Guild Wars 2

I have serious doubts about Elonian engineers ending up surpassing asura in holotechnology. Learning from others is one thing. So is convergent evolution of technology. But surpassing something that is one of a race’s foremost specialties is Scarlet-level MarySue-ness.

Like I said, if so, I want to hear about that, not some Elonian that’s so full of himself that he thinks that means the profession was created in Amnoon. And he does say that.

I hate it, actually. It’s nice that there’s some lore built up around it, but this is wrong to the point of being nonsensical. Engineer as a profession originated from the charr, and the other “techie” civilization is the asura, especially when it comes to holo-technology. With Joko and the desert being the way it is, the Elonians have had very little contact with the charr or the asura, and so creating a revolutionary Engineer technology out of Elona makes no sense. Having technological innovation come from other civilizations is okay, but there is no basis for it being done this way. Use of the Zephyrites crystals is one thing, and Elona does have a history of kinship with the Sun, but mixing that kind of magic with technology is not something that could believably come solely out of the desert and from humans, like NPCs seem to suggest. In fact, it’s the last of the elite specs that should have a desert origin. Perhaps, maybe, it would be acceptable if an asura and/or charr developed the proto-tech that allowed the Photon Forge to be possible, but otherwise it’s just glaringly bad. And bad lore is no better (and maybe worse) than none at all.

They had different teams working on LS3 and on the expansion, and I think the majority of writing talent was on the expansion team. LS3 was disorganized, a slew of one-shot gimmick plots. The Lazarus-Balthazar-Lazarus switch was handled poorly. Worst of all, they took hanging plot threads, and rather than developing them to their full potential, they snipped them off. Caudecus and the White Mantle starting a new War In Kryta should have/could have been a season-spanning thing (or even multi-season), but the whole thing was over in one episode. And now we’ll never see any proper use of the Mantle, Caudecus’ corruption, Krytan politics, or the area north of DR ever again.

I prefer a mount with an endoskeleton rather than exoskeleton. Much more reliable.

Jennah is unfit to rule. The only thing you need to know to prove that is that she demolished a former residential district to build an arena for her own amusement and lavish festivals, likely at devastating cost to the Krytan taxpayers.

As much as I enjoyed Factions, and would like to see more about the Tengu, I for one am not all that interested in going to Cantha. There are tons of quality storylines yet to be tapped even by just pushing back the fog of war on the current map. Janthir, and the Blood Homelands, the Far Shiverpeaks, the area north of DR, Destroyer tunnels under Kryta connecting to the bottom of the Crown Pavilion…

Technically, wielding magical energy with your offhand is basically what a Focus -is-.

Since the release of Guild Halls, I’ve always wanted a “Defend the Hall” Guild Mission, where the guild needs to hold off an invading tide of Mordrem or some other enemy. Possibly even with similar mechanics to the original mission to claim the hall.

I don’t care much about branching choices, because it’s just not the right genre for it. (Not to say I wouldn’t mind a ‘majority rule’ branch here and there like the election of Kiel vs Gnashblade). What I want to see again is something as beautifully immersive as the Invasion of Lion’s Arch. It scarred the face of the world, and while it was happening, it made the world take notice. It was probably my favorite release ever, for reasons that have nothing whatsoever to do with Scarlet herself.
A living world is a living world if the people in it respond to what happens. That’s what would satisfy me quite a bit. Some simple flavor. Humans having crises of faith over Balthazar, Charr laughing at humans having crises of faith, Sylvari…also having crises over Mordremoth, people being racist against Sylvari because they’re dragon minions, etc.

Living Story Season 1 had many, many flaws, but I daresay it was the only season that could truly be called “Living”. Now we just get instances, and you lose the epic world-scale feeling because the moment you leave the instance, everything is exactly the same as when you went in.
By far, the best living story episode(s) of all seasons was the Battle for Lion’s Arch. It changed the face of the world, and it was hard to ignore what was happening even if you were standing at the other end of the world. Similar deal, but not as cool, with Scarlet’s invasions, but Battle for Lion’s Arch was some of the most fun I’ve had in the game since launch.
Maybe that’s just the RPer in me talking, and given how hard that community got stomped into the dirt, ANet might not care, but still. Seeing a major city fall, and people of all races, origins, and power levels rushing to evacuate and defend civilians? It was gold.

I’m going to go ahead and saddle up to talk about my biggest pet peeve among player suggestions. That being: Scythe. I for one DO NOT want to ever see scythe as a weapon type, because a scythe as depicted by GW1 and the Grim Reaper is not a weapon. Historically, when scythes were used in war, their blades were modified to be parallel to the shaft, not perpendicular, because the perpendicular blade is horrifically inefficient for doing much more than gathering grain. And parallel blade scythes… are basically glaives/naginatas. Thus, if scythe was ever implemented, it would make Polearm a virtual impossibility. On the flip side, if Polearm became a weapon type, it could include scythe-like skins while still having the main animations remain both plausible and unique from other weapon types. Truthfully, greataxe could also fall under polearm, but that distinction is not as strong.
Beyond that: vials, orbs, books and instruments? No. All of those are somewhat covered under Focus, and I personally think that’s sufficient. Whips? Possibly, but I wouldn’t call it brilliant or a high priority.
Honestly, there’s a lot that can be done with the weapons that currently exist. Biggest thing I want: Elementalist Elite Spec – Dervish, but with Sword. Which may anger hardcore scythe fans, but I refer these to my above argument. A quick, slash-based weapon like a sword would lend itself very well to the feel of Dervish, and Wind/Earth/Mysticism abilities fall quite naturally under the Elementalist umbrella.

This patch was great. And the best of it was the story, which was sorely, sorely needed after so long. Very good quality of writing, acting, pacing, and immersion. And as an RPer, I daresay it does a pretty good job of giving a backdrop for characters to talk about things in the interim. Keep up the good work, and I mean that as both praise and supplication.

The size was like LS2, but I think the quality really was noticeably increased. This was a good story, a bit short, but good. They definitely need to keep up this quality, though, and not slip. They have a lot of ground to make up for all that drought.
3-4 months was probably never said by the devs, but from what I/we know of them, I am inclined to pessimistically think that that’s what 2-3 months means.

Packages of advanced emotes. /eat, /drink, /applause, etc. At a reasonable price, of course. Possibly even multi-person emotes if it could be done plausibly. Handshakes, hugs, and stuff.

I like to RP, and open world content complements that pretty well. It’d also be nice if they didn’t completely ignore the existence of the RP aspect of the game, though. (The LFG tab is so useless it’s insulting). So in that vein, I like maps that feel alive, but have quiet corners that aren’t overflowing with enemies. Things to explore, places to stop and take things in. Immersion and lore are great things.

Ganathar.4956:

Vayne.8563:

Crimsonstar.3120:

If there’s a few months between Living World season 3 episodes, they have to give a LOT of rewards and content to do. A new zone or two with a lot of events (Basically a larger new version of Silverwastes) for people to be content for a while, as well as a longer amount of engaging story content.

And what MMO do you know that provides that much content every 2-3 months? I don’t think people have realistic expectations.

Anet have had since HoT launch to prepare for the LW3 releases. If LW3 release had started 2-3 months after HoT I would agree with you.

Exactly. Anet have fallen short of the line for so long, they’ve created an unrealistic challenge for themselves. It would be unrealistic to ask for so much every time, but they have a hefty balance due in order to even break even. If they had been releasing decent amounts of content on a 2-3 month schedule the whole time, it would be fine. Or if story-related HoT content was sufficient to last the 9-10 months we’re actually waiting. But they haven’t. And so they have a sizable amount of catching up to do.

NayNay.7680:

I have 2 problems with HoT

1. The content that was used to sell copies and then never worked on until well after it’s launch.

2. Dungeons were killed off, Raids were brought in.

I have Reasonably High expectations for living story 3. If it comes around and we find out that almost a year after launch and we just get another tiny pizza slice of story, i’ll know exactly what to expect of the next expansion/dlc and plan my dollars otherwise.

The storyline that they presented us with in Heart of Thorns could have been good, but wasn’t. It needed:
A) Buildup story before release. Even if there wasn’t much content, the subplot of people being wary of sylvari was an untapped gold mine that loses all of its power now that Mordremoth is gone.
B) To tie off plot threads rather than rushing to the finish.
C) More followup story within 3-4 months.

As far as I’m concerned, they have a backlog of “things they should have done” to make up for, and it only grows with the amount of time they take to release more content. As it is, waiting 10 months for more story means they ought to deliver something almost as big as HoT story was. I have massive and growing doubts that that will happen.

I, too, would love to see the Crown pavilion destroyed, and possibly even have a part of DR temporarily become a warzone ala Lion’s Arch, only to return almost to normal before long. But I stick very loyally to my headcanon, which is that the Mantle won’t destroy the Pavilion; the Destroyers will. Because Jennah delved too greedily, and too deep.

MrPinks.2015:

i really love HOT whats not to like?

Gliding
New story (yea i know)
Raids (altho i am … not into it but still looks intresting)
New Skills , specializations , pets and class (throw able hammers ?! and Fighting Staves?)
New achievement points challenges
New ascended weapons for each class
New maps to explore and glide through !
with Interesting events and hero points
New monsters to fight and Races to learn about
Challenging content
Guild Halls ( yea it might not be perfect yet, but YAY )
Yes i know you can argue on all of these stuff i mentioned but they did bring alot to the table and introduced new mechanics , but hey thats my opinion it is no better than any ones else ,
i just love the HOT expansion.

and i got to say beautiful design on the maps , i can just stare at the environment for hours its so distracting , because of that i die by a suicidal mushroom.

Gliding is pretty cool, and I’m glad they brought it to the mainland too.
The new story had promise, but I believe it is one of the weakest parts of the expansion. See my earlier comparison to KOTOR 2; it had enormous potential, but fell incredibly flat at the end because it seems like something was rushed or some writer stopped caring entirely. They dangle fascinating lore about revenants, Glint, Mordremoth, magic, Rata Novus, the egg, Caithe, Faolain, and so many other things in front of us… then the most we get out of it is… “Later, cub.” Somebody did something very wrong here, and they deserve to be called out on it. Same with the new races and monsters. Then, they take another bit of really intriguing lore and lock it away behind the raid, where a hefty percentage will never be able to reach it.
The challenge of the maps is pretty good after so much content that was mindlessly easy, the maps are good, and the new skills and specs did turn out rather well.
Guild halls are spectacular, but downright prohibitively expensive, and they unfortunately do even more to fracture a already-split community.

The biggest problem with the expansion is that although it does a lot right, they could have and should have done a lot more with what they had, and they did a surprisingly bad job of tying it seamlessly into a world that feels alive. It’s a theme park, not a world. They gave us attractions to gawk at, rollercoasters to ride on, and above all, treadmills to walk on, but they didn’t bother painting the walls. I’m not a hamster that’s happy running on a wheel just for things to do, even if other players might be. The expansion itself is not bad. But what it did not do is a symptom of bad things to come, especially since ArenaNet themselves are (willfully or not) blind to that fact and refuse to fix or apologize for their mistakes.

HoT didn’t ruin GW2, as much as ANet did. They left us with a drought of content in the nine months before HoT was released, delivered a semi-enjoyable but incomplete story, broke the economy, and have given us only raids, empty promises, and a very small number of half-hearted fixes. Their attitude towards the game is the only thing making the difference between the dying game we have and the incredible game it could be. We need accessibility, quality, and new things, not elitism, hardmode, and a story that leaves more plot threads hanging than the unmodded KOTOR 2 ending.

Asumita.2174:

It seems this game is changing its name to Raid Wars 2, with less normal game content, limited access to BIS gear, raid mentality, etc. I can see why people start to think that this game is dying. Hopefully Anet will realize this is the wrong path to take.

Seriously. 8 months with nothing substantial added but raids. I for one don’t want to see another word said about raids until we see some better forms of content.

My GW2 world started taking a sharp decline with the introduction of megaservers. I am an RPer, and the fracturing of my community was devastating. Guild halls, while pretty cool, are another nail in the same coffin, since even fewer people RP out in the world, and the world has lost the living feel that it once had. Living Story helps with that, but only so much.
Raids, fractals, legendary goose chases, they do nothing for me. We need story, both instanced and open-world. We need purpose. We need a world, not a theme park. And we also need RP to be recognized properly, because people actively participating do more for that living world feel than a thousand cardboard-cutout NPCs. ESO, TOR, countless other games handle it better. And ANet could do the same, if they just chose to. An LFG tab for RP is borderline useless and really just screams “we’re out of touch with this group.” What could be of use (and profit) is more appearance options, reasonably priced advanced emote packs, some way for RPers to share a map and anti-RPers to avoid them, and content/lorebuilding that lends itself to a world that is alive.
I can’t speak for everyone, but for my people at least, we don’t want more hoops to jump through chasing shiny loot and bragging-rights rewards. We want to be in a world that is as compelling to think about in its downtime as it is in the height of battle.
Even setting that issue aside, though, there needs to be more content that is accessible by all people. Worthwhile content. Story. The kind of story and plot development that HoT tried to have, before its storyline took a nosedive directly into the trash heap.

I don’t like Dragon’s Watch, because I don’t want them bound or typecast into a dragon-related-only role. There are plenty of problems in Tyria that don’t have everything to do with the dragons, and those are the more interesting problems anyway.

I for one really like them, and I like that they didn’t shove them in our face saying “look what we made!” Spreading the word with subtle update clues and word of mouth is much better, because it feels a lot more like we’re making discoveries, rather than just stepping up to one more theme park ride. The actual gameplay isn’t great yet, but this is a step in a very good direction. At the very least, this is something accessible to any player while still being pretty intriguing.

Dervish as a warrior spec? Maybe. Scythes? No puppying way; and I will continue saying so until the day I die. “Scythe” is not a good weapon type because scythes as most people understand them, and as appeared in GW1, are NOT effective weapons. They are meant for gathering grain, and therefore are symbols of death, but they are designed awful for being proper weapons. Historically, even when scythes were used in combat, they were typically modified to place the blade parallel with the shaft, effectively making them into glaives. The main point here is thus: scythes are polearms. We should have polearm as a weapon type, and some/all classes can even use them as partial/total slashing weapons, and there can even be scythe skins. But if we get scythe as a weapon type, we will never get proper polearms and it will be a pile of steaming filth dropped on sensible fighting.
The -other- thing I have to say regarding dervish, however, is this: Although it works as a warrior E-spec, I think that it could also function well as an Elementalist E-spec combined with the use of a sword. This is because A) Elementalist would benefit from a true melee option and sword works well and B ) Elementalist with a sword can fulfill Slashing, Wind Prayers, Earth Prayers, and all the like that defines Dervishes within GW and other lore. Since warriors need a good spec, and we need polearms, they could maybe still end up having them as some sort of Monk or Paragon class.
Another interesting possibility, I’d say, is Rangers (or another suitable class) gaining main-hand dagger as a throwing weapon, with some kind of a Trickster/Acrobat/Assassin spec.

So basically, I’m going to take a (perhaps semi-unpopular) nontraditional approach to some of the ideas and say:
Warrior – Monk/Paragon – Polearm
Elementalist – Dervish – Sword
Ranger – Assassin – MH Dagger
Thief – Sniper – Rifle
Engineer – Trickster- Shortbow
Guardian – Paragon/Tactician – Warhorn or Polearm
Mesmer – Inquisitor OR Bard – Polearm OR Warhorn (respectively)
Necromancer – Shaman – Mace
Revenant – Ritualist – Torch or Polearm

For all that I am deeply disappointed in Anet’s performance lately, and the promises they’ve failed to deliver on, and their focus on niche things like raids… GW2 has spoiled me for a lot of other MMOs, because no other MMO offers the same kind of dynamic-feeling combat while still being based on a skillbar. And meaningful self-heals are another thing that I can no longer go without. Plus, the lore of Tyria is fantastic.
The things they did right, they did very well. It’s just that most of that good stuff was long ago, towards the original release. I think their past selves would be disappointed, too.

This. Really. Anet has so much potential at their fingertips, and they do not reach for it. If they did, though, everyone would love it. (Or at least a lot of people would). I may complain about HoT, and rightly so, but I would happily pay for content like we’ve listed here. Since we’ve -already- paid for Disappointment of Thorns, though, we’ve already paid into it, they should deliver something of this quality just to reach parity and restore confidence by now. The good thing is, if they did, it would do the trick. My confidence in them would be restored.

Antinegative.4872:

No storyline is amazing enough that it will keep players coming back day after day, months after months…

Speak for yourself. It’s the storyline that makes me want to play, because it’s the story and the lore that make combat more than “I swing a sword, I swing a sword again” and instead make it “I am fighting a genuine threat to this immersive, believable world.” And it’s the storyline that makes the rewards worth it too, because I am not a skritt that hoards shinies just because they are shiny. Else, it’s just meaningless grind. Flashy rewards, pretty skins, bragging-rights rewards and all are nice, but having all that without backing it up and tying it together with world-building is like walking into a restaurant starving and being brought a still life. Pretty to look at, but no flavor, and it fails to satisfy.
They need to bring everything, but the thing that ties it together will be advancing the world, lore, and storyline. Everything else builds on that foundation, or we’re just rats in a featureless, blank maze.

When we caught up with Caithe, because that was the last moment I had hope for a truly awesome story. I’m sorry to put a damp on some of your enthusiasm, but although the second half of the story was good, especially as a sylvari player, it still wasn’t great. It really felt rushed and half-baked, because they really had a lot of potential.
When Rytlock saw the egg, I got so excited, thinking about the implications of the first Herald guarding Glint’s egg. And then nothing like that ever happened.

I guess I also kind of liked some of the very early stuff, just because it felt cool rallying the fallen Pact and just beginning to venture into enemy territory.

We all have questions. But they are delaying the Living Story release until after the third raid wing, when the second has only just been released. They’re still working on it, but its going to be quite awhile with no content.

ekarat.1085:

I want to see a storyline that doesn’t involve the dragons. The raid hints at the river of souls and the underworld. Go with that. Please.

Bonus points if the new storyline brings back some GW1 lore, like the White Mantle, which has also been hinted at.

Yeah, seriously.
If they expand the map and consider GW1 lore, new storyline practically writes itself. Even if there is some connection to the dragons (which there might well be, since they are a global apocalypse), there are always broader possibilities.
*White Mantle and Mursaat and the Isles of Janthir
*The Dwarves fighting Destroyers underneath the Crown Pavilion (<—- my favorite headcanon)
*Countess Anise and/or Livia is using Queen Jennah as a puppet.
*Or Jennah gets overthrown and nobody misses her because she spent thousands of gold turning an entire city district into her plaything.
*The Ring of Fire Islands and how Rytlock ended up with Sohothin.
*The army of Palawa Joko spilling into the Crystal Desert
*The Wardens of Echovald Forest and their possible connection to the Mordrem.
*Underwater Inquest labs
*Malyck’s tree
*Regrouping of the Flame Legion north of Ascalon.
*Heck, even though I’m not keen on raids whatsoever, they could even make a new raid by returning players to Slaver’s Exile from Eye of the North somehow.

That kind of feature would be absolutely horrible, because my co-leader and I have been in a situation where a few toxic guild members spread lies and pretty much were angling towards a coup. If there was a feature like this, our hard work and good name would have gone down the drain. The good it would do wouldn’t outweigh the bad, because people in general suck and empowering people to topple their leaders would create massive problems and bad feelings.
Like the others here have said, talk to your leader any way you can and bring them your concerns. It might not be entirely their fault; guild leaders are people and have lives, too. Of course, guild leaders are people too, and as I said, people in general suck, so… consider leaving and starting anew as well. If there actually is a problem, it’s worth it in the long run to distance yourself ASAP.

They have a lot to do yet to justify the HoT pricetag, because everything they’ve released so far adds up to be worth about… maybe 25% of what they charged, 33% at most.
But, they should release expansions in the future, because GW2 is still a great game and if they bother -trying-, then they can make a downright awesome expansion that will be worth paying for. They just need to deliver a whole lot more than they did with HoT.
As far as the existing living story seasons: I kind of liked Season 1, because the world felt alive. Scarlet was a stupid villain, but Season 2 felt so much more muted in comparison. I think they need to find a way to blend the truly-living world feel with the ability to replay the important bits (not everything) if you come along later. Scarlet’s invasions were a lot of fun, really, but something similar should be turned into a Guild World Event or something. So, in short, that’s my stance: Good world stuff that is later replaced by repeatable watered-down versions; replayable instanced missions, and above all -good story-.

The longer they make us wait, (and that clock started the moment HoT released), the higher the bar they need to meet to impress us, and the higher the minimum needed to keep us from rioting.
If they don’t release anything story-related until like August or September, it would take something twice the size of HoT to meet my minimum, other projects be puppied.
Not that I -actually expect- that, mind. But the sentiment stands.

eduardo.1436:

Taglor Anwamane.9468:

Looked back, saw this:

With the year and Wintersday finishing I can only imagine the trailer for Living World Season 3 is close!

Hahahahahahahaha..ha…ha…-sob-

I know the feeling buddy :/

but hey what would YOU like to see this coming season in around 3 months?

I want to see storyline, world-building, and a whole lot of it. I want to not only feel like what I’m doing in the story matters, but also that its events matter even when I’m just chilling in town. Anet has absolutely enormous potential with where they could go with story, if they put the effort and creativity in. Unfortunately, the closest they’ve gotten is (apparently) some mention of the white mantle buried inside the raids, which I as a casual small-guild leader will never get a chance to see. And unfortunately, they’ve already made it impossible to address some of the best sub-plots they could have had. (Namely, they set up the world for some horrible anti-sylvari-racism-bordering-on-revolution when they released the HoT Point of No Return trailer. And then proceeded to completely ignore it. Now, Mordremoth is dead, and that whole load of potential is a non-issue.)
I want material like the original personal story, except done far better, like it and all past story should have been. Basically, especially if they’re going to put story on the back burner in favor of a bunch of mechanics in various other niches, I expect them to properly come around to servicing the niche that is “Story/Lore/The World.” Which, if done right, also services the woefully-ignored RP community.

Looked back, saw this:

With the year and Wintersday finishing I can only imagine the trailer for Living World Season 3 is close!

Hahahahahahahaha..ha…ha…-sob-

One of the best things that could be done for WvW would be the removal of megaservers from PvE. Before that change happened, there existed a now-mythical thing that is essential to a gametype like WvW: Server Pride. We’d leave WvW and still hear people cheering for our server’s WvW team and good-naturedly bad-mouthing the other teams, like you’d see with any organized sport. (eg Yankees vs Red Sox). People could ask in map chat when more troops were needed, and in out server’s case, people often would respond. My server’s homeland pride was strong enough that I believe it was that main factor in rising to a high tier in the beginning, and it made for a great homecoming after the dark few weeks I spent on another server. I was literally welcomed back with smiles.
All of that pride has totally vanished by now. Everything is so mixed, there is no mapchat recruitment, no ability or desire to rally the troops, and none of that warm homeland feeling.
More megaservers is the last thing WvW needs. All the motivation and fun of it comes from the sensation of being part of a team. If all people want is a random fight and to approach it from an individual perspective, they can PvP. But WvW is for teamwork, and teamwork requires teams.
…For the t’oast.

All of the example skills you gave could be used just as believably with a hammer as with a club. That’s not to say they’re bad skills, actually I could really see them being used (with the exception of Refreshing Swing being a stunbreaker; that’d probably be too much). But they’d work better as another class’ hammer skills. Like Ranger, actually. Lots of people want Bunny Thumper Rangers, and with a slight thematic tweak, the skills you came up wit would fit really well there, I think. Maybe.
An ascetic/warrior-monk Espec would work better with polearms, I’d say. Very eastern feel, with some naginata/monk-spade/etc skins and plenty of spinning. Heck, their new skill type could even be Mantra or something.

@ Orpheus:
Allow me to clarify. I do know that there are differences between swords and katanas; in fact, I have a black belt in the use of a katana so I certainly don’t disagree that they are wielded differently. The issue is that it is near-impossible to implement those differences practically and efficiently within the game. There is no incentive or reason for creating a new weapon type built around said differences. They will just introduce new skins for swords (which arguably would be pretty sweet). A similar example is the existence of Bonetti’s Rapier, which isn’t used anything like a rapier. So, from a weapon standpoint, you’re right, but from a game design standpoint, not so much. The hand-switching mechanic might sound interesting, but would be too complex to be worth implementing. Technically, I suppose they could fake it by having near-identical skins of a greatsword and a sword that both look like a katana, allowing people to make use of weapon-switch. But that’s not really what you were saying, I know.
My expertise in wielding other weapons in RL is admittedly not as extensive, although still much more than average.
I don’t really disagree with you about the crossbow, I just don’t think it’s likely.
I do stand by my point on 2h axes, with one major clarification: I still support polearms, and among those, halberds and greataxes could be included as skins. If they did do so, -then- there would be nothing left that wasn’t covered by GS, Hammer, and Polearm.
I am somewhat curious as far as your insistence that a two-handed club can be wielded much different from a hammer. They are both two-handed bludgeoning weapons with weight concentrated at the top. The only difference is the shape. (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Ugly_Stick)

I will say what I say to many people who give ideas for new weapons: Consider the style of use. Two-handed axes have no place because they do not cover any combat motion that is not covered well enough by greatsword and/or 2H Hammer. Crossbow use is not much different from rifles or pistols, but is slightly more possible than 2H-axe. If I never hear anyone suggest scythes as a standalone weapon type ever again, it will be too soon. More throwing weapons, possibly, but they would need to be grouped somehow as one. Fist weapons, maybe. Polearms, yes please. Clubs and katanas, no, no, no, no; we have those, they are called maces and swords and are not wielded in any way nearly distinct enough to count as separate weapon types.
Much more likely, and perhaps better, might be more reimagining of what can be done with the current weapons.

Orpheal.8263:

lol @ fenom

yeah, I still have alot of visions for this game.. GW2 still has so extreme much unused potential to become a much better and depthful game, than it currently is for over 3 years now…

And this is just the beginning. could come up with alot more, but that would be just the stuff that I’d put into the game for a Kralkatorrik/Crystal Desert- Expansion as a mixture of new content, fleshing out existing content and using the new foundations that Anet gave us with Heart of Thorns from where we should build on and where they have said self, that they will use it as new horizontal character progression from now on. …

It really does surprise me how many better ideas I see come from mere players than ever come close to being implemented by the devs. I’ve sat in a circle with friends and spent hours going over how we could have made Heart of Thorns better with really no additional strain on resources. Which, to be honest, might be the flaw in your grandiose (but awesome, mind) concept.

I feel like Crystal Desert would be a great place to go next expansion, for a lot of the reasons you gave, although I think that the Blood Legion Homelands could be included with the same release, since it’s still Kralkatorrik-aligned, and a dual focus on the charr and on Elonian/Ascension human history would overcome the issue in which Heart of Thorns’ best racial fit was sylvari and all the others took a simultaneous backseat. All this being said, though, I wonder whether it’s likely/wise to go into more desert/wasteland after all the similar themes that have shown up in Maguuma.

Latorn.4209:

I’ve included my own brief expansion “pitch” as an example, but I want to see what other ideas are out there!

Guild Wars 2: Factions
…

How’s this: (though I tried not to step on the toes of the Cantha pitch and so left out some ideas I think work well in yours)

Guild Wars 2: Echoes of the Isles

Summary
With recent victories against the Elder Dragons, hope has risen among the races of Tyria that victory may be possible against these insurmountable foes. Yet with hope comes complacency, and complacency is followed by vulnerability. A devastating attack from below stuns humanity’s bastion of Divinity’s Reach, and those that oppose Queen Jennah and the royal line are only too willing to twist things to their benefit. The simmering Krytan political situation erupts into chaos as the cult of the White Mantle returns with new allies from Janthir and other lands north of humanity’s last bastion, offering assistance that seems far too good to be true. Can humanity and the other races of Tyria afford to let go of old grievances and tradition in favor of the Destroyers’ resurgence under Kryta? Or is there something worse still that lies northward and in the broad smiles of the White Mantle?

Features
New magics meet long-forgotten ones as the battle lines blur and fresh danger threatens the horizon. Some of the deepest secrets of the Shining Blade, the White Mantle, and the dwarves will come to light in a new line of elite specializations such as the Sniper, the Scout, and the Paragon, while the Elementalist takes up the sword and dances up to the front lines by tapping into the power of winds, earth, and spirit as the Dervish!

PvE
Venture from the political machinations in back rooms of Divinity’s Reach out into the world, and explore the wetlands, bays, and mysterious Isle of Janthir to the north, and follow a trail of suspicion even to the inhospitable Ring of Fire Islands to find the truth. And then, once the situation on the surface is resolved, delve into the honeycombed caverns beneath the ill-fated Crown Pavilion and face the oncoming Destroyers and their master Primordus!
Explore brand new landscapes of fire and mist, coupled with new seafaring combat upon Janthir Bay and off the Tarnished Coast and brand new enemies!

WvW

The creak of rigging and the smell of sea air reaches even into the mists, with the new three-way Coastal map! Defend your world’s seaside keep and bring your mighty Galleon into furious naval combat as a capturable mobile fortress bristling with cannon, or claim your enemies’ Galleons and bombard their Keeps!

What we need among the basic, easy-to-acquire decorations is beds. They’re kind of a basic furniture type. And the models certainly exist elsewhere in the game. Although necessity is the mother of invention, it’d be really nice not to have an entire guild sleeping on tables.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

You forgot to write ‘so far’ on the HoT side of the equation.
Once it is complete (as EoTN is), it will be more equitable to compare them.

This is true. Though I find myself saying a similar thing about HoT as I say about the new Star Wars: It’s a passable start, but they really need to step up their game a lot to live up to the expectations and demands of their fanbase. They need to realize they have a long way to go and a lot to do, and then be sure to do it.

Heart of Thorns did some things right, but it also did plenty wrong.

One thing I and my friends note is that the HoT maps feel simultaneously busier and less-alive than the mainland maps. In Kryta, one can explore, and find new things off the beaten path. In Verdant Brink, there is only that beaten path, and everything there is to discover is marked by HPs, mastery points, a tough enemy, etc. It feels like it exists as a challenge and nothing more. You might argue that it’s intended, because the jungle is supposed to be deep in enemy territory, but Frostgorge Sound has the living feel, and somehow, even Orr does it better

Better furniture that is easier to acquire would be great. They claim in the in-game hall trailers that the guild halls are to be “home,” and yet there are no beds. Considering that plenty of bed models exist in the game, it is fully possible for them to offer them to us, along with more varied tables, chairs, shelves, etc; plus there is no need for it to take so long and so much upgrading to acquire things as simple as torches or a bush.
Other than that, I’d love to see a new guild mission type that involves defending your hall against a Mordrem or other attack. It could be quite interesting, and defending the hall helps keep up the feeling of ownership and earning that came in the first five minutes after claiming it.

Ridgeheart.7580:

We can rebuild him. We have the technology.

hide spoiler

There’s a lot that I’ve really enjoyed about Heart of Thorns. The maps they gave us were interesting, the story actually wasn’t too terrible (if played as a sylvari; that’s important), guild halls were a good addition that people had wanted for some time, and there were plenty of other little things, including the fact that Dragonhunter changed guardian into my favorite class.
HOWEVER: For all they did right, they did plenty wrong, and most of all, things were just plain -lacking-. The story lacked length and depth (They ignored an enormous amount of potential plot threads [Rytlock] while foolishly snipping others [Faolain]). Guild halls, while nice, have enormous problems with being far too slow and expensive to upgrade to a passable level, while they don’t even offer some simple-yet-necessary things (Namely, decent affordable furniture and the very existence of beds). The economy has definitely shifted, but still favors the richest and those that buy gems over the poor regular player. All that goes on in the jungle is good, but not nearly great. In short, they failed to deliver a product that met our demands or lived up to the price tag… so far.
They can offer a lot more with the coming Living Story content, and I seriously hope that they do. Plenty more story, more maps, and a better approach to the guild hall upgrade system and the economy in general.
Nothing is stopping them from fixing the issues and building on their foundations to make things awesome. I know they can. Especially story-wise, there are plot threads they can pick up that practically write themselves, because of how well they’ve done with the backstory and lore. And inevitably following those story threads would come compelling content.

I don’t want all the upgrades in a week. But I would like to get a table and some chairs without needing to jump through flaming hoops and sell my soul.