Guild Wars 2

I think the wiki is hosted on Anet’s server(s), and they’re doing maintenance at the moment so it might be something to do with that.

I haven’t been able to play my main character for the past 3 days because I logged out at the bank in LA and now can’t get it to load.

All my other characters in other zones are fine, I can even get to LA via a gate and log in to other characters standing in other parts of the city, but with that one it just sits on the loading screen for about 10 minutes then crashes and restarts the game.

Other than that I haven’t noticed a problem, although I haven’t exactly been keeping track of the load times either.

I agree with Softspoken. If everyone in a party got credit for 1 players actions it’d just lead to groups of 4 afk bots linked to 1 active bot getting 5 times the rewards.

Not to mention people “running” each other through events (aka doing it all for them in return for gold) and if GW1 is anything to go by Anet really don’t like that, the whole world design in the expansions was designed to try and reduce people running each other past/through content.

If you change your email for the forum it will change your account email too because they’re linked.

Edit: So apparently they’ve changed it slightly since I did it. You need to do it through the forum but you need to change your account email address, not the one for forum notifications. (It might also make you change your password first if you haven’t done it recently.)

I’m pretty sure they still drop, but it’s very rare.

I wouldn’t recommend farming the mini specifically, but if you’re going to be farming karka anyway then go for it.

I’d recommend Desolation, but I have to admit I haven’t been on another one since shortly after launch. But all the zones seem busy, especially starter zones, and most people are friendly and helpful.

The majority of players speak English and are in/near GMT time zones so peak times are usually GMT too in case any of that is a factor.

I know the Black Lion interface goes down for maintenence every so often, but I can’t remember when/if the actual servers have. I’m sure it’s happened but I don’t remember it.

The only time I’ve noticed hair clipping is my norn engineers ponytail clipping with her backpack or a shield.

My human female (ranger) also has long hair but it’s pretty much straight and I haven’t noticed any clipping.

I see the gear boxes as something to get once you’ve gotten all the other laurel rewards you want, so the don’t become completely pointless after a few months.

Not something to get early on when you’ve still got other items to save for.

My sylvari is based on the Maguuma Jungle from GW1 – base skin colour just on the green side of turquoise with traces of dark purple over the top, thick dark red leaves for “hair”, purple glow…and the face with cactus spikes because the Maguuma is both beautiful and dangerous.

I have a similar problem but only with LA. I’ve actually been unable to play my main character for the past 3 days because she’s in LA and it just sits on the loading screen for several minutes and then disconnects.

Everywhere else works fine and I can even take a character to LA and it will load fine, it’s just trying to log in to one there that’s the problem.

Unfortunately I have no idea what’s causing it or if there is anything I can do to fix it.

Considering they’re selling them in packs of 5 I’d be pretty dissapointed if it only contained 2 colours.

This would probably be better off going in one of the existing mounts topics, either in this section or the suggestions forum.

On Desolation all the maps seems to be fairly busy. Although some of them, Harathi Hinterlands especially in my experience, can be somewhat deceptive – you can feel like there’s hardly anyone around most of the time, then when a popular event chain starts everyone comes rushing over to join in.

A lot of mini lists (including the catergory on the Wiki)were created during the beta and a lot of the minis which were included in the beta didn’t make it into the final game.

(During the beta the mini pack wasn’t labled as ‘set 1’ either so it’s possible the missing ones will be released later on.)

Honestly it surprised me to realise that the charr taking over(/back) Ascalon didn’t bother me in this game.

When I first heard that was going to happen it really dissapointed me, I felt like it meant we’d lost and everything we did through the first chunk of Prophecies, not to mention some of the EOTN quests, was a complete waste of time.

Oddly enough it was playing through the Battle for LA that first changed my mind. It was the first time I felt like my character really “belonged” to the group she was defending since the Ascalon missions (and consequently the first time she felt like she belonged). Everything else had been “helping out” because she happened to be there. Even getting the refugees over the Shiverpeaks, it never occured to me until the Battle for LA that my character was one of those refugees. (Afterall she could go back to Ascalon any time she wanted.)

And that revelation got me thinking – I’d already decided my character would live in Kryta when she settled down after the end of the game. Her descendants would be Krytan for all intents and purposes – Ascalon wouldn’t be home and most of them wouldn’t even remember it as a human kingdom. They’d let it go, so I should too.

It still sent a shiver up my spine (literally) when I first came across the ruins of Grendich Courthouse and realised I knew it from GW1, but it was the same way I felt when I first saw the Temple of Ages. It was weird to think I not only knew this place but in a matter of a minute or so could be back there as it was. It didn’t bother me that the charr had taken over, only that it was gone.

Based on the personal story intros I’d guess they’re supposed to be young adults. (I forget the exact wording but it’s all about finally striking out on your own for the first time and making something of yourself.) Either young or going through a mid-life crisis.

What that means exactly could vary a lot. In modern terms it could mean anything up to late 20’s, in the RL middle ages which most fantasy is based on it’d be more like 12-15. Probably something in between.

When she’s human I normally make my main character look like she’s about 19-22 because that seems to fit most games – old enough that she’s got some experience in her chosen profession and is just getting settled into adult life before the inevitable “unexpected” turn of events that changes her life forever, but young enough that she doesn’t yet have a husband or children or other ties to keep her from charging off to save the world. (She’s normally a half-elf if I have the choice and sometimes a full elf so this number can jump as high as several hundred or ever 1000 years old depending on the relevant lore.)

I’d guess white hair is popular because it’s one of the more usual and dramatic colours available for humans.

Same way you see a lot more dramatic and contrasting fur patterns on players charr than the NPCs, or more contrast between sylvari skin and glow colours. (Come to think of it the only sylvari NPCs where I noticed the glow are a few Nightmare Courtiers, because they get red on black.)

If humans could have bright red or blue, pink, green etc. hair you’d probably see a lot more of that and a lot less white.

I have to admit it did bother me slightly that my humans black hair would look less striking than usual since I gave her a darker skin colour to reflect her mixed ancesty, aka all my GW1 characters – including 3 elonians. Maybe I was compensating when I gave my charr “zebra” stripes. (Although I wouldn’t call them that to his face and expect to live.)

I’m not sure if this is a bug with the game or an issue with my computer so I flipped a coin to pick a section, if necessary the topic can always be moved.

I seem to have a really hard time logging in to any character who is in LA, and not just at peak times.

It’s especially noticable now when I’m trying to collect influence by logging into each of my characters in turn. I logged into my 5 alts who are dotted around the world (including some very busy zones and other cities) in about 5 minutes total, I’ve now been watching the loading screen on LA for a further 5 minutes and based on past experience after about 8-10 minutes it will say I lost connection and restart the launcher. Then the same will happen again until I give up on playing my main.

I’m not sure when exactly this problem started but I first remember noticing it during Wintersday. At the time I put it down to abnormally high numbers of people in LA and assumed it’d go away with time. But it didn’t.

The strangest part is if I go to LA from another zone (ie. through an asura gate) it will load fine and not take much longer than any other zone, it’s only if I log off a character while there and then try to log in to them again.

Does anyone have any idea what’s causing this and what (if anything) I can do to fix it?

I love my minis and I always have one with me and I have it out as often as I can.

But it does get annoying having to remember not to use ‘deposit all collectables’ and having to remember to get it out whenever I change zones or die.

This idea has come up many times in the past and I don’t understand why they haven’t added it yet because I would have thought it’d be a relatively simple addition that would make a lot of people happy.

No.

I love the game but part of the reason I love it is because it doesn’t have a subscription. Even when I know I’m likely to play almost every day I love that I don’t have to make sure I’m on to get what I paid for, and don’t have to plan in advance when and how long I’m going to take a break. Taking that pressure off makes the game a lot more enjoyable to me.

It also means this game was virtually guarenteed to be good value for money because you’re only paying the same as you would for any regular game so even if you “only” play it for 200 hours or so you’ve got a good deal. (Rough estimate obviously.)

Oh ok. That makes sense.

It is a little confusing that they’re displayed like the items you get in mail though.

I was re-reading my personal story, via the tab in the Hero panel, and I noticed that starting with the section on joining an order (Stealing Secrets in my case) some of the listings had an item next to them.

Does anyone know what these are? Were they part of the reward you got for doing the quest and I forgot about it? Are the items you can claim somehow?

They look like you should be able to collect and use them, some of them even have level requirements and say soulbound on acquire or use, but I can’t seem to do anything with them.

The nightmare mortars work well too, nice obvious launch animation and a clear, slow moving projectile to dodge. You can often find them in relatively quiet areas too.

I plan to get them for all my permenant characters sooner or later. The way I look at it I’m either spending gold to improve my characters or on something I want but don’t really need (aka everything else, but in my case specifically minis) so improving my characters should be my first priority.

I might not get them right away. My main just hit level 60 but I don’t have 2 gold right now and will probably wait until I know how I want to assign the trait points so I don’t need to respec for a while after getting the tome.

But the only time I don’t buy trait manuals is when I make a tempoary character to try something out, like other personal story choices. If I know I’m going to delete them relatively soon it’s not worth it.

Personally I like that they have a mix of serious and silly, flashy and subtle, skimpy and full coverage etc. because if you don’t have that choice then your decision is meaningless. This way even people choosing sensible weapons and armor can make a statement about their personality and preferences.

Also because it’s nice to have some variety. I have 5 characters and whilst my human might want to look decent and respectable my sylvari might decide she doesn’t “get” this fascination with clothes and would rather wear as little as possible (and also I spent a lot of time picking a skin pattern and bioluminescence for her and I want to see it). I could also see her never forgiving me for making her an ele so she’ll never be able to shoot rainbow unicorns at her enemies.

Oh, I wasn’t thinking about cash from hearts. When I said the loot is the same I meant drops. You should still get weapons and armor for your level even if you’re in a lower level zone.

(Although some things I think are completely random, I got Abyss dye from a level 12 mob on a level 17 character the other day.)

Well at level 10 you’ll want to stick to the starting zones (Queensdale for humans, but you can always go to any of the others if you prefer).

Within them I recommend looking at the heart quests – if you hover over the map icon it tells you the recommended level for the heart, and the monsters in the surrounding area are usually about the same level.

But if you want XP you don’t need to train/grind monsters to get it. You can, but in this game that’s actually one of the slowest ways to level. You’re better off going to any area at or below your level and making your way around it doing everything you come across. Kill monsters, gather crafting materials, activate waypoints and points of interest, do hearts, do dynamic events…

Also pick a crafting profession or two and whenever you’re near a crafting station use up some of the materials you’ve gathered. Crafting nets you a lot of XP.

You do need to trigger the event to get the chest, and you start it off by kneeling at a statue of Dwayna.

I’d guess that means the other hint could be referring to something in an area adjacent to Bridgewatch Camp rather than exactly in that area.

The wiki is probably your best bet for any info on the game, especially things like up to date maps. Because it’s edited by multiple people it’s likely to get updated quicker than most fan sites.

As for levelling don’t forget you can visit any areas that are below your level and get the same XP you would in level appropriate areas. I’ve done most of my levelling by going around the other races starting areas.

That’s probably the best way to do it.

While you’re levelling I still recommend getting skills you want first because it’ll be much easier to play with decent skills, but don’t worry about making the wrong choice, if you decide later on you want something different at worst you’ll have to wait a little bit to save up enough points.

Traits are a bit different because you have to pay to reset them, but it’s not expensive and they reset when you buy new manuals so at least until you’re ready to unlock Grandmaster you can just experiment.

Easiest IMO is probably a ranger with a shortbow. 4/5 attacks apply conditions, many of the pets will apply additional conditions and you can add more through traits. All of which happens without you having to really do anything except attack normally. You can also use traps and spirits to apply conditions.

I like both.

I find the ranger much easier than the engineer (even though I’ve never used a bear, I prefer cats and moas) but both are fun in their own way. Rangers are almost designed not to get hit, all the pets tend to draw aggro and a lot of their skills include evades or ways to keep an enemy at range so I find myself more free to focus on dealing damage.

You’re right that rangers don’t have much in the way of support, but like Synful I recommend taking Healing Spring even if you’re not running a support build, it’s a great self-heal too.

They’re good for combos too because they have a good mix of fields and finishers. Only profession where I consistently do combos myself.

What Synful said.

They work like armor sets in other games – you get more bonuses for having more matching pieces. But the bonuses are tied to the runes instead of the armor so you can mix and match instead of being tied to a particular look and stats.

If you just want to get to everything quickly and don’t care about the cost I’d recommend the Grove. You’ve got the bank, trader and all the crafting stations close together on the same level with a waypoint pretty much in the middle.

But in practice I’d use whichever is closest to you at the time to reduce the cost. Or use the WvW or PvP tab to go to the Mists and then through the gate to LA. Or just wait until you’re near one of those things anyway.

My guild does similar things and when they set up a survey/discussion about it one of the things that came up was they actually had too many events. There was something happening at least once a day, which seems great but the effect was that less active/committed people kept thinking it didn’t matter if they missed something because they could just go to the one tomorrow. And as with so many things tomorrow became the day after, or the day after that…and effectively never.

The time is also important. A lot of the weekday events in my guild were happening in the early evening GMT time (most of the guild is in the UK and Western Europe) when in theory people would be home and able to play but in practice it didn’t always work that way because people need to do other things and of course the game is going to have to take a back seat to real life responsibilities. Switching to one event a week on a Saturday or Sunday works a lot better.

Although you’ll never get 100% participation at everything because unless you’ve got a very small, very close guild where it really is one of peoples top priorities there’s always going to be someone who can’t make it. But as long as everyone is coming to some of them, and more importantly the people who do come enjoy themselves, that shouldn’t be a problem.

Point and click isn’t possible, but there are a few ways you can move with the mouse:
1. Hold down both the left and right mouse button, your character will run forward and you can use the mouse to turn.
2. Put on auto-run (default key is R) and use the right button to turn. Your character will stop running if you push the left button or any movement button (ie. WASD).

Neither is as good as click to move IMO but they’re a pretty good substitute.

If you’re just wanting to keep your other hand free for combat controls and you have extra buttons on the mouse you could also map some/all the WASD keys to the mouse.

If you don’t like doing Fractals why do you want Ascended gear at all, let alone on every single character?

The additional stats are not enough to make a real difference in anything else so the only real benefit is the Agony resistance. And if you don’t like Fractals you’re not likely to be doing it enough to need Agony resistance.

Based on this forum I think it’s actually better for people who haven’t played other MMOs.

I’m not a complete newbie, I played Ultima Online about 10 years ago and played GW1 but that’s not exactly your typical MMO. I didn’t come into this game expecting to keep doing the same things in the same way as I did in other games, I was expecting something completely different from anything I had done before, which seems to have made it easier to get used to the game.

I’m also not bothered at all by the relatively minimal vertical progression (or the progression that has been added) because I’m used to single-player RPGs where the focus is on playing through the storyline(s) and levelling up and getting new gear is just something that happens as you’re going along rather than the drive and focus of the game.

I would strongly recommend trying the professions over listening to comments, especially on here. If you believe the individual professions boards every single one is so bugged/underpowered or just broken that it’s barely playable, but that clearly isn’t the case. (Especially when you factor in that each board also claims 2-3 other professions are so overpowered they’re ruining the game for everyone else.)

I play a ranger as my main and also have an engineer and I enjoy both. I haven’t really played a necro but I regularly see them in-game so I assume they’re popular. Rangers are IMO one of the easier professions because you’ve got your pet to tank so you don’t need to worry about dodging as much. Engineers I think just confuse people. Either they get too many kits early on and get overwhelmed with all the skills or they never use kits and get bored because without them there’s not a lot of variety.

But ele is a good choice too. They get the standard heal slot but also a lot of the water skills heal you. The main thing is to remember to switch your elements as needed (for example earth has a lot of protective skills which complement the water healing).

As far as I know there are no plans to change the system, but it’s a very new addition so they might change it down the line.

But for now SynfulChaot is right – you can get 1 laurel per day from the daily achievement and 10 per month from the monthly. (So technically once per month you can get 11 in one day, but otherwise only 1 per day.)

I think there are plans to allow us to spend them on stuff later on, but it hasn’t been added yet.

Saulius.8430:

Frotee.2634:

…There are even people asking for an option to see other players achievement points…

you mean to say, they cannot see achievement points in party, friend list and guild for some reason? or you meant achievement points distribution?

No, they want to be able to see every random persons total, so they can judge people before adding them to friends lists/parties etc.

I agree with pretty much anyone else. Let her decide for herself what and how to play and she’ll probably enjoy it a lot more.

I think you should give her some tips and information about the game to help her make decisions (for example you could tell her a bit about each race, things that might not be obvious like the norn turning into animals) but don’t dictate how she plays or hover over her. Let her explore the game and learn for herself.

There are some dynamic events which are repeatable. At the moment the only other content added (I think) is the achievement for helping refugees. You can keep helping them as many times as you like but the achievement can only be done once.

I’m not sure yet if the content is a permenant addition to the game or a 1 time only thing like Lost Shores. They haven’t said anything about end dates and I thought they’d learned from previous events that people need to know, but the way it’s described makes it sound like it’s going to lead to premenant changes, which makes me think when the next stage comes in the previous one will be gone forever.

Well you’ve basically just described a guardian – buffs and heals but quite tough himself.

Not so sure about the sharmanistic vibe but I think you’d enjoy them.

I did mine on a ranger pretty much by accident. The 3rd shotbow skill and the 2nd and 3rd sword skills all include evades (I think the sword default chain does as well) and any time you use those and actually dodge an attack it counts towards the achievement.

If you’re wanting to grind it rather than doing it over the course of normal play it might also help to set your pet to avoid combat. I think it makes them less likely to be targeted.

I think so.

I haven’t tried but I know back items are so I can’t see any reason they wouldn’t be. If you’ve got a stone free you could try it (you don’t actually have to transmute them, just see if you can put them in the window). If no one else does I’ll test it when I get home.

100% world exploration
WvW
PvP
Jumping puzzles
Achievements
Levelling an alt to experience a different personal story
The new Flame & Frost storyline as and when it comes out
Any interesting DE’s/bosses you haven’t done yet

That’s just off the top of my head. There might be more that I missed.

I realise you’ll have to pay for it now but I’d recommend moving to Desolation.

It’s one of the unofficial UK servers (the other being Gandarra I think) and almost everyone speaks at least passable english. There’s at least one non-english speaking guild I see advertised in chat sometimes, but even then the members speak english as a second language.