After a year of sorta WvW grinding in NA, what did I learn?

[Kurowolfe.7124]

* Grinding in WvW is slow and tiring, even with boosters maxed. Getting to level 2000 for the legendary armor crafting seems like an impossible dream at this point.

* Hackers and cheaters never will get punished. I think it's ANet's policy to not entertain any reports on hackers, even with video evidence?

* A few players are so fickle. Changing servers on the fly, some at the slightest of inconveniences or difficulty. I know of some players who jumps servers every 2 months or so, chasing the current flavour server of the moment.

* South East Asian time is suffering. The inherent lag spikes and disconnects that is only there during SEA time play (even in sPvP and some PvE maps). Server populations that varies wildly, with some servers being totally stacked, and most others being ghost towns.

* WvW is getting increasingly hostile to new players. Not many people are willing to teach new players of how things work in WvW, the do's and don'ts. Mistakes in plays are slammed by veterans often. I got my build ridiculed by this diamond ranked commander tag, despite me not being able to afford meta gears at that time. A friend of mine got so turned off by his servermates' ridicule, that he said he will never make another legendary weapon/armor/trinkets, since those are the only reasons he would even do WvW. It got better during the Warclaw's debut, but only for a while.

* You can make a lot of friends and acquaintances in WvW, even more so than PvE. Close guildmates, and just the regulars that you see around and have a chat with, while you get your behind rammed by 50+ man 4 guilds zergs.

* WvW lately being fun only when said friends and acquaintances are around. But when they're there, even the worst situations are made bearable. And the occasional breaks and lucky hits are cause for awesome celebration.

* I did kinda learn to play better, thanks to those who took their time to teach newbie me. These kind souls are getting rarer lately, but they're the star players in my book. And those skills transfer to PvE too, yay!

* Clear communication is important, as with good stress management. It's a stressful game mode after all. I'd like to believe I'm better in both aspects than I was last year.

 

In all, many ups and downs. I rarely play WvW now except during guild raids, but it's still an enjoyable time, despite the stress and the broken-ness of it. Here's hoping I can get to 2000 sometime next year, or at least 1600 for just the footwear :p

[StrawHat.2639]

I agree on a lot of your points...gl reaching 2k don't think about it just enjoy your raids with all the bonus boosters you can add! And it will come eventually.

Don't forget to always run the guild wvw exp booster!;)

[subversiontwo.7501]

I don't necessarily disagree with anything you say because there isn't really anything phrased to be disagreed with, I can however provide your discussion with some answers and expand upon it.

 

**1. The Sublime chestpiece** was never primarily introduced as a grindable goal. It was introduced as a heritage reward for players who had played for 5+ years with nothing to show for their WvW rank. That shouldn't necessarily change to devalue one of the only somewhat valuable things that exist through WvW. There should however be other alternatives to "grind" for that feels achievable and balanced to the rest of the game. Even in the mode-typical gear department the WvW stuff came pre-nerfed and falls miles behind the equivalents in sPvP and raids. I made a thread on that once. The Sublime chestpiece is not the solution though, no matter how much you crave it, it is bad enough that similar pieces of gear have been introduced through the gemstore or in sPvP to make the appearance less unique. It should rather be adressed in the amount of marks that drop, more skins and items to spend legendary spikes on and so forth. There is sooooo much room to expand on WvW rewards, itemization and monetization without ruining things. Anet are just doing it wrong.

 

**2. Cheating**: They could get better, but at the same time, the incentives to cheat are currently fairly low and even with better scoring and reward systems the incentive can be kept low. That doesn't mean that there isn't room for improvement, just perhaps that it is understandable why it isn't a priority.

 

**3. Server identity:** That exists because servers were removed in all other modes by 2015 and no longer is a measure of identity. They are working on the solution to that problem and related problems with World restructuring (Alliances). Alliances is the first step to improve your chance to play with your friends, create an identity and maintain it with better balance to how you compete in this competetive mode.

 

**4. Server performance and stacking behaviour:** The ping and spikes are because you don't play in SEA/OCX, you play in NA (or EU). There is no separate region for SEA/OCX (afaik) because too many countries in those timezones restrict internet access to enable a vibrant market for the zone. As far as timezone coverage goes, World restructuring is the first step towards solving that as well, even if it doesn't directly solve it. At least the server stacking will be (better-) adressed with Alliances. The in-matchup balance not but Anet are aware of the problem.

 

**5. WvW is getting increasingly hostile** to new players because organized player-groups are falling apart. There are not enough old players left or the structures they have built left to take care of the new players in a fitting manner. It creates frustrations on both sides and frustrations poison the environment. While there are fewer left to tell there are also fewer that are willing to listen. No side is necessarily more at fault than the other on a player-lumping level.

 

**There are two levels to the cause of this:** General neglect of the mode and strategic funneling of anonymous players into the mode while neglecting the player-groups that existed in terms of targets for content and changes. The Warclaw for example is a tool for anonymous players to catch up to whatever players with identity have organized. That exemplifies a misdirection because focus should be on getting new players to act, take initiative, gain agency and help organizing. That is how content is created. Too many players only consume and they do that because that has been the target of the few changes that have been implemented. The problem is much larger with too few new guilds forming than it is with too many old guilds disappearing. The guilds in the mode are actually surprisingly resilient, staying like a battered wife. However, the mode has issues with both the input and the outlet.

 

**6. Yes**

 

**7. The "Teapot argument"** is actually, very valid. The friends you play with is the reason to play any MMO. It is the most important thing for the genre. That so much of the content is designed for players who do not want to play with friends (and rather wants to "play alone together") is problematic. It is dually problematic for PvP modes since they assume that there are multiple opposing sides made up of people who want to play with their friends and develop friendships or structures that maintain them. That isn't a WvW problem however, rather a GW2-problem or a FP2/B2P problem, an industry problem or even a philosophical generation problem.

 

That players can play alone together is a not a problem, diversity is good. That so many recent games lean so exclusively towards that however is a problem. GW2 is a milestone for how to make people cooperate anonymously but that shouldn't be a reason for the other social aspects to crumble. The industry has lost faith in the appeal to make building relationships a part of a game. That is represented in the talk about decline for the MMO genre as a whole while at the same time the continued/reinvigorated presence of oldschool MMO would suggests that the industry is wrong and perhaps the industry is beginning to see it. GW2 has been both a shaper of trend there and a meanderer of trend since they lost their way along the way. Games like Classic and AAUC are cashing in on that now.

 

It's hard for us to tell if there was an actual decline in interest of the MMO genre but we do know that milking- and gambling schemes have been more profitable and that there have been very few actually good (oldschool- or otherwise) titles on the market. It's not hard to be the best in a sea of incompetence or purposely bad titles. Just look at WvW in the world of RvR.

 

I'll stop there, this is already too long. The important stuff has been adressed.

[Straegen.2938]

WvW achievements are some of the most difficult to attain in the game. This also makes their rewards all the more onerous. For those that did the grind, changing it now would be an insult.

 

Oddly I find WvW the most friendly it has ever been to new players. The first few years were a one-shot horror show for anyone not able to suffer through the learning curve. People go on about how unbalanced WvW is today have zero idea what it was like the first two years. Most couldn't walk out of their spawn without getting murdered. That said the rally mechanic needs to die. It is the most unfriendly mechanism in WvW for new players.

 

WvW is often an unpleasant beverage in a desert devoid of liquid. If there was a better version of this game mode in another game, it would be empty. Unfortunately the few variations of this game mode in other games is worse or extremely dated.

[Sovereign.1093]

> @"Kurowolfe.7124" said:

> * Grinding in WvW is slow and tiring, even with boosters maxed. Getting to level 2000 for the legendary armor crafting seems like an impossible dream at this point.

> * Hackers and cheaters never will get punished. I think it's ANet's policy to not entertain any reports on hackers, even with video evidence?

> * A few players are so fickle. Changing servers on the fly, some at the slightest of inconveniences or difficulty. I know of some players who jumps servers every 2 months or so, chasing the current flavour server of the moment.

> * South East Asian time is suffering. The inherent lag spikes and disconnects that is only there during SEA time play (even in sPvP and some PvE maps). Server populations that varies wildly, with some servers being totally stacked, and most others being ghost towns.

> * WvW is getting increasingly hostile to new players. Not many people are willing to teach new players of how things work in WvW, the do's and don'ts. Mistakes in plays are slammed by veterans often. I got my build ridiculed by this diamond ranked commander tag, despite me not being able to afford meta gears at that time. A friend of mine got so turned off by his servermates' ridicule, that he said he will never make another legendary weapon/armor/trinkets, since those are the only reasons he would even do WvW. It got better during the Warclaw's debut, but only for a while.

> * You can make a lot of friends and acquaintances in WvW, even more so than PvE. Close guildmates, and just the regulars that you see around and have a chat with, while you get your behind rammed by 50+ man 4 guilds zergs.

> * WvW lately being fun only when said friends and acquaintances are around. But when they're there, even the worst situations are made bearable. And the occasional breaks and lucky hits are cause for awesome celebration.

> * I did kinda learn to play better, thanks to those who took their time to teach newbie me. These kind souls are getting rarer lately, but they're the star players in my book. And those skills transfer to PvE too, yay!

> * Clear communication is important, as with good stress management. It's a stressful game mode after all. I'd like to believe I'm better in both aspects than I was last year.

>

> In all, many ups and downs. I rarely play WvW now except during guild raids, but it's still an enjoyable time, despite the stress and the broken-ness of it. Here's hoping I can get to 2000 sometime next year, or at least 1600 for just the footwear :p

 

the general rule of wvw is to zerg. outside of that, is hard. so, i hope you find good friends to wvw with. i myself feel hard to lead when those around me dont follow. is not easy. but when you got your guildmates, it makes the difference.

 

i hope you get your legendary

 

[XenesisII.1540]

> @"Kurowolfe.7124" said:

> * Grinding in WvW is slow and tiring, even with boosters maxed. Getting to level 2000 for the legendary armor crafting seems like an impossible dream at this point.

 

It is slow, which they did on purpose to stretch content for long term goals in wvw, but to be honest I think they over calculated a little, just like they did with wvw achievements in the beginning, when some of them were projected to be completed in 8-10 years. One of the reasons they also have the wvw armor at 1400-2000 range was to also give a reward to veterans when the skirmish reward system was put in couple years ago, while new players who weren't dedicated or stuck it out with wvw for 5 years had to put in some work for it.

 

> * Hackers and cheaters never will get punished. I think it's ANet's policy to not entertain any reports on hackers, even with video evidence?

 

Not going to say much about this and get in trouble, but a place on how to report properly - https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/discussion/351/how-to-report-cheaters-or-exploiters

 

> * A few players are so fickle. Changing servers on the fly, some at the slightest of inconveniences or difficulty. I know of some players who jumps servers every 2 months or so, chasing the current flavour server of the moment.

 

Some players want the easy life and just follow guilds or zergs around for loot bags, some people are bored and at the end of their wvw life and just want to get as much fun as they can before they leave, some people like playing in certain tiers. A lot of loyal to server players have probably left the game at this point after links eroded server identity. It is what it is.

 

> * South East Asian time is suffering. The inherent lag spikes and disconnects that is only there during SEA time play (even in sPvP and some PvE maps). Server populations that varies wildly, with some servers being totally stacked, and most others being ghost towns.

 

They're playing on NA based servers, that's always been the case in almost every game, no other way to solve lag for them other than having physical servers located in Asia/Aus/NZ as well(other than china), but that's not happening, not after 7 years and population is dwindling in that area. Also they screwed themselves in the beginning by calling out certain servers to stack like DB and SoS, that population wasn't as big as NA side in the first place, and over the years as population on servers started to dry up they continued to move to servers they could find people to play with.

 

> * WvW is getting increasingly hostile to new players. Not many people are willing to teach new players of how things work in WvW, the do's and don'ts. Mistakes in plays are slammed by veterans often. I got my build ridiculed by this diamond ranked commander tag, despite me not being able to afford meta gears at that time. A friend of mine got so turned off by his servermates' ridicule, that he said he will never make another legendary weapon/armor/trinkets, since those are the only reasons he would even do WvW. It got better during the Warclaw's debut, but only for a while.

 

Some veterans are getting crusty and long in tooth in wvw, some get annoyed by new players who mess with game play by running bad gear or specs, or doing something at the wrong time like repairing a wall they're using for a choke. Some players are tired of teaching, they teach someone only to have them turn around and leave the guild or server or game entirely and feel it's a waste of time, back in the day servers use to have days for teaching, entire guilds would try to train pugs, it's just gotten tiring for a lot of vets, especially those that were self taught and expect others to do the same. Some people just have plain ole bad tempers.

 

There's quite a lot to learn by observing and learning from every situations because a lot of things are repeated every single day, but seems like a lot of people don't bother. This isn't an excuse for vets to treat new players badly, and they shouldn't if they want to encourage players to come into wvw, it's already a very difficult task to do, there isn't a lot of players coming from other games at this point, basically you're only going to get players from pve, but that seems like a lost cause at the moment anyways....

 

> * You can make a lot of friends and acquaintances in WvW, even more so than PvE. Close guildmates, and just the regulars that you see around and have a chat with, while you get your behind rammed by 50+ man 4 guilds zergs.

 

I feel like things are little different in wvw than pve. In wvw there's more communication happening in areas like map or team chat even if it's just scout calls or complaints from losing a fight lol, especially on prime times. Compared to pve I've been in squads to meta events and basically no one says anything through the entire thing, it's like being a zombie. The people you fight with in wvw are the same people you'll be fighting with tomorrow and the day after, the people in pve? with megaserver there's probably people you won't see them again for a long while. Fighting enemy players and over coming those odds with server mates is much more fulfilling than fighting npcs, unless it's some uber raid boss you've never beaten before, one time anyways, it tends to lose it's luster after the first time. Of course it's not always like that either way, but wvw relies more on the social aspect to get things done in there than regular pve until you step into fractals and raids.

 

 

> * WvW lately being fun only when said friends and acquaintances are around. But when they're there, even the worst situations are made bearable. And the occasional breaks and lucky hits are cause for awesome celebration.

 

This is why guilds have always been important in wvw, why you've seen more players turn to their guilds than servers for connections over the years.

 

> * I did kinda learn to play better, thanks to those who took their time to teach newbie me. These kind souls are getting rarer lately, but they're the star players in my book. And those skills transfer to PvE too, yay!

> * Clear communication is important, as with good stress management. It's a stressful game mode after all. I'd like to believe I'm better in both aspects than I was last year.

 

Indeed!

 

> In all, many ups and downs. I rarely play WvW now except during guild raids, but it's still an enjoyable time, despite the stress and the broken-ness of it. Here's hoping I can get to 2000 sometime next year, or at least 1600 for just the footwear :p

 

Many players have reached that point over the years :disappointed_relieved:

Good luck on the rank, I have to say the cloth sublime armor is my favorite in the game, I wear it with pride, even if the game mode has been broken from day one, my time was worth it for all the fun I've had with my guilds and friends and this armor is a good reminder of it.

 

[DKRathalos.9625]

> @"Sovereign.1093" said:

> > @"Kurowolfe.7124" said:

> > * Grinding in WvW is slow and tiring, even with boosters maxed. Getting to level 2000 for the legendary armor crafting seems like an impossible dream at this point.

> > * Hackers and cheaters never will get punished. I think it's ANet's policy to not entertain any reports on hackers, even with video evidence?

> > * A few players are so fickle. Changing servers on the fly, some at the slightest of inconveniences or difficulty. I know of some players who jumps servers every 2 months or so, chasing the current flavour server of the moment.

> > * South East Asian time is suffering. The inherent lag spikes and disconnects that is only there during SEA time play (even in sPvP and some PvE maps). Server populations that varies wildly, with some servers being totally stacked, and most others being ghost towns.

> > * WvW is getting increasingly hostile to new players. Not many people are willing to teach new players of how things work in WvW, the do's and don'ts. Mistakes in plays are slammed by veterans often. I got my build ridiculed by this diamond ranked commander tag, despite me not being able to afford meta gears at that time. A friend of mine got so turned off by his servermates' ridicule, that he said he will never make another legendary weapon/armor/trinkets, since those are the only reasons he would even do WvW. It got better during the Warclaw's debut, but only for a while.

> > * You can make a lot of friends and acquaintances in WvW, even more so than PvE. Close guildmates, and just the regulars that you see around and have a chat with, while you get your behind rammed by 50+ man 4 guilds zergs.

> > * WvW lately being fun only when said friends and acquaintances are around. But when they're there, even the worst situations are made bearable. And the occasional breaks and lucky hits are cause for awesome celebration.

> > * I did kinda learn to play better, thanks to those who took their time to teach newbie me. These kind souls are getting rarer lately, but they're the star players in my book. And those skills transfer to PvE too, yay!

> > * Clear communication is important, as with good stress management. It's a stressful game mode after all. I'd like to believe I'm better in both aspects than I was last year.

> >

> > In all, many ups and downs. I rarely play WvW now except during guild raids, but it's still an enjoyable time, despite the stress and the broken-ness of it. Here's hoping I can get to 2000 sometime next year, or at least 1600 for just the footwear :p

>

> the general rule of wvw is to zerg. outside of that, is hard. so, i hope you find good friends to wvw with. i myself feel hard to lead when those around me dont follow. is not easy. but when you got your guildmates, it makes the difference.

>

> i hope you get your legendary

>

 

Yeah I agree with sovereign here, wvw is mostly zerging, well anet provides a map big enough to fight like 30 vs 30, it will be weird not to use it.

 

About not teaching Kuro,hmmhm... this is a bit tricky you know let's say uh...

For example: someone new come with the soulbeast because they heard soulbeast easy to just pew2 snipe, they join a zerg squad and they placed into party 1 which usually a party for outsider class (thief, ranger). In some case maybe they got kicked because the zerg need a spot for more functional meta class (Spellbreaker, Firebrand, Scrapper, Herald, Scourge) and then the person was like "Why I got kicked?" typically people will like too busy to type long in wvw area, especially when there is action going around, the reply might be short something like "Because your class is not meta." then the person will mostly reply with the attitude of [screw you, I am gonna play whatever I want.] instead of asking "What are meta classes nowadays, can I get build?"

 

I know it's not easy to create a meta class with full ascended you need few grind, but forcing going with exotic could get instablown though in zerg vs zerg, you have to be patient and quite grind a bit for this full ascended with proper rune/sigil.

Once you create 1 meta class you can start like following spesific commander, listen their call if they have voicechat, make a good play and suddenly you will make a new friends.

Imagine for example you are good at Firebrand or Scourge, once you arrive and joining squad they will like "Ey we got good dps/support now" usually if you continue to perform well applying to wvw guild are easy. You can just follow several commander to see which of the playstyle you prefer, every commander has different call, once you are in the radar they usually can offer guild invite too. From this point if you have extra gear and want to make another meta class wvw you will get another plus point from commander/your guild.

[jaif.3518]

> 5. WvW is getting increasingly hostile to new players because organized player-groups are falling apart. There are not enough old players left or the structures they have built left to take care of the new players in a fitting manner. It creates frustrations on both sides and frustrations poison the environment. While there are fewer left to tell there are also fewer that are willing to listen. No side is necessarily more at fault than the other on a player-lumping level.

 

In recent weeks/months there's been a complete resurgence in WvW on my server. The obvious energy of the newer players is wonderful to me. I'm tired of grumpy old veterans mumbling about balance and choice builds while avoiding combat - give me these new players with spirit who race back from the spawn points to keep fighting with whatever build they have.

 

I have no issue with guilds attempting to form closed, elite groups with carefully picked builds. If I had the time, I might join one of them. But they can do so while still working with the rest of the map, and not talking down to everyone. Thankfully, all the guilds I've seen running groups have been entirely great in recent weeks.

 

Overall, a very positive experience recently.

 

-Jeff

 

 

 

 

[crepuscular.9047]

i can totally relate to OP, your wvw experience is very much determined by your server

 

especially the first point, there will be those hardcore laugh at it cos they are getting like 30 rankers in a day, and it's been pointed out to them and ignored is very much depending on the server, a player on low wvw pop server will not be able to achieve because of this community created barrier of entry

[ugrakarma.9416]

WvW achievments is kinda insane, im just "average joe" PvPer on seasons, and get near all stuff. the Pvp equivalent armor of WvW(the shiny one with effects) inst 1/10 of difficult to get the equivalent in WvW, also same for the PvP titles/ranks. Same for legendary backpiece, i got WvW one because i was alread a 2yrs+ veteran, meanwhile the pvp one, just took me 2 seasons(4~6 months?) to get it.

[Ayrilana.1396]

2K is doable for those that actively play WvW. I gained maybe 500 levels over the course of getting a set of legendary armor and most of that was me being lazy and capping a camp every 8-9 min. If I actually tried, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten twice that many levels and even more if I continued to play after getting diamond.

[SWI.4127]

You can make a lot of ground playing during the special event weekends. I think they give something like 50% extra WXP, maybe even more. Stack boosters during those weekends for some very accelerated leveling. Other than that, I agree with people who say don't think about grinding too much. Just have fun and the levels will come.

[crepuscular.9047]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> 2K is doable for those that actively play WvW. I gained maybe 500 levels over the course of getting a set of legendary armor and most of that was me being lazy and capping a camp every 8-9 min. If I actually tried, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten twice that many levels and even more if I continued to play after getting diamond.

 

Mr Average Joe like me would pass out from boredom after 30min doing camp capping

 

took me around 9 months to get the ranks for the legendary backpack, every day felt like hell

[Strider Pj.2193]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > 2K is doable for those that actively play WvW. I gained maybe 500 levels over the course of getting a set of legendary armor and most of that was me being lazy and capping a camp every 8-9 min. If I actually tried, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten twice that many levels and even more if I continued to play after getting diamond.

>

> Mr Average Joe like me would pass out from boredom after 30min doing camp capping

>

> took me around 9 months to get the ranks for the legendary backpack, every day felt like hell

 

Then maybe WvW isn’t for you. If you are a completionist, then good luck to you.

[Ayrilana.1396]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > 2K is doable for those that actively play WvW. I gained maybe 500 levels over the course of getting a set of legendary armor and most of that was me being lazy and capping a camp every 8-9 min. If I actually tried, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten twice that many levels and even more if I continued to play after getting diamond.

>

> Mr Average Joe like me would pass out from boredom after 30min doing camp capping

>

> took me around 9 months to get the ranks for the legendary backpack, every day felt like hell

 

That's why you actively play and not do what I did.

[crepuscular.9047]

> @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > 2K is doable for those that actively play WvW. I gained maybe 500 levels over the course of getting a set of legendary armor and most of that was me being lazy and capping a camp every 8-9 min. If I actually tried, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten twice that many levels and even more if I continued to play after getting diamond.

> >

> > Mr Average Joe like me would pass out from boredom after 30min doing camp capping

> >

> > took me around 9 months to get the ranks for the legendary backpack, every day felt like hell

>

> That's why you actively play and not do what I did.

 

well, doing zerg fights doesnt help with the wxp progress because 9/10 times other servers just steamroll the zerg groups on our server with just few casualties

 

an hour running around getting whipped, the wxp is barely comparable to capping a camp \*sigh\*

[Justine.6351]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > 2K is doable for those that actively play WvW. I gained maybe 500 levels over the course of getting a set of legendary armor and most of that was me being lazy and capping a camp every 8-9 min. If I actually tried, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten twice that many levels and even more if I continued to play after getting diamond.

> > >

> > > Mr Average Joe like me would pass out from boredom after 30min doing camp capping

> > >

> > > took me around 9 months to get the ranks for the legendary backpack, every day felt like hell

> >

> > That's why you actively play and not do what I did.

>

> well, doing zerg fights doesnt help with the wxp progress because 9/10 times other servers just steamroll the zerg groups on our server with just few casualties

>

> an hour running around getting kitten, the wxp is barely comparable to capping a camp \*sigh\*

 

It won't be fun if you don't also enjoy pvping against other players going for the same objectives.

[crepuscular.9047]

> @"Justine.6351" said:

> > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > > > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > > 2K is doable for those that actively play WvW. I gained maybe 500 levels over the course of getting a set of legendary armor and most of that was me being lazy and capping a camp every 8-9 min. If I actually tried, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten twice that many levels and even more if I continued to play after getting diamond.

> > > >

> > > > Mr Average Joe like me would pass out from boredom after 30min doing camp capping

> > > >

> > > > took me around 9 months to get the ranks for the legendary backpack, every day felt like hell

> > >

> > > That's why you actively play and not do what I did.

> >

> > well, doing zerg fights doesnt help with the wxp progress because 9/10 times other servers just steamroll the zerg groups on our server with just few casualties

> >

> > an hour running around getting kitten, the wxp is barely comparable to capping a camp \*sigh\*

>

> It won't be fun if you don't also enjoy pvping against other players going for the same objectives.

 

it's not that i dont enjoy a pvp fight, it's more of the current zerg meta that i dont enjoy

 

the fact that a blob can smash into another blob head on and come out on top barely losing any men purely rely on just a few classes implies a problem about the balance to be too focused on those few classes

[Justine.6351]

> @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > @"Justine.6351" said:

> > > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > > @"crepuscular.9047" said:

> > > > > > @"Ayrilana.1396" said:

> > > > > > 2K is doable for those that actively play WvW. I gained maybe 500 levels over the course of getting a set of legendary armor and most of that was me being lazy and capping a camp every 8-9 min. If I actually tried, I'm pretty sure I could have gotten twice that many levels and even more if I continued to play after getting diamond.

> > > > >

> > > > > Mr Average Joe like me would pass out from boredom after 30min doing camp capping

> > > > >

> > > > > took me around 9 months to get the ranks for the legendary backpack, every day felt like hell

> > > >

> > > > That's why you actively play and not do what I did.

> > >

> > > well, doing zerg fights doesnt help with the wxp progress because 9/10 times other servers just steamroll the zerg groups on our server with just few casualties

> > >

> > > an hour running around getting kitten, the wxp is barely comparable to capping a camp \*sigh\*

> >

> > It won't be fun if you don't also enjoy pvping against other players going for the same objectives.

>

> it's not that i dont enjoy a pvp fight, it's more of the current zerg meta that i dont enjoy

>

> the fact that a blob can smash into another blob head on and come out on top barely losing any men purely rely on just a few classes implies a problem about the balance to be too focused on those few classes

 

Sounds like a guild group investing time into not being a random collection of pugs.

[Kurowolfe.7124]

> @"subversiontwo.7501" said:

> **1. The Sublime chestpiece** was never primarily introduced as a grindable goal. It was introduced as a heritage reward for players who had played for 5+ years with nothing to show for their WvW rank.

> @"XenesisII.1540" said:

>One of the reasons they also have the wvw armor at 1400-2000 range was to also give a reward to veterans when the skirmish reward system was put in couple years ago, while new players who weren't dedicated or stuck it out with wvw for 5 years had to put in some work for it.

>Good luck on the rank, I have to say the cloth sublime armor is my favorite in the game, I wear it with pride, even if the game mode has been broken from day one, my time was worth it for all the fun I've had with my guilds and friends and this armor is a good reminder of it.

Ah, that makes sense, never really thought of it that way. I only started playing WvW 2.5 years ago, first year in EotM on and off when it is still somewhat active, and the rest in the BLs, with me only starting to grind earlier this year and keeping all the boosters available up 4 months ago. I honestly only wanted the WvW legendary armor as a keepsake for all these years of me playing in WvW. I made The Warbringer for that purpose at first, and while making it was fun, the skin itself is... a bit gaudy, to say the least. Not something I wanna show in Lion's Arch :#

 

So the natural progression from there is to make the armors, which I thought was possible at first since I was playing 6 hours a day by the time I finished Warbringer (without the boosters, my bad). But changes happen mostly for the worse, and to be honest I sorta lost interest in WvW in general. So it's now a side goal, despite the impression that I seem to really want it. Now I play WvW for an average of 30 minutes a day, with guild/friend runs on weekend nights. Getting enough levels would be nice, but it's not something that I am actively working on.

 

> @"subversiontwo.7501" said:

>3. Server identity: That exists because servers were removed in all other modes by 2015 and no longer is a measure of identity. They are working on the solution to that problem and related problems with World restructuring (Alliances).

> @"XenesisII.1540" said:

>A lot of loyal to server players have probably left the game at this point after links eroded server identity. It is what it is.

Yeah, it's true. Server pride is no longer a thing to most, which I think affected how things are in WvW in general the most. I'm one of those few who still stick to their original server, initially because of said pride, nowadays more because of my current WvW guild and server friends. Being in a link server, it's fascinating to see just how much player movements happen to our parent server in the course of our link period, sometimes to the point of 'murdering' the server. Like how about 2/3 of one of our parent server's players transferred out in the first week of our linking, thus meaning we never really had a waypoint in our EBG keep for the rest of the duration, with how stacked and ppt-crazed the other two enemy servers are. Or seeing how certain servers grew from sparsely-populated medium to full-map-queue very high in a week, and vice versa. I guess I am watching all this happen with jaded eyes, since it tend to turn out badly for my server and having to deal with the aftermath. But it is still interesting to watch unfold.

 

* About the SEA time lag, I'm quite aware of the inherent distance lag since I am in Malaysia, and I've adjusted to that lag. But I also played during other time zones, and I noticed that around SEA and OCX time zones are when I tend to get the most episodes of lag spikes of up to 4k ping during zerg fights. Sometimes, it takes up to a minute before I can waypoint back after being dead. Disconnecting mid-fight is also a common occurrence, to me and my guildmates, thus killing our momentum in our already lopsided 10 vs 20-to-50 fights during our guild run during peak SEA time. It's partially the reason why we eventually stopped playing every night, and only during weekend nights. Like you all said, there's nothing that could be done at this point, but I just feel like sharing how things are to a supposedly rare SEA time player like me.

 

* About the hostility to new players, I do agree with everyone in saying that sometimes we just don't have time to teach the new players properly. I remember earlier in the year some guilds still do open group practice runs, but those no longer exist where I am in, probably for the reasons stated above and more. We're just too busy trying to fight a losing battle most of the time, due to being outnumbered and overwhelmed. All the small things that you need to know, like knowing when to pull EWP and knowing not to close an open wall/gate choke during a zerg fight, you can only learn either from observing the veterans over time, making the mistake and getting berated at (thus burning the message in your memory; usually the case), or being told explicitly by mentors (very rare). I've seen some veteran mentors who were at first always typing out these advice and being patient about it, grew silent and cold as the year passed by, which to me is saddening. Nowadays whenever a new player who wanted to be serious in WvW asks for guides, I usually would just refer them to known open WvW guilds and ask them to join said guilds, since guildies tend to be more willing to teach the in and outs of the mode, and running with them in proper guild runs being the best way still to learn WvW.

 

Sorry for the wall of text, but I like discussion, and while I wanted to discuss more, I feel like it's already too long. Thanks for the comments though, I learned a lot from reading everything through, really appreciated!

[DemonSeed.3528]

> @"Kurowolfe.7124" said:

I understand you're pain, using unifi here, east side. When it gets unbearable I check my 4g celcom connection, it has a more stable route but higher avg ping. I too have always stuck to my original server.