1. #1
    Deleted

    Beginner’s guide for WvW

    Here is nice a guide for WvW. Our server, Desolation-EU, has been dominating WvW on both beta weekends. It starts to be boring when people do not seem to work as team and just run after kills.
    Quote Originally Posted by GWOnline
    To the new players, World vs World (WvW) can be daunting. It has that effect on me, but that’s usually when I’m solo defending a failing tower. I don’t want new players running around like chickens with their heads cut off. I have two reasons for this,

    1. Unorganized players risk helping the enemy and I don’t want to lose
    2. I want you to be able to kick ass and feel great doing it

    Now how do you go about reclaiming your head and kicking ass? Simple, take notes of these tips I’m going to be giving you. Before I get to tip #1 though, I want to explain how WvW works briefly. There are 4 maps total, 3 Borderlands maps, and 1 Eternal Battleground map. You fight using siege warfare to take keeps, towers, and supply camps from the enemy. You also can take control of an Orb of Power, which provides everyone in your world with a boost. Each of these is worth a set amount of points that add to your total every 5 minutes. You can find their point values below,

    • Supply Camps = 5 points/6 in each map
    • Towers = 10 points/4 in each Borderlands map, 12 in Eternal Battlegrounds
    • Keeps = 25 points/ 3 in each map
    • Stonemist Castle = 50 Points/ 1 in Eternal Battlegrounds

    Now that the brief explanation is over let’s move on to tip #1.

    Tip#1: Keep the Supply Flowing


    Supply is the fuel of WvW. You need it to upgrade your camps, towers, and keeps. You need it to build siege weapons. You need it to repair gates and walls. Supply is important, so important in fact that enemy players will go out of their way to make sure that your tower or keep doesn’t get any.

    In order for you to get supply, you have to capture supply camps. Once you have a supply camp, a Pack Dolyak will be sent on his way, delivering supply to every good boy and girl. This is where the supply chain is at it’s weakest. The Dolyak can easily be taken out by a small group of players and you can be damn sure the enemy will target them. Every world that wants to succeed should make sure that they keep their supply safe. Maps are so big and complex that invaders can sneak in and kill the Dolyak, and no one would be around to hear it. Unless of course, you have a small group of people escort the Dolyak around the map. You can also purchase a guard upgrade with supply and a little bit of gold, which I highly recommend. If you are attacking though, strike raid parties of 2-4 should be sent out to disrupt their supply chain.

    Now on a personal level, you want to make sure that you always have supply on you as well. Players can only hold 10 supply each, and it is used to build siege weapons, or repair gates and walls. You aren’t helping your world by running around without any supply. Before you go into any fight in WvW, make sure that you have supply with you. Until enough supply is given, the blueprints that were laid down don’t actually get built. Here is a list of how much supply is needed for each weapon,

    • Arrow Cart = 30 supply/ Great for large groups of players
    • Ballista = 20 supply/ Great for taking out siege weapons/gates
    • Catapult = 50 supply/ Great for taking out gates and walls at a range
    • Flame Ram = 40 supply/ Great for taking gates and walls up close
    • Trebuchet = 100 supply/ Very long range weapon great against everything
    • Siege Golem = 100 supply/ Very great for taking out gates and walls

    Do you understand why you need to carry supply at all times now? You put your attacking force in danger. That trebuchet is of no help to anyone without enough supply to build it. An invasion force is easier to crush when they don’t have siege weapons to keep them on the defensive. Keep your supply flowing!
    Onto tip#2.

    Tip #2: Stay With the Group


    In order for towers and keeps to be taken, you are going to need a large group of players. You just aren’t going to take a keep with 2 people in prime WvW hours, feel free to do it against the night watch. And for those of you who just read that and don’t know what the term means, the night watch is the group of players that defend your world while most of it sleeps. Usually it is comprised of Oceanic players and night owls (or crazies who lust for the thrill of conquest).

    How do you go about staying with the group? Simple. Watch your chat and pay attention to when someone shouts out the target, or search your map for the Squad Commander and join the squad. Grab yourself some supply and then hop on down to wherever the group is. Pay attention to your chat and follow directions. If someone says “Hey, building catapult, need supply” run over and drop your supply on the catapult. If an order is given by your squad commander, you need to follow it, because the rest of the squad will.

    Don’t just sit around like a mute either. Communication flows in two directions, so make sure you keep your side flowing. Try not to fill chat with random banter, save that for whispers. If you spot an enemy, give a shout out about it. If you shift+click on the location icon on a map, it will link that location into your chat box. It is precise, and that precision makes it easier on everyone.

    Individual players are not going to be effective at anything in WvW. You just aren’t powerful enough to change the tide of battle by yourself. Don’t expect to solo a keep, especially if they have defenses fully upgraded. Siege weapons hit hard. A well placed mortar can take out a team, what do you think it will do to one person?

    This tip is simple, so I’ll leave it at that. Onto tip#3.

    Tip #3: Defend What You Control


    This one should be a no brainer, right? Yeah I thought that too, but then I actually got into the game. I watched as tower after tower was taken in the name of “Fort Aspenwood”, and then abandoned to the wind. You don’t do your world favors by leaving a keep empty of defenders. You don’t need 100 people in the tower to defend it, usually 2-5 will hold it. Here is where you can leave the group play if you want to, and form a smaller party of defenders.

    Don’t expect to hold a tower or keep if you have no money though. The upgrades that you purchase from the quartermaster don’t just take supply. The best way to deal with this is to share the cost of upgrades between all the defenders. Simply put, you buy 1 upgrade, someone else buys another. This will make it easier on your coin purse and theirs. When the attacking force does come, don’t run away to the back. Stay up front and harass them with ranged attacks or defensive siege weapons. A pot of boiling oil is enough to force them away from your gate, and cannons will take most of them out before they even get within ranged distance.

    One of the best things you can use to defend your keep are Arrow Carts. Even after their “nerf”, which wasn’t much of a nerf if you ask me, they are still powerful against large groups of players. The best part about them is that you can place them wherever you want in your keep. You don’t have to put them right on the edge of the wall, like the cannon is automatically placed, or right above the gate, like the pot of boiling oil.

    There are so many ways you can defend, you just have to play smart.

    Tips that didn’t make the cut
    These tips weren’t big enough to get their own section in the article, but they are still important to know. Seems like a good time for a list,

    • Trebuchet’s/Mortar’s need spotters at longer distances. You will most likely be firing into fog if you shoot it at long range, so make sure you have a spotter to tell you where the ball of destruction landed.
    • Siege weapons don’t move and they can’t be taken down. Don’t waste a lot of money and supply just taking 1 little tower.
    • Monsters in each map have a chance at dropping blueprints, so run around and kill them if you don’t want to buy one.
    • Don’t run around with the Orb of Power unless you know where you are going.
    • Don’t forget to take towers and keeps in your guilds name. Your guild will get influence from players defending it.
    • Expect to run around a long time until someone upgrades a keep with a waypoint.

    Well there you have it folks, a short guide to succeeding in WvW. It is my greatest hope that you all become great players.

    I like the competition.
    ~source

    WvW MAP (click to see better)


    BORDERLANDS
    The Borderlands are three identical maps in World versus World, with each map belonging to one of the participating worlds. Players on their own borderlands get a small buff as a "home advantage".

    Here is a typical Borderlands map (in this case belonging to the the world Darkhaven) where you can see how the resource camps, towers and keep are placed. Note that since this is the home map for Darkhaven, they also have a citadel at the top of the map where their waypoint is located. Invading worlds have waypoints at the bottom left and right side of the map. None of the waypoints can be captured - they are guarded by legendary defenders that one shot enemy players. Waypoints are also unuseable by enemy players - they will appear contested to all but the world that owns that waypoint.


    At the bottom half of the map, you have two towers, one near each inviading world's waypoint. You also have three supply camps, one near near tower and the third at the bottom middle section of the map, between the two world’s waypoint.

    Moving up, you will see two keeps on the left and right side of the map and a third keep positioned almost in the middle of the map, right in front of the home world's waypoint. This keep is flanked by two nearby towers and since they are all near the home world's waypoint, it give them somewhat of a home map advantage. There are three supply camps at the top half of the map as well, one near each tower and the third all the way up in the north, near the Orb of Power.

    If you count up the objectives, each Borderlands map would have 3 keeps, 4 towers and 6 supply camps.

    Orb of Power
    Each Borderlands map has a single Orb of Power. It is initially located at the very north end of each map in a special place called Cradle of Power. This Cradle of Power is initially protected by an invulnerable force field that cannot be removed until you defeat the guardian – L83 champion Keeper of the Orb that deals massive damage.

    Once the champion is defeated, the force field drops and anyone can retrieve the orb. Each keep you world control on the map has an Altar of Power where you can place the orb. You have a 15 minutes window to place this orb on this Altar before it returns to the Cradle of Power so make sure you world has a keep under control before capturing the orb.

    Once the orb is placed on the altar, your keep will gain 5% boost to maximum HP. Since there are three borderland maps, your world could potentially end up with 15% boost to maximum HP if you capture all three orbs.

    ETERNAL BATTLEGROUNDS
    Eternal battlegrounds is the middle map where all three worlds start off on equal grounds. There is a massive Stonemist Castle in the middle that three worlds compete to capture. It is a triangular map, with 1 keep, 4 towers and 2 supply camps on each angle, totaling 1 castle, 3 keeps, 12 towers and 6 supply camps on the entire map.

    Stonemist Castle under attack of siege weapons.


    OBJECTIVES AND GOAL OF WvW
    There are three types of objectives that are available for capture on the WvW maps. They are the keeps, towers, and supply camps. The central map, Eternal Battlegrounds, also features a massive keep called Stonemist Castle that give additional points for capture. Every 5 minutes, all the objectives that a world controls are counted and points are generated which are added to the cumulative war score for each world.

    The cumulative war score is erased every two weeks and used to generate rankings for the next match. Along the way, there are certain war score thresholds that when reached will unlock temporary bonuses for everyone from that world for both PvE and PvP activities.


    SUPPLY
    Supply is used for constructing siege weapons, upgrading structures and repairing damaged walls&gates. Supply is stored in Supply Depots in resource camps, towers, keeps and Stonemist Castle. Players can interact with any (friendly) supply depot to take up to 10 units of supply from it, as long as depots is still stocked.

    Resource camps produce supply and automatically send out NPC dolyak caravans, which restock friendly nearby structures with 35 or 70 supplies per run (depending on the level of the caravan). Supply caravans can be intercepted by enemy players. Resource camps feature their own supply depots, which refill over time.

    Supply caravans can be upgraded via the resource camps' upgrades. Without upgrades, they can be easily killed by a lone player. If you kill an enemy supply caravan's dolyak, you can loot supplies from them.



    SIEGE WEAPONS
    Requires a Blueprint for its construction. These blueprints can be purchased at Siegemasters (there is usually one in the place where you first enter a map). Building requires supplies.

    Arrow cart: fires a volley of arrows, dealing significant damage to players but weak against structures.
    Blueprint cost: 4 silver
    Supply required to build: 30


    Ballista: fires a giant bolt, dealing heavy damage to structures and players in its path.
    Blueprint cost: 6 silver
    Supply required to build: 20


    Catapult: great for dealing with walls, gates, and clustered enemies.
    Blueprint cost: 8 silver
    Supply required to build: 50


    Flame Ram: rams gates at close range, dealing heavy damage to it.
    Blueprint cost: 4 silver
    Supply required to build: 40


    Siege golem: slow and short ranged but capable of dealing significant damage.
    Blueprint cost: 1 gold
    Supply required to build: 100


    Trebuchet: long-ranged rock thrower capable of dealing significant damage to players and structures alike.
    Blueprint cost: 16 silver
    Supply required to build: 100


    DEFENSIVE STRUCTURES
    Acquired from the quartermaster within the keep/tower. Do not require a blueprint to build, but requires supplies to work.
    Cannons

    Mortars

    Boiling pots of oil


    WvW explanation modified from this IGN article.
    Last edited by mmoce60d2079f6; 2012-07-15 at 01:17 PM.

  2. #2
    Very cool guide. Maybe worth to note that i dont think Battering Rams can actually move, so you need to construct em up against whatever it is you want to pummel. Was silly to see 5 battering rams standing a bit away from a keep, abandoned because people didnt know they were immobile.

    Trebuchet has a secondary fire-mode aswell, where you fire a cow. Yes a cow, that explodes into a green mist and inflicts heavy Damage over Time to anyone that goes through it. Perfect for denying an enemy access to a certain area, for example a choke point to keep enemies that are rushing to defend their tower/keep at a distance.

  3. #3
    Deleted
    great guide thanks

    1 question though, how do you get your personal 10 supply?

  4. #4
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by harkonen View Post
    1 question though, how do you get your personal 10 supply?
    You can take those from any (friendly) Supply Depot, as long as they are still stocked. You can find Supply Depots from Resource camps (automatically re-fills over time) or from places where dolyak supply caravans bring them.

  5. #5
    The Lightbringer Blufossa's Avatar
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    Very awesome, I'll have to read this later when I'm not talking to family. XD

    And also try to WvW this weekend. YAY SYLVARI!

  6. #6
    Quote Originally Posted by Iryne View Post
    You can take those from any (friendly) Supply Depot, as long as they are still stocked. You can find Supply Depots from Resource camps (automatically re-fills over time) or from places where dolyak supply caravans bring them.
    As an added note its worth mentioning that when possible its best to get supply from resorce camps and not take from the keep/tower's stockpile unless you are in the middle of an active defence of that location. The stockpiles at keeps/towers only can be filled up by caravan's and if the location is being sieged it is unlikely a caravan will get through. If a large group of players wipes out the stockpile at a location it can be quite a while before it can be filled up agian denying supplies needed for upgrades and repairs.

    IF the enemy are pounding on your gates and you need to take from the stockpile for repairing the gate/walls or seting up siege to defend, by all means take it. If your just swining by on the way to another location try to swing a bit further and hit up the supply camp instead.

    Who is John Galt?

  7. #7
    Deleted
    To the first section, regarding supply, I would add that denying supply for the enemies is very important as well. Not only does limiting their access to supply (by capturing their supply posts or simply harassing the supply line) limit their ability to assault you (as they're less likely to afford as many siege weapons), it also weakens their defense as supply is used not only for defensive constructions like oil pots and cannons, but also the repair of gates and walls. The sooner you can supply-starve a keep, the sooner you'll have it in your pockets.

  8. #8
    Is it possible to return supply to a stockpile? Like, you grab from a stockpile at the supply camp and then drop it off at a keep.

  9. #9
    Deleted
    Nice guide All hail desolation!

  10. #10
    Deleted
    I added supply-part to post. ^_^

    Quote Originally Posted by terrahero View Post
    Is it possible to return supply to a stockpile? Like, you grab from a stockpile at the supply camp and then drop it off at a keep.
    You can not return it, but since building a siege weapon takes always more that 10 supply, you need more than one player to build it so carrying supply is always good. Someone with blueprint can start build site and others who have supply with them can continue building.


  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Iryne View Post
    I added supply-part to post. ^_^


    You can not return it, but since building a siege weapon takes always more that 10 supply, you need more than one player to build it so carrying supply is always good. Someone with blueprint can start build site and others who have supply with them can continue building.

    I was just curious to see if a player could do more then just escort Dolyaks and take the stuff around himself. To stack up supplies on locations that are otherwise getting poorly supplied by the dolyaks.

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