Guild Wars 2

Here are some examples of my matches. Like most casuals on the wrong side of the MMR formula I’m frustrated with losing. Going back and watching my matches I know there is stuff I could have done better. What is my biggest issue?

“Season 2 Match 1 —- Loss 503-299 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51464168
“Season 2 Match 2 — Win 500 – 363 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480016
“Season 2 Match 3 --- Win 501 – 413 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480100
“Season 2 Match 4 —- Loss 500 -203 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480229
“Seaon 2 Match 5 --- Loss 500 – 186 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480296
“Season 2 Match 6 —- Loss 503 -203 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480363
“Season 2 Match 7 --- Loss 500 – 206 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480633
“Season 2 Match 8 —- Loss 500 – 466 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480756

Faux Play.6104:

Here are some examples of my matches. Like most casuals on the wrong side of the MMR formula I’m frustrated with losing. Going back and watching my matches I know there is stuff I could have done better. What is my biggest issue?

“Season 2 Match 1 —- Loss 503-299 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51464168
“Season 2 Match 2 — Win 500 – 363 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480016
“Season 2 Match 3 --- Win 501 – 413 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480100
“Season 2 Match 4 —- Loss 500 -203 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480229
“Seaon 2 Match 5 --- Loss 500 – 186 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480296
“Season 2 Match 6 —- Loss 503 -203 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480363
“Season 2 Match 7 --- Loss 500 – 206 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480633
“Season 2 Match 8 —- Loss 500 – 466 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480756

Stopped watching after first match. Hideous teammates, you were the only one on point at mid, warrior was roaming around…smh..

well i only watched a few mins of the first but perhaps you should learn how to not instantly die

On a positive note the warrior and theif were eventually able to kill the lord. xD

StickerHappy.8052:

Faux Play.6104:

Here are some examples of my matches. Like most casuals on the wrong side of the MMR formula I’m frustrated with losing. Going back and watching my matches I know there is stuff I could have done better. What is my biggest issue?

“Season 2 Match 1 —- Loss 503-299 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51464168
“Season 2 Match 2 — Win 500 – 363 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480016
“Season 2 Match 3 --- Win 501 – 413 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480100
“Season 2 Match 4 —- Loss 500 -203 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480229
“Seaon 2 Match 5 --- Loss 500 – 186 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480296
“Season 2 Match 6 —- Loss 503 -203 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480363
“Season 2 Match 7 --- Loss 500 – 206 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480633
“Season 2 Match 8 —- Loss 500 – 466 ":http://www.twitch.tv/ccreynolds/v/51480756

Stopped watching after first match. Hideous teammates, you were the only one on point at mid, warrior was roaming around…smh..

I just watched the first one. There are a few rotation mistakes here:
1) You rushed in at the beginning when you only have 1 teammate behind you. That’s usually the most common beginner mistake in rotation. Always count your number before jumping into a fight. In a 2v4 you will die 100% of time unless you are an ESL player (in which case I still doubt they can win 2v4 against the average players). It’s even worse that your other teammate is a Thief, who won’t be able to peel/heal you.
2) You tried to rez multiple times when you didn’t have skills to secure the rez (for example, knock the enemy out). If you don’t have those skills to secure the rez, then don’t rez it.
3) You don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the chain daze and block from Scrapper. Learn the leap daze combo and leap heal combo. Block from Scrapper is really OP.
4) At 8:10, you got stuck in the terrain. Learn the map so it doesn’t happen in the future.
5) You also stay in the red circles a lot of times. Positioning is very important. Just think that if you manage to stay outside of a red circle, you heal yourself 2k (random number).

Sunshine.5014:

I just watched the first one. There are a few rotation mistakes here:
1) You rushed in at the beginning when you only have 1 teammate behind you. That’s usually the most common beginner mistake in rotation. Always count your number before jumping into a fight. In a 2v4 you will die 100% of time unless you are an ESL player (in which case I still doubt they can win 2v4 against the average players). It’s even worse that your other teammate is a Thief, who won’t be able to peel/heal you.
2) You tried to rez multiple times when you didn’t have skills to secure the rez (for example, knock the enemy out). If you don’t have those skills to secure the rez, then don’t rez it.
3) You don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the chain daze and block from Scrapper. Learn the leap daze combo and leap heal combo. Block from Scrapper is really OP.
4) At 8:10, you got stuck in the terrain. Learn the map so it doesn’t happen in the future.
5) You also stay in the red circles a lot of times. Positioning is very important. Just think that if you manage to stay outside of a red circle, you heal yourself 2k (random number).

Wow way to go, didn’t you see how his teammates played, he mightve done all you said but that doesn’t change the fact that Matchmaking is hideous.

StickerHappy.8052:

Sunshine.5014:

I just watched the first one. There are a few rotation mistakes here:
1) You rushed in at the beginning when you only have 1 teammate behind you. That’s usually the most common beginner mistake in rotation. Always count your number before jumping into a fight. In a 2v4 you will die 100% of time unless you are an ESL player (in which case I still doubt they can win 2v4 against the average players). It’s even worse that your other teammate is a Thief, who won’t be able to peel/heal you.
2) You tried to rez multiple times when you didn’t have skills to secure the rez (for example, knock the enemy out). If you don’t have those skills to secure the rez, then don’t rez it.
3) You don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the chain daze and block from Scrapper. Learn the leap daze combo and leap heal combo. Block from Scrapper is really OP.
4) At 8:10, you got stuck in the terrain. Learn the map so it doesn’t happen in the future.
5) You also stay in the red circles a lot of times. Positioning is very important. Just think that if you manage to stay outside of a red circle, you heal yourself 2k (random number).

Wow way to go, didn’t you see how his teammates played, he mightve done all you said but that doesn’t change the fact that Matchmaking is hideous.

He asks for advice on how to do better. Those are what I would do if I were him. Are you supposed to tell him to just blame his teammates and AFK? With that attitude, you shouldn’t expect to win.

Teammates aside, a good player will need to match their play style with their teammates’ play style. If their team is not around, jumping into an outmanned fight is suicidal and detrimental to the team. They make it worse for their teammates because they will have to fight outmanned longer time.

StickerHappy.8052:

Sunshine.5014:

I just watched the first one. There are a few rotation mistakes here:
1) You rushed in at the beginning when you only have 1 teammate behind you. That’s usually the most common beginner mistake in rotation. Always count your number before jumping into a fight. In a 2v4 you will die 100% of time unless you are an ESL player (in which case I still doubt they can win 2v4 against the average players). It’s even worse that your other teammate is a Thief, who won’t be able to peel/heal you.
2) You tried to rez multiple times when you didn’t have skills to secure the rez (for example, knock the enemy out). If you don’t have those skills to secure the rez, then don’t rez it.
3) You don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the chain daze and block from Scrapper. Learn the leap daze combo and leap heal combo. Block from Scrapper is really OP.
4) At 8:10, you got stuck in the terrain. Learn the map so it doesn’t happen in the future.
5) You also stay in the red circles a lot of times. Positioning is very important. Just think that if you manage to stay outside of a red circle, you heal yourself 2k (random number).

Wow way to go, didn’t you see how his teammates played, he mightve done all you said but that doesn’t change the fact that Matchmaking is hideous.

I think this post encapsulates perfectly the essence of this whole kerfuffle on the forums:

“Everything is matchmaking’s fault” vs. “I want to get better at pvp”

Kudos to the OP for asking the right question, and kudos for sunshine for actually answering the question.

Thanks for taking the time to post some tips. I know I screwed up the start. I thought the warrior was with too, but you are right neither could support.

Sunshine.5014:

I just watched the first one. There are a few rotation mistakes here:
1) You rushed in at the beginning when you only have 1 teammate behind you. That’s usually the most common beginner mistake in rotation. Always count your number before jumping into a fight. In a 2v4 you will die 100% of time unless you are an ESL player (in which case I still doubt they can win 2v4 against the average players). It’s even worse that your other teammate is a Thief, who won’t be able to peel/heal you.
2) You tried to rez multiple times when you didn’t have skills to secure the rez (for example, knock the enemy out). If you don’t have those skills to secure the rez, then don’t rez it.
3) You don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the chain daze and block from Scrapper. Learn the leap daze combo and leap heal combo. Block from Scrapper is really OP.
4) At 8:10, you got stuck in the terrain. Learn the map so it doesn’t happen in the future.
5) You also stay in the red circles a lot of times. Positioning is very important. Just think that if you manage to stay outside of a red circle, you heal yourself 2k (random number).

Kuya.6495:

StickerHappy.8052:

Sunshine.5014:

I just watched the first one. There are a few rotation mistakes here:
1) You rushed in at the beginning when you only have 1 teammate behind you. That’s usually the most common beginner mistake in rotation. Always count your number before jumping into a fight. In a 2v4 you will die 100% of time unless you are an ESL player (in which case I still doubt they can win 2v4 against the average players). It’s even worse that your other teammate is a Thief, who won’t be able to peel/heal you.
2) You tried to rez multiple times when you didn’t have skills to secure the rez (for example, knock the enemy out). If you don’t have those skills to secure the rez, then don’t rez it.
3) You don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the chain daze and block from Scrapper. Learn the leap daze combo and leap heal combo. Block from Scrapper is really OP.
4) At 8:10, you got stuck in the terrain. Learn the map so it doesn’t happen in the future.
5) You also stay in the red circles a lot of times. Positioning is very important. Just think that if you manage to stay outside of a red circle, you heal yourself 2k (random number).

Wow way to go, didn’t you see how his teammates played, he mightve done all you said but that doesn’t change the fact that Matchmaking is hideous.

I think this post encapsulates perfectly the essence of this whole kerfuffle on the forums:

“Everything is matchmaking’s fault” vs. “I want to get better at pvp”

Kudos to the OP for asking the right question, and kudos for sunshine for actually answering the question.

Vs, PvP is a TEAM GAME. If you solo q, and even if you are super good, you are at your teammates mercy.

I appreciate any real feedback. I have been kittened at the match making and complained about it, but at the end of the day I can only control how I play. I don’t see myself getting far with the current system but hopefully I can at least come out of the season a better player.

StickerHappy.8052:

Sunshine.5014:

I just watched the first one. There are a few rotation mistakes here:
1) You rushed in at the beginning when you only have 1 teammate behind you. That’s usually the most common beginner mistake in rotation. Always count your number before jumping into a fight. In a 2v4 you will die 100% of time unless you are an ESL player (in which case I still doubt they can win 2v4 against the average players). It’s even worse that your other teammate is a Thief, who won’t be able to peel/heal you.
2) You tried to rez multiple times when you didn’t have skills to secure the rez (for example, knock the enemy out). If you don’t have those skills to secure the rez, then don’t rez it.
3) You don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the chain daze and block from Scrapper. Learn the leap daze combo and leap heal combo. Block from Scrapper is really OP.
4) At 8:10, you got stuck in the terrain. Learn the map so it doesn’t happen in the future.
5) You also stay in the red circles a lot of times. Positioning is very important. Just think that if you manage to stay outside of a red circle, you heal yourself 2k (random number).

Wow way to go, didn’t you see how his teammates played, he mightve done all you said but that doesn’t change the fact that Matchmaking is hideous.

Ok, I started an in depth analysis of all the mistakes you made but it ran up to some 500 words by the time I reached 2:13 mark, so I’ll just keep it short and give you some tips.

From match 4:
-Learn your class and build. You are misusing most of your skills. Some examples: elixir gun 4 is a blast finisher, you can use turret to heal but then you either have to destroy it (20 sec cooldown) or pick it up (15 sec cd), static field is a great combo with either skill 2 or skill 3 on hammer or both, use bullwark gyro when entering a nasty fight, don’t use your ulti when you are just about to die, it won’t save you, don’t dodge while in elixir S, you are invoulnerable… the list goes on and on.
-Learn when to engage and disengage. Being able to leave a fight with 1k hp (mostly due to opponents being almost as incompetent as your team is) doesn’t mean you should suicide on next enemy you see
-Learn other classes builds. It shows that you are entering each and every fight completely unaware of what you should expect from your enemy.

It could all be summed up with “practice makes perfect”. Before joining a ranked arena try out your metabattle build in unranked, check out some other skill/trait variants and see if something fits more your play style, watch a stream or two (doesn’t necessarily have to be engineer, you can get ideas from other classes as well). Improve your action times (especially when casting AoE’s, standing there for 2 seconds turning camera and aiming while being pounded to dirt is painful to watch).
Lastly, don’t blame MMR formula. You are teamed up with bad players but you are, honestly, as bad as they were, at least in this particular instance. If you are in it for the wins you should heed my advice and use next couple of days training your skills and grasp of the game before returning to ranked. That way bigger number of more skilled people will leave your division and you’ll have an easier time winning, and you’ll have more skills of your own to show to further help you with your climb.
Hope this helps.

You’re brave for opening yourself up to such public scrutiny. I commend you for doing so.

Only commenting on the first match:

1) You rush into a what is essentially a 1v4 at the start and die almost instantly. This is probably the worst decision to make. You have to know when to play defensively/conservatively and avoid dying in these scenarios. This, I feel, is the #1 way people throw games.

2) The next passage of play is awkward. You push into mid, fail to kill the necro and your teammates actually start dying. This costs you home. You pull off to home, which by the time you get there is full capped, and end up dying 1v2 to the engi and the mesmer. You made poor use of your heal combos and got caught in a gravity well despite the fact you had a stun break available to you. You seem hell bent on fighting on point and being free cast on by the mesmer despite the fact there was no benefit of doing so. I’d have been LoSing like crazy here and probably even pulling back into base for a full reset and waiting to regroup with a teammate as dying 1v2 on an enemy controlled node provides no gain for your team in that particular case. Meanwhile, the thief and warrior decide to massively throw having capped far by inexplicably pushing lord, causing them to lose far and they end up wiping. Absolutely awful play.

3) You spend the next 5 minutes taking the most pointless fight on close point ever. You’re literally fighting on an enemy controlled node and you don’t stand a chance in hell of ever getting it neutral. All the while, mid was yours and being decapped and then subsequently free-capped by the enemy because the warrior, in his infinite wisdom, decided to push lord again (another throw.) This whole passage of play is useless and eventually results in your death. It’s not really a fight you should have been taking as you stood to gain nothing from it and that whole period of time was essentially free points for the enemy whilst they held you there. This was absolutely perfect for them. Again, a common mistake is people getting obsessed with close and fighting there regardless of how little they stand to gain from it.

Having said that, while taking that pointless fight, the thief and warrior decided to continue pushing lord and they eventually killed it, at the expense of losing the far fight and mid point. By which time the game was over.

There were things you could have done better, both rotationally and mechanically with your class, but the throw by the thief and warrior there was huge. You need to make better use of your Function Gyro when rezzing. Several times I notice you just running up to someone and hitting F. This won’t summon the gyro. When you see them go down, you need to be fast with clicking their frame in the party window and hitting F from a distance. This will summon the gyro and then you can go in for the rez yourself.

Overall you had insanely heavy teammates, but you didn’t really excel above the other members of your team there either I feel in that particular game.

Hi, I just watched match 8 and I will give you some pointers since I play the exact same build.

First of all, the positives!

- You communicate well and don’t flame your teammates.

- You push far when pressure needs to be spread out because mid is overrun.

Now for some pointers on how to maybe improve.

Most importantly, when using your heal turret you want to always overcharge it and either blow it up right after or pick it up if you can to start the cooldown. So try to practice double-tapping 6-6 and F1 or f until it comes natural to you. You’re also completely forgetting to use it quite often in the heat of battle when you need it the most. Watch your health during combat.

Secondly, you hardly ever use your elite while it is an awesome skill to push enemies off point, either as a tornade or with the Brutes kick. Try and use your elite way more often when you’re trying to stick to a point (unless you’re almost dying already).

Tied in with your Elite skill is the F skill associated with it. The moa.
First, it’s good to see you actually start to use it, your first matches I don’t think you used either at all from what I watched. In this case though you were up against 3 necromancers. When you’re fighting a necro don’t open up by moa-ing them but wait for them to use their Shroud (the necro grows large and his healtbar refills and changes) and use it to cancel it.

Apart from that pretty much everything has been said by previous posters.

I think it is positive you are actively trying to improve by the way instead of just blaming matchmaking or your teammates.

EDIT: I also watched Match 7 and wanted to take one specific example. At 1.59 minutes you respawn and go close where the enemy war is standing on point. You don’t use your bullwark gyro at all going into the fight, even though it mitigates 50% of damage while it is up. Then you run in without using Hammer skill 5 on point so you can combo into it with Hammer skill 3 for instance.

If I were playing I would probably open the fight like this.

Run close, see War, upon approaching get my bullwark out, hammer 5 on point to start putting pressure on it and creating a combo field, then hammer 3 into that and cast my elite to push the War off point with either tornado or kick and put pressure on the point.

I watched the last match to get an idea and I’d say that a number of the things I saw were similar to what the others were saying.

1) Get out of the red circles. You tank way too much damage

2) Learn to use combo fields. You barely used Hammer 5, and when you did use it, you didn’t use it at opportune times. Hammer 5 + Hammer 3 = chain CC. Hammer 5 + Hammer 2 = damage + vulnerability

3) I don’t think I saw you use slick shoes even once. It’s an important part of the build,
especially when it comes to interrupting heals and such

4) You need to learn which fights are worth fighting and which are worth running away from. You’ll never win an outnumbered fight with your current skill level.

I think you have the right mindset however with asking for advice on the forum. Keeping working on it and make sure to learn all aspects of the build you’re using. You’ll improve!

Sunshine.5014:

StickerHappy.8052:

Sunshine.5014:

I just watched the first one. There are a few rotation mistakes here:
1) You rushed in at the beginning when you only have 1 teammate behind you. That’s usually the most common beginner mistake in rotation. Always count your number before jumping into a fight. In a 2v4 you will die 100% of time unless you are an ESL player (in which case I still doubt they can win 2v4 against the average players). It’s even worse that your other teammate is a Thief, who won’t be able to peel/heal you.
2) You tried to rez multiple times when you didn’t have skills to secure the rez (for example, knock the enemy out). If you don’t have those skills to secure the rez, then don’t rez it.
3) You don’t seem to be able to take advantage of the chain daze and block from Scrapper. Learn the leap daze combo and leap heal combo. Block from Scrapper is really OP.
4) At 8:10, you got stuck in the terrain. Learn the map so it doesn’t happen in the future.
5) You also stay in the red circles a lot of times. Positioning is very important. Just think that if you manage to stay outside of a red circle, you heal yourself 2k (random number).

Wow way to go, didn’t you see how his teammates played, he mightve done all you said but that doesn’t change the fact that Matchmaking is hideous.

He asks for advice on how to do better. Those are what I would do if I were him. Are you supposed to tell him to just blame his teammates and AFK? With that attitude, you shouldn’t expect to win.

Teammates aside, a good player will need to match their play style with their teammates’ play style. If their team is not around, jumping into an outmanned fight is suicidal and detrimental to the team. They make it worse for their teammates because they will have to fight outmanned longer time.

I really wish more people would realize this. Kudos to OP for actually trying to improve and asking for help.

@OP: i don’t have much time atm so i watched only match 8, i also don’t play engi so i would’#t dare to give any in depth class specific advises.
General things:
- it is enough to have 1 person on point to keep it contested. You don’t have to sit in cleave together with teammates. However if teammate gets too focused on point they can disengage and you can try to hold point. At begin of the match you and your teammate were sitting on point at mid eating all necro aoe.

- at begin of the match you could have used hammer lightning field to stale enemies to keep them from point for few sec or at least force their stun breaks/dodges

- don’t eat reaper DS cleave, try to kite it either by stay away or using whirl

- i feel like you pop turret too early for no reason, usually i see engis popping it when they actually need heal

- if you are in 1v2 situation try to kite as much as possible (ranger probably would have come help if you lived long enough) instead of trying to get kills, engis are really good at it

- use slick shoes, i never see you using them, for example both thief and necros can’t deal well with CC and slick shoes are just godly

- at around 4-5 min: your team killed most of them, meaning they will be on respawn. No offense, but given that you are atm not the best engi out there (not to mention they had necros that can mess up engi really bad) i wouldn’t go towards far like you did. So at around 6 min you are on enemy side of the mid point practically surrounded by them. Only thief and maybe mesmer can allow themself to do something like that due to teleport. I would move back to your team side at mid point for necessary support. Besides you play supporty class yourself so you need to support them as well.

tl/dr: bad positioning at mid point around 6 min (of the video)

- why don’t you use healing turret when you are low HP?

- do not sit in necro wells – it is instagib

- you waste dodges a bit too often as gap closer when it buys you maybe a millisecond only but then you don’t have enough endurance when you actually need it

- set up targetting keybind and call targets, it is little thing but people tend to attack something with big red circle – it really helps to organize focus fire on team w/o voice com

- necros generally tend to spam staff marks at begin of combat, you can waste all their efforts (and dmg) by dodging once

- i almost never saw you using combo fields, engis are great at it, look it up or ask on engi forums how to do it properly

- why not try to use sneak gyro?

I would highly suggest you to visit dueling servers (if those still exist) and practice 1v1. Also, try to play other classes (especially necros since they are your bane) and you will know what to avoid and what you can facetank.

People blaming the warrior just need to stop.

That warrior did really good. The main issue here is that the thief should of been doing what the warrior was doing and the warrior should of been helping you.

You had home got wiped at mid so the warrior wen’t far and capped far. Multiple times the warrior not only decaps far but caps. it. Your mistake is you keep going mid when you have home and far why? What you should of been doing is going far since you own it and holding far and home to break up thier zerg allowing your team 2 caps and the enemy 1.

You could of them capped mid at a later time while holding home and forcing the enemy to send 2-3+ to their home to cap it. Terrible rotations and you engage in out numbered fights when your team consisting of a thief and a warrior cannont deal with the AOE pressure of mid so chose to play sides.

Playing sides is a alternative strat to when your group cant point fight due to AOE pressure.

Most newer players have no clue how to rotate and play sides they only think go to mid and tunnel vision on it as if it is worth more points than far or home. You hold 2 points it doesn’t matter what 2 it is.

You and the warrior could of went far and held it and home simple.

This is great commentary. See how complex the game actually is?

Coming from other “stand still and pew-pew” MMOS, people do not understand the complexities of GW2 combat strategy and gameplay.

People blaming the warrior just need to stop.

That warrior did really good. The main issue here is that the thief should of been doing what the warrior was doing and the warrior should of been helping you. Thief should of went far not the warrior.

You had home got wiped at mid so the warrior wen’t far and capped far. Multiple times the warrior not only decaps far but caps. it. Your mistake is you keep going mid when you have home and far why? What you should of been doing is going far since you own it and holding far and home to break up thier zerg allowing your team 2 caps and the enemy 1.

You could of them capped mid at a later time while holding home. Terrible rotations and you engage in out numbered fights when your team consisting of a thief and a warrior cannont deal with the AOE pressure of mid so chose to play sides.

Playing sides is a alternative strat to when your group cant point fight due to AOE pressure.

Most newer players have no clue how to rotate and play sides they only think go to mid and tunnel vision on it as if it is worth more points than far or home. You hold 2 points it doesn’t matter what 2 it is.

But like other people said if you wipe an enemy team you don’t go far because that is their spawn, The only time you go far is when there is no one there, and no one going there.

Thanks to everyone that provided feedback and comments. There were a lot of good tips. Hopefully I’ll be able to put them to good use!