Guild Wars 2

I’d say Necromancer is closest, and is pretty durable (the Light armor professions in GW2 keep astounding me with non-squishiness). While a minion build is considered weak, if I’m solo I do use the bloodfiend heal because that little guy pulls aggro amazingly well.

Lots of darkness and decay, conditions, aoe’s (via staff), etc. I haven’t played GW1; I’m going on inference as to what a Ritualist was like.

Take a gander at
http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/fashion-gw2/

Also if you go into the TP and do a search on weapons of the type you want (like sword, or staff), you can arrange them by price or level or rarity or name, and preview them one at a time.

The recipe only just started dropping, supposedly, so there may not be enough data yet for drop rate or where it drops. Getting 3 tickets from 30 chests is astoundingly mind bogglingly lucky, btw. I got 1 from 45 and others got none from a hundred or more. Happily I’m much more interested in the rapier and steam pistols now so I’ll rest content with the dragon staff my necro got!

I want them as easily available as any other weapon skin. I understand this game has a core principle of making neat looking things be somewhat prestigious to get, but everyone should be able to get something at times beyond the basic skins.

There’s a chance they won’t be permanently available. One assumes more people will buy and play the game in later months and years, yes? So the rarity comes from having been a player during the time window of availability, not from having dice go your way 1 in a million times. WoW had some minipets only available if you logged in on the game’s anniversary, for instance.

I don’t mind buying things with gems. I don’t mind buying gems. I do mind not being able to get the perfect skin for my character despite spending many hours a week in game and having reasonable PvE skills (other than Mad King Clock, and the Wintersday JP, those defeated me).

The Sclerite and Flame and Dragon weapons all had nifty things going for them, but in the end were simply variations on the theme of weapon styles already in game. The rapier, on the other hand, is a vastly different type of sword. Hmm, I guess the rifle is as well, being a shoulder cannon rather than a stock and barrel. I know a LOT of thieves and mesmers, my characters included, that will do MUCH better for a look if they have a rapier. I fenced for years, I have RL swept hilt rapiers in my costume room, I will swap to sword-thief from my daggers and pistols if I can have rapiers. My actual game play will be impacted by this skin!

A vote here likely has zero impact, assuming the weapons will be player-available at all. Still, this weapon set just doesn’t seem like it should be available only to a tiny percentage of the population. It’s a radical style alternative. Let players have it to customize closer to their dreams.

Start with the sticky at the top of this forum about things if only you knew. It is chock full of great tips.

Beyond that, just go out doing whatever looks interesting to you. Join events, gather from nodes, try out your Personal Story (the green star), grind mobs a tiny bit to unlock all your weapon skills.

And dodge. By the Six, learn to dodge when your opponent rears up for a big attack.

Are you on an NA server? I applaud your wanting to push a level 13 into that territory but I think it might help you to have a bodyguard. I’m heading off for a short work thing; I should be available by 1:30 or 2 pm Eastern to guest over to you and escort you places. I know that’s a few hours from now, sorry

I haven’t done the Timberline cache yet so I’d get that done in the course of helping you. Can you shoot me a PM on these forums so I know if you do want my aid? Note, I won’t see it until I’m home from work.

I’m not a fan of beauty pageants, never have been. Nor of popularity contests BUT. This is exactly the sort of thing players can put together, most likely on an RP server. I know Tarnished Coast has had costume contests, date auctions, etc already (usually in Divinity’s Reach).

Perhaps you could organize the event of your dreams via guildwars2roleplayers.com as that is a massive RP organizational site.

Good question, though usually the temporary items will have a little “limited time only” label on them. If they are simply a new fashion inspired by the invasion, they should stick around imo. Tailors won’t forget how the patterns work!

Also at 800 gems each it’s a solid moneymaker for ANet over time.

There is a sound, albeit variable. You shout “Attack my target!” or something similar. It’s not always audible, though.

This hair is what I mean:

As to spelling, correctly spelled there is a c after the u. Which will promptly turn here to “kitten” instead.

I’m a helper!

This is fairly minor, but I’d love it if hair glow could be added to the female Sylvari hairstyle where the back of the head becomes a stem that bends over into a spray of lacy deadish leaves over the forehead. Even the dead branch hairstyles get a glow, but not that one! Plus that one only gets color on the leaf tips, and most colors look dull and dark on it (yay for the bright turquoise special hair color from a kit).

I really like the cheeky look it gives my new necromancer but I miss the glow so much I keep thinking about changing her hairstyle simply to get one that shines at night. Either the colored tips could glow, or the lacy network part could. Or spots on both parts.

The Dragonbash stuff has certainly siphoned people away. I’m on Tarnished Coast which usually has most temples open. Yesterday I went to get my new 80 her Temple gear and I had to guest to Jade Quarry to find an open Arah vendor; TC had no temples at all, and looking at the site list of open temples only 1 to 3 servers overall had any particular one open.

There may also be anti-farming issues as mercury ranique suggests, I dunno. I will blame the festival for now.

The sticky at the top of this forum says it goes to July 9. Since usually that means it cuts off sometime on the calendar day, make sure to do all your event stuff by bedtime on the 8th.

BuddhaKeks, I’ll have to refute that reasoning. The story says another necro runs from her, but then E grabs her from behind, has a deep voice, and no hint of necromantic energy. She’s sure he’s not the one that offed the ghost.

The writing is careful not to say if it’s a male or female body that grabs her. However, she’s calling him a Mr. thereafter and I think it wouldn’t be too hard to tell if someone who’s pressed their chest against your back is male or female. Depending on armor worn, of course.

Good news! I did a test this morning, and a jug gave me boosted karma. So I dropped a fire and a banner, nibbled a booster and a chocolate bar, and swigged away with bonuses. No relog needed.

I was at +65% and got 7200 per jug, I hope that math works out.

Others have said many useful things! I’ll add that in all my years in WoW and other similar MMOs I completely loathed PvP. Between my poor reflexes and the infantile attitude of many kitten strutting PvPers there was zero enjoyment in it save for a few mass guild PvP RP runs.

In this game I may not spend that much time in WvW but it is far more relaxing. I’ve enjoyed the mini sPvP special event arenas as well. One day I’ll try the real sPvP, though likely I’ll do horridly because most in there have had almost a year of practice at it.

Anyway, try everything in this game. You never know what neat thing you’ll discover and enjoy. Let “oh shiny” dictate your path, just wander from place to place and thing to thing. It’s fun!

edit: Hah! A common word for electronic male compensation triggered the filter. I don’t usually get "kitten"’d in my posts, I’ll know to avoid that word in the future.

Oh, also, doing damage is great but not the prime concern! Surviving matters more, imo. My guardian generally does a tenth the damage of others around her, but nothing keeps her down long and she not only buffs and heals allies so -they- can do the damage, she wears away the opposition over time.

I’d recommend the Mesmer. I haven’t dungeoned on mine but our guild mesmer mains always make the dungeons smoother. Mesmers are also full of tricks for tagging and survival, if you’re out to farm.

My 80 warrior feels a bit squishy in comparison to my 80 mesmer; my 51 engineer feels slow and clunky and having to reach over to my 7 to 9 keys for a “weapon swap” runs against all my trained reflexes of going for the ~ key.

For race, any of them will offer interesting Personal Story and fun new animations, but you might not want a Charr or Norn due to camera issues and jumping problems. My mesmer is an Asura and her animations are wonderful. Though most armors give her the male version, of course, so if you prefer female armor you’d want a sylvari or a norn.

All purely subjective opinion, naturally.

Dodging does take practice. I was horrible at it in the beginning. Even now I only get in the dodging groove on rare occasions, so I’ve found other means of survival.

Still, the main trick is to watch the thing you’re fighting. If it rears up, holds an arm up and glows, takes a deep breath, starts to shimmer, or any of the other many “tells” the monsters have, it’s about to unleash something big. That’s what you want to dodge. Or else hit a block, aegis, missile reflect, stability skill, etc. Dodging isn’t the only way to avoid a hit!

Sometimes I think the first profession we play in this game will always feel hardest to us … my Thief may be my main but he’s hardly my choice for dungeons, I doubt I have him traited or weaponed well enough, and he falls over in fights all the time. Whereas my Guardian feels nigh invincible, and my Mesmer (who is my 5th 80) turned into something glorious on land and in water.

Keep at it. Once you “get it” you will really start having the fun this game can offer

I like this idea except for the concept that the item would pop back to the guild vault if you represent another guild. While these days I stick with just one guild, I still might want to hop to another of my four to ask for dungeon runs etc. The guild system is meant for quick changes in representation, and a gift should be a gift, not a loan only while active.

Perhaps guild binding could be used for initial transfer, but once the person uses it it goes account/soulbound and thus reverts to the current system. That would let you give something to someone, and let them keep it, but not let it keep on going to yet more people.

The amount of wanting for that rapier in my guild has reduced a number of us to glazed eyed drooling husks pawing weakly at our monitors. PLEASE don’t let it be RNG, please please please …

I’m still leery of this workaround, but I’ll try to gather up the boosts on my newest 80 and test. Worst case scenario, I use more of my 150 jugs than I want to …

About the only way to do it is to transmute, which means having a piece of gear with the upgrade on it that you want to apply to the armor you like.

Mourningcry.9428:

Shame it seems so few people had the opportunity to experience the games of yore… back when all you got was “There is a small mailbox here.”

Imagine having a gamer think for themselves….

OPEN MAILBOX
“There is a letter here.”
GET LETTER
You have 1 Letter
READ LETTER
(text of letter given)
FOLD LETTER
You have 1 Folded Letter
GO EAST
(Clearing) There is an oak tree here.
CLIMB TREE

… ah the days of yore. I got a full graphic Zork and it just wasn’t the same.

As to this thread — I didn’t want any spoilers, so I went looking for all the suspects just based on the letters. The Skritt took me the longest because I didn’t realize there was a star on the map and the Suspicious Barrels seemed a possible hiding place given the guild bounty Skritt using such things. In the process I found a whole Asura family in the Almuten Estate when I’m pretty sure only the kid used to be there. Neat! Then I had to use the star for the ogre because after running all over the crime scene area I saw no footprints, not even my own. Sadness.

I’ve used Dulfy’s guides extensively through the Living Story. This was my first attempt to do all of it without a guide, and it really wasn’t hard at all. Now I just have to win 14 Dragonball games to finally complete ALL achieves in an Event. (Curse you, Clock Tower!)

I dread finding out these are RNG box rarities. Because want.

Osiris Shadow.5890:

Whenever I try to use it it says “You cannot use that command yet” :/

I got that while still in the instance but when I zoned out it worked. Try reloading the game or just zoning?

How about applicable glows for a number of weapons that can be put on by the user or not as s/he sees fit? I don’t want a green glow on my family heirloom Canthan staff But if others do, choice is good.

I ordered it pretty much the day DirectSong made it available. At that point I think I had 2 months or more to launch. I wanted to listen to it beforehand because once the game was live I was gonna be playing, right?

It took MONTHS. With very poor customer service from DirectSong and a lot of posts on these boards from people fretting over the delay. Apparently they had technical difficulties or something. I ended up getting my 4 cd’s a week or two after launch. The Soule-signed case is verra nice, I must say, and the music lovely (I have The Seraph as my cell ring tone now).

I completely loathe DirectSong as a business now, however.

I have just had the gem store do this to me. I had a blank gems box but clicked to buy gems. It had me fill out the PayPal info as always but did not open a PayPal window. Restarting the game cured that, I have my gems … now to try to spend them!

I am at a stage in life where I have money to spare, so I nabbed my holo wings off the TP by spending cash on gems to swap for gold. If I had waited I could have spent much less, clearly, as I bought at 30 gold and now it’s 14 gold for a pair.

If you have cash you don’t need for food, shelter, education, clothes, etc, that is a possible way not mentioned by others above.

Check the two threads on opening 1000 coffers for an anecdotal conglomeration of ticket drop (or lack of drop) results. (The threads are in the Dragon Bash part of the Living World subforum).

I think it’s more a matter of guild rank permissions. You need to promote them to a rank and toggle on bank access for that rank.

I actually prefer to unlock all the skills, even underwater, as fast as possible. Then I settle down to figuring out what they do and how they synergize, armed with the recent memory of what it felt like to use each skill during unlocking. Of course at this point I’ve got one of each profession, 4 of them at 80, and a couple of lower alts. So I’m simply plugging in to already achieved game skills.

But once unlocked, I do take my time using each possible combination until I find the one that feels most fun and effective. I was mid 30’s on my Guardian before I settled on scepter/focus for her main set. I probably should revisit swords on my Thief; I just hated the shadow return because I kept ending up too far from my enemy to hit it. Now that I understand the game better and have trained my hotkey muscles further I might do better with a sword!

Anyway, I like having all my options, so I grind out all the skills early and pay attention to what they are doing as I do so.

-Sigh- I have a new necromancer (just HAD to have a sylvari in cultural cloth) and I’m trying so hard not to use the same weapons on her as on my 80 necro but since I settled on the most fun ones already it’s quite difficult to change it up.

Ctrl-Shift-H is default, but you can remap it in keybinds. I have mine on F11 (as I do in most games) because that’s near the Print Screen button so I can tap off UI, tap screenshot, and tap UI back on rapidly, thus allowing action shots.

Nice pictures so far, everyone!

Question, how do you switch teams? I’ve never noticed the option even after I was told it existed. Not that the other team will want me, I don’t have the reflexes for PvP and I don’t think I got as high as third best scorer more than once in 25 games. And only won 6 of those 25. I certainly don’t have time during a match to stare at the UI looking for a button somewhere on it to press because I am moving constantly, going for powerups and heals and zapping any enemy I see.

I have done my best to stick with teammates and to be aware of the opposing side’s locations, and I’ve had some runs with a good number of kills, but I seldom end up on a team that is sticking together. I’d love to swap to the team that has 3 or 4 moving in a pack and help them out.

I find it nearly impossible to type text sentences while running, let alone while fighting. And when I stop to take the time to type, the others keep running and get out of range. Being in or out of a group wouldn’t change that. Plus, as others noted, in this game you are meant to look at the game world rather than the UI so chat scrolling won’t even register in your awareness if you’re doing anything other than chat. I don’t PuG dungeons, I go with guild groups — and even Mumble is only useful for quick bursts of communication, I can’t just randomly banter while fighting a boss. So for me personally, socialization wouldn’t be increased by forced grouping for benefits.

On the other hand, I get a ton of socializing in through guild RP, and if we’re chatting out loud then others will come up and join. Just yesterday I had a new alt chatting with a guildie in Kessex. Someone else joined the conversation because he needed to find a way into that cave skill point by Overlord’s Greatcamp. I in character led them to the entrance, we fought our way in, got the skill, and fought our way out with occasional IC commentary. Then scampered to the waypoint to hang out and RP more! A few days earlier I was near a hologram with a guildie. Someone else started emoting, we emoted back, and ended up with a long silly non-canon RP scene involving marriage, divorce, and an adopted Quaggan child named Puddle.

I’m lucky enough to be on Tarnished Coast, a highly sociable RP server. If you chat there in Map, you’ll get replies. But look at how these things happened: I and a friend RP’d, others noted us doing so and started chatting too. If you want social, -be- social.

edit: About auto-voice chat — fine, if it’s a robust system (WoW’s voice chat failed big time compared to dedicated programs like Vent and Mumble) and an optional one. My brain is either in reading mode or hearing mode, I can’t do both, so I turn off voice chat when RPing.

I have vague intimations that this would cause a lot of issues with intended impassable terrain. Much as I love free fall and safe landings (man, the exit from CoE teleporter path brings back WoW memories of transporter failures), I’m not sure this could be safely implemented in a balanced manner.

To the poster who said “work on other things instead” — Suggestions are just that, things small or large that someone would like to see in the game. Please consider addressing a suggestion on its own merits, not how it compares to other suggestions that you would prefer implemented.

I prefer minis that look like real things (or real holos). I was sadly disappointed in Chauncey — happily a guildie got him, not me — because that’s not a realistic cat. So I don’t want smoke, or laser shows, etc.

I like the titles. I certainly wish I could get “Basher” from this event, my warrior would put that on and never take it off. The more out there, the more likely one will exactly fit a character.

They start at local in game dawn. Night is 40 minutes long, so if you see night start then you will know (also your Map chat might have info). Exactly when they happen will depend on what main or overflow you are in so once you are there, stick with it.

I’ve been having a blast with it. I think my favorite moment was test firing a launcher in LA and seeing a guardian symbol in the sky. I daydream about fireworks that make pictures instead of spheres!

I also love the jade weapon skins (I wish they were easier to get) and was super lucky to get a ticket that means my Canthan-descent necromancer now has a family heirloom staff. I’m hoping for 3 or 4 more tickets before it’s done (not expecting even one more, though). I really couldn’t stand the F&F or Sclerite weapons, finally there are pretty ones.

The pinata effect is glorious.

I had a lot of fun on Wednesday running around Kessex bashing holograms. It was calm and zenlike. Then on Thursday I was doing some with friends. We paused by one in NE Kessex because we were done, and found that it kept spawning now and then while we engaged in impromptu ridiculous RP with a random charr (Gwen, you rock). That made it not camping, but socializing with occasional loot.

Our guild will have a fireworks watching party this weekend (more RP chances!).

I continue to love playing this game. I just looked at some gear updates for my previous MMO and shuddered. GW2 has wonderful art and clothes I want to wear!

I sprang for 40 Rich Coffers, and got a ticket somewhere in the last 10 of those. I have no idea how many regular coffers I’ve opened since I’ve just clicked them as they dropped and haven’t bought any. No tickets in those, and 2 minis.

I really want 3 more tickets (shield and 2 pistols, do want) but will be amazed if I get even one, given my usual track record of no tickets in any event. I admit I don’t play the content all day every day of the event, either, though I am an active player logging several hours a day.

I would love to see an MMO with seasons. Dark and Light did that but had so many wrong things happening that I couldn’t get past the first day or two of play (horrid UI, constant crashes). But they actually had dynamic seasons across the map, cycling through all four, with wind affecting trees, snow piling up and melting, etc.

The usual answer is to go to a zone permanently stuck in a particular season, in which occasional rain or snow will fall as appropriate. I yearn for an unusual answer even though I know it will be very difficult to program and execute.

Did you check your mail? The winnings come in the mail as vouchers, that you then turn in to the apprentice next to Tigg.

Though there should be an event medal in your upper right once all 5 birds arrive, so long as you have stayed in the race area, giving you gold, silver, or bronze, or a copper Event Failed if your bird was 3rd or 4th.

SmudgerUK, I tried the game for the first time yesterday. I did suck for the most part, but found the best results came from following on the heels of one or two others on my team and only detouring to nab some buffs or heals at need. I only got 6 wins in 20 games, though. The worst games were where the other side stuck together in a pack and my side scattered to the four winds.

So look for a team member who’s doing well and stick with him or her like glue! Also at the start of each match ctrl-right click your 1 skill so it will autoattack.

If you use them they will be at least account bound, so you won’t be able to sell them after that. You can pull them off and on as easily as any other item of gear; they will be in your back slot to the left of your accessories (lower right area of Hero panel). You can even leave them on and toggle their visibility in that slot.

You do need a back slot item to put the skin on; you can buy it in the gem store, or wait to a higher level to get a level-restricted one from the TP (check Spineguard and Brace as keywords in your TP search). If you use a white non-stat back item (gem store origin) you can swap it around between your characters, or so I gather from other posts in these forums.

I don’t think there is, Zariuss. Being small is a huge advantage in PvP so they aren’t going to make that something you can do while keeping all your skills. As a rule, tonics transform your skill sets and grant Costume Brawl abilities.

If you were an Engineer you could use the shrinking elixir in short bursts.

I’d go with the guardian or mesmer, unless you are role playing the characters and one has more story for you. For game play and survivability, I’ve loved my guardian and mesmer the most (heck, I don’t even RP the mesmer and she’s 80 now).

The guardian is super helpful to groups and super sturdy. She doesn’t dps worth a darn, mind you. Still, if the goal is to win the fight, she will prevail over time against anything but a boss (and frequently has to suicide so the rest of the group can rez). She’s my only character with a lot of Healing Power and it makes a huge difference when I use my heal.

The mesmer surprised me with survivability and, oddly, with underwater power. I actively choose to go underwater on her for daily kills because mobs simply melt under her trident assault. On land, she stays up most of the time. Once you get the hang of the F1-F4 skills, and the clone/phantasm utilities, you can have multiple yous dazing and confusing the enemy almost nonstop. Also, when downed you have some amazing skills to get back up again.

As I am almost 100% PvE, my thief has proved less handy. He’s great for exploration and mobility, less good on dps (though that may be me not knowing what the heck I was doing in picking traits, as he was my first character). He’s still my main for RP and achieves, but it can be frustrating getting downed so much in dungeons and world boss fights.

My norn Ranger is only level 21, I’m not enamored of pet classes as a rule. I don’t have a feel yet for what she might be like at higher levels though I have several Ranger guildies that do very well.