Guild Wars 2

1. It takes me forever to go to Rata Sum, as there are just sooooo many people there. So yeah, the game is definitely alive and well.

2. Expansions don’t really change the engine much, so they shouldn’t change the system requirements much, either. Look at WoW, for instance. One big problem with it today is that it’s just too outdated. This is because while it has had a ton of updates and expansions, they don’t change the core engine much. Ultima Online had a major graphic overhaul, but it was changed from ground up, if I’m not mistaken. So don’t worry, GW2 won’t suddenly ask you to upgrade your system to continue to play it.

3. Extremely. Right from the start, you are set off to explore the land (after the quick tutorial.) You don’t even get a story until level 10. Plus, you get XP for just about anything, be it exploring new areas, crafting stuff, finding vistas (or view points), finding points of interest and so on. The only thing you don’t really get XP for is fighting stuff. Which might sound weird, but that just encourages us to not fight stuff to gain XP, but rather get XP by having fun.

4. I recommend Engineer, and here’s why:

First of all, there are no trinity in this game, so you do need to be able to support yourself. If you can’t survive combat alone, you’re screwed. I know that sounds brutal, but that’s the truth. Unless you have a friend you always team up with, you’ll be on your own a lot – sort of. (I’m getting to that.) Engineers are very strong, and they have plenty of ways to do damage and buff themselves and others. Adn they are a lot of fun.

Second, you will be onl yoru own a lot – sort of. Meaning you probably won’t be grouping much with the same people in the normal PvE game, but there are always people around you. Perhaps especially in Public Events that pop up here and there. From my experience, people are very helpful in these events, and everyone who contributes get rewards. This means you can run around throwing elixirs to buff the others, revive the fallen ones and so on, and you’ll get rewards. Plus, as an engineer, you can put up a turret or three, and let them do the damage for you. This is excellent for a support role. I use a flame turret, rifle turret and rocket turret, and they don’t need me to do much damage at all. That means I can sit back and watch the fight, especially in a group (events etc). Which in turn means I’m free to help others, rather than activly go on the offense.

Not to mention Engineers can get plenty of kits to help out, like bomb kits and so on. Not sure how useful they are in solo PvE, but if you are in a group, they can be very handy. This means you can run around doing a lot of damage and stuff when you are on your own, and when an event starts and people show up, you can safely switch to a support kit and help out that way.

Keep in mind you get tomes of instant level up from log-in rewards. I haven’t used them yet, so I don’t know if they are on a cooldown or whatever. But if they aren’t, I can level up 18 levels or so instantly, if I wanted to.

Thanks, guys. You’re really helpful. I think my current plan is to keep my level 24 asura engineer, my level 20 asura necromancer and either the sylph or human. Or both. I also have a charr guardian, but I’m not quite sure about that one yet. I’m not fond of the charr running on all four, so maybe I’ll make one of the last race instead, to see what they are like. Or just stick to the four characters I already have. Decision, decisions… lol.

I took your advice last night, and started a Human Thief and Sylvan Warrior. And honestly, I’m surprised how much fun they are. Take the camera, for instance. With my asura, the camera was placed front and center. I don’t like that with the bigger races, as they block too much of the screen. But instead, I moved the camera, so the character is close and to the left of the screen, pretty much like they are in Fallout 3/New Vegas, and games like that. Strangely, it made it feel like a whole new game.

The gameplay is a lot of fun too, and as my human thief is a huntsman, I could finally find a use for the 130+ wooden logs I had stacked up. :p She’s level 10 right now (not started the story yet, though), so I’ll get into the sylvan today and get her up to level 10 as well. But if she’s as fun as the rest, I might as well get more character slots. Oh, well. :p

I started a human thief yesterday, and got into Huntsman crafting quite a bit. So far I’m enjoying that a lot, so I think I’ll put the asura cook on hold for a bit. Back when the game wa released, I played asura exclusivly. Now that I’m back, I’m back to asura. It feels nice to finally try something else. :p

Anyway, thanks, I’ll see about crafting and selling unidentified dye. I just need to get that printer first, so I can print a list of dyes and cross out the ones I’ve got. Then I’ll start selling once I cross out more and more dyes.

I say start now. If you get bored before the expansion is released, you could save money by not buying it. Why would you, if you’re bored of the game? Plus, you already own the game, so you have no reason to wait.

Plus, isn’t the expansion mainly for high-level players? Are there anything for us low-level players to enjoy? (other than the new class.)

Thanks, I’ll keep it in mind. Maybe I’ll just switch profession and buy dye in the AH, or something. I’m already a leatherworker, but maybe I should start making guns, or something. Or jewelry. That’ll come in handy soon enough.

Actually, no, I don’t care about achivement points. Or I would, if there was any point to them. Maybe buy stuff in an achivement shop, or something. But as long as they are just for display, I don’t care about them.

I use ASDW to move, with A and D strafting (rather than turning, like in most games.) Holding the right mouse button to aim more carefully is easy enough this way.

As for the buttons, this has always puzzled me. I’m left-handed, so I can easily rest my right thumb on the left Ctrl-button, and still hit the 1 – 6 keys. This essentially gives me 12 keys within easy reach. Add in Q and E, and it’s plenty for most common tasks. Plus, I can easily press the left Shift-key too with the thumb, adding in yet another six buttons.

But here’s what I don’t get: Why is the default, when most players are right-handed? Why aren’t you using the right side of the keyboard? I’ve tried resting my right hand on the ASDW keys, but I just can’t do it. Pressing Ctrl and/or Shift is very awkward, to say the least. Even Tab is hard to reach, and pressing a number-key while running? I can’t do it, even when standing still. Um, by standing still and resting my fingers on the ASDW-keys and still reaching a number, I mean. Not being able to run while standing still is bit… obvious. :p

As for my mouse, I use the Diablo 3 mouse, though I only use one side button, and only in some games. With such easy reach to so many keyboard keys, I don’t need extra mouse keys.

I think I’ll build a big marshmallow shrine, painted bright yellow with huge, green polkadots, and have stereotype elevator-music play non-stop on full volume. Don’t blame me, blame RNGeesus. I wanted a normal one, but this is the one I got. Hehehe.

Hm… thanks. I guess I’ll try a Sylvan, then. If I hate it, I’ll just delete it. No harm done.

Yeah, the crafting in this game is great. I especially love cooking, by mixming and matching ingredients to try to find new stuff. It’s just the dye crafting that annoys me.

And like you said, if I get a dupe, I can put it in the guild bank for my other characters. But that’s sort of the problem. What if I craft a rare dye I really like, and want to use it on multiple characters? It was difficult to get the first time, so how can I craft it a second time? (then again, aren’t dyes account wide? I unlocked all three starter dyes once, and all my charactefs have all three of those dyes.)

I think selling unidentified dyes might work, though. I’ll keep some for myself, and sell others. Thanks.

So anyway, I’ve always loved small characters in MMORPGs, be it hobbits, ratonga, asura or those weird three-in-one furballs from Allods Online. And since we only have five character slots in GW2 by default, all my four characters are asura (saving the last for the revenant.) The question is… is this a smart thing to do? Or would it be better to spice things up a bit?

I know I can easily hop into Lion’s Arc and go to a different starting area, so that’s not an issue. I guess the real issue is the personal story. If I have three characters, I can pick one for each story (infinity ball, golem and teleporter). But what about the fourth one? If I have two who both picked infinity ball, will they get the same story? Or at least, I know I can pick some missions (go after the Inquest or the councelor), but how different will the story play out? Are these choices only small choices, or do they have a large impact later?

The same goes for the other races, in a way. I loved Sacred 1 and 2, especially as every class had their own starting areas. However, after a short while, they all ended up on the same path. Same with Dragon Age: Origins. The starting areas were fun, but they ended too quickly, making most of the game the same for everyone. Is that the case here? I haven’t played that long, but I do remember my asura going to Lion’s Arc and finishing up the initial story-arc shortly after the game was released. So I guess I’m saking if the person story continue through the whole game, or are they just starting stories that’ll lead into a common story for every race?

From my experience as a recently returned player, map exploration starts at level 1. The only difference is they’ve tried to make the game less overwhelming for new players, so you unlock new things on the map as you level up. I think you have everything at level 15 or so, or at least if you’re thinking about the regular map completion (vistas, skill points, points of interest etc).

That said, they aren’t locked or anything. They are right there. If you use a Vista at level 1, you will still get it, even if it doesn’t show on the map. So by all means, have fun and unlock as much as the map as you can. The map is only a guide. It doesn’t “unlock” anything.

Just a flesh wound.3589:

Well, in that case use the list to check off which dyes you’ve discovered and stop crafting that unidentified dye when you’ve gotten as many as you want from it.

That might work, thanks. Now I just need to go buy a printer, so I can print the list. (well, do I need one for my work too, but this it just yet another excuse.)

Illconceived Was Na.9781:

Another alternative is to change your way of thinking of how you think about rewards. In real life, I like to cook a good meal, more than I like to eat out. I also like to grow stuff that I eat. However, I don’t have any interest in farming my own chickens nor my own lettuce (I’m hopeless with it). So I buy stuff at the supermarket using money — and I did earn that money. It’s not that close to “living off the land” when I cook using bought ingredients, but it’s a good compromise between what I prefer to do with how tedious and time consuming I want my daily routine to be.

Actually, wouldn’t that be buying the ingredients in the AH (onions, carrots etc), so you can focus more on the dye-crafting, and less on gathering the ingredients?

Another problem I have with the dye randomness is crafting for friends. Take Lord of the Rings Online, for instance. As I absolutely loved that game. I was a cook there too, and found a recipe for Blackberry Pie. This was a very nice pie, with tons of nice buffs and stuff like that. However, the ingredients (mainly blackberry) was a bit hard to find. But no worries. I always dragged a long quite a lot of them, so when I was in a group in a dungeon etc, I always offered pies to my group mates, if they lacked their own food. But perhaps more importantly, I always offered Blackberry Pies to my friends, if they asked. Give me the ingredients, and I’ll hand you all the pies ou want for free. Easy peasy.

But in GW2, that’s not an option. Here it’s more a “hand me the ingredients I need, and I’ll make a buckload of random pies for you. Let’s hope at least some of them are the ones you want.” See the issue? So if I can make an awesome dye for myself, I can’t make another for a friend. I’ll need to craft the dyes over and over and over, hoping the one I want pops up. Or I can tell him to buy it in the store, which pretty much makes dye-crafting pointless.

I’m not saying random dyes are a bad thing, though. It just needs to be improved. One way would be to put identified dyes in a list, so you can craft it over and over. Don’t worry, rare dyes are still rare, and the “make them over and over” could be countered by requiring rare ingredients you can only get at random from various harvesting nodes (or bought on the AH.) This would also give us a list of all the dyes we’ve unlocked, essentially creating a To Do-list. Or something like that.

And btw, I know AH isn’t the correct term for this game, but I hope you know what I mean. I’m just used to AH, so I tend to stick to that. Just be glad I don’t run around asking for Fellowships or Kinships. :p

Maybe I’m just weird, but I don’t like buying my own rewards. I like gathering the materials and crafting my own stuff. Thus, I want to gather the materials and make my own dye. Buying it in the AH is just… boring. I prefer testing new ingredients to find new recipes, watching that crafting level increase a bit, and so on.

Or put it this way: Thanks to the daily log-in rewards, I have 12+ books that’ll increase my character level. In other words, I can instantly get 12 levels higher if I wanted to, but I don’t. I want to do it the hard way. No pain, no gain. If you don’t do it the hard way, there’s no sense of satisfaction when you finally reach the finish line. You can buy a DLC tht unlocks everything in the Krypt in Mortal Kombat X, or get a “time saver” pack for Need For Speed nad unlock all the cars. But where’s the fun in that? Where’s the fun in getting everything unlocked right from the start?

Edit: Or buying your own Christmas present. Sure you get what you want, but… what’s the point?

I can only speak for myself, but I leveled Necro to 20 (without pets, btw), and tried Guardian, Thief, Ranger and Elementalist to 15ish. All were fun, but the Necro was my favorite. I then deleted my Ranger and Elementalist and tried Engineer, even though I’ve heard it’s a tricky class to play. Now I’m level 21 and doing quite well. It’s by far my favorite class, even putting the Necro down to second place. (and trust me, hearing a cute Asura girl yelling: “I am death incarnate!!” never gets old, hehehe.)

Interesting. But how will I know when I’ve crafted all the dyes I can? Take the first yellow dye, for instance. How can I know how many types of dye I can get from it, and how do I know which ones I’ve got, and which ones I’ve got left?

Take the first two dyes, for instance. Both require onions, so I don’t want to waste a ton of onions on one dye if I can’t get anything new from it. I’ll rather use it on the second one I haven’t crafted.

I tried to craft a yellow dye as a cook, and got a lemon dye. However, the crafting still tells me it’s an unidentified yellow dye? Is this normal? If so, it can be tricky to not only remember which dyes I have created, but also what the different dyes are. Did I miss somethng?

Note that I am still only character level 21, and have barely started my cooking career. I’ve done some leatherworking, but that’s about it.

I checked the trading post thing, and it has an item that will allow us to learn another profession pr character, and it’s account wide (as far as I can tell.) Does this mean that if I have three characters and buy it, I can now learn three more professions? (one for each character?)

Also, keep in mind the crafting stash is account wide, so if you put something in there as Character 1, Character 2 can use it directly from the stash. Quite handy, that one.

Well, ny Necro is now level 17 and has a 100% Map Completion on both Rata Sum and Metrica Province. Yay me. Trees and plants are easy to find now, but I’m struggling with the copper nodes. Are they outside at all, or entirely inside tunnels etc? The only ones I’ve found ar in the Ant Hill, but then again, there were several in there. It made me wonder, as the last time I played (after launch), the nodes were everywhere and much easier to find.

Thanks, that helps a lot! Maybe I’m just too much in a hurry to start gathering stuff.

I’m only level 12, but I figured the nodes would show up as I’ve started the crafting stuff. And besides, the trees have been around since level 1, so I thought it was strange I haven’t found -any- other types of nodes yet. Guess I’ll just have to keep looking. Thanks.

Trees are easy enough to find, but how do you find the other nodes? I’m trying to be a weapon- and armorsmith, but can’t find any nodes for it. Had to buy some copper ore in the trading post just to get started. I’m an asura, btw.

I can’t see it in the game? That sucks. But thanks, I’ll go to the wiki.

I love the Necromancer so far at level, uh, 7, but one thing annoys me a lot. How can I check what skills I get when in DS? The weapon skill-tree only shows the non-DS version?

No idea how to properly insert pictures here without using an external site, so I hope this is ok. I’m only level 7, so I’m using an outfit for now. I’m working on proper necro robes, though.

Haha, I didn’t even notice the autocorrect. :p It’s the Ringmaster Hat. The big tophat, not the tiny one (on Asura, anyway. No idea how it looks on other.)

And yeah, I noticed the Wardrobe thing. The reason I got three of them is because there’s one Light-, one Medium- and one Heavy-armor version. Strange. But oh, well. Glad to know how this works.

And again, sorry for all these stupid questions. I think I can figure out most of the rest on my own now, thanks.

It’s the Ringmaster’kitten. It looks pretty cool on my necromancer, and it was cheap enough as a “test” to see how this wardrobe thing works. Back when I last played, I couldn’t even use town clothes in combat.

Thanks. I’m learning a lot now.

And here’s yet another question, sorry. I bought a hat in the Black Lion Trade Company, and it said it’s account bound. I assume this means I can use it on every character, but if so, how? Can only one use it at a time, or can all use it at once? I did get three hat-icons when I purchased it, but they disappeared too quickly to see what they were. I have three characters, so I figured it was one for each. However, the other two don’t have it yet. Is it because they are below level 6?

Sorry for all these stupid questions. I’m learning a lot, though.

So they are like in any other MMO, then. I guess I’ll just stick to a class I enjoy, then ask for a group of newbies in the chat or something if I decide I want to try a dungeon.

Thanks guys. So far I’m a level 5 Necromancer and doing quite well. Though one other question. How are the groups in dungeons, and especially at lower levels? I’’m sort of interested in testing a dungeon, as I never did that the last time. I’m also interested in playing the Guardian for PvE, though I’m not a good tank in groups. I prefer being a healer or support. Any advice on what class would be best for me? I -might- play two characters (one PvE, one PvE/dungeons), but can’t say for sure yet. I prefer doing as much as possible with just one.

Thanks, guys! So there are no personal stories early on? Interesting. I’ll be sure to explore and have fun, then.

Fun fact: I played this game at launch, and loved it for quite a while. But for various reasons I stopped playing, and haven’t played for at least a year. Now I’m back with a new account, as I didn’t even manage to log in on the old one. And with the sale, a new account didn’t seem like a bad idea. Might as well go with a fresh start. But since I haven’t played in a long time, I’ve forgotten a lot of basic stuff.

1. How do I find quests? I’m currently an Asura lvl 2, and did one of those heart-quest things by destroying deactivated robots. What now? I have one heart-quest more I’m not sure how to do, and one quest to kill a monster. But how do I find out where to go? Is there a quest-list or something?

2. I know those heart-quests are in the nearby area, but how do I know how far I can go?

3. The text is very small and hard to read on my screen (using a 40" TV.) Is it possible to get it larger? I’ve already set the text in the options-menu to as big as it will go, and setting the UI any bigger than Medium makes it cover too much of the screen, without making the text bigger. Same with decreasing the resolution. It’s currently set to 1920×1080, but setting it any lower doesn’t help the text size.

I’m sure there are tons of other things I’ve forgotten, but let’s deal with that when we need to.

I’m not gonna pretend I’ve read the whole thread, as most of it doesn’t even interest me. Still, here’s my two cents:

I played GW2 at launch quite a bit, but lost interest after a while. I decided to return now when they announced the expansion, but, naturally, I can’t log in. I’ve long forgotten my character’s names, so I had to get my password reset by support and all that. But it’s been ages since I played, so I decided to hell with it and bought a new copy on the sale. This means I’m now a vanilla player, and will start a brand new character. So any expansion-areas are waaaay beyond my reach. And considering I rarely get to max level anyway, the expansion-area will probably always be beyond my reach.

Furthermore, I did play Neverwinter quite a bit, until they releaesed the Icewind Dale expansion. The problem is that to get there, we first had to grind one of the other two max-level areas for two whole weeks pr character just to unlock the buffs we needed to get there. Two weeks. Pr character. That already excluded a whole lot of players who hated grinding and/or hadn’t reached max level yet. So what’s after that? Grind Icewind Dale to get to the next expansion after that? It would have excluded yet more players. By following this route, they would naturally come to a point where only a handful of players are dedicated enough to get to the new expansion area.

This is a big risk, even for GW2. Not everyone wants to reach max level, and not everyone are dedicated enough or able to do it. The problem is MMORPGs keep releasing expansions focusing mainly on the max level players, so the rest of us keep getting expansion after expansion after expansion we have no interest in. What the developers really SHOULD do is make a ton of content for the max level players, but also improve the low-level areas a lot, too. Make new classes. Make new areas. Make new low-level dungeons. Anything to improve that part of the game too. Not just for new players, but make it fun to make alts, too. Make it fun to try out the new classes.

tl;rd: Focusing on the max level players is great, but please don’t forget the rest of us. We are, after all, the majority of the players.