Guild Wars 2

Devs! You may have this idea for free. Save your gamemode with a simple change.

aye

ppl might actually stop complaining about team mates then.

Yes, let’s kill GW2 PvP even more!

turn a game with no 1v1 balance into a 1v1 game.

yeah, excellent idea dude, may i suggest another equally clever idea- have you ever considered drinking tea out of a toaster?

====

as an fyi to anyone who thinks a 1v1 gamemode would work w current gw2, you do realise you can run perma stealth thief & just hide permanently so the 1v1 will go on eternally.

I’d put 1v1 alongside conquest. PvP BADLY needs options.

I’d rather they do team death match or borrow from many of the wonderful team match options we had in GW1.

Can’t wait for a druid vs druid match that is already a draw

Maybe we could see balance for 1v1 instead of Conquest – it’d be a lot easier on the devteam.

1:1 is not aplicable, but more modes fom 2:2 up to 5:5 as we have it would be great.
But this might split the playerbase to much. If we have 2:2 and 3:3 modes there might be a very low 5:5 population left ….

worst idea ever. You want to play 1v1 ? go to a custom arena or just participate on the esl weekly cup.

1v1 gamemode reduces the skill level by eleminating map rotation and team work abilities of players. It is boring and people will leave pvp cause u already are able to 1v1 in guild-arena and WvW.

I would rather want 8v8 or 10v10 or something. Then maybe even niche-builds can fit somewhere.

Indeed even larger fight up to 10:10 can be intresting. But again great diversity might get underminded by population split issues.

Oh nononono… definitely not. As much as I love a good 1v1, It shouldn’t and can’t be that way.
Everyone would just roll with the same, best skirmish builds (warrior, druid, mesmer or whatever might be meta) and it would just basically butcher build variety. If anything else, I’d rather add 2v2 which would also result in OP comps but people might come up with some more creative, fun combinations.

3v3s and 2v2 does sound like it could be super fun. At same time making your personal player skill mean much more then when you are relying on 3 randoms on your team and the match maker to put 5 players of equal skill.

If population is too small to support a healthy 5v5 then the answer is simple. Make more game modes that don’t require 5v5. Build the actually PvP population back up then revisit 5v5 being the main game mode.

If they balance for 1v1s sure.

But the state the game is now, definitely not. No one wants to be a Mesmer vs a DH, no one wants to be a DH vs a War, ect, ect.

Although even if they did balance for 1v1, I’d prefer the option of 2v2s and 3v3s along side it.

Either way I’d love to see conquest die, also the game would prob be closer to esport worthy if we had more balanced matchups and a less awful game type.

a 3v3 option is better than a 1v1… in this game of rock paper scissors, everyone will keep switching chars up to last second before match starts….LMAO

I’m not sure about 1v1s…. but ranked 2v2s and 3v3s would be super cool. This will even promote build diversity as well.

so its settled then. 3v3 capture the suitcase team stealth king of the bunker.

We all know how successful DTM on Courtyard was… you can’t just say “Add this!” and expect results.

Rule Mechanics

• 15m time limit
• Best of 3 rounds. Rounds lasts 5 minutes
• Lowest health player at end of a stalemate round loses that round

It’s whats needed… at the very least.

Saiyan.1704:

We all know how successful DTM on Courtyard was… you can’t just say “Add this!” and expect results.

Rule Mechanics

• 15m time limit
• Best of 3 rounds. Rounds lasts 5 minutes
• Lowest health player at end of a stalemate round loses that round

It’s whats needed… at the very least.

this is good but I would increase it even more, to 5 rounds 3min each. reset cd’s each round. it doesn’t take much for a match to start snowballing and once it does its spawn camp central.

Stand The Wall.6987:

Saiyan.1704:

We all know how successful DTM on Courtyard was… you can’t just say “Add this!” and expect results.

Rule Mechanics

• 15m time limit
• Best of 3 rounds. Rounds lasts 5 minutes
• Lowest health player at end of a stalemate round loses that round

It’s whats needed… at the very least.

this is good but I would increase it even more, to 5 rounds 3min each. reset cd’s each round. it doesn’t take much for a match to start snowballing and once it does its spawn camp central.

Well unlike the courtyard in the past,, I was thinking 2v2 or 3v3 in a smaller map w/ no respawns. 3v3 on a timer or until the other team wipes. If timer ends and both teams are still up, whichever team did more damage wins.

tomwjd.8172:

snipples

sounds good.

Saiyan.1704:

We all know how successful DTM on Courtyard was… you can’t just say “Add this!” and expect results.

Rule Mechanics

• 15m time limit
• Best of 3 rounds. Rounds lasts 5 minutes
• Lowest health player at end of a stalemate round loses that round

It’s whats needed… at the very least.

I like this

Presuming no balance changes are made, I wouldn’t mind a few restrictions for builds when queuing for this. Simple bans like no PU for mesmers, and no shadow arts for thief type of thing, so that it doesn’t turn into a giant stall or sustain fest. An abundance of easy defense meta exists and is justified by conquest, but it is not good design for 1v1s, 2v2s, or 3v3s. There needs to be some standard balancing act between risk and reward.

Might also be good to just ban elite specs as well. I know this wouldn’t be a popular idea, but the balance as a whole might be closer, and who knows maybe this wouldn’t be a terrible standard to making core viable, give non HoT players a chance, and have core be payed more attention to by A-net.

Or just play a game actually designed and balanced for 1v1, rather than trying to hammer a square peg into a round hole.

Terrible idea and terrible thread. They can’t balance this game properly around 5v5 conquest, what makes you think they can do it for a 1v1 game mode? Some classes have clear advantages in 1v1s with their utilities, skills, and traits. It costs time and money to set this up. Mechanical skill in a 1v1 setting shouldn’t determine your ranking since many players lack mechanics, but make up their lack of mechanical skills by rotations and team play.

GhandiBot.6257:

Mechanical skill in a 1v1 setting shouldn’t determine your ranking

wat

choovanski.5462:

turn a game with no 1v1 balance into a 1v1 game.

yeah, excellent idea dude, may i suggest another equally clever idea- have you ever considered drinking tea out of a toaster?

====

as an fyi to anyone who thinks a 1v1 gamemode would work w current gw2, you do realise you can run perma stealth thief & just hide permanently so the 1v1 will go on eternally.

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

PU Condi Chrono with Moa.

sephiroth.4217:

choovanski.5462:

turn a game with no 1v1 balance into a 1v1 game.

yeah, excellent idea dude, may i suggest another equally clever idea- have you ever considered drinking tea out of a toaster?

====

as an fyi to anyone who thinks a 1v1 gamemode would work w current gw2, you do realise you can run perma stealth thief & just hide permanently so the 1v1 will go on eternally.

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

PU Condi Chrono with Moa.

nah bro. perma stealth thief is the way to go. hide forever & flame in map chat.

i understand PU Moa if you want to win the duel, but that’s not my goal here. I want to break them emotionally.

choovanski.5462:

sephiroth.4217:

choovanski.5462:

turn a game with no 1v1 balance into a 1v1 game.

yeah, excellent idea dude, may i suggest another equally clever idea- have you ever considered drinking tea out of a toaster?

====

as an fyi to anyone who thinks a 1v1 gamemode would work w current gw2, you do realise you can run perma stealth thief & just hide permanently so the 1v1 will go on eternally.

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

PU Condi Chrono with Moa.

nah bro. perma stealth thief is the way to go. hide forever & flame in map chat.

i understand PU Moa if you want to win the duel, but that’s not my goal here. I want to break them emotionally.

I love it.

I could really see a shake up in the meta if dueling was a sanctioned activity in Ranked play. Sure, the players with fewer mechanical skills would lean on FotM builds for a while…

But I betcha the meta would evolve as we discovered how to fight them. Look at the Blade and Soul model, it’s closer to a fighting game. Ranking would actually matter if it came down to solo play.

Sure, people would kitten and kitten about matchmaking still, but ULTIMATELY they’d have no one to blame but themselves. If build X or build Y is so OP, then just play it — bet you’re still getting crushed by better players that have more wherewithal than just copyspamming metabattle.

And I bet hipsters and top-performing players would enjoy playing the less-than-OP builds (hey power shatter, long time no see) and still wiping the floor with scrubs.

Dude, this would work. It would be fun. And ranks would matter.

Lets say i play 2 classes in pvp:

• My main charr mesmer with a whatever build that got to 1520 skill rate and sitted there fooling around.

• My dh charr that i use every time 4 dhs are in my team in unranked troll mode, if we win, the tears are priceless xd. Lets say this guy deserve a 1020 skill rate, since i really dont know well all the skills and traits and havent learned any combo, no more than 100 matchs experience, etc.

Now if the 1vs1 arena use an account mmr and i go with my mes but met a dh, my counterbuild (my build its countered worst than meta by them), so i either get aniquilated by the dh or change to my dh in a 1020 vs1520 skill rate match.

GW2 pvp have its problems, however the game its not balanced to 1vs1 (some builds/specs/ classes do it better) and it has a rock/paper/scissor system.

A 1vs1 arena its a cool arena but it would need tons of effort/time for devs to implement it in a aceptable level. Now remember that we get balance patches every 2 months xd.

sephiroth.4217:

choovanski.5462:

sephiroth.4217:

choovanski.5462:

turn a game with no 1v1 balance into a 1v1 game.

yeah, excellent idea dude, may i suggest another equally clever idea- have you ever considered drinking tea out of a toaster?

====

as an fyi to anyone who thinks a 1v1 gamemode would work w current gw2, you do realise you can run perma stealth thief & just hide permanently so the 1v1 will go on eternally.

NAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

PU Condi Chrono with Moa.

nah bro. perma stealth thief is the way to go. hide forever & flame in map chat.

i understand PU Moa if you want to win the duel, but that’s not my goal here. I want to break them emotionally.

Dr. Strange style,

hide spoiler

annoy your enemy until he leaves making you the victor,

I love it.

excellent film.

excellent tactic.

glad you understand :-)

If the game was balanced for 1v1 from the ground up we’d be in a much better spot competitive, and e-sport wise right now because of all the inherent factors that come with that type of balance. Starcraft, and Fighting games are an example of this. This game tries to be more in the realm of LoL, Dota, Smite, ect but there are no proper jousts, few if any phases, no counter building, and in such a small pool of viable builds.

People always bring in the stagnation point with 1v1 balance, well if it’s stagnation you want to avoid, I don’t know what you expect when the meta develops to high “times to kill” on conquest, forcing rotations to take good fights, with counter pick options requiring a significant learning curve, and different set of muscle memory within such a small roster or viable options. In the long run this gets very stagnant.

Is it a bad idea for season 6 to be 1v1 based? Probably, but I think the long term goal for the game should start moving in that direction.

Also teams is virtually dead, sure some people want it, but vast majority of players at this point solo or duo queue even when not restricted, which is perfect for a head to head, 2v2, 3v3 max, formats.

Lul mesmer and thief clusterkitten.

Lucius.2140:

so i either get aniquilated by the dh or change to my dh in a 1020 vs1520 skill rate match.

Dude I have no clue what you even said.

You’re forgetting that each season starts with an MMR reset.

ANYWAYS, I think sanctioned dueling gets us to the end goal we all might not really understand we want:

The game has to be easy to understand for a spectator.

1) A spectator mode that shows both life bars like a fighting game
2) A camera that actively hovers between the two players to keep the action centered
3) Simple arenas can be beautiful, but should remain relatively small and flat

Only once that’s achieved can we start to imagine fun things like a massive player-base and genuine attention and love from the developer team. Currently, it’s a mash of flurry effects — even if you know the game well, it’s pretty hard to understand anything that’s happening in a team fight.

Forget about what you think you know about balance and meta builds.

We’ll adapt to the FotM stuff and the stronger players will emerge — people still solo roam in WvW with all sorts of builds. When you think about why people stay with GW2, they all say they love the combat. Strip the combat down to its purest form and make simple tweaks that let the audience know exactly what’s going on.

Could you imagine a queue-system in Lion’s Arch where you could line up to duel in a coliseum that other players could watch from the stands? People in-game would sit around watching that all day. It’s totally streamable and castable.

Kreweless.2196:

Lucius.2140:

so i either get aniquated by the dh or change to my dh in a 1020 vs1520 skill rate match.

Dude I have no clue what you even said.

That classes are countered by others and if theres no mayor rework you could end with duels you absolutly will win or will lost.+ the typical: game its not balanced in 1vs1.

Kreweless.2196:

We’ll adapt to the FotM

fractals of the mists? what does this mean?

Lucius.2140:

That classes are countered by others and if theres no mayor rework you could end with duels you absolutly will win or will lost.+ the typical: game its not balanced in 1vs1.

I’m mainly mocking your grammar and spelling choices.

Perfect balance is overrated, not to mention impossible; look at fighting games. That 5-5 Utopia we all think we want not only can’t be attained, but I’d wager it’d be boring to watch.

Stand The Wall.6987:

fractals of the mists? what does this mean?

It stands for Flavor of the Month. A lot of arm-chair experts like to tout facts like CondiMesmer always loses to PowerDragonhunter, but that’s only on paper.

And they’re forgetting that in a duel-environment there isn’t a small point that a scrub can spam AoEs on. The current meta goes out the window when you drop the points.

The bottom line is, saying oh it won’t be balanced doesn’t address the fact that dueling would be easier to watch, easier to rank and faster to queue.

oh lol, gotcha.
would be interesting to see, I must admit.

Kreweless.2196:

Lucius.2140:

That classes are countered by others and if theres no mayor rework you could end with duels you absolutly will win or will lost.+ the typical: game its not balanced in 1vs1.

I’m mainly mocking your grammar and spelling choices.

Bah, not my main language, i demand a satisfaction!, lets duel to death xd.
Yeah but hardcounters are too much of a difference imo.

Lucius.2140:

Bah, not main language, i demand a satisfaction!, lets duel to death xd.
Yeah but hardcounters are too much of a difference imo.

Now you’re talking! xD

I’m not gonna pretend there aren’t inbalance issues. We finally saw a PvE/PvP split last balance patch, which is a great sign of things to come. Surely, we’d see some builds presumed stronger than others. But think about this.

Mime gained infamy in NA dueling servers playing PowerShatter against Thieves back when that matchup was 10-0 Thief. Back in 2013, Thieves could basically farm Mesmers for free. How cool is it that you could sometimes see him in dueling servers just destroying Thieves all day.

Think about the entertainment value that comes from a matchup that should have an obvious outcome, and doesn’t.

Game is not balanced around 1v1. It won’t work.

I can grab a scrapper and beat most thieves while being semi-afk, simply because of the way how classes are designed.

Game is not balanced around 5v5 either.

Game is not build around compatibility between profession concepts. Game is meant to unite differences in complex teams. 1v1 and 2v2 will never work.

However, if there was 1v1, it would not need an arena designed. 1v1 can be defined as a simple duel or challenge in open field.

PvP in this game is full of contradictions in terms and concepts:
- we have teams, but we play solo or duo;
- we have team competitions and contest with money, but we do not promote any teamplay whatsoever, voting for SoloQ and asking it again and again and again;
- we have 5v5, but people love 1v1 (hence this topic);
- we have arenas for control of points, when people simply wish to kill each other in 1v1 and 2v2;
- we have combos, when majority do not even like to use voice chat to announce fields and finishers;
- we have rewards for PvP only, but we farm everything and like to gain rewards when loosing;
- we want to go in fights very fast, but when we do, we act negatively and it’s always someone else’s fault making them quit.
- we want esport, but many good teams left the game long time ago, while we promote SoloQ
- we like to stream to promote this game, but we have only fiew viewers because the game is harder to watch than to actually play it.
- we call call it Guild Wars, but there is no “PvP only” guild, nothing exists to create war and conflict and fighting events, while we do not even need a premade team anymore.

Przemyslaw.5891:

Game is not balanced around 5v5 either.

actually it is or anet wouldn’t nerfs thief for years for the sake of forcing them into one specific role

I said it above and will say it again. GW2 is mostly rock/paper/scissors and as such a 1v1 system is a ridiculous idea.

Przemyslaw.5891:

Game is not balanced around 5v5 either.

this is lol.
3v3 is the lowest i’d go.

It’s really easy to say the game isn’t balanced for 1v1. I’d be more interested in comments that intelligently described why / how it isn’t balanced, and I’d be even more impressed by comments that suggested what direction balance could go to improve a dueling gametype.

In any game that has more than one character, there will be favorable / unfavorable matchups for each, but that’s just a reality of having more than one character. The original Street Fighter was perfectly balanced, because you could only play two characters, and they were exactly the same.

That game was boring.

Sure, there’d be over represented and under represented characters at first, but we could address that. The community can ban certain builds or even classes in community-run tournaments, and we can solicit balance changes from the developers.

There are certainly on-paper favorable matchups between the current metabuilds. That, by no means, predetermines all of the duels that can occur between all the players of Guild Wars 2. Like I said before, Mime gained notoriety for consistently winning the unwinnable Thief/Mesmer matchup back in 2013—even against top Thieves.

Acrisor.8097:

- we like to stream to promote this game, but we have only fiew viewers because the game is harder to watch than to actually play it.

The spirit of this conversation is exploring ways to make the game easier to spectate. I genuinely believe that in order to become a popular and successful competitive game, Guild Wars 2 needs to address this head-on.

With just a few changes: lifebars, timer, dynamic camera, arenas — the game suddenly becomes something that anyone can immediately understand, at least on a basic level. From there, the entertainment value only goes up. A hero-tier player in a bad matchup can generate serious hype.