Balance and future plans (lots of Questions)

[ReaverKane.7598]

Hey guys! I'm really excited for this change!

I'll preface my post by saying that Guild Wars 2 is an amazing game, and i've devoted a lot of my last 6 years towards it. I love Arena Net, and while, personally i feel a difference between 2018 and 2012 Arena Net. I still have the utmost respect for you guys and your work, and a deep gratitude for the many hours of fun you provided. So if i seem harsh or blunt in some of my comments, it's a personal nature issue and a language barrier, and has no ill intent behind it. And all observations are my opinion, although i know that they are mirrored by parts of the community, are still my own.

 

# Balance:

While i believe the previous balance team probably were doing their best, balance changes were too few and far between. **With the merger of several teams into the new one, can we expect more frequent balance?**

 

Also, another frequent point of contention has been somewhat unexplained changes, like just recently the Lava Font 40% damage reduction, which on top of the other aoe nerfs was a bit overkill and no reasoning was presented as to why it was done.

I personally feel that the balance notes usually teeter between helpful and well reasoned in a lot of entries, but then they have these curve balls that don't seem to have a logic behind them. **Don't you feel that having a better more thorough set of balance notes might make it easier not only for players to see why things changed, and how they might shift their builds, but also give more pointed feedback?** If we know the reasons behind a change we can then explain how and why that objective was achieved, or not.

 

A lot of core trait lines, and especially weapons, have fallen behind in times. A lot of professions hinge on singular critical traits to remain viable. And a vast majority of weapons are entirely ignored for having become entirely obsolete. **Can we expect reworks to core weapons, traits and skills to bring them in-line with current power levels?** Also, **are there plans to rework professions or elite specs like necromancer, revenant and elementalist, which all have pretty unhealthy metas right now?**

 

# sPvP

I've entirely abandoned sPvP. Granted i was never the most hardcore sPvPer, but i've always enjoyed the mode, especially when i could play with my guild mates, mostly during season 3 and 4 after the bunkers were sorted out, and while we had the guild leaderboards. But lately, between the balance, the weird match-making and the lack of friends to play with, i became discouraged, and honestly moved back to League of Legends for PvP.

**Can we expect some deep changes to sPvP and especially ranked?**

Team queues were entirely removed via a majority vote, over what's definitely a minority game mode. Not only that the vote was in favour of a trial season, with a follow up vote following that. This follow up vote never came to pass...

**Will a team queue ever be an option?**

I personally feel that the over-abundance of rewards, especially with focus on has had a detrimental effect on the quality and mentality of pvpers. With a lot of people admittedly only playing for the easy reward farm. Personally, i feel that rewards would fit ranked better if they were given solely when player ranks up, and at the end of season, based on how high players finished.

Of course this would probably remove a lot of the currencies required that could make them too hard to obtain. I'd fix this by adding a repeatable achievement with 0AP, that grants a chunk of sPvP currencies (Shards of glory, and maybe a dye and or transmutation charge) every 5 or 10 wins in ranked. The rarer rewards would be better suited for the end of season and rank up rewards.

I also feel that pvp armor and weapons should go back to how it was in the past, and be skins instead of functional items that can easily be farmed in sPvP for use in PvE.

**Would you consider a shift in the rewards available from ranked, especially since they're compounded with reward tracks?"

 

# WvW

Two questions here:

**Will this merger of teams benefit or hinder the planned Alliance and Randomized worlds system release?**

**Will we ever see a fix to the field of view issues when fighting from the top of walls?**

 

# Rewards

I've mentioned earlier that WvW and sPvP usually offer a lot of easy ways to obtain useful rewards, like, for example transmutation charges, Tomes of Knowledge, even stuff like Black Lion Keys, Mystic coins and Clovers are more readily available from Reward tracks and other rewards than from PvE, which have them on entirely RNG or limited availability sources.

**Can we expect an equalization on availability of common rewards between PvP and PvE?**

 

The following i don't know if i'm "barking at the right tree", so feel fre to ignore them:

GrandMaster marks feel weird, i mean the point of using a vendor is to avoid crafting, and yet they require crafting for most people, since they aren't rewarded commonly. More importantly, they're not even available, to my knowledge, from the only content that actually requires ascended gear: Fractals.

Also, this was mostly justified because Ascended Armor was too easy to buy in PvP... Wouldn't it just make sense to make it harder to get from PvP? Instead of such a convoluted method?

**Could we either get rid of GrandMaster Marks altogether, and just change the costs of Ascended gear, or at least make them obtainable in the actual content that needs ascended gear?**

 

**Can we please remove time-gates from Charged Quartz and Ascended Materials?** It never made any sense and feels forced, also nowadays they're cheap anyhow. It's only making it harder for new players who can't afford to buy them, to catch up.

 

Sorry for the long post, thanks for reading.

 

 

 

[Sai Locke.7193]

Does this mean there is hope that we will get a rework of the pets and the pet system on Ranger?

[Irenio CalmonHuang.2048]

Hey ReaverKane!

 

Whew, that's a lot of different sections and questions. I'll try to answer the ones I can, but in the future I'd suggest trying to break them up into separate posts about each subsection so they can be more easily answered from our side. Nothing taken with ill intent - same here :)

 

__Balance__:

* In the past several months the balance iteration has gone from being quarterly to more frequently.

 

* __It isn't always possible__, but we're trying to get more explanations of changes and the goal(s) of the changes. Hopefully that helps inform. :)

 

* We're definitely aiming at more re-works whenever possible to old mechanics/gameplaypieces. Sorry - not going to discuss the specific ones we've got in progress right now.

 

__WvW__:

* The creation of the Systems team should not hinder WvW restructuring at all, and if anything, help it.

 

__Rewards__:

* The time-gating isn't likely to go away. That's something that keeps their values up at least a bit and helps to preserve their value into the future. What is more possible is recipes using different amounts of them.

[Ben Phongluangtham.1065]

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> # sPvP

> I've entirely abandoned sPvP. Granted i was never the most hardcore sPvPer, but i've always enjoyed the mode, especially when i could play with my guild mates, mostly during season 3 and 4 after the bunkers were sorted out, and while we had the guild leaderboards. But lately, between the balance, the weird match-making and the lack of friends to play with, i became discouraged, and honestly moved back to League of Legends for PvP.

> **Can we expect some deep changes to sPvP and especially ranked?**

> Team queues were entirely removed via a majority vote, over what's definitely a minority game mode. Not only that the vote was in favour of a trial season, with a follow up vote following that. This follow up vote never came to pass...

 

We have several changes to PvP coming, which have already been talked about (swiss, on demand tournaments). We do have other plans, but we can't talk about them yet, as they are still somewhat preliminary and I don't really want to bring up new potential features until we're getting pretty close to delivering some of the features we've already committed to.

 

> **Will a team queue ever be an option?**

 

We don't have any current plans to bring 5 person queuing back to ranked queue. I don't feel it's competitive. On-Demand tournaments and AT's will be our method of support for people who prefer to play in 5 person teams.

 

> # WvW

> Two questions here:

> **Will this merger of teams benefit or hinder the planned Alliance and Randomized worlds system release?**

This doesn't benefit or hider World Restructuring.

> **Will we ever see a fix to the field of view issues when fighting from the top of walls?**

We talk about it from time to time. But most of the proposed fixes internally are fairly complicated and resource intensive.

 

 

 

[ReaverKane.7598]

> @"Irenio CalmonHuang.2048" said:

> Hey ReaverKane!

>

> Whew, that's a lot of different sections and questions. I'll try to answer the ones I can, but in the future I'd suggest trying to break them up into separate posts about each subsection so they can be more easily answered from our side. Nothing taken with ill intent - same here :)

>

Thanks for answering... I was going to start with only pvp and balance, but one idean pulled another... Sorry if it makes it harder.

 

> __Balance__:

> * In the past several months the balance iteration has gone from being quarterly to more frequently.

>

Yes, and i'm grateful for that, but it's really not enough, is it? We get stuck with pretty bad metas for way too long. That is mighty discouraging.

 

> * __It isn't always possible__, but we're trying to get more explanations of changes and the goal(s) of the changes. Hopefully that helps inform. :)

>

Thanks, i'm glad to hear that!

 

> * We're definitely aiming at more re-works whenever possible to old mechanics/gameplaypieces. Sorry - not going to discuss the specific ones we've got in progress right now.

>

Didn't expect you to disclose, it's encouraging to know you have things planned though!

 

> __WvW__:

> * The creation of the Systems team should not hinder WvW restructuring at all, and if anything, help it.

>

:+1:

> __Rewards__:

> * The time-gating isn't likely to go away. That's something that keeps their values up at least a bit and helps to preserve their value into the future. What is more possible is recipes using different amounts of them.

I understand the reason, but i can't agree with the method. Thanks for the answer anyhow!

 

 

 

> @"Ben Phongluangtham.1065" said:

> > @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > # sPvP

> > I've entirely abandoned sPvP. Granted i was never the most hardcore sPvPer, but i've always enjoyed the mode, especially when i could play with my guild mates, mostly during season 3 and 4 after the bunkers were sorted out, and while we had the guild leaderboards. But lately, between the balance, the weird match-making and the lack of friends to play with, i became discouraged, and honestly moved back to League of Legends for PvP.

> > **Can we expect some deep changes to sPvP and especially ranked?**

> > Team queues were entirely removed via a majority vote, over what's definitely a minority game mode. Not only that the vote was in favour of a trial season, with a follow up vote following that. This follow up vote never came to pass...

>

> We have several changes to PvP coming, which have already been talked about (swiss, on demand tournaments). We do have other plans, but we can't talk about them yet, as they are still somewhat preliminary and I don't really want to bring up new potential features until we're getting pretty close to delivering some of the features we've already committed to.

>

Good to hear! The Swiss and on demand i had heard about.

> > **Will a team queue ever be an option?**

>

> We don't have any current plans to bring 5 person queuing back to ranked queue. I don't feel it's competitive. On-Demand tournaments and AT's will be our method of support for people who prefer to play in 5 person teams.

>

That's a bit disheartening... It doesn't make sense how you can say it's not competitive when it's the only way to actually be competitive. It's counter-intuitive. You can't say that in a 5 man team game, having 5 man premade teams is less competitive than forcing people to face the RNGesus of match-making.

That's also why every tournament you held, and every tournament in team games held by other e-sports are held with duos at most, right?

 

While i like the idea of the automated tournaments (League of Legends is actually "copying" the format). I don't think they should be the exclusive team competition, since the schedules are a big impediment. The few times i actually managed to get enough people on at the same time for pvp, there was no tournament on.

Not very fun...

Also it's much more demanding in terms of schedule than a regular ranked ladder for teams. Not everyone has that time availability. Basically one doesn't replace the other, and from my personal experience, you've lost a great deal of players not only in sPvP, but in the game, due in a great part to the removal of ranked.

 

> > # WvW

> > Two questions here:

> > **Will this merger of teams benefit or hinder the planned Alliance and Randomized worlds system release?**

> This doesn't benefit or hider World Restructuring.

Yeah, Irenio had already mentioned that! Thanks!

> > **Will we ever see a fix to the field of view issues when fighting from the top of walls?**

> We talk about it from time to time. But most of the proposed fixes internally are fairly complicated and resource intensive.

>

Yeah i can imagine it wouldn't be easy, or you guys would have fixed it in 2012 ^_^

Still it's a bit counter-intuitive since it gives a larger advantage to the attacker than the defender.

Good to know it's still being discussed, and not just forgotten!

 

Thanks for the answers!

 

 

[LucianTheAngelic.7054]

> > @"Ben Phongluangtham.1065" said:

> > > @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > > **Will a team queue ever be an option?**

> >

> > We don't have any current plans to bring 5 person queuing back to ranked queue. I don't feel it's competitive. On-Demand tournaments and AT's will be our method of support for people who prefer to play in 5 person teams.

> >

> That's a bit disheartening... It doesn't make sense how you can say it's not competitive when it's the only way to actually be competitive. It's counter-intuitive. You can't say that in a 5 man team game, having 5 man premade teams is less competitive than forcing people to face the RNGesus of match-making.

> That's also why every tournament you held, and every tournament in team games held by other e-sports are held with duos at most, right?

>

> While i like the idea of the automated tournaments (League of Legends is actually "copying" the format). I don't think they should be the exclusive team competition, since the schedules are a big impediment. The few times i actually managed to get enough people on at the same time for pvp, there was no tournament on.

> Not very fun...

> Also it's much more demanding in terms of schedule than a regular ranked ladder for teams. Not everyone has that time availability. Basically one doesn't replace the other, and from my personal experience, you've lost a great deal of players not only in sPvP, but in the game, due in a great part to the removal of ranked.

 

I would just like to add there are a lot of us that feel this way. My team and I pretty much stopped playing spvp after trying duo for season 5. By pretty much stopped playing I mean across the 5 of us we went from having hundreds of games per season from S1-S4 to near 0 since S5. Solo/Duo really just wasn't the same experience at all, honestly. There are no currently good ways to play as a team that enables semi-casual/semi-competitive teams to thrive. ATs don't feel like a solid option, either, for the reasons Reaver says above. Unranked isn't a solid option either since it doesn't feel rewarding for the time we would want to put in and the match quality can be hit or miss. I don't think fixing ATs or making them more available will get players like us to play spvp again consistently, honestly. We need a rewarding team queue back that allows us to drop in and out as needed.

 

 

[Ghotistyx.6942]

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > @"Irenio CalmonHuang.2048" said:

> > On-Demand tournaments and AT's will be our method of support for people who prefer to play in 5 person teams.

> That's a bit disheartening[...]The few times i actually managed to get enough people on at the same time for pvp, there was no tournament on.

> > @"Irenio CalmonHuang.2048" said:

> > On-Demand tournaments

¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

[xBlack.4897]

> @"ReaverKane.7598" said:

> > @"Irenio CalmonHuang.2048" said:

> > __Rewards__:

> > * The time-gating isn't likely to go away. That's something that keeps their values up at least a bit and helps to preserve their value into the future. What is more possible is recipes using different amounts of them.

> I understand the reason, but i can't agree with the method. Thanks for the answer anyhow!

 

__weary stare__

[Urud.4925]

After having played many MMOs and known several publishers, I'm really happy to see that they're not all the same. Probably because you also develop it, but I have the feeling, while playing it, that you try hard to improve the experience for us as players. Sure it must also bring some income, but the players are not just cows to milk. There are several mechanics in game that are like "thought by players for other players". And I really like this.

 

Unfortunately I have to say that sometimes I don't love you so much. And this happens after the frequent (for me) balance patches. I have all the classes at lv80, and reading all the changes might take a while. When I find an important trait nerfed on my main class, I'm definitely upset. But I'm sure that there's a reason behind that change, so it would be great if you could explain the most important changes (not all of them). You already write a general "in this patch we decided to ...", but some additional brief note on the most important traits would be nice to avoid some of my hate... (sorry!)

(like, we changed Exposed Weakness, not because we thought it was too OP, but because we hope to make the thief more viable in group contents. I'm not sure that it really worked as intended, but at least I would have understood your good intention).

[Etheri.5406]

> @"Urud.4925" said:

> After having played many MMOs and known several publishers, I'm really happy to see that they're not all the same. Probably because you also develop it, but I have the feeling, while playing it, that you try hard to improve the experience for us as players.

 

6 years ago I'd have believed you.

3 years ago i'd say it's arguable.

Nowadays? hahahaha.

 

The arenanet that tries to innovate and create an amazing MMORPG from GW2 is gone. The current anet has next to no vision and half the game is on life support. Outside of living story and the casual aspects of PvE, we've seen no content in about 10 months. They haven't managed growth in years. We're letting dedicated communities die left and right because their prefered playstyles aren't "sustainable" enough to provide the content required to keep them interested in the game. A game they're very dedicated towards and that they clearly WANT to play. But even for these players, there's only so much they will take.

 

>Sure it must also bring some income, but the players are not just cows to milk. There are several mechanics in game that are like "thought by players for other players". And I really like this.

 

Yet the gemstore releases? Those are pretty great. Constant BLTC updates and weapon sets and gliders and mount skins and other goodies.

 

The vision of GW2 growing bigger than what it is now is long gone. Most of it is on life support, extending it's profitability as long as possible without making new big expenses to milk money from the casuals that enjoy it. This isn't something I blame the devs for, as the devs do their job. It's management that decides who does what, how they invest and what needs to get done. If anything, I think both balancing and pvp updates have improved in the HoT-PoF period. They're just still too slow to maintain a healthy playerbase.

 

>

> Unfortunately I have to say that sometimes I don't love you so much. And this happens after the frequent (for me) balance patches. I have all the classes at lv80, and reading all the changes might take a while. When I find an important trait nerfed on my main class, I'm definitely upset.

 

Look at the bigger picture - balance improves gameplay for everyone, everywhere in the game on the long term. Nerfs are just sometimes required as a compromise towards this.