Merge the world, have more fun!

I propose to have the guild wars map merged into one big server, almost like WoW.

But wait! Before you scrunch your noses and point your flamesticks towards me, let me explain the idea before starting up a whole "comparison war" between the two games.

The international districts, which are barely used, would combine the guild wars map into a whole world, without zones separating each part. ONLY and ONLY the intl districts would receive this, and no HOME DISTRICT receives a merged world. Not understanding? Let me clarify.

Imagine the city of Lion's arch. Now imagine walking right outside to the North Kryta province, without entering the instance! As opposed to the people who bought this game for instances, newsflash: home districts will remain zoned and instanced! Only the int'l districts are merged. Some extra details and pros/cons:

DETAILS:
-no "travel" function. since the world is interconnected, it would not make sense to jump from lions arch to maguuma stade in a single second. pro:those fanatics about exploring can take a LOOOONG trip if they want to.

-hmm...should i even mention this? the addition of flying mounts! these could be the alternate "travel" function in this merged world, and add more arbitrary features for players to sink their teeth into.

-a more viable Factions system! the int'l district of faction and their respective Kurzick/Luxon territories could finally implement an exciting PvP mode. Imagine walking through the jade sea, only to get jumped by a band of kurzick smiter monks! of course, even this could have an effect on faction map lines. (in the international district)

these are but a few ideas that come with the merged world.

CONS
-monster killing in the merged world. i'm not sure if this could be worked out, but they could possibly add spawns? i dunno.

-server space. maybe there would be lag issues, but i'm sure the amazing anet team could handle this

-with server space comes extra fees (a big contradiction to anet policy), unfortunately implementing higher game cost or even -gasp- monthly fees.

ENDING WORDS
i see this idea as a fresh alternative the guild wars game. it does not stray from original guild wars ideology, and keeps instances as a completely viable option. participating in the non-instanced and merged world would provide no benefit (other than vanity...mounts etc.) over instanced worlds. the merged world is the "other option" for a real-time experience, involving the areas of exploration and PvP.

P.S. leave criticisms, hate mail, death threats, flash bombs, or w/e. its jus a thread y'all. i won't be offended. but good crits are nice haha

I will give the OP more prop since he also pointed ou the Cons.

I like the "merge world", but think such thing just don't fit in well with GW.... with out modifcation.

Key is how to retain the benefit of such merge world, while still fit withing the basic frameworkd of GW.

So far I only have two brain storm ideas on that... one is the Camp Area, and another is is new PvPvE map zone that could handle large amound of player.
(each have their own thread... thought not popular... so I won't provide the links)

I'm waiting for the GW fanboys to come and flame you down to hell. But don't worry, it's a good idea and I'll be backing you up on this one.

Like what Actionjack said, you're very wise to also appreciate the pros AND cons of the idea. So because you are aware of the setbacks, it'll give the flamers no base on which to flame on.

You're my hero.

You don't have to be a Guild Wars fanboy to see it's an awful idea.

LFR TO TOA!!!



no more of that WOO!!! And it's optional.

also, I'd love to enter a town without seeing a loading screen.

/signed

This would require a complete rewrite of the game's engine.

They would have to make the engine load dynamically, as opposed to the zone based loading.
Then they would have to rewrite how spawns work, because right now, creatures do not respawn.
Then they would have to rewrite ingame communications, since they are zone wide now, and zones would be done away with they would need to make it distance based, or some such thing.
Also, missions, and many quests, would no longer work as they are currently designed. The missions themselves would have to be redesigned from scratch. How would a group lead the king and hold the fort in THK if there are 50 other people trying to do the exact same thing at the exact same time?
Flying mounts? another engine redesign/upgrade. As it is, GW does not detect height well. You can stand on a bridge over an enemy and hit it with your axe. Same thing would happen with a flying mount.

That is just a few problems off the top of my head. And that just scratches the surface.

Sure non-instanced games have their appeal, but you are talking about a fundamental redesign and recode of the entire game and it's engine.

well said. they may as well design an entirely new game to implement this. And OH how i wanted to jump around the 100% explorable landscape and then fly away on my mount.

Overall, a merged world would be a neat idea, even if it were only for some zones as opposed to a merge of the entire world.

That said, taking out the travel function is an absolutely horrible idea. I play with friends in both Europe and occasionally Korea. Without the travel function, that would no longer be able to work. Even if we're allowed to go back to the Home District, map, and then meet again in International..... if we can do that, then why not just retain our international mapping abilities.

Idea needs a lot of work before /sign

reminds me of lineage 2

/not signed

This is not L2 or WOW. The way GW was built was for a stanced game, and this will not change. MAYBE on some new chapters, but i REALY wouldnt bet on it.

Also taking huge travels would kill the game...I realy like the abbility to go where I want when I want....taking 5hrs trip from Ascalon to Droknars would be a real PAIN!!!

Just to be sure...

/not signed again.

Latter.

/notsigned

Making part of the game not instanced would take a lot of doing on the part of the devs.

its like saying i want the moon

it wont happen.

it require from anet so much work they will trash it before consider it.

here, I know exactly what you're looking for: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/

There, that's the game you're trying to play.

/not signed

I like it instanced.

Good way of representing your ideas, though. Pros/Cons analyzations are always good.

Too much changes to the game engine. Won't happen in Guild Wars.

Maybe they release a separated GW type game some day. Instances are good when you want to keep something secret and don't want to wait your turn to do something or simply want your privacy. Maybe instances are also cheaper for the servers. I must say that I would like to see non-instanced large areas in GW some day but not complete re-work.

Keep in mind that WoW servers hold maybe 20,000 players each and those realms are not connected each other. Guild Wars doesn't have this limitation so non-instanced stuff probably would be technically impossible unless they burn money away and take serious losses. Even monthly fee games like WoW can't do that so there is no way GW could do it with current fees.

sensational idea
i like it alot, you've even described what is good and what may be bad, which lets face it, alot of people don't do, so:

/Signed

/notsigned.

Too much work for devs, problems have been listed.
WOW would 'have another reason' why gw sucks. ITS JUST COPYIN OF US NOW!
It really isnt necesarry. [spelling, completely forgot how to]
Etc etc.

*pours gasoline into Super Squirter*

*pulls Zippo from pocket*

There are several things wrong with your idea.

1. It would be time consuming, and GW would most likely be changed to a monthly-fee game.
2. Traveling would be left to the Whammos with charge and sprint.
3. WoW communty wouldn't take kindly to use using their world idea.
4. load times and LAAAG city.
5. We seriously don't need mounts at all.
6. GW offers tons of exploration already.
7. you already have to get to a place before you can map to it, making you walk to it to begin with.
8. "Ninja"ing would be rampant. (stealing another person's loot)
9. the entire game's system would be screwed up.

/notsigned.

The instanced world stops spawn camping.

"Ninja"ing isn't really an issue in GW anyway. You can't pick up an item that's reserved for someone else. Period.

Anyways...the world map should be merged so you can see Tyria, Cantha, and Elonia all at once. But then you'd only be able to go to the places with gold dots. Mounts would be cool looking but really impractical.

/not signed

For all of 10 minutes.

hmm. well the main message im getting is that the new merged world would be impractical, useless, and would be a rework of the engine.

i was not proposing a loss of instanced worlds, but an addition to the game with a free-exploration mode. i think Anet could implement this in an expansion pack of sorts (to those who want an open GW world) and rework that world (international districts) into an engine similar but completely different to the current world.

for example: missions and traveling would not remain in this world, they would remain strictly instance types. mounts are a way of traveling the world and exploring, even adding more variety to the PvE player. (i know there's alot of you)

A merged world creates a big sense of involvement, as opposed to the segmented and disjointed districts of each small outpost. Wouldn't it be cool to unexpectedly see a traveler in Talmark Wilderness? Ettin's Back?

and for those that suggested i play WoW.. I would not post my ideas if i could easily make a transition to WoW. i really like the guild wars engine and its style of play, but i think it can be improved upon to be highly popular. as it is, gw is popular with an instance-only game, which is revolutionary. merging the world would elevate GW's gameplay to the next level.

if you can wait a bit you can ninja. but over all its not to much of a problem. have seen players not-res when a black dye or ecto drops then wait till they can make a grab though.

The mount would replace runners. make it where you could still be hit/hexed etc but you have to dismount to fight. would mean anyone with a mount could run and the war/mo could go to that great treadmill in the sky. (would the rits ride be blind too?)

agreed on the map merge for map travel but not the merged idea of OP.

/notsigned OP sorry. did like the pro/con thing

~the Rat on a Moa~

You have to remember though, that GW is still in the 'baby stages'. This is why(imho) they are trying to bring out these expansions. They can't compete with the variety or size of WoW(i'm not saying its better, just bigger) because Wow is older and a different style of rpg. I could some of these being implemented(at the same time as new races, etc.) when the game has 'matured' a bit, when the company can stop focusing on expanding 'laterally'(new lands, just trying to build one type of player base) and can focus on going 'deeper'(more complex content, new races, changing the play style slightly). As long as the original, unique style of GW is kept intact, then I will gladly give you kudos for originating this idea, if it becomes used.
We'll just have to wait and see.

Spawn camping is fun

Interesting idea and well set out but...

/Not signed

For reasons stated already

10 minutes? Well unless its an Ecto, a green weapon, or an ungodly amount of gold is it worth the wait? I might stay if they dropped any of the Monsterous items. I need them to make my armor pretty.

/notsigned

Instanced gaming is the core engine of GW, while the whole merged map idea is nice it just doesn't fit the GW mentality, nor the business model.

/notsigned

having an instanced world is the reason we dont pay monthly fees

Please dont try to change my game