I will admit I have not read this entire thread, so I don’t know for sure if this idea was raised or not. The topic of Raiding in GW2 came up over the holidays while listening to various podcasts. There appears to be some interest in this, but as we know the game was not designed with this in mind as it charts its own course through MMO waters.
That said, the thing that perhaps is most lacking in GW2 is a sense of active in-game community. What GW2 has done so very very well is make an MMO that you can solo effectively. You really don’t need to socialize to any significant degree at all to play the entire games content. On one hand this makes GW2 a fantastic option for the casual gamer since no dependencies are needed. However, as an MMO, it is by its nature a hub of human activity and as humans we tend to want social interaction at some point in our experiences. Allowing the concept of “raids” is one option for bringing larger player groups together in a shared experience.
Indeed, some guilds of players, both large and small, are active organizations who want to experience GW2 content together as much as possible. Having 5-man dungeons/instances are great… for up to 5 people. But there is a yearning by some for larger group involvement and if Arenanet is giving this idea serious consideration than may I make the following suggestion to them:
If a guild/group of people want to participate in a larger than 5-player party experience, in a dungeon/instance, without compromising the integrity of the gaming experience (re: balance) the Dev’s have so carefully created, simply create an option under a guilds ‘Guild Tab’ and, as an upgrade, spending guild influence, allow a guild leader to queue up a 8, 10, 15, 20-man, etc… type, “raid” capability. When it is ready to use and activated, it allows the players to make these larger type groups.
What it also does when activated, and a “raid” group is created and prepares to enter a dungeon/instance, is ups the difficulty of the dungeon with more veterans and champion level mobs, and bosses are harder to take down, soaking more damage and dealing out more too.
What it -does not- do is increase the drop rates or the amount of items dropped for players, since this is not the reason for doing a “raid” event in GW2.
Allowing players to be able to group up in larger groups to share an experience is the primary objective of this method, not the ability to acquire more than normal amounts of loot.
Doing it this way, the Devs don’t need to change their instances or environments, merely increasing their difficulty, with larger, tougher mobs and bosses.
It is (to my naive mind) a simple solution for the desire by some players for having larger than 5-man player groups, while reducing the potential for abuse (re: farming).
Best regards,
Khaladhen
