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Guild Wars 2: What We Hope To See Out Of Its Fourth Expansion | MMORPG.com
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Guild Wars 2: What We Hope To See Out Of Its Fourth Expansion | MMORPG.com
Guild Wars 2 is taking some bold steps this year and we couldn't be more excited. Kanishka breaks down what we're hoping to see out of the next expansion in ArenaNet's epic MMORPG.
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That's simply not true. Yes, from time to time someone will ask for a new profession but they are by far the minority. Tengu are very popular yes, but new professions simply are not. There a few reasons for that, with the existance of elite specializations and the fact that we have 3 professions per armor class at the top of that list. You want a monk? Well, Willbender and Daredevil actually come close. You want a Bard? We could see it as an elite spec for the Mesmer in the future. Coming up with class fantasies that can't be filled by elite specs is quite difficult.
The only way I could see a new profession being introduced is if it's a light armor profession that comes with 3 elite specs out of the gate. One elite spec gives it medium armor, one elite spec gives it heavy armor and the third gives it no additional armor class to wear. But even then I think the chances are close to 0. Adding a new profession probably means the existing professions would not get new abilities which would dissappoint a lot of players.
If you had said new weapon types (such as polearms or brass knuckles or crossbows) instead of new professions then I would've agreed.
Concerning the other points:
- A new race: You mention balance here but balance is not a part of races in GW2. Remarks like that makes me wonder how well the author actually knows the game. I think the most difficult thing with races (and I say that as someone who loves the idea of playable Tengu) is getting existing weapons and armor to work on their model. I don't think story has to be that complicated, just don't make the new race go through the base story. Make their story hook into the story that is being told in the new expansion.
- The rest... fine. I don't really care about things like Housing or Naval battles.
What I personally want is simply interesting gameplay (both because my abilities are interesting and because the challenges are interesting), an interesting story, interesting environments. That's it really. If it can deliver that, it's a good expansion. If not then it's not. It doesn't need to do anything new (like Mounts or Skiffs), it just needs to do more and do it well. But I know that's not how things work because the game will need features (like Housing) to market itself.
Anyway, here's my wishlist:
Elite Specs:
Revenant - Ritualist
Gains a dagger. Summons the spirit of the INACTIVE legend as a pet.
Mesmer - Bard
Gains a Warhorn. Loses shatters. Plays songs instead by combining the Notes produced by summoning different clones. Gains Aria utilities.
Engineer - Siegemaster
Gains a Longbow with a trick quiver akin to Green Arrow/Hawkeye. New mechanic - the Arbalest. This badass siege weapon can be customized with your Grandmaster trait to be either an autonomous turret that benefits from turret traits, a powerful stationary siege weapon, or a combat mount. Gains Trap utilities.
Thief - Wayfarer
Gains a greatsword and Shout utilities that break stealth but deliver powerful effects.
New Content
I really feel that we should get an expansion on islands, like Southsun, the Ring of Fire, and the surrounding Unending Ocean.
Optional duels in PvE zones to make it more interesting for those who want, without having to sink into toxicity inside instanced PvP.
More engaging content (just like Triple Trouble, but on a different scales and difficulties).
Clutter removal, as there's way too much irrelevant junk items just for NPC diposal at any occasion.
+ what folks above said - naval combat, housing, etc.
Basically - what any self-respecting MMO should aspire to have.
Which is insane when you think about it. Cantha was the one piece of content everyone wanted.
In terms of other things, I would like more HoT style maps. GW2 has my favorite PvE maps out of any MMO, and the Heart of Thorns style ultra-dense vertical maps are the best. They felt like you were navigating enormous labyrinths of constant events and secrets.
I would like more WvW maps as well. The game is nearly 10 years old, we should have at least 3 maps for the 3 teams. Unfortunately it is pretty clear that ANet struggles when it comes to WvW - the maps we have are stale, and the newest map (which is now 7 years old) does not play as well as the original.
I would like more good masteries, I like what they have done with the idea so far, but I really don't see where they would go from here. I hope it is not just more zone-specific stuff - though that has been well implemented so far, that is not as interesting as the masteries that affect the entire game.
I think I have enough classes right now. ANet's elite specs is a great way to continue to add new ways to play that builds upon the older classes, and I really like it. I think revenant showed that it is tough for ANet to add a new class and have it feel as balanced/polished as the others, and at this point the game already supports an enormous variety of playstyles.
I hope they update the talent specs. They simplified this forever ago, different talent trees used to be more complex and also give stats with each point spent. The stats are the main thing I want back, it really lets you get creative with your builds. The core specs also need major balancing passes.
I would like to see improvements to the story instances. The writing still needs work, they are full of poorly thought out gameplay, there are bugs, and some of them are far too long. I think it is cool that ANet tries to do this, I just think it is the thing they are worst at.
almost as bad as LOTRO's 7 months to respond to a ticket , i got a response from guild wars staff but they were copy pasted, they never read my ticket, and automatically claimed it was "solved" and sent me a feedback survey. thats after waiting for months
Here is the breakdown:
New Race: Most Likely Won't Happen, Not only due to needing to make a personal story for them, but also needing to match all the armors, skins, and outfits to the new race, which is why Tengu is never going to happen.
More people wanted Largos anyway, which is why they put out that whole Largos back items and outfits.
If there ever is a new race, it will not be something that is difficult to retrofit, like the Tengu, and would either be something like the Largos, barring that Quaggan or Skritt have far more Popularity than Tengu, which, if they would have retrofit, they might as well go all the way.
New Profession: That was tried, and lets be honest, Revenant failed to be badass, not seeing that happening again any time soon, and Elite Spec's seem to have taken over the role of new professions anyway.
Housing: Guild Halls, and Personal Instance, as well as Passes, not seeing how "Housing" would add anything.
Anet's always undervalued new races as a just-cosmetic thing. But that's not the case. New races represent a new chance to onboard new players and send existing players into a low level map with them. Guild Wars 2 unfortunately lessens the new player/low level map experience with all the free level up tomes it hands out like candy. And that's probably a major unacknowledged contributing factor to the game's overall health issues.
Largo's are just Human Models, with Back Wings, in fact they even had that Largo's Back Item and Glider set, showing how easy it would be to fit them into the game. They would also fit better into an "endless ocean" expansion, but I think we may have passed the bridge of Aquatic maps and expansions, who knows on that one.
I sear however that the Sea dragon gives me vibes of Sisu from Raya and the last Dragon, I hope that was just some kind of unrelated similarity, as I have to give Anet staff credit for being very creative people.
Also, with Largos, while I doubt they would ever do it, however, something that would kick ass, would be if they reversed the land/aquatic armor slots for Largo's, so that while on land, they had to wear a rebreather, but their normal armor slots were all classified as Aquatic armor, that was only available in the expansion, in this way, they would not need to retrofit anything.
And then players could earn their Aquatic Armor Slots (Because GW2 players love that shit), and perhaps even add in Swimsuits designs which a lot of players have been asking for since Southsun as well (This I wager would no doubt end up being a store item, or something along those lines)
I don't get the new zone thing, personally, leveling tomes make it so that while I might have a stable full of 80's, outside maybe 3 of them, they have around 20% map completion, and no personal story done, so, I still end up needing to drag them through the starting zones if I wanted to do any of that. Also, unless they banned Exp tomes on the new race, players would pop them to 80th like they do all their alts, so I don't see a new race bolstering the population of low level zones, just my feels on that one.
I could see adding in some low level Core zones, that would bring a lot of players back to the low level regions, but I don't see how a new class or race would do it.
I could also see adding in say.. a few more festivals/Events, so that every race had their own special "Event". right now, we have SAB in Rata Sum, Halloween in Lions Arch, Wintersday and New Years in Divinity's Reach.. how about something for the Black Citadel, the Grove, That would bring a lot more higher level players into those starting cities.
With a good cycle, they could have each starting city somewhat bustling every quarter.
No one wants Naval Combat, hell, most people don't handle the underwater combat well which is, no joke, the best I have ever seen in any game (Gotta give credit where it is due), I cannot imagine anyone wanting some kind of combat where they are not only trying to balance on a rocking and shifting ship like platform, they also need to deal with fighting in the water if they fall off the ship.
While I would like to see more done to expand on their Aquatic set up, like being able to dye rebreathers, and having more skin options for them, or even allowing for a full set if aquatic armor, I also realize I am in the vast minority on that one, just like it seems that I am also in the vast minority when I do the underwater fractal, and not only do I not lose much in AR, I also gain swim speed.
So, so I can't imagine players wanting Naval Combat. I would love however, if you could use ships in EotM, to coast through the air, and bypass a lot of BS routes they have set up, that would be fun as all hell.
I agree, we could use more Dungeon Style Content.
I also agree that adding in more Core Content could be pretty cool, but since they made core F2P they really don't have any motive to add to that content.
WvW, I have got to admit that their sPvP and WvW, are in a great deal of needing some love, in compairosn to their PvE content updates.
But, I do recall that they have already bitched about making Armor fit all the existing races, and getting a rating of zero, because of some minor clipping, as such, I cannot imagine what kind of shit storm they would have trying to add in a new race at this stage of development, where they would need to retrofit everything.
Now, assuming what you are saying is true, that they could not (As in this problem is still ongoing) even fit Sylvari well, which, lets be honest, look like small humans with a leaf skin texture, I wager they have had or still have, similar issues with Norn as well (personally I always thought those huge ass shoulders were intended on Norn's), and that would make it even less likely they would make the effort to retrofit all their existing armor and outfit skins to a new model, for something we have got to be honest about the fact that it would not generate anywhere near enough ROI to justify it.
I mean, at this point they would be better served to add in Quaggan, and have them have to wear their own race specific special armors, as opposed to trying to retrofit anything. Which, would go over about as well as a fart in a church.
Even Skritt or Tengu, would not get a pass on that either, as the player population has already pointed out that they use the same armature as the Char, so they would all piss and moan if the armor skins were not retrofitted.
In the end, if what you are saying is true, that it would not be easy for something as benign as a human model, I cannot fathom seeing them use something that might end up being even harder to work with.
Plus some more... before I need a 4th expansion. Guess I picked a good time to return!
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Dying barely visible item instead of adding a whole new layer of gameplay loop with naval combat? And later on people are scratching their heads wondering how the hell we're getting worse and worse games with each passing year...
I mean, no offense since GW2 is fashion friendly, but c'mon, think about players outside GW2 playerbase who'd probably get attracted if this game actually expanded on their MMORPG label instead of keeping it close to the 'hub-based instance farming simulator', that it feels sometimes.
If it was any other game, I mean, no joke, if this was any other game, I would mainly on your side with that point.
But, GW2, is really a game that is all about cosmetics, to the point that they built their entire end game premise around the idea that players would farm for several hundred hours for a legendary weapon, that was equal to a Generic Solders Stat Exotic, with a pretty particle effect and glowing footfalls, and even had players that would go so far, as to reskin their Legendary because they only wanted the foot fall effect.
Legit, GW2 made a huge aspect of their game to be about cosmetics, and no joke, dying and adding in cool Rebreather Skins, would in fact be some cheep thrills fan service, and get them more good will than building whole naval battle system that could run the risk of sucking.
Personally, I would have liked it if they added in "Mini Battles" and they even have an arena set up, but you know, Pokémon copyright and all that, stopped that dead, but I still think if they did it right, they could make a mini game in that alone as well... I don't see that happening any time soon, or like ever.. but still a fun idea.
As far as fishing for players outside the game, and trying to lure them in.
I would like to believe that Anet learned painfully with Raids that adding in new things as a gimmick to try and attract in new players is not always a good idea, especially something that does not appeal to their current loyal population.
They need to play that kind of thing safe these days.
No joke, they have amazingly bounced back from their HoT blunder, to try and attract those "outside the game" and going all hardcore, raids, and being like all the other MMO's out there, and what have you, and nothing but mad props for that recovery, but, keep in mind, that lead to NC coming in and taking over, laid off around half their staff, canceled all their other projects, and canned Anet founder MO, so, Not gonna lie, I am not sure if they could take a round two on that level of screwup and still exist as a company.
Anet these days seems to be more than content to just pump out more of the same, and dish out fan service with the coming of their steam launch.
I for one, agree with this approach, build up and improve what they have as opposed to risking adding in some square wheels.
Gold is everything in GW2 though, and the best gold farms are in the open world, where they should be.
IMHO, Anet has, I think, has finally realized that Raids were in fact a huge mistake, and like all the content they realized was not profitable, they opted to quietly stop development on them, with little to no fanfare on the subject.
Much like they stopped development of guild missions which I thought had a huge amount of potential, but I can also respect how they may have hurt smaller guilds, which could not get the numbers up to make them happen.
I still believe that they need to put in another path to PvE Legendary Armor, or they will still run into the same problem as before when they launched HoT, while no doubt all the players that felt burned by L-Armor being raid locked already quit, or simply gave up on it, But when the steam sales hit, that's going to bring in a fresh crop, which might have, well... Steam allows them to rate the game, so, we will see how that plays out for them.
This is solid logic, I couldn't agree more. I guess I was speaking from the bottom of my idealistic mmorpg heart; even though I'm pretty aware, that these things won't happen and they'll likely stick to their current strategy of making content tailored for those who spend the most and play mostly for these things, I grew up liking this setting too much to realise earlier that I'm not having enough fun with the gameplay loop anymore, once I covered majority of the regular content, and I'm waiting for something that won't come.