Feedback talk:User/Guild Wars 3 perhaps/Tactical Inactivity and Auto-targeting

I think some form of this definitely ought to be implemented, because it sounds really cool. I don't use the Tab key too often when playing GW. I do, however, use the CTRL key to highlight all of my enemies and then select the one I would most like to destroy at that particular moment. I think making a character's name not show up when you hold CTRL would be sufficient. Allowing this sort of stealth in the game would be very enjoyable for me. It would put more focus on armor type and color. Fortunately, players can change their armor color whenever they want without buying new dyes. However, this may become tricky in PvP. All players would need equal access to dyes in PvP so that the players that have played the most PvE and unlocked more dye sets won't have a larger advantage.

I see two options:

1. Make a small "Dye Template Window" and have the players on each team be defaulted to a certain color (say red and blue). The players can open this small window and put it in a corner of their screen, and maybe have access to 8 colors that will provide camouflage when used properly. They could simply click on one of the buttons and change their armor color. (maybe a small cool-down would be needed)
2. Force all players on one team to be dyed a certain color upon entering the game. (Like red and blue. Unless there is a lava or a jade sea level.)

The other problem with having players' names disappear when holding CTRL when they are inactive would be leeching. I'm not sure how serious this would be, but it is possible that leechers may pose as infiltrators and infiltrators may be mistaken for leechers. Just a thought.  :) Kormon Balser 21:41, 7 November 2011 (UTC)

I didn't think about the CTRL key. But then after you mentioned it above, I thought to myself, "Yeah, Kormon's right...that's frequently how I target as well." So your suggestion of removing the character's name from those that show up when holding the CTRL key would also be a good addition. If the player who is looking for an infiltrator manages to manually target that player with their mouse (or however manual targeting works in GW2), then that character's name will show up. But not before.

Good point about the dye colors and more experienced PvE players having a camouflage advantage in PvP. I think your solution of offering a "Dye Template Window" would solve the problem. It could even go so far as to have the 8 or so dye colors change based on the environment.

For example, if the map is a volcanic area, the dyes would be various reds, oranges, blacks, and browns. A forested map would have shades of green and brown. Grasslands would have tans, yellows, ochres, etc. Players don't have to use these colors. But they can choose to do so to provide a base level camouflage in the event they haven't yet unlocked those dyes that would give the best camouflage for the environment they're in.

This then feeds into a previous suggestion I made of dye builds in which players can save dye templates for their armor much like how players can currently save skill templates for their character in GW1. This way players could save a dye build for each of the PvP maps that they find provides the best camouflage for them. Conversely, maybe they don't want to be camouflaged for either personal or tactical reasons. A frontline assault force may want to make themselves standout against the background for:

1. easy identification of friend from foe in the heat of a large battle
2. to draw more attention to themselves and away from their camouflaged infiltrator/scout allies.

Another way to help maintain team identity while still permitting players to camouflage themselves is to make all players on a team/side either have the same color armor as viewed by their teammates, have them be highlighted in a glowing team aura around their periphery, or have some team icon float above their head or swirl about their person. But the key distinction here as compared to GW1 is this team identification is only visible to your teammates; enemies will still see you in whatever color you've dyed your armor with no aura or other team identifying mechanic visible. The lack of any team identifying mechanic in itself will identify you as an enemy to your opponents. So there's no reason the enemy team has to see you shaded in blue or red, for example; you can keep your camouflage armor color.

This way team members can easily identify one another while still remaining camouflaged to the enemy. My vote would go with something that swirls around your body or floats above your head. This will permit players to still see themselves as the enemy would see them; with their armor dye colors intact. Then they can better judge if the dye colors they've chosen are accomplishing the goal of appropriate camouflage for the environment. Otherwise, if your armor gets set to a team color, it will be hard to tell if your chosen camouflage dyes are doing the trick.

An even alternate suggestion to my alternate suggestion (stay with me here...this is stream of consciousness typing) is you could still make everyone on a team have a team armor color (relative to being viewed by your teammates, of course), but when viewing your own character you will not see the team color on your armor. Teammates looking at you will see the team color, and you looking at their armor will see the team color; you just won't see it on your own screen for your armor. This way a team color for easy identification is preserved while still permitting you to see how you appear to the enemy; and thus better gauge how well you're camouflaging yourself.

But I don't know how difficult it would be to make team armor colors only appear for teammates while preserving their original dye colors when viewed by the enemy. In which case, it might be easier to just do a swirling aura/icon thingy viewable only by teammates.

As to the leeching issue, you make another good point. However, I think with some of the anti-leeching suggestions contained within this discussion thread we wouldn't have to worry about leechers anymore. That way it will be obvious that someone standing still in PvP is an active participant in the round (acting as a scout, infiltrator, saboteur) rather than leeching.

Thanks for the feedback, Kormon. Guild Wars 3 perhaps 01:35, 8 November 2011 (UTC)

This sounds really fun and exciting, as much as I want to be Eagle Eye I want to be Sneaky. Perhaps instead of having to re-dye your amour you could simply put on a pre-dyed Human/Asuran Cloak, Norn Woad, Charr Warpaint, Sylvari Pose (being a nature race). Even with all the beta footage I have been watching lately I haven't been able to discern if Arenanet has implemented this or something similar. Perhaps with the upcoming PvP beta there will be more information or someone will actually test it out. Helyanwe 20:53, 7 March 2012 (UTC)