Guild Wars 2

I was in WvW other night and was grieved rather harshly (insults abounded) for using my arrows on a wall that was being bombarded by 3 catapults. There were less than a dozen of us there when I got a pm saying “Stop firing on wall!”
I pm’d back why and they said it causes swords to appear on map alerting enemy to to our presence.
I expressed that I was surprised that my little arrows would trigger swords when 3 cats doesn’t.
I was in the process of our repelling a zerg and tying to continue the conversation for clarification and stated that I “usually” concentrate on archers, cannons etc on the walls and if that was ok then followed up stating that I also usually stay abreast of commanders and situational status through SBI TS (I didn’t have t on at that moment) anyway the other party continued grieving without my response due to heat of battle so they impatiently escalated to a final insult ending with “Have a nice life” type end of convo followed by blocking of my pm’s…
I have tried to find answers to what does trigger the swords and what doesn’t on the wiki and other GW2 discussion groups but having no luck.

White swords from anything hitting a door or wall, from a treb to a player
Orange swords from 25+ people in an area entering combat.

Thanks Blix, how about the sentry guards, nearby turrets, armaments and NPC’s on the walls?

Attacking guards does not make white swords, attacking a cannon or oil will

Got it, thanks!

this is a clear case of “pug not in ts”

Konrad Curze.5130:

this is a clear case of “pug not in ts”

Clear case of the people around him not knowing the mechanics of the game, ‘cause even if all 15 of them attacked the gate/siege placements they wouldn’t get orange swords to pop, and the catas had already initiated the white swords.

ya it takes a SUM of players/NPC’s/Doors taking or receiving damage to trigger Orange swords.
if 25 people fall off a cliff and get fall damage that will trigger Orange Swords.

if you do 1 point or more damage to any gate/wall that will trigger white swords (contested) and takes 30 seconds to show on the map(Waypoints will contest immediately)

people inside a fort when damage is received while see the “Repel the attackers” immediately.

Blix.8021:

Attacking guards does not make white swords, attacking a cannon or oil will

attacking siege does not cause swords

only gates, walls and the tower lord.

…hitting the gate while you hit oil? not so hard.

insanemaniac.2456:

Blix.8021:

Attacking guards does not make white swords, attacking a cannon or oil will

attacking siege does not cause swords

only gates, walls and the tower lord.

…hitting the gate while you hit oil? not so hard.

Before I posted it I double checked by running up to hills and shooting the oil. Unless someone happened to contest it at the same time, hitting the oil caused white swords after the short delay period.

Blix.8021:

insanemaniac.2456:

Blix.8021:

Attacking guards does not make white swords, attacking a cannon or oil will

attacking siege does not cause swords

only gates, walls and the tower lord.

…hitting the gate while you hit oil? not so hard.

Before I posted it I double checked by running up to hills and shooting the oil. Unless someone happened to contest it at the same time, hitting the oil caused white swords after the short delay period.

It does not. Many skills will, however, also hit the gate with aoe/bounce when you are hitting the oil.

Konrad Curze.5130:

this is a clear case of “pug not in ts”

Troll Speak…gives me a headache

it isn’t just hitting the wall/gate. you have to damage them. since a player can’t damage a wall without using siege, they can fire arrows or stab it all day long and it won’t do anything. white swords appear 30 seconds after a wall or gate has been damaged. orange swords appears when 25 or more players are in combat. take note, that also counts if those 25 players don’t actually attack anything, and are just getting attacked, even by an NPC. i’ve led a group past the north gate of the hills to the west wall, and the NPC guard there starting attacking us, and even though we didn’t hit it back, orange swords still showed up. i felt kinda stupid, which is why i remember that.