Guild Wars 2

How handicapping and keeping teams competitive is handled in games, sports, and so on:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chess_handicap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Handicapping
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golf_handicap
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spread_betting
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Go_handicap
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_is_a_handicap_game_in_bowling
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Football_League_draft

From http://www.wizards.com/magic/magazine/article.aspx?x=mtg/daily/feature/113 :

“One of the easiest ways to improve your game-playing experience is by using ‘handicaps.’ To take a handicap in a game means to play with some advantage or disadvantage. Handicaps are often used in games played between people of disparate skills. They help to make the game more fun for all players, not just the best players.”

Handicap is a nice idea to even a score out but the fights still suck when a heavy populated server fights less populated servers. This is the real problem. The score is just a symptom of a less than fun match.

Straegen.2938:

Handicap is a nice idea to even a score out but the fights still suck when a heavy populated server fights less populated servers. This is the real problem. The score is just a symptom of a less than fun match.

Balancing the score would remove a great deal of the incentive to stack to win if stacking didn’t mean winning and better stuff from ANet, so it would help with at least part of the problem.

The game scales NPC encounters in PvE, not only by increasing the strength of NPCs but also by adding more of them. I know people play WvW to fight other players but why can’t the game improve the NPCs manning camps, towers, and keeps for a heavily outnumbered server so that PvDoor isn’t so trivial and an outnumbered player can fight among NPCs that don’t drop in seconds? I can take on more opponents if I’m in a fully upgraded camp with NPCs doing damage to my opponents, too, and I do that now. Why can’t NPCs in an otherwise empty tower use siege weapons to make it more challenging to take? If you really want to fight other players and that’s your excuse for opposing the idea, then why are you attacking an empty tower owned by a server that you greatly outnumber rather than attacking a stronger opponent where their people are?

Anet’s attempt to handicappaing is to adjust the transfer costs to the servers.

Berk.8561:

The game scales NPC encounters in PvE, not only by increasing the strength of NPCs but also by adding more of them. I know people play WvW to fight other players but why can’t the game improve the NPCs manning camps, towers, and keeps for a heavily outnumbered server so that PvDoor isn’t so trivial and an outnumbered player can fight among NPCs that don’t drop in seconds?

I think adding more PvE elements in to WvW is akin to fixing a gaping wound by putting a band aid on it. They need to fix the underlying problem of unbalanced match ups. This fixes the score, makes the matches more fun to play in and keeps the PvE content where it belongs.

Vaugh.7193:

Anet’s attempt to handicappaing is to adjust the transfer costs to the servers.

Which ended up just moving the problem from one server to another…

How about increasing the HP of Gates and Walls for the outnumbered server? We know siege is the best way to stop a bigger force, but sometimes the outnumbered server don’t even have the time to get a single arrow cart up because the gate melted to 4 superior flame rams (and you only need a 20 man for that… Imagine what you can do with 50).

I know some people will say “Oh, but why didn’t you built the siege beforehand and blahblahblah”. In a server that is already lacking numbers its hard to find someone that will be willing to sit back refreshing siege over and over… Hell, I’ve seen siege decay on high populated servers (like Maguuma). And the siege that will be build is limited to the supplies you hav ein your hand and on the tower, so if you didn’t upgraded the tower, you won’t have much to build and try save it.

That would give more time for outmanned server try to build a defense, and would discourage Karma Trains over the outmanned server stuff (since it won’t be fast and furios).

Two coppers.

Handicapping has been discussed at length in the past. I (myself along with many others) was a big promoter of the concept and still think it offers the single best solution to population disparities within given matchups.

I hope that it happens one day, because I truly believe that you will always lose Pugs in lopsided/outmanned matches. However I also truly believe you lose more to “scoreboards” than you do to outmanned fights. (IE: Pug A doesn’t mind dying if the score is relatively close, but does mind dying if the score is a blowout and would rather do something else)

Unfortunately I have a feeling (after seeing EoTM) that ANET will try one of the half-kittened ideas of “server alliances/mergers” (not physical mergers), to where the overall match scores are calculated on server colors, or something along those lines.