Where do We Go From Here?

[ThePolarTitan.4025]

I love Guild Wars 2. I love it a lot.

The only thing I disapprove is that the game didn’t feel so constructed at times and I thought of some ideas to get discussion going and two maybe give some devs ideas if they want them, just an idea. I just like discussion and freedom of expression.

What I Believe Guild Wars 2 needs.

Guild Wars 2 is amazing, but many fans have started to leave the game because they are either bored of it or everything seems played out. Here are some ideas to get stuff rolling to bring players back and keep them here.

1. Marriage system with shared inventory space. I know a lot of fans have talked about this and some guild members of mine have even suggested adding speed or xp boosts for partners who are in a party together, this would be a fun system and might even form some relationships in the process.
2. Fixed housing system NOT instances: I would be happy if they changed instances or made them more personable. But I would love a housing option. I love the idea of instances, but it feels dull at this point. If there was a way, and i would be ok with gemstone purchases, to purchase a home in areas and expansion zones that would have customizable features. Then that would be something for people to go for. You could even go so far as to add extra skills for people to use to upgrade homes or build furniture. Or you know if you want money to support the game just make it all gem stuff. I’d be ok with that.
3. Creating a new interface for friends/guilds. Games are changing and social media is a big part of it. This idea is a bit far out, but what if we had a tab for our profile. A tab where we could build a public profile and add friends. We could share screenshots of events, coordinate things, and take selfies with friends who like to have fun or role-play ingame . This would be a fun feature that would give more players more reasons to stay. Just a more visual experience in total.
4. More PvP events. I know people have been asking this for a while, but if we had events such as team deathmath, capture the flag, or even Michael Myers game modes then this would make the game entertaining. PvP seems played out even after a couple hours of playing first go since there are limited maps and two modes only as an option.
5. Bring guild wars back into the game. Competition isn’t a bad thing and if there was a more competitive way for guilds to wage wars and form alliances that would be fantastic. I know some people don’t like having five guild slots open because it gives people options to form many relationships with many guilds which makes them more spread out and less involved with a guild. We need to have a more controlled guild type where we can really get back into guild wars and really get into the spirit of things so to speak. You could even bring this into the campaign expansions if wanted and here are my ideas.

Campaign ideas

• what game doesn’t have an amazing villain. GW certainly has had some great ones but never one to match our main guild adventurers. What if we had not one villain, but a guild as the target? What if the villain formed a guild out of frustration from the commander? He has a backstory where he is broken from the events of dragons and he feels he needs to fix things since Tyria is in dissaray after the deaths of the dragons which upset the balance. The villain forms his guild and strikes an attack so that he can cripple the pact. You could do an amazing cutscene where the villain cripples the waypoint network and hijacks it allowing him to move and operate how he pleases. He does this by going after the asura complex and in the process kidnaps Taimi. His plan is truly a diabolical plan where he is ensnaring and baiting dragons watch. He uses Taimi to open new ways into the mists as he tries to “restore balance” by changing the world. You could even release some big baddies in the process which can be brought into the game at a later date. I always imagined him seeming like a normal guy. A guy who is human and is just someone who made himself powerful through research. He is calculating and has perfected his plan ever since the events of zhaitan. I imagined him as a human who had a trench-coat maybe a hat that he looked under as he peered down out people and made quick escapes using his hijacked teleport system. It would be fun and interesting to do this since this would or could change the game by making the characters questions their choices as the villains broke them.
• Idea 2! I know this is a cliche, but what if time was involved as in time travel. Anet always wants to be different in how they tell their story and in a fantasy world this could mesh well since the asura are advanced. Imagine this>>> Years in the future we see a destroyed Tyria, Logan is there broken and disfigured. He is a different person in this time since queen Jenna died and he couldn’t save her this time. He works with a slightly insane asura who is quite comical and they manage to use the leyline energy to travel back in time as Logan tries to stop past events from happening even though they technically will be our future events. You could honestly go anywhere with this idea and add a cool class too or at the very least a new mechanic.

Overview and Gameplay

• these were some of the ideas I had, but I wanted to touch classes quickly since people have been getting bored with classes as well.
  1. When you play as a class your first five abilities are fixed for the most part for your weapons. Sure you can swap weapons out, but they are for the most part unchangeable. I would love to see an option where you can really BUILD a class. Some might think this is nitpicking or disagree and I would love to hear your thoughts. I really believe adding options to customize how you fight would really change the game on so many fundamental levels. So for instance if you wanted to use a longbow as ranger and wanted to play in a manner of hit and run hit and run, you could customize your guy with a lot of low/medium damage evade abilities that would inflict some conditions as you played. Or if you wanted to fight in AOE style combat you could do that too. This is honestly an idea which could really open up the game a little more giving people more control and fun as they discuss their favorite combat techniques and strategies.

Ending

• I love guild wars, I see people leave and it’s saddening. Especially since they are leaving because the combat and mechanics seem to feel repetitive at times and really make you feel wanting more out of it. If any Anet people happen to read this by any snowball chance i wanted to end with this. Thank you, I really do love the game and I see you try to answer and fix issues. I know it’s difficult since many people do complain over the small things in life and it can be hard and frustrating. I wanted to give my thoughts and ideas because I’ve shared them with some people and they love them and others have given me their ideas which I agreed upon. This game is amazing and I am happy I joined for the ride. My goal in life is inspire to inspire and I hope I inspired someone today with my post because this game has so much potential and I don’t want to watch it decline. Thanks, much love! - Polar

[Avador.8934]

Hey! I just wanted to give you a feedback... these are my opinions, but I'm pretty sure that at least some of them are shared with a lot of people as well...

@ThePolarTitan.4025 said:

1. Marriage system with shared inventory space. I know a lot of fans have talked about this and some guild members of mine have even suggested adding speed or xp boosts for partners who are in a party together, this would be a fun system and might even form some relationships in the process.That might be interesting. Just not sure about that shared inventory space, how would that technically work...@ThePolarTitan.4025 said:
2. Fixed housing system NOT instances: I would be happy if they changed instances or made them more personable. But I would love a housing option. I love the idea of instances, but it feels dull at this point. If there was a way, and i would be ok with gemstone purchases, to purchase a home in areas and expansion zones that would have customizable features. Then that would be something for people to go for. You could even go so far as to add extra skills for people to use to upgrade homes or build furniture. Or you know if you want money to support the game just make it all gem stuff. I’d be ok with that.Maybe one day... but that would require a lot of work, and I personally would rather see that work in a form of new maps and LW seasons where you actually have some events to play. To be honest, I never got why people want a housing system in an mmorpg. What is the point of it actually? Building your interior? Okay, but what then? Are you going to sit there on a chair and watch what a cool home you built? This game is not a house building game... it might be cool to build that home once, but then what. The only situation when it would be useful is to somehow place there all these crafting stations, bankers, TP merchants, etc. Otherwise there would be no point of going there (except for enjoying the view.. and that's probably not enough of a reason to make it happen). But then that would completely steal the purpose of cities and all these lounges (like the Captain's Airship for example)... This is only my personal opinion, others might see it in a different way.@ThePolarTitan.4025 said:
3. Creating a new interface for friends/guilds. Games are changing and social media is a big part of it. This idea is a bit far out, but what if we had a tab for our profile. A tab where we could build a public profile and add friends. We could share screenshots of events, coordinate things, and take selfies with friends who like to have fun or role-play ingame . This would be a fun feature that would give more players more reasons to stay. Just a more visual experience in total.Yeah this sounds like an interesting idea.@ThePolarTitan.4025 said:
4. More PvP events. I know people have been asking this for a while, but if we had events such as team deathmath, capture the flag, or even Michael Myers game modes then this would make the game entertaining. PvP seems played out even after a couple hours of playing first go since there are limited maps and two modes only as an option.Capture the flag might be interesting, but it would have to be implemented in the right way. Deathmatch is already in the game (Courtyard / Hall of the Mists), and not many people play it, because most people just prefer the standard conquest system. "Played out"... what do you mean? So you found pvp boring after a couple of hours? I play pvp for ages and never got bored by that mode (only ragequit a few times :# ). In fact, I think pvp in gw2 is one of the most fun pvp modes in any mmorpg I've ever played.@ThePolarTitan.4025 said:
5. Bring guild wars back into the game. Competition isn’t a bad thing and if there was a more competitive way for guilds to wage wars and form alliances that would be fantastic. I know some people don’t like having five guild slots open because it gives people options to form many relationships with many guilds which makes them more spread out and less involved with a guild. We need to have a more controlled guild type where we can really get back into guild wars and really get into the spirit of things so to speak. You could even bring this into the campaign expansions if wanted and here are my ideas.It would be cool to have some GvG matches, I would also like to see that. But by 'campaign', you mean the main story? If yes, then never ever should this be implemented as a part of the main story campaign. That would basically force people who come to enjoy the story to play a specific pvp mode. Not everyone has a guild, and many people prefer playing alone and enjoy the story at their own pace. If a story would be implemented to a potential GvG mode, it would have to be outside the main storyline. Something like raids. Then it would be cool.Also, never ever I've heard someone complain about 5 slots for guilds. This is the 1st time.@ThePolarTitan.4025 said:
   • what game doesn’t have an amazing villain. GW certainly has had some great ones but never one to match our main guild adventurers. What if we had not one villain, but a guild as the target? What if the villain formed a guild out of frustration from the commander? He has a backstory where he is broken from the events of dragons and he feels he needs to fix things since Tyria is in dissaray after the deaths of the dragons which upset the balance. The villain forms his guild and strikes an attack so that he can cripple the pact. You could do an amazing cutscene where the villain cripples the waypoint network and hijacks it allowing him to move and operate how he pleases. He does this by going after the asura complex and in the process kidnaps Taimi. His plan is truly a diabolical plan where he is ensnaring and baiting dragons watch. He uses Taimi to open new ways into the mists as he tries to “restore balance” by changing the world. You could even release some big baddies in the process which can be brought into the game at a later date. I always imagined him seeming like a normal guy. A guy who is human and is just someone who made himself powerful through research. He is calculating and has perfected his plan ever since the events of zhaitan. I imagined him as a human who had a trench-coat maybe a hat that he looked under as he peered down out people and made quick escapes using his hijacked teleport system. It would be fun and interesting to do this since this would or could change the game by making the characters questions their choices as the villains broke them.
     That is basically Scarlet, just a different race. She was an ordinary sylvari who made herself powerful through research, wore a trenchcoat, made various 'guilds' (like the Molten alliance, the Aetherblades, and so on...). She was also known for her quick escapes. The big baddie released and used at a later point in the game was Mordremoth. The waypoint system was somewhat hijacked by Mordremoth. Also Taimi was already captured by Joko and suffered a trauma. That poor thing does not deserve to experience it again. To me, this feels a bit repetitive, I would rather have something completely new. But who knows... maybe people would like the 2nd Scarlet. If yes, then that's okay.

     @ThePolarTitan.4025 said:

   • Idea 2! I know this is a cliche, but what if time was involved as in time travel. Anet always wants to be different in how they tell their story and in a fantasy world this could mesh well since the asura are advanced. Imagine this>>> Years in the future we see a destroyed Tyria, Logan is there broken and disfigured. He is a different person in this time since queen Jenna died and he couldn’t save her this time. He works with a slightly insane asura who is quite comical and they manage to use the leyline energy to travel back in time as Logan tries to stop past events from happening even though they technically will be our future events. You could honestly go anywhere with this idea and add a cool class too or at the very least a new mechanic.Might be interesting, but it would have to be implemented very well. And the 'cool class' with a matching theme is already occupied by Chrono.@ThePolarTitan.4025 said:
   • these were some of the ideas I had, but I wanted to touch classes quickly since people have been getting bored with classes as well.Really?? Then just change the class.@ThePolarTitan.4025 said:
6. When you play as a class your first five abilities are fixed for the most part for your weapons. Sure you can swap weapons out, but they are for the most part unchangeable. I would love to see an option where you can really BUILD a class. Some might think this is nitpicking or disagree and I would love to hear your thoughts. I really believe adding options to customize how you fight would really change the game on so many fundamental levels. So for instance if you wanted to use a longbow as ranger and wanted to play in a manner of hit and run hit and run, you could customize your guy with a lot of low/medium damage evade abilities that would inflict some conditions as you played. Or if you wanted to fight in AOE style combat you could do that too. This is honestly an idea which could really open up the game a little more giving people more control and fun as they discuss their favorite combat techniques and strategies.I'm sorry but this would mean changing the core of the combat system, and that will most likely never happen. That would be almost like making a new game. Not even speaking about balancing that.
   • I love guild wars, I see people leave and it’s saddening. Especially since they are leaving because the combat and mechanics seem to feel repetitive at times and really make you feel wanting more out of it. If any Anet people happen to read this by any snowball chance i wanted to end with this.Wut? Combat mechanics repetitive? Gw2 combat system is usually mentioned as the strength of this game, because it's just so fun. Many people love it. Sure there might be some flaws, for example people expressed many times that Rev's versatility in making builds is very low, because of its profession system (which would be easily solved by adding few more utilities for each legend and maybe one more core weapon). But overall, the combat system itself is more than okay. It's genius, compared to the combat system of other mmorpg games.

[OrbitalButt.5708]

Time Travel is always a mistake

[Sephylon.4938]

We have fractals if you want to time travel

[Randulf.7614]

Forget the marriage system, otherwise some reasonable ideas. Fyi, the rival guild idea is already in game with modus sceleris. However it went nowhere because they claimed it was unpopular (largely because it wasnt really developed or advertised).https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Modus_Sceleris

Was a great idea though and some of the events are well hidden (like the one outside the Priory)

[Oldirtbeard.9834]

It's a 5 year old game, even World of Warcraft doesn't keep their subscribers around 100% of the time any more. Most games have a beginning and an end with a handful of DLCs, while MMOs survive for a number of years never producing enough content to keep people occupied for every play session they need. Don't worry your friends will come back in 2 weeks when the next episode of Living World comes out, and if they're busy playing Summerset or arguing with their CC Companies over their Bless Online purchases after being ripped off then they'll be back a little bit later than that.

There will never be enough features, there will never be enough content; that's the nature of the genre we play in so either you enjoy what you've got or you lament on the forums, or you join the roving band of MMO gypsies that traipse from game to game until you make it back and enjoy a mountain of content that has stockpiled in your absence.

[ThePolarTitan.4025]

Also I had the idea of a VIP subscription service where people pay 5-10$ a month for better daily rewards such as lion keys, transmutation charges, etc.

[Sylvari.2953]

We need player housing! The tech is already in the game thanks to guild hall decorations, they just have to enable it for everyone and let us buy "homes" like in other MMOs. Ta-daaa. :)

[STIHL.2489]

Insane Asura .. now do you mean.. More Insane then they already are.. or just insane by humans standards (Ergo Normal for an Asura) ?

[alcopaul.2156]

Queen Jennah and Emperor Kisu II, from the lineage of Emperor Kisu of Cantha, marries and Unites Cantha and Tyria, summons the Battle Lords of the Battle Isles, in accordance to a sacred ritual kept in the Priory Secret Vault and assaults Elona and unleashes Scarab plague Ultimate Edition, killing Joko and Deposing Kormir, which really are allies, and the Mursaats reappear and control Elona. The Mursaats then are pleased and rewards the Royal house with the Secret, kept by the future told "Scarab Asura", and he opens the planes/portals. Then the Guild Wars world expands. Skies will open. Laws of the Guild Wars universe won't be fixed anymore. Planetary travel to galactic travel. And we will see new races from those travels. And there will be no more Guild Wars. Only Guild Friendly Wargames. And fashion wars and pve loot wars. forever.

[ThePolarTitan.4025]

@STIHL.2489 said:Insane Asura .. now do you mean.. More Insane then they already are.. or just insane by humans standards (Ergo Normal for an Asura) ?

insane as maniacal laughing, talking to himself. Someone that seems a bit unhinged for being an asura.

[STIHL.2489]

Well anyway..

Like the idea of a marriage.

Would like the idea of maybe making/buying a custom home instance.

And having an Online Profile in game.. would be cool.

So.. +1 for those ideas.

[starhunter.6015]

No added boosts or boons to a Marriage system. Shared inventory between players could be abused.
Time travel we already have fractals for that, which are very rich in lore and story if you pay attention and don't just speed clear them.

[juhani.5361]

Sorry to do the 'ole clip and chop here-- I like some of your ideas.

@"ThePolarTitan.4025" said:

1. Marriage system with shared inventory space. I know a lot of fans have talked about this and some guild members of mine have even suggested adding speed or xp boosts for partners who are in a party together, this would be a fun system and might even form some relationships in the process.

I have no idea how they could do this, but after the "Friendship" campaign a couple of months ago, this would be a cool addition. Are you thinking this might be an opt-in thing with another player through the social interface? Something else, like a co-registration code when you log into the GW2 site?

2. Fixed housing system NOT instances: I would be happy if they changed instances or made them more personable. But I would love a housing option. I love the idea of instances, but it feels dull at this point. If there was a way, and i would be ok with gemstone purchases, to purchase a home in areas and expansion zones that would have customizable features. Then that would be something for people to go for. You could even go so far as to add extra skills for people to use to upgrade homes or build furniture. Or you know if you want money to support the game just make it all gem stuff. I’d be ok with that.

A lot of personal player housing in various games is instanced. Otherwise you run into map space concerns-- the difference between SWTOR's strongholds and Shroud of the Avatar's permanent housing, the latter of which sold (maybe still sells) for real life currency. Sandboxed housing takes up huge swaths of virtual maps. Instanced personal housing could probably be added a lot of places with minimal map impact. Something like the home instance, but an actual house.

Housing does a lot for player retention and is usually a huge source of revenue. Thumbs up, even if it's not my personal cup of tea :)

3. Creating a new interface for friends/guilds. Games are changing and social media is a big part of it. This idea is a bit far out, but what if we had a tab for our profile. A tab where we could build a public profile and add friends. We could share screenshots of events, coordinate things, and take selfies with friends who like to have fun or role-play ingame . This would be a fun feature that would give more players more reasons to stay. Just a more visual experience in total.

Only if there's an opt-out option. I already think the "followers" system is too public and needs some tweaks. You can't really run in privacy mode without losing your ability to use map chat. This would be extra icing on the too-public cake for a soloer like me. That said, if there was an opt out, this could be a cool idea for more social players. Conditional thumbs up.

5. Bring guild wars back into the game. Competition isn’t a bad thing and if there was a more competitive way for guilds to wage wars and form alliances that would be fantastic. I know some people don’t like having five guild slots open because it gives people options to form many relationships with many guilds which makes them more spread out and less involved with a guild. We need to have a more controlled guild type where we can really get back into guild wars and really get into the spirit of things so to speak. You could even bring this into the campaign expansions if wanted and here are my ideas.

Oog, more solo-unfriendly features in future expansions? No, no, no and more no-- at least to that part of your idea. I'm not sure if forcing people to single-guild either would be a good idea especially since the game has had five slots from the get-go. No single guild ever represents any person's needs, especially if you have players who span multiple game modes. In some MMOs without WvW type modes, you might be able to get away with it. Here? Not so much, especially since guilds are account-based and not character-based.

Right now, the player has a choice in how s/he might want to pursue guild relationships. S/he can choose to single guild or multi-guild. With your system, the player would lose a lot of options. Locking players into a single playstyle is never a good idea. That alone might drive players away instead of enhancing retention.