Hello, I used to be play guild wars around 4 months ago, but sadly now I have retired because I just got extremely bored with this game. After creating 5 level 20 characters and participating in almost every run and mission in the game, I quickly began to lose interest seeing as everything I did seemed to be a case of Deja Vu.
I think some of the reasons why this game became bland could be:
the auto targeting system
regulation of range
repetitive attacks
linear mission formats
(Warning: If you don't have the time to read a 4 page essay, scroll down to the @@@ for the gist of my suggestions.)
Basically, anything I do in Guild Wars is revolved around a single strategy. Get someone to tank all the monsters and have everyone else just nuke them. Where is the fun in that? Guild Wars claims to balance out all the classes, but it is always warriors in the front lines, and if you can't deal AoE damage, you are rejected from the common cookie-cutter parties. (Assassins, Dervishes, Mesmers, etc.)
What happened to actual strategy? What happened to flanking, dividing group party members, and basically any tactical thinking? What happened to skill? In PvP and PvE, it was basically who can press what buttons the fastest, or who can interrupt the most, or any other kind of linear or boring tasks to kill an opponent. There was almost literally no complexity in battles.
What I would love to see happen to Guild Wars is:
1.) Abolishment of the Automatic Targeting System and Range capabilities.
Wouldn't it be great for players to actually involve some skill in this game? There are so many lovely features and strategies that can be developed by this implementation. Just imagine Rangers being able to scope with their bows and sniping enemies from beyond the range limitations, casters having much more flexibility casting their spells being able to predict where enemies are going, and a whole bunch of new things. Kiting would actually mean something to the game, where as if you tried to kite a spell, it will still hit you no matter what the hell you did. Warrior's wont just randomly use an attack and then automatically run up to you and hit you. Instead, they would actually have to think to inflict damage on their opponent. The shadow-stepping of assassins would be an insanely deadly tool, seeing as being sneaky would actually mean something now, rather than before that if you targeted the assassin, shadow-stepping meant jack shit because they would get hit no matter what. Now, you can actually switch between first person view or third person view, depending on which will fit the scenario best.
Auto-targeting and range limitations for healing and enchantments would still exist. However, for hexes and other offensive spells, they would ALL have a general AoE effect. The caster would actually have to aim it at people now and can choose to shoot in areas that would maximize their damage, hitting in places that would affect multiple targets.
And because of the lack of range limitations, sniping would also be implemented into the game. Capturing high ground would actually mean something, and casters or rangers can optimize their unique characteristic of... well, range. The moment they can see an enemy, they can hit it. How awesome is that? It just depends on how well you can aim.
2.) Casting/Attacking while moving.
One of the most retarded features that I've experienced in Guid Wars is that whenever you try to cast something, you would be paralyzed for the time being that you are casting, allowing anyone to just bash on you. Kiting can be utilized to its full potential with this new feature and would grant squishies much more defensive mechanisms. Additionally, because it would be just stupid to run straight at someone who can attack while kiting you, you're going to have to think of new ways to get to them, whether its ambushing, flanking, or any other clever methods you can think of.
3.) Active Defensive Mechanisms
You know how blocking and missing were all based on probability? What if you were able to actively initiate skills and and spells that were instantaneous, but would only last long enough to deflect attacks? Vulnerability of classes would no longer be an issue, and players would constantly have to keep their guard up. However, in order to not overpower this feature, miss and blocks should reduce the damage, say by 50-75%, rather than completely negating it. This would also lead to the downfall of the so called "warrior tank and everyone nuke" strategy. These active defensive skills would require no recharge time, but still have a cost of 5 energy, so it's hard to continuously spam or else you would just be wasting energy.
4.) New Map Layouts in General
The basic layout of the game just forces you into one linear path: from point A to point B. I don't know about you, but this is incredibly dull. The only mission I can think of at the moment which allows you to go through different paths for different results is the Nahpui Quarters Mission. Where is the sense of exploration, variety, and vastness? I swear, every mission I do with all of my characters was the same thing, over and over and freaking over again. Everything was a giant cess pool of repetition and lack of originality. Why not create missions where you can divide your group to explore different corners of the map? Why is it everything you do, you always have to be in a tight ball of 8 people? There is NO COMPLEXITY to Guild Wars Missions. All you can do is go down one linear path everyone is forced to follow. There has to be some variety to this game, because everyone is always going down the same boring road. If you just strictly followed the missions and primary quests, you would only cover less that 1/4th of that continent. The other 75% has completely no use to the game or the storyline. If you didn't intentionally go out of your way to some outposts and cities, You would never, ever, encounter them in your Guild Wars life.
The continental map is freaking huge. Include at least 75% in the main storyline for goodness sake. Instead, 75% of it is actually completely left out. Sad. Make it so that each new town you visit, they all have a unique gear or armor that is only exclusive to that location, something to motivate exploration. This game is incredibly dull after you beat it, because everything you see is so repetitive. Implement random spawning of creatures, so it is impossible to predict what you will encounter. Change the maps around so that there are dozens of ways to finish the mission, with all of them being equally long to complete.
The environment you have to work with is just really sad. No matter how you look at it, It's all one form of an embellished valley. You have very frustrating barriers that won't let you utilize your creativity to its full potential. For example, in the Mountain missions, all you could do is go straight ahead in a set path. I was expecting to be able access areas of high altitudes such as the side of cliffs or on high slopes above certain battles. What do I get? Just a single path in white snow with the mountains being the BARRIERS of the map. So I think to myself, "Wow. This is just the same as the Ascalon Missions, except for a change in background." ArenaNet implemented the depth perception of high and low altitudes so well. Too bad they never gave us a chance to use it to its highest potential.
5.) Skills Slots
Eight skills at a time is barely enough to completely enjoy this game. I would suggest completely abandoning the 8 skill inventory, and be able to have access to all your skills at any given time. From my experience in Guild Wars, around the time I started playing with my Elementalist, I only acquired a total of 15 skills! Basically in PvE, you were required as an Elementalist to have Meteor Storm, Searings Flames, and Glowing Gaze in order to be accepted into a party. How pathetically superficial can this game get? I want to have access to all my skills, so that I can have a huge arsenal with so much variety that the same attacks won't be used 200 times in a single mission. It would also force the lazy players to reconsider using the cookie cutter skills, and actually spend their time acquiring skills other than the main ones they use for the entire game.
@@@
As a recap, let's review what should be implemented to make this game more interesting:
-Abolishing automatic lock on targeting (excluding heals, enchantments, and shouts)
-Sniping and Far range capabilities
-Casting and Attacking while moving
-Active Defense Skills
-Unique Map Layouts
-A more comprehensive storyline
-Incentive to actually explore Guild Wars
-Random Spawning of monsters whenever you enter the map
-Able to change your skill slots OUTSIDE of towns
as a bonus:
-Attacks that hit in the back does critical damage, so that flanking behind enemies would be much more effective, retreating opponents would take more damage, and players/monsters that are stupid enough to just rush past melee players would succumb quickly.
What would be the result of all of these new features? Personally, I would think that it would lead to extinction of cookie cutter builds, the use of multiple creative strategies, a more complex and non-repetitive storyline, the inability to predict exactly when enemies show up and what types they are, the use of every single class in a party, the ability to use all your skills to their full potential, and ultimately a much more fun Guild Wars that would always maintain its vibrant spirit of surprises.
S
) If an ele can cast spells a enemies 50m away, and a ranger at enemies 70m away, what you are saying is that you want an ele to be able to cast 100m away and a ranger 140m. It's exactly the same thing, just scaled down :P
