New to WvW, but I still hate it

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Daddicus.6128

Daddicus.6128

I’m new to WvW, and I’m doing something very wrongly. I get killed almost instantly whenever another player shows up. Someone just barely shows up on the radar, and before my stealth skill goes off (and WAY before he should be able to traverse that distance), I’m downed. Less than a second. Then, before I can get off my shadowstep skill, I’m dead.

How is this possible? One-hit downed, second hit dead, and all from a player way starting beyond what should be aggro range, and no chance to even kick off a skill.

On the rare occasions when I get my stealth skill off, it only lasts for less than a second (supposed to be three seconds), and even while in so-called stealth, the enemy can still damage me (usually downing me, as above).

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Illconceived Was Na.9781

Illconceived Was Na.9781

People who play WvW know all the tricks and have quicker reaction times than you do. Really good players can sneak up on the unwary, burst them down, and that causes a panic, which causes the player to forget everything they ever learned about surviving a tough fight.

Literally the only reason my mesmer carries Signet of Humility (aka the Moa-ification skill) is to freak out those with equal or less skill, to give me a momentary advantage — that’s generally all I need to win the encounter (either by defeating the opponent or having them run off and leave me alone).

As a newcomer to WvW, you won’t have any experience in such encounters. Even players no better than I are going to surprise you, be able to take down your health before you get a chance to think, and/or stun-lock you, while you watch your health drain.

So you have a couple of options:

  • Don’t worry about — focus on dailies or the easy kills and be prepared to waypoint a lot. (That was my first month or more of WvW — I got map completions without winning a single encounter.)
  • Worry about it a lot — use each fight as an opportunity to learn. You’ll still WP a lot, but each time, you’ll get less worse about dealing with the various encounters.
  • Worry about it a lot — watch videos or play PvP or try out different classes, using a WvW havoc build from metabattle.
  • Worry about it a little — find someone else to travel with you. Good players will still be able to take down two (or even three) newbies, but a lot of players aren’t all that good — they’ll avoid you instead.
John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Haleydawn.3764

Haleydawn.3764

1- You aren’t doing anything wrong, you are in new PvP territory. Even the best of players die in WvW. It’s a fact of MMO PvP.

2- Many WvW roamers have a lot of experience in traversing the terrain, and taking down their enemy. I’m assuming you play thief or maybe mesmer given the fact you stated your stealth skill. If you are playing in Exotics or some stat considered squishy, you will die. Very easily unless you know your profession inside and out.

3- You learn how to play levelling and PvEing, you learn survival and tactics in PvP.

I personally learned more about my professions through PvP and WvW than I did in PvE.

Obligatory, people are better than you because that’s how they play and have done so for a while. No one is a ‘natural’ at PvP but it is definitely something you can improve on.

Kitten.

(edited by Haleydawn.3764)

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Daddicus.6128

Daddicus.6128

It’s not the dying that is freaking me out. It’s the instant downing, and from long range. And, the fact that stealth doesn’t work at all is a big problem, when I was planning on relying on stealth to escape enemies (I had three stealth skills, but none of them seemed to have any effect at all).

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: No One.3716

No One.3716

PVP and WvW success is about knowing and using your skills effectively and knowing and negating your enemies skills effectively as well.
Use your combat log after you’re down/dead to see what skills were used, understand the way that those skills work and counter for them.

Stealth =/= invulnerability; with some builds it does offer reduced damage but that doesn’t mean you can stand in cleave without dropping.

If you are consistently getting one or two shotted while out then its a fair indication that you should tank up your gear, and/or tweak your build for more survivability; until you have a better understanding of the ways to handle what is giving you problems.

The class specific forums here can often be helpful in “how do I deal with x(class)” type of questions.

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: ArchonWing.9480

ArchonWing.9480

It’s a good idea to build another set for WvW. Gear with more vitality such as valkyrie or marauder (but they are sort of expensive; some soldiers gear may be needed) + zerker may be a better combo. With 16k health, I sometimes get close to being one shot; it’s the nature of power creep and anet has not balanced for this scenario at all.

If you are unstealthing, it may either be due to the reveal effect, but there’s also a chance you’re using something that deals damage as well.

Go for acro—-> trickery —--> DD and take unhindered combatant/hard to catch with shortbow and a weapon of your choice. Take signet of agility— this skill breaks stun and clears condi, both of which will save you. This will allow you to break away from mostly everything.

Also run off to the side when you try to escape. If you’re just running in a straight line away from them, it’s not too hard to know where you are.

For once you have tasted flight you will walk the earth with your eyes turned skywards,
for there you have been and there you will long to return.

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Illconceived Was Na.9781

Illconceived Was Na.9781

It’s not the dying that is freaking me out. It’s the instant downing, and from long range. And, the fact that stealth doesn’t work at all is a big problem, when I was planning on relying on stealth to escape enemies (I had three stealth skills, but none of them seemed to have any effect at all).

You’re not being insta-downed; you just think you are. Stealth doesn’t prevent you from taking damage, it just prevents you from being seen — an experienced player knows this and lays down covering fire to make it hard for you to escape. Plus, if you do any damage (often via autoattack), then you won’t stay stealthed or be able to stealth again immediately.

In other words, you’ve described what it’s like to go up against a veteran while being new to the game mode.

John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Pretty Pixie.8603

Pretty Pixie.8603

Most likely causes of stealth breaking early are 1) dealing damage and 2) your opponent using a reveal.

Trying to WvW with PvE gear and a PvE build is tantamount to suicide, especially to a newcomer. PvE builds are all about max DPS; WvW builds are designed for survivability. As you become more experienced, you trade off defensive gear for offense, and compensate with knowledge of your build and situational awareness. Roamers tend to be glassier than players in larger groups.

As others have said, build tankier. This will make it harder to kill someone, but it gives you more time to recover and learn. You sound like you don’t understand your class very well. Use the class specific forums and Youtube/Twitch to learn more. You can bet other roamers know the ins and outs of their classes. Join a roaming guild if that’s your thing, and learn from more experienced players.

Relentless Inquisition [PAIN] – FA

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Ryou.2398

Ryou.2398

The best way to do wvw is join a guild that does it as an event once a week especially for new people. Trust me it helps allot.

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Illconceived Was Na.9781

Illconceived Was Na.9781

The best way to do wvw is join a guild that does it as an event once a week especially for new people. Trust me it helps allot.

Definitely a good idea.

John Smith: “you should kill monsters, because killing monsters is awesome.”

New to WvW, but I still hate it

in Players Helping Players

Posted by: Daddicus.6128

Daddicus.6128

I’m in such a guild, but I haven’t taken advantage of it. Yet.

This character is a thief (DD) with assassin ascended armor. I’ll try some other characters and see what happens.

Thanks!