Here’s a compilaiton of recent dev posts within the sPvP forums. Hopefully you can find some answers here!
==Rewards and Incentive=
The balance changes are being done by the Skills and Combat team. The rewards are being done by the PvP team.
I believe we are getting close to revealing more details about the reward changes, but I’m not certain about when that will be.
The solo arena roster shuffling should be in the next update (11/12) unless we find a critical bug and have to back out the change. This change should eliminate the sync queuing, and do a great deal toward preventing lopsided matchups.
More significant changes to matchmaking will come sometime next year, and I’ve already been told I can write-up a blog post and start a conversation with you guys, so keep an eye out for that.
==Double Tourny Win Chests after Halloween Event==
Next Tuesday (Nov 12) we’ll be removing Trick or Treat Bags from PvP. At that point we’ll be awarding double tournament chests for wins. That should last for about a month or so.
Happy hunting!
Trick or Treat bags are a temporary reward during the Mad King festivities. We agree that it would have been better to give both Trick or Treat bags and reward chests but the system involved can, at this time, only reward one type of item at a time. We therefore made the decision to allow PvP players to participate in the game wide festivities because it is only a couple of weeks. There is an achievement that you can earn by opening Trick or Treat bags and if you take a look at this page:
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/a-guide-to-blood-and-madness/
You will see that the contents of trick or treat bags can be used to work towards bigger rewards. Rather than give PvP players no option to work towards these rewards we decided to temporarily give out trick or treat bags.
This is by no means the final reward update to PvP. There are many things in the works regarding PvP rewards that will be rolled out over the course of several months.
I do however understand your complaints and concerns. So I’d like to offer this to you guys, if you accept Trick or Treat bags until the Mad King festivities are over, would you be happy to have double PvP reward chests for the two weeks after the festivities are over? This way those players who would like to spend their time in PvP to earn their holiday rewards can continue to spend their time in PvP and those of you who don’t want the holiday rewards can sell them on the trading post and then collect double PvP reward chests for a couple of weeks to make up for it.
Does this sound like a reasonable solution?
==Balance Preview==
We just posted this:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/gw2/Dec-10th-Balance-Preview/
Keep in mind that we can still change/tweak some of these things, so please don’t freak out. We’d love to hear your feedback! We’re currently playing with these changes and already making some small tweaks as we speak.
==Explanation of new glory gain system==
Today there were some changes to how glory and rank points are handed out at the end of a match. First off, instead of being based on personal score they are now based on win or loss. Secondly, rewards are now interpolated based on the duration of the match up to a time we have determined to be a little shorter than the typical match.
Laying the Groundwork for New Game Types
There are several reasons for these changes. The biggest reason is to lay the groundwork for new game types and map mechanics. By normalizing rewards we can be much more flexible with map layouts, game types and mechanics. Game modes will need to reward players equally without directing players to one mode or another based on perceived differences in rewards or encouraging players to play a specific way in order to maximize rewards. As an added benefit, we can also begin to be more flexible with Custom Arena settings.Time interpolation falls into this category as well. If we introduce a mechanic that leaves the potential for the match to be over very quickly, such as regicide, we need to ensure that doesn’t lead to collaboration to farm rewards or encourage players to play this mode simply to maximize their rewards.
Team Based Rewards
The second big reason for this change is that we have seen that certain builds are much more effective at scoring points than other builds. For example, we see that typical bunker builds score lower than all other types of builds because they serve a vital role of point defense. All members of a team should share in the rewards equally. Again, this lays the foundation for new game modes. We don’t want to limit ideas for new modes because it creates one role that is potentially more or less lucrative than another role.The numbers chosen for the rewards are based on the data we have collected. On average players who earn the most glory earn about 120 glory per match. We therefore set the minimum numbers to be on par with this number and scaled up from there. Along with this change you will see that Solo Arena and Team Arena both reward significantly more glory and rank points for winning. This is both to compensate for the queue times as well as to reward the higher risk that is taken in these areas.
As an added anti-AFK and botting measure players will need to score at least some points to get rewards. The standard AFK detection continues to be in place and players detected as AFK will receive no rewards.
Also, as before, players will continue to earn a small bonus for having the highest score personal score in each of the game stats.
@Sudden – There’s a lot of great points in your response, and I appreciate you taking the time to put it on paper.
Like you mentioned, I come from the community – I’m a player. I don’t get to play quite as much as I’d like to anymore, but I do try to play as much as I can (much to my girlfriend’s chagrin). That said, the recent changes to glory and rank gain are the foundation on which we can begin to build a better version of PvP. Now that I’m privy to all of the ‘insider info’, I can say (as a player) I’m genuinely excited for our team’s vision for sPvP in the coming months.
The team’s top priority right now is to work on providing better incentives for playing in PvP. We want players to not only enjoy playing in matches, but also feel adequately rewarded afterwards for doing so. Meta obviously has a role in the ‘fun’ factor of PvP, and that’s something the Skills and Balance Team has been focused on as well. (Stay tuned.)
While we’ve been working on the above, we’ve also been working on prototypes of new maps and gametypes. Having these rank/glory changes in place is going to ensure that one game mode/map isn’t more rewarding than another, and you won’t feel compelled or required to participate in a certain gametype simply because it’s more profitable/rewarding than another.
On the topic of hotjoin, we hope that once the dust settles, players will drop the farm mentality and start playing to win. The existing system has been in for quite a while, so it may take some time for the entire player base to adapt. We’ll be rolling out additional changes in the future that should incentivize playing to win even more.
==Glory Gain Numbers==
To clear things up, below you’ll find a list of the glory/rank points you earn in each queue. These numbers include the bouncy-chest bonus you get after you load out of the match.
Custom Arena / Hotjoin
- Win: 200
- Loss: 125
Solo Queue
- Win: 400
- Loss: 150
Team Queue:
- Win: 500
- Loss: 175
Being auto-balanced provides you with an additional 25 glory, and each top-stat you earn gives you another 5.
You can also use a Glory Booster to get even more glory (650 in a tournament win, for example), but those do not apply to rank points, which is why I excluded those numbers.
==Allie Murdock AFK for a while==
Hey PvPers!
I just wanted to let you all know that I will be AFK for a few months to handle some personal things. It’s been an absolute blast (I mean it!) promoting all of your awesome content and feedback, and I’m positive that I will miss these forums and all other aspects of my job until I come back.
Don’t worry, we are not abandoning you! I’m happy to say that Joshua “Grouch” Davis will be taking over while I’m gone. I’m extremely confident that he will be an incredible asset to the PvP community, and will keep things moving. Please be nice to him!
Feel free to ask any questions if you have them here.
(edited by Josh Davis.6015)