Guild Wars 2

Can someone plz explain to me the allure of solo roaming in WvW. This is an aspect of the game in which control of keeps, towers, and camps wins not ganking the odd player. I see so many threads throughout all of the classes looking for solo WvW builds and it makes me wonder what difference do you think you’ll make in the grand scheme of things by reset time. If your zerg needs ppl to grab a tower why are you roaming around looking for one person to gank and then crying on chat about losing a tower. Sry about the rant but it’s become so frustrating when ppl spend so much time creating solo WvW builds rather than helping out your team. If you enjoy solo play then sPVP may be your better option. I realize ppl will respond by saying they bought the game and can do whatever they want, well NO you can’t!!! I can’t show up in a dungeon and do what I like without getting kicked b/c I’m not helping out the group it’s simply common sense.

No actually I can do whatever I want in wvw and you or anyone else are not allowed or able to tell me how to play the game, I do not expect to have any huge impact when I roam but I constantly take camps and if I run into a few friends towers aswell so it is contributing not to mention scouting is also a very important part of wvw, besides alot of players can’t even get near the huge blobs without lagging so hard their computers are smoking are you saying they shouldn’t be allowed to play at all then if there is a diffrent mode that works for them?

While youre going to get alot of answers like manekk’s its doesnt answer your questions.

The fact is this. Yaks and Sentries award immediate points to your score. yaks are 3 and sentry caps are 3-10 depending on the duration standing . Having said that a solo roamer who is focusing on those things can provide his or her server way more points then alot of your pug 5 man teams.

So to answer your question. Solo Roamers are a big part of the servers overall success as the killing of yaks and sentries can offer up to an additional 200 points per tally.

hope this helps.

Jaxx of GRIM

Taking camps means your allies won’t have to, which saves some time for zergs. Time that can mean the difference between being interrupted while taking a tower, and actually taking the tower. It also works the other way around, when an enemy zerg needs a camp that you just took, there is a 4 minute timer before they can take it back, forcing them to waste time waiting, or run all the way to the next camp. Camps also gives 5 points, which can quickly add up.

Killing dolyaks means no supply for a tower or keep. If a player can consistently kill dolyaks over a period of time, it can make a big difference. Without supply, foes can’t build siege or upgrade.

Foes that are being whipped during an attack, needs to get back to their zerg. Preventing them from doing that, or making them waste time fighting you, is of beneficial to your allies. It means they have to fight less foes, or that they’ll get some more time to repair the gate, without being interrupted.

Solo roamers create a sense of danger in the world. They have the same role as snipers do in FPS games. Without them, it would be too easy to just run all over the place, since you’d only have to worry about groups of players.

I was going to respond with a rant bit instead will keep it short and clean.

Supply wins the day …or loses the day if you don’t have it. Camps produce supply and Yaks carry the supply. When I take camps and kill Yaks I deny the enemy supply. They can’t upgrade or siege the towers your blob eventually captures.

Or on the other hand I protect camps/Yaks so towers/keeps can be upgraded and sieged up.

While roaming between camps/yaks I run into the enemy trying to get back to their zerg = I get a fight….or, I run into the enemy trying to do the same as I am doing = fight.

No glory, no karma train that you get while doing the “important” stuff by taking towers as you suggest, but a lot more fun than being a part of a mindless zerg spamming 1

I’m a roamer and agree with the sentiments expressed here about their value. I do not at all enjoy running with a zerg, yet I feel like I need to be working to contribute to the team, so I do supply camps, and yak slap/escort, as well as turn sentries.

There are two game mechanics that have a negative effect on the roles that roamers can play:
1. there is no good way to protect a yak. Unless there are 6 or so defenders, I can always kill a yak, even though it might mean my death. They can’t stop me. But I cannot usually stop others—even just one other determined, well built opponent. So, escorting yaks is fruitless (aside from applying speed buffs) unless you have a mini zerg.

suggested fix: Yaks receive a proximity buff from allies. If you stay within 300 meters, the yak has protection, clears a condition every 5 seconds, and regenerates xx per second.

2. Once towers/keeps are upgraded, no reason to slap yaks. Once keeps are upgraded and have good supply, there is little or no reason to slap yaks.

suggested fix: If there was a maintenance cost to keeping a keep/tower upgraded and it would gradually revert to lower upgrade status if a steady stream of supplies was not flowing, then roamers would have more purpose. That way starving supplies to a keep would gradually cause the supply depot to empty and the walls/gates return to wood/paper. This would also make WvW generally more dynamic.

I agree with all of your explanations in theory. But the reality of WvW is that blobs take towers upgraded and all. This is the way Anet allowed it to evolve as unfortunate as it is and T1 demonstrates this more than any other tier. I don’t care how anyone tries to justify it but you’ll never make me believe a solo roamer from the 3rd server in T1 will influence the outcome. Servers have come to realize this and are spending more time recruiting guilds to fill up weak time slots in order to create the blobs necessary to win. I know this translates to an undesirable situation but it will never change. A solo roamer may flip a camp once in a while but you can bet that the blob will be around shortly there after to flip it back and then grab a tower or steam roll a group of 10-15 players so quickly you’ll not even get a skill off.

Is there a reason purpose for this thread at all? Why do you ask a question just to state, “well I have an oppinion and you won’t be able to convince me otherwise”?

raoul.4218:

I don’t care how anyone tries to justify it but you’ll never make me believe a solo roamer from the 3rd server in T1 will influence the outcome.

Well, “a solo roamer” won’t make a difference, but a bunch of them will.

Not to be redundant, but even if you take camps /towers out of it. A solo Roamer killing ONLY yaks and sentries is a Huge boon to their server at the tune of 100-200 points a tally.

Then take into account the scouting and slowing of groups and its even more important.

Lastly, when skirmish groups run camps there is usually a enemy group back capping them , so at the tally you might only be up 1 or 2 camps…thats 10 points….the solo roamer in the same time period just earned your server 100-200 points from yaks and sentries. thats simple math, and it adds up.

I solo because i find it more fun than running with the mindless zerg. When i go out my goal is to kill people, helping my server just happens to be something that happens as a side effect not as a main goal. I kill jaks to create “action” for myself not to help my server. I take camps to create action for myself not to help my server. I kill straglers from the zerg for fun not to make sure they dont reach their destination to help their zerg. I taunt the zerg to make them chase me for fun not to waste their time so my server has an advantage on what they are doing.

Thats how i choose to play. As the saying in DAoC goes, its my $15 a month and i choose how i spend my time online not you.

I think I’ve raised enough hackles…….my job is done. LOL.

raoul.4218:

I think I’ve raised enough hackles…….my job is done. LOL.

Im glad we could help you. Now go stack with the zerg to make sure you avoid damage while spamming 1. Also hope that Anet doesnt remove the silly 5 target aoe cap because if that happens you will have 5 man grps kittenting all over the zerg in like in DAoC and maybe the zerg might actually think for itself for once.

raoul.4218:

I think I’ve raised enough hackles…….my job is done. LOL.

And you never proved your point.

Puandro.3245:

raoul.4218:

I think I’ve raised enough hackles…….my job is done. LOL.

Im glad we could help you. Now go stack with the zerg to make sure you avoid damage while spamming 1. Also hope that Anet doesnt remove the silly 5 target aoe cap because if that happens you will have 5 man grps kittenting all over the zerg in like in DAoC and maybe the zerg might actually think for itself for once.

Puandro, I never figured you for one of the " its my money so ill play how i want kinda guys" I totally get where youre coming from , but its kinda like Setting up for a nice game of checkers…then stuffing the pieces up your butt, because its your checker board, and youll do as you please.

I think the OP asked a realistic question. and up until i found that killing yaks and sentries gave immediate points. i was in the same boat. I thought running by yourself as opposed to a 5 man skirmish team was silly. But now its a completely viable choice.

raoul.4218:

Can someone plz explain to me the allure of solo roaming in WvW. This is an aspect of the game in which control of keeps, towers, and camps wins not ganking the odd player. I see so many threads throughout all of the classes looking for solo WvW builds and it makes me wonder what difference do you think you’ll make in the grand scheme of things by reset time. If your zerg needs ppl to grab a tower why are you roaming around looking for one person to gank and then crying on chat about losing a tower. Sry about the rant but it’s become so frustrating when ppl spend so much time creating solo WvW builds rather than helping out your team. If you enjoy solo play then sPVP may be your better option. I realize ppl will respond by saying they bought the game and can do whatever they want, well NO you can’t!!! I can’t show up in a dungeon and do what I like without getting kicked b/c I’m not helping out the group it’s simply common sense.

You are a $&. Solo players have no other choice you *^. Is there a pvp server? NO. Wvw is all there is, and spvp is not real pvp. The hunt is real pvp, so why don’t you just back off. What they need to do is implement incentives for solo play, but for now I will solo for FUN! Oh my god! Fun? What is that you say!? All I want to do is win at zerge cause I’m so good!.. Idiot.

It is more rewarding to win a 1 v 2 or a 1 v 3 as a solo roamer than it is to take a camp or a tower as a zerg.

hyjaxxx.1584:

Puandro.3245:

raoul.4218:

I think I’ve raised enough hackles…….my job is done. LOL.

Im glad we could help you. Now go stack with the zerg to make sure you avoid damage while spamming 1. Also hope that Anet doesnt remove the silly 5 target aoe cap because if that happens you will have 5 man grps kittenting all over the zerg in like in DAoC and maybe the zerg might actually think for itself for once.

Puandro, I never figured you for one of the " its my money so ill play how i want kinda guys" I totally get where youre coming from , but its kinda like Setting up for a nice game of checkers…then stuffing the pieces up your butt, because its your checker board, and youll do as you please.

I think the OP asked a realistic question. and up until i found that killing yaks and sentries gave immediate points. i was in the same boat. I thought running by yourself as opposed to a 5 man skirmish team was silly. But now its a completely viable choice.

Your checkboard argument doesnt really apply, it makes more sense if i was doing tPvP and just decided to kill people and ignore the cap points. tPvP is a 5v5 like checkers is a 1v1 and you have agreed to the rules of the game upon joining to the match, also tPvP your team mates assume you will participate with them. WvW is different, while its not truly an open sandbox pvp zone its really close, you also dont join a “team” upon joining a borderland. Sandbox = make your own game and have fun, i have no problem with people zerging or people using transform tonics and running around in groups with kites and not killing anything, its their choice and they can do what they want with their game time.

Eurantien.4632:

It is more rewarding to win a 1 v 2 or a 1 v 3 as a solo roamer than it is to take a camp or a tower as a zerg.

That depends on what you had to do, to take that tower. If you just run strait in, then it’s not as fun, but if you’ve spend the last 30 min trying to get into a strong defended tower, and finally manage to get in through coordination and teamwork, then I think it’s a lot more rewarding then solo roaming.

Kasama.8941:

Eurantien.4632:

It is more rewarding to win a 1 v 2 or a 1 v 3 as a solo roamer than it is to take a camp or a tower as a zerg.

That depends on what you had to do, to take that tower. If you just run strait in, then it’s not as fun, but if you’ve spend the last 30 min trying to get into a strong defended tower, and finally manage to get in through coordination and teamwork, then I think it’s a lot more rewarding then solo roaming.

Both are opinions and there is no right or wrong.

I believe that solo roaming only matters if you actually contribute in large to your world in WvW. For example, I have a very high status profile in my guild, which at the same time has a high status profile in my world. This allows me to have influence over other guilds, by asking their help, talking to leaders and knowing their commanders, I can single handedly bring lots of players to WvW. What does that do in WvW anyways? Simple, I keep an eye on what the commanders are doing in a battle ground and try to find weak spots in our plans. I go after these weak spots and keep the commander with tabs on what is happening. This I can do without much pressure because I am solo roaming, I am free to move wherever I want without having to tail after a commander.

That is where my influence comes in handy, because a random solo player can only do so much as I have found in the past. If there is a need to grab 10 people and roam to a location to help defend it/hold it/cap it/build it/kill a zerg from behind, with my influence I can do that. I have seen the tide of events turn for the best many many times for my world, but only when I analyze things properly and execute them the right way. So if you like solo roaming in WvW then do something useful with it. Help your world win by not playing mindlessly, lead a pack of non-party players to help your world where it is lacking, roam together and prove you are worth the effort.

If you just like to solo-kill enemies in WvW, just remember that it does very little to contribute to your world, it only contributes to your personal amusement. I personally enjoy a good fight, but nothing beats having an entire zerg of roaming enemies without a commander run after my taunts, while our zerg closes in on their distraction and takes the upper hand in the wave of battle.

I haven’t spent a lot of time in WvW yet, but when i do, i think i do it for much the same reasons as Puandro. To get some good fights, have fun and to challenge myself by engaging in fights i don’t know if i can win.
It’s how i used to play(mostly solo) in DAoC and it’s how i will play here. I honestly don’t care that much about the server scores. I’m just out there to have some good fights. Sure, i’ll slap some yaks, etc, but that’s usually because i can’t find anyone to fight.
Sometimes i’ll join the zerg though. It can be fun too.

Anet created WvW as a casual type of PvP that was meant for all types of players: soloers, small groups, guilds and zergs.
As long as i’m fighting other players, killing yaks or attacking camps, i’d like to think i’m doing my part.

There’s another thing i used to do in DAoC as well. If i’m fighting another player and a couple of people from my own servers jumps in, i may pull out of the fight to give the “enemy” a better chance to live/win. That depends on the situation and will usually happen if we’re in the middle of nowhere, not taking part in a siege. I’m sorry if that offends some people, but i don’t play by the “red is dead” philosophy. Maybe that could be the topic of your next thread, raoul?

I love it how noone cares about the troll anymore and this turns into a discussion.

hyjaxxx.1584:

Not to be redundant, but even if you take camps /towers out of it. A solo Roamer killing ONLY yaks and sentries is a Huge boon to their server at the tune of 100-200 points a tally.

Then take into account the scouting and slowing of groups and its even more important.

Lastly, when skirmish groups run camps there is usually a enemy group back capping them , so at the tally you might only be up 1 or 2 camps…thats 10 points….the solo roamer in the same time period just earned your server 100-200 points from yaks and sentries. thats simple math, and it adds up.

ANET Response on How Many Points A Yak are worth

Assuming the ANET response at the link above is true and credible then a zerg that concentrates on everyone tagging a doly once before it dies will score more points than a solo ranger yakslapper.

Also, not all zergs are mindless. The ones I run with are all very organized, everyone has specific roles (CC, AOE damage assist, etc) and running as a tightly knit group is heavily practiced. Therefore, I highly doubt any small group would even slow us down. You would have to be heavy CC/Glass cannon to even do reasonable damage and that would simply leave you more open to our heavy CC and damage. ANET says they want to focus more on smaller groups and giving them a chance so that may change but for now no.

I highly doubt a solo ranger is going to hold any significant reinforcements from reaching the zerg. At most 1-3 but any more than that and you will drop. Many more will get past you and if they are smart they would move past you no matter how close you get since a skirmish is not helping the server one bit.

Why is this in the ranger forum?

Its more rewarding to me to solo roam or duo/trio with my friends. We play to have fun so thats what we do, nobody asks you not to zerg because we dont like it.

GUFF.5692:

I highly doubt a solo ranger is going to hold any significant reinforcements from reaching the zerg.

Depends on the servers I guess. On my trapper ranger I could hit and run yaks in front of keeps even. Swoop in, entangle, traps, spam some more condis, and then get out. 1 yak doesn’t matter, but solo roamers can do a lot of hurt this way. I mostly saw this on the recieving end. Having towers close to garri that are without supply for an hour means a bigger time frame for someone to cap it quicker. I know on the higher tiers this won’t happen, but 1 more reason for me to stay in tier 7.

I wouldn’t say its the number that makes it less probable though, I’d say the roamer being a ranger does. On a thief its so much easier because of stealth and shadowsteps. You need specific builds to stop a good thief from taking your yak.

Edit: Sorry, misread your post. Yeah 1 player won’t stop 10 from reaching the zerg.

Many good answers. The most basic answer ? It’s fun…..and why else would you play a game if you weren’t enjoying it?

Forzani.2584:

Many good answers. The most basic answer ? It’s fun…..and why else would you play a game if you weren’t enjoying it?

Spot on!
And besides (also bringing it back into context), whereas the Ranger excels as Solo Roamer (and (x<=5)-man team member), in a zerg, a Ranger is slightly less than useful [ducks under the hail of abuse].

During prime time, I run Necro with my Guild on raids because that’s how I best contribute to a 15 to 20 main group. But my early morning runs are as a Ranger – killings as many Yaks, and flipping as many Camps and Sentries as I can. I’ll also hit on gates to distract the oppo zerg, scout for my server commander and generally be a pain in the kitten .

Speaking of which, this morning at Greenlake, our 8 man team was hassled by a Thief as we tried to take out Greenlake Tower (perfectly valid example :-) – he died a lot but re-spawned and came back at us enough times to slow us down significantly. If he’d had the support of just a few more colleagues, they would have stopped us. The s.o.b. (please note admiration) even snuck in the tower before we capped it and nearly got overlooked.

I do it for the fun. I much prefer fighting people in small groups where I can see the impact I am having on the fight and my person skill is effecting the outcome. I rarely find much fun in running as a zerg because all it really involves if following your commander, and doing whatever he says, and if you’re not doing that you’re doing it wrong.

Also as many people have said.. its extremely ineffiecent for zergs to cap camps and hunt dollys. Whether you want to admitt it or not it’s a fact that if a server has enough roamers you can deny all supply to enermy towers/keeps, meaning they will never upgrade and wont have seige defending them.

Also if you then say a server has 0 roaming groups / soloers at all and every single person is in the zerg.. good luck finding the enermy intime to save anything and goodluck holding any camps at all on the map.

Theres obviously a balance because if everyone isroaming thats clearly not going to work out well, but you do need some people doing it to scout, maintain supplies getting into your towers/keeps and generally watchover the map because a blob can only be in one place at a time.

It comes down to player skill.

If a player sucks at the game no doubt he will want to be surrounded by allies who would be there to help. If a player can handle his own and has learned how to survive through sheer experience and determination, we call that a solo roamer.

When a group of solo roamers get together we can decimate a zerg of 20 men.

I don’t know about you guys, but I am currently a rank 173 or so bronze invader with nearly 30k kills which are almost entirely solo roamed. So, you can imagine that I am quite experienced in combat and know what I’m doing.

It’s disappointing when I come across a player who is of much higher rank than me, but I destroy him; or not even that, it’s just that a lot of them play like noobs. Or like they’ve never stepped foot outside of the zerg.

Why tf is ArenaNet rewarding such player activity? Isn’t Guild Wars 2 supposed to be a game about skill?

Anyways, yeah. you should stop zerging, it’s not healthy for you.

Out of sheer curiosity… which page was this thread on?

I’m actually sitting here a bit stunned to see “roamer” being used to refer to what I think of as ‘Supply Raiding’ or ‘Commerce Warfare’… I’ve always thought “roamers” were people out looking for individual or <5-on-<5 combat.

…Because I’ve been knocking over camps solo for months now with builds that don’t last 15 seconds when I bump into an invading player…

You’re running the wrong build maybe. I can deal with almost everyone on my full rabid trapper and flip camps as well. If you’re roaming you will come across yaks, camps with noone near them, sentries. I don’t know about you, but I don’t just walk past them.

I roam to greatly reduce the number of thieves roaming around and make them unwillingly to do so. With recent update it’ll be even more fun revealing them
(I do this because…wellt..there’re no other roamers than thieves, most of the times ;p)

I roam because I am a Ranger and I have an old PC that lags if I even sniff a zerg. I consider it a good night of WvW play if I die less than it takes to get the “Kill 10 enemy invaders” daily.

I deny supply and scout. That is my role. If I run into enemy roamers and kill them, I deny my enemies denying supply. You’re never safe, so the edge of danger adds to the fun.

Gotta love melting dollies in the middle of 2-4 players My lag-o-meter also indicates enemy zergs quite effectively.

Becuse im a solo player, and i only play thief proffesions, which is awful for zerging thats why i roam..