I want to try fractals, just for the mastery points, but I'm afraid of which class to bring.

I'm constantly out XP'ing (Tyria) mastery points. I've seen that fractals are a good source for farming some. I want to try some, but most of the forums suggest you need a specific profession and meta build (the same for raids/WvW/and PvP, but that's a separate post). I have every profession at 80, and play a few ones (my "mains") very well.

I only want mastery points. Can I bring a core Ranger or Guardian and expect to get into a group? In no way, shape, or form do I wish to advance to the higher tiers; there's WAY too much criteria for that. I just want mastery points; I want to max out my Tyria set.

if you're doing t1 the class really doesn't matter. If you want to get into t4s, then it matters, but assuming you've just started fractals, that's gonne be some time. Farming fractals, to my knowledge, hasn't been a thing since anet reworked 40, as far as I know people just do the dailies, and sometimes the recs, get some gold out of that, and do something else. Also t4s are the only content that requires you to have ascended gear as a minimum for the ar.

@Sephylon.4938 said:Also t4s are the only content that requires you to have ascended gear as a minimum for the ar.

Since Agony starts at Fractal level 20, you'll realistically need some ascended gear for high t1.

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:Also t4s are the only content that requires you to have ascended gear as a minimum for the ar.

The maximum recommended AR for scale 25, is 17. You can easily, just use 15 and not die since not much will actually apply agony to you within low scale Fractals. Buying a +9 and a +6 and applying them to whatever Ascended items the OP has (many players do still own Ascended items even if they don’t play Fractals, it’s not exclusive to that mode) just to finish any achievements, then if the OP isn’t interested in progressing further, he can sell them again.

It's possible to acquire quite a few of the Mastery points available in FotM by completing achievements at tier1. Check the link below to see which ones they are. https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Fractals_of_the_Mists_(achievements)As other posters above have mentioned, you still need some AR but not a huge amount at the higher end of T1s which means 1-2 ascended items would be useful.Class-wise, T1s are quite "everything and anything" (as afar as I can recall) so as long as you contribute well towards achieving the goal of any fractal run, there is no reason why you shouldn't be accepted. It would help to gear/trait your character to put out decent DPS since T1s don't usually require much of a support.

@"Elisias.4267" said:I'm constantly out XP'ing (Tyria) mastery points. I've seen that fractals are a good source for farming some. I want to try some, but most of the forums suggest you need a specific profession and meta build (the same for raids/WvW/and PvP, but that's a separate post). I have every profession at 80, and play a few ones (my "mains") very well.

I only want mastery points. Can I bring a core Ranger or Guardian and expect to get into a group? In no way, shape, or form do I wish to advance to the higher tiers; there's WAY too much criteria for that. I just want mastery points; I want to max out my Tyria set.

For T1 you can just hop in and play. All you need is lvl 80 and a weapon so you actualy can kill stuff. Most of the disscusion in fractal forum is about the highest tier and there it is recomended to have something close to meta build.

Dont be discouraged by forum. Not all players that play fractals participate in fractal forum. My guess is that most of players that participate in fractal forum are players that play fractals alot and do T4 and they talk about meta.

Acording to anet (one employee said it during streaming fractals) majority of players that play fractals are either T4 or T1 and you see that it is notrepresented well on forum participation.

Some of those achievments are quite easy and others not so much. I would suggest to read wiki about them so you can finish them asap if you domt want to play fractals.

Gl achieving

A warmed welcome to Fractal. As others said, any class can do tier 1, and you can easily unlock many mastery points. I dont have LS2 and to earn enough MP to unlock all my core mastery was a nightmare. Glad you refer Fractal over the collection. Good luck and have fun

@Haleydawn.3764 said:

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:Also t4s are the only content that requires you to have ascended gear as a minimum for the ar.

Absolutely, I just wanted to contest Sephylon's statement that made it seem like you didn't need ascended gear at all until t4.You don't need full ascended until t4, but some will be needed from high t1.

I agree with what everyone else has said. For lower tier Fractals it doesn't matter what profession or build you're using, that only becomes important later on. Tier 1 Fractals are basically short, simple dungeons. They have some normal enemies (about as hard as open-world mobs), one or more bosses (usually a bit harder than open-world) and may have a puzzle you need to solve to progress. But there's nothing which demands you use a perfect combination of professions or skills. Quite a few of them can be done solo by almost anyone - even I can get to the end of the Urban Battlegrounds Fractal which is one of the ones with a lot of enemies...I just can't beat the boss alone.

What I would recommend doing is putting the achievement/s you want to get in your LFG message and explaining to your group that you want to get them and what that involves. That way they won't be surprised if you're running off to the side to find something, or want to stay out of a battle so you don't get hit or whatever and they can help you get them.

Also be honest if you don't know what to do. Some people will assume everyone does Fractals all the time and knows them all by heart, but it's quite common in Tier 1 to have at least one person in the group who has never done it before (or did it once years ago and doesn't remember anything), sometimes the whole group will be new to it. Either way it's much better to be honest so people can help you, or you can figure it out together, rather than everyone standing around waiting for someone else to carry on because they assume you know what to do next.

I only really play T1 fractals because I'm not a great player and don't really want to put a ton of time and effort into learning to play optimally. I've never had a problem with any class, and people are 99% of the time very friendly. A couple of times I've wanted to try a new fractal and have just posted in LFG that it's my first time, and have had the group fill up really fast and then had someone more experienced walk me through it step-by-step and been super understanding of me being downed every two minutes. So I wouldn't worry about it!

If you're starting Fractals, you don't need to worry about it too much, exotic gear and any random class will work for you.If you decide to progress to higher tiers, and particularly Tier 4, then you need to start being particular about your builds.Druid is always in demand for T4s, and DragonHunter is a pretty good Fractal DPSer (since most of the time that sweet cleave damage will be more important than single target).

If you're on EU, you can add me or PM me in-game and i'll help you through a couple runs.

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:Also t4s are the only content that requires you to have ascended gear as a minimum for the ar.

With Tear of Alba you'll be relatively safe.

Best advice if you're starting fractals and are randomly grouping (ie not running with guildys) is don't be afraid to announce at the start "I'm new to fractals / this fractal". Especially in T1, I would be shocked if you got a negative reaction to that statement. What will most likely (99% chance) happen is someone will take a few minutes to explain the fight mechanics, and will likely keep an eye on you if you lag behind on jumping puzzles an such.

There is a 1% bonus chance (100% if you pugged with my guildies) that they would ask you if you wanted to get 'x' achievement, and would take the time to help you find the pages / bodies / whatever in order to get them.

We were all new to fractals at one point, and the people interested in 'farming' fractals as efficiently as possible aren't pugging T1s (and if they are, they have no reason to complain about running with players who don't have T4 gear / experience).

Been playing for 3 months or so, and I'm working on T3's myself, but I regularly go back to T1/T2 as it's relaxing to not have to worry about constant OMGWTFBBQSAUCE abilities melting me to goo lol.

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@Haleydawn.3764 said:

@Tanner Blackfeather.6509 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:Also t4s are the only content that requires you to have ascended gear as a minimum for the ar.

It's not necessary for completing all the things that give mastery points. The Tear of Alba can be used to cover the 8 AR for solid ocean. It is also possible to get at least 2 agony infusion slots through exotic gear. The crafted backpacks and the ring you get from completing all t1 fractals.

Thank you for all of the great info. <3

Could you solo fractals of 1st level just for mastery points?P.S. I need only 7 more mastery points, so even not all.

@Oldskool.1520 said:Could you solo fractals of 1st level just for mastery points?P.S. I need only 7 more mastery points, so even not all.

Yes but probably not for someone who is also new to fractals. Also some of the fractals have segments with mechanics that requires multiple people.

It would be much simpler to put up a LFG ad stating that it is for obtaining a particular achievement for the mastery point. Some of the achievements are also practically a given by simply running the fractals so you can just join a group for it when that fractal comes up on the daily rotation.

Honestly it would not hurt picking some survival gear until you learn how to master fracts and dodging regardless of class. I would pick something with lots of escape tools if your going to pick on this concept alone. So most likely thief, mesmer, or even warrior.