ATTENTION: As I've been reviewing/revising older posts, I noticed that there were missing pictures and slideshows. I am aware of a few other blog posts that are suffering this as well. I am doing my best to fix these asap.
Alright, you want to get aggressive in the borderlands. Great! This guide was originally a part of the WvW for New and Old Players, but it was a bit much in information that I figured a whole section of its own would be better. So let's get started!
Let's start off with bringing out the offensive. There is a section in the guide mentioned above that briefly talks about this and has a link to this guide. For now, I'll be focusing on some terminology, tactics, placements, and providing map images for placements. One thing that will not be covered in this guide is the PPT game. That is over in the guide mentioned above.
Terminology
First thing I'm going to go over is terminology. This has been talked about in other guides, but reiteration is key.- -Say chat
- -Local chat that appears in a greenish color. This only happens with people directly near you.
- -Access it by /s
- -Squad chat
- -Chat that occurs with people in your squad. This appears as a yellowish green color. Only accessible by people in the squad so people outside of the squad will not see it.
- -Access it by /d
- -Party chat
- -Chat from other people in your direct party. This can happen within a squad by directly talking to those in your group. If not in a squad, the max limit is 5 members in the party. The color for this chat is blue.
- -Access it by /p
- -Map chat
- -Borderland centered chat. This shows up at a light red color and consists of everyone else in the current BL.
- -Access it by /m
- -Team chat
- -Across all borderlands, even OS. This shows up as a dark red color and is typically used for callouts from other BLs.
- -Access it by /t
- -Whisper
- -Shows up as a purple color. Only occurs between you and the other person, no one else.
- -Access it by /w and the person's name. You can right click on a person and in the drop down menu, there is a whisper option (unless they are appearing offline or have you blocked).
- -Food
- -This is a consumable that you can acquire via crafting or purchasing. Different foods give you different buffs. These foods can also vary between lasting for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- -Oils
- -This is a consumable that you can craft or purchase as well. Just like foods, oils give you different buffs. These are not as vast in variances as foods however. These can last between 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- -Builds
- -This is what you have on your character. This includes armor, utility slots, traits, and weapons. There are numerous builds out there from all over the web.
- -Movement
- -See below for informative tips about this. Seriously, this is important.
- -Supply Reward Tracks
- -This is what gives you a boost in WvW regarding supply. There are some nice additional procs for this.
- -Altering Default Keys
- -Some suggestions to how changing your default keys and making adjustments to your overall gameplay interaction.
- -Supply
- -WvW currency that allows you to build siege or repair damaged/broken walls and/or gates.
- -Upgrades
- -Things that happen to an objective that has been claimed by a guild who have dedicated time and resources into making awesome things.
- -Guild Claiming
- -See Upgrades.
- -Siege
- -Either an object that comes with the progression of upgrading an objective or is dropped by other people.
- -Contested/Swords
- -Means a person or people have touched an enemy objective.
- -Callouts
- -Something you should be doing already.
Tactics
Tactics are a generalized necessity for doing ANYTHING in WvW. You need to have an idea about what you are doing at any given moment. Trust me, there have been times where I just ran around with my head in the clouds and I died. True those were the times I was seriously tired and had no clue as to what day or time it was. Don't do that, it sucks and you feel stupid and should probably get some sleep! Back to the point: have a goal. If you are following a tag, awesome. Leave the tag in charge and be aware of what is going on (this includes your surroundings). If not, read on.It takes a total of 2 people with maxed siege supply carrying capabilities to build the basic siege, 1 if you are nearby an objective that has available supply. Those 2 people can build a catapult or ram and start hitting on an objective. If you plan on doing this, there are some key elements you should consider.
- -Keep in contact with the tag on the map of your plans. A good example is "Hey, we're going to start cata'ing Hills. Will keep you posted." As you progress, you should inform the tag. "We got the outer wall down at Hills. Not much of a response from the enemies."
- -Sometimes tags can't be bothered with this type of tactic. There have been times where I was a mesmer inside SMC and I would whisper the tag(s) on the map about where I was. I would get totally ignored by them. Don't get disheartened by this. Keep doing it.
- -Have a backup plan. You started cata'ing the outer wall at Hills and you start to see some resistance. Keep an eye out around your surroundings because something enemies love to do is coming up behind you and attack. Especially thieves.
- -A good idea for this is when you decide to start dropping siege, make sure you have a good view of all available approaches. Not a fun situation to have things going well and then a thief comes and backstabs you for all of your health.
- -If you are running with a decent sized group, have scouts who are a bit off from the group. These guys can watch for enemies incoming to your position so that you can either fight or flee. Make sure to tell them if the wall/gate goes down as well as if enemies are engaging from another side!
- -Have the port to spawn ready. This is especially true when you are with a very small group of people and are going deep into enemy territory. You can either ping it in party chat (most of the time these groups are using voice comms) so that it is ready to go OR you can have the button ready for use. You can do the latter by clicking once on the wp and the option comes up. Just leave it there and continue on with your business.
- -Have the siege and the supply available. You would be surprised as to how many times people would have a plan but not the needed items. This is true for commanders too. No point in going to watergate of Garri and finding out no one has the siege or supply to actively start attacking.
- PvD is NOT the best option for these types of scenarios. You will pop OJs and most often than not, the enemies will respond. With their already built and ticked siege.
That kind of gameplay not fun sounding? Well, there is always the yak slap/camp flip gig. Basically, you run around the map and flip camps, flip sentries, and kill yaks. This is a great option for those who want to keep the enemies supply starved. By starving them of supply, their objectives cannot upgrade. Great! You can also get the option to tap enemy objectives that have a wp on them, slowing down the enemy response. If you are worried about getting participation this way, trust me, you get it. It isn't as much as flipping towers or keeps time-wise, but they do add up.
Remember that there are traps that can be used for some supply. These are great for supply draining enemies, disabling enemy siege, and removing stealth of enemies. I've never really used the last one but the other 2 are great for camps and responding to objectives under attack.
Don't overcommit. It's so easy to push and push and push, until you are so far into the enemy that you can't get out. This goes for running around the map as well as engaging enemy groups. You have to know when enough is enough.
Placements
This will be a brief section of how to go about placing siege. Some things to keep in mind is that when you pick a spot, try to make it so that enemies can't counter and hit you easily. Shield gens can help out when you are out in the open or under enemy fire, but if placed right you might not need them. A great example of this is building siege near a tree or a wall or something seen in the ruins. The enemies will generally have a harder time hitting your siege because their hits will generally hit the other object.When placing siege, make sure you have the supply and as mentioned in the previous section, have a goal in mind. Do you plan on committing to what you're doing? If so, you might want to build extra siege that can help defend your offensive attack. Some great examples are shield gens, ballistas, and acs. The shield gens help keep your main attack siege protected while the ballistas and acs are providing ground cover. Just keep in mind where enemies can come from and plan accordingly. Just make sure you have the people to man that siege. No point in building all of it if no one can man it. Traps are also a great thing for this. Supply removal is great for incoming enemies who might try to disable your siege. They are affected by the trap just as you are. The stealth breaking trap is great too. Those sneaky mesmers and thieves can seriously put a damper on your party.
Maps
Desert BL>