Curse

madmax0877 · Apr 22, 2008, 12:39 PM // 12:39

Within the last few months, a RL friend convinced me to buy Guild Wars. I grabbed the platinum edition, cancelled my WoW accounts, and started playing. Between then and now (1-2 months), I went ahead and purchased the other two campaigns.

I have beat them all, and while I know I can do more (grind, farm, titles, etc), I have set my sights on PvP as my next step (or a worthy diversion). In comes my dilemma.

I don't know where to start. Nor do I know if it's feasible to do so (I see that a lot of it is guild related, or alliance related, and my guild is exclusively PvE).

So, is it worth the time to start PvP with no kind of backup, group, guild, etc support? I know there is Hero PvP and Zaishen stuff (not sure if I'd consider that true PvP or not).

Riotgear · Apr 22, 2008, 12:45 PM // 12:45

If you want to screw around in AB, Aspenwood, or RA, you can generally do that with minimal worry. Moving up from there is tricky, TA provides a good intermediate but is largely dominated by button-mashing shit.

Going from there depends entirely on how easily you can find 7 other decent players.

tigros · Apr 22, 2008, 12:55 PM // 12:55

Well... I guess you need to start with the beginning...

wiki.guildwars.com is one of your friends, as it is this forum as well (if u can select through all the clutter around here).

You need to unlock most of the PvP areas. I.e. you need to do a Zaishen quest to unlock Random Arenas. You need to have a 5 consecutive winning streak in RA to unlock Team Arenas. You need to have a 5 consecutive winning streak in TA to unlock Heroes Ascent, etc...

The starting point should be Great Temple of Balthazar on the Battle Isles (type M when you're in your guild hall).

Killed u man · Apr 22, 2008, 12:59 PM // 12:59

For RA and TA (Is AB PvP?

) just run something random, and try ideas. If someone kills you with a cool build, /copy the skills and run it yourself

For HA, GvG, I'm sorry, but I think you've missed the train. You CAN still play in either if these, but chances that you will become "high ranked" before GW goes completely inactive is rather slim...
High-End GvG is completely out of range for new-comers. Not everyone will agree with me on this one, but then again, PM them if YOU can try a few runs in THEIR top GvG guild. I didn't think so...

HB is, for me, the best form of PvP atm. Ok, it completely gets dominated by gimmicks (Everyone in top 100 runs a gimmick build)but it nontheless is an extremely fun format that, when your heroes arn't in a bad mood, can extremely satisfying...

~ Dan ~ · Apr 22, 2008, 01:08 PM // 13:08

PvP in GW has been dieing for a long while. To add to this, Anet just put the last nail in the coffin by stating any balance changes (if any more do follow..) will be reverted to protect PvE'ers interests.

In short: No, it's not worthwhile starting PvP at this late a stage.

Lykan · Apr 22, 2008, 01:13 PM // 13:13

Go to RA and AB to start, anywhere else will be hard to get into any decent teams without making some new friends.

Ignore Dan its always good to PvP, its a lot better than hitting the same mobs in PvE imo.

zling · Apr 22, 2008, 01:14 PM // 13:14

if you want to get into serious PvP you need 1 of 2 things:
1. good serious PvP guild.
2. a large friend list filled with good serious PvP players.

without that you're pretty much stuck with fame/glad farming with gimmicks...

Panais · Apr 22, 2008, 01:16 PM // 13:16

lol heroes in bad mood.
anw Killed u man does have a point but top GvG is kind of retarded in a way. You have all this "leet" players that have like 7-10 team builds that they follow word to word. With my guild we just roll a team of 8 with synergizing builds(not pre-set) and just go and do it. we started from TA and found out how to work as a team of 4 since its easier and gave the monks expererience in a high pressure situation. We then moved to HA and started doing that for a couple of months ot get used to the 8v8 consept and then we started GvG. Yh at the startw e lost like 5-6 in a row but since then we are going strong winning most games. So to start PvP i suggest you get your friends since they are rl friends to join you in PvP and slowly they will like it. You can then get a team of 15-20 members from the original guild and create a sister PvP guild and start an alliance between the two and work your way up that way, well thats what we did and we are ranked 249 on the ladder.

Shendaar · Apr 22, 2008, 03:15 PM // 15:15

I'd say start with a AB. It is a good way to learn about position yourself properly. You will also run into all sorts of different build which will help you learn to adapt.

Find people to do it with you though as you do not want to be pugging AB. You want to be running "organized" builds free of gimmicks. There are a lot of PvP guilds for low level players, so change guild if you have to(you should probably do it anyway).

Read, Observer and Practice as much as you can. You want to know what you are doing and why you doing it. Try to focus on playing 1 particular class/role at the beginning so that you actually become better at something faster.

Try to get into GvG once you atleast know how to kite.

valence · Apr 22, 2008, 03:16 PM // 15:16

Ab / RA won't be any problem pvp wise, seeing as you are interested in pvp you will probably do better then the majority in those arenas in the first place after a week or 2.

But if you go beyond that, it will get harder. People are more dedicated and have more experience. You have 3 years of experience to overcome, with friends that are most likely in the same situation (tho sometimes you get lucky and you find someone a bit more experienced people helping out).

If you are willing to learn from your failures and have fun with that, then I would really suggest to try out the more organized forms of pvp. I have been pushing a friend lately to do the same and for him it is working out. Just dont expect magic things, to beat players who have been around for just a bit longer.

In GW the more organized forms of pvp doesn't really balance skillplay. There aren't divisions of players making it hard for new players to battle against the higher ranked (take a look at ta/ha). Suprisingly, gvg does have this but the playerbase is to low to actually support it in the lower areas. GW misses something between ab/ra and ha/gvg.

Your best bet (tho already told by others) is to find a guild supporting you in your goals, either HA/TA or GvG. After that expand your network. Get in touch with people, run a few pick up groups and add the people you like to your friend list. Ask them later to come to a group you run or just a group that is still missing something. Don't be afraid to start a group and fail, as long as you learn from your mistakes it was a successfull run. But most of all, get that friend list going.

Nazka2002 · Apr 22, 2008, 05:45 PM // 17:45

i suggest taking a look at joinign Team Love [KiSu]

they are a guild that mentor people into pvp...

check it out.

http://teamlove.us/kisu/

~ Dan ~ · Apr 22, 2008, 05:52 PM // 17:52

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lykan

Ignore Dan its always good to PvP

Indeed it is. In a game such as AoC.

Kaon · Apr 22, 2008, 06:05 PM // 18:05

Quit your guild and find a cooler one. It seriously helps if you want to pvp more.

Why waste your time in a guild with people you don't want to play with cause you don't want to pve? Don't fool yourself and get the best enjoyment out of the game.

blurmedia · Apr 22, 2008, 10:02 PM // 22:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by tigros

You need to unlock most of the PvP areas. I.e. you need to do a Zaishen quest to unlock Random Arenas. You need to have a 5 consecutive winning streak in RA to unlock Team Arenas. You need to have a 5 consecutive winning streak in TA to unlock Heroes Ascent, etc...

TA wins doesn't have to be consecutive

Barbie goes guru · Apr 24, 2008, 06:33 PM // 18:33

i would also suggest you try team love.

even if you do not join the guild someone there may be able to give you an idea on where to try next