Guild Wars 2

Well I just got the game, am in process of installing now. My friend just started playing as well, albeit he has a few days lead on me, but we will be playing together a lot. Recently I’ve played SWTOR so I understand basic MMO concepts (terms, class roles, PvP, etc.) but GW2 seems more complicated. As such, I hope someone could be kind enough to answer some questions or direct me to a forum/area that can.

1) What is the best class for a beginner to GW2 (not MMOs, just this one in particular). I was thinking Warrior or Elementalist, and probably a Norn race since turning into bears and stuff seems cool.

2) How do builds work here? In SWTOR, it was a tree that went upwards with skills both passive and active, and there were 3 different branches. Is it like that?

3) I’m familiar with the general key bindings, but can they be remapped in any way? I.E. can replace number 1 with say, B? Also I noticed only 10 hot keys? How does that work exactly?

4) Lastly, how does currency work? In SWTOR we had credits as gold or whatever it is here, and commendations for things such as planetary comms, PvP comms, and higher level Operations/Raids comms.

Any and all answers would be most appreciated!
Thanks!

Welcome!

1) You can’t do anything wrong by playing a warrior. This profession will make it easy to explore gw2. Elementalist could be fine, but it is more complex than a warrior. A guardian or ranger could be good as a beginner class, too. Necro in pve is also very nice to play. Engineer would come then and save thief and mesmer for later.
They are all fun!
You can also try them all out by creating one charatcer, doing the pve tutorial, then going to the pvp lobby (and doing the pvp tutorial once) and you will be upscaled to lvl 80 and can try all your skills. :-)

2) Your build is defined by the choice of your weapons. They will give you your first 5 skills. Then you can decide for a heal skill on skill 6, then 3 utility skills and one elite skill. You will have to unlock them.
The weapon skills will be automatically unlocked by playing the game.
(http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Skill)

You will have traits (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Traits) and after you get to level 10 you will earn trait points. One per each level. You can choose between a few traits.
It doesn’t matter which one you choose now, because you can unlearn them for a small fee (~ 3 silver for all points) whenever you want and then choose other ones.

3) They can, but I have no idea how. I use what is given. ^^

4) You have several currencies in gw2. (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Currency)
You will start with ingame money: copper -> silver -> gold
But by doing events you will also earn karma. You can also buy certain armor with karma. (It is very useful during leveling to buy karma armors from the karma merchants.. most of the time when you finishes a heart “quest”, this person will give you some karma things to buy).
Then you can earn laurels by doing dailies and monthlies.
You can buy gems with real money or your gold.
In wvw and pvp are other currencies, but as I don’t do that, I am not experienced with these..

If you have any other questions, feel free to ask. =)

Wish you all the best and have fun in gw2!

Navi

A) Read this thread.

B) Learn to love the wiki. Loads of answers there.

Okay onto your questions.

1) Can’t really help you here. I started with a Mesmer and have just started with a Thief which is a bit more complicated. But I can see that melee oriented Warriors or range + AoE oriented Elementalists should be easier to play but I have no first hand experience.

2) No. Your skills are based on the weapons you are currently using, one assignable heal skills based on your class, three assignable skills from a large number that you can unlock with skill points (1 per level plus other certain game challenges to unlock additional ones) and a race skill (your Norn animal forms). There are also trait points that you can use to tweak your build. These modify aspects of your attacks and defenses.

3) Don’t know, sorry the extent to my keybinding is to adding strafing to the keys around the arrow keys.

4) Primary is Gold/Silver/Bronze, 100 of the later to make one of the former (ie 1 gold = 100 silver). There are other currencies in the game. Karma for helping in quests, some items are available with Karma only. Each of the few dungeons in the game has it’s own currency to buy exclusive items only available to those who actually do the dungeons. A currency for doing daily and monthly quotas, one for PvP, one for WvW, ones for certain limited time events like Halloween. Guilds get a currency. Most of the time you can’t exchange one for the other. Lots of the specialty ones are nontradable. There are some exceptions, check the wiki.

Sorry I couldn’t be more informative.

1) Most of them I think. Some are a bit harder but if you are used to MMOs it shouldn’t be to hard.

2) You have traits which will be introduced by lvl 11 and you get 1 point to spend each lvl(so 70 in total at lvl 80). There you have 5 trait lines where you can put 30 points at max in each line. You get two stats specific for each line for every point you spend on it and for every 5 point you get some nice buffs and ablities which are the base of your build.

3)Yes you can keybind hower you like afaik. 10 hotkeys work in the way that you only have 10 skills to keybind + the 4 f1-4 skills that are the profession specific skills.

4) There are quite a few currncies atm.
-1: Gold. Basic currency which you get from killing monsters and finishing events.
-2: Karma. You get this by finishing events or using consumables that give karma and use it to buy accountbound equipment and consumables from vendors.
-3: Dungeon token. You get these by finishing dungeons and use them to buy armor and weapons.
-4: Gems. The cash shop currency. This is the currency which you can buy for $ but you can also convrt gold to get it and you can convert gems to ge gold. Used to buy the cash shop items like character slots and skins.
-5: Badges of Honor. Aquired in WvW buy killing enemy players. Used to buy armor, weapons and WvW specific siege weapons.
-6: Laurels. These are gained by finishing the daily achivement(which you can find under the heros panel). Laurels are used to buy max tier ascended accesories mainly but you can also get some boosters, minipets, rare gear etc. for them.
-7: Glory. PvP currency. Used to buy skins in PvP(don’t know much more since I don’t PvP).
-8: Something that I probably missed.

I hope that answers your questions.

StardustNova.2458:

Well I just got the game, am in process of installing now. My friend just started playing as well, albeit he has a few days lead on me, but we will be playing together a lot. Recently I’ve played SWTOR so I understand basic MMO concepts (terms, class roles, PvP, etc.) but GW2 seems more complicated. As such, I hope someone could be kind enough to answer some questions or direct me to a forum/area that can.

1) What is the best class for a beginner to GW2 (not MMOs, just this one in particular). I was thinking Warrior or Elementalist, and probably a Norn race since turning into bears and stuff seems cool.

2) How do builds work here? In SWTOR, it was a tree that went upwards with skills both passive and active, and there were 3 different branches. Is it like that?

3) I’m familiar with the general key bindings, but can they be remapped in any way? I.E. can replace number 1 with say, B? Also I noticed only 10 hot keys? How does that work exactly?

4) Lastly, how does currency work? In SWTOR we had credits as gold or whatever it is here, and commendations for things such as planetary comms, PvP comms, and higher level Operations/Raids comms.

Any and all answers would be most appreciated!
Thanks!

Hi and Welcome to GW2!

1. If you are planning to play PvE – you can go almost with any class you wish, bevause they are all amazing in they own way. Still if you will go to pvp (sPvP of tPvP) I would not recommend warrior.

2.It will take much text to explain Build system in detail – so best tip is to go to hearts of the mists (click on 2 swards icon on top of you screen) and play with build/weapons and skills. It is great place to get ‘understanding’ of each class ,as you can do there anything without payng since penny

3.You can rebind any key you want. Deppends on you class/build you are running . for example Terror Necro :
- signet of undeath (rez. up to 3 downd team players) is binded on ‘E’ for fast access.

4.Here are 3 main currency : Gold/Gems and Glory
Gold: you can farm it and excange for gems
Gems: used to buy some stuff from Black Lion Trade Company (premium currency)
Glory:PvP only, used to buy stylish looking armor or other stuff that non really need

Elementalists are actually quite difficult to level. You need to kite constantly. I quit my first one before coming back later.

I recommend a warrior or a guardian if you want to east into it. Both are very easy to get a grasp on, although there are still enough nuances to keep it interesting.

Most other questions have been answered so I’ll just add that to change you keybindings press F11, select the mouse tab on the left to see a list of bindable commands. If you want to reassign a key just click the box with the current binding in it and press the key you want to change it to. It should warn you if the new key is already in use for something else.

Welcome and have fun

Thanks for all the answers, nice to see a helpful community! As far as I can tell, Warrior seems good but it seems they’re not to great in PvP, which will be something I will be doing a good deal of. In that case, would an Ele/Guardian/Ranger do better? I’m leaning on Ranger or Guardian but Ele seems cool to maybe I’ll just give them all a shot and see which one suits me best. Thanks again for all the answers!

Just in case you aren’t aware, there two (three?) different kinds of PvP. structured PvP, team PvP (collectively PvP) and WvW.

Guardians and Ele’s are great in PvP and WvW. Warriors are less good, but, each patch Warriors get buffs while Ele’s get nerfed. So who knows how it will be in a month or two. Guardians currently appear to be stable.

Rangers are good generally, but suffer because they are reliant on the shakey AI of their pets.

Hey Stardust welcome to the show!
For me the most important aspect of the game, and the one that has hooked me like no other is the freedom in game terms, you can do anything u want at any time, end game gear is optional, questing is optional, pvp is optional, many get put off by these aspects , as many are used to being led on rails in most MMORPG, but in GW2 many get lost because for them it lacks structure.

I have leveled a Warrior to 80 and had lotsa fun with rifles bows and hammers, and currently I am leveling a necro and a thief and still cant get enough of it, exploring takes up a lot of the time, even more than in other games, as the world is HUGE, so first of all, take it easy , dont rush learn the basics while playing and you will eventually find the aspects that give you the most fun.

Welcome and enjoy the ride!

Hi,
Im sure the other posts have answered your questions, but I’ll throw in my two cents.

1) What is the best class for a beginner to GW2 (not MMOs, just this one in particular). I was thinking Warrior or Elementalist, and probably a Norn race since turning into bears and stuff seems cool.
—There is none. I think the warrior is probably the most OP when running with greatsword. But I had an easy time with all of them. I’ve leveled 5 to 80, 3 are decked in exotic/ascended gear. Warriors are most common I think and heavily sought for CoF runs(a dungeon), just because its a quick run for farming…but kitten on that. I play what I want to play and bring the class I want to…

2) How do builds work here? In SWTOR, it was a tree that went upwards with skills both passive and active, and there were 3 different branches. Is it like that?
—I love the build system in the game. You have trait lines..like 5 of them I think? Spend points there as you see fit, but in doing so you have to be aware of what weapons you are using. Some trait lines might be heavier on, for example, greatsword where another might be heavier on shield/mace combi(for more of a tanky build). Food for thought. Also need to keep in mind what stats you are stacking, and what you need more of. Most of these comments are for max level anyways.

3) I’m familiar with the general key bindings, but can they be remapped in any way? I.E. can replace number 1 with say, B? Also I noticed only 10 hot keys? How does that work exactly?
-You can rebind. I think I rebound the 7 ability slot to E. You only receive 10 abilities. The first 5 are specific to your weapon set, the last are of your choice. You have many choices and each choice further determines your playstyle. For example, my nercromancer runs a vampire build. Stacking precision(crit chance) and toughness. On crits I gain HP. When using Wells(an AOE dot combo field), I siphon life from the mobs. I siphon life using #2 ability on dagger..the build is based around life siphons and HP regens. Interesting eh? And the weapon choices, trait choices, stat choices, and utility slots(6-10) all make the difference in determining that build.

4) Lastly, how does currency work? In SWTOR we had credits as gold or whatever it is here, and commendations for things such as planetary comms, PvP comms, and higher level Operations/Raids comms.
—IMO, theres WAY too many currencies in this game and Ive often compared, and complained, that it is becoming like SWTOR. That game had a lot. Lets see: Gold, Karma(spent on god gear(like..PVP stuff, meh OK skins) and spent on a variety of other things, Laurels(from dailys spent on ascended gear(top tier) and other things including vanity items, dungeon tokens(for dungeon sets and weapons), skill points(used to buy things when crafting legendary), commendations(from guild missions..buys a variety of things, gear and vanity), Fractal relics/pristine fractal relics(used to buy ascended rings), gems(to purchase things from gem store)..I think that covers a lot of them

I hope this helps a bit, and welcome. BTW, what server?

I’m on Yaks Bend just because my friend chose it and it has a high pop which is always nice. I tried Ele, and while its fun, I seem to die a lot and am finding myself under leveled always…Its like, I was level 5 when it said level 4, then the next quest suddenly wants me to be 6, and I’m like, okay I can handle that. then the next quest decides to rocket up to 8?? I’ve never been a good leveler, and I’ve tried to do all the heart quest things i could find plus any events, and am still underleveled….I’m thinking about switching to warrior or maybe guardian until I get the ropes down but idk

Being undr leveld is often a problem in the begining. The good thing with GW2 is that if you have finished everything for your level in your current starting zoneyou can simply go to the starting zone of another race and finish what you can there while getting an equal amount of exp. To get to another starting zone you go into the main city of your race, and go through the asura portal(which is a purple portal on the map) to Lion’s Arch(LA). Once there you will be in an area with 5 portals which each take you to the main city of a specific race and just outside the city you should find the starting area for that race.

Cool cool I’ll try that thanks. Also, how do Ele’s fare in PvP? Decent, bad, good, great?

StardustNova.2458:

Cool cool I’ll try that thanks. Also, how do Ele’s fare in PvP? Decent, bad, good, great?

Go with what you want…don’t go with what people say is bad or good because people told me from the start that necromancer is pure garbage. Yet I kill all enemies and save all allies in pve and pvp. The player makes the class good, not the class, but in WOW that’s a different story so if your coming from that than I understand.

Do not try to play the Personal Story to the exclusion of everything else.

You are expected to explore the (starting) zone, complete heart quests and participate in dynamic events in order to gain experience. Once you have leveled up to the point where you are close to the recommended level for the next step in your Personal Story, you should do that story step. And then it’s back to exploring.

Note that nearly everything gives experience:
- Killing random monsters;
- Uncovering new parts of the map (including waypoints, points of interest and vistas;
- Participating in dynamic events;
- Doing heart quests;
- Reviving other players and NPCs when they are downed;
- Gathering crafting materials (make sure to have a sickle, logging axe and mining pick on you!);
- Crafting and making crafting discoveries (you can have up to 2 crafts at a time);
- And yes, completing a step in your Personal Story also gives good experience;
- Playing World versus World (one of the PvP formats) is also a popular way to gain experience (although I would not recommend it below level 20).

Find out how you like to play the game, and level up your character in a way that you enjoy. Level progression is intended to be linear, i.e. the time it takes to go from level 2 to 3 should not be significantly shorter or longer than the time it takes to level from 79 to 80.

StardustNova.2458:

Cool cool I’ll try that thanks. Also, how do Ele’s fare in PvP? Decent, bad, good, great?

Ele rocks in PvP.
Actually, make the distinction here, for me PvP means WvW.
There are two viable flavours of ele.: Staff ele is ranged DPS, while dagger/dagger ele is a cloth melee class, which sounds crazy but isn’t.

The Staff ele has powerful but slow AoE attack and healing and lots of avoidance. D/D (my favourite) is fast and elusive.

Truth is, ALL the classes are good for almost ANYTHING because of the way you can vary the build. A clothie for example can be nearly as durable as an armour-plated class by stacking toughness and vitality at the expense of attack power.

Just choose a class that has a mechanic you like.

Oh – and btw. You can try out your chosen class at lvl 80 any time by going into the ‘Heart of the Mists’ PvP area where you get automatically bumped up to 80 with a standard ‘PvP build’ for your class.

How exactly do I access the PvP area? Can I get there from anywhere or do I have to be in a town/capital? Also I don’t really understand crafting just yet….I just did artifice since it seems I can make sta kitten and scepters and stuff but I didn’t do anything with it since I don’t really get it…the materials I need to make stuff seem to be stuff I can only get on the player market but maybe I’m doing something wrong. Also, how do I access my bank? I just keep dropping/selling stuff lol. Any guides or tips there would be helpful, as I seem to have gotten the game down otherwise.

How to reach the pvp lobby: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Heart_of_the_Mists

There are crafting areas in the cities and sometimes on maps, but you also can have a quick access by going to the wvw area (http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Wvw) and there are all crafting stations at one point.
Your bank can be accessed through the crafting stations. Just speak to one (you can use alle of them for the bank access).

For your convenience:

Going to pvp:
“Click the PvP icon (the two crossed swords) in your menu bar and choose “Go to the Heart of the Mists”. To leave the Heart of the Mists again, click the same button that now says “Leave the Mists”."

Going to wvw (including crafting and bank access):
“Press B (default) to open WvW statistics, then at the top select which world you wish to enter.”

And some information about crafting:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Crafting

In my opinion a nice beginner crafting is chef/ cook.
Just collect everything outside (here especially the plants). There are little symbols on the mini map where you can see what you can gather (wood, ore, plants). Don’t forget to take your axe, pick and sickle with you (sold from some vendors in the cities and on the maps).
More crafting material can be bought from the vendor (e.g. master chef) that stands directly beside the desired crafting station.

You can craft recipes that are already given to you or you throw everything (what matches) in it and have a look what you’ll get. It depends on your crafting level and your available ingredients what you can mix together.

You don’t have to buy the materials, you can get them whilst leveling and exploring the world.

I think you could profit from that thread:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/OMG-If-you-only-knew-this-tips-for-new-players/first

Have fun!

Crafting in GW2 isn’t like crafting in any other MMO.
Basically the economy is inverted so it actually cost gold to craft.

The reason is: you get significant XP for crafting. The XP is more valuable than the items produced. Raw materials are desirable, crafted items are almost junk.