Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone

So, after 8 years playing a specific MMO (that I will leave unnamed) I decided to heed several of my RL friends advice, and give this game a try; now I’m 80 and desperately trying to feel around blindly in the dark. I am extremely (IMO) competent when it comes to these types of things, but given my total lack of in game resources I hesitate to just blindly throw on whatever stats I’m told by map chat; or by any of the several profession resources out there.

I will first mention that I am extremely interested in the wvw/structured pvp. Sadly, all the attempts I’ve made thus far haven’t been wildly successful. I won’t pretend to grasp even the obvious concepts of my profession, yet, but I am learning enough to see the big picture. My goal now is (stat wise) to get to a place where I can go toe-to-toe with any class and not melt the moment they get their hands on me; as well as be useful to a “roaming blob” (I heard that in map chat…) I’m well versed in playing squishier classes and I wouldn’t call myself a terrible pvper, but even one v. ones are resulting in my running back to base or dead, especially against thieves and mesmers!

I would like to just build vitality and toughness 100% if only to spite the jerks that have been bullying me, but I know that’s silly. (Seriously, just kidding) Is there a balance to damage and survivablity? Some magic number or build that isn’t going to leave me lying in the dirt, every time?

Thanks a lot for any and all help, in advance. This community seems to be much more productive and thoughtful than others I’ve experienced; really looking forward to getting to know more about the game!

TL:DR – I really don’t know what direction to take my stats in in order to stay alive long enough to put up a fight in wvw/arena’s.

The feeling of getting one or two shot by particular classes, or “flavor of the week” builds is something I’m struggling with as well. I’m fine with being out played, those are some of the funnest moments in pvp for me, but when someone kills me in a matter of two hits, it’s frustrating. I understand why they do it, and I’d likely do the same if I could, but that isn’t really a good pvp fight, at all. It’s a ganking, which is part of the pvp experience to an extent, but I’d like to think this game is better than others that promote that sort of play style.

I play an ele, and for the moment I’m running a build/using gear that was decent about a year ago (returned recently to the game after a break). I love to play support classes, I’m usually healers in other games (Along side Elakah. <3 ), so the lack of the trinity is still something I’m coping with. What suggestions would people have for builds/stats/anything really, to help with this situation, of just wanting to be able to survive long enough to actually partake in pvp, rather than get opened on and dead before the first stun is over?

I’m no pro gamer pvper or wvwer, though I do those occasionally, so I can throw my two cents in.

In PvE at least, you can do most things even in berzerker (typical full damage stuff burst stuff) and your survivability will come from water and arcane traits and using your attunements to gain boons (into earth protection -33% incoming damage is delicious).

That philosophy tends to go into PvP builds, but I usually saw Celestial stats (ups all stats a little, rather than a main stat and two minor ones). You can experiment in pvp easier, since you can freely swap your gear stats and build when not in a match.

WvW I almost never do. All I know is drop AoEs on bad guys and hope they die before your zerg does.

EDIT since new post also mentioning dying instantly. PvP yeah I could barely do anything in since you’ll be vaporized without really good team support or high experience. Low health, light armor. I think the meta tends to lean towards cantrips. Your focus is good for learning defensively I guess? I was trying a typical Cele D/D build to try being more useful at PvP, and I think it might be a good starting point to get a feel for the strong points of an ele.

Also really, Water and Arcane traits. Earth if you want extra defensiveness. And get used to abusing your attunement swaps. Four weapon skillsets and boons you get from swapping via something or other in Arcane trait line is kind of crux.

Yeah, the switching from one element to another is something I’m quickly learning. (I’ve been playing just over a week) but I did have one particular duel with an Elementalist that resulted in me learning a TON while just watching her movement/playstyle.

I’d have thanked her if she wasn’t trying to kill me.

Celestial is a word I’d heard before but didn’t fully understand. Essentially it’s just a general damage/surv stat? Sorry, I just leveled my first professions to 400 and I don’t remember seeing anything like that.

Elakah.9217:

Celestial is a word I’d heard before but didn’t fully understand. Essentially it’s just a general damage/surv stat? Sorry, I just leveled my first professions to 400 and I don’t remember seeing anything like that.

Celestial is just another prefix for your gear. It’s not as accessible as typical stuff like Berserker or Soldiers or whoever. You need a specific recipe and it requires Charged Quartz which, with a low supply and high demand, has gotten expensive lately. Unless you go WvW, you don’t really need to worry about it since PvP lets you access Celestial stats. It’s basically a jack of all trades stat choice instead of a focus on three stats that most prefixes are.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Item_nomenclature#Triple_attribute

(WvW regs please correct me if Celes isn’t normal there as I know jack meowers about WvWing decently)

GlitchyBat.3682:

Elakah.9217:

Celestial is a word I’d heard before but didn’t fully understand. Essentially it’s just a general damage/surv stat? Sorry, I just leveled my first professions to 400 and I don’t remember seeing anything like that.

Celestial is just another prefix for your gear. It’s not as accessible as typical stuff like Berserker or Soldiers or whoever. You need a specific recipe and it requires Charged Quartz which, with a low supply and high demand, has gotten expensive lately. Unless you go WvW, you don’t really need to worry about it since PvP lets you access Celestial stats. It’s basically a jack of all trades stat choice instead of a focus on three stats that most prefixes are.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Item_nomenclature#Triple_attribute

(WvW regs please correct me if Celes isn’t normal there as I know jack meowers about WvWing decently)

Oh wow, that link makes a world of difference. I’ve been scouring the wiki and it’s been a sort of rabbit hole of gibberish. I remember seeing an amulet in the pvp area that had fewer of all stats, now! This is exactly the sort of direction I needed, thanks so much.

http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

For d/d cele in pvp.

WvW large scale people usually play high dps staff.

Joining a wvw guild centered on fights that is willing to help you learn is a good option. Watch gvg videos of elementalists to learn the general playstyle.

Depending on the build and weapon set you will be using, that will dictate your gear. If you like dag/dag, then celestial is the stat you want. If you like something like a fresh air build, focus more on soldier/zerker/valk/cavalier prefixes to find a suitable level of sustain. That’s for small scale wvw. As said above, staff ele with zerker is the large scale build.

Thanks a lot for that link, the video led me down another rabbit hole which lead me to a very helpful, “THIS IS WHAT A BLAST FINISHER MEANS” and it turns out i’m not as stupid as I thought.

I still haven’t a single clue about anything except for the fact that the sky is indeed, above me.

Thanks again, everyone

if you message me in game id be more than happy to duel you and give you pointers in pvp.

It seems I’m in all Apothecary gear.

Is zerker, with staff, a decent support, or is it just damage focused?

AriesMouse.1745:

It seems I’m in all Apothecary gear.

Is zerker, with staff, a decent support, or is it just damage focused?

its both =)

I’d like to think I’m pretty well versed in the aspect of ‘support’, I try to do more than just heal at least. I could be better, but for the most part, I just feel like most of what I do hits like a wet noodle (likely because of my armor it seems). Going to try the zerker stats and report back.

I might try d/d eventually I LOVED it while I was leveling, near the time the game was released, I just thought the spells looked cool and felt like they had more impact than staff, but we’ll see.

You can always build out of the meta. Even when it´s a good build, its mostly not as stable as the meta builds. I play S/F in mostly rabid armor. Its fun and its davasting for Zerkers but it struggles against survival builds and especially necros. The D/D ele in celestial is the all around build like a swiss knive. Control, direct damage, condi damage, healing and mobility all in one packet.
If you want to do direct healing and support i see the tempest coming up. It seems to allow a healing/aura support build using shouts and warhorn. Apothecary looks tempting for that propably with a mix of shaman.

If you don’t want to die, if you want to live forever, forget about D/D or Scepter, go Staff + celestial. You probably won’t kill anything 1 vs 1 but you can survive 1 vs 2 or even 1 vs 3 for quite a long time. Great for defending bases, group support and also great AOE dmg when multiple players fighting in small area and doesn’t put attention on you.

Thanks for all the tips/ideas, everyone. I have had MUCH more success today and yesterday. I toyed with some of my keybindings so they’re a bit more familiar to me and just pretty much slammed my face against some practice arena’s until I felt like I had a better idea what was going on.

Next step: Stop using dodge roll to re position myself instead of evading. It’s going to take a bit to learn how to watch a player instead of my bars; i’m hoping that that sorta thing comes with practice and time.

Thanks again, everyone! Have fun and if you see me on the battlefield, watch out. xD

Most eles use dodge roll on water and earth since water heals and earth is blast finisher.