Guild Wars 2

>>>Please be Constructive!<<<

• Resign/Surrender command

- Allow a team to use /resign or /surrender to initiate a match end when one team reached 300/350 points. (point threshold to prevent match manipulation by instant /resign)

• AFK/Leaver Report Features (moderate issue)

- There are not enough features/UI to aid players in properly reporting Leavers and AFKers at the end of a match (to prevent reports for temporary disconnects). There should be a UI after the match, or better ways to report during a match, that let players from both teams accumulate reports for players with toxic behavior or greifing.

• Queue from outisde of the HotM (major issue)

- I don’t know the actual metrics on this, but the reason it was changed was due to 4v5/DC/Non-loaders for players outisde of HotM who got a Queue pop. This change however made things mind-numbingly boring. We now have to wait to play the game (manifesto anyone?) Alt-tab and watch a video, or make some food while the queue burns away our time doing nothing…nothing…so boring…falling asle—-

• Solo queue (moderate issue)

- Providing a way for individual players to join matches against other like-minded players without directly forming teams or facing teams with heavy coordination and communication, to have a place to compete.

• Being placed into the same match over and over multiple times in a row (I’ve had it happen up to 5 times in a row). (minor issue)

- A minor algorithm would be helpful to help prevent players from being placed into the same match more than 2 times in a row when using the “Play Now” button.

• Joining blowout matches. (minor issue)

- There needs to be a method or mechanic that detects the % difference in score, and lowers that server’s priority at a threshold, for example, if a match is beyond 7 minutes in, and has a 100+ team score differential, the server should be put on a lower priority for joining.

• Spectator mode abuse/issues/mechanic. (major issue)

- Spectator needs to be locked, that’s it, it is TOO EASY TO ABUSE. Once a player enters spectator mode, they should be locked into it (this only applies to official Anet hotjoin servers, not player customs). The lock would stay in effect until the players leave the match, or use the Volunteer prompt to join an uneven match from spectator mode.

• Autobalance issues. (moderate issue)

- Currently it takes the last joiners into the server, or those who volunteer, without taking into account participation, meaning if you are the first into the server, you have 0 incentive to volunteer since autobalance will never take you. People being targetted by Autobalance should be notified they are going to be taken, instead of it being a sudden “poof”.

• Uneven matches. (moderate/major issue)

- There needs to be a “queue” system that places players into the match. Players should be added to the teams in pairs (1-1, 2-2). A method to do this is to add a team join queue, if you click red, you are placed into red queue until someone joins blue, then both are joined at the same time. Random will act as a “fill” pick joining whatever team has the least queue.

• Server player recognitions. (minor issue)

- Currently a server reads all players as “active” players. Meaning players in spectator mode count toward a hidden playercount, which lowers the server priority for the “Play Now” button. I have noticed that if there is a server with 10 players, but only 8 are playing, new players are less likely to join the server because the game believes the server is “near capacity of active players”.

• Volunteer improvements. (minor issue)

- Volunteer button is easily missed when a player is focusing on a fight or player movement, and can be suddenly jolted to the opposing team without proper warning. Players need to be notified if they are the current target of an autobalance, and have the Volunteer prompt be a bit easier to see in higher tension situations (maybe slight flashing?)

• New servers. (minor issue)

- Currently being placed into a low pool of servers when using “Play Now” causes a lower amount of new/fresh/starting servers to be chosen/prioritized. Which attributed to the previous issue of being placed in the same blowout/uneven matches multiple times over.

Some older forum threads of some relevance:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Stop-putting-me-back-into-the-same-match/first#post5001650

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Auto-Balance-merged/first#post4822950

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Needed-PvP-Tutorial-for-New-Players/first#post4794526

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/352va0/hotjoins_are_the_first_thing_a_new_pvp_player/

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/AFK-Leaver-Report-System-needed/first#post5529835

Small video of my ramblings: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tDJzFSZgOwg

What would you change, or think would change, the overall hotjoin experience for the better?

Together, we can make all facets of sPvP an enjoyable experience! Work together!

Tutorial

• An important issue that needs to be addressed currently is that players are not properly reminded or directed to the PvP Builds window, and since there is no default hotkey to open this window during a practice match, most players stumble into sPvP with the pre-build traits/runes/amulet/etc. thinking they are running what they have in other game-modes.

But on top of that, I still see we have these pre-set pvp builds that players don’t even know they have loaded, because the game doesn’t tell how anything works in the sPvP lobby. (See: Any Class with Soldier’s Amulet w/ Rune of Lyssa)

Players are never directed to the training grounds properly either…SO how about:

For the very first time (prior to ever joining a pvp match/ranked/unranked/practice)

(Optional)All PvP reward tracks are locked until you complete a basic “Training Track” that would involve mechanics in the training area and progress something similar to: (excluding cannons…because no current maps use them)

Each of these will have a popup window (like hints) that would describe actions and rewards for these mechanics. (the hints/popup descriptions will be in bold)

• Visit the Training Grounds area.
  (Here, we will learn about the basic mechanics of the various PvP Environments.)

• Open your PvP Build window.
  (This screen will help you build your character to fight alongside teammates in PvP matches. These Traits, Sigils and Amulet are all you need to get started in PvP. These will change as you swap between PvP and PvE areas, so be sure to open this window when you enter any PvP zone to double-check your setup.)

• Rally an ally in the Training Grounds.
  (Keeping your allies alive is important in all game-types, but even more so in a PvP environment, so be sure to revive fallen allies to keep your team strong.)

• Stomp an Enemy in the Training Grounds.
  (Just as important as reviving allies, defeating an enemy is also a great way to strengthen your team, and make your enemies rethink their strategy.)

• Use a Trebuchet in the Training Grounds.
  (This secondary objective is located on the Battle of Khylo PvP map and allows you to bombard an area with heavy hitting Trebuchet shots to give your allies the edge in battle.)

• Destroy a Trebuchet in the Training Grounds.
  (Both teams in Battle of Khylo start the match with a trebuchet ready for them, so destroying the enemies is a great way to reduce any advantage they can gain from it.)

• Repair the broken Trebuchet in the Training Grounds.
  (Even if your Trebuchet is destroyed, or you destroy the enemy team’s Trebuchet, the Repair Kit is a tool that can make it usable again during a match.)

• Gain a temporary buff by defeating The Chieftain or Svanir in the Training Grounds.
  (By defeating these neutral monsters on the Forest of Niflhel, you will grant your team an instant 25 points as well as a helpful buff to boost your team’s power and stats.)

• Kill the enemy Guild Lord.
  (On the Legacy of the Foefire map, there is a powerful NPC heavily guarded in each team’s base. By defeating this NPC you will grant your team an instant 150 points.)

• Channel and capture a neutral node in the Training Grounds.
  (Many maps in PvP require you to channel for a brief moment in order to capture an objective or buff. Such as the Orb of Ascension on Spirit Watch, the Cannon on Skyhammer and various buffs on Temple of the Silent Storm.)

>>This is where the Training Area stops, and the in-game training begins<<

• Capture a neutral capture point in any PvP match.

• Capture an enemy controlled Capture Point in any PvP match.

• Defend a capture point your team controls for 10 seconds in any PvP match.

• Rally an ally in any PvP match.

• Stomp an Enemy in any PvP match.

-Done-

Is there a reason this is almost all for hotjoins?

timmyf.1490:

Is there a reason this is almost all for hotjoins?

It is the largest amount of issues currently in spvp, other that matchmaking (which I wouldn’t know how to fix), Courtyard (needs to be larger)

What is your largest concern with current sPvP?

People actually play in hot join? I thought only farmers went on there. It’s a sesspool of crap.

Might want to change the title to HotJoin Fix List.

Cat Has Ducks.1982:

People actually play in hot join? I thought only farmers went on there. It’s a sesspool of crap.

That would be the point of trying to improve it right?

i find hotjoin much moar fun than un/ranked.

-more soloq’rs
-no queue (read u can play right now, not 5+min from now)
-if match is too much a landslide, just leave and find a better server, nothing holding u there to waste your time.

in un/ranked if u get a terrible match up, or 3+ in a row, u are sol an just have to waste your time w/ a losing matchup.

in hotjoin, its up to you, an u can find a good fight eventually. it ain’t perfect, but my time is better spent playing the game on my terms rather than clicking around hoping ‘this matchup will be good, rite?’

In Hotjoin, the autobalancing should happen in an instant. The reason for this is so that the losing team won’t get affected by a whole lot.

It becomes a 5v3 scenario for 20 seconds.

I think the autobalance as it stands now is pretty reasonable.

>take a free win and goof off the rest of the match
or
>risk having to work for the win with a chance of being rekt

That being said, I dont take hotjoin seriously at all. If it is meant to be taken seriously, OP suggestions would be a good fix.

You’re not curing anything where hot join is concerned; you’re putting a bandage on it. In fact, you’re not even doing that with a "queue" system, because hot join has no matchmaking other than that which players choose based on what is already on the teams, which they can’t see if they have to queue first.

The cure? Get rid of hot join completely. I count 68 players in hot join right now on NA. It used to be much higher. Now the PvP player base for queues and hot join both is tiny compared to two, even one, year ago. Perhaps if those players had never gone to hot join for their first taste of PvP, they would have stuck around in PvP instead of finding it annoying and unstructured, and leaving.

Impact.2780:

………….
Perhaps if those players had never gone to hot join for their first taste of PvP, they would have stuck around in PvP instead of finding it annoying and unstructured, and leaving.

there are a ton of raisins why #of players in pvp has dropped.

-no soloq
-very few add’l modes (still no tru tdm, gw1 RA style arena)
-very infreq balance updates
-long queues w/ resulting matches being awful.
-mmr makes playing streaky. lots of wins in a row, then lots of losses in a row.

chikin or the egg? bad mmr leading to bad matches leading to players getting bored/frustrated and bailing on pvp, or long queues leading to board players so fewer people queue so its harder for mmr to give good matchups.

it don’t matter. but u can’t say hotjoin is the raisin we have less players

I dunno if this counts as an SPvP fix but I want dueling in HotM.

Pleeeeeaaaase

On spectator mode:

Spectator mode is one of the great things about GW2. It’s like GW2 television. You can get ideas for builds and playstyles and try out things you’re experimenting with yourself. I’ve seen some great plays spectating in Hotjoin. You can change sides just because you want to fight a certain player or want practice against a certain class/spec. Where else can you do that!?

In Hotjoin it’s totally about the taking part… not the winning or losing. Playing on the smaller side is great for practicing 1vX ideas and disengaging techniques. Yes some people really really really care about being on the winning team and abuse spectator but it really doesn’t matter. If it bothers you, get your A** into ranked already! :-)

Hotjoin is like having developer access to the PVP maps… it’s a drop in/drop out free for all, change sides, do whatever place. For a game to give you that is awesome… It’s like an ongoing open Beta for the more serious stuff.

I’d be gutted if they changed spectator…

Jaxom.7310:

Impact.2780:

.............
Perhaps if those players had never gone to hot join for their first taste of PvP, they would have stuck around in PvP instead of finding it annoying and unstructured, and leaving.

there are a ton of raisins why #of players in pvp has dropped.

-no soloq
-very few add’l modes (still no tru tdm, gw1 RA style arena)
-very infreq balance updates
-long queues w/ resulting matches being awful.
-mmr makes playing streaky. lots of wins in a row, then lots of losses in a row.

chikin or the egg? bad mmr leading to bad matches leading to players getting bored/frustrated and bailing on pvp, or long queues leading to board players so fewer people queue so its harder for mmr to give good matchups.

it don’t matter. but u can’t say hotjoin is the raisin we have less players

You’re right, I can’t. That is in fact, why I didn’t. I said those players, specifically. You’re just strengthening my argument for the removal of hot join by saying things I chose not to, due to the risk of taking the thread off topic. If all those hot joiners had been queueing, they would have:
- acquired an accurate MMR
- given the queues more players, thus making queue times shorter, resulting in fewer quitting due to ridiculously long waiting periods
- given the queues more classes and MMR values, thereby giving the MM algorithm more to work with thus likely improving the quality of matches, resulting in happier players, resulting in fewer quitting due to poor matches and low player base.

Edit: And before you say, "You can’t say hot join is the cause of fewer players queuing and poor matches," I will again say, you’re right, I can’t, and that is why I didn’t. There are many factors, but one factor not being the sole cause does not make it an irrelevant point, or nullify its contribution to the issue.

You forgot to add MAJOR ISSUE near allow queuing outside of Heart of the Mists.

Power.2957:

You forgot to add MAJOR ISSUE near allow queuing outside of Heart of the Mists.

Fixd and added some missing ones

Impact.2780:

You’re not curing anything where hot join is concerned; you’re putting a bandage on it. In fact, you’re not even doing that with a “queue” system, because hot join has no matchmaking other than that which players choose based on what is already on the teams, which they can’t see if they have to queue first.

The cure? Get rid of hot join completely. I count 68 players in hot join right now on NA. It used to be much higher. Now the PvP player base for queues and hot join both is tiny compared to two, even one, year ago. Perhaps if those players had never gone to hot join for their first taste of PvP, they would have stuck around in PvP instead of finding it annoying and unstructured, and leaving.

^^This

Or This: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/pvp/Hotjoin-Remove-Rewards-Yes-or-No/first

my fixes (for unranked)
*remove Skyhammer and Courtyard (these 2 maps should be hotjoin/practice only)
*lower timer before the match (most people don’t hit “ready” anymore)

Stat Customization (major issues)
The current all-or-nothing amulets are far too lopsided and prevent many potential builds from ever having a chance. With the current system, a DPS build is only viable if it has many escapes/resets. No amulet exists that allows respectable DPS and some survivability in a melee. Professions with low base HP are extremely restricted in what they can choose. Many amulets would be good in small numbers, but are ridiculous in large numbers. For example, Cavalier has 1200 toughness and no vitality as well as 900 ferocity but no precision.

More stat customization can be achieved by splitting the amulet’s stats into multiple items (3 is sufficient) using the same stat combinations. We have all the current extremes, so nothing can be more broken than it currently is. The only balance issues which will appear are new builds which weren’t viable before; that’s a good problem.

Further, inability to mimic a PvE/WvW build is a barrier to entry for many players. Even if their normal build isn’t good for PvP, it’s better to let them see it first hand and encourage adaptation.

This system would not be too confusing for new players, as they already mix and match stats in PvE/WvW. New players have a harder time finding the “PvP Build” button than setting up a build.

1. remove HOT join
(i dun even see a reason why its there)
2. remove spirit watch, skyhammer and courtyard
(these 3 map is the worst…80% of the ppl hate this map)

- Added Leaver/AFK report and /resign/surrender command to the list.

Maybe if they implemented a league system it would help with some of this stuff…

Eurantien.4632:

Maybe if they implemented a league system it would help with some of this stuff…

Too obvious bro, no way!

princode.2750:

1. remove HOT join
(i dun even see a reason why its there)
2. remove spirit watch, skyhammer and courtyard
(these 3 map is the worst…80% of the ppl hate this map)

Do you have stats to back that up or is that just your egotistical opinion?

I love courtyard win or loss. It is a change of pace, scenery and match up. Conquest gets old and boring quick. Play ranked if you dislike the maps you stated in #2.

Hotjoin, I would agree, but I prefer players practice there than in unranked.

Zietlogik.6208:

- Added Leaver/AFK report and /resign/surrender command to the list.

You forgot adding instant autobalancing. The losing team is going to lose more because of 5v3.

runeblade.7514:

Zietlogik.6208:

- Added Leaver/AFK report and /resign/surrender command to the list.

You forgot adding instant autobalancing. The losing team is going to lose more because of 5v3.

Would this be only for volunteers? so first person to hit the button is swapped?

I would think if its just instant for everyone targeted by autobalance, that player will be more likely to leave as well if the game just suddenly throws them onto the other team in the middle of a fight/cap/anything.

1. What about an automatic stat buff similar to the “numeric inferiority” buff in wvw in order to make it up while someone jumps in to even the teams ?
2. Wouldn’t simply preventing spectators from joining the wining side when teams are even fix the problem of spectator abuse AND autobalance abuse ? (While still allowing people to watch each others)
Hotjoin needs to be fixed because right now people are forced to test and try their new and crazy builds in unranked. It is not intended, hotjoin is supposed to be the testing ground, but you can test nothing relevant when you spend 80% of you hotjoin time in uneven matches.

Zietlogik.6208:

runeblade.7514:

Zietlogik.6208:

- Added Leaver/AFK report and /resign/surrender command to the list.

You forgot adding instant autobalancing. The losing team is going to lose more because of 5v3.

Would this be only for volunteers? so first person to hit the button is swapped?

I would think if its just instant for everyone targeted by autobalance, that player will be more likely to leave as well if the game just suddenly throws them onto the other team in the middle of a fight/cap/anything.

It would autobalance that last player.

In that scenario, a 4v3 is better than a 5v3.

I have simple solution for most of points. Remove hot join…

Normalize all capture node sizes to match those on Foefire.

Style.1092:

I have simple solution for most of points. Remove hot join…

Pray to whatever you believe in that you don’t have me in your team. If you guys suck, I will afk, rage quit, and be very toxic. I will disconnect because of lag. I will make your pvp experience worse because hotjoin gets removed.

Hotjoin is where I want to ragequit easily.

Style.1092:

I have simple solution for most of points. Remove hot join…

God please no. I like to play my ranked matches with people who actually care about winning/losing.

Can’t have resign in rated your final score effects your MMR so it pays to try to grind out as many points a possible even when losing big. There is a defference between scoring 100, 200, and 300 points for example. May even be increments between not really an expert.

brannigan.9831:

Can’t have resign in rated your final score effects your MMR so it pays to try to grind out as many points a possible even when losing big. There is a defference between scoring 100, 200, and 300 points for example. May even be increments between not really an expert.

I think this is the case with the new leagues, but i’m sure there will still be some way for resign to work. with the “half-in-the-bag” ELO system though, it will be weird, and may not be necessary.

But when a 4v5 happens, spawn camped, with a score different being multiplied as the game goes on, sometimes it is just better to cut the timer.

I don’t enjoy waiting in queue to play, especially if I’m then locked into a match where someone leaves. Simply reducing the queue times to less than a minute/30 seconds would go great towards me actually joining games that aren’t hotjoin. I fully support adding solo queue or up to duo queue which would also improve more structured games; no one wants to join a team of other solo queuers against a coordinated guild team.

More regular meaningful balance patches (Major issue)
Leaving a heavily unbalanced D/D ele meta in place for several months leaves pvp very stale, and many other balance issues continue to plague the game. If they’re trying to be a bit more like Dota styled games in their pvp they should do frequent balance patches like those games do. Spinning bird kicks aside, how boring would a game like Street Fighter be if Chun Li was hands down the best fighter for the majority of the series?

I actually think that all of these problems go much deeper than “fixing hotjoin” here is what I think:

• Remove hotjoin entirely
• Make the old hotjoin servers turn in to rank specific arenas for when people hit the practice button. By this I mean: some servers are dedicated for ranks 1-10. Some servers are for 11-20. Some are 21-30, ect.. ect.. At rank 40 or so, you no longer can enter practice arenas. Either go to custom arenas for further practice or head to real spvp! We need to get players out of hotjoin and in to the MMR pool.
• The practice arenas should not allow team swapping. You are made to finish the match. Team swap function is great in guild ran custom arenas when people are communicating and being reasonable but it causes too many problems to list in hotjoin servers.
• Spectate mode should not be locked but rather given a que. Let’s say red has five playing, blue has five playing and there are two spectators. If someone leaves the red team, it asks the first spectator “who joined first” if he would like to join the red team. If he passes, it then asks the next player who joined after that first player, ect.. Custom arenas however, should function normally as they do now.
• In general, focus on better match making through the MMR system. Focus less on forcing 50% win rates and more on generally giving balanced matches. Let the win rate sort itself out naturally.

About surrender option: This would bring many unsuspected demons in to the spvp scene. Too many to list as examples in this thread. It is also a distraction from the real problem, which is simply bad match making through the MMR algorithm. If the match making was better refined, you wouldn’t be having matches bad enough to make you want to surrender to begin with.

This is a comprehensive list, with some things that I had not considered. Hope someone in charge reads this.

Good and constructive feedback Zeitlogik! +100!!

I aree, Though some priorities are different, since subjective! You guys say now oh this is about hot join fixed..so kitten it, But it might actually be great having an enjoyable and working hotjoin so all the newcomers can/should go there first to improve skillz and understand dynamics and basic rotations instead of starting with ranked and giving the matchmaking a hard time matching top and bottom mmr players in one game!!

Great ideas from Zeitlogik for ALL MODS!

Awesome idea with resign options

Important to queue outside of mists, since waiting doing nothing is no fun at all!

Additional pvp fixes:

Major rebalance new specs so old specs are still competitive!

Adding a separate queue for courtyard (deathmatch) and probably add some other maps for that mod! A lot of your playerbase enjoyed this, just not with the same builds and in the same rotation as conquest!

Make stronghold more competitive and action based by removing some of the “pointless” side actions and mindless supply running!