Guild Wars 2

I think it would be neat to allow a customizable npc (set traits/amulets/runes/sigils/weapons). It would be also cool to be able to set a string of skill executions to be repeated to practice against or with (ally npcs and enemy npcs) or some sort of behavior (but behaviors would be harder to implement so I think just allowing players to set the npc’s skill execution would be sufficient. This wouldn’t be for a beginner’s tutorial but would be something useful for pvp immersion post the basics. Even now I horde a lot of time against the very simple npcs in the mists, but I’d love to spend more time in the ‘training room’ with more advanced capabilities to train against computers.

This post is a summary of the discussion thats taken place so far, to help those joining the conversation late:

Main difficulties for newcomers:

• Finding optimal builds
  – Understanding traits
  – Understanding how to build to a role
• Conquest game type
  – Different roles in the game
  – Movement – how to be effective
• Confusion of game modes
  – Starting off in 8v8 hotjoin is the prime culprit
  – No semblance of balance, feels zergy

General ideas so far:

• Increase viability of starter builds, Meta Specs?
  – Regular Updates
  – Different choices for different roles (trait and gear templates?)
  – Video tutorial links mailed to the player (Official or Community Driven)
• Make 5v5 the default “Play Now” gametype
  – Minimum rank for tournaments?
  – Beginner tournaments for below rank X ?
  – Rank specific hotjoin rooms
• Official build resource
  – With guides, hints and tips
  – Youtube links?
• Class specific in game guilds as a help resource
  – Would need to be well publiscised
• Arena deathmatches to help players learn class mechanics
• PvP Browser should be made clearer
  – Tutorial indicating different game types, what they entail
  – Split up standard servers and custom arenas

Tutorial ideas:

• Personal Story quest/Scout in the mists
  – Explain how to retrait, where to get armor/weapons/amulets
  – Show off the different areas on the island and what they are used for
• Sparring NPCs running meta builds
• Games against AI
  – Include Personal Story style quest that instructs players on movement
  – Different for each role (build selected gives the player his/her role)
• Mini game
  – 5 stones vs AI
  – Moves on a turn by turn basis, helps players understand movement
  – More advanced, stones have roles, I.e. Bunkers, Roamers etc
  – Work in realtime
• Daily tips
  – e.g. it only takes one person to cap a point
• Tutorials on how to use certain skills
  – e.g. You are given a stun, and must use it on the enemy when they try to heal
  – e.g. Dodge the enemies big attack

Idea:

Change the end-of-match summary screen from a blue/red scoring of points to a singular table, sorted by rank points/glory awarded. Color code players based upon which team they were on.

This will have the effect of enforcing into players that, no matter how good their personal score, when their team loses they do not finish ‘first’.

I may have missed it but it would really be useful to help new players get into PvP if there were ranks or difficulty levels or some means of segmenting players by experience.. even just for casual games. As a new player I expect to get beaten a LOT but even so it’s frustrating to get destroyed over and over and over again. Only the hardy will stick through this — most will say ‘screw it’ and do something else.

Also, I’m trying to learn to improve my (bad) PvP skills by participating in a couple of 1v1 duel servers. These are a great idea but they are implemented as a kludge because there doesn’t seem to be a formal 1v1 dueling mechanism. It works but it’s klunky.. people have to avoid stomping so you don’t have to run back, people attack by accident, trolls gank people to be annoying, have to keep switching teams, duels interfere with each other, etc.. Seems it wouldn’t be too hard to make a formal ‘dueling mode’, which would also help with learning.

Hopefully the summary includes most of the discussion on this topic. I’ll update it if anything new comes along, but I think we’ve covered most of the bases. Interestingly most of the tutorials weren’t actually concerning the conquest game type but focused on class mechanics and builds, which I think for new players with a basic understanding of a Player vs Player style game are far more complex to understand.

There really isn’t any emphasis put on this at all at the moment. While youtube videos are out there, some are much better than others and many are outdated. I think an official build resource put on the forums with video guides from high level players would be the first logical step to improving the experience, and to implement that into the game a simple link sent to the player when their character enters PvP would suffice. What do you guys think?

jonnis.2946:

Hopefully the summary includes most of the discussion on this topic. I’ll update it if anything new comes along, but I think we’ve covered most of the bases. Interestingly most of the tutorials weren’t actually concerning the conquest game type but focused on class mechanics and builds, which I think for new players with a basic understanding of a Player vs Player style game are far more complex to understand.

There really isn’t any emphasis put on this at all at the moment. While youtube videos are out there, some are much better than others and many are outdated. I think an official build resource put on the forums with video guides from high level players would be the first logical step to improving the experience, and to implement that into the game a simple link sent to the player when their character enters PvP would suffice. What do you guys think?

Yeah having some kind of link within the game to good youtube tutorials would be a godsend. New players have no clue.. whats going on in spvp someone needs to tell them how they are suppose to play(because the ingame tutorial doesn’t) so everyone can have a better experience.
I really hope areanet does something about this… i would be a step in the right direction to making spvp better.

thanks josh!

excellent sPvP intro guide!

if you dun mind, i already copy pasted the contents in our casual guild’s facebook private group page.

yes, i got post the original link back here too.

edit:
and errr josh …
if and when you guys have the time …

do consider recruiting a NPC inside the heart of the mist, with all these written guides?

or even implement a guide tab in the crossed swords PvP menu.
or even a sPvP living story month! not sPvP seasons, not yet. maybe a sPvP intro living month, to capture the attention of even more PvE / WvW, to let them try out sPvP.

to remove the phobia of sPvP that some PvE + WvW players have.

for example, one of my casual guild member, sophie, she said that she avoids sPvP because she thinks she have low reflexes and would die horribly in sPvP.

i just tell her that she has low confidence, and sPvP is not that scary at all.

yesterday, my warrior duel with her guardian, we can’t kill each other since we are kinda defensive bunker builds.

she then commented that sPvP is not that scary after all.
i felt that this is a good improvement!

since the 10 dec patch, a lot of more of my casual guild members are trying out sPvP, many of them are PvE + WvW members.

keep up the good work josh, justin!
thumbs up!