Guild Wars 2

So, the issue with zerker builds is that it is currently “the standard” for running a dungeon. We know why its the standard (it makes dungeons quick and easy). If we want to address the issue everyone is having with party exclusion, and increase build diversity we need a few changes.

One of the necessary improvements is updated AI. Currently mobs assault full throttle upon interaction and follow the players. I understand it would be too easy to avoid mobs if they didn’t try to follow but here’s a list of possible AI changes.
-Mobs respond to a high DPS threshold: if they are taking too much damage, too fast, over a given period of time they react by adjusting their tactics. Perhaps by building “emnity” and focusing attacks on one player at a time. Another plausible response for a mob receiving high amounts of damage would be by other enemies supporting the one who is taking the most damage. Eg. When mob a breaks the dps threshold, mob b, c, d, and e all focus on mob a’s attacker while mob f, g, and h supply support to mob a.
-Mobs dodge: this would take a lot of effort to implement but its not out of reach. Allow each mob to have its’ own threshold with which to activate a dodge. Mobs would of course have endurance like players, but once a mob became subject to a severe attack, the mob would then dodge away from its attacker. This addresses two things. Zerker builds rely on stationary mobs to “focus” their attacks on. By dodging away from heavy attacks, the player now finds its heavy attacks less useful when spammed. A five mob group all dodging the zerkers, focusing damage on the primary target, and supporting the zerker’s target. Zerker’s will still be viable in diverse groups because they would have the support of other build types to keep them afloat, however, without a diverse group the zerkers fall prey to real tactics.

These ideas require no nerfing, but simply the addition of a unique approach to the zerker, DPS only, speed runner, full throttle, exclusion parties. No real harm is done to a diverse party, as a skilled party will know when to dodge, when to unload, and when to support. When the mob is assaulting a single player, the support players have a prime opportunity to heal and support, while the mobs focus is directed away from them.
-Another change would involve incentives or opportunity for supporting another player: maybe a support retaliation of some sort where player a heals player b and receives endurance in return. More support = more endurance. More endurance results in more opportunity to support without the risk of sacrificing oneself.
-Final proposed change is greater benefit to combo fields: An elementalist drops a field, a warrior attacks through it and receives less “emnity”. Thief throws up a wall, ranger shoots through it and enemies lose endurance. A diverse party will benefit by allowing more opportunity for their heavy hitters to do their thing. A zerker party would have to identify ways to provide the opportunity they need to attack, prolonging the fight, resulting in a balanced fight in the end.

Any criticism is appreciated and let the discussion commence!

Perhaps party statistics may implement an exclusion from elitest groups. Who’s to say I, The learning player, wanted to play with these elitests anyway. I think what you’re seeing is that people are categorizing themselves compared to other players regardless of this “DPS Meter”. I join a group for COF and immediately am asked to link my “Zerker” gear. What do I do, leave the group. Furthermore, how is a group supposed to “Kitten” you, when your party stats don’t show until after the instance anyway?

While your concern is relevant, it is ultimately inevitable. Imagine you removed every possible factor that one player could use to exclude another due to insufficient skill. Now what’s left? The same character model, with the same weapon, doing the same skills at the same time. Sounds more like a motion picture to me, because the only way to eliminate this sub-elitest bias is to remove player control and individuality all together.

Perhaps this tool can be used for unfavorable courses of action, but it may also be used for support. Just like chat. Should that be removed as well?

Your opinion holds little weight when unsupported.

So, I love Tyria. I love the dungeons, the lore, and the view. The group dynamic is fantastic, and I couldn’t be more happy with combat. One thing that seems to be missing for me, however, is party statistics. There is a simple form of “great job” in pvp, but where its truly necessary is instances.
When aiming to progress my skills, I rely heavily on how I perform within and compared to other members of a group. So, for myself party statistics or dungeon leaderboards give me the information I need to perfect my build.

Here’s and example: I’m trying to perfect my build to effectively support players in my party, while maintaining sufficient damage output, but I can’t seem to tell where I’m lacking. I play a dungeon and in the leaderboards I see my name. Next to my name, I see heals: 120,537 HP overall. I then see damage: 452,794. Above my name though, I see party member x. Next to party member x’s name is damage: 1,037,946, heals: 329,736 HP overall. With this information, I also conclude that player x was using a mace, which I find utterly useless. I wonder to myself, “how is that possible?” I search further until I recall that player x was critting nearly 100% of the time, and healing me everytime he/she shouted.

My point is, leaderboards give players the direction they need when balancing their builds. If you want high dps, like player x, lots of heals like player x, but notice player x often died because he/she never dodged, you might adapt player x’s stat combo, trait lines, or weapon, but remember to dodge often.

Currently we are stuck with assuming that because player x dies often we most certainly outperformed them, so there’s nothing to learn from that newb. Not to say that’s always the case, but you get where I’m going with this.

Furthermore, who is more willing to purchase, craft, or earn that odd stat combo exotic that adds just the right amount of power, condition damage, and vitality? The player that knows that’s what they need, or the player that obviously outperformed the condition ranger because he didn’t res me at all, which meant he was a newb.

What I’m trying to say is party leaderboards will provide direction, motivation, and purpose for players. They will recover the “useless” stat combos from the bottom of the junk pile and perhaps balance a fractured economy. It would result in more unique builds, and it would diversify the spread of demand on the market, leading to less likelihood of monopolizing by gathering all the bloods, and selling them for double what you paid.

What do you think?