Guild Wars 2

Two major issues with WvW seem to be population imbalance (common to MMO open world PvP) and night capping. Since Guild Wars 2 already has near immediate player transfers in its design (with planned future Guest transfers), I suggest the following WvW Mercenary transfer mechanic:

1. A Mercenary is a player from one server invited by a different player from another server to help in WvW as a temporary Guest.

2. Only players on losing servers in a 3-way match-up can invite Mercenaries.

3. Only players on winning servers in a 3-way match-up can accept a Mercenary invite.

4. The total number of Mercenaries invited and accepted by a server is capped (say 10 to 20, or population percentage based).

5. A Mercenary invite is a level 80 item and costs coin, karma, or gems (but not supply which may be difficult for losing servers).

6. A Mercenary is a Guest so their home server does not change and their stay is time limited (say 2 to 4 hours).

7. A Mercenary is tagged as a “Mercenary Invader” or “Mercenary Defender.”

In order to help prevent players from inviting Mercenaries to work against rather than for a server (as enemy spies), or to PvE, or to use up a server’s mercenary cap, invites could be limited to guild officers and the number of invites could be limited by a guild’s size. Additional restrictions could also be added such as limiting how often Mercenary invites could be accepted by a player.

The above mechanic would encourage a flow of players from winning servers (especially those with a large lead) to underdog losing servers needing help. It would also lead to interesting cross server temporary alliances.

—Dyn