WVW

[Phoenix.4593]

Relatively new to the game, and have just started to dabble with endgame content. My favorite, by far, is WVW. I don't really know what I'm doing, but it's fun wondering around picking off the occasional dolyak or guard--and very occasionally another player. What I'm doing seems to be helping, but like I said, I'm new to this mode and for all I know I could be creating problems for my team that I'm not aware of. Is the lone wolf type of play style viable in this mode? (I suck at typing and playing at the same time, and when skirmishes get to big I'm like a cat staring at a disco ball.) If playing solo is a thing, what should I be doing to maximize my contribution? Also, what profession would work best for this--I'm guessing Daredevil because of stealth and mobility... Also, what kinds of things should I avoid doing so as not to cause annoyance--I found out the hard way that jumping into a duel is a nono.

[Dawdler.8521]

@"Phoenix.4593" said:Is the lone wolf type of play style viable in this mode?"Viable" is relative. If there is no tag on the border, 20 people in spawn running in circles going "any tag?", "where is tag?!", "need tag!" because the last one to venture out was killed by a guard and now no on dares to go out, while you have just done a circle capping 3 camps solo... you're pretty viable.

That said, WvW is a team game and I would highly recommend to find at least a small guild to lean against, if you dont want zerging. Being 2-3 people increase your "viability" exponentially. Any server not having these groups is usually the one that loose the matchup in the long run, whereas the solo roamer is often just an annoyance (and the zerg is just in for short bursts, completely dependant on people willing to command).

[gloflop.3510]

I mostly agree with Dawdler. The lone wolf is viable to a certain extend and I prefer a lone wolf over a player on spawn crying for a tag (or just silently waiting for one). Your viablility increases drastically once you are 2-3.

I would just like to give some hints:1) Get a roaming build. A Zerg build is made for zerg play and not roaming. You can switch these days easily between zerg- and roaming build.2) Try to find others. Dawdler suggested to find a guild. It is not necessary to be in a guild. You can also follow others in the beginning or talk with whoever you just flipped a camp with. The other players are normally very friendly and playing together helps both of you.3) Learn from your mistakes and adjust. Maybe you need more condi-cleanses to kill the enemy, maybe more heal, maybe more sustain,...4) Team- and mapchat are your friend. You do not have a voice channel where you can communicate with all other roamers. You only have the chats.

[SlitheSlivier.1908]

Lone wolf is very viable and what a lot of ppl do, tho zergs will be needed to take large objectives unless it's off-hours, when sometimes you can take a keep with 4ppl due to the other team sleeping.

As a "Roamer", you can help the team by scouting enemy zergs, take camps and kill dolyaks to keep enemy keeps/towers from tiering up, defend your keeps/dolyaks, take towers (typ you need a small group but it's more than possible to solo low tier towers.), open up towers then call in chat for help taking, etc.As a roamer you should be able to win or flee from most fights. If you are good at 1v1, you will do well. Don't be afraid to organize with other people in the map to determine who is going where or group up from time to time when the issue is a group of enemies.

[saerni.2584]

A couple of options exist in WvW:

1) Find a tag2) Be the tag3) Offensive roaming4) Defensive roaming

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For running a tag:1) Pug group w/o discord2) Pug group w/ discord3) Guild group w/ discord

As you might guess, having a voice chat helps a lot. Two big strategies, sustain vs damage. Builds for this tend to be glassy or reliant on organized groups with lots of sustain. Both will rely on staying mobile and dropping lots of aoe on an enemy force and keeping out of their aoes. The sustain vs damage choice is often about numbers. Sustain is safer for larger uncoordinated groups and some small scale coordinated fights vs unorganized players. Smaller groups fighting larger groups tend to lean damage because they can never secure kills against larger groups otherwise (the sustain snowball of more players is pretty hard to overcome with a lot fewer players).

Larger scale tends to be about taking or defending objectives while killing lots of enemy players. It's more dependent on the commander than anything else. The tag may not be an experienced commander or may be well known and have a group that logs in with them on set times/days to play. There won't always be a tag on a map so that's why I put "be the tag" as an option.

For offensive/defensive roaming:

1) Attacking camps2) Defending camps3) Escorting yaks4) Scouting towers/keeps5) Killing enemy roamers6) Killing enemy reinforcements7) Havoc (small scale taking towers or pushing into keeps to distract and divide enemy forces).

Your build should have mobility/sustain and enough damage to secure kills. Even better if you can 1vX, but don't be afraid to stick to other small scale roamers. If you are constantly dying 1v4 you should probably change locations or tactics. It's not a fair game mode at the 40v20 scale or the 5v2 scale. Running with a few other players can cover your weaknesses and let you run support specs in roaming, if you like playing those kinds of builds.

[lare.5129]

so 2 ways:1)find wvw guild, join, be in squad with biudl that needed and class that neede2)take any build and class and get fun

And don't try get all knowledge per short time, make it chill, After 3-4 year when you will not be absolute beginner start make some targets for yourself. But now - get fun in some way.

[Clownmug.8357]

Yes, lone wolf playstyle is very much viable. If you're also capturing and defending camps you're definitely helping the team. The only way I can think to cause "problems" playing this way is if you starting scouting as well and your reports aren't detailed enough for players who want someone to blame for their incompetence.

[Riba.3271]

To be lone wolf and feel relevant, you have to be better than enemy players either skillwise or choose the easiest spec ever. Thief id stay far away from as new player because it actually requires knowing what cast times, tells and CCs enemy classes have, else you will be CC locked and bursted by any mesmer, ranger, ele, thief or necro you meet. Something like spellbreaker, reaper or holosmith is much better because they are bursty, bulky, less prone to be CC locked, skillspammy and as long as you have reactiontime to stunbreak/cleansing sigil you will have lot of success.

If you wanna have easy time starting up then stick to some boomer burn guardian/healbot no skill stuff that only kills noobs but you can't really come in the game expecting to beat better players.

Do note that any smallscale skirmish that you take with your servermates is quite doomed if enemy has some minstrel supports and you have none.

How to learn the game: Buttonsmash, die, figure out what skill you pressed wrong or where you mispositioned. Repeat until you don't die. Human brain and mechanics will adapt to anything that causes discomfort, such as dying, over time. But do note that your build and class has limits so improving choice of those is also important.

For single player, to be most useful for the team, is to upgrade things by claiming and defending the camps while also keeping eye on any enemy group that hits your objectives.

Overall, I do not find it healthy for anyone to only commit to choose only "Squad" or "squadless/partyless" playstyle because the mapstate and your own desires vary. So stick with what you want to accomplish, which most likely is upgrading and defending home borderland when starting up. Sometimes this requires joining squads and other times leaving them. And some days you just wanna take in few hours of constant EB action. 50 man squads are overrated since PoF was released (bad meta), but lot of people are lonely and take scraps.

[SlitheSlivier.1908]

As someone said above when scouting, give necessary information when the enemy is attacking which includes:

• Enemy Team Color
• Approx number of enemies (don't count just give an estimate)
• enemy guild tag if it is largely 1 guild (or 2)
• Where they are. You can use names or compass directions ( nwc = Northwest Camp. SET=southeast tower)
• If at a keep/garri/smc, are they on the outer, inner, or on lord.
• if they have built seige yet.
• it's also useful if you can say which wall/gate they are at.

Example: "20 blue [sHLD] catapulting BBL Bay outer, South wall"

Lots of ppl make useless callouts that confuse or annoy ppl by giving too little info to be able to act on.