ArenaNet, you don’t even identify your own game as an Esport. Your hardcore PvP player base, constantly mocks PvP for all it’s faults. Your PvP player base is small and a lot of it isn’t even dedicated.
Lets compare to League of Legends ranks, League has 214 people in Challenger (AKA Pro rank) and ~700+ master ranked (just under pro, can be considered pro), over 30,000 people are diamond (AKA high end, very skilled but not exactly pro)
Guild Wars 2 can’t even get close to those numbers.
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Why have a world series? Shouldn’t your focus being trying to improve PvP? Build a large PvP community? Fix a lot of the annoyances like immobilize-air bug and Skyhammer? Why put effort into a world series?
Grouch and I were asked to talk about GW2’s competitive program at a local conference and if your interested you can watch here:
Steve
I looked at your obstacles section, do you guys not have enough people?
- Who is your PvE team?
- Who is your dungeon team?
- Who is your combat team?
- Who is your WvW team?
- Who is your PvP team?
- Who is your material (crafting, items, gemstore) team?
- Who is your community team?
If you have a big game, you have many teams to carter to all players, right?
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If the community doesn’t identify that the game is eports, why offer real money? Guild Wars 2 is NOT an Esport game, trying to treat it like so is wasteful.
Why not just give gems?
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ArenaNet is the biggest issue. Ironic, a great PvP system being held back by their own creators.
The key thing for any esport is a community. Which, ArenaNet has killed time and again with Dhuumfire, stun bug, turrets, each time PvP blossomed ArenaNet let problems run wild.
The best plan for GW2 being an esport, is rebuilding the community.
Step 1.
Bring in Random Arena’s from Guild Wars 1.
Fight with a random team until you lose or get 10 wins. Why this isn’t in GW2 is absolutely beyond me, no dedicated healers so… What’s the hold up? It’s a fun mode, it was popular in GW1. ADD. IT.
Step 2.
A refined Practice and Warm Up mode.
Now, you can hop into any custom match, get dailies and max out the progress bar. Fine, but if you go into a random server with a new build on a new class. You will get PUNISHED. Have a practice mode that will net you 500 for winning OR losing, as long as you are playing on a class you play the least. I have 5,000 games on my Elementalist, why practice with my thief? When my Elementalist will get me rewards, faster. As for Warm Up mode, that SHOULD be what practice is right now. 500 for winning, 200 for losing. Bring the class you have 1000 wins on, leave the class you have 8.
Step 3.
Polish the maps!
Skyhammer. Throwing people off the map is to easy and to rewarding, teleport falling people back to base IF they have over 50% of their health with a 5 second DAZE. Not stun, DAZE. You can use a stun breaker and start leaping back to home point or run slowly. Also, if you had under 50%, you will fall to your death, preventing throwing yourself off a cliff as a viable way to escape. This will add a level of strategy and skill to the map and won’t make it unbearable. There are other maps that can also use some polish but Skyhammer has the most sins.
Step 4.
Add a new exciting mechanic.
Having it that when certain skills hit a player, it will instantly kill them. No down state, instant death, a Death Strike. Like, add a Death Strike to most of the Warriors burst skills, thief sneak skills, Necromancers Life Blast. Have fun with it too, the Guardians Binding Blade, give it a Death Strike. If your opponent reaches 0 health while hexed with that, they will instantly die. Meteor Shower can be even more scary as it’s an AoE rain of instant death. With instant death around more, you can buff revive skills like Glyph of Renewal or Signet of Undeath. This will mold players thoughts on what weapons to bring and what role they will play.
Step 5.
Feel free to balance/all the above.
I couldn’t care less about elite spec’s right now ArenaNet. Bring back the community. Then you can balance, make fun sigils, change up some runes, have it so you can only have 1 rally per death, etc. A balanced game doesn’t mean anything if no one is around to play it
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Above all, you need to resurrect your PvP player base. That should be #1 on your list, at least, I thought…
Seems like #1 on your list should be development teams :\
Just… Why work hard for a World Series? What possible good can come from it?
Have a good, large dedicated PvP community, THEN build it into an Esport like League of Legends did! Not the other way around!!!
(edited by Nova Stiker.8396)