Hello!
So I wanted to weigh in with my perspective on the state of affairs with sPvP and tPvP. To give background: I played gw2 for about 4-6 months straight from early release and quit until about 3 weeks ago. I originally played gw1 and loved the hell out of that game, esp the extensive PvP that was offered. I play nearly everything in the game, but the ratio from PvE/PvP is 20/80.
The reason I quit GW2 was because of the sPvP (or lack thereof). I planned on coming back after a couple months when the pvp has some fresh new game modes.. But, as you may expect, there was nothing notable in the news to bring me back. Around the same time I left the game many of friends and guild mates slowed their play or quit all together because of similar reasons as me. Then after months and MONTHS of waiting for some pvp diversity, my friend posted something from your FB that stated “New pvp mode.. courtyard (essentially tdm)”; I couldn’t be happier.. I joined up soon after I heard the news, and have been playing every day since, without regret. So with that introduction, here’s my perspective about the good, bad, and … well ideas of future updates.
Love:
- sPvP incentives, trash loot? Sometimes sure, but to me there’s something gratifying about opening up a bag at the end of a match.. A sort of “I EARNED THIS” mentality.
- Reward scaling. Your magic find system is awesome. Many argue that it doesn’t actually effect drops. I strongly disagree by experience, but regardless, seeing the higher numbers. gives me a sense of accomplishment, and gives trash loot purpose. Great job!
- sPvP Rank track. Dude! AMAZING. I have to say I was skeptical and weirded out about the idea of making dungeon loot also a PvP drop, you guys implemented it great! Its difficult, but rewarding, exactly what you would ask for in a PvP accomplishment. Probably one of my favorite changes.
- WvW Ranking. I realize this is sPvP, but I just wanted to give a shout out to the people who made this happen.. Giving scale to WvW gives purpose to play it every now and then, and introduces many noobies to the idea of PvP. Noobies, consequently, that I train my new builds on.
- Courtyard. My favorite addition since the game started. Is it perfect? Kittens no. But its the biggest step I’ve seen in sPvP history taken, the move away from mindless cap matches. The formation of the map is awesome because its really simple. From my perspective, simple is best. While places like skyhammer is an example of over complexity, and its negatives(balancing, difficulty for new players), Courtyard is a great example of simplicity.
- PvP skins. I hated it at first, but I gotta say, adding PvE skins to PvP has converted a friend of mine over to play PvP a bit more, and adds some diversity in the look of people.
Hate:
- Bad Rank Chests. Whats up with that? Give me a couple rares, a minipet, and call it a day, I’m not asking for much, just better than what we get.
- Bad Tournament Maps. Some maps are awful for SingleQ tournament, Skyhammer is the most quotable one, and rightfully so. I doubt you guys would want people to have to change their build depending on the map ever time because KD is better at x, or stability is better at y, its a pain to do and it takes 0 skill.
- Community attention. Real talk, I think it needs some work. Send out weekly questionnaires, get some focus groups running (see Eve Online)! There is no need for this huge animosity towards the PvP devs because of the perception of you guys being uncaring.. You guys say you care about what the community wants, but I’m curious to how many people believe that. If you add in focus groups and questionnaires this’ll add labor with no additional costs, help you pump out content faster, and REALLY help your public image.
- Game modes. Okay we’re at 2… Seriously, keep it coming.
PT2 in comments (hopefully it’ll let me)