I guess I’ll add a few thoughts (which turned out longer than expected!)
My view on character progression is summed up most easily by saying what I’d like from PvE character progression is that eventually my PvE characters are as flexible as an sPvP character.
Essentially this would mean:
– full selection of traits (requires leveling to 80)
– full selection of skills (achieved by ~level 80, extras gotten fairly easily through regular play)
– max stat gear (very difficult for someone who plays little, covered thoroughly in discussion of ascended gear)
– full selection of stats/upgrades (very nearly impossible given bag space and cost)
So looking at this the area I’d like to see most changed is in flexibility of stats and upgrades in PvE. I’ll add my voice to those who would like to see selectable stat gear that you can actually get as a possible solution to this.
Another idea that has been raised is the PvE equivalent of the PvP locker, which includes unlocked stats as well as skins and upgrades. I’ll add my name to this list that thinks this is a great solution. An extra tier, for those who want, might be to make those unlocks account-wide.
Levels and Vertical Progression
I’ll just share my last leveling experience. I leveled to 80 entirely through crafting, and then proceeded to play through the entire personal story. This was, by far, the most enjoyable play experience I’ve had in this game. So superior in fact, that I think people who can’t afford to craft to 80 (which is everyone now) are missing out on the most enjoyable open world GW2 experience. Here are some of the things I loved about not having levels:
+ I could just follow events, PoIs, other people, and my whims, to explore wherever I wanted on every map. At no point did I reach an area where I had to leave because of my level. At no point did I think “oh, I have to go grind some more to go there”.
+ The personal story plays out as quickly or as slowly as you like.
+ You never have to waste time or money on frankly uninteresting things like upgrading your crappy blues to other crappy blues to stop being punished by the downleveling scaling system.
+ You have access to your classes’ full skill and trait set.
+ Your play is still guided and gated by a) personal story b) map completion, for those who like those sorts of goals to find a reason to play.
I know it’s too late to revert this particular design decision, but I think there’s about 50 levels too many in this game. I understand wanting some in there to teach players, old and new, about their class, but that’s done by level 30. By having all those extra levels for ‘vertical progression’ not only do you lose all the stuff above, but you add in extra downsides like having 90% of the world dead because they are “leveling zones” with stuff that isn’t worth doing for vertical progression at max level.
Ascended Gear - an idea for flexibility
Since too many people have spent too much time for A.net to revert ascended gear without massive blowback, here’s a thought (which may have been covered already, apologies if so) for how it might be used for horizontal progression. Accessibility has been pretty thoroughly covered, but I guess I feel it’s a slog, especially if you like to play more than one character.
Instead of tying the vertical progression of ascended gear to the stats, tie it instead to the extra slots you get with ascended gear. So ascended would become exotic + infusion slots. It would pave the way for a proliferation of ascended upgrades that means at baseline ascended gear would have the same stats as exotic gear but can then be upgraded as appropriate for the playstyle. So fractal players get fractal specific mitigation with an endless treadmill for those who want it, WvW might have access to infusions more powerful than they have currently, but WvW specific, open world players might be able to get runspeed or bonuses to events, and the stat upgrade can still be gotten for the players who value it but at the expense of other valuable upgrades instead of a straight power bonus for grinding.
Extra fun stuff!
I love the ideas being thrown around for stuff like multi-classing, sub-classing, and new weapons. These are the kinds of massive revamp changes I expect to see from an expansion, but I hope these are still on the table even though expansions aren’t.
