Guild Wars 2

Hi everyone.
i just bought the game (+HoT) waiting for the download to finish at the moment
can you guys please give some tips for a new player? i never played GW before

what should i do first in the game?

lvl up a character normaly without the boost, if you can also explore as many of the zones as you can the better for you. Take your time looking at the skins on what ever you so choose to lvl and have fun with it. Also if you have the coin to spare i would suggest buying lw season 2 from the gem store ( since its the bridge between personal story and the expac or else you will have many questions) after you reach lvl 80.

hey thank you!
i’m planning to play from the beginning and explore everything i can. i don’t want to use the level boost.

can you tell me what is “lw season 2” i have no idea :o

Basically living world are updates of episodic nature prograssing the story and tiying expansions The ae free for a time and then they are b2p. you will be able to see when you download the game which episodes of season 3 you have unlocked as they save from free to play in ccase you played on a free to play acount.

i didn’t play on f2p account before.. i never played GW in any way so i have no idea what you are talking about but i will look for it, thanks again!

My only advice would be: when you reach lvl 80, don’t rush into HoT content. Make sure you got yourself exotic tier weapons, trinkets and armor and then you can start looking for ascended tier quality equipment. Other than that: enjoy the dynamic events, map exploration, world bosses, story, the crafting and get used to traits, weapons and dodge mechanics. Once you feel like you have “mastered” all of that by playing fractals/dungeons or even PvP (if you like that, note that you don’t need to play PvE to play PvP), then you could start looking into HoT content imo. Altghough I would also advise you to buy and play season 2 content as a bridge between core and expansion if you have a spare gold to transfer into gems to buy season 2 (It will also make more sense in terms of gameplay and story).

Oath, send a request in map chat or in lfg — to request looking for a guild. A great casual guild will help you get started till you find what you most want to get out of HoT

SO, my advice:

Talk to people:
Ask for help, make questions in game. Most players will help you without any problem, the community is still warm and helpful, even if these forums are so salty. People with apple symbols over their heads are acting as Mentors. They are SPECTING YOU to ask them for support and guidance. People with commander badges are leading group efforts to do some big event (from killing bosses, completing metas to farming stuff) If you follow them you will find the larger groups of people on the map (the “zerg”) which could make your life way easier in some hostile environments. Once you hit HoT maps, ask someone with experience to explain what Taxi-ing is (It is very important there, but it will confuse you without need if I explain it now).
Try to get into a good Guild.

Leveling:
While leveling, try to keep your armor within 10 levels of your toon level. Dont forget to look at your Hero panel: learn your traits as you go unlocking them, and don’t diversify too much at the beggining (3 core traitlines completed are best than 6 half lines). Your main focus while leveling should be getting waypoints: they open all the travelling options you’ll need later, allowing you to travel from boss to boss, go with your guild to complete any mission in any point of the world, and move around during living story. Vistas, Jumping Puzzles, Events, Hero Points and simple node farming give you MUCH more experience points than just killing things.
Try to get access to a city hub as soon as possible (crafting stations, bank, trading posts and other useful features are easy to get there). Personally I reccomend Rata Sum, as the services are all very close and easy to navigate. Lion’s Arch will be important later because the Mystic Toile… Mystic Forge is there.

Crafts:
Try to craft things, so you can steadily level up your crafting disciplines, because they come in handy later (You’ll need 3 toons to have the more relevant crafts without buying extra craft slots: tailor, leatherworker and armorsmith make armor; weaponsmith, huntsman and artificer make weapons.) Cooking and jewelling are easy to level, but aren’t really needed in the endgame, so they could be seen as a lose of time and resources.

Fighting:
Don’t expect to kill everything at once. Pay atention to the mobs animations, learn to dodge in the right moment. In GW2 there isn’t a true trinity: every profession have tools to do damage, give support, enhance their movement and cure themselves. Not all are equally capable at all, but the idea is no one have to over-specialice if they don’t want to. GW2 has 2 kind of damage: Direct damage(power stat, influenced by precision and ferocity) is burst focused, good for killin thing fast, ideal for trash that die with one well placed hit; Condi damage (condition dmg stat influenced mainly by condi duration) is damage over time, so you apply it and then defend or escape, making it good to kill some bigger creatures and bosses. CC means “crowd control”, and refers to skills used to push, pull, interrupt and slowdown enemies. It is not that relevant in core tyria, but become increasingly important as you approach HoT zones, were foes can have a bar you have to break with CC to defeat them. It is also a very rewarding and hard to master style of gameplay: you have to know were and when to CC, to really control the creatures and to NOT mess with the play of the other payers (People hate when Rangers use Longbow 4 to push a mob outside a zone of damage without thinking).
Overall, dodging and boon sharing (how many people sharing boosts can become excedingly powerful thogheter) are the most important things you’ll need to learn while leveling.

QoL
Your inventory will get full quite fast. You can Deposit Materials using an option in the little cog in the upper right corner of your Inventory. Those materials go to the material storage, in your bank, and WILL become full over time too, forcing you to sell, craft, delete or buy more bank space. Do not fall into the Diogenes syndrome. Do NOT prize items too much. Most of them are not as valuable as you think. If it says “this item only has value as part of a collection” is usually better to delete asap.
You’ll also need to learn how to salvage things: salvage kits are quite anoying, IMO, because them only stack to 25. So, as soon as you can get 3 Mystic Stones, combine them in the forge with Master, Journeyman and Fine salvaging kits to get Mystic Salvage Kits, which stack to 250. Also you can buy the cooper and silver feed salvage kits from the gemstore, but they aren’t good if you want to optimize every single copper cent you make in game (I have both because I don’t care, I prefer to pay for the comfort).
The R key let your toon run without pressing W all the time, which is handy when running though big maps, and a must when you zerg at WvW.
Pressing Escape you’ll get the option menu, and within the visual/graphic one there are settings to adjust your camera exactly like you want. I usually adjust it so it is over my toon and slightly to a side, so I always have the center of my screen clear to see the situation.
Asura and other short characters tend to be easier to use on Jumping Puzzles, because at some point the camera gets funky.

That’s all I can remember right now. The game is really complex and IMO, extremely beautiful and fun, and honestly, I think is above each and every single other MMORPG out there. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.

Of course, if you need any help and are in NA servers, don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll help with anything I can.

To answer your question about season 2, it is the downloadable story prior to the HoT story. It does not come with the package you bought, you will have to buy it separately to play it. There was also a season 1 which set up season 2, but it was temporary content and no longer exists beyond a small video recap which will trigger when you finish the first story arc.

What Ardid said is sound advice. Here is a general overview of how the story is structured:

1.) Personal Story
This is the story you start out with. The choices you make during character creation will change which story you get for the beginning 20 levels (story steps are marked via green markers and pointers). There is no right or wrong, just pick stuff you think fits your character. Every 10 levels the story continues. There are branching paths and you get to make choices which will affect how the story plays out. It all leads towards the same end though.

2.) Living World Season 1 – not avaialable any longer.
These were timelimited events released during the beginning of GW2. You currently can only watch a short synopsis of what transpired.

3.) Living World Season 2 (Episodes 1 – 8 ) – continues the story post Season 1.
These are 8 purchasable upgrades costing 200 gems each. They lead right up to the beginning of Heart of Thorns. They are of way higher quality than the original personal story. Starting with LWS2 story steps are replayable and in general come with a multitude of challenges and rewards.

4.) Heart of Thorns –
the first expansion story which starts right where Living World Season 2 left off. You will have this unlocked once you reach level 80 no matter if you have Living World Season 2 or not or if you have finished the original story.

5.) Living World Season 3 (Episodes 1 – 6) –
We are currently in Episode 5 of Season 3 and you will have this one unlocked free of charge the moment you log in (since it’s the currently active story step it unlocks for everyone who logs in for free). Episodes 1 – 4 cost 200 gems each same as LWS2 steps. They continue the story post HoT and towards a future expansion which can be expected end of the year.

That being said, take your time, enjoy the game. Try out some of the different classes. Don’t skip the story, it’s quite engaging the first time around.

That being said, if you are coming from more traditional MMOs realise that GW2 has active dodge mechanics. You need to read your enemys attacks and dodge them (or simply not stand in range). If you start trading blows with enemys you will soon lie head first in the grass.

Feel free to ask people in map chat (/m). Especially in the starter areas you’re likely to get someone to answer. Try to socialize and if you happen to find some friendly individuals, feel free to join their guild (it costs nothing, you can be in up to 5 guilds and you can leave any time you want).

wow thanks to all of you, i appreciate the help!
that information is really useful for me
and it’s exactly what i wanted to know
can’t wait to play the game(still downloading)

Just play, and if there is something you are not enjoying then leave it and do something else. So much stuff to keep you interested…

Oh, I forgot the most important!
You cant survive without these:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Emote

You should also take a peek through the Players Helping Players subforum, including the stickies there. There’s tons of good advice to find, including questions you may not have thought to ask but once you see them are glad you found the answer. I use similar forums in all my games just to peruse and learn. Even if I don’t understand all the lingo when I start, I get a feel for the possibilities the game offers.

First, welcome to the game!
Everyone here really did a great job explaining the basics and such, I just wanted to add something about the living world season 1 content.

While it was limited time and there is a synopsis in the game of what happened, someone did make a very good movie about it. I don’t have the link, but if you were to just type “gw2 season 1 movie” into google it should be near the top.

It is lengthy but if you get into the lore and would like a more in depth retelling without reading through the wiki (although that’s not a bad option either, this is just a different option) I would highly recommend as I thought it was very well put together.

Edit: recommend watching after you complete your personal story though, not necessarily right away

welcome as well, GW2 is a huge game for a new player, and entering and leveling up a first character in an AAA game is a rare thing so enjoy it

My tips are :

-Buy infinite gathering tools – huge quality of life change.

-Wander anywhere you fancy deep into zones that are way above you level, its fun and exciting and you get xp from gathering and exploration.

Look for named npc’s and speak to them, may trigger events or event chains.

-Dont use map, explore freely

- There is a power/stat cap at end game so there is no power level to fall behind so you can relax and not feel pressured to get to max level asap.

- Enter WVW and look at map for players with diamonds icon (commander) or cross swords for fights and go to them and follow the group for fun pvp

- if you want taste of big boss fights have a look at the GW2 boss timer website.

Oathkeeper.1453:

Hi everyone.
i just bought the game (+HoT) waiting for the download to finish at the moment
can you guys please give some tips for a new player? i never played GW before

what should i do first in the game?

Weapon Sets – In GW2, each weapon has its own unique set of skills for each class. This is a choice that has a dramatic impact on how your character operates.

Weapon Swapping – Most classes have the ability to swap between two weapon sets in combat. The exception are engineers and elementalists, as they have access to significantly more weapon skills than other classes. Don’t lock yourself into one set. Learn them all to really see what your class can do!

Unlocking Skills/Specializations – You will be unlocking every skill and specialization available to your class in the Training tab of your Hero panel by the time you reach the level cap. Your skill choices while leveling do matter, but only while leveling.

Skills – Skills (the abilities that fill the 5 slots to the right of your weapon skill bar) become available at level 11 and are unlocked using hero points. You can use 1 healing skill, 3 utility, and 1 elite skill at a time, but you can swap skills you’ve unlocked while out of combat. As with weapon sets, these choices can make a big difference in how your character operates.

Specializations – Specializations grant a range of abilities and bonuses that change how your character plays. Specialization slots unlock at level 21, 45, and 71, eventually allowing you to use 3 specialization lines simultaneously. As with skills, you use hero points to unlock them. Fully unlocking a specialization requires 60 hero points.

Gear Stats – Your primary damage stats are power and condition damage. Power applies to direct damage (like the initial impact of a flaming arrow), while condition damage applies to damage over time (like the burning that follows the arrow!). Your gear stats should reflect your weapon/skill/specialization choices. Both tend to pair well with precision, which increases your % chance of a critical hit. Damage stats are generally preferred for leveling.

Move. Dont stop moving.

Mobility is important to a degree in gw2 that Ive not seen in most other mmos. It can reduce foes’ ability to harm you and, sometimes, increase your ability to harm them. A speed boost, trait or utility skill, can augment this.

and remember to dodge.

Dodging while jumping looks cool btw.

Explore. Dont wait for a questline to move you into the next level range of content.

You will be automatically downleveled to match lower level areas, but will receive rewards mostly according to your actual level, so dont feel pressured to leave an area before you are done exploring it just because of your level.

Dont rush to endgame. Have fun with the journey.

Dont vendor items until youve seen their trading post value. bolded because this is a big one.

1) Don’t use the 80 boost yet, if you do then you will have a whole lot more things you don’t understand right away.

2) This isn’t like other MMOs. You won’t be directed from quest giver to quest giver and you won’t be pushed out of one map to the next one. It’s sandbox lite once you are done with the tutorial. You can find scouts that will tell you about nearby activities which you can choose to do or not. Feel free to explore the maps.

Just about everything you do will generate XP. PvE is designed around the philosophy that you shouldn’t be afraid of seeing another player. Everyone has a copy of a gathering node so no rush to claim it first, everyone gets equal, not shared, XP and loot from defeating a critter.

I mentioned you won’t get pushed out of a map, that’s because the game will auto down level you to match the level of critters in your vicinity. Note it won’t up level you. You will be rewarded XP and loot similar to what you will get if you faced a critter of your actual level so it’s entirely possible to level to 80 in the starter maps.

There are no factions across races so you can visit all the home cities and maps without fear from the map’s race. Each race does have a faction of their own race as the default troublemakers besides disagreeable critters.

In this game it’s the combination of weapons wielded and profession that determines your current combat skills. The same weapon has different skills on different professions as well, if the profession allows, in different hands. Most professions allow you to switch between weapons in the middle of combat once you’re level 10. Also few skills will root you in place, movement and dodging is key to stay alive. Everyone can heal themselves a bit and rez others including NPCs (for XP).

The Wiki is your friend. The game is sadly light in explaining some of the more advance systems like specializations and traits and the wiki is a good place to read up on them. Don’t worry too much about making a mistake leveling up. As you do you will start getting Hero Points to unlock traits and skills. By the time you hit Level 80 you will have enough to unlock everything. If you want to unlock them faster, there are Hero Point Challenges on maps that by completing will reward you with additional Hero Points.

That’s it for now.