ArenaNet:Developer updates/20070927

==[Dev Update] Anti-griefing and Gladiator Title - 27 September 2007 ==

We are releasing an anti-griefing system for game types that use randomly formed teams, such as Random Arenas, Alliance Battles, and Competitive Missions. We hope to accomplish two ends: first, to deter players who leech rewards while not playing; second, to limit rewards for players who leave games prematurely. The system uses "dishonor points," which work as follows:


 * An account may be given dishonor points for leaving a PvP match prematurely, for leeching experience or faction, or for falsely reporting teammates for leeching.
 * Players who leave a PvP match prematurely will receive 5 dishonor points.
 * If a player is reported for leeching, that player will receive 2 dishonor points for each report against him. Players who report a team member for leeching without a third of their team also reporting that player will also receive 2 dishonor points.
 * Any account that has accumulated 10 or more dishonor points is given the Dishonorable status, which is displayed as a buff icon on screen. While affected by this status, no characters present on that account may enter any PvP missions.
 * The Dishonorable status remains in effect for 1 minute for each accumulated dishonor point. This status cannot be removed by logging out or changing characters.
 * When the duration of the Dishonorable status has expired, characters on that account may once again join PvP missions.
 * Dishonor points will remain on the player's account for a total of 60 minutes. If further dishonor points are acquired during this period, that account is once again given the Dishonorable status, though for a longer period of time.
 * To clear dishonor points from an account, a player must go 60 minutes without accumulating any new dishonor points.

This system is intended to reduce rewards for players who ruin the PvP experience for their teammates. Instead of continuously leaving and rejoining until you are on the optimal team, it should now be faster to earn rewards by completing the game you join. If a player is unhappy with a team's composition, that player can opt out after the match has resolved with no penalty. This is more acceptable as it doesn't detract from other players' enjoyment.

Away-from-keyboard leeching has become problematic in Alliance Battles and Fort Aspenwood, ruining these battles for many players. The new /report command is meant to deter these behaviors, as getting reported repeatedly will slow or halt rewards for leechers. The goal is to create teams with players who are actively playing, and reward those players, instead of rewarding those who go AFK.

Gladiator Title Revisions

After reviewing and discussing the feedback received by players, we've decided to make the following change to the Gladiator Title:


 * Players will now receive 1 Gladiator point for every 5 wins in an arena.
 * Each additional 5 wins after the initial point is earned will give players an added bonus Gladiator point. Thus, players who win 10 consecutive matches will earn 2 Gladiator points, those who win 15 consecutive matches will earn 3 Gladiator points, and those who win 20 consecutive matches will earn 4 Gladiator points.
 * The Gladiator point bonus is capped at a maximum of 4 bonus points. This means that players who continue to be victorious after 20 consecutive wins will continue to earn 4 Gladiator points each time they win 5 additional matches.

To compensate for the adjusted difficulty of the Gladiator title, players' current Gladiator points and Gladiator title ranks will be adjusted.


 * All current Gladiator point totals will be multiplied by 6. Thus, if a player had rank 5 of the Gladiator title with 350 Gladiator points, that player will now be rank 6 with 2,100 Gladiator points.

The adjusted Gladiator title ranks are as follows:

This change has several goals:


 * 1) Reduce the requirement of a "perfect team" in Random Arenas.
 * 2) Allow more regular progress toward the title.
 * 3) Utilize more ranks of the title to provide separation between hardcore and causal arena players within the same title track.
 * 4) Implement a title track that still applies to both Random Arenas and Team Arenas.

Compared to our earlier proposal, this new system is more balanced for both Random Arenas and Team Arenas. Also, it validates the title for the hardcore players while maintaining overall accessibility to our most popular PvP mode. Since points will be essentially easier for veteran players to earn than before, we wanted to compensate them for their earlier efforts with a 50% boost in their current points (for all those "almost!" nine-win streaks).

We hope this week's update will revitalize the random formats and remove the fear that a team will either abandon a player or just not participate at all. As always, we'll be monitoring these changes and apply updates as needed. --Andrew Patrick 19:33, 27 September 2007 (UTC)