Guild Wars 2 is preparing to roll out an update for its popular World vs. World game mode on January 31st, 2023. The update will bring a variety of changes aimed at improving the overall experience for players and promoting active participation.
Cecil Armstrong, WvW Team Lead and Producer, and Senior Game Designer Floyd Grubb have shared a preview of the upcoming changes in a recent statement. The development team has a clear set of priorities for World vs. World, including addressing player population balance issues, making the game mode more rewarding, and refining core systems such as scoring and siege.
One of the main features of the January 31st update is the introduction of a new set of weekly achievements. These achievements will reward players who actively contribute to World vs. World, such as capturing objectives, defeating enemy players, and taking down dolyaks. Completing the weekly achievements will grant players with 8 gold and up to 35 additional WvW Skirmish Claim Tickets, a roughly 10% increase in the maximum weekly tickets.
The update also brings changes to the siege aspect of World vs. World, with the goal of making flame rams and ballistae more durable and effective. The range and duration of the flame ram’s Iron Will skill has been increased to relieve pressure on assaulters, while the range of the ballista’s Reinforcing Shot has been increased to improve its ability to destroy siege weapons. The developers are also looking to encourage the use of the warclaw in objective assaults, by doubling the damage inflicted on gates by its Chain Pull.
Additionally, objectives in World vs. World are also getting some updates, with reductions to the base maximum supply limit for keeps and Stonemist Castle, as well as supply limit increases from T1/T3 upgrades. To compensate, the health of supply dolyaks has been increased to make them easier to defend, and the amount of supply each successful delivery provides has been increased as well.
The World vs. World development team has also noted that they are working on further improvements to the game mode, including increasing rewards for active participation in fights over key objectives and making towers, keeps, and Stonemist Castle more appealing player hotspots. While the development team is still focused on bringing World Restructuring and Alliances features to life, they plan to release iterative WvW changes more frequently this year.
Overall, the January 31st update for Guild Wars 2’s World vs. World game mode is set to bring a number of improvements and changes aimed at enhancing the player experience and promoting active participation. The development team will be closely monitoring player feedback and quantitative data to make follow-up adjustments as needed.