A noob's take on things
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
I did read the “pamphlet” that came with the game and it instructed me which keys to hit to perform attacks and how to access my inventory and hero accoutrements. Was there something more specific you were referring to?
Dulfy is a great place to learn tricks and tips, especially for the living world events:
http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/
Are you just doing hearts or are you also doing the dynamic events? The ones that pop-up with red circles?
This guide is great for crafting, especially if you want to level craft and have enough coin. I suggest the normal crafting guide to start and make sure you expand discovery for instructions. Each craft will cost you roughly 10-15 gold to level the craft to 400 using the guides but each craft you level should give you about 20 character levels per craft.
Also if you have not read this thread check it out:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OMG-If-you-only-knew-this-tips-for-new-players
Finally ignore people like Hicci.8761. They must have confused PhP (players helping players) with PvP. Kind of ironic that he chose to say “Did not read” when it seems he didn’t read the name of this forum.
Anyway hope that helps and feel free to PM me with questions.
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
I did read the “pamphlet” that came with the game and it instructed me which keys to hit to perform attacks and how to access my inventory and hero accoutrements. Was there something more specific you were referring to?
Yes. The stuff that is taught to you when you talk to NPCs. When I first tried crafting, I went and talked to crafting masters that seemed interesting. I also read guides as the person above so kindly linked to you. Take your time and you will soon know anything you need to know regarding the game, also, clear your mailbox from time to time. Living story information is sent by mail which you cannot receive if your mailbox is full.
I have to say that there is alot to the “Living Story” that I just ignore because these transient events often make little sense unless is into the lore and/or one looks up guides on youtube or elsewhere and in the end, the events don’t matter much anyway, unless you thrive on getting achievements or special event items.
As for the crafting, I personally just found it a gold sink. I was better off leveling my first character by selling all the craftable components rather than trying to level my crafting skills. To each his own.
I do find that there are a number of aspects to this game that require going outside the game to learn or figure out. Maybe I could do it ingame if I had more time, but I don’t.
Use the GW2 wiki (link at top of the forum page) often. It will help a great deal in figuring things out.
Another site worth bookmarking for events, new items, armors, puzzles, etc. is Dulfy:
http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/
As for those support tokens, with the Aug. 6 patch you should now be able to sell them at a vendor and recoup some cash:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Support_Token
Stick with it and don’t get discouraged. As you level up, it will make more and more sense.
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
I’m gonna second this.
I really wouldn’t recommend crafting armor and weapons. As said before, it’s a gold sink. You probably be better off selling all your mats in the trading post and buying armor and weapons every 10 levels as needed. You can get those from drops, heart merchants and the trading post. After you hit 80, you can learn crafting then if you want. You will have more money and access to high level mats, that you don’t have now.
The game doesn’t do the best job educating new players, that is for sure. But I hear they are working on that, and a whole new tutorial should release at about the same time the game launces in Asia. If you’re not up for waiting, just ask something specific and myself and many others will do our best to help you out. That said, here are a few core things I see come up over and over again.
Leveling: DO NOT RUSH IT! Take your time and take it slow. Guild Wars 2 is a game about enjoying the journey, and if you just try to move through a zone hitting hearts like a check list you WILL miss out on most of what this game has to offer.
Enjoy the story: They are little nuggets of lore scattered all over the game, for those who want to seek them out. And I for one highly suggest you do seek them out, as they will provide a much needed context to everything you’re doing in the world, and your place in it.
Events, stop and stay awhile: Just because an event is over doesn’t mean it is over. Stick around and see if a conversation between a few NPCs starts up, and if one of them says they are going to do something and run off, follow them. Often this will lead to some of that hidden lore I mentioned, or maybe another event.
Experience: Combat exp is….in a word; pathetic. You can get a nice boost from exploring the map, and a good chunk from hearts, but the money (and karma and exp) comes from events.
Loot: the loot ranking works like this, white (trash), blue (slightly better trash), green (good stuff at low levels when you can get it), yellow (the good stuff), orange (the better stuff), pink (the best stuff), and purple (you’re a legend).
Dodging: Use it when you need it, but don’t waste it.
The trinity: Heal yourself, no one can do it for you. And when you get unwanted aggro…run; there is no taunting.
Gear: Within any given level range and rarity (for example, level 80 orange items), all weapons and armor have roughly the same stats. The difference is in the specific stats buffed. So for example the always popular Berserker gear is really no better than the less used Rabid gear. The difference is that each buffs different stats, and is used for different play-styles and builds. Ultimately armor is designated by prefix, such as Berserker and Rabid, and a suffix. The prefix just tells you what stats are on the item, and the suffix tells you what upgrades it has. For example “Berserker’s Pirate Coat of the Berserker” would be a standard armor (with an armor rating universal across its type and rarity) that buffs “zerker” stats through both the prefix and suffix. However “Berserker’s Pirate Coat of the Vampire” buffs the typical ‘zerker stats with the prefix, but uses the special “runes of the vampire” upgrades to add other functions like life steal on attack for its suffix.
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
I did read the “pamphlet” that came with the game and it instructed me which keys to hit to perform attacks and how to access my inventory and hero accoutrements. Was there something more specific you were referring to?
Yeah That pamphlet was pretty kittening useless, I read it too.
My advice to you is to join a guild. There are plenty of guilds out there that will help new people get on their feet. It’s a big game and there’s a lot of stuff to do. Like any MMO, if you start late, there’s a certain shorthand that you’ll miss that is helpful.
A good, helpful guild could turn this game right around for you.
The fact that you say dynamic events are waylaying you when you’re trying to do hearts says a lot to me.
Dynamic events are one of the main ways you get XP, cool drops and actually witness the world. As you progress to higher level zones there will be less and less hearts, eventually none, as they’re replaced with Dynamic events. So you definitely want to get into the habit of doing them now, especially the ones that chain together.
Other than that talk to the [Scout] NPCs, read the hints that pop up, read the descriptions on your skills and armor so you know what your character can do and use the wiki to look up anything you don’t understand: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page
When I first got this game and got into the first public beta I didn’t even know how to move (not having GW1’s click to move completely threw me) or how to attack an enemy, but I found I picked it up fairly quickly just by listening to/asking the NPCs and other players. But the Wiki really helps for more broad/complicated topics like what all the stats do.
“Life’s a journey, not a destination.”
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
I did read the “pamphlet” that came with the game and it instructed me which keys to hit to perform attacks and how to access my inventory and hero accoutrements. Was there something more specific you were referring to?
Yeah That pamphlet was pretty kittening useless, I read it too.
There was a pamphlet?
Dynamic Events – Do them and say thank you for the experience, karma, gold, and loot. If all you do is run from heart to heart you’ll find yourself “behind” in level by the time you finish a zone.
Crafting – Talk to the NPC before training. If I remember correctly there’s a dialog option that’s something along the lines of, “What can I craft as an ____?” after which the NPC will tell you. If you had looked at your armor you would have seen that it says “Armor Class Medium Armor”, and the Armorsmith in response to “What can I craft as an armorsmith?” will have replied “Heavy armor, inventory boxes, and runes.” If you happen to pick the wrong one, no big deal. Just retrain as the one you want. If you happen to have spent mats crafting things you don’t need/can’t use just sell ’em off and farm/buy more mats.
New Content (Living Story) – Read your mail. They do a good job of pointing you in the right direction. There’s even a “Show Me” button in certain mail messages. Talk to Heralds and Living Story Scouts. I don’t recall if you’re expressly told to talk to them in the mail messages, but I’m pretty sure somewhere along the way you’re directed toward them. They want everyone to be able to play through the Living Story so you will be up-leveled when necessary. You will be weaker than a true 80, but still able to participate. Just pay attention to your level and that of your opponents, and play accordingly.
I’ve played my fair share of MMOs, and this was by far the easiest to “figure out.” They’re not hiding anything from you, or intentionally making anything difficult like some.
Regarding the introduction of a new tutorial it won’t help (much). People who don’t pay attention/read won’t start doing so because there’s a fancy new tutorial.
That may all sound harsh, but all of the problems your experiencing are no one’s fault but your own.
About the crafting, before learning a crafting profesion, be sure to talk to the NPC and ask them what can you craft with that profesion. For example, you ask the master armorsmith what can you craft, he’ll asnwer "Heavy armor, inventory boxes, and runes. ", while a leatherworker (which is the profesion you probably want) will say "Medium armor, inventory packs, and runes. ". You can see what can each profession craft here:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crafting
BTW, no biggie if you chose the wrong crafting profession, you can drop them and pick a new one anytime, and you don’t even lose progress at all, for example, it you already leveled armorsmith to 50, drop it and become a leatherworker, if in the future you want to take armorsmith for whatever reason (making armor for an alt, for example), it’ll still be where you left it at 50. Doing this is entirely possible to have a single character with all professions leveled to 400.
And as for the Queen’s Pavillion, it’s a living story event that will be here for about a month. All mobs you face them are high level veterans and champions, and you, as an outleveled 20, are still a bit weaker than a full 80 so don’t expect to survive in there solo, try to stay with a group. Look for the commander icons (look like a blue rhomboid taco thing in the map), and try to get to them, chances are there will be a lot of people around them doing the events. You will die a lot (I do as level 80), but you’ll also be resurrected a lot, and the events will give you some nice XP and loot.
wrapped up in some crazy ritualist hoo-ha from Cantha.
A real grab bag of ‘you can’t hurt me. They’re called Guardians.
So my two cents…
I understand how frustrating it can be when everyone else seems to know what the heck is going on and you’re sitting there going “wait, why is everyone going over there?” or whatever. I played this game for a long time just doing like you. Wandered around, stayed at my level, did the hearts, etc. I even stopped playing for a while. When I came back, I decided to make a completely different character (started with a necro, now play a warrior). I also decided to start reading the forums and finding out what I can really do and and discovered that I wanted to make a goal (or goals) for myself. This might help you, too.
I joined a great guild that helps out people a lot. I have tried dungeons, which I was always scared to do, but now I’m really starting to like them a lot. I tried WvW, which again I was scared to try but now I love. I tried PvP, where I get my kitten kicked all over the place but learn a lot about my character and what she can and cannot do. My goal, now that I have my warrior at 80 and all decked out in the armor and weapons I wanted, with a build that a guild member helped me with, is to up my achievement points.
I say, ask yourself what your goals are? Do you want to craft (personally, that is the one part of the game I really dislike)? Do you want to work toward some exotic or legendary armor or weapons? Do you just want to amass huge amounts of gold? Map completion? PvP champion? Dungeon master? There are many, many ways you can go. Once you have that sorted out, read all the info you can on your chosen path so you can figure out what you need to do to get there. For instance, I wanted to learn the best build for my warrior for PvE. I read the forums here and elsewhere on different builds and so on. I continue to read about warrior weapons and such and how to use it all together. There’s a lot to learn but I’m having so much fun I’m literally addicted to this game now. My poor husband….
I really hope you enjoy this game as much as I do. Figure out what you want to do, but try everything!!
I’ll try to stay TL;DR so I don’t toss another wall of text at you.
Essentially this game is an open sandbox, there is a lot you can do, and you can do what you want. Nearly everything grants exp, so efficiency is your choice. I didn’t even bother with personal story till I hit 80.
Hearts grant a lot of exp, but events make up the bulk of world exp, so don’t worry about participating, the heart will be there. Some events even chain and/or lead into a world boss encounter.
Crafting is best done as you level and gather the materials, or once you hit 80 can buy them. I suggest leveling them at any rate, because there will be a new tier of gear coming out that is exclusive to crafting. You could power level alternate characters once you amass gold, but it costs about 10g to max out a professions with buying the materials, it will also net you about 10 levels.
You can have all crafting professions on one character, but you have to drop them first to chose another, but you pick up where you left off if you switch back. Huntsman may be more useful to you since it crafts bows and other ranged weapons. Chef and Jeweler are pretty much the only “unique” professions since they craft accessories and dyes/foods vs armor/weapons, those are more sorted by class and preference.
Your level scales up in certain instances, such as the Jubilee, but you lack the skills and traits from leveling, which make a large difference. You should also pay attention to enemy types, the bronze portraits are veterans (fairly tough), the gold are champions (can be very hard to solo), and purple are legendary (require a large group and coordinated effort usually).
If you find it tough in certain places, you can always just play events in a lower level area. The exp scales up and your level scales down to make it worth your while, loot is sometimes between that level of area and your actual level though. Lots of people enjoy Wayfarer Foothills and Queensdale, especially for daily/monthly achievements.
Also, sell those tokens from the last event, they’re worth a pretty penny at a vendor now.
Good luck!
I had the same problem (level 17 Ranger) when my husband (level 18 Engineer) wandered into the Crown Pavilion thinking it was something appropriate for all levels.
If you run out of level-appropriate things to do in your starting area, go to the starting area of another race, and do those lower-level things for a while. Then you’ll be high enough level to move on to the more challenging areas. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I still occasionally get support tokens with my loot, they’re worth so much that I love getting them now!
Luck & sympathy to you from another noob!
VEGA Guild
Blackgate
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
I did read the “pamphlet” that came with the game and it instructed me which keys to hit to perform attacks and how to access my inventory and hero accoutrements. Was there something more specific you were referring to?
The game itself has quite a lot when you look at the environment.
Don’t get me wrong, GW2 really does have some problems teaching new people.
Part of it is, aside from the beginner missions, there’s not much on help aside from the less than helpful tips. At least we get achievement points if we unlock all those.
The game is very much centered on trying to have you ‘right there’ instead of stepping back, like most games, and offer a Out of Character tutorial. I have seen the disconnect with some people on that. Though for folks like me, who normally don’t like more traditional RPGs, this was more of a selling point.
This new content. Firstly, I kept amassing these ‘support’ tokens instead of any real loot. Had no clue what to do with them and still have them taking up space in my bank. So, I hear this chick won this election instead of this bad dude. All well and good….
Ah yes the Living Story, someday it will click for you. Honestly some of us were lost on some things, but stuff does tend to link together somehow. Look at that as if you just started watching a TV show before actually seeing the first few episodes. Eventually you do work out things as it goes on, but you might still be lost on others. The Personal Story for the Human characters introduces people like the Queen, Logan, and Anise. Those were the people in that instanced part of the Jubilee.
I would say that a good informative guild, or even just knowledgeable friends on your list, is a necessary thing for you to get the full impact of the world.
This isn’t going to be one of those standard fare MMOs where you play in one area until you get corralled to another area and keep going until DING you’re finally leveled up.
It is more akin to being in a city that you’ve never been in before.
There’s always the wiki and dulfy’s site if you get lost, but I do urge that you take your time and talk with everyone (NPC) you can find. Scouts and Heralds are good places to start for information on either the area (Scouts) or what’s going on in the Living Story (Heralds).
Take everything here with a grain of salt… I think most responses were made by some pretty experienced players…
As a new player, I would give you this advice: ignorance is bliss. ^^
Once you actually delve into the world of builds, fractals, sPvP, TP economy, high-tier crafting, etc., you’ll realize how good life was when you were new… The important thing to always remember is to enjoy the game and play for fun. Don’t play for a goal or it will become a grind, or you will burn out because a lot of content (story wise) is repetitive.
I’ve only spent a mere 500 hours since I got the game in December (I say mere because many here have spent 1k+) and I have grown to dislike too many aspects of the game to still say “wow this is a great game!” That is not necessarily the developers or community’s fault, but just the way things turned out for me.
I like your mentality though, play it and move on. It was, is, and will be just a game! There are finer things in life to enjoy. ^^
I’d really like to thank all of the great advice everyone is giving. I did not know about dulfry.net but that looks to be the kind of link I’m looking for. I have been perusing the wiki, mostly when I get a drop that I don’t know if I should sell/salvage or whatnot.
I’m coming from the Elder Scrolls arena (am I allowed to say that here?). In TES games, crafting is a huge part of the game. Generally you can craft much better weapons and armor than you can purchase. And its pretty much limited to weapons, armor and potions. I did talk to the crafting persons before starting the craft but I didn’t know that there was a difference between the crafting disciplines as far as armor goes. I just thought a tailor made clothes and an armorsmith made armor. It was just confusing to me which is why I had a difficult time finding what I really wanted. But the more I craft and the more I read, the more I realize there is so much more in this field that I know nothing about, I’m not sure where to go next. I get the impression its more beneficial to buy than to craft in this game.
I’m not trying to hurry leveling but I do like to “complete” an area before moving on to the next higher level area. Exploring is my favorite thing to do in open-world games. I just happen to stumble into an area or a group event that is far beyond my skill level without knowing it.
I’m not sure what goals I have other than map completion. Didn’t know I could have a goal as a Dungeon Master, not even sure what that is, nor how or what a fractal is. I’m sure, given time, I’ll learn. Like I said in the beginning, the more I learn, the less I really know about something. PvP isn’t really my bag and WvW seemed like a huge chaotic event that didn’t make much sense to me. Couldn’t really see any battle other than about a million toons racing around an area, so I just started firing my bow randomly, 1-2-3-4-5, rinse, repeat.
When I first started, I picked a server that had a guild that sounded like it was right up my alley. Older, casual players with no stress and very helpful. The problem is, I can’t remember the name of that guild now and I see no way to bring up a list of local guilds again. Every time I click the guild button, it just brings up my guild stats which are empty at the moment. This is one of the things that I was referring to as rather nebulous.
So, I thank each and every one of you with helpful advice. Even the “Did not read” comment was well taken. I’m realizing this game takes a lot more “homework” before you’re ready for the pop quiz.
Well Dulfy.net is a great resource when it comes to Living Story. At least that’s all I’ve ever used it for.
Crafting can be a great alternative to buying gear if you have the mats. Otherwise you’ll have to weigh cost of mats, vs just buying something comparable. You should always be gathering mats as you go if you’re working on crafting, or even if you’re not. You get exp and cash if you choose to sell ‘em. Remember to keep your gather tools on par with the zone you’re in so you don’t end up harvesting vendor trash.
I have the same OCD when leveling to finish a zone before moving on, and it’s a good one to have if you ever want to get the map completion achievement. Another thing while leveling is to fully explore all of the cities early on. Especially if you’re “behind” in exp. That’ll give you a nice chunk of exp. I have 100% Map completion on my Engineer, and I’m deciding whether or not I want to do it on my Warrior as well. And if you see an event pop up along the way, do it.
I don’t play much PvE at all so I can’t really speak for Dungeon Master. Mostly WvW, World Events, and the occasional PvP. The world bosses are great to do, and offer nice loot. Don’t discount WvW. Sounds like you found a zerg though. If I don’t wanna mess with a zerg I’ll just hang out in my home Borderland (as opposed to the Eternal Battleground) defending and recapturing objectives. Unless there’s an organize guild thing going on or someone gets a breakout going most of the fighting is skirmishes, which is a nice break from the zerg.
If you want to find a guild check the Looking For Guild forums. You can always switch servers if you find a guild that happens to be located not on your server. But a guild is by no means necessary.
I know what you are talking about. Al this new content, I can’t keep up! Its hard, because the content DOESN’T COME BACK! So I miss out on a lot, and that makes me sad. I really reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllly hope they can do something about this, because it is really discouraging for new players
I agree with those who have said that the game doesn’t do a good job explaining itself in-game. It assuredly doesn’t, and I know I only had a sliver of an idea of what I was doing because a friend showed me. I can’t imagine as a new player without that resource that I would have been any less lost than the original poster.
That being said, the OP’s story about crafting does seem to indicate s/he didn’t talk things out with the NPCs fully, or maybe didn’t understand that Rangers are a medium armored class. I’d suggest that the OP take things slowly early on, have full conversations with any NPCs trying to help him/her, and type /wiki in the chat bar any time s/he encounters something s/he doesn’t understand.
As a brand new player, I’d ignore Living Story right now. It’s really geared toward people who have a firm understanding of the game and have done most of the permanent features of the game to death. This Living Story segment is particularly not newbie-friendly. When you get to Level 50 and feel settled in your class and build, then the Living Story might be a more valuable use of your time. But for now, it’s probably not going to teach you anything and, worse, will scare you off the game.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me a forum PM and ill try to help as much as i can
When you talk to a master crafter you have a “what can i craft as an X?” Option. If you ask them that they trll you exactly what you can craft.
The crafting guides on he internet just tell you how to level as fat as possible. This is usually done by older players who already have money to level up their character quickly.
What you found in Divinity’s Reach is the Queen’s Gauntlet i think its called. There are 2 areas here, one where you zerg in groups of 30ish players to mindlessly attack stuff for loot. Yea, im making it sound rather bad, but its the truth. Alot of people seem extremely reward driven in this game.
The second area is a one versus one boss battle, these are made for level 80s, but for the easier ones you only have to pay attention and use common sense to win, really.
If you dont want to mindlessly press 1 or fight challenging bosses, you can still do the ballons you find on the map.
Also: if you hover your mouse over items, it tells you what type they are :O Rangers use medium armor!
Dont worry about missing the living story, we get new stuff every 2 weeks so there will always be more things to do if you at one point decide to do living story. There are still balloons though. If you do 30 balloons you get a wearable balloon :o
Warning: link may contain traces of awesome.
Lyssa’s Grimoire – a guide every Mesmer should read.
I know what you are talking about. Al this new content, I can’t keep up! Its hard, because the content DOESN’T COME BACK! So I miss out on a lot, and that makes me sad. I really reaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaalllllllllly hope they can do something about this, because it is really discouraging for new players
It will come back, at least most of it. They said on a post that several of the living story issues like the Bazaar of the 4 Winds, Super Adventure Box and Queen’s Jubilee will be recurrent events that will come back from time to time, maybe yearly like the halloween and wintersday ones.
wrapped up in some crazy ritualist hoo-ha from Cantha.
A real grab bag of ‘you can’t hurt me. They’re called Guardians.
If you have any questions, feel free to send me a forum PM and ill try to help as much as i can
When you talk to a master crafter you have a “what can i craft as an X?” Option. If you ask them that they trll you exactly what you can craft.
The crafting guides on he internet just tell you how to level as fat as possible. This is usually done by older players who already have money to level up their character quickly.
Also: if you hover your mouse over items, it tells you what type they are :O Rangers use medium armor!
My problem was that I didn’t realize each class of armor had a different skill to manufacture it. I’ve always played that if you smith armor, you have your choice of light, med, or heavy. The leatherworker was tucked away all the way at the end in DR so I kept going back and forth between the ones I could find until I discovered it.
Dont worry about missing the living story, we get new stuff every 2 weeks so there will always be more things to do if you at one point decide to do living story. There are still balloons though. If you do 30 balloons you get a wearable balloon :o
I want that balloon! But I still have tons of areas to discover yet.
Still seems like you have to know what something does before you can make a good decision about what to do with it. Sometimes I’ll find an item that says to double click to consume, go to the wiki and it says the exact same thing. I always bank these things because I’m not sure if I’ll need it at a later point. There is just so much detail in the game, I find myself referring to the wiki every 5 minutes which breaks immersion. Also, a noob like me sometimes finds it hard to decipher what a particular daily achievement requires for me to complete it.
As far as leveling goes, it seems thakittens much faster than I expected. Haven’t completed Kessex yet but I’m almost level 30. I feel like I’m growing up way too fast without the wisdom of the masses.
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
This.
You can also it in-game by just typing /wiki [whatever you want]. It’s quite a useful tool, especially for new players.
You are suffering from a chronic disease called “Did not read”. Take your time and it should go away.
This.
You can also it in-game by just typing /wiki [whatever you want]. It’s quite a useful tool, especially for new players.
Thanks
Best advice if PvE isn’t working then come join us in World vs World, join our ranks. You shall be rewared with epic battle. The feeling of a true player. PvE are for the bunnies. ^.^
Fight for your server be proud of it.Destroy the e vils in the mist, show no mercy!!
All I want is pure destruction!