Guild Wars 2

enlong.5934:

This is hands-down the best guide I have seen here on the board. Thanks to the advice here I have improved my combat skills ten fold! This thread needs to get stickied!

Thanks man!
Yeah it would be nice to start seeing this post get a sticky =)

The new video addition was genius, what better way to show what you are trying to explain than to show players first hand!.

Great guide. I love that you actually showed up in game and ran me through the guide personally. This guy knows his stuff gentlemen.

In relation to the video,
Its almost scary how good you are, really top tier example of what can be achieved, while it seemed to show mainly aggressive play when you explain what leads to what im sure it will help alot to know whats going on, well done and good luck in your next video.

I like the way everything is laid out and the video just tops it off nice job i learned a lot.

One Drous One.9130:

I like the way everything is laid out and the video just tops it off nice job i learned a lot.

Thanks man! Im Glad you like my guide =D

Finally! My ((Guide)) is Updated!
Please check out my New Video on GW2 Combat system 101 attached to my Guide!

Enjoy the 101 experience everyone! =)

Again, I’ll risk repeating myself from earlier. Great videos, great info, and a lot of skill involved. Just remember as you’re reading this everyone, that’s a lot displayed in SPvP areas. Real game is also different because of how much you can experiment and combine different stats on gear. What’s good for one won’t always be good for the many. GW2 is all about spending the time to explore and find ~YOUR OWN~ style of playing. So let all the wonderful advice given sink in, then expand on that from your own.

Good stuff. Again as a noob, I greatly appreciate it and the effort. +1 again!

Thanks for writing this and recording your videos. Well done!

witless.7409:

Good stuff. Again as a noob, I greatly appreciate it and the effort. +1 again!

No problem! It’s why I do it.
I’ll probably going to make another video on How to use Traits and get Armors you want.
“How to Build your own Playstyle”. =) Keep an eye out for my next video project.

My Goal is to make the text-guide version less and more Visual on the videos. =)

This is a very very good guide on how to get good at gw2

I think its a good way of explaining combat in gw2, once u learn to have control of the battle it becomes a lot easier to win fights and stay alive

Evade.4967:

I think its a good way of explaining combat in gw2, once u learn to have control of the battle it becomes a lot easier to win fights and stay alive

Thanks!
Problem is, tons of people who complain on the forums dont understand how these basics work. And then complain of lack of trinity when really, this game’s combat system is more skillful because of the lack of trinity. Thanks to the No babysitter rule.

Anyways. I’ll try to keep this Guide updated the best I can for visual Learners.

most read if you are new in this game really helpful thx

LOVE IT!!! and found it very help full for new gamers to the guild wars2. :P

Good stuff all around.

very helpful and informative, thanks man:)

Very helpful videos and info for GW2 newbies, like myself.

This guide and this man is really helpful. I just joined the game yesterday but i learned alot of it. So take your time to look at it you wont regret… Best part of the guide is showing you how to use your skills (both in game and your own ) so its really depend on you just think of your style and master it. With that guide you will be fine…

Nice basic guide, though contains too much bias for it to be a guide I would link to anyone.
I made a huge guide with millions of viewers for another game, so I learned the hard way that first of all you need to state the objective truth – and then add in your opinions in a very “personal” way.
If you want to make more or larger guides always keep that in mind.

You say there are no roles for instance but it’s very possible to go full DPS or full Support and be tremendously effective with it, so it isn’t really true.
You say there are no babysitters that can allow people to only DPS, but full Support Guardian can do exactly that, tonight I carried 4 half-naked noob guildies with 0ar through a whole frac30 for instance by just negating all damage and getting all aggro, so that isn’t true either.

A more unbiased way to say it would have been “It’s possible to have roles and babysitters by fully speccing into support on some classes – though I personally think it’s not a good idea in random groups as the majority of people will expect you to take care for yourself”.
The above statement contains only the truth, but also warns people that going with “roles” is generally frowned upon in PuGs.

Remember this gold rule of guidemaking and you’re on track!
Never leave room for opinion-based debates inside a guide, it can haunt you.

Good luck with this and again well done.

So why isn’t this a sticky yet!?

Great info here, I just finished reading through it and watching the videos. This helps to put everything into perspective so players can understand what goes into finding a build (the process, etc) instead of just running cookie-cutter builds that they find online but don’t truly understand.

I appreciate the table of combo fields, too. It was nice to see from a bird’s eye view.

not much to add, except another +1 for stickyness!

Definitely helps those who are more used to other MMO playstyles. Emphasis on character movement will help me out I’m sure. (Y)

This guy is probably the best tutor I have ever had. Just four hours ago I was an awful Necro who kited everything and had no idea how to use certain abilities, now I am a decent thief who actually knows how to use her abilities in a fight.

You REALLY need to balance damage, control and support out. If you don’t balance those things out you are doing everyone and yourself a disservice. Its like an elementalist never switching out of the water element and calling themselves a “support”. When in fact you’re not supporting anyone by doing that, you’re leaving others to burn. By mastering balancing damage, control, and support everyone in a team brings everything to the table. There does not need to be a trinity in a group when you have the potential within all of you to embody every aspect of that trinity. By mastering these you also help yourself in solo play. I mean think about it, when have you ever seen people who focus directly on one aspect of the trinity succeed in solo play?

The key to this game is balancing damage, control, and support. All professions are designed to do them all. Great guide, and amazing teacher. +1

Khyber.2693:

This guy is probably the best tutor I have ever had. Just four hours ago I was an awful Necro who kited everything and had no idea how to use certain abilities, now I am a decent thief who actually knows how to use her abilities in a fight.

You REALLY need to balance damage, control and support out. If you don’t balance those things out you are doing everyone and yourself a disservice. Its like an elementalist never switching out of the water element and calling themselves a “support”. When in fact you’re not supporting anyone by doing that, you’re leaving others to burn. By mastering balancing damage, control, and support everyone in a team brings everything to the table. There does not need to be a trinity in a group when you have the potential within all of you to embody every aspect of that trinity. By mastering these you also help yourself in solo play. I mean think about it, when have you ever seen people who focus directly on one aspect of the trinity succeed in solo play?

The key to this game is balancing damage, control, and support. All professions are designed to do them all. Great guide, and amazing teacher. +1

I’m really glad this guide is helping you improve in a lot of areas in Combat.
=) Keep up the good work, You’ll keep getting better overtime just by practicing.

You are a very skillful Necromancer btw. I cannot wait to see how your thief will turn out after more training and leveling!

P.S: Thanks for the support =P

Before I read this, I honestly thought there were only select positions you could play like WoW, but apparently i was completely wrong. All classes can use all types of heals, damage, and control (cc). I would’ve just looked up a character guide but i know how to create my own personalized traits according to what i enjoy in my character. Thanks for the Help

Great guide overall, although you could have gone into some more detail on some topics, this is hands down the best guide ever written. It contains everything you need to know about combat in GW2, and keeps it short, not too long, and doesn’t bore you. Great job.

isulje.4598:

Before I read this, I honestly thought there were only select positions you could play like WoW, but apparently i was completely wrong. All classes can use all types of heals, damage, and control (cc). I would’ve just looked up a character guide but i know how to create my own personalized traits according to what i enjoy in my character. Thanks for the Help

unfortunately, that’s how lots of people still think.
I’m glad this guide helps clear things up =)

The guide is great. I am a new player and was lucky to have DreamyAbaddon help me out in-game. I totally had no idea that I could actually go on and test-drive professions in the Mists area and his tip on that and the testing encounters there was invaluable.

I think that tip should be added, since it is simply amazing and new players won’t think about trying out going to PvP area at level 2, while it is just awesome place for the new players to help them chose their profession and see how it is done.

So, big thank you for the guide and I really liked 8 professions video. Would be nice to see another one with different weapons, just to give the idea how different it can be in the same profession.

Gaidax.7835:

The guide is great. I am a new player and was lucky to have DreamyAbaddon help me out in-game. I totally had no idea that I could actually go on and test-drive professions in the Mists area and his tip on that and the testing encounters there was invaluable.

I think that tip should be added, since it is simply amazing and new players won’t think about trying out going to PvP area at level 2, while it is just awesome place for the new players to help them chose their profession and see how it is done.

So, big thank you for the guide and I really liked 8 professions video. Would be nice to see another one with different weapons, just to give the idea how different it can be in the same profession.

Yeah, Actually this is a good idea! I might make a video on where a newbie can find the area and how to test drive their professions if they are new.

It’s never good to assume they know about it so I might add it to the (Guide)

I still think this guide is far to biased and contains some questionable suggestions.

It contains some good bits but a lot is personal opinion and preference and some of it even confusing or detrimental.

A combat 101 guide should really focus on the mechanics and explain how things work rather than give opinions and suggestions as to what you personally feel is the case.

As a new player and not a very good one this guide gives me just enough information to send me on my way with a pretty good understanding of what I need to work on without saturating me with too much minutia. While not comprehensive (it was not necessarily meant to be) it does answer in broad strokes what a player needs to know to be generally sucessful and the vids hammer that home.

For more detailed assessments, I looked to the comments/replies to this guide. They ranged from thataboy to real and helpful insights by digging deeper and adding destinctions to the general guide.

To the nay sayers, I say, “anyone can be a critic”. Don’t just complain (that’s easy) – add to this post and make it better!

The ‘posts’ in their entirety, are a net benefit to this weak newbie and he thanks you!

Dasorine.1964:

I still think this guide is far to biased and contains some questionable suggestions.

It contains some good bits but a lot is personal opinion and preference and some of it even confusing or detrimental.

A combat 101 guide should really focus on the mechanics and explain how things work rather than give opinions and suggestions as to what you personally feel is the case.

I hope you continue to not like it and continue to state as much in this thread, as each time you do it’s a bump for a new player.

This guide is not meant to be an end all be all comprhensive guide to every profession, trait, and combat. What i like about this guide is that it helped me, a long time veteran of MMOs, look at combat and traiting your character in the way this game meant it. This game is very different than the standard trinity based, turn based combat MMO. When you are conditioned to having one role and playing it and you come to GW2 and find out that you are gimping your self if you do that, it can be frustrating. All Dreammy does is explain how to look at combat and how to not kitten yourself. It helped immensely. I can honestly say that I wouldn’t still be playing if I hadn’t found this. I couldn’t get away from the traditional MMO style of play. Now I’m having fun and figuring it all out.

very good and informative, thank you for this guide you are awesome^^ and also thank you for teaching me all the stuff in game,keep helping others thank you^^

very helpful guide for new people

This guide is very useful for me. Thks u

Good guide but like others have said videos are much better. I came to this game from playing World of Warcraft since 2004 and was really really lost on how the combat system in this game works. so I was used to standing still and getting pounded on (the normal turn-for-turn system).

I looked for a lot of stuff online how to play GW2 until he sent me these videos. It’s not enough to TELL people how to play this game and use it’s combat system, Dreamy actually SHOWS you how to do it and not just shows you how to play acceptably. He shows you how to rock socks with it.

All in all, best noob video I’ve seen yet on how to play GW2. I’ve shown it to like six other people who I’m trying to get into the game.

Well as long as I’ve been playing gw2- which has been since BETA – this all makes sense & I know will help me now to be more effective. thank you for recommending me this

yay!
ill learned to pay attention as to why i do ‘this skill’ vs why not ‘this skill’ and try my best not to spam

Sorry about lack of updates on the combo fields video guys, its been a very rough time as of lately. Ill try and get videos posted up as soon as i have some free time.

Truefaith.2039:

Sorry about lack of updates on the combo fields video guys, its been a very rough time as of lately. Ill try and get videos posted up as soon as i have some free time.

Tell me about it, I also need to make more new videos to finish off my (guide).
I am Already getting requests for more videos but I have school and work so it’s hard to find time now a days. Im glad we have what we have for now. Hopefully we can add more to it.

DreamyAbaddon, you have created a very well written and informative guide for new players. Your assessment of the combat mechanics in GW2 is sure to help a great deal many players and I applaud your contribution to the community- Kudos, good sir!

Helpful and informative! Much appreciated

ryan.5106:

DreamyAbaddon, you have created a very well written and informative guide for new players. Your assessment of the combat mechanics in GW2 is sure to help a great deal many players and I applaud your contribution to the community- Kudos, good sir!

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT!

Amazing post. A lot of good information.

The trait information was really helpful.

Ever since I read this I have been working on different builds, and although I haven’t chosen a build I have found out that regardless of what build I create, I continue making one that has great power, great healing, and great survivability. Overall my experience in this game has gotten better than when I first began playing. Once again DreamyAbaddon I thank you!

I feel this is a very well thought out guide. For a new player such as myself information like this makes a huge difference. there are a few things I feel would have helped out even more, such as examples on balancing a build to support damage/control/support.

good guide very helpful

This guide is great, ive had this game since it came out and never understood it, last week I finally decided to try it out haha. This Video and Guide helped me ALOT, i came from World Of Warcraft and Tera and this game is different i like how i focus on me more than others (on WoW i played as a Priest). But much appreciation to this man!!!!!!