Guild Wars 2

Hi!

I’m hoping someone here could give a returning (and relatively new) player some advice. I’ve played some GW2 at this point, but my knowledge of the game and its systems is somewhat limited. GW2 is a game I really want to love, but it really feels like I need a deeper understanding of the game for that to happen. I keep returning to WoW because it’s familiar territory and I know every aspect of it, but it only takes about a week before I’m tired of it.

I guess this isn’t the easiest topic to give advice on, but I’ll try to make a list of specific things I would like to know as a first step towards understanding and enjoying GW2 more

• PVP and PVE is separate. If item stats are normalized in PVP, where/how can I buy gear that has the stats I’m looking for? I’m somewhat happy with my PVE set, but I would like other stats for PVP. Is there a vendor selling the type of armor I’m looking? (i.e berserker, rampager, etc.)

• Where do I go? This world is massive! Besides doing a few parts of the mainquest, I’ve cleared a couple of areas (100% completion). Should I just finish the mainquest to get a itroduction to different areas? I’d like to visit every zone at some point, but I’m having a hard time deciding where to go first

• I’ve done two dungeons so far, AC and CM. Both great experiences, perhaps especially AC. The first time I tried AC it was a wipefest, but it was nice to finally get punished for just mindlessly running around. Not sure if this dungeon was nerfed, but it was alot easier the last time I played. Anyway, for the question. Should I complete the zones these dungeons are located in before doing the dungeon (in order to get some backstory)?

• How do I get into crafting? I’ve done some crafting, but it’s still on a very low level. Is there anything interesting to be made with crafting and is it worth spending time on?

Guess that’s it for now. I have too many questions to list them all.

Any replies would be greatly appreciated

1.)
PvP has different stats than PvE, true. Every armor/weapon you have equipped gets a stat boost to Lv80, so you have just two things to keep in mind:
a) You should have every equipment place filled, because emty places can’t get the stat boost
b) The type of the stats (berserk etc) is defined by the PvP build: If you’re in the PvP area (Heart of the Mists) you can click on the left symbol on the top of the screen to open your PvP build, where you can select the rune/sigills that your PvP armor/weapons should hold + an amulet that defines your stat (e.g. berserker amulet changes your armor stats to berserker stats)

2.)
That depends on your playstyle. If you want to have a somewhat harder gameplay, you can just follow the story. However, if you like it easier, you can first level up via map discovery. (Easiest map discovery order is: 6 cities – “T1” (1-15) areas – “T2” (16-25) areas and so on or simply ordered by location/whatever you like)

3.)
The zones don’t really contain much dungeon related backstory. However, the story paths of the dungeons contain the ongoing story about the conflicts of Destiny’s Edge (you get letters whenever you reach the level of a dungeon’s story path, describing the events that lead to that path).
But note that you’ll probably have a hard time to find smooth groups while not Lv80. It’s okay for some early dungeon’s story path, but not that much for the explorable ones.

4.) Well, I can just recommend to learn the crafting disciplines your char can use – for example armorsmith if your char is heavy, leatherer if medium and tailor for light ones, same goes for weapon crafting disciplines.
I wouldn’t start with cook or jeweller on your first char, it’s not that important or useful at the start.

Feel free to add more questions

Thanks alot of your feedback! I should’ve mentioned I am level 80, but it’s been a long time since I first reached that level, and I haven’t really played since. If being level 80 opens up some new/other activities I should look into, feel free to let me know

Regarding the pvp armor stats, this is all defined by my choice of amulet? So when I select the assassins amulet, my chest armor basicly turns in to “Assassins chestpiece”? If this is the case, I have to say I like the change as opposed to the PVE/PVP split they used to have

Yep, that’s true by the way, celestial stats are really popular at the moment for some classes.

For new things: Well, the only thing that comes to my mind: With Lv80 you are now able to play through the Living Story Season 2 after you finished your personal story (but you have to unlock the episodes for gems if you haven’t logged in during the last months).
Another thing would be fractals, what’s somehow similar to dungeons, but every frac run consists of four more or less randomly selected fractals. It’s a bit harder then dungeons, though, so you should probably start with those.

Allright, sounds good.

Another question that comes to mind. Since I can basicly pick and choose my entire character in PVP, how would I go about getting specific armor sets in PVE? As an example, if I want my PVE character to be identical to my PVP character, what’s the best way to achieve this? Running dungeons for armor sets with specific stats? Or crafting/buying from AH ?

It really depends on the stat combination you are after! All – you can craft. Some, you can craft and sell, so you can buy them, too. Some are available from dungeons, as well. The safest bet is crafting them. Not necessarily the fastest or easiest.

Well, to get armor is pretty simple. There are many ways:

a) For money: Just at the trading post. Fastest way, but not always the cheapest.

b) Crafting: You can use collected mats, so it can be cheaper. The problem is that you first have to reach Lv400 for an exotic max armor and that needs quite many materials.

c) For dungeon marks: costs nothing, but needs some time. Plus, each dungeon has only 3 different stat combis, so you have to grind one or two dungeons if you want an armor with one specific combi

d) Karma: costs nothing and is pretty fast. Only disadvantages: there are only six stat combis and a full armor costs kinda much karma (~250 000 iirc)

e) Getting it dropped – haha just kidding, you don’t want to rely on RNG

I’m thinking alternative C would be appropriate for me. I farmed CM untill I had the entire armor set, but that was mainly because of looks. Even though it was somewhat time consuming it was something to do and focus on
Regarding armor and their stats though, if I collect an armor set from a dungeon, will the stats on it be as high as can be achieved, or are there certain armor sets that are better than others?

The stats of two armors are the same if the have the same rarity and the same level.
The dungeon exotic armors are all Lv.80, so yeah, those have the best exotic stats.
(The only better armors are ascended ones, but they cost like 50 times the amount of exotic ones and its mainly only for extensive players, exotics is always fine)

Thanathos.2063:

exotic ones and its mainly only for extensive players, exotics is always fine)

But this will never be an issue in PVP?

Exactly, there’s nothing as different rarity → different stat height in PvP

Again, thank you for taking the time to reply with all this good advice