Guild Wars 2

I come from raiding in WoW where I have been top world 200 consistently for a couple years now and I’m really interested in raiding in this game going forward into PoF.

My question is: what is expected of me?
How many characters should be fully ascended?
Currently I just have a thief/warrior both condi/power fully ascended but that’s it
How many hours does it take to clear raiding content for a proficient guild?
Or how many hours a week do most guilds raid in this game?

Trying to find out how many difficulties there are in raiding?

Anyone with high end WoW raiding experience can let me know how similar in difficulty/mechanics gw2 raids are?

What is truly puggable these days?

Thanks for any answers.

Forget everything you know about raiding in WOW. I too come from that very same place, although not top world I don’t think but we were up there and a serious bunch most times, so yea.
This game first doesn’t use tanks like WOW, there is no blocking and aggro mechanic in the sense that know. Aggro here is obtained by having the highest toughness and at the moment some light armor classes do the tanking very well due partly to the evades they have and such. This game is a DODGING game for sure, you do it a lot. Also, boss fights “most times” find the whole team stacked on the boss for most the fight.
Some do have kiting and such (VG, etc.) and you team makeup is very different from WOW as well.
You still have healers although most classes are expected to watch their own rearends during a fight. Dps is spilt with support and just good ol “pew-pewing”.
Your tank wont do any tank swaps or use skills to aggro and you cant pull aggro as a dps or heals like WOW, only if your toughness is higher than that of the said “tank” will you aggro.
The fights themselves are very mechanics heavy, where missing one simple one can and will wipe a raid team. But, that said people are doing full clears of 13 bosses in like 3 hours…whereas in WOW I can recall spending 2-3 days a week trying to get 3-4 bosses down. You don’t have heaps of trash mobs like WOW….there is some but not on every fight. many of the boss fights are akin to the ol Patchwork fight from Naxx.
Now, in saying all of that, the raids are fun! Its a huge learning curve (well, was for me, 8 yrs tanking was hard to lose) but once you get it down its really a nice challenge and also nice to have something different from the grind that was WOW raiding. I suggest you look at lots of youtubes, and there are plenty, in regards to the fights and such. Also here on the forums are tips for what class is viable and such. qT has a website with most the go to raiding builds for every class along with which one is best for which boss.
Get a Guild for sure, as the LFG/LFR system here is nothing like Blizzard’s and people tend to be a bit harsh.
You will hear talk of the “meta”, and that’s just GW2 version of gearscore really. Its a compilation of what builds work for what class in what content at the moment, and that moment can change big time like it just has with a new patch that dropped.
But POF promises to be something newer and it looks great! Dive in, don’t be afraid to ask questions and be prepared to run several classes if you want to really delve into raiding. You can stick with one for sure, and I encourage you to play firstmost what you enjoy, then go from there.
Again, this baby aint WOW but that’s not a bad thing…just a fresh and welcomed (most times, lol) change!
Welcome, and enjoy!!!

Just some addition to what the guy said above:

Your normal good static teams (I’m not talking about qt here) can full clear in about 3 hours. But don’t expect that starting off. The raid experience in GW2 is very much a learning experience and you should be prepared to put in the time to develop teamwork and synergy with any team you join.

IF you’re unfortunate enough to not have the luxury of a static team, pugs are very much hit and miss. Even with LI requirements and whatnot – you’re still taking a risk. Don’t let that stop you though from pugging since it does help you get better and that will only benefit whatever static team you eventually join.

I cannot stress this enough if you’re looking to enjoy your time raiding and minimize raid fiestas, look for a training/raid guild in your time zone that’ll help you get into static teams.

Condi PS is a pretty safe bet for most raids. And if it’s your first class or the only raid ready one you have – most static teams will gladly give it to you (it’s common enough there).
Condi Thief is a preeetty niche pick though is top dps now in small benchmarks. But it’s normally usable at Gorseval (though you give up any sense of orb clearing from other dps classes), Mursaat Overseer, and Samarog.
Power Staff DD is still a safe enough dps pick for most fights

Meta is pretty shaken up right now. But there will always be a need for druids, chronos. Then when meta settles you can gear other dps classes easily.

ShadowBane.5036:

Just some addition to what the guy said above:

I cannot stress this enough if you’re looking to enjoy your time raiding and minimize raid fiestas, look for a training/raid guild in your time zone that’ll help you get into static teams.

That right there is the key to your success and enjoyment of raids in this game. As mentioned pugs are good learning but a thick skin is recommended. or……..
Chill out, play the beta both weekends and in a months its all gonna be shaken up and we will be starting all over again! Good times!

Thanks for insights. I guess I’d be mostly looking to get into a successful qt speed clear type group eventually.

Is there still just one level of difficulty?

So far the LF forums and Reddit gw2raiders lf group have been unsuccessful. Where do people go to find a group?