Guild Wars 2

he im verry new to the game as in i haven no started at all and recently been playing wow pvp but decided to look for somthing new and seeing as this is one mmo ive never done i was wondering

how is the pvp in this game is it balanced well is it good fun, how long does it take to get into pvp?

does gear matter as well or is it pre determined stats?

any additional information may help too TY

Gear is the same for everyone, there’s nothing that grant you an advantage on your enemy. You also have all the skills unlocked for free, unless for the Elite Specializzation because you need HoT to obtain it. But if you have HoT you have Everything.
You can play with a lv 5 armor and weapon and your statistics are the same as a full legendary set. You chose your Amulet that grant you everything, your traits, chose your skills and equip your wepon, then you’re ready to fight.

You need few levels in PvE and then you can join the Structured PvP area.

The sPvP is good, still if not the best of the world.
At the start you’ll be eated alive by everyone (as always when you approach to a new game) but with a little experience and some build suggestions you can do good and be able to play in a competitive way (for what a newbye can do).

I have fun in this sPvP but there’s who think is good and who think is bad.

Only one thing: in this game there’s Two source of Damage: Power and Condition (that inflict Damage over Time). Them both can kill you fast and they’re countered by different things. Mainly Power damage is reduced by Toughness, protection and some traits, while Condition is reduced by clean the condition stacks (bleed, burn, torment, poison, confusion, they’re all conditions that inflict damage and can be stacked on you), Resistance (that make you totally ignore the damage and effect of conditions), some rune, trait and sigils. Then, every hit can be blocked/dodged/evaded/blinded and you can obtain partial or Total Immunity to the enemy. BUT conditions Already stacked on you will Always inflict you they’re damage, unless you active Resistance or clean them.
But remember that they both can kill you fast and you need to pay attention on what the enemy is using, activating different skills and using different tactics.

Based on your class you have roles to play and builds that fit better in the actual “meta”, as in every game.
There’s sites like metabattle that can help you to figure out what’s the actual “meta” build for every class.