Guild Wars 2

Is ArenaNet planning to make WvW Guild Missions, so WvW-focused guilds can get Merits without running PvE? (A big promise of this game is that you didn’t have to do PvE if you didn’t want to).

Some of the Merit unlocks are actually pretty good, especially the 15% reduced repairs for 24 hours. Dropping 2 or 3 of those on a weekend would be great for a WvW guild.

I’m not holding my breath though, as we don’t even have WvW Ascendeds yet, but it should be implemented.

Phoebe Ascension.8437:

BTW where is the source for this? The person mentioned in OP always scares me because he’s to naive on a perfect guild wars 2, making it often worse with naive decisions.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/It-s-time-to-balance-PvP-apart-from-PvE-WvW/1819116

Sokar Rostau.7316:

One of the most important things about WvW in making it attractive to people is that you can do it without changing your traits or gear. That doesn’t mean that swapping them isn’t a good idea, but it means that you don’t have to in order to be effective.

The second thing that needs to be remembered is that WvW is not sPvP. If you want to have 1v1 – 5v5 fights that is what sPvP is for. As much as people kitten and moan about the large group fights, that is what WvW is designed for, not for loners and small parties. “Roamers” have strategic value, but they are no more, or less, important than a well placed catapult.

So long as these two things are remembered in any changes then WvW shouldn’t be harmed. Shouldn’t…

If they split WvW/PvE they are going to have to code a “build saving” mechanism, so you can switch betwen PvE and WvW builds.

There might have to be some restrictions though (like having to requeue WvW if you switch builds inside), to prevent build min/maxing getting out of control.

randomfightfan.4091:

Goblin Beet Farmer.3045:

JonathanSharp.7094:

Mif.3471:

JonathanSharp.7094:

A couple things:

• For PvE/PvP/WvW, we know that those are 3 different playstyles, we don’t just lump PvE and WvW together.

Considering WvW and PVE use the same skill values, yes you do.

We’re starting to split PvE/WvW in the upcoming patch.

But we want them to be things that keep consistency across the game types as much as possible.

This may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back where even more people stop playing WvW and GW2 all together.

lol? cause people don’t like having their favourite game modes to be balanced?

Only those players who always gravitate to the OP builds and skills will leave. They can find some other, unbalanced game to play.

WvW’ers love Necros. They are zerg-destroyers.

WvW appears to be ready for 2 week matches. The tiers have largely stabilized. Culling is fixed and the meta has developed.

Reset night is fun, but it does create massive queues (at least in the higher tiers) for hours on one of two weekend nights when most people are free to play. One weekend without reset would lessen queues.

2 weeks matches would also create a longer horizon for strategy and fighting. WvW is ready for new challenges.

Boulderbolg.3460:

As everyone has stated, the zergs are on every tier. However, the quantity and quality of small man groups differs a lot throughout the tiers. On T3/4 we were finding that we became the main zerg after prime time with just two groups! The pugs would start to follow us, and if we didn’t PvDoor our team would lose everything on a map.

The second problem that we experienced in T3/4 was that after prime time the competition really dwindled. We can easily take twice our numbers. This created a problem for us because it forced the enemy to either quit or bring more people. Our small skirmishing group became the reason the enemy zerged! So as evenings went on the small groups would either log off or they would ball up in a zerg to beat us. Either way wasn’t very much fun.

T1/2 doesn’t have these particular problems usually. The constant zerging allows small skirmish groups to do what they want. It’s actually quite nice as long as you can kite those massive zergs (which isn’t hard, and often entertaining). The more people in general on a map, the more chances of finding smaller groups, even with this game rewarding the zergs in every way possible. All we need is a little good luck in finding each other!

I do agree completely that there have been a lot less small groups since the patch.

This has been our experience on T2 as well, though it seems to work better in EB, with the maze-like map.

Thanks for the feedback. I didn’t think I double-tapped.

And it has only happened in close quarter fights.

Is being knocked out of Death Shroud W.A.I.?

I have just rolled Necro and have been taking her into WvW around level 40. So far I am greatly enjoying it. I have one question about Death Shroud though.

I was fighting a thief, and both times I tried to go into Death Shroud, it looked like it was interrupted, and it went on cooldown.

Is this possible? Can the casting of Death Shroud be interrupted? Or is something else the culprit (I may have double-clicked the cast button, but I don’t think I did).

kylia.4813:

Elitejelly.7462:

Ketharius.9018:

Elitejelly.7462:

hmm scores look interesting. Did FA get transfers or were they on break the past 4 weeks?

This is the usual FA weekend.

what do you mean “usual” ? this is the first time ive seen it like this.

I’d say the main difference this week was the guild allocations, for some reason the allocations to BL’s we had this week synergized really well, comm’s were clean and support was quick and readily avail. No real breaks over past few weeks (infact we had 2 guild leave FA last week, (went to TC) and we had one guild return back to FA last week (numbers total are down based on the in and out transfers)
Also there were fewer of the fairweathers on which meant we could all get more of our guildies on the BL’s.

Overall though lots of crazy good fights in FABL at reset, loved the multiple attacks everywhere and rushing to support everywhere as well!

This is definitely not the “usual” FA weekend. FA seems a lot more focused and “professional” if that is the right word. All the guilds from small to large, and the PUGs, seem very well disciplined.

Don’t know what happened, or if it is just a blip. But it sure is fun to fight against.

morrolan.9608:

Thrumdi.9216:

Gameplay-wise, ESO and GW2 look very similar, and have equivalent “action combat” styles. Judging by the latest footage though, ESO combat looks “clunky”, and GW2 is among the smoothest I’ve ever played. Advantage GW2.

Dunno where you get that from. TESO combat looks fine to me and with the active blocking, the greater array of skills and the ability to equip any armour and weapon I think combat has the potential to be better than GW2 which has been compromised by the esports paradigm.

From the reveals I’ve seen, the TESO hotbar will have roughly the same number of active skills as GW2.

It is slightly different in that your weapon will have an autoattack and a primed attack, that are not on your hotbar, but just activated by your mouse. Special weapon skills will go on the hotbar.

Overall though, in terms of possible skills to equip, it looks like TESO will have a lot more. But that really makes it an outlier like the first GW1. GW2 is already on the high end of equipable skills for mainstream games.

Slamz.5376:

GW2 did a lot right….the real problem is they just didn’t do enough of it. It would be interesting to know the population of PvE versus the population of WvW (and how this has tracked over the last few months) but I bet WvW is keeping pace nicely despite representing probably less than 5% of the developer’s total efforts.

They spend months on a new PvE thing that everyone blows through in 30 days and never plays again while the same tiny piece of land representing WvW gets replayed again and again and again. I have to believe that someone somewhere is noticing this and coming to a realization that money spent on WvW content is money well spent. If this game had 4 small PvE zones and the entire rest of the map was WvW (instead of the other way around), I feel like it would have been a lot more popular and held onto a lot more players for a lot longer time.

Definitely agree.

I don’t think GW2 has much to worry about from ESO in terms of PvE, or even lore/story. My experience is that games with “light-hearted” tones, like WoW and GW2, draw in larger audiences than the more seriously pitched games like Lord of the Rings Online. ESO has a darker tone, and that will appeal to fewer people (though still a lot).

Gameplay-wise, ESO and GW2 look very similar, and have equivalent “action combat” styles. Judging by the latest footage though, ESO combat looks “clunky”, and GW2 is among the smoothest I’ve ever played. Advantage GW2.

The only serious challenge from ESO then is going to be their PvP. Will it be good enough to make up for not being the best in the other areas? There is no doubt that the current setup of WvW favours zergs too much, and as such, does not reward skill like it should. There is a real possibility ESO PvP will hit the sweet spot between average player and hardcore. If that happens, GW2 WvW will have some trouble, if it’s not improved.

Gandalf The Grey.1058:

Bursts.1540:

If kaineng actually played for points they would be in tier1. they play just enough of it to stay on top in tier2.

edit: When kaineng plays for points and you can see it when they played against BG, they would slaughter TC. To say they play just as much as TC is inaccurate. Go back to those scores and you can see what kaineng is/was capable of.

^ This in a nut shell. We do not want to join Tier 1 at this time, too much drama in tier 1. If we legitimately wanted to join Tier 1, you would know.Tier 2 is fun and exciting, the competition is great. BTW- TC we used to have Karaoke nights, you’re no fun

I wouldn’t mind if you guys displaced Blackgate, but I have no desire to play SoR again.

It also depends if you mean historical or mythic when considering the ancient Greeks. If historical, the warrior might be a better fit, with their non-magical attacks. If you are going for a mythic fighter that has some magic in his attacks, the Guardian is a better fit.

In terms of strategy, the warrior is a bit more a straight ahead, charge in DPS class. But the Guardian can be made more of a strategic, battle-controlling area denier depending on choice of weapons and skills.

I agree, it was very good.

If they could make dailies the same, that would be great. As it stands, it is usually only 2 or 3 of 5 choices you can do in WvW. (Gathering does not count in my opinion).

cosmicegg.8502:

Well they’re about halfway to being funded right now. If they get the 2 million from kickstarter , Mark Jacobs is putting up 2 million more and he has another million in investors. 5 million for development is a great start.

Definitely going to feed on their tears when everyone who paid thousands of $ realize they’re not getting what they wanted (right around 2015).

Camelot Unchained is backwards looking. Everything about it screams “retro”.

Retro is okay for an one-time minigame, but even a niche MMO must combine the old with the new. It’s hard to see anything about CU that acknowledges the modern world.

Asudementio.8526:

Thrumdi.9216:

Server-wide truces are selfish, especially during prime time hours.

Many people only have a few hours a day to WvW. To log on and find no fights because someone is organizing a PvE event is kind of crappy.

If you must do something like this, schedule it for the off-hours, like before noon.

One player’s off hours is another’s primetime.

If you want to party with another server, use guesting. That’s why the feature is there.

Since you won’t be fighting others, there is absolutely no point to schedule your event in WvW. You can do it in PvE, and not impact the play of others in WvW.

Server-wide truces are selfish, especially during prime time hours.

Many people only have a few hours a day to WvW. To log on and find no fights because someone is organizing a PvE event is kind of crappy.

If you must do something like this, schedule it for the off-hours, like before noon.

Don’t blame the victim!

Hi tifftaffy

If you’re looking for a tight-knit guild dedicated to small group skirmishing in WvW, check us out at The Tarnished Coastguard. We’ve been around since launch and are also RP-friendly.

Best,
Thrumdi

lettucemode.3789:

You’re forgetting about retaliation.

We already have threads where people are complaining that they throw a few grenades into a zerg and take 10k damage. Now you want to remove the AoE cap so that they take 30k damage instead. Good plan, mate.

Removing the AoE cap will encourage more zerging and more stacking, not less, because the zerg will just stack retaliation and run straight into every AoE and everything casting the AoEs will die from the extra hits.

Retaliation only hits for ridiculous numbers when the zerg is stacked. And the zerg is stacked because there is a limit on AoE.

If zergs did not stack, and spread out, retaliation damage would be manageable.

+1 to removing AoE cap.

If Anet is serious about reducing the dominance of zergs, they need to change the mechanics, that — wait for it — allow the dominance of zergs.

WhiteAndMilky.2514:

Straegen.2938:

IMO enemy groups of 25+ should show on the maps. Large moving groups should have some disadvantages but nothing terribly game breaking.

This is why we have scouts. Your solution would make mindless zerging even more mindless.

The best solution would be a WvW rank ability called “Zerg Scouting” that would allow you flash Zerg locations on the map, provided you had a fairly close line of sight. Zergs would either have to split up to avoid the scouting cap, or have their own scouts gibbing enemy scouts.

Otokomae.9356:

Thrumdi.9216:

Was the point per person per Dolyak difference actually confirmed by the Devs?

I know on the weekend the new WvW dev posted it did not vary by number of attackers. Was this statement revised on Monday?

The statement was revised on Monday: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/wuvwuv/How-many-points-is-a-Supply-Caravan-worth/first#post1742511

Thanks for the link! That clear things up.

Otokomae.9356:

Well, according to the current point system, solo roamers and small groups actually add fewer points to the board for their server than a czerg, even if they can solo the same objective.

The prime example of this is Dolyaks (Supply Caravans): It was just confirmed by the Devs yesterday that you do, in fact get more points for killing a Dolyak for each person who tags it. I’ve personally witnessed Dolyaks giving 10 points instantly dozens of times in the last 24 hours, and 10 seems to be the most commonly referenced number. So it appears that if you run in any group smaller than 10, you are effectively penalized for roaming, as you can do the exact same task as a larger group, but simply add fewer points for the server than if you had zerged that task, even though you’ve managed to solo the objective (Dolyak, in this case), which should have the exact same effect on the match. This, of course, means that zerging a Dolyak actually gives your server 9 BONUS POINTS in comparison to soloing it, despite the fact that zerging a Dolyak requires far less work from each person involved, and zerging through enemy territory involves far less risk for each person than soloing.

So yeah, they could add a title to the game (though if it’s like the other WvW titles, it will take 5+ years before you see people with it), but as long as rules like the “1 point per tag” on Dolyaks exist in the game, solo roaming or running around in small groups is basically playing to lose, and it’s designed to be that way by the gaming company. If you NEVER look at the score and only play WvW for fun or some PvP challenge, then this doesn’t affect you directly, but indirectly it means you’ll find far fewer roaming groups to PvP against, since most people do actually care about the score; at least a little bit, anyway.

It’s honestly one of the worst rules I’ve seen in a PvP game anywhere. It makes no sense at all, and gives totally unnecessary bonus points for zerging an objective that really is a 1-person job, incentivizing one of the most complained about tactics on these forums (unnecessarily zerging all over the map.)

This rule really needs to go. I would also support some sort of titles for Roamers, as I think that’s a great idea, but kind of irrelevant as long as the point system is designed so that solo roamers are effectively costing their servers points simply by their very playstyle.

Was the point per person per Dolyak difference actually confirmed by the Devs?

I know on the weekend the new WvW dev posted it did not vary by number of attackers. Was this statement revised on Monday?

Not a chance. The buzz on the SAB on all the MMO sites is incredible. Anet hit this one out of the park.

Wall of Reflection is basically the Guardian range weapon. If they nerf it, they have to extend staff range to at least 900m.

Crazylegsmurphy.6430:

Mitch.4781:

Thrumdi.9216:

I actually feel sorry for other MMO’s. I just don’t know how they can compete with GW2.

Oo I duuno..Maybe they add actual legitimate content and not juvenile fluff?

Juvenile fluff?

Not only is this an insult to all the games that paved the way for games like GW2, but have you actually played through the content? Those jumping puzzles can be super challenging.

This content has had an overwhelmingly positive response. It allows all players to experience the content and is fun focused. MMOs out there would be smart to take a page from this release.

Yep, the buzz on the MMO internets is huge on the Adventure Box. I wouldn’t be surprised if it ends up registering as a perceptible uptick on Anet’s sales graph.

Also, if you want a more “adult” game with a GW2 playstyle, keep your eye out for Elder Scrolls Online. But I bet it won’t be half as fun, or have a community, half as good as this game.

I actually feel sorry for other MMO’s. I just don’t know how they can compete with GW2.

Hi Luminol,

We’re the The Tarnished Coastguard. We’ve been around since launch and run primarily small group content and skirmishing in WvW. We are also dedicated to training newbs. In our off-time we do some PvE, and are also RP-friendly.

We’ll give you a PM in game to see if we fit.

Actually, the latest comment on new maps from Colin Johansen is dated last week, March 28th. He gave an interview to mmorpg.com that was reported like this:

There are likely going to be new and different home-maps, new map objectives, new things to do in World vs. World all around, because now that it’s gotten to the point where it’s rock-solid technically they get to decide where it grows from here. To build on that game-type and take it to a whole new level. So now they’re all coming together and deciding where to go with the system to give it a lot more variety from week to week and day to day.

So it looks like new maps aren’t going to show up right away (culling after all took 6 months to fix), but it sounds like they are a go.

How bad a problem is this? Is is something Anet should fix?

Xirin.8593:

Omne.4603:

The ability to make threads needs to be limited.

I agree with this post.

New WXP ability, coming soon.

If you had asked me around December, early January, I would have said WvW was on the decline. However, since then, at least on Tarnished Coast, we have seen an influx of new recruits. (And our guild is dedicated to small group content, which is difficult to do in the current design).

To me, this is an indication GW2 is getting good word of mouth, and will keep growing at a respectable rate in the future (which is very hard for a new MMO to do). Some of those people will of course get hooked on WvW.

That said, WvW needs work, and with the culling patch Anet has shown they are committed to getting it right. Removal of culling in itself revitalized the game. It felt like launch week again. And the new ranks will keep the “Achiever” type in WvW.

However, map size and zergs are the big problem now. I’m cautiously optimistic that Anet can solve this problem as well, like they did culling (though we might have to wait). If not, Elder Scrolls Online, with its huge PvP map is releasing in late 2013. That will be GW2’s competition in this area.

Draxis.6872:

You can’t penalize people for being in a larger group, its counter to the design philosophy. You also can’t outright give smaller groups bonuses to be stronger against a larger force; its simply unfair. If i have 20 people and you have 5, you should not beat us unless you are godly.

However, I do think a nice subtle way to help promote small groups without bashing on zergs would be to make groups of a certain size (maybe 30?) visible on the map to opponents. When too many people congregate in the area, the enemy would be able to see the large groups and either rally against them or easily avoid them, and would promote the smaller groups which could move around somewhat undetected. At the same time, this wouldn’t be taking any raw power away from the larger armies. Just an idea, what do you think?

A better way might be to make “Zerg Tracking” a WvW ability.

When equipped it allows you to ping the map with the location of any 20+ group of people (provided you have line of sight or proximity).

TROLLED!

(more chars).

Ascii.9726:

miniL.7361:

I vote for more maps in WvW rather than the medium servers though. I think adding 1 or 2 maps, will first of all split up those CRAZY huge zergs of 50-80 people. And it can provide more room for players to join wvw rather than stand in Que most of the day (especially casuals with only 1 or 2 hours to spare).

New maps would be cool but unfortunately it was stated by a Developer not so long ago in a podcast with GW2Guru.com that they have no plans for adding new maps into WvW anytime soon and the current maps are already the biggest the engine will allow them to be.

Maybe with a new coordinator this might change in the future but for now there’s no sense in hoping for this change.

Actually, Colin Johansen just gave an interview to mmorpg.com where it was reported new maps were a possibility:

There are likely going to be new and different home-maps, new map objectives, new things to do in World vs. World all around, because now that it’s gotten to the point where it’s rock-solid technically they get to decide where it grows from here. To build on that game-type and take it to a whole new level. So now they’re all coming together and deciding where to go with the system to give it a lot more variety from week to week and day to day.

I started a thread on this information here because I thought it was pretty important, but no one bothered to comment.

Hi Lovash,

We’re The Tarnished Coastguard, we’ve been around since launch, and we’re dedicated to small group WvW content. We mostly run in EB, coordinating with the main zerg to cap objectives while they are doing their thing.

We’re active throughout your timezone, and are a mature guild that tries to operate without drama. We are RP-friendly, and do PvE on a casual basis.

One of our officers will give you a shout in game.

Making the award of WXP character-bound, instead of account-bound is an uncharacteristic mistake by ArenaNet. (Spending should be account-bound).

This was supposed to be the “play your way” game that does not shoehorn you into one class roll. But by their own admission, this system does just that.

It’s not too late to change it.

War is long periods of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror.

— old military adage.

W.A.I.!

Lag, it’s the new culling.

Only major issue now is map size.

Make’em bigger Anet!

Welcome to the snakepit of entitlement Devon

First order of business: tell management to give us bigger maps!

Colin Johanson just did a surprise interview with mmorpg.com. Among the interesting details about future updates:

*Possible new maps
*New WvW abilities, not limited to passives.
*Dmg/Armor vs Guards most popular initial WvW ability [wtf?]
*New map objectives

You try to throw down a Symbol of Swiftness to cross a busy intersection.

Hi Convoite,

We’re the The Tarnished Coastguard, we’ve been around since launch, and specialize in small group WvW objectives. We’re RP-friendly and casual in terms of time commitment, but serious in terms of play.

With no culling, it’s a great time to come back to WvW. I’ve added you as friend, and one of our officers will PM you in game.

Advice to Anet: BIGGER MAPS!

This is probably the biggest reason why our guild would move to Elder Scrolls Online when it comes out. That and my Guardian might get an actual ranged weapon.

I agree that no culling has completely changed the game. Before this, our guild was trying to decide what we could play until ESO came out.

I feel this is a whole new canvas, with lots of opportunity to learn and try out new tactics. Well done Anet.

I would’ve thought no culling would have been negative for small group play in the high tiers. But our experience as a guild on Tarnished Coast has been different (though it has only been a day).

It is much easier now to see a force from far away and count how many there are. You can engage if the situation is good, escape if not. On EB, at least, this was very conducive to camp capping and yak killing.

It remains to be seen if this will continue (and if the meta doesn’t change). But to me at least, no culling has really renewed my interest in the game from a small group point of view.

Before the update I was trying to figure out what I would play until ESO came out.

The zergs now are hilariously big. It’s almost comical.