Guild Wars 2

Hey guys! A while back I started playing Gw2 again, but some things drew me away from it and one thing that kinda put me off was that everyone seemed to be doing nothing but PvP. As in, that appeared to be the primary focus of the end-game.

Unfortunately I don’t have the time and availability to want scheduled raid events, like WoW for example, so the lack of “real raiding” content, as people put it, doesn’t really concern me. To go along with that, lately I’m becoming less and less interested in PvP game modes across the board as well.

I guess what I’m looking for is small scale, rewarding, PvE progression. That’s not to say I want a gear grind, that doesn’t matter to me, but I like to fight challenging bosses and play in group content. Do the dungeons at end-game offer this sort of thing?

Also, how rewarding is crafting in terms of progression? How rewarding is getting a legendary? I read that HoT is offering a lot of player-progression, and I really love that concept. It’s stuff like that which makes me want to play Guild Wars 2 as my main game.

The last time I played I picked it up and got hooked for a couple of weeks, but I jumped into PvP a bit too early and got myself burnt out. I want to give it another go and see if I can get myself hooked before HoT comes out!

I know this post may seem a little long, perhaps a little vague, but as helpful and open as the Gw2 community has been in the past I’m hoping that someone out there can give me their opinions on it or maybe point me in a direction to learn more myself so I can draw my own conclusion. I’m just a little hesitant and seeking some input from others in lieu of putting in a bunch of time without having an idea of what I’m getting into. Thanks in advance!

~Nex

From your post I think Fractals would be a good place for you. It’s a special dungeon for 5 man groups where you start at lvl 1 difficulty and level up till 50. At level 10 a mechanic called “agony” is introduced. Specific boss attacks will give you an unremovable condition called agony and some fractals even have unavoidable agony ticks. You survive this by putting agony infusions on your gear, which can only be put on ascended gear. So there you have a bit of PvE progression tied in with a minor gear grind. But most importantly, high level fractals are at the moment the hardest content we have in game.

Dungeons will give you this less. The bosses generally have less mechanics and you burn everything so fast on the lower level ones that it’ll be a less interesting experience. I definitely suggest you try them out though (especially arah).

As for crafting, don’t expect to make gold with it, but it’s rewarding in the sense that it’s the only reliable way of getting ascended gear.

Current “end game” in GW2 is mostly about the way you look. So if you’re into dressing up your barbie legendaries might be nice. They require a bit of work though so try not to get burned out grinding for it. As someone who has 5 of them, I find it worth the effort because I like the look of them.

Be advised, they focus on PvE progression in HoT a lot because it’s currently lacking in game. But I think for a newer player like you there’s still enough to do until the expanson hits. ^^

Do your 3 Dailies, go to the Silver Wastes zone and run the Gauntlet of Events until the World Boss (Vine Wraith). After the previous sentence cash in your Bandit currency for Bandit Chest Keyes and join a Chest farm in Silver Wastes. After the previous sentence you can then do the World Boss gauntlet for preferential treatment toward Tequatl, Karka Queen, Mega Worm [ in Bloodtide Coast], Jormags Claw).

climb fractals. Find other 4 people that are fairly new to the game and schedule Arah or Aetherblade Path runs. Those are fun to do for instanced content ^^

There’s also the Living Story if you haven’t caught up yet. It introduced two level 80 areas with new gear sets and opportunities to collect recipes, if you are into crafting.

Nex.2041:

However I think my hype just got rekindled, and the fact that HoT is allegedly aimed at end-game PvE?

There’s definitely a focus on character progression. You get a specialisation for every class to experiment with and a mastery system which gives supposedly meaningful progression as opposed to the usual level cap increase. However if you see end game as instanced dungeons, currently there’s no word on new instanced content in HoT (aside from a new personal story).

They’ve actually said absolutely nothing specific about ‘endgame PvE’ in HoT.
Just specializations, a new new WvW map, a new sPvP mode, and for PvE we’re getting a grind so we can hop on mushrooms better.

Cbomb.4310:

They’ve actually said absolutely nothing specific about ‘endgame PvE’ in HoT.
Just specializations, a new new WvW map, a new sPvP mode, and for PvE we’re getting a grind so we can hop on mushrooms better.

Heart of Thorns is specifically supposed to be the next step in end game PVE.