Need Help re-introducing myself to the game...

[Walker.7204]

I havn't played meaningfully in over a year, but I"m sort of getting the itch again. I have all professions geared well at 80 and both expansions, as well as mounts up until the Griffon. I rarely participate in WvW or PvP outside of dailies. There's plenty of living story that I need to catch up on, so I think that would be a good way to re-learn how to play the game again.

I would like to concentrate on 1 build/profession to really learn to get things going again.... Any recomendations for the best surviveable, fun build going atm?

How difficult would it be to acquire the mounts that I don't currently have.... I think it would be the beetle and Skyscale (?), and then there is another for WvW (I think), but I imagine I wouldn't really need this.

How are things in the game right now? Any other suggestions for stuff to do?

Thanks for any help and/or suggestions.

[Walker.7204]

Also.....

Have there been any major changes to gameplay in the past 12-18 months....or just any major changes in general?

Any more expansions in the work, or just more living story type expansions?

Thanks again

[Skotlex.7580]

For someone who hasn't played in over a year, the skyscale will be a pain to acquire, as it requires plenty of currency from all the living story season 4 maps. The beetle only needs completing the story for the corresponding map, Kourna.

As for the profession advice, your requirements are too broad. Pretty much every class can be built around survival in mind, even elementalist. I'd suggest to just work with whatever one you had the most fun before.

There have been a few reworks in the last year, most notable berserker and scrapper, as well as quite a few traitlines of various professions. Perhaps it's best to just pick the character as if it were new and go thorough the traits / utilities to regear yourself.

[hotte in space.2158]

@Walker.7204 said:

I would like to concentrate on 1 build/profession to really learn to get things going again.... Any recomendations for the best surviveable, fun build going atm?

There will be a patch with huge changes on all classes on 25 february. But if you cant wait til release day, I could recomend firebrand, as its strong now and will be strong then. Beetle is fun for the racing competitions and WvW mount is very easy to acquire.

[Irensaga.6935]

I was late to the party myself getting the roller beetle. But I managed OK.

I needed help from another player to down the boss beetle in the Silverwastes however, and it took me a while to figure out how to trigger the event. Can't remember what my issue was... But I remember it stumping me for a while. People here in the forum set me straight.

[AliamRationem.5172]

@"Walker.7204" said:I havn't played meaningfully in over a year, but I"m sort of getting the itch again. I have all professions geared well at 80 and both expansions, as well as mounts up until the Griffon. I rarely participate in WvW or PvP outside of dailies. There's plenty of living story that I need to catch up on, so I think that would be a good way to re-learn how to play the game again.

I would like to concentrate on 1 build/profession to really learn to get things going again.... Any recomendations for the best surviveable, fun build going atm?

How difficult would it be to acquire the mounts that I don't currently have.... I think it would be the beetle and Skyscale (?), and then there is another for WvW (I think), but I imagine I wouldn't really need this.

How are things in the game right now? Any other suggestions for stuff to do?

Thanks for any help and/or suggestions.

Hi! Welcome back!

I think you're asking for a great build for open world/story content and you want it on the tankier side (with as much damage as possible, of course!). Here are a couple of builds I currently use for open world (although they do work well for WvW roaming and PvP as well). I'll share some video along with the build links so you can see how they are in open world play.

Weaver

Despite being a pure condi build, the ability to quickly stack and sustain 25 might while rapidly stacking area burns results in surprisingly strong damage. At the same time, the ability to generate significant amounts of boons, barrier, evasion, and healing on offense combined with high health and armor make it incredibly resilient as well. It's also just plain fun to play!

Build Link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGgAw2lZwmYXMJmJOKXbvfA-zRRYkRC7NKwlRmFQvJgDzSVSbA-e

In this video, you can see how just a couple of seconds near the normal units without even focusing on them is enough to apply fatal burning to them, and I'm able to stand toe-to-toe with the champion the entire fight without kiting or even using a heal! The damage is also strong enough to defeat the champion long before the adds respawn.

Mirage

This pure condi build deals solid damage, but significantly less than the weaver, to fewer targets, and with a longer ramp up time. However, the survivability of mirage is comparatively effortless and they are able to maintain their offensive better under heavy pressure than weaver, which relies on healing in water attunement to survive heavy damage (when it actually lands and manages to cut through all the healing and barrier!). Mirage also has the advantage of a ranged weapon swap in combat and easier/better CC for breakbars.

Build Link: http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PiwAc+ZlRwQYSMMmJW0P6vOA-zRJYkRHfZkTJkZG49sUl0G-e

You can see that Mirage is able to stand toe-to-toe with even a very powerful champion that deals constant, heavy damage at close range. When I perform this challenge on my weaver, I actually deal less damage because I can't consistently stand the pressure at melee range and I have no ranged option to deal damage otherwise.

[Urud.4925]

I won't recommed any profession because it's a matter of taste/the one you remember the most. But if you stopped 1 year ago and have the Griffon, you played the PoF story (and maybe even HoT), so you are fine in terms of survivability. LW4 (and now 5) is not harder.

The beetle is easy to get, you just need to follow a guide for the steps/locations on the map. The Skyscale takes longer (the first part are fun quests, the second part is more grindy). Since you have all the professions, it shouldn't take much to get the currency you need if you complete the story with all of your characters (250 map currency for each episode). So don't waste the mats (you need the currency also to complete some collection, but save it for the mount first). If some steps/kills are too difficult because the are less players, you can use "Extra Pungent Skyscale Treat" to automatically complete the achievements (once you unlock that part).The Warclaw (the WvW one) didn't take much for me, but it could be more annoying now that almost everyone already has it.

LW4 was fun, but I don't think you missed any important update. Well, we have some new QoL improvement (build template, engi and ele can have 2nd weapon out of combat) but the game is more or less the same. Ah, we have the Strike missions now, something between dungeons and raid as difficulty (but you only fight a boss).