Guild Wars 2

Running around as elementalist and not doing well.

Im level 15 and constantly dying.

Equipment im picking up are all “not for my profession”

Thought it would be easier when I had a friend on, so friend has joined but his starting area is nowhere near where I am and cant get to them as between us is high level areas

Debating starting all over again with a different class

Any advice welcome

if you want to get to him you can go to you start town and look for a pink sort of portal. these link from all start areas to Lions Arch. then all you gotta go is go through the other 1 to get to your friend

ace thank you didnt know that existed.

struggling abit equipment wise as well, most of money is going into revives, trying to find better armour.

chest is full of stuff and cant increase size without gems. donated some armour that i cant wear to friend and trying to sell the rest on market to make up extra money.

found a green achivement seller who sells lots of kits for level 80, im only 15, wheres best place to get stuff for my level

As a fellow newer player (just started back in August) I also had trouble with the elementalist and opted to work on a mesmer instead – worked out great for me. Still a light armor profession but the clones and phantasms made a big difference on my survivability. That said however, only swap professions if you want to. The elementalist just has a steeper learning curve because of how easily they die. I’ve made a new one since and have done better on her now that I am more familiar with general game mechanics.

Along with what Berformet said there is a pvp icon (two crossed swords icon) on the menu in the top left of the screen – If you click that and press “Go to the Heart of the Mists” you can find those purple portals to Lion’s Arch and then portals to all the other major cities once you’re in Lion’s Arch. I wish I had known about this little trick sooner as it’s a convenient and free way to get back to Lion’s Arch from anywhere! You might have to do the pvp tutorial the first time you did it, but it’s quick and easy and doesn’t involve any real pvp if you’re concerned about that!

You can find armor and weapons at the gold heart icons you’ve completed on level appropriate maps. They cost karma instead of gold, so should help with your money woes as well! Every heart vendor might not have something appropriate for you, but most have a decent selection.

Just thought of another thing also. What are your bags full of? If any of it is crafting materials press the little gear on your inventory window and say deposit collectibles. If it’s gear you don’t need you can sell it on the trading post like you mentioned, or salvage it using salvage kits. The kits break it down into crafting materials for the most part and you can then deposit them to get them out of your bag. Also you can buy bigger bags (on the trading post) when you have the cash to help with inventory issues.

My Elementalist was my first and my main. I spent a lot of time crafting and making sure my crafting level was as caught up as I could. That ended up leveling my far over the areas I was playing in, which then helped make it easier.

I was (and still am) primarly a staff elementalist. I did a lot of circle strafing to kite mobs around in a small circle, rotate my attunements when they are up, throw as much CC on the ground as I could (Earth, Water and Air all have one). Earth has a little reflect, so if something is shooting you from range, that helps to get into that when it’s up. Lots of fire and throwing any instant cast area on the ground in the middle of the circle while I strafe. Fire and Earth have good ones for that.

The Elementalist gets a lot better when you start getting more skill points and can get a Elemental buddy and the Greater one to help you out, especially the Earth one (the element you throw will be based on what you are currently attuned to).

With all characters, learn, and don’t forget to, dodge. Dodging to avoid damage is a really big part of this game. Learning to fight while moving in general is pretty important.

As far as whether to abandon it to try another for now, hard to say. I see someone recommended the Mesmer over the Elementalist. I have a 46th level Elementalist and ‘still’ have a hard time with that character. Having also leveled a Ranger and Guardian to 80, the Elementalist was probably the second easiest behind the Ranger. The Guardian was difficult because I had to learn how to move and ‘melee’, which was new to me.

You say ‘trying to sell’ the gear you don’t need?
You should be able to sell most of it it with no problem at all on the TP.
A simple rule I use is – if it’s green or it’s salvagable sell it on TP at ‘match lowest seller’ (the stuff is desirable and you can usually sell it at a good price)
If it’s blue or white – check the offered price on the TP. if it’s more than a vendor will give you (that’s the price shown when you hover over it in your inventory), sell it. If not vendor it (obviously).
Junk items – vendor them.
There’s no point saving crafting materials or salvaging – just sell everything at the best price you can get – you can always buy it back (probably cheaper) some other time.

Now, as to your own gear. Simple, you use the cash you just got from the TP to buy the gear you need. You can save some gold by checking those completed heart NPCs to see if they have anything you can use.

Also, IMPORTANT in the WvW start areas, you can find karma gear vendors who will sell you gear for WvW that is also usable in the rest of the world (NB not the sPvP ‘Heart of the Mist’ vendors). It’s good and it’s cheap. Also, if you dare to WvW – thats a good way to make a lot of karma. Just look for the commander and stick to him.

General elementalist advice – get to know your attunements. Don’t try to stick in fire or air etc. you need to keep swapping them constantly to get the best out of the cooldowns and maximise your damage output and defence. Start in air (best travelling attunement) go to fire to do more damage then go to water for defence, maybe earth then, but you probably won’t need it. Then back to air or fire for more damage.

This might help:-
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/elementalist/Guide-Mastering-the-D-D-ele-7-15-13/page/1

Contiguous said it all better than I could, but here are a few bullet points:

-Move constantly in battle.
-Watch your enemy closely and dodge big attacks (usually accompanied by a change in stance or glowing).
-Don’t spam your attacks- use them actively to counter enemy actions.
-It is much more important to avoid damage than to heal it
-As elementalist, change attunements constantly and don’t sit in one.

Elementalist versus a champion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcf9PwSVP7Y
Level 12 elementalist soloing a level 16 veteran: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubm6k-AX2U8

Hi there. Welcome to the game!

I’ve played every race and profession. You picked (in my opinion) the hardest profession to start. All the above posters have very good advice. All are great tips for an elm.

However, I’m going to give you some advice that I’ll probably get some backlash for.

You have 5 character slots. Don’t delete your elementalist, just put it on hold and create an easier character to play until you get comfortable with the game and learn all there is to know. Like how to make money, craft, sell things, salvage things, map completion, vistas, weapons, armor, sigils, runes, skills, traits, jumping puzzles (my personal fave), hearts, story lines, living story, dungeons, WvW, champs, the list goes on and on…….

My recommendation for a new player’s first toon is an Asura Ranger. Asura because they are small, nimble, and have the easiest feel for jumping puzzles and vistas. Ranger because the pets really help you out and can keep the damage off of you, allowing you to die less. Also, it’s fun to find and collect the little critters. :P I like longbow and axe/warhorn.

The above combo will let you get your feet wet in the game without being too overwhelmed. Once you are comfortable playing and have made some gold, switch back to your elementalist and have fun leveling up.

Have fun!!!

Mel.8769:

Hi there. Welcome to the game!

I’ve played every race and profession. You picked (in my opinion) the hardest profession to start. All the above posters have very good advice. All are great tips for an elm.

However, I’m going to give you some advice that I’ll probably get some backlash for.

You have 5 character slots. Don’t delete your elementalist, just put it on hold and create an easier character to play until you get comfortable with the game and learn all there is to know. Like how to make money, craft, sell things, salvage things, map completion, vistas, weapons, armor, sigils, runes, skills, traits, jumping puzzles (my personal fave), hearts, story lines, living story, dungeons, WvW, champs, the list goes on and on…….

My recommendation for a new player’s first toon is an Asura Ranger. Asura because they are small, nimble, and have the easiest feel for jumping puzzles and vistas. Ranger because the pets really help you out and can keep the damage off of you, allowing you to die less. Also, it’s fun to find and collect the little critters. :P I like longbow and axe/warhorn.

The above combo will let you get your feet wet in the game without being too overwhelmed. Once you are comfortable playing and have made some gold, switch back to your elementalist and have fun leveling up.

Have fun!!!

Nah, I think your suggestion is solid. Though I’d say stick with the elementalist and try to learn it if you’re not getting so frustrated it’s ruining your enjoyment of the game.

Mesmer was my very first character. I wanted to like the class, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it and just found it very painful to level. So I wound up rerolling other classes, with elementalist being my third (ranger being second). Ranger bored me badly within the first day, as much as mesmer frustrated me. I died a lot on elementalist, but didn’t get peeved like I did with my mesmer- I experimented, tried different weapon sets, and learned to juggle attunements, and eventually I got pretty good with the class. To this day, it’s my favorite class, and I’m very happy I stuck with it instead of rolling an easier one.

I do feel that playing ele first made me a stronger player, simply because the class forces you to learn how to dodge/move in combat/use skills actively/pay attention in order to survive in open-world. I’ve lost count of the warriors, guardians, and rangers I’ve met who never dodge or move around in harder fights, and subsequently get killed over and over. Those classes are more forgiving, yes, in that you can breeze through leveling in the open-world without having to be as active as an ele. But you still need to make an effort to learn how to dodge/move/fight actively, or it will catch up with you later.

If you decide to try a ranger, I would highly, highly recommend occasionally setting your pet on standby so it won’t attack enemies, and getting up close with a melee weapon (namely greatsword or sword+dagger). That will teach you how to manage aggro and survive actively. While having a pet tank is nice, it ultimately becomes a crutch for many rangers. The same goes for elementalist summons- though they’re good for relieving pressure in a pinch, don’t rely on them to survive.

I would suggest trying Glyph of Lesser Elemental. It’ll summon an elemental to help for a minute and which elemental is based on your attunement. Pretty much any of them can help distract enemies with the earth elemental being the most durable. Just don’t expect it to win fights for you.

I have to repeat what others are saying. Make sure you learn to avoid attacks. There are quite a few enemies that can knock you down, immobilize you, or otherwise disable your actions. Avoiding these can be critical when dealing with multiple enemies.

As a last resort, there are npc weapon and armor sellers. Their gear is pretty weak, but it’s better than nothing.