PVP questions

Hello, I'm pretty new to this game, and I have a few questions that people in the game are too rude to answer normally/without sarcasm, so I hope I can find some answers here

1) In PVP, why do some party members resign immediately at the beginning of the match? Is there some kind of special trick that works by resigning? Like sometimes my entire team will resign and I wonder if there's something wrong with me... I'm an elementalist/monk; is that a bad combo and everyone can just tell I'm a newb or something?

2) Sometimes in the PVP arena there are flags that you have to carry to the obelisk stand, so I pick it up and try to get it there (I try to steer clear of the other team, of course) but I get yelled at by my party members and get called a "noob ele." I've seen other people from the other team carrying their flag, so what am I doing wrong?

3) I brought a monk skill with me that heals me when my allies attack, but I got yelled a lot by one team member who told me that it will heal the other team too. Is that really true? So you're not allowed to use heal skills in PVP because it heals the other team? If that's the case, all I can say is that's very confusing!

I have to say that the level of outright hostility towards new players in the game is kind of frightening, especially in PVP. ._. I understand that it must be frustrating for veterans to "put up" with new people, but I have literally been insulted and cursed at just for not understanding something. I dunno, I like this game because it's fun and has a good storyline but can't help but feel like maybe I should just stay away from PVP for good so I don't encounter such bitter people. Have to say it feels like a waste though because PVP seems to be an important part of this game.

Thanks, I would appreciate any answers!

Many PvP players look for the best party build possible to be able to get as many wins in a row as possible, so if they start and see that isn't in a "meta" party they just resign and try again.

Usually some builds are more indicated to carry the flags, but in general PvP is filled with elitists so you'll get yelled no matter what you do, lol

What is the name of that skill you are using?
BTW Healing Ring and Heal Area also heal foes.

Yes, PvP here in too competitive for my taste, but places like JQ and AB are much more newbie friendly.
When you find a nice guild that also PvP and isn't a hardcore one you'll start to enjoy it much more.

the two people above me are butthurt. onto actual answers:

1. 99% of the time its because theres no primary monk/healer, making it hard to win consecutively

2. You don't want to cap right away, or ever run back to run more than one flag in RA. Bring the flag halfway up to the stand, and drop it. Only cap it if you take complete control of the stand, the other team doesn't run their flag up, or the other team caps.
The reasoning behind this is that a flag cap overrides the enemies flag cap. So if you cap right away and then they cap, you wasted your cap and they have control.

3. What skill is it? whatever it is I recommend replacing it with healing breeze @ 8 spec.

4. Ask questions. Most "vets" yell at noobs because most new players do not listen to advice. Many people will be happy to help you.

Presumably you are playing exclusively in Random Arenas by your questions. Let me begin by saying that the player base there is generally unfriendly, and sometimes simply hostile. There are two reasons to play Random Arenas:

• You want a low-key environment to play in, with minimal setup time
• You want to earn Gladiator Points

When a player gets upset or angry, the player is generally working towards the latter.

If you are interested in getting better, you should do the following:

• Keep an open mind
• Listen to all criticism
• Be willing to lose
• Find a helpful PvP guild

The first three are the most important. Having a helpful group to guide you will not help if you are unwilling to "agree" to the first three. Do not expect to get better overnight, however, you should improve significantly within a few weeks if you do the above.

You can also ask questions and read through the PvP specific forums here on Guru, in the Gladiator's Arena.

Well most the people above me have the correct answers however I recommend joining a newbie friendly guild I happen to be in one of those, however It's aimed for pve and I'm the only one who pvps a lot and has done so since HA was in the tombs. So you can contact me in game if you need help my guru name is my ign. Hope you have fun!

If you want a rage free RA encounter, turn off local and team chat, and put yourself as offline in the friends list, RA then becomes like PvE, you just grind your title/play as you please.

1) In PVP, why do some party members resign immediately at the beginning of the match? Is there some kind of special trick that works by resigning? Like sometimes my entire team will resign and I wonder if there's something wrong with me... I'm an elementalist/monk; is that a bad combo and everyone can just tell I'm a newb or something?

U are probaly talking about Random Arena. They resign because they watch the teamcomposition and think they won't get much of any wins.
E/Mo is generally speaking (except for splitbuilds in GvG) a sign of a newie player

2) Sometimes in the PVP arena there are flags that you have to carry to the obelisk stand, so I pick it up and try to get it there (I try to steer clear of the other team, of course) but I get yelled at by my party members and get called a "noob ele." I've seen other people from the other team carrying their flag, so what am I doing wrong?

U are not doing something wrong there.
But the best option is to wait till the enemy team caps and after that U overcap. A flag should always be carried by a caster

3) I brought a monk skill with me that heals me when my allies attack, but I got yelled a lot by one team member who told me that it will heal the other team too. Is that really true? So you're not allowed to use heal skills in PVP because it heals the other team? If that's the case, all I can say is that's very confusing!

Generally speaking : U are an Elementalist ; your job is to deal damage.
U should not take a heal skill (or maybe aura of restoration for yourself), thats the monks job if u are lucky enough to get one in your team

I have to say that the level of outright hostility towards new players in the game is kind of frightening, especially in PVP.
True, but when u have met "meteorshower warriors" sometimes ur patience is tried. But it's not ok. But do make some effort yourself ; ask people in your guild for decent builds and let them explain to you WHY it is decent.
Then : just enter RA and learn, watch how other players play

._. I understand that it must be frustrating for veterans to "put up" with new people, but I have literally been insulted and cursed at just for not understanding something.

Part of it is that new players just jump in with a "pve-build" that just doesn't work in PvP ; long time pvp-ers will spot that after a second.
So in defense of us : take some time and read up about what u are supposed to do.

Its worth noting that in RA there are perhaps a total of about 20 skill bars which people would consider acceptable, if ur playing something else, people are going to shout at you. The majority of people play to win, because winning = fun for many people, if you run a bad bar you are reducing their chance of winning.

Quick Rundown of whats hot, and whats not in random arenas.

Elementalists: A favourite for many players, they have 5-10 templates which can be useful in RA, although most players choose to run an invoke lightning build because its incredbly easy, and still very effective.

Dervishes: Very powerful, probably too powerful in fact. Again there are 2-3 different dervish builds which would be seen as acceptable.

Monk: As an arena monk, if ur not running Mo/W with some stances ur doing it wrong if you just want to win the maximum number of games. Other than this sort of minimum requirement, there are numerous effective monk skills you could use.

Ranger: Generally you will have 7 skills the same on every ranger bar. distracting shot, savage shot, apply poison, mend touch, natural stride, lightning reflexes, res signet. Your elite skill is more or less a personal preference, there are several good ones to choose from with a variety of functions.

Warriors: Hammer warrior - Hot. Any other warrior - Not.

Assasins: A lot people like to play them, but they are simply not as good as hammer warriors or dervishes.

Paragons: Steer clear, they're horrible.

Mesmer: A variety of different skills which can be useful, although mesmers tend to be a priority target on the team, so unless you have a good monk on ur team, prepare to be dead, a lot.

Ritualists: Damage rits are bad, and healing rits dont heal as well as a monk + they lack the monks ability to remove conditions/hexes effectively.

Necromancer: Very powerful class, particulary in random arenas. Several potential builds, although you should probably only be using blood magic or curses. Death magic sucks, minion masters are useless and if you just want to do damage, play an elementalist!




Obviously that list is by no means concrete, and its primarily focused towards the idea of winning the maximum number of games possible. Of course you could still play positions that i have called bad/useless, just be aware that if you choose to run sub-standard builds, people are going to flame you and leave your team, even if you win the match.

The other key point i'll make, which a lot of people dont seem to realise, stick to ur job and dont try and do everything. For instance a warriors job is to do damage, you do not need to take ANY monk skills at all. Let the monk on ur team worry about healing people, if you dont have a monk, resign and enter again. (relates to ur first question).

I wont bother answering ur other questions, as other people have already done so, and most of whats been said is pretty accurate.

Welcome welcome, you will (have already infact).

Because you're pretty much screwed when you don't have a monk on your team and the other team has.

The flags are delicate, sometimes it's not worth it and most people don't know how to use them properly. I'd advice you stay clear of them as they are likely to do more harm than help you.

There's 2 monk skills which heals all, healing circle and healing ring (I believe I got that right...), they are usually bad. You want to focus on 1 role as much as possible, and avoid using too many attribute lines as you'll get less effective than if you focus on two or maybe three.

That's pvp for you... I've noticed an increase of this, not just in gw, but in all games. It's sad really, but you'll have to shield yourself from it. Remember though, that it's probably some truth in it - you're doing something wrong so try to figure out what and improve!.

Do keep in mind that the gw community is the best community I know, and many would agree with me. This holds especially true in pve as it's more laid back than pvp. In pvp it's easy to be too emotional and say things you normally wouldn't say.

Thanks for the responses, everyone! I appreciate how detailed and thorough your answers have been. You're right, every time I've asked a question on these forums, I've always gotten such helpful answers, which is more than I can say for other game communities.

Oh, I think I was confused about the healing prayer skill I had brought along. It is called "Vigorous Spirit" and I (mistakenly) thought it said it would heal me whenever my allies attacked. Anyway, I casted that skill at the beginning of that round, but I didn't know it was possible to heal the other team's members.
(Still, now that I think about it, now that I know what Vigorous Spirit actually does, I still don't see how that would have healed the opposing team. ;_; Well, whatever!)
Thanks for the info about "heal area" and healing circle -- I had been bringing "Karei's healing circle" with me in PVE but hadn't known it healed enemies too. X_x

Anyway, like someone suggested, I think I'll just focus on PVE for now and maybe dabble in PVP when I have gotten a better handle on the game. I still have a lot of missions to do, so that's something to look forward to. C:

In general, most posters here on Guru are nicer than some of the folks you will meet in the lower-level, non-group PvP formats. When you are ready to give PvP another go, go find a nice group!

There is no way (outside of PvE) to heal the opposing team with Vigorous Spirit, so that someone was simply wrong. Perhaps the comment was made because it is not a popular skill to bring on an E/Mo, as there are better options. Unfortunately, some players are jerks.

sadly as a new player i wont be going anywhere near pvp.it sounds the same as any other online game ive tried,i.e internet+ anonimity= instant a**hole!
easy to insult someone when hiding behind the internets skirts.
my new player mates and me will stick to pve i think. cheers

Here's some unsolicited and free advice about PvP. Go to gwpvx and use those builds until you feel comfortable enough to try different builds. If you play with someone who's really good, feel free to ask them their build (they may not share, and that's ok).
Start out with Faction's Competitive missions for PvP or even Alliance Battles. After you are sure what you have works well, go try Random Arenas.