Guild Wars 2

I applaud the OP’s bravery for comparing this game to WoW and agree with Sprawl regarding the state of the game at release relative to the competition. While GW2 may technically be better, the bottom line is that it’s less fun than current games on the market, specifically related to PvP. And yes, it is less fun than WoW, even with all of its flaws. It’s why PvP remains in such a dismal state in GW2… it’s not fun. It’s why 3 of the 4 of us that play together have left GW2 to go back to WoW. It’s not a good feeling for sure, but a few good battles and you’re over it. BTW, all 4 of us would pay a monthly fee for a better game. In the end, it’s not the money, is the fun factor. Even GW2 said this when they established ‘fun’ as their metric of success. I wonder how they’re feeling.

@Rukia, thanks. Agree with you 100%

@Crass, just looking at my skills alone, I calculate my DPS to be 864 and my HPS (heal per sec) at 111. If everyone is similar or marginally close, this would seem to be heavily weighted toward DPS, which I am not the first to point. Obviously my analysis needs a lot of work. That said, look the forums… there are common themes that seem to be discouraging people, one of which is the role of support. Another example is the state of PvP. It’s not healthy and, in my view, this point is one aspect of it.

@John, I know and respect that they want to avoid the trinity, however even at the current DPS/HPS levels (see above), giving the ability pop your heal on another does not turn this into a healing game by any stretch of the imagination. Instead, it provides a layer of support that feels lacking in the game. Keep in mind that I am not the only to have said this. Also, I don’t doubt that there are eles running support. That said, I’ve only ever seen that rain cloud 1 time over my head and I rarely ever see water attuned eles. It could just be the server I’m on, but everyone seems to recognize that the best defense in this game is a strong offense, hence everyone is dps’ing.

I have two points that I want to make that I hope will generate good discussion and perhaps help make GW2 a better game.

First, I really do not understand why heal spells have a cast time when most DPS spells do not. The result is that heal spells are often interrupted and or simply do not fire before being down. Now, I understand that some may prefer the ability to interrupt a heal spell, but then why not also a dps spell? Additionally, as others have stated (and some proven mathematically) DPS skills will generate more damage than a heal spell can account for by and large (hence the common theme from posters on this forum that this is really a pure dps game). That said, it just seems like an odd and unjustifiable mechanic to slap a cast time on a heal spell that cannot match the incoming dps from a dps spell that is instant. What’s the point?

Secondly, the other common theme that I hear is that the support capabilities in this game ‘feel’ limited to non-existent. I agree. We’re basically all standing around dps’ing and if one of ‘support’ spells happens to benefit, well that, for the casual player, is just pure coincidence. That said, why not allow heal spells to be cast on a friendly target? You’re still faced with the same CD, you still better manage it wisely, and yet it adds an element of skill and strategy to the game. This is just a suggestion… not asking for a full blown battleground healer class that could health through everything. Just seems like an obvious way to get ‘support’ back into the game while increasing the over tactical decisions made during play.

Currently, I’ve no opinion on this because I’ve been so discouraged with sPvP in general that I’ve been in a ‘wait and watch’ mode. I’m inclined to think this change limits player options and is a step toward homogenization. I could easily be wrong.

One thing that I’ve not seen in this thread is a justification. Why the change? Why was it needed? Why is it good? Why is it potentially bad? Seen a lot of opinions, but not much else. Can some one explain?

If you are dying that quickly you should probably consider changing your build.

What’s interesting about this point is that it honestly doesn’t seem to matter. I know others that will disagree, however this game is clearly (and many many posts have said the same thing) geared towards DPS. Sure, there are bunker builds. And honestly, I can count the number of bunkers I’ve come across on 1 hand, and none of them can withstand 2v1 for more than a few seconds.

At the same time, not only do I die that fast, I see others around me die/kill that fast as well. The main point here isn’t the build, though. I want to refocus on to the point…

Why does a heal spell with a lengthy cooldown have a 1 sec cast time when most DPS skills output more dps than the heal, have a smaller CD and have no cast time?

The beauty of PvP is that it doesn’t need new content to thrive.

Then why isn’t it thriving? or is thriving defined as 0/16 on 70% of servers? or 15 – 20 min queue times on free tournies (only to get rooooooolllled by a guild)?

Not saying the OP is right, but as someone said, “come back in February.” Hope Anet fixes PvP big time. Otherwise I’m going to go play WoW… yeah, how sad is that?

To allow it to be interuptable.

This is a great response and a great reason. But it begs the question, why not a 1 sec cast time on all spells then?

I don’t really understand the logic behind a 1 sec cast time for a heal spell that cannot come close to the 0 sec cast time on incoming DPS. Why is there a cast time on the heal at all when other spells are instant? In the limited amount that I’ve played (admittedly limited… like an hour a week)… unless I pop my heal at 70% health, I’m toast. There’s no way to that below 50% health with a 1 sec cast time that I can stay alive for more than half a sec. Why the cast time at all? I don’t understand it.

Instead of creating a new thread, just gonna post here. I’m sad that my bros and I are shelving GW2 mainly because the game had so much potential. But, the fact is that, for us (casual players ~ 3hrs per week), the game isn’t fun. Maybe we’ll come back to it, but for now it feels like the game is crumbling. It sucks feeling this way… we want to play, we’re willing to pay, but, GW2 and ANET are not delivering. It seems like the community is shouting this to ANET, but nobody’s listening. Mike O’Brien once said that they’re betting the company on this game… I wonder if he’s reading the forums and, if so, if he’s having some sleepless nights.

+1 OP… myself and the folks that I play regularly with are not only on the sidelines for the current s/tPVP, we’re actively reviewing other games (some of which we’ve played before). That said, we’re still optimistic that GW2 can correct it’s current trajectory. Thanks for the post, Pray, very well said.

while it may sound fun, it would bring a WHOLE lot of balance issues, similar to what we got now that some spells can be chained together in a way that they all land at the same time
spells have their own cooldowns, if i could equip another set of support skills while in combat , i could , theoretically , chain support skills like that too, and we all know some support skills are very strong, imagine them combined with say…3 mantra abilties on a mesmer on one bar, port, poison well , whatever on the other one, the mester could precharge all his mantras , switch to the main weapon, use his well , port whatever, and instantly switch and smack you with daze, dmg, cripple charged mantras all in less than 2 seconds …..its jsut a random example but you get the idea, it would require a lot of balancing that i dont think they will ever wanna do , its fine as it is

You’re probably right, but it already feels like many utility skills are tied to or work better with certain weapons. Just seems like it might be a way to enhance the number of available skills… as is, it does seem just a touch boring.

I agree 100% with OP. The game is too weighted towards DPS and, with the lack of effective support, creates a fairly one dimensional strategy… “all in, all dps as fast as possible, last standing wins” approach. Maybe that’s why everything feels like a relentless zerg?

I tend to agree with the OP. Would be nice if the utility skills swapped along with the weapon skills. Seems like you’d have deeper customization and greater options.

1. Get more friends = register a full team (or atleast 80%) to tpvp, its not a pub, its made for teams.
2. I have no idea why are you having trouble playing in spvp with your friends, join a server that has 5-8 people, then your friends can join you via friend list in couple of seconds.
3. It would be insane if they allowed you to join as a party and get in one team for spvp, how about i get my 6 friends and we keep farming 8×8 servers, what fun would it be for other team?

1. Agree… find a good guild, form relationships, get on voice chat. This is really your only option.
2. Disagree completely. What you described works for the first battle, but then you and your friends split. This is a big issue for people that are casual players and that just want to have fun with their friends. That’s all.
3. You mean like exactly what happens currently in tPVP? With no other way to play together (see point #2 where you got it wrong), casuals form PuG’s in tPVP and get their kittens absolutely handed to them. Currently, sPVP is far more balanced than tPVP for this very reason.

Note: If you don’t understand what it is to be a casual player then you’re not one. Applause for your efforts, skills and dedication to the game. Seriously, if you’re not a casual, then you’re probably much more of a kitten than any casual and that is a respectable thing. Note, however, that casuals still want their place and they still want to have play and have fun. Nothing wrong with begin casual, except that we’re having a hard time finding our place in sPVP currently.

Everyone that’s posted before me knows more than I do for sure. As a very casual player that likes to play with my bros 1 to 2 times a week, I can honestly say that in the current state of s/tPVP, we’re not at all happy. It really feels like a broken system all around. For us, we’d prefer to simply do sPVP together on the same team. Win or lose, it’d be nice to battle together. tPVP isn’t at all a good fit for us as everyone else has indicated. The result is that we’re looking at other games to play. Maybe we’re outliers in this respect, but I have to believe that a lot of casual players are disappointed in the current state of sPVP.

Reference #121024-003346

I posted above and made a final appeal to reinstate my account. A few moments ago I received an update that my account was, in fact, restored. I want to say a few things…

• Thank you. I feel that I was listened to and that my thoughts were considered. For me, that is very important to the overall quality of the game.
• Please always always treat players as people, not as accounts. At the end of the day, most of us just want to play. We’re not hacking, botting or exploiting. Most of us barely know how to mash our keys effectively enough to stay alive.
• Please always acknowledge your mistakes. Nothing is more powerful than admission and correction. People forgive. People respect this behavior.
• Please keep up the good work. I know that ArenaNet has a lot going on and a lot to work out. People can be patient with you as long as you’re showing progress. I believe you are.
  Again, thank you for restoring my account. I look forward to playing again!

Josh

I understand how OP feels. I am struggling with the current PVP in GW2. What I’ve realized which is not on his list is the significance of quickly and easily playing with my friends. We play together maybe 1 night a week, nothing serious, and enjoy sPVP mostly. However, it just doesn’t work that we can play on the same team.

Another thing that is exacerbating this, IMO, is… and I’m just gonna say it… the lack of the holy trinity. Sorry, I know others will disagree, but there is element of teamwork missing from this game that, well, I miss… straightforward, direct assistance of teammates. I know that skills can assist, however any support is rather indirect and very very difficult to quantify, at least in the heat of battle.

Reference ticket #121024-003346 Submitted on 10/24/2012 for account being banned due to selling gold/items to make real world currency. No word from ANET.

Ok, it’s officially over the 72 hour mark for me. Banned for selling gold. I’m sure you guys are super busy, but would be great to bust this lockout to pieces. Let’s show the NHL how to do it.

Reference # 121024-003346

Leadeater.3298:
I submitted a ticket on 10/20 after finding my account was terminated for supposedly assisting in gold sales for real money. Any update on the status of this would be appreciated. 121020-001238
I got the same issue as you. T_T

Same issue.

Edit: Sorry, forgot reference 121024-003346

Skill Splits + Fractured Environments (PvP/PvE) = World of Warcraft

Let’s learn from failures, people.

I’ve come to love the downed, not for the mechanics, but for the additional level of strategy it adds. That said, there are two points that I think would enhance it.

• When you’re finished, you’re finished… no reviving should take place once you’re finished, period.
• When a second player attacks someone that is attempting to finish a party member, either a successful hit should interrupt the action of finishing the player or the person doing the finishing should take a damage multiplier… i.e. he should get hit a lot harder if he really wants to commit to that finish.

My point in making these two suggestions is that, first, what’s the point in finishing somebody that can just be rezzed right away? I see this all the time in WvW. Secondly, finishing another seems a bit two easy and lacks any real ramifications for the person doing the finishing when another enemy is around. I rarely, if ever see a player reconsider a finishing move.

There is no question that splits are bad and that they will lead to poor mechanics. So many people here go out of their way to differentiate PvP from PvE (and vice versa), leaving devs to either ignore it completely (that’s how GW2 started) or drive a wedge between the two. With each split, you’re going to see an increase in 1) game imbalance and 2) stupid mechanics. I only need cite World of Warcraft. I’m sorry, but the imbalance in that game is absurd and has never even been remotely addressed and the mechanics (I mean really, the cata boss fights? seriously?) are dumb. If you’re gonna split, create two different games. Otherwise, keep it one and let skill be the primary differentiator (is that a word?).

In sPVP, I noticed that a thief who was in my party before joining and who wound up on the opposing team was still visible when he popped his stealth. The visual effect was identical to as if he were still in my party.

“Save Yourselves!”: This skill has now been split between PvP and PvE. In PvE, players will notice no difference. In PvP, this skill’s boon duration has been changed to 5 seconds.

Taken from the latest update from ANET (re: Guardian skills). I really hate to see divergence in skills between PvE and PvP. When this sort of thing happens, ‘what’ you play becomes more important than ‘how’ you play, winding up with PvP specific builds, skills, and gear.

The beauty of GW2, imho, is that each class has a tremendous depth of customization and that skills, gear and builds are situational… there is no one dominant class or build, nor can you easily tell ‘what’ you’re up against. I fear that splitting skills is the start of fracturing GW2’s already awesome depth into something purely PvP and purely PvE.

Targeting, no question.

Why sPvP and PvE > than WvW…
1.) free server transfers
2.) orb hacking
3.) free server transfers
4.) Alt F4 vanishing victims
5.) free server transfers
When those few things get taken care of…you might have a point.

Amen.

1) if your not the first, why would you make a new thread on it, instead of continuing the conversation on existing threads? What makes you so special.

I’m special because I know how to end questions with question marks. Booyah!

Seriously, that was wrong and I apologize. I started a new thread because, as on all forums, threads get buried. Likewise, I’m not arguing with you. You’re arguing with me. You have a position and I have a different one, but I stated mine first.

My opinion is that ANET could provide a more refined set of parameters that actually allow for a more accurate targeting system. Again, I want to point out that I am not the first to highlight this. At the same time, I do not purport to know how to solve the problem as I am not a game developer. However, in the words of Thoreau, “my own personal faults and shortcomings do not detract from the truth of my statements.”

Yes, I know that you can’t target kindling. I was exaggerating to prove a point. It’s a common technique… I picked it up from our presidential candidates.

Since you have no problem, nor the other 5 account holders or players in your home (have fam involved?), outside of the ‘parameters’ suggested previously, what do you do specifically that allows you to be at peace with the existing targeting system?

Seriously, I’m asking and am sincere in my request. Arguments aside, I’m struggling.

And let me point out that, while I agree with Kumu, none of these parameters have any value whatsoever UNLESS you’ve successfully targeted a player first and not a random stack of kindling. Without this, “nearest enemy” does no good. “Next enemy” might be do some good, pray to the almighty, and “previous enemy” only does good if you were successful from the very beginning. Agree 100% that I should L2T (learn to target in case you don’t know), but it doesn’t change the fact that all targets share equal weight in the game, even if they’re not fighting you!

I mean, be careful using “next enemy”… there might be a hawk flying by. Or a grasshopper on your shoe. How about parameters like…

• Target nearest enemy that is dry-humping you
• Target nearest enemy that has you over a barrel
• Target nearest enemy that is hitting you… hard… and frequently
• Target nearest enemy that is not an NPC or beast or barrel or kindling or herbs…
• Target nearest brew pub

I’m just saying…

@ OP…..How can you suggest it is bad targeting design when your hitting your bind for “next target” and complaining that it doesn’t hit the one you want because there are a lot of targets in sight. That is not by any means a targeting issue.
It is very mis-representative of fact to going to WvW with 50 opponents and 20 NPC mobs in a specific area, then coming here and complaining that due to this specific time and place issue it is clearly a targeting issue with the game because the first touch of a scroll target button I used, didn’t land on the specific target you wanted.
The context under which you make your complaint is very illogical.

You’re right… I’m the only one that’s complained about targeting. My bad. Com’on… even with the targeting parameters and the insane pyrotechnics that happening, most have no idea who in the hey they’re targeting. Tab? You have to tab through about 20 targets before you can actually zero in on some one that is worth your while. Sure, I’m complaining Coglin, but I’m not the first one nor will I be the last to point out that the targeting in this game, including the scope of available parameters, is weak, weak, weak.

There are many many points about this game that are great… phenomenal even… but I have to say, hands down, that the targeting is worse than any other game I’ve played. Ever. Especially in WvW where there seem to be rabbits, worms, stags, bears, raptors, bats, and any other number of NPC’s that are absolutely, utterly and completely 100% irrelevant when the person you’re trying desperately to target is actually in the process of shoving his sword so far up your kitten that your all you can do is otherwise eat dirt and pray that the nearest rez point is very very close, swearing profusely that you wish to almighty high heaven that someone at ANET would actually play this game and determine that, in fact, the targeting is so abysmal that it’s quite literally possible, potentially, to target a pile of raptor dung or perhaps even a beetle carcass while otherwise intending to target another actual player. Whew. That was one sentence. I feel better. Seriously. The targeting in this game is awful. It is awful. Awful. Shaking my head it’s so awful.

Like many, I feel that the current state of WvW is not ideal. That said, and I could be wrong, but I believe that servers sometimes don’t do themselves any favor by the strategy they implement.

Most of the time, I see groups of all sizes simply zerging between capture points but failing to put up any effort to maintain those that they have or recently captured. Literally, groups will race to a supply camp, for example, capture it and race away. Within a few moments the camp is under siege again and lost.

I’m wondering what successful strategies others have used or are using to gain advantage in a map. Has anybody tried heavily fortifying capture points with siege equipment? Are people waiting around actively calling incs, etc.? What’s working?

Too many that convey too little information. Most of the time, I’ve no idea what just happened to me. Not fun.

The things people get worked up over I will never understand…

You mean like getting to 5%, game ends to score/time and you don’t get to finish your fight? Yeah, that’s a real heart-wrencher…

Why pop up scores if they’re pointless to look at? Is it a distraction so that you can more easily get ganked? Pop scores AND let people keep fighting? Why have a starting zone with 8 secs ‘to get your strategy ready’? Why not just open it up right away? Why does it matter? Why does this game matter?

The point is that it doesn’t make sense to ‘end the battle’ as it clearly says only to let the battle continue. Is there fighting before the battle ‘starts’? In tPVP, yes, but that’s a whole ‘nother point. If you’re going to pop stats AND allow people to continue fighting, then you, as a player, don’t really have an option do you? You either read the stats and die, or don’t read the stats and fight. It, of course, doesn’t matter. It’s just stupid.

Can someone please explain to me the value of ending a battle only to still be in battle? What I mean is, why the kitten does the score pop up and yet people are still attacking your kitten left and right? It’s inconceivable that a battles ends, the scores pop up and people are still pounding on you. Seriously, can anyone provide an explanation of the value of this feature? [shaking my head] It’s not just absurd, it’s dumb.

Im not sure about you, but in PvP, I usually last a long time. Because Im a bit more choosy about my battles. I dont go rush head long into a group of 10 guys without first thinking of how Im goign to get out of it. Personal play style I guess, but yeah.
I think the game actually does well enough to foster team play. Maybe not in parties, but I feel that people in PvE content are a lot less volitile and accepting of other players.
Though I will agree that in some respects, there does feel like something, what exactly, is missing. I love hte game to death, yes but I feel like there is just something that isnt quite there yet.

I’ve the same feeling and, honestly, it’s tough to describe. I still maintain that the game has a ton of potential and I really hope that the devs do something unique and actually listen to their player base. That said, with respect to PVP, the fundamental philosophy that the pace of the game is determined by how quickly you die pervades this game just like many others. This to me violates the main principle that people play these games to play, to struggle, and to work their tails off regardless of the outcome. Players die in this game just as quickly as any other PVP-centric game and, quite honestly, it is an awful experience.

I want to like this game, and I know many people do, but it’s getting more and more difficult…

• PVE is better than most MMO’s for sure… it fun as an alternative… but, it’s still PVE.
• WvW has a ton of potential, but it’s so imbalanced that your window of play time, unless you just like completely lopsided battles, is very very short
• sPVP is sub par. I’m sorry… it’s an opinion… but there is no diversity, there are way too many effects and, like many games before, the speed at which you die seems to define the pace of the game

I was really hoping to get away from the 2 hitting, the lack of character control, and the imbalance. Instead, the 2 hitting is rampant, every time I turn around I’m feared, rooted, stunned, or just plain running in some direction that I don’t intend. And, yes, the imbalance… tPVP is awful. It’s a matching ground for PUG’s vs. Guilds simply because if you want to play with your friends, casually, you have no other choice. The game is so weighted towards burst dps that it’s not funny. Yeah, ‘bunker builds’… good luck. Likewise, there really is no support. I know there are better players than I, but the team work in this game, aside from instructing on which node to hop, is basically nil. It’s a group of individuals battling in the same area and if some support skill affects you, it’s coincidence by and large, or just plain luck. I’m not even going to mention the targeting… seriously, you can call target an ally. Really? What are you gonna do, heal him? Right. Pointless.

Everyone has different opinions and this one is mine. Ripping it to shreds does not detract from the reality. The more I play the game, the more I appreciate it’s richness but, at the same time, the more I don’t see a whole lot that’s different. It’s certainly less of a grind but it is still suffering from bad mechanics that are the result of development choice. I bought the game (obviously) but I won’t pay for anything in it. I would pay (ongoing) for a game that:

• Rewards and fosters teamwork
• Allows casual players to play together routinely
• That emphasizes strategy and not damage output
• That results in PVP being balanced, fun, fast, but something that you can live through for more than 3 seconds.

I want to like this game, but I am disappointed.

Admittedly, I’m not a hardware guy. I’m using about a 4 year old GeForce 8600 GT with dual monitor support. My comp is about 3 years old with AMD Phenom 9550 Quad Core (2.2 G), Win 7 Ultimate, 6 Gig RAM. I’ve noticed a few things that lead me to believe that I’m having performance issues but want additional input. First, I’m playing a big, fat norn guardian. Here’s what I see…

• Often, specifically after an engagement in PVP with another player, I find myself running very very slowly… not crippled… but less than normal. I don’t see any conditions on myself. Then, all of a sudden, I’m running normal again.
• Thieves often attack me and I cannot see them. I am often struck 4 or 5 times and I cannot actually see them. I don’t know if this is a skill or if I’m going blind.
• Everyone seems to get 2 skills off for my one… and I’m always beaten to interrupts, knock downs, etc. It always seems like I am responding second.
• As a guardian, slant towards bunker build, I get pounded… I mean, I get 2 hit left and right. This point could be more that I suuuuuuck and not so much my card.

Constructive feedback is welcome. Recommendations on better cards and other hardware is also welcome.

We got crushed in 2nd round 500 to 15 and were scratching our heads how they did it. They were all over the place with 3 – 4 players at each base always. It was very odd.

I said in beta that preventing casual groups from playing together in sPVP (hot join) was a mistake and, after playing a bit of both sPVP and tPVP, I’m convinced of it. A large number of us are casual players that frequently play with friends in small groups. At the same time, we enjoy PVP and playing on the same team. Often, we play so little (once a week) that even as a group, we suck… admittedly.

As everyone knows, attempting to join as a group in sPVP of say just 2 people is tedious and subject to auto-balancing. Join with 3 players? Forget it. The only option for casual players that want to play together is tPVP which, in fact, results in the very same justification for preventing groups from forming in sPVP… dramatic imbalance. The reason is, as we likely all know, that in tPVP, a small group ends up as, more or less, a PUG and often opposes a well oiled team of 5, all in the same guild, all with builds built specifically around each other, and all on vent. The result essentially is a premade vs. a PUG… the exact thing GW2 is preventing in sPVP.

The difference is that 1) you have to wait 4 minutes (4 MINUTES!!!????) before the start of the first match and 2) 99% of the time you’re teeth are kicked in so hard that you begin to question why you play this game and 3) you’re out of the tourney before you know it and then have to start all over again.

I know there are a lot of good reasons to maintain the status quo. And I don’t purport to know everything. But, the exact reason for preventing groups in sPVP is rampant in tPVP currently, resulting in some serious imbalance and a real deficit of fun. I respect GW2’s focus on balance and feel that they’re off to a better start than most games… but, as a casual player (previously competitive in PVP), I feel the pain of simply wanting to play with the bros, keep is close, and have some fun… but it’s not happening in the current game design.

The bottom line is this, regardless of whether you’re dominating 100% of WvW or getting your teeth kicked in in WvW, if there’s not a back and forth, it ain’t a whole lot of fun. We all pretty much know this. So, here’s a three part solution that some may like, others may rip to shreds…

1. Communication
Anet needs to develop a better way for players across a server to communicate. Likewise, it would be nice to receive an in-mail (email in the game, yeah, I stole that from LinkedIn…) about what’s going on in WvW. Maybe this would rally more people. Maybe it would provide more actionable information. And show the dang map before entering. It’s like you have to guess which map you’re need most in. Why not show it, communicate it, etc. Develop a way for commanders or party leaders to post what’s going on. I don’t know, but the communication sucks!

2. Alliance formation
Allow the two weaker servers to form an alliance when the dominant server acquires 70% of the resources. Form the alliance on a per player basis, i.e. when a user goes into WvW, there’s a prompt that an alliance has formed. You can accept the alliance or go rogue (ahem), meaning that you will continue to oppose both servers. The alliance would automatically disband when it gained 70% of the resources.

3. Reset the servers
Instead of doing an Anet-wide reset, simply reset the 3 servers once the dominant server controls a specified percent of the resources for a specified time. The same 3 servers re-enter WvW, albeit with everything reset. In this scenario, it’s likely that the same server will control again, however at least there are a few more days of struggle. As is now, servers reset and in about 2 to 3 days, one is dominating for the next week. That sucks. Ruins WvW.

BTW, nice work with balance in sPVP. Not perfect, of course, but it’s a great start and seems to be working very well (I’m being serious here). Praise!

On Borlis Pass as well and have to agree with GranoblisticMan… something is definitely broken here. That said, I agree with the OP that there are opportunities to have fun, they’re just fewer and farther between when you hold 1/100th of the resources as your opposition. I have to say though that the same is true when we’re dominating. When I pull up the maps and I see that we’ve got 97% of everything as a server, I don’t go in. Doesn’t seem like much fun, unless you’re a WoW fan and just love farming (now, where’d I put my tractor….)

Why not have servers reset when one dominates all resources? When I say reset, I mean within the group of 3 servers and not within all servers. At least this way players will get a day or two of ‘struggle’. I mean, whether you’re winning with 99% of the resources or losing with 99% of the resources, the intent of WvW somehow fades away.

I think the intent of this post has back-fired…

What new features?

I hesitate to use the word ‘balance’ because everyone interprets it a bit differently, so instead I’ll use the term ‘closeness’…

I’ve noticed that the closest battles, whether tPVP, sPVP or WvW are in fact in the hot join PVP (sPVP). Both tPVP and WvW are constantly blowouts… Did I miss something or wasn’t it supposed to be the other way around? It seems like there’s been a ton of focus on keeping WvW and tPVP balanced (there’s that word), i.e. ‘close’.

I know there’s some auto balancing (ooops, sorry) in the sPVP and maybe that’s the difference, however it’s always way closer than the other areas of PVP. Is this by design? Is this a normal expectation? Or is this a problem? Just curious.

Right, gotcha on the proactive support role and the dodging. I’ve made a few changes to increase durability, however I’d like to point out that a lot of the skills that one might use are subject to interrupts, like knock downs, etc. I think this only reinforces the point about being proactive. I guess my main point, that no one has really countered effectively (this has turned more into ’what’s a good Guardian Bunker Build’ post) is the role of support vs. dps. Again, crunching the numbers, dps always comes out higher than damage mitigation. At the same time, the support indicators are extremely weak (i.e. how can you tell that you pulled conditions from teammates) and subject to the abundance of visual effects on the screen, so it’s very hard to determine support’s effectiveness.

I’m just not at all convinced that highly defensive builds are worthwhile given that the DPS’r seem to overrun everything so quickly and effectively. I could be wrong, however.

I feel like I’m at a basketball tournament or something. Not sure how others feel, but the announcer has made my top 3 most annoying things of any game I’ve every played.

“The Red Team’s taken the mine! They’re moving the ball down court… [insert name] is on a rampage! Past the half court, [insert name] now has the ball and is driving to the basket. Bank shot and off the rim, no good! Rebound Blue Team!”… and so forth…

Ok, that’s cool… I’ve not done too many tournies… just 2 or 3 with a few buddies. I am still scratching my head though at the “bunker” type characters. I don’t see how, just based on the numbers (dps vs. heals/shields/boons + CDs), the game doesn’t favor DPS builds. The bursts alone on some classes are enough to put you in the red zone (<25% +/- health) in under 3 secs, from which it seems pretty darn tough to recover from.

I fully admit that I’m missing something, however can someone link in a “bunker” type build (Guardian) to help me better understand? Much appreciated.

I’ve played very little sPVP, but wanted to share my perspective and get viewpoints from others. Currently playing a Guardian with a support/boon build based on a GW2 Codex recommendation. My general perspective is (again, your thoughts are welcome):

sPVP “feels” like it’s every man for himself. Even though you may be fighting beside a teammate, your “support”, whether in boons or healing or pulling conditions cannot come quick enough nor can it come close to mitigating the incoming damage. The idea of ‘support/boons’ is nice, but in practice it seems to suffer from a case of ‘too little, too late’.

The result, broadly speaking, is that it feels like the right thing to do is drop the idea of support/boons and solely focus on DPS and damage output, i.e. “the best defense is a good offense”. I suppose this may have been obvious to many from the outset, however I’m a slow learner. Likewise, I assumed that there would be a wider range of ideal builds (or the focus of builds) in the game. Maybe I’m missing something?

Again, thoughts and perspectives welcome.

I largely agree with OP. Mesmers and thieves appear to be the most popular classes in sPVP. Must be a reason for it.