I know I’ve suggested this before, but I will repeat it again: Underflow servers.
The root of all Horizontal Progression is the community. Chasing after nice aesthetics are pointless without other players to show it off to and interact with.
Please bring the community back to your game. We need underflow servers before Horizontal Progression even has a meaning.
Personally I think Underflow Servers are very important to. I do however think that your final sentence is a bit over the top (-:
Chris
Pardon me, but this is an MMO. I don’t see anything over the top about it.
Have you tried going to Lornar’s Pass and calling out events? How about Timberline Falls, and Brisban Wildlands?
This game was meant to be played with other players, as we did during launch. However, because of a flawed “server” system, where players are pointlessly segregated (WHY!?), 48 players in Fields of Ruin are split into 2 players each server. That makes it impossible to do events, or at least, make it un-fun.
Do you have any idea how long I waited for ONE other player to help with the Krait Witch during the Tower of Nightmares? HOURS. And that was during a Living Story arc, with an achievement attached to it! Do you think players would’ve cared otherwise?
Events are NOT fun to solo. Nor’ are they profitable. There for, you have a catch 22 of events which require other players to scale up and drop decent loot, but because other players aren’t coming, the event wont scale up. There for, players aren’t able to horizontally progress both in their profits or community. That is a flaw which needs fixing.
How are players supposed to feel accomplished if all they do all day is stand around in Lion’s Arch? There is no real sense of achievement if there is no one to clear an event with. Even back in the day of offline games, players still felt a sense of accomplishment because they could brag to their friends how they beat Contra. These days, ironically in an online world, most players don’t give a kitten if you escort a Dolyak, and they aren’t there to see your legendary weapon.
I mean, it’s your game, and you could pretend it’s not a problem. But don’t tell your fans they are over the top when they complain your game is dying. We really don’t care about your 460k statistics, when the actual experience itself segregates players and creates the impression of an abandoned, desolate area.
Suppose legendary weapons are the pinnacle of Horizontal Progression in GW2. But who would go after a Legendary if they were client side-only? Or better yet, what if the only areas in the game you could even use the weapon, are world bosses where players can’t see them anyways due to culling and particle effects?
At this current stage, you’ve created an environment where player sense of accomplishment hits a brick wall, and the player has no more incentive to horizontally progress.
My point is you need community. Aesthetics AND experience are meant to be shared with other players. Horizontal progression IS community!
Heck, you DON’T even need “Horizontal Progression” if there are other players to share an intense experience and memories with. It’s why WvW and Stonemist Castle are such a huge success, and it’s a little thing I like to call “Fun”.
Horizontal Progression should be there to compliment a memory and experience. It’s what creates “Fun”. Even if it is a grind, the community aspect of it is what makes the experience enjoyable. Without the “Fun”, you have what Extra Credits calls a “Skinner Box”.
