Guild Wars 2

There have been a couple of threads about this in the WvW section but I guess it also belongs here.

You need to rethink the way you rewarded contribution in WvW. Basing it purely on damage dealt and kills does not encourage the variety of builds that each profession allows. I know you are trying to avoid the “trinity” but I think you are pushing it a little too far. The backwards thing is as it stands now someone can make a “Pure damage” build (which is, if you recall, one of the members of the trinity) and be rewarded EXCELLENTLY for their service. They can not have a single support type skill (except their required heal) and do just fine, get plenty of badges and contribution.

You can also make a “Pure support” build that is INCREDIBLY useful (I’m speaking as a guardian), and you will end up with no badges unless you take your time out of support/defense to “tag” enemies just so you get rewards. This is most noticeable on a Keep/Tower Defense where you are REQUIRED to kill enemies to get credit for the defense. Even if you are CONSTANTLY busy on the wall defending/bubbling/buffing/rezzing/healing/supporting your teammates non-stop, keeping them alive so THEY can do the damage…when the countdown gets down to zero you get nothing.

I’m not asking to take rewards away from those who want to run pure damage. THe suggestion isn’t to take anything away from anyone else, but just give us a little bit of encouragement for the good work we are doing. I’ve gotten several call outs from players for what I’m doing to keep them alive, to maximize their damage and keep the enemy off them. While those thank you’s are keeping me going right now, I would really like to know that the game itself is at least a little behind me on this. Your profession system provides a great variety of builds, so you should support all of those viable builds and not put an obvious preference on one kind of build while penalizing those who build their character another way.

What is the actual suggestion? I’m sure there are smarter people out there that can think of some things but one idea I had after an event last night would be sort of “Kill Assist” system. Obviously if I have a buff of someone I shouldn’t get an equal amount of xp for kills they get…but I should get some fraction (to be decided). The more buffs/support I have on someone, maybe could increase my fraction? I could also have a fraction of the chance to get loot (which would also go up with the amount of support i’m doing).

For a Tower/Keep defense? Perhaps count resurrection/some amount of support to the viable ways to get credit for the defense.

Now I know some people say “Well you shouldn’t be getting rewards just for sitting back and casting one support skill every 1 minute”. Ya I agree those people should clearly not be rewarded as much as someone casting nonstop AOE’s on the wall. HOWEVER, people casting nonstop support skills are being just as involved as the damage dealers. They are the ones this suggestion is for. Just like a person sitting back and casting one support skill every 1 minute, a person casting on AOE every minute should be similarly rewarded (IE: NOt a lot). The way it works now though if you cast ONE damage AOE every minute you have the potential to get a kill, and if you get a kill you at a minimum get a bronze for that defense. Meanwhile if I am NONSTOP supporting my teammates for the entire 5 minutes I can end up with not even a bronze.

Please work this out some way? My teammates are keeping me going right now because they appreciate me, but it would be really nice to know that the game developers actually care about all of the viable builds they built into their system.

Oh and I just want to add:

It would be really nice to hear from a dev to at least say whether it is something they are CONSIDERING. If you guys have no intentions to change the system, that is fine. It would be nice to know sooner rather than later though. I’m fine running my build now, but if you don’t plan on changing it I want to respec now before my WvW guild gets too used to the idea of me always being there to have their backs. I can’t do it forever without some support from the game. If you don’t want to change, I’ll spec into a damage build or work on one of my alts. That’s fine, I’d just rather no sooner rather than later.

I second this, the game needs more encouragment for players to play the role of support, this would especially be valuable for engineers and gaurdians I think.

shameless bump

I really want this to be heard. I’m not the only one this effects and personally I think this is really important to address for the long-term viability of many unique builds in the game.

+1 for justice. Support should get credit.
Exp, drops etc.

Agreed. It should not be hard to measure. Just measure all healing (no overheals), and all buffs that lands on a player in combat. If they are not in combat, it does not count.

Players heal real fast out of combat, and it’s a bit hard to get in combat to try to exploit this. Anyway, I also play support, and I do not mind playing support, but I need bags to pay for repairs :S

I totally agree

I agree with this as well, participation in an event should not be judged only by damage.

If anyone has played WAR recently, could you comment on how it is done there? It’s been awhile since I played it but I do remember getting support. I seem to remember a sort of “Assist” system with support.

The excuse that “Oh it is too difficult to do that” is just nonsense. It has been done before, and honestly it needs to be done unless they want to just push everyone until pure DPS roles. Every support skill you use that helps your teammates and doesn’t directly contribute to your dmg, you are reducing your rewards….that is a backwards system.

The easy way to do this is to make the damage calculation GROUP WIDE instead of with individuals.

If you play support to your group with heals, shields, bubbles etc, they stay alive longer, do more damage (from your buffs), and overall the group does more damage than others if divided by five.

mangocheesecake.1487:

The easy way to do this is to make the damage calculation GROUP WIDE instead of with individuals.

If you play support to your group with heals, shields, bubbles etc, they stay alive longer, do more damage (from your buffs), and overall the group does more damage than others if divided by five.

I honestly would go for this. It’s not perfect but the guild I run with always puts people in parties.

Honestly ANYTHING would be better than the system right now.

drwookie.6391:

mangocheesecake.1487:

The easy way to do this is to make the damage calculation GROUP WIDE instead of with individuals.

If you play support to your group with heals, shields, bubbles etc, they stay alive longer, do more damage (from your buffs), and overall the group does more damage than others if divided by five.

I honestly would go for this. It’s not perfect but the guild I run with always puts people in parties.

Honestly ANYTHING would be better than the system right now.

Yes, we totally shouldn’t punish people for ressing, shielding etc. If you observe the servers that do well, they are very good at ressing people — having theives/mesmers/guardians shield around their downed players.

It prevents half the zerg having to run back to the keep being attacked.

It just harder with the less organized servers right now because of the lack in incentives.

I second this, the game needs more encouragment for players to play the role of support, this would especially be valuable for engineers and gaurdians I think.

I got to say Ellie’s to I think

mangocheesecake.1487:

The easy way to do this is to make the damage calculation GROUP WIDE instead of with individuals.

If you play support to your group with heals, shields, bubbles etc, they stay alive longer, do more damage (from your buffs), and overall the group does more damage than others if divided by five.

I agree with this it would also give people more insentivew to LFG befor just running out and bashing on stuff in WvW. Grouping is more fun any way.

well, some classes (actually only guardian) can only support in wvw, and they currently don’t get any reward.

Kidel.2057:

well, some classes (actually only guardian) can only support in wvw, and they currently don’t get any reward.

thats not totaly true, I do see alot of Gards with A grate sword and that alows them to pull eniemys off walls and out of big groups.

that said a Gard with a grate sword and going Damage is Kinda a waste when they can support so well

Please devs can you at least say whether it is something you are open to/considering? That way I know if you have no plans I can drop the matter and respec to a DMG build.

shameless bump