Feedback:User/Swordfish56/Fixing Runners in Prophecies

In its present state, the storyline campaign of Prophecies is largely optional. Upon arriving in Post-Searing Ascalon City or Lion's Arch, players can access all outposts except those in the Crystal Desert and the Ring of Fire islands if they ask other players to 'run' them there. To access every outpost in Prophecies, a player only needs to complete the missions Sanctum Cay, Thunderhead Keep, Ring of Fire, and Abaddon's Mouth.

The problem of running and skipping missions was largely solved in Factions and Nightfall by a system of closed gates that prevented players that had not advanced the plot to that stage to progress further.

I propose a similar system be implemented into Prophecies with an important difference. If any character on the account has already completed (not neccessarily with the bonus reward) every mission, the next character to arrive in Prophecies, whether by creation or from Cantha/Elona, will have free access to outposts as in the current state of the game. The idea is similar to the mechanism required to unlock Hard Mode in that campaign for the account. To think about it another way, completion of every mission in Prophecies by one character would 'unlock' every outpost to running for other characters.

This does not mean that if Character A has completed every mission in Prophecies, Character B, who has just arrived in Lion's Arch from Factions, will be able to map to every outpost in Prophecies. Character B will still need to travel there in some way. However, if Character A had not beat every mission in Prophecies, Character B will find the gates to an outpost like D'Alessio Seaboard closed to him/her.

Players may balk at being 'forced' to complete the game, but I believe that it is unfair that


 * Low level characters can receive a run to Droknar's Forge to get max-level armour far earlier than intended in the game. Ascalonian, Northern Shiverpeaks, and Krytan monsters etc. were not designed with the damage output to deal with max armour characters (regardless of profession). Only players who have progressed far into the game should have the privilege of combating with low-level monsters in the best armour.


 * Low level characters receive access to skills that they are not supposed to have until they are deeper into the game. If players want their "1337" skill early on, they will need to do a little PvP and buy a tome.


 * Players do not need to see the majority of the game and all the hard work game developers put into making each and every mission in Prophecies.


 * Players will experience the full richness and challenge that was Prophecies. After all, this is the campaign that started off the entire Guild Wars franchise.

Alternately, it may be a better idea to simply implement a level requirement for armour, as in one of the beta weekends. I feel that power-leveling is the moral equivalent to running, but in this case, I believe it is the lesser of two evils.