Guild Wars 2

Penny, I highly recommend this site: https://pcmonitors.info/

And the expert who runs it actually responds to questions posted in the forums (at least he did when I purchased my monitor, though that was some time ago). I can also vouch for the site’s impartiality/objectivity.

I don’t know how knowledgeable you are about monitors, but, as you can probably guess, it’s a subject that can run very deep should you choose to immerse yourself in it. Assuming you don’t, there are a number of key considerations that will go into an intelligent purchase, among them: price, screen size, screen type (TN, LED TN, IPS, VA, etc.), response time/refresh rate, contrast, black levels, anti-glare coating. If you’re unfamiliar, I’ll break these down a bit more.

Price: I’d expect to pay $150-$250 (U.S.) for a good monitor. Of course, this will depend on size and quality.

Size: Typically 24"-27". That’s good for a desk. Smaller will be, well, too small. Bigger may seem overwhelming and also may require you to play games at higher resolutions, which typically translates into a more expensive, high-end graphics card.

Screen type: TN screens are common and cheap. They’re also fast. How is a monitor “fast”? It translates into how quickly the monitor can respond to visual changes onscreen. For games — especially “twitch-style” fast-action games like first-person shooter, racing games, etc. (i.e., not GW2) — you need instant response. Otherwise, you can get visible “ghosting” or image smearing as the monitor struggles to move pixels around more quickly. The downside of TN screens is that visual quality and color accuracy can suffer compared to other screen types. IPS screens are prized for color accuracy and vibrancy. VA screens (fairly rare) are prized for excellent contrast and deep black levels (meaning black appears black and not dark gray).

Anti-glare coating: Many screens employ a coating that reduces glare from nearby light sources that will cause distracting reflections on the monitor. The downside of this otherwise desirable feature is that it can dull colors and make the screen appear slightly hazy. Some manufacturers use less coating than others, and how much you can tolerate is a matter of personal taste.

Personally, I like uncoated monitors with glass screens. They produce glowing, sharp colors. However, I also ensure that the room I game in only has light sources behind the monitor (no glare).

Ideally, you’ll get to see a monitor in all its glory (as in actually operating) before you buy. Bear in mind, though, that settings make an enormous difference in how good a monitor (and TVs, for that matter) looks. A monitor that looks awful relative to its peers in the store may actually just needs some heavy tuning, which is fairly easy to do. This is why many shoppers rely on reviews.

I hope this gives you a sense of the world you’re diving into. If you’re new to monitor tech, I highly recommend reading a recent monitor buying guide from a known PC hardware source (Cnet, PCmag, etc.). Then, once you have a budget, size and other needs defined, see which one a large consensus of users is happy with (Newegg and Amazon are good sources for this).

Hope this helps.

Thanks for the feedback, guys. Much appreciated.

Recognizing that some will say this is a crap idea, but it seems something of a shame that there isn’t an option to play through the 1-80 content on an expert or “infernal” mode similar to Diablo’s torment levels (FYI, I’m not a Diablo player, just read about them).

The 1-80 is very good and easily repeatable, at least a few times. Yes, you can do it with new characters (as I have, since I’m leveling eight, as I said in my OP), but it would really change the feel if the difficulty were amped up radically. With some modest tweaks, different rewards and a few surprises, ANet could recycle this content relatively easily, one would think.

Of course, that’d run counter to their “your character’s epic journey” approach/philosophy, dragging it down to a meta experience. But I still think it’d be cool.

Hello and thanks for reading.

I recently created a post inquiring what to do at end game, since three of the eight (yes, all eight professions) characters I’m leveling just hit 80 (my first time at cap). And I got a good number of well-considered responses with a variety of options.

The one that resonated with me most was “master each profession.” I may be playing all eight professions, but I’ll readily admit that I haven’t mastered any one of them. And since I’m particularly attracted to what I see as arguably the more complex professions in the game (engineer, elementalist, mesmer), I have a long ways to go before I know them inside-out and can play them to their potential.

Which raises the question of challenge. I think we all know that what I’ll call open-world PvE leveling combat (hearts, non-Champion dynamic events, etc.) isn’t terribly challenging. It just doesn’t require either expert play or top gear to succeed (even to succeed rather well).

So, where do players find the greatest combat challenge — the content that really forces you to be at the top of your game and well geared? Here are my guesses (because I have limited-to-no experience in the following):

Note, these are not in order of difficulty (but I encourage you to order your response that way):
- Champion dynamic events
- Dungeons
- Fractals
- Speed dungeon/fractal runs (even harder)
- Solo dungeon/fractal runs (even harder)
- WvW
- sPvP

Please know that while I included PvP content in the above, I’m not especially interested/curious about PvP at this time. Perhaps once I feel that I’ve really got a profession down I’ll feel ready to take on other players. Frankly, at present I’d be a button-mashing mess.

Any insight into GW2 combat challenge would be greatly appreciated! And feel free to mention non-combat challenges that keep you going as well (though I’m pretty sure it’s going to be combat/gameplay that drives me, more than, say, loot or, for example, gaining ascended/legendary gear…unless there is combat challenge involved in that).

Knowing what challenges await will help greatly to provide me with incentive to continue GW2 at L80.

Thanks!

Great reply, Thaddeus. Just what I was looking for. Definitely gives me some avenues to pursue.

What’s the best way to find a compatible guild?

I bought GW2 shortly after release, played for a while (in my world that’s months, not years), burnt out and quit. I just returned a few weeks back and am very pleased to be once again enchanted by GW’s beautifully realized world and smart design; without doubt, they raised MMOs to the next level.

My plan was to raise one character of each class more or less in concurrently. I did that to level 50 (perhaps the reason behind my burn out) before selecting a few that I preferred (though I enjoy them all) and focusing on them. Two days ago they — an elementalist, engineer and thief — reached 80. And now I’m at a bit of a loss as to what to do next.

I could, of course, raise the others to 80, something I’m likely to do eventually. But what about enjoying the “end game”? With so many 80s running around now, it’s clear that a huge number of people are finding things to do at GW2’s highest level, but I’m wondering what’s really sustaining people’s interest. I’ve come up with a list of options:

- Dungeon runs (admittedly, I’ve only done Ascalonian Catacombs story, so I’m very much looking forward to covering the rest and doing explorer mode)
- WvW (I’ll likely dabble here, but not terribly interested)
- sPvP (not for me)
- Finish out the story (I’m at L70 of mine, so I have a bit left to do)
- Living Story (I’ve done none of this, but it looks like much of it is pay-to-play)
- Fractals (no experience…seems like random dungeons)
- Silver Wastes (I’ve been goofing about here for the last two evenings…not bad, but seems very limited and likely to get old fast)
- Malchor’s Leap (not been)
- Cursed Shore (not been)
- Southsun Cove (is this even available anymore?
- Dry Top (not been)

Did I cover the lot? I suppose I could pursue world completion, but I think that’d bore me (I’d rather level more characters). I’m not near 100%, but I’ve pretty thoroughly explored all the zones (having gone through many with eight characters).

I wouldn’t mind filling my coffers with gold and getting better equipment, but I’m in it for the gameplay and exploration. Simply grinding for gear isn’t for me — if I’ve reached that point, I may as well move on to another game. I’m not going to be able to handle doing each dungeon 50 times or weeks and months in Silver Wastes.

The one thing that does intrigue me is soloing dungeons, laughable as that may sound for someone with my limited experience. I tried it last night in Ascalonian Catacombs story mode and it was like Dark Souls…only much harder. I must have died 30 times, though I did make it about halfway through. Not sure I have the constitution for it, but if anything will make me stay, it’s challenge.

Anyway, just looking for your thoughts and opinions. Is there something I’m not doing that’s going to be a huge thrill?

And, yes, I’m aware there’s an expansion coming that may well open things up a good deal further for L80s. But I’m speaking of now, before I go and invest in Heart of Thorns without knowing how much I’ll get out of it.

Thanks for reading.