I’m going to be pretty blunt. I think that the state of PvP – or rather the systems that it is built around – is pretty lacking. I’m not going to get into balance or metagame, but there are some basic features that are being actively opposed by the current design – and the result is pretty bad.
Lack of separate solo queues – the dead horse
Solo queues and team queues need to be separate. Period. If one solo queues, they should only ever face solo queue or duo queue opponents, with the sole exception being when they become the fifth man for a 4 man or 3 man premade. Even small competitive titles tend to build their queues around similar matchmaking, and there is zero excuse for it to not be the case here.
We need solo queue options for both ranked and unranked play. Rigged matches are not fun, nor are they conducive to building a lasting PvP scene. In fact, this is exactly the sort of thing that destroys a casual PvP scene – and it is the casual PvP scene that keeps the queues alive and provides viewership for esports.
Separate queues mean longer queue times, but that’s fine. Just give us something to do!
Why can’t we explore PvE or WvW while we queue for a match? Why do we arbitrarily have to be in the PvP lobby to queue for a match? There’s no functional purpose for this lobby at all outside of its easy access merchants and build testing. Heck, even PvP builds could easily be added to the base UI of the game – in their own tab in the PvP menu – instead of only working in the PvP lobby.
And for those so inclined, what better place for consensual duels than in the PvP lobby?
Separate modes, separate queues
The foundation of any good PvP system is the ability to play only the modes that one consents to play. Courtyard is very different from Conquest. There are people who love it and there are people who loathe it. And when Courtyard is selected, there is often immediate hostility.
And yet Courtyard is meant to be little more than a casual side venture to standard PvP. Because of that, it at least gets by as is. The problem really comes in with Stronghold – a mode that is being treated as a mainline game mode and has taken up significant development time to be its own thing and to provide a legitimate competitive alternative to Conquest for those, like me, who do not like Conquest as a game mode.
Why is a completely different game mode, which is supposed to draw its own competitive scene, being thrown into the same queue system? These modes will not match up in terms of metagame, player preferences, or tactics.
What happens if I want to queue for a match of Stronghold, something that I thoroughly enjoyed in its beta day, and instead get the misfortune of playing Skyhammer, a map I despise as being, in my opinion, even worse than the removed Raid on the Capricorn, just because one player or one premade voted for it? Well, I guess I’m just out of luck. My next 10-15 minutes are ruined. Thank you, combined queues!
And no, player preferences are not irrelevant. Over a long period of time, this leads to chronically discouraged players who may, and often will, choose to not play PvP for hours, days, or even indefinitely. This results in the very queue time damage that these ridiculous merged queues attempts to prevent.
In summary, Play-Your-Way should never be sacrificed for shorter queue times.