Guild Wars 2

Just watched a breakout from the walls of Bluebriar. Three arrow carts on defense, 10 or so defending, 10 or so attackers. No defensive upgrades on the keep, we were able to wipe out most of the siege before it was built simply by dropping arrow barrages on it. Once the bubbles went up, most of the siege operators either ran off or died where they stood. The siege commander, however, is a tank. He was standing long after we’d run the Crystal Desert Invaders off.

All in all, I think the breakout events aren’t going to be a huge threat; they’re simply a force multiplier. The firepower a breakout brings to bear is only going to be threatening when there aren’t many people on your map and you haven’t done your defensive preparation. With defensive siege weaponry manned on the walls, I see little reason to fear a small group utilizing the breakout mechanic, save if your defenses are undermanned.

With a coordinated group (like a WvW guild using the breakout), this might be a lot more problematic, and would require faster defensive response times from the host server’s zerg. On an unupgraded gate, it’s quite possible the defenders won’t make it there before the attackers are in the Lord’s room. Again, if they’ve put in the grunt work to get their towers upgraded (posting sentries, etc), the breakout isn’t nearly as threatening.