TLDR: Would you play new game modes built on top of the existing fractal system?
Guild Wars 2 core systems (open world, pvp, fractal, etc), have really good foundations but some really haven't been expanded / iterated upon in the last years, which leads to this huge feeling of wasted potential.
We know that Anet is changing the development roadmap for the game and seems to be open to change existing features (ex: the new Wizard Vault).
As a senior developer and a person that has been passionate for everything about the mmo genre in the last 20 years, I think that is actually great and the right path for GW2 considering all we know about Arenanet as a game developer studio.
Using Fractals as an example: It is a great core system with a cool lobby, loot, progression, dailies, instabilities, story elements, lore, etc, but right now, at the end of the day, it's just a farm. Sadly.
Why not build new competitive features on top of a system that has potential for it?
Random ideas that seem mid/low development effort (to me) and that would turn fractals into its own (competitive) game mode (yes, some ideas are from other games, but we all know that games copy from each other, no harm done, I even think thats healthy to the mmo genre):
- Unless overall player damage is severely nerfed in the comming patches, add a Tier 5 to compensate the power creep (same fractals but mobs have more damage/health, maybe one or two new mecanics).
- Fractals are fundamentally composed of puzzle elements, trash mobs, mini bosses and bosses, and sometimes with wierd stuff added in, but some fractals have too much puzzle and almost no mobs, or just puzzle and bosses, some are too short or too long. The outliers could be worked to even the overall fractal experience.
- The "skip meta", imo, does not seem to add much to the gameplay / stategy, instead, increase trash mob loot quality and make it so you need to clear a % of mobs to finish the fractal (this will make more sense after the next ideas, but basically competitive groups would be able to devise diferent strategies to clear the trash mobs instead of just skipping)
- Add a Competitive Time Attack Mode (speed run) on top of the previous ideas with ladders organized per specialization (ex: Firebrands compete with other Firebrands). Some closed communities already do this, why not implement something that some players are already doing in raids / fractals?
- Add an Endless Survival Mode on top of the previous ideas with ladders organized per specialization. The fractals just get harder and harder, the skill and strategy to push just one more fractal would make room for builds and strategies never seen.
- Add a Solo Competitive Time Attack Mode and a Solo Endless Survival Mode on top of the previous ideas with ladders organized per specialization (with adjustments to actually make the fractals soloable). Theres a solo culture in the game (hello Lord Hizen) and this would be a mode for players who dont want to party (for several reasons) to still play fractals and maybe that would lead these players to actually party up. Or it would just be a way to challenge yourself and your knowledge of your class.
- Add more challenge modes, (again with their respective ladders) but please not a skip to last boss, we have strikes for that.
All of this does not involve new fractals, new mobs, animations, models, music, voice actors and all the other stuff that cost money and development time. It is all built with stuff that already exists (ladders would be built on the GW2 API or something similar).
And the same competitive aspects could be added to other core systems, GW2 lacks a way to show players if they are doing good and the competitive modes and ladders would provide that without the need for a dps metter or other systems that could lead to incresed toxicity.
Thank you for reading.
