Guild Wars 2

Rythus.5078:

Most classes have one to two viable builds.

Highly subjective.

Also, ArenaNet area big enough company to have people working on mini-games and monthly events while other, still sizeable teams work on balance, upgrades and other improvements. They have stated this many times, and we have seen it in action over the last updates.

I don’t know if you were surprised to find that usefulness and coolness were the main factors behind racial skills, but I certainly wasn’t. I don’t think any of them really go against the lore, except perhaps the Avatar of Melandru being a bit odd. The level of customisation suggested by the OP would be unnecessarily complicated for such specific skills, and also any differences make balance more difficult. What if you picked Raven for your totem for rp reasons, but it turns out the Wolf shapeshift is totally awesome and the Raven one sucks? Too bad for you, you will be weaker for roleplay reasons? That kind of scenario is exactly what ArenaNet tried to avoid.

There’s a thread with some really good newbie tips here.

Race choice doesn’t effect much at all in mechanics terms, you should make that choice based on appearance and flavour – what looks cool to you (maybe take a look at armour appearances on the wiki) and what kind of story you think you’d enjoy.

I think any profession is viable in PvE, it all depends on how you play it. No doubt some will suit you more than others, but the only way to find out which is to play them. I’d recommend experimenting with a few professions when you start out, if you want to settle on a ‘main’ to invest in. Mostly, you can get away with picking something you think is cool and learning to be good with it as you go

Welcome to the game!

The root word would only be ‘terra’ if Tyrians spoke Latin, which they do not. The noun ‘earth’ was used to describe the actual substance of dirt/land/etc long before the Earth, capital E, was a standard term for our planet. If you think about it, before we thought of our world as a planet and realised there were other planets, the earth was just what we stood on. ‘Earth’ as one of four elements links back to ancient Greek philosophy as well as being included in numerous other cultures’ elemental schemes.

So no, it’s not that simple, and Tyria being the name of the world does not change the inclusion of earth as an element, as far as I can see.

I think the emotes need to stay, and that ArenaNet have struck a reasonable balance by disallowing chat across teams but allowing emotes. Sure, sometimes the emotes are used to mock, but at least /laugh is all those people can do, they can’t say anything awful to you. If they feel like griefing, they’re pretty restricted. At the same time, the emotes allow a sense of communication and let you signal things to people on the other team, while keeping teams very separated.

The meaning of emotes like /laugh and /bow is very ambiguous, of course, but that’s part of it for me. They’re invaders from another dimension, after all. Who can really fathom what they mean by their strange gestures, right?

I don’t WvW often, but I rather like how the inability to speak across servers makes people get creative with emotes. The silent communication and symbolism is rather cool (reminds me of Dark Souls PvP).

ryan.5106:

When people have yet to prove themselves capable communicators insist on spamming public forums with complaints unsupported by any hard evidence I get a little… confrontational. I mean honestly, how do people expect to be taken seriously if they can’t even grasp the basics of our written language?

While I absolutely understand your frustration, and I am also prone to judging people based on the quality and style of their writing, standards of literacy aren’t always the fault of the poster. Some people don’t/can’t write as clearly as others and it’s a bit hasty to dismiss them because of it – even if some also just don’t bother to make an effort and don’t value communication for various reasons. I don’t want to be that person on the internet who invokes the word ‘privilege’, but… well.

That said, MMO forums always seem to be full of entitlement and vitriol, and almost nothing but negative criticism. Anyone who claims to actually be really enjoying the game as it is risks being labelled as a stupid fanboy/girl. It’s one of those sad facts of the internet. Many of us do love the game, and as others have said, we are by and large much happier to just play it and have fun without reporting back here.

Lindbur.2537:

The few minutes you spent clearing story after story may actually translate to several days/weeks/even years of in game time.

This. For my own peace of mind I tend to assume that the personal story takes place over months, rather than days as the missions might have you believe. Being promoted to a top rank within your order after one mission might seem a bit ridiculous, but reaching, say, Warmaster after a few months of impressive service makes a bit more sense. Insert a month between each 10 levels, say, and the speed at which things happen starts to seem impressive, but not totally unrealistic.

Just as an aside (sorry for ranging off-topic), in terms of charr-style technology seeming ‘primitive’ compared to other forms, I don’t think this is always a bad thing. To me, charr technology epitomises the way that charr culture values self-sufficiency and not being dependent on anyone else – not gods, not mystical forces, just what I build myself, which I understand and control. As Dustfinger says, they largely reject magic; it’s not that they can’t use it, they just choose to find another way.

So what happens to asuran magitech when things like the Elder Dragons consume magic? What happens to sylvari plant turrets if there really is a jungle dragon that corrupts plantlife? Those technologies can be nullified or turned against their users. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure there is no Borg Dragon which can corrupt charr tech. It runs as its creators make it run, and you can rely on it as long as your skill and ingenuity are up to the challenge!

What do omnomberries taste like?
DELICIOUS!

Alternatively, they taste like magic find? :P

Those certainly look pretty right on the outside, Bau Bau.

Smodur is being very clever in my opinion. I’ve discussed his ‘primus inter pares’ tactics on my blog before, a long time ago. Still, draxynnic is right I think, the emphasis we get on Smodur is largely because we’re in Iron territory. As I understand it, the Black Citadel is not so much the charr capital as the Iron Legion capital.

In terms of supply and resources, I would imagine that each legion probably operates largely its own things, but then again Blood and Ash charr in Iron territory still need to be fed and supplied, so maybe it’s done on a regional basis? I don’t know if we have any hard evidence.

If there’s story in the story modes but players skip them, that’s not ArenaNet’s fault, that’s player choice. Those of us who are interested will almost certainly want to play through story mode with all the cutscenes.

I have problems with how the Elder Dragons are presented in-game, as opposed to in lore (slash in my interpretation of the lore pre-release which is difficult for me to separate from the facts now, haha). However, they are developed plenty considering the whole point of them is that they were here all along, and evidence of their past rising is around, but we never knew. Other bosses in the game get plenty of development too, but when you’re operating through things like dynamic event chains the player has to be responsible for piecing some of it together.

Personally, I enjoy going out and discovering and piecing together the details, rather than being handed a wall-of-text explanation. Still, each to their own in that regard.

Agreed that the charr (and especially the Iron Legion) are really the epitome of the engineer class, although you can certainly make it work with all races. Engineers seem to have developed out of charr tech, chiefly, although by their nature it will keep changing as people tinker.

I took the challenge of making a sylvari engineer (and a charr guardian) exactly because it’s an unlikely combination that I wanted to make work as a character. My engineer is a sylvari who became really fascinated with technology when he saw it in action, and wanted to learn more about it (as many sylvari choose to learn about one particular thing in depth). Since he’d seen this in the hands of the charr, he travelled to the Black Citadel to find a charr engineer who would teach him. After much persistence and proving his resolve, he convinced an Iron Legion guy to take him on as an apprentice, and after a couple of years of study and getting to know the charr as a race he’s now considered an honorary warband member (although he suspects they see him more as a mascot, the tree that makes explosions!).

A sylvari with a deep understanding of and appreciation for the charr has been fun to roleplay. He’s also still philosophical and poetic in the sylvari way, but he’s just as likely to wax lyrical about the beauty of machines (not living, but animated by imagination and ingenuity; something built that carries on its purpose, a thought given form and independence!) as he is about the Grove.

If your next story instance is recommended for higher than your level but you want to try it, try it. If you get beaten up and it seems really hard, maybe go away and level up for it first :P

In all seriousness, doing an instance below the recommended level can be tough if you’re alone; if you bring friends, you can likely blitz through it. It depends on the instance and on your character though, so you’ll know best to judge it. Yramrag is right about levelling up; if you need more levels, don’t just stay in one place. Take an asura gate to some other starter area if you have to, but doing new stuff is likely to help.

I’d agree that warrior, ranger and guardian are probably the most forgiving professions to learn with. I also think that in most cases anyone who sticks with any one profession for a good length of time will learn and adapt to that profession eventually, as you level and unlock things and figure out what works for you. Still, I would say that if you want something forgiving, go with guardian if you like mostly melee and ranger if you like mostly ranged.

Wow, I did not realise Eir was potentially that old. Well, when I can’t find the quote I think I remember reading, there’s always the possibility that I am wrong!

Still, although Eir is remarkably fit for a hundred-and-something-year-old, in fantasy terms the lifespans are all relatively close to human ones – in the sense that there are no elf types who routinely live for hundred of years and reach maturity about the time humans die of old age. It sounds like the process of aging is a more remarkable difference with the norn, although maybe their bodies still deteriorate, it’s just that pretty much all norn and very fit and active! It makes me wonder when a norn child reaches maturity.

To agree with the others here, you really shouldn’t worry too much. Doing your story at the appropriate level will make the rewards more useful, but it’s not a big deal if you get a bit of gear that you’ve out-levelled and just don’t use it.

As Rouven said, zones and personal story instances will scale your level down to the suggested level if you’re higher, the idea being that things will still be somewhat challenging even if you’ve long outpaced them. I’d say you should be able to do any of your options at any time and get something out of it. It’s worth noting that loot is at least partially scaled to your level too, so my level 80 characters can still occasionally get great drops in a starter area!

Here’s the thread Behellagh refers to.

Absolutely any race/profession combo will work for you. I’ve always like the idea of an asura ranger because you will probably be able to command pets which are bigger than you are

In terms of other pitfalls, I highly recommend you take an exploratory approach to the game. Basically, just jump in and do whatever seems cool. You will earn experience for many thing (killing, crafting, exploring) and you will probably level up steadily without especially having to try. There’s an awful lot you can do before max level, so don’t feel like you should rush. There’s also very little you have to do, so feel free to play around and pick and choose what you enjoy!

One thing to be aware of is that even from level one (well, two after your tutorial mission!) you have a bunch of things open to you. Structured PvP can be accessed using one of the icons at the top of your UI, and will give you the option of building a max-level, all-unlocked character. World vs. world will vaguely up-level you and although you’ll still be disadvantaged as a low-level character, you can level up there as well as in PvE. You can get to WvW through a gate in Lion’s Arch. Via Lion’s Arch you can also access other races’ cities and starting zones. So don’t feel like your starting zone has to be your world just because you’re a lowbie!

I like to think of the largos not as one-dimensional so much as still mysterious :P Maybe that’s optimistic of me, but I think it’s somewhat justified. Sure, most of us only know them as mysterious assassins, but that’s probably because those are the only largos you’re likely to ever meet, rather than because their entire society does that somehow.

The mentions of the Tethyos Houses hint at a much more complex society to me, but of course the largos aren’t particularly inclined to tell us about it right now. In many ways they remind me of the kandra from the Mistborn books, if anyone has read them. I definitely get the feeling that ArenaNet have worked out the largos a lot more than what we know, and they’ve made mention of a few specifics to show that.

We were told at some point (I can’t recall where for a link, sorry) that all the playable races’ natural lifespans were around the same general length as a human’s in our world, so no strange ageing comparisons. The exception of course is that nobody knows how long the natural lifespan of a sylvari is; 25 years and counting! And I think it was mentioned that asura might live a little longer on average, but not by that much.

In general, you should be able to estimate charr ages as you would for a human character, although as Oglaf says battle deaths must be common.

Obsidian.1328:

The sinking of Orr(Cataclysm) is supposed to have happened between pre-Searing and when you pick-up the storyline again in post-Searing Ascalon in GW1.

^ and as Narcemus says. It can be a little confusing because all of the manuscript stuff more or less says that the Cataclysm and the sinking of Orr has happened in the past, but evidently they mean in the past from main game time. The Searing was the charr’s big push, and in the two years between pre-Searing and post-Searing in the game they kept rampaging. Thus Orr, Khilbron, and all of that. As said, it all happens offscreen and elsewhere so I had a hard time getting it straight in my head.

The song, with lyrics, is called Fear Not This Night. It was based off (if that’s the right way to put it) this instrumental piece, which was used in trailers before the song was released.

What server are you on? Someone on the same home world as you would be the most convenient. I’m certainly willing to be your friend, but guesting over to you could get annoying :P

Welcome, anyway.

Welcome back
To address your questions:

1) I say anything. Certainly I can’t think of a profession who I think can’t be solo’d. It all depends on how you build them, of course (my mesmer is terribly annoying to play solo, but I built her for staff and support so she operates MUCH better with others around).

2) As CassieGold said, if you just want gear upgrades (or appearance), buying it will be fine, there’s plenty available for cheap. Crafting can speed up your levelling though, if you want that – it gives good exp if you keep it up.

3) No, missing events won’t hurt, nothing that special was given out and through Jan/Feb/March the ‘Flame and Frost’ events have been very much minor background things while the core game features have been tweaked. You’ll slot back in just fine!

4) I’ve only recently started doing dungeons with some friends and we have found people for story modes easily enough. To my mind, if everyone else is level 80, they can afford a lower level person along, and most people should be fine with it.

That’s cute.

It could just be an environment designer’s nice touch, more symbolic than anything else. It’s also possible that it suggests something of the nature of sylvari afterlife – that Killeen lives, in some spirit-like form, in the growth around her corpse, possibly explaining the verdance of the area – but I wouldn’t read too much into it.

Yeah, sounds like you found it. I had the same moment of confusion. There’s a chest you can get without the bomb, which I always think of as a consolation prize. The way to the official end of the puzzle is far from clear, though! That whole puzzle is one where it takes a lot of experimentation to figure out where you’re meant to go, and the end (with the achievement) is in an odd place off to the side.

As Khisanth says, I have found map completion in high-level zones to be one of the most reliable ways to get exotics – but you have no control over what they are. Items of exotic rarity can drop before you hit 80, and can be pitched at lower levels (in the 60-80 range, vaguely), but they won’t necessarily be max stats.

There were more mini-games implied to be coming pre-release (notably the shooting gallery in Divinity’s Reach and Polymock in Rata Sum), but none of those besides Keg Brawl are operational right now.

My friends and I have had great fun seeking out the jumping puzzles, working our way down the achievements list with a little help from the wiki to find the start of those we hadn’t seen before. They’re a fun, non-violent way to pass an evening.

I haven’t been back to try it (our group of dungeon noobs also had trouble with that bit), but I’ve been told that it’s actually not a good idea to attack the burrow that opens right by you, in the door you came in. Apparently leave that for later, because crushing that one opens a worse one. Perhaps someone with more experience can vouch for that, as I said I haven’t been back yet. Good luck!

I was going to suggest the Rascal armour, which gave my female norn a cool cowboy-like look, but now that I look it’s a lot bulkier on a male and thus probably not so much what you’re after. You could look up a rascal coat on the trading post and try in on, though (to see it without the massive shoulder pieces).

Otherwise, I would also suggests some parts of this set (notably the pants), which is acquired through personal story. The best hats I can see are the temple armour one or the pirate hat.

The largos are a fantasy race; if they were mere-people, I bet there’d be less complaints. Not because that would make more sense, but because it’s a familiar fantasy archetype. I agree that there are probably a lot of things about the largos that don’t fit what we see in ocean-dwelling creatures in our world, but that kind of anatomical stuff has never been a huge priority in fantasy races.

As for them all of a sudden turning up, I don’t think the lack of largos in the rest of the game is an oversight or lazy at all – I think it’s very deliberate. As I’ve said elsewhere, ArenaNet are planning for a long game with Guild Wars 2. There are a lot of things introduced in minor ways throughout the game but never well explained, and they’re introduced so that they can be expanded upon later. I’d be willing to put money on the fact that the largos were scattered around a few events at release – and included once in personal story to drive it home – because ArenaNet have plans to use them as an integral part of a later story.

In fact, I won’t be surprised if they end up playable, but that’s totally up in the air.
TL;DR: the few of them we see are deliberately unusual, but scattered around as set-up for something else.

Kormir had a bit of a journey to go through between the beginning of the game and the end. Now that I think about it, I think part of what I dislike about Trahearne’s part in the story (not Trahearne himself, but rather the way he’s used) is that I feel like he doesn’t get the character development he should. He starts as a scholar, he’s told he has to be more, and then… he is. Suddenly fighting the dragon head-on is a great idea. I think I’d be a lot more sympathetic if he had some struggles and difficulties along the way, and if I felt that he had actually struggled at all.

I have huge problems with the whole ‘vision of the future’ sequence, but that’s a blog post for another day!

I don’t have quite the Mary-Sue reaction that some do to Trahearne, but I do think that a lack of meaningful character challenges and development (possibly caused in part by time constraints) gives that impression. And BuddhaKeks, I adore the sylvari and find them to be an extremely complex and interesting race… but that opinion was formed based on lore pre-release, and my view of them may not be fully backed up by the way they appear in-game. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time I’ve found the writing in-game doesn’t do the base concepts justice.

Ok, a few things:

1) At 5 points in a trait line you get a minor trait, which is set. At 10 points, you get a major trait, which you can choose from a certain list. At 15 points, you get another set minor trait. If you bring up the traits panel in the game, you can look at how it works and probably understand it better.

2) Points in a trait line don’t just open up the traits for you, they also boost basic attributes (again, go to the panel in-game and hold your cursor over the little icons at the start of the trait lines, you’ll see). Ten points in a line adds 100 points to a basic attribute. Bear that in mind when you’re putting a build together – 30 points in fire = 300 extra power, or in earth it’s 300 extra toughness, so decide what you need to boost.

3) As far as I know, the elemental trait lines don’t directly effect skills of the same element. So extra points in earth doesn’t automatically make your earth attunement skills better (although there will be traits available that do that). I’d advise figuring out what you like doing with your skills (damage? defence? conditions?) and then looking at what traits you can use to boost that. Often that will correspond to the element you like, but it’s not always that simple.

Frosch.7809:

In GW2 one becomes a “hero” rather quickly i’d say.

I agree – the only way I can make the personal story work for me in my head is to imagine that it plays out over about six months. I don’t blame the writers for compressing it, because you want it to move along at a pace where exciting developments occur on a regular basis, but it makes more sense to me to have built a local reputation over a month or two, then spent three or four months rapidly earning a reputation in your new order, then joining the Pact. If you think about it on that kind of timescale, the player’s rise is impressively fast and owes a lot to convenient timing, but not unrealistic.

I also agree that insisting that the player character must be the one mightiest hero who is credited with everything is kind of silly. I like the fact that Guild Wars plots allow for your hero to be a highly competent person without whom the happy ending would not be possible, but ArenaNet can still tell the history through the stories of important other figures – Master Togo, Kormir, etc. I have no problem with my character being a witness to great historical events.

JohnLShannonhouse, I don’t mean to suggest that it’s unreasonable to expect Zhaitan and its forces to go after Trahearne – he is a key co-ordinating figure, and in theory the Pact would be significantly weakened without his mediating influence. He is the Twilight Sparkle of the Pact – organiser, mediator, deployer of other people’s talents (including his commander’s). Again, in theory, heh. What I did have a problem with was a whole story arc in which the player character is framed for incompetence, and Trahearne says “all these moves have been against you so far, but I think it’s clear that the real target is me.” And my character agrees! I don’t think that’s what it suggested at all; I think perhaps the PC deserves a little credit for also being a major driving force and source of morale in the Pact in their own right.

A side note, but don’t forget you have weapon-switching. I love using staff as one of my necromancer weapons (and it does look cool!), but I rarely use it when running around by myself. In groups, necro staff is excellent. So, if you’re willing to only have it some of the time, you can compromise!

The teleporting gathering bots are the most obviously suspicious, heh. I tend to notice bots when they’re characters who will always attack the nearest enemy, including anything that’s just spawned. When an event starts up nearby people tend to run to at least check it out, the bot will stand there attacking the same three grawl as they respawn.

It’s still good practice to ask or at least observe them for a while, but sometimes you can tell when behaviour fits a programmed set of criteria but just doesn’t make sense from a person.

Hi and welcome to the game
Sometime I wonder whether it’s actually harder to come to GW2 if you’re an experienced MMO player, because it’s just the same in many aspects but just different enough to throw you off!

1) I wouldn’t worry about levelling. I can give you some tips if you feel like you’re falling behind the content you want to do, but it sounds like you’ll be fine. There’s no massive benefit to getting to max level, and I really recommend you don’t rush to it, just let the levelling happen in the background while you do what you do. You’ll hit 80 in no time without even trying.

2) GW2 works on a bit of a different dynamic. There isn’t much benefit to forming a party for content, outside of instances – it allows you to keep track of people and call targets, but not much else. Instead, you play solo and join up with people you run across without any kind of formal agreement. Something pops up on the map, people rush toward it, work together, then split up again to whatever they’re individually doing. It’s beautiful when it works, and random player encounters can be really fun. of course, it does rely on a certain number of people being in the map with you. As more people do non-open-world-PvE, there are less around for that stuff.

3) If you want company while you level, a guild is definitely the place to start. I’m part of an irl friends group so I can give limited advice, but as Talonblaze says you can be in multiple guilds at once (your account joins, not your character, but you choose which to represent at a given time). Perhaps if you see an advert you could ask them to run around with you for a bit? Otherwise, the first dungeon is available at level 30, so you may find people you enjoy grouping with through that.

What server are you on, out of interest?

The tunnel theory does seem reasonably likely. My money would definitely go on some kind of underground construction, and the fact that it’s approaching Hoelbrak and the Citadel is probably not coincidence – it feels like an invasion plan.

As for the elementals, the first signs of trouble – before we knew about the dredge and Flame Legion being involved – was stormy weather. Blizzards and dust storms were driving people from their homes before invaders showed up. I would assume that whatever this ‘Molten Alliance’ is up to, it’s messing with the environment (whether through magical means or just as a side effect of underground something) and the ‘unstable elementals’ are an effect of that. The steam ruptures may be causing atmospheric problems. We’ll have to wait and see!

How can I kill fifteen monoblos in Monster Hunter and not one of them apparently had a heart?

But yeah, as others have said, the most reasonable assumption (and the one I console myself with in Monster Hunter) is that such things are usually damaged beyond use in a fight, and we can only occasionally salvage them in an appropriate state to use. Even if it is a little odd that I somehow broke every claw on that animal…

She’s a largos (wiki link here). You can find more of them around the PvE world, here are there, but they’re not common – they live in the deep oceans and usually only come on land when hired as assassins.

I personally didn’t find him particularly annoying at all – until I’d played through the personal story with a couple of characters. When you know the dialogue already, you realise he does talk a lot in your missions…

I can think of two reasons people don’t like him. One – spoilers! – is that some people don’t like it when NPCs become the stars of a story and we, the players, end up helping them. Personally I don’t have a problem with this, and I think the tactic has served the Guild Wars canon well over the years. That said, there are a couple of places in the personal story where the way it’s done is a bit questionable. In particular, when someone starts sabotaging/attacking your character, and Trahearne and the PC agree that it’s obviously to get at him…somehow.

The second reason is simpler: he’s an NPC who talks a lot. He comes along with you a lot, he spends a lot of your missions talking incessantly in the background, and you listen to a lot of cutscenes with him. Those characters tend to irritate people over time, and after hearing Trahearne’s life story four times or so, I was starting to understand it, no matter how petty it is!

Recycle is no doubt right, that would provide some benefits. However, for the most part I don’t think forming a group is at all required or especially valuable in these events. I myself am usually in a group with my boyfriend, and we just use it to keep track of each other – I rarely bother to group with strangers, though I enjoy playing alongside them plenty.

Do you craft? If you’re amenable to doing that, crafting can give quite a lot of exp, especially if you have the materials for doing a whole bunch at once. I have characters I don’t play often who have gained 5 levels or so just crafting stuff for my other characters to use.

Traits can and will make a big difference because as you sink points into a trait line, it will increase some of your basic attributes – e.g. points in fire raise power and condition duration, points in water raise vitality and healing power. Ten points in fire will give you 100 more power than you would otherwise have. You will find that at higher levels, as you get more trait points, you can control what you specialise in a lot more, and compensate for weaknesses if need be.

I usually try to pick one of power/pecision and one of touchness/vitality for a well-rounded character to solo with (though that is by no means required). Keep levelling and play around with things once you have traits, you should find it works out with some experimentation!

I can’t help you because I enjoy pretty much all my characters, for different reasons. I certainly haven’t noticed any particular profession being in high demand or being badmouthed on my server. My advice is generally to pursue whatever seems cool to you; you can make it what you want.

I have to agree with the posts above. I think the best way to level fast is to do a little of everything. 100% clearing maps will yield plenty of exp and good rewards, and crafting can actually give you a LOT of exp, so if you just want to level faster, invest in a crafting discipline or two. Gathering gives you exp too, anyway. Most of the time I level and hardly notice it, as I’m just playing – and I feel like I level quicker than I expect to.

On tip I can offer for when you’re just exploring is bonus exp. The longer something has been alive in the world (i.e. time since it spawned), the more bonus exp it will grant when killed. That means that mobs which are off the main paths, or things people don’t usually kill (e.g. moas, deer) can give you sizeable exp bonuses. Killing stuff in one area as it respawns, on the other hand, is much less lucrative than travelling around. That said, I don’t think that just killing mobs is a good way to level up in itself.

My (female) friend got flak for her (male) sylvari mesmer wearing nipple warmers in this set, so not all hope is lost of gender equality I suppose :P

Borat no thank you. GW1 assassins, I could go for… as could a number of my female friends. But let’s not just spread the objectification around.

First of all, it’s important to know and accept that GW2 is not WoW. I don’t mean that as a criticism or a way to put you down (I say this because invoking WoW is often used just to say “go back to WoW” and end the discussion). I just think the games work on really different premises. Rather than giving you a huge amount of stuff at your disposal, GW2 demands that you choose a small set of things for any given outing and apply them as well and flexibly as you can. You may have heard this, but when GW1 came out they cited the deck-building style of Magic: The Gathering as an inspiration.

I would recommend elementalist based on what you say you want. I play a double dagger ele, and I find the skills give me plenty of options but all require me to stay in very close and be smart about my movement. I would also recommend that whatever class you play, pay attention to your traits. I’m sure you know what they do, but it took me quite a while to fully appreciate how they could change or enhance a build. They may be passive effects rather than buttons to hit, but knowing what they’re helping you do can help direct your style more.

Kunshu.5281:

I hear people say that elementalists would be good, but they don’t really have true dynamism. If you don’t use a certain pattern in the skills, then you’re suffering in damage output.

And other games don’t get reduced to certain skill sequences which are ‘the only viable way’ to a play a class? If you achieve optimal damage, any variation is going to produce less, and you’re stuck in a rut out of sheer perfection. Personally, I find my ele shifts around enough trying to produce combos with whoever’s around and keep herself alive. Ultimately, it depends on your play style and what you like, but I hope you find something that keeps you entertained.

What server are you on? That’s a good place to start, so people will know if they can easily get to you or if they have/know a guild on your home world.

I haven’t employed their services myself, but the Operation Union thread is probably a good place to look for people to play with.

Midnight Fire is not a black, it is a dark brown. It shows up as black on certain material types, just as you’ll find that many dyes come out in slightly different shades on different parts of armour. I was lucky enough to find the dye and have it show as black on the parts that I wanted, but I consider that a lucky break with a brown dye. It’s all in the name, really: ‘midnight’ signifies a really dark version of a colour, and ‘fire’ suggests more of an orange/red tone.

It sucks when you don’t know this kind of thing before you get/apply a dye, so you have my sympathies, but it’s not a bug. Different dye slots on any armour piece will give somewhat different shades.