Massive Alliance Battle -- Death count ftw

At some points in time when i play this game, i get hooked on AB. But then after a while i get bored of it because the same thing happens over and over again.

CAP CAP CAP, and DON'T fight (well that's the way some people see it if you want to WIN the round). Of course there's other tactics to it than just that.

How about another Alliance battle mode. Something like "forget capping, fight till death".
I find i'm having most fun in AB when there's a hardcore 12v12 battle going on in one corner of the map, when i've or everyone has given up on capping.
Imagine small battlefields with environmental effects to alter outcomes of a hardcore battle without having to worry about running around mad just to cap shrines!
Reward could be MORE Balthazar faction and MINIMAL alliance faction.
VICTORY requirements: First alliance to get to 200 (more or less) kills.

I dunno, maybe something like a "1k alliance faction entry fee for this mode".
This could be some sort of motivation for people who don't usually play AB-shrine-capping, to play it and get faction to go out hard on the 12v12 not-so-much-capping-AB.

tell us if you'd like something like this...

Or...you could ignore the people saying that and do what you want to do.

yis! big random pvp battles! i'd like to see more of that!

"Hey everyone, let's run 11 monks and 1 wammo so they can't kill and we just might!"

Lol I always wanted this, an idea would be to implement this as alliance battles, (determining the border) and have it such that anyone can join at any time, but only such that there is the same number of people on both sides.

Then capping AB could be a side campaign in the war, where holding shrines determines victory, and not the border.

I like this idea, and pretty sure its already been suggested but 100%

/SIGNED

Guild wars have auto-aiming of weapons and spells, line-of-sight is pretty unimportant most of the time, and lethality of weapons and spells very low, so capping, not just in AB but everywhere, exist to add an element of tactics to the combat which would otherwise just be a chaotic auto-combat brawl.

Problem is, capping is boring and annoying.

I hope in GW2 they manage to find some other way to reward tactical play in PvP, but in GW1 this is the way it is.

So I don't know. On one hand I hate capping and would like it gone, on the other hand I fear that removing it completely would lead to (even more) degenerate builds and even less emphasis on tactics.

Perhaps one could rotate maps, where some maps were annihilation or kill-count maps?

When you only run around and cap you're doing it wrong, I pick many fights in AB's when it gices our side a tactical advantage. AB isn't random enough? lol.

/signed

I would love to join the chaos from time to time.

Good idea but thats what the 'deep maps' in AB are for, Lands and Canyon tilt the balance so much in ur favor that can u run just about any build and do about whatever u want and still win with a little teamwork.

Exactly. Knocking a full team out for a while is very effective when it comes to Alliance Battles. It is even more effective when you're in the lead with shrines too, as you're stalling one team cutting down their shrine capture rate by a third. The same can be said for taking advantage of people camping the same target while not achieving kills because they can't catch up to said target, or even for any time whatsoever because they want those 3 points so desperately.

Plus small skirmishes are quite fun.

This

/signed

Although everyone knows ANET wont implement it. Too bad, though

Guild Wars balance isn't designed for it, so it would just degenerate into massive complaining about whichever cookiecut mass-battle gimmick is the most broken.

You are, of course, encouraged to try the mass-battle format involving 8 players and twentysome NPCs on either side, which was implemented in Prophecies, if you really want to kill other players.

/signed

Head on team battles ftw!

Every so often me and my guild will get bored with capping shrines and just stand in the way of the mob.

With a proper team setup and good healing (and sometimes the shrine advantage) you can decimate a goodly number of people.

AB isn't really about capping, it's about dominating the field (like the domination fields in UT).
For most players this is done by capping more than the opposite side but it can also be done by making sure the other side cannot cap at all.
If you can assemble a team that can disable one or two opposite teams you will also win if the rest makes sure to keep capping.

I don't like massive battles that much, I'm more a tactical player who likes to do the unexpected. But having some more battle-focussed strategies would be fun.

ive been doing some thinking and as a way of altering outcomes of a match (of this kind) you could have for example:

Luxon
- for every 5 kills, you are granted a damage bonus. (archemorous)
Kurzick
- for every 5 kills, you are granted armour bonus. (saint viktor)
or
- the field includes Shrines of the god which grant bonus (1 bonus per match)(not too keen on this one though lol)
or
- when an enemy is killed, an item is dropped. this item is to then be taken to the luxon shrine. when the shrine receives a certain amount of these items (20 for example) the whole party of 12 receive some sort of bonus. this sort of play can allow for tactics, whether it be take out the opposing team as fast as you can or build up towards the bonus for some sort of edge, the choice is yours.

these are just some ideas.... i'm wanting something new to the game, meaning just GW1. Just because GW2 is coming out, it doesn't mean content should stop entirely for gw1. Not saying it has, but I would like something more/new in the pvp department.

I'm sorry, but what game have you been playing? Stand behind a wall, and see how much damage you take from a Ranger, Paragon, Stone Daggers, Stoning, Lightning Orb Ele, etc. Line of sight and positioning in battle is a very important part of PvP. This is why so many people wanted shadow stepping nerfed, and some want it removed. Lethality of weapons and spells is very low? Sorry, but when you deal 100+damage to someone who only has 500-600 health, that is a lot of damage. It sounds like you don't know how to kill people.

I hate capping in AB as well. I find it quite boring, and rarely do AB because of it. The huge map makes battles a little hard, so if they reduced the size of the map, a full 12-v-12 battle would be much better. Would need to have GvG style situation for winning, so both sides would have a base to defend and one to attack, with reasons for doing both. Extra points awarded for kills made against players in their base for example would be reason for some to go after those there. Holding a position for a set time would allow for points to be acquired, and a reason to guard your base. Just a few thoughts, nothing concrete. Idea isn't bad, but needs a lot of work before being put in use. Problem is, I doubt Anet will even consider it since they have GW2 to work on.