Massassi's Idea that is large and elaborate

My large scale expansion Idea that probably won’t be implemented but I still think is cool

Guild Wars: High Seas to Cantha

This idea would include a form of sailing on a great big ship from port to port (Like Lions Arch to Amnoon Oasis). Upon grouping into a party of say eight all level 20, the team would enter the explorable area via a gateway similar to on land but situated near the docks of any coastal city. Once zoned into the instance the players find them selves on a large ship (large enough to walk around on without crowding) one player would assume role as the captain and run up to the steering wheel; grabbing the wheel makes it so instead of walking the designated captains movements are transferred to the boat itself allowing it to move through the water as the others walk around on board. While on the wheel the captain acquires an armor bonus and an unlimited range on their skills (making a monk the best choice as captain).The explorable maps for the open water area would be a large scale (to fit the boat) version of land where the paths are marked out by deep and shallow water as well as rocks and small islands. The monsters, all ranging to level 20 and up (all the high level references because I and nobody else wants a level 3 getting to LA and then sailing to the Crystal Desert) with a FoW or UW difficulty, Would be of three different styles: Stationary behemoth, Mobile Giant Wurm or humanoid style who would actually board the ship and attack as opposed to the other two who attack from the water. The monsters brings about another detail of the ship, it lacks guard rails. This lack of guard rails becomes a factor while in battle because, as you know, a warrior in body armor doesn’t float. You must watch your position near the edge of the boat so you don’t accidentally walk off or that an enemy doesn’t push you off.

And there is my idea .

you are completely right, that will probably not be implemented, cuz its boring to be on a ship all the time.

Of course there would be new land to explore aswell as the sea. You couldn't very well call it High Seas to Cantha and not actually reach Cantha

Cantha would be an obvious candidate for expansion. I'm sure the NPC mention it for that particular purpose.

I like the idea of having a mission take place on the ship leading you there, but not the majority of the chapter.

I always enjoy when someone comes to these boards with new ideas or solutions, as opposed to those that simply gripe and whine.

Here's a few suggestions and observations for your OP that may make a difference:

I too, am a big fan of sailing and the seas in general. I love the idea of a shipboard adventure! There's a few shortcomings in the existing GW game engine however that may block some of your ideas as written;

a.) GW doesn't support non-pathed, or "free roaming" adventure much at all. While the idea of taking the helm is fun, it probably isn't feasible; most likely the ship would have to sail a prescribed route; encountering random hazards on the way. Similarly, you won't be climbing any rigging or whatnot; (the game engine doesn't appear to support it) probably just restricted to the decks only.

b.) Why not introduce piracy? Those dratted White Mantle are never up to any good! And their mursaat masters are worse... Have a ship (or ships) come out of the mist/fog and exchange siege fire/board the heroes vessel? You could easily have deck to deck combat, (think gangways or grappling hooks and bridges) including the exchange of ballista or catapult fire as the ships closed distance? This feature is already alive and well in the Shiverpeaks missions and works well. (Gawd I hate siege damage however!) Tactically, a wise crew would want to inflict as much damage on the opposing vessels as possible before boarding operations - perhaps even preventing them!

c.) GW does not support swimming or underwater movement, so the idea of "no guard rails" and people drowning won't work: (there are actually a few spots in Ascalon (pre searing) where you can submerge over your head and stand there all day - no drowning.) Yeah, its not terribly realistic, but hey, I don't miss paying $15 a month for EQ2 either...
However, this shortcoming is easily overcome: Why not provide sea monsters that clamber up and attack on deck (thats where the juicy tidbits are after all) and if your character is killed, the creature is "seen" to grab the body and carry it to the depths? Hideous! hehehee...
The "ghost" of the player would still remain, and could be resurrected as per normal.
(As a sidenote, my brother had this happen to him in EQ2; a giant squid plucked him from the docks and dragged him to his doom - it was hideous, but he still laughs about it to this day...)

The other facet that would be fun to implement would be if the party begins to lose any shipboard battle, the ship catches fire and begins to sink; (no it wouldn't actually happen - but the appearance would make things more immersive) a group could gauge the overall battle in progress by the relative surroundings about them. If the ship is ablaze about you, its time to really make the extra effort too turn the tide of battle! For sinking, think of entering Nolani's academy where the ground is tilted at 30 degrees...the effect would work just fine.

Last but not least; If you are on a ship in the middle of the ocean, the lamerz; players that like to bail the moment they don't get the drops they are after, should NOT be able to punch out. First, they are in the ocean - second, it would quickly seperate the boys from the men, as players who indulge in this negative gaming practice would quickly refuse to so shipboard missions...

Nice idea OP!

Talesin

ok, being pulled down, not being able to be rezzed? I dont know. I would definately like to see this in 1-2 missions, but it would ruin the game if it was the majority of the game.

No Rhombus, you misuderstand me - gamers would scream bloody murder if that happened; your "corpse" would "appear" to be pulled down into the depths; leaving a "ghost" behind that could be targetted and resurrected.

It's all about the "appearance" of what is happening, not the actual physics of it. The GW engine is great at what it does, but it has its shortcomings and these must be worked around.

Personally, I enjoy the Guild Wars engine tenfold over the "cutting edge state of the genre" engine that EQ2 uses to destroy their pathetic excuse of a game.
Buts thats just my personal opinion...


Tal

I intened that if you were to fall off the boat it's auto death; no swimming no flailing in the water just "AAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH" *splash* *Dead*.

as I said the helmsman has unlimited range for his skills, so if the helmsman were a monk(a logical choice) his rez would affect you even at the bottem of the sea (but you would still be at the bottem of the sea...everythings not completely worked out ) though rebirth (a teleporting rez skill) would be a better choice.

For Talesin's remark of the inability to rome freely. The Helmsman would controle the boat like he would controle himself if he were on land and the ocean isn't exactly open...more like pathways of deep and shallow water with obstacles in the way. It would be just likeexploring on land but...in water and just one guy leading the whole party.

I also stated that monsters would board your ship ( just sailing along "wait, whats that in the water?" *mergoyles climb aboard and battle ensues*) as well as monsters like the sand wurms of the desert popping out of the water and attacking(Ranged professions could attack but you'd have to stear in extremly close for warriors to attack).

White mantle navy and other enemy ships hadn't occured to me; thats a good idea and so is the cannon seige fire.

I wouldn't ask for more than 2-3 missions for it but I'd love it to be an option to do when ever you want aswell.

umm hey has any one else seen the screenys of the lvl 3 ascending

use the bloody search button and don't post stupid off topic things...

lol

What id like to see in the expansion is a whole new continent/landmass thats difficult to reach. The land would maybe be a deserted ruined country, overgrown towns and wrecked castles. Some kind of obvious storyline element to it, like an evil force or whatever invaded this forgotten land and threatens the rest of the world.

Once you have driven off this evilness you get access to a few large cities that dont have any npc henchmen, traders or anything.

Here is the crux. Players can now open up their own tradehouses (like guild halls but publiclly accessible), taverns, War Schools and Monestaries etc. These would be like guild halls that everyone could access, and the owner could display their own goods for sale, you could do 1v1 duels, basiclly lark around and roleplay, and do a bit of social creation.
You could maybe have free for all brawls in the Tavern, or customise special weaponry and armor for PVE USE ONLY in the Military College. Whatever. The point is to bring a lot more roleplaying content, a lot more player controlled and directed content inside of towns and citites, on this ruined island/continent.

Maybe individual Guilds could 'claim' areas of the map, and these would become really large arenas with no cap on player numbers, so that entire guilds could hunt single players who are trespassing, or rival guilds could invade and attack, or the owner guild could just bless everyone who enters and let people farm their lands for loot, maybe even they could setup their own towns and cities, buildings and traders etc.

This wouldnt mean a vast amount of content, im talking about a few added roleplay based content items that could be player controlled, and have vast areas of landscape where players could base these.

Sounds like a nice idea for a level or two.

I like the intense heart-pounding missions and the thought of rangers being in high demand makes me rub my hands in glee.

I think monks will still be in higher demand


As for the OP, I think it is a great idea. It doesn't have to be the whole expansion, but they should have a couple of missions on the water. They should also have some explorable areas where you can sail around to different, out-of-the-way islands (some could be "towns", while others could simply be explorable areas where you disembark).

I also think the idea of falling off and drowning is great if they could find some way to implement it.

I think this is a great idea with a lot of potential

All these idea are really cool! I too would not weant this to be the whole expansion, but 1-3 mission sounds good, and do at any time for fun would be cool too.

I like the idea of the new continent. OMGZ NEW CIVILIZATION!!!! Large-scale guild battles over territory would really rock!

Also they could add a bounty system maybe? Like if a certain player wants another eliminated, you could go to the bounty office, and try to find and kill him. And if other bounty hunters went too, you could kill or work together with them. This would need tweaking, but I think it sounds cool.

PvP ship battles..the possibilities are endless.

I like this idea, it is refreshing to see actual ideas posted..rather than things like: "higher level cap" "Horses!"

The only reason I wouldn't like this idea: it requires someone who's at least decent at moving a slow ship and good at naval warfare. Even if I put a guild group together there's no guarantee this is doable for us.

Also, how would this work in an all-henchie group? The one player has to captain? How will the henchies defend the ship? Alternately, if a hench captains, that might sort of defeat the purpose of the mission since henchmen don't have the same eye or flair for strategy and unpredictability players can use against mob AI.

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INCREASE TO RAMMING SPEED

I knew i recognized that name from somewhere - eq2 forums. Nice to see another soe refugee

To the OP - great idea, naval adventure is something i can't get enough of. What if the ships could take damage (a lot of it) as well as the players? Taking control of a balista/catapult and sinking an enemy ship would be good stuff.

fun fun!

ROFL Darren~!
That's exactly it...

Hiyas Cap'n Hoek! Aye Cap'n twas time to stop polishing the glossy gleaming turd that passes for any SOE product. I'd rather give any other company $30 a month than fork over 1 more cent to that paragon of greed and avarice.

I also like the additional ideas...islands...natives in grass skirts...mai tais on the beach...good stuff!

I would like to see that. It would lead to a whole new industry; contract killing (not for monks though )

Practice makes perfect
......I'm sure somebody could think of something or you'll just have to team up with people.
I ask, though, why would you play a game based around a social enviroment and working effectivley in groups if you're just gunna run around by your self?

The idea of you being able to guide the ship is cool, but if that is not available another alternative may be a pre-guided ship mission at least. It would maybe be easier to accomplish with what is already offered. A ship that goes along its path your party and you just run around on, and engage enemies as they come. Add some NPC's. Lets say you have to protect the captain, and some guests on the boat. For instance lets say the Prince of Cantha is onboard, and you are his body guard escorting him home from an ambassador mission to Kryta. You can have pirate ships come alongside, and have to repel them, with balissta or cannons. Lets say there are like 2 torches on board that can fire cannons. This would give non-ranged attackers something to do, until the fight came to the ship. The Behemoth and Wurm Idea is cool, but new monster wouldn't be bad. Maybe somekind of giant flying creatures. Or things like bogskales that crawl out of the water over the sides. Interactivity on the ship is important. Like being able to go below different decks.

I don't know about the falling over board idea. You know that is what all the henchman would spend their time doing. Although I wouldn't mind pushing some party members overboard if they get out of line.

Make weak points on the ship that smarter enemies will try to target and you will have to defend (masts?), that will crash down killing anyone in it's path, and basically land the ship dead in the water until they are repaired. These would probably be the first targets in boat PvP.

I really like the whole boating idea.
Each boat should have different features to it, and you should be able to choose different boats before you go into the mission, the way you choose your henchmen now. Or maybe the captain will define the unique feature... like maybe a monk captain would make the boat go really slow but it's weak points would have more HP? I dunno. That's the dev team's job to balance, but I think it's feasible.

Boat PvP? Sounds awesome

I looooove this idea! The only part I don't like is being able to "fall off." My character has a habit of running off in random directions when I try to attack certain monsters. For us tanks that really sucks. We're the only ones heavily affected by it and... HEAVILY.