Hey All!
With the introduction of reward tracks there is now a huge incentive to get to Heart of the Mists and play some sPvP. Understanding the basics will go a long way in improving your sPvP skills. I'll include a number of links to help you get started.
PvP Guides/Builds - Use the search tool to search for sPvP builds for the class you want. If you sort by Glory Earned then the highest rated ones will be at the top. These builds will generally have an explanation of the general playstyle.
Gameplay Basics -A reddit post explaining the basics and clearing up some misconceptions (copied below):
1st: get a build
I see tons of people running non-existing builds, such as "bunker mesmer" or zerker staff ele. These are fairly useless specs, along with all 1v1 builds, such as PU mesmers. If you ask around in the mists I'm sure someone gives you the meta builds within a minute.
2nd: always arrive in time.
Seems obvious, but often there are matches where the last 2 players arrive 10 secs before the match starts. This way your teammates must trust the blind luck with team composition, so you may end up having 2 bunkers or no bunker at all, often resulting at rerolling during matches, making it 4v5 for a short period of time, or just simply losing the match before it even starts.
3rd: never freecap in a group
Happens way too often. People do not realize that the capture bar does not fill faster if you have more people standing on the point. Capturing an empty node with multiple teammates makes your team be outnumbered in a teamfight, thus losing it.
4th: never rush into a lost teamfight, and don't be afraid to disengage
Another common mistake. If you see a 3v1 and only you can aid that guy, then don't. You will only make it 2v3, and make 2/5 of your team wipe. Simply just be happy that the enemy can be outnumbered on 2 other nodes, and help those. Or if you are clearly losing a fight, you are outnumbered and your teammate is going down, just escape while you can and help elsewhere/regroup.
5th: help the downed but don't die reviving
It's just not worth it to get yourself downed for tryharding. Try to res asap, but if you are getting focused and bursted, just leave your buddy alone. Grenth will take care of his/her soul.
6th: if you can, give swiftness before match starts
Swiftness is vital, because you get to the point faster at the start, which can really boost your performance.
7th: guard the points you have
It's not hotjoin anymore. 2 capture points = win, if you can defend them, so don't give them up easily. Tho being afk on a point that's not being invaded ever makes your team battle in 4v5. The solution usually is entrusting a mobile profession with defending close point, usually an engineer, warrior, ranger or ele. They can move up to midfights on most maps while still keeping an eye on your closepoint and can run back if they see an enemy approaching or after killing 1-2 guys in the midfight.
8th: the rules of pushing farpoint
Decapping/fullcapping farpoint is always a huge blow to the enemy. However, don't do this if:
1: you make your team lose a teamfight. Not worth it.
2: an enemy is there for the whole match. Be glad he is paranoid. If you let him rot there for the whole match that means your team can 5v4 their team thus keeping 2 points for sure which = win.
Hope this helps :) Gl & hf. Balthazar bless you all.
Edit: clarification of some terms and misbeliefs
Hotjoin: it refers to everything that is found under the Game Browser menu, it is unrated. This mode will teach you the opposite of what you should do, use it for daily + to learn the maps, for that it is great. Because of this it was always an issue (newcomers can't learn the game here, and rated should not be for learning).
Personal score and rank points gained:you used to gain rank points and glory for the score you have earned, but this was changed like half a year ago. This is just a simple remnant of that system and won't affect your rank points at all. There is only a winner and a loser team score, and the only thing that can modify those values is the time you spent in the match. 8 mins and above = max reward.
NOTE: Taken from reddit, not my writing.
Now get out there and go earn yourself some loot!!!
Feel free to add anything you feel would be useful!
-Erion