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Meeps
join:2012-08-20

Meeps to I AM

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Re: Official Guild Wars 2 Thread

So I'm planning to buy this game today, I know a few people who play and have heard nothing but good things.

any protips for a newbie? I'm fairly new to MMO's (only one I played was RuneScape for a few years when I was younger, if that even counts, lol).

Few questions,
What classes would be suited for a newbie?
How much grinding should I be expecting/how important is grinding at lower levels compared to exploring?
Insert other questions here.

Cheers

pr1mo
Premium Member
join:2003-11-12
Chicago, IL

pr1mo

Premium Member

said by Meeps:

So I'm planning to buy this game today, I know a few people who play and have heard nothing but good things.

any protips for a newbie? I'm fairly new to MMO's (only one I played was RuneScape for a few years when I was younger, if that even counts, lol).

Few questions,
What classes would be suited for a newbie?
How much grinding should I be expecting/how important is grinding at lower levels compared to exploring?
Insert other questions here.

Cheers

To be honest with you, nothing in this game is really considered a grind. Unless of course you're just farming all day or farming for legendary materials. Everything in the game rewards you with XP pretty much. There's a TON of areas to explorer. Exploration is VERY rewarding. Throughout my time leveling, not once did I have the overwhelming feeling of, "omg I have to log in and keep doing THIS?"

It's wonderful.

puppy
join:2010-01-28
San Diego, CA

1 edit

puppy to Meeps

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to Meeps
said by Meeps:

What classes would be suited for a newbie?
How much grinding should I be expecting/how important is grinding at lower levels compared to exploring?
Insert other questions here.

Warrior I think is the easiest class. Strong survivability, strong dps. The easiest spec to level with is to put 10 points into Arms trait and use "Deep Strike" trait, where you get +40 precision (+critical chance) per unused signet, then equip all the signets you have access to (heal signet, dolyak, fury, might, etc etc). When you get to 30 get the signet of rage. This spec will carry you all the way into 50+ easy since you will hit so freaking hard you just melt mobs. I personally like dual axes but a lot of people love the greatsword, and I switched to the greatsword at level 55 just because of the higher end traits it has. Do not use this spec in dungeons though (which you won't worry about until you are 30), you will be eating dirt and people hate glass cannon signet warriors.

Ranger is also extremely easy if you want a ranged spec (warrior can be played ranged as well). Use a bear for tanking, just mow everything down with short and long bows.

I'd say caster classes are much harder in general since they are fragile, so you might want to save that for later after you get a feel of the game.

The best thing about GW2 is the lack of "grinding" at lower levels. Avoid the mistake I did, which was trying to do just my personal story and hearts. Very soon your personal story will be many levels above you and you will get creamed. Do all the hearts, harvest everything, hit all the points of interest and vistas (youtube shows you how to get to every vista and poi), join dynamic events when they pop up. You will level up very easily that way. You get experience for ressing other players or NPCs as well.

Another thing I found very useful is to do multiple newbie zones before moving on. You can access other newbie zones cheaply by clicking the crossed sword icon at the top, go to the mists, then go to the asura gate that goes to Lions Arch. When you to get Lions Arch there's a ton of other asura gates next to you to other newbie lands. You still get good experience even when you are overleveled because GW2 adjust your level for you.

One more newbie tip is once you get some money (say 50-100 coppers), hit the trading post and buy some blue weapons. You can get blue weapons for coppers and they will hit much harder than the crap whites that you find. Don't forget to buy harvest kits, lots of exp there and you can sell the mats.

Edit: Keep your gear up to date! I upgrade my gear every 5 levels (probably overkill, but at least your weapons). Right now it is probably cheaper to just sell the mats you gather and buy armor from the TP, since maybe people sell them at or below cost to level crafting.

Edit2: I personally can't max crafting since I run out of mats and too lazy to play the trading post, but cooking is a lot of fun and alchemy is pretty easy for the first 100 points. When you have some money, I would get cooking and make bread (flour and water and yeast I think). You get +20 vitality and +10exp per kill for 15? minutes each bread, really nice at starting levels. Alchemy you can make potions that give some random benefit but also +10 exp each, and both of these stack.

Edit3: Crafting in GW2 is unlike others in that it is much better to do discovery instead of making the same item 50x.

Edit4: Ugh just too much info. Start from the beginning of this thread and skim

Edit5: Different classes have ways to get the "swiftness" boon, such as when a warrior uses a warhorn as a weapon. I love this boon since it makes you run 33% faster. My warrior can keep it up pretty much 100% between the warhorn and signet of rage, since when you use both the duration of the boon adds up/stacks.

TheThing
join:2012-08-10

TheThing to Meeps

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to Meeps
said by Meeps:

So I'm planning to buy this game today, I know a few people who play and have heard nothing but good things.

any protips for a newbie? I'm fairly new to MMO's (only one I played was RuneScape for a few years when I was younger, if that even counts, lol).

Few questions,
What classes would be suited for a newbie?
How much grinding should I be expecting/how important is grinding at lower levels compared to exploring?
Insert other questions here.

Cheers

I think it's great that you are new to MMOs. This way WoW won't ruin your GW2 experience.

Not because WoW is better than GW2, but because after playing WoW for 5 years, people get set in their ways and get narrow minded.

My tip for a newbie would be to try 2-3 classes (professions), and play each until about level 10, then make a judgement call on what you like best and proceed to 80.

There is no grind in GW2... at least until you hit max level.

The game is designed to NOT reward grinding. So explore, do vistas, do hearts, do point of interests, do crafting, do gathering, all of them contribute to your leveling and XP.

Also, I would give the game a minimum of 40-50 hours before you make a judgement call on whether its for you or not.

Take your time, be patient, there is lots in the game to "wrap your brain around"... ENJOY THE RIDE.

I think I just hit 200 hours, and I'm still wrapping my head around lots of things in the game.

ALSO: Read up on the different ways people control their characters. Some people do WASD for movement, while others do Right Mouse + Left Mouse for movement. Also get familiar with controlling the camera... zooming in, zooming out, rotating camera. you can look in any direction.

puppy
join:2010-01-28
San Diego, CA

puppy

Member

Want to second what Thing said about experimenting.

A lot of the times just the feel of a weapon/skill can make or break a class for me, so don't be afraid to make alts (my highest is just 57 haha, such an altoholic, I remake alts just because I don't like the look/race/movement/etc) and try all the different professions and weapons. For example I love the feel of a longbow on a warrior much more than on a ranger, while others love the MELEE weapons on a ranger more than the bows. Don't get pigeonholed, play what you like

Jaided
join:2009-11-13
Mount Laurel, NJ

Jaided to TheThing

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I agree with you Thing. I've bounced around playing a variety of MMO's since I left WoW and GW2 is honestly the closest one that I've played that gives me that feeling of "I can't wait to play" again.

But to tag onto what you said, I actually rolled 4 toons and played them all to level 20 before settling on a main. One thing I would throw out for newer players is that most of the stuff in this game is "account bound". That makes it extremely easy to share mats and items between alts. I love the fact that I don't have to mail crap back and forth between toons.

Also, many of the rewards for daily activities and events are also "account bound". That makes it much easier to share the wealth with your toons.

Personally, I enjoyed playing all of my toons while I leveled them to 20. For me, one clear profession stood out as the most fun to play. I've tried everything but Mezmer so far, and have to say that there really is no bad class/profession in the game.

Hope you have fun Meeps!

puppy
join:2010-01-28
San Diego, CA

puppy

Member

said by Jaided:

I've tried everything but Mezmer so far, and have to say that there really is no bad class/profession in the game.

Just wanted to comment that some professions take a while to mature, especially Mesmer. I can't level my mesmer just because she feels so weak, but supposedly once you get to 30 or 40 with the needed traits they really start to shine.

One thing to do is to youtube videos of all the skills of different professions, or you can go to the PvP zone (where you are promoted to 80 and have access to all the skills) so you can try them out against poor defenseless target golems.

TheThing
join:2012-08-10

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said by puppy:

A lot of the times just the feel of a weapon/skill can make or break a class for me, so don't be afraid to make alts (my highest is just 57 haha, such an altoholic, I remake alts just because I don't like the look/race/movement/etc) and try all the different professions and weapons. For example I love the feel of a longbow on a warrior much more than on a ranger, while others love the MELEE weapons on a ranger more than the bows. Don't get pigeonholed, play what you like

+1

Each class (profession) can be played several ways. A warrior with a bow/rifle feels much different from a warrior with dual-axes or 2H greatsword.

I hate my warrior with 2H greatsword (while others love them with it). But I love my warrior with dual axes!

If you enjoy Theorycrafting, GW2 is a great game for you. It gets as simple or as complex as you want to make it. Between traits, weapon skills, additional skills, signets, sigils and runes... just trying to figure it all out is as simple or complicated as you want to make it!

still trying to wrap my head around my warrior... loving my guardian with 2H greatsword

puppy
join:2010-01-28
San Diego, CA

puppy

Member

said by TheThing:

I hate my warrior with 2H greatsword (while others love them with it). But I love my warrior with dual axes!

I ran dual axes all the way until this weekend too. Just love that swirling action!

Now that I am 55+, I switched to greatsword just because there are better traits for it than dual axes. Might on crits (I've gotten over 12+ stacks easily, with GFJ, and not even using the might on crit sigil), 10% more damage, 20% faster skill cooloff. Sucks that only greatsword gets this love, but oh well. It's nice to hundred blade every 6 seconds though, mows the mobs down, and the GS feels better than it did before for some reason.

TheThing
join:2012-08-10

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TheThing

Member

I just like the mobility that axes gives me over 2H GS (on warrior)

GS F1 roots me in place
GS 2 roots me in place

right now running a crit/bleed/vulnerability build, with traits/sigils

also with vitality+shouts that heal, and boons that give bonus damage

within a matter of seconds my target has 10 stacks of vulnerability and bleeds on him

and while 1H sword on warrior auto applies bleeds, it only applies bleeds on the first of three auto hits on its rotation... dual axes cranks out more auto attacks, with more chances to crit which applies bleeds/vulnerability

Meeps
join:2012-08-20

Meeps

Member

Alright. So I have a level 26 Engineer now. It took me a while to get in to the game (mostly because I wasn't used to how the movement controls worked) but now I'm a big fan. :P

Mostly been using duel pistols because it seems to have more aoe than rifles do. Haven't really checked out the different gun types for it yet (elixer gun/flamethrower/bomb etc) but I'm quite keen to (does anyone have some advice on what to try? I'm very open to suggestions).

Haven't really tried offensive turrets that much, mostly been using Elixers for burst of op damage and a net turret to help with kiting. It's been working so far, but its starting to get a bit harder to live through mobs due to my glass cannon status.

Loads of fun though

TheBionic
Funkier than a mohair disco ball.
Premium Member
join:2009-07-06
united state

TheBionic

Premium Member

said by Meeps:

Alright. So I have a level 26 Engineer now. It took me a while to get in to the game (mostly because I wasn't used to how the movement controls worked) but now I'm a big fan. :P

Mostly been using duel pistols because it seems to have more aoe than rifles do. Haven't really checked out the different gun types for it yet (elixer gun/flamethrower/bomb etc) but I'm quite keen to (does anyone have some advice on what to try? I'm very open to suggestions).

Haven't really tried offensive turrets that much, mostly been using Elixers for burst of op damage and a net turret to help with kiting. It's been working so far, but its starting to get a bit harder to live through mobs due to my glass cannon status.

Loads of fun though

I used a dual pistol/flamethrower condition build all the way to 80, but now I'm trying out a rifle/turret dps spec. The engineer is tons of fun, check out this thread for some helpful tips on the engineer.

»GW2: Engineer Thread

facepalm
join:2012-08-20
Lumberton, TX

facepalm to Meeps

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My engineer is level 54. I've mostly spec'd condition and started adding some toughness which is helping the glass cannon issue quite well. The flame thrower is my favorite weapon followed by the rifle and the elixir gun.

I've given up on pistols for now. I'm loving the supply drop skill and supplement that with other turrets. I can easily immobilize veteran mobs and burn them down plenty quick. Helluva fun profession.

Bombs are a lot of fun when there are large group fights. Be careful though, you will piss some mobs off.