Now that there is discussion of handing out WvW rewards based on performance, it is appropriate to look at how that performance is evaluated.
CURRENT METRICS TO EVALUATE PERFORMANCE:
1) Point total
This metric is currently used to determine who “wins” a matchup. It essentially totals up all the factors of WvW play (population/skill/coordination) and give a final result. However, this total highly favors population.
2) Rating
This metric is currently used to determine which servers will fight each other. It is essentially a history of the point total, which is adjusted up or down based on the expected results. (What is expected is based on the Glicko 2 system).
THE PROBLEM:
Point total is decided by skill and coordination ONLY WHEN it is between equally populated servers. However, when population is uneven it is quickly decided by shear numbers. Since match-ups with balanced populations are quite rare, rating is essentially a measure of population over time.
If rewards are based on either of these metrics, they will heavily reward population. This creates a strong motivation to move to a high WvW population server. The resulting Meta will reward people who server transfer, making server transfer the deciding factor of WvW.
THE SOLUTION:
Create a new metric that controls for population, and tie rewards to that metric. It is imperative that this system give an edge to lower WvW population servers. This will encourage server balance, as transferring to a weak server will give benefit, whereas everyone transferring to the same server will negate that benefit.
POSSIBLE NEW METRICS:
(Note: These are not intended to replace the current metrics, but instead to add an ADDITIONAL metric for the sole purpose of giving out rewards. The current PPT and Rating systems need to stay the way they are.)
1) Point Total * (Total man hours / Server man hours)
This formula would simply measure total WvW participation and modify the final score by it. This would be a step in the right direction, but it does have a weakness when it comes to night capping. Two server might have almost identical man-hours, but one server might have some of those people overnight, earning a lot more points per man-hour.
2) PPT * (Total players / Server players)
This formula adjusts each individual point tick based on the WvW participation for that tick. It should solve at least part of the night capping problem (although the lingering damage of having to recap and upgrading everything remains).
CONCLUSION:
No system is perfect, and both of my solutions have problems. That said, the current solution has problems too. The real question is this: Which problems do we want to deal with?
The current problem is a meta that rewards server stacking to an insane degree, and is slowly gutting all the lower tier servers. The new problem introduced in my system is that the population controlled metrics have some holes in them, making them partially unfair.
Despite its drawbacks, my proposed system would create an environment that promotes server balance. It would encourage losing servers and reward them for their skills and effort (which is no less than the skill and effort of a stacked server). It would stop or slow the bleeding of WvW population to T1, and perhaps even reverse it.
Gate of Madness | Leader – Phoenix Ascendant [ASH]
Niniyl (Ele) | Barah (Eng) | Luthiyn (War) | Niennya (Thf)
This is my Trahearne’s story
