Guild Wars 2

i initially posted as a reply in another topic but as i finished i realized it should have a place all its own

in any of the tournaments free or paid… i believe a team should bring what ever class they signed the roster with. however the current system does point out and loudly, some professions just arent viable, or others are more viable for each map. with public streaming everywhere, it is shown that even the absolute best teams out there will swap in a different profession for certain maps.

this shows me that some professions have distinct advantages in certain maps, while others are less desirable for certain maps. this screams that there are imbalances, and takes away from personal playstyles.

some would argue the skill is in choosing the right class for the right job, similar to the team composition argument. this same person may argue that the person swapping toons should have a high amount of skill with multiple professions making them a very skilled player. in those cases i would tend to agree, but isnt a competitive game what we want. shouldnt we have to worry about all of the classes? instead of saying ok a ranger and a guardian walk onto a node, and the entire team focusses the guardian with ferocity and extreme prejudice and laugh at the ranger. or shouldnt it become a much harder choice like ok we take out the guardian but cc the ranger and get rid of that darn pet.

allowing certain professions to have advantages on some maps is in my opinion a bad thing. then allowing folks to bring said profession to the map, even mid tournament, for that specific map. a team should have to bring the tools they want at the beginning. however before making that change the advantages those classes bring to certain maps need to be removed. not only would it make a team focus more on playing the actual game, then playing the mechanics, it would still allow for team composition diversity.

choice is important in these games and with this community. removing profession specific advantages in certain maps, will improve the ability to bring a larger range of professions on a team. and removing the ability to change toons for a specific map will create a more balanced level of play. in my mind this leads to a better balanced game.

Yea I was really looking at that PvP blog to take a stance on issues like this.

We need at least SOME of the options to be locked. Changing characters for sure. After that we can talk about gear swaps out of combat, utility skill changes, and trait selection.

I personally favor locked everything except utiilty skills, but I know others may disagree. I look forward to changes like this and some real discussions.

I would only support ANY lockouts of any swapping when the class balance issues are resolved.

Until then swapping has to stay.

Substitutions? Seems reasonable to me. It adds another element of strategy and coordination.

the heart of the matter is not whether they should stay or not. although i believe they should not be allowed. the real issue is why people are doing it. its been talked about on live streams and on these forums , that certain classes are just plain better for certain maps. this is just not right. its bad enough that there are some classes you dont bring to any map, but to swap from bunker to condition damage or from roamer to trebuchet defense, its just not right.

the easy answer is to cry and moan about class x ability is too necessary for this map or gives a huge advantage for this particular situation. but that never works, or if it does work it ends up being completely unpopular for people that play that class for the class not the one utility that gives it an advantage.

this isnt even about over all class balance. this is about maps, that when playing a specific class brings so much to the table as to be REQUIRED since it gives so much of an advantage. it doesnt increase strategy and coordination…it limits it. to have all of the advantages or maximize the chance of a team winning someone HAS to bring a specific class. if you do not bring that class and the other team does, its not even skill based any more. it sure as heck has nothing to do with choice. you have to bring that class or you face a severe disadvantage. if all class balance was equal and professions did not offer any “mandatory” advantages then no one would want to swap unless you were experimenting with a new class or a new build. it would be because you actually wanted to not because you had to. this to me is preferable to the situation we have now.

edited fora typo

It’s not forcing to people to change their classes. The PvP in this game allows you to do one 5 minute quest, and BAM, you are level 80 and able to join tournaments. The character attachment derived from spending countless hours of questing and grinding does not exist; simply, you choose a name and play.

There is no reason for a team to get upset when their opposition subs a Mesmer in for the last tournament map. If everyone on your team is only capable of playing one profession well, that is their problem, and the other team should not be penalized. Do not limit yourself to only playing one profession. If you are, you are not playing at your full potential.

Actually, I think this indicates that there’s some really interesting class dynamics abounding. Sure there’s imbalance, but one class being better than others at certain maps is not a herald of doom.

I do agree that teams should be locked though. This would force teams to balance around a variety of situations, rather than just flipping to the cookie cutter for each map. This is the same reason I’d like to see more game modes introduced – to make more than just the bunker/bunker/thief/mesmer/any meta viable in a tournament.

Niptease.8971:

It’s not forcing to people to change their classes. The PvP in this game allows you to do one 5 minute quest, and BAM, you are level 80 and able to join tournaments. The character attachment derived from spending countless hours of questing and grinding does not exist; simply, you choose a name and play.

There is no reason for a team to get upset when their opposition subs a Mesmer in for the last tournament map. If everyone on your team is only capable of playing one profession well, that is their problem, and the other team should not be penalized. Do not limit yourself to only playing one profession. If you are, you are not playing at your full potential.

where you an i differ is a simple part, you feel that a person is not required to change but with the current situation they are…i do have an attachment to my main character although i have a few alts. i prefer my mains style of play. the issue is that its not a choice. to be successful, you HAVE to bring said classes, its not an option there is no versatility.

playing multiple classes is not a measure of my potential its a choice i can make that this game does very well, in allowing me to jump into pvp right away. im not upset that this happens i am upset that this is mandatory. you simply have no freedom of choice when it comes to certain maps at high level of play. sure i dont have an issue swapping to whatever my team needs, but i dont like that because of map mechanics i am pretty limited. either i force one of my friends/guildies to switch or i switch myself. or a final option, give up a huge advantage that most assuredly the other team will not give up.

just because it is easy to do doesn’t mean its right that i have to do it.