Guild Wars 2

Pre-game Improvements

Extend the pre-game time from 1:30 to 2:00. Instead of forcing players to join the match as it begins, force them into it at 1:00.

If all ten players have not joined by the time the match begins, do not begin the match and instead return players to the Heart of the Mists. Punish the player or players who do not connect.

If a player abandons in the first three minutes of a match, and does not reconnect within sixty seconds, disable stats and rewards and allow the remaining players to leave the match without punishment. Punish the player who abandoned the game.

Dishonorable
Currently Dishonorable, as I understand it, functions by applying one stack for each abandonment, and each stack lasts 72 hours. If three stacks are currently active, the player cannot queue for arena matches. Unfortunately, this does not seem to be an effective deterrent to abandonment, and additional conditions can be added to Dishonorable to further punish abandonment.

As it stands, a player can effectively abandon two games every 72 hours without punishment. The longer the time is between the first and third abandonment, the more ineffectual the punishment becomes. Altering the functionality of Dishonorable to ensure that every abandonment is punished – not just the third if done within a certain time frame – would aid in deterring players from abandoning.

I would propose Dishonorable instead function in this manner:

• Abandoning a match places three stacks of Dishonorable on the abandoning player
• Dishonorable stacks do not expire over time
• While Dishonorable stacks are active, the player cannot earn rank points or rewards from matches, including progression on reward tracks.
• For each arena match completed without abandonment, one stack of Dishonorable is removed, if the match lasts longer than seven minutes (the current threshold for full rewards). This would prevent players with Dishonorable from intentionally throwing matches in order to remove stacks faster.
• Players with Dishonorable stacks are given low-priority status in matchmaking and when possible are placed in matches with each other, so as to remove them from the prime matchmaking pool.
• If a player reaches 15 stacks of Dishonorable, they receive a 48 hour ban. At the end of the 48 hours, 3 stacks of Dishonorable are removed and they can reenter PvP with 12 stacks still active.

This adds short-term punishment for abandonment by temporarily halting PvP progression for the player. If the abandonment is an isolated incident, there is no long term punishment, similar to the current system. Three full matches will remove the stacks and the player can continue earning PvP rewards as they normally would. However, repeated abandonment will extend the consequences for doing so, and eventually a punishment similar to the current system (a ban from matchmaking) will be reached. If a player wants to receive rewards for their time spent in PvP, they cannot continually abandon matches.

Very well thought out, the most important bit is
“If all ten players have not joined by the time the match begins, do not begin the match”

If any of this is too much difficulty to implement, please at least get this one done, it isn’t too much to ask!

Don’t like any of these. If the game already started, I still want reward track/pvp rank progress @ the end of the match, I don’t mind if it’s 4v5, just makes game quicker.

So you’re saying that people with dishonored buff would be able to join ranked games and not gain any rewards?

They would just afk through the game to get rid of dishonored.

Xbon.9086:

Don’t like any of these. If the game already started, I still want reward track/pvp rank progress @ the end of the match, I don’t mind if it’s 4v5, just makes game quicker.

You would still get that for matches where abandonment doesn’t occur at the beginning. Additionally, arenas are a ranked game mode and leaderboards/MMR are important. Rewards are secondary incentives. 4v5 matches are detrimental to leaderboards and MMR.

joonasp.9217:

So you’re saying that people with dishonored buff would be able to join ranked games and not gain any rewards?

They would just afk through the game to get rid of dishonored.

That’s why I said removing stacks would require it to be a game of the length that earns full rewards (current cutoff is seven minutes), so they can’t intentionally make games short to remove stacks.

Additionally, Anet needs a system for dealing with AFK players anyway, preferably one that ties into Dishonorable so that AFK players not only couldn’t remove Dishonorable via AFKing, but also receive additional punishment for attempting to do so.

+1 OP!
/15chars

Nineaxis.1826:

Xbon.9086:

Don’t like any of these. If the game already started, I still want reward track/pvp rank progress @ the end of the match, I don’t mind if it’s 4v5, just makes game quicker.

You would still get that for matches where abandonment doesn’t occur at the beginning. Additionally, arenas are a ranked game mode and leaderboards/MMR are important. Rewards are secondary incentives. 4v5 matches are detrimental to leaderboards and MMR.

joonasp.9217:

So you’re saying that people with dishonored buff would be able to join ranked games and not gain any rewards?

They would just afk through the game to get rid of dishonored.

That’s why I said removing stacks would require it to be a game of the length that earns full rewards (current cutoff is seven minutes), so they can’t intentionally make games short to remove stacks.

Additionally, Anet needs a system for dealing with AFK players anyway, preferably one that ties into Dishonorable so that AFK players not only couldn’t remove Dishonorable via AFKing, but also receive additional punishment for attempting to do so.

idk about you, but rewards are my primary incentive for pvp. and now that they’re at a decent level I choose to do spvp over pve content.

Nineaxis.1826:

• For each arena match completed without abandonment, one stack of Dishonorable is removed, if the match lasts longer than seven minutes (the current threshold for full rewards). This would prevent players with Dishonorable from intentionally throwing matches in order to remove stacks faster.

How about “For each arena match won”?
Prevents afking.

But what I also would rly appreciate is, that after a DC, the game doesn’t load anymore the HotM first.
When you have a DC while a game, this is rly annoying, as it costs time.

EverythingEnds.4261:

How about “For each arena match won”?
Prevents afking.

Because of the randomness of matchmaking, it introduces a randomness to the punishment. If you’re unlucky with your queues, you might end up having to play 20 games without rewards to remove the three stacks.

It’s better if the system just recognizes playing, rather than winning, and having punishment be consistent.

I have played 4 or 5 soloQ today…and 2 of them have been 4v5.

Something needs to be done. Allow people in the queue to hotjoin into the middle and get guaranteed win rewards, and if you win, maybe 20% more than a standard win (to entice them to try).

I’m ok with most of this, though I’d prefer no punishments for the first disconnect at all. I feel most people are in the same boat as me, in that my internet is totally sucky and i usually d/c once every day or two before i can get through the match. I don’t think I should be punished because my internet is bad (and I don’t manage my isp so I can’t choose to swap to other isp’s, and even if i could i live in the country and I only have 2 ISP choices, both of which are just as bad.)