Guild Wars 2

I love Treks and find them fun, but my (small) guild only did them to build up merits to unlock the challenges and puzzle. There is just no reward to do them for any other reason.

Ayrilana.1396:

Also worth noting that you get a free tormented weapon in August once per account.

For this reason, it’s good to start as soon as possible to make sure you are able to get a character through all the campaigns before the Wayfarer’s event starts.

Khisanth.2948:

aophts.9862:

I wanted because of the look, because i wanted my character to use something expensive and hard to get and because i wanted people to look and comment and say: “hey, nice GS!” “wow, that is an amazing GS, can i see it? ”

Are you sure about that? I’ve never seen anyone mention anything about anyone’s legendary.

It’s happened to me once, about Kamohoalai’i Kotaki. Most legendaries are just too common, as others have said, to be considered “prestige”. It’s like what happened to Arah armor now that people can buy the paths.

mercury ranique.2170:

anabasis.7346:

Skipping is intended.

Jeffrey Vaughn.1793:

That creature was put there specifically to be avoided. It’s on a long patrol path around the temple, and easy to avoid. In a similar fashion, if you stop to fight a patrolling knight, you’re likely to have another one wander in during the fight, then another, etc. Not every story step is “Destroy every enemy on the map”.

No skipping is not inteded either. That isn’t even part of a dungeon but a story.

While that was specifically referring to a mob in a story, Robert Hrouda did say that some mobs/groups were meant to be “traps” and were best avoided in dungeons as well.

It comes down to a matter of rewards. A simple green is not enough to be worth clearing a large amount of trash in most dungeons. However, in CM, several groups ARE worth it because the bags they drop give large amounts of cotton, wool, and linen. An extra 2-4 minutes of killing time over 3 paths for 1-2g worth of extra cloth mats can be worth it.

Places like GW1 Urgoz, Deep, and parts of the Underworld and DoA were worth it because of the chance of valuable mats. Even then, it mattered what you skipped and what you killed, for time and safety reasons.

An equivalent to that in GW2 would be things like:

• “Vanquisher” rewards for clearing a whole dungeon – though this would need proper balancing which is not even the case for dungeon gold rewards. This would also have to be very lucrative to full clear some dungeons (Arah especially, but also CM and TA forward).
• Mobs in dungeons that would normally be skipped would have to have higher chances to drop rares or valuable mats. Again, it’ll come down to a time vs. reward ratio as to whether it’s worth it or not.
• Dungeon mobs that can drop loot all have a chance to drop extra tokens, like mobs in Urgoz that could all drop Amber. The rate would have to be pretty good to be worth it.
• Make sure all dungeon mobs had worthwhile bags or materials drops. Much of the CM trash (but again, not that huge room past Victoria) is worth it because of how much valuable cloth materials are available in the bags.

Agree with the above people. Make something because YOU want it, not because of any sort of status or validation for others.

Even then, it seems rare to have someone comment on your choices or what you have. In the nearly 3 years I’ve been playing, it’s happened to me a grand total of 4 times, and only once about a “prestige” weapon.

The fate of the seers.

Also, what became of the forgotten after Kormir took our godhood we defeated Abaddon, and Glint was killed.

While a good idea, the trait unlocks were tied to a single, very specific event (or puzzle chest or map completion or champ kill). Some of the events have had serious progress breaking bugs since the release of the game, and have still not been fixed (Foulbear, Branded Devourer Queen). Another issue is that some of the events needed are on exceptionally long cooldowns (like the giant champ Kor); or are practically impossible to get a group together to kill (Overgrown Grub).

This was very unlike GW1 skill hunting where many skills had multiple options to cap (even in pure Prophecies, the hardest campaign to cap skills in). In addition, a GW1 character didn’t need to cap many elite skills to function in a wide variety of builds, while a GW2 character needs far more traits in order to function in a small number of different builds. A GW1 character could, if he or she had access to the area, cap a skill at any time, while a GW2 character has to wait for an event to trigger.

The upcoming system is a nice compromise. Originally, you paid 3g10s (IIRC) total to unlock all of them. It looks like the new system doesn’t cost anything, but you have to play the game to earn the traits. You’ll be able to unlock most of them when you reach 80, and would have to get 65 “skill points” out in the world to unlock the rest of the basic traits. Skills and traits will be earned using the same system, rather than being disparate systems.

The CoF light pants are the only ones of that set that give charr the fiery tail. It does, luckily, work on both genders (unlike most outfits that change the tail that only display for male charr).

For me, all my characters are female (as I am). The fluffy tail is just a bonus.

I will, however, be making a male charr for Revenant, because I love the male charr’s voice acting.

Probably the Reef Drake. They’re great mobs, you have to take great care in fighting them or they will destroy you. They’re also cute with the bright blue mouth when they stick their tongues out.

Close behind:

• Ghost Carlotta – Didn’t get it the first time it came around because I didn’t know the backstory. The second time it came around was shortly after I beat Prophecies and War in Kryta, so I had to have a memory.
• Rockfur Raccoon – Cute, even through raccoons are insanely destructive animals on a farm.
• Plush Griffin – Ridiculously cute, both in general look and in animations
• Raptor – Fun to fight and profitable, along with being cute.

I don’t like any that make noises, especially since you can no longer silence them without silencing the entire game.

I’m coming from a dungeon/fractals perspective, PvP/WvW is way different.

Love:
Greatsword: Good burst, blind (plus vuln with traits), and pulls. Can do a less reliable group condi clear with symbol+whirling wrath.

Focus: Blast, all important blocks, and blinds (+vuln again). Just watch out for friendly fire Skale Venom procs off the 4 skill.

Hammer: On fights where it’s useful, it’s awesome. Blasts, protection, vuln (off the symbol trait), a nice but slow root, and a long cooldown Defiance stack remover. The ward is also useful in some niche areas. Probably the most satisfying weapon to use.

Average:
Sword: Nice damage on the autoattack, but be very careful around mobs that reflect. Projectile blocks also “lock” it into trying to use the third skill in the auto-chain for far too long. Blind+Teleport, though it requires a target and the recent teleport changes reduced the number of fun tricks it could do. Skill 3 is terrible, a very glitchy projectile block and most of the bolts end up traveling underground, and don’t hit an enemy.

Mace: I personally dislike it, but it is quite useful for areas with lots of little packets of damage that are too much to dodge or avoid (keep the group’s scholar bonus), or when you absolutely need an extra block. Can be very good DPS but requires perfect block/counter timing. Also symbol vuln when needed.

Scepter: Slow projectiles, can even miss PvE mobs so it’s not just a PvP issue. Smite isn’t a symbol, so it’s unreliable outside of huge hitbox mobs or objects. The root can be nice, but it’s 900 as opposed to 1200 range like the other two skills which can be rather annoying.

Spear: Great burst when needed, but the lack of a cleaving auto really weakens it.

Ugh:
Shield: I wish it were good out of some very rare niche uses.

Torch: I know it’s supposed to be better than focus for some fights, but I just can’t bear to use it anywhere except for Shoggath.

Trident: The only thing good is the sink, and maybe the tricky to use blast.

Staff: I love this for running around the open world for swiftness. I hate its use in dungeons. Blocking out useful 20s Might stacks for weaker 8s ones, low damage even with the 5 target as opposed to 3 for other autos. The line can be useful in some niche areas.

Note that you are given a Total Makeover Kit every 5,000 achievement points, if you do not wish to buy one.

A preview NPC would be amazing.

Katalos.5038:

Belzebu.3912:

Katalos.5038:

I did not play GW1 so I can’t say much. 8v8 or 10v10 in instances or open world?

In GW1, GvG was 8v8 in an instanced area.

Argh, instanced area :-/

In GW1, everything except towns was instanced (there were districts in towns, like overflows). It’s how everyone playing could be on the same server, but the network and server resources were low enough that it could function like that in 2005.

Any with tells are fine, ones without tells that are completely unpredictable are not.

For leveling in the open world, I’d probably bring staff (for the swiftness symbol and moving around) and greatsword (for pulling, the leap, and good damage). If you don’t want to bring staff as your second (using scepter, sword, or mace on your swap set), make sure to buy a Minor Sigil of Speed (upgrade to a Major at level 39) and put it on your primary damage weapon. Eventually you will want to carry every weapon, as they all serve some sort of purpose (shield less than others unfortunately).

Guardian has some group healing, but it’s rather poor compared to what other professions can do, or simply using a blast finisher in a water combo field. Even when built for healing, only the heal on dodge roll trait really benefits greatly from high healing power. Guardians are still a great support class, but their main role is preventing damage rather than healing through it.

As you play, be sure you observe the mobs animations and “tells”. That will let you know when to use a block (F3 skill, “Retreat” utility), use a stability skill (“Stand Your Ground” or Hallowed Ground utilities), or when you will need to put up some sort of projectile defense (Wall of Reflection utility, sword 3 skill). The heal Shelter, while it heals much less at lower levels, is amazing when you get higher. It’s another piece of your defensive kitten nal, and if you can time it right, you can prevent a lot of damage to yourself while also recovering a good bit of your health.

Not really proud, but the satisfying feeling when you finish goals.

• Completing all dungeons, JP’s and explorer achievements, world completion, and numerous other like tasks the first time.
• Beating Liadri the second time she came around.
• Making Immobulus
• Making Kamohoali’i Kotaki for my birthday last year (third legendary, but this is definitely my favorite).
• Winning particularly grueling WvW roaming fights and sPvP matches (even though I rarely do sPvP). Even losing a great fight is fun.
• Getting GW1 last year, and getting 50/50 and GWAMM, along with helping a guildmate get her last few points and titles as well. Likewise, beating Sorrow’s Furnace, FoW, Slavers, Deep, Urgoz, and UW the first time (still working on DoA).

Most important, however, is the satisfaction of helping my friends and guildmates achieve their goals.

I’m not fond of asura, and I feel the GW1 ones are even more obnoxious than the GW2 ones. Vekk, however, is definitely a the best of them, and a well written character with good character development.

Randulf.7614:

Never really used him as a hero. Never found much use for ele’s.

Ya, unfortunately ele’s weren’t the most useful. I mainly used them as fire nukers when leveling characters until I got the full complement of rits and necros; or as E/Mo bonders with a massive amount of micromanagement; or as warders in a few places like HM Ooze Pit. Even then, I preferred to gear up Zhed first due to him being a required hero in some missions.

Squee.7829:

Did the destroyers actually collapse after the Great Destroyer died? It was my understanding that they simply became less organized, but the dwarves were required to continue fighting them underground. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen the endin to EotN though.

You’re right. I saw it recently, and there is a transcript of it on http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Ogden%27s_Benediction

Ogden Stonehealer: “With the death of their master, the Destroyers lost their coordination.”
Ogden Stonehealer: “Jalis and his Dwarves pursued them into the depths of the earth.”

An option is to have the skill points in WvW grant multiple hero points, enough that all or nearly all of them will give the 65 points (minus elite specs) you’d be short.

WvW’s removal from map completion I feel has more to do with introducing the new borderland (where the current PoI’s/Vistas/etc won’t be valid) than the dispute between WvW-only and PvE-only players.

I take it you wouldn’t like Guild Wars: Factions, where even doing it casually, you hit the level cap in about 5-8 hours. Of course, you’re then only ~10% through the Factions storyline.

It seems like you want a vertical progression game, not the (mostly) horizontal progression that the Guild Wars series is.

You can still get all your GW2 titles as you progress in GW1. That also gives you the 50 AP per 5 point tier as you progress.

You cannot, however, access any of the skins or pets as those are disabled. When the issue is fixed, you’ll be able to get any you’ve unlocked. Those who already have those skins unlocked can still use them from the wardrobe at no cost.

The issue is that during one buggy patch, almost anyone who created a character would get 39 HoM points plus the God Walking Among Mere Mortals title. The Hall was not functioning, so people were luckily unable to unlock the skins. When the issue granting the HoM points was fixed, the vendors and pets in the HoM were disabled until they devised a way to remove the points and titles that were granted due to the bug.

You can get to 10 or so, get to Lion’s Arch, and then do the quest to head to Eye of the North. Eye of the North is a lot more difficult than anything in Prophecies until you get into the Crystal Desert.

Note that when you open up the Eye of the North, you only have Honor unlocked. Gwen gives you a Tapestry to open up a monument of your choice, but you’ll have to complete the racial storylines to get the other three.

If you don’t have minis, platinum, or weapons given to you, you’re not going to have any easy to get statues until you finish Prophecies (put Hero of Tyria in Honor, for 2 points), and level a pet to 20 and put it into Fellowship (1 point). If you’re not secondary ranger now, you will have to do the Prophecies story up to Augury Rock, and then do a set of quests that will let you change your secondary profession at will in outposts. That will get you the 6 points needed to unlock the heritage armor skins (when the HoM in GW2 is reopened). Your next easiest point will be to try to purchase a white mini (1-2 platinum recently), but that make take some time due to you not having access to the main trade hub.

With only Prophecies and Eye of the North, you’re really limited on the easy to get points. You only have access to 10 heroes*, no MOX, only one of the rare pets, and limits your easy-to-get Honor statues. You also won’t be able to do cross-campaign scavenger hunts to get a unique mini, and to get an inexpensive Tormented weapon. Your only “bonus point” prestige armor is Obsidian, which is considered the most expensive of them to get.

You can certainly get over 30 points, but you will have to do a lot more grinding than someone with all campaigns.

Another important note is that the main trade hub is Kamadan, in the Nightfall expansion.

• The above mentioned Glint’s challenge to get hero armor for them is going to be extremely difficult for someone without access to Nightfall and Factions skills and heroes.

Without financial help, look below. With financial help, it’s a lot easier since you can just buy your minis, hero armor, prestige armor, and weapons.

Easy points:
Fellowship: MOX(1), Imperial Phoenix+Animal Statue(2)
Honor: Account Linked(automatic 3), Hero of X (3/5th)
* Note you’ll have to level your phoenix to 20 to put it into the hall

Easy but requires more time:
Fellowship: Black Moa(1/5th), Stolen Sunspear Armor for Koss, Jin, Sousuke, Dunkoro, Melonni(1), Ancient Armor Remnants for Talkora, Zhed, Morgahn, Zenmai, Olias(1)
Honor: Protector of X(3/5th *)
Resilience: Ancient Armor(1**)
* Your first 5 statues in Honor will also give you a bonus 2 points, for a total of 3
** Ancient Armor is the cheapest prestige armor, along with Eye of the North ones, but Ancient has no prerequisite, and is at a part where the storyline passes through.

Moderate:
Devotion: Black Moa Chick(2), Buying cheap minis in Kamadan(X)
Fellowship: Black Widow Spider(1/5th *)
Honor: Eternal Conqueror of Sorrow’s Furnace(1/5th **); Eternal Guardian of X(4/5th ***)
Resilience: Luxon/Kurzick Armor(1), any third armor, probably an Eye of the North one(1 ****)
Valor: Any Oppressor weapon(1 *****), Tormented Weapon when the Wayfarer’s Reverie event is up in August(1).
* Underworld is free to enter during Pantheon bonus weeks. Complete Clear the Chamber. Take Restoring Grenth’s Monoliths, then head to the Twin Serpent mountain reaper. Free him, and take Demon Assassin. Head down the hill and kill the Assassin, flag your heroes down there and go up and accept the reward, charm your spider, and open the chest. Your heroes will probably die, but you’ll have time to get this complete.
** By doing the Black Moa Chick scavenger hunt, you have to get to the final boss of Sorrow’s Furnace to hatch it. You might as well finish Sorrow’s Furnace while you’re there.
*** Some hard mode missions have very difficult bonuses. You may want to party up with a friend for them. Moddok Crevice, Dunes of Despair, Thirsty River, Aurora Glade, and Eternal Grove are the main trouble points.
**** Eye of the North prestige armor requires rank 5 in the respective title track to purchase.
***** By completing the War in Kryta storyline, you will get nearly enough materials to get a complete Oppressor weapon. Doing the Hearts of the North storyline will get you nearly enough materials to get a second.

I visited several places mentioned in the thread and that I remember when I was on GW1 this weekend, but couldn’t find anything that exactly matches the patterns on that stone.

Your profession really doesn’t matter. Play what you like, as said above the team composition is more important for completing most content. Specific player professions only really matter for speed runs or specific farming runs.

The game is very much “build wars”, so a very useful reference to builds (though it will take some time to unlock all the skills and heroes needed) is at http://gwpvx.gamepedia.com/PvX_wiki

For secondary professions, you have to select one in or just after the tutorials. Choose one that will either benefit your leveling process, or one in your desired final build to start. You can unlock others to switch to once you reach a certain part way through your storyline. You can either pay an NPC to gain access to that secondary, or do a selection of quests about 2/3rds through the Prophecies storyline to swap for free. Assassin, Ritualist, Paragon, and Dervish secondaries are only able to be unlocked through payment to an npc. Heroes can always swap for free. See http://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Profession#Secondary_profession for more information.

For the base six classes, it doesn’t matter where you make your character. Assassin or Ritualist primary requires you to start in Factions, and Paragon or Dervish requires you to start in Nightfall. Prophecies has the easiest learning curve, but is the slowest to level up in, make money in, and get through the storyline.

Factions gets you to 20 quickly, but dumps you into some very challenging missions quickly as well. While a Ritualist is often recommended by guides due to easy farming builds to make money, it’s much more difficult for a new player to get situated in Factions.

Nightfall is in between. You level up a lot faster than Prophecies, but you have a much less steep learning curve than Factions. Nightfall also gives you heroes quickly.

You can temporarily pause a campaign and go start (part-way through) another campaign once you reach a certain part of your primary campaign’s storyline. You can also start Eye of the North once you reach your campaigns primary port city, and reach level 10 (this is easiest in Nightfall). Eye of the North also provides heroes, including three really useful ones right at the beginning of the Eye of the North story. This is probably the best way to get established, as you can get access to a wider variety of skills, access more heroes, and get more experience if you still need to level up.

Chronomancer is great, because it gives a lot of benefits while making you carefully consider whether to take 3 trait lines or chrono+2 trait lines (and I can see some current builds that wouldn’t benefit as much from chrono as much as a third trait line).

Granted we don’t know the full spec, but with this, very little seems like something that you can justify losing a trait line for. Much of it will probably come down to whether or not Longbow has enough soft CC to deal with kiting; and whether the projectiles are fast enough and damaging enough to take over scepter’s role.

It would have to be a great line to make me give up one of Zeal, Radiance, or Virtues (substitute Valor for PvP/WvW roaming). This…is not that.

I was also hoping for Paragon, my Elonian guardian was ready.

At 400 gems, I would instantly buy it. 600 is a bit more than I want to spend on something that won’t be seen that well. It’s a shame since I love the GW1 fan skins.

While it would definitely be nice, voice actors are expensive (especially the names that voice our current player characters).

As far as population, there is still a reasonably healthy trading region in Kamadan US-1. Kamadan occasionally hits 3 US districts. There are, depending on the time of day, also people around Eye of the North, Embark Beach, and Lion’s Arch. Pre-Searing is also fairly active. The outpost(s) for the Zaishen mission, bounty, and vanquish can also be active, and you can join PUG’s for those.

Outposts, towns, and missions that are not a recent Zaishen are often deserted. Much of PvP is either bots or dead. Jade Quarry is about the only casual PvP format that you can still get a match in a reasonable time (and that’s mostly because of so many bots).

Bloodlust and Speed is definitely best for exploration/map completion. Probably also the best for Edge of the Mists.

For leveling by boss trains, it depends on how many mobs are killed during pre-events or during the event. Low numbers make Bloodlust and Speed less effective, and something like Fire and Air may be more effective.

It depends a lot on whether you enjoy a more strategic and preparation based combat system. The combat is very different, and positioning, pulling, and bringing the appropriate builds for the entire team are most important for surviving.

While you can solo nearly the whole game with heroes, it’s nice to have a friend with you since so many optionals and missions benefit from splitting up.

The graphics are dated, but still look really nice considering the age. There are mods that you can use to alter the UI (as well as the very useful Cartography assistants), but not as much on prettying up the actual environment.

The average age of my guild is just under 40. I’m 36, and have played games since Millipede for the Atari; then the NES. First computer game was Oregon Trail. One of my guildmates is in her 60’s, and has played games since at least the Sierra adventure games. There is also a different couple in their 60’s.

You can check the server status page at http://gw2status.de/

Do pings/traces at various times to one of the EU auth servers and one of the NA auth servers and go to whichever one is best. It’s hard to judge since it depends a lot on how your particular ISP routes.

My guild’s opinion is that re-releasing SAB (even with no updates), a slightly modified DragonBash (to resupply the foods), and even just a small anniversary celebration for the 10 years would have kept a lot of interest. We still play, but most of the guild a lot less than we normally would.

emikochan.8504:

I’m playing Guild Wars 1 :p

Yep! 49/50 here.

Though you only NEED one base game and Eye of the North (ie Platinum Edition), it’s a lot easier to get points and play with the full game.

That opens up all the skills to you, the hero MOX which can instantly be put into the hall for a point, and access to all the heroes rather than just 10 with Eye of the North (two of which are very hard to get with limited skills). You also get access to more titles with all of the games, which makes filling in Honor much easier.

Hidori.3472:

I tried switching off all channels, but that pesky toxic hybrid wouldn’t shut up.

anet, please just make the sounds private. if someone enjoys noisy minis, let them have it for themselves without disturbing the peace of others.

Hmm, last I dealt with it, I was on a turret at Teq and turning off Dialog did shut the thing up. It just made it frustrating to listen for when a set of fingers was going to spawn.

Mini noises are in the ‘Dialog’ sound channel, which can be really detrimental to turn off in certain large boss events, or in certain PvP maps.

A separate channel would be perfect.

Removing AP should be no problem. That has been done recently with removing Black Lion collections for people who shouldn’t have it (due to the PvP bug). Those who dropped below an AP chest threshold didn’t get an extra, as it was already marked as received. They just got it a bit early. The HoM bug will involve a lot more AP, so more people will drop below the next threshold (it’s 350 AP for the 39 HoM points, plus 50 for GWAMM), but extra AP chests shouldn’t happen unless the fix is done differently.

The complexity seems like it’ll be removing titles, as that has never been done before as far as I can remember.

Resetting all linking isn’t really a good solution as many people had issues with linking their accounts, and if done improperly could greatly impact people’s ability to log into GW1.

In nearly 6,000 hours of play, I’ve had a grand total of 0 drop. I made Immobulus last May, by purchasing every eye after a massive amount of dungeon farming. It took just under 2 weeks for the buy orders to fill.

It is VERY noticeable in the price when someone is making one. In a forum post, someone mentioned just making one a month or so before I made mine, so the supply went way down. The price went up around half a gold by the time I finished mine (check GW2Spidy’s graph from May 20-30). A few months later, someone else purchased a pile to make one, which made the price go up nearly a gold.

While the supply is extremely low, buy orders do slowly fill, so the item can be crafted, just not in any sort of reasonable time.

The Ascalonian Catacombs is something you should run every day as well. In addition to the ~1.55g+26s per path completion reward, the chests can drop any tier of dust. The mobs drop a lot of tier 2, which due to the low cost can be promoted. Use the money you get to buy anything you didn’t get.

PvE in GW1 is very much described by the terms Build Wars and Pull Wars. Bringing skills to the expected situation is very important.

As above, it’s very team based, and there are traditional healers and dedicated support roles. You can “tank”, but it’s a bit more difficult as there are no aggro control mechanics. Tanking is more positioning, and using choke points and body blocking to keep the mobs from getting to your backline. GW2 did away with the traditional roles, so if that’s what you’re used to, GW1 will be a bit of an adjustment.

Pulling is VERY important. Some mobs have patrols, and you need to make sure that as you’re fighting one group, you don’t get jumped by another group. You always want to have some ranged weapon as one of your alternate sets.

If you’re brand new, I suggest starting in Prophecies. Prophecies has the easiest learning curve, and gives you a lot of useful skills in quests which saves you money. Factions gets very difficult quickly, and while it’s the fastest to level up with, it’s really for experienced players. Nightfall is in between.

Prophecies was the first game, so the maps are very maze-like compared to some of the later releases.

Now for 40 points for Flameseeker, the absolute best title.

Ever since Secret of Mana in the 90’s, I’ve always preferred playing a buffer and/or healer that doesn’t mind mixing it up in melee. Guardian is just an extension of that, and lets me do a lot more than just watch red/blue bars while doing really good damage.

There is no faster way of getting the Protector title. You’ll have to complete all 17 of the missions you’re missing, and earn the bonus. Be sure to have a book with you when you do this, so you can turn it in and get a decent amount of Lightbringer points, money, and experience.

7 Hero Player Support is very useful for general purpose activities. It’s good also to have a few alternate builds to swap in for special purposes. You can find their builds on the above linked PvX wiki, under hero builds.

Specific ones that are useful in some situations are an Energy Surge mesmer (extra caster hate, in times you won’t need the blind from your illusion mesmer); UA Healer; Icy Veins nuker (when you don’t get use out of minions); Command paragon; and a Soul Twisting ritualist.

Definitely vanquish. Pay attention to what the upcoming Zaishen Vanquish quests are, so you can essentially double your reward (along with getting coins to trade for plat or ectos).

The Black Moa quest is well worth doing. The end of it is at the final fight of Sorrow’s Furnace, so it’s another thing to double your rewards (by getting your Sorrow’s Furnace Honor statue as well). You can purchase the rest of your common minis for 1-3 plat each in Kamadan. The Mini Black Moa will take you to 25.

The cheapest prestige armor sets are the Eye of the North title track ones and Ancient armor. You’ll need rank 5 in asura, norn, and Vanguard. If you’re a warrior, you could also get the Silver Eagle from being rank 5 in the Deldrimor track, but it’s more expensive material wise due to needing feathers. Ancient armor can be bought in the Bone Palace, and is similarly cheap. Buying asura, norn, Monument (Vanguard), and Ancient will take you to 28 points.

In late August, you can do the Wayfarer’s Reverie event to get a free Tormented weapon. In the meantime, you can do “Wanted” quests daily to get War Supplies, which in turn will get you more Oppressor weapons. You can also do the Hearts of the North chain to get enough Medals of Honor and War Supplies for another one. Now is a good time to start Hearts of the North, since many of the expensive “scavenger hunt” materials are going to drop this week.

Your last Protector title is not too difficult (though it may be best with a friend, especially if it’s Moddok Crevice). When you vanquish the maps in Istan and Kourna, you will get your entire Sunspear title. You’ll get most of your Lightbringer title by vanquishing Vabbi and the Desolation. You’ll likely have to do a little farming or turning in a book to finish out the Lightbringer title.

Of the Vanquisher titles, Cantha is probably the easiest. Your only really difficult maps will be Imperial Sanctum and Minister Cho’s Estate. Tyria is long (with 54 maps), and some sections are best done by “caravan”, going from say Yak’s Bend, and vanquishing every Ascalon map along the way. Be sure to bring merchant summoning stones. Magesty’s Rest can also be tough, because of Rotscale. It’s quite easy to build up a 60% death penalty to the party and get kicked out if you don’t do a lot of hero micromanagement.

There are several difficult maps that are tough in Nightfall. Many of the Vabbi maps have elementals that need special care taken to deal with them safely. Take special care with the Hidden City. Garden of Seborhin, and a number of the Desolation maps also require care in taking out the ressers while trying to survive a lot of incoming damage (sometimes without your normal skills). Take special note of The Sulfurous Wastes, since there is an area you will NEED to use Jujundu Smash to access, and that requires enough adrenaline and fast enough movement to get to the spot and use it.

Skill Hunter is fairly easy to do, but it costs a fair bit to buy the required Signets of Capture. I would recommend saving this for after you make all your big monetary purchases. Skill Hunter will earn you a fair bit of experience, so you can work on trying to get Survivor at the same time. Take special care of Cantha and Elona elementalist bosses, as even in normal mode they can do some very lethal hits.

Between the Vanquisher titles, Sunspear and Lightbringer, Sorrow’s Furnace, your last Protector, and earning more Oppressor weapons, you should get 30 in time.

For money, the aforementioned vanquishing, Zaishen Bounty/Mission/Vanquish quests, Wanted quests, MOX quests, and doing the normal mode Winds of Change chain will all earn you a good bit of mats and money. When you start work on hard mode mission completions, the books you can turn in will also give you a nice amount of coin.

Tier 1 bounties are very doable with a small guild, though some are a lot more difficult than others due to mechanics (2-MULT, timing is tougher in a 5-person; Rat Wrangler), bugs (Half-Baked, since you can’t CC or strip the fireshield properly any more), or complex, huge, or aggro-dense paths (Devious Teesa, Tricksy Trecksa).

The fights themselves scale down fairly well, most are under 1 minute fights to a well equipped group of 4-8.

Training was not really designed for merits, but for rapid accumulation of Influence to more quickly build up to full missions. That is apparent in how the influence reward is granted every time you complete, while the other mission rewards are once per week.

Yes, they do still drop, but as said VERY rarely. I got one about a month ago from a random wolf in Timberline while hitting some platinum nodes. The 1 in every 800-1000 average seems about right for the current drop rate.

This is a non-trinity game. For PvE: Support is about increasing damage or preventing damage. Healing damage is far less effective than preventing it. Very few support skills are tied to defensive stats, so it’s very possible (in many cases optimal) to have a moderately high damage build that still manages to provide a lot of damage prevention.