LV 53. Any advice?

Yeah, that seems like an odd question, but I don't know if I need help or not.Been playing the game for a few weeks now; only took about 3 days to decide I was here for the long haul and upgraded to the 2 expacs. I dabbled with a few classes but have stuck with my Ranger.

So when you were playing your first character and hit early 50's, what advice do you wish someone had given you?Some factoids:

• I'm playing Ranger LB/GS, running Marks and Nature so far. Stat priority: Power - Precision - Ferocity
• I'm not a fan of button mashing so I run with 3 signets + Pack elite skill (which I always forget to use)
• Crafting is 52/75 Hunts 10/75 LW. Having a hard time focusing on this since I keep getting upgrades from quests.
• Yesterday I finished the LV 30 stage of my Personal Story. Currently I'm trying to follow that as a path through the content.
• I always drop what I'm doing for Champion events or World Bosses. Yesterday I participated in the downing the Triple Threat worm boss. I had no idea what to expect, but I just followed my Commander around and listened to instructions.
• I'm mixing / matching salvaging gear drops and selling them on the Trading Post. I've purchased 3 upgrades from the TP, but mostly upgrade from drops, level rewards or karma vendors.
• I completed Sharkmaw Caverns and bought the sweet LB at LV 44, but I think I suck at jumping puzzles. Not sure if I can find my way back there on other characters though.
• I don't like underwater combat
• I'm too frugal (read: cheap) to pay 60c to teleport to waypoints, so I tend to run a lot, unless a Champion event pops up
• I'm not in a guild, nor do I think I'm ready for organized group content. Eventually I would like to do dungeons, as they were a big part of my gaming experience in both WoW and LoTR MMOs, but am not sure if I'm missing out on playing solo / outside a guild.

That's me in an e-nutshell.

Really enjoying the game. It's very different from the ones I've played in the past (I didn't care much for GW1 tbh), but I couldn't continue with MMO-on-a-treadmill games, so GW2 suits me so far.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!

Never pass up a gathering node, lol. As far as crafting, if you're getting drops to stay up-to-date don't waste mats crafting your gear. Check the Trading Post to see what's in high demand, craft it to level up your crafting and sell it.

Guild: Even though you're not interested in organized groups you can join one for the guild buffs from the hall that's free if it's available.

You seem like you have a good grasp of direction.

Should you ever find yourself feeling "ok, what now?" go for a bit of map completion - pick a lower-level map and hunt down remaining hearts, vistas etc.

You mention getting the expacs, so you may want to take your character at lvl 80 into the beginning of each expac to unlock the glider (HoT) and first mount (PoF - raptor). Both of these would be helpful in your Core Tyria travels or expansion travels at lvl 80.

As you progress to lvl 80, keep using drops for gear/weapons as much as possible. You can salvage/sell most things. Your approach to only buy a few things off of the TP (assuming to fill a gap that was getting too large) is the right way to go about it. Once you're lvl 80, you an think about coordinating a build and gear. If you're lvl 53 now, you're branching into the Exotic grade items, which will be your go-to at lvl 80 (next tier requires high-level crafting or running higher level content and counting on RNG, it's a goal to work towards once you're already comfortable with your lvl 80 build in Exotics).

Most of all, keep enjoying the game! That's the entire reason for playing.

PS: Don't forget to check the Wiki for advice on anything ---> Wiki Home Page

Use one of your lvl80 boosts on a secondary character, so you can do the first instance of the PoF story (it's immidiately available to any lvl80 character) and get your first mount(it's free), then never touch that character again. The mount will then be available to all of your characters regardless of lvl, I know it may sound like a bad idea breaking immerison like that but getting that first mount will make your life much easier in core Tyria exploration, if you want you can go the extra mile and also pick up the Skimmer mount too for it's Jump ability which will make a lot of Vistas much easier to grab. It's up to you.As for Gliding, I don't think you really need it in core Tyria sure it can save you from some falls but so can the mount since if you are mounted and drop from high up the mount dissapears but you are completely unharmed so in my opinion it's not worth breaking immersion further than getting that first mount.

Finding a guild that matches well with your personality and play-style will make any MMO more enjoyable. That said, you don't need to be in a guild to enjoy most of GW2's content.

As others have said, don't worry too much about your gear until level 80. Once you reach level 80, you can find multiple guides on the Internet to help you gear up.

You don't have to focus on crafting right now. However, max level crafting is a valid way to attain max stat level gear. I would recommend crafting as you level, not for the gear itself; but because it's easier to pick up materials as you go than to go back later to early zones to farm things you skip. Also, gathering and crafting gives a tiny amount of character experience. (Bonus: Discovery recipes give the best crafting XP gains)

You can teleport to Lion's Arch from anywhere in the world for free by first teleporting to a PVP lobby (i forget which specific one it is). You can then telelport from LA to the major cities via the gate system. I use this trick to save on travel costs.

Crashburntoo gave some great advice about the glider and raptor. I'd also add the springer/rabbit mount. The glider and mounts make the entire rest of the game much more enjoyable. Don't even worry about finishing / completing either of the expansion packs until you've got the glider and mounts.

IMO, GW2 is a game in which you can set your own goals. Do I want to make max level gear? Do I want to craft a legendary weapon? Do I want to focus on raiding? Do I want to go achievement hunting? You can do all these things or nothing at all. Don't worry about it too much. But, it's something to keep in the back of your mind.

Item drops in this game are not like other MMOs. GW2 rewards you mostly with coin, crafting materials, and gear tokens. Then, you go and buy/craft what you really want. Don't expect to get max level gear through dungeon boss drops. It does happen; but it's rare for your first character.

I'd say you have a good grasp of what the game has to offer. Keep on keeping on. Below, I've commented on a few of your "factoids." I'll add the following:

• You can't make bad choices while leveling (you could in "my day;" you can't now).
• Try different skills, traits, builds and experiment. Most people hit L80 and don't change much after, so try more things now, before you get too comfy.
• Don't worry about dying. Try to figure out after why you died and see if you can do better the next iteration.
• Don't worry (that much) about being efficient: if you are here for the long haul, you'll have plenty of time to do more with less. For now, take your time, go off in whatever direction seems interesting.

@"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

• I'm playing Ranger LB/GS, running Marks and Nature so far. Stat priority: Power - Precision - FerocityPer above, try other combinations and see what works for you.

*I'm not a fan of button mashing so I run with 3 signets + Pack elite skill (which I always forget to use)Try the other utilities. Yeah, you're not a fan of [fill in the blank], but you might feel differently when you get a feel for some of the other skills. This is definitely a "wish I had known" moment. You can always return to triple signet builds, but make sure you get a sense of what you are choosing them over.

Case in point: traditionally, in fantasy RPGs, I prefer caster classes. I hate paladins and cleric types (too reactive for my taste usually). So during the BETA game, I tried out guardian, just to prove that I didn't need to waste any time on it when the game launched. And wow, I loved it. I would never have known without experimenting.

*Crafting is 52/75 Hunts 10/75 LW. Having a hard time focusing on this since I keep getting upgrades from quests.Don't worry about crafting. You'll get plenty of drops that you can use and you can buy stuff on the TP later. I'd advise waiting until you hit L80 with at least one toon before you worry about it (unless you genuinely love crafting).

*Yesterday I finished the LV 30 stage of my Personal Story. Currently I'm trying to follow that as a path through the content.That sounds fine. Some people do it that way, some don't.

*I always drop what I'm doing for Champion events or World Bosses. Yesterday I participated in the downing the Triple Threat worm boss. I had no idea what to expect, but I just followed my Commander around and listened to instructions.Super. That's a good way to see what's going on.

*I'm mixing / matching salvaging gear drops and selling them on the Trading Post. I've purchased 3 upgrades from the TP, but mostly upgrade from drops, level rewards or karma vendors.I recommend not worrying about gear until L80. It does matter, but leveling is pretty quick in this game and you'd have to keep swapping gear every day or three to keep up. Instead, I suggest just using the best that drops for you and then outfitting yourself more seriously when you hit L80.

That said, some people find it a lot easier to navigate with beefier gear (or deadlier).

*I completed Sharkmaw Caverns and bought the sweet LB at LV 44, but I think I suck at jumping puzzles. Not sure if I can find my way back there on other characters though.I skipped JPs almost entirely for a long time, since I'm really bad a them. Later, I practiced a lot (including Sharkmaw). There's no rush on stuff like that.

*I don't like underwater combatSome of us love it; some not. You can go your entire GW2 "career" without spending time worrying about it. (I know a lot of people who do the underwater Fractal aka Dungeon without really understanding their underwater skills.)

*I'm too frugal (read: cheap) to pay 60c to teleport to waypoints, so I tend to run a lot, unless a Champion event pops upHeck, I still tend to run instead of WP if there's no event timer.

*I'm not in a guild, nor do I think I'm ready for organized group content. Eventually I would like to do dungeons, as they were a big part of my gaming experience in both WoW and LoTR MMOs, but am not sure if I'm missing out on playing solo / outside a guild.This is a trickier question for everyone.

First, there are three types of dungeons in the game: the traditional kind ("dungeons"); a less-traditional sort ("fractals"); and the traditional sort of challenging content ("raids"). Experienced players will mostly say that dungeons are easy, fractals are easy at lower tiers and somewhat challenging at top tiers, and raids are challenging for many. (But there's a lot of disagreement, too, so don't take my word.)

My opinion is that, if you are confident in your build, you can jump into dungeons any time you want. It's much easier with an L80 and rare or better gear, especially your first time. For low-tier fractals, exotic gear & L80 is almost a necessity (technically, it's not, but you'll be happier if you are).

For high-tier fractals, you need special gear... so come back and ask questions about that when you get there.For raids, ditto (you don't need special gear; you do want to be 'ready').

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:Yeah, that seems like an odd question, but I don't know if I need help or not.

All you told sounds like you dont need any help :) Just continue what you were doing :)

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:Been playing the game for a few weeks now; only took about 3 days to decide I was here for the long haul and upgraded to the 2 expacs. I dabbled with a few classes but have stuck with my Ranger.

Ranger is great class. My ranger is my PvP/PvE workhorse, other classes are just to have fun time to time... Well, maybe except necro/guard, which I'd need to large scale WvW fights. I'd suggest that when hitting 80, unlock druid first, it is very, very useful for rangers.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:**So when you were playing your first character and hit early 50's, what advice do you wish someone had given you?

I hit my first character to 50 around half a year ago. Would I know better, the only advice I'd give my past self would be just relax. I was probably worrying too much about things, and rushing a bit too much, before I realized that things come at their own pace, and when leveling up there is not much you really should take in to account. You don't miss anything: you will come back to all areas later, and you have lots of time to complete what you started.

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:**Some factoids:

• I'm playing Ranger LB/GS, running Marks and Nature so far. Stat priority: Power - Precision - Ferocity

Power ranger is good approach. LB/GS is close optimal to open world PvE, assuming you keep your GS as main weapon and use LB only if you are outside GS range. GS autoattack evade + GS block + GS cleave is IMO excellent. You will later be introduced to other weapons: staff if you do to druid and even then, only to build up celestial force bit quicker, and even then, warhorn probably eventually supercedes staff except if you want to use staff #3 for mobility. MH sword you may get used to, if you go PvP/WvW, just because of its mobility. Warhorn offhand #5 is so good, that you may eventually want to trait for that. Axe MH you will fell in love if you liked and traited WH and don't want/need mobility from sword. Torch you go if you get fond with condi ranger/druid.

Anyways, the necessary things at this point to know is that GS/LB is very good combo and you will try out other sets eventually, of course depending what you are aiming in the future.

• I'm not a fan of button mashing so I run with 3 signets + Pack elite skill (which I always forget to use)

Two of the signets are very powerful in the end: Signet of Stone and Signet of Renewal. But even that they are strong, in certain builds / cases you will give them up for bit more useful skills. Strength of the Pack is likewise very strong.

• Crafting is 52/75 Hunts 10/75 LW. Having a hard time focusing on this since I keep getting upgrades from quests.

Don't worry too much about that. It's easier to level up crafting later, and high levels will get expensive anyways.

• I'm mixing / matching salvaging gear drops and selling them on the Trading Post. I've purchased 3 upgrades from the TP, but mostly upgrade from drops, level rewards or karma vendors.

I mostly salvage everything I get. But sometimes I might get something that is worth selling at TP :) Rare, but sometimes that happens :)

• I completed Sharkmaw Caverns and bought the sweet LB at LV 44, but I think I suck at jumping puzzles. Not sure if I can find my way back there on other characters though.

I suck on jumping puzzles, too. The only way to overcome that is just practising.

• I don't like underwater combat

No-one does. Well, some people, but not many.

• I'm too frugal (read: cheap) to pay 60c to teleport to waypoints, so I tend to run a lot, unless a Champion event pops up

You can use teleports pretty freely, in the end they cost nothing compared what other things will be costing to you (crafting). But as long as you can, running around will take you to places and events you would not have discovered if you used waypoints.

• I'm not in a guild, nor do I think I'm ready for organized group content. Eventually I would like to do dungeons, as they were a big part of my gaming experience in both WoW and LoTR MMOs, but am not sure if I'm missing out on playing solo / outside a guild.

Dungeons are, sadly, otudated. The small group activity are fractals. Head there. Guild will help you as much as other games, like kinships in lotro. You get help to your dailies and many kins - ermh guilds run their guild-wise events. Join one. It costs you nothing and it gives you things you can't get alone.

Really enjoying the game. It's very different from the ones I've played in the past (I didn't care much for GW1 tbh), but I couldn't continue with MMO-on-a-treadmill games, so GW2 suits me so far.

Yeah, same. I come from lotro, because after years I finally got enough the constant obsoleting the content, and force people to regrind everything. This game has proven to be different. When PoF came here, nothing were obsoleted: people are still running even core Tyria maps. Sure, HoT maps had some drops of people, but they are still anything but ghost towns.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!

I think that with this attitude, after few months, it will be me to listen your words of wisdom. All the luck, good choice (ranger), and after WoW/lotro, I think you would not regret much. Depends on of course your preferred playstyle, but still.

you might try this links

https://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/wiki/newplayershttps://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Event_timers

concerning guilds you will miss out on guild exclusiv content and items but nothing major for the beginning

Thank you all for the advice and the kind words.

@MikeL.8260 That is one heck of an idea. No doubt, I've been hungrily eyeing everyone else's mounts as they zoom past me. Having spent time in WoW, mounts are just something you get used to. I'll have to give it some thought. While I enjoy leveling characters, there are some classes that I suspect I wouldn't really enjoy playing, so they would be a candidate for this plan.

Sounds like you're doing well and having fun.
1) don't be so cheap re: waypoints. I mean, if you want, fine. But you won't even notice the savings in the long run.2) I'd recommend getting caught up with the story. If you do it at the appropriate level it provides half the gear in rewards you need, and it spaces it out nicely.3) don't bother with crafting until you hit lvl 80. it levels you too quickly, and you use up mats that you could be selling for gold.

Other than that - save your laurels, and generally all your non-standard currencies, until you know for sure what you want to spend them on. My biggest error was blowing those early on only to find later they are actually necessary.

Enjoy the game.

get lvl 80 asap and unlock isle of istan from the personal story while it is free.u will most likely be quite confused about what is happening in the story but as long as u unlock the map u wont have to play gems (or real money) for it later on.i say do this asap because next chapter is right around the corner, and if im not mistaken, once it comes out those who did not unlock it yet will have to pay to unlock.2 benefits to do this:1. u get it for free and 2. its a crazy good map for farming right now.

dont worry too much about gear until u r lvl 80. and when u r lvl 80 u can simply buy full exotics and use those until u get enough gold (or lucky drops) for ascended.i believe u can buy exotic ascended zerker gear ( power prec fero) from cursed shore, temple of grenth(?) for karma. it might be a long walk there but its kinda worth it.

when u r full exotic the best upgrade for gear is runes (or sigils for weapons). i wouldnt waste gold on other types of upgrades. also some upgrades sell for more on the TP than they do to vendors.

also remember LFG (looking for grp) is ur friend. especially when u r lvl 80.

gl.

@Vova.2640 said:get lvl 80 asap and unlock isle of istan from the personal story while it is free.u will most likely be quite confused about what is happening in the story but as long as u unlock the map u wont have to play gems (or real money) for it later on.i say do this asap because next chapter is right around the corner, and if im not mistaken, once it comes out those who did not unlock it yet will have to pay to unlock.2 benefits to do this:1. u get it for free and 2. its a crazy good map for farming right now.

dont worry too much about gear until u r lvl 80. and when u r lvl 80 u can simply buy full exotics and use those until u get enough gold (or lucky drops) for ascended.i believe u can buy exotic ascended zerker gear ( power prec fero) from cursed shore, temple of grenth(?) for karma. it might be a long walk there but its kinda worth it.

when u r full exotic the best upgrade for gear is runes (or sigils for weapons). i wouldnt waste gold on other types of upgrades. also some upgrades sell for more on the TP than they do to vendors.

also remember LFG (looking for grp) is ur friend. especially when u r lvl 80.

gl.

You unlock the episode just by logging in while it is the current episode. You don't need to be level 80 and you don't need to play the instance/map while it is live. Just login and you've got it for free. Even F2P and accounts without PoF unlock the season 4 episodes, they just can't play them until they purchase the expansion.

Keep on smashing! Do whatever you find fun and the game rewards you. Gw2 does not funnel us off into one or two directions. There’s nothing wrong with taking a lvl 80 character to a lvl 1-15 area and completing the hearts. Anything you find fun is progression.

Getting the glider and first couple of mounts after you hit lvl 80 will make your next character lvl a lot faster.

Happy you are enjoying it!

@"Turkeyspit.3965" said:

So when you were playing your first character and hit early 50's, what advice do you wish someone had given you?

It was during the launch when me and a couple of friends zoomed to 80 by mistake. not because we were grinding for it but because we played sooo much gw2 in a short amount of time. What I do remember and would like to advice is a couple of things:

• You will outlevel and change your gear fairly quickly, so I would recommend you save your Transmutation charges until you hit 80.
• As a new player you might still have a limited amount of gold. I remember I burned all of my gold at the time on the full Medium Whisper's Secret armor, which was a bit of a unnecessary financial setback in hindsight. Nothing huge but still, make smart purchases this early. At least I looked cool for a time!
• I only played my main (a thief) for such a long time and begun to get sick of it, getting slightly "burned out". But I held off leveling another class because I thought I would be a pain to level another 80. The other classes didn't grab me in the early levels at release either. But I was suprised how fun they were once I leveled them up a bit and now I have many different playstyles to choose from depending on mood. You might not like ALL of them, but perhaps having 1 or 2 other characters of similar level would be nice for those times you want to switch things up.
• You haven't mentioned If you dabbled with other gamemodes, But if you enjoyed following a commander during Triple Trouble then maybe you want to check out WvW. You might feel slightly undergeared to start of, but if you hang around in a zerg or blob it is not too bad.
• I tried to level crafting at the same time as I leveled the character, but found it is much easier to level it later. Many achievments and collections later requires maxleveled crafting disciplines, making it more of a "endgame"-content. And as you said, you will get appropriate gear from quests and loot.
• Be mindful of buying gear for Karma, as you cant salvage it or sell it back, basically forcing you to delete it when you have no use for it. It might be better to save it for crafting materials or other things instead. Exception is if it has a cool skin you want to unlock in your wardrobe.

Safe travels!

The mounts in GW2 are unlike mounts in any MMO they are great for traveling that's the same as other MMO's. That's where the similarity ends, The first mount you earn is the Raptor its skill is the long jump need to jump across a gap the raptor is you mount. The raptor acts like a dog when you are just sitting your character will scratch its neck and it will do the leg thing like a dog. Kinda gives it a personality. Also when they stop they do a slide its pretty cool to watch them.

The next mount will be the Skimmer. By the name you may of guessed that it skims across the surface . Its kind of a Manta Ray type of creature they like to do spin arounds while your character is on them. They will also take their tales and poke your character you know like to get your characters attention of course just to make your character look back. They can go over any water quick sand or any other dangerous area without damage.

Third mount is the Springer. Springers are made to go vertical as long as you have a place to land. Wont hurt the springer if you slide back down they have the best grip in the game you can almost feel it They can go as high as the terrain will allow it kinda slow goin on the ground does ok for smaller areas with lots of walls and such.

Fourth mount is the Jackal its made of sand and runes with it you can move like sand and blink in any direction they can also use sand portals other mounts cannot letting you go to unique places even hidden places up in the air. They are useful , but not as much as the skimmer and springer.

Each of these mounts takes masteries before you can claim the next one and there is a small cost after the raptor for them.

Anet did something cool they introduced a 5th mount but never announce it. Getting it costs 250g total and has a really cool adventure to get it. You have seen them around I'm sure lol its the Griffon. It is designed to fly up to a point. When it flaps its wings to go higher it even has a feel like its heavy and kinda strains a bit to go higher.Once you get the mounts started You will want them more and more.

Another thing Anet does is they have mount races in some places which is pretty cool even though I have not done them it looks pretty cool.

Anyway I hope you enjoy the game

Forgot to mention guilds can give their members buffs and lower waypoint costs have your guild leader show you where personal buffs can be received if and when you join a guild.

Incidentally, a 'factoid' is a falsehood. Just fyi.

@"Biff.5312" said:Incidentally, a 'factoid' is a falsehood. Just fyi.

I appreciate the correction, however, the that is the original definition of the term; it has evolved over time. Quoted from wiki below:

A factoid is either a false statement presented as a fact[1][2] or a true, but brief or trivial item of news or information, alternatively known as a factlet.The term was coined in 1973 by American writer Norman Mailer to mean a piece of information that becomes accepted as a fact even though it is not actually true, or an invented fact believed to be true because it appears in print.[3] Since its creation in 1973, the term has evolved, now often being used to describe a brief or trivial item of news or information.

Also: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/factoid

This is great! Very helpful thread.

I'm in much the same boat, level 55 , playing for a few weeks, similar approach.

Several posters recommend not worrying about gear until 80, which I get. Are there any chests or rewards we should save until then, to hold off opening until we're at max level and higher magic find? Or does it not matter?

@Ringlin.1863 said:This is great! Very helpful thread.

I'm in much the same boat, level 55 , playing for a few weeks, similar approach.

Several posters recommend not worrying about gear until 80, which I get. Are there any chests or rewards we should save until then, to hold off opening until we're at max level and higher magic find? Or does it not matter?

Only very few bags are affected by magic find, and it will state in the description if it is affected (if it says nothing then it is not affected by magic find).The envelopes from the recent lunar event are the best example to this. The quality of goods you get gets better with magic find.

In fact, some bags are worth more when opening on lower lvl chars, like lvl 52-53s. This is because lower tier materials are worth quite a bit. (T3/4s worth more than T5s and even some T6's).The lvl of the character on which you open bags affects the lvl of gear you get. The lvl of gear you get affects the materials you can salvage from that gear.If you ever do silverwastes, bags of maserwork gear are the best examples of this.

I love the feedback everyone is giving and how much fun you're having! As a side note, I would mention this. There a ton of items used for all sorts of collectible achievements that you acquire from karma vendors (after completing a map reknown heart). Make sure as you do map completion you check for these. Going back and checking them all after the fact isn't the most fun. Just figured I'd point that out. Have fun, this is paramount!

@Turkeyspit.3965 said:Yeah, that seems like an odd question, but I don't know if I need help or not.Been playing the game for a few weeks now; only took about 3 days to decide I was here for the long haul and upgraded to the 2 expacs. I dabbled with a few classes but have stuck with my Ranger.

So when you were playing your first character and hit early 50's, what advice do you wish someone had given you?Some factoids:

• I'm playing Ranger LB/GS, running Marks and Nature so far. Stat priority: Power - Precision - Ferocity
• I'm not a fan of button mashing so I run with 3 signets + Pack elite skill (which I always forget to use)
• Crafting is 52/75 Hunts 10/75 LW. Having a hard time focusing on this since I keep getting upgrades from quests.
• Yesterday I finished the LV 30 stage of my Personal Story. Currently I'm trying to follow that as a path through the content.
• I always drop what I'm doing for Champion events or World Bosses. Yesterday I participated in the downing the Triple Threat worm boss. I had no idea what to expect, but I just followed my Commander around and listened to instructions.
• I'm mixing / matching salvaging gear drops and selling them on the Trading Post. I've purchased 3 upgrades from the TP, but mostly upgrade from drops, level rewards or karma vendors.
• I completed Sharkmaw Caverns and bought the sweet LB at LV 44, but I think I suck at jumping puzzles. Not sure if I can find my way back there on other characters though.
• I don't like underwater combat
• I'm too frugal (read: cheap) to pay 60c to teleport to waypoints, so I tend to run a lot, unless a Champion event pops up
• I'm not in a guild, nor do I think I'm ready for organized group content. Eventually I would like to do dungeons, as they were a big part of my gaming experience in both WoW and LoTR MMOs, but am not sure if I'm missing out on playing solo / outside a guild.

That's me in an e-nutshell.

Really enjoying the game. It's very different from the ones I've played in the past (I didn't care much for GW1 tbh), but I couldn't continue with MMO-on-a-treadmill games, so GW2 suits me so far.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated!

Some advice.

Get started on dungeons now, its the best way to get FREE level 80 exotic armour and weapons. You can check the stats from each dungeon on wiki, but I think arah and CoE or CoF give berserker stats, which is really good for open world. You'll be very squishy, but when you learn to play you'll be kiting and destroying everything before it can hit you. You can get the dungeon token rewards from each different path per day, per character, this is what you'll use to buy the gear. There is an infinitely repeatable achievement for completing 8 different paths which rewards IIRC 5 gold and a box of 150 tokens of your choice each time. Don't buy gear for open world, just do the starter maps in each zone first so you can easily clear it in sub optimal gear.

Pick up the expansions as soon as you can, at least HoT. The new elite specs are very very powerful compared to playing core and you'll need the specs for getting into fractals and raids (which you should do ASAP!). Don't Bother crafting until you have some gold to use the crafting efficiency website to follow the cheapest path to 500 while using xp boosters to save even more, as otherwise you'll be losing money by not optimising and selling the materials you're getting now. Always salvage then sell materials.

When you get to level 80, start doing fractals ASAP, its the best way to get free ascended gear, and ascended trinkets. If you're patient and can learn mechanics you can also get into some raid training groups if you have full exotic gear and trinkets, even if you die on the boss you are getting magnetite shards which can be exchanged for free ascended gear! You can also try sPvP during season, doesn't matter what level you are it will uprate you, it's great fun and you can play ranked to earn some quick gold, ascended gear and also tomes of knowledge which reward 1 level each, you can also do dungeon reward tracks for even more free exotic gear. Most importantly, have fun!!

@Vova.2640 said:In fact, some bags are worth more when opening on lower lvl chars, like lvl 52-53s... If you ever do silverwastes, bags of maserwork gear are the best examples of this.

Thanks. What other bags fall into that category? It's hard for a new player to tell.

And is there anything I should wait to open because it will be more valuable at 80? Not because of Magic Find, but simply because the items may better, or because they could yield Soulbound items unusable until then?

@Itz Jay.8941 said:Always salvage then sell materials.

Ah, everything?

Thanks for the other tips. But this one I'm finding tough:

Get started on dungeons now, its the best way to get FREE level 80 exotic armour and weapons.

Dungeon runs are the least welcoming experience I've had in GW2. It's like a different player base. I've been kicked for not being 80, for not having the right gear, for who knows what. I started a Story group and put in the listing that as this was my first run, I'd watch the cutscenes... then I got kicked from my own group.

Groups are hard to find during the day, and at peak times, many players seem to just want a speed run with other geared, level 80 players, even in Story mode (especially in Story mode)?

I'll keep at it to experience the story of each one at least once, but after that, I may put off dungeons until I'm well geared.

And even then, I won't kick newcomers.

@Ringlin.1863 said:

@Vova.2640 said:In fact, some bags are worth more when opening on lower lvl chars, like lvl 52-53s... If you ever do silverwastes, bags of maserwork gear are the best examples of this.

@Itz Jay.8941 said:Always salvage then sell materials.

Get started on dungeons now, its the best way to get FREE level 80 exotic armour and weapons.

It will say specifically in the description of the bag if it is affected by magic find. Vast majority of bags are not affected and therefore do not say it.I know some bags from Dragon Stand (HoT xpac map) can be affected by magic find. It's hard to remember off the top of my head for any others.If you own PoF, Unidentified Gear is affected by magic find when you identified (Use/Use All, the same thing as opening other bags). For this gear I would actually recommend collected multiple stacks and then identifying (=opening) with as much magic find as possible.

Feel free to salvage everything upto exotics. Even then, some exotics are pretty cheap/worthless and you are better off salvaging them for a chance to get ectos or globs of dark matter (or w.e. those are called)..I would NOT recommend salvaging Unidentified Gear though(the one I mentioned earlier). You are better off selling on the TP or better, identifying it after stacking some magic find.

Dungeons are weird in this game. People usually want to do them only with other 'experienced' players. I never did dungeons when lvling up.If you manage to find people who will run with you, go for it. Otherwise, you can get around without doing them.You can buy exotics with Karma anyway.If you own Hot/PoF you can get ascended back/rings/accessory/amulet pretty easily and basically for free.

That's helpful, thanks.

If you own Hot/PoF you can get ascended back/rings/accessory/amulet pretty easily and basically for free.

Oh, that's good to know. What do I do? I just bought the expansions this weekend, looking forward to them.