AFK players in the VB and TD metas

The pact encapment waypoint area in VB seems particularly bad, but I've also seen players do this in TD. These are players who stick their character at a spot and then do nothing until the meta gets to the point they want (e.g. night bosses in VB). Do the presence of these players upscale the fights, in particular the camp defense fights?

VB is already annoying enough where the mordrem just have to sneeze in the general direction of the camp defenses and they're destroyed.

If they are close to camps in VB, they will upscale. Frequent problem at the center pact waypoint. Not much to do unfortunately.

This happens in every world event. Most of the players do not participate in pre events and are either afk or auto-hit only for a boss. Yes, they contribute to scaling. I've actually seen Shadow Behemoth time out because 95% of the crowd wouldn't bother with the portals. Nothing can really be done about this as far as I can tell.

My problem with VB is that it is very rare that people even attempt to get the most out of the Map Meta. I personally think the gemstones should be at least a Tier 3 reward. Showing up hitting the matriarch a few times should not count. I would like to see something Similar to Dragon Stand where you need so many people in each of the 5 camps before the night events kick off. If you don't get enough people to start the event within a given timeframe then you will have to wait till it comes next time.

@"Excursion.9752" said:My problem with VB is that it is very rare that people even attempt to get the most out of the Map Meta.That's not true; I often see maps going for T4. It's not even that hard to manage. The problem is that people are so used to zerging and that doesn't work on that map at all (it's not even the best way to finish the Night Bosses quickly).

So it usually just takes someone stepping up to explain how it works and assigning people to areas. The ideal scenario is something like three commanders divided into max sub-squads, with 2-4 people each. As Karl Marx said, "from each according to their location; to each after the meta completes."

Do the presence of these players upscale the fights, in particular the camp defense fights?Yes... and no.

There's some good research showing that AFK players scale up fights, as do fully-dead players. But... it often doesn't matter. In TD, it's not that important and isn't likely to get in the way of the meta. For VB, it could easily matter... if there weren't so many other points to defend to make up for it. Before HoT, it might have mattered for Silverwastes, but the amount of DPS that everyone else brings is much higher these days and more than makes up for it.

ANet's tried to adjust things over time to make it harder to leech purposefully or accidentally. Notice that both Thunderhead Keep metas take place far from any waypoint and there aren't really any safe spots to wait... that also affect the fighting. I'm not sure there's any 'easy' way ANet could adjust older maps to avoid this sort of thing. But then again, while true, it's not necessarily important in the end.

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Excursion.9752" said:My problem with VB is that it is very rare that people even attempt to get the most out of the Map Meta.That's not true; I often see maps going for T4. It's not even that hard to manage. The problem is that people are so used to zerging and that doesn't work on that map at all (it's not even the best way to finish the Night Bosses quickly).

A map that is actually going for t4 won't have that problem because people will be spread out.

On the other hand if a map isn't going for t4 you could just use gliding/mushrooms or mounts to get to the boss you want ... the only time where it is a problem is that it can really screw up the scaling for https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Safeguard_survivors_attempting_to_reach_the_Pact_encampment

@Illconceived Was Na.9781 said:

@"Excursion.9752" said:My problem with VB is that it is very rare that people even attempt to get the most out of the Map Meta.That's not true; I often see maps going for T4. It's not even that hard to manage. The problem is that people are so used to zerging and that doesn't work on that map at all (it's not even the best way to finish the Night Bosses quickly).

I have never taken part in a 2 or more commander VB. I have had to do it by myself every single time. My bet is your on during a time a guild is running it. Which is great for those whom are lucky enough to play during those times but I do not, so your statement does not hold true for me.

You are correct it is not hard to explain the concept to those who want to do it but the problem is for me is finding those who want to listen.

If there are a small number of players on a VB map, which is frequently the case in my typical play times, then the logical approach is to hold one camp. The force of numbers of mordrem attacking the camps in the attack phases, along with the next-to-useless camp upgrades and that you get tigers and mushrooms attacking both the NPCs and the upgrades even when the mordrem aren't around, means expecting players to singlehandedly hold camps is unrealistic. Eight active players at one camp is fine, my understanding is that upscaling happens about every 10 players. But when you have 5 or 6 active, and 5 or more inactive, the numbers start becoming overwhelming--particularly when a camp has 4 entrances to defend.

I don't care about the players afk in the canopy until the bosses start. I've always got up there when matriarch is around 60%, as a worse case scenario. It's the damn ones AFK down the bottom that are escalating the camp attack phases that are the problem. I've been in one attack phase, the last one ahead of the choppers arriving, and we lost the camp. I mentioned this in map chat and got told to "go to another WP". Which would be fine, if we weren't continually in combat with the mordrem and couldn't WP.

The problem with missing out on mat is that many players either exit to the starting menu or leave the map once that boss is down. That means far fewer players for the remaining bosses, who have worse mechanics.

I saw another thread where it was suggested to make the night bosses spawn only after the choppers had spawned. That appears to be a good suggestion for people being delayed in getting up into the canopy (and often other main camps aren't held, e.g. pale reavers). Another option would be to prevent the night boss spawning unless at least one camp other than the main camp is held. Then the AFKers can stay at the main camp, and they won't upscale events because there are three other non-main camps that can be held.

tl;dr selfish players are causing problems, let's mitigate their effects.

Wait, u mean ppl at the mat wp will upscale the camp below? It seems quite far vertically, and physically separated...

@Hesione.9412 said:The pact encapment waypoint area in VB seems particularly bad, but I've also seen players do this in TD. These are players who stick their character at a spot and then do nothing until the meta gets to the point they want (e.g. night bosses in VB). Do the presence of these players upscale the fights, in particular the camp defense fights?

VB is already annoying enough where the mordrem just have to sneeze in the general direction of the camp defenses and they're destroyed.

Use the in-game report function if you suspect somone breaking the rules and let the GMs do their job. Posting this on the forums isn’t going to help.

@"Swagger.1459" said:Use the in-game report function if you suspect somone breaking the rules and let the GMs do their job. Posting this on the forums isn’t going to help.

There isn't a relevant report option. There is no "idle player" or "afk player" option in the PVE report mechanic. Options are:

• Botting
• Inappropriate character name
• Spamming
• Verbal abuse
• Scamming
• Selling gold
• LFG system abuse

@Hesione.9412 said:

@"Swagger.1459" said:Use the in-game report function if you suspect somone breaking the rules and let the GMs do their job. Posting this on the forums isn’t going to help.

• Botting
• Inappropriate character name
• Spamming
• Verbal abuse
• Scamming
• Selling gold
• LFG system abuse

Use “botting”.

@Swagger.1459 said:

@Hesione.9412 said:

@Swagger.1459 said:Use the in-game report function if you suspect somone breaking the rules and let the GMs do their job. Posting this on the forums isn’t going to help.

• Botting
• Inappropriate character name
• Spamming
• Verbal abuse
• Scamming
• Selling gold
• LFG system abuse

dont abuse it, it just makes whoever looking at these tickets to eventually give up because you been crying wolves too many times