Guild Wars 2

A few months ago Colin Johansen said in a video GW2’s core audience is the guy who only has 1 hour to play a day. That’s why endgame gear is awarded through dailies, so that person can feel they’re progressing (that is what was said in the video).

I don’t think this was exactly clear in the pre-game hype. The message was “no grind” and “play your way”, which would seem to encompass all play styles. But without a doubt it was intended for casuals (except sPvP). That is generally what a game without a sub encourages as well.

Some of the more organized guilds in WvW are using unintended game mechanics (Trinity class set-ups, buffs/healing on demand) to play at a very high skill level, mostly in GvG matches. But at best Anet seems ambivalent that this is happening, if not actively hostile. Their vision for WvW is casual siege dominated zerg warfare.

What our guild has ended up doing is only playing GW2 a few days a week, as it seems to be intended. Other days we just play other games.

EDIT: It actually occurs to me now that pre-launch, when people complained there was no endgame, the devs went out of their way to assure people there was. So perhaps there was a little bit of false advertising to the hardcore people.

Yamato Shinobi.4378:

Well, regarding the whole ‘Zerg’ mentality. There are Zergs that are just a collection of random people with limited coordination trying to overpower opponents with numbers, and then there are coordinated guilds out there that utilize game mechanics as provided by Anet to achieve a highly coordinated organized force with strategic mentality and objectives. I favor greatly the later.

Regardless, Anet created the game and mechanics to support grouping. Combinations and finishers. Such mechanics give clear advantage to those that use them properly. They won’t get rid of Zerg balls or highly coordinated guilds(especially) unless they change the mechanics of their game and remove such advantages caused by Combinations/finshers(etc..).

There are plenty of WvW guilds out there that play this game for the strategy and coordination of it(the use of combo fields/finishers etc), especially open-field battles. If you take that away, you’ll see a lot of guilds leave this game. If that’s what Anet wants to do, fine, but to me they’re killing their own WvW game if they take that approach.

The interesting thing is though, that while Anet created combos to encourage grouping, they did not intend them to be use as they are now by organized guilds.

If you go back to the videos of Johansen explaining the combo system, he said what he wanted to avoid was everyone stopping before or during a battle to get buffed in turn by the buff classes. The idea for combos was buffs would arise naturally during combat.

But with everything else in GW2 design, this starts to break down once you get large numbers of people.

What in facts happens now with combos? People stop before or during a battle while the buffers (field providers + blast finishers) do their thing and buff everyone in turn. Exactly the thing the system was designed to avoid. (Same with the anti-Trinity mechanics that large guild groups can bypass, but that is another story).

And as always with poor design in all avenues of life, it is the average person who misses out. Buffs on demand are only available to organized guilds whose commanders assign classes, and can call for fields and combos. With this system, PUGs just can’t do it, even though it is supposed to be a casual game.

DevonCarver.5370:

I wanted to chime in a bit here. We appreciate that people really enjoy organizing their own combat in WvW and we are very aware of it. We’ve been discussing what can be done about that. However, WvW is its own game type and it requires attention specific to it. We are focused on making WvW as fun as it can possibly be and we will continue to make changes to WvW with that in mind. Our decisions regarding WvW will always have the needs of WvW paramount.

Anet kills the GvG scene at their own peril.

Almost all WvW guilds are doing it in some capacity. These are the guilds that lead WvW, provide the meta and the leadership for the casual players.

If you send a “kitten you” message to these guilds, don’t be surprised if more leave the game.

I honestly can’t believe Anet is fighting their player base over something like this.

Necro Wells pulse once every second for 5 seconds on average. So in theory they can hit 5 different people each second over their area of effect.

This is why Necros are a big part of zerg DPS in the meta now. They effectively bypass the 5 man AoE limit.

Everything the OP says is true.

And you could also add randomized server matchups decreasing competition, and encouraging GvG. If you are in blow-outs week after week (either giving or receiving), at some point you are going to stop caring about PPT. This has already happened on many servers I think.

The OP also makes a great point about large group play having a high skill ceiling. And also about it being completely unintended.

The Devs don’t want anyone to use the Trinity, and so they divided its functions among many classes. But if you are an organized and efficient large guild group, you can put those classes back together and recreate it. (Ele light fields + Blast for Healing, Necro well-bombing, Hammer warrior train).

And the fact that you have to be hyper-organized to play at this high level also contributes to GvG’s where you don’t have PUGs overlapping your fields, or rallybotting your enemies.

Asudementio.8526:

Bailey.6892:

Mystery.7392:

So….

No new map.
Nothing about GvG
Adding sPVP into WvW
No Golem Mastery (hehe)

Well done…. good way to kill the WvW.

No new map does blow
Nothing about gvg is as it should be
adding spvp into wvw just plain stup er a mistake
no golem mastery…that seems golemist

What is wrong with adding an spvp element to WvW? More open air un-walled objectives that can make a difference is a good thing as it will draw players into the field.

I think at this point we all have to understand WvW is not going to be DAoC II. That just isn’t how they designed the game, and it’s too late to change it now.

The nub: WvW is an Arena for zergs.

By adding sPvP to WvW, they are providing an Arena for 5 mans and roamers.

Under the circumstances, that is the best that can be hoped for.

DevonCarver.5370:

mjharrison.3209:

WVW needs a Darkness Falls. That is all.

But why?

One reason would be an orb-like objective that doesn’t include a balance-upsetting stat buff.

Also, a public dungeon might be a way to add features only present in PvE to WvW. Perhaps a better way to get Laurels or Ascended items in WvW? Or maybe precursors?

shadowraith.9124:

kitten .2746:

Please don’t do stats-buff again, they only take away from the merit of fighting and crushing your enemy. From the moment you start winning because you have x% more stats, and not because you are out-playing the enemy, the game becomes so much duller.

Make the buff be a strategic advantage such as:
-All sieges on the map do x% more damage against doors and gates.
-Supply capacity increase.
-Ability to build a special type of siege.

Agree with this. Stat bonuses suck but increased siege damage for holding an objective? That’s an idea I can get behind!

Please listen to your players Anet. Stat bonuses are terrible!!

Almost the entire WXP system is geared towards siege bonuses. This, in the words of the dev, to prevent power creep.

Yet, the Orb bonus that will affect everyone in WvW, has — wait for it — a stat buff.

Once again, Anet is trying to hold onto an idea that was great in theory (about a year ago), but that has very long been bypassed in actual game play. No one wants an orb buff.

If this goes through, along with the AC buff and randomized matchups, it will probably be the last nail in the coffin for actual competition in WvW. The casuals will have won.

But, it is the dedicated WvW’ers who actually lead the zergs and provide the fun for the casuals. Once they go then, WvW will die.

chefdiablo.6791:

I have no issue with the GvG people and their method of maintaining interest in the game.

I think they are way off base though demanding that any WvW changes be centered around their chosen style of play.

There is a huge disconnect here.

Get these people an arena so that they can do this game type somewhere else.

This is a cross roads type of situation. These people want to have a dedicated way to show their skill and flaunt their wins which sadly the WvW game does not adequately provide. They want to be recognized and have gone to great lengths to create a game within the game in order to do it.

Failure to give them what they want will result in a twofold backlash. The participants of this GvG sub culture will rage and react in all manner of behavior and the remaining population will either support them out of necessity and the fear of losing server allies or attack them viciously resulting in even more chaos.

Please prevent this fire from happening. Just give them what they want outside of the WvW maps.

GvG is not a subculture, it is the culture now in WvW.

On TC at least, almost all dedicated WvW guilds also do GvG. Those that don’t understand why they do, and any sort of tension there might have been has been pretty much worked out.

ParaldaWind.4523:

zastari.1730:

DevonCarver.5370:

ParaldaWind.4523:

DevonCarver.5370:

Are the orbs coming back? No. Are we bringing back the buff? Yes, although the way you get it and hold it is going to be drastically different. Are you going to see a major map change in concert with this? Yes. Is it coming soon? Most definitely.

If this orb replacement gives a stat bonus to the zergiest server, I feel like a lot of guilds will quit.

Here’s the thing to remember, it may buff the better servers for a time, but if it is relatively easy to take from a better server, it isn’t going to cause nearly the same problems that the original buff did. I will say that when this goes back into the game, we’ll continue to monitor the effects and make changes as necessary.

I feel like a lot of guilds and players will quit either way. There are way too many players that enjoy 1v1 to 5v5s and GvGs, and having to deal with the fact that one side will have a 5-15% stat discrepancy over the other is pretty intolerable. It’ll be impossible to schedule fights because we won’t know the status of the buffs before hand.

Please just take a kittening page from DAoC and put something like Darkness Falls in for the server that has the most PPT. That was the best solution; it was figured out a while ago; there’s no reason to keep trying to do something different.

I can’t echo this sentiment enough. If there’s an unfair stat bonus to any server, 1v1s, GvGs, fight clubs, etc. are going to be impossible. There is a growing GvG scene, and you will destroy it by adding any kind of stat bonus unilaterally to one server over the other.

Please talk to guild leaders before making changes like this, because it could be catastrophic to the already tiny organized guild community.

If, on the other hand, this is merely a boost to magic/gold find or karma/exp, then I’d support it. But giving a stat bonus at all to any server is a terrible decision.

Can’t echo this point enough from the Tarnished Coast perspective. The game is moving away from objectives/PPT to GvG’s.

Why? Because of reduced competition through the AC buff and the randomized server matchups. WvW guilds are doing GvG’s to keep their players in the game.

Unbalancing GvG’s with an objective-based buff will just knee-cap one of the things that is keeping people in the game.

Esplen.3940:

Or do high level fractals, while everyone is zerking (not zerging) and dpsing, the support is what holds the group alive.

This is the basic problem with the game. (It’s the same in WvW).

Trinity roles are only available the high-end endgame. This is Fractals and the 20+ organized guild groups in WvW. It is only at that level in WvW that healing (water fields + blast) and tanking (Hammer chain melee) become really possible of the critical mass of players.

It really does leave the “average” player out in the cold. (Super casual players will do just fine).

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Rune_of_Perplexity

It looks like WvW is turning into GvG. This is the reaction of the playerbase to Project Kill Your Own Game, instituted by Anet and which was successful. (Main culprits: AC buff and random matchups).

Since this lowered the competition around PPT and objectives, the player base is creating their own arena for competition in GvG’s.

I posted about this a month ago here. Title: WvW recreates the Trinity.

Hammer/Guard Tanks, Ele water fields + Guard blast finishers for Heals, Necro wells for AoE DPS.

The problem is, this Trinity is available only to the larger, organized WvW guilds who have the numbers to make it happen.

danbuter.2314:

Conditions are the easiest thing in the game to counter. You are generally far better off going straight power in pvp. How can you be losing to condition builds?

This is last year’s meta. Conditions have been the new black for the last month or so.

Because when they broke the Manifesto, everything was “fair game” (in the words of L. Ron Hubbard). I believe there is actually a bounty now for introducing grind (like they pay for coyote pelts in Colorado).

And if you object to that, you’re a “suppressive person”.

(And if you think this is bad, just wait until they introduce Ascended armour).

Perma stealth and Monozerging, two major problems that predispose Anet’s customers to check out their competitors.

WXP ranks are definitely anti-alt.

Only problem is viability of alts is really one of the only things WvW has going for it. WvW gear and progression are just terrible compared to the competition (current and future).

The more Anet makes WvW anti-alt, the more it will drive their customers to the competitors who do gear and progression better.

As always, the fundamental problem is Anet doesn’t know if WvW is supposed to be a casual or hardcore game mode.

The issue really isn’t zergs, which exist in all RvR games.

The issue is that the maps are so small that zerging crowds out almost all other forms of play.

Also, mechanics like the AoE cap, the downed state, and no Trinity mean that smaller groups have far more difficulty taking out zergs by superior play than they should.

That’s really at the root of the “blobbing” complaints.

This is actually not a bad idea, given that Anet is extremely resistant to address off-peak capping.

It would be simple to implement, and it would synchronize with their emphasis on the siege part of the game.

Perhaps it could be extended to all siege too, which would make it a bit easier to take objectives (since AC’s larger shine in defense).

Kreamciqul.4617:

Vespirisa.1497:

Akio.1749:

Impressive megablob of SoR on TCbl… it was nicer when you were in separate groups that could be fought without lag. Shame y’all have to fall back on map zergz to get things done.

Nonetheless, good fights so far. Keep trying to take our bay!

You should see the BG megablob in SoRBL

It’s a shame every server megablobs. The fights to be had are much better just running as a single guild/group of players.

Thanks for the fun tonight in TC BL. Bags galore.

We’ve been using the term Monozerg now. When the blob contains everyone on the map.

Thus the progression of the disease is:

Zerg -> Megazerg -> Monozerg!

Stealth also reduces the number of viable builds in WvW, as it is one of the mechanics that forces people to run AoE skills. AoE is one of the only semi-viable counters to stealth.

(And even then it is not rightly called a counter).

This should be a no-brainer.

A map made just for GvG matches could be almost featureless, just a blank plain where the two groups could face off against each other. It would require almost zero artistic resources.

Add in some kind of lobby/queue system and spectator mode, and honestly, Anet would have a license to print money. They could charge for it like they do in sPvP. The demand is there.

MightyMicah.7451:

Cactus.2710:

MightyMicah.7451:

Any massive update would be completely ignorant on the part of Anet. The only way to fix something that is broken is by repairing it one piece at a time. That is exactly what you see the devs doing! Why people don’t get this, I’ll never understand. If you have ever been any kind of game developer, you would understand. Shoot, even if you’ve been in a game that failed because they did some massive update that caused problems, you might understand. Sometimes I wonder how developers even maintain their sanity with everyone and their dog wining about something.

Are you and Lordkrall twins?

By the way, the issue here isn’t massive update versus smaller update. The issue is updates at all, whether bug fixes, balance fixes, or additional content. The complaints about WvW all center around the general lack of attention paid to it by ANet versus the amount of development effort that apply to PvE. I would have thought that had been obvious, but apparently not.

I’ll ignore the personal attack and say that they have been adding constant updates to WvW since day one. They haven’t been ignoring WvW at all. They have been focusing on their two week updates mostly because that is what the game is all about. The game doesn’t revolve around WvW. Neither is WvW being ignored, though. The sooner the community realizes this, the better.

You do have a point. But no one really cares about Siege Mastery trait lines. To the average WvW’er, the effort being put into WXP is just a waste of resources.

A bigger map, or more WvW character skills (even if they were just cosmetic) would be a far better use of dev time. No one wants to trade their 15 character skills for the 3-5 skills on a piece of siege.

XII.9401:

Never gonna happen to the OP. This was answered a year ago: can’t punish people who play at late NA hours -oceanic servers etc-.

They are customers and Anet won’t alienate them.

Some ppl play wvw mostly, lock them out and they call it discrimination/quit the game=anet loses money. Nope.

At some point though, Anet may have to decide if keeping their off-peak customers is worth alienating the far larger peak base.

Off-peak capping hasn’t reached the point where it’s making people quit. But when other options in the market become available (ESO, CU), it will be a factor if people decide to change games.

Ulion.5476:

Hum 45% damage to wall with cata now.

Are the two bonuses actually cumulative? That would mean the 50 pt bonus applies to all objects, players, walls etc. Is that the case?

Melkiah.2496:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/wuv/wuv/Night-Capping-and-YOU/first

As has been pointed out, this has been issue since launch week. Anet’s response at the time was “deal with it.” They also advised people to recruit off-hours guild.

Neither is a solution. (There is a limited number of off-hour guilds, and they tend to go to the higher tier servers).

The best suggestions from the original debate were some kind of buff the closer you got to someone’s home territory. Or a stronger out-manned buff that had actually teeth. Apparently something like them were used in DAoC.

The new black is taking siege from SMC and mounting 20 golem rushes against your opponent’s keep. Both inner and outer gates go down in seconds, and you’re in the Lord’s room within half a minute. This is happening because golem blueprints are on the TP.

Somehow I don’t think this is what was intended. Golems were originally given a high price to make them relatively scarce. But now you can buy them at a price the market determines.

Obviously, mounting sneak attacks should be rewarded. But having a zerg inside your inner keep in 30 seconds just can’t be defended.

The area siege cap can’t be applied to Golems, so the only solution seems to be a per map limit. Any other ideas?

TLSolomon.6083:

Sovereign.1093:

Can i ask for some constructive criticism from JQ on how TC’s performance is now? You can message me personally or just type here.

TC is doing great. I have been waiting for this match up forever, mostly because I know I will be hunted by your CRZY guild. But TC is a pleasure to battle against. I havent seen any hacking or cheating, its been good clean battles. The forums posts are pleasant and fun. In the field, I would love to see TC become more organized and confident in zerg fights. I see you guys trying new things, and Im hoping it all comes together and I will be a running loot bag for you! You kept us out of your homeland in EB this morning so that was great! You guys never give up and fight with great heart. I think in a few more days the TC fights will evolve and I may/may not drop a precurser for you!

You serious bro?

We’ve been wiping JQ zergs continually.

I think it’s the JQ zerg that needs to up its game. I was expecting more from a T1 server.

I would personally like to see Robes of Power. Stylish lounge clothing for the relaxed WvW’er.

Jscull.2514:

If the games culture was shifting so that the small mans we have listed logged on hunting the other couple on their tier via roaming on BLs, would be much more competitive but that’s not the case. Most “small mans” have gone to the mentality of mine as well run 10 because we can compete with the 20 mans. Our group of guys just doesn’t find that fun so it’s either find a new top tier with some new talented groups to fight or I’m afraid bail on gw2.

This happened to us as well. Even small mans have to “zerg up”.

It sucks because your small man skills get rusty, so when a 5v5 actually does present itself, you don’t do as well.

Lag Mastery……….

ThaOwner.7560:

its gonna last as long as you’re on one of the top 3 super servers, transfer if you dont like it, its that simple

Yep, people are going to transfer alright…to ESO.

The way ESO works, I’m sure the hardcore WvW guilds will all pick one PvP instance (“campaign”) where they can fight with and against each other at the highest level. No one will be telling them to transfer to a campaign with less competition because the game doesn’t worked properly.*

*(Contingent on ESO’s PvP endgame doing what is advertised to do: support all types of competitive WvW. From what we’ve heard so far, the odds are good).

The fundamental problem is Anet is unclear whether WvW is a hardcore or casual gamemode.

They are clear on sPvP: that’s hardcore, and they cater to the hardcore PvP crowd (somewhat successfully).

With WvW, on the otherhand, they seem to completely ignore the dedicated WvW guilds that make the game. These are the ones who set the pace of competition, the meta, and everything else. Yet, Anet appears to believe WvW is a casual offshoot of PvE.

If Anet catered more to the dedicated WvW guilds (not sure how), then perhaps there would be incentives for them to stay on low tier servers. As it is now, the dedicated WvW guilds have to “make their own fun” by transferring to the high tiers, or organizing GvGs.

The transferring itself is a vicious circle because it causes mega-blogging in the high tiers, furthering reducing competition. It’s a big cluster-kitten.

Blood Red Arachnid.2493:

Back when I ran havoc groups before SoR was top tier, I used to go as far as capturing enemy towers with groups of 5. Flame rams, as it turns out, are fairly cheap and powerful.

I haven’t had a chance to play Golem Wars yet, so I am unsure how well they can defend, but prior to golem wars a coordinate group of 5 people could be quite deadly while defending a keep, even against 10 or 20 invaders.

We used to do that on Tkittenil recently. But it is basically impossible now with the AC buff. Except on slow nights, you basically have to run a mini-zerg to do that now (15-20 people).

Carzor Stelatis.9435:

Zeno.8493:

I honestly wonder if they will admit how bad they messed up matchmaking this time.

They have. In the big thread, someone from Anet said (and I paraphrase) “We know it’s awful, but we’re still going to leave it as it is because we know best”.

They also said that servers should learn new strategies from their higher tier opponents.

Not sure what those strategies might be, but they appear to be: “recruit hardcore WvW and/or SEA guilds”.

Once more an illustration of Anet’s indecision on whether WvW is a hardcore or casual game mode.

In terms of Hammers, the big advantage of Hammer Guardians is they have a Blast Finisher that is on a five second (4s traited) cooldown. Blast Finishers are the king of the current WvW meta, as they make all combos AoE boons. They also pump out Protection on the auto-attack.

On the other hand, the Hammer Warriors are the key to frontline zerg play, as they go in first to destabilize the enemy with their CC.

So in terms of Hammer heavies, it depends if you want to play a supportive/control style or an offensive/control style.

Who the kitten is Hodor?

The WvW Devs better take note this is happening.

The dedicated WvW guilds want competition, and with the emphasis on siege and zerging in general play they’re not getting it. So they are taking matters into their hands.

GvG’s are a blast for those involved, but they come with a risk. If GvG becomes the dominant play mode then it can totally shut down all spontaneous open world play.

I’ve seen this happen in other games where all pvp becomes prearranged and governed by rituals you have to follow, all enforced by peer pressure. If you attack someone outside of these matches (or attack the wrong enemy guild at the wrong time), then you can actually be ostracized.

And if this happens, it will cause casual QQ.

Roe.3679:

Tellerion.8102:

Mif.3471:

Do you even realize that siege like arrow carts are an anti-zerg mechanic.

Anti-zerg mechanic frequently used by zergs themselves to counter the opposition.

If you think these changes favour smaller numbers, then you’re deluded. This was already stated by the majority on here when they first decided to buff AC’s completely out of the blue.

Zergs can use siege too but you must not WvW much if you haven’t seen a couple guys in a tower with siege fend off a whole Zerg. More siege more quickly favors smaller numbers because zergs never have an issue speed building things, anyway. Now a small group can get up an AC or 2 without someone running in to hit it and prevent it from being fully built because now it needs more supply that a small group doesn’t have.

Wait, you aren’t seriously suggesting the AC buff favours small groups? Come now, how much WvW do you actually play?

Our guild used to constantly ninja towers with five man groups before the AC buff. It was so effective it became part of our reset night strategy in EB. That was completely deep-sixed by the AC buff.

And, since the AC buff makes it even harder for zergs to take keeps and towers, camps are now a primary zerg objective, further reducing what small groups can actually do.

It’s true one guy can hold off a zerg tower siege with an AC. But that is about it.

Don’t know where GW2 is going. But I know where I am…ESO.

But seriously, it appears Anet has made the decision that WvW is a casual game mode. The emphasis on siege and zerging supports this.

We knew GW2 PvE was aimed at the casual market. But on the otherhand, sPvP was not (it has esport aspirations). It was never clear where they thought WvW fit, but it appears they are thinking “casual” now

I think this is a big mistake on Anet’s part. All the dedicated guilds that make PvP a living thing are going to leave when other games come out. This will leave WvW as a stagnant game mode for part-timers.

Now, maybe Anet has run the math, and financially, casual WvW makes the most sense for them. Sure opens up an opportunity for other games though.

DevonCarver.5370:

It is absolutely intended that you can fight people in the JP. The fact that so many people are piling into the map to get the achievement is good for any and all of you who are capable of laying the smack down on them, and, if they manage to fight back is hopefully going to encourage some of them to stick around and play WvW. If you don’t want to get killed by other players, don’t play WvW. Plain and simple. The achievement isn’t required for getting the meta-achievement on purpose.

Agree with Devon on this one.

The current community is suggestion is to make resets available for badges, time-gated (say once a week).

Anet would be smart to implement it.

Making holding one the equivalent of SMC in PPT would probably be enough.

Anything else like buffs, offensive or defensive, are just going to cause a snowball effect and let the leading server pull ahead even more.

The BL’s need a revamp though, including getting rid of that kitten Lake.

There is [laud] from FA whom we used to face a lot. I always understood they were a sPvP guild that occasionally did some WvW. So not sure if they would count. Very talented though.

Part of the problem is that Anet themselves have not decided if WvW is a casual or hardcore game mode. They causes them to send mixed messages across a whole range of issues.

Not doing anything about population imbalances or off-peak capping is them with their hardcore caps on. Yet, at the same time they tie WvW gear acquisition to the PvE system, giving the PvE gear treadmill precedence. That’s them with the casual hat on (can’t let the PvE’ers QQ WvW is getting anything better).

It would be much better for the future of the game if Anet decide what they wanted WvW to be: hardcore or casual? Not just for the benefit of their players, but for their own bottom line. Other RvR games are coming up, and by all accounts they will be catering to the hardcore.

(If it isn’t obvious, I think clearing separating PvE and WvW, and making WvW less casual is the way to go).

Healix.5819:

They probably only have 1, maybe 2 UI designers, so only one project can be handled at a time. At this time, their priority is the LFG tool, which is hinted at in the files.

Last online functionality can be ripped from the achievement leaderboards. If you don’t want to manually look, there’s a program for that.

There’s a thirdy-party program that mines the leaderboards? Could you point us towards that?

Why is WXP character bound, and not account bound?

WvW needed a grind, simple as that. It was intended to be the WvW compliment of Ascended gear.

The examples given of PvE or sPvP titles that are account-wide are from a different period, before the Manifesto was broken. Everything post-Manifesto is designed with grind in mind.

DeadlySynz.3471:

Zikory.6871:

@DeadlySynz – I don’t think you understand why the top 3 are “stacked” servers. The reason for the top 3 to keep recruiting guilds is to have 24 hour coverage so at any point in the day the fights will be the same. The point is to have a real 24 hour battle where servers don’t have time slots where guilds can only PvD because there is no one to fight. Also so 1 guild doesn’t have to try and juggle all 4 maps by floating. PPT and winning is the goal but the fights are what everyone in T1 wants and they are only getting better.

I don’t think anyone should give TC a hard time for there recruitment strategy. It’s obvious they had 24 hour coverage in mind which makes them top contender to try and break into “tier 1” Unforchantly they are at a huge disadvantage (as far as rating gos) to knock out any of the top 3 (BG/SoR/JQ) With the random matches hopefully TC gets their chance at a T1 match but the down side to that is the current top 3 will have to be split up and will make “tier 2” very lopsided.

Honestly instead of complaining about coverage and saying they should transfer, maybe you should look into transferring to a “tier” that better fits your interests. Just to point out that “tier 1” has the closest and most even match up. This week SoR takes first with JQ last, while last week BG took first and SoR took last. Complain all you want about the top 3 eating guilds but we are more even then we have ever been and I would assume all 3 servers will still pick up a few more guilds to fill in particular time slots.

The fights would be even across all servers if the population was split up, not stacked on 3-5 servers. That’s what some of these people (and guilds) don’t seem to understand. That’s aimed at the guilds who transferred over to either SoR, JQ, or BG in the past little while. They aren’t the only problem, but they are a large cause of it. It isn’t necessary to have all 4 maps stacked to the point it’s que’d at any given time of day/night.

If players and guilds can’t figure that out on their own, then perhaps it’s time Anet stepped in and evened everything out themselves. It is not necessary to have all 4 maps covered 24/7. It’s not going to affect the play.

The smartest thing Anet can do at the moment is lock the top 5 servers down from any transfers then evaluate exactly the population on each one. Next, target the guilds that transferred over to the top 3 servers in the past 2-3 months, refund there gems, and return them to their previous server. Like that group that moved from FA over to BG.. completely unnecessary. Then start pulling guilds out and distributing them across all servers evenly. Then once that’s done, lock all servers down from transfers completely.

What your going to find is the numbers will be even, coverage even, and you’ll find WvW population growing. Not bandwagoning to the top 5 servers.

This is coming from someone sitting on TC in these lopsided match ups.

That’s completely untrue. In no way will fights be even across all tiers if the top tiers are split up.

Why? Because here are only so many off-hours guilds to go around (EU and SEA timeslots). As has been said these guilds have congregated so they don’t have to PvD.

If Anet forcibly redistributes these guilds I can guarantee you the game will hemorrhage even more dedicated WvW guilds. .

Atherakhia.4086:

Thieves are no more or less powerful than Mesmers, Guardians, Rangers, or Elementalists. All of these classes are more valuable to a group. I’m sorry, but if you play one of these classes your complaints are null and void.

While stealth is powerful, it’s all the thief class has to hold it together and any adjustment to stealth (or initiative regen which is the real problem if you actually knew anything about the class) would require enormous boosts in nearly every other aspect of the class as a whole.

Change leap finishers through smoke fields to give Aegis to everyone and call it a day so we can move onto the next thief complaint until we finally get around to fixing it.

Boosting the rest of the thief class would be great. It bring out far more diversity in builds, and perhaps make thieves useful in the zerg.

They can’t do it though, because stealth is so powerful. You think the thief threads are bad now, imagine if that happened.

Stealth is actually holding the thief class back.