Tournaments, Custom Arenas, and the Future of sPvP

Guild Wars 2 may have shipped over a month ago, but that doesn't mean the developers' work is done. After all, there's new features to add as well as all of the things they wanted to ship with but couldn't for various reasons (e.g. time, not satisfied with current build, doesn't fit the role perfectly, etc.). Jonathan Sharp over at ArenaNet wrote a blog post this week to address one of these areas with missing features: structured PvP.

Jonathan talks about the current system and the free tournaments players are familiar with right now. They're fun, but they're not perfect for everyone. Experienced pre-made teams end up getting matched up against pick-up groups or rookie players, leading to a steamroll and no real challenge for the veterans. One of the ways ArenaNet is addressing this is by adding one of those missing features: paid tournaments. There's an entry fee paid in in-game currency, but everyone playing gets some form of prize with the top winners even getting their tournament fee back with a little extra. The best of the best could end up competing for free.

The other feature Jonathan talks about is the ability to rent custom arenas for you an your friends to practice on. More details will come in a future post, but basically they're somewhere for you to do duel matches against friends, practice for upcoming tournaments, or even hold your own private one.

More features are mentioned at the bottom of his post, but as Jonathan mentioned near the beginning of his article, they're not going to talk about it unless they're ready to show it.

Michael "Ragar" Branham