Guild Wars 2

BlackLotus.8349:

TC has held bay all night through several attempts to take it on DBBL. So many epic fights!

Nightlight, Dejya, Rhyme, and guildies plus TV, TCU, EP and MOON? That’s epic fun right there. Pow.

Home renos have kept me away too long.

FA is a great server for the right kind of player – which Chris has explained well. T2 is a great place to be, and FA could easily place 1st with better coverage.

As a player on FA’s “arch-nemesis” server TC, I’ve been hoping for more great, friendly players to round out their coverage. Hope to see you on the field!

I won’t be around tonight but perhaps some brave souls could try and organize a fitting send off for KN?

I’m thinking a row of TC and a row of FA facing each other while KN marches down the middle (naked and singing?). Fireworks, flowers, etc. Once KN gets to the end of the march, turn, bows all around and then fight to the death.

Outside KN spawn in TCBL? Anyways, anything that can be organized for tonight would be nice. It’s been a very fun time in T2 with KN first with BG and then with FA.

I’m a TC that gets annoyed by any server not playing to win. (To be clear, I think in general FA does play to win, like every server, but the community has a lot stronger GvG focus than servers that haven’t had the bad luck to be facing overwhelming odds so many times.)

I understand FA’s position, and don’t envy it. They have spent a lot of time behind in coverage and one of the ways to deal with that is to move the goal posts so you can feel like you’re winning to keep your morale up. Regardless, choosing to play following your rules is not playing to win, and is disrespectful to your competition. However, given the state of things (so far), it just isn’t that big a deal. I expect once FA has more coverage it won’t be an issue.

re: T1 no fun: I heartily disagree that you have to ruin the fun of the game while playing to win. Heck, PtW is how I think everyone has the most fun. I think the trouble with a lot of (especially T1) players is confusing playing to win with winning at all costs. The latter is no fun, and does horrible things to the people involved.

Wyld I was really looking forward to trying to save yaks from you’re onslaught, but perhaps we can thin the herd together.

I disagree about true balance though, since balance doesn’t have to be that close, just in the same ballpark. As Theon and others have pointed out the WvW game is about more than just fighting and recruiting top players is one of those things (just like in other sports). However a baseline where recruitment can give you the edge one week is different from the blowouts we’ve all faced.

I’d be sade to see any WvW guild transfer to JQ at this point, when FA, DB or even BG or SoR are better choices for the game as a whole.

ganeshori.6309:

I just want an even match-up again. … You really do need to be bouncing up to the next tier….. there is no fun in getting punched in the face day in day out…and its not much fun punching and not getting punched back.

FA/KN/DB would be a great matchup i think.

This just isn’t a good solution. While it’s nice to get some sort of temporary balance between 3 servers without full coverage, at the end of the day the goal always has to be to fill as many servers coverage gaps as possible so that we can have fun, fair fights 24/7 on as many servers as possible. TC has made this a priority, next time we fight a T1 we’ll still be at a coverage disadvantage but it should still be much more fun for everyone involved. This doesn’t mean we’re gunning for T1, just that we want full coverage. FA might never want T1 either, but full coverage will let you compete against anyone in a fun way regardless of the havoc of transfers.

The best solution by far is to build up 2 more T2 servers with TC level of coverage. FA should probably be one of them.

I like the idea of being able to donate WXP/badges or better yet set up player funded rewards for various tasks.

People who are fighting all the time but understand the importance on non-combat tasks can then voluntarily transfer their WXP/badges. For example, right click on a wall and donate WXP for everyone that repairs it (awarded when fully repaired).

Straight transfers of rewards are probably the most flexible for handling noncombat rewards, but would let one character essentially transfer their rank to another (although having a maximum transfer rate would prevent instant rank transfer).

Perhaps a “WXP bonding” ability would be nice – any rewards earned by one character could be split with others who are bonded, letting sentries and other non-combatants earn from fighters they are indirectly supporting.

These sorts of player-run reward systems can generally handle noncombat rewards better than any rules, and provide a really nice way to reward people for all sorts of good play without additional coding, but run the risk of abuse, turning team play into something more mercenary (“I won’t help unless you pay”) and adding additional management headaches for commanders. Hard to say whether its a good tradeoff, but it feels to me that its worth a try.

FA wanting to GvG is great, variety is the spice of life, but you’re gunna catch more flies with honey. If I were you I’d just advertise here when your in game looking for a fight and see if you get any takers. Most of the time TC guilds are going to be playing to win, but blowing off some steam and changing things up is a pretty high priority too. Trying to prove how good you are in GvG? Very low interest, as that means little over here compared to how well you play to win.

nibbles.2408:

The end result is nice of course, but in the meantime servers like FA and KN, who now have less coverage in comparison to TC, have to suffer because of it. I think that is where most of these antagonistic feelings about transfers are coming from (speaking objectively, I could care less either way).

Yup, and all of our servers have been though this situation before. There is no getting around uneven matchups as we work towards balance. It is a slow and painful process, especially if we are factionalized and unsupportive of each other. Let us know how we can help and there will be support from TCers (e.g. our support in KNs NA recruit thread).

Eventually we (WvW players as a whole) need to “stack” as many servers as possible, without overcrowding any servers. There is little coordination to this, but the more Tiers we can get with non-stop coverage in, the better for WvW and the game in general. For example, imagine if you could choose from 9 different servers that all had round the clock coverage but you could find the community that fit your playstyle best. That would be fantastic.
Currently T1 is in pretty decent shape, T2 servers each have one gap that everyone would like filled (and after this week TC might have basic coverage everywhere)? I’m happy when coverage is filled for any server, and we all need to think about how we can help each other achieve the best matchups possible through transfers while minimizing any negative impact on any server community.

Make it a WXP upgrade to (really) autoloot, then people can decide if they continue to enjoy picking up bags. I know that would be the first thing I invest in.

Lanimal.6541:

Just imagine a T2 where PVD does not exist. I can dream.

This. I’d be happy to see all the servers in T2 get their WvW pops up to the happy place where you’re slightly under the queue on all maps on weekdays and a short queue on one map (long on others) on weekends.

I’d guess that the majority of T2 would rather make T2 moar awesome rather than push to T1. It would be nice to play against T1s occasionally, but the scoring system just doesn’t provide for that without a period of uneven matches, and given a choice I’d choose competitive T2 over playing with BG again. My WvW fantasy matchup is getting BG-KN-TC back together again but have all servers coverage be pretty equivalent.

Another vote of support for Kaineng. If you think RP makes for a better game and love WvW, TC is a better choice, but Kain has a solid WvW community that knows how to have fun, respects its opponents on and off the field and plays to win every week. Plus you’ll get to compete in the most competitive NA Tier that’s both friendly to new players and lets experts excel (on all 3 servers).

Maybe Quenta’s been spending time on SoR. Zing!

Seriously though, I think we can all make snarky comments, but I think we can all agree that only SoR deserves them. Badda-bing!

OK, OK, really, serious, lets enjoy the fight, there is no Tier as kick kitten as this one. You got something to say, make it a shout out to some of the awesomeness you see from your fine opponents. For example: this morning MEOW was bringing it in TCBL, even though they were up against a hefty, well led, Zombie horde. Plus a FA thief killed the dolyak I was guarding after he was downed – thats dedication /salute.

Welcome our BG friends to T2, I’m sure you’ll enjoy yourself on FA (if you’re focus is more on kills) or TC (if you’re focus is more on points and non-combat fun). All servers in T2 have times that you can get in some great small fights and epic ZvZ action.

Thanks for the vids Quentin, can we get some GvG highlights anyone? Thanks!

Play the game how you want, but if you’re not playing to win the match then you’re not fully respecting your opponents because you’ve decided to play for your own entertainment rather competitively with others. That isn’t to say you can’t take an occasional break from playing to win to fool around with your opponents, do some (RP) events or just farm bags. Enjoy the game, respect your fellow gamers.

Unfortunately.5940:

Liking the culling changes from the patch but the way wxp works at the moment just favors zerging and pve-ing in wvw, and boy does it show. Zergballs everywhere.

Remember that, (at least on TC but I’m guessing every server is essentially the same) all the players who are driven by collecting virtual things and increasing numbers are checking out WvW… and they only will feel comfortable ikittenerg at first. With any luck we’ll all convert a bunch of those people to WvW regulars.† Time to break out the training sessions!

† Which is really the only good thing about WXP, but that alone is worth it.

PS. Holy kitten, there are a lot of us. We really had no idea how engagements were going or balanced before eh? Fighting in the bloody dark this whole time. Nice to see everyone finally.

The main thing is fixing squad so that it is useful. Increasing the 30 person cap and showing squad commander in a different color from other commanders would be a start. When squad is only a benefit then the good servers will switch to using it to prevent suppression.
I could see a /command for commanders that asked all non-squad members in the local area whether they want to join the squad to be quite helpful as well.

xxNiiKo.1543:

man not even kidding TC and FA are ganging up on Kaineng on EBG.

After 2 weeks I think we all know what sort of strategy are going to make this the best match – and that boils down to FA and TC making sure the Kain is behind both of them when midnight PST rolls around.

…

Points! I meant behind in points!

Well, I’m calling this one for the F.A-Team! You really turned up the heat this week, and had some great defence to match the usual bloodthirsty FA spirit. Enjoy the sweet taste of a well deserved victory over your yak lovin rivals.

I’ll say it again though, next week Kain needs to be in the crosshairs; we still have an opportunity for the most epic match (for our three servers) since release and a great way to say WvW is dead, long live WvW!

KrazyFlyinChicken.5936:

FA+ [RET] Taking this game Thuper Therial.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s8xKZQDzMUI

Awesome, I’ve always wanted to do that. An idea for next time – just keep jumping off, running/porting back up and jumping off, a continual rain of RET. lol I guess you’d need some decoys down below to position the targets, but still, would be worth trying to pull off.

Interesting, the closest comparison I could find to last week at this time is:
KN: 86k then vs 74k now
FA: 67k then vs 62k now
TC: 62k then vs 54k now
If we total up the points, make the totals equal and assume even distribution then it would be:
86 : 82
67 : 70
62 : 62
So if the numbers mean anything (no guarantees) it looks like FA came out of this weekend slightly ahead of last week by out playing KN. Some of our anecdotal observations on TC seem to support that. Good work FA!

I still want to see the gap between all 3 servers closed for a most epic showdown on Thurs/Friday.

Just wanted to give a shout out to [JEST] who ran an in-character yak escort event last night in TCBL. Awesome!
Thanks to everyone who was defending the yaks, and the FA soloers and duo teams trying to stab them in the face. RP, good company and good enemies make yak deliveries fun.

CHIPS.6018:

Grimpaw.7493:

Are you sure that wasn’t a RPer dressed up as a dolyak? They like that you know.

In Mother Russia Yaks dress up as you!

Seriously though, I have a high level source that claims the Yak Liberation Front often disguises themselves as humanoids, creating sleeper cells who volunteer for “yak duty”, waiting for their chance to free their brethren.

I’ve been told that the yaks are slaves that yearn to be free from bondage †. Also, don’t be fooled, even though they aren’t RPers those “yaks” are occasionally are our enemies disguised as yaks with similar but slightly different yearnings.

† This came straight from the mouths of two Free Yaks that were proselytizing near Longview and Garrison last night. Watch out for the Yak Liberation Front, they seemed aggressive and gassy.

Are you sure that wasn’t a RPer dressed up as a dolyak? They like that you know.

ykyk.2740:

Grimpaw.7493:

Can we not make up for coverage by splitting KNBL in half and spend most of our time fighting over who keeps Garrison? KGarrison, the new SM!
I know I’d like to see this match come down to the wire for all three servers.

TC and FA working together, that’ll be the day!

In game I don’t see that as an issue, I’ve had all sorts of good experiences with FA. The level of coordination is minimal besides “don’t attack each others holdings on their side of the map” plus it allows all 3 servers to play for first.

I’ve never really understood why its so hard for the two underdogs in a match to focus the leader, especially when that strategy could give either the win. I understand its different when the coverage is so vastly unbalanced that you’re still playing for 2nd regardless, but it seems ridiculous not to play for 1st in this (awesome) matchup.

As a bonus it might help heal some troll wounds and I’m certain Kain wants us to bring it, they never shy from a fight.

Can we not make up for coverage by splitting KNBL in half and spend most of our time fighting over who keeps Garrison? KGarrison, the new SM!
I know I’d like to see this match come down to the wire for all three servers.

Good week, thanks to Walken and friends and the Yak-hating, bag-lovers of Jaspenwood. Drinks are on me.

Next week I’m thinking Kain needs a little more cowbell.

Sir William PD.9615:

The first Dolyak parade attack was spontaneous, the most recent one was planned.

If you want to hit up the next parade I would suggest contacting appledainty secretly to set up a good point for an ambush (to keep it a surprise for everyone else) and do something fun like make a HNTR guild and/or dress up (Yak blood colors?), fight only with rangers, etc.

Zynthetic.2954:

Grimpaw.7493:

@Jayne, Well said, but I would go further. Players shouldn’t be reading other servers forums.

If they openly admit who they are, and what server they’re from, and are allowed by the admins, that’s fine. We have a few players from other servers that regularly post on tcgw2.com.

Certainly, if you’ve been legitimately invited to join a community and discussion, you should.

@Jayne, Well said, but I would go further. Players shouldn’t be reading other servers forums. If you feel the need to read other servers forums then its time to re-evaluate why you play this game and perhaps if you’re spending too much time on it. If you wanna say a friendly hello you can do it on the official forums, but let people have their own space and save yourself some time for more important things.

@Tallis: this is probably the first match where TC and FA coverage/pop has been relatively equal. More importantly, who cares about past matches? Sheesh.

re: Yaks: I’m sure appledainty and the DOLY gang don’t mind some RP yak hunting, its the anti-RP griefing that is just lame and unfun. If you wanted to set up a memorable ambush at some point in the run that sounds exciting. Just plan it for a bit later in the run, don’t grief the run the entire time, and let those FA that want to participate do so without prejudice.

Zoel.9154:

if you’re wondering the [Ret vs Rise] gvg went like this

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CjngxZD78Og

Ooooo. <3 Been hoping for some good GvG vids. Thanks!

Rematch! 3 way with a TC guild would be scrumptious.

Side note: I think TC does like to gloat a bit when we do well (we still feel like the RP-underdogs in our matches vs equal or better coverage), but doesn’t everyone agree that some friendly ribbing on the forums is fair game, as long as its not name calling or just a plain old boring post (i.e. any chest thumpin without the funnehs)?

PS. Tuesday!

Jerks.3172:

Dark King Rayleigh.9174:

Some great fights this week.

Here is a [BT] highlight video vs [PINK]: http://youtu.be/hnRMp4cXKas

Some amazing fights in just 2 nights. The fight that stands out for me is the one at the North Supply Camp, was a great and very long fight. Good strats and coordination on both sides.

3:24 moment was awesome made me chuckle

Indeed, I could imagine the scream on the way down. Great vid, looks like a great time fighting BT.

Kain’s turnin on the heat this weekend, woo-eee! Soldiers in the name of double team, we must fight for liberty against the Totalikanians!

Edit: seriously, grats to Kain for the impressive weekend, in case that wasn’t clear.

Well done Kain in TCBL. I was pleasantly surprised to see WM pay us a visit, was fun trying to cause them trouble, our 3 man mez havoc squad was trying to create opportunities but besides a lucky Hills grab you were generally quick enough!
Coral = mad TP skills = endless siege = I hope your scouts are good.
Also enjoyed some good fights with small FA groups, there was a FA mes that was really fantastic but I forgot to get the guild.

I’m lovin the aspenwood “where friends meet”. I wish we would have done MaxGuumer last week, ah well, can save it for next time we’re playing Mags.

With any luck, this should prove to be one of the most entertaining matches for all 3 servers since launch, so I’m voting:
FA: Fred Astaire @ before & after daycare
Kain: Kim Bum @ Guangzhou Kaineng Electric Equipment plant
TC: Tony the Tiger @ Strawberry Shortcake’s house

JaironKalach.4938:

While I’m here, let me say this to TC… You have beaten and broken Mag in a way that neither Kain nor FA had been able to. I think partially it’s some of the discontent we’ve had with our rank, but you guys to seem to have unbelievable coverage. There hasn’t been a time that I was on that TC wasn’t able to rally a zerg and retake anything we’d taken. Heck of a job, guys.

Zombie Coast tenacity + winning (newbs and fairweathers) = Zermbie Coast?

The good news is our non-NA coverage does actually seem to be improving a few brave RPers at a time, which will make T2+ matches more interesting for our opponents.

Edit: And hopefully we can convert as many of the new WvW folks to regular WvW players. The more we can convert PvEers from all servers the better.

ParaldaWind.4523:

Not many on Maguuma really record video, but here’s a pretty good one.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tCAQS_w0Wgw

Cheers, very entertaining. I’m usually the only one drinking in my party on the weekends. Hmm, TC pirate guilds might be a good place to find drunken shenanigans…

xxxzavulonxxx.8413:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Guyj1o3mT5k

This is over a month old so probably doesn’t reflect current play, but I wouldn’t be showing that to anyone about Mag skillz. Obvious the Kain group there wasn’t hot either, but note that they’ve been really been training hard in T2 and made an excellent opponent when we left them.

Re: Jadon, Niim is exactly right, Mag and DB don’t have to asked to bring it, they do that just fine on their own, as do we. When SoR tried to encourage us, it just kitten us off too.

It sounds like any smaller Mag and DB groups looking for smaller fights should give some of the TC roamers and guild groups a heads up. Post which BLs you’ll be one and perhaps people can meet up, or send some PMs around. Note TC is having some problems getting guild groups into certain BLs due to world completion issues.

TC is happy to make the match as fun as possible for our opponents, within the constraints of playing to win. You’ll find lots of friendly rivals with a few respectful PMs. TC and Mag forum warrior-ing is like night and day, we don’t really speak the same language, and my hopes for a Rainbow Cookie Troll seem still a long ways off.

I’ve been away all weekend but rumour has it TC was really impressed with DBs tactics and skill over the weekend. /salute

I was thinking it might be nice since it’s been awhile if some of the regular WvWers from each server could give a quick overview of the guilds and personalities of their WvW crew? Always nice to now who I’m fighting.

I can start with some general basics of TC, but I’m far too casual to get the details of the guilds right so I’ll leave that for someone else from TC:

Tarnished Coast
aka TC, Zombie Coast, Garnished Toast, unofficial NA RP server

• large militia, especially on TCBL, often running in 1 zerg plus scattered, sometimes confused, sometimes expert militia across the map
• fast response on defence, can be lacking on offence in TCBL
• many excellent commanders that change the militia into a force that can wipe guild groups
• great EB defence, and depending on commander presence some very strategic gameplay
• some really great medium and large guild attack forces that have been training vs HB and WM on enemy BLs (if you’re looking for some fun GvG make sure you PM some of the folks from Pink, KH, TV, etc)
• The Running of the Yaks event on Thursday night
• fond of duelling near southern camps, more so as the week progresses
• some incredibly patient and skilled thief and mesmer teams that will give you sweeping nightmares
• comedy and friendly rivalry on the forums just as important as competitive battles in game

As long as the paternal animosity results in bloody fights on the field and not in the forums. As far as I’m concerned; forums = going for beers after the game and everyone is invited. TC will be bringing cookies, but it’s what’s in the cookies that’s important.*

I’m looking forward to seeing how we’ve all changed since our last matchup so long ago, and hoping coverage issues won’t be a big issue.

* raisins vs chocolate chips - go!

Maybe I’ll have to run a false flag op and slaughter some beautiful, innocent Yaks dressed as a Kaininite….

Wait, was that out loud?

CHIPS.6018:

Tier 2 is the highest tier you can get to where wvw is still about fun. After that it is total war where anything goes.

Total war… in a game. I just don’t understand that attitude and I have loved the attitude BG and Kain have brought to the match. You have to play to win, anything else is disrespectful to your opponents, but playing to win is not winning at all costs. In the end we’re all playing to make the game more enjoyable for each other and you never know whose team you’ll be on next week, next match or next game – to forget that is madness.

If this is our last week together for awhile, thanks for all the fish, and I’ll be cheering for your success and awaiting our epic rematch in the future!

Gorey update ftw Hydro.

neomccoy.2657:

RE visited Eternal Battlegrounds. We had a blast fighting great opponents on both BG and TC.

Fear the white rhino! That 3 way fight looked like a lot of fun.

I would love to see some love for casuals in WvW.

I only get to play 1-2 times per week, since my time is so limited I only want to spend my in game time doing things I love (WvW mainly) and I occasionally get close enough to finish a daily by grinding out the last requirements for 20-30 mins. Something I would prefer to avoid as this is never fun.

For those confused by how a casual player actually plays: I have one 80, that took maybe 4 months (and 60 to 80 was almost entirely in WvW). I haven’t done any dungeons and only have 120 or so in crafting before I just didn’t have the time or interest. I purchased rares and sigils (since I think I only had 1 useful exotic ever drop for me on the way to 80) to get basically outfitted for WvW and recently got fed up enough to spend $10 for some gems to convert to gold to get a set of exotics (the cheapest I could find).

$10 isn’t really a burden, but the principle of it irks me.

I’d like to see the drop rates off opponents in WvW for characters with lower than max gear drastically improved and/or the costs for gear purchased with WvW currency (badges of honor?) drastically reduced. If players want to be competitive and level in WvW they should end up max geared asap. WvW focused players play because they enjoy the challenge of the battle and gear is a means to an end (i.e. fair fight).

For PvE I would recommend adding (or changing) a currency that accumulates over time regardless of whether you play or not. Either allow that to be converted to gold or add vendors for a full set of basic looking equipment.

Sorrow.7384:

Well friends, here is a new video “Tales From Tier Two” and I do hope you enjoy it.

Awesome, very good mesmer play. Love the lightning at the end. Quaggan work for TC!

Thresher.3049:

Actually fairly rare footage, there is not many KnT videos out there as we’re pretty humble, its filmed by Roger our squishy but very brave scout.

I thought Roger was a shrubber? Thanks for the vid! Fight you guys very often, so nice to see from your perspective.

And thanks to everyone for the fantastic score updates, images and general hilarity. For those of us who spend more time at work (cough forums cough) than in game, this is what I wish every match could be.

Had a fun time defending TCBL last night. Sorry we were a bit disorganized, we were having fun in the chaos but didn’t have a whole lot of cohesion to bring against the guild groups (KnT, etc) until pretty late.

Props to the BG mesmer between Bay and Gari who was taking on 5 TC, I thought that was a bit unfair … for him to be so kitten good. Go mesmers! :P

My favourite fight was the Kaininites well defended trebbing of Cliffside, BG ninjaing the tower and then pulling off a great bomb vs Kain. The 3 way fight throughout Garison was good too, although everyone seemed like they were running around without their head.