Guild versus guild

Basics
As the name says, Guild versus Guild (GvG) matches are fought between two guild parties. Guild matches take place for either:


 * Rating in the Official Guild Ladder.
 * An unrated match ("friendly match").
 * As part of the Guild Wars World Championship (GWWC).

Matching
When setting up you can choose to challenge a specific guild in an unrated match or set up an automatic, rated guild match. Unrated matches will not affect either guilds' rating or rank, regardless of the outcome. For automatic matches, Guild Wars will try to match similarly rated guilds against each other, but will eventually match guilds of disparate ratings if necessary. Guild matches can only be started with a party of at least six characters including the guild leader or an officer and two other non-guest members.

The Playground
GvG battles take place on the Guild Islands. Each guild island features two bases and a flag stand in the center area.

The guild with higher guild rating is assigned the part of attacker. On most maps the attacker has a slightly weaker position (for example, fewer NPCs).

Depending on the type of Guild Hall there may be additional strategic features like catapults, gate switches and more. Read the Guild Island Description for details.

Objectives
The objective of a GvG match is to kill the opposing team's Guild Lord, an NPC character, who is sitting in the opponent's base. If the Lord is killed, that Lord's team loses. Alternatively, if an entire team has -60% Death Penalty, that team loses.

In GvG battles each guild has a flag that spawns in their base. Putting your guild's flag in the flag stand (usually near the island center) and holding it for more than 2 minutes will give your guild a 10% morale bonus.

''Note: In a GvG match all dead players and the Guild Thief (but no other NPCs) will automatically be resurrected by the Resurrection Shrine in their base every 2 minutes. (Provided their Death Penalty hasn't reached the maximum of -60%. At that point a player can only be resurrected by an other party member.)''

Team Setup
Both teams in a GvG match consists of six to eight players (which may include henchmen), plus several NPC. These NPCs guard their own team's base:


 * Archers (Rangers)
 * Footmen (Warriors)
 * Bodyguards (Elementalist/Monk)
 * Guild Lord (Warrior)

Furthermore, in maps with locked gates, each team has an NPC Guild Thief who is able to open the locked gate to the opponent base.

Victory or Death
If a GvG match lasts 30 minutes, all the NPCs (except the Guild Thief, if there is one) will abandon the Guild Lord and fight more towards the center of the map. This may turn the tide of the battle as the Guild Lord is very vulnerable without the NPCs that guard him, and the extra NPC firepower near the flag stand also puts more pressure on combatants. Any locked gates will be opened.

Each of these NPCs carries a shout skill named "Victory or Death!". The NPCs will use this skill repeatedly starting at 30:00. The NPCs use this skill whenever they are within shout range of anyone who is not currently affected by "Victory or Death!".

After 35:00 the Guild Lord too will run to the center, almost definitely causing the end of the match thereafter.

Rewards
The winning guild members gain faction, the winning guild gains guild rating, and the losing guild loses guild rating. The winning guild members gain more faction the higher rated their guild is. The rating changes depend on the relative ranking of the guilds involved. If a guild with a high rating defeats one with a low rating, neither guild's rating will change much. If the lower