Guild Wars 2

I come from playing WoW where there are specific tiers of gear you go through.. Starting out getting item level 219, and then you work towards 245.. Is it like that here, or can I start building towards my “end game” gear right off the bat? My wife and I are both in the same situation. What do you suggest we do?

If you can afford it you can get all Exotic Endgame gear right now! but if your a normal player who has only a few gold saved up after reaching level 80 then
The best thing to do is grab a full set of level 80 Masterwork (Green) items or even Rare (Yellow) if you can afford it. Weapons, Armor and trinkets along with some crystal orbs for the upgrades. Then over time once you start making some extra gold you can start to replace each part with an Exotic (Orange) and Ascended (Pink) along with the Superior rune of your liking slotted on ( orbs are still a great inexpensive alternative to runes that even give more stats ) Legendary weapons hav no stat bonus VS Exotic, Ascended so its mostly just a skin for the looks only!

Unlike WOW there is no restriction on GW2.. you can jump to the best thing from the get go if you want. ( Ascended items are hard to get and can take time though)

You can also buy a full set of Level 80 Exotic (Orange) armor from Karma Venders for 42k Karma each at “uncontested” (open) temple’s in Straits of Devastation, Malchor’s Leap and Cursed shore. You will need to jump around to each temple to find the stat combo you like .. i had to go to 2 temples to the get Power, Toughness, Vitality armor i wanted … always ignore the runes attached because they can always be replaced.. its only the base stats you should be looking at whenever buying karma armor. Superior runes & orbs can be mixed around and changed anytime. Base stats can not be! Unless you spend allot of gold on level 80 Transmutation stones and buying new armor with the stats you do want.

Oh and you can also get L80 exotic Dungeon armor & weapons for the corresponding Dungeon Tokens. The venders are located at Lions arch near the laurel vender and FOTM portal.

This chart should help you out a little to see what the jump in stats are from each tire item..

Basic White 1-80 100%
Fine Blue 1-80 125%
Masterwork Green 14-80 135%
Rare Yellow 35-80 145%
Exotic Orange 62-80 165%
Ascended Pink 80 175% (est.4) ( Trinkets only at the moment )
Legendary Purple 80 165%5 ( Weapons only )

Labyrinth.7201:

I come from playing WoW where there are specific tiers of gear you go through.. Starting out getting item level 219, and then you work towards 245.. Is it like that here, or can I start building towards my “end game” gear right off the bat? My wife and I are both in the same situation. What do you suggest we do?

Start on exotics. There’s no need to waste time or coin with anything before that when you are 80.

Preferably a mix of PVT and Knight gear. OR Full Clerics Armor.

Run AC dungeon explorable for PVT armor pieces.

Craft or purchase Knight’s jewelry from TP.

Alternatively if you have enough karma you can purchase the exotic PVT armor from the karma vendors at the shrines in Straits/Malchors/Cursed Shore. (The pieces are spread out among the different shrines)

DeathPanel – If he doesn’t have the money and he just go to level 80 with low level items, armor.. The best thing to do is at least deck himself out with level 80 green items before he starts to FARM .. or dungeon run to get the tokens, gold or karma he needs to get exotic stuff! This will not only save many many hours but will also make things so much easier because at least he will have the top level 80 “cheap” gear to start with

Trying to save that 80 Silver is just not worth it if it makes him crippled..

Another thing you can do if you haven’t done so already is complete the Orr maps, they reward level 75-80 exotic gear that you can use as a stand in or sell for good money to pay for exotic gear you can use.

I also recommend getting a starter set of 80 greens with the stats you want since those are dirt cheap, I wouldn’t recommend yellow gear though, those are a bit pricey and are replaced too quickly to be worthwhile

Exotic (orange) gear is the top stat budget gear in this game (aside from pink ascended which is still very limited), so that’s your ‘endgame’ goal as far as stats go. Though you’ll likely eventually find yourself in the same boat most of us are in of making multiple suits of exotic gear for various sets/roles you want to perform.

In the meantime you can make do with greens or yellows at level 80, but you want to aim for orange gear. Just try to figure out what kind of stats you want before you jump in – an orange suit does you little good if it’s all in stats that don’t compliment your build/playstyle.

VidGhost.3215:

DeathPanel – If he doesn’t have the money and he just go to level 80 with low level items, armor.. The best thing to do is at least deck himself out with level 80 green items before he starts to FARM .. or dungeon run to get the tokens, gold or karma he needs to get exotic stuff! This will not only save many many hours but will also make things so much easier because at least he will have the top level 80 “cheap” gear to start with

Trying to save that 80 Silver is just not worth it if it makes him crippled..

This is inaccurate.

Main story quests lvls 70-80 gives some rares that are better than masterwork lvl 80s by default, while he very likely has others from drops along the way so telling him to buy a full set of masterworks is not only a waste of coin but it is not going to be an upgrade most likely.

Also, Dungeon and karma gear costs no coins and can be obtained fairly easily and he could make alot of coins doing that.

You don’t need all lvl 80 masterworks to be able to run some of the dungeons. Knowledge of the mechanics and the traits and skillpoints you get by virtue of being 80 is more than enough. (I also mentioned that lvl 70-80 story quests give rares that are sometimes better than lvl 80 masterwork anyway)

There are some exceptions where it will be very tedious if you are not properly geared but he could still do AC (p1,p2) fairly easily for soldiers gear and build himself up from there.

With the coin he earns he can then either purchase the jewelry or max his own jewelcrafting to craft his jewelry himself to finish his build.

I started off getting just the pieces I was missing. Just a few lvl 60-70 greens needed replacing. Everything else was 78+ masterwork/rare stuff I farmed from meta/story.
I’m working towards knights gear right now… I was looking for which dungeons dropped that gear, and the only ones I saw were the Orrian gear from Arah.. Ran arah P3, and it took my group almost 2 hrs to complete. I know I have some boss mechanic learning to do, and I don’t have the coin to buy a box of the gear from the TP. I ran the event chain in Orr for about an hour and got events and my monthly done for enough karma to buy a full set of 42k/piece gear. Any karma vendors sell knights ex?

Labyrinth.7201:

I started off getting just the pieces I was missing. Just a few lvl 60-70 greens needed replacing. Everything else was 78+ masterwork/rare stuff I farmed from meta/story.
I’m working towards knights gear right now… I was looking for which dungeons dropped that gear, and the only ones I saw were the Orrian gear from Arah.. Ran arah P3, and it took my group almost 2 hrs to complete. I know I have some boss mechanic learning to do, and I don’t have the coin to buy a box of the gear from the TP. I ran the event chain in Orr for about an hour and got events and my monthly done for enough karma to buy a full set of 42k/piece gear. Any karma vendors sell knights ex?

There are no knight karma vendors.

Hopefully you bought only the PVT pieces from the different shrines. (If you bought them all at 1 shrine you will get a mix of random stats and that will not help.)

DeathPanel.8362:

Labyrinth.7201:

I started off getting just the pieces I was missing. Just a few lvl 60-70 greens needed replacing. Everything else was 78+ masterwork/rare stuff I farmed from meta/story.
I’m working towards knights gear right now… I was looking for which dungeons dropped that gear, and the only ones I saw were the Orrian gear from Arah.. Ran arah P3, and it took my group almost 2 hrs to complete. I know I have some boss mechanic learning to do, and I don’t have the coin to buy a box of the gear from the TP. I ran the event chain in Orr for about an hour and got events and my monthly done for enough karma to buy a full set of 42k/piece gear. Any karma vendors sell knights ex?

There are no knight karma vendors.

Hopefully you bought only the PVT pieces from the different shrines. (If you bought them all at 1 shrine you will get a mix of random stats and that will not help.)

I haven’t gotten anything yet. I was just waiting to see what I should start off with. As of right now, I am in full knights rare. I’m wanting knights/zerk combo. Since I’m still learning boss mechanics, should I stick with knights armor and zerk trinkets or should I get full PVT gear and try to learn fights with more exp players?

Labyrinth.7201:

DeathPanel.8362:

Labyrinth.7201:

I started off getting just the pieces I was missing. Just a few lvl 60-70 greens needed replacing. Everything else was 78+ masterwork/rare stuff I farmed from meta/story.
I’m working towards knights gear right now… I was looking for which dungeons dropped that gear, and the only ones I saw were the Orrian gear from Arah.. Ran arah P3, and it took my group almost 2 hrs to complete. I know I have some boss mechanic learning to do, and I don’t have the coin to buy a box of the gear from the TP. I ran the event chain in Orr for about an hour and got events and my monthly done for enough karma to buy a full set of 42k/piece gear. Any karma vendors sell knights ex?

There are no knight karma vendors.

Hopefully you bought only the PVT pieces from the different shrines. (If you bought them all at 1 shrine you will get a mix of random stats and that will not help.)

I haven’t gotten anything yet. I was just waiting to see what I should start off with. As of right now, I am in full knights rare. I’m wanting knights/zerk combo. Since I’m still learning boss mechanics, should I stick with knights armor and zerk trinkets or should I get full PVT gear and try to learn fights with more exp players?

Full knights is decent. I was just saying if you were to go for the karma vendor pvt gear you have to buy them from the different vendors at different shrines because the stats on the different slots for the gears are mixed.

Didn’t want to make a new thread updating my gear so I’ll just add. I’m now in full Knights Exo gear. No runes or gems. I still have my lvl 78+ green/rare rings/acc/ammy… I’m aiming for a shout build that supports with boons while doing decent damage. I’m looking at runes right now. Should I get soldier runes and then go zerk ring/acc/ammy or soldier ring..etc and a zerk type rune set?

Labyrinth.7201:

Didn’t want to make a new thread updating my gear so I’ll just add. I’m now in full Knights Exo gear. No runes or gems. I still have my lvl 78+ green/rare rings/acc/ammy… I’m aiming for a shout build that supports with boons while doing decent damage. I’m looking at runes right now. Should I get soldier runes and then go zerk ring/acc/ammy or soldier ring..etc and a zerk type rune set?

Soldiers runes if you run alot of shouts and want to remove conditions.

Or alternatively you can go 2x sup water, 2x sup monk, 2x major sanctuary. (Or 3x sup water, 3x sup monk) for added boon duration.