Fort Aspenwood no longer balanced.

The Meth

The Meth

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2007

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by byteme! View Post
The mechanics of FA didn't change. Anet reduced the time by 5 minutes to even out the faction rewards.

In order for Kurzick side to win you needed to hold your gates for the "entire" duration of the match. I'll say it one more time for the reading impaired. Kurzicks need to hold for an ENTIRE MATCH.

In order for Luxons to win they just crash the gates regardless how much time it takes. Luxons if and when they are winning could squeeze in 2-3 quick matches before 1 Kurzick victory is achieved. Do you people not understand this???
How is cutting the time luxons have to win in half not a mechanics change? The fact is before the wins were probably about 50/50 assuming equally skilled teams. Now luxons have far less time to win and the ratio is probably closer to 80/20. 2 half decent monks + a kurzick team that can run amber once or twice a map means you pretty much can't lose. Turtles are just WAY too weak and their ai is WAY too bad for them to break through any decent kurzick team unless the luxons are playing significantly better then the kurzick team.

If Anet wants to keep the playing field relatively balanced between the sides either cut off about 1/4th to 1/3rd of the kurzick NPCs or make the turtle groups much stronger/smarter. The time it takes to win is irrelevant. Of course it has to take luxons less time to win then kurzicks, THATS THE DESIGN OF THE MAP! Letting kurzicks wins faster = luxons aren't going to win at all (in most circumstances)

Red Sonya

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Luminarus View Post
One decent monk can sit inside the green gate and hold out for like 5 minutes by themselves. A crap monk can do it for 3. Due to the unorganisable nature of FA, the luxon teams need more time to actually get their buts into the fort, and to the gate. Each time I played and we actually got through the green gate it was when kurzicks were at 95% of winning... 30 seconds later we lost.

The only time I won in 2.5hrs of playing was against a kurzick team with 1 leaver, 1leecher and no monks.
Look Igmo if you and/or your teammates don't bring enchant removers then it's not the imbalance of the game it's your igmoism for not bringing them. I bring 3 enchant removers every battle on the luxon side and that's why I'm pretty much always on a winning team, provided I have teammates that act like a team and just attack when I call the attack after I've cleared the bonds.

The problem is most people are probably like you they want to bring heavy dps builds and never think of bringing anything to thwart those bonders and thus their dps wiki builds ain't worth the paper they are printed on. Sometimes you have to think outside of the cookie cutter builds and bring something that helps the whole team not just your ego or epeen in the game with your solo dps builds.

Konig Des Todes

Konig Des Todes

Ooo, pretty flower

Join Date: Jan 2008

Citadel of the Decayed

The Archivists' Sanctum [Lore]

N/

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Meth View Post
How do luxons have the advantage at JQ? As far as I know the map is perfectly symmetrical.

JQ also has a few really irritating design choices. The first person to run to the NW quarry instantly spawns tons of NPCs there along with a carrier, giving a huge starting advantage to whomever has the best speed buff which, is a really dumb thing. Along with this quarries/posts instantly convert and spawn npcs when the last npc defending is dead, basically assuring that anyone else there is gonna die. It would be much better if the quarries had to be capped like in AB, the guard posts its not as big of a deal since there isn't heavy fighting over them.
Sorry, I said this before I tried this recently, last time I did JQ was a time when it was slightly active.

Still haven't done FA since the update, but prior, luxons won about 80% of the matches I was in (I was forced to run Amber every single match in order to keep the Luxons off of the three NPCs, it was annoying then). Luxons had the advantage prior, now I would think it's a bit more balanced. Maybe, maybe not. I'll get back when I do a match.

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Meth View Post
How is cutting the time luxons have to win in half not a mechanics change?
I think he meant the idea behind what you do doesn't change.

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Sonya View Post
I bring 3 enchant removers every battle on the luxon side
Over-careful much? 2 should be enough.

byteme!

byteme!

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

On Earth

W/P

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Meth View Post
The fact is before the wins were probably about 50/50 assuming equally skilled teams. Now luxons have far less time to win and the ratio is probably closer to 80/20.
And there lies a problem. I see a conflict of interest in there somewhere but can't quite grasp it.

You claim the win rate was about 50/50 before.
Others have claimed Luxons always lost before.
Meanwhile over on the Kurzick camp you've got QQ'ers saying they never won before either.

So now exactly who is right????? Whether it is balanced now or before is interpreted differently by different people based on their experiences. Alot of this is based on the luck of the draw as well. Some people have all the luck in the world. They get good teams with no leechers and always win. And then you have the no so lucky types who always find a way to lose. The end result is a jaded perception of unfair gameplay based on a percieved design flaw. As far as I am concerned there is no win/win situation here unless Anet mirrored the map so each side had the same map design and same npc's or something of that nature.

Red Sonya

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

I've played so many games of FA my eyes bleed and I can tell you right now before the patch it was Luxons favor 80/20 of the time. I know cause I play both sides and if kurzicks didn't have any monks it was easy to plow those gates down and win hell we won one match in less than a minute or nearly one time it was so easy. The kurzicks always had the hard time before because of that dam TIMER. I always said it gave the luxons too much time when the battles did last a long time. They just got too many dam turtles after we killed a wave or two. Now it's much better and I've played both sides again and it's much more balanced than it was before.

The Meth

The Meth

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2007

R/

Speak for yourself. Before the change as a monk on the kurzick side I won at least 70, maybe 80% of matches (not disputing what I said before though, I also win about the same from luxon side when I play over there). This isn't through any bonder BS that you can just hand wave away with enchant removal, this is normal good monking that keeps your team alive.The turtles can be rendered completely useless unless your team is full of retards. Without turtles its just an 8v8 except the kurzick side has NPC's that actually matter. It was already easy if the kurzicks were half decent before, now its shamefully easy.

byteme!

byteme!

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

On Earth

W/P

Quote:
Originally Posted by The Meth View Post
Speak for yourself.
I suppose you are doing the same and not passing your experience as fact right? I just want to clarify.

Darmikau

Darmikau

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

Pun Goes [Here]

P/W

I've done 3 matches so far, and it's ridiculous. Maybe it's just my team, but out of the three matches so far a single monk on the Kurzick side has been able to keep us from winning.

I just want my extra faction cap

belladonna shylock

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2007

Hey Mallyx [icU]

Me/

Okay, I find luxon side easier than kurzick. to win kurzick you need luck in the form of a monk or two. If you do not luck into a monk or two , the odds of winning are very slim. I'm at aspenwood all the time so I know both sides rather well. If you're on luxon side, to win all you have to do is what's mentioned here...bring enchant removal (and diversion, assuming you're secondary caster)and target ONLY NPC and monks. Everyone else you can ignore. I mention diversion because it'll ruin any gate bonder's day. Everyone else you can ignore. Since the gate guards are anti melee, it's best to go caster or ranged in aspenwood. If you can learn how the npc react and what skills they use you can determine what skills to bring that will kill them off the fastest. Aspenwood is very gimmick once you learn the npcs.

TheGuildWarsPenguin

TheGuildWarsPenguin

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Aug 2005

Los Angeles, California

Picnic Pioneers

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by belladonna shylock View Post
Okay, I find luxon side easier than kurzick. to win kurzick you need luck in the form of a monk or two. If you do not luck into a monk or two , the odds of winning are very slim. I'm at aspenwood all the time so I know both sides rather well. If you're on luxon side, to win all you have to do is what's mentioned here...bring enchant removal (and diversion, assuming you're secondary caster)and target ONLY NPC and monks. Everyone else you can ignore. I mention diversion because it'll ruin any gate bonder's day. Everyone else you can ignore. Since the gate guards are anti melee, it's best to go caster or ranged in aspenwood. If you can learn how the npc react and what skills they use you can determine what skills to bring that will kill them off the fastest. Aspenwood is very gimmick once you learn the npcs.
Trying to use a gate bonder on Kurzick side equals failure. Holy Veil ftw.

Master Ketsu

Master Ketsu

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2006

middle of nowhere

Krazy Guild With Krazy People [KrZy]

R/

On average only 2 people per team are not total PvE scrubs when it comes to fort aspenwood, so who cares ?

Even the average RA player is 10X more skilled then the teammates you end up with in FA.

upier

upier

Grotto Attendant

Join Date: Mar 2006

Done.

[JUNK]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Servant of Kali View Post
Truth is, Luxon NPCs are better. Turtle > Juggernaut, any day. Kurzicks were on average always better prepared, they had players who are up to challenge, and they had players who knew that they need to think and prepare to win. Luxons, I remember back in the old days, always had chaotic approach with "lets just go in with whatever, follow turtles and we win".
They are better if they happen to work.
Get someone to stand inside the outer Fort (above the passage between the inner and outer gate) and have that guy get the attention of the turtle. Then just heal that guy. The turtle will try to bombard the guy, the warriors won't move.
SUCCESS!

Div

Div

I like yumy food!

Join Date: Jan 2006

Where I can eat yumy food

Dead Alley [dR]

Mo/R

Quote:
Originally Posted by Zinger314 View Post
I'll also add that FA is not "no longer balanced"; it was never balanced in the first place. Seriously, it sucked.
Pretty much. It has always given the Luxons an advantage if they knew what they were doing, and weren't giving you teams of 8 endure pain warriors with no damage. And now it seems like with the new update, Kurzicks are bringing more bonders, so combined with the shorter time it feels unbalanced for the Kurzicks now.

Darmikau

Darmikau

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

Pun Goes [Here]

P/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by belladonna shylock View Post
Okay, I find luxon side easier than kurzick. to win kurzick you need luck in the form of a monk or two. If you do not luck into a monk or two , the odds of winning are very slim.
And from what I've observed, even a single monk is an almost guaranteed victory. There needs to be a bigger grey area than that where no monks won't cause you to lose, but a single monk won't give you a freebie.

fenix

fenix

Major-General Awesome

Join Date: Aug 2005

Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger

Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&#

W/

Yeah, as a few have mentioned, is this really an issue? FA was never balanced in the first place. So there's really no point in saying that it's 'no longer balanced'...

Turbobusa

Forge Runner

Join Date: Jan 2006

By the Luxon Scavenger

The Mentalists [THPK]

N/

"Know what they're doing":
Kurzicks kill turtles and 3/4 warriors.
Bond gate keepers, gunther.
1-2 run amber.

It has never been hard for defenders to win. Now it's easier.
It took a bloody long time, accorded, but 5 whole minutes? Come on.

Dr.Jones

Dr.Jones

Banned

Join Date: Jul 2008

i think both the fort and quarry need to be looked at again. i also hear that you can still get lots more faction for kuzick then luxon because Amatz Basin is so easy or so i hear dont quote me on that cuz i am hearing it from some one else.

T. Drake

T. Drake

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Dec 2006

R/Me

imo it comes down how good the players on your team are.

I've played 3 matches in Aspenwood on the Luxon side yesterday and won two of them.

Sometimes you loose round after round on the Kurzick/Luxon side but sometimes you've just have winning streaks.

So it's even hard to tell if Aspenwood favors a certain side. I think everyone should give the change a chance and test it for a week or two and then give an evaluation about it.

I'm sure ArenaNet will fix this if the win:loss ratio makes clear, that the change puts the Luxons in a heavy disadvantage (although I fear that this will take them 6 months or so).

I'm more concerned about the synch teams. You know something goes wrong if the green gate falls after 2 minutes and that they roll everything that tries to stop them (that was before the update).

There is only one point that is certain: Since Factions release the design of Fort Aspenwood is still flawed.

Shadow Kurd

Shadow Kurd

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: May 2006

Netherlands

Scouts of Tyria

P/

Quote:
Originally Posted by the Puppeteer View Post
hmm FA no longer balanced?
well - Before Luxons usually won - now the wins are split evenly.
I'm pretty sure it's balanced now
I use to play on both sides and to me Kurzichs used to win about 7 out of 10 matches. Now its more 9 out of 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by The Meth View Post
Turtles are just WAY too weak and their ai is WAY too bad
I agree. Maybe not weak. But their AI is terrible. I had a match where the turtle would just focus on a obstructed target instead of the ones that mattered or in front of it.

Not to mention that the warriors have to be killed too before they respawn. Which means that you can sometimes play a entire match without the turtle respawning.

GourangaPizza

GourangaPizza

Krytan Explorer

Join Date: Oct 2006

R/W

I'm curious about the average factions gained from FA versus JQ. If JQ proved to yield more factions, I will be moving my arse permanently to there from that gimmicky junk FA is.

HawkofStorms

HawkofStorms

Hall Hero

Join Date: Aug 2005

E/

Quote:
Originally Posted by byteme! View Post
And there lies a problem. I see a conflict of interest in there somewhere but can't quite grasp it.

You claim the win rate was about 50/50 before.
Others have claimed Luxons always lost before.
Meanwhile over on the Kurzick camp you've got QQ'ers saying they never won before either.

So now exactly who is right????? Whether it is balanced now or before is interpreted differently by different people based on their experiences. Alot of this is based on the luck of the draw as well. Some people have all the luck in the world. They get good teams with no leechers and always win. And then you have the no so lucky types who always find a way to lose. The end result is a jaded perception of unfair gameplay based on a percieved design flaw. As far as I am concerned there is no win/win situation here unless Anet mirrored the map so each side had the same map design and same npc's or something of that nature.
There in lies the problem. We don't know. Selective memory and all. We will remember those boneheaded teams that lost a match for us more then we will those ones where we dominated.

I assume, however, that a.net, since they supposedly can moniter every game of FA that has happened EVER, that they know the true ratio of wins to losses.
As such, I'm guessing the reduced time limit wasn't just chosen by a.net randomly, but was actually based on some numbers, and that the luxons did win more often (otherwise it would make no sense to do this, and believe it or not, a.net is not just 'out to get you').


Edit: Guru is also a bad place for figuring this stuff out. We are all, generally speaking, better players then the average GW population. A frequent Guru poster who knows what he is doing who joins a FA team automatically raises their teams chance of winning. It may seem like faction x always wins when you are playing for them, but that is because you are a good player and contribute a lot to the team's success.

Traveller

Traveller

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jul 2005

Finland

League of Extraordinary Explorers [LOST] (my one man guild)

Me/

I've played Aspenwood a lot ever since it was launched and my win/loss ratio is really about 50/50 (played on both sides). Now, with the added faction gain and shorter timer the fact is just that there are more good Kz players around, making it harder for Luxon teams to win. Before, even a bad luxon team could easily win if there were no healers on Kz side or generally just an equally bad Kz team.

I still haven't managed to get a winning team after the update, and I like to think myself as a decent player. But it's really hard with 5-6 healers on Kz side and a Luxon team who likes to run around outside the fort and 1vs1.

The Meth

The Meth

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2007

R/

JQ is just as gimmicky as FA, the difference both sides have the same gimmicks to use. If you want faction spend the weekend vanquishing, getting 25-30k bonus per area.

MagmaRed

MagmaRed

Furnace Stoker

Join Date: Mar 2007

Our Crabs Know True [LOVE]

R/

I played FA as a Monk for the Luxons frequently for a while. Although I didn't win ALL the time, I'd estimate my percent to be about 80% win to 20% loss. When we lost, it was because of 2 things usually. 1) Afkers on my side combined with poor players who were not afk. 2) Good Kurzick teams with teamwork and healing.

I managed to win with people afk, even when the Kurzicks had good players who worked well together. I admit, the Turtles were better than the Juggernauts for that mission, even with the poor AI on them.

Haven't played FA since the update, and am in no rush to do so. Although I played Luxon side, and will continue to do so, I don't see the change to be a problem. It may be too harsh, but a change should have been made. Just seemed to easy for Luxon's to win to me.

Taurucis

Jungle Guide

Join Date: Jul 2006

The edge of reason

I don't play any more.

W/E

Welcome to Monastery Aspenwood. Enjoy your stay.

I know it's imbalanced, but my guild is Kurzick and I'm liking this. :>

Ariena Najea

Ariena Najea

Silence and Motion

Join Date: Jul 2006

Buffalo NY

New Horizon [NH]

For everyone complaining about bonders, try something like this...

[panic][ether phantom][drain delusions][wastrel's worry] with [nature's renewal][primal echoes]

This makes bonder monks cry. If you're maintaing even 2 enchantments, the monk will have -3 energy degen from [[panic] and [[ether phantom], in addition to -4 energy degen from the maintained enchantments under [[nature's renewal] (this results in a net degen of -3). Their [[blessed signet] is worthless, because unless they're maintaining 4 or more enchantments the monk will have a net loss of energy due to [[primal echoes]

Lorden

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Dec 2006

New York, USA

Back To Tombs [t321]

Mo/E

I completely agree that it is imbalanced in my opinion. I tried to do the luxon side 5 times, to win only once to kurz. i have ltos of pvp exp. and each time we lost it was due to not enough time.

N/any Bombers = Turtle Death Dark Aura + Contagion spike on the turtle instantly kills all the warriors and brings the turtle to below half health...

Red Sonya

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by upier View Post
They are better if they happen to work.
Get someone to stand inside the outer Fort (above the passage between the inner and outer gate) and have that guy get the attention of the turtle. Then just heal that guy. The turtle will try to bombard the guy, the warriors won't move.
SUCCESS!
lol I've done that quite a bit lately with my necro as I can use spinal shivers and keep the turtle at bay the whole time. Actually for the Orange side you can go up to the middle ramparts also and keep that turtle from ever moving on unless someone on the luxon side comes over there to pound you. But, yeah having a monk to help heal me makes a big difference. But, even so keeping one turtle at bay while the other one still plows through doesn't win the battle for you.

pin

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Oct 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariena Najea View Post
For everyone complaining about bonders, try something like this...

[panic][ether phantom][drain delusions][wastrel's worry] with [nature's renewal][primal echoes]

This makes bonder monks cry. If you're maintaing even 2 enchantments, the monk will have -3 energy degen from [[panic] and [[ether phantom], in addition to -4 energy degen from the maintained enchantments under [[nature's renewal] (this results in a net degen of -3). Their [[blessed signet] is worthless, because unless they're maintaining 4 or more enchantments the monk will have a net loss of energy due to [[primal echoes]
The NR spirit also makes your teammates cry. When mesmers and necs try and cast hexes they can easily be interrupted and so become useless. Monks who cast prots on your teammates and npcs will be just as effected as the monks on the other team. You are better off bringing enchantment stripping.

The Meth

The Meth

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jan 2007

R/

Well, so far I can say that every time I have won with luxons it has been either because kurzicks had no defence/healing at all and we just zerged through their base, or the kurzicks have been really, really dumb. Unsurprisingly that means I am starting to win about 2/3rds of matches again. Maybe too many people heard it was easy for kurzicks and all the noobs are swarming through there, because so far as luxons we just concentrated on one gate and half the kurzicks would still be outside while were pounding on gunther. The imbalance of the map is being compensated by an imbalance in coordination apparently. On the other hand I have yet to lose as a kurzick.

IMO, make the timer go back to what it was before, but greatly increase the time gained from amber deliveries. Make it something like quadrupled or more (face it, it was nigh useless before unless all the luxons were AFK). That will allow the better kurzick teams to greatly speed their end of the game up without promoting teams with 90% monks. Fix turtle AI somehow too, don't let them fire at obstructed targets and make them move up if the NPC's are dead.

IamI

IamI

Academy Page

Join Date: Nov 2005

R/

I've been playing FA for quite some time as well in the past 1.5 years or whatever, both sides. In my experiences the Luxons always had it quite easy if they could gain enough momentum from the inner gates and not charge in blindly one at a time. Recently, the kurzick side has been winning the majority of matches. The Luxons can win if they play well, and bring more enchantment removal and disruption. As a Necromancer, I brought both Pain of Disenchantment and Rend.

I found the me/e water snare mesmer to be a wonderful boon on kurzick side as a matter of fact. Snares are oh so underrated there.

maraxusofk

maraxusofk

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2005

San Francisco, UC Berkeley

International District [id多], In Soviet Russia Altar Caps You [CCCP], LOL at [eF]

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Lykan View Post
What are you talking about? They changed the rewards and nothing else, the only difference is that people who know what they are doing are now playing. Stop sucking and you'll win.
QFT

seriously if u care about balance in pve mission, u might as well go qq about pve only skills.

Darmikau

Darmikau

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Oct 2006

Pun Goes [Here]

P/W

Quote:
Originally Posted by maraxusofk View Post
QFT

seriously if u care about balance in pve mission, u might as well go qq about pve only skills.
Except, Fort Aspenwood isn't PvE.

fenix

fenix

Major-General Awesome

Join Date: Aug 2005

Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger

Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&#

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Darmikau View Post
Except, Fort Aspenwood isn't PvE.
Except, yes it IS PvE. It's competitive PvE. Your goal is to kill NPCs, not other people. Despite what you might think, you aren't playing PvP in FA.

Rutabaga

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Mar 2007

Alcoholic Attunement [AA]

A/

Quote:
Originally Posted by fenix View Post
Except, yes it IS PvE. It's competitive PvE. Your goal is to kill NPCs, not other people. Despite what you might think, you aren't playing PvP in FA.

guild lord isnt an npc?

Issac

Issac

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Oct 2006

Earthrealm

W/A

It all depends on the people your playing with and the people your playing against. If everyone knows what their doing then it should go well.

Red Sonya

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Jul 2005

lol FA isn't PVP hahahah see this proves noobs do exist.

fenix

fenix

Major-General Awesome

Join Date: Aug 2005

Aussie Trolling Crew HQ - Event Organiser and IRC Tiger

Ex Talionis [Law], Trinity of the Ascended [ToA] ????????????????&#

W/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Sonya View Post
lol FA isn't PVP hahahah see this proves noobs do exist.
This doesn't prove noobs do exist, all it does is expose people like you, who have no idea what they're talking about, but think they have a solid enough argument to sprout garbage as though it is truth.

Go back to failing somewhere else.

pin

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Oct 2005

Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Sonya View Post
lol FA isn't PVP hahahah see this proves noobs do exist.
If you could define pvp for us, we could finally settle this age old argument.

Sedna

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Apr 2006

Singapore

Veritas Invictus [TRUE]

Well technically fort aspenwood is PvP (player vs player) since all skills get changed into PvP version and you can't use PvE skills in these missions. I don't know other definitions of PvP though.