Guild Wars 2

Thanks for the replies thus far.

I would like to re-emphasize my preference for a control/offense oriented character. I want to be able to stun/freeze/slow/ensnare reliably and consistently. Guardians can’t do that. Mesmers are inherently too slow to initiate a fight within range.

#HealingSignet

15char

Elementalist sounds tempting because I do like the looks of light armor. However, I’ve read that it is an underwhelming profession (i.e. it takes a lot of effort to be as effective as other professions). Also, I already have a Mesmer. Perhaps an Elementalist is more straightforward?

So far I have 2 high level characters.

1. Guardian
+ No complaints in PvE
+ No complaints in WvW karma trains
- Slow in and out of combat
- Long cool down
- Hard to lock down enemies

2. Mesmer
+ Interesting mechanics
+ Looks nice
- Too much work in WvW. Too much “ramp up” required.
- I can’t seem to find a build where I feel 100% comfortable.

Which profession should I pick that will have drastically different play styles from the Guardian and Mesmer? I am looking for a swift character with the ability to control (be it stuns or ensnare) others frequently.

I have cleared the PVE content, and I have started to participate in WvW.

I joined as my guardian and I started to wander around (not picking fights, just exploring). Anyway, I spotted 3 enemy players quite a distance away. Obviously, I did not want to fight, so I popped “Retreat!” and ran in the opposite direction from them. They still managed to catch me within a few seconds. In the end, I died and they started to teabag my corpse.

I remember one of them is a thief and another is a mesmer. How did they cover so much ground so quickly?

Am I missing something, or are there not a lot of places where you can access your stash (i.e. bank tab). The only places I know are the personal bank (duh), and crafting stations. I play a human character, and I have made it to the ice maps (Lornar’s pass). Say I found a new armor, and I have an upgrade component (in my collection) that I want to use. Do I have to travel, or spend gold TPing all the way to Queensdale?

As it stands, only the following mats can be harvested/mined: ores, wood, gem stones, and cooking ingredients. Tailor/leather working is screwed over because we have to rely on loot drops. First we have to kill a mob. Next we have to hope the mob drops a bag or a light/medium armor. Then we have to hope that the bag contains jute/leather scraps, or we have to use salvage kits to obtain jute/leather. Do you see the problem here? Gathering leather/jute is so much slower than gathering other mats. As we outlevel our crafting discipline quite frequently, we are forced to “farm” starting areas for leather/jute. This is not exactly anti-grind isn’t it?

Suggestion: make gathering of leather/jute more “natural”. It feels way better to gather mats AS YOU EXPLORE the map. There should be “jute plants” or what ever you want to call it. As for leather, maybe add a “skinning” mechanism? We could kill the non-hostile cows and deers, and obtain leather from them.

Bluestone.7106:

Level crafting through discovering new recipes (Discovery tab) not crafting in bulk. I wasted a lot of tier 1 resources before I realised the value of discovery.

Also, salvage lots to get crafting materials. Easier later in the game though.

The problem is, there are only so many discovery recipes in each “tier”.

Explore a starting maps to 100%. Discover new recipes in crafting. Doing these two alone would net you a good chunk of exp.

Chessrook.8643:

HA! You think this is bad? Jute Scraps are nothing compared to the horror that is, as I call them, DROP MATS. But you probably encountered them… scales, totems, vials of blood… you’re going to need them to craft EVERYTHING. And they rarely drop when you need them! I’ve spent a full gold just getting my skills up that last 25 to the next rank so I can use the next level of mats.

The fact that you can’t craft anything in the armorsmithing or weaponsmithing crafts without using these Drop Mats (Except plain boxes, but those lose viability for levelling pretty darn fast) is utterly ridiculous.

Ouch! I wouldn’t know because I usually run out of jute scraps before i run out of blood.

Is crafting suppose to be the dedicated gold and/or time sink?

My highest toon is level 35, and I have significantly outleveled my crafting discipline (tailor). My tailor is at level 40, and I have checked that in order to craft something that is comparable to level 35 vendor items, I need to raise my tailor to at least 100. It requires work, I’m fine with that. However, the raw materials are almost non-existent. I am no longer finding jute scraps past level 20 or so.
Currently, I have two options. Option 1: farm (read: grind) starting areas. The problem is, jute scraps rarely drop. I have killed about 50 bandits, opened 8 bags, and salvaged 2 pieces of dropped armor. I have gained a whopping 5 scraps of jute. Comparatively, I can chop down 2 trees get double the amount of green wood.
Option 2: buy jute scraps from TP. As you can guess, the prices are ridiculous because of the high demand and low supply.
I am not looking to make a bank from crafting. I only want to craft OK gear naturally, as I explore and level up. This is almost impossible because the most basic component for crafting is so scarce.