Basically, when you have a ladder for any kind of competition, all of the matchups don’t normally happen at the exact same time. You also normally have a pretty big group of entries in the ladder to choose from, which means that you’re matched with the closest opponent at the time the matchup is created. In the case of WvW, there are only 24 servers and the matchups all occur at the same time.

To counter this, we’re going to partially randomize server matchups, with the exception being we won’t match servers against other servers whose rating falls outside of an acceptable range. This range will be determined by using your world’s rating and deviation (already listed on the leaderboards).

Hey all,

I wanted to quickly give an update on where we stand with upcoming releases for WvW to help give a sense of where we’re at, and set expectations for the coming months. We’re in the midst of finalizing our February release, which I know had been discussed as a potentially large month for WvW additions.

Because of how broad the WvW game type is, and how large testing for features for this area of the game can be we’re going to hold off on any major WvW updates until March to allow a bit more time to test and polish.

March will see the release of the WuvWuv progression system, new ranks you can earn in WvW visible to all other players, and new DubVDub specific abilities/bonuses that you can earn as you rank up. Our team working on WvW will discuss this system in more detail as that date approaches.

Other major systems currently in the works, which will see updates in the future, include:

- Continual work to re-build the way our game loads models and compresses data, to allow for more visible characters/names in WvW in the long run as we build towards removing as much culling as possible from the game.

- Expanding on reasons to be winning in WvW beyond the total weekly score, providing stronger incentives for specific objectives and additional short term goals/rewards for winning minute-to-minute in the WvW maps.

- Providing additional ways for WvW players to earn various power-progression rewards available across the game currently in PvE for participating in WvW content.

- Exploring ways to help get more people playing WvW, as well as dealing with queue issues that come with those inherent issues of player population and demand.

- And of course additional polish and cleanup features to make the general experience in WuvWuv more fun and exciting.

We’ll discuss timelines and more details for the projects for 2013 listed above as they get closer to being finalized and we can safely say we know for sure when they will be released. We’ve recently expanded the staffing on our WvW team to build up and expand this core part of Gw2 even more, and we look forward to sharing with you more details and features in the coming month as this group polishes and grows the WvW experience.

With the holiday season at an end, the last remaining Wintersday merchant is closing shop. Make sure to finish your exchanges before January 28th PST, when the Festive Lionguard will be packing his wares and leaving Tyria.

Chris Whiteside, the Studio Design Director at ArenaNet, recently posted an AMA (Ask Me Anything) on Reddit. Here is a summary of that AMA in a Q &A format for ease of reading.