Guild Wars 2

I’m only level 75. I’ve been using a pretty standard Axe/Torch condi build, except instead of SB I’ve been using S/A, mainly because of the finishers on off-hand Axe. The whirl finisher in a fire field sure seems to be great for AoE. Or am I imagining that?

I’ve also been using Beast Mastery with an Eagle, which is giving me blind and weakness every 4.75 seconds. For when the going gets tough I’ve been carrying a Murrelow, mainly because its poison field gives me a lot of options.

Do you think this build would make it in HoT maps?

SlippyCheeze.5483:

My only “ugh, nooo” was female charr ranger; the shout of “might makes right” had me hating the character, and I generated too much might. so sad.

Heh. I love my female charr. I went through three transformation kits to get her right, but now she’s the best-looking of all my characters. Her “longbow crouch” looks so friggin cool.

Lonami.2987:

Add raptors to the list as well!

We already have two of them, eagles and hawks.

Yannir.4132:

And btw, quarterstaff is a real weapon used in several martial arts, so you thinking it as an illogical melee weapon is a bit illogical. Some people even claim it’s superior to sword as a dueling weapon because of it’s longer reach and how fast it is to use.

MMO lore doesn’t matter here, it doesn’t change the most basic things about reality, such as that getting hit by a 1,5 m pole of wood hurts, and breaks bones.

Quarterstaff might be superior to sword as a dueling weapon, but it’s terrible in formation. No army in history has ever used the quarterstaff. A quarterstaff infantry would beat themselves up.

Ishmael.3642:

i switched my #1 skill button with ‘R,’ skills #2-5 are now #1-4, skills #6-9 are ‘shift+#1-4, elite mortar is ’Shift+R’

Ah, hm. My fingers sit on ASDF when I’m playing.

• Movement keys are ESDF.
• The #1 skill is ‘A’ so I can press it while using all movement skills. #2-#4 is RTGV, all by my index finger.
• Toolbelt skills are on the left, QWZX-capslock.
• Utilities I moved to 1-5, since I’m physically pressing them less.
• Then some miscellaneous ones, like ‘C’ for weapon swap and ‘B’ for interact.
• Dodge is mousebutton #3. (I only have 3 buttons.)
• Non-combat ones are all on the far right, like ‘M’ and ‘I’ and ‘O’.

This setup is a little heavier on the pinky finger than I’d like, but I can’t see any improvements unless I get a mouse with more buttons.

Engineer is the funniest profession, with their elixir gun and bombs and odd gadgets.

Asura is the funniest race, with their goofy run and their cartoony change-of-direction animations.

They’re a natural together.

Yobculture.5786:

how to level as engi: spam bomb 1 until you hit level 80

Bomb 1 + circle kiting has indeed allowed me to beat Champions over my level without taking much of a hit, even. (My engineer is level 45.) Of course BOBs & fire bombs & concussion bombs &c. also help.

I’ve also found it helps to drop an offensive turret and kite around that.

Also, Supply Crate is definitely the elite to use while leveling.

Except: and this is embarrassing. I haven’t been playing GW2 for long, don’t even have any max-level characters. But my Series-D Defensive Golem has made an even bigger difference than any of the Engineer elites for ease of taking down tough mobs. I just flush with shame whenever anyone catches me using it.

Snap Ground Target is a great thing. I can see having to escape out to throw an elixir would be a pain, but wow, does it make kiting so much easier.

The right-mouse button thing was also great. Distance is just controlled by the elevation with respect to your character; putting the camera at the level of the character’s feet gives a range of 900. Looking straight down gives a range of 0.

I also rebound my “1” button to “A”, and that helps. My movement keys are ESDF, so with “A” I can keep my pinky tapping and still use all movement keys.

Thanks everyone! I have so much to play with!

It’s a mechanical question. Since you have to use your mouse to aim the grenades, how, physically, are you able to manage fluid movement?

I have keybinds for forward, strafe left, strafe right. With every other class, that’s been sufficient, but not with engineer. Being reduced to just those while firing grenades is kind of sad, so a lot of times I end up standing still to fire, and that’s just no good.

I don’t always even have access to all movement keys, since I’m also having to press keys to fire grenades.

So…what’s your technique?

NikeEU.7690:

I kill the mobs. Arc divider blood reckoning arc divider hundred blades kills almost anything in open world and you’re effectively invulnerable while blood reckoning is up.

…and then you realize that you don’t HAVE Arc Divider because you’re running Strength/Arms/Discipline. Oopsie! No problem…you just push Blood Reckoning…but wait, you don’t have that either!

So instead you try to cripple 10 mobs at once with Blade Trail, apparently, and then DPS all 10 of them with WWA. And so you die a horrible bloody death and come back to the forums and say…what?

Female charr are really beautiful. It’s hard to build a functioning non-human anatomy, to the extent that most non-human races in MMOs are just humans with different heads on them. It’s also hard—APPARENTLY—for game designers to resist the temptation to differentiate females of different races the same way humans are. In Neverwinter, for crying out loud, the female dragons have large mammary glands and hips. Yeesh.

Female charr are different. They look like something you could actually see out in some world. (Male charr, not so much. Most male charr heads have such poor dentition they couldn’t chew their own food, the poor things, and would lacerate their own lips with every word.)

Why Longbow? What’s the synergy with axe?

I’m new to GW2, and casual, 1/2 hour a day.

I created one of every class and leveled each to 20. Then, every time I sat down, I just let my instinct of the moment decide which I’d play. At first I hopped around a lot, no clear winners, but now they stand something like this:

• Necromancer: 52
• Guardian: 47
• Warrior: 22
• Engineer: 22
• Ranger: 21
• Thief: 20
• Elementalist: 20
• Mesmer: 20

(No HoT yet.)

Clearly I’m a newb, but I don’t understand this thing about Necromancers not feeling mobile. All my characters are female charr, so there’s no variation in mobility from race. Banshee’s Wail alone gives near-permanent Swiftness uptime. If you don’t like that, Quickening Thirst gives permanent 25%. If not that, Signet of the Locust gives permanent 25%.

All of those require zero effort. Isn’t that part of feeling mobile? Effortlessness? For me, anyway. I’d much rather be running around a zone with a Necromancer than with most classes because I don’t have to be casting and running through walls, or flipping my character and jumping backwards and flipping again, or constantly aiming teleport circles. I can think about the game. Of course, that’s from the perspective of a newb.

Otherwise. I’m not sure why, I’m just riding my instincts, but I think I play Necro most because of its huge variety. Condi MM or Power Wells…they have almost nothing in common. And if you don’t like Wells there are Signets! And if you don’t like minions there are Corruptions! Most other classes seem more dependent on a few key abilities.

Aldath.1275:

Any tips for surviving the first levels? The damage output of the class seems to be low compared to others and I have to take on mobs 1 on 1.

I’m also leveling a necro, my first character in GW2.

I’m finding the Blood Magic trait line to be great for solo leveling. The free Mark of Blood on dodge is great for sustain, and so is Protection every time you cast a well. With the Warhorn recharge reduction, you have perma 33% speed increase, and those spare skills that help reviving downed players are fun. It’s fun to save people while cruising through open-world events.

So far it’s proven to be more useful than the extra damage, say, from Spite.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

bravehoptoad.5246:

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Also yes, you can run anything and probably clear. You can also use a book instead of a hammer to get a nail into the wall, but it’s horrible ineffective in comparison, so why do it?

If GW2 is as fun to you as hammering a nail into a wall, why play it? Or why not go hammer nails?

I’m not exactly sure what you want to say with that statement.

It’s a suggestion that your metaphor is inapt, that hammering nails and playing GW2 are somewhat different activities.

NovaanVerdiano.6174:

Also yes, you can run anything and probably clear. You can also use a book instead of a hammer to get a nail into the wall, but it’s horrible ineffective in comparison, so why do it?

If GW2 is as fun to you as hammering a nail into a wall, why play it? Or why not go hammer nails?

Okay, with my 1-1/2 hour per week, I’ve leveled 5 classes to the 15-20 range. That’s given me a feeling for them—I don’t know how accurate those feelings are or if I’m missing something about each class, but it’s given me something to make a decision. For anyone else out there looking for a newby’s impression of some classes:

Necromancer: I enjoyed this one a lot at first, but before long it got to seem repetitive. Dagger and Death Shroud both rely too much on the power of their auto-attacks. Also the Staff looks to be the only AoE weapon, and leveling is all about the AoE. It seems like the variety in the Necro comes with the utility skills, but given how slowly I play it would take a while to figure out if I liked any set of those.

Mesmer: Before I’d played the game for a single minute, I wanted this class to be my favorite because it seemed the most distinctive in GW2. I do love it for straight-up one-on-one battles, but trash is a pain, partly because they die so fast that your illusions also die fast. For a Mesmer, every fight is a complicated affair. You can’t just run up and whack something and run on. Slogging through to Igni Castrum (in the Plains of Ashford), for instance, was way harder on a Mesmer than anyone else. The prospect made me groan.

Elementalist: There’s so much variety in the weapons it makes me laugh. Utility skills? How does anyone have time to ever use them? This class was pure fun, but it does seem, in the end, that all that variety is just about different ways of blowing things up. Now I’m incinerating them! Now I’m shocking them! Now I’m impaling them on earth spikes! I’m imagining my Elementalist will be my main alt for when I want a change of pace and to just wreck face.

Warrior: I had a lot of fun on my warrior, and I love that there are a dozen weapons and so many different styles. Before long I noticed, though, that one skill shined way brighter than any of the others, and that’s Hundred Blades. It made all that variety kind of irrelevant. Far the most effective way to play seemed to be planning everything around that one stationary skill. It made me sad.

Guardian: Ta da, my favorite. Except for shield and staff, I enjoy all the weapons. That’s a lot, and so much variety in them. Switching from Mace/Focus to Scepter/Torch is kind of like boarding a plane in Alaska and instantly stepping out in Thailand. And Sword and Greatsword and Hammer, also each great fun. I also like the variety of roles I can play even though I’m only at level 23. I look forward to all the different kinds of open-world challenges on my Guardian, and that’s what I was looking for in my class.

I never did try any of the medium-armor classes. I’m not so much into stealth, so no Thief. Engineer looked, at first glance, even more complicated than Elementalist, for less payoff, and they have no melee weapons—a turn off. And I never could talk myself into trying a Ranger…a couple trips to their forums scared me off that. Too many people seemed unhappy with them.

I hope all that helps somebody. If there was something obvious about a class I was missing, please let me know!

Hi, guys!

@ Kaozkrayken: That’s an interesting way to break-down the professions, by reward vs. skill. I notice that the only “moderate skill” class listed is the Thief…all the others are high skill or low skill. Since I’m not really a sneaky guy and likely won’t play enough to ever develop high skill, your list really helps narrow down the professions.

@ Donari: Yeah, if I block out all the Paladin images and just look at the character I’ve created, I’m finding Guardian to have a great feel. My favorite thing in MMOs—what gives me goosebumps—is being Tough and Brave (as opposed to, say, one-shotting someone from stealth, or melting face on 15 mobs at once). Guardian feels good for that. Also—yeah, people say Mesmer is hard to play, but I’m not seeing why, at least in the structure of their combat. I’m guessing they have that “difficult” reputation because so many of their most important spells have nothing to do with damage—all their Glamour spells, for example. Learning how to use those right seems like it would take some experience that wouldn’t translate from previous MMOs and isn’t instinctive like Kill Kill Kill. I could be totally wrong. Maybe by the time my character is at the mighty level of 20 I’ll have a better idea.

@ Razor: You’re right. I know from other MMOs that these stereotypes change all the time. Especially for a player like me—I might get a playing session longer than an hour only twice a year, so dungeon runs probably aren’t going to be a feature of my GW2 experience. I’m glad to know that Ranger can indeed be a creative class. I’ll have to add it to the list…it’s not all that large a list, after all. I sure wish the bow animations were better—they look nothing at all like someone pulling a bow. Bows are not a rapid-fire weapon. They take strength. Rangers in GW2 often look like they’re plucking some kind of strange vertical guitar. But that’s way off topic.

Warrior is a difficult one. I’ve always fought against a weakness of personality that makes me avoid the popular class. In WoW I mained a Shaman and my alt was a Rogue—the two rarest classes at the time. No matter how right a Druid would have been, I couldn’t make myself play one. I know, it’s not that bright, particularly in a game like GW2 with only 8 professions and 5 races. Is anything that rare or that popular? But there it is.

P.S. I was going to say that warrior was a hard space one, but that got changed to kittene. What’s up with that?

Hi, guys! Thanks for the advice!

I’ve been noodling around. I think I’ll like this game a lot. Here’s my first take—let me know if I’ve got anything wrong?

• Mesmer: haven’t seen anything like them in any other MMO…maybe they’re a bit like the old EQ Enchanter class. I’ve got one to level 10 and think they’re a hoot, but scary squishy. One extra ad can kill me, but Phase Retreat and Blurred Frenzy both give the kind of time I like to look around and think.
• Elementalist: looks fiendishly difficult for someone playing 3 hours a week. Tracking 4 sets of CDs, 3 of which you can’t even see, seems like a headache.
• Necromancer: so far my favorite, but I’ve played so little it could be I just like the race (Charr for my Necro. Char skulls are so cool.) I like how tanky they are. If I didn’t keep hearing how poor they are for group PvE, I think I’d have my class. (At least I’ve found out what race I like best.)

• Engineer: another very distinctive GW2 class, but dang it, they also seem difficult for a super-casual player. Over on Dulfy the engineer guide has a rotation that’s 40 deep. 40. Yipes.
• Thief: I’ve never been into the stealth <> squish tradeoff. Guess I’d rather laugh at a backstab than give one.
• Ranger: I’m intrigued by a mid-weight melee class that doesn’t rely on stealth, but I’m worried there won’t be much room for creativity.

• Warrior: I hate, hate the Rage mechanic on WoW warriors. You can’t admire the view or chat or emote without your Rage seeping, seeping, seeping away. I hate a mechanic that forces me to play fast. It’s bullying. Is Adrenaline like that? Also warriors are everywhere. Wouldn’t mind being something a teensy bit rarer.
• Guardian: I’ve always been put off by Paladin-type classes with all that Holy-Retribution-Recrimination-whatever stuff. On second glance, that’s not quite what Guardians are. I’ll have to override my instincts and give them a try. Plus: in group play, my favorite thing is always saving other people. Seems like Guardian is good for that. Funny—on the MMO I just quit my class was also a Guardian.

Any big misconceptions?

I don’t mind dodging—dodging in this game is kind of like blocking in other games because of the immunity frames. I can even enjoy kiting every now and then, but being forced to do it for every fight gets awfully old.

Anyway, it looks like I’ll try Mesmer, Necromancer, and Guardian for a while to see what feels good. That gives me a couple slots left over if none of those are quite right.

Thanks again for the help!

Hi! Just bought the game. I’m hoping to get advice on which profession to play.

• I’m casual…I play maybe 3 times a week, 1/2 hour to 1 hour a pop.
• I’m not in a hurry. I like chatting with NPCs and role-playing and exploring.
• I like classes that play slow and give me time to think.
• I don’t love kiting. I’d rather block an attack than dodge it.
• I’m not into extended rotations—one reason I quit WoW.
• I like classes that let me be creative. This requirement often conflicts with the one before it—“creative” often requires “complex.” I guess I like a class of middle difficulty.
• On this one character I’d like to be able to do everything, all corners of PvE and PvP that my time constraints will allow.

Any ideas?

Thanks for the help, guys!