TL;DR make spying an actual game mechanic that rewards spies but also allows the spied on server to catch and kill the spies.
Long Version:
So I’ve been thinking about spying in WvW. And I see where the response is basically, “that’s part of the game.” Although I agree in theory (spying is part of war), I don’t agree with how spying currently works. If it is part of the game, why not truly make it part of the game?
In my opinion, spying doesn’t seem to fit into the credo of Guild Wars 2. After all, it’s all reward and no risk (no real cost). How is that fair? Certainly when it became apparent that parts of ANET’s dungeons were being completed too quickly, too easily, ANET changed the dungeon mechanics, so that players still have to work hard, to put in their time. There is a cost to things… I understand server transfers will become cost based and that should eliminate some of it, but I suspect dedicated Guilds will be able to conjure up the gems needed to transfer and continue spying. But on top of that, spying is part of war. It should be in the game. It should be fun.
Why not force the spies to put some skin in the game. In real life, if you are a spy, you knowingly take a huge risk in order to gain a huge reward: theoretically you get intel which leads to winning, but if you get caught, you get screwed. Hard.
Not so in WvW, if you get caught… “shrug.” In fact, you can’t really get caught because to get caught, you kind of need to be trying to hide in the first place, not really the case in WvW where “spies” can proudly display their Guild Logo… that’s not spying.
Why don’t the devs at ANET see if they can implement an actual spying mechanic? Effectively, give players two options, continue to spy as you currently are by doing a server transfer and blatantly traipsing about, but if you get reported and ANET confirms you were spying, you get banned. For life.
OR you could be a real spy. Why not set up an spy NPC in Lion’s arch or wherever? I would suspect this figure would look like a merchant or pedestrian, certainly, he or she wouldn’t display that they are a secret agent. And if you, the player, contact this individual, you get the immediate option to transfer to an opponent server. Heck, you even get a random, fake guild tag. And now you’re a spy. You look and smell like you’re from the server you just transferred to… but there’s a catch. Just like in real life, you can get caught.
I don’t know how many people should have to report you, but perhaps this can be tested? Maybe 4 people? 5 people? 6? But if enough do, you suddenly aren’t so green anymore. You’re a bit, well, red. And targetable. And in a few seconds. Dead.
And you don’t rez, not on that toon. That toon is in prison now. Maybe it’s an hour or twenty-four hours, or maybe it’s a week, but there should be a cool down on when that character—not the account, or heck, maybe the even account—can get back into WvW. This would only work for spies, reporting random people who are just logged in normally would not immediately cause them to become targetable. If you’re on a smart server, you find a way to maintain a list of known spies, and you deal with them immediately.
This would at least make the servers that are spied on feel like they have an option and would actually make spying a fun role to try out (again, imo). And it certainly is more realistic than the current setup. Finally, it would be cool to have a spy achievement. The simplest thing I can think of is you unlock tiers based on the number of failed events you are a part of while spying. I think that would be cool.
Instead of the approach of, it’s going to happen, oh well, why not embrace it? Make it a mechanic and flesh it out. What do you think?