Guild Wars 2

I have not come across the afk issue yet, in fact most matches have been quite competitive. Either way, the afk issue is secondary to the actual mechanics of the map, which is what the point of my post was about! Looks like most people are done with the achievements now anyways.

I’m not saying this mode is better than spvp, that is still far surperior regarding class variety/build variety/etc, but as far as a game modes go; this one was stellar!

Just wanted to say thanks! I really haven’t enjoyed too many of the mini-games in the past, but this one is really fun. Reminds me a lot of Team Fortress and I was pleasantly surprised when I tried it out. Thanks again and keep up the good work. Also, the rewards felt at a right pace for it too!

Shin is one of the most active, dedicated, and popular streamers; definitely worth having him on the channel. He also engages the community a lot in his stream, which is probably one of the more important reasons to have him on there when it comes to rebuilding the twitch gw2 community. Worth noting he is also already formally sponsored.

twitch.tv/GW2ascii is a great fit as well for the EU audience. Personally I have not seen much of it due to the time difference, but he yields a good following and many hold him in high regard.

We’ve also had some comments about RIOT’s channel being added (which is a collective of 3-4 RIOT streamers and mainly Second to God (Sanny) - he streams often on the channel, but we usually have someone at least streaming daily), but in my own personal opinion I have no idea what the goal of ’Anet approved streamers is’, which leaves me a bit unable to comment whether or not we would be a good fit. In particular, we stream roaming wvw ranging from 1-6 persons on average and yield typically anywhere from 50-200 viewers (spikes to 400+ when we give lots of gold away, lol). We probably also should note a 18+ filter (we’ll curse occasionally is the main reason why).

Nike & Tim also stream some of the best high-level PvE dungeon’ing content out there. Awesome streams for new and old players alike to check out if they want to learn some of the not so obvious PvE mechanics and in-turn how to run efficient clear times.

SgtJanitor.3164:

I’d just like to say that the blanket comments in regards to blobbing, lack of skill, etc. really don’t hold much water and are somewhat disrespectful in my opinion. I mean, as a server, we are not infallible in the slightest. Blackgate is a huge community and has arguably the largest amount of coverage in NA due to the overtime that some guilds are willing to pull during off-peak hours and makes us susceptible to blobbing during primetime hours, sure, but don’t write off the exceptions to this.
APeX, RIOT, oPP, etc., have always ran low numbers and play just for fights just as you all say that you do. If you’ve seen us on the field, you’d probably agree.

While I don’t personally give a gorilla’s musty kitten that we won Season 1 of WvW, Blackgate did put in an effort to achieve that title and it was earned no matter what anyone says. If you’re like me and don’t care, then why bother insulting them about it? Just enjoy what you play the game to enjoy; there’s no harm in that.

Congratulations Blackgate on your victory.

Sums up my thoughts as well. Agreed.

John, your ’live call’ was well played. Lot of good stuff coming out of this stream so far; looking forward to more episodes and future patches (especially ones that include new game modes).

Sirendor.1394:

docmed, do you have to relist your own if you are the representative/guild leader?

Not sure; again, I’m not the point person and since I’m currently at work (shh, don’t tell anyone I’m forum browsing), I can’t confirm. Worse case scenario is you get added twice (I’d imagine), so I’d list yourself.

Lonami.2987:

Hey, I have some questions, and I figured they’re better here than in the private email, so the answers can be seen by everyone.

* Do we need a different client for testing, or we already have everything inside our current version?
* Only people in the spreadsheet has access to the map? Or everyone inside the guild? In case of "a", is there any way for me to invite someone not in the list once the testing begins?
* As a guild leader, can I control guildmate’s access to the map? Imagine I find someone from my guild breaking the rules or behaving improperly. Would I be able to limit his access, or kick him from my guild?
* In the message you ask about each member choosing an alias or handle for the forum. Can you elaborate on this? Our alias is supposed to be our account name already, isn’kitten
* In the spreadsheet, is it fine if the point of contact and the guild leader are the same person?

Thanks for the opportunity.

+ It’s an entirely new client.
+ Only individuals you provide in your submit list to ArenaNet. They might be open to small accomodations/corrections here and there, but it sounds pretty locked in place once you submit it. We’re all human though and consequently prone to errors, so I’d be surprised if you couldn’t get some small changes/corrections in after you submit.
+ No clue how this functions yet, but Anet seems to be quite approachable on these topics; but overall I’d recommend not inviting anyone that could possibly be a problem for your guild.
+ You have an entirely new login as well for this client. If I recall correctly, it spits out to something like [guild name] [account name] as your login. For example; RIOT docmed.####, is mine.
+ Our guild leader has been our point of contact, so I’m sure it’s fine to be one in the same.

Hope that helps.

Renny.6571:

Witaminka.4650:

Anyone streaming Edge of the Mists?

Team RIOT Team

Not sure if troll or not.... Thanks for the plug Renny. oPP also regularly streams GW2 content (veretta/got boons)!

John Corpening.9847:

Would you keep rank acquisition the same as it is now?

If not, what would you do to improve rank acquisition?

Sounds awesome, thank you so much for clarifying those details in your original post! I think this will work out for all types of players while encouraging everyone to try out pvp along with not forcing them to as well if they elect not to. Also sounds like great ground work for the future pvp modes in production.

Regarding your questions; this is a tough one. Obviously it is a good idea/must to carry over the title, finisher, etc if ranks were to be retired. I guess it all just depends how you’re rolling out the new rewards system. In other words, if the rewards (titles/finishers/armor/weapons/legendaries/etc) are all derived off not utilizing the rank system, than there really is no point to continue having said ‘rank’ system and a legacy mode honoring it would be well received i think. Consequently my vote would be leaning towards retiring it.

Personally the grind for rank is an extremely long one in PvP and even the most dedicated PvP’ers are barely in the 60’s. I think you guys are doing a good thing by lowering the bar a bit here and opening up more of the cosmetics, but potentially saving the very high end ones for the longer-term play style; this is the right approach! Things like legendaries, exclusive/unique armors, amazing finishers, should be reserved for the long-haul approach and/or tough to achieve titles (such as achieving a certain high-rank pvp bracket). The remaining mid-level and below items should be obtainable in a manner that is somewhat comparable to the pace in PvE.

Take for example; the pacing to gear yourself out in PvE is extremely rewarding, while still leaving a very desireable goal over a given period of time. Players can access really amazing rewards (like 90-95% of the game’s cosmetics) through: certain cash shop items, unique living story pieces, and/or grinding pve, in a fairly quick manner and these items also provide a sense of accomplishment and pride. From there, there are really unique, easy-to-point-to goals that players can then set out to accomplish over a long period of time. Whether it’s ‘work towards my cultural gear’ or ‘work towards a piece of my legendary’, ‘earn this achievement’, etc – players are not left with a ton that feels empty or out of place when it comes to their skins and remaining vanities. It’s only a small portion of available cosmetics that are very difficult to achieve and take time that allow players to essentially have a ‘complete character’ yet still feel that sense of progression and achievement. If you can capture that correctly in pvp and deliver on the potential game modes (this is pretty huge to it all succeeding as well), ladder system, etc… Then wow, this game would absolutely be back on track regarding spvp. Just to caveat; I’m a big PvX player, and I’m sure most would agree that sPvP is lacking when compared to PvE/WvW.

Good luck and thanks again!

DevonCarver.5370:

Any change that requires significant UI, especially any new UI functionality, is a long term change. Not only does it take time to design the UI and settle on it’s appearance, it takes time to build the functionality. That is why any full on rework of the squad system will be a large project. It is important to us that when we introduce new UI elements we have fully fleshed out their place in the rest of the game UI.

Definitely makes sense that it would be a huge undertaking and I hope it is something that is on your radar nonetheless. Although it doesn’t have to be introduced necessarily through the commander system (it kind of makes sense though to develop it this way), a UI focused around the total amount players can formally group with would be a welcome addition. Could even be something as simple as X / Y members alive displayed, X / Y in range, etc, etc. doesn’t have to initially be a full visual of each member (maybe that would cut back on the effort regarding a UI overhaul).

Either way, glad the commander system is being worked on; I remember being very excited when hearing about it and sorely dissapointed when testing it during beta. It really can and should be more useful and there are a lot of good suggestions on here that you’re gathering thus far. Good luck!

I’m really glad to hear this is getting an overhaul; definitely a lot can be done with this for both PvE and WvW. In particular, since you mentioned rolling a compacted system underneath it, you could even approach having a raid UI for this utility. It would absolutely be welcome by the community and there’s probably a multitude of ways this could easily be rolled out while minimally impacting UI space. Thanks for taking this on and looking forward to seeing where this goes!

Edit - my vote is long-term-tear-it-down/set it up for life!

Seems like a lot of awesome changes, like most have said; all will boil down to the implementation and I hope/imagine gold as currency does not mean full access to all rewards (e.g. earn X achievement, can purcahse Y armor set for gold, not: can purchase all armors/weapons for gold from the get-go). Also, agreed about the point regarding pve carry over to pvp - Hopefully armors that can be carried over will also be met with a ’must meet X achievement requirement to wear Y armor set in pvp’. Nonetheless, still some really good/exciting ideas and let’s voice our concerns constructively!

Anet announced their bi-weekly-dev based sPvP show today; I imagine this has something to do with it being "unstickied". They probably want their show to be the go-to channel as it makes sense to be! I’m sure they still plan to back this chann and support any other community efforts out there as well.

Caed already knows we’d be happy to work something out and this is something we’ve discussed with him in the past. In-short, he isn’t huge into WvW roaming and is definitely more a structured pvp player (he does it quite well!), but again, doesn’t mean anything is off the table. Like Veretta mentioned, have to consider competition as well, but the issue there too is it’s not like we play the same servers week over week, let alone JQ anymore. Nonetheless we get the opportunity to pvp with Caed (duels mainly in his private server) and we stream this occassionally and I would bet that with the development/implementation of actual deathmatch/arena’s in pvp, you will see a ton more RIOT participating/streaming this content (we quite dislike conquest). Cheers.

Boulderbolg.3460:

Sifu.6527:

So...about this awesome roaming guild I keep hearing about from BG - Riot. I haven’t seen them much. At most, I saw one guy running with the pugs. Do they still roam? If yes, around what time and with how many? This is Mag second time facing BG, probably the last for this season so maybe they will come out and play.

Stop giving me blue balls!

You can always check out our stream to see if we are on and where. Link in my sig.

We’re there, holiday + some mobo issues has personally kept my play down a bit though. I was in the EB puzzle last night though wearing my [HUGS] and [DUEL] tag accordingly. We often (varies person to person) shed the [RIOT] tag to avoid being overly-focused. Keep in mind we also are an extremely small guild of tight-knit players. It is a rare occassion for us to have 6+ together at any moment and common to find 1-3 of us together at a time.

Oh with that in mind; despite our current recruitment status, we always consider exceptional applicants (shameless plug!)!

Justin ODell.9517:

Josh Davis.6015:

Also, as an aside, we really are taking the collaborative development stuff to heart. After we release our next PvP blog post we’re going to follow-up immediately with a preview of what we have going in before the end of the year. After that we’re going to run streams on a consistent basis to keep you guys informed of progress and preview stuff we have in development.

Think SotG, but much more official.

So looking forward to this.

I’m also planning on doing a blog post on the matchmaking changes coming next year and we’ll be following that up with a discussion thread on the topic so we can respond feedback on the proposed changes. This is one of those topics that I believe should be as transparent as possible to ensure players understand and trust the way it works.

That sounds really awesome guys. Would be cool if you could snag some of the old pvp personalities to appear on it as well.

Olba.5376:

I don’t think that’s a good idea.

That would basically make it Endure Pain on a 30s cooldown.

While I agree it’s not the best idea, blocks act far different than Endure/Defy Pain. For example, skills that go through block can still do damage to you. Additionally, conditions behave differently vs block and the durations of the skills are also entirely different.

Cliffnotes-style new maps portion of stream, courtesy of Dulfy: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1r8prs/new_game_mode_prototypes_from_livestream/

What’s some of the feedback you’ve received thus far Grouch?

Nike Porphyrogenita.8137:

docMed.7692:

Wow. Get over it people. So your and my levels are getting reset to 30, big deal – we’ll be back up there in no time and I’m also interested in taking on the new 30+ challeneges per level. They also made levels account bound in case you missed that, so hey, you can switch easy between characters as you need, still earn progressions/etc. They also released entirely new fractals and revamped the entire system. Let’s scream doom because an insanely small portfion of the community farmed odd-level fractals to get 80 or you zerged it to 80 with bugs. Talk about an achievement, exploited your way to max level, upset it gets revamped with an entirely better (at least sounding so far) system.

I didn’t exploit anything to get to my fractal level, and it was challenging and it was brutally hard. Belittling my efforts won’t make me persuaded that my effort wasn’t rendered meaningless.

You got to 80 by grinding odd/even alternating fractals? As far as belittling your efforts, these comments are hardly directly pointed to you and like I indicated, they also impact me (lvl 50). Demanding compensation is where I take issue. Such an entitled bunch.

Wow. Get over it people. So your and my levels are getting reset to 30, big deal - we’ll be back up there in no time and I’m also interested in taking on the new 30+ challeneges per level. They also made levels account bound in case you missed that, so hey, you can switch easy between characters as you need, still earn progressions/etc. They also released entirely new fractals and revamped the entire system. Let’s scream doom because an insanely small portfion of the community farmed odd-level fractals to get 80 or you zerged it to 80 with bugs. Talk about an achievement, exploited your way to max level, upset it gets revamped with an entirely better (at least sounding so far) system.

deathTouch.9706:

docMed.7692:

HeNnAz.8913:

deathTouch.9706:

Any chance to see an actual organized RIOT roaming group before the end of the week?

Just seen duelers and solo roamers so far.

Dude, I’m on the same server as them, so far only seen 2 or 3 in the same area… I think they might be a GvG only guild?

Prior to the introduction of Seasons, we would easily have anywhere from 5-10 of us (we split up our roaming groups) on a map or split between two and we also bounced around runes a lot (when they were more valuable). Now with the queue issues, it’s rare for us to have anymore than 1-3 together, let a lone a full group, and even then it’s because someone had a taxi setup or we all waited a hour to simply play with each other. Nonetheless, we did get some 4-5+ group roaming in last night in EB and that was also caught on our stream (we get most of us loaded into EB around minute 45: http://www.twitch.tv/teamriottv/b/479569786).

Yeah the queues are very unfortunate. Maybe when we meet in the future the beta map will be out and we can do some roaming against each other then?

~dT[AoN] (my sig isn’t working)

Yea, we were even thinking it would be awesome if rather than just your specific battle group queued for the map (i.e. server 1/2/3), it would be even cooler to have it queue up whatever color you were assigned that week. In other words, 8 servers (green) v 8 servers (red) v 8 servers (blue). I think that would keep the population up and the variety of competitors, as well as teammates, fresh!

Jaxs.5830:

docMed.7692:

Jaxs.5830:

docMed.7692:

Jaxs.5830:

docMed.7692:

I felt overall my comment was friendly and just hitting on the fact that queue times have led to the annoyances associated with opportunities for us to face each other as we like

We meet again in a couple weeks, maybe que times will be better for you then.

Yea, hasn’t changed much other than the dip after week 1, still 1 hour queue peek for BL’s and 3 hours+ for EB unless someone has a taxi going. Looking forward to more engagements!

Sorry to hear that, not sure how you guys handle that all the time. Time to transfer down tier I think

We’re holding out that edge of the mists will alleviate our queue concerns.

You guys are beta’ing it right? How do you like it so far? Enough space to move around, or just lots of narrow spots that favors tight stacked balls of PVT heroics?

No beta as of yet. It also had no NDA, so you will hear as soon as we all hear! Latest I have as of yesterday is; soonish/when it’s ready!

Maybe this Dec. 10 patch will change your thoughts! Either way, variety keeps it fresh just like anything in life, which is why I PvX and recommend you try that out too! Enjoy your break!

HeNnAz.8913:

deathTouch.9706:

Any chance to see an actual organized RIOT roaming group before the end of the week?

Just seen duelers and solo roamers so far.

Dude, I’m on the same server as them, so far only seen 2 or 3 in the same area… I think they might be a GvG only guild?

Prior to the introduction of Seasons, we would easily have anywhere from 5-10 of us (we split up our roaming groups) on a map or split between two and we also bounced around runes a lot (when they were more valuable). Now with the queue issues, it’s rare for us to have anymore than 1-3 together, let a lone a full group, and even then it’s because someone had a taxi setup or we all waited a hour to simply play with each other. Nonetheless, we did get some 4-5+ group roaming in last night in EB and that was also caught on our stream (we get most of us loaded into EB around minute 45: http://www.twitch.tv/teamriottv/b/479569786).

Jaxs.5830:

docMed.7692:

Jaxs.5830:

docMed.7692:

I felt overall my comment was friendly and just hitting on the fact that queue times have led to the annoyances associated with opportunities for us to face each other as we like

We meet again in a couple weeks, maybe que times will be better for you then.

Yea, hasn’t changed much other than the dip after week 1, still 1 hour queue peek for BL’s and 3 hours+ for EB unless someone has a taxi going. Looking forward to more engagements!

Sorry to hear that, not sure how you guys handle that all the time. Time to transfer down tier I think

We’re holding out that edge of the mists will alleviate our queue concerns.

Jaxs.5830:

docMed.7692:

I felt overall my comment was friendly and just hitting on the fact that queue times have led to the annoyances associated with opportunities for us to face each other as we like

We meet again in a couple weeks, maybe que times will be better for you then.

Yea, hasn’t changed much other than the dip after week 1, still 1 hour queue peek for BL’s and 3 hours+ for EB unless someone has a taxi going. Looking forward to more engagements!

Winkin.1490:

docMed.7692:

The highlight literally includes 2 groups-worth stacking on fields for buffs… Anyways, I wasn’t around Saturday, so I wouldn’t know how those encounters went, but there’s usually someone streaming on our channel, so you’re welcome to pull up our vids/highlights/etc and share as you see fit.

Again, like I said, I really don’t care if you guys ball or anything, I gave a recount of my experiences thus far, which you said was ‘never [true]’. I’m sure experiences vary from guildie to guildie in both respects and groups. You also cut out a ton of my response in your quote, which I felt overall my comment was friendly and just hitting on the fact that queue times have led to the annoyances associated with opportunities for us to face each other as we like (I closed it with ‘edge mists plzkthnx’). Anyways………………………. If you want to get upset, let’s get upset. Nice chatting with you.

No, that highlight does not literally include that. If you’re talking about the split second before you engaged the Mesmer, everyone stopped for a moment before turning to engage you. There isn’t zzzz stack might, zzz stack stability, zzzz okay go. But everyone is entitled to their opinion on what constitutes stacking / zerging / balling / whatever.

Either way, I see that RIOT is very different from Anonymous Defender, so I’ll leave it at that.

I’m getting lost in what your point is here. First it’s “we never stack”, then it’s “we didn’t use skills to constitute stacking”, now it’s “we didn’t zerg”. Again, I really don’t care what you guys do nor do I understand your constant need for back-handed comments. See you on the ever-evolving-open-ended-non-structured-battlefield.

Winkin.1490:

docMed.7692:

Winkin.1490:

docMed.7692:

Only other groups of AoN members I’ve encountered since were 6-8 members (+1-2 pugs) all running follow the commander stack-tactics.

We never stack. We’d lose positioning / initiative too quickly if we did that. We may fall back on each other if we’re doing like a 7-10 v 20+ and stringing them out but I wouldn’t call that stacking. Hopefully you did not mean that literally.

I feel my description is accurate. It was 1.5-2 groups worth following one specific individual w/ 1-2 pugs and a majority being AoN with the appropriate tag and stacking every so often. In fact, I think I have a majority of it on stream: http://www.twitch.tv/teamriottv/c/3238904 (here’s a highlight of my 6 hour stream from the other day). Group was roaming ruins/south cap SoR and was in the area for 1-2 hours as I roamed around.

Edit - Either way, I personally don’t care if you guys ball or small roam, etc.

Stacking usually refers to everyone being within one square meter, not moving, and stacking might/stability/etc. Having our 7-10 (we’ve had more than our usual 7-8 since everyone is excited to be fighting BG/SOR) following our guild leader in organized roaming hardly counts as stacking, but I’m not going to try to convince you otherwise.

In either case, the only organized RIOT we’ve seen has been 4-5 at ruins island on Sat or Sun (can’t remember). We had 4 and figured they’d want to go 4-5 v 4. Instead, they waited for 4-5 BG pugs to engage us and then AJ’d us after we blew our cooldowns on the pugs. We managed to down a few, but we couldn’t win 4 v 8-9. So much for you looking for small-man fights?

The highlight literally includes 2 groups-worth stacking on fields for buffs... Anyways, I wasn’t around Saturday, so I wouldn’t know how those encounters went, but there’s usually someone streaming on our channel, so you’re welcome to pull up our vids/highlights/etc and share as you see fit.

Again, like I said, I really don’t care if you guys ball or anything, I gave a recount of my experiences thus far, which you said was ’never [true]’. I’m sure experiences vary from guildie to guildie in both respects and groups. You also cut out a ton of my response in your quote, which I felt overall my comment was friendly and just hitting on the fact that queue times have led to the annoyances associated with opportunities for us to face each other as we like (I closed it with ’edge mists plzkthnx’).

*cleaned up for more friendlyness/hugs*

Winkin.1490:

docMed.7692:

Only other groups of AoN members I’ve encountered since were 6-8 members (+1-2 pugs) all running follow the commander stack-tactics.

We never stack. We’d lose positioning / initiative too quickly if we did that. We may fall back on each other if we’re doing like a 7-10 v 20+ and stringing them out but I wouldn’t call that stacking. Hopefully you did not mean that literally.

I feel my description is accurate. It was 1.5-2 groups worth following one specific individual w/ 1-2 pugs and a majority being AoN with the appropriate tag and stacking every so often. In fact, I think I have a majority of it on stream: http://www.twitch.tv/teamriottv/c/3238904 (here’s a highlight of my 6 hour stream from the other day). Group was roaming ruins/south cap SoR and was in the area for 1-2 hours as I roamed around.

Edit - Either way, I personally don’t care if you guys ball or small roam, etc.

Mauvelence.6870:

Pinko.2076:

Still waiting for RIOT vs AoN. RIOT please roam/stream sometime this week ty.

>thinking either riot or aon will ever engage anything more than isolated solos in the middle of nowhere

Why can’t we be friends, why can’t weeee be friends…

Pinko.2076:

iAmTheDuke.6201:

I don’t like how this is veering towards BG vs SoR and not BG vs MG roamers drama...

Plz fix, I love hearing streamers QQ about people who post on the forums.

Still waiting for RIOT vs AoN. RIOT please roam/stream sometime this week ty.

Queue times own our face; we did duel a lot with some random AoN members the first day or two though at windmill SoR. Only other groups of AoN members I’ve encountered since were 6-8 members (+1-2 pugs) all running follow the commander stack-tactics. We (RIOT) hardly field 4+ anymore on the same map unless it’s off hours given the insane queue times. Ideally though we like to run with 4-5 anyways, makes it tough though to swap classes/maps. WTB Edge of the Mists beta release!

Josh Davis.6015:

docMed.7692:

Nice to see the random shake up (definitely noticing a difference). Still a bit of an issue though when u get 3-4 thieves on one team vs a well balanced team. Any chance of adding a little more criteria there?

Justin has been looking into adding additional parameters to solo queue like balancing professions between both teams. Every additional criteria we add increases the queue times, though. I don’t think we’ve decided on anything for sure, but we have been toying with the idea.

Glad to hear you’re enjoying the changes.

Yea, I guess it just depends what people are willing to wait for. I fall in anywhere from top 100 to 1000 in soloQ (somewhere over 40 matches or so played). I haven’t played much because of sync’ing, but again, latest fixes seem nice - seeing the same players, but the teams are definitely being shuffled. Matches go anywhere from 50 seconds to 5 min or so queue time, which is fine for me since I can just hot-join or do w/e I want otherwise. Well balanced teams (i.e. criteria of just 1-2 classes per queue) would definitely add to the times, but I would be absolutely fine with waiting 10-15 minutes for a match that was at least balanced better. Guess it all just depends on the person though. 5 minutes max is probably a good target queue time overall.

** edit ** one thing to consider is future benefit; even though it may be longer now, these changes encourage more players, which means ultimately less queues. For example myself, I barely soloq’d before because of sync/etc, but if the matches are truely randomized/balanced, you bet I would do it more and I’d imagine if word of this balance got out, more people would be interested. Kind of a ’if you build it, they will come’ scenario.

Nice to see the random shake up (definitely noticing a difference). Still a bit of an issue though when u get 3-4 thieves on one team vs a well balanced team. Any chance of adding a little more criteria there?

Got to play a lot today on both my warrior and thief; thanks all (streamed most of live too: http://twitch.tv/teamriottv)! Mag seemed less willing to appreciate my jumping up and down as I came out of stealth near them to indicate I was friendly and interested in dueling. It lead to a lot of attempts at zerg’in me down! Otherwise, fun fights/etc. and for those that could recognize the difference between a hostile foe and a foe interested in dueling your members, thanks!

Jado Cast.1805:

Watched some/ participated in some good duels against Mag today by Windmill. Heidia, February, Slynn, DocMed, Sanny, all kicking but too. To the thief from RaGe I dueled, GG.

Hope to get some more in this week.

Yea, that was fun; had some good duels against some mag folks including that p/d condi thief.

Yaro.3251:

docMed.7692:

Yaro.3251:

Jaxs.5830:

Every video of zerg play is pretty much the same

Every rugby game video for me is pretty much the same. Just because I’m not versed in rules, meta, tactics details etc. Every zerg video otoh for me is quite different though.

As someone who played collegiate rugby and still plays club, and as someone who has 3,000 hours played in Guild Wars 2; that analogy is completely off.

The point of analogy was to reveal the flaw in “every” premise.

As someone who understands pretty well what rugby is, you could tell the awful backyard amateur rugby video from all-blacks greatest hits one. As someone who understands pretty well GW2 meta and large scale battles I can tell the PUG all-map zerg video from 1-2-3 guild raids zerg video. They are not “all the same”.

I didn’t dispute your point, just that your analogy was off. Point being, the discrepency in skill is insanely vast with rugby as opposed to guild wars 2. In other words, one is significantly more subtle than the other.

Yaro.3251:

Jaxs.5830:

Every video of zerg play is pretty much the same

Every rugby game video for me is pretty much the same. Just because I’m not versed in rules, meta, tactics details etc. Every zerg video otoh for me is quite different though.

As someone who played collegiate rugby and still plays club, and as someone who has 3,000 hours played in Guild Wars 2; that analogy is completely off.

There’s always going to be zergs, no matter what you do. The tricky and difficult thing is coming up with a system that incentives all styles of play and truly pushes a person towards picking the ’enjoyable’ play mode as opposed to the most efficient farming play mode. I think ArenaNet can agree here it is tough to tackle as most solutions involve penalties for zerging as opposed to benefits of small-group-play and is something they are absolutely aware of.

DevonCarver.5370:

We don’t discuss population numbers as company policy. The first question is something we are going to be deciding based on the testing we will be doing. It is our initial design that the map is restricted to worlds from the same matchups, but we will evaluate that as we progress through the testing process to determine if that is the best version.

I believe OP is asking map size for this game mode (edge); not server population size, which I can understand why you would not want to share this information. Do you really mean ArenaNet’s policy is not to disclose specific maps intended participants cap? Seems like this should be discussed given it’s impact on the balance of the game play and in particular to Edge of the Mists.

rhodoc.2381:

docMed.7692:

First off, thanks guys for sharing the preview; always tough to showcase an unfinished product that is still yet to even enter officially into beta. The terrain looked amazing and I think it would be really fun to mess around with (good balance of tight quarters and open space!). The resource nodes look great and even the PvE aspects/secondary mechanics sounds pretty interesting.

However, I still have some concerns and in particular there was 1 glaring thing that stood out here, which was, play with your friends.

Basically, the way it works currently is; you pull up the WvW map interface and simply queue up using the Edge of the Mists option. You are then placed into the next available spot in an Edge map. The dev’s didn’t spell it out, but it sounded like you could join on each other’s Edge instance (again unconfirmed). Nonetheless, this is a huge issue. We need to be able to easily play with our friends in WvW, that is something that I thought would ideally be resolved by having a ’no-queue’ map system. Please, develop this. Having to trick the system to allowing us to play with our friends by queue’ing up, joining on each other’s instances, dropping groups, shifting players around, etc, is going to lead to dead population. We need systems that automatically put us with the people we want to be with when we play.

Another issue that was not touched on was the max players allowed per map; seems like a lot of space and thus this is really shifting towards looking like a 24-7 karma train map. I really hope steps are taken to combat this.

Normally you are able to join your friend’s overflow. I think it will work the same way for this map.

Like I said, sounds like you can join overflows, but this brings us back to the issue then of groups that are full and a 6th is looking to join on the group. Yes, he can get in, but it requires manual circumvention of a flawed queue system to get the player in. Just resolve the issue by giving two options for queue’ing: Join the next highest-population map with an available position, or join a specific, already existing EDGE map just like WvW and hot-join.

First off, thanks guys for sharing the preview; always tough to showcase an unfinished product that is still yet to even enter officially into beta. The terrain looked amazing and I think it would be really fun to mess around with (good balance of tight quarters and open space!). The resource nodes look great and even the PvE aspects/secondary mechanics sounds pretty interesting.

However, I still have some concerns and in particular there was 1 glaring thing that stood out here, which was, play with your friends.

Basically, the way it works currently is; you pull up the WvW map interface and simply queue up using the Edge of the Mists option. You are then placed into the next available spot in an Edge map. The dev’s didn’t spell it out, but it sounded like you could join on each other’s Edge instance (again unconfirmed). Nonetheless, this is a huge issue. We need to be able to easily play with our friends in WvW, that is something that I thought would ideally be resolved by having a ’no-queue’ map system. Please, develop this. Having to trick the system to allowing us to play with our friends by queue’ing up, joining on each other’s instances, dropping groups, shifting players around, etc, is going to lead to dead population. We need systems that automatically put us with the people we want to be with when we play.

Another issue that was not touched on was the max players allowed per map; seems like a lot of space and thus this is really shifting towards looking like a 24-7 karma train map. I really hope steps are taken to combat this.

JonathanSharp.7094:

@ 2on2/3on3: A lot of you guys really seem to like this idea. So do we. We’re looking at game types which encourage this style of play. Another thing we’re looking at it combining the size of fights with larger tactical/strategic implications, so that there is something fun going on the micro level (the actual fight) and the macro level (the map overall).

@ Moba: This plays into another idea you guys seem to be hitting on, which is a moba style game. We think the layout/flow of a moba style map could be really fun, especially when combined with something like killing enemy captains or guild lords. We’re also looking at testing something like that!

@ GvG/castle sieges: I think these can be combined in some pretty cool ways. You guys had some great points/ideas on these, so thanks for those.

@ Lords and protecting them/not protecting them: Players seem to be pretty split down the middle on this one. Some players want the “play” of protecting their Lord and keeping it alive, while other want it to be more like a MOBA nexxus – something you can’t actively heal/protect. We’ll have to try that one both ways to see what has better play to it. I suspect it’s the former.

@ Not having RPG elements in our game when compared to most MOBAS: Keep this in mind. It’s what gives the mobas their flow/pace. We need to build mechanics that change the pacing/feel of the map in a similar way, without hampering the fun players have. I think you get the same thing out of an RTS, but in a different way. Both sides start off with few resources and weak units. Over time they build up in both areas, and the middle/late game are very different than the early game.

I’ll keep looking for other things to respond to in this thread. Thanks for all the feedback/ideas guys.

Couple things here John:

For deathmatch: The only other mechanics should be anti-stealth and anti-stalemate (such as a damage modifier over time or items that reveall enemies, etc). Don’t add other large mechanics or objectives to the arena-style deathmatch mode please!

For MOBA: Very excited you guys are interested in actually undertaking this! I suppose you could build from your old MOBA-style mini-game map and really expand upon this idea.

Overall: Just keep in mind how other successful PvP games work (LoL, DOTA, SC2, SMITE, etc) and take advantage of their already proven ideas. These ideas include: robust queue systems, clear UI’s, loading/pre-match lobbies, engaging game modes, competitive ranking system and clear leaderboard metrics. You guys are going down the right path, give it all you got <3! I know I’ll certainly be supporting ArenaNet further w/ more $$ purchases if you deliver!

Monetize: Obviously you guys need to make money: MOBA’s do it almost entirely off skins/easy unlocks/etc. Do this! It seems simple, but it would absolutely sustain you all if you just pumped out awesome cosmetic after awesome cometic

Keep up the good work!

Yea, I’m well aware of the current dungeon meta along with Anet’s track record, but thanks for the refresher ><.

Enter rooms within the Tower of Nightmares to brave special encounters—but beware! Things are not all as they seem. You can never know what awaits you within these dark rooms. Will you find yourself face-to-face with Scarlet’s agents, or a much more insidious enemy? It’ll take strength, determination, and a cool head to survive the trials that await you.

What is the intended difficulty and party size for these special encounters? Thanks!

JonathanSharp.7094:

The current thinking is that a tournament could be decided by something like (using your examples):

1st game: Capture the Flag (not saying we’d do that, but it’s an example).
2nd game: One of the Conquest maps.
3rd game: King of the Hill (not saying we’d do that, but ...you know the drill).

That way there’s variety, which means teams need to be strong in multiple game types.

@SinDen: Yep, we have a lot of cool features that are being worked on right now for PvP. A lot of them are really big, and take a lot of time to develop. That’s just how things are unfortunately when it comes to those new systems. I do think that new game types, in addition to the new features, would be good though, and that’s what we’re aiming at!

Ideally having these modes separated out would be best; else you’re forcing players who like game mode X to have to play Y & Z along with it. Although from a technical development side, it probably makes sense to lump different modes together so you don’t have to develop multiple management systems for each/etc.

I’d really just say; don’t cut corners here and really look at how successful pvp-based games implement their systems. GW2 is fun, the new modes on here suggested sound awesome; it’s just the supportive systems around it that would and do make it difficult (e.g. add or improve: in-game leaderboards, multiple-separate queue based-game modes, informative and clear UI’s for these game modes (think LoL loading screen where it shows you who you’re going against, their base skills picked, etc), spec swapping systems, informative tips when loading into a match, etc). Standardizing and formulating appropriate data in a more ’in your face manner’ is something that could really be improved upon and is necessary for these new game modes to be successful.

Perhaps you missed this 200+ post thread created by the dev’s regarding new sPvP mode discussions?

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Collaborative-Development-Topic-Game-Modes/page/5#post3123447

#1 - WoW’s Classic Arena Model: Team Deathmatch
- 2v2, 3v3, 5v5
- Time Limit (10 minutes)
- Anti-cheese mechanics (i.e. stealth reveal spawns at set interval)
- Tie Breaker: Damage Done + Healing Done = winner
- Maps rotate and encourage line of sighting/kiting/coordinated play

# 2 8v8 Game modes (these maps need to be large w/ key objectives spaced out to discourage zerging!)
- Capture the Flag
- Tower Defense (best of 3 rounds; each side takes turn attacking and defending a small tower with pre-defined siege available and/or laid out to both sides)

# 3 1v1 Bracket Tourney
- Simple enough; queue into 1v1 and be placed in a small map with the same reveal/tie-breaker mechanics outlined in the WoW mode
- Supports up to 8 players at a time
- Brackets for 1v1 formed automatically and 6 watching wait their turn for the next round/etc (have to address issues with ’seeing their build’ though, so block the spectator inspection abilities)
- Single elimination
- Award top 3 placers

Those are some game modes I can see being quite fun.

aspirine.6852:

docMed.7692:

RIOT was selected: http://teamriot.org/riot-has-been-accepted-as-beta-testers-for-the-edge-of-the-mists/

Looking forward to streaming it as much as possible!

Arrogant kitten got selected, nice to see that Anet does not care about that.

Not sure who you are; but let’s just be friends.

RIOT was selected: http://teamriot.org/riot-has-been-accepted-as-beta-testers-for-the-edge-of-the-mists/

Looking forward to streaming it as much as possible!