Guild Wars 2

I think in original creation I turned off the glow to help me set skin and hair color and never turned it back on. So I used a Makeover Kit on my Sylvari last night to add glow and change her hair style. While I didn’t see an glow in the preview, I clicked apply and BAM! She glows now in-game. Yay!

Welcome all the new people! Man, you all are certainly keeping the admins on their toes with the invites! It seems like most of your questions have already been answered.

So pic 1 is why FGreenOak and I were dancing last night. It was much fun. We could have taken the wily beast ourselves, but I called in some backup in the shape of the hubby so that we could get to bed at a reasonable hour.

And pic 2 is my main (for those of you who are wondering what in the world a Scoithniamhe is) and my Asura (who is mainly on cook duty right now).

As soon as you hit level 30+ and feel confident in your skills you can start trying dungeons. While they are tougher than normal PvE, you can run dungeons with people from other servers in the same region (EU,NA).

Seconding that it’s the bugfix at work. Not once have I been able to gather a non-rich node multiple times – until yesterday. Patch hit, and I was able to farm herbs twice occasionally! Should help even out some of the absurd herb prices a little.

Also, the god-bandits have multiple threads.

Alaric.3980:

… it seems like it takes forever to level and absolutely everything can kill you. I can dodge twice and that is it, I’m also an elementalist (which I know can’t take hits) but everything does like 3-10 damage on a mob at level 10 which I think is totally ridiculous. Clearly I’m doing something wrong but I don’t know what.

Baby elementalists are squishier than those little rabbits and raccoons you see running around. I died a lot with my elementalist below level 40. From what I’ve learned (and seen on the forums), here’s how the weapons are for new eles:

• Dagger/Dagger: Pure melee weapon. If you learn D/D well, you are an unstoppable wrecking machine. For mediocre players like myself, D/D also gives you enough mobility to run away when things are hairy. Turn off auto-targeting options and melee assist to help with the retreating process. If you can and if they’re cheap, grab a minor sigil of bloodlust and a minor sigil of hydromancy to give yourself a boost and to help control mobs.
• Scepter/Dagger: Solid build with some ranged options for opening battles. Not as mobile as D/D but can handle multiple enemies with less need to clump them up in melee range. Same sigils as above.
• Dagger/Focus and Scepter/Focus: Some people swear by their focus. I honestly never got it.
• Staff: The ranged AoE weapon. Hard to level with because AoE damage means no single-target burst, but I did it. Most of your spells can be cast while moving so you will have to learn how to put down an AoE circle while moving and then move in that circle to stay alive but use the spell. Use a minor sigil of bloodlust or corruption.

Alaric.3980:

PvP I love, the whole equipment thing is really a good idea, except when I want to play WvW and I’m stuck with my level 10 eq.

Do you mean sPvP or WvW? sPvP has a completely different gear set and everything’s level 80. In WvW, both you and your gear are roughly kicked up to level 80 equivalents. You won’t be as powerful as a level 80, but you can still contribute. Strap on a staff, find the zerg, and Meteor Storm down some doors and lava pots (and throw in some heals up front for your meaty friends).

Alaric.3980:

So, what makes you play and stay, and what can you suggest to bring a little fun to my experience? Also, I have to add, part of my disappointment is that I’m used to playing, and have fun playing, healing classes, and none exist here.

I enjoy crafting, and it’s a good way to gain some quick levels. So that can help you through the awkward ele phase. Another thing is that I started a thief, got her to 65 and then realized that I didn’t enjoy it. So I started an elementalist, and she’s the first one to hit 80. Maybe put your ele on the back burner for a bit and try a couple other classes? Necromancers and Mesmers (though bugged right now) are both really interesting, and guardians do have a lot of healing options to support their general tankiness (though they can be built for damage too). There is no dedicated tank/support/deeps class, but each class can be built to do any one of those three things.

Ping me in-game if you ever need any help! If you still want to continue with an elementalist, I can give you some tips on what skills and traits to focus on, but I think I’m running out of characters for this post!

So I love running dungeons, and I love my staff, but but recently I feel like I’m being called to expand the number of roles I can play in a dungeoning party (especially if there’s another staff elementalist in the group). Currently I run a might-stacking, boon-happy staff build (10/10/0/30/20) with mostly Knight’s gear, a superior sigil of strength, and 2x superior runes of water and the monk (two empty slots since I don’t have exotics for them yet).

Does anyone run anything other than staff in a dungeon with decent efficacy? What’s your build, and what tips do you have? I am interested in trying a D/D auramancer, but how much do the cramped spaces shut down the mobility of the D/D? How about S/D? I haven’t run S/D since level 5 or 10, but I’m willing to give it a shot. I accept I’m not an amazing player, so if your defense strategy is “just don’t get hit ever,” I probably won’t be able to run your build as well as you can.

Thanks everyone! If there’s already a thread about this (other than the builds thread, read that already), please direct me to it!

While I’m entering the conversation a little late…

John, enjoy the necro! My guildmate just started one last night, grabbed a minor sigil of corruption, and is running a nasty condition damage build at level 5! He has been taking on mobs 3-5 levels higher than him with no problem (after he builds some stacks).

The elementalist does require patience and deeper pockets I think. You’ll end up dying more often just because some enemy sneaks through (or throws a ranged attack at you when you’re out of endurance) and then it’s game over. Staff (my favorite) is probably the hardest to level with. D/D is a completely different playstyle (practically all melee) but has enough mobility to do damage and get away when needed. S/D I’ve never been good at but maybe I’ll try it again since Dragon’s Tooth got maybe fixed.

I stuck with Glyph of Elemental Harmony for my elementalist from level 1-80. Maybe the signet is better, but I never missed it. I think it’s more important to save your skill points and use them to unlock your 3 point and 6 point skills ASAP, then start saving for your ultimate skills.

For traits, I’m going to cause an uproar and suggest you go for water 5 first for regen while attuned to water (negating the need for the healing sigil). Then aim for arcane 10. If you feel slow, slap on signet of air or learn what moves give you swiftness.

And learn those combos from the wiki!

While Eredon Terrace (NA) is also getting regularly creamed in WvW, there’s usually stuff going on in map chat no matter where you are. I’ve been happy with the community (though at times it seems sparse…).

And, like Gil asked, what days and times do you plan to play? EU and US servers have different peak hours, and there are also differences between servers in the same region.

I’ve been level 80 for less than a month, but this is what I’ve found

• Run through Straits of Devastation and Malchor’s Leap to get to Cursed Shore. The top portion of Cursed Shore has some sparse enough areas that the instant respawns won’t be at your feet
• Explore Frostgorge Sound. You’ll get a couple of level 70+ exotics (to keep, salvage for ectos, or sell on BLTC for some money) for full exploration
• Try dungeons, starting with AC. You will get some gold and drops, but the main thing is to get to get to EXP mode and farm those tokens. You can trade the tokens to specific vendors in Lion’s Arch for exotics, runes, sigils, …
• Start that alt! It will give you a different PvE experience. I have a high level thief and elementalist and am leveling a warrior now. All three play very differently.
• Also, a lot of classes can contribute at low levels in WvW by taking out errant dolyaks and capturing lonely sentry points even by themselves. If there’s 3 of you (all low level), you can probably take a supply camp!
• Scrap cheap drops using basic salvage kits, but focus on selling until you get a more comfortable amount of money. Then think about salvaging yellows for ectos, saving greens to throw into the MF for a chance at yellows, etc.
• If you like being social, join a guild, make some dungeon running friends, start posting in map chat, whatever. Having people to joke about how many times that dungeon boss just owned you makes things less tense.
• If the game feels boring, take a break. It’ll be there tomorrow.

Hope this helps, and look me up in game if you have any questions!

Welcome to 80! My first character got there a week or two ago, so I probably can’t tell you everything you can do, but here’s a start…

• Try WvW. Kill Dolyaks and Sentries for some moderate gold if you don’t like PvP-type stuff, or join a zerg and help take supply camps, defend/take camps, etc.
• Run through Straits of Devastation and Malchor’s Leap as fast as you can. Put on all of your “get out of jail free” utilities and avoid enemies. Do not stop for quests, and only detour for the occasional waypoint – chances are it’s contested anyway. The undead are more manageable (and there are more people in) Cursed Shore.
• If you must farm in Malchor’s, stay near Pagga’s Waypoint and the far east side of the map. Lower enemy density, IIRC.
• Try Frostgorge Sound. The enemies are more spread out, and again, there’s a higher chance of running into other players.
• In Cursed Shore, farm near the north central waypoint. It is close to the Plinx chain and also you can often run back to that fort for a safe spot if you start getting overwhelmed.
• Dungeons. Even AC can net you decent money. Until Anet implements an in-game LFG tool, try using gw2lfg.com to find other people. You can do any dungeon except FotM with people from other servers in your same region (EU/NA).
• If you enjoy exploration, just start exploring low level areas and working your way up. The low level crafting mats can still be sold for decent money or you can save them for your next character.

How I manage drops to maximize my loot->gold+ectos:

• Whites+Blues (all levels): Salvage using basic salvage kits all whites and blues under 75c. Vendor blues that would sell for 75+c.
• Greens: First, check BLTC to see if it sells for a decent price (>2.5x vendor price). If not, salvage using basic salvage kit immediately if it’s under level 70. If it’s level 70 or higher, save for MF. (alternatively, you can vendor/salvage all if you’re not going to salvage your own ectos).
• Yellows (dropped or from MF) with unimpressive runes/sigils: Check BLTC to see if it sells. If under level 70, cutoff is 1.15x vendor price (for BLTC fees), else salvage using basic salvage kit. If level 70 or higher, cutoff is the current price of an ecto+sale fees (35s-ish). Sell if it meets cutoff, else salvage using journeyman’s salvage kit.
• Yellows with runes/sigils worth something: Check BLTC for price of item and for attached sigil. If sale price > ecto+rune/sigil price, sell. Else scrap using journeyman’s salvage kit and hope for the best.
• Oranges: Sell on BLTC or scrap using journeyman’s kit and hope for the best if I want the rune/sigil
• Pink: Yeah, never have encountered one

I still don’t have a full set of exotics, but I basically just crafted a set of level 80 greens for myself when I hit 80 and have slowly been upgrading them will yellow or orange drops or with crafted oranges. If you can get into a rhythm for a dungeon, then farming that isn’t a bad option (other than the fact that it’s still farming).

I’ve only made one asura, and she’s pretty cute, but here’s what I learned from the asura design process.

-Male Asura are easier to make look mean and tough or like complete pushovers, lady asura can also look pretty tough but not as mean but are very easy to make super cute (look at G vs Kit).
-While the concept of an Afrosura is awesome, it’s really tough to pull off
-Include Styxx in the name of your necro-Asura

Kaii.5149:

How kit should look:

Seconded! I especially like the confused look of that human behind the asura. It’s like, “Am I seeing things or is that really a mysterious asura dressed in pink?”

On the other hand, then we won’t be able to see Kit’s cute face! Tough decision…

Excellent work Kestrel!

So…. any chance you could go back and add back shots of all the armor too? I spend a lot of time looking at my character’s back side when running around. I wonder if anyone else does, or if I’m just playing the game wrong…

Also, how about adding a weapon gallery? I’m sure the community can help you come up with the majority of the more difficult-to-obtain shots of exotics, legendaries, etc.

I second centaurs. They seem to be the most predictable in their attack patterns. Next would be Dredge (though I think they are tankier) and Bandits (which hit harder). I will detour for a barracuda, but I guess I have less luck with Skales and Harpies.

Wow, I think we got a lot of new recruits over the weekend. Welcome all!

Sorry I wasn’t as chatty over the weekend – the hubby is now inspired to run map completion with me, which is quite the time sink! I want to run more dungeons. And speaking of people who want to run through mobs, I think there’s a good amount of strategy in dungeons. Running through every mob means that when you have to go back to a waypoint you lose all your progress (especially if you’re trying to run through alone next time), but some battles are just so frustrating that it’s better to avoid them – especially if the reward won’t be worth the effort and if it’s easy to get around. But I have noticed that some engineer builds out there make it really hard to run through enemies.

@Noppy – Excellent story! While I have had long conversations about crafting and elementalist builds with random people, I’ve never had an opportunity like that.

@Helequin – Wow, that is a really well though out ranking system. Since it seems like we could go well beyond 10 ranks, maybe we should think about a compacted ranking system for in-game ranks (if we need more officer ranks) and then an expanded version for the website?

@Kit – Maybe Gadgetts should find his long lost twin for Kitanyi?

@FGreenOak, Kaii, Kit, & G – Thanks for the pics and the fun times! I need to remember to take some pictures next time. Anyone have pics of the Jackalope chase? I think we all died a lot, but even my repair costs were under 20 s, which is cheap enough. But next time I see a Bandit Rifleman… he’s in for a world of hurt. So who’s up for some TA story bug roulette this weekend?

@G – I’m pretty sure fixing Fractals is in the works, especially since there are some people who are up to level 20 in there or something crazy like that. But like most bugfixes, it will probably take a while for QA and stuff before we see it.

@Aeleniel – You can make your sig anything you want! And as soon as you’re level 30-35 with a character you like I insist that we go on an AC Story run.

@MissKittin – DEK is fine. Wolves I could manage. Gibberlings were annoying because someone would always get diseased. And it was a major victory if I could take down a bear without someone gibbing. But that’s why the game gave you two evil mages in the starting area – bear fodder! Also, I recall getting some Chili Peppers from an herb plant in another area of Ascalon (higher level, but still), so keep at it!

@pawky – Welcome! I enjoy theorycrafting too, and while my engineer is on cook duty and stuck at level 14, I hope to get her to level 80 someday! It’s okay if you don’t chat while you’re out adventuring, but I find it to be fun to chime in when I’m crafting or doing inventory management. And there are plenty of other nerds here

I would second Thief and Elementalist or maybe try a Necro.

An elementalist (which is my main) can be either DPS or support as well, but if you spec for offense then you will go down in two hits in a dungeon if you aren’t very careful about your positioning. Or you spec for defense and your DPS may not be quite what you want it to be.

Thieves can be very effective in dungeons. Haven’t tried mine in a dungeon yet, but those that I’ve played with can do some serious damage without crumpling in melee.

I haven’t played a necro, and their pets are more or less useless in dungeons, but some of the condition builds out there just look nasty.

@Aeleniel – Yep! Just did it last night when I needed a 5th for an AC run. Found another person using gw2lfg.com. Since they’re instanced, it doesn’t really matter what your home server is. You’re on ET, right? Let me know if you need help with any skill challenges or just want someone to run around with. I have some sub-level 30’s as well as higher level characters that are working on map completion.

@FGreenOak – You are correct about both restrictions.

Edit: FotM doesn’t allow cross-server groups unless you’re on an overflow server in the same region (EU/US) as everyone else.

Hey Deb!

Yep, a guild can have members from any server. The reason why a guild tends to congregate on one server is because guild upgrades are done on a per-server basis. Since LoH is more of a social guild, the upgrades are secondary to the good company.

One of the higher-ups should have sent you an invite by now (unless you happen to log in at those times when none of them are on, but they can confirm). While I think we’re working on a list of who’s where, the easiest way (for me) is to open up the Guilds panel and look at the roster (top left tab) as soon as you join. Remember, you can join up to 4(?) guilds, but only represent one at a time. People who are on your server or in an unknown location will have the map name they are on (i.e. “Queensdale”) or “unknown” displayed in white text to the right of their name. People on different servers will have their server name displayed in orange text in that same column.

Don’t worry about the representing. The general rule is that if you are doing stuff with other LoH members, then please represent. I also am a member of a friends/family guild and the balance is just fine – but if you do represent LoH, you do get to witness the hilarity of our guild chat!

Also remember that a cross-server party can do dungeons, so if there really is no one else from BP in LoH, you can still run dungeons with us until guesting is finally added.

HTH

The wiki says JP chests respawn daily. I also know Gort’s chest respawns, as I have opened it multiple times with the same character.

@MissKittin – Welcome! There are a-many of us who enjoy a good dungeon run (completing the dungeon is a bonus, too). Tethys and Freya are high enough level for some AC action, so don’t feel like you have to get to 80 on them first! Lilitu, of course, will have no problem. My hubby and I play WvW quite often (more like he plays and starts whining about how there’s no one on, so I hop in to help), so if you wanted to visit Eredon Terrace for a weekend we could teach you a thing or two. Again, you can start WvW as early as you want – I started at level 30 with my elementalist – so if Lilitu’s build isn’t very good for WvW, both ele and ranger can contribute in WvW.

And Kit and G ~love~ jumping puzzles, so you’ll fit right in!

I preferred Icewind Dale to Baldur’s Gate – probably because there was a chance to get past level 5!

If I recall correctly, these chests do sometimes contain loot at your level, so that’s why level 80’s open them. The good news is, most of them respawn every day or so, so you’re welcome to complete the event again later and reap new rewards from the chest.

If I’m wrong, someone please correct me!

You can run AC (Ascalonian Catacombs) story at level 30, and exploration (unlocked after story) at level 35, so your warrior can start his or her first dungeon adventure now! You will probably want to have good gear (relative to your level) to tackle it, though, because the mobs and bosses are much more difficult than what’s in general PvE.

You can find the names, locations, and level requirements of the other dungeons on the wiki, but it’s about 1 unlock every 10 levels until level 70, then you get a few more after that.

To find a group, you can either map chat in LA or (less recommended) on the map that the dungeon is located. You can also use the LFG option in your Friends panel. There is also the third party tool http://gw2lfg.com/ that you may use.

People would like to see whatever you’re most effective with and what synergizes with the party well (though I have been in some odd party combinations, and then you adapt just make it work). If you have been working toward a rifle crit build, then maybe a rifle is good. If you have utilities that boost your mobility or tankiness, maybe a GS or even sword and board might be better. Having both your GS and Rifle equipped will be useful, and you’ll get a feel for what’s better when as soon as you run the dungeon a couple times.

Good luck dungeoning!

Chaos Archangel.5071:

I’d really appreciate that. I’m not big on dungeons and AC I’ve only done for Story. Also, on the topic of ectos, know any expedited way of acquiring them besides purchasing?

Also, you could use http://gw2lfg.com/ to try to find groups to run dungeons. Salvage level 74(?)+ Rares and Exotics for a chance at ectos. Current theory is that Fine and Journeyman kits are just fine for this unless you want the Sigil/Rune equipped. On the other hand, you can also sell those rares and exotics for more money and just buy ectos if you don’t like gambling.

Chaos Archangel.5071:

Btw, is Magic Find actually worth the effort of getting a whole second gear set?

Depends on who you ask. I have a set of green MF gear for when I’m exploring low level areas just to feel like I’m getting more out of it. I haven’t done any research, but I think it’s more cost effective to make/buy MF food.

I went with the incredibly Celtic and impossible-to-spell “Scoithniamhe.” I did take the most complicated spelling of it and then add an “e” to the end, though.

… It means brilliant blossom, so it fits a Sylvari very well!

You can get lvl 80 exotic armor using tokens from all dungeons and lvl 80 exotic weapons using tokens from the higher level dungeons. You can get exotic WvW armor using badges (but it’s expensive), and I’m not sure about WvW exotic weapons. There are several places where you can get rare karma weapons and armor, but I don’t remember seeing many karma exotics except at temples. You will also receive two level 80 exotics upon complete exploration of the Cursed Shore. See these wiki pages for more info:

• Dungeon tokens and their vendors
• List of weapon sets and how to acquire
• List of armor sets and how to acquire
• More info on weapons and armor and what all those affixes mean

And please forgive me for posting a link to something that’s already stickied, but the next thing you’ll probably think about when you hit level 80 is what you want your armor to look like.

I use a mini keyboard because I have smaller hands, and this is a setup that works well for me and lets me avoid hitting Esc (which I seem to do a lot when aiming for 1 or ~). I also don’t have a fancy mouse, so I just use it for turning left/right.

E,S,D,F: Move foward, strafe left, move back, strafe right
W and 1, 2, 3, 4, 5: Standard 1-5
Q,A,R,T,Z: 6-0
C: About face!
V: Dodge
G: Use/Loot/Etc
Shift+G: Drop the random thing picked up while I was looting
… That’s all I remember right now.

It also transfers pretty well to an Engineer and a Warrior, haven’t tried it with other classes.

Great suggestions Alk Trio Fan! I cannot stress enough how pointless it is to spend resources on expensive weapons, armor, and upgrades that you’re going to outgrow in 5-10 levels.

I enjoy crafting, so I open bags, and then when crafting I see if it’s cheaper to either sell my rare mats and buy an inscription/insignia or use my rare mats. I will have to check if it’s more worthwhile to just sell the bags and then buy the inscriptions/insignias. I see crafting as a gold -> XP+equipment converter, especially useful at those awkward levels (late teens, late 30’s, late 70’s) when all you want to do is get to that next multiple of ten to use some new gear! Also, sometimes the stuff you craft (even at low levels) can go for a few silver in the BLTC, so check before you scrap or vendor what you just crafted.

When selling on the TC, the basic rule-of-thumb is if the highest buy price is near the lowest selling price, I will choose the buy price for a quick sale. If not, match or price near the lowest sale price. Unless, of course, the buy price is drastically lower than the sale price – then the other sellers may be overvaluing the item and you should do more research before setting a price!

Hey Lexy, if you need another set of eyes/hands to help with Google stuff, I’d be happy to lend assistance. Unfortunately, my web programming skills haven’t been updated since about 2006. I am interested in theorycrafting and game economy monitoring, so it would be fun (to me) to have an in-guild place for those kinds of discussions.

I also second (or third, or fourth, or whatever) a guild calendar. I logged on apparently just as people were leaving for dinner, and I was very lonely until Kit and G arrived!

From what I remember, your gear is leveled up with you in WvW, but when you gain lots of levels in WvW and you don’t get new gear, your gear is actually weaker than when you were a lower level. Someone correct me if I’m wrong (I often am), but it’s something like:

WvW effective gear level = 80 – (your level – your gear level).

So a level 46 running around with level 46 gear may be stronger (ignoring traits) than a level 60 running around with level 46 gear. So any improvement will definitely be felt in WvW without needing to get rare or exotic gear.

And remember, look for karma WvW gear if you’re interested. In the Borderlands, it’s sold by the guys sitting right next to the Lion’s Arch portal. It’s what I did when I was level 75 running around with level 55 weapons . It’s not worth it to spend gold on vendor gear – if you want to spend gold, head to BLTC.

Honestly, I would save your money for level 80, where you don’t have to worry about outleveling your gear any more. Spend a few silver on the BLTC – or if you’re into crafting, start crafting weapons/armor for those easy levels – to get competitive greens and slap some cheap sigils or crests (at level 65, I think) on them. You can get cheap but sturdy karma weapons from the WvW vendor if you feel like your damage is lacking, too.

I’m not sure of the existence/names of specific exotic/rare sets below level 80. I’m just afraid that by the time you earn the resources to get it, you’ll be ready for the next level up of gear.

Save dodges for those attacks that have starting animations. An alternative to dodging is using a skill that will interrupt the mob, such as one that will apply daze, stun, or knockback. If the animation is slow enough, then you can even just strafe (probably q or e for you if you haven’t messed with key bindings) around to the back side of the enemy.

One thing about dodging is that instead of dodging outside the area of effect (which can take 2+ dodges), time your dodge so that you will be in the middle of it when the attack’s damage would hit you. And you can dodge to the side or forward by double-tapping the appropriate directional key OR by holding a directional button and pressing v (of course, I’m not in front of the game right now, so I may be getting that slightly wrong).

If you’re on ET, I’d be happy to help try to troubleshoot!

@Bvh – That’s a pretty aggressive build. Does Air XI actually help you out that often? I mean, once every 90 seconds sounds like “It will save your behind once, but when the champ targets you 10 seconds later you’re toast.” Haven’t used it personally, so I can’t really judge. If you find that it’s only there because you have an extra water slot, maybe try Air I, VI, or XII instead?

@Zaerp – My elementalist build is staff-optimized and support oriented, and staff is pretty much all AoE. I can whip up my build if you’d like, but I don’t think it would be a play style you would enjoy. D/D like Bvh is melee oriented but so much fun, and I haven’t touched a Scepter in like 69 levels (and I’m level 80), so I can’t comment well there. And yeah, there are lots of complainers in the profession forums. But there are also some very good posts.

Bvhjdbvkjf.1987:

Just a note, my 80 thief is fun rolling pistol/dagger – but pistol lacks punch and relies on condition damage. If he wants to roll a ranged thief I’d personally recommend shortbow – does 2x more power related damage per hit and can chain up to 3 enemies… plus the cluster bomb spikes well and skill 5 helps escape enemies when endurance is down.

Just my 2 cents…

Oh yeah, I forget about the shortbow. My other characters have been getting a lot more attention than my thief recently, so I guess I’m a little rusty on that profession’s theorycrafting. Thanks for the clarification!

I love my elementalist, but the popular dungeon builds are Dagger/Dagger, which is melee, and Staff, which is known to give unimpressive single-target damage. Plus an elementalist typically has paper-thin passive defense, which means more active defense (read: kiting and casting).

Maybe try a Ranger or a Thief? I haven’t played a ranger, but its pet makes it viable for PvE. I use pistol/pistol on my thief for hairy situations and don’t have problems keeping distance between me and mobs when it’s only me, but I’ve read that pistol/dagger is also viable.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

That’s what i do,i see the class works fine in the mists,then i start to level it a bit and…pfft…maybe i should try a new one!
Then i go to the mists and i repeat the above. x.x

Aww, yeah, the low levels are kind of boring.

Maybe find a larger, active guild (or at least find friendly people on your server) and party up with people who are leveling alts? Things seem to go so much faster when there’s a team, plus then you can take on the more difficult DE’s for the exp and money rewards!

For dungeons with a general pick-up group, I would go with Berserker’s if you can stay alive, if not, throw in some knight’s and cleric’s gear. From what I see, most 5-man parties have enough other characters that deal conditions that you may be hitting the condition cap pretty quickly (especially bleed – it seems like everyone can bleed foes).

If you do find that your enemies are constantly burning like Bvh, then instead go with Rampager’s and Carrion gear. D/D fire skills are on a short enough cooldown (compared to staff, at least) that you may be able to make that your main damage dealer.

Hey Butter! I’ll try to make this one short, lol:

1. I like my staff elementalist, but I like having at least 1 guardian in the party. I also see a lot of thieves, necros, and warriors, not so many engineers, rangers, or mesmers.
2. Warrior and Guardian
3. Elementalist and Engineer
4. Ranking: #1- Elementalist and #2 (tie – Engineer and Mesmer)
5. Don’t sPvP, but from what I know, Guardian, Thief, and an occasional D/D Elementalist
6. Elementalist, lol. Really, there is no strategy out there right now that will control aggro
7. Thief or Warrior? Don’t know. Is there a DPS meter for this game? Ranger might even be competitive once it’s fixed.
8. In-game preference. You’ll have your preferred amount of positioning, dodging, and button-pressing, and you’ll prefer some jobs (DPS vs. heals) over others, and the design descriptions can’t tell you that. Even members of the same profession with different weapon sets (i.e. staff ele and d/d ele) or builds (stealth thief and death blossom thief) play completely differently and fill different roles. From what I know about your gaming preferences, you’d hate being a staff elementalist because it is very team-supporty. Try, like, a warrior with a greatsword and dual swords – good mobility, maybe good DPS?

Another thing you can do is roll a character, get through the intro quest, and go to the Mists to try out lvl 80 builds before you start investing time in leveling. Sure, it will be a while in PvE until you get to 80, but it will give you an idea of how your fully developed character will play. Play at level 1-29 is not very characteristic of how the profession plays at level 80.

HTH

On many servers, the quest chain to unlock (and enter) Arah is bugged out. Can you share what server you are on?

@Glitch What! 9000!? There’s no way that can be right!

… Sorry, couldn’t help it.

I’m okay at jumping puzzles, but I like having time to stop and look. The Southsun Cove one is too fast-paced for me right now, and I didn’t even bother with the Clocktower.

It’s not that complicated! Except for cooking, where the guides out there require you to buy expensive stuff and there are oodles of recipes. Assuming you have mats (which if you have a lvl 80 that hasn’t done much crafting and you haven’t sold the mats, is possible), it’s not that expensive either.

Pick your two crafting disciplines.

• Determine which items require fewest materials in that discipline. You probably want 3+ for each level. For Jewelcrafting, it’s earrings (x6-7 gems). For any armoring, it’s head, shoulders, gloves, and boots. For artificing, it’s everything but the staff.
• Whenever a new tier opens up (0, 100ish, 200ish, 300ish), refine all your mats in bulk.
• Then build all your components in bulk, preferably about 10 each of armor/ weapon pieces (for the weapons/armor that are cheaper to make) or 12 – 14 settings and earring pieces
  *Build or buy your first round of insignias/inscriptions, one for each type of item you’re making (i.e. 3 types of insignias x 4 armor types)
• Discover recipes
• Build or buy next round of insignias/inscriptions (you probably only need 3 types); discover recipes
• Build or buy 4 types of masterwork insignias/inscriptions; discover recipes

… It’s a rough approximation of what I end up doing for each tier of crafting mats. Your luck with bonus EXP may modify how much you need for each tier.

Combat-wise, if you are a class with any ranged capability whatsover, you can start leveling in WvW. I suggest ranged because your low-level gear (not rare/exotic) will cause you to be squishier than most of your competition. Otherwise, run DE’s.

@Kaii: I’ve been attacked by Friendly Rabbits in Frostgorge Sound. They’re a little too friendly if you ask me

@Aeleniel: Don’t leave me! It’s pretty lonely on ET, but that just means there’s never a queue for WvW. I have characters between level 14 and 80 (with a tail-heavy distribution).

@akamon: Best of luck on the Legendary. With how broken Orr is right now, maybe it’s wise to take your sweet time… unless you wanted some Arah gear. I’ll probably end up having to buy some fine transmutation stones, too. I feel like my husband got all of them from his chests/dailies and now there’s none left in the RNG for me!

@Death: Husband and I 100%ed Malchor’s Leap and Cursed Shore, so even though stuff is bugged, you can still get to it (though rezzing at waypoints becomes part of the strategy). It’s best to have a party member or two though just to deal with all the random mobs. If they implement guesting before you’re done, look me up!

@Noppy: Nice! I’ve seen a lot of people have been choosing Nvidia these days, and Intel’s i series is a good choice. Can you actually run all that on a 600W power supply comfortably? (well, I guess you can if it turns on and runs video games). I’m not at my gaming pc ATM, so I can’t look up what mods I have turned on, but I use Vurt’s Flora for nature, use XCE for better faces, and I have a basement for the Whiterun house. I also have a mod that turns the abandoned shack east of Whiterun into a buildable house, but it’s annoying to not have vendors nearby. I also run the dangerous combo of BOTH Nexus Mod Manager and Steamworks, with a preference for steamworks.

@omerk: I’ll take piranhas over dolphins any day. So far the most frustrating fractal for me is the Dredge one.

A few more tips to add to this already great list:
-Remember that not all dyes will appear the same color when you use them on your armor. This is especially true when you have pieces from multiple sets.
- When searching for dyes, look for commons. There are many out there that are nearly identical to uncommons and rares with different names.
- Since we have about 3 colors per item to work with, stick to at most 2 color families and 1 neutral (or less flashy color) family for your overall scheme.
- Take cues from your character’s hair, eye, and skin color. For example, my main is a sylvari with blue skin and red hair with yellow highlights. My clothing tends to have a lot of reds and golds, but I have also run teal and orange to good effect.
- Black is so overdone – and super expensive
- On top of simple complementary colors, remember split complements and triads can give you interesting options. Look at a standard 12 color wheel. Triads are three colors 120 degrees apart, split complements are a color (Color A) and the two colors bordering the color opposite Color A (such as purple, yellow-green, and yellow-orange).
- If all else fails, use neutrals for large areas of the same color and bright colors for accents. Then go find some more dyes.

I’ve played around with dyes for a while. As a mathy type, the Mystic Forge kind of fascinates me, and common dyes used to be cheap enough that I could buy a bunch and throw them in the Mystic Forge without losing too much gold. It seems that common dye prices have been stabilizing, though, and so the margin on them is much smaller than it was even a week ago, so no more dye tinkering for me.

While I tend not to flip items because I feel a little smarmy doing it, I go to www.gw2spidy.com to do any margin calculations, and it seems pretty accurate to my server’s prices.

Elementalist is super-fun, but in the early levels you’ll want to stick to Dagger/Dagger or Scepter/Dagger for survivability and put traits in water, earth, and arcana. I leveled with staff, and while it was fun, it was also very expensive. If you enjoy engineer and want something equally interesting and requiring thought about what buttons you press when and where you target, I would suggest elementalist.

My next suggestion would be thief, which if you build towards keeping your initiative rolling in will allow sufficient skill spamming in PvE. Then you can switch it up to a stealth build for PvP.

Finally, maybe give mesmer or necro a shot. Haven’t played them, so I can’t say too much about them.

Started leveling my Warrior and Engineer alts in earnest. A lot of the survival skills I learned as a young (low level) elementalist have really helped my engineer stay alive. My warrior is just easy mode, which is fun when I don’t want to think.

When I do play my ele, I use a staff when my Guardian friend is on or when I’m running around for daily harvests. Otherwise, it’s D/D. I’m also more open to trying S/D again if I find an exotic scepter.

Oh wow! I was away from the forums for a long weekend and I have pages to catch up on.

@ all the new peeps – Welcome! I’m kind of married to my server, but if anyone wants to visit Eredon Terrace for a week or do a dungeon, PM me! I’m on from about 8 PM – 12 PM EST. The deal is you facetank, I nuke from afar (j/k… kinda :P) Edit: I also lurk on the forums during work hours EST.

@akamon – Crafting some knights gear, but I want the TA Light armor shoulders for some wings! Unfortunately I’m cheap and vain so I want gear with the right stats AND that looks good right off the bat (since I can’t seem to earn any fine transmutation stones). I’m pretty sure legendary and ascended are probably going to be out of my league for a good long time.

@bri – yeah, my first few dungeon runs (AC, at level 70+) were more money sinks than makers. I have run all paths of AC, though, so I can help strategerize if we run it together!

@Noppy – I demand specs! And Skyrim mod names! When I ever get tired of playing GW2 (yeah, it happens), Skyrim and Civ 5 are my go-to games. I only have about 15 mods for Skyrim though. My graphics card is a little older, so I can’t afford to run every good texture pack, only a few

@Glitch – The only other guild I’m in is with my RL friends, so I like representing it when I’m farming or in WvW for all the influence because we don’t have a lot of people. But I do think it’s fair that if I’m doing activities with other Legion members then I should represent LoH. And congrats on the chemistry test! You’re one step closer to selling your soul to a school for 5+ years (at least, if completing med school takes as long as getting a Ph.D).

Haven’t seen many staff Guardians in PvE, but mace&shield is a pretty solid combo. Maybe go with a greatsword instead of the staff so that you have more tools to keep you in melee? Then your ranger friend can more or less stand back and shoot if he or she is using a bow, or you’ll both be able to do some damage in melee.

Elementalist (oh no, I’m not biased at all). Both Engineer and Mesmer are easy enough once you figure out the combos. Elementalist has the added difficulty of ridiculously low HP and needing to be creative to put out a reasonable amount of damage.

In truth, though, my guildmate leveled up his Mesmer a lot with my Ele, and as soon as he hit 80, he started an Ele because it looked like so much fun. But now he complains about how much he dies with his Ele compared to his Mes and Guardian. My only response is, "Yeah, you get used to it after a while… and then you l2p :P "

There are a couple of viable (once you get good at it) and interesting builds for sPvP elementalists, too. Check out the elementalist forum for some cool vids of them in action.

If you like leveling your crafting, then buy some embroidered insignias (or if they’re cheap, intricate insignias) from the BLTP instead and just craft with that. Strangely, the insignias themselves are usually cheaper than the total cost of the mats that go into them – but double check before you buy.

Otherwise, just find some blue or green gear your level on the BLTP using the filters. The power difference is noticeable, but not noticeable enough to require you to sink gold into it.

When I was leveling my crafting up with my now-level 80 toon pretty evenly, I would craft myself head, shoulders, gloves, and boots, but buy chest and pants because they require more mats.