Guild Wars 2

The 5 new points that will be introduced on each map in an upcoming update will create an even bigger disparity between servers. It is impossible for servers to be balanced and this is something Anet understands and has come to terms with but what they fail to understand (or understand but simply disregard) is their mechanical favouring of the zerg and of the bunker.

The new buff will mean if you hold 3 points out of 5 you will gain +50 stats per borderland which can turn into +150 over all 3. This quite simply is not the way the game should be taken, this once again will favour zergs and stacked servers thus creating even more inequality between servers and increasing the frustration of many servers over and over.

With the work already having been done and the maps already having been edited I highly doubt that the idea of introducing a truer concept, that will stand up to what WvW is about, will be introduced but we can try. I am also understand that generally speaking the legalities behind a development studio using an idea from a player is quite crazy which is why I include the following: I hereby release all legal ownership and affiliation with the following idea, I expect no financial remuneration in any form nor compensation be it financial or otherwise.

So onto the idea. Rather than implementing a buff that will create more instability and zerging why not introduce a multitude of buffs that will not only serve the purpose of spreading people out but also introduce a form of strategy not seen within the game.

5 Points on the map, spread around where the lake currently is. While these points are easily accessed they should not be easily taken.

Each point should have a different buff given to it and the strength of this buff determines its capture time.

Point 1. 20s stealth to everyone from the aligned server on the current map (Active – Requires activation) – Capture time 2min – Recharge time 5min

Point 2. 1 PPT per stomp (Passive) – Capture time 2min

Point 3. 1 PPT per stomp (passive) – Capture time 2min

Point 4. 60s siege damage reduction to players (90%) (Active – Requires activation) – Capture time 5min – Recharge time 10min

Point 5. 100% damage to siege damage on structures (Passive) – Capture time 10min

As you can see some of these buffs are quite hefty in their use, they are for particular situations and will help in a variety of ways but the main point of them is that they REQUIRE defence and they require time in order to capture meaning you will need to have people in the open field consistently defending and capturing these points, you will also need people moving about defending your structures and if you wish to use one of these buffs in order to attack then if you take your entire force to capture one then you leave your structures at risk.

This would be a true zerg-splitter, this is where people need to make choices on whether they wish to defend or attack, bunker inside a keep will mean enemies may gain a 100% damage boost to their siege meaning your structures can be taken that much quicker.

The capture is initiated as soon as someone from a server stands on the point. The capture will stop if all people from said server either get off the point or get fully downed. Guilds can “own” points that require activation meaning that only that guild can activate it (which will help stop the trolls). To capture a point from another server you need to kill everyone on said point and the capture will start for your server – As soon as you start to capture a point off another server the passive buff is nullified from the previous owning server. If they wish to take the point back they only need to stand on the point for the amount of time you have attempted to capture.

Example, Server A/B/C
Server A attacks point 5 which requires 10min in order to capture. They sit on the point for 5min and are killed by server B. Server B sits on the point for 5min which means the bar shows a 50/50 split between server A and server B (Both servers only need to hold the point for another 5min before the point is captured). Server C wipes server B off the point and sits on it for 10min capturing the point. Server A attacks the point wiping server C off it and starts to capture it. They sit on the point for 3min and server C comes back and wipes server A off the point, server C sits on the point for 3min and recaptures the point.

This stops servers feeling like they have a window of opportunity (10min in this case). The point must be 100% captured in order to get the buff.

To me this feels like a far more valuable gameplay mechanic that should be added to the game as opposed to the zerg-inducing nonsense that will be added soon.

Please note that the buffs themselves and the timers are all just put there to give an overview of how it could work, not how it should.

Aneu

(…cont)
The lack of unity in this community at the moment will be its detriment and just because a certain play style isn’t one that you favour doesn’t mean that you should shun it. We are all World vs World players and no matter which type of gameplay we enjoy we should attempt to convey our disappointment with the handling of various aspects of the game, most importantly the lack of a future vision of WvW that is one that we look forward to. The complete disrespect one part of this community has been shown by a particular developer should scream out to everyone just how much this game has fallen (especially since emergent gaming is a part of the MMO industry that should be nurtured and tenderly cared for) and there seems to be very little respect overall shown for the entire community in the form of a vision that is fun for everyone. I don’t think anyone can be happy with the messages we are getting from Anet in the form of “We want WvW to be competitive” and then to turn around and introduce the RNG to the ladder system thus saying “We don’t care if its competitive” and then to try and introduce a league sayin “We want it to be competitive again”. There is a clear lack of vision for WvW and without a developer that listens to those who put effort into this game format (on both sides of the fence) we will be in limbo for a rather long time.

Siegers, open world fighters, roamers, GvGers, Guilds, Individuals, 5mans – We are all World vs World players, we all play the game for World vs World in its many forms, it’s about time everyone understood this and realised that all these different styles of gameplay make World vs World what it is and that trying to push a singular aspect of this out of World vs World will water down what World vs World is. It is also time that the developers recognise this and come to the conclusion that supporting your community, no matter the cost of pride to yourself is the best course to take…

To the particular developer – Your community has very little respect for you, your name isn’t spoken with encouragement nor with pride, it is about time you tried to turn this around and do what your community requires and desires of you. (Note to mod: This is not inflammatory nor is it meant to be so please don’t see it as such, this is simply stating the situation as it stands)

Definitions are a great thing, defining things allows us to understand as individuals exactly what something is meant to be, whakittens purpose is and how something can and should be used. There is a down side to definitions however, definitions seem to pigeon hole huge swathes of “things” into single categories and people have a tendency to relate one of said “things” into a single definition which when looked at in detail tends to not be the truth – The point being definitions while a stable and definite in their explanation and focus are not definite in their membership and we as people can be members of many definitions or members of none and through life learning to adapt to this change is something that will make you happier or throw you into the pit of uneasiness and utter frivolity.

So why did I write that? Well it seems to be the case that in the MMO world (and especially on these forums) some people like to pigeon hole large parts of the community into these “definitions” and believe that they are part of this group and their membership of said definition is exclusive. Those who believe this are quite simply wrong.

I am first and foremost a World vs World player. I play Guildwars 2 because I want to fight players, I want to feel the rush of fighting against players, it is why I play online games – to test my own abilities against another’s, to test my leadership abilities against another’s and to see who comes out on top. I don’t play to sit behind a wall and build siege, I find that boring and tedious and against the the core aspect this game was built around (Players fighting players) but I have not come out and demanded that siege be removed nor have I requested that keeps/towers be reduced to insignificance – What I have previously requested is that those of us who wish to partake in the non-siege game be given the same treatment as those who are heavily into siege, who like bunkering and who enjoy sitting behind a wall for most of their time in World vs World. This style of gameplay is still “World vs World” it is also part of the “other style” too (we best not use its name so let’s call it “other style” for now), they are not exclusive in their membership and you don’t have to belong to one style and forsake the other, why not do both?

I understand there are many differing opinions regarding the above and each of them is valid, you want to play the game your way and you should be able to but the problem is that your way may not be the best way, it may not be the most conducive avenue the game could take to keep it entertaining or fresh and it may not be what keeps people playing – That may be the same for my style of play too, so why not have both in order to acquiesce both types of generation of “fun”?

So many players have given up on the PPT game now, so many players focus on the open field fights for fun since the PPT game is no longer a competitive aspect of the game – Not in the same field of competition as an equal fight between two opposing forces in an open field battle (without siege). With the implementation of “leagues” in an attempt to generate conflict and drum up support for servers seems a rather lame attempt to breathe some much needed life into World vs World at the moment since the meta has now fallen to the lowest form (read: easiest) and blob warfare is prolific among many servers leaving those servers without the ability to form a “bob” or without organised guilds able to combat said blob bereft of sanctuary or unable to counter said meta. This is not a great generator of competition. The other part of this is that Arenanet themselves have reduced the point of competition on the WvW scene by integrating and RNG factor into the matchup system meaning that even if you win a match you can still drop tiers and if you lose you can go up! Essentially world vs world at the moment, specifically the PPT game is pointless, you gain nothing for your time and I very much doubt that the carrots that they decide to implement into the league system will change this. (cont…)

I hereby grant to ArenaNet and others working for them or on their behalf, and their respective parents, subsidiaries, affiliates, related entities, licensees, successors, and assigns collectively, the right and permission to use the ideas put forth in this thread and I hereby irrevocably waive any and all so-called moral rights I may have in the thread.

>Reduce WXP after the first 10 people who tag a person/objective.

Blobbing is the easiest way to gain wXP and this shouldn’t be the case. Encouraging the blob has huge ramifications to the extent of huge ability lag. Reducing the wXP give out after the first 10 people who “hit” a person or the first 10 people who enter the capture ring of a tower/keep/sentry/supply. Want wXP? Best to run around outside of a blob.

>Redefine the capture mechanics in light of gate/wall HP/damage reduction.
>Increase Lord HP by 50% on keeps (Not that of SM).
>Stop warrior “battle standard” from resurrecting the keep/tower lord.
>Add fire damage inside destroyable walls so those who use these to gain an unfair advantage eventually die – Obviously this should be flagged off when a wall is taken down.

So to redefine the capture mechanics is quite an important change to the game and the mechanic should be there to introduce more “epic battles” that can swing from one side to another. There should be three tiers to capturing a keep:
1- Kill the lord
2- Neutralize the keep
3- Capture the keep

1 stays the same with a change to point 3 while adding 2. 2 is added to give more time to the defending side to react due to the wall/door HP reduction. 3 will be the biggest change. We all should have seen the mechanics behind the dredge camps and krait area’s underwater where there are 3 lines for each server and they gradually fill as you complete the task required, this should be added to keep captures.

What you have is a system that will continually countdown to “capture” depending on the amount of “up” people you have inside the capture circle. Down people do not count towards capturing a keep. Each servers bar will move individually of the other so it comes down to who can kill the fastest while staying up. This means that the fight becomes more about balancing attack with defence, if your bar is at 75% and the enemies at 25% then you have a little time to regroup and re-engage but if you re-engage badly then that may give the enemy the advantage. While this added mechanic will not do anything to reduce the “blob” it will end the heavily monotonous task of servers sending in people 1 by 1 and re-spawning them in order to stop an attack while using the banner res to get the keep lord back up – It will also increase the adrenaline rush you get when fighting enemies and give you a huge feeling of achievement if you came in as the underdog and were able to turn the tides with the visual addition of a bar that shows you exactly how well you are doing.

Example:
Two sides engage inside the circle, blue team has 60 players, red team has 60 players. Both sides engage and red side takes a large loss of 30 players while blue maintains 40 meaning the blue bar will go up faster than red. Red regroups and re-engages putting 20 of the blue team into down state. They are now at 30v20 so red teams bar starts filling up faster. Red is at 75% blue is at 60%. Blue regroup outside quickly and re-engage red who were too slow in regrouping and kill all but 10 of them. Blue overtakes the red bar and captures the keep.

I firmly believe that these changes will reinvigorate World vs World and reduce stagnancy of tiers – Whether the tier system itself needs changing is something that requires far more thought but these changes will redefine the dynamic of WvW and create a game that is fun for all play styles.

The other part of these additions is that Arenanet moves itself away from the kind of corporate mindset that has killed many games off in the past – The mind set that you will only roll out sweeping changes to part of your game when it is under threat from another company. The biggest part that companies seem to miss is that by “tending your flock” continually you create a loyal base of customers that will value the time put in by Arenanet catering to the biggest flaws in the game and listening to the community. With kickstarter now becoming far larger than anyone could have guessed the next few years of gaming will be more and more based around company>customer interactions and we can see the value of this in EvE online.

Support by the community is required to see these changes discussed and possibly implemented, even if you don’t agree with them supporting more interaction is always a positive thing to do.

Regards
Dean “Aneu” Lewis
VoTF Guild Leader

I respectfully request that moderators leave this thread alone in the WvW sub-section to garner as much player input as possible. Thank you.

Introduction
After playing WvW for 8 months now I think everyone can quite plainly see that there are two forms of gameplay that have come to the forefront. We have the siege individuals and then we have the skirmish focused people. Over the past few months there has been a continuing struggle against both sides of “who is right” – and the answer is quite obvious – Both!

The biggest problem that both sides have is the fact the game only rewards one style of gameplay and that is siege play. It results in more points and gives the side with the most siege a distinct advantage over everyone else, especially siege that is placed perfectly in order to not be countered.

We now see another large problem that may be well within the right of servers to use since it is within the gameplay mechanics to use but essentially it is creating such boredom and stagnancy that people simply don’t want to fight anymore and we can see this with WvW populations starting to dwindle.

The concept of WvW was meant to be people fighting over objectives.

World vs. World (WvW) is PvP combat that involves hundred of players. Three huge teams —each representing a server, or world—battle for control over objectives on four massive maps in week-long matches.

Each map – one for each server and a huge “neutral” center map – is loaded with objectives that are worth points for the team that claims them. Players can band together to lay siege to castles, raid enemy supply caravans, clash with other players in truly massive battles, wreak havoc behind enemy lines, or build mighty weapons of war like trebuchets and siege golems.
While players are in WvW, they gain experience and loot just as they normally do while exploring Tyria. Plus, when their home world is doing well or wins a match in WvW, all players on that world receive special bonuses and perks.

World vs. World—it’s PvP combat on an epic scale!

So we can all agree that WvW is meant to be about “Combat on an epic scale” but sadly that is no longer what it is about. Maintaining points doesn’t always mean fighting; it means waiting for your enemies to log off then going to cap everything. It means creating a zerg that dwarfs your enemies, it means putting 12 arrow carts behind a single keep door so it is all but impossible to break through – even with golems!.

WvW is distinctly flawed and one sided and a change is heavily required.

Proposed changes
>Reduce Reinforced gate HP and damage reduction.
>Reduce Reinforced Wall HP and damage reduction.
>Reduce Fortified Wall HP and damage reduction.

The main point of the above changes is that offence becomes the best defence, as opposed to turtling inside a keep. You will maintain your advantage with defence due to siege/cannons and the ability to withdraw into your keep to recoup and then attack again.

This also has the added advantage of smaller night teams being far more worth while. So servers that run around in blobs of 50+ to cap everything can be undercut by 5 or 10 man groups who will be able to take down walls/doors sufficiently enough to reduce the night capping. It also means that 50+ man night force will be required to have scouts on any major keep in order to ensure ninja squads aren’t taking it off them. This adds to the whole “cat and mouse” night game that is currently in play and will only go to reduce the night-capping power some servers have.

>Reduce Keep Points by 10.
>Introduce “King of the hill” points on the map worth 10 points each(3) on EB and 5 each(6) on Borderlands.

The game will still heavily be in favour of tower/keep points however this will mean that open field battles will actually be worth something. Placement is obviously quite important of these “battle points” but essentially this gives both game play styles the ability to be worthwhile additions to WvW. This means siege and skirmish guilds will be required to work together in order to maintain maximum PPT. 6 points should be added to Borderlands while only 3 should be added to EB (due to the lack of sufficient places to put them – but EB battle zones should be larger than those in the BL).

Each zone in EB will be worth 10 points while each point in the borderlands will be worth 5 points. The northern spawn server will have a slight advantage on the map due to two points being placed closer to their spawn than the enemies but this will give those small 5 – 10 man teams something to do and work towards.

The other HUGE advantage this will give is that forces will be required to split up since there are far more objectives to achieve than previously and a single or even dual zerg will not be able to counter attacks to all of them.

Pic1 – EB – http://votf-online.net/gw2/EB.png
Pic2 – BL – http://votf-online.net/gw2/BL.png

Cont.