More Guild Wars 2 World vs World Details Revealed

A flood of information has been revealed today about Guild Wars 2‘s World vs World system, and here at Lore Hound we break it down for you. For those of you who want to read the full article, which is massive, head over to the ArenaNet blog; but for those of you with shorter reading attention spans, continue below.

Up until this point, we actually know a fair about the World vs World system: mainly that there will be three sides (server VS server VS server), and each match would last 2 weeks with a definite winner. Below I’ve outlined the main points from the article, many which have already been known, but I’m going to list them anyway. I’ll bold any that I believe to be new information.

General Info

• Three factions (server vs server vs server)
• Factions can capture battle fields objectives (keeps, towers, ect)
• These objectives range from large to small, requiring large guilds to capture or just a few players
• 4 massive maps – three “home maps” one for each faction, one central map up for grabs
• Home maps can be attacked my opposing factions
• 300 players, 100 per faction on each of the 4 maps. 1200 total players at any one time
• NPCs camps can assist factions for a limited time in defending or attacking objectives by completing certain tasks for the NPCs first

Guild Info

• Individual guilds can capture battle fields objectives, but only hold one at a time for their guild
• Guilds that hold an objective can upgrade it to provide bonuses to all players in their faction

War Score/Winning

• Every objective is worth points that adds to the factions War Score. Faction with highest score after 2 weeks wins.
• The more objectives a faction holds the faster it builds its War Score.
• As the War Score increases that faction unlocks additional bonuses and rewards
• Every server is given a ranking score that is update after each match and servers are match up against other servers with similar ranking scores
• Down-time between matches is only a few mins

Keeps and Towers

• All empty keeps are defended by NPCs. If the keep is owned by a faction/guild, NPCs remain to defend it
• Once a Keep Lord is defeated, the guild/faction must hold the keep for a short period to claim it
• Keeps and towers receive resources from Resource camps and are placed in a depot where places can access them
• Individual players can claim the supplies from a keep to build siege weapons, repair or upgrade a keep
• Keeps have stationary weapons like cannons, mortars and pots of boiling oil. All require supply to use
• Two upgrade types: Structural and Personnel Upgrades. Only towers and keeps have both upgrades
• Structural upgrade strengthen defenses. NPCs perform the upgrades using the supplies available in the keep
• Personnel upgrades add more NPCs to help defend or you can level up a NPC to make them stronger

Resource Camps

• Resource camps are the smallest objective to claim
• Resource camps that are claimed periodically send supplies via caravan to keeps so they can be upgraded, repaired and to build siege weapons
• Caravans can be destroyed by enemy players
• Players can grab resources from a camp and bring them to a keep or tower, but can only carry a certain amount

Siege Weapons

• Players need to buy a blueprint from a NPC to build siege weapons
• Other players can help build siege weapons by providing additional supplies to them
• Siege weapons can be placed anywhere
• Siege weapons will require more supply than one player can carry to build. Unfinished weapons can be destroyed by enemy players
• Siege weapons include Trebuchets, Arrow Carts, Catapults, Ballistae and Siege Golems.
• Siege weapons will require supply to use even after being built

Orbs of Power

• Orbs of Power are special artifacts, 1 per map (4 total) that provide factions with a buff
• Each faction begins with 1 Orb at the start of a match
• When an Orb is captured, the capturing faction must place it on an Altar of Power within a short period of time or it will return to where it was.
• An Altar of Power is located in every keep

PvP, Leveling, Loot

• All level players can participate in World vs World matches
• Players below level 80 will be adjusted so they are roughly equivalent to their level 80 counterparts, but will not gain access to any more abilities above their level.
• Players gain XP in World vs World by killing mobs, players and capturing objectives
• Players killed in PvP drop loot just like mobs. The player killed does not lose anything
• Loot dropped will be level equivalent to the player that made the kill