Guild Wars 2

Pimsley.3681:

meow one twenty.4376:

Pimsley.3681:

I enjoyed reading the wall of text and can relate.

We all know a puppy dies every time a teammate with bad mobility runs far, fails to decap and leave us outnumbered

I’d rather have a veteran warrior than a noob expact elite

Ugh, this is what I tell people when they yell at me for not going far on my Necro.

Yeah, for me I cringe when a teammate volunteers to go far. Most of the time they’ve already made their decision. The 1-3-1 split is very risky to do in a solo pug team

You only go far if you have the mobility to get there before they capture it. It’s not necessarily 3 capping but contesting/preventing them for scoring.

I remember your healing necro.

I’m being recognized! It’s really not a bad build if people are communicating, up to 9k healing to 5 teammates, 7-11k heals from Consume Conditions, up to 10k heals from Signet of Locust, and decent Condi pressure. It just happens to be that SoloQ’ers don’t communicate well enough to make it beneficial.

I am not looking for a pity party, I just needed to rant and vent.

I was pretty proud of accepting the journey of solo q as war to diamond. Sure I could do it. Then I hit ruby tier and I started losing matches. Part of it because people give up because they see a warrior, part of it because of poor rotations, and lastly mechanical skill.

I have played warrior for 3 years, I played necro for about 6 months. I have tussled with the greats, played along side some of them. I thought I could do the job.
But try solo q on a non carrying class is probably more difficult than completing my doctorate degree.

So many people, who have been playing "meta classes/builds for like 1-2 months and think they know everything. I got to ruby, and then now I feel like I am so tanked in MMR that over half of my team is usually sapphire folks.
You just can’t win when there are people double capping nodes, going for bosses with the thief nearby for the steal, rotating to lost fights and getting wiped, suiciding at far node and the list goes on and on. And of course I get blamed. You mean to tell me we lost because we had a warrior and not because you spent 13 seconds capping that node to walk away from it and lose it within 10 seconds.

But I have learned something in all of this frustration. These are just the tactics of the lower level players. They do not out grow it. And the reason is because it works at the level they are on and they eventually make it to ruby. Then they are mixed in with people who actually know what rotation properly is and they lose and do not understand.

This is typical learning curve syndrome of ever game ever. Play A works at low tier and you use it to get to high tier. In high tier Play A does not work. But because you had a gradual progression to high tier, you do not understand that Play A does not work. However, with half the team executing Play A and the other hald doing Play B, it is a kitten fest.

So now I am stuck. I guess I just need to find some friends and que up to rise out of this slump.

Lastly, people learn some math. There is a point in the game where you only need 1 point to win. If you have over 400 and they are at 300, please do not give up that node you own. mathematically they cannot catch up. Not counting kills of course. So spreading thin trying to secure a resource you do not need is flawed.

MATH MATH MATH MATH MATH. You all know everything right?? But can’t extrapolate to 500 based on a field situation.

Ill be back after the holidays. Maybe the bads will make it to diamond and then I can have the emeralds on my teams.

I am a nice guy. I do not wish to bad mouth people or anything. The pip system has made this environment toxic. So much cussing, name calling and crap talking in team chat the whole time of a match. Losing is bad enough, old system I knew I loss, but now it feels worse. Losing pips hurts a lot. But losing because of 4 others, the worst. I should be used to this due to team sports but I guess because there is not allegiance to the randoms, it just irks me.

I know my play is not perfect, I make mistakes. I lose home node sometimes.

I Know. I need a break. No game should cause you this much distress.

I’ll be back in January to stream some warrior solo q.

Not much seems to get stickied in these forums, but this thread is close to warranting a sticky.

No matter what our other complaints may be in PvP (and I have plenty), good tactics will always help. I’ve already learned a thing or two on this thread.

One thing I will say is you get better results from your teammates with honey than with salt. Add “Please” to your chat messages and don’t bother starting flamewars because the time you spend typing could be spent capping, and you can sometimes win a match that seems hopeless at the time. I’ve noticed that teams that are good at fighting are not necessarily good at map rotation.

Keep an eye on the map every few seconds and grab the empty node if everyone is having a battle royale. Any player no matter how underpowered can do this.

The two most important things that solo quers can start doing:

On the spot organization for the initial split Quickly discuss who is going where. If your team comp is poor, swap characters. Devise a general strategy on how to approach the opponent’s team. This can be hard to do with solo quers but it is important to do now with the new league system in ranked.
Communicate If you have time to type in /t chat, call enemy numbers, where they are, where they are headed and how many there are. It isn’t hard to quick type “3 inc mid” or “2 home”. The same goes for when enemies are on respawn. Call it out “1 DH respawn”. Even brief text communication will seriously increase the accuracy of a PUG team’s positioning/rotations.

Remember that the only thing that seperates PUG teams from premades is indeed superior organization & communication factor.

Pimsley.3681:

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1. Defend the points you just capped.

Everyone read this.

Why bother even capping the point if you just run off so the enemy can take it immediately ? Why did you stand there and waste your time just to lose it 1 second later ? It blows my kittening mind.

460-380 ahead and all we need to do is get 1 point and hold it. Guy caps close I’m like GG Nice job !! – Guy walks off it a second later. Lose.
?=?=?=?!=?!=?!=!?=!?!=!?=!?=!?!=?!=+10
This happens way too often.
I literally start banging my head against my desk when kitten like that happens.
The stupidity is unreal.

I don’t mind if someone makes mechanical mistakes or is just unskilled, that’s understandable, but if you don’t use your kittening brain (because I’m 100% sure you have one) and don’t think logically… even if someone is typing in chat what you need to do, then kitten me please stop playing multiplayer computer games and go play tetris or do some sudoku…

Pimsley.3681:

nearlight.3064:

On a related note, howler got intos nighttime animations un-nerfed, so thats a huge fashion buff for me!

Howler? Wut? Rich PVEr

I don’t think I’ve ever seen the Howler in action at night. I tried checking the TP but gosh darn there were only 4-5 legendaries available and no Howler.

Originally it had the night time effects, being that a moon would flow between the wolf head and the fringey things, and the wolf head would howl and move when you used a skill in addition to sending out a wolf head animation. But when they changed the sound effects on it over a year ago after I had first gotten it, they left it so the wolf head would continuously move and howl when you used a skin. People complained and anet removed the night effect and howling animation. Then they finally fixed it back to its original incarnation. And yeah it’s my only legendary, though I’d go for meteo or astralaria or nevermore if I had more time to grind away.

And I’ll show you in game sticker when I get a chance, though due to winter break travels I won’t be on again till like tomorrow.

I’d like to add my 2 copper to the lot

Write your intentions in team chat before match start
Your team can only benefit the more you communicate and when roles/positions are assigned. Dont be shy, be one of the bunch.

Understand well your build and role
If you are an auramancer Tempest, or a boon signet Revenant, or a Druid heavily focused on healing, your place is most likely in the big fight. A capable player running a support build can probably fair very well in duels or aggressive capping as well, but its potential is wasted as his value is greatly superior when fighting together with 2 or 3 allies. Know your role, and understand what you bring to the field.

If you’re running dangerously low on health in the middle of the fight: DISENGAGE!
It’s the best decision- try to anticipate the outcome of the fight. If you run away from the field, contrary to common belief you’re not a coward. You take time to replenish your health and avoid the 30-60 seconds you loose when you die, plus the 5 points your enemy wins for killing you.

Use your UI tools!
The map and team health bars are your most valuable information. Learn to read them, and make a habit of looking at them often. If you’ve just respawned and see 3 other team mates health to zero, stop. Don’t rush to mid. Look at the map and understand where everyone is headed, regroup. Dont initiate the 1v4 kill/spawn roundabout. The reason why many new players blindly jump to their death is lack of interface usage.

Choose and FOCUS on a target
Probably the biggest setback during a fight is having every team member engaging a different opponent. It doesnt matter if you are outnumbering the enemy. You will loose. Open your keyboard settings window and assign your key to Target a chosen enemy. The rest of the team will see a crosshair on the target’s name and will be able to assist. This should be the first thing you do when starting an engagement. Choose a new target when the previous is dead/downed or has fled the battle.

Don’t fight between points, unless…
If your intention is to capture a certain point on the map, head there and dont fight along the way. Fight on top of the point as much as possible to maximize your team score. The exception to this is the other side of the medal: if you see an enemy heading to one of your points, it is a good decision to intercept them on the way and force them into a fight off the point you are holding, negating him a chance to decap your point.

Going all 5 at mid (so zero at close or far) at match start can sometimes be a good decision
You are very likely to win the initial 5v4 or 5v3, permitting you to easily take back close while the enemy is slowly respawing 1 by 1. You might sacrifice a few points initially but can result in having your full team alive and ready to control the rest of the match.

When you respawn and your team just got wiped, don’t run straight to a defended point, either cap a undefended one if possible (most of the time it won’t be) or just wait for your team. I see people do this all the time, and everytime they just die, respawn, and do it again.

Hahahahahahahaha.

Hey guys I want to put together a list of the best builds for new players who don’t yet own Heart of Thorns. Some of these are better in the current meta than others.
For those who need some credentials, I’m currently in Pro League and played when these builds were in use.

I’m listing by profession which does not indicate which profession is best but I’ll organize them roughly by what is most likely to be best. I do list the specs by rank within the profession heading starting with best at the top. I’ll make a note next to each one of how good it is in pvp now.

Also keep in mind that these specs are basically snapshots of last meta and there are probably some tweaks to be made to make them the most optimized now. Some of these articles might have been edited and suggest runes/sigils that are locked on Free to Play accounts. There should be variations you can play where you don’t need to unlock anything.
If you having trouble, try to find recent videos and stuff up. Can also tune into streams and ask people.

Feel free to discuss if you think something is better or worse than I say. Haven’t played any of these in new meta so hard to say in some areas. I’ll probably edit this list periodically.

Elementalist:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Dagger/Dagger – Fairly strong node holder/duelist (not bunker). You’ll lose to things now but can probably hold your own in solo queue against many players.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Celestial_Staff – Fairly tanky, has more ranged damage.

Engineer:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Engineer_-_Marauder_Rifle – Still fairly strong, mostly just overshadowed.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Engineer_-_Soldier_Rifle – The Tankier version if you need.

Necromancer:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Celestial_Signet – Tanky might-stacking spec. This is the best option for necro unless your team needs more damage. Can hold a node while your team rotates in, and still has okay dueling.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Necromancer_-_Standard_Power_Necro – Will probably get killed, needs support, but if you like power can play this. Does big damage.

Guardian:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Burst_Burning – Easy to play, kills noobs and people who you catch off-guard, but will lose to good players. High Burn damage.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Meditation_DPS_Variant – Power Damage variant. This might actually be better than burn but I put burn higher because it is more effective vs. bad players for less skill investment.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Guardian_-_Bunker – If you need team support/bunker. Downside is that it’s slow and can’t kill anything.

Warrior:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_GS/Hammer – Fairly okay at team fighting. Pop that rampage and go in babyyyy. Has some decent damage during CC.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_Greataxe – Has burst.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Warrior_-_Shoutbow – The point holder/dueler spec.

Mesmer:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_PU_Shatter – This is like a worse D/P Thief in queues. Has higher burst damage out of stealth + portal that might make it more useful, but Thief might be better here.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_Condition_Shatter – More of a duelist spec, or if you like condis. Not super good in team fights.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Mesmer_-_Mantra_Lockdown – If you want to embrace your inner Mesmer and mess with people, one of my favorite old specs.

Thief:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Thief_-_Dagger/Pistol – This might be the best non-HoT spec individually. Problem is that Thief has a hard time dealing with the new HoT specs now. This spec requires a lot of mechanics that are not intuitive. I would recommend watching videos to figure everything out.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Thief_-_Sword/Dagger – Not as good as D/P but has evading if you like that.

Ranger:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_Power_Survival – Ranger might be the worst non-HoT choice overall, but if you have to play it try one of these specs. This one has a fairly high skill cap if you factor in needed positioning. It has decent damage.
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Ranger_-_Carrion_Survival – This is more of the point holder ranger spec.

Don’t zerg Cheiftan and Svanir, it only takes one person to kill them
Controlling mid (or far if you decide as a team to play sides) is more important in the opening split than killing the beast. If you’re a damage role and you can’t 1v1 Svanir and Cheiftan with confidence, it’s your build or you need practice. Go practice on them in the mists before queing and if you can’t beat them after practicing several times then find a better build. A damage build that can’t 1v1 Svan/Cheif is going to be deterimental to your team and your enjoyness of the game.

You’re not Rambo, don’t yolorush far
Trust me, it’s not going to be another thief waiting for you. It’s going to be a bunker chrono or an aura tempest. If you’re lucky it will just be a reaper or meditrapper. You’re probably not going to get the point before the enemy team rotates back to you after winning the 4v3 at mid. Unless you are playing with a group this is usually a bad idea in the opening split for pugs and generally occurs because one person got it in their mind as they were running out of the base to Rambo rush far. Don’t do this. You’re just going to be 5 enemy team points instead of a hero.

Soryuju.8164:

Can I request advice for how to handle a specific scenario on Foefire?

Say I’m on Blue team (it doesn’t really matter which team, though) and I’m near Waterfall, which we own. Red team has just capped Mine after killing one of our players there in a 2v1 situation, and the same number of players from each team are fighting at mid. Now one of the Red team members who was at Mine is close to arriving at Mid, and the second is likely to follow in the next few moments.

My question is, what’s the proper way to rotate in response to this type of situation?

-I can reinforce mid, but we’re likely to be outnumbered for some period of time on the point, and I’ll likely just end up getting wiped with my team. To me, this seems like the worst idea overall unless I have a very good reason to believe I can turn the fight quickly upon arriving.

-Decapping far to interrupt their momentum is only feasible with a high-mobility profession or one with access to Stealth, since I’ll either have to cut through the mid fight or take the significantly longer way around (which is what makes this situation particularly tricky on Foefire). I’ve been playing on a variety of professions recently, so this may or may not be an option, and I’m not sure how good of an option decapping far is under these circumstances.

-Defending Waterfall seems like the best decision if the opposing team still has members who aren’t engaged at mid, since that would help prevent them from securing an additional decap or full cap while we wipe to the rest of their team. At that point, however, I’m basically just trying to do damage control instead of actively trying to regain an advantage for my team. Is there anything else better to do here, or is that outcome likely to be the best thing I can salvage out of the situation?

Maybe this seems like an oddly specific situation, but I feel like I run into it more often than I’d like as a solo player. Any insight anyone has would be much appreciated.

It depends on your class. If you are a support bunker definitely reinforce mid. A support bunker at mid could prolong the fight long enough for your down teammate to get back in the fight. As you said if you have the mobility/stealth you could decap far.

To me the key thing to remember is in the example you gave you only have to kill one person at mid to make that an even fight. Ideally you come to the overlook and start putting ranged pressure on the lowest HP opponent. Then you can jump down on them and get start a cc-chain or a burst chain. since you will be late to the fight they should have already blown cooldowns and you can quickly turn it into an even fight.

The Mad Cow Attack Strategy

The Mad Cow Attack Strategy involves a key player (the mad cow solo player) rushing far at the start of a match, by himself. Most of the time the solo hero will fail to communicate this strategy until after the match starts—if at all. I think the idea is he may (highly unlikely) be able to win the match at far, or create a 2v1 at far, thus allowing everyone to win the AWESOME outnumbered battles the Mad Cow is creating with this pro move.

Of course, basic math escapes the Mad Cow, and he rarely realizes he is actually creating a situation where the battle is 1-3-1 vs. 0-4-1, having one ally sitting on home defending it against a nobody, while your team is fighting 1 man down on mid. By the time your home defender realizes what the Mad Cow has done, it is too late. Your home defender’s well intended, but fatally tardy, attempt to back up the Mid fight usually ends up with him arriving on point as your first ally is stomped to death—everyone else bleeding profusely.

The best part is, after this happens, the enemy floater will peel back to their home base and engage the Mad Cow 2v1, thus boosting the Mad Cow’s feeling of self worth (he has created the uber powerful outnumbered battle at far). Meanwhile the enemy team easily steam rolls from mid to your home, laying waste to the rest of your team. At some point around this time the Mad Cow looks up from his screen, as he looses the 2v1 on far, and says: “wtf are you noobs doing!? I was 2v1 and you lost EVERYTHING! Go back to PvE!” or something to that effect. :-)

Pimsley.3681:

The probability of having a separate Solo Queue is looking bleak. So instead mourning for its absence, I’ve decided to create a list of mistakes commonly made in order to improve and progress further in the season.

The goal here is to help the community survive and extract enjoyment out of the game despite the unfavorable circumstances. Please add what you feel most SoloQers need to improve on.

I do not wish for this thread to be hostile or vitriolic.

1. Defend the points you just capped.

A lot of times people just wander off not knowing where to go once the team has two points capped.

2. It’s very risky to attempt to 3-cap with a team of pugs.

This is how teams get wiped. A brief 3 cap could easily turn up against you.
Going for that far cap works if heavy pressure is at mid and home.

3. Don’t double or multi-cap

A strong indication that the team is likely to fail is when 2 people cap home at the start.
Multi-capping is not the same as node team fights. Only 1 person is needed to cap.

4. Be map aware

In Khylo for example, there is no need for you to keep trebbing when the enemy has 3 capped due to your team being outnumbered and your teammates just wiped. Or, if you see the point you just capped is contested don’t run away especially if it was home or mid

5. Don’t bring garbage builds to ranked

You are doing yourself and the team a disfavor when you run garbage. If you soloQ, the best builds to run are sustain and some support. I personally get discouraged when teammates hp drop to red and then black in a matter of seconds.

Edit: I know this goes without saying but bring the class you are comfortable with. The ESL meta doesn’t necessarily apply in the first 3 divisions

Everything said is dead-on. We need a giant bullet board in Heart of the Mist next to the leader boards that has “Guidelines for Solo Queue Play” with these rules and more.

I would add

• Don’t try to play team captain in /team chat when solo or duo-queuing. People won’t trust you and will go do their own thing anyway, so instead call where you are going early on before game starts. If others don’t call it. Say “Where is everyone going?”

• Remind the team to pay attention to map ping.

• Assign team member to secondary mechanics on most maps (e.g. “Jaxx please take out enemy treb if they start using it”, “Someone with high mobility please scout base if they get inside and ping if help is needed”)

abc.5790:

Thanks for doing this, btw.

Don’t chase one guy and leave your teammate on a large team fight at a node. That’s really stupid and annoying when people do that. Sometimes they leave you to 1v3 so they could stomp a thief.

and sticking around doing 2v3, while thief heals back up and come back to 2v4 is great, Got it. OH WAIT.

My advice: It’s okay to disengage from a fight especially if it is going too long or no where.

• Don’t contest a point the opposing team owns. This is a bunker meta, fight if it is yours or fight if it’s uncapped.

• Back off when you are low on health, go back to the point and hug your bunker when you are about to die.

• Count how many icons you see, if you see 5 on the map and no one is at far plus you are a viper rev, sneak to decap far. There is a good chance by the time you returned you wouldn’t have missed anything.

Blaming the team and QQ on mapchat doesn’t help winning

Pimsley.3681:

1. Defend the points you just capped.

A lot of times people just wander off not knowing where to go once the team has two points capped.

I’d be happy if they just learned this one. Every time last night I’d win a teamfight and cap mid only to be instantly abandoned by my soloQ teammates then overrun by respawns 10 seconds later. Sometimes they would leave while I could see the other team incoming. That point that you just fought for is VALUABLE. Defend it.

I’d also go as far as saying that a full pug should NEVER 3 cap unless the other team has DCed or is dancing in their spawn.

If u killed someone, be aware of respawn and be ready to defend your close.

Do not run more than 2 or 3 bunker-support builds 2 bunkers are enough (celestial – sentinel- cleric- …) U won’t kill anybody just by using bunkers.

Know which builds are strong which aren’t

Playing the 3 caps is good only vs strong teamfight composition ( ex: A lot of AOE dmg) Spread the enemies if you are good in 1v1.

Only one ppl is needed on node to anti-cap, do not stand all on the point. Let the bunker do his job.

you forgot
Do Not fight tanky individuals standing on points capped in their favor
I have seen bunker mesmers who are holding their home point get pushed by a necro or scrapper or something only to waste time and cause us to lose fights outnumbered. Easy mistake to fix.

Problem is, many MANY solo queuers already know these things.

They just refuse to do them.

Call it diffusion of responsibility, but really it’s just laziness and ADD. Everyone wants to be the solo queue hero and push far even though mid and home are already capped.

Sitting still is really hard for some 12 year olds.

So they full cap far and usually lose the other two points in the process. And then while trying to win the other points, they lose far and get 3 capped.

I have only a fistfull of PvE right now. I startet last week due to WvW lacking ^^.
I learned most things fast. Well i am a strategist so map awareness is logical for me :-).
I also try to run where others don´t go(avoid street fighting unless i see a fast kill). I try to cap the far sidepoint an hold it.
I play a semi bunker tempest with less healing but more 1:1 capability and can defend a point well in 1:1. Also i try to binde more then 1 oponent knowing i can handle it for a while. They force me off the point, but cant´t kill me fast so it buys time.
I think i won yesterdays match with that. Caped the point, defended it against two 1:1 attempts and had a long fight in the 1:2 that finaly got me down.
I think after learning the maps, i will do good progress.

Don’t fight bunker mesmers on their capped point.

Don’t engage in unnecessary fights off point. It’s tough to scrape you off the ground if you keep needlessly dying to far from the objectives.

6. Buy hot to be any type of viable to a team
You’ll play subpar in all aspects of PvP when running a core build.

7. Change classes depending on your team comp
The faceroll meta is Rev, bunk mes, bunk Ele. A stack of either three classes will make a team so keep that in mind. Scrapper, DH, Druid, Reaper are great 5th picks, choose them at last resort.

8 It’s always best to duo or trio with a meta player friend
Because you’re less likely to grab a non meta player in pug matches.

If you keep TWO opponents busy somewhere, that means your other team members can fight 4 against 3 and win on another point and cap it.

But if you fight one on one, there is no net advantage and you are wasting time unless you are trying to take a point and you are pretty sure you can kill him and cap the point.

Don’t start one-on one fights in the middle of nowhere. That’s called “fighting on the road”, and is useless.

This is a very good OP, however I’m afraid it wont reach out to those who sorely need such info.
I cant count how many times on my cele Tempest auramancer in soloq, “we” win the first mid fight, and then at least two rush their far. They get killed by overwhelming respawns there, and I’m forced to withdraw from mid. And/or “they” arnt aware that enemy is inc at home when we’re at mid, not giving aid in time. Being able to read a game through insight awareness can be a rare thing in soloq, if you are being “unlucky” with how the system works.
Im halfway in 2nd div, if I can make it to third I’ll just grab my tokens and call it a day.

Pimsley.3681:

I guess they never got to fix the bug…

Ha, ha. I think so. I keep getting put on team 1… With the solo queue thief. :-)