GvG in Crisis.

This is an open letter, an invitation if you would, to the PvE community to rediscover part of the game that they have long since abandoned and ignored, part of the game that was once regarded to be the most appealing factor about the game but now is considered a very narrow format that has only a ragtag collection of players that have hung on since it’s glory days in Taiwan and Leipzig. I of course am referring to GvG, you all are familiar with the term considering you all are members of guilds, all see the position of your guild when you press G, and when you sit in the guild hall you see the enter guild battle button on your screen.

As some of you know, GvG used to be quite popular in the realm of Guild Wars as a whole, the developers offered real world prizes for over 3 years, but since then interest has waned. In the present day, I count 8 – 10 American guilds, 60 – 80 European guilds, and 0 Korean guilds. This past day, the GvG Daily A tournament, which is considered the primary AT for American guilds, did not go off because the requirement for 5 guilds was not met. Often we have to enter forfeit guilds to even make the tourney go off, and ArenaNet will not punish us for this because they know it is needed for the tournament to go off. It often takes between 20 and 30 minutes to find a ladder match, no matter the rank of the contestants. The GvG community as a whole implores the PvE community, specifically the Americans, to rediscover this amazing facet of the game. It is the only thing which has kept many of us GvGers playing the game for some time now, and everyone would love to see an infusion of new players to stimulate activity and just allow everyone to play more.

Many of you probably are skeptical, thinking that you would get destroyed in a GvG setting, and this would cause frustration and people on your team would rage the team and possibly even the guild. This has been the age old critique of GvG, its not beginner friendly, but all I can say is the community has become more open lately considering we collectively will do anything possible to attract new players, so feel free to PM people you see on Observer, they will reply if not AFK, read the guest thread on QQ Forums, guest experienced players, listen to their advice, but most importantly I hope this post will encourage people to rediscover what is in my opinion the most unique and entertaining aspect of Guild Wars.

Some Useful Links:
Beginner's Guide to GvG - a bit outdated, but still a good introduction to the game type
Coordination in GvG - a succinct guide on how teams operate
Guest Thread - look here for players willing to guest

~The Collective GvG Community

This is probably 4 years too late but I fully support it still. ^_^

I also just want to emphasize the part about PMing players you see on obs mode. Contrary to the popular belief of PvPers being super elitist, I promise that there are a ton of people who will be more than willing to help out, answer questions, guest for you, etc. if you PM them. I know that myself and a lot of people in my guild would be more than willing to answer questions and guest for anybody, and the same goes for a large majority of top players in general.

I approve of this message.

As an elitist and someone who has played this game competitively since before beta, I also fully support this message.

First good post I've seen on guru in months.

A+ thread


ohhh almost forgot
/in before someone comes here to piss and moan about something!!!

I used to like PvP, but felt it never changed, Factions introduced ABs, which I liked doing, but I never considered it real PvP (and neither does the HoM lol). Hero battles.. ugh. But what I really don't like the most is the skill changes to (PvP), I stopped playing GW when EOTN came out, then I come back a few months ago and everything seemed flipped upside down with the skill balancing. I travel to my guild hall, then see nearly every skill turn to (PvP) and just leave with disgust honestly, I liked the semi-homogeneous balance Anet tried to keep before with PvE and PvP skills. To be fair, PvE has me slightly turned off in that regard as well, though I do love Summon Spirits among other things.. I hope GW2 doesn't do the same in regards to skills (changing them completely or even slightly different).

/signed an only r3

GvG changes daily, it follows the players, what maps they select for the rotation, what skills are currently preferred in meta builds, and other related facets. GvG is never stagnant provided the player base is continually innovative.

Didn't do much GvGs, I mostly played in PvE guilds, I did some guest GvGs with other guilds, I had fun, but I don't like playing so competitively all the time, I do CAL and TWL etc in other games, but I just couldn't imagine doing it so much as they did. Unfortunately the people who guest invited me haven't played in 3-4 years, so I haven't done any since. You're right though, I felt it was never as stagnant as the other pvp, well RA felt pretty random lol. HA always seemed the same, until a nerf hit, then it changed until the next nerf.

I'd love to GvG I usually spec a few matches a night. But...I am part of a one person guild in a non existent alliance and I would assume most guilds wouldn't guest a completely unranked individual for GvG even if they were unranked themselves sooo xD

People have been moving on to different games, guildwars is 5,5 years old, and it never got off to things like ESL.
The PvP community and especially GvG community has always been small, because it was just too hard for the average joe PvE player to get into it and unlock skills for all the builds.
Now there is absolutely no competition left, when I look at obs on the monthlys, all the top guilds consist of players I never even heard of...
All the good players have found their way to new competitive games, not one of the players I used to play with 3-4 years ago still plays.

Currently i'm playing BC2, but Dice has f$cked that game up as well on the competitive side... (no demo recording, no observer mode)
Lot's of games fail on the competitive part nowadays.

The obvious solution is to put yourself out there, rank doesnt matter to GvG players, they just want you to show willingness to learn from your mistakes, everyone makes mistakes, but if you correct them and make less and less each game then you will be accepted into the GvG community very easily.

See above post made to other guy if you wanted to get back into it

very persuasive opening post... makes me want to take my pve members out for a gvg right now -.-

With the latest news from Arena Net they hinted at some improved rewards to come for PvP and GvG specifically. I wonder if this will bring in some new players.

I hope there are more people willing to try out GvG, good luck!

This certainly seems like a worthy cause, and even though I'm not personally interested in participating in the competitive side of GW at this time, I wish you luck in your endeavor and hope that a lot of PvE veterans will rediscover the thrills of GvG.

^

A lot of the concerns of getting into either arena is the high rate of failure you will probably come across while tweaking your team. As long as the attitude isn't "we lost because _____ is bad", you will have people coming back for more.

As far as elitest and trash-talking. Even if you aren't a part of it, try not to respond to it... It serves as one of the most damaging aspects of PvP that keeps people away. Hell, if it bothers you so much, the "all chat" toggle button does have a purpose.

Thank you for this; the OP is written wonderfully.

I am actually working on a project to help new (or new to PvP!) players bridge some of the gaps, particularly in the low level arenas. Taking things further, the project has a new perspective on some core PvP topics that I feel are misrepresented to new players. Currently working on a combination of written guides and focused courses for PvP (and a couple PvE) topics based upon my own experiences when I originally started PvP as well as my experience guesting for mid-end GvG. Anyone interested in more information should send me a PM to introduce yourself!

I would also like to sponsor a friendly scrimmage tournament geared for new PvPers in the near future, featuring tiers for similar playing levels as well as in-game prizes for participants. If you are interested in participating and/or are interested in donating prizes, please send me a PM.

GvG is as wonderful as its player base, so give it a try!

Well there's your problem right there.

All kidding aside though, my PvE guild barely has enough people on at the same time to be called a guild let alone participate in gvg, this seems to be the rule, not the exception.

You only need 2 people from your guild, can guest 2 randoms and go nuts on henchmen to hit up a GVG. Also a good way to start, as the henchies have pretty decent builds.

I would like to GvG more again. Used to GvG quite often but the players just seem to have...massive objects shoved up their collective rectums

I switched to HA just because the players there seem nicer xD

Anyway, ill give it a shot, poke me if you want to try me out for GvG (ign: Morbid Memories, am 50 fame away from r8, etc). If GvG'ers want new people trying the format, there really should be some guilds set up etc for this, cant expect all us random PvE noobs to just join up with no help and get slaughtered. Although im sure thats what you want in the end