Guild Wars 2

Why not have ‘battlegrounds?’

Picture this:

Me and 29 of my best friends in the whole wide world (of Tyria) want to mix it up with members of another server and contribute the war effort but we are a little bored with the normal every day WvWvW.

So, we get together at a predetermined time and log our collective butts into the game, get our gear strait, get our buff-food and sharpening stones or maintenance oils all ready, get our group composition all sorted, and then head on over to the rally point. Picture it just like where you go to SPvP – except bigger maybe.

The story goes something like this:
You’re a member of some faction’s Special Forces – and you’re here to complete a very important mission. Let’s say the “Mist Wars” have been going on for some time now, and you and your fellow warriors (in the general term – not any specific class) have been called in to capture an objective. To complete the mission you will have to travel across treacherous terrain, besiege towers both small and medium, and generally take out anyone who gets in your way. (Fill in the details yourself – I think you get where I’m going here. We have to have a reason for playing that matches or enhances our immersion into the world that the game has created.)

Once our 30 strong group has indicated they’re ready, and two other servers groups of 30 have indicated their ready – you are transported (instanced) into the starting area. You are on one of the extreme fringes of some area in Tyria as are your two opponent’s teams of 30 (opposite fringes) who are from opposing servers. (I don’t think allowing one to play against your own server would make it feel like WvW – it would feel more like SPvP – which I don’t really like to do.)

The goal is to capture the territory in a given amount of time – say 4 hours or less. This is the average time a guild raids, after that, people start losing interest or have real life things they need to do. So, more than 4 hours is a no-go.

The rest of this scenario happens just like WvW does now. 3 opposing teams in real time – duking it out over territory and points or just one giant slugfest – which ever you want to do. The team who comes out with the most captured territory or the most kills and fewest deaths (or some mix of the two) gains 25 or 30 points for the overall PPT of a server matchup.

Think of it as a third component of the “Mist Wars” or a second component of “WvWvW.”

Sure – there’s things I haven’t thought of – problems galore – but I think it could be fun.

This solves the need to spread players out to decrease the population of any one map, gives guilds a venue in which to duel, and adds something to the realm of WvW – all in one fell swoop. This can be accomplished without reinventing the wheel too. You can use existing technology with very little tweaking. It’s a win-win.