PvP Podcast feat. CMC!

[Smoosh.2718]

It was a bit daunting to hear that the 300s traits wont be reworked because it requires a bit of effort.

You can't leave skills in the game you dont want people to use for almost a year without a rework!

These traits arent that useful in PvE so just rework them into something fun, useful and tempting to take.

[KryTiKaL.3125]

@Chaith.8256 said:

@Bazsi.2734 said:So basicly he's pretty much the guy responsible for balance, but he has to work on higher priority projects 99% of the time. I'd say PvP will die if this is the amount of investment it gets, but one could argue it already did.

He's a competitive designer, and he's the only developer who remotely understands pvp balance, and has played in that world. The balance guys seem to listen to his suggestions on PVP but CMC doesn't control the patch schedule and other large balance releases. Probs cut him some slack

Essentially CMC can only do so much. I wouldn't put any blame on him with the slacking update cadence or other problems that have resurfaced/surfaced. ANets biggest weakness, clearly, is its management. Its been pretty abysmal for a while now. So much so that they still haven't said anything about Mike Z leaving and someone else getting put into his position. So not only is that a big hard fail in communication with the community, but only further cements that ANet has severe issues in its upper management positions and how they handle the running of this game.

[ollbirtan.2915]

@Chaith.8256 said:

@Bazsi.2734 said:So basicly he's pretty much the guy responsible for balance, but he has to work on higher priority projects 99% of the time. I'd say PvP will die if this is the amount of investment it gets, but one could argue it already did.

He's a competitive designer, and he's the only developer who remotely understands pvp balance, and has played in that world. The balance guys seem to listen to his suggestions on PVP but CMC doesn't control the patch schedule and other large balance releases. Probs cut him some slack

I do too believe in Santa.

[Vancho.8750]

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:

@Chaith.8256 said:

@"Bazsi.2734" said:So basicly he's pretty much the guy responsible for balance, but he has to work on higher priority projects 99% of the time. I'd say PvP will die if this is the amount of investment it gets, but one could argue it already did.

He's a competitive designer, and he's the only developer who remotely understands pvp balance, and has played in that world. The balance guys seem to listen to his suggestions on PVP but CMC doesn't control the patch schedule and other large balance releases. Probs cut him some slack

Essentially CMC can only do so much. I wouldn't put any blame on him with the slacking update cadence or other problems that have resurfaced/surfaced. ANets biggest weakness, clearly, is its management. Its been pretty

abysmal

for a while now. So much so that they

still

haven't said anything about Mike Z leaving and someone else getting put into his position. So not only is that a big hard fail in communication with the community, but only further cements that ANet has severe issues in its upper management positions and how they handle the running of this game.Arenanet quite literally does not have game director at the moment

https://www.arena.net/en/careers

. I'm quite amazed on what they are managing to do without one all the while there is a pandemic. But it seems that they have different leaderships between the teams that pull the cart to different directions, all the while making their part of the Project supposedly the most important one and neglecting parts of the game that really drive the retention of players.

[ollbirtan.2915]

If they are really sooooo understaffed and working soooooo hard for the expac, the safest way would be:

1. To not touch what has been working fine for many years. Especially if you operate as as a "1/4 pvp "balance" dev and have no clue how these skills / traits function in a from a bigger picture.
2. If you decide to make a BIG BALANCE PATCH and then promise regular -2-3 weeks cadences of minor adjustments - STICK TO IT. ("300 CD traits are here to stay because we are so overworked and it's so much effort" ------Really? You promised exactly the opposite in February that these traits were 'changed; to placeholders that would be reworked in the near future.
3. If still confused, see point 1.

[Bazsi.2734]

@Chaith.8256 said:

@"Bazsi.2734" said:So basicly he's pretty much the guy responsible for balance, but he has to work on higher priority projects 99% of the time. I'd say PvP will die if this is the amount of investment it gets, but one could argue it already did.

He's a competitive designer, and he's the only developer who remotely understands pvp balance, and has played in that world. The balance guys seem to listen to his suggestions on PVP but CMC doesn't control the patch schedule and other large balance releases. Probs cut him some slack

I'm not blaming anyone personally, especially not CmC. He started to remake PvP balance according to his vision, but then something changed. Cantha went from "we'll never ever remake it, it's culturally insensitive to some" to "lol we need money though, next x-pac go brrrr" and those work hours are going into we-know-what now.He'll finish what he started in the pre-patch for EoD. Meanwhile enjoy soloing living world releases for 2 years. hAvE fUN!

[voltaicbore.8012]

@Chaith.8256 said:

@Bazsi.2734 said:So basicly he's pretty much the guy responsible for balance, but he has to work on higher priority projects 99% of the time. I'd say PvP will die if this is the amount of investment it gets, but one could argue it already did.

He's a competitive designer, and he's the only developer who remotely understands pvp balance, and has played in that world. The balance guys seem to listen to his suggestions on PVP but CMC doesn't control the patch schedule and other large balance releases. Probs cut him some slack

To be fair I'm not sure @Bazsi.2734 was really taking shots at CMC directly, but more at the dumb idea of having a 'competitive balance guy' with no power to really enact changes and no time to actually fulfill that role.

It's sad that it's come to this, but I'm not even going to watch the thing. I don't want to hear how well-informed but powerless this magical/mystical/mythical CMC is, and I don't particularly like seeing him take flak for things (like the balance patch cadence) that are well outside his control. I just don't care. I'll play until they break so much that there's nothing left to play anymore, then will quit.

[Za Shaloc.3908]

@KryTiKaL.3125 said:

ANets biggest weakness, clearly, is its management. Its been pretty abysmal for a while now.

Yeah, that was my key point I took away from this whole thing as well. I appreciated a lot of what CMC had to say and it was honestly nice to hear him say things that I took to show that he does care, it's just that he's bound by a lack of time and other obligations. I really hope that he working on the e-specs will help prevent the absolute clusterkitten that was balance on PoF launch from happening again.

With that said, I really appreciate the hosts for taking the time to organize this, and for CMC for being willing to be part of it, especially considering the length of the whole matter. I am glad that they asked my two questions: aura icons' lack of visual clarity (which my frustration sources from WvW, where there is a ton of visual spam on top of aura uptime), as well as 300s CD traits (which I am disappointed to hear his answer for, but understand where he is coming from and would rather they remain dead than resurface to their previous state). I wish CMC was able to get into the nittier grittier balance details, but I understand he is probably unable to do so.

[Swagger.1459]

@Bazsi.2734 said:So basicly he's pretty much the guy responsible for balance, but he has to work on higher priority projects 99% of the time. I'd say PvP will die if this is the amount of investment it gets, but one could argue it already did.

PvP died in the first couple years. It's just a zombie now that should have been put down when ESL canned GW2 in 2015. Waste of resources to keep feeding it so it can just lumber on.

[Exedore.6320]

@Smoosh.2718 said:It was a bit daunting to hear that the 300s traits wont be reworked because it requires a bit of effort.

You can't leave skills in the game you dont want people to use for almost a year without a rework!Smiter's Boon from GW1 would like a word with you...