Guild Wars 2

Hello.

I spend a good deal of my free time conjuring up Warrior Builds. Making Warrior videos, and doing things most active players do: Find new and creative ways to be successful at sPvP.

Concerns:

One of the biggest concerns I have to the long term success of this game is Transparency from the GW2 sPvP Dev team to the sPvP Community.

While I believe the Devs have the greatest intentions of creating a meaningful, interesting and successful PvP experience (hey they want their game to succeed right?) I also have noticed there isn’t much community interaction.

On these message boards we rarely get straight responses. More often than not we have threads full of complaints / worry, with very little in reassurance. Generally, we receive information in the form of game-wide announcements (news). But this news gives us broad strokes of concepts that will be debuting in the near future.

Concepts aren’t what the community yearns for. The community is extremely interested in expanding the BREADTH of game play available, not the depth.

Examples of Breadth:
-More interesting weapon mechanics giving way to a larger diversity of builds.
-More interesting maps / map types giving way to a larger diversity of sPvP game types.

Examples of Depth:
-Paid Tournaments using the same maps.
-Paid servers using the same maps / gametypes.

While stat tracking, Paid tournaments and other things are fantastic towards the eventual growth of the game, many people are burning out from lack of concepts/diversity and general game types.

Transparency is paramount to success:
If there is more at play here that we aren’t being told, such as:
-Profession balance / weapon reworks and skill changes
Yet we aren’t being told about them. I implore ArenaNet to give us headway so we know that our thoughts are heard.

Until then, most of these sub-forums will be filled with the following thread subjects:
-Nerf X
-Why is X team composition so OP
-Where are the other gametypes?

With some Transparency I think we all would be a little more at ease with the direction the game is going.

I think we all just need a little reassurance.

Thank you for reading and your time.
-Defektive

Edited by Moderator to remove text size formatting.

Good post. Agreed.

I’ll have to agree.
A group of people consider PvP the only real end game outside of farming legendaries. Those are both getting stale.
Leaving us in the dark is making it seem like little to no progress is being made.
Also I’d LOVE to see a dev talk about class balance, and their perspective on certain builds and such that they are working on.

I couldn’t agree more with your header, I think transparency is a must. Although, I don’t entirely agree with your breadth over depth concept. But that is also because I believe different game types are a depth issue, not a breadth issue.

Unless if anet comes up with something amazing about capture points, I am convinced that the only way to fix their problem is with a new game type that will take center stage over cap points.

In any case, I couldn’t agree more. Please be more transparent, I can’t think of a development team over than Anet that didn’t give some conversation to the community about things that needed to be balanced.

Breadth vs Depth. That’s a good way to put things into context here. Depth through the coming update (what we’ve been told to expect for pvp) will no doubt add some value, but they’re missing some fundamental leverages: multiple game modes, the inherent diversity that comes with the balance of life and kill, motivation for aesthetics, and I will say more revenue from aesthetics (on many levels), for starters. I’m wondering if I should hold out for another mode anytime soon…

Good post. Good luck.

ColinJohanson.2394:

We totally agree! We’re working on another upcoming PvP stuff update that’ll be coming out shortly once we’ve verified everything is working correctly.

We’ve actually posted in a number of threads here (now no longer on the front page) detailing what our plans are in the near future for SPvP, as well as posted a blog post that summarizes what’s coming shortly, and the build note preview on paid tournaments for the Halloween update. We’ll be going into more detail specific about competitive pvp next week on the blog including screenshots and feature descriptions, and of course will continue to update in these forums as well.

Transparency in every part of the game is very important to us, and I think you’ll be thrilled so see how quickly new features for pvp come rolling online over the next few months. This is a huge focus for us, and a community and part of the game we take very seriously, and we’ll strive to keep making sure you all know what we’ve got planned, and where we’re taking the game to reach its ultimate long term goals.

Colin,

Thank you for responding. I appreciate you coming into this thread and sharing with us your thoughts.

The mere mention of a PvP update before the Halloween patch is relieving.
However, one area of my post describes being more open with upcoming changes.

In regards to your response:
“We’re working on another upcoming PvP stuff update that’ll be coming out shortly once we’ve verified everything is working correctly.”

What does this entail?
-Balance to classes? If so, which?
-Map changes? (ex. Raid of the Cap is widely considered a bad map)
-Changes to weapons and skills? If so, which classes and why?

Answers to questions like these are what will drive the community to being reassured regarding the direction of the game.

It’s a good method, I think people are just a bit spoiled with the instant gratification of the world today and have very little patience for things they want as a result.

Thus far Anet has communicated more with it’s community than any other MMO I’ve ever played, especially on it’s forums and I’m not sure anyone could name a current company that does the same or does it better.

There may be a couple other companies that do it, but I don’t foresee very many names being listed. But I do agree, class balance and content updates are definitely needed.

ColinJohanson.2394:

Also that should say the next pvp update will be a written blog post with pictures and more that’ll come sometime around/after the Shadow of Mad King release, I’m on a role today =)

It seems that this topic has peaked your fancy.

Thanks for taking time out of your Saturday to chat, it means a great deal to me and my fellow sPvPers.

A thought: The PvP Blog Post update, if this is coming AFTER (lets say) the ‘Shadow of Mad King’ release, am I right to assume that the PvP Updates associated to ‘Mad King’ are not related to the PvP Blog Post updates? Meaning, in the near future there will be more PvP updates outside of that already depicted in the ‘Mad King’ post?

I’ll always be all for transparency. I love information, so the more the merrier.

However, a few notes:

1. Many posts around here are just emotional responses to dying. Do devs have to pander to outcries with soothing words? That’s how you treat an infant human, and I’d prefer not to be treated that way.

2. Every little thing posted by someone with ANet next to their name is read by hundreds, or thousands, of eyes. If even one little thing doesn’t quite add up, or if it gets misconstrued by the wrong person, then it’s immediately taken out of context and blown out of proportion.

Some of us are appreciative of bits of information. We all have varying levels of tolerance for ANet’s position.

However, I personally think ANet would be inclined to be more transparent if the community had a more stable head on its shoulders.

Don’t get me wrong, I wish I was a fly on the wall for every PM/balance/etc. meeting ANet has. I’d like to know which classes they’re looking at for tweaks, and how. I’d like to know about ideas they have regarding bunker builds. I’d like to know how if they are going to add more WvWvW content iteratively, if it’s mainly just good how it is, or if major changes will happen with content packs/expansions. I’d like to know every detail for their upcoming sPvP releases.

I think posts like this are excellent for the community to keep ANet honest with regard to timely blog posts/responses. However, I also think the community can relax their pitchfork hands.

I think it’s important to not confuse transparency with the goal of effective, and clear communication. They have been pretty good about communicating often, and well I think.
With a community as rabid as the modern mmo community is, a developer really has to watch its steps and give clear information with no room for confusion, and about things that are extremely close and certain to be implemented in a working fashion. Should they fail in any of these aspects, it usually ends up in a big mess among the community. I don’t agree with this, but it’s how it is.

I don’t think the community could handle the iterative process of possible balance changes they are looking at and testing. The overreaction to everything from one of Jon’s chat sessions with people in the Mists was astonishing. Anything he didn’t mention as suddenly seen as not being worked on, and anything that he did mention was blown way out of proportion.

ColinJohanson.2394:

As for class balance and skills, other teams not directly working on the pvp features are working on that stuff and will give updates once they have a clear plan in place. What we don’t want to do is post and say, “We’re doing x and this is how it’s going to work!” and then come back say, “no we lied we are actually doing Y”. We have a strict policy of talking about features and changes once they are far enough along we feel comfortable they are going to work, so we’re actually always delivering on our promises.

Unless I misunderstood you, it sounds a lot like you’re not going to balance anything in the near future? So we just have to put up with broken builds/skills until you decide people have had enough time to adjust?

You guys at ANet don’t seem to understand that as people get better, yes they can counter some of the broken builds better, but the people playing the broken builds will also be getting better, so the whole “waiting until things settle” just doesn’t work as well as you think…

ColinJohanson.2394:

You misunderstood me, there is an entire group of people working on balancing the game as I write this…

Yes, I got that part. But it just seems to me that the balancing won’t happen for quite some time, I did hope that there’d be some decent balances with the next patch, so the first paid tournaments wont be filled with the same cheesy and OP set up that everyone is tired of facing now. Such as, Assassin signet + backstab combo, this is just plain wrong, retaliation/bunker guardians and of course mesmers…

Aga.8641:

ColinJohanson.2394:

You misunderstood me, there is an entire group of people working on balancing the game as I write this…

Yes, I got that part. But it just seems to me that the balancing won’t happen for quite some time, I did hope that there’d be some decent balances with the next patch, so the first paid tournaments wont be filled with the same cheesy and OP set up that everyone is tired of facing now. Such as, Assassin signet + backstab combo, this is just plain wrong, retaliation/bunker guardians and of course mesmers…

Why would you want them to rush balance? The things you listed aren’t game breaking problems like some make them out to be.

Some of you will always play, see something that hurts your feelings, and demand it be changed. The rest of us are designing builds and counters and having fun.

Especially when our profession and build consistently defies the status quo.

Some of that “transparency” regarding the baffling great sword change made to Guardians that did not “fix” retaliation in the slightest would be nice.

I think its great that Anet recognises the importance of communication.

ColinJohanson.2394:

As for class balance and skills, other teams not directly working on the pvp features are working on that stuff and will give updates once they have a clear plan in place. What we don’t want to do is post and say, “We’re doing x and this is how it’s going to work!” and then come back say, “no we lied we are actually doing Y”. We have a strict policy of talking about features and changes once they are far enough along we feel comfortable they are going to work, so we’re actually always delivering on our promises.

I can understand your point that you do not want to make empty promises. However when it comes to balancing professions and addressing their shortcomings in PvP I am not convinced that working behind close doors without any communication with the players will lead to optimal results. To be clear, I have faith the people working on the professions and balancing are competent, however I also feel that communication with the players over the corresponding class forums could be very helpful in understanding where the perceived shortcoming of a certain class are. There is no need to make any promises, but I think it can also be very helpful sometimes for your balancing team to just go to the class forums and ask ‘Where do you see the shortcomings of your class?’ and if some changes are planned ask ‘How would you feel about when we change X? Would that be helpful in solving the Y problem?’. After all, spending hundreds of hours playing a certain class kinda makes you an expert on that topic and I can only urge you and your team to draw from that experience.

I appreciated the response here.

I’d like to pose a question to everyone surrounding transparency, generally because I don’t want to have many misconceptions about where this game can go.

Q: How important are Anet’s e-sport ambitions in comparison to community consensus on issues such as additional game modes, and to some lesser extent, red and blue uniforms?

Is it possible for the development team to balance the classes around conquest, promote it as an e-sport, AND yet provide another gamemode? I’m sure they could, but they may have different plans.

As far as a sense of accomplishment in pvp, how you look is the biggest motivator for GW2, so having to wear a uniform of any type is a major concern for people moving forward.

I just don’t want to waste anyone’s time, so thanks for any positive feedback, as I look forward to hearing more about the future of pvp in the coming blogs.

Nice to see such good origin post still exists because usually these kind of post led to thread close very soon before discussion started.

Thank both original post and Colin for the good job.

This thread has my approval.

Good job, OP.

I’d like to say my 2c:

I believe that more communication between players/devs should happen after the introduction of a ranking system, and ONLY if ranking is shown everytime you post.

This is not to say that low rank people opinions are not important: sometime there are guys smart enough to understand a game mechanic just as good as a “pro” gamer.

But most of them are not, and complain about “X burst is too much, pls nerf X” or " Y bunker is too resilient, pls nerf Y" without even caring about learning to counter X or Y: this is how the majority of sPvP forum is filled, and that’s why i usually just come here for a good laugh, instead of giving feedback to aNet.

Communication between “pro” gamers/good teams and devs is a MUST to achieve very good balance and a great gaming experience, even better if with more maps/ game types.

I’m looking forward to the upcoming updates on PvP, and i’ll stay tuned and wait: because this game is fresh and new, and claiming it to be IMMEDIATELY the “best awsum PvP game ever” in less then 2 months is foolish.

But i have faith.

Whoa hold on. We have a dev responding to issues and concerns. So why do people complain all the time saying they don’t?

Keep up the good work A-Net, and don’t let the haters and trolls get to you.

ColinJohanson.2394:

We’re working on another upcoming PvP stuff update detailing what our plans are in the near future for SPvP, as well as posted a blog post that summarizes what’s coming shortly

The OP’s point (which surely you can’t have missed) was that the communication to date has been devoid of any real detail, and if I may say so, fairly condescending. I’ve read hundreds of posts about balance issues, the wvw snowball effect, downed state being really unbalanced and generally horrible in pvp, spvp stagnation… but to date, none of these have been materially addressed, it’s always “we’re working on it”, or “balance is fine”.

Well, being transparent would mean providing actual balance data, earnest discussion of problems and the solutions being trialled, etc. The communication to date seems more motivated by an intention to placate rather than inform.

mjharrison.3209:

ColinJohanson.2394:

We’re working on another upcoming PvP stuff update detailing what our plans are in the near future for SPvP, as well as posted a blog post that summarizes what’s coming shortly

The OP’s point (which surely you can’t have missed) was that the communication to date has been devoid of any real detail, and if I may say so, fairly condescending. I’ve read hundreds of posts about balance issues, the wvw snowball effect, downed state being really unbalanced and generally horrible in pvp, spvp stagnation… but to date, none of these have been materially addressed, it’s always “we’re working on it”, or “balance is fine”.

Well, being transparent would mean providing actual balance data, earnest discussion of problems and the solutions being trialled, etc. The communication to date seems more motivated by an intention to placate rather than inform.

He said that they don’t share what they have in mind before they have tested it so they don’t have to go back on their word, read the thread before posting. Also “arenanet doesn’t communicate with their playerbase” something that complainers like you like to imply, is false… this thread is direct proof why

Arenanet is doing a fantastic job!

@nexxe
Honestly, as someone who has worked in customer service, it’s just that no matter how much you do for them someone will always find a reason to complain. Most people are just inclined to do so.

Blazer Hellsing.9184:

mjharrison.3209:

ColinJohanson.2394:

We’re working on another upcoming PvP stuff update detailing what our plans are in the near future for SPvP, as well as posted a blog post that summarizes what’s coming shortly

The OP’s point (which surely you can’t have missed) was that the communication to date has been devoid of any real detail, and if I may say so, fairly condescending. I’ve read hundreds of posts about balance issues, the wvw snowball effect, downed state being really unbalanced and generally horrible in pvp, spvp stagnation… but to date, none of these have been materially addressed, it’s always “we’re working on it”, or “balance is fine”.

Well, being transparent would mean providing actual balance data, earnest discussion of problems and the solutions being trialled, etc. The communication to date seems more motivated by an intention to placate rather than inform.

He said that they don’t share what they have in mind before they have tested it so they don’t have to go back on their word, read the thread before posting. Also “arenanet doesn’t communicate with their playerbase” something that complainers like you like to imply, is false… this thread is direct proof why

He also claimed that transparency was important, please read the thread before posting.

Spend 20mins looking over the dev blogs for eve online if you want to see an example of a developer that clearly cares deeply about keeping their player community informed.

Just came in here to bump the thread a little bit, read the OP, and the game directors posts. This is a good thread, hopefully Anet stays this way.

I agree that these are important things…I just don’t understand how you could think it’s not happening. I’m also not sure how you can expect things like balance changes to be announced so far ahead of time as the process to determine how to approach an imbalance takes significantly longer than implimenting the changes.

Granted, not much has obviuosly changed in spvp since release though there was a significant post about their short-term plans. I would have to say that’s the downside to playing a portion (only spvp or only wvw or only farming the same 3 events in orr) of the game to the exclusion of the rest of it. if you only see a part of the whole, you lose perspective on the big picture.

i would like to know more about the period/pricing of ‘rental’ on guild spvp servers though…

ColinJohanson.2394:

You misunderstood me, there is an entire group of people working on balancing the game as I write this…

You miss the point. How you change stuff is up in the air, we recognize that. But just saying, “yeah backstab is hitting really hard and we’re looking into it” or “bunker builds might be lasting too long for our liking” would go a long way. You don’t have to state specifically what about the skill, trait, build, or class is the problem in most cases, or even how to fix it, just acknowledge that there may be an issue publicly.

A lot of us are loving the game but still feel like development/updates in the area of pvp has been going at a snail’s pace. Or a standstill. I’m still having fun – the base system is excellent and really has a lot of potential. But there is only a tiny handful of pvp content and it stagnates.

In the way of updates, fixes, and content additions, I don’t know what is reasonable to expect on a buy to play mmo, I honestly don’t. But I genuinely feel like we are still waiting on features that should have been included for launch. And maybe even features were held back like paid tourneys to buy time and placate the crowds until other content was coming.

I’m just curious as to what resource allocation pvp actually has overall. It seems like it must have been a low priority from the start. Compare content of pve vs spvp – the disparity is significant.

Obviously you’ll never hear a company say “sorry guys, you just aren’t as profitable as the pve’ers so it’ll take a while for us to throw you a pittance every couple months” you’ll hear the PR version: “We are working hard to get you the things you need, we don’t want to promise anything until its absolutely certain we’re doing it. Trust us that this is a big priority for us. We’ll talk about things ‘when its ready’ but only after rigorous testing and localization.”

And by this token even a blog post telling us things we already knew can take two months.

On the topic of transparency… To be frank, the policies arenanet adhere to is generally anti-transparency. To put things another way, transparency would be revealing some of the details of what is in the works and what is planned. At which point there would be accountability. Right now its basically Q:“So what’s in the works?” A:“We have a lot planned but we can’t talk about it it till its nearly done!” Q:“Ok… Thats fine I guess… but about roughly will this be ready?” A:“Its ready when its ready! Coming Soon™” No Promises = No accountability.

My issue with this is that it lets you lead people with a carrot without substance. There might be a lot of great stuff right around the corner, or it might be hype. If we had an ETA we could assess with clarity our goals and intentions for the game. A rough idea of whats coming and rough ETAs would appease many restless pvp enthusiasts.

You can say you don’t want backlash if you change your mind on something but you’re getting more flak than that by not releasing enough. And if there actually are not enough resources available to develop PVP at a pace you are comfortable admitting then I for one would appreciate the honesty if we were told this as well. People are feeling strung along at this point.

Don’t get me wrong, I know its a great thing that devs are actually personally getting involved on the forums but so far its just been a tease. imo either too much is being held back, or not enough development is going on pvp-wise to talk about.

People might say ‘just have faith’ but that’s a cop out. Faith is for zealots. We don’t need faith if we are kept in the loop periodically with legitimate information. We don’t expect meeting minutes or office webcams lol but a game as big as this can surely afford the resources to do a make consistent blog posts. I mean, there are individuals with no affiliation with a-net making daily video blogs and putting a heck of a lot of effort to them with no pay. Can’t we get a weekly update? Just a friendly “Hey guys! here’s what we’re up to this week and we’ve made progress on feature x which we expect to be ready for testing December! But many things are in the works, don’t hold us to it!”

Oh well, I can’t expect one forum post won’t change a company’s mind on anything.
I don’t want to comment before seeing what the Oct 22nd patch reveals but I just feel like its going to take a very long time (more than a few months) before we get anything substantive. Even basic class bug fixes are taking ages. Not obscure ones either, ones reported since beta even. It’s disheartening.

I really do like Anet’s stance on things.
Colin, the way you guys give some information is great.
You dont want to promise “A” and give the community the unmentioned “B” or even give any details about “A” or “B” thats good, false hope always gets taken the wrong way and used against you.
Now in the form of patch notes, ive noticed from some other companies, not saying Anet is an awful one.
Riot for example – gives Detailed patch notes, with numbers, reasoning. It’s nice to know the dev thoughts and why the decisions are made, they also make a small little video explaining the thought process on why they made changes to “X”.
They dont Explain every change, just the noticeable ones that the community will mostly care about.
*****Key changes to major components of the game should be more explained. or at least a thought process could give some clarity and good reasoning why things were changed
Though riot does that, they are not the only ones who explain patches, and patch notes
HiRezStudios, with every new patch for their game tribes(only one i play of theirs) they give details as to whats in store, why things were added changed, they have detailed numbers in their patch notes and when there are MAJOR changes to certain things, they make sure to mention it in their short video introducing the new patch.
*I dont dislike the lack of information as far as before the updates, but when the notes are released, and there are major changes to key components of the game, with no1 willing to be the bad/good guy explaining the thought process of these changes its like.. man:/ Not saying you need to do video patches, but it seems to be a pretty good way to keep the community from.. raging for lack of info, because some agree with the changes some dont but at least theres. Clarity:>

@mjharrison, what do you call this thread then? they keep their players in the dark? don’t make me laugh man. Eve is not an ace quality mmo like guild wars 2 is, arenanet is the best mmo company I’ve experienced, they actually respond and care about what their player base thinks unlike other mmo companies out there.

Sir Digby.8160

Some of that “transparency” regarding the baffling great sword change made to Guardians that did not “fix” retaliation in the slightest would be nice.

Yeah, it is kinda baffling to read “Transparency in every part of the game is very important to us” when for 2 weeks now not a single response has been posted regarding that change that didn’t affect what it was supposed to and instead ruined a bunch of other builds usung the GS.

No explanation, no transparency – no anything, just completly ignored despite loads of complaints.
—-
Here’s hoping things change in this regard and it’s not just words that lead to nothing in the end – anyways it’s nice to see a few Anet responses.

ColinJohanson.2394:

You misunderstood me, there is an entire group of people working on balancing the game as I write this…

Wait, and no-one thought quickness was a bad idea? I am dumbfounded.

kKagari.6804:

ColinJohanson.2394:

You misunderstood me, there is an entire group of people working on balancing the game as I write this…

Wait, and no-one thought quickness was a bad idea? I am dumbfounded.

Quickness is on demand burst which is a good thing, stunbreaker + dodge and it’s 0 damage. Pro up, speed up reaction is key.

Sometimes I’m almost ashamed to be a part of the gaming community. ANet comes in a thread and gives several responses to a pretty important question, and this is what they get:
“OMG ANet you wont do anything. Why wont you talk to us??”

• ANet responds *
  “Well, the way I interpret this is XYZ. You need to do ZYX”
• ANet says ’we’re doing ZYX’
  “Well you’re not doing it fast enough. We’re gamers and we know more about balance and content than you do”

Just let these folks to their jobs

Naah, it’s good to keep the fire at their toes a bit

But lay of the insults and such, I would say.
They might be responding too slow for our liking, and they might not announce the features we like to see announced.
But they ARE responding at least, even in this thread.

My own view is that pvp is still in a sort of beta phase, it’s like everything is still being tested.
Anet had their reasons for releasing this early I’m sure, but it doesn’t feel like it was ready.

I’m very critical on these forums, so don’t think I’m defending the game beyond reason here.
But these dev’s still are professionals, they’re not ignorant fools who need to be told what to do and how.
if they claim to be listening to us, and seem to be working on changes on the speed they consider fitting, than we can’t do much except wait and see.

If the changes aren’t coming fast enough, if the changes aren’t solving the issues reported, or if the changes aren’t adding enough new features… they’ll pay for it by losing players.
And don’t be blinded by the ‘no subscription fee’ part: if a game like this loses too many active players, it’s done for. People won’t return once a reputation is broken.
I’m sure the dev’s realise the importance of the current outcries.

Great reading this post. I’m glad i’m not the only one who finds the forums vastly negative – i’m just hoping as time goes on, it will slowly change to more positive. Also you can’t expect Anet to tell you all the items they intent to give us, surprises are what makes it fun! =)

What did you guys learn, besides ‘more info coming later’?

This gentleman did what was necessary, and responded: because this is a legitimate concern within a large part of the community. On one hand, it’s cool he did so on a Saturday; on the other hand, customers and products don’t cease to exist on the weekends, and it’s clear we’ve accepted our lives revolving around corporate clocks.

What is more important to Anet, the community or e-sports?

We’ll see as info is actually given, but right now I feel like a franchise tool in this red or blue armor, and to me it IS TRANSPARENT as to what that’s all about. But perhaps they’re putting new systems in place to really give the people what they want.

I wish transperncy on game balance.

Warroir has highest HP and Armor in game, yet highest damage
Warrior does 20k+ damage 100b in sPVP (Max I did was 27k on necro)

Thiefs do 15k Backstab
Thief’s Pistolwhip is less damage then auto attacking, when it was always weaker then 100b. Now its useless

Guardains with permament retalation up. Even boon stripping dont counter them

Bunker Eles can take on 5 people alone

Rangers are horrible in tpvp

No words, action is needed.

I have read similiar words by companies like Mythic too often. And how it ends? “Principiis consentit exitus.” As the old Romans already knew

very well said, I couldnt agree with this more.

Also agree with asmodean, more action less promising

bugged out post? cant see it anymore :/ only gives me the option to post

Whenever the thread doesn’t show anything, change the ‘2’ in /page/2#postxxxxxx in your URL to a ‘1’. It looks like the forum isn’t aligned in how many it thinks should be on one page versus how many are stored on one page.

Cogbyrn.7283:

Whenever the thread doesn’t show anything, change the ‘2’ in /page/2#postxxxxxx in your URL to a ‘1’. It looks like the forum isn’t aligned in how many it thinks should be on one page versus how many are stored on one page.

thank you !!!

This is extremely important to the success of the game, especially for PvP. WoW, for example, has pretty static balance from season to season. If a certain class or spec is powerful or very effective in Arena, you can expect it to remain powerful for at least the duration of the season, if not most of the expansion. Blizzard operates very slowly with their patching process, and generally gives very long winded and detailed explanations of their plans for future balancing and how classes are supposed to work.

Arenanet, however, has done the exact opposite. Patches balancing professions have been released quickly and with no warning or explanation. One day you’re learning how to play a certain spec then BAM, that playstyle is no longer viable. No warning, no explanation.

This is an awful way to balance a game. Sure some professions may seem or even be unbalanced, but players need to know how the devs feel about them as well. If 100 blades warriors, for example, are not supposed to be as effective in PvP because the devs never intended it as a burst ability, people need to know that before they invest time in the profession. If someone spends a week perfecting a 100 blades setup, learning how to play it, then practicing with their team, only to have it suddenly made useless one day with no warning, that player is going to be very upset.

Right now I feel uneasy about investing any amount of time perfecting my PvP playstyle with any profession because I’m worried it will all be a waste of time. As a hardcore PvPer, I prefer to find the best possible class to maximize my chance of winning. Call it “flavor of the month” if you want, but that just seems like the most logical choice if you’re into PvP. However, it seems like Anet doesn’t want there to be a “best” choice. This is problematic because there WILL always be a best choice, no matter how hard they try to eliminate one. This leaves me with a dilema: Do I purposely pick something that’s second best that probably won’t get nerfed, or do I pick the most powerful option that lets me have the most fun?

With no communication from the devs, it’s hard to make an informed decision about what profession to stick with and master.