My personal opinions about the game

[Cambeleg.7632]

To the attention of the developers:

I am one of the many players in this great community that participates in Guild Wars 2. I joined the exciting Guild Wars 2 project almost five years ago, and only very early on I missed a couple of big events (Fire and Ice and the first WVW tournament season).

Although I consider myself a PvE player in soul, one of the reasons that brought me to the game was to listen via TS to those who were my brothers in arms in their first steps in the particular system of massive PvP that is WvW. They dedicated themselves to telling other comrades what happened in the game, and their excitement at what they saw attracted the attention of several of us.

As I say, I joined the Guild Wars 2 project a few months after its birth, and I arrived just as the first tournament ended. I remember those were the times when the "lowies" received the readjustment of statistics, when the Ranger was a joke in any environment and the servers were full of players eager to enjoy a massive PvP better than they had experienced in other games.

I have witnessed the evolution of the game, I have defended many of its changes and rejected many others, but I have always embraced the basic philosophy of the developers, the essence of the game.

I was one of the promoters of that general protest when Heart of Thorns came out, in which we required a gesture from Arenanet that showed a fair treatment towards veteran players (the well-known case of the "free slot"). There I appealed to the understanding on the part of both parties, and the matter was resolved satisfactorily for all when solid and valid arguments were used to defend our position. I was thankful then that Arenanet was receptive and knew how to rectify, and I continue to thank them for being fair with the resolution of the conflict.

Unfortunately, in the case of WvW I can not say the same thing: rather than suffer an evolution, the environment has been wrapped in constant degeneration, in a snowball that has acquired such dimensions that the damage is very severe, both for the game as for the players.

There are decisions that have been made, for a long time now, that do not make any sense. Factors that had no reason to be that changed, remedies that have been more harmful than the disease, decisions that have led to a gradual and constant depopulation. The environment, to this day, lives one of its worst stages from afar.

Let's take the changes of the desert map. I do not know who was consulted by the developers, but the changes suffered by the map made it even less attractive. Careful, not for the reasons that some wielded in their time ("it is too big", "I do not like that it has so many heights", "the lightning event causes a lot of lag" ...), but because the map shows serious deficiencies in the usefulness of structures, for example, where not a single tower has a real impact during the fighting (something that does not happen in the alpine map, where the towers have strategic importance). This, if modified properly, would make the map more attractive.

Obviously, lag is another major problem that has not yet been tackled. It is unfeasible to play on the map of Eternos, mainly, when most of the players congregate there. Yes, it is true that adjusting the graphic options can minimize this problem, but it is not acceptable that this is the answer to the root problem.

Another major problem affecting the environment is related to one of the worst decisions made by developers. I'm talking about the Link System. Although there have been players who have applauded the initiative, every day there are more players who protest their execution, and many others have left the game because of it. If before there were three or four empty servers, now more than half are suffering from the problem that - supposedly - was intended to deal with the Link System.

If these already are serious problems, we must add others of equal importance.

The creation and modification of classes and abilities seriously affects the environment. I understand that the "balance patches" are based on the PvE environment, which is the main basis of the game, but it is not acceptable that the patch affects the WvW environment. Although sometimes the changes have been differentiated, as is the case with PvP, it is not enough: the differentiation of the modifications of the abilities and their effects must be more conscious and consistent with the balance of the environment. It bothers greatly that you do not have a more accurate forecast of the consequences that certain abilities can have on the health of the environment (for example, Winds of Disenchantment and its current abuse).

Similarly, the environment needs incentives that really make it attractive. New players lose interest easily, since it has no clear objective, and veterans get tired every day that the environment does not offer new things that make them see WvW with different eyes. The environment has been stagnant for more than two years, bleeding away in terms of population and interest.

I will be brutally honest: if you really do not know how to solve the many problems of the environment, the most likely thing is that the environment ends up abandoned by the community.

I know that I leave points to mention, details that surely other players could contribute, but the way I see it, the problems mentioned in this letter are what should be a priority for the WvW development team.

I hope that my words lead to reflection and help to better understand what happens with the environment.

[coglin.1496]

Do you work in politics? That was a great deal of bloviating without really saying much at all.

What specifically are you declaring as "wrong"? You made some very general complaints and occasionally made even more general assumptions about those complaints.

What do you want to resolve the issues and complaints you have?

[Loosmaster.8263]

@"coglin.1496" said:Do you work in politics? That was a great deal of bloviating without really saying much at all.

What specifically are you declaring as "wrong"? You made some very general complaints and occasionally made even more general assumptions about those complaints.

What do you want to resolve the issues and complaints you have?

Well a good first step would be what we had post HoT. Two way communication instead of locking threads and the random "we are aware" comment.

Can't have a discussion if only one side talks.

[Cambeleg.7632]

@"coglin.1496" said:Do you work in politics? That was a great deal of bloviating without really saying much at all.

What specifically are you declaring as "wrong"? You made some very general complaints and occasionally made even more general assumptions about those complaints.

What do you want to resolve the issues and complaints you have?

1. No.
2. The points are clearly exposed and the reasons why I consider them "wrong".
3. If you think WvW is working as intended, fine. Your opinion. But there are many -as myself- who think WvW is burying more and more in a dark hole.

[Illconceived Was Na.9781]

@"Cambeleg.7632" said:

2. The points are clearly exposed and the reasons why I consider them "wrong".Sorry, speaking for myself, I'm not at all clear on what you consider to be wrong nor why. I get that you don't like some things; I don't see what you think is actually wrong that can be addressed.

[Sovereign.1093]

@"Cambeleg.7632" said:To the attention of the developers:

I am one of the many players in this great community that participates in Guild Wars 2. I joined the exciting Guild Wars 2 project almost five years ago, and only very early on I missed a couple of big events (Fire and Ice and the first WVW tournament season).

Although I consider myself a PvE player in soul, one of the reasons that brought me to the game was to listen via TS to those who were my brothers in arms in their first steps in the particular system of massive PvP that is WvW. They dedicated themselves to telling other comrades what happened in the game, and their excitement at what they saw attracted the attention of several of us.

As I say, I joined the Guild Wars 2 project a few months after its birth, and I arrived just as the first tournament ended. I remember those were the times when the "lowies" received the readjustment of statistics, when the Ranger was a joke in any environment and the servers were full of players eager to enjoy a massive PvP better than they had experienced in other games.

I have witnessed the evolution of the game, I have defended many of its changes and rejected many others, but I have always embraced the basic philosophy of the developers, the essence of the game.

I was one of the promoters of that general protest when Heart of Thorns came out, in which we required a gesture from Arenanet that showed a fair treatment towards veteran players (the well-known case of the "free slot"). There I appealed to the understanding on the part of both parties, and the matter was resolved satisfactorily for all when solid and valid arguments were used to defend our position. I was thankful then that Arenanet was receptive and knew how to rectify, and I continue to thank them for being fair with the resolution of the conflict.

Unfortunately, in the case of WvW I can not say the same thing: rather than suffer an evolution, the environment has been wrapped in constant degeneration, in a snowball that has acquired such dimensions that the damage is very severe, both for the game as for the players.

There are decisions that have been made, for a long time now, that do not make any sense. Factors that had no reason to be that changed, remedies that have been more harmful than the disease, decisions that have led to a gradual and constant depopulation. The environment, to this day, lives one of its worst stages from afar.

Let's take the changes of the desert map. I do not know who was consulted by the developers, but the changes suffered by the map made it even less attractive. Careful, not for the reasons that some wielded in their time ("it is too big", "I do not like that it has so many heights", "the lightning event causes a lot of lag" ...), but because the map shows serious deficiencies in the usefulness of structures, for example, where not a single tower has a real impact during the fighting (something that does not happen in the alpine map, where the towers have strategic importance). This, if modified properly, would make the map more attractive.

Obviously, lag is another major problem that has not yet been tackled. It is unfeasible to play on the map of Eternos, mainly, when most of the players congregate there. Yes, it is true that adjusting the graphic options can minimize this problem, but it is not acceptable that this is the answer to the root problem.

Another major problem affecting the environment is related to one of the worst decisions made by developers. I'm talking about the Link System. Although there have been players who have applauded the initiative, every day there are more players who protest their execution, and many others have left the game because of it. If before there were three or four empty servers, now more than half are suffering from the problem that - supposedly - was intended to deal with the Link System.

If these already are serious problems, we must add others of equal importance.

The creation and modification of classes and abilities seriously affects the environment. I understand that the "balance patches" are based on the PvE environment, which is the main basis of the game, but it is not acceptable that the patch affects the WvW environment. Although sometimes the changes have been differentiated, as is the case with PvP, it is not enough: the differentiation of the modifications of the abilities and their effects must be more conscious and consistent with the balance of the environment. It bothers greatly that you do not have a more accurate forecast of the consequences that certain abilities can have on the health of the environment (for example, Winds of Disenchantment and its current abuse).

Similarly, the environment needs incentives that really make it attractive. New players lose interest easily, since it has no clear objective, and veterans get tired every day that the environment does not offer new things that make them see WvW with different eyes. The environment has been stagnant for more than two years, bleeding away in terms of population and interest.

I will be brutally honest: if you really do not know how to solve the many problems of the environment, the most likely thing is that the environment ends up abandoned by the community.

I know that I leave points to mention, details that surely other players could contribute, but the way I see it, the problems mentioned in this letter are what should be a priority for the WvW development team.

I hope that my words lead to reflection and help to better understand what happens with the environment.

tldr

1. desert not designed strat wise. ex. towers too far from keep. so purpose is to spread defenders and anti zerg
2. link - fail nuf said
3. balance based on pve not wvw. thus some builds op and not enough balance patch
4. no end goal. so new players get bored

my addition

pls fix hacks so they can't be used.

please converse with us your customers.

regards

Sov

[Kamara.4187]

@"Cambeleg.7632" said:To the attention of the developers:

I am one of the many players in this great community that participates in Guild Wars 2. I joined the exciting Guild Wars 2 project almost five years ago, and only very early on I missed a couple of big events (Fire and Ice and the first WVW tournament season).

Although I consider myself a PvE player in soul, one of the reasons that brought me to the game was to listen via TS to those who were my brothers in arms in their first steps in the particular system of massive PvP that is WvW. They dedicated themselves to telling other comrades what happened in the game, and their excitement at what they saw attracted the attention of several of us.

As I say, I joined the Guild Wars 2 project a few months after its birth, and I arrived just as the first tournament ended. I remember those were the times when the "lowies" received the readjustment of statistics, when the Ranger was a joke in any environment and the servers were full of players eager to enjoy a massive PvP better than they had experienced in other games.

I have witnessed the evolution of the game, I have defended many of its changes and rejected many others, but I have always embraced the basic philosophy of the developers, the essence of the game.

I was one of the promoters of that general protest when Heart of Thorns came out, in which we required a gesture from Arenanet that showed a fair treatment towards veteran players (the well-known case of the "free slot"). There I appealed to the understanding on the part of both parties, and the matter was resolved satisfactorily for all when solid and valid arguments were used to defend our position. I was thankful then that Arenanet was receptive and knew how to rectify, and I continue to thank them for being fair with the resolution of the conflict.

Unfortunately, in the case of WvW I can not say the same thing: rather than suffer an evolution, the environment has been wrapped in constant degeneration, in a snowball that has acquired such dimensions that the damage is very severe, both for the game as for the players.

There are decisions that have been made, for a long time now, that do not make any sense. Factors that had no reason to be that changed, remedies that have been more harmful than the disease, decisions that have led to a gradual and constant depopulation. The environment, to this day, lives one of its worst stages from afar.

Let's take the changes of the desert map. I do not know who was consulted by the developers, but the changes suffered by the map made it even less attractive. Careful, not for the reasons that some wielded in their time ("it is too big", "I do not like that it has so many heights", "the lightning event causes a lot of lag" ...), but because the map shows serious deficiencies in the usefulness of structures, for example, where not a single tower has a real impact during the fighting (something that does not happen in the alpine map, where the towers have strategic importance). This, if modified properly, would make the map more attractive.

Obviously, lag is another major problem that has not yet been tackled. It is unfeasible to play on the map of Eternos, mainly, when most of the players congregate there. Yes, it is true that adjusting the graphic options can minimize this problem, but it is not acceptable that this is the answer to the root problem.

Another major problem affecting the environment is related to one of the worst decisions made by developers. I'm talking about the Link System. Although there have been players who have applauded the initiative, every day there are more players who protest their execution, and many others have left the game because of it. If before there were three or four empty servers, now more than half are suffering from the problem that - supposedly - was intended to deal with the Link System.

If these already are serious problems, we must add others of equal importance.

The creation and modification of classes and abilities seriously affects the environment. I understand that the "balance patches" are based on the PvE environment, which is the main basis of the game, but it is not acceptable that the patch affects the WvW environment. Although sometimes the changes have been differentiated, as is the case with PvP, it is not enough: the differentiation of the modifications of the abilities and their effects must be more conscious and consistent with the balance of the environment. It bothers greatly that you do not have a more accurate forecast of the consequences that certain abilities can have on the health of the environment (for example, Winds of Disenchantment and its current abuse).

Similarly, the environment needs incentives that really make it attractive. New players lose interest easily, since it has no clear objective, and veterans get tired every day that the environment does not offer new things that make them see WvW with different eyes. The environment has been stagnant for more than two years, bleeding away in terms of population and interest.

I will be brutally honest: if you really do not know how to solve the many problems of the environment, the most likely thing is that the environment ends up abandoned by the community.

I know that I leave points to mention, details that surely other players could contribute, but the way I see it, the problems mentioned in this letter are what should be a priority for the WvW development team.

I hope that my words lead to reflection and help to better understand what happens with the environment.

This is one of the most eloquent post I've ever read on this forum. Well said. :)

[Turk.5460]

That's a whole lot of unnecessary text to say that you don't like DBL, Lag, Server Links, Balance, and what even is that last one...rewards? Meh, I love DBL, Server Links and the current rewards.

Have you ever heard the quasi-joke "Don't use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice?" The entire post reads as though a 16 year old just discovered a thesaurus, if this was a book I would have asked for a refund after the prologue.

[Sky Fell.7604]

links mentioned. matchup post lock inc

[Sovereign.1093]

the op is correct.

[Chaba.5410]

@"Turk.5460" said:That's a whole lot of unnecessary text to say that you don't like DBL, Lag, Server Links, Balance, and what even is that last one...rewards? Meh, I love DBL, Server Links and the current rewards.

Have you ever heard the quasi-joke "Don't use a big word when a diminutive one will suffice?" The entire post reads as though a 16 year old just discovered a thesaurus, if this was a book I would have asked for a refund after the prologue.

Haha harsh, but TBH I didn't read the post either due to the composition.

http://artsonline.monash.edu.au/transition/keep-it-short-the-art-of-writing-succinctly/

https://writetodone.com/15-ways-to-write-tight/

"Nuke anything that could be replaced by “ya-da-ya-da-ya-da.”"

[Swamurabi.7890]

I'm no longer waiting for population imbalance to be fixed, or any of the other major problems we've brought up in these forums the past five years.

[Sarrs.4831]

DBL's objective interdependency or lack thereof are an aesthetic choice. If you don't like DBL, don't play it.Lag is the reality of just about everything on the internet. If you can't play EBG, don't play it. The devs know about it and it's on the big list.You've not actually made an argument that link servers are bad. You've just said "well player counts are down!!! and links exist!!!!" not an argument.Don't stand in the windsI don't know what this last one's about.

Lots of words spent saying nothing. Genuinely glad that Sovereign boiled it down. Thankyou Sov.

[LetoII.3782]

Fighting.. urge... To quote whole thing.... And one word... Reply

[Cambeleg.7632]

For references:

@Sovereign.1093: True, I forgot to mention hacks and trolls. But agreed with Chris Cleary, these aren't so important subject to consider as a problem, it seems.

@Kamara.4187 : Thank you.

@Turk.5460: Wrong. DBL is a good idea, but badly executed in details like towers location. I agree with @Sovereign.1093 about the purpose, but obviously this isn't working in this way, 'cos blobbing keeps happening -even more than before. Rewards are fine, but I didn't mention rewards as not being enough, but a goal for the environment, besides of joining for massive combats. Even when I don't consider tournaments as the right way, it was a goal at least. And about the Linking System, I accept you like it, but this doesn't mean it helped to the environment quality. After a while working this system, it's proved that it just helped to encourage bandwagoning, one of the worst cause-effect that could happen in WvW.

@Sarrs.4831: Lag issue maybe is "on the big list", but stays there since the beginning. No reason for not mentioning after more of 5 years of game. Your comment about "Lots of words spent saying nothing"... well, it's an open letter. Not sure what you understand as letter, but quoting yourself... "if you don't like long posts, don't read it". And btw, I didn't say I don't like EBG, but lag is a pain in many situations when playing in this map. Lag is a problem to be faced, not to be hidden.

[Sarrs.4831]

@Cambeleg.7632 said:@Sarrs.4831: Lag issue maybe is "on the big list", but stays there since the beginning. No reason for not mentioning after more of 5 years of game. Your comment about "Lots of words spent saying nothing"... well, it's an open letter. Not sure what you understand as letter, but quoting yourself... "if you don't like long posts, don't read it". And btw, I didn't say I don't like EBG, but lag is a pain in many situations when playing in this map. Lag is a problem to be faced, not to be hidden.

Didn't say you did say you didn't like EBG. I said you can't play it. I can't play EBG either because my internet is potato. That doesn't mean I don't like EBG.

Yeah I only read half of it. I skipped the preamble and went straight to the meat. It might be an 'open letter' but you can still cut to the chase.

[GDchiaScrub.3241]

@LetoII.3782 said:Fighting.. urge... To quote whole thing.... And one word... Reply

Okay.

[Cambeleg.7632]

@Sarrs.4831 said:

@Cambeleg.7632 said:@Sarrs.4831: Lag issue maybe is "on the big list", but stays there since the beginning. No reason for not mentioning after more of 5 years of game. Your comment about "Lots of words spent saying nothing"... well, it's an

open letter

. Not sure what you understand as

letter

, but quoting yourself... "if you don't like long posts, don't read it". And btw, I didn't say I don't like EBG, but lag is a pain in many situations when playing in this map. Lag is a problem to be faced, not to be hidden.

Didn't say you did say you didn't like EBG. I said you can't play it. I can't play EBG either because my internet is potato. That doesn't mean I don't like EBG.

Yeah I only read half of it. I skipped the preamble and went straight to the meat. It might be an 'open letter' but you can still cut to the chase.

Right. The mentioned map was DBL, not EBG. Anyway, argument is same: I don't hate the map -I love to have different maps for every borderline-, but the map was created with failures about strategical zones and their utility in the environment. After this, the posterior changes screwed it still more, turning these failures in complete disaster zones. Correction accepted about the mentioned map. And about EBG, I want to play in this map, there's no reason for not asking to fix the lag issue that EBG suffers every day.

[DeWolfe.2174]

If WvW was well designed and updated, it would have a thriving population. The fact WvW is not thriving in population is why Arenanet needs to reevaluate it's actions over the past few years.

[Haadi.9764]

U mentioned about wvw having no clear objective. What do you mean by this? As in new players don't really know what to do? Or no real point in doing WvW?

[ReaverKane.7598]

While i appreciate, and agree, with the OP. Well, everyone knows that WvW is messed up.No one, and hopefully not even Arena Net need to be told that. But complaining without offering at least a single suggestion towards solution isn't going to help anyone.I do appreciate that you said this yourself. But without at least some points of discussion, there isn't really anything to discuss.

[SkyShroud.2865]

Thanks for making a thread about environmental and objective issues.

[Sovereign.1093]

wvw may have problens but its better that ppl like the op keep making others aware so the system can do somethin about it.

[ThunderPanda.1872]

Great post!

But please post in general or on reddit for max transparency, pretty sure anyone who's powerful enough to make decisions never browse wvw forum. Such a great post should not be hidden in the archive section of the forum, that is the WvW forum.

[Sovereign.1093]

@ThunderPanda.1872 said:Great post!

But please post in general or on reddit for max transparency, pretty sure anyone who's powerful enough to make decisions never browse wvw forum. Such a great post should not be hidden in the archive section of the forum, that is the WvW forum.

agreed. 2 threads have been swept under the rug.