Guild Wars 2

Hi all. I have been checking in on the Dungeon forums and to say the least, its a little depressing. I see a lot of people having some real difficulty just as my group is. What I am also reading is that he dungeons were designed to be difficult especially in explorable mode. I am very much up for a challenge, but for the most part, my group had been less than successful. What I am asking for is help. I want to work at it, get it done and get some awesome gear. So, lets break this down into sections.

1. Instance Name
List the name of the instance, whether its done in story or explorable mode and which path you take if done in explorable mode. Currently, the hot instance seems to be CoF, but I would like to know about any of them.

2. Group Make -Up
My group is currently a thief, guardian, mesmer, elementalist and a wild-card slot for the last space. What classes do you find work the best for whatever instance you are running?

3. Builds
I am all for resetting my traits over and over again if necessary. What builds are you finding work the best for the instance you are running? What skills do you slot? Is it necessary or helpful to purchase some rare-level gear from the trading post?

4. Strategy/Tips
This is where my group and I are still adjusting. Coming from another MMO, one is used to a dedicated tank and healer. Guild Wars 2 is obviously different and I want to know how best to get the job done for any particular instance. I know dodging is key at certain times and I am still playing around with that. What else would help? I get extremely frustrated when I get killed in one shot and so does my group. How is it best to avoid that? Obviously we are doing something wrong and we want to know how to do it right. Information specific to certain bosses and dungeons is also helpful. Videos would be great!

Again, we just want to work at this and get something positive accomplished. I sincerely appreciate any positive/helpful feedback anyone is willing to offer. See you guys in game!

In general, you need to make sure you have at least one, if not two, people running support builds in a dungeon. If everyone is only relying on their own self-heals, you will die quickly. Having at least one person run control (knockdown, daze, immobilize, etc) is also really good because it cuts down on the damage output of the enemies. I love running warrior mace plus sword offhand because that gives me two blocking skills that I can use in addition to my dodging to avoid incoming damage, plus mace allows me to daze.

I’ve also found that unless everyone traits into toughness or vitality at least a little bit, you will be really squishy and die quickly. Have everyone (even DPS) bring a ranged weapon in addition to any melee weapons they might have. Sometimes enemies hit really hard up close, but if you can kite them and shoot them from afar, you can get them down after a while. Make sure you are moving around a lot and using your dodge skills wisely – watch for those big attack animations and save your dodges for that. In some fights it helps to use the environment to get out of line of sight so your enemy can’t hit you. Finally, make sure you are resing each other when you go down, or you’re asking for a wipe.

Good luck!