Guild Wars 2

I’m relatively new (little more than a month) and haven’t done anything except map metas and other assorted events for the whole time I’ve been level 80. I was just wondering what I could expect going into the instanced content for the first time, and also whether it’d be worthwhile (I’m still having a blast just doing the world things).

Instanced content is interesting and fun. Your best bet is to watch some vids/tutorials see the basics/mechanics of dungeons/fractals. Its not a big deal if u dont and just learn by trial and error but considering a large amount of people prefer to speedrun thins for max efficiency u might as well create your own group on lfg “asc p1 all welcome” etc…

as for raids…well its a long way of. The amount of experience and gold needed to succesfully raid is really big. Just leave it for when u got enough classes/good gear and a lot of free hours on your schedule.

http://gw2dungeons.net

Bookmark that site, makes you life much easier. they have guides for both dungeon and FOTM.

also, when people ask for experienced, they mean experience in that path. had spent 1000 hours in pvp and never set foot in that specific path of dungeon does not make you experienced! ( at least in my opinion)

and here is a good link if you are looking for some FOTM guidance videos:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/4i9h3q/king_fully_updated_guides_for_master_tier/

Hi there,

So… where to start?

First of all: Yes. In my opinion this content is very much worthwhile and presents a very reliable way to achieve some of the best loot in the game.

The best thing is: you can almost freely choose the difficulty scale you prefer the most. It reaches from “very easy” over “well on pace” to “very demanding”.

Very easy: Dungeons
If you want to follow the interesting and intricate lore of GW2 while bashing some bad guys face in, Dungeons are for you. If you do them in recommended order they tie together the different chapters of your Personal Story. Sadly this story mode is not very rewarding for the time it consumes, and most groups doing it do it to unlock the exploable mode as fast as they can. If you want to embrace the story I recommend gathering a few friends for an uninterrupted expierience.
As for the explorable mode:
You get a special token currency by completing exploable paths of dungeons. You can directly buy exotic equipment with unique skins for them. Explorable paths are a little bit harder and many groups have special tactics to speed up the path. Don’t be surprised if you encounter them. Don’t be afraid to ask playes for tips or advice. Again for a more relaxed expierience I recommend gathering some friends on voicechat.

well on pace : Fractals
Fractals are a lot like Dungeons but only to a certain extent. Fractals, lore wise, are remnants of the past and/or probable future of Tyria. Some are references to the original Guild Wars game; others are completely abstract.
Like dungeons, fractals have their own currency system. Fractals are the games main source of ascended equipment, the highest quality of gear currently available (aside from Legendary but that’s a totally different Story)
Unlike dungeons, fractals have another layer of mechanics that persist across all scales and/or across multiple fractal islands. I recommend informing yourself about them on the wiki. Look for: Agony; Instability.

very demanding Raids
Raids can be seen as a sort of “Mega-Dungeon”. They are massive in size and unrivaled in difficulty. Beating this content requires a high level of environment awareness, knowledge of the games mechanics, your profession and your role within your team and a solid base of communication. Therefore it rewards you with guaranteed exotic loot and a very high chance on ascended gear with unique and prestigeous skins.
The raid specific currency can be spent to directly buy ascended equipment.

Huff… this turned out longer than I thouht. I hope I was able to help you on finding enjoyable content for your playstyle.

Have fun and regards.

Thanks for the responses, I really appreciate the info you’ve given me. I always knew raids were right out, but I’ll probably hop into dungeons when I get the time.

Those requirements for some groups remind me too much of raids in WoW (which I’m taking a break from right now) with the leader’s ridiculous requirements. Have to have killed the boss we’re after 14 times even though this is week 2, also have gear better than what he drops, and don’t screw up once!

hornswroggle.8023:

Fractals are the games main source of ascended equipment, the highest quality of gear currently available (aside from Legendary but that’s a totally different Story)

I don’t wanna get off topic here, but I’d be very careful making statements like that. As for me, even though I did almost every T4 daily since april, I got 1 (ONE!) ascended box from FotM, while getting 3 boxes from WvW reward tracks – and I only play WvW very casually. Now imagine all the people who don’t do fractals daily but rather dedicate themselves to PvP and WvW. Just because you personally have never tried anything else, doesn’t mean every single GW2 player does FotM dailies exclusively and doesn’t PvP/WvW.

@OP: One thing I’d recommend, is making it absolutely clear for your party how much experience you have. Even when there are no requirements written explicitly on LFG (something like P1/P2), it doesn’t mean people don’t expect a certain level of experience. As for me, I expect people to be familiar with the dungeon path and have proper gear unless stated otherwise, since this is a 3 year old game with guides to stuff everywhere around. That doesn’t mean I’m not willing to give someone carry from time to time, it just means I assume I won’t have to until that person comes out and actually says he is a first-timer. Also I hope I don’t have to mention how wrong it is to join “exp”/“meta” groups when you’re actually not experienced/meta, I kick that kind of people without hesitation.

Dungeons…

Unless you can get in an experienced group via guilds or friends, you’ll be in PUGs. Watch the dungeon PUG guides by Banter Bill on youtube to see how they’re done in real PUGs. Then do one path at a time. Avoid “speedclear” guides, record runs, etc — it’s completely different tactics and you’ll only confuse things.

At first you’ll have trouble with “skips”, which is where you run past mobs that aren’t worth killing. Load up on speed, condition clear and stun break skills. Also, after you finish a path that included skips, you can stay behind in the dungeon and waypoint around to practice the skips repeatedly.

Fractals… are really pretty easy combat at the lower levels, it’s the mechanics (e.g. “what am I supposed to do with this hammer?” in cliffside) that’ll get you when you start. But you can pick a fractal that’s today’s daily, read/watch a guide, and go do it. [Fractals used to be randomly assigned, which made it so much harder to prepare.]

Raids.. can’t help you, sorry.

Gear and builds… There are many guides, but I’ve found the guides on Youtube by the Death n Taxes guild easy to digest as a newbie. Look for “DnT” and your class name, or specifically these people: Nike, DEKeyzToChaos, Narc, Obal100.

There is also an older series of videos by Nike on simplified skill rotations, which used to do wonders for a new player but a lot of the classes have changed since HoT. Nike should update that

Tarasicodissa.7084:

hornswroggle.8023:

Fractals are the games main source of ascended equipment, the highest quality of gear currently available (aside from Legendary but that’s a totally different Story)

I don’t wanna get off topic here, but I’d be very careful making statements like that. As for me, even though I did almost every T4 daily since april, I got 1 (ONE!) ascended box from FotM, while getting 3 boxes from WvW reward tracks – and I only play WvW very casually. Now imagine all the people who don’t do fractals daily but rather dedicate themselves to PvP and WvW. Just because you personally have never tried anything else, doesn’t mean every single GW2 player does FotM dailies exclusively and doesn’t PvP/WvW.

True. I should clarify that:
Fractals are what ascended equipment mainly is there for. Its Infusion Slots are there to Upgrade your agony resistance to survive higher fractals.
It provides a slight stat boost over exotic but in that regard it’s not really required for the vast majority of the game.
Of course all loot sources that can provide ascended equipment are subject to RNG and your expierience with drop rates may vary. Fractal dailies have a dedicated loot slot for ascended chests and are one of the better sources for such equipment.

Quite easy(tier 1): recommended gear: exotic
Dungeons for tokens and gold
Fractals up to level 19 -> good way to get some pristine fractal relics from dailies and maybe a ring or two

Easy(tier 1 -> 2): recommended gear: exotic + ascended trinkets
Fractals 20 – 40 -> requires agony resistance and getting the required amount on your gear unless you have lots of guild commendations and laurels leftover will take a couple of days

Normal(tier 2): recommended gear: exotic + ascended trinkets
Fractals 41 – 50 -> the end of tier 2, enemies getting boons on hit means the fractals will take a while

Hard(tier 3): recommended gear: exotic + ascended weapons, trinkets
Fractals 51-60 -> exploding enemies will give movement challenged individuals a hard time.
Fractals 61-75 -> less anoying than 51-60 but enemies now slowly start to ramp up. Proper positioning and use of class skills becomes required. The increasing agony resistance requirement means you’ll start needing ascended weapons and full trinket setups

Very Hard(tier 4): recommended gear: full ascended
Fractals 75+ – requires proper use of class skills for offense aswell as defense. The high agony resistance makes ascended armor a necessity. The upside is that most people know how to play their class (most not all mind you. It becomes very easy to spot who was carried to this level). Most enemies will 1-3 shot you, especially past level 90. Boss fights with pugs can take up to 10-15 minutes, especially when 3 of 5 members die in thaumanova…

That being said, i’ve had smoother runs in tier 4 fractals with experienced people than in tier 2 fractals with kitten people who have no clue how to position or play their class.

Raids: recommended gear: exotic + ascended weapons, trinkets
Putting this past tier 4 fractals since it requires more coordination and raid bosses have more viaried attacks than fractal bosses.

Final Note: all difficulty is subjective. If you have a group of 5 people who know what they are doing you can steamroll through tier 4 fractals in no time. If you have 1 – 2 people who slack off, some situations can get messy.

My favorite fractal to showcase this is volcanic. Super easy boss fight if you have a decent mesmer and/or guardian (revenant who knows how to use ventari, etc.) and a group knowing what to prioritise and how to position. Hell on earth for those who enjoy running head first into walls.