I think this would be great for motivation and player retention: unlockable “prestige classes”.
It should not be implemented now, but maybe in 2-3 years or so, but getting classes which require work to unlock would add a very interesting spice to the game - it would be an amazing “chase goal”.
What I wouldn’t like is simple “you have to achieve level x on a character” (except for level 100, where it would be great), it should be more like “you have killed all the empowered bosses” or “you have achieved rank 10 in a faction”, with maybe even different prestige classes unlocked for each faction.
I think it should be so that prestige classes don’t have 3 masteries, at most they should have 2 each, and they should feel very experimental.
A few ideas what prestige classes could be:
- Pirate
- Ninja
- Bender of reality (I guess it was called “mesmer” in Guild Wars, but it’s been over a decade for me…)