Guild Wars 2

I’ve just recently finished my Personal Story, and defeated Zhaitan. The first thing I’ve decided to do now that I’m done with the story and I’ve hit level 80, is to go out and get the 100% map completion.

I’m currently at 45% although it’s fairly monotonous. I was just wondering if you guys had any tips which could improve the experience for me, or at least help to get it done as quickly as possible. I.e. Is there certain things I should buy before this? I was thinking of perhaps investing some money in Magic Find food, just so that I’m at least making money while I’m exploring, although I couldn’t find any on the TP at all which was strange. It was just full of alcohol when I searched for “Consumables>food”.

What do you guys suggest?

Thanks.

Well the highest level MF food are Omnomberry Bars and right below that is Raspberry Peach Bars. There are others but these 2 have high MF and also increases the amount of gold that drops from monsters. Either way having MF doesn’t improve the amount of drops you have but the chance for higher quality items go up, you still get plenty of whites, blues, greens, and very rarely yellow. So you still make a profit with or without it.

Don’t bother rushing the map completion if you’re finding it too monotonous, unless you are planning to make a Legendary. The reward for map completion is coins, exp, a title, a star next to your name, and 2 Gifts of Exploration. Those gifts are only for a legendary and you can’t sell them to other people so you can use them, let it sit in your bank, or vendor it.

A good way to break the monotony is to find an exploring buddy. Whether in guild or just through map chats.

1. Don’t stress it. Take it in your own phase and if you feel like you’re getting bored do something else for a while.

2. Always complete a zone before moving to the next one, you don’t want to be stuc with 3 POIs one WP and a Vista and not knowing where to look.

3. If you only want to clear it as soon as possible make sure you have alot of speedboosts. Some builds are able to maintain swiftnes for as long as they wish which will be quite helpfull.

4. As for how money goes, ask someone else. I feel that if you only play the game, almost wherever you are you will make enough profit and almost allways have enough money to get what you need.

Personal suggestion? Give yourself enough time to do any other, non map completion events in a given area before moving on. Meta events (or just any interesting DE’s), jumping puzzles, mini-dungeons if you have people you can work with, etc. Just going to an area and doing nothing but the bare minimum to get 100% is probably going to feel like a chore, so don’t let yourself get trapped into the “get it over with” thinking. Obviously it’s up to you whether any of the extra content is worth it or just another waste of time, but give yourself the chance to check it all out if you can.

Also, personally I wouldn’t worry as much about the money/farming aspect of it, at least not if it takes a major investment to set up. If you can get what you need without too much trouble then hey, why not? But otherwise optimized farming in Orr or the like is probably more efficient.

I would say check in wvw every once in a while as those 4 maps were the hardest to complete for me plus it gives you time off from the normal map completion.

Also you should do the jumping puzzles while you’re in a normal map completion as those also break the monotonous experiences.

I’ve completed map completion twice and am almost done for the third one. My advice is to be systematic with how you complete the map and don’t just jump all over the place.

I normally work on the outer edge of the map and then circle around before finally clearing the center. I occasionally run around just getting vistas, poi’s, waypoints, and revealing the map before doing the quests and skill points. This changes things up a bit. I’ve played RPG’s for years so it takes a lot before monotony bothers me.

Thanks for the replies guys, that’s a great help.

One thing I’ve been concerned about is the fact that if I’m going for 100% map completion, then chances are I’m not going to be focusing on much else until that’s done. Now, considering I don’t know how long it’s going to take, I don’t want to feel as though I’m lagging behind everybody else in terms of getting things done.

For example, by the time I’ve gotten to 100% map completion it might be ages away, and I just don’t want to be having to catch up with everybody else because I’ve been focusing on map completion instead of other things.

I’ve not even tried WvW whatsoever yet. I was leaving this until I hit 80, although seeing as I’m now 80 I’ve still not tried it as I’m working on the map completion.

I would like to be able to try out WvW whilst doing the map completion, although seeing as I’ve never tried it out before, I’m assuming that I’ll have to change my build/gear etc for it? I just don’t want to go into WvW using my PvE build that’s all. Is there such thing as dual builds in GW2?

There’s relatively very little to do at level 80 at the moment so I wouldn’t worry about it too much. WvW isn’t going anywhere either. Just do what you want and have fun.

As everyone’s stated, having fun is key. Even if your main goal is 100% completion, let yourself do dungeons, meta events, and participate in other diversions as well.

One thing that I liked doing was not completing zones in order by level range. If you just did completion for a high level map, jump into a low level map to give yourself a break, and vice versa. It is also fun to vary the types of zones (e.g. jump from Ascalon to the Maguuma Jungle) so that you’re not continually fighting the same creatures, which tend to be regional.

I’d prioritize WvW over map completion, all else being equal (i.e. if your server is way behind in your WvW matchup then it won’t be much fun so you might want to wait).

Part of it is that WvW maps count for map completion, so the sooner you get comfortable there the better. Part of it is that WvW kills are part of the monthly achievement; you can finish exploring at any time, but you’ve only got 2 more weeks to get the monthly in if you have any desire to do so (and for 45000+ karma, why not?).

I think any build that can survive in Orr is probably viable enough in WvW if you’re not alone. You won’t be the best but you’ll be good enough for getting your feet wet. And the more you play, the better you’ll be able to figure out where your weaknesses are and what you’ll want to change.

But yes, above all have fun. Don’t rush through something and miss what you might end up enjoying the most.

I’ll say this though: map completion, other than perhaps getting hung up in WvW, shouldn’t end up taking you too long. If you’re good at playing the way you’re built now then the lower level zones aren’t challenging. There are only a handful of points that are difficult to get to or find, and most renown hearts are easy to grind through in one way or another without taking much time.

You’ll also have to go into the 4 WvWvW maps to get 100% world completion. So take this time to test it out as you work on those maps. If you want to use different armor you’ll have to have them in your bag and manually switch each piece. I’d try out WvWvW before investing in an entire set of gear though just to see if you even like it.

I was planning to also make a PvE and PvP set but I find myself not a large fan of WvWvW so I stick with just my regular gear and go in just for my monthly kills as I join zergs.

If the date of completion isn’t a big deal, then try this: Each day complete 1 zone. Just 1. Then continue playing as you normally would (dungeons, PvP, Orr farming, whatever). Next day, pick another zone, 100% it, then move on. Rinse repeat reward without the monotonous burnout.

The other piece of advice I have was mentioned before but defintitely bears repeating. Check in on WvW maps often. Some parts of the map may be under enemy control for a week or 2. Be patient, cap what you can, come back later when your server controls it. And waypoints are free there so it should be fairly quick. Run naked there if you just want to cap & avoid fighting. If you get caught by the zerg better to save on repair bills.

Getting WvW out of the way at opportune times simply cannot be emphasized enough, so I’ll repeat that advice.

Other than that, I have one more suggestion: never be intimidated by the amount you have left. At all. This is easy, nothing like, say, the original Loremaster achievement in WoW. Every single point you need is labeled for you, and there’s really not that much content. Enjoy it, because it’s over before you know it.

Oh, and do the jumping puzzles and diving achievements as you run into them. It saves you a lot of running around later.

Oh, forgot to mention this earlier. If you care about the explorer achievements (e.g. “Orr explorer” etc.) then be very thorough when you’re 100%ing each area. I can’t tell you how tedious it is to go through each map one by one and compare it to, say, the wiki comparing names of places you’ve unlocked to find what you’re still missing. There are named areas that have no POI’s etc. so you can 100% an area without totally unfogging it.