Some people clearly need to learn the difference between “tactics” and “exploits”. The bay water gate “tactic” is an EXPLOIT, plain and simple. I highly doubt Anet intended to allow players to be rezzed through solid matter. If so, why would they even put up doors and walls?
While that could be a valid argument for why you shouldn’t be allowed to res through a door, it’s not a valid argument for why doing a res through the Bay water gate should be prohibited. That’s not a solid wall or door. It’s a porous grate that one could see through and, from a role-playing simulation perspective, easily reach through to touch the dead character on the other side. If you aren’t supposed to be about to res through the Bay water gate, why does it still have holes in it that a another character can see through and would be able to reach through?
These are clearly supposed to be the ways that everyone is supposed to invade a tower or keep. If you are able to successfully hide a LIVING mesmer, by all means that mesmer deserves to port his allies in and punish the defenders for not checking carefully. There is no defending your claim. I also highly doubt that EVERYONE uses it considering how many people are saying that it’s a wrong thing to do. And even if most people did, it doesn’t change that it is an exploit.
And if a mesmer dies in a tower or keep and doesn’t respawn and a perma-stealth thief hiding inside the same the tower or keep gets to them to res them, do they deserve the easy attack? Is it fair if it happens within 15 minutes? Is it fair if it happens after 2 hours?
I’m a defense-oriented player. I often lose money in WvW because I spend my time upgrading sites and even walking dolyaks to speed them up. I understand the frustration this causes to defense-oriented players. But there are also players who get their kicks out of using annoying tricks to get an advantage against their opponent. In many ways, I see this as another example of play like perma-stealth thieves. It annoys a lot of people and the forums of filled with complaints about it and requests to change it but it’s a form of play that part of the community enjoys and ANet is unlikely to eliminate it. Given how easy it would be to change it, yet after a year of complaints, ANet hasn’t changed it, suggest that it’s possible ANet doesn’t want to change it. That the Bay water gates used to be breakable but now aren’t suggests that ANet knows how to fix a real “exploit” like this when they want to.
This is as much a tactic as the one used to get into QL without destroying the gate or wall.
Did ANet fix the exploits used to get into QL and Jerrifers without destroying the gate yet? Did they change the way the water gates at Bay worked to fix an exploit? Why does ANet fix one problem but not another? One answer is that one problem is easier to fix than the other. Another possible answer, though, is that it’s working as intended and ANet likes it that way.
After 15 minutes you are using a cheat to get by the afk timer.
For the record, I’d be fine with enforcing a 15 minute forced ejection from the WvW map, reset only by someone doing a res on the character, if they don’t respawn at a waypoint. I think it’s a fine short-term strategy to keep defenders on their toes but something that’s seriously not fun for a defender who spends hours watching a corpse to make sure it stays dead. I agree you shouldn’t be able to reset the counter yourself by playing with the UI. 15 minutes seems like a good compromise to me.
