My WvW focused guild had an epiphany several days ago that I wanted to share with everyone.
The real problem with WvW is that every one wants to be the largest server with the biggest population and then zerg around the map controlling territory. Right now, this is the only definition of “win” anyone understands.
The problem is that this definition of “win” only makes sense if you can ensure that there are two balanced fighting forces — which is impossible. ANet has no control over server population sizes nor can they control how many people want to play WvW.
Population imbalances are the NORM, not the exception in WvW. I think ANet realized this and as a result:
— The maps are designed for a smaller force to do well against a larger force by forcing the larger force to spread out. The smaller force can not control as much territory as the larger force, but they can control enough to get some server bonuses.
— The unmanned buff does not buff stats, it buffs rewards. You can compare this to WOW’s WvW area, Wintergrasp, which is designed to require equal forces and that has a unmanned type buff that buffs stats.
— You can make a fortune taking points even if you don’t hold them for very long.
So our guild has decided to accept the fact that our server, being one of the newest and having few organized WvW guilds, will never be able to compete on a territory holding basis, that is where the fun begins.
We fight using hit and run tactics. When an opposing zerg comes to take a fort in our borderlands, we leave one or two resisters to delay them then attack another points. By the time they have taken that fort we have taken a different one and usually a camp. When they zerg the newly taken fort we circle back and take back the original.
If we have enough people to do at least this much well, we send strike teams into their border lands and start taking camps. We don’t usually even attempt to hold them. Just take and then run to the next point. Sometimes we grab a tower if they haven’t left enough troops in their borderlands because they are too busy zerging ours. They chase us all around the map as we take camps, making a fortune with almost no repair bills. Chasing us around tends to cause their defending troops to get scattered then we swoop in and kill the stragglers.
Admittedly, they still -win- the overall territory battle and have larger server bonuses, though they are usually too busy chasing us around now to take Godsword and our orb.
This is the first time I have been in WvW where the group I was with used these kinds of tactics and we are having a blast.