Guild Wars 2

Last evening we hat 10 players from our guild doing the stress test. So we decided to test the new guild claiming system. First we took a camp and upgraded it and tested the buffs. Later we held the fire keep for some hours and tested the claiming system there.

Feedback on camps:

Positive:

• camps can easily be captured by small groups and single players with the right build and skill
• the buff to escorted dolyaks (90% damage reduction) is great for escorting
• speeding dolyaks or giving other buffs (steath, regeneration, …) to them still works
• you can only have one charr bike per camp
• charr bikes can be healed and get buffs
• you can exchange guild buffs in a camp from everywhere on the map
• buffs can only be activated with the levers in the camp
• the guild claiming the camp can enable and disable the public activation of buffs any time from anywhere on the map
• it takes some time to activate the buffs on the camp, so there is a reason to defend them
• there are shortway passages to get back to the camp and escort the next dolyak
• on certain points around the camp enemies get tagged by NPCs and revealed on the map so you need to be careful if you want to sneak into a camp
• camps can be emptied automatically, if captured by enemy team – the perfect buff when being outnumbered on the map to drain the enemy from supplies

Uncertain (I don’t know if that is good or bad):

• charr bikes do more dps on walls than catapults

Bugs:

• the guild buff for 5 extra supllies didn’t work
• after some time spend in the camp the amount of supplies was not properly displayed on the screen anymore – don’t know why and when this happened

Things we didn’t test enough:

• We didn’t activate the coolness buff. So no feedback on that one.

Summary for camps:
I like the new design of the camps. The buffs are good for defending and escorting but not overpowered. When outnumbering the defenders, the camp can still be captured. Activation time forces a guild to defend the camp to benefit from the buffs. The new design demands more tactical gameplay.

Feedback on the fire keep:

Positive:

• automatic updates benefit a lot from the time reduction by incoming dolyaks
• there are some guild buffs that support active defending and some that make it harder to capture the keep even when there are no scouts
• holding the shrines can be the key element to defend or being able to capture the keep
• I like most that there are guild upgrades that allow gates and siege only to be destroyed by other siege
• banners give new tactitics in fighting enemy teams
• dropped banners cannot be taken away by enemies
• banners can be passed on to other players
• the bridge in front of the lordroom is another spot to defend the keep when inner gates are open
• there are several mechanics that help against mindless blobbing
• scouting doesn’t get too boring with the shrines close to the keep
• the terrain allows multiple tactics and strategies – I already have some in mind
• defending is easier
• the emergency waypoint must be activated from within the keep and has a 20 min cooldown – it can also be used directly from other maps – it stays open for about one minute
• there are good spots to defend against huge amounts of golems

Negative:

• the effect of the shrine goes away instantly without warning which makes it a very high risk to run through lava – a 10 sec. delay and a warning on the screen would be better
• there is still no map for the underground in the fire keep
• banners have no internal cooldown so you can pass them around for repetitively using the same skill for a massive effekt
• banners may need some balance – some skills are way too strong

Summary for the fire keep:
The keeps allow much more tactical gameplay. A siege will become more difficult because there will be less cheesy tactics like mindless blobbing and auto attacking the gate to capture a keep once it is held long enough to activate guild buffs. These changes will bring back long sieges and tactical gameplay. Some things will need balance. We will see how they will work out. Time will also show how many glitches and buguses there are once the map is in daily use.

I like the map and most of the new stuff. For a WvW-player who likes all aspects of the game mode (fights, siege, tactics, smallscale, 1v1, roaming) this map ist fun. It will bring some change to the game that became too much daily routine.

Wish the claiming system allowed you to be a little more specific as to which Tactic Activations I can set to public. For example, I have no problem letting people freely take Charr Cars and Banners, but I don’t want someone to run by and popping the Chilling Fog or Emergency WP cause they wanna see what it does.

I agree with not wanting people to randomly pop Chill or the WP, I assumed people would during the beta, but it’s just as likely for newbies in regular WvW. However, there’s not always going to be a guild member at a camp, I’d rather it get used randomly than not having the ability at all. With time, people were learn it’s importance. I have used Chill to solo defend a camp against multiple invaders, it’s a great resource to have available.

As for the banners, I seen an Ele take a Dragon Banner from the Garrison to flip SW camp because the failed the first time. This is probably the worse possible use of these banners. I’d much rather have a keep defended than a camp. So maybe limit the range that the banners can be used after spawned.

Nevaahe.6308:

I agree with not wanting people to randomly pop Chill or the WP, I assumed people would during the beta, but it’s just as likely for newbies in regular WvW. However, there’s not always going to be a guild member at a camp, I’d rather it get used randomly than not having the ability at all. With time, people were learn it’s importance. I have used Chill to solo defend a camp against multiple invaders, it’s a great resource to have available.

You’d think that, but no. As the way supply is used has shown, people will be foolish regardless of how much time they’ve had to learn.

In regards to your concerns though, I don’t really understand your issue. The claiming system by default starts with public being unable to use active abilities until someone decides to check the box. By giving people option to micro manage which individual active abilities are public, it could stop some guilds from just blanketly not allowing public to use anything. Also, if a guild isn’t going to have a member stay at a structure to activate said actives, then they just need to remember/be reminded to change the accessibility.

I don’t really have a concern with stuff being public per se, like I said I’d rather it be used randomly than never having the option to use it if the claiming guild wasn’t there. Guild’s will just have to remember, as you said, to turn it on/off throughout the day.

Tyler Bearce.3427:

We’re making a couple changes as a result of the lastest testing.

• By default claimed objectives will be flagged for public activation. Guilds can still toggle that permission whenever they want.
• If no guild members are present on the map, the objective will auto flag for public activation.

Beautiful, thanks Tyler! This is exactly a 100% good change. I liked the claiming but having no active guild members on map will remove the possibility of troll guilds, or people forgetting to make the tactics public so that your defenders can’t use them.

I have a question, what if a guild has 0 upgrades/tactics (a troll guild) and claims your keep, do you just have to wait for it to flip or could a way to trump them exist. Obviously it would only trump if they had more things unlocked but is anything like that being considered?

What if I’m member of that guild who claimed something, but atm I represent some other. Counts as being on the map still?

Maybe we could have a button to [Unclaim] or after claiming it changes to the other version, for example guild members play for certain hours, but then some other guild plays in different hours, they could take over…

lordvroom.1274:

I have a question, what if a guild has 0 upgrades/tactics (a troll guild) and claims your keep, do you just have to wait for it to flip or could a way to trump them exist. Obviously it would only trump if they had more things unlocked but is anything like that being considered?

Already mentioned in the mega thread, if nothing gets slotted other players can fill the slots. The guild that has claimed the objective has the right to override any other player’s choices at any time.

Pink Ninja Man.4375:

Already mentioned in the mega thread, if nothing gets slotted other players can fill the slots. The guild that has claimed the objective has the right to override any other player’s choices at any time.

I thought so but I was unsure how that worked like if it overwrote the guild tag or just let you slot an otherwise empty buff/tactic. If the guild still has rank over others can they unslot an upgrade? Not replacing it with a different one but could for instance a troll guild remove a buff that someone else slotted in?

lordvroom.1274:

If the guild still has rank over others can they unslot an upgrade? Not replacing it with a different one but could for instance a troll guild remove a buff that someone else slotted in?

Interesting question, seeing as there is no benefit for not slotting anything I would assume they could only replace and not just clear it out.

@Tyler can you answer a quick question. After capping an objective the Claim window pops up in the corner. Who all sees that. For example say I am there with 5 guildes, I am the leader, have 2 officers, and 2 members there. Does the highest ranking member get priority if they wanna claim or does any member that has claim privileges allowed to decide?

A few of my thoughts on the guild claiming system:

I would like to see some sort of pop up or reminder window regarding the guild claiming. So, lets say I claim a tower, and it starts upgrading. I’d like to slot stuff in, but hey, we’re moving on to the next objective and I can’t do put in tactics until the first tier! The tower slots slip my mind as we get into a fight and 30 mins roll by…. It would be great if those in the claiming guild who had the rights to slot tactics got some sort of visual que when another tier had unlocked. Perhaps a pop-up stating that “Tower XYZ had new tactics available and would I like to open the Claiming UI?”

I hope that the new change – where tactivations go public w/no guild members on the map – has a waiting period, maybe 15-20 mins. I’d hate to leave for a few mins and come back to all my stuff blown by a troll. There could be a countdown timer visible to the public on the Claiming UI.

I would also like to see a way to allow public activation PER TIER. I don’t see a problem with the public using tier 1 stuff, but some 2 and a lot of 3 stuff is where I am concerned.

Is there any way for a guild to leave a short message on their claimed stuff? Or even just a contact name or way to contact the guild…. an alert button with a pre-programmed message sent to guild chat that soandso character wishes contact regarding a claimed objective? It doesn’t seem too farfetched to me, as we truly take ownership of these things we claim. The NPCs get our guild tag, we are responsible for the upkeep and equipping of the objective, and the NPCs “report” to us on the movement of enemies. Why can’t they also be a portal through which our allies contact us?

Tyler, how viable are these solutions?