Guild Wars 2

I know this has been suggested before, to allow an XML client interface that allows players to make their own interface customizations, but this time I’d like to suggest a twist to that system that players and arenanet could all enjoy.

Make the player-made mods available in the gem-store section. Players who make mods get a commission (in gems) for purchases made, arenanet gets more gem purchases overall (which supports the game), and players don’t need to go through all this curse-client crap to install their favorite mods, just pay 10-150 gems to get them.

I realize that the reason this feature hasn’t really been worked on in the past is likely a lack of financial incentive, but with this implementation, that makes it so player-made (and arenaNet made interface customizations as well) can become a source of financial support for GW2.

One other huge thing: Make it so the number of people who can get into a borderlands is dependent on how many people are on in the opposing side. If one side gets 5+ more than the other two, then say the queue is full. I hate being one of three people on against fifty, and most gamers have a very short attention span and will just try back later if things don’t look favorable.

As for my suggestion for 2: that idea came partially from overcrowded zones in WvW, and partially from events in Cursed Shore where just to many people are there to even render the event properly. Having “sub-events” could be a boon to the game in general.

So, WvW is amazing. The concept is great, and the execution at launch was superb. However, now that things have kinda settled in, there are some areas that I think could more greatly improve the WvW experience for players.

1. Get rid of gold requirements in WvW
Here’s why:
A. Control Point upgrades: Huge risk, small reward. A single player can dump three hours worth of wealth into upgrading a single point only to have it taken just because some non-player commander doesn’t feel like hanging out on that end of the map. Server and player loses. It still should be a risk and upgrades do need to be initiated at cost and with tactical circumstances in mind—but losing hours worth of silver/gold just on a whim is super demoralizing and leads to lower player participation. Perhaps making these either money, karma, or badge would mitigate the sense of loss in some way. Alternatively, you could also just make a rolling player-driven event that leads to upgrades. My dream circumstance would be going to a quartermaster, asking for them to start building a waypoint, and then having to gather portal energy points inside and outside the keep and bringing that back to the workers who then continue to build consuming the energy points, and supply, all with the progress bar slowly ticking backwards so that you really are fighting the clock. Then, to provide the same economic sink for economy balance, have a vendor nearby that sells the energy points so that someone can just outright buy the waypoint if they want to (or so multiple people can share the cost).
I think that’d be a fun option for small guilds and pugs that would still contribute to the game.

B. Commander is super tough to get if you don’t buy gold—and that’s the way it should be regardless of real-world wealth. People have bought it just for vanity marks. About half of the commanders that come on just mess around and don’t achieve anything and kinda spoil the fun for people who do want to play—mostly because the hordes follow these non-participating commanders by instinct. Commander should be a badges-only title. Maybe add in a “guild commander” title after changing the reqs—much like the guild catapult—that has green icon on the map instead of a blue so that large groups of players can get what they want and need even easier without mucking with the whole server tactical dynamics.

C. Armor repairs: I’m gonna die in WvW, and I should take a penalty for it, that’s fine. Can that penalty be limited to WvW? Earn it back in WvW and don’t make players decide between their own pocket book and their server’s best interests. Perhaps offer a “badges for repair credit” like that every badge of honor is worth 10 silver (at level 80) repairs in WvW. I don’t think this would mess with the PvE economy to bad—it’s just plugging up a small sink in favor of a better player experience.

D. Blueprints: These have it right! Spot on! Use badges of honor or gold to buy. I’d like the gold to be gone altogether here because then only people who actually know a bit more of what they’re doing would be carrying the big guns, but I can also see merit to letting players who want to spend their gold in PvP.

2. Remove some motivation for battles containing more than ~40 people.
The servers and our clients just can’t handle it. You fire into the unrendered space and hope for the best, only to find out that they have two alpha siege golems and you never stood a prayer of a chance. It’d be awesome to play 100 players vs 100 players, but with aoe attacks being what they are, those huge battles really need to be spread out into different tactical options for a single encounter.
Easiest way to do this would be watching who’s in a given area, and once it starts to reach that threshold, spawn an NPC event close by that can give a major buff to players on the front line. e.g. taking Stonemist castle and each server has 30+ people trying to get inside. Server detects this, and an event spawns in the courtyard and outer walls that, if completed successfully, will give the players on the server x seconds (10 would probably be fine) worth of balista/arrow cart immunity. This keeps the load on the servers down, and keeps big-battles more engaging. It’ll also make the game more low-end PC friendly.

+1 for making other dungeons harder.
That 3 ranger pull is more dreaded than all but the Couple’s boss fight. Once we figured out how to do reflect projectiles as a group, it became mostly straightforward.
Still have no idea how to deal with elementalists. . .