Warsong Gulch Dream Team

[NiteFox]

EDIT: TeamFortress-style CTF gameplay would probably help negate some of the issues present in current WSG. In TF style CTF, the flag drops on carrier death, and remains in place for a determined amount of time (generally 60 seconds in TF games) at which point it returns to its base. Defenders cannot return the flag, so they have to form an impromptu defense around it until it returns on its own. An enemy player picking up the flag resets the timer. You may also score points regardless of whether or not your own flag is in its base. This lends itself to a more fluid CTF game where both teams need a dynamic defense and offense. If your flag is close to the enemy base, you need to worry less about scoring and more about preventing them from finishing the cap.

That's about the worst thing about CTI in TF2, mainly due to the fact that if an opposing player just touches the intel for one second before being blown away by the defense, the timer resets. This causes a fair amount of stalemates on public servers as much as anything, and there have been numerous petitions begging for some diminishing returns on the timer reset (First drop means 60s reset, second 50, etc.).

The big problems, and I mean really big problems with WSG as it stands are as follows:

1) Flag carrier mortality, or rather the lack of it. The reason why CTF works in FPSes is because the team chasing the flag carrier can kill it in a relatively short amount of time. Even supported by their team, I know that in TF2 or UT I can kill the flag carrier with a directed assault. What I don't have is warlocks, priests, or warriors nailing me with their various forms of scatter. What I don't have is an effectively-short effective combat range (Even if they hit rarely, most FPS weapons have a range greater than 41 yards). What I don't have to do is stop to fire most worthwhile weapons. If I meet the flag carrier in the midfield of an FPS, I have a good chance of killing it before they get out of range. If I am the FC, I know my best chance is to engage any interceptors in combat, rather than just carry on running and laugh the moment I leave their effective combat range while only suffering some damage. This is a huge problem in WSG, as in most cases unless the midfield coordinates and aren't interfered with the FC support, that runner will make it by pretty much unmolested.

2) Flag carrier speed. Often in FPSes, the FC has the same top running speed as the rest of the players on the field. If they have means of boosting their speed, then it's only for a short duration (Speed Adrenaline in UT200X) or is otherwise balanced with lower health (Scout class in TF/2, Scout relic in Q3TA). What they can't do is, say, pop Travel Form and make it back to the home base before the defending team can react.

The above leads to the situation where both flags are in the other base, and both teams must simultaneously defend their FC and assault the enemy base. This situation also turns up in an FPS as well (Aside from TF2, since your intel doesn't need to be in the base to capture the enemy intel. This works a lot better than many would thing). However, since neither of the above problems exist in an FPS, this is not the daunting problem as it is in WSG. Fight your way through the crowd, frag the flag carrier (Who, unlike WSG, is not usually cowering in the corner relying solely on the defense) and reset your flag. Big weapons help. Being able to kill opponents in a few number of trigger pulls also helps. Being able to kill (Not injure, but kill) a number of opponents at the same time helps. You simply can't do this in WoW.

Third problem:

3) There is no incentive to defend. I disagree with Bolty's comment about defending being a waste of time. I've been part of many spirited defenses that have turned away larger, some may say even more determined, assaulting forces. Mainly through luck, but through sheer will. I've been in groups of two or three defenders take out groups of five players plus. A Hunter on defence is a great asset, as they can quickly and easily prepare the defenders for an upcoming assault, give accurate numbers, lay down traps, and even have a extra pocket rogue in the form of the eponymous PvP cat pet.

But the point is, we've defended the flag - What do we get for it? A handful of honor from the assaulters, subject to diminish returns? That's it. In an FPS, defenders get extra points for close-flag defenses, they even get ego-stroking announcements of "S1c|<B0y defended the flag!" that makes everyone in the game know they're not just sitting in their hienies doing nothing. Flag planters get bonus honor for doing so, so flag defenders should have something tangible for their effort. At 60 (WoWWiki hasn't got any details for 70), planting the flag gains the capper 40 extra honor, defending should reward about 10~20, because defenses win matches in avoiding the "swapped flags" scenario above. You could argue that rewarding defence promotes turtlefests, but I disagree: Most turtles come about during "swapped flags", where neither team can effectively penetrate the FC's defenders for any short amount of time. String this situation over 10 or so minutes, for 3 or even 5 caps, and it's no wonder why a lot of WSG matches run for hours. Which brings us to the next point:

4) All matches should end. CTF in every other game has a time limit of some description, be it an in-game limit (Usually 30 minutes, even though the UT minute is shorter than the real world minute) or a sever map rotation limit (Like TF2, where CTI maps have no visible time limit, but servers rotate away from the map in due time, regardless of the score). WSG could benefit from a time limit, or it could benefit from a system like AV's resources.

Both sides start with 300 resources. Death reduces resources by 1, having your flag captured reduces by 100. This means that matches will still end on three caps, but can also be won through attrition. Diminishing returns have no effect on midground honor farming, since those so inclined would continue killing even after every opposing team member has been drained, but knowing that the map will be over in 300 kills (Spartaaaaaa!) might motivate them into realising that, y'know, the base across the map has a pretty flag that would look good in their home base. This would also open the way to rewarding defence, since a defender's death impacts the team slightly.

And finally...

5) Close down the damn midfield. Name one good CTF map that has a wide open midfield like WSG has. You can't, can you? CTF-Face is narrow in most of it's incarnations (Face3, in UT2003, was more open, but less popular than Face and Face][). 2Fort has the narrow bridge, narrow sewer pipes, and only the (small) open pool in the middle which is detrimental to all Pyros but the smart ones (Shottie ftw). Chokepoints are essential in killing flag carriers, short of actually "piling on" (And hoping that the pries doesn't barge in with their scream, or the warrior with their shout). Most FCs are killed in the tunnel, which is one huge chokepoint. There's some furniture in the midfield that acts as natural barriers, but not enough to make it actually useful. Throw in a few gulches that players can only climb out of at certain points. Add bridges. More tree stumps! It's a damn logging camp, for crying out loud. A decent assault shouldn't have to wait until the flag runner makes it to their tunnel to be able to effectively kill them.

I know this is a long and slightly off-topic rant, but fixed teams and ratings won't fix WSG itself. It needs a near rewrite to be worthwhile these days. Most PvP sets rely on WSG marks the least, and even the 30 you need can take longer to attain than any number of marks from other battlegrounds (Anyone want a dozen AV tokens? I've got loads, and AV used to be the big daunting prospect of token grinding).

In short, honor gains in WSG are too little to make it preferable over AB or AV, even when WSG is on holiday weekends. Token grinding is also a lot harder than any other battleground. WSG needs fixing, but not with rated teams.

The players aren't broken, which is what rated teams attempt to fix. The battleground itself is broken, mainly due to game mechanics.