Guild Wars 2

As the title suggests, how would the dynamics of wvw change, if you could see allies and enemies on the map? The only exception would be invisible or stealthed enemies.

Pros and cons?

The biggest pro is obviously more awareness to all players of whats going on. But you could argue thats a con. Would it reduce zerging and commander sheep? I could actually see this creating a wide active “front line”.

Hypothetical, so forget any technical difficulties.

Potential strategies or issues it may open up?

Add in some simple ideas, like you don’t appear on the enemy map up to X seconds after leaving stealth or invis and don’t enter combat…

Or perhaps you don’t appear on enemy map while inside keeps/towers/etc (with a certain upgrade?)

Honestly i think there should always be some form of Fog of War in the match.

Cons : Technology? Your client will have to keep track of every player on the map.

Big no. It is working fine as it is.

Con: Small groups would become easy targets and no one would be able to leave the zerg.

It would create a need for zergs to be formed “suddenly” in order to catch the enemy off-guard.. otherwise they would always see you coming.

While the possibilities are interesting, this just wouldn’t work. We already have enough problems with people gravitating toward orange swords on the map instead of communicating properly.

It would ruin WvW, no.

forget the map, it’d be nice just to see enemies on the SCREEN.

It is a hypothetical point guys….

I think the trouble with it would be the need for Mesmers even more. Their ability to shift large amounts of players quickly across the map via chain portaling would be far too invaluable. Certainly interesting though.

I would also like to see a more front line approach, but the way to do that is a new map. A terrain that is costly to cross (npc traps etc) would cause players to pool, creating a “no-mans land”.
Also acquiring Dredge NPC’s to build trenches across a section of the map would also in my opinion be just generally awesome.

Bad idea. All I have to say.

DKz Lux.4125:

Bad idea. All I have to say.

Have to agree with this. It would take the element of surprise out of WvW completely. You wouldn’t be able to ninja a gate by avoiding putting swords on the map, there would be no sudden calls for help and a need to rush to a tower/ keeps aid because you could just look at the map and see where the enemy are and where they are going.
Repelled an enemy from Bay or Hills? No need for a mesmer sweep, just look at the map to see where they are hiding.
It would take all the fun out of WvW.

Con: A single spy could give the location of the entire enemy team in the borderland with minimal effort.

Edit, oh you said enemies too. Well, that’s just dumb. You’d get this dumb meta game of, oh nobodies at west keep so lets hit there, and then the enemy would notice your movements so go to that location. And then you’d notice the enemy suddenly left east keep so go there instead… It’d just be this stupid merry-go-round of no fighting.