deeply concerned about the future of pvp

The PvP community is a ghost town and a shadow of what it used to be on the BWE. The BWE's were a blast where I could switch between PVP and RP depending on what I felt like but now the competition is gone as everyone is in RP mode grinding for skills.

The problem is that this was advertised as a skill based game and its word of mouth selling point for many was that you could jump right into pvp and pve was optional. I used to see this as a fantastic pvp game with an amazing RP component that I could enjoy slowly at my leisure.

When I login now, theres no one in The Crag, Ive still not seen Amnoon (no one available for matches), only had one match in Delimdor (sp?). PvP is now Koga, koga koga and tombs. The variety of play, the community, the wide array of builds and teams to match up with are all gone. In a week when people are done grinding their skills it may start to come back..

However can Arenanet really afford to wait? This week is crucial for building buzz and taking advantage of it especially when at least two other MMO's majorly borked thier PVP rushing to compete, I know we were spoiled when we had the skills unlocked but truly this was where the pvp buzz resulted from. For me and for many people having this dizzying array of skills and class combinations experiement was worth at least as much as exploring a new world, seeing the world map before you with a dot representing you and a tiny part of Ascalon saying "you are here (you have a long way to go buddy)". Normally I would not mind that being taken away but I also feel the soul of the game has been lost as it is no longer an optional choice as to how and where you start the game. It's RP first, grind up your char, get skills, then *maybe* if you like what you grinded PvP.

I am a lot more hesitant to recommend GW now than I used to be mostly because it is now very similar to every other game on the market, you must grind to get to the pvp. There is a fantastic PVE game here, incredible art assets, a lot of work that has gone into it, that now feels like we are being force fed ahead in advance. I would have played this anyway just for a different style of character development If people wanted a grind game there are far superior out there, there are no other options for pvp. I can no longer recommend this as the pvp game that we have waited for, it is a grind game (however small) that people must get through to get to the pvp contrary to its original selling point.

These are just my thoughts, I know some people prefer otherwise so I'd rather leave this up to a vote kind of deal. Would you want all the skills unlocked back? Arguably it could shorten the length of the game considerably, but at its worse I feel this is potentially alienating a core audience and I still ove GW and don't want to see it buried prematurely. At the very least reduce the number of districts in Koga and force people into some other arenas. I miss carrying relics around for one :P

Yes I understand your concerns here..

I think what I am going to keep in mind for now is this..

I got GW for PVP, however I havnt tried it yet.. because I dont want to drop the rank of my guild, and would rather be skilled in the knowledge of the available skils sets and how to use them.

So I am currently distracted by the Coop to be quite honest!

once I have hammerd this and know alot more about how the game works I will then be doing pvp.

This may be the case for everyone else.. even people who played the beta, all their friends are now joinining and they are taking them through the game... also they probably want to explore the game themselves again, to see the differences.

Your right about it being quiet in PVP but I think that is because everyone is so excited about the Coop side and are absorbing that.

I think its just a matter of time before PVP rules.

And I sense there is some agro about WaW.. they only have to change it slightly to get hordes of people to try it out

The Snowman

Just some clarification before peopel jump on me for being a RP hater when that is not that case. I'm quite enjoying the RP aspect, Im just pissing and moaning that before it was optional. If you already knew what you were doing, buy the skills you need at the skill trainer and do missions to get ahead.

Same for pvp, a lot of community and fun came from people constantly rerolling, trying out builds etc. If you werent fortunate enough to be in BWE, this was what kept quite a lot of people interested. People I know that weren't in BWE arent showing anywhere near the interest in PVP because theres no way for them to relaly play with it. 4 of my friends have said that its like a poor man's quake with one map and they get bored after 5 minutes. Could you have said that in BWE?

Its great if you were in BWE and had a build in mind, if you come up with another build involving other classes then you have to grind them up. This could be very tedious for other people.

I *already* know what chars and skills I need and am around level 15 on both. I just want the old school pvp back :P That was what got me hooked in the first place and I fear not having that chaotic silly fun of BWE will kill the game. Especially for people picking it up that didnt do BWE like I said to just see it as a more simplistic version of wow :P

PS. Yeah I know its only been out 2 days. I want my fix!!

the first week is gonna be filled with people building up their characters to play PvP. It's gonna be slow this week but I guaruntee by next week there will be a lot more people playing pvp.

just came up with an idea for a nice middle ground.

They could implement a "Tryout" feature for pvp. The character only lasts for one login session (or one battle for furter gimpness) but has the skills unlocked like in BWE, unable to level gain fame, participate in guild challenges, ineligible for WaW, rankings etc. The character is automatically deleted once you logout. It gives you a chance to try builds, actually see what the pvp system has to offer, counters, play with builds etc and if you find sometihng you like then you can go earn your missing skills.

This would give people a bit more insightl, get them thinking and participating too.

Yeah its slow, but sluggish pvp first impressions may hurt us in the long run, early reviews, impressions etc

then work a bit for it

I think you answer your own question here.. and I dont think anyone thinks your a RP hater..

We just realise that you are already very experienced and skilled in the game and already know what you want to do.

Even though I completly read the Warrior/Elementalist build and am trying it out now... I still dont want to PVP yet because knowing how to build a character for PVP and playing it is different.

Your just gona have to wait for us to catch up m8

The Snowman

Why should anyone get rewards without doing the work, especially in a standard RPG. I'd rather have it the way it is than have a whole heap of instant action freaks.

If you want instant action go back to CS or the like.

vn boards

appears to be quite deeply concerned

actually I'm not, I've got less than 2 days playtime from the beta, these are my first chars over level 9 in retail lol. I still haven't decided on a "main", no idea what this ascencion crap or lions arch is all about, have a billion other things to try out etc.

experience my ass, its the fun of making a million chars (that usually didnt last over one fight hence I advocate the tryout thing) not having a clue what i'm doing (and still dont really) and having people to test them out against that got me here. If it was Koga ad nauseum and a ghost town for pvp as it is now I probably wouldn't have stayed. Concerned enough to babble yes

and with still no idea where I should be posting with no official boards @_@

Call it a hunch, but at the BWE I'm sure a lot more people made PvP characters based on how little time they actually had to fool around with the game. Now that it's live you have more people going the RPG route to build their charater.

Patience my friend