Guild Wars 2

I said in beta that preventing casual groups from playing together in sPVP (hot join) was a mistake and, after playing a bit of both sPVP and tPVP, I’m convinced of it. A large number of us are casual players that frequently play with friends in small groups. At the same time, we enjoy PVP and playing on the same team. Often, we play so little (once a week) that even as a group, we suck… admittedly.

As everyone knows, attempting to join as a group in sPVP of say just 2 people is tedious and subject to auto-balancing. Join with 3 players? Forget it. The only option for casual players that want to play together is tPVP which, in fact, results in the very same justification for preventing groups from forming in sPVP… dramatic imbalance. The reason is, as we likely all know, that in tPVP, a small group ends up as, more or less, a PUG and often opposes a well oiled team of 5, all in the same guild, all with builds built specifically around each other, and all on vent. The result essentially is a premade vs. a PUG… the exact thing GW2 is preventing in sPVP.

The difference is that 1) you have to wait 4 minutes (4 MINUTES!!!????) before the start of the first match and 2) 99% of the time you’re teeth are kicked in so hard that you begin to question why you play this game and 3) you’re out of the tourney before you know it and then have to start all over again.

I know there are a lot of good reasons to maintain the status quo. And I don’t purport to know everything. But, the exact reason for preventing groups in sPVP is rampant in tPVP currently, resulting in some serious imbalance and a real deficit of fun. I respect GW2’s focus on balance and feel that they’re off to a better start than most games… but, as a casual player (previously competitive in PVP), I feel the pain of simply wanting to play with the bros, keep is close, and have some fun… but it’s not happening in the current game design.