Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone,

I thought it would be good for me to make a post and give my opinions on pvp right now. I won’t spend too much time going over the same things as everyone else, but rather talk about it from a broader perspective, as I feel I encounter a lot of negative behavior and attitudes in matches from players that have given in the belief that the only way to play pvp is to follow the meta.

Firstly, THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT FOR ANY TEAMS SUCCESS IS NOT META BUILDS, BUT PROPER ROTATIONS AND POSITIONING. This is important but a lot of people don’t even realize, if you lost against another team, it was probably because they coordinated and rotated better. Each member of the team needs to work together and find themselves in the correct position for proper engagements. When your team gets into a position where players are charging “into the meat grinder” one at a time, that is the reason for a loss, not that the opponents are running builds that are 10-20% more effective.

Second, even though pvp is competitive, it is still an environment for fun and amusement. We are all here to have fun, and those who enjoy playing pvp, likely enjoy winning. Calling names and insulting your own teammates only ensures a loss. There is no hope for proper teamwork when your team spends most of the time in chat insulting eachother. I know I have gotten on peoples nerves, and others have gotten on mine. It is important to decide when you want to insult someone, are you will to give up any chance of winning? When I am upset, I’ll say things like :“please dont fight on roads” or even worse: “lol what are you doing dying 2v1 on a road…” . Some of these comments are not super nice to hear, but they don’t bring to focus away from the game. Do not call people names. Just tell them what you think they are doing wrong. Give advice, but don’t spend the whole game typing, you are creating a 4v5 situation that can quickly escalate into a 3v5 if the person decides to respond.

Lastly, there is more than one way to skin a cat. The goal of each pvp match to to earn 500 points. You earn points quickly by holding nodes, and killing players is useful as well for that ends. Some players believe that the professional players of gw2 have found the holy grail to pvp. This is simply not true. There are so many ways to approach strategy in this game. I’ve beat meta teams with a variety of builds and team compositions. Given the nature of conquest, it is important to hold points no doubt, but how you go about doing that is up to the team. Sure its easiest to play with like minded players that go forward with the same strategy as them, but getting upset because someone is not playing the way you want is simply called being a baby. Loses happen, and they didn’t happen because of that player that tried to kill svanir at the start, they happened because the team was not working as one. A successful game often happens when all parties function as one unit, sometimes that means playing treb, sometimes that means ignoring treb, sometimes it means focusing far, sometime it means ignoring far. There is no greater strength in this world than adaptability. If your team can cope better with the circumstances and maintain proper rotations and positioning when compared to the enemy team you will win.

I know this was long, but hopefully it can help bring something our community has been lacking somewhat lately. I think there is room in this game for everyone to have fun. I even have lots of fun playing pvp nowadays without meta builds. Just remember this is a team game, and no team wins only because of one individual. Loses are part of life, learn and grow.

Good luck and have fun.

Loboling.5293:

Hey everyone,

Firstly, THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT FOR ANY TEAMS SUCCESS IS NOT META BUILDS, BUT PROPER ROTATIONS AND POSITIONING.

You play a meta team that does all that stuff properly. You lose. Unless you play meta. Plain and simple.

I agree with what you said, HOWEVER, between two even skilled players having relatively same knowledge of positionning and rotating, the one playing meta will win.
Why? Because META means “what is currently more effective” it IS FOTM builds and classes, but it’s still the most effective in accordanc to previous patch and “balance” of devs.

Funny thing, there is no such thing kitten players that can coordinate equally to another 5. Especially for solo queuers. The myth of, well if I play exackly as good as the enemy then meta builds… is a myth. There is always a team with better knowledge of the map and better rotations and positioning.

edit: btw the work kitten is simply A followed by an S

It honestly depends on your class and your build. I play a condi reaper build that’s very different from the meta build and I think I do just as well as the meta build, if not better in certain match ups.

Meanwhile if I try to play some off meta burn dragonhunter build, I’ll be completely useless and lose if I try to do anything with it.

So it all depends, sometimes the meta isn’t the one true God of the game

I was speaking of equally skilled players. EQUALLY SKILLED. Of course in reality no players are equal. But as an example. Meta wins that match up VS Non Meta.

Death Aggro.9602:

I was speaking of equally skilled players. EQUALLY SKILLED. Of course in reality no players are equal. But as an example. Meta wins that match up VS Non Meta.

That’s far too broad of an assumption to generalize to every situation.

Its not all about Rotations. It has also to do alot with the right builds and the right comps. In SoloQ it happend after the last nerfs that i was pared with to Herals on DPS Builds. Our Opponend Team had a Condi Necro and this guy crushed them. Before Patch it was incredible hard to win a teamfight without a Bunker Chrone and a Chrono on the other Side. Meta Builds are often good together. Sometimes they dont fit your playstyle and you will be better with a different one. But to say its all about Rotation is not 100% true. You can rotate as much as you want if your teammates loose 3 vs 2 situations. Or when your team wipes and they use there momentum.

Loboling.5293:

Lastly, there is more than one way to skin a cat.

nearlight.3064:

It honestly depends on your class and your build. I play a condi reaper build that’s very different from the meta build and I think I do just as well as the meta build, if not better in certain match ups.

Meanwhile if I try to play some off meta burn dragonhunter build, I’ll be completely useless and lose if I try to do anything with it.

So it all depends, sometimes the meta isn’t the one true God of the game

I can’t really say for sure, but i’m of the opinion that Condi reaper will be more meta because of the balance patch. To me, Mallyx rev and tempest were the two classes that basically checked condi reaper, and with mallyx rev resistance being nerfed quite hard, reaper can now do a lot more against them.

Tempests are still a pain, but a condi reaper should be able to kill most any class in the game other than a diamond skin ele or a scrapper (which is debatable).

Remember that Spoookie actually ran double condi reaper before chronobunker and mallyx rev became basically mandatory, and were pretty successful with it too

Polismassa.6740:

nearlight.3064:

It honestly depends on your class and your build. I play a condi reaper build that’s very different from the meta build and I think I do just as well as the meta build, if not better in certain match ups.

Meanwhile if I try to play some off meta burn dragonhunter build, I’ll be completely useless and lose if I try to do anything with it.

So it all depends, sometimes the meta isn’t the one true God of the game

I can’t really say for sure, but i’m of the opinion that Condi reaper will be more meta because of the balance patch. To me, Mallyx rev and tempest were the two classes that basically checked condi reaper, and with mallyx rev resistance being nerfed quite hard, reaper can now do a lot more against them.

Tempests are still a pain, but a condi reaper should be able to kill most any class in the game other than a diamond skin ele or a scrapper (which is debatable).

Remember that Spoookie actually ran double condi reaper before chronobunker and mallyx rev became basically mandatory, and were pretty successful with it too

It wasnt nerfed that hard. All you have to do is hit pain absorption a little more. Thats it. I hardly noticed the change. And watching phantarams stream after patch he pretty much said the same thing. Mayllx is pretty much good to go still. I dont think we’ll see much of a change in the meta. But i guess we will find out next month.

Death Aggro.9602:

Polismassa.6740:

nearlight.3064:

It honestly depends on your class and your build. I play a condi reaper build that’s very different from the meta build and I think I do just as well as the meta build, if not better in certain match ups.

Meanwhile if I try to play some off meta burn dragonhunter build, I’ll be completely useless and lose if I try to do anything with it.

So it all depends, sometimes the meta isn’t the one true God of the game

I can’t really say for sure, but i’m of the opinion that Condi reaper will be more meta because of the balance patch. To me, Mallyx rev and tempest were the two classes that basically checked condi reaper, and with mallyx rev resistance being nerfed quite hard, reaper can now do a lot more against them.

Tempests are still a pain, but a condi reaper should be able to kill most any class in the game other than a diamond skin ele or a scrapper (which is debatable).

Remember that Spoookie actually ran double condi reaper before chronobunker and mallyx rev became basically mandatory, and were pretty successful with it too

It wasnt nerfed that hard. All you have to do is hit pain absorption a little more. Thats it. I hardly noticed the change. And watching phantarams stream after patch he pretty much said the same thing. Mayllx is pretty much good to go still. I dont think we’ll see much of a change in the meta. But i guess we will find out next month.

you might be right tbh

my though is just that in general, rev’s are really weak to conditions without resistance, so even the smallest reduction in resistance uptime can cause them to take a ton of damage. but with pain absorption, they can still have mostly full resistance uptime, although it might cut into the energy that mallyx revs have available to do other things.

Polismassa.6740:

nearlight.3064:

It honestly depends on your class and your build. I play a condi reaper build that’s very different from the meta build and I think I do just as well as the meta build, if not better in certain match ups.

Meanwhile if I try to play some off meta burn dragonhunter build, I’ll be completely useless and lose if I try to do anything with it.

So it all depends, sometimes the meta isn’t the one true God of the game

I can’t really say for sure, but i’m of the opinion that Condi reaper will be more meta because of the balance patch. To me, Mallyx rev and tempest were the two classes that basically checked condi reaper, and with mallyx rev resistance being nerfed quite hard, reaper can now do a lot more against them.

Tempests are still a pain, but a condi reaper should be able to kill most any class in the game other than a diamond skin ele or a scrapper (which is debatable).

Remember that Spoookie actually ran double condi reaper before chronobunker and mallyx rev became basically mandatory, and were pretty successful with it too

My condi reaper build has been made in part to be able to handle mallyx revs a bit better. Like I said, its all situational.

you still need a good build to survive and do damage in ranked.
rotations and positioning will only get you so far.

you are of no help to your team if you die within 3 seconds.

Deimos Tel Arin.7391:

you are of no help to your team if you die within 3 seconds.

And for that you need a bunker build…
Sad, but true.
(Note: i never use bunker build, and i HATE this meta.)