New to GW2

Not new to MMOs, gaming, etc. I havent seen very good answers to the question "I just boosted a character, what do I do?" So I hope to ask this with some context and hopefully produce a better response.

So for someone who, knows beyond the basics of movement, combat, suival tactics, mechanics, etc....

I know I need to do the personal story and apparently the PoF story for a mount? (Is there an easier mount to get that can help with general world movement while pushing completion?)

I want to experience more difficult PvE content. Where do I go?

Im level 80 and still gaining experience, what is that about?

@"deadpool.7036" said:I know I need to do the personal story and apparently the PoF story for a mount? (Is there an easier mount to get that can help with general world movement while pushing completion?)I want to experience more difficult PvE content. Where do I go?Im level 80 and still gaining experience, what is that about?You just need to complete the first Path of Fire story instance for the Raptor Mount. After that the further you go, the more mount opportunities you'll have in Path of Fire.

Difficult PvE content would probably be high-tier Fractals and Raids.

Experience at level 80 goes towards the Mastery system where you can train your characters (account-based) in extra abilities such as improving your mounts. You will also need to acquire mastery points in addition to the experience gain to train masteries.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Mastery

Mounts are exclusive to path of fire. You cannot get them elsewhere.

As for difficult content, I would start with fractals which you can access from lions arch. There are four difficulty levels which you work your way up, gaining items to offset a mechanic called agony as you go up. You can find more detailed info about it on the wiki.

You dont need to do the story unless you care about doing things in order, which i perhaps wrongly assume isnt a big worry given you have already boosted very early. The personal story and core open world provides no challenge until you reach the first dlc Season 2. From there the difficulty starts to curve upwards as you reach HoT.

If you feel confident enough, there are raids if you own one of the expacs. That is where most of the difficulty ultimately lies outside if end tier fractals and their challenge modes.

Hitting level 80 and still gaining xp relates to the mastery system which is about new skills and features you access. Mounts are part of that system

First thing: be aware that in some ways GW2 works differently to any game you've played before. Some of these are obvious - for example there are no quests outside the main story (and therefore no quest hubs), instead there's dynamic events which will start, run and finish regardless of whether you or anyone else is participating, so you just need to jump in when you see one you want to do.

Some important differences are less obvious - for example the Looking For Group (LFG) tool can be used to find a group for any content, not just dungeons and raids and is most commonly used in open-world PvE to move to a different copy of the map you're on to find one where an event you want to complete is running or where there's enough people to complete a large meta-event chain. That's pretty counter-intuitive for people coming from other MMOs, but makes a huge difference - knowing that one thing has been the difference between someone declaring the game dead and most PvE content impossible to complete and being amazed at how active it is (or complaining there's too many big groups).

I'm not going to try to list all the differences, and I'm sure you can figure them out - just be aware there will be stuff you'll need to figure out as you go along. It tends to go much more smoothly that way than if you try to force the game to play like whatever MMOs you're used to.

Secondly all the different storylines can be played independently. You need to be level 80 to do anything except the personal story but once you are you can skip straight to Path of Fire or Heart of Thorns or whatever else without needing to complete (or even start) your personal story. It's a good idea to do the first step of each expansion: HoT will unlock gliding and the ability to train other masteries, PoF will get you the raptor mount and unlock mount masteries.

Masteries are why you still get XP at level 80. Once the tracks are unlocked you use XP to train them and mastery points from certain achievements to unlock each mastery. They're all optional for the core game and the few you need for expansions are clearly labelled when you get to that step. Mostly they're movement options (like mounts or gliding), nothing which directly makes you more powerful.

Finally if you want more difficult PvE content which isn't for small groups try playing Heart of Thorns. It was made in response to players saying the base game was too easy and they wanted difficult maps with enemies that require more than just auto-attacking and with big event chains. You can roam around solo there but you're going to die a lot more than in the core game, and it definitely pays to learn each enemy type's strengths and weaknesses.

Thank you both! Exponentially helpful.

I definitely care about the story, I really enjoyed the sylvari story (up until I decided I wasn't suuuper thrilled by necromancer and wabtnted to test out a different profession). After clearing the starting map, I wasn't too thrilled to be on my feet if a mount was easily accessible.

I still plan on playing other, non-boosted characters. I just wanted one that was high enough to play with other friends that have high level characters, while I could still experience the game as a new player.

The Wiki (link above or accessed in-game by typing /Wiki ) is a great resource for all things GW2.

Welcome to Tyria, and good luck.

Welcome to GW2, I hope you'll find fun challenges with your lvl 80 character!It's a matter of taste but each map has it's own chain events that can be great to do. Some are short, some are large and some connected to each other into an even bigger event (Heart of Thorns - Auric Basin area is my favourite). I like walking around doing dynamic events and then suddenly be introduced to a new big event that I didn't know of before.

Even after these years I'm still discovering new events (but that is because I'm not actively looking for them). For the bigger events that ends with a world boss there are sites that show when and where the next world boss event starts.

If you haven't did it before, it might be fun to do all these world boss events (some give a mastery point iirc). It probably won't give you the quality loot as in raids of fractals (I never do dungeons, raids/fractals so I don't know) but it's nice to be with many players fighting a huge angry boss and help each other out :)

For a new toon, a Mesmer might be interesting. It's very different from the other classes we know so well in MMO's/RPG's.

Anyway I hope you'll have alot of fun in GW2, the expansions are well recommended!

Sorry didn't read other posts.

But if you are new to mmos and gw2 using a level 80 boost was a massive mistake on your end. As you are new to gw2 you need to treat yourself new to gw2. Boosting to 80 truthfully will only make you bad at the game in many ways and basically encourage your gameplay to make the game harder.

I world suggest making a new character, playing different classes until you find one that chicks clicks and level it and play through the story. You will then find what you want to do in an rpg and focus on that.

Boosting straight to 80 is ALWAYS a mistake for people new to the game, even for experts: this is a patter this community has seen many times. In fact, being a veteran from other MMOs would very probably make you worst at GW2. This game is just too different from the rest, in its core.

So the best experience is to just think yourself as a fully new player, and ask tons on map. This will help you find the best profession and build for your gaming style, prepare you to face basic mechanics like the breakbar, give you room to explore and enjoy the world, give you insight in the lore aspects, and in general, will be much more fun than to just try to 80-roll things.

The game is very casual, with a heavy focus on exploration. IMO, it stays very interesting most of the time, with low and high level characters alike, but it is NOT difficult until you face HoT. Only then things began to turn (a bit) harder. Then there is the instanced "challenging" content like Fractals and Raids, which the veterans say aren't that difficult either.

Learn about CC and break bars

Here is a step by step guide what you should do:

1.) take your boosted level 80 and finish the first Hot mission to unlock basic gliding (if you own Hot)

2.) now finish the first HoT mission to unlock the raptor mount

3.) now logout and make a new character which is not boosted and play through the game normally

I think you mean PoF 'mission' in step number 2.

feel free to add me to your friends list.

even if we have the wrong play times, if you catch me online im more then welcome to help Newbies.

@Cyninja.2954 said:Here is a step by step guide what you should do:

1.) take your boosted level 80 and finish the first Hot mission to unlock basic gliding (if you own Hot)

2.) now finish the first HoT mission to unlock the raptor mount

3.) now logout and make a new character which is not boosted and play through the game normally

1) boosting for a new player to the mmo genre is a wickedly horrible idea. Not only does it ruin the new player experience, what happens a month or two from now when they have more understanding of the game and realize that they wasted a boost on a profession they no longer care about.2) even though you meant PoF. see number 13) all newbies should have 2 characters. ONE that never leaves a major city and just crafts (armor or tailor and weapon or artificer) all the crap you'll get and the ONE obviously for leveling. Boost the 3rd character.

Guild Wars is designed in such a way right now that leveling to 80 is the tutorial...Especially for someone like the o.p. who is new to MMO's entirely. You gain experience by doing literally, everything. the trait lines can be confusing at first and leveling to 80 is a good way to learn about them and work your play style around it. HoT is an expansion after tyria, and if someone knows nothing of tyria, gameplay mechanics and professions, how well do you think they'll manage in HoT, even for one level?

we went years without mounts and gliders. Im positive taking a month (or less, based on leveling speed) without them is beneficial to every new player. especially when they can get both within a couple of hours hitting 80 on their first character.

theres no rush newbie, stop and smell the roses. seriously. a month or less is nothing in the big picture and it will do nothing help in the long run.

remember... theres no monthly fee.

@Ralistu.1965 said:

@Cyninja.2954 said:Here is a step by step guide what you should do:

1.) take your boosted level 80 and finish the first Hot mission to unlock basic gliding (if you own Hot)

2.) now finish the first HoT mission to unlock the raptor mount

3.) now logout and make a new character which is not boosted and play through the game normally

TC already boosted a character. Hence why I recommended he use his already boosted character to acquire gliding and the raptor.

@Ralistu.1965 said:2) even though you meant PoF. see number 1

True, was meant for PoF as recommended by others earlier.

@Ralistu.1965 said:3) all newbies should have 2 characters. ONE that never leaves a major city and just crafts (armor or tailor and weapon or artificer) all the kitten you'll get and the ONE obviously for leveling. Boost the 3rd character.

Crafting is the last thing a new player short on gold should be doing the first 3 months unless speeding up his leveling process. That initial gold can be spent on way more important things.

@"Ralistu.1965" said:Especially for someone like the o.p. who is new to MMO's entirely.

The OP immediately starts out by saying "Not new to MMOs"

Well, whatever you do: do NOT buy Black Lion Chest Keys. It's just a dirty money grab that never gets you anything. It is better to throw your money at a slot machine because the odds of getting something are slightly better.

@Warlord.9082 said:Well, whatever you do: do NOT buy Black Lion Chest Keys. It's just a dirty money grab that never gets you anything. It is better to throw your money at a slot machine because the odds of getting something are slightly better.

Good one! I don't think I've ever gotten a single useful thing from a Black Lion Chest.

@Boysenberry.1869 said:

@Warlord.9082 said:Well, whatever you do: do NOT buy Black Lion Chest Keys. It's just a dirty money grab that never gets you anything. It is better to throw your money at a slot machine because the odds of getting something are slightly better.

It depends imo. If you like to be surprised during an event and get some (event related) skin unlocks then it's nice to open one/few. But yes it won't give anything very usefull. It's for fun, but once the fun turns into 'I need to get item x from the BL chests' then you should stop at once. Know when to stop!

@Boysenberry.1869 said:

@"Ralistu.1965" said:Especially for someone like the o.p. who is new to MMO's entirely.

I'm REALLY hoping the OP didn't install the game and immediately boost a character to level 80 ... I don't know a greater way to hinder one's self from learning and enjoying the game.

@"deadpool.7036" said:Not new to MMOs, gaming, etc. I havent seen very good answers to the question "I just boosted a character, what do I do?" So I hope to ask this with some context and hopefully produce a better response.

So for someone who, knows beyond the basics of movement, combat, suival tactics, mechanics, etc....

I know I need to do the personal story and apparently the PoF story for a mount? (Is there an easier mount to get that can help with general world movement while pushing completion?)

I want to experience more difficult PvE content. Where do I go?

Im level 80 and still gaining experience, what is that about?

For more difficult pve content: heart of thorns maps, path of fire maps, fractals, raids, some Dungeons. Raids can be little hard to start tho, If you are looking for start raiding and you are in eu server. Feel free to send me pm, as we recry new raider every now and then.

@Obtena.7952 said:

@Boysenberry.1869 said:

@"Ralistu.1965" said:Especially for someone like the o.p. who is new to MMO's entirely.

Especially if you pop the booster and immediately start the HoT story. I hope nobody ends up having pocket raptors as their first GW2 experience.

Not really contributing to it but I just wanted to say: Welcome and have fun along your adventures in Tyria!

@Cynder.2509 said:Not really contributing to it but I just wanted to say: Welcome and have fun along your adventures in Tyria!Agreed, enjoy it! It is a very fun game!

Lots of helpful posts here! And a lot of very... Opinionated posts too!

I'm on mobile right now so a bit hard to answer everything... so collectively::

"Boosting an 80 as a new player, or new to GW2, or just in general is a bad idea". Well I boosted one and am having a great time. I can play with my currently level 80 friends and am doing quite well. I took time to decide which class I wanted to play because I tried them out through the trial offered before boosting. I can go do everything now, experience the story line, etc. Very familiar with mechanics already (as I said, not new to MMOs or games in general). I still play my original, now 20, Necromancer, the I ly thing different now is I have a mount so I'm not walking everywhere and i have better access to resources.

"I'm REALLY hoping the OP didn't install the game and immediately boost a character to level 80 ... I don't know a greater way to hinder one's self from learning and enjoying the game."-- I played to 20 on necro before buying the expansions. Spent 5 hours trialing classes and reading forums before I picked Revenant. I picked Revenant because it's very similar to my favourite playstyle in games like this. I'm now enjoying playing with builds and styles.... This concern seems to be a common theme, I get it, but maybe the people that stop playing stop for more than just this one reason. There are definitely elements of the game that prevent me from quitting WoW altogether to play this instead."The game is very casual, with a heavy focus on exploration. IMO, it stays very interesting most of the time, with low and high level characters alike, but it is NOT difficult until you face HoT." I REALLY appreciate this about the game. Very similar to WoW in some regards where even the "end-game" content can be casual or you can try really hard to push things to the limit. I still enjoy leveling low characters for the more classic experience.

"For a new toon, a Mesmer might be interesting. It's very different from the other classes we know so well in MMO's/RPG's.". Mesmer was my go-to in the original, so good. I really wish WoW would implenent a class like this, although in that context it would probably only be useful in PvP. GW2 provides a great platform for this kind of class style to shine.

In the end, I hope this particular chain might help newcomers to get a better feel for what my suite them better when starting out. Personally, it was a lot more fun to struggle with mechanics and playstyle at lvl 80 in HoT because it helped me appreciate things that lasted less than 2 seconds. (Whereas in WoW buffs will typically last more than 8 and more commonly around 15 to 20). So after adjusting my build, I was able to come back and do so much better the next time.