Great upcoming changes! A few more:
Bring back the Alpine maps. I never had a problem with them. But if ANet decides to change the maps, at least make sure that the majority of players agree that they are improvements.
Remove scaling lords and PvE “challenges”. Given fairly even attack and defense, the lord really tilts the balance in favor of defense. The extreme example is the fire keep, would it even be possible to take the keep if an equal number of defenders were on the platform with the lord? Maybe if you built siege but otherwise I think not. Area fear on a platform surround by lava and a lord that alone is a match for 75 percent of your whole team. That whole lord’s room should just be moved to PvE where it belongs.
One simple way to help the WvW loot situation would be to allow the PvE auto loot pickup to function in WvW. In open field zerg fights I often have the choice to try to pick up bags, or concentrate on the fight and keeping out of the red circles. Also, several times I have chosen to stay on my AC as our keep or tower was being overrun. The result was my body surrounded by bags, which sometime continue to drop after I have WPed. Once, the enemies that killed me actually bowed, and that meant more to me than all the bags. Moments like that are the reason I play WvW. Digital shinies compared to that? Give me a break.
The lord SHOULD tilt the battle towards defense.
Crystal Desert
The lord SHOULD tilt the battle towards defense.
The lord has always tilted the battle to defense. The problem is that now the lord DOMINATES the defense.