Hey,
First off I would like to thank ArenaNET for creating an absolutely stunning game that shines on so many aspects all the way from the unique art style to the flawless and fluid gameplay.
But to me the most important side to a game is the competitive side. The option to compete against other players in a fair environment. To me, and I’m sure to other like players aswell, this is the most rewarding style of gaming. It’s where hard work and deeper understanding of the game pays back the most.
And Guild Wars 2 really caters well to the lovers of PvP. The game has huge potential to become a very successful (sorry for using the term
) “E-sport”. A lot of the fundamental parts that make a great PvP game are already in place, and they are done well for a new game. The balance in sPvP keeps getting better and better without the thinly veiled rotating “flavor of the month” -shenanigans, the professions are all unique and feel different from one another, the maps are amazing and offer a lot of options for creative team play and the tournament system is a good start that the coming spectator mode will really make whole.
All this said, I find it absolutely foolish that there isn’t any kind of ranking system in the game for individual players in the form of a rated solo que option coupled with matchmaking (the current Rank -system is basically just a /age meter for PvP). This is what keeps me from really diving in to the game or having the will to invest time learning Guild Wars 2. I’ve tried to list reasons why such system would only benefit the game:
1) Right now, to me at least, there really isn’t a reason to play sPvP. My time is very limited, and logging in a few nights in a week doesn’t grant me any sense of progress. I cannot commit to a tournament team in my current situation, so my only option is to play hot-join that has no incentives. This would be fixed by having a ranking system, where I could see the results of my efforts. Add matchmaking to this and I have a meaningful reason to improve my playing: playing better gets me matched up against better opponents! The challenge is what keeps players interested in games.
2) The system where you’re supposed to farm Rank and Glory encourages bad, even wrong, gameplay. How many times has a team mate skipped resurrecting you because he was too busy capping a node a few feet from you? How many times have you joined a match through hot join, and after the game begins all 5-8 from the same team sit and wait at the first node and wait until it is capped. Moving on would be rational and useful for your team, but it provides no Glory. Hot-join is supposed to be the learning grounds for tournament play. How does playing hot join prepare you for tournament play, when points are given for wrong actions? The kind of system that is heavily based on mindless farming attracts copious amounts of botters. This may not be a current problem in GW2, but other popular MMOs are warning examples of this.
3) There is little to no incentives on actually winning a hot-join match. Why sweat and improve when you can do just as good glory and rank wise testing bad builds and running around headlessly?
4) By having personal and visible rating I would have something to show of my hard work and efforts. A rating and a matchmaking system would also make finding similar players more easy. Right now the map chat in the Heart of the Mists is littered with wanted ads of players with this and that rank, which often tells absolutely nothing of the player’s capabilities. Right now it is really the only way to differentiate “good” players from the “bad” and it is obvious this simply doesn’t work good. I have been declined many times when trying to get into a spontaneous tournament group because of my low rank. To me this seems a little silly that the only way to show off your skill is to sink in more hours into the game.