Guild Wars 2

I have to say that the overall excitement and feel over this past PvP season has been much improved compared to the prior ones, but it is still riddled with problems.

The short of it is — I played nearly 400 games on my main and over 200 games on an alt account (mostly to duo with friends who don’t really PvP). I did not exploit the decay system. I did not participate in trading wins. A friend and I managed to play our way to top 100 a week and a half before the season ended, and maintained a 4 game win streak. I lose a match. Two players on the other side were two of the individuals who were removed from the leaderboards. I’m not saying that was the cause for the loss, but it irks me that from that, I lost 50 points (with no decay!). How a loss to a duo queue of 2 top 25 players results in a loss of that many points baffles me. The next loss dropped me out of the top 250 and I was never able to recover.

The subsequent wins/losses were all close, but even maintaining a 60% win ratio, I was consistently losing 25 points per loss but only gaining 15. After about 10 matches, I started getting more and more teammates who were uncommunicative and unhelpful. For example, I was in a match and 1v2ing far, which allowed us to be up 350-150. I never dropped below 70% hp. Suddenly 2 teammates decide to come and “help” and we end up losing the match 450-500 because the other team 3 capped us when those two teammates ran off the two point rotation.

Over the past weekend, the threshold for the top 250 has inflated as many people are now either actually playing or actively exploiting decay volatility. The #1 player is now someone who managed to snipe the spot on an alt account.

I’m not saying I deserve to be in the leaderboards, but I can guarantee many other players who legitimately battled their way up are faced with the same situation and the same frustrations. ArenaNet made some effort to improve the quality of the leaderboards in the last week, which was commendable, but honestly it was too little too late. Implementing a fix the last week cannot wipe out months of damage to the integrity of the boards.

While I’m sure many people in the top 250 deserve their spots, all the above issues mean a lot of spots are occupied by people who “lucked out” because they either avoided them or it worked in their favor. I played with and against a lot of those accounts and there are definitely players more deserving to be there who are not.

I don’t think any titles should be given out, because all this season did was encourage toxic behavior from the NA community (EU felt a lot better).

Going forward, I think a lot of the changes that need to be implemented have been brought up.
- Higher threshold for games needed.
- Weekly game requirements and/or revamping of decay.
- Reduced volatility so people cannot leapfrog entire tiers by just decaying/playing.
- Losses are overly punishing and wins may not be rewarding enough (i.e., the best player with the highest MMR on a team may be carrying but the team losses, and that player is punished more for the loss than the rest of his or her teammates).
- Matchmaking is still terrible and unfair (too many high vs. low MMR blowouts).
- Duo queuing presents logistical problems, though solo only isn’t likely to be much better.

Finally, please bring back 4-5 man team queues and allow a solo queue to have the option to “pug” for a team if it is a 4 man.

Skill rating is a hard thing to do.Its a hard task in every competitive game,but u can improve it by learning from other games,like having solo Q and team Q(2-5 players).Would be awesome if u could rate ppl by their performance(i dont rly know the best way to do it tbh) cuz i could only progress when i played thief/rev,after getting placed in silver cuz my first 10 matches i played Ele (solo q) – playing a sup class kinda sucks since u depend entirely on ur team.I also wish u could pause the game for 1min after a DC,since the match only last for about 12mins and if ur game crashes u have a good chance to lose MMR.
But i rly enjoyed all the effort Anet put to improve pvp,and i think it was awesome.

Nerifes.4931:

To be honest with you, I didn’t read it at all.

Good. At least now we’ve established that your comments in this thread are meaningless. Thanks!

Nerifes.4931:

GladConcept.4650:

Nerifes.4931:

You presented a complaint, not an argument. You’re kitten over the fact you didn’t make the top 250 cut. Sorry but, better luck next season kiddo.

You probably need to re-read the original post more carefully then, if that’s your interpretation.

To be honest with you, I didn’t read it at all.

i think the titles should be given,but OP has a point.

I agree. The titles shouldn’t be given. Of course, there has been cause to think that about each of the four previous seasons too.

Some of the points you raised are valid, but saying that nobody should get a title because you had some bad luck with the teammates is just bs. And about the excsessive decay camping, win trading etc. maybe the NA community should question itself, since it didn’t happen to that extent at all on EU and the Top 10 looks fairly representative to me (even though I’m not sure who’s behind 2-3 acc names on there). The volatility after decay will get fixed next season anyway, but if people absolutely want to cheat the system they will probably find a way.

My point has nothing to do about my “bad luck” or because I “suck” or anything else. I’ll work hard again this off-season to improve my game play and try again next season.

I provided my own experiences to expand on the numerous issues that’s plagued this new system. And after I posted, even more issues came up (the lack of disclosure as to when the PvP season “ends” and how the end is determined).

I merely brought this up as a suggestion, people are free to agree or disagree with it as much they want, though half the responses seem to just be trolls who would rather resort to a personal attack than to actually provide anything constructive.

I agree that a lot of the problem lies with the NA community itself, as further evidenced by some of the responses I’ve gotten. I think, for the most part, the EU leaderboard is good.

GladConcept.4650:

My point has nothing to do about my “bad luck” or because I “suck” or anything else. I’ll work hard again this off-season to improve my game play and try again next season.

What kind of response did you expect with a thread title like that? I played through all of the season, did yolo Q ~90% of the time, was stuck with 1 class because my skillcap is too low on alts, did not abuse decay (only ever had small decay once and that was not intentional), did not trade wins or anything. I’m also not an Esl player who can get into top 50 by carrying with duo or even Solo Q just in a few days, I’m probably on the edge of the top 250 skill wise so it was tense, I dropped out twice in the last 2 days, the last time half an hour before the season finished, yet I managed to get back in twice (yolo Q) again in two ridiculously close games (last was 414 to 390 on Nifhel with the possibility of a boss kill) and then some guy on the forum tells me I shouln’t be given the title because some kittenbags on NA are throwing games. Well, kitten off, that’s the answer I give.

Falan.1839:

What kind of response did you expect with a thread title like that? […] Well, kitten off, that’s the answer I give.

So, in other words, you’re willing to reward cheaters and exploiters in an imperfect system and tell me to kitten off because you have something to gain from it?

I should probably have clarified that I had a big issue with the NA leaderboard and not so much the EU one, but responses like these aren’t very conducive towards actually addressing the issues I brought up which are legitimate.

And of course I’m going to propose a solution and name the title that is controversial, it’s the best way to get people to read and react. So at least that’s working!

Even though I can agree with you thread maker Sadly Arena Net cant just go o well kitten we had people abuse the system no one gets titles and since there would be so much finger pointing back and forth about who maybe guilty of these things and who aren’t it is much easier to just give them the titles and hope the system works better next time sigh It isn’t likely to work out better next time but .. In my deluded twisted personal perspective the titles should warrant their due respect in EU for those who may be wearing them …But if you see them in NA since we cant really say for sure who earned theirs and who cheated for theirs I wouldn’t waste the time on it If they earned their titles fairly and legit here in NA they can be proud of them And if they didn’t they know it they aren’t fooling anyone

I can’t agree with you sry^^

Just because you were able to play over 600 games some other players are not able to do that.

I played on 2 Accounts about 250-300 games during this season. (which is for me alot)

I got with both legandary and I see no issue why not? On both accounts I got trolls who ruined my winstreaks just cuz they wanna lose games. Same goes for other pvp players.

People just can’t accept the fact that you were not able to grind on this season into high tier you actually needed to play good for that :-O

As you said lose 50 points without decay is not possible. Specially when you lose against legendary players the highest points I losed was about 13-15 but I was also legendary / plat 3.

You should just practise more the system is not wrong it’s all about how good you are.

To bo honest I even made it with my account without expansion into legendary and believe it or not it was not about luck but skill.

The only one bad thing this season had was double duo que vs 0 que randoms where it was not possible to carry most of the time.

There is truth in both statements, both of OP and yours @albostan
However it is hard to pinpoint the very middle between all that. I know a bunch of people who PvP and they definitely deserve legendary, I know those who luckily got into higher tiers, and few that rise and fall in mid-tier, climbing back and forth.
Skill is needed, time is needed, at least decent team is needed. As someone said recently, you can’t carry a bunch of headless chickens. Some of us are more fortunate, some are less lucky and that’s how this world goes in every aspect, not only in the game.

As for my personal experience, I got placed in T1 gold at the beginning of this season.
I played my non-meta guardian build which was (was, because now I somehow got bad at it or something, can’t tell myself) surprisingly effective. I fell to silver, climbed back to gold, fell again and came back once more. Got to tier 2 of gold and then my studies and exams happened so I had to make a long pause, playing only 1 or 2 matches every 2 days to not let the decay grab me.
After all this real life stuff ended, I got back into PvP, it was a period of Christmas and the new year and back then I had so many good quality matches, that I really relished it.
We won many times and we lost many times, but lost matches were only our fault, close calls, and so were the winning ones as well, but the other way around. Thanks to that I almost got to plat tier 2 but then another series of exams were near so I had to stop.
The same thing happened, trying to not get decay. So after this recent batch of exams I got back home, fell to gold T3 and couldn’t get back to platinum for about 2 weeks, being stuck in a range of 4-5 matches away from platinum. Also for some unknown reason I had many annoying ping spikes after 1 p.m. that rendered me useless, thus forcing me to stop playing to not let anyone else suffer losses because of my own connection instability. However, yesterday I clenched my butt-cheeks and climbed back up to platinum to T1 just before season ended, and I am proud of myself. All that played solo as a guardian, but only the last day I had to succumb to the meta builds.

They don’t really care to be honest or if they care its not a lot. That’s why they make the same mistakes over and over again. This is not the first time they had a MMR based leadberboard.

the titles of all 5 seasons are compromised in some way or other. in seasons 1-4, its cuz the title was a grind when it was intended to be for skill. in season 5, its decay abuse.

maybe season 6 will finally be meaningful.

idk how many more chances im willing to give. i know i stopped caring in season 1.

“I Played in two acounts X games”……
“I played in two acounts Y games”……

realize you that you are part of the problem filling ranks with no “real” players?

megilandil.7506:

“I Played in two acounts X games”……
“I played in two acounts Y games”……

realize you that you are part of the problem filling ranks with no “real” players?

Except that’s a conclusory statement. I’d say I was helping the problem by encouraging guild mates who would otherwise never play in ranked PvP to play because I was willing to duo queue with them, without having to “sacrifice” my personal rating. We’re not even talking about any meaningful “ranks” here, we’re talking about players who 1-9 their placement matches and don’t have anyone to help them improve their game. I’m not carrying a bronze player to gold 3.

I’m also fairly certain that I played more games on either account over the season than many other players, so does that mean that anyone who played less matches than me were also part of the problem?

megilandil.7506:

“I Played in two acounts X games”……
“I played in two acounts Y games”……

realize you that you are part of the problem filling ranks with no “real” players?

this is the nail and point, i prefer a guy with 10 games only than a guy with 10 accounts and 3k games on all of em, because in the end it will be different people

GladConcept.4650:

megilandil.7506:

“I Played in two acounts X games”……
“I played in two acounts Y games”……

realize you that you are part of the problem filling ranks with no “real” players?

Except that’s a conclusory statement. I’d say I was helping the problem by encouraging guild mates who would otherwise never play in ranked PvP to play because I was willing to duo queue with them, without having to “sacrifice” my personal rating. We’re not even talking about any meaningful “ranks” here, we’re talking about players who 1-9 their placement matches and don’t have anyone to help them improve their game. I’m not carrying a bronze player to gold 3.

I’m also fairly certain that I played more games on either account over the season than many other players, so does that mean that anyone who played less matches than me were also part of the problem?

mmm… you dont understand the problem, many of the “legendary” did the same, someones with 3 or more acounts… lets get some math
imagine for a moment, round numbers, that the 250 legendari ranks are filled only by 125 real players that get legendary in 2 acounts and for diferent time disponibility there is a max of less than 40 real legend players at peak hour. this is the isue that makes the rank manipulation easy

megilandil.7506:

mmm… you dont understand the problem, many of the “legendary” did the same, someones with 3 or more acounts… lets get some math
imagine for a moment, round numbers, that the 250 legendari ranks are filled only by 125 real players that get legendary in 2 acounts and for diferent time disponibility there is a max of less than 40 real legend players at peak hour. this is the isue that makes the rank manipulation easy

I understand the problem you’re pointing out, but you missed my point. I was only actively pursuing a leaderboard position on one account. The other was to queue with friends who were less than competitive. It had zero bearing on “real” players being on at a peak hour. I was merely trying to pass what little PvP knowledge I had on in the hopes they become “real” players in the future.

Further, what good is there in having more people in those positions, if the “legendary” players are actively participating in match manipulation and pushing some of these people out of the ranks, which is what I felt like happened to me and others in this forum. I’ve also received multiple PMs in game from those who admitted this happened to them as well.

NA really dug itself into kitten, and the worst part about it is that while the season as a whole generated more interest in PvP for one reason or another, it has discouraged a lot of players who are competitive or on the verge of being competitive from trying, because those who are in the best position to help the community decided to help themselves instead.

‘’ I didnt get the titles so nobody deserves them ’’ Try harder next season instead of complnaining

Hex.8714:

‘’ I didnt get the titles so nobody deserves them ’’ Try harder next season instead of complnaining

Yet another incorrect statement. Try engaging in some reading comprehension next time instead of trolling.

GladConcept.4650:

megilandil.7506:

mmm… you dont understand the problem, many of the “legendary” did the same, someones with 3 or more acounts… lets get some math
imagine for a moment, round numbers, that the 250 legendari ranks are filled only by 125 real players that get legendary in 2 acounts and for diferent time disponibility there is a max of less than 40 real legend players at peak hour. this is the isue that makes the rank manipulation easy

I understand the problem you’re pointing out, but you missed my point. I was only actively pursuing a leaderboard position on one account. The other was to queue with friends who were less than competitive. It had zero bearing on “real” players being on at a peak hour. I was merely trying to pass what little PvP knowledge I had on in the hopes they become “real” players in the future.

Further, what good is there in having more people in those positions, if the “legendary” players are actively participating in match manipulation and pushing some of these people out of the ranks, which is what I felt like happened to me and others in this forum. I’ve also received multiple PMs in game from those who admitted this happened to them as well.

NA really dug itself into kitten, and the worst part about it is that while the season as a whole generated more interest in PvP for one reason or another, it has discouraged a lot of players who are competitive or on the verge of being competitive from trying, because those who are in the best position to help the community decided to help themselves instead.

no you lose my point
the important part for me, im not a legendary (im a simple silver one )and i dont care a kitten about legendary ranks, im only concerned of how can snowball through ranks ,and for my part you are still part of the problem, not only this, you(the ones like you, i dunno know if we are in same region)are a more big problem, in the proces of boosting your friend you can be crossed my ranks div and you clearly dont belong in those ranks and for mid players getting one of yours in ours matches is not fair
i only talket about legendary cuz its more clear and evident talking about a rank low populated that one whith hundreds of players

megilandil.7506:

no you lose my point
the important part for me, im not a legendary (im a simple silver one )and i dont care a kitten about legendary ranks, im only concerned of how can snowball through ranks ,and for my part you are still part of the problem, not only this, you(the ones like you, i dunno know if we are in same region)are a more big problem, in the proces of boosting your friend you can be crossed my ranks div and you clearly dont belong in those ranks and for mid players getting one of yours in ours matches is not fair
i only talket about legendary cuz its more clear and evident talking about a rank low populated that one whith hundreds of players

I see your argument but you’re missing mine. So we’re just going to have to agree to disagree on this.

Teaching and “boosting” are two different things. I have no doubt that any of my friends I played with gained enough knowledge to maintain their rating at wherever we ended up.

I would not worry about the titles, everyone who pvp’s know’s they are tainted. Remember when the Wings were suppose to mean something then we found out anyone can get them? Remember when getting Legend in seasons 1-4 was suppose to mean something then we found out anyone can get them? Seriously there was a post from a player season 3 I think where a guy played 400 games had only a 40% win rate and still made legend. Let’s also not forget that yes a lot of people exploited their way to titles but a lot of people were legit.

All games are going to have this toxic behavior of cheaters being cheaters but don’t let something like a title ruin your day.

Hanth.2978:

I would not worry about the titles, everyone who pvp’s know’s they are tainted. Remember when the Wings were suppose to mean something then we found out anyone can get them? Remember when getting Legend in seasons 1-4 was suppose to mean something then we found out anyone can get them? Seriously there was a post from a player season 3 I think where a guy played 400 games had only a 40% win rate and still made legend. Let’s also not forget that yes a lot of people exploited their way to titles but a lot of people were legit.

All games are going to have this toxic behavior of cheaters being cheaters but don’t let something like a title ruin your day.

Tainted? kek

I find my title more valuable since there are so many cheaters and alts on NA that DESPITE THOSE LOSERS I made it to top 250 thanks.

While Iv never met you fishball going off some of your older posts that we have both commented on and thus I havnt heard anyone specifically accuse you of these deeds I am willing to assume you were 1 of the few that earned the titles and you should be proud if that is the case but if even if that is the case there are still plenty who likely didn’t earn it I’m not taking away from people who got lucky ..because luck does play a part in my estimation 15%Luck 15%Class preferred 35%Build being used 35%Player