Guild Wars 2

Hi, moving forward, I think the best thing for ANet to do to address issues like lack of game modes, balance problems, etc, is to start adding more functionality to customise Custom Arenas (CAs). This will also help to monetise PvP.

- Expose an API that allows people to write simple scripts to apply to CAs. They write the scripts on their PC, and then GW2 allows them to upload the script to the CA they create. (the scripts can thus be shared to other people who want to host the same rules.)

¹ To start with, the API should allow the following:

• Size, number and location of capture points.
• Existence & location of secondary objectives.
• Respawn conditions, including turning off respawns for deathmatches.
• Victory conditions, including turning off capture points altogether, getting points for kills, etc.
• Scale & crop the map.

² Later on, it would be great if you could also:

• Apply modifiers to any numerical aspect of a character class – skills, gear, stats, traits, etc.
• Apply modifiers to numerical aspects of secondary objectives – damage, health, etc.

Thus, ¹ will allow us to create alternative game modes. ² will allow us to tinker with balance.

ANet can also deploy their own CAs with balance or gameplay changes they are experimenting with.

History has shown that many of the most successful competitive games have started out as game mods to existing games. Whilst an MMO is limited in the amount of modding it can offer, GW2 has an opportunity to take advantage of this phenomenon via CAs.

Laserbolt.6731:

I suspect that the gameplay is so different and fast from the typical PVE MMORG that it is very difficult for people from the playerbase to achieve the level of skill needed to compete.

And therefore the relatively few players that get really good just dominate anyone else in the SoloQ or Tourneys…and the other people just give up and go back to doing something else.

This severely limits the popularity of PvP.

Also, it’s so fast that it is not really fun to watch the matches. Everything happens much too fast to know what is going on, other than this guy dies or that guy dies…which is pretty much the only thing I hear the game announcers say. They can’t talk about the successful rotations or how one guy just beat another…it is over in 2 seconds in a blur.

I agree that the game play is different. I don’t agree that this game takes some kind of amazing skill to be good at. It’s actually one of the easiest MMORPGS I have ever played. As a matter of fact I grew bored of it after a few months. Same limited number of skills, same combos. Only thing that takes more skill is timing your dodges. I would argue other MMORPGS with 3 or 4 times the number of skills to use, as well as more CC possibilities to use or counter take much more skill.

No offense intended here, this game is fun. But don’t delude yourself into thinking this game takes huge amounts of skill. I say just the opposite. Just an opinion of someone with 16 years of MMORPG experience, and pretty much pvp’d extensively the last 10 years of that time. I grew so bored of this game’s mechanics so quickly. I’d rather play a good FPS competitively than this game – and I believe said FPS genre take more skill to be good at than GW2.

Have a good one!

The combat in this game looks pretty fluid – as long as its a warrior vs warrior fight out in the open. Anything else looks like it was Michael Bay directing a Lord of the Rings movie.

This game is more a casual e-sport then a real e-sport title.

Agree with the OP.
There is no real reason to focus that much on e-sport and cash tournament when the game is clearly broken and people are not interested/involved into.

Get real, PAX regional Finals had 4k viewers at best over a pool of 3 million GW2 buyers at least. I think it is time for ANet to check their priorities.

H’erp uh… D’erp… Like… Durrr…

No, common sense says if a game isn’t in a good place for e-sports, and needs a lot of help balancing, you don’t push it into something it isn’t ready for and hold balancing off. Like I said, dev hosted pvp events are fine, but don’t throw fixing the game to the curb just to do so.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Arganthium.5638:

In allocating resources to Esports, I think he means the fairly large focus on the PAX tournament (although he might have slightly exaggerated it).

As for fun, I think he just means balance, and, if you saw his post from last week about spam, and the post that was on the same line of thought that I put up recently about skills being used more tactically and strategically than they currently are.

Sure, except the PAX event is being mostly managed by our events, marketing and community teams. No resources are being taken away from development for PAX.

As for fun, we understand that balance isn’t in it’s ideal place. This is why we have a balance team that focuses completely on balance. Time is needed to balance, it can’t be done at the snap of a finger.

Balance takes time. Fine. But when you then release patches that have stupid unfun mechanics (fear/spirits/immunities/stuns/evasion) buffed to the sky then people hate the meta. If you werent aware that this meta would develop then you have bad testers. Most top players knew after 30 minutes with the dhuumfire patch that necro, spirirt ranger and sword thief were going to be a huge problem.

A good system would be to actually understand the implications of balance before you do it by having a good team procedure.

Your balance team is:

1, Always behind the curve in a way in which other developers of other games are not.
2, Then too slow to respond to issues when they arise.

And you are talking down to players saying “You dont understand how it works” or things to that effect. To alot of us this isnt just a game. It is a community. It is like a football team you support. You cant change supporting it because you are tied into it. We are tied into this game by time investment and by the relationships we have established whilst playing the game. So you might think we are an unproductive ignorant bunch of whiners and sensationalists. But we aren’t. We are just people who are tied into something which is sinking fast. GW2

This class needs BUFFS not NERFS. How many top players do you see running warriors?

How does a class go from zero to hero because of ONE extra second of stun on mace and higher passive heal that not everyone even uses.

I mean how do you NOT counter one. MS/GS? He is OBVIOUSLY going to be constantly trying to set up his 100 blades. You have stun breaks….use them when he uses 100blades,dont use it when he shield bashes you and follows it up with auto attack. You guys do know that shield bash and mace auto attack will deal all of 5 damage right? Wait what? You have no stun breaks? Why are you 1v1ing a STUNto100blades warrior without stun breaks? Oh your not specced to counter a warrior because it’s tpvp? Then what are your teammates doing while the warrior is doing a 1hour dance recital in your face….rooted? No one wants to interrupt him? Then your team is bad.

Even then….EVEN THEN, you can not be “locked” and die without being able to use a single skill. There are small breaks in between for you to counter/escape. After the mace stun, it takes another almost8 seconds to use again. Let’s say you eat the 100blades, you have a 4 second window before the only cc skill he has available to him now is…well available, oh and did I mention that that stun skill he has is also the hardest to land? It doesn’t lock nor have range.

Anything that is NOT GS lacks burst and you can afford to be “locked” and still win. Tpvp? One word…Teammates.

Don’t get me wrong, stunnlock build isn’t bad, but if it were truly op why wouldn’t the top tier teams ALL be running them? In fact none to one are.

This class needs BUFFS not NERFS. If you takeaway the only potentially viable build they have, you truly are making this class worthless. Why nerf a class that’s already on the bottom of the food chain?

Note: I mained a ranger and main a mesmer right now.

Viking Jorun.5413:

Defektive: a question about how your team anazyles itself.

When you look back and reflect on your flaws and triumphs, do you look through hours of recorded footage second-by-second or another method? When Team Legacy was still active we would record from 5 different perspectives on reset night (WvW not PvP, sorry xP. We did nearly the same during our short reign in PvP though, as well.) and slow down each video 6 times slower than it actually was in order to detail the enemy strategies, how to counter them and what to improve upon our own mistakes. I was just wondering if your team uses a similar approach.

The recordings are a dead truth, but we don’t dwell on them. The first thing we do is recognize where we failed to do something correctly. We acknowledge what happened, point out why it happened and then analyze:

Was it a build problem? Did we put the wrong classes on that team fight? Did we over commit? Under commit?

Next time around we just mention it before a game starts (if it’s on the same map). We all yell at each other if we’re starting to do one of those flaws.

As for team practicing. We sit in a custom arena and do 2v2 drills or 3v3 drills (bring a friend in). We sit in separate mumble / ts channels for the team fights. There’s a 5th wheel that rotates the channels.

As we fight the 5th wheel calls out what we’re doing wrong:
Bad communication.
Over extending.
Wasting skills.

5th wheel rotates channels until we’re satisfied with the performance of the group.

When things feel solid, we change up the teams and do it again.

We do this 2+ hours every night if we can get away with it.

Once we’re happy we move into ladder matches for more practice.

So this is going to be a brain dump.

Current build I’m running (with analysis):
http://intothemists.com/guides/571-defektives_tpvp_gs_mace_shield_analysis

Other build I run:
http://intothemists.com/calc/?build=-sF7Bx;0RKVO0e4gLVQ0;9;499T-J4;03;0187;128-LJF6C;1sV2DsV2D5ki

tPvP Roles:

Bunkering:
Can’t really do this as effective as other classes right now. Regen bunker has its merits but in tPvP it falls flat against Poisen and burst condi or power.

Far Point Assault
We do this better than most, but if you’re running a thief then your better off letting them shadow trap mind game. Your time is best spent elseware.

Roaming
The class is best suited for Mid/Home or side point roaming. We play better in smaller fights (3v3, 4v4) than 5v5. Side points are a strong play for teams that run a Warrior.

A Warriors primary Job
Mid fight cleave and peels. Simple as that.
-Someone on your necro? Immobolize them, stun them, pressure them so much they have to get off your teammate.

If you down an enemy:
Don’t go for a stomp, let your teammates do that. Apply cleave damage (100b, whirlwind, Longbow Arcing Arrow etc.). On second stomp rotation (ex. against Ele or Thief). You now stomp since you’re burst has been used up.

Weapons:

Greatsword
I feel like its over hyped, but under utilized.
Don’t whirlwind as they move towards you or stand still. Whirlwind as they move away from you, this will trigger the most strikes and thus maximize damage. If they are against a wall, whirlwind into a wall so you apply more hits.

Mace
Can be paired with Offhand Shield, Axe or Mace. Personally, I’m not a huge fan of Sword offhand. The short cooldowns on all the attacks (F1, 2 and 3) are what makes this weapon a solid choice.

Sword
Great supplement for GS if you’re not into that sort of thing.
Leap has some great advantages in tPvP to get around Khylo and such.
Final Thrust is clunky, but if played a lot it can land rather often. It’s always sweet to see a 7-8k FT while wearing a Soldiers Amulet.

Warhorn
If the CD’s were shorter, and the condi removal did 2 at a time group wide. Then I’d like this a lot better in tPvP….

Longbow
The F1 is amazing but it does a few things I’m not fond of in a team fight.
1) The FireField is so large, and down so long that it will override most other combo fields. Most important of which is Water Fields. Your teammate Engis, Rangers and Stealth Thiefs will hate you for this since they wont get blast finisher heals.

2) Arcing Arrow is great damage, but the CD is to long to take full advantage of. It would be best as cleave, but a good guardian will throw up a bubble or shield before hand to stop ranged attacks. This results in more absorbed AA’s than you want, and reduces your overall cleave in a teamfight (like on a downed body).

Auto attack is weaksauce

Blind is on to long of a CD.

Immobolize is stronk.

Rifle
I feel that if you have it on while in tPvP someone can stomp you in and you don’t have many defenses.

The damage is underpar and you have to build so zerky to make it do any comparable damage.

Hammer
This is a sticky subject.

A lot of people love hammer (myself included).

It has these moments where it shines like a god kitten light from heaven.

But for me, it is also unreliable. It has great moments, but I cant rely on it at a specific time to do exactly what I need it to do. If I NEED a stun, a Mace F1 is so much faster and thus more reliable.

Hammer is highly telegraphed.

Axe

MH is strong, but no reason to use it over Sword unfortunately.

Axe OH is under rated.

Shield
Great weapon if you’re running kinda squishy. If you have enough toughness, HP etc. and don’t really NEED shield, you can easily run a number of other weapons.

These are my thoughts and my thoughts alone. They are based on tPvP and Warrior play.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Alright, after more people posted that they were having this same issue, I checked in with the team and they let me know that there is a bug causing Temple to pop more than other maps.

Our programmers have already found a fix for it, we just need to get it tested and it should be out soon.

Appreciate those of you that remained constructive.

my original post (which was before your response)was deleted earlier because it said I wasn’t being constructive so I will reword it. These are the types of things that are frustrating about the way ArenaNet handles issues. We are almost always met with opposition from developers or community leaders when we call out things that are wrong. The initial response is usually something like this, but, especially with arenanet’s track record of being wrong, it should instead be ,“thank you all for your input on this I will check with a member of the development team to see if this is in fact in issue or just a product of the nature of randomness.”
I just get frustrated with the responses sometimes because they are coming from a place of “we never do wrong” or " we release when its ready", although the evidence shows that it is quite the contrary.

Having said that, thank you for looking into it and reporting back.

Julius.1094:

No clue what you’re talking about. It’s a + %15 duration and is working as such. It makes the 3 sec skull crack (which requires direct melee range to land and uses up a full adrenaline bar) into a 3.45 sec stun and that increased duration only matters if the target doesn’t break out of it and eats the entire duration (not often). Comparing that with other sigils like battle and leeching its power is quite balanced. No idea how that consists of “god mode” in your opinion, sounds to me like you aren’t running proper stun breakers or don’t know how to kite warriors, got owned a feel times and a made a post with made up numbers.

It makes it 4 seconds, not 3.45. I actually play a warrior.

I want to step in here real quick and let people know regarding warrior ‘dominance’ in HOTM.

Yea, that’s not true.

You can’t count hotjoins as ample ground to verify Warrior viability. In HOTM, only tPvP is king – and there’s a reason why there’s barely a handful of warriors in high end tPvP.

Regarding this build, I think it’s a good introductory build to CC Warrior, but for the life of me (in HOTM), I would never run GS.

I will trade this for protection anytime.

Warriors need strong heals due to their steep risk-to-reward ratio. Warrior gameplay is extremely risky due to their melee nature, and low reward for the same reason.

I don’t know if this has been brought up recently, but Anet, can you PLEASE consider adding an option to disable the end-game scoreboard popups and win animations. In lieu of this, freezing the game after it’s over would be fine as well.

I’m sure many reading this have cursed these things repeatedly.

why is balanced stance not a real stance? stances should not be removable/transferable/transformable.

Don’t crush Excalibur’s unfounded statements with logic, how dare you!

/sarcasm

Laceration.4290:

Cogbyrn.7283:

Laceration.4290:

Juunro.7082:

I could see this being mean in 1v1 fights, but honestly? When the hell do 1v1 fights ever really happen?

If you’re talking about WvW, they happen quite often. Don’t just mindlessly wander after the commander, try doing some solo roaming every once in a while.

I do solo roaming almost always when I WvW, and much of the time I run into groups of 2-3. It’s an off-chance that only one peels to fight, or I only see one person also roaming.

2 players should not be that much of a problem, 3 depending on gear and skill. But yeah, i’m happy that i’ve been lucky to find some nice solo roamers lately.

You need to be more honest. Two good players is a problem, for any class, Two really bad players is not a problem, for any class.

Now i don’t know if I’m just crazy but i remember when the game was announced there were golem battles that were supposed to be implemented into the game. Does anyone else remember these? (NOT RC golem chess either)

Hunter.4783:

How does a thief go against it? Short bow? have you tried kiting a war.

I think what you meant to ask was:
How does a class with Stealth, Extremely High Mobility, and a weapon with a Teleport, kite someone who has 1 gap closer (rush) on a 20 second cooldown?

Obviously the answer is to buff Thieves.

PS: If he has Regen Signet, he’s weaker vs spike damage. If he has Surge, he’s weaker vs attrition. And if he has mending, he’s weaker vs both (but strong vs condis). I shouldn’t even need to say this.

Arlen.1625:

Empathetic Fighter.2065:

Because the basic-damage of those weapons are higher + weapon-traits synergyize better with affecting 5 skillz instead of 3 or 2, which is mostly the case for one-handed weapons.

Even assuming that you are right (and I think you are not), it would be better to ballance those weapons on the damage-side, allowing the players more versatility on their builds.

What I said is fact, it’s not something we assume. Basic damage is higher (proof ingame or consult internet), Traits which boosts one-handed weapons mostly affecting 2-3 skillz (rare exceptions on dual-wield), while two-handed weapons are fully affected on all 5 skillz.
Lowering the basic-damage and add a second weapon sigil, could be fine. However, I think it is well balanced as it is right now.

Because the basic-damage of those weapons are higher + weapon-traits synergyize better with affecting 5 skillz instead of 3 or 2, which is mostly the case for one-handed weapons.

Tyler Bearce.3427:

Solo Arena, map randomization and the leaver penalty are all coming at the same time.

Made me reinstall

Tyler. Man. You guys are awesome. Map randomisation = awesome. Character locking is better news. Solo q is nice too.

Finally. No same map 4 days in a row. Very well done