Guild Wars 2

5. The devs, their implementation of and lack of commitment to Wvw

I don’t want this post to be removed, so I will be very choice with this part, despite my massive disappointment with Mike Ferguson and his WvW team. Honestly, you guys have to know that WvW is so far from their priority right now that it’s kind of sad. And if it is a group’s priority, they’re not doing a good job. Let’s review the course of events :

- They always (even 6 months post launch) use the excuse that they had no idea how popular WvW would be. This is hogwash, Wvw was one of the most popular, talked about content pre-launch. The vast majority of the guilds pre-launch were WvW guilds
- It took them MONTHS to remove free transfers, ruining countless server communities in the interim
- Culling has gotten worse since launch. Yes, I know they’re working on it, that doesn’t make it better nore does it make it any less suck during the meantime. The fact that it is like it is in the 1st place is absolutely embarassing
- They have removed rewards from Dolyaks
- They removed the orbs rather than switching the outmanned and orb buffs
- In March, it will be approx 4mo since the introduction of Ascended gear and it’s ability to be earned in WvW
- They are looking to tone down AoE’s, thereby increasing the effectiveness of zergs even more

Mike Ferguson is on record as saying they cannot create larger maps, that the maps we have are the largest they’re technically able to create. And this is the crux of the issue and has root causes in all the others. Not the map size, but the scope of the gametype itself. WvW is a mini-game. A sideshow, a thing you do when you want to knock some heads together for a couple hours then go back to playing the ‘real game’ (pve) or log off. WvW is completely cut off from the rest of the game and while I can understand WHY they did that, you other diehard Open World PvP’ers must understand that because it is cut off, all these other problems exist. Because WvW is a mini-game, they were ok with creating a kittenty Commander system, with guilds being unnecessary, with zerging and casual non-competitive play taking over to the exclusion of all others and also ultimately why it’s ok our rewards suck, there’s no lack of depth or any consequences.

Near launch, Colin Johanson was quoted as saying that the scope of their content releases were going to be ‘impressive’. Let’s be honest here guys, from the past several months this game has been out – are ANY of you impressed with the quality of attention the WvW community has seen? Anyone? There is a reason WvW and sPvP are limping along as it is and the reason for that is that it does not cost $15 to log on. If it did, if you’re honest to yourself, you know that this game would be on its way to a plane of fail rivaling TorTanic proportions.

I told this long story because the WvW pop has consistently dwindled now to where ZvZ is the only way to play. Sure, you can try to play tactical with a small group and ninja an obj. A zerg can take it faster though. Sure, you can try and defend your only remaining objective on the map with the handful of people you have. A zerg will just ram right through you and your defenses though. Due to culling and the way the maps are designed, a zerg will get to a location just as fast and stealthily as a small tactical group (and maybe even more so).

Zergs even have the advantage in fights vs smaller groups, due to the AoE limitation. The AoE limitation is so utterly idiotic I cannot wrap my head around it. Zergs are a valid tatic – they shouldn’t just be the ONLY tactic. AoE limit needs to be lifted/increased and some other mechanics need to go into place to dull the power of zergs and ecourage more tactical play.

4. The lack of Rewards/Progression/Depth/Consequence

This is probably the biggest reason why my once thriving, very competitive WvW guild is dead. WvW has no rewards, progression, depth or consequence. During the span of Titan Alliance, we had 31 straight wins. What did we get for it? We got burnt out, member attrition, guilds dropping the game after one month and a whole bunch of other stuff. Now I know you might say, ‘Well that’s your fault, you should have played more casually’. No, that’s wrong. Any great online game caters to both the hardcore and the casual and those in between. You can not blame the participants who competed in a competitive event and say they tried too hard.

The progression is WvW is nonexistent, though they are attempting to fix that with the WvW only abilities. That still doesn’t address the lack of depth and consequence in WvW. At the end of our run in WvW, we looked at our wins and thought, ‘What now?’ What do we get for winning? Surely we must get SOMETHING, since those in sPvP get something for winning and those in PvE get something for their efforts (and for our’s). We got nothing, there was no difference between winner or loser; they got the WvW bonuses too, even if only a few % less than us. WvW had nothing to mark that you and your guild were there and that you fought for the glory of your server. In the end, WvW simply doesn’t matter.

Furthermore, the game simply does not reward those in WvW ANYWHERE NEAR the same that they do those in PvE. and even the rewards in PvE suck. Check it:

- BoH award you a total of 1 variety of gear set, out of how many in the game?
- BOH drop incredibly sparingly, the drop rate on these need to increase dramatically. When you need to play for hours and kill dozens of players to get the same # of BOH you get from opening a jumping puzzle chest, your rewards are kittened
- For many of those who truly bought this game for WvW, WvW is a massive money sink and not at all as gold positive as PvE. Adding a WP in WvW costs 1.5g. Fortifying walls is 2g. Buying a cannon upgrade is 40s. Repairing is 11.5s. You only get about 1.5s from taking/defending an objective and 98 copper for taking a sentry. You do the math.
- Dolyak XP/gold was temporarily removed at launch due to being too lucrative, but never balanced and re-added back to the game.
- Spikes
- Barbs

I could go on and on.

WARNING: LONG POST, but worth it. see TL;DR for major points

TL;DR:

1. Commander is an absolute mess
2. The roles/rewards/recognition of Guilds in a game called ‘Guild Wars’ is lacking
3. WvW has devolved into ZvZ (ZergvZerg)
4. The lack of Rewards/Progression/Depth/Consequence
5. The devs, their implementation of and lack of commitment to Wvw

Hey all,

I’d like to share with you some of the viewpoints I have with WvW, what it’s become and why it will never reach (not in its current state and with the level of developer attention) what we (many of those who bought gw2 primarily for WvW) had hoped it would become during pre-release and the BWEs.

First of all, to establish my credentials (not bragging just establishing experience): I was the founder and GM of ‘The Royal Guard’, in its heyday a midsize (~60 members) T1 WvW guild and Titan Alliance member (for those of you who remember what THAT was). I’ve fought and led many, many battles; seen tips and tricks galore; been a part of and observer to scandals and drama; took part in server community building and all that good stuff.

Why WvW will never amount to what the Open World PvP Die-Hard fans wanted

1. Commander is an absolute mess

The implementation of the Commander mechanic is an absolute mess. So let’s get this straight – players who grinded PvE or paid cash for gems > gold (as being an all out WvW participant wouldn’t net you that type of wealth at all) pay 100g and get to lord over other players in WvW? This is ridiculous. I have seen commanders make the absolute kittentiest calls only to get rebuffed when calling them out, because “they’re Commanders.”

Back in beta they were called on over and over again to change this mechanic: require badges instead, or kills, or tower captures – ANYTHING that was actually related to WvW and showed you had experience. We were rebuffed and instead we have a system that discourages the devs to create a guild raid system, encourages inexperienced individuals to lead WvW, encourages zerging and hobbles tactical play and engenders an attitude of petulance that simply because you have a blue icon – you know what’s best.

The WvW devs should honestly be ashamed that Commander is in the game the way that it is right now.

2. The roles/rewards/recognition of Guilds in a game called ‘Guild Wars’ is lacking

Spare me the lore argument. The game is called guild wars and the guild component as it relates to WvW is undercooked. The buffs and the siege weapons you can get from the guild upgrades are great, truly they are, but that’s where it stops.

If we take bay, garri, sm or what have you – does that do anything for our guild? So our banner is hanging from some parapets, what of it? Do you know whose banner that is? Are the NPCs named after us? Do we get influence or gold or karma over time for holding onto an objective? Does it announce in map chat that xxx guild has captured and claimed xxx objective? Do we have a system that allows us to form groups larger than 5 or at the very least see all guildies on the map? Is there any mechanic at all, other than an indistinguishable banner, that recognizes guild achievements in WvW? is there anything – at all – that truly benefits WvW guilds and significantly encourages guilds in this gameplay?

The answer to all of these questions are No. The guild buffs do not significantly encourage guild gameplay in WvW as they apply to pugs as well. They’re a ‘set-it-and-forget-it’ mechanic. No one knows which guild just gave them 5 different types of buffs neither do you need to be in that guild to get them. I’m not advocating that you should – but it just goes to show that guilds really lack scope and purpose in WvW.

3. WvW has devolved into ZvZ (ZergvZerg)

When I first started playing WvW in the BWE’s and the weeks and months after launch, zergs were a valid tactic, a tool to be used, but could be tactically outplayed using coordination. More often than not, at launch the guilds in TA were outnumbered vs the guilds from other alliances, notably Ascension Alliance, due to HoD bandwagoners and queues. I remember going against devastating, brutal zergs; even when you beat them they’d come back again and again knocking on your door over and over and over like a battering ram. Like a heavyweight boxing match they’d just keep bashing you again and again until you felt like you couldn’t take anymore. As soon as you finished the last of a zerg, regrouped and got your bearings – they were on your doorstep again. It was awesome.

Once when our homeworld garrison was occupied by Ascension, my guild and 2 other TA guilds were assigned to take it back. Using about 5 guys to attack Bay and draw swords, the rest of our motley crew hit garrison for all we were worth. Eventually they were too slow getting back to garri and we ninja’d it from them. It was a great feeling.