If you were a WvW developer for a year, in what order would you solve problems?

[subversiontwo.7501]

If you were a WvW developer for a year, in what order would you solve problems?

Imagine that you were apart of a small team assigned to work on WvW or to work on "competetive" (PvP in general). How would you prioritize your workload knowing that you have somehwat limited resources? Here is mine (the ideas are old but now it considers order, timeframe and resources):

1. I would make EBG maps and rotate them inI would make small alterations to the existing map. I would follow the reactions of the playerbase and be ready to follow up and iterate on my changes in a timely fashion in line with the relink/restructure cadence of 8 weeks or so (2-3 months). The first "new" map I would introduce is a version of EBG where SM is replaced by an open space with a camp. That's all I would do and then look at how the players adapt. The second map I would rotate in would be a version of EBG with one feature of EotM and DBL that was implemented poorly on those maps. I would keep the large open space in the middle that is easily captured by anything but I would make walls with lines of defense around each "home" cut of the map. The first layer would be a wall with camps behind. The second layer would be a line of interconnected towers. The keep would be the third layer. I would leave a large open space in the middle accessible to everyone for equal fights and roaming. The middle space would have the middle camp but could also have additional camps. If the players like a map I continue to test iterations of it, if the players dislike a map I may roll back to a better-liked map for a cycle to manage expectations.

 

Another iteration of that could have one open tower each before other walls have to be breached so the middle would consist of one camp and three towers. With a longer perspective I would look to update textures so the maps can be reskinned with different climates. Perhaps even allowing seasonal reskinning and holiday skins. So you can have summer in the summer, winter in the winter and a holiday version of the winter textures over christmas for example to tie WvW into the seasonal themes of the game at large. This is also a long-term monetization scheme because if you make maps with models that can be reskinned with different textures you can also sell skins with different textures in the gemstore. That is how you can sell different guild-themed objectives for example or how players/guilds can purchase textures to combine to customize the look of objectives that they claim. That could be a long-term goal on which to involve excess 2D artists and the monetization team.

 

2. I would replace the queue system with the overflow systemThis is a big change but I am listing it as #2 to mark the start of work on it. The idea is to have a long term project that can be linked with #1. While I make low-effort changes to the EBG map every few months to follow player reactions and build up a battery of good maps (and a reserve of less appreciated maps) I would also begin working on a system that does not have homeborders, it only has overflows of the different EBG maps that are populated as maps fill up. It doesn't matter if this takes a year to complete, or two years like Alliances, as I will be producing bi-monthly "content" that I can later re-use when the larger underlying system is finished. The players will see the system come in piece by piece with a sense of getting continous development or attention and I can follow the feedback as the project progresses.

3. I would make a proper GvG mapSince we have a competetive team now that oversees both sPvP and WvW now and since we have limited time and resource I would probably opt to co-opt sPvP and WvW for GvG. While WvW players may prefer a map that uses WvW itemization, physics and balance I would probably look to save time by making the swiss tournament system appealing to GvG players in WvW. This would create a long-term perspective on balance being split between PvP and PvE rather than what now seems to be a split between "General", sPvP and WvW. I would balance things for PvP but keep scalability in mind. That makes things a bit more difficult but still only involves two PvP modes. It should not be impossible to balance well. I would then introduce support and maps for 5v5, 10v10, 15v15, 25v25 and 50v50 to the 2v2 swiss tournament system and the custom maps system.

 

This system could both be rewarded and monetized by character skins that can be used in all modes later on. You could sell team shirts for participating teams in a tournament in order to have an optional participation fee (ie., participation is free but a shirt that shows off that you / your team competed in a given tournament can be sold for a nominal fee in gems) and reward skins can then be given to various winners. People take pride in their guilds and the guild's participation so a simple shirt that says Guild A, Tournament B can easily be monetized as memorabilia and participation trophy without stopping people from participating in tournaments.

 

4. I would solve population balance by balancing scoring to my overflow system with the outnumbered buffOnce the larger #2 project is finished and I can rotate maps (that I have already made) into EBG, remove the borders and have an overflow system in place so people don't have to wait in queues to get onto maps. I would then use a more sensitive version of the outnumbered buff to dictate score and value on the maps. For example: If one of the three sides falls more than 25% under the population of any other side the buff will appear but the map will also not generate score for the "servers". It will continue to generate personal rewards and continue to play as usual but as long as the buff is up for any side the map will not tally score to the weekly ladder system. That's how you create a ladder with some meaning, a ladder that only considers score that is being scored under relative population balance (a 25% margin). Everything else will just continue to play on as usual. People will get personal progression and rewards, they can form alliances, move and stack however they want but in terms of population and coverage score will only count when numbers are relatively balanced. It doesn't matter if maps are full or empty, score will count when they are relatively balanced (the buff). This will encourage stacking quality and spreading quantity out and it will balance out timezone coverage without punishing players outside primetime. I can do iterative work on refining the calculations for the outnumbered buff later on.

 

Again, if the population is balanced and the ladder is actually meaningful then it is easy to both reward and monetize the everyday gameplay system as well. You can have nice skins as rewards for climbing the ladder and you can monetize skins for guilds, alliances or even "servers" when people start taking pride in their guilds, alliances and accomplishments during a stretch of time again. You could even have temporarily accessible skins and even if you should be cautious with monetization of skins that show off achievement it is not impossible to monetize sidegrades and variation of even re-unlockable skins (ie., having a #1 on the ladder skin and being able to purchase access to more #1 on the ladder skins with gems as long as they don't devalue the achievement of the initial skin). The primary things that can be monetized though are skins with guild and alliance theme. The secondary things that could be monetized are memorabilia stuff of the different guilds and alliances that achieved certain things (ie., a wall segment ordained by shields with guild/alliance emblems/names/tags of whoever made up the alliance+guild cluster when it was purchased). There is so much that could be monetized.

 

• All of this is achievable within a year and can produce positive feedback while in production
• It only uses tech that already exists or projects that have already been worked on for two years or more
• I did not include Swiss, Alliances or a major balance overhaul as those are already in production and should be finished soonTM

Now, what would you do?

[Sovereign.1093]

me.

1. tournaments a go
2. server kickout instead of relinking so ppl can choose where to stack
3. allow race change and class change
4. no 1 hit ever. if hit hits life at max is 90% then 5s invul. if player cant survive after, he deserves to die.
5. no upgrade on gates walls.
6. sieges can be placed at certain areas only
7. guild ranking
8. commander tonic
9. gvg a dev team events
10. devs are required atleast 8 hours of game time per week.

[Sarrs.4831]

Assuming that I'd start in January, and Alliances have already been released;

Short term (by March):

• Legendary neckpiece; add extra enrichment slots by hitting Mithril and Diamond. Big prestige reward for lots of effort invested into WvW. Concentric rings on the ground based on your metal level
• Improve reward rates; 30% would work well, I think. For WXP, track progress, and pips.

Med term (as they come):

• Add new masteries
• Remaster Golems and Dune Buggies to use mount tech
• Add new 'vehicle' siege which uses mount tech to make them feel like vehicles
• Unique bosses for each tower and keep
• Add strong incentives for winning skirmishes

Long term (by the end of the year):

• Legendary armor sets
• Third Borderlands map

The problem with "how would you fix WvW" is that a WvW designer can't really fix WvW. Class design is part of the skills design team which is a team you collaborate with, but not you. Adding new especs would do a lot to reinvigorate the game, but that's not your job. The only tools you really have to try to improve WvW are objectives and siege, but those don't really have an impact on the game's fundamentals; siege can be seen as more of a hindrance than a blessing, unless you radically rethink what siege is for.

Can't tell what population rebalances are needed until we see the impacts of Alliances. I do think Alliances will have a substantial positive impact on the game, but in what form that takes, I don't know.

[miguelsil.6324]

Remove cheese builds first.Just nerf what makes them too rewarding with little risk.

[Widmo.3186]

I would do something.

[Sobx.1758]

@miguelsil.6324 said:Remove cheese builds first.Just nerf what makes them too rewarding with little risk.

Yeah, like the skillfull one-shot guardian and aoe spamming necros :D

[subversiontwo.7501]

@Widmo.3186 said:

1. I would do something.

:3 :3 :3

[Sovereign.1093]

i'd really want to see a dev vs players gvg and have an achievement :3

[Lord of the Fire.6870]

1.) Solve the general population problem by adjusting the rewards2.) making sure when a player defend a champ he is getting something for it same goes for people who just sitting in the keep for scouting reasons.3.) Let some tactics scale with the tier level of the object so that they make more sense and change some tactics in general for it.4.) Making it so that there is again a difference between a T0 and T1 wall again .. this change was just another case where Arena.NET had fallen for trolls.5.) Alliance System6.) Reward system for winning a match up trough points (every one get them but the winner just more) with which you can buy special tactics like upgrade for the objects boss , waypoints for objects which usually don't have them , stronger NPCs around.

I also dream of a tactic where the NPC can use the siege weapons inside an objects like acs or just the cannons and so on

[miguelsil.6324]

@Sobx.1758 said:

@miguelsil.6324 said:Remove cheese builds first.Just nerf what makes them too rewarding with little risk.

Yeah, like the skillfull one-shot guardian and aoe spamming necros :D

Exactly like that

[Baldrick.8967]

I'd ask if they will actually let me work on wvw instead of only allowing me to work on it at 4.30pm on Fridays once a month..

[Thornwolf.9721]

1. Would fix and rework weapons and skills on classes that had no place, if I couldn't make them function as needed then Id remove them and make have a replacement of more weight (This is acrossed all game modes , not just WvW)
2. Id bring in Edge of the mists as a replacement for one of our alpine borderlands and close up Edge, making the UI and HUD a little cleaner in the WvW panel
3. Id rework alpine to be more in line with current day content and make it so you'd have to be more knowledgeable and the map would be larger, to compincate for mounts. You'd also not be able to siege both outer and inner walls from the same position.
4. Id work all of our passives into gameplay, and just make all of that available from the get go. Id offer new traits to earn with a longer gap but more impactful choices, you shouldn't be going for levels on end with no benefits. Id give us stuff more a kin to traversing the map and such than actual damage reductions/amps on guards, Id also make it so we'd have portals and other things you can use if you have the points unlocked.
5. Better rewards, exclusive to WvW including a Legendary weapon line that can ONLY be gotten through WvW (The PvE peeps have two generations, a side group of legendary weps for WvW to show dedication would be fine.)
6. Id rework the factions
7. Id close the back door so hacks could not exist, period.
8. Id actively ban those who exploit to set the example, so the ecosystem would be healthy.
9. Id seek out community wants and weigh them against what is an is not possible
10. Id make the objectives more pivitol and make it more about RvR rather than PvPVE Id make it that everything had its place and was useful. (Every lord of every keep would be on the level of Air and Fire from red.) Id also actively punish the meta builds, You would need more than that to actually succeed and Id open the way for more theory crafting and build diversity. Id aim to squash the meta and continue to crush it so that no one is forced to run something they don't wana run..

https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/88775/world-vs-world-reborn

Mostly whats in here, Ill keep linking it because I feel its what is needed.

[Sobx.1758]

@miguelsil.6324 said:

@Sobx.1758 said:

@miguelsil.6324 said:Remove cheese builds first.Just nerf what makes them too rewarding with little risk.

Yeah, like the skillfull one-shot guardian and aoe spamming necros :D

Exactly like that

Perfect! Now you can go spam with complaints about these to show you're not lying :wink:

[miguelsil.6324]

@Sobx.1758 said:

@miguelsil.6324 said:

@Sobx.1758 said:

@miguelsil.6324 said:Remove cheese builds first.Just nerf what makes them too rewarding with little risk.

Yeah, like the skillfull one-shot guardian and aoe spamming necros :D

Exactly like that

Perfect! Now you can go spam with complaints about these to show you're not lying :wink:

All cheese builds as stated.

[Stand The Wall.6987]

1. gvg support - first physically move all guild hall arenas to wvw so they can have wvw balanced skills. then have a separate window in the wvw panel that is called gvg. this is a ladder as well as an advertisement. ladder based on wins/ losses, with expanded stats (top players names with spec with damage, healing etc.). ad to easily set up gvgs where you can have a few lines to list gvg size, times/ dates etc. guild hall leader has a button to reset rounds (all players health and cds) to get to next round faster, as well as a small scoreboard visible to all players. maybe have this be a thing in the physical world instead of popping up on screen ui.
2. buff combo fields - this is a large part of what made wvw so great back in the day. it not only encouraged cooperation and organization it made it necessary. let commanders and players choose their own combo finisher priority (comm can set all blasts for waters, leaps for chaos etc.) but players prefs override comms.
3. qol updates - display stab and resistance above endurance bar, give all stunbreaks resistance and 2 stax of stab at 1 sec, condense banner/keep/ even food buffs each into their own icon and disable pve buffs (the +5% damage crap), make keep tapping a lot harder, disable warclaw stomp ability to crit, give all towers a second entrance, mmm other things that make sense.
4. nerf burst - sooo people having access to pve level damage mods has to go. no more stacking + dmg %s above say 50% or so. maybe even nerf might by 10. no I wouldn't nerf sustain at the same time but let things play out and make small adjustments.
5. snowman tonic - I should be able to fight in this tonic.

all this would take a lot less then a year. any big structural changes would have to wait until after alliances assuming they come.

[Gop.8713]

1) Define the mode. Is it designed for pvp, or does it merely allow players to use pvp to interfere with one another's pve goals? If designed for pvp, is it designed for large scale group combat or smaller group/individual play? In trying to be all things to all ppl, wvw in its current state leaves everyone frustrated. No matter how you define the mode you're going to upset a lot of ppl, but you cannot begin to improve upon something if you don't first understand what it is . . .

Once you've accomplished 1), everything else gets much, much easier . . .

[Dayra.7405]

0) accept that’s to late to save wvw1) add pips and EB-map to EotM2) shutdown wvw3) look for a different job

[Paradoxoglanis.1904]

add roller beetle

redesign all the maps

class balance

[Riba.3271]

I would:

1. Upgrade EB and Borders so they don't feel so crampedAdding 3 cappable sentrytowers at the NPC locations, namely where the large hut is at the ogre camp, where krait skillpoint gates are and in the "crossroad" where the dredge skillpoint is. These towers would be unupgradeable and would include no supply, they would be just filler content to increase the amount of options groups have when they're weak. Of course the NPC event would be removed. A stronger version would be added to borders to replace ruins and bloodlust. This would remove the "stonemist castle" as sole "neutral objective" and punish teams that only camp SM and north side of their borders. You don't need to cater to current "kill farmers", they all started from nothing. This would help the "nobodies" to enjoy the gameb before they become "somebodies"

This change wouldn't cramp any of the existing interactive gameplay, rather add new ways. It would support new commanders and groups smaller than 25 mostly. This change would maintain WvW as 24/7 gamemode as even 2 players have something to cap.

2. Nerf claim buffAll Claim buff stats would be +50 instead of +100, this would also nerf presence of the keep. Defenders already have too many different advantages, thus tuning them down should Increase the offensive gameplay and thus increase the amount of epic moments, legendary commanders and fights.

This change would balance the fighting field and increase amount of commanders

3. Make watchtower tactic only activate when tower is contested.It simply limits the map too much f/e langor watchtower covers even the keep watergate, the north alpine watchtowers make playstyle of roaming and sniping objectives too monotonous.

Just make WvW complement to smaller groups by not limiting peoples options regarding movement from place a to b.

4. Remove desert mapThe map is literally a desert, only camels spend time there. It is widely known as the map you go to when you don't want fights. Yes people like desert for "no lags" but they can just find the one alpine border that will have no enemies.

My suggestion 1 makes a "sniping objectives on empty map (Desert)" pointless by adding objectives you can do so to.

5. Make KDR stats of skirmishes only available after the skirmish.You would build hype every 2 hours for revealing of how well your server did in fights. Not a big change but pointplayers get their results every 2 hours too, so it adds something for people to talk about.

6. Some balance stuffEh, some basic stuff like reducing cast time of dwarf elite in WvW, buff water/lightfield blasting and some other stuff that makes fights last longer. Balance is okayish tho, skill lag not. Any balance they can create can only extend to max 40v40 because else it becomes pirateship where most people get oneshot unless they abuse line of sight.

7. I would teach the remaining anet devs to love WvWTheir WvW streams are so painfully bad. From builds to way they start the fights. They can't even find a proper fight because none of them has the necessary experience to do so.

[ArchonWing.9480]

I would nerf boons and condis, as well as normalizing 4 stat gear and foods. That is, 4 stat gear and foods would be nerfed but only when entering wvw. Overall TTK should go down.

I would also put a target limit on reflects and bubbles.

I'd also nerf pretty much anything tactivator related.

I would like to also have a increased minimum distance of non-ram siege can be built.

I would allow Rent-a-Warclaw to owners of either expansion.

I would double Reward Track gain.

I would double the amount of Grandmaster Marks gained (it's a joke right now)

I would provide more items for sale for badges and tickets.

I would let players earn a max of 550 tickets per week.

Finally, I would restore WPs to their original functionality.. Emergency Waypoint stays as it is.

This of course assumes that WvW development actually exists.

[Stephen.6312]

I would work on options that improve both large-scale and small-scale combat. WvW began supporting 5-man parties. Then development made a smart move, allowing Commanders to form squads of more than 5 players. This kind of simple quality-of-life improvement to the game mode has enhanced it tremendously. I'd like to see more of this innovation. Here are my ideas:

Siege changes1) Make all siege mobile. Engines can be linked to hired dolyaks and moved from A to B. Something like that. Golems can be airlifted by hired griffons. The Commander can choose a drop site on the map. This would cost gold.2) Make siege fully independent, or a capture node that can be contested so that possession of a siege engine can change from one side to the other. An arrow cart, for example, can be manned by literally anyone.3) Make dolyak's a hireable asset available to guilds. (The dolyak would have a basic AI that would allow it to attack, but this wouldn't be the reason it is hired.) The dolyak serves as a mobile bank, allowing players to store extra loot. It would also allow party members to which it is tethered to respawn within 100 units of it's location. Something like that.4) Remove siege timers. Siege can now be sabotaged immediately if you want to remove it. Siege weapons thrown down buy a guild or party show up on their map.

Supply changes1) Remove automatic supply runs entirely. Make the supply of all points of interest purely player driven. Dolyaks, griffons etc can still be hired to get supplies into a point of interest. However, players can now dump their supply from one site into another. If they want to make a large supply dump, they can hire a pack animal and/or supplement the shipment by hiring extra NPC muscle.

Participation changes1) Developer participation in weekly matches. Perhaps an-all Arenanet guild?2) Improve coverage of WvW matches on the internet. Have a professional guild, the best of the best, designed to showcase the game mode by looking for fights. This guild would receive some form of reimbursement for this. Their work would be streamed on channels created by Arenanet.3) In regards to "Supply Changes", if a player wants to hire a dolyak or griffon to run supplies to somewhere, the job is advertised in a WvW-only LFG system. There is an override feature that allows players to simply go with hired NPC muscle. However, human players have first dibs on these jobs.

Espionage improvements1) Make espionage a legitimate form of gameplay. Mesmers and spies should have trait lines within WvW that allow them to do certain things. Mesmers, for example, should be able to tether themselves to a Commander's Tag for a specific amount of time (say, 30s. This would be regulated by an internal cooldown) allowing them to track enemy movements. They should also be allowed to deploy some kind of pulse that detects an active Commander Tag within a specified range. Thieves should be able to view party composition. Stuff like that.2) Chat channels should be viewable by thieves and mesmers for a specified number of lines.

Reward improvements1) Fashion accessories should be constantly supplied to WvW players. Exclusive mounts, too. Capes and whatnot. The implementation of chairs should be pushed further in WvW, with a new "King" or "Commander" feature. This is a massive throne centered in a contestable POI in the map. The King is the one who sits on the throne and having a king actively sitting on the throne allows a world certain benefits, including increased daily gold gains, WvW points generation and the like.

These are just a few things that I think would be cool for the game mode.

[Justine.6351]

I would make all methods of entering wvw reroute to isles of the mist and then quit.

[De Bourgogne.9642]

1. Balance WvW around zerg vs zerg where each profession has at least one meta build (less dmg, healing, boons, corrupts, conditions). Also nerf mount to where its sole purpose is transport, dismount on being hit. Give mount to free to play players. Remove gliding so that terrain actually matters.
2. Bring in Alliances with WvW extra rewards event.
3. Alliance/Guild leaderboard where top alliances and guilds get good rewards (members of highest scoring guild gets unique skins, kinda like mAT skins).
4. New maps and delete old ones, make new ones in a way that really forces players to fight and not just win trade objectives. Make supplies important so that players actually defend caravans.

Or you know you can just release new skin that is so shinny it blinds you.

[Solitude.2097]

Zerg vs Zerg :The commander can create 5 patterns on the ground where the rest of your team8s can stand upon and they get constantly Barrier (making them undying)Such as ''Bulls Horn'' , or ''Spread Out'' formation , or Phalax + 2 varietions .

Bulls Horns formation , counters the Barrier when your team8s attack the enemies from the sides or if the Phalax formation ?''Spread out'' , allows you to mount up and charge with 25 might+ Fury on your next 16.000 Mount Leap Attack, after 10 sec ? Or free 100 hp Balistra or Arrow cart , or F5 Speak Knockback attack (but by doing so you cannot benefit from the Barrier for 30 sec)?Phalax gets in combat + crippling for 10% , but they ignore cc ?When both Horns and Spread out formation from each side touch each other , then its open season for every1 without the Barrier ?You can knockback or stun the enemy to force him out of formation and kill himPPl on ''Bulls Horn'' , or ''Spread Out'' will be the most durable meatshield that will absorve ranged attacks and will try to cc any enemy that is trying to rush into midle free of worry of getting killed .If the Commander dies , there goes this mechanic

The commander get no boons or healing from players standing in the formation . So he must inv some ppl to the Raid UI .The commander must stand in the middle of the Patterns , so he must inv more ppl to counter the focus burst of the enemy zergThe commander and his allies from the party cannot benefit from the formation BarrierThe direction of the moving Pattern does not change automatically (only manually 45 degree each time) , and if the enemy zerg is comming , your team8s can leave the Formation (loosing Barrier) to help your commander

(most likely it will be a 40 vs 40 scenario with the rest of the 110vs110 pretending they are doing something in the sides or background )If the 110 ppl step out of the formation and follow the Commandr , they will not get Barrier .If a commander raise ''white flag'' before he goes into combat or after 30 sec the score freezes and doesnt allow the enemy team to rack up WvWvW points from kills for 30 sec .If the commander raises ''black flag'' , he doesnt use his mechanic and get x2 kill points with a simple zerg vs zergIf the enemy commander raises ''red flag'' and let the ''white flag'' to live after am , they get bonus WvWvW points from the next track )

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

1. I would make forts and all other capturable objectives vulnerable to players (5man) without siege weapons.

That's it, now you have fights instead of staring contests.