Guild Wars 2

Anet if you want to make the WvWvW community happy, its simple!
Give us the old borderland maps back, with no auto upgrades and so on.
Just how it was before.
Now people are not playing (taking a break untill old bl maps are back) or only playing so now and then in EB.

But yeah Anet keep on listening to the Pve people who so now and then come into WvWvW and then log out because they dont like it and go to this forum and complain about how WvWvW is and want to see changes!1
I say kitten them, and listen to the dedicated WvWvW players.

Regards Dutch Chaos.
Far shiverpeaks EU
Blackgate NA

Ps. Hope you will change it back! otherwise goodbye.

First of all I wrote this post on my own website: https://eylanae.wordpress.com/2015/11/17/wvw-after-hot/
I explained in there in what way Heart of Thorns has affected WvW imo. It’s not just about the map, but mostly about how WvW players in general are affected by the changes to the mechanics of WvW. It’s a long read, so I’ll try to add some of my main concerns to the questions listed.

•Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

Usually I was running around with my guild, 10-20 people, mostly fighting other even sized or larger groups either in open field or scrims. If needed we would go help defend, cap or switch borders. When not running with my guild I was either following a commander doing the same or sometimes just roaming or scouting a bit.

•Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

In EB I basically only joined the commander there. Never really liked the map, so I didn’t go there that often.

•Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

An hour spent in the new border is basically just running to places where might be some people to fight (and I basically mean running because they are hard to find), getting walls pop up in your face, searching for routes to go up or down, and most important, fighting against the lag (almost unplayable at some times).
Commanders are hard to find and usually it takes to long to get there, so I just leave.
Roaming or scouting is not fun, to much running around and there is no real need to defend the keeps, no need to save the waypoint f.i.

•Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

First of all, builds are not so much affected by this map (the examples above are just situationally and will stay like that), but they are affected by the elite skills, revenant and rebalancing of the classes. This is something that has been done before and will be done afterwards as well.
What this new map has changed is the fact that now there are just almost no fights to be found, so it absolutely has changed the way we fight but ehh….. There is less room for open field fights, less need to cap, defend or scout, less random encounters. The only thing that hasn’t changed that much is karmatraining a border with a full zone blob.
Also something that really is a problem atm is the lag. The game is absolutely laggy when fighting, if the Oasis event is up its even impossible to just run around without lagging insanely.

•In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

I never focused on capping objectives, not something I really like to do. What I have noticed is that at this point it’s easier to cata down a wall than ram an upgraded door when you run with not that many people. Also a lot of the guild upgrades to WvW are locked behind improving a guild hall. This means that to get for instance a +5, you will need to have a large guild, focused on upgrading the guild. But the larger guilds could also just run with more people to have more suplies. The smaller guilds and groups benefit most from this upgrade, but for them it’s impossible to achieve.

•How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

I never played WvW for loot or wxp, the best rewards have been the fights and the thrill of (almost) winning a seemingly impossible battle like outnumbered fights or a threeway at Garri. The best way to get loot and wxp was by playing the way I don’t like to play, wich was karmatraining in EotM or just run around capping things. As for loot the best way is to go to PvE.
I really don’t like how the elite specs are working within WvW, the only way to get them is by ranking up, wich again means the best way is to start karmatraining and capping things (not by doing what I like to do, which is fighting). Those chests you can switch out to your other characters, but the proofs are soulbound. Both my main characters already have the elite specs fully unlocked, with the others I’m forced to run around in either PvE or WvW (and hoping that I will rank up enough again). This also goes for the double classes I have, all of my guards need to endlessly grind them.
And no, don’t think I can get all of my other goals through playing only WvW, it would be nice to have a realistical chances of crafting ascended, but for legendary weapons etc. it’s totally fine having to do other things as well (it would be nice having some skins and drops only available in WvW though).

•How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

Due to the size of the map and the lack of waypoints most of my time in the borders will be spent running around. The value of a Waypoint on Bay or Hills (not to mention Garri), was so important basically the full map would go there to defend (and even call out for aid to other borders or EB). Also the value of both North Towers is gone with the new map. Before they were actually really important strategically, now they aren’t.
There is no need to cap camps or escort dollies, cause the structures will get upgraded anyways. There is also no need to cap them to stop an enemy objective from getting upgraded. So roaming around is not so much fun after this.
The PvE event in the center is something I do to get rid of the lag. It’s also way to overpowered at the moment. A large group will have no problem doing the event, but they won’t have any problem capping all the structures anyways. The smaller groups (I really do see potential in there for small scale fights in the center) won’t benifit at all from the laser thing.
So in the end I will spend less time in the borders than I did before. After we’re done raiding I either quit the game or grind some masteries in PvE.

•In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

Get rid of the lag
Focus on fights, take the playstyle of all of the different types of WvW players into consideration (pugs, guilds, roamers and scouts), it’s not a PvE map and people only joining WvW occasionally shouldn’t be the ones WvW is designed for.
Downscale the size of the map, make it so that the towers actually are worth it strategically, less verticality and chockepoints, remove the gimmicks like earth walls and turrets.
Change the auto-upgrading system: Have dollies actually count, player interference needed and waypoints at T3 keeps.
Change the Oasis event rewards: Just have one gate downgraded, a buff like the old Bloodlust or just a big chest in the center.
Redo the guild upgrades, make +5 one of the easiest accesible upgrades.
Change the way the elite specs work. Either have them unlocked completely when entering WvW or at least make those chests stackable or the proof of heroics accountbound.
Redo the reward system, improve the quality of loot (not just blues and greens in rank up chests), have a few seperate skinsets only available in WvW (buyable with badges) or some rare weapon/skins that only drop in WvW.
Having the Desert borderland in rotation with the Alpine border and maybe a new map might help a bit as well (as long as the problems above are also adressed)

•In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

It’s confusing. A large map where you should be having large figths but you can’t find people to fight with or against. If you see one of those commander tags it takes a while to run there, if you can find it at all. There are not enough people around to help you getting to know the maps and or the different WvW playstyles (and the servers communities and TS). This is a missed opportunity because new players will not get the chance to know that what kept me in WvW for years, a great battle system and amazing communities.

•In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

First of all read the above concerning the map, that’s the same for a veteran player new to the map. But veteran players will miss the old borders a lot. They will see there are less people, but also less reasons to play. The map is to large, design flawed, structures to far apart, no reason to defend T3 keeps with waypoints, and if Garri is contested you can just recap instead of fighting. That Oasis event in the middle requires you to kill PvE creatures, just so you can grab that thing and give it to a NPC, all of this in the middle of to much lag.
No need to defend a T3 Bay or Hills for a commander to tag up (especially outside of prime time), people jumping in looking for some action will leave because of no commander, so even less need for a commander to tag up. Roamers will have to much time searching for other roamers, so they will play less as well. Scouting and upgrading basically has been removed because there is no need to anymore (besides who should a scout ask for help when there’s no one running on the maps?)

•Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
Probably still the borders (because I still don’t really like EB) but not for long. I find myself playing more PvE than before but I also tend to AFK in Lion’s Arch or just not be in game at all.

Just wanted to quote something someone said, who sums it up in 1 sentence,

Their approach I feel was like going to PvE’ers and asking, "What can we do to get you more involved in WvW than approaching WvW’ers and asking, “What can we do to enhance the system?”

Outside of guild raids I enjoy roaming and mostly easily find fights around camps(people upgrading) and strategic supply lines (escorting dollies). This new map takes this away from me, as well as many of the other things people have mentioned. I thought, ok I’l try out this event in middle of map, there are bound to be people to fight against, and in all fairness there was, had a couple of fights, win some lose some, but when i respawn and try getting back I either need to timely solo hack down a barricade or walk the long way, after dying 2-3 times i logged out Ifind a similar problem with the EoTM map design, not so much about size but accessibility, fights/tag/previous location are not easily re-accessible after death/disconnect/or other, for what ever reason.

I really tried to write my critics down, but it came up to 3 pages and i assume that noone who could change something about all this stuff will read that anyway.
Dear Anet, please talk to some WvW players with experince, not those casual farming bots logging in wvw every 2-3 weeks. Ask Around, get on touch with WvW community and guilds of all sizes (not only those massive PvX blobbguilds)

I mean the hype before HoT was real, so many guilds announced to reunite, to fight again, use guildshalls and stuff for the new gvgscene and such. And now, just a few weeks later 75% is gone again. And Why? Just because those new glory shiny shiny borderlands suck as hell:
- Massive laggs during PvE Event (WHY EVEN IMPLEMENT A PVE EVENT ON WVW MAP??!?!?)
- No good positions for openfield fights only chokes supporting pirateship meta and runaway builds
- The borders are just to huge, once you spotted a Battlcross on the other side you dont even need to bother going there – it will take you 10 minutes, till then the party is over.
- Since you cant fight other guilds/zergs (you just dont find them) you are busy with fightin the map itself. Noone needs: Tonns of Veteran Saurians randomly attacking, crippling/knocking-off/damge/bullkitten turrets in eagleshape, Pop-Up-Walls around and even IN your own keep (who doenst love it to run straight into a uppopping wall every 3 steps?), cloaking sandstorms, random portals, buffs for capping stupid shrines and so on.
- Ist not even important to keep or to defend your stuff, ist self upgradig and you instantly get your waypoint, once it was strategic to have the north towes for the defense or your own middle keep, or to keep the camps and have always like enough supps for siege etc. Now it doenst give you any advatage to cap the towers neither another keep then the one in your own third. You basically created a new EotM (yeah the shiny place no real wvw player went, just upscaled to farm ranks). The new maps are just good to run around with a 100men Zoneblobb and having a karma train capping an recapping all over just for the tick.

There are so many more points I could go on with but so many are already listed here.. And it is just about the new maps, i dont even start with balancing, classspecs or the Revenant.

Just give us the old borderlands back. I loved it the way it was, a plain not to huge map, with a lot of nice spots for fighting. Isnt that what WvW is supposed to be? A gamemode to fight?

ArchonWing.9480:

Please do not include salt in your post.

Seasoning makes every dish delicious. =)

ArchonWing.9480:

• Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

During the day, I would roam solo or in a small group, visiting hot spots on the map where I knew enemy players (solo or small groups) would typically show up at. I’d flip some camps, mostly when it provided opportunities to mix it up with enemy players.

During prime time, I either followed a tag (mid to large group) and helped defend or reflip objectives, or I played with an organized guild and fought enemy groups / flipped objectives. Large group defense was possible on Home BL due to keep waypoints and terrain which allowed for reaching objectives in a timely fashion when they were attacked.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

The experience was very similar. I would visit hot spots where I was likely to find enemy players, I would flip camps, I would run with zergs or organized skill groups in prime time for fights. Again, reaching points on the maps in a timely fashion meant arriving in time to have a fight with enemy players. Objectives being closer together and being able to be hit by siege from other objectives meant small groups and solo players (like me!) could siege creep and potentially take objectives, or soften them up for larger friendly forces (this is a great part of EBG).

ArchonWing.9480:

• Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

I run around looking at pretty scenery, working my way around an obstacle course and never see enemy players. In the rare occasion where I do find a fight, once someone dies it takes forever to find them again to have another fight…and takes them a long time to get back to where they were.
I’ve solo roamed on the new BL in NA T1, and gone 45 minutes without seeing a single enemy name. When I do rarely find enemies while roaming, it’s a large group and I can’t do anything to attack or defend. (maybe pew pew with an arrow cart for a few seconds before they destroy it with AoE).

ArchonWing.9480:

• Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

This question shows one of the main issues with the design of the new map, and WvW development over the last few years. You seem to think that the map should be central to the game play…that it should be PvE…v…p. That players should spend their time figuring out ways to exploit or counter the map.

WvW should be a PvP game mode, period. Everything (especially map design) should revolve around supporting, incentivizing, and facilitating players fighting players. Players should be working on builds and comps to counter or exploit OTHER PLAYERS builds and comps. The map should be a backdrop and provide flavor and focus and depth to the play.

Do you have any idea how lame it would be to make a “knock people off cliffs” build and then stand around on a deserted map in just the right spot all day waiting for someone to run by so you could use it?

Combat on the old Borderlands worked much better because people could get to fights in a timely fashion, could get back to fights when they died, and could count on certain focal points where they could find a fight in a reasonable amount of time. The map facilitated, instead of dictated. Consider that for a bit, if you would.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

Taking structures is as fast or faster than it ever was in the past…because now there’s almost zero likelyhood of anyone being there to defend. Having no fights makes the PvDoor very smooth and fast.

ArchonWing.9480:

• How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

World Exp is faster than it used to be, and the skill point chests are nice to get. It takes much longer to unlock an elite spec using only WvW than it does running through PvE maps, though.

Loot overall is still way behind other game modes in terms of what’s available and the speed / quantity of acquisition. Also, the path of least resistance to the most loot in WvW is to get in a giant blob and karma train / blob over smaller enemy groups. This is supposed to be a PvP game mode, so fighting other players and using skill to defend or attack should be more profitable than zerging.

There are many goals I am unable to pursue while playing WvW…for instance I can’t get dungeon tokens or any kind of mastery exp. I’m forced to PvE grind for those things. There are quite a few items which are completely unavailable to the WvW player.

ArchonWing.9480:

• How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

My long play sessions are spent almost exclusively on EBG. What little time I spend in a BL while roaming is generally just frustrating and lonely, and time spent on a BL with a group tends to be small, quick engagements with long boring obstacle courses in between.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

Scrap them and make maps with the primary focus being PvP. See my post elsewhere on the forum for concepts.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

I have no idea, I have over 7k hours in game. If I had to take an educated guess, I think they would be very confused and have a difficult time understanding the game mode. It probably seems like a lonely PvE map with no clear worthwhile objectives for the individual. A new player stumbling on a fully Auto-upgraded camp would probably rage quit and never return to WvW.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

Where is everyone? Why is it such a pain to get around? Oh look, something’s contested. Good grief no way I’m getting there before it flips. Why are the waypoints always contested? Why is it so difficult to take an undefended camp? Why is everything fortified when nobody is here? I’m going to EBG to find some fights.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

EBG or very sadly doing PvE that I don’t enjoy. When my guild isn’t running though, lately I’m usually playing other games.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

I generally ran in a group of 30-50, though on occasion I would sometimes run in smaller 5-10 man havok. We did everything from major zergball fights to 4-man stealth captures of keeps. I ran yaks, I upgraded objectives, I sentried objectives. I’ve several thousand hours in WvW and have done pretty much everything at this point in all sizes of groups.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

My style of play is more or less identical on all maps.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

I have actually done more solo work in the new BLs than I ever did in the old. Part of this is due to new profession masteries making it possible to have a higher sustain and survivability than I had before. That being said, I’ve also spent time solo roaming to learn the new map.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

There is significantly more emphasis put on direct confrontation and less on long-distance siege activity. With the inability to bunker in a tower while trebbing a wall down, the more direct confrontations are significantly more interesting than previously.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

More or less the same.

ArchonWing.9480:

• How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

I maxed any functional use for wxp many moons ago. With no further wvw masteries, wxp is pointless and the rate is irrelevant. The loot drops need to be fixed. The removal of the level 80 centaurs and no replacement for their unique drop was an unacceptable oversight, especially given that three WvW upgrades to the guild hall require the heavy supply bag.

Guild hall upgrades which are required to advance a guild’s ability to play in WvW need to be able to be unlocked through WvW, not tied in to excessive PvE material. While most of the actual WvW upgrades can be unlocked through WvW oriented activities, there is still a major requirement for other non-wvw upgrades to be finished in order to properly and most efficiently progress towards WvW goals. These require massive outlay of non-WvW loot, drops, and currencies.

The inability to unlock any mastery points in WvW should be investigated.

ArchonWing.9480:

• How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

It will not. Our standard raids last the same time no matter which map. In fact, BL raids are slightly less stressful.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

Add centaurs back and make guild expansion loot requirements more available.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

Can’t help you there.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

After having spent some time, not even much, learning the new maps, movement is nearly identical. We’re still learning proper siege placements, but that will come with time.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

I rotate between all of them but it’s easiest to get a dune roller motorcycle gang going on the BLs.

An Hour In Alpine:
I raided in a WvW guild, 10-12 in lean times, usually 15-20 on most nights. We would knock on doors looking for action, respond to call outs, get in fights — the usual; if things were slow, one might arrange some open-field combat out of the way. But, this being a WvW guild, we spent a lot of time there even when not raiding: roaming in groups of 3-5, flipping camps (and the occasional tower), looking for a tussle. Sometimes I’d solo roam, flipping camps in search of duels.

An Hour In EBG:
We didn’t raid in EBG very much — frequently queued, and when you did gain entry, it was often difficult to run clean. On slow nights, it might be the only place for small group action, but roaming was usually on the BL’s as well.

An Hour In the Desert BL:
The first night I hit the new BL, I did spend a little over an hour there. I encountered three other people in that hour, plus several camps each guarded by 10+ NPC’s. I also got stuck on a ledge and had to jump to my death because there was no other way off. Since then, it’s essentially the same, but that I’ll spend far less than an hour there before leaving. In raids, it would be an hour of slogging through map inconveniences to knock at doors. Every once in a while, you’ll encounter one of the other servers, one of which has taken to running a single group that is definitely over 60 — I’d estimate 70-75 — and then everything lags to hell, skills stop working, a couple people’s games crash. If we can’t organize a fight, we don’t spend much time on the new BL’s any more.

Comparing Combat:
The biggest shift in WvW combat came with the stability change. This, more than any other item, crippled a smaller group’s ability to engage a larger group. The new maps have not suggested any compositional or build changes.

Travel Time:
At the moment, it takes a long time to get from point to point. This is in part due to lack of knowledge about the most efficient routes compared to how well we knew the Alpine maps, but also owes to the greater size of the new maps and the numerous hazards.

WvW Rewards:
I have not noticed a change, but then I rarely paid attention to rewards in WvW. I do not like the conversion of liquid wxp to boosters — it’s more junk in my inventory (not that WvW levels matter) and given the uncertainty of finding anything to do in WvW, they’re better used elsewhere (which may be the point). Even if the Notaries weren’t soulbound, the rate at which they are gained makes it a far faster affair to unlock elite specializations through the Magus Falls maps. One cannot progress through WvW rewards. Weapons, armor, runes, sigils, etc. can be gained through PvE or PvP, but outside of a token offering not through WvW. The introduction of new stat combinations magnifies this.

New Maps and Play Time:
I play a lot less WvW now than before. The new maps are a factor, but only one of several. The whole state of WvW is disheartening. It’s rare that a large number of guildies are even on-line together these days. A couple have left the game.

Improving the New BL’s:
The new maps are obviously the result of a lot of work, and anything that adjusts them to a form more conducive to enjoyable WvW play is going to undo a lot of that. Maybe add the new map to EotM somehow? I’m not emptily pining for the return of the old map — it’s great, but I’m not opposed to cycling in something new. It’s just that WvW is about fighting other players in small- and large-scale combat over control of territory, and the Desert BL has so much stuff that isn’t that.

For a New Player:
Vast and lifeless, the desert borderland features a number of large objectives separated by tracts of frustration and manned by a great many NPC’s. Some of the objectives have associated thematic map effects that appear ultimately to be designed to annoy the player. You may notice a timer in the upper right. When that counts down to zero, everything will begin to lag and a lot of people will leave the map. Have you played EotM? It’s like that, but instead of falling off the edge, you’re going to fall off a cliff.

For a Veteran:
It’s a pain to navigate right now. Once we learn the best routes, it will be easier, but I strongly suspect it will remain more complicated to traverse than Alpine was. Keeps (or towers?) and shrines(?) have ambient effects that hamper movement. There are some great open spaces for fights, but there’s nobody to fight. Fighting around objectives is a headache. Lords have a bajillion hp but are otherwise pushovers. WP’s never go away. There’s a big PvE event in the center of the map that makes it unplayable. See you in EBG.

Where am I?
We don’t WvW much these days. I used to PvP a lot also, but that’s been kind of a mess since the expansion, so I pretty much just do dailies. I guess I’ll be in a PvE map, grinding so that I can grind — the thing I wanted never to do in an MMO. I was never much of a video game player in the past; I guess now I know why. There’s other stuff I should be doing anyway.

Look, I am not intending to be overly negative. I expect this constitutes so much voiceless noise at this point. This thread looked to feature a lot of testimony from folks who principally roam, and I was just offering another note from one of the other perspectives — and I had some time to kill. The map looks great; there are a lot of great ideas for gameplay within it. It simply does not speak to what a dedicated WvW player expects of a WvW map. The current state of WvW can be blamed only in very small part on the frustrations attending the Desert BL — after all, many of the complaints pertain to its being barren, which would not be the case if the mode in general were receiving the care it is due. Can a better WvW map be found within the Desert BL? I expect so. However, this is but one entry on a long list of issues in need of address, and everything rather needs to be sewn up in the same stroke, or else problems will cascade like this. I hesitate to elaborate on what corrections could be made, because each suggestion will tend to draw out a tangential explanation quite beyond the scope of this survey. Perhaps in another thread (I had been meaning to post for some time now.)

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

WVW guild so anywhere between 5-30 with atleast half my guild. BL’s was about protecting upgrades (worth alot more prev.) or capping other server’s, smaller groups would tend to hit camps- we jumped maps if out matched or out numbered or call between maps for support especially if it was our bl and upgraded -then zerg multiple tags/guilds called in.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

EB less capping more slugfest. Better quality players, capping is easier than zerg.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

We don’t everyone has gone EB. In an hour in new BL you’ll see 3 of us and none or 10 of them on experience capping runs.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

n/a

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

longer now given the auto upgrades, harder to solo camps etc

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

none of the wvw tokens have any long time value/collectability, the armour skins are easy out of date the rest is consumables. Some tokens to be mixed with pvp ones to get legendaries but no way to get a precursor and these can be traded. Nothing wvw specific. Be nice to get even a title part from a million yaks.
elite unlocked a long time ago have spare points.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

overall less as its smaller cos we only do eb.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.
ANET. WVW is not PVE. why have you made it PVE? WVW is a contact sport. You wouldn’t play rugby on a three tier glass maze. There’s alot to be said for using cover and high ground especially with siege (everyone likes an advantage) but this is way to far. I can see you but I can’t get to you…it’s like the end maze in the labyrinth movie. With over visability smaller zergs/individuals won’t engage and its very easy to run away/disappear over the sand dunes.
Overall its way to massive for our server.
Overall the ‘walkthorugh’ experience is to complicated, people that play WVW imagine themselves as part of some great battle not a dungeon jumping puzzle. The new NPCS are nice and one big complex tower in the middle that funneled people in would be good -the layers in SM aren’t used that well apart from the post capture mesmer hunt.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

Come with us, stay in the middle, tag is life it’s easy to get lost

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

come to EB

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

EB. check your stats we are all on eb.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?
Usually on Gandara Alpine borderlands a good pug team spirit to defend against rampaging hordes of guilds and pugs from all two often at the same time, all heroic stuff with siege defences lasting hours. Shortish Distances made mobile defence feasible for the underdog. Formal guilds as well but not much elitism when it came to getting upgrades done or the inevitable fun recapping from the inevitably better coverage of some National based servers. Sorties into the other maps as well.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?
A lot was the same as alpine maps but more zerging and stage fights as more balanced. Tended to get too static against very top servers, but mostly good fights and sieges, good variety between different keeps towers, SM.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands
Spend vast amounts of time running around, doing nothing. too big getting lost. Keeps ridiculously big and complex. Mostly arrive too late for anything so defensive team spirit broken. Defence design is top down so only guild insiders can do it, and no sense of ownership for pugs (actually true of the whole new guild design.
Wonderfull 3d scenery but Mazes and jumping puzzle things need to stay in discreet parts of the game not be repeated everywhere.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.
Yes fear knock backs more useful but the difficulty of finding the opponents easily outweighs that.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.
Longer to get there and longer within multi walled keeps to go A to B, full level of elitist guild specific defences not reached yet. Boss balancing varies a lot.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

WXP/Loot very bad due to distances and unpopularity loss of team spirit meaning less fights and less Pvd as well. Specialisations done via WvW were good though. The accidental nerf to loot when the Wxp drops/kegs reduced also slowed chest loot drastically. Generally the game emphasis on Fractals and redoing story quests over and over to get linear quest achievements has excluded WvW players.
Frankly I struggle with colour blindness in some Fractals so badly I cannot really do it and whilst I like the stories I hate quest repeating for achieves.
I SUGGEST YOU ADD REWARDS FOR TITLES E.G silver colonel etc in the same way as PVP or possible have players pick either fractal or a couple of dungeon token rewards for bronze, silver titles so there is something to play for.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?
Ended multiple hour sessions for reasons above.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.
Sorry they look great but need to revert.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
I think they will get lost and give up. I have seen whole new guilds doing that, and sometimes getting ribbed whilst they go in circles.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
Very few like them much, some use as a waiting area. Generally I think the ranking points have aimed at newer players with most veterans having everything. Always a mistake that in a game. Best to have exponential requirements to get very highest ranks in everything.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
May just cap camps etc wherever for daily or join long EBG queue.

Sandman.4192:

Anet if you want to make the WvWvW community happy, its simple!
Give us the old borderland maps back, with no auto upgrades and so on.
Just how it was before.
Now people are not playing (taking a break untill old bl maps are back) or only playing so now and then in EB.

But yeah Anet keep on listening to the Pve people who so now and then come into WvWvW and then log out because they dont like it and go to this forum and complain about how WvWvW is and want to see changes!1
I say kitten them, and listen to the dedicated WvWvW players.

Regards Dutch Chaos.
Far shiverpeaks EU
Blackgate NA

Ps. Hope you will change it back! otherwise goodbye.

this.

•Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

• Guild Raids (18-25) or Commanding a group. Defending key objectives, fighting guilds, you know fun stuff.

•Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

• EBG has always been known as the blob map. Mostly bigger groups on this map. Faster pace which makes it more enjoyable.

•Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

• Going to be honest here. I commanded the first few weeks after xpac. I stopped going to the bls. Every thing is pointless on the new bls due to the added content now.

•Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

• The fights on the bls in the past were always enjoyable. I can remember reset nights defending the home bl and constantly being hit by both servers. It made for very intense fights and you had to learn to be very strategic at commanding. The new bls offer no real fun in the game. You are constantly trying to find your way around the maps. Servers no longer want to fight they just try and dodge your groups. (not all but most) I literally watched a whole server jump off a cliff b/c they refused to fight. Most builds have not changed just some tweaks b/c people are just abusing CCs now.

•In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

• The time really needs to be increased at all levels. The worst thing a group wants to do is fight in a kittened amount of siege. That is what you guys have done is made siege way overpowered. Every new player wants to jump on a cannon instead of learning to actually fight.

•How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards?

• I honestly never cared about loot except bags. I think being able to upgrade your elite in wvw is good because I do not wish to ever pve in this game.

Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

• Like what? PVE? No thanks

•How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

• I know longer spend hours in wvw like I used to. Unless there are fights going on somewhere I usually get bored and log.

•In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

• 1. Complete overhaul of the maps. Cut the size in half.
  2. Get rid of the vertical parts. Some vertical is fun but giving groups such and ease of moving through a map is making it to where they just want to door farm.
  3. The Champs should be tough that’s fine but, you should be able to beat them a lot easier than atm. The goal is WVW not pve mechanics.
  4. The laser event needs to go. Once again people just wait to farm doors.

•In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

• 1. I feel sorry for them. They are learning that just sit behind an arror cart is good.

•In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

• 1. I’ve been playing gw2 since pretty much day 1. Most Vets are either leaving the game now or refusing to wvw at all anymore.

•Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

• My guild Hall or ebg if something is actually fighting there.

Heya, Mr. Wing. Here are my 2 cents.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

As kittenual roamer, I keep playing the same as I used to pre-HoT. Even more now, since the addition of sanctuaries. I continue taking small stuff -camps, sanctuaries, killing dolyaks, etc.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

After including the new map, I barely enter in EB, being honest. Just ‘cos most of servers decided to ignore the new map and fight in the old EB, I go there now and then. Lag is terrible there, but my main issue with this map is… that I’m bored of the same map after… 2 years?

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

Delightful. I enjoy the way how you force the enemy to control every spot for avoiding siege to hit their structures, ‘cos terrain is important now… something that _didn’t_ happen in the Alpine map.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

I try to play with the new mechanics as much as possible. I never forget to grab the buffs in sanctuaries, ’cos they can help you during a defense -or an attack-, plus while roaming around the structures.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

Here comes the main point, and you’ll apology me for going a bit out of the feedback… but it’s important to state the point.

Many vet players stopped to play ‘cos they can’t arrive to the north structures like in the past -1 min or less of reaction time from natural WP to Garrison-, ‘cos now they must spend 2 min at least if the Garrison WP is locked. Without mention that they need more of 3 min for arriving to the other castles (old Bay and Hills), ’cos they can’t use WP for entering in and defending. The lack of spots like in the past for exploiting defenses and avoid attackers to be effective is another point where they blame the new map to be ridiculous.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

I completed the last two-three steps of some of my specs using the new tokens in WvW, so it helped me a lot. Going apart, loot could be a bit better, being honest.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

Not much. I keep playing WvW more or less what I used to.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

Upgrades requesting supplies and presence of a controller. To get four upgrades at once without cost of supplies doesn’t make a lot of sense. You can have full upgraded structures without effort, and focus on bothering the enemy servers without problem, specially if they have less poblation.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

I don’t think the new map is being a different experience for a new player, than the old Alpine map would provide. Adaptation is the secret.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

The reply included “In your experience” point can work here too.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

New BL map.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?
2-10 guild map flippers and roaming on enemy BL and pug zerg commanding on Home BL.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?
Yes slightly, I ran havoc primarily in EB with guild groups, almost never commanded there.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.
With luck I can run around the map, but now my group is unopposed and its just a karma train. My groups are 2-5 now because of all the guildies quitting.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.
Open field fights, we could see the other coming and prepare. We were more fighters than cappers so we’d drop everything and get ready to fight. Capping just served as a beacon to attract enemy attention as well as giving us a goal when enemies were hard to find. Now I don’t even see fights, even troll skyhammer builds are rare. We got more damage from environment effects than enemy players now, and environment effects were non-issue after the second time passing them.

I can see skyhammer builds (you know that map hat gets whining in pvp as being too cheesy for competitive play?) in particular terror necros being successful here holding all the instant death chokepoints against pugs

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.
Temples are faster than ruins, but there are more and travel distance is higher. Oasis event…bleh
Camps about the same.
Towers a bit longer (in seconds), mostly due to champ tactic adaptation. Should balance out if we could be bothered.
Keeps longer, travel time and terrain currently being the main problem, so it’ll speed up a bit.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?
How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?
Took a hit, also because the kitten chests needs to be shifted to characters and wxp changes. Couldn’t sustain it before anyway. First helped in a pretty token way, then help put behind a screw you wall. Pursuing anything in wvw has been and still is inefficient. My long sessions are better spent elsewhere entirely typically.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.
Put them on faster rotation so we get at least 50% alpine outside of tournaments. To continue measuring the difference between the maps activities…

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
YEAH EPIC war!!!! Wait… where is everyone? -Quits after wandering for a bit-

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
First run through full of cursing
Second run through goes ok, but no one to fight. Look at all those insta kill spots for necros
Third run through (as if!) why do I even bother?

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
Stronghold

I explored the maps in the first couple of weeks and haven’t been back. Map’s too large. Hard to navigate from objective to objective – at least ones that you can do anything with. Nice job on the looks, but Form needs to follow Function. I tried several times to find groups here and nada.

I’ll give them another go sometime soon, as I’m running out of goals to do in PvE-land. The new map really put me off WvW for a while, was hoping for something more fun.

It is a PVE-map not a PVP-map, use it for some event in PVE.

Perhaps some sort of megaserver tournament could be played on the desert BL maps (like EotM), but these maps are not suited to WvW at all. Seriously, give us maps that put opposing players front and center as the content. We don’t need, don’t want, can’t stand all the PvE intrusions. JUST. STOP. IT.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

I’d either roam solo when thief build was more viable and solo camps and open walls in towers, or command and run with 5-25 people. Capture the third nearest our spawn first then take the other objectives. Depending on which servers we got paired up with we’d do some fights, but oftentimes we’d try to avoid the other server since they’d outnumber us 5-1.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps? Same style, capture our third, then try for smc, then take the other objectives, or roam and disrupt supply.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

Spend most my time crossing the map. 1 person will defend a tower against 20, at least long enough for the huge zergs to roll us over. Spend the next 15 minutes walking traversing the map. Go to oasis event…get rolled over by giant zerg. Lose all the towers we managed to capture the last several hours.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

Borderlands combat before was straightforward, drop your aoes, focus your downs, if near walls use them to get out of combat if you need to regroup. New borderlands haven’t changed this… can’t really use the cliff thing because the blow jets don’t drop people far, besides you have to have all 3 shrines PLUS the keep in order for anthing to be active. Pushing people into lava sounds fun… but I have literally zero push skills. Oh, and they are likely immune to the lava. or they can run into rocks…which, is just mildy annoying. Honestly have just tried avoiding the gimmicks. before we assault a keep, take out at least one of the shrines because that nukes their main advantage.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

It takes a lifetime longer now than it used to. Supply is lightyears away. Especially for the smaller servers, by the time we get enough supply to build a catapult, it’s evaporated.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards?

WvW has always been the LAST place you look for loot. It just doesn’t drop. It never has been able to sustain whatever we are doing. it takes 2 or 3 catapults or rams to get most doors or walls down fast enough that you don’t get ran over ( more if it’s tier 3). That’s expensive, and it’s not like good siege ever drops. It’s just as bad as ever in that regard. I’ve unlocked my elite specialization in PvE… I wouldn’t even attempt it in WvW as that would take years.

Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW? No, WvW has very few mats, really poor loot drops, and no real reward system. Edge of the Mists is good for leveling a character, but that’s it really as far as other in game goals.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW? The maps just increase commute time… alot.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

Make them easier to get around, less buggy (graphic rendering). Less zergtastic, Make it so that if you have the shrine you get the bonus, whether or not you own the keep. Get rid of oasis entirely. put air in the fire zone, lava in the earth zone etc.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

Currently…they don’t.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

They’re a mess currently.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2? You won’t anymore. My server has basically died on WvW since the new maps came out, so I’ve been playing pvp, which is it’s own mess.

Oh and the tower designs are awful… cannons where necros can fear you off the edge into the zerg, or eles can melt you before you fire a shot off. just bad. we have to spend more on siege inside keeps because the siege that comes with the upgrades is absolutely useless… still trying to figure out what the mortars can actually hit…

If population issues were adressed first then we could all make an accurate judgement for this map.

My two cents. Coming from the perspective of someone that spends 90% of the time in a 5 man looking for bigger groups.
We need to be able to see long distances so that we can see where enemies are. If people don’t think there are other groups on a map, they will leave the map. When we get to a map we 1) check to see if we are outmanned 2) check to see if there are swords on anything 3) look for the orange dots 4) call out in map chat to see if there are any enemies. If there are none of these things, then we will likely leave the map to look for one with something to fight. The org dots were a nice add. Maybe adding other indicators would be helpful. With a big map with lots of terrain to block views, it is hard to see long distances and find people just running around.

The verticality is a challenge. The old map had some verticality, but most of the falls you could survive. I think it would be wise to do that with the new map. You could get around faster if you didn’t die from most of the falls. Add more stair step down drops so that someone could go straight through if needed. Having to go around sooooo much makes it hard to run around and look for fights.

Having the map be complicated with lots of LOS (compared to old map) has really benefited our small group in outmanned fights. We get an advantage for knowing the map and where and when to engage. That is a positive.

Please get rid of red NPCs outside of keeps. They interfere in fights and usually in an uneven way, where they benefit one group over another. At least yellow ones only aggro when hit, only attacking if the WvW’er is imprecise.

I really like the alerts when an objective is taken, that helps locate fights. I think it would also be great if people could have alerts regarding fights. If our guild is killing a lot of people, it would be good if it was broadcast in the map. That would let people know that we are on the map and it is worth sticking around to find us for a fight. It would also let us know if other guilds are on the map. When a guild claimed objective switches, that will tell us, but would be nice if it were easier

My feedback is make these extra que waiting maps like Eotm for those who do enjoy them ( if you really want to keep them) or just remove them and make slight upgrades to the alpine borderlands.

they need to bring back the old wvw borderlands and put this borderland as a side one like eotm. i was roaming for 1 hour in the new boarderland on a time when allot of wvwers are active and i didnt find any1 not even a zerg and eternal battlegrounds always has a 30man queue when i want to wvw so i always need to wait an hour just to get in a wvw map where i can play in normally. please return the old maps and put the new one as a side one.

1. Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands …

No such thing as a usual hour because it depended upon the situation at the moment — what needed to be accomplished. Defense. Offense. Havoc.

2. Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds…

I usually took part in a big zergs taking objectives.

3. Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

Soloing camps… since there is never anyone else playing. My guild sometimes runs havoc or small group events. We take objectives. No fights because there’s hardly ever any opposition.

4. Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past…

Everything you can imagine from 1 v 1 to zerg v zerg. I have yet to have anything other than a 1 v 1 fight on the new borderlands because there’s hardly anyone playing.

5. In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

Takes a bit longer on the new maps… mostly because there are so few people to play with. Sometimes, if I start trebbing a tower by myself, one or two other players show up to help take it.

6. How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

I don’t care about loot. I play WvW because I like the gameplay … or did.

7. How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

Since there’s hardly anyone playing, I just pop in for a few minutes and take a camp or something.

8. In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

No idea. I think these maps are great! :-) I love them. I have no idea why no one is playing. I suppose I’ll read through this thread and see if I can figure it out.

9. In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

A new player isn’t going to do anything more than look to some other part of the game for fun. There’s NOTHING going on in W v W.

10. In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

Frustrating and disappointing. No players.

11. Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

I always check EBG first because that’s the place I’m mostly likely to find players. If not, I hop once through the three borderlands to take a camp or two, then I leave W v W.

Genavelle.9516:

-In recent months, I’ve played WvW with guilds that generally get up to 20-25 people max, or we do small havoc/roaming groups (2-5). With the larger group, we would run around mostly looking for fights, and y’know taking towers and keeps. Lately in T3, we have been outnumbered quite a bit as other servers seem to be running a lot of 30+ groups.

-I don’t go to EB often. With the new maps, I’ve only solo roamed so far, so still waiting to see how it goes with a group. So far, the maps feel really big- although, running from garri to the east keep didn’t really feel that long inbewteen keeps. I think a lot of the excess space is within the keeps themselves. I think the towers and keeps will be much harder for small groups to take, now. Which seems a little contradictory since the new map sizes seem to encourage people to spread out, which would mean smaller groups…

-I have spent time as a scout in the past, and I have to say these new keeps are a bit intimidating. I know they’re meant to be easier to defend now, but they’re just SO big. After a while I’m sure we won’t be feeling lost inside them- but still, how much time will it take to run around and check every gate for attackers, or to build siege, etc? I feel that it’s just unnecessary for the keeps to be as big as they are, it’s too much empty space.

-I hear a lot of people saying they’ll probably spend more time on EB now- and EB might become the new roaming map. I’m wondering if leaving one old map was a good idea, as now it gives people a place to run back to where they feel comfortable, instead of forcing them to adjust to the new maps.

-I’m not sure about wxp or rewards yet, although it is nice that we don’t have to spend money on upgrades now.

-I like how the shrine system and oasis events seem to give a little more activity for roamers- especially how in the oasis, it targets people on the map who have picked up an item. However, it’s still getting a little too PvE-y for my taste. I found the Inferno Hound transformation in the fire keep, and while it was fun (and really powerful), it seems too EoTM-y for me as well. After all, WvWers want to fight people, not..dogs.

-I don’t really understand the open waypoints in south towers that anyone can use. I’m not sure it’s even really a bad thing, I just don’t understand why enemies can waypoint into someone else’s tower.

-As for new players, I don’t think these new maps are welcoming at all. I mean right now we’re all new to the maps, and most people seem to feel it takes too long to run anywhere, and that the map is confusing and easy to get lost in. For players who are new to the maps AND WvW? They have to deal with the extra confusion of learning wvw, and now it’s harder to cap things with small groups…So I’d guess new players wouldn’t stay very long unless they can find a large guild quickly. PvE players are used to farming, and running all the way across this huge map for our scarce WvW rewards is just not going to make new players want to stay.

I think that overall, reset will be the first real test of the new maps. We’ll see tonight how easy it is to find fights and take objectives, and that will likely be a deciding factor for a lot of people. I’m expecting big queues for EB, but hopefully enough people are pushed into the BLs that we can really see if they’re too big or not.

Hullo fellow maguuman. Maps are not too big, they are too convoluted in the paths you take that zergs can’t even find each other, then the annoying walls and earth keep permanent stealth… it becomes a ridiculous circumstance and pve determined map not a real fight map.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

15-25 players fighting other guilds on open field, using siege to take down towers/keeps escorting a dolyak.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

Either taking down enemy structures or looking for a fight. Same 15 – 25 players.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

Most of the time it’s now fighting an overpowered long duration fight with a tower / keep lord. Searching endlessly for a group to fight.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

Either choke points, open field fights or on walls in keeps. Always fighting enemies. Now a days we are looking for enemies to fight.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

Alpine borderlands : 1 minute to get from garrison to bay.
Desert borderlands: 3 minutes to get outside garrison, 5 minutes to find the way. 3 minutes to make it to bay.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing?

The loot and wxp have not changed a bit. Still we receive to few items/liquid gold to sustain build changes, money for food and stones, siege or superior siege.

Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

There is a good part that the proofs of heroic are there to help wvw players unlock their elite spec in wvw. The bad thing is that they are soulbound.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW? It used to be fights here and fights there. Now all I fight is a hard keep lord, tough tower lord or overpowered and (very) annoying barca des trying to run to a commander. Grou fights are rare now.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

Smaller maps. Easier Lords. No barricades. Take away the pve oasis event In the middle. Better rewards. Give more liquid gold to players.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

Very large. Get lost pretty fast.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

Missing old structures. Way points failing. Way points always there, stupid.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2? Desert borderlands, since I raid with my guild all week. But I’d rather be back on the alpine borderlands.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?
*I often follow commander tag or I lead by myself. I found it really funny in the old maps, so much life & water & mountains, and all players where happy.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?
*Not at all, i find EB more intense but its same there, I follow tag or lead.
Before i found it more funny before the auto-upgrades & the stability changes u did.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.
Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.
*Im sorry to say I dont find the new maps funny at all – they are laggy for me & my friends(the old maps + EB are not) its to much desert…dusty…darkness i dont like this – the old maps where filled of life. WE DONT LIKE PvE – and u made the new maps full of PvE with moving rocks, lava & other stuff that shouldn’t be in a wvw map. I NEVER go the new maps unless i need them for daily veteran. I play 100 % EB until u bring them back.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.
*It takes much more time nowadays because of the auto-upgrade… WHY would you add something like this to the game??? make it even harder for us to earn what we play for? the reward,,, i dont get how you think im sorry.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards?
*Have you changed something with the lootbags because I find them to drop MUCH LESS than before, otherwise I dont know.. stuff take longer time to cap and that means less loot & less fun.

Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?
*Dont understand question.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?
*Before me & my friends played about 2-3 hours a day. Now with new maps all my friends quit except 1 and we just play EB not new PvE wvw map…

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.
*Bring old maps back – there are so few people that want the new maps.
IF u not going to do so.. do so they dont lagg like they do and remove all PVE STUFF like lava, moving rocks.. remove so much desert and darkness and bring some life in the maps and make maps SMALLER.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
*To complicated.. the old maps where complicated but the new ones are complicated even for us that played since release.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
*Complicated / laggy & not fun at all.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
*Eternal Battlegrounds (so please bring old maps back)

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past.
>>> Typically roaming solo or with one to two others. Sometimes joining up with bigger groups. Mostly I took camps and fought other roamers – sometimes I would solo a tower. The nice thing was that there were always 7 potential “highly-accessible” camps to the way points (3 home bl, 2 on each of the other bl)

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all.
>>> I rarely play on EB

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.
>>> Typically start on an enemy bl and just sweep the southern edge to do the dailies. Sometimes I join up with a bigger group. Occasionally, I’ll build a cata and solo one of the south towers.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you?
>>> The only thing that’s really changed is the need for enough CC when soloing the towers. The big thing is that it feels a lot less common to run into other roamers on the south edge of the bl. So there seem to be fewer 1v1, 2v2, 1v2 kinds of fights.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.
>>> Camps are about the same. Towers depend a lot on upgrade level. It’s actually easier to take a tower with minimal walls now – particularly because, many times, there are no defenders.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved?
>>> I think it’s a little better because of the resource nodes in camps and towers

If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards?
>>> Chrono elite is great for roaming – built-in run speed

Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?
>>> In it’s current state? Not much. The reward chests with the experience boosts are nice because I use them in pvp

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?
>>> I’ve mostly moved away from long sessions. The infrequency of player combat makes it less exciting. It feels like it takes a long time to get to the north part of the map, so I rarely go. Over the last couple of months, I’ve switched so that the majority of my playing time is in pvp.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.
>>> It feels like having more people on each BL would be the biggest thing. The other thing is that north-south travel feels really slow. Maybe I just haven’t spent enough time finding the best paths, but it feels like it’s often not worth the journey.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
>>> In theory, the oasis events really focus action in the middle periodically which could be balanced by coordinated teams working around the edges. In practice, I think I would tell a new WvW player to go to EB to start

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
>>> If you’re just trying to do dailies, run along the south edge. If you’re looking for fights, try the middle during oasis event or, probably better, go to EB

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
>>> Enemy bl

ArchonWing.9480:

• Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

For 3 hrs a night 5 nights a week it was guild raids of 20-25 guild mates running around looking for guilds to fight of similar size regular fighting spots and easy accessibility to re-enter fights. Outside of them times i usually spent around 8 hrs a day, every day solo roaming around or joining the blue tag on map.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

I only went to EB for lazy time during the early hours in morning when i couldnt find no fights on alpine maps.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

Still attend some guild raids, although they don’t last that long due to the enjoyment gone out of the maps. An only really attend what i attend to show support, i don’t enjoy it. I have giving the new maps the benefit of the doubt and have spent most of my WvW time on them, and will predominantly log into the new maps rather than EB but log off not long after as I feel the map doesn’t support my needs, and feel very disappointed that a game mode i love has been destroyed (not even gradually) but in 1 single patch/expac.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

The old maps had certain easily accessible spots where all the fighting would take place, even without looking for a tag u would easily be able to find fights solo/group or zerg at any of these spots for example between bay and garrison, between bay and briar or between garrison and hills just to name a few, most within easy walking distance of a waypoint no matter friend or foe, people didnt run and hide as much because they knew if they died they would be able to re-enter battle quite easy and quick. For the record knocking people off cliffs or in lava don’t interest me at all I would basically put that down to a cheap shot or no skill, we all seen that video of a necro fearing a zerg off cliff in EoTM’s, funny the once but takes the fighting out of it. The new map reminds me so much of EoTM’s: it’s big, you can be hit/fall off edges, takes so long to re-enter fights that people don’t bother and log out, new players without much play hours can easily get lost, lack of waypoints, playing with complete strangers instead of the guilds and pugs u love playing with (takes away your identity, although this hasn’t happened “yet” got a funny feeling it will) and if this is the way WvW overhaul is going then it’s end for me.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

In old maps, most of my solo time i used to spend setting up cata’s and taking down walls, in preparation for when our EB blob border hops, for me to communicate what i have taken down for them to cap map back faster. However, when doing it with this map i have the problem of the walls upgrading while im waiting for EB blob, and im unable to slow down the supply to stop it from upgrading (very annoying), it wouldn’t be as bad if i was stopped by player interaction, but im not. I am being stopped by a game mechanic in a PvP game mode. I will say i do like that the NPC lords are a bit more beefy, and each have unique fighting styles.

• How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

Sorry to say I havent noticed in regards to loot because every time i enter WvW recently im spending less and less time in WvW (or GW2 in general) shame really because i used to love this game and more to the point this game mode, I suppose im only here now because i have hop that Anet will swallow their pride and realise and rectify this mistake that hit WvW on the HoT expac.

ArchonWing.9480:

• How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

It has already impacted my WvW hours, I went from 8-12 hrs a day (overall) to sometimes not bothering even loggin on, and when i do i now spend an hour in new maps (EBG queue friggin huge) maybe bit of time in LA trading passing time by and log off again. As I say I am only holding out on a thread with hop, but if mega server hit WvW, I will be saving myself a nice chunk of space on my hard drive after uninstalling.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

tbh anything remotely similar to Alpine maps and as far away from EoTM and desert map as possible will be brilliant. remove gimics like air pads lava pools, mid event. allow waypoints to be manually built and used as previously, so we can cap build and hold enemy keeps/waypoints. less vertical, less chokes, allow us to build waypoints in own BL keeps.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

I am a veteran player, and understand WvW mechanics, I pitty any new player that has to learn on a map like this and hasn’t seen or had experience on the previous version.

ArchonWing.9480:

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

I have covered every inch of this new map and know all the short cuts and siege spots and still find it very negative to a PvP environment. I could be standing vertually next to an enemy player and yet i am still unable to make contact (in certain areas), due to the amount of vertical parts that need to be climbed to get to where i want to be. And around the palace for example if the air pads are in favour of the enemy i have a hell of a long trek to get around which make me wanna log off even more, i dont want to be spending my valuable time trying to get from one place to the next, the only reason i (and probably others) play WvW is to find continuous fights/battles side by side with friends, and when u take this away by making us explore/trek more than whats needed and less fighting or not making areas more easily accessible u have lost have of the player base. Solve this, if in any way you can make fights more easily accessible for all parties/servers (thus making fights more frequent) you have one half of the battle regardless of map, at least in my case anyway. (I would probably say reverting back completely to old waypoint system and manual upgrading would aide this alot.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

LA trading post less and less time every day, eventually if something isn’t sorted i will find a new game and uninstall

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

borderlands: usually ran with guild, 20-25 ppl, looking for fights

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

EBG: community based, community TS, followed pug commander

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

same as with alpine borderlands, still running with guild while looking for fights, but the fights are fewer… new borderlands also changed my deaths, as I die more often from PvE gimmicks (lava, those things at air keep that knock you off the ledges etc) than actually in a fight with other players

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

in alpine borderlands people did rely on several things when fighting enemies (in this order):
- strength of a group (i.e. skill of players)
- numbers
- siege
- pve stuff (environment such as cliffs)

in desert borderlands, this feels to be completely the other way round, environment plays crucial role, you are basically not in a fight with enemy group but with its surroundings… and if I wanted to go fight environment and that I would go to PvE, WvW should be about fighting other ppl imo

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

roughly the same I guess, although I see much more fortified structures than I did in the past… maybe because they are easily upgraded or perhaps because most of the structures on the map have next to none tactical meaning (i.e. north towers) so there is no need for you to cap them, other than to get some silly rewards and feel good about yourselves…

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards?

already unlocked the specializations via PvE… as for loot, I never played for loot but for fun and fights, so I have no idea whether I get more or not. As for WxP, never cared for that either, already pushing 3k meaning I have 1500 unspent ability points… whats the point of that? The only thing I don’t understand is what happens to the normal XP points I get from kills, but I think it just goes to waste (thanks Anet, you could have at least make it boost Central Tyria masteries or something)

Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

No, this never worked… actually it worked the other way around, I had to play other game modes to support my WvW addiction (even more so since HoT as content is gated behind PvE grinding)

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

they became significantly shorted, and I spend much more time in EBG (even started solo roaming since HoT)

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

remove the event in the middle which only lags the map (I play mostly prime time and ppl do the event ONLY to get rid of the lag), also do something about the size and ease of access, make it smaller, cut more passages or give players which are out of combat +70% speed increase when moving on a road or something like that… takes to long to get anywhere

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

thinks its beautiful at first but if you are not on a stroll, looking around chasing butterflies but to get some fights it might be a bit frustrating, I know I was cursing like a mad man when I died due to PvE stuff

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

big and confusing, but undeniably beautiful and diverse

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

Desert Borderlands, EBG or afking in LA or HotM or somewhere….

• Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

Depends – Home or Enemy.

• On Home either solo roaming/scouting – upgrading and siegeing up stuff if necessery. Or defending objectives as part of larger groups.
• On enemy – most often part of invading groups – various sizes. Small guild runs big zergs – depends what was available.

• Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

Well sometimes similar – scouting and upgrading, but EB had always different play style, because all 3 forces have about equal chances due to placing of objectives and spawns.
Either in big group focused on capping /defending, or in guild group looking for fights.

• Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

Either it’s dead – so there is nothing to do and I move/queue for eb, or defending against enemy blob, in which case you need to blob up yourself in order to steamroll the blob.

• Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

The nature of open-field combat has not changed. Knocking to cliffs/lava practically does not play any role in 90% of fights.
The only role the environment plays are navigation problems. What changed is the amount of running needed around in case one side was defeated. The builds were affected by the condi changes and new elites.

The siege warfare lost a lot of tactical play in my opinion. Before you had to carefully choose your attack spot, so that your siege would not be easily destroyed. It required some experience and planning. You could not ignore towers when going for keep – or else one treb could devastate your rams/catas and drain your supply.

• In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

If you have enough people and supply, it’s a lot easier/faster to take new keeps. They are in bad places for defense.

The siege like the cannons is placed so badly It’s absolutely unbelievable.
A narrow platform, extended outside of the keep fortification. A cannon operator is extremely vulnerable, as he can be bombed from left/right and below, practically by ANY ranged weapon, and pulled down by number of abilities.
In real life you would be afraid to go there because a strong wind could pull you off.

• How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

Well it did take a hit. But so have everything else that is not connected with HoT new metas. That is not an isue because WvW was never for the loot/wxp.
Unlocking elite is cake in HoT PvE maps. A couple of hours running HP’s. With HP train onging it’s maybe doable within 1 hour.
On the other hand unlocking elites purely in WvW is by comparison extremely long ~80 wvw levels.

• How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

Well the effect will be that I will spend more time in EB, less time hopping border/EB.
Unless of course there is EB queue.

• In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

• Remove the oasis event
• Redesign the keeps and surrounding areas to make some strategic sense. It would not hurt to have more objectives/ like towers/outposts. The placement not based on arbitral symetric but based on whenever it makes some sense.
• More types of “towers”/walled objectives ?

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

• I think they are too confusing. There should be some more clear paths for people to reach the few nearby objectives. A new person will most likely have huge problem reaching the tag that is not in spawn areas. They seem like designed with gliding in mind at some point, but without gliding. They are harder to navigate than 3/4 of new maps.
• Home border should have a more “safe” feeling. The spawn area probably could be larger and placed more centrally.

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

• Similar they don’t work well. They might work better for a roamer, especially that some camps are designed in a way that you can avoid guards and just kill overseer and cap it. Most of the champs in all objectives are soloable (Not all easy not by everyone but still new champs are to easy)
• People looking for fight will have problem due to navigation issues.

• Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

Well if the guild is raiding that on that BL. Most likely EB if no queue. Or farming the new maps for flax and other stuff needed for upgrades.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

I was used to roam a bit with a couple of friends, flip camps to lure enemies into a small skirmish, joining the defense of a tower, following a commander and taking part in a big fight for a T3 keep. All these activities were fun and entertaining, at least for me.

• Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

I wasn’t a big fan of EB in the past. On that map small skirmish were very rare, so I went in there knowing my choices were somehow limited compared to a bl. Occasionally it was good to take part in a very big battle tho, like defending SM.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

In the new bl I usually run, run and run, then run some more, break a door, kill a boss, do it all over. Hardly I can found someone to fight. The biggest battle I’ve taken part was a 15 vs 15ish players, and happened only once. There’s virtually no team defending (since the autoupgrade why bother?). It’s all utterly boring.

ArchonWing.9480:

• Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

Since I can hardly find someone to fight in the new bl, I can’t really tell if there is any difference so far in this regard.

• In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

I guess it could be more or less the same. Unfortunately, in the new bl the amount of running you need to go everywhere makes the capping a lot less frequent than in the original bl.

• How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

I never cared about wxp and loot when playing WvW – I literally played for the fun of it, so I can’t really talk about the difference (if any).

• How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

Nowdays I don’t feel to spend more than 20 minutes in the new bl, I got bored much faster by the lack of fights and the endless running to get somewhere. If I want to play wvw for that much time, I join EB.

• In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

Shrink the map, by huge margin. In addition to that, either remove a lot of verticality terrains or add gliders so players don’t get irritated by the numerous obstacles that prevent them to go where they want (to a double cross to join a fight for instance).

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

I don’t think they can work at all. The new bls are too confusing, too big, and it’s hard to find a fight. Can’t imagine what fun a new player might get from these conditions.

• In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

As a veteran, I can’t really find a way so the new map can work in their current state. I just go there when I’m waiting for the EB queque.

• Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

Either a competitive 5vs5 map or some pve map – still hoping the future holds some good changes for what it was a once fun WvW experience.

Any comment from a GM? Its barely i can se any positive comments about new maps. Time to wake up Anet.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?
did solo roaming. would open map to see where i could sabotage supply lines and plan out where to go and what camp/tower to cap.
solo’d camps and towers, upgrade towers and camps and bloodlust, escort dolyaks. usally solo, sometimes found server-mates to play with, small group from 2 to 5 players+.
Used to play frontline guardien in gvg’s and pug zergs. when defending objectives i would siege up towers and keeps. when no enemi activeity, go around the map gathering ores and trees and look for fights (in most cases died alot!)

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?
when to EB with frontline guardien for zerg figths with pug commander. did sometimes enter with roamer class, where i would help small groups of 3-10 to cap towers and defend objectives like keeps, towers, camps and StoneMist.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.
From when i try’d new boarderlands first month: would run solo flipping camps, try’d on towers. did manage to flip 3 of the towers.
but it did take way to long, so i stopped doing towers and when for camps. sometimes shrines.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you?
What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.
before i would use siege to defend myself from bigger groups. now i get rolled over by always bigger groups.
1v1’s / 1vX: easy to see where eneies where and clean open feilds where we would focus on combat skills.
On new boarderlands, hard to run away and get rolled over by OP elite sepecs (not won an singel 1v1/1vX sins HoT)

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.
on old boarders it did take somewhat little time. on new boarders it takes alittle longer depending on messed up spawning of NPC’s.
tower takes atleast 3x more time, to the point it’s not worth careing about them.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing?
Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization,
do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?
gains same amounts of WXP as before, if i choose to take shrines, more WXP. In my experince i get better materials, when i first get loot.
but it’s abselutly not enoth to sustain an income balance or use. feels like i gets somewhat more rares and exotics, but not much diffrence from before.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?
because of the new auto-upgrade system and hard towers and keeps + Bad loot. i spend more time in EB helping small groups and look for figths.
not much reason to attack camps or towers other then for figths. i spend most time in PvE and little time in sPVP (only for reward track)

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.
In My Opinion!: bring back old alphine with manual upgrades (no cost, just player interaction), while desert boarderlands get’s an Redesigning.
Sugustion for changes:

• remove the verticality(make it 1 layer) and over-huge cliffs and flat out places for open field.
• Place towers more in range for siege keeps from towers to make them more tactical objectives.
• Reduse the amount of guards surounding gates and around walls on keeps and towers (also reduse on camps) OR reduse respawn rate.
• Remove middle event with someting diffrent. “king of the hill” maybe can replace this?? or make it somewhat flatt so that GvG’s can happen in middle of map.
• redesign towers. to simpler design and more walls and gates that can be taken down.
• nerf lords in keeps and towers.
• flat out area’s between keeps and towers.
• introduce scouting rewards (like one of the commanders that got interviewd by Reyana)
• introduce Reward track or other type of reward system.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
New players that choose an server in high tire maybe find it little fun, but if they choose lower tire server will find almost empty maps and the “large scale open pvp” they heard about will be
very disepointing for them and go back to PvE or sPVP.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
alphine map have been here for about 3 years. when an sudden huge change, withour much communication to the community that have keept WvW alive for so long gets ignored.
this will make vetrans irritated, then the try the new system and map, they get an culture shock and meet angry players complaining about the new changes, Lag, new PvE event in middle, OP spells,
hard time for roamers and solo roamers. and to top it off, still bad rewards as always.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
PvE farming for fashion. and EB then i feel like it. don’t care about boarderlands anymore or server pride. just goes to EB try to figth and join in small groups cap objectives and defend.

The desert borderlands can’t be improved…unless it becomes something completely different similar to the alpine borderlands and at that point it would seem easier to revert the map change.

So many players have abandoned GW2 because of the state of WvW

Andy.9137:

The desert borderlands can’t be improved…unless it becomes something completely different similar to the alpine borderlands and at that point it would seem easier to revert the map change.

So many players have abandoned GW2 because of the state of WvW

Yes, to many people have left…hope they will return the day anet brings back the old maps and listen to their players.

-Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?
*I could find a tag or small roaming crew to hang out with no matter what time of day it was. Dueling and roaming was fun and dynamic no matter what the timeclock said. Any task you name it, but I love roaming the most. Raids were common and I could join in, 2 am or 2 pm, some guild was there.

-Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?’
*In EB i have to be a bit more careful as I roam solo most of the time. EB is popular so that means lots of gank guilds or awful cheese build wins players. Hence why I loved the old maps, I felt like there was more genuine players I came across in regular maps.

-Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.
*I’d say new bls are empty with little roamers I come across. Running aimlessly for quite a long time fighting pve mobs at camps is very boring. Too many ledges, switchbacks, overall…just too much. Very boring and getting to objectives is a task. We live in a instant gratification society today and anet needs to realize, quicker action=more fights=player happy.

-Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.
*I think the old maps were straight forward. Example “bay has swords!” group goes fights, i have fun and we all have a good time. The new bls seem to avoid fights in a sense because they are so massive and are a maze.

-In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.
*Old maps could be difficult at times depending on defense. New maps are just a pve nightmare with boring elements with little resistance due to low population. I felt like I could solo things a bit better in old maps (camps or towers). New maps…I just don’t care.

-How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?
*I roam, I care not for rewards. Roaming is really the only mode holding my interest. If that dies, so does my account.

-How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?
*I use to play a lot of hours in the evening and roam with friends. I maybe spend 2 hours at max roaming presently because wvw is so boring with little interaction now, it’s just blob v blob and roamers are dwindling. Communities have dissolved due to players leaving.

-In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.
*Sometimes, you have to learn that it’s not an issue but an opportunity. The new bls are an issue and an opportunity for anet to learn. You don’t need an analyst to realize the new maps killed wvw. Go back to the old maps, improve them, fix bugs, and most of all anet needs to communicate. They’d be surprised what they get as a end product. Old players may just possibly return and a bold move is needed by anet.

-In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
*I think they’d be lost wouldn’t’ understand what the hell is going on. If you played the old wvw, you’d have a an idea but present bls would have me wondering “what the hell is the point to this game mode?” if i were new.

-In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
*I believe they’d log in and think “what in the mother of god is this….” and move onto another mmo without wanting to put the time and effort into what they once would with a lack of communication based company like anet. As a launch player, I have no interest in the direction wvw is going so I’d say I’d give up on the game.

-Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
*EB for sure. Tried roaming on new bls for months now with little fights. Gave up finally.

@Sandman, TRUE

I’m only passing by on the forum to check if they fixed anything on the old maps. WvW death then I’m no longer there customer, Amen

[Constructive Feedback] listen to your players and bring back the old maps now, if u want to continue work on the dessert ones do betas for them again. wvw should be easy roaming and finding fights, no pve. dessert fails on this. If wvw guilds start to disband leaving for other games you won´t get them back. I say all that want the old ones back, stop putting money in to the game until it´s done.

Anet needs to bring back the old maps. WvW reset nights used to be amazing way to band together with a few drinks and teamspeak, but no more. Map hopping used to be a fun way to cause havoc in all of the borderland maps, but no more. No more commander call outs or map queses on any of the borderlands. WvW is dead (even in t1). Anet “fixed” what wasn’t even broken; and now it’s destroyed.
It’s the eerie sound of silence from what used to be why I played the game.

If I was still doing wvw right now I’d be on the EB map. I have played the new BL but that was only when there was a big push with several commanders on the map.

The new BL is frustrating to navigate when you are racing to get to a fight on the other side from where you are, and it takes so long to get there you just know the fight will be over before you arrive.

Before the changes I spent most of my time in the BL. I was new and playing in the wee hours of the morning when most of the teams we were playing against capped at that hour.

If I went to the EB back then it was only if I knew my team had enough people to defend the BL.

The difference between now and then? I hardly if ever go into WvW. I was rather ticked off and stopped spending money after the changes. and sometimes I’ve not logged in for days. When WvW was good I was always logged in and playing.

To be fair I’m an old gamer and I have been caught up in sweeping game changes so many times over the years I probably just need to find another past time because the industry has really changed little by way of respecting those who buy, play, and determine if a game is a success or not. Share holders are nice but without us….you’ll lose them…..

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?
I did everything, running in zerg, solo roam, taking camps, siege structures, splitting from zerg for ppt, scouting…

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?
Since MU fight is dead now I am focusing on improving my poor fighting skills, EBG is the only way to do, BL are empty.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.
I have to walk too much to find some action.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.
fighting has changed more due to new specs than terrain.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past. Can´t be compared are completely different situation, most of the times structures are empty, but if structure is strong defended is almost imposible to get into. Not only guild buffs, shield generators…

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?
i can live in WvW with WvW but I can´t craft ascended gear with WvW rewards. or earn enough gold to buy gems.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW? The problem is the lack of players who don´t like map, if a product don´t like must be changed.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.I took my time to do some kind of rework for DBL, it gives back the importance for northern towers and has faster ways to reach objetives, a high amount of sentries and many paths keeps roaming, scouting being necessary.
http://imgur.com/hOG0ojt
In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
Ask them.
In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
I died too many times due to falls and got lost, so I understand people got sick of it. Keep traps are just annoying.
Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
Anywhere.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

- Typical hour in the old BL’s would involve flipping camps, tower, keeps, with a small havoc group of between 1 and 5, for me. Then upgrading, sieging keeps ( which is irrelevant in the new BL’s )

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

EB is still where we put some siege up in our own Keep but mostly it’s a zerging ground now. Good place to go if you want some quick camp flipping for dailies etc. The towers mostly never get upgraded now so they flip fast and easy. It’s really just a karma/fight zone.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

An hour in the new borderlands is slave labour. Usually involves running with either a mindless zerg capping stuff… or a very small group doing the same. Either way it takes so long to get where you are going and run the whole map that it’s still more of a pain than anything.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

Combat in the new bl’s? huh? I’m sure it might happen in the higher tiers but at our tier which is between 5-8 if we want combat we go to Eternal. Otherwise it’s player vs doors and walls. .. oh and of course if ONE person is in a keep he can usually defend it if it’s upgraded against a decent number of enemy outside.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

one word: terrible

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards?

Loot? in WvW? So far I haven’t seen anything useful come out of WvW loot for me. I used to even get ascended items in the old BL’s.. so far since HoT came out I haven’t received even one ascended item from WvW.. so loot? bah.
As for unlocking elites? You get wvw upgrades and the tokens so much faster by running in EOTM that I went there and got most of my elites unlocked that way.

Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?
How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

My in game goals for WvW are mostly squashed. I like to roam alone and in the new bl’s that is mostly destroyed now. The impact of the map change is that I went from spending about 95% of my time in WvW to maybe 20% at best! seriously.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

1. Make them smaller.
2. Make it so you can actually use those kitten way points.. ALL OF THEM. Not just one per map. On a map so big, removing the use of all waypoints is truly the not-so-smartest idea I’ve seen in a while.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

runs screaming from the room

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.

I am a veteran player. I find myself at a loss to even try to explain a setup that frustrates me so much that my wvw game has been reduced drastically.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

If I just got into WvW you will find me in my own BL seeing if there are camps I can flip. I can’t solo a tower anymore, ( although some seem to be able to after a long period of time ). If I’m alone that’s it… then I might be found in EB running with a group capping or fighting just for a little action.

The new way of things makes it much less of a “labor of love” when it comes to prepping a keep for defense and more of a place for big groups to rampage through a bl making it their colour. The small havoc groups are still there but harder to find and spend much less time doing what we used to love.

I really enjoy the new borderlands! They are fun, they have towers that are difficult to cap solo, but doable with 2 people, fun with 4+ players, which is as it should be. I dont even consider attacking a keep when in a small group.

I like that the map is full of chokes, yeah it makes for a very different fight style than the alpine borders, but honestly this is the desert, its different than the alpine environment! These maps are so detailed and interesting, the alpine borders (and EB for that matter) seems so flat and boring. By flat I dont only mean the terrain now having insane hight difference but more the care that went into visual detail and making it DIFFERENT from PvE maps. I hardly play EB after I got to know these maps.

The ONE thing I dont like is the oasis event. It causes me to borderhop for 15 minutes or so, its boring! It doesnt even cause good fights because people just decide to let one server have it to get it over with! And this means they dont even try, so the whole event is soloable. Seriously a big dinosaur can be EASILY taken out by a single person? Its more like a stuffed animal! Now dont go give them more HP because that just means the event will take longer :P Maybe you could just flatten the oasis and give players their beloved open field back?

Overall in WvW the auto upgrades has to go. They dont need to cost money, but siege and someone to activate them in what order, like before, needs to come back. And maybe not access to all tactivators before its tier 3?

Please please please keep the desert borderlands, If everyone else claims to hate them its just because the ones who love them are too busy playing to be on forums complaining. But yeah rotation back to the old maps (same mechaincs as we now have on the desert borders, with the same upgrade systems) and I think people would see how much they like the desert borders.

@Silje: Actually if there is no enemy around ( which is typical ) then capping a Keep with 4 people is pretty easy. It takes time but still not that hard. I totally agree about the auto upgrades. The Oasis event has been terminated which is too bad because if you succeed then you get to do a lot of damage to all the enemy owned towers and keeps. The new BL’s have to be fixed though.. Way too long to get around… and the fact that you can only use one of the 3 waypoints is simply stupid!… Making the borderlands this much bigger then disabling the ability to get around more quickly just makes it more frustrating than the size alone.

well, easy in the lower tiers.. not so much in the higher tiers I’m sure…

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

Spend a few minutes running from one target to the next, attempt to take the point. Either move on to the next or respawn and run back if it failed. Roaming groups were 2-5 people and usually worked on causing havoc by flipping camps, killing yaks, or ninja’ing towers while zergs were usually 20-30ish and focused on the big objectives like keeps. I would do both, depending on what class I was running at the time. In an hours time it was easy to successfully complete a minimum of 5 objectives.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

Essentially the same as above, with more likelihood to run with the zerg to control as much of the map as possible. I preferred the Alpine BLs to EBG.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

In the new BLs, it’s not uncommon to spend 45 minutes of the hour just running between targets. It’s difficult to navigate due to the expansiveness of the maps and the vertical element, even after getting acquainted with the layouts. Side elements like the shrines are interesting in theory, but disruptive to gameplay in practice. It’s extremely frustrating to have limited waypoints so if/when I die I have to try another target or spend a significant amount of time running back to the first one, only to find that I’ve missed the window where it’s vulnerable and have to wait for it to pass, or start running elsewhere again. It seems like only thieves and rangers run solo now and everyone else sticks with the zerg, which are now 40+ most of the time.

Describe the nature of combat in the borderlands in the past. How have the new borderlands impacted this paradigm for you? What style or build changes might it cause? For example, knocking people off cliffs or into lava might play a more important role.

Combat used to be organic and people weren’t afraid to engage. The fights were fun, even if your side lost. You could die and run back in a reasonable amount of time. Now if you die in midfight, it’s usually over before you can run halfway back. Also, there is too much interference from the environment (shrine effects, cliffs, etc) that detracts from PvP. For example, if the enemy controls enough shrines, your side is slowed and get barriers thrown in the path, then the enemy gets to leap in un-hindered and invisible. Using stability or another condi removal to improvement movement means it’s not available when the enemy attacks. It seriously tips the scales and player skill means very little. Things like chokes take some strategy while still allowing for player skill to matter. It’s also changed open combat so that it hardly exists. Most of the time people just hole up in their towers/keeps under heavy siege. If you happen to catch them out, the instinct is to run right back under siege cover.

In your experience, compare the time it takes take a structure or objective here, then it did in the past.

Supply and yaks definitely play a more important role in the new setup. In theory, the requirement to escort yaks in order to upgrade things should mean that small havoc groups make a return. That isn’t the case though. Since zergs are so massive now, you practically have to have siege to defend and with the addition of guild siege the time it takes to capture a structure is diminished. It used to be common for 2-3 pieces of siege. Now it’s not uncommon to drop 7-8.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to in the past? Will it be able to sustain whatever you are doing? Did it take a hit, or was it improved? If you are planning to unlock an elite specialization, do you think you were helped or hurt in these regards? Do you think you could pursue any other in-game goals just by playing WvW?

Unsure. I’ve noticed a lack of ascended drops, but I never got many before either so…I like getting heroic tokens that can be used to purchase hero points for the new HoT zones, but don’t like that they’re no longer account bound.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

WvW is the last thing I do in game now. I focus the bulk of my time doing PvE dailies, fractal dailies, and harvesting. Whatever time I have left I’ll spend in WvW. I get frustrated quicker and find that I’m not inclined to stay logged in to WvW as much.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.
Remove shrine effects except altar buffs, no fall damage, jump pads and the blowing statues near the keep. Decrease the vertical aspect and twists/turns so that it’s not so confusing or arduous to get between points. Make the maps smaller so less time is spent running.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
No idea.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
The new bosses are fine overall, but rather PvEish. On the surface, the points line up with the old maps, so you know that “air keep” = “hills”. But once you get to that area, things don’t really line up. You waste time trying to figure out how to get in. It’s a frustrating time sink where you feel like you’re making very little progress/accomplishing nothing.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?
Most of the time I’m in EBG, assuming the queue isn’t too deep. EoTM if it is. I avoid the new BLs unless it looks like one of the camps near our spawn is available to take or if a known guild is running a raid there.

If Anet truly cared reach out the t1 and t2 servers, and ask the WvW Guilds rather than a post where anyone can reply. Most of the replies here are negative and they have every right to be but you know they will see only the positive ones and be like we did a good job, gold star for everyone here! Good job team!

Oh btw when you revert the maps cut the pve bs on each tower/keep. actually the whole map :*

A typical hour for me in the old borderland involved large server fights typically over defensive positions such as the three main keeps that could have waypoints or be upgraded. Waypoints were never a given and once you had one in the keep you wanted to hold on to it as it made getting around the map so much easier. This went both ways if your enemy had a waypoint near you you wanted to eliminate it because this allowed them easy access to your side of the map.
One other major thing that was designed into the older maps was the ability to attack one tower from another tower so that you could have an advantage over being in the open field. Sieging a smaller tower to attack a keep draws huge fights.
The new borderland maps don’t give you any advantage for taking a keep on the other side of the map, you can never get a waypoint in those keeps and therefore could never defend it against an enemy who’s home way point is closer then yours.

The new borderland maps don’t allow roamers to have any purpose. They can’t sneak a tower because the champions are ridiculously over powered even on non-upgraded towers. I could understand them being stronger on a tower that was upgraded. The wooden walls in the northern half of the map make a player have to go all the way around the outside of the NE/NW towers, it adds 5 minutes just to get to north camp.

My suggestions for updating the maps would be the following. Allow any team to waypoint any of the three Keep structures, you could continue to allow the waypoint to be free for the “Home” tower that is nearest. Shrink the maps to allow tower to tower siege combat. Remove the millions of obstacles and annoyances around the keeps, things popping up all over the place on top of crippling everyone, fire shooting statues & knock back statues, its no wonder no one wants to use the maps these serve no purpose but to be annoying. Reduce the elevation changes in the southeast corner of the map. Make it possible for a condition based player to destroy the wooden walls that surround towers i mean how does a wooden wall not take burning damage?

As for rewards in the borderlands maps, the old maps offered lots of fights and so with it a lot of loot, until there are more people on the maps the loot will be small. The loot received from bosses is just the same as you would get from killing a few things in PVE. Seems like there isn’t really any good reward for taking anything on the map and the loot you get isn’t anything that you would want anyhow. At least in PVP you can select what you will get for a reward and focus on something useful. Maybe you could setup a system that allows you to use your extra wvw rank up points for something then there would be a purpose for them after you complete all your personal wvw upgrades.

Thank you for starting this thread Archon, and hopefully there will be a continued quality dialogue about the DBL.

Typical hour for you in the ABL…
- It’s been forever since I played these (since 2nd season of WvW tournament), but usually I would run in the zerg or stand in one of the towers/keeps to scout and report back in map chat if enemies were seen.

Compare your experience above with a typical hour in EB…
- Pretty much the same experience when we had ABL: run with the zerg or secure a tower/keep and report from there. However, since HoT my group will run small team havoc groups around the map, flipping smaller objectives and sieging up keeps and SMC, changes to my playstyle that I’ve learned from running DBLs.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new BLs.
- I do a LOT more now in the BLs. Our guild is finally able to do guild missions, which we do 2-3 nights a week in the DBL. Outside of those, I often run in a small group, flipping camps, sentries, and towers, and being a general annoyance. Sometimes even during slower times I’ll solo roam now and take camps and sentries on my own.

Describe the nature of combat in the BLs in the past…
- I think the new BLs have taught me to learn maps quicker, be more analytical in my approaches to what is available with chokepoints and possible locations for siege, and become more confident in my own pvp abilities to the point that I’ve actually played pvp now. It also shifted my playstyle from running zerg for gaining reward to running small groups and solo. Our guild too has thrived on the DBL with the guild upgrades encouraging our guild to work on leveling our guild hall (level 56 leveled by 7 people for the most part).

In your experience, compare the time it takes to take a structure or objective…
- I think on the DBL it takes about the same time as the ABL, but you don’t need as many people as there are fewer people contesting you taking the objective. The “time” spent is still used to create siege, take down the gates/walls, and then capture the lord. The only challenge is that the camps are a bit further away than they used to be, but easy enough to deal with. Camps are easier to take, but that is probably the gear/spec being run now too.

How is the loot and wxp for you compared to the past?…
- At first when HoT dropped, I was very disappointed that no one was in the DBL, as that was where I preferred to run and I really liked the looks of the map. However, once people came in, it filled back up (I’m on a T3/4 server). Loot/wxp is comparable to what it was outside of the tournaments in the ABL. The wvw guild missions however give a TON of loot, which helps, and that’s 2 nights a week for me of gameplay. And I think I’m earning wxp faster now than I used to in the ABL, as I’m getting 2-3 wxp levels a night. I do use an elite spec, but am considering going back to my old wvw spec I had been using. And really, for other in-game goals, I think they all work together hand in hand. Wvw helped us level our guild hall and helped me get HoT hero points, and leveling the guild hall has encouraged me to play more PvE again, as well as WvW giving me the courage to try pvp, which was also needed for the guild hall which then in turn helped us in wvw.

How will the map change impact the long sessions…
- If you mean going back to ABL, I’ll stop playing WvW again. I got tired of standing in ABL and EB for 12+ hours a day during the tournaments. Our server is finally having people play in the BLs again, and when we have the people to do so, it gives us an advantage over other servers that are ignoring it. Now, if you mean DBL, I’m back in WvW after a year and a half of avoiding it and pvp and really enjoying it. It is because of the DBL that I’m finally able to enjoy a balance of PvX gameplay in GW2.

…describe how the new BLs could be improved.
- I think I’m one of the people that like the new BLs, but possibly make a ledge here and there on the high cliffs that we can land on more easily with a fall assist trait. And maybe find a way to make towers more rewarding to hold for the server, such as each tower gives a buff to the server that holds it (eg: increased supply given at all objectives, increased health, increased run speed, increased toughness). I don’t mind the size, but also fixing the WPs at the keeps so they are not always contested to aid mobility.

…describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.
- It’s been a good three years since I first played WvW, so this probably isn’t a good answer, but they have always been good for training new WvW players, though that has now shifted I think into EotM instead since that launched.

…describe how the borderlands work to a veteran WvW player that is new to the maps.
- It was confusing at first. But, once you realize that fundamentally they are the same (citadel, three keeps, four towers, six camps, and a bunch of sentries and choke points in betwee, and a now former PvE event in the middle), they are easy to learn. A good veteran player can stand in a keep and see the vantage points needed to defend it, as well as see how it integrates with the guild leveling system.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on GW2?
- If I’m not running around Tyria or farming, I play the new DBL maps.

Describe a typical hour for you in the Alpine Borderlands in the past. For example, What size of group were you running in? What kind of tasks did you run? What activities did you do?

Roaming, scouting, skirmishing, duels, upgrading things (Home BL) taking towers/camps.

Compare your experience described above with a typical hour spent in Eternal Battlegrounds, if you went there at all. Does your style of play change between the 2 maps?

Style and build changes. EB is a blob fest. That said, when it slowed down I spent time upgrading/ siegeing our 3rd. Conversing with the locals etc.

Compare your experiences described above with an hour spent in the new borderlands.

Heartbreaking to be brutally honest. None of the above happens in the new BL for me. Auto upgrades are unbelievable? Really? who’s idea was that? The new BL’s were supposed to increase the “immersion”? The immersion came from taking a tower, or keep and “making it yours”. All the added cheese/ cancer in the form of airships, cloaking waters, sand storms, chilling fog, EWP. SMH, come on ANET. All i do is WvW. WvW is (MY) Game mode. I don’t even care that you guys don’t reward players with good loot in WvW. Please, get a couple devs in wvw and look at what you’ve done. srry rant over.

How will the map change impact the long sessions (multiple hours) you spend in WvW?

Sadly, it won’t. I care too much about the game/ lore. I hate seeing good people leave for other games though and that’s happening in masses. I do spend more time in EB though now days. I miss Garri and Hills, and even Bay.

In 100 words or less, describe how the new BLs could be improved.

For me the only improvement is the Alpine maps being brought back.

In 100 words or less, describe how the borderlands work to a new WvW player.

I have no idea. I know for a veteran player like me it’s a huge headache. Took me 10 minutes to find the lord in AIR keep.

Which map am I most likely to find you currently, if you’re on Gw2?

EBG