Feedback:User/Guild Wars 3 perhaps/"The Hunted" Mini-game for WvWvW

"The Hunted" Mini-game for WvWvW
User	Guild Wars 3 perhaps
Categories	Player vs. Player Mechanics

"The Hunted" Mini-game

Go here to see a list of my other GW2 suggestions and discussion contributions.

This suggestion goes hand-in-hand with my previous suggestion, Alternative Scoring in WvWvW. It is part of a series which explores ways in which the depth of play, strategy, and tactics can be increased in WvWvW.

Disclaimer: This suggestion is a completely 100% voluntary opt-in choice that players can make in WvWvW. Keep this is mind while reading the following.

There will be a Great Huntsman NPC in each team's home base in WvWvW (likely a Norn). In speaking with this NPC a player is given the option to join The Hunt. "The price?", the player may ask. "The risk of becoming "The Hunted"!", the Norn would respond.

If the player chooses to opt-in, the Great Huntsman may respond, "THAT'S the spirit! Welcome to "The Hunt"...little rabbit!". Once a player joins this mini-game, here is how it plays:

• Once every 10 or 15 minutes (will have to test which time period works best), one random player from each team who has opted-in (can't stress this enough) is marked as The Hunted. Only players who are currently outside their home base, a tower, a keep, Stonemist Castle, or the WvWvW dungeon are eligible for "marking"; in other words, they have to be standing outside in the open air. The Hunted will be easily identified by some unique icon above their head or coloration of their character. However, only players who have opted-in to participate in this mini-game will see the "marking"; no one else can see it.

• The objective for The Hunted is to stay alive.

• The objective of The Hunters is to defeat The Hunted.

• The Hunters are any players who have opted-in to this mini-game and are on opposing teams from The Hunted.

• The Hunted can not be hunted by members of their own team. For The Hunted from the red team, for example, this thought may be small consolation while they are being chased by scores of Hunters from blue and green teams.

• If the The Hunted manages to stay alive for the full duration of their "marking" (10 or 15 minutes), they earn some war score points for their world; perhaps double the amount of time they stayed alive (20 or 30 points). They may also earn experience and Karma for themselves and influence for their guild.

• A defeated The Hunted does not earn partial points for their world; it's all or nothing. They have to stay alive the full duration of their "marking" to score the points. Though this may sound punitive, it is not intended to be. The rationale for this feature is give The Hunted incentive to stay alive and one step ahead of The Hunters.

If The Hunted gained war score points every minute they remained alive - even if they were eventually defeated - then there's no incentive to run and no incentive to hunt. A Hunted could just stand still, let themselves be defeated, and be content in the knowledge they had earned the same amount of war score points for their world as a Hunted who attempts to outrun The Hunters. Furthermore, the next The Hunted could do the same. Even in defeat, The Hunted would still be gaining war score points for their world every minute in this scenario. Without having to do anything, their world would be gaining 60 additional war score points per hour (assuming 1 war score point is awarded per minute that a Hunted remains alive).

The alternative is The Hunted could still earn war score points every minute. However, if they manage to stay alive during the full duration of their "marking" - outrunning The Hunters - then they will score bonus war score points they would not otherwise have earned if they had been defeated. A variation of this alternative would be to increase the points earned each minute The Hunted remains alive. For example, the scoring could be set up along a geometric progression:

• Minute 0 to 1 = no war score points if defeated.

• Minute 1 to 2 = 1 war score point if defeated.

• Minute 2 to 3 = 2 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 3 to 4 = 4 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 4 to 5 = 8 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 5 to 6 = 16 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 6 to 7 = 32 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 7 to 8 = 64 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 8 to 9 = 128 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 9 to 10 = 256 war score points if defeated and perhaps a bonus for staying alive the full duration of their "marking" if it is limited to 10 minutes.

• If a marking lasts 15 minutes instead of 10 minutes:

• Minute 10 to 11 = 512 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 11 to 12 = 1024 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 12 to 13 = 2048 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 13 to 14 = 4096 war score points if defeated.

• Minute 14 to 15 = 8192 war score points if defeated and perhaps a bonus for staying alive the full duration of their "marking" if it is limited to 15 minutes.

These points are not cumulative. If a Hunted remains alive for 8 minutes, they will earn 64 war score points for their world; not 127 points.

Using a system such as this gives The Hunted greater and greater incentive to stay alive with each passing minute. If this variation of the war point scoring system is implemented, then I suggest displaying the current points earned by The Hunted in the upper right corner of the screen. Furthermore, to up the tension and increase the incentive even more, display a message just beneath the current score informing The Hunted what points they will earn if they stay alive to the next minute.

• If The Hunters manage, instead, to defeat The Hunted, they will earn war score points for their world on a descending scale. For example, if a "marking" is decided to last 15 minutes and The Hunters defeat The Hunted within the first minute, The Hunters will earn 15 war score points for their world. If, on the other hand, The Hunters defeat The Hunted after 10 minutes have elapsed since the "marking", then The Hunters will only earn 5 war score points for their world.

Similar to the alternative increasing geometric scoring system offered for The Hunted, perhaps The Hunters' scoring system could, instead, be based on a decreasing geometric scale. If they manage to defeat The Hunted in the first minute, they would score 256 war score points for their world (if the "marking" lasts 10 minutes). If, on the other hand, The Hunters defeat The Hunted after 8 minutes have elapsed since the "marking", then The Hunters will only earn 1 war score point for their world. Defeating The Hunted at 9 minutes elapsed time or more (i.e. 9 minutes, 1 second; 9 minutes, 10 seconds; 9 minutes, 43 seconds; etc.) will not earn any war score points for The Hunters' world. At this point, there's still incentive for The Hunters to attempt to defeat The Hunted; doing so prevents The Hunted from reaching their 10 minnute score and potential bonus points for remaining alive the full duration of their "marking" (if this is implemented, as well).

• Minute 0 to 1 = 256 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 1 to 2 = 128 war score point if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 2 to 3 = 64 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 3 to 4 = 32 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 4 to 5 = 16 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 5 to 6 = 8 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 6 to 7 = 4 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 7 to 8 = 2 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 8 to 9 = 1 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

• Minute 9 to 10 = 0 war score points if The Hunted is defeated.

As with The Hunted, display on The Hunters' screens the current amount of points they are eligible for if they defeat The Hunted within the current minute and - just below that number - the lesser amount of points they will score if they don't manage to defeat The Hunted until the next minute. This gives The Hunters incentive to chase down The Hunted as quickly as possible to prevent themselves from losing too many potential war score points.

• The Hunters may also earn experience and Karma for themselves and influence for their guild for defeating The Hunted. This, too, would be on a sliding scale depending on how quickly they manage to defeat The Hunted. Also, it would be measured similar to the level-of-participation modifier as per the Dynamic Event system. A Hunter who deals 95% of the damage to a defeated The Hunted is going to earn more experience, Karma, and influence than a Hunter who only dealt 5% of the damage.

• The Hunters only earn war score points for their world if they manage to deal at least 1 point of damage to The Hunted. For example, a Hunted from red team is pursued by Hunters from blue and green teams. The blue Hunters defeat the red Hunted without the green Hunters ever managing to damage The Hunted. The blue Hunters earn war score points for their world while the green team earns nothing.

• If The Hunted is defeated by anything other than The Hunters and The Hunters never managed to score at least 1 point of damage on The Hunted, then The Hunters do not earn any war score points for their world despite The Hunted's defeat.

• Both The Hunted and The Hunters retain all of their skills, profession-specific mechanics, traits, weapons, and items; none of that changes.

• It is possible The Hunted may need to be given some small boosts to level the playing field. Afterall, it is just them against - potentially - hundreds of other players. I'm thinking a 50% faster endurance recharge to allow more frequent dodging, recovering twice as fast from the Crippled condition, a 10% speed boost, and perhaps increasing their jump/leap distance by two or three times the normal amount to keep things interesting. A boon icon specific to these benefits could be applied to The Hunted or it could just automatically be associated with their The Hunted status.

• If The Hunted attempts to use a waypoint map jump or enters any structure - home base, tower, keep, Stonemist Castle (and possibly the WvWvW dungeon; I'm undecided on that one) - they forfeit their Hunted status and any chance of earning war score points for their world, experience and Karma for themselves, and influence for their guild.

• If The Hunted loses their "marked" status as a result of map jumping or entering a structure as detailed in the previous paragraph, then a new player from that team is immediately "marked" as The Hunted. The Hunt then continues.

• As soon as The Hunted is either defeated or successfully stays alive for the duration of their "marking", a new player from that team is immediately "marked" as The Hunted. The Hunt then continues.

• Players who have not opted-in to join The Hunt can still help or harm The Hunted (depending on which team they're on). There is no restriction on a red player who is not part of The Hunt from placing a boon on their Hunted red team member, for example. Neither is there a restriction on a blue team member who is not part of The Hunt from attacking a red Hunted. However, damage dealt to The Hunted by players who have not joined The Hunt does not count towards a successful defeat of The Hunted.

For example, the blue player previously mentioned manages to defeat The Hunted. If no blue team member who opted-in to The Hunt managed to score at least 1 point of damage against The Hunted, then blue team will not earn any war score points despite The Hunted having been defeated by a blue player. In other words, if players want to earn points for their world by defeating The Hunted, they must be willing to take the risk of becoming The Hunted themselves. No risk, no reward.

• If The Hunted stands still and does not activate skills or a profession-specific mechanic for longer than 60 seconds, they lose their The Hunted status. A new player from that team will immediately be "marked" as The Hunted. The Hunt then continues. This restriction is placed here to prevent leechers from exploiting this mini-game. It is also meant to prevent The Hunted from seeking shelter. It's called The Hunt, not The Hide. Though stopping to throw off The Hunters or to take a rest of less than 60 seconds is permissible, the general idea is to keep The Hunt moving.

• Players who have opted-in to The Hunt may opt-out at any time by simply speaking with the Great Huntsman in their home base and vice versa.

By adding this mini-game to WvWvW, it introduces yet another scoring mechanic which does not rely on zerg mobs repeatedly assaulting gates over and over and over. It gives players an incentive to move out into the world, ranging far and wide as they attempt to chase down The Hunted, as opposed to remaining in static pitched battles at the gates of towers and keeps. It also rewards players who are skillful in using the movement and dodging mechanics - as well as knowing the map inside-out - with the opportunity to contribute to their team's war score. Lastly, it adds a fun diversion to the WvWvW arena.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 22:54, 3 July 2012 (UTC)

Update #1

To prevent a newly-"marked" The Hunted player from being caught unaware in the middle of an existing fight, there will be a 1 minute delay between the time the previous Hunted is defeated or successfully remains alive for the duration of their "marking" and when the player chosen to be "marked" next will become The Hunted.

A chat message or screen-centered message will pop-up informing the newly-"marked" player that they have 1 minute before they become The Hunted. This gives them the opportunity to get clear of any current enemies they may be fighting, remove conditions, heal up, and place boons on themself before their turn as The Hunted begins.

To make it visual, keeping the player's focus on the main game window rather than on the chat screen, this could even be indicated by a growing aura around the next to-be-"marked" player. The aura will take a full minute to grow into the final icon that floats above the head of The Hunted. This way, the "marked" player will actually see their "marking" beginning to manifest in the event they are too busy in the middle of doing something else (e.g. combat) to look at the chat screen.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 19:24, 4 July 2012 (UTC)

Update #2

Forfeiture of War Score Points

In my original feedback post I had suggested variations in the ways in which The Hunted earn war score points for their world. One variant was no points are scored unless The Hunted remains alive the full duration of their "marking". Another variant was The Hunted earns war score points in a geometric progression for each minute they stay alive.

If this second scoring option is implemented and The Hunted engages in any action which runs counter to their status as The Hunted, then there should be a mechanism which will strip the war score points The Hunted has earned. This ensures the spirit of The Hunt mini-game is kept intact. Some examples:

• Five minutes into their run as The Hunted and using the geometric scoring scale, a player will have amassed 8 war score points for their world. However, they decide to hide somewhere on the map. They remain in their hiding place for longer than a minute, unmoving and not activating skills. This violates one of the suggested restrictions from the original suggestion. At this point, this player loses their The Hunted status and - under this new proposal - also loses the war score points they had amassed.

• This time, the player from above decides to enter their home base, a tower, keep, or Stonemist Castle (and possibly the WvWvW dungeon; undecided on that). This also violates one of the suggested restrictions from the original suggestion. At this point, this player would lose their The Hunted status, as well, and - under this new proposal - also lose the war score points they had amassed.

• Lastly, the player from above decides to map jump to a waypoint. As this, too, is a violation one of the suggested restrictions from the original suggestion, the player loses their The Hunted status, and - under this new proposal - also lose the war score points they had amassed.

The point of all of this is to keep players "honest" when participating in this mini-game. By forfeiting their amassed war score points for violating any of the restrictions placed on The Hunted, there's no incentive to cheat. This way, a player who is about to be defeated as The Hunted can't map jump away or enter a structure owned by their team at the last minute and console themselves with the thought that - though they may have lost their The Hunted status - at least they get to keep the war score points they had earned up to the point of their violation. To the contrary, not only will they lose their The Hunted status, but all the war score points they had earned, as well.

This system will also counter leechers who would attempt to earn war score points by finding a hole to hide in and not moving or activating skills during the full duration of their "marking". Such players will lose their The Hunted status and their war score points.

To avoid a situation where a team's war score is observed to be increasing as The Hunted earn points each minute they stay alive, only to be disappointed as the score then decreases if The Hunted commits a violation, classify the points as virtual or potential rather than actual. In other words, if a Hunted has remained alive for 5 minutes, they've earned 8 potential war score points for their team. However, do not add these points to their team's war score on a running basis. Instead, the points will only be added to the war score if The Hunted is defeated or manages to remain alive for the full duration of their "marking". Only then are their amassed potential points added to their team's actual war score. This avoids disappointment should The Hunted forfeit those points as a result of a violation as noted above.

Inactivity Restrictions

In the original feedback post, I had suggested placing a 60 second time limit on how long a player can remain motionless and not activating skills or profession mechanics. The intent was to prevent leechers from taking advantage of this mini-game as well as maintaining the spirit of the mini-game as an active hunt. However, even this suggestion - as written - could be abused. A player could find a hiding place and remain motionless for 59 seconds. Then they move just a bit or activate one skill before returning to an inert state for another 59 seconds.

I now revise this limiter:

Players can remain motionless and not activating skills or profession mechanics for X seconds total during their turn as The Hunted. This time limit will have to be determined through testing; 60 seconds or 90 seconds are the two that immediately come to mind. There is no restriction placed on how long a player chooses to remain motionless as long as it doesn't exceed the maximum limit. However, all time spent motionless and not activating skills or profession mechanics is cumulative. For example (assume a 90 second limit):

• Player A decides to hide from The Hunters. They duck behind a tree and remain in this spot for 90 seconds, motionless and not activating skills or their profession mechanic. They begin running again at second 91; so far, they are not in violation of this revised restriction. However, they have used up all of their allotted rest time. If they attempt to remain motionless and not activating skills or profession mechanic for as little as 1 second at any time during the remainder of their "marking", they lose their The Hunted status and forfeit their amassed war score points.

• Player B decides to hide from The Hunters, as well. However, unlike Player A, they break up their rest period into six 15 second intervals spaced throughout their "marking". This totals 90 seconds of cumulative rest time and is not in violation of this revised restriction, either. So long as Player B takes no further breaks - even for as little as 1 second - then they will retain their The Hunted status and earn points for their team's war score.

There should exist a countdown timer which displays the remaining seconds of rest time. A player "marked" as The Hunted can then gauge how long they can afford to rest before they need to get moving again. It also acts as another pressure/tension builder on The Hunted.

Title/Rank

If this suggestion is implemented, then perhaps an accompanying title or rank could be added to the game. This would apply to both The Hunted and The Hunters.

For The Hunted title, it may display how many minutes and/or times a player has been "marked", how many war score points they have earned for their team, how many times they've successfully survived the full duration of their "marking", and their ratio of remaining alive the full duration to the number of times they've been defeated.

For The Hunter title, it may display how many war score points they've earned for their team by defeating a Hunted, how many Hunted they've participated in defeating, how many points of damage they've inflicted on The Hunted, and the ratio of their turns as a Hunter compared to the number of times they've successfully brought down a Hunted.

With increasing rank in this title track, the players earn a new icon to display above their character when participating in The Hunt. Perhaps a player "marked" as The Hunted starts off with a rabbit icon. With increasing rank, this icon could change to an antelope, a deer, an elk, etc. The initial Hunter icon may be a weasel or fox, graduating to a coyote, wolf, tiger, bear, etc.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 18:33, 9 July 2012 (UTC)

Update #3

As The Hunted could be any player on a team who has opted-in to participate in this mini-game, this introduces the possibility the next player "marked" could spawn almost anywhere on the WvWvW map. For The Hunters, it may prove difficult to even locate The Hunted let alone reach their general vicinity before the current Hunt expires.

Of course, The Hunters are expected to communicate and coordinate with one another; either through all-chat, team-chat, or even a chat channel specifically set-up for this mini-game. Team-chat may be best as The Hunted will be pursued by Hunters from two teams which are themselves in competition for war score points; green team may not want to give away a red The Hunted's location to the blue team by communicating in all-chat, for example.

Regardless, I feel The Hunters, even in communicating among themselves, may be at a serious disadvantage if The Hunted spawns far from their current location. To help balance this, the Dynamic Event area of the game window - which, as mentioned previously, will track The Hunted's and The Hunters' potential war score points and time remaining in the current Hunt - will also give a general indicator of The Hunted's whereabouts. I do not intend there be an icon on the world map tracking The Hunted; that runs counter to the spirit of having to actively search out one's prey during a Hunt. However, the message could state, "The Hunted is currently in The Red Borderlands.". If that proves too broad, it could be further narrowed down to the named region, "The Hunted is currently in the Largo Waters region of The Green Borderlands."

Adding this feature then gives The Hunters the data they need to make an informed choice of whether to break off from their current activity to pursue The Hunted or pass on the current Hunt as it will take them too long to reach the region in which The Hunted is located. Note, this choice will vary from Hunter to Hunter; it won't be the case that all of The Hunters will choose not to pursue The Hunted as a result of being too distant from their target. Some percentage of The Hunters will pass on the current Hunt while others, who are closer to the current The Hunted's location, will likely choose to engage in The Hunt.

To preempt the critique of, "Why would anyone break away from their current activity - especially if they're assaulting a tower or keep - to pursue The Hunted in the first place?", the answer is two-fold:

• The points The Hunters can earn for their team's war score by defeating The Hunted is potentially greater from a cost:benefit analysis than they will earn capturing a tower or a keep. Assuming the decreasing geometric progression scoring system is put in place, if The Hunters manage to bring down The Hunted in the first minute of the "marking", they will earn 256 war score points for their world (assuming a "marking" lasts 10 minutes instead of 15). Contrast this with the points earned from holding that keep they were previously assaulting; 300 points in an hour (and that assumes they manage to hold it for that full hour). Of course, The Hunters have to be good enough to defeat The Hunted that quickly to earn such a significant amount of points.

Let's assume a more realistic scenario. If a "marking" lasts 10 minutes, there will be six such "markings" in an hour. Actually, slightly less due to the 1 minute delay between "markings" as detailed in my first update above; but let's just round to six "markings"-per-hour. Let's further assume a particular Hunter chooses not to participate in two of The Hunts due to The Hunted being too far away to make it worth their while and/or they're too busy with some other activity. Finally, of the four remaining Hunts this Hunter will participate in, let's assume that for two of them The Hunted manages to get away and this Hunter earns no war score points. The last two Hunts, this Hunter - along with his/her fellow Hunters - manage to defeat The Hunted at 3 minutes and 6 minutes into The Hunt. The Hunter in this scenario will earn 72 war score points for their server.

At first, this hour's worth of Hunts - with regards to war score points earned - does not compare favorably to holding a keep for that same hour. However, that assumes the keep The Hunter had been assaulting can be held for a full hour. From what I've seen from BWE videos, that appeared to be the exception rather than the rule; the keeps and towers were changing hands fairly often. Furthermore, there's the time investment of assaulting the tower or keep; most sieges were lasting 15 or more minutes. This is time during which the tower or keep is not earning war score points for the assaulting team. To assume a keep will earn 300 points-per-hour for a team is likely too generous. Between time lost assaulting a keep and then having that keep lost to an enemy siege in turn, it's probably safe to assume a keep will earn an average of 150 war score points for a team. This compares a little more favorably with the average 72 points-per-hour from The Hunt I calculated previously. Even this disparity is easily addressed by simply increasing the amount of war score points that can potentially be earned from The Hunt; which then puts it on an even footing with the war score points earned from captured keeps.

The other thing to consider is I've demonstrated the potential points earned from hunting only a single The Hunted; at any one time there will be always two The Hunted for the The Hunters to pursue (one from each opposing team). If the The Hunters on blue team, for example, coordinate their efforts and split into two groups - one pursuing the red Hunted and the other chasing the green Hunted - this opens up the possibility of doubling the potential points the blue team could earn from The Hunt.

Also bear in mind I used the keep in my example; the structure that generates the most war score points per 5 minute period outside of Stonemist Castle. The war score points earned from The Hunt - even using the current scoring system - compares much more favorably with the towers (120 points-per-hour; 60 points-per-hour at a 50% average "hold" rate) and the resource camps (60 points-per-hour; 30 points-per-hour at a 50% average "hold" rate). This demonstrates that the potential points which can be earned from participating in The Hunt compare favorably with the points earned from capturing and holding resource camps, towers, and keeps. This should prove sufficient incentive alone for participating in this mini-game.

• The second incentive to lure Hunters away from some other activity such as the siege of a tower or keep, is simply a matter of preference. For those players who have opted-in to this mini-game, it may prove more fun for them to attempt to run The Hunted to ground across the whole of the WvWvW map than simply stand at a gate spamming skills for 10 minutes. They will participate in The Hunt because they find it better suits their play style and what they want out of the game while simultaneously affording them the opportunity to contribute to their team's success in WvWvW. Now, resource camp, tower, and keep sieges become something this group of players participate in as a way to pass time between Hunts while they wait for one to spawn near their present locale.

Also, I doubt very much that losing a couple players who opt to chase The Hunted will make-or-break a team's siege attempt. If it does, then that team needs to rethink their approach to sieges rather than blame a few players who left to participate in The Hunt. Especially if The Hunters are managing to score more war points for their team than the assault group when averaged out over time.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 17:11, 11 July 2012 (UTC)

Update #4

Map Jumping for Hunters

In my first iteration of this suggestion, I had made a restriction against map jumping/waypoint travel for The Hunted. They won't be prevented from doing this; they simply forfeit their accumulated war score points and their The Hunted status if they map travel.

Though I never made it explicit in the original suggestion, I do not intend this same restriction to apply to The Hunters. They are free to map jump/waypoint travel all they want. The intent here is - since the "marking" of the next The Hunted is random - to permit The Hunters to rapidly travel to within range of The Hunted before the current Hunt expires.

An alternate solution is The Hunt plays like a game of tag. The Hunter who deals the most damage or the blow that sends The Hunted to defeat then becomes the next The Hunted. Though this would help solve problems related to too great a distance separating Hunters from Hunted, it introduces new problems of its own. In my original feedback, my reason for suggesting the next The Hunted be chosen at random was to prevent a scenario in which The Hunted suddenly finds themselves surrounded by Hunters with no means of escape. This is a potential risk of the tag-you're-it method and why I didn't suggest it in the first place.

The other reason I'm not in favor of the tag-you're-it method is I see The Hunt devolving into players balling up into a specific location and not moving out from that area. As soon as a Hunter defeats a Hunted - taking on the aspect of The Hunted themselves - they'll be immediately ganked by all the other Hunters who were already present in the immediate vicinity from the previous Hunt. The Hunt will turn into a game of hot potato as The Hunted status gets passed from adjacent player to adjacent player, never moving out of an area. This runs counter to my vision of this mini-game as an active hunt, with Hunters chasing The Hunted over hill and dale across the vast expanse of the WvWvW map.

Icon Visibility

As mentioned in the orginal post, The Hunted and the The Hunters will have icons above their heads identifying them as participants in this mini-game. Players not opting into the game won't see these icons.

No one participating in this mini-game can hide their icon. This prevents The Hunters from gaining an unfair advantage over The Hunted by hiding their status. Their icon will be hidden from view in the same fashion that their name and healthbar are hidden; if they're behind an obstacle or not in line-of-sight, it won't be visible through those obstacles. However, if a Hunted can see a player, then they can see their Hunter icon.

I had also suggested in Update #1 that a player newly "marked" as The Hunted will have a 1 minute delay until their turn as The Hunted begins. During that 1 minute delay, there will be some visual change in their icon or character to indicate to the player they are becoming The Hunted. This was intended to give the player sufficient time to get clear of mobs, heal themselves, remove conditions, etc. in preparation for their run as The Hunted.

Conversely, The Hunters should not be able to witness this visual transition. Otherwise, it gives them an unfair advantage in being able to pre-target the next The Hunted before they even get a chance to start their run. For The Hunters looking at a player who has now been "marked" as The Hunted, all they will see is a Hunter icon above that player's head for the full duration of the 1 minute transitional delay. Then, the moment that 1 minute delay has expired, The Hunted's icon rapidly switches from a Hunter to a Hunted icon as seen from a Hunter's perspective. Now The Hunt is joined.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 18:20, 12 July 2012 (UTC)

Update #5

Refining the Hunters' Scoring Model

Hunters who defeat The Hunted do not earn cumulative war score points for their world based on the number of Hunters who dealt damage to The Hunted. The points are awarded globally to the team as a single score rather than multiple individual awards per participant.

For example, if a single blue Hunter defeats a red The Hunted at the 5 minute mark under a decreasing geometric progression scoring model, they will earn 8 war score points for their world. If, on the other hand, five blue Hunters defeat that same red The Hunted at 5 minutes, they still only earn 8 war score points for their world total; not 25 war score points (i.e. 5 for each successful Hunter). However, each Hunter who succeeds in dealing damage to The Hunted will be eligible for personal experience, Karma, and guild influence rewards based on the amount of damage they deal to The Hunted. These individual rewards are not shared or split between The Hunters.

Each team pursuing The Hunted is eligible for their own war score award. For example, if Hunters from both blue and green teams manage to damage and defeat The Hunted at the 5 minute mark, both the green and blue worlds will be awarded 8 war score points. Teams do not share or split the war score points for bringing down The Hunted.

It is not necessary for The Hunters from a particular team send The Hunted to defeat to earn these points. As long as Hunters from a team manage to deal at least 1 point of damage to The Hunted and The Hunted is eventually defeated, the team will still earn war score points. For example:

• Hunters from blue and green teams are in pursuit of a red The Hunted.

• At 3 minutes into The Hunt the green Hunters manage to inflict some damage on The Hunted; but not enough to defeat him/her.

• The Hunted outruns the green Hunters and they never manage to deal any further damage to The Hunted.

• At the 5 minute mark, some blue team Hunters lying in wait ambush The Hunted and succeed in defeating him/her.

• Both blue and green teams will earn 8 war score points for The Hunted's defeat.

• Blue team may earn bonus points as a result of its Hunters delivering the killing blow. This will increase the competition between the two teams of Hunters and give them greater incentive to defeat The Hunted.

Green team's Hunters managed to deal some damage to The Hunted and thus share in the reward. However, they earn the war score points available at the point at which The Hunted was defeated; not the point at which they dealt damage to The Hunted. In other words, they don't earn the 3-minute award (32 war score points) for having dealt damage to The Hunted at the 3-minute mark. Instead, they earn the 5-minute award (8 war score points); the point at which The Hunted was finally defeated by the blue Hunters.

Competition Between Teams of Hunters

While on a Hunt, groups of Hunters from opposing teams are still considered enemies of one another per the larger WvWvW model in which this mini-game plays out. Just because the blue Hunters and the green Hunters are pursuing the same red The Hunted does not mean they are now allies. Blue and green Hunters are still free to attack one another; there is no restriction against this or changes from the larger WvWvW model. They just happen to be enemies in pursuit of a common goal.

By the same token, there is no restriction against them setting aside their differences to cooperate in The Hunt if they are so inclined. Likewise, there's also no restriction against them feigning a temporary alliance only to stab their opponents in the back at some future point. For example, they may agree to a truce while pursuing The Hunted. As they close in on their prey, there's nothing to prevent either group from turning on the other in an attempt to be the team that defeats The Hunted for bonus war score points or to prevent their opponents from damaging The Hunted, thus denying them war score points altogether.

A clever The Hunted may even use this rivalry to their advantage, taunting their pursuers in an effort to get them to turn on one another, improving The Hunted's chances of escaping in the ensuing chaos.

Competition Between Individual Hunters

Just as there will be competition between opposing teams of Hunters for war score points, there could be competition between individual Hunters on a team. Though they will certainly cooperate for the macro goal of war score points for their world, there will be individual micro rewards to compete for:

• A Hunter may earn personal experience, Karma, and guild influence points for each point of damage they inflict on The Hunted.

• The Hunter who deals the most damage to The Hunted - regardless of whether or not this same Hunter is also the one to defeat The Hunted - may earn additional personal experience, Karma, and guild influence bonuses. This award could be both an individual team reward as well as an absolute reward. For example, The Hunter from blue team who manages to deal more damage than his teammates earns a bonus award. The same will apply to The Hunter from the green team. However, there will be an additional single bonus awarded to which of those two players dealt the most damage overall during the current Hunt.

• The Hunter who downs The Hunted could earn additional personal experience, Karma, and guild influence bonuses. This award could be earned multiple times if The Hunted manages to rally, only to be downed again.

• The Hunter who scores the blow that sends The Hunted to defeat could earn additional personal experience, Karma, and guild influence bonuses.

• If a Hunter sends The Hunted to defeat using the "Finish Them (F)!" move, they will earn additional personal experience, Karma, and guild influence bonuses over-and-above those which were earned for merely defeating The Hunted.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 18:44, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

Update #6 - Refining the "Marking"

My original suggestion was players chosen to be The Hunted would be "marked" at random. To improve the odds that a particular player will have an opportunity to play as The Hunted, I revise this to read:

• The Hunted will be chosen at random from the available pool of players who have opted-in to The Hunt mini-game and who are currently present in a WvWvW round.

• When a player concludes their run as The Hunted (regardless of whether this results from a successful run, defeat, or forfeiting their Hunted status due to a rules violation), they are removed from the list of players eligible for random selection as the next The Hunted.

• A system would then have to be developed which permits this player to be re-instated to the eligibility list according to some criteria. It's not so simple as the player is re-instated as soon as all of the other eligible players have had their turn as The Hunted. At only six The Hunted chosen per hour (assuming each run is set to 10 minutes and all the Hunted survive the full duration of their run) with potentially a hundred or more opt-in players on the team, it would take 17 hours before this first The Hunted would be re-instated to the eligibility list. Then there's the issue of what to do as players leave or join the server who are opt-in players, too.

The intent is to ensure everyone who has opted-in to this mini-game has a reasonable chance of being selected as The Hunted at some point without - at the same time - preventing a previously selected player from ever getting another shot at being The Hunted within a 2-week WvWvW match. I also want to avoid a situation wherein - by random luck of the draw - the same player is "marked" as The Hunted three times in a row or three times in two hours, for example. Any suggestions are welcome.

Thank you for reading.

Guild Wars 3 perhaps 20:17, 13 July 2012 (UTC)

Return to the suggestion portal.