Guild Wars 2

I’ve spent the week with the people, so to speak. After a some good solid time running dungeons with my own group of friends, I needed to see the dungeons from the perspective of the PUG – no profession coordination, no mumble, no guaranteed previous dungeon experience. I even decided to learn a new dungeon (AC) on a new profession (mesmer, versus guardian) and to do it as soon as possible (my first playthrough, Kholer beat me so bad I was afraid to even look at dungeons till I hit 80). Almost 1500 tokens later, I’ve learned much that I’d like to share with the community that’s either had bad experiences or NO experiences in dungeons, and still has some interest in partaking in this highly enjoyable (to me, at least) aspect of the game. So I boiled down some tips and tricks (or rules) that any player of any profession and of any level can use to make the absolute most out of their PUG. Here’s what I found.

1.) The Right Gear – From what I can tell, the most important feature of dungeon gear (before level 80) are level and rarity. Because of the level scaling, you are essentially judged by the difference in your armor’s level and your own. This is why so many new players struggle in dungeons: if you’ve been updating with story drops, they’re probably several levels below you and blue/green. If you WANT to run dungeons in comfort, you need gear that is nearer your own level. I ran 35 explorer’s rares alllll the way to level 65 before regearing, and that’s even sacrificing potential stat gain for more magic find. For those of you who had been wondering why level 35 rares exist at all, here’s the reason. They’re not horribly expensive, and if you’re investing in them to run dungeons they will pay for themselves very quickly. Personally, i didn’t even dabble in runes/sigils/accessories, so if you struggle even with adequately leveled gear there are still more options. The cost for such components usually pales in comparison with dungeon rewards. Basically, the rule for dungeons is arm yourself as well as you can for your own level. If you’re plowing on to 80 quickly, you probably don’t need as much of an armor investment. But you won’t see goldflow or XP like you do in dungeons.

2.) The Right Build – Now often build and gear are tied up, but when I say “right gear” I’m mainly talking about level and rarity and when I talk about “right build” I mean traits, utilities, and weapons. The easiest way to put this is that they “trinity” of DPS/heal/tank has been aggressively removed, to the point that if you try to take on the role of a true healer/glass cannon/ tank you will be about as ineffective as you can possibly be. The bottom line is that DPS is the main goal, with support and control aspects tuned towards keeping that DPS sustained and uninterrupted. Your goal, as a player going into a PUG, is not to maximize your DPS, or your healing, or your defenses. It’s ultimately a game of compromises, but in the end, it’s about how much DPS you can squeeze out of yourself and your teammates (via boons) while STAYING ALIVE. Dead players do no DPS. Players doing no DPS do NOT draw aggros (I also believe that more toughness will lower your aggro chance, so anything resembling a traditional tank is worse than useless). And since no one has enough heals to keep them always going, you’re going to cripple your effectiveness if you focus entirely on healing. You want a healthy blend of DPS, support, and control, and especially if this is your first time in a particular dungeon, you want a ROBUST strategy that can handle many different situations relatively well. Which brings me to your weapons – have them all, all the time. Or at least enough of them (I never bring a torch on my mesmer, and hardly ever touch my guardian’s hammer) that you can switch when needed. This is an amazingly underrated tactic that will GREATLY improve your build’s robustness. And again, unless you are buying exotic 80’s (which you should only have to do once), the costs pale in comparison with dungeon rewards. Again, the point here is to try and cover all your bases, not necessarily to have two million DPS.

3.) The Right Etiquette – PUGing has its own system of etiquette, which is to be followed if five random players are going to cooperate through these often frustrating encounters. First off, if someone seems to know what they’re talking about, and offers to take a leadership role, it’s often best to give them the benefit of the doubt (now if they go and prove that their an idiot, be firm in your own suggestions or ideas – do not let pushy players bully you into wipe fests!!). They usually just want exactly what you want – a quick and painless run through this dungeon. A solid leader can make a huge difference, but there is an art to being a solid follower. Be respectful and articulate with your own suggestions. Remember, they’ve never heard you speak before and know you only as a collection pixels and words. There’s going to be some failure to communicate, so you have to work around that. Above all, always be respectful, and if you ABSOLUTELY HAVE TO LEAVE THE DUNGEON (a bannable offense, in my book make sure you let the team know as soon as possible. Nothing shakes up a PUG like a random walk off.

In addition to general manners, there’s etiquette to the actual gameplay that will greatly enhance your own performance. First off, the kill order. I cannot overemphasize how important the kill order is. What’s the worst thing that can happen to you in a dungeon? Four of five mobs pounce on you at once. Keep in mind that each character in you party is several time stronger than the average mob, and you’ll see why focus fire is so potent. In general, you want to diffuse damage among your own party and concentrate outgoing fire on one particular enemy. Now, some encounters have specific kill orders that work best (things that heal, usually, or particularly deadly enemies), but against the average trash pull what’s really important is that everyone is on the /same/ kill order. If you have a leader, they should be using ctrl+click to call targets, and you should be taking them (default T). But if you find yourself sans leader, absolutely take it upon yourself to call out a target for your party to take down. The best support you can offer your team is an enemy body. That said, one person should usually stick to calling targets (discuss this with your team, some players have an easier time with it than others), because having the target constantly change does no one any good. You should only call a new target if someone actually missed (for example, tagged a player, pet or NPC) or tagged something you KNOW should not be killed first. Practice tagging, it’s your primary form of communication during actual encounters.

The final aspect of PUG etiquette (true for coordinated teams too) is the revive. As a rule, defeated players should respawn and begin the run back to the encounter IMMEDIATELY. Unless two or three players can easily ressurect you simultaneously, or the encounter is LITERALLY ending as you die, it’s almost always best to respawn. Why? Once you’re dead (we’re talking greyed out, past downed, no skills), you’ve paid the repair bill. Armor doesn’t break when you rally at the waypoint, it breaks when you die. So to rez you, several players (one player alone takes so long it’s almost always just quicker to walk back) have to both nerf their DPS and take on considerable risk (ressing players, I believe, sends you way up the threat list) to do something that really will not save anyone any time or money. Now, that said, you should ALWAYS try to revive downed players as soon as possible. Keep an eye out for them, and if you’re one of the more medic oriented players, stick close to the soft targets. And finally, if you DO have a player forced to respawn and run back to an especially difficult encounter, switch to dodge mode. Seriously, forget about DPS and just stay alive. This becomes more important as more players go down, but one well prepared player can hold down a boss fight long enough for their team to catch back up. It’s truly a sight to behold.

My final point on dungeon etiquette is don’t start the kitten thing if you’re not very certain you’ll be around to finish it, and please do not simply walk out on us. This is both common courtesy and a dungeon strategy; for those of us still playing, getting a replacement player is not only a hassle but the delay (and frustration at the original walk off) exacerbates the threat of further ragequits. Talk to your team mates. If the dungeon isn’t fun anymore, and you’re out of ideas, they’re probably down to call it as well. Take a break and tackle it with a fresh perspective.

In conclusion, to bring the most you can to your PUG group, you need adequate stats (the gear), the skills, weapons, and traits to turn those statistics into a cohesive strategy (the build), and the table manners to make sure that build fits cohesively into your group (the PUG!). These are the absolute basics, but because of that, I think they’re kind of universal – there’s not a dungeon that following these guides won’t help you in, and it can certainly be the difference between fun and frustration. Remember, you can’t control your PUG, only yourself. Coming prepared just raises the chances of your PUG being solid by about 20%, and in my experience a few solid players can carry and teach some of the less experienced.

I’ve got 300 hours logged, and i’m probably not a “hardcore” gamer. I’m certainly not the best dungeon runner. But I really believe this advice makes for better gameplay and a better community, and would love to hear your suggestions/comments/criticisms. I also feel extremely pretentious posting something like this but our own forums are certainly missing it so I though I’d do so. Hope some of you find it useful.

Pretty good guide, but it’s all common knowledge… or at least I hope it is.xD I know for some people it isn’t, as I still join PUGs with people running subpar builds, or just refuse to resurrect downed people, or don’t follow targets. Funnily enough these are the teams that always have lots of people dying in it. So yes, sticking to these rules does help. I think you covered all of the key points in that post.

it’s common knowledge to experienced dungeon runners. but kids who are new to the game don’t know it, and that’s whom this is aimed at. my hope was to bring these ideas closer to being common knowledge with an easy to read post. i think we can all admit the “learn to play” crowd over here can be a little rough on newcomers.

I agree a guide like this is very helpful for people new to dungeons; when I told my regular group about the cntrl+T targeting system the first (and so far only) time we’ve tried a dungeon, for example, none of them were aware of it. And I know at least one member has been picking his armor based on the appearance. . .

How useful did you find it, Kuroi, to have a discussion about rotating CC or combo fields when entering? A lot of people in regular PvE have never really had to use those.

combo fields are without a doubt one of (if not THE) most underrated mechanic available. in fact i have a feeling that when they become more general knowledge dungeons might need considerable buffs.

i’ve never discussed rotation with a team (that stuff is very complicated and logistically difficult to coordinate without live chat of some kind), but if it’s not presumptuous (i.e. if i’m not the lowest level there, since people do NOT take kindly to those of lesser numbers telling them what to do) i try to ask the party “who here’s specc’d DPS?” since that usually sorts the problem out – when everyone posts “ME!!” immediately it’s easier to see that we might have a problem haha. as for combo fields, i’ll probably start asking people to post their most common ones so we know to look for them. a well placed area blind, condition removal, retal, etc, can completely turn an encounter around.