Tyria Is In For Some Changes

With almost a year passed since the original release of Guild Wars 2, Arena Net decided to spill some beans on the upcoming changes and improvements, as well as comment on their previous decisions. Let us have a brief look at what they have in stock for the remainder of 2013!
• As our own BloodyFanGirl told you some time ago, the original monthly schedule for big content updates has been refined into a two-week model. With four development teams, each taking four months to prepare and test a monthful of content, Tyria is surely going to gain some momentum, addressing the widely-criticized lack of interesting things to do in the game. Those of you who play GW2 have surely already felt the difference with the current update, the Bazaar of the Four Winds. Also, Arena promises to focus more on implementing permanent content, as well as improving the elements already present in-game.
• Another aspect discussed is the progression and the end-game reward system present in Guild Wars 2. Right now, different pieces of Ascended quality gear are being added, but the developers will assumably take a different approach after the whole set is in game, in order to avoid a situation where every few months the player needs to grind for a new, more powerful equipment set, as the old one is invalidated.
• Lots of attention in the article is given to several reward systems of the game and the plans to improve them. It concerns implementing new skills and traits to be unlocked (which many players have been asking for), adding new reward types for the Champion tier opponents and further changes in the dungeons system, aimed at encouraging the players to visit the less-popular ones and take the more challenging routes.
• One of the more annoying elements of the game mechanics, the magic find value, which forced players to give up some firepower in favour of a chance for some better loot, will be revamped. Removed from individual items and armour, it will be turned into an account-wide buff, further enhanceable with special consumables.
• With Guild Wars' complex economy system, crafting turned quite fast from a source of income into a way to gain some Legendary weapon components and nothing more. With the upcoming increase of each discipline's level cap to 500, players will get a chance to create new, powerful gear using a new type of resource. Also, some of the more powerful creations will have daily limitations on how many you can make, ensuring they do not flood the market too soon. Also, a new resource-awarding activity type will appear, one that will take some time and skill!
• The sought-after precursor weapons will now be obtainable in a completely new way, hopefully one requiring much less luck. Anyone who tried to get one of these extremely rare and expensive pieces of equipment will surely rejoice hearing this. Also, new instances of Legendary gear will appear and the already-existing weapons of the tier will see some tweaks, making them not only awesome-looking, but also convenient to use!
• For those of you who like it competitive, Arena will bring more updates into WvW and PvP! The former will see further mechanic improvements, making it even more of a "game within a game", while the latter will lean towards its e-sports capabilities! Also, wait for it - we will finally be able to obtain Legendary tier skins for PvP characters!
• Last but not least, Guild Wars 2 is turning its sight east, with the game preparing for début on the Chinese market! This will obviously mean a further growth of the player base, but also numerous improvements of the in-game tutorial systems, to help people unaccustomed with the genre get into it smoothly.
All this is surely a lot to achieve within the remaining five months of 2013, but ArenaNet has already shown their dedication and will to achieve the impossible. With their vision of the content introduction finally solidified and the income surprisingly stable, the studio may now focus on improving their creation and yours truly has little doubt they will succeed. And who knows, maybe in a few years time ArenaNet will become the synonym for MMO innovation and perfection, as Blizzard once did?
Posted 25-07-2013, 16:18
Just started playing it again. It's a good game.