GW2 Suggestions Thread

Ripping off Game Engine =/= Modeling concept after a previously created Game engine.

Ripping off a game engine in a manner that could lead to a suit would be actually ripping off their code and assets that would be used to compile the game.

It won't be as simple as that. For the first time we would actually have a threat meter where people would have to show constraint in order not to take the MOB off of the tank by spamming high lvl spells. I just think it would add a much needed concept of the group to this MMO. I mean, let's face it, we can all do most of the content with heroes and henchies.

honestly, They can do watever they want, and ill stillbuy it lol. aslong as it remains free, which it will. If its wow like then fine, just keep the story lines, the looks and it will sell

In WoW, it isn't at all that simple or "easy."

This mechanism regarding aggro is referred to as "threat". The more threat you have, the more likely a mob is going to go after you, and various skills increase your threat. Of course, warriors use threat skills to hold aggro, but a mage can also attract aggro by using a high-threat skill or a priest can attract aggro by using certain healing skills.

I like this system. It means every player has to be careful in using the skills they have and in their timing. I think it adds an additional layer of complexity to every encounter. So, I hope GW2 does add something along these lines.

Threat/Taunt/Agrro ratings and points are pretty common and are for some cases more easely maintained.
in GW we don't have them, mobs just read peoples health numbers and attack the softest target.

While taunt points are impossible to implement in PvP, the way GW mobs aggro, supposedly was emans to simulate the way PvP players chose targets.

The way Anet wants GW to be, I don't think the devs would be satisfied with just taunt points for mobs, I think they'll try something to have mobs emulate PvP'ers even more, it sorta fits the game as well.
Still I hope tanks get a way to guide mobs too them.
If you ask me it should be something like [skill=text]Retribution[/skill] or [skill=text]Balthazar's Aura[/skill] on the entire team except the tank, that way mobs and players would logically be (temporarily) scared away from attacking the team members instead of the tank.

And delete your double post.

MY THOUGHTS EXACTLY!!


But in this situation i would prefer MUCH LESS FOCUS on the holding or swinging off a pole or what have you.

it should be VERY SIMPLE TO PERFORM...... so as to maintain complete focus

on the core game play.

And DEFIANTLY used sparingly , as a unique quirk to the occasional mission.


In mid battle, there is a pole above, a ranger can leap up holding with one arm,

so as to have a vantage point. However it should only be a matter of a single mouse click or button press, and unable to FALL OFF!.....

very direct! HOPE ON/ HOPE OFF......

I don't want it GW2 to become messy with too much freedom........ it was never this way in GW1..... and it is compelling.


Probably a really bad analogy,


But at times, the effect can be almost like that of a Electronic Poker Machine. (even though i detest gambling!)

The button pressing, the sound and the motion of key press's....... all have a VERY APPEALING almost hypnotic effect in GW1

it is COMPELLING to play!...... when your "IN THE ZONE", and the TIGHT game mechanics allow for this to occur.


Personally i believe this a MAJOR factor in the repeatable-play factor in GW....... it FEELS GOOD! to play.

most of the time anyway.

It just seems that with GWEN's primary "missions" having res shrines except the last one, perhaps GW2 will be the same way. And I hear it's supposed to be an environment like WOW, so I'm not sure how they'd do missions in there. But anyway...

What is the point of having Hall of Monuments if we can't show off the titles in there or wear the armor, etc.? Though PC Gamer did say that characters in GW2 will be able to take out and use weapons fromm Guild Wars 1 via HOM.

there is a 15 minute 2 part e3 vidio download on that as well as many interviews that all say the sam thing

1. YOU WONT GET YOUR HEROES ONLY 1 COMPANION THAT DOES NOT TAKE UP A SLOT

2. HOM will *unlock* something not direct transfer

deal with it

Where can you download this video? Can you provide me with a link, thx.

ugh, every response i see here has at least 2 suggestions that are EXACT copies of WoW/RS features. grow up people, were not 12 anymore. (ive counted like 15 suggestions involving mounts/trade skills in 2 pages).

on topic, i think that most of the features of GW currently are great the way they are. removing level cap and instanced worlds is just going to make GW2 seem like WoW without fees and night elves. (sylvari perhaps?) if they simply kept most of the game mechanics the same, GW2 would, IMHO, be much better than what we have heard. maybe the addition of incredibly large-scale battles (for example, 100 vs 100 in a deathmatch in a large arena) would help get us lazy PvE-ers off our butts and do some PvP now and then.

Im aware of how its handled and I must say I do find it makes for fairly simple gameplay. As long as your tank and DPS make sure they keep aggro or threat at the correct levels between them it becomes very easy to focus most of your healing onto 1 char.

WoW isnt the only one that does it in that way, a lot of games have a threat list with each action adding or taking away etc. Ive really not found one where ive played it and thought, hmm that made it a lot harder and required a lot of teamwork. It always just comes down to the tank building up as much aggro as possible while your main damage dealers try and sit just below him on the threat list.

The only time it becomes a bit more interesting is when you have enemies that reset the threat list at certain points, even then since you know its going to happen you can just drop back on DPS for a sec and let the tank fire off some taunts or other aggro building moves.


Under the current system you cant just prot one char and never have to worry, you have to react, the rest of the players in your team need to know how to kite and deal with being punched in the face.

what have you been smoking??
what mostly everyone is now looking for from gw2 is like a huge army of new features that has never happened in gw1 or any other game with that then it will sell but if it stays the same monster bashing loot stealing grinder then it will just be a gw1 with better graphics and jumping.

I know that this might sound like hard work for the game designers of Anet but i feel it would make the game more realistic and unique.

1. All greens (or whatever they will be the equvalent of in Guild Wars 2) should have a unique appearance. Wouldn't you think that the bosses would like to have their weapons personaly customised.

2. Also, there should be some sort of way of creating your own weapons like carving a staff out of wood to fit the EXACT looks that you want like a branch sticking out the top right or something. You could even carve or bend a weapon you found off a Corsair or Am Fa.

3. When you kill an enemy it should drop more than just a wand. You should be able to scavenge the body for cloth or take take a headband that they were wearing. The weapons and armour you can take should be the exact same as what it was visualy carrying. Also if you kill a Fanged Iboga or a Skale it realisticly shouldn't drop a Human/Asuran/Whatever axe or money as it obviosly couldn't carry or use it.


I hope they add dwarfs as a new playable race. You would obvisoly expect to be able to play them. They have been main races in Prophecies and Eye of the North (even though it did say that 'The time of the dwarf's is over!'.
Dying should be such a big thing in Guild Wars 2. Even once or twice at all should be unnaceptable. HEADSHOTS SHOULD BE A 1 HIT KO!!! MWHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAH!

That actually makes it more easy instead of interesting.
Using AO's "ring of memory loss" to clear a hatelist, I can time till a mob stops attacking me for just a second, hit it and it will forget all the aggro I had collected on it with healing/debuffing and the tank's/My Pet's DPS will regain it's full attention.

And that right there is why I dislike it.

When you know its going to focus on one target it just becomes boring (maybe not easier just because you struggle to outheal the damage, but the difficulty is purely in the numbers the healers skill doesnt matter).

When stuff starts rampaging in your backlines then it becomes fun, there is no way to control them, you survive based on your skill as a team and individuals.

Having to choose who you cast your next spell on becomes important not just hitting a skill each time its recharged.

I was just looking at Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures on gamespot which had this.

"Though guilds can have only one crafting village, they can also build a battle keep. The difference is mainly thus: Crafting villages cannot be attacked, but battle keeps can. That's because battle keeps are finite in number; there are only nine locations in the game where they can be built. If you want to build a battle keep, you'll need to seize one of those locations. This ushers in the siege warfare aspect of Age of Conan. If you hold a battle keep, your guild will be tasked with having to defend it at least once every two or three days. Siege battles can involve hundreds of players on offense and defense. The attackers can build siege engines, which can be used to knock down walls. The defenders must try to hold out for a certain amount of time. The goal is to either attack or defend the central keep; if it's destroyed, the defenders lose and the attackers seize the location. So why even bother trying to hold a battle keep? Well, every building that you own, in both the crafting village and the battle keep, will grant you bonuses. So the more buildings your guild controls, the better."

I would like something like that in guildwars. And no it's not stealing it's inspiration

When I was new to guildwars back in 2005 when I heard of the guild hall I expected something along the following lines:

there would be a town with lots of streets filled with guildhalls that you could go in and meet people from the guild. On the front of the guildhall would be a notice with a description of the guild or an announcement.

I’d very much like to see that. Although probably not possible.

Notum wars for the win
I doubt it however, it is FunCom(AoC developer)'s style to allow twinking, this makes for a fun experience and sence of achievement in PvE and Zerging(large number of people PvP raiding) but it unbalances the competition type play GW and Anet use, the stuff of the arenas and tournaments for money.

And GW2 does have a large PvP battle type for battles in the mist, though it was supposed to be more of a border shifting type like in Factions I believe, not a guild specific thing, making it really worth while for your guild to hold something.
I think you just get favor of the gods while your 'world'(server tree) holds the mists.

And only 9, wow that is very few; Notum Wars had like 40+ towerbases, like 6-8 for each level range form 25-220.

I simply cannot stand twinking. I spent so many wasted hours trying to "squeeze" into higher and higher level armors and implants. For all the things I would like to see in GW2, being able to buff in order to wear better equipment is definitely not on that list.

Land control is really cool, and I think might be something they are planning with the PvEvP persistent world war zones. It's fun to just drop in and assist your faction in trying to take over a base or something.

I have an idea! lol

As we all know, Guild Wars 2 is a whole new game. That means we'll all be starting with no money. Well, what about some kind of system where we can have some of our GW1 money become "inheritance"? Of course, for the farmers and people who are loaded that wouldn't be fair because they get a free ride. But...yeah.

Also, as for the dropping system - gold shouldn't be shared between you and heroes or companions, whatever they are. Only real people.

You wil only be allowed to bring 1 hero, bringing a hero will make you weaker in some way, so I'd say heroes no longer unbalance you vs. solo, so you should be able to get as much moneyz with your 1 hero as when when you solo.

Anet stated HoM transfer will not offer an unfair advantage to players, so even if there was a money title you could put on it, I doubt it would be fair even if this was limited to like 1 platinum.

I'm actually expectign the rainbow phoenix will be a capturable ranger pet in GW2 HoM if you have them in GW1.

*cough*as usual*cough*

Here's my hopes/wishes/suggetions!!! (I posted this some where else but this thread is better)

I want nearly ALL content to be geared towards a powerful/max/advanced/developed character. I like the idea of an infinite level but don't want that to mean super powered players. Please, don't make half the game so EASY that once I get some levels or super BFG weapon, there will be ZERO REPLAY VALUE.

The reason Guild Wars is STILL SELLING GREAT is because a new player can easily level up and be on an equal playing field (minus knowledge of gameplay mechanics) to someone who has played thousands of hours. IF THEY CHANGE THIS... the GW2 will NOT SELL as well after current players have wasted there zillion hours and obtained a near god-like status of power.

Who would want to buy a game where they have no chance of even getting an invite, due to their pathetically underdeveloped character? Please keep GW2 a SKILL BASED game, so new people we meet can still buy the game and be able to have fun with a veteran player!

To do this you'll want to start the "training" stages of the game at a difficulty, which will challenge a developed character, who is attempting the area in it's hardest form (soloing).

Building on this idea, make item drops BETTER when returning to an easy area and trying to solo it! Maybe make a "hard mode" type of instance that gives better drops and it based on character progession. By upping the difficulty in this "hard mode," one could replay an area, be challenged, have fun, and still DESERVE GOOD DROPS. I expect drops to be scaled to difficultly, NO GIMPING solo players DROPS! Please... -_- because not doing so reduces replay value.

Also, don't make items or skills that are unobtainable to the average player. Grinding for that rare .0001% chance to drop item will only create a GOLD focused enviorment where botters exist and E-Bay gold buyers get the best stuff.

To expand on the above, GOLD is BAD for the economy and should be used sparingly for vanity items. When player preformance is gold based, one will simply ignore quests and focus on the most effecient method to get rich.

When you require necessary things like skills, weapons, and armor to be purchased (with gold), it makes player performance based on grind and decreases the games appeal to new players or casual players. Finally, give weapons, skills, and armor strictly through quest rewards so people will actually WANT to do QUESTS! and not go grind for gold... while their buddy is stuck looking for a pick up group.

I've played over 1,500 hours (Economics degree was to easy), so I'm no casual gamer, but a good community is not built on crack-game-addicts that backstab each other for the best stuff that E-bay game gold can buy. If it fixed the greed in the community I wouldn't mind removing gold completely and MAKING DROPS ACCOUNT SPECIFIC! lol It may never happen, but think of how nice it would be to play a game and not have to worry about spending time selling stuff. Instead, PLAYING the game and having fun with your buddies would be the focus!

My last request is for "emergent complexity" to not be so ambiguous in their discription that making solid STRATEGIC builds with synergy is difficult to do, which requires wiki to plan ahead. Please make great skill discriptions!

Wait I forgot something... Don't change the current system that allows people to easily re-distribute their points for attributes ect... Nothing is worse than developing a character that gets smacked with the "nerf bat" and cannot be salvaged due to permanent character choices. Plus it's fun to experiment with new builds.

Also, presistant areas are great but can get OVERPOPULATED, so please have a max player count and use districts or "worlds" to manage them.

Armor = please make it so armor does not occupy item slots! Instead, let us "unlock" different armor types and then have a wardrobe type of gallery where we can mix and max what we've unlocked. This will save SO much space, give people a better reason to seek out new armor skins, and let us have some variety when we want it.

Greater Replay = Happy Customers = More Future Sales

I suppose that is one point, so how about a suggest a different perspective. Let's break it down to one simple desire. We want to keep the enemy from hitting the casters, not necessarily do we want the tanks to be hit. In this concept the tank does not need to get all the aggro, but simply needs to "block" the enemies from reaching the casters. So instead of an aggro system, what about better "blocking" skills. Skills that prevent monsters from reaching the casters. Given, the concept of such skills is already present such as many of the elementalist's ward skills. Also perhaps a tank could be given enchantments that make them take the damage instead of the targeted ally. Again, a skill already present in another class, such as the necromancer's ability to deflect much of the damage to the minions.

What I would like to see is the ability of the tanks to make a better "wall" that blocks close combat enemies from reaching the casters by creating a zone of, "No, you can't cross this area no matter how much you would like to." Given, this doesn't solve all problems as bow wielders and enemy casters could still attack over this "wall", but then, it can't be perfect.

In summary, let's think of the tank as being more a blocker or damage shifter than an aggro machine.

You know, that could end up both cool and ridiculously obvious.

When you say blocker tank, I think body blocking, with is hard to do unless you have 5 or 6 wel coordinated tanks(every well coordinated player in GW says SY > 5 tanks)

To make them body block better, lets make tanks bigger, not by default but lets give them skills that increase them in size and max health.
that way 1 tank could block multiple mobs, when positioned right they'd make real difference now instead of the really hard to utilize advantage body blocking offers now.

To be honest that still doesnt change the fact you know where most of the damage is going.

How it gets there doesnt matter, if they take dmg for an ally or stop them being able to reach an ally they still end the ones taking the damage.
I much prefer a system where there is simply no control, apart from positioning, kiting, teamwork etc.

Ive never been a fan of the whole tank concept, really for this very reason. It dumbs down combat, be it a taunt or a way to send all damage to your tank or whatever.
Suddenly reactions and skill doesnt matter. You can spend most of the time as the healer just focused on 1 char. Most of the time that is reduced to just spamming skills since thats all thats required.

You can see some of what its like in the team builds for the higher end areas already. Most will use a tank and a whole bunch of damage dealers. Because there is no need for anything else.

The tank in combination with the monks is buffed up to the point they really cant be beaten and then everyone else just goes about poking stuff till it dies.

At no point do the monks even need to bother thinking about the other chars, because if the tank somehow screws up then it doesnt matter, everyone is dead anyways by the nature of the build.


Now thats under a system with practically no way to manage aggro, add in taunts and other aggro systems and it just gets even easier and brainless.

Compare that however to a system where you have no control.
You cant just take a tank, damage dealers and monks. You suddenly need support. You monks suddenly need to wake up and actually pay attention. Pre protting becomes important, chosing who you cast spell x on becomes very important.
You also need off monk ways of migating damage, your team needs to know how to react to different situations, you cant just sit back and let the AI be stupid and attack the one char they cant beat.


It just adds so much more in terms of combat and tactics. Rather than sitting back and repeating the exact same thing over and over you are required to actually actively interact with the game and make decisions and actions as you are forced to react.

Perhaps you misunderstand, what I propose isn't making the AI be stupid and attack someone they cannot beat, it's forcing the AI to attack someone they can't beat. This is a tactical proposal.

How they end up doing it doesnt matter all that much.

The fact is once they do focus on one char the game suddenly dumbs down very quickly and thats something I hope they avoid.

Guild Wars 2 Goes Green. as well, a suggestion on How You can Improve Chat. Oh and a question--Does Arena Net even read these threads?

As a casual player I find one of the great things about GW1 is you can just walk away from the keyboard when real-life calls, even if you are in the middle of a difficult dungeon or instance.

Now with Green computers, motherboards, power supplies etc. . . . And Windows Vista allowing users to just sleep their computer instantly . . .

Suggestion: Allow players to camp their characters, while in the middle of instances; saving the progress for another time, or another day. If a player needs to log-off, let them without penalty, instead of leaving their computer on for hours at a time while AFK--something which many players do. This would encourage players to stay a bit more connected to Real Life, and encourage a much needed energy savings--among other global issues. This feature could work within Windows Sleep feature, I'd suspect.

There can be many bonuses to Camping your Character, death-penalty reductions over time, attribute buffs for rested time(exclusive to Instance), energy savings, conducive to real life. Allow players to camp even when grouped with other players, by either switching that players character to AI (See my previous suggestions in this thread for Player/Guildy Heroes.), or groups could invite a new player(s) into the instance once another player(s) have camped and logged off. This also dramatically frees up Instance Level design, allowing the development of Instances that could last many days of questing and journey.

This feature could work in the Mists as well, and should be considered especially if the Mists is a very large area. In the mists it would be considered Bivouacking, where your character, and companions would patrol the area as part of the AI controlled battle field. There could even be very unique bonuses to Bivouacking properly, if your character achieves any results in the persistent battle field.

Chat Suggestion: Make chat three dimensional. Remember how George Lucas put dead Anakin and Obiwan into Luke's head? No. Well, he used ghost like images that added tangible, viewable people. Allow players to see a Mists-Like images (see my suggestions on pseudo/layered instancing) of Players who are engaged in chat, with accompanying chat Bubbles. Allow players to choose who they wish to see, who they do not. There could even be real-time animation updates. Allow players to target these chat Avatars, and right click for context menus, Invite, Whisper, Ignore, Trade etc. . . . . These chat avatars would be exclusive to each player, and thus not viewable to anyone else unless other players are in the same channel, with the same player avatars enabled.

make it possible to make max level pve chars.
not many ppl enjoy levelling.(not even ppl who play wow do not enjoy rerolling a char)
rumours say gw2 will have 100 levels.....that would mean me and other ppl who hate levellin won't play it.
this weekend i wanted to play a derv but couldn't be bothered to go through the 10+ hours of levellin and skill aqcuiring.....it's boring.

Dudes:

One problem of GW is the nerfed skills. When they are nerfed for being overpowered in PvE/PvP, then people star crying because that skill was useful for PvP/PvE. So, here is my idea: Make the same skill list, and make two copies: one for PvE, and another one for PvP,

EXAMPLE: You would have [skill]flare[/skill] for PvE , but each time you go to PvP you must change the skill list and pick [skill]flare[/skill] from PvP skill list.

WOULD YOU HAVE TO UNLOCK THE SKILL TWICE?
No. Unlocking skill system would be the same as Guild Wars.

With this metod I hope to stop double-edged nerfs. For example, Izzy nerfs flare because it is overpowered in PvP, but the nerf only affect the PvP skill. In PvE, it would stay without changes.

Maybe I was not good ( Im not a native english speaker). Well, skim the text and get my idea.

Simplify the rune system. Keep the rune concept, but get rid of physical runes taking space in storage and inventory. I don't know how the rune system is going to look like in GW2, but if I could redo the GW1 rune system, I'd favor this one:

For each character, each piece of armor still has 2 "enhancement slots" (prefix/suffix) or whatever you may call it. Replace each of the current Rune traders with "Rune trainers", and add a couple of additional trainers, to a total of maybe up to 3 per region (Kourna/Kaineng/Kryta etc.).

A Rune trainer has the ability to change which enhancement is placed in each slot for each character/hero, for a small fee. So basically when the player talks to a trainer, that player would choose himself or one of his Heroes that are in the party/ in the hero pool. For each armor piece of the selected character, there would be a dropdown menu that contains all legal runes/inscriptions for the respective character class, and after all changes have been made, the player clicks OK to let the changes take effect and deduct a fee from the player's gold pool.

The price of the change should be determined by the sort of rune that gets put in. Prices should be low enough to not significantly hinder experimentation even for players short on money, but high enough to make it a minor gold sink. Removing a rune would be free. It would then cost, for example, 20 gold for adding a minor rune or inscription, 50 for a major, and 100 gold for a superior rune. Adjusting prices due to demand is an option, but should be avoided to not let the prices of the most popular modifications skyrocket.

If they do split PvP and PvE skills I hope they realise PvE still needs balancing.

However im sure people will argue the same way they do over UB. You dont have to use it.

There still needs to be balance in PvE. It should not be a cakewalk with the option of being slightly difficult if you choose not to take the most powerful skills.

I don't think they would or even should split pve and pvp skills. After all, they would have twice the balancing work and twice the bug potential. Also, while PvE is not exactly a good preparation for PvP and vice versa, there is a certain training effect to be had from using the exact same skills in both modes.

I second the idea of a camping feature. I never had an issue until the dungeons in Eye of the North. Some of them take a long concentrated effort of a single sitting. While much of this can be solved by planning dates and times for the dungeon crawl, it still doesn't help for unexpected situations. Also as Balan Makki stated, the idea of there being extended missions or dungeons that can't take long time periods.

Now if I may, I would like to expand on this idea. This may actually sound a little silly to many players, but here goes. What if there were "things" that could be done during camp time? Things like cooking over a camp fire or playing an instrument for amusement? Perhaps being able to perform these actions can improve morale or provide temporary bonus to attributes. An example of this would be in the RPG video game Legaia 2. In the game, you had locations to set up camp. The characters were capable of learning to cook a variety of dishes and you had to have the ingredients to cook these meals. The net effect was that for a short duration the whole party received a variety of benefits and sometimes negatives depending on the type of meal prepared. Additionally, characters can learn to play instruments. Instead of playing the air guitar, perhaps could learn to play a real guitar (or lute to be more matching to presented theme). The effect could be to further help a party relax and recover at a camp, perhaps even gain morale boost depending on the skill of the character playing the instrument.

However, as mentioned, this may seem quite silly to many players and I add it as a suggestion for those who maybe would like to be known as more than just a combatant.

As an afterthought to the conclusion, there could be added title tracks for players to become renowned cooks or minstrels.

My suggestion would be that there be "temporary" outposts in longer dungeons. For example, a player might work their way to the mid-point outpost in a long linear dungeon like Frostmaws. Once you had access, you could warp back to that point at any time, join a group there, or continue from that point on with henches. In a "wheel-spoke" dungeon like Slavers, the camp would be located at a central staging area.

Once you had completed the dungeon, however, you would lose access to that camp until you worked your way up to it again. It would basically just provide at least one "save point" (more than one, if there were even longer dungeons) so players could resume playing another day or at a later time if they needed to.

then people have to stop crying.

if you want balanced skills then the only way to do that is to confront them against each other.(pvp)

there is no other way.

ppl who cry about nerf skills in pve do not like balanced skills but that's their problem.

Firstly, i'm highly impressed by Alex the Noble's idea for Guild controlled towns like Factions that are assaultable. This would be a great element to add. Except there would have to be some basis for control in that American guilds can't take European towns, etc. because of time differentials. The game would get very monotonous if everytime you logged on with your guild all you did was re-assault the town you had control of last night. Contrastingly, however, it would be a great way to promote inter-continent guilds that have people from different nations on guard duty.

I think it would be hella cool for this to be implemented, especially with the emergency warp function. It would be such a blast to be strolling through the woods or whatever and then have to warp or charge back to town to defend your home. Similarly, this would REALLY put an emphasis on the role of alliances. Furthermore, when under attack, a call could go out to everyone on your friends list for aid, but they couldn't auto warp to your hall...maybe find some way to get you within the proximity or on the continent (i.e. get you to Ascalon if your currently chilling in Cantha). As I've said in my previous posts, how AWESOME would it be to have your friends charging in from the horizon to help fight, or have a semi-cavalry charge roaring through town to turn the tide?

This could create further instances where Alliances have to choose allegiances to certain factions..for example in Elona you either swear your allegiance to Joko, or join the Sunspear Rebellion. Furthermore, your prior standing with the Sunspears could alter how people speak to you. If you're a Legendary Spearmarshall then you should have a greater influence and some sort of buff when defending a town or assaulting Joko's forces.

Do we have our own GW2 section yet?
No?

Darn, because I would like to discuss the concepts of persistent alliance territories, as per Cloudstriker's recent post, and layered instancing as not only a technology but as a plot device, as per Balan Makki's posts, in a mutually exclusive setting, so as not to overshadow either.

Oh well.

Philosophical fans of the franchise, Rock Paper Shotgun, have another piece pondering the financial future of persistent games with the release of Guild Wars 2.

http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/?p=1056

My only complaint with an emergency warp would be warping away from difficult to return to areas, such as floor 5 of a dungeon while battling the final boss. That could become quite frustrating. So please clarify, did you imply the warp is mandatory or optional?

No, it would be an optional function. If it were indeed implemented, there would have to be some sort of function that allowed you to return to where you were previously. This might be imbalanced from the viewpoint of you get to the last boss in a dungeon, ragequit your group, and then warp back with a group of your guildies to defeat the dude.

I would assume that we would have to create some sort of camp point at the beginning of each dungeon level (it was originally suggested by someone else) or even halfway to prevent this from being exploited.

However, the emergency warp function could or should only be active when the alarm comes up from your town being under attack. Sure, right now we have the ability to warp to our guild hall whenever we want, but that was a mechanic of how Guild Wars worked. With the premise of Guild Wars 2 being a more WoW style, i'm going to assume that free-movement is going to be more of a staple (i.e. running somewhere/riding/hiring a ride somehow). I think they'll be items like scrolls of town portal a la Diablo style, but I'm not entirely sure that map travel will be so common. Maybe to major cities, but they won't be ownable, only outposts and towns. I still stand by the whole warp to major city, get thy trusty steed and charge into battle.

Furthermore, I've mentioned it before in another thread, but I believe there should be a third profession function (i know, it sounds complex, but let me explain). My main character is a monk. He was born in Ascalon, fought the Lich, freed Cantha, destroyed Abaddon AND the Great Destroyer. I've done nearly every quest the world offers. I'm a Legendary Spearmarshall, Legendary Delver, and Slayer of All. In short, I've had quite the travels. Don't you think it's time that anyone thats played this long (because MANY of us have been playing GW since it's initial release) graduated to Priest or some other elite profession? Here are a few examples of what could be elite professions:
Warrior - Knight
Ranger - Wildsman/lady (this is a weak one I know)
Elementalist - Sorcerer
Necromancer - Warlock/Witch?
Mesmer - Illusionist
Monk - Priest
Assassin - Bladehand
Ritualist - Shaman
Dervish - Reaper
Paragon - Commander?

Now these won't come without a price. This is HIGH level stuff. If you become a priest you need to dedicate yourself to a certain path or something like that (i.e. base yourself in Healing, or Protection and get a bonus) or choose a buff that allows for greater healing, longer enchantments, or damage reduction or something along those lines. Furthermore, this could open further quest paths and affect the way that certain NPCs talk to you, the same way that when you're a delver that dwarves say different things.

Furthermore, there should be an option for realism where your armor bears dents and scratches from your travels that can be displayed in your hall of monuments when you upgrade your armor or change it. Also, allow embleming and secondary colouring on armour.

What I am hoping plays a minor role in Guild Wars 2 is required grind. Grind has been progressively becoming a much larger thing in Guild Wars, and I really do not like it. Looking back on the history of Guild Wars so far, the future for Guild Wars 2 seems bleak if they do not change some things in their game play model.

When Guild Wars originally came out, the amount of grind in it was certainly minimal. But with time, required titles came into existence. Now, this can look good on paper. Do things for these people, and you get points towards them. Do enough things and get enough points and you can move on. Sounds good, right? Wrong. When introduced to the game it did not go so smoothly. It required grind to move on. That was not all, they added they titles such as Lightbringer which added benefits in game to those who could get a higher title. Where did their motto of player skill being more important that time played go. They were slowly the establishing the exact opposite.

After Guild Wars Nightfall I thought for sure they would not repeat the same mistake of implementing required grind. I was sadly proven wrong. Along came Guild Wars: Eye of the North in which grind was now required for even simple things such as armor. Now, there will many out there who will say, "Well, you do not need to get the armor. It is optional." That is true, but when playing a game it should not feel like work or a chore to be able to access its content. If I wanted to get Eye of the North armor for each of my characters I would have to kill so many enemies to the extent where it becomes so pointless and repetitive I could care less.

From such mistakes, the Guild Wars team can learn. In Guild Wars 2 do not continue to follow down the path of adding more and more grind with each new addition to this game series. I (And certainly many others feel the same way) really enjoy this game because their is so little grind in relation to the other games out there. Please, make Guild Wars 2 a game meant for fun and not a second job.

Finally, if grind must be added, make it enjoyable. Do not let it be kill 3,000 of enemy X to move on. Be creative.

In addition, many other requests come to mind:

• Leveling

From what I read, the level cap will be either very high or non-existent in Guild Wars 2, and I am all for this granted they stop ability growth at a certain point. Higher levels could have access to new things. The one thing I am worried about, though, is that casual gamers will be pushed aside when players who have more time to access the game and have a higher level come. Do not make the benefits of having a insane level character that important. Allow casual gamers and hardcore gamers to be on equal ground. Make skill more important than time spent.

• Auction House

Please add an auction house. This is truly a remarkable and useful feature and helps do away with much of the "WTS/WTB" spam.

• Increased Interactivity

I am really looking forward to this new control system and how players will become much more interactive with Guild Wars universe, but in addition to controls, I would like to see some other aspects of interactivity. Possible things include: Fishing, Farming, Mining, Harvesting, etc. Things like this can give players something to do when they get bored of fighting enemies.

Another feature I would like to see implemented is emotes. These are always a great feature to online role playing games, and are great for both those who like to role play and those who do not. Emotes gives players the greater ability to show emotions in the Guild Wars universe and it would be really great to see them implemented.

Also, perhaps the ability to affect the environment around you could be added. A ranger pulls out his bow and shoots an explosive barrel. A warrior lifts a rock and throws it at his foe. An elementalist makes and ice bridge across a river.Things like this would be quite cool to see.

• Greater Customization

Character Creation/Appearance
Really, I would like to see greater custom-ability all around. When choosing a profession, players appearance should not be chosen as well. This would add a lot of diversity into the game. Along the same lines, more options should be available when making a character; hair colors, skin colors, body sizes, facial hair, eye color, hair types, face types, age, etc.

In addition, the ability to change choices once a character is made. As many people have asked for before, NPCs like hair stylists would be great additions to the game.

Weapons/Armor/Guild Emblems/Other Equipment
In addition to character models, I think it would be nice to see some greater custom-ability in game. Like stated before, perhaps have the ability to put guild logos on armor and weapons, or for that matter the ability to create custom guild logos. Or perhaps there could be the ability to create custom weapons and armor (The armor/weapons could be made for characters beside your own, as well.)

Also, professions should be able to choose from more weapons. Rangers could have short knifes/swords, whips, throwing knifes, etc in addition to bows. Warriors could have two handed swords/axes, etc in addition to what they have now. Perhaps spell casters would be able to use a two handed focus like a book which they read from and their spells gain more power. Also, some characters should have the ability to dual wield. For example, a warrior could have a sword in each hand. (Not dual wielding like assassins. Each weapon could be chosen by the player.)

Other accessories for characters. Perhaps hats that could go over top existing head piece. Also, there could be things like earrings, bracelets, rings, glasses, etc.

Guild Halls
As for guild halls, the ability to add each guilds own unique flavor to it would be nice. Such as ability to change colors, add certain items (Pool Party?), etc.

• Mail System

I always like this feature in games. It is nice to be able to send friends and other players notes and items in a different way than the traditional private message or trade. Also, this function can be used when another player is offline.

• Solo-ability

Another thing I would like to see in Guild Wars 2 is the ability to solo. There are many people who either prefer to solo than to be with groups, or just like a change of pace and want to fight by themselves. For this reason, I believe the Guild Wars team should stop trying to make it impossible to fight and do things alone. Granted, players will be able to do much more with a party, but keep the option of soloing open.

• Treasure Chests

Remove the need for a key, and possibly have treasure chests spawn in hard to get to places or be hidden throughout the map.

• Speech Program

Have an inbuilt program in which guild and friends could talk to each other.

• Larger Storage

Give players enough storage so they don't run into problems.

Other Possibilities

• Player Housing

Players could purchase houses (Each in their own instance similar to Guild Halls), and could customize them and invite other players to their houses.

• Player Shops/Merchant Districts

A nice thing to see would be the ability for players to set up their own shops. I can see how this could become messy though. Plays could litter the towns streets with their shops. To solve this problem, in towns their could be merchant districts which contain designated areas upon which players could set up their shops.

Merchant Districts could also contain all the other forms of trade in the town. Including NPC merchants, auction houses, etc.

• Mounts

While not necessarily needed, mounts can be a very fun aspect to a game.

• Pet Stable

Pet stables could hold a certain number of a players pets and mounts, enabling them to get more than one.

• Guild Storage

A rather simple feature that would allow guild mates to be able to share money, gold, items, etc.

• Dueling/Gladiator Arena

This is something that I really wish to see added. It is always fun to be able to fight someone 1v1, and I was really sad that they avoided this in the first Guild Wars. I would be fine with the ability to challenge someone to a duel, but what I think would be really cool is something like a Gladiator Arena. Players could enter a tournament of 1v1 matches and at the end the winner gets a prize. In addition, there could be spectators watching the match and maybe even betting on the victor.

Also, there could be other modes of play than just tournaments in the Gladiator Arena. There could be challenge matches where you could challenge another character to a match in the arena. There could be Boss fights where either you alone or with a party go in and challenge a difficult enemy. There could also be other forms of tournaments such as team battles, player vs monster tournaments, and free for all battle royals.

There are countless things they could do with a Gladiator Arena and it would be amazing to see, and both PvPers and PvEers alike could enjoy it.

• New Professions?

Guild Wars 2 could also have new professions for a new game. A lot of possibilities here, and I would like to see a couple more than the standard six added. Possibly some race specific professions granted that it doesn't imbalance the game.

• More Dungeons

It would be great to see some more D&D style dungeons. I really enjoyed the ones in Eye of the North. I would love to see some dungeons including traps, hidden passages, treasure chests, and of course bosses in Guild Wars 2.

• Weather and Night/Day System

I think the game would be a lot of fun if they added a night/day system along with changing weather. It would be quite amazing to see. If they wanted to they could add environmental effects as well. Such as if it is raining, people move a little slower due to mud, but water based skills and weapons could deal more damage along with fire does less. If it is windy projectiles have a chance to miss, but also move faster in the direction the wind is going and deal more damage. Along with the night/day feature they could implement enemy habits such as being diurnal, crepuscular, or nocturnal.

• Control of Towns

Guilds could be capable of capturing towns. Controlling guilds could have some control over placement of objects and npcs in towns. How which guild is chosen to control the town is decided through battles, elections, or possibly other methods.

• Other Methods of Travel

New methods of travel would be nice to see. Instead of just being able to walk or map travel, players could potentially use mounts to travel, ride in a wagon with other players, take a boat, etc.

• Mini-games

Mini-games are always a fun thing to do when you get bored. Having some games players could play with each other in Guild Wars would be pretty cool. Possibly Guild Wars themed versions of games like chess, checkers, card games, etc. could be added.

• More Combat Options

Players could have more options in combat. Like a ranger could choose where to shoot his bow or an elementalist could choose where his area of effect spell will be cast. Casual gamers could stick with the current method of fighting and casting spells while players who want more control over what their character does would have this option.

• Cut Scenes

Seeing our characters in cut scenes was great and all, but I think there should be some without our characters allowing for the cut scene to be more detailed and have better graphics.

In Closing
I'm sure there is more I could write, but this is everything that comes to my mind right now. All I have to say is that I hope the Guild Wars team is listening because there are some great ideas in this thread.