Time for GW2?

Since I started playing GW nearly 2 years ago, the only major thing that bugged me was time...or the lack of it. Not a day/night cycle, that's not a major issue, but in game time itself - things being lost to time - the story moving forward, for everyone.

Before I proceed, let me rhetorically ask any vet players, what some of their most memorable GW experiences are? - Pre Searing the first time? - The beta finale featuring Gwen? or the first Halloween event?. I suspect for many it is some of those events that stand out in the memory, because they were one off's - it's a kind of 'I was there' psychology that sets events that such as those I have mentioned apart from the rest of the game and makes for a much richer playing experience.

How GW might have been

Release day - All players enter pre-searing.

Release day +45 days - The searing occurs - ALL players are transported to Ascalon post searing - new players entering the game begin here from now onwards. Missions up to Shiverpeaks are playable - the rest of the map is explorable but no mission or quests are available

+30 days - Missions prior to the shiverpeaks are turned off and turned into explorable areas - new quests relating to the current 'state' of the game are added in those areas - Mission up to Lions arch are turned on. Players have a set amount of time to play the 'advance the storyline missions' before they are turned off and time moves forward.

Essentially players would have a window in which to play the storyline missions before time moves on. Of course, this has implications for protector titles and the like but I strongly feel that GW would have been a much better game if events came and went.

So what if GW had time, would it have been a better game? and more importantly, would it have been flexible enough that a fourth, fifth and up expansion could have been added without the need to 'start all over again' with GW2 - I'm betting that GW2 will be more like the game I have outlined here than its mission/story driven predecessor.

Your thoughts?

I really don't want to miss out on missions or storylines just because I might not have picked up GW in time. You get a lot more player elitism too, with "I was there and I saw/got/achieved things you didn't and never will!" attitudes. Noooo thanks

Besides, GW2 began because the team felt that many elements and systems of the underlying engine needed to be changed. It's not possible to make those changes without doing a major overhaul of how GW works, and your proposal wouldn't have made a difference.

Ugh.... that would have been terrible. Epecially for good players who would suddenly have nothing to do once they got to the new "last mission." People already "beat" the games in a matter of days when they are released now. Imagine what it would be like when they only have access to 1/10th the game's content at a time. Most people would get bored before the next content update happened and quit.

If it worked like this I'd never have bought the game, nor would I ever buy a game that used a system like the one you describe. I'm not in high school, I don't have the time or the inclination to play a game every day for years. I play in spurts and disappear for long stretches, the system you describe would result in players like myself missing huge sections of game for no discernible reason.

I concur, there's no reason that just because I decide I do not feel like playing every day that I should miss out on parts of the game. Not everyone has a schedule that they can rearrange just so they can not miss out on game content that is only available at certain times, and will never be available again.


Horrid idea.

Why should they force players to play at a set pace?

So what do they do now once they have 'beat the game' in a couple of days? quit?

Surely the essence of an online game is that it moves forward, it evolves. There is and should be enough content that if you are not a regular player you can dip in to the game at any time and become involved in whatever is going on in that online world AT THAT TIME.

The whole idea that I can move backwards in time and play through a mission that supposedly happened 3-4 years ago, with a a player who is playing it for the first time, is a big flaw in GW's design.

Finally, are you suggesting that holiday events should be available all of the time? The boardwalk?, Beetle racing? It would seem to me that the designers have already realised that not having all content available at one time, makes for a more interesting game.

"Flaw" in GW's design? No, not at all. A singleplayer RPG moves the way you suggest, but with an MMO it is simply not possible to pull off successfully without alienating a lot of new and potential players. The fact of the matter is, people will never want to be locked out of main storylines that other people got to experience, and only because they were around for it - not because they did something extra to "earn" that experience. Maybe that's the game you personally want to play, but that's the game I would never in my life pick up; because if I don't keep up with it, I will find myself missing out on things I will never be able to access. And I will never let a game slavedrive me like that.

This did happen.

They called the segments: Prophecies, Factions, Nightfall and Eye of the North.

Sorry, but pre-searing has exactly 25 minutes of gameplay. Not 45 days.

lol, some people spend hours, days, and even years in pre sear. Why? Many reasons, they like they people there, they like the scenery, maybe they are working on the defender title, who knows. Some people bypass it completely, you for example. You spent a few minutes then decided to move on. The first time I played pre I spent hours exploring. I have a guildie that has a char that just turned 2 and has never left pre.

I find that being able to move along the storyline at your own discretion is nice. I would not want to play a game like suggested by the OP.

*cough*timed masters rewards*/cough*

Ah, I remember that. That was probably the most memorable event in GW for me just because it was so freaky and funny. She'd skip around and if you got her attention she'd say something spooky to you and set you on fire. Not to mention, it was hilarious to find people that had absolutely no idea what was going on or why it was happening. Good times.

Heck with the weekend events. They need more hour-long events like those. Spooky Gwens, invading dragons, fireworks -- all in the outposts and towns where people flock -- those kinds of things help bring a community together and make the game a lot more fun.

LoL Good point. But that's just for missions, and it forces you to go fast, not slow.

I have never played WOW (that being the largest MMO) so I can't comment (perhaps some other players who have would input?) but it seems unfeasible that the WOW world hasn't moved on since its inception, that events/missions/quests haven't come and gone?

I can comment on UO as I played it for many years and one of the reason it is still alive and well is the fact that the world evolved over time. The game I played in UO would be radically different from someone who started a year or so after I left - sure some of the quests would still be there, but not many. And the real memorable moments from playing the game came from those 'one off' events which in the words of the previos poster 'bring a community together and make the game a lot more fun'

I don't play WoW either, but I would be willing to bet that anything from the main storyline (quests, missions, etc.) that was available to players two years ago, is still available to players starting today.

I wouldn't find the proposed setup fun and all, and I don't see why the GW system would have to change to please a few and take away the enjoyment of, what is so far in this thread, the majority. So thanks, but no thanks from me.

What I would find slightly acceptable is if a certain mission/quest has to be done at 'night' (like riverside province) so you must wait that the game goes on 'night mode'. Otherwise it's not feasable from my point of view.

ii think the idea of time like day and night sequence is kewl like in some games the merchants are not available at night but to do it where it is fair the day night sequence would have to take place over 30-60 min cycle not 24 hour day or guys who can only play at night gw time could never access a merchant or whatever, but fighting in the dark would be kewl.

It's called festival masks I think.

Must I really make the distinction with main storyline quests and missions over holiday/festival items?

Playing WoW somewhat rarely with my friends but can share some info from warcraft lore fan's view point ...

Yup, same old quests are still there when you start a new character, but Blizzard keeps filling the world by adding additional content in major patches (think Sorrow's Furnace every now and then) that alter game mechanics, bring hundreds of additional quests, new areas & dungeons to explore etc.

Blizzard mostly focuses on adding new content but sometimes they have revamped random old areas, i.e in next major patch which is coming out in couple of weeks Blizz is again revamping one old zone (adding a neutral town, new lore, quest hub etc.)

What comes to events and one-timers, there has been major world events in WoW that connect hundreds if not thousands of players together both horde & alliance with some single goal they must achieve. One such thing was the opening of Gate of Ahn'Qiraj http://www.wowwiki.com/Ahn%27Qiraj_War_Effort

All content & changes that came before the Burning Crusade:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Patches/1.x

Content & changes from the launch of BC till today:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Patches

Soon:
http://www.wowwiki.com/Coming_Soon

Now this was little bit sidetracked from the OP but I thought it's good to show *hai* what's going on in WoW like some of you wanted to know. The world in there has evolved quite a bit but old quests and starting areas are still the same.