Guild Wars 2

Please ditch the EOTM map style. Something Alpine-esque was tride and tested. Leave all the new fancy mechanics for the PvE content; It’s good, but in my humble opinion, Anet, it holds no place in WvW.
-Your customer

Looking back on these ideas after another 2 months of playing the Deserted Borderlands, I still think that there have been some very good suggestions posted here by a range of different players.

In summary though, and what really stands out to me at the moment, the following point may probably be the most important:
The current Borderlands system divides a small defensive force up too much and is an attempt to copy EB – it’s not needed for Borderlands as EB fulfils the central battleground role better.
Returning the side keep waypoints to only being available when upgraded and for use by whoever holds the keeps would go a long way to restoring them as Borderlands.
The addition of a cap-and-use waypoint instead of the Oasis event could lead to the central area fights around a strategic objective that I think the Oasis was supposed to cause. Heck they may even be able to use the Deserted BL map as it stands? (<— controversial but possibly true).

What do those of you who are in fight guilds think of the Oasis area (without the PvE mobs) – does it have the potential to be a decent central area to fight in? Could it suit small and large battles? Or do we need a change – perhaps like the central tower idea mentioned previously?

Finally, Anet, could I suspect, introduce the changes I mention above to the existing map within a couple of weeks. Should they try them out for a while?

Yuffi.2430:

What do those of you who are in fight guilds think of the Oasis area (without the PvE mobs) – does it have the potential to be a decent central area to fight in? Could it suit small and large battles? Or do we need a change – perhaps like the central tower idea mentioned previously?

Nope. The entire design of the central area is obnoxious with or without the event.

DocHoliday.9218:

Please ditch the EOTM map style. Something Alpine-esque was tride and tested. Leave all the new fancy mechanics for the PvE content; It’s good, but in my humble opinion, Anet, it holds no place in WvW.
-Your customer

i second that. as boring the old maps became over the years, they were sandbox like. it was the players job to
build defenses,
to safe the lord(not a crazy pve mob lord),
to upgrade, to escort dolyaks,
to use teamspeak or whispers or guild chats ,
to roam and scout,
to upgrade camps
to track enemy movements
to plan ninja attacks,
to prevent dolyaks from reaching keeps
to prevent upgrades
to attack and coordinate with other guilds
to watch ppt
to have fighting guilds that zergbust
to place siege well
to hide mesmers
to contest keeps
to destroy siege
to launch decoy attacks

yeah wvw used to be fun, now ai and pve gimmicks and the horrible guild changes and the terrible unbalance of guild unlocks and spvp balance have taken over wvw and turned it into a circus

I’d like to see a weekly map rotation ,mix up border land maps so each server has a different map from the other .keep the maps small but not to small maybe mid way between the old alpine and the new ones.

Mokk.2397:

I’d like to see a weekly map rotation…

that’s something I would like to see => since there are good and bad things about all the maps changing them from time to time would be a good thing… and also since I do not think Anet will change much concerning the maps, I suggest that at least we have weekly rotation:
1. no EotM as it is (with overflow) but instead have:
2. one week with alpine borderlands and EotM as the 4th map (instead of EB)
3. second week with desert borderlands and EB
think this would give everybody something they want; players who enjoy a certain map would have it available every two weeks => all the maps would rotate and while no single group of WvW players would be 100% satisfied, there should not be as many disappointments….

Phantom.8130 2 map looks good (remake off first so not the 3) only thing i miss there is a road between middle camp to 2/3 servers North Tower.

The maps should be with few chock points and relatively flat like alpine map was.

I would like to see… minor waypoints.
These waypoints should not allow groups over 5-10 people passing through.
In addition these waypoints should have a cooldown for players passing through, lets say 20 minutes for the player using them. And should have a cooldown when 10 people have past through. lets say 5 minutes. This will give roaming groups a distinct mobile advantage over sluggish zergs. It will enable players to catch up with whatever group they want to follow.
Hopefully this encourages players to not just hide in zergs. But join with the much more mobile havoc or roaming teams that run in 5-10 men groups. making fights in Borderlands more balanced. as 10 men waypoints will create a natural bottleneck for larger groups.
I realise you might want to prevent randoms following your team. So perhaps there should be somekind of ready check for the squad, so everyone zones at the same time, making it harder for randoms following your guild.

Nice idea noughtyous maximus, maybe do so you Place it and then 5-10players can use it and when you Place it you select your Group, your Squad, your Guild or anyone and it will not work in to a enemy building if nothing is open. What i men with that is you can’t do it in lord room in Garry if inner and outer gates/wall are up. And maybe set a limit to 2 WP within a area and 10min CD.

Phantom.8130:

Can this thread be stickied, so that it doesn’t keep falling off the page, and people can post their suggestions here instead of making new threads for them?

Mods don’t operate in this section of the forum.

Shadow.3475:

Nice idea noughtyous maximus, maybe do so you Place it and then 5-10players can use it and when you Place it you select your Group, your Squad, your Guild or anyone and it will not work in to a enemy building if nothing is open. What i men with that is you can’t do it in lord room in Garry if inner and outer gates/wall are up. And maybe set a limit to 2 WP within a area and 10min CD.

Obviously you should not be able to land your group within hostile towers or keeps.
Preferrably minor waypoints should always be on the outside.
There should be some risk for groups using a minor waypoint running into trouble, lets say hostile routs guarding it. I would suggest placing minor waypoints on places where the Veterans currently are, maybe those Veterans should be buffed too champion. This way they are directly on objectives that should be fought over.
In regards to the cooldown of a waypoint, I suppose it should be about 30 seconds per player for 1-5 player groups and 1 minute per player for groups 6-10. so one person zoning in before your groups doesnt block your group from getting in as a whole for too long. The cooldown for this particular waypoint should be for your server, not just your group.

Sird.4536:

Phantom.8130:

Can this thread be stickied, so that it doesn’t keep falling off the page, and people can post their suggestions here instead of making new threads for them?

Mods don’t operate in this section of the forum.

It seems they have their phasers set on “Lock” today so let’s hope they don’t end up targeting this one.

I don’t think buffing NPCs to create a player limit for capturing objectives is a good idea. If the game gets too tedious for solo roamers or small groups by increasing objective capture time won’t that drive players away? Creating alternate objectives for solo roamers like shrines also doesn’t help. Shrines have no impact on the score and they don’t draw out defenders when there isn’t a zerg present to threaten the keep.

I agree with most of the statements at first post, so I will add one more:

I don´t get the utility of having a WP that can be closed all time, doesn´t makes sense. Waypoints should be places far awy the lords of the keeps and in a safe place so there is no chance to get into the fight in the following second you waypointed.

Let WP open just like old BL and place them far from hot spots.

I think, Shrines buffs are crap, they can be used as WP if the owner of the keep hold them, some rework would be needed to avoid being massacred just the second the player teleports.

I’d support a dual layer system. A simpler overland eb style, but a network of caves underground that are dark and you can get lost in. There would be 3-4 exits from the cave network on each side but none deeper than the first fort in.

Yuffi.2430:

What features does a good borderlands map need?

Rather than asking someone to guess what we want in a good borderlands map we can help by putting forward constructive ideas. Please keep to listing features and explaining why you think they are needed – this is NOT about existing maps. Also please remember that we may have differing opinions of what is needed – that’s ok: the purpose of this thread is to give Anet a better idea of everything our community thinks a good map requires. So make suggestions and explain them and we can hope they pick the good ones.

I have a few ideas to get us started but it’s not perfect. Please add your ideas too.

Keeps
Should be worth defending or attacking so must have some strategic value. Way points should be an upgrade and should be useable by whoever holds the keep. Keeps should be the hardest objectives to take on a map.

Towers
Towers need a strategic value, either because they provide support or refuge for an attacking force or because they provide a defensive role. Towers should be able to be taken by a standard party of 5 players.

Camps
Need to have value for defenders (supply for upgrades/repairs) as well as attacking teams (supply for siege).

Sentries
I like the idea of sentries “spotting” players and want to keep this. Sentries should be veterans that a moderately skilled player can solo. I’d put sentries on the easy routes between objectives, particularly at junctions. Perhaps sentries could have a talk-to interaction to give players directions to nearby places?

Terrain
Happy with a variety of terrain so no personal preference here as long as I can get from A to B and can see a reasonable distance. The terrain should give a variety of open spaces near key objectives such as keeps where large fights can occur, and in other places choke points to help prevent blob rule. I’d like to see some environmental things – I miss the houses and villagers (and chickens) we used to defend in the North of the old maps, and they provided relevant cover for sneaking about or chasing people round.

Routes
There should be one easy “pug” route to each objective so inexperienced players or people new to the map can easily move around. There should be other routes that are less obvious and provide some benefit, for example less chance of being spotted, or easier to defend if you’re being pursued.

Other features
Upgrades should follow a set pattern but require human interaction at each location for each step. An empty BL should not upgrade itself. Upgrades should take time and require a proportion of the supply held in the objective (denying supply to places under siege is a valid strategy and rightly requires the defenders to make tactical choices).
Yaks and sentries should drop materials for WvW guild upgrades so roamers, small and big guilds alike can collect these in WvW.

How about better thought and interaction with the NPC population?

I love the ogres, there should be more we can do with them, not just rescue them.

Same for dredge and frogs but really, ogres can do so much more and the pets!

Solo players deserve buddies too – buff up the NPCs and give them more oomph/depth.

If one sits at a tower alone, gathers all the sup for a single siege, gets through wall or door, one should be able to take that tower, just saying.

atheria.2837:

How about better thought and interaction with the NPC population?

I love the ogres, there should be more we can do with them, not just rescue them.

Same for dredge and frogs but really, ogres can do so much more and the pets!

Solo players deserve buddies too – buff up the NPCs and give them more oomph/depth.

If one sits at a tower alone, gathers all the sup for a single siege, gets through wall or door, one should be able to take that tower, just saying.

Are you asking for PvE in WvW? Shame on you!

atheria.2837:

How about better thought and interaction with the NPC population?

How to capture a keep:

1. Talk with the outer NPC guards, butter them up with some gold and get them to agree that your color is better than their color. If you have previously kidnapped a dolly you can choose to threaten them instead (note, the last action require you to run back to the camp and free the dolly, otherwise the outer guards may give your position away).

2. The inner guards are much more difficult. They want you to win 3 times in a row in a playing card minigame. If you fail you have to bribe them. Success rate depends on how flashy your gear looks. Legendaries will impress them, as will dancing.

3. The keep lord challenge you to keg brawl in the lords room. You need at least 5 players in order to match the lord and his guards (if enemy players are defending, they will take the guards place). If you loose, the way you succeeded in getting through to the lord determine if they will give you a second chance, other wise the guards will throw you out.

My idea for a borderland that I would like to see.

This borderland would be like an arena map in starcraft or other similar RTS. Objectives are laid out like EBG with a slight bias on the north to the owner of the BG.
Side keeps would be placed in the east and west. These are connected to towers on the southwest and southeast by canyon areas. The canyons shouldn’t be too tall. The same canyon area extends north from each keep to reach the sides of the north keep. The northwest and northeast towers govern access to the canyons. Camps line the edge of the map.

Map mechanic: the vulnerable supply tower
The center of this map is a gigantic flatland. This has three supply generators like the ones in Edge of the Mist. The supply generators are contained in 3 towers with an with an obelisk in the center of the map. If a side holds all three generators they will feed supply into their eternal battleground keep and stonemist if they hold it. The generators will also feed supply into the local keeps when held. Each tower has a substantial supply pool around 500. The feed would be slow… roughly 100 supply every 5 minutes per borderland. The towers would be able to treb each other.

This supply generator towers are the only feature in an otherwise flat central field.

Bring back old maps with new tower/camps/lord skins. Dont change bay/hills & old keep tho.