a similar log for our personal stories, except this expanded log might give us background information on the zones we visit, as a reward for map completion and exploration, could expand the achievement system with a new category, as a guideline on where to find these tidbits of lore.

The end goal is to provide an in-game library of lore, story and continuity that would allow both new and old players to find information on, for example, the time between GW1 and GW2 and compile the history of Guild Wars, which might also get more people interested in the zones and quests which they are doing.

Getting players immersed in the gameworld and interested in the content they’re consuming can only be a positive, and it would allow the Living World Story, which many find confusing, to be compiled in a simple, in-game log, for people to follow and read through, and could be another reward for completing the LW meta-achievement.

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DAILIES, MONTHLIES + WEEKLIES
We already have dailies and monthlies, I suggest a simple expansion with adding weeklies, just a simple expansion of the achievement system already in-place and yet another added incentive to consume content.

SEMI-RAID DUNGEONS
Another topic which has been debated in the community is the addition of raids and longer dungeons, similar to Underworld, Fissure of Woe, The Deep, Urgoz’ Warren and Domain of Anguish in GW1.

These longer and more complex dungeons could become what the initial intent was for explorable mode to become, now designed with legendaries and ascended in mind and using the experiences gathered since launch.

These dungeons could be scalable from between, say, 8-20 players, would not grant superior equipment other than what is already available in the game, but would instead grant rewards in the sense of tokens for a new set of cosmetic gear, have a higher chance of dropping rare and Ascended materials and so forth.

These would be on a weekly lockdown, resetting at the same time as the Weekly Achievement mentioned above.

If ANet would prefer these to be cordoned off from PUGs in order to further promote the importance of Guilds and encourage active involvement within Guilds, it would be possible to add these as some form of Guild Dungeon, similar to the current Guild Rush, Challenges and Missions, allowing Guilds to partake in these dungeons once a week for Guild achievements, trophies, merits, influence, rewards for the Guild Halls, individual commendations and statues for the HoM and so on.

Regardless of if these are intertwined with Guilds or made available to the general public, I believe these would be an interesting addition to the game and could be designed with endgame challenge in mind, with exclusive cosmetic rewards at the end, similar to how Arah was functioning at the launch of this game, and with time a raise in the average gear and skill level in the community to Ascended would allow casual players to complete these dungeons.

They could also be designed with the Weekly lock in mind throughout the process, e.g. allowing Guilds to finish off a section each night instead of having to finish it all at once, as the dungeon wouldn’t reset until the lock was removed.

These are all different suggestions on how it could be implemented, of course, but I believe the addition of these semi-raids would be a positive addition to dungeoneering.

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ACCOUNT-BIND/SOULBOUND
To encourage alt’ing even further, I suggest that soulbound be removed whereever possible and be converted to account-bound; considering currencies are account-bound, there is no reason for us not to be able to use the same armor sets for our other characters, instead of having them purchase it again with the tokens grinded for on our mains.

DOUBLE SPECIALIZATION/TEMPLATE SYSTEM
The Template System that existed in GW1 saved alot of time, encouraged trying out different builds and easily allowed players who were inactive and returned to be able to become re-connected to the gameplay more easily through remembering and reading through the titles and compositions.

I see no reason for us not to implement such a system for our Traits and Skills, allowing us to re-specialize on the fly depending on the demands of the encounters before us.

WEAPON TYPE ACCESSIBILITY
I don’t see the reason for weapon types being restricted based on class and profession, and removing those restrictions might attract more people to different classes and give players an even broader sense of customization and progression.

I would, for example, love to see a Ranger able to use Rifles.

LEGENDARY DYES AND ACCOUNT-BINDING
This suggestion has been brought up before, I don’t recall where, but it’s yet another method of customization and cosmetic progression which is only positive.

First of all, Dyes should become account-bound on acquire, which would further ease and encourage alt’ing and be a simple quality-of-life update.

As for Legendary Dyes, the suggestion that was put forth was to add effects to the armor similar to those gotten from Legendary Weapons, with fogs and glowing effects added to the character and its armor.

GUILD HALLS AND ACHIEVEMENTS
Another method of adding Player Housing would be through Guild Halls; these could be divided in 2 parts, one for the Guild as a whole to display its collective trophies, accolades, achievements and rewards, whilst an instanced portal within the Guild Hall allows players to gain access to their individual instance, functioning similarly to the HoM mentioned above.

For example, the Eye of the North could be re-designed entirely into a Guild Zone, with the portal to the Hall of Monuments giving one access to the individual instance, combining both the HoM and Guild Halls into one single area and implementing both at the same time.

A new category of achievements could be added which reflect the new importance granted to guilds according to the above suggestions. Ranging from Guild Missions and GvG to WvW and Zone Control.

Further engraving Guilds as an important part of Guild Wars 2.

DONE