Character Movement Differentials in Guild Wars 2 WvW


In Guild Wars 2 World PVP, aka WvW, I’ve experienced a dynamic that I haven’t seen since 2005 when I played KnightOnline – significant differentials in character run speed and “burst” distance traversal.

What reinforces these movement differentials? Three factors:

  1. There are no mounts in the game, so there is no equalizer in terms of covering ground over distances
  2. Some classes can spec for significant burst distance traversal capabilities
  3. Some classes have stronger swiftness boon mechanics or other run speed buffs

In a game with mounts, players have much greater control over where and when they engage. If you see an enemy zerg coming, you can ride the other way, and they won’t catch you unless you maneuver into a dead-end.

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Posted in Elementalist, Game Design, Guild Wars 2, PVP, Thief, Warrior

Guide to Guild Wars 2 Warrior “Run and Gun” Build for WvW


This guide covers my Warrior “Run and Gun” build for WvW (World versus World) in Guild Wars 2. If you prefer video content, check out the Narrated Videos section below.

I have a separate guide for sPvP “Run and Gun”. I wrote this Guide because the differences between WvW and sPvP and therefore the builds are so significant that it would be confusing to cover both in the same article.

WvW Considerations

To understand my build choices, here are critical considerations for World PVP:

  • Speed kills. More specifically, in-combat speed is king. Some players make the assumption that Swiftness is sufficient, but in my experience, you need the ability to leap or charge and to remove roots (Immobilize) and snares (Cripple and Chill)
  • Toughness matters. Going glass cannon for Warrior (and most of the other classes) will cause you to implode under any meaningful focus fire. This isn’t sPvP (structured Player versus Player) or tournaments, where the maximum number of opponents is capped at 8 or 5 respectively. In WvW, players are exposed to situations where they take massive amounts of direct damage. You also want an HP pool that provides you with a sufficient window to react and recover in most situations – in my opinion 20k is the lowest you should run with, given that Warrior has neither stealth nor teleports.
  • To contribute in a majority of situations, it’s helpful to have a ranged weapon. Any time there are sizable forces facing off or a fight at a tower or keep, there will be heavy ranged exchanges. In addition, the world is much more open compared to sPvP, so ranged weapons tend to work well

With that framing, we can move on to the spec.

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Posted in Guide, Guild Wars 2, PVP, Video, Warrior

My Take on Ascended Gear in Guild Wars 2


If you play or follow Guild Wars 2, you’ve probably heard the uproar regarding the introduction of Ascended gear with the big Lost Shores update that was released on November 15th.

The community has two broad concerns regarding Ascended gear:

  1. The current limited avenue for acquiring Ascended gear
  2. The impact of gear progression on the game experience

Acquiring Ascended Gear

Ascended gear is currently only acquireable via running a level 80 dungeon, Fractal of the Mists (FOTM), repeatedly.

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Posted in Game Design, Guild Wars 2, PVE, PVP

The Decline of Henge of Denravi Due to Server Transfers


The top WvW server in Guild Wars 2 for the six weeks following launch was Henge of Denravi (HoD). Our server, Blackgate (BG), faced them in September and HoD fielded a high number of players coupled with high organization, mainly due to the efforts of the Titan Alliance (TA) between PVP guilds. We couldn’t take a tower or depot without triggering a significant reaction within a short period of time. HoD dominated, and it was impressive to watch.

Unfortunately, the success of HoD brought an influx of bandwagoners via the free server transfers. Over time the original players on HoD found themselves penalized for their success – they had to compete with the bandwagoners for the same WvW map queues. Given the degrading experience and to promote better server competition, earlier this month TA disbanded and dispersed to other servers.

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Posted in Game Design, Guild Wars 2, PVP

My Progress in Guild Wars 2 and RL


If you’ve been wondering where I’ve been, here’s a brief RL update:

  • No, I haven’t been trapped under something large and heavy
  • I’ve been leading two large online product initiatives for my client over the past 3.5 months as a contractor. Our group is understaffed at the moment and I’ve been carrying a heavy workload – each project is a near full-time job
  • The great news is that hard work has paid off: I’ve received and accepted a full-time employment offer as a senior product manager. The group I’m joining has talented people who are enjoyable to work with. I’m transitioning over the next month, and I hope that my work hours will come down to more sustainable levels :)

Here’s where I am in GW2:

  • My Warrior is level 33, and my Mesmer is level 11
  • My Glory Rank is 20
  • I’ve played 385 sPvP games and 98 tournament games
  • I’ve been refining the 3 specs for Warrior and 1 spec for Mesmer for which I’ve written Guides

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Posted in Guild Wars 2, Mesmer, PVP, Warrior
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