Absolute Newbie to WvW... Tips?

I started playing WvW as my staff Elemantalist but I am totally lost... My server is Sea of Sorrows. We never have a 'Zurg', we are perpetually getting crushed, and I have no clue what to do. The only thing I've ended up doing is taking the ruins on our home map over and over again until someone from another server comes and destroys me. The stupid help NPC at the spawn was absolutely no help whatsoever. Can anyone help me out a bit?

No zerg? Must be time zone differences, either that or everyone in SoS is off playing the new PvE content, but they'll be back eventually. Yes, you should find a guild to help you out. Staff Ele is tough to run alone...there are scarier things roaming out there these days.

If there is really no Zerg around trying to find a grp may help ? Maybe try asking at the map-/ teamchat and see if there are other players jou can join.Learning (and doing) WvW alone is quite hard these days .. specially as an staff elementalist :(

Any other profession/weapon combinations I could try that might be easier to start out with?

Staff Ele should be alright for small group play and soloing camps if you're into that playstyle. The zerg is either on EBG or off doing PvE while its all shiny and new.

My advice (if you can't locate your zerg) would be to try soloing more objectives than ruins, and try to group up with others on your map. Take a dip into enemy BLs too once in a while to flip some stuff there.

Are you just new to WvW, or are you new to the game? If you're new to the game, let us know and we can help you decipher all of these acronyms people are using.

Also, try using dagger or scepter for roaming. The staff is more centered around team fights.

I'm on Isle of Janthir and I'm part of the "linked server" with SoS. During NA prime and OCX prime time there is always a zerg, although with PoF release the crowd have died for PvE (for now). I'm happy to take you around when I'm online (depending on your timezone).

As Theodon asked, are you just new to WvW or are you new to GW2? I can try to answer as many questions depending what your circumstance is.

Start with condi mesmer. For noobs like me, only thief and mesmer are fun to play in wvw. If you want torture yourself by rerunning from spawn, play anything else. Condi mesmer is more fun of the two, mesmer and thief.

@Pelto.9364 said:Start with condi mesmer. For noobs like me, only thief and mesmer are fun to play in wvw. If you want torture yourself by rerunning from spawn, play anything else. Condi mesmer is more fun of the two, mesmer and thief.

I have to disagree strongly that thief is a good class for a wvw noob to start on. It has one of the sharpest learning curves (unless you pvp). If you are roaming on your own those two classes are good (though thieves are more about ganking other players I would say than objectives). Most wvw people don't want to hear it, but ranger is actually pretty good for solo roaming (WARNING: but not a zerg). If you can find a small group or a zerg, which I'm assuming you want since you are in WvW, I would say the easiest classes are necromancer and warrior. Both are very straightforward damage dealers and with the expac warrior is back in the meta.

If you do want to continue playing ele, make sure you are not wearing the gear you would in PvE. That may be contributing to fast death. WvW eles tend to be healing eles, especially in a zerg. Don't listen to anyone who tells you we are heal bots though. We still provide might, meteors, auras, some stability, group stun breaks, and high cc as well as our role as healers. Always run earth line, and diamond skin (yeah be jealous all you classes immediately nuked by condi) whether you are in a zerg or not and no matter how you tinker with your build.

Have fun playing around with things. Hope you find a good guild on your server.

Find a guild to teach you the ropes. Most server communities have a forum and/or discord these days to assist.

Find some players who try to keep participation up and follow them. Desert borderland is probably best map for this. Sometimes you get nice small scale fights. Of course now people probably play expansion so there probably isn't players like this.

@pchincha.6089 said:Most wvw people don't want to hear it, but ranger is actually pretty good for solo roaming (WARNING: but not a zerg). If you can find a small group or a zerg, which I'm assuming you want since you are in WvW, I would say the easiest classes are necromancer and warrior. Both are very straightforward damage dealers and with the expac warrior is back in the meta.

Agree with this post. I don't zerg and I highly value Rangers (and Engis) in small scale havocing/ solo roaming. Plus Ranger is actually MUCH easier to learn.

If you enjoy using ele then go for it, definitely do not recommend bringing a full glass (aka zerk gear) into WvW for starters. Staff is a nice weapon to use :)

WOAH! I was gone on vacation for a couple days and a lot of people have posted since then. Stupid SMS... Okay...So I am NOT a newbie to GW2 in general, I've been playing since late March 2016.I have tried and turned out to be awful at playing Warriors, Mesmers, and Necromancers, sooo... Yikes.I have a level 80 Ranger that I've gotten fairly confident with, I think I'll try that... Just not in a zerg, if one ever shows up...

@Chorne.8195 said:I started playing WvW as my staff Elemantalist but I am totally lost... My server is Sea of Sorrows. We never have a 'Zurg', we are perpetually getting crushed, and I have no clue what to do. The only thing I've ended up doing is taking the ruins on our home map over and over again until someone from another server comes and destroys me. The stupid help NPC at the spawn was absolutely no help whatsoever. Can anyone help me out a bit?

Now is down time, great majorities are doing PoF. WvW is mostly made up by PvX players. The population should gradually return weeks later.

Hi and welcome to WvW, you may want to try/heed the following:

• Befriend active WvW players and join an active WvW guild. You will often find these guilds advertising in map/team chat and/or server community websites exist
• Staff ele is largely considered 'out of date' as it's elite spec, Tempest, along with other classes/professions entirely bring much more to the battlefield/squad composition in terms of support, DPS and healing etc
• Try sticking around throughout the day to pin-point an active timezone/hour window that players congregate in the borderlands (find that zerg!)
• PoF has just launched so many WvWers are still engaging in new content (I myself have ditched WvW for the week to get elite specs, new gear stats, collections etc) so it may seem like it's desolate at times
• If you are adamant in your decision to play staff ele then I suggest to watch montages/zerg fights from an ele PoV to get a feel for your positioning, situational awareness, what commanders often call-out in TS (waterfields, cleanses etc) and who you should be focusing as an individual contributing to your squad overall

Other classes that utilise staff and are very helpful in WvW zergs:

• Guardian AH healer build (support orientated, small heals/buffs etc)
• Necro in general (lots of AoEs, un-blockable life force generating traits etc)

Hope this helps.

Hi, I'm a SoS staff tempest. It has been extremely quiet, yes; I have seen the entire wvw crowd in the new POF maps all week. Patience; as soon as people max their POF achievements they will return.

The timezone you are playing in will determine your results to some extent, but keep an eye out for guild recruitment announcements. Usually a guild will let you know what timezone they play in, and you can adjust accordingly. Regarding sticking to staff tempest; I do it because my commander likes having staff tempest healing - you will likely end up playing whatever your guild's commanders need more of. Get familiar with a couple of meta classes and be prepared to be flexible. Zerg group composition is very important to guild commanders. If there is a class you enjoy playing that is of low utility in a zerg, you can play it when your guild isn't tagged up and you are running havoc or supporting pug squads.