Guild Wars 2

I agree with OP 100%. Sadly, Anet has shown severe deficiencies in several areas that would have prevented this debacle.

1. They created a game mode that they never really invested in or knew how to moderate. The game mode appeared structured to make server identity valuable, yet everything Anet has done speaks to the opposite. Anet never had core tenets for WvW, and as a result could not possibly know when/if they were deviating from them. Over the course of years, each server did develop core tenets, some more than others. Anet was clueless in that regard.

2. When they finally realized it could use some improvement, they chose a mass poll. Even with the seemingly generous margin of 75/25 needed to make a change, they never asked what percentage of active players were contained in the top few tiers. Or, if they did, they certainly did not care. In other words, it is very possible that over 75% of the players voting in the poll were in a position to feel minimal impact anyway. To them, the change may simply have represented “more loot” because “more peeps” as a result of “more gameplay”. At my most cynical, I would say some of them viewed linking as “low tier players coming to fight for us”.

3. It is worth noting that several of the major changes that have been well received since HoT release have been thematically similar. Reduction in HP needed for specs, altered function of meta events along with massive increase in rewards, addition of reward track in WvW, etc all involve Anet catering to a noisy, insulting, demeaning, childish player base. Linking falls into that category for me as well. The comments in this chain largely reinforce that.

I would challenge Anet to release 1 statistic. The number of active WvW players (let’s set the low bar of 5 hours a week in WvW) in the last 3 weeks vs. the same numbers for the 3 weeks preceding linking. Even more interesting would be that number by server. I strongly suspect that the numbers would support linking having a negative effect on WvW, certainly on the bottom two or three tiers.

The real solution this late in the game is a complete overhaul of the server system. That should not require a change to any WvW mechanics. People who say server identity matters have already been disappointed, and people who say it doesn’t matter shouldn’t care. Right? At least we would all be in the same boat, or airship, or dolyak caravan, or whatever.

-Fates

This definitely seems like a reasonable compromise. While there is a part of me that feels a compromise should not be necessary, I think most players understand that solutions need to be found that benefit as many players as possible. I hope arenanet is considering a number of options, and not just limiting themselves to “Linking is good” and “Linking is bad”. The poll options will probably tell us a lot in that regard. In the meantime, it is good to see players offering suggestions and input that reflect the variety of play styles.

- Fates

Tyler,
Thank you for giving this some attention. Just knowing that we are acknowledged is a huge step in the right direction. If the community votes to move towards merging, then while I may not like it, I can respect it as a community decision. It will at least provide the players an opportunity to provide tangible influence.

-Fates

I am really glad someone from FC voiced some of these concerns. It is disappointing that every time an individual player expresses concerns over the merger (calling it linking is a sham), they are shouted down under the auspices that they are alone in their concern. To be honest, the toxicity of the WvW forum too often eliminates meaningful conversation between the players and the devs.

We are not a whole bunch of isolated individuals unhappy with the loss of our community. We are a community unhappy with the loss of our identity. I have seen some posts claiming server identity is a non-issue. I wonder if those players would sing the same tune if BG or TC were merged into FC, and carried FC’s name into combat. Server identity matters regardless of your tier. FC has a very active WvW community, regularly running server specific events. We have several guilds who are active every night, and a number of players (including OP) who put in work during the day. We are a very active “dead” server. “Dead” is a term that is, unfortunately, being used by players who want every server to be packed. Small unit tactics have their place as well, and FC has embraced that.

I wish the devs would take some time to consider what kind of players stay in WvW night after night on low tier servers. They don’t do it because they cannot afford a few gems. They do it because it best suits the way they love to play the game. I would like to believe that Arenanet wants people to play the game in an assortment of ways, all of them enjoying it. So the reason they would try to make everyone Tier 1 is beyond me.

There are an incredible number of options at Arenaet’s disposal. The idea mentioned several times in several posts of simply marking a few servers as “low pop” or some variation thereof is so easy, and functional. Some of us like low pop. It would have negligible impact on the high Tier servers, and I don’t think it would actually impact Arenanet’s bottom line.

If they are determined to merge, blow them all up. Every one. If server loyalty and server identity don’t matter, it should be easy. In fact, it could be written into the lore of the game (imagine “Upheaval of the Mists” as a LS3 installment) and blamed on some upcoming villain (Palawa Joko?). Note the additional benefit of tying lore to WvW, if you really want PvE folks to take an interest in WvW. While I personally oppose this concept, the developmental opportunities with this plan are immense (without changing fundamental WvW mechanics).

If linking is really what they intended, and not a full blown merger (as currently exists), why not create the opportunity for the two linked servers to go to each other’s maps without forcing them? Most people don’t enjoy being forced to do things during their leisure time. This would run the risk of turning ET into “BG overflow” (example), but at least it puts control back in the players hands. It would require the addition of some sort of additional portal mechanism, but I think player investment may be worth that.

Again, so many options that do not explicitly marginalize a significant number of players. Some people can downplay how many players were slighted, but at the end of the day 50% of the servers were basically told they were not relevant. I think Arenanet can do better than that.

I would like to see a more developed system put in place to address this, but I support Jayne in regards to a server based LA being the “easy” answer.

I would like to toss out a few ideas that I think might improve WvW. I played the game for quite a while before really digging into WvW, but I have come to enjoy it quite a bit. I do think there are a few things that might increase player investment and draw new players into it.
The first thing that I think might make a positive impact, especially for new players, is the ability to see who is tagged up in WvW when you open the WvW panel. For smaller servers this would allow players to know where they could go to make immediate contributions. I realize experienced players do not need a zerg to do great things for their servers, but new players often do not realize this. On larger servers, it would tell players where certain commanders are, allowing them to join with the group that best serves their playing style or personality. Imagine pulling up the WvW panel and immediately knowing that for your server commander X is attacking a rival’s garri, commander Y is defending SMC, and commander Z is roaming in another rival’s BL. If you combine this with the idea of task specific commander tags (as mentioned in Able Sentry’s post) , it really starts to create an informed WvW player base.
Another thing I think would really help is tying WvW to the guild hall in a way that is rewarding for the players. Imagine if instead of a “stealth fountain” (an unmitigated disaster waiting to happen), there were portals to the claiming guild’s guild hall when SMC was fully upgraded. Within their guild hall, there could be an area cordoned off for visiting players from their server. In the WvW visitor area, there could be a number of WvW specific services available to players in the server. Maybe which services they have access to can be determined by their progress through a guild hall ability point line. What that would mean is there would be a real tactical advantage to a fully upgraded SMC. What’s more, that tactical advantage would be a result of A: holding SMC, B: a guild upgrading their guild hall, and C: a player wisely using their WvW points. All three of those things are things players are supposed to aspire to.
My final idea might be a little bit of a stretch, but I think it has merit. I started as a PvE focused player, and it took time for me to come around to WvW. I suspect there are a lot of players who aren’t giving it the chance they should. Recruiting has become a bit more difficult with the megaservers. I think “Mist Heroes” might be a solution to these issues. “Mist Heroes” (completely an arbitrary term on my part) would be NPCs specific to each server to replace Siegerazer in functionality and also serve as the “mascot” for the server. They would be available in LA for players to interact with, and serve as an advertising function for each server’s WvW efforts. They would each have a backstory associated with GW2 lore, increasing investment from PvE focused players who enjoy the lore (myself included). They would replace Siegerazer in functionality, and would set up shop upstairs above the lord’s room in SMC when SMC is fully upgraded, where they could congratulate players on a job well done and maybe even offer a couple of vendor items (rare food such as dragon bash foods or some such thing). None of this would change the way WvW is played, so hardcore WvW players would scarcely notice the difference, aside from the tragic loss of siegerazer (maybe one server can keep him as a Mist Hero). If you really wanted to walk this road all the way to crazyville, each could wield a unique weapon that might be available later as a legendary. Maybe that’s a lot to ask. Most of that would be very easy to implement and only increase visibility of WvW to a bulk of GW2 players.
I appreciate people reading this post. I know it was long, but I hope there are some interesting ideas here. I hope we as players can influence this game for the best.

-Fates

ps. Able Sentry’s post, since I reference it a few times:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/WvW-Points-beyond-1390/first#post5584919

I think this post highlights the fact that an there is an opportunity to reward players who work hard at something, and that opportunity is being missed. I definitely agree with Able Sentry that this is an issue that needs to be addressed. I would hate to see something you get a finite amount of be used like an expendable currency. I think it would be preferable to see new ability point lines added. There could certainly be a commander specific point line, in which things like siege refund and role specific tags could exist. The role specific tags is a particularly intriguing idea. I would offer my suggestions as sword for capping, shield for defending, an eye for scouting and an axe for roaming. I think there should also be an ability line associated with guild halls. Right now the guild halls appear to offer a lot for PvE and PvP, and less for WvW. I think that could easily be addressed. Under any circumstances, I think all those excess points absolutely should be used to reward dedicated players.

C’mon guys….let me into the keep….seriously

Also: bump

I would like to take a brief moment to give my testimonial in support of Dural’s post, and DRK’s excellence. Consider the following:

I once defeated Teq solo, with only a main hand warhorn. I finished my personal story with Tybalt still alive. I sometimes get Drytop to tier 8 when I get bored. But something was lacking in my GW2 repertoire. The moment I entered the mists my game failed me. I would often get lost, or slain by Veteran Skale. My own keep would not grant me access. It appeared I was the only player in WvW downleveled to 45. I was in crisis. Then I found DRK, and everything changed. Now, when I die in WvW, I die in the company of the best!

All jokes aside, it is good to run WvW with a guild that is open to players regardless of skill level or experience and doesn’t tolerate unnecessary drama. A few more are always welcome!