Guild Wars 2

I have a lot of mental issues and basically when I saw the LA patch release and all the new achievements I had a panic attack and was in the hospital for last few days – want to login and play soon because I really like the game but having some problems -

ie: whenever you join a group, the first thing everyone does is look at your AP points, I only have like 2k even though I started in pre launch but I quit after a couple months and came back recently, and now I try to do dailies and stuff but I’ll never catch up, and honestly I HATE DOING DAILIES I DONT WANT TO DO THEM ANYMORE AND I WANT TO STOP WORRYING ABOUT AP!!!

Is there away to hide AP or anything?

Even in most dungeons, people nowadays won’t let you come unless you have 6k+ AP, even though I’m fully geared and play my class very well and know almost all the dungeons by heart.

Honestly, I just want to set aside all the living world and AP crap and just make a new Necro and take things slow and not worry about anything else – otherwise it feels like a constant race and people are always bragging about stuff and it makes my anxiety sky rocket.

This game is pretty much the last thing I have in life besides my car, if I lost it I feel like I would have no option but to end it all.

is there anyway to show proof of my account age? the “heros ring” thing, does everyone have that or just prelaunch? I used to have the gw2 hat purchased on my warr but trashed it, its on my gem store recent transactions, anyway to retrieve it or get anything else to show my account age?

Hey Redxon!

If you do not wish to do AP then don’t, however, they will be done naturally so nothing to worry about there.

Also, anyone who judges you based on your AP is an idiot.

I have taught new players lots of things in game and they have low AP but play better than those with more APs.

APs do not determine how skilled you are, it only determines how much grind you did.
You want to play with players who will judge you based on your skills, but most importantly, players who will have fun playing with you along the way.

I hope this helps! =)
If you wish to game with me, I’m Online playing right now!
Send me a Whisper!

Also my Skype is: DreamyAbaddon

DreamyAbaddon.3265:

Hey Redxon!

If you do not wish to do AP then don’t, however, they will be done naturally so nothing to worry about there.

Also, anyone who judges you based on your AP is an idiot.

I have taught new players lots of things in game and they have low AP but play better than those with more APs.

APs do not determine how skilled you are, it only determines how much grind you did.
You want to play with players who will judge you based on your skills, but most importantly, players who will have fun playing with you along the way.

I hope this helps! =)
If you wish to game with me, I’m Online playing right now!
Send me a Whisper!

Also my Skype is: DreamyAbaddon

thanks

Redxon.6832:

Honestly, I just want to set aside all the living world and AP crap and just make a new Necro and take things slow and not worry about anything else – otherwise it feels like a constant race and people are always bragging about stuff and it makes my anxiety sky rocket.

Honestly, this is exactly what I did – right down to the profession choice. I have owned the game for a little under a year, and have only circa. 2k AP. And you know what, that’s totally fine! the people who would judge anyone for that, aren’t people I want to play with anyway – probably their playstyle isn’t very compatible with mine.

There are a lot of people who don’t care at all about experience, AP, or anything else, and just want to meet friendly players. These people are, however, often the less vocal ones, so they take time to ferret out. At the last LS update, with so many people gathering round for the Marionette event, my Friends List basically doubled with all the lovely people I met – who all invited me to party with them whenever we’ve bumped into each other since. They were all on around 10k AP, and none of them batted an eyelid at my measly 2k.

So just play at your own pace and do the things you find fun. It may take a little patience when it comes to things like finding a dungeon group, but it will be worth it when you find a group who like to play the way you want to as well.

Wait… how can you check on another player’s AP? I’ve been playing since launch and I didn’t know that was a thing.

If you party with them or they’re on your FL, you hover over their picture and can see their AP points. Or if they’ve recently logged into your guild, and their name is up on the roster … quite a few ways to see, actually.

Just play and forget about it. Ya some party will kick you because you don’t have high amount of AP, but these people are idiot or they search for something specific and AP is the only tools they got to see if you played the game for a long time or not. But most party don’t care about your AP points, especially if you have 2k+ already. If you think that you get kick too often because of that, try to find a guild to run dungeon with them. Nobody will kick you if you start a LFG with 1-2 guildmates.

Anyway its really rare that i need to do something specific to finish my daily. And when it happen, i usually just have to go to the laurel vendor, do some quick mystic forge or refine a couple of crafting material and it’s done. If its not the case for you, you can just check your daily list and use it to choose what you gonna do today. A daily Ascolonian Killers? Go do AC or CoF. A Shiverpeak killer? Go do HotW or SE. Just by playing you gonna get higher AP quickly anyway.

Redxon.6832:

ie: whenever you join a group, the first thing everyone does is look at your AP points, I only have like 2k even though I started in pre launch but I quit after a couple months and came back recently, and now I try to do dailies and stuff but I’ll never catch up, and honestly I HATE DOING DAILIES I DONT WANT TO DO THEM ANYMORE AND I WANT TO STOP WORRYING ABOUT AP!!!

Is there away to hide AP or anything?

Even in most dungeons, people nowadays won’t let you come unless you have 6k+ AP, even though I’m fully geared and play my class very well and know almost all the dungeons by heart.

Haha, I feel you. I used to hate how people judged me by AP when I was starting out, I used to get so many kicks from groups when I was sub 2k AP it wasn’t even funny. Basically they were looking for any reason to kick me and didn’t matter how well i knew the content or what to do, there was literally a 20% chance to be kicked when I joined a group. I also usually don’t do my dailies (I hate them, I haven’t done a daily in a month or so) however if I find the time and need to get them done for whatever reason (i.e. laurels) I will do so. I’ve been playing exactly for a year (got my anniversary gift a few days ago), and have a little over 5k AP to show for my efforts.

Looking at my history it looks like only got 1.5k AP total from doing dailies/monthlies, so not a huge deal.The rest is from jumping puzzles, running dungeons (after you get the dungeon master achiev u get one AP for each dungeon path u run.. so pretty neat. Otherwise do jumping puzzles and look at tradesman achievs (agent of entropy etc.) and thats an easy 500+ AP rite there. Also, try to do the LS when they come out (I usually skip a couple LS if I find them boring enough or the rewards just not worth it, so don’t freak out because of the new LA one).

Also, @DreamyAbaddon you’re fooling yourself if you think no one judges by AP. most people do, at least to certain extent. When I have a guy with 532 AP in my group I know what to expect.. I will usually be carrying him and have to explain everything to him. 2k-ish AP are usually fine but most of them usually mess up on tricky things, like the laser trap part in CoE for instance. Experience wise it’s usually just the toss of a dice but I generally feel safer when running with people with higher AP.

Honestly there’s relatively few people who care about AP. It’s just that like someone else said they’re the most vocal and people seem to assume what they say goes for everyone else too.

Especially with dungeon groups for some reason. I always specify that I’m doing a casual, non-skipping run and everyone is welcome but I’ve still had people join and immediately announce their build and achievement points. I just tell them it doesn’t matter.

Also, I’m not advocating chasing achievement points in any way but grinding dailies for points is only really effective if you’re trying to stay on top of the leader board (and therefore need every point you can get) and/or you’ve literally run out of other things to do. Each daily only gives you 1 point, so at most you could get 10 or so a day. You can get that doing a jumping puzzle that takes 20 minutes or a couple of Living Story achievements.

Alternatively just play normally, don’t worry about it and avoid anyone who demands that you have a certain number of points. You’ll get achievements as you play anyway, but more importantly you’ll enjoy it a lot more.

Why do people call me an idiot because I use APs as a measurement of skill?

kokiman.2364:

Why do people call me an idiot because I use APs as a measurement of skill?

That’s a bit harsh, but the reason is that the VAST majority of achievements (and thus APs) do not measure skill at all but are simply a measurement of time spent doing specific activities.

You can do weightlifting for 30 years, but if you’ve got two people lifting the heavy parts for you every time you aren’t going to be any good at it.

kokiman.2364:

Why do people call me an idiot because I use APs as a measurement of skill?

Cause it isn’t and it isn’t good that you use such false sense of elitsm.

In my experience people asking for x amount of AP will result in a dungeon that take atleast 5 minutes longer then party’s that just ask for people to play with. The reason is that GOOD players don’t care bout other people’s AP’s and GOOD players don’t go looking at others when things go bad. The amount of AP is no garantee whatsover for the quality off the player, but people think that if a party goes bad it was goes someone had not enough AP’s. The reality is however they where the noobs themselfes!

AP is a somewhat inaccurate measurement of skill since any idiot can get 15k AP just by farming Living Story crap, but still be terribad at everything. That said, very low AP scores (< 2k) for relatively difficult content (Arah, Fractals) is a pretty good indicator that they have no idea what they’re getting into. Honestly though once you are past the 3-4k mark, you should be in okay shape.

kokiman.2364:

Why do people call me an idiot because I use APs as a measurement of skill?

It’s not the most accurate way of measuring skill – more of measuring experience, or time in game, if anything.

However, I wouldn’t call you an idiot for using it as a base estimate if you’re looking for a particular experience level for a party to run a dungeon with, for instance.

I did say, however, that I don’t want to play with the sort of people who do that – not in a mean way. I simply mean that I am not looking for a speed run, or no wipes, or anything along those lines. Obviously, the people checking APs are looking to do those things, so yeah, I won’t want to party with them. But that’s cool as they won’t want to party with me either. Will I have a very happy conversation with them while waiting for an even to start though? Of course! Preferring to play one way or another, or having different experience levels or skill levels doesn’t make any judgement on the person. But we just have different objectives, so that’s why I said what I did.

I’ve never had problems with playing any kind of GW2 content, including high level fractals and WvW and whatnot, with low AP characters. Chances are that those people are simply not going for AP as I do, and simply concentrate on other things, which, of couse, is perfectly fine!

On the other hand, if someone IS actually new, and some people usually tend to note it before we start a dungeon or a raid or whatever, you notice they really actually tend to listen, so again, no harm done. Just like DreamyAbaddon said, those who judge players by the ammount of their AP points are pure idiots.

I like to check out players AP, that’s no secret, but I never actually judge them, nor does it make me warry of them or change my opinion of them, if they don’t have 3000+ or whatever.

PUGs are the worst. You can’t take anyone in them seriously. If they kick you because you don’t have high enough AP it’s obviously because they need you to carry their sorry selves through the dungeon. You should really try to find a good guild to join. One with lots of people, and one with people willing to actually interact with guildmates. My guild is the 3rd largest on my server and I absolutely love it. There are always people who want to do many different things.

Good luck! And just ignore the AP. The only time I look at it is when I’m getting really close to the next chest. As soon as I get said chest I forget about it again. Just play how you enjoy.

kokiman.2364:

Why do people call me an idiot because I use APs as a measurement of skill?

I have 8k AP, and have pretty much never set foot in a dungeon or a fractal. Would you prefer me or OP in your party?

CrossedHorse.4261:

It’s not the most accurate way of measuring skill - more of measuring experience, or time in game, if anything.

I did say, however, that I don’t want to play with the sort of people who do that – not in a mean way. I simply mean that I am not looking for a speed run, or no wipes, or anything along those lines. Obviously, the people checking APs are looking to do those things, so yeah, I won’t want to party with them. But that’s cool as they won’t want to party with me either.

I agree, but can you think of any better way? Post for ‘exp only’ sure but you will get 1k AP idiots joining because they think they know what exp is. This includes 5 signet warriors who use rifle when stacking and other terribad examples of their class. Its much safer to impose something like either a gear check or minimum AP. You obviously have some bad experience with groups like this, but your making us out to be villains or cruel people when we’re not. After you run the same dungeons a couple times u will start to understand why these groups exist (i.e. 80 zerk only, be exp or kick, etc etc.)

nagr.1593:

CrossedHorse.4261:

It’s not the most accurate way of measuring skill - more of measuring experience, or time in game, if anything.

I did say, however, that I don’t want to play with the sort of people who do that – not in a mean way. I simply mean that I am not looking for a speed run, or no wipes, or anything along those lines. Obviously, the people checking APs are looking to do those things, so yeah, I won’t want to party with them. But that’s cool as they won’t want to party with me either.

I agree, but can you think of any better way? Post for ‘exp only’ sure but you will get 1k AP idiots joining because they think they know what exp is. This includes 5 signet warriors who use rifle when stacking and other terribad examples of their class. Its much safer to impose something like either a gear check or minimum AP. You obviously have some bad experience with groups like this, but ur making us out to be villains or cruel people when we’re not. After you run the same dungeons a couple times u will start to understand why these groups exist (i.e. 80 zerk only, be exp or kick, etc etc.)

It is what it means to be in a pug. If you want perfection play in a guild only.

As said in other threads, I do AC p3 every day (other dungeons too, but this is my addiction).

Today, as well as the last few days, finding a pug in lfg was hard. So I advertised myself and asked just forlevel 40+.
I had 2 rangers, a necromancer and an engineer (i was guardian). one of the rangers was level 80. so obviously it took more time then usual (not much though). We killed Kohler flawless. We did every single part of the dungeon so i got full reward and drops but more imprtant. eventhough I got the less effective side of the jackpot, I showed some newbe’s how to do the dungeon AND showed of my skills by saving the day numerous times.

I know for most of you asking for 6-7-8-9-20k ap’s you are worried if it takes more then 2 minutes longer, but consider that you are the hero that can save the day??

Yes, asking for AP points in Arah makes sense. I have made demands on guild party’s before I lead them in. but in AC, or any other dungeon your just an elitist snob that don’t understand the game at all.

tl;dr dont ask for ap’s, if you want to be certain you have a good party, play in your guild, if you pug just take the risk and if it is a bad party, enjoy in being the one that can safe the day, cause you are awesome (you are awesome right??)

ozmaniandevil.6805:

PUGs are the worst. You can’t take anyone in them seriously. If they kick you because you don’t have high enough AP it’s obviously because they need you to carry their sorry selves through the dungeon. You should really try to find a good guild to join. One with lots of people, and one with people willing to actually interact with guildmates. My guild is the 3rd largest on my server and I absolutely love it. There are always people who want to do many different things.

Good luck! And just ignore the AP. The only time I look at it is when I’m getting really close to the next chest. As soon as I get said chest I forget about it again. Just play how you enjoy.

This post absolutely, especially the part about joining a guild. I’m relatively low on the AP scale, but that’s because soloing champions, duoing dungeons, meleeing Lupicus, and leading teaching runs doesn’t give AP.

Find your group and do as you please. Laugh at the others.

6000 AP in a month, impressive (and kind of sad). 6000 AP in a year and a half, not so much. So without duration of play, it’s a pointless number. It’s sort of like the odometer on your car. Tells how many miles you’ve driven, just not over how long.

Also, from launch till the introduction off the achievements chest I gather bout 3,5k (so in lil less then a year). Since then I climbed up to almost 10k. My only reason is that there is now some reason to get achievements. Before it was just -meh-

So it is a very bad indicator at best.

nagr.1593:

CrossedHorse.4261:

It’s not the most accurate way of measuring skill - more of measuring experience, or time in game, if anything.

I did say, however, that I don’t want to play with the sort of people who do that – not in a mean way. I simply mean that I am not looking for a speed run, or no wipes, or anything along those lines. Obviously, the people checking APs are looking to do those things, so yeah, I won’t want to party with them. But that’s cool as they won’t want to party with me either.

I agree, but can you think of any better way? Post for ‘exp only’ sure but you will get 1k AP idiots joining because they think they know what exp is. This includes 5 signet warriors who use rifle when stacking and other terribad examples of their class. Its much safer to impose something like either a gear check or minimum AP. You obviously have some bad experience with groups like this, but your making us out to be villains or cruel people when we’re not. After you run the same dungeons a couple times u will start to understand why these groups exist (i.e. 80 zerk only, be exp or kick, etc etc.)

No, no, you misunderstand. I was trying to be very clear that I’m NOT making these people out to be villains. Simply, we look for different things in a group, so naturally, we don’t group with each other – that’s the only point I was making.

I completely understand why people ask for various checks, and that’s totally fine by me. I won’t ask to party with people who impose checks I don’t meet and similarly they won’t party with me as they’ll see I’m willing to party with anyone. So no judgement.

My post was in response to someone asking why people were calling people who ask for AP counts idiots, and I was trying to say that though it’s not the most accurate way of checking skill, they’re not idiots. Sorry if that wasn’t clear.

The only reason I bothered getting my 10k AP was for the rewards. That’s it.

I run dungeons almost every day since I’ve been playing (6-8 weeks) and I’ve been kicked once and this wasn’t related to AP (was a 4/5 guildgroup and I got kicked when the last boss was at 30%, no wipes, no deaths, I’m quite sure we can all speculate why.) I’ve also never have to wait long for a dungeon-group if I form one myself, whether I put restrictions on them or not.

There’re plenty of groups in the group finder not asking for certain AP or certain classes or certain gear, join those groups. If you join a 5k+ AP group with <5k AP or a full zerk group in PvT gear or a group asking for class x whilst you’re class y simply don’t even try to join them, because you can expect a kick. If there’re no parties forming, form your own.

I think the Guild Wars 2 groupfinder is a wonderful thing because you can find like-minded people. A groupfinder post can often say enough about what kind of people would join, rather than get the first in line assigned to you. Sometimes I have a few hours to play and I just want to fully zerk my way through a dungeon as quick as possible, I can (try to) get a group dedicated to that and other days I’ve got all the time in the world and can simply join any party that catches my interest. I know the first response is going to be ‘join a guild/kitten elitist’ but I too struggle with my health, I’m a chronic pain-patient, I have nights I can’t sleep and the days make up for that, it’s nice being able to play the way I want to play whenever I want to, which is a bit too much to expect from a guild.

TL;DR: Read the groupfinder descriptions and join groups that you fit. If none are available, make your own groups, it really doesn’t take long whether it’s with or without restrictions.