Guild Wars 2

Yes, it’s another one of these threads! But let me say I am not one of those trying to make WvW less epic or to unfairly disadvantage an organised opponent!

Nothing wrong with a good Zerg v Zerg battle when numbers are even and skill lag does not ruin it. WvW should be epic I agree. But the problem is balance. What I think is missing is any of the real downsides of keeping a large army on the move. In the real world although a large force has advantages it also has problems such as mobility, keeping itself fed and watered, visibility – none of these are really true in WvW. Some changes along these lines could well help:

- More environmental challenges for zergs, eg. Narrow valleys between areas where the zerg is forced to become long and thin and the enemy can set up ACs etc on the hills to the side
- Nerf speed progressively (say from 10-25%) as group grows bigger than 10
- Put a map marker showing location and size of zergs as they pass allied sentries/towers
- Reduce health of zerg overtime. Require some supplies to be used to refresh health relative to Zerg size. This means zergs may need to stop by friendly towers/keeps and take their supplies to keep themselves fed draining the health of those locations.

I think this could make WvW more epic, not less. I’m sure not all will like all these ideas! But let’s have your thoughts

It’s a terrible idea to punish ppl who want to play together, encourage behaviours like a commander telling newbies to get away from their group, because they will get a debuff or whatever. Makes the game unsocial and hostile. If someone is not welcome in WvW, he/she simly wont play it.
Mapdesign or changes in the way objectives work could make zergs less effective or somewhat unnecessary therefore ppl may form more smaller groups, as it was originally intended, but some gimmicky out-of-nowhere debuffs ain’t the way.

But that is exactly the opposite of what I am suggesting. I am not at all trying to punish people for being in a group, or “out of nowhere” de-buffs. just to provide some real-life balance to that decision. Currently the Zerg has all the advantages of numbers but none of the disadvantages.

Real life:

- it would be easy for sentries on the road and in towers to spot a large mass moving around the map
- troops need feeding
Etc.

I was thinking about how the “feeding and watering” might work, without it becoming a chore and this was my thought:

- Make EVERYONE need 2 supplies every 15 mins (or similar, we can discuss the details!) before their health starts to decay
- collect it automatically when they are in a friendly tower or camp. Never collect more than 2, just 2 every 15 mins and health is restored.
- for small groups moving around or in a tower this would just happen automatically and would be barely noticeable in camp/tower supplies – dolys arrive sups come in, a few sups go out to feed the troops
- for a zerg of 50 they would need 100 sups every 15 mins, they may hit a camp and empty it! Or they may have to visit a friendly tower and reduce its reserves! No complex activity to do, just visit a friendly tower or camp, but still the zerg needs feeding!
- we may have to increase the normal doly supply drop a little to allow for all these supplies going out of the world, but that is doable.

Dividing WXP according to zerg size would have been a step in the right direction, had it been done immediately.