Guild Wars 2

I recently finished leveling my first character to level 80, achieved my exotic gears, and have discovered 43% of the world. However, I have realized in the past couple of days that there won’t be much else to do afterwards that will increase my character’s abilities, growth, or status. This saddens me, and as a hardcore gamer that is focused on ultimately just end-game material, I found something that Guild Wars 2 actually lacks on, end-game material that matters. A majority of my friends have sadly already left Guild Wars 2, and at first I did not understand why. The hardcore gamer needs vertical progression in their videogaming experience, mostly through end-game material, to be enticed to stay a core player of said videogame. It seems that this problem is not just mine. Many of my friends and others I have spoken with all have a consensus on this circumstance. Even though there is end-game material such as scalable dungeons, WvW, structured PvP, etc., it is all centered around attaining more cosmetic based achievements, instead of anything else that could be more relevant to character growth, or more valuable in general. In other words, it seems in the long run that the game’s focal point audience is not the conventional hardcore gamers, but rather, the casual gamers. A man by the name of Jesse Schell wrote a book entitled “The Art of Game Design: A book of lenses,” where in he lists 100 lenses of how to analyze the video game development processes. The 5th lens he listed was the lens of Endogenous Value. The question this lens poses is, “What is the relationship between the value in the game and the player’s motivations?” (Jesse Schell). This is one of the most important lenses, and I feel Guild Wars 2 lacks in this area when players want to experience end-game material. I want to be able to play this game and achieve things that have endogenous value to me, and that work in unison with the rest of the playable game, enhancing my overall videogaming experience. This is what the hardcore gamer needs as incentive to fuel the continued video gaming motivation, essentially, the addiction. Guild Wars 2 is one of the best MMORPGs I have ever experienced thus far, but in order to truly be the best the world has seen, and in order to be a continued threat to other giant MMORPGs like World of Warcraft, it needs to find a way to appeal to every kind of gamer. I really wish you all will take my plea and consider it. My plea is that you all at the Guild Wars 2 team will develop a way for all gamers, including the hardcore gamer, to have a diligent incentive to play Guild Wars 2.