Guild Wars 2

What I enjoy is different from you, clearly — I happen to like leveling via PvE so much that I keep buying slots to make new characters just to have someone to progress during guild down time — but let’s see if any of what I do helps you.

One thing is to do the daily and monthly on the alt you are leveling, even if one of your 80’s could do it faster. I get most of a level just from the daily, and it gives me time playing the alt to learn weapons and utilities better.

Then I can take that deeper experience into dungeons (with my friends, we’ll take a PuG or two with us but I don’t solo join PuGs unless I really need a specific dungeon fast). Dungeon runs net a lot of xp, along with tokens to gradually outfit various alts in pretty clothes.

In exploration, waypoints give the biggest xp chunk compared to pois and vistas, plus once you have them you can travel more quickly to events and world bosses for yet more xp. So don’t worry about map completion unless you are in the mood for getting a zone 100 percented, even though completion gives an xp boost and some nice presents.

Do events. Preferably by wandering the world, but in short bursts the Queensdale champ train can give you a bump.

Do Personal Story at or slightly past level, depending on how well you fight on your mesmer you could even do it when you’re one level too low. That’s another big hunk of xp and if you are only on your 4th character you can probably find story paths you haven’t seen yet.

I hope that all helps.

The New Year is coming! How about a toy-slot champagne bottle? It could have Costume Brawl abilities involving cork-shooting, aoe stuns of happy laughter covered with fizzy bubbles, etc. In non Costume Brawl mode you could put out a tray of champagne glasses for your friends.

To me, “I can’t go into details” is legit, not doublespeak. As an analogy, police can’t tell the 6:00 news “Oh, yes, we’re going to catch that councilman taking bribes by setting up a camera surveillance team on his favorite cafe.” It sort of defeats the operation in advance.

Yes, sorry, I was posting close to bed time so I didn’t get extra links. I’d hope it will be available again this year, just as the Mad King outfit came back for Halloween. It’s such a classy Santa hat! Also I think the Fancy Winter clothing was some of the best town clothes yet released — you can see me wearing it in that picture, though these days I have it dyed white with black and green accents. Women got a lovely fur trimmed dress.

I am crossing my fingers for similar quality but new wardrobe items next month, along with a re-release of the previous gear. I have more alts in need of looking fancy now

My luckiest moment was in joining my guild. I love them.

In terms of RNG, hmm. I’ve gotten a few Abyss, Celestial, and other rare dyes, a few Black Lion Tickets, an exotic now and then, a Toxic Spore Backpiece out of the Tower. No precursors, no permanent hair kits, nothing that stands out as something I could never have gotten on my own without the lucky drop. I did have a guildie get the Moot precursor off a junk spider in AC explorable a couple of weeks ago (the little pack right before the spike traps fight). We cheered for her! And we always kill those spiders now

You mean like this one?

I agree, though I can see problems for people that already achieved the items. Do you unlock all three versions? Is it retroactive? What if you wanted Radiant heavy gloves but Hellfire light shoulders?

I’m in favor of getting all armor weights of a skin when unlocked, but having to choose between Radiant and Hellfire. And, as I have got all three pieces as of a couple of days ago, I am selfishly in favor of it being retroactive so I am not stuck with only the heavy versions if we -don’t- get all three!

They -did- add this, guys. If you move your camera manually even once while dead, it will stay as you put it, no longer spinning. They changed it months ago.

-Is- there a way to share the activity with your guild? I haven’t seen any way to get in any activity with people of one’s choice, only with a random mix from all those also playing at that time.

That Sylvari looks just fine to me. Nice face, natural coloring. Azure’s eye is beholding at odds with others, methinks!

Or was that tongue in cheek and Azure has one very similar? So hard to tell tone in text.

Any character you click on is turned the same way as the last one you clicked on. All of the listed issues in the OP aren’t bugs, afaik, since they never were things we could do to the best of my recollection. This might do better in Suggestions asking for those features.

(( I want to read a fantasy detective novel by you, Arikyali. You really get the feel down, and you write different characters so believably and well! ))

I seriously doubt that you have to get to 30 in a week or else never have a chance at the content. This is a permanent change, not a two week thing.

Now, there might be achievements tied to the debut, and that would be unfortunate. However, I don’t think they’d make time-limited achievements that can’t be done by someone who is starting with 0 AR (like me — I always refused to do anything treadmill like in this game, and don’t really want to grind out gear for the sole purpose of getting further in content).

Meanwhile, as TheGuildless noted, you can play with your friends. You’ll just be at your personal reward level, and, well, there may be consequences for lack of AR.

Perhaps those at higher levels should do a screenshot for their archives and to document it for those few elitists that demand proof. I agree that there is at least a perception of hard work being undone; I’ve seen the devs repeatedly do things to compensate in such situations, however. If this really does negate something, there will be recognition of the loss. If all it does is change a number, this will all have been much ado about nothing.

It’s nice they’ll be available at level 10 but did you see that the chance of such goes up with level? I’d imagine level 10 will leave it only theoretically possible to get a skin, given how rare drops have been in other venues even when ArenaNet -doesn’t- call it “low” or “rare.”

Aster.7950:

It’s awesome. However it only shows the preexisting fractals and nothing about the Thaumanova Reactor.

If you check the thread in General Discussion you’ll see the cinematics guy explaining this was actually developed a year ago for the initial fractal release and didn’t get used. That’s why it doesn’t have the new stuff in it.

The notes do say that as you start you’ll be in the faster, easier fractals. So it sounds like if you want harder ones, you have to play through a few. I can’t tell if that’s per session or per account, though.

I have two Mesmers at 80 and loved them from the start. Well, maybe not the first ten levels on the first one when I didn’t know what I was doing or understand the F1-F4 skills. After that, though, wow! Plus of every underwater combat I’ve done, the Mesmer is the only one I actually prefer for underwater over land at times. I soloed the river drake skill point in se Bloodtide at level on my first mesmer. A long fight, lots of action, and it taught me even more of how to use both weapons. I used her for daily aquatic slayer for a long time as well.

Now, I did have a number of other professions at high level before working on Mesmer. Still I have to say its been the most fun profession for me. Nowhere near as squishy as Elementalist, lots of range/melee options all at once, a lot of use in groups, and pretty clothes.

Thanks much for that! I didn’t realize you didn’t know where it was yourself, so I’m glad to have helped you find one of the most beautiful spots in Tyria.

I’d suggest trying another profession for a bit, to learn the game mechanics a bit more and to get more understanding of what the various conditions and boons are and how they work together. You want to be able to read a tool tip on a skill and see how it will affect combat for you.

My elementalist made at launch is still just over 30 while I have 7 or 8 80’s now. I redid her with dual daggers and found that a bit better than staff, but it’s still a much more complicated class than any other. You’ve gotten to 16 — try a second character (guardian is a heck of a lot of survivability and much more fun than you might think) to learn the game a bit more, then go back to the Ele. You’ll be amazed how things slot into place for you.

I’m at 70 on my second warrior and he’s much more fun than my first one, since I know what I’m doing now. That doesn’t mean I min max, it just means I have more situational awareness and a better grasp of how to manage skill use on all professions. You’ll likely find the Ele much easier once you’ve had some comparative practice.

No, I think the space was there. The filter assumes spaces are there to thwart it and reacts in draconian fashion.

… maybe the filter is an Elder Dragon at that.

That certainly explains why it only has original fractals in it. I am looking forward eagerly to more cinematics of this quality. No one’s commented on the transitions yet so I’ll note that I found them superbly done, a really nice flow from one scene to the next via transformation of one element into another.

Also I am laughing that the feline filter can even get a dev. It needs some real smartening up to recognize real words that aren’t trying to be foul.

I love the trailer too! Jaw dropping gorgeous. Though I note every fractal we see in it already exists, albeit artistically interpreted here (giant in the Mossman shack, wut?).

Hmm. Well, I have no intention of changing her dark wood skin, so I guess I’m just stuck with dull grey … though it would still be nice if the tones matched between torso and skirt. I’ve swapped to Tarnished Silver for the “white” areas, getting a more yellowed/golden look.

I wonder if the chest part could be given a little brightness boost? Just enough to match the skirt?

This may be cheating as I have lots of shots of me there, but here you go:

If you watch a white critter spider run into one of the portals that will tell you which one is the correct one to advance. The other two down you. So pause a moment to watch the little beastie skitter!

I just went through the start of every track on the 4-CD set and none match the start of this, but the music is darn familiar. Maybe it just plays later on in one of the tracks?

I just listened to the Collector’s Edition soundtrack in its entirety and it’s not on that.

While having the utility stations available is handy, to me there’s not a great need for a guild space with all that if it’s -only- with all that. I want customizable space with a choice of architecture and furnishings (interactable furnishings, at that). LotRO did it pretty well except for minimal attach points leaving you with acres of wasted floor and wall space.

Guild halls should be larger versions of personal housing, and both should be attainable for most any player. I played Allods for a brief while. That game offered airborne warships for guilds, with inter-guild combat using them … for far more money than any player was likely to come up with. Meh.

I really thought we’d get a new batch of hair colors in the summer, that there’d be a set for each season. I was sad when this did not happen. I myself tend to go for “natural” colors but I’d sure like more choices for those who want to go more vibrant.

I’m sorry that happened to you. But guild groups aren’t all bad — my guild often needs one or two PuGs in a dungeon and the comments from those who join us seem pretty happy at the end.

Maybe just test things with a bit of chat at the start and see how decently human the guild players seem to be?

I have fallen in love with the T3 armor for my guardian, even roleplaying out why she’s gotten so bark-covered. But the dyes act very strange. The torso cannot be made a bright color, at all, and thus can’t match the leggings, but its chest leaf comes out blinding in comparison. The shoulder also has a very dull base.

This is how I have her at the moment, mostly in Celestial and Illumination, with Tarnished Silver on the chest leaf and Lemon Zest on the forehead gold section. Note how gray the torso is? The skirt also greys out, but not as much.

I thought it might be due to her dark brown skin. However, swapping skin colors only affects the accents, not the grey of the torso, even when I go with Ashen or Gold skin.

You said you didn’t have any key, but yet you were able to assemble one with another character?

It works if you have at least one of each color piece, blue, pink, and green. You double click on any one of those and it makes a key. If you don’t have at least one of each, you get the Cannot Assemble message. The Sixteenth was suggesting you might have had one of the pieces in an invisible bag.

Maybe you just didn’t have one of each until you combined pieces on your third character?

I’m pretty sure that 1 is the key to press to toss the keg, and it’s ground targeted. So you have to ground target at the NPC and hit 1 to score a goal.

At least I got a goal last night that way when the opposing team was about to dogpile me right at the NPC. It felt good.

I am much more a TP buyer than seller. I’ve tried to figure out a way to buy something that isn’t the low-sell because I do get annoyed by the 1 c undercuts, but the intuitive answer of clicking the check box next to the price I want to pay doesn’t work. Sometimes I’d rather pay a fair price than the lowest price, to give the money to someone who priced reasonably. My previous MMO listed who was selling (which I do -not- advocate, I like the anonymity of the BLC so personalities don’t get involved) and you could pick which offer to buy as you wished.

LoreChief, that’s a great expansion on my vague idea. (If only Stowage didn’t keep making me think of “mawwiage” from The Princess Bride, it’s a perfectly good word).

I’d have some issue with the 500 kills minimum for some weapons. Like, say, Torch or Focus. It’s bloody hard to get kills with those! I’d want the devs to look at the stats on kill rates on weapons when setting any requirements for stowage option unlocks.

I’d also tweak the skin selection; the stats choice ui is a bit annoying to work with due to the small space. Instead I’d do the same as when you want to swap out something in an item slot, where a right click gets you a dropdown of everything you’re carrying that can fit in that slot.

Still, I like where you’re going with this!

Khisanth, are you sure? I’ve never once been locked out of the reactor. Start at the Gauntlet WP and head east and south, the entrance is on the west side. There are a lot of mobs inside at times, and the skill point is a fight with lots of poison plants closely spaced, but getting in should be simple enough. The dungeon instance itself is frequently blocked and needing the events to clear it, however.

If I’m just lucky because my server always has that entrance open, wow. CrowzNezt, guest to Tarnished Coast (if you are NA). You should be able to stroll right in.

You can rebind the function to any key you like. I have my UI toggle on F11 since I’m used to that from previous games. It’s nice and close to the Print Screen button and involves one quick key press instead of a combination.

I’d love to be able to preview TP armors on my character preview without having to get someone who has them to link me the individual bits. OP has a good idea. Renoaku, I’d suggest you make your own suggestion thread rather than hijacking a vaguely related idea to promote your own wishes.

Really, any suggestion should be discussed on its own merit, not compared to other things a responder deems “more important.”

Now that we are seeing a lot of weapons that look different stowed and wielded — most recently the Dreamthistles and Marjory and Kasmeer’s weapons — what about adding sheathes to stowed swords, daggers, etc? Axes could have unsnappable strap loops or even blade covers. Pistols could have holsters. And so forth.

I would so love my rapiers to have proper hangars … (hangers? whatever the 17th c. term is for the set of straps that let the sheathe hang at the proper angle off the hip).

I have almost never suffered lag in this game, but last night anything I did, even typing in party chat, took a few seconds to happen. Fighting the champion worm in the tower my skill bar looked like a light show but nothing happened in the fight until I crashed out of game and returned to a different map with no worm and no zerg, rather dead.

I have only had the lag in the tower, I’m pretty sure. The only other activity I did last night was a Sanctum Sprint and nothing stood out to me as laggy in that.

Word to the wise: After guesting and doing your temple purchasing, port somewhere safe before you log back to your home server. Or you’ll get eaten by Risen before the loading screen clears.

There are three portals right next to each other. Strafe a bit to get to a different one.

MithranArkanere has some really top rate ideas there. Though as someone who’s bought multiple skins of cool things so more alts could have them (winter clothes, for example), I’d still shy away from asking for a gem refund. I chose to spend the money, after all, and I want the game to continue to make a profit.

However, how awesome would it be to make the extras (once MithranArkanere’s system is in place) -giftable-? I would be so very happy if I could give my friends skins no longer available in game. It would still be a one time thing, it wouldn’t create any more of the items than were originally bought, but more people could enjoy the use of them.

I would vastly prefer an achieve panel unlock as well. However, at the very least, this should be like the dragon helms — one of each armor weight. I have two warriors, two guardians, two mesmers, two necromancers, and a thief almost all of whom are RPd. I also have an elementalist, a ranger, and an engineer that aren’t RP’d or max level. But I really think I should be able to transfer the account bound skin around to any alt, not get locked in to one weight class.

I can’t be in game long tonight (like, less than 40 mins starting now), but tomorrow I should be on by 5 pm eastern. I’ve found my guardian highly survivable in most situations, usually living through wipes in dungeons and having to suicide to let things move along (on the other hand, her dps is minimal). She’s also very supportive with protections and heals. Give me a /whisper and I’ll get on her and tell you how I have her traited and geared.

Asking again about the start time, is this in 25 minutes or an hour and 25 minutes?

It is rather saddening to have to put it on a low level white item just so it can be swapped around. I am sure many people would like to wear it as a combat helm but not at the cost of binding it to one alt forever (or doing a cumbersome transmute swap and thus losing the combat stats).

If they weren’t collectable where would you keep them? One or two, in your bags, sure. But a few dozen?

Another question is whether you’d be happy to make 250 gold and not hate yourself for having “lost” any further profit from holding onto it even longer. Just like in RL, if you have enough money to buy your basic needs and a comfortable “whim level” on top of that, why worry about squeezing out even more for your wallet?

I didn’t suggest the level 20 booster scroll because I figured s/he hadn’t gotten a birthday present, the only source of said scrolls.

The Queensdale zerg is a decent way to go if you’re ok with just mindlessly charging around doing the same few fights over and over. You’re only trying to get to 30 anyway, after which I assume you’ll be looking for regular leveling speed to let you enjoy the game.