Guild Wars 2

Hi guys, been a while since i last played. I think my last day in game was the end of “The Living World” season 1 when lion’s arch was destroyed etc.

I have a few questions but firstly, where is everyone? I thought by now lion’s arch would be magically repaired and the usual hub activity would be there, but no… I need my fix of watching all the general chat pvp.

Anyway, onto my questions:

- Season 2, I think i read somewhere on the net that i would be able to purchase/download/re-live season 2 of the living world. Is this possible? Would i receive rewards of any value or is it purely for the story? I don’t really mind either way but would be good to know.

- Legendaries, google tells me there are no new legendaries, is this true? I’m not a big fan of the ones currently available. Well not a big enough fan to engage on a grind.

- “BiS” Gear, i believe now there are much more ascended pieces than the fractal rings. Is a full ascended set now available and possibly farmed from locations outside fractals?

I played thief exclusively from early access up to my departure and I’ll probably start a new toon and enjoy the story/map completion once again. From what i’ve read Ranger has seen quite a few improvements since. However Guardian also looks interesting and possibly more viable in all areas of the game. If anyone could comment on the list below that would be great (i’ve put it together myself from the topics i’ve read over the last hour or so)

Ranger Vs Guardian (Game Areas):

PvE Leveling – Ranger (afk mode)
PvE Farming – Guardian (staff 1111 still?)
PvE Champions – Ranger
PvE Dungeons/Fractals – Guardian

sPvP – Guardian?
tPvP – Guardian
WvW (Organised) – Guardian Tank
WvW (Roaming) – Ranger

Normally i wouldn’t care and would play the class i like the most. However i’ve never been big on alts. I also like the look of both classes so for me its simply a question of whats more viable. I know that can change and i may roll both at some point anyway.

Thanks for reading, any help is greatly appreciated

A lot of people are using the human capital for TP and bank access.

Season 2, I think i read somewhere on the net that i would be able to purchase/download/re-live season 2 of the living world. Is this possible? Would i receive rewards of any value or is it purely for the story? I don’t really mind either way but would be good to know.

You mostly get AP and some titles, but you do get some okay rewards. Is it worth the cost for the rewards? No. If you have zero interest in the story I would not bother buying them.

But having them is pretty nice and they guide you around the new maps to some degree.

Legendaries, google tells me there are no new legendaries, is this true? I’m not a big fan of the ones currently available. Well not a big enough fan to engage on a grind.

The expansion will come with new legendaries, which are account bound on acquire. Also you will be able to make you own precursor when the expansion comes.(Probably will be as expensive and more time consuming)

“BiS” Gear, i believe now there are much more ascended pieces than the fractal rings. Is a full ascended set now available and possibly farmed from locations outside fractals?

Guild Missions, WvW, achievements/collections, some crafted in Mystic Forge, Laurels which you get for logging in.

The ascended armor set can be crafted or you can get lucky and get random boxes which contains one piece. You cannot choose exactly what stat you want.

Welcome back, came back few months ago myself.

Also a lot of people are doing the bosses. Most have a once a day decent reward.

http://dulfy.net/2014/04/23/event-timer/

Also there are megaservers now so the game feels more packed with people.

- Where is everyone
All crammed together in megaservers but Rata Sum is a better crafting/banking hub now than LA, other than lacking the Mystic Forge (which is still in LA but moved to Sanctum Harbor). Also running events on the new maps Dry Top and Silverwastes. If you check your daily PvE options you will often see “Do 4 Events in X Map” and that map is likely to be full of people zerging events.

- Season Two
Story is a big part of it but also you get the ability to unlock luminescent armor, which is the glowing blue version of carapace armor (previewable in your wardrobe at the bank). You can get most of carapace without doing LS, but not all, and some of the pieces you get for free if you finish a chapter (and you can repeat it on two more alts to get the other two weights). Be warned that getting luminescent means completing all the LS achieves as well as grinding Silverwastes a while to get all the mordrem parts you need to collect.

- Legendaries
They have promised some new legendaries with HoT, as well as a guaranteed way to get a precursor via a massive scavenger hunt and crafting mastery line. Which weapons and how much of an effort it will be remains to be seen, but the suggestion is they will first release serious versions of the legendaries that look most silly.

- Ascended Armor and Weapons
Yes, you can craft it. You need to get to 500 in the related discipline and either spend a lot of gold on mats or deal with the time gating on only making one a day of each type. Some people think it’s must-have, others say the % gain is so minimal as to not be needed for anything but high end fractals. Very rarely you can get ascended boxes from which you can choose which item you want (boots/helm/coat/etc or sword/pistol/axe/etc) but only in the stats and color that come with that prefix.

- Ranger v Guardian
Too much personal preference here. I’m pure PvE. I love Guardian and have two of them with willingness to make a third, I’m bored by Ranger and have only one, with whom I just sludged through pushing to 100 skill challenges done just in case Druid looks fun. The reverse will be true of others.

- Speaking of Skill Challenges
A major revamp to traits and skills is looming, and will come before HoT. Anything you spend on unlocking skills and traits right now will be lost when that change comes. You will instead have Hero Points to spend, retroactively rewarded based on your level and how many world skill challenges (the blue map chevrons) you have done. The working figure subject to change is 65 skill challenges + level 80 to have everything unlocked except the Elite Spec, which doesn’t come until HoT. How many more challenges you need for the Elite is unknown. I’m working on the theory that 35 more will be a very good start and if I need more beyond that I can get them later, so I’ve been boosting all my alts to at least 100.

Neoheart.2750:

- Season 2, I think i read somewhere on the net that i would be able to purchase/download/re-live season 2 of the living world. Is this possible? Would i receive rewards of any value or is it purely for the story? I don’t really mind either way but would be good to know.

Yes there’s an upgrade at the Gem Shop called “Living World Season 2 Complete Pack”. It will unlock any season 2 content that you don’t have at a 20% discount of the per chapter cost in the Story Journal on your Hero screen. So 8 LS2 chapters will be 1280 gems rather than 1600 gems.

- Legendaries, google tells me there are no new legendaries, is this true? I’m not a big fan of the ones currently available. Well not a big enough fan to engage on a grind.

Supposedly HoT will add new ones and allow a “simpler” way to get the older ones, one of each per account.

- “BiS” Gear, i believe now there are much more ascended pieces than the fractal rings. Is a full ascended set now available and possibly farmed from locations outside fractals?

Most players craft ascended armor and weapons than hoping for a chest of ascended armor, I think. But since I don’t care about either, since I don’t go into the mist or try to be an ace in WvW, I’m not entirely sure. I simply think it’s not worth my time over Exotic gear.

Having mained a Guardian I would argue that they work well in just about any content with the exception of PvE map clearing: they require a certain set-up for perma swiftness and don’t have a sigil/trait for free movement speed. For Rangers, their pets are still they downfalls. With the exception of the Spotter trait and Spirits, Rangers can be replaced utility wise in a team setting. Solo content they excel well in.

This link from Reddit has a compiled list of URL’s that have been found useful to returning players.