I really enjoyed my time in the latest beta and I'm disappointed to be back to usual

[Unicorn Luna.5204]

I wrote this as feedback for Anet devs. I'm not really fussed what anyone feels about it, I'm not likely to come back and check on reples. If you feel similarly about what I've said then, cool! It might be helpful for Anet to hear about that. It looks like this forum is mostly negative rants about how alliances is bad. But for me it will transform WvW for the better, in a big way. I can not wait.

I don't usually enjoy WvW because when I've tried to play it I've found it particularly stressful with all the people who usually dominate the social aspect of the game mode. WvW on servers usually appears to be the playground of the guilds and commanders who play there the most. They dominate the social structure and will be rude if you don't know something and treat you like you're an idiot. So I rarely in the past managed to play for long before I'd get frustrated and bored of the general attitude there and then leave.  I actually enjoy the game mode as a concept though. This latest beta appeared to have the mostly PvE guild I selected paired up with mostly other PvE guilds as allies and opponents. I realise this would have been terrible for any serious WvW players or guilds but for me and some of the people I played with it was the best WvW experience we'd ever had. Being primarily PvE guilds it meant that expectations were low. There was no pressure to know everything and to perform at our best and very rarely did anyone behave like a scummy kitten.  Fights felt balanced because we weren't either being steamrolled by a massively more organised team or otherwise in a stalemate of zergs circling eachother. Commanders weren't raging at everyone or blaming the firebrands and scrappers when wipes happened or things didn't go right or important points were lost. We just got on with it. We captured points, we lost points, we stopped things being captured, we got prevented from capturing stuff. We ran into enemies and had random fights. And it was without all this pressure and anger that I'm used to seeing in WvW and no requirement to jump on voice chat in order to participate in group play. It felt to me like how the game mode was meant to be and I really had a lot of fun with it.

Knowing this side of the community I fully expect some negative replies and confused reactions. I realise that player versus player type content does appear to draw in the most aggressive attitudes in gaming, but they're really not the only ones who enjoy the type of content. If we're really really lucky Anet may have figured out how to carve wvw into a gamemode where those people get their satisfying top tier challenging pk battles with bad attitudes at eachother all day. And they don't have to put up with us filthy, fluffy, casuals who fight each other and then apologise for good measure. I don't usually agree with segregation but this could actually work. :S

Edited October 22, 2022 by Unicorn Luna.5204

[HnRkLnXqZ.1870]

I've been in one of those groups with various smaller teams. While there have been moments of zergs, it felt quite balanced most of the time. Have not seen a single duelist, although I have spent a lot of time in WvW the last week, which was a huge improvement. In addition, I have seen some really cool commanders who used both /squadchat and the markers to coordinate people.

Mapchat was mostly civil, nobody enraged. And the players I have fought were barely above my skill level. Sure there have been some veterans, but it was not a full server as usual. There have also been almost no jerks. Siege placed on corpses? Nope! Frequently jumping and laughing on enemy corpses, also big nope! Whispering, mailing? Nope! 

Building siege and attacking towers/keeps worked great - especially without any commanders at all. No trouble with claiming stuff. Not a single camp claimed without the supply-upgrade. Even learned a few new tricks from some of the commanders, regarding siege spots and support. People resurrected each others and talked nice & polite in /say chat.

Regarding dailies and PiP farming, this was one of the most relaxed weeks I had so far. We took camp, enemy took camp, we took camp, enemy took camp. Almost no 'clever' players camping inside with siege to farm kills.

It was a good beta imo. Was a lot more fun playing with strangers than I've expected. Looking forward to the next beta.

Edited October 23, 2022 by HnRkLnXqZ.1870