Introduction to World vs. World (WvW)

World versus World (WvW) is a large-scale, competitive game mode that combines both Player versus Player and Player versus Environment elements, involving objective-capture, skirmishes and one-on-one encounters. Servers earn points based on their control of the map during a week-long matchup against other servers, in either the North American (NA) or European (EU) region. In this guide, we will be introducing the fundaments of the game mode, providing you with advice to get started and pointing you to resources that will help you successfully navigate the raging battles in the Mists.

Mindset & Tips

WvW is a competitive game mode, and many of the people you will be playing with or fighting against have spent a lot of time in the Mists. Adopting a growth mindset, i.e. always being willing to learn and improve, will help you greatly in the long run, as with any other game mode. As such, you should consider dedicating some time to read guides and watch videos to learn more about both general and class-specific strategies.

• Recording and reviewing your gameplay is the single, most efficient way to improve. You can post footage of your gameplay in the class-specific World vs. World channels in our  Discord server and ask for feedback there.
• Joining a guild, or any other organized community, is a great way to connect with others and learn from them. Asking for help when getting started can be daunting, but there are plenty of veteran players in WvW that are willing to guide you in your journey. After all, the more we are, the merrier!
• WvW is a melting pot with players pursuing all sorts of goals while on the same map. Content in WvW is shaped by the community, and playing in groups is highly encouraged, but not strictly necessary. Your enjoyment of the game mode will depend on figuring out which activities you have the most fun doing.
• Try to stay positive, even if it feels like you aren’t performing well. You learn more from losing rather than winning, so make the most of those opportunities!

World vs. World Systems

WvW consists of a number of systems all working at the same time.

Servers & Score

WvW is made up of a tier system consisting of individual servers. The North American (NA) region is divided into four tiers, while the European (EU) region is split into five. Matches last one week, after which servers are moved up or down a tier based on their score for that week. Each server is either a host server or a link server, based on that server’s level of activity. Host and link servers are reshuffled every two months. Each week of a matchup consists of a series of two-hour skirmishes. Within these skirmishes, a point system called war score is tracked. War score consists of points for killing enemy players and NPCs as well as points for holding objectives such as keeps, towers, and camps. At the end of this two-hour skirmish each server receives victory points based on their war score for the skirmish. First place receives five points, second place four points, and third place three points. These victory points determine the matchup for the next week. The server with the most victory points moves up one tier and the server with the lowest amount of victory points moves down one tier, and the third server stays in the current tier.

Siege & Supply

Points Per Tick (PPT) or points from holding objectives, tend to make up most of the points that a server acquires in a given week. Therefore, lots of content in WvW revolves around attacking and defending objectives. Players construct offensive and defensive siege weapons using supply. Supply is a resource in WvW that is produced in camps. Dolyaks run this supply to towers and keeps, building up a stockpile if they complete the journey successfully. Players can utilize the siege from any objective, but can only carry a limited amount determined by your masteries. Upon death supply is not lost to the mists. However, supply can be removed with the use of siege weapons such as burning oil or trebuchets, as well as with placeable supply traps.

Structures & Tactivators

There are four types of structures in WvW. Keeps are the largest, followed by garrisons, towers, and camps. As objectives get bigger, the effort required to take them increases. Keeps and garrisons are protected by two sets of gates and walls, towers are protected by one set, and camps are not protected by any gates or walls. Each objective is protected by a champion. When this champion is killed, a control ring is created, which must be defended from enemies to take control of the objective. Structures can be upgraded with both tactivators and improvements. Use of the tactivators requires interaction with the tactivator itself, which is an interactable lever located inside the objective. Once activated, tactics are utilized and given a cooldown time period in which they can not be reused. Improvements are passive upgrades that affect the structure immediately upon being secured, reinforced, or fortified, including bonus health for NPCs and defensive siege, or a watchtower effect that marks enemy players on the mini-map while in range of the objective. These do not need to be used like tactivators, but are always active.

Ranks, Masteries, Participation, & Pips

Players can earn a total of 10,000 ranks and a new rank is earned every 5000 experience points. Each rank also earns the player one WvW mastery point, which can be used on a system of unlocks within the game mode. These mastery points improve the effectiveness and utility of your character in WvW. As a new WvW player, your priority for unlocking mastery points should be (in order):

1. Unlocking the Warclaw reward track, and working towards the Warclaw mount.
2. Unlocking the War Gliding mastery, to enable gliding in territory that you own.
3. Provisions Mastery, unlocking the ability to automatically loot enemies and purchase expansion-specific sigils, runes, and recipes.
4. Supply Mastery, improving your ability to spend supply on siege and repairs.

Higher rank players earn more pips, reducing the amount of time you have to spend in WvW to complete your pips for the week. Rewards from these ranks are heavily front-loaded, so it’s strongly suggested that new players use boosters as often as possible while playing WvW to quickly complete the early ranks and increase the amount of currency they earn. Completing events, attacking and defending structures, and defeating enemy NPCs and players contribute to your participation in WvW. Participation also contributes to your reward track progress. Your participation only decays while you are on a World vs. World map, and will not be affected while you are not playing that game mode. WvW offers a way to complete dailies for doing things like killing veteran creatures and players, capturing and defending objectives, and ranking up.

Rewards

WvW uses a participation system similar to other Player vs. Environment (PvE) events such as Dragon’s Stand. Every five minutes, players with tier 3 participation or above receive some pips based on their activity that contribute towards a reward chest. Higher tiers of chests require more pips to unlock, but reward more WvW-specific currency. On Friday evening, pip progress resets signifying the start to a new week.

Short-term rewards for playing include a steady stream of Tomes of Knowledge and Proofs of Heroics. These allow you to gain levels and unlock skills and traits on new characters very quickly, without any PvE required. WvW is also an excellent source of stat-selectable exotic armor, to save money on expensive prefixes like Trailblazer or Minstrel.

Long-term rewards in the game mode consist of legendary trinkets like the ring Conflux, the back piece Warbringer, legendary light, medium, and heavy armor sets, or the Gift of Battle needed for crafting legendary weapons.

Currencies

• WvW Skirmish Claim Tickets
  • Account-bound currency acquired through skirmish reward tracks. Considered to be one of the main time gated materials for obtaining gear and unlocks in WvW.
• Proof of Heroics
• Testimonies of Heroics
  • Items that initially are in your inventory, but can be double-clicked to convert to a wallet currency. They are earned in the reward chest received every time you gain a rank. The main use of testimonies of heroics is for receiving hero points from the Heroics Notary, which can then be used to unlock new skills and elite specializations.
• Badges of Honor
  • Earned by defeating enemies in WvW, both players and NPCs will drop badges of honor into your wallet as a currency. Badges of honor can then be used for crafting through the conversion to a Badge of Tribute or in their original form to purchase items directly.
• Memories of Battle
  • Stored in your inventory or material storage, this currency is used for crafting all legendary equipment and some ascended items. They are not account-bound and can be bought and sold on the trading post.

Items

• Skirmish Chests
  • These are given to the player as rewards for earning pips. They can be opened to receive siege blueprints, tactics, traps, decorations, testimonies of heroics, badges of honor, and other cosmetic options.
• Grandmaster Mark Shards
  • These are given to the player as rewards for earning pips. They are used to unlock ascended armor and weapons, which are a prerequisite for the legendary armor set from WvW.
• Warlord’s Armor Box
  • These are given to the player as rewards for earning pips and are the primary source of stat-selectable armor offered in WvW.
• Mist Talisman/Mist Pendant/Mist Band
  • These are stat selectable ascended trinkets purchased with skirmish claim tickets and memories of battle.

Armor, Weapons & Other Unlocks

• Triumphant Hero’s Armor
  
  • There is an exotic and ascended version, and they are stat selectable.
• Mistforged Triumphant Hero’s Armor
  
  • These are ascended and stat selectable, requiring a minimum WvW rank of 500 to purchase.
• Mistforged Hero’s Weapons
  • These are exotic and stat selectable.
• Obsidian Weapons
  • These are exotic and stat selectable.
• Mistforged Obsidian Weapons
  • These are ascended and stat selectable.
• Catmander Tag
  • This cosmetic commander tag can only be unlocked through WvW.
• Warbringer, the legendary back item
  • This legendary requires rank 350, as well as a commander tag.
• Conflux, the legendary ring
  • This legendary ring is not unique, and you can craft up to two if you have the currency and gold for it.
• Sets of light, medium, and heavy legendary armor are available starting at rank 500.
• Warclaw
  
  • An additional mount that is unlocked exclusively through WvW, but can be used in PvE as well.