Guild Wars 2

I’ll bet the Consortium is looking at the requests about open world housing and already starting to divide up plots in SouthSun. (Some wildlife may need to be cleared prior to building…)

I’m thinking things like:

1 – Guild Halls
2 – Player Housing

3 – Some kind of clothing/skin locker (with all our old earned skins such as past holiday/LS events being there exactly like the AP chest skins)

4 – More opened maps
5 – More added to the PS with the dragons

Any or all of this stuff would make 2014 great for me. A lot of polish has been done to the game since launch and some annoying things have been done away with (example, holding right mouse to turn selecting enemies and such).

They have also done all of the backbone work to all of the holiday events as well as have practice with the living stories. So really if we think about it, 2014 SHOULD bring us some exciting things.

I personally would enjoy Role-diversification more, but I like to tinker and build-craft quite a lot. In the eternal search for “new things to do” and “new ways to do” it, I come down more on the new ways to do it end of the spectrum.

That said, expanding on the Orders as both framework for activities and inspiration for rewards is a Juggernaut-of-Awesome that can reinvigorate huge swaths of the game world and player-base. New skills and traits and weapons cannot be ignored, but I think its the Orders that have the best chance of seizing the imagination of the broader MMO community and keeping GW2 in a strong position through the coming year.

ORDERS AND CHAOS
We can work together without surrendering our unique strengths. We can beat this thing without losing who we are. — Almorra Soulkeeper

As Primordius reveals the true extent of its molten grasp, the Three Orders of Tyria rally to strike back against the devastating legacy of ‘Briar’s Folly’. Join us as GuildWars 2 unveils the rise of new heroes as the war against the Elder Dragons enters a new and terrifying phase in this permanent Living World release.

Fulfill Your Oath
Choosing to take your place within one of Tyria’s three Great Orders is one of the most important steps along your heroic journey. Now that decision offers you greater chances for heroism and recognition than ever before. New multi-tiered Renown achievements will record your service, allowing you to advance through the ranks of those to whom you have given your allegiance and with whom you have found common cause in stopping the Elder Dragons. Each Order’s headquarters takes on new importance as the nerve center for dozens of active operations. Visit the Vigils’ War Room, the Priory’s Living Archive, or the Whispers’ Apple Cellar to pick up special weekly and monthly assignments. Or take to the field directly: new and existing Dynamic Events have been flagged as ‘Order Events’. Character’s whose choice of Order matches these events now gain an additional 15% karma reward for advancing the goals of their Order and once per day per character these events contribute to your Renown. Many of the new events can only be initiated by players in that Oder, allowing you to interact with your allies in never before seen ways. Reach out to new operatives, command new subordinates, and correspond with new colleges as you uncover tasks and secrets unique to each Order.

More Than Soldiers
While armed conflict is a part of every Order’s struggle against the Elder Dragons, members must never forget those things that make them unique. Orchestrate a network of spies and wield the hidden blade of diplomacy on behalf of the order of Whispers. Give your service to aid and rescue missions as the Vigil also upholds their commitment to charity and the belief they must protect not only lives but the dignity of the people of Tyria. Partake in secret experiments and unlock ancient puzzles as the Durmond Priory turns forgotten lore into practical solutions. Each path offers an entirely separate viewpoint on the trials of this Age.

Victories Must Be Celebrated
These are grim times but hope still burns brightly. Show off your commitment to the struggle and your chosen path against Evil with new titles, deals on Order-themed dyes and even new dye colors reserved for the upper ranks of each Order. Learn new recipes to create account-bound weapon and armor skins. As your star rises, new areas of each Order headquarters become accessible where the secret lore and history of your Order is preserved. Enjoy access to new vendors who will exchange karma for potent gear. Relax between battles with Order-themed consumables and town-clothes. Redecorate you home instance with subtle hints of your allegiance, earn new harvestable resource nodes, or even install a portal to take you directly to and from your Order’s headquarters. You can even gain new battle cries and dialogue that signal your allegiance!

Since its one of the ones I really want I’ll say:

-Sociopolitical Diversification: Player housing, Guild Halls, and Faction Alliances leading to new game play opportunities, rewards and content.

But along with the housing we need things to put in the houses and I’d really like crafting to contribute to those.

And I really want a wardrobe too!

Sociopolitical Diversification
Housing
Primary purposes for the housing platform

1. Creativity – The more options that the housing system offers, the more experimentation a player can pursue (i.e. more time a player will engage with this system).
2. Expression – Housing system give players a platform to show who they are as both a person and/or a character/s). I specially like the idea shared by Ronah.2869 where each character will have their own room in the house.
3. Ownership – When a player has put work into their home, they will feel a sense of ownership. Ownership serves as a root to a place, in this case GW2.
4. Collecting – This is an area that need major improvement. Minis are primarily acquired through gem-store purchases (aside from special events), which leaves dyes and crafting materials as the only collectible items from playing the game (perhaps weapon skins, when we are able to properly collect them!). I believe that housing items should be a mix between in-game rewards and gem-store purchases. With the majority of items found in-game and special items found in collectible packs (separate from black lion chest). In fact, if there were rng packs that only contained collectibles (dyes, minis, and housing), I can guarantee that would be my primary purchase each month and I wouldn’t feel ripped off like I usually do with Black Lion Chest.

Sociopolitical Diversification
Housing and Guildhalls done correctly can add much depth to the game and bring another level of goals for players to work towards. It provides goals for every area of game-play and if done in a certain manner could create a stable crafting economy and rare recipies could be added for housing items.
This is in relation to stone,wood,plants,marble,crystal,magical essence (maybe for floating structures?) the basic materials.

My two top considerations in relation to housing would be:
1. Don’t Involve gold as much as possible, having lots of gold is a single achievement and should not be the deciding factor for your house.
2. Customisable housing, I want to design my whole house exterior and interior, that includes room placement and size.

Ideas in relation to housing:
1. unlocked achievements earn trophies/items for display (that is specific achievements not your total achievement points)
2. If instanced the mists or islands off the main map work.
3.Please do not use the home instances they are extremely limited and force a character ascetic.
4. A single house per account, saves resources and doesn’t limit the rewards one person could obtain for their house.
5. Farming/nodes that can be obtained for your house, Permanent and temporary nodes for your house, temporary nodes could be decorative and mined if wanted, I.e a large claw could be mined to give x t6 claws, A giant ruby orb, gives ruby orbs or is decorative, could be a random drop.
6. Account bound, everything except basic construction materials and house components should be account bound, your house is something you actively work on not something you get money and then splurge on. i.e you can buy a plain desk but you have to get the decorative cover, items on the desk and the rest yourself.

Skill differentiation/ Weapon skill differentiation add very little for me, regardless of what is added Id have whatever the best all rounder skill set was equipped, unlock everything else and then forget all about it.

edit
I left out a critical aspect, the house should be visit-able by people, and I mean more than a party of people, it should be an area that once people have set a pass/ password / free entry a high amount of players can come.

Everyone needs to keep in mind that it isn’t Anet hyping this up, but a guy from a fan site.

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Randulf.7614:

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

My number one would be “Zone Progression” / “Order Progression”

Something that gives players a purpose to explore the zones.

• A lot of people miss quests, my main guess why this is the case is: they miss stories. Dynamic Events are cyclical in nature, so those stories have no real end – climax if you want. Time to give your writers something more to do and let them design unique events.
• even the most simple idea could make people exited. Today I leveled in Kessex Hills when I saw a bear walking alongside a skritt. Awesome I thought… until I found out that I can’t interact with that npc at all; it’s just a guild mission boss. Why not spawn such rare characters (dozen of them, but rare spawns) in the open world, give them a loottable and a few interesting dialogue-options or even a small event associated.

Fill the existing maps with tons of things to do. I mean: tons and tons of things. And may these be just little things… the world has to feel more alive.

…and then combine this with progression. The more people find, the more they unlock. And the more they can unlock for others (in the sense of triggering new events).

summary: progression in specific zones via a huge variety of things to do (something for everyone – fighters, explorers, collectors, lore-lovers, treasure hunters,…………

People should have some goals for each of the zones. Not for the world in general (Legendary – mats from everywhere). Zelda reference: the Master Sword is in the Lost Woods, not everywhere in Hyrule.

This idea makes me excited, it could also tie into nearly every Horizontal Progression idea that has been put forward in this CDI.

It is just a good global ongoing goal to have, and one I think we have been doing but dependent on priorities could do a lot more of, especially from the point of view of using/evolving the Map Completion Meta Game system.

Chris

I think this idea is pretty much reflecting the ethos of the game as well. I find myself often just wanting to wander the game (actually I’m doing that now whilst I break to catch up on this thread) – you don’t need me or anyone else to tell you how wonderful the game is just to explore as a setting. Someone suggested in another thread the game feels “sterile”, which is perhaps too harsh a word, but they could be more alive with so much more bustle going on in them.

I think the above suggestion would transform the game to a level beyond any other mmo and be hard to compete with too.

Yeah I read that thread to. Its interesting how a Living World Event can feel more ‘Alive’ than exploration in some maps. I think the fact that Living World events are tied directly into achievements that reflect the theme of the story contribute to this.

This is why I like Marcus’s idea so much. It builds on existing systems and content and is more of a philosophy than a specific work task.

Chris

It’s partly why dynamic events are such an overwhelming strength of the game, especially over an archaeic qst system. The events tell the worlds’ story not the character’s. If you go on holiday to the same country every year, there will always be something different – places change over time and people change even if only in the background. That’s what every zone should aim to achieve even if it isn’t part of the current main story.

Aaaand I’ve realised I’ve gone off topic into a diff CDI here

I have an idea for you, Chris. One which might seem a little radical, but here goes:

Have an all-(relevant)-hands-on-deck release with the entire (relevant) development team building new Dynamic Events. Shoot for the moon: dozens or hundreds of new Dynamic Events. Call it a “Game Changer” because it is literally changing the game world.

Based on various loose-lipped comments I’ve heard, you have something big planned in the next few months. Why not follow it with a huge overhaul to the in-game world? Give everybody a reason to go back out and explore again.

And then… repeat. 3-6 months down the road, cycle out 100+ events and add 100+ new ones. And repeat. And repeat. That’s a real “living world.”

Chris Whiteside.6102:

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

My number one would be “Zone Progression” / “Order Progression”

Something that gives players a purpose to explore the zones.

• A lot of people miss quests, my main guess why this is the case is: they miss stories. Dynamic Events are cyclical in nature, so those stories have no real end – climax if you want. Time to give your writers something more to do and let them design unique events.
• even the most simple idea could make people exited. Today I leveled in Kessex Hills when I saw a bear walking alongside a skritt. Awesome I thought… until I found out that I can’t interact with that npc at all; it’s just a guild mission boss. Why not spawn such rare characters (dozen of them, but rare spawns) in the open world, give them a loottable and a few interesting dialogue-options or even a small event associated.

Fill the existing maps with tons of things to do. I mean: tons and tons of things. And may these be just little things… the world has to feel more alive.

…and then combine this with progression. The more people find, the more they unlock. And the more they can unlock for others (in the sense of triggering new events).

summary: progression in specific zones via a huge variety of things to do (something for everyone – fighters, explorers, collectors, lore-lovers, treasure hunters,…………

People should have some goals for each of the zones. Not for the world in general (Legendary – mats from everywhere). Zelda reference: the Master Sword is in the Lost Woods, not everywhere in Hyrule.

This idea makes me excited, it could also tie into nearly every Horizontal Progression idea that has been put forward in this CDI.

It is just a good global ongoing goal to have, and one I think we have been doing but dependent on priorities could do a lot more of, especially from the point of view of using/evolving the Map Completion Meta Game system.

Chris

I think this idea is pretty much reflecting the ethos of the game as well. I find myself often just wanting to wander the game (actually I’m doing that now whilst I break to catch up on this thread) – you don’t need me or anyone else to tell you how wonderful the game is just to explore as a setting. Someone suggested in another thread the game feels “sterile”, which is perhaps too harsh a word, but the zones could be more alive with so much more bustle going on in them.

I think the above suggestion would transform the game to a level beyond any other mmo and be hard to compete with too.

Sociopolitical Diversification

Guild Halls

- Guild Halls should be accessible through an UI icon similar to PvP, WvW, TP, etc.

- Getting back to the place in the open world where you were should be done through the same UI icon
(Note: The same Ion should be found in |G| window for those who want to accesses it from there)

- The guild hall UI Icon will be available only if the character represents the guild (guild-less characters won’t have that button in their UI)

- Guild Halls should be instanced zones or various architecture

- Guild Halls zones should evolve in time depending on the guild influence, merits, points etc accumulated totally by it.
( I am not a fan of donating because this will force guilds on arguing of what is more important: banners or guild donations?. It should be automatically evolved once you get to certain amount of points similar to the achievement system: you unlock things the more you gather and it should count the total amount w/o extracting the usages of influence points

- Statues:
I would like to have a place in the Guild Hall where I could see Statues of the characters that have done the most for the guild, calculating the influence earned
it will be a sort of the Top 10 Players list only we can see statues of the last character the player has played.
The Statues will be updated every time the players logs off with the respective character he has been on and the Top 10 will be updated every week counting the activity of the last week (This will give the possibility that new guild members can be in Top 10 if they played more then old guild members)

Also regarding the statues, there should be one permanent statue of the Guild Founder so every one will know who is the founder of the guild.

- Trophies. These are items that can be displayed in some palce in the Guild Hall and they are earned by playing guild activities. They are like Guild Ranks and if we compare it with the WvW ranks, we can see a rabbit, a dolyack, etc

- Guild Halls should contain all services available in the game bank, crafting, merchants, etc.

- You should be able to receive a temporary guild invite to any number of guilds to be able to visit their Guild Hall. The invite will be shown in the Guild Window under the current guilds in a guest category

Housing

- I like Open World housing and not instanced based. I like to see player cities evolving. Zones like WvW maps only called sectors which can be accessed through UI icon
- the UI icon is available to every character
- the player houses will be account bound and it will reflect the players activity through all his/her characters
( the houses will have racial rooms in it and they will vary in aria depending on how many characters of that specific race the account has.)
expl.
if an account has 1 character of each race, the house will have 5 rooms of similar aria decorated in racial style.
if an account has 1 character the house will have 5 rooms but only one will be decorated because the account has 5 default character slots
if an account has more then 5 characters then the racial rooms will be larger depending on what race has more characters. NOTE: for each character slot added to the account over the default 5, the house aria will grow with 10 % meaning that if an account will have 64 character the house will be 640% larger. The aria can also be done vertically not only horizontally meaning they can add more floors to the house.
it all depends on how large is the basic aria scheduled for an account (most certainly bigger then the 5 rooms)

- players will buy a house space and a house model. When the existing land will be finished, A-Net would release a new similar zone. So the player city will have Sector 1,2,3,4 …. 100,… etc
Later, they can add new house models which can be purchased from a cash shop item called "House make over kit "

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

My number one would be “Zone Progression” / “Order Progression”

Something that gives players a purpose to explore the zones.

• A lot of people miss quests, my main guess why this is the case is: they miss stories. Dynamic Events are cyclical in nature, so those stories have no real end – climax if you want. Time to give your writers something more to do and let them design unique events.
• even the most simple idea could make people exited. Today I leveled in Kessex Hills when I saw a bear walking alongside a skritt. Awesome I thought… until I found out that I can’t interact with that npc at all; it’s just a guild mission boss. Why not spawn such rare characters (dozen of them, but rare spawns) in the open world, give them a loottable and a few interesting dialogue-options or even a small event associated.

Fill the existing maps with tons of things to do. I mean: tons and tons of things. And may these be just little things… the world has to feel more alive.

…and then combine this with progression. The more people find, the more they unlock. And the more they can unlock for others (in the sense of triggering new events).

summary: progression in specific zones via a huge variety of things to do (something for everyone – fighters, explorers, collectors, lore-lovers, treasure hunters,…………

People should have some goals for each of the zones. Not for the world in general (Legendary – mats from everywhere). Zelda reference: the Master Sword is in the Lost Woods, not everywhere in Hyrule.

I totally agree with this and this is ‘number one’ feature I choose.

there are holidays… respect that, please! Chris already mentioned (in his leisure time) that he will be back soon and discussing with us what’s important.

Seriously, O_o

Dominus.2360:

Please keep that in mind. ‘Progression’ is always connected to this very simple question… who has more? It’s all about this. In every game.

Progression isn’t always based on a direct comparison to others. It can also be based on a comparison to your previous self.

This kind of progress wouldn’t need to show in achievement points, in titles, in stars behind our name or in our position on a leaderboard. Since we’re not competing with anyone else, but with ourself, it doesn’t need to be visible to others.

My characters unlock new dyes every now and then. Or discover recipes that no longer make their crafting rank up. And while both of those do not really help me to compare myself to others, they are improvements of my previous self, and therefor progression.

I don’t play the game as a competition. Yet I do recognize and appreciate character progression.

Conski Deshan.2057:

Also still not seeing how that is progression? what did I earn who did I beat? I just have another option now, that is just customization not progression.

Customization can be a form of progression. If, in order to customize, you need to unlock those options. Then gaining those options is a form of progression. That would be what you earn.

Another way in which it can be progression is through the customization process. If your character is up until this point a clerics symbol guardian, and the new options (like a new healing skill) get you interested in a berserkers meditation guardian, you buy new gear to match your build.

This new guardian now has the option to be both types, clearly an improvement over the previously limited guardian. Progression.

Dominus.2360:

All this talking about housing, build-variety etc. is nice, but it won’t help if players don’t get something which makes them “more shiny” compared to others. In GW1, this ‘who has more’ were basically the titles; in other games, it’s the best gear, the coolest mount, and so on.

Well this “something” could also be bigger houses, rare trophies you only get for killing strong enemies,… Housing is horizontal progression. As well as build variety (who has more skills? Who has this very special alternative skill?,…). Everything that makes you progressing in anything connected to your character(s) as long as it doesn’t make them more powerful – this is horizontal progression as far as I would understand it.

I am personally hoping for the awakening of Mordremoth, simply due to the fact that it would make sense to connect the whole Scarlet story to that ^^

I finally did it!

When I saw somebody else post theirs a long time ago, I had a long way to go. I had to be extra careful at the end to avoid going over.

My Achievement Points (8719) match my Account number (Hamfast.8719)

Now that’s an achievement I can appreciate!

The whole point of downscaling is to make sure a lvl80 player have the same power as a low level player.

Low level armor only have 2 stats. That’s why a huge chunk of crit damage is taken out to even the play field.

If you check the other armor with 3 stats. Similar things happened. I don’t see anything wrong with it.

Flissy.4093:

Dungeons
Champions
Skillpoints
Daily Completer
Events.

Tell me again how you need to do “not PvE” for your Monthly.

Champ train in Queensdale for the Champions, Events, and Skill points..

Did a bunch of accounts just get off another in a series of forum bans? Same whines are back after a short absence.

Morrigan.2809:

Yargesh.4965:

Morrigan.2809:

It will never happen-
whether you like the gem store or not, it is for cosmetic and fluff items only- as it should be.
New content will be added to the game in due time and it will not be through the store.

It might happen like the upgrade you can buy in the gem shop (heroic? can’t remember exact name). Just giving an ingame gold way to get things you can also buy outside the game with real money.

The upgrade in the store is just that an upgrade that also only gives you some fluff and cosmetic items.

I know the whole expansion topic is much debated on this forum but Anet said right from the start that they will not release free standing games like in GW because it splits the player base and that they want to build on GW2 until GW3 comes out.

So we will see expansion content- whether it is via living story as small bits, large lumps or however they choose to do it- I very very much doubt that we will pay for the actual content in the store.
If they do release a retail expansion, which I doubt- that is another matter and I would expect that to be in the store in addition to else where.

I do however expect the store to carry new and more diverse things as the new content comes available. I also expect those things to be purely cosmetic/ fluff.

We will never have a buy x class or x skill in the store for gems- I am willing to take bets on that ;P

I agree, I also think that the store should be fluff. I did not write that the classes/whatever should be exclusive to the store but another option. I don’t know what they have decided to do about the expansion question, they absolutely should have a clear direction by now though. When it comes great, I am sure there will be lots of things people love and hate and will enjoy chewing over for many months before and after release.

Gunnar’s Hold has a lot of people. And there’s lots of brilliant guilds there.

I’m so sick of people complaining. If Anet didn’t release any new content from here on out I still love the story, gameplay, art stycle, and fluid fighting style of this game more than any other mmo I’ve ever played (quite a lot of them). I love everything new that they add to the story. I like Scarlet. I like everything about this game except for the lack of owning cities as a guild/alliance/server (from Factions) and competing with other guilds/alliances/servers over those territory. People are so freaking negative. It’s like they think this game is junk, it’s NOT AT ALL! I loved Gw1, I love Gw2, and I love the living story! I feel bad for people who are so negative, how do you people EVER enjoy games? Sweet Karka shell this is frustrating to me how high horse gamers are.

When I have nostalgia for GW1, I go play GW1. Really. I still gave fun with it sometimes.

I like both games. Why don’t the “I want GW2 to be like GW1” folk just go play GW1?

Palador.2170:

StriderShinryu.6923:

Harbard.5738:

• Alts as followers

I like this idea a lot. That would be one of the most awesome things to ever hit mmos in decades and a great incentive for “alting” as horizontal progression.This is horizontal progression if you think player, not character. For every alt you level you unlock a new hero, the alt himself, and you could play with them. as a full group, in instanced areas, such as dungeons, like in GW1, but those heroes would be your own alts as npcs. I could even play those instances with little or no coin/item rewards (if that’s used as a measure against botted farming, for instance). But it would be still every bit as awesome.

This is a brilliant idea. While I’m not 100% personally sold on the idea of helpers/followers in GW2 in the first place, this would be an excellent way to do it if it was done. I would love to see my main joined by even just one of my alts while out adventuring.

I too like this idea. It’s … disturbingly great, actually.

Interesting… and lets me flood the place with more charrs.

I’d suggest it as an option for story-mode dungeons.