Guild Wars 2

Friendly units block attacks

A friendly unit standing between you and your target would block your direct attack. Both melee and ranged attacks.

A friendly unit standing within your aoe would have a chance to block one of the five hits. Same with melee cleave with 1 out of 3.

This is an anti-zerging feature.

This feature would only be in effect in WvW. Not in EotM, PvE, SPvP.

Why

Today zergs are effective because you can keep everyone within boon/cleanse/healing range and still have high focused damage output.

Making the biggest zerg on the map and mindlessly spamming skills wins. Many feel it should not be so.

AoE skills cannot be counter play for this because of the 5 target limit. Siege weapons work, but they have no mobility.

Implications

This feature would reduce the damage output of zergs. Zergs could still form a tight ball for defensive purposes, but then there would not be much damage output.

Teams would need to give some thought where the melee players move and where the ranged players attack.

Packing all melees into single point would not be efficient as all but few frontmost melee players deal damage. Others would just get blocked.

On one hand the melee players would be more vulnerable being spread out. On the other hand being close to enemy units the enemies block some incoming damage.

Since players are spread out, boons/heals/cleanses need some extra tactics. This would make the gameplay more detailed.

Issues/Thoughts

• Would this be interesting gameplay change?

• Would this nullify the zerging as an anwers to all tactic?

• Would this idea raise brand new issues? Like the following…

• Client lag/server lag/name plates only visibility would make aiming too difficult in large fights?
  • Perhaps calculating friendly unit collisions would cause a lot of stress on the servers.

• Newbie melee players walking into ranged fire?
  • Granted this feature is not newbie friendly. I already get annoyed if someone knocks my target out of melee range. I’d be tad more annoyed if some eager upscaled warrior keeps squeezing between me and my target.

• Ranger pet hate?
  • Limiting the blocking on players only solve that but it would be inconsistant.
  • Better pet AI would help, but apparently good AI is hard to code.

• Warriors soloing entire zergs?
  • One can safely stand in the middle of enemy zerg since only the closest enemies can hit you.

Or you could outplay them instead of begging the game to do it for you.

Your assumption that the biggest zerg always wins is false. There are many zergbusting guilds that take on many times their numbers and win, due to synergised builds, good communication, superior understanding of mechanics and experienced drivers that know when to engage and where, and when to recover.

Why not make it if you have over 30 people you do half damage

Wick.1280:

Why not make it if you have over 30 people you do half damage

There is another thread discussing about a zerg debuff. It is very problematic and unintuitive mechanic.

Im going to go with no.

The reason zerging is effective is hard rezzing. If you’re dead, you should not have a 15minute pass to be revived. Let’s not get into the fact that it’s exploitable.

To easy for greifers (and enemy spies) to stand in people’s way.

Wanderer.3248:

To easy for greifers (and enemy spies) to stand in people’s way.

It would require a quite big group of spies to make an effect in zerg fights. I would think your team would be more hindered by the queue to the map than blocking.

Small scale grieving could happen. Someone following you around stepping between you and your target all the time. But would the enemy not attack the griever?

This would also never happen because the server/client tech can’t handle it. The math for character collision is insane.

It was freaking fantastic in Warhammer instanced matches though.

No. Just actually try playing a ranged class before posting such an idea. It’s bad enough already, we don’t need yet more things blocking.

Skroo.1560:

This would also never happen because the server/client tech can’t handle it. The math for character collision is insane.

It was freaking fantastic in Warhammer instanced matches though.

I do not know how computationally expensive collions calculations are. I am not a game programmer. I would guess the calculations are done on client side; perhaps using hardware since the gfx cards already contain a model of the game universe and they are very powerful computers on their own. As I understand GW2 underutilizes gfx card hardware today.

Just turn on friendly fire.

Come on, everyone knows it’d be awesome.

And incredibly hilarous.

Also turn on collision detection for increased hilarity.

Dawdler.8521:

Just turn on friendly fire.

Come on, everyone knows it’d be awesome.

And incredibly hilarous.

Also turn on collision detection for increased hilarity.

A scaled down representation of what would happen to the GW2 servers after such a change.

Pretty Pixie.8603:

Your assumption that the biggest zerg always wins is false. There are many zergbusting guilds that take on many times their numbers and win, due to synergised builds, good communication, superior understanding of mechanics and experienced drivers that know when to engage and where, and when to recover.

You do realize that sheer might and numbers have overwhelmed experienced troops/commanders in history, right?

What you said sounds nice, but it doesn’t work irl, and it doesn’t work in this game, to a degree. If you combine zergbusting tactics with the sheer numbers of a zerg, then you can make a monster with the best of both aspects.

Gw1 was collision and it was epic. That made soo much tactic, laughing and crying

Dawdler.8521:

Just turn on friendly fire.

Come on, everyone knows it’d be awesome.

And incredibly hilarous.

Also turn on collision detection for increased hilarity.

Friendly fire and movement blocking unit collisions are hilarious for the first 10 minutes, sure. On longer run nobody would have fun.

That’s why I only suggested blocking of attacks. And only by friendly units to prevent some unhealthy escort tactics.