Guild Wars 2

During the course of leveling I used mostly longbow. My 2nd was sometimes greatsword, and sometimes sword+torch. I found GS somewhat boring, I actually enjoyed the play of sword+torch a lot more. When I could, I put 4 points into Nature Magic so I could get the trait that lets spirits follow you around, and would run Sun Spirit plus usually one other (either Frost or Stone, depending upon whether I wanted more DPS or more defense). Then focused the rest of my trait points in Marksmanship and Skirmishing, all in traits that buff my longbow in some way. Worked for me.

The biggest QoL change I would want is to put a pet icon/health bar up somewhere in the top left of the screen, much like you have for other party members when you are partied. At large events it is so easy to completely and totally lose sight of the pet in the midst of all the other players etc. and it becomes impossible to monitor the pet’s health bar. Every other MMO that I have played that used pets, there was always an icon for the pet somewhere on the screen visible that made it really easy to monitor the pet’s condition.

As subject line says, this is a just-for-fun, zero basis in fact, pure speculation thread about what the druid specialization (especially with staff) is going to look like for us rangers. I share it simply as a means of having fun while we all wait for some real information to emerge.

So my 4 guesses, in order from most to least likely:

1. Our definitive party support spec. Right now there is not a ton that we as rangers bring to groups in terms of support. Taking a parallel from guardians (who can support using lots of weapons, but who do so in a particular way with staff) I think it is most likely that a staff-based druid is going to be a spec that sees a drop, perhaps a substantial drop, in DPS as compared to our current main DPS specs, but will bring a lot of support skills to group play.

2. A Ranged, AoE spec. Another thing rangers lack is the ability to output any sort of consistent AoE damage from range. Longbow 5 is basically it. If a staff druid isn’t a support character, then I could see it being something akin to a staff elementalist. Multiple AoE damage skills, all with 1200 range, only of course more along a plant/nature theme than the elemental themes of the ele.

Those two are, I think, the most likely. If I had to expand my list beyond two…

3. Shape-Shifting Druid. Yes, something akin to the WoW druid. I know there is going to be a strong, viceral reaction from many players against this (PRECISELY because it is what the WoW druid was), but I think we have to acknowledge this is at least a possibility. Specialized this way, the ranger would lose his pets and instead shape-shift into one (or more) animal forms. A slight variant on this idea would be shifting into some sort of a spirit-form (something akin to the shadow form that necromancers can take on once they have built up life force).

4. A Melee-DPS class. Though the least likely, I think it would be fascinating if staff-based druids were mostly melee characters, swinging the staff around in melee attacks. Very different from anything else in GW2 (closest parallel I can think of is either a quarterstaff monk in various RPG games or DDO; or perhaps from SWTOR the jedi who use the 2-handed lightsabers) and for that reason I think it is highly unlikely. But it certainly would be an interesting take on the staff idea.

Anyways, those are my speculations. Shared only for fun. If I was a betting man, I would bet on #1 or perhaps #2.

I have the mining pick and I can tell you I get at least one sprocket on virtually every node I farm, from copper all the way up. If you need serious quantities of sprockets, that really seems like the way to go.

Thanks so much, that is very helpful and exactly what I was looking for!

Relatively new player to GW2, just hit lvl 80 on my first character a week or two ago. Saw in the gem store “Living World Season 2” is on sale, but it isn’t clear to me exactly what that is. A set of quests? A set of group dungeons? New zones (maps) that I currently don’t have access to?

Are there rewards (quest rewards, item drops?) that are more powerful than things I can get in the game in other ways? Different skins? I’m very confused. It’s pretty expensive (even on sale, almost 1300 gems) so I’d like to have a much clearer idea of what it is before I decide to spend gems on it.

Also…I haven’t bought Living World Season 1 (I presume such a thing much exist, if this is season 2). Does 2 build off 1?

Very confused!

If your skill at playing the game is relatively low (and I have no problem admitting that applies to me), ranger is SO much easier than elementalist. And probably easier than any other class in the game. Longbow ranger with a pet (doesn’t even have to be a terribly tanky pet, honestly) can mow through lots of PvE content and barely take any damage. It can get a bit boring, but it is very easy to be very effective even without much skill.

Elementalist is far more interesting—but also, it seems to me, much squishier. On my ranger I almost had to TRY to die if I was ever going to die. On my ele, one false step and I am eating dirt. Ele can do some great damage and a whole lot of interesting group buffs (combo fields, etc.) but it is not terribly forgiving if you screw up. Rangers are a pretty fantastic solo profession but don’t bring a ton to group play (other than DPS), unless you really trait in some unusual ways.

I love the ranger. And especially in groups I tend to trait in a way that allows me to support my group as much as possible. But I can also see that, objectively, ele probably brings more to the table—especially when well-played. But for solo play, ranger is definitely far more viable (especially with less skill) than ele. So it really depends what you want or intend to do in the game.

Thieves are very fast—whether you are talking movement, attack skills, whatever. I am relatively new to the game but am in a guild with many people who have been here for years (and have, in some cases, level 80’s of every single class) and the general consensus among them is that well-played thieves are extremely deadly; mediocrely-played thieves (or worse) are squishy and easy to kill. So they are very fast, very mobile, but take a lot of investment in really learning to play the class if you want to be successful. They are not a class for people who are only half-invested; or who want to play GW2 while also watching TV and cooking dinner at the same time.

The game doesn’t have the “trinity” in the usual MMO sense. But if you like the feel of tanks, then probably the guardian profession is the closest thing i this game you will find. Guardians wear heavy armor, have a fair number of pretty strong defensive skills at their disposal, and are also great group buffers. They are also very much a melee-ranged class so if you are used to tanks in that sense, it might suit you quite well.

For the most part, you should do fine through most of your leveling just by using weapons and armor you are getting as drops and as quest (or level-up) rewards. Every 10 levels your “personal story” quest line opens up; during your early/mid levels make that a priority because often the rewards are very good.

One of the first things you should do once you have even a little coin is to buy a stack of the basic (cheapest) harvesting implements (copper pick for metals, copper axe for wood, copper sickle for plants) and harvest everything you come across. As you go to higher zones you will eventually need to buy the next tier implements (iron) and so forth as you continue to level. You will know if you are trying to use a too-low-quality implement because instead of giving you the proper result, it will give you worthless junk called “ruined wood” or “ruined plant fiber” rather than what you should be harvesting.

Early on, make getting skill points (the blue, sort-of diamond shaped things on your maps) a priority. You want to build up skill points so that once your various skill utility slots start opening up, you will be able to buy the skills that sound the most interesting/useful to you. Once you have exhausted them in whatever newbie zone you start in (based on your race), don’t be afraid to take the free portal to Lion’s Arch and then from Lion’s Arch the free portals to the other racial newbie zones to go get the skill points on those maps as well. Don’t worry about trying to finish all the quests in those zones or anything, just run around the maps and try to earn the skill points.

Early on, practice using the different weapons that your profession can use. Likely you will eventually settle in on one or two that you really like and fit your personality & playstyle, but the early levels are the times to experiment and figure out all the various different attack skills that correspond to each weapon. At level 15 you gain the ability to have two different weapons (or weapon combos) slotted that you can switch between even in combat. This opens up a lot more flexibility when fighting.

By level 19, you will have the ability to switch weapons in combat, plus have all three utility skill slots unlocked. Life gets easier (and more interesting) once that is the case. Skill-wise, the only thing that remains to be unlocked at that point is your elite skill slot, which pops at lvl 31.

If you have crafting mats in your bags, you don’t have to run back to a town to find a vault to store them. You can just right-click the gear at the top-right of your bags and choose “deposit all materials.” Your bank vault has a whole separate page just for crafting materials—don’t do what I did as a noob and manually put them in your regular vault!

Most of all, have fun. Try out different professions, different races. Lots of good options. Lots to do and see in the game, so enjoy your time here.

Thanks the the advice, all!

Hi all,

A few days ago I just got my first character to lvl 80 (a ranger) and now I am looking to level up another. I’ve played around with a few classes (guardian, ele, and thief) and in many ways I’m most enjoying my little lowbie thief, who is level 16 now.

But I die. A lot.

And even when I don’t die, I am often ending fights with only one-third, or a quarter, of my health left. So even if I don’t die, I’m often flirting with disaster.

This is just open-world questing, trying to complete maps, do events when they pop up, etc. I’m not doing any pvp or WvW.

I realize things are probably tough now partially because I have no traits and very few skills (have only opened up the “first row” of utility skills and can only equip 1 currently). But still, I seem really squishy and don’t really have a good grasp on what to do about it.

I usually run either D/D or Sw/D. Last level I finally got weapon switching so I have tried a short bow some, but don’t feel like I am really using that weapon very effectively.

Realistically, a probably just need to “l2p” the class by playing it more. But if any of the experienced thieves here can think back to what it was like when you were a lowbie and can give any little tips that might help me, I’d appreciate it.

In another MMO that I play, they have an item they sell on the equivalent of their gem store (for a small amount, maybe 50 or 100 gems in GW2 terms) that, when equipped, turns off all XP gain. It’s not a one-time use thing, it is an item in the accessory slot that you can either equip or unequip. That way if people want to craft but for whatever reason don’t want the character to actually level from crafting, those people can pop in that accessory, do their crafting, and then if they want to go off and quest and level, just pop the accessory back out and they gain XP like normal.

Seems to me that could be a potential solution.

The April Fool’s “event.”

I’m not all worked up about it because it is offensive and insensitive (in light of the recent events in Europe)—though it is those things, and whoever decided to go through with it in spite of that ought to be fired simply for that reason.

But it is just…incredibly stupid. Unbelievably stupid.

I think you would have to have an IQ in the single digits to find this “event” funny, amusing, or enjoyable in any way. It is incredibly, stupendously stupid. Un-enjoyable. Adds nothing positive whatsoever to the game. NOTHING. Instead, detracts incredibly from the game, and makes the experience of the game annoying, frustrating, stupid, and much less enjoyable.

Seriously. Whoever designed this “event” needs to be fired. Immediately. And anyone who approved this “event” needs to be fired. Because they have no clue how to run an MMO.

I’ve just come over to GW2 after years in multiple other MMO’s that had a variety of (usually) well-thought-out, fun, interesting events. Not all of them great, for sure—some better than others, as is typical for MMO’s. But none of them nearly as lame as this one. None of them nearly as stupid as this one.

And then I come here, to GW2, considering making this my MMO “home” for the foreseeable future…and the first “event” I experience is this.

Seriously?

Nobody with any intelligence could have possibly thought this would be a good idea. Nobody. NOBODY.

It seems to me the only people who would find this event amusing as the same sort of people who fart in public and then laugh hysterically because they think it’s funny when someone farts in public.

It would have been far better to have done nothing than to do this. Sorry, but it’s the truth.

Unless you’re trying to appeal to the “13-year-old-male-who-thinks-farting-in-public-is-funny” demographic, there is really nothing at all appealing about this “event.”

Thanks for the tips, all.

Doh. It seems tons of story quests are not progressing. I guess that’s comforting…

Twice now I have tried to complete this story quest and had it bug on me. I go through the sewers killing stuff until the end, the only quest objective left is to kill the undead, so I go in to the final part of the tunnel (with the greenish water), kill the undead scout, and…nothing. It still says “kill the undead” but there are no other creatures anywhere to be found.

Is there any way around this? Or is my personal story line now permanently bugged?

Just to chime in after playing a few days… I tried guardian, still had to dodge some but you were right, his tankiness and self-healing means he can last through some hits. I also tried a ranger, and liked that even more… pet holds a lot of aggro so only rarely do I need to hop around on him. Experimented with a few other classses (thief/mesmer) but they didn’t fit my style. So sticking with ranger and guardian for now. Thanks again to all who shared wisdom!

Some of these later posts also giving me something good to think about. Thanks.

I really appreciate all the responses so far. I am going to continue to monitor this, so if anyone else has any input, please know it will be read and appreciated. Thanks to all who already responded!

Hi all,

Newbie here.

I know that the active combat in GW2 (dodging, rolls, etc.) is part of the appeal of the game. And so any character of any profession is going to be doing it to some degree.

That being said, I’m really not a huge fan of overly-twitchy gameplay and would curious to hear some options for professions/builds that are, maybe, a less dodge-dependent than others.

For now at least, I am mostly thinking about basic open-world questing to level up. I’ve never been a big pvp-er in any MMO that I’ve played so not terribly concerned about pvp. Nor, for the short term, do I see myself doing a lot of content that requires full parties. Mostly soloing on the landscape and joining in randomly on whatever other world events are popping up.

I know from reading the basic descriptions of the professions that probably guardian is the most likely answer… but I’m hoping there might be some other options as well that are less obvious.

Thanks in advance for any help!