ArenaNet Community Day '06 - Post Your Questions Here

[Inde]

Coming at the end of January, ArenaNet is hosting another Community Day in which select fansites have been invited to attend and tour the offices, meet the developers, ask some questions and more. We have our long-time staff member and Super Mod Billiard attending for us and would like to get your help. If there are any questions you'd like us to bring the developers we'd love to hear them and perhaps get some answers for you. We'll be posting this in both Riverside Inn and Gladiator's Arena to cover the PvE and PvP crowd.

We'd like to ask that this thread be reserved for strictly questions and that you refrain from comments or general discussion. They've also stated that it will be too early for any Chapter 4 questions so please know that we won't be bringing those up if any are posted. Thanks!

[Makkert]

First things first:

1) great initiative from ANet to get (again) in touch with their customers
2) yay Billiard! an excellent representive.

Now towards 'what questions to ask?' I have to get serious.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...02#post2217502
What happend to this iniative?
There are many excellent questions in this thread, so Billiard can just go back to this thread and get some ideas from that. It will be repeat of moves to ask again for questions in this thread imho.

[Billiard]

Originally Posted by Makkert

First things first:

1) great initiative from ANet to get (again) in touch with their customers
2) yay Billiard! an excellent representive.

Now towards 'what questions to ask?' I have to get serious.
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...02#post2217502
What happend to this iniative?
There are many excellent questions in this thread, so Billiard can just go back to this thread and get some ideas from that. It will be repeat of moves to ask again for questions in this thread imho.

Makkert, thanks for the kind words. Someone mentioned that thread also in Riverside so I will be sure to bring it up.

Also, for everyone else: Please keep this thread in Gladiator's focused on PvP issues.

Please go to this thread in Riverside to post PvE issues: http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...php?t=10098241

[Livingston]

^_^

First PVP questions. Of course there are a thousand one could ask but I'll keep it focused on a couple of things.

1) Is there any chance of getting any high-end armors for PVP? Doesn't matter if they are the same as those in PVE, it would just be nice to have high-end armors that you could work for in PVP, so we all don't have to look like starter characters. Also any chance of bringing back the full set of helms to the various classes. Many classes such as warrior now have a couple (or one) stock standard helm. This completely kills variety. And if possible when will we see Elonian armor for PVP? It's pretty sad that an Elonian PVP character has to dress in Canthan or Tyrian garb...

2) Is there any possibility of seeing an alternative goal for PVP? I believe that this one thing could/would completely change the face of PVP and draw in more people (if they could bypass the emote eliteism). Right now everything is focused on HoH, but surely they could think of something else as well. I know there are other PVP things like Hero battles, Guild battles, Alliance Battles, etc. But none of these have a clear progressive goal. I strongly believe that PVP needs something more than charging through to the HoH over and over and over again.

And Thank You to Billiard for respresenting our ideas.

Livingston

[Liberations]

Originally Posted by Livingston

^_^

First PVP questions. Of course there are a thousand one could ask but I'll keep it focused on a couple of things.

1) Is there any chance of getting any high-end armors for PVP? Doesn't matter if they are the same as those in PVE, it would just be nice to have high-end armors that you could work for in PVP, so we all don't have to look like starter characters. Also any chance of bringing back the full set of helms to the various classes. Many classes such as warrior now have a couple (or one) stock standard helm. This completely kills variety. And if possible when will we see Elonian armor for PVP? It's pretty sad that an Elonian PVP character has to dress in Canthan or Tyrian garb...

2) Is there any possibility of seeing an alternative goal for PVP? I believe that this one thing could/would completely change the face of PVP and draw in more people (if they could bypass the emote eliteism). Right now everything is focused on HoH, but surely they could think of something else as well. I know there are other PVP things like Hero battles, Guild battles, Alliance Battles, etc. But none of these have a clear progressive goal. I strongly believe that PVP needs something more than charging through to the HoH over and over and over again.

And Thank You to Billiard for respresenting our ideas.

Livingston

This is almost exactly what I was going to post so I'll just add in what you left out. There was a post related to #1 in your entry, when I find it I'll be sure to edit in a link. Anyway to summarize what that previous post said, we need titles for PvP based on Balthazar's Faction and have different tiers open up new armor skins and types. This title should also include many different tiers. This is especially important because it would bring more people back into PvP and also be a real measure of how much PvP you have played. Concerning the cap of faction, there should be exclusive PvP only armor skins that can be purchased to the extent where you can buy them until you have enough faction to get to the final title. An alternative to this would be titles that measued how many games won in PvP total throughout all modes of play.

#2 Stated something I was going to go over. While there should always be more PvP content added, I think a main priority is to make PvP simply more exciting by providig different types of rewards and different objectives to PvP play.

I more than strongly believe that these additions and fixes are some of the most crucial types of updates to PvP we're looking for. Simply adding new PvP types without signifigant changes to the overall system wouldn't be enough to a Veteran lime myself, boasting 19 months+ of playing Guild Wars with over 1,000 hours.

Now that I've stated my suggestions, my question is, "Will there be signifigant updates to PvP, such as titles that reflect overall playing of PvP, and more rewards to the entire PvP system in the near to not-so-near future?"

[drekmonger]

Please convey appreciation for all the recent (and announced) enhancements to PvP. Reconnects, the templates, the armor/weapon crafting, the ease of switching secondaries, the UAS packs in the store, Gaile's fact finding mission for improvements to HA, the HvH ladder -- off the top of my head. I'm sure many dedicated PvP players would agree with most of the above, esp. the reconnects. I am, more so than at any other time in GW's history, a satisfied PvP player.

As with the others above, I'm curious about further rewards for PvP -- esp. rewards that involve more dress-up doll options for my PvP characters.

Concerning skill balancing, a.net has made some noise about changing the methods and frequency of skill balancing. Details?

Concerning HvH, I'm wondering if the current plan includes developing new maps and Heroes in the future.

Concerning the personal stats mentioned alongside the announcement of the HvH tournaments: Will these personal stats be account-wide, character specific, or both? Will other players be able to view personal stats? Will there be rewards for extraordinary personal stats?

[Satans Dominatrix]

Instead of adding high-end armors as a reward to PvP, why not make PvP only armor that you can unlock as a reward? In-general just more use for Faction and more PvP rewards.

I believe that if you add PvE armor as a PvP reward then you will have lots of conflict between most people. Also, all my work that I did for my PvE character to look good in PvP is down the drain.

[lemming]

Will we ever get a community rep who knows what's going on in pvp?

[davicams]

will there ever be a 1v1 arena not hero battles just 1 player vs 1 player in a random arena sense?

will you ever be able to get faction from the other 4 gods in PvP like pick one to serve and get faction for them?

[lioka pelenoria]

Now that there is a way to detect the difference between a disconnect and a ragequit, will there be any measures taken against leavers/ragequitters in Random Arenas, leaving such as before the victor of a match has been determined by the game?

[Relambrien]

Nice to see Anet getting in touch again, here are my questions.

1) Apparently, the reconnect feature does not work if a map fails to load (characterized by an endless loading screen), which in high-end PvP is more common than mid-match disconnects. Are there any plans to improve the reconnect feature to encompass this? Or does the game's programming make this impossible, since the player was never in the instance to start with?

2) Are there any plans in the future for a way to record Observer Mode matches via an in-game function and save to the computer's hard drive? This would help PvP'ers of all skill levels in the same way sports films do. Programs like Fraps or GameCam often do not save in a high-enough quality or resolution to make out what is going on, and are limited in that they can only follow the players recorded, whereas an in-game function could act as a permanent observed match (minus chat, of course).

[Bacon Goes Monk]

1.) 8v8?

123

[Teh Mighty Warrior]

Originally Posted by davicams

will there ever be a 1v1 arena not hero battles just 1 player vs 1 player in a random arena sense?

will you ever be able to get faction from the other 4 gods in PvP like pick one to serve and get faction for them?

I think you're posting in the wrong thread. The pve questions are in Riverside Inn.


As for my question, is there any way to implement a type of auto-resign feature that would trigger at Courtyard and HoH when your ghost is killed after 2:00 and some other team caps? It would be an excellent feature, I have been a part of/been a victim of "choosing" who we want to win countless times. If you have no chance at winning, might as well let your friend win right? Wrong. Sure it's great fun when you're the one determining the winner, but what about the team that got doubled up on when they don't even have the alter capped?

And secondly: Will we ever get a community rep who knows what's going on in pvp?

PS: If you have time go ahead and ask them if we could get 8v8 back.

[Anti Oath]

possible "Whats Happening this Month" article, to just give us a heads up what to expect from Anet, instead of Gale

[Rathma]

1) When will be the first balance of skills and how often will you balance skills?

2) Will be there any bigger tournaments like there was at the end of seasons (for money)?

[minor]

Can we please have real 12V12 battles. You can leave the current system in place but add a 12v12 section; kinda like RA/TA. Everyone was excited about the idea of 12 vs12 until they found out that you can make a smart build with your 4 ppl and then get rolled because the other 8 ppl are idiots.

And yes people i know the the current ABs are not real PvP would be nice if it was........

[Thom]

What is the long term vision for HA?

Does Anet feel that the mission objectives are a significant part of the problem within HA?

What are the design objectives in creating new PvP map?

Does Anet look to competitive PvP for inspiration for future skills and classes?

[BitWarrior]

Are there any plans to change/improve the current implementation of Hero Battles? There are a number of problems that I see with the current implementation:

1. As it stands, the game is largely favourable to highly defensive builds; the most popular at the moment being 2 monks and a spirit spamming Ritualist camping the Central Shrine, and an Assassin running around capping the utility shrines. This makes for very boring gameplay, to the point where the majority of people either camp or /roll.

2. The importance placed on the central shrine favours camping. Are there plans to allow the other shrines to award points for capture as well, or even set up an odd number of shrines (2 near blue base, 2 near red base, 1 in the center to fight over)?

3. Are there plans to provide more tangible benefits for Hero Battles? Since faction is rare in coming in HB, the sole motivation people seem to have is to obtain a title, with the result being hundreds of rollers.

4. What current AI aspects are being looked into for the heros? Heros have numerous glaring AI issues when dealing with a number of skills. For PvE, it tends to be less burdensome, however in HB, it really begins to matter. Heros seem very poor at understanding key factors in a number of skills, as well as energy management. Melee heros trying to attack a moving target looks more like a fly constantly bouncing off a glass window it doesn't see. The current mantra is to provide Hero's with very spam-friendly skills, are there plans to improve their tactics to introduce more advanced strategies?

[Allanon754]

1. Will there ever be bigger PvP battles such as 20v20... or bigger GvG's such as in games like Lineage 2, Planetside etc. NOTE: I am not commenting about how well or how badly those two games did big PvP battles I'm just using them as examples.

2. Will Guild Halls ever get A) cheaper NPC's for the PvP guilds who do not necessarily farm and have a large bank AND B) Will the skill trainer be able to train more skills then just core ones?

Thanks for listening Anet

[Thom]

Originally Posted by BitWarrior

1. As it stands, the game is largely favourable to highly defensive builds; the most popular at the moment being 2 monks and a spirit spamming Ritualist camping the Central Shrine, and an Assassin running around capping the utility shrines. This makes for very boring gameplay, to the point where the majority of people either camp or /roll.

2. The importance placed on the central shrine favours camping. Are there plans to allow the other shrines to award points for capture as well, or even set up an odd number of shrines (2 near blue base, 2 near red base, 1 in the center to fight over)?

3. Are there plans to provide more tangible benefits for Hero Battles? Since faction is rare in coming in HB, the sole motivation people seem to have is to obtain a title, with the result being hundreds of rollers.

Some unofficial answers:
1)That is a meta-game issue which should adjust as HvH gets its own ladder. People don't take Hero battles very seriously at the moment, but that will change once serious (read money) tournments begin.

2)Camping is hardly a perfect strategy, especially once the metagame develops more. Camping in HvH is certainly weaker than camping strategies in Hero's Ascent. I have yet to see conclusive evidence that this is a game balance issue and not a player inexperience issue. It is completely feasible to break a 4 man camp with an aggressive build. Some camping makes an interesting game as oppose to a footrace (as in AB).

3)Ladder, tournements with ingame prizes, real money... that seems to be the direction Anet is going with HvH. That should kill /roll fairly quickly.