Guild Wars 2?

Aaaaaand Daredevil fully unlocked. I’m having a blast playing as one, mostly because you need to be aware of what’s going on the whole time if you want to survive. You have to think fast, have good timing, and when you pull off an amazing victory solo against an enemy most classes would melt just to think of… you feel good.

If you ever played Dark Souls as a pure dexterity/no shield build, you know the feeling. Sort of. ;)

Level 80?

Specializations need level 80 to even start unlocking, so yes. :)

So after spending a few days with my Daredevil, I decided to play a little bit with my Revenant again last night. And now he feels so heavy and clumsy and underpowered, compared to the awesomeness of the Daredevil. He’s certainly more versatile, and arguably more effective in AoE, but in close combat, my Daredevil is a monster. I used to find some areas of the Heart of Maguuma really hard to go through, but it’s crazy how easy some of them are when you’re playing as a Daredevil.

For example? I soloed an event Veteran Mordrem Vinetooth with her. Pocket raptors? Pffff. Chak? Usually not a problem anymore (except for the ones that require breaking the defiance bar to be killed). Even Bristlebacks are less of an issue now.

That said, Arrowheads can be really tricky to beat in melee. And that Vampire Beast Broodmother Hero Challenge in Verdant Brink is terribly difficult, but to be fair, it is pretty hard with any class.

So as much as I wanted to level my Thief, I’m having too much fun with my Elementalist. He’s only 22 now, but I really like the ability to switch elements. I am at a volcanic crevasse and I was stupidly fighting the mobs there with fire. When I switched to air it was so cool. Can’t make up my mind between dagger/dagger of staff. Staff is more ranged and I like that. But I’ve read D/D players saying how good it is later on.

It’s easy. If you’re mostly playing with other people around, go staff. If you’re mostly solo, go dagger/dagger (or scepter/dagger if you prefer to stay a bit safer).

Tell me of scepter/dagger, Usul. :)

I have no idea of what Usul is. ;)

Scepter skills have greater range than dagger skills (even if they’re trickier to time right), so you can engage farther, which means you can disengage easier than you would when you’re using dagger, which also means you’re a bit safer.

I used scepter/dagger for a long time (I favored it over dagger/dagger, though I like dagger/dagger better nowadays). I personally prefer staff, but for solo play, staff is really tricky to use properly.

If you ever had a Dune fan card, we’re going to need you to turn it in now. If you didn’t, then you’ve got some splainin’ to do.

-Tom

I still favor scepter/dagger over dagger/dagger. I feel like it’s more useful in PvE as far as a natural flow from combo areas to combo finishers goes, and since everyone can be a fresh air scepter air spammer in PvP since the expansion, I’ve found it’s functional enough in WvW. My standard opening rotation does Area Might five times.

My personal experience with Dune comes down to that film with Sting which I watched by the time it originally aired, which means I was about 10 at the time. I did learn a bit more about it later since I became a nerd, but not enough to remember that Usul was the tribal name of Paul Atreides.

So what new Guild Wars 2 witchery is this, where people have a roman numeral next to their names?

PvP ladder levels.

Have narrowed down my chars to Elementalist and Thief. Deleted two that no long work for me. Engineer and Revenant. Still have my Ranger cause sometimes I need a break.

Just now getting into the Thorns expansion. I love the map-wide challenge scheme, an expansion on the Silverwastes’ “take and hold” gameplay.

Also interested in how folks seem to think that Ranger is “easy mode”. My primary toon is a Ranger, and I’m always busy dancing with her abilities (LB/Axe+Torch for multiple mobs) and directing her pet. She’s also survivable as hell. And finally, I don’t LB skill 4 enemies away from melee teammates :)

Ranger is not necessarily “easy mode”, but it’s easier than other classes for a variety of reasons. You rarely have to worry much about the 7-9 skills since they’re usually deployed in specific situations (or you can just go with signets and just forget about them). Also, the pet helps to keep enemies away from you often, so you can hit enemies from a far with the longbow, which makes things usually easier, as most enemies in GW2 are easier to fight at range, too, which helps. Rangers also have good survivability (depending a bit on your build, but it’s usually the case).

I used Axe+Torch on my ranger for a bit, but ended going for Longbow/Greatsword in the end (though I rarely switch to the Greatsword). Last I played, I was experimenting with the Staff, but that one (as the Druid specialization itself) is heavily designed for group support and healing, so not that great for mostly solo play.

What does LB skill mean?

-Tom

Longbow. Skill 4 for the Ranger Longbow launches the target away from the Ranger when used. It’s one of the best ways to get yelled at by warriors, by the way.

I am just getting started in Guild Wars 2, is there a QT3 guild that I can join?

There is! Just post your account name plus four-digit number and we’ll add you.

-Tom