As always critics have found their reasons to dislike the latest MMO. In this case, Guild Wars 2 is the aforementioned target of a lot of attention, and the community has leveled both just and unwarranted criticisms at the game. One of my favorite quotes from recent developer interviews is this quote by Colin Johanson:
"Over the years we’ve learned to not be surprised by any of the feedback we get. I’ve learned one person will say a mountain is too tall, another will say it’s too short, and a third will say there should be no mountain at all"One of the largest criticism stems from a niche-focused group that have stated Guild Wars 2 has no open world PvP. Without this inclusion in the game, many supporters of that PvP "genre" have chosen to not even try Guild Wars 2.
I would argue that these critics would be right to say Guild Wars 2 does not have true "open world PvP", however, I would argue ArenaNet has created something better through WvW.
Note: Several articles have attempted to discuss this distinction, but I haven't found one that defines the distinctions and captures why, ultimately, open world PvPers should rejoice at WvW.
First, let me set some of the background, both of personal experience and definition.
ArenaNet did not invent large, multi-realm warfare, the credit would go to Mythic Entertainment's Dark Age of Camelot. However, I think Guild Wars 2 has made a number of innovations to arguably make the past concept outdated, and make their creation contemporary and unique. I would also argue that most people have not played DAoC, and thus for this article, I will largely ignore this game.
I am a world PvPer at heart. And I have been for a long time.
I have always dreamed of quality open world PvP, and the fondest stories from friends are told of the ancient Tauren Mill vs. Southshore battles in another MMO of interest. I have countless personal adventures with close friends of capturing the bridge right outside of Stormwind, and holding off the hordes of alliance that continually threatened to overwhelm us. However, it was fun for us, and I have always hoped for the inclusion of a great open world PvP system in modern MMOs.
Perhaps the greatest achievements of open world, "non-instanced," PvP is the overall tone. There's a sense of true warfare, that is greater than yourself. It's unbalanced, it's messy, and yet it's fun. Every new hill warrants an ever-changing tapestry of surprise. Over that grassy knoll could lie anything, allies in need of aid or armies of enemies just passing through. There's this unnerving feeling that you are never safe, and can occasionally resemble that of a survival game. You are constantly looking over your shoulder while fulfilling other objectives, and every fight that breaks out threatens to overturn against you at any moment. Sometimes reinforcements come and save you, other times there's quite a bit of running and/or dying involved. And of course because of the size and scope of the land, you are continually fighting in new and exciting areas. As a world PvPer you must start to use the terrain around you for an advantage against your enemies. Finally, world PvP has often actually caused a change in the land (at least temporarily) through your effort. In a battleground that ended in 10 minutes, all of your effort was lost. Instead, in world PvP, your hard work can create dramatic effects, and I personally think, that this is one of the most exciting features of the game mode.
There's a feeling within the MMO community, that instanced PvP (your classic battleground) has grown stale. The most recent games have all included instanced PvP, and many have opted for this route instead of including quality open world PvP. Think about it, the only reason we still mention DAoC, is because no game has been able to recreate it's magic, and that game is over a decade old. The reasons aren't hard to understand. In instances, you can ensure an even player numbers. Futhermore, you can restrict player levels to further the effort to balance the game. Even more purposefully, people enter these instances with the knowing intention that they will fight other players.
Essentially, it comes down to this simplified table:
So why didn't ArenaNet include both of them, to make both sides happy?
Well, they could and did add instanced PvP into the game through Conquest mode. And they allowed the competitive fans to flourish with the addition of tournaments and (eventually) spectator mode, attempting to grow in to an e-sport post-launch.
However, why did they not add pure open-world PvP? Well simply, because it did not fit into the game. One of the defining features of Guild Wars 2 is player interaction with other players. In the game world, they want players working together to complete events, not against each other. The addition of open-world PvP would have destroyed the hard work they put into the many systems created to organize and promote teamwork in the community.
So they came up with something different and called it WvW. They essentially created four, extremely large maps and added Pve with the inclusion of events, skill point challenges, jumping puzzles, and crafting nodes. They gave 3 realms (servers) of people a reason to fight through exclusive realm bonuses, rewards, and a ranking system. ArenaNet established a purpose and goals for players to achieve, other than "just kill people", and created systems to counter zerg forces. Even everyone is upscaled to level 80 to be placed on similar (not quite equal) footing and avoid leveling imbalance concerns.
What I'm tyring to say is, that WvW is what the majority of open world PvPer's have been asking for. We have wanted purpose, rewards, and something to promote reasonably intelligent gameplay. If you try to argue the maps are not big enough, than I'm not sure you have played the game. Why would you possibly need something bigger? The fact that this is "instanced" does not mean that these maps are small.
There is only thing that WvW does not have that open world PvP has. And that's the possibility of ganking a person who is completely unaware they are in a PvP zone, and are often quite outmatched. People have the choice of entering WvW with the full intention that they may be forced to fight and/or run from other players. In many other games with open world PvP, that remains a substantial flaw in design. Essentially, you can gank others more often because there are little to no restriction in place. For those of you who opt for open world vs WvW, is that really what you want? A bullying contest of ignorant, underleveled players? I don't know about you, but I want something that is just so much more than that.
WvW essentially has provided the benefits of both genres of PvP and included them in one game type, while simultaneously avoiding the traditional weaknesses of both. Now the size may not be as big, the balance may not be as perfect, and the lasting impact of each match is only two weeks, however I think this is the strongest step in the right direction.
WvW has everything I have ever hoped for, and this is coming from someone who has loved fighting in the open world in MMOs for years. It may not be "true" open world PvP, but I think it might just be better.
Note: Several articles have attempted to discuss this distinction, but I haven't found one that defines the distinctions and captures why, ultimately, open world PvPers should rejoice at WvW.
First, let me set some of the background, both of personal experience and definition.
ArenaNet did not invent large, multi-realm warfare, the credit would go to Mythic Entertainment's Dark Age of Camelot. However, I think Guild Wars 2 has made a number of innovations to arguably make the past concept outdated, and make their creation contemporary and unique. I would also argue that most people have not played DAoC, and thus for this article, I will largely ignore this game.
I am a world PvPer at heart. And I have been for a long time.
I have always dreamed of quality open world PvP, and the fondest stories from friends are told of the ancient Tauren Mill vs. Southshore battles in another MMO of interest. I have countless personal adventures with close friends of capturing the bridge right outside of Stormwind, and holding off the hordes of alliance that continually threatened to overwhelm us. However, it was fun for us, and I have always hoped for the inclusion of a great open world PvP system in modern MMOs.
Perhaps the greatest achievements of open world, "non-instanced," PvP is the overall tone. There's a sense of true warfare, that is greater than yourself. It's unbalanced, it's messy, and yet it's fun. Every new hill warrants an ever-changing tapestry of surprise. Over that grassy knoll could lie anything, allies in need of aid or armies of enemies just passing through. There's this unnerving feeling that you are never safe, and can occasionally resemble that of a survival game. You are constantly looking over your shoulder while fulfilling other objectives, and every fight that breaks out threatens to overturn against you at any moment. Sometimes reinforcements come and save you, other times there's quite a bit of running and/or dying involved. And of course because of the size and scope of the land, you are continually fighting in new and exciting areas. As a world PvPer you must start to use the terrain around you for an advantage against your enemies. Finally, world PvP has often actually caused a change in the land (at least temporarily) through your effort. In a battleground that ended in 10 minutes, all of your effort was lost. Instead, in world PvP, your hard work can create dramatic effects, and I personally think, that this is one of the most exciting features of the game mode.
There's a feeling within the MMO community, that instanced PvP (your classic battleground) has grown stale. The most recent games have all included instanced PvP, and many have opted for this route instead of including quality open world PvP. Think about it, the only reason we still mention DAoC, is because no game has been able to recreate it's magic, and that game is over a decade old. The reasons aren't hard to understand. In instances, you can ensure an even player numbers. Futhermore, you can restrict player levels to further the effort to balance the game. Even more purposefully, people enter these instances with the knowing intention that they will fight other players.
Essentially, it comes down to this simplified table:
World PvP
|
Instanced
|
|
Size and Scale
|
X
|
|
Balance
|
X
|
|
Lasting Impact
|
X
|
|
Restricted Ganking
|
X
|
|
Rewards
|
X
|
So why didn't ArenaNet include both of them, to make both sides happy?
Well, they could and did add instanced PvP into the game through Conquest mode. And they allowed the competitive fans to flourish with the addition of tournaments and (eventually) spectator mode, attempting to grow in to an e-sport post-launch.
However, why did they not add pure open-world PvP? Well simply, because it did not fit into the game. One of the defining features of Guild Wars 2 is player interaction with other players. In the game world, they want players working together to complete events, not against each other. The addition of open-world PvP would have destroyed the hard work they put into the many systems created to organize and promote teamwork in the community.
So they came up with something different and called it WvW. They essentially created four, extremely large maps and added Pve with the inclusion of events, skill point challenges, jumping puzzles, and crafting nodes. They gave 3 realms (servers) of people a reason to fight through exclusive realm bonuses, rewards, and a ranking system. ArenaNet established a purpose and goals for players to achieve, other than "just kill people", and created systems to counter zerg forces. Even everyone is upscaled to level 80 to be placed on similar (not quite equal) footing and avoid leveling imbalance concerns.
What I'm tyring to say is, that WvW is what the majority of open world PvPer's have been asking for. We have wanted purpose, rewards, and something to promote reasonably intelligent gameplay. If you try to argue the maps are not big enough, than I'm not sure you have played the game. Why would you possibly need something bigger? The fact that this is "instanced" does not mean that these maps are small.
There is only thing that WvW does not have that open world PvP has. And that's the possibility of ganking a person who is completely unaware they are in a PvP zone, and are often quite outmatched. People have the choice of entering WvW with the full intention that they may be forced to fight and/or run from other players. In many other games with open world PvP, that remains a substantial flaw in design. Essentially, you can gank others more often because there are little to no restriction in place. For those of you who opt for open world vs WvW, is that really what you want? A bullying contest of ignorant, underleveled players? I don't know about you, but I want something that is just so much more than that.
WvW
|
|
Size and Scale
|
X
|
Balance
|
X
|
Lasting Impact
|
X
|
Restricted Ganking
|
X
|
Rewards
|
X
|
WvW essentially has provided the benefits of both genres of PvP and included them in one game type, while simultaneously avoiding the traditional weaknesses of both. Now the size may not be as big, the balance may not be as perfect, and the lasting impact of each match is only two weeks, however I think this is the strongest step in the right direction.
WvW has everything I have ever hoped for, and this is coming from someone who has loved fighting in the open world in MMOs for years. It may not be "true" open world PvP, but I think it might just be better.
At best, open world PvP leads to fun and far too infrequent "raids" (it always seemed a better term to describe warfare between factions than the PvE content it's used for.) At worst, open world PvP leads to camping, ganking and griefing - all of which ANet explicitly designs systems to avoid, both in the interest of maintaining a healthy community and to supporting players and enhancing the game without being bogged down in griefing complaints. It's a drain on resources with minimal gain.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I'd lack to add to your points that this game doesn't have factions. Factions divide the community and prevent friends playing together due to racial preferences, which also goes against ANet's philosophy. ANet also allow server transfers and visits so people can play together. However, if they had separate PvP and PvE servers, transfers would have to be limited in the interest of fairness to avoid people leveling and gearing up on a PvE server to have an advantage on PvP servers. Downscaling helps but a fully geared 80 will still have a big advantage.
At the end of the day, they have always been selling us one kind of a game. To complain that it's not another kind of game at this stage is like going to a restaurant that's been marketed as a steakhouse and complaining they aren't a buffet.
I don't think it's a matter of one way being better than the other. Maybe someone will hear those complaints and design a game that includes both dynamic content and open world PvP. And that's great. One game can't serve all audiences. One of the biggest mistakes game companies make is when they promise one thing and make another in an attempt to please everyone because not only are the detractors not satisfied but they alienate the fans. It' better to identify a niche and make the best possible game for that niche.
I like PvE and I like PvP, but I don't necessarily like both all the time. I also don't like twiddling my thumbs for the rare Crosslands raid. WvW is like multiple guaranteed raids all the time, but with keeps and siege weapons. They've really given us two games in one, rather than the same game with or without an added PvP component (three if you tack on the pure PvP content.)
I have a friend who played Lineage 2 for a long time because of its open world PvP. He was in a large alliance who organized castle sieges as well as the random battles out in the open world. He doesn't much care for PvE content and is totally weird in that he likes grinding. Go figure with that, lol.
ReplyDeleteWhen the buzz around GW2 started picking up and after the 1st beta weekend I told him to just try it. To trust me that WvW would be what he was looking for to bring back the feeling he had in Lineage 2. Well he played in BWE 2 and loved it. I think anyone who likes open world PvP in terms of the strategy and organization of that type of play will love WvW. If all they want to do is go around "ganking noobs" as some like to call it then they have Aion for that.