Guild Wars 2

To start, I probably should have put this in the “Player helping Players” forum, but I didn’t know how many of the dedicated WvW players browse that, and you guys are the ones I wanted to receive feedback from.

So I am torn between splitting my time with PvE, WvW, and SWTOR Raids (Yeah some people still play that), and EotM when I’m bored with everything else. This means that I don’t really have a lot of time to dedicate to gearing myself as a Necromancer to fit all 3 modes of play, so I’ve tried to find one build that I can enjoy playing for everything all at once (which has proven difficult, but the challenge makes it worthwhile) and that build is one I found while researching popular necro builds so that I may get a feel for what I want to be doing. Turns out what I enjoy best was that of a Condition Roamer. Now obviously I’ve had to adapt to each type of play as much as possible as per usual, but lately I’ve started having more and more interest in WvW when I’m not doing PvE raids in either game.

That brings me to the actual question itself. Should I try to adapt the play style I’ve come to enjoy and learn so that I can begin the crafting of Ascended armour (which in this case is Rabid flavoured)? Or should I conform to the WvW Meta of my class and go for a Wells Backline, or even a Zerker that would work for both PvE and WvW? I’m torn between playing something I know I don’t enjoy (Zerker, which is the philosopher’s stone of PvE, PvP, and WvW), or that I will simply will be bored with (a wells bot), and providing the most assistance I can to my server by being apart of WvW even if I’m just 1 meatbag in a blob of meatbags.

I’m not the best at making currency in most games, nor am I one for taking hours out of the day to farm materials and such, so an ascended set of armour would be a very long term project to undertake (not to mention runes and sigils), and I really don’t want to put my time and money into something that I personally enjoy and find out that it doesn’t contribue to anything outside of roaming. Maybe it’s a kittened question of just another WvW scrub, but any input (well the positive kind would be smashing) would be appreciated and encouraged while I ponder between gearing myself versus going broke on my toon’s wardrobe.

For WvW the exotic gear you can get with gold and badges of honour are good enough, you dont have to shell out on ascended.

If you want to buy ascended gear, then you have to decide which game mode do you like the best, and which build you like playing; and then start saving up to make ascended gear for that.

Exotic gear is good enough for all modes, ascended does have slightly better stats, but only slightly, such stats may determine GvGs, but for PvE and WvW, not so much I dont think. So you can stick to exotics and save your gold if you really feel like it as well.

But in the end it’s up to you and what you want to play.

First you must to make a decision. Do you want to win or not.
If you dont… Do what you want in the gear what you like. But dont do the sad face if you die.
If you want to win do what you must to do

McWolfy.5924:

First you must to make a decision. Do you want to win or not.
If you dont… Do what you want in the gear what you like. But dont do the sad face if you die.
If you want to win do what you must to do

This. Post on the necro forums and tell them you either want to solo, run small group roam or zerg it up. Get the build they suggest and either buy the armor in WvWvW, get it from the right dungeon or craft it.

Save your laurels and buy ascended jewelry. Work towards an ascended weapon. Do not actively work towards ascended armor; exotic is good enough.

Use the money you have slowly been saving and get the rune set they suggest.

If you play passively, you will eventually get what you need. It isn’t a big deal.

Quickest dungeons are CoF path 1 and SE path 1. With an awesome groups you can do this in 20 minutes for 2+ gold.

Karma armor will also work too if you have 252k, and doesn’t come with the gold cost.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Keeper_Jonez_Deadrun

I run Dire on my Necro in WvW, Toughness/Vitality/Condi. I find I can be pretty much any position with this gear, frontline or backline and survive really well. Playing Wells/Marks. I’m sure with Rabid you’d be fine too, as long as your competent at the class you’ll be fine.
I usually run with the zerg but I’ve found I’m very capable of solo roaming too.

One word of warning … if you buy the cheapy armor with badges (or weapons) … those are one way tickets. You cannot sell, salvage or mystic forge those. So I wouldn’t buy those if I was to put expensive runes/sigills in there …

Ascended is not needed. Buy the exotic armoe you like, save youe laurels for ascended rings and amulet, and wait for the next WvW season for your trinkets. In the mean time, buy exotic trinkets in Orr for karma. The difference is hardly noticeable.

I have tons of different exotic armor sets on my 4 main characters, and it’s much better than always feeling forced to go with the ascended one.

when in doubt, roll zeker

HtFde.3856:

One word of warning … if you buy the cheapy armor with badges (or weapons) … those are one way tickets. You cannot sell, salvage or mystic forge those. So I wouldn’t buy those if I was to put expensive runes/sigills in there …

By the time you finish ascended armor to make those exotic armor obsolete, the majority of runes will be cheap in comparison.

I agree with Badge armor though. Those cost gold anyways and thus with a few exceptions like zerker aren’t even that much cheaper than their gold counterparts. Garbage.

Since ascended weapons are more of a priority, I also agree to not put expensive sigils in those because exotic weapons would be more likely to be replaced first.

I went with the Badge zerker armour and the cheapest rune set for a Wells build (Rage) because I had 2 pieces from dungeons that I had gotten for skins to try out. And so far it’s working out well. I think I’ve decided to work on an ascended Rabid set just because that’s what a majority of my time in WvW and PvE wil be spent on. Although honestly I’ve been pampered by dire stats so a Valkyrie set might be something I’ll use instead of Zerker (I can’t stand being paper, even though I still have my Dire/Rabid trinkets), but that’s beside the point.

I’ve had some success with using a wells backline build but don’t see myself using it unless it’s a large scale engagement of at least 20+, as 50% of the time it’s a pain in the kitten to hit 5 people because nobody stays together (or maybe they are just bad who knows). I do need to alternate with a “quicker wells” build though because I feel like a one trick pony every engagement as most are decided within 1 or 2, but hardly ever enough for more than 1 well combo.

But in the very least it’s opened a new kind of playstyle for me in WvW by being in backline for once instead of being apart of the forward charge (at least until I forgot I’m not actually tanky and charge in like an idiot). And it still makes me cry how expensive these runes/sigils are to get the full effectiveness out of each of these builds (somewhere near 70g for original build, 80g~ for wells set).

Thank you for the feedback, and will keep coming back if anyone else wishes to add their input until this thread dies =]

I wouldn’t waste time of making ascended armor if you are a casual player (and even if you’re not). Weapons and trinkets give you the most bang for the buck, and trinkets can be acquired along the way and shared with your other characters.

Problem with all builds is that there effectiveness varies depending on the number of opponents you are fighting. My server has 40+ blobs at night so my choices would be different then yours even with the same playstyle.

Rage runes looks like a nice cheap option. You don’t want to put expensive runes of karma or WvW merchant armor that’s you can’t salvage. I’d also ditch your dire/rabid trinkets for your wells build and buy exotic soldiers/valk/cav/knights ones etc. and leave the others in your bag or bank.

I’m a casual(ish) GW2 player who primarily wvw’s.

My suggestion is not to worry about ascended at all in wvw.

Over-time, you will get plenty of ascended accessories just through random drops and/or by purchasing them through wvw vendors.

Until then, simply run exotic versions of the gearing you need. The stat differences are just too small to care about, even for dueling/solo roaming.

Heck, when I first turned 80 (granted this was only a few months after release), I went in to wvw in rares and it’s been non-stop pwnage ever since.

Play what you want class/build wise, gear them appropriately (in exotics) for the build(s) you wish to play, and be sure to keep it casual my friend!

Buy ascended trinkets this way: Amulet from WvW laurel vendor: 20 la + 250 BoH. Accessories from guild vendor: 2x(12 gc + 5 g). Rings from WvW laurel vendor – 2x(25 la + 250 BoH) – or fractal vendor – 2×10 pristine fractal relics. Fractal vendor could be better if you run fractals daily.

The difference between exo and ascended trinkets is big enough. Armor could then be exo. Ascended trinkets are account bound – you don’t need multiple copies of the same set.

Some toughness is good to have, specially in WvW but also in PvE. I would even maximize the toughness in WvW for longer fighting.

When a thief or a ranger drops your health to zero pretty fast, you sure start disliking the zerk builds.

Sorel.4870:

Ascended is not needed. Buy the exotic armoe you like, save youe laurels for ascended rings and amulet, and wait for the next WvW season for your trinkets. In the mean time, buy exotic trinkets in Orr for karma. The difference is hardly noticeable.

This.

Exotic armor is fine, but ascended jewelry is worth a bit of extra effort.

-ken

Laurels for some ascended jewelry, and guilds for the other pieces. Crafting for a back piece. And then badges and gold for weapons, and I generally suggest getting those as berserker or rampager so you can use them in PVE too. Karma for gear or badges if karma doesn’t have the stats you want. And buy some cheap exotic runes that are useful, like the one with the parrot… deary me… Privateer! Get some decent to good exotic runes for the weapons that again are useful in PVE (fire is nice for aoe weapons, and air for single target and they aren’t terribly expensive. If it’s really pricy you could grab rare versions.) And go.

I would suggest going for zerker armor with strength runes. Should work in both WvW and PvE.
In WvW, you might want to go a bit tankier since you want to play causual. So swap in some trinkets with vitality and toughness. Since you are also a PvEer, I assume you have no problem obtaining one more set of trinkets.

Yes trinket’s are not THAT difficult to get so I may start working on them soon, as well as a legit armour set to start putting real runes on, although I haven’t decided Valk armour + Zerker trinkets or the other way around.

So far it’s been alright, just wish I had an easier way to swapping between builds between fights hah.