GvE and You
By Virgil, posted Jul 30, 01:25 PM
Even when the Guild Wars community is torn between PvP players and PvE players, TGH is here to bridge the gap. Can PvP players possibly enjoy PvE? Can PvE players practice PvP mechanics in PvE? GvE’s got it covered…maybe.
What is GvE?
“Play PvE to learn PvP.” It makes a lot of sense, especially if you consider PvP to be endgame. Well, PvP isn’t really the endgame, not anymore, at least. But the rule still applies – playing the introductory cooperative elements helps acclimate players with the general mechanics. Playing the campaign through should teach a basic set of skills necessary to be successful in any game mode. And that’s pretty true for games across all genres – from Halo to Starcraft, cooperative or single player elements usually prelude hardcore competition.
And at TGH, the Home of Guild Wars PvP, we’re all about the hardcore competition. But what most players don’t realize is that it works the other way too – playing PvP can help improve skills at PvE. Welcome to GvE. What is GvE? Put simply, GvE is taking the tactics and principles used in high level PvP and applying them to PvE.
The problem with normal PvE is twofold. First, PvE is easy. Monsters AI is predictable, and enemies certainly aren’t very dynamic. Eventually, foolproof builds will be made to conquer any area. Check PvX wiki – that day has come. And when PvE isn’t easy, it’s often boring. High-end areas present overpowered enemies that border on ridiculous. And because of that, teams often require very specific builds and tactics. Doing the same few steps for a few hours isn’t much fun either.
GvE attempts to solve that problem. By incorporating a PvP mindset and relying on player skill and adaptability over incredibly specific builds, high-level PvE can become more dynamic and exciting. Of course, the real question is why you would ever choose PvE over PvP, but this short article should give some tips in case you ever do make that choice.
Dress for Success
Your PvE character might look badass, all decked out with ascended armor and tormented weapons, but are you really properly equipped? It’s a pretty simple question, but it seems like many players spend more time and money choosing the best-looking equipment over the best functioning.
The number one concern here is health. It doesn’t matter how much energy you have or how high your attributes are if you aren’t alive to use them. PvP players choose high health for one very simple reason – spike prevention. When coordinated teams can take down a player in the blink of an eye, sticking to the baseline 480 (or reducing health with superior runes) makes you an easy target. Everyone has superior vigor and vitae runes, survivor insignias, and a set of high health weapons.
PvE players should make the same choice. While PvE mobs don’t have anywhere near the coordination of skilled PvP teams, they have unrivaled damage output. A couple enemies with Searing Flames can wipe a team in seconds. Some hard mode bosses have no problem one-shotting players. Enemy AI targets the player with the lowest health and armor. If you’re the only one sporting those fancy radiant insignias, get used to calling for res.
In terms of numbers, 600 is a good (and inexpensive) starting point. 480 + 41 (major vigor) + 40 (survivor insignias) + 30 (vitae runes) + 25 (one cheap health weapon mod) = 616. If you have the money, 660 is very doable. High health is good by itself, but look at the numbers when considering morale. It makes a big difference.
| Morale | high | normal |
| +10 | 726 | 528 |
| 0 | 660 | 480 |
| -15 | 561 | 408 |
| -30 | 462 | 336 |
| -45 | 363 | 264 |
| -60 | 264 | 192 |
Build Wars
Creating a quality individual build isn’t terribly complex. Any player, PvE or PvP, with a fair amount of experience (and skills unlocked) shouldn’t have too much trouble coming up with a well-defined role, a sensible attribute selection, and a cohesive set of skills. The reason WMos are a punchline is because they fail at all three. Are you trying to kill or tank? What do you mean you have points in swordsmanship, strength, tactics, healing, and protection? 4 warrior skills and 4 monk skills? If your build tries to do distinctly different things, it will be, at best, mediocre at each.
Skill selection is all about synergy. You don’t ever want to shoot yourself in the foot by taking skills that don’t work well together. Luckily, that’s not too hard if you have a goal in mind and you’re paying attention. On a team level, however, synergy is a lot harder to achieve. First and foremost, selecting 64 skills is a lot more complicated than 8. It’s even harder trying to define goals for the build on both macro and micro levels. Then you have to consider inter-player dependencies, individual build sustainability, and how everything works under different tactics.
If that sounds too complex, don’t worry. The good news is that PvE teams are rarely constructed in that detail (and many PvP teams aren’t either, at least not by one individual). Usually people bring what they have available and the team goes from there. The great thing about GvE is that some of the emphasis is shifted away from build in favor of player skill.
With that being said, the team’s build is still important. There should be two main considerations before heading out. The first is area specific – unlike with PvP, you know exactly what your enemy is bringing, so you can prepare counters. That’s not unique to GvE; all PvE teams should utilize that information. So check the wiki!
The second consideration is synergy. A good place to start is simply looking at your teammates skill bars and compare. Is there a SF elementalist? Only one won’t do too much, SF works best compounded. Either bring more or change that build. Do you have lots of blind and anti-melee hexes? It might be overkill, and certain skills could cancel each other out. If you’re setup for spike damage, degen doesn’t make sense. Do the healer bars work well together? As with PvP, extensive knowledge of skill synergy takes time and requires attention to detail. And, as with PvP, the more you know about the skills, the easier it is to look for synergy.
GvE…is that like GvG?
While there are a lot of similarities between PvE and PvP, there are some things PvP requires that PvE players may be unfamiliar with. The first is communication. Talking in game simply doesn’t cut it – it’s slow and typing takes attention away from playing. Voice chat is a pretty strict requirement for high-end PvP, and it’s strongly encouraged for GvE. Practically, it will help with coordination. But since PvE isn’t as tactically demanding, it leaves time for socializing. As the TGH events will attest, sometimes that alone is the best part of GvE.
PvP also requires close attention to movement and spacing. Backline, midline, and frontline aren’t metaphors. If you’re playing a frontline character, you need to pay close attention to where you are. Are your monks in range? How long will it take to run back if you’re taking heavy damage? What if you’re snared? Overextending is a surefire way to get killed. By the same token, backliners should try to stay far enough away from danger while still up close enough to heal your teammates.
Movement is just as important in GvE as it is for PvP – not because the enemies are as smart, but because there are more of them. Monsters have no problem rushing into the backline – proper team positioning will impede that charge and protect your healers. Frontliners who get caught overextending are toast. PvE players drastically underestimate the tactical retreat. Slowly backing away forces enemies to make a decision – follow or break. If you have several groups pulled, usually one will break and the other will follow.
And movement tactics in GvE aren’t restricted to combat positioning and maneuvers. Players also have to pay attention to aggro. PvE is a numbers game – teams always have a breaking point, and it’s usually a very fine line. With popups and patrols a-plenty, it pays to watch your map and tread lightly.
Carebear It Up
Recently, a lot of PvE exclusives have been added. There are character benefits based off of title rank, PvE skills, consumables, summoning stones… While I can’t stress enough that successful GvE doesn’t require any of these, they certainly do make things easier. PvE-only skills are especially broken. But…it’s PvE, and the monsters won’t whine, so knock yourself out.
The Bottom Line
All jokes aside, there really isn’t anything revolutionary about GvE. There’s nothing special about choosing certain armor mods or paying attention to movement or using voice chat. The real difference between PvE and PvP is this – you can go on autopilot in PvE, while PvP usually demands more careful attention. GvE switches off the autopilot and adds friends to the mix. It’s no GvG, but if you try real hard, you might find yourself enjoying PvE. Just don’t tell anyone.
-Virgil
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