PvP and Jade Quarry questions

First of all, I apologize if I should've posted in the PvP section instead. But it seemed to me that the PvP area was more about in depth discussions, so I decided to post here.

After playing so far solely PvE, I've just started today my PvP experience (4 JQ matches), planning to get a PvP title. I saw a thread a few days ago that pointed towards being easier/faster to get 200 Zkeys for a Zaishen title instead of going for Gladiator, so I'm going to do just that. I hope I understood correctly that for this I need to do lots of JQ's, exchange all Imperial Faction for Balthazar Faction, and buy keys with it. My questions are:

1. Am I on the right path, or I completely missed something and I shouldn't do what I said above?

2. Is there any difference in playing JQ for the Luxons or the Kurzicks? Does any of these factions have generally a better winning ratio over the other?

3. I noticed there are numbers next to my name and my team's names. What are they for and how are they attributed?

4. Is there any way to see the other team's names? Don't think I'd find much use of it, I'm just curious.

5. If my team says something in local chat, can the other team see it?

6. Do PvP matches pick random people from all districts? If yes, on what servers do the matches take place?

Thank you for the answers.

Can't answer some of the questions but since I want to say something about the titles, which I suppose comes under question 1, I will try to answer the rest.

If you are planning on getting 50/50 then IMO it might be better to go for gladiator. If you go for gladiator you will have gained money (Zkeys and now strongboxes) instead of, essentially, losing 200x5k which could be put towards armor or a tormented weapon (since, esp. in GW time = money, how worthy this will be in the end depends on how well you do. Personally I think it's worth it because you will improve a lot (even though it is only RA). If you are going for 30/50, however, then I would suggest not going for a PvP title because you can get it much easier other ways (personally). So before dedicating a lot of time to this I would suggest thinking about what your goal is. Also this is just my opinion.

2. I know that previously kurzicks had some accidental advantages (e.g. one shrine would attack the turtle, but the equivalent luxon shrine wouldn't have attacked the juggernaut) but they made an update recently which I think might have fixed some of these problems.

3. I assume you mean the numbers to identify each people, ( (1), (2), etc..) and as far as I know they are used just for that purpose: easy identification. Rather than learning the names of each new opponent you can just learn their numbers. They are attributed randomly in JQ, as far as I know. It might be what order you clicked enter battle in but that's a guess.

4. Not as far as I know.

5. Yes. Use team chat for tactics discussion.

6. Don't really know but would guess if you click enter battle from a european server you will play on that server.

1: turning in Imperial Faction for Balth is a great way to get Zkeys, you get quite a bit of faction doing JQ. Also doesn't hurt to do your daily ZE, especially if you have 3 friends/guildies/allies also looking for zkeys.

2: I personally have better times playing the Luxon side, but there's no reason either of them would have a better chance of winning, depends on how well your team does.

3: just an ID, easy if your on Vent or TS you can just say "oh, 4 needs some help" for example instead of having to use the chars name

4: Not like a party list. It's the same as names are in towns, if they are within a certain distance the name will appear.

5: Yes they can.

6: I don't think they mix people playing on International, Euro, Asia and American together. not 100% sure though

1. Your plan sounds fine. Since you're coming from a PvE comfort zone, I think it would be a little tough for you to jump into RA and rack up the consecs you'd need for Gladiator. Not impossible, but I think there'd be a lot of frustration along the way.

2. Before the Imperial Faction and map updates, you used to be able to get into matches faster on Luxon but would often play with a lot of bots. Now, it really doesn't seem to matter -- go where the wins are. It might benefit you to play on both sides so you can get familiar with the map layouts playing for each side. (I have noticed the Kurzick side playing a little bit "clueless" on JQ Zaishen day.)

3. In the party list? Works the same way as in PvE -- you can ID your team mates with it, and target them if you have hotkeys set up for it.

4. You might notice their names in the chat box as they load into the game. You can also press your "show targets" key to see them in your field of view (bear in mind holding this key down will also call targets, which you want to be sparing with in PvP). Setting up "target closest foe," "target next foe," and "target previous foe" keys can also be helpful.

5. As said, yes. Use Local to talk to the other team, Team to talk only to your teammates. Don't let local taunts throw you -- it's part of PvP, and is often used as a tactical move to fluster one's opponents.

6. As far as I know, the way ANet tried to beat syncing was to pile people into one queue across districts. The system isn't perfect, though, and syncing still happens. But I think you will see people from other districts on your team.

As mentioned above, doing the Zaishen Elite mission is incredibly easy, with a cap of 6k faction a day. That's 6 keys every five days, for roughly 30 minutes each day (at least it is for me using henchies and a trapper ranger). No money spent on keys, but an easy way to work on the zkeys for the zaishen title. There are groups there who do it or you can easily do it with a friend as well.

2. The Kurzicks can cap the Green Quarry from a ledge, even with a RoJ monk, while the Luxons can't do the same with the Purple. It's really useful if the RoJ monk can exploit it properly, usually takes the green-protting monks and mesmers by surprise.

As mentioned, be sure to farm Zaishen Elite on a daily basis. Here is a very old video of how to do it with a PvP ranger - a 'bit' outdated, but you should get the right idea.

What more, even if not going for RA or Codex titles, be sure to take advantage of their respective Zaishen Combat quests when they occur.

And last, but certainly not least - please remember you're playing with other alive people on your team and whichever side you choose, try not to run any subpar build 'just for the lulz'. Get a PvP character, for starters, and take a look at PvX wiki for the meta builds.

Thank you all for the replies. Before my initial post I played a few matches on Luxon side, after the post I played Kurzick side. I didn't count the wins or losses but it seemed to be pretty much equal, and I'm quite happy about it. And besides some random and far apart kids who called everyone else noobs, the chat was almost quiet, so not much cause for frustration here. And no taunts from the opposite team either.

I remembered that I can see the servers IP's. Most of the times I got into 206. servers (I play on Europe-English), one time I played on a 64. server, a few times the names of the players sounded French, so I guess inter server matches are possible.

As for build, I'm currently quite happy with the one stolen from here.

Thank you for the heads-up with that Zaishen Elite. I'm gonna check it out.

Zaishen elite will get you a long way - it's easy and efficient.

Go play on the american servers, there's where everyone is hanging out.

You also want to keep an eye on the zaishen challenge quests. If you're going to do something you might as well get double the reward for it.