Feedback:User/Teh Hug/GvG mechanics: movements, damage & defense

Here are some general thoughts on basic gvg mechanics. While not going into the detail of skills, the purpose of this text is to propose some ideas to make GvG more dynamic and competitive a game.

Here's a short summary of the key concepts that will be developed later on.

I- Movements

a) Speed boosts must require heavy investment.

b) All snares must be vulnerable to interrups and it should not be possible to snare someone 90%++ of the time with only one skill.

II- Damage

a) Range damage should be kept under control, mainly through the following variables: damage output, casting time and recharge.

b) Defensive characters should not be able to also deal heavy damage (ex: ineptitude, vision of regret, mirror of ice, smiters, ritualists...)

c) Attacks skills that are based on energy (especially for melee attacks) should be kept under heavy control via the damage output, the energy cost and the recharge.

III- Defense

a) Party wide effect skills are the best way to deal with pressure (heal party, light of deliverance and old aegis)

b) It is critical to limit the number of those skills in one team build.

c) The templates that include those skills must be vulnerable to interrupts and/or incite movements to deal with them.

Let's now see the reasoning behing those assumptions.

I- Movement
a) Speed boost must require heavy investment.

GvG in gw heavily relies on movements, whether it is in split situation, flag pushings or simply to deal damage against moving targets. Increase movement speed is really a key mechanic in gw, and I would go as far as to put it very close to KDs in terms of power.

Therefore speed boosts should be a scarce resource rewarding a player tactical decision (when do I use my IMS?), instead of a simple buff that makes up for a player's mistakes or give incredible power to certain templates.

When it comes down to splitting for example, what's important is to decide WHEN to split. It rewards a player's ability to identify the opponent's build and position and his understanding of the timing that will make his split the most effective.

With speed boosts as powerful as they are now (natural stride, the djinn's skills, armor of mist, dash, illusion of haste), players can be rewarded no matter when they choose to split. They can run around pretty much all the time, and their mistakes won't get punished (e.g: a split team that fell back too late can make it to its healers thanks to the IMS or the healer can catch them in time thanks as well to his IMS).

The idea is to switch the focus from the build to the tactical decision.

My decision should account for 80% of the success of my move, the build should only add a small advantage to it. Not the other way round. Thus, a splitting strategy should win a game because it was perfectly timed and coordinated. Not because 5 templates out of 8 have a near 50% constant IMS.

To do so, I would recommand making EVERY SINGLE speed boost require at least 9 points to make it somewhat viable. Preferably in an attribute that doesn't create too much synergy (storm djinn's haste comes to the mind). You want to benefit from such a powerful mechanic as IMS? Pay for it!

I would also recommand to pay extra attention to the duration and recharge time, so that it actually rewards tactical play (an IMS like the old sprint or charge is very well balanced because it forces the player to actually CHOOSE when to use it so that it reaches its full efficiency). Something like 8-9 duration for a 20 sec recharge sounds a good base to start for energy based IMS skills.

b) Snares must be easily ruptable and 1 snare should not be chained.

This is the counter part to speed boosts. What is true for IMS skills works for skills that can impede a player's movements.

The best ways to keep snares under control are:

1/ Make them easily interruptable. No 1sec cast ranged snare. Make it 2 sec at least. Or remove fast cast on snares.

2/ Prevent the chaining of snares, especially if you just need 1 skill to do it (freezing gust). To do so, the ratio duration/recharge is obviously a good lever, but you can also allow snares to be dodged (like crppling shot).

Of course, IMS and snares should work together: if one is toned down, the other should as well.

(to be completed)