Here is my unrequested part of Contribution to things where I think Guild Wars 2 needs to improve and Ideas of things I think of would be healthy for the Game.
Keep in mind this is only my point of view and eventhough I honestly think, that atleast the majority of my Ideas would benefit the Game in a great deal, I’m not taking any high ground and am thinking, that I couldn’t be wrong or am not biased in a certain way.
Since I really don’t know how to start this whole thing properly, I will just start with calling random things I don’t like and why they should be improved. If Iam lucky, I can keep some kind of order in this whole mess.
Oh yeah and by the way, I know… trying to contribute to a MMO in 2016 LUL.. actually thinking that ANet does something .. LUL, Gw2 is P2W anyway, crying for more elitist content omg, I have no clue whatsoever. Now we got that out of the way…
1. One thing Iam very sad about, is that the Game doesn’t give me a satisfying feeling of progression throughout the Game. So one reason why I feel like this is, that getting the best Gear in the Game is pretty easy, because there is only one Tier of Ascended Armor and Weapons and Legendarys are not additional 5% better. I know Guild Wars 2 doens’t want to jump on the Train of a Item Spiral on and on to keep player interested in the Game and overall I do think this is the right way, but getting additional 5% Stats on ones Armor / Weapons every 1 or even 1 and a half Year barely qualifies for me as that. The fact alone, that right now even Legendary Equipment isn’t superior to Ascended is from my point of view a huge flaw. I can’t see any reason why they are not supposed to be 5% better, considering the amount of efford they take to get.
To sum that part up ; I’m for the progression through Gear, like Ascended Tier 1 to 3 and even Legendary Tier 1 to 3 or whatever. I think combining a upgrade System for the Gear through professions would give the Game and professions a whole new meaning. The upgrading Materials could be tied to other progression achievements in the Game like clearing a Raid, getting the highest PvP Rank, a really high WvWvW Rank or other achievements in ones personal Story and so on. The possibilities would be so diverse and would also add new meanings to other Parts of the Game if done right and in addition to that, you could combine all this with the need for buying HoT to hav acces to these features. Last but not least to that Point, I think it is really important to introduce better Stats on Gear very slowly and like I said, once a Year or even just once 1 and a half Year, to avoid too much pressure for the Players, aswell as the fact that the Improvement should be just like the mentioned 5%, in order to keep things fair if a Player falls behind and for new Players in general. On the other Hand, this would be a great reward for Players who are willed to put in more time and efford without making them too crazy. Besides, it woud only affect PvE and WvWvW or potentially upcoming PvP Zones anyway and sPvP would be left out.
This isn’t the only way I do think Progression should be added though. The introduction of the Mastery System was a Step in the right way, it just doesn’t feel rewarding enough. Besides the Fraktal Masteries I miss actual rewarding things. I would suggest to look at the Paragon Level System of Diablo 3 here to get some Ideas and again, I can’t really see a point why a Player who plays a lot more shouldn’ be rewarded for it and aswell be atleast a bit stronger. Calling these things unfair is hardly how the World or any Game works and it is a mistake from my point of view to do things like it would be. Keeping Players close together and an eye on newer or Players with less Time and Commitment is one thing, but by only doing that Players who are actually spending more Time within the Game are kinda left out and I feel like that is a big mistake. Eventually, the people who are keeping the Game alive and are throwing real money around, are those Players who keep playing even after Years. The Key is to find the right Balance between those things and I hope my vague Suggestions are qualified for that.
2. This is a minor one and I highly doubt this would will ever change but, I hate the the possibility to Glide in central Tyria. I don’t know what ANet thought when enabling Players to do it, but it hurts the overall experience and takes away some of the magic central Tyria offeres from my point of view. The World was initially designed without this possibility and many “secret” Spots and jumping Puzzles are only cool because they are so hard to reach. Now with gliding, many of this is gone and all for the sake of getting people to buy HoT? This is what I think atleast, because it makes no sense to me otherwise.
3. Dungeons should have some kind of Hardmode or Fractal progression. This Point goes along with my previous one, because I think it is one of the best things about Guild Wars 2 : Every Zone has some kind of relevance and it is almost always worth a Trip back. GW2 feels so alive because of it and I think it would be a huge mistake not to take advantage out of this and forcing people to camp on a small part of this huge and beautiful World. I know it’s again for the sake of getting the Expension into Player Hands but with adding a Hardmode, which could only be accessed if a Player has HoT would be a win win Situation for everyone. HoT has proven, that even the normal PvE Content can be way more challenging than before and by adding some new and simple Mechanics and buffing a whole Dungeon like it is in Fraktals can’t be that much of a Challenge for Game Designers.
4. I don’t like the multiple Layer and Maze like Design of HoT Maps. Maybe this is a complete mistake from me, but I really wish new Maps to have a maximum of 2 Layers. For me, when I first arrived in HoT, it felt not only very intimidating, but also very confusing and therefore not fut at all. It also makes the Map feel so “gated” and a complete mess. Like when I turn around a Corner and am running into 3 Ninja Frogs who are assaulting my kitten with their poisoned blowgun. I like challenges, so I killed them of course without dying (…), it still was and is annoying af since this happens all the Time. I love the way you still put in nice secret Spots, but I missed the jumping Puzzles for example and like I said before, this could only be me and my bad Taste for enviroment here I know that.
5. WvWvW should have it’s own rewards. I mean rewards like unique Skins, Armor Sets, Weapons, Materials etc. Things that you don’t get from playing literally any other Mode in the Game. I know there are already some things but they are just way to insignifcant. So please add more good things to this absolutely awesome Mode and a Feature, which really seperates Guild Wars 2 from other MMOs. It really deserves it and it is a shame that I feel like ANet forgot about what a bless it is, to have something noone else has. Besides that, given the fact people hate the new Desert Borderlands ( which I don’t ) and I can understand that, just add some Teleport Gates to this Map which every Server can use, so that running doens’t become such an Issue that keeps Players away.
6. Something that really buggs me is the lack of new Armor Sets. Not Costumes, but real Armor Sets. Costumes are funny because they are independend from your Armor Class, but they are just limited to one appearance and if one thing is so great about Guild Wars 2 Armor System, it is that everyone can dress in his own Style with nearly unlimited possibilities. So please, please add more Armor Sets obtainable in the Gem Shop, Dungeons, Fractals, Raids, sPvP and WvWvW. One thing at the sidelines, what the hell you think when you removed the dyes from the Game? Making everything Newcomer friendly but this… Free to play Accounts couldn’t even sell them properly if I remember correctly, so there wasn’t even that. Just a “cheap” cash in move. Iam sorry for those words, I just can’t find other ones for that.
7. Please add a Spectator Mode for ranked Games in Diamond and Legendary Division with a 2-3 minute delay like League of Legend has. This mode could also have a chat aviable, seperated from the Match of course, so that the Players won’t get distracted etc. I believe this would benefit sPvP in a great way. I think it would be wise to add a little Healthbar on top of a Players Head to hav a better overview of what is happening, especially when we look at casted ESL Matches.
In addition to that, a Duelling option would be really, really cool and if that, than maybe a open PvP Arena within Divnity’s Reach, a open PvP Zone (Map) which is not WvWvW.
8. At the very last, structured PvP. Structured PvP is the worst designed, most uncreative, linear and limiting Game Mode this Game has to offer and it is also by far the weakest Part about the whole Game from my perspective. I know it is the fastest growing one, but that still doesn’t make it good. It is on the other Hand the Mode with maybe the largest Potential and also a thing that keeps Player going. For those who are thinking this contradicts what I just said, it is very simple. People like Competition and killing other People in a MMO and because Guild Wars 2 offers no Duelling Option, no open PvP Zone and no Arena so far, the only 2 Options are WvWvW, in which you can’t kill people from your Server and the sPvP.
To explain my negativity about this Mode, eventhough Iam playing it quite often let me say this : I think it is the worst designed Mode because it only offers Conquest as a competetive, even E-Sport viable choice of play. It limits every player with only a handfull of Options, because of its Amulet and Rune System, which is the same reason why I think it is so linear and the inability of ANet to balance things, rework Classes / Maps / Modes and therefore my feeling that they just don’t understand PvP are making this Mode the weakest one for me. It doesn’t help there, that the casted ESL Matches are a big mess, badly explained and casted and therefore overall unpleasant to watch, eventhough I do love watching PvP.
How I would fix those things :
I would devide the Amulet Stats through 3 and spread them among a Armor, Amulet and a Weapon to offer a bigger variety of Stats and finer tuning possibilities. So this would work against the Limitation and Linearity. That way it should be possible to convert every existing Set into the sPvP again, even Celestial. Straight to Celestial, one hasn’t to be a Genius that a combined amount of Stats of 3521 (Cele) is better than 3220 (Mender for example), so instead of removing Celestial in the first place, ANet could have just nerfed it.
This is also a very important point because it shows to me, that there is a general misunderstanding about the balance. I don’t see bunker or hybrid builds beeing Op, it is rather that they are just too rewarding to play in a Conquest mode. Therefore the Mode, which is by the way a fault in general to be the only one viable for E-Sports should be changed and not everything around it. In general it always looks to me, that ANet tries to work against Hybrid builds and if Iam correct here, this is a fault in general in this Game.
First of all, GW2 has no hard Trinity, which makes Hybrid needed right in the first place and secondly, Hybrids will always prevail since this is simple science and evolution. This gets even more forced through the Conquest mode in which it is so rewarding to play a Hybrid if every second you are on a Note counts that much. There is no best thing. Only best at ( Thanks Nemesis ) and this is exactly the point. Instead of running in circles and trying to fix a thing which is obviously impossible, ANet should make other Modes, in where it is not this rewarding to be a Hybrid or Bunker. Don’t get confused now, it is always rewarding to be Hybrid since you have no obvious weaknesses, but also no obvious strengh and the Conquest mode turned that “no strengh” into a actual strengh, which was and is surviving on a Note and maybe even supporting your allies while doing so (which strengthens this even further). A Bunker on the other hand would lose a lot of its value in a simple Deathmatch. So in addition to changing the Conquest Mode, ANet has to do add some other Modes aswell, like a Capture the Flag Mode, the mentioned Deathmatch (WoW Arena Yes.) and something other I just can’t think of now.
This would not only offer way more variety and fun for everyone, it would also add way more Strategies in a Best of 3 and more viable builds in general.
I guess that’s it for now. Thank you all so much for your time and reading this. English isn’t my first Language and I deeply apologize for any inconvenience.
Best regards, and for gods sake fix ELE. LUL
I don’t like the trooper rune so far, because i wanted to have the boon duration for perma swiftness and the protection. Its kind of a Bunker hybrid build. Atleast that is how iam playing it.
