Guild Wars 2

Notes: This is just a critique of one of the key aspects of any game: player progression.

There’s a general feeling of a lack of player progression in the game. For myself, the best levels are from 1 to ~ 20. Picking a new character class, trying out the different weapon combinations to unlock skills for them, it’s great. From then on, something feels amiss.

Leveling up should be an exciting event; it’s another milestone the player has passed and the rewards are skill points and trait points. The problem with skill points is that once a player has decided on a playstyle, there’s a couple skills that complement it well and naturally the player goes for those first. But once those options are exhausted, the rest of the skills in that tier are just throwaways until the next tier can be unlocked. Traits are somewhat better than skill points since extra stats are always helpful. What’s a bit odd about traits is the alternating set passive and player chosen passive every 5th level. Why not just allow the player to pick a passive every 5th level? There are certainly more than enough traits to allow for it and having more meaningful options is always good.

What is most certainly adding to this feeling is the level restriction system. Assuming a player is at max level, there doesn’t seem to be much different between fighting a level 5 boar versus fighting a level 70 boar. Why have increasing stats on your character if the game just automatically sets your levels and stats? There is certainly no doubt that better gear makes the low level fights easier, but if the point of the level restriction is to keep everything a challenge, again, why allow increasing stats?

Well that about sums up this rant. I’m interested in hearing other opinions about this, particularly those who feel that player progression is actually great in the game.