Guild Wars 2

xerca.6135:

You can buy it from GW2’s webpage as well
https://www.guildwars2.com/en/shop/

And the GW2 shop kicks you back to Amazon.

MauricioCezar, your best bet is to read Amazon’s International shipping/fee page. Each country is going to have different shipping prices and import fees, so you will need to do a little research. You can find the information page here:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html/ref=hp_468520_intl?nodeId=596184

Good luck!

Welcome to GW2, Denis Strasse!

I agree, this game has one of the best communities I have met in long time (just stay out of the General Discussion board…things tend to get a little swampy in there! :P).

I hope you continue to enjoy the game and community, as much as I am!

I would be careful about just joining a group, even if they are looking for more people. It may not be a big deal for some. But, some may feel it is a bit rude if you don’t at least give a quick whisper before inviting yourself to the party.

Have you reached 100% in the zone? This is not just the hearts, but the POIs, Vistas, Waypoints and most importantly, the Skill points?

If not, I would suggest completing the entire zone before moving anywhere. I have found that if you do that, as well as completing a few Dynamic Events along the way, will get you to a level that allows you to move to the next zone.

Also, if you have not worked on your storyline, you should keep it current. It gives good loot and xp. It also is a great way to let you know if you should stay in a zone or start to move on.

That is a really broad question. I don’t think anyone is going to be able to give you advice for an “optimal” set for many reasons. We don’t know your class, your level (30-75 covers a lot of ground) and probably most importantly, your playstyle.

You level very quickly in this game. Which means you will go through a lot of different armor just as quickly. I wouldn’t worry too much about building an optimal set at this point.

If you are concerned about stats, again not knowing some key info to make a certain recommendation, I would say to focus on upgrades that improve defense and power. Those are two very generic stats that first time players probably wont go wrong with getting while leveling.

But, again, you will be going through armor quickly during that level span. In all honestly, just go with a piece that is a little better then what you are wearing. By the time you figure out if it works or not, you will probably have leveled out of it anyways.

Well, I assume you are still leveling to 80 and you will acquire sufficient armor through quests, events, crafting and your storyline. If you aren’t doing all of those, I would recommend to start.

At 80, there are many ways to acquire your exotic set. You can craft a set, once you get the appropriate crafting skill to 400. If you horde Karma (which you can do or spend it on really good armor as you level, really your choice), you will have enough to start buying exotic pieces in Orr. And, as you already know, you can start running dungeons for tokens or drops.

If you want to test your computer’s hardware to see how compatible it is with GW2 (as well as many other games) and get an easy to read graphic, try this tool:

http://www.systemrequirementslab.com/CYRI/

It wont tell you what you need, but will tell you if it is your hardware or if you should be looking at another reason.

I don’t think there is anything you can do about it and I am not sure I have read about Anet working on that issue (I could be wrong on that). This is a pretty much known issue for a long time.

Does your friends on the new server have a guild? A full party of guildees doing things multiplies your influence dramatically. Luckily, if you work as a group, it will not take you very long to catch up to where you were.

If your missing items you left in the bank, I believe you can go back and get those items. Your old guild should still be there with all items and upgrades.

Arc.1425:

what an average player has to say about the game.

If your basing this off of what you read on the forums, please don’t. The forums posters are not the average player. In most MMOs, the average player plays about 20 hours, never sees high-end content, doesn’t pvp and certainly, does not post on the forums.

So, take anything you read here with a grain of salt. That includes my posts!

To answer you question, just about everything you enjoyed in the first month is still here and a little more! It is still a beautiful game with lots of cool things to find while exploring. I still get surprised while exploring the map.

The ingame population is still one of the friendliest. People will still help you out for no other reason then you are just there.

WvW is challenging, fun and addictive. I am on the bottom tier, but the struggle and successes are just as rewarding.

This game has been easiest to do things with my friends compared to other games. I have played nearly every AAA game that has come out since EQ. I have never played with my friends and guildees on such a regular basis, as I do in GW2. They succeeds at making it easy.

Those are just a few things that keep me playing. I encourage you to stay away from the forums and just enjoy the game. You already paid for it, why not play it?

I leveled my last character almost completely in WvW and just keeping up with my personal story. About the only time I did anything else was if I was really hurting for coin or my armor was falling too far behind, but that was very rare on both accounts.

So, yes you can level in WvW mostly. I would suggest to keep up on your storyline for the extra xp/gear and just because no one seems to do it.

Try the Anvil Rock server.

I am clearing the map with my 80 and seeing people in every zone. I am leveling alts and seeing people in the low zones (some races are more popular then others). To be honest, we are mostly a PvE server. That means WvW hurts, but there are people there too (just not as many as we would like.)

Don’t believe the negative comments. This game is far from dying. Server transfers are free (for now), do a little shopping till you find a good one.

Guanglai Kangyi.4318:

I don’t think there’s any real illusion that the guardian heals, at least not at this point.

That is a pretty broad statement. Guardians can heal, just like they can DPS.

If your looking for direct heals, then your not going to find that in a guardian. You will find decent aoe heals that can (and do) change the tide of difficult battles.

If played correctly, with buffs and shields, you can keep your team up and fighting much longer then they would be on there own.

Lol, now I get it.

You have gone so long trying to create a reality that you think you are right.

I have ignored your baseless personal attacks (i.e. I dont get it, I dont read, I want to tell you how to play, I make assumptions, etc). They are untrue, weak and common attempts during discussions to try to bostler a point of view to seem right.

I have never said you cant DPS (in fact, I said the opposite many times….read my posts). I have said you have to DPS within the design of the class. And we have many tools to do just that, but that point seems to be lost to you.

It is clear now that you are trying to force your idea of a guardian into a state that is not true. Speccing for DPS does not prevent you from wearing heavy armor, use regen or condition removals. These things define our class. They will be there no matter how you spec.

I remember learning back in the BWEs that if you die a lot, you probably are not doing it right. Take a look at some of the videos on this forums. There are a lot of guardians doing great damage and not needing an additional escape (or crutch).

Warlord has it correct. A guardian trying to defend his QQing about not having enough survivability is comical.

No, your not getting it Amins.

Your fringe idea is to change the philosophical design of the class.

This old school player understands that a guardian class is made to take punches, not look for easy ways to escape. That is what other classes do.

You still did not answer my question. Why play a class that is not designed around the playstyle you prefer?

Or is it that you want all the great things about being a guardian, as well as the things that make other classes work?

WeWantWaffles.2873:

It’s a support/healer type who doesn’t have much range and focuses on protecting the party in general. It is melee oriented and very good to have around in dungeons or larger groups. They work well on their own as well, keeping quite high damage.

The trade off is that they have low health (but very high armor).

This is a pretty good description. I would add that along with heavy armor, we have the some of the best condition removals, heals (that can be focused on yourself or the team, however you trait) and defensive spells to mitigate damage.

We fall a little short in overall and burst damage compared to other professions. But, if you like to be the first in and the last standing, holding positions and keeping your team up, and being very difficult to take down in skirmishes; then Guardian is for you.

@Amins
You obviously do not want to accept that not every playstyle is going to be totally viable with every profession. I think you are going to be frustrated with the guardian class, if you don’t learn to rely on the tools we have, which as you can read throughout this forums, are very viable. But, whatever.

I have to ask, though, why do play a class that is by design not optimal for your playstyle?

Amins.3710:

Stun Breaks do not support a DPS Build as a means of Escape: We cannot take the hits like a survivability Build can.

This is a given. A survivability build should outlive a dps build.

Amins.3710:

By your logic, every guardian should be supporting and not dps’n.

You are putting words in my mouth. I said you could play however you like, but don’t think that you can or should be able to play like every other professions.

Amins.3710:

Failed logic.

Stun Breaks=mobility=survivability

That is the logic of this game.

Amins.3710:

Survivability is our Escape.

That is absolutely correct.

Amins.3710:

How you choose to argue and define these words are up to you, but facts are facts.

You haven’t provided facts, just opinions. You want to be able to play like other professsions. You want skills (ports, vanish, leaps…in short, panic buttons) like other professions. The “fact” is the guardian does not play that way. Even with a DPS build, you have ways to mitigate damage better then a lot of other classes. You don’t get to run in and blink out when things get heavy.

Amins.3710:

PS: from gw descrpition of a guardian (straight from thier mouth, not wiki): Guardian

Guardians are devoted fighters who protect their allies and smite their enemies by drawing from the power of their virtues. True guardians are brilliant tacticians and selfless defenders who know when to sacrifice their own defenses to empower their allies to achieve victory.

We protect AND smite.

You would have us only protect. A great tactician knows when to JI into a zerg and get out… if only we could get out.

First, the wiki is an official voice of Anet. Second, again I never said you cant DPS (or smite). I said you can’t play like other professions. You have to play a DPS build with the guardian tools. And those tools are effective.

Amins.3710:

IE: You need DPS Burst classes to assist you. More importantly, you ~NEED~ your burst classes to have escape mechinisms or you will never win the push. It’s an ebb and flow man and guardians just don’t ebb to well in the DPS builds.

I agree, if you are trying to break a zerg you will need to have burst, dps classes. A support build guardian is there to keep the others on the team performing at peak and keeping them in the fight longer, so they can hold off on using escape mechanisms. Longer time in battle=more damage overall.

I don’t agree that guardians don’t ebb well, they just ebb slower than other class. And that is by design. But, as I said before, if you get too deep, it wont matter what escapes you have at your disposal.

Saying I haven’t read the OP (which I have) is not a defense. Neither of you have argued the point, just attacked the poster.

If stun breakers do not help your survivability, then I am not sure what you would use them for? Except maybe closing in on a target… And enough targets will take you down, doesn’t matter what profession you play.

I am not defining the class or what your playstyle should be, Anet has already done that.

From the wiki:

“The guardian’s play-style has a defensive feel and are adept at supporting their allies.”

You may believe that Anet promised every profession can play each style equally, but you are mistaken. Each profession can fill rolls, but each profession has styles they excel at and if you do not work your build around that, then your performance will be hindered.

I don’t think we need to define Escape anymore then it already is. The OP wanted ways to get away from attackers. We have stun breaks that free us from control effects. One of those skills has a long duration swiftness. We have three teleports (one defensive, two offensive) and a leap or two. Most of those are distance closers, but we are melee and that is what we should be doing.

I don’t really care if your play style is to do a quick hit and then make a build that allows you to run away from the battle. But, that is more of a Thief playstyle, imo.

To say we have no means of escape is not true. The point is, we are not large burst with instant disengage. Our job is to be the center of attention. We have distance closers and steady retreats. Our mitigation is what saves us…as long as you play smart.

@Amins – Please read my post two up. We have escapes that are utility (and don’t need to be traited) and most have DPS buffs.

Hostility.4961:

The lack of stuff other almost every other class has: ESCAPE SKILLS!!!

This is pretty much untrue. We have four escapes, which is the same as most other professions with the exception of Thieves and Mesmers. Don’t believe me? Check here:

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Stun_break

But, who needs escapes? I am a freakin’ Guardian. You want to mess with me, you better plan to stay for awhile and bring friends.

There is an interesting discussion going on over at Reddit concerning +healing power and other attributes.

“tl;dr: Healing Power scales just as effectively as any other stat, at least for Guardian. People who say it’s useless aren’t considering how many different things it affects, how often healing happens, and the fact that in GW2 offense is linear while survivability is cyclical.”

As I have said before and what I have seen about most things in this game, there are very few hard standards; most things (even when they seem obvious), tend to be open for debate.

The real question is “How much gold do you want to make?”

I am pretty sure, most everyone is able to make enough coin to keep up on repairs, add to WvW upgrades, get their crafting done (eventually) and just about everything else needed to play the game.

If earning 5 gold/hr is what you consider acceptable, then you may have your standards a little too high. Shouldn’t the profit rate be enough to cover bills (which are the examples above, not buying enough gems to buy out the gem shop or over-throw the TP) and have a little extra to start to save for gear or play the market? Over that, wouldn’t that seem to be excessive for the average player?

Hello Anet,
Loving the game! After leveling two professions to 80 and outfitting one with nearly complete Exotics, I am still finding more fun things to do. Keep up the great work!

Presently, I am working on clearing my map to 100%. Something that would be incredibly helpful would be a feature to see the completion percent for each zone without having to zone to each map. I would think a mouse over option that reveals XX% on the world map would not be game breaking or make things too easy. It would make things much easier to find those last few POIs.

Just a humble suggestion from the field!

Glad to hear you made it! Hope you enjoy the game as much as I am!

Anyone else not getting the swiftness buff from Symbol of Swiftness? I seem to miss it more and more lately. Don’t know if this is a bug or a delay with the client/server and me missing it before it registers?

FLFW,
Welcome to the game! I hope your stay is as pleasurable as mine!

First, let me say the same theorycrafting that you find in other games is not as clear in GW2. You will find a lot more opinions and a lot less hard standards. So, when you hear someone saying that is the “only” way to go, take it with a grain of salt. There is a lot more room to play as you feel comfortable then what you find in other games.

Second, if you haven’t opened the skills for all your weapon choices, do that first. There is no reason not to be able to use all your tools and many times you may find yourself switching between not just your two weapons, but switching out a third or even forth if the situation dictates.

I run a 0/5/30/30/5 AH/support build. (You might be interested in the AH playstyle from your OP, read up on it in the stickies). I have full exotic karma gear (not as hard as it sounds to get) and use a hammer/staff typically. I do a lot of Wv3 and am clearing the zone maps. Even in the 80s zones, I am almost unkillable. I can engage a veteran mob and, as long as they don’t have a knock back, I can just leave it on auto-attack and sit back. My return heals cover any damage. It is almost silly.

TL;DR: This game allows you to play as want pretty well. There are very few instances that someone can say you are doing it wrong (and most of the time that is up for debate). Don’t forget though, we don’t have a big health pool. Make sure you focus on Defense to protect what you have, otherwise you will be on your back more then you may like.

Eveningstar.6940:

Hey GraynX,

Unless you’re strapped for cash and the Skybringer is selling well, I’d hang on to it. There’s a possibility ANet will talk about relative stat value in a coming update, because I can’t possibly imagine they intend all Guardians to sit in Knights+Valkyrie’s, if not full Berserker’s. So a future update may make the greatsword more useful than it is now.

This is assuming you’re attached to the sword and want a good excuse to use it. If that’s not the case, and it’s selling well, may as well rake in a fistful of gold.

I have to agree with you, healing power seems to be so undervalued right now that Anet probably needs to take a look at it. In which case, if they decide to give the secondary attribute some love, this sword’s worth may improve.

I have been reading people having success with healing power, once they reach the +1500 range. That is a lot of sacrifice to get that high, though. Right now I am in the acceptable 300-600 range and probably will stay there until I see some changes to the attribute.

There are also some reports that upper level Fractals require much more survivability vice DPS. I wonder if there is a niche for healing gear moving into upper Fractals.

Unfortunately, the sword is only selling for 2-3 gold. That is nothing to balk at, but it is not going to buy my precursor either. I will probably just hold for awhile and see where this goes.

Exploring maps and doing world PvE is probably the most reliable way to get money. Following a good zerg in Wv3 will get you a good amount of coin, you need to find out when the zergs run on your server. This means playing more Wv3 to get to know your server peak times. Dungeons can net you coin, but it really depends on how well your group is working. It will be a profit vs. wipes, so it there is a lot of uncertainty going that route; not to mention the time it takes to find a group.

I really wouldn’t worry about it too much. Just keep staying active and enough coins will be there to cover repair bills at least. Eventually, you will make enough karma to improve your gear and money will begin to flow a little quicker in your direction.

edit: if you want to make a gold or two in a day, you can get to 100% on a high-end map. The 75-80 lvl zones seem to be giving two exotics lately. Sell those on the TP and you should get a little bank to keep you going.

Wiser with Age.3714:

Would I recommend the game in 3 or 6 months from now?

This is an interesting question. Without monthly subs, it is like we have lifetime subscriptions. We get a little tired of the shenanigans, just take a break for a month or three. You can pop back in and see where the game is going without really losing anything.

Maybe the OP’s question could be reworded to ask “Would you recommend buying a lifetime subscription for $60?”. I wonder how that would change a potential buyer’s decision?

Okay fellow Guardians, I have a dilemma. While running Fractals yesterday (lvl 1, no less) Skybringer dropped for me. I know, awesome, right? Or maybe not? Or maybe it could be? Hmmm….

I know +heal is crap right now. But, Superior Sigil of Life was already on the sword. That is a potential +378 heals on one item. Is there a point when +heals becomes significant?

I have been running the typical AH support build with a Hammer/Staff and my gear is for a support roll. I mainly do Wv3 and PvE. This sword will be an obvious upgrade to my rare weapons. But, I am not rich, so grabbing a couple gold would be nice, as well.

That is my dilemma. Should I try the great sword and see if there is a point when +heals becomes acceptable or just sell it for as much gold as I can get?

Also, look for off hour times. 6am may seem that it is off hours, but it really depends on the make up of the server (where is the predominate player base is located and what type of server it is, i.e. pve or pvp). I would also recommend making a character and check back with the servers throughout the day and especially late at night.

Take stock that once you get in to the server, it will be a full of players and you shouldn’t have that alone feeling as you wander through Tyria. Keep trying and don’t give up hope! You will be in before you know it!

Sure, I recommend the game to friends all the time.

In my opinion, one of the biggest factors to judge whether a mmo is a “mmo”, is the ease to play with other people. This game is one of the easiest games to play with my friends. I have played most mmos for the last decade and I do more things with my friends on a daily basis then any other game I have played.

The ease to play with friends that have different types of playstyles (casual vs. hardcore, pve vs pvp, novice vs experienced, etc) is one of the most desirable aspects of this game to me. I try to encourage all my friends to give it a shot.

Sals.9534:

My daughter is turning 7 this year. Is it ok to allow a child to play GW2?

This is a great question, Sals.

I will admit my wife’s opinion and my own differ quite a bit. So, we comprised by trying to replace words like “killing” and “dead” with “getting” and “defeated”. I try to emphasis the ways we can help others in the game. Saving, defending and protecting are words I try to use a lot to emphasis that we do not have to only perform violent acts. This may seem minor and probably is, but it makes us feel like we are not focusing on the violence.

Now my son is six, if you ever have seen a group of six year old boys (and some girls) play together, you know that it typically revolves around swords or guns. So, the discussions we have about morals and violence in-game are not really that different than what we talk about when he is playing with his friends.

My suggestion is do whatever you feel comfortable with, but know that anything they are pretending to do in a video game, they are probably pretending to do elsewhere. And there are always ways to “spin” something, so they see the good they can do.

@Gehenna: If we do ever get to run the Fractals, I suspect the experience would be pretty fun. I would probably hear a lot of “Whoa!”, “Look at this!” and “Aw, Man! This is cool!”. That seems to be the level of enjoyment with everything he does in-game.

I want to thank everyone for their comments. It is great to hear your stories and know that there are families out there reaching the one true factor to how successful a game is; we are having fun.

Kaiyanwan,
Thank you for this guide! I just rolled a Mesmer for the sole purpose of being lazy! (ports in Wv3 ftw!) I will be using every part of that build; mostly because I am too lazy to keep looking and it looks like maybe what I sort of been looking for.

LordByron.8369:

yeah i know other opinion doesn t worth anything…

Forum is a vocal minority
Reviews are a voal minority..

If for example a president you don t like is elected, its possibly a vocal minority or something, for the same reasoning?

You have to accept this is the majority or gives proof of the opposite….
Otherwise what you say are just baseless speculations.

First, I never said his opinion is without value. It has as much value as my opinion. I said it was hyperbole. And I gave proof to back that statement.

It is a pretty much a proven fact that a minority of players post on forums or submit reviews. You can Google that one, if you don’t believe me.

I believe I agree with you about the election of the President. At times, vocal minorities have influenced an election and an undesirable candidate was elected. It sounds very much like what we are talking about here.

I don’t have to accept this is the majority of opinions and I certainly do not have to provide proof to the contrary. The person that made statement has the burden of proof and must present facts to back his opinion or it is just that, opinion or, as I said a couple times in this case, hyperbole.

I have seen a recent trend with parents sharing their GW2 experience with their children. As a parent of young gamer, I can appreciate the stories that are being posted around the internet. I think it is great that families can come together and enjoy a game that is bridging the generational gap. It is not something that you see every day.

I thought I would share my story that happened during the weekend Lost Shore event. My boy is six and has always been interested in his Dad’s hobbies. So, it was pretty natural that he wanted to play GW2 after watching me play.

I broke down and bought a second account, so we could play at the same time. After explaining the rules and setting the guidelines, we took to making him a character. He decided on a human and a guardian (just like dear ol’ Dad ). We took the rest of the week to level him up to a respectable level ten prior to the event.

We logged on Sunday and headed to island. I patiently explained he should take out his staff and stay safely in the back, helping rezzing downed players. We caught up with the zerg and began to make our way. If he fell behind, I told him we were following the big group of people. He stayed up and things were running well.

As we battled a particularly difficult champ, I ran into the fray and did what was expected of a Guardian. Occasionally, I looked back to make sure the boy was okay. He now had his hammer out and was not far away chasing crabs.

At the end of the fight with the champion crab downed, we were breathless from a lot of hooting and hollering. I set myself to rezzing the dead. Noticing that I did not know where my son was, I stood up from duties to look for him. I did not see, so I turned around and asked where he went.

At the top of his lungs, he yelled “GET DOWN HERE DAD! WHERE GOING AFTER THE NEXT ONE!”.

I looked back at my screen and saw the zerg filtering down the hill at full bore. And who did I see at the front of this hundred man crab-meat grinder? There was my boy with Hammer overhead leading the charge straight into the gaping maul of another champion.

It was classic. My wife may never understand it (or even totally approve), but it made this old gamer and dad just a little proud.

That is my story. How about you? Do any gaming parents out there have a story they would like to share. I know I would love to hear it.

bri.2359:

If you want a non-scientific indication of how a game is doing, check the game rating in on-line game vendor sites.

After game launch there were mostly positive,4-5 stars. Now you see the 1-2 star reviews are beginning to add up …

This is just hyperbole, as most critical comments about this game seem to be.

Just as an example, Amazon’s rating averages around 3.5 – 4.5 stars and MMORPG.com sits at 8.8 (users rating) to 9.3 (site rating).

Don’t believe the hype. If you are enjoying the game, keep playing. If you are not, take a break; come back when you get a little bored. That’s the great thing about this game.

You absolutely can complete this chapter with the mortars. You shouldn’t die, since the npc keep the mobs off your back. You do have to kill six giants, so it does take awhile to complete.

It is too bad that the key aspect of this chapter is bugged (the tanks). But, you can keep going so this bug is not a game stopper.

Trying to get AN to answer questions is a bit hard. I wanted to do a write up on Maclaine about his event music over at GWI, but they would never respond to my requests.

Too bad that the event is over, I think it would have made an interesting piece.

Did the CM bug fix in the 11/1 update correct the story mode problem with the last boss? The notes are a bit vague and I would hate to run the entire instance (again), only to find I can’t complete the story (again).

The Halloween theme music is really good!

We would love to know a little more about the composers. Any chance we can get a little background info or maybe a bio of those responsible for the music?