I’m just tossing these out there in case one of them is a good idea
I was thinking perhaps one way to improve spvp balance and variety would be to retain the capture point concept but tweak it.
The change would be to remove the capture point real-estate and replace it with flags that have to be ‘communed’ with similar to skill point objectives and the new temple map. a flag may be lowered as fast as a point is lost, and raised as long as a point is captured.
This keeps the basic premise of Anet’s Tpvp in place but changes bunker-specs from a “necessity” to a choice. Bunkers are as effective as they are because they can maintain a presence on a point while using skills. With the flag change they will not be able to utilize skills while trying to turn a point, thus they maintain their sturdiness but lose the ability to defend themselves while capturing. They retain their value because they can still keep a person off a flag, they just don’t get the benefit of doing that and capturing it. With stability being a removable boon, I believe that may not be overpowered in this scenario (except for below perhaps).
My primary concerns is the duration of an elementalist’s stability when they have the rocks floating about them, and whether or not the flag change just turns the tpvp game into all burst specs.
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My other map idea is that perhaps instead of all-or-nothing (i.e. capture points) perhaps maps should be divided into 3 seperate means of gaining points. methods that favor different build choices (burst, balanced, bunker, control, etc.). If we could come up with a number of different build choices, you can design a series of maps that utilize 3 different choices while mixing them up so that a specialized build will have a marginal role in at least 1 of the 3 maps.\
As an example: remember the artifact in Rift? What if you had an artifact that did damage to you based on your toughness, damaged you when you healed, and when you dodged? It would have to be kept in a circle same as now and lost when outside it.
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another idea is to implement a “kill-zone” mechanic. This would replace a capture point with a larger amount of real-estate (ideally 1200 – 1800 distance) that gives the same, or more points for slaying an enemy as you do on a regular capture point. This provides the “death-match” mechanic some people crave while maintaining group-orientated play.
The catch is that you must be in the real-estate to get the bonus points. This can be safely accomplished by providing a continuous buff when in the real-estate. This buff would last a short period so that stepping in and leaving would not be a viable tactic. For example: buff is refreshed every 2 seconds, lasts 3 seconds.
Meanwhile you would still have 2 other means of gaining points (at this time CP’s). The points awarded for a kill in the new mechanic should be of a value to make holding a point vs. going for the kills a real choice.