Condition removal while leveling can pretty much be exclusively handled by Mending in the very few places where it’s an issue at all.
I suppose it boils down to personal taste. My main is a guardian, so I’m used to removing conditions every time I sneeze. Mending just wasn’t cutting it for me: I was surviving, yes, but I was annoyed to the point that my fun was impaired.
Of course, Attic’s suggested build is undeniably a solid one, and, truth be told, the warrior is fairly forgiving to level in any spec.
At least before level 60ish, the precision per signet trait really is deliciously OP. By 80, of course, it’s kind of meh. You might also want to look into putting points into tactics to spec for the warhorn. Between that and the elite signet, you can have permanent swiftness and good condition removal, which is great for getting around the map fast and skipping packs of mobs.
Torch for offense, Focus for defense.
If you’re switching to Scepter as an escape weapon, you’ll probably want Focus for added defense.
If you’re using Scepter to intentionally deal damage at range, well then Torch is obviously better.
This is my strategy. I won’t say shield never has its uses in PVE, but I definitely see it as more situational, especially if you don’t have the traits to spare.
That second set is awesome. However, for the sake of WvW I doubt they’ll ever let you mix armor in that way.
Anyway, have you considered the “dark” breastplate? It’s what I ended up using with those pants. It also has a bit of cloth around the waist, for continuity, and it covers your arms completely, allowing you to use your choice of gauntlets. On its own, it’s not quite as cool as the HotW chest, but because there really aren’t any good gloves to match the look it worked better as part of my larger set. Your shoulders cover a lot of the breastplate anyway.
For colors, I settled on Oxblood. It’s basically a very deep red. Sometimes I switch it up with black. I don’t think anything too dark (like midnight fire or abyss) works very well, since in my opinion the tattered state of the cloth demands something at least a little faded. A color that’s too dark also means you can’t see the little frieze pattern around the hem of the kilt.
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No. Different pieces have different (but set) stats. The heavy helm, for example, always has healing/precision/vitality, while the heavy pauldrons have power/toughness/vitality. And for the record, the Aurora vendor spawns at the temple of Melandru in the Cursed Shore (near Verdance Waypoint), although it takes a group event to open it.
While dungeon runs may be easier for you, depending on what kind of content you enjoy and how many people are still farming Orr on your server, you could in theory get most of your set from karma if you wanted. If you’re after the runes of Melandru specifically, it’s the only way to get them.
And in case you haven’t seen it, here’s a table of armor stat combinations.
In the preview, at least, it glows in two spots: the spikes and a random patch on the back.
The staff already fills the niche of multi-target ranged weapon, so I’d rather keep the scepter’s good single-target damage. They just need to make the orb move a little faster.
It’s a known bug. The tooltip takes your PVP runes into account as well.
It’s called the Modniir Quarterstaff . You buy it from a karma heart in the Harathi Hinterlands (Forward Scout Greta, near Cloven Hoof Waypoint.)
Drevin got the first two. I’m also not entirely clear on what you mean by the last thing. If you mean a first-person view, there isn’t one.
Tarsius is right. It’s good to switch things up between fights. There are some bosses where it’s necessary to use ranged weapons, and even a few where it’s better to stay in melee range.
I heard the sylvari glow bug had been (mostly) straightened out. I have a sylvari, and while I could not preview the glow at the time, I was still able to change it to the color I desired. Otherwise, I had no problems.
Whether healing power is ever worth it is very controversial on this forum. Personally, I’m not against healing power in general. I have it on most of my own gear. However, in my opinion, the sigil of water is worthless. It heals for 350-400 on a 10-second cooldown, which just isn’t much at 80. The sigil of rage is a more solid choice even for a build that does go for healing power.
If aggro control is you main goal, you’re probably better served by pumping damage anyway. However, the weapon set would probably still be effective with healing power if approached as a way to stay alive while putting out a steady stream of control and damage, although maybe not as effective as if you replaced the scepter with a staff.
I prefer it the new way. Right now there are exactly four heavy shoulder skins in the game that don’t float on my female charr. This is become one of them, and it’s sadly the only cultural option. They don’t look puny: they look proportionate compared to the over-exagerrated Warcraft orc look that tends to plague our armor design.
Yeah, I like the new size much better, to be honest. They’re one of the few shoulder options that doesn’t float and actually looks proportionate,
Justice gives three stacks of might.
The passive effect for Resolve innately regenerates health every second. Activating Resolve puts that passive healing over time on a cooldown, in exchange for a large immediate heal for you and your allies. With Inspired Virtue, none of that changes. However, activating the virtue also gives a boon named Regeneration. (If you didn’t know, “boon” is this games term for “buff.” You can find a list with descriptions on the wiki.) The passive healing of Virtue of Resolve heals for a different amount than the boon Regeneration, and like any boon, regeneration can be removed or stolen by enemies.
Protection is the name of another boon that gives damage reduction. See the wiki link above for more info.
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I have both at 80. What it boils down to is that the guardian has more options for builds that lend themselves to defense and support, while the warrior have more options for damage and mobility. Neither class has to suck at any of these things: warriors can support and and guardians can be mobile. They just have less options when it comes to how they go about it.
Personally, I prefer my guardian for PVE (because of the support and better sustained damage) and my warrior for WvW (because of better burst and better ranged weapons), but you’ll find plenty of people who have the opposite preference.
For the record, not all particle effects show in the preview. In some cases (e.g., sylvari T3) parts of the weapon are flat-out missing. Look at a screenshot taken outside of the preview window before you assume that effects are or aren’t there.
That said, lots of items in the PVP locker are put in the wrong category concerning their PVE counterparts or, as you seem to have guessed, don’t exist in PVE.
First we need a universal group seeking mechanism for the various dungeons. Right now, having everyone in LA is good if you want to find a group to do an explorable/story mode, or the fractals…it’d be a nightmare if I had to jump from city to city looking for group.
Once we do not need to utilize LA for that purpose, I agree, I’d love spending more time in each city.
I agree. Until there’s a real looking for group tool, people should be encouraged to hang out in Lion’s Arch.
You need to go to other zones of a similar level. If you’re still in your starter zone, then head to Lion’s Arch through the portal of your race’s capital city and then through another portal to a different capital city. Exploring Lion’s Arch itself is also worth an okay chunk of xp.
I recommend at least a three level cushion above a zone’s minimum level before you head there, or else you’ll run out of things to do quickly and may find travel difficult.
In all seriousness, this game is a platformer. Literally. You will not be able to get by without at least a little platforming, especially in PVE. Have you ever, ever seen a first-person platformer that worked?
My advice is to get used to the third-person perspective. You’ll need it.
The kits do provide an option to change the glow color, or at least they did when I changed my sylvari last night. You are unable to preview these changes, but the selections you make do carry through. You can always go the the character creation screen to preview a color before using the kit.
You already stated my reason. It looks elegant and elfin. That’s what I like about it. You’re already wearing leaves and twigs with any Sylvari cultural set, so the whole “realistic armor” thing is out the window. Besides, a kilt fits quite well with their culture, literally more than with any other race in the game.
I’m not saying it’s wrong of you not to like it, just that there are those of us who do.
Hi. i just want to confirm that the kit WILL alter the glow on a sylvari. I’ve done it. You just won’t be able to preview it in the makeover window.
If you’re as desperate to change your glow as I was, preview the look in character creation and then go ahead and use the kit on your character.
Leveling cooking is super-annoying because it requires a ton of ingredients and bank space. That said, it’s one of the few professions you’ll keep using regularly after you’ve got your gear. I leveled it mainly for my legendary and was surprised at how convenient it ended up being.
Armorsmith provides you’re guaranteed to need regardless of your build, so it’s a solid choice. So is jeweler, for the same reason.
I find myself using a staff, scepter, and focus more than the weaponsmith weapons, so if I had to choose one weapon-making profession, that’s what I’d pick. If you mainly use the other weapons, then obviously weaponsmith is the better choice.
Right now I have armorsmithing, cooking, and artificer at 400 (2 on my main and one an an alt.) I’m working on weaponsmith and jeweler once I refill my mats.
I’ve deleted a character, and I can confirm that the achievements for completing that race’s storyline remained. He didn’t have any cultural weapons or armor, so I can’t say for sure whether those achievements also stay. My guess would be that they do, since the achievement seems to be earned on purchase.
1) Wich is the profession(s) you’d like to play with in a dungeon?
I prefer running dungeon on my guardian. They have awesome support capabilities mixed with great survivability.
2) Wich profession(s) you think is/are easier to play in PvE and why?
It depends on what type of PVE. Farming in a zerg in Orr requires different abilities than running a dungeon. Personal preference is also a factor.
For me, the warrior was probably the most intuitive to learn, but I wouldn’t say it’s the “easiest” in all situations.
3) Wich profession(s) is/are more rewarding for the skill you show with them?
I’d say engineer and elementalist have the highest skill cap.
4) Wich profession(s) is/are the most difficult to play?
Again, it depends on the situation and personal preference.
For me, the necromancer is the one class I just don’t “get”, even though most people find it easier than elementalist or engineer. I just never have been able to do well when using health as a resource. I’ve had the same issue in other games.
5) Wich is the profession(s) that,in your opinion,shine over the other in PvP?
I don’t do sPvP.
6) Wich profession(s) can draw the aggro on itself/theirselves the best?
Really, the only aggro control abilities in the game are pet-related. Thus, necro or ranger. As far as player characters, it’s mostly whoever is putting out the most DPS.
7) Wich profession(s) has/have the highest dps capability?
It’s not really something that’s easy to calculate, given the current nature of the combat log, the many ability bugs, and the inaccurate tooltips. It’s also kind of dependent on group comp, since combos can make a big difference.
Perhaps a better question to ask would be, “Who has the best DPS to survivability ratio?”
8!) Do you think people should play the profession based on how them like the design (without even playing the game) or based on their ingame preferences?
I don’t think there’s a right answer here. Some people value mechanics way more than aesthetics, and for others the opposite is true. Unless your idea of fun is derived purely from victory (winning PVP matches or PVE progression), in which case aesthetics unquestionably have to take the back seat, you should do whatever you find the most entertaining.
It’s actually one of my favorite armors in the game. Different people have different tastes.
It depends on the specific rune or sigil. Some are crafted. Armor-making disciplines (armorsmith, leatherworker, and tailor) make runes, while weapon-making professions (weaponsmith, huntsman, and artificer) make sigils. No individual craft can make all the recipes. Some are bought with dungeon tokens, with a rare chance to from in the dungeon itself. Some drop randomly. And some, like the “god” runes, can only be acquired by salvaging equipment.
The wiki generally has where to find a specific rune on the rune’s page.
I have more fun when my decision making revolves around which ability to use rather than whether to use an ability at all. There are ways to balance individual abilities without reworking the entire class system.
Take a moment to think of the romances we already do see in game (Logan and Queen Jennah, Caithe and Faolin.) Think of the dialogue, the voice acting. Now tell me, honestly, do you really want to sit through more of that?
I agree that color coding the different tiers of traits would be very helpful. However, I think icons would actually be more confusing than roman numerals. With numbers, we know at a glance whether the trait selection pop-up should be read from top to bottom or bottom to top. Colors, initials, or shapes would not automatically impart the same kind of information, at least without having to memorize something game-specific, like “red is minor, blue is major…” You might be able to glean that information by studying the interface, but you learned to count way back in preschool.
Secondly, because the function of lot of traits would be hard to convey in icon form, you’d end up with icons just as disconnected from their trait’s function as a roman numeral. At best, you have the same amount of work (memorizing/reading that “5 is Purity” versus “Potion bottle is purity”.) At worst, the icons are a mess and dificult to distinguish from one another at a glance. After coming from WoW (which is not the only game guilty of this), where after 5 years I still couldn’t figure out what some of the icons were supposed to depict, I was impressed by the clean, unambiguous numbers of Guild Wars 2.
And on an unrealted note, I kind of hope they don’t add remote trait reset. Otherwise, it may get to a point where you feel pressured to reset between individual bosses, which is even more of a pain in the long run (and also very expensive.) It’s not like there aren’t vendors in every major city, usually in an extremely accessible place, and in WvW. You’d have to actively try to avoid them.
I agree with the OP. Another issue he doesn’t bring up is the problem getting bored with Fractals. I’d like a reason to run multiple things just for variety’s sake. Even WoW gives you an incentive to keep running the previous 5-mans when a new tier of raid is introduced.
This has nothing to do with the monthlies. At least the people doing the WvW monthlies are actually doing WvW. The people just going for map completion probably aren’t participating as well as they could be; chances are they’re actively trying not to.
And if you genuinely don’t see why a zone designed for competing against other players is, by definition, PVP, then I can’t really help you there.
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I believe parts of the light TA set glow.
TA light armor does not glow.
And the heavy armor only glows on one patch on the back that’s so random it would probably look better if it didn’t glow at all. The skin’s still nice, though.
It could also be that your group wasn’t as good as the group(s) you were playing with while upscaled, or you had a bad group composition. That can make a world of difference as far as survivability.
The thing is, there’s not much else you can do with karma at the moment, and unlike the dungeon tokens, it’s effectively account-bound with a cap. If you do the dailies anyway, then you have karma coming in with no good place to spend it. There are probably more things you’d rather spend the relics on at the moment. You also have to factor in the time spent sitting around looking for dungeon groups versus time you could be out farming.
Personally, I think it’s more efficient for me to focus on karma. For someone who mainly just ran dungeons, though, I can see how fractals might be better. (As someone else pointed out, they certainly are more profitable.)
I’m only in favor of this if they add a minimum gear requirement past a certain level. Otherwise we’re going to see fresh 80’s in 78 blues trying to force their way into scale 15 groups. We already have people trying to get a free pass by joining more progressed groups and hoping no one notices. Additionally, not everyone puts enough time in on their alts to really master their playstyle. I know I couldn’t handle as high a level on my alts as I could on my main because I’m just not as practiced with them in dungeons, and I’m sure a significant portion of the player base is the same.
Yeah, it really sucks having to do everything over again for each alt when you do have the gear, but without another means of gating I think it’s the lesser of two evils.
I’ve got 100% completion, and I still think the WvW requirement should be removed. WvW players shouldn’t have to do PVE content to get the best weapons for WvW, nor should they have to wait longer in queues because of explorers who aren’t participating in the battle. PVE players shouldn’t have to WvW to get rewarded for what is otherwise a massive amount of PVE content.
I think having a separate WvW achievement would be a good thing. It would let people focus only on the aspects of the game they enjoy while rewarding players who put in the effort to qualify for the achievement in more than one category. Strategically, PVE and WvW are as different as WvW and sPVP. Not to mention some people just aren’t competitive and feel bad even when they win.
I guess I never considered using it just for the invulnerability. My sylvari is a guardian, and Renewed Focus gives the same duration on a shorter cooldown.
Drifter is right, but if you plan on gearing up through dungeons and crafting, there are other uses.
- Legendary weapons take a ton of karma.
- A lot of unique weapon skins are purchased with karma, including the cultural ones
- Cooking requires ingredients purchased with karma, and all professions use karma recipes.
- Selling those ingredients is a way to make a small amount of gold if you don’t have anything better to use it on.
- If nothing else, you can always save the karma for new content. Just don’t hit the cap
Basically, around level 30, you have to join one of three factions. It’s mainly a story decision, but it does affect which set of armor you can buy and which lower level zone lets you access a portal to the end game continent. And you get an achievement for each one.
I had someone try to “sneak” into the group and force us to run a lower level fractal yesterday. In the end we had to actually kick him because he wouldn’t leave after he was discovered (according to him, we were apparently the rude ones for wanting to progress.)
For now, we kind of have to go by manysong’s method, but I agree that we need a way to check a person’s rank once you zone into the dungeon, at least, if not from anywhere. I’m glad they at least made the fractal level clearly and constantly visible on the interface.
Before the Lost Shores patch, I would have agreed completely. However, in my mind, once an MMO has end game progression, a game’s community necessarily shifts from a server/PUG-based system to a guild-based system. No one likes to play progression content with people who may or may not be undergeared and/or idiots, so PUGs become what you resort to when you can’t find guildies to do the job. And since you’re no longer pugging willingly, you might as well do it efficiently as possible.
I kind of wish anet hadn’t gone this route and kept the game more PUG-friendly, but for whatever reason it’s the model they thought best. Guess it’s time to find a guild.
It sounds like you’d really enjoy the engineer. They don’t start with a lot of options for weapons, but once you unlock the kit skills and toolbelt you’ll find that they potentially have as many skills available at any given time as an elementalist. They have decent support capability without being glassy like the elementalist or mobility-challenged like the guardian. Turrets are even reminiscent of the WoW shaman’s totems. The only problem is that you have to play till 30 or so to get a good taste of what the class feels like at end game.
As someone who had a druid main in WoW and has a level 70 warrior here, I actually hesitate to recommend the class for you based on some of the other stuff you said. Your support options are actually pretty limited. They’re not bad at support, mind you, but they are kind of pigeonholed when it comes to how they go about it. I have fun with my warrior, but you won’t see much versatility within a single build.
Another option to look at is guardian. Like the warrior, they don’t necessarily have a ton of options at any given time, but there’s slightly more variety in terms of support builds to choose from. They do have a “paladin” aesthetic, which may be a turn off for you if you gravitate toward warlocks and necromancers.
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To elaborate, Tarnished Coast is the unofficial RP server.
If you head to the sPVP area, there’s a “locker” where you can preview all the weapon skins. One you find one you like, you can use Guildhead or the wiki to figure out its PVE equivalent and how to obtain it.