I’ve heard many suggestions for new classes and instant level-up boosters so that players can avoid doing what they claim is boring or repetitive content. To a degree, I can understand it as the racial stories were a little short imo. I think it would be a good idea to add some class-based stories across all maps (maybe even WvW) to test the skills of that class while engaging the player’s imagination in a fun, challenging (but not ridiculous) story that helps them not only level but keeps them involved in the game. The stories should be somewhat long with maybe 2 or 3 instances per map. Some ideas for stories:
Warrior: Player seeks revenge for the death of his/her lover and must track down the elusive necromancer who was responsible. In the process the player encounters the necro on more than a few occasions but is unable to kill him before he escapes. Player learns that the necromancer can only be killed with the use of an axe once owned by the necro. The axe is infused with the last bit of goodness that the necro once had in him before he became corrupted and thus has the power to defeat him. The player must seek and obtain this weapon. In the final battle, the player fights the necro using the axe and as the player starts to win, the necro resurrects the warrior’s lost love in a desperation move to save himself. The warrior must reluctantly battle his now corrupted lover in order to free her/him from that corruption and release her/his spirit to fight beside him against the necro. In the final killing blow, the necromancer nearly defeated will cast his final most powerful skill that instantly downs the player. As the necro stands over the apparently defeated player who must struggle to remain alive, the spirit of the warrior’s lover picks up the axe and finishes off the necro not only killing him but also shatters the axe.
Necromancer: A very powerful and large spirit of an ancient beast is terrorizing the land. Townsfolk across the land offer a reward to any necromancer that can defeat this enemy. The player must track the spirit, usually arriving just after the spirit has attacked a town leaving his corruption behind for the player to defeat. On occasions the player will encounter the spirit and fight it directly, each time coming up short in killing it before the spirit vanishes into the mists. The player learns that the spirit cannot be defeated because it has no corporeal form. This leads to player to believe that if he/she can locate the spirit’s final resting place, then the player can resurrect the dead beast so as to draw the spirit back to its body where the player must then defeat the risen beast sending the spirit into the underworld once and for all, never to return, as the necro places a powerful seal over the beast’s tomb.
Ranger: Player seeks to obtain the most powerful pet of all…a dragon spawn. The player’s ambitious scheme is to search for a dragon brood so as to capture a dragon youngling in an attempt to tame the beast. The player must track down the brood by following clues and tracks left behind by the dragon mother. Along the way, the player encounters devout followers of the dragon who seek to protect the dragon they worship. During some of these encounters, the dragon worshippers send large beasts they have captured to attack the player which the player must defeat in order to find the next clue to the dragon brood location. When the player finally reaches the brood within the depths of a cavern, the player must find a way to subdue the dragon mother in order to capture one of her younglings. The player devises a plan to trap the mother inside one chamber of the cavern, while leaving the younglings in another. Since the player can only attempt to tame one youngling at a time, the others must be defeated all the while the mother is trying to escape causing earthquakes and rocks to fall around the player as he/she battles. Once defeated, the player then proceeds to tame the last youngling by weakening it until it yields. By now, the cavern is starting to collapse so the player and his/her new pet must then escape before being crushed. Now the story could end one of two ways. Either the player exits the cave triumphantly with a new pet to be used in the rest of the game; which would be cool. But if adding a new pet (especially a dragon pet) is something the developers wouldn’t want to do, then as the player stands outside the cave basking in their achievement, their new pet is suddenly struck down by the queen’s guard thinking they are protecting the player from the beast. At which time the ranger sobs and laments over his/her loss vowing to one day find another powerful pet to replace the dragon.
I’m sure I could come up with more stories for each class, but this would give more than an idea of what I’m suggesting.