Guild Wars 2 WvWvW - An Overview

A Land in Turmoil - a quick overview

In order to understand GW2 WvWvW there are a few game mechanics you need to know:

Firstly, anyone and everyone can res a downed team mate by running up and pressing F. When you die you have a “knocked down” effect first, where you have a small health bar but are stuck on the floor. You also have a self heal spell (as well as one offensive spell), but it’s very vulnerable and only really works if you are alone and not anywhere near damage. Ress-ing a team mate takes around 4-5 seconds, although you can stop and come back if you need to. Multiple people can res the same person, reducing the timer to around 2 seconds.

Targetting Reticules in GW2

Secondly, a lot of spells or attacks (including heals and buffs) within the game are unlocked AOEs which are set off by placing a round targeting reticule onto the ground (varying in size depending on the spell) and which effect anyone who is within the circle, or who walks through it whilst it is active. Non-AOE Spells which do not use this reticule can be used by clicking on a target as usual, although they can also be used with no target - just by pointing yourself in the right direction and using it. Anyone in its line of fire or area of effect will be hit. Also, anyone who is on the very edges of the reticule can be hit by magical “splash damage”, although they take less damage than a full force. 

Target reticules can go horizontally onto walls and cliffs too, bending around the angles – so placing the bottom half of the target circle on a castle wall would mean half of it would bend down vertically and hit anyone running past the inside of the wall. Splash damage can go through wooden walls and gates.
When a team is trying to get through a corridor into a keep, the central section just turns into a magical maelstrom, where no one can enter for long.

Walls and gates can be damaged and destroyed (and repaired).

Thirdly, anyone can “dodge” spells or attacks by double tapping the direction key they want to dodge in.

Waiting for Battle

Next, every class has some sort of short term speed boost (there are no mounts). Some of these can be placed on the ground and anyone who runs across them will be hit and get the effect. This also applies to buffs (same as the spells above). Anyone close to you when you buff will also receive the effect. Healers can also drop bandage bags onto the floor, and team mates running over them will collect them and receive a short heal.

The Commander has a symbol above them at all times

Finally, someone who has enough money and time can purchase a “Commander” badge. This can be turned on and off, and shows up on the map no matter where they are. They act as a central point for people to gather, and can issue instructions. Most of them also sit on TeamSpeak and lead the battle, but the badge cost is very restrictive – so only people in big PVP guilds with experience tend to have them. Typically you will not see more than 3 commanders at once on a map, although normally only 1 is around.

Oh, and the point of it all - Ranks and Phat Loot. When you kill (or 'tag') a enemy player, you have the chance to nick some loot from them (although not actually from them personally, from a loot table). They have the same chance to drop decent stuff as the mobs in the game, and lots of cool rare expensive gear drops fairly frequently during big battles. You also get badges, which you can save up and exchange for more phat loot (the same loot as you find in the PVE dungeons in fact, giving you an alternative to running the dungeon route). You also get rank points which give you ranks, which in turn give you access to more stuff and PVP points which you use to further build your character. The ranks go up to around 2,000. I am rank 7!

The WvWvW Map - Four in One

Guild Wars 2 WvWvW pitches three servers against each other in a week long battle, across four maps. Three of these maps are identical, consisting of a large fort in the far North of the map, two smaller castles in the bottom left and right, and various smaller towers, castles and supply outlets scattered across the area. Each server “owns” one of these maps each, with the owning server getting the larger fort at the top, and the two other servers get smaller castles in the bottom left or right of the map. A forth map, the Eternal Battleground, has a castle base for each of the three servers at the edges of the map, with a huge fortress in the centre (Stonemist Castle), and lots and lots of smaller castles, towers and supply depots scattered around. Each map is roughly the size of “Antonica” from EQ2. Travel between maps is by way of portals in your “base”, although each map is seen as its own game with its own chat and commanders.

At the start of the game all points are unclaimed. To claim them you have to break in (breaking down the walls or gates) and kill the Keep Lord (a powerful NPC in the centre) and then stand within a control circle for an amount of time (around 10 seconds). During this time no enemy can be within the circle (i.e. you have to have killed or pushed out everyone from the keep).

Every 10 minutes the game notes who owns what and points are allocated to each server. PVE game stats for that server are effected by this (i.e. XP gain % or Magical Item Find % may increase depending on how much your server controls).

Each Keep, Castle, Fortress etc can also be upgraded by the controlling side, using money and supplies, and can be made stronger, with new things added such as Cannon Upgrade areas and crucially, Waypoints (click to teleport there).

Supplies are carried by pack animals, and are brought from the edges of the map to the supply areas (slowly). The enemy can kill your pack animals, and can take over and steal your supply depots. Players can go to their supply areas and pick up supplies, and carry these with them – using them to repair castle walls and gates, build defences and create golems. Supplies carried on you can be taken between maps and between gameplay sessions.

The Golem is a force to be reckoned with. If you're a wall.

To build defensive or offensive items, you first have to buy a blueprint (with either silver/gold or WvW Badges), then use the blueprint at the point you want to place it, and drop it down. It then appears on the floor as a small scaffold  and anyone can then assist in building it, using their supplies. Items include Trebuchets (firing from great distances), Catapults, Mortars, Cannons, Arrow Carts, Rams, Burning Oil or Golems. Golems are mobile machines controlled by one player each, which move very slowly, but can take down castle walls very quickly. They can Waypoint around the map like a player, but if they enter combat they are quickly overcome. As they are quite expensive, they are usually saved up within the castle.

Building a hasty Catapult during a battle

The game can show up to 300 people on screen at once, as well as a further unlimited number that will just show the name plates. There is a cap on the server size, and typical battles will be a few hundred strong. Server Zergs can be several hundred per side, although this is not typical, and battles can last from a few minutes to many many hours.

There is much more than just battles in WvW however - with Skill Challenges, Jumping Puzzles, Raid Bosses, Events and more, as well as scouting out the enemy, gathering supplies and upgrading the castles. But the battles, with their tactics, are the most fun.

Stories and shots from some of the battles on our server will be posted shortly!