How to PvP like a Noob

Ridiculous hat, reporting for duty

With the Sabotage drop upon us PvP is taking center stage for a while in WildStar. In preparation, I decided to try some PvP myself and get a feel for how it works in this game. Over many years of playing WoW, I only did battlegrounds when forced to for holidays or the legendary quest chain. In other games I was much more open to trying to kill my fellow players. I think my favorite experience was the leveling bracket PvP in SW:TOR. For some unknown reason I actually enjoyed Huttball. WildStar’s leveling brackets feel similar to me, and I’ve been enjoying them! Here’s some advice if you’re new to PvP and want to give it a go.

Bring Friends

I’m just going to get the most important advice out of the way first. Bring friends, as many as you can coerce into joining you. It doesn’t matter if they know what they are doing or not. If you’re new, you can be new and confused together and laugh at your misfortunes as you learn. If you have a pro PvPer friend they can help explain what is going on. Either way, the more people you have the more fun you’ll have. As an added bonus, the more friends you bring means the fewer strangers. I am nervous when I’m learning, so having friends along means I don’t have to embarrass myself in front of strangers!

Be Prepared to Ignore

Following on the prior section, there will always be that jerk who gets under your skin yelling at you because you don’t know what you’re doing yet. Feel free to ignore them! And know that most of the folks you’ll play with are actually pretty cool, or at least neutral. I’ve had more good experiences with random people in WildStar’s battlegrounds than bad ones, but the fact is that people can be jerks and yell when they’re annoyed and you’re not obligated to listen to them.

Look at the Map

When you join a battleground, you’ll have a minute or two to sit around before the match actually starts. Use this time to take a look at the map and try to get a feel for the layout. Where’s your base? Where are objectives? Orient yourself ahead of time and you’ll look like you know what you’re doing!

Stick with the Group

If you’re in a battleground for the first time, follow the group and try to help heal or kill as a part of the group. Try not to run off and explore, and avoid engaging the enemy by yourself if you can. Following along with everyone else will seem chaotic and confusing but over the course of a match you will start to see the patterns of what people are doing and get a sense of how the battleground works.

Don’t Worry about Winning

I think the first night I ran battlegrounds with my friends in the level 6-14 bracket we won one match the whole night. We still had a blast though! Our low expectations saved us from getting too mad at our losses. As you learn and play a lot more you’ll do a little better, but it is always good to have realistic expectations. You’ll definitely not be winning all the time.

Study if you Want to

Psynister has an awesome guide to Walatiki Temple, the first battleground available in WildStar when you reach level 6. Don’t stress yourself out worrying about the finer points of strategy right away though. I will admit that I read it before I tried battlegrounds for the first time, and it was a bit overwhelming. I’d recommend taking a quick look at that guide, trying the battleground for yourself once or twice, and then going back and read in-depth. I found everything made much more sense once I had seen it for myself first, and the advice in the guide was quite helpful once I knew enough to understand it!

Have Fun

The obvious advice, but important! Don’t keep forcing yourself to queue if you’re not enjoying it or you’re burning out. Give PvP a shot and see how it works, and then decide if it is something you’d like to keep doing. And don’t forget, there’s housing decor to be bought with prestige, the PvP currency, and decor can drop from the reward bags too!