WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: Stephane Lo Presti

Stephane Lo Presti

Content Marketing Manager, French

Next

Hi, I’m posting today the transcript of the statement that John Corpening, game director for World vs. World, made last week at the beginning of the World vs. World Desert Borderlands Invitational. Enjoy!


Hello, my name is John Corpening. I’m the game director for World vs. World in Guild Wars 2.

World vs. World as it is today is an amazing experience where hundreds of players are constantly engaged in epic battles for control of towers, keeps, castles and more. Where players can use an array of siege weaponry to break into their enemy’s holdings or keep the invaders at bay. But, despite being a leader in large team open world battle games and one of the most popular parts of Guild Wars 2, there are some areas that we can improve.

Shortly after I took over the World vs. World team I implemented the Adopt-A-Dev program for our team to investigate fully the state of World vs. World.
World vs. World is probably the largest and most complex aspect of Guild Wars 2 with very different experiences for players across its many tiers, with different play styles, group sizes and motivations.

Many of our developers are dedicated WvW players but for this event they got out of their comfort zones of the worlds, guilds and friends they knew to fight side by side with other players on different worlds, make new friends and see how other guilds operate.

During this time, I conducted several discussions on our public forums about a number of issues related to World vs. World. From this we determined that we needed to focus on a number of core issues.

Our goal is great matches and our core pillars in support of this goal are Strategy, Competition, Collaboration, and rewarding the contributions of both players and guilds who participate in the daring adventures and epic battles that make up a great match. While we do strongly believe World vs. World goes far in giving players this experience we recognize that there are areas that can be made better.

The biggest is population imbalance. The current team structure has led to a number of issues such as low population in some worlds while overpopulation on a few worlds gives them queues on many nights of the week.

We’ve seen a concentration of talent as hardcore players from most worlds have migrated upwards through the tiers looking for new experiences and greater challenge. Because this talent tends to be concentrated at the top, MMR has correctly kept the most dedicated teams locked in near perpetual stand off against the same opponents week after week.

Hand in hand with population imbalance is scoring. The current scoring structure allows scores to run away, a problem that is compounded with night capping where it is possible for a team who has recruited players from different time zones to conquer everything in off-hours leading to one side getting ahead while most players are asleep or at work. Comebacks are difficult and it is hard to make up for that lost time that you spend on your real life needs.

Another area we want to improve is how players are recognized and rewarded for their contributions to their team. Whether you defend, scout, run havoc, zerg bust, roam, conquer or win team fights you should be fairly compensated from the game and not rely on the hope that your team may kick you back some gold at the end of the night for you to feel rewarded for the valuable effort you put into the success of your world.
We want to bring back tournaments and we want to bring them back in the form of seasons where everyone knows well in advance when the next tournament is coming. But until these issues are resolved we don’t want to see players taking days off work or staying up all night expending a huge effort during a time when these issues stand out the most.

After Adopt-A-Dev we spent some time discussing and debating the results. Even though a good portion of the team was already dedicated to working on World vs. World content and features for Heart of Thorns, we assigned people to start tackling these problems and more.

But World vs. World is huge and complex and so is the technology behind it. We’re continuing to work now on developing and building our solutions to the core issues I outlined above, and once we reach a point in development where we are far enough along with them, we look forward to sharing those plans with you. As work on Heart of Thorns wraps up, we’ll be treating resolving the remaining core areas in WvW as our #1 live development feature priority for the game to ensure we deliver on making World vs. World not just the great experience it is today – but the incredible experience we know it can be. As this effort ramps up you will be hearing more from us about the work in progress.

An example of this work in progress is the recent change to how world populations are determined. Going forward worlds will be marked as full or not based on actual World vs. World participation rather than accounting for every player in the game.

While we’re working on more solutions for the areas I have outlined, we’re excited about the updates Heart of Thorns will be bringing to World vs. World as well!
We are eager to see the strategic play that develops from the Desert Borderlands with its new mechanics, unique objectives, astounding beauty and layout that both supports team fights in some areas while breaking up blobs in other areas.
We look forward to putting a greater emphasis on holding objectives through auto-upgrades and on guilds through the guild claiming system, a system that gives players new ways to play the game and tools to defeat their opponents.

We hope you enjoy the live stream of our second stress test coming up next and we will see you on the battlefield.

Thank You.

(edited by Stephane Lo Presti.7258)

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Posted by: Random.4691

Random.4691

I think many are excited about his statement, even more so if it holds water. It’s hard for us the players to put any value in a statement regarding WvW from Anet. While I believe he has every intention with following through, I’m sure the past Dev’s that made all kinds of promises had every intention of following through as well.

Actions speak louder than words, is this just more bait and switch to calm the masses or do your people actually plan on really getting down and dirty and doing something to help fix WvW ? Do you actually plan on listening to your players or will you once again go off and do whatever you feel like doing and further annoy the community because the key elements we are asking for fixes on are once again ignored ?

I realize I’m coming off as a bit harsh but it is the reality, you can only be baited and lied to so many times before doubt takes over and it becomes hard to believe what should be easy to believe.

We all want the same thing, we want WvW to flourish and be as great as it can be. Why not compile some of the largest suggestions, form a team with the players (reliable ones) that can have discussions and find the good and the bad within the suggestions and from there get things rolling in a positive manner.

I know, i know, more whining, I’m just concerned that pride will get in the way of what needs to be done, leaving us exactly where we are now.

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Posted by: Nevaahe.6308

Nevaahe.6308

Thank you for taking the time to update us on current and future plans for WvW. We do appreciate the efforts you are putting forth to improve upon a great aspect of the game.

As far as the second Desert Borderlands stress test, it would be nice to see dedicated WvW players invited by ANet and not casual or inexperienced players invited by guilds & streamers. There are many which play WvW 90+% of the time that could give crucial and helpful feedback whom did not get invites.

Thanks again, we look forward to the coming improvements.

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Posted by: TexZero.7910

TexZero.7910

I’ll believe it when i see it……

Or stability changes are reverted, whichever comes first.

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Posted by: Mitz.5741

Mitz.5741

Another area we want to improve is how players are recognized and rewarded for their contributions to their team. Whether you defend, scout, run havoc, zerg bust, roam, conquer or win team fights you should be fairly compensated from the game and not rely on the hope that your team may kick you back some gold at the end of the night for you to feel rewarded for the valuable effort you put into the success of your world.

YES PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE

Ty for killing bronze league, now i cant play

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Posted by: Lord Kuru.3685

Lord Kuru.3685

TLDR: “We’re looking into it.” It’s the same statement we’ve heard many times, from Devon (what, two years ago?) to all the various community managers who’ve posted here.

And looking at Anet’s WvW history, they’ll announce an untested, poorly thought-out solution out of the blue. In short: “no white swords” part 2.

Speaking of “no white swords.” With all the boasting of adopt-a-dev, it’s actual legacy is the announcement of permanent “no white swords,” that the community had to explode at before it got reduced to a “test.”

Hint: when you’re out of touch with how the game mode is enjoyed, it’s a good idea to go through community members before implementing major changes because they’ll have thoughts about them that you never would have had.

(Ok, I admit, at least he didn’t ask for comments as to what the problems of WvW are, but this is the extent of the progress over 2+ years.)

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Posted by: TexZero.7910

TexZero.7910

(Ok, I admit, at least he didn’t ask for comments as to what the problems of WvW are, but this is the extent of the progress over 2+ years.)

Could be worse he could have made a post 2 years ago saying achievements are being reworked…..

3 years later.

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Posted by: yanniell.1236

yanniell.1236

At least he got right on what are the biggest issues. Hope they can fix them this time.

[HUE]

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Posted by: Kraljevo.2801

Kraljevo.2801

Actions speak louder than words.

Give this man an omnomberry cookie!

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Posted by: Avit.3165

Avit.3165

Promises, promises, promises. Like i have deja vu, how many times it now Anet gave us these empty promises. If this time is for real, when these promises will become reality? With this expansion? Or sometime in the indefinite future? My guess is, not with this expansion. I believe that this is your way to make WvW players to buy your new product, and if you succeed for very long period of time will not hear anything from you or if we hear something will sound like this: “soon”, “working on it”, “we cant talk about it, yet”, “in the near future” – in the near future that never comes.
Sorry if this sounds harsh, but put your self in our place, you would believe after three years of silence and empty and unfulfilled promises?

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.

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Posted by: Tongku.5326

Tongku.5326

Hello, my name is John Corpening. I’m the game director for World vs. World in Guild Wars 2.

World vs. World as it is today is an amazing experience where hundreds of players are constantly engaged in epic battles for control of towers, keeps, castles and more. Where players can use an array of siege weaponry to break into their enemy’s holdings or keep the invaders at bay. But, despite being a leader in large team open world battle games and one of the most popular parts of Guild Wars 2, there are some areas that we can improve.

Shortly after I took over the World vs. World team I implemented the Adopt-A-Dev program for our team to investigate fully the state of World vs. World.
World vs. World is probably the largest and most complex aspect of Guild Wars 2 with very different experiences for players across its many tiers, with different play styles, group sizes and motivations.

During this time, I conducted several discussions on our public forums about a number of issues related to World vs. World. From this we determined that we needed to focus on a number of core issues.

Our goal is great matches and our core pillars in support of this goal are Strategy, Competition, Collaboration, and rewarding the contributions of both players and guilds who participate in the daring adventures and epic battles that make up a great match. While we do strongly believe World vs. World goes far in giving players this experience we recognize that there are areas that can be made better.

The biggest is population imbalance. The current team structure has led to a number of issues such as low population in some worlds while overpopulation on a few worlds gives them queues on many nights of the week.

We’ve seen a concentration of talent as hardcore players from most worlds have migrated upwards through the tiers looking for new experiences and greater challenge. Because this talent tends to be concentrated at the top, MMR has correctly kept the most dedicated teams locked in near perpetual stand off against the same opponents week after week.

Hand in hand with population imbalance is scoring. The current scoring structure allows scores to run away, a problem that is compounded with night capping where it is possible for a team who has recruited players from different time zones to conquer everything in off-hours leading to one side getting ahead while most players are asleep or at work. Comebacks are difficult and it is hard to make up for that lost time that you spend on your real life needs.

Another area we want to improve is how players are recognized and rewarded for their contributions to their team. Whether you defend, scout, run havoc, zerg bust, roam, conquer or win team fights you should be fairly compensated from the game and not rely on the hope that your team may kick you back some gold at the end of the night for you to feel rewarded for the valuable effort you put into the success of your world.

But World vs. World is huge and complex and so is the technology behind it. We’re continuing to work now on developing and building our solutions to the core issues I outlined above, and once we reach a point in development where we are far enough along with them, we look forward to sharing those plans with you. As work on Heart of Thorns wraps up, we’ll be treating resolving the remaining core areas in WvW as our #1 live development feature priority for the game to ensure we deliver on making World vs. World not just the great experience it is today – but the incredible experience we know it can be. As this effort ramps up you will be hearing more from us about the work in progress.

An example of this work in progress is the recent change to how world populations are determined. Going forward worlds will be marked as full or not based on actual World vs. World participation rather than accounting for every player in the game.

We hope you enjoy the live stream of our second stress test coming up next and we will see you on the battlefield.

Thank You.

Thank You for at least the acknowledgement and sharing this with us, please do forgive us however, if we seem skeptical based on past actual track record of Arena Net as a whole in regards to this game mode.

Simply put, we’ll believe it when we see it.

Add to that, these are indeed huge issues to be addressed and may take a very long time to do so. In fact, many people will move on, there may be other competetive products on the market that address these things from the ground up by the time the work on them is done.

You brought back SPVP from the brink of death, but that is because you caught it in time, I am not sure if it isnt just too late here.

Heavy Deedz – COSA – SF

(edited by Tongku.5326)

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Posted by: lil devils x.6071

lil devils x.6071

" Nightcapping" actually just means " these players are able to play during this time " Many are not from " other time zones" they just work different hours and want to play when they come home from work like everyone else. The problem isn’t that players play the game 24/7. The problem is they have not made a way to ensure that all servers available have enough population for 24/7 coverage. Their system is faulty due to having not enough maps available to play on during prime time and too many servers available during non prime time. They could resolve this by either detaching servers from wvw or closing all servers that do not have 24/7 coverage and adding more maps too accommodate prime time to remove ques. ( there are multiple ways to accomplish that).

New Talent coming into the game craving competitive game play is not going to stay in the game if you have them locked out of the most competitive servers, they will leave out of boredom. He discusses how they rightfully have the most payers locked in the highest tiers, that is not true when they are locking out competitive players by not allowing them to actually play where they will be happy. The current locks on full servers just ensure players are not happy and leave the game. That is all it accomplishes.

[KILL]Killing Tiers Leader [TOON] Toons of Terror Leader [NEWS This Just In Leader
WvW / PVP ONLY

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Posted by: DiscoJacen.1590

DiscoJacen.1590

Merci pour le transcript Stephane!
On croise les doigts (fingers crossed)!

[ZERK] [RuSh]
Underworld

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Posted by: BlazeQ.1095

BlazeQ.1095

I hate to be this way, but I am apprehensive. Maybe because burnout has already set in due to a lack of development over the last 3 years. I know that the Dev’s have put in a lot of “features” such as mastery’s, and even the borderland changes. However none of that had any real positive influence on the game type. I am excited to see the new map, and hope that my guild/group of friends can thrive in it, but I have a feeling it will be a “bandaid” on top of the real problems.

Without a release date for HOT, we could be looking at another year before any real changes could happen. I fear that this will be far too late.

Cold Beerdrinker
PB Officer
NSP

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Posted by: Dano.5298

Dano.5298

Aww there are no good, hardcore players or teams in lower tier.

lol jk

#sensitive

Ev
[SQD]

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Posted by: CyberMurmeli.3061

CyberMurmeli.3061

Please deal with the hackers, thats all im asking at the moment #2months in at T9 already I think..?

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Posted by: Chris.3290

Chris.3290

I hope this is legit

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Posted by: Malediktus.9250

Malediktus.9250

This better includes a rework of the WvW achievements

1st person worldwide to reach 35,000 achievement points.

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Posted by: Ultimaistanza.4793

Ultimaistanza.4793

Thank you for communicating.

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Posted by: sephiroth.4217

sephiroth.4217

Hand in hand with population imbalance is scoring. The current scoring structure allows scores to run away, a problem that is compounded with night capping where it is possible for a team who has recruited players from different time zones to conquer everything in off-hours leading to one side getting ahead while most players are asleep or at work. Comebacks are difficult and it is hard to make up for that lost time that you spend on your real life needs.

If you’re going to implement something about night capping, please implement an Oceanic server so we don’t get short drafted in WvW. Our presence in WvW is just as valuable as Americans and should have equal footing.

Also thanks for the communication

I mostly play for the new Free-For-All arena in PvP lobby.
….. And Elementalist.

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Posted by: Gladys.3542

Gladys.3542

Well i just returned from 1000 years in the future (as i tottaly have time machine) and there were still now such changes to WvW in GW2.

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Posted by: Tao.1234

Tao.1234

Not gonna trash talk that post, since still would be accurate but censorship is strong within those forums.

Anyway,
I’ll believe it when I’ll see it.

Nothing more.
Nothing less.

Suspended for telling Like it is.
Anet gave birth to Gw2 – Anet killed Gw2.
Murican law 2015.

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Posted by: reinforever.8902

reinforever.8902

The biggest is population imbalance. The current team structure has led to a number of issues such as low population in some worlds while overpopulation on a few worlds gives them queues on many nights of the week.

We’ve seen a concentration of talent as hardcore players from most worlds have migrated upwards through the tiers looking for new experiences and greater challenge. Because this talent tends to be concentrated at the top, MMR has correctly kept the most dedicated teams locked in near perpetual stand off against the same opponents week after week.

My two cents on the whole server capping, pop imbalance thing. Yes I agree it’s a problem. No you’re not going about it correctly. So you just locked people out of the more competitive tiers in hopes that people will transfer down to the lower tiers and give more of a spread to competitive wvw, this is a good idea in theory but what about new players that want to play with their friends? That is my personal situation currently, I have a friend who would like to play with me and a few of our other friends, the problem is we are all on Yaks Bend so it will be impossible for him to play with us on wvw any time soon (if ever). Now the only option available to us is to all transfer down to a lower tier server, which I wouldn’t be too opposed to if it wasn’t going to cost us $35 per person. If you really want people to spread to multiple servers open up free server transfers. You’ll have multiple people going down to the lower servers to play with their friends (or for a fresh environment). This doesn’t have to be a permanent change, only long enough for people to spread out across the servers and allow guilds to find new homes on the lower servers. Right now it honestly just looks to me like a cash grab on your guys’ part because you just want more people to pay for gems to transfer, but in reality this just makes my friend group not want to play because we can’t play with our friend unless we spend $140 total. Which sounds better, 5 people buying heart of thorns or 5 people spending $35 for the gems to transfer.

TL;DR
Make server transfers free to the non full servers to get people off the full servers.

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Posted by: DiscoJacen.1590

DiscoJacen.1590

I’m curious to see the full list of servers the “adopt a dev” thing did. Coz I’m sure as hell we didn’t see one in T9 EU ; )

[ZERK] [RuSh]
Underworld

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Posted by: Ok I Did It.2854

Ok I Did It.2854

They have no excuse not to also fix achievements for WvW players, the ones that ask for millions of events etc, this should have been fixed 2 1/2 years ago, it needs to be fixed for HoT, because all I really see in that top dev post are excuses why WvW players should buy HoT now, and then you may not deliver on what you have said, (thinking of the Boarder Land test feedback thread here) I hope you take note of the bad and not just the good.

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Posted by: swellercross.3974

swellercross.3974

most mmorpg i played have this full scale battles ,but there formats is by colors example we have green,blue,and red keeps why not make it like a server per color battles this will eliminate maybe the population imbalance ,,,,only problem is the que it wil create on every servers .

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Posted by: Random.4691

Random.4691

Are you talking about what EotM is ? You’re not explaining very well. Id you are talking about an EotM type of factor then no thank you.

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Posted by: Belenwyn.8674

Belenwyn.8674

The biggest is population imbalance. The current team structure has led to a number of issues such as low population in some worlds while overpopulation on a few worlds gives them queues on many nights of the week.

We’ve seen a concentration of talent as hardcore players from most worlds have migrated upwards through the tiers looking for new experiences and greater challenge. Because this talent tends to be concentrated at the top, MMR has correctly kept the most dedicated teams locked in near perpetual stand off against the same opponents week after week.

My two cents on the whole server capping, pop imbalance thing. Yes I agree it’s a problem. No you’re not going about it correctly. So you just locked people out of the more competitive tiers in hopes that people will transfer down to the lower tiers and give more of a spread to competitive wvw, this is a good idea in theory but what about new players that want to play with their friends? That is my personal situation currently, I have a friend who would like to play with me and a few of our other friends, the problem is we are all on Yaks Bend so it will be impossible for him to play with us on wvw any time soon (if ever). Now the only option available to us is to all transfer down to a lower tier server, which I wouldn’t be too opposed to if it wasn’t going to cost us $35 per person. If you really want people to spread to multiple servers open up free server transfers. You’ll have multiple people going down to the lower servers to play with their friends (or for a fresh environment). This doesn’t have to be a permanent change, only long enough for people to spread out across the servers and allow guilds to find new homes on the lower servers. Right now it honestly just looks to me like a cash grab on your guys’ part because you just want more people to pay for gems to transfer, but in reality this just makes my friend group not want to play because we can’t play with our friend unless we spend $140 total. Which sounds better, 5 people buying heart of thorns or 5 people spending $35 for the gems to transfer.

TL;DR
Make server transfers free to the non full servers to get people off the full servers.

But we need controlled free server transfers. Otherwise we would create new massively stacked servers. We would need quotas for each server and players of a full server can only transfer to a certain server.

Maybe we need a feature that offers WvW guilds the possibility to apply for a free transfer of all members to another server.

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Posted by: swellercross.3974

swellercross.3974

Yep EoTM like ,,,,,servers can always fill up the gap if need of more people to play any time zones at wvw, what type of play style you want maybe your a non wvwers,

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Posted by: reinforever.8902

reinforever.8902

But we need controlled free server transfers. Otherwise we would create new massively stacked servers. We would need quotas for each server and players of a full server can only transfer to a certain server.

Maybe we need a feature that offers WvW guilds the possibility to apply for a free transfer of all members to another server.

If I’m not mistaken they lowered the amount of people it takes to list a server as full, so the stacking wouldn’t happen really because as soon as a server would hit full no one would be able to transfer there either. Basically Stacking won’t really be a thing because it only take so many people to list servers as full. The Guild application idea is decent but I think it would be too hard to implement. A-net probably doesn’t want to filter through guild xfer applications, and I don’t want them to do it either if they actually do plan on going through with the other changes listed in this post.

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Posted by: BrickFurious.7169

BrickFurious.7169

Thank you for posting this. John has accurately identified the core issues right now with WvW, and I’m glad to see them acknowledged. I’m cautiously optimistic that they’ll be addressed, though as others have said, I’m not going to hold my breath. But regardless, it makes me happy to hear addressing them will be the #1 development priority after HoT launch. I genuinely hope you follow through; WvW has a lot of unrealized potential, I’d hate to see it go to waste.

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Posted by: Spazzoni.1703

Spazzoni.1703

While I understand the frustrations from my fellow WvW brethren; as I left the game for over a year, you gotta chill sometimes.

This is the response, acknowledgement, and post that you have all been complaining baout not happening.

They’ve heard, they seem to have listened, maybe the third time is the charm.

I am actually excited to see that Anet has acknowledged us. If there is no follow through, I’ll be right there with you in calling out, or switching games all together.

Suicide Necro

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Posted by: Xillllix.3485

Xillllix.3485

This is a great step forward. I really hope to see these improvements with the release of HoT.

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Posted by: X T D.6458

X T D.6458

Hand in hand with population imbalance is scoring. The current scoring structure allows scores to run away, a problem that is compounded with night capping where it is possible for a team who has recruited players from different time zones to conquer everything in off-hours leading to one side getting ahead while most players are asleep or at work. Comebacks are difficult and it is hard to make up for that lost time that you spend on your real life needs.

If you’re going to implement something about night capping, please implement an Oceanic server so we don’t get short drafted in WvW. Our presence in WvW is just as valuable as Americans and should have equal footing.

Also thanks for the communication

I dont think they can/or intend to actually do anything about population imbalances, thats just player preference. I believe their intention is to change the scoring system to make population imbalances during certain timezones less of a problem, so as to mitigate the effects that actions like nightcapping have on matchups.

I say what needs to be said, get used to it.
Honesty is not insulting, stupidity is.
>Class Balance is a Joke<

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Posted by: Illconceived Was Na.9781

Illconceived Was Na.9781

I am heartened by how well the statement outlines the specific issues affecting WvW. It acknowledges the complexity of the game mode, the fact that it affects different types of players differently, and that human nature drives game play as much as specific mechanics.

Although people have correctly pointed out that the devs have made similarly statements in the past, I am hopeful in this case because this is the first time I’ve felt they are trying to tackle WvW comprehensively instead of piece by piece.

Of course, it remains to be seen if ANet can turn their understanding of the scope and multiple dimensions of the mode into actual changes that will excite and inspire us going forward. I’m willing to hold my breath for a little longer.

John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: morrolan.9608

morrolan.9608

I appreciate the communication and the words but you have to follow through with actions. Plus please address the suggestions coming out of the CDi threads.

On night capping, as an Australian player I really with you wouldn’t refer to it as this, after all it is not our night. Plus as has already been mentioned locking the top tiers for all time zones will actually make this problem worse and in all probability lead to OCX and SEA players leaving the game.

And John, please come back to this forum.

Jade Quarry [SoX]
Miranda Zero – Ele / Twitch Zero – Mes / Chargrin Soulboom – Engi
Aliera Zero – Guardian / Reaver Zero – Necro

(edited by morrolan.9608)

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: gavyne.6847

gavyne.6847

Might I suggest the devs open up communication with players and ask for help, ideas, and suggestions. I know it’s a tough pill to swallow because it’s your job to do. But the players who play this game mode every single day for years might just know what makes WvW players tick more than you do.

Sometimes it’s not about reinventing the wheels. There are a lot of good things from DAOC you still haven’t utilized, things such as player/guild stats on the website, the relic siege system, and more carrots for players to aim for such as more WvW-oriented abilities.

Lastly don’t forget the basics, WvW still lags horribly when 3-way battle occurs. This game prides itself on large scale WvWvW. But currently WvWvW isn’t really playable due to skill lag. You get better enjoyment when it’s just 2 servers going at each other, and hope the 3rd doesn’t hop onto the map. That just kills the “large scale” nature of WvW, you guys really need to fix this. This is something that has been broken ever since the fabled Stability patch, as many guessed the extra taxed programming nature of stab changes caused more computational lag server-side.

Anyways, good news for you is you have a very dedicated, very hardcore, very enthusiastic crowd that will play through the lag and lack of content updates in WvW. Even when people can only press 1111111 during terrible skill lag moments, people still fight, they die, and they go back and do it again. You have something good going here, please don’t waste it.

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: Jayne.9251

Jayne.9251

TLDR: “We’re looking into it.” It’s the same statement we’ve heard many times, from Devon (what, two years ago?) to all the various community managers who’ve posted here.

*slips something into LK’s drink.

OMG THE WHITE KNIGHT IS BACK!

:p

Let’s go into HoT optimistic! I know, I know, it’ll bite me, but let’s be happy for a bit. What the WvW dev said is exactly what we’ve all wanted. Let’s hope it comes to fruition — and let’s hope they talk to the community more (and we can encourage that by putting our happy faces on .. chop, chop!).

L’enfer, c’est les autres

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: morrolan.9608

morrolan.9608

Might I suggest the devs open up communication with players and ask for help, ideas, and suggestions. I know it’s a tough pill to swallow because it’s your job to do. But the players who play this game mode every single day for years might just know what makes WvW players tick more than you do.

They’ve already done this with the CDI threads and got a lot of good info from them.

Jade Quarry [SoX]
Miranda Zero – Ele / Twitch Zero – Mes / Chargrin Soulboom – Engi
Aliera Zero – Guardian / Reaver Zero – Necro

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: Random.4691

Random.4691

Yep EoTM like ,,,,,servers can always fill up the gap if need of more people to play any time zones at wvw, what type of play style you want maybe your a non wvwers,

I play WvW 100% of my play time, EotM is not in my mind WvW, its an abomination built for uplevels and PvE players that want to siege 24/7.

I think you will be hard pressed to find any true WvW player to agree with an EotM type match system. I dare say the majority of WvW players on these forums have been very clear that we do not want that type of a system for regular WvW, in fact I think they would lose more players than they would gain by doing that.

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: Random.4691

Random.4691

While I understand the frustrations from my fellow WvW brethren; as I left the game for over a year, you gotta chill sometimes.

This is the response, acknowledgement, and post that you have all been complaining baout not happening.

They’ve heard, they seem to have listened, maybe the third time is the charm.

I am actually excited to see that Anet has acknowledged us. If there is no follow through, I’ll be right there with you in calling out, or switching games all together.

See while you were gone, they have acknowledged many issue’s, they have told us they will fix many of those issues, they are priority issues that they take very seriously. Only to sweep it under the rug and do nothing. We have seen this kind of statement before (not the exact same but close enough) and it was followed up by nothing.

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: azizul.8469

azizul.8469

does anyone in the WvW team at Arena Net listen to the request for WvW gear salvage ?

Cutie Phantasmer/Farinas [HAX] – CD Casual
Archeage = Farmville with PK

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: cillard.3986

cillard.3986

We are eager to see the strategic play that develops from the Desert Borderlands with its new mechanics, unique objectives, astounding beauty and layout that both supports team fights in some areas while breaking up blobs in other areas.
We look forward to putting a greater emphasis on holding objectives through auto-upgrades and on guilds through the guild claiming system, a system that gives players new ways to play the game and tools to defeat their opponents.

We hope you enjoy the live stream of our second stress test coming up next and we will see you on the battlefield.

Thank You.

The map is absolutely stunning in regards to the artwork, but it is absolutely horrible in regards to game play. It seems like everything the hard core WvW players have been telling you for the past couple of years fell on deaf ears. Everything we specifically said we hated about maps, you decided to throw into this one.

Major issues:

1. There are freaking PvE mobs all over the place, some of which are quite the pain in the kitten to deal with. Why? Seriously, if I wanted to fight PvE mobs, I would go PvE, but like most WvWers, I hate it.

2. I really don’t want to WvW in a giant jumping puzzle. Too many elevation changes, jumping locations, and confusion. I fully realize that some of this is not being intimately familiar with the new map, but at the same time …it is grossly overdone.

3. Stupid gimmicks all over the place. If EOTM were a crack addict and had a baby, it would be this map.

4. Way too large. Bigger maps are good if the terrain was flatter and had less twists/turns and NPCs ….but bigger in addition to all the other crap just gets in the way of game play.

I suspect my thoughts (which are completely echoed by members of my entire guild) will fall on deaf ears, but this map is basically everything we hate about EOTM on steroids. We want large, flat areas free of NPCs to fight in, mixed in with some places that smaller forces can use to spread out and choke a large force if they are tactically smart and out play them. We don’t want stupid gimmicks that get in the way of game play (like the ones there now), but we DO want some mechanics in place that help to spread out blobs. The current implementation on the new map is crap.

My advice is this:

1. Shrink the map so it splits the difference between the old map and the current implementation in half. That away it is larger than the old maps to help spread things out, but not too large like the current map.

2. Get rid of the freaking NPCs. My preference would be to get rid of all of them, but perhaps you could put some ‘camps’ in out of the way places and away from traffic flow at a drastically increased XP/loot bonus to entice people to farm them (and entice gankers to farm the farmers)

3. Flatten the map out some and make it feel less like a jumping puzzle in places.

4. Get rid of the overdone mechanics. They get in the way of game play, not encourage it. If you want mechanics in place to spread out the fights, do something like making it a requirement to hold two ‘towers’ before a ‘keep’ can be taken …or something similar. It doesn’t have to be ‘that’, but you get the idea. Something simplistic to achieve the required effects.

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: cillard.3986

cillard.3986

Also…. make the kitten testing more reasonable for the people going out of their way to help you beta test your crap. Copy their toons for them with all their gear so they don’t wave to waste 30 minutes setting crap up before they can even begin to test. It is a waste of our time and a waste of yours.

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: root.2859

root.2859

Glad to read this, though we read such promises before and you know the results. GL though, you will need it!

PS: Before you start to address enhancements such as matchmaking, scoring, population balancing, PLEASE focus THE technical issue first:
After 3 years we still have Lag, and it was ‘meh’ to ‘ok’ when the map cap decreased, but with the increase its often unplayable now……………………………………

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: Radian.2478

Radian.2478

I am shocked at how many people reading this think that these changes are going to happen. Until I see these things updated, I have no reason to believe that any of it will happen. The entirety of WvW has been “We plan on bringing ______” and then nothing happens.

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: headraver.4862

headraver.4862

i just hope and wish for somthing like unique armor which looks amazing and can only be obtained in wvw say after rank 1000 wxp and so on maybe every 500 lvls or so could get somthing special i.e unique weapon skins or ascended back pieces etc kinda like the achievement point system that we currently have another point i might add is the amount of gold that is obtained through wvw it is just lack luster ive run for like 5 hours tonight and made just over 2 gold from bag drops from players and capping towers and wxp lvls if i played pve for 5 hours which i hardly do i can make so much more gold please for the love of god make it more profitable for us dedicated wvw’ers if you can entice more players into wvw with special goodies its a win/win for all of us

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: lil devils x.6071

lil devils x.6071

i just hope and wish for somthing like unique armor which looks amazing and can only be obtained in wvw say after rank 1000 wxp and so on maybe every 500 lvls or so could get somthing special i.e unique weapon skins or ascended back pieces etc kinda like the achievement point system that we currently have another point i might add is the amount of gold that is obtained through wvw it is just lack luster ive run for like 5 hours tonight and made just over 2 gold from bag drops from players and capping towers and wxp lvls if i played pve for 5 hours which i hardly do i can make so much more gold please for the love of god make it more profitable for us dedicated wvw’ers if you can entice more players into wvw with special goodies its a win/win for all of us

PLEASE please please NEVER EVER ever let this happen.. Like ever. Yes, wvw players deserve to be personally rewarded, and not with the current BS they have received, but do you realize what would happen here? This would bring the PVE leeching Ktrainers that could care less about fights, could care less about the actual game going on , could care less about their teammates or their server that only want to leech wvw xp so they can get the armor and then they leave. As it is, crafters and PVEers are taking up places on the battle field that could be used by actual WvW players just because they want to get daily chests. Adding more of this only makes it worse not better. I would much rather the players in wvw be there to actually play wvw rather than to " get theirs and leave". As it is we need to have the crafting stations, jumping puzzles, NPCs and dailies removed from wvw to make room for actual wvw players since the space on your team is so very limited already. Adding more of this just adds to the knitting club that is sitting in the middle of the basketball court while the game is going on making it worse, not better. To make it worse, not only is the knitting club sitting in the middle of the court, for every one of them sitting there your team loses a player space in the actual game. This makes wvw a very hostile environment for everyone involved. You can imagine the fights that would ensue in reality if someone decided to set up a knitting club in the middle of a football or soccer game while they are trying to play…Blood would be shed. Luckily in virtual games they cannot physically touch one another, however they are just as angry about it happening. Playing pvp in video games is like playing sports in person and should be treated with the same respect to ensure good game play.

I think it would be better instead of items that can " ONLY be obtained in wvw" just make it items that can be obtained in PVE or WVW , so that WvW players do not have to PVE to obtain the same rewards. WVW rewards should be equal , not more or lesser than PVE rewards so that both WvW or PVE players can continue to enjoy the favorite style of game play without being forced into one or the other. I would rather play wvw with people who actually enjoy playing wvw, not those that are there " just for this shiny then leave" all the while complaining and refusing to play as a team making everyone else miserable in the process. It is not a win at all if the people coming in do not even enjoy being there. Those that enjoy wvw are already there and do not need to be enticed with exclusive shinies to do so.

[KILL]Killing Tiers Leader [TOON] Toons of Terror Leader [NEWS This Just In Leader
WvW / PVP ONLY

(edited by lil devils x.6071)

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: Tongku.5326

Tongku.5326

The biggest is population imbalance. The current team structure has led to a number of issues such as low population in some worlds while overpopulation on a few worlds gives them queues on many nights of the week.

We’ve seen a concentration of talent as hardcore players from most worlds have migrated upwards through the tiers looking for new experiences and greater challenge. Because this talent tends to be concentrated at the top, MMR has correctly kept the most dedicated teams locked in near perpetual stand off against the same opponents week after week.

My two cents on the whole server capping, pop imbalance thing. Yes I agree it’s a problem. No you’re not going about it correctly. So you just locked people out of the more competitive tiers in hopes that people will transfer down to the lower tiers and give more of a spread to competitive wvw, this is a good idea in theory but what about new players that want to play with their friends? That is my personal situation currently, I have a friend who would like to play with me and a few of our other friends, the problem is we are all on Yaks Bend so it will be impossible for him to play with us on wvw any time soon (if ever). Now the only option available to us is to all transfer down to a lower tier server, which I wouldn’t be too opposed to if it wasn’t going to cost us $35 per person. If you really want people to spread to multiple servers open up free server transfers. You’ll have multiple people going down to the lower servers to play with their friends (or for a fresh environment). This doesn’t have to be a permanent change, only long enough for people to spread out across the servers and allow guilds to find new homes on the lower servers. Right now it honestly just looks to me like a cash grab on your guys’ part because you just want more people to pay for gems to transfer, but in reality this just makes my friend group not want to play because we can’t play with our friend unless we spend $140 total. Which sounds better, 5 people buying heart of thorns or 5 people spending $35 for the gems to transfer.

TL;DR
Make server transfers free to the non full servers to get people off the full servers.

What friends ?

90% of " i wanna play with my friend" QQ here are YB trolls (or other overstacker trolls) that can’t overstack even more then they already have. A lot of them are actually alt accounts, they log onto their other accounts so it doesnt show they’re from YB and post this BS.

In fact, I know at least 2 people on multiple accounts, that log in here and make the “i’m a stranded friend” posts personally, and I know them IRL, they are acquaintences, not friends. You understand the difference ? Someone I might game with outside of work, but thats about it. Its funny how many of you are actually falling for this sort of crap.

There are realistically like 10 people in all of WvWvW in this whole game that are actual true friends with someone and want to play WvWvW with them. And sorry, I don’t count ex guild mates, forum friends, or FB friends as friends. Only real friends count as friends.

The remaining legitimate 10% or so is unfortunately an extremely low number, and frankly speaking, its better they leave the game or not come back to it at all then affect what remains on anything below T2 in a negative way.

In addition, if they are true, real actual friends, then they will transfer down, rather then the other way around, because they are actual friends.

Heavy Deedz – COSA – SF

(edited by Tongku.5326)

WvW Invitational Statement from John Corpening, game director for World vs. World

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Posted by: lil devils x.6071

lil devils x.6071

The biggest is population imbalance. The current team structure has led to a number of issues such as low population in some worlds while overpopulation on a few worlds gives them queues on many nights of the week.

We’ve seen a concentration of talent as hardcore players from most worlds have migrated upwards through the tiers looking for new experiences and greater challenge. Because this talent tends to be concentrated at the top, MMR has correctly kept the most dedicated teams locked in near perpetual stand off against the same opponents week after week.

My two cents on the whole server capping, pop imbalance thing. Yes I agree it’s a problem. No you’re not going about it correctly. So you just locked people out of the more competitive tiers in hopes that people will transfer down to the lower tiers and give more of a spread to competitive wvw, this is a good idea in theory but what about new players that want to play with their friends? That is my personal situation currently, I have a friend who would like to play with me and a few of our other friends, the problem is we are all on Yaks Bend so it will be impossible for him to play with us on wvw any time soon (if ever). Now the only option available to us is to all transfer down to a lower tier server, which I wouldn’t be too opposed to if it wasn’t going to cost us $35 per person. If you really want people to spread to multiple servers open up free server transfers. You’ll have multiple people going down to the lower servers to play with their friends (or for a fresh environment). This doesn’t have to be a permanent change, only long enough for people to spread out across the servers and allow guilds to find new homes on the lower servers. Right now it honestly just looks to me like a cash grab on your guys’ part because you just want more people to pay for gems to transfer, but in reality this just makes my friend group not want to play because we can’t play with our friend unless we spend $140 total. Which sounds better, 5 people buying heart of thorns or 5 people spending $35 for the gems to transfer.

TL;DR
Make server transfers free to the non full servers to get people off the full servers.

What friends ?

90% of " i wanna play with my friend" QQ here are YB trolls (or other overstacker trolls) that can’t overstack even more then they already have. A lot of them are actually alt accounts, they log onto their other accounts so it doesnt show they’re from YB and post this BS.

There are realistically like 10 people in all of WvWvW in this whole game that are actual true friends with someone and want to play WvWvW with them. And sorry, I don’t count ex guild mates, forum friends, or FB friends as friends. Only real friends count as friends.

The remaining legitimate 10% or so is unfortunately an extremely low number, and frankly speaking, its better they leave the game or not come back to it at all then affect what remains on anything below T2 in a negative way.

In addition, if they are true, real actual friends, then they will transfer down, rather then the other way around, because they are actual friends.

Most of the players that have voiced wanting to have friends and family come play with them are not even on YB. LOL Atm there are at least 300 players wanting my sister to come play with us, and we are no where near YB, so your 99% idea is madness.

EDIT: Also you do not decide for everyone who their friends are, they do. IF they consider their guildies to be friends, they are their friends. In fact, my sister who I would like to play with met her husband on a game online, and they actually have crashed at a guildies home while moving back from Pennsylvania. If people consider themselves friends, they are, the internet is just another form of communication like a phone or mail, no different. The internet is not some isolated magical place where the real world does not exist. My first guild was started on campus at the University of Texas Austin, and we had real life events. LOL

Telling players to transfer down then have no one to play against is absurd. It would even be better to just go play a game that lets you have players to play with and against at that point. Asking people to up and move 300 players just to be able to play with other family and friends is ridiculous. All this does is separate friends and family rather than let them enjoy their down time together. I had 200 people show up to my birthday party alone at my old apartment, I guess I shouldn’t be able to play with them as well?

[KILL]Killing Tiers Leader [TOON] Toons of Terror Leader [NEWS This Just In Leader
WvW / PVP ONLY

(edited by lil devils x.6071)