Quick idea that may have been presented before to increase longevity of living story maps,

This won't be about redoing any events, or creating a more "living" world, with maps being altered to a less time-encased state. This is merely a suggestion to create incentive to revisit those maps with minimal work and keeping the existing structure.

In another thread, someone mentioned that they find the only reason to go to the new maps outside of achievement points is because of the currency that's specific to that map, i.e. Kralk Ore, Dragon Crystals, etc...

But that isn't what drives me back to those maps, it's the events and how engaged I feel in those maps. For instance, if I wanted to go to a season 4 map, I'm most likely to go to the maps that provide the most enjoyment for me in terms of gameplay, which are Istan - for Palawadan and Hall (not for gold farming because I honestly just identify and mystic toilet pretty much everything anyway), Sandswept - for the djinn meta, the wyvern fight, and the Inquest meta, or Jahai for the Shatterer and escort event. Admittedly, the Shatterer is fueled by my desire to get the infusion though I know I have a greater chance of getting struck by non-branded lightning, but still.. it's what the map offers that drives me, not the currency or what I can buy from the currency.

Getting more to the point, a lot of people mention that the new maps are lacking in replay value. Many rush through the collections, do most of the events, burn through the content and get whatever they want from it whether it be a new weapon collection, a backpack, minis, or an armor set. Once they do that, the only thing driving them to revisit the map is how much they enjoy it, if they enjoy it.

So my proposal is that there needs to be a reason to go back to those maps to gain that currency and spend it. Something for the ones that have already obtained everything they wanted from them. They need something to entice them to visit even the maps they don't find particularly engaging, but that leaves them feeling rewarded that they did. A goal to drive them through the indifference.

With the launch of Path of Fire, we had a vendor Elisa? and her springer, that appeared in different zones each week, and though what she provided wasn't much, she offered different items.

So, following that theme, what if we had a rotating vendor or even rotating loot on the already existing vendors in each of these living story maps offering something unique only to that map, for that period of time, that would encourage people to revisit them and play that content again to purchase some of these items.

For example, we could have new minis rotated in, more combat tonics, cosmetic items or skins, novelty items, guild decorations, etc.. all rotated through those vendors and updated. Then you can play around with how often they're updated to tide people over during the downtime after a new episode drops.

You could even take it a step further, and this might sound pretty crazy because people might wind up just complaining that it's a huge grind, but you could even have mount skins added to those maps, with a much higher currency requirement giving people a reason to go back and gain that currency as more of a long term goal.

Of course, a lot of this has the large issue, of needing the new things to be created to be added to the vendors which would still take a resource and development investment of a set amount, but at the very least it wouldn't involve completely overhauling events or the map itself. It's just extra incentive to play that content, to keep that content lively and add more value to them.

As much as I would like to see all the maps fit my particular standards as much as Istan and Jahai do, this is just a suggestion as to what would drive someone like me, who doesn't particularly go to some of the other maps, incentive to revisit them and may have a similar effect on many other players with the same mentality.

Ultimately, the design of the map can do this without needing the incentive boost, maps like the ones in Heart of Thorns that give enough incentive through gameplay and group content alone, but it might be a way to stretch out the longevity of maps with less development and less cost.

Anyway, just food for thought. Not sure how many people feel similarly, and I'm certainly not a developer, but it seems like a potential way to revisit older content and give it more value without actually having to rebuild or rework the map to have an appearance of progression through time or story. And to some extent, we already see similar structures in game, whether it be the bonus crafting materials you get from core zones, Elisa the traveling vendor, or the Karma mastery trade vendor that sells unique items. (Admittedly, ironically, I don't really care for any of those three I just mentioned, but if you add a combat tonic, guild decoration, or somekind of armor or weapon skin you bet I and lots of others like me will be immediately interested.) Obviously, if it's something people really want, they're going to burn through it just as quickly, but if the items are updated ever so often, it still gave them incentive to revisit these areas that otherwise had none outside of whether they just liked the map in general. It also potentially boosts the value of the zones for new players to come.

Okay, wordier than I intended, as usual, but that's the gist.

Edit* Rereading my post I want to emphasize that I did not mean updated or rotated out completely, just rotated with an eventual return. Cycled, so to speak.