Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone,

Im extremely new to guild wars 2, and id first like to say that i love it! Although right now, im finding it hard to play the game. I read through the “tips for beginners” forum post, and it helped a lot, but id still like to know more!

Thing id like to know so far – Are all of the servers pretty popular, because i haven’t seen that many people, but i joined a realm just under the highest packed ones. Also, what should i go for as a beginner? XP, armor, skill points etc?

Itd also be great if beginners and experienced players could post their troubles and tips throughout this post!

Thank you very much,
Hentendo.

You get xp, armor and skill points by doing map completion. That’s the first thing I’d recommend – explore your starter zone. you’ll go up a few levels, get skill pts from leveling and from the map, you’ll get armor from drops or karma vendors after you complete their heart quests…

Another tip is to buy harvesting tools as soon as you have some copper on you since harvesting will give you more xp and you can use the materials to start crafting, if you’re interested in that.

Also, complete your story missions for more xp (you get lots from those). After completing your starter zone and doing your story missions, if you still need to go up a few levels before you can move up to the next level zones then I suggest exploring another race’s starter area. You can get to them from Lion’s Arch. To get to LA, go through Heart of the Mists (click on the pvp icon at the top of the screen) – there is an asura gate there that will take you to LA, which has more asura gates to take you to the other cities and starter zones.

Pretty much everything rozcinana said, with the addition of getting 100% completion in the big cities. There’s quite a bit of experience in those cities just for running around.

Do you get xp from exploring the cities? Why am I remembering receiving 3 transmutation stones as my only reward… :/

You get a little experience for each waypoint, poi, etc. Plus a little chunk when you 100%. I haven’t done math or anything, but I think you could at least level once or so just from running around a city. So if you do it for each one that’s potentially 6 levels?

Something like that.

Oh right, I overlooked the xp you get per WP/POI/etc. but my final rewards for 100% were 3 transmutation stones, and that was it!

I found that 100% completing all the zones I go through keeps it interesting and lets you explore. Don’t forget to go to all the Points of Interest, Vistas, and Waypoints on the map. When you complete the zone 100% you get a nice chunk of experience and a chest full of random goodies

Every little thing you do gives you EXP – it’s designed to encourage you to go out into those green and blue smudges on your minimap and explore places you’ve never been to before.

Apart from what rozcinana said, I’d also encourage you to learn to use the dodge key (I think it defaults on c and v). Try attacking something that hits you from range like a centaur archer and then dodge projectiles, or something that has a huge windup that you can see like the centaur trampler that knocks you down – those are the easiest to learn on. This will prepare you for encounters later on when things will kill you in one or two hits if you don’t dodge.

Also, buy a Crude Salvage Kit when you’re next at a merchant. A salvage kit basically breaks down armour and weapons you don’t need into raw materials. You should be salvaging everything you can’t use/don’t need up until at least level 20. This is because some of the raw materials you get in return can sell for more on the Trading Post (default key o) than if you sold the armour back to the vendor. This is especially true for light armour (acolyte ____ or country _), which gives you jute scraps when you salvage them.

as for population density, the list of servers tells you how many players are in that server. You won’t see many players running around on a lot of the map, but there are many areas where there will be a lot of players. places like right in front of dungeons, meta events, dragon battles, Lion’s Arch, level 75+ areas. There will still be people wandering around looking to explore or gain levels. just ask in /map chat if anyone wants to team up to clear the zone you’re in.