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Tips to manage salt and toxicity in WvW


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Although by default, many gamers would be less than desirably matured due to their actual young age and limited exposure in life, things can improve much faster if we are aware of the childishness of our actions and thoughts.Just by being aware that what we are doing is childish and with a desire to change for the better, we can mature much faster as a player and as a person.

While we can't really control the type of persons we encounter in WvW, we can learn to manage their toxicity and salt better.

Let us list out some of the childish behaviors in game:

  • Whispering nasty comments after winning/losing a fight
  • Throwing siege or dancing on corpses
  • Standing over downed opponents and watching them bleed out
  • Knowingly interrupting duels
  • Pulling tactivators needlessly
  • Wasting supplies on needless siege
  • Insulting your commander or server mates
  • etc.

I'm pretty sure most WvW old-timers would have experienced 1 or more of the above over the years.

As a frequent troll in game, on the forums and being a popular Necro roaming video creator myself, I've faced my fair share of salt/toxicity.People have gone from criticizing my game-play to my character to my family to my ancestors.In the past, I would have traded vile barbs with them while feeling real anger.This is however not a good way to handle things.Your mood turns sour, your day turns bad, you lose sleep, over a video game!

So how do we handle these behaviors better?

The most important tip I can share is, be aware that this is only a game, a minute and ultimately unimportant part of your life on earth.And when you realize this, you'll be able to ignore the salt/toxicity.And ignoring and not replying, is your best shield against them :3

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  1. Turn of Map Chat.
  2. Turn off Team Chat.
  3. Only listen to guild chat and the current commander squad you are in, if any.

Mind you, you'll miss a lot of fights this way, but it IS relatively quiet and peaceful if you are looking for that. I do this sometimes when I just want to roam and "run silent."

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@"EremiteAngel.9765" , to deal with / prevent salt:

  • try be nice or at least neutral when whispering. That said it's incredibly hard to get some people to realize they're behaving childishly while not angering them further. I try to ignore whatever motivated me to whisper in the first place (usually something like people ganging up on me with 3+ players and corpse jumping afterwards) and start with a "Hi, do you want to duel?" which is kinda the same message I'd send to friends ingame if I wanted a fight with them. Some still feel the need to insult you after that but at least you know for the moment there's all hope lost there. Sometimes you won't be able to spare someone a snarky comment after they needed to gank you Xvs1 but try to ;)
  • when in doubt and feeling salty, blame the game (including all external factors, even if it's lag), not the player. That way you avoid insulting someone personally while you can still vent about what happened.
  • assume the salty enemy is just someone (you know, still a person) who's just in a bad mood atm. This and the next point help me stay more composed when confronting enemy players. They also help you not harboring animosity towards them for an extended period of time.
  • don't assume malicious intent by default (some people just don't really notice how they behave or know little about the node)
  • don't push people that are already raging (at either you or the game), nothing good will come from it.
  • give advice (instead of or at least as an addition to blaming some for doing something wrong). This instantly turns toxic rants into partially constructive feedback
  • if you must rage hard, rage about the enemies in your team / map chat and rage about your team in whispers to enemies / guild chat (given it's not guildies you're raging about) or friends on voice chat. They (and if it goes on you) won't feel attacked by it or the replies and it probably won't spark a conversation that results in the participants continuously getting more mad at each other. Since you'll be more willing to listen to them instead of the source of your frustration, the recipients of your venting might also do a better job at helping you to come to the following conclusions:
  • if you notice you're the one beginning to rage, close the game and do something else
  • don't play PvP when you're already in a not so good mood. It's a bit like going out and drinking, if you're already not exited about it and then things are not going as you want them to it will be frustrating for you and you'll make it less enjoyable for others.

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:Let us list out some of the childish behaviors in game:

  • Standing over downed opponents and watching them bleed out

Just to nitpick, especially with the 0 respawn timer and mounts this can be a valid / necessary tactic to prevent enemies from coming back to the fight & prevent a capture even sooner.

This and

Pulling tactivators needlesslyWasting supplies on needless siege(left out the duels since you put "knowingly there :P )Are pretty much negative examples for my point of "don't assume malicious intent by default".

Happy roaming!

@"Jayden Reese.9542" said:The easiest would to make WvW anonymous. I mean they try with the Server name invader but it's not. The first time I got whispered I was like why is this guy on my team kitten at me. Then you realize you can block/friend and get the name of the dude so I block so many just so I don't gotta here how I got lucky killing them. Anytime a dead body lingers I kinda know there's a chance I'd get a salty whisper and of course be blocked before I get a response off. Now it would eliminate those cool convo's asking a build or conversing about a fight in a normal manner but those seem to be rare. I def take note if I see some1 jumping on a teammate and if I kill that guy ill jump on him or if they do stuff like hump a wall to los exploit and i kill you while your doing that yeah ill jump on that guy too. I've siege dropped like 1 time ever but again that guy was jumping over people after 4 on 1s and couldn't even solo me so he deserved it.

I personally try to initiate more of those civil whispers, it just always come back the same way. But I do think anonymity won't solve the problem of toxicity (there are many ways to be toxic without chat) but it removes the possibility to get to know people from a different angle and the option to clear up misunderstandings. I'd even argue for seeing enemy names. I've had it happen multiple times that I met enemies, and while maybe a bit salty at first after a few duels, a bit of conversation etc. you left "in peace" and occasionally wave each other when meeting again. The strange thing is, sometimes you see them a couple of weeks / months later, they don't remember who you are and behave salty again. And you're like "hey, I know you, with've been through this already".

And a bit of rivalry, salty or friendly (as long as it's not downright toxic), is what spices up WvW fights. I've played some games that block any player interaction other then a selection of emojis and it's just bland. It's impersonal, if the game blocks any interaction that goes beyond its defined mechanics I could as just well play vs AI.

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@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:

  • Knowingly interrupting duels

This does not belong on the list. WvW is a server vs server gamemode. If I see someone from an enemy server and want to attack them then that is just part of the gamemode.

If the duel takes place in "duel specific areas" like obsidian sanctum and the arena in EoTM then sure but not in arbitary dueling spots made up by players.

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Honestly, I feel like this is kind of meh.I used to be trying to be always nice and stuff to other anon players, even the trolls and corpse jumpers/gankers (2+ players ganking 1 at a time). But I realized it was a waste of effort to be nice and kind to the .. mean/childish players.Perhaps I should start my own thread discussing this, but I don't see salt/toxicity as a problem that can be fixed. WvW, or any open world pvp setting is bound to have toxicity and all you can do is limit it a little bit with things like the option to block people.

People aren't mad/toxic at the game, they are mad at other people/players. So while yes it's just a game, we are playing with and against other people. Why do you think road rage exist? You can't just say "it's just a road!" And pretend it's a good reason not to get frustrated at the other terrible drivers on the road who are making it worse for everybody.

The general consensus is that you let them win by paying attention, or letting it get to you, annoy you etc. But honestly, most of the time we are kidding ourselves when we try to pretend we aren't affected at all, ever.

I personally don't treat others badly. I roam solo 90% of the time so I've had my fair share of salt and toxicity. But if i see someone repeatedly griefing me with multiple people etc, yea it's annoying and frustrating. Especially when I already know I could beat them in a 1v1 or 2v2. If they grief me and act toxic, jump on my corpse etc, I will do the same to them. Usually I get the last laugh anyway as the players that act like that are usually mediocre and decent at best. I'm not gonna pretend I can be a White Knight and act nice to them despite what that did and suddenly they will change their behavior for good.UNLESS they salt whisper you but are willing to listen. Sometimes you can even make friends with them if you are nice to them.

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@LaGranse.8652 said:

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:
  • Knowingly interrupting duels

This does not belong on the list. WvW is a server vs server gamemode. If I see someone from an enemy server and want to attack them then that is just part of the gamemode.

If the duel takes place in "duel specific areas" like obsidian sanctum and the arena in EoTM then sure but not in arbitary dueling spots made up by players.

What's next? Telling roleplayers to stop their fantasy acts in PvE? Who are you to dictate how people should play? If crashing into a dueling spot and sucking the fun out of everyone isn't a toxic behavior, I don't know what it is.

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@Lalary.3561 said:

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:
  • Knowingly interrupting duels

This does not belong on the list. WvW is a server vs server gamemode. If I see someone from an enemy server and want to attack them then that is just part of the gamemode.

If the duel takes place in "duel specific areas" like obsidian sanctum and the arena in EoTM then sure but not in arbitary dueling spots made up by players.

What's next? Telling roleplayers to stop their fantasy acts in PvE? Who are you to dictate how people should play? If crashing into a dueling spot and sucking the fun out of everyone isn't a toxic behavior, I don't what it is.

If it's red, it's dead.

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@Lalary.3561 said:

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:
  • Knowingly interrupting duels

This does not belong on the list. WvW is a server vs server gamemode. If I see someone from an enemy server and want to attack them then that is just part of the gamemode.

If the duel takes place in "duel specific areas" like obsidian sanctum and the arena in EoTM then sure but not in arbitary dueling spots made up by players.

What's next? Telling roleplayers to stop their fantasy acts in PvE? Who are you to dictate how people should play? If crashing into a dueling spot and sucking the fun out of everyone isn't a toxic behavior, I don't know what it is.

Asking people not to PVE in a PVE zone is a bit different than being in a mass PVP area using it for an entirely different purpose than what the designers intended. I dont typically roll over known duelers with a blob, but they have to understand its gonna happen from time to time in a mass PVP mode map.

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@Lalary.3561 said:

@"EremiteAngel.9765" said:
  • Knowingly interrupting duels

This does not belong on the list. WvW is a server vs server gamemode. If I see someone from an enemy server and want to attack them then that is just part of the gamemode.

If the duel takes place in "duel specific areas" like obsidian sanctum and the arena in EoTM then sure but not in arbitary dueling spots made up by players.

What's next? Telling roleplayers to stop their fantasy acts in PvE? Who are you to dictate how people should play? If crashing into a dueling spot and sucking the fun out of everyone isn't a toxic behavior, I don't know what it is.

What's next? Telling people in a mass PvP gamemode to not attack the enemies they want to attack?The roleplayers can roleplay in PvE if they want to, duelers can duel in a mass PvP gamemode if they want to. Just don't expect everyone to to play along with the roleplay/duel

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How to handle salt or toxicity? Just ignore it. Or reply with “cool story bro” and then ignore them.

As to knowingly interrupting duels, though I don’t do it myself, it is a free for all pvp zone. If someone is allowed to do it they probably will. There are many who believe “if it’s red, it’s dead”. Killing enemies is one of the reasons people do WvW.

And dancing on corpses... have you not played any pvp games before in any genre? This stuff happens in all games. That fact that people get upset about it just makes the purpertraters want to do it more as they can see it gets under people’s skin.

Some people are a holes, both in games and in real life. If you can’t learn to deal with them here...

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