Is Anet Deterring Players from Playing Many Characters?

Its the same play with the exact same actors, why would I want to watch it again? I'm not a new person thats watching the play, Im the same person dressed in maybe mesmer clothes instead of warrior clothes. Not everyone enjoys watching the same show over and over again.

Anet forces you to follow the story line if you want to progress thru Factions and Nightfall. If I've finished Nightfall with one character then I shouldnt be forced to follow the story line just to cap an elite skill on another character. Especially if I've already capped the skill on the previous character.

Make it just like PvP and I'll be a happy camper. Make the Elite open for your account in PvE across all lvl20 characters once you've capped it once. The whole point of getting to lvl20 so fast was to prevent GRIND. Forcing us to follow the story line over and over again just to cap a skill we've already capped is a major grindfest I can live without.

That about sums it up

/signed for 2. Titles (at least some of them) should be shared among characters. Maybe not Protector, but certainly GMC. Or, better yet, allow characters to change their primary profession so that we can experience the game in its fullest capacity.

I don't know about some of the solutions here, but there needs to be SOMETHING done about factions and nightfall, forcing us to persist through the storyline per character is not okay, Anet, your writing isn't good enough to be offended that we want to skip your story, neither is the voice acting, stop this b.s. charade and just let us play the game

if I wanted story I'd read a book

Yes, because thats what the game is composed of. Doing missions and quests. You know...the story.

And....what sequence of thoughts brough a conclusion like that?
I really wanna know. I dont understand how you can say that.

It just doesnt make any sense to me. It really doesnt.

Im gonna make an analogy and try to figure it out.

John and Richard are brothers. (Ranger and Warrior)

John went to college to study and got a degree Graphic Design. (Ranger beats Prophecies and captures lots of elites)

Richard is still in school and studying InfoTech. (Warrior still in the Crystal Desert)

Because John finished with a degree in Graphic Design, Richard should have access to his degree in Graphic Design??

I understand wanting to lessen the monotony. Repetition does get boring. Thats a fact.

But you guys are wanting something for nothing and that seems unreasonable. And it boggles my mind how some people are acting like they earned or deserved such a shortcut.

I have a lot of characters and i completely understand how it sometimes feels overwhelming and you just want instant access (since Anet gives us instant access to so many things, it seems logical? Is that the reasoning?).

And Ive wrestled with the issue of this and while im willing to have some leeway in ideas to make things easier and faster for people who already beat the game(but still with costs), the OP ideas are just unacceptable to me.

No to instant access to outposts.
No to sharing character based titles.
No to XP sharing.

Actually, this issue hasn't dwelled on me until I stumbled upon this thread. For me, the repeatition of the storyline for every character never bothered me that much. I mean its logical, I make a 'new' character, so everything I need to do is fresh. Yes, it does become tiresome to do the same thing over and over again, Anet has to implement something, maybe for each profession, have a different storyline where the player can choose their fate.

There are PvP titles that are shared amongst your characters, such as the 'Gladiator' title.

what sequence of thoughts? how about the lack of replayability?

this game has a bad storyline, and it requires repetition through that bad story in nightfall and factions, nightfall is not an ounce as bad as factions, but it's still pretty unplayable the third time through

and don't even get me started on the fifth time through, that literally is painful, I should not suffer pain going through a game

the endgame content is replayable, the story is not, if they gave me the option of setting the entire campaign endgame <sort of like a presear\post sear thing or DDF\DNKP> to drag my way to the typical endgame content, that'd be freaking AWESOME.

I'd love to try to run through turai's procession with shadow's of fear and the like on my secondary characters, the idea of trying to do it with my ele, I mean, almost gives me chills <have you ever tried running through mass endgame content casters with an ele? it's a challenge, to say the absolute least>

but they won't do that, and that kinda sucks, that is a radical solution, but it's one of dozens <throughout this thread and MANY others on this board> it's not one that I'd expect them to do, I just don't want to hear that damned kurzick princess's voice one more time, and I don't want to hear about turai ossa and how wonderful he was, because, really, doesn't matter, I JUST WANT TO PLAY.

Some might say GW's has a bad storyline, some say it reeks, nevertheless people still play it. If one decides to quit GW's, another will take his place, its a fact of life.

Yes, it is repeatitive to do the same thing over, and see the same thing over, but thats the way Anet has intended things to go (I may be wrong). Anet might change the way the storyline goes, maybe not, its their call (with the feedback from players).

You can always mute GW's music, dialog, etc...But there are certain times in cutscenes I like to watch particularly the Venta Cemetary mission, where if you have a MM, your minions will be attacking The Hunger while they go about, but thats off topic. You can always click the 'skip scene' button, if others don't want to skip, do something else, the CG's aren't that long anyways...

If you dont want to play the "game" then why should you allowed access to the "endgame" content.

Why? What gives you the right to demand something like that? Just because you dont want to play through the story? Thats not good enough of a reason for change because the game is designed to be played. Not to be skipped.

I'm reminded of my 4 year old niece who only wants dessert and not eat her dinner. Why should you be allowed to eat dessert without eating the meal, just because you've eaten meals before?

Explain it to me. Why do you deserve it? I want to know.

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On a side note: You dont need to put yourself through such anguish if it makes you miserable. Really, theres tons and tons of games to play. Take a break. I've been playing the new FF6 (Fixed Dice ftw) for GBA lately and Okami.

1. I used to think this was a good idea, but the more I think about it, not really. If I had all the towns and outposts available already, this game would burn out real quick for me. I would just log in, play through once, then go cap all the elites with other characters and be bored stiff. There's some things that I keep finding in the game whenever I play through with a different character that I didn't see before.

Even though it gets somewhat tedious playing through the same storyline over and over, I like how nightfall gives you a different direction when you get to magrid/whispers. Faction's storyline is kind of short, and if this were done to it, it would be completely lame. Also, I'm probably one of the few that doesn't like prophecies... but if they were to do it with that chapter, I wouldn't care too much. It's so long and drawn out, I found myself falling asleep the last time through it.

2. Titles I don't really care about too much in the game, or faction points (since I don't mind AB's at all). I really like however, that they changed the level of heroes to be 15 and how you don't have to get sunspear general anymore for non-elonian characters. Too bad that when I first got the game I went and got all the heroes on all my characters already, so they all have a level 2 Koss.

3. The skill points idea is pretty interesting. What I would like is something like a skill point storage, where you could take out as many as you like for each new character that you earned on others. Maybe also have the skill trainer allow you to trade in points for cash, 1k a skill point sounds fair. XP I think should be separate though.

I have 9 PvE characters (no Dervish) and I know for a fact that not all of them will finish every chapter. It's just not reasonable for me.

But I like having the option to jump on whichever prof I feel like playing today. Of course, I can't go anywhere with any character, but I CAN go everywhere with SOME character, so I'm always able to help out a guildie in need

As for repetition, after the second or third playthrough, I'm only doing primary quests and missions anyway. There's a lot less involved that way.

and yet you find it UNFAIR that PvE charas can change armor in PvP areas...with your line of thinking...well that's how it is and that's how they should keep it

Want Ability to Change Armor play a toon from level 1 AND cap all the skills you need

No Opening up for all PvP charas either...what's opened on that PvE chara is only usable on that chara and heroes.

You want your PvP to be "fair" by having the luxuries that PvE grinding gives...Nope sorry that's now how its been...and obviously by some peoples standards change is not a good thing. Only Balance is.


Yes Richard and John are brothers...but I play them both. There is nothing wrong with giving people AN OPTION to have this. This I think is going to be yet another example on opinions and how everyone has one and when it comes right down to it, only Anet's opinion on the subject really matters...and how they respond to the "I will effin quit if they implement that"

Happy Hunting.

PvP is about balanced gameplay and equal opportunity among players. Skill should be the deciding factor, not equipment.

PvE is not.

The ability to swap armor negates the underlying idea of fair play, competition and equal opportunity for players.

PvE should not have an advantage in PvP because having said advantage ruins competition. I'm not gonna go through this rigamoroll again.

Im so sick of repeating myself.

PvE is about CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT. You play PvE, all the stuff affects only your character, the character is the main focus.

PvP is about ACCOUNT DEVELOPMENT. You play PvP, it affects the account, the individual character is negligable and deletable.

PvP instances and PvE instances although sharing the same basic gameplay engine, produce substantially different gaming experiences.

With that in mind, I will admit there are MANY inconsistencies to various gaming philosophies that Anet has laid out.

Anet has already made it mind-numblingly easy and people still want it sooner, faster and now (me included).

edit in response to your edit:
Yes, you play them both. But Richard and John are not the same character. One is not the other. Do you not agree?

How can we reconcile individuality and character development if we continue to just strip what little the game has in those concepts already?

Guild Wars has very little in character development already. Armors are very generic, even high end ones are common. Weapon skins aren't too personalized. Faces are very common.

What sets your character apart from my character is the time i put into it. It doesn't make them better, just different. I cannot accept an idea that turns all the various characters and personalities ive molded into just 1 mush of an account.

This isn't PvP. This is PvE.

As far as the titles go I don't really care if they are account or character specific and I think by and large that ANET has done a pretty good job of deciding which should be which. That doesn't mean that I am thrilled about going out and farming lightbringer points but I understand why it is set up that way.

However to the point of unlocking outposts/cities by account instead of by character, I'm all for this and I think the arguments against don't really hold water. If you still want to spend all your time doing side quests, mission, uncovering the map etc. there would be nothing to stop you from doing that at all. But for those of us who would rather not have to spend many, many extra hours moving a character around just to get access to an area or a skill that we are looking for we should have that option. And I have no idea how anyone can say that somehow is not earned. That may be your opinion, but my opinion is I took the time and effort to unlock that area then there should be no reason that I cannot access it with another character. You are really saying that I have to earn that access over and over and over...I do not agree.

And to the comment that to unlock those areas for an account vs a character would somehow be detrimental to PvE character development I would counter that the exact opposite it true. I cannot develop my character as fully as I would like because I do not have the many hours available to take my 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, etc. character through the same areas that I have already done at least once and in many cases multiple times.

Now let's think about this six months or a year from now. Maybe ANET has come out with one more chapter, maybe two. Did you start any characters in those new chapters? And do you have more character slots? If yes you now have an even more time consuming task to move your character through the other chapters which is great if that is all you want to do, but what if you only want to help a friend or cap a skill? And how many times do you want to replay the new chapter with your existing character? 3? 5? 10? At what point do they rename the latest chapter Guild Wars Tedium?

But here's the difference...as a player I do not have a choice. I have to do it your way whether I like it or not.

And if ANET really only wants me to play a couple PvE characters then as you point out they need to do a better job of allowing me to develop my character once it reaches level 20 because right now the options are pretty limited.

Because I've eaten the same freakin meal over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over *breath* and over and over and over again. If I eat it again Im going to puke, just give me my dessert already. lol.

I dont agree, Richard and John may be different characters, but they share the same mind and memories. If we are talking about my characters, then I'm Richard, and I'm also John. If I "Richard" paid time and money to cap an elite, then why should I "John" have to do it again? I shouldn't! I already did it. If theres an argument about having elites too early for newly created characters, then dont make the elites open to the new character till they've reached level 20, but they should still become available because I've already unlocked them! PvP doesnt make you suffer like this. Its really not asking that much.

Its absolutely retarded that my heroes have access to Elite skills I've unlocked on other characters, yet I dont have access to these Elite skills when I make a new character and I'm forced to "GRIND" to recap the same Elite skill again. Thats just plain wrong.

Here's a perfect example: I have a lvl20 Prophecies born warrior thats finished the game, and along the way I've capped "Signet of Midnight" for my secondary profession in Ring of Fire. Skip ahead to Faction, I made a Ritualist, I groomed it to level 20 and beat Factions with it. I want to use my beautiful PvE Rit in PvP with a secondary using Signet of Midnight, but I can do it right away because I'm "FORCED" to play thru Prophecies and get to the Ring of Fire just to cap an Elite skill that I've already capped on my warrior. Its to much work and grind, and its just not worth it, so I'm forced to roll a PvP character out of convenience just to make the build work. It wouldnt necessarily have to be PvP either, If I wanted to use the build in Faction PvE then I couldnt till I went back to Prophecies to recap. Its a serious waist of time and energy. Yes I paid for a game with no monthly fees, but I pay "real time" & "virtual money" everytime situations like this come up, and they come up very very often.

Dunno if this has been suggested before but why not make GMC acount wide and when new chars enter a new area (continent with GMC), that area entirely unfogs (you have to unlock outposts by the usual methods). It's not gamebreaking and at least the title would do something.

(Sorry about my english)

Thats still not reason enough to deserve it.

It is plenty of reason to want it though.

Richard and John do not share the same mind or memories.

Characters do not share the same skill pool. They do not share the same outpost unlocks. They do not share quests. They do not share XP. They do not share gold. They do not share pets. If you beat the game with one character, other characters are unaffected.

The only thing your characters share is your storage. This is the only way to share things, and its only physical items like weapons/gold/items/materials.

All things RPG related (with exception of the lucky title) are built around the character.

This is how RPGs work. This is the status quo.

There is nothing wrong with this status quo.

The only reason to think theres something wrong with this setup is because we have PvP modes and it makes things confusing.

This is a small list of things thats made for PVP but has crossed into PvE. These things do not belong in PvE. They make things easier, but they fool into thinking everything should there be instant access, when in fact, its designed for PvP. Theres more things that belong to this list, but im hungry and i cant remember right now.

1. Removal of the attribute refund system
2. instantly changing your secondary profession in town
3. being able to BUY new professions instead of questing for it

I agree. It is kinda dumb.

The correct way would be to make Heroes have to unlock things for themselves. But heroes are not RPG only.

They are PvP also. The reason that Heros have access to your unlocked PvP content is because Heroes have their own PvP mode.

They cross over and require flexibility to have access to all PvP skills.

This is slightly flawed of course, since we have to grind our heroes a little and buy them weapons and runes.

Anet needs to correct this by allowing Heroes FULL access to all PvP skills/runes/weapons and weapon mods so they don't force any grind on the RPG player.

Your warrior and your ritualist are not one and the same. Your ritualist has never been to Prophecies. Only your warrior.

How the two can possibly share skills is beyond me. Please explain further. I really dont understand.

PvP is you.
PvE is your character.

With regards to Lucia's points:

No, I don't support the idea. Not just becauset it's not fair, but because playing your character THROUGH the missions is the MAIN way you are supposed to learn and use your new skills. You can play through Elona blindfold as a monk until you get to the Realm of Torment and go "Dang!" and have to rethink your skills and your energy management. You can run along with your heroes in a nice ball until you get to Gate of Pain and have to actually think about spacing.

Even though you might know the mission/way from point A to point B. You will not truly know your own profession and what was added to it until you face the same challenges with a new skill set. I NEVER understood just how powerful mesmers are in PvE until I played one. Even though they will seldom ever find a spot in a regular farming setting, they can be extremely fun (and overpowering to feeble computer AI).

Why would you ever think about using Web of Disruption + Drain Delusion as an interrupt combo when you've been going with Leech Sig and Power Spike all your life? Well, either you play through the campaign yourself and try the new skills, or you copy a build off a GW site. I prefer the first.

With regards to grind and titles:

In principle, the game is about making money for ANet. Titles were added to increase the replayability value of the game. Basically, the question they answer is, after I have beaten the game, several times, farmed all the greens I like, farmed something or another or made enough deals to get my self to 1 million gold and 500 ectos in storage... What now?

Adding long expansive titles that take months to complete is ANet's way of trying to keep players logging on every week.

This is soccer. You "deserve" to play the game if you've got a ball.

Yes they do. Everything except elites. The gold and and skillpoints are negligible.

It was nice of them to force me to unlock Conviction with faction so I could buy the thing. So nice.

If there wasn't storage, people would just swap with another account or someone they trust. I would trust anyone in my guild with this, although I have known these folks for a rather long time. We all also happen to be officers, wonderfully enough.

The current implementation of storage is also useful ONLY for swapping things and a tiny reserve for material, but that's another can of cheese. One tab worth of space per character is what is functionally required.

This is not an RPG, it is soccer.

Why aren't you demanding Godly Plates of the Whale or at least worthwhile stuff to drop semi-regularly? That many skins go for way beyond 100k+20 ecto is absurd.

Why don't you demand they back pedal and go back to a level 50 level cap?

http://www.gamebanshee.com/interviews/guildwars2.php

No, it makes things palpable.

This made the game playable. The attribute refund system was the biggest load ever, and the fact it was removed is why I stayed with the game. It showed some peoples on the team were on the ball.

This also made the game playable. SOME OF US DO NOT LOAD MAPS TRICKY-RICK 4 SECOND STYLE. You're an anti-social monster if you think that was bad for the game. I now get to retain an extra 15 minutes of my life a day.

This is the only thing I can see someone agreeing with from ye list. Those quests were mostly cool, but I don't feel like more of them being added would have been much of a boon to the game.

No, they have access to unlocks because that makes them usable. Hello? PvP characters have PvP heroes?

The fact this makes them better than real people in many instances due to this flexibility is kind of sad. Maybe if they made it easier for HUMANS to play ANYTHING in the game, that would be mitigated some.

PvP heroes do have FULL access to that stuff. The PvE heroes gobbling up money makes a good goldsink.

........................

So we're all in "general" agreement that it would be nice to have the option to give access to outposts you've been to once the PvE character has beaten a campaign?

Perhaps another poll is in order.

That would be an incorrect assumption.

Yep. General just got upgraded to total agreement.

If i have a soccer ball. I can play.

But just because i want to play in a professional soccer championship match doesnt mean i get to. Id have to go up in amatuer ranks, get recruited into a pro team, and then maybe if the team was good...

I dont get what i want. I dont get what i deserve. I get what i earned.

Characters do not come instantly with skills. They have to be learned.

Ah yes, thanks for reminding me, thats on my list.

I thought it was cool. But in retrospect, it damaged the game.

Yes, another can of cheese indeed.

i dont even know what that is....as for expensive weapon skins. I dont really care enough to give an opinion.

Why? The level 20 cap works fine.

No. It makes things confusing.

Some PvErs may not understand why some things are fully unlocked and why some things are locked.

Jump into a PvP char, it all makes sense.

The refund system actually gave some very interesting multi-attribute builds that are no longer possible.

Regardless, I think the total lack of any sort of lore or NPC as to why your attributes reset or how your attributes work (like why must we earn those 30 points?) gives a vagueness and clunkiness to the RPG.



Lol. Thats kinda funny. Actually I would prefer a profession NPC next to each skill NPC in outposts and towns. That would satisfy me.

The built in gui is easier, but too coddly.

I think they were a good idea and should be in all chapters. However. I think the quests should be designed to teach you about the new secondary professions.

Personally...i dont see why you need to kill a Mesmer boss if you want a ranger secondary.


Maybe i wanna play PvP with a PvE character?

If PvE Heroes didnt have the same access of skills as PvP Heroes, they would be gimped.

**On a side note, i have made it clear that I want Anet to allow PvE chars to have full access to all unlocked PvP skills while in a PvP mode to not hamper their usability in PvP**

Difficult is not the same as time consuming.

And it should be an optional gold sink, not a mandatory one.

It would be "nice". But it wouldn't be neccesarily "good" for the game.

PUG quality would drop immensely if people never PLAYED the game.

Okay guys, unless someone wants to seriously discuss this, I'll stop spamming this thread back to the top.

I can see how beating the game a thousand times over is great for fostering the "PUG community", but for the rest of us who haven't joined one of those things in years, it's not exactly a stimulating activity. AI bots more interesting conversations than the average PUG group, guilding to do, etc.

More interested in getting back #1 challenge mission rank and Hellgate: London.

Game all over.

If PUG quality drops any further, it'll be in the negative...

And we wouldn't want that to happen, now would we?

And please, don't compare this to sports, UNLESS playing in Tennis World Championship qualifies you for Swimming, Badminton, Basketball, or Golf World Championship too.

you do know that by adding all those three proposals, you are utterly remodeling what Guild Wars was created to be and become, to be entirely unique from the other mmorpgs while keeping its difficulty

Like Kilmo said, its ridiculous

So because all other MMO's do it this way GW has to stay in that pinhole...Damn its a good thing that they can think out of the box or they would have never branched out and made GW...let alone make it free to play.

Once again everyone is stuck on NEW CHARAS...learning your New profession and lvl2's in DOA...Let's once again bounce back to the fact that established charas are the ones people are mainly talking about...Figure it takes about 250 hours to get a fully functional PvE chara for PvP....so like I've said before why not make it a lvl AND AGE requirement on top of the at least on chara has to have opened the area.

On a note that everyone keeps throwing up....

PvP SHOULD be account based and PvE chara based....WHY?????? Because that's how its always been....wrong. Not exactly "balanced" throughout the game that PvP gets things handed to them and they can use them for 2 min old charas....but some PvE players have 1200 hour old charas that are FORCED to play through again to cap a skill...Arguement...THEN DON'T MAKE ANOTHER CHARA...easy said for someone that PvP's you can make a new chara at ANY TIME and not lose anything!!!!

I have a new solution...Make the ENTIRE GAME chara based!!!! No preference for either side!!! Buh bye R9 for the account...cuz just because you are an R9 tank doesn't mean you are an R9 monk...and yet you can flash that emote on that 2 min old chara.


Edit: Opening up areas would actually help PUG's...because those of us that do PUG would have all of our charas to chose from...not just standing there with my dervish, when everyone needs a monk or a ranger.

Age requirement means practically nothing. Just because I bought this game before someone else (but play a lot lot less) makes me eligible to taking my warrior (which I made from day 1) to wherever I want (aka CHEAT)?

NO.

I'm not talking about 20months old...talking about 300+hours PLAYED (edit: hell add on a xp requirement too just keep the afkers from getting it). And how is it Cheating?

In reference to the OP, I do not think that ANET is deterring players from playing many characters.

On the contrary, I think that its down to the individual whether you want to use heroes which is a costy venture if you have many chars.

I personally think that ANET opened up a great doorway for PvE when they introduced the 'heroes'.

Its like I said, you dont have to use heroes if you dont really want to and when you get to missions and or quests that require any particular hero, I am sure you will find a pug who has that particlar hero.

All for now .......

See that arguement always gets thrown around. But in the inherent differences between the two gameplay styles, such a gap is expected.

The time spent on developing an account for PvP through unlocking all skills and mods is quite a long time (even if you buy PvP packs, thats only for skills). For PvP, time spent is not character based. So how old their characters are is irrelevant.

Developing a character in PvE takes a long time as well, however the need for UAX is a lot less demanding and not a requirement vs PvP.

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PvP players hasnt had everything handed to them and has struggled quite a bit with Anet as much as PvE players.

Lets not derail it into a PvP vs PvE TOO far

The sports analogy is really only valid for PvP. You can blame BryanM for his insistance that Guild Wars is soccer. I'm just rolling with his idea.
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Anet has no deterance at all on the number of characters you finish with or play.

deterance is at the players end not Anets.

1 most important...............the amount of time that real life allows you to play

that is you not Anet

2 how much of that available time are you willing to put into the game instead of something else that you enjoy?

again your choice not Anets

the people who can not spend 3-5 hours a day playing will not be able to run as many characters through as those who play twice as much per day

you are the limiting factor not Anet

Chrono Trigger (After completing the game you unlock new game+) though Chrono Trigger isn't online and you dont have multiple character slots or stuff like that

P.S. But i still think you shouldn't be able to go to all outposts you've unlocked with a new char, that would make te PvE side of the game much easier then it already is

New Game+ doesn't count, really. You basically start a new game using THE SAME CHARACTERS (that you use in your first game, with same level/items).

I'm talking about some games that you have to make some decisions about your character at the beginning (think Oblivion or Neverwinter Nights).

I am also getting tired of having to progress each different character through each mission for every single campaign. If I wanted to do some PvE with a guildie and he needed a monk for the mission, too bad, your monk didn't get that far! Spend 20 hours on that character, then play with your guildie!

The fun runs out on the second or third run-through and you just start to hate the game. And with a system where all outposts you visited with a character are unlocked for all other character, if you actually wanted to complete all missions on all your characters, then go ahead, nothing is stopping you. You could even get a title for doing it, because titles are shiny.

Im against it.

I want each character to complete all the game by herself. This is another whine thread about things not being easy enough. I'm getting bored of those but yeah... i have to reply since anet otherwise thinks that people only whine and there are none that agree to the current state of things.
The majority doesnt reply on forums... only the whiners.

To an extent this is why they added the droks run to Proph. Then people could cut the travel time in half to the best armor etc, in Prophecies.

I would like to have my map openings available to all my characters, but the elitests would lose their ever loving minds. (you know, the kids that think their title means something in RL) lol

I myself have dusted off my main Tyrian character and started getting masters in factions and nigthfall for him (he's already P.O.T) the rest of my characters are on the shelf now. But when boredom settles in I'll dust them off as needed. For example when GW made everything run forever and all warriors did was chase them, I ramped up my ranger an nailed them without having to move. (shortbow/vamp, tigers fury, cripple, exploding arrows and/or disrupt ftw).

Precisely, missions (challenge and normal) are the point of PvE. Prophecies was convenient in the sense you could just walk to the desert, play the two missions there that have a little challenge to them, and most of the game was behind you. Thunderhead, and you've got the skills guy offering you all the skills. When they updated him to do that, of course. Having to look up where to go to buy one wasn't cool.

If so many people love having a treadmill that goes nowhere, good for them. I think it is massively pointless and a squandering of life, but who cares. I am eating yummy rice right now instead of trying to push my Warrior through Factions and Nightfall. It is far more productive.

Unlocking all towns at the beginning if you have already beaten the game? that would make PvE way more easier and less fun. It would also give the PvPers the chance to say that PvP is harder. If this happens, i would agree with them. Its not hard to beat the game. Progh and factions can be beaten in 2-3 days. Nightfall in 4-5. If you really like the game you wouldnt mind spending under 2 weeks getting a charecter all the way through. So please so whining.

Where to begin...

Time consuming != hard. PvE is not hard. It is time consuming. Some people just don't want to waste that kind of time on the PvE (unless it's with guildies or friends) when they've already beat the game once. There are much much much more interesting things to do, both in Guild Wars, and more importantly, in real life.

You clearly like doing the same thing 8 or 10 times over, so all the power to you. Nobody's trying to stop you. Please understand that no idea suggested here will stop you from completing every single quest, mission, sidequest, title, whatever the hell you want to monotonously grind.

The idea here is to give the people who don't want to do this the option of taking their character to any point in the game and have fun, with guildies or whatever, instead of having to say 'sorry guys, my character's not there yet'.