Guild Wars 2

I’m going to propose a hypothetical World vs World League Season, with entirely arbitrary server names and all the jazz to demonstrate a possible solution to ANET’s infamously broken league system which is dead before arrival.

PS – To the developers, it should have been obvious from the get-go that a round robin system blows for matching up very unmatched servers. This example demonstrates that servers can still have fun in a league where the match-ups are not necessarily even.

Here’s the idea, match servers up on the weekly basis in the league based on the points earned from the previous week. We already know 1st place = 5 pts, 2nd place = 3 pts, 3rd place = 1 pt. With that being said, see below.

Example -
- 9 Servers total (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I)
- Assume: Tier 1 always beats Tier 2. Tier 2 always beats Tier 3. Tier 3 puts up with the game.

So then,
Tier 1 = A, B, C
Tier 2 = D, E, F
Tier 3 = G, H, I

Week 1 Matchups: (Fair! Yay!)
A > B > C
D > E > F
G > H > I
Week 1 Scores:
A = 5, D = 5, G = 5
B = 3, E = 3, H = 3
C = 1, F = 1, I = 1
Week 2 Matchups: (Imbalanced! No!)
A > D > G
B > E > H
C > F > I
Week 2 Scores:
A = 10, D = 8, G = 6
B = 8, E = 6, H = 4
C = 6, F= 4, I = 2
Week 3 Matchups: (Less imbalanced! Yay!)
A > B > D
C > E > G
F > H > I
Week 3 Scores:
A = 15, B = 11, D = 9
C = 11, E = 9, G = 7
F = 9, H = 7, I = 3
Week 4 Matchups: (Wow! Even again, math works!)
A > B > C
D > E > F
G > H > I
Week 4 Scores:
A = 20, B = 14, C = 12
D = 14, E = 12, F = 10
G = 12, H = 10, I = 4
Week 5 Matchups: (Another even matchup!)
A > B > D
C > E > G
F > H > I

Okay, I don’t think I need to go much further with this demonstration to show that this works. Here’s the great benefits of it as compared to the currently proposed system.

- No round robin. Teams that are low ranks don’t get squashed week in and week out. Instead, they get the opportunity to “race alongside the big boys” throughout the entire thing. Heck, a low server MIGHT even stand a chance at winning the league given they win the majority of “their” matchups.

- No griefing. The matchups are relatively equal after they stabilize and prevents the big ranked servers from rolling face on the lower ones for several weeks straight. This would encourage people to get in there and TRY.

- Dynamic matching. My system assumes that the highest rank wins… always. Albiet a good assumption, we know that there is often upsets within Tiers itself. This shakes up my model even more and gives opportunities to WIN the league within your own tier. IE – underdogs have the opportunity to win.

Thoughts? ANET, what do you think? Pretty fricken simple to do, pretty bullet proof.