Nim was around for a bit after GW started ingame and was answering questions in Global. Nothing was being said on the forums at the time (like literally there were no posts for about an hour after GW started ) itâs also nearly midnight here in Aus now, so Iâm guessing theyâre done for the night.
The issue here is that if the weaker guild wins more battles then they probably WILL win the war. Since it would imply the other guild loses battles, which means they wonât be getting all their Paragon battles done (1 loss locks you out of reaching the Paragon fight), which is a big jump from the previous ranks. This will more than likely tip the balance in the favour of the weaker guild, even if theyâre only sitting around 40% bonuses compared to an 80%.
Getting even one victory on defense can mean a LOT, since it means the attacker wonât get to do the Paragon fight.
In regards to the defense team results, Iâm guessing this is something that is coming, Iâd be very surprised if the devs didnât have something in the works for that already.
The only problem with this is that those gains were made BEFORE the introduction of Guild Statues. NOW guilds are locked in how much progression can be made each week by the Tasks tied to the statues. So, even though EVENTUALLY every guild will have their statues maxed at lvl 200, or 80% bonus, those that are already there have a long time to enjoy an insurmountable advantage.
I both agree and disagree with this choice⌠which believe me has me just as confused as you are right now!
This is the first week, and they needed a way to Flight/Seed the brackets. There wasnât going to be any perfect way to seed them, some guild would feel slighted.
So with your top performance, you may (probably) move up to the 11-20 bracket, and then the 1-10 bracket. Itâs kind of like having to Monday Qualify for a PGA tour event. Sure, your a top guild, but your lifetime trophies werenât high enough to make the top bracket right off.
People asked for brackets. I personally didnât think there should be brackets, but this is what we have.
Totally true, and donât disagree with this. Getting defense wins is huge and can swing the battle in your favour. However, this game is slanted hugely in favour of the person playing, and the AI/defense is usually beatable barring bad luck or some RnG hatred. So my point is that given equal playing ability between 2 guilds (say they both win all battles, or they each have only 5 losses to a Paragon), a guild with higher colour bonuses has an unbeatable advantage. As mentioned above, a lower guild around 50% bonus using 4 and having 4 survive would lose to an 80% guild who uses 3 and has 3 survive. So not only is getting a defense win âaâ way to beat a higher guild, itâs âthe onlyâ way. Iâll crunch more numbers but Iâm pretty sure that if the higher guild takes advantage of the 4-color bonus, they can use a few to the Paragon and still win. Be right backâŚ
One huge issue no one is talking about is that since, as stated above, defensive wins are really the key to beating your opponent, GW isnât actually about playing but rather figuring out how best to get the AI to win.
Thatâs problematic already since thatâs not fun but itâs further complicated by the fact that you canât review how your defensive teams perform other than checking your logs for win/loss defense stats.
As the weeks roll by, GW will be dominated by those who figure out how best to game the AI to grief their opponents.
For a guild with 50% colour bonus, a player winning all 5 battles with 4 colour troops that survive can get 6300 points, for a guild total of 189,000. A guild with an 80% colour bonus would get 8820 points per player for the same feat, and a player just losing to the Paragon would only get 4410 (and thatâs without any losing points, since I donât know what they are). So if the higher guild lost 17 Paragon fights, they would edge out a win with 189,630 points. How is that competitive, or even likely given the AI?
THE ONE thing I hate most about PVP is the one thing that is driving GWs
Defense teams NOT bound by any constraints . We play against completely uncontrolled Defense teams with locked by color offense teams.
This means that you can make a killer Yellow team but a Bone Dragon /Bone Dragon / Sylvanimora fully traited mythic and 1000th+ level hero - you have NO chance.
5 Defense Teams last night - ALL had at least 1 bone dragon+Sylvaninmora
I would never play the yellow team that I have against that combo. It have a very mixed color team that can handle that.
Either lock the Defense teams into color or put us against Opponents Offense team that is of color.
Assuming they distributed the guilds for this first week based on bonuses, maybe a couple, maybe none. But based on the promotion/relegation between brackets that was indicated in the preview threads, there will be some next week, since some bracket 2âs will move to 1 and some 1âs will move to 2. More specifically, if my guild somehow won this week weâd have no chance next week, and if a strong guild loses they could end up in a bracket with some who simply canât compete. So ignoring this weeks initial seedings, the system is designed in a way that it will equalize itself based on those bonuses, and very little that a team does (including finding a Paragon that can win defense over 50% of the time) can compensate for that bonus. No real way to advance and/or win is not very fun, in my opinion.
The differences will likely be smaller as you get into lower brackets and things âclog upâ. But for the top few brackets, the differences are huge. What Iâm describing is based on the actual reported data between the top two brackets. So maybe it isnât an overall Guild Wars problem, itâs only a top bracket problem. And the group which can win the top bracket is set in stone for the next number of months. But if thatâs the case, whatâs the incentive for guilds after they get to the second bracket?
And that is how I feel after 5 battles. This is not going to be fun at all.
It still is just PVP on steriods⌠No constraints for Defense which makes it even worse than PVP because if I want extra points I have to play with color. If I want to win against a multi-colored bd/sylvan team I play with a multicolored powerhouse to destroy and block sylv and take out bd.
I enjoyed my 5 matches but like @Taisiakat mentioned, it is a little frustrating that the playing field isnât a little more level.
I face 2 x Famine teams almost 2:1 versus everything else. I donât even have Famine, so I canât field that same defense in GW. There needs to be a better way to level the playing field and reward actual achievement over being lucky with RNG or just plain having more resources that your opponent.
I think the âmagicâ in GW for me is the fear it instills.
I mentioned this in the MM Discord chat, but will share here as well.
I went 5 for 5, and didnât lose a single troop, BUT
It took me nearly an hour to complete those 5 battles!!
And I loved every heart pounding second of it!
It has been a looooooooooooooong time since, Ive had to think about my moves. Suddenly I was contemplating every match, reading the board, planning cascades, baiting the AI, it was brilliant. GW has brought back the âedgeâ of early game, where a wrong move can spell defeat. That is lightning in a bottle for me.
) itâs also nearly midnight here in Aus now, so Iâm guessing theyâre done for the night.
