sPvP player, I have been trying out WvW during Rush. My thoughts on the gamemode.

[ArchonWing.9480]

17 hours ago, Yaki.9563 said:

Lol no one would queue that. People want easy wins, not competitive matches. They don't group up to play with friends, they play with friends to get an unfair advantage. You can see this in every other game with instanced PvP.

I mean, doesn't that already happen in the current iteration? The few times I hear anyone talking about PvP as recent news is win trading and match manipulation and even that's old. So it's not like there's any prestige either way. 

Edited January 13 by ArchonWing.9480

[Sereath.1428]

>sPvP the better game mode

Clearly reflected with its 23 active players.
💯

No one likes Conquest and the severe lack of build personalisation within sPvP (no gear pieces, banned/nerfed 80% of the runes, sigils, traits).
Even with Celestial builds plaguing the landscape, WvW still has x5 times the build variety of sPvP because it's not strictly balanced around a very specific way of playing for everyone, Conquest.

Edited January 14 by Sereath.1428

[TheGrimm.5624]

21 hours ago, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

I ran around as a solo roamer. I ghost capped, killed doylaks, and ganked a few players along the way. But in the end it wasn't very satisfying.

Maybe if killing players caused them to drop 1 of their equipped items, that would make it a little more spicy. Instead I spend a few minutes dueling someone and they drop a spike worth 16 copper https://wiki-en.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spike

I think you missed out. If you are going to roam versus coordinate you need to aim higher. Go for Havocs and look at Towers and Keeps. Again the joy of Roaming is finding your own challenge level and considering sPvP limits on your build versus WvW options, the sky is the limit in WvW. So if you are finding too easy content, up your targets to find the next challenges. The sandbox offers a lot of options pending the action you are looking for. Lots of fun and options to be found in the sandbox for all types of play and numbers.

[Gazrul.3086]

SM is usually heavily defended if it's tier 2 or tier 3, as defending it gives 2500 XP without any XP boosters. You also get a skirmish ticket for each defense. 

 

WvW is most fun imo when big zerg fights are happening around higher tier objectives. Roaming and ganking enemies returning to their zerg or ganking the backline of the zerg is also a great way to help your own zerg gain the upper hand. 

[Gehenna.3625]

On 1/13/2024 at 12:12 PM, Buzzbugs.1236 said:

I ran around as a solo roamer. I ghost capped, killed doylaks, and ganked a few players along the way. But in the end it wasn't very satisfying.

Maybe if killing players caused them to drop 1 of their equipped items, that would make it a little more spicy. Instead I spend a few minutes dueling someone and they drop a spike worth 16 copper https://wiki-en.guildwars2.com/wiki/Spike

With all due respect (and I mean that), WvW has a much more complex reward structure than that. Currently there's the WvW Rush event that gives extra rewards but it's not so much about loot as it is about the rest. I've not done a lot of sPvP, very little in fact, but I'm sure there opposing players don't lose gear or drop great loot either. So I'm not sure where this is coming from. 

It is about capping and killing to keep the pips going faster and reward tracks going faster. It's not really about duelling but about controlling maps. A match lasts an entire week, so if you're looking for short-term instant rewards then you need to look at the pips and the WvW weeklies. Those rewards are the way to getting WvW claim tickets with which you can buy gear in WvW, particularly the legendary gear. WvW has a backpack and all 3 weights in legendary armour sets as well as a legendary ring (which you can get and equip twice). And yeah, killing opponents will give you bags but that goes a lot better in group vs group fights.

Also the first thing you should do in WvW is the Warclaw reward track and get a Warclaw mount. And there are specific roles you can play like a roamer but that specific role limits you to certain targets. 

Now the biggest downsides of WvW are, in short, the following things:

• PvE'ers coming to WvW for specific legendaries (that they can't get in the OW) who don't care about/for WvW.
• So called PPT'ers which means pips per tick who just go around a map capping bigger objectives and when they're done, they'll go to the next map. They don't defend, they just cap and move on like locusts. But it's a valid strategy that's supported/enabled by the reward system.
• Boonballs, groups who are well-organised and are pretty much unkillable by more random groups because of boons. Not every side has well-organised groups and this is the greatest imbalance in WvW and a boonball can sit in your keep farming opposing players for bags rather than capping it.
• Solo classes that are horrible overpowered in 1 v 1 scenarios. Think of things like stealth, mobility and eles that are basically a one-man boonball. The thing is that in WvW mobility is king and some classes have way more options than others, which creates unfair situations for roamers (imo).

All of these things are things that Anet can do something about but they don't or haven't yet. And I feel that they only care about group vs group fights and that's all they focus on. So you have to take all of that into account. Personally I'm a scout which is also a solo role but aside from scouting and building siege; I also cap camps, towers and keeps with the aid of roamers or groups (when they happen to be there) because I call it out in chat and then usually at least a couple of others come and help. 

In the end I'm getting at the point that WvW isn't as straightforward as sPvP and it takes time to figure out what you like in there (if anything). I used to hate it and just come there for PvE rewards (you can buy off hero points and the reward tracks for PvE areas are a lot easier than doing it in PvE), but at some point things started to click and I found my place. But yeah, it took a while.

[TheGrimm.5624]

I used to sPvP more but as they removed more and more amulets it lost its place, as what I saw, as a training ground for WvW. sPvP is more potential combat in a shorter time period meaning more potential to retry what went right or wrong in the last clash and time to change tactics and see if different rotations would have been the answer. Match results don't have to wait a week. Individual players at most will face 1v5 odds. Single players actions on a side can impact the match. And yes the match rewards are significantly higher than what we see in WvW. WvW also currently does not account for efficiency, how did fewer players in a conflict do more and create the win due to their actions.

I appreciate Buzzbugs point to other sPvP players that may be trying WvW. So let me try it from this angle. I agree most of the time its less action in more time. The chances of getting to retry an encounter is close to zero outside of dueling. The rewards are potentially the worst of the game modes for the time spent while active. If roaming, the odds of facing just a 1v5 is higher. The chance of a Havoc facing 1v5 can also be low. The impact that one player of a team might have is very potentially low.

Right now we have no reasons to win so zerg or go home is a mindset for some players. But the more reasons we have to win, the more other mindsets are out there too. 

If sPvP players are not finding the mode challenging or engaging in large scale, then Havocs and Roaming are an option, to get that what can I do for my side, that you may be getting in sPvP. With the sandbox that WvW is there is a lot of ways to do this, which would be distracting from the OPs points of sharing what they saw so I won't ramble on that point in this thread but for others open one up, we do have a mix of large scale, small scale and roamer posters so there a lot of views and even more banter that there will be mixed views of the sandbox out here. Good hunting.

[Bigpapasmurf.5623]

I used to be a zerg comm back in the day (in CD years ago), then a calvary comm turned small scale and now i do that and roam so ive experienced a lot of it. Like others have mentioned there is some merits to your claims, however because of the event its not a 100% accurate representation of the game mode (due to the updated #s on each team thanks to WR plus the event).

WvW/PvP isnt for everyone, some people play for rewards and some play for the love of the mode despite how repetitive they all are. I have a ton of tickets banked up that im not using...however could make a couple pieces of legendary gear if I had the desire to however I do not. 

 

I used to PvP as much as I WvW now (moreso during Seasons 1/2 of PvP and prior back when Helseth was a thing). I left PvP as it was SUPER toxic and went to WvW as I wanted to keep fighting people and I really never left since (back when the player that went by TDM was a thing).

 

In the end, milage will vary regardless and to each their own. I used to do PvP for placements (usually got plat) then stopped and went back to WvW til next time (havent done this for the last year or so). Rewards mean nothing to me in WvW and I like the build diversity WvW has over PvP as I used to be a thoerycrafter as well. 

Either way I suggest maybe try WvW again outside any special events so you can get a more accurate experience. Whichever you choose, just have fun doing what you do....its a game after all.