Guild Wars 2

To me, the decision that you’ll take in giving Stronghold its own queue or not is something of greater magnitude than you could ever imagine. I’ll try and keep it as short as possible in why giving Stronghold its own queue will be the best decision you’ll ever make.

• It has its own mechanics which are very different from the regular modes.
  The one to take most notice of, is its Moba influenced mechanics.
  For years, Moba inspired game modes have been incredible popular due to its mechanics and how different the map plays every time you play it.

• I realize the fear you have of having a single map in a game mode. If people play it enough, they’ll get bored and the mode just having one map will die out right? Wrong.
  The mechanics are so very different from the other modes, that players could end up just playing that map over and over again and not getting bored.

• Just look at other games like League of Legends for example. It had like one map (and technically it still has) and people just loves playing it till this very day.
  Why didn’t they get bored? The map itself isn’t really anything special if you look at it. But it’s how different you can play the map every time due to its mechanics.
  This could be Stronghold.

• Another concern that I know you’re worried about. Is the PvP playerbase. Splitting two modes with different queues, will end up hurting the overall PvP experience as the playerbase isn’t at its ideal size.
  But here’s the thing. Stronghold could very well be the map the non PvP players could end up loving if they dislike Conquest mode. The modes are so very different in itself that those that dislike PvP in general and Conquest mode, could end up loving Stronghold.
  What this means, you could end up having a big portion of the PvE playerbase that you have wanted for so very long, becoming Stronghold PvP players and loving it.

Make the right decision and give Stronghold its own queue / leaderboard.
You know deep down it’s the right decision and what could possibly change a huge portion of the game forever in a positive direction.

Take the leap of faith.

They will, but they will first release HoT, then listen to the community, as they said

MrKrataus.6420:

They will, but they will first release HoT, then listen to the community, as they said

I realize that. But thinking of the potential this game mode (and how) will have in good time and in good length. Could end up having them lean towards one direction over the other a bit more once the actual decision is there for them to take.

Even if it’s too early, I still think it’s important to raise awareness right from the start.

Blackwyn.8127:

• Another concern that I know you’re worried about. Is the PvP playerbase. Splitting two modes with different queues, will end up hurting the overall PvP experience as the playerbase isn’t at its ideal size.

Citation needed.

Now that Colin has confirmed that build templates are not happening with HoT, it’s an even bigger reason to split the queues.

I honestly believe that if the queues are merged then this new mode will not actually require purchase of HoT. How would people queue who didn’t buy the x-pac? There are only two things that can happen:

1.) Stronghold isn’t part of the x-pac and everyone gets it and they merge the queues.

or

2.) Stronghold requires you to purchase the x-pac and they split the queues.

ArenaNet’s communication on this subject has been downright awful.

I’ll be even more positive @Iason Evan :

3.) Stronghold isn’t part of the x-pac and everyone gets it and they split the queues.

As OP said + the templates not coming on HoT as you said, it becomes clear that the better option will be to give Stronghold for everyone (as they have said already in one of the latest interviews with youtubers iirc) and split the queues: really different gameplay + Stronghold will strongly appeal to non PvP “hardcore” players.

In my personal opinion, splitting the queues would allow a sPvP community that enjoys stronghold to form and expand the PvP community in general.

A lot of people have stated their dislike for Conquest, I can see stronghold giving sPvP another chance to become a more popular and have a stronger scene behind it. The only real drawback being that Conquest might be left behind, which personally I can live with.

My only fear is that not having split queues will prevent them from getting the feedback they want. On one hand, the data they collect from map selections and player feedback from people who queue often is very valuable. It sounds like this will guide their decision. However, this excludes the people who would ONLY want to play Stronghold, but won’t queue because they would have to play so many more conquest games (at least every time Battle of Champion’s Dusk isn’t on the map selection). I hope they take this into account.

guardian.6489:

In my personal opinion, splitting the queues would allow a sPvP community that enjoys stronghold to form and expand the PvP community in general.

A lot of people have stated their dislike for Conquest, I can see stronghold giving sPvP another chance to become a more popular and have a stronger scene behind it. The only real drawback being that Conquest might be left behind, which personally I can live with.

People will play 1k Stronghold games and will need a Conquest refresher. The same happened with Courtyard.. hopefully we’ll have less drama this time around.

Conquest games are going to be slow but I don’t see them dying anytime soon. Some players may prefer the one on one confrontational Conquest gameplay instead of Stronghold’s “moba” style play. You never know.

I’m beyond hyped about Stronghold

I’ll agree with this point every time I see a thread posted on it. I really hope the decision to consolidate queues gets changed before Stronghold is released…

Iason Evan.3806:

Now that Colin has confirmed that build templates are not happening with HoT, it’s an even bigger reason to split the queues.

I honestly believe that if the queues are merged then this new mode will not actually require purchase of HoT. How would people queue who didn’t buy the x-pac? There are only two things that can happen:

1.) Stronghold isn’t part of the x-pac and everyone gets it and they merge the queues.

or

2.) Stronghold requires you to purchase the x-pac and they split the queues.

ArenaNet’s communication on this subject has been downright awful.

I don’t remember if it was Colin but one of the Anet higher ups confirmed on the AngryJoe interview that both Stronghold and the new WvW map will be available for everyone, not only those that purchase HoT.

He also said something about seperating the queue – I think it was that they’re going to decide that in Beta?

I heard that we will have a guild ladder for Stronghold, but know I’ve read this I am terribly confused