Guild Wars 2

ArenaColin:

In regards to balance – balance is NOT driven by our PvP Pro League, the pro league is a marketing effort that has almost zero impact on our dev team. Drawing parallels between the two is at best disingenuous.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3v0x29/how_do_anet_expect_us_to_take_pvp_seriously_when/

Thoughts?

Personally, if they are trying to market the game as an “esport” then balance should heavily consider top tier game play as every other successful esport has done, so there should be parallels. PvE should be balanced via NPC mechanics and WvW should be either left to its mayhem or balanced via consumables.

I appreciate the post from Colin. It is nice to know where we stand, although I wish this was clearer years ago. I guess I only have my foolish optimism to blame.

I think separating game modes is best. The thing is any good game needs balancing for skill. For example a low skill thief should lose to anyone whereas a high skill thief should beat anyone 1v1. So the class would be “OP” for dueling, but only if you truly mastered the class (same applies to other high skill cap professions.)

PvE should be the same way too, balanced for skill. Lower level areas should assume the player is new and has blues and greens whereas Orr should assume rares and masterworks. Level 80 areas introduced after Orr should assume you’re fully ascended and that’s just on the gear front. If you just hit random buttons hoping stuff will die then your character should die instead since random button pressing should be punished while deliberate, skillful, well timed play should be rewarded.