by Lewis Burnell on Apr 13, 2016
Are the World versus World patch notes, leaked this week, real? No one knows but having had a look over them and having been part of many closed testing groups, they certainly look legitimate. Due to speed and the need to get information out quickly, internal notes are often casual and a little rough around the edges. These look on the money and seem to align with many rumours that have been doing the rounds. The biggest change is probably the reduction in servers, with many pairing off to become giant hubs of activity (i.e Yak’s Bend & Anvil Rock or Sea of Sorrows & Gate of Madness). There's also a Desert Borderland Rework, Tier 1 WvW armor and changes to Stability. On top of this there is word over on the forums that Desert Borderland Camp Guards will be getting adjusted. For the leaked patch notes, take a look below or hit the link.
April 19th patch changes
Balance: Stability change – only 1 stack can be removed per second.
Balance: Unlimited target spells like Static Field get a 10 target cap.
Balance: Several more specific skill adjustments to address WvW concerns.
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NEW AOE CAP??
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-Final World Links-
NA
Now: 12 Worlds – 4 Tiers
Before: 24 Worlds – 8 Tiers
For simplicity sake, we just took the current top 12 worlds to use as host worlds, and then we reversed the bottom 12 to create the pairings. Using just population metrics gave us slightly different results, but not different enough to merit the additional player confusion.
Yak’s Bend & Anvil Rock
Blackgate & Eredon Terrace
Jade Quarry & Isle of Janthir
Tarnished Coast & Devona’s Rest
Dragonbrand & Sanctum of Rall
Fort Aspenwood & Borlis Pass
Sea of Sorrows & Gate of Madness
Maguuma & Kaineng
Stormbluff Isle & Crystal Desert
Darkhaven & Ferguson’s Crossing
Henge of Denravi & Sorrow’s Furnace
Northern Shiverpeaks & Ehmry Bay
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April 19th
WvW Reward Tracks & Participation System (Beta)
World Linking (Beta – Population Balance)
Provisions Master Ability Line
Desert BL Layout Rework
Proofs of Heroics (Currency)
Tier 1 WvW Armor
Cultural Armor Vendor
18/20 Slot Bags for badges
Removal of experience gain in WvW
Addition of Tomes of Knowledge to Rankup
Increased cooldowns on all Guild Tactics by 5-10 minutes. This effects things like Chilling Fog, Airship Defense and Emergency Waypoint.
Objective Map Markers display current upgrade level as silver pips.
Shield Generator skill cooldowns slightly increased.
Balance: Stability change – only 1 stack can be removed per second.
Balance: Unlimited target spells like Static Field get a 10 target cap.
Balance: Several more specific skill adjustments to address WvW concerns.
Likely 2 Weeks Later
Alpine BL rotated back in
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The new plan is to let the community more directly influence our priorities than they have in the past. We’d still like to do the scoring update next, and then the seasons/battlegroup stuff, but if it turns out those aren’t community priorities then we’ll strongly consider postponing them to work on whatever ends up being the #1 thing the community voted for.
List of changes that were made to DBL. You’ve noticed most of them, but I’ll list it for others. Oh and Alpine is identical to it’s original state, but with HoT updates (resource nodes are all located inside objectives, support for auto-upgrades and guild claiming).
Fire Keep
Lord Room
Less Gargoyle Turrets
Front half of lava is covered
Added two additional bridges into the lord room
Outer Gates
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Wider Fighting spaces
Lava has been reshaped and is often covered by grates or larger platforms
Dolyak routes have slightly changed, this is especially true for the south side
It’s easier to walk around the outside of the keep from the south side to the north side (less backtracking)
Upper Dunes
Half of the dunes are gone, it’s easy to see into the fire keep from above
There’s a new faster path into the fire keep from the south side.
Less spawns up here, since there is less space for them.
Veteran Sand Wurm event moved slightly.
Oasis
There’s a new smoothed path into the SE side of the keep.
North Shrine
Got rid of the huge random stone wall
Shrine is now atop a metal grate over lava
Air Keep
Lord Room
Less Bird Turrets
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More staircases leading up to room
Outer Gates
Wider bridges
No Bird turrets on bridges
Less Jump pads everywhere (these are now staircases or ramps)
It’s easier to walk around the outside of the keep from the south side to the north side (less backtracking)
South Shrine
Staircase leading up to SE Camp instead of jump pads
Less bamboo bridges, these are more straightforward
No river, elevation of the floor has been raised
Oasis
Jump pads removed, new regular path leading into keep area
Earth Keep
Lord Room
More routes leading up to platform
Canyons
Wider fighting space
Less big rocks
Less Teleporters
Overall
Barricades Removed
~12 Hay Bales scattered about. These are no fall damage locations.
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Phase 2: Scoring Update (QTR 4ish)
One of the next big features the WvW team is planning on tackling is making improvements to our Scoring system. This will also come with some additional rewards improvements that we were holding off on. The update is currently projected to take at least 3 months to implement, and could easily go longer. (Fair warning, this post is really long and detailed)
Overview
As part of WvW 2.0 we plan to update the way WvW matches are scored.
We are doing this for a few big reasons:
Reduce the need for 24 hour coverage by reducing the effects of off hour capping (night capping)
Losing while your team is asleep is no fun
Reduce the number of runaway matches
The feeling of hopelessness when your team is down 100,000 points after a single day
Give players a real opportunity to make a comeback
Matches are often decided in the first
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Placement
Points for 1st – 3/6/9
Points for 2nd – 2/4/6
Points for 3rd – 1/2/3
Action Level
Time of day (Time Band) determines the minimum Action Level for the skirmish, but if the Action Level from actual map participation is higher, that will be the value used.
This is to mitigate the effects of nightcapping without strictly saying that 12am – 8am is simply a lower scoring time period.
Prime Hours
Action Level 3 (Cannot be increased)
4 PM – 10 PM
Subprime Hours
Action Level 2
10 PM – 4 AM
10 AM – 4 PM
Off Hours
Action Level 1
4 AM – 10 AM
Similar to the participation calculation for an individual player in the Rewards Update, but at the full cross-map level.
Each map calculates it’s action level separately and then sent to the server at the beginning of each 2 hour skirmish.
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The map action level is a weighted average of the points generated by each of the three teams.
The server averages the action level of the 4 maps and then lets the clients know what the current action level is
Action Level is set at the beginning of a skirmish and cannot change until the start of the next skirmish.
Action level should not be game-able
By a small number of players
By a single side
By two sides coordinating to trade kills or objectives.
With a grace period, so that 200 people logging off simultaneously right before the start of a new skirmish doesn’t suddenly drop the level.
Last Stand
Last Stand describes the final day of any week long matchup
During Last Stand, skirmish placement points are tripled
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This is intended to provide a final comeback mechanic for teams that are behind and give teams that are behind hope that they are still in the match.
Note: We have tentative plans to move reset times back to Saturday so that Last Stand can happen on Friday night.
Last Stand Placement
Points for 1st – 9/18/27
Points for 2nd – 6/12/18
Points for 3rd – 3/6/9
Skirmish Scoring
Points for Capture
Objectives will award score (for the current skirmish) both on capture, and again on each tick.
This is the method that Edge of the Mists scores objectives, and prevents teams from getting nothing for capturing an objective, but then losing it before the tick scores.
EotM currently awards roughly 3x the objectives tick score on capture. EotM should be normalized to 1x tick score when WvW 2.0 rolls out, so scoring is consistent across all of WvW.
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Capturing upgraded objectives is worth higher amounts of Warscore and Participation(individual rewards.)
Holding upgraded objectives is worth higher amounts of Warscore per tick (PPT).
A fully upgraded keep would be worth double the current value, so 25 -> 50
Castle – 35/46/57/70
Keep – 25/33/41/50
Tower – 15/20/25/30
Camp – 10/13/16/20
Points for Kill
The amount of score earned from PPK will increase to be proportionally more siimiliar to the amount of score earned from PPT (Points Per Tick.)
A rough number would be 1 -> 5, with diminishing returns on killing players who have been alive for less than 5 minutes.
Caravans
*Warscore for Caravan Kills, Caravan Delivery and Sentry Capture should increase by at a similar rate as PPK.
Ex: If killing a player is increased from 1-5 points, killing a dolyak should also increase from 1->5 points.
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Communicate Warscore actions in world better.
Ex: Kill a dolyak and a +5 Warscore floater appears above the corpse for a few seconds.
*Top center point graph should give better feedback when it updates.
Ex: the line should flash and refill everytime objective ownership changes.
Rewards
Skirmish Rewards (Every 2 Hours)
Grants Reward Track Points (large amount)
Amount based on world placement at the end of the Skirmish
Requires at least some recent participation (Reward Level 1 or higher)
Reward Track Points Awarded
1st – 2000
2nd – 1500
3rd -1000
Amount also modified by the number of Ticks a player participated in
8 possible Ticks per Skirmish
For each Tick a player participated in, they will earn an 1/8th of the full reward amount
Indirectly awards whatever items are on WvW Reward Tracks
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skirmish Summary Bouncy Chest type UI to claim rewards
Displays skirmish world placement and reward points
Fills reward track bar and grants any item reward if a new tier is achieved
Match (Every Week)
Grants a huge amount of Reward Track Points
Amount based on world placement at the end of the Match
Amount also modified by the number of Skirmishes a player participated in.
Requires participating in at least 10 Skirmishes to earn the full reward amount.
For each Skirmish a player participated in, they will earn an 1/10th of the full reward amount
Grants WvW Armor Upgrade Tokens
Also grants Tournament Tickets as an additional reward during tournament weeks.
1st – 6,000 Reward Track Points & 3 Armor Tokens (+300 Tournament Tickets)
2nd – 4,500 Reward Track Points & 2 Armor Tokens (200 Tournament Tickets)
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***3rd – 3,000 Reward Track Points & 1 Armor Token (100 Tournament Tickets)
Match Summary Bouncy Chest type UI to claim rewards (Fancier than Skirmish)
Displays match world placement and reward points
Fills reward track bar and grants any item reward if a new tier is achieved
Veteran Bonus
Stacking Reward Track multiplier gained for playing consecutive weeks of WvW.
Each consecutive week of play (starting with week 2) grants a 10% bonus to reward track points earned.
Stacks up to 3 times.
Week 1 – No Modifier
Week 2 – +10% Reward Track Points
Week 3 – +20% Reward Track Points
Week 4+ – +30% Reward Track Points