"Generic attackers" - no enemy names displayed in WvW

[Deleted]

I'm not sure if you all caught this but during the reddit AMA a few days ago it was announced that enemy players won't have their names displayed in WvW PvP.

Instead all hostile players will be named something along the lines of "generic attacker", "hostile combatant" or possibly even class-specific stuff like "hostile Elementalist".

There's been a lot of discussion about seeing enemy names in WvW. While I certainly understand the reasoning behind the request to see enemy names, we are fairly firm about not showing names of the opposing teams. I think of it this way, in a war people dont introduce themselves before trying to kill each other. When you are fighting in the mists for your world, you are in the middle of a giant war against two opposing forces who want nothing more than to take everything you own and kill you as many times as they possibly can. That guy who just shot you is not Bob the Engineer, he's the enemy.
Not showing enemy names in WvW also helps players that are less pvp-oriented feel less threatened about venturing into the battle because seeing enemies as anonymous 'invaders' creates a sense that opponents won't be able to recognize them and pick on them because of their lack of skill in a fight, so they in turn feel more embolded to go out and fight in the first place. Not showing names also makes it so people can feel as if they can 'hide' in a fight if need be, but still be around to help out. That's a pretty critical part of making WvW feel more inviting for people that would normally never think about playing PvP in any other game.
We've heard "I usually dont PvP, but I love WvW" again and again from people in our beta, so even though showing names might make for a more competitive pvp environment, we'd much rather create a game that is more welcoming for people that don't normally play the more hardcore PvP games. If you want to see enemy names and get to know the community of people you are fighting against, competitive PvP is the place to get that sort of thing in Guild Wars 2. WvW is the place where you fight with your friends and show your might against a faceless never-ending horde of enemies. It's not about taking names, it's about taking back that tower and claiming it for your guild so it can wave your flag right in the enemies face!

Now the quote really explains the reasoning well enough and while at first I was a big putt off by the idea, it does make a lot of sense.

Over my time I've encountered a lot of people who don't like PvP in MMOs. And while they all state different reasons, I think one of the cores is that they don't like the idea of being "bested" by other players. Being beat in PvP basically says other dude > you which isn't very cool for casual-minded people. Especially since PvP generally is very fast-paced.

I could see this making PvP a lot more accessible to people.

[grandpab]

Wasn't DAoC like this too? It's been a while, but for some reason I remember names were different for pvp.

[Valz.]

It might make sense, but it's a huge turn off for me. I've always memorized names of people who "bested" me, just to bring "death and defeat" upon them at a later date, be it a fair fight or not (I don't care). I guess I'll have to find another way to pick my targets...

[Vespian]

It might make sense, but it's a huge turn off for me. I've always memorized names of people who "bested" me, just to bring "death and defeat" upon them at a later date, be it a fair fight or not (I don't care). I guess I'll have to find another way to pick my targets...

You will learn to recognize them by looks Which is fun in itself.

[vizzle]

To be honest... you're not going to be remembering a lot of people anyway. Considering how there will be nearly 2000 people (speculation) in the WvWvW, and the maps are giantttttttttttttttttttttttttt... and that servers switch and fight other servers every 2 weeks... yeah no, you're not going to be remembering people anyway.

[Sentinel]

They're called either "Green Invader", "Red Invader" or "Blue Invader". Guess which team gets called what...

Saw this from a WvWvW video.

[Deleted]

Yeah I think people were called something along the lines of "Green invader [Guild abbreviation]" or "Blue invader [Guild abbreviation]" and so on. Doesn't really matter to me either. In the massive PvP areas that WvWvW represent you rarely ever get a straight up fight where you would be interested in learning the name of your antagonist. Instead it's about coordination and tactics pulled off through team efforts, which instead will be represented by the guild abbreviation of the group that wooped your groups asses.

[Deleted]

It makes sense. One thing that I dislike is when people log into my server and tell how (Insult name) I am, and so, just because I killed them in PvP, either alone, or with a group.

Though I always loved to get rivals, that I had someone to look for when doing PvP, someone to match-up against, in a good way, I will miss that. Though hot-join PvP will still have the names visible, so people will be able to do these kind of things anyway, which makes less sense

[Allanon the Mystic]

Gah, means you can't go after the leaders by spying their name. You always go for the general/commanders because everyone else might not know what to do next :< It's strategy! I also like going for revenge on the people who best me, and recognizing them maybe in the next WvW match. I'm going to be a little sad over this, but nothing we can do really.

[grandpab]

To be honest... you're not going to be remembering a lot of people anyway. Considering how there will be nearly 2000 people (speculation) in the WvWvW, and the maps are giant

2000 isn't far off. They said in the AMA that they want to get a few hundred players in each map, and they're still optimizing and trying to increase that number as much as they can. Then there's 4 maps, so 1200+ players and probably more after some optimizing.

*edit* Just found this too... http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment...ssions/c380zj5

[Deleted]

oh, no way to report people abusing bugs in pvp then? .... uhm ... fine? ... gues i have to visit known hacking sites much more often than before ...

[terrahero]

Im okay with this. Its a game and when naming is involved it gets more personal, and more serious. Some like that, some do not.

All that matters to me is, that guy is the Enemy. I dont care if he is Dirk van Derpmarch, who was raised as an orphan and now has a wife and 4 kids and hopes one day to join the circus.

Ill recognize the enemy by looks if ive had a run in with them several times. Also, you can now "hide" and "disguise" yourself, change gear appearance and you are no longer that "god damn orange mail armored Asura Warrior that has been such a pain in our side that we must hunt him whenever we see him".

[Zogarth]

You will not really be able to make any "nemesis" either since the servers you right against will rotate every second week

[Quincey]

oh, no way to report people abusing bugs in pvp then? .... uhm ... fine? ... gues i have to visit known hacking sites much more often than before ...

I was about to post how good this was since i wont have whiners bitching at me anymore...

Your post changed my mind, with no fear of being reported they are gonna be hacking like crazy, they already did in guild wars 1, no reason why they wont in gw2 =\
Anonymity + audience = Dickwad

[DrunkenBeard]

You can see their guild though So, guild rivalries are entirely possible and encouraged. And where are you people reading that you can't report anyone ? No name doesn't mean that you can select someone and report. The name is maybe not displayed, but the game knows who plays what character. Furthermore, if someone is hacking his own realm can still see his name and report him.

[Allanon the Mystic]

You will not really be able to make any "nemesis" either since the servers you right against will rotate every second week

There's a chance they won't switch either, you're being ranked with servers that best suit you. You could easily face a server that you played against last time depending on how rating actually changed.

[Abominator]

When I first read that you wrote that names won't be displayed in WvW I was quite unhappy, but after reading arenanet's explanation it made a lot of sense and I'm completely happy with the decision.

[Herecius]

Since we'll still see their guild tags, this will actually be pretty cool. We won't be fighting individuals, as our enemies will be nameless, but their GUILDS will be burnt into your minds when they suddenly assault you so hard that it smacks you down into next week. You'll always be fighting guilds this way instead of individuals... Guild Wars.

[Snow White]

I was about to post how good this was since i wont have whiners bitching at me anymore...

Your post changed my mind, with no fear of being reported they are gonna be hacking like crazy, they already did in guild wars 1, no reason why they wont in gw2 =\
Anonymity + audience = Dickwad

It's up to the community to report people on their own teams then I guess.

[Whitepepper]

oh, no way to report people abusing bugs in pvp then? .... uhm ... fine? ... gues i have to visit known hacking sites much more often than before ...

This concerns me too but I would suspect that Anet has thought of this and will have some type of abuse report system with which they can identify a player even without a name in WvWvW. Also, names will still show in hot join pvp so its really only a WvW issue.