I’m going to try to keep this short and sweet because I know everyone has better things to do than read the forums all day long – at least I hope they do…
To start, I’ve been playing MMOs a long time (since pre-frontiers DAOC), and have very specific tastes in the sense that my only REAL interest in any MMO is the open world PvP. RvR, WvW, call it what you want. GW2 is a great game for me because I can WvW 99% of the time and not feel as though I am missing out on any gear/items…other than the recent addition of ascended gear, of course. Based on what I’ve read, though, I presume that ascended gear will also, eventually, be obtainable through WvW.
Without further delay, here is a list of things I see as fundamental problems with the current state of WvW. Take them for what they’re worth, and feel free to add to, and/or elaborate on what you may or may not agree with.
1. Keep/tower battles often favor the attackers…exactly the opposite of what you’d expect. This often results in constant flipping of objectives, with little in the way of defense.
- Due to LOS issues, it is easier for attackers to AOE the walls than it is for defenders to AOE the ground.
- Since siege de-spawns after 30 mins (this seems to vary on occasion), there is no way for a defense force to set up siege in anticipation of a future conflict unless one or more players is left behind at said objective to keep the siege alive. This job isn’t fun so most people are unwilling to do it…and that is totally reasonable. No player should be forced to sit in a keep all day/night refreshing siege and not be rewarded for it. Personally, I think siege should remain in place until it’s been destroyed.
- 99% of the locations where siege weapons can be placed inside a keep/tower are easily AOE-able by the enemy.
- Keep/tower doors are no match for siege. A fully upgraded keep/tower can be taken in a matter of a few minutes if enough rams/golems are used. I have more of an issue with golems than rams since they can be built away from the keep (no on-site supply requirement) and portalled in on a moments notice. A group of 5 or more golems can be brought to a keep and both reinforced gates can be downed in 2-3 minutes, tops. This is far too short a time frame for a defense force to respond. An upgraded keep should be far more difficult than this to take.
2. Supply camps are too easy to flip.
- Some nights, I run a VERY small group of myself and two or three guildies; all we do is go around a BL flipping supply camps. Even a fully upgraded supply camp with additional L82 guards + NPC guards can be flipped in a minute or two by our group of three, provided we have a bit of AOE in the group.
- Player-defenders can be effective in defending supply camps, but the guards themselves are so weak that you generally need almost equal numbers of defenders in order to keep a group of skilled attackers at bay.
- The ‘invulnerable’ veteran supervisor is a good idea to prevent supply camps from being flipped constantly, but as we all know, ‘invulnerable’ is a relative term. A moderate sized force with plenty of conditions damage (AOE retaliation is also very good) can still recap a supply almost immediately after it’s been taken.
3. The dolyak system needs to be fixed.
- The single guard at a sentry/control point cannot kill a lone dolyak before the guard tethers back to it’s sentry post. What’s the point of the sentrys in the first place if they do not prevent the flow of supply?
- A single player can EASILY kill a dolyak with NPC escorts. Since the escorts de-spawn as soon as the doly is killed, the best strategy it simply to burst the dolyak down and ignore the guards entirely. The escorts are 100% ineffective at the task they were designed to perform.
That’s it for now.
