Guild Wars 2

Jalis would be perfect for tanking in WvW if Vengeful Hammers didn’t bizarrely turn off when you’re near an incline & they hit the ground.

You’ve also got three separate traits that offer 10% damage reduction, so once the hammers work properly you’d often have 20-50% DR, and that’s before taking Protection into account.

ArtemusHunter.9521:

Did you ever consider binding dodge to right click? This action camera is cool, and I like the idea of basically adding a focus target option(that’s what right click lock target sounds like in my opinion), but I’ve personally been using ICM for a long time now and dodge right click feels like a better fit.

I think they addressed that during the stream – it was mooted, but current right-click behaviour is too embedded in the code to be able to change it right now (or something along those lines)

What about re-binding the mousewheel scrolling? With CM I’m able to use it to scroll through enemies quickly, which is incredibly useful in WvW; whereas zooming is rarely something you need in a pinch.

John Corpening.9847:

I’d like to join in this brainstorm with some questions on these. For merging servers, how do we determine who gets merged? Where would we merge them to? How do we maintain any sort of world pride or identity they have? How do we handle potentially merging with your mortal enemies?

If I may, I’d like to point out the recent example of this exact issue in Planetside 2.

They found that there was a real population imbalance between servers, with one being very big and the others of varying sizes. So they looked at the numbers and decided to do some merges that would result in four main servers of around the same size (plus a small Oceanian one, which you couldn’t merge with anyone due to latency, but that’s another story).

Now, in PS2 they have what are called ‘Community Clash’ whereby the communities of each server put forward players from various guilds (outfits) into one army and fight against another server, in a big two-hour fight.

The first merge was between two North American servers, named Waterson and Mattherson. They decided to have one of these server fights between the two and whoever won would keep their name for the new, bigger server (the fight was re-named ‘Server Smash’).

What actually happened was there was a mistake on the part of the people who ran the event, and they miscalculated what each base captured would be worth. So one server thought they needed to hold a certain base to have enough points to win, but once it was over there was a few hours of uncertainty until it emerged they’d actually lost. In the end, the devs decided to give a completely new name to the merged server and commemorated the two previous ones by re-naming bases after them.

Later on, they decided to keep the ‘Fight for your name’ when merging EU servers. Some people complained that they wanted a new, neutral name as above, but the large majority actually said they were actually looking forward to it as it gave them a cause to fight for. So, without the issues that had befallen the NA merger, these fights came & went and everyone accepted the outcome with good grace.

The players on those losing servers were disappointed in losing the name they’d been fighting under for all this time, but that was less important to them than the fact they’d be on a new, larger server with much more going on all the time, with more people to fight alongside & more to fight against, too.

So if you went ahead and said “We’re going to merge this server and this one” I think their players would be more excited that they’d be getting a much more active & dynamic community than they’d be upset at losing what they’re used to.

Now, I would presume it’s not difficult for you to determine a match-up… so say you wanted to reduce the amount of EU servers from 27 to 24. How I’d envision it happening is you’d announce “We want to merge some servers, so we’re going to have a match-up beginning [future date] between [pure speculation on my part] Whiteside Ridge, Vabbi and Underworld; the servers that finish 2nd and 3rd will be merged; the new server will take the 2nd server’s name, and a keep will be re-named after the 3rd server”.

So the match comes and goes, it finishes according to current rankings. Whiteside Ridge stay on as they are, because they finished 1st and were stronger anyway so didn’t need change as much as the others; Vabbi finish 2nd and the new server takes their name; Underworld’s population gets merged with Vabbi at some point in the future, and a keep on one of the borders gets re-named to “Underworld Hills”. Then you can do it twice more with other sets of servers, giving you that number of 24 post-merger servers.

Apex Predator.3475:

Doesn’t just occur in WvW, this happens in PvE as well. Some people think that this was what the intended function of the new sigil changes were supposed to be, and that keeping stacks without the sigil on your underwater weapon was actually a bug. So I don’t know if this will get fixed, or it is now fixed.

That would be a terrible way of doing things.

I have Sigil of Momentum for WvW, and Sigil of Bloodlust for PvE. This would mean that I’d either need to have a special underwater weapon just for WvW (despite the fact they filled in the lake in Borderlands); or I’d have to carry two stacking sigils on my underwater weapon, which is even more absurd.

I love the downed/rally system, it would be considerably more boring without it.

My only issue is that a single death rallies everyone who hit them – it should only rally one. One death, one rally.

Open again on Deso (EU)

Open again on Desolation (EU)

Just opened on Desolation (EU)

Thanks for the response. Forgive me if I’m mis-interpreting, are you saying the fix will be part of the next big update? (presumably next week’s Tequatl Rising)

On behalf of everyone on Desolation, I would like to apologise for the fact our large groups are making life difficult for your ganking squads.

40 vs 5 is completely selfish of us.

I hope Gankdara can face a smaller server next week so you can enjoy your 5v1s in peace.

So do you SFR guys still hate pugs, then?

Lots of fun & games against the SFR blobs tactically amalgamated groups tonight; it’s difficult to stand against such numbers but we gave a good account of ourselves I reckon.

Wemil.7052:

we don’t actually blob

When is a blob not a blob? When it’s an SFR blob

I’ve missed you guys

I recently got Cobalt for my warrior – absolutely love it, the way it looks normal when stowed and has this fantastic effect when wielded. I specifically love how it lights up the area around you.

I decided that, since I have a sword on swap, it would be cool to have Firebringer and swap between blue & red flames, so sold as much as I could to be able to get the mats to craft it. I like it, but was disappointed to see that even though it’s on fire it doesn’t emit light.

So that’s my suggestion, really. It would be nice if you could add light sources to things that logically should have them, like Firebringer, Volcanus etc.

Opened on Desolation (EU) about two minutes ago.

I’d rather be up against servers with a night-time presence, but you can only compete against what’s in front of you. The day we start running away from fair fights we’ll be Viz, not ’cos of anything else.

Oh, how healthy Desolation’s wvw population must be that after all these months under the cosh, we can finally afford to fall out with each other.

Except it’s not, really, is it?

Nothing much has changed, except that after facing stronger servers every bloody week since January we’ve finally faced servers with little or no night presence. We need those points we get at night because we tend to struggle mornings & afternoons, and we certainly don’t do enough camp sniping at any time of the day. Those weaknesses will become apparent if we face the likes of SFR, Elona or Viz next week, but the most crippling thing will be if we continue falling out with each other.

We don’t have enough people to turn our guilds into an us-vs-them thing, so the next time anyone – anyone – wants to air their problem with someone else, do the community a favour and don’t. Discuss your problem with the object of your ire, or keep it to yourself, but making it open doesn’t help the community whatsoever.

And this includes my fellow DVG members here (but isn’t limited to them, of course). I’ve seen and heard more of this kind of thing over the past two weeks than I’m comfortable with. A number of people have done fantastic work with this new guild, please don’t undo their hard work.

CrimsonNeonite.1048:

Update: Well done you reset our Garri even though we’re usually good with our scouting.

Our own borderhopping group was in the middle of a golem rush on Piken’s garrison too; we did have someone scouting who warned us when they started hitting our Garri, and decided to abandon our golems at the bottom of the stairs near the water gate and go back, but by the time we got on to dry land we heard they were already in the lord’s room. Whatever they did, it was extremely quick.

Good fun on the AM border tonight, good stuff from COIN, GoD and DVG+co. We had great fun holding on to the garrison until the new patch, too!

Regarding Deso BL tonight…. it’s not unusual to get focussed by two servers at one, but with that much precision? Fair enough if AR saw Viz attacking Hills and thought “let’s go for another tower while they’re distracted”, but LRS actively ignoring Viz and going for the other gate? Nah, that’s not subtle.

I don’t know how many of you were online for Vizunah’s 9,001-strong golem rush on Deso garrison last night, but we managed to find the remnants later on… (not to mention getting some revenge by resetting their Viz BL garrison)

suprNovae.5410:

My sincerest condolences.

The headstone reads:
“RIP Desolation 2013 and Anet was just watching.”

Deso actually has something of a resurgence at the moment. Prime time was always our main strength, but we’ve got a good bunch of regulars on the night crew and the past two or three weeks we’ve had some really strong performances at night (painting the Viz BL blue tonight has been great fun)

Croustibat.1304:

Luimes.4281:

Shout out to [Durx] for some good fights already, looking forward for more this matchup!

Hello, i have to say that [Durx] isnt a real guild, its a “friendlist guild” that play together during night or days off.
I was leading tonight and i have to say you guys gave us good fights !

You were very well organised, I was impressed with your regrouping. We had the better of the first meeting at Faithleap, but the two after that was rather painful to say the least.

I think we should take back everything we’ve said about Viz. Currently ticking +95 at 5am.

I love how, as things stand, Deso would actually go up one place, making it more likely we’ll face one out of Viz/SFR/ER. I really wish we could have a matchup against some more suited opponents, ’cos the last time we had a match without one of those three was January.

Logged on last night to find both Viz and BB zergs in the lords room at Overlook keep. Oh, what fun that was…

Zilly.3279:

Enjoyed those fight

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rRTfIb7zmpY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4CKLTWmsiI

[MN]

Do you have any videos of your 9,000 attempts to take a certain tower? “Dredge flipped, Speldan flipped… yep, that must mean MN are going Mendons”

Deniara Devious.3948:

Well, staying too many months in tier #1 really broke up many things. We lost so many WvWvW guilds and I can see that none of them are coming back, despite we had original hope that e.g. our friends BULL would join us again. Now I am afraid that getting stuck to tier #2 could do the same. Many weeks ago in these forums I was speculating that tier #3 – #5, most likely tier #4, would be best match for Desolation. What do others think?

I don’t think we’d fit in anywhere, to be honest, because there isn’t another server with a similar make-up. Deso always had a big population, at PvE and WvW (and I gather it’s the same with PvP) but for a number of reasons many WvW focussed players left. If we drop down a few places we’ll be playing servers who can’t really match the size of our zerg (because the massive PvE population wants some of the action too) but do have better coverage. Enticing new guilds isn’t particularly easy, so looks like it’s down to the long process of converting more PvE’ers.

Player Character.9467:

Wider nametags are also more visible around corners. Server name literally has an impact on hiding in an enemy keep.

A big consolation to Vabbi players, I’m sure

All that “Deso are nightcapping, QQ” seems such a long time ago

The Hammer.5960:

I’m not sure where you’ve got the ‘elitist’ thing from man

He might be referring to SFR’s “we hate pugs” era from a couple of months back.

Anyway… I present: That awkward moment when you’re killed by your identical twin

Switch the buffs from orbs & outmanned around.

Make orbs locked in place until your server takes that particular keep/kills that orb’s guardian.

Simples.

I’d like to see something like Physical Training being moved to a Master trait, like all the other CD reductions.

And a trait or two to make banners a bit more tempting. Such as only having one banner active at a time, but it’s on your back so it’s mobile. Might be a bit OP so it should be a Grandmaster trait.

Dogged March is great as it is, if they add more then it will be too OP.

WolfHeart.1256:

Do you even know what 200 people zerg looks like? Seriously. Usually when people call 100 men zergs out it’s maybe about 40 people but bulked up they appear to be more numerous.

Minionmancers

Minionmancers everywhere

Oh, I agree.

It was so much better when the old system locked you in to a monotonous matchup for two months.

One week is far too little time to truly understand the hopelessness of a one-sided match.

robocafaz.9017:

Furajir.3815:

^^Free badges.

Warrior lacks sustained survivability even with gear, so why waste stats? Utilize your burst survivability and mobility instead of trying to be the tank ANet claims you can be.

What do you run?

Warriors who focus on crits lack survivability; those of us built for survival do just fine, thanks.

1-v-1 is about killing before you’re killed, but group play is all about survival. When I watch GvG videos from a warrior’s perspective, they usually have close to (or above) 30k health. They’re in there at the front, CC’ing and soaking up damage, because everything that hurts them is damage taken away from a teammate. Successful groups have warriors & guardians at the forefront, taking beatings, while the real damage comes from behind. I enjoy going up against groups full of zerkers; they just melt. As stated above, it’s free badges.

“My numbers aren’t high enough” is a solo mindset, not a group one. If that’s you, stick to roaming, you’re more useful sniping than being in a sizeable group.

Can I just offer my commiserations to whoever keeps spending money on all those SFR golems.

As for hacking mesmers, what else is there to say? Report them & anyone who keeps following them into towers and get them banned (once I can understand, but multiple times and you know something’s very wrong), but for goodness’ sake don’t blame an entire server. I’ve seen it on at least three occasions from SFR players, including one small guild that kept ninjaing T3 towers, does that mean that everyone on SFR should be blamed? No; it’s common sense.

The rest of the forum makes fascinating reading. All these people upset at facing a tough matchup for merely one week.

SFR ticking +310 at 5am, confirmed for new Vizunah.

Allons enfants de la Marin

Ah, are we starting with the “sfr don’t blob… ok we do, but only to counter yours” stuff again? I have missed that.

It’s what came to mind on Friday night when we had two groups trying to take both Hills & Bay, and one massive SFR blob kept running between the two then stopping on the middle island. Keep up that swiftness, guys!

For months now I’ve been playing late at night (past midnight UK time) and still facing huge blobs so to go from that to facing nothing last night was downright strange. But you have to bear in mind you can’t really know there’s no resistance until the deed has been done. If you’ve got 30 people together you can’t say to them “don’t try and take this keep on the off-chance they don’t have anyone online, let’s kill the giant grub instead”. It was a case of throwing some rams down and seeing if we can take it before anyone responds, if we don’t we’ve got a fight on our hands. From what I remember after going for SFR’s T3 Hills keep, a group of 15-20 SFR turned up that kept up a fight we’d been looking for.

I know you’d want to compare us to Viz but there’s a massive difference in intentions. With them you’d get a 5am golem rush as they knew from experience that’s when we’d be at our weakest, and being Viz if you managed to muster up half their numbers they’d leave and try something else. That’s very different to going for a tower not knowing if they’d come to defend it or not, and sticking around once you actually find a fight.

Right, I’m going to have to point this out again.

This new system isn’t going to suddenly create uneven matchups, because those were already happening. The difference is that with this it will last for one week, instead of two months.

I’ll again point out the important part of the ratings that led to being locked in tiers. The system creates a prediction based on previous results, so if you got battered one week, the system expects the same to happen again. If you do roughly the same against the same servers (i.e. keep getting battered) your score doesn’t change, you don’t move tiers, and the same thing keeps happening over & over again. There may not be too many examples so far, but if it were allowed to continue then more examples would appear, and more servers would have completely unrealistic ratings and not be allowed to find their true level. ANet are saving you a lot of problems that you’re unable to envision because you’ll never experience them.

How many thoroughly one-sided matchups did we have in August/September? I don’t remember many, even after they extended it to week-long, and there were free transfers. (also, the original proposal was for 2-week long matches! Imagine being locked in the wrong tier for twice as long…)

SmokeyJoe.4927:

I haven’t played WvW that much but I have spent the last 2 hours trying to accomplish a monthly objective of getting 50 invader kills, only problem is that after the first hour my team was getting beat senseless by the enemy team, reason? We were outnumbered like 5 to 1.
I have played it 2-3 times before and every time up until now my team were always outnumbered, we try to take over a fort and suddenly the enemies come out like roaches and kill us within a minute, we try to defend and it takes them max 5 minutes to destroy the gate and take over the whole thing.
My question is why is it that one team is so severely outnumbered?
Might just be me but I feel like it’s not a coincidence that every single time i’ve played thus far the other team outnumber us by 2 to 1 or even more…

It depends on a number of things. Your server might have a community that’s largely based in one time zone, and you’re trying when everyone else is asleep.

Also, I would imagine that you’re trying in a Borderlands map – when server matchups are unbalanced it shows on those maps. If you check the live maps on the mos.millenium.org site you’ll see that in most matchups, the Eternal Battlegrounds map is fairly even – your server’s more casual players congregate there, so it’s much easier to group up and fight other groups. If you stick in Borderlands maps that’s where more organised (and ruthless) guilds tend to hang out.

I would have recommended switching to a server that’s more suited for your needs because yours is stuck in a woefully unbalanced matchup, but the game devs have recently announced that next week there’ll be an update which gives more randomised matches and hopefully you’ll get an easier time of things.

Callahan.3180:

Actually warhorn isn’t a good one to use either.

I’m afraid that’s something I’ll never agree with. Best thing a warrior has for group play.

Blackjack.2083:

I use Hammer/GS in WvW most of the time these days. Though I have used just about every weapon combo with varying degrees of success. For the most part I don’t have too many criticisms of Hammer other then it is a bit slow and a little too telegraphed. However, if I could change just one thing about Hammer, and truthfully every warrior weapon, it would be to add some type of mobility to it. I’d love to see a whirlwind type attack added to hammer.

I’d recommend switching to sword/warhorn for your second set, as it helps with your issues. Sword 2 for its leap when you need it, sword 3 immobilizes if you use Leg Specialist. Warhorn 4 gives you near perma-swiftness… warhorn 5 is brilliant in fights because Vigour gives you more dodges and Weakness gives your enemy less, plus it’s a blast finisher.

I know what you mean about telegraphing, but if you’re in a 1-on-1 just start the fight with S/WH. Get them to use up their dodges, Weakness them, switch to your hammer and telegraphing doesn’t matter any more, start smacking them around like a cricket ball.

Is this the official ‘something tragic happened in America’ forum now?

scanz.4536:

Luimes.4281:

If 3 french servers get locked in 1 server they can nicely PvD without ruining the fun of other servers

Can you imagine it, neither of them will know what to do. All 3 trying to PvD during unsociable hours will result in chaos and fights on the maps. They’ll be confused and completely hopeless. Please make this happen ANEt.

I hope they introduce spectating so we can watch two zergs run away from each other

Dayra.7405:

Anyhow, should you ally we will not be stuck in T1.
For the 28. the new match-making is announced.

I can see the first randomised matchup already – Viz vs Deso vs SFR