This is going to be a bit of a rant, and I apologize in advance, but I am simply fed up.
I am tired of getting on WvW and fighting as hard as I can, wasting gold only to lose to a server with poor tactics, and the only reason we lose is because they have 5 times the number of players. I remember a dev speaking on one news post about how some zergs made him want to turtle up in his keep and cry, promising a fix to that unbalance, but that is another empty promise.
They want balance to this game? I am skeptical but hopeful they can fix things. This game is going to go the way of Aion if they keep it up.
Some examples:
I think a great solution to this ‘five million people at once’ would be to introduce a different kind of cap. Example, two groups are clashing, one holds 30 people (We’ll call them AA), the other holds 10 (We’ll call them BB). The AA group gets a ‘zerg’ debuff, giving the group of 10 a fighting chance to hold their turf that they’ve spent the last 5 hours guarding tooth and nail. However, what is that over there? Motion? about 5 more of the BB get into fighting range, evening it to 15 vs 30, the debuff wears off a bit and the chances get more interesting.
Yeah it needs polish and is likely a pipe dream, but if you don’t want your casual players to quit playing your game all together, you need to remember some things. Making everyone hop servers faster than a person with ADHD playing musical chairs is an idea that yes, generates revenue, but if you want sustained revenue you need to invent ideas that don’t cater only to the people who have chosen not to pursue any extra curricular activities.
Pretty soon, the casual players who haven’t jumped servers or can’t afford to will be on a server at the bottom of the totem pole with a very low population of wvw players.
They will log on to do some daily or maybe monthly achievements, and find out that they get rick rolled at every turn on their own borderland simply because there are superior numbers rather than skill.
Another thing that is sorely lacking is defense rewards. I understand that this is a difficult concept, as rampant bots could abuse this, but why not give rewards for staying inside keeps and towers? Example, Someone patrols walls, clicks on the walls and doors to make sure they are okay, and refreshes siege, and upgrades should have a chance to get something back for their generous spirit.
How about a category for ‘upgrades’ where you can get some gold back?
What about introducing a patrolling NPC that people have to interact with regularly while walking below the walls? Here’s an idea for that NPC to prevent bots: Make it have an AoE, a small ring you have to stay in to make him/her move, and the longer you stay in there, you will get a sliver of rewards every now and then. Give the NPC an erratic path to discourage bots.
Again, it needs polish but it’s better than what we have right now, or so I think, because there is 0 reason to stay and defend when all it does is make someone hemorrhage gold on upgrades, and give up potential rewards from running around and flipping things. As a closing note, what happened to Karma on Dolyaks?! I would run so many more of those furry things to their destination for a better reward than ‘congrats you stuck beside a smelly pseudo buffalo for over 3 minutes!’ We don’t even get confetti!
These are just ideas I came up with in under an hour, they are far from perfect and yes, I have no formal training with video games. However as a player, I think these opinions are valid and hold onto the hope that once again I can enjoy playing /all/ aspects of the game.
Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Regards,
Feral Drifter