[Guild Wars 2: End of Dragons Discussion Thread: Gameplay and Elite Specializations [MERGED]]

Hi all,

 

with the new trailers of the upcoming elite specs I am always impressed how Anet manages to include their system mechanics into the world building, like e.g. the new Willbender are the empress guards or in the last expansion the spellbreaker are former sunspears who have broken the top of the spears to avoid persecution from jokos army. But unfortunately that is mostly only to be found in text and trailers (which most player will never know about) and rarely in the game itself. So I hipe that they could add a little bit of a storyline per Spec (not much maybe 1/2 hour to an hour) that explains ingame what this specs is all about (lorewise) and how our character comes to learn that specific skillsets.

 

I think the best way to include that is in the Elite Specs Collection (you know the one where you get the ascended weapon) if that returns. So instead of doing random things to unlock the parts necessary i would suggest to craft a little storyline that explains why youre character is suddenly trained by the elite guardians of the canthanian empress. The tasks itself can still be to do certain events, hearts, jumping puzzles etc just that they are now connected by a story. Like how for the achievements from "a star to guide us" the various activities on the map where connected by an overarching story.

 

 

[Guardian Elite Preview]

So basically they are Shiro but in good? Hmm seems like a nice concept. Hopefully this time Anet actually sticks to their lore and have some NPCs around the empress that are Willbender..... unlike the spellbreaker which were supposed to originate from the Sunspears ..... with the actual sunspears having not a single Spellbreaker in them ...... Or the scourges all hand tought by Palawa Joko ..... but not a single one in his entire army .....

[Fantasy politics are always more interesting than big dumb evil threats.]

After I did think a bit about it more I think the thing i am currently missing a little bit is not politics per se but factions interacting with each other and well doing something else then trying to kill the player ... i know that is hard to describe but currently it feels as if everything is just waiting for the player to arrive to the attack basically one after another ..... compare that with the beginning of PoF where you really felt like beeing thrown in a snakepit. With the three-way fight between Amnoon, Balthasar and Joko. The sunspears rebelling against the undead. Kralk lurking in the background. Troubles with the hamaseen in amnoon .... the world felt more alive ..... at least in my opinion.

[Fantasy politics are always more interesting than big dumb evil threats.]

I think the most critical part which I see in the world building is that they try to close everything so quickly. Events that would shake the foundation of the world are dealt with in a single episode.

 

Spoiler

The peace with the flame legion, the charr civil war, the resurface of the lost norn spirits and the fight between two elder dragons was done in a single seasons.

 

Same with Joko&Kralk in Season 4. Sometimes I would like if they could give some more time for the stories to unfold. In moment it feels like - big bad appears, is dealt with, next big bad appears, is also dealt with etc etc.

[Should there be a GW 3? - [Merged]]

I also voted for a new start, because I have the feeling that we are in a similiar situation as in the end of GW1 - where the devs have tons and tons of new ideas but are hold back by old tech and old design philosophies that changed over time. For example:

• Mounts were never considered when the base game started. While I personally find the idea of mounts one of the best things to happen to the game, the old world feels now incredible small because of them
• Healing Classes werent planned. Which led to the design decision that you cannot target your allies. Which makes playing healing/support classes like the druid quite clunky.
• The new action camera cannot achieve its full potential because the old system still is in place.
• New Systems like Masteries and Elite Specialisation are competing with old Techniques like the leveling System and Core Specs. Most base professions were not designed with the poaaibility of elite specialisations in mind. Meaning that same old mechaniques have to be stuffed into the elite spec no matter what (sand shroud for examle)

Long Story short, the game has evolved, but is held back by decisions made with past design philosophies. A new Beginning would solve this problem.