ArenaNet has been making some pretty significant changes to PvP in Guild Wars 2 over the last couple of months. In our latest article, we take a look at the State of PvP in Guild Wars 2. Read on and then join the conversation in the comments.

On the one hand, ArenaNet has been lauded for its intention to shake up the traditional MMO mold as it relates to quest design and player participation in PvE areas.  Rather than approaching Guild Wars 2 with the tried, true, and tired formula of centralized quest hubs and kill X, fetch Y activities, the Bellevue-based studio opted for a gameplay design based on dynamic content, wherein adventuring and advancement depend more upon tiered locational events than static quest givers.  ArenaNet's game also highly encourages open grouping, doing away with conventional mob tagging, and incentivizing player collaboration.

Read more of Som Pourfarzaneh's Guild Wars 2: The State of PvP.

I was highly looking forward to PvP in GW2 from my GW1 experience.  However, I've been burned and disappointed.  Only a single mode for sPvP.  World v World was plagued with hackers when the orbs were still around, free server transfers continue, siege equipment has been buggy (setting up right behind doors, despawning randomly, etc.), and player culling makes entire armies appear on top of you without you having any chance to react.

As far as balance goes, a dev team that did an amazing job in their first game has gone about it in an abyssmal manner in their sequel.  There's certain classes that see almost 0 play in Tournament PvP because they're outshined in every way by other classes.  A good example of this being the Ranger.  Sticking with Ranger the point is not that they're useless or broken (except for the fact that pets can't hit moving targets), simply that everything they can do another class can do better (ex: conditions Ranger - you're much better off playing Thief if you want to stack conditions). 

Also, Ascended gear.......

This PoV coming from 80Ranger/80Thief/25 everything else...not bothering to play any more.  Played GW1 for over 3 years straight.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
The state of pvp : not as good as planetside 2.

Oh, no! you didn't just compare an FPS with RPG...

This is hilarious.

MMORPG.com article - GW2s PvP is fast, furious and fun

players - it sucks

MMORPG.com once again proves that it is clueless.

Originally posted by Xiaoki

This is hilarious.

MMORPG.com article - GW2s PvP is fast, furious and fun

players - it sucks

MMORPG.com once again proves that it is clueless.

newsflash everone has opinions and are actually entitled to one even if it isnt one shared by you.

As for sPvP, I havnt played a match since beta because I actually feel instanced style Battlegeround style queing PvP is a deterrent to PvP in an MMO.  However as far as WvW is concerned, its been a complete blast, the last 3 matchups for our server has been as close to 3 faction RvR DAoC as a game can ever be.

It is their opinion - your opinion is the other side. Again people stating opinions as actual fact and that get's old.

Originally posted by Thorbrand
Instance PvP is that no matter how to try to make it look. SPvP or WvW is all instance in GW2. Never like instance PvP since WoW implemented it in their game and started that trend for crappy PvP in MMOs. Just keep supporting them and killing the genre that all everyone is doing now!

THen the genre to youo is dead. I think open world PvP is the death of the MMO genre. It takes more than PvP to make a game.

I think they could do good things if they made WvWvW more meaningful. It just doesn't feel like you're really contributing to anything...

Same with sPvP but on a smaller scale.

I'd like to see amble progression (leveling, meaningful achievements, titles, skins, equipment rewards) opportunities via WvWvW as well as tangible server /  game impact from outcomes of WvWvW.

PvE is so bland in GW2 that PvP is their real opportunity to make this game shine. 

Originally posted by Thorbrand
Instance PvP is that no matter how to try to make it look. SPvP or WvW is all instance in GW2. Never like instance PvP since WoW implemented it in their game and started that trend for crappy PvP in MMOs. Just keep supporting them and killing the genre that all everyone is doing now!

Actually wasn't it Daoc that had instance PVP? ...

Originally posted by rmk70

I think they could do good things if they made WvWvW more meaningful. It just doesn't feel like you're really contributing to anything...

 

Same with sPvP but on a smaller scale.

 

I'd like to see amble progression (leveling, meaningful achievements, titles, skins, equipment rewards) opportunities via WvWvW as well as tangible server /  game impact from outcomes of WvWvW.

 

PvE is so bland in GW2 that PvP is their real opportunity to make this game shine. 

I agree. For me, sPvP and WvWvW have been fun...but at the end of the day, they don't carry a sense of progression in any sense. I don't know exactly what I'm looking for, but just a sense that my actions within those forms of PvP will carry something forward would be nice. While WvW aims to do that, I don't think it necessarily feels that way when it's just zerg v. zerg all the time.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Bad dog.
No coh was the first mmo with instanced pvp. Daoc had no instancing whatsoever in either pvp or pve

Zeus:
It's a fair comparison. Planetside 2 is a rvr game. WvW is Arenanets take on rvr.

Fps mechanics aside, planetside dies it better.
1 its bigger both in terms if land mass and players on screen
2 its more strategic
3 there's more rivalry - you know who shot you, you get to see all the rival guilds
4 integrated Voip
5 less p2w, no being forced to grind pve or use the cash shop to pay for your repairs and seige gear
6 you don't spend 4 hours assaulting a base for the server to then turn round an hour later and go "gonna reset you now and pair you with some random unknown dudes on some other random servers"

Not a fiar comparison. A.Net said they will fix some things and also add in GvG which is what GW1 was really known for. There is not P2W in GW2 - sorry that is a non-sense argument.

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Bad dog.
No coh was the first mmo with instanced pvp. Daoc had no instancing whatsoever in either pvp or pve

Zeus:
It's a fair comparison. Planetside 2 is a rvr game. WvW is Arenanets take on rvr.

Fps mechanics aside, planetside dies it better.
1 its bigger both in terms if land mass and players on screen
2 its more strategic
3 there's more rivalry - you know who shot you, you get to see all the rival guilds
4 integrated Voip
5 less p2w, no being forced to grind pve or use the cash shop to pay for your repairs and seige gear
6 you don't spend 4 hours assaulting a base for the server to then turn round an hour later and go "gonna reset you now and pair you with some random unknown dudes on some other random servers"

Spot the guy who never played DAoC.

No instancing in pve? What a joke, the game had plenty of instancing. Task dungeons were all instances and lots of the pve quests had instanced sections to them.

Planetside was strategic, PS2 is a murder-bowl, no more or less strategy than GW2.

PS2 is more P2W than GW2.

Originally posted by Zinzan

Originally posted by ShakyMo
Bad dog.
No coh was the first mmo with instanced pvp. Daoc had no instancing whatsoever in either pvp or pve

Zeus:
It's a fair comparison. Planetside 2 is a rvr game. WvW is Arenanets take on rvr.

Fps mechanics aside, planetside dies it better.
1 its bigger both in terms if land mass and players on screen
2 its more strategic
3 there's more rivalry - you know who shot you, you get to see all the rival guilds
4 integrated Voip
5 less p2w, no being forced to grind pve or use the cash shop to pay for your repairs and seige gear
6 you don't spend 4 hours assaulting a base for the server to then turn round an hour later and go "gonna reset you now and pair you with some random unknown dudes on some other random servers"

Spot the guy who never played DAoC.

No instancing in pve? What a joke, the game had plenty of instancing. Task dungeons were all instances and lots of the pve quests had instanced sections to them.

Planetside was strategic, PS2 is a murder-bowl, no more or less strategy than GW2.

PS2 is more P2W than GW2.

Spot the guy that played DaoC when it was on it's way out. Daoc actually didn't have instances for anything until a few expansions in when many considered DaoC a sinking ship.