Is WvW something I'd need to see to understand? Would I understand what's going on by seeing it?

Very keen to try some WvW at some point, if only to branch out from being purely PvE. Reading up on the game mode, it sounds like there's a lot going on at once....once I go in and see everything I'm reading about, I may understand it better but at the same time I feel like I'll struggle to figure out exactly what I should be doing.

So, I pose the question, is WvW something that can be easily understood simply by being in the middle of it?

I think the most important lessons you can learn about WvW is just to understand the name and maps.

It is a 3-contender system on very large maps that are essentially built as triangles.

The large maps means that there are alot of differently sized groups running around on those maps. They are individual but coexist. It is an eco-system.

The global stuff is scoring kills (PvP; PPK) and attacking or defending territory within each server's corner (PPT). You have one home to defend and two homes to wreck. Sometimes the middle is neutral and taking it acts as the tipping scale.

The smaller maps also reflects this: One map is your home and two other maps that are someone else's home to invade. They also have sort of a triangle of areas to control but those maps favour the server who calls the map their home a bit, so they are split more like a window where the upper fields belong to the home server and each lower field is held by the attacking servers.

Every map has small, medium and large targets (camps, towers, keeps). This also reflects that any map can have small, medium and large groups (roamers, raiders, zergers/blobbers).

Some groups care more about kills other groups care more about territory. Some groups are open for you to join (public), others are closed for you to earn the friendship of first (private).

That is all you need to know.

@subversiontwo.7501 said:Detailed explanation

Thanks for that, you've given me a good idea of the kind of things I'd be choosing to do/expected of me, etc.

You will be confused and lost to start with. This is normal dont worry about it. If it looks like nobody else in in wvw its not true, there always is.

You will get killed and splatted all over the ground over and over by crazy demented mobs. This is normal dont worry about it. If u like wvw and stay u will get used to it and learn to enjoy the pain.

You will need to get gliding asap.

You will need warclaw asap.
To get warclaw speak to the warclaw tender by spawn on any map.

To help u with warclaw it is easier and faster if u buff yourself for speed and find a tag and follow. You will be left behind, dont worry about it, just run lol. This will also help you figure out wth is going on and why.

Glider and warclaw masteries are in WvW Rank and Abilities.

Good Luck. Hope u have fun and decide to stay.

@Pacificterror.7805 said:

@subversiontwo.7501 said:Detailed explanation

They gave a really good breakdown and reading the maps like that can help you catch up to the kind of action you want. Pick up supply when ever you can. You can probably do mostly what you do in pve maps and events and do alright. Support groups and squads and you can pick up the odds and ends along the way in buff range when you feel big fights happening. You'll get exploded sometimes because some people fine tune their builds for clutch plays, it just happens sometimes. Maybe reserve a build template to pack with stuff to handle some of that and mess around with it over time.

Some general tips:

1. Run a tanky build as a new player, something like PVT (Power, Toughness, Vitality). Supportive builds also give a good experience.
2. You should bring permanent Swiftness if you can. Rune of Speed, though expensive, will let you keep up with groups.
3. If you're caught alone, you'll die. Its just how it is with lack of experience. (That's why to just build for groups to begin with at that level.)
4. Try to run with tags, if up. If not, stand in front-line forts owned by your side and defend them.
5. Call out enemies on the map chat (scouting) and try to stall them for as long as possible.
6. Retake camps whenever possible. Make sure you know how to solo handful of veteran-level PvE enemies at once.
7. Retake your sentries (road guards) when they're a different color.
8. Put your first point in gliding, and no more. Then start on Warclaw. Read the Wiki to learn how.
9. Always resupply at every oppertunity. After Warclaw, all your points should go into supply capacity and build & repair speed.
10. Keep siege weapons in your inventory. Rams are used on gates, catapults on walls, and arrow carts on top of walls defending.
11. Set model limit to lowest, turn on permanent nametags and disable simple nameplates. This helps you identify enemy players easier.
12. Try to focus on doing your WvW dailies so you can get reward potions and increase your rank.

That's it. There's alot more but there's things you learn just from playing the game mode, like all the different names of places and all the various terms like bubble which means boonstrip/reflection shields from skills and siege.

You'll find the best new player experience in Eternal Battlegrounds (EBG).

Remember that your color and position changes every matchup, and if you're on a link server, your host server changes every few months. You may have to switch servers to find people active in your timezone, as well!

The most important tip I have for you is don't show fear. If you hesitate, you've already lost the battle.

@Hannelore.8153 said:Some general tips:

1. Run a tanky build as a new player, something like PVT (Power, Toughness, Vitality). Supportive builds also give a good experience.
2. You should bring permanent Swiftness if you can. Rune of Speed, though expensive, will let you keep up with groups.
3. If you're caught alone, you'll die. Its just how it is with lack of experience. (That's why to just build for groups to begin with at that level.)
4. Try to run with tags, if up. If not, stand in front-line forts owned by your side and defend them.
5. Call out enemies on the map chat (scouting) and try to stall them for as long as possible.
6. Retake camps whenever possible. Make sure you know how to solo handful of veteran-level PvE enemies at once.
7. Retake your sentries (road guards) when they're a different color.
8. Put your first point in gliding, and no more. Then start on Warclaw. Read the Wiki to learn how.
9. Always resupply at every oppertunity. After Warclaw, all your points should go into supply capacity and build & repair speed.
10. Keep siege weapons in your inventory. Rams are used on gates, catapults on walls, and arrow carts on top of walls defending.
11. Set model limit to lowest, turn on permanent nametags and disable simple nameplates. This helps you identify enemy players easier.
12. Try to focus on doing your WvW dailies so you can get reward potions and increase your rank.

That's it. There's alot more but there's things you learn just from playing the game mode, like all the different names of places and all the various terms like bubble which means boonstrip/reflection shields from skills and siege.

You'll find the best new player experience in Eternal Battlegrounds (EBG).

Remember that your color and position changes every matchup, and if you're on a link server, your host server changes every few months. You may have to switch servers to find people active in your timezone, as well!

The most important tip I have for you is don't show fear. If you hesitate, you've already lost the battle.

Amazing, thanks so much.

I think some very important points (not gameplay-wise, but learning-wise) are missing here.

(Note:This section is especially focused on zerk-gameplay, as roaming and smallscale are kind of a thing you need to learn/gather expierience by yourself)

1. If you see a commander on the map, try joining their squad. If it is open, it is usually a public lead (or the commander forgot to close the squad) that usually sits in some kind of voice-chat with an organized Zerk.
2. in any case: just should ask if there is a public lead, and if there is one: where they organize. like i said in 1., there is surely a TeamSpeak/Discord etc where the server community is organizing.
3. (maybe one of the most important points): if you don´t understand the calls of the commander: ASK what that means. Commanders usually don´t assume to have new players. But, from my expierience, if you tell the commander that you are new, they usually will adapt their lead a bit, explain a lot more than usual and take that into account (for example, that you perhaps don´t have war gliding, or the warclaw unlocked).
4. look for WvW-builds for your class, and make sure that you at least understand what your "task" is with that respective class. WvW differs heavily from PvE/sPvP in terms of builds and gameplay. You can usually get them from the bigger guilds on your server. Also, like said above, you may want to adapt your gear more towards defense to begin with, because dying in a fight does more harm to your teammates than dealing too low damage.
5. If you think you are getting a bit into it and have fun: consider joining a WvW-Guild. Don´t be too afraid, because some guilds have a very progressive style, there are lots of guilds out there, some looking for progressive, expierienced players, and some that welcome every new player and teach them even the basics of basics. This is imo the best way to learn about WvW
6. Don´t throw siege by yourself. The commander can see the amount of supplies inside of his squad, and he will calculate with that amount. Random people throwing siege can screw that up if people build up siege that hasn´t been placed by the commander, screwing up the calculation of his available resources.