Guild Wars 2

I played back at launch 4 years ago, only for a month or two, never got into WvW. I returned about a week or two ago and done almost entirely WvW and having a lot of fun.

Basically what I’ve been doing is just logging into Eternal Battlegrounds, or maybe one of the side ones if EBG queue is too high, then I find the commander tag, join the squad he’s in, and run over to the zerg. Then I just follow him/her around, get on their teamspeak if they link one, and try to help out. Build the siege equipment that’s dropped, etc.

So I think I get the basics, but some of the more advanced stuff I do not get. Quick list of questions if anyone can help out:

1) About the professions. I have a level 80 warrior and 80 ranger. I still have an 80-boost left to use from buying the xpack. 95% of the time, I want to play in the zerg, however, I don’t understand why certain classes are good or bad. I’ve looked at metabattle and done other research and I can see what’s supposedly useful, ie. guardians, chronomancer mesmers, necromancers, but I don’t get why, and also supposedly Ranger Druids are useless. To my newbie eyes I don’t get it. A lot of the time in the zerg it seems like we’re standing off against another large army and shooting them at long range with a long bow seems decent, and then switching to staff and dropping Druid heals on the group also seems useful?

I guess I’m just curious about sort of the more “advanced” meta of what’s really going on in these large battles, why certain professions are good or bad. It’s hard to find an up to date guide on this stuff on the internet. Also what should I consider spending my 80-boost on, I’m not partial to any class, just want to be useful in WvW. (and tell me what I’d be doing on said class to be useful).

2) Is there anything in particular I should be doing during a large siege if I’m not operating the equipment? Many times on a particularly tough siege we’re getting pounded by the various arrow carts and siege equipment from the other side, and there isn’t really anyone for me to target or anything as they’re obstructed up on the tower walls…and also the arrow cart rain of fire makes it sound I can’t even go out there anyway.

3) In general what are some of the most useful things I can do as part of the zerg?

Thanks!

http://www.gw2wvw.net/index.php?/topic/46-command-and-conquer-v8/

something i wrote and has links on what u need to know.

as for specific questions, why certain classes are desired because they synergize with each other, because of boons, quick and spammable aoe and because of utility.

ex. all guards can give atleast 5 ppl with stab.
all revs can spam cor phase smash and pain absorb
wars can banner downs
necro can shout wells and marks
eles can aoe aura x heal
mesmer can boon, timewarp, well, veil portal etc.
thieves can pick those on the side
rangers can snipe squishes heal allies
engies can do anything.

basically it is simply by imagination you can find a pattern and make all classes work together.

2. just stand away from ac. or use shield gen. =) and be patient. not doing anything, sometimes is good.

3. as part of zerg, be in ts. learn how classes support each other. .find your role. =)

Thanks a lot Sovereign, great tips and link

Fappa.2451:

I don’t understand why certain classes are good or bad.Thanks!

when u have meta and non-meta, u will notice a BIG diference on survival time in big fights(10×10 or more).

try the guard, condi-cleanser spam, dire stats gear + runes of trooper and see diference by yourself.

many wvw dedicated guild, have also, builds spreasheet, ask for link to some when u have oportunity.

The meta is designed around what the best way to win fights is if you run a 10+ handholding train into another 10+ handholding train of a certain max size.

So understandably, it will strip you of certain combat options and place certain fighting styles at the forefront which may or may not be to ur detriment i.e. openly charging into something so thick that it eats you.

So the idea of creating a group with ranged damaged dealers with sufficient mobility to whittle down a larger force….isnt considered meta. That and the fact rangers lack unblockables and everyone has shields for anti-pewpew….is why these machine gun rangers arent in the meta.

You can think of meta as how best to win an 80 vs 80 in open combat if you can handcraft each one of those 80 players. Then there are other meta which focus on how to make a core of 10-30 dedicated guild fighters from which you can add randoms into their ranks and reap the most benefits. There’s a degree of theory crafting to all meta…..and in a mode like wvsw, with so many factors, this means you aren’t always built to be the most effective. This is why mobility is such a huge part of the wvsw meta….its about isolating a certain amount of space for a kinda closed fight, ending it, then moving onto the next space. Rangers, quite understandably, aren’t meant for that style fighting.

For any effective group fight you you will need some foundation classes to keep your sustain going in a long fight.

1. The core classes.
Guardians – The front line tank that has many tools to stay alive and throw support through protection, stability, shields, healing, cleanses, invulnerability, etc.
Elementalist – Can throw out boon sharing, healing, cleanses, and dps.
Necromancers – The main damage class simple because of their aoe options, wells, epidemic, boon strip, reaper shroud.
Revenants – Boon sharing support, or hammer spam aoe.
Mesmers – Time warp, veil, quickness and slows, but you don’t really need that many of them.

All other classes don’t bring much to a group because they are basically outdone by the other classes, including rangers/druids, thieves, engineers, warriors, they’re basically regulated to the pick team, pin sniping, or roaming/small groups. That’s not to say they couldn’t do well in a zerg group, but why bring a druid when you have elementalist?, why bring a warrior when you have guardian or rev? why bring a ranger when you have dragonhunter? etc.

Zerg play is mostly about hitting the most targets with aoes at the right time, while keeping up your boons/heals/cleanses.

Guardians, Elementalist, and Necromancers will probably always be the core of groups. If you plan on getting the expansion I would wait and see what the new elites are like though before using the boost up. We’re getting a preview this weekend.

2. If you don’t have targets and not on the siege, then be on the commander, be aware of your surroundings, keep your eyes out and learn from situations of where you should be in preparation for surprise attacks. Stay out of siege fire as much as possible or stay close to the commander who’s getting heals, just depends on your class.

3. Get on TS with the commander if they are on it, just to listen to their commands, especially if you’re frontline and support.

Several good points above.

If you want to run with the big group, don’t hesitate to run with them as a druid or thief, just find your role. If there is no place in the squad for you, make your own party and hit the other server’s backline. Pick them off one by one. Thieves have been doing this since launch.

I often play thief in WvW, and when the squad is starting to get 40+, I leave by myself and continue doing my thing supporting them, and having fun doing so. If you want to go druid heal build, do so. Druids and thieves never get in sub squads that get good boons or stability anyway so in a way it kind of doesnt matter.

Never underestimate small parties that hit from behind or from an unexpected side.

Thanks for all the posts. Yeah I think it’s probably best if I just save my last 80 boost for a bit to see how all this shakes out with the new Elite specs.

Just one more quick question…Magnuzone you say that Druids/theives never get in sub squads that get good boons or stability. Do buffs not go raid-wide? I am coming from WoW, so pardon my terminology, but I assumed a Squad was like one large raid group….I didn’t know that the 5 person parties (again pardon my WoW terminology) were still relevant if the group gets converted to Squad.

Druids can provide support, not many guilds use them. not to mention good support druids in wvw are a rarity.

The buffs are based on 5 person caps. parties get priority, but limited in range. not the whole squad. so if that 5 person party isn’t near the guardian for stability (probably the biggest complaint in any fight), the stab gets moved to someone in the squad.

currently standard parties consist of 2 guardians as their core to maintain stability. the other 3 spots are used for core classes to give them most effective ways of pushing.

What Shiri said there about buffs explains it.

Warriors suffer from the same problems sometimes in WvW. They dont give any buffs or heals to speak of, so they are often grouped together in the same subgroup. But is a class that would really benefit from stability and boons when going frontline.

But it is what it is. Ofc ppl rather have guards and revs instead of warriors. It’s understandable.

1. Yes some classes are always gonna be better than others. Wvw is about group utility.
Guards have always been good in wvw for the simple reason that they can give stability to others.
Other good classes in wvw are:
healing Tempest, healing Rev, condi Reaper, boonshare/portals/veils Chronos.
Healing druids are okay too. but usually Eles and Revs do it better.
See what you enjoy best (frontline, support, etc) and make a class to fill that role.
I would say guardian is the best class to start with because as long as you give out stab and sit close to tag, you’re gonna be considered useful.

2. Looks around a lot for incoming zergs. Try to learn names of towers and camps to give more accurate information to your commanders. If you wanna go one step further, learn to use siege disablers, those can be huge in both offence and defense. But there isn’t really too much you can do in a group with random players tbh.

3. Stay close to you commanders.
Give accurate call outs. Use map chat for map callouts, don’t post map specific things in team chat….
Make sure you only build the siege dropped by your commander and not troll siege.

I would say if you want to really enjoy wvw, try looking for a wvw focused guild.
Im sure every server out there has at least one guild that will be recruiting players.
The fact that you use voice comms means you’re already better than 50% of other players, and if you have and use a mic too then you’re golden.

A couple of things I learned from playing (I have only been doing it for about 6 months though)

1. Get into the server TS/Discord. This is really important and some squads will not allow you in without it. This also allows you to move with the blob during the fights and coordinate CDs.

2. Classes matter, however skill still overrides classes. I have had a lot of success with a engineer turret boonshare. I get plenty of tags and can pop out boons like crazy. Medic Necro is also something fun as well. Squads might not let you in if you are playing an off-meta class but it is ok to just run alongside then.

3. Supply is king. Always carry it if possible. Dump it into walls/repair when you get a chance for extra WXP/participation.

4. Mail any and all siege you get to the commander. It takes a lot of gold to WvW train and helping with the resources is really nice.

5. Don’t get salty

There is meta, and then there is what works for you. And often if you combine these 2 you get something that works really well. Start with the meta build and tweak it a bit.

Some guards have one or two pieces of armor with heal stats. Some vanilla warriors can survive in a zerg with marauder armor, some require soldier armor. It’s not that one is better than the other, it’s all about your playstyle, how you move and how you use your skills. But what you want is something that the group benefits from. You wont be much help if you die at first push, or if you stand back pew-pew:ing doing no damage at all.

Cerby.1069:

The meta is designed around what the best way to win fights is if you run a 10+ handholding train into another 10+ handholding train of a certain max size.

So understandably, it will strip you of certain combat options and place certain fighting styles at the forefront which may or may not be to ur detriment i.e. openly charging into something so thick that it eats you.

So the idea of creating a group with ranged damaged dealers with sufficient mobility to whittle down a larger force….isnt considered meta. That and the fact rangers lack unblockables and everyone has shields for anti-pewpew….is why these machine gun rangers arent in the meta.

You can think of meta as how best to win an 80 vs 80 in open combat if you can handcraft each one of those 80 players. Then there are other meta which focus on how to make a core of 10-30 dedicated guild fighters from which you can add randoms into their ranks and reap the most benefits. There’s a degree of theory crafting to all meta…..and in a mode like wvsw, with so many factors, this means you aren’t always built to be the most effective. This is why mobility is such a huge part of the wvsw meta….its about isolating a certain amount of space for a kinda closed fight, ending it, then moving onto the next space. Rangers, quite understandably, aren’t meant for that style fighting.

i love this part