Guild Wars 2

Let me give you some examples of a typical [Choo] raid and let me just pick yesterday so I don’t have to go back and dig up video archives.

+ STUN + NAGA vs SG + NS vs BG - Here we made a judgment call that in terms of # STUN + NAGA = NS. In terms of guilds of course its a 2v1. But we decided that we don’t want (respawning?) adds from SG join in on the fight so that its a better experience for STUN/NAGA/NS. It was right next to JQ’s spawn. You have to remember that all 3 of them are “named” guilds.

If we had gotten involved and STUN/NAGA would’ve won then we are taking away the glory from them. You know – the little special moment within a guild where everyone hi-five each other for a job well done for a hard won battle. We didn’t want to take that away. If they wipe then STUN/NAGA are big-boy guilds, they would just dust themselves up and probably do their typical internal review etc..If they ask us to help them though (say on /map) we would definitely have gone in.

I can tell you that it was very tempting to go in and tag (not do any meaningful damage – just tag) for bags. But if everyone in [Choo] starts tagging then its over..LOL. Fortunately, [Choo] tends to have a pretty discipline army.

Now, here is the same set of guilds, but this time it involves an “objective”. Then I think anything is game.

Another example vs NS + Pro. Pro didn’t engage us until after we won the fight vs NS. In this case, I suppose they might have more, but I think its still a fair game (this isn’t GvG afterall). I also think that back to back engagement is fair – you don’t need to wait for another guild to get all their CD’s up.

The final criteria I would say is the group composition and the reputation of the guild. If it’s a mixed group (obviously led by a community commander – not a guild running untagged) then anything is game. If a certain guild keeps trying to sneak engage us mid fight then I would develop a certain expectation that said guild is one that would engage in that kind of behavior. I would just kind of come to expect it. Doesn’t mean that I don’t respect them though. oPP/RIOT are good examples. I kind of expect them to engage us when we are fighting someone else, but at the same time I think highly of them too!

Finally, its a game after all. I think all guilds should make some sub-troll guilds for the occasional quick, cheap fun :-p

DevonCarver.5370:

Cuddlepie.8109:

DevonCarver.5370:

We are looking into the issue right now. Until we know more, that’s all I can tell you at the moment.

“nothing can be done”

It has been resolved, but there isn’t really anything we can do after a match has been running to provide recompense. However, we’ll at the very least look into what we can do to possibly have a system for that in the future. As well as try and sort out what exactly happened so it doesn’t happen again.

My apologies for the situation.

Devon, thanks for the quick reply. Can you check the queues again? It seems that TC cannot queue the same number of people into TC BL at the moment compare to BG.

Normally I wouldn’t raise alarm and assume its afk players, but since this map has known bug history I want to bring it up to you before the problem manifests into something more nasty/unpreditable etc..

List what you like to see before Season Two here so its easy for Anet to read through.

Some things I would like,

• Free one time server transfer (it would be an item mailed to you in game and you can use it anytime you want – even after Season Two if you decide to stay on your server).
• Additional incentives to transfer to a lower tier server (e.g. get free gems by transferring – the lower the tier the more free gems).
• AC goes back to the old damage level – except when you have the [Outmanned] buff.
• Tournament ticket has a “rare level” chance to drop on killing players.
• Additional tournament tickets are awarded to first, second, and third place servers.

Good work TW. I have both fought against and with you guys the past few months. Much respect.

Just include some live in game screenshots because it seems relevant to this post.

Essentially, 1/3 of the current population will not support this idea (the ones who are winning consistently for various reasons) and the other 2/3 will support it. Each side will have minority who are contrarians, but you can expect the majority opinion divide this way.

Unfortunately, the gaming culture often times promote winning over fun.

http://www.twitch.tv/risenfall/c/3673600

…to the user LOL

Thank you ANet for this new map. I hope it becomes the core part of WvW and we definitely enjoy fighting new guilds and learn new tactics/meta.

I think a week or two from now, it should be much easier to find other guilds to fight against when the number of overflow decreases after the pve achievement folks have moved on. In the meantime, if any NA guild wants to join our overflow let us know (both as ally/enemy).

More EOTM fights from SoR perspectives in the matchup thread here – http://www.gw2wvw.net/topic/eotm-2514.

A lot of us invested into our invader and ascended gears and with the upcoming changes in Sigils/Runes/Crit dmg change, can we get a one time salvage + reset of stats?

Cuddlepie.8109:

On 29 Dec, a KnT-led float fought Ge and WvW in a rolling series of 17 open field engagements over a period of 16 minutes and 40 odd seconds.

The video of this encounter is @ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG_JaXwRWwc

At the end of the encounters, Visual Sun (BG commander) asked us to /bow to JQ for the privilege.

As these forums draw to a close, I wish I could offer the same farewell to the moderators.

Love the long video. Btw, for these long fights, personally, I create multiple videos instead so you can have it uncut and keep it short at the same time.

Are we going to try this next week? http://www.gw2wvw.net/node/5

Who hosts it and can it sustain all of the traffic?

Phineas Poe.3018:

hints.8036:

I’m reading this thread because I haven’t played my engineer in a while and want to see what I should do to “update” my build. For large-scale WvW (say T1 zerging), I think the old build is still viable (some videos just from today 1 2 3 4).

I think we are all guilty of relying on a small number of PvPers figure out builds for us in WvW. The truth is that certain OP traits like Incendiary Powder are much less useful in WvW because of internal CD etc..The requirement for a zerg (busting!) build is very different…

What do you mean by the “old” build?

I agree that PvP builds don’t directly translate to successful zerging, but if solo/small-group roaming in WvW, you can use PvP builds fairly effectively. Truth is, when it comes to zergs, it’s ultimately about staying alive as long as possible, tagging a lot of players for badges/bags/wxp.

Some people like tagging with the grenade kit from far away. Others like running with the front line using the flamethrower. And a lot of players these days are running healing bombs, including myself. You can’t just take a build you found online and use it and immediately find success. You have to figure out what you actually like to play, and then determine the most effective way to construct a build around it that is both highly taggable and very survivable.

So which kit do you like best? They’re all viable if built properly.

Pretty old LOL! Last time I played an engineer competitively Teldo was still in the game..Since then I have gotten 400+ WXP ranks in other classes and I don’t use boosters and don’t Karma train..

The WvW game mode (i.e. all the things that you can do in the 4 giant maps in a week long matchup) has many sub-game modes. The main ones are,

1) Roaming: Solo or group – which are also different individually (@coglin.1867 and @Mishva.9416 mentioned)

2) GvG: From 5v5 to 20v20 formats.

3) Raid: Organized (what I showed in videos) vs Disorganized – PUGs – typically in EB (what you mentioned).

4) PPT: Assault and defense of structures, supply lines, bloodlust points, and map/server politics (@Phineas Poe.3018 mentioned)

Your strategy of staying alive and tag is quite viable – especially in EB. Anyhow, I don’t want to hijack the OP thread, my point is that we are guilty of being lazy and outsource our builds to a small number of pvp’ers (and often designed for tpvp with assumption of team composition).

Phineas Poe.3018:

coglin.1867:

I would probably frame its greatest value in WvW. Although I admit, I am always very unclear why so many of you with little to no WvW experience, speak so much of zerging.

I think he’s right, though. I don’t PvP as much as some other Engineers in this thread—primarily because I think Conquest gets dull after a while and the rewards are meh—but I do play it enough to know that how you construct builds in WvW is completely different from what you need in PvP.

If I could explain why 30 Inventions is not so good in PvP compared to WvW, a lot of it has to do with “pressure.” A lot of it also has to do with the limitations of trinket choices, and the statistical importance of them. Elixir-Infused Bombs scales so poorly with healing power that you need a lot of it for it to be effective. This is possible in PvE/WvW, but the Cleric trinket in PvP is nothing to write home about. Today’s patch might change some of this, depending on whether the healing coefficient goes to 15% versus 60% (depending on your interpretation of the +50% scaling comment in the notes, up from 10%) … but generally speaking Forest is absolutely on-point establishing that no tourney Engi is going to regularly run with it. At least not December 9 and previously.

I mentioned pressure, and that’s largely because the contributions of individual members in a 5v5 situation is incredibly important. You have to ultimately kill the players you fight against. 30 Inventions means you’re centered around the Bomb Kit. Big Ol’ Bomb is probably the most telegraphed knockback in the game, so you’re not ousting anyone with that who actually can play. So you can’t kill people nor can you knock them off the point. Engineers have no stability outside of Toss Elixir B, so you’re going to find yourself in a situation where—if you choose to bunker defend—you’re going to slowly be pulled off and on the point as the opposing player makes paper cuts into their de-cap progression. And you have neither the pressure nor the CC to stop them.

You mention a lot about roaming. I like roaming. I find it preferable to zerging. But zerging is where the PPT is. Capping camps does not contribute a lot to the world score, and is more importantly used as a supply chain to upgrade towers. But what if the towers are already upgraded? Or conversely, what if you don’t have a tower? Capping (and holding) a camp results in a waste of time, compiling supply for little else than to take back towers and letting them flip again. Camps are simply a means to an end, rather than something you should define your build around.

I’m reading this thread because I haven’t played my engineer in a while and want to see what I should do to “update” my build. For large-scale WvW (say T1 zerging), I think the old build is still viable (some videos just from today 1 2 3 4).

I think we are all guilty of relying on a small number of PvPers figure out builds for us in WvW. The truth is that certain OP traits like Incendiary Powder are much less useful in WvW because of internal CD etc..The requirement for a zerg (busting!) build is very different…

Pyroatheist.9031:

So the way the combo feels is:

About face+immediate phase retreat, tiny pause, about face.

You do this whole holding W

Thanks for the tip Pyro. Holding “W” the whole time made the whole thing much more continuous. However, it seems to cause you to not walk in the straight line. I suspect because you would continue to walk while your camera is still turning (video demo) and cause you to walk a bit side way.

Pyroatheist.9031:

So the way the combo feels is:

About face+immediate phase retreat, tiny pause, about face.

You do this whole holding W

Another thing I noticed is that he use Phase Retreat to get on the bridge. I know you can use Blink for that. Is this still viable? How do you make sure it Phase Retreat up instead of just back? Is it just a camera angle?

Chaos Archangel.5071:

(Site borked out when I tried to post this before. x_x)

It would be this one…

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYz9RbHHE4w

(Helseth in sPvP goes undefeated the entire match)

and this one…

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

(Pyro & Kylia breaks down what went wrong in a 5v5 Mesmer vs Guardian tourney. Lots of great info about team comps and adapting your strategy… and LMAO at Pyro’s rage. You can hear how appalled he is in his voice, and Kylia as usual proves an awesome counterbalance.)

Anyone else have videos they think all Mesmers should see to improve their game? I wanna add a video list to the guide.

In the first video, he used “About Face” + Phase Retreat to move forward. Mechanically how does it work?

I tried to use the keys separately: “About Face” + “2” + “About Face” + “W” (to move forward again). This seems to be really slow and I don’t think he had to use About Face again. Or maybe he hits the 2nd About Face while Phase Retreat is in transition?

Thank you SoR + BG for the loooooooooooooong garrison fight last night at BG BL. Special highlight @ NW camp. Amazing defense by BG. I don’t think we end up flipping it. For the most part I think JQ was trying to run defense for SoR inside the Garrison so I can’t tell what was going on in the lord pit.

I joined the BL late because we didn’t have a queue last night so I spend the first hour logging into each of my 9 alts (all with 15 supply + supply mastery) and build stuff in the 3 BL’s.

Some footage of BFD vs BG @ EB. We normally don’t do EB because of queues, but we didn’t have one today so we were able to get all of our folks in! BG had a “JL green warrior commander” and also a good zerg going (SM almost WP’d, tons of siege, etc..) – except maybe the last 30 min or so.

JQ side: P1 P2

SM: P1 P2 P3 P4

BG side: P1 P2 P3 P4 P5

I also heard that our regular EB commander MM transferred to BG. We would love to fight against him sometime for old time sake. Does he command in EB these days over there?

Jet.4795:

hints.8036:

hints.8036:

BFD had a lot of fun playing off with RATS tonight. Of all the guilds we faced, I think [LUN] gave us the most trouble. Good work :-)

vs SoR Guilds

• BFD vs DN (Ben Sheets leading???)

Kanebrake.6192:

That was a good fight. Maybe the best of the night for us. Except the losing part lol. Thanks.

I think our veil caught some of you. Yeah someone said its Ben Sheets new guild, but I noticed that your commander is running some kind of heavy + hammer (Ben Sheets still runs with his thief for the most part?).

VOLKON.1290:

Ooh, I see myself in that video! Of course… the first time I appear to be downed. No… resting, that’s it. Resting. I got better.

Great fights with you all. What a blast.

You didn’t die :-)

Indeed I still stick to my roots (thief). I however went back JQ so that was Rall commanding [DN].

Welcome back :-)

Breaking news: Moments ago – big fight in JQ BL – BFD vs HB vs RET + SoR zerg. Impressive showing from SoR. No wonder why BG lost their Garrison so quickly.

• 3 Way: P1 P2
• BFD vs HB
• BFD vs SoR

Overall, really glad to see that SoR is back. Whoever was singing SoR’s demise should look at the ppt this week. SoR is poised to take #2.

hints.8036:

BFD had a lot of fun playing off with RATS tonight. Of all the guilds we faced, I think [LUN] gave us the most trouble. Good work :-)

vs SoR Guilds

• BFD vs DN (Ben Sheets leading???)

Kanebrake.6192:

That was a good fight. Maybe the best of the night for us. Except the losing part lol. Thanks.

I think our veil caught some of you. Yeah someone said its Ben Sheets new guild, but I noticed that your commander is running some kind of heavy + hammer (Ben Sheets still runs with his thief for the most part?).

VOLKON.1290:

Ooh, I see myself in that video! Of course… the first time I appear to be downed. No… resting, that’s it. Resting. I got better.

Great fights with you all. What a blast.

You didn’t die :-)

BFD had a lot of fun playing off with RATS tonight. Of all the guilds we faced, I think [LUN] gave us the most trouble. Good work :-)

vs SoR Guilds

• BFD vs DN (Ben Sheets leading???)
• BFD + RATS vs LUN
• BFD vs LUN

vs BG Guilds

• BFD + RATS vs SoR vs REV
• BFD + RATS vs EE + iCoa

We also took JQ BL Bay and SoR Garrison - both from SoR.

My mesmer in her roaming set :-)

Cuddlepie.8109:

Going away for the Holidays. Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays/or equivalent to the WvWers from JQ, SoR and BG.

You make this game worthwhile.

Random Dec WvW excerpts loading now – mainly of other KnT commanders. Available at approx 5 am Thu 19 Dec AEDST (gg antipodean internet) at http://youtu.be/dq1KhOpauq0

Nice. Somehow the music works really well with the camera shake :-)Btw, you can disable it in the menu if you want.

Some fights earlier in SEA time @ JQ BL with SoR.

SoR golems @ NW and JQ golems @ Bay – SoR lost their WP (no idea why SoR didn’t push in from the supply depot).

KumaTazZ.8054:

Tarkus is leading BGzerg in JQBL now or I’m dreaming?

Glad to see Tarkus commanding again. Personally, he fought hard for JQ and left on good terms in my book. I look forward to fighting him open field (if our timezone cross). And of course, if he decides to transfer back at some point in the future he is welcome back to.

A new, non-ppt focused, guild created few hours ago in JQ. Here are some videos of [BFD] vs BG and SoR.

SoR is the strongest server here as you can see..

• Hills - 3 Way: (P1) (P2)
• 3 Way: (Open Field) (SW Camp) (Ruin)
• SoR: (P2)

Overall, I think HB is the strongest guild in BG. Fights with them seem to last the longest in general. I would also say Apex, but they didn’t have the number and it was kind of unfair.

• EE: (P1) (P2) (P3) (EE + Apex)
• HB: (P1) (P2)
• Farming in BG BL with SF: (P1) (P2) - HB/GoF and maybe some KnT?

Earlier, with BG’s help, we paper SoR Bay WP @ JQ BL.

Tested this build in spvp and enjoyed it. Will give it a try in WvW.

What would you change if you can’t use Tonics to get swiftness? Assuming that it should get fixed at some point?

Tajz.9826:

Fannwong.3059:

Hi guys,
I have had quite a folks messaging in Asian Prime about BG’s absence so I thought I’d do a PSA. Apologies to the people if this is off topic:
1. BG SEA is fine even though BG garrison and EB keep was taken. New PVE content and it’s really quite good. Same thing happened last year SBI/JQ time. So the Rallians are keeping it cautious for the next few days and not presuming anything.
2. BG pushed out at 12am (GMT+8) capturing SOR garrison and pushing BG back to high PPT.
3. Epic fight at JQ BAY with Tarkus (?), Omegas and the massive JQ army. Awesome awesome fun.
4. Was great to see Waha on at 12am at JQ. We were really happy. /notroll.
FW

To clarify, BG SEA took a little break in my view. I barely see any other commander on the TS yesterday. Most of them ran small team and took earlier break than usual longer session thus leading result of lack of coverage to deal with JQ. We only had one float team (LP) for entire maps during SEA yesterday after ND/TMD take a early break.

The one who took SoR’s waypoint was us. Only with 4 omega rush and it’s that lone float team which floated from EBG as we cant do much with our force in EBG so we decided to float around taking PPT instead. BTW, the EBG fight yesterday with JQ is epic lol, you guys really know how to push us into tight corner.

To sum for you:
JQ still outnumber us in SEA. They’re still king of SEA not BG.
SoR has lesser presence in SEA and seems to be only running one float team as well.

This is what happened during SEA led by Sfeeee. I think the bigger issues are 1) allowing enemies rallying freely and 2) not taking advantage of the RI buff to re-rally after a wipe. Whether you guys had enough people I’ll let each viewer of the video decide individually.

For #1, I should not have been kept alive for so long. I was rallying too many times and I think the BG zerg needs to focus on moving their uplvls away from the center of the battle.

For #2, BG didn’t make use of the RI buff. The fact that they tried to push us after capping the tower (instead of running) tells me that they did want to fight. But after we wiped them, we sat in the tower for almost 3 minutes, and then took it without any resistance. There should be plenty of time to re-rally at their keep and push us out. Especially when their WP is not contested and everything in EB is just a short walk away.

Celsith.2753:

Sorry we had to take your Garrison JQ. We needed the supply to repair Bay from the fail omega rush <3

We enjoyed it. SoR is a great server. We also had a good fight with BG after you guys wiped us. Personally, I had more fun fighting you guys (even though we get less bags). I really liked the way you split your forces. To quote Sun Tzu (and I’m not implying that you guys had more than us, but rather from a tactical point of view),

“If our force is twice as numerous as that of the enemy, it should be split up into two divisions, one to meet the enemy in front, and one to fall upon his rear; if he replies to the frontal attack, he may be crushed from behind; if to the rearward attack, he may be crushed in front.”

Because of that, I kind of wish that we had a proper Garrison fight, but it was our error for not having scouting reports communicated.

It was also kind of funny what happened at SoR BL..the enemy of your enemy is your friend? You totally could’ve taken our keep, but we saw you riding off into the sunset instead :-p

Bashido.8694:

Burl.9567:

hints.8036:

After taking BG’s WP @ SoR BL, we started a 70vs70vs70 fight. Sounds like both BG and SoR enjoyed it. We are thinking about making it into a daily event.

To the ANet dev who follows BG around, we hope you enjoy WvW and come hangout with JQ sometime. I think gem prices is still quite cheap :-p

SoR had 70 in that fight?!?! News to us. We didn’t even have a queue the whole night on SoR BL. The TW group had 30-35 including the pugs.

They had 70 people as usual, and they cant be saying it was their 70 vs 35 so it becomes 70 v 70… duh burl, geez…

This is what we saw. I don’t see many pugs and I take your word for it. It must be the famous SoR long-name phenomenon. You guys did quite well with 35 people holding up your side of the map + Bay. We were happy to defend BG’s spawn tower and give them unlimited supply. Everyone wins?

SFShinigami.2015:

Force.2841:

Burl.9567:

hints.8036:

After taking BG’s WP @ SoR BL, we started a 70vs70vs70 fight. Sounds like both BG and SoR enjoyed it. We are thinking about making it into a daily event.

To the ANet dev who follows BG around, we hope you enjoy WvW and come hangout with JQ sometime. I think gem prices is still quite cheap :-p

SoR had 70 in that fight?!?! News to us. We didn’t even have a queue the whole night on SoR BL. The TW group had 30-35 including the pugs.

That Hint posts really biased reports, you can almost believe JQ won season 1 the way he tells his side of the story. He’s from JQ of course so its to be expected.

Its worth pointing out that he often posts videos of JQ being wiped as well as JQ wiping others. So in conclusion, nope.avi

In fact, just the video immediately above shows SoR wiping us..LOL. My goal, with my unofficial, occasionally reports, is to give our side of the story a voice but done in a fair way and backed up with facts. You should find that I provide one of the most (if not “the” most) uncut footage out of anyone – across all 3 servers.

After taking BG’s WP @ SoR BL, we started a 70vs70vs70 fight. Sounds like both BG and SoR enjoyed it. We are thinking about making it into a daily event.

To the ANet dev who follows BG around, we hope you enjoy WvW and come hangout with JQ sometime. I think gem prices is still quite cheap :-p

JaredKincade.9761:

Nice fights in SORBL just now.

Think of all those bags you didn’t get of each others. I’d be sad if I was in your zerg.

We got plenty though

Very glad that BG enjoyed it. We’re thinking about making it a daily event and fillup the bags for everyone.

SoR, we wanted you to have it..why the AC? :-( Maybe you can let us know who your commander is so we can coordinate since clearly BG wants it too.

Tarkus.4109:

CRO.7658:

Cuddlepie.8109:

CuddleStrike.8215:

LOLwut Cirus? Are you kidding me? Just stawp with the MERC stuff already. We’re all kitten friends still. calm down!

Superseriouscyruscirus!

I love you long time mate! And to all my ex guildies I see on the field. I miss you. And maybe one day we’ll be together again! <3

As much as you would like the MERC move ramifications to fade quietly away, I think they’ll keep following the main individuals involved. Potentially for years and across games.

Imo, the only thing in gaming that matters in the long term is your reputation, built through your achievements and actions in game. Everything else is digital detritus.

When you take a move that splits a community, insult those that you left behind, and refuse to acknowledge that there were negative aspects to the move, people remember. Particularly, if you like sunbathing in the forum limelight and can’t keep picking at the scabs.

<shrug> I counselled one of your leadership about this at the time.

MERC moving to JQ was a great thing for the game. Imagine the result if we all stayed on BG.

The only animosity that is still present is from former MERC staying on BG. We on JQ have moved on and are enjoying our game.

And Cirus, seriously dude, expected better from you than to take a jab.

Yeah he has changed a lot, and the comment about a “civil war” was pretty funny as its the myopic overstatement of the century as generally we just play the game with no actual rivalry. Just chill out cirus and cuds, its a game; you bang your pixels against an opponents pixels and get some pixels as a reward, if you die in a game you don’t die IRL. You don’t counter a perceived amount of venom by trash talking yourself, so in all due respect get off our nuts please.

I think some folks @ BG are trying to move the spotlight away from them. Don’t fall for it.

A partnership with SoR. We took out BG’s WP in SoR BL before it becomes an issue for both of us during non-prime hours. I have never rallied so many times..BG uplvl’s I heart you.

/salute to our SoR friends

Your reset report across all 3 BL’s.

Loot stats: 90+ bags + 2 exotics.
Map stats: JQ has WP in 2 BL’s. SoR/BG = None.
PPT stats: ~1-2K lead.

JQ BL (led by SF):
I was 30 min late on this reset (fortunately the queue was MUCH shorter because we are only left with our WvWers – the queue was 15 min on home BL!). When I got in, we were already getting 2v1. (Wiped BG 3 min) (Wiped SoR 1 min)

At this point, we decided to let BG repair our garrison for us. (1 min) (30s)

For the most part we (just like last week) wanted to communicate to SoR that we are more interested in taking down the more populated server. But the 2v1 continued for a little bit..

• BG wiped JQ @ Hills
• SoR wiped JQ @ SE
• Wiped SoR + BG (@ NW 2 min) **highlight
• Wiped BG (@ Garrison 4.5 min)
• Wiped SoR (@ NW 1.5 min) (@ Garrison 1 min)

At this point, SoR changed their mind and realized that they are not getting the profitable end of this 2v1 – mainly because BG backstab SoR @ Bay:

• Wiped BG @ NE **lowlight – LOL
• Wiped BG/SoR @ NW

To show goodwill, we decided to push further into BG:

• BG wiped JQ (@ SE 4 min) **highlight
• Wiped BG (@ Hills 2 min) **highlight (@ Ruins 1 min)(@ Garrison 30s) (@ SE 1 min)

The map then kind of went quiet for 1 hour with no sign of BG..I don’t know if they map hopped (see BG BL below) or gave up for the night.

BG BL (led by SG):
Meanwhile, our 20 SG friends at BG BL were getting 2v1 hard @ Bay. Since there’s no queue anymore (limited OCX coverage) so we map hopped.

• JQ wiped BG + SoR **highlight
• Wiped SoR
• Wiped BG (45s) (2 min)
• Since we have no queue (again no OCX coverage), I decide to log in all 7 of my alts and dumped 100 supplies into Bay before going to bed (ehh bread..)

SoR BL (led by HzH):
I didn’t spend much time in SoR BL, but HzH managed to get us a WP plus reasonable amount of supply. I have no idea how they did it since they didn’t really have the number when I hopped over and the Hills WP is generally harder to get than the Bay one.

• BG wiped JQ @ SE

It has been a pleasure fighting with and against all of you :-)

I learned a lot and hopefully contributed to the success of our server just a tiny bit. Personally, I always had the most fun fighting SoR/BG and gave away plenty of bags to both servers. I hope to see you guys use those new shiny finishers tonight!

I also want to thank the “community guilds” @ JQ who share their private ts and let us PUGs tag along the way – SF/SG/HzH/Ge/ATM/MERC immediately come to mind – plus many of our pug commanders @ EB. The strength of the pugs community was one of the big factors for me when I decide on a server. With the new OS and EOTM map, the community dynamics could change dramatically.

Force.2841:

hints.8036:

Force.2841:

hints.8036:

Holm.7058:

hints.8036:

Our 20+ non-TS pugs @ JB BL just wiped BG + ZDs.

http://www.twitch.tv/risenfall/c/3346359

Our commander – “We can’t get our pugs to follow us. We’ll follow our pugs.” LOL

You have the whole fight recorded? Would love to see all the footage

No. In fact, we wiped them earlier too and I wish I had that recorded.

What you see is their 2nd attempt with 3 brand new omega golems. We had zero supply and no queue (standard JQ EU non-coverage LOL). I think they had about 40 inside with an additional 10-15 spread outside of our Garrison to stop our reinforcements.

(Apologies to my poor Mesmer play, I’m still getting into it..)

I’ve been in JQ bl and you guys have way more than 20+. 50+ is more accurate.

I can only share what I personally see and hear, which is in the video. At one point our commander did /supplyinfo (again he said that in the video) and he had 13 people on him (plus the 20 unorganized PUGs all spreadout somewhere). Earlier, I did WP to EB and back to ask for more people (no queue on both maps).

Regardless, the goal isn’t to “down” BG or anything. EU has been the most uncompetitive timezone for JQ for months now. We are used to starting from the stone-age daily in NA after getting PvD in EU. Its not like this is a big secret..

Yeah I saw the video and you can see about 15-20 on the commander but 30+ running around like chickens without head. Which is what usually happens on BG as well, everyone spreads out.

JQ never backs down from a good chicken fight!! Oh wait….that didn’t come out right :-p

Force.2841:

hints.8036:

Holm.7058:

hints.8036:

Our 20+ non-TS pugs @ JB BL just wiped BG + ZDs.

http://www.twitch.tv/risenfall/c/3346359

Our commander – “We can’t get our pugs to follow us. We’ll follow our pugs.” LOL

You have the whole fight recorded? Would love to see all the footage

No. In fact, we wiped them earlier too and I wish I had that recorded.

What you see is their 2nd attempt with 3 brand new omega golems. We had zero supply and no queue (standard JQ EU non-coverage LOL). I think they had about 40 inside with an additional 10-15 spread outside of our Garrison to stop our reinforcements.

(Apologies to my poor Mesmer play, I’m still getting into it..)

I’ve been in JQ bl and you guys have way more than 20+. 50+ is more accurate.

I can only share what I personally see and hear, which is in the video. At one point our commander did /supplyinfo (again he said that in the video) and he had 13 people on him (plus the 20 unorganized PUGs all spreadout somewhere). Earlier, I did WP to EB and back to ask for more people (no queue on both maps).

Regardless, the goal isn’t to “down” BG or anything. EU has been the most uncompetitive timezone for JQ for months now. We are used to starting from the stone-age daily in NA after getting PvD in EU. Its not like this is a big secret..

Holm.7058:

hints.8036:

Our 20+ non-TS pugs @ JB BL just wiped BG + ZDs.

http://www.twitch.tv/risenfall/c/3346359

Our commander – “We can’t get our pugs to follow us. We’ll follow our pugs.” LOL

You have the whole fight recorded? Would love to see all the footage

No. In fact, we wiped them earlier too and I wish I had that recorded.

What you see is their 2nd attempt with 3 brand new omega golems. We had zero supply and no queue (standard JQ EU non-coverage LOL). I think they had about 40 inside with an additional 10-15 spread outside of our Garrison to stop our reinforcements.

(Apologies to my poor Mesmer play, I’m still getting into it..)

Our 20+ non-TS pugs @ JB BL just wiped BG + ZDs.

http://www.twitch.tv/risenfall/c/3346359

Our commander – “We can’t get our pugs to follow us. We’ll follow our pugs.” LOL

Tarkus.4109:

hints.8036:

Some exciting fights lead by @Tarkus.4109 earlier in the day. We took Hills in JQ BL with less number. BG burned 400 supply and left us about 150.

Here is the “picture in picture” video (in collaboration with my buddy from Ge @ deadmeat).

Side note, if anyone streams regularly in T1 (especially SoR/BG) please mail/pm me etc..I would love to explore more of these multiple camera perspective videos – kind of like a NBA basketball games :-)

tbh that was when the other maps consolidated onto JQ bl which didn’t have queue when WvW pinned down. Yeah we probably had more numbers but w/e, that guy dodging off the cliff was pretty funny.

One of the best time to fight on JQ is your early/late time because that’s when you get to hangout with players from all 3-4 continents.

Some exciting fights lead by @Tarkus.4109 earlier in the day. We took Hills in JQ BL with less number. BG burned 400 supply and left us about 150.

Here is the “picture in picture” video (in collaboration with my buddy from Ge @ deadmeat).

Side note, if anyone streams regularly in T1 (especially SoR/BG) please mail/pm me etc..I would love to explore more of these multiple camera perspective videos – kind of like a NBA basketball games :-)

Shinji.2063:

JQ i think it is kinda sad, you have SOR at your beck and call and are still doing poorly. I was hoping we at least have to work this week to try and get first.

SoR just gave BG SM for free..we just wanted a 3 way bag farm for everyone – SoR :-(

I have fought iCoa before – in fact just yesterday! I respect them. They never give up. Love to checkout videos of your raids if you have any to see your talented commander in action. Here are some fresh new ones to showcase our community leader :-)

Few hours ago, JQ fought 1v2 against SoR + BG. We held SM and didn’t lose any of our towers for 2+ hours. Both JQ and SoR were all pugs. BG was led by KnT (how did they get a full guild into EB is beyond me).

Selected SM highlights:

• JQ wiped both SoR + BG inside of SM (2.5 min) (1.5 min)
• JQ with only 50% force (mostly non-TS pugs while our main force with TS is back at our side of the map fighting SoR): (2 min) (2.5 min)
• JQ wiped BG while SoR contest our keep (4 min)

Forestshadow.5168:

I joined ICoa (a Darkhaven guild that joined the Blackgate server) about one year ago, and have thoroughly enjoyed the guild and wvw. I decided to post this statement in the forums (I’ve posted none until now) in order to provide a “grunt” level view of current wvw dynamics. I don’t pretend to know what the Blackgate command perspective is, but I’m rather confident that Blackgate command will not censure me for what I’m going to write.

The top level level tier (BG, JQ, and SOR) is quite competitive…something I personally enjoy. It is a dynamic that keeps me interested in the game, as I am not a dedicated pve player.

I’ve read forums in the past, and viewed with interest the accusations that SOR and JQ were “double-teaming” Blackgate. I honestly hadn’t paid much attention (and ICoa command was initially rather quiet about it) until one night-about 6 months ago, when I saw a a JQ zerg stand down as an SOR zerg attacked our BG army. In fact. JQ guilds were running side-by-side with SOR players.

I suppose I should have been angry, but I decided it was a pretty smart tactic…as we were winning. I suppose that is one of the points of this comment. In real life, alliances are made in order to get the upper-hand over an adversary…why should it be any different in this game?

Ironically, the end-result was that Blackgate learned tactics that made it stronger and more competitive. As a grunt, I was expected to fulfill my role as a soldier. Instead of playing my beloved ranger ( I know – pathetic!) I played my hammer warrior and guardian, as they were more valuable classes. I was more easily killed trying to catch up with my zerg (by players better spec’d for pvp) when I was running from the spawn, but once I got to my zerg ( with my wvw build) I was awesome!

I don’t know if BG commanders are better than other server commanders, but I know they are generally easy to follow. That is, they don’t get emotional and tear down the rank-and-file because they, " aren’t on their tag", etc. Also, many of the BG commanders are great tutors. When there are quiet moments they take advantage of the down time to instruct guild and PUG players regarding tactics, builds, etc.

Guilds join and leave the server, but the core wvw guilds have provided stability and leadership that has definitely benefited the server, and has encouraged players like myself to remain in Blackgate, confident that come what will (rumors notwithstanding), we will continue to be a competitive wvw server.

The bottom line? I don’t pay any attention to forum prognosticators who prophesy the demise of Blackgate because I am friends with a number of Blackgate people who love the game, love the server, and love the competition. We aren’t going away and encourage other servers to “up their game” and take wvw to new levels…because at the end of your journey we’ll be there waiting for you! See you in EB and the Boarderlands!
Much affection, Forestshadow

Fannwong.3059:

Hello Hints,

The Titan Alliance was on HOD on headstart. They assembled perfect 24/7 coverage because that was plainly the most optimum way to ensure constant PPT. They never lost a match (even when matches were less than 7 days last year). So HOD/TA was the 1st T0 server.

FW

hints.8036:

Balefire.7592:

hints.8036:

If this is maintained by Monday/Tuesday I think its fair to declare that BG is the first “T0” server in history.

Methinks you’re forgetting the server formerly known as the Titan Alliance.

Who? I’m not an old-time WvW’er so I might be missing some context here.

That is impressive :-) Does BG have a weakness in the coverage at this moment? Perhaps late EU time?

Reverence.6915:

Just a reminder that we only had 1 guild transfer to us during seasons, lost a whole bunch just prior to seasons. Call us overstacked, we call ourselves overdedicated. We are proud of what our servermates and guildmates have achieved.

What you see of our coverage isn’t from buying guilds, it’s from converting people from other game modes and getting them into wvw. This is especially the case for the oceanic population here.

Are they all re-specing to WvW or still running in PvE gears?

Balefire.7592:

hints.8036:

If this is maintained by Monday/Tuesday I think its fair to declare that BG is the first “T0” server in history.

Methinks you’re forgetting the server formerly known as the Titan Alliance.

Who? I’m not an old-time WvW’er so I might be missing some context here.

Here is rest of Day 1…BG with a small lead overall.

Traditionally, only T1 servers can face two T2 servers and still come out ahead (and on a weekend!). Now that BG is facing two T1 servers and still has a lead. If this is maintained by Monday/Tuesday I think its fair to declare that BG is the first “T0” server in history.

EB: There’s a truce between SoR/JQ. Generally, JQ/SoR are happy as long as BG doesn’t have SM and would occasionally try to steal it from one another.

• SM: (3 way – 2.5 min) (SoR wiped JQ – 1.5 min)
• Anza: JQ/SoR wiped BG – 2 min
• BG Keep: (7.5 min)

BG BL: BG here is very weak. The whole time I was there felt like a giant karma train. Their people are extremely paper – perhaps because of the transfer of Tequatle/PvE achievement hunters (zerker gears?). BG here didn’t seem to spec for T1 at all. SoR has no presence on this map (other than a havoc group). We had to defend their side for them. I predict it will be a problem later when we try to break BG’s full supply garrison while both SoR/JQ have no base to start with.

• Hills: (2 min) (1.5 min)
• Bay: (1.5 min) (1 min)
• SW: (1.5 min)
• Garrison: (2 min)

Storytime from JQ BL on reset (lead by SF) – this is what happened…

Background: Overall shorter queue because of Thanksgiving. I would characterize the map politics here as “non-alliance, common enemy”.

JQ didn’t touch SoR’s Bay at all and SoR also left the north side of the map alone (we both get our WP). JQ and SoR have a great common “undefeated” enemey here (BG), but its clear that we definitely fight each other when the opportunity comes. The center focus for ~6 hours is pretty much on Hills.

Bag count: 63 heavy loot bags + 1 Tooth of the Frostfang (apparently a 450G precursor that I just found out this morning LOL).

Garrison: BG tried to establish an early 2v1 with a garrison push, but its clear that SoR is not going to get duped after the Week 1 experience. With no help, BG quickly gave our people 25+ stacks right away.(3 min)

Hills: Our early focus on BG didn’t yield too much result. The defender advantage would be repeated again tonight. (1.5 min) (1 min)

JQ/SoR vs BG: These are examples of “non-alliance, common enemy”. BG’s inherit defender advantage is quickly nullfied when facing 2 non-allied servers.

• SoR wiped JQ – 1.5 min
• JQ/SoR wiped BG 1 min
• JQ wiped SoR/BG (P1 – 4.5 min) (P2 – 3.5 min) — highlights of the night
• JQ gave SoR Hills for free – 0.5 min

Downfall of BG: This is a period of (I would imagine) a gradual demoralizing grind for BG – with a sizable force investment on this map yet no ppt from JQ BL and constant wipes.

• BG take Hills back at some point and its clear that when BG owns Hills (with defender advantage + the closer spawn WP) they can defend it quite well.(1 min) (1 min)
• Likewise, when JQ has the defender benefit BG becomes very ineffective: (1 min) (1 min) (2.5 min) (1.5 min) (1.5 min) (1.5 min)

BG waiting it out: Once we have Hills on a lockdown, BG realize that they need to starve our supply (NE/SE) to prevent a Hills upgrade. They were semi-successful at this (at the cost of giving us many bags) but then it frees up our supply route for Garrison and accelerated our WP upgrade. I think their strategy here is to wait until our NA sleeps so that their OCX force can kick in (see What’s next below):

• NE: (2 min) (2.5 min) (3 min) (1.5 min) (1.5 min) (1.5 min)
• SE:(1 min) (1 min)
• N Camp: Few token distraction from both SoR/BG. Overall non-eventful.
  (JQ wiped BG – 2.5 min) (JQ wiped SoR – 30s)

What’s next?

• SoR: SoR has demonstrated that they are rightfully T1. They managed to take BG spawn tower (with minimal help from us) multiple times. This is a very difficult tower to take with the spawn WP.
• BG: BG has very impressive coverage. Despite all of our hardwork, after NA logged off, they have an equal size OCX force that kicked in immediately and paper our Hills. At the time of writing this, at beginning of EU time (!), BG is at the cusp of overtaking us in total points.