Guild Wars 2

Experienced players of GW2, a real noob needs your assistance (or your opinion to be precise).

I’m not gonna lie: i suck at MMOs. This is the first one i ever played, for various reasons. I regret not playing them earlier, cause i LOVE this game.

Now, talking about my issue: me and my friends are really struggling against the “explorable mode” of the 1st dungeon available, the one at lvl 35. The thing is: to my really noobish eyes, it seems that I (we) lack the equipment to face such an hard task to do. The other option is that we lack the skill to do that. Now, the big deal: does unlocking all traits and lvl 80 equip make the difference in this game mode or it’s just that I suck? Just to understand if it is worth keep trying or if I should wait level cap and better equipment in order to beat it.

Thank you for your answers

Unlocking all traits does increase your abilities quite a bit. More damage, more defense, more access to certain skills, just all around a lot.

It is doable at the levels but yes, it’s harder. Leveling will make it easier.

As for the idea “i need better gear”, it’s more just needing to learn what’s happening so you can correctly respond to what’s going on. GW2 is built on this idea. When you see say the Spider Queen shooting her webs out, you want to dodge and avoid it. When she spits the poison you want to again dodge it and stay out of the fields. Just learn what’s happening and come up with a way to deal with it.

Thank you very much for your kind answer. I will follow your suggestion and try to improve mechanically in group events and other stuff and taking all traits before trying to beat the dungeon again. Maybe, when I’m more experienced, with another pg, i might try to face it again in the early game

For sure, and to add, when you give it a shot again there is a nice resource put together at gw2dungeons.net that has all you need to know about dungeons. Just something worth tossing in your bookmarks for if you have any trouble.

It will be easier when you have better gear, more trait and get better at the game. But the most important part in knowledge of the dungeon. Good knowledge of the mechanics and tactics to use in a specific dungeon will make a huge difference.

The guild dungeon mentor exist to explain dungeon to new players (you can find a post in Dungeon subforum), otherwise you can find a guild where you can find people to explain to you, or ask in LFG, or even look at video and read gw2dungeons.net

You mean this thread? https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/New-to-Dungeons-and-want-to-learn/page/3#post4944590 or this one? https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Dungeon-Mentors-Noob

I’m thinking about asking for a mentoring session in the future if thats the case.

Either mentor guild is good, though I believe the [NOOB] guild is more active these days.

Regarding gear: When I’m leveling an alt, I try to make sure I have at least all rare gear at an appropriate level for the dungeon. IIRC, some gear components don’t have rare versions available at 35, but the better the gear, the easier it will be. This can be difficult on your first toon, as you won’t have a lot of gold or dungeon tokens saved up to get the gear, but try to get the best you can if you want to have a smooth experience.

As Jerus mentioned, learning the encounters is the best way to survive in this game. A lot of dungeon runners have been running these same 8 dungeons for the last two (going on three) years…we know them inside-out. Don’t feel too discouraged if you’re having trouble with encounters that you see others handling easily. The reason it appears so easy for the other players is that they’ve literally memorized the encounters, or are using some cheezy tactics to shut the boss’s mechanics down while they DPS. The current ice bow meta is highly effective, but rather boring IMO

If you’re serious about learning the dungeons and want to run them regularly, a dungeon mentoring guild is the way to go. If you’re just testing the waters and want to see if you like them, try posting an LFG along the lines of “low level first timer, looking for teacher”. Don’t be shy about it — being explicit about your inexperience and willingness to learn will make your dungeon pick-up-groups (PUGs) much, much more enjoyable, as your average dungeon runners don’t have a lot of patience these days. However, there are a lot of players eager to help those who are willing to listen and learn.

Best of luck! Might want to also mention if you’re on NA or EU servers. It’s very likely that some forum regular might offer to show you the ropes

Well, I’d never thought this community was so nice to newbies. Thank you very much, dlonie. Talking about how I want to enjoy dungeons and PvE in general (casual way a.k.a “testing water” or in a serious way) I think it’s a mix of both. I would really like to run efficiently dungeons in the future, but I feel like that I should be testing if “the water is warm”, for now.

The problem about joining mentoring guild is that I play with a group of friends of mine (included my girlfriend) and I am the only english speaker within all of them. So, after being the student, I should become a “teacher” later, for them. Pretty stressful if you ask me.

I think I’ll need some time to think about it.

P.S: I’ve reached lvl 70 in the meantime, I’m not 35 anymore xD

P.P.S: Following your suggestion, if anyone wants to give me a little demonstration of “proper dungeon delving” I play on EU, Whiteside Ridge. It doesn’t hurt to try.

P.P.P.S: Is there a meta here in GW2, dlonie? In your post you mentioned “Ice Bow meta”, wich i presume involves the elementalist’s conjured weapon. I’m asking because, reading around, I’ve seen almost everyone posting something like “Mix-Maxing is for other games, GW2 is different”; “Stop with your Classic MMOs stereotypes” etc.

But, but…we are the toxic part of the game

As for the Ice Bow meta: 1 guard 1 war 1 thief 2 ele’s, all in Berserker gear(power precision ferocity). Chain lock down with ice bow #5(deep freeze). The thief removes the Defiance so you can freeze again. This is a really good and save set up, BUT not needed at all to complete dungeons fast and efficient. I do recommend using Berserker gear tho, you’ll feel squishy at first but trust me, you’ll get used to it as you learn how the game works.

If any of the above is confusing, just ask for better explanation ..it can be a bit to much info for a new player :p

Hello,

I’ll try to answer your questions one by one but I often get lost in grumbling, so excuse me in advance.

The community of gw2, and mostly the dungeon forum community, is one of the nicest and most helpful ( there’s obviously exceptions- the most vocals are, in general, helpful persons) community I’ve seen in any multiplayer game. However, I, and I guess I can speak for everyone in that, don’t tolerate people coming in here and asking to adapt the content to their level instead of trying. Wich is why we have that “elitist” reputation.

You’ll, eventually, start teaching people. Everyone was a noob at some point and as players became better, they also had a lot more free time and knowledge to teach others.

If you want to add me, I’m on EU too, and I can help you starting dungeons, I’ve done it multiple times. My schedule is quite busy on gw2 at the moment, since the game disgusts me more and more and I still have a regular group to play with, meaning less idling. I’ll be glad to help on any free time I have, though.

There’s a meta in gw2 like any other game. Generally speaking, the meta is about taking as much support as possible without loosing any dps, or as much dps as possible without loosing any support. Gearwise, it’ll always be either berserker ( power/prec/ferocity) or assassin ( prec/power/ferocity), as gear doesn’t give you more support and survivability isn’t needed when you know the fights. We’re currently in an icebow meta, where we stack the ele conjures for high burst aoe damage and the best cc skill in the game ( deepfreeze, ice bow 5). Eles also have really high damage on their own, so in casual runs it’s the only class “stackable”. Most parties for non speedruns are 2 eles, 1 war, 1 thief, 1 guard. There’s multiple meta builds for each class depending on the situation and the group composition, but not running meta isn’t needed to finish the content. It’s just more supportive, and more helpful to the group. And, obviously, you finish faster than a non- meta group.

There are meta builds. You can look at

http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

And

http://gw2dungeons.net/

as well as some of the other guides. You will find that the community here is pretty happy to help with questions

In addition to what was already posted by others, I would like to put some emphasis on the difficulty of explorable dungeon paths for new players: If you’re a first-timer, if you’re under-leveled and under-geared (read: not lvl 80 with full traits, some build synergy and proper gear), these dungeons will feel very unforgiving and quite difficult.

It’s important to realize that dungeons have not changed much since release, this means there are veteran players who have literally done them hundreds (thousands?) of times and don’t feel challenged anymore. As the dungeons are a popular source of income, players run them with their fully (dps-)geared level 80 toons to minimize completion times, no matter what the actual dungeon level states.

Most important for you is to learn these encounters. If you do this with a meta build or not is irrelevant, especially when you are playing with a group of newcomers. I advise against simply copying something from a wiki if you don’t understand why you’re supposed to run this. As you learn your class and the dungeon paths, you can start to think about maximizing completion times and so on.

I’m playing on EU and doing dungeons regularly if you want to add me. Been doing dungeons since launch, have seen all kind of strategies over the years, I’ll be happy to share a hint or two.

@Acojte: You could try, but you’ll never beat toxicity the MOBAs community I come from :P (That’s why i’m so surprised of all the kindness I’m finding in here, I come from a place where the most common sentence is “get on my lvl, l2p”). And I’m very happy to see it. I love MOBA, I hate the people playing it.

Pretty much understood your explanations, I’m helping myself with the wiki while reading. Considering that our group has not that composition (and we have yet to reach lvl cap with our 1rst characters) i’ll look for something else when the time will come.

@oxtred: First of all, expect my friend request soon :P Also I really enjoy the idea that I should adapt to the game, not the opposite. I come from the whiny MOBAs community, wich has (best bad words censorship ever, the word used in here before the edit did became “kittened”, lol) me off various times with the opposite (fix champion/hero X, “putheredevelopernamehere” please) . And I really enjoyed reading all of your “grumbling” (I’m prone to that too), because it was really educational for someone like me that is taking his first steps into the game.

@Taylin: Already noticed that this is a fantastic community. I feel like a baby when gifted tons fo candies right now. Surely I’ll take a look into those sites in the future.

@Satenia I’ll add you soon surely. I’ll surely take insipration from other people’s build shared on the net, even if I do really wanna understand the mechanics of the game, so mindless “copy-pasting” a build it really doesn’t suit me. I prefer more “reading, understanding then copypasting”.

Thank you so much for all of your replies

The majority of whining you see from the dungeon community is just request for more content, complaints over bugs, and the fact that necromancer is simply sub par in every aspect. All legitimate concerns IMO You’ll still find people avidly playing Necro for the fun of it though.

We’re often a pessimistic bunch but it’s all fun, I love this dungeon community, the gw2 community as a whole… ehh take it or leave it.

As for “copy pasting” a build, personally I initially was like “dudes tank gear has uses!” then as I played I learned the same thing as those before me… that it’s actual tactical uses were so inconsistent that they weren’t worth it. Slowly I morphed my build taking more and more damage, suddenly I found myself in a meta build and I just gave up and accepted that Meta is Meta for a reason, though there are still lots of tweaking you can do to better fit certain play styles or situations.

My point being, you’re doing exactly the right thing, keep learning and as you start to understand you’ll just naturally fall into the meta if your path is anything like mine

I really should buy an EU account next time they’re on sale just to play with all the good folks there too!

My gf is playing a Necro, as her 1rst character :c

I don’t mind copypasting, just I need to understand why am I doing that. Not mindless “Imma copy this build because it’s written on metagear dot soop dot net and wreck everything”, but understanding why it is best. I’m surely a “power player”, but the most annoying kind: the one that ask for questions

It’s a pity thought that tank build has no uses, i like being immortal, tank everything and stuff, but i understand that tank/dps/healer is not a thing in GW2. And it’s fine by me. If it wasn’t different than the usual I would not be playing it.

But I am going too much OT :P

Thank you again for your replies and cya around!

Ohh tank does have uses. It can make things much easier. For example I suggest you check out Skady’s cleric guard videos on Youtube. 3 manning fractal 40/50 and making it look easy. But, in a 5 man group you simply can go faster with full offense.

So it has it’s uses, but it’s a question of “is it worth it” and in dungeons, not really they’re easier. Fractals, well it can make things much easier, so you may deem it worthwhile. Meta focuses on speed, if you’re willing to spend another 10 mins in a fractal to make it easier, well, why the hell not?

GW2 is a bit funky in it’s removal of the trinity, doesn’t mean there isn’t power in more healing/tanky builds, but it’s more that you don’t NEED it, than it’s not useful.

The RickyAll.6039:

My gf is playing a Necro, as her 1rst character :c

I don’t mind copypasting, just I need to understand why am I doing that. Not mindless “Imma copy this build because it’s written on metagear dot soop dot net and wreck everything”, but understanding why it is best. I’m surely a “power player”, but the most annoying kind: the one that ask for questions

It’s a pity thought that tank build has no uses, i like being immortal, tank everything and stuff, but i understand that tank/dps/healer is not a thing in GW2. And it’s fine by me. If it wasn’t different than the usual I would not be playing it.

But I am going too much OT :P

Thank you again for your replies and cya around!

you can sort of be useful as a tank, especially when people dont have every skill/trait/gear,
apparently aggro is sort of based around your toughness, and how close you are to the monsters, so having the highest toughness, and being close, while other players keep max attack distance will lead you being the most hated most of the time.

and all of the people you play with are friends. Also your girlfriend necro can provide some useful things depending on your party set up. blinds, heals, weakness.

You dont need to be as optimal as the guys here yet, unless you want to be.

quick disclaimer: full berserker guardian can “tank” pretty well by rotating blocks, and it’s actually really fun to do, managing cooldowns to survive without dodging ( because dodging may break aggro).

If you pay attention to the spiders you’ll see that some of them are lvl 1 2 or 3.

The 1 & 3 are no threat, but there’s one level 2 that is, because that one is the spider that triggers the big spider spawn. Specifically, the level 2 spider on the right upper side (when facing towards the tunnel with chains)

take this advice because even a lot of so called 80 experienced zerkers don’t know this.

I can’t stress this out enough, to many people just engage the small adds without a clue
and it really helps to know WHEN you trigger a boss so you can actually prepare for it

To many times i’m there stacking might only to have some scrub take the spider down causing the big one to spawn. I still have to cast icebow, but some other crub already used a status skill wasting my deep freeze (ice bow 5 skill) and then the problems start.

Sure, with a full 80 zerk party its dead before it can cause serious problems. but i still tend to die because of this in pugs.

If you manage the adds first, control the spider boss spawn and finish off the other adds you have a full room of dodging available to you without the pesky little ones poisoning you to death.

1. Clear the fire statues (ranged preferred) that lay down the small fire blasts

2. kill adds (but beware of the lvl 2 spider roaming arround in the spot i mentioned)

3. more adds will spawn → kill them aswell

4. spawn spider → deepfreeze it with icebow or interupt with a skill available

5. DPS

alwinp.2791:

If you pay attention to the spiders you’ll see that some of them are lvl 1 2 or 3.

The 1 & 3 are no threat, but there’s one level 2 that is, because that one is the spider that triggers the big spider spawn. Specifically, the level 2 spider on the right upper side (when facing towards the tunnel with chains)

take this advice because even a lot of so called 80 experienced zerkers don’t know this.

I can’t stress this out enough, to many people just engage the small adds without a clue
and it really helps to know WHEN you trigger a boss so you can actually prepare for it

To many times i’m there stacking might only to have some scrub take the spider down causing the big one to spawn. I still have to cast icebow, but some other crub already used a status skill wasting my deep freeze (ice bow 5 skill) and then the problems start.

Sure, with a full 80 zerk party its dead before it can cause serious problems. but i still tend to die because of this in pugs.

If you manage the adds first, control the spider boss spawn and finish off the other adds you have a full room of dodging available to you without the pesky little ones poisoning you to death.

1. Clear the fire statues (ranged preferred) that lay down the small fire blasts

2. kill adds (but beware of the lvl 2 spider roaming arround in the spot i mentioned)

3. more adds will spawn -> kill them aswell

4. spawn spider -> deepfreeze it with icebow or interupt with a skill available

5. DPS

You are ALMOST right. It’s not just one spider, you have to kill all the low level spiders to spawn the Queen.

The RickyAll.6039:

Well, I’d never thought this community was so nice to newbies.

And in the dungeon forum, no less! We’re actually quite welcoming and friendly to people who don’t rush in to label us all as ‘dirty exploiting elitists’, or complain that content wasn’t a faceroll on their first attempt and demand nerfs >.<

Your post was thoughtful, friendly, and asks for information/help. You’re quite welcome here!

P.P.P.S: Is there a meta here in GW2, dlonie? In your post you mentioned “Ice Bow meta”, wich i presume involves the elementalist’s conjured weapon.

Yep! Others have explained IB chaining well. It really is quite dull after a while, but it undeniably fastest in most situations.

The general meta is full DPS — berserker gear, Scholar runes, sigils of force, etc. Runes and sigils vary a bit per class as there are synergies between class utilities and certain sets, but in general, “more damage is better” is a good rule of thumb.

That said, without a bit of experience, it can be difficult to survive in full zerk (berserkers) DPS gear. Zerk gear is Power (base damage), Precision (crit chance), and Ferocity (crit damage). While you’re learning, Knight’s gear (Tough/Power/Prec) or even Soldier’s gear (Power/Tough/Vitality) are good sets that let you take a hit or two while you learn the bosses.

For specifics of the meta, Wethospu has done a freaking amazing job maintaining gw2dungeons and has a section that talks about the GW2 PvE meta in general, with more profession specific information available: http://gw2dungeons.net/Meta That really is your best bet for learning how higher-end dungeons runs are typically structured in this game.

I’m asking because, reading around, I’ve seen almost everyone posting something like “Mix-Maxing is for other games, GW2 is different”; “Stop with your Classic MMOs stereotypes” etc.

GW2 is a casual game, and this casual attitude is prevalent. Players want to be coddled, and they are. If I had to sum up the problems with the GW2 userbase in two words, they would be: Login Rewards I showed up, now where’s my trophy?

Be warned that getting invested in dungeons in this game is a path to frustration. If you end up really liking them and having fun (as many of us have), you’ll eventually want more. That will never happen. ArenaNet announced a while back that they aren’t working on new dungeons, and they don’t pay any attention to them, aside from an occasional massive exp/gold producing exploit. What we have is what we have, and they will not be releasing new ones or putting significant resources toward improving the existing ones. See this thread for the reason most dungeon enthusiasts have left this game. So keep that in mind up front and you’ll save yourself a lot of disappointment.

Acotje.5689:

alwinp.2791:

If you pay attention to the spiders you’ll see that some of them are lvl 1 2 or 3.

The 1 & 3 are no threat, but there’s one level 2 that is, because that one is the spider that triggers the big spider spawn. Specifically, the level 2 spider on the right upper side (when facing towards the tunnel with chains)

take this advice because even a lot of so called 80 experienced zerkers don’t know this.

I can’t stress this out enough, to many people just engage the small adds without a clue
and it really helps to know WHEN you trigger a boss so you can actually prepare for it

To many times i’m there stacking might only to have some scrub take the spider down causing the big one to spawn. I still have to cast icebow, but some other crub already used a status skill wasting my deep freeze (ice bow 5 skill) and then the problems start.

Sure, with a full 80 zerk party its dead before it can cause serious problems. but i still tend to die because of this in pugs.

If you manage the adds first, control the spider boss spawn and finish off the other adds you have a full room of dodging available to you without the pesky little ones poisoning you to death.

1. Clear the fire statues (ranged preferred) that lay down the small fire blasts

2. kill adds (but beware of the lvl 2 spider roaming arround in the spot i mentioned)

3. more adds will spawn -> kill them aswell

4. spawn spider -> deepfreeze it with icebow or interupt with a skill available

5. DPS

You are ALMOST right. It’s not just one spider, you have to kill all the low level spiders to spawn the Queen.

oh, right

Well i useally finish off the other low levels ones except that one so i consider that one the triggering spider :p

It just helps knowing that these little ones can be controlled without creating a mess in the room.

lol, what I see in dungeons is people auto-kicking and booting non-level 80’s. Lots of demands to verify full berserker gear and occasionally random hate and mockery of newer players.

Just so the toxic elitists know before they start saying I must never run dungeons, I got all ascended gear and I’ve run the dungeons hundreds of times. Even though I know the dungeons inside out, I am still very frustrated by the “Meta”. People should be able to play any build any use any type of gear. If players actually supported each other and played through the dungeon and understood if newer players died instead of kicking them or just leaving them behind as they run the dungeon the dungeons wouldn’t be such a frustrating experience for most newer and casual players.

Derenek.8931:

lol, what I see in dungeons is people auto-kicking and booting non-level 80’s. Lots of demands to verify full berserker gear and occasionally random hate and mockery of newer players.

Just so the toxic elitists know before they start saying I must never run dungeons, I got all ascended gear and I’ve run the dungeons hundreds of times. Even though I know the dungeons inside out, I am still very frustrated by the “Meta”. People should be able to play any build any use any type of gear. If players actually supported each other and played through the dungeon and understood if newer players died instead of kicking them or just leaving them behind as they run the dungeon the dungeons wouldn’t be such a frustrating experience for most newer and casual players.

I can understand if you don’t like the meta. But you are throwing around alot of hate in these forums towards people who do not deserve it. Most people here run in guilds that do not pug and are there for not in any way responsible for the actions you’re describing.

It is bad that many new players get kicked, and the dungeon forums are full of people who do their best to help and teach. Almost all the guides and wiki come from the efforts of players here, because they are the ones who log in most of the hours. I don’t count myself among that number. I am a bit above average at best.

People here even log in and help people complete dungeons for the first time. I helped out with a new group doing HoTW story just a few days ago, because someone needed it and was not able to find a group for it.

So relax, we are not your enemy, odds are you will probably never be in a group with any of us.

Derenek.8931:

lol, what I see in dungeons is people auto-kicking and booting non-level 80’s. Lots of demands to verify full berserker gear and occasionally random hate and mockery of newer players.

Just so the toxic elitists know before they start saying I must never run dungeons, I got all ascended gear and I’ve run the dungeons hundreds of times. Even though I know the dungeons inside out, I am still very frustrated by the “Meta”. People should be able to play any build any use any type of gear. If players actually supported each other and played through the dungeon and understood if newer players died instead of kicking them or just leaving them behind as they run the dungeon the dungeons wouldn’t be such a frustrating experience for most newer and casual players.

^ exact exemple of who we won’t help, and a great instance of someone being obnoxious then blaming it on the dungeoneers. Thanks for not being like that.

oxtred.7658:

Derenek.8931:

lol, what I see in dungeons is people auto-kicking and booting non-level 80’s. Lots of demands to verify full berserker gear and occasionally random hate and mockery of newer players.

Just so the toxic elitists know before they start saying I must never run dungeons, I got all ascended gear and I’ve run the dungeons hundreds of times. Even though I know the dungeons inside out, I am still very frustrated by the “Meta”. People should be able to play any build any use any type of gear. If players actually supported each other and played through the dungeon and understood if newer players died instead of kicking them or just leaving them behind as they run the dungeon the dungeons wouldn’t be such a frustrating experience for most newer and casual players.

^ exact exemple of who we won’t help, and a great instance of someone being obnoxious then blaming it on the dungeoneers. Thanks for not being like that.

I mainly run dungeons these days specifically to help newer players since I don’t need gear or loot. @Talyn I’m not meaning to say anyone is specifically bad here. I’ve not run dungeons with you guys. I’m just outlining many of my recent experiences while trying to help newbies and casuals. The shunning of the newer players really bothers me because I want GW2 to keep having new players and casual players in it and not get griefed out of the game. Since getting players to do stuff is next to impossible, I was hoping that Anet could make some minor adjustments to make things better for casuals. Which I know is also close to impossible, but maybe we could get lucky and improvements could come down the pike

Derenek.8931:

People should be able to play any build any use any type of gear. If players actually supported each other and played through the dungeon and understood if newer players died instead of kicking them or just leaving them behind as they run the dungeon the dungeons wouldn’t be such a frustrating experience for most newer and casual players.

Sounds like a content design issue, again, brought in part due to a lack of dungeon team. Hopefully with a rebalancing of condition, this may be lessened.

Derenek.8931:

lol, what I see in dungeons is people auto-kicking and booting non-level 80’s. Lots of demands to verify full berserker gear and occasionally random hate and mockery of newer players.

Just so the toxic elitists know before they start saying I must never run dungeons, I got all ascended gear and I’ve run the dungeons hundreds of times. Even though I know the dungeons inside out, I am still very frustrated by the “Meta”. People should be able to play any build any use any type of gear. If players actually supported each other and played through the dungeon and understood if newer players died instead of kicking them or just leaving them behind as they run the dungeon the dungeons wouldn’t be such a frustrating experience for most newer and casual players.

This was a nice thread. A newer player comes in, asks nicely for help, and the community helped them out, answered their questions — even offered to take OP on some teaching runs to show them the ropes.

Then you come in, spewing a completely unrelated rant against those “toxic elitists” and railing against zerkers, LFG restrictions, etc.

smh.