Guild Wars 2

It is nice for newer players to be vocal about their experiences.

I don’t claim to be a seasoned player. Though I have played a fair bit, I never competed on a proper team and I’d say playing with other people on voice chat is probably the most educational!

It gives you fast access to common team strategies and it will teach you the art of stomping / reviving that you can’t learn anywhere else.

In all fairness, Guild Wars 2 struggles on the aspect of communication and grouping. The new tournament systems move around this issue, but it is still very much present. There was a time when, unless you knew and played with a group of people already, there was basically no chance of finding one for tournaments.

Some pointers, if you like:

- Pay attention to combo fields: there are a lot of team play revolves around stacking might or stealth to open a fight. Learning every combination at your disposal can improve your play.

- Downed state is crucial: it is not always in your team’s best interest to stomp, simply damaging a downed enemy can be a safer way of securing a kill. Know the abilities every class will use in downed state and how your build can counter them. Same goes for reviving allies.

- Count your opponent’s dodges: dodging is the most basic and powerful defensive skill in the game, if you notice a target without endurance it is safe to burst or crowd control.

- Use verticals to your advantage: maps often offer secure and strategic positioning on the high ground. Moving up the vertical axis can allow you to leave a fight and save your life (less so now after blink nerfs).

- Personal positioning is essential, but knowledge of map control is equally important. Moving quickly between points can allow you to catch the opponents of guard by suddenly outnumbering them, stealing away their secondary buff or rotating your members of your team to their backpoint.
Sometimes it is better to sacrifice a point you have and moving elsewhere if you know you cannot defend it.

These are very basic ideas and since you said you won 10 solo queue matches and have experience in PvP games I recon you already do this, but it might be helpful still.

I have been playing guild wars 2 since the beta and rank 11 was my best team q leaderboard place so far therefore i think i got enough experience to talk about it

if i were you i would choose a class that makes me happy everytime i logg in to play it no matter if its “good” in the current meta or not.. i for example play mesmer which is not that viable atm

if you cant decide you can watch some twitch streams

-teldo – engineer
-azshene – guardian
- ventari – Necromancer
-my stream actually cause i dont know if helseth still plays mesmer in his stream – mesmer
phantaram – elementalist
caed – thief
dont know about ranger and warrior

Once you decided what you want to play.. try go spvp and not tournaments for the beginning because there you learn how to react to certain circumstances and learn how to play your class

after like 300 games i would try your first team or solo q have fun and see you ingame

I think the OP is asking for help with how the current targeting works. I don’t know exactly myself but I hear the targeting system is somewhat broken and wouldn’t mind a guide to all the ins and outs myself.

Edit: One thing I remember reading and have happened to me in game was if you switch your target and use a skill too fast it will land on your previous target…. I think

I think those streams are the reason players run copy and paste builds and I would avoid it. You have the ability to try out all the classes 80 in spvp.

I definitely like hearing from the perspective of someone that’s new to the game, so thanks for the post.

Well, when someone stealths your target is dropped, which is most likely what happens to you against thieves and mesmers. Some rangers can stealth too, but only with longbow.

A good thing to do is try out the classes that you have trouble with. Check out different weapon sets and utilities to get an idea of what’s possible. You can check out builds that are more popular ( http://mistpedia.net/index.php/Known_Builds ), but remember not every Mesmer is going to be a shatter Mesmer, for example.

There are things that are more obvious to notice, like you mentioned the elementalist using that thing that appears above you, called dragon’s tooth. There are other things that are more subtle and take active practice to really understand and see. I remember the first time I ran into mesmers I could never figure out who the real one was. Over time you start to pickup on the little things, and this only gets faster when you play the build in question/ask someone playing it to duel oh a bunch.

There’s also abilities that you can’t really “see” until it’s too late, and unfortunately that’s just the way the game is at the moment. It’s what a lot of us would like to see changed, though.

Whilst I’m also a new player, i get the feeling the secret to success in pvp lies not in the ability to win fights, but instead in knowing which/how many players to send to the various points on the map.
That aside, having a build that can fit into such strategies is also key. (eg aoe to compensate for targeting issues when fighting mesmers/thieves/etc)

even if you dont want to play metabuilds id recommend looking them up, trying to understand how they work and what they rely on. a d/p thief for example will try to hit you from behind when hes in stealth (very easy put), a shatter mesmer will mostly try to burst you down using the immobilize from sword+sword2+mind wrack. if you know what the builds are about you can learn the animation and get to know what to doge/block/blind/avoid otherwise and what their weaknesses are (mesmers f.e. usually dont have much condition removal while warriors have quite a lot). this will imrpove your play a lot.

Yeah, I see what you mean. It can be difficult to try to know what you’re supposed to learn next once you’ve learnt the basics. I guess if you knew what you had to learn without having anyone else tell you, you’d already have learnt it. :P

Like Stof mentioned, once you get into higher levels of play, personal positioning and map control become all the rage (among other things). For example: I play a thief, Sword/Dagger. In case you didn’t know, my second weapon skill allows me to pretty much teleport to an opponent within 1200 range and immobilize him/her while doing damage. I then have a 15-second window in which, if I use my second weapon skill again, I more or less get teleported back to my original location where I first activated the skill. It’s pretty simple in its idea, but in practice, it’s weapon skills like these that can create a lot of really interesting plays.

For example, I was playing on Skyhammer today. I was near the center of the map (where there are a lot of staircases and whatnot to the second point). I was standing above a Mesmer that was approaching the stairs to the point. I used my second weapon skill, laid on a bit of damage, and as the mesmer used its skills to try and get away from me, it got increasingly closer to the area where I had first used my #2 weapon skill. I activate my third weapon skill (the spinning-human-with-a-sword movement you’ve probably seen by now), and during the cast activate my second weapon skill, teleport to my opponent, and once again close the gap between us. Just a few more strikes, and the mesmer is down.

Of course, that was the simplest way I could think of to put it. I could always go on to talk about how you can evade during the pre-cast of Infi Strike so that when the attack hits you get all the benefits of Infi Strike but that you get to land the attack while evading, or I could go on rambling about how there is a window of time after using LS where you can use the auto-attack while evading, or how the last quarter of the Flanking Strike animation makes thieves weak to attack as they have to remain rooted in a single position- whatever. The point is that the strategy and tactics underlying this game are far more complex than lots of people will want you to think.

There’s one particularly huge part to this game, however, that I think a lot of people underestimate the importance of. Buildcrafting. I mean, let’s put it this way: there are two versions of my build, which vary based on what amulet I’m carrying. In one version, I stick with my team, and during large battles I stay to the outskirts of the fight, dealing tons of damage to specific individuals. With the other build, I’m much more free to roam around, can 1v1 virtually any enemy, and can take a heck of a beating for my team. The builds only vary in one relatively minor aspect, and yet they result in absolutely incredible playstyle differences. Sure, you can copy and paste other peoples’ builds, but the problem is that they’re often deluded by their own biases. For example, most people either don’t know or refuse to believe that, just looking at stats, 30 points into the Thief trait line “Critical Strikes” only allows a player to deal ~1% more damage than going only 10 points into “Deadly Arts”, and yet the majority of thieves have 30 CS (in spite of my suggesting they not do so). Personally, I’ve never been one to stick to the meta, really; I prefer to create my own builds that end up being vastly different from those of other players. But anyways, buildcrafting is another huge area that any player can improve on.

So yeah, hope some of that helps.

Corian.4068:

There are people I’ve fought against that I have no idea how to combat. Fighting thieves, rangers, and mesmers feels more like I’m fighting against the game’s interface than another player. I don’t even have a chance to figure out what to do, I spend half the fight trying to target them and keep up with where they are and which is the player. I never get the impression in these fights that I’m too weak to combat them, but rather that my UI is wrong or something because I can’t ever seem to even keep them targeted. I’m okay with great mobility in fights, I understand the need for some classes to have it, but why doesn’t the game allow me to just keep a person targeted? I must be doing something wrong but I don’t even know what.

Mesmers and Thieves:
The mechanics of Mesmers and Thieves are to be horrid. In games like wow, incombat stealth is limited to 1 or 2 skills (at most). In guildwars 2 there is a reveal debuff (looks like an eye in a target) once that is gone (3-4 seconds) the thief or Mesmer can stealth again. To add to that, the game promised short stealth duration, however thieves can stack stealth to get their “short duration” up to 16-20 seconds. While they are stealthed the can cleanse conditions, heal up and spam as many attacks that don’t hit you as they want.

Say for example, you skilfully blinded a thief as he went invisible. If he didn’t remove the condition in the first place, you think you would be safe from his back stab … no. His first hit misses and he stays in stealth to presto you in the back with his second attempt at the attack. There are times when thieves stealth away and I pop invulnerability to prevent their damage. They just sit there pressing 1 until my invunerabilty goes away (50 second cd vs there unlimited supply of stealth, seems legit and fair .. sarcasm).

Mesmers are as much of a pain as thieves. They will stealth to remove target, then summon their pets to kill you while there run around being a pansy.

Here are a few tips:
1. A target in stealth will still take damage. Aoes or manually pressing auto attack (on a melee weapon) will still hit a thief if he hasn’t moved off.

2. The real Mesmer is usually easy to find. If they have a weapon and an offhand, the one with both is real (clones don’t have offhands). The real one will move not in a direct line of you, and a real one will dodge / do other moves then the auto attack.

3. If a thief uses thieves guild (2 thief summons will appear) sometimes it will be better to kill them quickly first, as they have less hp then the thief, wont heal and sometimes do more damage then the thief (why? that’s bogus).

With more experience you will learn to beat / be on par with them.

For spirit Rangers, good luck, they are “the” build atm. Hint, target the spirits first, start with the sun spirit, but remember the ranger will be able to summon them pretty much as soon as they are dead (if he has them out before you engage him).

Finally, go to the Ranger, Mesmer and Thief forums, create a Ranger / Mesmer / Thief and play the current OP builds (usually listed on said forums) till you understand the class a bit more.

Thank you all for your replies and messages. It’s really encouraging to come back to this thread and see a lot of helpful posts. So again, thank you all.

I didn’t want to mention my class because I didn’t want this thread to become about class balance. My skills have a long, long, long way to go before I’m good enough that class balance is a primary factor in my fights, but thanks for the stream listings.

And yes, I agree that I need to learn the meta builds, as well as the class skills regardless of build. I wish there was an easier way than making one of the class myself and goofing off with it (I may watch those streams in addition).

In the meantime I changed my build a bit to better combat the things I’m struggling with. I also need to change my playstyle some and become more mobile, and move with the team even if it means abandoning a point. I really don’t like that idea but attempting to defend it on my own never seems to work anyway, and I’m not a bunker that can stall people until others show up.

Okay. Will take what I’m learning and continue to see how it goes.

I would advise you watch some GW2 PvP streams. The most important in streams is more often the explanations they can offer while playing and that doesnt really happen in most of the streams listed above. Granted those are great players but it seems to me you are more interested in the thought process of playing.
There are really informative and good players that keep explaining play-by-play, move-by-move why they do what as they go, just as if they are shoutcasting the game.
I’ll list a couple examples that are my favorites and helped me improve quite a bit:
Misa – Mesmer – Causality Stab – http://www.twitch.tv/causalitygaming
CMC – Elementalist – http://www.twitch.tv/cmcgw2/
Zoose – Elementalist – http://www.twitch.tv/thundercatshoooo/ (Think he has left GW2, not sure though)
Stunningstyles – Guardian – http://www.twitch.tv/stunningstyles
Caed – Thief – http://www.twitch.tv/narcarsis/

Here are some great beginner hints that should help:

1. For sPvP, turn off nameplates for everything except Players. This will make it much easier for you to see where the real Mesmer is, or sort out where the real characters are in the middle of a fight where there are a lot of pets and other AI critters around mucking up your view of the action. Don’t forget to change this setting when you leave PvP.
2. Pick one build known to be “viable”, and play that in hot join or solo queue till you feel you’re becoming reasonably competent at it (know what all the skills do and have an idea of when to use each). Links to builds have even given above in this thread, or if you PM me with class and preferred play style, I can send you one. By sticking to one build, you will gain confidence with it, and by picking one known to be reasonably good, you’ll know that you have a solid base to work off of. The goal here is to get good enough with a build such that you can afford to pay less attention to simply playing your character and more attention on other factors, such as enemy attacks and such.
3. Figure out what classes are giving you the most trouble, and then do some homework. Look up what their abilities do, and if possible, have a friend duel you on those classes. Get practice at recognizing what abilities they are using, and what you can do to counter or play against those abilities. Even better, make a character of that class and play it yourself for a little bit. The point here isn’t to become a multi-class superstar, it’s to acquire a basic understanding of the classes so you can more properly fight against them.
4. Start trying to expand your awareness as you grow in skill. At first, your eyes will largely be preoccupied by your skill bar and the main view, but you need to keep your eyes moving, and keep constant note of your HP, your conditions, enemy buffs (especially protection and stability), the minimap, and your allies HP. The more you can keep aware of at once, the more you will be able to react properly as situations change, and they constantly will in pvp.
5. The best and most fun way to grow in pvp is with friends. Some will naturally know more than you about certain nuances, so just by playing with others you will learn new tidbits all the time. As long as you keep playing and maintain a critical eye to what you can be doing better, you will automatically keep improving for a long time.

nice thread ..
except the big mistakes like picking wrong build (if u learn just get popular builds easy to play ) u can make many many small mistakes in team fights and 1v1 ,about those mistakes could someone tell u if he spectates u on tpvp , or some of them ,spectating on hot join , couse there is so many stuff that u have to watch ,that it would be hard to even write about everything , couse u just forget about many stuff , after 3,4,5….10 k games played ,i dont know how annoying it would be for me if i started playing now :/

if u know good players that can sometimes spectate u and speak with u on ts while u play ,the problem is that u can spectate only hot join and scrims , tpvp u can only stream :/

@ OP:

The fastest and easiest way to handle such situations you are in is learning by doing.

Take the spvp hotjoin Server and feel free to test all classes, only way for understanding their mechanics and know how to counter each class/spec. You have to play it and get the feeling how this class works.

Hello,

I am also quite new to this game and it took me about a week to find enough information all over the internet to improve in spvp. There needs to be a single pvp source for new players. I like intothemists.com.

Here is an article i read in the first days and it helped me a lot with the problem you have: http://intothemists.com/articles/spvp/spvp-techniques-and-tips/

And here is a thread I made yesterday with a few other sources:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/pvp/pvp/Guidelines-that-helped-me-a-LOT-tPVP/first#post2614792

Azraelle.1683:

Not a single pvp oriented game. Eve very differs from gw2. Other games are just casual pve. No UO, no WHO, no DAoC. What a pvp player.

Sadly, I missed the trains on UO and DAoC. DAoC in particular I would’ve loved to have experienced back in its day. Are you old enough to have played those games, yet still insecure enough at your age to attack others for not having done so?

Bamboula.6579:

Hello,

I am also quite new to this game and it took me about a week to find enough information all over the internet to improve in spvp. There needs to be a single pvp source for new players. I like intothemists.com.

Thank you, will check these out.

Game-play is very fast. Combat will slow down though as you gain more experience. Also if you are running a glassy set up/ low defensive tools etc; you might want to think about running with a bit more attrition. As you are new to the game. Even the most experienced can be bursted down quickly.

The thing that will improve with the matches is your priority list. To know when it’s worth letting down your teammates in teamfight for a midbuff, to know that you have to kill that enemy trebutchet as soon as possible once they start to fire it and to know when it’s worth finishing off an anemy instead of ressing an ally or the opposite, and so on.

Corian.4068:

It’s frustrating to feel like I’m dragging my team down every match by just being there. It’s frustrating to not even know what I could be doing to get better. Overall I’d say I’m still willing to stick with it through the learning curve, but if every new player is experiencing the same thing I am I can understand why there seems to be so few people participating in this portion of the game.

Don’t worry, learning curve is just understanding you should reroll one of the actual trololol umbalanced bugged op meta class\build (Ex. necro or spirit ranger) like top 10 pro team have yet done.

Then, if you wanna be a lot skilled you should wait for next patches in way to always be the newest trolol umbalanced op meta class\build.

This is how tpvp works in this game,

Enjoy xD

I just wanted to get the followin out there: you ehouldnt do solo Q if youre a new player.

Solo Q is like a tournament where no one knows each other, hot join games are aupposed to be for new players.

For some reason arenanet didnt make a simple tutorial that shows new players the way…

The game browser is somewhere west of the tournament browser, strategy diesnt matter there and youre in a safe environment where you can test your builds and combat etc.

Dont worry abor feeling youre not learning anything, theres a huge skill cap! You just dint know it exists because you never saw t, probably.

Inthe game browser there are some custom arenas that are meant for 1vs1, where experienced players duel and stuff.

Heres a video of one of the best mesmers i know and a thief doing a 2vs15 or something
And those 15 just have no idea whats happening :P.

That said: dont do solo Q, do hotjoin

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

I would advise you watch some GW2 PvP streams. The most important in streams is more often the explanations they can offer while playing and that doesnt really happen in most of the streams listed above. Granted those are great players but it seems to me you are more interested in the thought process of playing.
There are really informative and good players that keep explaining play-by-play, move-by-move why they do what as they go, just as if they are shoutcasting the game.
I’ll list a couple examples that are my favorites and helped me improve quite a bit:
Misa – Mesmer – Causality Stab – http://www.twitch.tv/causalitygaming
CMC – Elementalist – http://www.twitch.tv/cmcgw2/
Zoose – Elementalist – http://www.twitch.tv/thundercatshoooo/ (Think he has left GW2, not sure though)
Stunningstyles – Guardian – http://www.twitch.tv/stunningstyles
Caed – Thief – http://www.twitch.tv/narcarsis/

i just watched causality stab and i have to say he is really not the best mesmer..better watch helseth play

Sensotix.4106:

Quickfoot Katana.8642:

I would advise you watch some GW2 PvP streams. The most important in streams is more often the explanations they can offer while playing and that doesnt really happen in most of the streams listed above. Granted those are great players but it seems to me you are more interested in the thought process of playing.
There are really informative and good players that keep explaining play-by-play, move-by-move why they do what as they go, just as if they are shoutcasting the game.
I’ll list a couple examples that are my favorites and helped me improve quite a bit:
Misa – Mesmer – Causality Stab – http://www.twitch.tv/causalitygaming
CMC – Elementalist – http://www.twitch.tv/cmcgw2/
Zoose – Elementalist – http://www.twitch.tv/thundercatshoooo/ (Think he has left GW2, not sure though)
Stunningstyles – Guardian – http://www.twitch.tv/stunningstyles
Caed – Thief – http://www.twitch.tv/narcarsis/

i just watched causality stab and i have to say he is really not the best mesmer..better watch helseth play

Like I said its not about being the best but having the streamer explain stuff as he plays and Causality does a great job at that. I like watching Helseth aswell but he doesnt offer as much insight to new players.

So it’s been about a week since I last checked this thread and in that week I’ve played about 30 matches, and won a grand total of THREE of them. No, seriously. I was 14-11 in total matches and now I’m 17-39. The last one was particularly rough, we got stomped in a non-competitive 4v5. I was on the team with 5 and our score ended up in the 100s at the end of the match.

I’m baffled more than frustrated because I have been attempting to focus on the details. I’m learning the maps better, I feel like I’m more consistently useful to my team, and yet, we still lose nearly every match. We’re losing more than when I felt I was being dead weight, even.

I still don’t know how to fight a number of builds but I’m learning more and more to disengage/not engage those and go to where I’m more useful to the team.

So, still learning curve. I’m kind of hoping this is just a really epic bad luck streak but with each successive day of losses it feels less and less like that, though I’m not at all sure whose fault it is. I know the one constant is me, but I’ve been doing a little better. Still a long way to go, but yeah.

Play around a little with your game options. There are some target selection options there. I remember stealth making you drop target being really annoying at first though, you’re not alone there

Mammoth.1975:

Play around a little with your game options. There are some target selection options there. I remember stealth making you drop target being really annoying at first though, you’re not alone there

To fix this problem, set the auto-targeting on. It will give you a target to attack as soon as they pop out if you’re using a skill.

Also turn off r-click targeting. That would also help a ton.

Corian.4068:

So it’s been about a week since I last checked this thread and in that week I’ve played about 30 matches, and won a grand total of THREE of them. No, seriously. I was 14-11 in total matches and now I’m 17-39. The last one was particularly rough, we got stomped in a non-competitive 4v5. I was on the team with 5 and our score ended up in the 100s at the end of the match.

I’m baffled more than frustrated because I have been attempting to focus on the details. I’m learning the maps better, I feel like I’m more consistently useful to my team, and yet, we still lose nearly every match. We’re losing more than when I felt I was being dead weight, even.

I still don’t know how to fight a number of builds but I’m learning more and more to disengage/not engage those and go to where I’m more useful to the team.

So, still learning curve. I’m kind of hoping this is just a really epic bad luck streak but with each successive day of losses it feels less and less like that, though I’m not at all sure whose fault it is. I know the one constant is me, but I’ve been doing a little better. Still a long way to go, but yeah.

You might need to start engaging in the 1v1s you think you can’t win. This will probably teach you to handle them better and sometimes it’s the best way to draw fire to yourself, pulling the enemy team away from where they may be most useful.

@Dirame — I did realize the right click targeting thing about a day after posting this thread. It’s already helped some though it hasn’t completely alleviated that feeling that I’m fighting the UI against very highly mobile/stealth classes.

As for engaging the 1v1s I think I can’t win, I usually learn that I can’t win them by engaging them in the first place, haha. But I’m decently recognizing the classes/builds that I’m not playing well enough to beat, and the ones that are built to delay me until help shows up (such as bunkers). I’m very slowly adding to the list that I feel comfortable engaging on my own. Very slowly.

At the same time I’m realizing my playstyle lends itself to other players being there and creating opportunities for them, so I’ve been emphasizing moving to where other players are fighting and creating favorable situations.

Allie Murdock.8152:

Hey Corian.4068,

Just wanted to say that we really appreciate you taking the time to give us your constructive feedback. I’ve passed this on to the PvP team, and points you have brought up will surely be in our discussions on future implementation.

Thank you for this. I certainly can’t speak for more than myself but I’d like to think that this thread has overall been quite positive and representative of the kind of community we’d all like to see.

I also hope the more experienced players are providing similarly constructive feedback for you guys to work with, and that you’re finding it and passing it along. I want to emphasize that overall I am enjoying the sPvP side of the game, these are just some frustrations that keep coming up.

I thought I’d update after the weekend. Changed builds again, rather than a control build that requires other players to maximize its effectiveness, I’ve switched to a tanky condition build that can win 1v1s, and that’s when I started meeting regular success. I’m not any better as a player than I was four days ago. I’m not more useful to the team. I’m just more able to win 1v1s. Apparently that’s the difference between a 10% win rate and a 70% win rate that I’ve had since changing the build.

It’s a bit of a disappointing realization, understanding that 1v1 builds are what gets success in solo queue, but I guess that’s what solo queue is. I hope more team-oriented builds and gameplay are occurring in team arenas. I’ll find out one of these days.

Targeting in general is abysmal in this game. It stems in large part from trying to fit two actions onto left click: click and drag to move the camera, click and release to target. It means you have to be twice as precise as you are with any other game, so even if you manage to get your cursor over the target you want and click at the right time, there’s no guarantee you’ll actually target them. It is obscenely frustrating, and it’s most noticeable with Mesmers (stealth and clones), Rangers (pets and spirits), and Thieves (stealth and occasionally Thief’s Guild). It’s also extremely irritating when you’re in your downed state surrounded by potentially a lot of targets but all you want is to target the one guy who’s stomping you. Good luck with that.

Incidentally, having allies in the are actually makes this worse because left-click can target them as well.

For starters this video series is quite good.

http://www.youtube.com/user/WoodenPotatoes/search?query=dummies

Someone should make a PvP-Guide on the most basic stuff. How and when to rotate between points etc.
That said; I’ve played a fair amount of PvP in this game for almost a year now, and I did nothing else in all of the beta weeks.
I’ve experienced every single meta and played as and against all classes and builds.
And I think I get what you mean.

The first weeks of playing a new character is fun. You learn how to counter your opponents as well as how to cleverly synergize your skills.
However, a week or two is all it takes. This is simply because there is nothing more to learn really (Rotating and assisting takes longer, but once you’ve learned it can be applied to every new character you try).
This has been discussed in a lot of threads, but reality is: It’s almost always most efficient to spam your dodges and skills. And I think a lot of seasoned players will agree with me. I don’t feel like I am improving anymore, and when I actually pull something nice off, it doesn’t really make a difference (Unlike other games where an it can really make or break the game)
The reason for you not knowing how to counter other classes is very legit as well.
Because sometimes there is no other counter than to leave the fight.

My brother and I have both played this game for a year now, so as I said we’re up to date with everything. I tried creating a ranger and went with the spirit build, and we arranged a duel against his mesmer.
Even though he did everything he could, and tried to play as intelligently as he had learned the past year, I pretty much auto-attacked him to death and won with full HP. A build that I had JUST made and never practiced. I’m 100% positive that I could have won against him only using auto-attack and utilities.

My point is: If you are getting fear/condi chained by a Necro and wondering what you did wrong, the answer is: Nothing, except maybe not fleeing.

KrisHQ.4719:

My brother and I have both played this game for a year now, so as I said we’re up to date with everything. I tried creating a ranger and went with the spirit build, and we arranged a duel against his mesmer.
Even though he did everything he could, and tried to play as intelligently as he had learned the past year, I pretty much auto-attacked him to death and won with full HP. A build that I had JUST made and never practiced. I’m 100% positive that I could have won against him only using auto-attack and utilities.

Maybe they should add a test called: “do I win with auto attack?” as a QA process then.

Flamfloz.6732:

Maybe they should add a test called: “do I win with auto attack?” as a QA process then.

Would make better balance than what he have now.
I must admit that I was very surprised. I had no clue I would win so easily doing nothing. Every time I’ve lost to a ranger I’ve blamed myself for playing like kitten, that has changed now.

Thats because GW2 is all about outplaying the enemy, the skillceiling is so unbelievably high that after 2 weeks you’ve still only scratched the surface.

Also, the most important part is to listen to your teamleader on which node you have to move to. It takes another 2 weeks to master this ability. The learning curve in this game is just insane its no wonder other people can auto attack you down.

KrisHQ, I think guides about basics are totally pointless. Who is at the level to actually care about a guide and look for it, has enough brain to know the basics already.

Who would really need the guide will never read that.

GankSinatra.2653:

Thats because GW2 is all about outplaying the enemy, the skillceiling is so unbelievably high that after 2 weeks you’ve still only scratched the surface.

Also, the most important part is to listen to your teamleader on which node you have to move to. It takes another 2 weeks to master this ability. The learning curve in this game is just insane its no wonder other people can auto attack you down.

O_O"

GankSinatra.2653:

Thats because GW2 is all about outplaying the enemy, the skillceiling is so unbelievably high that after 2 weeks you’ve still only scratched the surface.

Also, the most important part is to listen to your teamleader on which node you have to move to. It takes another 2 weeks to master this ability. The learning curve in this game is just insane its no wonder other people can auto attack you down.

Well said, an outsider may think that winning a duel by autoattacking is easy but that’ s only because he lacks the experience to tell what’ s really going on, the truth is that gw2 is not a game for everyone, only truely skilful players can be effective with what the masses call “meta builds”.

That was actually sarcastic lol

Lachanche.6859:

That was actually sarcastic lol

Sorry but after reading some of the posts here I no longer know what to say and who thinks these for real.

Lachanche.6859:

GankSinatra.2653:

Thats because GW2 is all about outplaying the enemy, the skillceiling is so unbelievably high that after 2 weeks you’ve still only scratched the surface.

Also, the most important part is to listen to your teamleader on which node you have to move to. It takes another 2 weeks to master this ability. The learning curve in this game is just insane its no wonder other people can auto attack you down.

Well said, an outsider may think that winning a duel by autoattacking is easy but that’ s only because he lacks the experience to tell what’ s really going on, the truth is that gw2 is not a game for everyone, only truely skilful players can be effective with what the masses call “meta builds”.

On a serious note though, I think a truly skilled player with their favourite class (and their favourite build, not necessarily meta) should not let himself be defeated by a “meta build” handled by an outsider. Mashing button works, but isn’t that effective against someone who knows what they are doing… YMMV depending on class weaknesses, procs, etc. (but on average this should be true).

Lachanche.6859:

GankSinatra.2653:

Thats because GW2 is all about outplaying the enemy, the skillceiling is so unbelievably high that after 2 weeks you’ve still only scratched the surface.

Also, the most important part is to listen to your teamleader on which node you have to move to. It takes another 2 weeks to master this ability. The learning curve in this game is just insane its no wonder other people can auto attack you down.

Well said, an outsider may think that winning a duel by autoattacking is easy but that’ s only because he lacks the experience to tell what’ s really going on, the truth is that gw2 is not a game for everyone, only truely skilful players can be effective with what the masses call “meta builds”.

This guy gets it.

Corian.4068:

I thought I’d update after the weekend. Changed builds again, rather than a control build that requires other players to maximize its effectiveness, I’ve switched to a tanky condition build that can win 1v1s, and that’s when I started meeting regular success. I’m not any better as a player than I was four days ago. I’m not more useful to the team. I’m just more able to win 1v1s. Apparently that’s the difference between a 10% win rate and a 70% win rate that I’ve had since changing the build.

It’s a bit of a disappointing realization, understanding that 1v1 builds are what gets success in solo queue, but I guess that’s what solo queue is. I hope more team-oriented builds and gameplay are occurring in team arenas. I’ll find out one of these days.

Yes, in solo queue condition or zerker roaming specs seem to be the most effective due to the lack of communication on the part of the 5 solo players. To be honest, I played for a long time as a Guardian bunker in solo queue (before the separation of group/solo) and although I am able to keep a point and hold out until someone comes to help, the match favours the side with good roamers.

What gives you a high chance of winning a game are:
1. They respond quickly to my calls (“2 mid,” “1 close,”, “I’m down close”);
2. Those with mobility play map objectives and not for points (like in hotjoin)
3. Those with mobility create outnumbered situations to quickly end teamfights on a node (e.g. Condi Engi comes into 2v2, downs Guardian and blind/small stomps). You need to understand how to rotate nodes as a team and this movement will allow outnumbering to occur. Forcing 2v1s and 3v2s ends fights quickly.
4. Personal skill does matter, but only up to a certain point when you are in your element with 1 class and 1 spec. You can put less attention on what skill to use and more on reading and properly reacting to enemy skills. Rotation will allow a lot of wins even if your enemy team has players outskilling you by a certain amount.
5. Lastly, 1v1 ability may come into play in clutch situations, but 1v1 specs will be able to 1v1 but not contribute as much to teamfights, generally speaking. You could snipe someone quickly but you will not be able to withstand massive AoE, either to stomp or res. (Although the playstyle in solo que is probably more roamy and therefore different)

Regarding Builds:
Also, make sure your spec has a purpose and does what it is supposed to. A lot of players want to be defensive yet give “balanced” damage output like in WvW but you don’t have a lot of stats to configure for it.
This may be counterintuitive, but try out the specs that top teams use. They have a role and purpose and they are good at it. Also play the different classes and specs and learn how they do their damage/control/support so that you know how to counter them.
Examples:
Condi Engi with Grenades and Elixir R: Great in teamfight for AoE conditions and fast res in clutch situations. Depending on loadout has some good CC and Crate gives good support.
D/P Thief: Drop target quickly with reliable blindstomps. A counter to Condi specs with little stunbreaks/stability (Necro/Engi)
S/D Thief: Brusier that forces offensive specs to defend themselves. Was a counter to the mobile Shatter Mesmer.
Condi Necro: Using Rabid Amulet, with low survivability if focussed. Very strong Condition pressure in teamfight and long fears can ensure down/stomp and res interrupt.
Bunker Guardian: Clerics, low damage with high healing sustain, blocks and condition removal. Known for AoE Stability “Stand Your Ground!” allowing many stomps. Strong in teamfights as an anchor and can hold out on a point (not as well as Engi/Ranger bunkers)
Spirit Ranger: Strong team support and instant resses via Spirit of Natural Renewal (Elite). Condition pressure via burning and great 1v1.
Stunlock Warrior: Counter-meta to Condi Necro. Low CD stuns and high damage tie them up and also with defensive specs able to bunker against conditions fairly well.

Many others… and I am not the most knowledgeable. Be sure to research, play with friends on Voice Communication software and learn a bunch.

Hey hey again Corian a very nice thread you have here I wish I’d seen it before I posted mine. I could just use it for my post. Now with all these beginner’s threads the old pro players will be like omg they are coming, they’ll invade us and steal our employments. My fault.

If you really want to improve in tPvP, then get out of solo que and play in teams. Here are some simple guidelines to having a chance at winning as a newer player.

1) Don’t que without a full roster of 5.
2) All 5 of you need to be on a VOIP, so download TeamSpeak, Mumble, Ventrilo (maybe some others too) and find some servers that you can use for team matches.
3) Use your Friend List to keep track of people you can team with that are competent.
4) Get some friends with experience so that you aren’t running in with a team of 5 green players, because aside from being unfun, your learning opportunities are limited in matches that you lose 50-500.
5) Make sure that you put thought into your team composition before you enter the match. Don’t just grab 5 and hop into que.

Since you mentioned that you play thief, here is a suggestion for composition:
Thief (S/D Roamer)
Guardian Mid-Bunker (multiple variants can work)
2x Ranger (spirits, particularly good for new players)
Engineer for all around utility or Necromancer for condi pressure

One of the Rangers can grab close point, and this comp is very resilient at the team fight due to the duplication of the Ranger Rez and general durability of the 2x Ranger + Guard + S/D Thief. The Engineer is a bit better for utility than a Necro, but the raw damage output of a Necro in a team fight scenario is pretty much unmatched at this point.

You should roll most of the low level competition running this as long as you rotate point to point decently well and manage down states appropriately, so emphasize communicating those things specifically on the VOIP.

If you are an NA player, then feel free to friend me and whisper if you see me on line. I am no pro player, but I have a good bit of experience, and generally enjoy helping new people pick up tPvP.

You perfectly described unsatisfying and satisfying things in there. Not only you, but every player in this game struggles with these issues. It’s probably 99% of the playerbase, which feel the same way. The problem definitely not relies on you but on the game. I recommend you to either wait till A-Net starts to restructure this game (which is probably not the case and will never be) or jump to another game, which is actually designed for PvP (obviously GW2 is designed around PvE).

So if you search for a challenging game, which requires not only good team-synergy but skill and brain to play a class, then you’re better off with an alternative.
Good luck!