Guild Wars 2

Hey Everyone – I am getting back into Guild Wars 2 after a long break and as much as I love the game, I have come to the conclusion that I simply suck at MMOs.

I have always been a console gamer and therefore have never been good at PC games….Therefore, I am absolutely terrible at managing all of the key bindings available in this game. I got a mesmer all the way to 80 a while back and played a lot of PvP and PvE and now that I’m back, I’m playing Thief…So I feel relatively experienced, but I have always felt like a sub-par player just going through the motions. I am good at the basics, such as circle strafing, kiting, etc. But in terms of making the quick decision of executing a daze, or dodge at the correct moment, I don’t feel skilled at all. I feel like I am just spamming all my abilities as they come off cool-down.

I guess my question doesn’t really have a point so far, so I guess in your opinion, when did you really start getting the hang of the game? When did you take the step from becoming an average player to a “skilled” player and what helped you get to that point?

My first PC game was Unreal tournament on my uncles computer, I got really good at it and eventually got on his level of participating in local tournaments at game shops and such and at dragon con when it would come time for them to pass through our major city, (Atlanta). After that I got my first lap top some years later and continued gaming on it, mainly warhammer 40k (cant recall the sub name of it.) Then I went to never winter nights 2 and played it for a while and got used to playing it.

I too have always been a console player but mostly cause I have never been able to afford my own PC in which I got a new gaming PC a while back to play Final Fantasy XIV A realm Reborn, where as I have been playing it on PS4. Ever since I made the switch to PC i can honestly never go back to console gaming lol.

I guess to answer your question, it just takes time to build up your awareness and such.

When i started Final Fantasy XIV, my awareness was soooo bad and reaction time was hella slow. But eventually as i built up the determination to improve and begin to clear content and raids and such in that game my “raid” awareness spiked and am able to play my role very sufficiently.

It may also help you to just play around with your keys and such and get a feel for your keyboard, and where what is. (I play with a Razer Naga mouse, and Razer black widow keyboard which with the num pad on the side of the mouse its hella easy to use your abilities.)

But when I first started up the game and I began playing I pressed each key and found what was where and what did what with the exception of knowing the movement keys. You will get there no worries just remain persistent and keep pushing forward and learn as you progress. Its really easy once you get the grasp of it. ^^

Practice Practice Practice. If you want to work on dodging and interrupting find some NPCs with a big tell like Ettins and start there.

There used to be a Daily Dodger achievement, which I used to do with the Ettins. I’m pretty sure it helped somewhat, but sometimes when you need to make that split second decision you just can’t pull it off. And believe me that’s not exclusive to you. The only thing that’ll fix this is practice. Pay attention to the skills of your opponents and what their animations look like. The next step is learning what’s worth dodging/interrupting.

As far as keybinds go you need neither a gaming mouse or keyboard. Just experiment until you find a keybind scheme that’s right for you. There are plenty of threads on the topic here and guides elsewhere.

Pooter.5047:

I guess my question doesn’t really have a point so far, so I guess in your opinion, when did you really start getting the hang of the game? When did you take the step from becoming an average player to a “skilled” player and what helped you get to that point?

I’ve been playing MMO’s for a decade at this point but I would only have considered myself skilled from 2012. Back then I was playing Mabinogi EU , It used a combat system sorta similar to GW2 avoid damage rather than tank usually. Anyway I was part of one of the top guilds and I got carried to the top 100 but I was an awful player, I couldn’t dodge correctly, My skill rotations were poor, my paying attention and general observation were also quite bad it was a source of frustration for my guildies occasionally for high end content. The only reason I was even able to play as I was , was due to the ability to become extremely statistically overpowered.

Que Mabi EU shutting down without warning, I move over to Mabi NA, I’m back at square one no gear, no overpowered stats, but I now have the expectation to be able to do the equivalent of fractal 50 from the start. So I throw myself at it I WILL beat this I know I can. In the process I started to improve I paid more attention to what was going on around me in game and learned to respond appropriately. I put effort in it was no longer “ice blast every-things dead in one hit” it was enemy 1 attack incoming 0.7 seconds , second strike from enemy 2 in 1.6 seconds block first , stun second enemy, third incoming, skill on cool-down attack stun and reposition.

The exact moment I’d consider myself skilled was about a week into Mabi NA, I was total level about 85 and a level 1500 challenged me to a duel, a single hit would have killed me, but I paid attention like a hawk I blocked or interrupted every attack all while knocking him backwards (only dealing 1 damage) until he was out of the ring and lost due to ring out. The feeling of satisfaction from that was what drove me to keep improving. It is also the one and only pvp match on NA on my character to this day. Sorry for rambling but I’ve wanted to tell that story for ages and this gave me a chance as for advice:

TL/DR and advice:
1. Pay attention to your surroundings and your opponent. This seems obvious but recent content has shown people are not paying attention. Is the boss raising his arms or drawing back their sword? then they are likely about to do an attack which you should dodge or block. Similarly don’t back yourself into a corner unnecessarily.

2. Don’t waste a dodge and time your dodges correctly. If you can walk out of a red circle before the attack hits do so. Don’t double dodge to fill the time between the circle and attack. This is something you generally learn from experience, E.G I know to count to 3 in my head before dodging for subject alpha in COE.

3. Always read any buff you don’t recognize on a boss’s health bar, it usually clues you into mechanics. Similarly read the small text that appear as you may have to change tactics I.E “immune to blind” on dredge or “weak to condition damage” for husks.

4. Be mechanic Savvy. Red is generally bad, White is generally good. Does something seem to be regenerating too fast or your damage seem exceedingly low? Maybe there is a buff or mechanic you haven’t noticed yet. If brute force is failing some thinking may be required.

5. Settings: make sure your mouse sensitivity and other settings are to your liking. I have 7 and 8 bound to Q and E as it is faster than reaching over, I have double tap to dodge enabled except for when I’m doing a jp to avoid accidents. For tough fights I may have to lower settings to get a higher frame-rate or avoid the chance of lag.

6. Practice: Some things you will only pick up with practice, knowing if a non aoe attack is in range without looking down at your skill bar. Knowing if you can make a jump, recognizing attack patterns and your general reaction response.

7. Challenge yourself: If you sit in queens-dale all day you won’t improve, try a fractal or a high fractal if you already do fractals, Pvp with a new class, run a dungeon with less than the required amount of players. If you get your kitten handed to you so be it but you will improve more doing that if you learn from it, than you will from 1000 hours face-rolling easy content. Do you suck at jumping puzzles? Don’t automatically run away from them try to complete them even if you think you can’t.

https://www.youtube.com/user/DeniedGamingz
great pvp guides here.

i find watching streamers and youtubers who are really good to be extremely helpful, both for the class you play and the ones you don’t. when i learnt to play engineer i watched and read everything i could about the class then took a build from a streamer i liked into ‘hotjoin’ (practice now). i played hotjoin focusing on mastering the build and it’s combos, not trying to win the game but just trying to play better. currently i enjoy watching tournaments to learn about how classes and builds operate in a team setting, so i can play with and against them more effectively.

knowledge is power, once you know what you must do then all it takes is learning to execute. if i were you i would watch the thief sword dagger (a very evasive build with solid damage) video denied made and just play it in hotjoin until you are able to kill and survive effectively. focusing on one class is ideal as you can get really good at it, then when you say make a warrior in a months time not only will you know the mechanics of the game but you will know exactly how thieves work and will be able to fight them well.

a final tip is to use the Barbarian amulet instead of the Berserker if you are having trouble at the start, as it gives you more room for mistakes.