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[Katoki]

Queensdale is probably the weakest starting area too. Definitely worth it to check out the others. My favorite is the Norm one, Wayfarer Foothills. But I know a lot of people like the Sylvari one.

Yay, Wayfarer Foothills! I feel like people forget about the nice green valley area you start out in, and people just complain that it's just big open empty snow. I just love the viking/mountain themes of everything. It really is a beautiful starting area, and Hoelbrak is full of lore.

Subjective. My personal ranking would be:

Queensdale > Plains of Ashford > Metrica Province / Caledon Forest > Wayfarer Foothills.

I don't particularly care for all the snow because as I believe it was Retro who said it before, it felt like I was just moving from homestead to homestead. I liked Queensdale for the whole "You're in a game but it's so pretty" thing but I can't put my finger on why I don't care for Wayfarer. Maybe I just like how the zone feels because it's open and gives off that feeling that it is vast, whereas the zones in the Shiverpeaks are just full of snow which cover everything and make it feel more bland. I know that in general, I don't really have anything that makes the zones in the Shiverpeaks pop out at me. I'd rather fight Svanir than centaurs though.

I can say that I equally enjoy all zones for when I find that small tidbit of information about the zone or the particular building you're in, such as this flavor-text for one homestead in Snowden Drifts where gives this pop-up detailing that this hearth would be a great place for socializing after a hunt, but by the looks of it, it hasn't been used for a long time. The zone that homestead was in was

Spoiler

where the people had gone off to follow Jormag because of values those particular people had, leaving a single norn and son with their dolyaks

.

Whatever I wanted to say at this point, I've forgotten.

 

[Sophia]

Queensdale's layout is awkward and sends you in awkward directions. Just sends you all over the place in ways the others quite don't and it's all too easy to go the wrong direction and promptly run into higher level mobs... or in the case of Claypool, run straight into the harder half of Kessex Hills.

 

[Katoki]

Queensdale's layout is awkward and sends you in awkward directions. Just sends you all over the place in ways the others quite don't and it's all too easy to go the wrong direction and promptly run into higher level mobs... or in the case of Claypool, run straight into the harder half of Kessex Hills.

I guess it's because some prefer more direction over others then. The only issue I have that relates to this is when I have to run back over in some other direction to continue hitting the proper level hearts but I tend to stray off when there's something shiny.

 

[Retro]

The Living Story team are kinda like the short term here's a constant stream of new stuff for you to do while the rest of the studio works on much larger features and areas of the game that get patched in as they're finished.

This needs to be highlighted because I think that's something a lot of people are forgetting; the Living Story teams (of which there are four) are not the only ones making content. There are larger groups working on bigger things in the background, working with the Living Story teams to build towards bigger pushes. Right now I feel like those bigger teams aren't working on making the game world bigger, but pushing for stuff like Achievement overhaul (coming next week), dungeon revamps, converting previous LS content into Fractals, and all the other big-ticket items people want like a LFG tool.

Living Story =/= all future content releases.

Queensdale's layout is awkward and sends you in awkward directions. Just sends you all over the place in ways the others quite don't and it's all too easy to go the wrong direction and promptly run into higher level mobs... or in the case of Claypool, run straight into the harder half of Kessex Hills.

Bring 'em on, I love taking on mobs several levels above me. Hell, make em Veterans.

And in case anyone is wondering, I don't really have an order I can rank the starting zones in; Metrica has a lot of variety and humor, Caledon is gorgeous and feels packed full of mystery, Wayfarer's is pretty and has a decent flow, and Queensdale is nice and green and insanely familiar due to all my time there in the BWEs.

But I CAN pick a favorite: Plains of Ashford. Perpetual autumn and tons of ruins everywhere? We're done.

 

[Pumpkin King]

Hey Mikey, if you ever need help, give map chat or guild chat a try. You can usually get a helping hand or more. Guild chat is the best, there is usually someone who will wp over to help you kill that vet, get this skill point, etc.

Also I found it best to not try to 100% each zone before moving on to the next. All progress towards hearts is saved. So definitely use those Asura gates, and go earn a level or 2 in Queensdale, Wayfarer Foothills, and so on. One reason I love this game is the freedom. One minute I am on the daily boss chain, the next I'm helping my wife with some skill point (or vise versa). Then 5 minutes later I'm trying to finish my personal story. Just so much to do. So I recommend spreading it out.

PS: Caledon is the best... Maybe I'm a hippie

 

[Sophia]

Bring 'em on, I love taking on mobs several levels above me. Hell, make em Veterans.

And in case anyone is wondering, I don't really have an order I can rank the starting zones in; Metrica has a lot of variety and humor, Caledon is gorgeous and feels packed full of mystery, Wayfarer's is pretty and has a decent flow, and Queensdale is nice and green and insanely familiar due to all my time there in the BWEs.

But I CAN pick a favorite: Plains of Ashford. Perpetual autumn and tons of ruins everywhere? We're done.

If I had to rank em. Wayfarer > Plains of Ashford > Caledon > Metrica > Queensdale.

Metrica gets ranked so low because some of it's beginning heart events are a bit awkward. Most people probably wanna jump straight into combat, not play board games and go through NPC dialogue loops. =P

I don't visit Plains of Ashford nearly enough tho, so on any given day depending on my mood Caledon can rank higher. Oh hey look, Ascalonian Event Completer is in the daily achievements.... >

 

[hythloday]

Guild Influence and Buffs

I threw this together both to inform people who may be new to the game, and solicit suggestions and thoughtful discussion on our guild buff usage.

First and foremost, I’ll explain what I’m talking about: the guild’s influence is generated by people simply playing the game while representing GAFguild. As we attend dynamic events and group together in dungeons, we generate influence for the guild. The guild even gets influence just for people logging on. Some of the proceeds from the occasional guild lottery also go towards the purchase of influence as well.

The guild’s accrued influence is displayed on the guild window, and the guild’s officers can spend it as a currency on buffs and missions now that we’ve maxed out all the guild features. Influence is server-specific, so there will be separate pools of influence for members on different servers. We have the “Remote Operator” rank in the guild for those who may play on servers other than SBI and want to use any influence they’ve accrued.

We’re limited to building 2 things at a time. We can build a 3rd thing if we use the Contract Asuran Outsourcing upgrade, which allows us a temporary 3rd build slot at the cost of 2000 influence if we speed it up. (ArenaNet, if you’re reading this, it would be fantastic if there was some way for guilds to unlock a permanent 3rd slot or even just a 3rd slot that lasts longer. Make it cost a ton of influence and merits, it would be worth it. We need more merit sinks anyway!)

For more information, check out http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Influence.

So, guild missions.

Each mission (Guild Rush, Guild Challenge, Guild Bounty, and Guild Puzzle) requires 200 influence and 24 hours of build time to be available for use. We can use influence to speed up the build time, at a cost of 2000 influence (or 500 for each 25%). Tier 2 and Tier 3 Guild Bounties have a shorter build time, and there is a Guild Bounty Training available as well. The Guild Bounty Training takes 3 days to build, but it generates 3000 influence for the guild upon a successful kill. We haven’t done this often, just because it takes so long to queue, in addition to the fact that it awards no commendations. It’s something I personally would like on the table a little more often if we can work it in. Guild Treks are also available, and they give both influence and merits, but we haven’t been doing them since they don’t give commendations.

Guild missions are obviously a good value for the cost, but not infinitely available. Typically when I’m managing the influence I try to have at least 2 of each mission type available, in case we fail something and need to start over. If there are no failures, we have enough for a couple days’ worth of fun.

Guild buffs vary in cost and build time. They all cost influence, and some cost merits as well. So far, the officers have attempted to keep these on a schedule to maximize the benefit versus the cost. The missions come at a higher priority, but the buffs are hugely beneficial. I am going to list the buffs that we most commonly use, along with their cost and build time. If you are wondering why a particular buff isn’t available more often, it’s probably because we just haven’t been able to work it in.

Priority buffs that we keep up as often as possible:
+5% Influence for 24 hours (costs 100 influence, build time: 16 hours)
+10% Influence from Events for 24 hours (200, 24 hours)
+10% Magic Find for 3 days (500, 36 hours)

I’m going to try and add WvW +5 Supply (200, 15 hours) to this rotation, since it’s cheap and awesome. We’ve been saving it for Friday nights, but if more people are in WvW throughout the week we can totally try to work it in.

There is also +5% Gold From Kills for 24 hours (3 merits, 300 influence, 24 hours) and 10% Gathering Bonus for 48 Hours (500, 32 hours) that are great also. We tried to keep up the Gold bonus daily, but it’s fallen off track for the past week or so and I’m aiming to get back on schedule. Money’s good.

These buffs are the equivalent of fine china that you only use when grandma comes over for dinner:
15% Reduced Waypoint Costs for 24 Hours (20 merits, 2000 influence, 3 days build time)
15% Reduced Repair Costs for 24 Hours (20 merits, 2000 influence, 3 days build time)

In the past few weeks we’ve kept the Waypoint buff up on Saturdays since people are traveling all over for guild missions, and Repair costs for WvW on Fridays. They are good merit sinks, but 3 days is a long time and they’re pretty much impossible to speed up at our current rate of influence gain.

I encourage everyone to take a look at the Upgrades tab on the guild window, and check out the various buffs in different categories. If there’s something you think we’ve overlooked, or if there’s something you’d like different about our schedule, please speak up. I hope this was at least a little bit helpful!

 

[Kite]

Heya, I don't think I've every posted in this thread even though I play GW2 every day. If anyone plays on Sanctum of Rall and wants to WvW, run some dungeons or Guild missions please let me know.

 

[xeris]

These are some of my favorites. I left out a couple 80's that are in straight-up dungeon gear and a couple lowbies that aren't quite there yet as far as looks.

 

[Jarate]

So i just got this game...

Anybody who has the capabilities to run this game with 3d vision needs to do it. The cutscenes lighting kind of sucks, but the game is absolutely beautiful

 

[Dreavus]

Started playing GW2 again somewhat recently (ty for the invite, can't remember who I actually asked, I'll have to try out some of that guild mission stuff with you guys sometime!), and all this business about new things being temporary only serves to annoy me.

One of the things I like about Guildwars is the lack of a subscription fee, meaning I can drop the game for a while or only play sporadically and not be locked into a sub (this is often touted as a primary feature of the game, which it is!). It was one of the main reasons I got into the first one, tbh. This drop in drop out idea is completely at odds with the concept of the living story because much of the stuff that is being added is also being removed after a certain period of time. If you aren't "there" because you put the game down for a bit, then too bad, I guess.

It kinda sucks to come back and see a bunch of stuff has been added, only not really because it's all gone now; oops! That super adventure box looked pretty cool, but I guess that's gone now too! I understand that they quite obviously want people to play constantly and perhaps buy some gems while they're doing it, but I think they're taking the exclusivity of the living story a little too far for my liking.

On the plus side, one of my friends mentioned the possibility of adding the living story dungeons to the fractals of the mist, which would definitely be a big step in the right direction for keeping those missions/dungeons around.

 

[Jira]

Started playing GW2 again somewhat recently (ty for the invite, can't remember who I actually asked, I'll have to try out some of that guild mission stuff with you guys sometime!), and all this business about new things being temporary only serves to annoy me.

One of the things I like about Guildwars is the lack of a subscription fee, meaning I can drop the game for a while or only play sporadically and not be locked into a sub (this is often touted as a primary feature of the game, which it is!). It was one of the main reasons I got into the first one, tbh. This drop in drop out idea is completely at odds with the concept of the living story because much of the stuff that is being added is also being removed after a certain period of time. If you aren't "there" because you put the game down for a bit, then too bad, I guess.

It kinda sucks to come back and see a bunch of stuff has been added, only not really because it's all gone now; oops! That super adventure box looked pretty cool, but I guess that's gone now too! I understand that they quite obviously want people to play constantly and perhaps buy some gems while they're doing it, but I think they're taking the exclusivity of the living story a little too far for my liking.

On the plus side, one of my friends mentioned the possibility of adding the living story dungeons to the fractals of the mist, which would definitely be a big step in the right direction for keeping those missions/dungeons around.

Super Adventure Box is coming back before years end with a new world and hard modes so don't worry and yeah the LS dungeons will be back in the form of Fractals with new rewards.

 

[Retro]

It kinda sucks to come back and see a bunch of stuff has been added, only not really because it's all gone now; oops! That super adventure box looked pretty cool, but I guess that's gone now too! I understand that they quite obviously want people to play constantly and perhaps buy some gems while they're doing it, but I think they're taking the exclusivity of the living story a little too far for my liking.

On the plus side, one of my friends mentioned the possibility of adding the living story dungeons to the fractals of the mist, which would definitely be a big step in the right direction for keeping those missions/dungeons around.

They've pretty much confirmed that the Living Story dungeons (which were arguably the best part of the Living Story so far) will be back as fractals. I believe one of the devs confirmed it in chat. The Fractals are actually a really great way to handle that.

There was also a tweet about a month ago that implied the Super Adventure Box would be back soon (the tweet was referring to them working on it again). The entry portal is still there in Rata Sum, if you needed any more assurance that it's coming back (that, and the World Map was HUGE...).

They do seem at odds, but the content itself isn't especially intense. You're not falling behind in terms of gameplay by taking a few weeks or months off; there hasn't been any kind of stat increase since Ascended Items were added last year. The only thing you're missing out on are mini-games (which will probably come back since they're tied to holidays), achievements and costumes / toys / visuals.

They do send out mails for each of their events, for what it's worth, and they always show exactly what you can get from each update on their Game Releases page. That, and this thread is ALWAYS talking about the newest or next big thing.

Think of it like a TV show before the advent of DVRs and On-Demand. If you want to watch an episode, you've gotta make the time to watch it.

 

[RobbieH]

One thing I've noticed is the Sylvari area just isn't that populated in general. I think most players flock to Queensdale. That map is usually hopping with activity, with people calling out group events in map chat often. Maybe Wayfarer Foothills and Plains of Ashford too, to a lesser extent.

Yeah, I started playing this week (Shadow De Carabas.1607 if someone could send an invite my way) and Queensdale is usually pretty busy. I don't know if it's always that busy but the monthly achievement involves killing champions and the troll / oak / wasp / boar rotation takes no time at all. It's also something quick to do while people wait for the Shadow Behemoth. Other than the wolfmaster and the Svanir's Dome boss (which probably takes too long for people to start) I have no idea what the equivalents are in the other starting areas as they're simply not active enough. Especially Caledon Forest, which is a shame as it's so pretty. It does have the most underwater hearts, though, so that doesn't help.

 

[Kemal86]

Played this for like a week when it first came out, got busy with work, stopped playing...

A couple questions:

1) What's the minimum level to participate in the world events / living story? Are they all tailored to max level?

2) Is world pvp still a thing that is done? Even as a low level player I spent most of my time running around the frontier...dying over and over..but it was still fun.

3) Best way to hit the level cap? Should I just keep chugging through the main story / going from zone to zone or is there a better way? Not that I want to race to max level but I also don't want to be horribly inefficient with my time.

EDIT: 4) I'm on Stormbluff Isle.

Thanks.

 

[Levyne]

The living story events do a decent job of making sure anyone can take them on. It'll be an easier time if you are level ..30-40 instead of level 2 but there's no hard requirement.

World vs World is still a thing, yes...not much more to elaborate on that. They added a ranking system where you can upgrade your use of siege, effectiveness against guards, etc. A rewards chest with badges loot and silver for doing wvw things.

On your first character, there is no quick way to hit the level cap. You can take up crafting (some cheaper ones include cooking and artificing) for supplementary levels but crafting for levels becomes easier on alts, once you have an 80 that has already explored much of the world and made you some money.

Personal story is nice because it leads you into the zones and gives some direction but it's admittedly not the greatest or most enthralling. Events give good exp, and those can be found in the zones or in wvw. In the zones, a lot of the times an event can synergize with a nearby heart npc and you can be rewarded twice. If the eternal battlegrounds sbi commander is on a hot streak an evening in wvw can get you some levels. Dungeons are also good exp for later levels.

 

[Johnlenham]

Pretty tempted to re-roll on the Gaf server.
Im up to 15 on my Ranger, cant really decide though. Its taken me bloody ages to get to that level but maybe Im just really slow..

Also I made the mistake of looking at the offical forums to find out my class is kind of rubbish due to how the pet works (sounds like how hunter was in WoW 3-4 years ago) How about engineers?

 

[Jest Chillin]

Pretty tempted to re-roll on the Gaf server.
Im up to 15 on my Ranger, cant really decide though. Its taken me bloody ages to get to that level but maybe Im just really slow..

Also I made the mistake of looking at the offical forums to find out my class is kind of rubbish due to how the pet works (sounds like how hunter was in WoW 3-4 years ago) How about engineers?

There's a Gaf officer who's pretty good at Ranger.. but I can't find him on the forums anywhere anymore

Spoiler

Khooooolllddd bloooded

.

Anyhow I think Levyne might have posted some good Ranger tips in the thread recently.

As for your difficulty leveling, here are my tips:

1. Do everything. Get a harvesting, logging, and mining tool and hit every node you see. Gives you XP and the mats can be used for Crafting or sold on the Trading Post for cash.

2. If you don't dislike crafting, then Craft! It nets you XP as well!

3. Don't just wander form Heart to Heart doing the tasks. It's fine to do but it's not the primary source of XP for the game. The Dynamic Events (DE's) are the goal. Usually when they pop there will be an Orange Circle on the map and a new event description in the top right corner of your screen (when in range of the DE).

4. If you like Castles, Keeps, and large group PvP, then make sure to check out WvW. You can get a good amount of XP there as well.

5. Finally if you still feel lost.. on your character select screen you can pick World Selection. From there you can select Stormbluff Isle and then click Guest. Now you'll be on Gaf Guild's server until you log out! That way you can participate in any PvE activity that Gaf Guild is running. It costs nothing and you get reset to your home server anytime you log out.

 

[TrounceX]

Heya, I don't think I've every posted in this thread even though I play GW2 every day. If anyone plays on Sanctum of Rall and wants to WvW, run some dungeons or Guild missions please let me know.

Heyo

What's your in-game name? I'm also on SoR and all I do is WvW.

Oh and hey Anet, maybe make it harder to get commander tags?

And this was just a random screenshot I took. A little while later someone counted and there were 23 people tagged up.

 

[Levyne]

Ranger

I am too tired to think about making a long post so here's a digest version..

Pets are pretty damn great in open pve and similar situations, and are not really of issue in pvp or wvw.

In pve, it is so easy to have pets take on the enemies and you are left alone free a larger% of the time than any other class. Swap them when they are weak, micro manage just a tiny amount so they they don't just chase squirrels. Leveling the old fashioned way as a Ranger was...really fucking easy.

In pvp, pets can do some pretty interesting things. Stealth into an unsuspectng capture point, an unexpected kd or fear from a pig or wolf. While my pvp knowledge is limited, it's interesting to see how long it takes for an enemy to actually turn his attention to me if I send the pet in first before they know I'm there. This effect is amplified in wvw, probably because they are named as a generic beast and not "juvenile whatever". But I'm unsure how I would solo cap a frog-guarded supply camp without a nice pet. Very useful to have



The official forums are skewed to dungeon runners. And this is where pets are...a liability. In as few words as possible, the dungeons (and fractals) in this game are based on the idea of a boss showing a tell and you requiring to dodge. This is either a windup animation or an aoe ring. Many many many many many boss regular physical attacks or aoe are one hit kills or nearly so. This makes a lot of higher level dungeon content highly skill based, requiring timing and knowing the encounters.

However...pets....do not know how to dodge nor learn the encounters.

So...without special precaution, a pet will die to a champ ettins downward club smash even though you knew to dodge. He will run through a death inviting aoe ring where you know not to step. Once he is dead the ranger's output is reduced significantly. Either in damage or utility (either pet roars or cc provided by the pet). The flaw here is that it seems to force rangers to go one of two ways:

1.) Ignore the pet as much as possible. This is where I have been leaning lately. I put zero points into the Beastmastery line and took off many traits in other lines relating to pets. I still can easily strengthen them using utilities and such and they can still be powerful, but the goal is to minimize the loss if I am stuck with a dead pet for x seconds before a swap. Luckily I've been able to be better about keeping him up anyway...but if I dodge behind an enemy with Sword 3..my pet is still screwed.

2.) Max out the pet, run full BM. This is basically trying to guarantee that the pet will stay up. With 30 points into beastmastery the pet will have significantly higher base stats (though more important for survivability rather than damage, damage is easy enough to make up for even without 30 bm points). And you suffer for not having the points elsewhere of course.

I used to run a hybrid type build where I would put 15 points into BM to try to compromise, but the recent trait balance made that seem less than desirable now. Where before having 15 points into BM would give your pet some general stat buffs, quickness(to the ranger and pet) on swap, and a faster swap, the quickness trait was moved. Seems like a small change, but the synergy between that and faster swaps was so great...without it..the pets work "well enough" without the faster swapping, they die a little less slowly...and now I can trait into Nature Magic for some easy to proc regen, and protection.

But again, most all of those problems spawn from dungeon or instance related issues.

Another point of contention is the recent change to shortbows to change the range to 900 from 1200. I feel it was a dumb reason for both sense (why is shortbow range equivalent to...throwing an axe now) and balance (very very very few reasons to take a shortbow over an axe, ESPECIALLY since axe 3 and 4 were buffed along with the shortbow nerf.)

Heh, I got off track, so much for a short post.

 

[Levyne]

That's not true chase you ran TWO dungeons today!!

 

[Katoki]

Too many chiefs, not enough indians.

 

[Sophia]

As for your difficulty leveling, here are my tips:

Another tip to keep in mind, and this is related to the one about the dynamic events, is go where the daily achievements are at. If for example, you have "Maguuman Killer", then go to one of the zones in that region and chase events until you have it. Or if you have, "Ascalonian Event Completer", then go to the Charr starting zone and hunt around.

Each daily category offers a small chunk of experience for competition, and completing all five not only gives you a Laurel, but also an additional chunk of XP. Almost none of the daily achievement categories require you to go out of the way either. Just gotta make sure you're in the right region for certain ones, all of which are accessible from Lion's Arch. It's pretty much free experience.

 

[docbon]

Also I made the mistake of looking at the offical forums to find out my class is kind of rubbish due to how the pet works (sounds like how hunter was in WoW 3-4 years ago) How about engineers?

Engineers are pretty neat.

They're capable of offering great group support in dungeons through water fields for healing, projectile reflect walls, and tons of blast finishers.

If you like to PvP, they can be traited to have enough sustained healing, and condition damage, to solo multiple opponents, as long as they aren't necromancers with boon corrupting skills. They're okay for large battles, but they really shine when roaming in small groups.

Also an obligatory roaming video from Maskaganda.

And the aftermath of some of my solo battles:

 

[Levyne]

I'm not quite so pro as docbon but I've come out on top of a few 2-1 's . I run pretty much full glass everywhere so I would be really depressed if 3 couldn't get me down. But maybe that's shitty justification and I'm just jelly.

Ranger really does shine in the larger battles. Ricocheting axes is great for tagging indiscriminately and finally Rangers have a reliable (and highly damaging) pull. The reduction of longbow aftercast and arrow flight time has made it an awesome weapon for wvw I feel. Traited into marks, it's brainless to get 20 invuln on a target in two hits, rapid fire them down, KB from 1500 feet away, or trait some piercing arrows for some spray and watch them pray. And barrage is still awesome (even if a little lonely as the Ranger's only real nice aoe)

 

[Johnlenham]

Thanks for the posts
It realy does read like old WoW Hunter problems then where pets would get destroyed by AoE and then you are left with half your damage dead on the ground for the rest of the fight.

I jumped into PVP and really being at 80 with all the skills was mind melting so that will take along while to get to grips with. Dont really understand how gear works in that either but there we go.

Relating to that, I should be running with what? I have a greatsword and a longbow now with all my points into the first trait line (a whole other can of worms..). Gs seems to be pretty good atleast.

Crafting wise I hack up everything in my path and slavage everything, Im doing leather working and huntsman but Ive focused on huntsman but maybe I should change that? You guys mentioned cooking but it gave me a warning saying that is the most expensive/hardest?

When I get to play again I will try and jump on the gaf server

 

[Katoki]

That video makes me wish thieves were more brawlers than they are hit and run stealth.

 

[Levyne]

I find that maxing out the first traitline is a smart idea, though obviously you will hear different things from different people. Easy vulnerability stacks from the minors (opening strike=vulnerability) and the fact that the line is condition duration + just synergizes with that. Signet of the Beastmaster is an awesome grandmaster trait and I almost never remove it. Piercing arrows (otherwise your arrows stop at the first thing they hit, how lame!) and Longbow Range+ is also in that line...so...

Greatsword is pretty awesome. Highly damaging and maneuverable with the swoop and you get some evade as part of the auto, gravy.

Leatherworking and Huntsman are fine for a Ranger, obviously. I mentioned cooking as a relatively cheap craft to earn exp with. While you can have two crafts at any time, switching ones in and out will cost some silver (but nothing cripplingly expensive).

 

[Kos Luftar]

Thanks for the posts
It realy does read like old WoW Hunter problems then where pets would get destroyed by AoE and then you are left with half your damage dead on the ground for the rest of the fight.

I jumped into PVP and really being at 80 with all the skills was mind melting so that will take along while to get to grips with. Dont really understand how gear works in that either but there we go.

Relating to that, I should be running with what? I have a greatsword and a longbow now with all my points into the first trait line (a whole other can of worms..). Gs seems to be pretty good atleast.

Crafting wise I hack up everything in my path and slavage everything, Im doing leather working and huntsman but Ive focused on huntsman but maybe I should change that? You guys mentioned cooking but it gave me a warning saying that is the most expensive/hardest?

When I get to play again I will try and jump on the gaf server

Fyi. The guesting option that someone gave you above will not work for you because I believe you are currently on an EU server and you can only guest to other EU servers.

 

[Johnlenham]

Oh yeah I forgot about that. What a pain.

 

[Eric WK]

3) Best way to hit the level cap? Should I just keep chugging through the main story / going from zone to zone or is there a better way? Not that I want to race to max level but I also don't want to be horribly inefficient with my time.

The conventional wisdom is to take your time and do whatever you find fun while leveling, since the game rewards you with XP for just about everything you do outside of structured PvP. If you want it to go fast, though, my experience has been that WvW (if you're part of a good zerg) is by far the most efficient. I went from 61-70 over the past two days on my first character doing basically just WvW. To be fair, I'm on Tarnished Coast until I transfer to SBI and TC is the strongest Tier 2 World, so we steamrolled for most of the time I was playing.

And I didn't play for inordinate amounts of time either day. It was pretty much my normal amount of playtime.

Relating to that, I should be running with what? I have a greatsword and a longbow now with all my points into the first trait line (a whole other can of worms..). Gs seems to be pretty good atleast.

I'm at work right now, but I believe IntoTheMists has an awesome forum post that links the PvP builds of the top competitive players. I used it to find a good Guardian Bunker build before jumping into sPvP for the first time yesterday. Check that website and Reddit (/r/GuildWars2 and its sub-sub-Reddits) and you should be able to find some good primers for PvP in this game.

 

[Kos Luftar]

Oh yeah I forgot about that. What a pain.

Just remake your characters in NA server by deleting your current one. You'll get to level 15 in no time with the help of GAF members.

 

[Kos Luftar]

Engineers are pretty neat.

They're capable of offering great group support in dungeons through water fields for healing, projectile reflect walls, and tons of blast finishers.

If you like to PvP, they can be traited to have enough sustained healing, and condition damage, to solo multiple opponents, as long as they aren't necromancers with boon corrupting skills. They're okay for large battles, but they really shine when roaming in small groups.

And the aftermath of some of my solo battles:

I notice that you "solo" right beside our camps, which means you had at least 5 NPCs helping you.

 

[Ceres]

I'm not quite so pro as docbon but I've come out on top of a few 2-1 's . I run pretty much full glass everywhere so I would be really depressed if 3 couldn't get me down. But maybe that's shitty justification and I'm just jelly.

Ranger really does shine in the larger battles. Ricocheting axes is great for tagging indiscriminately and finally Rangers have a reliable (and highly damaging) pull. The reduction of longbow aftercast and arrow flight time has made it an awesome weapon for wvw I feel. Traited into marks, it's brainless to get 20 invuln on a target in two hits, rapid fire them down, KB from 1500 feet away, or trait some piercing arrows for some spray and watch them pray. And barrage is still awesome (even if a little lonely as the Ranger's only real nice aoe)

I finally used longbow some in wvw and agree, its much better than it was. I need to grab a second axe for offhand as I'm still running axe/torch and switch off between lb and sword/dagger. I've been trying to work on leveling some of my alts so haven't been in wvw too much this week. Plus I got frustrated with the attitude in EB on Monday about letting BP have Hills because t3 SM (with no supply and 5 outer walls down mind you) was more important than t3 Hills. Except BP took a t3 Hills, t3 Garrison, Bay (which I think was the only non-t3), and pretty much everything else before going to EB and taking SM. But hey, they stopped NSP from getting SM for an whole 40m! That's whats really important.

 

[Arcteryx]

Regarding Ranger questions: I used to run 0/0/30/10/30 and went with the usual condi/regen build, but since the patch I've switched things around to 0/0/30/30/10 and actually found that the pets stay up just as well if you utilize/trait Guard. So if you're wanting that BM build but finding a full 30 lacking/pointless now post patch, maybe give the Guard builds a try.

As far as what weapons to run, especially when leveling: I would recommend Greatsword(for movement mainly) and either Longbow or another melee weapon setup.

As far as PvP goes, I'm a HUGE fan of melee Ranger(even in endgame PvE now) with Greatsword, Sword/Torch, and Axe/Dagger as my go-to weapons. If I was going to run a bow I'd run Longbow, as the knockback is godlike for re-cap scenarios.


Also, cooking is INCREDIBLY cheap and easy to level, but IMO the crafting professions aren't really worth it(aside from power leveling alts...I hardly ever use crafting except to make high-end weapons).

 

[Hawkian]

Guild Influence and Buffs

I threw this together both to inform people who may be new to the game, and solicit suggestions and thoughtful discussion on our guild buff usage.

First and foremost, I’ll explain what I’m talking about: the guild’s influence is generated by people simply playing the game while representing GAFguild. As we attend dynamic events and group together in dungeons, we generate influence for the guild. The guild even gets influence just for people logging on. Some of the proceeds from the occasional guild lottery also go towards the purchase of influence as well.

The guild’s accrued influence is displayed on the guild window, and the guild’s officers can spend it as a currency on buffs and missions now that we’ve maxed out all the guild features. Influence is server-specific, so there will be separate pools of influence for members on different servers. We have the “Remote Operator” rank in the guild for those who may play on servers other than SBI and want to use any influence they’ve accrued.

We’re limited to building 2 things at a time. We can build a 3rd thing if we use the Contract Asuran Outsourcing upgrade, which allows us a temporary 3rd build slot at the cost of 2000 influence if we speed it up. (ArenaNet, if you’re reading this, it would be fantastic if there was some way for guilds to unlock a permanent 3rd slot or even just a 3rd slot that lasts longer. Make it cost a ton of influence and merits, it would be worth it. We need more merit sinks anyway!)

For more information, check out http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Influence.

So, guild missions.

Each mission (Guild Rush, Guild Challenge, Guild Bounty, and Guild Puzzle) requires 200 influence and 24 hours of build time to be available for use. We can use influence to speed up the build time, at a cost of 2000 influence (or 500 for each 25%). Tier 2 and Tier 3 Guild Bounties have a shorter build time, and there is a Guild Bounty Training available as well. The Guild Bounty Training takes 3 days to build, but it generates 3000 influence for the guild upon a successful kill. We haven’t done this often, just because it takes so long to queue, in addition to the fact that it awards no commendations. It’s something I personally would like on the table a little more often if we can work it in. Guild Treks are also available, and they give both influence and merits, but we haven’t been doing them since they don’t give commendations.

Guild missions are obviously a good value for the cost, but not infinitely available. Typically when I’m managing the influence I try to have at least 2 of each mission type available, in case we fail something and need to start over. If there are no failures, we have enough for a couple days’ worth of fun.

Guild buffs vary in cost and build time. They all cost influence, and some cost merits as well. So far, the officers have attempted to keep these on a schedule to maximize the benefit versus the cost. The missions come at a higher priority, but the buffs are hugely beneficial. I am going to list the buffs that we most commonly use, along with their cost and build time. If you are wondering why a particular buff isn’t available more often, it’s probably because we just haven’t been able to work it in.

Priority buffs that we keep up as often as possible:
+5% Influence for 24 hours (costs 100 influence, build time: 16 hours)
+10% Influence from Events for 24 hours (200, 24 hours)
+10% Magic Find for 3 days (500, 36 hours)

I’m going to try and add WvW +5 Supply (200, 15 hours) to this rotation, since it’s cheap and awesome. We’ve been saving it for Friday nights, but if more people are in WvW throughout the week we can totally try to work it in.

There is also +5% Gold From Kills for 24 hours (3 merits, 300 influence, 24 hours) and 10% Gathering Bonus for 48 Hours (500, 32 hours) that are great also. We tried to keep up the Gold bonus daily, but it’s fallen off track for the past week or so and I’m aiming to get back on schedule. Money’s good.

These buffs are the equivalent of fine china that you only use when grandma comes over for dinner:
15% Reduced Waypoint Costs for 24 Hours (20 merits, 2000 influence, 3 days build time)
15% Reduced Repair Costs for 24 Hours (20 merits, 2000 influence, 3 days build time)

In the past few weeks we’ve kept the Waypoint buff up on Saturdays since people are traveling all over for guild missions, and Repair costs for WvW on Fridays. They are good merit sinks, but 3 days is a long time and they’re pretty much impossible to speed up at our current rate of influence gain.

I encourage everyone to take a look at the Upgrades tab on the guild window, and check out the various buffs in different categories. If there’s something you think we’ve overlooked, or if there’s something you’d like different about our schedule, please speak up. I hope this was at least a little bit helpful!

You deserve to be dejuniorfied for this post

 

[hythloday]

Why thank you. *blush*

Edit: Nice little article with some quotes from Mike Zadorojny on where the story might lead in the future, and some more thoughts on the "living story vs. expansion" discussion:

“This is a very collective group that’s coming up with new and interesting things. It doesn’t preclude us from doing things like you would do in an expansion pack. If the story for the expansion pack was going to take us to a new map, we can still do that. If it was going to introduce a new character profession, we can still do that – it [the lack of boxed expansions] doesn’t preclude us. It does take away from the almost Christmas feeling of ‘I can’t wait to open the box and see what’s new’, but you’re basically getting mini versions of those every two weeks.”

http://www.gamerzines.com/mmo/guild-returning-cantha-elona.html

 

[irfaanator]

You deserve to be dejuniorfied for this post

I bet hawk is just pissed that you wrote it up before he did

 

[Levyne]

I've tried a couple different melee weapon swaps but I keep going back to Axe/Warhorn and Sword/Axe. (This is mostly for dungeons though, for pvp I like having a longbow on swap so I'll do something like sword/warhorn and longbow)

 

[docbon]

I notice that you "solo" right beside our camps, which means you had at least 5 NPCs helping you.

yo bro those npcs been dead!!!

I’m going to try and add WvW +5 Supply (200, 15 hours) to this rotation, since it’s cheap and awesome. We’ve been saving it for Friday nights, but if more people are in WvW throughout the week we can totally try to work it in.

omg, i love you

 

[Ceres]

I've tried a couple different melee weapon swaps but I keep going back to Axe/Warhorn and Sword/Axe. (This is mostly for dungeons though, for pvp I like having a longbow on swap so I'll do something like sword/warhorn and longbow)

hm.. sword/axe sounds like a nice combo. Might try that and leave axe/torch as is.

 

[theMrCravens]

Can one of you awesome rangers (not seda ) post a PVE (don't care about WvW) build using http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ ?

Doing the endgame Orr Personal Storyline with my 80 ranger alt is a PITA.

 

[Kos Luftar]

yo bro those npcs been dead!!!



omg, i love you

What armor are you running with this new dual pistol build, still rabid?\

 

[Levyne]

I like sword/axe mainly because I can activate RaO or Warhorn 5 beforehand (if RaO is on CD), open with Axe 3 for chill/weakness on the other weapon set, swap, Axe 5 for 12 crits + vulnerability (many more crits if sitting in a well pulled group...usually a guard or mes has this taken care of but you can lead A4 into A5 if there's no other pull, it's better than none.) Then after or near the end A5 I'll pop quickening zephyr and go ham with the sword auto (throw in A4 if it's off CD for a spike of damage and an interrupt). When RaO ends I'll pop Signet of the Wild for more stability and +25% damage. I'll usually pop stone signet too just so that I can have stability and invuln for six seconds and just face-tank whatever. Then I'll start using the sword dodges and vanilla dodges (based Natural Vigor). When things get too hot, sword 2, swap back and start chucking axes.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

Great game so far. Level 13.

One thing I do not like though, is how skills are attached to what weapon you are using. 5 of the skills are taken up by my longbow. The skills in there are decent, but I want to free them up. I mean, the first skill is literally just shoot your bow. Why is that there? Another skill is to just knock a foe back. It is very situational, and I don't find myself using it too much.

I just wish I could create my own skillbar and put what I want in there.

 

[hythloday]

The weapon skills definitely took some getting used to. Before the game launched, it was actually one of the things I looked at and said "that's dumb, I won't like that." I came from EQ/WoW/others where you had 8 billion skills and you could customize your entire skill lineup.

It's grown on me, though.

 

[Kos Luftar]

Great game so far. Level 13.

One thing I do not like though, is how skills are attached to what weapon you are using. 5 of the skills are taken up by my longbow. The skills in there are decent, but I want to free them up. I mean, the first skill is literally just shoot your bow. Why is that there? Another skill is to just knock a foe back. It is very situational, and I don't find myself using it too much.

I just wish I could create my own skillbar and put what I want in there.

Yes that part is totally different from Guild Wars 1 but it has to be because of how dynamic the combat in Guild Wars 2 is. That 1 slot skill is usually the one that does most damage for any profession and the situational (knock-back skill) is actually very important to staying alive.

Have you done any combos yet?

Those weapon skills can do extra things based on what combo fields are set up around you. Also with weapon swapping you are getting 10 weapon skills you can switch on the go. Any of the skills from 5-10 can be switched out anytime you are out of combat so you can change skills for whatever situation you might be getting into.

 

[Retro]

I jumped into PVP and really being at 80 with all the skills was mind melting so that will take along while to get to grips with. Dont really understand how gear works in that either but there we go.

Didn't see this answered; in sPVP, everyone's gear is normalized. Any PVP armor is purely cosmetic. This basically levels the playing field so you can just jump in and startt having fun without worrying that your gear isn't up to date or that some poopsocker will stomp you because he spends every moment he's not sleeping or shoving cheetos into his mouth grinding.

That video makes me wish thieves were more brawlers than they are hit and run stealth.

I'd love to see them add new thematic roles to the professions by way of new weapons. For example, adding fist weapons could turn Warriors into Brawlers, Thieves into kung-fu masters, Guardians into a more pure Spellcaster, Elementalists into melee monsters, and so on.

If they just give us more skills that don't really add a new, exciting way to play, they're missing a huge opportunity.

omg, i love you

Hands off, she's mine!

One thing I do not like though, is how skills are attached to what weapon you are using. 5 of the skills are taken up by my longbow. The skills in there are decent, but I want to free them up. I mean, the first skill is literally just shoot your bow. Why is that there? Another skill is to just knock a foe back. It is very situational, and I don't find myself using it too much.

This seems to be something people either love or hate; I don't think I've anyone really fall into the middle on this (of course, forums tend to work in extremes, so...). I personally like that my weapon skills are pre-determined, because I can switch my weapons up at any time (for example, right between fights) and it's all ready to go and I know exactly what to expect.

There's also something to be said for memorization. I don't think I've looked at my Warrior's hotbar since last year (well, recently since they changed 1h sword). I know all of the skills like the back of my hand, even the weapons I don't use all that often. Any time I need a stun or reactive block, I know just what to equip.

As for the situational nature of the weapons, that's intentional. Whereas most other MMOs are all about spamming an optimal damage rotation, GW2 wants you to focus on things other than your hotbar; dodging, enemy position, cross-profession combos, traps, environmental weapons (both natural and spawned by other players), enemy telegraphs, terrain advantages, etc. You'll then use those situational skills as needed, to gain some breathing room, push an enemy into an AOE (or off a ledge in PVP/WvW) or interrupt an attack in the case of your knockback.

Most people come around on it. You had weapon swap unlock at level 7, make sure you've equipped a second set of gear in case you missed the Help tip. As you get closer to 20, you'll also unlock more utility skills which are completely customizable and give you a lot of options build-wise.

 

[Mikey Jr.]

The weapon skills definitely took some getting used to. Before the game launched, it was actually one of the things I looked at and said "that's dumb, I won't like that." I came from EQ/WoW/others where you had 8 billion skills and you could customize your entire skill lineup.

It's grown on me, though.

Maybe, dunno. Its just that I unlocked more of my skill slots, and there are a lot of great skills I want to take, but I am stuck with having to select 4 (healing cant be taken out?).

It'll probably grow on me, but I'll be honest, I don't like being so constrained. Also, switching weapons doesn't change your 6-0 slots, those are still the same, which would have alleviated some of my concern.

Yes that part is totally different from Guild Wars 1 but it has to be because of how dynamic the combat in Guild Wars 2 is. That 1 slot skill is usually the one that does most damage for any profession and the situational (knock-back skill) is actually very important to staying alive.

Have you done any combos yet?

Those weapon skills can do extra things based on what combo fields are set up around you. Also with weapon swapping you are getting 10 weapon skills you can switch on the go. Any of the skills from 5-10 can be switched out anytime you are out of combat so you can change skills for whatever situation you might be getting into.

The combat is definitely more dynamic, that is true. Dodging in particular is pretty great. I'm still unsure why basic attack is a skill though. Its not like I'm selecting it.

Also, yeah, saw something about combos but I have no idea what that means or how to do it. I keep seeing in the description about combos, but I have absolutely no clue how to do them. Maybe I am doing them? No idea.


Anyways, still a fucking great game. Trying to progress quickly so that I can finally play with you guys. I keep seeing on guild chat about cool shit like wurm (no idea what that is) and quip? I'm confused, but I probably dont have to know about that for a while.

 

[Retro]

Also, yeah, saw something about combos but I have no idea what that means or how to do it. I keep seeing in the description about combos, but I have absolutely no clue how to do them. Maybe I am doing them? No idea.

A combo is basically any semi-pemanent AOE field (It will be marked as "Combo Field") plus a combo finisher (either Leap, Projectile, Whirl or Blast). It allows you to create new effects by interacting with the field. The classic example is create a fire field (you can do this on a Ranger with a Torch) and then shoot through it; BAM; flaming arrows that inflict Burning status.

You can use fields generated by other professions as well, and each combo field type (there are several; fire, poison, light, dark, etc.) yields different effects. You'll pick up on them as you go, but chances are good if there's a friendly AOE field, you want to be shooting through it or attacking from within it.

All of your skills that are compatible will be marked "Combo Field" or "Combo Finisher".

Anyways, still a fucking great game. Trying to progress quickly so that I can finally play with you guys. I keep seeing on guild chat about cool shit like wurm (no idea what that is) and quip? I'm confused, but I probably dont have to know about that for a while.

Noooo, don't progress quickly! A lot of the events are available at your level already, and rushing to max level doesn't unlock any new type of gameplay you haven't seen before (well, dungeons, but you'll see those around 30-35). Just enjoy playing, exploring, finding things to do.

As you your other questions; Wurm is short for the Great Jungle Wurm, a world event that occurs every so often throughout the day (you can see when here). It pops up in the northern section of Caledon Forest, so it's definitely something you can do if you have the waypoints nearby. You'll see a lot of other events called out like that; SB (Shadow Behemoth, in Queensdale), Maw (Frozen Maw, in Wayfarer's), FE (Fire Elemental, Metrica Province), and so on. Those are all events in stating zones, by the way, so you can start doing them now.

The reason they (and other ones, like Claw of Jormag, the Shatterer, Tequatl, etc.) are popular and called out is because they are guaranteed to drop a Rare-quality item; this can be earned at each event, once a day, per account. This is in addition to the large chest the boss events themselves trigger, which can contain Rares and such as well. Around 8pm Eastern, you'll see people calling events like crazy; everyone is rushing to complete them after the daily reset (lovingly refered to as the "World Event Train"). It's just an easy way to get good loot, so everyone does it.

Quip is a legendary Pistol that Rottel just got; Legendaries are a long way off and take a ton of time, effort and luck to get, so don't worry about those right now. They're supposedly working on a way to make them easier to get, or at least start working towards, in the near future.