Guild Wars 2

Desert Borderlands: Feedback & Feels

TLDR:
Map was incredibly beautiful and immersive.
Map offers great opportunity and incentive to roamers/havoc, and forces that are prepared to split up.
Need further testing with higher player allocation per test server.
Shield Generators and Fiery Hound transformation likely need tweaking.

The Test:
The initial setting up of gear took a little trial and error to figure out, however once we worked out what each vendor did, it didn’t take too long to get up and running.
It would have been great to try the map with a higher player count on each side. Allowing players to really test how the map plays. And I hope a future test allows for this.
The time allowed for the test felt generous, and was plenty to explore the map, and trial some of the mechanics/combat.
It was a bonus to have someone from Anet join us, and answer what questions she could. THANK YOU!

The Map:
Was BEAUTIFUL.
Big /cheer for the design team on this!
Each zone (Keep/Tower/etc) felt like a map of it’s own, with each zone having a very distinct look and feel. Probably more impressive was that the transition between each of these zones felt very natural, I found this to be extremely engaging and immersive.
And most importantly, it all seemed to run very smoothly, without any sense of ‘lag’.

I’m a sucker for particle effects, so seeing these used across the map was very appealing.
- The Sand/Wind in the Air Keep
- The Green poisonous gas in the Lich Tower
- The Rays of light in the Oasis
Loved it.
I do however hope these don’t effect/cause any lag during larger scale engagements. It would be an absolute shame to have to turn them off.

The Keeps:
The keeps themselves feel like they will offer great opportunity for both defenders, and attackers.

I can see the keeps being more dynamic to defend:
- Good defensive chokes (perfect when defending with smaller numbers)
- Increased siege placement opportunities, with all the additional wall / elevated terrain (this also applies to the towers)
- More difficult pathing from outer to inner gates

And more exciting to attack:
- Complex internals appeared to offer good hiding spots for smaller havoc groups to hide. For example after the Oasis event, slipping into the outer of a keep, and waiting a short period before pushing inner.
- More challenging keep lords. Whilst they where easy enough without opposition. I can imagine these being a real game changer, if there was a defending force present in the lords room. The attacking force will really need to be certain about when to engage these. The Golem keep lord was a highlight.

The Oasis:
The Oasis event appears to be a good opportunity for roamers, and havoc forces alike. Whilst the current blood lust mechanic/event is OK, it is still easy for roamers/havoc to be overwhelmed on the nodes. I’m sure this event will also see it’s fair share of zerg engagements, as the reward for success (enemy outer gates being opened) is definitely worth the effort. BUT it did feel like a well organized havoc/roaming team could still out-pace an unorganized zerg in this event. It would be great if this ends up being the case.

The Shrines:
Another incentive to have havoc/roamers on the map to keep these under your control. I’m intrigued to see how these play out.
One comment on the Fiery hound transformation. These currently have no-show 1v1 against any good ranged class. In their current state they can not close gaps quickly enough to engage. Either this is intentional – forcing the Fiery hound transformation to be used as a “support” (i.e. with a main force / party) – If not it would be great to see a 4th leap skill added, maybe as a new WvW mastery. There is already a leap with Skill 2, but with the lack of any CC on the bar, the range on this is too short to stay engaged on target.

Land of opportunity:
With the map now having: Camps, Oasis Event, Towers, Shrines, AND Keeps.
I see the map encouraging forces to split up, and running less reliant on a single tag per map. I hope the player base are able to embrace this, to truly enjoy all it has to offer. If not, I can see forces having to run around a lot (through the more complex terrain) to find an engagement.

The Siege:
The idea of new siege skins, for superior siege, is a nice touch.
- AC/Treb/Cata all look OK.
- The Ram however looked like it was ready to fall over at any moment.
- Shield Generators where fun, and cosmetically look great (#discoball) however I do feel the range on these is too great. And may need to be reduced.
Would love to see the addition of further new GUILD SIEGE designs. #guildpride

Thank You:
Big thank you to Reyana for the invitation and organization. And ultimately thank you for the GW2 team for the opportunity. Look forward to the potential of future testing, with a higher player allocation

Big Kiwi /Salute to you!

Oh yes… That screenshot is 100% full of 100% awesome.

I watched some livestreams and the map is pretty but I’m concerned that nightcapping/off-peak population imbalance isn’t being addressed, making all the prime time ppt worthless.

I don’t think that is something that can be addressed by map design.

And you have to remember it’s always someones “Prime Time”, GW2 is a global game. It would be near impossible to address population balance, via map design, without restricting tiers/servers/guilds that have a healthy “Prime Time” outside of NA Prime (for NA server) or EU Prime (for EU servers). Food for thought

THAT SAID! (… after further thought)
Given the map now heavily favors defending, you may find your servers “off-peak” have a better chance holding keeps, etc. Just ensure you leave your keeps armed to the teeth.
SO I could be wrong with my opening comment, this new map design might in fact help address your problem We will have to wait and see!

Blade.3456:

THAT SAID! (… after further thought)
Given the map now heavily favors defending, you may find your servers “off-peak” have a better chance holding keeps, etc. Just ensure you leave your keeps armed to the teeth.
SO I could be wrong with my opening comment, this new map design might in fact help address your problem We will have to wait and see!

Or it means that during off hours for your server when the Oceanics then Euros roll in to NA prime time the NA defenders can easily hold off forces because the “off hours” people took everything for you.

Double edged sword.

Blade.3456:

I don’t think that is something that can be addressed by map design.

I agree, but (IMO) it IS something that should be addressed at the same time, if they hope to retain the returning players and not have them enjoy a few weeks of new map and then leave because the matches are still, ultimately, no better than before.

“Off hours” players are not second class players. Their time zone should be equal to everyone else’s. The concept of “Night Capping” is a very entitled and discriminatory view of the WvW community.

Every time zone is prime time for different players. No one time zone should be more important than the others. That’s the nature of a 24/7 match.

So much win in this thread.

Thanks for the write up Blade, this helps.

Shiren.9532:

“Off hours” players are not second class players. Their time zone should be equal to everyone else’s. The concept of “Night Capping” is a very entitled and discriminatory view of the WvW community.

Every time zone is prime time for different players. No one time zone should be more important than the others. That’s the nature of a 24/7 match.

Very well said.

And you’re welcome Grimm

Shiren.9532:

“Off hours” players are not second class players. Their time zone should be equal to everyone else’s. The concept of “Night Capping” is a very entitled and discriminatory view of the WvW community.

Every time zone is prime time for different players. No one time zone should be more important than the others. That’s the nature of a 24/7 match.

I don’t think anyone uses those terms in a discriminatory way? I think some people are just concerned because I’ve heard the new maps are going to be bigger, and therefore during time zones where your server has a low population, it will be harder to take care of the map because with bigger maps you need more people to cover the ground with scouting, roaming, defending, because running between all the points will take too long.

And sure every time zone is prime time for different players, but if you’re on a server where MOST of your players are NA, then your eu and oceanic hours are just going to be less populated, and therefore harder to defend/offend.