Yuffi.2430

Do I think Alliances would work? Don't know, but I'd like to try it and find out. I want to say it would be nice to have something new in WvW, but that was the thinking behind DBL... Hmm. I'd still like to risk it though, just to see what happens.

I appreciate you spent a lot of time designing your new system, and it is good to share ideas. However, at present the only differences between Ascended and Legendary items is that Legendary items look better (opinions may vary) and can change stats (which is useful). Your armory system reduces this to Legendary items have a different skin. So what's the point of having them at all? It's not hard to get ascended items, and these are already the highest stats you can get. Currently the only disadvantage for ascended items is if you want to have several different stat options on one character, where multiple sets take up space in your inventory/bank. Even then, it's much cheaper to buy more storage for this than to make a Legendary set.

@"Diku.2546" I admire your dedication to this idea but, as a quite serious question, where is the TLDR? I've seen your Globe idea posts many many times over the years, and while it is possible you have developed the ideas further and improved them, you really need to sell me the basic concept if you expect me to read the detail in this epic series of posts.

You are right - this is a bad idea. Punishing a group for the actions of an individual never works.

@"Ronin.4501" Why would people leave? Their whole guild is still together, the only thing that would change is which color you spawn at. There IS a lot of work to do in WvW: * Separate WvW from PvE so it can have separate balance updates (Anet have at least started this) * Find a way to balance populations more in match-ups (Alliances update should give the tools to do this) * Fix the broken classes Visible progress has been very slow on any of these, but the fact that Anet are recruiting someone specifically for WvW should be a good sign. What actually happens depends on the priorities Anet assigns internally - that's the "Other tasks may be assigned" clause. It is possible (although unlikely) that Anet could assign WvW duties to the PvE workers (who presumably have a similar clause in their job description). I think I'd prefer a small dedicated team who understand the game mode and keep us informed of progress.

@"Ronin.4501" You still don't seem to get the basic idea behind Alliances. At the moment Anet tries to "balance" the WvW matches using combinations of one or two (or very occasionally three) servers. They have two general sorts available - big population and small population. There is little scope for rough adjustments let alone fine tuning. The concept of the Alliance update is that Anet would be able to use guilds (of which there are many more and which vary much more in size) to "balance" the populations for each side. You are right that there will be all sorts of guilds, and some will have purpose and drive and others will be groups that play together. You are however completely wrong when you suggest that it will be up to the players choice of guild/alliance to balance populations. I expect that, if Alliances ever happens, Anet will move individual guilds and alliances around a lot as a consequence of player movement and transfers. However, and this is the key thing you don't seem to have understood yet, WHERE the guilds/alliances get moved to will not be a choice we get. For example, if a match-up becomes very one sided in population because of people moving to a particular guild, Anet can move that guild to the side with the lowest population and rebalance the match-up. Of course, a lot will depend on what the algorithms actually do, and that depends on whether alliances is ever fully realised. But as I said before, it should give a better overall balance of populations leading to more even matches and more fun for most players. This is what we continue to hope for.

@"Ronin.4501" You're seeing "Alliances" as "replacement Servers" and that's not the case. Alliances is actually about guilds as a base unit for WvW. I agree that some players would try to stack in a good guild (so they can be part of a successful alliance) however players themselves control guild membership in a way that doesn't happen with servers. If the Alliances WvW update ever comes to be, Anet will use guilds and alliances of guilds to make the population for each side in WvW. This is a much more flexible system because guilds vary so much in size and this granularity will allow Anet to create more even population sizes for match-ups. This is something that has been seen as a major need in WvW for years. I foresee many more complaints about "elite" guilds requiring specific builds, or kicking players who are inactive or incompetent. There will likely be some large open or pug guilds, and some dedicated guilds (probably smaller). In theory each existing server could make a Guild with that name and continue the situation as it is, but I doubt this will happen. There will still be the drama of guilds leaving alliances and going elsewhere, so in that sense there will be more of the same. BUT the big difference is that we as players will have a lot more control over who is in each Guild/Alliance. Anet will still set the links between alliances and guilds, and this is where it is important the system used works properly. For example, a secondary benefit of Alliances, if Anet get the algorithms right, is the matching system could pit fight based alliances against other similar guilds/alliances so these players will get more of the play style they enjoy, and similarly match PPT guilds against other PPT guilds. Small guilds and single players will fill the gaps. The stats to do this are already available to Anet. In theory, Alliances (which is really Guilds vs Guilds) should give us more enjoyable matches and more even overall populations. This IS a thing worth hoping for (we've been asking for this for years). Of course, in reality, it actually needs to happen to be of benefit to players, and as you say it needs to be balanced separately from PvE (although there are signs that Anet is possibly moving to make this work?). GW2 is the game I've spent the most time playing, and I still enjoy playing. I'd like to continue to enjoy WvW, so you'll have to forgive me if I, and others, choose to hope against all expectation and current evidence.

Personally, I welcome someone working on WvW. Cynically, however, I take note of the 8th bullet point in "What you will do" so we will have to see what actually happens.