PvP Basics Most Players Do Not Do

TARGETING: Yup, it's a big basic. Specially at a big melee fight (that usually happens at mid at the start). This is when someone targets an enemy of the opposite team (ctrl + T) and then the rest should be focus firing (press T) that necro (cause it's usually a necro that first get's assualted). Instead ppl just tend to run willy-nilly hitting everyone they can and usually lose mid.

ROTATING: Meaning when you're dead and finished waiting to get back up at base you should usually go home to make sure an enemy player isn't about to try and de/cap your home.

BUNKED CAP: Specially if it's your HOME CAP. For whatever reason this is something most players can not tolerate so they run in (usually one at a time) feeding points to the other team instead of... oh, say, cap one of the other two caps that probably have no one there since everyone's at that bunked cap having forgotten those said two other caps even exist.

THIEVES: Too often just fight ppl at one of the other caps instead of doing what they were meant to do................................. DE/CAP. Or quickly finish bursting a near dead opponent (psst, that should be TARGETED for easy kills) this also allows thieves and others (like guards "judge's intervention") to port to said target and down em quick and then rush to another near dead enemy or to go off and de/cap another spot.

GLASS CANNONS FIRST: Yup when targeting besides the necro often times people fight the bunkiest enemy player and get slaughtered by the glass cannons of the group. JOY, don't you just love hitting that meat shield!

TRANQ: Ah, for the love of tranq it should usually be left alone (or left to a pewpew class hitting the guy trying to cap it) specially if you are winning. Let em have it have. Two of your teammates (maybe you're one of them) should be at sides to recap em then they don't really get any points.

STILLNESS: is an important cap more so than tranq since it gives you double the points. But if you do not have caps you are losing a lot of points fighting for still instead of capping while a pewpew is annoying the person/s trying to get still.

SKYHAMMER: same thing as tranq it only decaps though you do not get extra goody points for this. Let em have it while you cap sides or recap sides if they get it in the end.

Feel free to add stuff for players to read up on and learn the basics they should've learned quit awhile ago. Thanks for reading have a nice day.

No communication in team chat.

OH wait everyone I forgot a MAJOR one.....THE BLAME GAME: That's right ladies and gentlenerds you too can play the blame game where it's everyone's fault except yours! You are the PVP GOD. You are infallible. Nothing can beat you specially as you rage your epic tongue lashing of typing how no one can beat you whi............................... wait shouldn't you be down there showing your epicness of fighting instead of staying at home base yelling at all the noobs on your team?!

Yes everyone make sure to report these rage quitters and get the other team to as well. Else they just keep on raging in matches that will most likely be on your team again. But people don't really do that it's a hassle or hey you're winning what do you care this match until they're on your team in the next one. AH coulda, woulda, shoulda....

3rd CAP: Yup people get greedy they NEED that 3rd cap cause waiting around for the other team to come to you is just inconceivable. Spread your team thin leave that mid cap empty allowing the other team to cap it while you die at 3rd cap againt the whole team that you had just finished helping kill off.

Your list is highly situational.

@"PlagueParade.7942" said:ROTATING: Meaning when you're dead and finished waiting to get back up at base you should usually go home to make sure an enemy player isn't about to try and de/cap your home.

No, you should only go home after respawn if you have reason to believe home is going to be contested. Otherwise running home is just wasting time. And if the enemy is going home, you should only go home if you have reason to believe you can take that fight. What you are rotating into is just as important as where you are rotating to.

BUNKED CAP: Specially if it's your HOME CAP. For whatever reason this is something most players can not tolerate so they run in (usually one at a time) feeding points to the other team instead of... oh, say, cap one of the other two caps that probably have no one there since everyone's at that bunked cap having forgotten those said two other caps even exist.

THIEVES: Too often just fight ppl at one of the other caps instead of doing what they were meant to do................................. DE/CAP. Or quickly finish bursting a near dead opponent (psst, that should be TARGETED for easy kills) this also allows thieves and others (like guards "judge's intervention") to port to said target and down em quick and then rush to another near dead enemy or to go off and de/cap another spot.This is absolutely incorrect. Decapping is not a thief's primary job. Decapping is what a thief does if they don't have anything better to be doing. What a thief should be doing is looking for fights that they can influence. The primary job of a thief is to make sure all of the fights are in his teams favor.

GLASS CANNONS FIRST: Yup when targeting besides the necro often times people fight the bunkiest enemy player and get slaughtered by the glass cannons of the group. JOY, don't you just love hitting that meat shield!Stating kill priorities as a absolute is foolish. Players should always use their best judgement and should always be willing to change their targets on the fly. As a necro main I cannot emphasize how many fights I have won simply by simply kiting 3 guys around a pillar while the "tankier" members of my team beat the stuffing out of them.

TRANQ: Ah, for the love of tranq it should usually be left alone (or left to a pewpew class hitting the guy trying to cap it) specially if you are winning. Let em have it have. Two of your teammates (maybe you're one of them) should be at sides to recap em then they don't really get any points.Whether you should go tranq depends less on the score and more on what the enemy is commiting to it. Yeah sure if you are winning and the enemy commits 4 people to tranq then yeah by all means let them have it. But if you are winning and the enemy only commits <2 to tranq then you better go contest that, otherwise they can easily stall your attempts at recap.

SKYHAMMER: same thing as tranq it only decaps though you do not get extra goody points for this. Let em have it while you cap sides or recap sides if they get it in the end.Again this depends on if the enemy is in a good position to stall decaps or not.

Feel free to add stuff for players to read up on and learn the basics they should've learned quit awhile ago. Thanks for reading have a nice day.You missed the single most important tenants of PvP.1.) The node is not worth your life. If you die your team is at a 4v5 for not just your respawn time but for however long it takes you to reach the fight. You'd be amazed at how quickly a +1 advantage can be converted into a +2 advantage and then a +3 advantage, etc.2.) Don't rotate into bad. You should only rotate into fights you have a reasonable expectation of winning. If you can't take the fight then you should leave.

"Ring the bell" for 25 points. losing all points in the process.When that capture point becomes available, just run to far. everyone will be fighting over those first 25 points.

Second round of "Ring the Bell" it's worth it to fight over if you lost the first round.PS: Ignore 2 scourge at mid when you don't have the same amount.

Think .

@Razor.6392 said:Think .

Woah now, lets be reasonable here.

@"Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046" said:"Ring the bell" for 25 points. losing all points in the process.When that capture point becomes available, just run to far. everyone will be fighting over those first 25 points.Although there is a 50 point difference: you get 25 points, your enemy doesn't. B)

Map mechanics are a huge part of rotating. Many games are lost because of under or over valuing map mechanics. Many games are won because of mechanics.

I’ll comment as a thief on the “role” we have. It’s true we are highly mobile, even Deadeye to some extent, so we can decap quickly and efficiently to a certain degree. But that isn’t our primary function. As it’s been said, our abilities are best spent on applying pressure. Most of the time that is ensuring our team fights go well. Sometimes it involves map awareness and stealing map mechanics that are quick (Stillness, Sword/Shield, Beast) and less easily contested. Still other times it involves keeping the pressure on the right targets by cutting off a key player so the team fight goes easier.

Thief can’t decap if the whole team is dead after all.

I always get tilted when people try to make huge generalizations on something as situational as a good rotation. Honestly I don’t even like the term, imo it really just boils down to playing the objective well.

What match-ups can you take, how and where is the fighting taking place, is a fight already doomed to fail. You need to think about this stuff anytime you decide to go somewhere. If rotations were just do 1,2,3 and 4 literally everyone would be good at pvp, but it isn’t like that.

@Crinn.7864 said:Your list is highly situational.

@"PlagueParade.7942" said:ROTATING: Meaning when you're dead and finished waiting to get back up at base you should usually go home to make sure an enemy player isn't about to try and de/cap your home.

BUNKED CAP: Specially if it's your HOME CAP. For whatever reason this is something most players can not tolerate so they run in (usually one at a time) feeding points to the other team instead of... oh, say, cap one of the other two caps that probably have no one there since everyone's at that bunked cap having forgotten those said two other caps even exist.

THIEVES: Too often just fight ppl at one of the other caps instead of doing what they were meant to do................................. DE/CAP. Or quickly finish bursting a near dead opponent (psst, that should be TARGETED for easy kills) this also allows thieves and others (like guards "judge's intervention") to port to said target and down em quick and then rush to another near dead enemy or to go off and de/cap another spot.This is absolutely incorrect. Decapping is not a thief's primary job. Decapping is what a thief does if they don't have anything better to be doing. What a thief should be doing is looking for fights that they can influence. The primary job of a thief is to make sure all of the fights are in his teams favor.

GLASS CANNONS FIRST: Yup when targeting besides the necro often times people fight the bunkiest enemy player and get slaughtered by the glass cannons of the group. JOY, don't you just love hitting that meat shield!Stating kill priorities as a absolute is foolish. Players should always use their best judgement and should always be willing to change their targets on the fly. As a necro main I cannot emphasize how many fights I have won simply by simply kiting 3 guys around a pillar while the "tankier" members of my team beat the stuffing out of them.

TRANQ: Ah, for the love of tranq it should usually be left alone (or left to a pewpew class hitting the guy trying to cap it) specially if you are winning. Let em have it have. Two of your teammates (maybe you're one of them) should be at sides to recap em then they don't really get any points.Whether you should go tranq depends less on the score and more on what the enemy is commiting to it. Yeah sure if you are winning and the enemy commits 4 people to tranq then yeah by all means let them have it. But if you are winning and the enemy only commits <2 to tranq then you better go contest that, otherwise they can easily stall your attempts at recap.

SKYHAMMER: same thing as tranq it only decaps though you do not get extra goody points for this. Let em have it while you cap sides or recap sides if they get it in the end.Again this depends on if the enemy is in a good position to stall decaps or not.

Feel free to add stuff for players to read up on and learn the basics they should've learned quit awhile ago. Thanks for reading have a nice day.You missed the single most important tenants of PvP.1.) The node is not worth your life. If you die your team is at a 4v5 for not just your respawn time but for however long it takes you to reach the fight. You'd be amazed at how quickly a +1 advantage can be converted into a +2 advantage and then a +3 advantage, etc.2.) Don't rotate into bad. You should only rotate into fights you have a reasonable expectation of winning. If you can't take the fight then you should leave.

This guy! The more I read the forums, the more I like what Crinn has to say.

It's tough to learn at first, but you gotta know when to run away. Dying is much worse than running off a point if you're alone and 2 or 3 are coming to engage.

Also, don't join a losing fight. So many times I see someone running into a battle when one teammate was just stomped and the other two are downed, against 4 baddies. I know you want to save your friends, but you can rotate to another point and regroup for a stronger push.

If i had to argue about my average loses, i would quote 3 points :

• DOING THE MATHS : most of the time, you can get a safe win by counting points you're going to get through your captured points. This includes running on a point and not dying off point, not suiciding, playing close point with 5 ( usually you will have 1-2 enemies coming to suicide)
• READING CHAT/MAP : most of the time a basic strategy is indicated on chat and it is good to follow it when things are going bad. Good example : people pushing lord at 200-200 although you do say to not on both chat and map. Being alone on stillness and tranq although you spammed on map is the same
• COMMON SENSE : when you already lost twice a 1v1 on an enemy point, it is good to not insist on it and play other points. The same goes for running mid over and over after rezzing.

I'm not calling myself the best player, but these 3 points are fundamental in solo queue, which should be played the least risky possible. And probably 1/3 of my loses are due to these points.

@"PlagueParade.7942" said:THIEVES: Too often just fight ppl at one of the other caps instead of doing what they were meant to do................................. DE/CAP. Or quickly finish bursting a near dead opponent (psst, that should be TARGETED for easy kills) this also allows thieves and others (like guards "judge's intervention") to port to said target and down em quick and then rush to another near dead enemy or to go off and de/cap another spot.

This is true...to a point. I wish I had a dollar for every time I had someone rage in chat because they thought that having a thief means that the thief should do nothing but decap and that any time far wasn't contested was proof that a thief was failing. A thief should decap wisely, but sometimes they need to help out on fights to some extent as well. Also, some specs of thief really aren't great for decapping (such as Deadeyes).

Another thing I would add is the bell on Capricorn. It's important to help on this objective, but mostly for the later bells. The first bell is only worth 25 points, which is a nice bonus, but hardly worth your whole team zerging. However, by the time you get to the 3rd and 4th bell, it's 75 and them 100 pointts, so the last bells are crucial.

@"PlagueParade.7942" said:TARGETING: Yup, it's a big basic. Specially at a big melee fight (that usually happens at mid at the start). This is when someone targets an enemy of the opposite team (ctrl + T) and then the rest should be focus firing (press T) that necro (cause it's usually a necro that first get's assualted). Instead ppl just tend to run willy-nilly hitting everyone they can and usually lose mid.

ROTATING: Meaning when you're dead and finished waiting to get back up at base you should usually go home to make sure an enemy player isn't about to try and de/cap your home.

BUNKED CAP: Specially if it's your HOME CAP. For whatever reason this is something most players can not tolerate so they run in (usually one at a time) feeding points to the other team instead of... oh, say, cap one of the other two caps that probably have no one there since everyone's at that bunked cap having forgotten those said two other caps even exist.

THIEVES: Too often just fight ppl at one of the other caps instead of doing what they were meant to do................................. DE/CAP. Or quickly finish bursting a near dead opponent (psst, that should be TARGETED for easy kills) this also allows thieves and others (like guards "judge's intervention") to port to said target and down em quick and then rush to another near dead enemy or to go off and de/cap another spot.

GLASS CANNONS FIRST: Yup when targeting besides the necro often times people fight the bunkiest enemy player and get slaughtered by the glass cannons of the group. JOY, don't you just love hitting that meat shield!

TRANQ: Ah, for the love of tranq it should usually be left alone (or left to a pewpew class hitting the guy trying to cap it) specially if you are winning. Let em have it have. Two of your teammates (maybe you're one of them) should be at sides to recap em then they don't really get any points.

STILLNESS: is an important cap more so than tranq since it gives you double the points. But if you do not have caps you are losing a lot of points fighting for still instead of capping while a pewpew is annoying the person/s trying to get still.

SKYHAMMER: same thing as tranq it only decaps though you do not get extra goody points for this. Let em have it while you cap sides or recap sides if they get it in the end.

Feel free to add stuff for players to read up on and learn the basics they should've learned quit awhile ago. Thanks for reading have a nice day.

That's why i don't play thief anymore. Anet turned them into a decap machine. I just want to defeat all classes. If this game is dungeons and dragons or Yugioh let me know. I might be confuised that this game was supposed to be more in the spirit of street fighter, Team Fortress 2, etc.

@Airdive.2613 said:

@"Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046" said:"Ring the bell" for 25 points. losing all points in the process.When that capture point becomes available, just run to far. everyone will be fighting over those first 25 points.Although there is a 50 point difference: you get 25 points, your enemy doesn't. B)

That would still be a 25 point difference, 50 points is double counting an imaginary loss of points for not getting the bell. If the enemy gets the bell, you would only be down 25 points not 50

Great postsAnd this is why ANET needs other gamemodes, yes have new different gamemodes be simpler than current Conquest.This is way too much for the average player.

the thing that gets me is at start of match 4 go to mid and fight almost the in tire match letting the other team have the outside points then when they get mid they all leave it wide open for the other team to cap it easily

@Jelle.7856 said:

@Airdive.2613 said:

@"Merlin Dyfed Avalon.5046" said:"Ring the bell" for 25 points. losing all points in the process.When that capture point becomes available, just run to far. everyone will be fighting over those first 25 points.Although there is a 50 point difference: you get 25 points, your enemy doesn't. B)

It is not completely imaginary, though. You should count the opportunity.You wouldn't have to count it if the objectives weren't mutually exclusive, like Foefire's lords that both teams can get 150 points for.

YOU'RE DEAD: Don't rage and qq when you're dead you can still contribute. You know what I do when I'm dead on a point? I look to see who has the lowest health and target them (specially if people are not TARGETING). I also point out how many ppl were at said cap and where they seem to be heading to.

Killrally vs Pokemup : One has to be able to properly evaluate when to stomp, when to cleave and when to poke someone up. The worst position you want to be in is dying while poking someone up, as you just started a death cascade to the advantage of the enemy team.

10 second death downtime : When you are down, take a moment to type something for your team. It could be a warning ( 1 inc home !) , a timing/buff related line (Cannon/buff in 40 seconds, get ready for it !) or even tacticals ( hold positions guys, we have 2 caps secure and points advantage) . This is where having good typing speed really helps.

@Abraxxus.8971 said:

No communication in team chat.A reminder: free to play cannot communicate in team chat (sadness)

@cloudsareyum.8120 said:@"Abraxxus.8971" said:

No communication in team chat.A reminder: free to play cannot communicate in team chat (sadness)

Not quite correct.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Account#Free_accounts

Free accountsChats available:PvP chat — team chat available; PvP Lobby chat unlocked at PvP Rank 20; emotes, map chat, and say chat disabled during matches

I see this situation a lot:

You have a downed teammate and a downed enemy. What do you do?

Options:Stomp the enemy - Only, only, only do this if you are guaranteed a stomp. In most cases, this means you should have stability/blocks/invuln to prevent CC, but if it's a thief, you'll need a teleport and if it's a mesmer, you probably won't get it unless they used their stealth or if you're a thief with Impact Strike.

Cleave the enemy - This is generally safer than stomping, but if you're too slow and/or if your ally is at too low of HP, they will die and the enemy will rally.

Revive the ally - This is also generally a safer option, but it's usually the slowest one. If you do this, be careful that you don't have another enemy incoming who could interrupt/cleave you.

The biggest mistake I see is when teammates go for a stomp that they are unable to pull off (lack of stab/teleport/etc.), which is often a crucial mistake that can cost an entire game.

@Dahkeus.8243 said:I see this situation a lot:

You have a downed teammate and a downed enemy. What do you do?

Options:Stomp the enemy - Only, only, only do this if you are guaranteed a stomp. In most cases, this means you should have stability/blocks/invuln to prevent CC, but if it's a thief, you'll need a teleport and if it's a mesmer, you probably won't get it unless they used their stealth or if you're a thief with Impact Strike.

Cleave the enemy - This is generally safer than stomping, but if you're too slow and/or if your ally is at too low of HP, they will die and the enemy will rally.

Revive the ally - This is also generally a safer option, but it's usually the slowest one. If you do this, be careful that you don't have another enemy incoming who could interrupt/cleave you.

The biggest mistake I see is when teammates go for a stomp that they are unable to pull off (lack of stab/teleport/etc.), which is often a crucial mistake that can cost an entire game.

To be fair, this is not intuitive PvP behavior and most people wouldn't ever think about it like this (i.e., getting the kill is most important in most players minds, even those who have been playing for awhile). Anet has fairly complex systems and do jack-poop to educate its players. It doesn't help that downed abilities are so janky and unbalanced between profs.

Further, I really think for PvP all downed-stated abilities should be the same across professions:

1 - Damage spam2 - Interrupt on long CD3 - Bigger heal (starts on CD when downed)4 - Same as now (slow heal)

Some general rules for rotation:

1. Don't have more than 2 of your team at your home.
2. If the enemy has 3 or more at your home, let them have it.
3. Don't rotate into outnumbered fights.
4. Only go far solo if you can either leave it fast, you can hold it against 2 or more for more than 30 seconds, or the enemy has 3 or more on your home.
5. Don't go far if you don't know where every enemy is.
6. Sometimes it's best just to stay on your point. Don't go somewhere just to do something. Think about where you are most needed.