Without a doubt, the biggest change here is to contesting objectives in WvW. I made a video a while back explaining how contesting currently works (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-yuFeRLsYc) and I'm happy to see a change to the system.
I believe this change will cause more fights on the map. Have you ever been fighting a group that then disappears after a loss to go PPT an objective on the other side of the map? And you didn't notice until there were OJs on the lord? NO MORE! With the new contesting rules, you can actually believe white swords on objective icons on the map. No longer will white swords be all over the map and basically meaningless! You can believe crossed white sword on an objective icon now!
Ok, so you can't REALLY believe every set of white swords on the map. They're making it harder to create white swords (contest), but there are still methods that need to be considered. Here's how to contest objectives in the new system:
1. Mount Chain Pull on a gate with at least 5 supply if the gate is a T3 Keep (to contest the waypoint). This feels like the easiest way to contest an objective that hasn't been attacked yet. You'll have to kill the guards first, but still rather reliable.
2. Always enter keeps through the gates. The reason for this is because players can damage gates but can't damage walls. So if a team only repairs the gate to 51% to tap it shut, you can contest the objective by hitting the gate with any skill. Furthermore, if they begin to repair the gate, you'll still have a way to contest the keep (even if you're not hitting inner gate), by going back to the outer gate and hitting it with any skill.
3. Charr Cars. These are the camp tactic that no one really uses. On a map where you only own your own camp, a Charr Car can be slotted and driven across the map to do damage to a wall enough to bring it to 97%. This can contest their waypoint while you hit another objective and they'll have a slower response time.
4. Golems. Omega golems can be hidden near enemy objectives to do damage to a wall. A portal can be dropped next to a wall that is already below 98%, fire one shot from an omega golem on it, and re-use the portal to bring the Omega Golem back to it's hiding place. Alternative methods can be done using Stealth (since it's not a boon).
And so, because contesting is more difficult, here are some consequences of that:
1. Enemies will be able to use their nearby waypoints more often. If you're fighting on the south side of an Alpine BL's T3 Bay, near the Sentry, and you're driven back to the sally/portal, the Way Point for Bay will still be active unless the opponent intentionally damages the gate or walls. This means large scale fights in these areas can happen over and over and over again with quick respawns as long as the objective's gate/walls aren't damaged. Great news for fights! More fights per night.
2. Normal T3 Waypoints will become active during fights.Fights inside T3 Keeps and T3 SMCs will see the Waypoint become active while enemy zergs are inside their objectives. Since the regular guards no longer cause contesting, then a group that is between outer and inner can not meet the requirements for contesting (hitting a wall or gate that is lower than 98%), and the waypoint will go active. This can cause a group that owns the keep to "Zombie" them down. A solution to this should be to bring the inner gate to 97% though PvDoor. I expect this to be the norm. This method will also require someone to track the three minutes needed to re-smack the door. This punishes attackers who don't understand the new system, and creates no changes for defenders if the attackers know the above.
3. You can believe white swords now.I mentioned this at the start of the post, but I just want to note it in this list. This used to take 30 seconds to appear, and was triggered very easily. So not only was the information late to be shown to the entire map, but it was likely a warning sign that can be ignored. The new changes mean the white swords appear immediately and that they're harder to trigger. This should allow for defenders to respond and for scouts to relay information with more certainty.
We'll see how this all plays out once the patch drops. But regardless of the outcome, I'm always in favor of providing map-wide information quicker (immediate white swords) and having map-wide information be more accurate (harder to contest). Think of how useful Orange Swords are as a comparison. When they appear, you KNOW there are at least 25 people engaging and exactly where they are. That is immediate & accurate information that is available to the entire map.
P.S. Since we're working on contesting, can we fix the fact that Speldan's Camp can't ever be contested? It's immune to being contested.
P.P.S I hope that objectives being re-contested means that when the event timer of 3 minutes resets on an objective, the white swords also immediately reappear instead of go missing for 30 seconds like they currently do.
Edited by SerialExperiments.8075
