Guild Wars 2

Hello guys!

I’ve just returned to GW2 after a long 1 year break due to health issues, and i’m feeling totally overwhelmed by the amount of “stuff” (mostly achievs) i have to do in order to catch up. My mastery level is 4 and i don’t quite get the idea behind it, i know that the cap is 170, this means that i have to complete 170 Achievs/Objectives to unlock all available Mastery Points? Just by looking at the Achievement page for the HoT maps, i already feel like giving up and sticking to fractals/spvp =/

Could someone shed some light on what i should focus on first? (first/easier things to go for)

Thanks!

Don’t focus on anything. Just play through the HoT maps normally and you will unlock a significant chunk of what you need as you go along and explore. Then you can start working on specific mastery points and mastery levels.

170 indicates getting 170 mastery points from exploring and specific achievements from HoT, Core Tyria, Fractals and raids and then spending them on the mastery lines. There are different masteries for HoT and for Core Tyria/Fractals.

Grab gliding and bouncing mushrooms first in HoT and start working on the Pact Commander lines in Core Tyria first. Fractals is another one you could look at if you fractal a lot. Other than that, little else is essential and you can progress at your leaisure

Randulf.7614:

Don’t focus on anything. Just play through the HoT maps normally and you will unlock a significant chunk of what you need as you go along and explore. Then you can start working on specific mastery points and mastery levels.

170 indicates getting 170 mastery points from exploring and specific achievements from HoT, Core Tyria, Fractals and raids and then spending them on the mastery lines. There are different masteries for HoT and for Core Tyria/Fractals.

Grab gliding and bouncing mushrooms first in HoT and start working on the Pact Commander lines in Core Tyria first. Fractals is another one you could look at if you fractal a lot. Other than that, little else is essential and you can progress at your leaisure

I see, i think that’s the way, just play the game and things will add up eventually, the only problem is that i’m anxious as hell xDD

i think i will start from LW season 2, i have only finished the first chapter and i kinda want to understand how the events unfold until finally arriving in Maguuma forests.

Thanks a lot for your comment!

First of all, try to enjoy the game for the games sake. Don’t make it a job. Just do what you want to do and masteries will slowly come to you over time. I guarantee that if you think about only masteries too much and that is your ONLY main focus then you will feel overwhelmed and maybe get burnt out. Need to understand that a very small handful of masteries are very useful. However, most are not needed in the game. They are split into HoT and Central tyria masteries. This means only experience in central tyria (including fractals and dungeons) can go towards central tyria masteries. Only experienced gained in HoT areas (including Raids) can go towards HoT masteries. You don’t need to finish a whole mastery track in order. In fact, I would highly recomend you don’t. I would go for masteries in close to this order.

HoT
1. Gliding
2. Bouncing Mushrooms
3. Updraft Gliding
4. Up to you

After number 3, you can spread out a little to other mastery lines based on my suggestions below and what the masteries offer. One thing to consider is that as you work down a mastery line, the masteries will require more and more experience to complete the mastery. They will also require/give more mastery points. This is why mastery lvl actually may seem a little skewed. Someone who is mastery lvl 1 is several masteries away from lvl 20. However, someone lvl 150 may be only 2 masteries from 170 because the last masteries they need require a lot of mastery points. As you start of finish your masteries, you may run into problems with running out of mastery points. A lot of these mastery points are locked behind adventures. However, at first don’t worry too much about getting gold in these adventures. Some of these are actually really, really difficult to get gold in, while some of them are easier. This link will give you an idea of their difficulty levels in order.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/42gd63/if_you_could_rank_the_adventures_in_terms_of/

The masteries stated above are the only ones that I would say are really necessary. Eventually, you may want to complete the whole gliding track since it makes it easier to complete some adventures and get around.

In the Itzel lore track, you want to work your way up to Itzel poison since it is needed for some mastery points (don’t worry about the last two in this track unless you are just looking for some place to put experience).

In the Exalted lore track you want to do Exalted Markings and then only get exalted acceptance when you are ready or want to buy something from the exalted. The last 3 of the masteries in this track you don’t have to worry about unless A. You Want a Place to put experience or B. You may need it if you are working on your profession achievement for the weapon skin.

In the Nuhock lore mastery line you want to get up to the 2nd mastery (Nuhock Wallows). This makes it easier to get around. After this, you can get Nuhock language only when your ready or want to buy something. Nuhock stealth detection is really only needed if you want to get one of the profession achievements (although I managed to complete it without this mastery). Don’t worry about the last two unless you are just looking for a place to put experience.

The Forsaken thicket mastery line is useful only in raids and you can only unlock it by defeating a raid boss. So, don’t worry about it right away. Only worry about it if you get involved in Raiding.

The ancient magic mastery is only useful in Bloodstone fen (available after the new living story 3 part 1) So, you can work on it when you get there. However, that will be a little down the road.

Central Tyria

Advanced logistics for auto looting is pretty useful so you don’t have to take the time looting bodies. However, it will take you awhile since its at the top of this mastery line. So, its not necessary, just nice. Don’t worry about it too much.

The legendary crafting line is only useful if you want to craft a precursor or one of the new HoT legendary weapons. However, be warned, you may need to check around with the prices. Some precursors are actually cheaper to buy straight from the trading post than to craft yourself. They generally require A LOT of ascended crafting materials.

Based on your post, you are probably interested in the Fractal Mastery line. If so, this is were I would put all your central tyria experience until you finish the whole track. You will need to get the first two masteries to get your Agony resistance up higher. It is a lot easier to get your AR up higher with these masteries since they let you “attune” ascended rings, or add another infusion slot to them. Recursive Resourcing is also useful as you get more from chest of the Mists (I personally just saved my chests until I got this mastery and then opened them all at once). The last in the line isn’t really needed. However, it could come in handy depending on the fractal, tier level, and raid group. Basically, its like a one free life. However, you need to collect it in the fractal to use it. You will get to know the location of the mistlock singularities later.

Def start from LS2. There are some excellent bits in LS2 (esp for GW1 players) and some much better challenges as well. HoT starts pretty much minutes after the LS2 anyway so it will flow nicely together.

I understand the anxiety thing – i get it a little too when I focus on a single goal, but I wouldn’t get too bogged down in it all here. There wont be another expansion until at least mid-late next year at the most optimistic guess and apart from LS3, there wont be any urgent feeling of “needing to catch up”.

I would also work on your elite spec for your class, which gives you a lot more variety in terms of skill choices and potentially make life a bit easier as you progress in any game mode you choose (some of the elites are quite powerful). If you have done a lot of map exploration in Core Tyria already, you will be well on the way with the Elite spec and will only need a few hero points in HoT to finish completely.

Thanks a lot for your post Xstein, i think i have a better idea now on how to proceed, as you said, if i set getting all mastery points as my goal i will eventually end up frustrated and could even take another break from the game because of that.
I will also follow Randulf’s advice, start LS2 and enjoy the story =)

Xstein.2187:

First of all, try to enjoy the game for the games sake. Don’t make it a job. Just do what you want to do and masteries will slowly come to you over time. I guarantee that if you think about only masteries too much and that is your ONLY main focus then you will feel overwhelmed and maybe get burnt out. Need to understand that a very small handful of masteries are very useful. However, most are not needed in the game. They are split into HoT and Central tyria masteries. This means only experience in central tyria (including fractals and dungeons) can go towards central tyria masteries. Only experienced gained in HoT areas (including Raids) can go towards HoT masteries. You don’t need to finish a whole mastery track in order. In fact, I would highly recomend you don’t. I would go for masteries in close to this order.

HoT
1. Gliding
2. Bouncing Mushrooms
3. Updraft Gliding
4. Up to you

After number 3, you can spread out a little to other mastery lines based on my suggestions below and what the masteries offer. One thing to consider is that as you work down a mastery line, the masteries will require more and more experience to complete the mastery. They will also require/give more mastery points. This is why mastery lvl actually may seem a little skewed. Someone who is mastery lvl 1 is several masteries away from lvl 20. However, someone lvl 150 may be only 2 masteries from 170 because the last masteries they need require a lot of mastery points. As you start of finish your masteries, you may run into problems with running out of mastery points. A lot of these mastery points are locked behind adventures. However, at first don’t worry too much about getting gold in these adventures. Some of these are actually really, really difficult to get gold in, while some of them are easier. This link will give you an idea of their difficulty levels in order.

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/42gd63/if_you_could_rank_the_adventures_in_terms_of/

The masteries stated above are the only ones that I would say are really necessary. Eventually, you may want to complete the whole gliding track since it makes it easier to complete some adventures and get around.

In the Itzel lore track, you want to work your way up to Itzel poison since it is needed for some mastery points (don’t worry about the last two in this track unless you are just looking for some place to put experience).

In the Exalted lore track you want to do Exalted Markings and then only get exalted acceptance when you are ready or want to buy something from the exalted. The last 3 of the masteries in this track you don’t have to worry about unless A. You Want a Place to put experience or B. You may need it if you are working on your profession achievement for the weapon skin.

In the Nuhock lore mastery line you want to get up to the 2nd mastery (Nuhock Wallows). This makes it easier to get around. After this, you can get Nuhock language only when your ready or want to buy something. Nuhock stealth detection is really only needed if you want to get one of the profession achievements (although I managed to complete it without this mastery). Don’t worry about the last two unless you are just looking for a place to put experience.

The Forsaken thicket mastery line is useful only in raids and you can only unlock it by defeating a raid boss. So, don’t worry about it right away. Only worry about it if you get involved in Raiding.

The ancient magic mastery is only useful in Bloodstone fen (available after the new living story 3 part 1) So, you can work on it when you get there. However, that will be a little down the road.

Central Tyria

Advanced logistics for auto looting is pretty useful so you don’t have to take the time looting bodies. However, it will take you awhile since its at the top of this mastery line. So, its not necessary, just nice. Don’t worry about it too much.

The legendary crafting line is only useful if you want to craft a precursor or one of the new HoT legendary weapons. However, be warned, you may need to check around with the prices. Some precursors are actually cheaper to buy straight from the trading post than to craft yourself. They generally require A LOT of ascended crafting materials.

Based on your post, you are probably interested in the Fractal Mastery line. If so, this is were I would put all your central tyria experience until you finish the whole track. You will need to get the first two masteries to get your Agony resistance up higher. It is a lot easier to get your AR up higher with these masteries since they let you “attune” ascended rings, or add another infusion slot to them. Recursive Resourcing is also useful as you get more from chest of the Mists (I personally just saved my chests until I got this mastery and then opened them all at once). The last in the line isn’t really needed. However, it could come in handy depending on the fractal, tier level, and raid group. Basically, its like a one free life. However, you need to collect it in the fractal to use it. You will get to know the location of the mistlock singularities later.

also unlimited gliding is priceless