Guild Wars 2

Buffy.9246:

ualgh.1832:

Nick.6972:

Can someone fill me in with the current situation of T2?
Is SoS imploading?
Did YB receive massive transfers?

YB has received a number of guilds, which is great. Their population can now better compete with that of SoS and FA.

More exciting is the GvG revival currently happening in T2. We are seeing a welcome return to groups engaging other, similarly sized groups open field. When guilds really want to test their worth, they head to OS and do 15s. T2 has recently seen (and will continue to see) an influx of players from Tier 1 who are tired of blobs and siege.

#GvGRevival2014

So they leave t1 seige wars for t2 seige wars with yaks bend.

not quite like it used to be. While YB certainly sieges more than FA and SoS, the large influx of guilds have allowed YB to engage in a ton of open field fights

ualgh.1832:

not quite like it used to be. While YB certainly sieges more than FA and SoS, the large influx of guilds have allowed YB to engage in a ton of open field fights

It really isn’t even close to how T2 used to be. Most of the SoS coverage is gone and while FA still have some solid groups running around they are diminished from their peak. I don’t think we will see the awesomeness of the old T2 again (which was the pinnacle of WvW IMO).

The BIG plus side is that T2 has stabilized into a solid and fun match. Sure there aren’t many epic battles and the fights have become more T3-esk (such as consistent trebbing from SM) but T2 is currently enjoying nicely balanced play.

Been saying it for a while, and will say it again: GvG and open field guilds should seriously consider moving to T3/T4. Better matchup variety, much less siege, and solid fighting culture. CD, IoJ, DR, NSP, and Mag all have a much better view of fighting and the (ir)relevance of PPT than do YB/SoS.

SoS is not imploding and neither is FA. Here’s how the matchup works right now.

YB has recognized the holes in coverage for SoS/FA. YB hits SoS during EU/late pst & hits FA during OCX and basically has round the clock coverage. They claim it’s from people pulling overtime 12-15 hr shifts etc but who can tell… They have received 5+ guilds since season ended and I personally hope they get more. Especially during NA.

SoS has decent number of NA guilds but they all still run really light 10-15 (except Syn 20-25 now). We have lots of guilds for individuals to join and train with. Awesome guilds like CNB/TV/TB/EA/BGA/MM etc during NA are just looking for members to complete their rosters for fights. Mostly it’s militia power on SoS especially outside of NA. We have 0 Wvw Ocx guilds and 1-2 SEA guilds which do their best. PAIN has recently formed up in early EU on SoS and are rebuilding roster. SoS could use pugmanders more then anything and would suggest fight guilds to look at YB for NA. Talk to them about it.

FA still has some EU guilds/pugmanders so they have few numbers. They still have great NA. I would say biggest NA or pretty balanced. They have 0 Ocx afaik and 1-2 SEA guilds. Look at them if you can help with Ocx/SEA/early EU.

Luvpie.8350:

They claim it’s from people pulling overtime 12-15 hr shifts etc but who can tell… They have received 5+ guilds since season ended and I personally hope they get more. Especially during NA.

I can say for sure this is VERY true. There are commanders on YB that play 20 hours in a 24 hour shift… it is impressive to log 10 hours of game play then log in after some sleep and see the same commanders still going with only a short break.

I think YB has played well and congratulate any players who enjoy playing long shifts.

From my experiences on my weekend, the NA timezone fights look to be pretty well balanced. For OCX players I/we/SoS get some awesome defensive fights in whatever the time zone is in between NA and OCX Prime.

T2 seems to be a fun matchup with YB dominant (24/7) for now and SoS/FA capable of holding their own. I pretty much agree with Luvpie’s assessment of the Tier.

Good luck all, see you on the battlegrounds.

Dubain.

Just wish Sos would show up instead of giving free ppt.

The main problem with T2 at the moment is YB population is that of a T1.5 server. As far as I am aware it is only getting worse with them being the current `bandwagon’ (no offence intended) and having received several guilds whilst FA has remained rather static in growth. SoS has has been downsizing as they where the former T1.5 server.

Omega Mccoy.4237:

Not sure where you get the mentality YB is a bandwagon when we have less than 15 people that transfered to the server before and during the season.

Weird how people on other servers know more about your server than you do.

Ben K.6238:

Weird how people on other servers think they know more about your server than you do.

FTFY

Now that’s what you’d expect, so it wouldn’t be weird.

When everyone else was seeing a number of new guilds and way more people than usual even for a tournament, when CD and DB together could barely match their numbers despite both having tournament influxes as well, and when they shoot straight to the top of T2 despite claiming the PvE players would evaporate after the season, it’s pretty obvious that Yak’s Bandwagon is no illusion. The only people claiming otherwise are (some of the) YB players.

Ben K.6238:

Now that’s what you’d expect, so it wouldn’t be weird.

When everyone else was seeing a number of new guilds and way more people than usual even for a tournament, when CD and DB together could barely match their numbers despite both having tournament influxes as well, and when they shoot straight to the top of T2 despite claiming the PvE players would evaporate after the season, it’s pretty obvious that Yak’s Bandwagon is no illusion. The only people claiming otherwise are (some of the) YB players.

So salty lol.
Btw, which server are you from?

//Edit; Nvm, you’re from SBI. Just because your server was once a fail bandwagon doesn’t mean every other server is one just because they’re doing fine in their tier.

Luvpie.8350:

T2 is having great fights. Lots of guilds on FA/SoS love fighting open field. YB has TC guild which is a great EU guild & they sometimes stay up late during NA for scrims/gvgs as well. Give T2 a serious consideration if you looking for some fun. Win or lose T2 is the place to be!

We have an NA core too which we’re looking to beef up, but some EU players stay up for the NA GvGs and scrims (in varying states of consciousness by that time.) We get lonely sometimes in EU time for fights though and end up dropping rams/taking a bunch of stuff to try and get the fights to come to us with varying degrees of success (we’ve had some nice fights in bay on a few occasions with [BOMB]/Tyrion et. al.) We’ve had some good open field fights with [PAIN] too and we’re hoping to organize a more official GvG with them shortly when we can both get the numbers/composition on.

Sometimes FA/SoS coverage seems really light in EU/early NA time though to the point where we’re just karma training or we get bored enough to decide to hop in to EoTM to practice wiping out huge blobs for fun and bags. Many in our EU core would love a few more EU timezone GvGs or scrims, but there seems to be a distinct lack of organized guilds based in the EU timezone on the other servers which is a pity for us.

All in all though, we’ve had great fun in this tier so far and appreciate the fun SoS and FA have given us when they’ve been willing to engage us. Our core is a former T1 (Tarnished Coast, hence The Coasters) open field/zergbusting guild who dropped down the tiers to YB in order to freshen things up and find new fights. Tier 3/4 was already getting a bit boring for us due to lack of coverage/competition so from our perspective we feel like we’ve found a cool place to chill in T2 right now.

To be honest, T2 is quite balanced, with a couple notable exceptions.

The only TZs that are unbalanced are EU and late PST into early OCX. EU is because YB’s guild TC are quite good (hats off to you btw, had good fights when I play late EU) and don’t have a lot of competition when BOMB/TK don’t rally for FA, so they end up dominating. In that first week when TC would golem rush all the things, I was worried that you’d be ktraining like that every week, so I’m glad that you’ve settled into the groove of T2 and not done that.

As for the PST gap, it’s entirely SG. No one outside of T1 can match their 30+ guild group (with 15-20 pugs generally, as they run tagged) that they run in PST until early OCX, depending on how long their driver Mance stays up for overtime. Their blob can be effectively stopped by the few FA PST groups, but we never number higher than 30 ( 35 at the very most), and they log by 3 a.m. EST. SG tends to run til 4 a.m. at least and SoS tends to be pretty quiet during late PST these days, so SG just runs amok everywhere with their baddie blobs. In staying up and pulling overtime, they tend to just be PVDing and ktraining for little reason but to do it (they’ve got a solid lead in the week and neither FA/SoS really cares about winning the week in PPT).

Other than these guild groups in those TZs, there isn’t much of an issue. PAIN rebuilding SoS’ EU will make that TZ balanced and fine, but as long as Mance & SG continues their T1 coverage and blobbing, T2 will be heavily unbalanced in late PST into OCX. Good thing they’re bad and are easily farmed when people are on, but there isn’t too much to be done when they’re golem rushing with 30+ against 5-8 defenders.

I welcome the other recent transfers to YB, however, including TV and TT, as their activity in GvG is welcomed and their fights are fun. YB NA is now quite strong. SoS should get the next couple guild transfers in NA, as their NA could be padded out more.

I’ll yield to Luvpie’s recommendations as he is on SoS, but at this point in time this seems to be the recommendation:

Edit: With AKD’s transfer to YB, YB’s NA EST will be pretty stacked, and their SEA buffed. To keep somewhat of a balance, NA EST guilds should look to SoS.

EU guilds: SoS
NA EST guilds: SoS
NA PST guilds: SoS
OCX guilds: FA
SEA guilds: FA/SoS

Why not just house GvG in T8 ? There’s no way you will move up if nobody goes for ppt.

declan.3968:

Why not just house GvG in T8 ? There’s no way you will move up if nobody goes for ppt.

Still needs to have WvW activity, and the bottom tiers won’t have the same kind of open field fighting activity as T2 does. Just would be boring.

GvG guilds don’t just GvG.

Basch.1347:

Still needs to have WvW activity, and the bottom tiers won’t have the same kind of open field fighting activity as T2 does. Just would be boring.

GvG guilds don’t just GvG.

well. if ALL GvG guilds move to T8, they can still have open field fights that is not GvG “without caring much about PPT” just as they boast, right ? the server won’t move up, and GvG guilds will have their buddies there, forever.

if WvW activity you meant is capping towers/keep they can go EotM.. and come back to WvW/OS for GvG…

T8 make sense to me….

They do PPT, they just don’t want to admit… Touching these rams is tempting…

just imagine 30 GvG guilds “that is not caring about PPT” in T8.. wow.. a heaven….. is not it ?

Jeknar.6184:

They do PPT, they just don’t want to admit… Touching these rams is tempting…

Bingo! We have a winner here XD

It’s a shame there seems to be quite a lot of animosity between the guild mentalities of PPT focused and GvG/fights focused guilds. Thankfully this isn’t really the case on YB and that’s half the reason they were propelled to T2 to begin with.

YB has a solid PPT-focused core which knows it can rely on calling our open field guilds for help defending/assaulting a structure if the need arises. Speaking for us, we’re more than happy to help out in those cases because those situations naturally cause fights to occur in the vicinity. If we’re called to defend, you will see us immediately push out and challenge whoever is attacking in the open. If we’re called to attack, feel free to hop off your siege and engage us in the same way. Our presence is an open invitation to whoever wants to fight at that time!

The two mentalities can co-exist together and they largely do on YB, which makes for a non-toxic, collaborative community where the PPTers get their tick wins and we get our baggies. Trying to create a divide between the two disciplines or pretend one is more important than the other can only be detrimental in the long run. YB recognizes it needs the PPT sustain to stay in the tier and our open field guilds will work to support our PPT core to achieve that, whilst having fun with the diverse fights those activities naturally encourage (seeing how we do fighting under enemy siege coverage, fighting heavily outmanned, etc.)

Furthermore, today’s PPTers are often tomorrow’s open field fighters and even drivers. Speaking personally, when I first got into WvW, I was focused on the score because that was the driving force between winning and losing. I wanted to win (who doesn’t, right?) so focused heavily on PPT. As I got more involved in the format and more involved in organized groups engaging in epic, coordinated battles I saw how fun the fights were and my mentality shifted from being score focused to improving my play in combat situations to be more effective. Fights and scrims are now the primary reason I play the format.

As a guild, we recognize the latter point. As a result, we will tag up and encourage pugs to play with us and join us on TS sometimes to train their open-field fighting skills with a view boosting the server’s open field core more widely. We also occasionally have commander training days where we allow people who don’t normally command drive for us if they want to learn and talk about ways to improve and give tips whilst this happens. All of this, again, is looking to contribute positively to the entire server’s community by hopefully bolstering our fights core and helping to train tomorrow’s drivers for that focus.

I think more people should recognize the two mentalities have to live in harmony for continued success in both areas and each could learn something from the other. I personally think YB is the server who understands this most which, in my eyes, makes them a server most likely to be a long term, stable T2 resident which seems to be working great for all involved right now.

@tiffany – and that sums up why we appreciate you. I have followed both the eu group and NA group at times. Besides being accommodating, you guys/gals are fun. In the end – fun factor is the ONLY thing that really matters in a game.

Tiffany.8576:

It’s a shame there seems to be quite a lot of animosity between the guild mentalities of PPT focused and GvG/fights focused guilds. Thankfully this isn’t really the case on YB and that’s half the reason they were propelled to T2 to begin with.

YB has a solid PPT-focused core which knows it can rely on calling our open field guilds for help defending/assaulting a structure if the need arises. Speaking for us, we’re more than happy to help out in those cases because those situations naturally cause fights to occur in the vicinity. If we’re called to defend, you will see us immediately push out and challenge whoever is attacking in the open. If we’re called to attack, feel free to hop off your siege and engage us in the same way. Our presence is an open invitation to whoever wants to fight at that time!

The two mentalities can co-exist together and they largely do on YB, which makes for a non-toxic, collaborative community where the PPTers get their tick wins and we get our baggies. Trying to create a divide between the two disciplines or pretend one is more important than the other can only be detrimental in the long run. YB recognizes it needs the PPT sustain to stay in the tier and our open field guilds will work to support our PPT core to achieve that, whilst having fun with the diverse fights those activities naturally encourage (seeing how we do fighting under enemy siege coverage, fighting heavily outmanned, etc.)

Furthermore, today’s PPTers are often tomorrow’s open field fighters and even drivers. Speaking personally, when I first got into WvW, I was focused on the score because that was the driving force between winning and losing. I wanted to win (who doesn’t, right?) so focused heavily on PPT. As I got more involved in the format and more involved in organized groups engaging in epic, coordinated battles I saw how fun the fights were and my mentality shifted from being score focused to improving my play in combat situations to be more effective. Fights and scrims are now the primary reason I play the format.

As a guild, we recognize the latter point. As a result, we will tag up and encourage pugs to play with us and join us on TS sometimes to train their open-field fighting skills with a view boosting the server’s open field core more widely. We also occasionally have commander training days where we allow people who don’t normally command drive for us if they want to learn and talk about ways to improve and give tips whilst this happens. All of this, again, is looking to contribute positively to the entire server’s community by hopefully bolstering our fights core and helping to train tomorrow’s drivers for that focus.

I think more people should recognize the two mentalities have to live in harmony for continued success in both areas and each could learn something from the other. I personally think YB is the server who understands this most which, in my eyes, makes them a server most likely to be a long term, stable T2 resident which seems to be working great for all involved right now.

that pretty much summed up how SoS handled(s) things… Things tend to change often when new guilds transfer/leave so it’s always a work in progress.

Liston.9708:

In the end – fun factor is the ONLY thing that really matters in a game.

Darn skippy!

This #FightsTier tho, brah. QQ. <3

Tiffany.8576:

YB has a solid PPT-focused core which knows it can rely on calling our open field guilds for help defending/assaulting a structure if the need arises.

That’s how it use to be on SoS, with a good balance between both play styles. Now there’s only a couple commanders/guilds willing to bring a force for defending or assaulting waypoints, and a lot of times now it’s “did they bring 30+?”. Hopefully that doesn’t change for you over time as YB stays in T2 and, if, more “fight” guilds move over to you.

Personally I’ve been impressed with YB’s calls to defense, tapping a keep summons 10 people, assaulting a tower summons 25, assaulting a keep summons 40 plus golems. They also now have much more complete coverage in all timezones than SoS ever did. SoS sea/ocx are weaker, our eu never really existed, Pain won’t be able to rebuild it as they usually raid between sea and eu prime, eu prime is when the golem rushes come out and we can barely summon defenders on most days. NA is our strongest now but at the same time it’s loaded on fight guilds.

T2 is getting closer to balance again since Mag left, but we all know YB can break that at any point they choose.

Tiffany.8576:

Liston.9708:

In the end – fun factor is the ONLY thing that really matters in a game.

Darn skippy!

This #FightsTier tho, brah. QQ. <3

Good thing that screenie doesn’t show the numbers behind you. I’ve seen the TC blob when you run tagged, it’s quite the blob.

I don’t want this to be a match-up thread though. Purpose of this thread is to talk about where guilds should go if they want to come in order to keep a balanced tier. Go to the PvF forums to argue about the match-up.

YB doesn’t need any more guilds for now. They’re burgeoning at the seams with their numbers in nearly every TZ except NA EST. That’s the thing to focus on.

The whining about [SG] being in a new tier has reached the official forums now as well? haha

On a side note YB is heaven for an open field/wvw guild. YB still cares to play the game mode as intended with a good balance of defending their homeland and supporting it’s wvw guilds to go on the offensive. [SG] is loving it here and enjoying helping YB in what will be their 3rd straight win since coming to T2.

Basch.1347:

Tiffany.8576:

Liston.9708:

In the end – fun factor is the ONLY thing that really matters in a game.

Darn skippy!

This #FightsTier tho, brah. QQ. <3

Good thing that screenie doesn’t show the numbers behind you. I’ve seen the TC blob when you run tagged, it’s quite the blob.

I don’t see green dots on minimap either… I think you are imaginating things…

Jeknar.6184:

Basch.1347:

Tiffany.8576:

Liston.9708:

In the end – fun factor is the ONLY thing that really matters in a game.

Darn skippy!

This #FightsTier tho, brah. QQ. <3

Good thing that screenie doesn’t show the numbers behind you. I’ve seen the TC blob when you run tagged, it’s quite the blob.

I don’t see green dots on minimap either… I think you are imaginating things…

looks like the map is fully zoomed out, 2 TC guys fighting DOJO doesn’t seem to appear on map either. I’d imagine there’s a bunch of rainbow colored unicorns behind.

Haha. There wasn’t a blob stood behind me at all. We were roughly equal numbers. We saw them incoming from Pang and expected a fight. Instead they ran straight past us, into the tower and stack built an AC. I took the screenshot because this is exactly what YB gets accused of constantly and we found it funny. I wouldn’t have bothered if we were blobbing. We sometimes can attract quite a number of pugs on us whether we run tagged or not at times, I concede that. We generally don’t mind though since, as I said, if they’re with us then they’re generally going to learn more open-field type situations which we see as a good thing for the server generally.

Don’t wanna turn this into a matchup thread anyway. Thought it could use a little more light-hearted PvF though! In general I agree about the guilds situation. As I said, we hope SoS and FA are able to field more organized EU guilds in the future and would welcome more GvGs in that timezone, or GvGs in general for that matter. Feel free to contact us at any time to set those up because we’re eager to participate and improve ourselves too.

With AKD joining YB, I think it’s safe to say their NA is nice and stacked. I’ll recommend future NA guilds wanting to join T2 to go SoS.

After reading the posts about YB, I wish them all the best. The reactions of the T2 servers are surprising me really. Good luck Yak’s Bend, I liked the matches against you, even when ioj had no chance.

@menaki – don’t worry many have had fun on all sides. A few loudmouths living in the past don’t speak for everyone. And really, they don’t have much choice anyway unless they xfer.

I also think some are being misinterpreted. They are trying to even out the sides a bit and we do have better coverage right now even though Glicko says we are #6.

Will That continue next week with LS kicking back in (and our ton of Pvx) ? Who knows, but most likely due to the new blood..

Xenesis.6389:

Tiffany.8576:

YB has a solid PPT-focused core which knows it can rely on calling our open field guilds for help defending/assaulting a structure if the need arises.

That’s how it use to be on SoS, with a good balance between both play styles. Now there’s only a couple commanders/guilds willing to bring a force for defence

I think that is what disappoints me the most.

The loss of guilds in time zones forces a restructure or rebuild phase. These rebuilds have happened to many servers since release. Those of us still playing will try and bring the fun to any opponents in our time zones.

Good luck, enjoy the game.

elkirin.8534:

The loss of guilds in time zones forces a restructure or rebuild phase. These rebuilds have happened to many servers since release. Those of us still playing will try and bring the fun to any opponents in our time zones.

Good luck, enjoy the game.

As new guilds join and old leave servers have to rebuild and that is what is happening with SoS. In the last 6 months we lost alot of people and now coverage itself so the people that are on will pull together and boom!

Plus GvG/fights are real in T2. Lots of good guilds are moving to YB to balance the tier in terms of fights.

I am not into gvg myself, but I love the fact that fights can be found pretty much anytime I login (NA prime – slightly later midnightish central time). See plenty of all 3 sides at that time…

Vermillion.4061:

Lol @ GvG revival.

Shush, you’re in TW.

Its not like you guys were around when GvG was hot and heavy…You lost to RG and that was then end of your GvG credibility.

What the heeeeck is going on with SoS? I knew a good 3-way fight was too much to ask for. Time for another kittenty matchup…

From what I hear there appears to be more than a few strikingly similar characteristics between KOME and SG . . .

lol