Guild Wars 2

Now as a bonus:

Random phantasm ideas I could not incorporate in weapons:

Phantasmal Patroller:
patrolls in a line which location is determined by the player, when he walks through an enemy… (effect to be determined)
Phantasmal Worshipper:
location is bound to the mesmer – as long as the worshipper is alive.. (effect to be determined… but stat increases or cooldown reduction might be options)
Phantasmal Standard Bearer:
buffs your clones, when he dies/gets shattered a clone will be created to catch the standard before it falls on the ground
Phantasmal Gates to the Abyss:
location is bound to a position determined by the mesmer; your illusions start walking towards the gates to the abyss where they disappear, once x illusions disappeared, Phantasmal Gates to the Abyss turn into: Phantasmal Demon which totally melts faces

Now to the formulated skills:

Pistol:

• 4(b) Phantasmal Sharpshooter
  gain increased damage with every successful interrupt of the mesmer

in conjunction I propose this new trait:
“Clone Wars”: when you use a shatter skill you will not shatter phantasms within 180 range of you but heal them instead for x health

• 5(b) Spirit of Failure
  shoot an enemy, for x seconds target enemy suffers from crippled, weakness and vulnerability. If this enemy dies Spirit of Failure spreads to all other enemies within x range
  comment on 5(b):
  - as an explanation: the skill you will most likely use with 4(b) is Magic Bullet (=5(a)) so this is just another defensive skill which is control oriented

Focus:

• 4(b) Bend Ether
  line; teleports allies who pass through it forwards, teleports foes who pass through it backwards
  (functions a bit like phase retreat (staff 2))

• 5(b) Lyssa’s Balance
  create a clone with low hp and x confusion stacks; your cry of confusion is recharged and has only 2 seconds of cooldown for the duration of Lyssa’s balance
  comment on 5(b):
  - this is the slot where usually the phantasm would have been
  - nope there will never be a focus phantasm that deals proper damage; NOT ON MY WATCH

Sword offhand:

• 4(b) Fragility
  create a clone, your recharge for your shatter skill “distortion” is reset
  whenever you have the distortion effect this skill changes to: “calculated risk”
  you loose the distortion effect but deal damage in a line forwards (maybe in connection with relocating forwards), the damage scales with the duration of distortion otherwise lost

• 5(b)Ether Lord
  you gather phantasmal energy for 0,33 seconds then you release it in form of phantasmal blades that originate from your position outward in a star shaped manner, the effect depends on the number of clones you have active
  comment on 5(b):
  - the more clones you have active the bigger the radius of the attack; however, the smaller the damage
  - this is the slot where usually the phantasm would have been

Torch:

• 4(b) Reabsorb Power
  incinerate all illusions within 180 range, taking back their energy; for every clone you kill you heal for x and reduce your recharges by x seconds; double the effect for each phantasm you kill
  comment on 4(b):
  -it is up to balance which skills are affected by the cooldown reduction (weaponskills, utilities, shatter skills)

• 5(b) Phantasmal Pyromancer:
  location is bound to a position determined by the mesmer; the pyromancer suffers from hp degeneration; when the pyromancer dies it explodes in an aoe

I decided to give mesmer skills some thought and here is what I came up with.

Problems that I perceive with mesmers currently and which I tried to encounter:
- the damage curve of mesmers in pve feels awkward since your damage depends on the number of phantasms/duration of the fight and can be through the roof or subpar
- phantasms miss out on potential in terms of being interesting as there is hardly any interaction with them

I tackled the problematic damage curve via creating 2 new play styles that allow for a more consistent damage curve:
- playing without any phantasms
- playing with a single phantasm

As for phantasms, I tried to avoid proposing mere “deals x damage every x seconds” phantasms but instead tried to give some more play to them.

Problems I encountered during the process of creating new skills:
- the shatter mechanic works counterproductive to potential play styles like many dying clones or a strong clones play style.
- it is hard to make weapons which stand for different playstyles compatible with each other as players can use 2 weapons (and I am not sure if I have really grasped that problem yet)

Because I am lacking time I decided not to drill into weapon sets of which I think that they have already distinct roles which should be merely be expanded upon. Thus, I will not provide specific new skills for greatsword, staff, mainhand pistol and scepter but summarize what I perceive to be their “distinct role”. That way you can see the framework in which my new skills would move if I had come around to make them. I will also give suggestions for phantasms for GS and Staff (pistol and scepter do not offer any).

Greatsword:
Role: deals ranged, physical damage while removing boons, best versus small groups, minor defense
Phantasm: illusionary highlander -> stronger if the only phantasm, gets stronger if an enemy dies close to him

Staff:
Role: continue with the provide boons and/or conditions theme, best vs large groups, good defense, damage is a mix of physical and condition damage
Phantasm: phantasmal commander -> cf. ascalon leader finisher aoe atttack, stronger for each boon you provided to allies

Mainhand Sword:
Role: high autoattack damage, minor defense, melee physical damage, skills 2&3 provide a gapcloser and some kind of defense

Scepter:
Role: condition damage, moderate range, good defense (maybe the new skill 2 could be a bit more offensive)

Thx for the link Leo – I had a good read! You had asked for input on “how to upgrade” and I think at that time my suggestion would have gone in the direction that Anet chose when they implemented the “scavenger hunt” for traits. Speaking of traits… pre-launch I had imagined that traits would fulfill the role of your skill-upgrade-system and drastically change the effect of specific skills – like warden’s feedback does.

Something else I noticed is that we have rather similar ideas as to how elementalist skills could be spiced up. This includes manipulating combo fields and changing the way skills work depending on which attunement you used last. Apparently these ideas are not too far fetched and I will feel more secure using them once I get around to making ele skills.

Hey guys, thx for your support! Actually I had lost hope to create a dialog via this thread and, being unaware of regulations concerning necroposting, only posted my most recent idea for the sake of future reference (in case the topic of alternative weapons skills would have been brought up in the future). That said, I feel like coming up with some weapon skills for mesmer & elementalist now.

Here is an idea for a quite distinct playstyle for warrior provided via axe/axe.

Axe Mainhand
added an alternative playstyle where you control your own hp to deal the most damage, and which gives the stat “healing power” an offensive use (used instead of precision), this requires a new grandmaster-trait:
“To the Limit!” – your non-crit attacks deal more damage depending on your critical damage and current hp; while in Vengeance mode your hp will be calculated as if they were 0
formula:
bonus damage in % = critical damage% * ((100-current hp%)/100) * balance-factor
sample calculation: critical damage = 156%; balance factor = 1 (no balance-factor)
bonus damage at 90%hp = 156 * (1-0,9) * 1 = 15,6% bonusdmg
bonus damage at 0,01% hp = 156 * (1-0,01) * 1 = 54,4% bonusdmg

• (2a) Cyclone Axe
  (old) stays the same

• (2b) Burst of Aggression
  buff; instant; 2 secs cd; you gain bonus ferocity for your next attack and the attack will transform your fury boon into might; you loose x% of your health;x% of the lost hp will be added to your “Inner Reserve” (Inner Reserve = when you hit 0 hp you will be healed by the number of hp gathered in your inner reserve)
  comment on (2b):
  - both the percentage of hp lost and the percentage of hp which will be added to your “inner reserve” scale with healing power
  - it might be necessary to have the fury -> might transformation effect only if the “To the Limit” trait is used

• (3a) Throw Axe
  (old) stays the same

• (3b) Primal Rage
  buff, you receive swiftness and fury as well as immunity to immobilize, chill, cripple for x seconds; if your hp go to 0 while Primal Rage is active you do not go into the downed state but directly into vengeance mode.
  comment on (3b):
  -The vengeance mode triggered through Primal Rage will unlike usually not stop you from being eligible to contest a capture point in pvp and your rally chance is 100% (might require a rework of the trait “Sweet Revenge”:http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Sweet_Revenge to give a bonus in this situation)
  -The effect of Primal Rage overrides that of “Inner Reserve”, instead of healing the stored hp will lengthen the duration of your vengeance mode

Axe Offhand

• (4a) Dual Strike
  (old) stays the same

• (4b) Axe Storm
  pbaoe; throw 6 axes in all directions (300 range) which will deal damage and cripple foes they hit before they return to you. If you are using a whirl finisher when they return they will once again fly off dealing 50% less damage each time they bounce off.

• (5a) Whirling Axe
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Warriors Cunning
  buff, receive swiftness for x seconds, the next x healing you receive (which source is you) during the next x seconds will instead be dealt as damage to enemies within 180 range,
  comment on (5b):
  -if you heal for more than the cap the rest will heal you
  -the cap scales with healing power (more healing power -> higher cap)
  -if you are poisoned this will reduce the damage you will deal below the cap
  -if you would be healed over your max hp the damage cap should be reduced by a percentage which scales with the amount of overheal
  -the heal you receive at 0 hp through “Inner Reserve” (cf. (2b)) does count for this

The ancient karka would be an option, too.

My top 3:

3. Transparency

as long as you can find a way to let the players know what they did wrong, even
wiping several 100 times at a boss will be fun.

While there might be satisfaction of finally understanding a not so obvious mechanic, it unnecessarily changes the balance from depth to complexity as there is no depth if you don’t know what’s going on. An example would be the room in cm where you at first might think that your randomly die while in reality you just take damage as you move.

2. Accessibility
I agree with NoTrigger, that this is best to be achieved by implementing simpler raids to ease players into the experience. I consider it psychologically important that these are not stigmatised as something inferior. They are just like your “proper” raids – only easier.
The thought process is analogous to that of the new player experience in the last feature patch: it is important to lay a foundation for the years to come, and if raids are gonna be a thing eventually, it will trade-off if 3 out of 15 raids served the whole purpose of bringing in a healthy audience. It would also help accessibility if raids were not to exceed 2 hours.

1. Replayability
The item I consider utmost important: lay the foundation for raids to be replayable.
Provide rewards that let you show off how often you beat that specific raid via cosmetics. IMO this can be done with the least dev-time via a dungeon specific armour/weapon whose shiny effect scale with the number of completed raid runs. Be it automatically, via “style infusions” or a reward track but make it scale really high. There might be people that will have beaten the raid 137 times – let them show it.
But people only do something so often if they have fun doing it. One requirement for this is having a decent skill-challenge ratio (cf. attachment). As it is unlikely that the skill level stays the same over the course of 137 runs there needs to be a way of scaling the difficulity individually and the best way to achieve this is per increasing the reward as the raidgroup consists of less people. I say it is the best way because it requires no dev time while providing very small steps of possible scaling. To me better loot means increased progress to the next level of shiny that your armour can have. If we use the reward track as an example this would mean 105% progress if 14/15 raiders, 110% if 13/15, etc.
Legitamize playing the same content with a handicap further through the means of achievements.

On the topic of swapping gear, utilities, etc. mid fight:

This reminds me a bit about pvp. In gw1 pvp there was a lot of focus on UI for example with managing several weapon sets as a monk (high energy, low energy, shields with different resistances against various elemental damages, etc.). I remember an Anet dev stating (I think it was Izzy during a potcast) that they deliberately stepped away from a focus on UI for their second game while still trying to provide room for build wars. Arguments I can remember include:
- less UI → more imsersive experience
- transparency: it is apparent what you did wrong when you get outplayed, but not so much when your oponent beat you because you did not utilised a counterintuitive UI technique you were not even aware of → better learning courve
- it is easier to feel satisfied if you outplay the enemy on screen than if you generated a lot of small advantages via UI manipulation

In a raid context this would speak for content which reinfoces optimising your build before you engage the encounter as opposed to swapping your build while already in an epic battle against the meleficent Overlord of Darkness with six arms and burning eyes.

An idea to provide some out of the ordinary gameplay for the “runner” raid role

When thinking about a “runner” I guess everybody thinks about running horizontally. But what about falling? While you are falling you still have some level of control over your character. This can be used to avoid obstacles mid air. The diving google achievement in dry top aleady has some elements of it – just imagine more obstacles and an even longer fall.
A possible scenario could be a boss on steroids knocking the runners up or – more rationally – the runners jump off an airship.

Quote: “Runner: When things require you move fast this is your guy!”

An idea to provide some gameplay for the “kiter” raid role

I don’t think one mechanic that is repeated in every raid can cut it for the “kiter” raid role. So my goal here is to provide an example for a job the kiters could fulfil at one specific boss.
The basic premise is that picking up a certain bundle will give you aggro of the bossand that you can throw it to other players (preferably the other designated kiters). It’s basically Kegbrawl.
The boss scenario could be an enraged norn trying to get to his ale (the bundle) or a rhyno chasing you as you steal his baby (bundle).
While this concept already got used repeatedly e.g. in dry top or in Arah I am of the opinion that it would work in a bossfight, too. Also, I think that it would have a different feeling to it as it is more about the adrenalin rush when the boss charges you than about tactitally using your skills (kegbrawl) or watching your hp bar (arah).

To expand on the idea of using combo fields as a raid mechanic:

• In case this system is intended to be parallel to profession requirements you could provide bundles which offer skills that create desired fields
• Not only player – environment interaction (as in: cleanse poisoned area via water fields) is possible but also player – enemy interaction:
  vs regular mobs: create fire fields to get ice spirits to stay away from that spot
  vs bosses: create a dark field to force the enemy lich boss to teleport there
  advanced concept...For maximum difficulty one could harness _player-player-enemy interactions_ this would mean that in this raid environment 2 overlapping combo fields create a special effect. Examples could be: water + fire = steam (to suck light adds like Dust Mites upwards); water + light = rainbow (to mesmerize a simple minded troll); smoke + water = rock music (sorry I couldn't resist)
• As a bossmechanic the presence of bosses could have an effect on the created combo fields in an area surrounding him. For example the frost giant might have the effect that skills like Healing Rain that usually create a water field create an ice field instead and fire fields won’t emerge (I did not list this under player – enemy interaction because this effect would be passive – so there would be no interaction)

Would you guys consider the “under attack” version of la a raid if it were instanced? The one that was used during Season 1 where you were to save civilians.

I ask because this would further expand on the idea of breaking up a raid into several groups, as it would go as far as allowing players to venture even alone or in pairs while fighting together for one goal. Not to forget that there would still be a need for larger groups that take care of the reacurring/timed events, so that players have a meaningful choice of what they want to do.

There would be less focus on raidspecific mechanics but on
-Knowledge (when do the events spawn)
-individual skill for the non-event-rescuers (how many civilians can you rescue per minute)
-map wide coordination (how to spread out so the map is covered most efficiantly)

If you insist on a bossfight you could still attach the hologram fight to the end of this raid

Hey guys,

first off I want to show my support for the proposition of NoTrigger to introduce “style infusions” and I think in its core it is very similar to what Conski Deshan and That Guy were on to when they were talking about having 5 tiers of raid specific armor. To recap: style infusions are a means of horzontal progression as an infusion alters the corresponding raidspecific armor/weapon visually – the higher the infusion the shinier. Besides that it behaves a lot like the ar counterpart as you are rewarded with style infusions at the end of a successful raid and you can combine them. I am really fond of this idea because this is a non-rng long term goal where those aiming for have feasible steps in between where they can feel a sense of progression.

Another idea I do like is that of leaderboards (afaik the last post about it was made by Snowball). In the end all new content can only provide that much replayability through simple completion of said content. This is where external (I am not saying extrinsic!) reinforcement comes into play to make people play the respective content differently – for example particularly fast, even though there are also other options, as in other leaderboard categories.
Other kinds of external reinforcements are achievements and rewards. While you can do a ton with those, I want to revisit Edgar Doirons statement: “Like Chris says, nothing is stopping you from doing [fractals] with less [people]. But I also think that doing it with Less should up the rewards”. My proposition how you could “up the rewards” include achievements for completing a raid being x men down and also granting a magic find bonus for each person that you are less than what’s supposed for the raid. This measure would provide replayability while also providing a workaround for the possible lack of a hardmode. To some extend the scaling issue is also tackled. Not through the means of actually changing the content (the option was there before as well) but by changing the mindset of the players. Because the option of doing a raid while being people short now is legitamized as I would like to call it. No sense of feeling cheated because you do the raid deliberatly with a handycap and it is not getting valued. You could mindlessly massacre chicken in a certain fractal – but nobody would if there were no achievement.
Opererant conditioning is a powerful tool, indeed – ask Skinner’s lab rat

PS: I would actually love to see that mf bonus in other parts of the game as well.
PS2: I would also love to hear an official statement on the chances of Season 1 living story encounters being revisited via (prolly fractal-)raids. Because if there is a chance I would think of ways to incorporate those into a raid format – or rather look it up in my notes.

would buy 10/10!

maybe you couldn’t post under suggestions because it is in the archive? If anyone knows pls let us know!

Summary

Range spectrum
only estimations; estimated distance to the enemy (where I guess you would be most of the time)

(Great)sword: melee range; axe: melee-600 range; shortbow: 300-900 range; scepter – 600-900 range; longbow – 900+

Condition and power weapons

Conditionbased weapons:
shortbow, axe mainhand, dagger, torch

Powerbased weapons:
Longbow, Scepter, Axe offhand

In between:
Greatsword, sword, horn

Warhorn
is meant to
-maintain the beastmaster theme if used with scepter be used in combination with Scepter
-provide a missing gapcloser for Sword + option to stick with the theme of actively choosing whether to deal condi or direct dmg
-provide support for the group if wanted

• (4a) Chain: Ready Up → Hunter’s Call
  1. Stage: Ready Up
  Your pet will position behind the enemy from your perspective
  2. Stage: (old) Hunter’s Call:
  new function: your pet charges towards you dealing damage and knocking back enemies in the way
  comment on (4a):
  -the pet only deals damage on the first contact
  -knocking back means in this case that if an enemy is standing between you and your pet he will get transported (via several small knockbacks) to the ranger
  - if you don’t want the enemy being transported to you you can move to the side so that the pet will “loose grip” of the enemy during the bend
  -I leave it open to balance whether the charge of the pet stops if you use “Strike as One” (Scepter (2b)) together with this skill
  Comment on animation:
  -animation could resemble the warriors Rush
  - the animation of the old Hunter’s Call animation (birds) can be reused; e.g. in a runeset or as a mistlock instability as it had been datamined – alternatively the old Hunter’s Call could be left as a skill option. The new Hunter’s Call would have to be renamed then.

• (4b) Predatory Season
  Ring in the predatory season. Grant aoe vigor [short duration]; Your pets next attack will
  -apply [damaging condition(s)] if the enemy is over 75% hp.
  -deal bonusdmg if the enemy is below 50%/33% hp (up to balance)

• (5a) Call of the Wild
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Frenzied Defense
  your pet starts moving towards you, gaining superspeed for the duration. When it reaches the player, for 3 seconds…
  -the pet gains superspeed [again – workaround since the time the pet needs to get to you may vary]
  -it will neither leave a radius of 180 range around the player nor attack enemies on the outside
  -it will be locked to a new skill: “Defend Master!”

Defend Master!: attack; 0.5 second activation time [0.65 for ranged pets]; knocks down/back [up to balance]
[animation = standard attack with adjusted speed]

Torch
ranged supportive option, providing combo fields

• (4a) Throw Torch
  (old) change: reduce burning duration a bit, add confusion; make it a small ground targeted aoe comparable to Mind Stab; adjust velocity

• (4b) Clash of Stars
  buff; 4 seconds; you and your pet have only access to the skill “Turn up the heat!” and your pet starts moving towards you; if you and your pet touch: cause an explosion (radius 240, combo finisher: blast) which will apply conditions

“Turn up the heat!”: casttime = 1 second; no recharge
apply burning in an aoe (radius = 140) and gain +20% movement speed for the duration of Clash of Stars;

• comment on (4b):
  -pet uses “Turn up the heat!” automatically
  -the explosion should apply conditions depending on how often you had used “Turn up the heat!”
  -this should be balanced in a way that encourages you to dodge your pet until you used “Turn up the heat!” 3 times; my approach:
  1x = burn 2 seconds
  2x = burn 2 seconds, 2 stacks of confusion
  3x = burn 4 seconds, 4 stacks of confusion, blind
  -I feel like this name/theme of “stars” would fit better for ele, but I can’t think of a more ranger appropriate theme/name that will explain the concept of this skill. I decided to use the idea for ranger nevertheless because it works well with the pet mechanic. Alternatively this skill could be used for elementalist with the 2nd “star” being summoned with a ground targeted aoe at the beginning.
  comment on animation:
  2 options for the animation for pet and ranger for the time until the explosion takes place
  1. something comparable to the aura which the predator supplies
  2. something comparable to Light Dash (Sanctum Sprint (2))

• (5a) Bonfire
  (old) new function: every two seconds the bonfire will now apply boons to allies within the radius (120/180 if traited); the fire field (and visual bonfire) is reduced to a 40 range radius

• (5b) Ancestral Succor
  line, passive at start; activates when you run through it; active effect: combo field fire; when you or allies run through it: gain boons + clean 1 condition, if an enemy crosses it: applies burning, cripple; recharge reduces for every second you stay within 120 range of Ancestral Succor
  comment on (5b):
  -unless activated the passive line vanishes after 10 secs
  -I will leave it open if the recharge reductions already work while the line is still passive
  -the recharge function is implemented in order to make this skill viable as a combo field drop for ranged rangers
  comment on animation:
  -while passive the fire burns low and the inhabitant spirits lean towards you, reaching out with their hands
  -while active 2 lines of reddish wraithlike “ancestors” stand back to back; arms crossed facing outwards
  -alternatively one could go for the theme of “spirits of the wild” instead of ancestors or use this as a guardian torch skill

Dagger offhand
new additional role: a 100% melee range option

• (4a) Stalker’s Strike
  (old) stays the same

• (4b) Severe Sinews
  melee attack; deal dmg; if you attack from behind: torment + cripple

• (5a) Crippling Talon
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Chain: Step in → “Didn’t Learn, huh,”
  1. Stage: Step in: leap a short distance towards the enemy; if he is attacking: daze him for 2 seconds; if not: end chain
  2. Stage: “Didn’t Learn, huh”: melee attack; deal dmg + blind the enemy

Axe Offhand
your ranged, direct damage option

• (4a) Path of Scars
  (old) stays the same

• (4b) Mighty Throw
  single target, 900 range; projectile finisher; charge up a Mighty Throw. Deals damage depending on how long you charged it up.
  comment on (4b):
  -hold the button of this skill to charge it up (3 seconds max). If this is difficult to implement just fix it at 3 seconds (in order to maintain synergy with longbow (3a) and Axe (5b) )

• (5a) Whirling Defense
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Chain: Gift of Life → Timber!
  1. Stage: Gift of Life: let a seed fall to the ground which will grow a tree within 1.5 seconds
  2. Stage: Timber!: cut down the tree – it will fall depending on from which side you hit it and deal dmg to enemies it falls on
  comment on (5b):
  -the tree has a hitbox + lifebar; breaks line of sight
  -the tree should be slim without branches to the side or a huge crown; maybe something like a poplar

Axe Mainhand
new additional role: close-medium range (old: medium range); still: condition dmg

• (2a) Chain: Splitblade → “What savings!”
  1. Stage: Splitblade: (old) add cooldown; if none of the axes hit the pet’s current target: end chain
  2. Stage: “What savings!”your pet pulls out the axe eviscerating the enemy applying [damaging condition] and will then proceed carrying the axe to you – reduces recharge of Splitblade by 2 seconds when the pet arrives
  comment on “What savings!”
  -the name of “What savings!” is referring to the high prices of axes that are avoided by getting your pet to bring at least one back to you
  -ok ok I guess this reference is a bit far fetched so if you have a proper name suggest it please (the problem is I already use “sticky” for scepter so I cant say “get sticky”, nor “fetch!” since I use that in (3b))

• (2b) Sundering Attack
  melee hit, applies [damaging condition]
  comment on (2b):
  -the function of the (2) skills is to get close to the pet; while this is more obvious with (2a), (2b) also serves that purpose if the pet is also in the frontline

• (3a) Winter’s Bite
  (old) stays the same

• (3b) “Fetch!”
  leap finisher; leap backwards and throw an axe that will deal damage and apply [damaging condition]; if your pet is within 180 range of you when throwing the axe it will apply cripple with the next attack

Sword Mainhand
added offensive skills; control whether to apply conditions or deal direct dmg through skill usage

• (2a) Moment of Weakness
  melee attack; deals dmg; if your pet attacked your target within the last 0.5 sec: deal bonusdmg; if not: if your pet attacks within the next 0.5 sec it additionally applies bleeding

• (2b) Chain: Gather Mice → Unstoppable Force
  1. Stage: Gather Mice:
  lasting aoe bound to your position; range: 180
  after 1 second these mice start applying poison and [damaging condition], in the aoe every second
  2. Stage: Unstoppable Force
  usable within a 1 second window; charge in a line forwards (240 range); deal dmg while pushing back enemies; activation ends the effect of “Gather Mice”;
  comment on animation:
  -Gather Mice: some mice show up during the first second, more appear within the next second; they just run around in the radius
  -Unstoppable Force: thousands of mice running over each other carrying you quickly (Gryllen anyone!?! / Malazan Book of the Fallen insider)

• (3a) Hornet Sting/Monarch’s Leap
  (old) moved to slot 3 due to its defensive nature; add: grants 2 seconds of protection to your pet;

• (3b) Serpent Strike added: if you successfully evade an attack also apply vulnerability
  comment on (3b):
  -a problem will be that you often dodge by not being at the position of the attack anymore instead of using the invincible frames which makes this addition less effective than it could be

Scepter (new weapon)
-power, mid-far range, single target
-my approach to provide a beastmaster-playstyle (combo with horn)
-I would have used staff as it would make more sense for a ranger but I decided against it since rangers already have 3 two-handed weps but only 2 mainhand weps +4(!) offhand weps. In addition, scepter fits better in the range spectrum I wanted to provide

• (1) Throw Sticky
  Deals dmg, apply 2 secs of swiftness to pet
  comment on the animation of (1):
  - could use the skin of the scepter as the thrown stick

• (2a) Chain: Feral Aggression → Strike as One → Lend Strength
  1. Stage: Feral Aggression: no activation time; lets the pet use “Feral Aggression (Beast)”
  Feral Aggression (Beast): activation time: 1.5 seconds; leap finisher; the pet charges forwards (maximum: 140 range); if it collides with an enemy it will come to a stop, dealing damage to said enemy
  2. Stage: Strike as one: 900 range, instant; your pet is shadowstepping to the enemy (or to you if no enemy is selected)
  3. Stage: Lend Strength
  1 seconds casttime; self inflict: weakness, cripple; your pets next attack deals extradmg, cleaves/shoots multiple projectiles at adjacent targets and heals your pet for each target hit
  comment on (2a):
  -Strike as One does not interrupt Feral Aggression
  - if you want to reduce the damage your pet can take: delay the use of Strike as One for up to 1.5 seconds
  -Strike as One can be used defensively in order to get the pet out of a big attack
  -if Strike as One is used without target and the pet shadowsteps to your position it will be facing the direction of the closest enemy
  -the cooldown of the chain should be bound to the use of Feral Aggression; thus Lend Strength is optional (window for skill usage is open until the cooldown of the skill is finished)
  -Feral Aggression (Beast) is in its animation not a leap but a small charge forwards (clarification because I made it a leap finisher)

• (2b) Never Rampage Alone
  You and your pet perform a whirl attack. Your pets whirl takes place 1 second later. You knockback enemies while your pet deals damage, healing slightly for every enemy it hits.
  comment on (2b):
  -each whirl radius is 130 and counts as a whirl finisher
  -the delay allows you to knock enemies into your pets range
  comment on animation: for the duration you have the appearance of your pet and perform the same whirling move.

• (3a) Predatory Bond
  Ranger and pet fuse for 8 seconds becoming a giant version of the pet which is controlled by the player. For the duration of the fusion you gain [offensive and defensive boons].
  comment on (3a):
  -for a “giant version” I envision the effect of Signet of the Wild doubled or tripled – might be problematic in terms of hit boxes tho
  -The boons and conditions of both pet and ranger are taken over into the fused form
  -The fused form has the combined stats of ranger and pet times 0.75
  -The fused form starts out with a percentage of the max hp based on the current percentage of pet and ranger hp – the formula changes, however, depending on how long the pet was not swapped (timer resets when entering combat). The formula changes from (9x %hp ranger + %hp pet) /10 to (2x%hp ranger + %hp pet)/3.
  -The last point is necessary to avoid making (3a) potentially an additional healskill
  -When defusing pet and ranger have the same percentage of health as the fused form had at the end

• (3b) Fertile Season
  Summon your second pet for 4 seconds. It will follow your commands as does the first.
  comment on (3b):
  -your skills like (2a) profit both pets.
  -I would leave it up to balance what happens to the 2nd pet if it dies/ whether or not it is full healed if swapped in after the 4 seconds.

Shortbow
old role: close-medium range control/condi; new additional role: medium-far range support/condi

• (2a) Poison Volley (old) shorten poison duration, add bleed [to make it compatible with more frequent uses – cf. (3a) (3b)+(5a)]

• (2b) Chain: Read the Wind → Impatient Shot → Opportunity Shot
  1. Stage: Read the Wind (instant)
  1 second after skill usage a window of 1.5 seconds will open during which the player randomly receives the buff “Favorable Winds” which will last for 0.5 seconds
  2. Stage: Impatient Shot
  single target; 0.5s activation time;window for usage closes after 1 second; ends chain; dmg, applies poison, vulnerability
  3. Stage: Opportunity Shot
  window open for 1.5 s, functions like “Impatient Shot”; if you have the buff “Fortune Winds” when activating this skill: additionally hit up to 2 targets within a 240 radius of the target enemy
  comments on (2b):
  -I wanted to supply an alternative to Poison Volley that allows being farther away from your enemy, in order to allow better positioning for other new skills (namely (4b) + granting overview for (3b));
  -impatient shot is for situations in which there is only a single enemy
  - the cooldown of this skillchain should be anchored to the start of the sequence (the use of Read the Wind) and 3 seconds longer than that of (2a)
  -the animation of Impatient Shot and of an Opportunity Shot (without buff) should be the same: the ranger shoots 3 arrows of which 2 stray away (because the winds are not favorable)

• (3a) Quick Shot
  (old) add function: if successfully evading an attack -2 seconds recharge for 2

• (3b) Seeking Arrows
  locks in place, lasts 3 seconds
  shoot at all projectiles traveling through a radius of x range around you, negating them;
  if you successfully negate a projectile: gain a charge of (2)
  comment on (3b):
  -could be made into a whirl finisher with an according animation

• (4a) Chain: Blinding Shot → Crippling Shot → Concussion Shot; = revamp of old Concussion + Crippling Shot
  1. Stage: Blinding Shot: dmg, if successfully hitting an attacking target: blind; if not: end chain
  2. Stage: Crippling Shot: dmg, if successfully hitting a moving target: cripple; if not: end chain
  3. Stage: Concussion Shot: dmg, daze
  each stage has its window opened for 2 or 3 seconds

• (4b) “Got your back”
  target ally, grant 3 seconds of swiftness; if the ally is isolated: shoot a salve of arrows which will hit and immobilize all enemies surrounding the ally in a 180 range radius

• (5a) “Calm Superiority”
  buff; lasts 6 seconds, ends if not hitting a target within 2 seconds or when being hit
  every 2 seconds you will gain one stack of (2) and 2 stacks of might

• (5b) Companionship
  buff; lasts 6 seconds; every 2 seconds remove a condition and grant regeneration and might to allies (and to yourself) within a 180 radius; ends when being isolated

Longbow:
refined the old role of a long range power choice, potentially even further away from the enemy; the associated problem when it comes to might/fury sharing in groups would have to be met via a trait or utility skill (e.g. boons your pet gains →copied for ranger with a shorter duration / spirit of garnering: ground targeted; 1200 range; every boon the spirit of garnering receives has a 35% (70% with Vigorous Spirits chance to be applied to you; active: grants might + fury to the ranger)

• (2a) Rapid Fire
  (old) stays the same

• (2b) Adaptive Arrow
  single target, combofinisher: projectile
  dmg; if projectile travels through combo field: extra dmg

• (3a) Hunter’s Shot
  (old) stays the same

• (3b) Point Blank Shot
  (old) moved from (4) to (3)

• (4a) Barrage
  (old) moved from (5) to (4)

• (4b) Explosive Arrow
  1.5 seconds activation time; groundtargeted aoe; slow moving projectile, blast finisher
  aoe dmg; leaves two small fire fields diagonally to the rangers and the arrow’s destination
  comment on (4b):
  -the long cast time + slow projectile is meant to provide a synergy with (3a) as you will not break stealth for a long time
  -the “weird” positioning of the fire fields is meant to encourage intelligent positioning
  -in the animation the firefields are caused by sparks which are launched together with the Explosive Arrow. They have a very low velocity and catch fire on the ground with a delay of 1 second (in order to avoid instantly blasting the fire fields). The firefields are not meant to deal real damage maybe give them comparable damage to the fire field of burning retreat
  -to make the position of the fire fields a bit clearer:

        a                                a

     f    f                          f   f
        r                            r
     a= aoe; f = fire field; r= ranger

.

• (5a) Expert Focus
  self inflict: immobilize 3 sec + 15 stacks of vulnerability; grants might + fury; raise attackspeed for 6 seconds; recharge (2) instantly

• (5b) Ancestral Ward
  creates a ring of water inhabited by spirits which vanishes when you leave it; if an enemy crosses this ring: recharge (3)
  comment on (5b):
  -radius = 180 range
  -the effect should only trigger twice with an internal cd of 1 second (up to balance)
  -only the edge should be a combo field (water)
  -one could add additional buffs for party members within the circle or additional bonuses for projectiles flying through the field
  -the effect of the skill might not have much to do with a longbow but I need the function for the skillset
  comment on animation:
  -bluish wraithlike “ancestors” stand tall within the waters; arms crossed facing outwards
  -alternatively one could go for the theme of “spirits of the wild” instead of ancestors

Greatsword (GS)
old role: tanky melee; new additional role: offensive support + tanky condidmg (though that would be a niche I reckon)

• (2a) Maul
  (old) reduce standard dmg; add: if the enemy is crowd controlled: also apply [offensive condition]
  comment:
  -the reason why I use an offensive condition instead of bonusdmg is this. Also, together with Runes of Perplexity there is the potential for a condition build

• (2b) Claw
  locks player in place; attack 3 times dealing dmg and applying vulnerability
  comment on (2b):
  -I stuck to the bear theme to provide some consistency
  -Claw should take about as long as Pistol Whip

• (3a) Swoop
  (old) stays the same

• (3b) Air-Strike
  Leap finisher; Leap in the direction of your foe delivering a mighty overhead swing, dealing damage. An eagle will assist you, extending your range in a line, crippling foes and dealing (low)dmg
  comments on (3b):
  -I stuck with the eagle theme, again, for consistency
  -range of leap should be comparable to that of Mighty Blow
  -the GS should have a decent range in a small line forwards
  -the second halve of your GS should be a sweet spot where both the GS and the Eagle will hit
  -the damage shouldn’t be too high, as this is a rather defensive skill since it provides an attack before your enemy is in range, as well as utility
  comment on animation:
  -The eagle should emerge while you are at the highest point during leaping and will follow the movement of the GS but continue flying a bit
  -after the ranger leaped: remain about 0.3s(econds) kneeling with the sword on the ground, pointing forwards

• (4a) Counterattack → Crippling Throw
  (old) stays the same

• (4b) Hunters challenge
  single target, 900 range, 1 second cast time
  grants might; if the enemy is not looking into your direction when done casting: fear the enemy for 1 second + nearby allies and you gain fury
  comment on the animation (4b):
  -during the cast time this skill should spawn two images of a stylized ranger (cf. the style of Call of the Wild)
  -one over the head of the ranger who speaks the challenge: beckoning
  -one over the head of the enemy: pointing in the challenging ranger’s direction

• (5a) Hilt Bash
  (old) stays the same

• (5b) Expert’s Dexterity
  you block for 2 seconds, grants might to allies when blocking

Ranger
(my following posts will all be about the ranger weapon sets)

Tip for anyone who intents to invent rangerskills:
Keep in mind that you are, due to the fact that the skills must make sense whether the player uses a melee or a ranged pet, limited in what you can have the pet do. You want to make a skill depending on pet positioning? You have to add another skill first which will let either the pet come to you or you to the pet. You want to provide a gapcloser? Provide an alternative since ranged pet don’t love to be right next to the enemy!

Problems I tried to address while working on the Ranger:

Pets:
For me there is not enough interaction between ranger and pet right now. The pet feels autonomous but hardly a part of me.

Combo Fields
Not exactly a ranger problem but right now most of the combo fields are to be positioned at the enemies position due to the skills primary functions. This makes the whole shoot/leap through a combo field less interesting. Thus, I changed/provided combo fields so that it makes sense to position them between you and the enemy.

Notes regarding my own posts

To make it easier to balance I stuck with skills being bound to slots of your weapon. Feel free to use or break this structure in your own posts.

I gave many skills quite a lot of depth and thus unfortunately complexity. Thus, if my skills were to be implemented, this would require the addition of a skill tutorial for new skills which would provide you with information and let you test the skill in authentic yet controlled situations.

Numbers like “grants 3 seconds protection” or the number of might/bleedstacks are not definite but should only give an idea – more often than not I will leave numbers completely up to balance.

I use mechanics new to the game at some point or another:
-some skills might target allies
-hold down a key to keep it going/charge it up (could also be retrospectively applied to e.g. 100 blades or Ride the Lightning)
-”Charges” for Skills: some skills might grant charges of others, if you have at least one charge for a skill you can use this skill even though it is on cooldown, using up one charge
-reduce x seconds of recharge for skill x
Note: Why I would propose this mechanic is the reason that it is a great way to reward players for example for the correct use of a defensive skill, as this is more visible than dealing let’s say x more dmg when you have to go back to autoattacking afterwards. However, I believe to remember that Anet stated (maybe an interview prelaunch with Izzy?) that they didn’t want any manipulation of skill cooldowns since that lead to problems in gw1; however, I can only vaguely remember the reason they gave – afaik they said that you could profit of having a long cd. But I could only imagine very few of <a href=“http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Enraged_Lunge_%28PvP%29”>such cases </a> (so it would be great if somebody could remind me if this was really the reason). I honestly see no drawback to recharge reduction in gw2 since it has a more controlled environment (which is one of the reasons why I would personally bind additional weaponskills to fix slots) than gw1.

Toreducethewordcount I also use some new phrases:
-(e.g. target) is isolated = (the target) has no allies in a radius of 180 (pet counts as ally)
-stats provided by your build = the difference between your current and base stats

If there is already a related topic send me the link please!

I personally have fun creating alternative skills for existing weapon sets (skills 2-5) or inventing the skill set a weapon could have if used by another class (e.g. staff for ranger). Maybe you would have as well? This thread is about sharing your ideas and giving feedback! In case you need some inspiration: I already provided a lot of skills; however, you don’t have to read through all of them if you want to contribute! Also, if you have an idea it’s optional to formulate the complete skill. I.e. it is perfectly legit to post something like: “I feel like there should be a rangerskill where you have to coordinate your attack so that you attack at the same time as your pet”.

Great that you mention the old karka/southsun stuff – I forgot about them entirely! They surely belong to the content that my idea would apply to.

The point is: my propsoal resolves around reusing existing content (or rather providing an infrastructure for it). The content in question is for (at least) 40 people. The reason why I use an instanced version in my proposal is that I just do not see how they could implement past (lore) content in an open world setting since that would cause severe problems for lore & logic.

I would like to address the point “elitism” brought up by CureForLiving.
First of all, I have to admit that the term “hardcore” was not chosen well. What I meant was “people who like to be challenged”. I do not judge anyone on the basis of how he or she likes to play. However, in case you find the proposed “private mode” in itself elitist I can not agree with you. Firstly, there is no system that blocks anyone out. No gearcheck, no achievementpointcheck, nothing. It’s just content that caters for people who like challenges – nothing different than the triple-headed wurm in that regard. Secondly, and even more importantly, the private mode is meant to be another experience in the sense that the goals are differently set– not something that requires more skill, since it is exactly the same content. 150 mlg proplayers (metaphorically) that farm champions won’t be saving more citizen than 150 random gw2 people who want to push this number. Actually, this mode is my approach to incentivise players to do the content as it was intended by the developers rather than simply maximising their own profit and as such to address the “Social Dilemma" (confer: http://whyigame.wordpress.com/2014/02/22/gw2-social-dilemmas-in-the-ruins-of-lions-arch/). While players could self organise themselves most of the time group dynamics/the current reward structures prevent it. When I speak of “20% of players” in my post I already estimated that while there might be a lot more who would like to do the content “properly” I fear that only a fraction of that number would be ready to organise themselves via the private mode. If there were not a restrain against this additional work or the fear to take responsibility it would not be necessary to integrate a private mode in the first place.
I hope I could ease your concerns. If not please be more specific, so that I have a fair chance to defend my idea.

I just wanted to step in and show my support for Uhtameit’s idea of a rank 80 cap and additional progression via finishers.

2. How to scale rewards for the content in question?

This already started with rewards being given out at 100/300/600/… citizen rescued during escape from la. Basically, you pick a criteria that can be converted into numbers and scale loot according to how high the squad scored. Other release-specific criteria are the status of the bar when the marionette dies or the number of Light Feedback received by the whole squad. More general criteria could be: time spent (would make sense for the tower of nightmares), squad members defeated, having less players than maxium, etc. Maybe the sum of several such criteria could be turned into one value which could determine the loot/leaderbord position.

2.1 Loot

More blues and greens I guess – acutally, the loot is something anet economists have to agree on.

2.2 Leaderboards

Self explanatory. A high position at the end of a day/month could yield extra loot. (Like when in gw1 the top 100 rollerbeatle racers in gw1 received a mini.) Maybe have titles associated with holding or having held a leaderboard rank as well.

2.3 Achievements / Titles

More conventional achievements could be: save 1000 citizen; clear all chambers + kill the toxic hybrid within 25 minutes.

3. Addressing concerns

3.1 This addition might draw people away from the current living story
? Time gate it for the public servers (which I reckon would make up at least 80% of those playing it) for only being available for the time between two seasons.

3.2 Waiting times till a server is filled might be a problem

– for more transparency let the portals to the respective content display how many people are already in there (e.g. 32/40)
- provide mini bosses like those roaming in la during “battle for la” for the time till the content starts
-Unbind the public servers from the server (e.g. blackgate) but let the player choose a language when entering.
-Scale down the content for 40 player sized squads. I would recommend scaling all the contents for the same number of people (less confusing + communities can stay together) anyway.

-If filling the server turns out to be a serious issue (maybe after a while): make a daily rotation which blocks 3 out of 4 maps.

4. Applicability to the 3 headed wurm

Nerf the open world wurm and open a fractal to the past where the wurm was still wreaking havoc.
It’s not necessary to scale him down to 40 people.

TL;W(on’t)R
Make old living story (ls) content reappear as instanced versions for ~40 players with rewards bound to the participating players’ success – also supply a public instance (casual) as well as a version where squad members are invited individually.

By “past ls content” I mean foremost: the tower of nightmare (itself – not the release, optionally including the chambers + a teamfight version of the toxic hybrid), the twisted marionette fight, the “Under attack” version of Lion’s Arch (LA) during “Escape from LA” and the fight against the prime hologram (optionally including the dynamic, static and synergetic assault knights).

While I am quite positive that we will see this content again in one way or another; I decided to write this post in order to point out that this content can be presented in a way that caters for both casuals and players who look for a challenge. The TL;WR summarized how I would try to achieve this but in the following I will present my ideas more detailed.

Lead Question: How to interest both casuals and hardcore players for the same content?
The means at our disposal are twofold: a) providing two structures for the same content so that both groups don’t interfere and b) Rewards which are scaling with success.

1. How to provide two structures without wasting resources?

I suggest making a second fractals (non instanced). This is in order to make sense lore-wise. In the end all we need is a place with (atm – I reckon we will need more after the next ls) four portals. These lead to an instanced version of the content I listed above. When entering, the player can choose between joining the public server or opening a private one.

1.1 Public servers (casuals)

Will work like overflows. When a server is full it creates a new one. The timer and content starts when the server is full. Be able to join as a group – should work like joining the personal story instance of somebody else.

1.2 Private servers (casuals or hardcore)

The player who opened the server can invite other players that can join via the interface (no need to set a time limit). The opener can give other players the ability to invite/kick others as well. Helpful tools: friendlist, guild roster, lfgtool

2.2 Complete overhaul

OK now to the ideas I have for a complete overhaul of how you get most of your ap once you got the regular achievements that are already in the game. As I envision it, dailies should be capped at the ap you get with the chest – I do not suggest to limit the choices tho! I would recommend to introduce the 5s/additional achievement that I mentioned before. Now instead of dailies there should should be 2 new primary ways of getting achievement points (only talking about new ways of acquisition not living story achievements etc.)

a) A multitude of new challenging achievements.
This is supposed to factor the skill of players. Thus, it would be an idea to enable ppl to see the count of those achievements separate from the rest.
Those achievements should be about the difficulty of Liandri (I hope I got the name right) but do not necessarily only apply to new content. The first idea I would have for such an achievement would be regarding the dynamic event in the south eastern corner of the diessa plateau where you have to catch those skales with the help of that rifle the npc gives you. The achieve would require you to catch several of those skales in very,very quick succession. Actually this is a terrible achievement and not even I would like it but maybe you get the idea. This would also have the positive effect of revitalising parts of a beautiful Tyria that are not so frequently visited. The thing with these “challenge achievements” would be that they grant a very good ap/time but require more skill. I would love to see tons of those achievements since it is basically new content without having to make changes to the world, but I guess one would have to wait for the feedback since it would be stupid to make more than 50 of those when only 2% of the playerbase participated in those.

b) Infinitely repetitive achievement point lines.
First off, I am not convinced that this is actually a good idea – it might as well be a disastrous one! I guess it would depend on how players would psychologically receive it. Ok here we go:) This should tell other players more about how much you played, while ignoring less play styles (such as alting).
dungeons (counter for each), fractals (counter for each), tourneys (+one additional ap line about wins as a further incentive), personal story steps (for those people alting), wvw lines for each objective, open world champions (for farmers) + world bosses, dynamic events, some achievement line for traders (more complicated), etc. (jps would be complicated to balance/counter for each?)
Now several of those lines already exist but they are capped (dungeons/fracs) and/or require tons of times spent for very little aps (wvw). I would like them to yield a steady amount of aps that is balanced with the other ap lines I just introduced. Also this amount of aps/time should be balanced with the time spent on additional dailies right now. How much time/ap that is can be figured out with empiric data.
OK, I see myself that this would definitely raise the stakes for those at the top of the ladder. This forum topic should have brought some of you here – how would you evaluate this change? Would you feel forced into playing all day to not loose ranks? Or would you embrace this as a chance to finally do all the stuff you want?A problem might be that some ppl might spend way longer on a dungeon than others without having less skill but rather less motivation to adapt to the zerker/corner/rush meta.
Now if this would be a real patch some people might be angry since they are way behind in aps because they hadn’t been incentivised (sorry I don’t know the correct form for that word in this case– non native here ) to go for achievementpoints before but would like to compete now. However, as I said before – I would hate to see the ranks as they are now shuffled around big time.
Maybe go for a combination of these infinite lines + challenges as an additional score to be seen next to the old one (would not solve the leaderboard problem, however).

2. Ideas to solve the problem

2.1 Compromises
(Ewons proposal would fit in this category)

2.1.1 Mild changes
Keep the chest at 5 dailies but cap the max number of ap you can get every day at a number that sounds reasonable to you. This would not require to limit the achievements to chose from – it would only make it impossible and thus unnecesary to do too many of those. Since there wouldn’t be any other enhancement of the situation of achievement hunters I would recommend 5 silver / additional daily you do (Hell- even pvpers get money now ). Ofc there would also have to be a similar system for pvp.

2.1.2 Not-too-crazy changes

As an alternative it would be possible to introduce weeklies – not as an additional chore for poor Ewon but to help battle the problems that emerge with having to do stuff within the short timeframe of one day. I could imagine for example to exclude daily activity but to introduce a weekly: participate in 5 rounds of activities. Another example would be: kill 100 shiverpeakers and 5 vet shiverpeakers, magumajunglers, ascalonians and krytans. – then it would be really something that would reward for playing the game since you would get those along the way and not a reward for playing in a way that is not intended (eg. traveling to diessa to kill those 3 vet ghosts in the bottom left corner)

1.5 Negatively condition content that is included in dailies

Furthermore, as I mentioned, doing dailies becomes a chore. In the past I loved doing activities (kegbrawl <3 vote for teamarena kegbrawl! like dwanya vs grenth tpvp in gw1). Since I am forced to do them on a daily basis I see myself afking them most of the time when it is one of those where leeching does not hurt anyone (crabtoss, sanctum etc…)
Now some of you might think that afking is stupid from an ap farmers pov since there are achievements I get only for participating in those like collecting crystals or carrying crabs. I; however, thought that I could do those later – they will always be there and even if I drop some ranks now because somebody does those in favour of a single daily – I will come out on top in the end! Hell I didn’t even care about getting the dungeon completionist in a timely manner since the hobby dungeon achievement is capped, so I would get it maxed someday anyway. Dailies preventing people to do other achievements – nice!

1.6 Daily achievementpoints undermine the value of regular achievementpoints

My last argument against the acquisition of more achievement points through dailies once you have the basic set, is that it gives a false impression of how much people play or how much skill they have. The point is not that it does not properly show that you spent time on the game, the problem is; however, that people with low achievement points might have played as much or more. Not only have some pvp pros only 3k achievement points but also I see people with several legendaries having way less aps than even I have. Basically, this system veils how many “regular” achievement points you have – even though those tell you more about the player – since you have no chance to see that number!
In addition, daily achievements prevent you from doing regular achievements. This seems paradox I know! Here is an example: I talked before about how I was afking some of the daily activities, now some of you might think that afking is stupid from an ap farmers pov since there are achievements I get only for participating in those like collecting crystals or carrying crabs. I; however, thought that I could do those later – they will always be there and even if I drop some ranks now because somebody does those in favour of a single daily – I will come out on top in the end! Hell I didn’t even care about getting the dungeon completionist in a timely manner since the hobby dungeon achievement is capped, so I would get it maxed someday anyway. Dailies preventing people to do other achievements – nice!

1.7 Conclusion

I could go on about this much longer but this is already a huge wall of text (sorry for that…no not really if I can write this for hours you can read it in minutes). I hope I was able to give those of you who didn’t see the bad site of dailies before a little insight into the situation of an achievementhunter.
But let’s be constructive. Before I give my ideas for a complete overhaul I will give some examples for possible compromises.

1.2 It is not fun

It’s not fun. After (at least) semihardcore achievement hunting for only a year I personally felt quite burned out and like doing a chore. While it is obvious that it is (and must be) quite an effort to be high ranked on any ranking list in a game like GW2 it doesn’t have to be as monotone as it is now.

1.3 Forcing players to complete content in a specific timeframe causes problems

Even a system for hardcore payers should allow for breaks and playtimetime peaks like in holidays or weekends. The pressure based on doing something in the timeframe of one day only causes trouble.
- You had a lot to do today and it is 2 minutes to 1am – you are at 20 shiverpeak kills. 30 seconds to go you only miss 5 kills! If you manage to get the achievement in time – fine! You might even feel satisfied for a few minutes. But if not I can tell you that you are mad for quite a while as you know that you not only missed that ap but also wasted some minutes 100% on a grindy, boring, activity.
- It’s not fun having to get up at 3am to get your dailies done before you go to your university because you are gonna visit your parents afterwards and know that you won’t have any chance to play again this day.
- Now that I stopped trying to do all dailies I see how stupid the system really is. One day I play pvp for several hours and the very next day I don’t get my daily pvp. In comparison, if I had spent the time on pvp the way anet wants it I would have gotten double the aps. + I really need those glory boosters!…sike

1.4 Dailies prevent you from actually playing the game

Another problem is that during that year I saw myself wasting time, I actually needed for my family and friends (and most importantly ) for myself, on a self induced chore. Ok that is the nature of hardcore stuff. But it did not only limit my rl time, but also the time you waste on dailies is time you can’t play the content you like in the very game you play – but not play at the same time! (that was deep I know ) I have some friends ingame that at times can not join me with fracs or dungs or bullying that guildy, because they have to do daily (and no I am not talking about the 5 you have to do ). (Btw, exo if you stumble across this – I ain’t even mad that you let me down several times; I know how you feel in those situations)

1. Reasons why I think the current system is bad

1.1 AP Ladders are stuck this way

As you might have already noticed strongly agree with Ewon when he says the daily achievement system should be overhauled; I salute him for how eloquent he expressed the problem. Before I go on I want to address the claim, that lowering the cap of daily achievement points, with my own story. To not go into too many details: At the mindless moment I decided to start achievementhunting I found myself having ~6000 achievementpoints (aps) while hardcore achievementhunters were at around 11k. I actively stopped myself from achievement hunting after a year or so (best guess), which was quite a struggle since it somewhat rendered every minute useless that I had spent on grinding dailies since I know would never get on that list. When I stopped I had around 12k ap when the best had already hit 18k. I would guess that I missed like 6 aps per day on average (due to days where my routers wouldn’t work) – this was also at the time when daily pvp temporarily included tournament participation – and all in all 5aps in the living stories. So while I had nerded to get aps to the maximum extent possible for someone studying at an university, people like Ewon had increased their difference in aps to me by another 1k. Even though I also had an easy time picking up some easy regular aps along the game that I hadn’t gotten before like jps!
But what do I want to say with this heart worming story? I say that there is no way newcomers can make up for the difference in aps in the current system! But even I (as I had been such a newcomer that didn’t even stand a chance to make up for the time I had missed) ain’t even mad! Why should anyone have a higher rank than eg. Ewon (wonderful example; sorry if overused ) if he had put sooo much time and effort in getting those aps. No newcomer could possibly spend more time on hunting achievement points unless Ewon stopped. Thus, even though the (ap) ladder should be a bit more flexible than it is now it should not be as unsteady as a candle in the wind. It’s not its purpose!
But what about the people that are close to the top and might have a more realistic chance to draw even with eg. Ewon? I would guess (and please correct me if I am wrong) people on the top of the leaderboard gain most of their new aps through dailies/monthlies/living story since the regular achievements that are not “ransaker 9” or something similar are already completed. Well, everybody on that level gets the aps for the living story stuff. This leaves only dailies/monthlies as the primary way to get more aps than competitors. Following that logic the guy that is ranked 3rd in NA can do all dailies and hope that Ewon will miss some in order to make up for points. Thus, I claim that the idea of Ewon, to cap the amount of daily achievement points you can get off dailies, would, taken into practice, not really accommodate the ranks, as they are now, much more as the current system does. It would; however, lessen the effort everyone who loves aps has to put into doing boring grind. Thus, I claim that if you would make a survey, in which the top1000 (ap) of both eu and na would being asked if they would like to preserve the daily achievements as they are now, I would bet that most would like to change it, when given a practicable alternative. I do not think though that they want a system that is (to use the metaphor again) a candle in the wind since it would render their own progress useless as well.

First off, I put a lot of time into this since I lost my internet connection right after I stumbled across this topic. This makes an abstract necessary:
At first I will outline why the current system is flawed and should be overhauled. I will try to outline the situation of people (ppl) like Ewon, so that people who are less into achievement hunting have a better understanding of what this thread is all about. After giving the reasons why I think the current system is bad I will give my ideas: first I will supply possible compromises that could partly solve the problem before I present my ideas for a complete overhaul of how achievement hunters could get their achievement points without grinding dailies.
Introduction
The way high level achievement hunters have to repeat daily achievements over and over again reminds me of a “game” we had played in physical education once. We had to take a stance that would start to hurt after some time – the winner was the one who would give up last. I don’t think it is necessary to say that we did not consider this game to be fun…