Guild Wars 2

I have not had the opportunity to look through this entire chain of responses, so this point may have already been made. If so, my apologies.

With regards to the world bosses, the scheduling of events on a fixed timer seems like a fundamental and destructive shift to the game. Yes, with the shift to mega-servers, it is impossible to maintain the current staggered system created by separate servers. And yes, “just because it’s different doesn’t mean it’s bad”.

My concern is that this schedule makes the game feel too regimented. Right now, if I log on where I left off last, I may stumble into a pre-event and try to rally some people to finish it and prepare for the boss. Maybe we finish the event and the server flocks in for the boss, maybe we don’t. Either way, I can decide whether or not to participate at that very moment. With this new system, there is no option to push to start world bosses (except the big ones, which were already on timers to begin with and require an organized group). This will create a line of people hopping from one boss to another at a specific time. “We start with X, then Y, then Z, 15 minutes apart.” Do you know what that sounds like to me? A job.

While every MMO has aspects of grinding that can feel like a chore, this change to a boss schedule will put another element more firmly in that category. Rather than saying “oh, hey, FE pre is available, let’s go”, it becomes “FE will start in ten minutes.” It’s a subtle change, but it is there. Maybe the switch will work, but the skeptic in me sees this as being a poor decision.