Guild Wars 2

First, let me preface this by saying I bought the game a few days ago and did not play any BETA events so when i started I had little to no knowledge of the game and progression. I am currently level 48 and breezing through leveling between zones & crafting.

The part I am confused at is the gear. I hear a lot of mentioning of Berserker Gear and Condition gears (Armor sets, not just regular gear obtained from questing/killing/heart venders)…is this just for end game Level 80? I am not sure if I should be doing something in the mean time other than events and making Karma. Are all of these discussions on gear mainly focused for the higher levels once you hit level cap? Also, where is this gear obtained? Is it purchased with Karma points? Crafted? Dungeon points? etc. Can you inform me which vendors sell the thief gear options?

I just want to make sure that my first priority should be to reach level 80, then I should switch my focus to obtaining end game rare/exotic gear?

If anyone could give me a general idea of the time line and where I should be focusing, that would be great.

Thanks

Essentially, if your not 80, don’t worry about what gear u get as long as u keep getting gear that is better than what you currently have armor wise. When you get 80 you have multiple options in getting higher stated gear.

1. Crafting
2. Dungeons
3. High level Karma gear (not the normal vendors, the ones only in the Orr Temples)
4. Chests for World Events

Now I’m not sure if there are any other ways, and if the Orr Temple gear is still even with the top level gear. Just know that there is no “one way” to get the best gear in the game. All of these ways give you the highest rated gear. But, you shouldn’t just be focusing on getting the higher stated gear, while you can still hunt for gear that you think looks awesome that you want to transmute.

All of this stuff is meaningless in a “time table” because its however long or short you want to do it and in whatever order you want. Apart from the higher level content, anything that’s open at your level is completely viable to explore/do. Drops scale with your level so its worthwhile to go everywhere.

Also, while gear is very good to get, its not 100% absolutely required to do any dungeon. So don’t worry about not having super awesome top tier gear.

Yes, you should focus on hitting 80 first, then worry about gear, on your way to 80 try to decide which kind of thief you want to play, either it be condition, support, damage, or precision. Right now i use precision/condition for PvE, and damage/precision for PvP. you can buy cheap sets of armor with different stats and see how you like it, everyone has their own spec they like to run.

Thanks alot guys. This was exactly the feedback I was looking for. Progress to 80 and then worry about gear. I guess I will farm as much karma and collect as much crafting mats on my way to make it somewhat easier.

Yep, like these guys said, while leveling just have a general idea of stats that are important if you happen to get a choice in drops or karma vendors, but otherwise you should be plenty effective. The specific configuration of stats/runes/etc. at 80 is a 10% difference in your overall effectiveness which only becomes important to your survival or gameplay at 80.

I leveled from 1-80 with a busted auction house, knew I wanted condition damage, but picked up any armor that was better armorwise and any weapons that were better damage-wise, and just made sure to slot my preferred stats in them with the gems i found. Leveling was pretty painless and fun this way, and left me with a good chunk of cash to get my trait books and a set of green 80 gear with the exact stats I wanted from the AH when I made it to 80.