Guild Wars 2

We all know that rewards are a big issue in WvW and their lack is a big source of demotivation among players. I’m taking myself as an example: I love WvW, but I’m not motivated by some number somewhere on a leaderboard. During a tournament/season that’s somehow different, because even without a reward at the end I have something to work towards, but during the normal, daily routine of WvW I’m missing a long-term goal. And here’s where the rewards come into play.

Rewards are tricky in WvW, because:

• Winning a match is about holding objectives. But defending is very hard to measure for rewards.
• Leeching should not be possible. You should only be rewarded if you contribute.
• Often the biggest contributions are those that happen far away from the actual event. For example the scout that makes sure that the keep doesn’t get attacked while the main force is on the offensive, or a small group that draws attention while the zerg attacks a different objective.
• The rewards should be better if your server does well as a whole.

Under the impressions of the HoT reward system I came up with an idea how you could apply some of the ideas there to WvW. I would greatly appreciate any feedback and general brainstorm, there are probably flaws in my logic, but maybe it’s a starting point:

• A player has a track of rewards just like the map bonus rewards or the PvP reward tracks. A selectable reward track would be ideal. Making a certain amount of progress on that track results in a reward.
• Every player has a personal contribution level from 0% to 200% just as we see it in the HoT PvE areas. Personal contribution is awarded for most sources of WXP like capturing objectives, repairing walls or killing other players. The amount of personal contribution gained does not have to correlate with the amount of WXP gained. Also, exploitable sources of WXP (i.e. building useless siege) could be excluded.
• If no additional personal contribution is gained, it decays over time to prevent leeching, maybe after each tick. It decays significantly slower if other members of your guild or squad(?) gain personal contribution. So for example, instead of losing 25% personal contribution after 15 minutes of “doing nothing” (scouting, distracting the opponent), you’d only lose 12.5% if you’re teamed up with other people who do something else and are successful. This should be limited though, for example to only 10% of all players in a squad. Also you should definitely always lose contribution over time, to prevent indefinite leeching.
• Certain events now grant track progress, depending on your personal contribution. If you have 100% or more personal contribution, you receive full progress, at 50% only half progress, and so on. Events that could grant track progress are tied to “your server is doing well” and examples could be:
  • Your server successfully upgraded an objective on your map
  • Your server held a fully upgraded objective on your map for time X
  • Your server’s tick (higher PPT = more progress)

This system could also be applied to tournaments. Let’s say making progress on your reward track during a tournament would occasionally grant a currency, like a “Token of Participation”. After the tournament ends, you can exchange these tokens for rewards, but the prices are lower the better your server did. Other than the current, achievement based sytem, this would encourage people to keep playing after becoming eligible for rewards.

tl;dr: Assaulting the enemy should grant personal contribution, while defending what you have should grant rewards (or reward progress) based on that personal contribution. Personal contribution should decay over time to prevent leeching, but decay slower for players who team up with guilds or squads to allow scouting. The system could also be applied to tournaments.

Thanks for reading! Now discuss!

Also posted on here on reddit.

I’ve posted something similar about a week ago

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/Proposal-A-system-for-WvW-reward-tracks

Until holding objectives is worth more than taking them, WvW will always be more about flipping than defending.

Ultimately I am not sure the entire keep, tower, PPT concept is a good one. WvW should be designed around creating conflict and it generally fails at its job. The new Veteran Sentry scouting changes are a great example of creating more conflict. Creating maps and designs that encourage combat is most important in this game mode and everything else that doesn’t contribute to that is a distraction.

Straegen.2938:

Until holding objectives is worth more than taking them, WvW will always be more about flipping than defending.

This is exactly the angle my proposal comes from. You need to assault your opponent (to gain and sustain personal contribution), but you have to defend (which is a server effort) to actually get rewards out of that. If you don’t attack, you stop getting anything. If you don’t defend, you don’t get more than some baseline rewards from your server’s PPT.

Taking and holding an objective means better rewards for your entire server. I think this is a very good point to start conflicts from.

Saw this on reddit as well. Upvoted there. Giving a plus 1 here.

Good points, good ideas. I’ll not quibble about any minor points I may disagree with, but over all I like the idea of using the HoT PvE reward system. It could be tied to the tick, every 15 minutes. But if you log into wvw 4 min 55 sec before the tick, you are not eligible for the rewards for that tick. You still get a chance for drops from everything you kill, and you’re on the map for the next 15 minute reward period, attacking, defending, scouting, etc., for that reward tick. It should be pretty doable- after all, isn’t SW like WvW dropped in PvE, with the Mordrem acting as the other two servers attacking your towers and supply dolyaks?

I think repeatable achivements with chests should be enough. Example kill 50 players for 1 achi point and a rare item. Deal 1kk dmg for an other point and a bonus dont know what. Heal X on allies etc…

As someone who mostly plays WvW and considers himself a hardcore WvW player I really like your ideas.

rewards need to be on par with pve at least somewhat. im tired of being poor and no legendary >.>

emendez.3705:

rewards need to be on par with pve at least somewhat. im tired of being poor and no legendary >.>

Why don’t you play trading post like normal people?