Guild Wars 2

And had a level 80 boost which i used.

Any tips on what i should be doing? Im actually clueless and tempted to just level from scratch lol.

Also, i wanted this char to be a Druid however everything BUT druid was unlocked and now there are no hero points left. Any way to reset them? If not any idea how i get more?

Ta,

Noct.

It works like this:

Druid is an elite specialization, which is like an extension of Ranger.
So you can’t “reset” points to put into that; you’ll have to get extra points to expand the class.
Go to Heart of Thorns territories to do hero point challenges (the green symbols on the map).

a fresh level 80 has enough to skill everything except the elite spec (in your case druid). You have to go do hero points to get the points needed.

As you have not played before I would advise you level at least one character from scratch.

The best thing to do is go back and level a character the long way around. You are going to be very surprised (not in a good way) otherwise in high level maps and content.

Keep your L80 so that you have access to higher level stuff but yes, level from scratch.

Druid is an elite specialisation. You can only begin to unlock it once you’re L80. You will be able to get more hero points from map challenges both in Core and HoT areas.

Instant L80 boost sounds great to new players…but it is more often a curse than a blessing. There is so much to see as you level up organically and you get to learn the profession better and develop a plan of how you want to build your character by the time you get to L80. This is even more useful if you’ve never played the game before, I think.

Guild Wars 2 also isn’t going to hold your hand and tell you where to go. This is what players coming from games such as WoW can’t get their heads around. You need to motivate yourself and find things to do. Starting out this will generally be dynamic events to gain experience and learn how to play your character.

If you intend to stick with the L80 and make it work I would advise running around core maps bee-lining waypoints and hero points. Unlocking waypoints is very, very useful. Don’t get hung up on hearts and world completion, unless you really want to make a legendary weapon. Hearts are not the be-all-and-end-all of GW2 and you will burn out on them pretty quick.

My advice: Keep the L80, as it’s useful to have, but level something naturally and experience the game as it should be experienced. If you start now you can easily be L80 by the time the next expansion hits. 79 levels seems a lot but it doesn’t actually take all that long.

As a side note: Heart of Thorns hero point challenges are worth 10 points. Core challenges are only worth 1 but are all easy to solo, whereas HoT challenges are sometimes champion foes which are very hard, or impossible, to solo.

Yargesh.4965:

The best thing to do is go back and level a character the long way around. You are going to be very surprised (not in a good way) otherwise in high level maps and content.

Yeah, come to think of it, my advice of going into Heart of Thorns with a fresh Ranger and no real idea how things work could lead to a somewhat painful experience.

Imho not the best thing to do ( using a booster ) for a new player.

Btw, since you already used it you have 2 ways to obtain skill points:

-Exploration ( HoT hero poins give you 10 points each, if i am correct, while the old hero points from the base gw2 world give 1 point each ).
-WvW tokens ( by playing wvw, you can achieve chests which can be converted into tokens, usable to buy HoT heropoints. I guess each use lock an unlocked HoT heropoint ).

ps: there should be also a way to “unlock” old hero points without exploration but i am not sure.

for hunting hp, you have to go inside maps and click on the point or defeat a specific encounter.

Shirlias.8104:

ps: there should be also a way to “unlock” old hero points without exploration but i am not sure.

The only alternative to unlocking core hero points is the WvW method you already mentioned, but probably shouldn’t confuse new players with stuff like that!

It was not a good idea to use it at start. The best way to know the profession is to start from 0, but if you want to play druid you only have to run on the HoT maps and search for Hero Points. People are always helpful so you write for example: “I need help with HP” then you can put waypoint/point of interest code on map chat and wait a bit. You can also search for the squad for HP runs on LFG. For example Verdant Bring HP run or Auric Basin or Tangled Depths. Dragon’s Stand is really easy map with easy ways to get it. You can use some help on Youtube- a lot of videos how to get to each HP.

If you want you can get all of HPs in World vs World- you will get 6-7 points for every WvW level then you can exchange them into Hero Points at the special merchants who are standing close to the spawn places.

You can do both ways- some PvE, some WvW.

You can check Druid in PvP- every specialization is unlocked in PvP.

If you have any question just ask here or in-game. People are really helpful here.

Sarie.1630:

Shirlias.8104:

ps: there should be also a way to “unlock” old hero points without exploration but i am not sure.

The only alternative to unlocking core hero points is the WvW method you already mentioned, but probably shouldn’t confuse new players with stuff like that!

;)

Before you start a new character and level manually (if you want to do that), start the Heart of Thornes story to get gliding. You will be able to use a glider with the new character, since it’s an account-wide mastery, and gliding is so much fun when you explore.

What I would do though is keep playing your level 80 Ranger and just do what you would do with a new character. Play the personal story, do events in the starter zone, explore, craft whatever a new player does. Your level 80 character will be downscaled to an appropriate level for the zone, so you cannot just one-shoot every mob.

You will be stronger than a new character though because you already got all skills and traits unlocked, and you get exotic weapons. That’s not a bad thing in my opinion though. While you explore with your Ranger, you’ll get Hero Points and unlock the Druid trait line step by step. Sounds like more fun to me than starting a completely new character.

What Faaris said ^

+ doing map completion will get you some nice rewards. From ocasional chest keys to tokens used to change armor looks.

Many responses, thanks guys.

I was actually a bit disappointed that i had the boost because i know full well starting at max level is like scaling a cliff with no climbing experience! I’ll have a look around the new zone + do the original story quests to start with, see if i can get a “lay of the land” so to speak.

Thanks again for all the advice.

The personal story takes you from the newbie zones all the way to the original end-game areas. It also gives you a good feel for whichever race you’re playing as, and some of the big groups in the game. It will also introduce you to some important characters.

The one thing the personal story will NOT do is give you the full story. Originally, part of the story was put into the dungeons that unlock for you as you level. Those dungeons are all but abandoned content now, though. (Yes, there are rewards for running them, but the devs no longer work on them.) So, you might want to hit Youtube or the wiki to find out what story you’re missing if you skip them.

(Dungeons were intended for 5 player teams, by the way.)

You can just advertise in the LFG window to do the personal story mode for all the dungeons. People do those fairly often because you need to do that easier mission to unlock the “real” dungeon paths (otherwise you can join someone else’s group but can’t start the instance yourself). Can always advertise in LFG as a newbie who wants to learn and see if someone is willing to tag along.

Start up a new character and work through the personal story. Do some map completion but don’t worry about getting everything at first. There are three different starting zones and you should visit all of the major cities (next to those zones). There are portals in the cities that link to all the others. This will also help you travel around if you are trying to get somewhere far away because the cities are fairly spread out. Don’t forget to try jumping puzzles. They are hidden but common and provide a bit of challenge different from fighting.

Also make more than just one character. Knowing what other classes do will help you understand what other people are doing. You can also take these characters to the Heart of the Mists. You don’t have to pvp but you can test out a fully unlocked (including the elite specializations) while you are there. The stat system is normalized so you don’t have to worry about gear either. Just pick an amulet (your base stats), a rune set and sigils to go on your weapons. Then you can select your traits and practice on golems or NPCs or even people in the arena (if you choose).

The original story is bad. Fair warning. But it gets better and the living world stories are better. Recent content is where the story actually gets decent.

You may also consider joining a guild that helps new players. I’ve seen them advertising all the time so just keep an eye out.

Even though you’re max level, you can still go back to those earlier zones and learn the game, the mobs, the class, etc. Just go back and do hearts, find hero points, collect materials and ask for help with trying things like story and explorable dungeons. You can also get an accelerated version of the story so you can watch things unfold without having to reach certain level requirements.

As a Ranger, search all the nooks and crannies so you can find juvenile animals to tame as your pets. Also, don’t be shy about trying out the different weapons to get familiar with them and to pick the combo you enjoy playing the most.

Leo G.4501:

Also, don’t be shy about trying out the different weapons to get familiar with them and to pick the combo you enjoy playing the most.

NO! You get the meta weapons, sword/axe + longbow!

You are not to touch anything else ^^

Faaris.8013:

Leo G.4501:

Also, don’t be shy about trying out the different weapons to get familiar with them and to pick the combo you enjoy playing the most.

NO! You get the meta weapons, sword/axe + longbow!

You are not to touch anything else ^^

I’d say it’s better to try other weapons, maybe not right away due to gold, but being able to play say Clerics and see where it shines over Berzerker gear and where it doesn’t can help a player understand why the meta is what it is. And that’s better than just knowing the meta.

Clerics you have more room for mistakes and can heal yourself better when you make the mistake, but you kill things much more slowly than in Berzerker gear.

Someone suggested playing the L80 Boosted character and doing the beginning Heart of Thorns story episodes to unlock Masteries and Gliding. I feel this is not the best advice, because to unlock Gliding, one must stay in the HoT maps for awhile to gather the XP required for the Gliding Mastery. This can be frustrating for a new player.

Also, playing a new character, even of the same Profession, will offer one all the Level-up tutorial tips and rewards that playing a boosted character will miss. If you choose to play a different Profession, Necromancers are somewhat easy to level, like Rangers.

Whatever you decide, welcome to Tyria and best of luck.

Just follow the story log and play the game on your level 80 character. You don’t lose anything from not starting at level 1. Your character’s level gets adjusted anyway when you enter a low-level territory, so no worries.

As for unlocking masteries, start with leveling your core-Tyria masteries first, and play the core game first. In order to unlock masteries in general (and the ability to level them), you are forced, though, to play through the first Heart of Thornes story mission, which is somewhat of a spoiler — do it anyway, then continue with the original campaign (you can switch between campaigns in your story log, which it the fourth tab in the Hero Panel).

P.S. Druid is not what you might be expecting based on other RPGs. ArenaNet perverted the Ranger into a pseudo-druid for group support with that elite specialization, because they refuse to get the Monk profession from GW1 back into the game. You can play a damage-dealing druid, but a condition damage-based vanilla ranger deals more DPS (with HoT’s Viper’s armor).