Hello,
Let me first start out by saying I find the PvP really fun. I do enjoy playing it, however I wish it to be a little more challenging. I’m not saying that I’m some high glory pvp god, but when I play pvp i get pretty bored after a while because I feel it doesn’t challenging me personally. I’d like to say what I find that causes the pvp to feel casual and less challenging.
1. The way the skills are setup. Many of the skills don’t really require thinking of how to cast them. Sure there are combofields, but a majority of them are AoE based. AoE heals, AoE dots, AoE fears. Everything seems to be AoE. It causes the players to not really pay attention to when and the situation in which their casting it, but instead to just spam. This is especially prevalent on points in spvp. I think classes need more single target skills that actualyl require some thought of how to use them. Ill go into why a lot of the single target skills aren’t up to par in this regard in the next number. But I like the way thiefs skills are setup (despite their dps being amazingly overpowered). They are single target and require you to cast them in a certain synergy.
2. You progressed amazingly in the realm of PvE in MMOs. But I feel as if you regressed in the regard of PvP. Something many mmos do now a days is the SSB setup of how to use skills. Stun Snare Burst. You did this way to much in this game. Every DPS build i come across runs this setup. Mesmers with their clone snare and then teleport/invulnerable burst. Warriors do the same thing, charge > Thousand blades. Engineers do this in some regard with rifles, net shot > burst (though rifles suck single handily in dps). When I played GW1 I found that this was also true, however it was not to such an extent that you have shown in GW2. I really feel they took the easy route when designing pvp. My suggestion is go back to your roots and figure out what you did to the PvP in GW1 that made it such an amazing success that is still played today.
3. Condition – Boon emphasis. This has some really interesting possabilites, though you really went about it wrong. There are many builds that rely on the player giving themselves boons and applying conditions, then those two things will cause increases in damage or other things. There are a few problems with this. Again, it feels the simple route. Make some conditions, and then rename skills that all do the same thing. Such as apply confusion or poison. Another problem is the way condition removal works. There is no way for you to single out a particular condition and then remove it. It always removes the, I believe, last one applied. I say keep going with what you’re doing now, but make skills have more individuality. Not just another poison spell that every class has, or a burning spell.
4. Balance and downed state. Downed state should be removed all together. Some classs are grossly unbalanced in the downed state regard, and the whole concept in PvP is frustrating. Then you have class balance, but as any GW2 player knows, you are working on it.
But other people who have played both forms of PvP, what do you feel about these points I’ve brought up? Do you have any points that you wish to be addressed in PvP in general, in terms of how it is formed or developed?