Guild Wars World Championships 3: A Movement

Hello!

I rarely post on these forums, and I think that said my experience with what I'm about say will be unexpected. Please read me through with impartiality, because I think that this could really change your gaming experience.

A Preface: Guild vs Guild Combat-The Ultimate Experience
Guild Wars offers thrilling expeditions through dungeons, monsters, and bosses; over snow, sand, clay, water, it allows for all types of unimanigably well produced gameplay and graphics. What really sets Guild Wars apart from other MMORPGs(and therefore gaming platforms) is the incorporation of a truly amazing Player versus Player element that, bar future games modeled to duplicate GW, has no equal. Guild versus Guild combat, which I will refer to as GvG, exemplifies the precision, thought, and cohesion that the PvP of GW supports. With the underlying assumption that most people understand the general objectives of GvG I will continue (please feel free to ask by e-mail, or PM my in game if you have questions relating to basic mechanics of GvG, I will leave my information at the conclusion of this post).

The Problem: The Divide of PvE and PvP
This game has evolved an incredible amount in the 1.5 years that I have played it. As such, with new campaigns, new elements of GvG evolved into playing styles, and playing styles into metas. I think it is unfortunate that the majority(I consider the PvE player base to be much greater then that of the dedicated PvP player base) portion of the game base has been slowly moving away from one another. With the release of Nightfall we saw the incorporation of new massive damage skills that seemed catered to a playing style not supporting the previous Guild Wars style's of finesse and quick-intelligent decisions. That is not to say that it hasn't benefited the PvE greatly, I'm not here to refute the gameplay. I'm here to talk about the split in the game, and an opportunity to revive something that is dying. Ever since the Celestial Tournament, the last GvG tournament where you saw some of the original great guilds like Idiot Savants [iQ], Mostly Harmless[MH], Team Quitter[QQ], Esoteric Warriors [EW] (with many great others I'm forgetting to mention here) the GvG community has been grinding itself slowly down. Monthly tournaments were to be the shot in the arm that Guild Wars needed, to keep people interested and competitive; but slow execution, and poor incentives to play did little to nothing to slow the death of the highest level of competitive gaming. Recently, however, the GvG community has seen the return of many players who, like others, agree that GW really is something special. Unfortunately this has done nothing but exacerbate the player community divide, i'll illustrate with a theatrical dialogue from Random Arenas.

Player 1: LOL THAT WARRIOR HAS SEARING FLAMES
Player 2: LOLOL YEAH THATS SO FUNNY HAHAHA, HES SO BAD, OH MAEUN, THEZE PVE NOOBZ, HAHAHAHAHA LOLOLOL, ROFLCOPTER, LAWLERSKATES TO THE LAWLERSTORE, ROFLMAO
Player 3: You have ice spear.
Player 2: (/dance emote)
Player 1: ITS MY BIRTHDAY, IM GOING TO HAWAII, YEAYYYYY

I think that a Guild Wars World Championship was one of the truly amazing tournaments that ArenaNet hosted. What it did for the communities at both levels is astounding, I remember seeing many pve players who found higher level PvP too complicated and confusing saying 'Holy ****, that was really cool'. Watching War Machine's epic manuevering, EvIL's only-works-in-Korea-we-have-ESP-tactics, iQ's VoD surprises, made people aspire to play the game at a higher level, where you could incorporate facets of both lights of the game. It really leveled the elitism that some think surrounds the PvP environment at the higher level, because of how outrageously fun it was to watch and be a part of.

Unfortunately, perhaps because of all the resources it had spent on the endeavor(flying people, prize money, housing), ArenaNet did not market the video clips of the 2nd World Championship incredibly well (or so most of the PvP community agreed see the thread the videos emerged from: here at the QQ forums).

For those of you interested, here is the direct link to the video clips (3-1hour pieces of intense, fun competitive guild wars).

Video of Guild Wars Factions Championship

Now, I have a challenge of my own for you.

With the decline in the PvP base, and the opportunity for new players to rise from everywhere, will you take part in helping rebuild one of the most amazing gaming communities ever? I say you, because we need pressure from all aspects of the gaming coalition to even imagine the possibility of a Guild Wars World Championship 3, with an invigorated player base that could be anybody, not simply the traditional dominating guilds (although the return of old guilds would certainly not be unwelcome!).

Earlier today Agrias of the old Treacherous Empire [Te] one of the participants in the GWFC started a thread here, and sent an inquiry to Gaile Grey, who relays the ArenaNet staff (notably Izzy) to us. I urge you to read the thread, my information, and feel free to ask questions, we're asking for your signature, to help bring back something that many of us already do, and think you too will enjoy.

Feel free to respond here with your signature encouraging us to press for World Championships, questions, or constructive comments. Emphasis on the constructive, as this thread will likely be monitored eventually by ArenaNet.

Thanks for reading,
Matt "White"

IGN: White Heals Only

or, feel free to contact Agrias Reinas


An Update: Over 300 signatures in just one day guys! Thanks for the feedback, it's great to hear some constructive ideas; feel free to ask me questions in game if you're interested in helping us, and talk to your friends about the idea!

/sign

I think a nice skill balance would be in order before the tournament, if it were to happen, but it's probably the best idea I've heard in quite awhile on the subject of GW.

/signed 10000000000 times.

Great write up. /signed

This would be the smart thing for Anet to work towards. So they won't do it.

/signed anyhow

/signed hoping for the best

/signed
The gameplay from previous championship matches has so far gone without equal in terms of quality.

/ s i g n e d .

Signed. Hope Anet considers this.

/signed

although im skeptical that anything will come of this

/signed for sure! I play very little pvp, but I loved watching the Factions WC's in those video clips, and I really do think that we need guilds like that in the game.

/UNSIGNED FOR DRAMATIC EFFECT!!!! MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!1!!111

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4382348/signed4839204323
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/signed so many times

/signed.

I really urge people who aren't familiar with GvG or are interested in GvG to watch the Factions Championship video in the first post. It's really amazing.

Honestly, I'd rather have them focus their full attention on making Guild Wars 2 a balanced PvP experience.

Then we'll have new Championships, truly worthy of their names, without even having to ask for them.

Right now I'm afraid a Championship would simply garner too little attention to invest any substantial amount of time and money into.



Still a good idea, though.

/signed

I didn't watch the videos or anything, I never have but I love PvP so much but I never do PvP

/signed on so many levels.

/sign, absolutely.

S.

/signed

anything that might restore interest in pvp and bolster the amount of pvpers is worth a try.

/signed

It would encourage many of the really good guilds to come back, which will lead to a general increase in skill level and participation in the game.

/SIGNED and also /signed to bring back all the Korean guilds back, from the army, like WM, EvIL, ZPZG etc.

/signed.

The GW player pool has nothing to lose and stands to gain significantly from a potential revival of interest.

/signed

wtb more champ pts.

/signed. Twice even

Wow I didnt even realise they made videos on the championships they're a really good watch.

/signed for sure

/signed


1234

/signed

Absolutely, loved watching the World Championships.

/signed

/signed
/signed
and /doublesigned

Although I loved watching the movie, I think I understand why Anet never used it. It hardly shows any in game action and when it does it almost never shows anything important happening. Also because in many of those matches there wasn't anything important happening. They show 2-3 minutes of a 40 minutes match, without missing anything important. The interviews with the players are nice, but you don't sell games with that. You sell games with exciting gameplay, that movie doesn't show any of that.
About doing another championship... Well, I doubt any new players will start playing the game because of it. Some old players might come back, but those won't give Anet any money. While organizing another championship will cost them a lot. It can't be used to promote the next chapter either this time. So basically there is nothing to win for Anet, except that the very small percentage of pvp-players that actually get involved will be a little happier. Also, one tournament isn't going to save the game or anything. It will delay its dead with a couple of months if we are lucky. Is it worth it to invest tons of money into a dying game to do something that only delays things? I don't think so. If Anet wants to waste money I'm sure the people on this forum can think of better things.
Now if they suddenly found a way to make GW's pvp exciting to play and watch, make random grouping actually possible, make the high end gameplay (gvg itself, not the high level gvg of course, only skill can take you there) actually accessible, then maybe a new tournament would be worth it. Maybe. But I have to say, great post and if it actually has any result, I will be the first to say I was wrong.

/signed
great idea

/signed if it has a RA WC too. Now that would be funny.

/signed

Gogo WC3

/signed

123213

/Signed

1234

Signed it in QQ forums, signing it here too

/signed

/signed.....

Dutch, there has been alot of talk about this, and although perhaps ArenaNet is a bloodsucking company out to take all of our money, they have in the past produced some incredible events, even if they were economically strategic. I think, however, that with better marketing, and maybe you're right, a bit more attention to gameplay excitement, that the game could be marketable on terms with Halo and CS; obviously not even in the same ballpark, but I think there is definitely something to say to many who are anticipating the release of Warhammer, HGL, and Fury if ArenaNet were to take a keen interest in its player base while the game transitioned into GW2.

Lag, I would love to see GW2 be as amazing as prophecies and the competitive era of Guild Wars was, but I think if ArenaNet doesn't try to revive interest in the pvp community now, many will see GW2 as an extension of the current malaise that really didn't surround GW in say November of last year(though many will of course still buy the game), I think therefore if they truly want to be able to market Guild Wars 2 as well as the first, they need to take an interest in the PvP community, that which really sets Guild Wars apart from games like WoW, and perhaps other communities in general. Also, I think that a new competitive atmosphere wouldn't just bring old people back, it might help create an incentive for those who were only by right PvE players to experiment and have fun with the revived Guild Wars interest in PvP. I think the two communities are not mutually exclusive.

woot woot /signed

/signed

(I'm no PvP player but I feel this part of the community totally deserves that, the GWFC videos were absolutely awesome and I want to see more!)