Privacy option for Observer Mode

Kudos to ArenaNet for implementing Observer Mode.

This said, not everyone wants to be watched. Since this game relies heavily on the composition of the players' skills, revealing everything in Observer Mode is probably not the way to go. Copying other teams' winning builds is already a rampant issue. Observer Mode will only aggravate the situation.

So I propose a simple option: let a team leader decide whether or not he wants the PvP games he plays to be observed (that is, if he faces a top-ranked guild or if his team actually belongs to a top-ranked guild).

No thanks.

Care to back that up?

disagree completely

the competition in gw can only be improved by broadening the build variety, and allowing guilds to evolve strategies in the metagame, this if anything actually accelerates that process, and builds will be developed faster in response to changing strategies.

further, top guilds arent at the top because of their skillbar, a good 75% of the win factor is in strategic placement, good prekiting, timing, communication, and adaptability. a good guild can make any decent build work if they understand the strengths and weaknesses of that build.

that is essentially why those guilds do well.

and lastly, a guild that designs and tests, and adjusts a build knows it much better than someone who just writes down skills during observer mode. certains skills seem pointless or too situation specific to the unexperienced player merely observing, and wont be used effectively. without the insight of voice communication, its extremely difficult to fully understand the finer points of a strat, that comes with testing yourself.

What he said ^