Guild Wars 2

Hi

So I bought the game last night and i wanted some advice before i get started…

Having played WOW since beta, i gave up recently because it turned into too much of a time sink and i found it no longer enjoyable… i have very little time to play the game, so wanted to make sure i got on the right track and didn’t find i had to re-roll after a few weeks.

I’ve found a few guides which seemed interesting and was the reason i bought the game, but would appreciate any advice regarding servers, races, professions… i know everyone is different and like different things, but I wouldn’t mind starting with an easy and fun class… i played a Hunter, Pally, Rogue & Priest on WOW – with the Marksman Hunter and Shadow Priest being my preferred choice (I think because of the utility more than anything else – I did some end game dungeon soloing on both).

Any advice on progression would be good… i get very bored when stuck doing the same thing over and over. E.g. if in wow i would recommend that a newbie does the starter zone, starts progressing onto the quests, queues for some random BGs and random dungeons, gears up with boss loot on way, etc…

I am sure the tutorial will get me started, but having some better clue would be appreciated.

Thanks
Zephyr

Take your time, and enjoy the scenery. It’s only completely new once. I love my Ranger, it is my Main, but mostly people will tell you to stay away from that Profession. Pity, I think, but you have, at least, 5 chances to try different Professions.

Many changes are coming tomorrow, so things might be quite different a couple of months down the road.

Welcome to Tyria, and happy adventuring! =)

hm, throw in some WvW early, try to do the storyline dungeons early but stay away from explorable dungeons till 80 (trying to find a group that will take you below max level will possibly be an unpleasant experience), find a guild you enjoy as soon as possible as group mechanics are heavily exploitable by griefers. And most of all, immediatly stop thinking WoW and trinity roles, this will really keep you back and make you not enjoy the game.

Firstly you have 5 character slots and can experiment with races, classes at low level and high level (characters are max leveled in sPvP environments). Second realize that this is not the game you have played for so long and cannot be that game. Don’t rush to level 80 because end-game is very much different than what you are used to. Lastly set your own goals because the game won’t do it for you.

1. Do your daily achievements. Login once a day just for that if needed – those laurels are gonna come in very handy later in the game. Throw in the PVP dailies too if you can.
2. Gather every gathering node you come by – like laurels, collectibles will be crucial later on. Consider salvaging everything you don’t want or no longer need from the start too, as that’s another way to accumulate some non gatherable crafting materials.
3. Hop on an active guild with Teamspeak (or any of the other softwares that do the same thing). Connect to the people you play with, it will make the game 10x more fun. Guild wars is a complex game with a lot of layers and things to do, and unfortunately not the best at explaining some of its less traditional concepts to new players. Having someone to guide you through the mechanics is essencial not to get overwhelmed by the info and numbers.

Having this, you’re in for a lot of fun.

Basically, just try out all the races and classes (guardian/warrior will be easiest to start with, Mesmer/ele will probably be the hardest), there is no harm deleting a new character to make another just to try something different, you also have 5 slots so plenty of room to keep your favorites.

There is no trinity here, keep yourself alive and do your best, playing with others makes this game a lot more enjoyable and easier.

I would have to recommend Tarnished Coast as a server, I have been here since beta and the community is great, it is also where most of the RPers gather if you like that too. other t1/2 servers are also pretty populated if you wanted to go with something else.

Anyway, welcome to Tyria, feel free to add me sometime, if I’m online I’m usually happy to hop to wherever and just adventure around if you are in need of a friend or just want some company~

Thanks for the tips.

I’ve seen a WoW vs GW2 youtube post the other day that already made me wonder about the DPS/Healer/Tank role somewhat… One of the things i liked when reading about GW2 is that it doesn’t seem to be about gear in PVP… is this truely the case?

In PvP everyone is level 80 with access to everything they could need to play automatically.

There are no defined roles in this game and everyone basically has to look after themselves, however some builds/classes will be much for effective then others in PvP and PvE respectively.

1. Learn to dodge.

2. Join a guild.

Firstly, there is a huge difference between the combat here and the combat in WoW and most other MMOs, so if by common RPGs you mean common MMOs, then no, I’m afraid your skills -won’t- transfer over. A few things of note:
The combat in this game is much more action-oriented- you can avoid attacks by strafing and dodging as you fight, and using skills to counter enemy attacks. It’s more important to avoid attacks than to heal them.
There is no healer/tank/DPS trinity. Everyone is responsible for their own survival, for DPSing the enemy, for coordinating support and control to make fights more manageable.
Your success in this game depends largely on your skill as a player, rather than your gear.
I highly recommend giving this a read: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/GW2-Combat-system-101-Guide/first
In addition, GW2 is highly unlike WoW in many other respects. The game’s meant to be more of a journey- you take your time and enjoy the process of leveling, explore to your heart’s content, and when you hit 80, there aren’t tiers of raids and gear to chase one after the other. You pretty much find what you enjoy doing and do it.

In GW2 all races are the same when it comes to stats and hitbox size. So pick one that you like for appearance as it won’t give you any benefit otherwise. Each race has racial skills but they are usually underpowered compared to your class specific ones, so that shouldn’t be a deciding factor.

Warrior and Guardian tend to be easier to play for beginners, Ranger Necromancer are around the middle and Thief, Mesmer, Engineer and Elementalist tend to be more difficult to pick up.

There is a lot of helpful info on the forums here, check some of the stickied threads and go in the profession sub section for guides on how to play that profession.

Like the post above me mentioned, gw2 is about the journey. There is great content in the game but its spread out evenly across levels and not stacked all at the end like in traditional mmos. There’s still lots of stuff to do once you hit max level (80). Also you get scaled down when you are a higher level, so even if you are a level 80 you can go to lower level areas and experience that content without 1 hitting everything. So doesn’t worry about rushing to 80 just play the game.

Joining a guild helps as well. I recommend finding a decent PvX guild as they tend to do a bit of everything until you figure out what part of the game you like and decide if you want to go into something more focused.

Best advice I can give, as someone who currently plays both games, is to completely change the philosophy of what you believe an MMO should be when you boot up GW2.

WoW is a job. You log in, do the same stuff you’ve done a million times, get some more of XYZ currency, buy XYZ new item, to do 5% more damage or healing or whatever. The upside is, you can quantify your accomplishments when you log in and out of the game and make yourself believe you’ve “done something.”

GW2 is more of a “game” to me. It’s about experiencing new environments, enjoying the scenery (quite literally), testing your skills (rather than your knowledge), and generally joining a fantasy world. Like most games, it sometimes gets boring. When it does, take a break. No sub required. But keep an open mind, and come back when something that interests you comes out.

Oh, and for the love of all that is holy, don’t hang around General Discussion/the forums until you’ve formed your own opinion of the game. Nothing but negativity there.

This game can be just as much of a time sink. Having played since just after launch and having about more hours invested than I care to admit, I will say I’m bored out of my mind with it. There’s progression and grind, if that’s your thing.