Guild Wars 2

Alright thanks for the tips, I’ll keep on stone splinters and experiment with switching between tempest defense and blasting staff, as while I’ll use the ice bow for bosses, I generally only use it when things become a damage sponge, and by that stage I’m usually in a big party anyway so an extra 20% for a couple of seconds may not make such a massive difference

Actually, looking at Thaddeus’s post, I’m 4 points too short, and that’s where Acotje’s suggestions start to make sense haha.
Which would be the worst two out of tempest defense, stone splinters (dunno how far 600 is in the game), vital striking and blasting staff?

I’m going to guess tempest defense and possibly blasting staff would be the ones to get rid of for general use :p

Haha thanks for the replies guys, and I’ll check out the guide sometime later, it’s a bit of a long read :P As to skills for learning, I’d ideally like to avoid that, it’s better to go all out and learn how not to die the hard way

I’ve just gone through all the skills mentioned and I’m surprised I didn’t notice a few, just got one question about the ice bow combo thaddeus mentioned. Would it be freeze the boss, then lay down skill 4 and a fire storm for max damage? If so, is it also worth dropping the bow for a meteor shower after that since it’s cooldowns aren’t amazing?

As to signets, I’ve got rid of the mobility ones and rely on the air attunement for that now. I use arcane brilliance/arcane wave/glyph of storms/frost bow/fire sword. Wasn’t so sure about arcane wave since I got it at such a low level, but then someone told me about the combo blasts

So, here’s my planned traits for when I get them unlocked, would be cool if someone could point out all the bad ones which are not worth using (eg. a load of the arcana ones look cool but there’s a massive lack of spare points so I’d need to get rid of some others) and possibly offer a few tips

I’m a staff based ele and mainly stick with fire, though i’ll use water to keep alive and air for running around. Any suggestions would be appreciated :P

Fire (6 levels):
Internal fire (10% extra damage)
Pyromancers alacrity (20% reduced recharge)
Blinding ashes (blind foes that you burn)

Air (3 levels): (extra levels after 1 mainly for the ferocity + precision)
Bolt to the heart (extra damage when enemy on low health)

Earth (0 levels) (don’t use it much)

Water (3 levels):
Soothing wave (regen when critically hit)
Is it worth having any points in this? The skills seem quite useful but I’m not sure by how much.

Arcana (however many levels are left after sorting out the above ones):
Blasting staff (extra staff range)/final shielding (make a shield when your health drops low enough)
Elemental attunement (get boon when switching attunements)/arcane retribution (5 attacks do critical damage when health drops)
Evasive arcana

RoseofGilead.8907:

I’m saying you obviously did that living story chapter, which is why it’s unlocked at the vendor for you. I’m not sure how the other two worked since they’re also on loot tables to drop from other areas of the game, but the headgear should be/is tied to the LS.

Sorry I misunderstood you and edited the post, but only as you were writing that haha.

I haven’t even activated the living story once yet (where you switch between the personal story and living story), and I don’t think I’ve received it as a drop as all the skins are locked, but it’s definitely unlocked in the vendor :P

RoseofGilead.8907:

Headgear is ONLY obtainable via completion of its corresponding LS chapter (which was released about a week before you started playing), too, so you had to have done that chapter to get those.

That’s what I mean though haha, I haven’t done any season 2 stuff, but have the headgear unlocked in the vendor somehow, despite the fact it shouldn’t be according to the wiki :P

And I’m too impatient to wait until a bundle haha

So, I can’t buy it until I get it as a drop/reward first. All it says on the wiki is Carapace Legging Box is only offered after completion of No Refuge.

However, I do have the headgear, shoulders, and gloves unlocked. Here’s what it says about them:

Carapace Headgear Box is only offered after completion of The Mystery Cave.
Carapace Shoulder Box is only offered after completion of Hidden Arcana.
Carapace Glove Box is only offered after completion of Into the Labyrinth.

Headgear and gloves are also ‘only’ offered on completion of living story episodes, but I have them, so can I also get the legs as a drop somewhere too?

I started 3 weeks ago, so don’t have any living story episodes unlocked, and I’d have to pay 200 gems to get one, so I’d like to avoid that if possible :P

Thanks, although it seems using the forge to upgrade them takes 3 skill points, I’ll start doing runs to get the lodestones soon though And I guess I could salvage, just seems a shame to waste loads of exotic armor ;p

champ.7021:

Even with crafting the bolts of damask by yourself its not cheap, each spool of silk weaving thread is like 5 or so g in bolts of silk and each bolt of damask is another 5g on top of that.

1 more quick question – if I craft them and sell them, would it be a decent profit since they’re 1 per day things?

Hmm thanks guys, the runes I’m after aren’t so cheap though, and just going for other cheap superior runes kinda defeats the objective of having the stats I want haha

maddoctor.2738:

If your tailoring is at 500 then you can craft the Scholar runes, they are basically free if you have the mats.

That sounds cool, I doubt I’ll have the materials but I’ll look into that, I wasn’t aware tailoring had runes

champ.7021:

I was going to suggest the silverwastes vendors. Have you checked to see if you really can’t because honestly that would suck hard. I’m pretty sure you should be able to though, I missed the episodes that gave other pieces and I was still able to buy them from the vendors….check before wasting gems

Well that’s why I’m asking haha, I asked on another thread how to get them because they weren’t showing up (after I painfully ran around for ages to get the 1000 crests), and apparently the vendors only unlock it once you get the reward for completing seeds of truth.
I tried asking if there was any possible other way or if I can tag along with someone who already has the mission, but nobody answered those ;p

The vendor wiki says “Carapace Legging Box is only offered after completion of No Refuge.”, but I dunno if it could also be potential drops for the vine boss chest

It seems for an ele that the scholar one is one of the things commonly suggested, but it’s not cheap, so I’m wondering if I should save up for it, or wait until I’ve got ascended armor and live with the major version of it? Same goes for weapons too :P

Also, I got tailoring to 500, how hard/expensive is it to make ascended armor? I’m trying to earn a bit more through crafting but it’s sitting at around 20

One last thing which is slightly unrelated, I planned out what armor skins looked cool together, and I need the carapace legs. From what I’ve heard, it’s only unlockable through the ‘seeds of truth’ episode, which unfortunately is gonna cost me 200 gems. I converted most of my gold to the gems, but I’m just double checking there is absolutely no other way to get them before I buy it :P (the silverwastes vendors won’t sell it until I do the story apparently)

Yeah I’ve got the coat/gloves (can’t remember which), mask, and boots currently unlocked in the merchant, but it was the boots and leggings I was after :P

Oh, guess I’ll have to get saving then, gonna be nearly 30g just for that mission :c

Btw, if I tag along with someone else who has the mission unlocked, will it count as completed?

Finally got my 1000 bandit crests, and I realised there’s only 3 pieces of the carapace armor I can get. Someone else said you must do an old mission, and buy it if you haven’t got it, for other bits to show up in the vendors list.
I’m just wondering if there’s any way to get it without spending 200 gems on an old mission?

Ah that’s awesome
And I was more planning for the future once I’ve got all the exploration done haha. It’s just taking me a while as I’m going bioshock completionist style and trying to speak to each npc so I don’t miss anything interesting :P

And photonman, I’m not worried about losing the original armor, I was worried about transmutation charges leaving behind other things aside from the stats

So, there’s absolutely nothing at all left of item a but the stats? And I’m a new player haha, I’m trying to make my first character look good now it’s level 80

Also, I looked up getting more transmutation charges without paying as I only have 7, does it still work if you create a new character and explore the cities?

When you transmute ‘item a’ to use the skin of ‘item b’, does the result look (as in name, description and picture included) exactly like ‘item b’ in all aspects but the stats?

I don’t want to waste a charge to find out haha, but I want to know if I should go for the best exotic armor I can afford before I transmute, or if cheaper stuff with exactly the same stats will produce the same end result

Also, if the above answer is yes, if you mixed and matched your armor, would it still look like a set once it was all transmuted?

Thanks a lot for the replies guys, does precision and ferocity make such a huge difference for a fire ele, or would valkyrie/soldier be a lot better? I also mean for like level 80 stuff, not just training

I was not aware of blast finishers, they sound quite cool :P As an example of a combo, if you use lava font, then cast arcane wave over it, would it give everyone standing over the lava extra might? Aside from the earth healing one melanie mentioned, are there any other super useful ones to know about?

Melanie.1240:

But once you learn to use blast finishers and fields, you will probably have enough swiftness to drop the signet (hint: Air 5 is a field that gives swiftness when blasted).

This bit I could do with a bit more info aha, are you just suggesting use air 4, then when that runs out, use air 5 and hit it with a blast finisher? Or are there more skills which would give speed too?

And about the old episodes, I was after one of the rewards haha, but I found you can get it in the silverwastes so it’s all good ;p

It says the popularity when you choose, I went with desolation :P

What do you mean how class I play? ;p If you mean what class, I put sylvari elementalist at the top haha, my main gw1 character years and years ago was a fire ele so I’ve gone for the same thing this time around :P

One more question I forgot – I’ve gone through the armor and found what skins I want for my character once I have the money, one huge problem is 2 are in the gem store. With the current exchange rate, it’d cost 180g to get the gems, is that a bad idea or not? The staff is like 1300g by itself so the gems doesn’t seem as much in comparison.

So yep, I’ve gone with a sylvari elementalist, it’s awesome but very squishy, is it a bad idea to just go for items proving power/precision/ferocity? It does decent damage but I tend to die fast if i try a dungeon and get shot at. If it is a bad idea, what mix should I aim for of other attributes?

I’m using arcane brilliance as healing, but the cooldown is a little long, are any others better and more widely used?
I’ve also had arcane wave equipped since a low level, it seems ok but I’m not sure if it’s useful for later levels (with it only being 1 skill point and all), so should I keep it or switch to mist form or something? The other three are glyph of storms, frost bow (or signet of air if I’m running somewhere) and fire sword, they seem useful for dealing a lot of damage on bosses.

I’ve noticed the season 2 has ‘buy now’ for all the old episodes. I actually got my dad into GW when I was a lot younger so he’d buy the game for us, and he still plays now. He’s got them unlocked, so can I kinda piggyback off his account if he hosts, or won’t it work?

One last thing too, do items you’ve listed/buy orders ever disappear from the trading post if you’ve listed too much? There seems to be a limit on your history, so I’m just checking trying to sell too many things won’t result in losing out on money :p