Guild Wars 2

This thread is an open forum for all of those who think the sPvP system currently in Guild Wars 2 needs to be changed, or reformed in some way. Any and all ideas are welcome that will contribute to the the growth of the sPvP side of this game and for it to become a popular e-sport with a thriving competitive community.

Hot join 8v8’s removed and replaced with either Custom Arenas, Hot join 5v5’s, or a Deathmatch mode. 8v8 Hot Joins are basically deathmatches and the node objectives are abandoned because all players really care about in these hot joins is their score. Nobody cares if their side wins a match. Maybe adding a deathmatch mode would be better, but 8v8 zergy Hot joins is a failure and a disservice to the community because it is putting off new players from making teams to play competitively or even just sticking around and playing sPvP consistently.

Get Custom Arenas and Spectator Mode out as soon as possible.

It might be the case that the current sPvP system will never get the number of players it once had, let alone grow, basically meaning this game will never manage to become an e-sport. First, to try and salvage the current system by implementing a daily, weekly, and monthly tournament system with really meaningful rewards tied to a new prestige system could bring back a lot of players to the sPvP side of the game. I would try doing this before my next suggestion to see how popular these features are.

If there isn’t a sufficient number of players returning to sPvP after Custom Arenas, Spectator Mode, Daily-Weekly-Monthly tournaments are all released, then I would say our last hope of making Guild Wars 2 sPvP an e-sport would be to make Heart of the Mists free to play with a LOT of Gem Store content specific to sPvP added to coincide with this change. Adding buyable armor skins and weapons, unique endless finishers, and other cosmetic purchases available in the Gem Store for sPvPers would be very profitable, and should probably start to be considered now. I would also suggest those who make a Free-to-Play account only get two or three character slots, but are in no way limited in terms of gameplay features. Also, to drive sales for the full Guild Wars 2 game, make the PvE/WvW side of the game purchasable with Gems in-game, maybe suggesting this purchase anytime a Free-to-Play account tries to enter the Lion’s Arch Portal in Heart of the Mists.

I believe this basic outline for reform within the sPvP side of Guild Wars 2 will at least start this game down the road of becoming a viable and popular e-sport. The core game itself is honestly one of the best MMO’s ever made, and ArenaNet should take a lot of pride from this. It is truly a great game to play, but reform within sPvP is an absolute must at this point. Deep down, I think the current system, even by adding some new features probably can’t be an e-sport. Heart of the Mists becoming Free-to-Play can bring a lot of people into the game that would have never touched the game before, and would make it much more likely that GW2 becomes an e-sport.

This has all been said 100 times before, no need for another thread like this.

guza.6170:

This has all been said 100 times before, no need for another thread like this.

It has been said 100 times before, and will be said 100 more times in the future. Threads will keep being made till this game is changed. I’ll add mine to the mix and see if we can get meaningful change from ArenaNet for sPvP. Maybe someone within ArenaNet will respond to the suggestions in this thread, or something within one of these threads will spark something inside those who work on PvP for Guild Wars 2.

Anet gets all of their high-level direction from the forums.

It’s good to emphasize. We are the clients here, we are the people that spend hours playing the game the devs created; we know the problems, the lacks, and also what is well put.

The free pvp idea is pretty good. I personally agree with the OP.

Well, custom arenas are meant to substitute hotjoin, aren’t they? And custom arenas and spectator mode are already being tested internally. So, it shouldn’t take much longer for pvp to get revamped.

As far as I can tell, Custom Arenas, Ladder and Spectator Mode are already top of the priority for the PVP team.

The main problem is that the PVP team is much lower priority than the PVE team. And possibly both teams are a lower priority than the ultra-secret “make an expansion so we can sell stuff again” team.

So the OP’s point is mostly wasted. Better to try and figure out how to convince NCSoft/ANet management that PVP deserves more resources.

DiogoSilva.7089:

Well, custom arenas are meant to substitute hotjoin, aren’t they? And custom arenas and spectator mode are already being tested internally. So, it shouldn’t take much longer for pvp to get revamped.

they said they are “testing” custom arenas like 3 months ago aswell
still they are not in the game
and they wont in the near future

I’ve read about the Arena’s in october of 2012. It’s in the official blogs.

i skimmed through and what i read was:
you want the only mode i play (hotjoin) removed from the game
(tournament is ridiculous, unless you want to be stomped by a premade vs your 3-4 player solo team of rabbits)
you said nothing about balancing the classes
you said nothing about making more specs viable to escape Buildwars
granted i skimmed though so if i missed them my bad, but if you think removing/replacing (with something identical) and adding spectator mode will save pvp, then i think you’re very optimistic!
however i do agree that adding gemstore unlocks for pvp and making mists free would be a huge step in the right direction!

With more people playing solo que, and more people playing the game itself, then you won’t have the problem of encountering pre-mades as a solo queuer. The only reason you have that problem atm is because of low player-base.
Hotjoin is not a good game-mode, because it teaches you bad habits and doesn’t encourage players to transition into the high-end of PvP (tPvP).
All they need to do is include a non-ranked solo que as well as a non-ranked 5v5 deathmatch and then get rid of Hotjoin.

Balance isn’t that bad. There are more important issues to work on.

I feel that Balance and build diversity are just as important because it keeps combat fresh and exciting, ergo more fun and attracts more players.

On a related note, I want balance patches to happen much, much more frequently than once a month. with the typical size of the balance related content in these monthly updates we should be getting them at LEAST bi-weekly.

I absolutely refuse to believe that these “slow and steady” number tweaks take a while month to code and roll out, nor do I believe that they need to have meetings to discuss if these (usually) insignificant number tweaks will make classes OP.

Personally i don’t think spvp will get any much better than it really is until first expansion and new game modes, weapons, utilities are out. No matter how much they ‘balance’ existent things, if game mode and variety of build is bad it’ll stay bad.

The only thing that will save spvp is time. And more build variety.

I think you should just rename the thread to “petition for anet management: allocate more resources to spvp”. Most tweaks have been fine but not done quickly enough. Not by a longshot.

Rieselle.5079:

The main problem is that the PVP team is much lower priority than the PVE team

This is the core of the problem. If we can somehow change that then great, but blaming the 2 and a half man sPvP team for slow changes won’t help much.

hrkljus.1243:

Rieselle.5079:

The main problem is that the PVP team is much lower priority than the PVE team

This is the core of the problem. If we can somehow change that then great, but blaming the 2 and a half man sPvP team for slow changes won’t help much.

people keep saying this (pvp players mainly cuz they have no idea what’s up in pve) but its completely not true. in 7 months all they added is Fractals… how is this high pve priority? They add nothing in pve nor do they do anything in pvp, that’s the real problem.

Nuka Cola.8520:

hrkljus.1243:

Rieselle.5079:

The main problem is that the PVP team is much lower priority than the PVE team

This is the core of the problem. If we can somehow change that then great, but blaming the 2 and a half man sPvP team for slow changes won’t help much.

people keep saying this (pvp players mainly cuz they have no idea what’s up in pve) but its completely not true. in 7 months all they added is Fractals… how is this high pve priority? They add nothing in pve nor do they do anything in pvp, that’s the real problem.

They added the three months worth of events + working on the living story + fractals.

You also forget that the game actually shipped with PvE content. They don’t need to add what’s already there. There’s a reason why WvW is doing fine yet has received no content updates, it actually has content in the first place.

What did PvP players get? The tournament system. AKA probably the worst PvP concept I have ever seen. And they recently took away paid tournaments and replaced them with this new MMR system that doesn’t actually work since it pairs rank 1s with rank 50s.

It’s not like PvP development is hard. Adding the features is probably far easier than PvE, since there’s a lot more replayability. Add one map, play it 100s of times. Add a dungeon, play it once or until you get your gear.

Larynx.2453:

Nuka Cola.8520:

hrkljus.1243:

Rieselle.5079:

The main problem is that the PVP team is much lower priority than the PVE team

This is the core of the problem. If we can somehow change that then great, but blaming the 2 and a half man sPvP team for slow changes won’t help much.

people keep saying this (pvp players mainly cuz they have no idea what’s up in pve) but its completely not true. in 7 months all they added is Fractals… how is this high pve priority? They add nothing in pve nor do they do anything in pvp, that’s the real problem.

They added the three months worth of events + working on the living story + fractals.

You also forget that the game actually shipped with PvE content. They don’t need to add what’s already there. There’s a reason why WvW is doing fine yet has received no content updates, it actually has content in the first place.

What did PvP players get? The tournament system. AKA probably the worst PvP concept I have ever seen. And they recently took away paid tournaments and replaced them with this new MMR system that doesn’t actually work since it pairs rank 1s with rank 50s.

well if you consider talking to npcs for 10 minutes and collect some kitten as a content (living story crap) then i seriously dunno what to say. Pve got fractals, pvp got map(s). Its even but really bad in both fronts if you ask me… In seven months much more stuff should be in the game especially when your game is known as no having any end game for pve and you wanna esport for pvp.

Nuka Cola.8520:

Larynx.2453:

Nuka Cola.8520:

hrkljus.1243:

Rieselle.5079:

The main problem is that the PVP team is much lower priority than the PVE team

This is the core of the problem. If we can somehow change that then great, but blaming the 2 and a half man sPvP team for slow changes won’t help much.

people keep saying this (pvp players mainly cuz they have no idea what’s up in pve) but its completely not true. in 7 months all they added is Fractals… how is this high pve priority? They add nothing in pve nor do they do anything in pvp, that’s the real problem.

They added the three months worth of events + working on the living story + fractals.

You also forget that the game actually shipped with PvE content. They don’t need to add what’s already there. There’s a reason why WvW is doing fine yet has received no content updates, it actually has content in the first place.

What did PvP players get? The tournament system. AKA probably the worst PvP concept I have ever seen. And they recently took away paid tournaments and replaced them with this new MMR system that doesn’t actually work since it pairs rank 1s with rank 50s.

well if you consider talking to npcs for 10 minutes and collect some kitten as a content (living story crap) then i seriously dunno what to say. Pve got fractals, pvp got map(s). Its even but really bad in both fronts if you ask me… In seven months much more stuff should be in the game especially when your game is known as no having any end game for pve and you wanna esport for pvp.

“You also forget that the game actually shipped with PvE content. They don’t need to add what’s already there. There’s a reason why WvW is doing fine yet has received no content updates, it actually has content in the first place.”

I just know you’re going to cherry pick from that too.

ITT: hey lets copy everything anet knows and hope they would do it faster!

Larynx.2453:

Nuka Cola.8520:

Larynx.2453:

Nuka Cola.8520:

hrkljus.1243:

Rieselle.5079:

The main problem is that the PVP team is much lower priority than the PVE team

This is the core of the problem. If we can somehow change that then great, but blaming the 2 and a half man sPvP team for slow changes won’t help much.

people keep saying this (pvp players mainly cuz they have no idea what’s up in pve) but its completely not true. in 7 months all they added is Fractals… how is this high pve priority? They add nothing in pve nor do they do anything in pvp, that’s the real problem.

They added the three months worth of events + working on the living story + fractals.

You also forget that the game actually shipped with PvE content. They don’t need to add what’s already there. There’s a reason why WvW is doing fine yet has received no content updates, it actually has content in the first place.

What did PvP players get? The tournament system. AKA probably the worst PvP concept I have ever seen. And they recently took away paid tournaments and replaced them with this new MMR system that doesn’t actually work since it pairs rank 1s with rank 50s.

well if you consider talking to npcs for 10 minutes and collect some kitten as a content (living story crap) then i seriously dunno what to say. Pve got fractals, pvp got map(s). Its even but really bad in both fronts if you ask me… In seven months much more stuff should be in the game especially when your game is known as no having any end game for pve and you wanna esport for pvp.

“You also forget that the game actually shipped with PvE content. They don’t need to add what’s already there. There’s a reason why WvW is doing fine yet has received no content updates, it actually has content in the first place.”

I just know you’re going to cherry pick from that too.

of course they shipped with pve content so did they shipped with spvp. That doesn’t mean there’s anything to do at level 80.

Nuka Cola.8520:

Larynx.2453:

Nuka Cola.8520:

Larynx.2453:

Nuka Cola.8520:

hrkljus.1243:

Rieselle.5079:

The main problem is that the PVP team is much lower priority than the PVE team

This is the core of the problem. If we can somehow change that then great, but blaming the 2 and a half man sPvP team for slow changes won’t help much.

people keep saying this (pvp players mainly cuz they have no idea what’s up in pve) but its completely not true. in 7 months all they added is Fractals… how is this high pve priority? They add nothing in pve nor do they do anything in pvp, that’s the real problem.

They added the three months worth of events + working on the living story + fractals.

You also forget that the game actually shipped with PvE content. They don’t need to add what’s already there. There’s a reason why WvW is doing fine yet has received no content updates, it actually has content in the first place.

What did PvP players get? The tournament system. AKA probably the worst PvP concept I have ever seen. And they recently took away paid tournaments and replaced them with this new MMR system that doesn’t actually work since it pairs rank 1s with rank 50s.

well if you consider talking to npcs for 10 minutes and collect some kitten as a content (living story crap) then i seriously dunno what to say. Pve got fractals, pvp got map(s). Its even but really bad in both fronts if you ask me… In seven months much more stuff should be in the game especially when your game is known as no having any end game for pve and you wanna esport for pvp.

“You also forget that the game actually shipped with PvE content. They don’t need to add what’s already there. There’s a reason why WvW is doing fine yet has received no content updates, it actually has content in the first place.”

I just know you’re going to cherry pick from that too.

of course they shipped with pve content so did they shipped with spvp. That doesn’t mean there’s anything to do at level 80.

Minus the, what, 30 dungeons and world content?

PvP shipped with hotjoin and free tournaments. Somuchcontent

Its even worse because spvp was essentially rolled back 5+ months by going back to free tournaments only.

In reality the only good change apart from the 2 new maps has been 1 team vs 1 team matches which practically every other competitive game in history uses.

The only way to fix spvp is an expansion, forget about it till next year, atleast.
Arena.net is a company making money, not a pvp foundation or the recipe of all ur esport dreams and hopes, if they are smart, they will have some dudes working on it, enough to fix the worst, and try to retain whatever playerbase remains with hope and dreams (much cheaper than reality).

replace the hotjoin things with some sort of queue for map system. sort of like the join solo option for tournaments.

tweak the rewards some, less rewarding than actually setting up a tournament yourself. maybe just make it all just one round. give the ability to queue for a specific map, or a random one for a slightly better reward. make a call to arms sort of thing for every week in which a single map gives a slightly better reward.
make a separate interface for actual tournaments that give better rewards to participants. make a better interface for establishing permanent tournament teams. give teams and players an MMR.

aka just copy WoW. dead serious. the way it’s PvP joining/queuing/organization is a lot more intuitive than the system in GW2. i don’t generally like it when games copy other games (especially when it comes to copying WoW), but with this, i would seriously make an exception. to me, PvP in this game is just handled so poorly in terms of organization and the interface. the hotjoin servers are just strange and really don’t seem to make sense in an MMO. it works in shooters or games like LoL. they clash with the hotjoins and seem really useless.
inb4 flame posts everywhere. haters gonna hate i guess.

im not even going to go into balance issues (mostly because they really don’t exist. it’s all a matter of knowing other classes and your own class.)