I came pretty close to re-installing this last weekend.
It’s been an age since I played and back when I did I kind of faffed about with each character and never got much beyond the first map or two with each. I don’t have any expansions.
Is it still worth playing the base game? Is there any reason to pick up expansions if I were to re-start? HoT is pretty cheap.
I’ve been playing just the base game. There’s an insane amount of content there.
I look longingly at expansion players with their gliders and mounts, but nothing that’s made me feel like I need to buy the expansions myself (yet).
You can also find it in the LFG tool. Look under “Open World” and then pick the area you want.
What race/class you playing?
Human Engineer. I found out fifty or so levels in that Engineer is a Bad Choice for a first character, but that’s mostly due to the overwhelming number of abilities you have access to. You can equip “kit” abilities that replace your 1-5 abilities with new ones, for example. So if I cycle through several kits, my “rotation” is like twenty abilities long.
The game bounced off me originally because (and I heard this echoed once or twice in the stream chat last night) it often doesn’t feel like there’s a “point” to what you’re doing. But the game offers you a nigh-infinite number of progress bars to fill, whether it’s through map completion or achievements or skill unlocks or whatever. That’s something I’m more able to appreciate now for its own sake.
Best first character choices are probably Guardian or Ranger. Guardian is a really powerful class with quite a few options, easy to learn but hard to master. Ranger is not nearly as powerful, but it is arguably the easier class to play (though it can get a bit boring to play, until you get enough options to experiment with).
Hardest classes to play are probably Engineer, Elementalist, and Mesmer. Engineer is perhaps the most versatile class of them all, but it’s pretty hard to master with all the rotations. It doesn’t help that it’s often a glass cannon. Engineer has tons of options and using kits can be overwhelming, and it’s usually squishier than you’d expect. Mesmer is a fantastic class, and some builds are actually easier to play than even the ranger (while still being fairly powerful), but getting there is the trick.
I want to play that Mesmer build. Although, I think it’s funny that the guy keeps calling it a “great beginner build” that requires you to get to level 80 and gear accordingly. Could I level with that, or something approximating it closely enough?
The same guy had a video on the sidebar talking about the Holosmith, the new Engineer spec in Path of Fire. I watched a little bit of it, and holy crap it looks like fun.
The best newbie character class is Ranger. No doubt about it. You can send your pet to engage the enemy and stand back with a bow to kill the baddies. Many of the powers are very simple to use, and there are a few movement powers to help you run away if things get too tough.
That Mesmer power build is for raiding, or at least for long fights. Not sure it would be that great to run around the world with – though it does look pretty simple for getting used to the game.
If you want leveling ideas, look up leveling builds. I used Greatsword to level my mesmer. It was pretty simple and looks awesome.
If you buy any of the expansions you get a “level to 80” consumable. Also, “level up” tomes are part of daily rewards, and level up consumables are also part of birthday gifts, so it’s fairly easy to level to 80 nowadays. Getting proper lvl 80 equipment is a different story. ;)
Yeah, I want to try the Holosmith myself. It’s the next PoF elite spec I’ll unlock; I already unlocked Mirage and I’m 7 HP away from fully unlocking the Firebrand.
And the guy who made the video I posted - Wooden Potatoes - is one of the "sensei"s in Guild Wars 2. He has posted a lot of great content on the game, and most of it is also fun to watch. He’s really good.
That build can be adapted pretty well to work with shattering for bursts, and to rely on phantasms for bigger, harder targets. I’d say it’s pretty viable, even more if you make a few changes to include Chronomancer wells and the such.
I’ll post my current build later, in case it helps. ;)
Cool. Thanks, Rham!
I think it may be worth picking up HoT at least (it’s only ~10USD) so I can tool about with the Revenant. Either that, or go Necro, which I haven’t spent much time with in the past.
Here’s my build. It’s not a “MAX DAMAGE!” build; despite being mostly Berserker, it’s traited towards better survivability.
Against single enemies, I usually open with Phantasmal Defender (7) followed by Sword 5. Depending on the enemy, I use sword 3 and get close to hit with sword 2, or I switch to greatsword to use greatsword 4 and have a full set of 3 phantasms protecting me and doing damage. I’ll switch phantasms to do more damage or provide more protection depending on how the battle goes, and shatter them as needed. One good thing about this build is that you can shatter phantasms and they’ll just come back once; that means you can shatter phantasms pretty much freely and still count on their damage to remain more or less constant. I’ll also use wells as needed.
One nice trick against groups is that I approach them, cast 0 (horizon event) covering the group, and move to the middle, since Gravity Well pulls all enemies to the middle. I then go sword 2 for a big spike, and follow up with sword 5 if anyone survived, then 3, then shatter 1. It’s a huge burst that makes short work of many mobs; if you’re quick enough, you might even get two Gravity Wells if you use the Chronomancer power well.
Where is it $10 USD? Am I missing a special deal somewhere? I have Path of Fire and the base game, but all I see on the store is HoT for $30 USD.
cdkeys…
Or it was yesterday. Seems it’s gone up a couple of bucks.
Close enough, thanks.
Anyone have links for leveling builds, or just general explanations of the different classes, in broad strokes? So much of what I read seems like it takes a few years of playing the game for granted as a starting place and then goes into the ultra minutiae of a build. I’m sitting on 39 hero points on a low level character because I have no idea what the possibilities even are.
So should I just be breaking down yellows for ectoplasm? Why do I need ectoplasm?
And what are y’all’s thoughts on chucking stuff into the Mystic Forge? I’ve been throwing in minor runes and sigils to see if they upgrade to major. Mostly they don’t. When they do, it hardly feels worth it, because then I just sell the major rune or sigil for a silver or so. But what about yellow items? Maybe I should be saving them in sets of four to chuck into the forge in hopes of getting an exotic? Or are the odds too slim to make it worthwhile?
At some point down the line, I want to jump back into crafting, but for now, I’m just stockpiling scads of resources for lack of knowing what to do with them.
-Tom
I’ve looked at a couple of guides for different classes, and I get the same feeling. Generally, though, it seems like they all agree to gear for the same basic stats (power, precision, ferocity) and focus on getting skills and traits that have straightforward damage and effects. This gets you to a point where you do a lot of quick damage, which makes leveling go more smoothly, as opposed to building out, like, condition damage or something that takes time to ramp up on each kill.