AMA about GW2 PvP (Arena Junkies)

[Maarius]

Arena Junkies are doing an AMA about sPvP in GW2, some interesting questions have been asked so far.

http://www.arenajunkies.com/topic/22...-gw2-now-live/


some of them:

Q:
1.) From what I have seen/heard there are no dedicated healing classes and every class has their own self-heals, how does this affect the gameplay?
2.)How is kiting in this game?
3.)Is every class balanced against other classes or does A>B>C>A?
4.)What different kind of pvp maps are there?
5.)How much influence does farming/putting time into the game have on results?

Thanks in advance

A (Izkimar/SuperSquad):
1.) You are right, there are no dedicated healing classes, although there are some supportive heals spread across the Professions. This actually benefits the gameplay greatly. You still have mass team coordination for support through peels, condition removals, small heals etc., and you don't run into the turtle games of having one person bouncing health bars up over and over again for a long period of time.

2.) Kiting is very good, there are a lot of movement skill, CC, and the movement itself is very fluid which allows for good kiting.

3.) Most classes are pretty well balanced well in conjuction with each other, however you do run into some balancing problems. But that is the nature of every game, there are a few builds that are on the really strong side, however they can still be dealt with for the most part.

4.) There are 3 different maps, which are all 3 point conquest, with secondary objectives to draw your attention. These secondary objectives can be things like the Trebuchet on Khylo, it is really powerful, and makes the map have 5 points of interest basically.

5.) Farming has no influence on PvP whatsoever, the only time that matters is time spent practicing.

Q: Are there any unique but irreplaceable abilities/skills for certain professions that will make this profession "must have" in the team

A (Lyr/atrox):
There are many unqiue skills, which support your group in different ways, but they aren't that strong that its a must have to take them with you. Overall you won't have to take a special setup or class in your team to be viable just for one unique skill. You will just have to take a look to your whole team, creating synergies and things like roamer, supporter and damage dealer will be a must have. Not a certain class or skill.

Q: Would you like to see any other map types made for spvp? Maybe CTF for example.

A1 (Lyr/atrox):
Hey, Guy_With_A_Question. Thanks for the question, guy!

Honestly, no. While it would be fun to have different game modes, imagine the balancing nightmares that would ensue. If this game seriously wants to take itself as an eSport and take a stab at success, I think they are taking the right direction on balancing the game for one game type.

On top of that; this game has amazing positional based PvP. What better game mode to go along with that than conquest with cool secondary objectives for each map?

A2 (TLrotten,Rotten/Team Legacy):
Right now, Conquest is the best mode for the game.
As there are no dedicated roles (e.g. healers), the usual deathmatch and other common gamemodes don’t fit in. The game would have no depth other than smashing all your damage skills.
I believe the reason they chose conquest over other modes is simple: It forces you to split into several scrimmages, creating 1v1,2v2, etc. situations where you have to use your abilities really carefully (like fearing someone of a capture point to cap it, snare someone on the way to a point, etc.)

There are some modes that could fit into the game, as you mentioned, CTF is one of them. The issue would be that the game is balanced around conquest. I think they are definitely doing the right choice in sticking to one map type.

I also need to add that the secondary objectives offer more possibilities to Conquest than other modes. I could imagine CTF being integrated in an actual conquest map for example.

[Kelesti]

Definitely an interesting read on their views with PvP moving forward (regarding additional types). But the rest of it should be no surprise to anyone.

[Deleted]

About the CTF game type, I think that it would actually be fun to incorporate it as a secondary mechanic. Like, the flag would spawn at a location, and you'd have to bring it to a capture point to score a few points. Maybe they could even allow the flag to be able to spawn in like 3 different locations, to keep it interesting scouting and communication wise.

[Zeek Daniels]

im wondering if it could work where instead of capping the flag it would work differently. First the player has to get the flag from where it spawns and bring it to any of the nodes they control. If they are in control of the node that node then gives 2x or 3x the amount of points it would usually give. So players of the opposing team would have to kill that player or make them lose control of that node.

Now i havent thought this through and it could create imbalanced gameplay and anet does alot to make sure the maps are balanced. But it seems like a cool idea.

oh and if the player dies the flag will just respawn instead of ppl passing it around.

[Maarius]

I thought about other kinds of ctf too, my personal favourite (not thought about it through though): the flag = a friendly npc which follows you. He uses some defensive skills + dodge in order to avoid death.

probably pretty stupid idea ^^

[Merendel]

I thought about other kinds of ctf too, my personal favourite (not thought about it through though): the flag = a friendly npc which follows you. He uses some defensive skills + dodge in order to avoid death.

probably pretty stupid idea ^^

Kinda like the ghostly hero from GW1 hero's accent? well he was prety stupid as far as surviving and avoiding damage but the idea is the same. Escort the NPC from point A to point B. If enemy team already holds point B with their NPC you must kill their NPC before yours can capture. If NPC dies it respawns back at your teams point A.

Another format I could see would be somewhat reminecent of EOTS from WoW. Standard 3 point conquest rules are still in place. The map special feature is an NPC boss or whatever that holds the flag at some other point. When the boss is defeated the flag drops as a bundle. The flag can just be held for a bonus point every so many seconds, sort of like controlling an extra controll point or you can take it to a controll point to be captured. If you stand on a controll point your team owns for 30-60s while holding the flag it will "Capture" giveing a large influx of points and reseting the flag back to the NPC. The game anounces when someone is atempting to capture and they have a short window in which they can either kill the flag bearer or force him off the controll point to interupt the capture. I would say still alow the flag to be picked back up if droped but if its on the ground for more than 15s or so it resets. Because it is a bundle it prety much forces the team carrying it to fight man down.

[Enkidulgaa]

Why not make it like GvG?
Have 2 flags, one for each team that spawns at that teams Spawn. You need to bring it to the middle of the map and put it on a stand. Every minute the team that controls the stand gets a buff.

[dezzick]

im wondering if it could work where instead of capping the flag it would work differently. First the player has to get the flag from where it spawns and bring it to any of the nodes they control. If they are in control of the node that node then gives 2x or 3x the amount of points it would usually give. So players of the opposing team would have to kill that player or make them lose control of that node.

Now i havent thought this through and it could create imbalanced gameplay and anet does alot to make sure the maps are balanced. But it seems like a cool idea.

oh and if the player dies the flag will just respawn instead of ppl passing it around.

Yeah, there is a game called Forge that is doing something like that, though it's in alpha.

[Deleted]

a Moba map would be cool^^

[Maarius]

a Moba map would be cool^^

They actually tested this (can't find the interview any more). It didn't work out.