Guild Wars 2

I like to use this site to pick out dyes: http://www.dragonsworn.net/dyes/

When you mouseover a color it gives three boxes that show what they look like on different armor classes.

In regards to the T1/2/3 being difficult for some classes, it likely refers to the Queen’s Gauntlet. There are a lot of complaints about the event due to it requiring re-traiting and re-gearing for most classes to participate, and nearly impossible for some classes to complete. T1 isn’t so bad, but T3 is pretty much difficult for everyone. It benefits those who are lvl 80 and adaptable with a relatively disposable income, but for the average player it would be very difficult.

Dulfy has a nice guide for it though, http://dulfy.net/2013/08/06/gw2-queens-gauntlet-guide/.

There will also be crafted ascended armor and weapons coming between now and next year sometime, as well as craftable legendary precursors.

If you got the meta achievement reward, the home instance is in any of the racial cities (not Lion’s Arch). It differs from city to city, but your personal story often has you visiting it in your race’s capital.

I’ll try to stay TL;DR so I don’t toss another wall of text at you.

Essentially this game is an open sandbox, there is a lot you can do, and you can do what you want. Nearly everything grants exp, so efficiency is your choice. I didn’t even bother with personal story till I hit 80.

Hearts grant a lot of exp, but events make up the bulk of world exp, so don’t worry about participating, the heart will be there. Some events even chain and/or lead into a world boss encounter.

Crafting is best done as you level and gather the materials, or once you hit 80 can buy them. I suggest leveling them at any rate, because there will be a new tier of gear coming out that is exclusive to crafting. You could power level alternate characters once you amass gold, but it costs about 10g to max out a professions with buying the materials, it will also net you about 10 levels.

You can have all crafting professions on one character, but you have to drop them first to chose another, but you pick up where you left off if you switch back. Huntsman may be more useful to you since it crafts bows and other ranged weapons. Chef and Jeweler are pretty much the only “unique” professions since they craft accessories and dyes/foods vs armor/weapons, those are more sorted by class and preference.

Your level scales up in certain instances, such as the Jubilee, but you lack the skills and traits from leveling, which make a large difference. You should also pay attention to enemy types, the bronze portraits are veterans (fairly tough), the gold are champions (can be very hard to solo), and purple are legendary (require a large group and coordinated effort usually).

If you find it tough in certain places, you can always just play events in a lower level area. The exp scales up and your level scales down to make it worth your while, loot is sometimes between that level of area and your actual level though. Lots of people enjoy Wayfarer Foothills and Queensdale, especially for daily/monthly achievements.

Also, sell those tokens from the last event, they’re worth a pretty penny at a vendor now.

Good luck!

Only thing I can think of is that you said Hard and then One and it took it as a bypass attempt. The filter is a bit annoying in deciphering text when it makes a goof, but I enjoy seeing the replacement word “kitten”.

I do believe that the personal story should have been completely soloable, I suppose I will eventually complete it when the dungeon finder comes out.

Generally though, I didn’t have any trouble on the personal story (Mouth of Zhaitan was a bit tough though), you just have to be more logical or re-think your tactics (revive allies, buff areas, kill enemies allies are fighting so that they are free to kill other enemies, observe mechanics such as bosses powering up by using items, etc.).

As for group events, especially in Orr or even low level areas in the early hours, they can be a pain. The easiest solution is to guest onto a server that is active in those areas. It is possible to complete some group events solo, mostly by kiting and dodging very carefully. I’ve done Svanir’s Dome meta on my dual pistol thief a number of times solo, but killing the champ takes a while.

I don’t think the answer really is to remove content, but add some that remedies the situation, such as incentives to do the Orr events (aside from karma exotics, such as a daily type system) or when few people are available for group events you get a buff to help you beat the event until more people arrive or you complete it.

I actually enjoy the dailies, but some achievements in the rotation can be a bit annoying to complete. I tend to level alts in zones I enjoy beyond the levels meant for that zone, as I don’t enjoy bleak or desolate places (had a hard time with that in Prophecies in GW1, pre-searing was so nice comparatively, but Cantha and Elona were nice too once they came out). I completed the monthly for this month by yesterday already, so weeklies or even “hard mode” dailies would be nice.

“Hard mode” dailies/monthlies, etc. could reward a chest with non-laurel items inside, to make them optional and give the not-so-casuals alternate ways of playing. I would also enjoy a lvl 80 only tier that draws people to upper zones, but GW2 philosophy is generally against participation exclusion, except via time-limited content.

It isn’t hard to get to about 15 points, but beyond that may require some significant time investment. I feel it is worth it, mostly for the unique ranger pets, but the armor has a nostalgic feel that beats most of the gear I come across anyway. I need to round mine out, but I haven’t really logged into GW1 since around December.

You can gain about 10 levels per tradeskill that you max out. It also helps to have a crafting booster from the gem store. Any character can learn all 8 skills, you just have to drop one to learn a new one (you keep the skill level though, and you can change back at a cost). Theoretically you could make it to 80 or very close just by crafting, but each skill to max does cost about 10 gold on average.

Honestly I enjoy leveling by meta events and bosses vs crafting, but I turn to it when I hit some boring levels or get tired of zones. With the upcoming updates and crafting legendary precursors/ascended weapons and armor it wouldn’t hurt to get your main crafting professions to maximum anyway (preferred weapon crafting skill + armor type crafting skill).

From the wiki:

“Defiant is an effect that grants immunity to most control effects. It is caused by Unshakable, an ability possessed by most champion and legendary rank enemies.

When a creature with Unshakable ability spawns, it will gain Unshakable effect. When succesfully affected by a control effect, the creature will gain a minimum of 3 stacks of Defiant, but potentially many more depending on how many players are nearby, based on event scaling. Stacks of Defiant can be removed with additional control effects, and once all stacks are removed, the creature is vulnerable to control effects once again, and the cycle repeats."

So, it is actually a good thing that people are using CC, they just need to use it more to knock off the buffs.

I would suggest checking out http://en.gw2skills.net/professions/ as well. It has some detailed information on classes and mechanics, as well as a build planner. It is a bit more in-depth, but it is a handy resource.

Dulfy has one of my favorite MMO news sites, and she covers GW2 with some guides on current content, http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/ .

On classes/races I suppose I’m a bit boring as I tend to favor Humans. I played a support staff and mace/shield Guardian as my first lvl 80 character, and now a glass cannon dual pistol and pistol/dagger Thief as my second lvl 80 as of yesterday. Thinking about an Asuran “Minion Master” Necromancer next or Sylvari Fire/Water Elementalist.

If you’re ever on Kaineng NA server, look me up.