Guild Wars 2

Simple question:

What are the best ways to increase move speed? I understand most professions have a utility or trait for that, but I mean here other ways that don’t required consuming skill slots or traits..

Is Superior Rune of the Traveler the best one?
Any cheap nourishment I could get from trading post?

Hey guys, I’m returning after some time.

I have just a little bit of time to play each day, and I’d like to spend this time just exploring new content and completing some new zones. I had already explored Cursed Shore, Dry Top, Silverwastes, and all HoT maps, but the Season 3 zones are new to me.

However, I must say I hate storylines, conversation, walking around.. and I simply don’t have time to do any kind of personal story non-fighting affairs. I just want to explore on my own.

So, my question is: can I explore the new Season 3 maps without having to go through all that kind of story-driven conversation and cutscenes? How?

Just played a little bit with Scourge, against golems, so I may still have a noob view of some mechanics and traits..

But when planning my traits, one question came to mind:
- Isn’t Demonic Lore too good to pass?

My initial goal was getting the greater shade to make shade management easier, but having so much potential for spreading AoE fire seems just too powerful. Has anyone else a better comparison of this trait against the other ones?

I always play with power builds, but now I want to try a condi character.

However, both Rampager and Carrion have weird stat combinations IMO, so I really would like to have lvl 80 Sinister gear. At least accessories. I believe I can only get these by crafting right?

So, can anyone help me with a quick explanation of how to get Sinister gear (considering I don’t have any crafter so far)? What’s the chepeast way? Should I focus on accessories or armor? How much will I spend to reach the necessary crafting level? Can I simply buy the required recipes? Can I get these from just playing some WvW instead?

I played a lot with a power Reaper. Explored all lvl 80 zones, and tried some WvW as well. Had a great time with 100% critical and lots of self might.

Now I want to try a condi Reaper, focusing on chills. Still leveling up this character. Going with Scepter+Dagger and Staff. I’ll also enjoying the playstale of corruptions, self applying and then sending to enemies.

I have two questions regarding this kind of character though:

1) Spite vs Soul Reaping as third line? Dhuumfire seems great, but Spite can easily give me 25 stacks of self might. What you guys beleive is stronger in the end?

2) Rampager plus Carrion seem the way to go. But how much of each? Should I aim for a specific crit chance and then go with Carrion? How much crit is enough?

Does anyone know for sure if the new Mantra of Solace can trigger “using a healing skill” effects on every cast?

For example, Protector’s Impact triggers from using a healing skill. Also, some runes trigger from healing skills.

Mantra of Solace’s cooldown is only 12 seconds if used smartly. So, will I be able to activate my trait/runes every 12 seconds? Or will these be triggered only when preparing the mantra (first cast)?

First time I heard of this new mechanics I thought: ok, pages will regenerate overtime and will be shared across tomes. This way I have to choose if I want to spend the pages offensivelly, defensively, or support.

But then after trying the beta it was like: what?? Tomes have cooldowns, with skills also having cooldows, and also pages not being shared?

First time playing Guardian, and I’m enjoying Scepter+Torch / Sword+Focus. I’m going Zeal line for now, and tivseems to fit quite nicely my playstyle for open world, which is focusing on Scepter, burn, and Spirit Weapons.

Soon I’ll have to choose another line, and my initial idea was reaching Permeating Wrath as soon as possible, since I don’t like activating Virtue of Justice anyway. However, I’m finding the Virtues line way too weird.. I mean, Permeating Wrath makes your passive great, but the entire line is focused on activating virtues. Seems contraditory, at least.

Radiance line seems safer, with better traits overall, but on the other hand Permeating Wrath seems way too good for open world.

So, can you guys give me some suggestions for trait lines (open world only)? Please consider I’m going with Scepter most of the time, and probably some Spirit Weapons.

Torment works for me.

Another option would be making Dagger #1 to transfer a condition on third attack.

And another more conplex option would be making Dagger #1 to apply Bleed, but only when you are bleeding. Good combo with Dagger #3 and also most corruptions.

What about Dagger #1 transfering condictions, like underwater shroud? Maybe in the third attack..
Would make Dagger more condi oriented, and synergize with Dagger #3 and corruptions in general.

Thanks for the suggestions guys.

I see you guys don’t add Spite and Soul Reaping. No Spite would mean no self Might. And no Soul Reaping would mean no Dhuumfire. I understand we can’t have all traits of course..

I always had the impression that stacking Might is the way to boost dps, and fire is obviously the best condition by far.. Can I really hope to keep great dps without those traitlines?

I’m using a Power Reaper to explore HoT. This is the build link:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQRAnY4dnMbCt0g10AebC0bilaBDqrFAmBTLhpwWIeLWGPjA-TxhFwAY0wMa/BTq/sR/AgTAoE0oyvBPAABBwO-e

I’m pretty satisfied with this build, but I would like to have some playstyle change, so my goal is to play a little bit with conditions. I have bad experiences with Condi builds while leveling up, but I know Condi becomes pretty good at lvl 80, so I want to give it a try. I enjoy my power build because it can reach 25 might stacks and almost 100% crit chance, while still keeping pretty good survivability. Also I have a lots of AoE and permanent +25% move speed, which is a must IMO.

So, I would like to play a Condi Reaper (maybe Necro) with as much damage output, survivability and mobility as my current build.. Can you guys help me on that? Gear stat suggestions? Trait lines? Utilities?

So, my current Necro/Reaper is something like this:

- Armor: full exotic Berserker’s
- Trinkets: full ascended Berserker’s
- Weapons: Axe/Dagger + Dagger/Focus (with Knight’s stats, to give more toughness)
- Traits: Blood, Spite, Reaper
- Utilities: a mix of Wells and Shouts

I have to say this build is a blast for PvE, and I’m having a really great time exploring HoT zones.

However, whenever I go to WvW this is not that good. I enjoy roaming solo or in very small groups, and I’m not satisfied with the results. I really hate dying, and this seems to be not defensive enough. Wells seem to be pretty bad against players, and even shouts, so I believe I need to drastically change my playstyle for WvW.

I need to keep my equips and weapons (don’t have gold to replicate them), but I don’t mind completely changing traits and utilities. I was thinking maybe a defensive minion master with Blood + Death Magic + Reaper.. Or I could even drop Reaper since Death Shroud has ranged attacks, but Rise is way too good for defense (at least in PvE).

So, you guys have some tips for a good WvW build? Mainly for solo roaming and not dying..

onevstheworld.2419:

If you don’t feel up to all that, the mystic forge recipes are “only” 20-100g more expensive depending on what stats you want.

Thanks. Taking a longer research on the wiki, Book of Secrets seems to be the easiest one to make with berserker stats. And by easiest I mean it seems to not require running Fractals. Is this correct?

250 Pile of Bloodstone Dust
40 Mystic Crystal
50 Glob of Ectoplasm
250 Vial of Powerful Blood

Bloodstone Dust I probably have a lot already (have to check). Mystic Crystal I can buy with Spirit Shards. And IIRC the last two ingredients are purchasable from TP. Probably the price will be high, but at least this is just a question of having the gold or not, and does not require farming long collections.

Is this correct?

zakuruchi.4086:

The order backpieces are also not that expensive, but you do need to buy full set of order armors and finish the HoT story.

Are you talking about Warmaster’s Pack (got this name from the wiki)?

How can I get it? From the wiki I see I need to actually complete several collections for that..

I’m having a blast while exploring HoT with this:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vRAQRAnY4dnM0At0g10AebC0bilaBLeLWGPjQdtAwMYaJMF2CA-TxxEwAe0PAwEkhTCwgnAoEMl6Pm2fIpyPBBwO-e

Equips: pretty much Berserker
Traits: Blood Magic + Spite + Reaper
Utilities: Wells + Shouts

For easy fights just unleashing all your AoE is enough to clear a weak group (for example, raptors). Axe #3 + Dagger #4 + Dagger #5 + Wells. I use Sigil of Fire for some more AoE.

For longer fights, the thing is stacking Might from Shroud #1. Hitting enemies below 50% also gives Might. Being hit also gives Might due to Strength runes. And critical hits give Might as well from Strength sigils. Then, every Chill application applies Vulnerability thanks to Bitter Chill, which triggers Decimate Defenses, increasing my critical chance. Against bosses or other enemies that last longer you’ll have 25 stacks of Might and almost 100% critical chance. Finally, I like using Ghost Pepper Popper as food, which adds Might or Chill triggering again on critical hits.

Survivability is pretty good IMO, thanks to Blood Magic’s leeching, protection from Wells, Rise, and Blighter’s Boon.

After taking a quick look at the wiki, I believe the easiest way to get me an ascended backpack is completing the Luminate’s Backplate collection in HoT. I only have 2 of those items so far though.

Are there other easier ways to get ascended backpacks?

And how long can I expect to finish such a collection? I just have to explore Auric Basin and do events every day to eventualy complete this collection?

ANet said the Dagger is supposed to be the single target melee weapon, and Greatsword fits the melee AoE role. I always enjoyed the Dagger, but after unlocking Reaper I noticed the Greatsword is usually better even against single targets, because most skills contribute to dps (while Dagger only has the auto-attack).

I agree Dagger needs some tweaks, and my vote goes to enhancing skills #2 and #3 to actually add something nice to boost dps. Marking a target.. adding quickness.. anything that actually makes me want to click those buttons more often.

Kind of. Probably new elites will need 2500 hero points to max, and hero challenges in eventual new zones will award 100 points each

I’m currently exploring HoT, working on my masteries. I already have exotic gear and ascended trinkets, but more improvements are always welcome.

One goal I have in mind for now is acquiring enough Verdand Brink currency to get Bladed Armor. This is not an improvement in fact, since it’s exotic, but they look really nice and I think it’s worth.

Any other tips for improving my character?

1) How can I acquire ascended/legendary weapons and armor? Can I reach that tier just by exploring the world map and getting enough gold? Or this requires dungeons/raids?

2) I have lots of specific currency from each map. Silverwastes’ currency, Dry Top, the HoT zones… What is actually worth buying on each zone?

IndigoSundown.5419:

My biggest beef about the various currencies is not that they exist. It’s that they take up space in my bags. If the game is going to award such a thing for every zone (or more than one — looking at shovels and bandit keys), it would be nice to have a key chain/currency purse.

I agree with this.

Turning map specific items a currency that occupies no inventory space would already fix 70% of the problem. We would still have issues with the lack of excitement of finding new loot, but inventory management is indeed the worst part IMO.

To fix the excitement part, maybe they should do something like adding at least a guaranteed good quality reward after a long chain of events. I have to say I enjoyed when in Diablo 3 they added those guaranteed great drops after killing bosses, since at least this way I had a goal to pursue when logging on.

After creating this thread I was able to find an exotic axe after playing a few hours. I have no idea from where I got it, and I just know that after clicking several bags/seeds in my inventory I ended up with that exotic.

I believe this is a good example of the lack of excitement in the loot system, which is one of the points I tried to come with my original post. This together with the huge amount of unecessary “intermediate” items (keys, extractors, bags…) is IMO the bad part of the end-game.

I completely understand many other points, such as the necessity for gold sink, crafting, and so on. But I still believe there must be another way to do it. I think Anet should start to focus on some new great idea to turn the end-game loot system more exciting and less inventory-driven.

I enjoy the world map end-game content, but one thing I really hate is the amount of item management and different currency they add to maps.

For example, in the Silverwastes you have to do stuff to get enough currency to buy keys to open chests. Then, inside the chests you find items that can be opened to finally give you a piece of equipment or material. Then you will sell that equipment/material for gold. So.. why not just give you gold as reward in the first place?

Another example is the use of extractors during boss fights. So, you have to buy an item to allow you get another item in a specific situation. Then the acquired item can be opened for random equipment that will, again, become gold in the end. I really don’t understand why all that complexity that requires boring inventory management, when in the end everything resumes to gold..

But the worse part is the amount of trash items that are rewarded. Every 15 minutes in a good event I fill my inventory with lots of outdated green and even blue items, which are in fact just tiny amounts of gold occupaying inventory space. I wish I could instead play for 1 hour with no reward at all and in the end get a guaranteed exotic equipment, that would be more exciting than finding 200+ pieces of blue/green equipment.

So, that’s it. Of course the devs understand about what actually sells a game more than me, and this item complexity / inventory management / mass rewarding are probably enjoyed by most players. But I just wanted to express my opinion here, in the case the devs can hear it and eventually come with a different approach in the future for some zones.

So, I just started adventuring into HoT areas. For now I just got Gliding and I’m training Mushroom jumping, as the story suggests.

I have two questions:

1) In which order should I unlock the masteries to have a nice flow through the zones? For example, unlock gliding at first was obvious, so that I can reach the places without having to backtrack too much. But and after that? And for other zones?

2) Just following the story and exploring the zones will get me enough mastery points to unlock what I need? Or am I expected to, say, raid or farm achievements?

Great thread. I was also in need of this kind of information before buying the expansion. As per the comments so far, seems it’s well worth for some casual PvE.

Puck.9612:

Yeah you need to get siege blue prints. Superior siege cost more supply but does more damage. Catapults are better than rams when running solo

Thanks. But trying this seems the most basic ram costs 40 supply, and I can carry only 10. This means I need to go back and forth several times to build anything solo?

So I tried a little bit of roaming, and I was able to easily kill Sentries and destroy Camps.

Towers also seem to be easy enough based on the veterans outside, but I couldn’t find a way to actually destroy the gate.

Do I have to build a siege weapon for that? How? (sorry for the noob question)
And once inside, the Champion guardian is also soloable?

Thanks guys, seems it’s quite possible to enjoy WvW as I want. I’m playing a necro with full exotics, and ascended trinkets, so I in fact I’m feeling confident to take a challenge on soloing objectives.

Yet I’m pretty new to WvW, and I’m still not familiar with pretty basic words you guys used here, such as Tower, Camps, Sentries, Lord, “provoking swords on the castles”, lol. When following the zerg I had no idea what was happening, and I believe that was pretty bad for leaning the objectives and structures.

Anyway, I’ll take my time and follow your suggestions to practice.

So, I just started playing WvW after leveling my character to 80. I played with a zerg a little bit and noticed zergs are not for me, unfortunately. Rewards are good, but no fun at all. What I actually enjoy is playing solo, so I was not sure I could actually enjoy WvW..

However, I heard some players talking about solo roaming, and taking on some WvW objectives also solo.

Could you guys give some insights on that? I mean, which objectives should I search when solo roaming? Also, which maps? And which WvW upgrades would be best for this goal?

Currently I’m trying to get enough gold to buy my first exotic weapons.

However, the wiki says there is some WvW vendor who sells exotic too, yet I never played WvW. I know I have a lot of badges from achievements, so currency may not be an issue, but the wiki also says you must be lvl 14 in WvW to access this vendor..

So, what I need to know first is if there are other ways to get exotic weapons? And second, if you guys agree WvW vendors are the best way to get them, so how long takes to reach lvl 14? I really don’t like PvP, so what should I do to quickly reach this lvl (just to get the vendor)?

Just got to lvl 80 on my necro.

I was able to get temple armor from karma, so I’m already wearing full exotic armor.
Got cultural weapons also from karma, so I’m on rare tier weapon-wise.
I was also able to buy ascended rings and amulet from laurels. Still need more ectoplasms to buy those ascended assessories though.

So, basically I need more gold, to buy ectoplasms and exotic weapons.

I only enjoy open world, so my goal is making gold in orr and silverwastes. So, any tips for a casual player (who play at random times)? I mean, where should I go after logging in? Worth doing the dailies? Should I teleport to different points on each map hoping to find events?

Of course my goal is not only making gold, but also having fun. So any other tips for places and events to do is welcome.

Great suggestions guys. Thanks.

Inculpatus cedo.9234:

Orr has Exotic Armor for Karma.

That seems interesting. Is this a vendor?

Upon reaching lvl 80, my goal is to buy the Sylvari cultural weapons. I have lots of karma, and makes sense to save gold for later. Anyway, those weapons seem good enough (Rare tier) for a newbie lvl 80 character.

Next goal would be upgrading to Exotic, and to do this I want to farm/explore the lvl 80 zones (not only for gold farm, but also for fun since this is my first lvl 80 character).

The wiki tells me there are 4 lvl 80 zones (not counting the expansion yet):

- Cursed Shore
- Southsun Cove
- Dry Top
- The Silverwastes

So, can you guys quickly summarize each of these zones to me?
Where should I go first?
Are they solo friendly (I’m casual, and don’t want to wait for groups)?
Can I get good drops just doing eventual random events?

As soon as I reach lvl 80 on my current character I’ll buy Heart of Thorns. My goal is to unlock my elite spec ASAP, so that I can enjoy the lvl 80 zone with the new spec.

I believe the best way to do this is by exploring the expansion zones first, so that I can reach the elite quicker by doing those 10-points hero challenges, right? Then, I’d head to other lvl 80 zones after that.

I read somewhere the way to enter Heart of Maguuma is going through the Silverwastes, so I have a few questions regarding this:

1) This means I’ll have to explore the Silverwastes before reaching the expansion zones?

2) I just want to freely explore Heart of Maguuma on my own. Is there a way to reach it without activating my story? I just don’t want to follow a story there.

3) Are there other ways to directly reach the expansion zones without passing through the Silverwastes?

I’m going to buy Heart of Thorns, and my goal now is to level a new Necro from scratch and enjoy the Reaper as soon as possible.

I enjoy leveling, so I’m not in a hurry. Just want to be able to unlock Reaper before finishing the leveling content (for example, Maguuma Jungle), so that I can actually enjoy some world map content as Reaper.

So guys, how unlocking elite specs actually works?
Can I save as many hero points as possible before reaching lvl 80, and then spend everything on Reaper?
Can I unlock at least the new shroud as soon as lvl 80, and then slowly start acquiring the traits/shouts?

Bumping this in hope next update can bring some changes to DS.

Mys suggestions below:

1. Explode in 180 radius instead of piercing. Maybe also remove the distance threshold.
2. Cause bleed+chill around target, and then teleport only if pressed again (since DS is ranged, it should not obligate you to teleport).
3. ok
4. Stability while casting seems easy and great, as other have said.
5. ok

They have a lot of ranger pets with swimming animation, including some that are never used by anyone, but can’t take the effort to create a few animations for the Flesh Golem. I don’t understand.

There are some many easy possibilities it’s not even funny.

Axe #3
Scepter #2
Dagger #5
Warhorn #5

I’m leveling an Elementalist now, and after trying some weapons I decided Staff is the best for me.

Most of the time I’m camping fire of course, and all fire skills feel great. Sometimes I am forced to attune water for the healing, and that’s fine, since most water skills are also great, yet I think water #1 could do more damage.

My problem with Staff actually is air and earth. After leveling for quite some time, I noticed I pretty much never use air and earth. Air skills simply seem out of place. Only time I think they might be useful is for AoE taging during events, but fire can also do that and do better. I’m feeling air is simply a weaker version of fire, with no identity. Since fire is already the AoE king, air could easily have been a single target dps option. Earth skills seem weird on Staff as well. Earth is supposed to be the defensive attunement, yet there is no protection or invulnerability on Staff.

So guys, you also feel weird using air and earth on Staff? How can I addapt my play style to make better use of these attunements?

I’d like more detailed information regarding the Death Magic trait called Necromantic Corruption. Could not find such details anywhere else..

So, it causes minions to remove conditions from you, but how exactly this timer works?

There are three possibilities in my mind:

1) A fixed independent 10s timer for each minion. Meaning each specific minion starts looking for conditions as soon as it is summoned, and tick every 10s with no relation to other minions.

2) All minions share the same timer. Meaning the removal will trigger every 10s according to, say, server time. In this case having 3 minions would result in 3 conditions removed at fixed 10s intervals.

3) A condition is removed as soon as it is applied to me, and then a 10s cooldown starts for one of my minions. This would be best, but I doubt this is the case considering how 10s ticking signets work..

Anyone knows for sure how this trait works?

I played a power necro, and the leveling process was both fun and easy, but now I want to have fun leveling a condi necro. However, I’m having some issues, and some things feel too awkward. What I’m feeling is that power is pretty straightforward, while condition simply does not work well for leveling..

So I’m using Scepter+Dagger and Staff. Also using Corruptions as utility, which are great. My first trait line is Curses, which also seems great, and my plan as second line after lvl 45 is going Spite to get the free self might buffs.

My main problems with this character is related to equipment and Death Shroud..

For example, when going power necro, using Minor Sigil of Bloodlust at 25 stacks could more than double my dps at lower levels. Now with Minor Sigil of Corruption I don’t see that much increase to overall dps. What it seems is that power simply scales much better at lower levels than condition.

Also, before lvl 20 I have to choose between power or condition equipment. Going power was really straightforward, but now if I choose to go full condition I simply don’t have enough dps, and trying to destroy turrets or other event objects is a pain. After lvl 20 I can have access to two stats on equips, but seems power+condition simply is not available at Auction House. Then again I have to go with something like precision+condition, which is out of place.

Finally, Death Shroud. When going power, DS seemed great, and #1 skill can deliver a good punch, specially with the piercing. But as condition, DS seems to be only useful to get some AoE torment through #5, and in fact staying longer in DS is pretty bad since I stop outputting my conditions.

TL;DR:
I would like some tips for leveling as condi necro, specially related to equipment and the use of DS.
- How can I get power+condition equipment at lvl 20? And Sinister for later?
- Should I mix power equips with condition equips instead of going full condition?
- Should I delay the Spite line and hurry to Dhuumfire to make better use of DS?
- Other tips?

I have Quickening Thirst, which is supposed to reduce dagger cooldowns by 33% when above the health threshold.

However, every time I use Life Siphon and cancel the channeling (most of the time), the skill cooldown is not reduced. I works fine when Life Siphon is fully cast, but canceling at any point seems to cause Quickening Thirst to not work.

Known issue? Any workaround?

Linnael.1069:

Blast on spinal shivers apparently doesn’t fit the theme, but what if you just made spinal shivers aoe? Change the animation to something like churning earth, it can keep the current cast time, but goes up to a 15 target cap 900 radius blast. Now that would be a skill 5 worth having.

I also would like to see AoE chill on focus.
Axe on Ranger delivers an AoE chill when you get the trait. Necro focus could do the same IMO.

Blood Magic is clearly a defensive line, but siphon also does additional unmitigated damage.

So, anyone know how much damage siphons can contribute to actual overall dps on a power build? I mean, how much percent dps increase I can expect from the leeching traits?

Is this leeching damage from Blood Magic noticeable and comparable to, say, stacking some might from Spite line?

I’m talking here about Vampiric + Vampiric Presence dps. And we can add Vampiric Rituals too for well dps.

Not only sigil cooldowns, but I’d say show every hidden cooldown on the character, such as sigils, runes, and trait procs (WoW for instance has ability alerts).

Having no visual information on some of your own character abilities is pretty bad IMO.

+1

Why would the weapon you were using before entering DS matter?

While leveling my Guardian (lvl 21) I’ll have to choose a trait line to go first. I want to focus mostly on ranged damage and also AoE (currently using Scepter/Torch + Sword/Focus). But I’m now in doubt if worth investing on Virtues or Radiance first.

Virtues:
Supreme Justice + Permeating Wrath combo seems great, specially on Scepter that usually triggers justice pretty fast. Good AoE it seems.

Radiance:
Renewed Justice seems very useful on world map leveling, where I can kill all the time. Radiant Fire + Amplified Wrath also seem to boost fire damage by a lot.

Which trait line you guys recommend to get first for leveling?

Problem is that the application of self conditions are good in some cases. While losing life force is always bad.

IMO the self conditions are a great intriguing mechanics that should be kept. If something has to change, I’d rather have corruptions becoming stronger (ex, longer Might duration on BiP) but keeping the self conditions.

I also feel less attracted to DS when playing a condition build. And I think this is wrong, since DS is a base Necro mechanic that should work equally for any Necro build style.

Extending current conditions on target is a good choice, but then comes the cleaning problem as someone stated. IMO simply giving DS enough condition pressure on its own (such as maybe torment on Life Blast) would be great already.