Guild Wars 2

HI Everyone!

I am a humble but dedicated WvW player here at Borlis Pass. Over the past Weeks since my arrival at BP I have learned about the WvW server match inequality, I have seen great commanders and guilds simly bash and forget they were ever fondly in love with the server, because of the great unbalance in numbers we have against major contenders like Isle of Jantir, Devonas Rest or Crystal Desert.

For one, this has kept the serious players Sharp as we must be ready for the hordes, but on the other hand this also has prevented newcomers to feel the appeal of WvW, it is simply too unfair for them, and hence the weakness of our server. I have noticed how Arena Net has worked for better population presence in PVE all around, and I wonder if with all those great programmers they have, they may re distribute the strength of servers with those of similar statistic WvW player presence!

It has been a long time of WvW, so by now the numbers must not lie to us all! If I were your match strategist at Anet, I would implement a much more dynamic system for world versus world server matching, a system that would evolve and follow the hordes where ever it is they are going and constantly resetting the leages and the matches depending on how busy those were by the end of the week? the month? cmon guys! you can do better that that!

Anytime ioj decides in one evening: “lets go take it all!” there simply is no contest against this decisión, they go and take both Borlis Pass and Henge of Denravi, and while they are at it, also swamp eternal battlegrounds, 5 hours done! Should it not instead be a match between Crystal Desert, Isle of Jantir, and Devonas Rest? I am sure they will have much more fun and sense of a challenge instead of feeling like they are using cheat codes against the overly weak!

You could even keep track of not only the permanent serious wvw players (how to know they are permanent and serious wvw players? hmm!) but also of how many recent individuals are coming into the WvW arena per specific server, how many stay, how long they stay, how much they are contributing, are they taking camps? keeps? any serious involvement? or just gathering iron?

Simple: DO SOMETHING!

Sincerely yours, Tesaiah!

I’ll save you a bunch of time and frustration.

There are a myriad of ways that WvW can be made fun and balanced.
Anet does not care if you have fun.
Game “will be”/is dead by the time they realize balance WvW is what 90+ % of the people want.

They are afraid if someone has a queue that they will be frustrated and quit. This discounts all the people who face a no chance scenerio.

Anet, as is, is a disappointment to me, nothing more, nothing less. But I’ll continue to try to change the WvWvW system, so here are a few of my ideas.

The main problem with WvWvW is the population, the higher tier stomps the lower tier server. Not because of skill, not because of strategy or tactics. But because of numbers, in this case it is quantity over quality, the two balance out. But quantity is all it is in WvWvW now, and the higher tiered servers stack, and stack. While those transferring because they are fed up are leaving the servers that need more people. GoM, for example. I don’t know what I can or will do to get Anet’s attention, but before I try that I need to have solid ideas on solutions.

Another thing I would like to see changed and updated with WvWvW are objectives, as is, it is just impossible to hold against 30+ players unless you have 4 at least already inside. 4 superior rams, boom, gate down in less than 3 minutes. Not enough time for a response. So, make objectives harder to cap, including camps. Really, all you need to do for camps is improve the AI, not their strength, like their pathing etc. Example, stop making stacking so beneficial and an easy way to cap camps so quickly. Make gates more durable, but update siege to make AC’s weaker to players but stronger to rams or just siege in general. I understand that making objectives harder will be very unappealing to most, but a good defense is the best offense. You gain points by maintaining them, not capping all of EB then log off the rest of the day. Doesn’t have to reduce damage, maybe just range.. something. I know as a primary defender, that holding things alone, it’s almost not possible against 7 or more. if you’re not already inside. We almost always lose objectives because of a LACK, of defenders. What am I supposed to do about 3 omegas at Hills when I was at Bay working on siege?

As for solutions on the population issue.

Remove the “mega server” thing, I don’t mean entirely, just separate them to make 6 or less servers, this will get people to stay loyal to their server, there is no server pride anymore. Merge WvWvW servers for more balanced match ups in terms of quantity. Merge 2 servers together that have a certain WvWvW population, with all of the servers, to even them out. Balance the quantity, next, increase transfer prices, I know this seems unfair but WvWvW as is, is not fun. The reasons for people to transfer as of now is pretty much only being fed up. If they were to transfer after the merges were implemented, it would be to stack, it would be to win and nothing else. Selfish, which is why I recommend increasing transfer prices after this is implemented (theoretically).

As for the separations of the “mega server” thing, think of it this way, PvE is infrastructure, WvWvW is the military. In my philosophy, Gw2 infrastructure is only for gear, and what use is gear if you don’t put it to use? One of the reasons why sPvP is unpopular and kind of stupid in my eyes, is because I don’t use my own gear. WvWvW is the greatest challenge there is in the game. I only do WvWvW because nothing else is a challenge, excluding sPvP but you know my opinion on that. WvWvW just feels productive whereas sPvP does not.

To summarize, merge servers together according to population and WvWvW dedication, even out ALL of the servers. Get them balanced in estimate, this is the quantity balance. For the quality balance, it is not hard to find the main WvWvW population, those dedicated to WvWvW, so, also factor in mainly WvWvW guilds, very large guilds, and data for WvWvW players, play time, contributions, etc.

I am fed up with WvWvW, I only get on because I feel needed, and I am. I know that, but at the same time.. Because of our coverage, our numbers against the larger server… What can I.. we.. do? So I chose to instead, keep ruining my day with WvWvW, to fix the system, to try too.. To do this instead playing Gw2.

I degraded to playing silver waste because it actually has people on the map and things to kill, even if they are IA creatures.. its better then run around empty borderlands or stacked servers doing the PvD game.

i like the map, i like the mechanics, i dislike the fact that i can’t play the game mode i like and bought this game for.

but hey.. after about 50% of this sub forum posts are about improving and solving population issues.

No need for a CDI just put some people on WvW and create something worth playing.

Introducing 1 item/trap/alteration in the map every 6 months or so really doesn’t help
WvW needs some serious attention. seriously. Do something, create something.. make something ..

not just anything.. but something worth wile..

So far all i see is development resources thrown away for the sake of karma trains and ppt.

We will see if Anet does, or does not do anything. Only they know if their numbers are up or down. However much we like it or not, Anet putting effort into WvW will be a business decision, based on $$$, not on our feelings.

That said, I’m thinking Anet is screwing up letting the massive play imbalances in WvW continue.

People really don’t like being the Baby Seals. If forced into it too often, they leave the game. Case in point: Borlis Pass WvW is a ghost town. I was a dedicated WvW player, and I haven’t been on WvW in several weeks.

Anet take note, if your player base loses interest in WvW, your numbers WILL go down, and your receipts will suffer. I’d advise doing something to restore the balance between servers. Your short term strategy of capitalizing on server moves will lose you money in the long run, I guarantee.

Lots of good ideas on how to fix things. My preference is to reward points relative to active participation. Make getting points harder if you put more people on the map, easier if you have less.

Otherwise, you are just inviting the low pop servers to be designated loot bags. Seems pretty obvious, they aren’t interested. I know I’m not. I’m also not interested in transferring to a server where the population is so huge, there is no challenge. What’s the fun of killing baby seals? Not a lot, unless you like being a munchkin.

Hands down, the best fights, the ones people talk about, the ones that bring people to the game are EVEN match ups, that go one way or another because of good play, leadership and stubbornness. Anet, you’ve lost that in WvW.

You need to get that back. Asymmetric systems fail.

Part of the problem with the unequal populations is that natural tendency of people to want to win a fight.

Generally speaking the outnumbered servers can only populate one BL with any sort of numbers. The larger Server will then take over the other BL’s. While they are doing so there can be some good battles where that smaller server has its population focused.

There can be fairly even and FUN battles but if the larger population server comes out on the losing end they will send out that “call for help” to other BLs. All of a sudden the smaller population server sees itself getting stomped due to a blob. The people get frustrated and stop playing. The larger population server then complains it “has no one to fight”.