Guild Wars 2?

You don’t reduce the other player’s rewards by helping out, so I’d say it’s both polite and acceptable, but not expected or required.

Good to know, thanks. I take it loot is treated the same way, that if I pick something up I’m not stealing it from someone else?

That’s right.

There is never any situation in Guild Wars where another player’s presence is in any way a negative. RPing aside, I suppose. But it’s very specifically designed so that you will never mind seeing another player.

-Tom

While your presence is never a negative, there are some situations where you are expected to not kill certain enemies, or kill them in a certain order, in order to ensure an optimal outcome (eg Molten Boss Fractal). So people might yell at you if you don’t behave as expected, though more commonly they will explain the procedure to you for the next time. This is almost exclusively applies to instanced content, you can really do whatever you like on the open world map.

That my presence isn’t a nuisance is a positive for me because I will likely blunder into situations unknowingly. I’ll watch out for those special situations and hope they don’t pop up too often, but having them instanced will help. I probably will miss any explanation, too, since I ignore the in-game chat entirely.

I’m still finding it a bit difficult to manage melee combat at times, usually when my opponents move past me and catch me (and the camera) facing the wrong way. I can’t seem to adjust fast enough when there’s more than a couple targets. Every so often a neutral creature gets caught up in the fight, also, since targeting is haphazard. I’ve taken to looking at what’s around before engaging just to ensure there’s nothing that I can hurt by mistake.

I’m getting a bit sucked into it despite that, even if I’ve already lost any sense of purpose other than helping random NPCs.

Unless you’re doing dungeons and fractals, you won’t have to worry about this. And if you are doing dungeons and fractals with pick-up groups, all you have to do is tell them at the outset you’re new to this instance. Folks will be happy to talk you though any situation where you might mess them up.

But it’s a non-issue 99.9% of the average Guild Wars player’s time.

-Tom

GW2’s non-competitive world play is amazing. Nobody yells at you for randomly coming up and helping them out with a hero point boss. I get all sorts of positive feedback when I randomly throw myself into a champ fight where another solo player is struggling. Hell, dropping my enchanter into water aspect and dropping heals from afar is satisfying enough.

Must say, GW2 has really put its hooks into me. I’m spending so much of my time just roaming this huge world and getting caught up in local events. I finally figured out that I had an unequipped spear I was supposed to be using for underwater fights (I was wondering why they’d take away your weapons and make you so vulnerable in water), and that just suddenly exploded the area I can safely travel. The customization of builds seems hugely diverse but I’m doing what I usually do and just going with what sounds like it fits my play style and character best, rather than trying to figure out what will give me the most gain in the long run.

I’m not even to level 20 yet and, considering I was given a couple boosts to level 80 (that I ignored), I can imagine this is going to be one long game. Very impressed so far.

Once you hit 80 on one toon the long way, a boost to 80 on the next one will be easier to wrap your head around. I have 148 Tomes of Knowledge. I wish I could give them away. :)

If you ever need help, look for me in-game! Just ping “Angela Bennett” or “Wolfox” or “Lyyta”. You’re in the Qt3 guild, right?

Jeeze, you people and your inscrutable ingame names!

-Tom

Ok, I’ll concede your point on Wolfox (a name I invented a long time ago for a "superhero"ish character I created) and Lyyta (which is a lore-friendly name for my Asura Necromancer). But Angela Bennett is a name I took directly from a character played by a well-known actress in a very popular movie.

On the other hand, yeah, Aerith and Bob. I know. Never mind.

I’m pretty sure Fleshpot was just kidding.

What movie? Which actress? I Googled this and found an Australian mining heiress.

-Tom

It’s the character Sandra Bullock plays in The Net.

Come on Tom, such low effort: Search Angela Bennett movie

I thought it was the mom’s name on the TV show Heroes. But actually I mixed up the cheerleader’s family and the guy from Gilmore Girls family. So, no.

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I call foul. You said “very popular movie”!

-Tom