Guild Wars 2

Hi. I’m a relatively fresh 80, and i’m looking to get into running dungeons. Yet a lot of things are new to me, and so far, running dungeons in general seems a difficult to get into and often hostile environment to step into.

I’m not the most experienced player. I’ve found a playstyle that works for me, and i’m really starting to understand what stats to take above others. (Namely berserkers.) But honestly, I have no idea about some of the nuances of running the dungeons, the paths, or what to expect upon entering a group through the lfg system. (Every group wants someone with experience, and I don’t know where to go to get it.)

Is there any group I could run with to get the hang of things? To learn how to properly tackle dungeons, and what to do in certain parts of it?

http://gw2dungeons.net/ is a great website for learning about the encounters.
There is also a dungeon-teacher guild here: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/Dungeon-Mentors-Noob/first – You can easily apply as student, just state if you’re on NA or EU and your timezone.
Alternatively, you can always open a lfg and say you’re a firsttimer or join a group and ask if if they’re okay with taking you with them, while stating that you’re a firsttimer of course.

Just wing it!

Join any group and just tag along with them. If you see them bunch up into a corner, do the same and walk ALL the way into the stack. Being out of stack prevents the boss from completely entering the stack and could potentially mess up the encounter. Some good things to have: condition removal, projectile blocks or reflection skills. Once you get better at the dungeon you’ll learn what to bring or not. Also, have a weapon set for good aoe cleaving and another for solo dps on the boss.

While in a stack, never ever EVER use fear or knockback skills. Never pull anything and let the leader do the pulling. Usually it’s the bossy person speaking in chat.

Dodges, always use them.

Rule #1, when the group is stacking, stack.
Rule #2, when the group is avoiding (skipping mobs), avoid them too because you probably will not be able to kill them alone.
Rule #3, never let your teammates out of your sight, if they suddenly disappear, press “m” to see what waypoint they used and follow along.

This was what I did when I started out. O>O

Don’t worry about the few groups that kick you for little things, just continue learning and it’ll all be okay.

Just don’t join zerker groups, they’re crazy people that expect you to know your build, profession, gear, and the dungeon paths.

While Rin’s advice is good, don’t be afraid to tell people you’re new, and ask how to do things. Don’t complain, just ask how to do it better. Most people will be more than happy to teach/share knowledge. Join [noob]. We’re really good teachers, and pretty nice people.

You should take a look at this : https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/dungeons/End-of-the-week-mentoring

Find a group to run them with you that are okay with a fresh 80 then run dungeons a lot for a set of lvl 80 full zerker gear. By the time you get that gear you should be okay to take your training wheels off and go PUG into other dungeons. I recommend CoF for a first dungeon, AC isn’t too bad either if you have a group that isn’t mentally challenged.

Good luck, check out CoE when you get the chance, that one is my favorite.

Do the story mode dungeons first. They are not so difficult and experience isn’t required. You could join a guild and go into dungeons with your guild to start with. Fractals are more difficult than dungeons but low level fractals (1-10) are not run by the elites and you shouldn’t get booted for being inexperienced.

Stooperdale.3560:

Do the story mode dungeons first. They are not so difficult and experience isn’t required. You could join a guild and go into dungeons with your guild to start with. Fractals are more difficult than dungeons but low level fractals (1-10) are not run by the elites and you shouldn’t get booted for being inexperienced.

Imo, some storymodes are more difficult than exploration paths. Twilight Arbor, Sorrow’s Embrace and Honor of the Waves namely. They can cause far more trouble for inexperienced players than the usually run exploration paths of the dungeons.

Just one thing to add… Going into dungeons means joining a team. This is the biggest difference between what you have experienced before and what you are about to encounter. The advice above is helpful, but you need to start looking for ways you can help you party. This varies greatly by class, but each class has something it can add to a party. If you are an Elementalist, look for ways to create fire fields and then blast finish them for party might. If you are a warrior, use banners of strength/discipline to help buff your party damage and use “Shake it off!” When multiple people in your party have a condition on them. As a Guardian, time you’re Aegis to benefit the whole party and not just yourself and do the same with condition clearing. Again, each class can do something to either help party damage or party defense and that is what you need to figure out and pay attention to. New people that know their class can more easily integrate into a dungeon team even if they don’t know the encounters. Gw2dungeons.net has a lot of this info laid out already so definitely a good starting point.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Stooperdale.3560:

Do the story mode dungeons first. They are not so difficult and experience isn’t required. You could join a guild and go into dungeons with your guild to start with. Fractals are more difficult than dungeons but low level fractals (1-10) are not run by the elites and you shouldn’t get booted for being inexperienced.

Imo, some storymodes are more difficult than exploration paths. Twilight Arbor, Sorrow’s Embrace and Honor of the Waves namely. They can cause far more trouble for inexperienced players than the usually run exploration paths of the dungeons.

The story modes do not have the well tried tactics of the explorable dungeons. It is only the tactics that make the explorable dungeons routine for experienced players. In the story mode dungeons there are encounters that can certainly wipe a party, but they can usually be beaten on the second or third attempts as soon as players create their own plan. That’s usually the experience new players want (rather than stack and kick).

I’m also finding the LFG environments detrimental.

When searching on the finder I normally only see 2-4 listings for actual groups, and most only want experienced players (half of them clearly say “No Nubs”).

Not that they could tell at first, right? But I’d rather not get kicked just for being called out, even if I’ve read about the dungeon and it’s fights. How am I supposed to get experienced if no one is even willing to help new players?

You can get experience in a dungeon by either having a group of friends or guildies do it with you (if you play with friends or guildies that is) or you could get a few people from the forums to mentor you and show you through them if you ask nicely enough as there is a guild specificly made for mentoring new players to the dungeons.

I would offer to help you myself but I only came back recently and am relearning everything about the game that has changed, from playing my classes correctly to the encounters in general.

So I wish you the best of luck in your dungeoning experiences in the future

Do story mode, read the gw2dungeon guide so you have a rough idea of where to run and how to kill stuff, then open your own instance and start a LFG of “P1 Casual run, all welcome” or something similar.

I’ve tried this to learn CoF P1 (recommended as the easiest dungeon), the group filled up very quickly and everyone else seemed to know what they were doing, so I just followed them – reading the guide is mostly a backup in case you get a group who are all new too, and to avoid looking too inexperienced.

Also — don’t be afraid to post your own LFGs. Put something like “Any path, inexp, looking to learn” and you’ll often get a good leader, or at least a more patient group.

stolenunder.7435:

I’m also finding the LFG environments detrimental.

When searching on the finder I normally only see 2-4 listings for actual groups, and most only want experienced players (half of them clearly say “No Nubs”).

Not that they could tell at first, right? But I’d rather not get kicked just for being called out, even if I’ve read about the dungeon and it’s fights. How am I supposed to get experienced if no one is even willing to help new players?

Honestly, this is how I started. I’d run a few dungeons with my small guild, which were long, horrible affairs. I was afraid to join speed/exp lfg groups, because I didn’t have a clue what to do. It’s really about just jumping in with both feet, a willingness to learn and a thick skin. It’s not hard, it just takes a bit.

Long story short, go check out gw2dungeons. Watch videos of dungeon runs. Get the basic mechanics down and know what’s expected in a general sense. If you feel comfortable, tell your group you’re new and want to learn. Honestly, dungeons aren’t hard or long enough for people to not just say ‘hey, go over there’ or ‘watch out for this’. You’ll get the occasional jerk, but just roll with it and you’ll be running in no time.

After reading this post and all of the replies/suggestions, I headed out to the entrance of AC. I first looked at the lfg parties, and when they all wanted experienced players I decided to create my own lfg. I had never run a dungeon in GW2 so was kinda nervous. My ad said new player, first time dungeon, friendlies please! Within literally 2 mins the party was filled and man…what a blast! Not sure if I got lucky or if I should give props to the in game community but the party consisted of one other new player and the others were great with patience and generous tips. Such a great experience. So I’m going to go ahead and say create your own lfg, state your experience level (mine was none), and hope for the best. If your experience ends up being even half as good as mine, you will really enjoy the dungeon.

Laintime.9265:

After reading this post and all of the replies/suggestions, I headed out to the entrance of AC. I first looked at the lfg parties, and when they all wanted experienced players I decided to create my own lfg. I had never run a dungeon in GW2 so was kinda nervous. My ad said new player, first time dungeon, friendlies please! Within literally 2 mins the party was filled and man…what a blast! Not sure if I got lucky or if I should give props to the in game community but the party consisted of one other new player and the others were great with patience and generous tips. Such a great experience. So I’m going to go ahead and say create your own lfg, state your experience level (mine was none), and hope for the best. If your experience ends up being even half as good as mine, you will really enjoy the dungeon.

Glad to hear you were able to thoroughly enjoy your first dungeon.

My heart is filled with joy. Good for you.

Be aware, one of these times you’re going to get a bad group. It might be a bunch of jerks. It might be terrible players that make you want to shove your mouse in your eye socket. It might be…I dunno. There’s just so many things that can go wrong. The bottom line is don’t let it dissuade you. Dungeons are fun, and most of the time the people that do them are fun. Pugging means taking the good with the bad. Keep it up and have fun.

Laintime.9265:

After reading this post and all of the replies/suggestions, I headed out to the entrance of AC. I first looked at the lfg parties, and when they all wanted experienced players I decided to create my own lfg. I had never run a dungeon in GW2 so was kinda nervous. My ad said new player, first time dungeon, friendlies please! Within literally 2 mins the party was filled and man…what a blast! Not sure if I got lucky or if I should give props to the in game community but the party consisted of one other new player and the others were great with patience and generous tips. Such a great experience. So I’m going to go ahead and say create your own lfg, state your experience level (mine was none), and hope for the best. If your experience ends up being even half as good as mine, you will really enjoy the dungeon.

This makes me very happy. Good for you!!!

Yaaaaaaaaaay! :-)

Can we link his post in the FAQ for future reference? Seriously, thanks for coming back and sharing that

dude, don’t be afraid it’s a game, why be afraid of a game? just go for it, who cares man? haha, i did a fractal run because i was like hey i’ve never done this because i was to afraid of people being jerks, first time all new players i had a blast

SickSoul.4789:

dude, don’t be afraid it’s a game, why be afraid of a game? just go for it, who cares man

Pretty much everyone that doesn’t share your opinion, for this game is an MMO game.