Guild Wars 2

I think people are getting carried away with what they CAN do compared to what they HAVE to do…

Just because something is there it doesn’t mean it has to be for everyone. The hardcore grind is there for those who WANT to do it, it does not impact as much as is made out for those who do not have the time or inclination to do this sort of grind.

At the end of the day, people will always find something to complain about but personally as long as they keep things for the more casual gamers to do without being disadvantaged and have optional content for those who can spend more time/effort doing it to keep them occupied then so be it, I won’t have a problem. If they start down the track of handicapping those casual players who can’t grind gear out then yes I will have an issue. But as it now stands all I can see is they are trying to cover content for everyone and give people something to do no matter how much or little they play and that is a good thing.

The trouble is I don’t feel compelled to even participate in the much of the events since I never get to see it through. I work and sometimes have to take a week off GW2 for life things and part-time study etc so by the time I come back in I know for sure that I won’t get to finish it or have missed out on finishing something I already started.

I agree with the fact we need real content, not just living world stuff. Living world is great for those with either no-lives, ADHD or who race through content, but for many of us what we really want is something more permanent… a new zone, a new dungeon a new recurring event.

I’m fine with Living World as it is right now for those who can do it, but there needs to be some more casual friendly content as well I feel just to balance it up. have a living world event that actually lasts for 3-4 months so we we have time to explore it and hope to get it done. It isn’t going to effect those who can spend the time as they will have done it and can move onto the parallel event that will be over in a month. A new zone would be great…again those who chew through content will have it done and dusted in a matter of days but then they have their grindy stuff that changes faster…

I just think there needs to be a little bit of a happy medium between too slow and too fast for covering all the player base.

Firstly, always take advice on forums with a pinch of salt. Usually people use forums to voice their own concerns or displeasure with something as some sort of cathartic mechanics of coping and very rarely will people actively come on post how great something is. It’s the usual MMO forum trash talk where people who like the game just get on and play while those who feel like something is wrong will come on and complain, so the viewpoints in forums are always lop-sided.

Secondly, how much you will enjoy something depends entirely on what you hope to get out of it. I for example am playing very casually in a very friendly guild and find there’s always something to do for me when I log on. For my needs it suits me perfectly as I simply don’t want a game which ONLY focuses on the endless grind. This game is going that way but that is to try and satisfy those players who grind through content as fast as possible and then complain there is nothing left to do…so they are trying to make that grind for them longer to keep them entertained. I though can log in, run a dungeon, play some WvWvW or play some PvP and be happy that i’ve been able to do things without having spent the same amount of time as others. I don’t get the same rewards but then again I don’t expect to and i’m content in that.

Lastly, your rig looks fine. At peak times in Lions Arch you will always get some lag issues and your fps look fine. Anything above 45fps in a large zerg means your system is coping well

Elementalist is actually one of the hardest classes to play solo with, simply for the fact that you need to spec correctly, and swap between your attunements to get maximum effect and not least of all due to the fact they have all the durability of a wet paper bag. My experiences are from lower level Ele play and with helping my girlfriend out with hers, but here are some things that may help you out.

For solo play, it is all about survival and not just about doing maximum damage. For this reason, try putting some traits and gear stats into Vitality and Toughness to allow you to take a bit more of a beating. It’s a subtle trade off as you dont want to give up too much firepower or fights will last too long and you won’t be THAT tough. Damage is good still, but maximise this with your combo’s. For example using a Scepter/Dagger combo would mean you can cast dragon tooth (on a stationary target so as not to miss) and then cast Phoenix at the area and it hits for a huge amount, both good AoE damage as well. Staff is more an AoE weapon but as long as you are comfortable with a more busy spec then it will do very nicely.

As for the fight, when you have skill point fights with multiple enemies, I always find it much easier to kill the adds first and then kill the veteran last – the normal mobs go down relatively fast, dealing with one mob is much easier than three and the veterans don’t do much more damage than a normal mob in my experience but having three pounding on you takes it’s toll quickly.

You can try getting used to switching into different sttunements so you maximise your self-healing (water), damage output (fire), defence (earth) and control (air), grab the Arcane Shield spell, and make sure to time your dodges correctly (will take practice but since you don’t have much other protection available this is even more important). GW2 is a very mobile game, in that you are expected to be constantly on the move, avoiding attacks and generally “staying out of the red stuff on the floor” more than most other MMO’s out there. Essentially your healing is meant for the damage you simply can’t avoid, but you are expected to avoid a lot of the damage by carefully timed dodge-rolls and well timed spells for protection etc.

You should be able to solo most content that is your current level without needing to upgrade weapons and such all the time through the trading post. if you are struggling with anything such as personal-story quest chains or with skill point fights then check to see if there is not some essential mechanic you have overlooked (I remember one quest chain as a Norn Warrior which seemed impossible until I realised you needed to use the molotov kittentail in the room which did insane damage and made the fight trivial). Some fights may need a different tactical approach. But failing all that simply ask around in chat, ask guildees and wait and see if people come to do it too.

Sorry for the length of post, just trying to help out with whatever I could think of. Good luck.

You CAN use them to respec, but this is a side effect of opening the next tier of trait points (i.e. you can spend 10 points in each group for the first manual – available at level 11, the next one available at level 40 then opens up 20 points in each group and finally at level 60 you can open up all 30 in each group). As a side effect the trait points are reset so you can go deeper into each level if you need to. However, using a manual once is all you need to unlock the points and then after that you can simply speak to the trainer to respec for a few silver.

Everything you do in this game other than PvP (WvWvW is fine) will net you XP. So basically the fastest way to level is just to play the game. Here are some things:

1. Hearts – also get nice gear upgrades from vendors)

2. 100% area completion (all hearts, vistas, waypoints, skill points and points of interest)

3. Daily quest – changes each day but usually involves doing a certain number of kills in a zone, gathering a certain number of materials from ore/lumber/herbs, participating in a certain number of group events etc…

3a. Every thing you do for the daily also gives it’s own xp (accept killing “critters”) so mine and chop trees as much as you can….and then you can sell or use to fund crafting.

4. Crafting – this is insane XP for your character and could get you some nice gear to quest with if you opt not (or cant afford) to max out through crafting alone.

5. Participating in group events and completing any “orange” quests that appear

Generally just head out and do anything you come across. Good luck.

Crafting is a very good source of gear, unlike other MMO’s you can actually get gear to your level fairly easily while levelling with minimum outlay in gold. Other than that run content (i.e. hearts and group events) at your current level or one level above it if you’re comfortable with that and always explore the karma vendor as they will have some nice gear to top you off with. Other than that it is possible to buy off the trading post but could be pricey. Also keep doing your story quest line as this can give some decent rewards and aim for 100% in each zone you go to to get those rewards as well (and cross your fingers you are lucky)

But if i’m honest, you shouldn’t need to worry about the gear as you level as it will improve enough from drops, quest rewards and such to allow you to continue levelling. You shouldn’t need top shelf gear until later levels to manage the levelling content, it’s fairly easy to go through.

So basically: “I can’t put the same time in as other people but I for some reason feel like I should get the same rewards anyway”.

It’s a vanity item, you don’t NEED it to keep playing the game. this is the attitude that ruined WoW – everyone has shiny purples and I don’t, waaahhhh, make it easier to get shiny purples so I can have then too so I don’t have to put the same effort as other in!

It’s just supply and demand i’m afraid. Theres always going to be a finite number of gems around, but also it is effected by how much gold players are earning – i.e. the more players earn the more they are willing to pay for things and subsequently prices go up, and if there is nothing they need to spend in-game gold on then that means even more price hike for gems.

My philosophy though is this, most people who don’t play enough to earn the in game gold to trade for gems can get by with minimal real-money investment, while those players who need the extra storage space, character slots and in-game items are the ones playing more and therefore will earn more in-game gold and be able to afford the trade. I played very casually for a while and never felt the need to get lots of bank/bag extensions. I now play more to the point I need the extra space but i’m earning more gold to buy the gems with very minimal top-ups from real-money transactions if i’m being impatient and just want to have more space immediately… I think it all balances in the end other than those who want everything but with no expense or effort.

You can use credit cards and they accept Paypal. Or you can buy a gem card off stores like Amazon. Be warned though that the added expense of manufacturing a physical item in the real world is passed on to you the consumer as these cards will set you back more money per 100 gems than just buying them online in the Black lion store.

My advice for levelling guardian is to go for a fairly defensive build and use greatsword – you get excellent AoE, an AoE pull to get multiple enemies into melee range and a leap gap-closer. For your second weapon set I would say go for a Scepter/Torch or Scepter/Shield combo so you can do some ranged attacks and having yoru shield will allow you to take on tougher enemies. Even a defensive build will do some serious damage as a Guardian and you have very good survivability and self-healing. You can run a full signet build but I would recommend playing about with some spirit weapons as they can really help you out. Theres a lot of options there to help you out and you can tailor your build, skill and weapon choice accordingly to maximise the potential of them all.

Here is a sample build:
http://gw2skills.net/editor/?fUAQNAR7flYgSBXEyJEfIFRWBWWVYfYPwoHz4lCHKRA

OK, not being condescending here but just going through things to try:

For normal world, zoom out and hover over the area name to get the completion amount. You will see if any areas are not 100% and can then look harder to see what you have missed.

For WvW areas, you just need to have a look. Not being funny but check and make sure you didn’t do another zone by accident and thought you did the one you needed.

The other thing to look for are areas in the normal zones which have had extra POI’s added since you did them. I’m not sure if these would make a difference but it could be that zones you were sure you already finished (i.e. Divitys Reach) had an extra POI added here or there which has dropped you below 100% completion again, and even though you don’t get the zone rewards again it may be that which has screwed you over.

Hope that works, good luck.

It sounds like Guardian or Elemental to me, but others could fill in as well, I just think those two will cover your need for support (it’s more than just heals like others have already said). Elemental has a higher skill cap due to the need to change attunement to be truly effective and that you have to have a bit of pre-planning. Guardian is a very sturdy toon with excellent support skills, good healing, good survivability and reasonable damage considering the other benefits. Obviously it all depends on the build you choose, gear and skill but either of those should do for you.

Lots of caffeine, lots of music and lots of swiftness. One big tip is don’t leave the WvW ones until last. Having all done bar those and then having to spend days trying to finish it off in there would be soul destroying – keep popping in and out to check if new zones have been captured to make things easier for you. Have a nice youtube channel open to help with those harder to figure out vistas and take a break every now and again to recharge your batteries – either pop offline for 15 minutes and grab a drink watch some tv or whatever, or head off and do some PvP a fractal or something else to change the mood or you will burn out quickly

@darkdomino Most of us would prefer new things to do content wise every few weeks as we get and put up with a few minor bugs every now and again. A brand new class or race means a lot more time and money investment and a lot of headaches to boot. I think they will release these eventually along with opening up new zones, an increased level cap etc etc, but in time and with another purchased expansion pack, not just as F2P d/l content.

I think the running costs for a major MMO look to be sustainable on around 200k subscriptions, for 440k players this should be fine, however the F2P system doesn’t lend itself to a steady income or guaranteed financial input, they can’t develop content as large scale as races, zones and classes without this guaranteed income which either means expansion pack to buy or a subscription based service.

Firstly, casual does not equal bad necessarily. I have raided in hardcore teams in a variety of MMO’s over the years but simply dont have the time nowadays. Does that mean I am a bad player because I don’t have time to raid and grind and farm for 7 days a week?

What GW2 tried to do was offer an MMO whereby people could play for as long or as short as they wanted to without feeling they were at a massive disadvantage over people who could spend more time online. For example, in WoW I didn’t PvP a whole lot, which meant I could never compete because I struggled to gear my toon up to the correct levels and always ad a disadvantage. In GW2 however, I can hop on, grab which ever toon I want to PvP with, and go do it on a level playing field relying on skill rather than pure time-sink gear farming.

I don’t think GW2 caters specifically for casual gamers, but they are sympathetic to their needs as well. I think this is the problem, in that those who have no life and spend all day in game seem to think that naturally should give them an advantage over everyone else, which is right in terms of cash to spend on gems etc, BUT I don’t think gameplay should be affected by time spent, which is where I feel WoW went wrong by catering only to the top tier raiding and trying to casual friendly that bit up rather than stick to giving casual players other stuff to do when raiding wasn’t an option. Rift has probably got the best balance out of most MMO’s, their F2P gem system is much fairer priced than GW2 is, you don’t NEED to buy gems to enjoy the game, you can mentor level down to do older content that you are more comfortable with and there is still top tier raiding and hardcore event farming for those with more time to get more rewards…the only thing it falls down in is PvP where it still follows the old grind of gear levels to be competitive. GW2 isn’t a million miles off a good all round game but just needs tweaking of content a little to cover everyones needs.

A “decent” amount is however much you make to stay comfortable buying things in game with gold and still have fun doing it – if you are talking about being able to buy gems then that is another can of worms entirely. You can always go hardcore trader and make a fortune but if you are going to put that much effort in to trading stuff then you may as well go for a job on Wall St and make real money.

You don’t really HAVE to farm in this game to enjoy yourself. If you just participate in events etc then you just collect gold as you go. If you feel the need to farm to enjoy yourself then you are doing something wrong – i.e. stop being so tight and BUY some gems with real gold rather than expect to get everything for nothing handed to you on a silver platter like so many on here seem to. Free to Play does not equal Free for everything you want in the game! if you don’t like the thought of buying things with real world money then be prepared to farm for the gold…that is your decision.

Nice assumption, I disagree. People said it couldn’t work when it came out and it did far better than Anet expected themselves. I think they could’ve done it again.

I think it would have worked to some extent, you’re right. but I don’t think, given the massive amount of content people require off their MMO’s these days that it would have been as much of a success. GW1 did not have the amount of PvE content that ANet are trying to achieve with GW2 and in order to constantly bring new ideas to the forefront you will need a constant stream of cash. I personally think the main issue isn’t with the F2P with gemstore vs pay-for-expansion, it’s more that at the time of GW2 release it was a fairly unheard of system in main-stream releases, something that was the sole feature of cheaper freebie MMO’s out there which were in essence F2Win. Since it’s release though, plenty of others have gone F2P (Rift for one big example) and have succeeded in offering massive content without the feeling of restriction of GW2 for some.

These games seem to have caught the eye on F2P a bit better and WoW remains a colossus even with its dwindling numbers on the subs-based market. GW2 just struggles to find it’s niche with the player base now other than those of us who enjoy the more casual nature of its F2p system as it is.

The main issue revolves (as ever in MMO’s of any nature) over some players simply wanting something for nothing. It was the downfall of WoW when they started catering for kids who wanted the same rewards for less effort in terms of raiding loot, and it now extends out to pretty much all F2P MMO’s whereby people think that they should have some right to have everything they need in the game without ever spending a penny.

There are two options, either play for free and have limitations on what you have access to, or pay for gems and put money back into the game that you are playing (and contribute to the update of content that you so enjoy) and get those items you are lusting after. A potential 3rd option for those who complain about the expense of bag slots and bank extensions….don’t hoard so much useless crap you will never use or can do without!

Personally, for the sake of a months subscriptions to another MMO, you can get what you need most of the time and if you can’t then you don’t really need it. I for one do not spend many gems because I am a very casual player, and I enjoy the fact that I have no guilt over not playing for a week while i’m working or whatever…but if I do come back and think I need something I can still get it to enhance my game experience while I am actually playing.

I just think people complaining on gems prices need to either stop being so tight and spend some real money to enhance their experience or stop expecting something for nothing.

I think most proffs will have one thing they can do in terms of completion slightly better than others, but in terms of just being able to go for 100% completion I don’t think any proff is going to be THAT much better than any other.

GW has always been more focused on PvP than on PvE in the past. The fact they have opted to give PvE focused players more content than ever should make you pleased, not start off complaints.

At the end of the day it seems no matter what they do some folks will never be please or it will never be enough. news-flash – this game isn’t specifically designed around your special needs….there is more than enough content and no they won’t ever get everything right, but i’m willing to make a bet that most people who complain about lack of content or development issues are likely the ones who refuse to pay for anything in game with real world money to keep the game rolling, expecting like always these days it would seem, something for nothing!

“I’ve seen a lot of people complaining about the necromancer”

I’ve figured that in every MMO ever made and every game with any kind of competitive PvP, there will be players of every class who complain that their class is broken and another class is OP. It is the universal constant. No class/prof is ever going to be perfect, we should just learn to deal with it. If you go to every profession forum on here there is countless arguments as to why their chosen prof is bad/broken/needs buffing etc… EVERY prof. That to me says more about the general state of gamers than it does about games – i.e. unless they have an advantage over every other player in the game then they will find something to kitten on about that isn’t working as it should….rather than just enjoy the game for what it is and stop thinking that winning more PvP somehow makes then better people in real life.

Just in case it isn’t clear NEVER ever grind, it takes forever. You will level much faster by completing hearts, participating in dynamic events (which also increases your karma to buy new gear with) and generally just completing as much as possible. Getting 100% zone completion (i.e. all vistas, waypoints, POI’s and hearts) gets you a nice chest reward which often have XP potions in them.

If you get stuck in a certain zone where the hearts are too high a level for you, then go to another zone. Access all the start zones for all the races through the Lions Arch portals, and even though you complete them in a scaled down level, you still gain the same XP…and the subsequent hearts in lower tier zones will be rather easier/faster to complete too.

You also gain XP for completing daily achievements such as variety kills or gathering. On that note, also gather as many materials as possible – all mining, logging and herb/food gathering earns XP and you can then sell on the BLTC to earn some extra cash or level your crafting skills.

Firefly is right, there are clear choices that people favour for specific roles…

What most mean by saying “pick what you want” is that the gap between what is en vogue at the moment and what is basically ignored to the point of having to re-roll is nowhere near as wide as in certain other MMO’s out there, and that for solo play or general PvE or PvP shenanigans for a bit of fun that there is very little difference, until you start getting to a fairly high level of competitiveness…

Personally, if you’re just starting out then just get the one you want to try and go with it, and you can always make a new character at some point in the future when you have more specific ideas of what you want to achieve in mind.

GW2 is not so much about which is “better” in the traditional MMO sense, since there are so many factors influencing the usefulness and feasibility of your character and there is little to choose from in a sense of one profession being overpowered to another that it mostly comes down to play-style.

1) The only difference between professions is what you enjoy more. There is nowhere near the imbalance of some MMO’s out there and since how you customise your profession can make up for these deficiencies anyway, just pick which one you prefer the play style of.
2) Human…..as most MMO’s, but the race makes no difference other than to your personal story and how you look. There are no benefits or disadvantages to one race over another.
3) As said, Humans are the most abundant, but there’s nothing stopping you playing a Charr and quest in a human zone….you will find you will explore all the zones eventually anyway.
4) No, no mounts. There are speed buffs in the capitals and fast travel waypoints scattered throughout every land to help teleport around quickly for a small negligible fee.
5) 80. However, the way GW2 is set-up, level cap isn’t a major issue as you will always do PvP at level 80 right from day 1, and you will be down-levelled when entering lower level zones. Its a system that works well.

One last thing, ask questions. The community in GW2 is much more friendly and helpful than in a lot of other MMO’s out there because the emphasis isn’t on ganking, endgame loot or kill stealing. If you help someone, then both of you get benefits, and it shows in the general community. You will always get some idiots who are antisocial, but in general people in this game will be a lot more patient, or will just leave you to your own game at your own pace.

Enjoy, stick with it and it will be a good many hours of fun for you…there’s plenty to explore. Remember the emphasis is on fun and community here…not on powerlevelling and shiny pixels!