First of all, sincere bravo on the Living Story, the conclusion to it was suitably epic and has a lot of people buzzing about how the next season’s events will turn out. You brought back in people like me, one’s that had taken a break from the game for one reason or another and that is something to be proud of.
That aside, mob tagging in large groups is still absolutely abysmal. It leads to problems with the community, lack of diversity of specs and a real sense that the effort you put in on a fight has zero bearing on whether you will receive loot from mobs.
Point 1: Problems with the Community
Quite frankly, people are feeling cheated, specifically in this event with the Legendary Watchknights, but it has been other things in the past. People are finding it necessary to join a group to get rewarded for killing the Watchknights, which is fine to drive people to group. What’s not ok is when people group to try and get that extra credit on the mobs and still not getting loot credit. That’s how you know the threshold is too high. This draws me away from enjoying the game to wondering who isn’t pulling their weight in the group? Is it someone else? Is it me not pulling my weight? Should we kick the level 55 in our group because he may not get in enough damage to tag these Watchknights? It sincerely detracts from the game and can lead to anger and finger pointing when this happens.
Point 2: Lack of Spec Diversity
The need to do max damage to tag a mob has driven the Berserker gear, max DPS mindset you see in the community. I honestly would love to try a support spec of some nature, or maybe even a tanky spec, but I cannot under the threat of never receiving loot credit due to not doing enough damage to the mob.
Point 3: Effort has Zero Bearing on Mob Loot
Damage does, pure and simple. Imagine the new to 80 guy still rocking rares and happily entering LA to do this event for the first time. He’s watching mob queues, dodge attacks, resurrecting allies, and cleansing conditions. When the mob finally dies he feels like he contributed to the fight in a great bit, but alas you tell him: “Nope, sorry chum, you didn’t stick on the mob for the entire duration and decided to help your allies, that’s a mistake. I guess there’s always next time for loot, try to do more damage next time.”
I remember trying to get my WvW season I achievement by beating on doors. Man, I must have smashed every cooldown I had smacking the crap out of those doors, but alas, when the door fell, no progress was added to my bar. This is the worst feeling in game, to do something and have it count for nothing.
It’s time for a change. This mechanic is hurting the game. Please hear my impassioned plea and do something about this clunky system. Lower the threshold, make other non-damage related parts of combat count for mob tagging. I implore you.
Thank you.