Guild Wars 2

Not too long ago one guy here on the forum told me, that players on the bottom tier either don’t care or are just bad players. However, I have yesterday transferred from FoW to Far Shiverpeaks. And as far as I can tell, my new opponents are easier to kill as the bottom tier players I have encountered so far. There are some decent players, but nothing came close to the skill level of some vabbi players I have encountered or to some of the very skilled RoS players of the old days.

So how is it, that ppl think that higher populated worlds occupy more skilled players? It is contradictory to my experience so far. But I will have to play for more time and maybe my sample was just not representative for the silver tier population…

People from the lower tiers will tell you that the higher tier players are zergers who only know how to press 1.

Being from a Tier 1, going to a tier 8 and now to t2 facing the T1 here is my perspective.

Organized and dedicated WvW players… no matter the tier are hard and good. Pugs are bad, lazy and easy to drop.

So what is the perspective difference? There are more pugs in Tier one riding the coat tails of those hardcore guilds. The percentage of dedicated player compared to pug is the difference.

Take t1 dedicated players. probably 50 of the 100 in the EB are dedicated full time WvW players. These guys are tough and good at fighting.

Take t8 dedicated players. Probably 30 of the 40 people in EB are dedicated WVW players.

There are more dedicated WvW players in t1 thats for sure… but there are also more PUG players that go down easy.

Run across a dedicated t8 guild group and you face 20 people though… an 70 man zerg can still take them. Run across a t1 guild group and you face 50 people… a 70 man zerg is dogmeat to them.

For starters, whenever I played against the bottom two tier servers I saw upscaled Invaders in blue armor in droves, whereas the closer to the top you get, the more Bronze Invaders in full exotic armor you got.
As an exception, T1 servers reverse that trend again.

I guess it depends on what you mean by skilled players. I’m bad at gw2 and can’t pvp for my life against other players and am also bad in combat. However, I have good knowledge of WvW and can read enemy movements and pick good routes when commanding and am knowledgeable about siege placement.

Jamais vu.5284:

For starters, whenever I played against the bottom two tier servers I saw upscaled Invaders in blue armor in droves, whereas the closer to the top you get, the more Bronze Invaders in full exotic armor you got.
As an exception, T1 servers reverse that trend again.

In droves?

Ghost town comes to mind when I recall matches against bottom serves.

Mid tiers in my experience house some of the most skilled solo/skirmish players. I think this is because there is a group of players that like smaller fights but don’t like being zerged into the ground. Go to low and the fights are to infrequent. Climb to high and queued maps with big blobs take over. Around T4/T5 seems to be the sweet spot for smaller scale fighting.

That said the average player is just that… average. Take someone who has poured 2k+ hours in WvW and they will likely be dangerous in any tier.

Anyone who doesn’t think large groups don’t have “skill” are sadly mistaken. There are plenty of groups with 20+ that routinely mow down twice there number because of build design and coordinated play.

Radian.2478:

I guess it depends on what you mean by skilled players. I’m bad at gw2 and can’t pvp for my life against other players and am also bad in combat. However, I have good knowledge of WvW and can read enemy movements and pick good routes when commanding and am knowledgeable about siege placement.

I assume what he means is…being in the right build (either for roaming or group/zerg fighting)….knowing you’re role in both, timing your abilities using your dodges (like in spvp) etc.

If what you say is true…then you will at least be useful as a commander tactically, but a liability for your group individually and when your not commanding…you’re not very useful…and possibly a liability…at least from what you just said…

I have not gathered enough experience in this tier to judge zerg discipline and strategic decissions. What I saw up until now was some decent zerging, but also uneffective usage of the zerg, like a 20 ppl capping one spot for bloodlust.

I am indeed talking more about the personal skill level, that was, besides some decent guys, not very impressive. But it may be possible, that due to a higher server population, the ratio from the PvE karma train passagners to dedicated WvWlers is just shifted. I’ll keep looking out for the good playas

The reason why some low population servers seem more skilled than t1 is because same players get to play all the time. Unlike high pop servers who have lots of part time wvw. So the practice is showing great effect.

It’s like quality over quantity. And this is probably why the term zerg comes into play where lots of non-skilled plaeyrs mass swarm. However, the zerg becomes a strong force if coordinating well.

The difference in Tiers come down to number of organized guilds. The higher the tier the more organized guild groups there are, which generally offer more competitive play.

If your just roaming and stomping pugs, they’re the same in any tier, a free bag most of the time.

IMO quality of players (obviously varies), but can be somewhat tied to the “size of the server”.

People are talking quality in terms of 1v1’s usually, or some similar small-man combat. The truth of the matter (again IMO, and from what I have seen), is the “zergier” the server the more the player has been allowed to fall into bad habits.

-Lazy play
-Full zerker with not even utility skills to help them stay alive
-Blowing CDs way too early, etc etc

The truth is that many people run different setups depending on what they are doing, and if you catch a zerker staff ele running back to the zerg he/she will probably seem like a bad player.

I guess what I am trying to say is: being on a larger server allows you to most times do some things that you would not be able to get away with on a smaller server. But all in all the individual skill level of each servers players is remotely the same per capita.

Folks in this thread have hit the nail on the head. As Amadaeus said, people who zerg aren’t that good at skirmishing in small groups. They’ve “trained” to stay on their commander and dump certain abilities as a group. The zerg technique is good at what it is trying to accomplish: killing other zergs. In that sense, zerg vs zerg play requires skill, but it is a completely different type of skill. Just like roaming, it requires adjusting to the enemy, adjusting to new patches, being creative in battle, etc. Not many guilds do it well.

To find the best zerg players, you go to T1. They’re constantly trying to better their zerg playstyle. If you want to find the best roamers though, they probably won’t be inT1 (although we do have some good roaming groups, and would enjoy playing with more).

With all things regarding WvW, there are always exceptions. Here is an example of a fight that shows the exact opposite of the statements I just made above: (T1 roamers beating a small T2 zerg): http://www.twitch.tv/teamriottv/c/3094055

I think T1 players tend to understand their role and have gear and builds to support it. T1 players are usually in TS and following orders. T1 has attracted better ‘in battle’ commanders that make all the players play better.

T2 down all run dps builds they saw on the forum. They are not likely in TS together and seem terribly disorganised in a fight. Their good commanders have left them for T1.

Relentliss.2170:

I think T1 players tend to understand their role and have gear and builds to support it. T1 players are usually in TS and following orders. T1 has attracted better ‘in battle’ commanders that make all the players play better.

T2 down all run dps builds they saw on the forum. They are not likely in TS together and seem terribly disorganised in a fight. Their good commanders have left them for T1.

I love sweeping generalisations!!

WvW is not the place to test your 1v1 or small man skills.
Most of the players use builds that are meant to work well in a group for large scale fights and do horrible in 1v1 situations.

If you really want to claim you are the best at small man, why dont you just go in sPvP and face other small scale organized groups that do just that.

Kryank.8069:

Relentliss.2170:

I think T1 players tend to understand their role and have gear and builds to support it. T1 players are usually in TS and following orders. T1 has attracted better ‘in battle’ commanders that make all the players play better.

T2 down all run dps builds they saw on the forum. They are not likely in TS together and seem terribly disorganised in a fight. Their good commanders have left them for T1.

I love sweeping generalisations!!

I love being right.