3001

At its core GW2 is an MMO. IMO it only shares the name and lore with GW1. Each are very different beasts. Regarding your comment about the maps - not everything is telegraphed on the map and you will be rewarded by exploring all the nooks and crannies of Tyria. The hearts are just there as a guide.

3002

Okay, I really wanted to roll a Norn but the youtubes I watched just didn’t grab me on an aesthetic level for some reason, so I’m going human.

I was leaning toward something earthy (ranger or elementalist or engineer), but the pet stuff I saw in youtubes also didn’t grab me for some reason, so it looks like I’ll be a human elementalist.

3003

I didn’t like the 1H sword either, but I use a the staff as well with the 2H sword, alternating between the two during combat. I find the greatsword easier to keep up the clone than the scepter which is a bit random but I enjoy the scepter/gun combo nevertheless, and I may drop the greatsword for them in PvP and see if I dole out more damage.

3004

GW1 was dual classed, and I typically played a Mesmer/Necromancer (or a Necromancer/Mesmer) with a focus on debuffing and/or anti-caster. The thing I loved so much about the Mesmer skills, particularly, was how indirect they often were. The GW2 Mesmer design tries really hard to have the same feel. They have lots of skills that apply the confusion condition, which makes the target take damage whenever they use a skill. Between those skills and the clone guys, the Mesmers are still focused on denial, but I just haven’t gotten the same feeling out of playing them in the new game. Once the utility skills and traits start unlocking so I can really design a build instead of flailing, I think they will come into their own.

That said, I’ve primarily been playing a female Norn Guardian (Em Biggund). I am usually drawn to support classes, and the Guardian (or maybe a water elementalist) is the most support-y class that GW2 offers.

For each class, the function keys do their special class thing. Thieves teleport to their target and steal; mesmers explode their clones and do one of 3 effects; elementalists switch their elemental attunement.

For Guardians, they control three Virtues – Courage, Justice, and Resolve. They are normally passive, letting you set a dude on fire every once in a while, auto-block an attack every once in a while, and giving you a slow health regen. When you activate, them, though, they instantly give the bonus to you and everyone around you, so you can really turn the tide of a battle if at the same time you and all your friends heal, set your target on fire, and block the next attack directed at you.

I usually carry Mace/Focus and a Greatsword. The Greatsword is mostly for doing player-centered AoE damage. You also get a leap attack and a multi-target root. The Mace/Focus is more support-oriented. You get a player centered AoE that heals you and hurts them. You put up a shield around you and nearby allies that blocks one attack and hurts people around you (or, if you don’t get attacked in 2 seconds or so, it gives you a protection buff). You get a “ray” that bounces off several people, hurting and blinding enemies and healing and buffing friendlies. And you get another shield that blocks 3 attacks against you or blows up and hurts people.

My utility skills at the moment are based around pulling debuffs off of my allies and then turning them into buffs on me. Oh, and my heal is a cone that heals me and whatever allies I’m looking at.

I have found the Guardian to be great fun – survivable and effective in PvE, and I can actually feel like I’m contributing in PvP, even though I suck.

3005

We agree – that’s what I was trying to say.

Regarding your comment about the maps - not everything is telegraphed on the map and you will be rewarded by exploring all the nooks and crannies of Tyria. The hearts are just there as a guide.

Trust me, I was exploring all the nooks and crannies (you get quite good rewards for finding everything in a zone) – but before I consciously changed what I was doing, I was very much playing the map. Running toward the little warp thingies that it shows you on the edge of the minimap, checking the map all the time to run toward the “places of interest”… It didn’t feel much like discovery. Now that I’m eschewing the maps, I have been appreciating the art more, being surprised by what I find more, and just enjoying my time in the game a lot more.

3006

Sidetracking for a bit … I love the Reddit thread where people are being told why they were banned and then trying to act all shocked and trying to justify why they were being abusive or simply being dicks. :)

3007

I am not trying to discredit the large quality differences with the story and voice acting between these two games. I think that is a very valid criticism. I was just wondering if there was something else you were experiencing that I didn’t notice.

I am partially confused on these items too. Although it seems like some of the dynamic quest items will stick with you after the event so you can turn them in again later.

I never played GW1, and I generally disdain PvP, thus the reason I never played it. I went into GW2 expecting an MMO experience with maybe a little less annoyance from the other games… like feeling like i am grinding all the time, or feeling like there are 20 classes but only 6 of them will ever have any luck finding a group.

My first toon is a Sylvari Elementalist. I feel a bit underpowered at the moment, but it could be I am missing something… like gear. I played 3 classes and 3 races in beta. My favoriate was the Human Thief, but I couldn’t stand the story quest, and I felt less supportive in group settings. The Elementalist I thought I would give another try… kind of wish I had picked the thief now though. I also went with Sylvari because i love the idea, love the art of the starting area… hate the city is so 3D that the mini map does’t help to locate things though. I also picked a non-human because I am tired of devs trying to claim no one ever plays the other races. My twin is playing an Asura… they are adorable little gremlin like things… fun to watch the ears flop.

3008

Now that the servers are down… :)

I’ve been playing a Human Mesmer up to level 26 but I’m considering switching to a Charr Warrior. I wanted to play the Mesmer as a change of pace as I always play melee (tanks in holy MMO trinity games) but it seems like I’m getting my ass kicked regularly at level 26. I joined a story mission at the end of 25 that was marked level 24, and there were three level 26 undead abominations that behaved like Ettins (which I’ve learned to fight) but their swing animation was about 5x as fast. One hit would take me to 10% health – not sure if it’s not balanced properly or if it’s trying to teach me tactics like how to kite.

One thing I am finding surprising is just how complicated the character customization is. In the age of everything being dumbed down, it’s refreshing, but at the same time reading that a skill “gives your phantasms rage” (not sure if that was the term) isn’t that helpful as I don’t know what that means mechanics-wise.

3009

I’ll go!

I’m basically playing Taugrim’s version of a run-and-gun warrior.

The setup: My main weapon is my rifle. The rifle really doesn’t do a lot of damage conditionals very well, but it does movement reduction and debuffing nicely. It also delivers excellent sustained direct damage. The burst ability (the F1 default) is only ok. It delivers massive damage, but is a long (and interruptable) cast that gives itself away with a crouching animation. It’s very good when taking down bosses, however, as long as you can keep moving afterwards to mitigate any aggro you take. I usually open a fight with a brutal shot that sticks a 1% stacking debuff on the target, then fire aimed shot which cripples the target for 5s. Then it’s volley, which is the nasty, shoot-your-face-off heavy damage skill, before circle strafing with the default no-timer bleeding shot going. Rinse, repeat. I do have the rifle butt skill which has a nice knockback to it, but I’ll only use it now if I’m concerned about the power of the target I’m facing.

Otherwise…I switch to my other weapon set. That’s an axe in my main-hand, and a war horn in my offhand. The three axe skills are fairly straightforward. The default skill has huge damage potential as it flurries away. There’s a AE swing that hits everyone in 360 around me, but on a longish timer. Finally there’s a thrown axe…but seriously, I have a rifle for range.

The horn is the coolness, and gives me some nice support abilities. My fourth skill is a movement buff that also busts movement-hampering conditions on myself and the group*. Has saved my bacon numerous times. The fifth skill is called Call To Arms. CTA does two things: first it buffs the group’s endurance, which determines how fast your active dodging regenerates; secondly it weakens opponents, giving them a 50% chance to have attacks “glance”, which means a 50-75% reduction in damage.

Utilities and Expert skills are a work in progress. Right now I’m using For Great Justice, which buffs Fury (crit chance) and Might (boosts both direct and conditional damage); Shake It Off, which cures 1 condition and breaks stuns; Fear, which sends attackers scurrying. The first two are group* buffs, fear is self-explanatory. For my Expert, I think I’m going to go back to the Signet Of Rage, as I had way better luck with it this afternoon than tonight. Not a group buff, but on me it gives me 30s of Rage (crits), Might (damage, and Swiftness, along with a passive Adrenaline buff.

In theory that build should give me excellent ability to narrow the gap between myself and targets in PvP, as well as giving myself and those around me pounding damage output along with a whole bunch of condition removal.

3010

OK. Time for triggercut’s controversial efficient quickie leveling steps I wish someone had told me earlier:

  1. GW2’s worlds are great, and fun to explore. I love that the game downscales you to still be able to earn XP and gain rewards doing content levels below you. But…stop dawdling. Unless you’re gathering crafting mats or finishing an exploration thingie, there’s zero reason to be doing downscaled content (unless you’re hanging out with a friend, also a good reason!) It’s a fool’s game. It makes it look like you’re still progressing along…but in reality you’re using a precious resource–your time–and not getting back the XP or (importantly) money you’re going to want. Also, drops are fun and all, but you can’t rely on them to gear yourself up. So don’t. To level most efficiently, stay in level-appropriate areas. Trust me.

  2. Don’t hoard your Karma points. You’ll get more. And more. And more. Every time you finish a yellow heart area, the person with the heart becomes a vendor. Use those Karma Points to gear yourself up in greens until you can get yellow and oranges (and reds!). Remember: in GW2 Blues are worse than greens.

  3. Always be doing events. As soon as you hit a new zone, get those waypoints that will make hopping around to get to events easy. Do those events–they are gigantic xp-and-karma-filled pinatas.

  4. Craft! Crafting is a great and fairly easy way to earn xp if nothing else. You can make great gear with crafting, but you can also snag tons of xp as well.

  5. WvWvW! Tonight sucked getting in because it was official launch night. Even so, we leveled fast and furiously in WvW Tuesday night. So much event potential.

  6. One reason to do downscaled content: skill points. Go get all the skill points you can find. You want all of them, and then some. Go get them in all starter zones. Do it now.

3011

Wait. Why would you ever deactivate it then? Unless you’re only allowed to have one at a time.

I’ve been playing a Sylvari Ranger and I’ve noticed that from all the classes the Ranger is the most similar to its GW1 profession. While most classes rely on skills 1-5 to decide how to play the Ranger play style is decided by skills 7-0.

I’ve experimented a little and found two builds that work great:
PowerRanger: This works by putting signets in slots 7, 8 and 9 to grant bonuses to the Ranger and it’s Pet.
For example: In swampy areas where I’m constantly being infected by conditions I can choose the following build: Signet of the Wild(health regen) + Signet of Renewal(removes condition every ten seconds). This negates the effects that would otherwise give me a hard time. What I put in the third slot depends on my weapon. I can take Signet of the Hunt(permanent speed boost) and a bow to kite and shoot or I can take Signet of Stone(Increased toughness) for extra protection if I decide to go melee.

Trapper: This of course works by putting traps into slot 7, 8 and 9. Traps have no timer so once they’re set they’ll stay there until triggered. I use Flame Trap, Spike Trap and Viper’s Nest. I can set the traps and lure someone into it with a longbow followed by a Barrage for huge AoE damage. I can also go melee and put the traps right in front of their faces.

The function keys for Ranger control its pet which is a very versatile system. F1, F3, and F4 are all basic commands but F2 allows you to use that pets special ability. The pet you use is very dependant on your build. I use a bear to tank and its special ability of condition removal(Shake it off) as a trapper. The Stalker with its Mighty Roar gives a quick damage boost while the Fern Hounds Regenerate gives a quick health boost.

In short the builds are:
Beastmaster + Trapper + Melee
Beastmaster + Trapper + Longbow
Beastmaster + PowerRanger + Melee
Beastmaster + PowerRanger + Shortbow

There are other builds like spirits and survival skills but I found those builds very ineffective due to the high recharge time.

3012

I am playing a female human warrior. I messed around with other classes but for pve warrior is definetly a good fit. I like the playstyle in sPvP but for WvW I haven’t found a build I really like.

I tried the taugrim build rifle/war horn but that makes me feel like I am playing a gimpy range class. War horn feels like a necessity and you really need a range weapon for pugging WvW.

If they let warriors have 3 weapon sets that would really help out my build!

Hot tip if you are melee focused circle strafing your target isn’t just for pvp you can negate a ton of damage from mobs by continually moving to the rear unlike most mmos critters won’t automatically hit you when you are close.

I think the warrior will really shine when paired with a dedicated group in WvW with a lot of over laping support abilities in a melee clump.

I can see a strong scrum with great sword for damage and hammer for aoe knock back to Rez comrades.

Sparta!!!

3013

I’m playing a Male norn Mesmer.

I eventually intend to have the same build as I use when doing sPVP - which is this one:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/?fgMQNAs/dl0ziqXVTrGa9IxJFMf5oec9qbdSKaNqB

with occasionally swapping out improved focus for longer glamours

However since this build needs every single trait point to synergize properly I’m running a shatter/confusion build. sword/sword on one set and scepter/focus in the other.

Skills are mirror images, the signet that boosts condition damage and the third one is a floater, but normally portal.

The build lets you play defensively by using the blocks on each weapon set to counterattack for damage while generating clones to shatter. The focus lets me gain swiftness, cripple enemies and then detonate the curtain to pull the enemies back. In WvWvW the focus can be used to yank people off walls :)

Very fun and survivable while still putting out good damage :)

3014

wow - you guys are way overthinking it with “Builds” and “synergies”. I just press the pretty picturebuttons and make things happen on the screen - and it works! HUZZA!!

3015

I was unclear. The Guardian Virtues work like signets – passive buffs all the time, but you can individually activate them to get an immediate effect (and lose the passive buff until the signet recharges).

3016

FWIW, GW1 has tons of PvE content. Initially that smacked a bit of being designed around the PvP game, but over the years they fixed that. It’s a very different game from GW2 and may still be worth a look.

3017

I have no idea where I picked up this tip yesterday (if it was here, apologies), but it’s my new favorite thing. If you hold down the CTRL key, it pops up the name tag for every object/mob in your area. Some of the gathering nodes are really hard to see, and I would frequently need to wander around a bit trying to figure out if I’m on a node, or if it was just above or below me, or I just wasn’t seeing it. No more…hold CTRL and the node’s nameplate appears for quick, easy finding.

If you still can’t find a node when you’re on top of the spot, take a look at it in the minimap. If there’s a tiny up or down arrow on the bottom right corner, that means it’s on a different level. For example, I was standing out in Queensdale in what looked like a small farm patch where I had a harvesting node, but couldn’t find it. Looked on the minimap and notice the node has a down arrow next to it. Turns out it was a mushroom node in a cave passage underneath where I was standing.

3018

I’m playing a ranger, focused on archery. I love it. My highlight in WvWvW last night was shoot a Char warrior, having him close in on me, switching to sword and torch, dancing around him until he was dead.

I then danced on his corpse (love that your not encourage to res immediately.) 30 of his friends showed up and wasted me. Glorious.

IF ANYONE NEEDS 8 SLOT BAGS or RUNES of LIFE (+20 Health for your upgrade slots) whisper me in game. For the bags you’ll need 20 scraps of leather. For the runes I just need 2 scraps of bolt and 4 scraps of leather.

Quick note - the key to crafting is experimenting and finding recipes. You’ll level much fast this way, and you can never waste mats with bad guesses, they system prevents that.

JeffG

3019

I have an Asura Engineer, only level 18 (but I did 100% the Sylvari and Asura starting maps, just kind of bopping around seeing what there is to see). Honestly, the flamethrower is such an amazing weapon compared to the shotgun it will have a long-term spot on my skill bar. The others I am using are the thumper and healing turrets. Not only are their benefits great, but they serve as a focus of attacks allowing me to shoot (or burn) away at whatever needs to die.

3020

I completely forgot about this feature I found on reddit that allows you to create your own intelligent music playlist in GW2. So, if you have any GW1 soundtracks you can easily import them in.

This person has already created a detailed playlist for the main menu, battle, and boss battle categories.