World versus World

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Disambig icon.png This article is about the game mode. For the achievement group, see World vs. World (achievement group). For the achievement category, see World vs World (achievements). For World Experience and Ability Points, see World Experience.

Storm castles and conquer territories in World versus World! Enter the Mists through Eternal Battlegrounds asura gates in major cities, or by clicking the castle icon in the top left corner of your screen. Press [B] to see your WvW progress.

— Level 60 and level 80 rewards.

The five World versus World maps.

World vs. World (WvW), lorewise known as the Mist War, is a game mode combining PvP and PvE elements, where players, divided into three teams based on their worlds (game servers), engage in open-world combat against each other for objectives and resource control. World versus World is one of the three main game modes, along with the Player versus Environment and Structured PvP.

WvW takes place across five large maps with up to several dozen players per map, which may involve six or more worlds. Besides open field battles, players can besiege and defend objectives such as Keeps and Towers with siege weapons, skirmish over resource camps, and participate in PvE-type dynamic events.

Players joining WvW will have their level and attributes dynamically adjusted to level 80. However, their equipment attributes will remain locked to their equipment level, so entering at a low level is not recommended. Although equipment can be obtained within WvW, this game mode does not reward normal experience. Character levels may instead be gained by using Tomes of Knowledge, obtained from rank increase rewards and WvW reward tracks.

Instead of experience, participating in WvW grants World Experience (WXP), a system of account and character progression. Accumulating enough WXP increases a player's World Rank and provides access to new abilities through WXP upgrades.

WvW has a hybrid reward system that allows to gain rewards both passively over time, and through active gameplay. The passive reward system consists of the always enabled Skirmish reward track and selectable WvW Reward Tracks, both based on continuous participation in WvW activities. Active rewards are granted for successful capture or defense of objectives, as well as defeating enemy players and NPCs. In addition, currencies and certain items, exclusive to the game mode, can be traded to a vendor in exchange for extra weekly reward.

World versus World user interface.

Lore[edit]

Primary article: Mist War

Getting there[edit]

See also: World vs. World
Stonemist Castle being besieged.
  • WvW Menu Bar icon.pngOpen the World vs. World panel (default B)and select which WvW map to enter.
    • Free-to-play accounts will gain access to this panel account-wide once one character reaches level 60.
    • Paid accounts may access this panel at level 31.
  • Asura gate (map icon).pngAsura gates located at Lion's Arch Point of interest (map icon).png Mist Portals lead to each WvW map. Each WvW map has asura gates to travel to other WvW maps.
  • Waypoint (map icon).pngWaypoints can be used to travel between WvW maps if the player is already in a WvW map.
Leaving
  • You may leave the Mists through the World vs World UI window, through a Lion's Arch Asura Portal, or through relogging/swapping characters.
  • You may also leave by using teleportation Gizmos such as the Royal Terrace Pass.
  • You will be forcibly kicked to the character selection screen if your character is idle for 15 minutes.
  • You will always be returned to the map you were in before entering WvW. You cannot be returned to a Player instanced map, such as story missions or home instances.

Map capacity[edit]

The various maps can hold a limited number of players. If this cap is reached, the map will gain a queue. Players can swap maps while in a queue without losing their place, but swapping characters will drop them from the queue. Edge of the Mists technically has no queue, as a new map will open as required.

Player limits are based on the server resources being used. The limit number is split equally among all three worlds.[1]

Rewards[edit]

WvW Match Overview

World versus World has a hybrid reward system that allows to gain rewards both passively over time, and through active gameplay.

Passive Rewards[edit]

See also: Participation (WvW)

The passive reward system consists of two types of reward tracks, Skirmish reward track and WvW Reward Tracks, both based on earning points in 5 minute intervals ("ticks") while participating in WvW activities. Reward tracks require maintaining a certain level of participation in WvW activities in order to gain "pips", points that progress the track. Rewards are provided in tiers when sufficient number of points is accumulated for each tier.

The Skirmish reward track, which is always enabled, serves as the primary source of WvW Skirmish Claim Ticket WvW Skirmish Claim Ticket currency, used for purchasing various rewards from the vendors, including WvW-exclusive legendary equipment.

WvW Reward Tracks are activated by the player in the World vs. World panel and provide a wide variety of rewards, ranging from crafting materials to equipment. Some WvW Reward Tracks can be repeated infinitely, other – only completed once.

Loot Based/Active Rewards[edit]

For active rewards, successful capture of defense of objectives, as well as defeating enemy players and NPCs, provides various equipment, crafting materials, and loot bags, including a chance for rare high value items. Additional items can be purchased from vendor Dugan in exchange for WvW-exclusive currencies and items obtained from loot.

Below is an incomplete list of rewards that can be primarily received through active gameplay and, partially, through the reward tracks:

Objective Scaling Rewards

Primary article: Objective#Objective Scaling Rewards

There are additional rewards for participating in objective events: assaulting or defending towers, keeps, and castles, specifically.

Event Rewards (at level 80, gold contribution reward)

Capture
Event Type WXP Karma
Castle 1000 1,700 Karma
Keep 800 1,360 Karma
Tower 400 680 Karma
Camp 200 340 Karma
Shrine 100 Karma
Sentry 100 170 Karma
Dolyak 50 85 Karma
Defense
Event Type WXP Karma
Castle 200 340 Karma
Keep 200 340 Karma
Tower 150 255 Karma
Camp 85 170 Karma
Shrine 0 Karma
Sentry 0 Karma
Dolyak 0 Karma
Eternal Battlegrounds events
Event Type WXP Karma
Dredge Camp 200 340 Karma
Ogre Camp 200 340 Karma
Hylek Camp 200 340 Karma

There is no reward for capturing Alpine Borderland's Ruins (except for Dailies).

Equipment[edit]

Players may earn a variety of unique WvW-exclusive armor and weapon skins, including WvW Legendary armor and the WvW Legendary Backpiece, Warbringer

Mistforged Triumphant Hero's Armor (Light)
General equipment
Armor
Weapons
Non-game-mode specific ascended stat-resettable trinkets.

Mechanics[edit]

Interface at the top of your screen.

Interface[edit]

The image to the right illustrates the score interface used in Borderlands and Eternal Battlegrounds, located at the top of your screen when inside those locations. Edge of the Mists uses a different interface.

  • [1] Click this arrow at the top of your screen to open the Skirmish Details window.
  • [2] The current war score of all 3 teams, cumulative throughout all Borderlands and Eternal Battlegrounds.
  • [3] Potential points that may be added to the war score of your team when the current tick timer expires.
  • [4] Current Tick Timer: the time remaining until those points are applied.
  • [5] Number of supplies you are holding.
  • [6] Amount of time left in current Skirmish
  • [7] Mouseover window with breakdown of potential points for all 3 teams
  • Your team is indicated by the background color of both [3] and [5]

Opening your World vs World window (default B) will reveal 4 tabs:

Tab Function
Mist War
  • Swap borderlands, queue for filled maps, view the current skirmish timers and scoring.
Match Overview
  • Detailed overview of the current match scoring. May be further limited by Skirmish Details or Match History tabs at the top of the window.
  • Visual representation of Current Match Rewards for Skirmish reward track progress.
Reward Tracks
  • View and select locked and unlocked reward tracks to determine which rewards to receive. If the reward track is repeatable, players can click the infinity symbol next to a track name to loop it endlessly.
Rank and Abilities
  • View your current WvW Rank, Rank name, future title progression rank
  • View and upgrade various WvW specific abilities, such as Build Master or Flame Ram Mastery

For Information on Objective UI options, see Objective upgrades.

Communication[edit]

Primary article: Chat panel

WvW relies heavily on /Squad chat, /Map chat, and /Team chat. Enemy players cannot read the opposing teams' /Say, /Map, or /Team chats. Many servers and guilds utilize community Voice chats in addition to in-game text-chats. Locating a voice server address is generally as easy as asking Map or Team chat once within a Borderland.

Tips:

  • You can display which borderland a player is in next to their name within the chat box, by clicking the chat cogwheel and checking the box marked "Show Channel Tag".
  • Party chat may be used while within a squad to broadcast only to the sub-group and not to the entire squad.
  • See Common Terms and Abbreviations for more information.

Combat[edit]

Primary article: Combat

WvW is first and foremost, a Player vs. Player game-mode. You are rewarded with loot and World Experience for killing enemy players. Killing players also awards Points-Per-Kill (PPK) that go toward your server's War Score (see below).

Enemy Players[edit]

Killing an enemy player in WvW will result in gaining world experience and loot. Loot often includes Badges of Honor, but is otherwise randomly generated. The defeated player does not lose anything through being defeated.

The names of players from other worlds are not shown. Instead, they appear as "<world> <rank title>". For example, a player from the Darkhaven world at World Experience Rank 3 will be "Darkhaven Invader". Guild tags are still shown, appended to their name.

Enemy players cannot see your name or anything you type in any chat, with the exception of whisper or guild chat. Emotes still log a description in emote chat, though the description will read as "Silver Invader laughs with Bronze Soldier", eliminating any names. "RP" chat (/e chat) will not appear to enemy players.

Spawn points[edit]

Spawn points are waypoints that exist in each battleground. There are two types of spawn points: those which are permanently open and those that must be activated or built towards.

Permanent Waypoints

Each World versus World map includes three permanent waypoints, one for each team (see table below), to allow basic access to the map regardless of which team is dominating. These waypoints cannot be used by enemy teams and are protected by Legendary Defenders. Each spawn point includes a set of NPCs where players may reinforce their armor, sell loot, or buy blueprints. There are several paths out of each spawn location. It is difficult for an enemy team to camp a spawn directly, as players and most NPCs in the spawn area are invulnerable and the multiple exits are usually impossible to block.

Location Green Team Blue Team Red Team
Green Alpine Borderlands Green World Citadel Blue World Border Red World Border
Blue Alpine Borderlands Green World Border Blue World Citadel Red World Border
Red Desert Borderlands Green World Border Blue World Border Red World Citadel
Eternal Battlegrounds Green World Hill Blue World Hill Red World Hill
Objective Waypoints

Other waypoints can be added to some objectives through objective upgrades and the Emergency Waypoint Tactic. These waypoints provide quicker access across the map. A waypoint cannot be used if the objective it is housed in is under attack, with the exception of Emergency Waypoints. Emergency Waypoints are visible even if you are on a different WvW map.

Reviving players[edit]

Players in WvW may only revive downed or defeated players from their own team. Reviving a defeated player requires the reviver to be out of combat; the same mechanism is valid for any NPCs. If a player enters combat while reviving a defeated player or NPC, they may continue the revive channel. If the revive channel is broken, the reviver will be unable to restart reviving the player or NPC until they are once again out of combat.

Unlike in PvE, only one player may rally off a single kill. Rallying prioritizes the nearest downed player with damage qualification, and players cannot rally by killing basic creatures.

A defeated player will have a 5 minute timer applied to them. When the time runs out, the player will be automatically revived at their team's spawn point for that map.

Supply[edit]

Primary article: Supply

Supply is a special resource in WvW, used for the following:

Supply is therefore the basic resource around which WvW revolves.

Supply does not show up in your inventory, but the number of currently held supply is shown on the WvW interface.

Commanders can access supply reports with chat commands.

Siege weapons[edit]

Primary article: Siege weapon

Siege Weapons are environmental weapons that can be built to accomplish a particular purpose.

Player damage is severely limited against doors, and reduced to zero against walls, therefore, siege weapons such as Flame Rams and Catapults are an integral part of capturing a walled objective. With the exception of the siege golem, all siege weapons are stationary and cannot be moved. Counter-Siege weapons such as Ballistas and Shield Generators are also used to mitigate or destroy enemy siege.

Certain siege weapons like Cannons or Burning Oil can be acquired through objective upgrades. These siege weapons do not require blueprints.

Traps and Tricks[edit]

Primary articles: Trick (environmental weapon), Trap (environmental weapon)

Much like siege weapons, Traps (placed on the ground; marks the enemy team or removes their supply) and Tricks (thrown directly at the enemy; marks the enemy or disables their siege weapons) are gizmos which can be deployed by spending war supply. They can be purchased from the Traps and Tricks vendor, purchased from the Permanent Portable Provisioner, or received as possible rewards from various WvW chests and boxes.

Objectives and Territories[edit]

Objectives[edit]

Primary article: Objective

There are four different types of major objectives: Camps, Towers, Keeps, and one Castle. These locations can be captured and held for War Score points. Depending on the type of objective, there are a number of obstacles that must be overcome before it can be captured. The following table lists the defenses that each objective type possesses:

Resource camp Tower Keep Stonemist Castle
Guards 1Yes 1Yes 1Yes 1Yes
Walls/Door 0No 1Yes 1Yes 1Yes
Lord1 0No 1Yes 1Yes 1Yes
Inner Walls 0No 0No 1Yes 1Yes

1. Champion Tower Lord, Champion Keep Lord or Legendary Castle Lord.

Objective Upgrades[edit]
Primary article: Objective upgrade

Held objectives immediately begin progressing towards automatic upgrade tiers that improve that objective's defensive capabilities. These upgrades are obtained by Supply Dolyaks successfully reaching the objective and by total continuous claimed time passed.

Territories[edit]

Primary article: Territory

Once an objective has been captured by a team, the area surrounding it will gain a border of that team's representative color. While within that border, players from the capturing team will be able to Glide (provided they have the first rank in War Gliding Mastery). Completing the Bloodlust in the Borderlands event by capturing three ruins in a Borderlands map will capture the territory for all five ruin sections. If lost to another team, three more ruins must be captured and held to retake all five sections.

Movement[edit]

Gliding[edit]

Gliding in WvW is unlocked separately from PvE, through spending World Ability Points for the War Gliding Mastery. It requires purchase of Heart of Thorns to unlock. Gliding is possible only in territories controlled by one's own world. Gliding from one's territory to another world's or unclaimed territory will display the message "You are entering a no-fly zone. Land or turn back now." and the effect Gliding Disabled Warning.png Gliding Disabled Warning is displayed. This effect disables the redeployment of the glider and gives the player a few seconds before forcing the player to stop gliding.

Mounts[edit]

Warclaw 1.jpg
Primary article: Warclaw

Most mounts are disabled in WvW. The exception is the Warclaw, a mount announced by ArenaNet in February 2019 and released on March 5th of the same year. Use requires purchase of the Path of Fire expansion and completion of a WvW-based unlocking chain. It features several abilities to help players move faster, take down gates, or engage in battle, and several skills to supplement, but not replace, other typical WvW activities. Players may invest 16 World Experience points in Warclaw Mastery so that nearby, unmounted players may receive Warclaw's Blessing and run at a similar speed.

Score[edit]

Skirmishes[edit]

Matches are 1 week long, split into 2-hour time slices called Skirmishes. During a skirmish, worlds will earn War Score based on how many objectives are held, with War Score being used to determine the winner of each skirmish. When each 2-hour skirmish ends, the War Score is reset, but the actual state of the map and objectives remains unchanged.

Skirmishes award Victory Points based on placement (1st — 5 Victory Points, 2nd — 4 Victory Points, 3rd — 3 Victory Points). After 84 Skirmishes (one week with 12 skirmishes/day), Victory Points are used to determine first, second and third place.

War Score[edit]

All objectives controlled by each world provide points based on the tier of each objective (see table below). Every 5 minutes ("tick"), the points gained from objectives are added to the War Score of each world (PPT = Points Per Tick). Additionally, capping an enemy's objective will also add points to the War Score, based on the tier of the objective (see table below).

Points per tick/capture Base Points Secured Reinforced Fortified
Camp 2 3 4 5
Tower 4 6 8 10
Keep 8 12 16 20
Castle 12 18 24 30

Killing or finishing (stomping) an enemy will add two points to the War Score (PPK = Points Per Kill). Stomping an enemy with the Borderlands Bloodlust effect will add one extra point.

Killing a hostile dolyak is worth one point, while escorting a friendly delivering dolyak provides one point at each destination.

Guild Claiming and Tactics[edit]

Primary article: Objective upgrade
Guild Claim Priority Indicator

On capturing an objective, an option to claim the objective for your guild will appear. Generally the guild with the highest number of people within the objective on capping will be able to claim the objective first, followed by the 2nd largest, and so on. Claiming an objective allows guilds to activate unique effects known as Improvements, which are passive, and Tactics, which must be actively used, through the use of War Chest Schematics.

Map-specific mechanics[edit]

Mercenaries[edit]

Three groups of NPC mercenaries are present in the Eternal Battlegrounds:

Helping out the mercenaries by completing a dynamic event will result in them temporarily joining your world's side. For example, saving Orgath Uplands from hostile harpies will result in Ogres joining your cause. Allied mercenaries then begin attacking, capturing, and reinforcing nearby supply camps.

Monuments[edit]

Monuments are present in each Borderlands: nine shrines in the Desert Borderlands, and five ruins in the center of both Desert and Alpine Borderlands. Shrines grant stacking bonuses to nearby keeps, and provide a Blessing of Elements to players who capture or interact with the shrine. Ruins grant team-wide bonuses to the team that holds them.

Bloodlust[edit]
Primary article: Borderlands Bloodlust

The ruin monuments in each of the Borderlands maps may be captured to gain the Major Borderlands Bloodlust.png Borderlands Bloodlust effect, which grants various bonuses, depending on how many ruins are captured.

Champion and Veteran Creatures[edit]

Besides Champions defending spawn and Towers, there are other sub-objective Champions and Veterans that may be killed. These don't provide any benefit to scoring or territory, though some are used for dailies.

In the Eternal Battlegrounds, there are two champion creatures. These are the Champion Arboreal Spirit and the Overgrown Grub.

In the Borderlands maps, there are veteran creatures that spawn at various locations on each map.

Map-based differences[edit]

Eternal Battlegrounds[edit]

  • Green, Blue, and Red Keeps on Eternal Battlegrounds differ from one another in terms of Offensive and Defensive capability.
    • Green is easily defensible with its extensive moat.
    • Blue is fairly neutral, containing both moderate terrain hazards and more easily siege-able walls.
    • Red has multiple points where Trebuchets can hit enemy objectives, making it a good offensive keep.

Borderlands[edit]

  • The Garrison in each borderlands is very close to the spawn of the home team, giving them a significant advantage when defending.
  • Other teams' spawns are closer to the lesser Keep objectives, in comparison.

Match-making and Server Linking[edit]

Matchmaking[edit]

Eternal Battlegrounds just after weekly reset

In 2017, Anet implemented a 1-up, 1-down system, where a match's 1st place team (with the most world score) would go up a tier, 2nd place would stay in their current tier, and 3rd place would go down a tier. In the next match, the server that moved up is designated the Red team, the server that stayed is the Blue team, and the server that went down a tier is designated Green team. The server at the top of each tier is designated Green team. Leaderboards for WvW rankings are updated online for both North America and Europe.

At the end of the week, if two teams are tied in victory points, those two teams will stay in the current tier and not be moved up/down (as applicable), and the teams in other tiers that would've moved up/down as a result stay in their current tiers as well. The tied teams will get placed on a team based on their final score at the end of the week (i.e. if blue and red teams are tied at the end of the match but red had more score, both teams stay in the same tier but the team that was previously on red will be on blue and the team that was previously on blue will be on red. The team in the tier below would stay in green and not be moved up a tier.)

Home Borderlands[edit]

  • Your team's "Home Borderland" is denoted by a little House icon in the WvW Map Selection panel next to your server's (or host server's) name. (i.e. If your server is Fort Aspenwood, your Home Borderland is Fort Aspenwood Borderland.)

Previous Matchmaking System[edit]

Before 2017, Worlds in WvW were typically matched based on a modified Glicko rating,[2] so that high-ranked worlds would battle other high-ranked worlds, and low-ranked worlds would battle other low-ranked worlds. This attempted to ensure that every world had a fair chance of winning matches despite differing levels of player participation or skill.[3] First place gained 5 points, second place 4 points, and third place 3 points.

Server Linking[edit]

See also: World#Currently linked worlds

In April 2016, Anet implemented Server Linking to combat low-population servers in WvW. [4] Lower population servers are "linked" with higher population ("host") servers, allowing them to play together. In the case of EU servers, the server's primary language is not necessarily a factor in how they are matched. A host server may have more than one link. Servers are normally relinked on the last Friday of every second month.

Weekly WvW reset[edit]

See also: Server reset#Weekly reset

At Weekly Reset, the Scoring window from the WvW UI will pop-up and show the final calculated scores for all teams in the match. With the current matchmaking system, this score determines your team's placement for the next week. After a short while, players will receive a warning in yellow text saying that reset has begun and that they will be kicked out of WvW while the new match-ups are being calculated. Approximately 5-10 minutes later, players will be able to enter WvW again. (Generally, matches are fully reset roughly 3 minutes after the hour, though exceptions may occur.)

World Restructuring/Alliances[edit]

Primary article: Alliances

World restructuring is an in-development update to the WvW matchmaking system whereby the current World/Server system will be replaced by the Alliances system.

Roles[edit]

WvW battles generally fall into a spectrum between one-on-one combat and zergs.

Zerg[edit]

Commander tag (blue).png
Primary article: Zerg

In most WvW, there is some form of zerg where large number of players congregate to capture objectives. Zergs are usually led by one or more Commander tag (blue).png Commander Tags . This allows friendly players who are not part of the zerg to know the current position of the zerg. The number of players in a zerg may vary, but is usually between 30-40 players. A small "Group or Havoc " (10 players or less) is typically called a Havoc group. Five players or less is known as a " Roaming group or Roamer" Depending on their game play. a large group (20+ players) , and a large zerg (40+ players) a map blob, with a large blob (50-60+ players) generally referred to as a map queue, though these terms are generalized, and individual servers may have varying definitions and terms depending on the tier they are used to fighting in.

Roles

Zergs don't require strict role definitions for individual players, however most players tend to fall under a standard RPG archetype:

  • Front-line / Tank
  • DPS
  • Support
  • Crowd Control/Utility

These roles will have overlap as determined by class abilities and traits.

Zerg combat

Combat among zergs can be divided into open field fighting and sieging. Open field fights, as indicated by their name, generally occur away from walls and even away from objectives, with little to no siege gameplay involved. Sieging, in contrast, involves an attacking zerg dropping blueprints and building siege to take an objective. This can be as simple as creating a couple of Flame Rams, or as complicated as dropping Trebuchets, Shield Generators, and Ballistas all at once. Similarly, defending zergs may drop their own siege, such as a multitude of arrow carts, counter-trebuchets, and shield generators. These states of being are fluid, and zergs tend to flow between them as needed.

Tips for Zerging
  • Many commanders utilize Voice Communication programs such Discord or Teamspeak to easily and quickly send orders and receive scouting information. If it is not supplied, ask your squad (/squad) or your team (/team) if they can send you the associated link to their program of choice. Communication is important to successfully fighting other organized groups.
  • Join your zerg's squad, either through asking for an invitation or manually adding yourself to an open one. This can easily be done by right clicking on a commander tag on the map and selecting "Join squad". If you are not in a squad, you are far less likely to receive any party buffs, healing, or support, as these skills target party members first.
  • Play a class and use traits and gear that will benefit the zerg. Servers, guilds, and community websites will all provide examples of preferred builds to bring. If you're unsure of what to use, ask team chat. A zerg of players with synergistic builds will do far better than one without.

See Common Terms and Abbreviations for more information.

Roamer[edit]

Roamers are usually individuals or very small havoc groups that go behind enemy lines to achieve objectives that would normally be impractical or impossible for a zerg. The basic idea is to cause a great deal of Havoc and stress to the opposing teams. They include:

  • Killing or deterring enemy stragglers and reinforcements
  • Defending and destroying supply caravans
  • Capturing enemy camps
  • Tagging (or tapping) - Attacking an enemy keep sufficiently that it (and its waypoint, if any) becomes contested
  • Providing intel about enemy zerg size and position
  • Creating diversions for enemy zergs
  • Destroying defenses such as Cannons , mortars, and Gate oil defenses.
  • making sure that opposing map scouts see them and report them thus keeping the main groups busy rather then allowing them to proceed to ideal objectives.
  • Overall use as a instrument to the Map commander to help in any situation that arises.


Roamers generally require high survivability and escapability but more importantly, above average fighting abilities to destroy opposing roamers and havoc groups-

Scout (Scouting)[edit]

Scouts are those individuals who tend to look out for or babysit one or more objectives. They generally focus on broadcasting enemy movements and aiding in the defense of key objectives. What "scouting an objective" entails may vary from Keeps, Towers, Camps, or even enemy zergs, but the responsibilities of a scout generally include:

  • Staying at and maintaining lookout for a specified objective even if there are fights happening elsewhere in the same map.
  • Upgrading an objective and providing defenses
  • Calling for assistance, if needed, against an enemy zerg
  • Slowing enemies from breaking into the objective by using Siege Disabler.pngSiege Disablers and/or defensive siege
  • Siege will despawn after 1 hour of not being interacted with. Scouts at an objective generally "refresh" siege by interacting with them regularly.
  • Provide precise information on enemy numbers and siege placement if the objective is tagged or is being attacked
  • In many cases, scouts may also help run supply dolyaks to the objective in order to upgrade and resupply.

To provide rewards to a scout, the commander can share participation for the WvW Reward Track if the person has joined the squad, and the squad has a minimum of 5 members.

Successful scout reports should be abbreviated while still conveying relevant information. A good call out will have enemy numbers, server or guild group, nearest relevant objective, possible siege status, and other relevant information. Scouts should also keep in mind whether it's best to use Team chat (/T) or Map chat (/M) when making a call out.

Examples:

  • [# of players] [server/guild group] @ [objective+objective upgrade status] [siege status], [wall/gate %], [additional info]
    • Mag blob @ t3 hills outer, sgate FABL, with 3 rams, gate 50%
    • 20 [Guild] @ NWC (North West Camp), heading north towards Blue Tag.
    • 5 SBI @ Garri. Outer wall down, inner wall @ 80%. No tag on map.
  • Siege refreshed @ SC (South Camp), xx:15

Keep in mind that some servers will have their own abbreviations for certain terms. See below for common terms.

Common Terms and Abbreviations[edit]

The following is a list of common terms and abbreviations that many, if not all servers use.

Useful terms for describing objectives
  • [X]BL - where [X] denotes initials or color of the primary server. (Fort Aspenwood Borderlands becomes FABL, Green Borderlands becomes GBL.) The home borderlands may be referred to as "Home BL" or "HBL". Useful in team chat to specify the map of referenced objectives; e.g. "BBL spawn tower" refers to the tower closest the home spawn point in the Blue Borderlands map.
  • [Cardinal Direction][Objective] - Shorthand use of cardinal directions (North, West, South, East) to denote camps or towers to concisely name a Borderlands objective without having to memorize objective names across all borderlands. (Names of objectives change slightly depending on the color of the Borderland; e.g. Bluebriar tower is situated in the same relative area as Redbriar and Parched Outpost. In this case, all three aforementioned objectives are referred to as "southwest tower", or simply "SWT". In another example, the northernmost camp in a borderlands map could be referred to as "NC".)
  • Garri/Garrison - The northernmost Keep in an Alpine Borderlands map, referring to either Blue Alpine Garrison or Green Alpine Garrison.
  • Stoic/Earth/EK - Stoic Rampart, the northernmost Keep specifically in Desert Borderlands.
  • Hills - The Eastern Keep in an Alpine Borderlands map, referring to either Askalion Hills or Shadaran Hills.
    • Some players might also use the term to refer to Osprey's Palace in the Desert Borderlands map.
  • Air/Air-keep/AK - Osprey's Palace, the Eastern Keep specifically in Desert Borderlands.
  • Bay - The Western Keep in an Alpine Borderlands map, referring to either Ascension Bay or Dreadfall Bay.
  • Fire/Fire-keep/FK - Blistering Undercroft, the Western Keep specifically in Desert Borderlands.
  • SM/SMC - Stonemist Castle in Eternal Battlegrounds.
  • Ruins - Ruins of Power, the center region of each borderlands map. Bloodlust in the Borderlands takes place here.
  • EWP - The tactic for Emergency Waypoint.
  • Invuln - "Invulnerable." The tactic for Siege Dampener (formerly known as Invulnerable Fortifications) has been activated.
  • Paper - Used to refer to Tier 1 objectives. References the ease at which they can be taken due to a lack of strong defenses and upgrades. Usually references un-upgraded walls or gates.
  • RI - Brilliance.png Righteous Indignation is an effect gained by Objective bosses such as Tower Lords for 5 minutes following the capture of an objective.
Useful terms for describing players and player behaviors
  • AJ/Ass-Jam - When an enemy group engages (generally) behind another two groups that are already fighting.
  • Bags - Refers to the Heavy Loot Bag dropped by a defeated enemy player. May also be used as pejorative slang to refer to enemy players.
  • Blob/map-queue - 30-50 players, depending on the tier your server is used to. This term references the squad's ability to fill a map and start a queue for it.
  • Chatmander - A commander who only delivers instructions via the in-game chat. (not to be confused with a Catmander).
  • Cloud - A medium to large group of players with little to no organization or structure, usually without a Squad Commander.
  • Commander/Comm/Driver/Tag - Various ways to denote a Squad Commander.
  • Fight Guild - Refers to guilds who focus on taking fights, even if that means sacrificing objectives or points for their server.
  • Guild vs Guild/GvG - Refers to organized fights between guild squad groups that occur outside of the context of an organic WvW matchup. May occur in secluded open field areas of WvW maps, typically in the Edge of the Mists Mists Arena or Armistice Bastion. See also: Raid vs Raid/RvR.
  • Havoc - A small group of 5-10 people whose purpose is to assist their team by splitting forces out from the main enemy zerg, either by attacking alternate objectives or by harassing stragglers in the zerg.
  • "Incoming/Inc" - Enemy players are moving towards the squad.
  • OJs/X - Orange Swords will appear on the map to mark when at least 25 players have engaged in combat. Nicknamed OJs (oh-jays) for their orange color or X for the crossed swords appearance.
  • Open field - Refers to areas of the map outside of objectives. Usually used when describing fighting areas. (Fighting open field vs. fighting within an objective.)
  • Pick (Pick Squad) - A squad leader might designate 2-4 players in a zerg as "Pick". Their job is to focus high-priority targets and quickly take them down. (For example, sniping the enemy Commander.)
  • Pin-sniping/Commander-sniping - When a player or group of players focuses on eliminating the enemy commander.
  • Player vs Door/PvD - Refers to players directly attacking gates, occasionally without the aid of a Flame Ram.
  • PPT/PPTer/PPTing - (See War Score) PPT stands for Points-Per-Tick, which are points gained from holding objectives. PPTers are groups or players that heavily focus on maximizing their team's PPT score. (PPTing)
  • Pugmander/Pugmanding - When a Commander is leading a group of players (PUGs) that are not formally associated with one another by guild or agreement.
  • PUGs - From the phrase "Pick-Up Group." Slang for player(s) not involved with a guild or organized group, or members of an organized group not part of the Commander's core group.
  • Raid/Rally - Refers to an organized group of players logging in at a pre-arranged time to form a squad. These players are usually part of the same guild.
  • Raid vs Raid/RvR - An organized fight similar to GvG but with less restrictions on team size and composition, these are typically played with 20 or more players on each team.
    • RvRs involving teams of 30 or more players may be instead referred to as "Blob vs Blob/BvB".
  • Rallybot - A derogatory term for allied or enemy players. This is generally used to call out players who are defeated early in a fight, causing the opposing team to rally.
  • Ram, Cata, Balli, Treb, AC - Shorthand for various siege. (i.e. Flame Ram, Catapult, Ballista, Trebuchet, Arrow Cart).
  • Roaming group/roamers - 1-5 people
  • Tail - i.e. the Tail of the Zerg, used to describe a moving commander-led group where several players have fallen behind.
  • Tap - Hitting an objective solely to cause it to become Contested. No siege is placed and those attacking the objective are only trying to hinder using the associated waypoint or are trying to cause confusion.
  • Zerg - Anywhere between 15-30 people, depending on the tier your server is used to.
Useful Zerging terminology (usually spoken by the commander)
  • "Banner" - Refers to the Warrior skill  Battle Standard.png Battle Standard, however this term is more often used as a synonym for "Signet" or "Glyph" (see below).
  • "Blast" - Commander tells players to use Blast finisher skills on certain fields.
  • "Bomb" - Commander tells players to place high damage skills in a certain area.
  • "Breach/Breaches" - Commander calls for Scourges to use their  Ghastly Breach.png Ghastly Breach skills.
  • "Bubble", "Winds" or "Dome" - Commander either tells allied Spellbreakers to use their elite skill,  Winds of Disenchantment.png Winds of Disenchantment, which appears as a large orange semisphere for ally bubbles, or a brown semisphere for enemy bubbles. Some organized groups may assign multiple bubbles, as done with Stab1/Stab2 (see below). Commanders often call out and maneuver the group to apply damage inside ally bubbles while avoiding enemy bubbles.
  • "Bunker" or "Brick Wall" - Commander tells players to bunker. The Squad/Party hold their ground, placing AoE in front of themselves and letting the enemy run into it.
  • "CC" - May refer to "Hard CC" or "Soft CC" (see below).
  • "Cleanse" - Commander calls for players to use Condition Clearing skills on allies.
  • "Corrupts/Strip" - Commander calls for classes with boon corruption or removal skills to focus them in a certain area. (Usually Necromancers.)
  • "Empower" or "Might up" - Commander calls for Guardians to use  Empower.png Empower, generating Might.png Might or for fire fields to be blasted. Some commanders may use this interchangeably with "Pump Boons".
  • "Glyph" - Called out by Elementalists when they use  Glyph of Renewal.png Glyph of Renewal on downed allies.
  • "Hard CC" - Commander calls for crowd control skills to be used.
  • "IoL", "Illu" or "Illusion" - Called out by Mesmers when they use  Illusion of Life.png Illusion of Life on downed allies.
  • "Lines/Rings/Statics" - Commander calls for "line" type crowd control skills such as  Line of Warding.png Line of Warding,  Unsteady Ground.png Unsteady Ground, or  Static Field.png Static Field.
  • "Pull" - Commander calls for players to use "Pull" type skills such as  Spectral Grasp.png Spectral Grasp,  Vortex.png Into the Void, or  Chapter 3- Heated Rebuke.png Chapter 3: Heated Rebuke). (Typically used to pull enemies off of a wall or into a damage area.)
  • "Pump Boons" - Commander calls for classes that share boons, such as Mesmers, Guardians, and Elementalists, to begin using boon distribution skills.
  • "Purges" - Commander calls for players to use Condition Clearing skills on allies, most notably,  Purging Flames.png Purging Flames.
  • "Reflects" - Commander calls for abilities that reflect, destroy, or block projectiles to be placed between the zerg and the enemy, as a counter for projectile heavy groups.
  • "Resistance" - Commander calls for classes that give Resistance.png Resistance—such as Firebrands, Heralds, and Mesmers—to share it with allies.
  • "Shades" - Commander calls for Scourges to use Shade skills.
  • "Signet" - Called out by Guardians when they use  Signet of Mercy.png Signet of Mercy on downed players.
  • "Soft CC" - Commander calls for soft crowd control skills to be used. (Condition based Crowd Control)
  • "Spike" or "Range spike"- Used interchangeably with "Bomb". Commander tells players to place high damage, typically ranged skills in a certain area. Often used in conjunction with Pulls or CCs.
  • "Stab1/Stab2" - Commander calls for 1 person per party to use stability. In an organized group, stability 1 and stability 2 will be assigned to certain party members, typically Guardians.
  • "Stealth/smoke/sneaky" - Commander tells players to grant Stealth to the squad through either stealth abilities such as  Sneak Gyro.png Sneak Gyro or blast finishers combined with a smoke combo field such as  Smoke Cloud.png Smoke Cloud.
  • "Tomes/Tome 1, 2, or 3/Justice, Resolve, or Courage" - Commander calls for Firebrands to use their  Tome of Justice.png Tome of Justice,  Tome of Resolve.png Tome of Resolve, or  Tome of Courage.png Tome of Courage abilities.
  • "Water" - Commander calls for a Water field to be placed on the ground. The player that places it might say "small/large water on tag" depending on the type of water field that was dropped. Others are generally expected to use combat abilities with combo finishers to increase the water field's efficacy, when feasible.
  • "Wells" - Commander calls for everyone to use their Well skills. (Typically Necromancer's  Well of Suffering.png Well of Suffering or  Well of Corruption.png Well of Corruption, and may also refer to Chronomancer's  Gravity Well.png Gravity Well)

Jumping puzzles[edit]

Entrance to one of the Mistwrought Vault jumping puzzles.

The various WvW maps allow access to three jumping puzzles: Obsidian Sanctum, Emerald Sanctum, and Sapphire Sanctum (with Emerald and Sapphire collectively known as Mistwrought Vault). At the end of each of the puzzles is a chest that rewards some equipment, siege blueprints, and badges of honor, as well as the associated achievement from completing it. They may be difficult to complete as they are shared across the competing worlds, and players might encounter hostile players while trying to navigate the puzzle. Mounting and Gliding are both disabled in the three jumping puzzle zones.

Mistwrought Vault[edit]

Primary article: Mistwrought Vault

Mistwrought Vault is a jumping puzzle in the north-west of every Alpine Borderlands map. This puzzle can be completed once per day on either Alpine maps (Blue or Green Borderlands). Completing one does not deny rewards for the other. This jumping puzzle is not present in the Desert Borderlands.

Obsidian Sanctum[edit]

Primary article: Obsidian Sanctum

Obsidian Sanctum is a jumping puzzle which can be accessed via the WvW menu, or through a door in any of the keeps in Eternal Battlegrounds. It is a separate instance from any of the other WvW maps, though players will continue to receive rewards each tick if they had sufficient participation before entering.

WvW bonus events[edit]

Occasionally, there is a Special event with unique effects or mechanics taking place in World versus World.

Tournament system[edit]

Previously, tournaments (known at the time as a season) were held for World versus World. Worlds fought other worlds over the course of multiple weeks to earn points; 1st place gave 5 points, 2nd place gave 3 points, and 3rd place gave 1 point. At the end of the tournament, players in each world would receive rewards for their world's ranking based on points earned. Throughout the tournaments, players could earn individual rewards through limited time achievements and achievement rewards.

Rewards

Players who participated in tournaments received WvW Tournament Claim Tickets to trade for other rewards from the Battle Historian. These rewards included Hero's weapons, Mistforged Hero's weapons, Mini Dolyak, ascended accessories, and more.

Tournaments held[edit]

Trivia[edit]

Citadel during Wintersday.
  • The points awarded for holding Stonemist Castle was reduced from 50 to 35 points in the September 14th, 2012 update. This was done because Stonemist became easier to capture, due to the Legendary Castle Lord being moved to the lower floor (the initial placement of the Castle Lord on the second floor resulted in abuse of arrow carts firing from other floors into the lord room).
  • Orbs of Power were removed in the November 1st, 2012 update.
  • Between April 17th, 2013 and February 23rd, 2016, switching between NA, EU, and AUS servers removed your WvW ranking.
  • Before April 11th, 2013, WvW matches reset at Saturday 00:00 UTC.
  • The inspiration for World versus World came from Dark Age of Camelot's realm vs. realm battles.
  • WvW and World vs World are the terms used by both players and by ArenaNet to refer to what is technically World vs World vs World. In game, NPCs refer to it as the Mist War or Battle for the Mists.
  • Map completion used to include waypoints, points of interest and vistas in WvW maps.

References[edit]

  1. ^ https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/wuv/Willing-to-share-WvW-details/page/1#post1190009
  2. ^ Mike Ferguson, I’m a Guild Wars 2 Developer. AMA about the next Beta Weekend. Reddit
  3. ^ Mike Ferguson on Guild Wars 2 World vs. World ArenaNet Blog
  4. ^ Massivelyop.com Guild Wars 2 begins testing WvW world linking today