Guild Wars 2

WHERE AM I? WHAT AM I DOING HERE? WHO AM I? WHO ARE YOU? GET OFF MY LAWN!

Hey guys,

Recently returned to the game and am slowly getting into it…very slowly, but I’m completely lost. I started my level 18 elementalist again and it seems I’m running around with level 10 equipment on. I’ve realized how squishy I am so I’m working on getting my kiting down so I don’t die.

I’m wondering where I can get equipment that is more suitable for a level 18. I see that quest givers become merchants once you complete their quests and it costs those little purple triangles, is that PvE gear, or PvP, because I’m not sure. Also what weapons are good for leveling an elementalist? I’m dagger/dagger right now.

I’m hoping to get into the game a little more but as of right now I’m kinda just going quest to quest and hoping I find something useful. Any help at all, in any aspect of the game, would be greatly appreciated.

I tried starting a new char to get back into the flow of things, but I’m not really enjoying Necro, so as I said, I’m "Blah"ing my way through my elementalist.

Edit: Also, how does the LFG work in GW2? Does it port you to a dungeon?

Personally, I’d say the best way to get equipment is just to keep adventuring as normal. Whatever you can’t use and don’t want to salvage, sell on the TP to earn some money in case you’re really unlucky and haven’t found an upgrade for 10 levels or so, and therefore need to buy something from the TP.

Heart NPCs can be a good source for weapons and armor if you’re completing hearts at-level. If you’re a higher level than the heart quests, the gear they provide probably won’t be as good. The “purple triangles” are karma, which you earn by doing events and heart quests. It’s mostly used to buy things in PVE, but you can also get a few things in WVW with it. PVE and PVP gear are no longer separate, so anything you have on you will be converted into PVP gear when you enter the Mists. PVP gear has no attribute values and always provides the defense of level 80 exotic gear for your armor type, so you can PVP whenever you want, as long as you have the weapons you intend to use. You also get a separate PVP build, which has pretty much everything unlocked for you as though you were a level 80 character, so you can choose any skill or trait your class has access to, and use it in PVP however you like. Your PVE abilities won’t change, however, so when you go back you’ll still have to unlock skills and traits.

For my elementalist, I used the staff. Dagger/dagger can be fun, but I don’t like how it puts me in harm’s way. Staff, on the other hand, has exceptional healing and support abilities with the water attunement, good CC with earth and air, and extremely good damage with fire attunement. Fireball alone might not seem like much, but Lava Font puts out a ton of damage if you position the enemy right, the 3 skill provides a nice burn, Burning Retreat can cause a lot of damage if you use it against a wall, and Meteor Shower works wonders against large enemies or groups.

Finally, if you don’t like the necromancer or elementalist, try something else! There are 8 classes, and surely at least one of them will cater to your preferred playstyle. I firmly believe that there’s something for everyone in GW2, so see what’s out there and don’t be afraid to experiment. (And don’t delete old characters either, you might find that you enjoy other classes more after learning more about the basic mechanics of the game.)

A good way to get some initial gear is to fight the four low-level world bosses, namely shadow behemoth, fire elemental, jungle wurm and frozen maw. Participate in the whole chain of dynamic events for those bosses, so you can also earn experience and karma(purple triangle you were mentioning).

In the meantime, you can try to look up some leveling build on websites to start with. After getting a bit more comfortable, you can then start experimenting things yourself.
Also, don’t be afraid of joining PvP and WvW as well. They provide something different from regular PvE content and could be more attractive to you. They also give you similar amount of loot compared to PvE.