Guild Wars 2

So, fairly new to WvW. I know I need to git gud and have a build that’s intended for WvW and not just using my PvE build, but otherwise – I’m mostly enjoying it.

I say mostly because it seems every time I’ve been on WvW my server has been Outnumbered. While I still have fun, it does get frustrating after a while of being steamrolled by giant Zergs of doom, meanwhile you have maybe four or five people. Which brings me to the Outnumbered bonus rewards.

I understand that the purpose is to incentivize you to stick around on WvW until populations balance out. My issue is that the rewards just don’t seem like a good enough incentive. Out of the four boosts you get for being outnumbered, only WvW experience is worth a hoot. The Experience boost is now useless, since you no longer gain general XP in WvW. The Magic Find boost is minor, at best. And the no armor damage? Meh. It’s not like it costs anything to repair anymore. So, my thought is simple. We just got a brand new reward track, right? Why not give a bonus to reward track gains? First it feels more rewarding than a boost to Magic Find. Second, you have to stick around and participate in a zone to receive the rewards, since they only proc every 15 minutes or so.
Possible consequence – players deliberately seeking out outnumbered Borderlands/ EotM in order to maximize their rewards track gains.
Thoughts?

I agree, the rewards for the [Outnumbered] buff are insufficient for any purpose. The only reason to participate and play from behind is if you’re bloody-minded stubborn and don’t mind getting kicked around a lot.

If you’re motivated by spite, it helps. Occasionally you can put your thumb in the eye of the dominating server, and that’s very very enjoyable.

Azakael.3019:

So, fairly new to WvW. I know I need to git gud and have a build that’s intended for WvW and not just using my PvE build, but otherwise – I’m mostly enjoying it.

Enjoying your time is the important part. You may find that your gear setup matches your play style and you will do fine in it, don’t discount yourself so fast.

Heimlich.3065:

I agree, the rewards for the [Outnumbered] buff are insufficient for any purpose. The only reason to participate and play from behind is if you’re bloody-minded stubborn and don’t mind getting kicked around a lot.

If you’re motivated by spite, it helps. Occasionally you can put your thumb in the eye of the dominating server, and that’s very very enjoyable.

Well said on both counts. The question is if adjusted what should it do. Are we talking gains the player makes or changes to mechanics.

The WxP gain made a lot of sense when it seemed that they might further expand WvW abilities, but the previous decision was to reduce abilities to more level the playing field for vets versus new comers. Still think there are other options out there for this but that’s off topic.

So maybe up their participation rates? What encourages people to fight against the odds, besides stubbornness which is rewarding in its own way, what helps the players that stick it out. Possibly up their coin and badges on kills/takes since they could use that to fund their WvW efforts. A bounty buff of sorts. I say this instead of reducing costs since that could be gamed versus rewarding the player for actions they do.

Not in favor of stat buffs since it would encourage people to say leave the map so my group is boosted.

If you are talking mechanics then that’s a bigger discussion. Things like upping point values and/or map reaction times of swords and the like would need to be thought out more.

Food for thought.

To be fair, the outmanned buff is the only reason I found my precurser

Right now given WvW’s design, stacking servers and zerg play is favored. The basic core design of WvW is all about the zerg. And zergs get the most rewards.

Being farmed by ANET’s version of RvR zerg play is incredibly frustrating and a huge reason why it failed in the first place. And the outnumbered buff doesn’t do anything substantial for players being farmed by huge blobs.

The recent changes have brought some people back and encouraged some pve players to join. But WvW will return to empty maps soon enough if ANET doesn’t figure out how to even out the matches and discourage zergs.