Guild Wars 2

Charr are all about fighting the Flame Legion. This was this “religion” faction that used power from an artificial deity source of lead the Charr to victory, but also brutalized the other Charr legions / factions. Once the pseudo-gods of the Flame Legion were killed, the rest of the Charr legions turned on them and exiled them (with the end goal of killing every last one of them).

Every general plot line in the beginning Charr stories has to do with fighting the Flame Legion. To be honest, I’ve played through all x3 factions of Charr and the whole Flame Legion stuff got to be a bit old. Or if you’re not fighting Flame fanatics, you’re wading through an almost infinite supply of ghost mobs. However the Charr storylines do really get into their whole military industrial complex train of thought. From a flavor point of view, the Charr city and the surrounding really do have their own unique identity and it’s probably worth making a Charr at some point.

The Asura have their own internal factions and are always engaged in shadow wars with the Inquest faction. Basically the Inquest is the end result of a mega corporation (in our own modern society) that has become so ethically challenged that they will create unthinkable attrocities if the ends justify the means. Between dynamic events and personal stories, we see that the Inquest loves to rip out the souls of living beings and use them up as the ultimate battery sources. They’ll do this to any kind of non-Inquest personal (including Asura) and don’t see what the big deal is.

I love the Asura starting zone area. While the Inquest is a reoccuring theme, these enemies are sometimes sneaky and subversive (as opposed to the Flame Legion being as subtle as a sledgehammer). Thanks to the variety of mobs and scenery of the jungle area, there’s a lot of different situations to encounter.

However the part that I love most about the Asura is the general attitude. One of the NPC quotes from my story quests says it all. “If we refused to invent anything that might potentially kill someone, then we’d never invent anything at all.” The whole Asura species is basically a society of mad scientist inventors. Even their more “moral” factions still consider death to be a natural part of innovation. When you combine this with their playful and snarky dialogue, it’s really quite entertaining.

From a game mechanics perspective, the Asura play differently. The camera angle is much lower than a Human (or much lower than a Charr / Norn). As a result, I feel like I don’t have the same long distance view as a standard race. Also the Asura’s dodge animation is unique to that race. While I prefer their leaping flip through the air since it lets me visually predict where each dodge roll will exactly land, other people hate it for those exact same reasons.

EDIT

One other thing that I forgot is that the Asura females have no curves on their body. As a result, female Asura use the male armor graphics. While I personally like having a full set of plate armor on my female Warrior and not some kind of chain bikini, there have been some people complaining because they wanted a girly dress for their female Asura.

This game is inherently balanced around the sPvP scene. ArenaNet has always been relatively up front about that fact (despite a bit of PR verbal back pedaling close to launch). One of the cardinal rule in sPvP is that people shouldn’t get instantly knocked down in a couple of hits. If ArenaNet ever finds an alpha strike combination, then they gut it.

Case in point, the Warrior’s F1 burst attack on the Axe does a leap and a chunk of single target damage. However back during Beta, the Axe’s F1 spike hit did much more. People combined this with 30 pts in their trait line which added +30% F1 damage as their +Special Class Stat bonus. The sPvPers constantly complained about people using that build and the “automatically crit after a weapon switch” rune.

What was ArenaNet’s solution? They nerfed down the Axe’s F1 damage to a reasonable level and they reduced the Special Class Stat from <1% per Pt> to <+.1% per Pt>. Now if you had 30 pts in that trait line, you’d get a net increase of +3% F1 damage (which is basically worthless) from the original +30% F1 damage.

If you’re looking for some kind of alpha strike in GW2, then you’re probably looking for a different game. ArenaNet is a bit anti-Stealth as well due to all of the sPvP issues it can cause. So looking for some kind of combined Stealth + Alpha Strike synergy just isn’t going to happen until ArenaNet seriously changes their philosophy.

See the Notes section of the bottom of the GW2 Wiki entry for the information you’re looking for.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Superior_Rune_of_the_Golemancer

1) The golem is red ‘Inquest’ version of the D-Series Golem summoned by the Asura racial skill. It has only one skill, the whirling attack (spinning golem arms).

2) It lasts for 55 seconds and has a chance to activate whenever the player is hit.

(EDIT: I stand corrected….)

What the buff claims it does and what it actually does are two seperate things.

1) Despite what the tool tip implies, it doesn’t actually prevent any of the incoming damage. You’ll still take full incoming damage while under the Retaliation boon. (However ArenaNet has publically mentioned that they’re looking to change how this boon works. While it’s currently just a pseudo-offensive buff, the devs do want to turn it into some kind of damage reducing / preventing buff in the future.)

2) Retaliation causes a specific amount of damage to anyone who hits you with a melee or ranged attack. The base damage scales up with your character level, then it is increased by a fraction of your Power ability score. This boon inflicts damage every time that you are hit, which means that a rapid fire move which hits you x5 times will also hit your attacker x5 times. As a result, this buff is best used against enemies who hit you will lots of smaller damage hits and is notably weak against enemies who only hit you a few times with some mega damage hits.

For more information on the damage scaling, see the GW2 Wiki.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Retaliation

Cheqdaddy.4213:

thank you for the advice i would assume d/d is more precision/condtional damage? i would like to build precision/power but would that be s/d? i really do enjoy the whole cloak and shadows in backstab

If you want to keep your Off-Hand access to the Dagger, then you could always try switching things over to a Pistol / Dagger build on the boss fights that you’re being forced to fight at ranged. While the dps output on a Main-Hand Pistol will be less dps than a S/D or D/D build, you’re always attacking from ranged with a P/D build. Even the P/D combo attack is designed to be used at melee range, which then teleports you away from your opponent.

You could always fire your Pistol as you close into melee (using Body Shot if you’ve got Initative generation traits), Dagger #5 for stealth, Pistol #1 for the stealth attack, then P/D #3 to teleport out of melee range.

1) Yes, dungeons are meat grinders for melee combatants. You need to make sure that you’re dodging like mad, that you’ve got defensive abilities beyond dodging, a decent supply of Toughness / Vitality, and maybe some form of healing beyond your standard #6 heal. Once you’re closer to the level cap, you’ll have access to more of these qualifications and it’ll make things easier. (Gear that’s 65+ will give you a Stat 1 / Stat 2 / Stat 3 spread, which makes it easier to fit in Toughness or Vitality.)

As a general rule, you’re mainly going to be ranged and you’ll be blurring into melee for short bursts of time. If you’ve got enough defensive tricks (depending on your build and class), you might be able to melee most of the time. However that’s more of the exception and not the rule.

2) Your choice of +Stat builds is very subjective. Some weapon combinations favor Condition damage, which naturally leads to a Precision / Condition offensive gear build. Other weapons deal more physical damage, which leads to a Power / Precision offensive gear build. Then you have the rare Thief players who are more defensively designed using Pistol #5 and defensive gear / traits, which lets them Off-Tank some of the trash mobs in a dungeon.

There’s no clear answer about what the “right” gear answer would be. However based on your traditional D/D & SB weapon build, your choice of Precision / Condition is the logical choice for a glass cannon Thief. Just keep in mind that you are a glass cannon, which is especially dangerous for your own survival rate in dungeons.

3) Dungeons are kind of like the raid content of a more traditional MMO. While you can still steam roll it if you’re geared out to the max and you’re 80th level, it’s rather painful and dangerous when you’re just using Blue / Green grade gear and you’re level appropriate. Please remember that like a raid, dungeons content is often more of an endurance fight and not just your traditional soloing fight.

EDIT

On a side note, one of the key Thief powers to be used in a dungeon is Shadow’s Refuge. It create a targeted AoE Stealth field that also acts as a Darkness combo field. (Darkness adds +Lifedrain to all ranged ammo moving through it, which can really help.) You can use Shadow’s Refuge to stealth yourself while you’re reviving someone, to hide a downed player while they get themself back up, to add +Lifedrain to ranged attacks (for extra dps and player healing), and to even just aggro wipe if you’re getting overwhelmed.

rTeapot,

Have you honestly tried out all of the various weapon combinations? While I had my own ideas going into the Thief class, the weapon combination I personally fell in love with was Sword / Pistol. Even if you prefer to run D/D as your standard weapon set, you might want to think about (S or D)/P as your 2nd weapon set.

Why the Off-Hand Pistol? #5 Black Powder is likely the answer to your problems. It creates a small AoE Blind field around where you were standing when you used the power. While it technically sends a ranged pistol bullet to your target that has a Blind attached to it, the real power is the left over AoE Blind field. Any mobs within that field will constantly get Blind re-applied to them. Therefore once they miss with Attack #1 (due to the Blind debuff), the AoE immediately re-applies Blind to make Attack #2 miss. Rinse and repeat. This method will basically make you immune to melee range combatants, though ranged mobs who are spread out will still give you real problems.

The cool down on the trait is the same as the original Warrior power, which should be a 90 second recast timer.

Nyaochan.1756:

I must be a masochist, though, since I tend to do this fight every time it’s up and I’m in the area.

I consider it a painful right of passage for every new character that I make. Once I’ve completed my starting 1-15 zone, I always go on a marathon run around the other starter zones for their Skill Points. When ever I’m in Metrica Provence, I make sure to do the Fire Elemental fight once. It forces me to re-examine my skill options on every character as I stock up on stun breakers (to cancel the AoE Knockdown) and as much condition removal that I can possibly get.

Having been forced to think outside of the box, I seem to adapt better in later zones when unusual situations cause me to feel the need to switch my skills around. From a learning perspective, the fight is kind of invaluable since it forces you to mentally figure out how you’re going to deal with many different factors at the same time.

Yet having said that, I’ll once again repeat (like I’ve done previously in this thread) that this fight is completely insane for a 1-15 zone. The dev who designed this fight admitted on the Beta forums that the mechanics of this fight would better suited for a 60+ zone (in hindsight). The fact that ArenaNet has still left this fight relatively intact from its Beta version still baffles me to this day.

Ever since it was added in Beta, it doesn’t appear on the (H) Hero screen. Some people swear that they can feel the difference when it’s active. Others swear that they don’t feel any difference.

From what I’ve experienced, the difference is noticeable. Having said that, people tend to be jumpy about it since ArenaNet has still failed to make the Fast Hands (Discipline – 15 pts) trait functional 100% of the time.

scoobygang.7584:

i asked in map chat and everyone said definitely go cooking with ranger.

As a Cooking player, I will easily admit that learning Crafting on that profession (like I did) is like choosing to gouge out your own eyes. It’s very money intensive to buy vendor materials and it’s a royal pain to get all of the various food pieces. If I had to do it again, I’d go Cooking on my 2nd or 3rd character once I’ve got some decent income and resource building over the course of multiple characters.

The most important professions are <Armor> crafter, <Weapon> crafter, and Jeweler. I bring up Jeweler because you usually don’t see Jewelry pieces as game drops. While you can buy some weaker pieces through Karma vendors, you can gain a lot of +Stats through a full set of jewelry that you’re keeping current at your present level.

Varqov.6984:

What exactly does “trip an enemy” mean?

I’m not sure. Between its wording and having used the Tripwire trap on my Thief, I’m thinking that this is some kind of Ranged Knockdown. However the wording is implying more of an instant Knockdown and not a Trap styled power. The real problem is that you can’t see the bonus Tool Belt skills until you unlock the base skill. So you’d have to reach that Skill bracket and unlock the base skill before you would truly know what that wording means.

You mean like x2 copies of the same Ring or Earring? Yes, you can.

theerrantventure.9185:

Charr – Uh…ascalonian ghost?

Charr have a serious obsession for those scorpion mobs. (This is a re-occuring theme in their 1-15 and 15-25 zones.) They’re always turning them into battle pets. Riding a giant scorpion would be just their style.

Part of the game’s “balancing” mechanics is to have people not move faster than +33% (excluding a couple of specific exceptions), which prompts them to use the “gold sink” waypoint travel system. If you want to introduce mounts for purely style reasons that moved no faster than +33%, then that may be a possibility. Otherwise I really don’t see ArenaNet ever implimenting such an idea.

scoobygang.7584:

alright, thanks for the advice.
going to try and see if i missed any 12-13 hearts in the area and going to try and take up a craft.
hopefully this works.

Otherwise you could always hop over to another race’s Starter Zone to grab some of their low level Heart events. There’s an Asura Gate stargate portal in your Starter City. Entering takes you to a portal hub that holds the portals to every racial city. Just pick a race that sounds interesting, portal to their city, leave the city, and tear it up in their 1-15 Starter Zone.

Unless you get a key from a Personal Story reward or a Daily Achievement, you’ll have to buy them with Gems from the store. Having said that, people are always trading Gems for Game Currency on their exchange system. If you’ve got enough gold, you could always just trade on the exchange and get yourself some keys.

1) In theory, you should have hit more dynamic events to have gained some more levels in the process. Having said that, it can be kind of hot and cold when it comes to hitting the flow of DEs in a starter area.

2) Another big time “level check” comes at lvl 10. By that point, you’re starting to seriously out level a bunch of your gear. Because of this, you’re doing less damage and taking more damage than a Blue geared character of 10th level.

3) Any easy fix for both issues is to get into crafting. If you’ve been Salvage Kit tearing apart things like mad, you should have more than enough crafting materials in the Leather and Cloth department. Then you can harvest the rest (as needed). By choosing how to make your class’ armor type (Blacksmith, Leatherworker, Tailor) and your primary weapon type (Weaponsmith, Bowyer, Artificer), you’ll be about to get yourself geared out in a set of 10th lvl Blue grade items and you’ll also gain a few character levels in the process.

4) Another good source of +XP is getting a full completion on the Map Objectives in your starting city. As you reach every POI and Vista, you’ll get some +XP and you’ll get a large chunk of +XP when you reach the 100% completion point. This is a safe non-combat way to gain a few levels.

Varqov,

1) Turrets are the weakest thing in the Engineer arsenal. While I’ve fallen in love with their Supply Crate elite skill (which I’ll use for both Engineers) and I’m permanently sold on the Healing Turret due to its AoE 100% Condition Removal (every 60 seconds), I would never take any other Turret power. I have an IRL friend who is going that route, but I feel it’s making his life harder and the established Engineer community agrees with my point of view.

2) If you’re serious about Engineer, then your race’s choice matters more for that class than any other that I’ve seen. Engineer gets bonus skills in the F1 thru F4 slots. Each skill which you use in your Healing and Utility slots produce a specific bonus skill in those F slots. As a result, any Racial skill you use will provide the standard Racial skill and a bonus (Engineer only) Racial skill in the F slots. Make sure to take a look at the Tool Belt bonus skill section on the GW2 Wiki for more specific information. (As a Charr Engineer, it actually convinced me to unlock and slot Hidden Pistol just to get the bonus skill which mimics the Thief’s Unload skill.)

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tool_belt

Other than just saving it, you could always buy a bunch of pseudo-stealth potions (aka Ash Legion Spy Kit). Otherwise you’re probably better off just saving up for Legendary weapons or future game options.

Well… That’s a hard question.

1) Mesmer – Unqiue mechanics due to how they fight and the various types of temporary pets that they summon.

2) Thief – Unique casting system mechanic which uses an pseudo-mana pool instead of the standard weapon cool downs.

3) Engineer – Unique in that they only get to activate use x1 Weapon Set. However they do get bonus weapons through their skill slots and get special bonus skill slots (to theoretically make up for the lost skills that you spent on weapons).

4) Ranger – Unique mechanics as the primary pet class.

If you’re looking for a mix of Ranged and Melee, then you might want to think about something like a Ranger. You can take Bear pets to tank, you’ve got a couple different bows to choose from, and you can get take a melee weapon like Greatsword if you don’t want to be a full time Ranged character.

Another straight forward class is the Warrior. They have the Rifle for single target ranged dps and the Longbow for AoE ranged dps (which is actually more effective if you’re close to your target). Then you’ve got countless melee weapons and different combat styles.

I like my Thief and enjoy Engineers. Yet these classes don’t play like “normal” GW2 classes and I’m not sure if they’re the best choice for someone’s 1st character.

douceline.2741:

Cool! Whereabouts in that map was it? I love the Harathi Hinterlands but have never come across this event!

It’s also the far East moutain line in the Eastern area of the map. It’s just East of the NPC camp when you fire weapons at targets for the Heart event.

I originally found the journals. By reading the journals a couple of times, it seems to trigger the Dolyak spirit. This creates special reactions from the ghosts in the cave and spawns the Veteran spirit of the Captain (who is referenced in the journals). While I’ve never found anything else after the Captain ghost is killed, it does feel like there should be a step after that.

phg.8923:

Anyone know a set or piece of level 80 armor either medium/heavy that give +tough/vit/power or +tough/vit/precision?

If you’re willing to cherry pick specific armor pieces from the various Karma merchants / priests for the Orr related zones, you should be able to assemble a full set of armor that grants +Power / +Vitality / +Toughness. Also some of the Exotic armor versions from the Dungeon token system have this +Stat makeup.

Here’s the general link to the Armor Set info.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Armor_set

Then here’s the sub-link to the Karma armor sets. You’d have to basically make yourself a shopping list which indicates which vendor / zone you’re getting each of your armor pieces from. After you’ve got a full set of +Power / +Vitality / +Toughness gear, you can manually apply the Runes that you want to the make-shift armor set.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Armor_set#Exotic_armor_sets

Well that’s a case by case kind of question. The only things which increase Condition dot damage are +Condition stats and Might stacks. Then things like Power, Precision, +Crit Damage, the Fury buff, and Might stacks affect physical attacks.

If you’re split at around 50/50 between Physical and Condition damage sources, you can equip Yellow grade Carrion (+Power / +Condition / +Vitality) gear at 65th. Before that point, you need to focus on one or the other. In the lower levels, Condition damage players use the +Precision / +Condition gear. Their main focus is to increase the damage on their dots, but the +Precision will help them on any Physical damage sources that they have. Or for Physical Damage players, you’ll usually see them focus on things like +Power / +Precision or +Power / +Vitality gear.

Well there are all sorts of variations within those chest piece and coat options.

For example, my Thief uses a sort of clean trench coat that reaches down to his ankles. It’s completely smooth, has no buttons or straps, and just has a thin bandolier across the chest at a 45 degree angle. I found this graphic on a lvl 11 karma piece. While I can make my own “coat” pieces, each one is different from the one that I like. They may have an outer belt piece, reach only down to my knees, have ruffles, or even buttons. My point is that while we have a “coat” graphic, it’s actually kind of a nit picky subject with lots of room for variation.

Having said all of that, I do agree with you Psychomaniack. For pretty much any class that’s 30th and below, I’ve often felt like I didn’t have enough options. It’s only once you hit the 40’s and 50’s that you start to see some variety. Then once you get into the 80th level armor pieces, there’s tons of variation. I know that ArenaNet wants your visual appearance to be one of your end game goals, but I have still prefered a little more variety in the lower levels.

Varqov.6984:

Thanks for telling about the Engineers, Wiser. I am thinking of rolling a new profession, and this is going to factor into it.

Don’t get me wrong. I currently have Engineer #1 and have loved the class so much that I’m planning on making Engineer #2. You can do some pretty amazing things with that class. However it does come with some drawbacks, which I try to be honest about.

Flie.1543:

Is this working as intended? The fact a specced skill takes away 2x Exotic gears worth of stats is a little broken?

Yes, this is “working as intended”. Holding any kind of Environmental Weapon (like a Banner object) surpresses all of your weapons. This results in a loss of +Stats and a loss of being able to use the Sigil benefits on those weapons. If you want to kick a hornet’s nest, just cross post this subject on the Engineer forums and watch the uproar since Engineer’s signature Weapon Kit abilities give them Environmental Weapons which they probably use around 60-90% of the time.

Having said that, one of ArenaNet’s pet issues for Engineers is working out a way for their weapon Sigils (but probably not +Stats) to still count when the Engineer is wielding one of their signature Weapon Kit items. To this day, there has been no resolution from ArenaNet. We’ll have to see if they can figure out a way to pull this off. Then we’ll have to see whether it will just apply to Weapon Kits or if it will apply to any Environmental Weapon.

Panzen

I’ve used both on my tanky Warrior.

Since the nerf update, the T3 Defy Pain still has the same recast as the standard skill (which I regularly slot and has a 90 second recast) and its duration was reduced down from the standard 5 seconds to 3 seconds (which is why I almost never use that trait and prefer to use the Retaliation proc instead). The base skill still has a 5 second duration, but the proc was gutted for PvP reasons (which is where almost every GW2 nerf comes from).

Then the various ways that grant +Stability all have more reasonable recast timers, which both the trait and the Balanced Stance power share. (I just don’t like the Balanced Stance proc’ing trait because it only prevents chain CCing and not the initial dose, which is the only one that I normally care about.)

Panzen.4625:

30 defense for either Defy Pain (5 sec invuln when you drop below 25%, 45 sec cd) or Last Stand (90 sec cd is kinda long, though).

Just to clarify, the T3 Defy Pain was changed in an update to only grant 3 seconds of Invulnerability (minus Conditions) and still has the 90 second recast. Nor can its duration be increased by anything which increases the duration of Stances.

Now the +Stability buff from Last Stand isn’t a horrible choice at the 45 second recast. My personal issue with the trait is that it only kicks in after you get CCed the 1st time. Since it helps to break up chained CCing, but that’s about it. Having said that, the most recent updates made it so you could stack +Stability a couple of times. Therefore you could use a +Stability power and your Last Stand proc would no longer be wasted like it used to.

Kozai.8269:

Wiser with Age.3714
1) Buy a ton of the Stealth potions from the karma vendor in the Charr 1-15 zone.

Which vendor is that? And how long do they last?

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ash_Legion_Spy_Kit

The NPC is located just South of the Eastern exit from the starter zone’s external city area. These items can’t be slotted, so you have to manually click them in your bag. Since launch, they’ve been modified to not work in WvW.

Upon clicking the item, you’ll wipe aggro and enter pseudo-stealth. It breaks on any kind of movement or offensive action. Otherwise it’s 10 seconds of safety. These are great for breaking aggro after you train through an area. I haven’t personally tested whether you can still access a harvesting node while under the pseudo-stealth buff. (You can normally harvest while Stealthed, but the Camoflage buff is a bit different.)

If you’re looking to wear some +Precision gear, then this is what I would suggest.

Discipline – 20 pts

(If you take the Discipline points, then your Shout build will look just like my soloing Shout build.)

1) Getting access to Signet Mastery is vital for any character who runs Signet of Rage. Being able to shave off 12 seconds from your recast timer is remarkable for a T1 Major trait.

2) Getting access to Heightened Focus for the bonus +% Crit Chance will also make a noticeable difference.

3) Even if you switched your Elite out for Battle Standard (and switched your T1 Tactics trait to the Banner trait), you could re-arrage your Discipline powers to Heightened Focus and Sweet Revenge.

4) The minor trait of Fast Hands will eventually become very powerful.

Disclaimers

1) It’s been a while since I played my Shout character, but I don’t remember seeing the +Crit Chance from Heightened Focus being added to my (H) screen. There have been people questioning whether or not this trait actually does what it says that it does. (I brought this up back during Beta, but it’s still never been corrected to my knowledge.)

2) The Fast Hands trait has always been bugged. At times, it works as of the 2nd Weapon Switch during a combat. Then at other times, people have reported increased Weapon Switch timers. This trait will end up being really strong once it’s not a buggy piece of junk.

seithan.4823:

@krog: Which trait heals u from adrenaline?

As another poster already answered, it’s Adrenal Health (Defense – 15 pts).

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Adrenal_Health

FYI: The healing from this trait is not increased by your +Healing score. So while this trait is still free healing for adrenaline hording characters, it will feel like a weak heal for any Warrior build which is normally stacked up on +Healing gear.

The 400 crafting skill gifts are Account Bound. If you do have a stable of crafters, you can make them and pass them to your alts. As I understand it, the Gift of Exploration rewards are also account bound (which lets them be passed on to your crafters).

From an old GW2 Guru thread during the late days of Beta, the final verdict was that Shouts were the superior source of healing. While you could techincally squeeze a bit more healing out of Banners over a long period of time, this advantage disappears once people have any other source of +Regeneration.

% of +Healing that applies to Shouts: +70%
% of +Healing that applies to Banners: +100%

If you find that you’re mainly using Grenades as your dps source, the Rune of the Engineer set bonus of +5% Kit damage could be nice. Having said that, Rune of Divinity would be the more effective (but far more expensive) choice.

1) Buy a ton of the Stealth potions from the karma vendor in the Charr 1-15 zone.

2) Buy a set of backup Exotic gear that has different stats from your primary set of gear.

3) Start saving towards the rediculous requirements of Legendary items. Considering that you might want to eventually dual wield Legendary items, that’s a mountain of karma. You might eventually decide that you want a Legendary item once the cost of a precursor becomes reasonable, so it never hurts to just bank the karma away for a rainy day.

I’d say that it depends on your build.

For me, it’s Toughness once I reach the PvE level cap since I’m getting +300 Healing from my Venomous Aura trait spec and I’m also using Assassin’s Reward for constant healing. My goal is to negate as much of the incoming damage as possible, then quickly heal it back through Venom powers and my normal attacks.

Yet for something like WvW or PvP when you know that you’re going to get hit with a large amount of burst damage, I’d have to say that Vitality is probably better since you care more about surviving the first 10 seconds than you do about surviving the next 2 minutes.

Sarrow.2785:

I think it’s telling when, even in a full condition build, poisons are passed over.

Sad, but true. As people have always said, the problem is Venomous Aura. If we didn’t have VA as a trait choice, then the devs could make our personal Venom powers much stronger. Yet they seem to be partially balancing the Venom meta-game around people making devoted VA builds, which really throws things off for a casual Venom user.

My own S/P PvE Thief is based on a Venomous Aura build. I really enjoy the character and how it allows me to buff those around me. The character brings me joy. However at the same time, I don’t think that I could ever rationalize using Venoms without such a build.

The Engineer is a jack of all trades class due to its Weapon Kit system. Each of the Kits basically gives you an environmental weapon to replace your standard weapon set. (For reference, an Engineer only has x1 standard weapon set instead of the usually x2 sets.) Most players will end up using 1-2 Kit weapons to augment their combat options.

However the main selling point for me has to be the Tool Belt skills. Basically you get a bonus skill slot (F1 thru F4) power that is based off of which skill you’ve got slotted in your Healing and Utility slots. Though these bonus skills are meant to balance out any potential skill slots that you’re spending on Kit weapons, the Tool Belt bonus skills also have special results from using Racial skills. This makes your race choice for the Engineer rather important and it can bring some real flavor to your playing experience.

Similar to a Ranger, you’ll have a mix of attacks and abilities which encourage a continual jousting in and out of melee range. While you can go with a quasi-pet route using the various Turret powers, they really aren’t the strongest choice and they’re a poor cousin to any kind of Ranger pet spec.

All things considered, Engineer doesn’t feel like any other class that I’ve played.

For the Shadow Refuge explaination, see the linked thread below.

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/thief/Shadow-Refuge/first#post511501

I’m not sure about the other one.

For me, the class really didn’t completely click until 25th. Then things really started to fall into place at 30th.

I guess my issues fell into a few categories. One of my key issues is that my Condition based Pistol build just plays so much differently than my other characters. My two Warriors and my Thief were melee builds. Yet my Engineer turned out to be this weird hybrid between melee and ranged, which constantly switched back and forth.

Another issue that I had was with cool down timers. Since Engineers don’t have a formal Weapon Switch mechanic, it took some time for me to get comfortable using a Kit weapon set. Then once you accept that you’ll need a Kit, you have to figure out which Kit fits your need and playstyle.

At 20th, my 10 pts in Firearms let me reduce my Pistol recast timers. That made a noticeable difference. Then 25th let me throw on a Blue set of crafted Pistols / Armor / Jewelry that granted +Precision / +Condition. Gaining that 2nd damage stat on my gear made a world of difference. The final piece of the puzzle was hitting 30th, which let me have 10 pts in Tools for the Quickness trait. Whenever I equiped my Grenade Kit, I’d have 5 seconds of Quickness to hurl a mountain of different grenades at my feet to deal with the swarm of mobs who were trying to melee me. My net dps output with my Grenades got a noticeable increase in the spike dps department, which was all that I was using them for in the first place.

Also it really helped to get access to the 30th level Elite skill. Even though I wasn’t traited to use it the most efficiently, I fell in love with the Supply Crate skill. As a panic button, it’s been a life saver. It gave me extra healing, extra dps, and more potential targets for enemy mobs to attacks. There was less need to kite when mobs were swinging away on a Rifle or Flamethrower turret and ignoring me for a few seconds.

If you’re looking for versatile, then an Engineer has a lot of options through their various Kit utility skills (which effectively give you an environmental weapon). Also they get bonus skill slots to make up for the potentially lost skill slots that your Kit weapons could occupy.

On a personal note, my greatest joy of the Engineer is that your racial choice really matters since your bonus skill slots are based on your slotted Utility and Healing slot skills. By slotting a Racial skill in one of those standard slots, you’ll also get access to a unique bonus skill that only an Engineer of that race can access.

For WvW, Engineers tend to swear by an offensive AoE damage spec using the Grenade Kit weapon (which can tear apart seige equipment using its Trait increased 1,500 range). Or for a more defensive / support build, many WvW people swear by using the Elixer Gun kit for AoE condition removal and healing.

The TG pets are annoying, but only a real danger when you’re going up against a Venomous Aura AoE buffing Thief (instead of the usual glass cannon burst Thief). If you can see you original Thief target gaining Venom proc buffs while they have those pets out, you need to flee for your life since those pets are getting the exact same buffs as the player. Dealing with x3 “opponents” all hitting you with Venom dots and debuffs is really not fun.

You can use /emote to communicate in WvW.

For example, I was playing my Thief and was on one of the side maps which has the South located supply depot. As I’m coming onto the island just North of the (enemy held) depot, I see another Thief fleeing across the bridge towards the depot. As he was moving, I could see a couple of traps being cast to block the bridge. Being all by myself, I paused to assess the situation. Realizing that I was flying solo, the enemy Thief spun around and waited for me with his shortbow drawn.

A few moments passed. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to charge me and obvious that I wasn’t crazy enough to charge his position. There was plenty of room to use the side rivers to move South and just bypass the bridge. With both of us realizing how this was going to play out, I hit the /wave emote on the targeted Thief. (From his end, it would say “A Fergusson’s Crossing invader is waving at you.”) In good spirit, the enemy Thief hit a /wave back towards me. With that moment of civility past, I stealthed into the river and headed towards the Supply Depot.

Over a month later, I still remember that brief encounter. It brought a smile to my face. Being able to show respect to a well played maneuver is one of my joys in WvW.

My issue with Trahearne is that he’s simply a tool (in both a descriptive sense and his role in the big picture). I didn’t mind him when we first met him on Claw Island. As a side character, his herky jerky self really isn’t too jarring. If we were able to keep our existing NPCs around when Trahearne gets introduced to the story, then I’d be fine with that as well.

The crux of the matter is that the character of Trahearne just isn’t likeable and we get him forced down our throat immediately after being told that we couldn’t continue playing GW2 with NPCs which we probably liked. That’s a real kick in the shins. As it currently stands, my interest in the Personal Story system has fallen like a rock after the Claw Island resolution point and this happens consistently on every character that I’ve played. If we had the option of killing an NPC, I’d have probably shanked him many times by now (which is a rather unusual emotional response for me as a player).

Other than keeping it in the upper left corner of your top Inventory bag for quick double clicking? Unfortunately that’s about it. The item is almost intentionally difficult to use, which is probably why they can justify such a unique consumable item that’s only offered from that one specific vendor.

By the way, I’ve used it on my Charr Engineer may times. Since I’ve gotten used to Thief stealth on one of my other characters, I’ll sometimes go on crazy zone training runs and I’ll use one to wipe aggro. For a non-stealth character, they’re an amazing source of pseudo-stealth.

Bitesize,

As a newer person to Engineer, I can understand where you’re coming from. I also use dual pistols and try to kite mobs. The main problem I found was during the pistol cool down period. Even with reducing my recast timers through the Firearms trait line, there was a dead space of auto attacking in between all of my real pistol attacks. It was during this lull in dps that I was getting overwhelmed.

My personal solution was to add the Grenade kit into the mix. Pistols are my normal form of attacks. I’ll start manually firing my auto attack until I can see that I’m in range. Then I’ll fire off Pistol #2, Pistol #3, and Pistol #4 as they’re closing into melee range. Instead of trying to kite away, I hit the button to switch to my Grenade kit. Aiming directly at my feet, I then fire off every single Grenade non-auto attack available to me. Once those are all cast, I weapon switch to drop the Grenades. By this time, your Pistols should be ready to cast another round of special attacks. Rinse and repeat.

If you end up using a Kit as a back up weapon for when your Pistols are recharging, I’d suggest that you pick up the Speedy Kits trait (Tools – 10 pts). Being able to spam all of your Kit attacks while under a Quickness effect really does make a noticeable change. I’m able to create a spike of AoE dps much faster now that I added that trait to my character.

Yup. Tarnished Coast is THE server of RP for North America. Europe has one as well, but I can’t remember which one it is. (On a side note, Tarnished Coast also isn’t the bottom of the barrel for World vs World. It’s nice to see the “carebear” RPers kicking butts.)

For my own Warrior, I actually like the look of the Lvl 10-20 crafted armor. It looks more like a decorative form of chainmail, which is much more preferable than some kind of full plate armor.

Beyond that, I haven’t found any other armor series which jumped out at me. However my Warrior in that armor set is only in its mid 40’s, so I haven’t paid attention to the high end armor sets.