Guild Wars 2

Hello! So I bought a new PC last month and needed some games to play on it. So yeah I bought GW2. However this is my first MMO… Yeah… So basically is there anything I should know? I have a level 13 Charr Warrior, no other characters yet. I have no idea what most of the acronyms mean, in fact when I first joined I was worried I’de chose a non-English server as there where people speaking in pure acronyms… Anyway! Any advice would be appreciated.

Look up said acronyms.

Know that GW2 isnt ur average MMO.

There are no ‘raids’, there is no ‘gear/stat grinding’ at end game, their is little in the way of character skill customization.

Bassicaly its a simplified version of a MMO, its actually been done to try and be different not to be simpler though. So there is no ‘holy trinity’ ..this means ..no dedicated ‘tank’ class ..or ‘DD/DPS’ class ..or ‘healer’ class.
DD = damage dealer or direct damage
DPS = damage per second.

Also there is no glabal chat channel, or LFG tool.
LFG = looking for group
So u may feel lonely or that there aint many people playing somtimes. Know that there r loads ..its just a PITA to communicate with people outside of a guild atm.

PITA= pain in the A*S
ATM = at the moment.

Welcome to the game! You picked a good one for your first MMO.

Acronym wise, there are a few you should know:
LFG = Looking for Group.
LFM = Looking for More. You often see this written with a number (LF3M = Looking for 3 More)

For open world content, you don’t need to be in a group. Groups are needed for instanced content (Dungeons.) You’ll get to those later (after level 30.)

The game has several methods to chat:
/map will chat with everyone on the same map as you
/say will be visible only to the people near you
/guild will chat with your guild
/whisper insert name here will whisper a specific person. You can also right click on a person’s name and select to whisper them.

Best advice I give new players: Ask for help, the community tends to be very supportive and the game encourages teamwork. Speak up, and don’t be shy about looking like a noob or rookie, it’s better for your group (once you get to dungeons) that they know you need advice and can help teach you than that you stay silent and struggle.

GL and welcome to Tyria!

Thanks! =D

What should I actually be doing? At the moment I’ve just been going around discovering stuff (vistas, points of interest) and doing the mini help quest things, with the odd story mission every so often. I don’t think I should join a guild until I am a high level, or maybe never join one, Idk.

Bassicaly do what ur doing.

The hearts are the quests. The personal storyline r the ‘main’ quests.

As i said. GW2 isnt ur typical MMO. It doesnt have endless quests from npcs telling u to go here kill this ..give x to y person. Then y person gives u another quest and so on moving u across maps and eventually the enitre game.
Instead there are a bunch of heart’s across each map. Each heart has a single objective. once its complete the npc gives u access to vendor items, u can then chose to move on in any direction u like ..go to any map or location u like within ur abilities.

As you reach certian levels, 5 man dungeons become available, u can try find groups for these (which atm is hard as there is no lfg tool). These dungeons can be completed in story mode, for the story ..and then over and over again in explore mode to collect tokens which can be handed into vendors in LionArch for armor and weapons.

You also can join WvWvW (world vs world vs world) which is one big map to pvp in. There r no quests in WvWvW really ..its just one big battleground. You get temporarily leveled to 80 and can gain experiance from participation which can level ur ‘proper level’ up. But pve is still the best way to lvl.

GuitarPerson.1537:

Thanks! =D

What should I actually be doing? At the moment I’ve just been going around discovering stuff (vistas, points of interest) and doing the mini help quest things, with the odd story mission every so often. I don’t think I should join a guild until I am a high level, or maybe never join one, Idk.

One thing I would suggest doing is looking at the upper right hand corner of your screen and clicking on the ‘Daily Achievement.’ There will be a list of tasks (it changes daily) that will reward some nice bonuses (coin + karma jug + mystic coin + laural) Save the mystic coin, you’ll use those in making high level items, you can drink the karma jug or save it, and there are laural vendors that have nice things available for your laurals.

The daily achievement will have you do different things in the game: Kill different types of foes / Do dynamic events / Heal others / Kill things under water / etc…

The daily is a great way to get a little extra reward for doing some different things, and learning to do some of those things (Daily Dodger) will help you learn to play the game better.

GL and have fun out there! Explore to your heart’s content, it’s a nice big world!

Greetings and welcome to the game. This is only my 2nd mmo, and I am truly enjoying the experience.

The difficulty with giving advice on how to play this game is that it’s like giving advice on how to enjoy your vacation – we all have different tastes. So the following suggestions are based on how I play the game.

One of the first things I did was look for an older/mature kin. While I enjoy exploring etc. – I started an mmo for the social aspects. I was very fortunate to find an age 30+ kin, and I keep Ventrillo running in the background so I can chat with fellow guild members. In addition to random chit-chat, the guild gives me a chance to ask questions. If I know specifically what I am looking for, I can always use google or forum search. However, I frequently don’t know what I don’t know. So experienced guildies can walk me through certain things.

Once you pick a guild, they will tell you if they use Vent, mumble or something else. My headset of choice is a Logitech G35. I am a slow typer, so a headset was a necessity for me.

The forums are a great resource. I recommend reading them on a regular basis especially the “OMG – if you only knew this – tips for new players” that is at the top of this section.

I am a completionist by nature, so I like finishing up a section of the map before moving on to a new area (vistas, hearts, etc.). I found a website by reading the forums – GW2 Interactive Map – that helps me find missing items.

My warrior just hit lvl 80, and I love the profession. Try out all of the weapons to get a feel for what fits your particular playstyle. Then spend time on the Warrior forums to see what types of builds others use. Even though I have hit 80, I am a noob and am just starting to click with the skills.

Run dungeons when you can. Get a sickle/axe/pick and gather anything you can (will need to upgrade these tools as you go to higher levels). Find friends to teach you the dungeons (you can always give me a shout in-game).

Learn enemy and game mechanics. Watch for the bad guys to give you “tells” so you know when to dodge. Which reminds me – learn to consistently dodge.

Finally – have fun. If you’re not having fun then you’re doing it wrong. Sincere Regards.

The best advice I can give you is this.

A) Don’t play the game like a RPG you would play on a console. When you are looking to complete something like points of interest (POI) don’t make a large group of baddies come chasing after you. Someone else is most likely after the same POI and you could pull a train of death into them. Actions like these get you reported and could get you in trouble with Anet.

B)This game everyone shares so if you see someone in trouble help them.

C)If you see someone dead resurrect them.

D)Don’t stay in one area too long. This will cause you to running into a Diminishing Reward (DR) issues which was designed to fight against gold sellers.

E)Never buy gold from a gold seller. It is against the rules.
So you aren’t mega-rich for day one. That’s what its all about.

F)Seek out a guild of people that fit your playing style, time zone and comfort factor. Or just solo it.

G) Respect everyone even if they choose not to respect you. That is what the report button is for. You’ve been wronged by someone report them and let Anet fix it.
Gone are the days when folks could work through things without getting the owning company involved. To many folks out there that only care for one thing. Themselves.

H) OVERALL…. HAVE FUN! If it is fun for you and does no harm then do it. If it does cause other problems you need to rethink what is “fun”

What has not been mentioned yet:

- Buy gathering tools, equip them and harvest all nodes (saplings, ore, plants) you encounter. This gives experience and provides materials for crafting. Some materials are also quite profitable to sell on the Tradepost (commonly referred to as TP).

- Try out the crafting system. (It is intended to be interesting to start crafting at level 10.) You can make weapons or armor to improve your equipment as you level up. Additionally, crafting also gives experience. There are 8 crafts. It is possible to have 2 crafts at the same time, but you can always start a new craft for free. Returning to a craft you have already started will cost gold, though.

- There are jumping puzzles hidden throughout the world. Each explorable zone will usually have at least one puzzle hidden away somewhere. The city of Lion’s Arch even contains 3 of them!
These puzzles are not for everyone, but you won’t miss out if you decide they’re not worth your time. The usual reward is a chest at the end that contains a few uncommon items. You can find/earn the same or similar items by doing other things (like killing monsters).

Finally, something that has already been said, but that bears repeating:

Leveling your character while doing things you like is a major part of this game. Just racing your character through all 80 levels in order to reach the level cap is NOT the best way to go, as you are cheating yourself out of all the enjoyment of exploration and gradual improvement.
Just play the game to have fun, and you will hit level 80 before you know it.

Jornophelanthas.1475:

Leveling your character while doing things you like is a major part of this game. Just racing your character through all 80 levels in order to reach the level cap is NOT the best way to go, as you are cheating yourself out of all the enjoyment of exploration and gradual improvement.
Just play the game to have fun, and you will hit level 80 before you know it.

On the other hand you do not have to worry too much about out leveling stuff due to automatic downscaling.

True, but karma merchants only offer rewards appropriate for the level of the zone, and not the level of the character.

Rebind your keys. Don’t use WASD for movement. shift over one key towards the center.
Use ESDF.

This increases the number of keys easily reachable by your hand. This may be really difficult at first if you’ve played a lot of other RPG’s like Skyrim that have WASD default, but it is worth the frustration a thousand times over. Stick with it.

Unbind Turn Left and Turn Right. Bind Strafe Left and Strafe Right. There’s never any reason to use your keys to turn, it’s slow and clunky. Always use your mouse to turn.

Remember your mouse scroll wheel click can be bound. If you weapon swap a lot (and you should), rebind it here. If not, think of the skill you hit the most, chances are it belongs on your mousewheel.

Salvage everything you can’t sell for a profit on the Trading Post. Crafting materials are worth a lot, often more than the items themselves. Remember to click the "bags of pilfered goods, etc. . .) they’re not vendor trash (learned this the hard way). They contain valuable crafting materials.

Don’t blow your karma. I know it looks like you have a ton more Karma than gold, and it’s tempting to spend it – but you’ll find better uses for it at high level and good items require a lot of karma.

Complete the maps. It’s well worth it (reward wise) and often a lot of fun.

Complete City Maps, Lions Arch, Rata Sum, Divinity’s Reach, etc. . . they’re easy as there’s no combat and you get some transmutation tablets (so you can keep gear skins you like as you level).

Do your story quests a level or so under. The exp is good and the items are good at early/mid levels, but you want to be using it as soon as you can. An item is only good for ~5 levels. So if you are doing lvl 35 stories at 45, the gear will be useless, but would have saved you cash and time if you’d had it right at 35.

Don’t use a lot of way points. The cost really adds up after a while. Often, you’re better off running place to place on the map gathering crafting materials (and gather everything, always). Don’t rush, rushing is a bad time/money investment, running and harvesting is a good time/money investment. Obviously, if something is really far, use a waypoint, but if it’s on the same map, chances are you’re better off running.

To find back slot items search for “spine” in the TP. There’s no filter for it. As a matter of fact, the filters on the TP are kind of poorly implemented in general. Keep that in mind.

Level scaling doesn’t mean lower level zones aren’t easier when you go back to them. you still deal much more damage and have more/better skills. Oddly enough, if you’re level 50 ish and go back to a beginner zone and kill mobs there, they still drop level appropriate gear. . . (I learned this farming for Jute Cloth, since as mentioned above, I didn’t salvage enough and sold goodie bags). You kill things much faster, and get more loot. Also, the price difference between mid level crafting mats and early level ones is not on par for the ease in collecting lower level ones. You will also still level often from fighting lower level mobs because of level scaling (+exp food helps as well). Keep this in mind if you find yourself needing cash at mid levels. also, keep in mind, if you grind you will level, so it may make certain zones less attractive to go to (and you’ll miss a lot of cool stuff).

On the TP, you lose 15% on any sale. Never sell something for less than 16% more than you can get from vendoring it. Save your greens and toss them in the mystic forge in Lions Arch to get better gear. Check the TP first, but just because something is green or yellow doesn’t mean you hit a pay day.

MiloSales.8560:

On the TP, you lose 15% on any sale. Never sell something for less than 16% more than you can get from vendoring it. Save your greens and toss them in the mystic forge in Lions Arch to get better gear. Check the TP first, but just because something is green or yellow doesn’t mean you hit a pay day.

19%, 18% for break even with NPC vendor but 19% might still be 0 profit depending on base price.

Advice for new MMO Player:

Please spend as much time away from the forums as possible. They do not represent a majority of the in-game population and will bring you down if you stay too long.

Enjoy the game!