Guild Wars 2

I’d be interested in seeing some community statistics on this. To that effect, I have built a survey with kwiksurvey, which I hope you will answer. I’ll be publishing and keeping the results up to date. If you have polite suggestions as to how I can improve the survey, I would be interested in hearing them.

http://kwiksurveys.com/s.asp?sid=ul6rado34pj9jqv80340

The survey, of course, more detailed than the binary PVE/PVP distinctions. Depending on the response, I may consider creating a second one asking people about why they play mostly PvE, PvP, etc.

Anyway, a quick update with the limited results I have so far: there seems to be an overwhelming preference for PvE, with WvW being the most popular form of PvP among all players.

Update:

Data for ~1000 respondents: http://kwiksurveys.com/tmp_pdf/report-5CE6082C5E79428395C58B177D966BF7.pdf

===

Data for 600+ respondents: http://kwiksurveys.com/tmp_pdf/report-C16F4C2BF89A426290939BD1C695F942.pdf

====

Data for 300+ respondents. http://kwiksurveys.com/tmp_pdf/report-E3CF0FC389204F4F9B7921F45BE03572.pdf

==OLDER DATA==

Data for 180+ respondents.
http://kwiksurveys.com/tmp_pdf/report-922D50C1AD0C492889F10BDEBA4B8022.pdf

==OLDER DATA==

I now have data for the first 100 respondents. http://kwiksurveys.com/tmp_pdf/report-C9D8EDFC4040464695ED6E3F7B5D4C2A.pdf

==OLDER DATA==

Here’s the first PDF for you guys to look at, with slightly over 30 respondents. Hopefully I can get a couple hundred or more within a few days.

I am really curious about whether the results will change as they go on.

http://kwiksurveys.com/tmp_pdf/report-BDA08CE618F44455B299AFF9918327A9.pdf

Nice survey. I wondered the difference between asking “What do you play the most?” to “What do you enjoy the most?”. I found myself saying I played all the PvE options, but I clearly enjoy 1 or 2 more than the other/s (that is, my opinion/feelings are stronger set than the way I distribute my time). Would love to see the results, although hinting at them early may create a response bias.

FacesOfMu.3561:

Nice survey. I wondered the difference between asking “What do you play the most?” to “What do you enjoy the most?”. I found myself saying I played all the PvE options, but I clearly enjoy 1 or 2 more than the other/s (that is, my opinion/feelings are stronger set than the way I distribute my time). Would love to see the results, although hinting at them early may create a response bias.

The distinction between “what do you play vs what do you enjoy” is definitely something I thought about. I, for one, don’t enjoy dungeons very much so I almost never run them (I have in fact not done FotM once yet). I may explore it in a future survey.

i love pvp, but i don’t consider zerg v zerg to be pvp. it lacks any of the fun of pitting yourself against another person. instead you’re lost in the crowd, unable to see yourself, casting some spells and hoping to hit something.

I now have close to 80 responses. The overall distribution is pretty similar compared to before. What interests me greatly is how international the responses are – so far, only 17 of them are from the US but this could very much have to do with the time zones (early morning right now).

And still PvP players complain the most and cause changes for all PvE players.

Iruwen.3164:

And still PvP players complain the most and cause changes for all PvE players.

My understanding is that most balance changes have been a consequence of PvP related factors. Given that preliminary results indicate an overwhelming preference for PvE in this game, I think balance changes may need more careful deliberation before they are rolled out. On the other hand, PvP balance is generally seen as a more pressing issue than PvE balance, due to its competitive nature.

There has already been a PvP/PvE split in GW1 and it also started in GW2, they should just be consequent. The only question would be if WvW should be considered PvE or PvP.
Balancing PvE and PvP at the same time is simply impossible, because of the very different behaviour of NPCs and real players and the way conditions work.

I play exclusively PvE. If I want PvP-I go to lol or something. My thought is that PvP in MMOs is universally subpar to the actual PvP games(Starcraft/Counter Strike/LoL). So I will not waste my time there…

Oh, and I dislike PvP Heavy MMOs. But seeing how every MMO has PvE in one form or another(I’ll solo if necessary!), the focus of MMO does not interest me. It only needs to be fun and engaging.

I was in the past a PvP player. Played on PvP open world servers, always did PvP (more than PvE anyway) Mainly used to be in PvP guilds.
BUT.. Anets current way of player participation in PvP(sPvP) is horrible. If Id wanted to spend all my time in a lobby, Id still play console games.

So now I just PvE ! (still miss PvP tho)

My god… take the hint anet, look at how few people are playing sPvP. I mean this is hardly an accurate sample but if you simply walk into the mists it’s undeniable.

You are silly. WvW is PvE.

SPvP needs moar modes. It has been noted.

terribad survey accuracy. only fraction of the active players visit forums, even less of them read everything or bother to vote. on the other hand.. le trolls and those who don’t play anymore…

I’m an active player.

Aether the Nob.9172:

You are silly. WvW is PvE.

SPvP needs moar modes. It has been noted.

PvP stands for Player vs. Player. I go to WvW to kill other players. I am also a player. Therefore, WvW is PvP – claim rendered invalid.

TheKillerAngel.3596:

Given that preliminary results indicat…

The preliminary results indicate nothing, because you’ve made the mistake of only posting your survey in the general discussion forum which is very PvE orientated, if you want to include PvPers in your survey then it might be helpful to also post it in the sub-forums they spend most of their time in.

Waffler.1257:

Aether the Nob.9172:

You are silly. WvW is PvE.

SPvP needs moar modes. It has been noted.

PvP stands for Player vs. Player. I go to WvW to kill other players. I am also a player. Therefore, WvW is PvP – claim rendered invalid.

No. You go to WvW to take camps and towers to help your world. And NPC’s guard those camps and towers, not players. It is more beneficial to kill NPC’s in WvW than it is to kill other players. Therefore, WvW is PvE.

Iruwen.3164:

And still PvP players complain the most and cause changes for all PvE players.

So let’s get this right, you think the devs in this game are so bad, they make changes solely on the basis of what it moaned about on the forums, wihout considering the merits of it first or introducing changes based on their own data?

Putting that aiside, the evidence doesn’t even support your claim, the most compained about classes in PvP have been thief, guardian, mesmer & ele, but guess which class has had the most nerfs – Engineer, a class virtually no one complains about.

Aether the Nob.9172:

Waffler.1257:

Aether the Nob.9172:

You are silly. WvW is PvE.

SPvP needs moar modes. It has been noted.

PvP stands for Player vs. Player. I go to WvW to kill other players. I am also a player. Therefore, WvW is PvP – claim rendered invalid.

No. You go to WvW to take camps and towers to help your world. And NPC’s guard those camps and towers, not players. It is more beneficial to kill NPC’s in WvW than it is to kill other players. Therefore, WvW is PvE.

This is rich, are you seriously telling me how I play the game? First, I spend most of my time in the EBJP killing other players, there are no NPCs in there. Second, if you think players don’t guard camps and towers you clearly have no idea what WvW is and I seriously doubt you have ever played it.

Aether the Nob.9172:

No. You go to WvW to take camps and towers to help your world. And NPC’s guard those camps and towers, not players. It is more beneficial to kill NPC’s in WvW than it is to kill other players. Therefore, WvW is PvE.

PvP means player versus player, ‘versus’ does not mean killing, it means competing against, the entire point of WvW is your team of players compete against the other teams.

To do that you need to score points, just like you score points in tPvP by standing in a circle, killing the guild lord, or champions, etc. There is no “PvE”, the “PvE” elements offer no real competitve element without the opposing players, WvW is designed around completing objectives whilst the opposing players try and stop you (and vice-versa), just like sPvP and just like sPvP you end up killing (or dying to) other players.

I have always liked world pvp and pvp servers. But in really into WvW zergs and sPvP is kinda borring imo. Why cant we have dueling and open world pvp!

Sylosi.6503:

TheKillerAngel.3596:

Given that preliminary results indicat…

The preliminary results indicate nothing, because you’ve made the mistake of only posting your survey in the general discussion forum which is very PvE orientated, if you want to include PvPers in your survey then it might be helpful to also post it in the sub-forums they spend most of their time in.

I understand your point, but I am afraid that the mods will infract me for spamming if I post this survey in multiple forums. Therefore, I have chosen the one with the highest general population.

If you would like to expand the reach of this survey to the class subforums, reddit, GW2G, feel free to do so. Please understand that the site rules probably forbid me from posting this survey multiple times in different forums.

The results have been updated, with 180+ respondents.

KimRasmussen.4128:

I have always liked world pvp and pvp servers. But in really into WvW zergs and sPvP is kinda borring imo. Why cant we have dueling and open world pvp!

Open world PvP has only ever discouraged cooperation. Since GW2 is built with cooperation in mind, it would be counterproductive. Dueling wouldn’t be a bad option if it weren’t for people who just spam requests any time they sit still for more than 5 seconds.

PvE. I was a heavy PvP’er in GW2 (pre-factions)
One of the best monks around.

That being said I don’t really do the competitive games these days. It just seems like theres too many kids and too many ways to BM. Maybe its the rose tinted goggles but back in my GW1 days there were no “finisher moves” you could use to further humiliate someone whos already downed. Most defeats were honorable and that was that. Now you have “SwAGdanksm0krXxX” running around 2 shotting people on his thief and then using whatever means possible to make sure “they are mad bro.” just not my cup of tea and seems it attracts the immature crowd.

I love them both equally but gw2 has a major pvp problem. When you try to wvw it runs like **** (even crytek optimizes their dx11 games better, come’on now…). When you try to spvp it gets old in under an hour because 1. maps are too small and boring 2. objectives capping points is the most boring game mode i’ve played in a long while. Release new game modes with much larger maps and some pve spice in them (like siege turtles/npcs in GW1’s FA) and i will be playing it every day for at least 3h. Love pve, done everything there is to do and waiting for more. Love pvp but its broken in my opinion. Do i want to play wvw in 20fps on low settings and a 1.7k rig? No! Optimize your crap, anet.

Players are funnier to kill than mobs.
Mobs will not try to blame their failure on their class/yours, on Anet or on lag – they just die.
There is no fun in killing something that just dies without making up some ridiculous excuses to not admit he’s inferior to you.

If we had “killcams” like Skyrim maybe… nah GW2 will prolly never have blood spurts and beheading.

Iruwen.3164:

There has already been a PvP/PvE split in GW1 and it also started in GW2, they should just be consequent. The only question would be if WvW should be considered PvE or PvP.

I hope you’re joking.

The only thing that sets WvW apart from the rest of the game is the fact that you are fighting against other players. All the PvE window dressing that has been used to spice up the zones, is just that — window dressing.

The point of WvW is to play against other players. To kill them dead, take what they have and stop them from taking what you have. There is no other reason to be there. The mobs and nodes and other assorted PvE flavour that you see there, is so that players aren’t cut off from gathering and crafting by being there. They can still progress like anyone else, but never have to leave the Mists.

It doesn’t matter what PvE-ish stuff they throw in there. If you are beating up other players, it’s PvP. And if you are just there to gather mats, you have chosen to do it under the threat of being jumped by another player. That’s still PvP — just in slow motion.

WvW = PvP. Might as well chisel it in stone.

Aether the Nob.9172:

Waffler.1257:

Aether the Nob.9172:

You are silly. WvW is PvE.

SPvP needs moar modes. It has been noted.

PvP stands for Player vs. Player. I go to WvW to kill other players. I am also a player. Therefore, WvW is PvP – claim rendered invalid.

No. You go to WvW to take camps and towers to help your world. And NPC’s guard those camps and towers, not players. It is more beneficial to kill NPC’s in WvW than it is to kill other players. Therefore, WvW is PvE.

Absurd logic.

I PvE all the time now tried WvW but got very bored with it fast as all it was is a big zerg and that got boring.

WvW is PvP because you are killing or being killed by other players.

now i log once and a while. pve.

Blacklight.2871:

Aether the Nob.9172:

Waffler.1257:

Aether the Nob.9172:

You are silly. WvW is PvE.

SPvP needs moar modes. It has been noted.

PvP stands for Player vs. Player. I go to WvW to kill other players. I am also a player. Therefore, WvW is PvP – claim rendered invalid.

No. You go to WvW to take camps and towers to help your world. And NPC’s guard those camps and towers, not players. It is more beneficial to kill NPC’s in WvW than it is to kill other players. Therefore, WvW is PvE.

Absurd logic.

Yeah. Cuz we leave the defense of a tower or keep to the NPCs. NPC’s that wont take two steps to help out. Or leave their patrol routes to attack the players unless you practically run thru them. Nor do we build siege, upgrade holdings, and man them. Nor did we defend our Keep (Bay) from HoD, have them break thru the inner wall to only eat our ballistas and ultimately get pushed back out. Was close tho. For a while there I thot it was lost. HoD musta got some new guild transfers to have these kinda numbers all of a sudden. Still have sads hugging the Legendaries and using the invulnerable exploit by huddling under them. So yeah. Never played that against a single player. That was allllll PvE.

yeah. being a diff kinda PvP then mass free for all doesn’t make it PvE

I’m in the US and I play almost exclusively PvE. I might go into sPvP like once a month for about ten minutes. I’ve only gone into WvW once, and didn’t really like it all that much. I love the fact that in PvE everyone’s on the same side.

PvE through and through, i cannot stand PvP in any way shape or form..

If i do wvw its for my monthly and its painful as for me.

Given the nature of these responses, I think it might be appropriate for me to start a survey on which elements of the game people enjoy or not.

Also, I have updated the data with the most recent responses. 300+. http://kwiksurveys.com/tmp_pdf/report-E3CF0FC389204F4F9B7921F45BE03572.pdf

will not click link but i do both pvp and pve, i enjoy pvp(open world not arena pvp tho) a bit more than pve tho.

Rikimeru Tokesbudz.3816:

will not click link but i do both pvp and pve, i enjoy pvp(open world not arena pvp tho) a bit more than pve tho.

Would you like me to input your answer for you, then?

TheKillerAngel.3596:

Sylosi.6503:

TheKillerAngel.3596:

Given that preliminary results indicat…

The preliminary results indicate nothing, because you’ve made the mistake of only posting your survey in the general discussion forum which is very PvE orientated, if you want to include PvPers in your survey then it might be helpful to also post it in the sub-forums they spend most of their time in.

I understand your point, but I am afraid that the mods will infract me for spamming if I post this survey in multiple forums. Therefore, I have chosen the one with the highest general population.

If you would like to expand the reach of this survey to the class subforums, reddit, GW2G, feel free to do so. Please understand that the site rules probably forbid me from posting this survey multiple times in different forums.

The results have been updated, with 180+ respondents.

Sylosi made an excellent point, and I can understand the limitations TheKillerAngel has in being able to advertise for participants.
I can also see this survey becoming political. I mentioned earlier the influence of response bias by releasing results before the survey is closed. It is really an impact of response bias, sample bias, and self-selection bias, where the survey slowly ceases to represent a spectrum of participants, and starts representing vocal people who feel motivated to influence the results. In this case, reporting representation while still gathering data may motivate potential participants to become involved because they are worried results will be used to make x point, or that their demographic will be maligned, misrepresented or underrepresented.
Still, curiouser and curiouser! It’s kinda like a forum community event.

I’ve been wondering the merits on having players choose the playstyle (PvE/PvP) they prefer the most for the forum profile so that also shows under their user name for their posts. Sometimes I get confused about the point some posters are making, or how certain things they are saying are an issue until I remember that they are likely talking about the other playstyle I’m used to. Often suggestions and feedback pertains heavily to how their profession plays in the respective format, and this cross-over can tend to confuse things or get lost in the discussions.
However, asking players to show the format that appeals to them the most may create labels and language that could be more damaging or misleading than the system intends to combat.

I did put this survey up on Reddit and GW2G, which has increased the number of respondents quite substantially. We are now at 600+. I intend to follow up on this survey with more specific questions.

Most recent data:
http://kwiksurveys.com/tmp_pdf/report-C16F4C2BF89A426290939BD1C695F942.pdf

I’m mostly a PvE player, but I dabble in PvP every now and then when I need a change of pace.

I haven’t read this thread’s comments, so I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but I would expect that a thread placed in this form would have significantly more pve’ers respond than pvp’ers. Yes pvp’ers read this forum, but those who exclusively or primarily pvp are probably less likely, imo, to read this forum than those who primarily pve.

It would be interesting to see what a similar poll placed in the WvW forum would have in terms of results. But I’m too lazy to do that. lol

anonymouse.9053:

I haven’t read this thread’s comments, so I don’t know if this has been mentioned, but I would expect that a thread placed in this form would have significantly more pve’ers respond than pvp’ers. Yes pvp’ers read this forum, but those who exclusively or primarily pvp are probably less likely, imo, to read this forum than those who primarily pve.

It would be interesting to see what a similar poll placed in the WvW forum would have in terms of results. But I’m too lazy to do that. lol

So you speak for all PvPers who exclusively or primarily pvp? I’m not trying to be a kitten in any way, shape, or form, mind you, I’m just curious as to how you’re getting your information is all :P

And this is the general forums, the supposed medium for all things GW2, not just PvE. So, inherently, its pretty unbiased if you ask me.

I said “imo”…. that means “in my opinion”. It’s an opinion, not fact. It’s not “information” as you put it. I also said that “I expect” … not “I know”.

Am I clear now?

anonymouse.9053:

I haven’t read this thread’s comments,……. But I’m too lazy to do that. lol

lol-just a helpful suggestion-if one wishes to be taken seriously they should actually read the posts—or at the very least don’t own up to not reading them.

Anyway, Anet must have real time stats of who is playing the game and how—they could share the data..

This is interesting. I’m going to use your latest data (600+ entries) to do a simple calculation.

From the first chart it appears about 32% of respondents play PvP to any extent.
Of this population only 11.31+11.53=22.84% play structured PvP to any extent (data from chart 3).

If you report this back to the entire respondent base it appears that only 32 × 0.228 = 7.3% of them play structured PvP.

I will rephrase for clarity: only 7.3% of all survey participants play structured PvP to any extent

Will the devs be so kind as to compare this to their internal data? Would be cool.

Blude.6812:

lol-just a helpful suggestion-if one wishes to be taken seriously they should actually read the posts—or at the very least don’t own up to not reading them.

Fortunately for me I don’t care if people take my posts seriously. This is just a gaming forum.

Its a fact that there are more players who spend their time PvEing as opposed to PvPing. This has always been the case and has only grown since WoW. A big part of it is that PvE is more social in the sense that you can chat and have fun chatting while PvEing with guildmates and friends. Understandably, most just don’t have the desire to be battling every hour they are online.

But note that many who PvE would not play a MMO without PvP elements. Most players want to compete against other players, just not all the time. Thus the trend towards greater PvE focus with just enough PvP stuff to keep players satisfied. Which of course leaves the 80+% PvP playing player base eternally dissatisfied but that is just how the way the world works. And all the smaller MMOs which try to cater to this smaller market end up getting hacked, exploited and cheated into oblivion (totally sucks).

I honestly think there should of been an answer instead of all of the above, for pve exploration/open world events. Because honestly I very rarely do dungeons in their current state.

So I had to opt for PvE open world events as my majority. Since I guess that is what my majority of time is spent on. :P

You asking this in the general forums which is almost exclusively PvE talk. If you asked this in the WvW forums and SPvP forums, you would clearly get opposite results. This is definitely biased.