ArenaNet's Jonathan Sharp has penned a new developer blog on the official Guild Wars 2 site that details some of the incoming changes to the PvP feature. He outlines both paid and free automated PvP tournaments, custom arenas, and why the team has chosen these features over other changes to PvP.

We hear a lot of the things you’ve asked for.  And the truth is, a lot of the features you want will be added in the future. Just because we don’t do everything you want, exactly when you want it, does not mean we aren’t listening. There’s a ton of stuff we want tell you about – just not yet. The features we’re adding now will go a long way in helping the sPvP community grow, but there’s still more to do. Again, we don’t like talking about features until we’re ready to show them.  We don’t like empty promises, and we know you don’t either. But, at the same time, we do want you to know that other features are coming!  We’re trying to strike that balance in this blog post.

So why are we adding paid tournaments and custom arenas first? Why not other features first?

Read the full post on the Guild Wars 2 site.

Looking forward to the coming changes, looks like a great start to me ;)

Keep up the good work ANet.

sPVP is the worst part of the game imo .. this doesn't look to change it all that much.

I was bored with this game after level 40 .. killing all the exact same mobs in different zones and zerging down dynamic events that dont really change the world in any meaningful way .. all while pretending the yellow bars aren't a quest grind got boring way too fast. even Orr is just boring. run to the orange thing, cast aoe, run to the next orange thing on the map, cast more aoe .. so boring.

crafting looked awesome at first glance .. except that the discovery system is really just discovering the exact same patterns over and over again with Fangs instead of Tiny Fangs .. who cares? Cooking was fun and probably the only reason I actually made it all the way to 80 .. but even WvW is just boring. 90% of the time I was either banging on doors in an empty keep, or begging for more than 5 people to show up to the fully upgraded keep holding the orb, only to watch it get destroyed .. depending on which week it was.

i already cancelled my sub, so .. w/e .. /srsnod

Yeah I liked this post, though I think spectator mode should have been a priority 1 feature as well.

sPvP as it stands now is fun, but IMO, is missing too many features to get an eSport following yet.  The core is there, I truly believe that the basic PvP gameplay in GW2 is good enough for eSport level competition...but it really needs features that make it easier to setup matches, and spectate/replay for commentators to make videos about.

SC2 had an AWESOME replay/spectate feature, and I think that is by and large what caused so many YouTube videos to be made about it.

Originally posted by xaus
Sounds like a good way for Anet to make some cash.

^ All it really sounds like. Investing in stuff that earns them cash and neglecting features people really want such as leaderboard. If only they realize adding that generates cash by getting more people to play and thus people more likely to spend money on the game. Instead they went with features that they can charge the player for. At least the paid tournament (which you get 0 out of expect loot and some gems which can't be turned back into cash) has spawned fixing up the regular tornament. 

Originally posted by ste2000
Oh God, here they start the WoW patches.............

We hear a lot of the things you’ve asked for.  And the truth is, a lot of the features you want will be added in the future. Just because we don’t do everything you want, exactly when you want it, does not mean we aren’t listening.

Community rules. If there is demand for certain feature Anet will add it. (if they like the idea ofcourse)

And wtf is a WOW patch?

Originally posted by xaus
Sounds like a good way for Anet to make some cash.

I'm all for these little "cash oppurtunities" if it leads to longevity and more content down the road.

I just hope other people think the same and support some of it with $$, e.g. personally I had no quibble on spending $20 real cash on Gems in order to maintain the lifeline of this game and get some chest keys and bag space.

The first two things are already in game.

The "arenas" are are exactly like WoW wargames. Nobody did wargames. 

http://www.wowpedia.org/War_Game wargames

"Using the War Games feature, groups of players can challenge one another to player versus player combat that affects neither ratings nor currency but is intended solely for fun, practice, or recruitment." 

they replaced skirmishes with wargames. people are still pissed 2 years later.

http://hydramist.tv/arena/bring-back-skirmishes-in-mists-of-pandaria/

There they go trying to "redefine" things...

I don't know where they are mining their data from but sPvP is the portion of the game I have the least desire to participate in anymore. I tried to enjoy the arena but with the terrible auto-balancing (I heard they applied a fix to it) and the huge grind (I think I only hit tier 7 of 10 with the achievement bar), I simply decided to move on. Crazy how I'm sitting on half a dozen or so tournament tickets and have no desire to use them as I know I'll just be steamrolled without a proper team.

Just goes to show you that not every feature is for every player.