Guild Wars 2

Nikkinella.8254:

I’d still like to know why warrior has exponentially better survivability than necro, the majority of it being passive so they don’t even have to think about it, and are allowed to have roadrunner-ish speed to go along with it. The excuse for necro not having any dashes/teleports/etc is the survivability. So what’s up with that? 1 utility skill that does a dash or teleport and i’d be happy even if it had a ridiculous cooldown. And no, the wurm thing doesn’t count.

I have always felt like Wurm should be a teleport from the first cast. And then while it is still alive to teleport again.

Many of the complaints about mobility would be addressed if they simply gave us a single good means of escape.

If you have BM specced you will hit things that should never have been hit, ever.

Arah story. The first airship you get on has a spot that will take damage from locusts.

Dredge fractal, the grating at the 2 buttons will put you in combat.

I could go on and on. And I frankly think it is more of a problem with the BM traits, but that could possibly explain how you get put in combat when you supposedly didn’t hit anything….

Rennoko.5731:

Yerffejy.6538:

Dearest Jinx, in case you missed anything written in his post, his sole purpose of this video was to proc every single condition onto a single target. All 12 of them.

Main-hand dagger was used for immobilize, if I understand correctly. :P

At least the beginning was. xD

P.S. Golem Charge counts as an interrupt, and can proc Perplexity runes. Food for thought if you go for ALL CONDITIONS EVER again.

I have never seen the charge work for perplex (at least it didn’t some time ago). The only way to get it to proc was to use warhorn (reliably).

Hmmm. Now that I think about it, I believe I only ever read speculation on whether it would work or not. lolz. Ignore me then. haha

Dearest Jinx, in case you missed anything written in his post, his sole purpose of this video was to proc every single condition onto a single target. All 12 of them.

Main-hand dagger was used for immobilize, if I understand correctly. :P

At least the beginning was. xD

P.S. Golem Charge counts as an interrupt, and can proc Perplexity runes. Food for thought if you go for ALL CONDITIONS EVER again.

Seeing as if you use Doom correctly in DS, and you have the duration, that is 3 seconds of fear. PLENTY of time to land a LB hit.

True. Our weapons don’t cleave. But almost every other weapon attacks ends up being AoE.

We have tons of AoE.

Don’t get me wrong, would love to have dagger cleave. Just saying that we do have access to a ton of AoE…

Rym.1469:

Quick tip: Regardless of spec, traited Warhorn is amazing CC/ Kite ability.
Wail of Doom is unblockable also, so you can interrupt things like Blurred Frenzy, Shelter heal

Wail of Doom is unblockable, not uninvulnerable as far as I know.

Can’t block it, but you can invuln it.

RashanDale.3609:

Balefire.7592:

And now, to bring the Spite discussion into its next stage, here are the results.

Do any of them surprise you? If so, why?

It’s surprising how many ppl consider Death’s Embrace to be alright (or parasitic bond).

Or why some think Spiteful talisman is subpar. It’s a normal 20% CDR trait with a very good extra. As a minor trait, it cant get any better.

It’s funny how absolutely everyone hates siphoned power

It suffers from a lack of direction. At the end of the trait line, you have the two best GM traits for Power and Condi builds. The minors are all very weak, and the Adept traits aren’t stellar either.

that comment sums it up pretty well (and no, it’s not mine), i disagree with reapers might and spiteful talisman not being good tho.

Death’s Embrace: I am fairly certain most classes have this, or something like it. At least 4 do. So I never expect Anet to change it. Since it is a trait found on multiple classes, I weigh it based on the usefulness compared to the other traits. And I don’t feel this trait is inadequate compared to the other ones. So as is, I believe it is fine. If Anet decides to change the trait as a whole for the other classes, than necro should of course remain on par to the rest. But until then I see no reason to complain.

Parasitic Bond: How can you complain about free health? Sure, this tree may not be the best place. But 1k health from killing something. In terms of necro support, thats a hard hitter. xD

I was surprised at how many thought Spiteful Marks was terrible. While I agree that no one should be really taking this trait, ever, it seems weird that most people didn’t want it merged with say Staff Mastery or Greater Marks. Unless they thought it was so bad, they would rather call it out as Terrible, rather than put it to Move/Merge. xD

Ferik.3127:

1. Designers
They are making Edge of the Mists, which is a very large WvW map. This new map is coming out this year. It took away designers that could have been deployed to make new PvP maps or improve existing ones (looks at Skyhammer)

Speaking of which, we’ve never heard about ANYTHING about new maps or upcoming game modes after Skyhammer. Are they being worked on, or the developers simply cannot do more than making empty promises saying “there will be new game modes” after 1.5 years of the game release?

I am fairly certain I have seen multiple sources discussing new maps, new modes, and the likes for PvP.

Like, multiple sources. A leak from some alpha stuffz (unless everything I have seen was proven false) showed a testing schedule for multiple new game modes, including TDM, king of the hill, and some others I can’t remember off the top of my head.

It was also revealed in a video (never kept up on the news, so no idea if it was fake) at least like 6 new maps for PvP. They were rough unfinished things, but they were in the process of making them…

So unless everything I have seen and heard was fake, they are working on lots of new things.

The biggest nerf incoming is to Dhuumfire. So… Cause for celebration? Idk.

I say come back. Because things are fun. And things.

Yeah. My average for life transfer is about 3-5k.

My LB crit around 3k on everyone.

Wells tick for around 2k…

Can’t quite comment on the how really. I have had something similar happen to me though. And 2 other friends.

We were playing together, long time ago now, but we were on the same map. Suddenly, we got kicked from the map. And when we loaded in, we were friendly.

Friendly to everyone. We could speak to anyone via /say chat, and could not be attacked. We, however, could not use any of the gate portals, except for our own servers.

We could res anyone who died, without any negative effects to ourselves. We made friends with some enemies, and at one point an enemy server came and ganked them. We promptly just ressed them back up and continued on with ourselves. It was a lot of fun, but the bug was completely random, and very rare. Only heard of this bug happening a few other times.

The server just randomly decided “nope” right as we broke into a tower we had just catapulted down (with just the 3 of us). The wall went down, we were kicked from the map, reloaded, and became friendly to all.

It also ended up changing the servers around, where none of the names matched the actual server that was there.

A weird bug, but super fun all the same. xD

I just never see it. Been running the build for…. like maybe a year now? And never seen anyone running something similar to me.

I always thought I was weird in that I don’t spec into the power tree for power. xD

And most power specs I have seen people post always tend to have something in power.

Love the build, just don’t really see people post about it. Haha

Never thought I would see someone with a similar trait setup as me. O.o

I believe for the Dec. 10th Collab, Jsharp said that if they split the skill, that would possibly allow them to bring the stun up to a full second.

Which sounds pretty good for me….

I have 4% crit chance on my guardian. In dungeons, I have perma vigor. With 4% crit chance.

Not surprised that they are changing it.

One time, a guildie and me were facing a group of about 5 people.

So 2v5. We were trying to get away, and we were both at half health. Suddenly, we were both instadowned.

We look at the combat log and realize that a single warrior used killshot, it went through me and went on to also kill my guildie. We were about 900 range apart.

Best Killshot I have ever seen. xD

The people who believe the holy trinity is the best way to solve some of these issues are so ignorant. But, not here to rant about that.

Currently, support is laughed at in dungeons. As it should be. The fact of the matter is, the faster the enemy dies, the less time the enemy has to attack. Which means there is less margin of error, and there is less chance of failure. Berserker, is quite literally, the best way to support your team. Granted, you have to play it well. The problem is these boss mechanics that focus on one shot kills, or huge attacks that can destroy someone entire health bar. Fighting a boss with a one shot mechanic, killing it faster is your best option. If you can kill said boss in a minute, lets say that boss got only 3 one shot attacks off. Everyone dodged it, everyone was fine, they continue. But when you don’t go DPS, the fight may take 10 minutes. Suddenly you will have to have 30 dodges or blocks done over that time, in order to not get one shotted. The margin of error increases. Instead of only 3 dodges, you now have 30 to contend with. And the chances of an error are increased. And when someone goes down, you now need to res them. Your DPS drops further, making the fight 20 minutes now. Now you have 60 chances to make a mistake.

I can get a team to kill Kholer in less than a minute, or I can take that team to fight him unstacked and not in a corner. Suddenly, the fight takes MUCH longer than a simple loss of FGS dps. People make mistakes, people go down. People die, the team wipes. Why would I want to take 20 minutes to do something that takes less than one minute? Taking the longer route only decreases my teams chance for success.

So why is it bad that people go for DPS gear. Sure, some elitism and rudeness also seem to follow that, but it is on the players for their actions, not the armor. A rude zerk player will still be an kitten in different gear.

What needs changing is a large overhaul of the dungeon and fight system currently in place. Imagine doing things where players have to split, and do tasks at the same time. Imagine holding a point by yourself, instead with the group at points. Suddenly, you need a team of people who can handle themselves in a fight alone, instead of pure stack and DPS. It would add some variety, some diversity, and a better test of skill than many other dungeons are now. Might now solve the DPS meta though…

I don’t know all the answers. But I know that currently DPS is the best support. Anyone who thinks otherwise just needs to look at simple numbers.

I feel like for most of the traits I answered “Alright.”

If anyone can find a use for the trait, I tend to think that the trait is alright, because it can be used, and it can be placed in a build by someone.

With falling damage, while the extra effect may be awful, the base reduced fall damage does what it is intended, and so I find the trait adequate. Would it be nice to have a better effect from it? Of course, is it plausible to ask Anet to buff it, not really.

I feel like this discussion should focus on traits that never see the light of day, never used, considered awful, and need serious work, over things that are adequate. Because while getting buffs to certain traits would be nice, making awful traits into useful traits would be much preferred, IMO.

A: Great.
I: Alright. It accomplishes exactly what is intended, and every class has this trait.
II: Great. Works well for the people who use it.
III: Alright. People can use this trait, it is adept, and works well in specific builds/situations.
IV: Alright. Weakness would be nice to get a small buff, to deter bursts on a necro. Bleed is fine as is.
V: Alright. Could be buffed, but I sometimes use this, and it helps in the long run.
VI: Great. What is not to love?
M: Great. Whats not to love?
VII: Alright. Helps with specific builds.
VIII: Great. Whats not to love?
IX: Great. Wide usage, strong skill. See no reason it should ever need changing, except to maybe GM.
X: Alright. Can be used, can help in builds. A bit out of place in the tree, but still acceptable.
G: Alright. But only barely. It is useful, but doesn’t help condi classes (who mainly spec into the line). Should probably be looked into.
XI: Alright/Great. Show me a condi necro who doesn’t use scepter. Haven’t played condimancer in awhile, but I still believe people can take this trait and feel like it benefits them. Is it a bit weak for GM? probably, but it also isn’t terrible IMO.
XII: Terrible. Bad bad bad. Needs a serious rework for anyone to really consider using it.

I rather enjoy rainbows, tyvm.

I don’t have video, but I do have Bifrost.

The marks do not have any special effect. But Staff 1 Auto attack is a rainbow projectile, and if you have staff equipped in DS, Life Blast is also a rainbow projectile, and Dark Path is a homing rainbow missile.

http://imgur.com/YhhI93s,Cr39rRI

I feel like the pics I have of the projectile weren’t too good… :/

I run full zerker ele, and I don’t die to retal from meteor shower.

Ice bow is your fault though. Hits way faster than meteor shower… So not surprising you die from it, even though your OP stated you die using meteor shower.

While running zerker, a good meteor shower will probably take a large chunk of my health, but I am also hitting like a truck… So I call that a tradeoff.

Well if we get a large majority of opinions on our traits and weapons, perhaps the next time the devs come around to collaborate, we have solid information to present them.

Imagine if they came to us, talking about changes to X Trait, and we can refer them to a community consensus on that trait, and possible changes to that trait. Instead of presenting individual opinions and ideas, we can bring the weight of the community consensus to bear, giving more strength to our arguments.

Evalana.5480:

neven.3785:

That is why you build your own PC and just buy new parts when something breaks

I can’t do that. I am computerly handicapped and couldn’t build a toaster let alone a computer lol

I feel like a toaster would be much harder….

Comprissent.3856:

Natronix.9827:

Good job on putting us on 3rd place, again.

If you think this is due to 2v1 this is silly

Last night our guild + BT attacked Bay for THREE hours in YB BL. What does SBI do? Come out of spawn, crossed lanes, and try to hit us from behind the ENTIRE time. Meanwhile, completely undefended towers and keeps on their lane of the map that were free to take were not even looked at.

You guys are doing this to yourself, don’t even fool yourself into thinking otherwise. Your complete inability to drop commander tags and split omniblobs is your ultimate downfall

Ooooooh! Quick to the trigger!

He didn’t mention a 2v1…. I have only seen like 1 MAYBE 2 SBI mention a 2v1. xD

Caffynated.5713:

Who needs walls when you have zeles?

I feel like Mags is one of the only servers we have faced to be confident enough to run lots of zerker eles.

They are so much fun!

Especially when you crit for 9k on meteors! xD

Pendragon.8735:

Yerffejy.6538:

You have no way of knowing who started it. There is no way to know. I don’t know. And that is the problem with your logic. For all we know, YB could have had a spy. And so someone “evened the score.”

That’s bullcrap.

This was something impossible to ignore. A guy sitting in a keep for hours eating every supply that came in, running dozens of stacked golems to their deaths, and going around starting useless upgrade at any stocked holding.

If this was being done first on SBI it would have been posted about here, screen shootd or someone would have contacted YB players about it.

I really am stunned that SBI is trying to act like a victim over this.

You know someone was griefing. That is all you know. You know nothing else, really.

Pendragon.8735:

Yerffejy.6538:

I don’t see how. Except for me saying retaliatory cheating is not okay. And it isn’t.

Orbs can be returned, wasted upgrades cannot. And even if SBI were to give recompense for a griefers actions, less than an hour or so after I read the accusations of SBI griefing, we had YB griefers, multiple on every map, griefing.

So after that, you lost all consideration for any compensation, seeing as you didn’t wait for any honorable action, but stooped to a low road, and continue to defend YOUR griefers.

Right and fair is not the same thing.

If we lose 2000 supply and then you lose 2000 supply both through cheating, neither is right, but purely math wise, match score wise, it is fair, and neither gets an advantage.

Otherwise your position is no different than saying you are fine to win by cheating and expect no consequences if you have an unfair advantage. How in the world is that position sportsmanlike?

You have no way of knowing who started it. There is no way to know. I don’t know. And that is the problem with your logic. For all we know, YB could have had a spy. And so someone “evened the score.”

And let me remind you, no one on YB waited for recompense. Your first reaction was to immediately send people over to SBI to do the same. You didn’t wait for something honorable, you jumped into the mud and started slinging. I wouldn;t be surprised if MORE people went to YB after seeing how you reacted.

What you support is a losing situation for everyone, and is not okay. None of the YB cheaters thought “They wasted X amount of siege and X amount of golems, so I will equally waste their supply and golems to an equal number for fairness.”

That logic is not enforceable, and it is why I say report and hope Anet reacts with a heavy banhammer. Condoning evening the score only makes things worse.

Pendragon.8735:

Yerffejy.6538:

I rely on Anet to monitor their game. If I had the opportunity, I would have banned the people griefing in an instant. No ifs ands or buts. But it isn’t up to me.

I am not defending them at all. I was simply using YOUR logic to explain how it is wrong to take matters into your own hands. The original griefer could have seen YB doing something less than savory, like spotting a spy. Based on YOUR logic, evening the score is justified, and so he was justified in wasting your supplies.

I do not agree with that logic, but apparently you do, because evening the score is something you condone.

What you said = I would like to win based on cheating.

Again, YB did not come out ahead in this exchange.

I don’t see how. Except for me saying retaliatory cheating is not okay. And it isn’t.

Orbs can be returned, wasted upgrades cannot. And even if SBI were to give recompense for a griefers actions, less than an hour or so after I read the accusations of SBI griefing, we had YB griefers, multiple on every map, griefing.

So after that, you lost all consideration for any compensation, seeing as you didn’t wait for any honorable action, but stooped to a low road, and continue to defend YOUR griefers.

I rely on Anet to monitor their game. If I had the opportunity, I would have banned the people griefing in an instant. No ifs ands or buts. But it isn’t up to me.

I am not defending them at all. I was simply using YOUR logic to explain how it is wrong to take matters into your own hands. The original griefer could have seen YB doing something less than savory, like spotting a spy. Based on YOUR logic, evening the score is justified, and so he was justified in wasting your supplies.

I do not agree with that logic, but apparently you do, because evening the score is something you condone.

Another defender of someone cheating. We shouldn’t have to keep people in spawn to kill someone cheating. It shouldn’t have happened.

Everything else aside, defending cheaters is a low for anyone.

Maybe the person who originally griefed on YB saw a YB spy on SBI TS or whatnot. By YB logic, he was perfectly justified in evening the score.

Cheating is low, and YB had the opportunity to take the high ground, but they didn’t. Respect for everyone is dropping a lot.

There’s a reason people call you Hax bend.

In a past matchup, we had a [FoW] warrior commander constantly getting into our spawn and killing golems in our spawn. You didn’t see us sending people to your server to do the same. It sucked, we moved on, and dealt with it. But good ol’ Yaks Bend, decides to justify sending someone right back at you to “even the score”.

Logic, for everyone. Wrong + Wrong = Right.

Merrikk.6790:

Stop forgetting that YB had to fight a 2v1 against SBI at the beginning of the season 1 against IoJ and SBI. IoJ for the most part only targeted us.

The 2 differences with now and then are:

1. You didn’t plan it
2. It was 1st and 3rd targeting 2nd. At the beginning of this week, EB had 2nd place, so it was 1st and 2nd targeting 3rd. Although to be fair, you were seen as the toughest server in this match-up

The difference is, we also targeted IoJ. There were no choices to make, if it was red, it was dead. IoJ had its own decision on who to target, and they chose you. Quite different.

Anywho, I remember the SoR/SBI/SoS matchup. SoR decided to make SBI beat SoS, and was even in our TS coordinating it. And all I remember is how kitten ed SBI was that it was happening, and it caused a lot of grief with some guilds and the rest of the server for participating in that.

P.S. 2v1 is not match manipulation. Allowing and helping another server take and hold objectives to allow a server a victory, IS a match manipulation. Justify it by technicalities, but SBI has no interest in stuff like that, and probably never will. I wish Anet came down kitten the griefers, I really do. They honestly need to take a tougher stand, and permaban anyone who attempts it.

I think the issue is actually the targeting involved, especially when working with the #1 downed skill channel. Oftentimes when I try and switch targets, it decides to… not… and makes me miss my intended target.

Or something like that. The targeting causes me to miss way more than it should, just can’t think coherently on WHY it seems to do that.

It was very clear that we wanted to keep that camp. It was very obvious we were not willing to lose it for a fair fight. So don’t complain that you kept going there, and we responded the same way everytime.

We didn’t force you there, you chose to return over and over again.

Stop going for our camp, and we won’t come to murder you.

<3

To the CD thief hacking into SBI’s EB keep….

Curse you! I see you CnDing off of a wall!

I am intrigued at how you do it. xD

Nikkinella.8254:

I’m pretty sure SBI will come in first in this league. We were able to put up a decent fight against FA for a bit, but holy crap you guys have a lot of people. It’s yet to be seen whether or not you can beat FA as far as their organization goes, but you definitely have the manpower to take them on. It should be a really interesting fight either way, I just hope we don’t get stuck in that matchup against you 2.

You see all these number now… A majority will be gone when we face kittenain.

Apparently FA and again next to each other get filtered out. Joy.

Pt 6/6

Pros:

• More competitive matches. We would see more competition in specific timezones (Like NA), where non-T1 servers could actually compete in a specific timezone, bridging the gap between T1 and everyone else, providing more opponents, variety, and excitement.
• No need to stack a server with 100% coverage. People who play in offhours can be strong in their timezone, without being bored against servers without coverage. And vice versa, servers with no offhours coverage wouldn’t be bored with no opponents, and getting night-capped while they sleep.
• Gives good competition (hopefully) in every segment, because you only need 6 hours of coverage. People with zero coverage in one timezone face similar opponents, making it so large crushing victories are not going to ruin the entire match.
• Server pride. A server who is rated 1st in Time Segment 1 would reliably be able to say that they are the #1 NA prime server, and can create a sense of pride in a player’s server. And larger servers can go for the Hat Trick and take a victory in all time-slots, asserting their dominance in every timezone.

Cons:

• 4 Resets a day, 5 on Main Reset day. This would be a little annoying, as gameplay would be interrupted 4 times a day, interrupting fights and sieges. I would hope Anet would be able to speed along the mini-resets, so they don’t take 15-20 minutes to start up.
• Complicated Match system. A new player entering for the first time may be confused that we fight 4 different matches throughout the day, and may be put off by it all. While some tooltips could be introduced to better explain the system, it still would be more complicated.
• Disruption of time zones. I don’t know exactly where SEA, OCX, and EU fall in the time scale, but it would be awkward if a split fell in between two segments, so the server was strong at the last 3 hours of a segment, and strong at the beginning of the next segment. It would make some smaller nightcaps happen, and would make it more unbalanced in amtchups.
• Less total points. Since each segment (Or match) would only tick for 6 hours a day, the amount of points gained would be much smaller than the grand totals we see now, and would disrupt the Server-wide effects that we gain through total points.

Note: All times based on Servertime.

[b] In conclusion, I hope I make some people think on some changes that could be done. All of this I sort of brainstormed with Me, Myself, and I, so it is definitely not perfect. I do hope that the devs can consider some of the things I have said, or maybe I give an idea that sparks the revolution! Anyways, thank you anyone and everyone if you took the time to read through it all. It is a lot to take in. And sadly, I have no TL;DR version. Gold stars to anyone who has made it this far, you all deserve a cookie! <3

Cheers, and let’s remember that this game is about having fun!

P.S. The devs have taken the time to make this thread, and they didn’t have to do it. So I think we all need to tone the hostility towards them WAY down, and keep it constructive. It takes time to read through all of these posts, and especially read them while absorbing the message we are trying to convey. Cut them some slack! Oh and if you aren’t contributing to the conversation, why not leave it out of this thread? And remember, play nice! [/b]

Pt 5/6
And finally, my last suggestion! Although I consider this one to be the most important.
This final solution is a way to stop the Landslide at a certain point. So instead of going all the way down the mountain like we see, it is stopped midway on the mountain, and not allowed to proceed further. However, while my other suggestions were small changes, this final suggestion would drastically alter WvW. (Aka, a lot of work to program and such.)

The 4-Matchup Solution

Reasoning: My reasoning was simple. I asked myself: What is a way to stop the Landslide effect from effecting all aspects of the matchup, having extreme repercussions to everyone playing. And it came to me, break up the segments of the day, so that one does not negatively impact another. So I split up the 24 day into 4 different time periods.
The way this would work, is that each segment of time is considered a different matchup, and so score in one segment would have no effect on that of another segment.
Implementation: So we start by dividing the day into 4 segments. I like using

1. Segment 1 3:00PM-9:00PM
2. Segment 2 9:00PM-3:00AM
3. Segment 3 3:00AM-9:00AM
4. Segment 4 9:00AM-3:00PM

Now I understand that reset (for NA) falls in between a segment, but I believe it is manageable.

So after we split up our timezones, we make each one its own separate matchup. What this means is that everything that happens in one timezone has absolutely zero consequences in another timezone. After every 6 hours, the match experiences a mini-reset, where the previous data is stored, and the data from the upcoming segment is restored, starting where you last left off in that matchup. So a server has a possibility to win in 4 different timezones.

Now, the added twist, that really makes it a good system. Each segment has its own specific matchup. The segments have their own opponents, who are unrelated to the server’s other segments. Each segment has its own rating, and so each time segment faces a balanced (as much as possible) opponent for that timeslot.

This allows for servers to be competitive in a specific timezone, and not have to worry about being nightcapped or anything like that. If they stack NA primetime and nothing else, they can still be strong and compete, and not depend on offhours coverage to secure a win. This also allows a server to say without a doubt that they are number 1 in a specific timezone, because every other timeslot has no bearing on that specific timeslot’s performance.

During the downtime, while waiting for Segment 1 to come back into play, the score hasn’t been ticking. It only ticks when gameplay is active.

Pt 4/6
These are just some suggestions that fit in neither category, but some suggestions that should be considered to encourage defense.

• Defensive Rewards Make defending a keep event more accessible. Lower the event timer from 3 minutes to 1 minute. Keep the WP timer on the same 3 minute timer. After every minute, if a player has killed any enemy, downed any enemy, hit 10 enemies(Hard enough to earn kill credit, whatever that specific amount is), or contest the capture circle at any time, the defender gets credit for defending the objective. Defending an objective while outmanned should increase the monetary gain by double, if not triple the normal amount(~10 silver tripled). Every time the Defend Event ends, the rewards for defending are increased based on the number of sequential defend events a player has participated in. If the fighting has gone on for an hour, that is 60 defend events, and players should be receiving increased rewards if they have lasted through the 60 events.(Note: Just realized DR would hit kitten this, so a measure to not have that happen should be in place) This rewards the defender for a valiant defense, and increases incentives to stay and defend an objective.
• Dolyaks Return Dolyak Rewards! This vital event is still completely reward free. It is a thankless job, and it is about time you brought the rewards back, to give players a reason to escort dolyaks more often, which contributes to upgrades at a keep, which contributes to more defenses in times of attack. Maybe a point or two can be given to the total score each time a yak makes it into an objective. I think many agree rewards for this need to be returned.
• Outmanned Safety Net Make the Outmanned Buff able to be server-wide in some cases, instead of only map-specific. So if Server X has 50 players on each map, and Server Y has 20 players on each map, the outmanned buff goes into effect. However, if Server X has 50 on each map, and Server Y has 50 on a single map, outmanned is not applied on that map specifically where the numbers are equal. The point is to take into account total numbers in order to blanket a server, and give them some incentives to keep coming out.

Pt 3/6
Another way to halt the landslide is to slow down the rate at which everything falls, and gives defenders a bigger chance to hold out for longer, decreasing the points gap, allowing for reinforcements to arrive, and to give some benefits to defenders.

• Dynamic Scaling If Server X is outnumbered at a specific time, the objectives scale up in difficulty. All Wall’s and Gate’s health are increased (based on the enemy numbers, scales kinda like a dynamic event) to give defenders more time to counter an attack. This would also buy more time for defenders to destroy enemy siege. Another approach would be to increase toughness on all objectives, decreasing the damage a wall or gate takes. Can also add a buff that removes player’s abilities to damage gates (Only siege could do damage, like walls.) Even a damage cap on objectives, making it so a specific amount of siege would be completely wasted, as their damage would not be counted, could go a long way. (Discourages 40 golem rushes.) The overall purpose of this would be to slow the capping by a lot, which may include how fast the circle is captured.
• Defensive Siege Might If Server X and Z are outmanned by Server Y, so the Outmanned Buff gives a 30% increase in siege damage. At the moment, 5 superior flame rams (Easily doable with a large zerg) can burn through a reinforced gate before 2-3 superior arrow carts can destroy the rams. Giving a bonus to siege damage allows defenders to properly counter the enemy siege before it is too late, and also create scenarios where a small group could create a killbox, and try and eliminate the enemies. Consider the buff as an equalizer of sorts.
• Supply Limitations Limit the amount of supply an large zerg can find when they outnumber the enemy. If Server Y has a large numerical superiority over Server Z on a map, Server Y only has access to 70% of supply. What this means is, when they take a camp, the players go and pick up supply, losing 3 supply in the process. This leaves each player who picked up 10 supply with 7. This will limit the amount of siege the large zerg can deploy, giving defenders more of a timeframe to work on a counter, and increasing the time it takes to flip a structure. As it is now, a zerg flipping a T3 keep with 1700 supply gets access to 500 supply after the cap, which is 5 more golems, or 12.5 flame rams. With a supply cap, the 500 gained becomes 350 supply, costing the enemy 2 golems, and 5 flame rams. Supply traps, and cutting off supply lines can be a great deterrent to the large zerg, and may save objectives for much longer than normal.
• The Last Stand If Server Z is outmanned by an enemy server, all Server Z objectives earn “The Last Stand” buff. This buff gives a small(yet not insignificant) increase to toughness, healing power, and vitality to any players in range. Can also throw on the aforementioned extra siege damage to give defenders a slight edge to defend their structures. This helps defenders fight larger odds, lets them survive longer, and hopefully hold out for even longer.

Pt 2/6
To start off, my philosophy is that limiting a player’s ability to play, and their contributions to a game should never be introduced. Forcing players to play in rigid ways is an awful idea, and I avoid responding or hearing out most people because what they suggest limits a player’s contributions, or limits a player’s ability to play how and when they want. I believe me and Anet are on the same page with this.

Secondly, lots of words incoming! Lots of posts! Some things to keep in mind if you decide to stick it out and read it all:

1. Mention of outmanned in my posts should be assumed to mean all maps are considered in the calculation(unless otherwise stated), meaning you can’t keep numbers low on just one map in order to capitalize on the bonuses granted. Overall numbers on all maps are used, but if the map is nearly full with defenders, the buffs don’t take effect on that map.
2. I also use 400-500 PPT to show a difference in population at the time. (As we all know, numbers= higher PPT).
3. I use 15,000 points lead as a benchmark for a handicap. Anything below is still fairly competitive, and a server should try to succeed on their own merits. Anything above, a handicap can be useful to keep the scores competitive.
4. There are three ways to deal with the landslide as I see it. You can slow down the landslide, and you can decrease the size of the landslide, and you can make a shorter mountain. My first two posts include less drastic changes.*

My second post is how to decrease the point gap and size of the landslide.

Rewarding Effort If Server X is ticking for over 400 PPT, the remaining potential points are considered double(or an extra amount set to scale) for the Servers Y and Z. This would scale according to PPT and not be a set number, so that the harder a server is dominating, the more the servers getting dominated receive for holding the small amount they own. This gives Server Y and Z a stronger PPT, decreasing the deficit caused by Server X’s dominance. This would also increase defense incentives, as every tick counts for extra. This system would reward outgunned servers that come out to fight and do what they can, while not reducing the contributions of the people who were unlucky enough to end up PvDooring.

A Garrison Redemption When Server X loses their garrison to Server Y that is dominating (Via PPT [400-500], or Server X is outmanned), a buff is placed on the characters in the map. This buff, “Redemption,” lasts for one hour. If Server X retakes their Garrison with the buff still on, they immediately gain 50 points (Equivalent of holding garrison for 30 minutes, or 2 ticks.) The rewards for retaking garrison should be improved (doubling or tripling the gains from the capture succeeded reward.) This can discourage some karma trains, because if an enemy mesmer is hiding, and reclaims the keep before the tick, Server X just made 50 points, and lost nothing PPT wise. This would also hopefully provide reasons for people to still come out to fight. This can be applied to other objectives as well.

Upgraded Returns If Server Z is Outmanned overall, and/or Server Y is ticking 400-500 PPT, Server Z gains a special bonus when taking objectives. The objectives come partially upgraded, and are given some supply (Varies per objective, and takes into account supply left from the capture.) So say Server Z manages to retake their bay from Server Y, Bay comes with Walls and Gates reinforced, and cannons halfway done. Bay also comes with a base 300 supply. (Anything below 300 is bumped up to 300 supply, and anything above is left as it is.) This helps a server get back on their feet quickly, and makes it so the server can’t just come back and plow through paper gates and wells. Can also reduce the costs for these, whether it be the gold, supply, or both.

Two Versus One If Server Z is dominating the match, and have extended their lead to be above 15000 points between 1st and 2nd place, Server X and Server Y gain better rewards when taking objectives from Server Z. When 2nd place and 3rd place take an objective from 1st place, they immediately gain points equivalent to the PPT value of that object. So if 2nd place takes 1st place’s camp, they immediately gain +5 points to their total score. Same with Towers, Keeps, and Stonemist. The rewards for capturing objectives from 1st place are also higher for the player, with more earned from the capture succeeded event, including increased chance of drops, and higher WXP gained. (Sidenote: I contemplated a defensive version of this, defending against 1st place, but I feel that would require a lot more server usage to know who is attacking, and who you are fighting off, etc., whereas attacking, whoever caps the point is the clear beneficiary, and requires little amounts of server usage to give extra rewards for it.

Pt 1/6
Devon Carver: I’d be more curious to know what people think is the reason behind the fact that score is so directly related to the number of people on a server 24/7 and how WvW could be designed differently to address that moving forward. My personal observation is that the momentum you gain from even a small period of having more people online is so large that it can’t be overcome. Which makes me think we need to be doing more to slow that momentum.

Direct response to Devon asking about how the landslide occurs: The main problem with population imbalances is the upgrades that are used on every objective. The landslide happens when Server X outnumbers Server Y and Server Z. Server X flips every asset they can get their hands on, and the other servers are helpless to stop them. This creates the intial PPT gap, in which Server X rapidly increases their Points lead over the other two servers. This creates the first gap.

When Server Y and Z log on in the morning, they see their entire maps have been flipped, and everything is paper. They now have to start the process of retaking all of their assets, and start upgrades and replacing all the lost siege. (That is a lot of money spent.) As Server Z and Y start to retake their objectives, they still have to deal with Server X, who continuously comes and recaps everything, and hinders Server Y and Z’s progress in regaining their assets.

Now, low and behold, primetime occurs. Server X, Y, And Z are all relatively equal in their primetime, and can remain competitive. However, due to Server X flipping most if not all objectives, Many of Y and Z’s objectives are not fully upgraded, and can still be paper. So normally, where the three servers were relatively equal, Server X has a huge advantage: All their objectives are T3, completely full of supply. So during Primetime, Server X makes more headway against the other 2 servers, and continues to increase their lead over the other two servers.

After Primetime, most of Server Y and Server Z still have many objectives not fully upgraded, but have gone to bed. Server X continues to push, and flips everything faster because many objectives are not upgraded and sieged out. The period of Server X dominating PPT happens faster this time, and the lead continues to widen by a large margin. When Server Y and Z log on, they look at the map, and some decide to do something else this time, and many others choose not to spend money on upgrades and siege. The reclamation after the nightcap from Server X happens less effectively, meaning more points lost by Y and Z. And Server X makes captures even easier than before, facing less opponents, and less defense.

Primetime rolls around, and Server Y and Z look at the score and decide to relax, since the match has officially been loss. Less people turn out, they try less to play competitively, and start to karma train. And that is the landslide brought on by population imbalances. It not only effects the timezone it happens it, it effects the entirety of the match, causing a close match otherwise to become completely lopsided.

I decided to directly answer the first question you posed, since you seem to want to see a player’s take on what causes the landslide.

I have quite a few selections to post as well, but they will have to go into another post in order to fit. Bear with my walls-o-text.

Sorry I couldn’t fight anyone. Had something come up. Hope the people left had fun

Impromptu Fight Club, SBI Windmill!

Need more NSP and EBay!

I hope Ebay enjoyed [DH]’s Ele Death Squad. Running all zerker, and when we die a lava font spawns that hits for 3-4k per tick.

Hope you enjoyed the pain!

Here’s my thief!!!

Hexin.5603:

Yerffejy.6538:

After we got some of our transfers, it became very clear that we outmatched anyone in Silver. And while we naturally moved up because we were dominating, we all wanted to not farm for 7 weeks against servers in last place. So we had already moved to gold basically by the time it was announced.

You are forgetting that Anet, when first announced, said there were only 2 leagues. Many of our transfers came after it was clear we were leaving Silver league. And then they made the 3 leagues. And we continue to try and rise.

Soooo… your whole point… is wrong…

This smells just like my posts when on Kaineng – after kitten ing off every server and stating – no we didn’t want to farm, we have primary goal to be best – sorry folks along the way – huehuehue … meanwhile other posts blatantly state how fun it is farm baddies.

“Incoming flank – reality check train”

No one at SBI knew how many transfers we were going to get. We started with KWBH, and most thought that was who we were getting. And then more and more guilds came. Our only goal is to be competitive whereever we ended up.

We never claimed to be T1, we never claimed to want to be in T1. We just want to have fun. Most of the boasts you see about SBI seem to come from other servers. xD

After we got some of our transfers, it became very clear that we outmatched anyone in Silver. And while we naturally moved up because we were dominating, we all wanted to not farm for 7 weeks against servers in last place. So we had already moved to gold basically by the time it was announced.

You are forgetting that Anet, when first announced, said there were only 2 leagues. Many of our transfers came after it was clear we were leaving Silver league. And then they made the 3 leagues. And we continue to try and rise.

Soooo… your whole point… is wrong…