Originally Posted by
Kelimbror
I find the leveling in GW2 to be one of the largest flaws as well. It would have been more ideal to have the ability to go to any zone immediately. To be honest I think there were just system discrepancies that forced their hand into taking the easy way out with levels. Namely things like crafting and how gear worked. Really hard to stuff 600 levels of crafting in the game when there's no level based progression. They would have had to consolidate a lot of professions instead of having such an abundance.
The personal story could have remained, as a guide through some zones, but really it seems like gear and crafting were the awkward ducks that didn't mesh without levels. I guess they could have made crafting levels the same, let the stat levels on the gear to remain constant through the levels, but then allow different materials to create visually different items. This would have hade the neat side effect of making all gathering nodes relevant and may have actually kept people spread out among the zones.
But meh, not really useful to talk about what ifs at this point. They still hit the largest homerun in my book in creating a game that constantly provides content for people who play it every day, yet lets someone like me come and go as I please. The only thing I feel like I've missed out on is making my character look uber fantastic and getting many achievements.
Otherwise, it's a joy to be able to see a fancy Halloween patch and jump on for a week or two, then go back to other games. I've specifically given them money as a thank you, when other games I would have paid nothing. It doesn't hurt that their cash shop is fairly intriguing.