Guild Wars 2

I’ve been trying to examine guides for gear, but they all seem to be for end-game/level 80.

However, already I bombarded with gear that has different levels and different stats.

How do I know which one is the best one for my profession?

For example, what would be best for my level 18 elementalist vs. my level 12 mesmer?

Also, is gear order: green>blue>white?

General gear quality, from worst to best, is:

White- worst
Blue
Green
Yellow
Orange- best

(Not counting pink/Ascended and purple/legendary, which are special cases.)

My general rule of thumb for gearing pre-80 is this:
-If you have trouble surviving, choose defensive pieces.
-If you’re surviving well, slowly start phasing out defensive pieces for balanced or offensive pieces.
-If you have a trait that gives you vigor on critical hits, definitely try to get pieces that give precision and dodge more.
-If you are dungeoning, wear green or better armor at your level, preferably with defensive stats. With open-world, blues are fine.
-Aim to upgrade your armor at least every 10 levels.

Yeah, before 80 when you’re following some specific build it doesn’t really matter…

General rule: Levels 1-10 go for Power… it’s just overpowered at low levels.
The rest of it is just what you find you want…

Need more up front spell damage and atk damage? Power…
Need more health? Vitality…
Need more armor/survivability? Toughness…

It all goes on but don’t worry about it too much. But of course go for things which suit your class well:

Guardian – Toughness, Elementalist – Power/Condition Damage, Necro – Condition Damage, etc. etc.

The Baws.5164:

Guardian – Toughness, Elementalist – Power/Condition Damage, Necro – Condition Damage, etc. etc.

Thank you!

I told friends I was going power/con dam on my Ele and they acted like I was the biggest idiot in the game. I am glad someone agrees with me!

There was a thread some time back which answered, mathematically, which was best out of vitality and toughness. I cannot remember exactly but I think it said that squishier classes are best with vitality, more sturdy professions are better with toughness. I think.

also, for leveling up and pre 80 you should use green armor items. any higher than that is not needed tbh and its a waste of money. you can easily obtain these trough monster drops or heart karma vendors once the hearts is completed.

As seeing you’re playing two light armor users, might be worth to pick up Tailor profession for one of them and craft yourself a set of armor every 5 or 10 levels. Nice exp there too.

Black Wolf.7348:

also, for leveling up and pre 80 you should use green armor items. any higher than that is not needed tbh and its a waste of money. you can easily obtain these trough monster drops or heart karma vendors once the hearts is completed.

Rare is definitely a waste if it is your first character but if it’s your 2nd, 3rd, etc. then it is good for lazy people like me. I could upgrade every 15/20 levels instead of every 10

Just a note, I always just use the armor/weapons that drop for me while leveling. I don’t actually purchase anything until 80 when I want my final set of gear.

I have used some gear that I crafted. But that was just because I had it due to leveling up a craft.

You gain levels so fast in this game, it is not worth too much of an investment in gear at lower levels. You will quickly out level it.

Yeah…

IMO just suck it up and deal with the crappy gear till 80. You’ll get there faster anyway if you turn gear shopping detours into levelling time.