I’m coming a bit late to the party, but I first wanted to get a large enough sample to really evaluate the new system. For the record, personally, I engage in most aspects of the game, except fractals and dungeons.
Having studied it for a few weeks, let me say I am completely underwhelmed.
In the old system, whatever playstyle you favored, you could get your dailies done. I would have enjoyed a few more PVP / WvW specific options, but the general options for skill points, levelling, recycling, gathering (not PVP), kills etc. worked everywhere, whatever I chose to do. There was a LOT more variety available. The main thing being YOU COULD JUST PLAY THE GAME.
And now we get the new system… which pretty much forces us to go do stuff the developers want us to do, because they think certain areas are undervisited. Or something.
What is the flaw in this? Wellll…. for one thing, it feels like the devs are trying to hold my hand (again) trying to say ‘look poor child, you forgot about this zone/activity’.
It apparently did not occur to them that when you have multiple 80s with full world unlock, there might be a REASON if you don’t go to certain zones much, or avoid certain activities. Am I not allowed to have favorites?
And for new players, the new system is blatantly painful. Exotic crafter? Seriously? A real new player will not have the cash to grind up crafting to that point in a hurry. Fractals? That’s an 80s only activity. And having that TWICE on one day is just poisonous. Going to different racial areas to complete mining/lumbering/gathering/events/vistas? Don’t know about that one. Some people enjoy wandering around. Then again, you have people like me too, and I pretty much stuck to my native Norn zones, because I liked the landscapes and the story. Didn’t really bother much with the other racial zones until level 60 or so. Knew they were there, but didn’t feel pressured to actually go there. Which, frankly, is as it should be in my opinion.
And let’s not forget how FUN it is to do an event on a lowbie when there’s a herd of 80s trying to do THEIR dailies. Not getting credit, getting called a noob when you complain about not getting credit… it’s amazing really.
As to the PVP options… they are pretty limited for a new player. Two options for [profession x winner] and [profession y winner]. What if you don’t HAVE profession x or y yet, but just the one character you really want to learn how to play? With a profession that comes up maybe once every 4-5 days? That’s actually not limited to new players… I’m frankly horrible on my guardian in PVP. So for me at least, this one doesn’t feel like an option, it feels like pot-luck. If my favorite PVP class is there, I get credit. If not, well, too bad. Again.
The rewards for logging in… it’s enough to make me shake my head in disgust. Yes, by all means, reward people for showing their face for 1 minute and log out again. And then some of the reward types…two tomes of knowledge today. One of the worst ideas I’ve ever seen in a game. Yes, by all means, let everyone level even faster, so we have more 80s without a clue on how to actually play their class (not talking about uber metas, I’m talking about basic stuff, like Mesmers who only use Greatsword 1 when fighting) and without any knowledge of game mechanics. Seriously, I’m not saying every level should take a week, but 1 level an hour in regular PVE is insanely fast already, and don’t get me started about EOTM. Why oh why increase that?
On the whole, I think the new system is unfun, unfair to newer players, and one more step into babying down the game. Which is, in my opinion, the worst way to go.