Over at Guild Wars Insider they covered the live Reddit Coverage of Mike Ferguson the WvW designer for ArenaNet! Perfectly done is the best as I can describe. GWI has a great team when it comes to such coverage and getting the news out. Guild Wars 2 players will definitely enjoy this because there were a lot of questions asked and one of them may have been yours.
There are so many to choose from but this one really caught my eye......
" Mercenary Camps In PvP:
There is a quaggan mercenary camp in each borderland map that can play a pretty cirical part of assaulting or defending the keeps in that map as gaining favor with the quaggans lets them build weather control stations that shower the nearest keep with healing rain for your allies or zaps your enemies with bolts of lighting. I assume that’s enough to make people want to fight there
"
That will be epic in my opinion and I cant wait to experience WvW myself.
Please check out GWI and our staff here at Guild Wars 2 Stratics want to thank both GWI and Kefkah for having this great article up for all the GW2 fans and players to see. Also we want to thank Mike Ferguson for taking the time to reach out to the Guild Wars 2 community to explain and answer questions.
Link: http://www.guildwarsinsider.com/live-coverage-wvw-designers-mike-fergusons-reddit-iama/
For the click link impaired:
Live Coverage of WvW designer, Mike Ferguson’s Reddit IAMA
By: Kefkah | Feb 24, 2012 | GW2 News,PvP
Mike Ferguson’s appearance on Reddit this morning. Prepare To Read A
Lot Of Awesome Details.
Good morning everyone! My name is Mike Ferguson and I’m one of the designers at ArenaNet. Thanks for joining me for this AMA about Guild Wars 2′s world versus world gametype.
You might have seen my recent blog posts on WvW: http://www.arena.net/blog/mike-ferguson-on-guild-wars-2-world-vs-worldhttp://www.arena.net/blog/mike-ferguson-takes-your-wvw-questions-here-and-on-reddit
As a quick introduction, I’ve been at ArenaNet for almost 6 years and have worked on many of the Guild Wars expansions. I’ve been concentrating on world versus world for the last year and a half, and now I’m here to answer all your questions on it!
I’m sure most of you know this already, but for those who aren’t aware, we are currently taking signups for our upcoming beta test of Guild Wars 2. We are going to need tens of thousands of people to help us really test WvW, so go signup now and you could have a chance to try out WvW for yourself! https://beta.guildwars2.com/
Also, we have a lot of knowledgeable GW2 fans here in the reddit community, so go check out the subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/GuildWars2
Let’s talk about WvW!
About Squads:
@Myramar Squads are a way for larger groups of people to band together for a common goal. Squads are led by a commander, and that commander has the ability to talk to everyone in their squad in a chat channel that only the commander can talk in. Commanders can also place waypoints on the map that are viewable by all of their squad members. These waypoints tell the squad to do things like’ attack here’, ‘regroup here’, and ‘bring supply here’. Squads are extremely useful in WvW, but they are also useable in PvE and are the perfect thing for taking down our epic world bosses.
About Leaderboards:
@Tirochi If by leaderboard you mean the scoreboard, it is updated every few minutes and it is cumulative for the 2 week battle. Scores reset every two weeks and the scoreboard is visible anywhere in the game. We will have some WvW achievements, but we aren’t quite ready to reveal those yet
About How Soon You Can Start Playing WvW:
@Manwlatsi You can play WvW as soon as you leave the tutorial section. You will gain exp and loot during wvw so you can level up in WvW all the way to 80. The level difference is noticeable as higher level folks have more skills and better gear, but we’ve been working hard ot make ot so even a lower level person can contribute and not get instantly killed by higher level folks.
About Seeing Enemy Names in WvW:
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!
About Dodging:
Dodging is a critical part of GW2 combat. Dodging allows you to avoid almost all skills so being able to notice a big attack coming and rolling out of the way will be a big part of staying alive in the game.
About The Amount of Players In an Area:
We’ve had hundreds of players in the same area already, and even as we speak our programmers are hard at work on making that experience even better!
About Cross Server Chat & Controlled Areas:
No it will not, world versus world is not available on overflow shards. Overflow shards for world versus world don’t really work since world versus world has a number of bonuses that apply to your world, and there is no sense of a larger community in an overflow shard.
About Guild Objective Claims in WvW:
Each guild can only claim one location, and if you’ve seen the map of WvW, you can see that we have a lot of locations you can capture and claim. When you assault a location, we track how many people are participating in that assault and the guild with the largest participation gets a minute after the capture where they are the only guild that can claim that objective.
Five Man Groups and Climbing Walls:
Most siege weapons cannot be moved, with the exception of siege golems.
About Fees:
We haven’t finalized our plans for what that fee will be, if there will be any ‘amnesty’ period for new accounts, or what currency that fee will require, but I can assure you that we are examining and discussing all possible options and as soon as we have a firm plan in place we’ll let you know more!
Rangers’ Pets in WvW:
Yes rangers will be able to find pets to tame in WvW.
Mobs, Bosses and PvE Events in WvW:
There are definitly mobs, and there will be some Bosses and PvE events out in WvW.
More on Large Groups and Server Stress:
Over the past weekend we had many fights where large groups of all three teams were fighting each other and we didnt have any server crashes!
Cloaks? And Guild Emblems on Items:
We dont have cloaks, but you can put a guild emblem on your armor and weapons!
Event System Rewards:
Our event system is being used all over wvw and if you don’t do something that counts towards that event you dont get any rewards for it.
About WvW Colors:
It is decided by which server you choose to play on. You will not always be on the same color. We will however make it clear which color you are.
Small Groups’ Roles in WvW:
A smaller group can fan out and take objective on other maps or in areas that the zerg isnt covering. Zerg are great for facerolling people, but WvW is won by having more objectives, so while the zerg is baning away on one keep, your smaller groups can fan out and take all the resource camps to keep the zerg from having any supply sources.
More on PvE in WvW:
Yes, it is important to remember that WvW is a PvE area where it just so happens that three servers meet and can fight for territory control. This is our open world PvP so the rules must be the same because it is all part of the same game economy. Items and gold can be looted from players so if you die you will have to repair, but you will also be earning currency to offset those repair costs. You will not be looting actual items from enemy inventory, rather getting drops from a loot table like you would from a mob.
Map Total At Launch:
Those (the maps known to the community) are the maps we will launch with, the borderlands will be the same map for all three worlds.
Guild Emblems on Banners – On Objectives:
Yes, you will be able to display your guilds emblem on banners in objectives you hold.
Loot Drops off of Mobs and Players???
The same loot you get from killing mobs. I’ve gotten quite a few rare drops from players in the beta already
When you kill someone you get gold or even sometimes items. There is no PvP armor in WvW, its just armor.
Mercenary Camps In PvP:
There is a quaggan mercenary camp in each borderland map that can play a pretty cirical part of assaulting or defending the keeps in that map as gaining favor with the quaggans lets them build weather control stations that shower the nearest keep with healing rain for your allies or zaps your enemies with bolts of lighting. I assume that’s enough to make people want to fight there
Balancing Seige Weapons:
Balance is always going back and forth. We did bump up Trebuchet hit points after beta based on feedback, but you will absolutely be encouraged to defend your siege weapons.
More on Drops In PvP:
We actually have both! You can get regular loot drops and tokens that can be turned in at level 80 for gear.
XP Rates In WvW & PvE:
Our goal is for the rate of XP, and loot gain to be similar in WvW and PvE. It will never be exactly the same but it should be close enough that you don’t feel disadvantaged by playing one vs the other.
WvW Timeframes:
They are persistent battles that people can join and leave and join again. They cycle every 2 weeks as servers are matched up against new servers. Yes there will be dynamic events. There are events for taking and defending the objectives (keeps, towers, caravans) as well as some PvE events.
Paths and Ways To an Objective:
Every objective has multiple ways in. Some of many different gates, while others have a single gate, but each objective has multiple walls that can also be knocked down to break into them.
Squad Commander Roles and Appointments:
The commander is self appointed. We have an item that people purchase for gold that gives the ability to turn on the Commander function. When you become a commander, anyone not in a squad will see the commander icon over your head and can select you, right click on your portrait and select ‘join squad’. Also, when someone is following a commander, you can right click on their portait to join their squad and follow the same commander. I dont believe there is a limit to who can be in a squad, but that might not be true, I’ll have to check with the programmer who implemented the system.
Progressing Aspects in WvW:
Yes, you can progress any aspects of your character through WvW.
Getting into Maps and Are They Instances?
You have to take an asura gate into the maps. The maps aren’t instances, so unfortunately if they reach capacity you will need to queue up to enter that map.
More on Dodging:
Both. Dodging does make you 100% evade attacks while you are doing it, however because positioning is so important in the game it is crucial to make informed decisions about the direction you dodge as well.
WvW Achievements:
We have WvW achievements. No ranks as of yet, titles are a possibility but we don’t have those in the game yet.
Addressing the issue of Effects on Large Group Combat
Performance:
Our graphics programmers and tech art team are working on that issue right now! We’re well aware of the effect soup that can happen in large fights and it’s something we’re going to do our best to address.
Tracking Systems for Devs and Soon Players:
Ahh ok that makes more sense. We already track a large range of values for things just like that, so we just have to get a system in place to track and display them for users.
AFK Consequences in WvW;
We have idle timeouts so anyone just afking will eventually get booted, i dont know what the length of that timer is though.
Player Capacity on Maps:
I can’t give you an exact figure yet as we are still working on optimizing capacity numbers. We can already support about 300 people in each map as we demonstrated this weekend, now we’ll be working to keep pushing that number higher!
About Ensuring Friends Play on The Same Server:
We will do our best to provide tools that help people find the same server so they can play together, but it’s inevitable that someone will have friends that end up on a different server. We want you to be able to play with those friends as well as the ones you know from your day to day adventures in Tyria, which is why we allow people to visit other servers but to fight in the mists together everyone has to be fighting for the same nworld.
About EU vs. US WvW:
For all the people asking about EU/US servers, I really dont know anything about that. All I know about servers is that there are three of them fighting in each WvW battle
Deathmatching vs. Objectives:
if you’re just deathmatching you aren’t gaining any score for your team. Score is only gained by holding objectives, capturing orbs, and killing dolyaks. So sure, you can deathmatch if you really want to, it just doesn’t help your world’s standing in the battle at all.
No Teleports To Objectives:
you cant instantly teleport to every objective. The only waypoints that exist in the map are at the safe areas and at keeps that have been upgraded to have a waypoint.
About WvW Scoring Systems:
We have a scoring system based loosely on elo that will rank each server based on how well they did in the match. Once the battle ends we look at final scores, adjust each servers ranking accordingly and then rematch servers to place team with similar ranking together.
Player A Killed Player B Announcements:
We’ve talked about it, but it’s not in the game right now.
About Adding Different Textures To The Maps:
yeah it’s almost as much work as building an entirely new map so we just can’t do that unfortunately
Colorblind Issues With Team Colors:
Not right now as we use Red/green for team colors but it’s a topic we discuss regularly because we know there are a lot of red/green colorblind people in our community and we want them to have as much fun as everybody else!
Is Loot Scaled To Level? Confirm or Deny…
Confirm
PvE and WvW Advancement Pace and Boss Gear:
We are aiming for pve and wvw advancement to be paced somewhat similarly. We definitely do not want there to be a place that is more efficient to level in as that obviously would negatively impact the other areas of the game.
I dont believe you will get ‘boss’ gear, as most of that is specific to the boss.
Holiday Events in WvW:
We are working mainly on finishing WvW. Discussions about holiday events haven’t taken place.
Objective Alerts & Warnings:
We will be adding alerts to game that will communicate when an objective your guild owns is under attack. There is no quick travel though, you have to hoof it there and hopefully make it before the enemy breaks through and captures it!
About Those Infamous Keep Doors:
We have already made a number of changes based on our last test, and this was one of the first things we changed!
Crafting in WvW:
We are aiming for WvW to function much like PvE. You will be able to gather and craft.
Different Objectives Have Different Point Values:
Different objective types are worth different amounts of points toward the overall score. It’s setup so Stonemist Castle>Keeps>Towers>Camps
Hidden Entrances Into Keeps?
There are a few sneaky entrances to keeps, but I don’t want to spoil it for everyone! You will need to go out exploring.
Priority of Objective Claims:
it’s based on active participation. If you bring all of your 20 member guild and another 1000 person guild only brings 15 people to the fight, as long as all 20 of your people kill guards or help take the location in some fashion, you will get first priority for the claim.
PvE Gear Drops in WvW?
PvE gear will be dropping in WvW.
What Can and Cannot Be Destroyed in WvW:
It is possible to destroy walls that protect that outpost, or the gates. It is not possible to raze the tower to completely nothing.
Can You Use Enemy Siege Weapons?
You are not able to use enemy siege at any time.
Why WvW Rewards Seemed NonExistant In Press Beta…
Rewards for WvW where not balanced prior to our recent test. This is why rewards seemed slim, to none.
Finding Out Where All The BAttles Are Occuring In WvW:
Pulling up your map will give indications as to where some of the hots spots are.
Chelmo’s Massive List of Questions:
Ok gonna try and hit as many that I personally know about..thought the camelot questions were an entirely different post (boo early morning grogginess!)
Home server is account based.
What Happens If One Server Conquers An Entire Map:
The other two servers need to work together to beat them back.. We saw that very thing happen this weekend when green took the entire map. We were red and we decided that blue was not who we should be fighting. Within hours we has fought back and recaptured a large portion of the map.
Also, since servers get rematched every two weeks, that server will get matched up with other servers when the battle ends.
Some PvE Loot Drop Limits In WvW:
We will have some PvE uniques that wont be obtainable in WvW.
About PvP Balancing:
A LOT of time is spent talking about getting the balance between all our gametpyes to feel just right. We are very aware how a slight imbalance can destroy a community so we’re doing our best to avoid any major imbalances.
Guild Tags in WvW:
Guild tags are still displayed.
PvE Mobs and NPCs in WvW:
There are mercenary camps that you can befriend to have them support your war efforts for a short amount of time. Other then that and the standard WvW objectives PvE mobs are neutral or hostile to everyone.
Commander Function Item Usage Limits:
One time use. You buy the item and use it to enable the ability to become a commander. After that you can select if you want to be a commander at any time!
Underwater WvW Objectives?
There are currently no underwater objectives. This is not to say they wont make their way in later.
How Many People Have Signed Up For Beta?
http://cot.ag/xczZ3o
No Observe Mode For WvW:
No there will be no observe mode for WvW.
300 Players Per Map?
Each map, and we’re doing our best to push that number higher!
Is there anything in place to allow a guild to take control of a large keep from another guild that is from their own server?
Nope, you cannot claim something that another guild has claimed.
How Much Can Lower Level Characters Contribute To WvW:
Lower level players are bumped to 80. While going toe to toe with a level 80 will be difficult, you will still be able to compete.
Commander Fucntion Items Are Character Based. Not Account Based:
It is character based, not account based.
Ranged Advantages Over Melee in WvW:
Ranged will have an advantage if they can keep their distance from you. However it is very easy for the melee to switch to a ranged weapon, or to use one of their abilities to close the gap.
WvW Lag Issues:
it really depends on your hardware. I have a dell xps17 laptop that’s about a month old and I almost never lagged all weekend, but i know a lot of people were having trouble. Optimizing the performance of the game is something our programming team is concentrating on right now!
About Showing Objective Ownership:
We have big banners hanging from the walls and standards all around each objective that can show the color of the team that owns that objective and will also show the guild emblem if it’s claimed.
Screenshot of Beta Signups Total:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenanet/6926243899/in/photostream
About Underwater Door Assaults:
We’re still debating about whether or not we should allow assaulting underwater doors as we don’t have any underwater siege apparatus and bashing doors down with your weapons just isnt very fun, but in the last beta it was totally possible to go underwater, bash down a door and take a secret path into a keep. I actually was part of a raid that did just that this weekend.
The Need For Defending Conquered Objectives:
Defenders are needed in order to have a better chance of pushing attackers back. However, Each objective does have guards, and is able to be upgraded to make it more difficult to assault.
About Quick Changing Weapons:
You can only swap between weapon set A and weapon set B. If you want to use weapon C you will need to replace A or B with it.
Siege Weapon Placement, Underdog Buffs and Queue Info:
Siege weapons can be placed anywhere in the world.
We do have an underdog buff that applies when a team is drastically outnumbered. We’re still playing with what the buff should do, right now it’s a fairly decent magic find boost.
Dont think I understand the queueing question..The only time you would queue for a map is if it’s full, and in that case, we dont have any special advantages for guilds queueing together.
The Importance of Siege Weaponry:
Siege weapons are very important right now, and cater to different types of assaults. My personal favorite is the Trebuchet. Being able to assault an objective from very far distance makes it difficult for the assaulting team to stop us. I think what played a big part was we had a lot of new players, just learning how to play the game. Some don’t realize you can rain fiery death down onto your enemies, without even having to see them.
Restrictions on Competitive PvP?
I don’t believe there are restrictions for comp PVP.
WvW Instances Limits, Total Server Population Limits and What Happens When WvW Map is Full:
Everyone is invulnerable inside their safe area and that’s where the asura gates are located.
WvW Bottlenecking:
Having played my fair share of War, I can say we do have bottle necks in some locations, but they are not stressed. We also do not have mechanics that take you out of the action as the area is to busy. There are multiple ways to assault 1 objective, and the way objectives are balanced it is better tactically to split your forces.
Resource Nodes In WvW:
Resource nodes in wvw will work exactly like they do in PvE. They are instanced per player so you aren’t competing with other players for resources.
Guild Announcements When Owned Objectives Are Under Attack:
We plan to have guild announcements for when a location you own is under attack, they aren’t in the game yet though.
WvW Objective Resets:
At the start of a Wuvly match (see what I did there?) all objectives will be reset to a neutral state.
Balancing Game & Skills:
We balance the game as a whole, but we do have the ability to re-balance certain skills for PvP if they prove to be too strong for that format.
And let me assure you, it doesn’t really take that long to kill someone depending on the circumstances
Max Server Population Totals and How They Affect WvW Queues:
We haven’t determined the max server population numbers yet, but we’ll try to make sure it’s high enough that the world feels populated but low enough so WvW doesnt have a constant queue.
Max Number of PLayers Visible On Screen:
We are still working on optimization, so i’m not able to give an accurate number at all.
Number of Favorite Professions In WvW and Personal Preference:
I’m not sure on the numbers of professions right now.
My build of choice would probably be a dagger dagger Elementalist. I love getting right in someones face, and setting them on fire. In the game, just thought i’d say that. In the game.
Can Players Choose WvW Map They Want To Play In?
Players will be able to chose what map they would like to go to, but yes, They will be in their start areas of that map.
The Ability of Trolls To Affect WvW:
It’s actually really hard to do that. One person trolling an event area isn’t going to have that much of an impact. It might make the event slightly harder, but if that person is in the event area, they’re probably not going to be able to just stand there as our events cover big areas and mobs can come in from all directions.
The Importance of Gear in PvP & Odds of Two Players Holding Off a Zerg With One Healing and The Other Killing:
Gear is very important to your effeciency in PvP.
the class description healer and DPS don’t really exist in GW2. Regardless of that though, 2 coordinated players could hold off an army depending on the gear, levels and play style, of the attackers. It would be very difficult though, do to everyone being able to resurrect.
More on Mercenaries:
Yes! you can befriend mercenaries to charge to nearby objectives, and assault, or defend them.
Why They Stopped At Just Adding Invader Tags Instead Of Expanding It By Adding Ranks:
Mostly because of time. We want to ship the game at some point (honestly we do!) and we’ve been focused on getting the core mechanics in and working before working on things like that.
Advantages of Defenders and The Effectiveness of Small Groups:
Defenders do have the advantage, and we have seen situations where a coordinated small group is able to decimate the enemy. These situations are hard to come by though, as it depends on the builds and the coordination of the players defending, as well as the builds and the coordination (or lack there of) of the attackers.
World Bonuses and Number of People in WvW:
We want to get as many people in as we can! We’re targeting somewhere on the order of a few hundred people in each map, but we’re still optimizing and trying to get that number as high as possible.
WvW will give world bonuses to your PvE buddies as well, so while it doesn’t have a direct impact on the world as far as creating new events or such, it can help your PvE friends complete some of the harder events in the world! The extra bonuses to healing and endurance regen (endurance is what limits dodging) can be REALLY helpful when doing one of our world boss events!
WvW and Underwater Areas:
WvW will have areas that you can swim under and fight in.
Participation Tracking and Claiming Objective Time Limit:
Indeed there are. We track each persons participation in the event to capture the keep, and once it’s taken the guild with the largest participation gets a minute to claim it before anyone else can.
Small Team Objectives:
There are objectives that are very easy for a small amount players to assault, I often find smaller groups around these objectives. And die to them.
Is there Jumping?
Yes! Jump away!
About XP Scaling By Level While In WvW:
It is intentional. We scale the rewards that you receive in WvW on the level your character would be in PvE. You can see your current level at all times in WvW, our level adjustment formula may bump you to 80, but you’ll always get gear that’s around your actual level.
Our goal is to try and make leveling speeds be roughly equivalent for wvw and pve.
Closing Comment:
Ok everybody, time to get back to work and make WvW even more awesome. thanks for coming out, it’s been really fun for me and hopefully it’s been just as informative for you. See you on the battlefield
There are so many to choose from but this one really caught my eye......
" Mercenary Camps In PvP:
There is a quaggan mercenary camp in each borderland map that can play a pretty cirical part of assaulting or defending the keeps in that map as gaining favor with the quaggans lets them build weather control stations that shower the nearest keep with healing rain for your allies or zaps your enemies with bolts of lighting. I assume that’s enough to make people want to fight there
That will be epic in my opinion and I cant wait to experience WvW myself.
Please check out GWI and our staff here at Guild Wars 2 Stratics want to thank both GWI and Kefkah for having this great article up for all the GW2 fans and players to see. Also we want to thank Mike Ferguson for taking the time to reach out to the Guild Wars 2 community to explain and answer questions.
Link: http://www.guildwarsinsider.com/live-coverage-wvw-designers-mike-fergusons-reddit-iama/
For the click link impaired:
Live Coverage of WvW designer, Mike Ferguson’s Reddit IAMA
By: Kefkah | Feb 24, 2012 | GW2 News,PvP
Mike Ferguson’s appearance on Reddit this morning. Prepare To Read A
Lot Of Awesome Details.
Good morning everyone! My name is Mike Ferguson and I’m one of the designers at ArenaNet. Thanks for joining me for this AMA about Guild Wars 2′s world versus world gametype.
You might have seen my recent blog posts on WvW: http://www.arena.net/blog/mike-ferguson-on-guild-wars-2-world-vs-worldhttp://www.arena.net/blog/mike-ferguson-takes-your-wvw-questions-here-and-on-reddit
As a quick introduction, I’ve been at ArenaNet for almost 6 years and have worked on many of the Guild Wars expansions. I’ve been concentrating on world versus world for the last year and a half, and now I’m here to answer all your questions on it!
I’m sure most of you know this already, but for those who aren’t aware, we are currently taking signups for our upcoming beta test of Guild Wars 2. We are going to need tens of thousands of people to help us really test WvW, so go signup now and you could have a chance to try out WvW for yourself! https://beta.guildwars2.com/
Also, we have a lot of knowledgeable GW2 fans here in the reddit community, so go check out the subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/GuildWars2
Let’s talk about WvW!
About Squads:
@Myramar Squads are a way for larger groups of people to band together for a common goal. Squads are led by a commander, and that commander has the ability to talk to everyone in their squad in a chat channel that only the commander can talk in. Commanders can also place waypoints on the map that are viewable by all of their squad members. These waypoints tell the squad to do things like’ attack here’, ‘regroup here’, and ‘bring supply here’. Squads are extremely useful in WvW, but they are also useable in PvE and are the perfect thing for taking down our epic world bosses.
About Leaderboards:
@Tirochi If by leaderboard you mean the scoreboard, it is updated every few minutes and it is cumulative for the 2 week battle. Scores reset every two weeks and the scoreboard is visible anywhere in the game. We will have some WvW achievements, but we aren’t quite ready to reveal those yet
About How Soon You Can Start Playing WvW:
@Manwlatsi You can play WvW as soon as you leave the tutorial section. You will gain exp and loot during wvw so you can level up in WvW all the way to 80. The level difference is noticeable as higher level folks have more skills and better gear, but we’ve been working hard ot make ot so even a lower level person can contribute and not get instantly killed by higher level folks.
About Seeing Enemy Names in WvW:
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!
About Dodging:
Dodging is a critical part of GW2 combat. Dodging allows you to avoid almost all skills so being able to notice a big attack coming and rolling out of the way will be a big part of staying alive in the game.
About The Amount of Players In an Area:
We’ve had hundreds of players in the same area already, and even as we speak our programmers are hard at work on making that experience even better!
About Cross Server Chat & Controlled Areas:
- We will not allow cross server chat in game.
- Yes, as long as you are on the same team you can always enter a location your team owns.
No it will not, world versus world is not available on overflow shards. Overflow shards for world versus world don’t really work since world versus world has a number of bonuses that apply to your world, and there is no sense of a larger community in an overflow shard.
About Guild Objective Claims in WvW:
Each guild can only claim one location, and if you’ve seen the map of WvW, you can see that we have a lot of locations you can capture and claim. When you assault a location, we track how many people are participating in that assault and the guild with the largest participation gets a minute after the capture where they are the only guild that can claim that objective.
Five Man Groups and Climbing Walls:
- Absolutely, we are building the objectives to try and give our 5 man groups something to do as well as accommodating larger assault forces.
- Not currently.
- We don’t have the ability to climb walls. We’ve talked about possibly allowing thief the ability to steal something that could let them through the teleporter gates, but we haven’t decided if we actually want to add that yet. It is obviously something that we’d have to be very careful about so we don’t want to just add it and have it break the game.
Most siege weapons cannot be moved, with the exception of siege golems.
About Fees:
We haven’t finalized our plans for what that fee will be, if there will be any ‘amnesty’ period for new accounts, or what currency that fee will require, but I can assure you that we are examining and discussing all possible options and as soon as we have a firm plan in place we’ll let you know more!
Rangers’ Pets in WvW:
Yes rangers will be able to find pets to tame in WvW.
Mobs, Bosses and PvE Events in WvW:
There are definitly mobs, and there will be some Bosses and PvE events out in WvW.
More on Large Groups and Server Stress:
Over the past weekend we had many fights where large groups of all three teams were fighting each other and we didnt have any server crashes!
Cloaks? And Guild Emblems on Items:
We dont have cloaks, but you can put a guild emblem on your armor and weapons!
Event System Rewards:
Our event system is being used all over wvw and if you don’t do something that counts towards that event you dont get any rewards for it.
About WvW Colors:
It is decided by which server you choose to play on. You will not always be on the same color. We will however make it clear which color you are.
Small Groups’ Roles in WvW:
A smaller group can fan out and take objective on other maps or in areas that the zerg isnt covering. Zerg are great for facerolling people, but WvW is won by having more objectives, so while the zerg is baning away on one keep, your smaller groups can fan out and take all the resource camps to keep the zerg from having any supply sources.
More on PvE in WvW:
Yes, it is important to remember that WvW is a PvE area where it just so happens that three servers meet and can fight for territory control. This is our open world PvP so the rules must be the same because it is all part of the same game economy. Items and gold can be looted from players so if you die you will have to repair, but you will also be earning currency to offset those repair costs. You will not be looting actual items from enemy inventory, rather getting drops from a loot table like you would from a mob.
Map Total At Launch:
Those (the maps known to the community) are the maps we will launch with, the borderlands will be the same map for all three worlds.
Guild Emblems on Banners – On Objectives:
Yes, you will be able to display your guilds emblem on banners in objectives you hold.
Loot Drops off of Mobs and Players???
The same loot you get from killing mobs. I’ve gotten quite a few rare drops from players in the beta already
Mercenary Camps In PvP:
There is a quaggan mercenary camp in each borderland map that can play a pretty cirical part of assaulting or defending the keeps in that map as gaining favor with the quaggans lets them build weather control stations that shower the nearest keep with healing rain for your allies or zaps your enemies with bolts of lighting. I assume that’s enough to make people want to fight there
Balancing Seige Weapons:
Balance is always going back and forth. We did bump up Trebuchet hit points after beta based on feedback, but you will absolutely be encouraged to defend your siege weapons.
More on Drops In PvP:
We actually have both! You can get regular loot drops and tokens that can be turned in at level 80 for gear.
XP Rates In WvW & PvE:
Our goal is for the rate of XP, and loot gain to be similar in WvW and PvE. It will never be exactly the same but it should be close enough that you don’t feel disadvantaged by playing one vs the other.
WvW Timeframes:
They are persistent battles that people can join and leave and join again. They cycle every 2 weeks as servers are matched up against new servers. Yes there will be dynamic events. There are events for taking and defending the objectives (keeps, towers, caravans) as well as some PvE events.
Paths and Ways To an Objective:
Every objective has multiple ways in. Some of many different gates, while others have a single gate, but each objective has multiple walls that can also be knocked down to break into them.
Squad Commander Roles and Appointments:
The commander is self appointed. We have an item that people purchase for gold that gives the ability to turn on the Commander function. When you become a commander, anyone not in a squad will see the commander icon over your head and can select you, right click on your portrait and select ‘join squad’. Also, when someone is following a commander, you can right click on their portait to join their squad and follow the same commander. I dont believe there is a limit to who can be in a squad, but that might not be true, I’ll have to check with the programmer who implemented the system.
Progressing Aspects in WvW:
Yes, you can progress any aspects of your character through WvW.
Getting into Maps and Are They Instances?
You have to take an asura gate into the maps. The maps aren’t instances, so unfortunately if they reach capacity you will need to queue up to enter that map.
More on Dodging:
Both. Dodging does make you 100% evade attacks while you are doing it, however because positioning is so important in the game it is crucial to make informed decisions about the direction you dodge as well.
WvW Achievements:
We have WvW achievements. No ranks as of yet, titles are a possibility but we don’t have those in the game yet.
Addressing the issue of Effects on Large Group Combat
Performance:
Our graphics programmers and tech art team are working on that issue right now! We’re well aware of the effect soup that can happen in large fights and it’s something we’re going to do our best to address.
Tracking Systems for Devs and Soon Players:
Ahh ok that makes more sense. We already track a large range of values for things just like that, so we just have to get a system in place to track and display them for users.
AFK Consequences in WvW;
We have idle timeouts so anyone just afking will eventually get booted, i dont know what the length of that timer is though.
Player Capacity on Maps:
I can’t give you an exact figure yet as we are still working on optimizing capacity numbers. We can already support about 300 people in each map as we demonstrated this weekend, now we’ll be working to keep pushing that number higher!
About Ensuring Friends Play on The Same Server:
We will do our best to provide tools that help people find the same server so they can play together, but it’s inevitable that someone will have friends that end up on a different server. We want you to be able to play with those friends as well as the ones you know from your day to day adventures in Tyria, which is why we allow people to visit other servers but to fight in the mists together everyone has to be fighting for the same nworld.
About EU vs. US WvW:
For all the people asking about EU/US servers, I really dont know anything about that. All I know about servers is that there are three of them fighting in each WvW battle
Deathmatching vs. Objectives:
if you’re just deathmatching you aren’t gaining any score for your team. Score is only gained by holding objectives, capturing orbs, and killing dolyaks. So sure, you can deathmatch if you really want to, it just doesn’t help your world’s standing in the battle at all.
No Teleports To Objectives:
you cant instantly teleport to every objective. The only waypoints that exist in the map are at the safe areas and at keeps that have been upgraded to have a waypoint.
About WvW Scoring Systems:
We have a scoring system based loosely on elo that will rank each server based on how well they did in the match. Once the battle ends we look at final scores, adjust each servers ranking accordingly and then rematch servers to place team with similar ranking together.
Player A Killed Player B Announcements:
We’ve talked about it, but it’s not in the game right now.
About Adding Different Textures To The Maps:
yeah it’s almost as much work as building an entirely new map so we just can’t do that unfortunately
Colorblind Issues With Team Colors:
Not right now as we use Red/green for team colors but it’s a topic we discuss regularly because we know there are a lot of red/green colorblind people in our community and we want them to have as much fun as everybody else!
Is Loot Scaled To Level? Confirm or Deny…
Confirm
PvE and WvW Advancement Pace and Boss Gear:
We are aiming for pve and wvw advancement to be paced somewhat similarly. We definitely do not want there to be a place that is more efficient to level in as that obviously would negatively impact the other areas of the game.
I dont believe you will get ‘boss’ gear, as most of that is specific to the boss.
Holiday Events in WvW:
We are working mainly on finishing WvW. Discussions about holiday events haven’t taken place.
Objective Alerts & Warnings:
We will be adding alerts to game that will communicate when an objective your guild owns is under attack. There is no quick travel though, you have to hoof it there and hopefully make it before the enemy breaks through and captures it!
About Those Infamous Keep Doors:
We have already made a number of changes based on our last test, and this was one of the first things we changed!
Crafting in WvW:
We are aiming for WvW to function much like PvE. You will be able to gather and craft.
Different Objectives Have Different Point Values:
Different objective types are worth different amounts of points toward the overall score. It’s setup so Stonemist Castle>Keeps>Towers>Camps
Hidden Entrances Into Keeps?
There are a few sneaky entrances to keeps, but I don’t want to spoil it for everyone! You will need to go out exploring.
Priority of Objective Claims:
it’s based on active participation. If you bring all of your 20 member guild and another 1000 person guild only brings 15 people to the fight, as long as all 20 of your people kill guards or help take the location in some fashion, you will get first priority for the claim.
PvE Gear Drops in WvW?
PvE gear will be dropping in WvW.
What Can and Cannot Be Destroyed in WvW:
It is possible to destroy walls that protect that outpost, or the gates. It is not possible to raze the tower to completely nothing.
Can You Use Enemy Siege Weapons?
You are not able to use enemy siege at any time.
Why WvW Rewards Seemed NonExistant In Press Beta…
Rewards for WvW where not balanced prior to our recent test. This is why rewards seemed slim, to none.
Finding Out Where All The BAttles Are Occuring In WvW:
Pulling up your map will give indications as to where some of the hots spots are.
Chelmo’s Massive List of Questions:
Ok gonna try and hit as many that I personally know about..thought the camelot questions were an entirely different post (boo early morning grogginess!)
- Is there any in game support for voice chat? – not currently
- Can you queue and enter your server’s WvW from an overflow server? I’m not certain as we haven’t finished implementing the wvw part of that system, but I would guess that is going to be possible.
- What kind of name recognition will there be between worlds? Are names reserved across worlds? Don’t know, sorry!
- Does the winning server get additional bonuses at the end of the 2 weeks? Possibly, but we aren’t quite ready to reveal that.
- How long do bonuses last? As long as the battle is going on. When a battle resets, so do your world bonuses.
- Any info on the iOS/Android apps that will related to WvW? Sorry, I dont have any info on that.
- How does vision work on the battle map? Does a player from that server need to be present for vision of a fight occurring or is it universal? You can see the scoreboard from anywhere in the game and the scoreboard has a chart that shows who owns what, but for exact breakdowns you have to be in WvW to look at the map.
- Are there limits to obtaining certain types of equipment you receive from supply? For example could a server slowly stockpile siege golems in a base until they have one for everyone? You have to have the supply to build all those golems, but if you can stockpile that much supply and want to build a rampaging army of golems, go for it! Isaiah has done it a few times in beta already, and while it looks awesome, it’s surprisingly not that effective since golems are super slow.
- Internally, what tactics were more common when testing WvWvW? Well people almost always starts out in a zerg when they first enter the game, and as they gradually learn more they start breaking off and taking side obejctives to choke supply out of keeps and towers. We’ve seen flanking maneuvers, massive assaults with quick building of siege , small squads raiding camps, it’s really been quite amazing seeing what people are coming up with!
Home server is account based.
What Happens If One Server Conquers An Entire Map:
The other two servers need to work together to beat them back.. We saw that very thing happen this weekend when green took the entire map. We were red and we decided that blue was not who we should be fighting. Within hours we has fought back and recaptured a large portion of the map.
Also, since servers get rematched every two weeks, that server will get matched up with other servers when the battle ends.
Some PvE Loot Drop Limits In WvW:
We will have some PvE uniques that wont be obtainable in WvW.
About PvP Balancing:
A LOT of time is spent talking about getting the balance between all our gametpyes to feel just right. We are very aware how a slight imbalance can destroy a community so we’re doing our best to avoid any major imbalances.
Guild Tags in WvW:
Guild tags are still displayed.
PvE Mobs and NPCs in WvW:
There are mercenary camps that you can befriend to have them support your war efforts for a short amount of time. Other then that and the standard WvW objectives PvE mobs are neutral or hostile to everyone.
Commander Function Item Usage Limits:
One time use. You buy the item and use it to enable the ability to become a commander. After that you can select if you want to be a commander at any time!
Underwater WvW Objectives?
There are currently no underwater objectives. This is not to say they wont make their way in later.
How Many People Have Signed Up For Beta?
http://cot.ag/xczZ3o
No Observe Mode For WvW:
No there will be no observe mode for WvW.
300 Players Per Map?
Each map, and we’re doing our best to push that number higher!
Is there anything in place to allow a guild to take control of a large keep from another guild that is from their own server?
Nope, you cannot claim something that another guild has claimed.
How Much Can Lower Level Characters Contribute To WvW:
Lower level players are bumped to 80. While going toe to toe with a level 80 will be difficult, you will still be able to compete.
Commander Fucntion Items Are Character Based. Not Account Based:
It is character based, not account based.
Ranged Advantages Over Melee in WvW:
Ranged will have an advantage if they can keep their distance from you. However it is very easy for the melee to switch to a ranged weapon, or to use one of their abilities to close the gap.
WvW Lag Issues:
it really depends on your hardware. I have a dell xps17 laptop that’s about a month old and I almost never lagged all weekend, but i know a lot of people were having trouble. Optimizing the performance of the game is something our programming team is concentrating on right now!
About Showing Objective Ownership:
We have big banners hanging from the walls and standards all around each objective that can show the color of the team that owns that objective and will also show the guild emblem if it’s claimed.
Screenshot of Beta Signups Total:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arenanet/6926243899/in/photostream
About Underwater Door Assaults:
We’re still debating about whether or not we should allow assaulting underwater doors as we don’t have any underwater siege apparatus and bashing doors down with your weapons just isnt very fun, but in the last beta it was totally possible to go underwater, bash down a door and take a secret path into a keep. I actually was part of a raid that did just that this weekend.
The Need For Defending Conquered Objectives:
Defenders are needed in order to have a better chance of pushing attackers back. However, Each objective does have guards, and is able to be upgraded to make it more difficult to assault.
About Quick Changing Weapons:
You can only swap between weapon set A and weapon set B. If you want to use weapon C you will need to replace A or B with it.
Siege Weapon Placement, Underdog Buffs and Queue Info:
Siege weapons can be placed anywhere in the world.
We do have an underdog buff that applies when a team is drastically outnumbered. We’re still playing with what the buff should do, right now it’s a fairly decent magic find boost.
Dont think I understand the queueing question..The only time you would queue for a map is if it’s full, and in that case, we dont have any special advantages for guilds queueing together.
The Importance of Siege Weaponry:
Siege weapons are very important right now, and cater to different types of assaults. My personal favorite is the Trebuchet. Being able to assault an objective from very far distance makes it difficult for the assaulting team to stop us. I think what played a big part was we had a lot of new players, just learning how to play the game. Some don’t realize you can rain fiery death down onto your enemies, without even having to see them.
Restrictions on Competitive PvP?
I don’t believe there are restrictions for comp PVP.
WvW Instances Limits, Total Server Population Limits and What Happens When WvW Map is Full:
- Each map will be able to hold at least a hundred people from each server and we’re working to push that number even higher.
- We havent decided that yet.
- Yeah you’ll have to queue for that map or select a different one. We have four to choose from so hopefully queues wont be too heinous.
Everyone is invulnerable inside their safe area and that’s where the asura gates are located.
WvW Bottlenecking:
Having played my fair share of War, I can say we do have bottle necks in some locations, but they are not stressed. We also do not have mechanics that take you out of the action as the area is to busy. There are multiple ways to assault 1 objective, and the way objectives are balanced it is better tactically to split your forces.
Resource Nodes In WvW:
Resource nodes in wvw will work exactly like they do in PvE. They are instanced per player so you aren’t competing with other players for resources.
Guild Announcements When Owned Objectives Are Under Attack:
We plan to have guild announcements for when a location you own is under attack, they aren’t in the game yet though.
WvW Objective Resets:
At the start of a Wuvly match (see what I did there?) all objectives will be reset to a neutral state.
Balancing Game & Skills:
We balance the game as a whole, but we do have the ability to re-balance certain skills for PvP if they prove to be too strong for that format.
And let me assure you, it doesn’t really take that long to kill someone depending on the circumstances
Max Server Population Totals and How They Affect WvW Queues:
We haven’t determined the max server population numbers yet, but we’ll try to make sure it’s high enough that the world feels populated but low enough so WvW doesnt have a constant queue.
Max Number of PLayers Visible On Screen:
We are still working on optimization, so i’m not able to give an accurate number at all.
Number of Favorite Professions In WvW and Personal Preference:
I’m not sure on the numbers of professions right now.
My build of choice would probably be a dagger dagger Elementalist. I love getting right in someones face, and setting them on fire. In the game, just thought i’d say that. In the game.
Can Players Choose WvW Map They Want To Play In?
Players will be able to chose what map they would like to go to, but yes, They will be in their start areas of that map.
The Ability of Trolls To Affect WvW:
It’s actually really hard to do that. One person trolling an event area isn’t going to have that much of an impact. It might make the event slightly harder, but if that person is in the event area, they’re probably not going to be able to just stand there as our events cover big areas and mobs can come in from all directions.
The Importance of Gear in PvP & Odds of Two Players Holding Off a Zerg With One Healing and The Other Killing:
Gear is very important to your effeciency in PvP.
the class description healer and DPS don’t really exist in GW2. Regardless of that though, 2 coordinated players could hold off an army depending on the gear, levels and play style, of the attackers. It would be very difficult though, do to everyone being able to resurrect.
More on Mercenaries:
Yes! you can befriend mercenaries to charge to nearby objectives, and assault, or defend them.
Why They Stopped At Just Adding Invader Tags Instead Of Expanding It By Adding Ranks:
Mostly because of time. We want to ship the game at some point (honestly we do!) and we’ve been focused on getting the core mechanics in and working before working on things like that.
Advantages of Defenders and The Effectiveness of Small Groups:
Defenders do have the advantage, and we have seen situations where a coordinated small group is able to decimate the enemy. These situations are hard to come by though, as it depends on the builds and the coordination of the players defending, as well as the builds and the coordination (or lack there of) of the attackers.
World Bonuses and Number of People in WvW:
We want to get as many people in as we can! We’re targeting somewhere on the order of a few hundred people in each map, but we’re still optimizing and trying to get that number as high as possible.
WvW will give world bonuses to your PvE buddies as well, so while it doesn’t have a direct impact on the world as far as creating new events or such, it can help your PvE friends complete some of the harder events in the world! The extra bonuses to healing and endurance regen (endurance is what limits dodging) can be REALLY helpful when doing one of our world boss events!
WvW and Underwater Areas:
WvW will have areas that you can swim under and fight in.
Participation Tracking and Claiming Objective Time Limit:
Indeed there are. We track each persons participation in the event to capture the keep, and once it’s taken the guild with the largest participation gets a minute to claim it before anyone else can.
Small Team Objectives:
There are objectives that are very easy for a small amount players to assault, I often find smaller groups around these objectives. And die to them.
Is there Jumping?
Yes! Jump away!
About XP Scaling By Level While In WvW:
It is intentional. We scale the rewards that you receive in WvW on the level your character would be in PvE. You can see your current level at all times in WvW, our level adjustment formula may bump you to 80, but you’ll always get gear that’s around your actual level.
Our goal is to try and make leveling speeds be roughly equivalent for wvw and pve.
Closing Comment:
Ok everybody, time to get back to work and make WvW even more awesome. thanks for coming out, it’s been really fun for me and hopefully it’s been just as informative for you. See you on the battlefield