Guild Wars 2

Has anyone got any hints for an MMO newbie, mainly around combat?

I seem to struggle when a few enemies rush me at once. I play as a Norn Warrior using double-handed weapons like hammer and sword.

I have a few attacks which can target multiple enemies, but it seems like I’m punching above my weight at the minute. Dying means I have to go miles back to a waypoint and I just get frustrated that I end up losing so much progress each time and switch off.

I like the game but am terible at it. Help!

Consider trying out some ranged weapons and kite your enemies. It should help you get a better feel of how the game works with a lower risk of dying.

Couple of things here right off the bat. What level are you and what level mobs are you fighting? If you have a group of 2/3 friends to play with that would be best. You can fight mobs that are 2/3 levels above you. If you’re fighting solo I would stick to areas that are the same level as you. If you scroll over a renown heart on the map you can see the suggested level, and it is color coded to correspond.

How is your armor/weapon? Every 5 levels or so I would go to a merchant or check the TP to make sure you have the best gear/armor you can. Don’t just wait for the drops. Either salvage and sell, or just sell the drops you don’t need to pay for the gear you do.

Hammers are really good for playing defensivley, knocking opponents back and buying yourself time, so use those if you’re in an event and have other people to do heavy damage. GS is great for hitting fast and hittin hard, also aoe swings. You can run in circles and hit the mob that will be to your side if you just spam 1. Since you’re a self-proclaimed ‘newbie’ I would just say keep moving and use those dodges if you see a mob wind-up for an attack. Most newbiews just stand still and go toe-to-toe with the mob. This game isn’t designed for that.

Also investigate all weapons. Longbow is great for ranged DPS and rifle is stellar for single-target.

There are some really great suggestions in here!

All in all, take your time to learn your abilities. Read over the tooltips, try out different ‘patterns’ of openers, finishers, etc. But certainly stick to mobs your own level, or lower, and practice pulling one, then two, then three etc as you go along.

Even for a not so noob player, I’m prone to charging headlong into multiple mobs because I didn’t see them and end up aggroing a family that’s verrrry angry. XD You can also travel main roads on maps until you get a waypoint, then strike out in the immediate area.

Chin up!

Surviving Tyria: Beginner’s Guide to Mobility

Very recommended even for the average MMO addict new to GW2.

In till all your skill and traits open your playing style will change all the time .I decide to go one way with my class at the start and by 80 built a class completely different than what I started with.

Pick a class with a pet ranger nico mes. pets will argo most enemies and if they don’t right a way a daze or a stun will work most times frees you up for fighting . Got a 80 nico and ranger I can fight mobs of 8 or more and still walk away or just go non stop one mob to another .Traited that way I don’t do great damage but I do a lot of mid range damage but on the entire mobs only because my pet is tanking . You get much more loot off of killing 8 fast then 3 right away.

Southern Lord, from the sound of it your biggest problem is mobility. Unlike in traditional MMOs you can’t just stand there and take the damage. You have to be mobile or fluid in your movement and skill usage. This gets easier with experience and trying out different play styles. At lower lvls it is sometimes harder to take on 3-4 mobs at the same time than in later stages of the PvE experience. For a Warrior specifically the hammer is probably one of the more difficult weapons to use properly. Try using axe shield or mace shield to help if you having trouble getting used to mobility. Greatsword is pretty easy to use as long as you learn how to use the animations such as whirlwind can be used to dmg a group while escaping or as an intro. The more time your not getting hit is the more time your heal skill is recharging. Mobility is a very big part of this game in PvE, PvP, and WvWvW. Good luck.

Keep it so your always activating a power (not including you’re weapn’s primary #1 attack), if your weapon’s 2-5 attacks are on Cool Down, switch weapons and/or use your #7-10 powers.
And yes movement is vital.

Saxon.1908:

Keep it so your always activating a power (not including you’re weapn’s primary #1 attack), if your weapon’s 2-5 attacks are on Cool Down, switch weapons and/or use your #7-10 powers.
And yes movement is vital.

Be careful with that advice, because it’s not always true.

On my warrior, I would never use any attack other then auto-attack, except on bosses. My auto attack does so much damage it’s not worth it to use anything else.

Other classes have weapons like this too.

generally my advice is similar to those above. if you find yourself a bit over your head with mobs consider using a rifle to pull, or get very used to aggro ranges. experiment until you get a feel for what you can handle and slowly build from there.

I’d say, the down and dirty of learning how to play this game is to take your time and explore. If you find yourself constantly running into critters that are just too high in level for you as you are trying to get to your personal story or that next heart then go back to your major city and look at the map. On that map you will find a purple blob somewhere on some floor. That is the portal to Lion’s Arch (LA). Lion’s Arch is basically a “hub” city with portals to each of the other major cities (each exits to one of the other races starting areas). Then as you are exploring those other areas you will have the opportunity to gain more experience, more equipment (possible upgrades), and more chances to explore the game world. In each new starting area will be a new set of dynamic events and hearts to complete. Once you get bored there, move on to the next, go back to completing the map you were on previously, or log off and come back tomorrow to try again because hey- you’re not paying a monthly fee so you can feel free to come and go as you please!

As a few people said here, its being mobile that is probably a big part of your problem. I know a lot of other MMO seem to have it not matter if you move or not but it isn’t the case in GW2. I would say, at first get used to using the mouse and Q or E to turn and/or move. After you get that done, you may wanna switch your A and D keys up so you dodge roll when you press them(for those “OMG GONNA GET HIT” moments). Like the guy from that video link said(yes, I watched it),
“I rather spend 30 mins running in a tight circle around a tree so I can spend the next serveral hundred hours succeeding where I might have otherwise failed, than skip that 30 mins to learn a new skill[moving in tight circles]and spend the next serveral hundred hours failing where I might have succeed[if I learned the new skill of moving in tight circles].”
And he is right, it took me about 30 mins or so to learn it at a basic level but its so worth it.

To better learn how to effectively fight mobs it’s best to buddy up with people at first until you’re comfortable with your own fighting style.

Make use of dodge-rolling (assign dodge to an easy to access key, I use the shift key)

Experiment with different weapons (I would suggest you try out a Greatsword as it’s easier to learn with a GS than Hammer/Sword)

Once you learn the range of enemies, the type of attacks they have you will be able to become more comfortable with discovering how to counter-attack and how to chain up combos (also learn how to take advantage of combo fields as well)

Fighting in GW2 is very different in the sense that you can attack whilst being mobile – so don’t just stand there and spam attacks… keep moving, dodging and evading etc. stay mobile.

Learn when to use skills at the right time (timing is crucial) because with most attacks you will have a cool-down period where you can’t use that skill until the CD is off…. time your attacks to take advantage of your situation.

With these tips – and with perseverance you will improve. As with anything in life, the more you do something the better you’ll become. The more proficient you’ll be. Good luck!

LithePanther.5027:

Saxon.1908:

Keep it so your always activating a power (not including you’re weapn’s primary #1 attack), if your weapon’s 2-5 attacks are on Cool Down, switch weapons and/or use your #7-10 powers.
And yes movement is vital.

Be careful with that advice, because it’s not always true.

On my warrior, I would never use any attack other then auto-attack, except on bosses. My auto attack does so much damage it’s not worth it to use anything else.

Other classes have weapons like this too.

Exactly. Ranger shortbow for instance. The 2-5 skills are mostly situational: AoE poison, shoot and lunge away, daze and cripple. 3-5 should be saved for when you need them, not just spammed. Same with longbow ranger’s #3, the knock-away. So many people use this skill whenever it is up, whether the mob is actually threatening them or not. It’s their prerogative of course, but it is not efficient to knock mobs away from fields dropped by others, away from traps, etc.

Spamming an attack because it is up is not the best way to play unless that attack’s only purpose is to do damage.

A few things here

- Read the Warrior Forum. You will see many builds that will help you. You won’t be able to copy the builds 100% until you can put points in all your traits but if you read comments etc you will get an idea of why they do what they do.

- Don’t go all out damage. Make sure that you have some toughness in your gear.

- Take your time and avoid anything more than one or two mobs at a time. Use that time to learn how to use your weapon(s), learn how to dodge, etc.

- One way to learn tactics is to stay with mobs at or a couple of levels below your own level, don’t rush to more difficult maps.

- Warriors are not tanks. We do take lots of damage. Never be afraid to run away and/or use a ranged weapon. Even at level 80 I have to back off and get my rifle out from time-to-time.

Here are some very general tips to success.

-Every time you complete a heart, talk to the npc, he will now sell you gear for karma. If the gear is better than what you have buy some.
-Grab weapon smith/armor smith/jeweler 2 of these and work on them as you level. Mats will come from your daily routine of questing around areas, making those long travels back more rewarding. It gives you exp as you craft and keeps your gear up to date as you can craft some new set every 5 lvls. Stays rewarding at end game as it gives you access to exotic gear.
-Don’t be shy to ask for help in map chat.
-Learn to double tap for dodge in hard situations.
-Experiment with weapon combinations, hammer is horrible for lvling due to it’s slow swing speed, yet it’s amazing in pvp due to it’s CC abilities.

Tip

GS + Double Axes for melee … and always keep a rifle and bow in inventory

No need to have 2 -2handed weapons active

Move around all the time; if you’re used to playing FPS games, you may know what I mean when I refer to “Circle strafing”; it works in GW2 pretty well. I’m constantly circling enemies as a warrior. Try to switch it up though, and don’t just strafe one direction.

Learn which skills root you; for example, the hammer has two skills that require you don’t move while activating them, Hammer Shock and Staggering Blow. With Greatsword it’s Hundred Blades. Once you’re used to that, you can plan movement around when you want to use those skills.
Hammer Shock should only be used on approaching or retreating enemies, Staggering Blow to clear some space in a group melee.

Try to be aware of your surroundings. In general, fighting large groups is not a good idea, so make sure you know where enemies are placed in the area so that they don’t join in once you start fighting your target/s. Try and draw the fight away from populated areas and be aware of enemies you may have already killed respawning.

Hammer has excellent area damage on its auto-attack. Every third strike affects all enemies around you. This can also be a bad thing, as its area of effect can be a little larger than expected, potentially pulling other nearby neutrals into the fight (yellow named creatures for example).

For excellent mobility, axe main-hand and warhorn offhand provides lots of quick, mobile damage with snare removal, speed buffs and enemy debuffs. All axe main-hand skills can be activated on the move, as can the warhorn skills. Your group will also be grateful for the buffs and debuffs provided by the warhorn. Also, when combined with the elite skill Signet of Rage, you can keep Swiftness (movement speed buff) up permanently.

At a more fundamental level, try to play with your right mouse button permanently depressed during combat. This allows for constant mouselook, meaning your mouse is used for turning while the keyboard is kept for skill activation and directional movement (forward, back, strafe left & right). DO NOT USE THE KEYBOARD TO TURN.

Change the key mappings for your utility skills so that they are closer to your movement keys. For example, my utility key mapping follows:
Z: Heal skill
Q: For Great Justice!
E: Shake It Off!
C: On My Mark!
R: Signet of Rage
This allows for quicker, more intuitive skill activation.

As others have mentioned, get used to dodging using double-taps, and always, ALWAYS remember you only get 2 dodges before you need to recharge.

Oh, and one final tip for jumping puzzles in particular, or getting to unexpected places:
Earthshaker is excellent for jumping wide gaps and Signet of Fury can be used to immediately charge your adrenaline to full so that you can take advantage of Earthshaker’s mobility.

A general Warrior thing. If you dont know which stat would be best go for Power then Toughness/Vitality and you cannot go far wrong. Power is +damage, toughness/vitality is +live longer.