I know I usually look at things that are or have been, but this time I want to propose something that may be. This is not a map-specific proposition, though I use the DBL names for towers because they have unique identities. It assumes that the HoT WP system remains in place, though it attempts to move it closer to the old style.
Goals
-Increase the impact of the Borderlands on EBG in order to promote WvW as a single war rather than 4 maps that have nothing to do with one another.
-Increase the sense of a homeland border to make it less attractive to trade borders with an enemy instead of fighting them offensively and defensively.
-Increase the strategic and tactical importance of holding towers.
-Reduce the effects of off-hours capping in terms of scoring without diminishing the importance of player’s actions during this time.
-Increase the importance of roaming and scouting on the borderlands without unduly impacting EBG or punishing large groups.
-Allow servers to fine-tune their own win conditions. Specifically, allow them to gain more points from PPK if they work towards that or gain certain defensive advantages.
-Introduce mechanics to deal with the imperviousness of siege bunkering.
-Increase the diversity of siege assaults.
-Create a more dynamic weekly flow so that the game feels different and encourages different approaches as the week goes on.
Restrictions
-Avoid giving combat bonuses: Players do not wish to stomp opponents because of higher base stats.
-Avoid PvE mechanics that interfere with fights: Because they’re just annoying.
Current System
Every 15 minutes, points are accrued based on the number and type of structures owned (PPT). These points account for ~40% of passive points on the borderlands while PPYak (from yaks arriving at their destinations) count for the remaining 60%. Objective upgrades do not factor into PPT. Player kills give 1 point (PPK) regardless of stomp. Waypoints are available only at certain structures (1 per team per map) and come online as soon as the objective as flipped.
Proposed System
-Ticks now happen every 60 minutes rather than every 15 minutes.
The idea behind this change is to further shift the point distribution to PPY and PPK since those are much more easily influenced by small teams and solo players. In addition, a borderland that isn’t seeing any action at all no longer accumulates as many points. This should allow servers that are vastly outnumbered to have a better avenue to keep the score from blowing up.
-Keeps now reward more PPT based on their upgrade status. Base PPT is 50 with an additional 25 PPT earned per tier to a maximum of 125 PPT. Due to the tick changes, this results in between 50% to 125% of the current PPT. Other structures will tick for 25% of their current PPT.
-Waypoints are now initially available at T3, though they are still restricted by server.
-Towers now progress various Research Abilities every tick. This only applies to towers on one’s home BL—while a team can hold enemy towers for PPT and PPY, they will have no effect on Research.
All Tower Devices can be trebbed (with mastery) to destroy 10 Energy per shot. Losing the tower drains all energy but does not reset Research. Once the Research quota is met, the tower does not have to be held to benefit from the passive effects.
NWT – Academy: Restoration. Gates on all maps may only upgrade to the maximum tier allowed by this research.
25 ticks allow Reinforced Gates.
75 ticks allow Fortified Gates.
Every yak thereafter builds 50 Energy within the tower’s Device. The Device can only be activated from within the tower and, after a 1 minute delay, repairs the gates and walls of the targeted allied objective (on any map). The repair is done for 3 minutes at a rate of 1 Energy = 1 Supply and drains 30 Energy per minute—not fast enough to repel attacks. Multiple damaged gates/walls are repaired simultaneously but cause Energy to drain faster.
NET – Necropolis: Corrosive Fog.
25 ticks allows for Corrosive Fog.
Every yak thereafter builds 50 Energy within the tower’s Device. The Device can only be activated from within the tower and has a 1 minute delay. When used, fog is created around the perimeter of an allied non-camp objective that deals 1,000 damage per second for 60 seconds to enemy siege within 600 range of the perimeter. This costs 100 Energy. If the fog targets an enemy camp instead, it reduces the supply in the camp to 0 and prevents supply regeneration for 5 minutes. The fog has no effect on players.
75 ticks allows for Fog Blast.
For 500 Energy, Fog Blast deals 100,000 damage to all enemy siege in an allied or enemy structure after a 1 minute delay.
SWT – Outpost: Bloodlust.
25 ticks allows for +1 PPStomp.
Every yak thereafter builds 50 Energy within the tower’s Device. On a successful stomp in any map, 10 energy is drained and +10 points are gained.
75 ticks triples PPK and PPS. The bonus points from Energy in the tower are not affected by this.
SET – Depot: Waypoint Gizmo.
Every yak builds 50 Energy in the tower’s Device, even before Research completion. For 1,000 Energy, a restricted WP on an enemy keep may be unlocked until that keep flips.
25 ticks allows WPs at T2.
50 ticks allows WPs at T1.
75 ticks allows WPs at T0.
Ideally, this system will create a varying importance to towers depending on the specific servers in the map. When facing a server that focuses on fights, it would be prudent to hold their SWT as much as possible. At the very least, keeping them from getting yaks into it will prevent them from gaining massive points.
Conversely, a fight-oriented server would do well to pressure an opponent’s NWT to keep their gates fragile—forcing a combat oriented defense. They might also wish to develop their own NET in order to deal with a heavy bunker situation.
I don’t expect that everything will work out exactly as planned, though. Adjustments—big and small—are likely necessary.