Guild Wars 2

You’re better off posting this in the Looking for Guild section.

EDIT: Of course a moderator moves this thread right after I make this post, haha. Anyway, best of luck!

The quartz crystal node was an award from the Bazaar of the Four Winds meta achievement. If you didn’t get it, you can buy quartz from the Trading Post for copper.

Azndas.8154:

Falunel.7645:

There is always the option of joining a different NA server and guesting to do PvE content with your friends. You wont be able to do WvW, but it’ll take you some time to get to a higher level for it, by which the servers may open agin.

If you don’t want to pay for a transfer, you can trade in-game gold for gems.

-__-…….

Those are your options. Wait for a server cap raise (which does happen) or get started now and transfer later. I can’t go to Blackgate and ask everyone to jump, and the gold cost isn’t terrible, especially if your friends are willing to help.

(Also, that wasn’t meant rudely- imagine me saying it with a head shake and shrug. As much as I’d like to, I can’t personally budge Blackgate- the best I can do is give what advice I can.)

@Ocean: Yeah, you have to leave and reenter the character select screen for the list to refresh, either by logging out or going into the game proper. As for gold, I’ve gotten 12 gold in a day just by casually dungeoning (no speedruns or farming), and 4-5 gold yesterday just by participating in Living Story content, so 50-60 gold really isn’t that bad.

There is always the option of joining a different NA server and guesting to do PvE content with your friends. You wont be able to do WvW, but it’ll take you some time to get to a higher level for it, by which the servers may open agin.

If you don’t want to pay for a transfer, you can trade in-game gold for gems.

If you’re lucky, you can get them from dailies, or you can get a Black Lion Key from a random drop/story reward/map exploration and maybe get a few Transmutation Crystals from a Black Lion Chest. Otherwise, if you don’t want to spend acual money, convert gold to gems and buy them.

TouchMyTaco.5073:

Thank you for your input

I’ll give ele a spin. If I don’t like it, well, I guess this game isn’t for me :P

You’re welcome, and by all means. I do recommend you try ALL of the classes, though, with an open mind- each of them plays differently, and for all we know, thief, mesmer, or necro could be your personal fit.

@Menttor: If it helps any, this is how I personally play guardian: demo vid 1 and vid 2

Prior to changing her build, I used a typical Altruistic Healing build, which bored the heck out of me and felt lackluster solo. I really don’t like standing still or spamming skills blindly, and AH often made me feel like I had to do just that- if I moved around, I left my symbols and didn’t get healed for their boons, and to stay afloat, I felt I had to spam my shouts and virtues to heal myself.

Also, even though you don’t really know, can you explain why you don’t like the concept of ele? Again, if we know what’s bad and what’s good, it’s easier to pinpoint a fit. In the case of soloing things and 1v1, from personal experience ele can solo everything that is meant to be soloed and quite a few things that aren’t.

Race is cosmetic here, so the best bet is to pick the race you personally find coolest. My first ele was a charr, my second was a sylvari. My engineer was originally going to be a sylvari until I decided I really wanted a tengu engi.

About ele, it’s a much more unforgiving class to play compared to warrior, guardian, and ranger (the most forgiving). If you don’t dodge, move, and time your skills as a warrior, guardian, or ranger, you can get away with it for most open-world content, at least until you enter Orr or a dungeon. For ele, the wake-up call comes much, much sooner- you have the lowest health pool and the lowest armor in the game, and your survival is dependent upon how well you can dodge, kite, and use your skills to hold the enemy at bay. You WILL die if you stand still and let the enemy hit you, or stay in fire attunement all day doing nothing but damage. Later on, you get powerful self-recovery abilities, on par with or arguably stronger than a guardian’s, but you still have to dodge, kite, and apply rather than spam your skills.

It’s a fast-paced playstyle, and a strong and rewarding class once you learn it, but its learning curve is steep. If you give it a try, hit me up if you have questions.

I too was bored by ranger and warrior. Guardian is an odd case- I got intensely bored leveling mine solo, but I found her more interesting to play in groups. I picked her up again a few days ago to do a demonstration and wound up respeccing her from the common AH build to a custom build focused on boons and evasion- that too made her more interesting to play, but it didn’t come to me for a long time. About engineers, they’re relatively dull early on, and get much more interesting once you have access to kits and other skills.

I would recommend looking into the other classes, even if you initially don’t like how the armor looks. If you play around by combining sets rather than just using all the pieces of a single set, you can come up with better results. The most important thing is that you play a class you enjoy playing. If you can explain a few things you like or like doing, or why you found those classes boring, we can help you pinpoint one.

Also, regarding sylvari armor, you can use cultural armor or armor from the Twilight Arbor dungeon to keep their planty look, and even combine it with a few cloth pieces if you want to. I’ve attached a picture of my own sylvari ele as an example- glance through the sylvari board and you’ll find some others.

Terin.2657:

Well, I originally played a Human Guardian, and to be honest, I still like it well enough. I dig his “Sigil” skills, since I have a habbit of forgetting about any skills beyond the first 6 :P

This is something that gets better with practice- admittedly, I have a similar issue in that most of the time, I use my elementalist’s utility skills only to escape when I screw up, and forget about them otherwise unless I make myself think about a skill I slot and say, “Okay, I’m going to use this skill to lock down the enemy when this happens.” On my guardian, I had a habit of thinking only for myself and used my utilities only when I got into a sticky situation. It’s something I’m still working on.

I do recommend highly that you practice switching out utilities to match the situation, and take time to read them over and think about ways you would use them. You will be a much more effective player that way.

However, I’m also really digging the Norn Warrior and Charr Engineer. Granted, I’ve not even hit level 10 with either of them yet, but they both seem like good fun thus far.

I’m curious, how do these guys really line up at high levels? Are there any differences between Armor-designs? For this matter, does this game even have Class-based armor? Without spoiling anything, is any one’s story more memorable than the others, or even less so? Also, as someone driven by the pursuit of cool-looking gear, which do you think might offer the coolest items of the bunch?

There are three categories of armor worn by the classes:
-Heavy armor: Warriors and Guardians
-Medium armor: Rangers, Engineers, and Thieves
-Light armor: Mesmers, Elementalists, and Necromancers

It’s overall a matter of taste as to which armor looks coolest, but you can take a look at the sets here at http://argos-soft.net/GW2ArmorGallery/ or at the lockers in the sPvP lobby.

Both warriors and guardians are welcomed in groups, warriors for their damage, guardians for their support. Engineers aren’t so sought after, but many people don’t care in the end as long as you’re a good player.

On that note… What are some of the bigger differences between the Warrior and Guardian? I like the idea of Warriors being able to wield more weapon-types, although I do sort of dig the more “knightly” appearance the Guardian had on the character-creation screen. They both feel kind of similar thus far, though.

The warrior is more offensive, while the guardian is more support/defensive. Warriors have the highest damage of all the classes and has some offensive support. Guardians have lower damage, but access to more types of support than warriors- stronger heals, more boons, group projectile reflects, etc.

Warriors have the highest base health pool of the classes, while guardians have the lowest (or second lowest, can’t remember if ele was lower). However, guardians can survive just as well as warriors, if not better- they have many active defenses (shields, protective boons, blinds, many projectile shields) and stronger recovery abilities. Warriors have less defensive tricks and weaker heals- in harder content, a warrior must be especially good at dodging and knowing when to retreat to survive.

Both classes are relatively easy to level and forgiving to newer players.

There are no dedicated tanks or healers in GW2. Everyone can heal themselves, each class has ways to stay alive, and each class contributes to damage. Everyone is responsible for their own survivability.

That isn’t to say there’s no way to support, either, and guardian is a very strong support class. But it’s not a tank in the usual sense of the word, since there’s no way to control aggro and tanking in the traditional manner (standing still and praying someone else heals you) will get you killed. In addition, every class has a way of supporting others or controlling enemies- an elementalist who only stands back and does damage instead of rotating their support and control skills along with doing damage isn’t reaching their full potential.

For more info, I suggest reading https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/GW2-Combat-system-101-Guide/first

As for my personal experience, the person who heads into battle first generally doesn’t matter too much, since, as mentioned earlier, there’s no way to control who the enemy aggros. In my groups, the leader varies depending on whimsy and who’s in the party. My warrior friend, when I run with him, tends to be leader, but it’s due to his experience with dungeons rather than his class; when he’s thief or mesmer, he also leads. I have also, as an elementalist, led groups where I was the most experienced member of the party.

In short, don’t worry about being expected to lead dungeons you’re not familiar with, and don’t be afraid to let people know if you’re new.

On that topic, if the guild you join is unfriendly or unhelpful, don’t feel bad about dropping them and finding one that actually is friendly and helpful.

There are good guilds out there- the issue is that it’s hard to tell from the outside. There are guilds that will spam the same message again and again on every LFGuild post without even bothering to read the original post, guilds that will advertise themselves as friendly and inclusive when they’re really just looking for numbers. If you’re unfortunate enough to join one of these guilds, it’s easy to believe that all of them are like that. But they aren’t, and don’t feel bad if you need to hop around to find your best fit.

Otherwise, what server are you on? If you’re on a lower-population server, you could guest to one with a higher population and spend some time running around the most populous zones. It tends to be a good way to meet people.

I believe the gloves you are referring to are from the 3k AP reward, yes. http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Radiant_Vambraces_Skin

As for other gloves, I do not recall there being any glove skins you get by trading random items. These are the other glove skins that have particle effects:
-Hellfire Vambraces: The alternate 3k AP reward skin. If you choose the Radiant Vambraces instead, you can unlock the Hellfire gloves at 12k AP.
-Fused Gauntlets: Rewarded for completing the meta achievement of the Flame and Frost: Retribution Living Story. Now unobtainable.
-Fire God’s Vambraces: Rewarded for having 30 Hall of Monuments points (unlocked via GW1)
-Anything from the Citadel of Flame dungeon.

Cooper.6217:

I think im gonna give thief a try. Thank you both , you both seem like you know a lot about the game and i probably will try all three of these out LilMcGinley.

Thanks, and have fun.

@Lil: Yeah, I probably should have said “is trickier to play in sPvP,” given that I’ve both dueled my warrior friend and watched him fight others. I guess what I meant is that the full zerker/Hundred Blades PvE meta doesn’t hold up at all in PvP, and until some recent patches, warriors had issues with having less recovery than other classes and no tricks like invulnerability or stealth.

Races are pretty much cosmetic- some are bigger or smaller visually, but their hitboxes are all the same. Pick the one that looks nicest to you.

Regarding the three classes you mentioned:
-Warrior: regarded as a strong PvE class due to its high damage, but tends to struggle in PvP.
-Thief: a strong PvP roamer class that is dependent on quick maneuvering and/or well-timed stealths to perform well.
-Guardian: a class that’s less mobile than others, but has a lot of tricks to heal and mitigate damage. A strong support class that is best in groups.

Overall, though, you should play the class whose playstyle you enjoy the most. Feel free to try them all out.

I can say from personal experience that both mesmer and thief are capable of running Fractals/Arah just fine. Mesmers are usually preferred for their greater party utility, but a thief is all right as well.

I guess the general consensus, WvW-wise, is:
-Mesmer: all right for roaming, much more group utility than thief but is slower (lack of consistent swiftness or +25% speed signet).
-Thief: considered the stronger PvP roamer class, but has poor group utility.

In the end, though, it should boil down to which playstyle you enjoy more.

Zach.3264:

Hebee.8460:

http://us.gw2stuff.com/en/events/us

Go to the temple you want, log out there, guest to another server that has the temple open, log in, buy armors. Otherwise, your best bet to take part in the event to take back the temple is some time right after daily reset as everyones bonus chest has reset, pulling in way more people then normal.

How do I know which server has the temple open?
Also, I’m looking to buy several pieces from different sets.
And could you tell me what time the dailly resets if it’s not too much hassle (I’m UK)

If you’re playing on an EU server, then use http://us.gw2stuff.com/en/events/eu

Look at the last five columns, the ones labeled “Temple of Balthazar/Dwayna/Lyssa/Grenth/Melandru”. You’ll see that there’s a square for each server, listed down the left side. If you mouse over each square, it’ll tell you the status of the temple- the ones that say “Captured by the Pact”, with dark blue dots, are finished.

I don’t know when exactly the daily would reset for you, but if you check your dailies page in the achievement panel, it’ll have a timer counting down to the next reset.

Which part of Orr are you talking about? The whole maps, or the temples themselves? It shouldn’t be too hard to travel across Orr itself solo. The temples themselves are a bit different.

In order to take over a temple (and open its vendors), you have to complete the temple’s meta event, which must be done with groups. If the temple is under Zhaitan’s control, you cannot access the vendors and the temple will be overrun with Risen.

Some temples, namely Grenth and Balthazar, are fairly difficult to open if the groups taking the temple don’t coordinate. The events themselves can be pretty fun imo, but if all you’re after is the gear, there is a website out there that lists which temples are open on certain servers. You can then guest to that server to buy what you need.

Regarding gearing up, there are multiple ways you can get exotics that don’t involve the temple merchants. You can craft certain exotics or buy them off the Trading Post, trade dungeon tokens for them, buy them with Badges of Honor from WvW, and so on. The main thing with getting exotics is that certain stat sets are available only through certain ways- if you want Power/Precision/Toughness gear, for instance, you can craft it, but you cannot craft Power/Vitality/Toughness gear. You have to buy it with dungeon tokens, karma, or Badges of Honor.

For more info: http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats

Shorty.9873:

Don’t you get those from doing dailies and map completion?

You get Transmutation Stones from those. Stones are for gear that’s level 79 and under- Crystals are for level 80 gear.

Just making sure you know- there is no tank/healer/DPS trinity in GW2 like in WoW. Every class can control, support, and do damage, and everyone is responsible for their own survival.

I would recommend trying out each of the classes on your own, since no one except yourself can tell you what you find fun. However, if you want a few pointers, warrior has the highest damage of all the classes, and dagger elementalist would be closest to an elemental warrior in theme, though perhaps not in gameplay.

Shorty.9873:

So I could go grab this karma set. Then work to purchase my exotic wvw invaders set with badges of honor. Then transmute the skins so I have the look of the dark armor on the stats for the invaders gear? do I have that right?

Pretty much, yeah, assuming you want Power/Vitality/Toughness stats. The main roadblock would be getting the Transmutation Crystals needed for transmuting.

According to Dulfy, the crystal greatsword drops from Icebrood/Svanir champs.

Link: http://dulfy.net/2013/08/06/gw2-champion-weapon-skins/

Both Mistfire Wolf and Sylvan Hound were deliberately designed to be inferior to profession elites. If you want usefulness, I’d recommend sticking with Time Warp.

Shorty.9873:

Thanks! I think I have it figured out. Looks like I need to explore Fireheart Rise!

Although that would probably just be the fine set? I have to figure out how to get the exotic set. More reading is required.

Thanks again.

I do not believe there is an exotic version of the Dark set. You would have to transmute it.

The 40 laurels + 50 ecto pieces are not amulets, but accessories (i.e. earrings, field guides, etc).

You actually can get amulets with laurels and badges, at laurel vendors in cities or in WvW.

The difference between exotic armor that is crafted/bought with karma/traded for dungeon tokens is in the additional stats. Each armor piece has two sets of stats- the base stats and the additional stats.

The base stats, which increase defense on armor and attack on weapons, are ALWAYS the same for exotic gear of the same type and level, no matter how you acquire the gear.

Every gear piece also has additional stats it gives aside from the armor, such as +Power/Precision/Critical Damage, or +Power/Vitality/Toughness. There are different ways of getting gear with these additional stats. If you want Power/Vitality/Toughness gear, for instance, you cannot craft it- you have to run dungeons or trade in Badges of Honor. If you want Power/Precision/Critical Damage, on the other hand, you can craft it.

However, no matter how you get your gear, they will always be at the same quality as other pieces. If I run Sorrow’s Embrace to buy a light exotic Power/Precision/Toughness chestpiece, and compare it to a light exotic Power/Precision/Toughness chestpiece I craft, both pieces will give the same bonus to those stats. In other words, how you get your gear doesn’t affect its quality.

For more info on how you can get gear with certain additional stats, check http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Equipment_acquisition_by_stats

Neek.9531:

Anyone know any good weapons that would look good on my mesmer once he reaches level 80?

That’s primarily a personal thing. I think Bifrost looks ridiculous on every single one of my staff-using characters, but on someone else’s character, it’s stunning.

If you can give us pointers on what sort of weapon you’re looking for, though (magical, realistic, bright, dark), we might be able to suggest a few.

Do you have Rugnar’s Steading in Wayfarer Foothills? It’s in the northeast, where Cragstead is located.

Also, are you missing areas of the map or PoIs?

Is this your first 80? Then no.

It’s best to play the game through yourself to get a better feel for combat and your class, not to mention that it’ll unlock WPs along the way. You’ll also be doubly poor from leveling by crafting- in addition to being short on gold already thanks to the cost of crafting, your gear will also be nearly thirty levels outdated when you finish crafting, making it harder to earn gold to update your gear.

If you’re not enjoying playing your main, you may want to step back and ask if you really do enjoy the class.

This is sort of hard to explain over the forum, but do you see the black bar on the right of the minimap that has all the minimap buttons? If you move your mouse into the right spot, where it isn’t activating any of the buttons, it’ll turn into a hand. You can then click and drag the map back down.

If that’s confusing, I can record it.

Revenant.4906:

Are D/D elementalists sturdy? I play a guardian and I die if I look at myself cross-eyed in the mirror.

Short answer- yes, if you play them right. However, guardians should easily be just as sturdy and easier to play.

What server are you on? Maybe I can help you out.

Tarnished Coast is actually open right now.

Revenant.4906:

A lot of people have told me that dungeons are the best (and in some cases, only) way to make money, but my experiences with dungeons is that you’ll wipe on every trash pull at least once. Unless you’re all warriors, of course. I’ve just avoided them for the most part because my repair costs tended to outweigh the end reward. Then again, I haven’t attempted dungeons since near the game launch – were they changed?

That’s true only if you’re unfortunate to get an especially bad group, usually with PUGs. I’ve cleared dungeons many times with no delays or wipes in groups with guildmates/friends, and none of us were warriors, either. (I’m a D/D elementalist, and usually the last one standing.) Dungeons are also much more difficult than open-world PvE and require you to have a strong knowledge of your class and be good at avoiding damage. Most of the people I see who die in dungeons do so because they stand absolutely still and let the enemy hit them.

I’m on a tight schedule in-game currently, but if you’re interested, I can invite you to a run with my group and let you see how smoothly runs can go when everyone’s experienced.

Firstly, I just want to make sure that you know you can make lodestones from cores. This is the recipe:

2 Charged Cores
1 Bottle of Elonian Wine
1 Pile of Crystalline Dust
1 Crystal

In my opinion, it’s faster to save up gold and buy and convert the cores yourself than it is to farm the lodestones directly. A lot of gold comes from dungeoning, so if you have friends or guildmates who like to dungeon, group up with them and plan on dungeon-blitzing. I really recommend running dungeons with people you know rather than PUGs- it goes much more smoothly and is significantly less stressful.

Charged Cores drop sometimes from CoE, so I’d recommend keeping that dungeon on your list and running at least path 1 (a fairly easy path) once a day if you can, possibly path 2 as well. Both take under an hour with a skilled group. Get used to doing paths in other dungeons as well, and not just CoF P1. Fractals also has a chance of dropping cores and lodestones, though not always the type you’re after.

Above all, be patient, enjoy the game itself, rest when you need it, and reward yourself for hitting little milestones. (And yes, it is very possible to get 250 Charged Lodestones without playing the TP, farming CoF, or converting gems to gold.)

Gnat.9405:

That sounds cool, do you know who I could contact about that guild?

Right here.

The leader is Aceros, and the guild is based on Tarnished Coast. The guild tends to fill up right before missions, but you should be able to figure something out if you talk with him.

Prydz.8752:

A long time ago, when i’ve played WoW, when you’d reach the level cap, you do the dungeons to gear up. Then you move to the heroics. Then 25-man. And so on! I would like something like this to follow, you know?

To be fairly honest, there’s nothing really like that here in GW2. There is purposely no gear treadmill- Ascended items are a long-term way to round out your character, but you can stay in exotics if you’re not interested and still do perfectly fine. Neither Ascended nor exotic are particularly hard to get, nor do they depend on RNG drops. After you’ve geared yourself to your satisfaction, you’re free to do whatever you want.

The previous posters have explained how to get exotics. After that, if you’re interested in Ascended, here’s how you get it:
-Keep doing your daily and monthly achievements for laurels. You can trade laurels at laurel vendors for Ascended trinkets.
-If you do Fractals and get to level 10, you will have a shot at an Ascended ring drop from the daily bonus chest you get by killing the Jade Maw at any level past 10. The chest also awards Pristine Fractal Relics, which can be traded for Ascended rings if you don’t get a drop.
-If you are in a guild that does guild missions, you can purchase Ascended items with the Guild Commendations awarded for doing the missions.

Past that, what you do is up to you. Make a legendary weapon, challenge yourself by getting to Fractal level 48 for the heck of it, explore the world and see all the events off the beaten path, seek out and help newer players, follow the Living Story, master a class in PvP, become a WvW commander, solo dungeons not meant to be soloed… there are many things to do that don’t involve stat crunch.

I think this post is relevant: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Thief-Elementalist-Necro-Or-Engineer/first#post2541684

I have leveled a mesmer myself- in fact, I played a mesmer as my first character, before I tried elementalist (my current main). It is an unforgiving first class, not only because it needs traits to be strong, but because you are learning how to survive on a character with low armor and low HP. However, it does get much better and more fun when you do have the right traits.

Here is a thread that helped me a lot with leveling my own mesmer: http://tcgw2.com/forums/viewtopic.php?id=825 I recommend you give it a look.

Aside from that, I would recommend finding some friends or a good, helpful guild- the game is a lot more fun with other people. If mesmer still doesn’t click, try out another profession- you might find one that just grips you, as I did with ele. For me, mesmer is fun, but it doesn’t give me quite the same rush.

There’s actually an interesting discussion about that right in this thread.

As a former guild recruiter myself, for several guilds in both GW2 and my old MMO, I prefer the longer, more personal posts written with both thought and personality, and when I look to recruit someone, I either write out the message from scratch and personalize it, or include a personalized bit at the top talking to the person themselves before putting down general info later. Usually, I also try to contact them in-game or ask them to do a few activities with us to see if they fit. Maybe it’s overkill, but I’ve been in past guilds which broke apart or got a bad reputation because people recruited the wrong sort.

Maybe I’m a bit antiquated, but I feel guilds have a duty to the people they recruit to give them what they ask for and ensure the person will be happy there, rather than just use the person to pad their numbers. To a reasonable extent, of course- a guild that advertises itself as helpful shouldn’t be expected to give every new member gold on demand to “help.” It’s things like reading to make sure the recruit’s playstyle meshes with the guild- if someone wants RP in the guild, only guilds that RP should contact them. If someone is pure PvE, only PvE guilds should contact them. If someone wants a small and social guild where people talk and group with each other, then the guild should be small and social and have people who will group together for more than the occasional dungeon run. Guild recruiters, when recruiting, should always take a cold, honest look at their guild and ask, “Can I provide what this person is looking for?”

Anyway, rant over, sorry about that. Wishing you the best of luck with finding a guild, ces.

Senticon.3452:

Thanks for this info, good thing I didn’t put infusion inside my trinkets yet,
tho another question:
If I get reward from FoTM chest as pre-infused ring with +5 AR inside,
I have to infuse it loosing +5 AR or I just put another infusion inside it
just like in “Joe’s” example?…

Wiki or any other sources I found aren’t that clear on that, have to ask
on forums, good thing there’s clear answers like yours.

By pre-infused, the sources mean that the ring is its upgraded Infused version- the kind of upgrade you get by putting it in the Mystic Forge. It has an empty infusion slot.

No source will give you a ring with the infusion slot already filled.

Go to the farm in the southwest corner of Ebonhawke. There’s a ton of chickens running around- go to town on them.

(no don’t.)

I usually cycle around Claypool in Queensdale and the fields to the north. There are chickens in the fields and in the barn, deer in the woods, and pigs in the yard.

Esplen.3940:

Mesmers are a jack of all trades, master of none, when you first pick them up. Without traits, they are a weak, underpowered useless profession. But what’s that you’re telling me? Mesmers dominate in WvW, sPvP and are useful in Dungeons (PvE)? How is that if they’re terrible?! Because they, without traits, have no refined power, they are incompetent. Once you start to trait them, your powers become more defined and you can utilize yourself in any fashion.

Yes, I can second this. Mesmer is a brutal class to level in the early stages, even moreso than ele. They get a LOT better when you trait them, in both effectiveness and fun.

I have a mesmer myself, but haven’t been able to play him much due to being too used to ele (i.e. I go into twitchy fits when I don’t have four weapon bars’ worth of skills to hit or am not perpetually moving at 25+% speed).

Bump, +1, and stickypls.

You need a recipe for the armor/weapon as well. You should be able to get it on the TP for a moderate price, depending on what recipe you’re looking for.

ButterOfDeath.2873:

Falunel.7645:

Could you give me more information regarding how you play your elementalist? I could be mistaken, but it sounds like you’re only using one attunement rather than switching between all of them. Also, are you having issues staying alive on it (judging by the fact that you said solo play is lacking)?

I pick a weapon (or two,depends :P) then start from fire and use the skills in a somewhat logic way (no reason to use meteor storm when fighting 1vs1 a pig),then as all the skills/suitable skills of an attunement are on cooldown,i swap attunement and repeat.
However,OFTEN,after doing the entire rotation of ALL the attunements,i come back to the first and yet some skills are on cooldown,when this happens i feel like having a magnetic patootie in the land of metallic kittenes. (to keep it poetic)
I’ve NO issues surviving,at least not early on.
As Staff water 1 heals me as much as 2 enemies hits,but i can’t simply do that all the time,there will be a day i’ll be forced to say “ok,arcane shield is now stuck on my utility bar” and when that day comes it’ll be a sad day.

You’re playing staff, then… admittedly, I hate staff and avoid using it outside of WvW or situations where I need to freeze/stun/cripple large numbers of enemies (Ascalon fractal). I used it early on because I thought it was the only appropriate weapon for a caster, and it made my life miserable. Switched to daggers around level 23 and enjoyed ele a lot more ever since I did.

Have you tried daggers yet? I haven’t had any issues with cooldowns on weapons other than staff. I should also say that I rarely use every skill in an attunement before switching, but just note the situation and jump to the attunement that has the skill best suited to it.

Example: I’m fighting a melee veteran (using dagger/focus). I open in water attunement, hit him with number 3 to chill him, and then jump to fire to do higher damage with number 2. I notice that the chill’s wearing off, so I move to earth even while fire 2 is casting (it doesn’t interrupt it) and use earth 2 to cripple and bleed him, then earth 3 to root him. Then I move to air and knock him down with 5 once he recovers and move close to attack with 1 while he’s down. By this time, water is off cooldown and I can chill him again. Sometimes he still gets too close, so I move to fire, use 3 to dash past him, and then move to earth and cripple him while he’s turning.

There’s no pattern- I’m not just using fire attunement, then water, then air, then earth, then fire again, but rather using my skills depending on the circumstances, moment by moment. In this way, ele is actually a very strong solo class.

EDIT: This is an old video with lots of mistakes, but hopefully it sheds some light on how I play: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMec3mSGPzg&feature=youtu.be

For me, aside from gameplay, it was all about aesthetics. I always enjoy my characters a lot more once they look cooler, which is why I transfer down high-level skins to my alts and grind out transmutation stones to keep their look updated.

Maybe it comes from my background of role-playing and writing, but I also find that I need my characters to be… characters. It’s beyond me to give them silly or nonsensical names- I have to give them names that not only sound like names, but fit lorewise. If something about a character’s name isn’t right, it bothers me to no end. I also come up with backstories and personalities for them that I continuously tweak and build upon while I play.

If you are a NA player and not in a guild with guild missions that would be all right with you running with another guild briefly, I’d suggest looking up Commendation [GC]. They’re an alliance guild that focuses on letting small guilds and solo players get commendations without being forced to join a rep-requiring guild.

Could you give me more information regarding how you play your elementalist? I could be mistaken, but it sounds like you’re only using one attunement rather than switching between all of them. Also, are you having issues staying alive on it (judging by the fact that you said solo play is lacking)?

Alpher.5387:

Falunel.7645:

Alpher.5387:

Thank you Gilosean,

But one thing I’ve had trouble with is crafting, I see materials around the world and go get them, but I don’t know where/how to craft and where I can get required materials since I never have all of the needed ones.

And also, I’m level 6, but all of the hearts in my area are too high, and events arent very frequently near me. Any recommended starting zone I should go to? I’ve tried the pyramid starting zone, but I got lost…… and couldn’t find a way out…… :/

Another question – Is the game like this through the whole? since this game is very different to other MMO’s I’d like to try max level, but at this rate it looks like it takes a very long time

You can start crafting by going to a crafting station in one of the main cities. Talk to a crafting master (right next to the stations) to get started in a craft. If you can tell me what materials you’re having trouble getting, I’ll let you know where to find them.

As other posters before me have said, you can go to other starting zones if you’re having trouble with your current one. I would recommend Queensdale, the human zone, since it’s very easy to get around and there’s usually a high concentration of players there. If you’re still having troubles getting out of Rata Sum, let me know and I will try to help.

Also, GW2’s leveling system is different from the other games in that the rate of leveling stays even. In other games, you could blow through the first few levels in hours, but getting to max level later on would be brutally hard and grindy. Such was my first MMO, where you could level to 30 in two days, but it took you a month simply to get to 80 from 79, and that was only if you played many hours every day and did nothing but grind exp.

In GW2, leveling is slow at first. However, late-level leveling is relatively fast and easy. The time it takes to go to 21 from 20 is the same amount of time it takes to get from 79 to 80, and nearly the same amount of time as, say, 10 to 11. The time it took me to get my first character to 80 was four months, playing very casually without doing proper map exploration (filling hearts and getting PoIs), crafting, or personal story. My second 80 took only a month and a half- I explored maps fully on her, though at a relaxed pace, did my story, and mastered one craft. There are people out there who do it even faster and reach 80 in a week.

Also, if it makes things any better, in my opinion the first 20 levels are always the slowest and most painful. You don’t have many options for exploring, you have few utilities and traits open, and you’re just pretty weak all around. I find that leveling usually picks up for me after level 30.

Pretty much all basic crafting materials, I think after I’ve learned those I’d get in the swing of everything and have no trouble. Are all crafting materials easy to find/gather? looking to do Weaponsmithing

It depends on what materials you’re trying to get. Cloth/leather/ore/wood are fairly easy to get- you get ore and wood by harvesting nodes of the right level, and cloth and leather by using a salvage kit (purchasable from merchant NPCs) on white gear and white items labeled “Salvage Item.” Monster materials like fangs, claws, and scales are a bit rarer since they drop from certain monsters. You can get both monster materials and cloth/leather by opening bags dropped from enemies.

Alpher.5387:

Thank you Gilosean,

But one thing I’ve had trouble with is crafting, I see materials around the world and go get them, but I don’t know where/how to craft and where I can get required materials since I never have all of the needed ones.

And also, I’m level 6, but all of the hearts in my area are too high, and events arent very frequently near me. Any recommended starting zone I should go to? I’ve tried the pyramid starting zone, but I got lost…… and couldn’t find a way out…… :/

Another question – Is the game like this through the whole? since this game is very different to other MMO’s I’d like to try max level, but at this rate it looks like it takes a very long time

You can start crafting by going to a crafting station in one of the main cities. Talk to a crafting master (right next to the stations) to get started in a craft. If you can tell me what materials you’re having trouble getting, I’ll let you know where to find them.

As other posters before me have said, you can go to other starting zones if you’re having trouble with your current one. I would recommend Queensdale, the human zone, since it’s very easy to get around and there’s usually a high concentration of players there. If you’re still having troubles getting out of Rata Sum, let me know and I will try to help.

Also, GW2’s leveling system is different from the other games in that the rate of leveling stays even. In other games, you could blow through the first few levels in hours, but getting to max level later on would be brutally hard and grindy. Such was my first MMO, where you could level to 30 in two days, but it took you a month simply to get to 80 from 79, and that was only if you played many hours every day and did nothing but grind exp.

In GW2, leveling is slow at first. However, late-level leveling is relatively fast and easy. The time it takes to go to 21 from 20 is the same amount of time it takes to get from 79 to 80, and nearly the same amount of time as, say, 10 to 11. The time it took me to get my first character to 80 was four months, playing very casually without doing proper map exploration (filling hearts and getting PoIs), crafting, or personal story. My second 80 took only a month and a half- I explored maps fully on her, though at a relaxed pace, did my story, and mastered one craft. There are people out there who do it even faster and reach 80 in a week.

Also, if it makes things any better, in my opinion the first 20 levels are always the slowest and most painful. You don’t have many options for exploring, you have few utilities and traits open, and you’re just pretty weak all around. I find that leveling usually picks up for me after level 30.

Regarding underwater gear, when you go underwater, the following gear pieces are counted:

-Underwater weapon
-Aqua breather
-Chest, shoulders, hands, legs, and boots (not helm)

Above water, your aqua breather and its rune, as well as your underwater weapons and their sigils, do not count. The rune in the aqua breather is to replace the rune in your helm, as your helm is not counted when you go underwater.

EDIT: also, get a legendary only if you like how it looks. Way easier to just get a normal exotic Soldier weapon, especially with Badges of Honor being thrown everywhere for achievements.

Unfortunately, Seafarer’s Rest is an EU server, meaning that Sanctum of Rall, Tarnished Coast, Stormbluff Isle, and Sea of Sorrows are all inaccessible for guesting or dungeoning unless you transfer to a NA server.

You can transfer for free by deleting all of your characters (put your items and money into the bank beforehand), but seeing how you’ve been playing for a while, it might not be the best option anymore. In any case, regardless of what you choose, I wish you the best of luck finding a guild that suits you.