Note WvW will be unavailable very soon (likely within an hour of this post) as we perform maintenance to switch from the desert borderlands maps to alpine.
I'll update this as we go.
Edits:
(I'll reply and/or edit to comment on why this happens mid-match instead of Friday. Spoiler: tech limitation.) Reply
External link →The one with water in the middle or without?
The version with the ruins objectives in the middle. And Borderlands Bloodlust.
I asked this further down in the thread but got downvoted by circlejerkers (DAE think Alpine >>>> Desert (I do, but that's not the point)).
What is the reasoning behind doing this mid week and not on reset. It just seems odd that you are interrupting such an already time dependent game mode and making massive changes halfway through a match. If it is a tech issue of switching over the maps that's fine, but some insight would be greatly appreciated about why right now and not on Reset.
Would it not make more sense to allow a match to play out fully on one map and swap to the next on reset night?
Sorry if you're not the correct person to ask or should i ask /u/AnetChrisB?
The WvW maps can only be switched with a significant game update. Dynamically changing which map data, "parchment" for the world map, etc. is used was never a part of the original intent of various areas of code involved (as far as I know / can tell).
It would be very nice to have that ability someday; to change maps with a WvW round's end instead of a build. Implementing that is almost certainly very involved. Until then, changing maps involves a lot of manual work and has to happen in sync with a game update.
Currently that also includes ending the running match (updating Glicko) and beginning a new one.
Thank you for the response, I know this thread is full of people hailing this as a great return for WvW fighting, people truly hate the environmental hazards in the Desert BL, Rocks from nowhere, blinding sand, etc. However it raises issues among the lesser heard minority who want real competition and strategy in their match ups. The ones who aren't arguing Fights > all are usually drowned out I feel.
The ending of the match and beginning of a new one will probably be a big issue later on, when people know that capping won't matter as much they just wont play or nothing will be capped and massive bloodbaths will ensue (which might be a good thing.)
I am hopeful that you will be able to swap the maps at reset instead of on a Tuesday, as it is probably the best solution.
We're much more likely to-- but I'm not promising this-- work on the ability to change maps without ending the week's round early than we are to work on changing maps dynamically at reset without a game build. "Just" maintaining matchup and score is still technically problematic, but much less work.
Keeping matchup and score: a couple of us can fairly easily see what and where would need to change. Likely has a few gotchas we'll have to watch out for.
Changing maps without a game build: lots of work going against some old code and tools.
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