Guild Wars 2

New player here, just started out. So far I have only reached lvl 27 with a Guardian.

The PVE experience in 1-15 lvl areas is good, not to hard, maybe a bit easy (if you’re a Guardian or Warrior I’ve heard)

Then I got to the lvl 15-25 area (humans) and my reaction when I first met the bandits, what the….

Sure,they do not do tons more damage than the bandits in the earlier areas do but now they cause bleeding damage, and so on. If I take on more then 2 then I get downed. Where as in earlier area I never had to worry about that, unless I took on a larger group (say 4-5 mobs) or went up against an elite or boss. Other enemies such as Centaurs was easier to kill compared to the bandits who just seem overpowered most of the time, well most enemies was easier then the bandits I think.

And veteran enemies. Met a veteran bandit, got defeated within 20 seconds. Met another veteran, Ettin, and I killed it. Despite the fact that those are similar level the Ettin was easier to take down, IMO. The veteran bandit did around 200-300 with every single shot, long-ranged. And before someone says: you’re not supposed to take on them alone! I know, I just wonder why some veterans (at the same levels) are extremely hard and others I can just faceroll to death. Balance?

Why oh why are bandits so much more annoying then all the other enemies? (Yes risen are almost as bad). Is there a reason why they have so much higher DPS compared to just about all other enemies in there areas? I’m afraid now to even go there with my second character, a thief. She won’t stand a chance.

Are you dodging, mitigating damage, usign your CC abilities to buy you time?

As a thief, I entered Kessex at 13, and whilst it was challenging – I didn’t die an astronomical amount of times.

Fiennes.9568:

Are you dodging, mitigating damage, usign your CC abilities to buy you time?

As a thief, I entered Kessex at 13, and whilst it was challenging – I didn’t die an astronomical amount of times.

Yes. A couple of days ago I was bored with my thief, then I read some guides and learned that hey, I cannot just stand here like a Guardian (obviously) and take damage because I die in 3 seconds. So I changed my playstyle to mostly long-ranged and dodge a lot, I hardly ever get downed. But I did not pick the thief class because I want to kite mobs to death, that is just boring. But I have been told I have to get used to it since melee get ridiculously hard at later levels. Makes me wonder what the point is with being a melee class then.

I like the concept of scaling, I just feel that it needs to be tweaked a bit. IMHO I believe that the scaling itself should scale. A level 80 should never be scaled down below the highest level mob in the lower areas. So say an 80 goes into a zone where the highest level mob is a 20. I’d say, the 80 should be scaled to no less that 22, for example. If a 40 goes in there, the scaling him to even or maybe a point below would be more acceptable.

As a guardian, your survival depends as much on not getting hit as on your armor. Carefully time your blinds, blocks and dodges and you can down a veteran without getting hit. at all.

My favorite for taking on veterans is sword + focus. It goes something like this:

Open with flashing blade = blind
When blind icon disappears → Virtue of Justice (traited to blind) = blind
When blind disappears again → Shield of Wrath = up to 3 blocks
When shield explodes → Ray of Judgement = blind
When blind disappears → Flashing blade again, etc

This is without dodging or even using up your passive Aegis.

Those come into play when you face multiple mobs. You control the flow of combat. Flashing blade to the ranged mob, blinding them. When the melee mob arrives hit Virtue of Justice to blind them all, use the Shield of Wrath and switch to Greatsword to unleash whirling wrath and as soon as it finishes use Leap of Faith to jump on top of the group, blinding them all again.

I like the scaling to, but it was not the level scaling done to the player I was talking about. But that mobs DPS, HP and defense in 15-25 areas get scaled up a lot compared to 1-15 areas. It was a bit of a chock when I noticed how overpowered some enemies are compared to others in the same area.

Wait till you meet the Risen in Orr…

Cyrus.8261:

As a guardian, your survival depends as much on not getting hit as on your armor. Carefully time your blinds, blocks and dodges and you can down a veteran without getting hit. at all.

My favorite for taking on veterans is sword + focus. It goes something like this:

Open with flashing blade = blind
When blind icon disappears -> Virtue of Justice (traited to blind) = blind
When blind disappears again -> Shield of Wrath = up to 3 blocks
When shield explodes -> Ray of Judgement = blind
When blind disappears -> Flashing blade again, etc

This is without dodging or even using up your passive Aegis.

Those come into play when you face multiple mobs. You control the flow of combat. Flashing blade to the ranged mob, blinding them. When the melee mob arrives hit Virtue of Justice to blind them all, use the Shield of Wrath and switch to Greatsword to unleash whirling wrath and as soon as it finishes use Leap of Faith to jump on top of the group, blinding them all again.

Thanks for the tip

The 1-15 area was easy as a guardian, most of the time. It was when I got to the later areas I noticed that well, nothing in the earlier areas prepared me for this. It felt like hitting a wall. I could no longer rely on my favorite weapon either, greatsword.

lollie.5816:

Wait till you meet the Risen in Orr…

Yep
The risen are like undead on steroids or caffeine or something

Wolfmother.4098:

lollie.5816:

Wait till you meet the Risen in Orr…

Yep
The risen are like undead on steroids or caffeine or something

I have read and heard about it. Most people just seem to hate the place, the risen needs to be toned down.

Yeah, 1-15 is for playing around and trying out all your weapons. Every time you get to a new level range ANet forces you to step up your game.

Btw, the greatsword is still very useful! You just need to work a bit more on the defense. I’d suggest traiting at least 5 points in Radiance to get the AoE blind from Virtue of Justice (and up to 15 when you reach level 40). This is a great defensive tool if you use it after the blind from Leap of Faith runs out.

There are also two shouts that make life easier:
- “Save yourselves!” loads you up with buffs and has no downside when soloing.
- “Retreat!” is great for when you bit off more than you can chew.

The bandits are probably a little too strong, too quickly. The 15-25 area bandits feel like they’re more appropriately for 25-35 areas.

They do, however emphasise the importance of condition removal which is vital throughout the game. They also emphasise the importance of switching utility skills depending on the situation.

For the bandits, it’s generally the bow and pistol users that are most dangerous. This is counter to a lot of other games, where non-caster PvE ranged mobs tend to be less dangerous.

If you have a skill that provides projectile reflection (and many professions do), that will help punish them. As said, blinds (for single large shots, less effective on multi-shot attacks), interrupts (daze, stun, knockdown, fear) when they get ready to fire off a big barrage, ranging yourself while using terrain to your advantage, and saving your dodges for the largest/nastiest attacks if you can passively heal minor hits can help.