[Spotlight Concept #6] Expansion and Evolution of the PvE world

Howdy, it's time for #6.

Those of you who have known me for a long time in this forum may be aware that it is a favourite subject of mine. I have made threads about possible PvE expansion areas in the past, and about changes to the current lands (i.e. evolution).

The last Spotlight was on Improving and Expanding PvP, and before that we looked at improving the challenge of PvE; and before that we looked at god realms for Dwayna, Melandru and Lyssa.

The topic for this one is 'Expansion and evolution of the PvE world'... in other words, what can we add on to the current world (all three continents), and how can the current world evolve in time? In terms of expansion, think Sorrow's Furnace. There are many gaps in the map that could be filled in with explorable areas, missions and outposts. And an example for 'evolution' would be the rebuilding of Ascalon.

What's not up for debate is when and how ANet would add to or change the lands of old chapters, for I fear that may descend into an argument about ANet's business model and release schedule. We will simply discuss what they could add or change.

I know there have been quite a few threads in the past about new areas and changes to the game world (some made by myself). Please do not link to them here; let us start afresh and as a community build our ideas up through discussion.

Please take into account:

• Guild Wars lore
• Already existing game lands and their inhabitants
• The fundamental limits of Guild Wars that most probably will not be changed in the future (e.g. no Z axis)
• Storyline and spoilers: If your post is going to include something concerning the story at a point that some players may not have reached, please include a *SPOILERS* tag.
• The rules of this forum
• Other people's interests.

Now let's begin.

What might our ideas include?
Expansion

• The Charr homeland
• The land between Ascalon and the Crystal Desert
• The Tarnished Coast (south of the Maguuma Jungle)
• Orr (it is possible that not all of it fell beneath the water in the Cataclysm)
• North of Kryta
• Northwest of the Maguuma
• The coast that runs down the western side of the Shiverpeaks (next to Lornar's Pass and Snake Dance)
• The southern parts of Kaineng City
• Various islands around Shing Jea
• The south shores of the Jade Sea
• The mountains and river mouth north of the Jade Sea
• The large region east of Kourna
• The mountainous shore that runs west of Kourna and the Desolation, north of Istan and all the way up to Orr in Tyria

Evolution

• Rebuilding of Ascalon
• Rebellions against the White Mantle in Kryta and the restoration of the Monarchy
• Deldimor winning against the Stone Summit in the Shiverpeaks
• New invaders from the north and west
• Shining Blade established control over the Maguuma
• Defeat of the Charr
• Undead destroyed in Kryta
• A new war between the Luxons and Kurzicks
• Kourna returned to stability

Before I hand this over to you, I'd just like to explain something about evolution as I think it would work best if implemented:
Obviously, if the world were changed for everyone, the original storylines would make no sense. Therefore each player that receives evolutions would have the option of playing in the original world as it was first made, or the evolved world, at any time they liked. Not like warping through time whenever you feel like it, but choosing to play as the young'un who fought those level 4 Carrion Devourers off the edges of Ascalon City, or the old man who's been through it all and just saved Elona from Varesh and nightfall (or whatever happens in future chapters before any evolution takes place).

Now it's time for me to stop blabbering and the rest of you to post all your wonderful ideas . Feel free to put in as much detail as you like, and... happy posting!

Heres the story:

"After the defeat of the lich king life returned to normal in tyria, yet as it seems peace had finally won stories of a new curse fell upon the land.

The coast of lionsarch Swelled threating to take the stalls of the local merchants, the husbands of fishermans haven brought in a great diminished catch and the shany towns of the refugee's of ascalon were driven from their camps by terrible storms, driven into the capital of kryta itself.

Debates raged over where the refugee's should go, with not a single inch of land to space for there towns. The generals and statesmen refusing to give a single plot to their fellow tyrians.

As over crowding caused strife in the city, fights barly held back by the Lionguard, the riot growing, battles in the streets. As the choas continued a signle ranger broke from the ranks - running straigh for sergio he reported his news "Orr has risen"

Their differences forgotton the vast public of Lions arch ran to the coast and a soloution had shown itself

"There" the general cried "There my friends shall be build our new home, the new ascalon!""

Right past all that crap (dont know why i wrote it), this was inspired by the fun i had somewhat customising the sunspear sanctuary. In the lost land of Orr the city of "new ascalon" shall be build upon its ruins, heres an idea of how it could work

There could be a city known as the "Construction camp", this is a city that anybody can go to much like most of the other cities. It should lead to an explorable area as the "gates of ascalon" which would be a ruined gatehouse,
this would lead onto more explorable disticts like:
"The merchants district" - where the merchants would be
"the arena district" - which could be a challenge mission
"the scholars district" - A good source of quests
"Ascalon Square" - center of the city

the idea would be to rebuild the city by doing quests, but with multiple options. the first quest to rebuild the gatehouse could be to find a mason to organise the job, you could find one in LA or if you have the expansions say find someone in the jade quarry for a kurzick/luxon look, or the quarryman in Istan for an elonian look.

This may be hard to implememnt but i'd like to see it...

meh

I got my Honpan expansion idea somewhere, care to give that a read?

But do make me want to write another expansion idea... but not inspired yet...hmmmm

After the great flame seeker prophecie in Tyria, eveything was fairly peaceful, until the white mantle's thrist for power grew. They eventually stopped the worship of their living gods and overthrew them, mericlessly slaughtering them on a mission to the ring of fire islands.

Believing to be superior even to the gods they sought power in the arcane libraries of Orr, discovering many new magics, like the power to breath under water. Reading one of the lost scrolls, the same one the Orrian King's advisor had read on the Cataclysm, they found that true magical power could be harnessed from the celestial bodies.

On their march back to Lion's Arch, the White Mantle practice with these arcane magics, using the power of the stars and other celestial bodies to leave a path of scorched earth behind them. At the capitol the new leader of the white mantle, Judicator Salame ordered the immediate interpretation of the more cryptic parts of the Lost Scrolls. What they found out was soon to be their quick downfall and rise to power.

The rituals of the great moon were started. Preperations were made for the day of the full moon in which they would draw its power for an all out assault on the manguma jungle, to rid the shining blade from it.

On the day of the full moon, Judicator Salame walked up to the on the runed stone and called out his incantation. All watched as he seemed to grow in height laughing as he felt the power grow within him. But something had gone wrong, and by the time it was noticed that the ritual was failing, it was to late. The moon was coming down; it had lost its magical properities that held it to the sky and was collapsing onto Lion's Arch. In an explosion as great as that that rocked Orr, Krtya was burned the a black ash. Yet, the great moon still had another secret, within its shattered remains the radiating magic mutated the mantle soldiers, bringing them to life with great power at the price of their humanity.

Pretty much Lion's Arch is destroyed, Kryta is destroyed and a black wasteland. The Mantle is now a race of mutant soldiers, with moon shards embedded in their flesh and the job of the hero is to kill Judicator Salame and to negate the moons magical properties.

K.

Guild Wars: Chronicles

Special features:

• Reincarnation: Take a favorite character and restart them at level 1 with a new appearance. They retain any items, unlocked skills, skill points and titles.
  
• Guild Wars Chronicles features a series of short stories detailing the Guild Wars world:
  • Take the role of a novice soldier in the White Mantle, suffering a crisis of conscience.
  • A lot happened in the time between the Searing and the time the Charr were pushed back. Take the role of one of the survivors.
  • Become a Kurzick in the days when Shiro was first at war with Cantha, and see the Echovald forest become a forest of stone.
  • Become a filthy Luxon in the days when Shiro was first at war with Cantha, and see the transformation of the Jade Sea.
  • Take the role of a Kournan soldier fighting under General Morghan.

This would serve as a way for people to develop a different history for their characters, a way to introduce hairstyle/face changes, and give new options for armor skins. It would also give us stuff to accomplish in areas off the regular map, fill in gaps in the story and open up possible new plotlines.

That was unecessary.

You basicly limited this to whatever you think is acceptable, I find it shrewd to assume that Z-axis cannot be added or is actually difficult because it isn't already implemented, and unless you have any information from Anet saying it is too difficult for them to do, I don't think it is unreasonable.

First of all I would like to clarify some distinctions. What you call evolution is actually called progression. Additional content developed around the exsisting content is progression of what we already have, it is not a change or revolution into something different, which is what evolution is.

And if this is really about Evolution, than it should revolve around changes to the game. That aside, this is what I think about expanding previous chapter content and actual evolution.

One way to include previous chapters in progressive content would be a chapter which repeats part or many of the locations in a previous chapter. Since we "can't" discuss the reasons why Anet will develope additional content for their new chapters and not old ones, I woln't bother explaining why it is unlikely that Anet will waste man power on a chapter which is already sold to most.

Because we cannot replace exsisting locations which provide an opportunity to return to previous missions, experiences and instances, the best option to provide progression on an exsisting area would be parrallels. With a new map of the same or part of previous chapters, previous locations can either all have alternatives, or they can just be left out and new ones nearby can be added.

As for actual ideas, I think progression is a step backwards. With progression of exsisting chapters you end up with less original creations, they are just building off of what already exsists. Progression, if considered at all, would best come in small chapter expansions (retail not free updates), which add a little more content, skills and maybe even a unique feature, like being able to play as another race. For instance, A Tengu expansion for Cantha which allows you to play additional missions which revolve around the Tengus interactions and allows you to create Tengu characters for all Cantha Professions. Perhaps Centaurs for Nightfall, perhaps even Char for Prophecies. With this your actually getting some lasting additions which will extend beyond use in that little expansion, and make the expansion valuable to those who may not even be interested in continuing previous chapters.

But better than that would be a new original chapter which simply included more influence from previous chapters, as well as shared some of the same locations. Primarily, a Sea Faring chapter which involves exploring the seas, as well as visiting ports in Tyria, Cantha, and Elona, as well as visiting notorious locations like Orr which is how under water.

As for evolution, which is all about the content you specifically excluded from this topic, I have and will discuss that where it is more welcome, perhaps in a real spotlight about the evolution of GW, and not just progression.

likely someone elsess idea from here.
Randomize mobs would be a huge step forward. The reason for this is if a player knows every mob by name they can farm it. if they build themselfs up to fight phsical damage dealers and theres one or two elements in there there going to be on the ground if they weren't epecting it.

Bring back the true Guild Wars. All to half of next expansions towns-cities be controllable much like Kurzick-Luxon towns in Factions. With the differences of control is based on guild rank and "Build" points can be purchased for 1k or won from a repeatable set of 3-4 "Master" quests. The "Build" points define what NPCs are in your town and how much area your town supposedly controls. All towns have access to the same elite mission area. Elite mission could possibly be an attack on the White Mantle leadership.

Contrary to the way people are thinking so far, I like the way ArenaNet is progressing with each chapter release. One can argue that adding a new continent each chapter detracts from the possibility of re-visiting worlds either in the past or in the near-future right after the crisis got averted. Consider the plotlines of the three continents so far. Prophecies and Factions had loose threads that Nightfall answered quite nicely, good all-encompassing ones like fallen gods, things in the Mists, and rematches against those bad guys you enjoyed to kill in the previous two chapters.

From here, I'd like to see it taken in one of a few directions.

1: Stick with the war on a higher plane idea. In previous manuals Balthazar was the guy who got you Faction for unlocks, Dwayna gave you a couple easy quests, Grenth got you to the Underworld, and all of the 5 True gods gave you some minor buffs in Cantha. Nightfall keeps away from the cheapness of gods that are there to help you with the tiniest things. In it, the 5 True ones are trying to keep 3 fallen ones from coming back to power. What people are trying to fight off in Nightfall is much higher than merely killing a Flameseeker or stopping a crazed bodyguard's revenge. Keep on tying in the fact that even the Mists aren't as peaceful as we'd like to believe.

2: Take us somewhere new. Tyria and Cantha, I've been all over, literally. They're boring after a point. I haven't been much in Elona, but I'm sure I'll get to that point there too. Bring something in that's fresh, perhaps a continent to the North of Tyria, or to the East of Cantha (places that the world maps allow). Don't go anywhere off of Elona yet, because Cantha has no geographic bearing relative to the other two, except somewhere to the West. Mix in varied cultures (my favorite Tyrian thing), vastly different areas to explore (plus on all 3 continents), and of course the obligatory 2 new professions. Start a new story, dropping in some lore-lover references from previous chapters, but make the continent its own.

3: Make us something new. Along the lines of the previously posted suggestion of allowing us to be different races, perhaps allow us to take on a different side of the story. Be a Charr immediately prior to the Searing, be Stone Summit just as Dagnar is getting revved up against Jalis, be Mantle searching for the Shining Blade. Granted this somewhat violates my first paragraph, but a game update (not a full retail product) with this aspect to it would be really cool, allowing ANet to fill in the blanks between key events in the existing plotlines.

4: Go Historical. The manuals have heavily detailed timelines. I'm sure that's to help us have an idea of where the continent has been and the like, but you could craft an entire other campaign around each existing chapter's timeline. Picture it: you're present during the chaos that was the gift of magic originally, staying around to see the Bloodstones dropped into Abaddon's Mouth. Or you're around at the time of the Jade Wind, or even earlier during the empire's founding (hectic time, I'm sure). Or chronicling Palawa Joko and Turai Ossa, and all that Scourge of Vabbi jazz. This could take the form of Historical Missions available to you after you finish the appropriate chapter's campaign. These could be accessed from a central location, say on an island of the Battles Isles at an outpost dealing with Arcane History. You could time travel and relive that period of already-happened history, typically as "the good guy." The Missions could be detailed, long, and difficult (think Elite), or a little simpler (Gates of Kryta, Arborstone), allowing for periodic updates with new Missions that can be visited.

Well, that's all I can think of for now, more than likely I'll figure some other things and need to repost.

Apologies. I had each blurb as a heavily detailed storyline, but decided short story ideas would be easier to read through. I apparently didn't cut out everything. Was supposed to be 'Filthy Luxon warrior in the blood spattered battlefields', etc. etc. IMHO, Luxons are supposed to be big ol' warriors, but playing through both campaigns, I just don't see them as proud warriors, just insensitive to the plight of Cantha (They don't hand over the spear, but make the PC's fight for it, which seems silly). I wanted that focus on that particular storyline: Luxons fighting as they should be.

Anyhow, to stay on topic...

I think that with the current trilogy at a close, and taking into account the fact that anet said every expansion wouldn't feature new classes: I think future expansions might include new races instead.

The Charr might well have a tale to tell. I detailed a storyline on GW Online, in which players would become young Charr warriors, defending the 'branded queen' - an amnesiac human girl found in the wastelands after the Searing, with a mark burned on her forehead that is the Charr rune for 'titans'.

They get kicked out the first story when you enter northern shiverpeaks...doubt their story would be worth buying

SPOILERS

Actually if you follow the Titan Quests through, they come in quite dramatically in The Last Day Dawns, where you protect Adelbern with a party of 4 from Frontier Gate. Level 24 Charr are something else.

The Kurzicks only agree to lend you the urn because they can't retrieve it themselves. The Luxons require the spear to defend their country. Luxon and Kurzick are ment to be extreme polarities of intellectual and instictive thinking, both leaving very much to be desired.

I like Tacktix perspective, it is generally what I suggest in my Sea Faring ideas. A chapter which revolves around exploring the seas and locations around the coasts of Cantha, Tyria and Elona, as well as new continents explored in future chapters and alot of islands, hailing from a large island or pennensula continient. With diverse ethnicities from different ends of the world, and a profession which are simular to the conquistadors and explorers of the Spanish, and either a Jamacan kind of professions or a Samurai profession from an opposite side of the world.

Chapters with related elements to previous ones are nice, but IMO, Elona is close to Tyria. Elona was mentioned beforehand and is relatively close as far as I know, if they make a chapter about the Char Homelands to the North, or exetentions or islands beyond the edge of Cantha, they should be Equally distant. A Land path between continents in different chapters would add to the feeling of continuity, but a Sea Chapter which covered all the seas between the previous chapters and reviels a single world map would be even better.

P.S. No offense, but I believe the world your searching for is Subtracts, not Detracts.

- New PvP modes like Fort Aspenwood style but other side players are made to look like Shiro'ken. Fight from Kaineng City areas control against Shiro'ken or something simillar what includes Shiro'ken as playable someway during PvP like mode.
- Fill cantha with elite areas what you can only access after finishing Factions campaign mode.
- Add difficult setting to all chapters missions what are not tutorials (Party vote difficult setting).
- Rework/polish first and second chapter cutscenes.
- Interactive in-game manual.

Not sure if this post belongs here or not... but I was dissapointed not to be able to enlist the advice of the sage old Glint, or the aid of Kunnavang. I loved having those two in both of the previous campaigns, and I think any story that features them in a more substantial role would be fun.
Maybe, along the lines of the 'historical' missions that have been brought up, we get to play a role in the writing/fortelling of the flameseeker prophpecies by Glint. Or assist the two Dragons in rooting out some last vestige of Abbadon's influence....
Ok, no more thinking out loud for me.

I'd love to see the 3 maps fused together, perhaps with unreacheable land between (since cantha doesnt seem to fit in). and then you gain access as you buy new campains.. cant be to hard to make.. plus, if ANet reads this, the possibility to see the maps of the other campaigns could make more people want to buy those campains..

This would be for prophecies first of all. Ill see what I can come up with later for the other campaigns.

The Kingdom of Arah: Beyond the watery grave.

In the nearly dark reaches beyond the sea of sorrows, they’re something reminiscent bellow on the sea floor. A kingdom that once was fallen shall arise again, and a new epic quest begins to re-submerge the once forgotten Kingdom of Orr: Arah; or as a different choice to leave its dark past berried forever. However there are others, like an unruly cult who wishes to provide help, as long as you give them what they want. Furthermore a dark sedition is going on with the former living Orr, who is fighting with a tarnished evil who want total control of the seas. See what lies bellow in the depths of long forgotten Orrian Kingdom, and see another alien world to guild wars you’ve never seen before.

*In this world would be an actual way to get a clear look at some interesting views of the once great kingdom of Arah, and what power really lies at the bottom of the GW watery lore.

*Two new power’s (PvE skills) the first would be granted to player allowing them to walk (or run) across vast less sea plains, without losing their breath and dying at the same time. The other power is a time elapse system that takes players in brief instances, to the past to see the kingdom of Arah in its glorious day’s. Also to unravel some of the dark secrets and treacheries that brought the former kingdom too it’s knees.

*There will be certain non-linear morale quest that will be given to players to examine; whether they help the cult of De’lisware, the power hungry entity of the dark lord of the GW realm’s deep waters, the ghostly increment of the Orrian Kingdom, or to leave the world berried forever.

That is basically my all my ideas of updating our current chapters (for a fee of course) summed up. I'd really like mini-chapters that don't cost as much as the original, but add things. And the biggest parts of these mini-chapters would be that you are able to make new characters that are tengu (for the canthan one), centaurs (for the nightfall one), and maybe dwarves or charr (for the prophecies one)? And hopefully these mini-chapters would also have a way to change existing character's race too? It could even be a gold sink. It could like the 15k armors(so it's just for looks, but gives no in-game benifit), except that it changes you to a tengu or something. And then these mini-chapters would also have a few more areas for you to explore and a few new towns or something. Maybe even a few misisons. Of course, I'm sure ArenaNet could make this into a chapter somehow, that way they can stay on their 6 month release plan thing.

That could be a way how the mini-expansions become whole chapters instead of just mini-expansions. Now, of course, if they are chapters, then they probably wouldn't be in the maps for our current chapters, but they could be nearby. Maybe somewhere north of ascalon for the one with the charr, and north of kainenge for the one with the tengu or something?

That could be part the mini-chapter for playing as the charr! And then we will know what happened to Gwen!

one thing that would be very good is not a new class but a new race and sometin with bringing happy ascalon back would be good

I'd like to see the option of having 2 versions of Tyria/Prophicies. Lets go back to Ascolon and it's rebuilding. Lets see what happens to the throne after Prince Rurik. Bring back the lush forest's and waterway's of pre-searing. The thing is, this has to be something you can choose to load. I fell in love with GuildWars when it first came out. I have a pre-searing character that will never leave. I enjoy going there sometimes and reliving the begining of my GW playing days, minus the missions............

And Prophicies is still being sold. You cant fundemantally change the gameworld without adapting this change for the entire franchise. In some ways, it's just not fair. I dont want my Searing Ascolon to dissapear. I want to relive that time with a new W/M, or a Necro or a Mez....

It would be nice to adopt unused area's of the map, there are plenty of spaces in each chapter that's for sure. But if an already established area gets a redo, what happens to that area if you start a new character? You should have the option to select what area you want it to be, like you can select what district you want to travel to in each location.
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Expanding on the Charr invasion, a prequel of sorts, would be nice. Just what is it that caused the Charr and Humans to go to war anyway?

The rise of the White Mantle. Play as a young recruit.

How about an entire chapter about the fall of Orr. Yea, in the end you know your doomed, but that doesn't keep hollywood from doing it........

I want to see the Charr smacked around silly, or, better yet, play from THEIR perspective in the war against Ascalon.

This was one of my favorite things about games such as Warcraft 3 and Starcraft... by playing the different factions the line between hero and villain began to blur and you really got immersed in the storyline.

Guild Wars has been due a "war" involving the player base for a long time coming. Factions was a step in the right direction, but I think that allowing us to play as an alternative faction might prove interesting in the big scheme of things because it could simulate the kind of conflict generated in PvP while retaining it in a PvE format.

Now, this of course brings up the question of getting ALL CONTENT for ALL of your EXISTING CHARACTERS. Hence, I'm not sure exactly how this could be played out... I'll leave the geniuses at ANet to think things through.

Rather than see this specifically implemented, I hope that this post perhaps inspires the devs to start thinking along a new direction. (Not that I'm so arrogant to believe that my opinion alone will cause them to do so though)

I think many of you have great ideas, so I'm curious to see what ideas are taken and what ideas are improved upon. The ANet dev team is cool like that!

What i would Really like to see (And you would not ahve to use the "Chose which version fo the game to go in" Are the Ruins of the catacombs (Redundency?) In Post Searing, An update almost like, if not the same as, Sorrow's Furnace.

And i am also sure that everybody would love the addition of Gwen Quests, adding a Storyline.

Same thing with The South of Leinig, that Atole (or coast) Always made me think of a Small fishing village, seaguls, fishing boats, a "peacefull" secluded town... Run by the Mob lords and places quotas and such on the various products they export.

I personally think it would be good to add challenge missions to Tyria. There would be one in each major area, where the point is to defest as many x monsters as possible before they get to y place (as in kill Charr before they reach ascalon).

Anet could alos just make it one huge elite mission, starting at Ascalon, travelling across Ascalon fighting Charr, crossing the Shiverpeaks fighting Stone Summit, etc. This would end until you've gotten to the end, where theres some uber boss that drops greens.

I'm mentioned it many month Before in a thread I made, but the lands of Orr are a real possibility.
Yes they have been destroyed, but if you read in the original Guild wars prophecy Hand book, it say's: "but so too did it sink the entire peninsula, leaving only a small scattering of small islands in its place". Page 40 the fourth paragraphe.

I would like to see the Char homelands (I want to bring the smackdown on them). Make a quest where you go to their homeland then kick thieir hairy butts all over the place. This could be doable from all 3 chapters if done right. Set it so that when you get to their homeland their is a flashback of what caused them to attack Tyria then have us take that problem down.
Mega Mouse

well...we really didnt truely defeat the Charr in propheses...just left the ruins of ascalon and moved on so I would love to see that part of the storyline expanded. Perhaps the people of Cantha and Elona are "summoned" to aid Ascalon in putting an end to the Charr once and for all and in the process..they discover the remants of Orr..those small islands mentioned in the game book as mentioned above by Halmyr.

Any new chapter I'd like to see would involve a new area with a new story and stuff. While playing as a Charr or White Mantle is interesting, it's not really something I want to pay 50 bucks for. Perhaps as a mini chapter or a series of smaller updates or something (Anet might have trouble staffing if they do that though).

As the story and classes I make up would be rather bad or cheezy, I'll just go on to say what new additions to PvE I'd like to see. With the addition of Heroes, your control of henchies went up a lot. An option for formations would be great too. Also, something like the Gambit system for FF12 would greatly improve heroes (sadly, FF12 AI can be superior to heroes...).

For some of the missions, I'd like to see more interactive parts. The catapult in Fort Ranik was great, more of the same would rock.

I personally really liked the 16 man missions in Factions, though most of the time there wouldn't be players on the other side. A mission where you have 16 players defending a giant castle would be really fun. Kinda like the Kurzick Eternal Grove Mission, but on a much bigger scale with two floors on the castle and multiple entry points.

Pet control would rock. With the advent of heroes, I hope a mini pet menu won't be far behind. Something similiar for Necro minions would rock too. Being able to send your Flesh Golem up front without going into agro range would be great.

I'd like to see some of the attack motions revamped. Swinging my sword over and over in the same fashion with an addition of some sparkles and a slightly different attack animation gets boring fairly quick. It might be a bit much to ask, but making some of the skills look more flashy would be cool. Maybe just the elite ones? Like Hundred Blades with a bunch of flashing swords animation or something like that. As it stands, Hundred Blades just has you spin a bit...

For some of the more competitive PvE people, maybe they could have something where it's players versus mobs? Like instead of Luxons vs Kurzicks, it's the players vs the invading army or something similiar. Like if you did certain missions and got a certain amount of points, your alliance takes control of the city and the border moves. Then another mission area becomes available and you can do that one. As the border moves further in, the missions become harder and you need to get a higher amount of points to take control. The monsters also have a certain amount of points for the mission areas at the borders and the points continually increase till they take the area back and the monster points start increasing for new new misison at the border. The further in the mission area, the better stuff you can get. 15k armor that way would be incentive enough for a lot of players. It would be easy to take control of an area, but doing better just lengthens the amount of time you have until the monsters regain control. It should be plausible witht he current game mechanics, just dunno how complicated it might get for Anet.

Traps would be an interesting addition to Guild Wars. Not ranger traps that don't really kill you unless they stack alot. And not those traps that are on timers and are easily avoided. I'm talking about something like a mix between the two. You can't see the trap, or at least it's hard to see (kinda like the corridor with acid traps in the second to last mission in Factions), but if you get hit then you're pretty much dead. That way experienced players would be useful as guides. And maybe a class with the ability to see/avoid the traps?

Another type of trap possibly for rangers might be a conditional trap. Like if you walk on it, nothing happens, but if you cast a spell while you're on it you take some damage and get dazed. Or if you use a signet you suffer a deep wound and take damage.

A type of skill that effects everything in a certain area of effect, not unlike ranger nature spirits. Like, 10 damage to all moving targets in skills range every 3 seconds or something like that. Or maybe just nature spirits that do that. Don't think there are any nature spirits that cause non-conditional damage yet.

Well, for me I'd personally like that Lyssa, Melandru and Dwayna get a realm like FoW and UW for Balthazar and Grenth. Those statues are now so lonesem in ToA, Zin Ku and the Chantry of Secrets. Drops might be ruby's for Lyssa, sapphires for Dwayna and lets add a new material, emeralds for Melandru. offcourse are the enemies you encounter quit obvious (Lyssa's realm, spellcasters doom ;p) Ideas for stories around them might pop in my head later ^^

I think the Charr resources are pretty much depleted since the defeat in the Orrian and Krytan Kingdoms.

You can base your lore on the following transcripts from a Charr (scroll down to end of OP):
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10073310

Alright, since I don't have much time I'll post 1/2 or so of this and then post the rest later.

It's been 3 years after The Flameseeker Prophecies, 2 after the destructino of Shiro and 1 after the saving of Elonia. Each Continent has settled into an Golden Age. But with such peace, warriors are growing old and lazy, monks becoming fat, and masters of magic are becoming weaker. Each Kingdom votes for the next course of action. The representitives from each continent meet in the newly rebuilt ascalon. They vote that it is a time of exploration, and the kids (children of ur old proph, factions, and elonia charas) must be ones to do it...

Ok that would just be an inspiration to anyone, I won't be able to follow through on it. Here's the one I'm thinking of doing, and making into a big story.

"The time of evil has left each continent alone for a year now. Ascalon is rebuilt, the waring luxons and kurzicks have started coming to treaties and peace, and Elonia has prospered after being saved. But with this new found peace, there is always something brewing. Although the cities of Tyria are becoming better, bigger and more beautiful, there is those who supported the Lich, from the darkness, and the White Mantle, from either in the army or funding it.

Cantha has hit rough times too. With the new "Treaty of Factions" being signed only 2 months ago Luxon and Kurzick Royalists have started fighting. Either is be in the streets, or in the battle field... To Be continued.

I think the concept of rebuilding Ascalon is neat, but since different players are at different levels in the game (for example, a party with a level 20 runner and a level 3 PC), it would have to be revamped in the explorable areas outside it. Then maybe Ascalon City itself could just be a bit more neutral, so that it could be post-apocolyptic or just a regular place. Or, you could have an NPC outside the town in the rebuilt surrounding areas that said something about touring Ascalon City, as it is a monument to the war. Something like that.

The whole look of Ascalon City really does get me down. I hate being there.

Someone mentioned unused map space that Anet could add outposts and explorable areas to (near Sorrow's Furnace), and that really applies to places in Factions, too. There are a lot of blurry patches on a 100% explored map of Cantha, and Factions could use more quests, anyway.

I really wish the inscription system would cross over all three games. I also wish I could upgrade my armor from Tyria and Cantha with insignias. For me, armor is largely a matter of appearance. Sometimes I make compromises, but my ranger wears 15k Studded Leather armor and that is just too cute for me to change, even if armor vs. lightning isn't *that* useful.

When I first saw "evolution" in this thread, I thought it would be able making enemies' levels go up depending on the levels of PCs in the area. I don't think I would like that, however.

I don't remember what it's called, but I'd like to see edits to the edges of the map in Tyria. It's too squiggly in some parts of Kryta and that really bugs me. Just slight changes to the area players can walk on.

Nightfall brought PvE-only skills, which might speak to the point of this thread. Maybe it'd be cool to have skills to help kill Afflicted and Undead better or something along those lines for Tyria and Cantha.

On a side note, I got this sour strawberry "Fruit Juice String" from an organic grocery store, and it's really really good. It's made by that orange juice company, Folorida's Natural. Yay for sour candy!

I think adding on to present maps would be great and how they gave the free update of sorrows furnace is a good way to go. But for the next Expansion Maybe bring in a seperate invader of the present areas. They have based each new expansion on a different ancient society and to keep with that maybe bringing in something like the greeks or maybe go south american with the Icnas or Aztecs might be agreeable. Or maybe expand on the Shiverpeaks area and include more Nordic basis.

I'd really like an expansion with two different races that are statistically identical- for game balance- but physically distinct.

Possible Context: A shattered archipelago is all that remains of a land mass torn apart by a conflict between the Human [kingdom name], and the [tainted human tribe]. One of the new professions could be from the pure Human tribe, the other from the the demonic type tribe.

note: For balance, EoE must still apply, which is why I don't say Orc, etc.

I'd also like competitive missions incorporated into the actual compaigns, which are replayable, but lead you in different direction depending upon the outcome. Still, that's not really PvE, so forget about that for now.

Finally, I want the auction house we were told we could expect at the same time the PvP'ers were told they'd be getting observer mode. Or maybe I'm crazy, but I'm sure this was mentioned by Anet at some stage, and then buried.

Personally, I'd like this to work like so:
You have [x] item. You go to auction house, hand over [x] to NPC, put a reserve price and time limit on it, go away, and come back for your money or item if it failed to sell.

No more dealing with tards who haggle aggressively, or have a real go at you for offering too low because you don't know the values. Wooo!

I truly love the idea of adding areas to tyria, however what about the explorer titles. Will those people that alrdy have the outrages 100% and 95% titles be bumped down to say 80% over new content? Altho the will prolly explore those areas too.

Now about those Charr. It would be great to see a quest from Warmaster Tydus in Ascalon saying" After the Defeat of those titians the Charr are now advancing into our terriotory. It is your duty to take out the Charr warlords" (or something along those lines). And to get just make the ruins of Surmia mission explorable and add a gate at the end to take you to our encampment. Then do the quest from there.
-Gizzmo-

How about making the world feel like one complete world instead of 3 separate worlds?

Right now, the only thing that tells you that a next Guild Wars Chapter is apart of Guild Wars are veteran players, past story bits that they put in, and the fact that the game is named Guild Wars.

I know that they don't want to reinvest into previous chapters, but they might not have a choice when New Players will want to go backwards in time to experience the previous stories.

Best way to implement "time warps" in my opinion would be visually, so that a young character and old character can stand in the same outpost at the same time, and that NPCs have different dialogue, quests, etc.

The idea of playing other races seems popular... but im not sure if we should have racial traits (pvp imbalance) or should racial traits be cancelled in pvp (think dragon arena)?

I would like the next few chapters to NOT have new classes. Of course, my problem is that I like to try & play each and every class.

I also think it'd be neat to add on to current chapters. Include missions that take place after you defeat the Lich/Shiro. This way, they can take place in older areas, but you need to have completed the previous mission/quest to advance the story further. This will keep the lower level & higher level characters seperate story-wise, but will repopulate Tyria/Cantha instead of spreading out the population further with another continent. Depending on your current quests, when you leave a city/outpost, the monsters outside may be different as well.

hehe i always have so many ideas on expansions but ill just post a little of my current ideas:
Evolution:

How about setting the next chapter say 10-15 years later on from the current chapters. By now Kryta is now under the rule of the young royal Family, Magumma has declared itself an independant nation, Ascalon has rebuild a little of its former glory but is still struggling. The war in the shiverpeaks rages on and the Charr threat is ever present and number of Orrian survivors have begun to live in a newly formed city in the former lands of Orr. Elona has once again become 1 united Nation and the Luxons and Kursicks have stopped warring and have developed a great trust for one another

Despite everything that has Happened all the nations are beginning to flourish once again. Kryta the big power in the lands of Tryia refuses to help there former allies to rebuild and relations turn sour. The Magumma Nation also has a deep distrust of Kryta due to there long oppression. And the remainder of Orr simpy want to be left alone. Then it Happens.

King Adelburn finally passes on under mysterious curcumstances and is succeeded by his only remaining son. A new guild War breaks out. The wealth of Kryta, the determination of Ascalon and the vengeful Magumma all burst into war. The Dwarfs and the remains of Orr band together for protection during this war, Both Ascalon and Kryta move forces throught the shiverpeaks and the dwarfs soon get involved with the fighting and are blamed for Ruriks Death.

The Charr once again decide now is the chance to eliminate the humans from tryia and send there forces down into the human kingdoms. They call for help from the other colonys, The partially restored Elonan and Canthan armys arrive to support them. The Charr are outmatched under this wave of human forces and retreat back into there territory. The combined armys push into charr territiry in hopes to prevent any further Charr invasions. Near the Charr capital a massive battle occurs But before either side is victorious a new force looms, the Northern Kingdom had arrived

The map could be the top half of the Tryia map plus a new section on the top for the charr and northern kingdoms. To begin with you fight for 1 of the 3 kingdoms which you choose from at the start ( u can run work urself to the other kingdoms starter missions like in other chapters) then all 3 converge into charr territory and lastly into the Northern Kingdom.

I could tell u lots more but u get the jist , well thats just 1 of my ideas

I'd just like to say every idea I've read has been innovative and interesting to read.

Overall I'd like to return to Ascalon again. I think this is the best idea for a few reasons.

1. New players getting that Chapter would likely want to see what the 'Original' Ascalon was like (the one found in Prophecies) and this would boost sales of Prophecies...ANet would like this.

2. For most of us, at least I think, have taken our Tyrian characters through Cantha and Elona and have hours of experience under our belts. Whilst the game has drastically improved since my first hours as a monk in Pre-Searing, theres something nostalgic about Ascalon that makes me want to return every-so-often. Sadly, after beating the game with all bonuses and the Titan quests, the reality is theres basically nothing to do in old Tyria...save UW. I think it would be extremely interesting to have the storyline set in a rebuilt Ascalon (or one undergoing rebuilding for that matter). Mayhaps even have the Ascalon Settlement in Kryta become part of the story in that the Krytans are no longer happy with their Ascalonian neighbours using their land. A Civil war of sorts along the lines of the Kurzick and Luxon one, but with new twists...the twists are up to you guys...I havent really thought that one through yet.

3. If it were some way possible, I'd partially like Tyria to be back in crisis mode. Yes our Tyrian toons worked most valiantly to free Ascalon of the Charr, the Shiverpeaks of the Stone Summit, Kryta of the Undead, the Jungle of the White Mantle, the Desert of the Forgotten, and the Ring of Fire of Titans (i think thats them all :P) but if you look at all those that's a lot of trouble brewing while we were off liberating Cantha and Elona. What if the Charr invaded Ascalon and we return and have to lead a resistance? This is a rather...general?...idea but one that could be used a number of ways. It could also introduce races in the world of Guild Wars. For example, in the new Chapter if you choose to begin the Liberation of the Shiverpeaks, you can be a dwarf. If you decide to start a new toon liberating Ascalon, you're human. I'm not even going to suggest elf, but I know you're all thinking it.

Further more, this notion could make our Tyrian dudes like legends. You know how at the end of Factions and Nightfall **SPOILER ALERT** you reach the places with all the dead guys singing your praises? "Kalen Cloudstriker, we shall forever remember your deeds this day" and stuff like that? I think it would be most awesome for us to return to Tyria and have people flock to our banner because we are who we are. You could further extend this notion to Guild/Alliance controlled towns a la Factions.

4. Introduce mounts...for the love of pie. Yes I briefly delved into the world of WoW...for the grand sum total of a week. The only thing I liked about that game was that players could Mounts. I mean in games like Nightfall and Factions there really wasnt much distance between areas but if we return to Tyria, mounts would expedite the travelling process when map travel doesnt work.

5. Allow us to join games with teammates. Whilst I realize that this could be the new power leveling, allow me to explain first. Many are the times when I'm halfway into a quest when a guildie logs on that needs the same quest...or there have been occasions when you get that lovely DP that shanks you from successfully completing a quest, or any hope thereof, when the best Monk in the guild comes on. Wouldn't it be nice if they could run out to meet you and bring you aid? This is another idea from WoW in that there are set areas....sure it's nice that GW gives you your own copy of the world, but what if you want your friends to show up midway through to help you?

6. Add actual Guild F-ing Wars. I'll be the first to admit that I love GvG's, but in a game called Guild WARS these are oversized bar-fights. Skirmishes at best. I'm talking like 20 on 20 epic battles...Alliance versus Alliance....make open combat areas where whoever shows up can bring the hurt. Imagine an area where you see 3 or 4 guilds duking it out, only to have a few more guilds rush into the fray. Madness and mayhem, yes, but just picture looking over and seeing Te running in....

This could also add a new title track...dont ask me what, but it could. Make it guild based or something if you want.

7. Elite Classes. My guildies and I have been tossing this idea around for quite some time. I'm finding myself more and more hardpressed to come up with new ideas for classes....I'm sure ANet isn't, but this will give them a free pass for a Chapter if they can't come up with anything. An Elite Class would work something like this.

Take for example, a warrior. Once you've completed a chapter you can do Elite Training quests. This could give you buffs, along the lines of the Lightbringer idea, that enhance you or your party. The Warrior elite could have a few tracks, like say Knight or Barbarian. Knights could have greater defence and do added damage when fighting beside an ally. Barbarians could do extra melee damage and run 10% faster or something. I realize this is rather vague, but it would add a greater dimension to PVE that would give us more reason to continue PVEing after the end of the chapter. You could eventually add an even greater level to this if the character has finsihed ALL Chapters on your account...then another one if they have the Defender titles.

A Monk elite could be Priest...divine favor is increased by whatever, and holy damage taken is reduced by X percent.

Ranger could become Marksman...Ele a Sorcerer...Necro a Darklord....Mesmer...alright Mesmer i'm working on lol

8. Customizable armor. The idea of runes and insignias is great, but I want my Sunspear Armor to look different than everyone elses, and I'm not talking about colour. Allow us to add emblems to our armor, for a fee of course. ANet could open a contest for armor emblems...these emblems could be dye-able separately from your armor...imagine Black FoW with a White emblem, for example. You could expand this idea to weapons as well...custom hilts and blades...shields with emblems, etc. Gives you the power to make your toons REALLY unique to you.

9. Different voices based on class. Yes, the moving lips are great. Voice actors are great. But somehow, I doubt my monk and warrior are gonna have the same voice. My warrior I would expect to be more baritone and hearty...my monk more soothing and soft.

10. New animations for Melee Class fighters. Personally I think if two warriors start beating on each other they're eventually gonna use their shields to block some of the blows. This might get the animation department sweating, and GW is already a gorgeous game, but theres always the next level. Similarly, I think if a warrior is beating on my monk, if he misses i should see my monk dodge or duck..it would just add a greater wow factor to fights.

*****
I realize that some of these suggestions are lengthy and maybe idealistic, but ANet does indeed read this stuff and if we voice our opinions they've been known to listen. Some of this may be a little knitpicky, but I'd like to suggest it nonetheless. I think it would be absolutely stunning to have a warrior in gold armor with glowing emblem riding a horse across Tyria, guild cape flowing in the wind.

Regardless of what ANet implements in the next Chapter, I'm addicted...I'll be getting it. Just PLEASE add more storage