Guild Wars 2

Hey there,
After a little advice on the best way to try and get involved in dungeons. I’ve just started my first char after being a massive wow nerd for about 4 years, and I LOVE this game. Im currently a level 14 norn warrior, and i know its a little soon to be thinking about dungeons, but ill be 30 soon enough and from what i understand i unlock the first dungeon then.

I’ve been trying to research about the dungeons and know that all have a story mode and a Explore mode, story being easier and lower level with explore the opposite.
But it seems that everyone that talks about dungeons is talking from a level 80 stand point. There is very little information on how to get involved with doing dungeons for the actual level they are aimed at.

Anyone got any advice on how to go about starting dungeons, or if i can even do them at 30-35 or will i have to wait till 80?

Thanks in advanced

You can do the story dungeons as you’re levelling up, but honestly I’d just wait until you’re 80 to do the explorable modes. Hitting 80 is really easy, so you wouldn’t be waiting long.

Other than that, I’d suggest finding a good core group of friends/guildies who you can reliably group up with for dungeons.

Broadicea.8294:

You can do the story dungeons as you’re levelling up, but honestly I’d just wait until you’re 80 to do the explorable modes. Hitting 80 is really easy, so you wouldn’t be waiting long.

Other than that, I’d suggest finding a good core group of friends/guildies who you can reliably group up with for dungeons.

I disagree this is the reason so much trash is doing AC now. Start at 35 and contribute immediately to each dungeon as soon as you hit the recommended level. That way when you are 80 you know what your doing. I have 80s but I also have lower level chars who I play dungeons with. The idea is to know how to play rather than be solely level 80 but still be terrible at the game. Find a helpful guild and keep leveling. Don’t skip dungeons just cause your not level 80.

If you have gear that is appropriate to your level, your stat difference won’t be THAT different from a lvl 80 because down scaling sucks. In fact, in some occasions, you’ll have better stats than a lvl80.

The big difference lies in the lack of traits and the fact that weapon strength doesn’t get scaled down, making lvl80 weapons stronger, but that’s about it.

If you want to start doing Ascalon Catacombs (AC), the dungeon that you unlock at lvl30, I’d advise you to try and get fully geared in Masterwork (green) gear that is on your level.

The most important part about dungeons though is knowing what to do and having a team that knows it too. Unfortunately, AC is a terrible place to start PUGing, because PUGs in general are absolutely terrible at it, because they can’t handle the mechanics.

I’d advise you to watch some of Strife’s guides, because he goes over each path and each boss with their mechanics in pretty good detail. Unfortunately, bosses in his videos die so fast that you hardly have the time to learn their mechanics from it, but it’s a good starting point.

If you want to PUG them anyway, I advise using gw2lfg.com. But honestly, I’d look for a guild that knows how to play and doesn’t mind teaching new guys.

You shouldn’t have troubles finding parties for the story-mode dungeons at the minimum levels (level 30 for the lowest dungeon), but for explorable most people want level 80 characters only.

restoration.2806:

Don’t skip dungeons just cause your not level 80.

The problem is that most groups instantly kick characters that aren’t level 80. And if they don’t, they wait for you to change to a level 80.

Your first char, I advise wait till 80. AC is the first accessible dungeon for you at a requirement of lvl 30 for story mode and 35 for explorable. Go ahead and do the story mode, see how you feel. Be prepared to get your face smashed in on your first AC explorable mode though, it’s an initiation ceremony imo.

If you are really eager on doing AC at lvl 35 though here is my advice:

Get yourself a full set of lvl 35 crafted rare gear. This is cheap off the trading post, or you can craft it also, this includes accessories and weapons. Put some runes of Life on them (also very cheap) to get your health going a bit because you don’t want to throw yourself in the deep end. I recommend Vigorous Gear, its stats are Power and Vitality. The vitality will be a health buff for you for any mistakes you make. Make sure you have both a melee and ranged option, eg, warrior- Greatsword and rifle so you can easily get out of a kittenty situation, later when you are more experienced you can run dual melee setups. Pop a cheap sigil on the weapons, I think you can grab a low % chance sigil of fire or something for a couple copper. The dungeon itself, on completion of a few runs will*more* than cover the cost of the gear afterwards. Look up a video on youtube explaining the fights before entering.

You can get a dungeon group by using www.gw2lfg.com. Be prepared to be kicked or ignored by alot of people at lvl 35, because they only want 80’s for a fast run. Put in your advertisement that you are lvl 35 but willing to listen, I’m sure someone will be happy to pick you up.

Once you’ve done a few runs you will get used to it all, and once you hit 80 you should be well and truly ready to shed the training wheels gear and run a full berserker set up. Great thing about lvling up your first char in dungeons is, you are in the deep end from the start, and it only gets easier. Makes you a better player overall.

Remember that as you level up, buy the next lvl set of gear off the trading post, soon you will have 3 stat gear available to you (available starting at level 55/60), at which point I recommend buying knights- Toughness/power/precision and when you are comfortable in that, upgrade to berserker’s- Power/precision/critical damage.

As a reminder to the naysayers- Alot of us did AC at lvl 35 at the start of the game, and we kittened and whined about it. But we did do it.. And this player is in a better position than us, he has videos showing him what to do, and easy access to lvl appropriate gear along with teams who know full well how to do the run.

Utilities- Take group supporting Utilities. The last thing people want to see is a warrior with a bunch of signets next to his name. For you, I recommend you choose from this selection:
‘For Great Justice!’ (aoe might and fury)- This is the staple of most warrior builds.
Banner of Dicipline (great damage buff for your team)
Battle Standard ( Aoe Resurection for your team mates + fury/might for duration)
Balanced stance (particularly important for you in AC because of all the knockdowns)
‘Shake it off!’ ( Good condi removal for team if it’s lacking)
Healing Surge ( Good outright heal)
‘On my Mark!’ 10 stacks of vulnerability on target. Makemsure you use this on the target to be focused.
Frenzy- Quickness for your hundred blades, also servers as a stun breaker/knock down breaker.
Endure Pain- If you really need it/ are struggling.

Great sword- I just wanna throw a quick something in here- Your number 3 Whirlwind attack is an evasion skill. if you are out of vigor and you need a dodge, this is the skill to use, it’s got a decent cooldown and will save your hide many times. Spin to win as they say.

If/when you want to swap to double melee sets I recommend Axe/Mace and Greatsword. Always carry one of every weapon though, for example 1H sword and warhorn (or shield) are excellent weapons for skipping past mobs, longbow has it’s niche for aoe ranged damage and aoe might combo field etc etc..

Have a quick look at the start( first 3 posts or so) of this thread, (ignore the carebears ranting off afterwards)

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Topics-for-a-Noob-Dungeon-Guide/first#post2178784

Any questions, don’t hesitate to whisper me,

I wish you good luck

- Swiftpaw.

Oh jeez!
Having come from WoW forums I did not expect such a quick and helpful response, thanks!
I have a few friends that will also be around the same level as me on their first chars, so i think we will probably try to use that lfg website to try and find some helpful level 80s to teach us the ropes.
Also massive thanks to swiftpaw for the in depth warrior guide, that will be extremely useful!

We might be elitist knowitall kittens most of the time, but sometimes, we can also be helpful.

Bright.9160:

We might be elitist knowitall kittens most of the time, but sometimes, we can also be helpful.

I love being a complete and utter scumbag but everyone’s gotta take a breather right?

I’m on Jade Quarry, and we have started a Sunday night “Dungeons for the Inexperienced”. We run both story mode and some of the easier explorables. We ran AC Story last week and had to pug the last spot – a lvl 35 warrior. It was great.

While I am far from experienced – many would consider me a noob. I would be more than happy for you to join us. I try to periodically stop and explain the next fight because it makes it easier for everyone.

Since you are a Warrior I guess it’s appropriate to advertise my dungeon solo videos.
www.youtube.com/wethospu

Probably not much use now but they really show how you can get stuff done on Warrior.

Having Rare gear and trying out the Story modes right at that level you get that rare gear at helps… atleast that’s how I beat my first AC explorable back when they ACTUALLY WERE HARD. …infact there was hundreds of players in Beta who were barely even level 50 but beat them back then even though their bosses & objectives were horribly bugged/broken and a lot harder than they are now…

Some people will tell you the Storymodes are nothing like Explorables, but they share similar “silver/Lieutenant” ranks of mobs atleast which helps prepare you for the tactics needed in dungeons. Especially CM’s & COE’s Storymodes which were at one point actually more difficult than their easiest Explorable paths…

ilr.9675:

Especially CM’s & COE’s Storymodes which were at one point actually more difficult than their easiest Explorable paths…

Did CM story in like… 10-13mins the other day… :-P I don’t know if it’s powercreep due to us running a lot better builds or nerfs…

I never did it before that though, but some people in the party were like “jesus, when I did this the first time, this was sooooo hard”.

Bright.9160:

ilr.9675:

Especially CM’s & COE’s Storymodes which were at one point actually more difficult than their easiest Explorable paths…

Did CM story in like… 10-13mins the other day… :-P I don’t know if it’s powercreep due to us running a lot better builds or nerfs…

I never did it before that though, but some people in the party were like “jesus, when I did this the first time, this was sooooo hard”.

Well, it’s gonna really depend on who you ask.
The VERY FIRST version of it was really easy. …ppl were farming it for the gold as bad as they farm COF now. Then a super hard version came out where the guys with knockdown spam but no telegraphs were also 1-hitting us level 80’s who had over 2000 toughness. They were basically as bad as T.A. Knights were. I’m sure it’s seen more changes since then though… hope that reveals atleast some of the history of it.

restoration.2806:

Broadicea.8294:

You can do the story dungeons as you’re levelling up, but honestly I’d just wait until you’re 80 to do the explorable modes. Hitting 80 is really easy, so you wouldn’t be waiting long.

Other than that, I’d suggest finding a good core group of friends/guildies who you can reliably group up with for dungeons.

I disagree this is the reason so much trash is doing AC now. Start at 35 and contribute immediately to each dungeon as soon as you hit the recommended level. That way when you are 80 you know what your doing. I have 80s but I also have lower level chars who I play dungeons with. The idea is to know how to play rather than be solely level 80 but still be terrible at the game. Find a helpful guild and keep leveling. Don’t skip dungeons just cause your not level 80.

Hmm, have a lvl 35 clueless noob or a lvl 80 clueless noob…I’ll take the lvl 80 thanks. Your post implies that somehow beyond all reason the lvl 35 is going to magically learn faster or something than the lvl 80.

Yaki.9563:

Hmm, have a lvl 35 clueless noob or a lvl 80 clueless noob…I’ll take the lvl 80 thanks. Your post implies that somehow beyond all reason the lvl 35 is going to magically learn faster or something than the lvl 80.

Obvious Red herring… since the 80 wasn’t even interested in doing the dungeon till a gear skin was proven inaccessible via any other means — As was already stated here and in the AC thread, the 80 will just be offended when told everything they learned in Persistent zones was B.S.-- Meanwhile the lowby is so genuinely interested in learning the mechanics of more gimmicky “Dungeon Play” that they’d risk much more abuse just to endure it….

It’s almost poetic if you think about it and EXACTLY HOW all of us who were in beta & first weeks of release went about it. Someone had to take the risk and learn from all of those mistakes which were passed on to everyone else who followed. No one went into it an instant pro. They practiced and let rote memory do the rest. People who want to continue in that tradition should be encouraged, not callously called names. Shame on you for embodying everything that the real Elites get blamed for whenever the term “elitist” gets thrown around. Real elitism embraces taking risks to always be improving…never stop improving. It’s never been about hiding in the comfort of a proven equation.

ilr.9675:

It’s almost poetic if you think about it and EXACTLY HOW all of us who were in beta & first weeks of release went about it. Someone had to take the risk and learn from all of those mistakes which were passed on to everyone else who followed. No one went into it an instant pro. They practiced and let rote memory do the rest. People who want to continue in that tradition should be encouraged, not callously called names. Shame on you for embodying everything that the real Elites get blamed for whenever the term “elitist” gets thrown around. Real elitism embraces taking risks to always be improving…never stop improving. It’s never been about hiding in the comfort of a proven equation.

applause
As someone who started playing the game a few months after the release, I have a lot of gratitude for those who came up with the tactics and for my patient guild mates who took me on endless AC runs till I learned from mistakes.

Yaki.9563:

restoration.2806:

Broadicea.8294:

You can do the story dungeons as you’re levelling up, but honestly I’d just wait until you’re 80 to do the explorable modes. Hitting 80 is really easy, so you wouldn’t be waiting long.

Other than that, I’d suggest finding a good core group of friends/guildies who you can reliably group up with for dungeons.

I disagree this is the reason so much trash is doing AC now. Start at 35 and contribute immediately to each dungeon as soon as you hit the recommended level. That way when you are 80 you know what your doing. I have 80s but I also have lower level chars who I play dungeons with. The idea is to know how to play rather than be solely level 80 but still be terrible at the game. Find a helpful guild and keep leveling. Don’t skip dungeons just cause your not level 80.

Hmm, have a lvl 35 clueless noob or a lvl 80 clueless noob…I’ll take the lvl 80 thanks. Your post implies that somehow beyond all reason the lvl 35 is going to magically learn faster or something than the lvl 80.

A level 80 clueless noob doesn’t know hes clueless while a level 35 clueless noob does. Its mentalities like yours that create this endless population of level 80 garbage that is flooding dungeons nowadays.

Actually, “noob” describes someone who is a rookie and unwilling to learn so they both don’t know they’re clueless. Newbie describes the rookie willing to learn.

I’d definitely say, wait till you are level 80 before doing any dungeons. And even then, there is not much in the game to prepare you for the big difficulty spike in dungeons. My advise:

Start with Fractals, then try CoF or Caudecus Manor. Don’t start with Ascalon Catacombs. Fractals is much better balanced, and starts off easy.

I would rather a clueless level 35 than a clueless level 80. (Although i am biased as i am that clueless 35 )
The reason being, in my case at least, is that i actually want to learn. I’m not rushing to 80 to “try” and experience all the content straight away. I’m enjoying the experience of leveling, and I’m enjoying learning the mechanics of a new game (to me at least).
Would you rather take a level 35 like me who is willing to learn and actively looking for help, or level 80 that already thinks he know everything because he is level 80?

Just because you are level 80 it doesn’t make you a better player than a level 35.

@Simon,

doing the dungeons when you reach the level isn’t a bad idea. The experience you gain really helps you level and you are also learning the mechanics of each dungeon which helps learn to play better. I did the story modes on AC and TA as I was leveling. I tried to do CM but that one was a little hard for me.

I also have a really good guild I am a part of and they really helped in taking it slow so I learned the dungeon. We currently do the same now with alts going through dungeons.

The dungeon story modes are challenging when you are the proper level and take some time to do but in my opinion are a good way to learn and get experience.

Lol, do not even try to do AC EM on the recommended level, with a 35 gear you will be destroyed. They say 35 but it’s 80, actually.

Don’t listen to anyone saying you shouldn’t do it.

We all did it at launch, and it was fun.

Learn the mechanics, gear properly and you’ll have a blast.

We all tried it at launch and got torn to shreds is probably what you mean. Seriously, do the dungeons at level 80.

Broadicea.8294:

Other than that, I’d suggest finding a good core group of friends/guildies who you can reliably group up with for dungeons.

THIS!
I never finished my character’s story because it ends in a dungeon. I have one person who can sometimes go with me and we can’t do it with 2. Maybe I’m on a dead server because when I first got there, everyone was doing it and had no need for pugs (they all had useful guilds) but now it’s dead empty. Dead.
And it’s even deader at all the other dungeons so get you a group and stick with them because finding useful players is pretty difficult.

sophie deadbones.7345:

THIS!
I never finished my character’s story because it ends in a dungeon.

well its not really a “real” dungeon… It’s more like a 75 minute series of quicktime events.

The only dungeon + team coordination part is going to be against this big fat sumo thing with a mouth in its stomach that you have to toss his own bomb back at, with a little bit of timing. And the only coordination trick there is making sure everyone else knows enough not to clump up or EVER try to Melee him. (he just sits on newby players and kills them instantly).

The hardest part is always finding 4 other ppl who actually want to do it again (but Feel free to PM in the unlikelyhood that it proves too difficult for that team…)