Guild Wars 2

It’s really the jumping puzzle type jumping from rock to rock that gets me (puzzles/fractals/vistas.) I overjump because I’m using the L/R mouse to move forward and I can’t resist pressing rather than tapping the space bar. It really is unlearning about 15 years of doing it differently.

It’s gotta be the most noobish question asked, but I can’t seem to master the act of simply jumping without deploying the glider. I jump from a rock and glide past the landing point almost every time. There’s gotta be a way to assure I DON’T glide when I don’t want to.

The following is the Metabattle rotation for Herald as found at (http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Herald_-_S/A)

Unfortunately, there is never an explanation of what makes this work so I can understand what the underlying principle is and determine if I can or should adapt this to my own playstyle.

My understanding of the build is that it provides support for a group by enabling a facet or two or three of my choosing to be at work depending on the nature of the fight and the group. Regen and Protection for defense, and Boon, Might and Fury for offense. I can provide those specific facets as long as I have energy … theoretically, indefinitely. I can, however, consume those facets and provide extraordinary damage (or some other benefit) and temporarily lose the facet benefits in CD or while energy rebuilds.

So the basic question is: why does Metabattle’s rotation run through all the facets and then switch to Assassin stance? Is this the rotation used to maximize DPS without regard for a continuous level of support? And how is this rotation maximizing DPS? If I prefer can I simply depend on my 1-5 casts for damage, while I maintain facets throughout the fight?

Legendary Dragon Stance Legendary Dragon Stance + Legendary Assassin Stance

Start in Legendary Dragon Stance Legendary Dragon Stance

Facet of Nature Facet of Nature -> One with Nature One with Nature off cd
Facet of Elements Facet of Elements -> Elemental Blast Elemental Blast off cd
Facet of Light Facet of Light
Facet of Darkness Facet of Darkness
Facet of Strength Facet of Strength
Facet of Chaos Facet of Chaos
Precision Strike Precision Strike
Full Sword auto and Precision Strike Precision Strike off cd

Legendary Assassin Stance Legendary Assassin Stance

Enchanted Daggers Enchanted Daggers
Impossible Odds Impossible Odds
Sword Auto

Legendary Dragon Stance Legendary Dragon Stance

Facet of Elements Facet of Elements -> Elemental Blast Elemental Blast off cd
Facet of Light Facet of Light
Facet of Darkness Facet of Darkness
Facet of Strength Facet of Strength
Facet of Chaos Facet of Chaos
Precision Strike Precision Strike
Full Sword auto and Precision Strike Precision Strike off cd

Swap to Assassin Stance as soon as its of cooldown
Legendary Assassin Stance Legendary Assassin Stance

Impossible Odds Impossible Odds
Sword Auto
Repeat

That’s it! I don’t want to accidentally move or resize them when I mouse near them or over them.

OK, got it …. thanks

I’m only starting out as Thief but I notice the same old recommendations for zerker gear. Doesn’t all this poisoning benefit from more condition stats? Or are the kills so fast as to not bother (at least in open world?)

If I place all six facets (including F2) on myself, how long do they last before needing to be refreshed? And how close do I have to be to someone for them to benefit from them? And finally, should I ever consume them while grouping with others?

I find myself in HoT not rushing through the personal story but rather settling back and exploring the zone as fully as possible. But I notice in chat that there’s always groups talking about doing events that I’ve not been made aware of. Unfortunately, I don’t get a sense of what it is they’re doing and it always seems they’re halfway through it and no one wants to take time to answer me about how I can help. In Verdant Brink, I know it’s the daytime prep for supplying the camps and then at night it’s defending everything until the choppers come and then fighting the Matriarch. But Auric Basin meta-event(s) seem a bit harder to follow. And I’m too new to Tangled Depths and the masteries yet to get into that zone’s events. Any guides or references would be helpful.

I think you missed the point. I don’t mind that they are time-gated, I mind that if I have two or three professions that I’ve leveled to 500 either on one character or two or three, that I can’t make as many of the items as there are professions.

What is the logic in time-gating crafting Silk Threads and Elonian Squares across the account? I just leveled tailor on an alt, only to find I couldn’t make a second thread. Luckily, this is only the first truly upsetting feature of the game for me so far —- I lead a sheltered life —- lol.

I just crafted my first ascended gear, Zojja’s helm. It took a lot of time and gold. In hindsight, it was worth the effort only because it forced me to research how to get every ingredient, and in turn, exposed me to all sorts of game content, guild runs and meta-events that I may have missed or certainly not have focused on for farming. I had blindly approached the need for the ascended gear as the natural next step after exotic armor. But when I compared the stats of the ascended to the exotic, I had to question, “wow, was it really worth all I had been through? Am I going to do this five more times?” Of course, that lead me into researching fractals which, in my typical style, had gone ignored up ‘til now. The irony here, as it is in almost all MMOs I’ve played, is that you do end-game content to get gear to enable you to do end-game content. Oh sure, there is the fun part of the challenge of the bosses, there’s the camaraderie of guildies and there’s the “mine is bigger than yours” moment in chat when you show your latest conquest —- but all that gets old after the 15th or 20th time. In the end, I decided to level up another character and relegate the next piece of ascended armor and doing fractals to a more casual pursuit.

This may be an overly simplistic question: What is the process for switching builds for PvE vs Raids/Fractals/Dungeons? I looked at Metabattle’s Glint S/A build for Raids and admittedly it’s a support build. I generally PvE and on occasion, with my guild, am called upon to do Fractals. Does that mean I have to switch between builds and/or equipment each time? I had been using and Assassin/Demon combo up to now for PvE.

I seem to spend most of my time in PvE dynamic-leveled down to the zone. That puts me at least 1 level above everything I encounter and often 3-4 levels higher. In that case, what is the real difference between wearing Basic vs Rare gear (all other upgrades, etc. being equal)?

Hey, always good to know I’m not alone …. thanks!

See that mob: 2,4,4,1,1,dead … rinse, repeat!

I can tell when I’m bored when I start considering starting new characters. What did you guys do to spice up the game when you reached that point? I think the only thing I’m missing out on are instances and PvP … maybe that’s what it takes.

I’m lvl25, and about to make my next set of armor . I’ve tried, up to now, to maximize my DPS through Precision and Condition Damage. I’m at 75% crit, but it seems to be at the expense of survivability. My Power and Attack are 243 and 476 respectively, and my Toughness and Armor are 205 and 433. Crit Damage remains at the minimum 5%. What’s a good balance between these stats?

BTW: I’m heavily (for lvl 25) invested in Arms(10) and Discipline(5)

This is extremely helpful advice! Thanks, all. You went well beyond my question with lots of great tips. I also realized that although I had almost the full rectangle of Queensdale(sp?) done, it was only 80% explored. Even with the best armorsmith gear I can craft and best weapons I can buy, enemies 3 levels higher present a challenge —- Dorothy, you’re not in Goldshire anymore —- lol.

I’m reading everything and zig-zaging around the map. but I’m a bit uncertain of what I should be doing and where I should be going. At about lvl10, my storyline jumped to difficulty 14, and I had explored most of the areas around my starting city … pretty much defining its boundaries. My starting zone, Queensdale, says 1-17, but at lvl12, I can’t find anything else to do. I’ve gotten two professions up to about 50-60, as well. Should I focus on finding all the vistas and WPs (which seems a bit boring) , should I re-do the dynamic tasks —OR-- is the intent that I go to other races’ starting areas and do their quests even if I’m at a reduced level?

It sounded like a nice addition since I knew nothing of GW2. But where is it?