Guild Wars 2

Hey all, I only played 4 mmos before, SWTOR for 2 years, Tales of Fantasy*shut down* Fallen Earth & Eso*didnt get into eso much, I was expecting skyrim mmo lol*

So my few questions are,

How is the UI on this game, compared to SWTOR?
Will I be spending the next 6 weeks learning the basics?
I heard the game is open world, I like that, but am I forced to follow quests like a circus monkey running from & to point a and b until max level?

I like to grind mobs, loot items, craft gear etc. I was told this game has all of that. Is there anything else I need to know?

Lastly, I usually play mmos alone, from 12am to 5am CST, but in some other mmos, it often felt like a single player game*yes I know I just said I play solo lol*

Is there a constant flow of players running to and from? I guess I want to know if this MMO has a major city feel to it or a rural small town feel.

Any tips or advise you have I will listen.

Many Thanks and nice to meet you all!

MMoGeek.6273:

Hey all, I only played 4 mmos before, SWTOR for 2 years, Tales of Fantasy*shut down* Fallen Earth & Eso*didnt get into eso much, I was expecting skyrim mmo lol*

So my few questions are,

How is the UI on this game, compared to SWTOR?
Will I be spending the next 6 weeks learning the basics?

Hard to say, that is going to be different per person but if you are used to turning your camera with the mouse and activating your skills with hotkeys there should be little issue.

I heard the game is open world, I like that, but am I forced to follow quests like a circus monkey running from & to point a and b until max level?

You can level however you want. There are some people who reached level without ever leaving the initial instance(where everything is level 1 or 2).

There are no quests in GW2.
The closest are the renowned hearts but they are optional. Their main purpose is to guide you around and intersect with events. Events are nice for gaining exp. You can also level through sPvP. sPvP won’t give you exp directly but it will give you Tomes of Knowledge which is an item that gives you one level when used. You also get tomes from the login rewards although for the 28th chest in each cycle you usually better off choosing the laurels. The tomes are account bound so you can get them on one character and use them on another.

I like to grind mobs, loot items, craft gear etc. I was told this game has all of that. Is there anything else I need to know?

If you are going to grind mobs for exp go after the neutral ones(the ones with yellow HP initially, they don’t try to murder you on sight). Those tend to be ignored by people and monsters give up to a 250% bonus exp if they have been alive for long enough. Crafting gives you both crafting exp and character exp. Going from crafting level 1 to 400 will get you around 7 character levels. While there are opportunities don’t expect to get rich from crafting. In most cases the materials are worth more than the finished product.

Lastly, I usually play mmos alone, from 12am to 5am CST, but in some other mmos, it often felt like a single player game*yes I know I just said I play solo lol*

Is there a constant flow of players running to and from? I guess I want to know if this MMO has a major city feel to it or a rural small town feel.

Any tips or advise you have I will listen.

Many Thanks and nice to meet you all!

Not sure about NA but on the EU I can be playing at any time and there will be people around for open world. It also depends a bit on the zone. The high and low end zones tend to people while the middle levels are usually less populated. For dungeons it tends to take a bit more time to find people in the middle of the night.

Thanks for the helpful reply! 75% installed!

MMoGeek.6273:

How is the UI on this game, compared to SWTOR?

Don’t know, never played SWTOR.

Will I be spending the next 6 weeks learning the basics?

Hope not. Recently, relatively, ArenaNet altered the leveling process to simplify learning the basics. For experienced players it’s painful but for a new player to the game, it hopefully will be useful to you, a new player.

I heard the game is open world, I like that, but am I forced to follow quests like a circus monkey running from & to point a and b until max level?

No. There are no traditional quest givers in this game. This game is more about wandering around and finding people in need of help, which are hearts on the map, or dynamic events that spring up from time to time around each map. They are entirely optional to do. However some players may feel aimless without a path to follow. The closest thing we have is your personal story but that doesn’t start until level 10 and you could ignore that completely or start it when you are level 80.

Also since the game will automatically down level you in stats if you are in an area that is below your level so the critters there are still challenging, but rewarding XP and loot in your actual level range, you could remain on the Level 1-15 starter map and never venture anywhere else. Boring but doable.

I like to grind mobs, loot items, craft gear etc. I was told this game has all of that. Is there anything else I need to know?

The PvE game is designed to be very, very co-op friendly. Just about every activity gives you a bit of XP, your character has a copy of all the material nodes on the map so there’s no rush to get to one first. There is no tagging of critters and no split of XP and loot from a critter, everyone who does a minimal amount of damage will get full XP and loot. Everyone can rez. With no traditional MMO Triad of roles you aren’t preordained to be “the support guy” or “the healer” for the entire life span of your character. This makes the game extremely soloable and with a few exceptions, little need to find and run with a party. Dynamic Events are like flash mobs with swords. Simply announce where one is happening and a crowd will form to dispatch it before dispersing again.

Lastly, I usually play mmos alone, from 12am to 5am CST, but in some other mmos, it often felt like a single player game*yes I know I just said I play solo lol*

Is there a constant flow of players running to and from? I guess I want to know if this MMO has a major city feel to it or a rural small town feel.

Well in the major cities. The game uses what’s called “megaservers” which strives to populate each map with players from all servers in your region, NA/EU. Since Oceania tends to play on the NA server, if you are as well you should find players about, just not as many as say between 5p EDT to 3a PDT. I play in that time block as well because I’m a vampire, or at least that’s what the neighborhood kids think I am. Can’t dissapoint the children now.

Hope this helps. Oh two last things, the OMG sticky at the top of this board has a lot of tricks players learned and the wiki is your friend.

Maybe I’ll see you in Tyria. Have fun.

As others have said there are many ways to get to 80. You do not even need to do the ‘bring me all the truffles’ stuff at all unless you are trying to complete a map (although they are a good way of learning the basic mechanics early on).

If you have used any other game the controls should be easy to learn (and most keystrokes can be remapped anyway). The most annoying things for me was movement (I am used to using the arrow keys) and diving (it is more awkward than it needs to be). You should be able to get the basics the 1st day.

If you are stuck many higher level players will help you. On a playable map they would have colored arrows above them and in a city you can identify us by there being an 80 next to the name tag when you hover your cursor over them. They may be busy though so the best thing is to use /map (followed by your test) in the chat bar first to talk to everyone on the map. People who are busy will just ignore chat but if not that is where they will look.

Menadena.7482:

If you have used any other game the controls should be easy to learn (and most keystrokes can be remapped anyway). The most annoying things for me was movement (I am used to using the arrow keys) and diving (it is more awkward than it needs to be). You should be able to get the basics the 1st day.

You can remap those. You can even have both at the same time. Both my WASD and arrow keys work for movement.

Diving is just tilt camera and forward movement key or hold both mouse buttons.

the UI is… we have a love-hate relationship. it’s effective, it’s there, and it gives you the information you need. you can’t tell it where to live tho. you can kind of ‘swap’ position of the map/quest log and the chat/party window, but that’s it. there is no clear way of doing this, you kind of have to just stumble on to it. the inventory is the only window that can be resized, and at times it will do this for you on it’s own. >_<

it only takes a short time to get the basics down. the basics, are, however, very basic. 5 skills, swap weapon, and customize everything on the right side of the skill bar. learning how these skills interact with each other and other professions skills is another matter. type /wiki combo field once you are in game and spend some time working it out once you have played for a while.

the game is open world completely, except for your personal story missions which are instanced. like dungeons, you can bring up to 4 friends with you. (only on the final story mission are you required to) there is no typical questing system, and instead there are events and renown hearts which encourage you to do things in an area at certain times or after certain triggers. even when you are roaming by yourself, the gameplay feels like the whole server is a party and everyone is invited.

the ‘feel’ of the game is somewhere between big city and rural town. you can find instances of both, but it really feels more like a big-name theme park coming to a small town. every few weeks the circus comes to an area and everyone goes down to the corner to see the ruckus. between those times you grind out your favorite spots.

if you enjoy lore, exploration, or scenery at all this game will amaze you. stop and smell it for best results.

Others have given fine answers. I’ll just add that “grinding mobs” is a horrible way to spend your time here if you are doing it for XP. It’s about the lowest source of XP there is. Now, you might get some mats to sell or craft with, you’ll advance your various mob slayer achievements, but those things are better done in tandem with other activities rather than just hacking down creatures.

Speaking of crafting, it’s a good source of XP, not a good source of income or at-level gear as a rule. The big thing that catches most new crafters is the assumption that you will do well if you make a lot of the same item. Nope! You get much more XP and craft-skill-progress by discovering new recipes in the Discovery tab.

After 8 hours of playing, a few things I have noticed.

1. Friendliest mmo community I have seen, with what little experience I have.
2. My last mmo was like a small town and in some area, nearly void of player life.

Here, It felt like NYC, and that was at 3am CST!!!

As for me liking to grind. Its ok if its slow, I loved Diablo, but its not a mmo, I love to hack n slash mobs of enemy, hoping to find good drops. I intend to craft & explore, this game feels so very epic & has given new life to my mmo quest.

I was a bit hesitant on buying this with the steam sale, but now that I did, I am very happy. Nothing I own on steam is making me as awe struck as this.

Just happy I am divorced, because I can see my social life going to hell now lol.

“Hoping to find good drops.” Well, a precursor might drop. None has for me in nearly 3 years of play, but it can happen! If you get any orange text weapon from any source, look at it very carefully. The tooltip will have a line near the bottom saying “this is used as a precursor for x item.” Some of those are worth more gold than most players ever have in their bank.

This may change once we know more about how to craft precursors in the expansion. For now, other than a super rare item out of a black lion chest (for which keys are hard to come by without investing real cash or a lot of time), that’s the only really exciting drop you’re going to find.

… speaking of keys, if you like to grind, maybe you should read up on key farming. It involves creating an alt, running it through levels quickly, and doing the first set of Personal Story instances at level 20. Each time you do that you get a key to open a chest, the chests are fairly cheap on the Trading Post if none have dropped for you, and while you can reliably expect to get untradeable junk items there might be something valuable in the chest. It’s a gamble, but hey. All you’ve lost is some time playing if you key farm.

Donari.5237:

“Hoping to find good drops.” Well, a precursor might drop. None has for me in nearly 3 years of play, but it can happen! If you get any orange text weapon from any source, look at it very carefully. The tooltip will have a line near the bottom saying “this is used as a precursor for x item.” Some of those are worth more gold than most players ever have in their bank.

This may change once we know more about how to craft precursors in the expansion. For now, other than a super rare item out of a black lion chest (for which keys are hard to come by without investing real cash or a lot of time), that’s the only really exciting drop you’re going to find.

… speaking of keys, if you like to grind, maybe you should read up on key farming. It involves creating an alt, running it through levels quickly, and doing the first set of Personal Story instances at level 20. Each time you do that you get a key to open a chest, the chests are fairly cheap on the Trading Post if none have dropped for you, and while you can reliably expect to get untradeable junk items there might be something valuable in the chest. It’s a gamble, but hey. All you’ve lost is some time playing if you key farm.

It is level 10 not 20.

The chests have also increased in price quite a bit compare to how they used to be. They used to be less than 1s but now they are more than 4s.

Khisanth.2948:

Menadena.7482:

If you have used any other game the controls should be easy to learn (and most keystrokes can be remapped anyway). The most annoying things for me was movement (I am used to using the arrow keys) and diving (it is more awkward than it needs to be). You should be able to get the basics the 1st day.

You can remap those. You can even have both at the same time. Both my WASD and arrow keys work for movement.

Diving is just tilt camera and forward movement key or hold both mouse buttons.

I know you can remap them and if you reread my post I said that. Just that I was swearing at my computer until I had a chance to do so while I went through the initial tutorial.

The problem with diving is it is not intuitive and can not be changed. It should not involve taking your fingers off the keyboard, where they are 99% of the time, to use your mouse. The ‘swim down’ key should do exactly that when you enter the water, which is what you would expect.

edit: Another problem with diving is to do all that you stop moving forward, even if just for a millisecond.

Menadena.7482:

Khisanth.2948:

Menadena.7482:

If you have used any other game the controls should be easy to learn (and most keystrokes can be remapped anyway). The most annoying things for me was movement (I am used to using the arrow keys) and diving (it is more awkward than it needs to be). You should be able to get the basics the 1st day.

You can remap those. You can even have both at the same time. Both my WASD and arrow keys work for movement.

Diving is just tilt camera and forward movement key or hold both mouse buttons.

I know you can remap them and if you reread my post I said that. Just that I was swearing at my computer until I had a chance to do so while I went through the initial tutorial.

The problem with diving is it is not intuitive and can not be changed. It should not involve taking your fingers off the keyboard, where they are 99% of the time, to use your mouse. The ‘swim down’ key should do exactly that when you enter the water, which is what you would expect.

edit: Another problem with diving is to do all that you stop moving forward, even if just for a millisecond.

I am not really sure what you are doing …
Diving doesn’t require taking your hands off anything or stopping. Are you trying to play with only one hand? I am pretty sure the devs assumed most of their customers will hand two.

Khisanth.2948:

It is level 10 not 20. (to do the first batch of PS)

The chests have also increased in price quite a bit compare to how they used to be. They used to be less than 1s but now they are more than 4s.

Whoops, typo, thanks for catching that.

I think the chests fluctuate. I got a few for around 2 s each recently.

Khisanth.2948:

I am not really sure what you are doing …
Diving doesn’t require taking your hands off anything or stopping. Are you trying to play with only one hand? I am pretty sure the devs assumed most of their customers will hand two.

The best way to dive uses a mouse to look dowm. My right hand is over the arrow keys, my left is over the numbers with occasionally hitting ‘f’ for whatever. To use the mouse I have to move one of them off the keyboard, presumably not the left.

Of course, if you use the mouse to navigate that is not a problem. Although it feels strange to me unless I am playing something first person all the time, which I regard as something strange for MMORPGs.

As I said, it would make much more sense if the dive down key does what it says on the box. I am sure I am not the only person who initially assumed it would do that.