Guild Wars 2

I put cooking on all of my characters because it’s so cheap. (Even cheaper if you have access to the Renown Heart vendors.) But yeah, gw2crafts will give you the cost to level up each crafting discipline.

Also, the best time to do crafting is before WvW reset on Saturday! Depending on your server’s WvW score, you increase your critical crafting success by up to 20%. (source) This paired with a 50% crafting booster can save a lot of mats. (Note: critical successes increase the crafting exp you get by 50%)

Welcome back!

I just got back to the game a few months myself. I made it through the HoT story using exotic zerker gear just fine. Roaming the new maps in zerker gear was hazardous at first, but you’ll learn what to avoid after a few deaths

For raids, here’s the dev tweet that recommended ascended gear. She also confirmed that agony resistance is not required.

And here are a few random pointers that players gave me on my return:
*All ascended gear is now account bound and can be used by all of your characters
*You can change the stats on ascended armor and weapons (but not trinkets). Recipe here.
*PvP rewards now include PvE items, so you can get dungeon gear or items from certain regions depending on which reward track you have active. Just another way to gear up if you find you need to make some changes.
*Minis are now stored in the wardrobe system. You may have some still in your bank collections though. They can not be put back into the bank collections once you take them out. (Check TP prices as I had about 100g worth of minis I sold off.)

Also running into this issue. One of my guilds is having a number of bug issues blocking guild progress. Some players can access the guild info while others can’t see anything in the guild menu or access the guild hall. For those who can, they are unable to deposit anything to contribute mats for upgrades.

This is only affecting one of my guilds; my other guilds seem to be running just fine.

Here’s what I’ve found on reddit: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/3pyzlu/supply_line_management_vendor_locations/

The vendors move around a bit, so they won’t always be in the same spot.

I kept going back and forth on that. Didn’t make the connection to spirit shards and got myself all confused. Thanks for the response!

Map grinding it is then.

Edit: Question resolved. I was just confused. :P

I got back a month and a half ago myself. First thing I did was get setup for the new fractals. That included getting my AR to 70 (current max effectiveness), and getting my personal reward level to 50. (I pug’ed my way to the top, and had great luck with groups running the 40+ fractals. Lower levels were a bit messier.) I still need to finish off my ascended set to to get AR even higher as I’m guessing we’ll need more for the higher level fractals. I’m also hoarding the +1 AR infusions.

If you go this route, you’ll likely pick up enough fractal relics to make an infused ascended backpiece. (Costs 2,350 relics + a few other mats.) Hopefully you’ll also get infused version of your rings to drop along the way as well. Save all the rings you get regardless as you’ll be able to salvage them at launch. You also have enough laurels and badges of honor to pick up an ascended amulet in WvW.

If you’re interested in playing a Revenant, you should stock up on Tomes of Knowledge so you can get it to 80 at launch.

If you’re interested in raiding, you might consider finding a guild that fits your level of play.

I haven’t stayed up to date with WvW (I used to exclusively WvW when I first played, now I mostly PvE.) The new maps look interesting though. Given your number of badges of honor, you might start researching servers and finding a group to run with.

Done.

Good luck with your research!

I’m looking for current guides after being away from the game for a year. (I’ve been in game for a month.) As I’m relearning a lot of the mechanics, most of my Googling efforts have led to outdated materials.

So far I’ve been using GW2dungeons.net and MetaBattle.com, which have served me well. The Wiki, of course, has always been great, but not in depth enough for specific PvE tactics; I’m looking to do my homework before getting into the fray. (I’ve figured out WvW enough to be comfortable, and I don’t really PvP.)

Are there resources that I’m missing? Is it mostly just joining up with the right guilds/groups and getting into the fray? Specifically, I’m a Mesmer looking for resources on dungeon speed runs, 30+ fractals, and mechanics for some of the gluier world bosses (i.e. Tequatl and Jungle Worm).

Miku Lawrence.6329:

Wouldn’t think illusion bleeds are a significant source of damage. But guess you’re right.

Some of our illusions have multiple hits per attack, such as the iDuelist and iWarden (to a lesser extent, also the iZerker and GS clones). That’s where the bleed stacks can really help out.

The only recipe I could find for Unidentified Dyes is for PvP, which can’t be used to craft the Gift of Color.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mystic_Forge#Structured_Player_versus_Player

I can’t imagine they will do this, but I really appreciated (and agree with) your argument here.

Ken has a good head on his shoulders—he always makes well thought out posts. I’m inclined to agree with him on this one.

I can see where the misconception happened here because of the pre- and post-tournament pricings, but it doesn’t make sense that tournament placements would be made two weeks before the tournament begins. With large population shifts taking place, the ratings wouldn’t have enough time to adjust. (Though I do think it is a bit foolish to offer free transfers up to the day before the tournament.)

For Season 1, the placements weren’t determined until the last matches concluded. We can see that Maguuma gained enough rating in the eleventh hour to make it to gold.

I’ve given up waiting for a dev response, so I’m going to stick to my own form of logic, no matter how skeptical you all may be :P

Just make sure you transfer back by the 27th! That’s when the freebie’s expire.

Have fun in your travels

Crystal Desert appears to be on the upswing. They’re getting a lot of traction from the free transfers.

You can post an intro at http://crystal-desert.com/ to get a better feel for their WvW scene. Tell them Jack sent you and you’ll get a free beer.

Guild leaders can focus too much on the wrong things. They want a big roster, so they spam recruitment messages in map chat. Sure you’ll get numbers that way, but then they wonder why players aren’t repping or have gone inactive.

The guild I’m with is part of a larger gaming community (other chapters include FF14, WoW, maybe Wildstar when it launches) Recruits come in through member recommendations and there’s a 30 day trial period to move recruits from “stranger” to “friend.” Some people think that’s crazy, but it really helps weed out the bad apples. And even though our GW2 roster isn’t huge (~50 active), we have very committed players who are willing to contribute to group as a whole. It helps greatly that the leadership sets this example.

For me, this keeps me gaming much more than I would if I were always solo.

I think all the information you are looking for is listed on the Equipment Acquisition by Stats page.

The major and minor attributes are listed in the table. If you’re uncertain what each little icon means, you can hover over it to see. (They match the in-game icons.) The nomenclature is also included in the column marked “Prefix.” In the Total Availability column, you can see which stat sets are available for which gear (weapons, armor, backpiece, trinkets, and jewels.) Finally, the rest of the table tells you which equipment you can receive using various methods of acquisition (crafting, karma, dungeon tokens, etc.)

If you need something a little more clearcut for those jewels, there is a handy table further down on the same page: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats#Universal_upgrade_components

This page is an amazingly useful gathering of information on level 80 gear. It just might take a minute to get used to the format.

Looks like you made a smart choice! Ele can add quite a bit of survivability to a group, so that is good for you gf and friend who are still learning. Mesmer is a lot of fun, but the support they offer is more damage based it seems (trait to stack might on interrupt, share boons with signet, timewarp to increase skill speed, stuff like that.)

As you’re leveling, avoid glassy gear. Ele’s have the lowest equipment defense rating and lowest base health pool. You’ll want gear with some toughness and vitality on it to help you as you learn your skill rotations.

All my alts get cooking maxed because it’s cheap, and it’s only given 7 levels since ascended came out.

WvW probably isn’t your best bet for leveling. You’ll likely die a lot more there than in your personal story (especially since you are below level 10). Sometimes you can find a karma train, which is a large group of players who run from one objective to the next capping as fast as possible. You won’t learn your class very well by doing this though as you’re essentially running in circles to gain exp.

Don’t forget to clear out your guild bank before transferring!

hannah mee.7925:

TL;DR – Yes to a mini, no to the free one for Christina.

Can’t stop us all from gifting Christina minis! I imagine she’d be flooded with or without a contribution from ANet.

Ravion Hawk.4736:

This would be even more hilarious if this was ANet’s answer to AFKing in LA.

Send enemies with “launch” and boot them out the door.

Can we kite them to the AFKers? That would be some trolling action I could get behind.

You might consider guesting over to Desolation. Plenty of English speaking players and tons of PvEers.

Elrey.5472:

Except for those that were about to aim to kill the 3 wurms… xD (not me, btw)

Wurms are the least of our troubles. There’s a war in LA!

JK. Didn’t even think about the wurms. But those haven’t been on my radar yet. (I still haven’t done Tequatl yet either. /shame)

There was a new build that came out today to fix a few things. I just wanted to comment that the new build was perfectly timed so that active LA raids were not interrupted, but we could all get back in for the next raid as well. I don’t doubt that this was by design.

Yesterday had to have been a long day at ANet HQ. The patch was delayed to ensure that things ran smoothly, and they mostly did. A few fixes are totally understandable, and I loved that ANet had the foresight to time it properly.

Thank you for all the hard work, ANet!

cainejw.7142:

Saying, “You can go elsewhere” is also not a good reason. What changed between yesterday and today that demands Lion Arch and the Vigil no longer have access to crafting unless you leave the zone or pay money?

You’re playing a game that has highly publicized it’s Living Story efforts. In game and in real life, wars happen, and we have little say in the matter. So we deal with with the inconveniences or pay a high price to get around them.

Sounds pretty dynamic to me.

Thorn.7963:

There is nothing fun about a zerg.

Then stop running in one. The event requires groups to be active across the map. If champs are spawning because of a zerg, then something is being neglected elsewhere. ANet structured this one well.

Thorn.7963:

This isn’t interaction. This is huddling into massive lag balls and mashing 1.

You would better contribute to the war by making using of your other buttons as well. This isn’t WvW where skill lag prevents that—I didn’t notice any skill lag at all on hard capped maps.

Moteris.5913:

Well because some of us are choosing to enjoy the game instead of crying about the lack of things. OR what the devs did wrong…blah blah blah…

+1

So… has anyone here played the content yet?

People have to cover the map and be ready to move on a moment’s notice for the next event. It requires groups to work in unison. The tri-kill mechanic does seem to get people to group up on cross-swords events, but to really kick kitten in this map, you need players all over the place.

This event is a terrible place to zerg.

Disco inferno!

#NotEnoughLyricsFor15Char

So glad someone else got this up. I was about to do the same

See you all on the other side of LA!

>.<

Perhaps someone here can define “unannounced” for you.
Hint: unannounced content doesn’t get a trailer.

Engineer was my first class, and I had a bit of trouble wrapping my head around it. I handled her just fine in PvE, but I was useless in WvW. I picked up a Mesmer and haven’t looked back. For whatever reason, this is the class for me.

Engi is definitely busier and there are a ton of clever combinations you can execute. Mesmer requires a very active, well-thought out strategy in combat; as such, it isn’t very forgiving if you misstep. They both have many options to quickly react in combat. Ele is a bit more skill-rotation based that requires tapdancing on your keyboard

My main is a black male Norn. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had people ask if I’m black irl. They also typically note that I don’t sound black on VoIP.

Their flagrant insensitivity aside, I enjoy playing characters that aren’t a dime a dozen. (Human, white) That and darker skin tones complement Mesmer butterflies much better

Lots of players are having issues with being stuck. (I notice it happen most often after using supply in WvW).

Using an emote or weapon-swapping will clear it.

I can see why this was implemented. Players would sometimes forget when their commander pin is active due to it being in the boon bar. This change, however, supports the absent-minded much more than it does those who are playing hard.

I support the icon being removed from the FOV. I have been pinned up before when I didn’t mean to, and it takes a matter of minutes for guildmates or servermates to point that out to me.

This is my request for fashion.

I really like the feathered option for light armor (or Flamekissed) except for the sleeves. The male version of this armor has sleeves that do no match the torso (though it matches the pants). The female version of this armor, IMO, completes the chest piece much better. I can see why this is as the female version of the pants have an opening in the front that matches the sleeves, where the male version doesn’t.

I enjoy some flamboyance in my armor selection, but I have a difficult time finding light armor male skins that suit this preference. Cutting the sleeves off the male feathered skins would go a long way for me; they are rather weighty for a torso that is sparsely ornamented. If it requires making the pants a little more showy, then I’m even more excited.

Thanks!

Invictus.1503:

Switching the order (you leap and create clone at your location, then chain switches you and clone places) would still give the double leap finisher. It would likely fix the pathing issue since the second part is a teleport and rarely bugs. It would keep clever play style and in my opinion add to the feel of a mesmer’s in and out strategy. It also wouldn’t be an unthinkably major change in the skills uniqueness.

True. The immobilize on the swap synergies with Sword#2 nicely, so I’m not quite sure how to handle that change with this suggestion. Perhaps immob on the initial leap. Not sure what kind of balance issues this would have. (We’d essentially be able to leap in, invuln burst, and get out with little to no risk.)

Joonks.7501:

Is the clone pathing to the target even necessary? Why not just have the clone appear on the target? That would bypass some of the issues associated with the clone’s movement.

The only argument against this is that the charging iLeap is a telegraph. If a player sees it coming, they are able to dodge/block to avoid the burst. IMO, a player who reacts to telegraphs should be awarded for it. It also encourages us to keep track of an opponent’s dodges/blocks to know when to time the burst.

I bank on that double leap finisher. With high boon duration, it’s great for stacking retal off Focus#4. Also very handy to heal up in a water field.

It sucks that the clone doesn’t always make it to it’s target, and we’ve received mixed responses on that issue. At one point we were told, “Sorry! That’s just how it is.” Later they tried to clean up the pathing a bit, which works sometimes but results in a huge telegraph as the clone is running in zigzags.

There are ways around the lack of a passive speed boost and “traditional” gap closer. We’ve got a ton of clever combat mechanics, and watering down skills by making them mirror other classes’ skills would start eroding clever playstyles.

If you want your primary guild to become bigger, you need to stick with it. A small, dedicated roster is going to naturally increase as you continue working toward your goals. If new guild players can’t get to know you—a trusted member of the guild—because you’re repping someone else, then it will slow progress.

As it sounds like you are just starting out, note that you can transfer for free if you delete all of your characters. (Items in your bank/wallet will carry over.) Nobody likes to start over, but if you realize you don’t like your choice before you gain too many levels, it’s easy to pick a new server.

All server transfers have a one week cooldown period.

Tarnished Coast is the unofficial RP server.
Sea of Sorrows is the unofficial oceanic server, though they just received an influx of NA guilds.
Stormbluff Isle has long branded itself as the mature server.
Maguuma considers itself to be a college dorm room where they all make fun of one another, but that’s just part of their bonding experience.

Those are the highlights. Aside from that, avoid higher tiered servers (Black Gate, Sanctum of Rall, Jade Quarry) as they are bound to have longer queue times.

I have mixed reports on this. Sometimes I can make it to the liquor store and back (15 minutes) without timing out. Other times I come back I’ve timed out.

Might be shorter for WvW than it is for PvE, but I never paid close enough attention.

When I made my mesmer so long ago, I made the largest Norn possible thinking that the clones would cover some screen space and opponents might accidentally click on them instead of me or a teammate.

Not sure if that actually makes any difference, but I love the Snow Leopard (norn racial elite) for WvW roaming/havoc. I’ve used it to hide in keeps, get away from an overwhelming force, catch all those pesky high mobility builds, and rush to objectives that are under assault.

So maybe big clones help me out, but the Snow Leopard helps me out way more.

Guardians are great support, and they’re hard to knock over too. For me, I didn’t find the guardian playstyle to be as engaging as other classes (perhaps I wasn’t doing it right), so I keep an Elementalist on my roster for support. I find light armor classes to be a lot more interesting as I know I have to keep my head in the game or I’m going to end up squashed :P

Elementalists are more of a skill-rotation class, and they have a good number of builds available that cater to many kinds of playstyles. If you like twitchy game play, dagger/dagger Eles are high action and fairly robust. If you like support, you can build for tons of healing and condition removals and boons for your party. And every so often, it’s fun to be a DPS hero, and there are glass cannon builds out there as well.

Awesome! Glad you posted here before you had a character that was significantly leveled.

As you’re meeting players in game, your best bet is to start with your home server. Sea of Sorrow’s server forums can be found at: http://www.gw2-seaofsorrows.com/forums/

You’re also able to guest to other NA servers for PvE content (but no WvW). So you can meet up with anyone so long as they are on an NA server.

And attached is a screenshot from the pride parade, just for fun.

Oh, Engineer can be a tricky one to take on right out of the box. I did the same thing and had to shelve her for a bit before I could wrap my head around things a bit better.

Using the crafting stations in WvW is generally frowned upon (admittedly, I’ve totally done this…more than once.) If you haven’t opened up the Lion’s Arch (LA) map yet, you can very easily access it by entering WvW and using the LA portal at each spawn point. Bank and crafting stations are easily accessed there, and a lot of times players will drop buffs at the bank (such as a heroes banner), so you can get free xp buffs by going there

Welcome to the game!

There is a way to transfer for free. If you delete all of your characters (put all items in your bank before doing so!), you can transfer, and the items in your bank carry over with you. So if you’re still new and haven’t gotten a lot of levels in, you can make the move over to NA to meet up with your friend.

I’m not sure about events on EU servers, but one of the NA servers hosts a pride parade in June in LA. (I missed last year’s because I was at a pride parade irl, but I heard it was a great time.)