Kitty Musings - Player vs Player

PvP for those who hate PvP.

With Season 13 of the PvP League starting on 28 August, we thought it would be a good time to explore the Player vs Player (PvP) aspect of Guild Wars 2 – even if the thought of getting a root canal sounds more appealing than playing PvP.

Why should I play PvP? I suck and I do not want to put up with all the crap from other players.

Let’s address those and list some reasons why you should consider the PvP realm:

Dailies: Most of the daily requirements can be done quickly for the daily two (2) gold. If things go well, you can get all three (3) dailies with a team win, rank points, three (3) kills, top stats, reward earner, or even participation – depending on rotation.

Gold: Doing the meta achievement for season 13 will net you sixty-five (65) gold.

Shards of Glory: Used in making precursor weapons and legendary backpacks.

PvP League Tickets; Used to create legendary backpacks and purchase mini llamas.

Ascended Shards of Glory: Used to purchase ascended weapons and upgrade to legendary armor.

Wait a minute – did you say Legendary Armor?

Why, yes I did.

However note that this will not give you the Legendary look that comes from obtaining it through raids – but this will still obtain the free stat changing ability. However the process and the costs is a topic for another time.

For our purposes, let’s discuss PvP and also let’s assume that you are THE WORST PvP player in the world.

First off, you are not. In order for that to happen, you would have to not try and you must actively sabotage your team’s chance of winning. Since you are not trying to lose, you are not the worst player.

Secondly, there is one major fact that is totally overlooked – Rewards are gained through PARTICIPATION, not RESULTS. In other words, the best player in the world is not going to obtain anything different than the worst player in the world. The meta rewards are still the same.

Now there is a reward for winning matches – winning grants more “pips”, therefore achieving the meta reward in fewer matches played. You get ten (10) pips for a win, three (3) for a loss and two (2) for a “close loss” - usually if your team loses but gets 400 points. You also get a bonus pip if you get any ‘top stats”. This may sound complicated but gets simpler once you play a few matches.

I hate PvP because all of the uber players are on the other team and my team is full of noobs.

That can happen. But it doesn’t happen as much anymore. Let’s put it this way:

Let’s assume you are the WORST player. Everyone plays ten (10) matches to get a rating. This rating is then used to match you with players of your approximate level so that each match is roughly a 50-50 affair. Squash matches, or matches where one side loses very badly, are not fun for anyone. While those still do happen, it is far less frequent than it used to be.

Losing streaks are a lot shorter than they used to be. Stories of 25 match losing streaks were common in season 1. We believe there is a “temporary downgrade” that places you in a lower tier until you win a match.

I’m still not convinced. What should I do to minimize frustrations?

Learn your profession – what are its strengths and weaknesses?
Speed can be quite helpful.
Defensive skills, condition removal and healing are much more important than in PvE.
Offer to start the match off by capping the close point. Few players like doing this boring task. By offering to do it, you allow others to engage in combat and you avoid the frustration of dying by dying less often.
Avoid combat when possible. We know that sounds strange. Fighting on point is essential in PvP to prevent the other team from capping a point. It also means running to another point when there are 3 members of the opponent’s team sitting on a point and you are all alone. Why give the opposition a free kill? Run away and cap another point.
Try to win one match per day. This pace should get you the meta rewards by the time the season ends.
Stop playing when you get overly frustrated. Frustration is going to happen. You wonder about the matchmaker. You wonder if the other team is employing cheats and hacks. When this happens, give yourself a time-out.
Ask for help. There are players who will be willing to help you out.
Spar with others. We have an arena which can be used for that purpose. There is one in the PvP lobby where you can try different combinations and play styles and stat combinations.
Conversely, try and enjoy this aspect of the game.

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