Guild Wars 2

lukejoe.1592:

… when a real life tragedy so closely resembling the joke is playing itself out in the media as we speak. If you don’t understand the distinction now, hopefully you will when you GROW UP.
…

I don’t keep up with the news but I haven’t heard of any tragedy involving people dying from being paralyzed in an “airplane” pose. Did they die of starvation or what?

This was not half as annoying as the bobble heads last year, although there was a way to get rid of them.

This youtube video shows the dances that each race is based on.

Behellagh.1468:

I never could get a screenshot but there were a few times when doing a somersault off of one of the dive spots my character got caught spinning. I could “run” around out of the water, spinning. I had now idea if others saw me this way or not but it most certainly was wacky.

I’ve had this happen also. Very frustrating getting rid of it.

Also my sister’s ranger will get stuck with the GS 3 animation of the translucent flying bird. She doesn’t see it but she stays that way on my screen for quite a while.

lecarlosfrance.3564:

Hi guys, just new in the game. if the GW2 dev guys make everything easier to play. why the hell you guys put vista in a place where its hard to reach. like I have to go to a top just to view it while I have to jump to a little stairs then while doing that,some stupid npc will attack me. ,whats with vista anyway? . just don’t get it. make it easy why not do everything especially in vista viewing . so annoying and irritating

In the beginning I was horrible at vistas and jumping puzzles and did not particularly like doing them, although I did like they were a little bit of a challenge. After playing for 2 1/2 years I have improved greatly at jumping, although I am no expert, and I really like them now.

Here are a few tips that may help you:

Movement – I think jumping is easier if you use the w key and hold the right mouse button while changing direction with the mouse. If you find you are not lined up correctly for the next jump stop and use the s, q and e keys to adjust your position or the a and d key to adjust the direction you are facing.

Jumping – Some jumps require you to jump up, make sure you are looking up to the platform and not down at your feet. Some jumps require you to leap a long distance that require a running jump. To start look down at your feet to make sure you have room for a few steps. If need be use s to backup. Then look to were you want to jump, use w and the mouse to take a running step or 2 and press the space bar to jump.

NPCs attacking – When you get faster at moving and jumping most NPCs can be ignored and run past. But keep in mind that if you are hit or in combat your speed is reduced and long jumps that you could normally make are now impossible. So kill off the NPCs first before those long difficult jumps.

Bad camera angles – some large races, Charr and Norn, are especially hard to maneuver through jumping puzzles and to fight in tight spaces because of the way the camera interacts with walls and ceilings. Even using the smallest female Norn doesn’t help. Using Asura or Sylvari is much easier.

Difficult or tricky vistas and jumping puzzles – some vistas have one jump that is tricky because it requires you to jump to one particularly unintuitive spot. Once you learn that tricky spot, either through trial and error or someone shows you or via a video, the path to the top is much easier. Some vistas are combined with jumping puzzles. To find out about jumping puzzles use the wiki here, go down to Exploring the World, Map, Jumping Puzzles. Click on the one you are interested in from the list. If you want help figuring out the path there is a walk-through, tips, a map and a link to youtube videos.

Here is a video of the Wall Breach Blitz which is a vista and a jumping puzzle in Diessa Plateau. As newbies my group was shown how to do this vista by helpful players who were also doing the jumping puzzle at the same time as us.

P.S. Also for long jumps it helps to use a speed buff.

You could look in the mesmer forum.

Also just try all the weapon skills and utilities as you level up. Unfortunately you won’t have access to traits for quite some time but that’s when playing mesmer gets really fun.

My 3rd mesmer, Jel E, nude at night to show her Sylvari marks glowing.

My 2nd mesmer, K Ki, has a new jacket. Because she is one of the smallest Asura around you may not see her until it is too late.

I remember when each character had a personality based on choices made throughout the game between ferocity, honor and charm. And in the character select screen it would show the personality.

I decided to use a makeover kit on my female human mesmer to see if I could get an exotic look that was also attractive. I found that adjusting the sliders didn’t change the face enough (without pushing all the sliders to the extreme). I got more exotic looks changing the base face. Many were not all that attractive but using different slider positions on some of them could have resulting in more exotic and attractive. I think most human female characters that I have seen in game and here in this thread are based on the same 1 or 2 starting faces.

Anyway the first picture is my mesmer. I changed her hair style before using different face bases.

For the next 2 pictures I used different stating faces after I changed the sliders to flatten and lower her eyebrows, widen her eyes horizontally but narrow them vertically. Raised the bridge of her nose, narrowed her mouth and thinned the bottom one. Receded her chin and narrowed her jaw. Only a few sliders were pushed to the extreme edge but all used the same slider positions.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Chantry_of_Secrets

If Anet hadn’t of nerfed the mobs in low level zones in April of 2014 they wouldn’t have had to nerf the downscaling now. I thought the low level zones were perfectly balanced back before they started screwing with things this past year.

My sneaky 2nd mesmer, K Ki. She’s the smallest I could make her. (The Queen Jenna mini comes up to her ear.) Without her name tag she would blend into most backgrounds.

Mystic forge stones

About dodging:

There is a key set up for dodging, the default is “V” I think. Although some don’t like the double tap to dodge I do. Double tap W to dodge forward, very useful. Double tap S to dodge backward, double tap Q to dodge to the left and E to dodge to the right.

I love dodging so much I have some of my professions traited to take advantage – thief to leave those tacks behind, engineer to leave a bomb and mesmer to create a clone.

Some weapons skills on some professions are a dodge. One of my favorites is the elementalist’s staff 4 while in fire. It leaves a burning trail behind that those chasing after her end up burning themselves to death.

The only problem I have is that endurance must be up so can’t dodge as often as I would like.

Necroma.2379:

Total: 702 hours
Warrior: 253
Warrior2: 345
Warrior3: 104

Cuz #YoloSolo

Well at least you know what you like.

My warrior was my forth character created because I wanted someone to craft armor smith and cooking. I never liked heavy metal in Diablo so was pleasantly surprised that I liked warrior. He was more mobile than I expected.

I decided to create characters for the last 4 so that if I ever encountered them in 1v1 situations I would know what to expect and also know how to coordinate with them in dungeons. I was surprised that I like guardian and engineer when I didn’t expect too.

I never heard of this achievement but when I looked I’ve got it. It would be nice if it would show when that occurred and on which character.

Edit: From reading about Orr it could have been when my mesmer got 100% map completion when she finished Cursed Shore.

AlliedKhajiit.2794:

…
in general I don’t really like the professions that have a low APM, my first 80 and current main is ele and I get bored on other classes when all you do is mash 1 and sometimes 2 or 4

The order in which I created them are: ranger, mesmer, ele, warrior, thief, guard, engineer necro and 2nd and 3rd mesmers.
The order in which I currently like playing them: mesmer, ranger and ele, guard and engineer, warrior, last is thief and necro.

The professions that I like that I didn’t expect – guard, engineer and warrior. Mesmer I didn’t know what to expect but I liked it from the beginning of playing it.

So for me the number of hours invested in each profession is based on preference and the order in which I created them. After another 1000 or so hours the numbers will reflect preferences more but I expect mesmer will always be hands down favorite.

I was curious about how many hours people have played and what professions they have the most experience with.

Here is mine:

Total: 2589 + hours
Mesmer: 904 (605 on main, and 162 and 137)
Ranger: 373
Elementalist: 328
Warrior: 274
Guardian: 171
Thief: 163
Necro: 129
Engineer: 123

Welcome to Tyria.

I’ll address some of your questions with this post.

You and your GF do not have to be the same race to play together. There are 5 races. Each starts the game in their own starting area (for levels 1 – 15, except for human starting zone for levels 1 – 17). After you get out of your opening tutorial you will be level 2 or 3 and in your race’s starting zone. Normally you would buy a salvage kit and gathering tools – sythe, axe and pick (you should have just enough money) then start exploring your starting zone completing heart quests, participating in dynamic events that will pop up, visiting Points of Interest (POIs) and waypoints, winning skill challenges and viewing vistas (some of these will not show up on your map until you are a high enough level), gathering from plant, lumber and ore resource nodes and killing mobs. But at any time you can go to other starting zones (don’t venture into higher level zones until you are ready).

The map of Tyria is divided into instanced zones that are connected via Asura gates to other zones. Each race’s starting zone is connected to the race’s city, each of which is connected to Lion’s Arch (LA). So for instance you may start a character as Charr and she may start her character as a Sylvari. You could travel from Plains of Ashford (your starting zone) to the Black Citadel to LA to The Grove to Caledon Forest (her starting zone). The only issue would be to make sure you end up in the same instance of that map is to form a party between the 2 of you. Each would add the other account to their friend’s list. Then one would click on the other from their friends list and invite to party.

While in game press “M” to see a map. The purple swirly things are the Asura gates that connect zones.

Good luck and have fun!

1. What initially attracted me to GW2 was no monthly fees and the relaxed feeling of playing only when I wanted to. This is my first MMO because of that very fact. I had resisted friends urging me to join WOW in the past mainly because of the monthly fees and my perceived level of commitment to playing the game on a regular basis.

2. The feeling of cooperation with other players and the friendly helpful community.

3. The combat style.

4. The beautiful scenery and music and the encouragement to explore.

5. The multiple ways to play.

6. The multiple ways to build a character starting with looks, background story, weapons choice, skill choice, traits, dyes, skins, etc.

7. The lack of a trinity. It wasn’t until my friends gave me a subscription to WOW that I realized how glad that GW2 doesn’t have that.

I’m sure there’s more but that it for now.

Mesmer is most fun for me whether I’m using GS, S/F, Staff or other weapons. Next I like ranger and elementalist. And then two professions I started later ‘cause I didn’t think I’d like them are guardian and engineer but I’ve been having fun smashing things with my guardian’s hammer and blowing things up with my engineer’s bomb kit, although they may not be optimal weapons.

CthulhuDawn.8194:

Hey, thanks for the info smhtjoa! I’ll have to check that video out after work, then the leveling begins. I was screwing around on an Elementalist and a Mesmer last night, and I just don’t like the range, I think. I might have to roll a Guardian and get right up in things faces, or maybe a Thief.

Both elementalist and mesmer can melee, it depends on what weapons are equipped. In fact most professions can do both range and melee depending on weapons. The guardian is probably the most limited in that regard since their ranged is almost non-existent. But since you don’t like ranged that shouldn’t be a problem.

Gyaddum.6145:

Red Queen.7915:

Do you have the gold star for map completion? If so, it’s a non-essential POI you are missing, which might be in one of the new maps or the one added with the LS in Brisban Wildlands (bottom left corner).

I got the Brisban Wildlands and all the maps show 100% and have a gold star but I didn’t get the achievement

All maps show 100% completion, even The Chantry of Secrets Map? The Chantry of Secrets is a separate map that is reached from Bloodtide Coast. It contains one POI. There is a POI in Bloodtide Coast itself but you must go through the Asura gate into the Chantry and then get to the POI in there.

Lord Aurelius.3167:

…
For the time being I’ll probably take a break from crafting on all my characters and just sell all the crafting materials I come across, it should help keep my bank less full and provide a nice income to start buying the higher tier bags.
…

I don’t mean to insult you but you do know that crafting materials are stored in the materials storage section of your bank and as such does not take up any bank space. They can all be stored at one time from your inventory by clicking on the top right “options” wheel button in the inventory and choosing “deposit all materials” .

I think the more of a hoarder you are the more problem you have managing inventory and bank space. I know from first hand experience. I recently got rid of worthless stuff that was taking up too much space in my bank.

Also now that all my characters are level 80 I freed up so much space in my bank that had all stages of armor, weapons, trinkets, sigils and runes that my low level characters could “grow” into. That also means none of my characters have to save any low level equipment in their inventories until they can get to the bank. I now only save occasional exotic gear in case it is better that what one my other characters have. But I still have quite a bit of junk in my bank ’cause somehow all that space I freed up in my bank is filled again.

I found it fun from the very beginning but all my characters were started before the changes they started making about a year ago, which in my opinion lessened the fun. I liked exploring and completing the maps. Not even sure if you can see the vistas and skill challenges marked on the maps at your level. You will need those for map completion.

I liked leveling and gaining trait points starting at level 11. Now you need to reach level 30 before the first level of traits are unlocked and will have to complete tasks to unlock each trait. That will be challenging if you attempt those when you can because you will most likely be under-leveled. It was fun trying different builds using skills and traits. So that is something to look forward to. Depending on what profession you play traits can be important.

Also some professions are not as much fun as others. But each person has those they like better and it is not the same for everyone. And until you try them you won’t know since some surprised me being more fun than I expected. If you plan to engage in 1×1 combat with other players whether in wvw or spvp then it wouldn’t hurt to try all the professions so you know what each is capable of. Understanding all the professions would also help when fighting with them in your party in dungeons and fractals.

As another said it can be fun at any level even in this new version of the game if you explore and play with a friend or two and discover things as you go along.

Rauderi.8706:

…
As you get laurels in your daily rewards, track down your major city’s laurel vendor (green laurel thing on the map). They sell one-time starter packs that can give you a huge boost to start, and they sell material bags for whatever tier you may be working in. At endgame, the Tier 6 bags can bring in some decent cash. …

If you plan to get ascended trinkets for your level 80 from the laurel vender then you may want to save 180 + laurels for that purpose.

Here is a thread from 10 months ago: https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/crafting-help-2/first#post4007777 that has some info. Also you can gain experience to level your character from gaining crafting levels. Discovering new recipes gives the most crafting experience.

DeanBB.4268:

… Salvage low value items, sell higher value items.
…

Good advice. To further clarify, you can sell on the BLTP (Black Lion Trading Post) or sell to a local vender (identified on the map by a stack of coins). Most things can be sold for more on the BLTP but not all.

Every so often I go through my inventory by opening it and then opening a window to BLTP by clicking on the “lion” icon on the top left of screen, then select buy/sell, then buy. Everything you sell on the TP cost a commission so sometimes it’s not worth it to sell there. I usually salvage those. Some few things sell for more at a local vender. Also you can “sell junk” to the local vender. Some things you can make more money salvaging the materials and selling the parts/materials on the TP. Since I save most of my materials for crafting I click on the top right corner of inventory and choose to deposit all materials. But if I’ve already got a full stack (250) I will sell the remainder.

Another thing to consider is to unlock any new weapon or armor before selling it or salvaging it (although one of those actions unlocks it automatically). Once they are unlocked they can be used as a skin by any character on your account.

tigirius.9014:

Actually I wouldn’t say 90% because there are large numbers of us who left this game as seen by their Q4 earnings report last year which was released just prior to their announcement of HoT.

If non-trinity was so awesomesauce why did all those people leave?

…

I’d say there are 3 main reasons why people may have left GW2:

1. They were used to other games and expected more of the same and couldn’t adjust to a different way to play. So it was more of a l2p issue. It’s hard to teach old dogs new tricks.

2. They were/are easily bored, continually looking for the new shiny. When Anet didn’t add the new content that they wanted they moved on to the next thing.

3. They were disillusioned with the changes made to the game in the past year and the failure of Anet to fix existing problems.

If GW2 had a trinity from the beginning I think they would have made less money. Some of the appeal of GW2 is because it didn’t have a trinity. And if Anet added a trinity to the existing game even more people would stop playing than those who leave because of the lack of one.

So to answer the OP’s question – no.

Samhaim.8956:

…

You do realize that it has nothing to do with anet the fact that you gave your friend wrong information because you were not aware of the changes and that if you had decided to just follow him around and kept on your way none of that would’ve happened right?…

And that is the problem with the NPE and the nerfing of starter mobs (that was actually introduced with the traits mangle). It is no longer any fun for a more experienced player to show a friend the ropes of the game. It is no longer fun to use a higher level character when accompanying a friend with a low level character in the lower leveled zones because the mobs are too easy to kill or the down-leveling hasn’t been adjusted for these easier mobs. The finely balanced game play of the original game in these starter zones has been tinkered with until it is now out of balance.

I’ve been wondering why Anet thought the original game was too hard for beginners. In Sept ’12 I had never played an MMO before GW2 and I had no problem with it being too hard. But I realize I had someone with more experience show me around in the very beginning and it was fun. I also bought the guide and read much of it so had learned a lot on my own.

But thinking about it, without that initial guidance it could have been a lot more confusing because Anet didn’t, and still doesn’t, have a series of tutorials to provide basic game play info. Instead of providing those optional tutorials they have sacrificed playability of those starter zones and crippled the leveling experience to try to support the solo beginning player. But in the process they have ruined one of the things that was so appealing about the initial game – the mentoring from a higher leveled friend when starting out.

If they hadn’t messed with the game this past year I would probably be excited about the expansion. But until they fix this mess I’m not interested in giving them any more of my money and I’m not interested in leveling a new character even if it is a new profession.

Pandaman.4758:

… but challenges are definitely locked. You can complete a challenge if someone else who has it unlocked (it’s an account-wide unlock) starts it and you participate in it, but if you’re on a new account that hasn’t unlocked it yet all challenges (even the stupidly easy ones like Oola’s quiz) will give you a “This is too hard, I should come back later” message when you interact with it….

If they thought skill challenges were too hard for new players they should have removed them from the starting zones completely. By locking them until a player is a certain level means that map completion on these starter zones is now very disjointed. What used to be a smooth organic process is now very chaotic. All the changes in the past year seem to be made without fully understanding the full consequences to game play.

My main, a mesmer, has a new more armored look:

Vayne.8563:

In case some people don’t realize it, there are private PvP rooms now set up just to get dailies done. They usually say Dailies, No Trolling or something like that. Even though I’m mostly a PvE player I often end up getting dailies there because its’ faster and cooperative.

Today 3 people let me kill them for my daily player kills, I capped a point and won on a guardian all in one game, without PvPing at all. Just saying.

Was it fun?

Luckily you do not need ascended gear for most of the game. They really help in the higher levels of Fractals, which is where you will get the most ascended drops I think. If you do want ascended gear the first goals with the most payoff in stats are the trinkets. You can get those with laurels from the laurel vendor. The next would be the weapons, leaving armor for the last.

Nausiation.1469:

…
To all that are going to say you don’t want tanks/healers,

I don’t want tanks/healers.

then you also can’t complain about everyone running zerkers and dps spamming through dungeons, because that’s what we got for not having a trinity.

I don’t complain about dps spamming through dungeons. Obviously you are one of the complainers.

Some really interesting looking Sylvari in this thread.

I have two a thief, Dyvid Fernleaf and my 3rd mesmer, Jel E

Chiros.6724:

…

Mesmers and their portals are not special snowflakes.
… I morally and ethically disagree that people should expect a tip for something like a portal. If someone wants to give a tip then more power to them. It’s the entitlement in this thread that I will never agree with.

By the same token players are not entitled to a port from a mesmer.

Mesmers at the top of a JP may not even be aware of someone’s need. If I feel like taking the time I often provide portals if I notice someone needing one. But since I very rarely ever look at the chat channels (don’t even have them set up in any particular way on my characters) the only time I have provided portals for random players is if I noticed them struggling in the area. But if I’ve got my inventory window open and the BLTP window open trying to decide what to sell and what to salvage then I don’t even see the area around me. And if people are upset because I didn’t provide a portal when they expected one I’m completely unaware of it.

OK I’ve never tipped although I’ve used another mesmer’s portal maybe 2 or 3 times. One time I wasn’t sure where I ended up so am cautious of trying any more. I did get one to the top of a jumping puzzle in the second expansion of Dry Top. I have dropped some, just not many, and don’t really expect or need tips or thank you’s but never got any tips.

So my question is how do you tip? Use the mail system?

naiasonod.9265:

…

My being a mesmer in a JP signed me up for some sort of charity service? I usually flat ignore such nonsense. On the odd occasion someone’s asked nicely I’ve helped them, but mostly, nah.

…

My sentiments exactly and since I generally don’t read chat I don’t know how many times players have asked for a portal, whether nicely or rudely. The times I have provided a portal for a vista or jp is when I’m playing with my sister, who doesn’t like/isn’t very good at jumping puzzles.

Basaltface.2786:

For me it was salvaging and the trading post, at first i sold everything i got to a vendor …

This for me too.

IndigoSundown.5419:

…

That said, I’m starting to see more instances of events with no one calling the event in map chat. …

One of the original appeals of GW2 was the fostering of cooperation between players and the friendly community. But that feeling of cooperation and friendliness has eroded somewhat with the changes to the game over the last year.

It started with trait unlocks that depended on events that were triggered by previous events failing and other players being at cross-purposes. And now the ruined pve daily tasks that herd everyone into the same maps all competing for the same events or boss.

GuzziHero.2467:

I would really like to be enthused about the Revenant class but until/unless I know whatever the hell will replace the utter car crash the Trait system is in now, the new class can go to hell.

My sentiments exactly.

These days I am not even saving any Tomes of Knowledge.

Me neither.

I tried to make 2 new characters under the new system, got them to level 50-60 or so, saw how few traits I had and deleted them. Thats how I feel about the current system, I feel that progression is grindy and unnecessarily tedious. …

I haven’t created a new character since the new trait system was implemented. And I used to really enjoy leveling new characters. But I don’t need to actually “eat dirt” to know I wouldn’t like it. I also don’t want to buy a new character slot and reward Anet for such a poorly designed trait rework. I have no intention of buying the new expansion and getting a new character slot for a new profession unless the reviews are great and they fix this mess. The original GW2 was so much more fun.

ozmaniandevil.6805:

Well the new system has cured me from “needing” to get the dailies, and has me just logging in for the daily reward for the most part and logging back out. Well done, ANet, well done. I no longer even need to actually play your game. I no longer even look at the daily list of uselessness.

But really, I think they’ve shot themselves in the foot with this system. Because I am that person that HAD to get my dailies, every day. I never missed them, EVER. I played the game to get them, in whatever area I wanted to. It was fun, it was something that just happened. Now, I am CURED of my addiction to actually playing the game. …

I was thinking this very thing tonight as I logged in, got my reward and logged back out. I haven’t played this game at all over the last 2 weeks. In the 2 months since the new dailies started I’ve done them maybe half a dozen times and actually played an additional 2 or 3 times. So I’ve been cured too.

Seal.5964:

…
Sitting still is not encouraged in this game – there is only one trait which encourages it and in every other place and time, I would consider it to be a penalty (to your tactical advantage). Of course, sitting still can be applied with reverse psychology in mind, but only in very specific cases.

A mesmer trying to disguise themselves as one of their clones.

HtFde.3856:

Lazuli.2098:

HtFde.3856:

Astral Projections.7320:

Snowden drifts again.

…

That map is pretty unpopular for a reason …
It also seems to lack fast respawning meta events …

The firefly infestation event respawns very quickly. You can probably do it 4 times in a row in the amount of time or quicker than it would take to find 3 additional events. Also a lot less effort.

Do you mean: “Cull the furfly population devouring the pinesol woods”?

If so … it’s funny … I did that zone three times for map completition and never once ran into it … will look for it … this zones seems to come up pretty often.

Yes, that’s the one. I did it once then ran around north and east and got a few more then came back and it was up again. Then when my sister came over with her laptop I went out with her to get the Snowden Drifts map completion. Same thing happened. She did the firefly event twice too.

Kessex Hills has no problems with events. Last night I took a character that hadn’t quite finished the map, got 4 events and then getting the last few hearts and WP and POI I needed I must have gotten another 10 events or so. When you’re not looking for them, events seem to pop up everywhere.

HtFde.3856:

Astral Projections.7320:

Snowden drifts again.

…

That map is pretty unpopular for a reason …
It also seems to lack fast respawning meta events …

The firefly infestation event respawns very quickly. You can probably do it 4 times in a row in the amount of time or quicker than it would take to find 3 additional events. Also a lot less effort.

There’s going to be upset players no matter what. If they change it too much those that leveled characters and got traits using this current system by spending time and effort and/or money will be kittened that others will not have to go through the same agony. If they don’t change it enough it will be nothing but a variation of this current mess.

I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t much care any more. I’ve resigned myself to never creating and leveling another character and am playing the game less and less.