Guild Wars 2

Hi All,

Is there any public teamspeak/ventrilo server out there for newbies? I have some questions about playing the game and it would sure beat typing it all!

Twilite

AnemoneMeer.7182:

Yeah, you’re missing something.

Your gear is downscaled based on its level relative to yours. So your non-level 9 gear is being scaled down well below level 6. Due to being a low level, you’re probably not keeping up on your gear, and thus some of it is probably worth as much as a level 1 piece.

It’s a quirk in the system, but it’s what’s killing you more than likely. Of course, gear on the trading post is nearly free, so you should be able to keep up on your gear.

That’s assuming I even know enough to buy things on the TP.

Hello All!!

I am very new to this game and I am getting a bit frustrated. No doubt due to either my inability to play or my lack of knowledge.

I am level 9 and I am doing this quest call the Informant. This quest is for level 6 but I keep dying because I get attacked by mobs of like 5+. I seem to do okay whenever I fight one-on-one but anything more than that I always die.

Is there something I am missing here? Is it really this hard to keep from dying at such a low level? Other games i have played have HP food that you can consume to keep from dying. Is this the key bit I am missing? Do I need food to stay alive at my level?

Thanks everyone. Any bit of input will help!

Twilite

P.S. I am a level 9 Warrior.

If you go to an area where the mobs are higher than your level does the quality of the loot improve?

I am reading the Gw2 Wiki and it states the following:

“A scaled down character continues to receive experience and loot that is comparable to what he would receive at his real level, but it is somewhat less efficient for obtaining experience and items than playing level-appropriate content.[”

So if a character scales up (if there is such a thing) does the exp and items become more efficient?

Thanks!

I am not sure if this is technically a bug or perhaps it should go in the Proposals section of the forums. Either way I believe it’s something An needs to change.

When you are editing a post the button to submit the post is labeled Edit. IMHO the button should instead say something like “Ok” or “Save”. It’s confusing to have to click the Edit button while already editing to save the edit (even saying that is confusing!).

There are other examples of this type of issue in the forums as well. For example, when creating a new topic the submit button is also labeled Create New Topic.

I know this might sound trivial but having done many user interface designs at my job I know that button labels and their respective actions is something that is taken very seriously.

I suggest implementing a costume system such that you can wear clothing that masks your armor but does not replace it. For example, currently the way things work is you have your armor and your street clothing. You cannot use your street clothing while fighting. Why not make it so you can wear street clothing on top of your armor so that you can still fight while wearing it? I have played other games that do this exact thing and it really increases the cash shop sales because people like to look unique both in town and out in the field. Selling costumes in the cash shop allows you to highly modify your appearance without affecting game play.

I saw a few clothing sets in GW2’s cash shop that I would have likely purchased if it weren’t for the fact that it was for town only.

Overlord Falcor.6014:

…Armor on the other hand only gets “damaged” when you die and “breaks”…

How many times do you have to die before your armor breaks?

Hello All!!

I have a question pertaining to damaged armor/weapons and repairing.

I noticed that every once in a while a shield shows up on my armor and/or weapon meaning it’s broken and needs repaired at the NPC.

Other games I have played also require item repairs. One game in particular that I used to play had this concept of durability. The durability was basically a number that ranged from 0 to 100. If you repair an item it’s durability goes to 100 and as you play (take hits, use weapon) the durability goes down. When it reaches zero you need to repair. The nice thing about this system is that you can see how much durability is remaining by looking at the item in your inventory. Also, you can repair an item even if it’s not broken and the cost of repairing is inversely proportional to the amount of durability remaining.

I have noticed in GW2, however, that there is nothing on an items description/info panel that shows you how much durability is remaining. It’s either broken or not.

What determines whether or not an item is broken? Is there logic in the software that keeps track of how many times your armor has been hit and your weapon has been used so that eventually when that number exceeds some predetermined limit it becomes damaged? If so, it would be useful to know this information so that you know whether you should repair or not before going out to fight.

Someone on the /map chat said that the sooner you repair the less it costs so I should repair often, even if it doesn’t show as broken.

Thanks!

Hi All! I am new to this game and I wanted to say that the GW2 community is awesome! I have played mmorpgs before where you ask a question in chat and you don’t even get a response. On this game, however, I monitor the map chat and I see so many players helping other players! It’s amazing and it makes me want to stay here and hopefully one day become as helpful as the many others I have seen!

You should be proud of this game because it’s amazing but you should also be equally as proud at the quality of people playing it!

Whenever I try to create a party and click the “Invite” button I get an error stating that the client cannot connect to the login server. It says to check my firewall or router settings.

The only thing I can think of that changed is I got a new cable modem since the last time I played. Whenever I tried to login to the website after I got the new modem I had to confirm my identity. I guess An is keeping track of our ip/mac addresses.

Could this error be caused by my new router? What can I do to fix it?

Thanks!

-Twilight

P.S. This is another example of how, in my opinion, An is pushing the boundary between security and user experience. For the longest time I could not get into the forums due to security they have in place to prevent CSRF attacks. And then I get a new cable modem and I have to verify who I am with an email? And now this?

Perhaps I should be happy in knowing that my account is safe(er) due to the diligence by the good people at An security. I wish, however, that they would get things stable before pushing it out to us.

Azaziel.3608:

When I don’t know something I just ask, who cares. Besides is not like they’ll remember you after 5 minutes…and there pretty much always has been someone to answer.
I think a new channel just for this is unnecessary and useless since many of the people who would know a little about the game like to answer your questions probably wouldn’t be on a noob channel in the first place.

Good point. What good is a channel with only people that don’t know anything.

I don’t believe that the channel would only be full of new players. There are plenty of people out there that like helping others and I am quite certain that they would join the channel for the sole purpose of helping (I know I would if I knew a lot about a particular game).

Danikat.8537:

Same with the Scrolls. It’s not a skill you learn, it’s an item you use in the Mystic Forge and to get it you have to trade skill points to an NPC.

So it costs 50 skill points to use this scroll 1 time and it’s gone? Wow, it had better do something good!

I think it would be nice if the game had a dedicated chat channel for new players. There are many times when I am playing a new mmorpg that I am afraid to ask questions to the entire map/world for fear of sounding stupid. However, if there were a channel dedicated to new players I would not be so intimidated.

/newbie hello, i am new!

Sarisa.4731:

It costs 200 skill points for a Bloodstone Shard, which is used only for legendary weapons. It costs 50 skill points for an Eldrich Scroll, which can be used to “craft” several exotic weapons (at least one of each type).

I am new to the game so forgive my ignorance on this one..

When you say 200 skill points are used for legendary weapons do you mean that in order to learn to equip 1 specific weapon (eg. Bloodstone Shard) you have to use 200 skill points? Or is it more general in that you need 200 skill points to learn to use any legendary weapon?

(A quick explanation about legendary weapons, what they are, how to use them, etc. would be greatly appreciated!)

In the last mmorpg that I played scrolls were consumable. You buy one, it goes in your inventory, and when you consume it it’s gone. No skills required (although there can be level requirements to use a particular scroll).

This Eldrich Scroll, is it like a skill that you learn one time (at a cost of 50 skill points) then you can use over and over? I certainly hope it doesn’t cost 50 skill points to use one time then it’s gone.

Thanks!

I would say that most of the errors we are seeing are due to the extreme amount of security AN is adding to everything about the game. This is a classic case where too much security can cause user experience satisfaction to go down. I guess if I were running things at AN I would err on the side of too much security rather than not enough. Frankly, I don’t know where to draw the line. At least they don’t require all of us to use a fingerprint reader.

Awesome thanks for the response!

Hi All!!

I am really new to this game and one of the things I have been doing to level up (besides exploring the maps) is to follow My Story.

I am an Engineer (level 10) and my current story is called Beta Test which is for level 14. Should I wait until I am actually level 14 to attempt to do this story (I tried it once and died so fast! )? Or should I find someone to help me do it?

More generally, should you always follow your current story regardless of the recommended level or should you put off doing a story if the recommended level is higher than your current level?

Thanks!

I am an Engineer and I have a weapon in my inventory called Speargun. Whenever I equip it it automatically goes to my Aquatic Weapon slot. (Note that I tried to equip it in my Main/Off-Hand weapon slot(s) but I was not able to.)

The description for the weapon says nothing about it being aquatic.

I have a couple questions regarding aquatic weapons:

1. If weapons don’t specify in their description that they aquatic how would someone know without first equipping it?

2. Are there any weapons that can be equipped in both the Aquatic Weapon slot and the Main/Off-Hand slots?

Thanks!

-T

P.S. The primary thing that caused me to ask this question is I was browsing the Trading Post today looking for better weapons. Since I am new and I don’t know which of the Engineer weapons are aquatic I didn’t want to risk buying anything.

Guppy.2753:

You can go to the Heart of the Mists and be temporarily boosted to level 80, and practice all the skills on training dummies, without actually entering a PvP match, if you like.

Wow that’s nice! Thanks

Thank you all for the responses! I think what I will do is play it safe and be conservative with spending my skill points, at least until I know what I am getting!

I had a thought… isn’t it true that in PVP your character automatically turns to level 80 and therefore would have all the skills available for me to practice first?

Hi All!!

I am currently a level 10 Engineer. I have learned 5 skills in Tier 1 which now opens up skills in Tier 2. There are, however, three more skills left in Tier 1. Should I learn all the skills in Tier 1 before getting any in Tier 2 or is it a matter of personal preference?

Thanks!

Amarinth.8534:

I just want to point out that the game has an “Invisible” option just for such eventualities.

You can turn it on by opening the contacts panel and changing your status at the top to “Invisible” – doing so will prevent you from showing as online on any contact and guild lists and make it impossible for people to whisper you (they will be told you are offline).

Precisely the kind of thing I was looking for. Thanks!

Salgari.3076:

Yes it is intentional and I agree with it. I started playing with RL friends and when I create an alt I’m already part of the guild. If you accepted some random guild invite and/or added people to your contact list just for the heck of it, and you want to not be bothered; leave the guild and remove all contacts. Doesn’t really sound like you want to be bothered by any of them anyway.

Wrong. It’s not that I don’t want to be bothered with them. On the contrary I really enjoy playing with them as I am new and they help me a lot plus a couple people in the guild and on my contact list are long time friends.

My intention is to have the option of playing a character that doesn’t have any guild association or contacts because there are days when I simply want to be alone.

Salgari.3076:

Yes it is intentional and I agree with it. I started playing with RL friends and when I create an alt I’m already part of the guild. If you accepted some random guild invite and/or added people to your contact list just for the heck of it, and you want to not be bothered; leave the guild and remove all contacts. Doesn’t really sound like you want to be bothered by any of them anyway.

I am not saying I don’t want to be friends with any of them or that I don’t want to be in that guild. I just wanted to have one character that I could login and play with on days that I don’t feel like being social.

Question: If I leave the guild on my alternative character will it also remove my other characters from that guild? In other words, are guild memberships also account based?

Hi all!

I have a suggestion that I think would eliminate some of the fear/anxiety that many new players feel when they are purchasing from the Trading Post for the first time.

New players will not be familiar with the economy. Given the vast number off items that can be purchased at the TP, it is highly unlikely that a newer player would know that a particular listing price is “reasonable.”

I propose that you provide anyone looking at a particular item for sale at the Trading Post with the following information:

1. The historical average selling price of that item (the average of all listings, past and present, for a given time frame)

Lets say you see an 8 Slot Safe Box for 30 copper. As a new player you would have no idea whether that was a good price. If the player could see a history of the selling price of that item over the last month, week, etc. they would have something to compare the price to and base their decision on that information.

2. The number of times a specific listing has sold since the beginning of that listing.

If a player had access to the number of times a particular listing has sold they could use that information to make an informed decision before buying. If something has sold 100 times in the last 24 hours then its very likely that the price is good and that it’s safe to buy that item. On the other hand if an item has not sold at all it’s probably overpriced or in low demand.

I have been playing one character for a couple days and in that time I added a few people to my contact list and I also joined a guild.

Today I created another character and I noticed that, even though I am on a different character, I still have the same people on my contact list and I am in the same guild with this new character.

Is this intentional? If so, I don’t like it because the whole reason why I created this new character was to “get away” from the people on my other char’s contact list and guild. I wanted to sort of start over and not be bothered by anyone while I leveled up this new char. If spanning contacts and guild membership across multiple characters is intentional then I have to say I disagree with it.

Thanks!

Whenever I open the Trading Post window its blank and shows a large message saying:

“ERROR: Invalid Authorization”

Anyone know what’s going on?

Thanks!

This may sound a bit picky but I think it was a bad idea to not have your own avatar name and clan info above your head (just like you can see on other avatars). I like to see myself the way others see me.

Please provide an option to turn this feature on or off.

Thanks!

Hi all!

I used to play another MMORPG until I came to GW2. (Goodbye old game!)

I would like to see what (if any) similarities GW2 has with my other game. To do so, let me explain the features my old game had and see if there is something similar in this game.

1. Armor/Weapon Upgrading – My old game had this concept of upgrading armor and/or weapons. Upgrading armor and weapons required material called Talisman (for weapons) and Bindrunes (for armor).

When an item is upgraded the attack power increases if it’s a weapon and the defense/dodge rate increases if it’s armor. You could upgrade to a maximum level of 15 for either but as you go up in grade level the probability of a successful upgrade decrease.

Question 1. Is there anything in GW2 similar to the concept of upgrading gear and weapons to enhance their effectiveness? (Note that I am not talking about adding stats to the gear (which is covered in my next question.)

2. Gems – In my last game you could put gems into your armor and weapons. There were many different kinds of gems each of which had its own unique stat bonus. For example, you could put a gem that has the attribute of additional strength into your armor. Or you could put a gem that adds intelligence. Each class type typically had their own preference for the type of gem based on the main stat that the particular class benefited from most. (For example, a scout would likely use a gem that gives dexterity or attack speed. Both of which are ideal for the scout class.

Furthermore, gems had different levels (1-7) and the higher the level the more of that particular stat the gem gave.

Question 2: Is there a concept of gems in GW2 or something similar that allows you to add stats to your gear?

3. Reinforcement/Hardening – In my old game you could enhance armor and weapons by getting an artisan to do what’s called “reinforcing” for armor or “hardening” for weapons. Reinforcing armor adds HP (Health) and HP recovery rate whereas “hardening” weapons adds attack power.

What most people did in my old game was both reinforce/harden the gear as well as add gems.

Question 3. Is there such a thing in GW2 as reinforcing or hardening?

Thank you all for your attention and responses to my post!

kokuou.9537:

As far as I know, you can just copy the folder where GW2 is installed (the one with the .dat file) onto your new computer and play from there by clicking the EXE file. I downloaded the game during one of the first betas way back near the beginning of the year, and there was no installer then and I still just have a folder with GW2 in it that I made a shortcut for on my desktop that I use to launch the game.

Cool… I will try that now!

I spent quite a lot of time downloading the client for my current computer. I plan on getting a new computer next week. Rather than making me download the game again why not give the option of downloading the game in “offline mode” then saving the full client install onto my hard drive.

In this scenario I could download and run the game installer once, save it to my hard disk, then install again in total offline mode.

Hi All!

I am starting the download for the Mac client and I will let everyone know how it goes and report issues as I find them. I just hope my Macbook can handle the graphics. Otherwise I will use it only to chat with the community when I am out on business travel. :P

After 1 week of trying I finally got in! Someone posted a simple suggestion on Facebook, I tried it, and it worked! Perhaps it’s a coincidence and maybe they fixed something on the server side since the last time I logged in but maybe not. Anyway, here is the suggestion give to me:

“Try logging into your GW2 acct first then try the forums and see if that works”

Basically instead of going to the forums then logging in there I logged into the main website first, then went to the forums and attempted to make a post. This brought me to the (forum?) login. I logged in, then accepted the license agreement, and bam! it worked.

I hope this works for everyone else as I know there are plenty of people having this issue.