Guild Wars 2

I just want to preface this by saying that I LOVE both sPvP and WvW and I’m having a blast in the matches I’ve been playing. I love the skill based aspect and I really think that this could become the e-sport I’ve heard mentioned in rumors. With that said, here’s a couple of things that bug me.

1) Team balancing

I understand the need for it, and I understand that there’s no way to make the teams fair while considering leavers that will make everyone happy. I’m not gonna go into detail on the remarkable frustration of the last-second switch at 498 to the losing team, because we’ve all seen the threads. Not only that, but it’s frustrating to be doing so well (best capturer, best defender, etc.) only to be switched and lose out on all the bonuses you have earned.

I suggest:

a) incentivize volunteering to switch to a losing team. Make it so that if that team goes on to win that you get double glory bonus or a random chance at a piece of gear when the match completes. Maybe do this for anyone that gets switched to a losing team, regardless of whether they volunteered or not?

b) disable team balancing in the following situations:

-there is a 250 point or greater difference between teams at ANY point in the match (let’s face it, it’s probably over and it’s not fair to punish a random person on the winning team because the leavers didn’t feel like getting farmed, i mean who can blame them?)

and

- either team has 450 points or greater. This avoids the feeling of “ZOMG I WAS JUST ABOUT TO WIN AND GOT SWITCHED” and if it’s a close game (~450 to ~450) then it’s not likely that someone would leave due to the equal chance that either team would win

2) My second gripe is way easier to explain and the solution is simple. So here goes.

What’s with the pirate-voiced announcer?

On Capricorn I’m cool with it because of the pirate theme, but it’s really weird in the other three maps. It’s almost comical and kind of immersion-breaking.

I recommend a different voice for each map.

I get Foefire and Forest maps confused. But maybe an ethereal sounding voice for whichever one has the mist in the middle, and a Sylvari or something for the other? Kyhlo could have any number of char/human voices and it would fit well.

Thanks for reading and feel free to offer some discussion on what you think of these ideas.