Tactics & Execution
Introduction
I would like to start off by briefly introducing my self. I'm a veteran player who comes from the good old DAoC (Dark Age of Camelot) days. To me WvW is as good as it gets when it comes to MMO's and PvP. It makes the game so much more fun and gives it the longevity when a whole community can fight for their homeland.
Especially in a WvWvW setup where the struggle for power can shift overnight!
With these articles my goal is to further go in depth on WvW and educate the community on how to become better players, leaders and realms!
Leadership and communication
The leaders main goal is the big picture. A good leader will have a goal set ahead of time and communicate his plans to the people in a good amount of time. You can always spot if a leader is good when he or she can tell you at least 3 steps ahead what the next plan of action is.
It is important to establish a role in WvW. Make sure you and your guild know what exactly you are good at and communicate this to your server. Be it defending, attacking or merely harassing objectives, if you can get the job done, let people know you're good at it!
Just as an example. I'm the leader of a smaller 10 man guild. We've played together for years and we know exactly what we're good at. We move fast, take smaller supply camps and cut off roads, very well. When the battle is upon us, this is our job. If we do our job good, we alleviate pressure off the other groups on the battlefield.
Large Guilds
The different roles will be determined mainly by the size of your guild. Not entirely, but mainly. If you have a guild with 30-50 or more members for instance, it would be beneficial to use your size and strength in numbers by hitting larger keeps or castles. You can then scatter your troops around the target objective, but your main goal is there.
Medium/Small Guilds
For a smaller size guild it would be better to always be ready and stay on the move. Never be in the same spot for to long and let the enemy mass up and establish ground. As long as you are roaming and changing environment YOU decide where the battle will take place. Using this method you can drag the fight into your own objectives and take help from guards if you get outnumbered. Or even flee the scene if you get overwhelmed.
How to get better
In short, practice. Start off by roaming with your guild and explore the environment. Make sure to get familiar with where all the supply camps are and their routes. Find creeks and valleys where you can create good ambushes later. "Kiting" an enemy is your best tactic when outnumbered. This means constantly running away from the enemy while still hitting them, making them follow you exactly to where YOU want the fight to take place. Getting the hang of this will win you the fight in almost all cases.
Communication
It's important to keep communication open. Any kind of information will be useful on the battlefield. A good habit is to always report what is happening around you. Who is attacking what and how many are they? Can we defend or do we need back up? If you do need any kind of help, then make sure to let your team know what kind of help. Do you need more supplies, siege weapons or just a team to clean up?
Tactics & execution
The next step is how to execute these tactics the best way possible. By this, i mean efficiency. The idea is to create a flow on the map where you let your team roam on the important highways to and from the hotspots you are assaulting and making sure the enemy team is not allowed to.
Using the borderland map below as an example, you can see the paths that the dolyak supply carriers use. Getting to know these paths better you can stop resources from getting to your enemy objectives or help keep the roads clear for your own.
Creating choke points, distractions and being generally annoying is the key here. For example, if your team is hitting a keep or the castle (Stonemist Castle), make sure the enemy team cannot reinforce to defend. Create smaller teams of people with 5-10 players and divide them on the map in appropriate positions.
In the image below I've marked out beneficial and important choke points. These are selected because you're far away from the main stream of the action, making it easier for you to roam and pick your fights while still hit your enemy where it hurts.
Also, the maps are huge for a reason, USE THEM! If you need to sneak into a keep and defend, or just get to an objective to take back, stick to the edge of the map or use water ways and valleys to get to your goal.
Follow up next week: Keeping your eye on the ball
The mission at the end of the day is to win points. If you hit a brick wall where a zerg is completely demolishing a map, move on to the next. Long drawn out battles are very rarely a win for any side, they're a waste of resources and most importantly the points.
Move on to the next objective and reclaim more to sustain your flow of points. The Orbs of power are a great tool that will benefit your entire realm for example. Sometimes it's better for your server to focus more on those while the other two servers are fighting over something else.
And worst case scenario, your attack will create a distraction for the main zerg to start splitting up and ease the job for your own team somewhere!
Outro
Remember, no matter what your role on the battlefield is, you're part of a bigger picture and everything you do will impact the war. Take initiative and do what you can instead of waiting for someone else to lead you!
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