Guild Wars 2

I’m a new player, just started last weekend. I’ve got two things that I can’t find an answer to.

My main problem is ground targeting in GW2. It’s super-awkward because I’m a keyboard-only player. I don’t like the mechanic in any game I can’t pause. I can’t go reaching over for the mouse every time I use a skill. I thought I’d be safe with a Thief, but suddenly I’ve learned the short bow, and most of the skills are ground target, making this important part of a thief’s arsenal virtually unusable.

So is there ANY class that doesn’t use ground targeting in this game? If not, then which ones have the absolute minimum? I usually play a mage in MMOs, but can’t here because of all the mouse ground targeting.

My other issue is that I’m L20 and I have all L1-L5 gear still. I started leatherworking, but I can’t come close to getting the mats I need. Is there someplace to grind leather? I tried killing wolves and animals that might drop hides, but didn’t see anything. It’s the same with weaponsmith. I’ve picked up every node and have almost completed two zones, but I need huge more quantities to level up. Am I supposed to spend large amounts of time grinding nodes? Am I supposed to spend a lot on the AH? Mainly I need the leather, and don’t know how to get it.

Thanks so much for any suggestions!

Second question first. That’s what the Black Lion Trading Company is for. Buy mats you need, sell what you don’t usually for more that a vendor will sell for. Also buying newer armor and weapons that are closer to your level. It’s nice to think you can make your own gear from materials you gather yourself but the crafting skill leveling process is usually a gold sink or extremely slow otherwise. I’m a level 80 mesmer but several months after I leveled to 80 my artificer skill still only allows me to make Level 65 rares (it’s in the low 300s). Grinding out those last 70 skill levels is like pulling teeth to me because I have so few items that will give me crafting exp and they are all major money sinks.

As for your first question, there is a combat setting on the options screen (F11) called fast attack ground targeting which will always use the current cursor position as the target. You just have to center it and then it’s just positioning yourself so the target is near the cursor.

And if you want to pause, outposts and camps are mostly safe, cities absolutely safe.

Don’t forget the “Deposit all collectables” in the options in the inventory screen as a quick way to squirrel away materials. You can access them at the bank or crafting station. If you are short of cash, sell materials that have no use in the crafting disciplines you are working on. Most materials will sell for more at the BLTC than a merchant but not all. Remember you will need to sell the item at the BLTC for more than 20% of the vendor price (hover over the item to see that) to make more money than just selling it to a vendor.

Wow ok, it sounds like I shouldn’t bother crafting and just play and level, then use coin later to do whatever I can afford. Is there no craft that I can do as I level? Like would cooking be more viable without so much expense, like it is in LotRO? I am not used to using the AH much at all in LotRO. Nodes are abundant and leveling crafting is much easier and rewarding.

I think when games have stores, it hurts crafting. Like in WoW a tailor can make a magic carpet, an engineer can make goggles. That would be a store item for $$$ in any F2P/cash shop game, like here you pay cash for glasses.

Thanks so much for a great answer, Behellagh. I tried the auto-target trick for ground targeting, and I think the bow will be usable, at least. If anyone can guess any other classes that have the least ground targeting, that would be really appreciated if I make an alt.

Thanks again!

When I say money sink I mean in-game gold sink. No actual real cash is required.

You can level very quickly in this game. Just about everything you do, including crafting, will give you XP. Random player or NPC is down, revive them for XP. Wander into a new area this character hadn’t been before, XP. Visit a new waypoint, POI or Vista, XP. Help a random stranger take down a critter, XP and a chance of loot if you do as little as 10-20% of the critter’s HP. Dynamic Events or tasks assigned by a Renown Heart contact, XP. I was nearly level 80 after just fully exploring every city, and level 1-25 area.

As you earn a little coin buy or upgrade the extra bags/boxes to expand your inventory. So you need to stop less frequently to unload items at merchants that’ll make additional coin. Even junk is worth a copper or two.

And if you really want to craft and minimize the costs. Check out the crafting database at GW2Spidy. Select your crafting discipline. Then simply specify your current rating as the max rating for your profession and it will show you the craftable items from most to least profitable. Click on an item and it will list the cheapest way to make it in terms of materials. Often it’s cheaper to buy partially made items than craft them entirely from scratch if profit is your goal.

Also remember to research new items as it levels your skill faster by discovering a new item than simply creating the same already known thing until it isn’t worth any crafting xp anymore. Also some recipes can only be bought with Karma from NPCs in the field. A number of these Karma paid recipes create items that are more profitable than those simply given or can be discovered by all since they produce rarer items for that level.

I don’t know much about how not to use a mouse in just about any game. Handica kitten ue? Maybe that is something that needs to be addressed by game developers.

As far as level 20 using level 1-5 gear, that is an easy problem to fix. From what Iv’e seen so far, crafting doesn’t really keep you in gear at lower levels, it looks like it’s something to do as you go along but doesn’t really pay off till max level. Whenever you complete a “heart” area, go to the NPC and he will have items for sale that you buy with karma(you got karma for completing the event), not cash. This will keep you reasonably well equipped. Every 5 levels or so go to the auction house/trading company and spend you copper on new gear upgrades. My max level character is 40 but I still get decent upgrades for about a silver a slot item, that’s pretty cheap. Again, I don’t see crafting as keeping up with gear as you level unless you gather a LOT.

vodkatanya.6579:

I don’t know much about how not to use a mouse in just about any game. Handica kitten ue? Maybe that is something that needs to be addressed by game developers..

I use a-w-d-s, and Numpad, cntrl Numpad for skills. Num + and Num enter for potions (large buttons) etc, Mouse only for menus and clicking on nodes, NPC’s. In LotRO though, casters will cast AoE targeted centered on whatever you are targeting with alt/shift alt tab. EZ mode. You can also dual-box LotRO. Not here.

So I need to use the AH. A lot. It seems like a lot of heart karma vendors in Caledon Forest don’t give much variety, but I need to do a lot better at remembering to check. GWSpidy is bookmarked for tomorrow. I will try cooking for now instead of weaponsmith, until I have a lot of gold.

Thank you both very much for your time! I have heard some criticisms of this community, but it has probably settled down a lot by now. I have met nothing but nice people. I tried APB:Reloaded before this, and it was sort of horrible. It helps a lot that there is lots of cooperation and no node stealing in GW2. Really loving this game so far.