Guild Wars 2 Diary #35: WvW Tips

In our last diary entry we took a look at what made the World Vs World section of Guild Wars 2 so special. It’s fun, it’s huge, it helps you with your main quest – but it has its problems as well. Part of that is down to the fact that you can’t have non-stop action all of the time, and part of it is that we’re not quite to the point, connection-wise, where we can actually support the bits that have non-stop action. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.

This week, I thought we’d go through a few tips that may or may not help you beat the competition in the mists. Feel free to add your own below.

Beginner WvW Tips

Take it Easy

I’m sure this isn’t what you want to hear, but it’s true.  World Vs World in Guild Wars 2 has a really steep learning curve and there’s nothing you can do to avoid it. You can avoid doing certain things as to not suck completely (like charging into a group of enemies alone), but you’re still going to be pretty terrible in your opening hours of massively multiplayer competitive gaming.

Put the thought of leading armies into battle out of your head. Stop yourself from typing nasty things into the chat box. Take a step back for a moment, and actually watch what other people are doing and learn from them. Either they’re making mistakes that you definitely don’t want to repeat – and getting killed for their trouble – or they’re doing some really cool stuff and it’ll be worth watching them.

Either way, paying attention is more important than scoring really high and pulling in experience, and that’ll be true for quite some time.

Watch Your Gear

So you’ve just jumped from level 3 to level 80 thanks to the Guild Wars auto-balance. But hold off on your excitement there, Timmy, there are a few things to remember.

First of all, being forced up to level 80 is a balancing technique. That’s why it’s part of an auto-balance system. It’s easy to forget that everybody else you’re facing is also at level 80 and, if anything, this just puts you at the lowest rung of an even harsher pool of players.

Secondly, you will level up but your gear will not. People who play WvW an awful lot will not only be better than you in terms of tactics and situational awareness, but they’ll most like have better weapons than you, and that’ll mean a better rounded character all together. So while the auto-balance is neat, it’s not at all balancing anything.

Play to your Strengths

So if you’re not going to be leading the charge or even contributing that much, what can you do to make sure your world is tops? Play to your strengths, of course. Heal, drop flags, use buffs, shoot from a distance, use specials that attack multiple enemies at once. This will not only help your army as a whole, but it’ll get you experience as well.

Don’t try and do things that don’t match your character or which won’t work towards a larger goal for the team. It won’t help you, it won’t help your world and it’ll lead to an early loss.

Defending in World Vs World

React Quickly

When you see that one of your locations is being attacked, you’ll need to react quickly. Not too quickly, of course, because you don’t want to show up against an enemy army entirely on your lonesome. But you probably won’t have too much time to get there.

Try and work with other teams and groups. Even if you’re not directly communicating, you can see what others are doing and react accordingly. Working as part of a larger army is key to attacking, but it’s also important in defence as well.

Pick Your Battles

As hinted at above, you don’t want to end up the only person defending a location against a hundred enemy troops. Picking your battles will be key to staying alive, and you might just be able to turn the tables of battle back round to your side.

Numbers Matter

Sun Tzu warns that if you’re outmatched in every way, you should flee. Fleeing is a tactical decision, and one that you should consider whenever the numbers are against you. Think – with a hundred people knocking at your door, who’s defending their nearby strategic points? A small group can easily take a close location, even if everything seems lost at your own keep.

Strategy can only take you so far, and while a decent commander will do great things with any group, numbers definitely matter. Try not to punch too high above your weight, or you’ll find your game time cut quickly short.

Miscellaneous

Supply

Always have supplies. If you can rebuild a wall – do it. It won’t affect your game any, you come across new supplies all the time; there’s absolutely no reason not to be prepared for everything you might come across. This is a battlefield, after all.

It’s a Siege

Guild Wars 2 is a game, but when you have a place under siege, you need to treat it as you would a real siege. Cut off their supply lines. Don’t let anybody in or out. Attack every enemy you see and focus your attacks where they’ll be most effective. No building is impenetrable, but give a besieged army enough time and they’ll easily come up with something that will repel your attack, even if you’ve knocked down the door.

Be quick, be quiet (kill scouts), but be certain in your actions as well. The more you can do to make the enemy uncomfortable, the quicker a building will fall.

Guild Wars 2 World Vs World Tips - Conclusion

World Vs World in Guild Wars 2 isn’t an easy thing to just play, and it’ll probably take you some time to get used to it all. To begin with, allow more experienced players to hold the reigns. With some time and energy, you’ll easily be as good as they are but to begin with you’ll need to take it easy.

As you progress, you’ll definitely want to start thinking of yourself as the commander of an actual army. Even read Sun Tzu’s Art of War (there are multiple copies online, for free on smart phones and cheap paper versions as well). It’s a book that’s appropriate to many situations even today, so don’t worry too much about reading it “just for a game.”

Finally, persevere. It’ll all pay off in the end, either with a new game mode that you’ll love to play, or just in the form of experience for your PvE. Be sure to try it out though.

See previous episodes of Guild Wars 2 Diary:

by Mat Growcott