Guild Wars 2

Pinkamena Diane Pie.8054:

I think this will answer your question.

Sorry no U-turns allowed.

How did you manage to get Anet’s long term plan for WvW?

Dark Catalyst.1028:

Yet another ANet flop. I’d say wait for Wildstar, but given that it’s a NCSoft product…enough said. Not wasting my time again.

Lots of bling features and changes to help increase gem store revenue. Grindy living story events every two weeks.. no problem! Meaningful WvW changes we’ve been asking for almost two years…. don’t be silly. Some people actually play GW2 just for endgame WvW. Good thing there are some upcoming PvP focused MMO’s coming out in the future!

CU!

GoodWithGravy.8019:

Don’t worry guys in 6 months they will rename applied fortitude.

That would that be considered a Major WvW patch?

I think many guilds and players are simply filled with apathy at this point. We don’t expect any meaningful or major changes in WvW. I’m sure we’ll get some tweaks and minor changes but I think what we have now is it for many years.

Thoughts? WvW is simply not a priority for Anet. After asking for basic changes for almost 2 years I don’t expect anything now. Can’t be disappointed if you don’t expect anything. Great that you have some good suggestions, but to be honest friend, I doubt anyone an anet is listening.

akanibbles.6237:

I’m in my 5th guild, because my previous guilds are effectively unrep’d as players have left the game.

I guess the PvE players keep the gem store revenues up enough that they don’t care about WvW focused players leaving.

Don’t worry just hang around in WvW. We don’t expect any significant changes there…. ever.

WvW is simply not given enough priority and resources. I don’t expect any major WvW content or upgrades for years. We’ll see a few tweaks but what we currently have in GW2 is probably going to be it.

A lot of dedicated WvW players have already bailed. Sad not seeing many friends left in the game, but I’ll see them in CU at least!

goldenwing.8473:

ANet has already demonstrated they do not support WvW. Somebody correct me if I’m wrong, but I believe whatever employee was responsible for deriving WvW from DAoC’s RvR is no longer at ANet. I personally would not trust ANet to get anything as complicated as DF done in a reasonably working manner (and a pale imitation would be painful.)

In CU, heck yes. I believe that’s already a consideration.

Completely agree. Players looking for quality RvR/WvW style gameplay will always be disappointed in GW2. It’s simply not given enough priority and resources. I don’t expect any major WvW content or upgrades for years. We’ll see a few tweaks but what we currently have in GW2 is it.

Thank goodness we have some games coming out next year that will focus primarily on RvR/WvW.

krow.4836:

Improving the commander model, disincentiving Zergs and promoting defense would improve a core gameplay (wvw) that keep many of your players coming back to GW2. Without some vision and affection I worry that players will start moving to other games with large scale PvP options.

Thanks!

Start moving? Most of the dedicated players I’ve known over the years have already left. Many of our guild are playing sporadically and waiting for upcoming MMO’s that actually focus on PvP.

•Commanders: The Commander buff is now only displayed to friendly players.

•Siege Weapons: Normalized the hit boxes of all siege gadgets.

•Account-bound WXP. All characters have the same number of World Ability Points available to spend. Spending World Ability Points on one character doesn’t spend them on any other.

•All spent World Ability Points have been refunded to all characters.

•Getting from Rank 4 to 5 now requires 1,000 WXP instead of 2,000

I realize there was a lot of non WvW content in the big feature patch, but it’s still disappointing. Knowing that there will most likely be nothing else added for WvW until later this year or into next year. It’s a shame they didn’t place a little more focus on WvW. Pretty much given up expecting significant changes.

Pinkamena Diane Pie.8054:

Oh ye full of optimism, I feel sorry for you.

WvW …. where optimism comes to die.

Lack of meaningful WvW changes and focus are causing many players to leave the game. I’m sure the PvE players love the grindy living story events, but dedicated WvW players are bailing.

Giving you a road map would mean someone has to know which country they are in. I don’t think they are even on the same planet as many players when it comes to WvW.

MightyMicah.7451:

In the end, I don’t believe these bugs are insanely problematic in the grand scheme of things. In other words, the devs have their priorities straight. They will fix these issues, but it’s gonna take time.

I think this is the point we disagree on. Many of these issues were brought up during the first beta weekend event… almost two years ago. With the volume of living story content that was pumped out every two weeks…. where are these WvW bug and issue fixes?

What constitutes “reasonable” time?

MightyMicah.7451:

Yeah, you guys are right. They’ve only added WvW tournaments, a reworking of achievments (tomorrow), an entire new map so that people can WvW 24/7 even though WvW is only one aspect of the game, borderland buffs which reward roamers (like myself), fixed culling, added incentive for players to transfer to servers which in turn causes a more balanced gameplay overall, plus a reworking of the way tournaments play to make them more fair, and lastly countless class balance changes evolving the game to a better position. Did I miss anything?

Oh, and by the way, all this time they’ve been constantly working their butts off to get out a new patch for pve every two weeks, and at the same time completely reworking the pvp system as well.

What a bunch of lazy no good devs. They don’t care about anyone but themselves!
/end rant

Culling, bloodlust and WXP were decent changes.

- Culling was a bad mechanic that didn’t work in WvW. It was a FIX that was needed, not new content.

-Bloodlust was a result from the bad design of the orb system and the hacks that were used to exploit it. Overall a decent change.

- EOTM overflow was added to appease the que crying from the first tournament. They’ve also mentioned they had future WvW living story content that would not work without a WvW overflow system. So don’t think they added EOTM solely for players, it was needed for their design system.

It’s not the new content they added. Compared to living story and PvE bling features the WvW stuff is a drop in the bucket. It’s the stuff they HAVEN’T addressed that’s the issue. Basic things like organizing and grouping systems, hacking and exploits. That stuff can be addressed without changing any of the core WvW mechanics and have been an issue since day 1.

Jski.6180:

Is far better then a tag system ret my guild very being runs off ctrl targeting it works and it works well. You can even do it as a solo player you do not need a pt for ctrl targeting to work.

So you are saying that running with separate multiple groups and marking one person with Ctrl -T is better than having a private system for multiple groups with a constant visual icon? (ie: private squad system)

Jski.6180:

You know when an mmorpg has a voice chat build in it makes lag worst for the servers because not only do they need to use resources to tell what you are doing to a player and what a player is doing to you then any now need to have auto going back and forwarded. The best way of communicating is using a 3ed partly program there is no reason for a game that is on a pc to have a build in voice chat system any more. The ctrl target is a very good system because each pt can chose who they are on.

I wouldn’t want GW2 to have a built in Voip system, 3rd party programs work fine. What I was referring to is multiple groups have to use it if they don’t enjoy running in zergs. There is no other in-game system outside of /squad that allows cross group communication if people are from different guilds.

Ctrl target is NOT a good system for multiple group organizing. Ctrl target was designed for a single group to assist on the same target. It’s clumsy and ineffective and a poor solution for organizing multiple groups, but it’s all we have. Having a constant in game visual icon is far superior for rallying and following a driver.

Look, they already have a commander pin you can turn on/off. Just add the option for public/private and the problem is solved. Turn on your commander pin, then flag “private”. Now you have a pin that can be used just for guild, alliance, multiple random groups… whatever. Only the people in the squad see the pin. It doesn’t attract everyone in the zone and it doesn’t take players away from the commander leading publicly.

Getting a little off topic from the OP.

Jski.6180:

WvW is still very active so most ppl are not unhappily. And even if they where unhappily as you say shocking them with new changes maybe atone to giving a starving person lots of food (it will kill them). You must do things slowly or you will lose every thing about wvw that make wvw important to ppl.

Shocking them with new changes… lol. I’m referring to basic stuff people were asking for almost 2 years ago in the first beta weekend. Not just a couple people asking, but a very large number of requests.

I think I’d be dead in real life before changes in the game would kill anyone.

Jski.6180:

There is no reason to do as a few self intrusted players want to be done if most of the community is happy with the way things are.

That’s it. They community doesn’t seem to be so happy. Perhaps the casual WvW player who mostly does PvE content may be happy. I believe most of the dedicated WvW players who play GW2 aren’t so happy.

Jski.6180:

Why not just ctrl target the person your trying to stay on? Its a lot better then a commander title any day.

Oh boy. Some guilds and players don’t like zergs. They prefer to create havoc forces and run the way they ENJOY with multiple groups. Marking a driver with Ctrl-T and using 3rd party voice is currently the best way to do it. And it’s completely laughable in a modern MMO as the only alternative. Running with an in game visual pin and in-game grouping system is FAR superior to marking a driver and forcing people to use a 3rd party voice program.

GW2’s grouping system is crap, there is no sugar-coating it. It’s the worse multiple group system I’ve used in a game where organizing groups is a factor. If you have over 5 people your only alternate is to pop a commander pin that attracts everyone in the zone. That’s NOT how some people want to organize!!! Read the feedback and the common requests.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/wuv/wuv/Collaborative-Development-Commander-System/page/14#post3343318

A flexible basic grouping system is a staple in most MMO’s. GW2 completely dropped the ball on that. For almost 2 years we’ve sent feedback in and requested changes, even simple ones to help us organize better. That’s why players are frustrated, dealing with a completely inadequate grouping system on a daily basis since the game went live.

MightyMicah.7451:

The devs aren’t genies. They can’t crap an update out of thin air. Have patience! They already have their hands full with thousands of suggestion from all aspects of the game. It takes time to put things into place.

And that’s it. Thousands of suggestions and the priority of them. It’s blatantly obvious were WvW sits on that priority list. Have patience? There is a point were “It takes time to put things into place.” becomes laughable.

ualgh.1832:

these are all ideas that have been brought up countless times. The commander tag issue alone has been brought up just about everyday, and the commander system as a whole has its own CDI.

ArenaNet will continue to ignore these requests until they face significant reason to implement them, such as the impending release of The Elder Scrolls Online.

Well ESO was released. Still no changes to grouping or organization and nothing in the near or far future. Even if they do make some changes players asked for it’s probably too late. After almost 2 years the time to retain guilds and players is over, many have moved on.

gennyt.3428:

Oh Ahmrill, still fighting the good fight. :P
I’ve given up. It’s not even just because it’s been requested so much, for so long, nope! The last straw was the insulting CDI threads which were only meant to pacify and give false hope.

Pretty much resigned that changes players would like to see aren’t going to happen. That time has passed and many WvW focused players have left and moved on.

Jamais vu.5284:

Ahmrill.7512:

Completely agree with you. The “lack of developer transparency and communication” rings true as well. We want substantial features and bugs addressed in WvW, not new content.

Fix the meat and potatoes of WvW first. A functional and flexible C&S system, skill ability lag, bugs and exploits.

Your sentiment might be very true during the first half year of a game’s lifetime, but certainly not almost two years later. New actual content that isn’t an overflow map is long overdue.
You will not recruit new players or make old ones return with bug and lag fixes. They generate zero publicity. What WvW needs right now is a reason to log in.

So true. Most of my guild stopped logging in, they lost interest in WvW. I’ve been advocating for a private/guild only squad system to allow our guild to organize the way WE enjoy. It’s all moot now. After almost 2 years of suggesting, we barely have over a group in WvW most nights now.

Flytrap.8075:

I’d prefer radio silence instead of meaningless teasing and carrots on a stick.

It works for politicians. Vague comments suggesting they are listening and it’s in their list of goals. Nothing ever does get fixed or changed, but they listened at least.

MikeFerguson.8921:

We’d really like to do things like that to make guild claims more visible, but it’s probably not going to happen anytime soon as all our resources are working on more pressing priorities at the moment.

Those priorities involve living story, bling features and anything PvE related that increases gem store revenue. They do not include meaningful WvW features and content.

Just wanted to clarify that so there is no misunderstandings.

Decent suggestions. But they haven’t even addressed basic grouping and organizing that were requested almost 2 years ago. The same requests that were overwhelming brought up in the commander collaborative thread.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/wuv/wuv/Collaborative-Development-Commander-System

I don’t see much of the stuff you suggested ever being implemented.

Nuzt.7894:

Comedy Gold, I’m glad someone dug this Gem up. If there was ever any doubt about how little they care or the lack of attention given to WvW vs. every other aspect of the game this post from Devon should put that to rest.

You can’t really blame Devon, he’s probably handcuffed with the resources and devs allocated. It’s more of a fail with NCsoft and Anet general lead. They have a game plan and revenue model and unfortunately it doesn’t include meaningful WvW updates.

CrazyDuck.4610:

DevonCarver.5370:

Upgrading the commander system and UI is on our goal list. It’s a complicated task, requiring lots of resources however, which means it isn’t going to happen overnight. Believe me though, I find our commander system almost entirely lacking in useful functionality.

A year later, any update?

Absolutely no news or info that I’m aware of….. but it IS on their goal list.

Just like my goal list. Be married to 3 supermodels at the same time, have one of every sports car in the world and unlimited wealth. We can all have goal lists… doesn’t mean anything is going to change or happen.

Kraag Deadsoul.2789:

Ahmrill.7512:

Kraag Deadsoul.2789:

A simple interim fix until the time, money, and resources are given to the WvW team to implement a more robust commander system:

That’s just it… WvW changes don’t bring in revenue on the gem store. So if we’re waiting for resources and priority to be allocated….. don’t hold yer breath. We’ve asked for basic organizing tools for almost TWO YEARS since the first BWE. We haven’t had a short term fix yet and nothing in the horizon.

I know. Silly me. I shouldn’t get my hopes up. Hard not to, though, when looking at WvW and seeing this HUGE untapped potential which, unfortunately, is just going to waste. Instead, the time and resources get spent chasing that e-Sports pie-in-the-sky dream, the gem store, and Living Story.

I’m trying not to be pessimistic and sarcastic about WvW focus… but it’s hard. It’s so painfully obvious the lack of focus towards WvW. WvW is the main reason many players are still active in GW2.

Anet, listen to the player feedback we’ve been giving you for almost 2 years. We don’t expect everything asked to be addressed, but the common requests/needs should be addressed. I’m talking about core functions here, not new content.

McWolfy.5924:

Its dissapointing but good to see a red post again here!

Disappointing is a common feeling for players when it comes to WvW. Most red posts don’t seem to tell us anything except “in the future” or “we’re planning”.

Actions speak louder than words and disappointing is what players are feeling with inaction in WvW development and enhancement.

Flytrap.8075:

Please ANet?

Pretty please?

Pretty please with a cherry on top?

Anet is immune to begging or apparently common sense when it comes to grouping in WvW. Keep trying thought if it makes ya happy.

Jamais vu.5284:

As I predicted circa 7 moths ago, it won’t happen overYEAR. Yeah. Wish I were just some cynical prick instead of a realist.

A year… I’d say you were an optimist. I don’t have expectations at all now nor expect any meaningful changes. At least not the changes the players want and posted in the collaborative thread.

Kraag Deadsoul.2789:

A simple interim fix until the time, money, and resources are given to the WvW team to implement a more robust commander system:

That’s just it… WvW changes don’t bring in revenue on the gem store. So if we’re waiting for resources and priority to be allocated….. don’t hold yer breath. We’ve asked for basic organizing tools for almost TWO YEARS since the first BWE. We haven’t had a short term fix yet and nothing in the horizon.

I think you have some misunderstandings that WvW has any kind of priority with anet? We still can’t get a flexible basic grouping system we asked for almost 2 years ago, along with other basic requests.

Decent ideas, but I don’t think anyone’s listening in the WvW corner of Anet.

mysticque.6182:

I think ANet needs to change how WvW mechanics work as opposed to pve perspective.

We can’t even get a basic grouping system or changes we asked for almost 2 years ago and you want to change the core mechanics of the WvW?

Incoming deleted post for wasting everyone’s time on nonsense.

DevonCarver.5370:

There are some big things we will be talking about in the next few weeks that should hopefully help you to understand what we’ve been working on. If that doesn’t satisfy you, well… “I’ve got a ball, perhaps you would like to bounce it.”

From 8 months ago. That ball bounced onto a freeway, got hit by a semi truck and fell into a gully. It was covered in dirt and dug up 2000 years from now by the survivors of the human race. And just like those survivors looking at the remains of the ball, WvW players also have no idea what they are expecting to see.

That 2000 year old ball would have a better chance to get fixed…

Having account bound commander tags would assume Anet cares about grouping and organization. I mean having a decent and flexible grouping system and the ability for leaders to lead on any character sounds important right?

Apparently not…. otherwise something would have happened in the last 2 years.

I’m sure we’ll see capes added before more useful things like…. a functional and flexible grouping system? We’ve been asking for that feature for almost 2 years and jack squat.

I’m sure the next feature patch will have more bling features and other things that don’t actually improve GW2 gameplay.

[Nord] has been on JQ since the start and is still active. Not sure how long with WvW neglect, but we’re still here atm.

House Calls.7641:

I personally would prefer this over wardrobe

Now we can look REALLY good and still not be able to group with guild members properly. We can fumble around targeting the good looking drivers now.

Worse WvW ability is the ability to GROUP and ORGANIZE properly.

Gw2 has one of the worst grouping systems I’ve used in the last 7 years of MMO gaming.

Don’t worry If you like PvE I’m sure they will start pumping out living story content every 2 weeks. Grindy events that require people to spend hours farming the same mobs over and over for some kind of currency for something.

If you enjoy WvW or sPvP….. just hold in there until some PvP focused games get released in the future.

Flytrap.8075:

Enigma.2601:

How does a game do everything mechanically so well but then polish it with the most abysmal UI possible?

This is more of a rant than anything but it just baffles me at how bad the game is supported by it’s UI. I have a commander tag and I dread using it because it’s more of a headache then it is fun to command in this game. You have thrown no bone to the players who are attempting to enjoy your WvW experience, it’s literally a joke.

Apparently you can get infracted for telling the truth now.

I agree with Inigma, one of the worse multi grouping systems I’ve used in MMO’s. I never use my commander tag either…. not worth the headache when running multi group havoc force.

And yes you will get infracted for calling it like it is… just look at the hundreds of posts complaining about the invisible players and golems in WvW. Oh wait.. you can’t. All the posts were deleted.

Jong.5937:

FearedbytheGods.8617:

Jong.5937:

rework the tag completely

Well that’s entirely the point. The fact that targeting your leader works better than the actual pin itself is because the current system is so bad.

Your compensating for a failed system.

Yeah, that I agree with.

My point was though, without a rework of the tag itself the tag is only really useful to find people on the map, not for following in combat, so a guild-only tag would be very limited in its usefulness.

But, yes, this is only true because of the flaws in the current tag, not because guild tags are a bad idea.

I agree the whole system could use a revamp. But a short term fix would be the ability to toggle the pin private.

I’ve run multiple guild groups with a commander pin and 3rd party voice. I’ve also run the same multiple guild groups together by marking a driver and 3rd party voice. By far having that visual in-game icon was much more effective for regrouping and rallying during and after fights. Even though having a pin helps our guild groups, the extra 30 people interferes with what our guild enjoys. Our guild likes doing stealthy fast moving havoc forces, that support the main public commander.

What many people have been asking for almost 2 years is some basic changes to increase flexibility and grouping options. A new system would be great, but we’ll take anything right now.

Jong.5937:

Personally I’m not convinced about a guild tag, not because I have any problem with it, but because, unless they rework the tag completely, to make it stand out more, we will still prefer to run with the raid leader targeted. Even when we run “open mic” we normally target the leader for clarity.

It might make it easier for late joiners to see where the guild is on the map, but other than that…

It’s been mentioned lots, but there is an easy way to set this up to work for anyone doing anything.

- Currently you can turn the pin On/Off but it is always public when it’s on.
- We need to be able to turn the pin On/Off but also Public/Private.

When the Pin is flagged /On and /Private only the people currently in the squad can see the Pin… it would be invisible to anyone else on the map. Now you can have a squad system to be used for Guild only, Alliance only, Guild with friends or whatever players want to do. Public pins can get an extra 30 people flock to you when doing stealthy havoc forces and defeat the purpose. Or the pin draws people away from the public commander who needs people with him.

To me that sounds like the most simple and flexible way to set up the C&S.

Hannelore.8153:

And I will also point out that without such revenue, you would not have a game to play. So it doesn’t matter if they dropped the ball. You have to decide whether you want a game to play without what you want, or no game at all.

Exactly. That will determine gw2’s ultimate outcome, who sticks around. I’ve found dedicated WvW players to be some of the most passionate in the game. As new MMOs and games focusing on PvP come out we’ll see what happens over time to those players.

Anet’s focus or lack of focus on certain areas and features will be a big factor long term.

Loosmaster.8263:

Guys, get over it. WvW is only a game mode for you to play while the PvE boss timers reset. They won’t support it.

That’s obvious. Almost two years since the first BW event when people said I want to make guild or private squads and have better functionality as a commander. I think all they’ve added is a way to turn the pin on/off and a slash command?

Actions speak louder than words…. or in this case INaction.

Apparently a decent grouping system is not important enough to make a feature on the “big feature patch”. Nothing about C&S we’ve heard off.

They may throw in colored tags and say they are listening to players, while high fiving each other in the anet offices. I guess we’ll see….

It’s coming in the 2017 feature patch.