Guild Wars 2

Hi! I’m just starting to take PvP seriously and wondering what is absolutely essential to know. The Getting Started sticky is outdated since the changes. Are there other good resources?

Thanks

Pick a role you want to play (Roamer, mid bunker, side bunker and so on), go watch last ESL Weekly matches on youtube (Last ones because if you watch old ones there’s probably gonna be a lot of outdated and out of meta specs there) and start learning how to play your role and class/spec best suited for it and how to properly rotate.

Try going with someone with more exp than you who can point out your mistakes, after you found out the best role and spec for you go find a pvp team/guild and always try to go with same ppl talking about what you did right or wrong after matches.

Give no kittens to loosing at start…you’re gonna lose A LOT and that’s totally normal, don’t give up

And for god’s sake don’t go hotjoin since there’s nothing to learn there outside random zerging (If you just want to test a buld it’s fine but there’s nothing about tpvp and skill in hotjoin)…if you were going wvsw before just forget everything you know, pvp is way harder than wvsw and totally different on pretty much every aspect from equal stats and gear for everyone to single player’s skill level…assuming you can 1v1 a class just because you can do it in wvsw is gonna get you facerolled as soon as you meet an average decent player

Backpacks rotation guide on utube https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=jvPb2jY19oU

As far as resources go, watching competent peeps stream their gameplay can be fun and educational. Plus you have the option to troll them shamelessly on stream chat, which is always nice. Depending on the class you play, here are some current streamers:

Ostrich Eggs & Texbi (Engi)
http://www.twitch.tv/ostricheggs/profile
http://www.twitch.tv/itexbi/profile

Caed & Sizer (Thief)
http://www.twitch.tv/narcarsis/profile
http://www.twitch.tv/sizer2654/profile

Helseth (nab Mesmer)
http://www.twitch.tv/thelordhelseth/profile

Phantaram & Denshee & CMC (Ele)
http://www.twitch.tv/phantaram/profile
http://www.twitch.tv/superchey/profile
http://www.twitch.tv/cmcgw2/profile

Noscoc (Necro) http://www.twitch.tv/noscoc/profile

Ranger: Dunno. Does Eura stream? EU hasn’t had decent Rangers since Battosai left.

ROM (Warrior) http://www.twitch.tv/romoncoke/profile

Tage (Guard) http://www.twitch.tv/tage33/profile

Plenty of other good players out there of course, but the people on the above list should get you started on whichever class you enjoy the most.

Aereniel.7356:

Ranger: Dunno. Does Eura stream? EU hasn’t had decent Rangers since Battosai left.

Eura isn’t playing right now. And other than that..no good rangers that really play.

All perfect answers. Watch vids to learn what you need to do, but at the end of the day, PRACTICE.

Practice, Practice, Practice.
This isn’t something you will be great at in just a weeks time. Time and effort required. Also depends on the class/ spec you choose on how long this will take. Some are a lot higher skill cap than others and will take 4 times as long to get it down and learn all the counters for the enemy classes that run in PvP.

GL to you and may your journey be bloody.

Everything said above me are good answers, but to tone everything down in a couple simple words.

1. The best way to learn is through experience:

You don’t necessary have to learn every class and build, but know how they work, and their pro’s and cons. This way you’ll understand why something is strong and what it is weak against. Learning rotations comes by experience, the synergy, the people you meet.

2. Don’t try to be like your role model, be yourself, and strive to better than the best:

If you try to become like the person on some stream, you’ll pick up their habits, and try to play like them. You’ll be predictable and will be easy to read. It is good to have one, but don’t try to be them. Change it up and be YOU. They teach you things, but use those teachings to perfect your own way of playing.

3. Practice makes perfect form, but the perfect form of practice is the best practice and requires the least time.

Sure you can practice over and over, but if you’re practicing the same thing and are in the same state after 2 years, then that practice isn’t really helping. So when you practice something, make sure you’re executing the right technique so that form of practice comes shorter and mastered well. I used to breakdance/was a B-boy (still am), back in the day and this moral relates so much. Counting dodges, anticipating cooldowns, fighting your instincts (Should I do this or that? Is it too greedy?). Cooldown management. Decision Making. This is one concept that everyone seems to forget and what new players don’t learn, are taught, and told.

4. Most important thing is to have fun!

If you aren’t having fun with the game, then you aren’t gonna have fun learning or improving. Relax, because these things come through time. Find something that is comfortable and suits YOU. Don’t let anyone put you down, because you can always rise back up and improve!

I don’t stream due to not having a computer at that level yet so you can’t see things visually, but i’d be happy to answer questions in-game, and with that knowledge you can use that to construct your own play style.

YourFriendMarvin.4127:

2. Don’t try to be like your role model, be yourself, and strive to better than the best:

If you try to become like the person on your stream, you’ll pick up their habits, and try to play like them. You’ll be predictable and will be easy to read. It is good to have one, but don’t try to be them. Change it up and be YOU. They teach you things, but use those teachings to perfect your own way of playing.

I think is somewhat not the best best way to put it.

Think watching streamers and picking up on what they’re doing in matches is a good way to learn. It has helped me infinitely. Before I even started to spvp seriously I knew the maps better and how the game mode works than true newbies to spvp. Watching some streamers I picked up on core stuff they do.

I kind of view it like guitar playing. You start with a few simple chords and try to imitate your influences, but over time you find more influences and start developing your own style.

EDIT: I agree with your sentiment. But I think new players should watch streamers, just learn the fundamentals from them and watch more than one person playing the class you have chosen.

SobeSoul.6910:

YourFriendMarvin.4127:

2. Don’t try to be like your role model, be yourself, and strive to better than the best:

If you try to become like the person on your stream, you’ll pick up their habits, and try to play like them. You’ll be predictable and will be easy to read. It is good to have one, but don’t try to be them. Change it up and be YOU. They teach you things, but use those teachings to perfect your own way of playing.

I think is somewhat not the best best way to put it.

Think watching streamers and picking up on what they’re doing in matches is a good way to learn. It has helped me infinitely. Before I even started to spvp seriously I knew the maps better and how the game mode works than true newbies to spvp. Watching some streamers I picked up on core stuff they do.

I kind of view it like guitar playing. You start with a few simple chords and try to imitate your influences, but over time you find more influences and start developing your own style.

Yeah it’s okay to pick up inspiration, and watching streamers isn’t bad. Pretty much what you said is what I said and is true. You take what they show you and use it to get better. The point is to learn from the best to improve and be the best you can be through what you’ve learned. It is good to have a role model, but you don’t wanna be like them, and instead improve to be better.

I’m a Dancer, and I would always try to imitate the moves and style of the guy in the videos I watched. I realized that i’m not really dancing and just performing the same way as the Dancers I looked up to. I realized that I could use their moves, but construct it and express it in my style to differentiate from that other dancer. To call that style, “my flow, my expression, how I am”. Similar to your guitar playing and music. People express themselves with different interpretations of the music.

Sure Dancing and Music are different than gaming, but the concepts can be related.

EDIT: I just saw your edit, and yeah I’m not against watching streamers, but my point is to use what they teach and show you to be better than them rather than imitation.

Gnat.9405:

Hi! I’m just starting to take PvP seriously and wondering what is absolutely essential to know. The Getting Started sticky is outdated since the changes. Are there other good resources?

Thanks

Practice, practice and once again practice. Nothing will make you good, but practice.

YourFriendMarvin.4127:

EDIT: I just saw your edit, and yeah I’m not against watching streamers, but my point is to use what they teach and show you to be better than them rather than imitation.

Yeah. What I meant by imitation, is you imitate just the basic stuff like might stacking rotations on ele until it becomes a part of your own mechanics.

I’m currently learning d/d ele. I figured out the very basic might stacking rotation on my own just by reading skills. Watched some players and videos for other stuff that showed me more in depth might stacking rotations. Saw other things I could be doing better as well.

I played against you the other day… and I will say that I couldn’t go through my normal rotations against you because you were putting way too much pressure on me on your engie. That’s why I agree with your sentiments. A lot of new players get stuck trying to play in a certain frame of mind and that’s where not purely imitating whoever your influences can be problematic.

It’s kinda why I get a kick out of this new queueing system. I know you would have probably beaten because you have way more experience than me, but fighting guys like you gives me a sort of measuring stick of where I am and where I need to go.

The best thing I ever did to improve was really try to analyze my own play when I lost a lot of games. What did I do wrong? What was wrong with my build? How can I change my style, spec, or anything else?

Some other advice is generally trying to secure stomps and rezzes, fighting on point, and knowing when to hold and when to push points are huge difference makers.

Ranger: Dunno. Does Eura stream? EU hasn’t had decent Rangers since Battosai left.

Kenny.

@Gnat, Anet had made it clear, all you need to do to succeed, stomp everyone, win money and great is 1 thing. Celestial, so create a rifle engineer or d/d ele, slap on a celestial amulet and don’t look back.

With a mere 20 min of practice you will dominate the high level scene and get asked to join any group, hf, literally the best advice offered.

Thanks guys these are great help. I’ve been mostly playing power necro but have started thief to see how that feels. Got tired of the endless Hambows