Guild Wars 2

Hi there,

1. Firstly, what servers are considered “unofficial Oceanic” servers?

Now, in regard to that point, I was also wondering how friendly this game is in terms of “Having to join a guild” (it is called Guild Wars..after all).
I am more the type of player to solo, and occasionally group for mutual interests (dungeons…group quests etc).
Often I find that guilds remove game/story immersion.
So, although I am beginning to sound like a total recluse and thus “why do you need the company of your fellow Aussies if you just wish to solo”, It’s more for IF I decide to join a guild, I would prefer it be people on my time schedule.

2. I have no idea about what Classes are considered OP. I don’t even care. I just went to the website, had a quick look at the classes and decided “Engineer, or Mesmer”. They were the first things that popped out at me.

Any thoughts there?
(Note, I do intend to PvP in the future.)

3. Does race make any difference? Are certain races more compatible with certain classes?

4. And Lastly, are there any basics/tips that would be good to know before I plunge into the unknown?

Thanking you! And best regards

1) No idea but unless you want to play World Vs World, servers don’t really matter as the game uses “megaserver” tech to keep maps full.

2) Neither do I and I’ve been at this for 3 years. I haven’t played Engineer but Mesmers were OP in PvP but there was a balance patch a week or two ago that may have fixed that. But I don’t PvP.

3) Personal story, some race specific skills, where you start. No one race is favored by a set of professions over another.

4) Let’s see.

• The wiki is your friend. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page
• The OMG sticky on the board has some good tips.
• Everything in PvE generates XP.
• Critters that haven’t been killed immediately when spawned will accrue bonus XP (so go after critters off the beaten path, they are worth more XP).
• There is no kill stealing and everyone gets full XP and loot if you do some damage on a critter. Material nodes are instanced, no race to get there first.
• Everyone can rez, so please do so, you’ll get XP.
• There is no real endgame yet until the expansion and that’s only because the entire expansion is Level 80, so no need to rush to the level cap. Don’t expect to be led about through the game maps, there is no traditional quest givers and you won’t be pushed off of a map.
• The game will also down level you in lower level zones so you can’t ignore critters just because you are level 80 in a level 10 area, they still can and will kill you if you are lazy.
• You can level to 80 without leaving the starter map but you will be missing out a lot of breathtaking landscapes.

1. What servers are considered “unofficial Oceanic” servers?

Afaik, there are no unofficial Oceanic servers. There’s a kiwi in my guild and she’s on Yak’s Bend, I think. We also have an aussie and I think he’s on Darkhaven.

1b Do you have to join a guild?

You can run solo content and join PuGs for dungeon runs and be perfectly content. There’s no kill stealing— everyone gets credit for a kill. There’s no node stealing— so you need not compete to get to a node. You get XP for rezing someone, so it’s to your benefit to help others. It is common for people in a map to not-group and take on world bosses or champions. It’s all good.

That said, HoT expansion is making cool guild halls with some nice perks so joining one can give you access to some fun things. There are also many casual guilds that don’t require heavy time commitments, repping, or dues. You could even look for an RP guild if you’re into immersion.

2. I decided [on] “Engineer, or Mesmer”. Any thoughts there?

Engi and Mesmer are considered a couple of the most difficult classes to learn. Both are a lot of fun but if you’re struggling at all, check in with the profession sub-forums.

Engi is a lot to learn because each toolkit utility gives you a different set of weapon skills, so switching between them and learning combo fields is important. Mesmer is my personal favorite. People love portals, feedback reflects, and time warps. Mesmer typically doesn’t do a lot of burst damage, but their utilities are welcome among the majority of groups.

3. Does race make any difference?

Short answer: No. As an example, some people like to pair engi with charr or asura as the more “technical” races, but you’re certainly not limited to that. There are a few racial skills, but most people don’t even use them.

4. Any basics/tips that would be good to know before I plunge into the unknown?

The big one, IMO, is learn to dodge right away. A lot of survival in this game is avoiding damage. For the rest, I love to point to this thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OMG-If-you-only-knew-this-tips-for-new-players/first

Welcome and good luck!

Can’t believe I forgot about that. Yes dodge and move. Few skills will root you and characters don’t have enough HP and straight up damage mitigation to face tank. It’s about avoiding damage. There are telegraphs for AoEs so don’t stand in the red circle.

Most of the PvE experience can be done without formal partying. Large Dynamic Group Events are essentially flash mobs with swords, guns, bows and spells look for them being announced on the map chat.

The world boss events are mostly on a train schedule and repeat every 2, 3, or 4 hours depending on difficulty and complexity.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/World_boss

A quick google search suggested that Sea of Sorrows is one of the top oceanic servers, but again there’s no need unless you’re looking to play wvw. Guilds don’t really have a downside, so apart from immersion breaking that you talked about there’s not much reason to ignore it. Your choice, however.
Mesmer and Engi are pretty high skill cap imo. Engineer possibly more so, because there are so many skills to learn. Personally, I’m not very good at it, but if you like rotation juggling then you’ll have a great time with them, especially in pvp. Currently I’m playing Mesmer in PvP, and while it’s not as good as it used to be, it’s still pretty strong imo. But again, it takes a while to get used to, when the game launched I tried mesmer and was completely against it, took me a few months to try it out again.
Race makes no mechanical difference except for some subpar skill options, and the first 30 levels of the story missions. Other than that, play what looks cool to you, or what you think blends with your profession.

To all above,

Thank you very much for the edifying information!
It is quite appreciated

A lot was clarified for me.

Thanks again!

Kumion.7580:

Mesmer typically doesn’t do a lot of burst damage, but their utilities are welcome among the majority of groups.

Wait what? mesmers dont do a lot of burst damage?

Lol they do some of the best burst in game. Just an example of a game with multiple mesmer burst moments vs one of the most tanky classes in the game (necro).