With this post I will share my insight on what I think ANet could do to improve the sPvP side of GW2 and hopefully start a constructive debate on the subject.
First of all, let me just say that, as a GW1 veteran, im a bit surprised with the approach they took in GW2 since they did a lot of things right in GW1.
Having said that, I will post the Top 3 changes ANet could make to improve sPvP: (Keep in mind these are only my opinions but feel free to discuss them and your own)
1. GvG (Guild versus Guild)
This is without a doubt the most important feature ANet could implement in the game, after all, the game is called “Guild Wars”. Sadly, there are no Guilds at war, no Guild Halls, no Guild ladder, (…). There is no real sense of you and your Guild mates being united in efforts to bring your Guilds name higher in the Guild Ladder, showing others who’s boss.
2. Automated Tournaments
This comes in line with the previous point of no GvG and what I said before about GW1 having a lot of great ideas that didn’t translate to GW2. Having a Daily tournament gives the Guild something to hope for every day, a reason to login, makes them want to improve to get a better result in the next tournament, basically a short term goal that keeps players wanting more.
Then, at the end of the Month, the prized Monthly that puts together the best Guilds of the moment, giving the participants bragging right but also showing other players what they can hope for if they work hard every month, just a great way to promote the game competitively.
3. Maps with varied objectives
First of all I must admit im not a particular fan of conquest mode in its current iteration, but im also against having many different game “modes”.
Looking at the maps available today, its safe to say there are 3 competitive sPvP Maps: Forest, Foefire and Kyhlo. I think all 3 have a couple of very good concepts individually but are just too attached to the idea of“Conquest Mode”, limiting their potential.
What I would like to see changed, first and foremost, is a Guild Lord in every Map. Having him there makes for some interesting dynamics in every game and the possibility for some unexpected plays and strategy calls on the fly. Then it would just be a question of balancing how hard it is to kill him, probably having different setups for different Maps, making killing him easier on some maps and harder on others.
Then, I would suggest a further rework of the 3 Maps above, so that the “Conquest Mode” stops being the center of the strategy.
Just an example: Forest could have only 1 Conquest Point and and 1 Treb (probably indestructible), so people would be split fighting for Treb control, protecting Guild Lord, killing Forest Creatures and also the Point, prob increasing the point reward for killing a player.
And these Maps would just rotate with each other, so there wouldn’t be a “Conquest Mode” and a “Deathmatch Mode”, just different Maps with different objectives, all of them offering different playstiles.
Other Improvements
I could talk about adding a Game Mode similar to Tombs in GW1, reworking progression (already ongoing thankfully), adding Build Templates (really need this), balancing the classes so that degenerative builds are no encouraged (Ranger Spirits for eg.), and so on, but I would be happy with just the Top 3 ones and I think a lot of the competitive players that since left would be happy to come back if the game had them to offer.
Tell me what you think and voice your own opinions so that we can try to improve the game we all love.
Cheers,
Oblit3rate