Curse

Lordhelmos · Dec 27, 2006, 03:24 PM // 15:24

Its always been harder for me to get into PvP, but since the release of NF PvP is in even worse shape than it ever was.

HA: Heroway running rampant, Broken Tower becoming a pretty much random clusterfest over who caps and advances... maps designed for 8v8, but now we have 6v6.

TA: Showcase of skill imbalances, stoneflesh tanks running thirty minute matches, Zealous Benediction escaper monks running for hours upon hours....

RA: Same as TA but much much worse.... RA is the community cesspool anyway.

Aspenwood/AB: Leechers still rampant.

Seems like the PvP experience of the game is in DEEP TROUBLE. I know of veteran players already started to leave because of so many issues regarding the arenas.

It's obvious this needs to be cleaned up. To me the PvP experience is getting progressively worse. The sudden change to 6v6 in HA and a hasty reformatting of the maps to fit the new layout has angered many players. Also with the addition of new nightfall skills, some of the skill synergies need some DESPERATE help.

(In my opinion)
Searing Flames
~Enough has been said about this

Zealous Benediction
~In 4v4 a monk can be insanely hard to kill with this skills quick recharge. Its quite a big heal and is aggrivating when one tears through 5 layers of prots just to see this pop up and throw the monk instantly back in the green so easily.

Reaper's Mark
~Crazy cheap degen that can be spread like wildfire. Avatar of Dwayna is probably the hex removal that can work fast enough to contain this beast.

Mystic Regeneration
~Casters with long lasting enchantments use this for extended regen in the double digits. Hell, you can tank reapers mark AND life transter with enough enchantments. Searing Flames eles with 20 seconds of +9 regen anyone?

Stoneflesh Aura
~With all the earth buffs this is just plain crazy. I mean this skill prevents a rediculous amount of damage and seriously needs to swap with stone sheath for the elite slot. Granted the critical immunity is something eles need, but this skill can make you UNKILLABLE by anything short of a rend if it can be maintained.

Rampage as One
~Crazy long +33% for you and the Pet, WITH a movement bonus and its a SKILL that can be cut down to a 15 cost with expertise and stacked with stances like whirling defense.

Shield of Absorption
~Sucks up a ton of damage at high prot, and rends melee almost useless.

Feigned Neutrality
~Takes all the risk out of ganking. You can gank infinitely with this skill and monks can use it with dark escape to pretty much guarantee your safety.

Shadow of Haste
~Its like wack a mole, frustration and pointlessness included.

Blinding Surge
~If blinding flash isnt bad enough, now we have blinding flash for mesmers...

Avatar of Grenth
~Breaks a ton of builds. Not too bad in my opinion, but with so many builds enchantment reliant, it can be overly devastating.

Spiritual Pain
~Insane damage and the ability to wipe the board of all spirits. I mean compare this to obsidian flame...

I am not picking on these skills because I dislike them. Personally I believe these skills are imbalanced. My definition of imbalanced constitutes the player being forced into playing a specific set of skills in order to have a chance at countering these monsters. I believe this is unfair to the player because it removes his freedom of choice into developing a personalized template, since the overbearing power of these broken skills FORCES the player into only choosing from a limited pool of skills in order to survive. Broken skills damage the enjoyment of the game by forcing the player into the cookie cutter system. Rather than having variety in arenas we begin to see the same thing over and over, along with its counter. I believe that this is what we are seeing more of in PvP. Granted there is no way to stop FoTMs from forming, there will always be good skills and bad skills. However these skills are on a completely different wavelength than the rest of the choices. For example, Rampage as One nearly replaced the entire warrior class because of its melee effectiveness in pressuring enemies.

Its also rediculous to still have half a team of leechers in late night fort aspenwood or jade quarry. I just can't believe some of these issues haven't been resolved.

I mean, maybe I want to sit down and have a quick TA or RA match and end up seeing a Mo/A and a Wanderlust rt standing on the other side of the shing jea arena. I just can't help but be irked to see the game go on for 20 minutes while we chase this shadow of haste monk around just to watch him vanish and Zb himself for free when all his teammates are dead and he obviously can't win.

I mean can we have a damn timer?

And in aspenwood, I wait 20 minutes for a game just to find 5 leechers on my side. There are ways to fix this.... I mean WoW did it.... come on now.

Yes I am angry, and absolutely disgusted with the current decline of pvp. I am sure others feel the same way. There are huge issues at hand, post nightfall. Leeching, Griefer Battles, and much needed Skill Balances. These things have been griped and debated since day one of factions, and now we have a new expansion and these problems that hurt the overall value of an otherwise excellent game are STILL HERE.

Yes Guildwars is a great game, but at the moment the PvP aspect of the game is plagued by many minor issues that trigger big problems. There are things of great importance that need to be looked at and fixed.

I mean great a new ladder system... but whats more important? Switching up the ladder tournament or fixing some of the more BASIC points of the game, like leeching or these rediculous extended stalemates so we can actually enjoy the game?

I have to blow steam. Im a long time player and im just upset these things are still going on. Right now I feel pvp is getting worse, and the community does have a voice. I do understand that things are being done to IMPROVE pvp. However, many of us would like to see these basic problems fixed or at least get a response on what actions could be taken to make things better.

Granted nothing will ever be perfect, but PvP needs some help. There will always be overpowered builds and cookie cutter FoTMs. However at one point PvP is was very fun. Now it can be fun, but there are a ton of potholes on the way to that fun. Things that take the enjoyment out of the game. Things that could use some fixing.

EPO Bot · Dec 27, 2006, 03:32 PM // 15:32

Translation: "I lost a little too often for my taste."

I know that feeling, but i never blame the game itself.

TheGuildWarsPenguin · Dec 27, 2006, 03:34 PM // 15:34

I'd love to have Fort Aspenwood and The Jade Quarry fixed, I wait 30 minutes to get into a team and I realize that a bunch of our team is leechers.

Vapor_Fighter · Dec 27, 2006, 03:36 PM // 15:36

Yes but the new update prevents heroway you can only have two non-human charactars in your party

Wildi · Dec 27, 2006, 04:31 PM // 16:31

interesting that a "PvP is doomed/no longer fun" thread pops up just before the balance update, I hope a net is smart enogh to read between the lines because this is just another "devs look here and nerf the following skills" thread

broodijzer · Dec 27, 2006, 04:38 PM // 16:38

yeah, I think there'll be a balance update soon anyway.

Grolubao · Dec 27, 2006, 04:54 PM // 16:54

Look at the cast time of stoneflesh! U can interrupt that while drinking a beer.

Sab · Dec 27, 2006, 05:19 PM // 17:19

Quote:

Originally Posted by EPO Bot

Translation: "I lost a little too often for my taste."

I know that feeling, but i never blame the game itself.

Translation: "PvP is perfect as it is - there are no imbalanced skills, the mechanics of PvP arenas are fine."

Though you *can* blame yourself to an extent, realise sometimes the game itself *is* broken, and needs to be fixed.

Whatever the case, a skill balance is coming, and I sure hope the devs have some idea of the problems within the game, because we surely do.

Ugly_Jim · Dec 27, 2006, 05:32 PM // 17:32

You should have waited to the season's end skill rebalance. As the first major balance change to NF I'm sure it will be fairly large like the first major Factions skill rebalance and it will likely include a few of the skills you've mentioned. SoA and Spiritual Pain seem like easy targets.

Bankai · Dec 27, 2006, 05:32 PM // 17:32

This has been done before.

We ALL know what skills are giving people problems.

But please. Give us some f***ing suggestions on HOW to fix them. For example, read the huge thread in Gladtiator's arena, where people are discussing these skills.

Ninna · Dec 27, 2006, 05:35 PM // 17:35

I love Aspenwood and still play there
- its the only PVP I like in GW

I hate the leeching problem (who doesnt?) but on the bright side,
I see *less* Rage Quitters over leeching

Personally I think Aspenwood has worse problems than leeching
================================================
- Luxon spys playing Kurzick that open Kurzick gates for opposing Lux team

- Kurzick NPC gatekeepers that run out of the green gate and get stuck outside

- Kurzick players that intentionally bug the turtles and stop future spawns by making turtle warriors chase them and get them stuck in some out of the way corner

Vengal · Dec 27, 2006, 05:40 PM // 17:40

I think the OPs concerns are more then just about skill balances. We all should know by now that when it comes to imba skills, ANet always gets around to fixing them. And theyve been doing better in recent updates, not really nerfing the absolute hell out of some skills (remember Ether Renewal). But the real frustration a lot of people who have been around for a while are getting tired about are those little things he mentioned that have yet to see any mention to resolve them at all. Some people of course are gonna defend such things as absuing running skills in RA or TA saying there are counters. But RA is such a mixed bag, and you cant realistically bring a skill to counter absolutely every ridiculous greif build you come across in there. Other wise, youd have no skill slots left to do anything useful. And why should it be ok for people to take absoutely all the fun out of the game for everyone like that? More importantly, why has it been able to go on for so damn long with out an answer or even an acknowledgment from ANet?

Ole Man Bourbon · Dec 27, 2006, 08:03 PM // 20:03

PvP isn't for everyone. It's time-consuming and pretty dang hard.

chosenbygod · Dec 27, 2006, 08:42 PM // 20:42

Totally agreed, this is the reason why 95% of Black Crescent and other American guilds on the ladder have left this game for WoW. The quality of pvp in the game has drastically fallen.

lightblade · Dec 27, 2006, 08:51 PM // 20:51

either make enchantments recharge slower..or make skills that remove enchantments recharge faster

JR · Dec 27, 2006, 08:52 PM // 20:52

If you want a serious PvP experience, play serious PvP.

Untill the updates to Heroes Ascent come through, that is basically GvG alone.

Venus was her name · Dec 27, 2006, 08:57 PM // 20:57

I'm not huge on pvp, becuase i just enjoy the pve experience more.

Theres always been some annoying builds/skills that are clearly too powerful. Which always get fixed, so will these

Skill balance comming in mid Jan (gaile said, although didnt promise) i HOPE this balance will fix some of the listed skills by topic poster, i agree they are far too powerful. Avatar of Grenth i dont agree with since enchant removal only triggers from an attack skill, and in the past enchant removal has been seriously lacking, in most builds.

The quality of PvP in GW has massivly dropped, and thats what made GW special (the great pvp). The only solution i can see is for Hardcore PvPers to start playing more GvG.

Make HA teams ALL HUMAN you shouldn't need hench (if party members dc they can now come back, if they dont return then replace with a hench)

Restore 8v8 HA

Add a sensible time limit to TA/RA matches of say 10-15 minutes.

Divineshadows · Dec 27, 2006, 09:22 PM // 21:22

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lordhelmos

TA: Showcase of skill imbalances, stoneflesh tanks running thirty minute matches, Zealous Benediction escaper monks running for hours upon hours....

Sounds like you play on some bad TA teams, because I have never experienced any of these things you describe in TA. All matches I play in TA last anywhere from 36 seconds to updwards of ~12 minutes when you go up against another good team. If your experiences come only from your RA teams making it into TA, then your points defeat themselves.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lordhelmos

Shield of Absorption
~Sucks up a ton of damage at high prot, and rends melee almost useless.

Melee almost useless? You mean stupid melee almost useless. Learn the skill animation and this neat little combo called tab + space. Switching targets is always an effective counter to prots if you don't have any enchantment removal.

Grizmor · Dec 27, 2006, 09:32 PM // 21:32

You guys seriously don't think this game has not been dumbed down compared to what pvp was back during prohecies era? The game used to be be about skill, but now its more about what skills you bring.

JR · Dec 27, 2006, 09:39 PM // 21:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Grizmor

You guys seriously don't think this game has not been dumbed down compared to what pvp was back during prohecies era? The game used to be be about skill, but now its more about what skills you bring.

I disagree.

There are some skill balances needed, but after that I think this game is in a fine state. The worries about there being 'too much new stuff to counter' were largely unfounded, in my opinion.