Guild Wars 2

So I’m a returning/newbie player and I’m going to start working on getting ascended stuff. Weapon/Armor I hear it is possible to switch the stats so I’m not too concerned for that at the moment.

For 2 rings, 2 accessories, and the amulet, however, I want to make sure that what I buy from the vendors isn’t going to be a waste of my Laurels or whatever method I do. I don’t have time to just farm up a bunch of stuff, I want to try to get the “safest” stats possible on these 5 items as I only want to buy them once.

What I mean by “safe” is just what is most likely to be the most viable across the game modes. I’ll say I lean towards WvW, but I also want to do open world pve, etc. I plan to definitely try out Scourge though I could see myself switching back and forth with Reaper from time to time.

You really shouldn’t worry about long term/end game right now because things will inevitably change over time and especially with the new expansion coming in a month, all of the current ideas about what’s good or bad will likely change significantly.

Also, once you get your first guy to level 80, it won’t be nearly as hard to level up additional characters if you wanted them. In fact, if you’ve stuck with the game long enough to hit max level, you’ll likely want to buy one or both of the expansion packs and they each come with a level 80 booster, so it’s even easier to just pop another 80.

As such, really just pick what’s fun for you for leveling and such. If you like thief I’d go with that, it kills things very quickly, can move around really fast, go stealth, etc.

The interesting thing is with GW2, rather than add new classes, they add these Elite specs to the existing classes which in many cases radically change what the class even is. Like the Ranger you might think is perhaps a long range damage class with a pet, but then you can turn it into a Druid and it essentially becomes a healer, and then again with the latest expansion it changes into yet another archetype called Soulbeast where the pet goes away and you merge with it.

Anyway, long winded way of saying you should ignore the “bad” you are reading about and just go with what you personally find fun. All the stuff you’re reading now is probably not even going to be right in a month anyway.

Thanks for all the posts. Yeah I think it’s probably best if I just save my last 80 boost for a bit to see how all this shakes out with the new Elite specs.

Just one more quick question…Magnuzone you say that Druids/theives never get in sub squads that get good boons or stability. Do buffs not go raid-wide? I am coming from WoW, so pardon my terminology, but I assumed a Squad was like one large raid group….I didn’t know that the 5 person parties (again pardon my WoW terminology) were still relevant if the group gets converted to Squad.

Thanks a lot Sovereign, great tips and link

I played back at launch 4 years ago, only for a month or two, never got into WvW. I returned about a week or two ago and done almost entirely WvW and having a lot of fun.

Basically what I’ve been doing is just logging into Eternal Battlegrounds, or maybe one of the side ones if EBG queue is too high, then I find the commander tag, join the squad he’s in, and run over to the zerg. Then I just follow him/her around, get on their teamspeak if they link one, and try to help out. Build the siege equipment that’s dropped, etc.

So I think I get the basics, but some of the more advanced stuff I do not get. Quick list of questions if anyone can help out:

1) About the professions. I have a level 80 warrior and 80 ranger. I still have an 80-boost left to use from buying the xpack. 95% of the time, I want to play in the zerg, however, I don’t understand why certain classes are good or bad. I’ve looked at metabattle and done other research and I can see what’s supposedly useful, ie. guardians, chronomancer mesmers, necromancers, but I don’t get why, and also supposedly Ranger Druids are useless. To my newbie eyes I don’t get it. A lot of the time in the zerg it seems like we’re standing off against another large army and shooting them at long range with a long bow seems decent, and then switching to staff and dropping Druid heals on the group also seems useful?

I guess I’m just curious about sort of the more “advanced” meta of what’s really going on in these large battles, why certain professions are good or bad. It’s hard to find an up to date guide on this stuff on the internet. Also what should I consider spending my 80-boost on, I’m not partial to any class, just want to be useful in WvW. (and tell me what I’d be doing on said class to be useful).

2) Is there anything in particular I should be doing during a large siege if I’m not operating the equipment? Many times on a particularly tough siege we’re getting pounded by the various arrow carts and siege equipment from the other side, and there isn’t really anyone for me to target or anything as they’re obstructed up on the tower walls…and also the arrow cart rain of fire makes it sound I can’t even go out there anyway.

3) In general what are some of the most useful things I can do as part of the zerg?

Thanks!

Returning player after only playing since launch.

I was wondering the exact steps you have to take to get those ascended weapons or armor from the WvW Skirmish vendor guy. I can’t see what the materials are for for the Mistforged Hero’s Greatsword, for example…it just has a lock symbol saying I need to unlock some skin.

Can someone tell me the exact steps/things I need to get that? Please don’t assume I understand anything at all about the process as I’m a newbie!

Thanks

Thanks for the responses everyone DreamyAbaddon, Tanner, akenoyuki, very helpful!

I’m just getting back into the game after having played near launch and only getting up to level 40 or so.

I was wondering if I bought all this stuff, both living worlds and HoT…and even finishing my personal story…is it all going to be soloable? Can I just sort of go through this entire storyline by myself or will I hit roadblocks?