Curse

ManadartheHealer · Jun 19, 2005, 09:48 PM // 21:48

For those who do not know, the first guild wars expansion is slated to come out first half of '06. So that's quite a wait

. Now on to the actual suggestions...

As we all know, there have been many complaints on these forums about "PvP this" and "PvP players want such and such", and there is really no end in sight to this argument. Both sides either want UAS/UAR, or they don't. Fixing the PvP in this game should be one of the first priorities on ANet's plate. While I myself am not a hardcore PvPer, I do enjoy that aspect of the game and can see where it is lacking.

The first thing that needs to be fixed is unlocking skills for PvP. I'm not talking about UAU (Unlocking all Unlockables), I'm talking about a way of unlocking skills that is closer to the pace that they are unlocked by doing PvE. Something that instantly unlocks everything will never work in the long run, because there is no effort involved in getting the skills. What I propose is unlocking skills gradually through PvP, which I and others have mentioned before in other threads. For this form of unlocking, it will reward: Kills, assisted kills (for the monks), and winning in the random or team arena (Winning the HoH has it's own rewards

). Each time a character kills or has an assist (i.e. the monk healing the killer), the player in question gets 1/2 a skill point (yes, one half). If you win a round in the arena, you get one skill point. If you have a flawless victory, you will get 2 skill points.

All characters will start off with their basic set of skills for BOTH the classes they are (the skills PvE players learned in pre-searing). Buying each normal skill will cost 2 skill points, and all elites will cost 5 (seems high, I know). The skills that are available to you would depend on the total amount of skill points earned. For example, if you earned 10 skill points, you would have less spells/skills to choose from than if you had earned 80 skill points. The skills unlocked would have to be carefully balanced though.

If newly built PvP characters only have basic skills, this would put them at a disadvantage in normal arenas. Therefore, I would also suggest a PvP version of "Pre-searing", where PvP characters through a certain number of skill points earned can have an arena to practice in before moving on to the harder arenas. This will allow new PvPers time to adjust.

Also needed for the new expansion, while not absolutely necessary, but something that would make PvP more interesting, is different style PvP. And it's not just different win conditions with the same, small, standard arena. Here are a couple good examples I picked out of new arenas from mostly other posts (I just elaborated)

1)PvP on the High Seas
In Massassi's thread here , he suggested that the expansion have ships, and Mimu had mentioned PvP ship battles. This would be an excellent way to not only liven up the standard, stale PvP we have now, but actually create more people willing to play PvP.

There could be different style ship-arenas with different win conditions. One "arena" be each team has a ship sailing alongside eachother, and they are connected by a gangplank. There would be 2 objectives in the arena: Disable the mast of your opponents ship by using a dwarven powder keg, and assassinate the captain at the helm. This would be so much more intriguing than the current "two teams run and slaughter eachother" style found in the random arenas.

2)Free-for-all PvP
I know I may get flamed for this (because guild wars is a "team" game), but I personally would like to see a non-stop FFA PvP arena. It would need to be a very large map, with cliffs, caves, and places to hide, where it would be non-stop slaughter. There could be a little counter to keep track of your total kills, consecutive kills, etc. And in the outpost they should have a sign that acts as a "high-score" board. It would just be a place for PvPers (or even PvEers) to test out a new build or new skill combo, or just a place to go fight when your guild is not online.

3)Two different types of siege PvP arenas
It has been mentioned by many that back in the beta (?), ANet had a siege-style PvP arena that they have since gotten rid of. However, this is a really great idea. There are two kinds of siege arenas that are possible.

-One would be set up with a sieging team and a defending team, and the defending team has to hold off the attackers for a set amount of time. The attackers would get unlimited rezzs (but still DP) at specific intervals, and their objective would be to kill the Ghostly hero and ressurrection priest that are being guarded by the opposing team. The "castle" being guarded would have a closed gate, and the attackers would initially have to use a battering ram to break it down (3 people need to carry battering ram, get up close to the door, and the pointman simply "attacks" the door. Normal weapons would hardly damage the door). For 30 seconds afterwards, all the attackers have a 2% morale boost and run 5% faster. I'm debating whether or not the defenders should get boiling hot oil to pour off the walls, I just don't know how easy that would be to implement

-The second could be a "castle vs. castle" style PvP with very large teams on both sides. Each castle could have two stationary catapults behind the embattlements at the tops of the walls, and each team would start off with three "light" catapults in the beginning. The heavy catapults could be disabled by explosives, but the light siege weaponry could be destroyed by normal weapons and even stolen . Since when you are pushing it you would walk much slower, if the enemy cuts you off and kills you, they can take your catapult and use it.
The object in Castle vs. Castle would be to kill the enemy ressurrection priest, and kill the lord of the castle.

In addition to all the new types of arenas, I would like to see different spins on the old arenas. Different terrain with different strategic advantages, etc.

Constructive criticism, comments, and other suggestions are not only welcomed but encouraged.

Terribly sorry for such a long post

Tactical-Dillusions · Jun 19, 2005, 11:01 PM // 23:01

I rarely play PvP but if ideas 1 and 2 (DEFINITELY 2) get implemeted, i would play that even more than PvE (16+hours a day

).

Deathmatch, yeah that's a great idea. A free for all where rangers get to use traps and pets would have a great use in chasing the enemy down.

I love stuff like that. Guilds could enter and take each other on but not in the current sense. LoL, i would love to hunt down my warrior guild mates like the scumbags they are in a match that isn't just a "Kill the monk" game.

You could have district matches with dozens of players involved in a massive area (not arena).
You could base the PvP gamestyle after the completion of the game, IE, Old Ascalon, you could do it "under reconstruction".

The matches would be better if they were ongoing and not just a regular countdown....enter...kill...meet back at district for next round.
A drop down menu of ongoing matches would be perfect IMO. You could stay in the matches as long as you wanted and there would be no more whining about people dropping because there would be no teams...just individuals.

You could have areas on the maps where people tend to congregate.

1) Bottlenecks/pinchpoints.

2) Dead-ends (noobtraps)

3) Respawning goodies

4) Healing pools

5) Poison swamps

6) long tunnels/bridges

It sounds like FPS deathmatch doesn't it? I suppose it is. But what's wrong with having a nice choice? I'm sure if it were to be implemented, it would appeal to a large new base of customers as well as a very large proportion of the PvP base. If i am up for it, i'm sure many others will be too!

TaG Eledhel · Jun 20, 2005, 12:48 AM // 00:48

another quick note which is becoming an increasing pain is the fact that every gvg game seems to consist of 5 or 6 monks , maybe a new arena where each team is made up of one from each class, this would then even the field becasue the game is now becoming increasingly dependant on monk/warrior combos with many players missing out or having to create new chars, i also feel they should remove one of the added features and thats pvp chars having access to hall of heroes. after spending an age leveling up and ascending then getting to HoH only to find pvp chars felt like i had wasted my time. why should players be allowed to simply jump straight in , maybe seperate arenas for pve and pvp would be better, also other kinds of guild v guild matches could be more like the old tradional team games, capture the flag, deathmatch, (as mentioned above) last man standing, king of the hill, or how about a gvg quest wherew teams start at opposite ends of map and have to battle thru various GW creatures to reach the boss guy in middle of map , kill the boss and grab the goodies when boss dies, can be played as either race or tactical taking out the other team first, with best of say 3 or 5 and winning team for each game has to face slighty higher level creatures to reach the goal.finallay how about team game where 1 of each team squares up and soon as player dies another team mate jumps in, until one team is eliminated, again highly tactical in the order of which your team mates and there chars play, for instance team a and team b .. team a starts with a warrior/monk, team b has necro/ ranger if necro/ranger wins team a has to then decide who to throw in next to try to defeat team b's necro / ranger, and so on. that way a team made of pure monks isnt going to be much good i only one player is fighting at a time, while fight is going on rest of team can view game from the current players perspective .. well thats just a few randon ideas to chew on

Willow · Jun 20, 2005, 01:17 AM // 01:17

I like your ideas. They show alot of promise. I have always supported a gradual PvP unlock system like the one you propose.

The free for all arena sound pretty darn cool. I'd play it.