Curse

*lemming* · Sep 27, 2015, 11:17 AM // 11:17

crossposted on /r/gw

Introduction

For most players, especially the new ones around here, Random Arenas will be your first taste of "real" PvP in Guild Wars. Fortunately, unlike the team formats, it's also quite simple to start playing - all you have to do is show up with a character and hit the join button.

This isn’t intended as a comprehensive guide to Random Arenas, but merely enough information for you to get started. From there, you can determine if it’s something you’re interested in pursuing a little more seriously.

Note that unless you’ve played the game quite a bit already, you’ll likely need to unlock some skills and upgrades, which may require Balthazar faction that’d be slated towards unlocking required skills for your heroes. If that’s the case, it might be advisable to wait until after you’ve finished outfitting your heroes to start trying Random Arenas, instead of playing with suboptimal skills and equipment.

Why play RA?

it’s fun
place to test builds
practice for other PvP formats
good source of Balthazar faction on RA Zquest days
progress towards Gladiator title (easiest title for PvP monuments outside of 1+ million gold in zkeys for Zaishen r3)

Rules of the format

Random Arenas is 4v4. A few of the maps have secondary objectives, but the primary objective on every map always involves killing the enemy team. In practice, this means that successful teams will almost always have one dedicated healer - no healing makes it difficult to last long enough to kill opposing teams with healers, and teams with two or more healers tend to lack the damage to kill.

Gladiator points are awarded after each consecutive win, with the number given per win increasing as the streak extends. Additionally, strongboxes are awarded at intervals of five consecutive wins. This incentivizes leaving teams after one match until finding one with the potential to go on a maxed 25 win streak, worth 100 Gladiator points. (There’s a daily limit of five strongboxes and 200 Gladiator points which resets at 3PM UTC/11AM Eastern/8AM Pacific time.)

Before you start

Use a PvP character. Those unlocks you've been getting from identifying magical items buying skills come in use here - PvP characters start at level 20 with all 200 attribute points and access to all unlocked skills, as well as free equipment created from the PvP equipment panel (default hotkey J) with any mods/runes unlocked on your account. Unless you already have a fully equipped PvE character of the class you want to play, a PvP character will be superior. (This is why it’s often suggested to leave one character slot available for a PvP character - one slot allows you to play a PvP character of any class, as opposed to having to equip a plethora of PvE characters with optimized equipment.)
It’s strongly advisable, at least when first starting out, to run an established “meta” bar. Odds are very good that you won’t be qualified to make a competent bar until you’re more familiar with PvP, and playing a proven bar means that you’ll be more effective than you’d be were you to be playing something suboptimal.
Once you’ve made a bar and equipment, it’s a good idea to give the bar a test drive in the PvP version of the Isle of the Nameless (talk to the NPC next to the entrance in the Great Temple of Balthazar instead of walking through the portal). See roughly what order you’d want to use skills in; confirm what the energy demands are like, and ensure that the build’s basic functionality works as intended.

Class roles

Based on a character’s profession and attribute spec, you should expect them to be fulfilling certain roles. (There are obviously many combinations that aren’t listed here, but most of them are also likely to be relatively ineffectual compared to standard bars.)

Warriors: melee damage, knockdowns (hammer/axe), melee interrupts (axe/sword)
Rangers: interrupts and ranged damage or condition pressure (bow), melee physical damage (weapon/beast mastery specs)
Mesmer: energy denial, enchantment removal, interrupts, shutdown hexes (domination/illusion), degeneration (illusion), armor-ignoring damage (domination)
Elementalist: ranged caster damage, AoE damage (fire/air/earth), snares (water), blind (air)
Necromancer: degeneration and enchantment removal (curses/blood), melee shutdown (curses), weakness (blood)
Monk: healing
Assassin: burst physical damage
Ritualist: supplementary healing (restoration), ranged caster damage (channeling)
Paragon: ranged damage
Dervish: melee AoE damage (scythe), healing (earth prayers)

Basic advice

Have a good attitude about things and you’ll enjoy the game more in the long run. In particular, since the stakes for each individual match are so low, try to treat lost matches as learning experiences.
Disable local chat while you’re playing. Bad experiences stand out far more than the good ones, and while the conventional perception that PvP areas are filled with abusive elitists is false, you’ll occasionally run into jerks. It’s best to minimize the chances of them ruining your experience. Bear in mind that the report function can be used in cases of verbal abuse.
It’s crucial in any PvP format as a damage dealer to maximize damage output, which isn’t necessarily the case in PvE. If you see anything that would mitigate damage on your target go up, be it monk enchantments (Guardian, Spirit Bond, Shielding Hands), ritualist weapons (Weapon of Warding, Resilient Weapon) or a self-preservation skill (Dark Escape, Disciplined Stance, Lightning Reflexes, etc), switch to a different target. If you’re playing a melee profession and your target is kiting constantly, attack something else if you can’t land a knockdown or a snare of some sort. Likewise, if you notice that a target is taking tons of damage (a mesmer with wand+focus set out who refuses to kite), keep hitting it.
Conversely, mitigating damage on yourself is also imperative. If you’re under attack by a physical, kite (by clicking to move directly away from the attacking character, not by holding S to backpedal away from him slowly while still eating damage). If a damage caster is locked on to you, walk backwards and hope that your teammates can get him off of you. In any situation, whenever you’re taking damage, strive to be in a weapon set that maximizes your armor rating (most likely a shield set).
If you’re playing a class that should be bringing a Resurrection Signet, stop anything else you might be doing to resurrect dead teammates immediately, unless you’re literally one cast/attack away from getting a kill. In the event that Resurrection Signet is interrupted by a skill that does not disable it, immediately try to use it again.

Recommended builds

These bars are close to standard and make for good starting points for each profession. Feel free to modify them as needed, but try to understand how they work before doing so.

Word of Healing Monk (OwEU04HCvKSaEaRNgCE5VTf4F3EA)
Hammer Warrior (OQASE5JPjFwyShpwXFsGWBA)
Melandru’s Shot Ranger (OgMU8mLjzcOPGVTVLvOb+1FHBAA)
Lightning Surge Elementalist (OgdTgY2+tpZ8N8G6QaR4oBKAAA)
Blood Necromancer (OAdTQYD/HqRsQoNAs5RgqqBSAAA)
Domination Mesmer (OQBDApwTOnANAH4mWEICZABA)
Avatar of Balthazar Dervish (OgCjkusqqOu3AM3vc7tF3IYBA)
Channeling Ritualist (OAajIyILpNjDKnxtbuM3YlTBA)
Stunning Strike Paragon: (OQGjUyVIqSCZAZmhDZ8F8EubCA)
Assassin: Making an exception here - please, do not play an assassin if you’re just starting out - you’ll almost certainly be a liability to your team.

Other resources

For some more advanced tactics and strategic discussion, the following guides are very useful:

The RA build section on PvXWiki is rather outdated (, but you may be able to glean some ideas from there.

http://gwpvx.gamepedia.com/Category:...king_RA_builds

Conclusion

PvP might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but it’s worth giving it a go at least once - you’ll never know if you like it until you try it, and despite Anet’s negligence, Guild Wars remains one of the best and most unique PvP games ever made. By going in prepared into the most accessible, you’ll be better equipped to have an enjoyable and productive experience.

If you have any feedback for this document or want to ask questions about anything PvP-related, feel free to PM me either here or ingame (A Girl Named Lucky). Alternatively, you can contact one of the other players who aided in the making of this guide:

Dopos (Los Dopos And Y M)
Nick (Hubet Hamsterhurter)
Butters (Le B U T T E R)
Godly (V E R Y N I C E)
Luv (Luv Luv Love)

I ride my Pokemon · Sep 27, 2015, 09:53 PM // 21:53

Since your last thread (about GvG streamming) i tried to enter Team Quitter forum's but it seems It's all gone to the dogs (the address is dead).

There is just Guru left now?

*lemming* · Sep 27, 2015, 09:57 PM // 21:57

Quote:

Originally Posted by I ride my Pokemon

Since your last thread (about GvG streamming) i tried to enter Team Quitter forum's but it seems It's all gone to the dogs (the address is dead).

There is just Guru left now?

QQ's only temporarily down (hopefully); the admin's aware of the issue.

I ride my Pokemon · Sep 27, 2015, 10:05 PM // 22:05

Quote:

Originally Posted by lemming

QQ's only temporarily down (hopefully); the admin's aware of the issue.

Good to know it's still alive and kicking. Nice of you by bringing some tips to keep the PvP lively. There is still too many PvE'rs out there that could revamp the state of the game a little.I would comeback myself if Heroes Ascent was somewhat vivid again. Good thread.

PS: Is zurrie still lurking in town too? lol.

Gadd Fan · Sep 28, 2015, 03:18 AM // 03:18

Quote:

Originally Posted by I ride my Pokemon

Good to know it's still alive and kicking. Nice of you by bringing some tips to keep the PvP lively. There is still too many PvE'rs out there that could revamp the state of the game a little.I would comeback myself if Heroes Ascent was somewhat vivid again. Good thread.

As a 100% PvEer I never ever want to "re-vamp the game" if that means I'd have to play PvP. To me PvP is incredible boring and filled with immature teenagers yelling obscenities at everyone trying to force everyone else but them away. Well they pretty much succeeded in chasing away the rest of us that wanted to try it out back in the day. I'm more than happy to stay away from that crowd. So different strokes for different folks.

And I want to make it clear that I'm not saying for a minute that the people posting on here are of that ilk of teeny-bopper "rage resigners". Just that those stupid idiots left a bad taste in my mouth that will never ever be removed. I can go "just pixels on a screen" just fine but I hate witnessing cruelty to others and i saw too much of it on the PvP side.

I ride my Pokemon · Sep 28, 2015, 04:33 AM // 04:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Gadd Fan

As a 100% PvEer I never ever want to "re-vamp the game" if that means I'd have to play PvP. To me PvP is incredible boring and filled with immature teenagers yelling obscenities at everyone trying to force everyone else but them away. Well they pretty much succeeded in chasing away the rest of us that wanted to try it out back in the day. I'm more than happy to stay away from that crowd. So different strokes for different folks.

And I want to make it clear that I'm not saying for a minute that the people posting on here are of that ilk of teeny-bopper "rage resigners". Just that those stupid idiots left a bad taste in my mouth that will never ever be removed. I can go "just pixels on a screen" just fine but I hate witnessing cruelty to others and i saw too much of it on the PvP side.

I don't want to astonish you with this brand new information but in any type of competitive sport or gaming there is trash-talking. And I literally mean, any. And by far I can tell you that Guild War is far from being plagued by this in a comparative to other games.

You don't see people playing football, rugby, basketball or soccer saying marvelous things to each other even if they win, most of the time it's quite the opposite. That's a rule that also applies to gaming. League of Legends, Dota2, Counter Strike GO any game that has some type of PvP will have that.

What you have to keep in mind it's that most players don't like or doesn't have the attitude of trash-talking. The players that do are minors. Leave them be.

**Kvinna** · Sep 28, 2015, 01:36 PM // 13:36

Yes, let's all stay more on-topic and leave the ranting out of it.

MaxBorken · Sep 28, 2015, 03:14 PM // 15:14

Gadd Fan, I think you have made some valid points, and as I'm sure as many of you will be aware, my opinions broadly align with what you have said.

But.
Lemming is one of the most decent people to play PvP since it began. I have had several dealings with him, and he has only ever been polite and respectful. I have been reading qq forums for years which (in part) helped me form my opinions, and even when the yellers were shouting obscenities, he remained respectful and honest.
I applaud what he is trying to do here. After all, sometimes you have to flush an infection with antibiotics to kill it. If Lemming succeeds in getting more players into PvP, then perhaps this will be exactly what is needed.

Worst case scenario, more yellers pick up PvP. Best case, the infection is flushed and the healing can begin. Either way, you won't be anywhere near it. Let him try.

As far as I can tell, this is a great thread, designed for the right reasons, and I wish him luck with it.

Good work, Lemming, and good luck.

Max

I ride my Pokemon · Sep 28, 2015, 04:10 PM // 16:10

Have to keep in mind that we are talking about Random Arenas here. It's a laid-down experience with no need of being serious. It's called Random for a reason. Just pop in play some matches and get a sip.

It's a shame Anet took Hero Battles of the map as far as I can remember it was very successful and brought all type of players together.

Wild Rituals · Sep 29, 2015, 01:54 AM // 01:54

I am by no means as qualified as Lemming or the others he mentioned. But I have been PvPing for a long time.

However, my dealings with RA have been two ends of the extreme. There are the hardcore who talk the big game and make lots of noise in regards to you being good/bad. But in my experience they just expect you to have a bigger knowledge after 10 years. Like Lemming said, just turn off All-chat. Then there are those who are actually playing because they really enjoy the game.

I found that the best advice I could give to some people, was to find the person you are playing with or against who isn't a rage machine and ask for advice. There is always at least 1 or two people who will help you out. The best type of player who is the one who is actually willing to try to improve.

When I first started out in PvP in like 2007 I wasn't very good, I had a lot to learn (I still do) but if someone called me out for playing bad. I saw it as a challenge. This kid thinks he is better than me, I want to get better and beat him. I have encountered many attitudes like this.

I have found at this point of the game those who are trying to get into PvP are the ones who really would like too. Those who don't want to PvP have their reasons, and I personally think they should stop sharing them and let people come up with their own opinions. So, if you like belittling the community we have left, please stop. You're not helping.

The work Lemming is doing trying to help the PvP community is brilliant. I recommend taking his advice on PvP and he has always been a friendly guy.

Zephyr of Light · Sep 29, 2015, 09:35 PM // 21:35

First of all I want to tip off my hat for you Lemming.
Taking the time to collab you're experience aswell from the other renowned players (Dopos and Butters catch my attention!) to make a good platform for new players, and returning players that want to set foot in the arena's even this late in the game.

It's been a long time since i'v done any serious form of PvP (top 100 ladder Guest back in 2008-2012), but still find very informative information here that allows me too brush up my y'olde rusty experience.

I hope people can keep this thread civil and reply usefull/constructive comments/criticism.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wild Rituals

The work Lemming is doing trying to help the PvP community is brilliant. I recommend taking his advice on PvP and he has always been a friendly guy.

^This

Nonetheless, a handy guide for people at any skill level.
+1 too you sir.

Zephyr.

Edit :

Quote:

Originally Posted by I ride my Pokemon

It's a shame Anet took Hero Battles of the map as far as I can remember it was very successful and brought all type of players together.

The person who came up with Red Resign day should be expelled from GW entirely

*lemming* · Sep 30, 2015, 12:49 AM // 00:49

Let's keep it on-topic. If you want to start a discussion about GW history or structural flaws contributing to toxicity in soloqueue formats, that's great, but you should make a thread in Gladiator's Arena for it.

It's great that people seem to be receiving this positively, but what I'd love to hear is some feedback from people who've given it a try. Does the writing assume too much knowledge on the reader's part, given the intended audience? Are the bars provided simple enough without additional explanation regarding their operation?