Guild Wars 2

…To be viewed before obtaining the skillset.

I don’t understand what the intended method for learning what skills on your bar are when you only get to view them for 20 seconds.

Ex. -Guardians tomes, I still have no idea what one of the two does and it took me 4 months before I figured out one had quickness (I never used it because I figured it was useless). How did I figure it out? I would use it randomly whenever I felt like it to read what the skills did, everytime waiting on the cool down.

-Mesmer transformations, so one time I decided to do the obsidian sanctum JP. I made it all the way to the end but there was a group guarding the last section. Four to be exact. Knowing it was unlikely I could walk past them even as a thief, I decided to try and pick them off. Needless to say I got into a fight with a mesmer and was transformed into a moa. I began to panic, not knowing what any of the skills did I hit them randomly until I noticed skill 5. It had the shape of a wing and so I hit it thinking it was an escape skill.

It ran me straight off the cliff…

…but I lived.

Is this really the way to learn how to use these skills? Do or die situations where you hit buttons randomly because there isn’t enough time to read them.