Guild Wars 2

Last night our small group wished for the changes to white swords to be already implemented. It was hilarious that, whenever we were done pecking a gate or wall down, a whole map-jumping zerg rolled in to defend their stuff. It was noticable that, most of the time, there was a group of similar size nearby, throwing siege disablers onto us and holding us off.
So far, so good, but this didn’t lead to the PvP interactions we hoped for. Without white swords, there would’ve been either no player alarming the map-jumpers (would’ve been equally boring) or the defenders had to be more aggressive to shake us off as soon as someone noticed the attack on the structure.

Without compensation and addition of some meaningful mechanics, just removing the white swords will be – as already stated many times – a bad change for defenders. If we get other means of scouting and reporting, on the other hand, it will be a whole new situation (possibly even a good change to promote splitting up).

Some random ideas that we came up with (some of which were already suggested elsewhere):

• make sentries and guards a real thing. If they are attacked make that visible to the whole map and / or to the nearest fortified structure
• allow us to place sentry turrets like on EotM (but avoid spamming them)
• or add sentry turrets to fortified structures, which we can build (similar to cannons) without an upgrade for supplies worth of 2 to five players
• allow players to set team-wide markers or notifications on the map, so that roamers and roaming groups can help to report enemy movement and sieges (“siege marker trick” for 5 supplies, maybe?)

Waikd.4632:

Regarding the white swords, From a tier 1 perspective: I don’t really understand the issues that many people seem to have with it.

Regarding the white swords, I don’t really understand the issues that many people seem to have with it.

From a tier 1 perspective.

From a tier 1 perspective.

From a tier 1 perspective.

That’s why you don’t understand.

Removal of white swords? That’s going to be horrendous for low population servers. Seems like a change that is really not needed.

It will increase PvD scenarios as there will be defenders completely unaware that an objective is under siege. It’s completely unreasonable to think anyone is going to sit in a tower or keep for hours waiting to see if anyone is coming along for a fight. How very dull.

It’s also going to be detrimental for new and casual players that just want to hop into WvW and find some immediate objective related action.

Please proceed with caution, Devs.

There were several changes in the Sept 9th patch (mainly level-progression stuff) that just reeked of “hey let’s change something because if we aren’t changing something then we must not be doing our jobs.”

There’s certainly room for some positive tweaks to WvW, but “let’s make defending more active/rewarding by getting rid of the white swords” is a bit misguided.

One is the lonliest number that you’ll ever do.
Two can be as bad as one but it’s the path we’ll do.

Jim Hunter.6821:

All of Skeletors posts

No wonder he hates rangers. His arch nemesis He-Man was obviously a greatsword ranger with a special green tiger pet.

I think that introducing Transmutation Charges for Badges of Honor would be a neat way to introduce demand for them and potentially improve WvW numbers.

Why did the brown bear cross the road?
-Because it was in aggressive mode

Pockets.3201:

Tin foil has largely been replaced by aluminum foil. Most of the public does not realize that aluminum foil actually amplifies rather than blocks harmful rays.

Most people today don’t realize beverage cans used to be made of tin, not aluminum. In the movie Jaws when Quint crushes a beer can with his hand, and Hooper crushes a styrofoam cup in response, the scene has lost its impact because beer cans are now aluminum. There were no aluminum cans when the movie came out – Quint was crushing a tin can.

Take an empty soup can and try to crush it – that’s how hard it used to be. You had to be ridiculously strong to crush a beer can with one hand. The scene is about the enormous contrast between the two characters (tough guy vs science geek). Quint making a big display of physical strength, and Hooper not letting himself be intimidated by it. But today it just looks like a couple of guys making meaningless gestures because everyone thinks it’s an aluminum can.

(I figured if you clicked on this topic, you should at least learn something useful for your trouble.)

NiloyBardhan.9170:

server st anne.8750:

Oooookay, its easy to see the usual B.S. people post to explain why they lose. It can’t be theirs of course. I do know that playing smart will beat mindless. I read some guy insist that a 5 man sieged equiped keep can’t be held against 70 zerg. Maybe, maybe not. I can testify that one of my guildies in YB held off a 30+ zerg w/ 6 golems BY HERSELF. Yepper, she had an AC and a treb. They died. (you wanna say I lie? I will give your name to her. She will chew you a new one) YB wins cause we play smart. We learn and teach what we learn to the rest of our server. I will not say a high pop isn’t an advantage. Even then you can make them bleed. and get bags at your feet while using a siege engine. In other words guys learn to use the weapons you have and NEVER give up anything without a fight! Good Luck on your season.

That’s crazy! O.o
I’d to know her name preferably by PM.

What actually happened: Someone disconnected, the zerg left to respond to a call for help, his guildie got 1 bag.

Ain’t nobody died to a single arrow cart since 1982.

All of that is a long and complicated process. Why not set limits on population based on the lowest population server on each BL? So if “Server C” has 50 people on a BL then “Server A” and “Server B” can only have 50 people on that BL and so on for each BL.

In this scenario it will truly come down to nothing but skill as theoretically a lowest tier server could still fight a higher tier server. This will also encourage populations to move to new servers since coverage won’t matter anymore if you can’t get the people in.

Lastly, it will encourage more small group play. In my eyes this meets the three major needs that everyone has been complaining about for so long. If Anet deems it unfair to limit the population to the exact number of the lowest population server then they could set a parameter such as Lowest population server + 20% to allow more of the players in to wvw but not overwhelm.

John Corpening.9847:

You guys beat me to it. After last week’s positive discussion on siege trolls I wanted to bring up the topic of population imbalance and ideas that you have on it.

Thanks,
John

For merging server

how do we determine who gets merged?

• Based on WvWvW population, not PvE (Stats which are available to you only)

Where would we merge them to?

• Create Clusters, give them names and do what DAOC did

How do we maintain any sort of world pride or identity they have?

• Clusters create new identity. After all, the movement by guilds from server X to Y is not uncommon

How do we handle potentially merging with your mortal enemies?

• You cant. They will learn to get along. Offcourse you cant merge BG with JQ. Thats of the table.

For population caps, how do we deal with the longer queues on the worlds that can field enough people?

• Clusters will solve the problem

If it is dynamic, would players be able to manipulate it? For example, our world is ahead so we all agree to not play WvW so the other worlds are capped down and can’t counter us.

• That is a bad idea. Please do not implement it

http://darkageofcamelot.wikia.com/wiki/Servers

“During the past weeks, we have been paying close attention to server populations. Our Herald Team has received a tremendous amount of feedback asking us to cluster more servers. In response to your top requests, we decided to do just that. Here are the server clusters scheduled to take place in the upcoming weeks”

Anet has many DAOC designers in your team. Use their experience on how to merge servers.

3 clusters would be enough IMO.

-Fuzz and GL on the cluster

What they should have done was have the 5 events a week as a baseline. (Personally, I think 20 would be a bit better.) If you do these, you’ll get the wvw reward tickets, but to get the title you have to do a host of the typical achievements and throw in an extra chest. Basically it will be sorta like living story season 2 achievements. Right now, I would definitely not wear that season 3 title at all.

That way, the people that want to do the bare minimum can do so, while everyone else who wants to do their thing can also do that and many pve achievement hunters may aim to do so.

John Corpening.9847:

I have asked our devs not to show their tags while participating in Adopt-A-Dev. The tag can become a big distraction and I really want them to be treated as regular players.

That said, we are not enforcing that request, it’s just my preference that they refrain from doing it.

I like this. This way it’ll become easier to see the major underlining problems of WvW. I hope you’ll get the information you need and do good things with it.

Oh, and @Chrispy, the Rapid Fire sound clip starts ever so slightly (it’s enough to react to) before you get by any arrows. Not to mention as soon as you see the rangers arm turn into a blur (it is VERY noticeable to me personally, I notice the combo of both these things more than Pin Down on warrior still) you should know you are within a second away (unless it’s point blank, then you have to rely on the sound clip alone) from being bombarded to the face.

BUT, as you pointed out, you’d have to be a fortune teller to be able to predict WHEN the ranger is going to use rapid fire. Still, it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to play against it, like so many people would have you think, and I’ll match up any day against a glassBow before I would have the preference of fighting perma-stealth thieves, condi thieves, celestial warriors, and really every other AIDs build this game has versus glassBow’s effectiveness being entirely dependent on the skill of the user/opponent, which is one of the healthiest balance relationships this game has seen in a long time.

Can we get these threads consolidated or something? It’s just the same handful of baddies making the same complaints across the span of like 5+ different topics, ignoring logic and calculations because they de-mapped their dodge key (and on a serious note probably just refuse to adapt to the changes because they miss being able to faceroll 99% of rangers foolish enough to use the longbow prepatch because it wasn’t viable. That last 1% is the skilled population that could make it work).

I am gonna have to start referring to most of you as Jon Snow, because you know nothing.

Actually we just need to buff them so they can go on land too.

Nothing more devastating than a Land Shark.

New Siege Trick: Sharknado

Forget the sharks.. New bay upgrade; Release the Kraken. Suppose Hills would need a special avalanche upgrade to balance it out though.

could use a buff.

I suggest lasers on their heads.

Hopefully it’s not copyrighted.

John Corpening.9847:

Finally, regarding swinging ye olde banhammer, that’s an option but if we can make some reasonable adjustments that greatly reduces the need for that option it will really be the better way to go. I would very much like to steer clear of falling back to that option in this discussion.

Thanks again for all the great suggestions!
John

The problem is, you’re trying to brainstorm ideas about changing the system when the number of serious abusers worthy of action can probably be counted on two hands. We do not want a system which is has potential to impede everyone or add a greater potential for trolling. We just want the tiny minority of trolls removed from our environment because it sucks when it happens.

There is no system you could ever design that will address this which itself isn’t open to abuse or doesn’t seriously impede legitimate siege placers. It requires human judgment. I guess the best idea would be to allow players to vote on dismantling siege (and returning that supply to wherever it came from) but even that is open to abuse and voting on 20+ pieces of siege doesn’t sound like a fun way to spend time.

This whole problem needs to be kept in perspective. There have only been a tiny handful of instances where big scale siege trolling has caused a problem. If reports of these individuals were actioned, one of which has been involved in this type of conduct for multiple seasons, then I do believe we’d have no problem at all as a precedent set of removing these folks (either from the game entirely or just WvW) would be enough to discourage it. A case of an accidentally placed piece of siege is acceptable from time to time. When someone builds 10+ flame rams at a supply depot even after being asked not to do it though is just blatant abuse and they should be warned/banned from WvW as appropriate.

That’s my 2c anyway.

Go, go FrouFrou Rangers!
Mighty Swording Power Rangers!

Stronger than before!
Signets can do more!
RF goes through your core!
Power Rangers!

Go, go FrouFrou Rangers!
Mighty Swording Power Rangers!

I beat a longbow ranger as a rifle warrior early today. A zerker rifle/hammer warrior. Bare in mind I am a really bad warrior, so it’s not even a matter of significant skill advantage.

I was capturing the mid point on Spirit Watch. He runs up the stairs and opens with Rapid Fire, which I dodge. I try to return fire but get hit with Point Blank Shot. I recover and unload a Volley which he dodges. He uses Hunter’s Shot to relocate with some distance and unloads another Rapid Fire which I again dodge. I hit him with Crippling Shot and pursue him to keep him in range. His wolf fears me and he turns around and hits me with a Rapid Fire only for my Endure Pain to eat it. Then I switch to hammer, use the F1 to leap at him, which connects. Then I knock him down to set up for a hammer 5. He eats it, switches to greatsword to block my next attack and knock me down and leads into a Maul, then Swoops away. I switch back to rifle and unload another Volley that he dodges. He puts down a Healing Spring to recover.

Then I get down on one knee for a Kill Shot. He switches back to longbow and starts shooting, and tries to dodge, but I cancelled the Kill Shot at the last moment causing him to waste it. I set up Kill Shot again and get him while he’s out of endurance, but his Rapid Fire gets me down as well.

We throw stuff at each other for a little bit before he gets his pet to start healing him. I get back up with Vengeance, walk over, and get the stomp. Then I died on top of him.

It was a pretty epic fight.

I suppose the moral of that story is rangers using a zerker build are pretty squishy. With a similar ranged weapon and a zerker build of your own you are on pretty even footing, all in all. It all comes down to who gets in the first hits and who makes better use of their burst and dodges.

Valdemas.4960:

This is one of the better changes for tournaments and I aplaud it.

Any wvw player worth his salt does not give jack about achievements or militia that crawls out of whatever pve hole they were hiding in all the weeks prior to the season.

We do what we do because WE are just plain stupid and we love it.

Let me just quote this, cause this comment is the prime example of ignorance (don’t want to offend, but yeah).

Here is a few things wrong with this:

1. Not all people are (like) you. Can you imagine someone actually liking WvW AND liking do to achievments?

2. There are people outside the hardcore-pure-only-(insert Man-o-war lyrics here) WvWers. Some PvP-ers and PvE-ers actually like to pop in WvW for 2-3 hours a week and that’s it.

3. WvW keeps crying about dying, and when there’s a chance for influx on new players, you send them away. Brilliant.

4. When the ever-so-stale (that is target to many tears) WvW is gonna get a little seasoning (pun intended), you say you don’t need it cause… sorry why again?

And as I said, this post is not meant for you only, I know a huge % of WvW players think like this. Which is quite frankly: ignorant and sad.

The fact that you think you can get an overall look from the first 3 sentences… especially enough to then reply to the entire post… shows levels of disrespect, ego, and likely ignorance that are deplorable.

That coupled with your view on Ranger damage versus Thief damage illustrates that we’re not going to be able to have an actual conversation with you leveraging facts and logic.

If you think making an ability that can be used at most once every 8 seconds (and channels for 2.5s … so damage every 10.5s) suddenly makes the Ranger’s damage far superior to the Thief’s, then you obviously aren’t looking at any numbers.

Additionally, since people are doing just fine in sPvP with Berserker Longbow Rangers shooting at them while they cap a point … those same skilled people should be fine in WvW where they don’t have to stand on a point.

McFribble.2349:

The difference here is that Condition cleanse helps against almost every class in the game. Reflect works well against LB Rangers. If you can’t see the differences here, I don’t know what to tell you. The ENTIRE kittenING GAME shouldn’t have to adapt itself around one class. That is a sign that one class is doing something it probably shouldn’t be doing.

Sigh. This is why we can’t have good things.

The problem isn’t everyone having to adapt themselves around one class. The problem is everyone has been able to ignore that one class for so long. Suddenly that class is buffed so that the abilities it brings to the game now make a difference, and people are in shock because they can’t ignore it anymore.

Basically, anything added to a game which forces you to adapt is a good thing. That’s telling you Anet has successfully added a new and different challenge or mechanic for you learn to overcome. It’s increased the breadth of the game.

You complain that Reflect only works well against LB rangers. That’s probably a valid complaint, but then you incorrectly conclude that it’s a reason to nerf rangers. The correct conclusion is that Anet needs to add more skills to other classes which require reflect to defend against, thus making it equally as important to carry reflect as it is to carry a condition cleanse. That is balance. What’s the point of even having reflect in the game if you never need to carry it because all builds vulnerable to it are non-threatening and thus can be ignored?

As I said in another thread, balance isn’t “I can run around with my preferred build and not have to worry about anything because my build can defend against anything.” That is horribly unbalanced. Balance is “My build has strong defense against certain things but not others, so I have to be careful to play to my strengths and avoid situations which exploit my weaknesses.” Rock, paper, scissors would be a stupid game if scissors were so weak paper could always ignore them.

Proposal Overview
Guild Commander Tag

Goal of Proposal
Allow leaders of successful PvE and WvW guilds to differentiate themselves on the map, allow members to quickly recognize and join allies in activities, and create a more visible sense of community within guilds.

Proposal Functionality
Unlocked from upper tiers of EITHER Art of War or Politics upgrades via Influence, Guild Commendations, AND Badges of Honor or Karma, respectively. Authorized members will have a mini Guild Emblem selectable as their commander tag.

Details:

• Only be visible to guild members.
• Cap on number of tags per members online and per zone to prevent abuse.

Associated Risks

• Inconsistency in visibility from other commander tags – Will require time for players to adjust.
• Improper balance of unlocking cost may undermine cost of default commander tags.

hey guys the loot bag shoots back, now, and it actually hurts. better moan about it on the forums.