The pleasures of PvP

After months of exclusively playing PvE I finally had my first try at PvP yesterday, just a couple of games in the Ascalon Arena. It was very overwhelming and completely different to what I'm used to which I was pleased about because PvE had got a bit boring for me. Normally when I try new challenges out it takes me a while to get to grips with things and this was no exception, I sucked, big time! I expected this...but what I wasn't expecting was the amount of abuse I got because of it. Now my major PvE character is a monk, so I'm used to getting sworn at and accused of terrible, terrible things but I didn't think I would get this much flaming in Ascalon Arena because, as far as I'm aware, this just gives people a taster to PvP, it gets far more challenging in the Battle Isles later on. Should I expect more of this then or, as I'm expecting, even worse abuse as I try out the later arenas? I fear I should end my PvP career quickly if so....

Turn off all chat in arena, it saves precious brain cells.

Indeed - when I am in PvP, I have local chat turned off all the time, regardless of whether it's Arena or Heroes' Ascent. I can really recommend anyone to do the same. Yes, ocassionally you are going to miss out some actually NICE chat with the opposing party this way, but this doesn't happen too often anyway. Turn local on if you are looking for a group, but otherwise there is nothing in local chat a person with an IQ over 50 might want to read.

It's not so bad in the higher arenas (not on the EU servers anyway), but the low-level arenas are overrun by high-level players using twinked low-level avatars to farm faction. In any given match you can count on people using elite skills like poison arrow and having the best armor in the game (which 'legit' players weapons often cant penetrate).

I'd suggest you save PvP'ing until you've got an ascended, fully equipped, level 20 char, OR create a purpose-built PvP char, because PvP'ing in the low-level arenas is just an excercise in aggravation due to all the griefers.

If you're not in a guild you should think about joining one. There are a lot of friendly pve and PvP guilds out there that will pvp with you and show you the ropes so to speak.

Playing a monk is almost equal to abuse. People call you names even if there's two shutdown mesmers in your face and you don't stand a chance. The ones that understand can appreciate that a loss doesn't always equal the monk sucking but most just don't want to admit they had any part in the loss.

Anyway, the best shield for abuse is a friendly guild around you.

Turn local chat off.
People with terrible attitudes will always be around.
Not limited to pvp, also happens in pve. Altough pvp can bring out the worst in some immature players.
Shrug it off, learn your lesssons why you lose a game, and have fun exploring why some things work and some don't.

greetings Makkert

People can be really big jerks, but in PvP double anything you used to see.

Overall though it isn't that bad. When you start getting better it will happen less and less. Though for a monk it never goes away................

Don't turn local chat off... just ignore them

Don't react on what they say, why would you turn chat off? you can meet nice ppl etc...

/ignore

i think its hiralous the dumb things people say in PVP, IWAY=IGAY, even though the opposing party is IWAY themself. PVP is PVP you kill real real people, they get the rush of terestorone that killed ya...they will spam like crazy the team chat and all chat.
as for Ascalon Arena a ton of people will go in there with good weapons and forge armor and elite skills, thats how some people get their kicks.

Turn local chat off, plus set your status to "Offline" or "Do not disturb" mode.

I'd leave local chat in random areas on. It's really amusing at times. Teams and people you just killed or defeated often offer a severe critique on what you're doing wrong.

Ok some really good advice there, thanks for posting everyone

I'd avoid Ascalon Arena like the plague. It used to be fun, but is now full of wankers. Hero's Ascent and GvG are quite fun though. Observer mode does not seem to be clogged with jerks yet, so it's a good place to pick up some builds and strategies.

PVP is quite fun. Like the previous poster have stated, avoid Ascalon & Shiverpeak Arena. Use either pvp chars or max level 20 pve chars. Random Arena is a great way to get a feel for what pvp is about.

There is no need to turn Local Chat off unless someone is spamming. You can learn alot about skill builds & receive useful (sometimes harsh) criticism about what you are doing wrong. (e.g. omg! get a clue, and bring a res sig! )

I will add my Moo to the Herd here. Turn it off. And if you have any rude comments from your own team....turn that off also and treat them like NPCs.

Eventually, you may feel you have enough experience/skill/Zen to listen to people insult you during a match, myself; even though I have PVP'd for many years in some harsh games, still leave General Chat and such, off. It's the same old stuff and I've heard it all before. In open PVP (if we had that) you should be listening, but it's not neccessary in the Arena.....

It's just that much more noise, when you should be paying attention to what you are doing.

And oh yea, Have Fun!

Ascalon Arena is just... wow. It's a lost cause, really. I don't know why Anet doesn't just put in a level requirement for Droknar's and similar armor.

Other than that, turning off local chat/going offline is a terrible solution. I wouldn't want to miss PMed invitations to groups just because some fool is demonstrating how much of a fool he is.

Oh, and the abuse actually lessens as you go on. Random Arena is easily the worst.

IGNORE them at the end of the day if u have been flamed, scammed wat not, just hit the [x] on the top right (or log off watever means) caus believe me or not ITS JUST A GAME, (although at times it aint)

i dont turn chat off if i get flamed i just ignore it, it annoys them more than me, or flame them back, in PvP most of the time its the teams fault they lost not 1 person (unless there braindead and run into all 8 of them) but dont take anything to heart and quite caus of it, thats how they win and good guys looooooooose!

so chill and let them boil

Ascalon Arena = the most abuse PVP arena in the game. All the good players gets run to droks and get elites go bak to ascalon arena and farm some new pvp players for faction to unlock all skill and level up to level 20.

I have noone on ignore and I leave local on. If someone shouts out abuse, I laugh at them. And that is not because I have such thick skin, it is because I am in a good and nice guild and know that I am decent player.

Being in a good guild and playing with them in pvp is the best way to learn how to appreciate the best GW has to offer.

In my case I couldn't stand PvP until I GvGed. RA was okay, I guess, but TA & HoH suck big fat...ummm.. they just suck imo.

RA doesn't have any pre-battle planning & is to small.
TA is to FOTM build specific, to small, to elitist & filled with jerks.
HoH is to FOTM build specific, to elitist & filled with jerks.
GvG has pre-battle planning, has 8 ppl that you like & trust & is fun!

GvG ftw! Don't like dealing with the crap that goes on in public PvP play? Do GvG instead! 99.99999% of the negative crap that goes on in other forms of GW PvP does not happen in GvG.