I hope your question gets answered. I'd be very interested to hear their responses! An honest answer here would be good communication to the WvW community :)
We can benefit from quicker iterations. As I mentioned in a different post, we are investing a lot of engineering resources to make the system easier for the team to try different ideas in the future.
Any plans for simple 1v1, 2v2 pvp queues where you just fight other players with no pve, point capturing stuff?
It's something we've discussed, but there are currently no plans for 1v1 or 2v2 PvP gamemodes at the moment.
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It is definitely our intent to build new maps for PvP for both Conquest and Stronghold. Before we dig into that, we are taking a pass on making some improvements to our existing maps. We've had some feedback from some of our top players on how some existing maps could be adjusted to be more competitive. Expect to see some adjustments along those lines first.
Which teams are in charge of class balance and how does internal testing for skills work?
What do you primarily look for when discussing changes to certain classes?
If you don't balance around Pro League or top level PvP, what do you use as a benchmark for balance?
Are there any plans to split skills between PvE and PvP?
We do have a team that works on skills. We focus on maintenance and balance of current skills, in addition to the implementation of new player skills down the road (I.E. H.O.T. Elite specializations). Internal testing is a mix of Dev/Q.A./tester Hands-on interaction, and some automation. When discussing changes for classes, we look to a variety of areas to determine what should happen. We use metrics from many areas of the game, feedback from a plethora of sources (yourselves included), along with our own spreadsheet comparisons and experiences. In addition, we have meetings with each feature team to discuss the issues in that we then investigate and come up with solutions for. We balance from many different perspectives, top tier pvp is included as well as Raids, Fractals, WvW roaming/group play, casual open world, huge map-wide encounters and a few more that I'm not thinking of at this moment. As for skill splitting, I'd suggest checking out Isaiah's answer in this thread.
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Read moreThe story in HOT left a lot of threads hanging. Can we expect these to be picked back up in the next LW season? Are there plans for expanding the amount of lore shared with players a la LW S2 optional conversations, inter-actable objects etc? I missed this in the HOT story. (Also farewell Colin, and good luck!)
Our LW season definitely picks up where HoT left off. You will certainly hear more about Rata Novus, the egg, etc. And yes, we always look for ways to put in bonus and optional story for the folks who really want it. We had a good deal of this in HoT, but it was probably in slightly different forms than we had previously. We're always trying new ways to get this info to the folks who love our story!
Any plans to have easy mode version of the raid? I'm a casual player, I can't find raid groups.
the raids team is working on solutions for finding raid groups
Leah Hoyer! If you're here:
How does one break into the industry of writing and narrative design for video games or, specifically, Guild Wars? I know you come from a background with other mediums, but I suppose the question still stands. I have a ton of experience in world-building and dialogue construction and all that jazz, but I get the feeling that the industry looks more for experience in live development than for talent in writing or dedication to a particular world/game. Would you say that's true? What led you to ArenaNet, is narrative for video games competitive, and what helps one to stand out?
Storytelling experience in any medium is going to be useful. The fundamentals of character and world building, conflict, structure, good dialog, etc all apply. But the awesome challenge of game narrative is the way that you take into account the player role. Making choices feel meaningful is hard.
A great tool that I would recommend to build an interactive narrative protfolio is Twine. It is mostly text based, which certainly isn't the ideal way to tell story in a game. But it really helps creators think about choice and the role of the player. We have a large group ANetters, both Narrative and folks from other disciplines, who are getting together next week to do a Twine Jam.
Play aorund with it. It is free and easy to pick up. If I'm looking at candidates for a position and they don't have professional game experience, I love seeing a Twine or two among their writing samples.
And also, a team-focused attitude is critical. Everyone who works on the game he...
Read moreSo no planned changes for S2?
It's very weird to have a double negative on losses - as your MMR drops your expected team is going to be worse - your chances of winning become lower - etc.
The only real way to go about that is waiting it out for people to pass by the league and hope worse players enter/stay... but that doesn't seem like a healthy state.
The way that matchmaking is set up for Ranked with PvP Leagues, you're definitely either losing or not gaining pips, but your MMR is actually not adjusting enough to bring you down to get matched with "even worse players." The matches in which you lose against opponents that are much higher rated than you do not adjust your MMR significantly. We're aware that there are frustrations with the initial starting period for Season 2 and we are currently planning to improve overall match quality for Season 3, particularly during the start of the season.
or just any info when you are going to start talking about it >,< Still wonder if any wvw questions will be answered in this AMA.
WvW has been a very complicated system. We are changing some of the core architectural components. It will allow us to implement some of the changes Tyler outlined, and also provide us a foundation for more flexibility moving forward.
I play the game daily.
Me too :)
What is the hardest part of developing the soundtrack for Guild Wars 2?
I'm gonna let Maclaine answer this one.
4D sense it spans time and space
The old table was in the shape of a Quaggan, but someone threw it out the window.
Uhhh. This wont end well. This comment will soon reach the maximum of characters and then no more links will get added. I'll try to fix this asap.
Some people just want to watch the bots burn. Mostly Chris Cleary.
Thank you for your answer!
I wasn't expecting any spoiler of course, but I recently started playing the original Guild Wars again and I was fascinated by the amount of mysteries and unexplored plots that are still out there. In fact I believe there is a little bit of beauty on some of them never being touched again and remaining a mystery, but I'm reeeaaallly craving for answers on some hahaha
Again, thanks for your answer :')
You are most welcome!
It's sad to see Collin go, but I'm sure Mike will do awesome as his replacement.
Few questions:
General: What's the atmosphere at the offices now that the expansion has shaped up and the holidays have passed?
WvW: How much input are you taking from players across all tiers and playstyles (ppt/gvg/roaming/etc) of WvW? A worry for people who enjoy mid/bottom tiers is that their input and desire might not be considered with the changes coming.
Living Story/PvE: I really enjoyed the quality of content and story that was brought along with LS2, but I kind of missed some of the epicness of the events of LS1. So, are there any plans to cross over both styles? Majority LS2 repeatable content, but also a few larger events that only last for a month or two (rather than 2 weeks) and can ben enjoyed by large groups? Also, start closing some plotlines before opening more! I love the stories in this game.
Thanks for the nice words about the story. As we continue, we absolutely have these as some of our broad story goals: -- Bring exciting content with every release -- Integrate story with gameplay to make a great overall experience...both in instances and open world -- Tie up important story threads as we can while advancing our story
I'm not quite sure why, but I kind of expected Colin leaving soon. It's sad to see him go. Best of luck to him.
Anyway, this AMA is a great idea and I have a couple of questions:
- General: What are the main issues implementing a template system?
- PvP Leagues: Why are pips and MMR updated separately instead of using a player's MMR to determine league position?
- PvE/WvW: Do you think that the current gear system (stats on items, fixed upgrades) is limiting players too much?
I can answer question #2. We use MMR for minor matchmaking considerations (like finding similarly skilled teammates), but it doesn't really work as a determiner of which division you technically belong in for our specific league system. There is a lot of things involved in the League progress system, but sufficed to say, we've explored the idea of using MMR as the sole means of determining player positions and we identified enough pitfalls that we decided to opt for a different system instead.
Roy on creatures? I want Revenant developer back, tho!
Yup, a bit after the launch of HoT I transitioned teams to be team lead on creatures, working on expansion 2. You are in good hands with /u/Anet_KarlMcLain and the rest of the skills and balance team. I'm still involved with that team though and provide lots of advice and feedback, ;)
Why wasn't the Hall of Heroes (HoH/Tomb of Primeval Kings) ever implemented into GW2? And will it be in the future?
With love, -Kamikaze Tactics [GANK]
(Edit: Why am I getting downvoted for asking a serious question on PvP?) Paging: /u/GaileGray
Halls and Tombs were a huge part of GW1. While we loved those modes in GW1 we wanted to try something different for GW2. In GW2 we have Unranked Arenas as a fun place for all players to enjoy PvP. Ranked Arena for seasons of high competition. The Pro Leagues for the top players to compete for prizes and our in-game progression path for the Pro Leagues, the Guild Challenger League. In addition, there are Custom Arenas for scrimmages, casual play and practice. Guild Wars 2 PvP takes a new and different approach to PvP and overall is much more successful for it.
We've lost a big smile today :/ I wish you the best, Maestro :')
And for the Lore/Narrative team, will we ever explore the nature of magic and Tyria itself beyond elder dragons? The Mists, Lord Odran, The Antikythera, The Six Gods, The Hall of Heroes and the rift, The Spirits of the Wild... There are lots of mysteries out there yet to be explored, and we are aproaching them rather slowly :/
I won't give away any spoilers on future content. What I can say is that the team loves weaving long established lore into our new story, and we're excited about a lot of ways that we will be doing that in upcoming releases. And yes, magic in Tyria is broader than dragons.
Why's Colin leaving?
I answered this in another spot for Malchior as well. Just want to reinforce this is an opportunity for me to get closer to my home, family and try something new. After eleven years now at ArenaNet, I have nothing but love for this team, game and community - I'll be rooting for all of you.
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