6421

Oh man, this double XP weekend is really spoiling me. Ten levels went by just like that.

-Tom

6422

I loved this game, I really must get back into it. I jumped in about 6 weeks ago with my level 80 Charr, appeared in the middle of a completely unrecognisable Lion’s Arch, ran around a bit, felt completely lost and hence a bit of an outsider, and quit. It might be better to just start a new character. I have a low-level Mesmer, but oh look! A new character class. Well then.

6423

There is crafting and – just like everything else you can do in the game – it’ll net you some nice experience in the process. You can find trainers in any major city, and possibly elsewhere. My memory is a little fuzzy on that. The crafting itself is also less boring than your standard MMO fare so you may want to give it a look.

6424

Having now read about the expansion in more detail, it’s obviously not being released for a while. So if I did want to get back into this with my level 80 character, where do I start? I always have this problem with MMOs (well, any game really!), you come back after a long absence and can’t remember a damn thing about how to play, what your character’s strengths / weaknesses are etc. I’m sure I’d have gotten back into this game a lot earlier if there was some kind of “refresher tutorial”, but perhaps that’s just called “starting a new character until it all comes back to you”. I do remember having an absolute blast with the WvWvW gameplay, one of the few times I’ve really enjoyed any kind of PvP in these games.

6425

Well, there’s all of season 2. If you didn’t login in every “2 weeks” over the past year when I helpfully reminded everybody to do so, that’ll cost you $2.50 per episode, or $22.50 for the entire season of 9 episodes.

6426

“I told you not to give the Living World two-fiddy!”

6427

As someone who has never played GW2, I was thinking of jumping in and buying it while it’s on sale this weekend. However, it doesn’t seem to be listed on Steam, and Amazon seems to be out of stock on the digital copy (and selling the boxed copy at full price). Any suggestions on where to get a copy? I try to buy most things from Steam and Amazon as they are more reputable than some of their fly by night/crappy client/get bought by gamestop and never give you access to SWAT 4 competitors.

6428

You can buy direct from buy.guildwars2.com, and in fact have to for the discount. The game isn’t available on Steam.

6429

Call me crazy, but how about their website?

http://buy.guildwars2.com

6430

Thanks guys. I went to the main “guildwars2.com” site and for the life of me couldn’t find a link from which to make the purchase. I appreciate the pointers!

6431

Is there still an active QT3 guild? I noticed that I have to make a choice about which server and I want to make sure before I choose anything permanent.

6432

Servers doesnt matter in guilds - you can be part of any guild, several of them in fact, and on any server you want. As far as I can remember (Someone correct me on this) you can play with your guildies and friends no matter what server they are on.

6433

I haven’t played in ages, but I do believe there still was the last time I did.

I was going to download it again later today, so post it here unless someone beats me to it.

6434

Yesterday at roughly primetime, I was the only person logged in and representing the Qt3 guild. It’s been very quiet lately.

Razgon is correct. The only thing that servers matter for is world v. world.

6435

I would love to get an intro guide to WvW, because right now it’s just inscrutable to me. So there are four different areas I can zone into? And are most of them abandoned at any one time? I tried playing last night, picked up the supplies it told me to get, then I wandered around a seemingly empty gigantic map without any idea of where to go or what to do. The intro dialogue didn’t seem to help either. Any pointers to a guide would be appreciated!

Besides that, I’m just getting back into the game. It was a combination of several things: The expansion announcement, the revamped Dailies system, and a new job where I can log in from work every day to get the daily log-in track (even if I don’t do anything else). I actually want to get my main up to 80 at some point too, just so I can see how cool some of the higher-level zones look.

One other question: I am something of a hoarder, and I have a few alts. Should I really just disenchant everything that’s green or below? So far I’ve been saving up all my green items for alts, but I’m wondering if even that is too much. Or should I not even care about gear until 80, presuming I have the right weapons for each class I play? I haven’t spent any time optimizing my weapons or armor, and I wonder if I should even bother.

6436

One other observation about the expansion: I thought the Mastery system sounded really interesting, and very similar to Wildstar’s Path system. Based on very rough classifications off the top of my head:

Wildstar Paths: Exploration, Combat, Lore, and Building.

HoT Mastery: Exploration, Combat, Lore, and Crafting.

Obviously there are major differences between the two (Wildstar is built from the ground up to support Paths, while it sounds like Mastery will only help you in the new HoT zone), but I thought it was more than a coincidence that the Mastery skills (again, in very broad strokes) sound so close to the Paths in Wildstar. But of course, Wildstar makes you choose one Path which you are locked into, while GW2 will let you develop any–or all–of the Mastery systems that you want.

6437

There’s probably guides on reddit or something, but I just learned by following what other people were doing.

Do use the chatbox, though. Unless you’re specced for roaming (and have lots of experience) you’ll need to look for groups to join up with. Without others, you’re just an easy kill. Usually there’s a group or two running around capturing or defending stuff.

6438

Exactly how it should have worked in Wildstar, IMHO. That one change would up my interest in that game by double or more. (Then again, they’d still have to drop the subscription for me to be willing to pick it up.)

6439

This doesn’t count as an intro guide, but here’s short list o’ tips.

  1. There are 4 worlds, three of which are the home world of each realm participating (called the borderlands), and one which is the eternal battleground, where all 3 have a foothold. 99% of the action will happen in the eternal battleground; unless you see a lot of enemy color in your home realm zone straight into the EB.

  2. You’re going to die, a lot. While everyone is level-boosted to 80, “real” 80s will have more traits, better equipment, and more experience. Their skills will be tuned toward WvWvW, while you’ll be getting your sea legs. So when a trio if invisible thieves effortlessly picks you off with timed burst attacks, laugh it off. If you can’t, WvWvW may not be for you.

  3. Your realm gets points for each keep/hold/tower/castle whatever held every whatever minutes. The more territory you hold, for more time, the more points.

  4. It’s all about the zerg. Any territory other than a camp (the tent symbol) requires serious firepower to take down, which means typically you have one (sometimes two) battleballs tearing around the map per realm. Depending on the personalities organizing the battleballs (look for a blue shield on the map, these are “commanders” which simply means they are players who have payed major gold for the privilege of having a blue shield icon on the map), the swarms of opposing realms will veer from each other or converge.

  5. In the center of the EB is Stonemist Castle, worth the most points, with the best defenses, and with a warp point allowing quick reinforcement of other territories. In general, the goal of each side is to hold the territories near their warp point, plus SC. However, the fact that it’s defenses are so good means that without a critical mass of players skilled with siege weapons and supply it is unconquerable, so often the zerg goes for their enemies wedge of the map.

  6. OK, last tip. “Supply,” “siege weapons,” what? These are the unique mechanics in play in WvWvW. Camps generate supply and carry them (via automated packbeasts) to the towers and castles. Supply can be carried by players to either build siege weapons or repair walls. Don’t worry about building siege weapons – other players will lay the foundations, at which point you can contribute your supply.

As a new player, all your job is is basically to find the zerg and follow it. Think about what your role will be – healing, burst damage, or AOE damage. Play around with different builds.

Oh, and one last thing – because of the lack of warp points, it’s worth prioritizing a skill or trait that will boost your speed, so you can get around the map.

Have fun!

6440

There was a 9th? Arglebargle - I thought I was keeping up with them all, but my list stops at 8.