Guild Wars 2

I like this new map rework and following implementations:

WvW Score for Stomp
Good idea, cuz it favors small groups over zergs. Lets you feel that you actually contributed to your server.
(Bonus Score on just kills would “overdo” it and favor zergs more instead of small groups)

No rewards for the Caps
Means, wont be “that much of target” for Karma trains and dont forget there are still guards in the area, which will reward small groups with karma etc.
Overall good choice, too.

Following things i dislike and think they are problematic :
Stat bonus
Will attract the already winning server and empower them even more. Very bad idea…
Solution:
Enhance stats according your current ranking, ie.:
1st Server gets no boni or only very small enhancements like
- reduced armor repair costs
2nd Server gets only non-combat mechanics like
- magic/gold find
- reduced armor repair costs
3rd Server should get the highest boni out of this meta-event.
- Magic/Gold find
- WXP bonus
- Armor Repair reduction
- Siege prices reduced and/or lesser build-up costs on siege and structural repairs
…and maybe +50 stat boni (if the above isnt already enough help to "rally up " their forces)

Pre-installed cannons
Not sure about them. Feels kinda boring haveing only cannons and might be too much of a helper… Imho better solutions would be:
- traps but wit a recharge/deactivation lever (and levers not clustered up in one place but at diverse jumping locations)
- Net cannon too merely imobilize, but less hurting effect
- Ballistae…cuz good against zergs, but not that good on single players

Everything in MID area
After patch everyone will wanna go there is one problem, but it will resolve itself over time.
Additional Cap points at other locations ie. Skritt/Centaur lair or even in the jumping puzzle itself located would give the borderlands owner a slight advantage and be even more interessting, if you would need to cap 4 of 7 (or 5of 8 ), instead.

Neutral mobs
Will favor single dps classes(small attack cones/lines) and be a nuisance mostly to AoE users….shadowstepping thiefs will like those mobs even more… * hint *

Traps sounds fun…but wont address the blobbing/zerging issues.

WXP for more diverse activities sounds fun…but wont address the blobbing/zerging issues.

JP entry outside from EB sounds right…but wont address the blobbing/zerging issues.

What does address the blobbing/zerging issues in WvW? :
- Reward-split
- No (or higher) Cap on AoE

Does this adress the whining about getting nuked in WvW? :
No, but its not exclusive or even related to player AoE.
Backstabbing Thieves, Arrowcarts, might-stacking…

ONLY capping amount of max incoming effects possible to effect a player at any given time…
…will reduce discussions on getting nuked/power(de)buffed to fast by whatever source.

Getting attacked by a 100swords is one thing…
…but getting hit by 100 swords in a splitsecond at the same time…is unbelievable ;P

Have to agree with OP.
Something AN – and experienced PvPer – tend to forget/miss out…
… Custom Servers with “mindless modes” (DM,CTF,LMS) help newbs to get into sPvP in the first place
From a newb/noobie perspective its horrible to get into “complex” game modes without losing fun/getting overwhelmed. While experienced players get annoyed by players who dont focus on the modes target but the fighting mostly.
Newbies to pvp/a game…:

1. …tend to search/go for fights/kills
Mostly to learn their class and compete their skills/have fun (…bashing around…)

2. …have to learn the map(s) layout and meta
And like to focus on only a few maps to get attuned with… and despise too fast / much rotation or too short timers… or Pros getting annoyed by a newbs lack of map knowledge.

4. …often DO NOT care much about META
Conquested points or other additional targets are more of a hindrance for a “learning player” (see 1. & 2.)

5. …often DO NOT like K/D-ratio or ranks
Or other such “permanent stats” while still being at “noobie stage”, while some “pros” have tendencies to search noobs as easy kills to better ranks/progression stuff…

6. …often like to STAY on a server
To meet up with friends and/or players of similiar skill AND LIKE to stay there as long as possible & fun.

…after getting more attuned to class, maps & meta… the (not that new anymore) player tend to look for more complexity, competition, stats/ranks/ladders…and most of the above listed points change / dont hold true anymore…
THATS WHY… you NEED BOTH. Custom servers as some sort of entry level / for gateing newbs over time into the more complex stuff. Resulting in more competition => esport…

i.e. HalfLife2 had mostly DM servers at release and most player had their focus on 1-2 maps only (out of 3-5..not sure). Today its the complete opposite…mostly TDM servers and a lot of maps in use by players setting up the servers…
…and a lot players who “transitioned” into the more complex, balanced & esporty Counter Strike.

Sometimes it seems better and sometimes it seems worse with only haveing a few peeps on screen and still they “flicker in and out of existence”.

Some ally ranger running in WvW beside me blinked away every 1-2 seconds, even was already fully loaded before, while other allys in the distance “stayed”… my impression its a camera fault/error.
Especially if you look around this happens a lot to nearby players and even enemys.

Therefore if some player already got fully loaded, it shouldnt be culled away again as long as the char stays in range… especially melee to mid range.
…But extend the transition phase between fallback model → full model for chars at long range. Would result in more fallback models / culling on long range and less in your CIRCULAR vicnity.

(Contrary to game developers & engine designers believe…players TEND TO TURN AROUND in games a lot and not always heading into a straight direction…thats why circular is important at least on melee range)

WvW Issues with Gear spiral(s):
- Stat Gap
Currently players already complain about Gear (lowlvl vs Exo). Imho wouldnt consider it a true “entry barrier” into WvW, but adding AG ontop of it WILL have a harmful effect on WvW.
100 vs 100 players on same skill level WILL make a difference if one side has way more AG than the other.(AoE/Overlapping Heals/Conditions…etc)
-> Newbies will demoralize faster
-> Content with better farm rate on AGs WILL suck away population from WvW.
- DPS scaleing WILL break on some point making glass cannons the FOTM again.

- Grind issue
I started to build some additional exo sets to be able to play around with different playstyles…
… and its the first MMO ever I really started to twink (other having them as bank mules)…
This horizontal progression i didnt considered grind (even if it takes time/effort. Cuz u CAN but are not FORCED to do it!).
…I STOPPED and lost fun to farm/trade after hearing about AGs with stats increased!
->Why?: My current goals got obsolete and not willing to farm x sets each year on y chars.
(Seen it, did it and finished with it^^)

SOLUTIONS:
- Get away with the increased stats
- Put Agony mechanic on a rune…
or
- Roll out some “exo-set-clones” with additional Agony stat, but without upping the existing stats.
- Make AG Cosmetic stepping stone between Legendaries (armor/weapons). Nice looks but easier to get and less optical gimmicks compared to legendaries.
WinWin.

/sarcasm
In AGONY the WvW dedicated playerbase awaits the FOTM builds riseing up due to a broader getting power gap…and in Agony some will put up with the slavery grind of a gear spiral. Giving others agony for haveing to fight superior equipped enemies…
…and again in Agony all WvW newcomer will flee the battlegrounds even more in the future.
…some funny devs in your pve division, I guess…oO^^

Thought about progression talk and what is annoying me most in GW2 pvp?

Its not balance, engine errors (ok culling maybe…oO^^) or that there isnt anything to go for… For me its mostly about scores/stats and the competition, that goes with it in pvp (and even pve)…

In WvW I am MISSING:
- better squad / commander ui …(but got discussed to death…^^)

- some sort of battle report system after a fight & match…
Kinda like Eve or strategy games do it.
Even part of a zerg you still like to see how you and others contributed…and those 3 (buggy) medals dont do it for me pvp-wise.
Was the enemy zerg doing heavy on crit and that got your zerg “steam-rolled” or did they compensated the dps via heals etc.?
How much supplies was used during fighting, blueprints deployed/finished, siege destroyed?
Adding some info WONT reduce GW2 to some sort of Excel battle, because your skill with keys & mouse actually DOES REALLY matter (unlike in Eve).

In Tpvp I am MISSING:
- more scores & stats after a match…
Its switches to fast into the next map. Some sort of log maybe for the matches done?

- stats and scores…
To really compare myself with other pvpers. Its not about win/loss or some “average score” only, but HOW I won/lost “exactly”, like doing more crits, dps, heals etc. And even helps to look for team/guild members If ur searching someone who is an expert at like healing.

…and to customize my map rotation/modes/times/… ( like every 0815-ego-shooter…)

Do I need some progression (aka leveling) system?
NO, BUT SCORES/STATS
To better my playstyle is MY pvp Progression…
…and “showing it off” by my teams / guilds / personal scores & stats & ladder-rank.
(Thus leveling/progression isnt needed, but ok aslong its not hindering me.)

Guess, also RTS, OlSchoolStrategists like to have more info/numbers on how things went in a fight / battle / match.
Knowing your rank 2 and won against rank 10 is sweet to know, but not whats really about for most pvpers
(esüecially longterm…and even in soccer, basketball and else its not ONLY about win:loss ratio, but they like to get “nerdy with numbers”,too^^ ).

Maybe I am sceptical for having played Age of Conan and experienced how “not-in-touch” Devs can become with their games..especially on the pvp side of things.
And how neglecting and/or forcing playstyles WILL break a pvp com over time.
Some things to consider about:

Progression
Progression in terms of upping stats by level, gear spiral (Ascended gear coughcough), etc.
-> destroys the “power ceiling” and therefore will be (and has been in every other title)…
GAMEBREAKING over time

On the other hand progression by ranks/titles, scoreing ladders for guilds and/or individual players to differentiate themselves (“Arcade Station score AAA” and people even paid for it…)…
IS A MUCH WANTED INFLUX/INCENTIVE TO WVW

Suggestion: Achievements ladder
Who (guild/player) killed / build / repaired / healed /capped / held the most a given day/ battle week.

Rewards
Defending can net some decent rewards as long as it gets attacked…. But doing the karma train seems more worthwhile still to most players…
In addition depending how/whom you ask you might get different oppinions on the reward matter:
-> a lot (non-crafting) player regard the whole WvW set as to expensive and restrictive (cuz its not useful to a lot of builds)
-> …and dont get me started on the AG-matter…
-> …not to be forced to pve/craft/trade for WvW equip/siege
—> many pvp players like to see titles / ranks / emotes / visual gimmicks as part of their rewards/progression.
—> Player actions haveing MORE impact on WvW server score

Suggestion: Scale Rewards
The longer a structure didnt got tapped/reset the higher its rewards should become for both defending and taking the objective.
In addition the attackers should get some bonus WvW score points if they manage to cap.
—> Gives more incentives to build out/hold a tower/camp.
—> Strengthens guilds and server com
—> Karma train cycling will reduce
—> Adding deeper meta to score strategics
—-> Dominating server might “spare” some structures to up rewards…giving away some points&time to the defender
—-> The longer you hold a structure the more troublesome it will get. cuz even underpopulated but organized and strategically working servers could still “switch the outcome” by concentrateing on those objectives. (and might solve night-capping to some degree…)

—>>Scoreing overall will become less predictable over the week and if you start out to dominant into a week it might even completely backfire.

MAPS
I can relate that more WvW maps need some serious dev-manpower/time… BUT
Changeing textures around might be doable. Keep the map, but change the ground textures (convert ice map into desert map i.e.) and/or give a seasoned theme. Every object without collision-mechanic could be replaced (i.E. Grass/Flowers/bushes…and even trees could change as long as they remain at their map position).
Its not only about new WvW map mechanics, but also about a change in looks for a lot of players.

Culling
I get that it takes some time…but also it seems client-related. On High settings i experience way more culling issues.
Why not introduce an option to “Never cull tags/generic placeholder”?
Would make it easier to discern between client and server-side related problems. I dont need to know about class/equip/style/hp of some player group 100m away…but at least I have(want/need to know that some group is around and where they are heading.

UI
None wants to click around a raid group pane…and none asks for it.
See, for a Commander/Squad leader its about information.
i.E.:
- How many still live in group 3?
- How many players are part of a given squad group?
- Where is group 3 now on the map? everyone together or split apart?
- How many supplies does the raid currently have?
- Commanders of stealth Squads want their group to know where they are…but none else…its about stealth after all
- haveing different raids talking in the same team chat can be very confusing…raid chat needed
- Commander icon should show guild heraldric…instead of the generic blue icon

At least in my exp these are the (often only little) things I miss or see a lot player asking for it in/for WvW (or other pvp titles).

WvW needs a little more love and attention. Couldnt agree more.
- Stop Transfers…
- Get rid of AG-stats in WvW
- Get rid of roaming-and-Always-Adding-PvE Mobs
- …add more pve mobs to PvE Camps instead!

- More Raid/Squad leader functions (player roster/raid channel etc.)
- Make/introduce achievements with more visual style (having title is nice…but if it would come along with some emotes / ladder board / grafical aura…)

- …and culling-fix,ofc
- …and maybe additional tactical elements (barriers, deployable traps…)

Demonbox.4703:

1st: That video totally blew me out, MJ + EVE online + Morricone’s music? great video
2nd: If u never tried EVE, and you like the “sandboxy” elements of GW you should definitively try it (spent almost 6 years there, till they decided cash shop+subscription was the way to go)
3rd: as long as i agree with the OP, i still think is pointless hoping to get a (real) sandbox experience out of GW2, wasn’t designed that way and will never become such, they will have to change too many mechanics, which will in the end affect also the PvE side “ruining” their product.

And Lavath EVE is still runing, and as far as i know kicking, 1 single server 200kish active players, all fighting for the same (and huge) space, just be prepared to set your alarm at weird times to save your base/POS from someone in a diff timezone, a base that maybe took your corp months (If not ages) to build ;P

Totally agree, but its not about converting GW2 to Eve (or else), but the “spirit” or finding analogies.
In principle EvE might seem very complicated, but its “only” complexity via a lot of small, simplistic mechanics/ideas which are dependant on each other and in conjunction work (mostly) as a “whole complex system”.

In Eve Ressources/Credits are needed and scarce (for the higher tiered stuff).
The “harder”/high tiered/expensive objectives rise extremely in defense/hp pools.
You therefore have to come in “Numbers” and/or “Prepared” (with the right and mostly similiar expensive equip). As well as bringing some diversity in your fleet to be able to fullfill different “roles” (in and out of battle, i.e. scouting, mining as well as haveing some “firepower”). Still, battles will take some time which allows even pilots some systems away to join in.
While earning/getting credits/ressources is also depending on your “Numbers” and “Investments” and in itself scales the rewards according to the risks.
… roughly put

Now in WvW we have supply & gold. “Roles” are defined roughly by equip, weapon, trait build or siege used.
BUT supply are not really a limiting factor for setting up siege or upgradeing and should become way more scarce. Gold in GW2 case shouldnt be that limiting (imho), cuz of weekly resets and faster meta (compared to EvE).
While almost everything SHOULD be more “tanky” especially upgraded structures and scale rewards for attacker&defenders, which in itself sets the incentive to upgrade and/or “be best prepared” as well as makeing supply scarcer aka more important.
We dont lose ships/equip, but siege and objectives/upgraded stuff are still at stake.

Thats why imho easiest and best solution to enhance GW2 meta:
- T2> objectives, siege equip, Dolyaks, Veteran guards & Champs
—> HP x5 – x10

- Camp supply output
—> about 2x – 4x faster

- Dolyak supply amount
—> 2x – 4x supply per Dolyak

- Supply drop on player death
—> Should be FFA to “ninja” for ALL other players

- Rewards scaleing with difficulty

I like GW2 fast-paced fighting style, but battles/siegeing SHOULD NEVER be fast, otherwise you eliminate possibilities to counter/react and defender cannot get attached enough to care about the objective that much.

Fizzlepip.5218:

Edragor.9164:

For any sandboxy elements to really work, you have to change some things first:

Upgraded keeps walls & Doors & siege need way more HP
Then rushing/capping wouldnt be that of an option and trying to upgrade asap first priority. Defending/Holding would make more sense. Battles around T2/T3 resolve in a long battle of attrition..maybe for days ..or need a big amount of siege deployed.
And siege cant be that easily destroyed ..except for structural dmg by other siege. More skirmishes around keeps and such would happen, too.

Just starting to read this thread, so I can’t comment on stuff after this, but what you suggest here would virtually kill lower Tier WvW.

All it would take is the morning downtime (there are hours of silence and nothing going on in the lowest ones, where even small groups walk in and recap their Keep without any fight if it had been nightcapped) for everyone to upgrade and supply, and watch as the maps don’t change. Simply not enough people and presence for sieges to work… ever. There goes the rest of the already depleted loyal WvW population.

Depends on what you believe the meta should be about?
If your in favor that even a 5 man group should cap every keep/tower in a short time frame and without much costs attached?
Its currently the case and resolves in a “flat meta” about “flipping objectives”…
- no real incentive to upgrade
- no possibilities for guilds to get “attached”
- not much time for other elements/meta to “evolve around”

Now, lets imagine every structure would have way enhanced HP.
i.e. T1 wall would need 10 catas to destroy in the same time (like currently with one cata):
-> More coordination/time needed (with more “siege sites”)
-> zergs have to spread more
-> more defending of & travel between camps (supply line)
-> more need for repair teams and supply runners

—> more spread out fights overall
—> more options for defenders to react & counter
—> more feints and tactical retreats for attackers
—> more emphasis on supplies (thus holding / defending camps)

Now, imagine siege equip could only be destroyed by other siege fast, but player dps would take like 10 times. Siege would be repairable,too :
-> siege on walls wouldnt be destroyed that easily
—> zerging it not worthwhile
—> more counter siege needed
-> defence gets easier
-> more need/work for supply runners / dolyak guards & repairs
-> more rushing/pushing onto battlefield to take out siege sites
-> more siege would be build “in-the-wild”, cuz of high hp and being repairable
—> more “eagles nests” to take out = more “sandboxy” meta

Overall the meta would change from little cap-flipping fights to more prolonged battles, which would result/attract lot more fighting, as well as tactical retreats and such.
With way more damage to repair on walls & siege after a fight/battle, the strategic meta would “spice-up”, too.
Who gets repairs coordinated faster after a battle? Maybe leaving a wall at 50% and feinting to go for another objective only to return shortly after?

Defending/holding would hold more meaning and be easier vs uncoordinated zergs.
Small groups might be “excluded” from siegeing, but would hold way more strategic/tactical value for defending/capping camps, harrassing supply lines or siege sites.
Big guilds/zergs would focus on siegeing the upgraded / better defended objectives more, while T1 fortresses would be still “doable in a reasonable” manner for smaller zergs or effective guild groups.

IMHO a complete rework of WvW would be ridiculous and some ideas like farms or constructed stuff by players maybe “too unrealistic”, BUT tweaking / adding little things would/could change the whole meta to allow for more “sandboxy feeling”…

Edit:
To add an analogy to EVE.
Mining (or most other stuff) around solo takes FOREVER!
Only by grouping up and/or investing into “effective equip” it gets worthwhile and in pvp zones attracts other players.

Same should hold true for a siege battle. Siege equip should be easy to afford, but more emphasize should be on supply and (re-)organizing it. To make:
- ORGANIZING SUPPLY (&TIME)
- SIEGE AMOUNT
- PLAYER SKILL
- STARTEGY & TACTICS
the “modifiers” to the battle and divide between good / organized groups and mindless zerg rushes.

Currently its mostly too much about player numbers and who “didnt forgot to buy some blueprints”…

First, I am more into WvW and spvp, BUT interessting stories/cutscenes or some events I like, too
…but mostly wont have the time to play them at the current pace
…and often even would like to skip the whole time-consumeing pve-mob-bashing/dungeon crawling around the story itself.
…like to experience/read them in my “personal order” (like skipping chapters in a book)

I am not saying slow it down, nor do I believe that the temporariness of those living stories is bad at all or that you should eliminate the mobs for me… ^^

BUT I strongly believe there should be a way to keep some “essence of those stories” or history / lore in the game. Kinda like in RL people have tendencies to not let go of some of their tales (ie. old people always telling their war stories like it was yesterday).

The tech needed is already in place as some players mentioned:
My history tab
Could be expanded with a “MY living world” tab.
—> Compressing the whole LS-chapters into brief paragraphs with links and act like a “newspaper” directing us (…hinting) to npcs (heralds, heroes or books) with further information.

—> Even “store” additional infos we might have gathered ourselves (i.e. tied together with some of the achievement we earned while the story was around)

Cut scenes
“Flame and Frost” had a system which let us “revisit” the cutscenes
—>My char may not have been present, but those 2 heroes were and may “VIviDly” retell what happend like its happening now

Text Splitting
NPC dialogues and books CAN indeed hold even large text amounts if you split them into dialogue / chapters / paragraphs. Careful phrased, you dont even need too much work to create these and could recycle those filler-texts. i.e.
[LS Text/cutscene 1.Part]
<… and then she/he said… > OR <leave>
[LS Text/cutscene 2.Part]
<looks around suspiciously / bored / agonized / smiling …before continueing> OR <leave>
[LS Text/cutscene 3.Part]
…etc.
For book pages you can do the same, ie. “next page is tainted / burnt /… continue reading OR leave”

Zone Event heralds
Guessing there might be some internal tracking, which events we participated in and maybe even how often we done them. If not … scripting it wouldnt take more than a work day and those heralds could:
—> Randomly pointing out events we never had played before in that particular zone.
i.e. “Have you heard anything about…” <event name>
OR
“I guess you have never noticed whats going on in/near” <zonal sub region>

—> Those heralds could even mention our personal Top 2-5 events we did already in that zone (for the gazillions time). And thus personalize our game experience.
ie. “Well-met, arent you the hero who did / saved /killed…” <Top1 event name> “…and also was responsible for…” <Top2 event name>

I really appreciate that there are no question marks in this game, but heard about DEVs who are wondering why we dont talk about their new created events. Cause often most of us have problems discerning which events are new, may have missed out before or maybe even forgot them. Similiar things will happen to tales and stories as time progresses and the above simple ideas might help players to keep track a little bit more.

For any sandboxy elements to really work, you have to change some things first:

Upgraded keeps walls & Doors & siege need way more HP
Then rushing/capping wouldnt be that of an option and trying to upgrade asap first priority. Defending/Holding would make more sense. Battles around T2/T3 resolve in a long battle of attrition..maybe for days ..or need a big amount of siege deployed.
And siege cant be that easily destroyed ..except for structural dmg by other siege. More skirmishes around keeps and such would happen, too.

pve champs
Similiarly they have to provoke a battle of attrition and therefore be more tank& spank to be considered “part of WvW”.

pve random mobs
They shouldnt be spread out like in pve zones, but “cramped tightly” into a few dedicated places (1 near each Spawn and 1 mid map) and as such would be more part of WvW meta and attract farmer (guilds/raids) as well as enemies. And some servers might protect these areas (…player generated content).

Convenience Stuff part of keeps&towers
Like vendors, bankers, TP, craft station… SHOULD ONLY become accessible in upgraded keeps (except for the Repair & siege NPC nothing is needed at spawn area). Gives players more incentives to hold on to at least 1 tower/keep. Its the right thing to make everything available in WvW needed to level up, BUT you should have to pvp for it, too.
(even dungeon/cultural karma vendors could be set up in SMC T2/T3)

Crafting nodes
Again, not really bound into WvW. Farming a node should block it for 10 minutes to enemy servers. Or/And give a chance on special pvp related material (lets call it ORB) which you HAVE TO carry to some camp to speed up dolyaks or gain additional supplies…otherwise it lets you blink like a beacon to the enemy on map as long as you dont turn it in or get killed (which drops the ORB and can be picked up by enemy for some minutes).
Or a 10 min buff, which allows you to save 50% supply on building stuff.

Enemy names & Bounty system
Should be possible to optionally show your name in WvW and also make yourself “accessible” for enemy players to be able to put a bounty on you…
The higher the bounty gets, the better the droprate on loot for the hunted player.
On death of the player the bounty will be divided or returned to the players who set the bounty (in the case of falling or pve-only-related deaths).

JPs
Fun, but again not really part of WvW. Entry for EB JP should be at every BL.
Every JP should have some 1-3 conquest points spread out, which could give some bonus points to WvW score – or if all capture points are owned by one server it will result into something “special” ( maybe spawn a mob attacking SMC or bay/hill, blowing a hole into 1 enemy fortress or else, but should be more value to the losing servers than the already winning one).

Siege
Has to be repairable and maybe even useable by enemy? Why not make siege contestable…the more player “right click and channel” the faster it gets converted.
This might result in more careful consideration what or if to destroy enemy siege.
While siege owner should be able to “deconstruct” their siege and maybe a chance on retaining the blueprint.
(No more running around wall and mindless whacking of siege, while defenders have to consider if they leave their siege or try to deconstruct if pushed to inner ring)

Keep Upgrades-System
Currently its too expensive for most while holding not much (percieved) advantage.
Let players pay into an upgrade that amount they like to spent and if enough money by different players comes togehter the upgrade will start. If interupted the money will be sent back.
This would make it easier for random zergs & solos to help with upgradeing without stressing their purses or haveing to fear that their payment will be lost.

See, in principle there is a lot potential already for sandbox elements, but would need some little tweaks & changes at different points.

Even if i would agree with ANETs philosophy, that conquest mode is better suited as an esport/for tournaments…
The WD-sPvP is a blast of fun and hav to agree with the other players.

PUG/Fun (Team) Deathmatch & Capture the Flag modes are best suited to get new players into PvP in the first place (..and WvW ofc^^).

Suggestions for Rentable Arenas:
- Let players access/rent those Halloween/WD maps/game modes
- Make all current sPvP maps available to play in other Modes like: (T)DM and/or CTF
(…or even the WD-CTF version incl. the classes)

—>This way playerbase can “experiment” which maps/modes are fun/interessting to play
—>Devs can better fetch statistics on maps& favoured game modes for future tournaments et.

Lets try a No-AoE-Cap week or month testing phase?
And let the Com test and decide, which meta is preferable in WvW?

Because arguing about what if class X stacks Y but ruling out a counter possibility in the first place…doesnt help the discussion nor does it solve the zergblobbing problem.
And takeing the caps out for a test-phase, cant be that much effort considering the big interest in AoE changes and splitting zergs up.