Suggestion: More maps like silverwastes, please

I'm not sure how many people would agree with me on this, but I feel that the new maps of PoF lack a certain build up. I've recently gone back to farming in silverwastes for gold and the shovels to help my guild, but it made me realise how unique that map is and how it would be good for the game to have more like it.

I don't just mean that it's good for farming gold, but that the map has a really nice fluidity to it. There is always something to do, and when finished, there's straight away something else. Even after taking down the main boss, there isn't a dead calm for the map that you find in most other maps. You have the champions to kill, a labyrinth with fast action, and even a nice big jumping puzzle to complete. Then as soon as the countdown ends, it all starts again.

The best part for me is that the build up for the meta, is that you can look on the map and see what needs doing and even completely events on your own makes a difference. The map doesn't need as much taxying like with other maps. The reason why Dragon's stand annoys so many is that literally nothing can be done until it has enough people to start it. As much as I love Auric basin, it's not as obvious on the map what needs doing, even with the fight for Tarir, and once the big fight starts, there are many variables that can make the fight less appealing to most to keep repeating it. Silverwastes map can start small and end big, with many boss fights in between. Everything on the map and fewer variables to make it annoying.

There is also other elements that make the map more appealing: Finding the chests. Failing to complete events also leads to another, just like with success. No real time restraint for the map until big boss fights. Many boss fights that give variability, not just with the end bosses. You stick to an area and protect it or roam to help. There isn't a forced flow of how things need to go for individual players.

I could be missing out on a lot of things and not considering certain maps, but I feel the game could do with more maps that don't rely so much on being in the right place at the right time and waiting for events to happen. As cool as bounties are or the choice of activities, the PoF maps lack real meta events from build ups of continual action. It would've been great to have had a PoF map with a silverwastes style. Like forge forces continuously pushing against the entire map, rather than just a few areas for events, and we heroes have to hold the forts and push back until the factories and portals have been destroyed.

It would be really cool if they added that style to the new lw4 map that should be arriving. I always find silverwastes to be relevant, unlike the PoF maps that I just never went back to.

SW is only relevant because you can make decent gold. If this was not true, it’d be fairly dead most of the time.

If Anet were to add a map like SW without a gold farm, it’d die fairly shortly. If they added a gold farm comparable to other areas of the game, it’d stay active.

What I prefer is an engaging meta that is fun to play, gives purpose to the map, and is rewarding to continue to do.

Couldn't agree more. Silverwastes is the best map ever made. I played sw meta countless times and it never gets boring. Would definitely love to have more maps like that.

I entirely disagree.

There's nothing fun about being a nascar racer for gold. I'd much rather have rewarding content that utilizes gw2's combat than have nascar simulator.

@Ayrilana.1396 said:SW is only relevant because you can make decent gold. If this was not true, it’d be fairly dead most of the time.

If Anet were to add a map like SW without a gold farm, it’d die fairly shortly. If they added a gold farm comparable to other areas of the game, it’d stay active.

What I prefer is an engaging meta that is fun to play, gives purpose to the map, and is rewarding to continue to do.

In my experience, it is fairly dead most of the time. Certain times you will find a bit, but at times people are elsewhere.

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:SW is only relevant because you can make decent gold. If this was not true, it’d be fairly dead most of the time.

If Anet were to add a map like SW without a gold farm, it’d die fairly shortly. If they added a gold farm comparable to other areas of the game, it’d stay active.

What I prefer is an engaging meta that is fun to play, gives purpose to the map, and is rewarding to continue to do.

You have to use the LFG as there’s usually an organized map during prime time hours. We can’t rely on getting placed onto an active map anymore.

@Ayrilana.1396 said:

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:

@Ayrilana.1396 said:SW is only relevant because you can make decent gold. If this was not true, it’d be fairly dead most of the time.

If Anet were to add a map like SW without a gold farm, it’d die fairly shortly. If they added a gold farm comparable to other areas of the game, it’d stay active.

What I prefer is an engaging meta that is fun to play, gives purpose to the map, and is rewarding to continue to do.

This was my problem before I learned how to use the squad functions and jump maps. Now there's almost always active squads when I feel like playing SW.

Have said before and continue to do so. Silverwastes is a great model of a map flow. You have smaller events leading up to bigger and bigger events that end in a map wide fight. This flows well, is pretty consistent with amount of fighting/tasks to do, shovels (keys) are acquired by doing the events, and as events evolve more and more people are needed and there is no guarantee of a win. There is additional loot if you win the pre-boss fights and more loot if you win the boss fight. If there was one thing I would like to see changed would be that chests would have only been available after the boss fight up to the map reset. Its ok the way it is but again that would have created even more reason to work up the boss fight. Even thru PoFs start up and the Halloween event there have been LFGs for Silverwaste, that says something alone as far as the replayability of the map.

Agreed, for the most part.Silverwastes maps still get their fair share of taxiing in order to get to a map that's trying to complete the meta, but it's not nearly as bad as Dragon Stand. Leaving the map off the clock is fantastic, and I would encourage it for map-wide metas.

I never go to SW because I find the map outdated and RIBA farming isn't my thing at all, but I'm not agains't a "modern" version of it.

Certainly love Silverwastes when there's an active map. Another map that captures the same frantic experience and consequences for failure is Lake Doric.

@TexZero.7910 said:I entirely disagree.

There's nothing fun about being a nascar racer for gold. I'd much rather have rewarding content that utilizes gw2's combat than have nascar simulator.

I mean, there are fights to be had in the 'wastes. I typically stick to Red and Indigo, running the caravan between the two and am usually on my own. I'm pretty much constantly in combat, and typically very outnumbered. It's as challenging as the PoF maps and far more rewarding, since almost every mob is part of one event or another.

The thing about Silverwastes is that if there is no meta going or you have no interest in the meta it's a very, very dead map with way too many things to kill you.

When PoF first came out and people were complaining about the lack of maps like this, my theory was that the LW would provide them. We'll see if that theory proves true.

The way I figure it, the current PoF maps would suuuuuuuuck for this. They are way too big, have way too much going on, if they had large scale "progression" mechanics then they would likely never progress because nobody would bother to do them on most instance of the map.

What I'm expecting is that the LWs4 maps will be smaller, more focused, more like LWs3 maps, and that these maps can be designed to use the more "event oriented" design, since most players that show up onto these maps can more easily be funneled into the core activity of the map.

@Nausicca.6038 said:I never go to SW because I find the map outdated and RIBA farming isn't my thing at all, but I'm not agains't a "modern" version of it.

I will ask this with the discussion up as I've seen that before in squad names in silverwastes.What exactly is "RIBA"?

@Ayumi Spender.1082 said:

@Nausicca.6038 said:I never go to SW because I find the map outdated and RIBA farming isn't my thing at all, but I'm not agains't a "modern" version of it.

Red indigo blue amber, the order in which you complete the fort events. (Just found this out a few weeks ago, around the time I realized the LFG tool was a thing for joining open squads)

@TexZero.7910 said:I entirely disagree.

There's nothing fun about being a nascar racer for gold. I'd much rather have rewarding content that utilizes gw2's combat than have nascar simulator.

I sort of agree... I found the map incredibly fun before I discovered the most efficient way to farm (RIBA). But yeah, all that tagging and running gets pretty annoying.

@Ayrilana.1396 said:SW is only relevant because you can make decent gold. If this was not true, it’d be fairly dead most of the time.

If Anet were to add a map like SW without a gold farm, it’d die fairly shortly. If they added a gold farm comparable to other areas of the game, it’d stay active.

What I prefer is an engaging meta that is fun to play, gives purpose to the map, and is rewarding to continue to do.

This is completely wrong. The map is the best designed map by far and we need more maps like it.

@Rauderi.8706 said:Leaving the map off the clock is fantastic, and I would encourage it for map-wide metas.

This is my favorite part of the meta. It goes at the player's pace, not the clock.

@Shaaba.5672 said:

@Rauderi.8706 said:Leaving the map off the clock is fantastic, and I would encourage it for map-wide metas.

Being off the clock, while having timers, pretty much equal reward phases, and a small break period is super nice.

I certainly wouldn't be against to have more of these "warfront"-maps, and there are enough hostile factions in the game to offer a variety of themes and strategies (Krait, Awakened, Dragon Minions, Inquest, Flame Legion ect).I wouldn't want every map to be like that though. Variety in all things.

Having one such map included each expansion would feel quite welcome.

Not I, I only go there when I need something for the dailies, I actually prefer the wide open PoF maps and the supposedly over packed killer mobs on them, but I haven't seem to run across those much...not sure why though, maybe because I'm aware of my surroundings.

I find too the Silverwastes to be one of the best designed maps in the game. Here, the metaevent is very logic - The Pact started the fight against Mordremoth and for that they need a way to go into Heart of Maguma. Everything is flowing normal, nothing forced: take the forts / upgrade them. Mordy forces tries to take back the forts - destroying your efforts / defend the forts. The last resort - the Champions arrives and try to wipe out all the Pact presence in the forts. After this the way to the last guardian of the highway to the Heart of Maguma can be attacked. All is almost perfect.The only thing I would change is that after a failure in the fight with the four fort Champions, the contribution to the metaevent should decrease with 25% per failed fort. But this is not vital.

Almost every time I go in Wastes (for daily gathering mostly) I take my time and I do 2-3 events. If the population of the map is consistent I stay to complete the metaevent.The gold aspect of the activity is important also, but not the most important. I can stay in the map to do events without thinking about gold.

In HoT? The main difference is that here we have time driven events and not events driven by the players. You can do nothing for all the time of the meta event in VB / AB / TD and: the night will come and you can kill the champions - in VB. The attack in Tarrir happens, no mater what you do (you can do the pillons or not) - and you can kill the Octovine and to have access to the chests underneath the city - in AB. The same thing in TD - even if you do nothing, the Chack will appear at the same hour trying to destroy the cannons - what cannons? You can skip the events for this.

DS is a special case - you even cannot start the event if you don't have 15 players on that map.

I don't know how the ANet devs think? We asked for PoF to not have metaevents like in HoT (time driven / with an inevitable end even if you do or not something etc). What we have now in PoF - no metaevents. Reason: "the devs listened to the playerbase and eliminated the metaevents from PoF"

Again, I agree with the OP - the Silverwastes is a map working based on an excellent idea. Unfortunately, the devs seems to avoid to look at ANet's own game and to learn from it.

I am in the reverse camp. The LS 3 and Pof maps are more my kind of thing. Exploring, content you jump in and can do in a normal time mostly from little to mid sized events. Love the emersion of those maps. If its only about a loot farm running in circles, it could just as good be a map with nothing in it but the events. And its not that Silverwastes (and Hot) go away.