GUILDWARSINSIDER

Introduction

This guide is intended to give you detailed information on The Legacy of the Foefire sPvP map.  It will cover basic game mechanics as well as general and class specific tips, tricks, and techniques.  It will also go into the higher level strategy elements of this map. 

While this guide strives to be accurate in all the information provided, I am also a human and not an Asura and therefore inherently prone to mistakes.  If you feel there needs to be any corrections or additions please feel free to comment.  The game is still in a Beta stage and all things are subject to change.   Enjoy!

Plains of Ashford, just to the South of Ascalon.

Background

The Legacy of the Foefire was the last sPvP map added to the Beta Weekend Events.  It is a nod to the original Guild vs. Guild PvP found in the original Guild Wars.  Fortunately it doesn’t have the same guild member requirements to play the map.  This map, while titled Legacy of the Foefire, does not appear to have very much to do with the actual Foefire Event that occurred in 1090 AE, at least not in an obvious manner. 

The map’s terrain closely resembles the area of Ascalon where Foefire occurred with lush grass covered rock features that are tiered.  The Red base is at a shipyard that is made entirely out of metal, indicating that it may be the area called the Irondock Shipyard in the current Ascalon area.  The Red Team’s Guild Lord stands on courtyard with a giant gear on it, perhaps referring to the charr Iron Legion whose symbol is a gear in the original Guild Wars and also held control over the Ascalon region where the Foefire Event occurred. 

The Blue Keep Lord

The Blue Team’s Guild Lord stands in a shattered glass dome structure similar in design to the Upper City in Divinity’s Reach.   This Guild Lord and his guards are ghost-like in appearence.  This indicates that the Blue base may be located in what is now the Ghost Summit.  There is also a circular structure located at the Ghost Summit which is similar to the shattered structure seen in the Blue base.  Finally the Sanctum is refered to as a graveyard by the game’s announcer and conveniently the Ascalon Catacombs are located near this area on the map as well.  This is, of course, all speculation on my part but I feel this map is a reasonable approximation of where this event is located outside of the Mists. 

Game Mechanics

The Legacy of the Foefire is a Conquest Game Type sPvP map, effectively a Capture and Hold game.  Each team tries to capture 3 Control Points and hold them in order to receive 1 point every 2 seconds for each point held.  The exact mechanics for Control Points can be found in The Battle of Kyhlo Guide.  Points can also be acquired through killing enemy players granting 5 points per kill and by killing a Guild Lord which grants 100 points. 

Control Points

The three Control Points are:

The Sanctum

The Sanctum with a skull icon in the center.

The Sanctum, called the “Graveyard” by the announcer in the match, has a larger than normal control point.  It takes up the entire  circular area of the courtyard it’s located in.  There are a number of entry points with multiple stair cases, tiered levels, and catwalks crossing over the North and South Entrance.  There is a LOT of high ground at this Control Point.  Its major advantage, other than being in the middle of the map, is its ability to see players crossing the map along the Eastern paths, the path connecting the Blue base to the Quarry.  However, there is a hill that can block a lot of the visibility of the Western path, which connects the Red base to the Waterfall.

The Waterfall

The Waterfall with a drop of water in the center.

The Waterfall has a normal sized control point in the center of a small island surrounded by water from a waterfall.  The island capture point blocks entry by fencing or ledges and allows access from only 3 small earth ramps.  While there is water surrounding this point, none of it is deep enough to activate underwater skills.  There are two hidden areas around this Control Point.  There is a small cave, accessible by a path along the western rock wall which gives a height advantage and a view of the control point at a distance of about 1200 units.  To the southwest there is a small encampment inside a rock cove.  This area is at ground level and is about 1200 units distance from the Control Point.  Finally, there is a small ledge that overlooks the Control Point on the northeast side.

The Quarry

The Quarry with a filthy Red player on the point.

The quarry also has a normal sized control point which is located on a hill.  It sits on a metal platform with some fencing around it, leaving only 3 accessible routes to the point.  There is also a small encampment, similar to the Waterfall, on the northwest side covered with a tent and non-destructible crates creating Line of Sight.  There is a rock ledge that extends towards the Control Point from the Southwest as well as a slight ledge running along the eastern rockwall that players can run up, basically the mirror of the Waterfall.  A major difference is the entire southern area of the point leads back to a smelting/blacksmithing area giving a larger fighting space for players to fall back to without having to lose the highground.

Other Map Characteristics

This map is unique in that it has almost no distinct high ground.  While there are a number of points that do give higher visibility throughout the map there are a lot of inaccessible structures that prevents you from viewing a large area from any single vantage point.

Secondary Game Mechanic

The more solid of the two Guild Lords

The major secondary game mechanic in The Legacy of the Foefire is the Guild Lord, located inside each team’s base.  These Guild Lords are located in the rear of a circular courtyard area inside the base.  On either side closest to the Guild Lord are two “Casters” who, as you’d imagine, cast spells at you. These spell sit at a staggering number, TWO, both of which are lightning type spells.  Further out from the Guild Lord on either side are two “Soldiers”.  The Soldiers have melee attacks that can cripple, stun, and daze (needs more testing to verify).

You may be asking yourself “But what about the Guild Lord?  Surely he didn’t arrive at this auspicious title by happen stance, he must be unbelievably powerful!”  Not so much.  You are typically in more danger of accidently agro-ing the nearby guards or getting ganked by enemy players respawning then actually being killed by this guy.  He has two major features: a metric ton of health and the ability to heal.  You can see how this gets annoying really fast. 

Once attacked the enemy team will be notified that their Guild Lord is under attack, giving them the opportunity to rescue him.  The only difference between the two Guild Lords, other than color and the Red Lord being slightly more solid than the other, is the Blue Lord is standing atop a small pile of dirt.  This can affect pull mechanics such as Spectral Grasp, which tend to come up short when the target is elevated in comparison to the caster.

If you kill one of the guards they will not respawn, however they do not currently give you any points.  If you damage the guards or the Guild Lord but disengage or are killed before they die they will regenerate their health.  The Guild Lord will give you 100 points when you kill him, but he will not respawn.

The Blue base door.

To access these NPC mobs you have to gain entrance to the enemy base by destroying one of two doors located on the exposed walls of the base.  These doors have roughly 18,000 health and can be dropped rather quickly by multiple attackers.  Upon attacking these doors the enemy team will be notified that their base is being attacked. 

Once inside the base you have access to the Guild Lord’s platform, which is raised, and the area immediately below where the enemy will respawn.  While this would appear to permit graveyard camping there are escape routes accessible to the enemy team, since they are in a raised inaccessible area, by running along the beams or walls and exiting the base.  The raised platform that the guards are standing can be attacked from the lower level, but attacks can often be obstructed by the ledges.