Guild Wars 2

While I still like the underlying idea, initial experiences lead me to think that the initial implementation of the Siege Disabler can be improved in some ways.

“Siege Disabled” effect duration depends on siege weapons hit
Against a small group, who’s able to build a single ram, it’s okay to hinder them slightly from wearing down a gate or wall, but they are slow enough with just one siege item anyways.
When siege disabling really shines, is when there are many siege weapons in a small area. Many offensive siege weapons require a lot of players to be built, so what would happen is that a large group of players is slowed in their progress for quite some time.

What should happen in my opinion, is that the “disabled” effect duration depends on the number of siege weapons hit by the trick (e.g. 15 seconds per affected siege weapon). Against a single ram or cata it can still be used to delay the enemies, but it won’t lead to situations in which the defenders won’t have time to rally forces and defend against the small group of opponents. Against 2 rams or catas the trick can significantly delay the attacking forces, thus giving your own realm time to rally and fight for the structure. 3 rams (currently the number of rams and catas most zergs and raid groups can build at a time) would be disabled for the current duration if they aren’t spread apart, and so on.

The more siege, the quicker a gate or wall is torn down, but the number of concurrent siege also depends on the number of players… You not only get in a structure faster, but you also have more players to intercept defenders. With the suggestion above, you’d also be at higher risk of getting your siege disabled for a longer duration, though, so it balances out: Do you wish to get in fast? Take the risk of getting your rams disabled for a long time. Take a safer approach? Be less vulnerable to the trick by spreading out your siege assets and / or building less siege.

Spread siege also enables defenders to counter attack more easily, because attackers have to either split up to protect everything with their meat, or run the risk of getting some siege weapons (or players manning them) taken out rather quickly.

Longer “Siege Disabled” on Omega Golems
With omega golems you’re able to spread out and stay at max range, which already protects against most defensive counters. To disable the big golems, a defender already has to take risk and run outside. Why aren’t they rewarded equally compared for disabling some rams (which are more vulnerable to defensive siege anyways)? Also remember that omegas allow for easy counter by just spreading out a bit, thus avoiding being hit by a single trick simultaneously…

Remove non-siege Damage on Gates above a Threshold
This is something many players have asked for a long time now, and it makes sense to me: The only situation in which player damage on gates is really noteworthy is either due to bugs (remember the necro signet heal?) or when the attacking force already has a large group, which might also just build 5 rams in front of a gate, anyways.
I think it would lead to more strategic play (supplies and supply management get more important) if players wouldn’t be able to knock down gates with bare hands.
Instead I’d like to suggest that player damage on gates gets either completely disabled, or it should only be possible if a certain health threshold (e.g. the current amount of hitpoints required to close a damaged gate again) is already reached. The latter would introduce some nice counterplay for both sides: the defending side has more time to react to blob-sized zergs, but once a gate is torn down, you can’t just rely on siege disabling tricks any longer.

What do you gals and guys think? Is the current implementation of the trick okay as is? If not, what would you like to see changed / removed?