How to enjoy WvW as a pug?

[Labjax.2465]

I can sometimes get enjoyment by following around a tag, depending on luck of server matchup, but it's not a reliable way to get into the mode. I've thought about roaming, but idk about being a lone wolf running halfway across the map only to get killed. Am I missing something or is this just a mode where you really need to join a WvW guild / discord to get into it consistently?

I know I'm asking a somewhat subjective question here, but I figure maybe there's more to the mode I'm not considering.

[Linken.6345]

I go around tag keeps and towers by killing guards then solo sentrys and camps or wait for the veteran creature mostly.

If I need kills I go into the map with the big castle since there is were people seem to fight alot.

[Noc Rubu.5804]

2 minutes ago, Linken.6345 said:

I go around tag keeps and towers by killing guards then solo sentrys and camps or wait for the veteran creature mostly.

If I need kills I go into the map with the big castle since there is were people seem to fight alot.

People who can solo camps, NEED to be balanced!! 

[Dawdler.8521]

By it's nature, it's a social mode. But what are you there for? What people enjoy differ for everyone. If you want to do the "am I a roamer?" test that's dead simple. Here's the 3 step way of finding insight:
1) Find a big zerg.
2) Watch them put down catas/rams by a tower, keep, whatever.
Do you:
A) See the people stack on top of each other and think they're kitten idiots because all they're doing is giving the enemy zerg a huge target so you stay as far as kitten possible away from everyone.
B) Find the nearest clump of people to stand on top of because safety in numbers.
3) If you answer A congratulations you're probably a roamer at heart and if you answer B then join the zerglings. 

[AliamRationem.5172]

I never got into the big blob play and never joined a guild for more organized groups, so WvW for me consisted of roaming.  But if you aren't able to hold your own in 1vX and get easily frustrated by dying or being forced to run away when the chips are down, it may not be for you.

[costepj.5120]

35 minutes ago, Soupeod.5714 said:

People who can solo camps, NEED to be balanced!! 

My very average warrior can solo camps. The only thing I avoid is running into the middle of the camp and letting the guards swamp me. I pick a few off first.

[Labjax.2465]

14 minutes ago, AliamRationem.5172 said:

I never got into the big blob play and never joined a guild for more organized groups, so WvW for me consisted of roaming.  But if you aren't able to hold your own in 1vX and get easily frustrated by dying or being forced to run away when the chips are down, it may not be for you.

I thought about it when you mentioned getting frustrated by dying and I think for me, it's an ADHD boredom thing or something? I don't like the long trek back to anything that's going on. Typically when I've done small map PvP in games, I'm fine with dying repeatedly and trying again, even if it makes me look like a lemming. But maybe I would enjoy it more on a build specifically for roaming.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

4 hours ago, Labjax.2465 said:

I thought about it when you mentioned getting frustrated by dying and I think for me, it's an ADHD boredom thing or something? I don't like the long trek back to anything that's going on. Typically when I've done small map PvP in games, I'm fine with dying repeatedly and trying again, even if it makes me look like a lemming. But maybe I would enjoy it more on a build specifically for roaming.

You don't need a special build just for camps as long you have condi cleans, stun break and tag with call target Veteran Supervisor (to know where she is among all NPCs) as she act as the main boss for camps (Veteran Supervisor can do a lot of damage and have a knock down with hammer). Mobility and range is king, so make sure you have some way to get be able to close up for melee (teleport skills or leap from skills) or weapon that have range.

Swiftness, Superspeed or flat out 25 % movement speed from Runes Superior Runes of Firework or Traveller runes. Base speed of 25% isn't much compared to Superspeed, but it can not be removed as those other two sources for movement speed.

Mercenaries are NPCs that can be called to camps for the side that "win" them over and those can be really annoying time to time as those will add the number of NPCs at camp and have special abilities that one have to avoid.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mercenary_camp

It is important to understand that camps can be upgraded and when a Dolly is invulnerable from Tactic upgrade (Guild must claim and then use crafted tactic which isn't that common as it is mostly larger Guild that will have Scribes to craft this) and spawn in camp it can make fights impossible as long those stay at camp to defend. 

This list will give an understanding of what kind of upgrades there is in WvW:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Objective_upgrade
 

It is not often all upgrades are in use and when Guild make use of crafted Tactics (as it have a cost and need to be done from Scribes in Guild and Guild leader need to allow members that are playing in WvW to use Tactics) it can be useful to be know what is going on when it happening.

Don't forget that the more WXP you earn the more defensive and offensive abilities you can use in WvW (WXP panel).

It changes how hard NPCs will hit (damage reduction) and how hard you will take damage if there is a siege weapon around or hard hitting NPCs. While talking about WXP, don't forget to unlock Warclaw (mount) and Gliding on each character as you can have different settings for how you allocate WXP for each character. You can also find special NPC where you can reset WXP at spawn way point or close to it.

[Labjax.2465]

11 minutes ago, ShadowCatz.8437 said:

You don't need a special build just for camps as long you have condi cleans, stun break and tag with call target Veteran Supervisor (to know where she is among all NPCs) as she act as the main boss for camps (Veteran Supervisor can do a lot of damage and have a knock down with hammer). Mobility and range is king, so make sure you have some way to get be able to close up for melee (teleport skills or leap from skills) or weapon that have range.

Swiftness, Superspeed or flat out 25 % movement speed from Runes Superior Runes of Firework or Traveller runes. Base speed of 25% isn't much compared to Superspeed, but it can not be removed as those other two sources for movement speed.

Mercenaries are NPCs that can be called to camps for the side that "win" them over and those can be really annoying time to time as those will add the number of NPCs at camp and have special abilities that one have to avoid.

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mercenary_camp

It is important to understand that camps can be upgraded and when a Dolly is invulnerable from Tactic upgrade (Guild must claim and then use crafted tactic which isn't that common as it is mostly larger Guild that will have Scribes to craft this) and spawn in camp it can make fights impossible as long those stay at camp to defend. 

This list will give an understanding of what kind of upgrades there is in WvW:

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Objective_upgrade
 

It is not often all upgrades are in use and when Guild make use of crafted Tactics (as it have a cost and need to be done from Scribes in Guild and Guild leader need to allow members that are playing in WvW to use Tactics) it can be useful to be know what is going on when it happening.

Don't forget that the more WXP you earn the more defensive and offensive abilities you can use in WvW (WXP panel).

It changes how hard NPCs will hit (damage reduction) and how hard you will take damage if there is a siege weapon around or hard hitting NPCs. While talking about WXP, don't forget to unlock Warclaw (mount) and Gliding on each character as you can have different settings for how you allocate WXP for each character. You can also find special NPC where you can reset WXP at spawn way point or close to it.

Thanks for the tips.

[ShadowCatz.8437]

46 minutes ago, Labjax.2465 said:

Thanks for the tips.

You are welcome!

Damage reduction from Ascended Feasts
I forget to mention that you can also get one of your own character up in crafting Ascended food which will also have damage reduction, but it is costly if you do it for yourself or make use of it every time you are going to take a camp.

This type of food are Feasts which means you can share with other player in your World/Alliance  (or any PvE player in PvE).

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_feast

Just be aware it have a 5 min duration from being placed in game (total duration of food buff is 1 hour), so tell people in map chat [/m] or in team chat [/t] before you place it in game world. Use SHIFT+ click on it and then the same for which waypoint while in chat.

 

Primer to extend duration bought with Black Lion Statuettes

You can buy with Black Lion Statuette (NPC vendor for Gem Store items) that prolong duration of every eaten food: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Metabolic_Primer .

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Black_Lion_Statuette#vendor11

(Link to show what kind of stuff you can buy for BL Statuette)

Just activate Primer first before you activate food or feast item. You need to have metabolic primer active before you use food or feast to get 12 hour out of it.

 

WvW Infusion for ascended gear (needed to upgrade gear with infusion)

There are also Infusion that you can buy from Laurel vendore in WvW (not same NPC vendor as PvE Laurel vendor). In WvW Laurel can get you Infusion which is only active in WvW.

Scroll down to see WvW Infusion: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Laurel_Merchant_(WvW)

 

Guild Hall buff (Enhancement) for WvW

Especially WxP Enrichment (you put this as an upgrade on your Ascended Amulet) I find most useful to increase a bit of WxP (and with Guild you can get a free WXP boost from Guild Enhancement -NPC in Guild Hall - Guild need to have upgraded to unlock this vendor). (You will need to represent your Guild to have this active - as it is part of which Guild you are member of, so when you change Guild or doesn't have an active guild ticked in Guild Panel you wont have this buff)

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Guild_hall#Enhancements

Edited October 15, 2022 by ShadowCatz.8437
Added bold, italic and underline to show different parts of text

[ArchonWing.9480]

Just pugblobbing is pretty boring. It is better if you join groups with comms (don't have to talk).

If you don't want to do that, it really depends on how the server and matchup you are on, as well as the time. Like usually if you have to defend your borderland there's at least some chatter going on but sometimes it is dead. EBG is somewhat more reliable. On my alt account with no mount access, just going around the third is good enough.

You are more likely to get people to play with you if you want to ask others for an activity, like take this tower or whatever, though again that requires some persistence. However, forming parties like this is often better than following a train that will leave you behind without a care in the world.

Guild obviously helps, but do note it doesn't have to be a WvW guild, just anyone with a common goal (say do dailies or gain wxp or something) will help.

I usually don't care for running across the map myself, but usually there are ways to just wait a bit and wait for the action to come back to you (hey maybe the squad comes back too) but as a game mode that lets you come and go as you please, you shouldn't feel obliged to wait either.

Edited October 15, 2022 by ArchonWing.9480

[Sylvia.4870]

    Long ago, I used to follow commanders with their squad members in big battles in the Edge of the Mists  and the borderlands. One day, I felt bored with sticking around them. Thereby,  I started to wander across  the maps  in order to seek out a duel, captured the camps, slapped the sentries, defended some adorable dolyaks  if I wanted to,  learned  the enemy forces' movements, the enemy roamers' paths, predicted  the possiblility of the keeps in the east and the west to be attacked by enemy invaders, sent some messages to the allied army so that they could be aware of the enemy infantries, checked  the main keep(the central one) if there was a swords crossing icon on it, interacted with the siege weapons  in each locations  for the coming times  to use them against the enemy legions  and  helped  others  flank the supportive ones in the enemy groups one by one. Sometimes I came across the enemy battalions  and let them stomp me  as a quick way to go to somewhere else.

Edited October 15, 2022 by Sylvia.4870

[Luthan.5236]

Personally I play on Underworld since release of the game. (Did not play from end 2013 until June 2019 though.) Community there seems nice. There seem to be commanders going for big fights. Others that like to cap stuff. (EBG often SM is tried if there are enough people.) Even sometimes without visible tag bigger groups of people.

You can run around randomly and do stuff with other people you encounter. Depends on what playstyle you prefer though. If you want the big zerg ... then you need to find one of course. (If not tag is visible ... ask in the chat.) I prefer mid-sized groups ... can be fun sometimes when 10-20 enemies attack - and you can gather a few people to defend if someone posts in chat that help is needed. I prefer the defensive playstyle and if enemies come to use (=less walking to get my "at least 1 kill every 10 minutes" to keep  the participation counter up).

Soloing camps? Engineer with mecha ... super easy. But even back then in core days people solo'ed camps. You just needed to be more carful - a good build and knowing how to play. Sometime you can pull guards one by one (though that is slower then - enemy players might arrive to defend) ... but you also can try to engage more than 1. Just be careful to not take hits from the supervisor especially if he still has the invulnerability buff (that afaik also increases it's damage - at least according to the tooltip). The scouts are annoying - they blind often. First I prefer to kill them.

Edited October 15, 2022 by Luthan.5236

[Illumine Sparkler.6019]

On 10/14/2022 at 10:25 PM, Soupeod.5714 said:

People who can solo camps, NEED to be balanced!! 

I’m a roamed, dh dps build, and I can solo t3 camps. 99% of the time it’s just a case of knowing where to stand and a semi decent rotation. Stand in the right place all the enemies just run to you and you burn them down as they get there.

[Santo.2419]

My solo play usually consists of cleaning up, then maintaining home borderland. I get plenty of skirmishes, defending objectives etc. 

 

When able, I'll lay out a cata and have it built. Then do a /map (even team if it's a real slow night) with location and that I have one setup on the objective. I'll usually get one or two peeps show up. (but if not, i'll just take it myself and use a pve build for that time if no players about.)

 

If a zerg turns up, I then report it in team/map with details and wait for backup. This is valued by the squads running about elsewhere, knowing they'll be informed.

 

There is a lot of value in keeping the rif-raf out of home. When you have most of map cap'd you can just focus more on the portal camps/towers. I have no probs keeping up T6 participation.

 

I may also run along a tag sometimes if they come in, then kinda peel off when I wanna do my own thing.

 

*edit As far as Zergs go... discord is a pretty big thing imo of enjoying them. And by that...I mostly mean the actual people that your run about with. Ive regularly run with guild tags that advertise on an open tag. Some you will gell with, others you won't for various reasons. But just getting on and listening to them and having some banter...plus you learn so much about the game/build/tactics etc from the disc chat. (I don't do voice, just listen and type...which no one has been upset with..they just glad you on discord.) One day after running with a few dif guilds you'll get a feel for what you like/want in a guild and will be much better informed to make a decision on one.

So, no. A guild is not needed, but I think it can enhance the experience. Just try some out and don't be afraid to join a discord server to listen in... you have time to find the right one, the right way.

Edited October 18, 2022 by Santo.2419

[kash.9213]

On 10/14/2022 at 2:00 PM, Labjax.2465 said:

I can sometimes get enjoyment by following around a tag, depending on luck of server matchup, but it's not a reliable way to get into the mode. I've thought about roaming, but idk about being a lone wolf running halfway across the map only to get killed. Am I missing something or is this just a mode where you really need to join a WvW guild / discord to get into it consistently?

I know I'm asking a somewhat subjective question here, but I figure maybe there's more to the mode I'm not considering.

You don't have to be either/or anything. If you can read map activity and you're used to how people think then you can predict what a lane of the map will look like if you're going to travel or what's probably going down at a hot spot on the map. I don't have any plans so I wander around and cover people on my way to the blob fights if they're going on and there's normally something to do on some scale.  You can follow and cover different groups for a distance or try to mask your travel between stops with terrain topography and line of site.

If you're not feeling how a squad or group moves or reacts but you're still trying to back everyone up, try not to mess up their stealth prep or give away what they're plotting. You might find it helpful to hang out on discord and group up for awhile if you're not dialed into how the maps breath yet and you don't have to feel bad for ducking out for a bit if you need different background noise.

[TheGrimm.5624]

On 10/14/2022 at 5:00 PM, Labjax.2465 said:

I can sometimes get enjoyment by following around a tag, depending on luck of server matchup, but it's not a reliable way to get into the mode. I've thought about roaming, but idk about being a lone wolf running halfway across the map only to get killed. Am I missing something or is this just a mode where you really need to join a WvW guild / discord to get into it consistently?

I know I'm asking a somewhat subjective question here, but I figure maybe there's more to the mode I'm not considering.

 

Running in a Havoc is quite fun as well, be that a guild one or a pickup group. Roaming is the roughest but also can be quite rewarding, but you do need to ask yourself what are looking to do and gear for it. The good news is roaming builds also work well in havoc groups and alot of principals apply to both roaming and havocs. But for each group size up you need to gear out more to think about what you might be lacking or what they might be lacking and buildout from there. Roaming solo you need to ask yourself what is your role since that might vary quite a bit. A quick camp taking build is different from a solo keep build. Scouting build will vary from scout hunter builds. There are all purpose builds that might go more towards sustain. Are you defending or attacking may play a factor as well. It also depends on each players view of did you succeed in what you were trying to do. Example, to me if a havoc of 6 can pull 40 after them, that means 40 were off task for as long as that took, the longer they were off target the better for your side. If a roamer can delay and kill reinforcements to the side that you don't want to win a fight and they lose, that's a win. If you want one enemy group to paper another enemies T3, weaken walls to encourage them to fight, everyone likes a free lunch, use that to aid your side. If they succeed you win since it makes it easier for your side to retake. So again what role and goal may decide the buildout. The downside to havocs and roaming, all the alt toons you may end up with and the good chances you have the wrong build for the situation you land in. Its the same with players building out for large scale since they might not build out expecting hunter builds but then its just called ganking. 🙂 

 

Things for your builds: food/utilities to add to or cover aspects of your build, know when to stay, fight and die, when to run. Practice the mental games, if you solo fight and kill players will they group up, and if they do will they run when you charge the group. Know when to claim and when not to, if you are running havoc don't claim a core camp if others are working to upgrade it and use claims to lure a larger group out. Make sure you have guild siege for the reduced supply cost so you can build siege faster. Make sure you are running siege capacity traits to be able to carry as much as you can. Make sure you have claim rights and your guild has + supply on their claim options. If you already have Leggo armor get WvW infusions in the gear/rings/accessories if you are looking to solo structures. Look into making your rings attuned and infused for extra gain the bigger the structure you want to try for.  Since you will be paid less than zerg fights make sure you have guild buffs to WvW XP gain or reward tracks. Run the gobblers to gain extra WvW gain. Make sure you have the amulet infusions for extra gain. But in the end, make sure whatever role you are looking to do, you find fun and it was worth your time. Good hunting!

[Rysdude.3824]

I’ve been in a wvw coordinated guild. While zerging (for me) is fun after the first 5 minutes theres not much a challenge of anything unless another zerg comes, then it becomes a pirate ship show until one of the groups decide to push, then it becomes an ish show. Ive also done the GvG guild thing but thats very sleepy for me.

Ive learned Im a roamer at heart. I enjoy the freedom that roaming or scouting allows. I like calling out movements on other teams then rushing to an objective to hopefully save it, or die trying. I like trying to hold off a group till more people arrive. Its unpredictable, never stales, and fun for me. Sometimes I 1vX successfully, and by successful I mean surviving through it. I die and respawn a lot, but thats the name of the game and no matter how good you are, you die frequently.

Build templates only added more joy so I can stay on one profession my whole time. I have a template for roaming, and small group havoc and a specific one for alacrity provider for sieging. Bless the template developer. Not having to swap professions is a great quality of life.

[Noc Rubu.5804]

No doubt everyone should play as they wish to have fun. 

[Noc Rubu.5804]

On 10/15/2022 at 5:25 AM, Soupeod.5714 said:

People who can solo camps, NEED to be balanced!! 

For you confused people, it was a joke. 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=joke+definition&t=chromentp&atb=v330-1&ia=definition

joke

 

jōk

noun

1. Something said or done to evoke laughter or amusement, especially an amusing story with a punch line.
2. A mischievous trick; a prank.
3. Something that is of ludicrously poor quality.

[Sansar.1302]

On 10/14/2022 at 11:00 PM, Labjax.2465 said:

I can sometimes get enjoyment by following around a tag, depending on luck of server matchup, but it's not a reliable way to get into the mode. I've thought about roaming, but idk about being a lone wolf running halfway across the map only to get killed. Am I missing something or is this just a mode where you really need to join a WvW guild / discord to get into it consistently?

I know I'm asking a somewhat subjective question here, but I figure maybe there's more to the mode I'm not considering.

Solo roaming is always fun, the learning curve is realy steep tho but totaly worth it imo

[Nymthalas.4019]

My advice, ask for the server discord in team chat. And try to go voice tags, or try to find guilds that are closer to what you want to do, and most importantly try everything to see what you have more fun with. I mean WvW has lots of different modes of playing and having fun. Like roaming alone to get camps to help the server, roaming with really small groups (like 5) that sometimes can ninja take bigger structures, in small numbers you also have havoc and zerbusting (small groups trying to fight bigger groups), but also 25- squads which can be more gvg style or smallscale with usually a bigger pool of meta builds than zerging/blobbing with 30+. But all of them has their ups and downs, and you have to find your own, and you might even like them all.

 

The only problem I see is that it requires time, because as it is a somewhat competitive gamemode, it makes harder to get to know what you like and how to do it, as for example you can have wrong expectations or ideas like thinking you like X build because you have good performance with it,because maybe the build is underperforming but you just had luck that week and were placed against a server that has more players with less knowledge about the game than you,  while making that judgement on PvE I think is easier because the same pve mob doesn't change. But don't worry try everything, practice so you can see if you prefer more relaxed or more tryhard playstyle, and just have fun. Even going alone relaxed can be really helpful if you want to cooperate, you can get camps in your home border or reset enemy camps, or for example you also can go around map scouting (checking structures with swords telling you teammates how many enemies you see) and then if some tag goes to defend you can leech some bags and kills after making the call 😛

[Ashen.2907]

I enjoy roaming and small havoc groups more than large scale zerging but both can be fun depending on my mood. Dont try to pigeonhole yourself into a single playstyle. If you are in the mood to play with a large group, join a zerg.

Its not even a bad idea to join a guild that does wvw somewhat regularly just to make zerging easier on you....but be prepared to be part of a team, not the lone wolf who just happens to be moving in the same direction as the group.

And, of course there will be other times where you want to do your own thing solo or as padt of a small group of loners who just happen to move in the same direction. If you are concerned about wasting time crossing a map only to die and have to run all of the way back....stick to objectives near your spawn. Capture your home camp/tower and defend them. Claim land, kill the veteran, and so on. As you tweak your build to be better able to handle 1v1 or even 1v2 then perhaps stretch your legs to venture further from spawn.

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by Ashen.2907

[solemn.9670]

On 10/14/2022 at 5:00 PM, Labjax.2465 said:

I can sometimes get enjoyment by following around a tag, depending on luck of server matchup, but it's not a reliable way to get into the mode. I've thought about roaming, but idk about being a lone wolf running halfway across the map only to get killed. Am I missing something or is this just a mode where you really need to join a WvW guild / discord to get into it consistently?

I know I'm asking a somewhat subjective question here, but I figure maybe there's more to the mode I'm not considering.

Just requires the right build and some practice

If you're interested in ele at all, try this out. Works great as a solo roamer as it can run from outnumbered easily.

Sigils can be cleansing/generosity if you prefer that

Video is a stream so skip through it for gameplay, also warning I can't go more than 5 mins without swearing

Build: http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/?PGwAgiJlZw8YjMF2LOSLqxPA-zVRYVRUvb0AHSkShcVA9KCk8lQANUPYNv4MCA-w

 

Edited October 19, 2022 by solemn.9670

[Junkpile.7439]

Some blobs like to abuse stealth nowadays so it's fun throw target painters. That is like my favorite thing.