Guild Wars 2

Good games fellas. Had a lot of fun being involved!

Isaac.6041:

Some of the language in that article leads to more questions

1) cash prize “pool” is 10k. is this awarded to first place team only or split between 1st 2nd 3rd etc

2) “The format will be five vs. five single elimination matches, and the winners of each match will be determined by the victors of two out of three games.” What does this mean? First you say single elimination and then you say victors of two out of three games. It doesn’t make any sense.

“Prize pool” would signify a division of total prize, presumably between the two teams.

Single-elimination is is different than “best-of-X”. Single-elim means that if you lose your best of three match-up, you’re out of the tournament, where as a double-elim tournament would put you into the losers bracket where you could make a potential comeback into the finals.

GW2 is in a critical transition point right now, but we’re definitely closer to becoming a competitive game than we are an ‘esports’ title.

I think we’re in a better place lately, and we seem to be making leaps towards improving the overall playability of the game. The tournaments we’ve seen so far are a great indicator of where the game could go, but before we get there we need to make sure the infrastructure is in place to cater to a larger pool of casual players and incoming new players alike.

Implementing solo queue, revamping rewards, tweaking leaderboards, and creating alternative playmodes (not necessarily replacing conquest, but rather complimenting it) are going to be crucial in retaining our current playerbase and expanding it going forward.

On the SOAC E-Sports podcast that I guested on with Jon Sharp, we both agreed that a metered approach to reaching ‘esports’ is better than jumping in head first and hoping that we get it right the first time.

Just my 2c anyways.

I’m not sure if today’s thread has anything to do with me, but I’m here so why not type a response.

We had a really good thread going after the MMORPG tournament talking about casters, and while some of my friends with thinner skin might take issue with the tone of these threads, I think there is merit in some of the responses.

I can be biased. It’s mostly because I’ve played with a lot of the NA guys over the past 8 months…some of them extensively. They’re friends at this point, so it becomes hard to seperate “PvP Grouch” with “Shoutcasting Grouch”. I do see the validity in the complaint. I’m working on it!

It’s really hard for a warrior to counter-pressure someone when they’ve already started taking damage. Mostly because the popular builds don’t run a RDPS weapon, and if they do you’re sacrificing the ability to have a shield off-hand for the block. Running an entirely melee weapon set means you have to cover that gap before even being in-range to do damage.

I target warriors because if I watch their movement, I can keep a large enough gap between us so they don’t pose a threat.

My 2c.

Hey folks,

Normally I avoid cross-posting, but these tournaments have been such good fun that I couldn’t forgive myself if I deprived players of other parts of the game the opportunity to see what all buzz surrounding GW2’s growing PvP scene is about. That said, I don’t think you need to be a hardcore PvPer (or even a casual one) to enjoy the exciting gameplay we’ve been seeing in these tournaments. (This for example, anyone?)

This tournament will be a singe-elimination best-of-three format, with eight of the top teams duking it out for a winner-takes-all 10,000 gem prize-pool.

We’ll be kicking off the festivities on Sunday, May 26th, at 12 Pacific, with an exciting match-up between Made in Meta (Winners of the Masters of the Mists European Tournament last weekend) and Am I Mad. Check out the attachment below for the full tournament bracket.

You can find the livestream at Twitch.tv/mmorpgcom

Even if you don’t stop by tomorrow, you should definitely jump into Heart of the Mists sometime and give PvP another go. A lot has changed since launch, and I daresay it’s much more friendly for those just coming into the game.

Thanks for reading!

I completely missed this topic!

SOTG will be on Friday, May 31st, at 1PM Pacific.

Confirmed guests will be Jon Sharp (Game Designer) and Evan Lesh (Programmer).

Should have a post up about it over the weekend or early next week along with our confirmed player guests.

Thanks for the reminder!

Not a bad idea!

(I want my face in Guild Wars.)

I’m really excited for this!

Tell errrbody.

Thanks for the kind words, guys. Remember though – this isn’t about just me or any one person taking the initiative and getting things going – it’s going to take all of us.

Last Sunday’s King of the Beta tournament turn-out was awesome, and this is just the beginning. I’m really looking forward to where ArenaNet and the community can take this game.

-Grouch

So, this is tomorrow! Get excited!

Feedback: All streams need more Grouch.

Jax.5261:

Nord.5360:

Decrypter.1785:

Was a good show i tune in live Q to Grouch , Was you wearing set make up last time ? lol

LOL. Nope! Thanks for the possible underhanded compliment, though?

methinks somebody is denying it a little too much

Fine! Did you guys think I was wearing too much lip gloss?

Looks like we have 16 teams signed up?

Wonders what would happen on NA…

Decrypter.1785:

Was a good show i tune in live Q to Grouch , Was you wearing set make up last time ? lol

LOL. Nope! Thanks for the possible underhanded compliment, though?

Fffffffffffffffffffff!

Kalan.9705:

Snip.

I read your feedback – I hope that counts for something.

Kitten, was I eating my mic?

Thanks for the feedback, guys. I liked our new format, personally, and I think we’ll stick with it going forward.

Keep it coming.

My infamous orange beanie cost like $6.00, and it definitely fends off sharks.

Ostricheggs.3742:

Mif.3471:

Grackleflint.4956:

Chaba.5410:

What was up with that talk about prybar as a counter for something? I don’t use toolkit in my wvw support build (except underwater).

Grouch was talking about how we are strictly a ranged class and Guardians can shut down our damage completely by popping their defensive bubble, to which Jon Sharp flippantly replied “Yeah, so.” Then Karl said something about going into it and using melee.

So apparently Guardians should fear our Wrench #1 dps!

He said we should use Tool Kit.

So basically they expect every Engineer to give up a utility slot and bring tool kit because they can’t be bothered to design the game with any intelligence.

Many guardians drop a utility slot JUST to grab the spirit shield if they so choose it. Most guardians don’t even run it anymore since anything without projectiles can breath on it and it’ll die. Its AI is also metrically kitten Any guardian would pick that up ONLY so that they can hard counter an engi. A better choice would be wall of reflection.

I don’t think grouch’s ire is well placed. A larger problem is the guardian’s minor trait that creates a shield of absorbtion around the downed player when they start to revive. It’s extra long and literally prevents any damage on body from a large majority of classes, especially engis.

I mostly brought it up in regards to the expanded spirit weapon health pools, not because I think it’s a problem on live. I don’t think it will be a problem post-patch either, just because it is so niche.

Sometimes my mouth just moves and words come out.

BAMBOO.9430:

Snip.

GW2Guru’s SOTG is sPvP focused. That would probably explain why we talked about sPvP.

Cheers!

Thanks!

You guys should totally tune in to admire my good looks, though.

Link to Vid!

jportell.2197:

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

jportell, I have to give you again the trophy of “worlds best mesmer in the forum”. You should play some other classes instead of mesmer to comment on Non-Mesmer-Topics though.
Your posts are too onesided and in every of those you need to underline your argumentationwith the mesmer-class. I don’t like when ppl start to talk about classes they actually never played in a complete way.

Okay there Shirley because I don’t have a necro, engi, guardian, thief, and an ele? When it comes to boon uptime this build knocks my guardian out of the park and yes while that Mesmer build that may have been posted just one or two posts above it eliminates nearly ALLL of that mesmers power and to be honest I’m not quite sure exactly why he chose mental torment over empowered illusions since he had phantasmal strength right there or why he didn’t choose menders purity since he was in a line that deal DIRECTLY with helping mesmers lose conditions or why compounding celerity was even considered over wardens feedback which would help throw grenades right back in the guys face… The point is at that point he has become nothing more to his team than a taxi and someone that can hopefully get enough boons off of an engi before the conditions wreck him…

This build is strong Ostrich has admitted it’s OPness and it has been confirmed that something about this build is going to be nerfed… And in tournaments I will bring normally bring a necro, Mesmer, engi, orrrr my guardian So I only play Mesmer you say? Well if you ever face a Sylvari guardian that looks like a crazy version of the joker that is kitten near unkillable… Well that will be me there princess… Now excuse me I have to go take a real world test on medication administration, patient safety, pain management annnndddddd physical assessment… You have a good day now. Kthx bai!

I don’t even….wat….

Volrath.1473:

If the SotG is going to be 1 week before the end of the month, does this mean that there will be no patch in April? will in come in the first half of May instead?

There’s still an April patch to my knowledge – I just ended up doing the show a bit later than usual. Ain’t nobody got time for set schedules.

waka.9826:

Nord.5360:

waka.9826:

Nord.5360:

Hey folks,

Quick update.

As you know we’ll be joined by JSharp and Karl on the next SOTG. However, they won’t be sticking around for the entire show. They’ll mostly be popping in to give us some updates on balance that are coming in the April patch and then some possible design goals for the coming months. At some point they’ll take their leave and we’ll have a focused roundtable discussion with our player guests.

Best of both worlds, right?

Anyhow, thanks for the ongoing feedback. I do take a lot of the suggestions into consideration, even from you grumpy buggers.

grouch wheres my invite. ive been asking for like 4 months now

If people got word of how imbalanced you make Engy look they’d be nerfed into the ground. You’re Anvil Rock’s best kept secret.

I guess this answer is good enough.

Stomp denial engy is best engy.

EoNxBoNx.9213:

Nord.5360:

Hey folks,

Quick update.

As you know we’ll be joined by JSharp and Karl on the next SOTG. However, they won’t be sticking around for the entire show. They’ll mostly be popping in to give us some updates on balance that are coming in the April patch and then some possible design goals for the coming months. At some point they’ll take their leave and we’ll have a focused roundtable discussion with our player guests.

Best of both worlds, right?

Anyhow, thanks for the ongoing feedback. I do take a lot of the suggestions into consideration, even from you grumpy buggers.

Is it too late to ask for Steb for the next SOTG?

I’m playing with him right now. I don’t know if my eardrums (or your eardrums, for that matter) could handle State of the Steb for an hour and a half.

<3 you Steb.

waka.9826:

Nord.5360:

Hey folks,

Quick update.

As you know we’ll be joined by JSharp and Karl on the next SOTG. However, they won’t be sticking around for the entire show. They’ll mostly be popping in to give us some updates on balance that are coming in the April patch and then some possible design goals for the coming months. At some point they’ll take their leave and we’ll have a focused roundtable discussion with our player guests.

Best of both worlds, right?

Anyhow, thanks for the ongoing feedback. I do take a lot of the suggestions into consideration, even from you grumpy buggers.

grouch wheres my invite. ive been asking for like 4 months now

If people got word of how imbalanced you make Engy look they’d be nerfed into the ground. You’re Anvil Rock’s best kept secret.

Hey folks,

Quick update.

As you know we’ll be joined by JSharp and Karl on the next SOTG. However, they won’t be sticking around for the entire show. They’ll mostly be popping in to give us some updates on balance that are coming in the April patch and then some possible design goals for the coming months. At some point they’ll take their leave and we’ll have a focused roundtable discussion with our player guests.

Best of both worlds, right?

Anyhow, thanks for the ongoing feedback. I do take a lot of the suggestions into consideration, even from you grumpy buggers.

Mssg.7804:

Grouch why you always invite people who you know from TS and you play with them? What about inviting random players who want to join? I saw many people in last question topic, where a lot of people want to join SOTG

Inviting random players seems like quite the gamble!

Hey fellas,

We don’t have a post up about this over on Guru yet, but here’s the details.

Host: Grouch
Date/Time: April 26th, 2013 12PM PST (7PM GMT)
Duration: Around one hour.
Special Guests: ArenaNet Developers Jonathan Sharp and Karl McLain
Players Participating: Symbolic (Team Paradigm EU), Phantaram (Team Paradigm EU), Caed (NA)
Where: You can find us at twitch.tv/guildwars2guru

We’ll have some shownotes available for you guys sometime prior to the show, but expect discussion regarding upcoming changes in the April patch.

If you have any questions/comments let me know about it below.

We’ll have a post up within the next day or two with details. Thanks for the comments/feedback, guys, I appreciate it.

Hey guys, Grouch here. Real talk time.

I’ve been getting a multitude of messages in-game and on the forums regarding this month’s SOTG. So, yeah, I’ve totally been slacking and I take full blame for that. I know many of you look forward to SOTG each month (love it or hate it) considering it’s one of the main ways we’re able to get focused discussion on our favorite aspect of the game.

That said, there will be an episode this month, but more than likely we won’t have a developer present. We’ll still have a panel of competitive community members getting together for (hopefully) constructive discourse. On the plus side, the relevant developers tune in and watch SOTGs that they’re not directly a part of, taking note of the feedback being given. We’ll have the developers on again soon enough – don’t despair.

Feel free to use this thread for comments, criticism, questions about the show in general, or whatever. I’ll keep a close-eye on it. An AMA, so to speak.

Anyways,

Thanks for reading.

Probably player rezzes. Fire off one and you’ve already beat everyone in hotjoin.

This is the fourth team I’ve heard of today that are looking to form up. Good to see!

IMO, all invuln abilities should cause the orb to drop, regardless of profession. I was under the impression that it was the original design intent.

Edit: Ventured over to EU today for the first time in ages. Pretty much every team had 2-3 eles. Was interesting.

I’m going to take a wild stab at this, but I’m assuming that by ‘activating’ leaderboards they’re going to begin populating the leaderboards. Once they have enough data they’ll make them visible. I wouldn’t be surprised if stats pulled from before March 26th won’t matter/aren’t recorded.

Zodian.6597:

Your first idea is technology that Anet doesn’t have at this point (and the point of this thread),

The current matchmaking system already prioritizes matching solo players against solo players, duo queue against duo queue, so on and so forth. The main problem right now is that there simply isn’t enough people queuing into 2-team tournaments, meaning that the matchmaking system resorts to matching solo q’ers against premades after all other options are exhausted.

A big problem with the population is the segregation of the PvP player-base into multiple map formats.. Right now you can join three SEPARATE types of PvP formats in the mists.

1. Hot Joins – The main staple of the casual community.
2. 8 Team Tournaments – an outdated format.
3. 2 Team Tournaments – The only viable tournament format.

My suggestion is as follows:

-Remove hot-joins and 8 team tournaments. Replace 8 team tournaments with an additional 2 team tournament system (much like we have now.) Both of the two team tournament systems will be affected by hidden MMR, but only one will track stats for the incoming ranking system. One will essentially be casual games, and the other hardcore, but both much more structured than hot-join.

I’ve been tracking hot-join participation during off-peak hours over the past week and I’ve found that on average about 250 people are playing. That’s an additional 25 active tournaments.

This would do wonders for filling in the MMR gaps and the “solo, duo, tri, quad, and premade” queue problems we’re currently facing.

My 2c.

It will be on Youtube as soon as it’s done processing.

Hey guys,

Just a reminder. The show is at 12pm PDT. Daylight savings and all.

In regards to Sotg, I can’t really talk about it yet, but I should be able to soon. I’m listening to player feedback regarding the show, and we’re hoping it pleases the majority of you guys.

“But Grouch, you can’t please everyone!”

Fair enough.

Hey guys,

The feedback so far has been amazing. It’s good to see the PvP community remain so passionate about the game.

Keep it comin’.

ArenaNet Developer (and balance guru) Karl McLain will be joining us as well. That makes…1…2…3 devs. No big deal.

Updated original post. Check out the changes!

Also, thanks for the feedback. Once again, I can’t include everything, but I am checking all of the posts!

felivear.1536:

Also can the guests do most of the talking this time and not the host? Sorry Grouch, just being real.

It’s an open forum. Guests are encouraged to chime in whenever. =)

evilapprentice.6379:

Is it someone’s job to transcribe these interviews and post them on the boards as text?
If not, it needs to be.

I hope we’re able to transcribe this time around, or at least provide links to specific topics inside the video – I think it would make a few people happy, anyways.

waka.9826:

Natty angus wrench here

Ask them when they are going to nerf engineer.

Having you constantly banned is enough of a nerf for the engineer community. They only seem overpowered when your account is active…roughly 2% of the time.

Defektive.7283:

Ask them when Defektive can be on the show.

You’re asking the wrong people! Talk to me in-game sometime.

daydream.2938:

Yo. Since your probably going to ask only 1 question that any particular person lists.

Id like to know if they are going to improve spvp rewards. In particular the ability to earn xp or something like this, that would attract much more casuals to try spvp.

(i dont want levels in hotm itself , but to earn it somehow for your character outside the spvp world).
Also the ability to earn gold in spvp.

Hey Daydream,

We’ve discussed this a few times in previous episodes. I mentioned earning laurels via pvp dailies and such, and I don’t think they were averse to the idea.

Personally, I would love to see laurels gained from PvP, as well as even passive exp gain from glory/rank points/wins. I’ve leveled in PvP in just about every MMO I’ve played. It’s a great alternative to killing dragons.

One can only hope…I think.