loonatic.1689

Would be nice to add mount skins, glider skins and associated dye patterns into the equipment slots functionality. Maybe even titles.

I'll have a quaggan tag, thanks

Would be nice to have material storage for a lot of the scribe mats. Hammers, chisels, books, pens, etc.

Remove the target cap, and watch single players wipe out entire enemy zergs the second they decide to stack.

I don't know what the other servers are like, but the "server" I'm on is absolutely infested with spies and trolls. 1 server guarding gates/open walls, other server clearing lord. Fake tags leading into enemy zergs or intentionally creating confusion with tags actually trying, trolling all tactics. I know these things are not new in WvW, but it's been pretty unplayable for the majority of the time that I have tried. The previous alliance beta is what got me into WvW. I think this one will make me never come back.

Pretty sure the OP is talking about something like DRMs where someone camps your instance until the boss is almost dead and sneak in for a final hit.

So well put. I wish they would charge more and up the quality/quantity, but I think they will stick to monetizing things like hero points. 😭

If we want to talk about their big undisclosed project we are going to do it outside of forums and subreddit because it will just get down voted to hell here out of fear.

I think gw2 has done support roles exceptionally well, criticisms of the boon system itself aside. Another high dps, bladesworn-esque option would have been welcome though. Are necro, guardian, and ele options not big dps? (Don't talk bad about my portal gun.)

Even variations of existing races would feel fresh enough to revitalize things as a new race (dark elves and light elves in other games etc). But honestly, with this expansion, we did not even get new character customization options so the idea of a new race/class seems further than ever. It's strange to me that it's less work to add new weapons and mechanics to existing classes each expansion than it is to simply create 1 or 3 new ones. I also can't see how it can be so much work to add a race that mostly uses from other races. Dwarves being tiny norn, largos being reskinned humans.

"Salvage all exotic" option ples.

When I posed the question I chose the position of C.E.O. arbitrarily; in meaning I was suggesting that you were the highest authority on the matter. We are coming to you for all decisions for the next 5 years, the guiding principles and the short term future. What would that be like? It's been great to read peoples' POV and where they think the dev times should be focused. Money is a critical factor, and we are playing a numbers game to some degree. Based on SotO in 12 months we are getting: 3+1 maps, 2 (+cm) strikes , 1 (+cm) fractal Weapon expansions, relics Rifts, legendary armor Great narrative progression Assumedly, for the budget and lifecycle, this is what's possible dev/budget-wise and fits the data best. I loved that people can still imagine a world with more especs or increasing the price to increase quality or content. I really think people will pay Anet a lot more than they ask and will keep paying to explore more of the world. I don't think we need new systems. We just need more stuff for the ones we have. Anet has to contend with all of their different game modes and settle on a design philosophy. Their desire to focus on 3 distinct game modes is the only real way to do it IMO. Game modes need to be simplified into either PvE(open/world/raid/strike/fractal/dungeon), PvP(heart of the mists & activities & festival games), and WvW. These game modes deserve an expansion in order to get the focus and refinement they need. This is especially true if the maximum output of the studio is something like 4 maps, 4, strikes, and 2 fractals per year. This is where my personal bias comes into the matter. I don't want a little more replayable content. I want A LOT. The best way that comes to mind is to create 2 versions of WvW and PvP maps. Open world instances and WvW/PvP instances. This way they are weaved into the narrative of the game, those that don't engage with those game modes can still interact and fully explore the content without having to do in pvp/wvw, and these maps can double into the edge of the mists with real combat areas. Mounts, potentially. This opens the door to using existing open world maps and also creating WvW/PvP instances of these. In terms of PVE content... I want more but I think they are already spread too thin. I think Arenanet makes great raids, strikes, fractals, but there's just a blurred line between what is a bug and what is a feature and how long things take to resolve. I loved sunqua peak, with the addition on the story in the CM (and the ability to skip to final with the mote), and I enjoyed this Kanaxai fractal. Sure the device is janky, but there's a real problem that so many "features" turned out to be bugs that still exist to this day. I would rather they hold some strikes and/or fractals back to fix the bugs. (It occurs to me that the bug issue maybe a CM only issue, in which case maybe its worth dropping CMs. Im a CM enjoyer, but can't justify sucking up dev time if this is where all the issues are). Maybe we can keep adding phases to the fight / story with them. In order to up the quality on this, new Strikes/fractals would have to be reduced in number. The caveat being, we also turn other open world bosses / events and turn them into refined fractals/strikes/raids and mixing them in with the new when they are ready. And/or add cms to existing versions that don't yet have them. I do believe the UI discussion is important but I don't have much to contribute. I don't know of a game with a seamless UI, especially when it leans into the cash shop or trading post. I don't know if I prefer this new Wizard's vault or the old, or what difference the chromium embedded made. I do agree with some folks however, that another graphical / UI overhaul would be my final "Rest in Peace" moment. Gw3 or horizon mmo, im game baby.

If I were to purchase an exclusive gem store mount skin with the current gem to gold conversion I'd spend 580 gold. (1600 gems). I'm more than happy wth the cost and the reward. I love that they introduced a lore-bound mount skin earnable in-game. The fact that its a hideous disjointed kryptis monstrosity is a separate criticism but I personally love my little meatball. I DO think they should have made unlocking the skyscale easier. I could stand for them making the skin even more difficult to acquire.

I think the EoD strike mission approach works very well. They can take the story bosses and create strike/raid + CM versions of them. This is the best way to hit all demographics (except the anti-reuse asset crowd, which at this point we should just move past; reusing assets is a small price to pay for more repeatable content). This also hits a recurring criticism of adding more difficulty modes for content.

Interesting you should mention that. Fiscal responsibility is huge. "Asia and North America & Europe regions witnessed growth in revenue up by 40% and 44% YoY, respectively. Annual overseas and royalty sales marked the highest record ever, with a growth of 29% YoY, accounting for 37% of total sales." (Reported Feb 2023) https://kr.ncsoft.com/en/pr/newsDetail/5341.do This is for NCsoft and not gw2 specifically, but I'd say they were hitting these margins. Should I assume your take then is to just keep doing what they are doing until it fails? I could easily see them do 5 mini expansions like SotO without hurting their bottom line. I could even see these doing really well if they can continue to weave engaging narratives like they are currently in SotO. My only complaint is for more repeatable content, and I think they can easily repurpose existing dead content and not require heavy dev time to do so. Balthazar fight, Zhaitan fight, bunch of other great instances in story long forgotten. Braham's spirit of the wilds journey, fights with Taimi's golem, etc etc. But I do think they could do much more. Especially with housing. I can't tell you how much I personally would engage with it, but it's absolutely frightening how big and real the ERP/Ebrothel/Housing economy is in Final Fantasy 14. Feel free to go in on a deep dive and see peoples' self reported earnings, it might blow your mind. On the other hand... I think WvW alliances is going to hurt their bottom line, and investing in PvP is similarly not going to yield much in terms of revenue. Everything in PvP is essentially unlocked from the get-go. These are more a gesture of good will and integration of systems and following through on promises rather than features I think would benefit Anet economically. If someone can explain to me how WvW Alliances or PvP would bring in new revenue, I'm all ears.

I wouldn't worry about the downvotes. There's plenty of other topics for them to enjoy if they don't like what's discussed here. and I'm literally asking for your personal opinion. If there were other suggestions that were nipped too early in the bud, I'd love to hear them. I think you have some good ideas. I'm sure they are moving away from this wizard tower kryptis lore with the end of Nayos / 3rd map. Some of the simpler QOL ones I can even see making it into the game, especially something like mystic forge crafting improvements. Boon system rework, celestial gear, and class experimentation is interesting as well. They seemed to have committed to the alac/quick system rather than limit it, by creating interplay between especs and opening up almost all options on all classes. To revert this change would take quite a shift of balance. Although theoretically I agree with you. I feel boons should have been nerfed and simplified long ago. Combining protection and resolution, quickness and alac, and removing the ability to upkeep boons for 100% of the time are some things that come to mind. Spicing up the WvW environment is cool as well. The chaos of a rift boss in the midst of a WvW environment where we are also competing for DPS sounds quite insane. Is there an example of this type of thing in another game? If it wasn't for the performance issues in and around the world spire, a "mist" map of amnytas with 2 world spires, rifts, WvW, and skyscales, sounds like a WvW environment I want to be a part of. Like a World Versus World Versus Zombies.

Background - I've got about 13,000 hours in. I started around HoT but didn't get through the story for several years, and only engaged with party / squad content at the start of IBS. I mostly played by myself in the open world or PvPing. After strike missions I went through commanding all types of content including CM strikes /raids and WvW. I think 5 years is a generous lifecycle for the remainder of this game's development before maintenance mode. There could be some addition to systems, but mostly will be focusing on refining the systems that currently exist by fitting them into a narrative experience with each expansion cycle. Year 2024: Isles of Janthir expansion ie mist convergence expansion. We resolve the mystery of the eye of janthir and the isles. This results in a massive mist explosion that creates mist pockets all over the world. This feature can allow them to continue using this rift hunting feature and expanding it to mist exploration. The mist exploration can then tie into their game types such as fractals, raids, strikes, dungeons, minigames, and whatever other game mode that exists. They can utilize the entire year to take large parts of existing story and boss content and weave them to "mist fracture" locations into the open world. In simpler terms. This is the reuse of assets expansion. They can add as much new stuff as they think is acceptable. They did 2 strikes, 1 fractal for this expansion. Perhaps for the next expansion they can have 4 of each with cms that are brand new, and then take existing boss fights and story instances and turn them into fractals/strikes/raids and put a portal or "mist fracture" into the open world / hub over subsequent quarterlies. Year 2025: Another narrative experience like SotO. Couple of new maps, new combat features, new strikes, new fractal(s). With the magic in the world stabilized, our new allies invite us to their home to the southwest. We go into the ocean to Largos Atlantis home of the largos (and play as largos ie refitted humans with blue wings). We can keep footing on underwater light, as even though IM personally a big underwater fan I know a lot of the fanbase is not. The water theme can continue to be aesthetic and thematic, perhaps used a lot in exploration type content. If they did what they did with Soto in terms of characters and maps and environments, I have no doubts that a largos expansion would also be great. Without new race or classes, they can commit to more maps and expand the fractal/strike count. Year 2026: Housing and lounging feature pack. big dollar making, customizing, repackaging and selling. Give the people what they want. Make a lot of money doing it. Make casual wear for real gems; jeans, hoodies, beanies. Make housing instances for gems, make decorations for gems, sell guild halls for gems. Outsource the labor. Use existing maps and hubs. Allow me to buy an instance version of the sunspear's refuge and customize it like a guild hall and invite my friends for beetle races. or PVP. Make it cost gems atop the feature pack. Year 2027: You guessed it, WVW Alliances! and PVP updates. I tried to give this one as much time as possible. More reusing, adding few. Create one or two brand new maps that are open world as well as WvW. Ie, You access a story version in the open world, but can also access a different WvW instance through the mists portal. I don't quite know what some good ideas would be, for exisiting open world locations as WvW maps. Maybe drizzlewood since its already designed that way. Allow the combat mounts to be used, and let us battle each other across the Wolf's Crossing Bridge with siege turtles and fireballing skyscales. A handful of new pvp maps along with repurposed maps. Year 2028: The great climax of GW2. Some big ticket lore item set up for a decade, could be entirely narrative/story. Maybe one big HTCM esque battle. Raid wing 8. And then you announce your undisclosed project. And that about does it. You can put it on maintenance mode, and give us a new update / map / instance when you can.

I've had several speculation discussions with folks I have gamed with over the years. I find that most discussion is often negative rather than affirmative, ie, more people are willing to speak against content they DONT want rather than content they DO want. So here's an exercise for all of us. What do the next 5 years look like ideally, for you specifically? This new mini expansion cycle makes it quite easy to formulate a plan. If you're feeling extra creative, you can even go further than 5 and discuss interim patches. I've got several ideas that I've discussed with my friends, which I'll come back with and reply to this topic when I have a little bit more time on my hands. I want to give people a chance to put their ideas out first so as not to skew the conversation by unloading my preconceived ideas at the beginning. Here's the format I'd be using: Intro - Explain what you like and what you don't like, how long you've been playing, and how you came upon your general direction. Year 1 - 2024, 2nd mini expac Year 2 - etc etc etc 3, 4, 5, and closing statement if you feel it necessary. (Don't feel like you have to stick to any guidelines, I'm just curious where peoples' minds are at, and would love to discuss further from a point of "yes and" rather than "no".) Assuming you don't want to present your own ideas, what do you speculate Anet will be doing? Someone internally must have a 5 year vision.

Helmet of choice with outfits? You can already activate deactivate the headpiece on outfits. Would be amazing if we could mix at least the armor headpieces with the outfits.

"Your current ability is fully trained and ready to master!"

Any plans to add updrafts/leylines to older maps?

It doesn't help that I often get less than 20 essences on clearing the rift with the motivation. 😑 I was holding back on rifts thinking convergence would lighten the load of essence gathering. I'm starting to think I was mistaken, and there will be a new obs armor requirement locked behind convergences, which will need another tier of t1-t3 essence recycling.... In the age of bg3, don't be a d4 l pls.

I mean yeah, nobody is really going to chase them until you put some rewards in there lol. When they said they were reworking a core system I thought that would have been a part of the deal. There is value in it. Achievement points are one of the only reasons to replay old story content / old zones, and you discover lots of cool things that were previously hidden to you when you seek them out.

I don't think OP is talking about anything other than aesthetics. The rifts in Jahai Bluff are basically a pocket of "mist zone" wherein the terrain alters from say, a crystal desert to a maguuma jungle. Opening the rift could expand to a certain radius and change the terrain around it, maybe sprinkling in some other inanimate assets. Edit: which is what I thought these rifts would be when they were announced 🤔

I mean the design is cool. Reminds me the protoss race in starcraft. But why do they look like they are made of plastic? The flame serpent weapons has much better texture.