Guild Wars 2

that would be a dream come true, really. i would be happy with just some form of binoculars, but your layout looks to be the ideal set up. sentries would absolutely rejoice if this were implemented. with number 4, though, they would need to make sure it was only PCs that could get tagged, and not NPCs (aside from maybe the mercenaries like the quaggans). so that someone doesn’t tag a wolf, and then run out and kill it each time it respawned. the amount of positive benefits, however, are staggering. giving sentries something to do, and rewards for being sentries would be one of the best changes WvW could ever see.

they could even go one step further with the upgrades, and make tier 3 a sniper rifle, with bonus WPX if you kill someone with it while the tower isn’t contested. it could do similar damage to the cannon, but only to players, and pierce though them instead of being an AoE.

even without the sniper rifle, i would still like to add my name to the list of people who would LOVE to see this.

+1 Oh my god, yes!

Oh behalf of all sentries, +1! This or an implementation similar to would be awesome!

/signed!
Oh dear Golem Gawd! Please may we have this implemented in my lifetime?

This is a fantastic idea. Its something that would really make a big strategic difference in defensive gameplay.

Very very clever idea. Love it,

This really is a good idea.

Yes please

I was going to comment on methods to prevent people from just camping them, but real sentries know that eventually the posers get bored and leave, with you remaining, staying vigilant.

Perhaps the players tagged get a little icon, like the PvE Sonicscopes (or w/e) that indicates someone is watching you.

great idea. so you know what that means, right? anet will ignore it for the next 8 months

Great idea

Very cool idea! I really hope the dev’s give this a look over!

Oh yes, T3 upgrade = Sniper Rifle, that completes it. Same 2x view distance as telescope, but ability to take shots at people, manual aim.

3 shot types:

1. Non-piercing, high direct damage shot

2. Piercing, moderate direct-damage Poison shot

3. Piercing, low direct-damage Cripple/Weakness shot

No auto-aiming though, that would be too easy, manual aiming only.

Where on a tower would you put them? Far eniugh back from the edge I hope! I would hate for these to become the next
cannons and oils where you can barely stay on them for 5 seconds if they are under attack.

the binocs and telescope would be mobile and just dissaper whenever you leave the tower and respawn at the old location like 10 sec. after

Absolutely excellent idea!

Plz /bump and sticky and get it installed!!

Spread the word!

/bump

bradderzh.2378:

Where on a tower would you put them? Far eniugh back from the edge I hope! I would hate for these to become the next
cannons and oils where you can barely stay on them for 5 seconds if they are under attack.

The highest point, for one. Meaning, Lord’s Room in most towers. Maybe two or three more on the corners.

And the point isn’t to use these against a zerg at the gates – they only tag enemies if you spot them outside normal visual range, eg 1.0X+ range. Binocs give you 1.5X range, telescope gives you 2.0X range.

If enemies manage to sneak inside normal visual range 1.0X before you spot them, you’ve failed to tag them, and can’t until/unless they leave normal visual range again (although you could shoot them with the sniper rifle if you have it, at any range up to its max 2.0X).

Incentivizes the sentry to actually be sentrying the whole time.

If a zerg makes it to the gate, that’s what the cannons, mortar, oil, AC’s and Balistas are for.

And if the zerg or even havoc squad manages take out the binocs/scope/sniper rifle with siege or whatever, that’s exactly what they should be doing – neutralizing a strategic enemy advantage.

That’s the point – they make towers more tactically important, able to survey, harass, and partially deny passage through large areas around them, and hence a higher value target to neutralize.

I have wanted this for ages – even something like WoW had, where you can’t move or take any other actions while using it, but it lets you see much farther.

kurtosis.9526:

That’s the point – they make towers more tactically important, able to survey, harass, and partially deny passage through large areas around them, and hence a higher value target to neutralize.

Hmmmm… perhaps a Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector ?

That’s a really good idea.

The sniper rifle might be a bit overkill (harder to implement) but for pure scouting purposes I think bino/telescopes would be the best addition ever.

Do you think they should only be in towers? or Keeps as well?

First thought is Towers only, since Towers are more likely to have too few or zero people sentrying them than Keeps are.

With Keeps, it seems they’d be more likely to pull people away from the work of upgrading the keep – I envision everyone fighting over the binocs/scopes, with fewer left over to manage the keep, walk yaks, build siege and buy upgrades, tick siege, etc.,

But with Towers – many times there’s nobody there doing that stuff anyway. Or they’re there and the zerg WXP train rolls by and they just abandon post for it without getting a replacement.

Also Towers seem to serve as the forward operating/observation post in the game, so this would fit that theme.

But if it’s a hit and players are fighting over the binocs/scopes , then gameplay/customer satisfaction-wise it might make sense to put them everywhere.

And there’s a qualitative difference b/t some Keeps – Hills, Bay, and SMC see a lot of enemy traffic in 2x range that would provide good tagging opportunities, but Garrison, LLK, Valley, and OL are pretty well isolated and see less (except the occasional last second yak slapper, quaggan flipper, or golem ninja rush attempt). Though this would provide increased risk for gate contesting thieves.

The fortification still has to be upgraded anyway to buy these, so for a while at least everyone has to walk yaks and that stuff. Also, gives more people more options besides zerging.

Overall not sure. You?

Mif.3471:

Hmmmm… perhaps a Livens Large Gallery Flame Projector ?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQlSutYJsV8

Haha, that would be pretty awesome too, spewing huge flames onto zergs, but might have to be a separate upgrade. More of a short-range anti-zerg weapon.

Yes.

Wanted something to be able to look down into Quarry from the north west tower.

I think all structures should take advantage of high points for that sniper. Camps also. That mill near south camp would be a great for a sniper nest.

this thread is in danger of falling off of the first page, so i’m going to bump it to keep it on top. the more people who see this, and support it, the better.

Maps r too small for something like this in my opinion

amazing idea hopefully anet sees this awesome idea

That was a very good and well thought-out idea. I hope the devs can implement something like this soon. Sentrying is soooo boring right now. lol

Bumping the idea for visibility.

Excellent in helping engagement and increasing cooperation.

I endorse this idea and/or service.
… But seriously, this should’ve been there from day 1. Defending static locations is just as much about spotting the enemy before they move on it as the actual defensive siege (which just doesn’t happen properly if it’s hard to spot an incoming due to limited LoS). I’m not sure the numbers are sufficient in some places, but that’s more a technical thing, anything is better than what is there currently.

I am not in favor of the idea because it means more people hiding behind walls and less people out there doing things, ie scouting.

I would rather see them as a form of siege that cannot be placed within towers/keeps and rather out in the map. In many ways it accomplishes the same thing while actually having some ‘risk’ to it.

Niim.9260:

I am not in favor of the idea because it means more people hiding behind walls and less people out there doing things, ie scouting.

I would rather see them as a form of siege that cannot be placed within towers/keeps and rather out in the map. In many ways it accomplishes the same thing while actually having some ‘risk’ to it.

I think there is value having it in or around towers, as the makitten mall enough as is.

Furthermore, it’s likely a tower would only have 1 set of “binos”, so unless the other players really just love towers there isnt all that much incentive for more than a skeleton crew to sentry anyways.

That said, open field observation posts are another possible direction this idea can be applied to.

More talk about stuff like this to improve wvw for ALL player types please!

Olterin Fire.5960:

I endorse this idea and/or service.
… But seriously, this should’ve been there from day 1. Defending static locations is just as much about spotting the enemy before they move on it as the actual defensive siege (which just doesn’t happen properly if it’s hard to spot an incoming due to limited LoS). I’m not sure the numbers are sufficient in some places, but that’s more a technical thing, anything is better than what is there currently.

i agree completely that they should have been in from day 1. the main problem is that they would have been useless with culling still in play. if we couldn’t see people when they’re right on top of us, there’s not much reason to be able to not see them far away. now that culling’s been turned off, they has become viable.

while i’d rather see them as an upgrade on towers, having them be blueprints would be my second choice. superiors could give the extra zoom. the main problem with that is that people could set them up to scout into an enemy’s spawn to learn their numbers, whether they have any golems stashed, and which gate they leave through. which seems like a bit too much information.

Valik Shin.9027:

Maps r too small for something like this in my opinion

The view ranges are something that would have to be tweaked by ANet for that reason, I’m just using 1.5x and 2.0×. It’s possible it would be 1.25x and 1.5x or something, whatever makes sense.

Olterin Fire.5960:

… But seriously, this should’ve been there from day 1. Defending static locations is just as much about spotting the enemy before they move on it as the actual defensive siege (which just doesn’t happen properly if it’s hard to spot an incoming due to limited LoS). I’m not sure the numbers are sufficient in some places, but that’s more a technical thing, anything is better than what is there currently.

Yes, you’re hitting on the underlying problem here – we want more strategic reasons to do stuff, especially keeping, holding, and flipping towers, beyond mere PPT. Giving them more strategic value as observation posts and somewhat dangerous obstacles to navigate around does that.

Any idea along the lines of increasing the depth of the WvW meta is good.

Niim.9260:

I am not in favor of the idea because it means more people hiding behind walls and less people out there doing things, ie scouting.

If that’s a problem they could limit the binoc/scopes to one per tower. If someone’s already manning it, not many people will stay there, same as now.

The problem now is that sentrying is the most passive, least active role in WvW, and even moreso now that siege timers have doubled to 1hr. Scouting is very active and fun, as is zerging, havoc squadding, roaming, and yak slapping. Sentrying is only really active when under attack. This would bring sentrying on par with the active play of the other roles.

Interesting idea

bumping~ very interesting idea

Great idea for tagging enemies. Lets non-commanders mark enemies to seek and destroy. I like it.

I’d like to add another possible option for this:

Tag ground for siege. Your long-range artillery (Trebunchets, mortars (maybe catapults?)) get a marker for them to hit. Would be useful when blindfiring, especially when firing towards a marker lets them know if the shot landed correctly/short/long etc.

ArcturusWolf.1205:

I’d like to add another possible option for this:

Tag ground for siege. Your long-range artillery (Trebunchets, mortars (maybe catapults?)) get a marker for them to hit. Would be useful when blindfiring, especially when firing towards a marker lets them know if the shot landed correctly/short/long etc.

That is totally awesome too – like the real military calling in artillery on coordinates beyond the gunner’s visual range. We can sort of do this already with the scout telling the gunner “right 1 tick, 5% more power”, but would be interesting to add to minimap too.

/signed like the idea behind it

If it’s something that can logistically be implemented, it gets my approval.
Worth a topic bump, anyway. =)

~ Kovu

Devs, add this fast before this thread gets thrown in the dumpster known as the Suggestions frum! It’s a great one!

Just bumping this as forum suggestion that actually kind of materialized in the form of our new map sentries.

Didn’t get the binoculars per se, but certainly something similar.

I think this is a good idea, but might have a huge impact on solo roamers/ small teams and those that squirrel after them. If a sentry called them out all the time then some of the zerg would probably divert to chase them, and it would kitten off a lot of roamers to be constantly chased by a group of people.
So no, I dont think this should be implemented.