Hello GW2 team, Hello fellow PvP players!
I want to share some feedback on the new 2v2 mode and Hall of the Mists map.
Many players have been waiting for a 2v2 or 3v3 mode for a long time. Not all of us have full teams or enjoy conquest/stronghold mode all that much. Some of us prefer to simply fight other players without being forced to prioritize rotation and point control.
This makes a mode such as a 2v2 deathmatch really awesome and a nice little break from conquest. However, I do believe that while the idea is great and the addition of this mode is a really good step for the game I have many issues with the way it has been implemented.
1. Custom Arena Only:
For most PvP players and even many WvW and PvE players Custom Arenas are places to try out new builds, check some interactions or duel with friends. They are good places for practice and learning. As such skill level in custom arenas is much lower than in a ranked environments and experienced players are unlikely to come across any real challenge. Additionally Custom Arenas usually have less than a hundred players at a time which makes it really difficult to find players for 2v2 arenas. These two issues made the game mode almost completely dead one day after its release.
2. Impact on the game and competitiveness
I’ve been awaiting 2v2 for a really long time and with much excitement. It offers a completely unique experience and potentially a very different meta, focused more on synergy than power of each individual build. This is a perfect opportunity for experienced players to try out new build combos. They might eventually end up bringing them to different game modes, vastly increasing build diversity in general. Sadly, with no competitive option for the 2v2 Deathmatch this opportunity is lost. There are no tournaments, 2v2 ques or ranked games to speak of. Given the very competitive nature of 2v2 I find that odd. I do realize that you don’t want to bring the mode to core PvP before you make sure it is working correctly in terms of map, mechanics and balance. However, very few people are going to play it and test it properly unless you add it to the core, matchmaked PvP.
3. Map design
I have to admit that I highly dislike the 2v2 Deathmatch map. It’s layout, while designed to allow ranged and mobile players to take advantage of, actually promotes a lot of toxic behavior. Many builds with a lot of sustain can simply run around the side pillars or the piles or rubble to juke and avoid most of the attacks. It promotes toxic strategies and makes playing against certain classes (such as warriors, elementalists or druids) very annoying.
Middle of the map is also very narrow, allowing for some larges aoes to completely cover it which stalls and often refreshes the fight. While this allows for some support builds to shine it also makes fights clustered and less readable. Moreover, this causes some issues with the camera, making it zoom in and out quite often.
Overtime promotes fighting for high ground as during the last seconds players have to walk through the damaging AoE to get to the platforms. This gives ranged players a great advantage and makes some builds insanely powerful during the overtime. I’m pointing that out since I’m not sure if it’s intentional design.
Lastly the spectator point is really weirdly positioned and is absolutely useless. It should be high above the battlefield to provide useful, clear view, not at a player height level.
This concludes most of my complains. I think that mode in itself is great. I’ve been awaiting this feature since launch and was really eager to try it out. Sadly I was unable to find games consistently and due to the nature of Custom Arenas. The ones I entered were very once-sided and disappointing.
…
TL;DR
I’m really, really happy that the mode was added but the implementation was really poor imho. Lack of matchmaking and no competitive mode(ranked/unranked/tournaments) using 2v2 made it dead within hours after update. It’s really difficult to find games and they end up being extremely quick and one-sided. Pillars in the map and shape of the damaging AoE during the overtime might promote some toxic strategies. Narrow passage badly affects the camera and fight readability. Spectator point is pretty much useless.
QUESTIONS:
To the dev team:
Are you planning to eventually add 2v2 Deathmatch to ranked/unkranked as a game mode, similarly to stronghold?
Is there any hope for some changes being made to the map?
Are you planning to flash out the very competitive nature of the mode with tournaments/weekly rankings/leaderboards or a similar feature?
Are you planning to do some balance changes in 2v2 such as allowing only one of each class in a party?
To the players:
Have you enjoyed your games in this mode so far?
Is there anything you really dislike/miss from the 2v2 Deathmatch?
Are you using your regular or meta builds or are you trying to come up with new synergistic build combos?
Is there anything I missed or you disagree with in my post?
Thank you for reading through this awfully long post :P
May the ranked be with you!
~Nicolas