The Solo Player's Guide To GW2 World Vs World Dailies

Reading the frustrated reports of very experienced, skilled gamers like Aywren, UltrViolet and most recently Azuriel amply demonstrates just how badly GW2 introduces and explains key gameplay elements to new or returning players.

One thing that should be very simple are the three "dailies" required to gain the rather generous stipend of two gold pieces that most new or returning players would really like to slip into their virtual wallet each day. Back in the mists of time you would get your dailies just for playing the game but those days are long, long gone.

Dailies come in three types, one for each of the major silos of the game: PvE, PvP and WvW. You can mix and match any three dailies from any of the categories but most new or returning players focus their attention on PvE.

Once, that made sense. You used to be able to do your PvE dailies anywhere and there were plenty of them. Not any more. Nowadays you get your dailies based on the highest level character on your account and the expansions you have purchased and you get told which map to do them in.

This is awkward enough even on a first character leveling up. For anyone who has taken a short-cut to endgame, either by using one of the Level 80 boosts that came with an expansion or by means of one of the in-game boosters such as Tomes of knowledge, it can be disastrous.

With a fresh level 80 you risk getting dailies in maps you have never visited and can't easily access. You may be asked to complete "Adventures", which most players avoid like the plague. You may be asked to kill Champions in a group event or World Bosses you've never even heard of.

Don't despair. World vs World will rescue you.

World vs World has a very small range of dailies and they are almost all very easy. Most of them are also very quick. Everyone can access all the WvW maps (F2P players need to be Level 60) and even if you don't have a Level 80 you will be bumped up to play as though you did.

But it's PvP, isn't it? I'll get ganked before I can do anything!

No you won't. Many of the WvW dailies can be done with a very high degree of safety at very low risk. Chances are you won't see, let alone fight, an enemy player. What's more, with the current low level of interest in WvW, it's even less likely than ever that you'll bump into anyone. Depending on your World and the time zone in which you play you may not see anyone at all!

Enough pre-amble: what about the dailies? Here's the list from the Wiki, with my - hopefully helpful - comments. I've also given them a star rating based on a combination of ease, speed and safety. The more stars the better. And I even made some maps!


***** Big Spender

Spend at least 25 Badges of Honor.

This daily takes seconds to do and is guaranteed 100% safe. If you do WvW you'll have more of these than you know what to do with but if you don't you may still have plenty. You get a hundred in every Achievement chest and once you start doing WvW dailies you'll get some more for every one you do.

The simplest way to do this daily is to buy two Traps from the Tricks and Traps vendor. They cost 15 badges each and they stack. There's a T&T vendor at every spawn-in and at your home Borderland Citadel.


*** Caravan Disruptor
Destroy a supply caravan.

A "supply caravan" is a Dolyak. They spawn at every supply camp and walk (or run) to towers and keeps. If there's no friendly structure for them to supply they just stand in the camp and chew the cud. You can see them on the map - they are the little icon that looks like a Dolyak (surprise surprise).

If they are in transit they don't fight back but they will defend themselves if they're still in the camp. The safest option is to use the map to locate a camp your team doesn't own but which is next to a waypoint you can use (you may need to visit the WPs once to open them if you have never been to that map before, same as PvE). Several of the camps on Desert Borderland are structured so you can get to the yaks in camp without aggroing any guards. The northern camp just behind Citadel is particularly good for that, with four yaks in a stable under the raised platform.

Wait somewhere safe until a yak leaves the camp and then jump it once it's out of range of the guards. Or pick one that's on a lonely stretch of its route. If the camp is upgraded (has two or three shields over the camp icon on the map) the Dolyak may have NPC guards so an unupgraded camp is easiest. Camps change hands all the time so finding a weak camp is not usually a problem.

Dolyaks are robust and take a while to kill but usually you will have plenty of time. If you are unlucky enough to be interrupted by an enemy player just keep killing the yak. If you die and the other player kills the yak you will still get credit for the daily. Dying in WvW costs you absolutely nothing other than a few seconds of your time so just let it happen - unless you think you can win, of course!


* Invasion Defender 
Kill three enemy players.

Avoid this unless you are going to join a squad and/or run with the zerg. If you're even considering getting your daily by killing other players solo you certainly don't need any help from me!


**** Land Claimer
Capture a sentry point. 
 
This is very easy and very low risk. Sentries are marked on the map by a flag icon. There are plenty of them and one or two can be seen and checked for safety from places where you yourself are invulnerable to attack. Many others are in places few players pass by regularly.

Possibly the easiest to get to quickly and safely is the one on the junction of the road between the north-west gate of Garrison and Dreadfall Bay. You can see that sentry from the safety of the platform above "Water Gate" at Garrison to check there are no enemies nearby.

Whichever sentry you pick will be a Veteran but they are veterans in name only. They die in a few hits. When you've killed the sentry, stand in the ring that pops until it fills. It only takes a few seconds. Daily done, waypoint to safety!


***** Master of Monuments  

Capture a shrine (Desert Borderlands) or a ruin (Alpine Borderlands).
 
(Wiki is out of date here. The Desert BL also requires "ruins" nowadays, not shrines, which are different places altogether).

This involves no combat at all. Just stand on a marked spot for around 60 seconds while a ring completes. The relevant spots are all clearly marked on your in-game map. They're all in the central area, which is the least-trafficked part.

If your team owns three out of five then on the map all five will be filled in with the color of your world. Ignore that. It means your side has Bloodlust and it was made to work that way when gliding was added to WvW, so that your glider could use the entire area.

What you need to do is check the spots visually, not via the map. You're looking for one that is at least partially uncolored on the ground. You can see two of them from the safety of the Alpine Garrison water gate (one from the Desert BL Garrison/Earth Keep equivalent). Pick one, run to it (or glide, if you have gliding opened for WvW) then stand looking around nervously for a minute while the ring fills.  Daily done!


*** Guard Killer 
Kill five veteran or higher NPC guards.

This is very manageable although it is potentially risky. I would recommend avoiding Desert Borderland; the guards there seem to be tougher. All guards count, at camps, towers or keeps. Sentries also count as does the Quartermaster in a camp even though he's not a Veteran. "Flavor" NPCs like Citizens or Soldiers at North Camp don't count.

This is another daily where it's important not to worry about being ganked. So long as the guard dies and you did enough damage you'll get credit even if another player butts in and kills you. Worst case scenario is that you're interrupted by a player on the same team as the guard you're trying to kill, which means the guard will live and you won't get anything. That hardly ever happens in my experience so long as you avoid busy areas.

**** Veteran Creature Slayer
Defeat the veteran warg, the harpy veteran, or the veteran wurm on a Borderlands map. 

Very easy and very safe and very quick, so long as your creature of choice is up. If you have a waypoint open at Dreadfall Bay the Wurm on Alpine is probably the easiest to get to but the Warg on the enemy Alpine BL where you have the south-west spawn point is even safer. The Harpy is, in my opinion, both the toughest and the most awkward to reach on Alpine but compared to most PvE content they are all easy solo kills.

The Wurm on Desert BL is very easy to find once you know where it is (see my map above) and so is the Warg but they do require some travel across exposed ground so there is an element of risk. I wouldn't even consider the Harpy on Desert BL because of how awkward it is to reach.

Often you won't have to solo the Veteran Creature, though. They are a ten minute spawn and if the one you've picked isn't up you will frequently find someone on your team already waiting for it. I have even waited with people from the enemy team, killed the creature (carefully avoiding using any AEs), bowed and left without a fight.

** Camp Capturer
Capture two camps.
 

This is a lot of fun but very high risk compared to most of the dailies above. Camps, as I said, change hands all the time and scouts (players watching the map) will report any activity if they're doing their job properly. Whether anyone responds is another matter but it takes some time to clear and take a camp solo - two or three minutes - and that's a long time to stand in enemy territory with a sign over your head.

On the other hand, it's every bit as likely that you'll be joined by someone on your own side, particularly if you are re-taking a camp on your own borderland. Most teams don't like to leave their camps in enemy hands. Once a camp is taken it cannot be re-taken for five minutes and you can see the timer for any camp by mousing over the icon on the map.

If you go to such a camp (particularly North Camp, which is also the easiest, safest and quickest to get to) just before the timer expires there's a very good chance others from your World will already be there, waiting to retake. Also, so long as you've killed any guard at the camp, you will get credit if that camp changes hands to your side at any time before you leave the map so it can be worth just popping a guard in passing if you plan to be there a while.

If you happen to be in a match or on a team where certain maps or areas are rarely visited, taking camps for dailies can be both enjoyable and useful for learning WvW and gaining confidence. Some teams don't seem to like playing on Desert Borderland and the southern camps there are often very quiet. I spent a lot of time re-learning and practicing my old EQ pulling techniques in the southern desert on my Ranger while I was leveling up.

* Keep Capturer
Capture a keep.

Totally out of the question unless you join a zerg or squad or have the good timing to run into the keep just as your team is about to take it. Actually, keeps can be soloed. We have someone on Yak's Bend who does it for his own amusement. If you can do that you should be writing guides not reading them.

* Tower Capturer
Capture a tower.

Same as Keep. Ignore this one unless you're planing on joining a squad or zerg. Although technically easier to solo than a Keep I've never soloed one successfully. Mrs Bhagpuss has though. A few times.

**** Objective Defender
Defend an objective during an enemy assault. The achievement is rewarded when a defend event successfully completes.

Now this is a very easy daily that's often overlooked. "Defending" sounds like it means fighting but it also includes repairing. Mrs Bhagpuss does this one a lot. She just looks on the map to find a keep or tower that we own that looks "contested", which shows as crossed swords over the icon. Then she goes there and looks for a damaged wall or gate and repairs it.

Structures check their integrity every couple of minutes and when that tick passes anyone who's contributed to defence, either by killing an enemy player or repairing the structure, gets credit.

There you go. Dailies all done!