TL:DR If A-net want GW2 to thrive in E-sport.Make PVP server where no one play in laggy environment. PVP server will be a standalone server run without PVE/WvW content to cut the cost. In return you get to see how balance actaully go.And player get to enjoy good unhandicapped PVP.
Hello A-net Devs. I’m a long time fan of guildwars series from Southeast Asia.Playing since GW1 Faction and loving it for 10 years.I’ve been watching Heart of thorns development till recent announcement of PVP League.With the free to play model there should be enough people to fill PVP queue in reasonable time.
But without a fair ground for people to compete there a slim chance that PVP scene will be that popular but not sustained. Because there are no reliable server for players to practice the actual timing of skills and many skills don’t work as intended on a high ping server.Which will turn off potential pros.
Latency while its ok in PVE because of encounter , mobs have specific pattern which players can memorize them But not in PVP where timing is key.Highping player suffer the following disadvantage.
- Cannot react dodge incoming skill but instead guess and remember threat range from specific class
- When its come to CC skill trading player with less ping will win and get an advantage.
- Stealth mechanic can be counter but need split second of Reaction to dodge/counter burst attack from stealth which make it hard to balance based on users with variety of ping.
- Condition damage build that require player to read what condition they have on them which make it a race to cleanse it before damage tick away.
- Movement skill that track players never land or move to unintended location because of mismatched location between client and server.
- Melee attack need a co-ordinate from both attacking and one at the pointy end. Make it awkward that an Asura will be able to out-kite laggy norn player while laggy norn player always on the receiving end Because when laggy norn swing Asura already move away from the spot 1 second ago.So in order for laggy norn to hit he must step on the Asura model while moving to compensate the lag.And when Laggy Norn see Asura coming from feet away , Asura already poking at the knee.
- Using ranged attack on stealthing player cause to shoot blank.
- Using Leaping skill to get out of combat will make you dive back to the fight because there a second delay that server still remember that you have selected target for skill
Having a normalize ping environment will give better feedback because more people can counter lots of build.While putting people with different ping on the same server is like putting people with different skill rating on the match.
So high-ping players are stuck with low skill ceiling passive build which are boring to play.While a high risk build never picked.
Rent a servers was a nice move but the customization was limited.So we see only 1 on 1 or Daily farming room.There should be more game mode or the event activity like dragon ball arena can be hosted during the event.And even develop a PVP scenario like Jade quarry , Fort Aspenwood from GW1 with 10 v 10 and longer game time format with different reward structure than SPVP where people get reward during the game not just at the end of the match.
While players waiting for implement of more Local server.I want to share my time on some of the competitive games I had played.
Team Fortress 2
While not a MMORPG game. This game have long standing player base.Valve really successful monetizing them.Drop in and dropout gamepaly mean that everyone get the piece of action and no serious consequence of losing.While still reward player who play periodically with customizing weapon and cosmetic.I believe that there are still people playing this game is because of there are servers all over the world which some of them are private server with their own rules, map cycle and game play mod to keep the game fresh.
Super Monday Night Combat
An Old game from 2012 by Uber Entertainment that I think very close to Guildwars 2 Stronghold mode.But not very successful after a few month of going out of Beta.Because they have limited budget and have to launch the game too soon without strong PR.There were no reliable training stage and A gap between newbie and beta veteran due to customization that make hero perform better at some point which the matchmaking keep having bad matches and can be seen very clear because of those customization.
I have opportunity to play a few match in SEA server where ping is low.I played assassins type hero who can dive backline and cannot be detect by defending NPC.And Another one who can teleport trough wall,ceiling Which I played
very effectivly because all that melee attack I see on screen actually hit! People cant out-kite easily and have a blast wrecking their support. But once people have their TF2 hat there are not enough people sticking around to start a match.Have to go back to America server and never touch those hero again.
The last straw that make the game unplayable for me.After some point Uber offer a new game mode that play the same but with different game rule. Where player having a boosted stats and having a reduced death timer in order to get a shorter game.But its so bad for me that I got killed a lot because no time to react.But people actually like it so queue time in normal mode is too high for me.Then I quieted the game.
Eventually Uber move on and stop updating to pursue other project.The game still running nowadays with cheat and hack in random matches.
Heroes of the storm
A game that is classified as MOBA but Blizzard call it Heroes Brawl by Trimming unnecessary game play length with different maps and Objective. Despite being opened to public in less than a year their first Grand Tournament.Road to Blizzcon have a very high viewing count. Southeast Asia grand-final have 10K view indicate
there enough players to sustain the matching anytime in the region.
Last game that I see that it might take a lot of PVP player from GW2 if it goes live
Overwatch
Upcoming Blizzard FPS game with 5v5 format. With many playable character to choose and variety of Ability. The game play is very fast but still offer strategy thanks to switchable character during the match. The game still only have 2 Type of Objective. Point capture and Payload. Capture point mode roughly the same as GW2 SPVP.But level design will accommodate the FPS game Such as corners and very different high. And Blizzard might already have servers setup for All region at launch.
I hope A-net do well in E-sport to get enough revenue to fund and get sponsers for the PVP only servers.
(edited by LONGA.1652)