Guild Wars 2

He is only like level 20, and needs to be babysat because of his low level of mmo experience. He can’t kill much of anything on his own and calls me over to help him with simple heart quests and whatnot. This is only slightly understandable because he rolled a mesmer as his first toon.

I learned most of what I know on this game by myself the hard way (This is my first mmo too). But obviously he doesen’t have to learn that way himself. What should I teach him do you think? Like what would you have liked to know early on that you had to learn fro experience? (I ask because I’m not the best at this game myself and maybe I could learn something here that I could pass on, or something I haven’t thought of could be brought to my attention.)

I was also thinking about powerleveling a toon to his level and leveling with him so all he does isn’t completely useless to me and that I could use a class that may help him stay alive and kill stuff as a mesmer better ( I’ve been helping him on my lvl 80 necromancer. All his events don’t help me and he dies too quickly and doesen’t deal enough damage for my conditionmancer to really help him.)

So two questions really GD!

a.) What advice should I give him? What are some tricks best learned early on that really help?

b.) What class would be best to use with him to help him kill things and stay alive doing it? (Something fun please, warrior is awful. I was thinking either a Guardian or support Thief.)

Edit: Thank you in advance for everyone who helps me. I’m teaching him everything I can but I’m not the best player, they are things I’m still clueless about I’m sure. So this could very well be a learning experience for me too, thank you.

Tell him to keep his gear as close to level as he can. Tell him to practice dodge. Tell him to study his trait lines to see where he might want to go as he progresses. Or “suggest”, or “casually enquire” about his gear. It’s more important for some classes at start than others it seems.

Maybe don’t even babysit him, just group with him.

As for your own class choose whatever you like. I wouldn’t discount warrior for what you plan on using it for.

A: Dying in this game is not a big deal. Die a few times at a lower level and it may cost you 1s to repair, you’ll collect enough from loot and DE/heart rewards to more than cover the costs of dying. So treat dying more as a learning process than a barrier to playing the game.

B: Guardians are the most durable class, my most played character is a guardian and I rarely go down, and have traits that keep me alive longer when I do go down. Unless I get overconfident and take on too many enemies at once I rarely die.

Ranger is another good one because having a pet helps draw away aggro, and thieves have a lot of dodge moves and such to avoid damage. It depends on your play style, but guardians are probably the easiest class to play after warriors, and slightly harder to kill in PVE.

Simple answer? Just be a helpful guide and give all the supportive input you can, and introduce them to the wiki.

My experience is the game runs much more smoothly when you have even two people together instead of running completely solo, this is a chance for both of you to improve on each other.

How do you mean his events don’t help you?

Advice? Play more. It’s like anything else, practice makes less pathetic Since you have a level 80, I’m going to assume that you have your share of practice, already.

Class? In spite of all the complaints I’ve read about Rangers, it’s my favourite. This might be due to the fact that it suits someone who likes bouncing around everywhere. Much easier to hit targets with range, you can run all day with just the 1 attack.

I’ve heard good things about Guardian, just starting one out. I’ve done 80 on Warrior, Ranger, Engineer, Mesmer and Ele so far and the only one that never got better with age (for me) is the Engineer.

What is his play style in other games? hyperactive? plodding? sneaky? The answer to this question may serve him best in making that choice.

The Engineer was my first 80, and it made me feel like I was just a horrid player. One might suggest that the subsequent toons were easier because of my experience, and I agree.. but when I go back to the Engineer to finish the 100% WC, she’s still the one I have the hardest time surviving solo with.

I’m sure I can help you and him out. =) Whisper me ingame and I’ll see what I can do.

Allisa Wonderland.8192:

Simple answer? Just be a helpful guide and give all the supportive input you can, and introduce them to the wiki.

My experience is the game runs much more smoothly when you have even two people together instead of running completely solo, this is a chance for both of you to improve on each other.

How do you mean his events don’t help you?

Advice? Play more. It’s like anything else, practice makes less pathetic Since you have a level 80, I’m going to assume that you have your share of practice, already.

Class? In spite of all the complaints I’ve read about Rangers, it’s my favourite. This might be due to the fact that it suits someone who likes bouncing around everywhere. Much easier to hit targets with range, you can run all day with just the 1 attack.

I’ve heard good things about Guardian, just starting one out. I’ve done 80 on Warrior, Ranger, Engineer, Mesmer and Ele so far and the only one that never got better with age (for me) is the Engineer.

What is his play style in other games? hyperactive? plodding? sneaky? The answer to this question may serve him best in making that choice.

The Engineer was my first 80, and it made me feel like I was just a horrid player. One might suggest that the subsequent toons were easier because of my experience, and I agree.. but when I go back to the Engineer to finish the 100% WC, she’s still the one I have the hardest time surviving solo with.

Meaning I’ve already done most of what he is asking to baby sit him on, renown hearts and such. Of course the DE’s help me for karma and money, I don’t mind those. Its just the hearts and the world completion stuff. I’ve done most of it on my 80 toon and I’m getting nothing out of it.

He has very little experience with games like this, he usually plays games like League of Legends. All I can say is he is very aggressive, and overestimates his damage output. Which causes him to die if I don’t run in and take aggro for him. He is building himself to be a glass cannon as well so that also contributes to him dying a lot.

I would be very hesitant to roll a ranger. Yes they rock PvE with being able to tank with their pets and what not but nobody likes to have them in high level play. I see rangers getting kicked all the time from groups I’m in, and I’m a necromancer so that says a lot. I was thinking either support thief or guardian because those classes are known for not being awful in everything but PvE… Plus they have trait lines that actually work with their kits.

(I rolled a ranger up till level 20, love the gameplay, hate the traits and useless utility skills that make me useless.)

Ranger just has so many problems, Anet just nerfed them, and I doubt they would do an entire overhaul on them. Which is what they need.

Khyber.2693:

Ranger just has so many problems, Anet just nerfed them, and I doubt they would do an entire overhaul on them. Which is what they need.

Check your ingame mail or whispers. lol
I’ll help you now and your friend if you want…

If you have any other good baby sitting class ideas I’m more than happy to hear them too. My first two ideas where Guardian and support thief because the thief has stuff like great mobility, damage, and of course shadow refuge. Then there is the Guardian with their obvious great support tank potential. The thing that draws me away from the Guardian is their lack of ranged options, the thing that makes me question the Thief is how squishy they are. I guess by both arguments Guardians don’t really need ranged and my friend will have to learn how to manage aggro at some point right?

My main goal is to be able to help him learn the mechanics of the game by obviously informing him of important info, and also aiding him in battle and getting him to learn how his class works in a team dynamic. As a Necro all I can really do is face tank and turn his conditions into boons.

(Out of pure curiosity how would an Engi do in this scenario? I personally see them as a cross between a Guardian and Necro but that is just me.)

I just want opinions please I’m open to a lot of things.

There’s nothing wrong with rangers if a player knows how to even play one half decently. The prejudice against them seems to be the same that ranged and pet classes have in nearly every mmo I’ve played. I’ve never understood it.

As for this “nerf”, I haven’t noticed any difference in playing my ranger in pve. I think the advice you were given about rolling one to help your mate is decent.

Perhaps you can make it a game of “keep my friend alive?” I don’t think there’s much to solve the problem other than time, or strong sedatives (j/k). Your idea of making a toon and levelling it up to match his is probably a good idea, because then you will be able to demonstrate techniques which will be applicable to him, and he won’t feel underpowered and try to compensate when he sees you slicing through everyone so quickly.

I have never been kicked from a CoF p1 run with my ranger. It annoyed me that quickness got nerfed because of problems with other classes and other game play areas (this wasn’t a problem in GW1, come on devs), but I am not putting down my short bow over it.

He might not be a good person for Ranger if he tries to toe-to-toe everyone, but I will say.. I have a six year old son, and he has a level 80 Ranger that he achieved by playing, with me, when I was leveling at the same time as him. In other words, I didn’t bring my 80 along to help his level 1. If a six year old can do it… well…. you know…

I’m sure there are people who get the Engineer class, but as much as I really want to and keep trying, I must not, because I really can’t survive as effectively as with any of my other classes. Heck, even my level 14 thief with her original armor and daggers is competent in all parts of the 1-15 areas…

Allisa makes a decent point here. Not everyone is suited to particular classes, for whatever reason. I can’t play a caster so save my life.

Maybe your friend should try a few classes to see what suits him better.

Oh yes, and rolling a new toon for yourself means you get to do all the hearts etc again from scratch! I tend to not use my Ranger with newer players for exactly the same reason.

If your friend plays very aggressively he might not be very suited to Mesmer, Mesmers are sneaky- he sounds like he would enjoy a d/d Elementalist.
As for a Mesmer leveling up- keep in mind that Mesmers only really come into their own after level 40 or so.
He could try using a GS/staff weapon set since those are great for leveling in pve.

My main is a Mesmer and I loved her so much I made a second one.
Originally my husband leveled his ranger with my Mesmer and we made an awesome team- very good synergy between the two classes.

I have an Engi at 80 as well and that might work well with a Mesmer too.
The two things a Mesmer lacks somewhat is speed and AOE.
Engi is not as tanky as a Mesmer but they give great AOE support.