Suggestion: Private PVP - Expanding scrimmaging.

This is something I've been wondering about since the start of factions, it seems like such an obvious thing to implement, part of me wonders why it's not already there. I'm going to try and lay out my suggestion in a constructive way and I ask that you post on it in a constructive manner.

What's prompted me to finally post this suggestion is a poll I posted here:
http://guildwars.incgamers.com/forum...d.php?t=457499

Which details why players choose not to PVP. The overwhelming response was the "elitist attitudes" of the community, i.e. - they want to play with and AGAINST their friends. Right now they're able to do this through scrimmaging, but scrimmages are severely limited in what they're able to do, currently PVP in Guild Wars is a "you against the world" scenario, the problem with this being a lot of players don't want to deal with the world, they simply want to play with their friends, not only that but the less skilled players among us have trouble finding players to play against at their skill level.

So what I'm suggesting is expanding the scrimmaging options available to players, as well as removing some of the barriers that get in the way of fun, less competative play.



Guest Invites

First of all, having to pay 100g to invite players to your hall in order for them to scrimmage you is a pretty large barrier, and a needless one I think, I understand the need for the 100g restriction on players you wish to guest with your guild in regular ladder/AT based GVG. However this charge should be separate from simply inviting someone to your Guild Hall to scrimmage. I suggest the addition of a free "Invite Visitor" function, this would enable a person to visit your hall and/or scrimmage you, but restrict them from entering ladder or automated tournament GVG with your guild.

These visitor invites should also be permanent until removed manually.

This also turns your Guild Hall into more of a social hub for your friends, a place people can find you, it gives the Guild Hall more of a purpose.



Lack of Game Types

Right so once we have players in our hall, what can we do? Well we can GVG... on one map. First of all GVG as a gametype pretty much requires 8 players on each team to be worth playing. Second, that one map is going to get dull very very fast if you don't enjoy playing "public" PVP.

GVG as a gametype doesn't really support casual play, and yet it's the only gametype available for casual scrimmaging.

When setting up a scrimmage, you should first be able to choose a game type, including GVG, Relic running, Arena matches, Kill count and so on. After selecting a game type you should be able to choose a map for that game type. All these maps would exist in the game already for minimal required work, i.e. relic run maps from HA, arena maps from Random Arenas.




Lack of Custom Rules

Lots of players enjoy playing by their own rules, that's why modding and servers running their own rules in popular FPS pvp games often thrive beyond those running standard rules.

Lots of players have mixed feelings regarding certain skill sets, certain game mechanics, certain methods of play. Allowing players to filter these out in a private setting is a good thing, whilst preserving the integrity of a set style of play in public.

Players have been begging for 1v1 for example, since the start of Guild Wars. Whilst this style of play can't be competative for balance reasons, there's no reason to disallow those players who'd enjoy playing it to do so.



We could alter the number of players in these gametypes, 6v6 Arena anyone? Don't have the players? np, set it to 3v3!

Flexability, as long as it stays inside your Guild Hall, is a GOOD thing.



Benefits

Apart from just creating a whole new casual game for those of us who are fed up with the drama of the guild ladder, and those players who just want to play amongst friends. You open up the possibility of external tournaments being hosted, possibly with prize money.

You also give new players a method of learning to play PVP, something that is sorely lacking in the current game. Being able to play against players strictly of the same level - or better players that rather than roll you, will teach you, is the best practice there is.






Here's hoping my suggestion is considered, I'd like to hear constructive thoughts on the subject, frankly even if they just added the choice of arena maps without all the settings and extras, there'd be a new - very fun - method to play Guild Wars in a casual way.

Cheers.

not a bad job on the photoshop of the screenies theyre pretty believable. also a very good idea just to have random scrims without having to fork over gold constantly which is a pain. on top of which ide like to add a couple things in before a mod throws this thing into sardelac to be blissfully forgotten.

i would like to see an arranged party vs party scrim in one of two different areas and i will include examples (but not pictures...i fail at photoshop)

say you have your party of 4 or 6 or 8 or however many and your in LA and another party of 4 or 6 or whatever decides they would like to challenge you. well why the hell not? add a button for the party leader to enter a party vs party scrim in the town your in (kind of like the sunspears in kryta quest or cantha), if this is not possible then have each town dedicated to a nearby instance where you can just duke it out on the fields without having to worry about baddies. dont let any map exploration count since it would be an extremely easy way to just farm those titles otherwise.

this idea is somewhat based off of WoW with the duels in any area at any time that you wish but since GW is all instance based im sure that would be less than impossible. now i know what most people here are thinking "hero vs hero battles are technically 1 on 1" while true in the sense thats its 1v1 with sentient beings its not 1v1 since its 1v1+6 henchies to support you and your enemy. not exactly asking for rank or even really faction out of this since that would just be another way to farm stuff for your e-peen.

random thought: host it somewhat like the challenge missions where you enter with your party and match up against someone with an equal party. custom rules are a good idea to set up ahead of time in the party load screen.

but alas a-net no longer has love for pvp =( so im not getting any hopes up

It's a nice idea but expanding guild halls to the world is not such a great idea.
Many PVP guilds actually use their guild halls, believe it or not, for HA, GvG, TA, and even AB. Guild halls were mostly designed for privacy and by including too many people in your guild hall might be a disturbance to not only you and your guild leader but the whole organization of guild events. I'm sure there's a way to get around it though but I'm just pinpointing the fact that guild hall privacy is very essential.

./signed, but is it too unreasonable to have hope for this to be implemented soon?

Have an option for officers to "close" the guild hall to visitors. Done.

What a great idea. You really thought this out and I am very impressed with your photoshops- not because they were necessarily "difficult" or anything, but because if Anet implemented it exactly as you pictured it would be fine! Very great idea, it is like an FPS or something... maybe make Great Temple of Balthazar the official meeting place where you can recruit people to join your private games... (of course that would be the community's doing, not Anets). It would be a fun way to let less skilled players still enjoy PvP, let pros take it easy, and most importantly... be FUN! /signed, this is the first idea suggested in Guildwars Guru that I really felt was both GREAT and FEASIBLE in a long while. Good work.

The photoediting was nice

I think it's a good idea to have more options in scrimming (especially the "Make level 20" one). I don't know how inviting others would go, but I know that the options really sound good. Good idea

/signed

Brad_Dick approves of this proposal.

/signed
need to implement. Also, take this out of sardelac so people can actually see it...
This shouldnt be bundled with concept character classes and other retarded crap.

Thanks .

This is genuinely one of the best suggestions and posts on this topic that I've ever seen.

Not only would it cater to experienced pvpers but casual guilds would also get to practice and improve to the point where they look for higher level competition - adding to and strengthening the GvG scene, non-competitive guilds or players would get to spar or mess around with friends with plenty of options to keep things fresh, and guild halls would get to serve as more than a gold sink for the majority of the playerbase.

Sadly, Guild Wars has lacked guild-related features or support for over two years now and considering how important guilds are to a positive experience for players, it's incomprehensible to a frightening degree. If GW1 hasn't already been written-off by the devs (they have to say it hasn't for obvious reasons), I would hope to see something like this during the break between GWEN and GW2.

/signed, best idea I've heard in a long time.

/signed this looks like a blast lol, i would love to do something like this.

I'm liking it would be great fun for me lol
/signed

Wow great work, both on the suggestions and the images. I'm passing this on to the designers in our report, so please keep the discussion going.

Elites On/Off.

The panels lack Elites/on off.

/signed
This idea is very appealing indeed.
It would very much rejuvenate PvP.

Someone's got a good head on their shoulders.

hey you know what would also be cool is if you could add environment effects like the ones in DoA, just for some added spice. or even the ones from dragons lair, i would love to have the environment effect that everyone gets death nova that one is funny as hell.

/signed

this would be beyond cool =D

I always thought some npcless scrims would be fun. Just no titles with it please, mininal faction gain if anything. I think a title or such would ruin it .

See, now THIS would make me consider playing PvP. I like the idea of challenging my friends and seeing how good my armor/weapon/skill bar is against real intelligence.

I love your other suggestions too. New maps are always great, as are more options. I *love* the idea of just being able to set it to 2v2 and so on if you don't have the numbers for a full-on brawl.

because it a good idea

add: send challenge to players or guilds for a scrimmage.

/signed

You could also add a 'sealed play' option, I used to have some sealed scrims with my guild but they take incredibly long to set up and not all of us have UAX so it costs a lot of faction too

Also If some of you don't know what sealed play is, here is a linky

http://www.guildwars.com/competitive/sealedplay/

/signed for alot of the ideas mentioned (OPs, Sealed play, Enviro effects etc. etc.)

/notsigned for visitor, we have guest invites. 100g really isnt alot.

Also a Guild invite might be a nice idea (costs 500g) and then anyone from that guild can enter your the hall for 8 hours.

sophitia 100g is too much when you are a pvper or on a pvp char with no gold..... i say the free invites is great..... if you charge 100g for this arena function it will not be used and it ruins the idea of guild halls becoming social hubs which i really hope happens cause im excited about that, it will make me feel better for buying the hall and all of the upgrades......

I'm signing this again just because its a good idea, but also how about allowing hero battle function so you can practice against people you know? IT shouldn't be that hard to implement imo.

I'm signing this again just because its a good idea, but also how about allowing hero battle function so you can practice against people you know? IT shouldn't be that hard to implement imo.