Questions from a New WvW Player

Hello! I've started playing WvW and am loving it! But I have some questions I'm hoping experienced players can answer

• Sometimes when the group I'm with takes a camp a window will popup for guilds to 'claim' it. My guild will be last in this countdown and no other guilds are claiming it. Should I claim it?
• Should I be repairing walls? Sometimes my group will defend a place and then just leave, the walls are still down or not fully repaired - is it just assumed someone else will come by to repair or they don't care if someone takes the tower?
• Sometimes the commander will tell us to avoid the NPC guards on our way to places. Is this because the guards somehow signal to the other server we're near by? Or is it just the commander doesn't want to stop to kill the NPC?
• The commander is always resorting everyone in the squad into parties - is there a mechanical reason for this (or does it just help the commander organize who they have in their squad)? Should I be trying to stay close to those players in my party? Is there a way I can mark them so I can see them easily like I can see the Commander tag?
• Between firebrand, scrapper, herald, and scourge - do you think one is better over the others for a beginner zerg player? I know they're all considered 'meta' but not sure which is most newbie friendly. I currently have one level 80, my weaver. Most of the time I really like playing her but in intense fights I'm not very good yet. I tagged along with a well organized zerg on reset night and we had an hour long fight in an enemy garrison; it was all I could do to not die, let alone figure out how to safely get off a meteor shower. I'd like to start leveling up my second character on a more forgiving class.

Thank you for your help!

@"Lucken.6098" said:Hello! I've started playing WvW and am loving it! But I have some questions I'm hoping experienced players can answer

• Sometimes when the group I'm with takes a camp a window will popup for guilds to 'claim' it. My guild will be last in this countdown and no other guilds are claiming it. Should I claim it?

If your guild has the +5 supply aura buff, go ahead and claim it. If not, don't bother.

• Should I be repairing walls? Sometimes my group will defend a place and then just leave, the walls are still down or not fully repaired - is it just assumed someone else will come by to repair or they don't care if someone takes the tower?

This is something situational. If the group don't bother to repair, they assume someone else will do it because they don't care about the objective, only about the fight.

• Sometimes the commander will tell us to avoid the NPC guards on our way to places. Is this because the guards somehow signal to the other server we're near by? Or is it just the commander doesn't want to stop to kill the NPC?

If 25 people hit an NPC (or another single player), it creates Orange Swords on the map and alerts the opponent to their location.

• The commander is always resorting everyone in the squad into parties - is there a mechanical reason for this (or does it just help the commander organize who they have in their squad)? Should I be trying to stay close to those players in my party? Is there a way I can mark them so I can see them easily like I can see the Commander tag?

The commander is trying to ensure that each party has the support buffs it needs for a good group composition. In general, you want to stay close to the tag and it is the responsibility of your party members to do the same. If you are playing a support class though, you can set your squad view to "party" so you can better keep track of your party alone and heal any stragglers. If your party members aren't doing a good job of staying close by though and putting you in danger, just leave them to die. That may sound harsh, but their positioning ultimately is on them. You cannot help the squad if you are dead too.

As for marking them, not really. There's the F11 option to show party health bars and use thick health bars always which can assist you visually.

• Between firebrand, scrapper, herald, and scourge - do you think one is better over the others for a beginner zerg player? I know they're all considered 'meta' but not sure which is most newbie friendly. I currently have one level 80, my weaver. Most of the time I really like playing her but in intense fights I'm not very good yet. I tagged along with a well organized zerg on reset night and we had an hour long fight in an enemy garrison; it was all I could do to not die, let alone figure out how to safely get off a meteor shower. I'd like to start leveling up my second character on a more forgiving class.

I'd say firebrand and scourge, then scrapper are probably more beginner friendly. They'd be more forgiving for positioning errors than herald or weaver.

Thank you for your help!

camps can be claimed, if you have the +5 supply buff from the guild upgrade (req. an Guild Hall / HoT and the evolution of the War Room); If a camp is unclaimed after the pop up runs out, you can claim it later, too. the +5 supply is the most important for a camp, so people might ask around for someone to claim it after capping the camp;

walls & repairing; if you have defeated the attackers (+ cleared siege), you should repair the walls; You should not repair walls if a defensive siege is the better option while fighting the attackers; if you can delay a breach and you know people are running in to help you, you should delay the breach by repairing so you can fend off the attackers together. Don't ever leave defended towers and keeps open for attackers, after an attack; you should also close outer walls and kill siege, if the enemy is busy with inner walls, to cut them off from supply.

if the commander does ask you not to get close to a sentry, it is because it will show the numbers of your team on the map as orange dots; Sometime you need to move fast to a spot and he does not want to lose half his force sitting on a sentry spot for 30 seconds, keep an eye on map chat for tactics from the commander or on the voice channel, if you have joined it

Sorting people if about makiing the max out of boon sharing etc. The squad parties get priorities, so boons are shared the most efficient way.

If you play zerg as a Weaver, don't push too far to the front line and range from the backline, like MS pressure or water fields. When you attack a structure, you should be the one keeping a eye on enemy siege and range AoE it off the walls. FB might be the ones in demand the most (Scourges second with the red fields of doom and Heralds for Hammer strikes at range); if you feel the pressure to switch, ask you commander what he wants in that moment.

1) Claiming priority theoretically goes by the guilds with the most members on the map that took part in the objective capture. If no other guilds have claimed an objective and yours has something useful to offer (+5, buffs etc) claim it, just be weary of claiming keeps if you have nothing to offer.

2) Downed walls - Maybe the objective is a couple of yaks from upgrading or the group simply doesn't have or doesn't want to waste supply to repair it fully, but, it makes no sense to walk away and leave it open, I'd at least close it.

3) 25+ Attacking even a moa can case orange swords and alert the enemy to your position, otherwise even a few spooking guards could cause a white sword contest, so the commander is probably trying to fly under the radar.

4) Yes, there's a reason, but you'd have to ask your commander what it is and why he re-sorted you.

5) Depends on what you're comfortable with.

@HazyDaisy.4107 said:1) Claiming priority theoretically goes by the guilds with the most members on the map that took part in the objective capture.(also its completely random and follow zero logic)

@HazyDaisy.4107 said:3) 25+ Attacking even a moa can case orange swords

The best is 25 people taking fall damage will cause orange swords.

You could stick to staff Weaver but hammer herald is a good alternative too. Don't go the easy route with a "more forgiving" play experience, it will stunt your growth as a player.

I don't scourge or firebrand so maybe someone else can link some play of those here.

Thank you everyone for your answers! This clears up a lot of my confusion.

And I’m taking your advice and going to keep giving my weaver a go. I played wvw the past two nights and was doing a lot better. Think I just initially got discouraged.

@Dawdler.8521 said:

@HazyDaisy.4107 said:1) Claiming priority theoretically goes by the guilds with the most members on the map that took part in the objective capture.

(also its completely random and follow zero logic)

Most of the time the guild with highest amount of people who tagged the npc's will have higher priority. It may or may not be damage related, but the tagging component lasts for quite long so you can get the prompt to claim it even if you're on the other side of the map and tagged it hours earlier. Time spent alive may also be a factor in having priority in claiming.

I recommend you to join your servers ts (or discord). It will help you a lot to understand the decisions of the commander.If your commander is a nice person, he/she may also answer any questions (of course not during a fight). Some commanders also comment their movement and what went right or wrong after a fight.

@"Lucken.6098" said:

• Between firebrand, scrapper, herald, and scourge - do you think one is better over the others for a beginner zerg player? I know they're all considered 'meta' but not sure which is most newbie friendly. I currently have one level 80, my weaver. Most of the time I really like playing her but in intense fights I'm not very good yet. I tagged along with a well organized zerg on reset night and we had an hour long fight in an enemy garrison; it was all I could do to not die, let alone figure out how to safely get off a meteor shower. I'd like to start leveling up my second character on a more forgiving class.

My vote would be for medi-scrapper, as for a beginner all you have to do is literally stand on tag with medi-kit equipped and press 1-1-1-1-1-1-1 and 3, 4, 5 on cooldown, and about 3/4 of your job is done. As you play more and more you'll learn the power of your toolbelt abilities and gyros, when to use them, etc. With Firebrand you might get caught in the wrong tome or with mantras not up, while both Scourge and~~ Firebrand~~ Herald will get melted in a good fight if they are out of position.

The only challenge is that Minstrel gear is expensive to craft, so I recommend going for stat selectable trinkets from LS S3/S4, as well as the https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Triumphant_Hero%27s_armor reward track to get yourself some stat selectable exotic medium armor. You can get by with Cleric armor pieces for the time being, all of which I believe you can buy off the TP.