I’m working on my map completion. Is there any ‘faster’ or ‘slower’ way to do it? I mean, in what order should I run through maps to do it in the fastest way?
Make sure you start WvW maps as soon as possible, and then continue them as you complete other maps, so you can take the best advantage of your server being different colours, or taking points like Stonemist Keep.
There is no shortcut other than visiting all the locals.
That said, you should start clearing the WvW maps earlier than later. The color your server gets assigned varies over time and if you spend 1/2 hour to an hour tagging all the locals your server is controlling, this will leave you with very little left to tag. You can check on the status of your server in WvW here.
Reason I’m saying you do it earlier than later is it’ll take a rotation or two, 3-6 weeks to easily get all the locations. Of course if you play WvW a lot it will take less time.
As for the rest, start easy and work out. I first do the cities, then the starting zones and work out from there. If you are missing a few you can always check the zone’s map on the wiki. If one of the locals you need to tag is at the end of a jump puzzle and you can’t figure out how to do it or even where it starts, YouTube or a friendly mesmer.
As the previous posters pointed out you want to stay on top of WvW mapping right away. Just get in the habit of checking the WvW borders from time to time and you shouldn’t have too much of an issue over the long course of world completion.
I focused on completing one map every day or two. If I was tired or wanted to focus on tv (or whatever) I would map one of the primary cities. If you can help guildies, hang with friends and/or participate in map chat with events and so on than mapping can be a pleasurable experience.
The only tip I can give is to always start with the maps you like the least/find the most boring (always making sure to visit WvW every week in moments of the day in which your server owns most of the color-wise area they belong to)
Thanks all for help. It seems to be a good idea to do wvw at first. I find it terribly boring just to run for hours, but I’ll have to finish map completion sooner or later.
Beside the good advice above if you will only be using your character for map completion and nothing else then you may want to start in the center of everything and radiate out. But if you will be jumping around the map for whatever reason then learning how the various maps are connected together would help. Of some help are a couple of shortcuts to far-flung areas – the Asura gate from Divinity’s Reach to Fields of Ruin and the Asura gates from the 3 Orders’ headquarters to Fort Trinity in Straights of Devastation.
Use the Divinity’s Reach Asura gate to Fields of Ruins for there and Blazeridge Steppes. Do the steps of the Personal Story up through the battle of Fort Trinity (level 70 of the story) so your character can use the Asura gates in the Orders’ headquarters for fast access to Orr, Mount Malestrom and Spark Fly Fen. I usually use the one in the Priory’s headquarters in Lornar’s Pass since it’s so close to Lion’s Arch.
These 2 pages have helped me a lot in map completion: http://gw2wvw.org/
This maps show you an up to date status of WvW (make sure you put it on your own server) so you can keep an eye on points you still need. http://gw2.mmorpg-life.com/interactive-maps/
My usual go-to site for difficult Vista’s or even PoIs.
High Mobility with good AoE and overall damage (burst-damage especially in low-levels zones) will always help.
Lastly Ash Legion Spy Kits (and/or Harpy Feathers) can greatly help on Skill Points guarded by strong Veterans/Champions that you don’t need to kill. (Few in Orr spring to mind.) Even if you can solo them, it saves time for a few Karma/Copper. Assuming you can’t give yourself stealth/invul during channels.
Besides that I started with the high level zones and worked down so overall it feels quicker and quicker.
Outside of world vs world part which can take a while, the rest of map completion is relatively easy. Did most of it on my own, especially the Orr maps as it was before the megaservers were introduced. From recollection, most high level enemy were hanging around skill points in area’s of Orr. Most of them roam, meaning if you watch their patterns, they can be avoided.
Should also mention a small amount of skill points are based in Orr temples, so you might need to wait until the temples are cleared to get them safely.
