Hello developers,
First and foremost I want to say that I appreciate the hard work you guys have put into everything lately – I know it’s crunch time and that many of you are working extraneously long hours in order to fulfill a deadline, it’s been apparent since the streams at Twitchcon. I know everything isn’t going 100% according to plan, but that’s what beta-testing is for.
Now, I would like to raise the point that the open world content difficult for this Beta Weekend Event (BWE3) has been toned down too far – I think I speak for many players when I say that with Heart of Thorns, we were expecting a greater challenge, both from “challenging group content” as well as the A.I. utilized by monsters throughout the open world.
From my experience today, which has been echoed by many other players both in-game and other forums such as Reddit, the content has been far easier – I think this is a mistake. I’ve even noticed that specific monsters have been removed from the map altogether, which I also feel is a mistake. I think allowing open world content to present itself as a challenge incentivizes players to not only learn mechanics that don’t present themselves purely by scratching the surface, but it also encourages open world communication – it requires players talk to one another and self-organize, something I believe the game is lacking throughout most of its open world content.
I also believe I speak for a large pool of players when I say that myself and others were relatively happy with the way the open world content was tuned during the previous Beta Weekend Event (BWE2). It felt difficult, but didn’t present itself as an impossibility or cause frustration. Simply put, it really felt close to perfect.
Many of us are afraid that through your own fear that content may frustrate players, or be too difficult for them, that you will drastically tune down the difficulty of open world content as you’ve done several times in the past – Tequatal and Orr both being notable examples of this.
So – I’ve made this post to urge you not to keep the current turning for open world content, to revert the turning to the difficulty presented to us during BWE2. I believe that this would not only be a welcome change from most players, but that in doing so, it would create positive changes within the game itself as well.
So please Arenanet, re-tune open world content so that it’s more difficult – provoke skilled play and communication within your player base, and allow the mechanics to shine brighter than they ever have before.
Sincerely,
Shamari, and many other players.