Guild Wars 2

Guardian’s VoJ both passive and active work setting things on fire underwater as well : ))

that would be pretty fun.

we ought to be careful about everything we do now. scared to log-on now. :///

jokes aside, grats to the OP on getting so high. i’m only level 4. keep getting dc-ed and won’t attempt them until the next big patch (that hopefully addresses this as well).

i decided to get an early start on the FotM monthly bit. started at lvl 2. got kicked out during the second fractal (at the end boss of the ascalon fractal). so my team had to end up 4-manning it. sure they did fine, but still. i felt bad for that. and i didn’t get to play something i wanted to. the fractals are interesting! but this base mechanic needs a lot of polishing.

hope the changes will come soon. : )))

@OP – if you’re not concerned with leveling up your fractals now, just do lvl 1 for now and clear the monthly. supposedly, there are plans for people from different levels to play together and each time you complete a set, you’ll level up accordingly (1 level).a nd can rejoin with disconnects.

they are tough to get, and the fact that so many exotics, all highly sought after, require a ton of them, it’s easy to see why they’re priced so high right now. definitely no efficient way to acquire these afaik. apart form buying them on the TP.

looking at gw2spidy, there are only about 600+ supply and over 3000 in demands, all probably at way lower prices than them being listed now.

i’m a Norn Guard! working towards juggernaut and plan to sport it with T3 cultural lol. maybe a mix and match here. i’ve just started playing with mace + shield for my healing build for fun (and it actually IS a lot of fun. least a good change of pace) and the flameseeker prophecies would look amazing. this was my second legendary i planned to get! then, call me silly, but i saw the shark spear and i LOVED it. given i don’t spend much time underwater. AT ALL. lol. but partially that’s why it’s so attractive to me lol. so when i DO finish juggernaut, and have more time on my hands.. i may go for this shield too. then need to find a mace to match ; ))

and agree, sword + focus is great in WvW. i need to get better at it. do you consistently use the scepter as well? hammer is pretty kitten too in WvW.

what nelopp outlined above is good advice. i’m saving up karma so i didn’t use any there, but each temple karma vendor exotic armour will cost you 42k karma. where with dungeon tokens, chest and leg pieces cost the most.

that being said, do check out which stats you want to get and go for the respective dungeon and or temple karmas. a little mix and matching may be required.

some links that could help you out determine which stats and where you can get them:

• Dulfy’s end game gearing guide
• Wiki’s Item nomenclature

@Kit – well said! heh. and surprises??? ooooooOOOoooo.

want to get off work now so i can get on again. though life’s certainly gotten busy lately! wish i could stop time! just for Tyria lol

@Nalar / Bash / RoyHamon – thanks for all the replies. that’s some good analysis and to be honest, i didn’t know about the rounding down, for one and other related mechanics but what i’ve read make sense. will look into this more but at the moment it’s what i’m running with. can add food as well to get it up to 90% boon duration total – but then i’d be giving up other sources of healing power or other stats that could be gotten from food.

one thing i found weird is when Roy you mentioned that major runes don’t stack with superior runes. will test this too. ah, Roy, i see what you’re saying. as in major and superior runes of the same kind don’t stack? i.e. if i had 2x sup monk + 2x sup water + 2x major sacntuary, the boon duration would stack?

[added: finally sat down and did the math and think i am going to go for 3 monk and 3 water afterall. :PP now i should have some AC tokens left over…]

that being said, i’ve finally gotten the gear to properly test this build out. currently running with hammer and mace/shield and it’s been working wonders so far. extremely survivable and loving the change of pace in play style. will be trying out different weapon sets as well to find one best suited for myself but so far, i’m pretty happy alreayd with the results! still running with PVT chest and pants as well. so this isn’t even having “max” healing power.

will keep growing into this build in more WvW situations as well. thanks again Chris for sharing this and everyone else contributing.

well said, Sokina. i’ve recently switched my build to a more healing power focused one and it is SO MUCH FUN. i wish i’d given the mace a better chance early on. BUT, it’s never too late. heh. that being said, i still enjoy being front line. and healing up people when they need it – especially those in melee range. those are my brethren, the people i walk along side. and for the people in the back raining down AoE and ranged massacre, i want to say they’re playing smart and safe and to their own strengths as well and are able to completely avoid dmg so that works out as well.

of course, Guards aren’t only frontline, but i personally feel we wreck more havoc there than anywhere else. of course, if the situation calls for it, i’ll back up a bit and hold the line at “mid” range using whatever skills / weapons i have in my arsenal of awesomeness. if i see a zerg of 30 coming my way, i’m not going to just throw myself into the ocean full of sharks with raw meat strapped onto me isntead of armour.

there’s a time and place for everything, and it IS about learning those situaations and being aware and being able to adapt. about being flexible and not have tunnel vision. if something works best for you, stick to it. but every so often, it never hurts to reevaluate how we’re performing as our class, race and in a group setting. after all, we all want to keep bettering ourselves, no? ; ))

hey DanDan, if you’re sticking with the crithammer build as laid out in this thread, i want to argue that Knight’s is probably one of the easier ones to start off with. if you feel the need to boost your HP a bit, you can maybe opt for the chest and pants with pow/vit/tough from AC. the toughness helps you mitigate a lot of direct dmg (not conditions) so in a sense, and with a lower health pool, you need to heal “less” to make up for the dmg you’re taking and with the more “constant” stream of small heals with AH, you should be okay. (and as always, avoid / dodge out of the big hits). you can have plenty of condition removal to get rid of conditions.

i recently put together a set focused on healing power (mix of magi and cleric’s gear) but i felt it doesn’t work as well with your trait set up (i currently run 0/0/30/30/10). but you can give it a shot, since you have a lot of AC badges. i tried this set up with pow vit tough armour as well, but again, i missed having a higher crit chance, though i know there are some who did it and felt it worked more than fine for them in full PVT gear and knight’s trinkets. (make sure to take the toughness to precision trait – retributive armour? if you do go this route)

you really want to have a decent crit chance % for this to work as effective as possible (around 40%+ might be a good balancing point from my own experience).

p.s. look into omnomberry pies and ghosts for the extra chance to steal health in tandem with your blood hammer for even better effects. : )) sigil of accuracy is a good choice for your GS.

a lot of people aren’t happy with how legendaries are made right now, but i do enjoy it in the fact that as long as you aren’t in a hurry, anything and everything you do can more or less contribute to it some way, albeit in some very small ways.

so keep enjoying the game and don’t get burnt out or stressed by limiting yourself on time.

• do WvW for karma and badges (including JPs)
• go run events in the end-game high level zones for chance at drops and mine the T6 mats while hoping for drops for the others
• do your dailies and monthlies and save up the jugs, drops and use them with karma boosters, as well as saving up your mystic coincs
• do your dungeons that you need for the gift, do others for change in flavor and hope for good drops, lodestones or cash
• in terms of karma, i’d go for the mystic clovers first (and try to do them all in one go) and once you get the 77, you’ll know exactly how many you need left for gift of mastery (same goes for skillpoints, but not as big an issue i feel)
• then with the “failed attempts” at the clovers giving you T6 mats, you can get the rest / farm later (i also put in buy orders in small batches when the prices reach a reasonable level in my own terms)
• level up the crafts you need while saving up and mining everything that you need for Twilight
• save up as much gold as you can and buy the icey runestones whenever you finish jormag, but don’t spend all your gold! slowly amass them.
• get a buddy or two to do these things with you! and maybe you can all be working towards a legendary as well – do dungeons together, and help each other in terms of lodestones, cores, etc. goign in WvW with some friends is always nice and not having to solo roam, farming in Orr or other zones it’s also better in a group : ))

and most importantly, good luck and have fun! let the legendary be an goal but not the end-all, be-all of your gw2 experience.

[added: the bit with finding friends to do this with : )))]

@Riiko – lol, that’s always the best. heh.

@Kit – most appreciated again with keeping the lists updated!D i checked a few yesterday, the day i got to be on, and of course, everything was taken care of.

@all the new-comers – welcome welcome! i do hope you all find your time and place here. it’s a good group of people and pray that you all find something out of having dropped in here. ; )))

@Goobers – on SoR here. we can meet up and hang out in WvW if you’d want! ; ))) lol

LaronX, the scepter for the Guardian, as others have mentioned has a 1200 range : )) both skill #1 and #2 so there’s workaround there. but agreed. i’ve only done this path once, and the spiders were pretty ridiculous lol. i gues ranging it down would be the best bet now.

i don’t mind the events.. what would be even nicer is to not have them bug out, or be consistent. OR that they can be accessed any given time someone wants to do a dungeon and not be relying heavily on “chance” OR for the NPCs and events to spawn / act accordingly.

it’s interesting to have these events i feel. : )) though, yes, at times it can be aggravating.

haven’t run it since. o wait, actually once. and we were lucky in a sense that the adds weren’t infinite. maybe only 3 waves before we got the boss down. still want to run more of HotW as i love the surroundings and looking to get some weapons.. but haven’t gotten to it yet. :///

i actually love the red glyphic weapons (both red and blue). i’ll agree it doesn’t match the armour though. nor do i really see where the connection is with the dungeon itself. but i love ’em. : ))

not every month is gonna please everyone. not every part of the game is gonna please every one. there is probably someone out there who hated building snowmen opening pressies or killing toys for last month but love JPs. i for one, think it’s a nice change, and of course, that’s my own opinion.

i love that each month changes, and who knows. maybe February will have something that you’re going to die for. just hold out until then. ; )) this, i agree, the ways around it is silly, but maybe you can add to it by doing them… i onno, without swiftness. or use keyboard turning. or use the doubel mouse button method. or do ‘em in tonic form. just for a different experience. race friends? and put wages in? have a guidl event? plenty of things you could do to make it fun. unless… if you’re not into that sort of thing.

if you don’t like zergs, you can go out of your way and find where your enemies are and attack them with a small strike force. just got to find people you play well with and have a similar mind set (easier said than done).

most times i go into WvW, i start off by doing the JPs and then WvW. but more often than not, i take a look at map chat and i’m sucked into the battling immediately. and i end up getting more badges than i ever would via the jp’s. and i had a ton more fun. and actually contributed to my server.

you’ll get there soon. just don’t think, i need it all now. and jump into WvW every so often.

hey there Caligare! in regards to where you can procure exotic armour with the Knight’s stats, if crafting, then yes, draconic would be the go to. however, it’s not your ONLY choice of getting knight’s exotic armour.

you can get the same stat sets from the following dungeons:

• Sorrow’s Embrace; and
• Arah

when you do get tokens, make sure you purchase the correct stat set! as each dungeon has multiple stat sets, 3 iirc.

i’ve been running an all knight’s AH build as well. ranging from 0/15/30/20/5 to 0/5/30/30/5 to 0/0/30/30/10 and they all work well. i went with full knight’s gear and trinkets as well, weapons varied depending on what i wanted to achieve. and full soldier runes.

if you want a bit more survivability, you can also go with a soldier’s chest and pants (pow/vit/tough) for a boost in vitality. some also suggest changing the jewel upgrades in your knight’s trinkets to ruby’s for a bit of extra crit dmg without sacrificing too much toughness, etc. some prefer to have a mix of valkyrie trinkets for some added vit and crit dmg. you can mix and match here : ))

you can also look at the different weapons that the dungeons have to offer – choose the stats if that’s more important to you, and then pick out a nice skin that you’d enjoy wielding. ; ))

a useful link regarding exotic gear, stats and where you can get them:
Dulfy’s End-game Gearing Guide

thanks for the update Feisty! i love the score updates with people’s characters heh

today’s last day of the year, technically i get to get off work at 4pm. which is now!! waiting for someone to make the first move though lol and day off tmr so should be able to get on a bit more. ; )))

Mikitten058:

Happy New Year Akamon
<3 playin with ya, and any bit helps.

:DDD i try to make enough time each day if i can for myself to frequent the BL’s to start with. one day, i will walk the earth of EB. heh. hope to see you soon

:DDD and lol, all good! it’s not an official Oceanic server but i know a lot of my friends from HK initially joined SoS, as well as lot of friends from Aussie heh. am sure it has a large NA presence as well. ; ))) plus, this iniviative is mainly cross server as well – people across ALL of Tyria. but was just wondering heh ; )))

in regards to the guild, i’m not in-game now (at work still lol), but someone should be able to send you an invite soon! and i’ll check when i ge tback home to make sure you do. and after that, you can join the guild and feel free to represent whenever! so you’re not required to be part of the guild. but it gives all of us in here common ground to at least chat with one another and see who’s onlines, etc. : ))

no need for apologies here. we were all new at one time! and i’m still learning every day (and having a ton of fun still!) hope to see you around soon. and stop by every so often! it’s the holidays, but it can get pretty crazy in here usually. heh. how are you finding gw2 so far? feel free to ask any questions here or anyone if you see ’em online!

i thought myself to be “well-versed” in this game’s heavy armour lol but i can’t give you a name for those shoulders. and they do indeed look pretty cool. like wookalar said though, there are a handful of NPCs in game, whose armour we don’t have access to (yet, perhaps).

just based on everything else he’s wearing, it’s the “heavy plate” set – except the shoulders! which also have the same patterns on the gloves and helm.

1h sword paired with GS allows for some great mobility and really aggressive play as well – 2 gap closers and blinds, gives you high single target dmg as well as decent PBAoE. so you can look into that weapon swapping setup. or even hammer + 1hsword/combo.

i’ve heard many pair it the sword with torches for even more DPS. while focus is a popular and choice that seems extremely effective as well (you can offer some support through focus #4 and you have great defenseive capabilities with focus #5). and shield, not so much. but am sure it still has it’s uses. (purely aesthetics, just saw a post of a guard with bolt and flameseeker prophecies and looks pretty darn good).

it’s not a straight comparison i guess. on one hand, boon duration helps with any and all the boons i give out to myself and allies. though it’s also partly because it’s easier for me to attain right now with my limited time. i’ll give it a shot and report back when i can.

i think all OP meant was that he’s seen Guardians who were hanging back from the fight, focusing on healing, when most of our healing is in fact done up front in mobs/invader’s faces. i.e. by smashing things with mace and hammer and dropping symbols.

i personally haven’t seen Guards that do that. even with scepter of staff, all the Guards i’ve been with are up close and personal. the way we’re meant to be. taking the focus fire off our ranged. while giving enough support and healing to our melee-ers. which is what OP is “for” as well. perhaps the title could be changed to something more specific to the OP’s issue with Guards who try to heal, hiding in the back of the lines or kiting mobs without hitting them.

mann, i still do not have my full set ready to go yet lol. holidays soon over! which is almost ironiic when i get less play time, with less time at work haha. regardless, good to see so many people picking this up!

@Chris – had the honor finally facing up against you in battle (i think). over the weekend, i had a bit of time on SoR BL near BG’s spawn. Owl was there too. (was still running my own knight’s and AH build).

@all – in regards to runes, what about a 2x water, 2x monk and 2x major water? (i originally ran 2x major sanctuary but thinking of switching to 2x major rune for the extra little healing). vs 3 water and 3 monk, the trade off would be gain 10% boon duration, but lose 85 healing power.

[edit: oops mathfail]

subbed so i can watch on m phone during lunch break!
always love seeing a good Guard go against others

you can go about it your own way i feel. personally i don’t feel there’s a huge difference in terms of using the hammer vs GS using your setup. although i feel more “safe” using a hammer. but if you play carefully, the same effect can be achieved with the GS easily. they GS can be even more CD dependent compared to the hammer i feel but if you prefer it, by all means. go for it! : ))

@Jayne + Pot – thouroughly enjoyed your presence in this thread thus far. XDDD specially the pic with domo-kun lol

@SoR commanders – specifically Silvannas, Ramnos and Owl (as always), always a great pleasure running with you folk. wish i had more time to WvW and play a bigger part. but for the little time that i am on there, i feel more than welcome and SoR has been home for me since day one. you guys keep making us proud!

@BG/TC – constant good fights. looking to see more of you on the battle field! good fight at our Garrison the other day. took us a while. TC, i’ve yet to see more of you all. especially this PINK that i so often hear of. ; ))

Misc. - TIL that you could turn off the grouped colors for WvW. when i get on next, i am going to get on that function so all your hard work dyeing your armour doesn’t go to waste in my eyes. ; )))

last day of the year here in Hong Kong – WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY NEW YEAR! prosperity to all (except when i see you on the battlefield! XDD)

ahh very intersting. i only ask as just as that new stat combo was introduced, i was llooking into building a boon duration build for fun, but still able to hit hard. i thought this new gear set could be interesting (but takes quite a bit to put together it seems) and i’d be pretty much made to be more support than ever. which i don’ tmind either, and i’m all for multiple builds, but i do enjoy WvW a lot and more often than not, i’m roaming or in a smaller group. good to know it has it’s place though!

agreed, as a Guard, a cross between support / dps, always welcome a DPS warr! or ele for fields

:OOO looking good buddy! soon, i shall have Juggernaut slung over my back in Norn T3 cultural, heh. ; ))) Sylvari cultural is easily my second favourite! and congrats!!!!!

i too enjoy my journey towards my lengedary. all i really am doing is just playing the game a lot, all different areas of it (save sPvP). i don’t get 10-15 gold a day lol but i’m definitely making money each day as well. and it’s my own fault when i splurge on other random stuff in game haha.

sharing the same sentiments! looking forward to newer and greater things in the years to come. really hope this is going to be a long term journey for me and the fam. heh ; )) thanks for the share!

as a Guardian main and a low-level Warrior.. i absolutely LOVE my Guardian. i play heavily focused on 2h weapons – so hammer, GS and staff. that being said, i have one of each weapon in my inv at all times. and i actually have 2 hammers, 3 GS and 2 staff all for different situations (sigils, stat combos, etc) haven’t touched the torch since level 30-ish but i still have one in my inv. you never know what you’re going to need. most often i switch to scepter and shield in dungeons, especially if there are a lot of ranged mobs. so i suggest (whatever class you play) to always have on your every single weapon available. even if you’re not used to using them, you’ll never know when a situation will pop up. ; ))

further on, i don’t know the Warrior as much so i can’t comment too much. i’ll just comment a bit here and there regarding the Guardian. if you pair up the sword and GS, you’ll get a LOT of mobility with 2 gap closers. so i’d say that’s a decent combo and good synergy in dungeons. however, with the sword, i feel the combo of sword + focus is superior to sword + shield, as awesome as it looks. but i am sure you can make it work as well. i personally feel the mace is more suited to go with the shield. or scepter. but the focus is a hard offhand to ignore. that being said, if you’re going for aesthetics, i don’t see why it won’t work. the sword does offer great single-target, while GS offers great AoE capabilities and like i mentioned with 2 gap closers, a pull, high single target and high PBAoE capabilities, you can play pretty aggressively.

know the skills of the shield and you can learn to use it to your advantage. shield #5 can be very good or just mess up the entire dynamics of a group so learn when to use it and how it works.

that being said, this is all from a Guardian’s perspective. and do bring along a scepter and staff with ya at all times. if anything else at all. like you said, you never know when you’ll need a bit of ranged, as ranged as Guard’s can get.

hope someone with a better perspective of the warrior (and Guard as well) can help you more!

ahh, this is an area i have not ventured into yet. soloing dungeons. i love trying to challenge myself and take on vets and now champs too solo. it’s good training i feel and at times i’ll be like “bah, it’s not gonna be worth the time or effort” (since i don’t get to play a whole lot, and not every day) but i do it anyway.. and i end up having so much fun!D awesome job and i’ll have to try this soon heh

@Riaky – first of all, congrats!! love that you got the shield. i was planning on getting that as my second heh after i complete my juggernaut (close!!!).

wanted to ask, do you actually use Giver’s gear with your Guardian? and you enjoy it? i feel it doesn’t have enough DPS at all and might be confined more to support? i guess in a group setting it’s more than fine. but what about if you’re running solo in PvE or WvW?

welcome all new-comers!!! like Nop mentioned, i too thinnk it’s awesome that every day, even throughout the holiday season! there are people joining constantly. hope you all find your place within this group of people. the few i know are all wonderful. : )))

@AJ – welcome to you!! love the combo’s of your races and professions. a few of the best in -game imo. what time zone are you in? i ask since SoS is the “unofficial Oceanic” server. i’m from Hong Kong so usually on around GMT+8 night times. : )) we can defs do some dungeons together! actually, a handful in here are quite experienced and many are up for running them too! heh, practice makes perfect.. rmb to dodge dodge dodge! lol (and lots of area denial for the Guardian heh)

@G and Kit – an early congratulations!!DDD i know it’s going to be super sweet and G, that you will have it just the way Kit wants and needs it. awww. hehe, no resolution can beat that one lol

that being said, here’s a happy early new year’s to everyone on here!!! again, haven’t been on much lately, but if you DO happen to see me on, whisper me or send me a tell!D always always happy to chat. been busy WvW-ing lately lol so i get caught up if i am on lol

heh, glad ya enjoyed it so! and refreshing to hear. : )) i’ve been running a similar build to your previous one in PvE/WvW. haven’t really touched PvP yet (and doubt i ever will lol). so i wonder how effective spirit weapons would be in other areas of the game? assume it definitely has it’s place. just gotta try it out too.

that’s the thing, one of the things that drew me towards the Guardian were the spirit weapons! and i’ve played around in my head before and had similar trait set up to the one you’re using. very cool.

quick question – what armour, jewlry and runes / sigils did you choose to go with the spirit weapons?

:DD and just pray that you find a good leader/commander! heh. i’ve followed many a great leaders! while some i’ve followed have just led us to wipe lol. but even then, the tactics that come along with WvW make it interesting and more fun than strictly PvP (which i have no taste for heh)

p.s. love the way you use | after addressing peep’s names heh

haven’t tested cleric’s much, but if we’re talking WvW. i ran AH build with hammer / staff or scepter combo for a bit, in full knight’s gear and did pretty well. hardly felt i had trouble surviving unless i made stupid mistakes or got zerged on and couldn’t get out in time. while being in full PVT gear, i actually felt squishier, i.e. harder to stay alive or didn’t do as well as I did in full knight’s. just a thought. i personally don’t think PVT is all it’s made out to be. with full knight’s you get a TON of toughness, and a lot of the Guard’s skills / traits shine when you crit. and you can make use of a lot of sigils / food as well. while you can use some +vit jewelry if you feel your HP is too low. or use runes to make up for it.

and if you do decide to go with AH, crits obviously can help a lot too.

but i want to say monk’s focus and medi’s would be extremely fun and working towards a build to try out too.

the Punisher is a great skin.
a few others that i have and enjoy

• corrupted sledgehammer – my main hammer at the moment!
• ebonhawke – use this for my MF set, lol, cause of the gold “tints”
• magmaton – boom
• seraph hammer (it’s small but looks great) – although i lost the skin : (( and the gold one is not bad either, but i prefer the silver
• lionguard – used this for a LONG time. and still love it.
• glyphic! love the little circular energy at the ends of the hammer
• pact crusher – quite understated, but i feel a lovely looking hammer and it’s got “weight” to the look, if you know what i mean

a few that i want to get my hands on or wouldn’t mind having

• kodan hammer (HotW)
• priory hammer – the green block just looks awesome heh
• ghastly (AC) or the Arah ones look pretty neat and heavy looking too
• foefire’s power – slowly working towards this now!D again, charged lodestones, but not as many as the lightning ham! i really just want to hold this, and summon the sword, bow and shield as my Guard and take a screenshot lol
  *juggernaut – on my way to get this as well

i can’t comment as far as healing power goes – working on a set to test out (but got put on hold cause of le holidays heh). that being said, i used to run a full knight’s set. high dmg, extremely survivable. and i go tmy P/V/T set as many people swore by it. but i felt more squishy and fared a lot better in my full knight’s gear.

that being said, if your build doesn’t use crits as much, i would too focus more on healing power and you can test that out. but again, really depends on the rest of your build, traits and play style – so would be helpful if you shared that perhaps. : )) so if you’re looking to do more crits and play off that instead, knight’s would be a good choice and up your precision / crit chance % massively. but if you want to stick with more healing, then go for healing power (probs cleric’s as well, again, due to the low crit chance, but you can mix and match with magi’s if you prefer)

i haven’t extensively used sigil of blood, but i plan to. and yar, as Lafiel mentioned, use it with omnom pies or omnom ghosts. i’ve heard otherwise, you don’t notice the effect as much.

if you’re using MH/OH combos, know that the on-crit, on-swap sigils all have cd’s, as you’ve mentioned, and when one is on cd, all other “conditional” sigils effects won’t proc either. so you might want to go with something that is a “passive” or “static” sigil. for e.g. maybe the sigil of accuracy, since you’ll be using sigils that depend on crits for healing. that’s one option.

and for MH/OH, if both are stacking or on-crit, the MH one will be taken first so usually best to pair it up with something passive.

@Aeleniel – yar, i was hesitant at first, and had no idea what to do either.. but luckily, there was someone who spoke up quite a bit and so i just asked him questions and they responded. even until now, i don’t really know where is best to place siege weapons (which i should learn) but i focus on seeing what’s going on in map chat / team chat. it’s fun though! don’t be afraid and get in there! ; ))) since you guys have decent presence on the Union, could go in a small group as well, heh. always nicer with a friend. and it helps when first upon entering any given map, i usually ask, WHERE ARE PEOPLE NEEDED? and i’ll gowherever the battles are or peopel tell me to and start from there : ))

@Deekkru – welcome!!! and happy holidays! Norn elementalist, eh?? those are far and few between. very awesome. and like Aele mentioned, ET in the Union is growing by the day! the Union of [XIII] is mainly a cross-server guild if you will.. but there are a few servers that have a slightly more growing population heh. but it’s all good fun and nice ot ahve people to chat to, what not. i’d suggest you can perhaps stick with ET for now and meet up with the good peeps there~~

@everyone else – hope you all keep enjoying the holidays!DDDDDddd really haven’t been on in the past 2 – 3 days hehe due to Christmas stuff, nor the forums! so as much as i miss Tyria, hehe, i am glad to announce i guess i’m not officially addicted to it? yet? hmm lol.

hey there and welcome to the game!D i’m completely new to MMO’s myself and i love it. so treat it as such. those that are MMO vets say this game is unlike any MMO in the past.. so approach it with an open mind and take your time : )))

onto your questions.. i don’t play a mesmer but know a few, so i can answer your questions more in general

1) technically, all attacks can be avoided through dodging. as when you dodge, you get an “invincibility frame”. when you fight big bosses or tough opponents or even in PvP, try to learn the tells and wind ups for big attacks, or time when you need to dodge through or out of an AoE, etc

note: you can hit dodge and jump at the same time for a “jump dodge”. you can achieve slightly further jumping distance or useful in PvP. i use it mainly cause it looks kewl. XDD

2) while leveling, i’d advise to test each weapon out, and use them until all skills are available and use them in different situations, against different enemies. you’ll soon learn what style you enjoy and figure out what’ best for any given situation.

again, i don’t play mesmer, but for e.g. on my Guard. the geatsword is fast and gives me mobility. while the hammer is slower but gives me more control options. the scepter obviously allows me to attack from a slightly ranged distance and the mace offers better support and defense. etc etc

you can also check out the mesmer sub-forums and see what people mention there. there’s usually talk of builds, weapons, etc

3) as mentioned off the get go, i’m new to MMO’s. though i am familiar with the “holy trinity”. that being said, to a certain extent, you can build your character to be “tanky” or “support-ish”. i want to say, they just won’t be in the traditional way that you know them to be. again, for e.g. my Guardian has a lot of traits and abilities that allow him to be more “tanky” – i.e. survivable using dodge, dmg mitigation, heals etc, or that he can be more supportive as well, offering boons (buffs) to my party, AoE blocks or blinds, etc some specific skills that allow for better reviving characters, etc. so in some sense you can play support, but probs not worth it to be FULL support.

that being said, i’ve seen some pretty great support mesmers that i’ve been blessed to party with before. again, check the mesmer forums and see if anyone has any builds, if not, you can ask there as well for mesmer specific stuff.

hope this helps a bit, and good luck!

i quite like that idea of a guaranteed core at the end of the path. or perhaps a choice of either a core or something else. though i assume most people would choose the core. or even a tiny chance for the core to be upgraded to a lodestone. but always guaranteed at least a core.

hmm i want to say if you’re not dying for the Juggernaut (or any other particular legendary right now), then save the mats for now. although, personally, i wouldn’t hold my breath either for new legendaries to come out anytime too soon.

i’m nearing the juggernaut now but in no rush either. might takes things nice and easy and have it as a long term goal. heh.

first up – congratulations!!! : ))) wishing you all the very best, heh.
it was actually my wife who introduced me to gw2 as she was an avid gw1 player. this being my first mmo as well. we always play together, and not too bugged about the PvP and toypocalpyse auto grouping, but i guess that’s why why we don’t do it as much. we go PvE, dungeons and WvW-ing instead. hope they’ll be able to further implement grouping option for all activities going forward and most people do want to be able to group with people they want to. it’d be a nice touch. perhaps have events where it’s separated into auto grouping, and all those who apprecaite that can go to that version – so to avoid “organized” teams as Archenson above mentioned.

and just for fun, the wifey and i go on “dates” in Tyria. : )) and makes us both very happy. heh. gaming, staying at home, the internet doesn’t necessarily mean it’s not interactive or cannot be romantic in any given way. XDDD that being said, we still apprecaite legit IRL dates, movie dates (got a few coming up!) or a nice dining out experience every so often as well. heh.

@Nels – hope this gets to you in time. good having you in the group and seeing you when i got to see you. all the best and Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas to you and the fam!!! : DDDD hopefully we’ll see you back in the near future. ; )))

i’ll be getting quite busy come Christmas (gasp, tomorrow!) and New Year’s with IRL and fam stuff so i might be seeing less game-time in Tyria as well. you all hold down the fort here! heh.

@Kat – love your character names. welcome!!! : ))) and everyone loves a lover of dancing. heh, we have a few TC in here, no? to the rescue UnioN!!!!!! if you do dungeons, more than a handful of us would be willing to fight along your side! and we all make sure people get rezzed and stay up and fighting. XDDD

@Aeleniel – yarr, this is my first MMO and coming from a background of playing solo games, namely RPGs on consoles, PvP in general never really stood out to me.. but having played WvW a bit i love it! it’s quite different, and can depend on your server as well, however, find a good group or even going solo can be quite fun. takes getting used to learning the ropes, but once ya do, it can be a blast!

should be able to get off work shortly… we get a semi-half day on Christmas Eve!! now waiting for someone to leave so i’m not the first out the door, lol. might be able to jump in game before dinner! fingers crossed heh.

just another small question here. just looking to broaden my horizons in terms of weapon play for the Guard.

have you ever considered the mace with this build? i feel it’s not not as versatile / mobile as the sword and less “burst” and block (sword #3), but the healing factor could be great for group play?

hey Chris – thoroughly enjoyed the vid with commentary. provides further insight into how you approach enemies using your build. again, great use of LoS and picking out your targets and it’s refreshing seeing how you keep the pressure on your enemies, while being able to mitigate your dmg, and playing up the strength of your build (staying in AoE for retal and burn on blocks, etc).

i think one of my greatest downfalls is situation awaness as well as i can be prone to get tunnel vision sometimes. with this build you need to be extremely mobile and knowing where your opponents are, anticipating what they’re going to do and react / act accordingly. all of which you greatly showcased in this vid! i need to up my skill ; )) great watch.

hope you’ll be able to do more of these in the future. learned a lot and very enjoyable watching at the same time.