Guild Wars 2

woofdang.6397:

No real reason to chat in GW2 it seems being you don’t need other class help. Nor do you have to chat about specs or armor and such as there is not much variety. In other MMOs it was nice to talk about different specs and armor enchantments and where loot was obtained as well as make friends of various classes for help. None of this is needed in GW2 and it’s just a very very simple linear MMO.

As a minor theorycrafter and boss soloist, I chat daily about all of the things you’ve mentioned with both friends and strangers, and have helped (both over the forums, in Reddit, and in-game) numerous players with their classes and with transitioning to the combat of GW2 from the combat of other games. With every LS that comes out, I switch on /map and get to work directing people and answering their questions about which NPC to turn in what item to, where LS-specific events can be found, and where they need to look to find things for an achievement. Having been around since the game came out, I can say GW2 is hardly simple nor linear.

Though I may sound caustic, you’ve hardly scratched the surface of the game. It feels like you came into GW2 already determined to hate it because it isn’t WoW, when a major selling point of the game is that it’s an anti-WoW. If that’s so, you’re better off dropping GW2, asking for a refund, and playing something you actually like. Nothing wrong with having different tastes, just realize that not everyone will share them and that not all games will be tailored to them. That’s not an attack- just the best course of action, one that’ll make you happier than lingering around and complaining.

To the OP: It’s a matter of keeping your ears open and putting yourself out there. Help people out if you see them calling for help, involve yourself in /map when the chat is nice, join a talkative guild, and when you’re experienced yourself, hang around helping or just shooting the breeze with newer players.

I, too, came to GW2 alone, not knowing anyone or knowing how to talk to anyone. Over a year later, I have a close-knit group of friends, who I all know and call by their real names. We’ve given each other materials for legendaries without asking a copper back, four-manned and three-manned dungeons, and minizerged map completion together on our alts. I also have a range of acquaintances who I can chat with if I ever feel the need to, and some new players who have taken me up on my offers to help and PM me with questions or to chat. I assist two guilds with guild missions and get requested to help with runs by another guild I’m on friendly terms with, despite not being a member. Outside of that, I often jump into /map when it’s friendly and just chat about whatever with whoever’s on.

This didn’t all fall into place automatically. I said hello to people when they logged on, made a point of welcoming newbies and offering help (two of my close friends were actually new players I ran across and helped), teleported across the zone (or world) to help people with vistas and skill points, ran around as my mesmer portalling people through jumping puzzles. I also worked to improve myself as a player so I could give better advice and hold my own in dungeons, and be a tap rather than a bucket in groups. I let people know that I was always glad to talk to them and help them, that they were free to talk about whatever with me, and that I wouldn’t bite their faces off if they liked cats better than dogs.

As with all MMOs, building a social base takes time, and you’re going to be lonely at first. But it is definitely not impossible, especially not in GW2. It’s just a matter of work- keeping your ears open, making yourself into the kind of person people want to know, and putting yourself out there.

If you just want to buy one immediately for gold, search “Spineguard” on the TP or check in with the guild armorer (if your guild has it unlocked) for rare-quality backpieces. Exotic backpieces can be bought for guild commendations+gold at the commendation trader in LA and karma at the temple karma vendors in Orr when the temples are under Pact control. It overall depends on what stats you’re after, though.

nagr.1593:

I agree..and I’m pretty sure Falunel was being sarcastic (though I can’t be sure).

I wasn’t- sarcasm to the point of misleading questioners is poor form, at least to me. There’s at least one person who transmuted their Bolt onto a plain iron sword to check this theory, and others who’ve said they’re making legendaries now for this purpose.

As for why they would do it- legendaries will always be best-in-slot, and you can change their stats around if the meta ever shifts. If you want to use a non-legendary rare weapon like Wings of Dwayna or Infinite Light in any situation, you can transmute the corresponding legendary onto it and never have to worry about missing out on the skin if you want to run another statset. Also, you save on inventory space when it comes to carrying weapons of different statsets.

It’s quite a bit of work, but ultimately up to them.

What sort of look are you going for? Scholarly, sleek, sweeping, fierce, mysterious, seductive, dark, elegant, etc. How okay are you with revealing armor? Are there any particular pieces of your current set you’d like to keep? If so, why?

For flowing leggings, the two that spring to mind immediately are the Conjurer leggings (the rare quality kind) and the Arah leggings. The conjurer leggings sit rather low on the hips and don’t mesh well with the Rubric set, though, and the Arah leggings are… from Arah. And they clip sometimes with sylvari legs.

Arikyali.5804:

Aak! I completed my storyline long ago, and probably salvaged/got rid of it. It’s soulbound, so I can’t move it to another character if I got it again. Is there no other way to obtain it?

You can “soulbreak” soulbound items by using transmutation stones to make them accountbound.

1. Buy a white piece of gear that corresponds to the type of the gear piece you’re soulbreaking. For example, if you’re trying to soulbreak the Rubric chest, you would buy a white quality light chest armor piece. Do NOT buy the white armor from NPCs armorsmiths, as it is soulbound.

2. Using a Transmutation Stone (or Crystal), transmute the looks of the piece you want to soulbreak onto the stats of the white item. Since white items from the TP can never be soulbound, the resulting piece will become account bound.

3. Put the transmuted item in your bank and pick it up on the character you wanted the look on.

4. Use another Transmutation Stone or Crystal to transmute the looks of the soulbroken piece onto your armor.

This can be done with weapons and backpieces as well, and has been confirmed by Anet to NOT be an exploit. Unfortunately, this does mean you will have to level an alt to get the pieces, though a friend can run you through the missions even when you’re underleveled to speed things up.

If you are short some Transmutation Stones, the best way to get them would be to complete a map. You can get them fairly quickly if you have an empty character slot- make a sylvari and complete the Grove for three stones.

Yes- a number of people have made legendaries for this purpose since the update.

Justdeifyme.9387:

My tip is to don’t listen to kittens like this one ^

Seconding, along with the tip to avoid the forums as much as you can. They’re full of whining and sheeple. Play what you like, how you like, and judge things for yourself.

If it’s all right, I’ll repost a post I made for a similar question.

Falunel.7645:

This was in response to a person asking how GW2 compared to SWTOR, but I feel a good amount of the information is still relevant:

I have not played SWTOR, but going on what I hear, the cash shop in GW2 is not like SWTOR’s. The stuff in the cash shop is cosmetic, fluff (toys and extra dance emotes), or convenience/luxury (extra character slots and bag slots). The most “needed” things in the cash shop are Transmutation Crystals, which are used to copy the looks of one level 80 gear to the stats of another, but this serves only a cosmetic purpose and does not give you an advantage over other players. In addition, if you don’t want to spend actual money, you can convert in-game gold to cash shop currency and buy what you want that way.

The combat in GW2 is extremely active. You can move while attacking and dodge roll to avoid all incoming attacks- not only can you do this, you should do this. Many skills do more than damage and can be used to buff allies, debuff enemies, or counter/block incoming attacks. Standing still and spamming stuff without paying attention gets you killed quickly in harder content, as you MUST avoid the big attacks (and the smaller ones as well if you build glassy).

Your effectiveness as a player is dependent on how well you play, not on your gear. No matter how good your gear is, you will get killed if you play poorly. Good gear makes things easier and faster, but it doesn’t carry you like in other games. It is also relatively easy to gear up- exotics (second-highest tier gear) can be gotten quickly through a variety of methods and is enough for 99.9% of the game. Ascended (top tier) takes longer to get, but is only marginally more powerful and meant more as a way to round out a character than as a requirement- if you want to opt out of Ascended gear, you’ll be perfectly fine. You can also run around in rares (third-highest tier gear) and do fine as well as long as you’re a skilled and aware player.

There is also no healer/tank/DPS trinity. There are no dedicated healers- every class has self-heals, and though some can heal other party members, those party heals are weak and cannot save a sloppy player. There is no way to control aggro- mobs will aggro one person, then the next, or even fixate on one random person with no rhyme or reason. Every class has their ways of surviving aggro, every class has a way to support teammates, and every class can bring damage to the table while doing so. Every person in a team is responsible for keeping themselves alive while supporting each other and damaging an enemy.

There is no kill/node stealing. Everyone who helps kill a mob gets equal exp and their own set of drops. Everyone has their own personal copy of the same resource node. In dungeons, everyone gets their own set of loot from bosses and chests, as well as dungeon tokens to trade in for the gear they want.

Like with every game, there’s elitism, trolling, and immaturity, but GW2 has a generally friendly and helpful playerbase. I can’t say their names, but there were servers that were chosen by Something Awful and 4chan to be their hubs; I’d recommend steering clear of those, and also either running dungeons only with people you know, or putting your own postings up in LFG, stating that you’re new and looking to learn. Otherwise, people are generally pretty nice.

If you have questions in-game, you can PM me anytime by typing /tell Falunel in chat. Welcome to Tyria!

Here’s the rest of that thread, has some good stuff: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1ob2fi/caved_in_and_bought_the_game/

Another thing- the journey to 80 is supposed to be a journey, not a rush or an obstacle. There’s a lot of content to see while leveling in the open world- you’ll be rewarded for exploring, and you might encounter some hidden events or interesting dialogues. You’re also free to level in any zone at or below your level thanks to downscaling. Don’t rush to 80- enjoy the process.

And reemphasizing: do what you want in the game. Get Ascended gear if you want to, go higher in Fractals if you want to. Neither are required. If you’d rather continue to explore, go ahead! If you’d rather hang around Queensdale and chat up new players, go ahead. If you want to play hardcore, min/max, and clear everything in the shortest time, go ahead. If you want to do laid-back runs and play casually, go ahead.

Rest of the thread: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/WoW-player-coming-to-GW2/first

This was in response to a person asking how GW2 compared to SWTOR, but I feel a good amount of the information is still relevant:

I have not played SWTOR, but going on what I hear, the cash shop in GW2 is not like SWTOR’s. The stuff in the cash shop is cosmetic, fluff (toys and extra dance emotes), or convenience/luxury (extra character slots and bag slots). The most “needed” things in the cash shop are Transmutation Crystals, which are used to copy the looks of one level 80 gear to the stats of another, but this serves only a cosmetic purpose and does not give you an advantage over other players. In addition, if you don’t want to spend actual money, you can convert in-game gold to cash shop currency and buy what you want that way.

The combat in GW2 is extremely active. You can move while attacking and dodge roll to avoid all incoming attacks- not only can you do this, you should do this. Many skills do more than damage and can be used to buff allies, debuff enemies, or counter/block incoming attacks. Standing still and spamming stuff without paying attention gets you killed quickly in harder content, as you MUST avoid the big attacks (and the smaller ones as well if you build glassy).

Your effectiveness as a player is dependent on how well you play, not on your gear. No matter how good your gear is, you will get killed if you play poorly. Good gear makes things easier and faster, but it doesn’t carry you like in other games. It is also relatively easy to gear up- exotics (second-highest tier gear) can be gotten quickly through a variety of methods and is enough for 99.9% of the game. Ascended (top tier) takes longer to get, but is only marginally more powerful and meant more as a way to round out a character than as a requirement- if you want to opt out of Ascended gear, you’ll be perfectly fine. You can also run around in rares (third-highest tier gear) and do fine as well as long as you’re a skilled and aware player.

There is also no healer/tank/DPS trinity. There are no dedicated healers- every class has self-heals, and though some can heal other party members, those party heals are weak and cannot save a sloppy player. There is no way to control aggro- mobs will aggro one person, then the next, or even fixate on one random person with no rhyme or reason. Every class has their ways of surviving aggro, every class has a way to support teammates, and every class can bring damage to the table while doing so. Every person in a team is responsible for keeping themselves alive while supporting each other and damaging an enemy.

There is no kill/node stealing. Everyone who helps kill a mob gets equal exp and their own set of drops. Everyone has their own personal copy of the same resource node. In dungeons, everyone gets their own set of loot from bosses and chests, as well as dungeon tokens to trade in for the gear they want.

Like with every game, there’s elitism, trolling, and immaturity, but GW2 has a generally friendly and helpful playerbase. I can’t say their names, but there were servers that were chosen by Something Awful and 4chan to be their hubs; I’d recommend steering clear of those, and also either running dungeons only with people you know, or putting your own postings up in LFG, stating that you’re new and looking to learn. Otherwise, people are generally pretty nice.

If you have questions in-game, you can PM me anytime by typing /tell Falunel in chat. Welcome to Tyria!

Here’s the rest of that thread, has some good stuff: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1ob2fi/caved_in_and_bought_the_game/

Another thing- the journey to 80 is supposed to be a journey, not a rush or an obstacle. There’s a lot of content to see while leveling in the open world- you’ll be rewarded for exploring, and you might encounter some hidden events or interesting dialogues. You’re also free to level in any zone at or below your level thanks to downscaling. Don’t rush to 80- enjoy the process.

And reemphasizing: do what you want in the game. Get Ascended gear if you want to, go higher in Fractals if you want to. Neither are required. If you’d rather continue to explore, go ahead! If you’d rather hang around Queensdale and chat up new players, go ahead. If you want to play hardcore, min/max, and clear everything in the shortest time, go ahead. If you want to do laid-back runs and play casually, go ahead.

If you ever need anything, I’ll make the same offer for you: PM me anytime, in-game or on the forums, if you have questions. Welcome!

Qaelyn.7612:

Thanks Falunel, useful stuff!

I am enjoying the mesmer more, though I find many of the abilities confusing and, based on what I know of the game, not that useful.. at least at this level. But I was warned about that…

I may roll myself a Guardian even though everyone and his brother seems to run one. It does seem like it might be a better way of learning the game, and of course I can play both at the same time if I wish…

Could you provide a few examples of the skills you find useless? Maybe we can explain some.

Hey again, Qaelyn. Sent this via PM earlier, but it was probably missed (and it’s easier to click here, anyway). This guide helped me quite a bit with leveling my mesmer- know you’re not alone.

http://tcgw2.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=825

It’s ultimately up to you to try other classes or not, but don’t feel bad if you do. I tried every class myself before settling on elementalist, and it was a fun and interesting experience.

Also, here’s the Tarnished Coast server forums: http://forthetoast.com/ It’s mainly a WvW hub at the moment, but the people there are quite nice and helpful. Feel free to drop in and say hi anytime.

Brother Grimm.5176:

I’m not sure why the Level of the mission would matter (sure hope anyone attempting this mission is 80), but I think his point is that bragging about your Dungeon runs by posting a video of it does not help the OP one bit….nor does your inspirational speech. How about some specific suggestions to beat the mentioned boss rather than obscure philosophy quotes and wordy “it could be you”, comments.

I wish I could take credit for that video. But it’s not mine- it’s this guy’s.

I also did give the OP some specific advice (the second post in this thread) on the boss, as well as an offer to party with him and help directly if he was still having trouble. I’ve helped someone before with that boss, and I can say that he’s a tough one and there’s no shame in having trouble with him. There is absolutely nothing wrong with not knowing, but wanting to learn.

My protest was directed at the poster who told the OP that the mission was impossible unless it glitched or he rerolled a ranger. Perhaps I let my feelings get ahead of me and was harsher than warranted, but nothing annoys me more than someone saying that something is impossible for everyone simply because he personally couldn’t do it.

That aside, rereading my post, I feel I could be a bit more specific for the OP (or anyone having the same issues). From what I remember:

The first phase, where the Spider Lord is in his first form, shouldn’t be too much trouble if you kite a lot to avoid getting eaten by the little spiders. It’s his second form that’s troublesome- once he becomes a spider, he’ll start doing this nasty attack where he’ll pull you to him and immobilize you. You will either want to dodge this pull or bring a condition remover to escape the immobilize ASAP, because a second afterwards, he will do a heavy-hitting attack that also applies an unremovable damage-over-time, all while the little spiders catch up to you and eat you. This will usually be what gets you. I believe the spiders also apply poison, which can be an issue with regeneration builds.

You might have to change your traits and weapons (not necessarily your gear, though). Trait for better recovery, possibly Mobile Strikes to break out of immobilize if your condition removals are on cooldown. Longbow possibly could help thin the adds as well.

Vick.6805:

In most games, you have a trade-off between survivability and damage. The squishier the class, the more damage it does. The tankier the class, the less damage it does. GW2 has a skewed version of this tradeoff (mostly evident in traits).

However, because ANet wants all classes to be able to spec for pure DPS, the heavy armor classes have an inherent advantage of more survivability to go along with high DPS. This is disregarding traits, and looking at base armor, a warrior’s higher HP, and the guardian’s class mechanics as exampkitten th heavy classes can also increase their own survivability using traits without sacrificing much in the way of DPS, whereas some classes have to limit their DPS potential much more to acquire any survivability at all. An example here would be Elementalists, of which a very high percentage (in my experience) stack points in the Water and Arcana trait lines.

So, in short, there is very little reason NOT to play a warrior or guardian at the moment, because there is very little incentive to play a squishier class outside the player’s own enjoyment.

I enjoy playing all eight professions, but I honestly hope ANet can figure out how to give the squishier classes their own advantages to counter-balance the disproportionate number of heavy class players we have right now.

If you really care about min/maxing (which no one should be forced to), elementalists and thieves currently outdamage warriors and bring utilities to the group that warriors and guardians cannot (stealth, conjures, high might stacking).

Other classes have lower damage but ways to buff the party that warriors and guardians do not. Mesmers have portal and Time Warp. Necros and engineers can stack vulnerability, which increases everyone’s damage. Rangers have two unique offensive party buffs- Spotter and Frost Spirit. It is actually more efficient to have a mix of classes rather than stack warriors.

The main benefit to having multiple heavies in a group (namely PUGs) is that, as you said, it’s harder to screw up playing one of them as opposed to an ele or thief.

Daywolf.2630:

@falunail Thats still all very noobish, since you havent actually experianced a level 80 ranger. You still know nothing about me to make comparisons to yourself or anyone else. Yes, you derailed the thread with that, and with your accusations against me. Try actually leveling a ranger before trying to talk others into playing the class. And not just level one, but actually play and experiance lvl80 on it.

All right, imagine I’m not the one saying everything here. Imagine instead that it was Brazil who came in here and said what he said on reddit and elsewhere:

Gameplay with Sword is that farthest thing from boring I could possibly imagine, because you have to queue up attacks ahead of time, know what attacks bosses are going to do, break your autoattack chain if you make a mistake, and do all of that while managing a pet.

It’s not boring, it’s not lazy, it’s very difficult…The downside of the class is that more people can’t play it effectively because of the challenge it brings. I don’t play mine as often anymore because I can’t relax while playing it. It’s difficult and rage inducing when you make a mistake.

Ranger would be good regardless of how fast it could do CoF. The reason there is only one is the same reason there is only one Warrior: unique buffs. One Warrior is able to cover Banner of Strength and Discipline, the Ranger brings Spotter and Frost Spirit. Thieves bring the highest single target DPS in the game, and Mesmer brings utility. Every party in the universe could benefit from having a solid Ranger, but not many people are capable of playing Ranger that well.

and

Ranger is pretty strong, it just takes a strong will to master. Don’t give up :)

That is the message I’m passing on, for him, for other current rangers, and most importantly, for players who have the potential to become great rangers and love every moment of it, but get frightened off by naysayers. I might not have played ranger to that extent, but he has, in groups and tests devoted to picking apart the game. And no amount of ad hominem arguing will change that fact.

Though if you still want to keep arguing along that line, tell me which of these is more plausible:

1) That you are a special snowflake who somehow- despite not having any remarkable feat to your name, despite not having a skilled static group to do highly controlled DPS tests and speedruns with, despite not having written any guides or collected any evidence to support any of your claims- somehow has superior knowledge of the class and all aspects of the game, to the extent that it surpasses actual recorded, controlled, precise tests and records done by a highly experienced group of people who have written numerous meta guides and are still finding ways to push the most out of every class, or

2) That you are simply one of the many players who cannot (or do not want to put in the effort to) play ranger well, and rather than realize that and accept that (like myself and guardian) your strengths may simply lie elsewhere, that the playstyle simply isn’t your thing, you blame the class for your own shortcomings and refuse to acknowledge any evidence to the contrary. As many players have done before you, with every class from guardian to ele.

Linking Brazil’s reddit post again.
Here’s the rest of that reddit thread.
Here’s a guide to min/maxing with ANY class, if you’re really into min/max.
And here’s the guide Brazil wrote over ranger, with videos.

“Every man mistakes the limits of his vision for the limits of the world.” – Arthur Schoppenhauer

And that is the last I will say on this topic.

@OP: Ahh, so that’s what you meant by skill queuing. If that’s what you enjoy, then I would say go for elementalist. Shatters on mesmer have to be more carefully planned and timed, and at least to me don’t feel as swift and spontaneous as an elementalist’s skills. There are some very neat combos that you can do with arcane skills, traited attunements, Lightning Flash, and auras.

Ele isn’t quite as bursty as thief, though- it’s more of a heavy sustained damage class that can build itself up by stacking lots of boons. Bursting as ele takes some planning and precise skill use. I do know that there’s a burst PvP build using scepter/dagger (the weaponset with the strongest single-hit skills and the best might-stacking ability), so if you’re interested in burst, you could play around with S/D.

They’re a good newcomer class- forgiving to the inexperienced while being still relatively easy yet effective at higher levels. Every class can be played effectively, some to the point of outdamaging warriors, but they are more difficult.

Also, I think a lot of people just enjoy the paladin motif, and for those who miss healing/tanking, it’s the quintessential defensive support class and the closest you can come to healing/defending.

Do not ask for other players to give you things in the PHP boards.

Daywolf.2630:

Falunel.7645:

Daywolf.2630:

Falunel.7645:

An opinion that does not agree with yours =/= trol

“players that are better than you and I”
And a bad trolling at that. Speak for yourself, you don’t hnow jack about me!
You havent even leveled a ranger yet for kittens sake! geez

The guy whose videos I linked is an experienced player and dungeon soloist who is part of a well-known hardcore/minmax/theorycrafting guild, who happens to have leveled a ranger and a warrior and compared them side by side. I don’t think it’s trolling to say that he’s more knowledgable than -both- of us.

By both you mean you. You dont even have a ranger. LOL
side-by-side two classes… 2 is greater than 8? Like I said in a previous post, I leveled all the classes. All my characters are alts and I play them all too. All played, all studied, all having multiple sets of gear (exo and ascended). But you already know this about me, right?…

Tonight I watched a ranger start a group with the lfg tool for AC. Ten minutes passed, many other groups were formed and filled, dozens, but no one would join the rangers party. Finally he canceled. A minute later, I saw a guard start a group and the ranger joined his lvl80 group. Five minutes passes, a dozen groups formed and quickly filled up, but that group still only had a guard and a ranger. After another five minutes, they had a group full for AC, 1 guard and… 4 rangers! No kidding. 20 minutes to get started, about the time it takes to run a path in AC. Yeah, learn to solo dungeon that ranger.

On the flip side, I’ve seen rangers get taken the moment they make their LFG. That, and if you want to farm dungeons for gold, a static group is the best option.

There’s a shift in terminology lately when it comes to people complaining about rangers- instead of “I hate rangers,” it’s “I hate bearbow rangers.” More and more people are realizing that rangers do just fine if they’re played right, i.e. not autoattacking with a longbow and bear. The 4 warrior/1 mesmer meta is out of date- people are finding ways to play every class effectively.

Having a class at 80 does not mean you know it, nor does having all classes at 80 mean you’re an expert at the game. As I said, the person I referenced is a theorycrafter in a guild devoted to elite play (which has studied all eight classes and written min/max guides for all of them), who has written build guides, soloed dungeons, and set record runs. I highly doubt he and his guild are less knowledgeable than you are.

I will end with this:

“Every man mistakes the limits of his vision for the limits of the world.” – Arthur Schoppenhauer

OP: I apologize for derailing your thread. Elementalist and thief are both very fast classes where comboing is important. Elementalist can afford to do some more head-on fighting than thief if built for it- it has better self-recovery and boon defenses. Thief is more hit and run. Mesmer has a more deliberate playstyle that emphasizes being able to counter enemies and knowing when to shatter.

In dungeon speedruns, both thieves and elementalists outdamage warriors (again, when built and played right). In the thief’s case, they are brought for high damage and stealthing the party past mobs. In the ele’s case, they are brought for sheer damage, conjure weapons, or stacking lots of might and fury on the party. Mesmers don’t do as much damage, but provide a number of utilities that make the run faster or easier- portal, Time Warp, and projectile reflections. In non-speedruns, you can build more towards balance and still do fine.

It’ll probably boil down to how you want to support your party, and what kind of build (glassy or balanced) you prefer.

Stormchoir.3276:

What does your YouTube video have to do with this topic? He is talking about the Spider Lord which is a level 78 personal story while you linked a video of a level 80 warrior which looks like he is in a hell of a lot better gear doing a level 80 dungeon.

“Every man mistakes the limits of his vision for the limits of the world.” – Arthur Schoppenhauer

Gear helps, but it doesn’t make the player, especially when soloing dungeons. There’s a reason you don’t see everyone soloing Arah P2. It’s why PUGs wipe persistently on Lupicus, and why people make money off selling spots in almost-completed Arah exp runs.

The point is that many things that seem impossible are in fact very possible- if a warrior can solo a dungeon that was not meant to be soloed, then it stands to reason a warrior can solo a boss -meant- to be doable solo, a boss that has already been soloed by a class considered weaker than warrior. Don’t give up, and especially don’t tell other people to give up.

Daywolf.2630:

Falunel.7645:

An opinion that does not agree with yours =/= trol

“players that are better than you and I”
And a bad trolling at that. Speak for yourself, you don’t hnow jack about me!
You havent even leveled a ranger yet for kittens sake! geez

The guy whose videos I linked is an experienced player and dungeon soloist who is part of a well-known hardcore/minmax/theorycrafting guild, who happens to have leveled a ranger and a warrior and compared them side by side. I don’t think it’s trolling to say that he’s more knowledgable than -both- of us.

nagr.1593:

-PvE
guard/ele/mes
All classes that you listed could work EXCEPT for necro, do not roll one as I’ve heard they’re just terrible at this. also, a guard definitely has highest survivability when dealing with mobs.

Necros aren’t as highly desired as the other three classes in dungeons, but they do fine in general groups if you spec into power and vulnerability stacking- you hit hard while making others hit harder. It’s condition damage builds that become difficult due to condition caps. They’re also quite useful in WvW for screwing up boons, crippling people with conditions, and causing general panic, and one of the top sPvP classes currently.

Overall, OP, I think guardian matches your criteria best- only thing I would say it’s missing is AoE damage. It can do AoEs, but not to the same extent as an ele or well necro. However, I will say that you will need to change between builds depending on what you want. If you roll the high-DPS build for ele, your survivability takes a massive hit since you have little self-recovery and very low health and armor- it’s also not very practical in WvW. Guardian can do damage on par with a warrior, but doing so will likely require you to give up healing and become glassy.

Hyde.6248:

So I’ve been bouncing from profession to profession and so far I’ve really liked warrior elementalist and mesmer. But it’s hard for me to pick just one. I probably will only do PVE and WVW when I hit 80 since I’ve never been much of a pvper. I don’t mind being a bit squishy as long as I’m not dying every 10 secs. I want something that can actually contribute to a dungeon run or fractal and not just sit there doing poor dps and barely helping.

Each of those classes fit your criteria when played right.

Warrior: has group damage buffs and high raw DPS, as well as high base armor and health. They are the simplest of the three and mesh well with PUGs.

Elementalist: when built for it, can buff groups with massive amounts of might and fury while outdamaging warriors. However, they are hardest to play, very squishy, and fare best in organized, coordinated groups rather than PUGs. You can also opt for more balanced ele builds that do less damage but offer a wider variety of boons to share, higher survivability, and (with a focus) projectile blocking.

Mesmer: The least DPS-heavy of the three, but offers multiple support options that the other two do not- namely, reflects, portalling, Time Warp, and boon-stripping.

Welcome to Tyria!

Regarding server choice, I feel this thread sums it up pretty well: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/PvE-Servers-Which-is-best-for-beginners/first

Regarding class and race, race is cosmetic. There are no stat or hitbox differences, and racial skills are balanced to be deliberately weaker than class skills, as well as unusable in sPvP. Though there are a few things to consider:

-Jumping puzzles are harder on charr and norn due to their camera height and body size/running animations. I mained a charr for the longest time, to the point that jumping with her feels almost more natural than jumping with my sylvari, but that came after months of gameplay and falling deaths.

-Each race has different cultural armors exclusive to them, and some armors will look different on different races- there are some people who can’t stand cloth and metal on sylvari, others who don’t like asura because their size makes it difficult to see armor detail, and others who fret about clipping on charr. For this, I’d recommend making a character of each race and going to the sPvP lobby to try on different armors. You can also check out http://argos-soft.net/GW2ArmorGallery/index.php

Class-wise, try anything that appeals to you. In GW2, you can move while fighting and dodge to avoid all attacks- doing both is important in staying alive. Warrior, guardian, and ranger are the most newcomer-friendly in that they have more raw survivability and are forgiving if you don’t dodge or move a lot; however, in difficult content, you will have to learn to move and dodge no matter what your class is. Elementalist, engineer, thief, and mesmer are considered the more difficult beginning classes- they have steeper learning curves and are more dependent upon movement and using skills actively to counter attacks, and thus will die faster if you don’t stay on your toes.

Regarding demand, every class can be played effectively in dungeons. In dungeons, people favor high DPS builds. Warriors, mesmers, and guardians are the basic classes- more advanced groups will ask for elementalists and thieves, who provide strong niche and offensive support abilities and higher damage, but are harder to play. However, the meta changes a lot and classes are constantly rebalanced- it’s more important to find a class you like and play well than to jump from flavor of the month to flavor of the month and not enjoy any of them. I will emphasize also that any class can be played effectively in groups that coordinate and understand that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. My best advice regarding dungeons is to find a good guild/static group of people you know, like, and work well with. It makes dungeoning a lot more fun than with PUGing.

In any case, though, try every class you’re interested in, and don’t get discouraged by people saying that this and that class is too hard and such.

I won’t be around in-game for much of today and tomorrow, and you won’t be able to send PMs for the first two days as a new player, but if you ever have questions or want to talk, you can PM me in-game by typing /tell Falunel in chat. You are also free to message me on these forums at any time. Happy gaming!

Daywolf.2630:

trolling me back? Your answer is you assume I do not play a ranger well. Speak for yourself.

An opinion that does not agree with yours =/= trolling.

I am still in the process of leveling my own ranger, but I linked videos made by a skilled player and theorycrafter who demonstrates that ranger can be effective when played right. I said myself that rangers were stigmatized- what I was arguing against was the idea that they’re useless and not even a guild group will want them. That [DnT] member said himself that the same run with a warrior in place of the ranger would have gone slower, as the ranger provided group DPS buffs another warrior could not have. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts.

Daywolf.2630:

OP is asking about a class for making gold, not off the beaten path struggle to get into groups class.

Actually, this is what he wrote:

I am looking for a very FAST class. So far, it seems my choices are stuck between Mesmer, Elementalist, and Thief since they have very fast combat. I was hoping to have help picking between them or another option with an explanation… By fast I mean very quickly queued skills and action pace, efficiency isn’t as important since I can work around that…

Playing ranger well is challenging because you have to time your sword autoattack and evades well or risk being unable to dodge at vital movements. At the same time, you have to pay attention to your pet and manage it with swapping, using the F2 skill, and callbacks. It requires a lot of multitasking. Whether this is the sort of challenge he wants or not is up to him, since I know a lot of people find it frustrating. But if he enjoys the experience of playing one and wants to master it, then he should by all means play it. If not, and he likes another class, be it warrior or elementalist, he should by all means play that. But he shouldn’t give a class up just because people are narrow-minded- hell, if that was the case, there would have been no eles playing past launch.

Daywolf.2630:

For making gold, your best bet is to get into good groups quickly and not be a drag on them at any point, even casual players don’t want to be held up. That’s all I have to say on the issue.

and as I have said (and other players who are better than both you and I have also said and posted videos on, that I have linked), a good ranger is hard to play but hardly a drag or a hold-up.

Daywolf.2630:

Falunel.7645:

Rangers are stigmatized because they are too often played by poor players. If you’re not doing absolute min/max speedruns,

See? people will defend them, but still the class gets left out, bottom line, even from casual pugs. Nothing to do with the above. Now someone will tell me I don’t know how to play ranger etc etc etc.

I’d hardly say that “absolute min/max speedruns” are “casual PUG” material, given that many of the PUGs I run with spend a generous amount of time dirtnapping because they stood in red circles. It’s not a very efficient run if your DPS is dead.

Yes, as a ranger, you face a stigma created by bad players. But playing a ranger doesn’t mean you’re some lazy autoattacker who may as well not be there, or that a run will take hours longer because you’re there. You can be effective in runs and contribute if you play well. If ranger is your class, if it fits you like a glove and you feel driven to master it and play it well, then play it.

EDIT: Directing you here: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/comments/1o80i5/should_i_reroll_from_ranger/ and to this post in particular.

Rangers are stigmatized because they are too often played by poor players. If you’re not doing absolute min/max speedruns, you’ll be fine going as a ranger as long as you build and play properly- i.e. don’t sit at max range autoattacking with a longbow and a bear that’s dead because you never swap or manage pets, hitting Point Blank Shot whenever it goes off cooldown (and knocking mobs away from the warrior right as he starts Hundred Blades), and dying whenever something aggros you because you’ve never learned to dodge or move when something looks at you hungrily. An offensive sword/warhorn ranger with Spotter and Frost Spirit in particular hits hard while increasing the damage everyone else does in a party.

You can complete dungeons in good time with any class as long as everyone knows their classes well and plays well. Warriors are just wanted because it’s harder to screw up playing a warrior as opposed to a S/D-LH ele or S/W-Spotter-Frost Spirit ranger, and because many PUGs don’t get the point of quickly stacking lots of vulnerability or sacrificing a little personal DPS to boost the DPS of everyone else in the group.

If you are having survivability issues, choose vitality, but only as something to make learning active survivability more forgiving. Work on learning to move around in combat, dodge, and counter attacks.

If you are surviving all right, choose power. There isn’t much reason to stack precision while leveling over power unless you have key effects that proc on crits.

If you guys haven’t already, I’d recommend giving http://www.guildwars2roleplayers.com/ a look.

You will get elitism, raging, and taking-stuff-way-too-seriously in any game, in any mode of play, be it PvE, PvP, or even RP. I’d highly recommend finding a good static group or guild that does dungeons, one with people who are relaxed about stuff and just like to laugh mistakes off. I run regularly with a semi-static guild group and have a blast each run, moreso than I’ve ever had with any PUG.

What runes are you using?

EDIT: I think this is it- http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_the_Pack

From the patch notes:

Transmutation Splitters will return the two current source items from any transmuted item and will also return an applied upgrade separately.

The source items are the item the skin came from and the item the stats came from. You can only have two source items making up a transmuted item at any time.

Say AB is a transmuted item, with A representing the skin item and B representing the stat item. If you transmute AB and another item C together, you have two options:

-If you transmute C’s skin onto AB, you gain CB, an item with the skin of C and the stats of B. Splitting CB returns C and B.
-If you transmute C’s stats onto AB, you gain AC, an item with the skin of A and the stats of B. Splitting AC returns A and C.

Logic and the specific use of the words “two” and “current” in the description pretty much says it should function this way. That being said, I recommended sticking the precursor in your bank because it’s all too easy to click the wrong items when transmuting, or accidentally salvage/destroy it, or what have you.

As cool as the Chaos Gun is, I’d really recommend just sticking it in a very, very safe spot in your bank until you can make Quip.

Maximus Delion.8719:

“Witchers are taken in as children and subjected to potions and martial training for most of their young life. Ultimately, only about 40% of the children survive the final trial and potion. The process gives a witcher special powers, such as the use of low-level magical abilities based on the four elements, faster movement, rapid healing, quicker reflexes, and the ability to drink toxic potions that would harm normal people. The only downside is that Witchers become infertile when they pass the trials.”

Going off that bolded section, elementalist. You must cycle through the four elemental attunements (fire, water, air, and earth) constantly to stay afloat in battles. Eles are capable of stacking lots of swiftness on themselves and others, and have a permanent +25% movement speed ability. As they are the class with the lowest base armor and HP pool, an ele must be quick on their feet to survive, constantly moving and dodging. When built right, at endgame, they have strong self-healing capabilities. Then there’s also the fact that Witchers use two swords, which could probably translate to double daggers on an elementalist.

On the other hand, an ele is exclusively about attacking with magic- daggers aren’t ever used to stab enemies, but as foci for spells. I would also recommend trying each of the classes and playing the one you feel is more fun rather than tying yourself to a class for the sake of homage.

atheria.2837:

JustTrogdor.7892:

If you have not been playing long and not too invested in your characters you can delete them and transfer to another server for free. IMPORTANT – Put EVERYTHING in your bank first before doing so. Your coin and other currency will remain in your wallet even after deleting you characters.

If you choose to do so I would suggest Tarnished Coast. It has a very good community.

Excuse me, but don’t listen to anyone who says you can transfer for free, it simply isn’t true – it would cost me more than the cost of another copy of the game to “transfer”.

What Trogdor is describing actually exists and has been confirmed by Anet to be an actual thing that is intended. If you delete all of your characters, you will be able to change servers for free. I have done it myself with my alternate account.

Sytakan.8596:

Falunel.7645:

Sytakan.8596:

I’m impressed with how helpful everyone has been! Thank you all for your advice so far. I think I will be getting the game for my wife soon.

I wanted to ask how one goes about joining a dungeon or pvp. Do you just sign up for it and get teleported there, or do you have to hoof it old-school?

Olba covered sPvP. The other form of PvP, WvW, is also accessible through the menu at the top. In WvW, you keep your PvE progress, but all non-80s are scaled up to level 80. Real 80s are noticeably more powerful than upscales, but upscales can still contribute by pitching in with supply ferrying, siege building, and other logistical things.

There is a LFG tool in-game, but all it does is let you see who wants what and lets you join their party. You still need to get to the dungeon’s zones yourself. At that point, if one member enters the dungeon, everyone will be able to join via a prompt if they are in the zone.

I would recommend going into dungeons with groups you know. PUGs can be a toss-up- you get good, nice players, but also unaware players who sit in fire, players who demand that everyone be a certain build, players who don’t explain anything and rush, players who demand max gear and level 80 (since you can do the dungeons at level 80 and still get full rewards), etc. Going in with people you know is a lot of fun, though, and usually goes smoother than with randoms.

In any case, a late welcome to you and an early welcome to her. If you guys play on an NA server, please feel free to hit me up in-game anytime if you have questions or want someone to run with. My in-game name is Falunel, and I mainly run elementalist, so I can give some pointers on that class if you decide to roll it.

EDIT: Also PMed you in-game, but I think the chat restrictions might keep you from replying.

Thanks for the info! I saw your messages in the game just a moment ago, I was just busy setting up my wife’s new account, so sorry about that!

No worries, I’ll be back in-game soon. We can talk then.

Sytakan.8596:

I’m impressed with how helpful everyone has been! Thank you all for your advice so far. I think I will be getting the game for my wife soon.

I wanted to ask how one goes about joining a dungeon or pvp. Do you just sign up for it and get teleported there, or do you have to hoof it old-school?

Olba covered sPvP. The other form of PvP, WvW, is also accessible through the menu at the top. In WvW, you keep your PvE progress, but all non-80s are scaled up to level 80. Real 80s are noticeably more powerful than upscales, but upscales can still contribute by pitching in with supply ferrying, siege building, and other logistical things.

There is a LFG tool in-game, but all it does is let you see who wants what and lets you join their party. You still need to get to the dungeon’s zones yourself. At that point, if one member enters the dungeon, everyone will be able to join via a prompt if they are in the zone.

I would recommend going into dungeons with groups you know. PUGs can be a toss-up- you get good, nice players, but also unaware players who sit in fire, players who demand that everyone be a certain build, players who don’t explain anything and rush, players who demand max gear and level 80 (since you can do the dungeons at level 80 and still get full rewards), etc. Going in with people you know is a lot of fun, though, and usually goes smoother than with randoms.

In any case, a late welcome to you and an early welcome to her. If you guys play on an NA server, please feel free to hit me up in-game anytime if you have questions or want someone to run with. My in-game name is Falunel, and I mainly run elementalist, so I can give some pointers on that class if you decide to roll it.

EDIT: Also PMed you in-game, but I think the chat restrictions might keep you from replying.

Being an ele (at least staff ele) in group PvP isn’t just about DPSing or raw healing, but about providing AoE CC and combo fields. A well-placed Frozen Ground or Static Field can cause havok and lock down enemy players who neglect to pack condition cures or stability, and soon Unsteady Ground will function much like guardian’s Line of Warding, knocking down any foes that come nearby. Immobilize is another condition that can really mess with inexperienced players, and though earth staff skill 5 is slow, it pierces and can catch multiple people if they don’t pay attention.

Combo fields require more awareness from your teammates, but can be pretty useful when they know what combos create what effects. Blasting in fire fields stacks might, blasting in lightning fields gives swiftness. Ele can readily provide both of them. The base heal on Geyser and Healing Rain is small, but if people blast in them, everyone can heal up quickly; it’s why you’ll hear good commanders call for water fields on siege and golems.

So ele is useful in group PvP when the people around you know how to take advantage of your CCs and fields. However, if you’re more into raw healing/shielding than mass CC, guardian is another good option for reasons other posters have described.

Talyn.3295:

Alissah.9281:

What does /v/ mean :o?

its a catch all for PvP/PvE/PvD usually i just right it PvX. Although I could have just missed that target entirely

/v/ is a board on the site 4chan, which, to put it simply, is one of the most immature and trollish sites on the internet.

I do know Something Awful, whose forumers are notorious for trolling, chose a GW2 server to gather on. I also know what server it is, but I suspect it’s against forum rules to say which it is, and unfair to the decent people who joined the server without knowing it was the SA hub.

Do not run full zerker gear until you’ve become good at avoiding damage and fighting actively. I would recommend running a balanced statspread at first (Knight/Valkyrie) and practicing surviving in hard content, perhaps even trying to solo some group fights. Once you’re more experienced and don’t die much, you can swap out pieces for zerker.

I say this as someone who has had to peel countless zerkers off the ground in countless dungeon runs. It’s better to learn with balanced armor and then move to zerker than to die constantly as a zerker, especially if you’re PUGing rather than running with a skilled static group.

Gameplay-wise, you can build both necros and eles to fit each of the criteria you mentioned. Eles are more preferred in dungeons than necros, while necros fare well in all scales of PvP and eles tend towards large group PvP.

Seeing as you like the dark mage archetype, I’d say necro. But if you have the time, check them both out.

AsuraStrike.6748:

I thought Guild Wars had more mature and easy going people, but the passing of time is proving me wrong, and every time they open a wound on me, is another reason for me to lump GW2 with WoW as for immature demographics and another game to avoid because:
-Can’t get people to help us clear content in the game
-Can’t talk to anyone at all (not even to get into a guild with strangers)
-Can’t ask a question about items, mechanics nor anything because everyone should read guides (?)

Going to say I did take some offense to this. Today, we ran guild missions and found a guild that had the same guild challenge as we do. We helped them finish their guild challenge, and they all thanked us and volunteered to help us out, despite not being rewarded for doing the challenge a second time. We finished our mission with their help, and they gave us a /cheer after we thanked them.

The guild I did this mission in is also a public guild, formed for the purpose of helping small guilds and people without guilds get commendations. In other words, people rep the guild for missions and then rep elsewhere, so it’s not as tight-knit as an actual guild and thus less coordinated. It was a rough start, since people had never done that challenge before, but everyone was polite and we got it coordinated and finished on the first try. I see this stuff every day- people jumping in to help other people with skill challenges when they ask in /map. Mesmers portalling people to the end of jumping puzzles without asking a single cent. A newbie asking a question in /map and getting swarmed with answers and tips. A champion train waiting on other people to catch up before starting. I’ve can count the number of times I’ve seen someone use gay/fag as an insult on one hand, and each time, they get shut down by other players.

I’ve been around the MMO block. GW2 is a barrel of good apples and good apples with blemishes along with some bad apples, whereas other games I’ve seen are baskets of bad apples with a few good ones. There’s bad, but there’s also a lot of good.

Anyway, I apologize for getting a bit miffed. I can understand why you get frustrated (those types drive me up the wall too, and oftentimes they’re not even good players), and there are no hard feelings toward ya. I guess it’s sort of like seeing someone trash your university or town or what have you because they encountered some people from the seedier side before they saw the good side of a community you’ve been active in and count yourself as one of. I will say some servers tend more towards elitism and immaturity than others, and even the good servers have their more unfortunate guests/residents (especially with champ trains on bigger servers). But don’t judge the community as a whole from the bad ones.

Well, all that aside and to answer your post, I’d recommend giving https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/recruitment a look or https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/guilds/lfguild a post. If you’re on NA, I’ll likely be able to help you out with dungeons-my friends and I always like taking people through on teaching runs, and we don’t rush when we do runs or insist on min/maxing. Otherwise, with dungeoning, I’d recommend making your own postings and saying you’re new to the dungeon and would prefer not to rush/skip. If you have a question about a certain mechanic or fight, let me know and I can try to answer it here.

Or really, if you need anything, let me know! My in-game name is Falunel- I main an elementalist and do mostly PvE. I tend to afk a lot to handle RL stuff, but I check my PM chat window often. You’re also free to mail me in-game, PM me on the forums, or even email me at paxcaiant@gmail.com, whenever you want or about anything at all. I will ALWAYS respond (though if I’m in a dungeon or otherwise tied up, I might not respond right away), and if I do not, you are always free to message me again.

PS: I hope it’s all right, but I’ve also added you in-game. Hopefully we can get the chance to hang out and I can introduce you to my friends. They are the sweetest folks.

Mel.8769:

Hi there. Welcome to the game!

I’ve played every race and profession. You picked (in my opinion) the hardest profession to start. All the above posters have very good advice. All are great tips for an elm.

However, I’m going to give you some advice that I’ll probably get some backlash for.

You have 5 character slots. Don’t delete your elementalist, just put it on hold and create an easier character to play until you get comfortable with the game and learn all there is to know. Like how to make money, craft, sell things, salvage things, map completion, vistas, weapons, armor, sigils, runes, skills, traits, jumping puzzles (my personal fave), hearts, story lines, living story, dungeons, WvW, champs, the list goes on and on…….

My recommendation for a new player’s first toon is an Asura Ranger. Asura because they are small, nimble, and have the easiest feel for jumping puzzles and vistas. Ranger because the pets really help you out and can keep the damage off of you, allowing you to die less. Also, it’s fun to find and collect the little critters. :P I like longbow and axe/warhorn.

The above combo will let you get your feet wet in the game without being too overwhelmed. Once you are comfortable playing and have made some gold, switch back to your elementalist and have fun leveling up.

Have fun!!!

Nah, I think your suggestion is solid. Though I’d say stick with the elementalist and try to learn it if you’re not getting so frustrated it’s ruining your enjoyment of the game.

Mesmer was my very first character. I wanted to like the class, but I couldn’t wrap my head around it and just found it very painful to level. So I wound up rerolling other classes, with elementalist being my third (ranger being second). Ranger bored me badly within the first day, as much as mesmer frustrated me. I died a lot on elementalist, but didn’t get peeved like I did with my mesmer- I experimented, tried different weapon sets, and learned to juggle attunements, and eventually I got pretty good with the class. To this day, it’s my favorite class, and I’m very happy I stuck with it instead of rolling an easier one.

I do feel that playing ele first made me a stronger player, simply because the class forces you to learn how to dodge/move in combat/use skills actively/pay attention in order to survive in open-world. I’ve lost count of the warriors, guardians, and rangers I’ve met who never dodge or move around in harder fights, and subsequently get killed over and over. Those classes are more forgiving, yes, in that you can breeze through leveling in the open-world without having to be as active as an ele. But you still need to make an effort to learn how to dodge/move/fight actively, or it will catch up with you later.

If you decide to try a ranger, I would highly, highly recommend occasionally setting your pet on standby so it won’t attack enemies, and getting up close with a melee weapon (namely greatsword or sword+dagger). That will teach you how to manage aggro and survive actively. While having a pet tank is nice, it ultimately becomes a crutch for many rangers. The same goes for elementalist summons- though they’re good for relieving pressure in a pinch, don’t rely on them to survive.

Contiguous said it all better than I could, but here are a few bullet points:

-Move constantly in battle.
-Watch your enemy closely and dodge big attacks (usually accompanied by a change in stance or glowing).
-Don’t spam your attacks- use them actively to counter enemy actions.
-It is much more important to avoid damage than to heal it
-As elementalist, change attunements constantly and don’t sit in one.

Elementalist versus a champion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcf9PwSVP7Y
Level 12 elementalist soloing a level 16 veteran: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubm6k-AX2U8

khris.6893:

I have resurrected close to 40 times in the entire quest, @ 20 to kill the boss.
My advice? Keep trying as there is nothing you can do unless you are a ranger with a bear.

…challenge accepted. Time to work on my story.

Also, in the meantime, I’ll mention that I know a guardian and a necro who completed the mission solo with no issues. And in case you say it’s because they weren’t warriors, let me leave you this little morsel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKy67S6uvNU

In many, many cases, it’s not the game that has issues. It’s the player.

Strafe a lot, bring condition removers/stun breakers, and try to dodge the pull he does. Otherwise, group up. If you can’t find anyone and are on a NA server, I can help you out.

ZSpark.8493:

Hello everyone and sorry for posting yet another topic on profession choice. However I feel that the current topics do not assist me personally.

1. I have narrowed it down to Necromancer, Thief, and Elementalist.

2. Target Content: I mainly plan on doing PvE and WvW.

3. Play style: In other MMOs I always enjoyed playing DPS and Support roles. I do understand that Support is kinda down right now and that a big patch to increase it’s viability is coming soon (so this may not help at all). I enjoy sustained dps more so than burst dps. and in PVP i enjoy annoying people just as much as killing them (stunning, immobilizing, ect.). This may or may not help with the 3 classes i’ve narrowed it down to. My friend plays a mesmer, which is why i haven’t listed that as an option for me.

4. Looks: To me looks are almost on par with how fun a class is. I cannot play a character that is ugly to me. (this may be a race thing more than a class thing) But if you have some good pics of the classes I listed please post them =P.

Thanks for any advice you give. I don’t really expect a “this class is what you should go with” but more of this is how each of the classes I listed accomplishes the things I said I enjoyed in playstyle.

2. Eles outrank necros in dungeons due to condition capping and people liking raw damage over DoT, though power/well builds are quite nice, and it shouldn’t be much of an issue in static groups with friends (which are much more enjoyable than PUGs). Condition capping is also troublesome when tagging in big open-world events, but fine solo. In WvW, both classes are useful in zerg (army) warfare- necro for crippling condition wells, staff ele for mass CC and water/fire/wind fields.

3. Conditions are very, very, very annoying, so I would put necro above ele in that field. Ele has more support options- lots of fields, might/fury stacking, boonsharing, conjure weapons to name a few. Thief specializes mainly in burst rather than sustained damage, though condition builds exist for them.

4. If you don’t like longcoats, be wary of thief. Necros and eles wear the same armor. For skill animations, I’d recommend making one of each class and bringing it to the sPvP lobby (enter via the crossed swords button in the upper-left bar). There, you’ll have access to every skill and can try them out.

Hello, Astarte,

I don’t have a guild to recruit for at the moment, but I wanted to drop you a welcome anyway. If you ever need a hand with anything in-game or just want to chat, you can PM me in game (type /tell Falunel in chat) or on these forums.

Best of luck finding a guild, and happy adventuring!

Zomaarwat.3912:

Do rares give luck essences?

They do not.

There are rotations for certain classes and builds, but in general, they tend to be more like “this skill complements this other skill” rather than long chains. In quite a few cases, sticking too strongly to long chains will endanger you, as the combat is about active play- adapting to situations and countering attacks.

It’s very easy to level in GW2, so many players will have hit 80 already and won’t be hanging around the open world. They tend to be in:

-Dungeons/Fractals
-WvW
-Wherever the current Living World release is happening (in this case, the Twilight Arbor dungeon)
-Maps where megabosses spawn, or hopping between maps to catch spawns
-Champion farming trains in Frostgorge Sound or Cursed Shore (level 80 maps)

In addition, some starting zones are more populated than others. Queensdale, the human zone, will tend to be the most populated due to the majority of players rolling humans, the champion train there, and the easy-to-reach events and layout of the zone. A lot of players who champion farm also like to guest on higher-population servers for faster kills.

Also, I play on Tarnished Coast and see lots of people around, so it may either be just the server or your timezone.

Transcendant.6571:

Level 12 ranger.

So I run around, mash my keys, currently using broadword, and mostly find battles and events confusing, especially when other people are around. When I get wtfpwned I have no idea what happened and how to avoid it.

What should I do to figure out the combat system?

Here are a few general rules of thumb regarding GW2’s combat system:
-Move constantly in battle.
-Watch your enemy closely and dodge big attacks (usually accompanied by a change in stance or glowing).
-Don’t spam your attacks- use them actively to counter enemy actions. For example, as a greatsword ranger, you would use skill 4 to block and counter a major attack, or block a barrage of projectiles. If an enemy attempts to charge an attack, you can interrupt it with 5. You can use 3 through combo fields for additional effects, or with autotargeting off, use it to put distance between yourself and an enemy if you are weakened.
-It is much more important to avoid damage than to heal it

Guardian fighting a champion with several other people: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2Z2LO-cLTg
Elementalist versus a champion: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hcf9PwSVP7Y
Level 12 elementalist soloing a level 16 veteran: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ubm6k-AX2U8

I would suggest that, as a ranger, you set your pet to avoid combat and practice fighting enemies head-on. Pets will usually take aggro from enemies when they attack, which prevents many new players who rolled ranger from learning how to survive on their own in harder situations, when enemies kill pets quickly or ignore them.