Here’s a thread to talk about it. Mostly positive news. Two key things I’m very disappointed were not addressed
- Cost of renting a private Arena/server.
- Ranking. Currently there is none. How will ranking be applied to the “for fun” free Tournaments and the paid Tournaments.
Also, observe mode should launch with private Arena rental. The is not a minor feature it is critical for GW2 sPvP to be taken seriously as an eSport. Frankly it should be top of the list. What are your thoughts?
Questions:
- What would you pay to rent a private server? It’s an important question because this is the point where free-to-play can go away. To be a serious sPvP you’ll have to have one of these just as much as you’ll have to have a vent or mumble server. The difference is voice chat servers have become free of charge. IMO the award of GEMS for pay tournaments is probably a setup to justify the upcoming cost of the rental, but to what end? What would you pay? 800 GEMS ($10 USD) 1600 GEMS ($20 USD)? What do you think is a fair monthly price to rent an Arena for your team?
- Would you expect to see free private Arena servers for LAN in the vein of Team Fortress 2? I don’t see why they would not allow this?
- Do you think Arena rental’s will make the sPvP side of the game more or less exclusive? I think it will likely make it more exclusive. If you take sPvP seriously you’ll want to be in a guild that has a private server. Casual PvE guild wanting to cross over to sPvP recreationally can do so but there is no real reward system in place for them.
EDIT: Although I’m glad this post finally surfaced I also feel like it could be summed up in a TL;DR Yes we are going to get the pay Tournaments working soon… We’ve decided you’ll have to rent a private server to practice and we’ll have that soon too, but not to worry because we’re going to award gems for ‘for pay’ Tournaments. Observe mode and leaderboards are coming, but we’re not making any promises on ranking, etc… Sorry no ETA on any of this guys, as usual “When it’s ready”
