Guild Wars 2

Follidus.8027:

1. People aren’t leaving because of attempting to balance the game around top players. People are leaving because good teams are constantly matched up against lesser skilled/pug teams. It’s not fun for either side.

2. Objective based game types bring more strategy than something like a deathmatch. Having only 1 game type allows for better balancing. It’s no more repetitive than games like dota/lol/hon, starcraft, counter-strike, etc. All these games either have 1 map or a bunch of very similar maps with the same type of gameplay.

Saying each map in GW2 is the same because they all have 3 points in the shape of a v is like saying all competitive counter-strike maps are the same because they have 2 bomb sites. They’re not.

while i agree with many of your points, there are tremendous differences between the repetitiveness of this game and the repetitiveness of games like LoL and starcraft, mainly that there’s a means to an end in those games. In gw2 there is nothing to aspire to in spvp, you simply grind your brains out doing frees so that you can grind your brains out doing paids, so that you can…. stay on a qp treadmill?. There’s no “high skill lvl” or “high rating” to aspire to in this game like there is in the others, this makes the game very dull very fast to the average pvper.

YojimboJones.6243:

This sounds incredibly unfair. As it is right now you can already swap all weapons and armor/amulets out of combat, making for near instant stat reallocation. But to change your build too? So you mean to say you could run up and see a bunker guardian, ignoring him to sit on his spot. And then see him run up into a team fight later thinking “oh lol hes just a bunker ignore him” and then get blasted down by a complete 180 burst build?

It’s like bringing 10 people to a 5 man fight.

we should already be thankful that we can swap major traits around out of combat. That’s a level of versatility thats rare in an MMORPG. Normally you always need to respec to change such things.

In pve and wvw I frequently find myself swapping major traits to suit the task at hand. People take this for granted.

Well, people already do this. What you do is just have a friend mail you the major trait numbers of your builds, then just buy like 100 or each rune you’ll need in both builds, then swap everything when you need to (usually before hitting a point or while bunkering in down time). runes can take awhile to apply, so some ppl run 2 sets of gear. Idk, some specification from the devs of whether this is the intent of how higher level play was meant to look or not would be welcomed. I find it amusing that there are passive +movement speed utilities, it’s rely just a passive movement speed buff because you can just switch into it while running from point to point, then put your real utility back on before entering combat. I like the idea of being able to switch around utilities before a fight because it creates more choices and micro for roamers, but I sort of doubt that this flexibility was the intent of the developers. But from a spvper’s point of view, this kind of flexibility could be extremely important once the game reaches a competitive level of play where some comps just counter others (once a few teams reach skill cap), i’d like to see skill trump team composition to be honest; and switching builds on the fly is a good catalyst for that to happen.

i’m having trouble finding active gw2 spvp youtube content, anyone got some suggestions? i’ve subbed to quiet a few channels associated with gw2 or spvp teams, but i haven’t found anyone that uploads decent gw2 pvp vids on a consistent basis.

i do agree that this would be a fun option to have, but we need a higher player population before we can implement new game types.

What they used to be:

*Mists: chat spammed, so many ppl we needed overflow servers, almost never able to get individual time on practice dummies.
*Frees: random pugs, maybe a pro team here and there, but you’d be happy to queue into them because you got to be on TV in front of 1k viewers, mostly solo queue players in frees.
*Hotjoin: zergfest where noobs complain abt not being able to be on same team as friends.

What they are now:

*Mists: chat empty besides lfg/lfm, always the same 20 or so ppl in mists- i can recognize almost every player from my server if i queue into them in tournies, (manvil rock), depressingly lower in population.
*Frees: a bunch of baddies on voip stomping solo-queue players on forest then getting wrecked on 2nd on 3rd map by real teams.
*Hotjoin: dueling rooms.

what do you guys think about this? does the spvp population decline turn you off of the game?

felivear.1536:

Yep. Every single point is something that should be in this game. It blows my mind that they aren’t. The programmers, designers and artists put together this fundamentally amazing experience and the people in control of actually taking that creation and presenting it in the most fun way possible are dropping the ball.

What is so frustrating, to the point where I actually get angry at times: This game flows and feels fantastic. The game ‘plays’ better than most, if not all, current MMOs; however, the options and method of delivery are far behind most MMOs in the PvP department.

Sad, really.

Couldn’t agree with you more. This game has SO much potential to dominate it’s genre in terms of pvp, but the devs just aren’t taking the proper steps to make this happen. I’m hoping for at least a ranked games and a ratings ladder for Christmas, although i hope they implement it in a way that doesn’t make the game type end up like our current paid tournaments (~2 hour queue times).

PLEASE make a way for us pvpers so see our characters in their real gear (spvp gear) on the character selection screen rather than our starting gear from pve, ITS BELITTLING! lol but yeah, this would be rely nice for my ego

Chris.7653:

Zodian.6597:

why are we not allowed to switch out elites and utilities when they are on cooldown but when we are out of combat? it would be convenient to be able to swap them, then just wait out the cooldown of the one you used first so that the newly selected one will be the one that you use if the cooldown expires while in combat. As a thief i find it very annoying having to switch in an out of thieves guild elite to solo bosses then getting locked out of my preferred elite because i’m always in combat as a roamer.

It could be exploited beyond belief…..what would be the purpose of limiting it just to a few skills if all you have to do is drop combat and lose the skill on the long CD…

You chose to use the skill now you wait for it to come back off CD…it is one of the few things working fine and as intended in the game.

lol what? you’d still have to deal with the previous skill cool down. micromanagement of utilities is already a huge part of playing alot of the classes (switching out mesmer null field vs different dmg types/thiefs shadow refuge for passive movement signet when moving from point to point). not being able to switch the skills because of cool down just makes it more annoying when you enter combat and the utility you no longer need is taking up 1/4 spots for utilities.

why are we not allowed to switch out elites and utilities when they are on cooldown but when we are out of combat? it would be convenient to be able to swap them, then just wait out the cooldown of the one you used first so that the newly selected one will be the one that you use if the cooldown expires while in combat. As a thief i find it very annoying having to switch in an out of thieves guild elite to solo bosses then getting locked out of my preferred elite because i’m always in combat as a roamer.

It’s no secret that the PvP playerbase has been dwindling these past few months, and I think the main reason is because there is no real way to identify skill level in this game. As it stands, the current mists map chat looks something like “rank 38 bunker LF free/paids” or “group LF1M rank 30+”, this is a joke. PvP rank really just= the amount of matches played, the amount of matches played does not dictate the skill level of an individual player. Especially in a team-based game. Implementing an accurate way for players to visually identify who is a truly better player would bring back the casuals, get more people watching streams, and would give the hardcore players something to play for again. Here’s how I would go about implementing a ratings system for this game.

1. We take away free tournaments; having to find 40 ppl to begin 1 match puts absurd and un-needed stress on the queue system.

2. We replace the free tournaments game type with a ranked single elimination match game type with a random map selection for each match (not a tournament, just 1 5v5 match winner takes all).

3. We award the players of the winning teams rating, and deduct some rating from the players of the loosing team. Furthermore, we also award players of the winning team 1 tournament ticket; this is very important because it not only will improve queue times for paid tournaments by streamlining the currency, but it will also level the playing field in terms of skill level in paid tournaments. Right now we have a cliff in skill level; paids are very hard to win, and frees are very easy to win.
Also, the players could be awarded a chest similar to copper after winning 2 ranked games in a row, a chest similar to silver after 3 ranked game wins in a row, and a chest similar to gold after 5 ranked game wins in a row.

4. We let people rent out hotjoin rooms so that the serious teams can scrim each other, also make a team version of hotjoin where premade teams can queue into other random teams on random maps just to have fun (essentially the free tournaments system without the tournament part).

5. Ranked games can only be solo/duo queued. This is also important; it makes an effort to better individualize skill level, but it also means that if the powerhouse teams want to practice together, they have to face other teams on their level by hosting a scrim (via step 4), or by playing paids. I would propose a ranked 5s, but the player population as it is right now is not big enough to harbor another game type, perhaps after a few monthly tournaments people will start recognizing that this game is serious about being an esport and come back to replace the population that would be lost through implementation of another game type, but now i’m just theorizing.

6. We add quality of life things like a ratings ladder, linkable achievements, titles for reaching milestone ratings, option to show character’s in their pvp gear on character selection screen, ect.. things that will improve the PvP experience for the player by allowing them to set goals that they can create sentimental value in their accounts.

7. PUT MORE DEVS ON PVP, 2 is simply not enough to keep up with the demands of the players, but i will say they’ve been doing a great job with what they’ve got.

And that’s it; a realistic and logical implementation of a ratings system for guild wars 2 structured PvP that allows players of every skill level to improve, set goals, and experience the game at their own pace, without having to forfeit our current paid/monthly/yearly tournament system. I’m sure adding ratings has been suggested before, but i don’t think it’s been made clear the best way to go about implementing it. If you would like to see these changes in our game please subscribe to the topic!

It’s no secret that the PvP playerbase has been dwindling these past few months, and I think the main reason is because there is no real way to identify skill level in this game. As it stands, the current mists map chat looks something like “rank 38 bunker LF free/paids” or “group LF1M rank 30+”, this is a joke. PvP rank really just= the amount of matches played, the amount of matches played does not dictate the skill level of an individual player. Especially in a team-based game. Implementing an accurate way for players to visually identify who is a truly better player would bring back the casuals, get more people watching streams, and would give the hardcore players something to play for again. Here’s how I would go about implementing a ratings system for this game.

1. We take away free tournaments; having to find 40 ppl to begin 1 match puts absurd and un-needed stress on the queue system.

2. We replace the free tournaments game type with a ranked single elimination match game type with a random map selection for each match (not a tournament, just 1 5v5 match winner takes all).

3. We award the players of the winning teams rating, and deduct some rating from the players of the loosing team. Furthermore, we also award players of the winning team 1 tournament ticket; this is very important because it not only will improve queue times for paid tournaments by streamlining the currency, but it will also level the playing field in terms of skill level in paid tournaments. Right now we have a cliff in skill level; paids are very hard to win, and frees are very easy to win.
Also, the players could be awarded a chest similar to copper after winning 2 ranked games in a row, a chest similar to silver after 3 ranked game wins in a row, and a chest similar to gold after 5 ranked game wins in a row.

4. We let people rent out hotjoin rooms so that the serious teams can scrim each other.

5. Ranked games can only be solo/duo queued. This is also important; it makes an effort to better individualize skill level, but it also means that if the powerhouse teams want to practice together, they have to face other teams on their level by hosting a scrim (via step 4), or by playing paids. I would propose a ranked 5s, but the player population as it is right now is not big enough to harbor another game type, perhaps after a few monthly tournaments people will start recognizing that this game is serious about being an esport and come back to replace the population that would be lost through implementation of another game type, but now i’m just theorizing.

6. We add quality of life things like a ratings ladder, linkable achievements, titles for reaching milestone ratings, ect.. things that will improve the PvP experience for the player by allowing them to set goals that they know will gain them reputation in the mists.

7. PUT MORE DEVS ON PVP, 2 is simply not enough to keep up with the demands of the players, but i will say they’ve been doing a great job with what they’ve got.

And that’s it; a realistic and logical implementation of a ratings system for guild wars 2 structured PvP that allows players of every skill level to improve, set goals, and experience the game at their own pace, without having to forfeit our current paid/monthly/yearly tournament system. I’m sure adding ratings has been suggested before, but i don’t think it’s been made clear the best way to go about implementing it.