Somehow this went completely over my head.
Right, that's how I felt too; we've known for a while that players will de-level to the zone they're in, and we've even seen footage of high-level devs in other racial starting areas... but I guess I hadn't really considered what it means for the future.
Even when thinking about expansions I was wondering if they would up the level cap, but never really thought about them being able to add in new content or zones anywhere.
Kind of cool to think they could add an entire new zone at level 20 that would be new and capable to play for anyone(above 20) not just the people at the level cap.
Right, when Cataclysm hit for WoW, people who had no interest in starting new alts (read: not me, I love alts) were pretty much left with 2 or 3 zones (which flew by, I think I did Hyjal in a night). All of that work Blizzard did revamping the zone was really for new players or alts. Nice to know in GW2 that content will always be worth doing regardless of level.
Speaking of this. Is it possible to use transmutation stones on town clothes and armor? Would you be able to use the top hat skin for armor
Dunno. I dunno that we'll be able to find out this weekend either, if the cash shop isn't part of the Beta. I really don't see why there would be a restriction, unless they just want to make sure nobody goes out into the game world with a hot-pink tophat and pimp-suit.
Really though, every time the concept of Armor dyes comes up in MMOs, that's the excuse everyone comes up with; "I don't want to see people in rainbow armor". Nevermind that A). For the first few levels of every expansion, at least in WoW, people were running around in mis-matched clown suits, and B). People who are obnoxious enough to dye their armor obnoxious colors are just making it easier for you to tell they're obnoxious, rather than finding out when you're already stuck in a dungeon with them.
I'm pretty sure they said they weren't interested in doing stand alone campaigns again. Even though it could work. They said they didn't like focusing on completely recreating the starting areas.
Yeah, they have said they want to just follow a regular Expansion model, but this doesn't mean that all content has to be built for end game. You can have Elonia pick up at level 50 instead of 80 and the level 80 players won't feel like the content is useless for them (as was the case with Cataclysm).
I actually think it would be pretty sweet if they knew how they were going to go with the individual story in the expansions and with content patches they could add to the current individual story and also lead into the next expansion.
They've said that they already have the next two expansions planned out, so I can foresee them adding lots of Foreshadowing and transitional storyline elements to the mix. I can also see content being added that tacks on new chapters of the story, like an Epilogue. Since the big events in the game' story are supposed to happen in your Personal story rather than the world at large, they can really give each race a healthy dose of story specific to the individual. Humans can focus on rebuilding their city while Norn can roam the land boasting about how they helped slay the Dragon.
Instead we'll probably get 1 maybe 2 new professions, 1-2 new weapons per professions, probably a more fleshed out underwater weapon system among a lot of other stuff you'd come to expect. BUT, I don't expect ANet to stop with expanding their current systems, I expect them to keep making new systems and new takes on old things, they will keep innovating at every turn, they've only just started.
Yeah, the system they have developed for Weapons means that adding two or three new weapon types to the game gives every profession an entirely new way to play. Bring on the 1h Spears / 2h Halberds / Off-hand Javelins or Whips / Flails / Scourges.
