The Royal Guard Presents: Mercenary Camp Tutorial

EclipsesRG

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zr6jDpyipS0

World vs. World. The epitome of World PvP brought to us in 3 geographically similar and 1 distinct map. The battles that take place are going to be hard won, epic and strategically and tactically astounding. There are so many facets to consider - with one of the most important and often overlooked of them being how the NPC Mercenary camps that reside in the Eternal Battlegrounds are going to come into play and help respective servers attain victory.

Today The Royal Guard is going to walk you through the Mercenary camps, how to win their allegiance and how to properly utilize them afterwards. Mercenary Camps are important for a number of reasons:

1. They become a force multiplier; greatly increasing the effectiveness of even a very small force
2. They continually send out groups of attackers/defenders to nearby supply camps and towers; either to assist you in capturing or holding that location
3. They offer a field merchant at their home location that allows you to sell your junk and even more importantly buy siege weapons
4. Neutralizing camps and/or gaining their friendship is doable by as little as 2 skilled players

If a Mercenary camp isn't owned by any server, you must gain their 'Friendship'. The level of their friendship with any particular server is shown in the UI in the upper right hand corner. To gain friendship you need to assist that particular NPC much like you would for any regular Dynamic Event in PvE. You can help with rezzing downed NPCs or assist in killing their foes. For Ogres you have to kill harpies, for the Hylek you kill krait and for the Dredge you have to help kill destroyers.

Knowing all this is great - but why are NPC camps important? NPC camps are important because they essentially are free reliable reenforcements. A big problem with the current WvW community is that many do not think in a post launch mindset, i.e. they attack a point only to leave it totally undefended or un-upgraded very soon afterwards. This allows locations that would otherwise be essential to your war effort (and simultaneously the easiest for the enemy to assault): Supply Camps and Towers etc, to be backcapped by relatively small forces.

Gaining and maintaining the allegiance of these NPC camps will help to mitigate that by a great deal. A 5 man team will find it incredibly difficult to take an upgraded supply camp, one with additional, more powerful guards who are also supplemented by Ogres knocking them back, Dredge repeatedly blinding them or Hylek poisoning them lowering their heals. This affords the server with the NPC allegiance additional maneuverability as they are able to move about whilst knowing that their most sensitive locations cannot be attacked by a force lower than a certain amount. This has the added benefit of making servers overcommitt, sending a large force for these objectives, leaving their own points less defended.

Intelligent play and usage of the NPC Mercenary camps will surely be a sign of the guilds and servers who maintain high rankings match after match and those who do not.

Hopefully this article has been illuminating on the NPC Mercenary camps and causes you to rethink their value in the future!

 

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EclipsesRG

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bcbully

The system idea looks real cool.  I just wonder if it plays like that or will these camps just be avoided.

 

Nice video ty for the link.

seridan

Very informative

ionxeel

Great info. Thanks.

Siphaed

Originally posted by bcbully

The system idea looks real cool.  I just wonder if it plays like that or will these camps just be avoided.

 

Nice video ty for the link.

In both weekend events it played much like that in the video.  In fact, in the last BWE, we had a huge battle that ran to and through the Ograth area back and forth with another server.   It's a bottleneck area that is hard to push without some sort of big damage (group or siege).

 

But ya, those are very useful in the way they attack and send their armies out.  They are not weak or worth avoiding, as they're very strong.

EclipsesRG

Originally posted by bcbully

The system idea looks real cool.  I just wonder if it plays like that or will these camps just be avoided.

 

Nice video ty for the link.

Smart servers will definitely not avoid them. As I said in my article, the camps are a force multiplier, and act as cheap insurance for easily assaible points.

Even after upgrading supply camps with additional guards, they can still be overcome. However adding 5 or so Ogres, Hyleks or Dredge greatly increases your defenses for minimal cost. It allows you freedom to move throughout the maps without leaving behind any of your forces. It also ensures that any attacks below a certain threshold will be nigh useless on those points.

EclipsesRG

Originally posted by ionxeel

Great info. Thanks.

 

You're welcome!

 

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