The idea behind this event is flawed in my opinion – it is to prevent servers from locking their own borderlands since after the removal of the orbs, this is the most logical strategy for the more organized servers. Basically this event treats the symptom but not the root of the problem.
Now let’s look at the practical problems the event causes:
1. Numerous times have we (T2) observed 50 – 60 enemy players border hop, and activate the event, instantly receiving 500 – 600 resource, taking the spawn tower and pumping the resource into 5 trebushes to bombard the nearby keep. At this point the proposed solution of ‘let them have the spawn tower’ that some people in this thread keep mentioning somehow doesn’t seem so viable. Hence we go and take the tower by a surprise attack to get rid of the trebs. Ten minutes later a new event spawns with new 500 – 600 resources and the trebs are back. It goes on and on while all that time our enemy didn’t even feel the need to take and hold a second resource camp – just the one closest to the spawn.
After a whole evening of repetition we came up with a strategy (SPOILER: Advanced WvW tactic ahead) to counter this – we broke the tower wall, destroy the trebs and left the tower uncapped. We never saw 5 trebs at once on that tower anymore for the rest of the night. Now if this is the way WvW should be played by design I’m just speechless…
2. Groups of enemy players equal to our number under an invulnerability field (or so close that they can effortlessly hide under it) has got to be the next best thing in WvW.
3. No report option for the exploiting NPC commanders and dolyaks behind tower doors is an issues since those need to be banned.
Seeing that I only looked at the event from the point where it gets exploited by a seasoned enemy force, let us observe the benefits it provides to the truly outmanned players that would strive to retake their spawn against a vastly superior force:
1. If the NPC commander dies before he reaches the spawn tower the event ends and since the NPC commander always takes the same exit of the spawn area this escalates the spawn camping to a whole new level where it is actually a requirement (another WvW pro tip). Instead of going to another border where they can do something meaningful now the forces that own the map are intentionally forced to stay even if there is no immediate threat.
2. Sorry but if you expected more benefits then you didn’t read 1. carefully enough – go do it, there’s a pro tip there, that can grant an unlimited supply of boredom to your winning forces.
In conclusion – reinstate the orbs in some manner and get rid of this flawed solution to a problem that should never have existed if they were in.
P.S. This post was designed while listening to the jokes of my bored comrades on TS during a prolonged wait for a an invulnerable siege weapon to get destroyable several minutes after the rest were already down.
