Smal Teams: We Can Only Hope..

Arena Net released a Devon Carter article on the future of WvW. Two parts I was particularly interested in are quoted below:

Zergs:

Everyone who plays WvW has encountered the zerg, either as a member or as a victim. The zerg is an important part of the game, but it shouldn’t be the best strategy for victory.

An important distinction should be made between large, organized groups of players making strategic strikes and mindless groups of players running around in a mob. The former are deadly and effective. The latter can be deadly at times but tend to be sorely lacking in strategy. Our goal is to continue to encourage organized large groups while giving small, tactical groups the necessary tools to put a dent into larger mobs of less-skilled players. We think that it can be fun to run around in a zerg — but we also think that the game should be about tactical acumen and skill more than sheer numbers.

In order to achieve that, we will continue to make tweaks to the scoring system to properly reward smart play and to make it possible for a server to prevail over superior numbers with superior tactics. We will also continue to make changes to siege weapons and introduce new siege weaponry to throw the balance in favor of well-organized groups while retaining the joy of jumping right into things for more casual WvW players.

Wouldn't it be nice for our little teams to be effective when we get together? I know we'd do it more often if it were more involved than, "Oh we are out-numbered, run!" I remember being in small skirmish teams with the Ravens, Max and Acaww and it had its moments, but ultimately we either counted opponents or followed a Zerg.

Variety:

One of the things that makes WvW great is the variety of things you experience when you play. Every session has a different story and while your team’ls ultimate objective is the same, the goals of single play sessions can vary greatly. That being said, there is much that can be done to make WvW a much more diverse experience. This starts with the matchups. We are making many changes to not only the way we create the matchups, but to the way we score those matchups.

Right now our game rewards you for holding an objective, not necessarily for taking it, and overwhelmingly favors the last server to log out for the day. We have some ideas in the pipeline to try to increase scoring when people are playing the game and to make it much more difficult to keep your territory without actively guarding it.

We’ve also been tossing around some ideas to introduce variety into the matches on a weekly basis. Just imagine the possibility of rule changes that come in for a week and then disappear into the Mists. We’ll go into more detail about this in the future, but we think it will be a big boost to players who want to see some more variety.

Wait,... you mean if I decide to enter WvW on a given week, I might be on a little less un-equal footing because the rules are as new to the 20-year veterans who have permanent addresses in the Mists as they are to me? You mean its possible that the fact that they have devoted their lives to becoming level 1000 with an arrow cart might not reduce me to an instant pin-cushion? Could it be?

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I sincerely hope the proposed work lowers the barriers-to-entry for occasional players. It would be nice to be able to play the entire game again. I don't think "Victim" was one of the roles Arena-net meant to see develop in WvW.

Yes, some of my response sound could be read as whining. For those who perceived whining, step back and take a moment to consider the underlying point being made: there is a definite reward system built into WvW which grants strong advantages to players who devote significant portions of their activity to WvW. Two advantages go beyond simple familiarity with the maps, versatile opponents, and siege equipment - these differences are what make WvW different from PvE and therefore worth playing apart from the PvE game.

The first advantage is the ever expanding list of weapons and facilities that only exist in WvW. Playing there regularly keeps players well versed in these and creates/becomes a barrier-to-entry for anyone who might occasionally play there as I used to (when the features in WvW were finite and could be learned once and returned to later without finding yourself a n00blet all over again).

The second advantage is skill-levels with weapons that only exist in WvW. Those who devote more time in WvW have a significant advantage over those who play occasionally by virtue of time spent in the Mists, period. The first advantage could conceivably be overcome with a devoted effort by someone who does not mind paying fines (in terms of armor repairs) for the crime of taking the time to get back up to speed. This second advantage makes the barrier-to-entry insurmountable; for every day the occasional player spends acquiring those precious WvW skill-levels, the devoted spend yet another day developing theirs - occasional players never recover the ground once they lose it.

If I mis-understand the situation, don't flame-spray me. Take a little time to craft explanations addressing my mis-understandings as I have taken the time to craft my description of them. If there is an effective method of offsetting the imbalance I described above, I'm sure Im not the onlyone who would love to hear about it.

ARENA-NET: if you happen to take a moment to browse our boards, consider this. An easy-to-accomplish change that could occur weekly and would change the dynamics of play each week is the minor-race residents of the Mist-war maps. Just a thought!