MMORPG / PC / Themepark

GW2 WvW Tips

I am by no means a pro, but I have been around the RvR block a few times.  WvW is really very similar, and I’m noticing a lot of very fundamental strategies/tactics ignored.

Defend!

Glumshanks the Ranger
WvW tips from Glumshanks the Ranger, Ehmry Bay Server.

When you take something, please defend it.  I don’t know where the mentality came from to take something and immediately have every person leave it.  All you do is create an enticing opportunity for the enemy to go take it back and gain karma/experience.  Leave a small task for there to guard the location, alert the zone to enemy movements, and upgrade. That leads me to my next point…

Upgrade!

Not a moment should go by where your supply camps, Keeps, Garrisons, and towers aren’t being improved. Increase the supply your caravans deliver (and defend them) so that you can use more supply to upgrade your keeps.  Hire extra guards; That way you won’t have an annoying thief sneaking in to the back soloing the camp.

On your keeps upgrade the doors asap, the walls, and get some cannons.  Cannons absolutely wreck attackers.  Don’t forget to place siege like arrow cards in a position where they are protected from Elementalist aoe but can still hit attackers on the door.

Oh, and please don’t take supply from towers.  Take supply from supply camps. Let the supply in towers be used for upgrades.  Once you have a very healthy supply, and sufficient upgrades, leave the supply in the tower/keep to repair the doors and walls.

Read on for more tips! (more…)

19 Comments
September 7, 2012
Game Design / MMORPG / PC / Reviews / Themepark

GW2 WvW Impressions

WvW is the closest I have ever come to reliving Dark Age of Camelot RvR.  I chose to lead off with that comment because WvW is the reason why I will play GW2, and the reason why many of my friends decided to even give GW2 a chance.  I want to begin by giving you a narrative of the video I shot below.

The video starts off with my server fighting outside the outer wall of our Western Keep in Blue’s World.  We are the invaders taking and holding Blue’s territory.  Almost right away we are pushed back through our wall just to find ourselves flanked by an even larger Blue force which broke through the other gate on the wall.  Keeps, Towers, and Outer Walls in GW2 have multiple gates.  This makes defending much more difficult because the attackers can come at you from multiple fronts.

As we are pushed back, I dive off the cliff into the beautifully done waters of our Keep’s moat.  Water combat, and water in general, are stunning and an amazing addition to the game and WvW.  We battle back and forth and eventually push Blue back to their Garrison (primary keep, awesome defense).  Moments later, as my guildies and I are retreating to our keep on our way to take a supply depot, GREEN server’s army flanks us out of nowhere inside the walls of our keep.  I LOVE three faction PvP!!!

The video ends with the end of our attack on a Tower and a look at the Orb (DAOC Relic).  We break the doors with our ram and burst through cleaning up the last of the defenders.  Slaying the Tower Lord, we claim the Tower for our server and march off to take more objectives.

Read on for more WvW Impressions. (more…)

35 Comments
April 30, 2012
Game Design / MMORPG / PC

GW2 WvWvW Explained

GW2 just took the top spot on my list of must-have-games.  Reason: ArenaNet has, on paper, come the closest to replicating DAOC.  World vs. World vs. World has just been detailed by Mike Ferguson, and everything he has to say makes me giddy.

Those familiar with DAOC will already have memories of how most of this works.  For those who missed the DAOC experience, I hope that GW2 finally brings you up to speed with the best way to do PvP in a MMORPG.

I really like the idea of server vs. server now.  In DAOC, each of the three factions grew very close because you were an entire team against two other teams.  You were fighting for meaningful objectives, for reputation, for honor, and glory.  In GW2, you’re fighting for all of those and for the ability to move up in what sounds like a ladder system.  Every two weeks your server is evaluated based on how you did and then given a new server to fight against.  I like the sound of creating healthy competition between servers; maybe that’s what’s needed to create the infamous “realm pride” in today’s market.

I’m in love with the idea of lower players joining the fight and continuing to progress while playing.  Giving everyone the opportunity to play removes segmentation and contribute to the server’s victory that week.  I hope that ArenaNet improves their bolstering system over that of WAR and SWTOR, but even if they don’t I can’t imagine why having more bodies would be a bad thing in this type of PvP (whereas in 8v8 having lowbies sucks). (more…)

119 Comments
February 16, 2012
MMORPG / PC / Sandbox

Dominus jetpacking to the top of my ‘gimme now’ list

If you guys aren’t checking out Dominus, a sci-fi 3-Faction PvP sandbox game currently in development, then you’re out of your freaking minds.  Dominus is one of my most anticipated games of 2012. I want to send these guys some more love, get the word out there, and once again throw my support behind a studio that is really moving mountains to accomplish something with their game that I love.

Pitch Black Games held another one of their live chats.  My schedule doesn’t allow me to watch their videos live (stupid classes), so I’m stuck playing catch-up the day after.  I just watched January 27th’s chat and my mind was blown.  They’ve updated their engine (Hero Engine, same engine SWTOR uses) and given the game a huge visual overall from the last preview I saw.  I think in the video, correct me if I’m wrong, one of the guys said there isn’t a part of the game that hasn’t received some update.  The game looks graphically amazing, and in my opinion better than SWTOR (again, same engine so I’m making comparisons.)

During the video they showed some day/night cycles in zones which looked great, but the scenery really shocked me.  The game is looking fleshed out and gorgeous.  Note: These are screen captures from a video, of a video, of a game.

Read on for more screenshots and thoughts! (more…)

26 Comments
January 28, 2012
Game Design / MMORPG / Random things

PvP Stats: Not Necessary Before, Not Necessary Now

Why can’t items be universal?  Why do I have to obtain a set of gear for PvP and a set for PvE?

Having to gather gear with a PvP stat has never made much sense to me.

The problem started with players who only wanted to PvP.  These PvP-only types bemoaned the idea of having to go PvE to obtain their gear.  The solution?  Make a set of gear obtainable through PvP!  Several iterations of this idea have been implemented throughout the years.

At first, the PvP gear was inferior to PvE and it was worthless.  Then the PvP gear was just as good but easier to get so no one did PvE.   I guess no one cared to actually solve the problem, because the most recent version is the PvP Stat, and it’s been with us for a while now.

The PvP stat, whether it’s resilience, expertise, toughness, or whatever your particular game calls it, gives you an edge in PvP by lowering the damage enemies do to you, and increasing the damage you do to enemies.  It becomes a must-have in order to compete.   I think the original problem still exists: Players can’t play the way they want.

Read on for my thoughts on the problems caused by PvP stats and why past games have done fine without them.

(more…)

25 Comments
January 8, 2012