Calculating How Long PvP Takes
We only know the amount of matches PvP takes but not the amount of time. Especially since this value changes according to every single match you may have, we can only assume an average which we can work with, but that should be no problem.
If you remember back in the PvP post we have found out that an average player or a player under platinum needs 61 to 224 matches to complete PvP. Next, we need to know how long a match takes on average. Unfortunately, you can only see your last ten PvP matches so I have to work with this.
These matches took me:
| match length | 10m 22s | 14m | 12m 15s | 6m 8s | 10m 8s | 11m 33s | 8m 36s | 9m 30s | 5m 54s | 10m 10s |
| conversion calculation |
10 * 60 + 22 | 14 * 60 | 12 * 60 + 15 | 6 * 60 + 8 | 10 * 60 + 8 | 11 * 60 + 33 | 8 * 60 + 36 | 9 * 60 + 30 | 5 * 60 + 54 | 10 * 60 + 10 |
| time in seconds | 622 | 840 | 735 | 368 | 608 | 693 | 516 | 570 | 354 | 610 |
Now we can add up all the seconds and divide it through the amount of matches we've listed - ten matches. Doing so we'll get:
(622 + 840 + 735 + 368 + 608 + 693 + 516 + 570 + 354 + 610) / 10 = 591.6
Converting this back to minutes we have 591.6 / 60 = ~9.86 minutes per match. Next, we apply the queue time. Queues are on average around 2 minutes. The time, until everyone has readied up, is probably around 5 to 30 seconds on average more like 12 seconds. The map selection takes most likely around 8 seconds and the time until a match actually starts is on average about 55 seconds including the loading screens. Summing all this up we get 12 + 8 + 55 = 75 seconds, which is 75 / 60 = 1.25 minutes plus the 2 minutes from before. So I'd say it's safe to assume 3.25 minutes to wait for each match. Adding this to our previous number we now get 9.86 + 3.25 = 13.11 minutes for each match.
Now multiplying this with our amount of matches we need, we get between 13.11 * 61 = 799.71 minutes and 13.11 * 224 = 2936.64 minutes to complete the season track. Those numbers seem big, let's convert them to hours by dividing through 60 again. Now it's 799.71 / 60 = ~13.33 to 2936.64 / 60 = ~48.94 hours to complete it. That sounds fairly reasonable for how long a season goes.
Though we haven't gotten the real minimum here. A player who gets the most pips, that's what we have to calculate with to get a total minimum. At least we have our total maximum dependent on average time. We could calculate the maximum time with 15 minutes since that's how long a match can take at most, usually. However, it's extremely unlikely for every match to take that long.
Our next step is to assume the minimum amount of matches which is 45 matches. 45 matches taking ~13.11 minutes per match or 45 * 13.11 = 589.95 minutes, that's 589.95 / 60 = 9.833 hours.
Combining the total minimum and the maximum we get a range from 9.83 hours to ~48.94 hours.
Taking the WvW Time Consumption Into Consideration
We don't need to calculate much here since the prior post has taken care of this already. In the post, we've calculated that it takes between 6.36 hours and 40.28 hours.
Start the Comparison
Now that we have our numbers we can start to compare. The easiest way to compare is to calculate the reward we get in the same time unit. To get the same time unit we need to divide the reward through the time it takes to get it. Luckily I've already listed the rewards in the prior posts so here we go:
PvP Rewards
- 560 Shards of Glory
- 34 Unidentified Dyes
- 83 gold 85 silver
- 44 Transmutation Charges
- 100 PvP League Tickets
- 400 Ascended Shards of Glory
- 3 Boxes of Grandmaster Marks
- 1 Llama Mini Choice Box
Let's start with per hour:
- 560 / 48.94 = 11.44 to 560 / 9.833 = 56.95 Shards of Glory every hour
- 34 / 48.94 = 0.69 to 34 / 9.833 = 3.46 Unidentified Dyes per hour
- 838500 / 48.94 = 17133 to 838500 / 9.833 = 85274 copper each hour
- 44 / 48.94 = 0.9 to 44 / 9.833 = 4.47 Transmutation Charges every hour
- 100 / 48.94 = 2.04 to 100 / 9.833 = 10.17 PvP League Tickets per hour
- 400 / 48.94 = 8.17 to 400 / 9.833 = 40.68 Ascended Shards of Glory an hour
- 3 / 48.94 = 0.06 to 3 / 9.833 = 0.31 Boxes of Grandmaster Marks each hour
- 1 / 48.94 = 0.02 to 1 / 9.833 = 0.1 Llama Mini Choice Box every hour
WvW Rewards
- 365 WvW Skirmish Claim Tickets
- 35 Skirmish Chests
- 76 Memories of Battle
- 142 Reward Track Progresses
- 11 Mist-Warped Packet
- 3 Mist-Warped Bundles
- 4 Mystic Coins
Next, we do the same with the WvW rewards but using the WvW times:
- 365 / 40.28 = 9.06 to 365 / 6.36 = 57.39 WvW Skirmish Claim Tickets every hour
- 35 / 40.28 = 0.87 to 35 / 6.36 = 5.5 Skirmish Chests an hour
- 76 / 40.28 = 1.89 to 76 / 6.36 = 11.95 Memories of Battle per hour
- 142 / 40.28 = 3.53 to 142 / 6.36 = 22.33 Reward Track Progresses each hour
- 11 / 40.28 = 0.27 to 11 / 6.36 = 1.73 Mist-Warped Packet every hour
- 3 / 40.28 = 0.07 to 3 / 6.36 = 0.47 Mist-Warped Bundles an hour
- 4 / 40.28 = 0.1 to 4 / 6.36 = 0.63 Mystic Coins per hour
Last Step
Now we either compare each piece with each other like WvW Skirmish Claim Tickets and their item prices with PvP League Tickets or we calculate the total worth of all items and compare that with each other. Another option would be to do both of these options.
So let's start comparing the tickets. In PvP, you need 20 of these for the Record of League Participation and another 30 for the Record of League Victories to upgrade your armor to legendary. In WvW you need 1095 to upgrade armor to legendary. This means you need 50 for PvP and 1095 for WvW, which is 1095 / 50 = 21.9 times more. So, in this case, WvW tickets need to be 21.9 times worth more. Looking at our calculation we see that WvW tickets are 9.06 / 2.04 = 4.44 or 57.39 / 10.17 = 5.64 times worth more. Off to a bad start for WvW.
Compared to PvP, WvW gives instant reward track progress boosts. Each one gives 25 points according to the Guild Wars 2 wiki. We get between 3.53 and 22.33 reward track progress each hour. That's between 3.53 * 25 = 88.25 and 22.33 * 25 = 558.25 per hour. This is something special the PvP reward track doesn't have, and it's hard to compare it. At least we can say you get up to a whole reward more in the reward tracks each hour.
Therefore PvP rewards up to 3 Grandmaster Marks and a Llama Mini Choice box, as well as Transmutation Charges. This is also hard to compare.
I haven't researched the Mist-Warped Packet and Mist-Warped Bundles as they drop differently from the Magic-Warped Packet and the Magic-Warped Bundles. At the same time, it heavily depends on the market. Same with mystic coins and unidentified dyes. So in this regard, WvW might be better than PvP if the market stands good. Unfortunately PvP rewards between 2 gold 27 silver 79 copper and 11 gold 33 silver and 87 copper every hour on the hand with no relation to the market.
Last but not least don't forget that WvW has drops, karma and event rewards, which PvP doesn't have.
Conclusion
PvP and WvW consume nearly the same time for getting the total amount of pips. A huge difference here is however that PvP's seasons tend to be 8 weeks long and WvW is only one week. So you need to do 8 weeks in one week in WvW, at the same time unique currencies like the tickets are rewarded only once the track is finished, so WvW gives you a lot more tickets if you think about it, but you need to work for those tickets, quite a lot. Another huge thing is that WvW rewards are dependent on market values. If certain market values like tier 6 materials or mystic coins are high in value the WvW weekly reward track is also high in value. Same counts towards blueprints of siege weapons. The last point that should be mentioned here is that WvW boosts your normal reward tracks, so if you go for those rewards WvW is gonna be your best bet. Or doing both if you have the time to do so.
