Guild Wars 2

Morning all,

I have a few questions being new to GW2. I am currently playing a guardian and liking it very much. In terms of gear and weapons for levelling should I be using a 1h sword or mace with shield or just use a 2h GS? Also in terms of crafting my own armour I am aiming at doing damage plus being able to support with healing when needed in a pinch so should my gear be mixed with toughness, healing power and power?

Just my opinion…
My Favorite class
Leveling… the whole goal is speed to be able to kill mobs faster and move from heart/WP/SP/vista etc as fast as possible

So stats I would say Power is ur friend. Stick with GS or hammer (pwr/prec) and staff (less than ok dmg but for 4-5mobs is decent) but the speed boost/symbol to start combat then flip to GS or hammer.

Lvl 80 depends on what u doing will depend on armour and stats what u do for content how fast u lvl up/xpac has in store for us!

As for weapons Greatsword / Sword + anything basically, is the best for leveling due to mobility and damage output, for the gear, as your level progresses, go for – Mighty < Strong < Berserker’s armor pieces/accessories and weapons (current meta for pve, kinda).

If you’ve just started the game, I’d suggest you postpond any crafting professions, since it takes lots of gold/grind to get mats required for it.

Weapons
GS, Hammer, Sword, Focus, Torch and Mace are all good choice.
Scepter is decent if you need a range.
Staff is bad for combat, but it’s good for tagging mobs in big event with a lot of ppl. It’s also good for running around.

Gear
Zerker : Power, Precision, Ferocity is your best possible choice. It will be hard to play at first, but it’s worth the pratice if you want to be good in the game. Your active defense is far superior than defensive stats.

Zealot : Power, Precision, Healing Power could be a decent choice if you want to heal your friend. Keep in mind that healing itself isn’t that great. Active defense are far superior than healing on purpose, but need a bit more skillz and knowledge to use properly. You also need to know that Guardian isn’t good at all to heal allies. You need to spec a lot into it to make it worth (compare to ele and warrior that can heal by a good amount with only small investment). Guardian strength is defensive support and you get that from trait and utilities, not gear.

A Guardian that can protect his team with a Wall of Reflection, aegis, condition removal and blind is far superior than a guardian that try to heal.

Crafting

Crafting isn’t really good to get your gear as your level and reach level 80. It’s more for some special items, end game gear, leveling alts, etc. You should wait a bit and don’t waste your gold now into that. It will be easier to level crafting up latter and you won’t miss anything.

First and foremost: Welcome to GW2!
Second: Welcome fellow Guardian!

More on point to your post though,

For levelling you’ll want to have a staff packed for the switftness (speed) symbol as well as the auto-attack is very handy for tagging mobs in events. I’d encourage you as a new player to try the different weapons so that you kinda get a feel for how they work. You’ll also want a scepter for long range fights. Focus is handy to have for its “panic” button on the 5.

Gear wise you’ll want to aim for stats combinations of Power, Precision, and Ferocity. In GW2 healing is not as great as it is in traditional MMO’s. In this game you’ll want to mitigate/avoid damage altogether. As a Guard you’ll want to throw out blocks, protection, and similar buff to shave off damage upfront. Toughness and vitality and “crutch” stats but are not considered to be optimal. In PvE, the community aims for max DPS using proactive utilities and skills to keep the team alive.

If you’re in NA, I’d be more that happy to help you out in game or invite you to the guild I work with that offers player mentors for these sorts of things.

For leveling in the open world, I’d probably bring staff (for the swiftness symbol and moving around) and greatsword (for pulling, the leap, and good damage). If you don’t want to bring staff as your second (using scepter, sword, or mace on your swap set), make sure to buy a Minor Sigil of Speed (upgrade to a Major at level 39) and put it on your primary damage weapon. Eventually you will want to carry every weapon, as they all serve some sort of purpose (shield less than others unfortunately).

Guardian has some group healing, but it’s rather poor compared to what other professions can do, or simply using a blast finisher in a water combo field. Even when built for healing, only the heal on dodge roll trait really benefits greatly from high healing power. Guardians are still a great support class, but their main role is preventing damage rather than healing through it.

As you play, be sure you observe the mobs animations and “tells”. That will let you know when to use a block (F3 skill, “Retreat” utility), use a stability skill (“Stand Your Ground” or Hallowed Ground utilities), or when you will need to put up some sort of projectile defense (Wall of Reflection utility, sword 3 skill). The heal Shelter, while it heals much less at lower levels, is amazing when you get higher. It’s another piece of your defensive kitten nal, and if you can time it right, you can prevent a lot of damage to yourself while also recovering a good bit of your health.