When is a good time to begin to PVP?

Hi there,

First post. I registered here just because I wanted to get some feedback from some experienced people.

Here's a little background, but I'll keep it short: I am a WoW exile. I enjoyed it, but I found the BG's frustrating. Running missions to get the best gear was just good common sense to me, but when it came to requiring a lot of farming to buy some good enchantments.. I went to the forums for advice and was told to quit crying and get to farming if I wanted to compete, otherwise I was a 'lazy welfare slob with no sense of accomplishment and an overly large sense of entitlement.' I drew the line. I won't do drudge work in a game played for enjoyment, just to have reasonable access to another part of the game, also intended for fun. And I just got one-shot one too many times where I did nothing tactically wrong except be there. I know not everyone in that community would agree with my analysis, but that is what brought me to Guild Wars.

And I've enjoyed the PVE so far. I use this site as a resource along with GuildWiki. I have a 17 Warrior/Ranger, and have gotten through a lot of missions with just "henchies". I've gotten through Lion's Arch without ever having been 'run' by anybody. Right now I have just gotten the quest that will unlock the ability to capture Skills, Elite or otherwise. I've been scrupulous about doing all the free skill quests (in Prophecies), and identifying weapon upgrades.

Never joined a guild though in GW though, not yet anyway...

Okay, enough chit chat, and admitting my bias.. here's my question(s)..

It's frequently said that PVP characters are 20th level and you're expected to play like you're 20th level. How stringently should I take that? Literally?

Because right now, I have it in my mind that I have to solve the entire campaign before I even consider PVP. Why? Because I don't want to be a clown and get one shot. I want a fair chance to do well.

My last memory of WoW was trying a 16th lvel Alt with some friends, all about 15 or 16.. We we're told by a 19th 'heavily augmented' toon that people like us waste his time by coming into BG's, because our presence on his team ruins his opportunity to have a good time.

So I want to know how much stuff do I have to unlock in PVE so that I have a chance to do well in PVP...?

Sorry for the bias, but since I despise PvE and anyone who enjoys it, but I belive that the moment you create your first character, it should be a PvP character. I had to waste my time in PvE happy land to unlock skills for PvP at the beginning, and now you guys have the advantage of the priest. Get PvPing and have some fun

Cool... so you're saying that with the faction rewards you literally do not need to do any PVE to start being competant in PVP?

Gotta admit, that sounds refreshing. I haven't minded the PVE, but I trhink I'm ready to try something new.

I also have access to all three Campaigns, but only have really bored into Prophecies.

Thanks for the reply! Any additional comments are welcome too.

The more time you spend in PvE, the more stuff you can unlock for PvP use. However, as you play in PvP you'll also be rewarded with Balthazar Faction which you can spend to unlock more skills and upgrades. So you can jump into PvP whenever you feel like you're ready for it.

GW is different from most other rpg's with pvp as in GW, pvp is more about playerskill. whereas most other rpg's are item dependant to be competetive

That is one thing that attracted me to it.. not that I've ever demonstrated any special PVP skill before. (Been too discouraged to try)

New question.. any one have any essential core tips that they think are essential for new PVPers to know, based on their previous experience?

("Stuff I wish someone would have told me", maybe?)

You can purchase a PvP Skill Pack in the On-line Store. The button is on your log-in screen.

All PvP characters, upon creation, are maxed level 20 with max armor and basic max weapons available. The only thing you need to add, either through faction or PvE, are additional skills (including elites) and weapon mods/upgrades.

Neither of those are critical to lower-level PvP. By the time you are skilled enough in gameplay to participate in GvG, you will have everything you need.

You will still run into crap talk and rank elitism in the Random and Team Arena areas.

Basically you're wasting your time if you PvP with a roleplaying character before level 20. Except for the two lower level arenas in Ascalon City and Yak's Bend (looks like you missed these).

If I were you I'd get to 20 and pick up an elite skill or two before hitting PvP. You could always make a PvP char but you'd be very limited at the start. One needs skills to unlock skills.

As for tips, I'm not sure what to say. There's some general info and etiquette and stuff on this link : click. In fact, have a look around that site as it's got everything you could want to know and more.
Specific PvP tips for warriors? I would say always bring an increase run speed skill, an increase attack speed skill and a deep wound skill.

I can think of one thing... Covering. If you rely on hexes, add another (preferably cheaper) hex on top so that the important hex underneath isn't removed so quickly. The same goes for enchantments if you're relying on them a lot. You can get away with not covering like that in PvE as monsters either don't notice or don't bring removal skills with them. In PvP, it becomes more important as you're up against an intelligent opponent instead of mindless pre-programmed drones

another thing to note: it's impossible to be "one shotted" in pvp, unless you fight someone with starter armor or get hit by the catapult in gvgs. although there are classes that can kill rapidly (assassins), you will never be faced with the threat of being instakilled by one opponent.

I'm actually in almost the same situation as you, having just bought Guild Wars last week after getting fed up with WoW's endless treadmill.

I played PvE for about 2 hours to get a feel for the interface. Then I made 3 PvP only characters of different professions and started plugging away in the Random Arenas. It can be frustrating getting on a string of bad teams, but overall you can get a feel for things pretty quick.

I never felt like I was outgeared or that I was being steamrolled by someone because of how long they'd been playing like back in WoW, but there are some builds that can murder you really fast if you're not ready for them, and that was a bit shocking at first. If you die horribly just look over list of things that killed you along the side of your screen and you can figure out what happened pretty easy.

The one bit of advice I'd offer is to grab a build that seems interesting to you off Guildwiki.org or one of the other build archive sites, and work towards unlocking everything for that build with the faction points you earn. I wasted a lot of points just unlocking random things, whereas if you get on a couple winning streaks with a good team in RA you can easily unlock all the skills you need for a good build - and speaking as someone who doesn't know the game well enough to put together a build myself, having a decently balanced build to learn PvP with makes things much easier and less frustrating.

Sisysphean and GDI,

I've PVE'd a long time, and me and my guildies are starting to mess around in TA. If you ever want to hook up with us, whisper me. My ingame name is Cyroth Darkhood.

Just realized it's also printed to the left!

Do not try to PvP with a PvE toon that just barely made it to level 20. It is unlikely that you have max armor with runes and enough perfect weapons to switch out for energy purposes.

As a start, you should read the PvP Primer series on the main GW page:
http://www.guildwars.com/competitive...les/pvpprimer/

After reading this, you will still have a lot to learn, but it is a start. You also need a thick skin because you will lose a lot and people will not say pleasant things about your skill. Just try to learn what happened and get better because of it.

I'd also suggest downloading Ventrilo and getting a microphone, if you haven't already.

If you want to get into PvP more seriously, avoid Alliance Battles like the plague. Get a feel for PvP in RA, move up to TA, then HA. Alliance Battles are full of incompetent people who will just drag you down.

Read through the PvP primers too. The guys at ANet do have some good things to say. If you want more PvP tips, check out www.team-iq.net too, on their forum, there's a wealth of information about the different things you could try.

Good luck

Two years ago would have been a good time to start PvP.

But that's not really possible anymore, so now is fine. If you want to understand the definition of edrama then check out QQ's forums. www.teamquitter.com

you can do pvp any time you what but i find it is helpfull if you do it after you have or had a lvl 20 in any profetion nd have captured some elite skills becasuse all the skills u get in the game u have acses to in pvp and wen you play pvp u get factions like balthazar factions which you can trade for skills items upgrades or now heros and guild wars has even relesed some pvp only skills nd what ever profetion you make you always have an elite skill set

hope i have helped

Also remember that the skills you unlocked in PVE are also unlocked in PVP but not the other way around. Skills you unlocked in PVP will be usable only in PVP. I think you should try all types of PVP, namely Random Arenas(RA), Team Arenas(TA), Heroes Ascent(HA), Alliance Battle(AB) which is a very good introduction to PVP if you have Factions by the way

@Zaganher - you can purchase non-elite skills with a PvP character using faction and have them unlock for your PvE character now. I don't remember the update date.

@OP - unlock means available for purchase (using skill point and gold) at appropriate level skill trainers in PvE.

(original poster)

Hey everybody.. I just wanted to thank y'all for the encouragement and the feedback.

Some of it I knew, but a lot I didn't. I think the biggest thing was just not wanting to get steamrolled.

As a result of this thread I've been contacted by a guild of folks that sound both knowledgeable and mature, and willing to help anybody willing to listen and learn. They're working on RA and following up the progression to TA and HA. We're going to try a mission out and see if we have a match.

In the meantime, a headset sounds like a good idea. I know that would have helped if I'd been in a Guild that was doing that in WoW. I'll see if these folks I've contacted are into that.. but I'll give it some consideration.

Lastly, I know there will be trolls and mean little kids in any MMO. That's almost unaviodable. I think the trick is to play against them (and I don't mean griefing them but in the friendly competitive way the game is intended), and not playing *with* them.

Anyway, this has been a big help. I appreciate all the responses. If anyone else has anything to add, please say it!

Maybe someone else will read this, think the same way that I did, and they can get some benefit from your words too.