Yesterday evening I was talking to my brother about the latest Guild Wars 2 patch and while he doesn't play Guild Wars 2 any longer, he's always keen to know how the game is and what's on the horizon. We talked about Heart of Thorns and what it intends to provide players and we eventually arrived on the discussion of what was the worst thing about Guild Wars 2 and what its main problems are. In all honesty I struggled to think of a standout "issue" but we chatted about dungeons and the lack of them in Heart of Thorns. Although I wouldn't specifically state that an expansion pack has to have dungeons, but what I finally decided was that the statement of "challenging group content" isn't neccesarily a good choice of words when it comes to player appeal. Admittedly we don't yet know how this phrase sits with Heart of Thorns, but if the Wyvern is an example of the difficulty we can come to expect I'm not entirely convinced it'll pass public opinion. You only have to look at WildStar's dungeons or raids to realise just how pedestrian much of Guild Wars 2's group content is.

Going back to my original question, I think the biggest issue facing Guild Wars 2 is its identity as an MMOG. Its content has become easier and easier to the point where drop-in, drop-out gameplay has replaced fixed content. It's an MMO revolving entirely around casual grouping and casual play and I suspect that dungeons, certainly those similar to WildStar or World of Warcraft, no longer match Guild Wars 2's footprint. All I'd have liked to have seen in Heart of Thorns would be a single dungeon in the middle of the jungle that was lengthy, structured and incredibly challening. I was hoping for a need to coordinate builds, learn tactics and fail miserably multiple times but that seems entirely at odds with ArenaNet's approach to nuturing an audience who want to succeed first time, every time.

Now I've had my brief say, what do you think is the biggest issue facing Guild Wars 2? Let me know.