What if elite specs were quest/achievement based rather than hero points?

[Zaraki.5784]

Did you see how it ended when anet locked turtle behind a simple nm strike mission? Casual players started to cry they couldn't complete it, flooding forum with their rant theads, I wouldn't like to see that anymore.

[Danikat.8537]

On 9/23/2022 at 5:47 PM, Mungo Zen.9364 said:

I do not think this idea is one that could be implemented currently in GW2 but I really do like the concept in general.

Hero Points are, generally, pretty boring.  We do have some interesting ones in HoT and PoF but by and large they are just clickables requiring no other interaction.  We also have so many of them that, it wasn't like we actually needed EoD HP to unlock the new eSpecs before even entering the new content.

The NPC's that talk about the EoD eSpecs were an okay idea, but pretty silly really.  Like, somewhere randomly on a map in EoD is an NPC that will tell you about the eSpec for your profession.  Yippee, that's super engaging and fun.......or not.....

I think the concept of having to run through a series of Quests that focus on the eSpecs/Profession/Class skills would be interesting.  Something simple like having an NPC give you a toolkit that changes your action bar to the 'default' skills/build for the eSpec so you can play with it and complete challenges.  I would suggest the same amount of time/work investment as doing 250 HP points would be fair too.  And nothing taxing, just things like 'use prof mechanic', 'Kill x mobs with eSpec weapon', 'use eSpec elite x times' and the like that is tied to some lore and story about the eSpec.

And for those WvW players who will feel left out, I think WvW shouldn't require unlocking of eSpecs via HP, but rather simply be available within the game mode.  At this point getting into a new eSpec is so trivial why bother asking for the HP anyway?  However, you could do a similar thing to my above suggestion in WvW by having similar NPC and Quests within WvW to 'teach and train' the new eSpecs if the company wanted to.

Again tho, I do not think that GW2 is in a position to add this type of feature as we all expect to insta-buy the next expansions eSpecs with HP we already farmed.  But maybe in another game, or a GW3....?  

If the point is to teach you some of the lore behind the elite spec before you start using it (which is what the OP proposed) then I honestly think talking to the NPCs who tells you that lore and some of the others who use it adds more than a 'checklist' of mini achievements for using the skills.

Does the new Character Adventure Guide teach you the lore behind your core profession? Because that's basically the same thing, you get achievements for using your profession mechanic, for using utility and elite skills, for healing, etc. I suppose you could say they would if you had to talk to an NPC to unlock the achievements, but then we're back to what we've already got.

Honestly I prefer the system we have now. When I want to imagine my character gradually learning about a new form of magic and how to use it I can have her wait until after talking to the relevant NPCs and then gradually unlock the skills as I go around the maps (either because I need the hero points or because I want to space it out) I can do that. But when I just want to get on and use the new spec, or I've got my own story in my head for how they came to use those skills I can simply unlock them and start playing.

[sasya neko.1985]

with actual quests, maybe.

with achievements, no frikin way in hellheim would i ever agree with that.