Guild Wars 2

So here’s the lowdown….. I’m a flight simmer/wargamer who couldn’t tell an MMO from an RPG, but for whatever reason have really fallen for GW2. About 50% of what I read in these forums goes straight over my head, but after several months of playing this game I’ve slowly but surely been getting a hang of things. My question follows:

I’m a level 70 elementalist and primarily use staff. When I hit 80 I’d like to have a decent, all around build so that I can began to explore WvW. How much gold would I need to buy the gear I need to be competitive? I’m talking staff, armor, etc. Can anyone provide me with a list of recommendations? I plan on going to the trading post to buy all the stuff I need rather than crafting it and don’t mind spending real money for gems to turn into gold. My play style is to hang back and drop meteor showers, healing rain, that sort of thing. I know my limitations and over time will try to expand how I play but for right now that’s what I’m most comfortable with. Thanks in advance.

First you should be shure what kind of stats you want for your items. Then just take a look in the TP and search for exotic lvl 80 items for the different places.

There are sometimes for example cheap dropped items or cheap for crafted items that can vary from 1g20s up to 5g+ so the price for a complete set of armor may vary from 7g to 30g.

Trinkets .. if you have already some laurels you could maybe buy an ascended amulett, else i would only buy craftet since the dropped ones miss the jewel upgrade, and that is the most expansive part.

Weapons .. same as armor.

As someone that has lots of experience as an Elementalist in an organized WvW group what I would recommend is to start off with a tanky set of armor (say PVT stats or something similar) and as you get used to running in groups and get better at surviving/ positioning slowly start to swap out some of that armor /trinkets for more damage based gear (Berserker), to where you will eventually be able to survive and be efficient in full Berserker set.

If you want a well rounded set of armor for ele that will do decent in WvW and most of PVE you can’t go wrong with Celestial.

Although all the above is subject to change post 4/15/14 patch.

I pretty much agree completely with what CountzuCrytus said. I’ve personally been using Soldiers (Pvt) armor with Crest of the Soldiers as upgrades with Berserker Jewelry and Staff. It may not be the best way to balance the stats, but it is simple to do and works rather well. I find this balance gives me enough defense and damage for most situations; but I also got Berserker Armor and Knights Jewelry (would prefer Soldiers have yet to get it) to swap into if needed. Celestial is also a very nice set from what I’ve seen.

So I would defiantly recommend getting a set of Soldiers (Pvt) gear to start, maybe with some Knights or Berserkers trinkets.

Excellent! Exactly the sort of advice I was hoping to get. Taking into account that I really am quite clueless about how the whole armor/weapon upgrading works, let’s say I hit level 80 and decide to get a complete set of celestial armor from the trading post. Do I just buy regular armor and upgrade it using items, or do I buy it already upgraded? If I have to upgrade it, what do I buy to do it with? Same thing with my staff….. I want to get a powerful staff, so is there a specific one I should buy or do I just buy a random one and then upgrade it? I’m sure these are stupid questions but honestly, I’ve never played an RPG before, and GW2 has overwhelmed me on more than one occasion, but I keep slogging along figuring that eventually I’ll understand the nuances this game has to offer. Thanks for the help!

All exotic staffs of the same type (i.e. Berserker) have the exact same stats, but the sigil (and after the 15th sigils) make a difference.

Celestial armor and weapons are not sellable, so pick one of the other options. Also consider buying armor with Karma from temples in Orr, if you have extra karma and aren’t going to craft a Legendary in the near future.

Ok…… I guess I haven’t reached the temples in Orr. I’ve got 53,000 karma – will that be enough to buy my armor there?

Chris.8206:

Ok…… I guess I haven’t reached the temples in Orr. I’ve got 53,000 karma – will that be enough to buy my armor there?

one piece yes

Chris.8206:

Ok…… I guess I haven’t reached the temples in Orr. I’ve got 53,000 karma – will that be enough to buy my armor there?

It won’t be enough for a whole set, more like 1 piece. For Berserker and Soldier armor there’re a few ways to go:

- Buy it on the Trading Post (I expect around 5g/piece max)
- Runs dungeons (Ascelonian Catacombs/Citadel of Flame are likely the easiest for those stats)
- Do some WvW and buy the Armor for coins and Badges of Honour. In World v World you get upscaled, so you could do your last 10 levels like that if you’d like. If being upscaled scares you Edge of the Mist is an option, it’s WvW, yes, but it tends to end up being more of a champtrain.

I’d agree with anyone suggesting:
- Invaders/Soldier’s Armor filled with Ruby Orbs (until 15th of April patch)
- Berserker Trinkets filled with Exquisite Ruby Jewels
- Berserker Staff (Preferably 1x Bloodlust, 1x Force/Energy/Hydromancy, depending on your preference, I’d recommend Force if you intend to PvE aswell.)

One piece? Seriously? Lol….. I have almost 200 hundred hours in the game and have honestly loved every second of it, and I play it just to have fun, not to farm for gold or anything like that. Having said that, it is a little disappointing that after all that time I only have 11 gold to show for it. I collect everything I can and deposit it the bank, and have dabbled in crafting but it’s kind of confusing and I don’t really see the point in it. I just want to be able to go into WvW with some decent gear which is why I’ll probably just spend real money for gems to turn into gold.

Thank you everyone for your help – I think this forum is one of the better ones I’ve been on and it reflects the players I’ve met while exploring. Can’t count the number of times people much better than myself have helped me out of sticky situations or helped me to achieve a skill point or complete an event. What a cool game and a fun place to hang out! And I couldn’t figure out what the hell was going on with my character today but then read that they do weird stuff on April 1st. Too kitten funny!

Chris.8206:

One piece? Seriously? Lol….. I have almost 200 hundred hours in the game and have honestly loved every second of it, and I play it just to have fun, not to farm for gold or anything like that. Having said that, it is a little disappointing that after all that time I only have 11 gold to show for it. I collect everything I can and deposit it the bank, and have dabbled in crafting but it’s kind of confusing and I don’t really see the point in it. I just want to be able to go into WvW with some decent gear which is why I’ll probably just spend real money for gems to turn into gold.

If you aren’t going to be doing crafting, sell those crafting materials you’ve been collecting in your bank. Crafting is mostly pointless unless you want to make ascended gear, in which case it is mandatory.

For some easy gold, do map clearing on the highest level maps (anything that is level 70+). You’ll get some exotic gear you can sell and a chunk of crafting materials to sell as well. Map clearing is where you get every Renown Heart, Vista, Point of Interest, Skill Point, and Waypoint on the map.

One last question: Do I need ascended gear in order to survive in WvW? And by surviving I guess I mean will I be able to contribute without always having to fear for my life?

You don’t need Ascended gear. It is nice to have but truthfully the majority of players is not in Ascended Gear at this time. And, as stated before, at this time getting anything except jewellery is not possible without crafting. (And a lot of it.)

Chris.8206:

One last question: Do I need ascended gear in order to survive in WvW? And by surviving I guess I mean will I be able to contribute without always having to fear for my life?

People who do the maths generally state full Ascended is a 5% increase in Defense and Damage. As a min-maxer I wouldn’t say 5% won’t matter, but it’s far from needed. I personally feel fine in Exotic, damage and survivability-wise.

Exotic is fine for WvW, although supplementing with exotic trinkets is helpful. In fact there is no reason not to do a bit of WvW now, as you will be levelled up and not be at a huge disadvantage. Skill counts for more than gear, so start with getting experience as soon as you can. Also remember to laugh maniacally when you drop a meteor shower on opposing troops besieging your tower.

Chris.8206:

One piece? Seriously? Lol….. I have almost 200 hundred hours in the game and have honestly loved every second of it, and I play it just to have fun, not to farm for gold or anything like that. Having said that, it is a little disappointing that after all that time I only have 11 gold to show for it. I collect everything I can and deposit it the bank, and have dabbled in crafting but it’s kind of confusing and I don’t really see the point in it. I just want to be able to go into WvW with some decent gear which is why I’ll probably just spend real money for gems to turn into gold.

11g wouldn’t get you knight’s or zerker, but you might be able to get get Valkryie or Assassin’s at buy order. But TBH — Cleric’s isn’t ever a great choice, but it would be an OK starter set for WvW, and Cleric’s exalted (exotic) armor is cheap (50s-1g — offer between buy & sell, closer to the buy offer, and wait for it to fill). I’d just buy a set of Cleric’s, and a Berserker staff (3-3.5g), and set my traits to offensive. I think the total here should be a little under 8g.

You could get rare trinkets (there’s not yet ascended jewel crafting, so exotics aren’t cheap) for 50-80s each. I guess this brings the total to about 10g.

I’d probably suggest Superior Sigil of Accuracy now (~50s) and Superior Sigil of Force after the 15th (3-3.5g), unless you can afford it now. You can get some sub-optimal but cheap superior runes — balthazar, rage, pack, pirate, thief, wurm, or undead — none of these are great, but they’d give some bonuses and you wouldn’t feel bad about overwriting them later. Some of them would put you a little over the 11g number, but you could probably raise some money by selling crafting materials.

You can buy cheap consumables to use (if you’re not already), which also have the nice benefit of giving additional experience from kills.

Esmee.1067:

Chris.8206:

One last question: Do I need ascended gear in order to survive in WvW? And by surviving I guess I mean will I be able to contribute without always having to fear for my life?

People who do the maths generally state full Ascended is a 5% increase in Defense and Damage. As a min-maxer I wouldn’t say 5% won’t matter, but it’s far from needed. I personally feel fine in Exotic, damage and survivability-wise.

Full ascended is substantially more than 5% for direct damage builds. It’s only 5% for condition builds, since condition doesn’t compound the way that power-precision-{critical_damage|ferocity} do. The update from critical damage to ferocity will change the math, but direct damage builds will still gain more from ascended.

That said — I agree that ascended isn’t needed except 1v1, and if you’re starting with 11g you should focus on value rather than min/maxing. :-)

I am using a mixture of valkyrie and rampager exotic armor with a full set of pirate runes in wvw. I got the pirate runes because they were cheap and I kept them because I like how they work. The tropical bird is a killer. My build is a “written in stone” signet build, which I use because I am too often alone. Check youtube and google for builds.

For gold, hit resource nodes as you pass them and sell the materials on the trading post, salvage stuff you don’t intend to use and sell on trading post. Do the world bosses to get ectos, at least the SB and frozen maw.

Don’t let the worry over getting killed stop you from playing aggressively. Destroying siege is one of your primary rolls and often feels like suicide bombing.

If you do crafting, tailoring and artificing are good for ele’s. Using found and salvaged mats, you can sell things on the trading post for pretty decent gold.

Ascended items are dropping in wvw now. I got a druids ring yesterday. Daily’s and monthlys are easy to get in wvw so you will be collecting laurels you can use to get your ascended items.