With a title such as Guildwars, it would seem obvious to include battles between guilds. I’ve yet to understand why one of the most popular game modes in GW was cut from the second game. I have heard that there would be issues with the current combat system working for a GvG type match. That does not however imply that game content should be excluded, rather, it implies that there is a flaw in the battle system itself. I believe that GvG could be possible so long as the format of the battle was altered, as well as addition of skills for both weapon and utility slots to allow for more variety in combat.
In the first Guildwars, there was the flag capturing objective which was generally located in the center of the main battlefield which was used to increase the moral of a team. However, one objective would not be practical in Guildwars 2 because that would result in one large brawl at the center of the map and would likely be the determining factor for the match, unless perhaps it was a close fight between the two opposing teams. Instead there should be a blend of objectives. The ones that are present in the pvp arenas as of now are great examples: a flag stand (from the original Guildwars), capturable points, slaying certain NPC’s, the presence of a guild lord, and so on. These could be blended into a single game type on a fairly large arena, preferably set in Guild Halls (another part of the original Guildwars that should have been passed down to the second game), which would allow for more strategy within the game type.
I’ll now briefly touch on the battle system that is present in Guildwars 2 which is, more than anything else, responsible for GvG’s incompatibility with GW2. From what I can tell, the complication comes from two parts of the battle system: the lack of a support class and the lack of diversity that comes from the pre-set weapon skills and small amount of utility skills given to each class.
I believe that each problem has the same solution; by simply adding a wider variety of both attack and support skills for each class and allowing players to construct “builds” in addition to the current ability to alter their traits, the problem of support classes and diversity could be solved. It is understood that Arena Net chose to make Guildwars 2 the way they had so that it would be a more playable game for everyone, however this only allows limited diversity between characters and makes it more difficult to separate a good player from a more exceptional one. Providing more freedom to the classes and how their skills are set could only benefit the community of Guildwars. As of now, the only way to truly support an ally is to either attack those who are attacking them, or to cast an area of effect skill in their vicinity, such as a shout or a field spell. There are very few skills that can be directly cast on an ally to aid them in a fight. This is a problem in competitive play, and really doesn’t allow teammates to work optimally with one another which takes away from the overall pvp experience.
Currently there is a not a particularly broad choice of player vs. player game types, and there are now even fewer due to the removal of Paid Tournaments. The addition of Guild vs. Guild would be an update that has been much awaited for, and appreciated by a vast majority of pvp regulars. The only way for GvG to be a conceivable player vs. player game type is to create both a setting and battle system that allows for greater strategic planning than is currently available in GW2. Guild vs. Guild was never simply a fight between two guilds; it was a battle of skill, and even more strategy, which ultimately was the reason for its success as a competitive game type, and is more than an adequate reason for reapplying it to Guildwars 2.
