Guild Wars 2

[Taggerung]

Tried the first dungeon today with only 4 ppl. It was abysmal. Like i've done hardcore raiding in other games but this just felt overly punishing. The mobs are extremely powerful with a lot of health and the graphics don't allow you to see clearly what they're about to do, thats if the skill gives a warning at all and most of them don't. Theres no real CC so you can't lock certain mobs down while you DPS. Basically theres no strategy between players so it becomes hit it as hard as you can and try to keep yourself alive. We gave up basically when the dungeon was just getting started. Our lack of a 5th might have contributed greatly to our failure but I still think the UI could use some work with regard to warnings and i don't think a 5th would make it that much easier but i'll see when we're all on. Other than that i'm still enjoying the game. Got my cultural armor. Most of it looks terribad so i didn't buy all of it. Anyone know why the armor has the stats that it does. Is it class specific or just default that way.

heres my guy so far

Spoiler:

[Satsuki]

*sigh* Do you think they'll ever come out with a Mac version?

[MiyamotoMusashi]

Started playing yesterday, so far i really like it. I´m thinking of concentrating more on Pve this time, last time i constantly played in a top 100 guild, that took the fun out of the game at some point. besides, it seems like the pve storylines are much longer than in the first game.

[DarthAsthma]

Just out of interest any people here with a little more mmo experience who could give a comparison how high the average time commitment per session is for this game.
I played the first one and some wow a few years ago when I was only in school. The first guild wars although not as bad as wow could demand a pretty high time commitment depending on what you've been planning to do (like clearing areas for titles).

I'm interested in this game but right now I prefer things that I can log into for an hour and feel like I've done something, so I'm not sure if this game is for me right now.

[tatermoog]

It's great for that. Each large map segment is divided into roughly 15 segments, each of which has a few persistent tasks to be accomplished. Can log in, clear out one or two, and log out pretty easily.

Might just be, but does feel like crafting is more of a time commitment than in some other games.

[CosmicDebris]

I don't feel there is any major time commitment. You can easily log in, explore a little, do some random event, log off. Also there is no sub fee, so you don't have to feel like you need to get your subscription's value. Maybe at higher levels if you want to do dungeons it might be more time consuming, but the first one isn't even until level 30.

[tatermoog]

Anyone else feel like crafting is a little messed up? I'm having trouble getting my armorsmithing/weaponsmithing to level at a rate where the equipment stays useful for my characters. Sure, I can craft some decent stuff, but random drops tend to be just as good or better.

Is it just a grind to get to the high-level stuff, or am I doing it wrong?

Also, bad idea to do an armorsmithing/weaponsmithing combo, I know.

[DarthAsthma]

So I just got it need some help picking a class. I don't really care for playstyle because once I learn it I'll probably have fun.
The only class I don't want to play is guardian since 2 of my friends already do.
What's the most viable class for solo adventuring?

I'd normally wouldn't ask this but one thing that the original guild wars really screwed up was balance for viability. Monk was for a very long time the king of classes that had the most versatility (like being able to solo a lot of endgame stuff). Back then I chose paragon which was a wreck of a class. My friends told me they fixed it like a year before GW2 launch but I long stopped playing by then.

[Taggerung]

The real meat of crafting for your lvl is in the recipes you buy from the supply guy. They can make yellows which are probably a lot better than the randoms you can find. They tend to look nicer too. Crafting in the end will yield the easiest way to get the gear with the best stats but ofc those will be very expensive material wise but you'll still be able to settle for really great gear. Those trophies tended to hold me up for awhile while leveling and i would often leave a zone before i had gotten enough of the proper tier. Luckily I'm playing with friends so we share what we don't use, without that boost and a little buying off the trading post i'd have thrown craft out the window awhile ago cause i don't have the time to chase one mob type for 2 hours to get one type of trophy. That being said those yellow recipes will cost you 15 of w/e trophy you're using to make it so make it count.

btw i'm 80. Not sure what to do with myself though. I'm not a huge fan of the dungeons especially explorable mode. They seem like a test in mental endurance rather than skill but I plan to do them all at least once. After that i might join a more PvP oriented guild to do some serious WvW. But all of that might not happen so i'll be leveling an alt as well. Something i normal hate to do but in this game i don't mind. Feels less like a grind and more like a nice way to spend some time.

[Urouge]

What's the most viable class for solo adventuring?

Ranger for sure. Pet tanks while you kill stuff from range without getting touched.

[tatermoog]

Greatsword Guardian too. Frequently taking out three or more of same level with middling effort.

[Hinscher]

Yep Ranger is by far the easiest. In a way it sort of feels like your playing an older mmo though. Your pet aggros and stalls everything while you sit back and click a button.

I mostly play Theif, they are definately not an easy solo class. Lots of dodging and moving needed there. They do good damage but are very squishy.

[DarthAsthma]

Thanks for the tips they are much appreciated but by playing around a little bit more I got to say that this isn't a game that I can derive much solo fun from. Doing things solo nets you really low rewards and the task are pretty mmo'ish to no fault for the game, so I'm probably sticking to pure group play for this and my friends talked me into starting a warrior for whatever reason.

As for the game itself it's pretty great I really recognize all the great little things they did but still I'm not really having a blast with it.
I think I'm just really burned out on multiplayer games that thrive themselves purely on their game mechanics (be it mmo, shooters or arpg's ala diablo). They always get repetitive and the more my experience palette with those games grows the quicker they do.
So I'll probably just level with some alts my friends started since I'll progress pretty slow. At least it's really easy to play together no matter the progress.

[Hinscher]

Not sure why Solo is even used in terms to this game. The only time I'm ever solo is when i'm running around getting vista viewpoints and points of interest. Otherwise if your doing any Hearts, or any sort of mission that pops up, it seems like there is at least 3 other people there minimum doing the same thing or come running to help.

I guess my story part is solo. I've never actually joined a group or party or whatver you can do in this game, but hardly can call questing SOLO.

[DarthAsthma]

Not sure why Solo is even used in terms to this game. The only time I'm ever solo is when i'm running around getting vista viewpoints and points of interest. Otherwise if your doing any Hearts, or any sort of mission that pops up, it seems like there is at least 3 other people there minimum doing the same thing or come running to help.

I guess my story part is solo. I've never actually joined a group or party or whatver you can do in this game, but hardly can call questing SOLO.

Depends on how you define your group experience. I can't say that it's much of a social experience to do heartmissions where people just happen to attack the same things like you once in a while and the interacting with objects mission parts are pretty much a solo thing too.
For me to have a group experience at the very least some form of communication(to be more general some form of human feedback to your actions) is needed otherwise it's not much different than having the world filled with npcs. So yeah from that point of view even if many people within an area work towards the same goal it can be a very solitary experience.

[Hinscher]

Depends on how you define your group experience. I can't say that it's much of a social experience to do heartmissions where people just happen to attack the same things like you once in a while and the interacting with objects mission parts are pretty much a solo thing too.
For me to have a group experience at the very least some form of communication is needed otherwise it's not much different than having the world filled with npcs. So yeah from that point of you even if many people within an area work towards the same goal it can be a very solitary experience.

Was saying group in the sense of combat.

I thought you were asking about a class you would be able to solo with and not worry about dying and being able to complete quests.

I was just stating that regardless if your in an official group/party/guild, with friends or not there will be plenty of people running around at all times that you will have no trouble doing any heart mission as any class.

[DarthAsthma]

I see, well I wouldn't have been really worried about not being able to complete quest since they seem to be pretty easy anyway. It was more under the lines of being able to do high level content alone or having an edge over other classes for doing high level content.

Like I said in the original Guild Wars monks had the best build variety that enabled them to conquer areas solo, farm ectoplasma alone etc. Paragon and mesmer were a long time a joke class for pve. So I didn't want to pick a really bad balanced class this time but yeah after playing around and talking with friends a bit I haven't found one of these yet.

But yeah I don't have any desire to do things solo any more so that solves my problem.

[The Laughing Man]

I see, well I wouldn't have been really worried about not being able to complete quest since they seem to be pretty easy anyway. It was more under the lines of being able to do high level content alone or having an edge over other classes for doing high level content.

Like I said in the original Guild Wars monks had the best build variety that enabled them to conquer areas solo, farm ectoplasma alone etc. Paragon and mesmer were a long time a joke class for pve. So I didn't want to pick a really bad balanced class this time but yeah after playing around and talking with friends a bit I haven't found one of these yet.

But yeah I don't have any desire to do things solo any more so that solves my problem.

Yeah. Soloing in Guild Wars 2 really only comes into play with instanced story quests.

[Satsuki]

WOO! Mac Beta!!

http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/09/...-now-available

[tatermoog]

Review from one of the best PC Gaming Reviewers: http://www.quartertothree.com/fp/2012/09/20/believe-the-guild-wars-2-hype/

I'm not quite as agog about the game as he is, but his consideration of how the game makes you like other players is spot on. Big part of the appeal.