Guild Wars 2

So, I bought GW2 on release day. I originally played a Mesmer with my buddy up to ~14, then I rerolled various times as he continued up to 35 and beyond. Less than a week later when I had gotten my Thief high enough to attempt AC story mode, we found a group and entered for our first dungeon run in GW2. We had no idea the hell we were in for…

I’m sure you all know the rest of that story – anyways, I quit and came back various times after that and the last time I played, I actually had a reasonable amount of fun but ended up not playing due to lack of time between school and 50 hour work weeks. I now have time to play and want to give it a shot, but the dungeons and mid/upper-level leveling content has me a bit worried.

It seems like in this game, I’m always fighting my way uphill. In the snow, without shoes or a coat. With a strap attached to a bus tied to my waist that I have to drag up with me. I know everyone hates these comparisons, but it feels similar to trying to play WoW to max level in level 30 gear.

Granted, I only have about 180 hours logged and a lot of it is from leveling low level characters, crafting or sitting in towns while I’m AFK. And, most of it is all split up so a lot of the knowledge and skills I may have gained were lost.

My question is, does it get better? I’ve played WoW from launch as well as various other MMO’s and the best way to put it is that in GW2, it feels like as I level up more, despite keeping gear up-to-date, I start to become undergeared and underpowered in comparison to the mobs. I understand the concept of dodging and such, but certainly as a melee there’s no way to entirely avoid damage, yet I feel like I’m often being downed in one or two hits that happen so quickly in succession that they’re unavoidable.

I suppose the other thing is that even when I do large upgrades to my entire set of gear,
I never really feel like I’m gaining much power – it almost feels like all the stats are entirely useless. I’ve played games where you definitely have to focus on the little boosts to provide one moderate boost and that’s all you get, but in GW2 it seems like you have to have a lot of huge boosts to provide one barely noticeable boost at all, lol.

Otherwise, the game looks like a lot of fun. I enjoy the scenery, and the videos of the new fights look really cool. I’d really love to check out the living story stuff as well, but if it always feels like this, I’m a bit afraid to give it much of a shot.

Am I somehow missing some major key things that make the game more fun and accessible to someone that wants to casually play without being destroyed, or do you pretty much just go along with the idea that anytime a mob breathes on you in GW2, you’re going to lose half of your HP, even if geared somewhat tanky?

GW2 is a very different game then other MMO’s. Survivabillity doesn’t really come from gear, but from your skills. You wont loose half of your HP if you dodge the attack. Yes you are right as melee you will hit some damage, that is why all classes have ranged weapons as well and can swap weapons in combat. So if the fight gets tuff, switch to ranged.

You said you played thief and mesmer. Mesmer is considered one of the hardest classes to level. It is low on damage and slow.

The thief is excellent for melee, but it is pretty hard to master. you might want to practise things first on easy mobs and as said use ranged on the harder mobs. I’m only used to dagger dagger on my thief, and it requires a lot of moving nad use of skills. You can use your skill 2 to quickly jump on enemy’s and skill 3 to jump over them and doing damage. This also counts as a dodge in a way to avoid damage. but you need to controll your character then with your right mouse button locked all the time. This takes some practise.

If you insist on playing melee most of the time I would recommend rolling a guardian or a warrior. They are truly made for melee.

Dungeons are end game content. I know they are recommended for level 35, but it is a pain then. Better is to wait till later.

Also during leveling it is actually advisable to gear more then somewhat tanky, specially if you have lil experience. The fights take longer, but you have a better change to survive.

If you are on an EU server, feel free to add me to your friendslist. If im not doing other things, I’m happy to guest to your server and show you a thing or two, I got a level 50 warrior and all other classes at 80 (2 off them not fully geared yet).

Dungeons are one very disappointing part of this game. Ever since they changed the way wp’s work in them I’ve given up totally as there’s not even any way to learn what must be done to avoid dying. People will say ‘learn to dodge’ but I wasn’t able to figure out how to dodge out of an entire room covered in 2 shot kill rings with only 2 dodges. Frustration does no equal fun gameplay.
On the plus side there are lots of things to do and areas to explore!

Are you saying leveling is hard? In this game? It’s easier to level in this game than Guild Wars 1, time wise of course, but still the point stands.

Anyways for thief I leveled as conditions, but that was back when you could reach 20 stacks of bleeding without condition duration increases, as well as Signet of Malice healing you for each caltrop condition application.

Hide in Shadows works well Shadow arts if you’re having hard time surviving.

When attempting to gear your character, don’t craft gear to wear for yourself till 80, always buy your gear if you need it, and do your best to avoid that if possible. Personally I go looking for gear every 20 levels.

However I must reiterate, don’t buy crafting materials if this is your first playthrough, there is massive inflation on many mid-tier crafting materials due to a crafting system that implores inflation.

I will say that I can’t really relate to your problem directly as I had the benefit of playing in the Early access which allowed for a wonderful solo stroll through much of the world. Mobs with full camp bonuses 10 levels higher than me allowed for an easy leveling experience. Though I will say much of the “New Player Experience” aspect of the development cycle has more than likely been abandoned. Levels 1-79 simply do not matter ArenaNet, and I can see how that could be frustrating.

As far mobs and mob damage, I don’t know what to say, I find that enemies attack too slow and I find myself falling asleep during my 1111111topdps spam.

Finally to answer your question of does it get better? Well, I’m the wrong person to answer that question I’ve always felt that the game has been going to kitten since before it was released.

A few quick points:

1) Yes, it gets better
2) You picked two of the hardest classes – Mesmer leveling is awful until about 40, Thief is incredibly squishy – I wouldn’t recommend either as a first class (Guardian all the way)
3) Ascalonian Catacombs Story Mode is unnaturally hard – I usually only go in when I’m level 50 or above
4) Most of the dungeons have simple mechanics once you learn them. The problem is that it’s hard to get in groups that will give you the time. I remember my first time in AC Story, we spent about 2 hours playing and never got past Adelbern. The trick is to find people who will teach you. I do “training runs” in my guild where we get on Vent and I explain all the mechanics as we go. Sometimes it’s easy things like “stack here, dodge when you see red circles” that you could maybe figure out on your own without too much trouble. Other times it’s things you might not know if somebody doesn’t specifically say: “when you get here, run left around this pole because there’s a big spawn of oozes if you go right.”

So my suggestion: find a guild with people who will take the time to help you level and help you learn the dungeons and you’ll enjoy the game much, much more.

Slantize.2365:

So, I bought GW2 on release day. I originally played a Mesmer with my buddy up to ~14, then I rerolled various times as he continued up to 35 and beyond. Less than a week later when I had gotten my Thief high enough to attempt AC story mode, we found a group and entered for our first dungeon run in GW2. We had no idea the hell we were in for…

I’m sure you all know the rest of that story – anyways, I quit and came back various times after that and the last time I played, I actually had a reasonable amount of fun but ended up not playing due to lack of time between school and 50 hour work weeks. I now have time to play and want to give it a shot, but the dungeons and mid/upper-level leveling content has me a bit worried.

It seems like in this game, I’m always fighting my way uphill. In the snow, without shoes or a coat. With a strap attached to a bus tied to my waist that I have to drag up with me. I know everyone hates these comparisons, but it feels similar to trying to play WoW to max level in level 30 gear.

Granted, I only have about 180 hours logged and a lot of it is from leveling low level characters, crafting or sitting in towns while I’m AFK. And, most of it is all split up so a lot of the knowledge and skills I may have gained were lost.

My question is, does it get better? I’ve played WoW from launch as well as various other MMO’s and the best way to put it is that in GW2, it feels like as I level up more, despite keeping gear up-to-date, I start to become undergeared and underpowered in comparison to the mobs. I understand the concept of dodging and such, but certainly as a melee there’s no way to entirely avoid damage, yet I feel like I’m often being downed in one or two hits that happen so quickly in succession that they’re unavoidable.

I suppose the other thing is that even when I do large upgrades to my entire set of gear,
I never really feel like I’m gaining much power – it almost feels like all the stats are entirely useless. I’ve played games where you definitely have to focus on the little boosts to provide one moderate boost and that’s all you get, but in GW2 it seems like you have to have a lot of huge boosts to provide one barely noticeable boost at all, lol.

Otherwise, the game looks like a lot of fun. I enjoy the scenery, and the videos of the new fights look really cool. I’d really love to check out the living story stuff as well, but if it always feels like this, I’m a bit afraid to give it much of a shot.

Am I somehow missing some major key things that make the game more fun and accessible to someone that wants to casually play without being destroyed, or do you pretty much just go along with the idea that anytime a mob breathes on you in GW2, you’re going to lose half of your HP, even if geared somewhat tanky?

its not really as much about dodge as people make it out to be.
the key here is in GW, its about using defensive abilities at the right times. dodge is just one of them.
some of the big ones are, immobilize and cripple if you are playing ranged
blind
signet of malice if you hit quickly/multiple targets
flanking strike-sword dagger 3
deathblossom -dual dagger 3
headshot- daze offhand pistol 4
smoke screen

theres more, but essentially, theif especially is about active defense, its not the stats which make you surivable as much as its using skills at the right time. or the right combination of traits/playstyle.

mesmer is also an active defense class.

warrior is probably the most passive defense class, with high hp, a strong heal over time, a dmg reduction signet, and banners if you are looking for something simpler

I’m still lvling my Mesmer and I have been playing this game since launch. I have lvled 5 other professions to 80 geared well not ascended but well. That one seems to be taking forever.

It does get better I noticed a lot of professions have a stagnant lvl zone I saw it on guardian from 40-60, it seems 50-70 is my mesmers slow down phase. But I may be playing wrong. I try to keep decent armor with each major re-trait so when you can get a new book upgrade. Then max what you can at 80.

You can’t just equip gear and smash weapon skills, expecting to destroy everything.

It’s a combination:
-Gearing appropriately for your level (lvl 50 in lvl 48-50 gear)
-Choosing the right stat set (you’ll do more in a full damage stat than healing)
-Tailoring traits
-Tailoring utility skills.
-Choosing the right weapons

rizzo.1079:

Dungeons are one very disappointing part of this game. Ever since they changed the way wp’s work in them I’ve given up totally as there’s not even any way to learn what must be done to avoid dying. People will say ‘learn to dodge’ but I wasn’t able to figure out how to dodge out of an entire room covered in 2 shot kill rings with only 2 dodges. Frustration does no equal fun gameplay.
On the plus side there are lots of things to do and areas to explore!

I hardly ever die in dungeons but some are tricky, that is the purpose of dungeons.
The issue with most pugs nowadays is that they want perfection and dont take time to learn the tricks to people.

For example for Ascalonian catacombs p3.
Room one 1: an easy kill.
Room 2 one experienced person stays with the npc’s, the rest runs ahead. This so a mob can be skipped (jsut to speed things up cause it doesnt drop anything and takes time). the rest goes ahead to room 3. there the person in room 2 activates the npc’s and the path is slected (3 in this case)
Room 3: all stack up in a specific spot in a corner (no dodging or anything). One experienced person pulls spdiers there till the queen spawns, and she is pulled there too. When someone is downed kill a lil spider to rally or rez eachother, cause you are all stacked it goes easy, and cause the queen hits walls mostly, the damage is a lot less.
Room 4: all stack in a corner, a few mobs are pulled, the breeder has to go down firstm then the rest. after that one person runs through the traps and pulls the chains to disable the traps.
Room 5: Kohler requires the same tactic as the spider queen, stack up in a corner and use the trashmobs to rally or rez eachother. the position makes sure most damage you should get goes to the walls.
Room 6: skip all mobs, dont fight, just run for your life
Room 7: only attack burrows, and if you have time in between elite mobs, ignore the rest.
Room 8: skip again all mobs, dont fight, just run for your life
Room 9: Same as room 7, the burrows are bigger and have more mobs, but with dodging you can avoid much damage, if needed use a trashmob to rally yourself, when the burrow is done run to the next.
Room 10: skip again
Room 11: final boss, stack up in a corner pull him and kill him from there, rez party members if needed.

As you can read, there is almost no dodging, mostly stacking in a corner (basicly all player stand in corner on eachothers toes, very romantic )
But if you don’t no these things you are called a noob, kicked out and not many people are willing to learn those things and take a lil bit more time to explain it.

If you want to level a mesmer in open-world PvE, the key is to gear appropriately and learn how to read tells. You will get a feel for when mobs attack, especially big stuns and such.

For a mesmer, you will want to get Berserker stats for your leveling gear for open-world PVE. I know there’s a lot of arglebargle about zerker right now, but it’ll be the best for that for a while even with changes (or close to it): mesmer damage is highly dependent on traits as well as gear, so until you can trait effectively, you must gear for max DPS to kill efficiently in PvE.

So, buy a set of armor off the trading post, right off, along with a greatsword (there is usually a blue GS for not too much). In four pieces of armor (gloves, boots, pants and shirt) slot a green rune. Specifically, there are five sets of runes with power as the #1 bonus. Stick a garnet in the GS, OR a rune that stacks power after every kill. (I suggest the latter.)

With your GS, open with #4, #2, then #1. Never open with #1 first, as you want the mobs to go for your illusions, not you. This should take a chunk out of whatever is attacking you. Shatter with f1 if stuff gets too close. When you are level 5, use decoy or mirror images as your utility, as either will be an f1 shatter when you need it to finish something off.

When you can weapon swap, get a sword and either a focus or a pistol. A pistol is excellent single-target damage and CC, while a focus is a speed buff and a good AOE illusion. Until you are sure that you can safely melee right off (you need to learn tells to know when to dodge), open with GS. If stuff closes with you, switch to sword, summon your phantasm, then unload with #2— that will give you an evade while you unload the highest DPS hit you can use. Summon mirror images with an f1 and it should absolutely be dead.

You should never need to stack vitality, toughness, etc, in the open world because you will either attack at range or you will dodge their attacks. Staff is not necessary because it is defensive, and GS scales better with power. You WANT to play offensively.

Once you hit 70ish, rerune to whatever you want. I like Speed and Traveler, since the 6 bonus (you will want to rune your underwater helm as well if you want it to apply underwater) is a flat 25% speed increase. If you use mantras, you may wish to consider runes of the centaur, which will give you 33% speed on heal, and with healing mantra that’s three-four charges depending on how you trait, so you can have perma-swiftness up (or close to it).

Runing with green runes of four-five different sets is extremely cheap and gives you 50 power. Once you are high enough level, you can switch to gems that do that instead, but at low levels that’s the easiest way.

Keep your gear within ten levels, especially your weapon. There are cheap power noms that are nice as well, rice balls from level 0 in fact, from the food trainer.

This is the advice I give every new mesmer who asks me how to level one, and they just cruise through PvE. You do need to be willing to kite if you pull multiple things or a vet or a champ, but you’ll get the hang of it. It’s not as easy as a warrior or guardian, but it is NOT as rough as many folks make it out to be.

mercury ranique.2170:

rizzo.1079:

Dungeons are one very disappointing part of this game. Ever since they changed the way wp’s work in them I’ve given up totally as there’s not even any way to learn what must be done to avoid dying. People will say ‘learn to dodge’ but I wasn’t able to figure out how to dodge out of an entire room covered in 2 shot kill rings with only 2 dodges. Frustration does no equal fun gameplay.
On the plus side there are lots of things to do and areas to explore!

I hardly ever die in dungeons but some are tricky, that is the purpose of dungeons.
The issue with most pugs nowadays is that they want perfection and dont take time to learn the tricks to people.

Yeah rote memorizing steps 1-x involving standing in corners and whatnot isn’t fun at all either:(

no /15char

After spending enough time dodging zergs in cramped lords’ rooms, dungeons start to look easy. Mesmer, though…

My mesmers were the first characters I levelled, so I didn’t know the tricks I do now. They seemed horribly weak through most of the mid-levels – they really do require a power-focussed build to do very well.

Most of their defense comes from clones and phantasms as distractions – I would strongly recommend putting Decoy (or Mass Invisibility if you can afford the 30 skill points) on your skill bar to reset AI on them when they all gang up on you.

Staff and greatsword are probably the best weapons to be levelling on – staff is the defensive one. Skill 2 is a useful way of easing some pressure on a short cooldown, so generally it’s the first skill I use for the job. Skill 5 is basically the only AoE field a mesmer has, but more importantly it slows and stuns things moving through it.
Greatsword has good AoE damage, particularly on skill 4 (Berserker) when traited for phantasm damage.

Sword/focus is even more powerful but it’s strictly a melee set, and at low levels it’s not easy to stay alive in melee combat.

@Op, you can try again AC story. I remembered how it was at the release, it was very very very hard like if was an explorable path. It has been nerfed, mobs and bosses have less health and deal really less damages.
Now you can have an easier time doing it with a lvl 30 char unlike at release.

It definitely gets better, my first character like yours was a mesmer, I hated it and walked away from the game for most of 6 months, came back made a ranger an warrior and have loved it ever since and yes I did go back and try a mes again and still didnt like it. I am currently tormenting myself with trying to level an elementalist which seems almost as hard. You just have to get used to how the different classes play, trying to use traditional MMO play styles just doesn’t work with some of the GW2 classes because of the mechanics in the game, your dodging example is perfect for that. While you can’t dodge all damage figuring out when to use those 2 dodges to avoid the majority of incoming DPS takes some getting used to.

PvE in GW2 is pretty bad for a AAA title. It is repetitive, pointless, rarely offers a decent loot drop and is either ridiculously easy or nearly impossible. I am sure some players love it but in my experience virtually every other MMO I have played had better PvE.

They somehow managed to check all the requirement boxes for PvE combat but missed all the compelling ones. The good news is most players will get their money out of the game before they grow tired of it. They should look at titles like DDO for generated content, SWToR for personal story content and games like Diablo/Borderlands for loot generated systems.

timmyf.1490:

…Thief is incredibly squishy – I wouldn’t recommend either as a first class …

I wish I’d have been told this a year ago… Thief is a TERRIBLE indicator of the game tactics as the first character.