I would just like to start by saying I haven’t searched through all the forums for individual feedback about this. I am just starting my own thread for my personal opinions.
Firstly WvW sneak attack was good in part and terrible in others. We all know there is a huge issue with Low WvW population versus High WvW population. Sneak attack was the start of addressing that. It did some things right and some things very wrong.
The things is did right. It allowed more people to play smaller groups and sometimes get that important sneak in. It allowed people to cap camps without fear of being steamrolled by the megablob. It also meant spreading out the high population servers to having to scout as smaller groups meaning slightly more balanced fights.
The thing it did wrong was mainly the basic logic look at the idea of war. Sneak attack is designed for smaller groups not large ones. This sneak attack allowed large groups the same advantage as a small group. That is terrible.
So how would I fix this?
Firstly I believe that cross-swords have their place. That place should be on the huge mega blob. That should be there all the time. This should be the case always, If you have say more than 30 people on you at one time. Towers should go cross swords the whole time you are near it. Not just when you hit it. I have seen so many rams on gates that sometimes the tower has been capped before the swords even appear. Yet that 5 man group has to have swords up for so long that mega blob can walk over to it and still stop you. It makes no sense.
Tower Zerg Scout. I Think there should be an upgrade for towers that allow it to place swords on larger groups. You wanna run around with a 50 man group, go a head, but when you are anywhere near a tower with this scout on you will have swords on your head. Meaning we can track you easily.
When you are outnumbered you shouldn’t trigger swords ever. This would allow you to sneak attack. If you have numbers you can scout. If you don’t have the numbers no cross swords will alert the enemy to your location. This is an easy fix that would make a huge difference.
Encouraging more people to defend towers Sneak attack showed that sitting in a tower to scout is important. Why is there not more rewards for it? Examples could be getting bonus XP for refreshing siege. A buff that if you stay within the same tower it stacks giving you more WvW Xp and WvW MF. Could be as easy as 1% every 1 minute you are inside. 100% would mean you have been there for 1hr 40mins. that’s a long time scouting. it could also be a flat base boost say 50% but the duration increases the longer you are there. You have a raid in a hour? why not scout out before hand and give yourself a one hour WvW boost?
Siege limit This needs to be addressed in terms of larger groups. Sure its all fun to have 500 supply on you and drop 6 Superior Flame rams at a gate and get inside in less that 10 seconds. but actually that just encourages blobbing. Upgrades should not only work on making your walls more powerful but controlling the offensive siege placed. T3 towers should not have a gate melt that quickly to anyone. Limiting how much you can put down is a good move. Also people that place siege should have the ability to blow it up as a last ditch attempt at damage. Flame rams detonating at the door could do 3x its damage in one blast. This would mean that a limit wouldn’t be as bad. You have larger numbers you can put down 2 rams. when they are nearly dead, detonate and build 2 more. None of this build 6 and smash the gate twice GG.
PVD I think this has probably been thrown around too much anyway. But PVD sucks. It ruins the idea of siege and should be addressed. If you have the highest numbers your PVD can be enough for a gate before siege. please fix that.
These are really simple steps to help balance WvW and not punish smaller servers. I think the Idea was to help smaller ones. but It just meant that in fact blob more there’s no downside.
TL;DR version: Cross swords should be visible based on numbers not just on/off