Guild Wars 2

Hey Konig, to read the token stuff you are best to read the thread backwards …

And seeing you do suggest reworking hearts so ‘replay value’ for them could increase (on alts), then if hearts to get replay value, why not add a personal reset

While I advocated to not apply the mega server to any major city when it got introduced. In hindsight I think that might spell doom for various racial cities, and the players that play those races, these at least feel somewhat busy again for their size…

But besides that, the ‘need’ for a server city is definitely there, and LA certainly makes the prime candidate, I’d be all for it.

When they are going to add a whole bunch of new skills to the game… and to specify this, b4 they think ‘a whole bunch’ is 8 new healing skills:

1. One or two new weapons for each class, OR, adding choice skills to each weapon (on #2 & #4 slots)

2. A minimum of 4 new utility skills, though I think 8 and at least 1 elite would be more appropriate.

@Leo, well, imposing a strict level to everybody doesn’t take into account that lvl’ing as well as certain level restricted power upgrades (mainly traits, but also elite), increases the output power of the character; a general level restriction ( for example setting everybody to halve the level of the area ) will make the area tougher for character levels closer to the level of the map, and may still make it trivial for lvl80s.

And because I personally think that during levelling you should still feel that increase in power when you go slightly back (say you are lvl60 and you go to a lvl40/50 area), you should not feel like a lvl45, though being a lvl48 will feel like you are stronger than the lvl40 stuff but level appropriate for the higher level stuff. Though when you are lvl80 and go back to that lvl40/50 area you have all your trait points, your elite traits, 20 more levels of experience, also likely that you have ascended trinkets, and exotic gear. So going back to a lvl45 will mean that general stat wise (HP & Armour) you are a bit vulnerable for the level, but with all that extra stuff, you will likely feel (output) like that lvl60 going back, yet due to the scaling (HP) it will feel a bit more risky…

These are things you can build in with a sliding scale, where as with a fixed level setback it remains a hit and miss (aka. for some levels you will hit the right feel, but others will either be to hard or to easy still).

In regards to that article, tnx for the link, if you do not want to read it, here the quote that specifically mentions this system, and it’s goal…

We keep each map interesting thanks to the level adjustment system, which removes the ability for higher-level characters to enter lower-level maps and trivialize the content. You’ll still be more powerful in lower-level zones because you have more traits, skills, and gear, but the level adjustment system will insure that the monsters give you a proper fight.

And the only real way to make you feel more ‘powerful’ yet still have ‘a proper fight’ is to make your base stats scale down more, the bigger the level difference is. The powerful feel will be determined by your output, yet the ‘proper fight’ would come from the risk that is imposed upon you by the base stats that come with the scale down.

did I just break this thread … ah apparently a post on the next page fixes this bug…

This would make the entire system look somewhat like this:

{If (CurrentPlayerLevel < 30);
Then (PlayerScaleDownLevel = MaxMapLevel + 1);
Else
CurrentPlayerLevel – MaxMapLevel = PlayerMapDifference;

PlayerMapDifference * 0.1 = PlayerSetBack (round to int.);

{If (60 < CurrentPlayerLevel < 79);
Then (PlayerSetBack +1);
MaxMapLevel – PlayerSetBack = PlayerScaleDownLvL;
Else
{If (CurrentPlayerLevel = 80);
Then (PlayerSetBack +2);
MaxMapLevel – PlayerSetBack = PlayerScaleDownLvL;
Else
MaxMapLevel – PlayerSetBack = PlayerScaleDownLvL;
}}

Set PlayerLevel = PlayerScaleDownLvL;
}

or something along those lines, and dang programming is such a perishable skill

Meaning as much as

1. (lvl)80 – (1/)15 = 65
1. 65 * 0.1 = 6.5 -> 7
1. 7 + 2 = 9
1. 15 – 9 = Set Player to lvl 6

2. (lvl)60 – (20/)30 = 30
2. 30 * 0.1 = 3
2. 3 + 1 = 4
2. 30 – 4 = Set player to lvl26

3. (lvl)80 – (20/)30 = 50
3. 50 * 0.1 = 5
3. 5 + 2 = 7
3. 30 – 7 = Set player to lvl23

4. (lvl)25 < 30
4. 15 + 1 = Set player to lvl16

5. lvl44 – (30/)40 = 4
5. 4 * 0.1 = 0.4 → 0
5. 40 – 0 = Set Player to lvl40

I think just setting the base stats to this level will more then compensate for the added strength, while not ‘borking’ a players’ build. Now obviously this would need testing! If this makes combat to trivial still, it might be an idea to ‘remove’ access to certain trait levels if the difference in PlayerLvL vs MapLvL reaches certain thresholds.

Seeing I haven’t even posted my own view on this, i’ll do it now … I agree with most people (well obviously) that this system should be made harder then it currently is (why else make this thread ).

So what I would like is that the system would factor in the amount of level difference that you level down… I think a fairly simple formula would accomplish this:

CurrentPlayerLevel – MaxMapLevel = PlayerMapDifference

PlayerMapDifference * 0.1 = PlayerSetBack (round to int.)

MaxMapLevel – PlayerSetBack = PlayerScaleDownLvL

Meaning as much as

1. (lvl)80 – (1/)15 = 65
1. 65 * 0.1 = 6.5 -> 7
1. 15 – 7 = Set Player to lvl 8

2. (lvl)60 – (20/)30 = 30
2. 30 * 0.1 = 3
2. 30 – 3 = Set player to lvl27

3. (lvl)80 – (20/)30 = 50
3. 50 * 0.1 = 5
3. 30 – 5 = Set player to lvl25

4. (lvl)25 – (1/)15 = 10
4. 10 * 0.1 = 1
4. 15 – 1 = Set player to lvl14

5. lvl44 – (30/)40 = 4
5. 4 * 0.1 = 0.4 → 0
5. 40 – 0 = Set Player to lvl40

additional conditions
Now because you would want players that do not have a big level difference with the previous are to still feel like they increased in power with their increase in level, you could put some {IF …} conditions in there. F/e:

{IF CurrentPlayerLevel < 30 then
PlayerScaleDownLevel = MaxMapLevel + 1}
Meaning that in the last previous example 4. the level is set to 16 instead; this {IF} takes into account that before lvl30 you do not have an elite

While I think this is a good place to start, one could think of other {IF…} in relation to other defining moments in the increase of power: Mainly Traits, the adept also being rewarded at lvl30, the major at 60 and the elite at 80.

{IF CurrentPlayerLevel > 60 then PlayerSetBack +1}
{IF CurrentPlayerLevel = 80 then PlayerSetBack +2}

Nice to see I’m not alone in where I would like some attention spend

Thanks for this new feature, while it has a high ‘facebook content’ level and might not be for everyone, I still welcome this as an addition to the game. I like how it might provide veteran players with ‘personal quests’ trying to find and complete collections, while at the same time offer a richer play environment for new players (if there remain collectibles after a normal play through remains to be seen, but there seemed to be various long term goals in there as well).

If the next feature is a rebalance of the scale-down functionality to make sure Vets can have a decent fight while they scour the world for collectibles, that would make it even better…

@OP, there is a format in GuildWars already that uses this format. Go into World vs World (WvW). Here you are scaled up to 80, but only for your base stats, all other unlocked, gathered, bought, and level rewarded upgrades make up your character in WvW. The sPvP scene is the way it is so that it can provide an equal playing ground for a player vs player competition format.

Groonz.7825:

Warcraft? remember how this is not a WoW clone? and that GW tries to take a different approach to the MMORPG genre.

No, not really, unfortunately. From a long players perspective GW is moving more and more into the direction of generic MMORPG content, be it WoW or w/e other you want to drag in… Actually not for long I expect ANet to start working on an expansion due to popular demand, and when doing so ‘up’ the level limit by 10 levels, introduce Legendary Crafting as a grind tool to get us there, as well as several 80-90 maps with raid content.

This thread has been lurking in my mind for quite some time now, and seeing it keeps coming back in my mind, I’d better get it out of my system…

I wanted to lay out how I had expected the LS/LW to work so that maybe ANet can incorporate some of it into the LS/LW format.

1. My expectation was that the LS/LW format would focus on adding a deepening and expansion of the world, rather than focus on entirely new stuff. Now I realize that Mordremoth was part of the existing world all along, so I will elaborate some more: I had expected several stories to take us into new area’s or existing area’s, and have us deal with the various interesting sub-races around. F/e I had expected a storyline to deal with the Centaur, with the Krait (underwater map), etc, as well as dealing with the specific antagonist groups within each race (instead of piling them all up).

2. These stories would come with changes to the DE’s in existing areas, dealing with the particular foe-group, while at the same time, opening up a new area that could be considered this foes ‘territory’. The main story, the new DE’s, as well as the DE’s in the new area, would supply these foes groups with a deepening of their background, supply them with motives, internal conflict as well as binding against external forces, it would show how these groups dealt with the over-arcing thread of the Dragons. And as such enrich both these races as well as the over-arcing state of the world.

3. These LS segments would come with One-time Large Scale Open World Events, but wouldn’t consist entirely out of them; F/e the Ancient-Karka-Queen in SouthSun was a good example, even if you missed it, it didn’t diminish the story/content that much, yet for those who participated it added an extra dimension to the content. This event would have been a great source for footage for a cinematic shown as the ‘opening scene’ for replaying the story surrounding South Sun.

Other Large Scale Open World events would be scaled down to also function as a valuable replay step. Sure this means making the same content twice, once as large scale open world content, and a second time as small scale instanced content. But it would add a lot to the LS first time play through, as well as supply sensible content and story cohesion for both Alts as well as new players.

Aka. replayability of these LS segments would be high, and in a sense would function as an extension of the Personal Story… Due to their multidimensional nature (aka, each deals with a specific group, or area), would provide players with a choice as to what to tackle when. Sure the first time players could only play through events in the LS as a one directional story, but as soon as 2 story arcs would be present, a player would have a choice in the order of their approach. So in a sense the LS is weaved into and used as an extension of the Personal Story.

4. Because these LS segments are (besides a way to alter and add to existing content, as well as opening up new areas for play) a way to extend the personal story. These LS segments would use the same model where appropriate. While I acknowledge that a story is linear, and thus can not provide entirely different versions of the story, using different approaches to the same problem, or different angles/flavour to the main story, would be a great way to incorporate some choice and feeling of agency within the LS. It would add replayability for alts, and it would also supply the community (forums and chat) with information to share.

There, glad I got that out of my system, the LS2 has already somewhat provided ANet with the systems to make this work. Now it is mostly a matter of coming up with and making the content to create this kind of extension of the World through the Living Story…

The biggest reason for this view to resurface in my mind, is the continued ‘asking’ for an expansion, which to me originates from a current lack in the LS format to provide new replayable permanent content to the world. In my views the LS in the way described above would be capable of doing so…

Here some of my feedback & suggestions based upon the OP’s list.

Local Currencies
I think local currencies might well be what can help make the open world more interesting for a longer time, though I see more in regional currencies. I would say there are roughly 5 regions: Maguma, Kryta, ShiverPeaks, Ascalon, Orr. So 5 currencies might be enough. Each with a set of regional rewards, going from low level rewards towards long time lvl80 rewards.

I think a link with dungeon tokens, might well be a good thing, and vice-versa (linking dungeon tokens to regional tokens). Perhaps a 2to1 exchange ratio, both ways at a reward-vendor, could make each reward set exclusive enough to it’s content yet make it also able to get to these rewards in a different way.

Huge event chains
This would be a nice addition to the game, I think there are various larger groups of foes that would suit themselves for having longer event chains. Yet again, not all maps suit themselves for ‘DryTop’ & ‘Hinterland’ style content.

The idea of layered events sounds a lot like the idea of a ‘tiered’ approach to events. Where each tier comes with a set of tier appropriate events, completion of events counts towards keeping or lowering the tier, failure or not completing events counts towards scaling the tier up. This latter version of ‘huge event chains’ would be more suitable for more diverse maps.

Cross Map Event Chains
Unfortunately the Megaserver made it impossible to have cross map events. In an attempt to solve this I suggested a ‘Shadow Server’ approach, this shadow server would keep track of all progress in all instances of the map, and based upon the progress of each instance it would start off events in other maps.

While it sounds doable I do not know if it actually is, but I do agree that cross map events is part of the key to having more meaningful and larger event chains.

Oldskool quests
Personally I do not think a ‘talk to – return’ kind of quest would be favourable for GW2, the whole idea of GW2 is to get away from them. Yet, the idea of ‘Quests’ as content does appeal to me. I think the Mordrem backpack was a decent stab at a format of a quest that could work (aka. item drops that provide a trail of story driven tasks).

A quest format would also be a nice way to provide meaningful content to the Orders, they are desperately asking for an additional purpose, deepening of their background, and a great way to add content based upon personal choices within the story.

Hearts
A personal reset of hearts would make this content regain it’s original purpose: guiding people to Dynamic Events, and provide some background to local events.

I think these hearts could also be a place to introduce more longer term karma rewards at their vendors. Though I will say that karma is currently the most viable way to attain the crafting materials needed to refine ascended crafting materials. So adding longer term karma rewards would put pressure on attaining these materials.

Further Event Design
I would like to add that I personally think that the LS may well be a decent way to deliver more Events. Though that would have to happen in a more intricate way than it is done in the current LS2, as it adds events that ‘stand alone’ and correspond with the story at hand. Where I would rather see that existing events become influenced by the LS, by adding or changing certain events based upon what happens in the LS, but would also make sense outside the scope of the story.

Sure that is a rather large challenge, but there are numerous ways to have the LS visit an area and introduce event chains, or tiers, that make sense in both the LS scope as well as the normal world. Also, something being a challenge should not be a reason to shy away from it.

Based upon feedback in this thread I reformulate my initial suggestion to serve as a new topic starter. Feel free to leave your comments after this post.

Personal Heart Reset
The hearts in the world should be able to be reset by players individually, so that they can access that bit of content ( be it to participate with a friend, to regain background for the area, or to have something to do while one waits for DE’s to spawn in the vicinity ).

1. Talking to the NPC resets the heart ( ‘Need some more help?’ -> ‘If you have some time, all help is welcome’ -> ‘Sure, reset the event’. )
2. Once you reset a heart it will visually indicate you reactivated the heart, ( f/e a * will be displayed on the heart, or a green outline is added to the heart .)
3. Once reactivated you can finish the heart again, for one time, after completing it you won’t be able to do the heart until the system resets. ( This to prevent people from ‘farming’ the same heart over and over, or even feel compelled to do so, and to make people fan out through the game if they prefer to do more hearts .)
4. After a month the hearts you ‘reset’ during that month will reset itself, or if possible the hearts will reset individually after a month, so you can do them again.

=> Because the hearts are not considered main content, there is no real need to adding them to achievement lists.

Due to rewriting the OP, based upon all the feedback I got so far, this is a post of the 2nd reworded OP as a form of archive:

Seeing i am under the impression that my original OP did not express my suggestion properly, i have taken the liberty to reword it. Hopefully this will create more insight and result in a better discussion especially for those that just read the tl;dr and post a response.

tl;dr:
Make the hearts reset every month, visually put a green outline on them to signal ‘map completion’, but empty the centre to indicate the heart can be redone. Then add X heart events to the Dailies, and add Y hearts to the monthly completion list.

I think this will cause players to venture out into the world to do hearts, and consequently run into events, and by doing so revitalizing the game world, and improve the gaming experience. This suggestion as thus, is not so much to get people to do hearts, but it’s to give hearts their original purpose again, by stearing players towards dynamic events.

To sum it up in a ‘twitter like’ statement:
I want the hearts ‘back’ for their initial purpose. #resethearts

As Anthony pointed out in this thread.

The intent of the Renown Heart system was originally to help players find event content. They also provide a decent method for us to give the player some context and awareness of what’s going on in the area…

Once you completed all the hearts though, this function is lost. If you haven’t been to an area for 1,5y (which isn’t unlikely) there is no way to regain context and awareness, as you can not reread the Heart Texts, or do the Heart again.

Further along in this thread i posted a more distinct set of things i would see as part of this suggestion, and i think including it here in this OP will help people form a better idea of the suggestion:

What i want:
1. I would like the initial dialog to be available to reread it, so that i can use it to regain direction in the area that i am in. (aka. what’s going on here; because that functionality is lost after completion)

2. I would like to redo the activity that the heart provided, mostly to have something to do while i wait for a DE to spawn or pass by.

What i’m neutral about
1. I personally don’t realy mind if this suggestion were to cause the ‘heart-traders’ to also reset, most hearts do not take that long so regaining access would be fairly easy. Yet, i can also see how that would annoy people, so perhaps the trader should not reset.

What i do not need specifically:
1. A visual indicator of which DE i repeated
Explanation to why i thought a visual indicator would be preferred
- I thought it would make sense to empty the heart periodically so that it would become clear that they can be repeated.
- I also thought that by having them periodically reset, it would ‘drive’ people around the world, as they could only do the heart one time during the period, meaning that you would have to move around the world to complete more. Which would obviously mean that more maps get some attention during that time period.

2. A complicated system to replace what is simple and already there…

3. Special rewards. How ever cool, although i know some of the hearts already give nice rewards that most people have not gotten when they did the heart and by now have simply forgotten that they exist. But “Sure” it be cool if this system could be expanded by draping some more expensive karma rewards in them.
As turned out by various side discussions in this thread, other and better (higher scale) karma rewards are a thing people would like, integrating them in a repeatable heart-system could accomplish this.

I hope that with this new OP the suggestion is better worded, that it’s easier to comprehend what and why i want it, and as such the discussion gets a better starting point… If you are interested in the original OP you can find it here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Revitalize-the-Game-World-Resetting-Hearts/page/3#post4341272

what do you think? do you miss incentive to just go out into the world to do events? do you think this could solve part of it? any other thoughts?

@Pjwned, that is largely based on your opinion though, stating it as a fact doesn’t change that… Maybe some people love cruising through the open world, just as a past time, and would love to be challenged a bit more when doing so… In this sense I agree with your statement on the level cap, but the scale-down feature was supposed to be the solution to dealing with a more traditional level up system.

Unfortunately due to balance passes, increases in item-level cap, changes to the level up system (and consequent easing of the lower level content); this system has lost it’s initial goal. Or rather, it didn’t grow along side the changes that were made elsewhere, to compensate for these changes. Hence, my suggestion to ‘rebalance’ it…

Hey Oimmuk, these changes came about due to a lengthy CDI (Collaborate Design Initiative) about vertical and horizontal progression in GW2. There were changes to the system in the April Feature Pack of this year, and while it incorporated several suggestions made by the community, it also caused various problems… The initial changes have been recognized by ANet and they have made a pass through the levelling system as part of the September Feature Pack, coming in under a week …

So I would want to advice you to hang in there just a little longer, things might well change for the better in a few days … also! You can visit your profession trainer (I think) and unlock traits for a relative small amount of silver (except for the elite tier 3 traits). So the trait hunt is either optional, or a way to save yourself some silver by doing other things in the game. My suggestion would be to do those traits through content that you like doing or feel achievable of doing on your own, and just buying the other traits from the trainer ^^.

Hope you will stay with us for just a couple more days, to see if the September feature pack solves some of your issues, and hopefully you can live with buying a couple of traits as a convenience option

Tnx Lostprophet for making the thread I thought I would make today (and dawned on me while I was trying to fall asleep last night). But there are 2 things missing from your OP that I would have added to my own thread:

1. Rebalancing the scale-down feature; I think this is needed to make more content somewhat of a challenge once you reach lvl80. Without a rebalance (omitting whether it has to be large or small) most of these systems would turn into a farm-drag.

2. I would have put a link to all the threads that are currently running and dealing with each individual issue. This is how I came to why this thread would be useful, aka. to provide a more general overview of what could be done (or has been suggested recently) to make the PvE world more viable content.

Linking to these threads would prevent redoing these discussions here, and would prevent this thread to turn into a mishmash of several discussions on all the various topics (basically turn into the unstructured format that the CDI threads seem to suffer from).

Other than that, I think you nailed the overview. And besides an increase in the quality of the LS, these issues/solution to the PvE-world problem are the highest up on my list of ‘what needs to improve to GW2’. Right above more skills to provide more customization and build options.

laokoko.7403:

Arghore.8340:

I didn’t buy GW2 to play a generic Facebook quality game

I dont’ think Anet owns you anything. If you bought the game for 30-60$. You got your money worth.

If you spend a whole lot of real money on the cashshop, and you regret doing it, it is your own fault.

Going from GW1 to GW2 was already a huge ‘dumbing down’ of the gaming title, now as a casual (but hardcore GuildWars) player I could somewhat live with that, there were also a lot of new and exciting things and challenges in the game. Unfortunately, as the game progressed those too seem to be dumbed down, especially if one isn’t an altoholic and mostly plays on a lvl80. The scaling down at one point worked as a way to make all content end-game content, now it’s just like any other generic bland MMO when you go to a lower level zone.

And I did not buy the game for $30-60 and got my money’s worth, I bought all GW1 chapters when they released (even if I knew I wouldn’t be touching them for the foreseeable future), I played GW1 when ever I could. Bought several costumes, because content was free and I thought that attitude (for as long as it was quality content) was worth it to be rewarded. In the later stages of GW1 I got fairly active in the community (like many others, so not saying I’m something special here), and I think that ‘that’ community got GW to a point where GW2 was considered to even be a viable undertaking (instead of letting the game die). I bought the art book and all the reading books, because I am a fan and because I knew it would help fund the development of GW2. In retrospect I put a lot of my free time into this game for the last 8years (including GW1 beta weekends). To me GW is far more then $30 bucks and getting your money’s worth, it’s a 8y long relationship and time investment.

And while ANet may not be owing me anything, I do think that I have all the right to say that I think that GW2 is going more and more towards the bland generic MMO that I can pick up anywhere for $30-60 or even just for free, and ‘get my money’s worth’. That is not why I spend the last 8y of my free time playing and paying GW, I did so because ANet took their own route, they favoured gaming challenge and engaging interesting content, flavoured with interesting deep lore (sure some of the plots were a bit so/so but behind that were a lot of fairly fresh and unique concepts) over generic bland quests and game design that all the competition seemed to offer.

Now though, GW2 seems to more and more become everything that GW1 was not. And seeing that to me it’s still the same studio doing so, I have more then enough to point out that ANet is not living up to making ‘the best game they possibly can’. And that from my point of view GW2 seems to more and more look like a bland generic facebook game. Because ‘you know’, if being nice and giving feedback and suggestions isn’t going to work, then perhaps appealing to their studio pride might get them to wake up.

Because I’m old and smart enough to see that after the release they put the first year mostly into fixing loose ends and making LS1 … the last year, they put a lot of resources into prepping the game for Asia, and fixing the start of the game based upon player feedback in year 1 and put all available resources in LS2 together with making LS2 be re-playable. Though by doing so, they might have made big strides, but they also have little to show for themselves after being around for 2 years, as far as permanent content goes, which is what we as players see as ‘being around’.

So now is the time to step up to the plate and start swinging again, and as a fan I sure hope they will hit a home run… but having been ‘out’ of it for a while, maybe some manly encouragement can help them get motivated.

I’m not mad, but I am disappointed to some degree… I played GW1 since it’s beta (though admittedly I took long breaks due to IRL obligations), and in a sense I even supported GW2 development by buying the books I didn’t really need or want, but hey I am a bit of a fan so it felt like a good thing to do and support this vs2 of a game I grew to love, and it’s not like they weren’t enjoyable to read.

Que GW2 release, it was great, stunning and sure it had the generally release issues; but as a long time gamer one is pretty used to those. Things were a challenge, DE’s were stunning and new, there was discovery around each corner…

Unfortunately a lot went down hill from there, the downscaling functionality is subpar, making 90% (if not more) of the game trivial. It has been 2y and we seen 2 maps, and 1 healing skill added to the game. While I do not play dungeons nor SAB, I morn for their loss, as I do know that there are a lot of players that enjoy them a lot, and they will not be sticking around, meaning a loss of community… The PvP scene, and again I do not yet play PvP (I did play a lot of random in GW1 though), while having seen a nice reward track added, the was 1 map added? and it’s still all conquest… WvW, while the Karma-train map was a nice solution to the waiting lists, making all maps Mega-server killed server pride, and Golem mastery + Anti-siege trick, after 2y, well I dunno, might have been better to just not add anything to not add insult to injury.

And I could go on, on basically every aspect of the game; Sure I can see some nice things they done, and ‘true’ the QoL features increased the QoL (though then adding geodes, and not put them in the wallet; well lets just say that they were just one example of how much of the QoL was also neglected in various area’s of the game). To be entirely honest, I do not think that GW2, the way it is now , is the best game that ArenaNet can make It is almost as if they started looking solely at the numbers in their cold and numeric ‘blanding’ analysis tools, instead of looking at the inner gamer they all say they are…

Personally (omitting the rant) I come to the conclusion that I will give ANet roughly 6 months to redeem themselves. If I do not see improvements in the game, back to the quality gaming experience it had when it was released, if events (Halloween, Wintersday) are just going to be rehashes, and if their ‘bread ’n butter’ releases are going to be on the backburner. Then I do not know why I should be sticking around… ups, almost ranted again, well I guess I can say it, I didn’t buy GW2 to play a generic Facebook quality game , maybe that sounds harsh to a developer that strives to make ‘the best game they can possibly make’, but you know, if it turns out that it’s the gaming experience of a Facebook game, then perhaps one should choose the right platform to develop on… And I do hope the dev’s take that as a challenge instead of seeing it like an insult… 6 months, and I’ll see what I think by then …

Hayashi.3416:

… Same for fire elemental – if you missed it, you were late, or bugged – you can definitely do enough damage to be recognised as an event completer, a threshold far lower than the requirement to be recognised as a killer of a mob – …

Ok, the fire elemental was actually the first world boss I ran into when I started playing my main character (Sylvari) just mere weeks after the game went live. This event took roughly 10-15min, in that fight I lost all but my boots in armour (yes that means all armour red, then getting downed that many times -1). And it felt EPIC and mighty dangerous…

Que the ‘Mordue backpack hunt’, when the pre-event went on all the people were just standing there (just 10 or so were actually engaged with the content). Then the fire elemental spawned, there were 3 to 5 big flashes of light, and it was over… nothing epic nothing dangerous, it wasn’t even funny enough for a ‘lol, he went down fast’. To be frank, in hindsight, I don’t even know why he’s even spawning, you can just omit that part and nothing would have changed for anyone around.

Sure it might have been enough for everybody to press 1 about 5x, and get a loot bag, but is that really what GW2 is about? Press 1 for loot… I dunno, but it sure ain’t the game I thought I bought 2y ago!

I’m sorry but the thread title just taunts me, and compels me to help you out:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HqEWpHuib9A<

While i love how you keep this topic alive with an entirely off topic discussion, and while i can see it tries to approach somewhat the same problem with a different solution (entirely outside the scope of the topic starter); which was why i did not request you guys to make a topic of your own… i know right, lol, I shamelessly admit to it benefitting my thread was the only reason not to.

Seeing there is now a topic that deals specifically with regional token rewards https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Extending-Dry-Top-s-Geode-System/first#post4351178 i would suggest taking your discussion, opinions and ideas over there.

This may sound a bit weird, mostly because I have no say or influence on in whether it’s delivered upon, but…

What would you like to do? Did you enjoy all of that? What would like like to see more of, if anything? If you want something new, what is it?

Dancing Face.4695:

… Body blocking can give a good cut at zergs cause the bigger the grp is the worst it fair in close battle and finally small grp can actually fight larger in bottleneck. It would really be more realistic and tactical…

This was actually my feel with this idea too, body blocking was actually a decent part of GW1 gameplay, in the form of area denial. When you hear ‘Positioning’ mentioned, it was not so much ‘do not stand in AoE’ but it meant that you positioned yourself in such a way that you guarded your backline…

And if you were to analyse the classes skills more thoroughly (at least in my views), I can only conclude that various skill groups were actually designed with a ‘frontline, midline, backline’ kind of approach. Yet, due to the multidimensional setup of the classes, it was more set up so your build would determine which line you were going to play in.

Right now we mostly just see ‘a blob’, there is little to no strategic play, besides ‘mighting up’, ‘calling and blasting waters’, ‘and the occasional static or stability’. And quite frankly, while the battles are somewhat fun, they do not seem to have that epic feel to them, be it ‘brave heart’ or ‘300’. Why not? (in my view) because your physical presence on the battlefield is entirely negated due to there not being any body blocking.

Marcus Greythorne.6843:

what people might forget here (just for the record): we discussed this already in the horizontal progression CDI and It really seems like DryTop’s system is the product of that discussion.

While I can see what you mean, and can agree with you in regards to DryTop (though how it will develop remains to be seen… In the general spirit of this discussion I have to agree with Konig.

Konig Des Todes.2086:

Arghore.8340:

Hiya Konig, not sure if all the people will come in this thread to repost their opinions, but this idea came up ‘extensively’ in this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Revitalize-the-Game-World-Resetting-Hearts/first

I’ll give a look through. I really think a lot of the old game mechanics need a new look at them, but ArenaNet tends to ignore old content so long as major exploits and blocking bugs do not occur.

Which is a kitten shame.

Arghore.8340:

What it would need though, at the base, to make it a worth while addition, is a rebalancing of the scale down feature so that the content will be enjoyable at these higher levels. I think I will make a thread about that now…
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Rebalancing-the-Scale-down-Feature/first#post4353501

Yet another of the many issues the game has. I’ll look through that later, too.

So this isn’t so much about new content, as it is about introducing ‘horizontal progression’ in maps that are already in the game. Like I said in the ‘Rebalancing thread’; When this game was 2 or 3 months old, the first ‘where is end-game’ threads started to come up, and almost the whole forum jumped up to say ‘The whole game is end-game’…

Unfortunately now that we are 2y onwards, we have to conclude that the way the game progressed, makes this statement entirely invalid. Power-creep, balance changes and player learning has made almost all content trivial. Both inflation as well as the new reward structures have made most of the game unrewarding.

And while we discussed this in the horizontal/vertical progression CDI, doesn’t mean that it’s invalid to bring it back up in a more specific and detailed thread. If anything it shows that this is still a major concern for multiple players, and that it has yet to be addressed. ( also, but with a bit of a ‘lol’ connected to it: "I doubt there be many threads that are entirely new, on a forum that is 2y old, even the CDI’s are usually just a rehash of what’s already been discussed and said in many other threads before it )

@Konig , yeah I agree with you on that one, unfortunately , but I refuse to give up hope, as when I do that I might as well quit :/ … Do check, there were some ideas with dungeon tokens too, which I think may well complement a system with a regional reward token, perhaps a 2 to 1 exchange ‘both ways’, would be interesting as a way to make it multi-dimensional in player approach.

The other thread basically connects with this thread on the level where, if you were to put a regional reward system in place, that is geared more towards end level content. Then the content you do, should at least also somewhat feel like that. As opposed to grinding out low levels. This could then also have it’s reflection in the rewards given and the value attributed to the rewards…

At some of the people that feel this suggestion is a bad one, and assuming they come back to read the rest of the discussion, let me formulate why I think the system needs a balance pass:

1. The system was put in place so that the whole world would be a viable place to play the game. The whole game was supposed to be ‘end game’. While I am still somewhat in doubt if a lvl80 should feel more powerful; I think we can all agree that lvl80 are currently to strong!

The system was likely balanced around masterwork or rares, but in the meantime we got exotics and ascended gear added. The system saw no revision when the DPS meta developed. The system saw no revision when foes were made easier to compensate the changes to the stats, trait & levelling system. The system saw no revision to compensate for more people learning how the game works, and as such become better players.

2. Multiple people have expressed that high level players can ruin the experience for lower level players (and have experienced this first hand). They are simply to strong, resulting in low level players unable to ‘tag’ foes in order to receive loot. While I can solve that by equipping some masterwork gear, I can not make others equip masterwork gear…

While I like to come to a solution that favour both those that feel the need their progression has to mean something, I personally think that save guarding low level players against these kinds of experiences is much more important. Personally I would like the whole game to be and feel like end-game. For my own enjoyment, but also because then I can bring up that argument ‘again’ (like it was done at the start of this game) in the countless threads asking for more ‘end-game’ content. Which to me points out that this system was meant to function this way (not sure if there are Dev quotes to be found to state this, but I do know it ‘was’ the argument used in most ‘where is end-game content’ at the start of the game!)

Palador.2170:

Arghore.8340:

ANet acknowledges the problems that the new features introduced in April, as a result of the ‘vertical/horizontal progression’-CDI’s, introduced. The September feature update will address various of these ‘problems’ by streamlining the levelling process and introducing new features that make levelling up feel like an accomplishment again.

In other words, it will give you flashing lights and bells, and a couple of crap items. This is like having a slot machine go off for a minor win, or giving a dog a treat when he does a trick. It trains you to keep repeating the action for more ‘rewards’, pure and simple.

So, they’re not really improving the leveling experience. They’re just making it more compulsive/addictive.

If that is what you read, then that is your perception of what they done based upon the article. From what I understood they refurbished the levelling process to make it a larger impact, from what I understood they also moved some traits around (though where that was mentioned exactly is unclear (I suspect Reddit). As well as changing how the story is delivered… and how levelling itself is presented.

Personally I reserve judgement until I actually experience it myself, which may well happen in a weeks time when this new system goes live. But I you want to go off on a tantrum based upon your perception of the article, that’s all fine by me. Just, you know, point your frustration in the right direction, as it sort of comes off as if you are blaming me for all of that… :P

TexZero.7910:

No. Because yet again you are trying to force us to have the standard trinity.

There’s 0 need for body blocking.

I was in doubt on how to respond to this, but seeing somebody already quoted you, the option to ask you to rephrase that has pretty much lost gone lost…

This leaves me with just three other option; rage for the insult you wrote down, ignore it, or this: please go through my posting history and find 1, yes, just one, place where I opted for ‘a standard trinity’. Just one is enough, and I assure you that you won’t find any…

Now I respect other peoples opinions, for or against my ideas, I actually prefer critical analysis of my ideas and well formulated holes or misconceptions, because analysing your own ideas can be rather problematic at times, as you view a problem with your own perception, which at some times can cloud your view on your solution… and while I will defend my ideas when I think people bring up invalid arguments I have not once tried to force anything on anyone. Instead I value an open discussion with pro’s and con’s to try and come up with something that works best.

This idea does come with a possible ‘soft trinity’ gameplay of DPS, Control, Support. And lines that make sense for the armour weights, the skills of the classes, and quite frankly the whole design of the classes seem to fit such a play style. By no means though is it the traditional trinity of Warrior/Ranger/Healer, as classes by design are also rather multi dimensional.

That you do not agree with how this suggestion would turn out to work is fine by me; that you do not wish to contribute to the discussion by providing decent formulated arguments as to why this is a bad idea, is also fine by me; But this was a whole new level of ‘ad hominem’ and frankly I do not have to put up with it… And I will leave it at that…

Or have recipes that unlock a certain look at all lvl’s of crafting… so basically something like:

Arghore’s Thinking Hat
click this recipe to unlock the skin ’Arghore’s Thinking Hat’ for all the ‘armour related’ crafting disciplines, in lvl100, 200, 300, 400 and 500 versions’

Or perhaps in the sense that was my biggest gripe with the Latest backpack. It was geared solely to lvl400+ crafting, meaning it locked out everybody that wasn’t really into crafting, or basically ‘just’ got to lvl80. This backpack should have come with an increase in crafting level instead.

Crafting the base skin: -lvl100
Crafting the first food: – lvl200
Crafting the next level: – lvl300
Crafting the 2nd food: – lvl400
Crafting the end version: -lvl500

This would make it possible for everybody to achieve the basic skin within a reasonable time, provide people with longer term goals as they moved on with the next level, and in the end provide an ascended backpack at ascended lvl crafting.

‘But this is all based upon what I think the OP means, there is no telling what he actually means, until he shares/explains.’

Hello ANet and Tyrian’s,

With all the changes in the levelling system, as well as changes to the strength of foes; As well as there being a lot of lvl80 now, actually using this feature on a regular basis. I think it is time to re-evaluate the scale-down feature, and rebalance it so that it regains it’s original functionality, of making all area’s in the game ‘end-game-content’.

What I would like to know though, and has come up in several other threads that somehow came into contact with the scale-down feature. How should it function?
Should it make lvl80s weaker than the appropriate level of the map, should it make them level appropriate? or should lvl80s be stronger, basically neglecting that player skills have also increased during the level up process, and trivialising the content and as such, in essence not make it end-game content at all…

What should change, if anything? Should skills fade-out or not? Should traits fade out? Or should there just be a steep decrease in base stats…

this OP is formulated as open as I could, I do have some opinions of my own, but keeping this generally formulated I hope that everybody can chip in, without having to fight a strongly opinionated OP

Hiya Konig, not sure if all the people will come in this thread to repost their opinions, but this idea came up ‘extensively’ in this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Revitalize-the-Game-World-Resetting-Hearts/first

It may be interesting for you to go through it and perhaps pick up on some details, concerns or otherwise suggested alterations or additions to a system as this.

While it felt like a bit of a derailing topic in the confines of the tread I linked, seeing that the spirit of the idea had the same aim, aka. revitalizing existing content, I never deemed it as such within said thread. I am glad you made a thread about this, as I think it actually disserves a topic on it’s own, as it seems like a valid and achievable way to make these zones more interesting to revisit, even at lvl80, and as such make it a way to provide more ‘end-game’ content.

What it would need though, at the base, to make it a worth while addition, is a rebalancing of the scale down feature so that the content will be enjoyable at these higher levels. I think I will make a thread about that now…
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Rebalancing-the-Scale-down-Feature/first#post4353501

Shalloe.4867:

change what? whats the problem? lol

The additions to the crafting system have only extended the crafting system vertically… The OP seems to imply he would also like to see horizontal additions to the crafting system, so that, were he to craft the same tree on another character, he is not just doing the same thing all over.

Not to mention what will happen if the champ train is deemed less rewarding than some other train elsewhere. And there will be next to nobody left to actually do the event with…

This is where I think ANet still has to learn from their mistakes, while putting this event (like it is) in the LS (first run) experience during the 2 week period of the LS-format is nice. This event should consequently be put into an instance, after the 2 week period, so that people can complete it and don’t have to rely on the players around them to continue their story…

This is actually how almost all LS-content should work, and is the key to having Large Scale Open World Events within the confines of the LS while it is active… Most should become instanced story steps there after; some may make more sense in a cinematic (f/e LS-opening-events); others might be able to be put into the open world, but with restricted (achievable) goals for a single player/small group experience.

Stephane Lo Presti.7258:

When we started communicating about this (more than a year ago), the term “Living Story” floated around but we decided to call this the “Living World” for reasons we’ve explained. In season 1, players discovered (among a lot of other things) Southsun Cove, the Zephyr Sanctum and the Tower of Nightmares appeared and was then destroyed. So was Lion’s Arch. You can still see some remnants of Scarlet’s influence here and there with Energy Probes for example. In Season 2, released updates included more than new story steps. They included new zones and changes to existing ones. And obviously new threats changing the dynamic of the world of Tyria. That’s the idea behind Living World.

While stating what ‘your’ idea is, doesn’t negate the associations a certain word causes with it’s recipients.

While I can see how LS1 had an impact on the world at large, it was still mostly within the confines of the story, after the story past, apart from a few places, nothing changed. It was as such ‘an impactful story’, or at least that is how I view it. And within that ‘impact’ the response from the world on the events was even less. There was this big nightmare tower in a map, with all sorts of different new foes, and the Centaur just kept doing their thing… just as base line example …and as the story moved on, the Centaur just keep doing their thing.

As far what a living world implies, after having played the game for a longer time period. The world feels very much ‘in limbo’, sure it feels a tad more alive than GW1 which was basically ‘stuck in time’; the repetition of events do at some point loose their charm. I mean, the basis of this system is perfect, but in longer term experience it doesn’t make the world feel more alive, as there are no large changes to the world. Instead of the world feeling stuck in one moment in time, it feels being stuck in ‘a short period of time’ … kind off like that movie ‘Groundhog day’.

In this sense I hope you understand how using certain words and explaining them, doesn’t necessarily change how somebody else perceives these words (even more so after the explanation has sunk to the perceptive background), and the expectations these words imply.

AnthonyOrdon.3926:

Thread explosion! Thanks for all the (rapid) responses. There seems to be a fairly consistent feeling that yes, these fights can be more engaging without becoming as difficult as the jungle wurm.

I like some of the ideas being presented, feel free to keep the discussion going. It’s also helpful to hear not only what’s working but why it’s working for you.

On the topic of using siege weapons as a role mechanic in these fights, is that something we want to see more of? I often worry that siege weapons can be just as boring as standing in the safe corner pressing the same attack. Do you feel that they can also cause some contention between players?

That’s what a red post does, people love them some attention (I know that sounds negative, but it is what it is, so just calling it out; use it for your benefit I would say ) …

And tnx for asking sensible questions, and giving sensible feedback in regards to your concerns as a game developer. Insight in why things were made the way they are, is halve the battle in reaching mutual understanding in what is possible, and what to strive for.

Crafting backpacks (coming in the feature pack) might actually change this slightly, though only for a short while…

^ what (s)he said…

@Rapthorne, the best way to level is not to pay attention to it… explore and do events!

- lvls 1/15 – explore your race capital, and do your race 1/15 area, then hop to LA, and from there Hop to other races captitals and do their starter area’s. Do your story quests.
- lvl 15/30 – still do events in lvl1/15 areas from other races, move to higher level area’s suited for your level, there are still about 3-4 of these. Also, do a lot of skill challenges so you can unlock skills as your utility slots unlock. Do more personal story.
- lvl 30/40 – You now have access to Elite skills, if you haven’t done skill challenges, some of your focus should be on at least doing those that you haven’t done yet.
- etc…

ANet acknowledges the problems that the new features introduced in April, as a result of the ‘vertical/horizontal progression’-CDI’s, introduced. The September feature update will address various of these ‘problems’ by streamlining the levelling process and introducing new features that make levelling up feel like an accomplishment again.

Nopes, it wont; though a bit more focus on ‘MMO – bread and butter’ additions to the game will make people more confident that ANet actually ‘got it’ as far as extending the game through LS content goes.

0.) A true living world, where it’s unlikely that you will run into previously seen content, unless you stay in one area all the time.

1.) Seasons (and associated weather and foliage changing); one season lasts 1,5 month, 4 seasons, for 2 rotations in an IRL year. would come with seasonal hearts & DE’s

2.) True Nights; the game desperately needs darker nights, feature (1) should also come with a difference in content during day & night-time.

3.) Tiered DE’s; to emphasize the impact that players make on the world, the DE-system should have a tiered approach (for DE’s in key sections, as well as diverse locations). Each tier should have sensible and tier-themed DE’s spawning when the meta-string is in it’s respected tier. Failing to do events, or simply not doing them, count towards a hidden counter for ‘upping’ the tier; Successful completing events, or completing key events, count towards a hidden counter to ‘down’ the tier.

4.) A Living Story, that visits both existing maps, as well as revealing new ones (these new ones would have all of the above). That has big open world one time events (f/e turned into a cinematic or adjusted to fit into instanced replay), that comes with a nice replay feature for new players and alts. But most importantly, that adds new DE’s to existing chains, adds tiers or changes them, or introduce entirely new ones.

While I do not know if the actually have an impact, I do think this was the worst stat ever put into a game. I really do not see why on earth you would want to have such a stat. And the issues before account wide MF made it more then clear that ANet realised their mistake, way to late though, as it should have never made it past scrutiny.

This just struck me as an idea, so i thought i would post it here to discuss…

Body blocking opponents may well be ‘THE’ thing that could make the Zerg Meta more challenging and interesting…

If groups can no longer just run through each other a whole different game emerges. While there would not be a trinity persee (as in healer/tank/dps), there would be a trinity in armour (heavy, medium, light). The form of combat that would emerge would yet be somewhat more ‘like’ the trinity style fighting… Aka. Heavies (tanks) in the front, medium (strangler catchers) in the middle, and lights at the back.

Due to this there would also me a tad more emphasis on support, to keep that frontline up. Various control skills on medium and light classes would all of a sudden be worth it, so you can keep people off of your backline (f/e traps on thieves/rangers).

Seeing this was an in the moment flash idea, most stuff here I just made up as I typed, not unlikely there is more that can be said for it, and perhaps more that can be deemed against it. One thing is for sure, it would change the face of WvW. What do you guys think?

Yet due to there just being body blocking on opponents, it will hardly be possible to troll your fellow players with it (by f/e blocking of a portal or entrance).

Ok, I logged off after the small crash or attack or w/e that was… tnx to all those that came and hung around, if only for a little while and/or those that participated in the Trivia. I haven’t had such a good time in a while, Trivia’s, hourly quaggan fireworks, chauldron fights, tonic fights, quaggan fights, snowball fights, and not to forget the drinks and boxes of fun… The SAB Megablaster present made all the difference when dancing… realy, even though this was just a small crowd, it ranks high in my best parties ever in GW1 for the mere casual fun … tnx again to those that showed up and made it all worth while

Andrew, just throw me a PM, you have my account name and ill pull you in… sofar highest total people was 10, but we had a blast with the boxes of fun, music from the SAB beatbox, cauldron fights, drunken snowball fighting and trivia’s … it may be the smallest party I ever been to, but at least imma heaving fun ^^ …

i’ll be there for various more hours…

Had to change the time, as GMT appeared further away then I though, in about 1h … or come now if you want

Ok, ready to get prepared, guess I can do some Trivia’s for small prizes, get some fun going, do fireworks, and get some fighting going…

Come and have some fun

tl;dr: GW2 Community Birthday Party
- Lion’s Arch: Farshore Waypoint Beach.
- Start time: 19:00 GMT (in 1:30 hours)
- End time: undisclosed

Bring anything you think can add to a joy full GW2 Community Birthday Party, which obviously entails a smile on your face

addition had to change the time to a lil earlier, apparently GMT is further away then I thought.
———————————————-

After some consideration I feel like having a GW2 Community Birthday Party, seeing time is short it’s going to have to be a ‘Dutch Party’, bring your own stuff…

After some consideration I figured south sun might be great, but the beach transforms you so there is no way to have water balloon fights there… A new location had to be chosen, which is:

- Lion’s Arch – Farshore Waypoint, Beach!

Seeing it seems decently cleaned up, and far away from all the depressing molestation, it seemed like the best alternative place. There is load of room for balloon fights, tonic fights, fireworks, the whole chabang…

Now I’m alone, so don’t expect to much, but ill do as much as I personally can to bring some life to the party. Also, if you happen to have:
- Chauldron
- Waterbaloon
- Dancing ‘thing’
- Fireworks
- Stuff to share

Please feel free to show up … seeing it’s Friday, I were to venture and guess 20:30h GMT to start would be as good as any other time. End? Well I’m going to be there for a couple of hours, but sure, feel free to take it all across the globe…

I know the Mega server might not put us all in the same LA, but feel free to just start the party up there and have some fun !

Brother Grimm.5176:

I’m more confused about why this change concerns LVL 80 players…. This is an area of the game that has been LACKING for 2 years and when they try to improve it (not saying the improvements are good or bad), the player base wants to complain?

Gotta love the Dev hate this forum thrives on….

I think this is due to an accumulation of things happening over the last year or so, I personally think most of it is due to not adding the ‘MMO bread ’n butter’ things to GW2, which leaves ANet with not to much to show for, for it being around for 2y.

It’s like any romantic relationship really, you fall in love and all is pink and fluffy, you like how every once a while (s)he watches sport with friends/goes out to shop with friends, so you can have some time for yourself. You go and do all sorts of things together, fun stuff, go out to romantic dinners or see a movie… but then as you get engaged and move in together, it’s starts to annoy you that he wants to watch all the sport that’s available on TV, and that she spends your cash faster then you can own it. You don’t go out to dinner anymore, but you order pizza in. Where at first you went along to family to get to know them, now you favour staying home because you don’t like uncle A or aunti B. You forget birthdays of close relatives, or worse yet, your anniversary! …

And lets face it, buying some flowers once or going out to Christmas dinner, is no excuse to keep behaving the way you do; if anything it’s going to feel like throwing a cheap bone at the situation in hopes it will stay away long enough so the other side will just forget… more likely though, is that these situations will be seen as such and bring up all the frustrations along the relationship, even if you get one thing right people will still blame you for all the other times you got it wrong… up to the time when you show you learned, and do not make the same mistakes you made earlier, where you show you changed and show you value the relationship over your own personal motives.

It’s as simple and yet as complicated as that, so it’s no wonder we see a lot of emotional responses and consequently break-ups. And the longer the relationship lasted the harder it is to deal with people ‘growing in different directions’… I will leave it at that for the analogy, because it wasn’t getting any prettier…

Just let me continue to say this, I have done my thesis on Innovation & Product development, and if one thing stuck to me, is that most people do not like it. Humans are creatures of habit, and new things make them uncomfortable as it shakes up their routines. Yet at the same time, they do like new things, given they are generally small and incremental, come with a lot of the stuff they are used to. And while big shifts sometimes turn into big successes, due to hitting the right nerve, it is way more likely that they are not appreciated, considered to big a leap or demand to big a shift in behaviour. So if you want to be innovative that is something you just have to take into consideration more than anything else.

To put that into an analogy, you can serve potatoes in many different ways and flavours, what you present next to that can be all sorts of culinary excellence. Heck you can even change potatoes for any other starch containing product, even entirely new ones. Some dishes will be better than others obviously… But serve a meal without starch, and people will get cranky, because they feel their meal isn’t giving them the nutrients they need, and seeing this is indeed the case it’s another reason they get cranky… Also, seeing how culinary excellence can be this hit and miss, at some point people will just tell you to make them fries, they know they like fries, it’s not that hard to please us, just make some fries every now and then…

I have to agree, the skill unlocking on weapons felt rather natural and fun to do… I also think it could have been combined nicely with a level up system that unlocks skills on it. Basically:
lvl1: #2 skill slot is open on all weapons, you can learn this skill by using the weapon.
Lvl2: #3 skill slot is open on all weapons, you can learn this skill by using the weapon.
lvl3: #4 skill slots opens up on all weapons, you can learn this skill by using the weapon
lvl4: #5 skill slot opens up on all weapons, you can learn this skill by using the weapon.
lvl5: First utility skill opens up, you now have 4 skill points and some from doing skill-point-challenges, unlock a few skills and try them out.

As far as the downed state goes, I think it should have been part of some of the earliest things you do in the game, basically THE thing to do during the first ‘story mini boss’ you fight. The boss should one shot you and you should be instructed to rally, there should be like 3x as much ‘rally life’ left in you to give you the time to read tool tips and instructions. If for some reason you did not manage to rally, it should auto rally you, this boss should down you roughly 3x during the fight (at boss: 90% HP, 70%, 50%, 25%). With instructions at every time you are downed…