I’m very excited for the new expansion, but it’s not without concerns. Lets be honest here, ArenaNet has a history of letting old content, stay old. I’m looking at you crafting system, your interface is toxic when it comes to game growth. It’s going to bite you back the more you pile on.
Now, things will have to take priority when it comes to updating. Understandable, as nice as a clipping fix for all the Charr’s armors would be, an entire expansion is much more desirable and exciting.
Lets face it though, Guild Wars 2 is lacking in many dated categories, which is a shame as the two new areas, Dry Top and Silverwastes are some of the best and funnest maps in the game.
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But… What is more important, the new game or updating the old? Update the old, we’ll get similar content but polished, however, it pushes back Heart of Thorns. If we let it go, the game content will stay unpolished but Heart of Thorns comes much, much earlier.
I’m going to go over some of the most dated categories, one by one.
- Dated crafting inference
- Dated crafting system
This is a must. As the game gets older, more and more materials will be added to the crafting system and the crafting system is a nightmare to look at. Not to mention some materials are designed to drain the market and they are still not fixed. Remember the Dragon’s Revelry Starcake? It came out to help drain the sheer number of Saffron and Piece of Zhaitaffy. Now that’s it’s been almost 2 years, the number on the market has dropped significantly making a great food cost more than it’s worth. Crafting is dated in more ways than one, if you want returning or new players; this update is a must.
- Dated Dungeons
- Dated Boss mechanics
I stated in a previous thread how it would be beneficial to make the dungeon really hard, but optional NPC help to make it easier. I won’t go too deep as I cover a lot in my previous thread on it, but when you got teams blasting through dungeons with glass armor, something is wrong.
Not to mention the tons of dated bosses, remember Alphard, Serpent of the Waves? The pirate boss in path 2 in Arah. Some unknown reason, he has extremely high condition duration reduction. This is a design oversite left over from beta, it’s still there, TWO years later. Who thought this design was a good idea? You are punishing conditions in PvE already ArenaNet, if the boss does too fast from Confusion then change the boss, don’t change the rules.
I can go into more details on improving some bosses but it’s not just some, it’s practically all bosses.
- Dated rewards.
Timberline Falls, so beautiful, so pristine, so… BORING! There is just nothing to do in Timberline Falls!! Why? It was rushed out on release. It’s very clear this area was just rushed. There is just so many maps that feel like they have nothing to accomplish, so many worthless karma merchants that makes you roll your eyes at them. There are no unique weapons or armors they offer, yet, the two new maps are super exciting. ArenaNet knows how to make good map rewards, they just need the time.
That said, ArenaNet has no idea how to make good dungeon rewards. Making every mob feel like an obstacle instead of a fight, wouldn’t it be more beneficial that the end reward after beating a boss gives MORE the more enemies you kill?
Dungeons are about the end, not the journey, which is a shame.
That is just three dated subjects in Guild Wars 2, that is not mentioning dated combat mechanics, dated animations, dated legendary visuals and dated crafting materials.
That said though, how badly do you want Heart of Thorns? If these three subjects get updated prior to the games release and lets pretend each of these takes 2 months. Are you willing to wait an extra 6 months, HALF a year longer for a new expansion?