Guild Wars 2

I grew up playing Dungeons and Dragons before there were home computers so I’m dating myself a bit. Anyway I’ve always been into playing these types of games and since MMOs came about I have tried most of them but always run into the same problem.

I am terrible at close combat in groups. I do fine solo when I’m battling just a few mobs but throw in 4 or more and I get lost. Or in group battles I get lost, turned around and so forth. Given this, in just about any game I always end up gravitating towards ranged attack builds. This gets a bit old as I would like to get into playing close combat.

Since I’m new to GW2 here is an example. During the task to escort that pack mule to another village minoturs charge in group. I’m trying to play a guardian with a great sword. I end up just jumping into the middle of the mobs, mashing a bunch of buttons because I can’t tell what is going on, and run out when health gets low. I understand that jumping into the middle is the point and that is my goal. However if mobs start running around or there is a big crowd I get totally lost and end up staring at the side of a pack mule, haha.

I’ve tried changing the zoom to different settings and I still just end up mashing keys while turning in circles. I know the obvious answer is to give up because I’m too old get it or to stick to ranged attacks. However, I would like to try some other builds aside from ranged and, if after laughing at me, anyone might have so tips that would help me avoid “jump, 2, freak, f3,g,3,f14,spacebar,f2,5,j,spin in circles, 2,heal,l,f2run,jump,2…etc” I would appreciate it.

So far I like GW2, only on day 4 of playing, I just want to get away from ranged weapons.

Well, I do not feel so alone now. I have the same problems with buttons so basically I just use the four arrow buttons on my computer a reprogrammed Right Control button and my mouse to select weapon attacks. I must be doing something right as I have reached Level 80 as a Ranger with a big sword and big longbow.

No not very inventive or skilled just dogged. Which is another reason to play as a Ranger (the middle type whatever that is called) since I have a pet and I have noticed that they seem to attract a lot of enemy activity that is then NOT directed at me. Of course I do have to change pets in melees. For ground action I tend to use the sword but have found that for most of the aerial activity the bow is best and BEFORE closing with to sword range I try to get an arrow barrage and and that 10 shot fast firing arrow set on the way..

Hope that helps some.

In large group events, there’s usually so many spell-effects firing off it’s virtually impossible to see what’s going on (and thus be able to time your skills/dodges). In times like this, even my melee-oriented characters switch to a ranged weapon. You don’t have to build around the ranged weapon since you’re essentially just “farming” events when they get this big.

You really need to “prepare” before jumping into melee by knowing what the enemies will do to you once you’re in their face, and by knowing when to get OUT of melee.

Also NO character will last very long in melee against damaging foes without help from boons like protection or retailiation, or allies’ healing. It’s designed this way because this game is against the “tank” part of the trinity. (Unlike the perma-shadow form Assassin or 55-hp Monk in GW1.) There’s also foes that are designed to NOT be melee’d continuously (Most Champions, Veteran risen preserver, Flame Legion Igniter, etc) so you’re best off being ranged against them.

EDIT: A rule-of-thumb is you can more easily melee enemies that look like they’re ranged fighters (archers, riflemen, anything else that always shoots), but be careful if you melee enemies that look like they’re melee (the big sword or hammer is a giveaway).

If you’re running solo you usually want to jump in, get a burst off with your melee, and then kite (run around in circles or walk backwards) with ranged weapons while your heals or melee burst recharges. For guardian, my solo melee burst with greatsword is 5-5-4-3-2 (pull, retaliation, blind, damage) with a shout or virtue thrown in there depending on situation. Against weak mobs it works quite well, but again you have to know what’s too strong for you to engage.

Hey!! Don’t give up, I promise you’ll get the hang of it.

Suggestion 1: I would suggest taking the very measured approach of really learning your skills 1 at a time. I played elementalist to start (which have a very frenetic pace), and started grouping my skills into a “when to use.” I had in my mind – heal skills, single-target damage skills, group-hitting skills (whirls and aoes), crowd-controls (for when there are too many enemies around you), and leaps/displacement (to get in or out). This was part of the process of learning what situations to use skills, and what situations to just auto-attack.

Suggestion 2: dodge-roll and strafing are huge in this game. Practice against solo mobs watching their animation and timing your evade. At first, I didn’t evade at all. Then in the learning process, I evaded too much. Now I am probably more on the latter side of the spectrum, but its all a process. Fights have a flow and you start to pick up on the cues to tap your evade button.

Suggestion 3: Keybinding. I use “A” for strafe left, and “D” for strafe right. I use mouse for turning. I use “E” for evade (convenient b/c its next to ASDW). I put my utilities on RFVG, with regular attack skills on 12345. “Tab” is my next target. This cut down on my hand displacement a ton and makes it much easier to locate the keys automatically. Look at how your hand sits on your keyboard and pick keys that feel comfortable to you. Also, I am almost always holding down my right-mouse button to move the camera, only letting go to quickly select individual targets.

Suggestion 4: Use youtube and try to find someone who provides a playstyle commentary for your class so you can understand what they are doing. It might be a bit over your head, but take bits and pieces and try to implement them.

If you are getting lost/disoriented you might want to check your minimap rotation setting. It can be set to either rotate with your character or not(in which case it shows a cone representing your character’s field of view). One or the other might work better for you(too bad BOTH is no longer an option >_<).

If you don’t already, hold down your right mouse button whilst in close combat, this will ensure that your camera is always pointing the way you are facing and remember that your character is basically always in the center of your screen – so now you know roughly where you are stood and exactly which way you are facing.
Also, your abilities will have a red line underneath the icon if you are either out of range, or not facing your opponent – a good indicator of whether you will hit something or not.
Watch your auto attack (number 1) – if it is progressing through by itself, you are hitting your target, if it stops, you aren’t.

As someone previously mentioned, sometimes there is so much going on that you just will not be able to see yourself, but i find knowing where my guy will roughly be and which way i am facing allows me to hack away contently.

Hope those things help

I would say rebind your keys, changing A and D to strafe rather than turn will help especially if you have played any fps game.

Also the standard key layout is bad you may want to put your 1 auto attack on E you can put weapon switching on R and a skill on shift etc. find keys close to your WASD positions for the things you use the most, once you get used to them it will be one less thing to think about when fighting.

Also the guardian has some pretty nice melee combos that work on all the mobs around you basically aoe type melee attacks that don’t matter too much if you have the enemy lined up just that you’re close to them.

Thanks all for the great suggestions. I was starting to think I should have just stuck with Ultima Online haha. You all gave me loads of good tips. I think part of my problem with mele is that I get too excited and just want to jump into the thick of things without having a real plan and not planning combo sequences. Then I get totally disoriented, start mashing number keys without any idea which ones I’m pressing.

I’ve never practiced with strafing and didn’t really think to work on changing key binds. I going to set those up and spend some time in a low level area getting some practice.

One thing I have found great about GW2 so far is that people actually play together and are helpful as opposed to other MMOs. In many games people seem to almost be paranoid of each other, fighting over resources, and basically unwilling to give advice.