Guild Wars 2

Ok, let’s face it. The living story over the past year is leading up to something big. The last four living stories will be month long events, with the final one being something game changing. But have you noticed the smaller changes. A level cap of 80. Why 80? Why not 100 and be done with it. All the closed off areas in the game letting you know that ‘you’ are not ready for it yet. New interfaces, merchants with tabs that say it’s not ready yet. The crafting level caps increased. Why make a world map in game if you can’t go there yet. After all, we still need to explore the other half of Orr. Personally I think that the game changer will be increased lvl caps, a new continent to explore, a new epic storyline ( tied into what Scarlet has been doing ) and it will all be free. Basically we’ve been getting the new expansion over the past year, with the last part, a new continent, being released after the final Scarlet event.

Not a level cap increase, not it if means grinding out all the gear again. No, no, thousand times no. Please try to think of positive ways of developing the game rather than just the old failed ways of developing MMOs that burn people out.

Haha Stooperdale I agree the gear part can be annoying, but that would be a price worth paying in my opinion.

Yes, please! This would be a great way to do it – soon “Season 1” of living world will be over, and what a great end with an “expansion updtate” so to speak to finish it off and make people interested for season 2. I would love to see a new race, proffession, level cap, continents, ascended gear..
People did not like Season 1 of Living World, but we need to remember that Arenanet is the first ones to try something like this in MMO history, and that Season 1 was alot of experimenting for them. They have probably learned from Season 1 what to do and what to not do, and an expansion to begin Season 2 with to say “Hey, we know we made our mistakes, but come back and give us another chance” would be great.

It would be absurd if they made the ascended gear that they just released moot with an expansion a few months later that raised the level cap. They would have a lot of kittened off players that ground out all that gear believing it would be the best armor out there to only be worthless. If they do raise the level cap then they better make it where the ascended gear levels with the character.

I don’t want bigger numbers, be it levels or gear.

The whole “this will change Tyria for ever” thing has been done before. Before Scarlet was introduced there was a lot of hype from Arena Net about who the world will be changed and nothing will be the same? The problem with that was, that nothing changed and everything stayed the same. Every 2 weeks they pressed the reset button and the big, huge, amazing game changing thing? Turned out to be Scarlet. A character that had a lot of potential but was poorly implemented and executed.

So when they say that the last four Scarlet stories will result in something to rock Tyria to its core …… I’ll believe it when I see it. Everything to date doesn’t equal an expansion. Everything to date has been temporary. An expansion stays

An interesting theory, but I can’t see it happening. Perhaps after the fourth patch we’ll have a fresh batch of permanent content, but content on an expansion-sized level seems very unlikely.

@OP, just keep your expectations low, otherwise you’ll just be disappointed.

Level cap increase would be a nice slap in the face for all those who have grinded their eyeballs out for ascended gear.

Which is why it’s not going to happen anytime soon.

Tom Gore.4035:

Level cap increase would be a nice slap in the face for all those who have grinded their eyeballs out for ascended gear.

Which is why it’s not going to happen anytime soon.

This.

If getting Ascended Gear was more about running Dungeons (that were actually dungeons, not “Run through as fast as you can and zerg the final boss” instances), I’d be all for a level cap increase and doing it all over again with brand new dungeons, world bosses, and the like.

But seeing as Anet’s idea of an end-game gear grind is to farm Champions all day in order to acquire the gold to be able to purchase the materials required to craft Ascended Gear, or grind for god knows how many more hours instead for the requisite thousands of various cloth and ore, I’d rather we not see a Level Cap increase ever, unless there’s a stipulation that those of us that have put in the time to craft Ascended Gear can have that gear level up with us.

Because to be frank, I do not want to do this ridiculous ascended grind ever again. It’s not challenging, it’s not fun, and it sure as hell isn’t all that rewarding either for the time investment required, and the idea of having to do the exact same thing at a higher level (because we all know that’s what Anet would do) is a prospect that would likely make me, and many others, quit the game.

Blade Syphon.4325:

Because to be frank, I do not want to do this ridiculous ascended grind ever again. It’s not challenging, it’s not fun, and it sure as hell isn’t all that rewarding either for the time investment required, and the idea of having to do the exact same thing at a higher level (because we all know that’s what Anet would do) is a prospect that would likely make me, and many others, quit the game.

But let’s play a pretend game that they increased the level cap, but forget about ascended gear forever after that. Exotics would be the highest tier again and a full set would be acquirable in a week or two of intensive playing (or a month with a more relaxed pace).

Would you be opposed to that?

Obviously they’re never going to go back to the “peak power is fast and easy to get” system, because they don’t have anything else to fill the void left by the grind with.

Anet already stated they will not be releasing an Expansion for GW2

Kolwin.4950:

Anet already stated they will not be releasing an Expansion for GW2

So not true, they all but said they ARE doing an expansion. They just have yet to officially announce anything.

“Johanson said that the living world is new territory; ArenaNet has been steadily learning what works —as well as what doesn’t -- and smoothing out the implementation. He reiterated that the living world and expansion-style content are not mutually exclusive, and that although players may perceive the studio as concentrating on living world content in lieu of expansion content, there are teams working behind the scenes on other projects.”

from todays press releases

Kolwin.4950:

Anet already stated they will not be releasing an Expansion for GW2

No, they didn’t. Mike Zadorojny said that if it was successful, Living Story could replace expansions, so an expansion may not happen. Then, later on, it was clarified that they had not made any decisions yet.

When they said these things, they were probably keeping their options open, yes, but they’ve done no such thing as state there won’t be an expansion.

Honestly, if all the expansion really brings is a lot more of the same that we have had for the past year then they will not be getting my business.

Mad Rasputin.7809:

Honestly, if all the expansion really brings is a lot more of the same that we have had for the past year then they will not be getting my business.

hey I know you! Yeah I get what you mean about zerg fest content we’ve seen recently, however id wager that an expansion will likely have several more dungeons, events and other such features that have not been delivered as much in the LS updates. time will tell though

Medazolam.3058:

Mad Rasputin.7809:

Honestly, if all the expansion really brings is a lot more of the same that we have had for the past year then they will not be getting my business.

hey I know you! Yeah I get what you mean about zerg fest content we’ve seen recently, however id wager that an expansion will likely have several more dungeons, events and other such features that have not been delivered as much in the LS updates. time will tell though

They’d have to bring some new content like that to keep me, and probably several others, interested. Bring some new dungeons. Bring a new explorable map or two. Bring some new events. Bring a new playble class and/or race.

And it really isn’t the fact that zerg fests are a bad concept, it’s just the game can’t really handle them. Their servers can’t handle the load and skill lag and FPS drops are the norm during these zerg events. It’s not really fun watching a choppy zerg and not being able to use any skills. Not to mention zergs compound underlying problems with the game, like condition stacking.

^The above and more. Even if they bring an expansion at this point and decide to make it free, which is by no means certain, I’m not sure I’ll keep playing. We’ll see what comes.

If the game stays like it is now, it’s more probable I’ll be gone than not. And hell, I’m sure I’m barely alone in this. Either they bring some good content (with fixes of the content we have now) or they close their books.

Tom Gore.4035:

Blade Syphon.4325:

Because to be frank, I do not want to do this ridiculous ascended grind ever again. It’s not challenging, it’s not fun, and it sure as hell isn’t all that rewarding either for the time investment required, and the idea of having to do the exact same thing at a higher level (because we all know that’s what Anet would do) is a prospect that would likely make me, and many others, quit the game.

But let’s play a pretend game that they increased the level cap, but forget about ascended gear forever after that. Exotics would be the highest tier again and a full set would be acquirable in a week or two of intensive playing (or a month with a more relaxed pace).

Would you be opposed to that?

Obviously they’re never going to go back to the “peak power is fast and easy to get” system, because they don’t have anything else to fill the void left by the grind with.

No, because Anet obviously cannot be trusted to add compelling end-game when it comes to acquiring gear. The model GW2 had for gear at launched worked best, and most accurately hit the mark that Anet was going for:

End-Game gear in the form of Exotics that are easily acquirable, with an emphasis afterwords on skill for completing high-end content, which rewards cosmetic gear for participation.

However, that quickly went away when Anet realized they could make money with the Gemstore. Now we have Ascended Gear that takes hundreds of gold, and hours, to grind out to acquire, which of course can easily be circumvented by paying real money to buy some Gems to quickly convert into Gold.

Cosmetic Gear is becoming less and less acquirable in game, and instead pushed towards the Gemstore, as are the majority of the rewards we once got for completing LS events and what not. Hell, just today they announced a new Home Instance node that is yours for the low, low cost of 1000 gems, where as not even six months ago you could get upgrades for your Home Instance simply by playing the content.

The Anet that is developing GW2 is a far different beast than the ones that did GW1 when it comes to character progression, and it’s no small part thanks to the addition of the Gem Store. With that said, I would not, nor will I, trust them to add an expansion where gear progression and player progression is not locked behind a massive grind that can be easily bypassed simply by spending real money to convert Gems to Gold.

If they want to do an expansion, fine, but do it without a level cap increase, or an addition of a new tier of equipment.

The OP is pretty much all baseless speculation and wishful thinking. For example:

TonyL.6478:

The living story over the past year is leading up to something big.

Not even close. The Living Story has been moving along at the steady pace of boring.

Tom Gore.4035:

Blade Syphon.4325:

Because to be frank, I do not want to do this ridiculous ascended grind ever again. It’s not challenging, it’s not fun, and it sure as hell isn’t all that rewarding either for the time investment required, and the idea of having to do the exact same thing at a higher level (because we all know that’s what Anet would do) is a prospect that would likely make me, and many others, quit the game.

But let’s play a pretend game that they increased the level cap, but forget about ascended gear forever after that. Exotics would be the highest tier again and a full set would be acquirable in a week or two of intensive playing (or a month with a more relaxed pace).

Would you be opposed to that?

Obviously they’re never going to go back to the “peak power is fast and easy to get” system, because they don’t have anything else to fill the void left by the grind with.

Yes, I’ve geared several characters with Ascended gear, and losing it all would make me, and many others I presume, quit the game.

FenrirSlakt.3692:

Tom Gore.4035:

Blade Syphon.4325:

Because to be frank, I do not want to do this ridiculous ascended grind ever again. It’s not challenging, it’s not fun, and it sure as hell isn’t all that rewarding either for the time investment required, and the idea of having to do the exact same thing at a higher level (because we all know that’s what Anet would do) is a prospect that would likely make me, and many others, quit the game.

But let’s play a pretend game that they increased the level cap, but forget about ascended gear forever after that. Exotics would be the highest tier again and a full set would be acquirable in a week or two of intensive playing (or a month with a more relaxed pace).

Would you be opposed to that?

Obviously they’re never going to go back to the “peak power is fast and easy to get” system, because they don’t have anything else to fill the void left by the grind with.

Yes, I’ve geared several characters with Ascended gear, and losing it all would make me, and many others I presume, quit the game.

So you expect that the current Ascended gear will be top tier forever from now on, until the very end of time?

That’s wishful thinking, you know