Guild Wars 2

Cool, I have all those things.
Can be available in about 6 hours from posting this. I’m GMT +8 live in Australia.

Hope you have t done it already

Laurels is what I choose.

Don’t need times of knowledge as they are very common.
And don’t know what’s in the other 2, maybe next time I’ll open and see

Just missed this, was on all day.

I’m guessing by the time of your message your in NA?

If I’m on tomorrow would love to help out, I’ve not done before so would be fun

It should be the marksmanship trait “Armor Piercing Shot” I believe.
This allows you to hit all targets in a line.

A pet hate of mine also, as a semi experienced ranger I always stop myself from “educating” some fool that blasts away my target when I switch to a melee weapon for a kill, POINT BLANK SHOT is solo use only!

Get it?
Got it?
Good!

Hello,
I started a similar topic a few months ago and after long discussions we agreed on
1. Their
2. Druid
3. Warrior
4. Elementlist and Mesmer

But thief leads by a long way, I main a Druid and Thief kicks my kitten in WvW every time.

Agree with above

Sorry I didn’t see this earlier, I would have loved to do that with you guys

Mac book works “well ish” mine is an old one so I run it on low settings but Mac has less disconnects then the AMD tower I have.

Yes I use the Mac beta run on iOS

It’s like a boxing match.
Run and stand in the very back left corner.
Then when you can attack the console do that until its invulnerable again and go back to your corner.

Change out your utilities for condi clear, regen, and what ever else you have and your all good.

Sticky please

Thank you, this is awesome

Good luck, sorry again for the long reply, surprised that I wrote that much.

ANET your awesome, thanks for fixing these DC issues so quickly, love the game, love the support

Of course the WvW K train, a few hours in a good Zerg in Edge of the Mists will net you 100k I do all my Karma Farming there.
Yes the rewards are on 100/300 but it’s a continuous stream of karma coming in.

Try karma boosters also, this will help a lot.

Same same, since last weekend making it DC week.
I get max 5 minutes but normally 2-3 minutes. Makes for very tiring game play.

Well each of these content types normally require different builds to be competitive but if your just starting out and doing low level fractals then it doesn’t really matter.
If your not into heal then try a power or condi build like zerk or vipers.

Another good why is to just try them all…. And see what you connect with best, for me that was a hybrid heal and trap Druid which suits my high lag, game play style and yes I’m lazy and use it for all game types except fractals.

Spirit, shout, trap, heal, bleed, condi, power are all different and all fun.
Good luck

Are you able to share the server time for this event? I don’t know what PST / CET is I’m afraid.

Craft only? Limited I feel but here goes.
Different bag types.
Ascended main weapon.
Items for sale on TP, for much needed gold.
Nutritional items, food and utility.

Hello,
I’m in a similar position.
What time zone are you? I’m on west Australian/Asia Timezone.
Playing on Dragonbrand which is NA.
If your a ranger then even better.
S

Even without spare time to farm and craft your legendary having a long term goal gives you something more to do in the game.
Why not do both? You can farm mats for sale, work the TP and do the journey for a second legendary.
Mixing up the game is far more fun anyway.

Find what suits you best, for me that’s working through Kudzu, Sunrise and Bifrost level 1 at the same time and I’m loving it. It’s seems to be a very efficient way to go about it.

Also, as Map Completion and the Legendary journey overlap in many areas try to do them at the same time, I wish i knew this earlier as 100% map took me 3 weeks from 70% and now I have to go back to many of the places which is annoying.

Congrats on a lucky drop BTW.

There was a similar post on this a month ago, where (roughly) engineer is fun to play but hard to master, ranger is easy to play and good for OW PVE roaming.

I main a ranger and can say we have 3 main build types DPS, Condi, heal. And then subtle variations within like a trap, shout, spirit, PvP and so on.

I have filled out my 5 slots and now wish for a Mesmer for helping friends with portals or, Golden Lost Badge hunting etc….. So I wish I had an extra slot now.

The exalted set is also part of an achievement thus making them more desirable.

Gear up
Personal story
HoT story
Make some gold
Craft an ascended weapon
Level up your masteries
World completion
Complete dungeon paths
Acheivement point hunting
Learn new content, WvW or PvP
Silverwatses
Dry top
HoT meta event chains

The list goes on, there’s never nothing to do

50% of my swoops do this. Some hit some don’t. Turn on the target assistance option and 100%

Depends also on your country if your looking for in game friends that are “online” when you are.
Try joining a guild that is from your country as this will make a big difference and if they are not and you don’t get the right fit, you can certainly change to another.
It took me 3-4 months of game play to find the guild I like and have stayed with them since then, so keep at it, the “Mr right” is just around the corner….

Agree with above.

I’m sorry to hear you don’t “feel” your Druid, I agree, it’s totally different game style and a very steep learning curve. At first I too was not a fan but I pushed through and 2 months later I’m an AOE beast!

Of course Druid is a healer and dungeons raids love some healing support but personally I think Druid shines brightest in PvE.
Where ranger was always single target, Druid is multi, If you can line up Auto 1 to go through multiple enemies which takes time to learn, granted, and vine surge! Awesome.
Including our best pets BB and Smokescale which hit so hard you don’t need as much dps.
I run all traps in my utilities, flame, spike, vipers, so once I’ve run through a mob, rounded up 5 or 6 I drop them and watch their health bars melt.

Staff 1 doesn’t loose power inside a certain range either! Of course it’s not strong but with the right rotation Druids are hugely powerful and I melt most things in almost the same time as anyone else, even on a healing spec.
The old ranger was LB 1, 2, 1, wait for 2….. But Druid is so much more complex and interesting because of it.

Staff 1, 4, send in pet, trap 1, 2, 3, SotP, rinse and repeat. So much fun.
Huge CC in this with GS 5 and Smokescale knockdown.

I wish you luck with yours, stick with it, it can take a while to grasp/like but totally worth it.

Hi sorry to hear it, but I might be able to shine some light on your issue from my experiences.
I too live in China (Shanghai) and started playing while I was here, above 6 months ago now and have had similar issues.

ISP is of course the first and biggest problem, I have a 50mbs download from China Telecom which works OK for me.

VPN, I used to use Astrill for my gaming needs but about 2 months ago China stopped blocking this game so now you don’t need it.

However, and this may me my own personal issue, I can’t play GW2 from my desktop work PC I can only play it without crashes on my macbook pro. Kinda weird. I think however I made too many changes to my PC to unblock the game and when Anet made changes and China stopped blocking it I can’t turn it back to normal.

Times during the day, I work from home and find day time 10am-4:30pm to be the best, 5:30-6pm is absolutely kitten house, then after 10pm again is fine.
I’m imagining you live in an apartment building?
The China system here is to run a little outside lines to the apartment building and then share it to everyone, annoying, so this is why when people get home from work it stops.

Game types, big world bosses are hard but not impossible, dungeons however ARE impossible, fractals are OK, open world PvE fine, WvW is OK off peak, and laggy for zerg on zerg anything over 60-80 players is bad for me.

How did I manage this, in the option menu for display, second tab, I turned almost everything to low or none, world textures are middle, and 1 or 2 others are middle bit nothing is high, to save on broadband.
Next I turned player render quantity to low and particle effects to low.
The recent Anet changes here have helped alot.

If you still need more I could screenshot my settings for you tomorrow.

Good luck.
S

If you do go for a ranger, be sure to talk to other rangers in game, almost all rangers are nice and helpful.
People have helped me and I’ve helped others, so just ask.

Have fun, just run around the world, enjoy the way it looks, join a guild from your country and do stuff with them, meet people and talk.

After level 12-15 try the world boss in your starting area, the first time you see it is always crazy just how many people are in the game.
Map chat that your new and don’t know what to do and they’ll help for sure.

If your on NA message me in game.

I used to get 5-10 sometimes more shovels per event chain ending with timeout

We all love our respective main classes and so please excuse me for loving my Ranger/druid and since I’ve only really ever played the ranger I’m hoping someone else can answer your other class questions.

Personally I believe rangers strength is in open world PvE solo, between the pets and traps we can safely wonderful for days without coming back to town.
However, I’d be lying if I said we have the best DPS in game, my druids DPS is atrocious, pet helps and knowing my class play style does too but druid is a support class, ranger too.

PvP, ive been watching the YouTube PvP leauge championships and have been proud to see a power/tanky druid in almost all of the top teams, so yes it is viable.

WvW and specifically EotM is my staple diet these days, between the speed and mobility of the class and Heal/tankiness I’m a great support to the team. Often scouting, rezzing and so on. Definitely not front line though.

Since you look to have HoT, why not try them all? Level the 4 that catch your eye up to 32 which gives you the elite skill and then decide.
I’ve done this and have 1 of each race, which also helped me to understand the lore and history somewhat better.

If you choose ranger and need a buddy, for pet hunting or what ever, let me know, here or in game.

Same thing for me a few weeks back, found it and so I can confirm the above comment.

WvW depends largely on your play style and the world, EotM or normal WvW, then, solo, zerg, defender, etc.

Typically commanders talk about front row and back row classes, we as a ranger fall into back row which is ranged and support.

If however in EotM you like to slash things then go ahead, in WvW not so much.

A mistake I made when getting my set was too much toughness, if I plan to do raids I need a little less apparently.

Must haves IMO
- Druid trait line
- 33% Permanent swiftness
- equip staff and great sword for faster movement
- SOTP elite for its stability (prevents knockdowns)

Personal choice
- Resounding timber, help grant swiftness to those around you
- traps, spike for knockdown
- longbow to swap GS for zerg fights

My first bought ascended trinket was an amulet, I too thought it was the best bang for my buck. A month later all I’m missing is the second earing/accessory which is cheaper to buy with guild recommendations.
The daily gifts of laurels really do give a lot and the last is a huge 20 laurels if you choose it.

On the fractals side with AR, my main is not Zerk which I would plan to use in fractals, so I went with a WvW infusion and saved a great deal.
Expecting that one day I will finish my current set and start a Zerk set.

In my inexperienced opinion, I believe my end game will have 2 sets with different stats for different uses. Even now I have 3 exotic sets just because I can.

Utility slot,
+ 15% magic find, for 30copper I can get +26% from a food
+ gold drops from kills only, kills drop very little anyway, 15% of zero is still zero
+ karma? 1 hour in a WvW Ktrain will do more than this ever would
I say don’t waste the slot and got for what you need, POWEEEERRRRRRRR to quote Jeremy Clarkson.

Since you appear to have HoT why not just try one of each?

I believe it’s level 32 that you get your elite skill and you could level each up to that and see which you feel connected to the most.

To answer your question about the 3 options
I too have an engineer and find it very different and great fun.
Worrior is melee and not my type of thing.
Ranger is my main and always will be.

I will say this, where ever I go, hidden in a cave, Mountain top vista, where ever I mostly see rangers and their pets roaming around the world, it suits solo exploration and roaming. It also an easy class to play.

If you watch the pros on YouTube I find they tend to play complicated classes like, elementalist, mesmer, necro, or engineer.

I am far from pro or good but love my Ranger and pets.

Would you mind if I share my progression?
I’m up to 6 months on GW2 now and with the power of hinde sight I believe I followed the right path.
During the first 5 points, I wish I knew this before, would be to level my Central Tyria mastries while I do these, start with Pact L1, Fractals 1-4, Pact 2-5.

1. Level to 80 ~3 weeks for me
2. Earn money to buy my first exotic berserker set, all items ~ 3 more weeks
3. Do all PvE jumping puzzles, builds skill level ~ about a month
4. Go to the Silver Wastes, personally I found this difficult at first and honed my skills further ~ 1 month here
5. Craft an ascended version of my main weapon ~ 3 weeks
5. Personal story ~ 2 weeks
6. HoT masteries, gliding first, then what ever ~ 4 weeks in these maps
7. Time for fractals, dungeons or raids, your skill level should be high enough now, fractals has Ascended ring dorps, so keep them all for your elite skill which may be a different build and stat set
8. Upgrade character, bags, trinkets, 2nd build set, condi, heal, etc
9. World completion…

That’s where I’ve got to so far .
I’m currently honing my skills more through WvW and EotM, then plan on starting some PvP.

Got it all in one, seconding above reply.

Though this is not directly related and I don’t have the link and don’t solo myself.

I learnt a lot about roaming from Wooden Potatoes PvP for dummies guide, bare with me, in PvP conquest teams will have roamers also, their job is tricky and difficult and he talks about the best ways to play your role to help your world.

Artaz.3819:

Nike Warrior being faster than GS/Staff Druid is completely perception.

Rush and Whirlwind Attack is actually really slow (out of combat) since it is no longer affected by Swiftness which gave it extra distance travelled. Sword Leap 2 got slightly stronger with HoT since Sword finally got a 20% cooldown reduction trait but still 6.4s cooldown for a 3/4 sec 600 range leap isn’t exactly killing it.

But as a Druid that has chased down Nike Warriors in WvW especially love the stuck-on-a-rock Warrior Rush, you’ll see it eventually. It may take a while for the Druid to catch up depending on Warrior headstart/Druid’s recent use of cooldowns but it’ll happen…I’ve done it many times.

Thief still beats it all. Druid is second. Warrior is third.

Great summary Artaz!
This does seem to be the general thought.

Much liked the thoughts on Druid catching Worrior too, so they are obviously very close.
But yes, thief, super car vs minivan, loved that one, killing myself laughing.

Yesterday as I joined for some EotM fun, the zerg was at another keep, they challenged me to get there in 20 secs!
I managed about 25 second which is from OG to BL keep with wurm tunnel used and not traited for shorter cool downs on GS or Staff.

Quarterly updates from Anet are big things now, the last (Spring update) was huge!
Check out Wooden Potatoes on YouTube who reviews and talks about the updates packs, very interesting and insightful.
A lot of new things added and a lot of small things tweaked.
WP talks about Anet internal staff changes which is effecting the future gameplay and in my short time of 6 months playing even I can see the benefits and am really enjoying myself going forward as they continually add new content for us even without HoT.

As a returning player your in a good place, I feel, to see new things and for it to have a slightly different feel to it.

Of course it is ok to run a Druid Trapper, for me it’s the main set up I run for various reasons.

So we all know druid is not front line but support anyway.

Personally I run a full healing power druid which is rather weak on the DPS side so I like to drop traps under enemies to help bring them down.

My set up may not be optimal or Meta but I’m happy to share it as it works for me.
Staff / GS PvE or
Staff / GS wvw travel and Staff / LB for zerg fights

Traits I run
Druid of course, switching the first 2 as needed, 3/3/1 or 2/2/1 for zerg fights
Beastmastery, with Tiger / Brisstleback for melee and ranged, 3/2/2
Lastly nature magic or wilderness survival but normally NM 3/1/3

However for all the haters, no this setup up doesn’t bring spotter or frost spirit, I play this as it’s a good back line support and I have high ping.

Normally I loose LB 5 to push the enemy zerg back a little, then drop flame closest to them, walk back 2 steps, drop spike for useful knockdown, the 2 more steps and vipers, hoping that by now, they are knocked down into the poison feild. Then I Staff 4 across them rooting them in place again.

I love dropping traps at the phase through door to keeps, they walk out and immediately get knocked down and 5 stacks of bleed, fire and poison, an “Oh, kitten” moment for them hahaha and my Tiger sitting there waiting for them too hahaha

OK dude above me said what I wanted to but I didn’t see it so, to make a big point.

When exiting CA drop a seed on yourself as when it blooms it contributes towards AF build up when not in CA.

Helps get back into CA faster.

Agreed.
+1

The cntl T is the current best option, big, loud, red.

But bigger for PvE? I don’t think so, don’t need as much, except maybe some chest/champ trains…..?

OK, so we ALL agree Thief is Number 1!

I forgot about Ele, I watch Wooden Potato videos and he’s is super quick and seems to be always using skills too move.

As for non standard, Paul from Team PZ (PVP) looked to 180, Sword 2, 180, Sword 2, Dagger ?, Staff 3, that’s 4 leaps! He was quick.

I’ve not seen a warrior in the front of the zerg, I’ll have to look more closely next time, thanks for this.

But Mesmer? Only 3 leaps?

Just finished watching PvP Season 2 NA Grand Final on YouTube (Congrats to Team PZ, BTW) and their roamers were a Thief and a Druid with Staff and S/D.

My main is a Druid and across open spaces and between nodes i think im pretty quick with traited GS #3 and Staff #3 skills, i often find im either slowing up or catching the lead front guys of a zerg.

For me, I play mostly EotM, fairly new at R58 so sorry if this has been discussed before but it fascinates me because ive only seen 2 classes consistently quicker or same in travelling/traversing speed, which were a crazy fast Thief and many Mesmers.

What do you guys think?
Id love to hear your thoughts / opinons on this as i dont play other classes.

Ive even written (not posted) a speed guide for Rangers/Druids, but put this in WvW because thats what i play and where it relates for me but also i find WvW use Speed a GREAT deal and in my eye, you guys are pretty pro.

So gonna try this ranger log out thing, good idea than you.

All of mine are ffor ranger…
I like to GS or Staff 3 through Asura Gates.
Or zipp past first timers in Metrics Province, was it a bird? Was it a plane?
Or GS 3 off cliffs and catch the glide at the end.

On a more helpful note, I use Resounding Timber on my Ranger to give randoms swiftness and regen.
I do this in EotM for slow people in Scorps to help them catch the group

No Secret, Skipping Stones….. With out help I would never have completed them.
Don’t disable ports, just ignore them and have fun with 80% of the other people the normal way.

The recipe is a common drop in EotM, I’ve had many.
The rune is as above said, have a check on the wiki for exact details, I have 400+ Tailor and made a set for myself, no problem.

Sorry we couldn’t be of more help, recipe is the key I believe.

Agree with Thunderball higher up.

I might add that Edge of the Mist is kinda WvW, anyway I love it, you could try it yourself too.

Hello and welcome back,
My response is not mine, I’m quoting someone else who said.
If you like a character type you may enjoy leveling it the old fashioned way, but since you have 5 character slots, maybe use the booth on a profession you may find boring to level… Get my drift?

OK, gear, when I first reached 80 I used rares because I was poor and they were cheap, or used karma, or cultural so didn’t need TP.
Alternatively, when the Trading Post is open for you, you can buy cheap exotics and upgrades for them.
Carrion for example is a poor man’s condi set and not too expensive.

Your posting here is a good idea too, this game has many generous people who may even donate some gold to you to help you buy your set/s.

Good luck and have fun

I want to ask, what do you want the gold for?

I’ve found that after buying the first exotic set your set for a long while, until you want to try other builds and need to craft/buy a second or third set.

My advice would be to work on your magic find, because once you get over about 100-120 you start getting good drops anyway and don’t need to buy anything.
Best for that is the SW event chains, or Auric Basin chests, then sakavage everything for the essence of luck.
1 note to remember, save your rates and above till later and check their sell price on TP, sell anything worth a gold or more.

For some options in case you get bored of one
- Dailies net 2G
- Farm some logs, iron, coral, etc for an efficient 30 minutes gets you 10-15 gold
- 30 minutes Karka farm gets you about 3G (1 shell per minute at 10s) + other mats
- SW start to finish takes 1-2 hours and nets 5G
- SW chest rain is about 10-15G per hour