Guild Wars 2

Evan Lesh.3295:

We have been working on things However, we’re nearing the end of a development cycle, so there is literally nothing more I can do right now to help with the dueling “problem” for this patch. When custom arenas are out, you’ll have a much easier time finding the kind of server you like to play on.

You are saying it, like Custom Arenas wont make it in April’s patch either. If thats the case, it will be a big bummer… again.

i got this guy who calls everyone who 1v1s carebears who keeps interruptin mah duels. care bears? are u kittening serious? lol. custom arenas really need to come out soon :/

duels are boring

JonathanSharp.7094:

Bluxgore speaks the truth. Also keep in mind – there are MANY opinions on the forums about what we should be working on. It’s hard to say “the players want X”, because normally, there’s very little consensus on what players actually want. We try to make as many people happy as we can with each update, but it’s nearly impossible to please everyone all the time. This is true in life as well.

As long as we can turn off points in custom arenas (essentially making kills the way to gain points) I think most people will be happy. However I do really hope that “right click” duels anywhere in the world happen one day. In WoW some really cool videos have been made of players dueling in unique places such as on the spine edges in blades edge mountains. There are WAY better places for epic duels in guild wars 2 in my opinion because the world is so much better looking. Even on PVE servers in WoW the option to duel is still there. It could give pve players something to do while they wait for a group to fill up, or give people something to do while they wait for wvwvw queue. I know implemeting dueling in the world is a bit more work than it sounds, but it will really add some great value to this game and shouldn’t be put on the back burner. Maybe have one of the pve teams work on dueling out in the world?

I don’t understand, you have this entire “server” (The Mists) dedicated to PVP. Why not just allow dueling there, or in a specified section within the Mists. It doesn’t make sense to have to jump to the Mists and then jump to another empty server (or custom arena) just to duel. Most modern MMOs allow dueling anywhere. What is the problem?

Sauncho.8076:

I don’t understand, you have this entire “server” (The Mists) dedicated to PVP. Why not just allow dueling there, or in a specified section within the Mists. It doesn’t make sense to have to jump to the Mists and then jump to another empty server (or custom arena) just to duel. Most modern MMOs allow dueling anywhere. What is the problem?

The problem is that they only want us to play conquest

JonathanSharp.7094:

Bluxgore speaks the truth. Also keep in mind – there are MANY opinions on the forums about what we should be working on. It’s hard to say “the players want X”, because normally, there’s very little consensus on what players actually want. We try to make as many people happy as we can with each update, but it’s nearly impossible to please everyone all the time. This is true in life as well.

Simple solution: implement new type of topics beside normal and Q&A: the poll.
So a user can start a poll called “What feature in SPVP are you waiting most?” and player will vote. That willbe an easy, quick and polite way to know what players want.
Isn’t it?

Oni Link.4621:

JonathanSharp.7094:

Bluxgore speaks the truth. Also keep in mind – there are MANY opinions on the forums about what we should be working on. It’s hard to say “the players want X”, because normally, there’s very little consensus on what players actually want. We try to make as many people happy as we can with each update, but it’s nearly impossible to please everyone all the time. This is true in life as well.

Simple solution: implement new type of topics beside normal and Q&A: the poll.
So a user can start a poll called “What feature in SPVP are you waiting most?” and player will vote. That willbe an easy, quick and polite way to know what players want.
Isn’t it?

Another problem is that the poll will not be seen by everyone since the majority does not use the forums :P

Farzo.8410:

Oni Link.4621:

JonathanSharp.7094:

Bluxgore speaks the truth. Also keep in mind – there are MANY opinions on the forums about what we should be working on. It’s hard to say “the players want X”, because normally, there’s very little consensus on what players actually want. We try to make as many people happy as we can with each update, but it’s nearly impossible to please everyone all the time. This is true in life as well.

Simple solution: implement new type of topics beside normal and Q&A: the poll.
So a user can start a poll called “What feature in SPVP are you waiting most?” and player will vote. That willbe an easy, quick and polite way to know what players want.
Isn’t it?

Another problem is that the poll will not be seen by everyone since the majority does not use the forums :P

As Darwin said: natural selection. Don’t you use the forum? Then you won’t be updated about incoming news. Forum is free, open and easy-to-use.
No point in justifying the forum non-users.

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

As much as I like your activity in this thread Evan, I have a question on your priorities.
Where is the incentive to play in custom-arenas?
For me it’s the same maps just with some extras and nothing more. I predict after a months it gets on the same level of boringness as hotjoin.
(I really hope it won’t be like that)

And you are probably going to pay gems (That you can’t get if you play pvp only) if you want to set up one…..

Custom Arenas are great and all, but you know you’d get lots of love if you also tossed in the ability for in world dueling. Well, anyways, if it’s low on your priority list that’s understandable, but at least it’s on there right? * posts image and walks away while whistling innocently * XD

Evan Lesh.3295:

Oni Link.4621:

You should put ALL SPvP matters as top priority, because if you want GW2 to have a feature, you must do it. Otherwise it will die very soon. Everyone is saying that, because it is sooooo obvious.
I do not doubt you’re working, but you are working slow with wrong priorities. Wake up.

Working on every PvP feature we want concurrently is obviously not feasible. Everything must have a different priority. Dueling is a feature that could happen anywhere in the game, and could be picked up by a team other than the sPvP team. As far as our team’s priorities go, dueling is certainly not above custom arenas, spectators, shout casting, split queues, etc. I know everyone may want a specific feature first like dueling, and it sucks we can’t please everybody at once, but that’s the priority we’re working with.

How is that list of (mostly) basic features still so long when this game launched at the end of august 2012?

but you have separeted PvP and PvE team, right? …

Evan Lesh.3295:

I wouldn’t call those features basic, but I can fully understand that they’re expected from the community after seeing other games like Smite or LoL. Those companies were dedicated to those games from the start though, while we at ANet were, and still are, making a massive MMO.

But at least for dueling I’d say it is basic for an MMORPG. Does not have WoW (one of the biggest and successful MMORPG out there often copied by others) also have a duel function?

And especially from a game that offers a lot of PvP possibilities(sPvP, the tournaments and the WvW) you’d expect it to have a duel feature.

Edit: Also it seems interesting that now that I mentioned a few days ago that people should be more whining at the forums we see a lot of threads about dueling at the moment. Quite a few in the sPvP subforums and then I think there was on in the general discussion forums that got moved to suggestions.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/suggestions/Players-Want-Duels/

Mssg.7804:

but you have separeted PvP and PvE team, right? …

Yes, but the difference is that the PvP team isn’t the same size as a whole company (like Smite or LoL’s companies are structured).

Evan Lesh.3295:

Dueling is a feature that could happen anywhere in the game, and could be picked up by a team other than the sPvP team.

That’d be the ideal case. A duel system would bring closer together this game’s cap between pvp and pve, and if any other team picked it up, it would free you guys to work on other pvp stuff. It would be a good way to support pvp (and not only pvp) without requiring the pvp team to spend its time on it.

Evan Lesh.3295:

….If we aren’t prioritizing a feature, its because there simply isn’t enough demand, or there is some, but we’re really confident it would not help the game as much as another feature.

I have to question why this is not enough in demand. My only idea is that the people who would have wanted these types of features have already stopped playing the game as I do recall this is something that was being asked for from before release.

You really have no concept (neither do I) of how many people do or do not want dueling. I’d be interested to see the numbers on the portion of the population that posts on the forums at all, let alone specifically about a given feature.

Personally I don’t care about dueling, so I would rather see time spent on other features that I might use. Why should the stuff I want wait for the stuff you want?

In reality, I don’t care either way, but everybody who wants dueling ‘OMG yesterdays wtf’ needs to stop and realize that what they want is not necessarily the most popular thing.

It’s good that people care enough to post ideas for what they see as improvements to the game.

It’s not good when people demand changes as if they had some kind of entitlement to them.

Its pretty simple I think. If the game doesn’t provide features you want, then you leave. Its one of those cons>pros and compared to when the game launched, there has been a drastic decline in spvp. I’m not saying it is only because of lack of dueling but I believe it is the mentality of not working on it(and other features people would like) is the reasons why. You can chose to not look at the past(totally your choice) but I find value in it to get an idea of where things are going.

Latorn.4209:

Custom Arenas are great and all, but you know you’d get lots of love if you also tossed in the ability for in world dueling.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Costume_Brawl

Luthan.5236:

But at least for dueling I’d say it is basic for an MMORPG.

How are 1v1 battles “basic” for a “massively multiplayer” or “role playing” game? One of Guild Wars 2’s biggest emphases is on teamwork, so it’s completely understandable that PvP without a team is a low priority.

Evan Lesh.3295:

evilapprentice.6379:

Evan Lesh.3295:

Oni Link.4621:

You should put ALL SPvP matters as top priority, because if you want GW2 to have a feature, you must do it. Otherwise it will die very soon. Everyone is saying that, because it is sooooo obvious.
I do not doubt you’re working, but you are working slow with wrong priorities. Wake up.

Working on every PvP feature we want concurrently is obviously not feasible. Everything must have a different priority. Dueling is a feature that could happen anywhere in the game, and could be picked up by a team other than the sPvP team. As far as our team’s priorities go, dueling is certainly not above custom arenas, spectators, shout casting, split queues, etc. I know everyone may want a specific feature first like dueling, and it sucks we can’t please everybody at once, but that’s the priority we’re working with.

How is that list of (mostly) basic features still so long when this game launched at the end of august 2012?

I wouldn’t call those features basic, but I can fully understand that they’re expected from the community after seeing other games like Smite or LoL. Those companies were dedicated to those games from the start though, while we at ANet were, and still are, making a massive MMO.

And I understand – I’m not trying to be a prick, or come across as entitled prat, but lets face facts – roughly 8 months is a long, long time to go with such sparse PvP improvements. You’ve done some shoe-string balancing (Much of it hotly debated, some of it probably in need of being reverted), added a single round tourney mode, added matchmaking that doesn’t separate solo queue and team queue, added 2 maps (one of which gives a single class a pretty large advantage), and added 5v5 servers. Since the last week in august to today – that’s not an impressive list. I listen to a SotG, then the next patch comes out, and the 2 couldn’t be more disparate – all these great ideas are bandied about, and come delivery time, we get almost nothing. I really like your game, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore the gaping holes behind the pretty facade. The game went from populated and fun to a nigh ghost town in comparison, its pretty clear something isn’t working. You don’t even have a Public Test Server. How can that be? Comparing what PvP has gotten compared to what PvE has gotten since launch is an extremely disheartening process.

Is it a money problem? A manpower problem? Be straightforward with us – most of us still like this game, and want to like it more – if you need more money, give us things to spend money on – I appreciate the fact that you don’t ask me to pay a monthly fee, but I’ve been buying Dye packs just to make sure you guys get a bit of money for all the server time I occupy – not because I’m crazy about dye’s, but as a PvPer, its one of the very few things in your store that I can even potentially use.

evilapprentice.6379:

Evan Lesh.3295:

evilapprentice.6379:

Evan Lesh.3295:

Oni Link.4621:

You should put ALL SPvP matters as top priority, because if you want GW2 to have a feature, you must do it. Otherwise it will die very soon. Everyone is saying that, because it is sooooo obvious.
I do not doubt you’re working, but you are working slow with wrong priorities. Wake up.

Working on every PvP feature we want concurrently is obviously not feasible. Everything must have a different priority. Dueling is a feature that could happen anywhere in the game, and could be picked up by a team other than the sPvP team. As far as our team’s priorities go, dueling is certainly not above custom arenas, spectators, shout casting, split queues, etc. I know everyone may want a specific feature first like dueling, and it sucks we can’t please everybody at once, but that’s the priority we’re working with.

How is that list of (mostly) basic features still so long when this game launched at the end of august 2012?

I wouldn’t call those features basic, but I can fully understand that they’re expected from the community after seeing other games like Smite or LoL. Those companies were dedicated to those games from the start though, while we at ANet were, and still are, making a massive MMO.

And I understand – I’m not trying to be a prick, or come across as entitled prat, but lets face facts – roughly 8 months is a long, long time to go with such sparse PvP improvements. You’ve done some shoe-string balancing (Much of it hotly debated, some of it probably in need of being reverted), added a single round tourney mode, added matchmaking that doesn’t separate solo queue and team queue, added 2 maps (one of which gives a single class a pretty large advantage), and added 5v5 servers. Since the last week in august to today – that’s not an impressive list. I listen to a SotG, then the next patch comes out, and the 2 couldn’t be more disparate – all these great ideas are bandied about, and come delivery time, we get almost nothing. I really like your game, but it’s getting harder and harder to ignore the gaping holes behind the pretty facade. The game went from populated and fun to a nigh ghost town in comparison, its pretty clear something isn’t working. Comparing what PvP has gotten compared to what PvE has gotten since launch is an extremely disheartening process.

Is it a money problem? A manpower problem? Be straightforward with us – most of us still like this game, and want to like it more – if you need more money, give us things to spend money on – I appreciate the fact that you don’t ask me to pay a monthly fee, but I’ve been buying Dye packs just to make sure you guys get a bit of money for all the server time I occupy – not because I’m crazy about dye’s, but as a PvPer, its one of the very few things in your store that I can even potentially use.

Well, I get the feeling that not enough people are interested in PvP, and that is why PvE get all the new added stuff, because it’s there all their money is coming from.

They don’t have to hurry with PvP since it’s not there the money comes from.

EnemyCrusher.7324:

Luthan.5236:

But at least for dueling I’d say it is basic for an MMORPG.

How are 1v1 battles “basic” for a “massively multiplayer” or “role playing” game? One of Guild Wars 2’s biggest emphases is on teamwork, so it’s completely understandable that PvP without a team is a low priority.

So why does WoW have dueling when everybody wants to play a MMORPG and play in teams?

They should instead remove custom brawl. Boring and nobody needs(people only doing it for achievements).

Edit: Also I think dueling can help the teamplay and teamwork because you can learn to fight better against other classes. Being strong 1 vs. 1(and dueling can help here) is also part of the team game since you have different situations in the 5 vs. 5 matches.

When I was palying WoW, I was dueling for hours every week… Duels can be really fun and if you dont belive, log in to WoW trial acc and see what is going on before Ogrimmar (Durotar) and SW.

Farzo.8410:

They don’t have to hurry with PvP since it’s not there the money comes from.

That’s part of my point – give me a way to spend money as a PvP focused player. I understand things cost money – without a monthly subscription fee, Anet needs something to justify any amount of money spent on PvP development – so give us a way to spend money!

Custom arenas are a perfect example – why these weren’t fast-tracked and out in January, I’ll never know.

Luthan.5236:

They should instead remove custom brawl. Boring and nobody needs(people only doing it for achievements).

Not true. You’re overestimating the importance of PvP at all, PvPers are probably just an (unfortunately very vocal) minority compared to the total playerbase, just check the leaderboards. Plus many people only use it to test builds.

As both a PvPer and PvEer, I can’t help but fear..

Do Custom Arenas eliminate the chance of a Duel option in the PvE world? Cuz that’d really suck. I can’t even recreate my PvE build in the Mists.

And from a developer perspective, how hard is it to create a Dueling system? Did GW1 have duels?

Iruwen.3164:

Luthan.5236:

They should instead remove custom brawl. Boring and nobody needs(people only doing it for achievements).

Not true. You’re overestimating the importance of PvP at all, PvPers are probably just an (unfortunately very vocal) minority compared to the total playerbase, just check the leaderboards. Plus many people only use it to test builds.

They should not have made the Costume Brawl then… it is also a bit PvP just with other skills(from the costumes). Oh and Keg Brawl also a bit PvP-like.

But wait… Costume Brawl is bringing money. ;-) Because they can sell costumes.

I can see that PvP is not bringing that much money… and if they want to make money and take money for basic stuff it won’t become an esport(and not many more players will starting to play it meaning it will stay on a level where it does not generate much profit).

Evan Lesh.3295:

evilapprentice.6379:

Custom arenas are a perfect example – why these weren’t fast-tracked and out in January, I’ll never know.

Because nearly all players wanted match making, and we agreed it would be better for the game at the time. So we re-prioritized. Perfect example of us switching gears based on player feedback.

If ALL of these resources were shifted to match making why is it so terrible?

It’s what you get for not having a simple Duel option when rightclicking someone.

EnemyCrusher.7324:

Latorn.4209:

Custom Arenas are great and all, but you know you’d get lots of love if you also tossed in the ability for in world dueling.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Costume_Brawl

I… Don’t understand… Are you implying that costume brawling is a suitable substitute for in world dueling? If so.. LOL

Luthan.5236:

Luthan.5236:

But at least for dueling I’d say it is basic for an MMORPG.

How are 1v1 battles “basic” for a “massively multiplayer” or “role playing” game? One of Guild Wars 2’s biggest emphases is on teamwork, so it’s completely understandable that PvP without a team is a low priority.

Duels provide a community element for PvPers, MMOs aren’t only about multiplayer battles, they’re about creating online worlds. Duels enrich the community and allow PvPers to learn how to play.. If anything duels are a great entry point for PvP, and can provide hundreds of hours of fun when dueling in different locations with friends.

Evan Lesh.3295:

evilapprentice.6379:

Evan Lesh.3295:

Oni Link.4621:

You should put ALL SPvP matters as top priority, because if you want GW2 to have a feature, you must do it. Otherwise it will die very soon. Everyone is saying that, because it is sooooo obvious.
I do not doubt you’re working, but you are working slow with wrong priorities. Wake up.

Working on every PvP feature we want concurrently is obviously not feasible. Everything must have a different priority. Dueling is a feature that could happen anywhere in the game, and could be picked up by a team other than the sPvP team. As far as our team’s priorities go, dueling is certainly not above custom arenas, spectators, shout casting, split queues, etc. I know everyone may want a specific feature first like dueling, and it sucks we can’t please everybody at once, but that’s the priority we’re working with.

How is that list of (mostly) basic features still so long when this game launched at the end of august 2012?

I wouldn’t call those features basic, but I can fully understand that they’re expected from the community after seeing other games like Smite or LoL. Those companies were dedicated to those games from the start though, while we at ANet were, and still are, making a massive MMO.

The problem Evan is that we saw this features not in newe games but in GW1 from Anet. After 5 years of developing of GW2 players like me think that is late to do things that you already had in a YOUR game and now you are doing this things in few month because you forgot to work on them.

I’m not just talking of Observer or Custom arena but:

• Observer
• Custom Arena
• Dishonorable System
• Chest with minis and rare skin
• Zkey
• Elo rating for Guilds
• Monthly tournaments
• Gold Silver Copper capes.

I know that GW2 is a differnt game of GW1 and you did a great work with the combact system. I love it and i love conquest plus secondary objective maps. But you should take the best things that you already did in GW1 and bring them here faster as possible.
I say this because this is the game that i want to play and i need other ppl to play with them. don’t let them go.

Sry for my english but is late and i’m tired >.<

As has been stated in countless dueling threads, not everyone is excited about the prospect for world dueling. The best compromise seems either an instance or a designated zone for dueling. Just my, and others for a duel-free world’s opinion.

Or you just ignore the other dueling in the open world and let them duel.

Latorn.4209:

EnemyCrusher.7324:

Latorn.4209:

Custom Arenas are great and all, but you know you’d get lots of love if you also tossed in the ability for in world dueling.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Costume_Brawl

I… Don’t understand… Are you implying that costume brawling is a suitable substitute for in world dueling? If so.. LOL

Luthan.5236:

Luthan.5236:

But at least for dueling I’d say it is basic for an MMORPG.

How are 1v1 battles “basic” for a “massively multiplayer” or “role playing” game? One of Guild Wars 2’s biggest emphases is on teamwork, so it’s completely understandable that PvP without a team is a low priority.

Duels provide a community element for PvPers, MMOs aren’t only about multiplayer battles, they’re about creating online worlds. Duels enrich the community and allow PvPers to learn how to play.. If anything duels are a great entry point for PvP, and can provide hundreds of hours of fun when dueling in different locations with friends.

On the flip side duels provide more balance whine because x class can’t beat y class evar!! I personally don’t want dueling because the feature isn’t even in the game officially and most of the complaints and balance whines are about x class vs y class or X class can do this but Y class cannot. The majority of the scenario’s presented to support the balance whine end up back to well X can do this but Y can’t do what X did.

Those whines could just be ignored as long as they don’t make leaderboards for duels they only would be for fun and nobody needs to care if some class is stronger than another class.

Also people that don’t want to get spammed by duel requests: Of course it should be possible to auto deny the requests. That is not a reason to be against duels. (Same reason you could be against groups because you don’t want to be spammed by group requests).

They pretty much can’t make duels because the game simply isn’t balanced around 1vs1. Mesmers, Thieves, and Elementalists would be the top dogs in duels, creating even more massive whine on the forums than it already is around these professions.

And where should you have duels? Now that ArenaNet have started to split PvE and PvP skills, I don’t see the point to have duels in the PvE world, since duel is a PvP thing.

but 1v1 will help to BALANCE! ehh this is so easy to understand ;(

Mssg.7804:

but 1v1 will help to BALANCE! ehh this is so easy to understand ;(

Should dueling only be available in The Mists? I think it should, if they are going to split PvP and PvE skills.

Farzo.8410:

Mssg.7804:

but 1v1 will help to BALANCE! ehh this is so easy to understand ;(

Should dueling only be available in The Mists? I think it should, if they are going to split PvP and PvE skills.

Why do you even care if it is available or not outside the Mists? If they make it available outside the Mists and you don’t want to duel nobody forces you.

Only because you don’t like to duel… that is no reason against a duel featuere. I already explained it. They also could make an option to auto deny duel requests so people that don’t want to duel won’t get bothered and spammed by random duel requests.

And about the whining: ArenaNet should just ignore it. As long as duels are only for fun and there are no real 1 vs. 1 leaderboards or tournaments it should not be a problem because they would be only for fun then.

Luthan.5236:

Farzo.8410:

Mssg.7804:

but 1v1 will help to BALANCE! ehh this is so easy to understand ;(

Should dueling only be available in The Mists? I think it should, if they are going to split PvP and PvE skills.

Why do you even care if it is available or not outside the Mists? If they make it available outside the Mists and you don’t want to duel nobody forces you.

Only because you don’t like to duel… that is no reason against a duel featuere. I already explained it. They also could make an option to auto deny duel requests so people that don’t want to duel won’t get bothered and spammed by random duel requests.

And about the whining: ArenaNet should just ignore it. As long as duels are only for fun and there are no real 1 vs. 1 leaderboards or tournaments it should not be a problem because they would be only for fun then.

I don’t think you get my point.

ArenaNet have started/will start to split PvE and PvP skills, that being some of my skills will work differently in The Mists than it will in Tyria.

The whine would be massive, from both ways. For example, Elementalists being really strong in PvE, doing a lot of AoE damage and healing, while in PvP the damage is reduced, and as well as the healing, some utilities and whatnot might even work diffrently.

Pepople who will duel in the PvE world would whine a lot about Elementalists being overpowered, while Elementalist players would defend themselves since ‘’We don’t work like that in PvP, we are weaker.’’

And nowhere I said I didn’t like to duel, so don’t put words in my mouth.

Then let them whine. ArenaNet can’t do anything if they are stupid and don’t understand that skills in PvE and PvP are different. Or maybe they could just let them use their PvP-Skillset when starting a duel in the PvE world.

Like townclothing and stuff probably it is not that hard to just automatically switch to PvP clothing and the PvP skillset.

Farzo.8410:

Luthan.5236:

Farzo.8410:

Mssg.7804:

but 1v1 will help to BALANCE! ehh this is so easy to understand ;(

Should dueling only be available in The Mists? I think it should, if they are going to split PvP and PvE skills.

Why do you even care if it is available or not outside the Mists? If they make it available outside the Mists and you don’t want to duel nobody forces you.

Only because you don’t like to duel… that is no reason against a duel featuere. I already explained it. They also could make an option to auto deny duel requests so people that don’t want to duel won’t get bothered and spammed by random duel requests.

And about the whining: ArenaNet should just ignore it. As long as duels are only for fun and there are no real 1 vs. 1 leaderboards or tournaments it should not be a problem because they would be only for fun then.

I don’t think you get my point.

ArenaNet have started/will start to split PvE and PvP skills, that being some of my skills will work differently in The Mists than it will in Tyria.

The whine would be massive, from both ways. For example, Elementalists being really strong in PvE, doing a lot of AoE damage and healing, while in PvP the damage is reduced, and as well as the healing, some utilities and whatnot might even work diffrently.

Pepople who will duel in the PvE world would whine a lot about Elementalists being overpowered, while Elementalist players would defend themselves since ‘’We don’t work like that in PvP, we are weaker.’’

And nowhere I said I didn’t like to duel, so don’t put words in my mouth.

Everything you wrote is invalidated because dueling will use the same rules and laws as in wvwvw-spvp, regardless if you duel in the mists or in tyria. They can easily just make it so an ability does or lasts for -this- long only while dueling.

Personally I like the idea of having duels in the PvE world. The ability to just click a button and duke it out real quick can be fun. It can be fun if you want to try something out against a friend or just goof around. As a computer science major in college my mind instantly tries to figure out a solution that has as few bugs or cons as possible and here is what i came up with.

A system where you right click on a name and you have an option to “Request a duel” from there a message pops up on your requested persons screen (for x amount of time) where you can either Accept, Deny, or Block. Block would add them to the blocked list on your contacts page. This would need a confirm button and once on the blocked list you wont be able to request them to duel and neither would they. This allows you to be able to duel players while stopping annoying players without turning the dueling system off. Speaking of turning it off, in options there should be a way to auto deny duel requests. Another way you could implement an annoyance free system would be to have a drop down setting in options with 4 possible options: “Allow everyone to request duels”, “Allow only friends to …”, “Allow only friends and guild members to…”, and “Do not allow people to request to duel”. That I think is the most ideal system, and would make the block feature not necessary. Once you have sent a request you have a pending area until they accept it where you can cancel. While your request is pending the option to duel other people would be grayed out. When you accept a request all other request are sent, “Player is dueling someone else”. That message would also display if you request someone who is already in a duel.

Mechanics:
Once your duel is accepted you get a short countdown(like 5 seconds) then once that hits 0 you can start to damage the other player. The win condition would trigger when the players health from damage would cause them to have 0 health. A system similar to how some skill points work where once you defeat them they turn into an ally and start regenerating health. During the duel, where the initial accept was you could replace that with resign and it could show a timer. You would also place a circle on the ground showing where you can move while dueling. Leaving that area causes you to resign and a warning of when you are approaching the boundaries would also be necessary.

Making its a fair match:
This alone is the biggest problem. Do you use PvE or PvP skills during the duel? Do you scale both players to 80 or scale to the lowest players level? How do you scale gear? Honestly I don’t know what the best way to do this is.

Problems/UI:
There is no way to get make a dual system that is perfect in a PvE environment. There will be mobs that get in the way and you cant make a system to avoid mobs without people exploiting it. Another problem is how you deal with multiple duel requests at the same time. I would want the UI of this implementation to be minimal and not require any UI space when not active. There are two ways you can implement the UI, one that all requests are put below each other on your main screen, or one square that when you have one request it has options and if you have more then one when you click it opens up a window with everyone that has request for you. Personally i think the second option is the best.

I know this is kinda a long post but if you think that i missed something in my analysis let me know. Hopefully ANet implements a duel system soon!

LOL i remember something along the lines of “duels don’ t comply with our policies, go duel elsewhere” as the motivation behind the lack of a duel button and now it turns out people dueling elsewhere has become a problem too.
Oh, the irony…