Guild Wars 2

Hey everyone!
My fiance and I used to play a game called RuneScape together, but she stopped playing about a year and a half ago. She found GW2 shortly after, and asked me to play. I bought a copy and made a character back in March. The game is definitely cool, and my fiance really likes when I tag along (even though I’m still only level 23), so I’d like to learn more about the game.

I’ve been playing RuneScape for five years and other than a few Quest-related plot twists, there’s very little I don’t know about the game. I want to have the same level of knowledge when it comes to GW2. Where do I start? From my experience, play time and a bit of research goes a long way. But do you guys have anything else to add? I can’t even begin to tell you guys how different GW2 is from RuneScape. I’m used to knowing every monster’s drop table and the best place to go for every resource. But I log into GW2 like, “Can I even cut that three down!?” I don’t even know where to start.

Thanks for any help!

Not too sure if my answer can help you but the best way to learn what you can do is by just running around in game! Since you’re level 23, why not try to 100% complete the starting area for your race? It’ll give you decent exp and stuff, and you can go exploring with your fiance too.

As for the drop rates and stuff I’m not too sure about that, the wiki and other players will probably help you much more than I can.

I used to play Runescape too haha reached level 60 with full rune armour before my account got hacked.

Thanks Delta!
I’m 100% complete Divinity’s Reach, Queensdale, and Lion’s Arch. Working on Kessex Hills and The Grove now~ I kind of have the general idea of how things work, but my knowledge isn’t very deep. I’m never sure if I should use all my Green Wood Logs for this or that, and skilling in general is still entirely new to me.

And ouch. I’ve lost a lot of RuneScape friends due to them getting hacked. Luckily, I’ve gotten to level 165 without anything happening to the account. -crosses fingers-.

On my first character I kept selling all my gathered materials because they were a decent source of income. If you intend to do any crafting at all though, don’t sell any. Just deposit them as collectibles for use in future.

On runescape I even subbed for the member stuff for two months, was really fun. My account got hacked to the point of a changed password, so I couldn’t be bothered starting all over again. My GW2 got hacked once and the hacker destroyed my dungeon tokens (what a jerk) but at least I still had my account, and Support helped me restore my items and gold lol.

At least the GW2 team helped you out~ RuneScape’s team doesn’t deal with hacked accounts at all, other than getting the password back.

I always keep my crafting materials, and I’ve even bought a few (I play DIY in RuneScape, so buying things from other players is a big deal for me lol).

The Wiki is your friend.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page

New Player Tips

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OMG-If-you-only-knew-this-tips-for-new-players

Really, I need to familiarize myself with how skills and items work. Stuff like Insignias confuse me. I don’t get how two pieces of the same armor can have vastly different bonuses.

Thanks Behellagh! I think the new player tips will help out a lot!

I was on the wiki earlier and found some drop tables, so that definitely made my day.

Welcome to the game and congratulations on your upcoming nuptials.

In addition to what has already been given, these:

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/
http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/wiki/newplayers

are another nice source of knowledge. These forums an reddit/rGuildwars2 are daily reads for me.

Happy Hunting!

Ah, RuneScape. Such fond memories… until I terminated my membership back in March and left my account with 2100+ total level behind… GW2 simply proved much more interesting.

Anyway, I know it’s rather late, but welcome to Guild Wars 2! For a start, you’ve probably noticed how this game is so much more combat oriented that RS is, and how the combat is also more fluid and in real time compared to RS’ click-and-shoot turn-based style (well, maybe not shoot pre-EoC, but I’ve been out of touch for too long). Here, your reflexes will be more focused on actually responding to threats with appropriate dodges, rather than just clicking on a shark and expecting it to heal you to nearly full health.

But enough about combat. Exploration is another thing you should note. Unlike in RS, which required you to do quests to unlock new locations, GW2 has no traditional quests. The world is open to you, and the only thing you need to unlock a zone is to simply travel to it.

For crafting… I’ll be honest. It bores me terribly, but it is the fastest way to level your character provided you have the materials ready. You can get a majority of them on the TP for a cost, of course. This aspect of GW2 is pretty similar to what RS has, so you shouldn’t have too much trouble bearing the mind-numbing boredom.

Well, I’ll spare the agony of reading a wall of text, so just ask away if you’re confused about anything.

In addition to the recommended sites listed above, I use http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/
That site has several guides and also has some nice galleries that show the appearance of the different armors and weapons.

Misc site dump

Checking trade price trends as well as Gold→Gem rate

http://www.guildwarstrade.com/

Same as above but also info on crafting and what’s profitable for your crafting level. Longer history of prices but the Gem exchange chart broke back in July.

http://www.gw2spidy.com/

Illustrated Armor guide

http://argos-soft.net/GW2ArmorGallery/

Major Event Tracker – Select your server to see when the big boss events will occur next (takes the surprise out of it)

http://us.gw2stuff.com/en

Crowd Source map of where to harvest rare tier 6 materials in the high level areas, again by server

http://www.orrmaps.com

WvW tracker, check your world’s progress and overall ratings.

http://mos.millenium.org

That’s what I got bookmarked.

Thanks guys! These links are insanely helpful! Hopefully I won’t stay a n00b for much longer.

So now I have a question:
How do I find out about hidden features on each map? I was in Lion’s Arch in June, and I got a Vista (may have been a PoI). Anyway, I mis-stepped and fell into Dragonsmaw. I had no idea what it was or what to do, but when I asked, practically everyone on the map came to help out. I’ve also discovered some random things I never knew about in maps that I have 100% completion in.

Is there a list somewhere?

Look in the Guild Wars 1 Wiki and the Guild Wars 2 Wiki. Read the lore there. Guild Wars 2 does a HORRIBLE job of presenting and explaining the lore, so I suggest you read up on it beforehand.

-Know the lore of your chosen race.
-Read about the conflict between Charr and Humans, it’s a big thing
-Read about Jora and the Sons of Svanir, Flame Legion, and the Inquest—it’s always good to know your bad guys

…..The GW2 wiki has info on a ton of other stuff too, like where you can locate armor, completed maps so you can see where you’re missing something, and so-on.