Originally Posted by
Ghosty
I think many people haven't played end game GW1 to see how Anet progresses pve content without increasing level caps or gear stats. GW1 has survived 7+ years without a level cap increase or stat increase, and here is how they did it, Rep grinds.
With each content release they added a new faction(s) that either gave you powerful new pve spells, or buffs that would increase your power when fighting minions of the opposing group the content was based upon as you increased your reputation with the friendly faction. For instance, in the EotN expansion you fought against the Destroyers, the Deldrimor Dwarves faction provided a buff that increased your damage and and provided a damage reduction while fighting Destroyers, and with each faction level the buff increased. So at the beginning of the expansion the first time you face the Destroyers on normal mode they were quite a challenge, as you progressed through the content they became easier and easier to kill (progression!) until you got to the point were you could start to handle them on hard mode. When the next content is released, instead of having to reset the whole game (which has proven to work so well for WoW and other gear based progression MMO's). You simply add new bad guys and a faction to deal with them and sell shiny new sets of stat neutral PvE gear, instead of rebalancing the entire game (including PvP) to scale up the PvE game.
Whether it Anet's system is better or than a gear based progression system, I'll leave to your own judgement, but to me it's just a different way to progress, and allows Anet to quickly add content without redesigning the game every few years, which is probably why GW1 has lasted so long.