Since my previous topic has its own agenda to discuss I figured id start a fresh one that isnt about negativity and what was but rather what could be if the game moved forwards.
This isnt exactly a wishlist, its a suggestions board as to the things that could be done to help tackle the problem of GW2’s painfully obvious shift lately and whats wrong with it.
So lets start with the obvious:
Theres just too many War-Torn Zones
This one is going to come across as highly ironic for someone that loves dark fantasy and grim atmosphere but the problem with HoT is that all 4 zones are a rush-hour of activity, you have 4 seperate zones with meta-events that are time-taxed and demanding peoples attention 24/7 if they really wanna get the best rewards out of them.
This doesnt even factor the problem of having spirit vale’s entrance in one of those four zones making the value of said zone’s ability to que for tier 4 progression very difficult.
So moving forwards what is the answer?
- Not “every” zone needs to be a massive meta-event slug fest of group oriented content, we need zones that can just be relaxing walks in the park with no real agenda, places with nice vista’s to sit and chill at for hours or just spend time in solo play.
- The Spirit Vale needs its own “entrance” so to speak, a tiny zone portal to allow players to gather there in a giant LFG style lobbying room to help people find pugs and other various groups for the raid itself.
- Group content oriented meta zones should really stick to “one zone” per continent, rather than multiple zones as it splits people up too much. Alterntivley, make better alternatives that can be soloed to aquire things like 4th tier zone contribution chestpieces.
Season 3 cant come fast enough
Season 3 is overdue, the content drought between now and HoT has been bad, with raiding only appealing to a specific audience it doesnt help the rest of the playerbase. People need something to “do” that is activly doable by everyone not just a specific audience, and the lack of content is what is killing Gw2.
- Go back to the Season 2 style fast content with filler approach, while it wasnt necessarily the best answer to a bigger problem it “did” allow chunks of meat to be spoonfed to an instant gratification audience. We need smaller content that can fill the time gap, perhaps even recycling current open world areas for Season 3 storyline content, if only to give chunks of juicy dialogue and depth to the world thats already available.
- Raiding, PvP and WvW are filler contents too that should not be neglected, but they dont need the centerstage, raiders have the spiritvale and now one extra wing comming soon enough, let them have that for a while and focus on WvW getting something new, like maybe an overhauled eternal battleground as part of a long term project. PvP might like a new stronghold too.
Guild Halls for the big and small
Not every guild has 50 raiders ready to launch into open world pve, and pvp, some are minor small proxy groups comprised of 5-10 people who just enjoy casual chill content and would love to feel like they had their own small place in the world.
- Make more guild halls, but smaller ones designed for smaller guilds, allowing 5-10 man guilds to have some smaller but still significant themed places of their own to call home (besides larger guilds might like this too).
- Make guild missions even easier to access, multiple guild missions focused on various group sizes should give an even amount of guild mission points rather than discriminating smaller guilds.
Its time for a break from the dragon plot, its obviously going nowhere
The story of the Elder Dragons has tried multiple inceptions to really spark an interest but never really gone far, Season 1 had us face off Scarlet and her machines which was a hit and miss showing human villians can be done good and poorly if not written well or impliamented deeply. Likewise, the Dragons themselves seem to be very dull antagonists that always lack a sense of personal threat when aside from killing off characters we barley know or token murders that are too forced feel very, unmenacing and un-personal to us.
(Im going to be honest, I felt more threat in season 2 from Mordremoth’s Lieutenant the Shadow of the Dragon than I did Mordremoth himself and he only even appeared 2 times in the entire story).
- The game needs an anti-pact, a long term enemy that isnt just a one off threat, something that can appear in multiple seasons as some kind of personal nemesis faction to our own and be a constant menace even after the dragon threat is defeated or gone forever (I still think the white mantle would be perfect for this).
- The player character doesnt always have to be the hero, being a good guy is boring, people “like” being responsible for bad things in video games since fantasy allows us to be the hero “and” the villian, dont be afraid to take risks, let the player character do some menacing things or even morally questionable ones. Even an accidental evil can be interesting since it triggers consequences we will have to deal with personally.
(An example of this:)
Lets say Glints Egg hatches and instead of a dragon some kind of ghostly essence appears, it takes over the player and “you” the player have now become bonded with the dragons child, the dragons child now sees the world through your eyes and speaks to you in a genderless (male/female) telepathic voice.
The player then goes on an adventure of personal resolution, helping your wounded comrades in HoT deal with the problems of their individual lives and fixing them while seeing the darker side of both your companions “and” yourself having to handle dealing with the pacts consequences.
Maybe the dragon offers you something, a power? The power to command and control peoples will and force them to obey you, the commander is forced to use it for some unknown reason and as a consequence, for a moment, you loose control of yourself.
Your character awakens to find people kneeling before you, in dread, in horror, you realize that you are capable of great, and possibly terrible things.
You resolve to find a way to make the dragon leave your body, and by the end of the story you succeed, the dragon judges you lack the ability to do what has to be done to save the world, and considers you unworthy.
You are left wondering the consequences of your actions, but you know on the immediate part you’ve made some poor choices.
That, right there, is the kinda thing that can be done, impliamented, the kind of thing that allows players to remain the hero but “explore” being the villian, you can fall, and rise, you can see your darkest moment, and reach your highest peak.
In season 3, the hero needs to fall, before they can be the true hero of the world
We need a dark story, a dark story that explores the commanders personal battle with themselves.
So far HoT teased that with the Sylvari Commander, but that was only to their particular benefit, but it should affect all of us, the Sylvari Commander might have experience sure, but that doesnt stop them being tempted.
What if you could have the power to bind the world to your will?
Would you remain the hero everyone wanted you to be?
Or would you rule the world and change everything that those fighting against you believed to your benefit?
I want to see the commander “fall”.
Anyways this is just my view, im interested to see what others think on the matter moving forwards.