Guild Wars 2

I wouldn’t buy exotic armor but spend your money on exotic trinkets (rings, accessories, amulet). Armor can be gotten with tokens but as far as i know the only way to get exotic trinkets is through FotM and crafting (which are then posted on the Auction House).

I don’t know about you but when I first hit 80 I had about 2 gold. Not near enough to be wasting on exotic armor. Doing a dungeon will get you 1 gold plus maybe some stuff to sell and some dungeon tokens. Every 3-5 runs will get you a new piece of exotic armor if I recall which will replace whatever you’re wearing. IMO that buying rares is a little pricey to discard that quickly. On the other hand once you’re done with that rare you can decon it for ectos or throw it into the forge so it’s not actually a total loss.

Hello and welcome. I was in a similar boat a while ago too. A few things I’ve picked up since then.
- I don’t know much about warrior but it seems that all classes in dungeons worry first about dps and second about some type of support. All I hear about wars is BANNERS.

- my recommendation for gear is to buy all greens off the auction house since they’re so cheap. Rares are better but are also 20 times more expensive. Then do CoF p1 and 2 for tokens to get your berserkers exotics.

- you have to do story mode to start an explorer run but not to join so don’t be too worried about getting your story modef done.

- For consumables I use the slayer potions that drop in the dungeons but I don’t buy them and if I don’t have them I don’t use them. Consumables is one area I’ve been meaning to get more diligent in. I’ve heard they can make a pretty decent difference.

- if people don’t specify it as a speed run or exp only you wouldn’t have to announce it but feel free to ask questions if you have them. Most ppl are pretty helpful.

-I’d say cof p1 and sorrows embrace p1 are the easiest. Cof p2 is pretty easy too. Ascalonian Catacombs p1 is not too bad but takes a little more finesse.

Good luck out there.

Was in your same boat a couple months ago, freshly 80 and looking to start some dungeons. First thing I did was pick up a set of rare armor on the Trading Post and mostly masterwork trinkets as they were more expensive. Everything was a mix of berserker and knights.

For a build I went with someone’s zerker dungeon build. https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/PvE-Dungeon-Speedrun-Zerk-Build/first

Later I tried a standard grenade build and standard static discharge/rifle build. Both were fun. I liked the vulnerability stacking using grenades but standing back so far you sometimes don’t really feel like part of the group. Static discharge is great but I feel like the bomb build above does more damage and is all around more fun.

Side note about pistols, I think pistol 3 is great but otherwise rifle is better. I love the look of pistols but they really do get outclassed by either rifle for damage or pistol/shield for defense.

Also, about damage vs support. I think all classes are primarily dps. Funny thing about this game not having a healer or tank is that everyone pretty much defaults to dps with support backup. Some classes just have more backup than others.

If you’re looking for a PvE build this is a fun one that I keep going back to: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/engineer/PvE-Dungeon-Speedrun-Zerk-Build

I haven’t done much PvP so I can’t speak to its viability there.

Ah, didn’t realize how important stacking was for that fight and how one person could mess it up. Now that I think of it I do recall seeing one member of the group hanging out on the bannister and/or gate.

Holy cow, that site is great. Can’t believe I’ve not come across it before. I assume it was a poison pool as we all went down in a relatively short period of time. In combat awareness is probably something I should be working on because I don’t have a definitive answer for you.

Thanks for the link.

I don’t do a lot of dungeon running and when I do it’s usually CoF p1/2 or SE p1/2. The easy stuff. One of the things I like about MMOs is that you can be doing the same thing daily but with different groups it can feel like a completely different run (sometimes good, sometimes bad).

Yesterday I joined a group (aptly advertised as a noob run) for AC. Anyways, we nestled up in the corner, grabbed the spider, and proceeded to get annihilated over and over again. I thought this was supposed to be a pretty fool proof strategy but it didn’t seem to be working. I’m not sure what makes this work with one group and not another.

In an effort to get better at dungeons in general, what exactly are the mechanics that make this strategy work? We were all pretty squishy, should we have been alternating reflects?

(I’m an engineer btw).

Side note: Is there a guide for basic dungeon strategies?

Sawed off shotgun? Heck yeah I’ll take one!

I did this quest a couple weeks ago with my 65 engie. Took me about 6 tries but in the end I found it helpful to stay far away, let him hit the npcs and toss grenades at him. I think the vulnerability stacks (20 ish) helped the npcs do some damage.

Awesome replies, thanks. Is it possible to work on end-game armor before hitting level 80? Or is everything before 80 pretty much just practice? IIRC you get your gear via tokens, right?

I’m almost 80 and haven’t done a single dungeon. My previous game was LOTRO and grouping was by far my favorite part.

What do I need to know to get started?
Will being quest geared make me liability to my group?
How long is the typical dungeon?
Can dungeons really be completed with any group combination?
Are dungeons typically run in, kill, and loot? Or is there typically a gimmick you have to know?
Also, paths? Is that like tier 1 tier 2 tier 3 difficulty levels?

Thanks for the replies.

I thought I’d be on the same boat as op wanting to go back and face roll lvl 1 content but I’m actually loving this level adjustment. It means I can go back and enjoy earlier content and still feel as though I’m accomplishing something ( i.e. get xp). I’m only lvl25 though. Can’t say how I’d feel at lvl 80.