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New Player Confusion and Frustration


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@mindcircus.1506 said:

@"Teratus.2859" said:It appears from your comment OP that you have made a typical new player mistake.

You started with a Necromancer (didn't specify what level you got it too) and then jumped to a level 80 boosted warrior and went straight into Path of Fire..I strongly do not recommend that people do this when they are new to the game.

You've skipped over the entire leveling experience that will have helped you get familiarised with the Warrior class..Thankfully though all you really need to do is go back to the start with your warrior and play through the core game content and experiment, you can do this with your 80 warrior easily enough so it's not too big a problem.

The expansions and living world content was designed for people who already have a good deal of experience with Gw2 and the classes they play, this is largely why you're getting smashed there..

You can skip over all that learning and just adopt someone else's "meta" build etc but this again is something I would strongly not recommend either as it could deprive you of learning various other elements of your class and cause you problems down the road if you find your build doesn't work for you in certain content and you don't really understand how the build system and your class works.

It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.Heart of Thorns is notorious for destroying players who have done exactly that which is why so many often complain about it's difficulty which is much higher than the core game's admittedly but isn't all that challenging for experienced players playing classes they know very well.

Ultimately don't feel the need to rush into newer and harder content, take your time to get familiar with the classes you want to play and experiment with the build system.. learn which traits and stats work well together and try different things.

@Randulf.7614 said:I'm going to play devil's advocate here. Soldiers is by no means terrible. I've used it on my Warrior pretty much since 2012/2013. Now I agree it doesn't have the dps, esp vs later content mobs, but I have otherwise found it has worked perfectly for me. It allows me to be virtually unkillable in open world alongside my blocks, parries and high cc and means I can help keep team mates on their feet in fights. I wouldn't take it to instances, but I am very, very happy with soldiers in open world

Soldiers just prob isn't right for your playstyle or build though.

I'm 100% in agreement with Randulf here, I've been using Solder Stats on a Necromancer build since before Gw2 had expansions and it can be extremely good in PvE content, make you practically unkillable and perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

Well my advice was not to use soldiers if it didn't work for them, to learn their character, learn their skills, learn about dodges and learn about mitigations.

That's not really bad advice to give a new player as far as I can see.

The reason I can say Soldiers isn't worth dismissing (which is the crux of the first part of my post) is that I've had 8 years practice with it and have been extremely happy with the defensive side of the results, even if - as I said - there are better dps options and it is unsuited to instanced play.

Prob better than putting down or challenging us, is to give your own advice and give the op a broader range of options to follow. I have no doubt as an experienced player, they'd benefit from your own advice

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@mindcircus.1506 said:

@"Teratus.2859" said:It appears from your comment OP that you have made a typical new player mistake.

You started with a Necromancer (didn't specify what level you got it too) and then jumped to a level 80 boosted warrior and went straight into Path of Fire..I strongly do not recommend that people do this when they are new to the game.

You've skipped over the entire leveling experience that will have helped you get familiarised with the Warrior class..Thankfully though all you really need to do is go back to the start with your warrior and play through the core game content and experiment, you can do this with your 80 warrior easily enough so it's not too big a problem.

The expansions and living world content was designed for people who already have a good deal of experience with Gw2 and the classes they play, this is largely why you're getting smashed there..

You can skip over all that learning and just adopt someone else's "meta" build etc but this again is something I would strongly not recommend either as it could deprive you of learning various other elements of your class and cause you problems down the road if you find your build doesn't work for you in certain content and you don't really understand how the build system and your class works.

It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.Heart of Thorns is notorious for destroying players who have done exactly that which is why so many often complain about it's difficulty which is much higher than the core game's admittedly but isn't all that challenging for experienced players playing classes they know very well.

Ultimately don't feel the need to rush into newer and harder content, take your time to get familiar with the classes you want to play and experiment with the build system.. learn which traits and stats work well together and try different things.

@Randulf.7614 said:I'm going to play devil's advocate here. Soldiers is by no means terrible. I've used it on my Warrior pretty much since 2012/2013. Now I agree it doesn't have the dps, esp vs later content mobs, but I have otherwise found it has worked perfectly for me. It allows me to be virtually unkillable in open world alongside my blocks, parries and high cc and means I can help keep team mates on their feet in fights. I wouldn't take it to instances, but I am very, very happy with soldiers in open world

Soldiers just prob isn't right for your playstyle or build though.

I'm 100% in agreement with Randulf here, I've been using Solder Stats on a Necromancer build since before Gw2 had expansions and it can be extremely good in PvE content, make you practically unkillable and perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

Soldier would be sufficient for solo work against bosses such as most of the HoT champions. PoF bounties would be difficult because they have far more health and unstable magic mechanics are quite punishing for solo players.

It's worth mentioning, however, that most classes and builds running glass stats would find most of the bounties difficult to survive.

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@mindcircus.1506 said:The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

I don't have any decent way to reliably record video, I'm not into that kind of thing so I never learned nor had any interest in how that kind of software works nor how to edit it appropriately to save time and cut down upload speeds.Besides Gw2 is unreliable atm and im not actively playing much because of the lag issues, nothing I could record right now would be good enough because I can't play the game like I normally would be able to.

Anyway I was not advising OP play soldiers gear, I was only defending and noting the potential merits of Soldiers gear based on my own long time experience of using it just because others wrote it off so easily, that is unfortunately a common attitude a number of people tend to have about the set and personally I believe it to be an unfair one.. hence the defence.

All the main advice I give to the OP about their situation was above any comments I made defending Soldier's Gear.I also specifically said this as well:

@Teratus.2859 said:"that for some classes it's one of the best all rounder stat sets you can have providing you know how to build a good/reliable build around the set."That directly ties into the advice I give the OP about first learning how to play their class and how the build system works.A new player just adopting a tanky soldier build would be equally as harmful as them adopting any meta build and rolling through content, I even said as much:@Teratus.2859 said:It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.

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@mindcircus.1506 said:

@"Teratus.2859" said:It appears from your comment OP that you have made a typical new player mistake.

You started with a Necromancer (didn't specify what level you got it too) and then jumped to a level 80 boosted warrior and went straight into Path of Fire..I strongly do not recommend that people do this when they are new to the game.

You've skipped over the entire leveling experience that will have helped you get familiarised with the Warrior class..Thankfully though all you really need to do is go back to the start with your warrior and play through the core game content and experiment, you can do this with your 80 warrior easily enough so it's not too big a problem.

The expansions and living world content was designed for people who already have a good deal of experience with Gw2 and the classes they play, this is largely why you're getting smashed there..

You can skip over all that learning and just adopt someone else's "meta" build etc but this again is something I would strongly not recommend either as it could deprive you of learning various other elements of your class and cause you problems down the road if you find your build doesn't work for you in certain content and you don't really understand how the build system and your class works.

It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.Heart of Thorns is notorious for destroying players who have done exactly that which is why so many often complain about it's difficulty which is much higher than the core game's admittedly but isn't all that challenging for experienced players playing classes they know very well.

Ultimately don't feel the need to rush into newer and harder content, take your time to get familiar with the classes you want to play and experiment with the build system.. learn which traits and stats work well together and try different things.

@Randulf.7614 said:I'm going to play devil's advocate here. Soldiers is by no means terrible. I've used it on my Warrior pretty much since 2012/2013. Now I agree it doesn't have the dps, esp vs later content mobs, but I have otherwise found it has worked perfectly for me. It allows me to be virtually unkillable in open world alongside my blocks, parries and high cc and means I can help keep team mates on their feet in fights. I wouldn't take it to instances, but I am very, very happy with soldiers in open world

Soldiers just prob isn't right for your playstyle or build though.

I'm 100% in agreement with Randulf here, I've been using Solder Stats on a Necromancer build since before Gw2 had expansions and it can be extremely good in PvE content, make you practically unkillable and perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

Reaper can kill vets in 5sec on Soldier's due to traits. Stats don't matter and never have, only build matters in this game.

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@Teratus.2859 said:

@mindcircus.1506 said:The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

I don't have any decent way to reliably record video, I'm not into that kind of thing so I never learned nor had any interest in how that kind of software works nor how to edit it appropriately to save time and cut down upload speeds.Besides Gw2 is unreliable atm and im not actively playing much because of the lag issues, nothing I could record right now would be good enough because I can't play the game like I normally would be able to.

Anyway I was not advising OP play soldiers gear, I was only defending and noting the potential merits of Soldiers gear based on my own long time experience of using it just because others wrote it off so easily, that is unfortunately a common attitude a number of people tend to have about the set and personally I believe it to be an unfair one.. hence the defence.

All the main advice I give to the OP about their situation was above any comments I made defending Soldier's Gear.I also specifically said this as well:

@Teratus.2859 said:"that for some classes it's one of the best all rounder stat sets you can have
providing you know how to build a good/reliable build
around the set."That directly ties into the advice I give the OP about first learning how to play their class and how the build system works.A new player just adopting a tanky soldier build would be equally as harmful as them adopting any meta build and rolling through content, I even said as much:@Teratus.2859 said:It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.

it's funny how you don't quote yourself saying:perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.Seriously... what are you actually soloing in Soldier's Gear that constitutes "the games toughest PvE content"?Explorable dungeon paths?... t4 fractals?What have you
actually
solo'ed in this gear set?Can't take a video?.... that's fine... a few screenshots with your combat log up will suffice.You want to "defend the stat set"?... cool.... lets see some data/proof.Because I have serious doubts, despite your claims, that you could personally solo a desert bounty within the ten minute timer wearing Soldier's gear.Desert Bounties are not the "games toughest PVE content".... shouldn't be too hard.I would happily be proven wrong.@Hannelore.8153 said:Reaper can kill vets in 5sec on Soldier's due to traits. Stats don't matter and never have, only build matters in this game.Veteran trash mobs huh?Super impressive.

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@mindcircus.1506 said:

@mindcircus.1506 said:The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

I don't have any decent way to reliably record video, I'm not into that kind of thing so I never learned nor had any interest in how that kind of software works nor how to edit it appropriately to save time and cut down upload speeds.Besides Gw2 is unreliable atm and im not actively playing much because of the lag issues, nothing I could record right now would be good enough because I can't play the game like I normally would be able to.

Anyway I was not advising OP play soldiers gear, I was only defending and noting the potential merits of Soldiers gear based on my own long time experience of using it just because others wrote it off so easily, that is unfortunately a common attitude a number of people tend to have about the set and personally I believe it to be an unfair one.. hence the defence.

All the main advice I give to the OP about their situation was above any comments I made defending Soldier's Gear.I also specifically said this as well:

@Teratus.2859 said:"that for some classes it's one of the best all rounder stat sets you can have
providing you know how to build a good/reliable build
around the set."That directly ties into the advice I give the OP about first learning how to play their class and how the build system works.A new player just adopting a tanky soldier build would be equally as harmful as them adopting any meta build and rolling through content, I even said as much:@Teratus.2859 said:It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.

it's funny how you don't quote yourself saying:perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.Seriously... what are you actually soloing in Soldier's Gear that constitutes "the games toughest PvE content"?Explorable dungeon paths?... t4 fractals?What have you
actually
solo'ed in this gear set?Can't take a video?.... that's fine... a few screenshots with your combat log up will suffice.You want to "defend the stat set"?... cool.... lets see some data/proof.Because I have serious doubts, despite your claims, that you could personally solo a desert bounty within the ten minute timer wearing Soldier's gear.Desert Bounties are not the "games toughest PVE content".... shouldn't be too hard.I would happily be proven wrong.@"Hannelore.8153" said:Reaper can kill vets in 5sec on Soldier's due to traits. Stats don't matter and never have, only build matters in this game.Veteran trash mobs huh?Super impressive.

Its not meant to impress anyone, so your reply is somewhat confusing. I'm just stating what most long-term players already know; the power and strength of your builds come from the build itself, especially the runes, sigils, and traits, and your gameplay; how well you dodge, etc. You can increase or reduce your stats all you want, it won't change anything in most fights.

Step out of perfectly scripted raid and step into WvW for a change, stats won't help you. They barely help even in instanced PvE content, their only function increasing damage which while seemingly impressive to hit big numbers like 30-40k DPS, is completely unnecessary since all content is outmanned with just regular groups, even raids which can be done with half a squad or in just greens showing this.

There's a speedrun guild which kills Chak Grrent in a few mins only with just random PUGs, having perfected the encounter.

Impressing others by doing bounties just shows my point; having to challenge yourself to do "group content" as one player. And even then, it doesn't come down to your stats, besides maybe Power or Condition Damage, but to the build, timing & usage of skills, and dodging.

The 'zerker meta that was optimal for the first few years of the game didn't exist because it was a cool stat combination, it existed just so players would wear something in content that made wearing almost anything unnecessary.

Sets like Berserker and especially Marauder can even give diminishing returns depending on build, due to capping crit chance, and the already very-high base critical damage of 150% which doesn't increase very much with Ferocity (average is 200%, which is only 33% more, and on crits only). Majority of damage in the game comes from +Power relative to enemy defense and %damage modifiers.

And even though Power is a stat, being provided by Might stacking, and some aura effects means that even full support healers go into fights with around 2k Power, matching the average defense of 1.9-2.2k.

There's some exceptions like how Ele and Thief need some +Vit to have 15k HP and not get one-shot, but that's about it. Even increasing support stats rarely matters; most encounters are overhealed with just a single healer due to dodging and damage mitigation; many boons can be overstacked with little or no Boon Duration, depending on party composition, as well.

You should try not to confuse min/maxing with "viable" or "useful". Champion/Legendary soloers play the game in a way not intended (though still scripted), so of course they need the extra benefit, but otherwise its an edge case.

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@Hannelore.8153 said:

@mindcircus.1506 said:The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

I don't have any decent way to reliably record video, I'm not into that kind of thing so I never learned nor had any interest in how that kind of software works nor how to edit it appropriately to save time and cut down upload speeds.Besides Gw2 is unreliable atm and im not actively playing much because of the lag issues, nothing I could record right now would be good enough because I can't play the game like I normally would be able to.

Anyway I was not advising OP play soldiers gear, I was only defending and noting the potential merits of Soldiers gear based on my own long time experience of using it just because others wrote it off so easily, that is unfortunately a common attitude a number of people tend to have about the set and personally I believe it to be an unfair one.. hence the defence.

All the main advice I give to the OP about their situation was above any comments I made defending Soldier's Gear.I also specifically said this as well:

@Teratus.2859 said:"that for some classes it's one of the best all rounder stat sets you can have
providing you know how to build a good/reliable build
around the set."That directly ties into the advice I give the OP about first learning how to play their class and how the build system works.A new player just adopting a tanky soldier build would be equally as harmful as them adopting any meta build and rolling through content, I even said as much:@Teratus.2859 said:It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.

it's funny how you don't quote yourself saying:perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.Seriously... what are you actually soloing in Soldier's Gear that constitutes "the games toughest PvE content"?Explorable dungeon paths?... t4 fractals?What have you
actually
solo'ed in this gear set?Can't take a video?.... that's fine... a few screenshots with your combat log up will suffice.You want to "defend the stat set"?... cool.... lets see some data/proof.Because I have serious doubts, despite your claims, that you could personally solo a desert bounty within the ten minute timer wearing Soldier's gear.Desert Bounties are not the "games toughest PVE content".... shouldn't be too hard.I would happily be proven wrong.@Hannelore.8153 said:Reaper can kill vets in 5sec on Soldier's due to traits. Stats don't matter and never have, only build matters in this game.Veteran trash mobs huh?Super impressive.

Its not meant to impress anyone, so your reply is somewhat confusing. I'm just stating what most long-term players already know; the power and strength of your builds come from the build itself, especially the runes, sigils, and traits, and your gameplay; how well you dodge, etc. You can increase or reduce your stats all you want, it won't change anything in most fights.

Step out of perfectly scripted raid and step into WvW for a change, stats won't help you. They barely help even in instanced PvE content, their only function increasing damage which while seemingly impressive to hit big numbers like 30-40k DPS, is completely unnecessary since all content is outmanned with just regular groups, even raids which can be done with half a squad or in just greens showing this.

There's a speedrun guild which kills Chak Grrent in a few mins only with just random PUGs, having perfected the encounter.

Impressing others by doing bounties just shows my point; having to challenge yourself to do "group content" as one player. And even then, it doesn't come down to your stats, besides maybe Power or Condition Damage, but to the build, timing & usage of skills, and dodging.

The 'zerker meta that was optimal for the first few years of the game didn't exist because it was a cool stat combination, it existed just so players would wear something in content that made wearing almost anything unnecessary.

Sets like Berserker and especially Marauder can even give diminishing returns depending on build, due to capping crit chance, and the already very-high base critical damage of 150% which doesn't increase very much with Ferocity (average is 200%, which is only 33% more, and on crits only). Majority of damage in the game comes from +Power relative to enemy defense and %damage modifiers.

And even though Power is a stat, being provided by Might stacking, and some aura effects means that even full support healers go into fights with around 2k Power, matching the average defense of 1.9-2.2k.

There's some exceptions like how Ele and Thief need some +Vit to have 15k HP and not get one-shot, but that's about it. Even increasing support stats rarely matters; most encounters are overhealed with just a single healer due to dodging and damage mitigation; many boons can be overstacked with little or no Boon Duration, depending on party composition, as well.

You should try not to confuse min/maxing with "viable" or "useful". Champion/Legendary soloers play the game in a way not intended (though still scripted), so of course they need the extra benefit, but otherwise its an edge case.

A veteran is not high end game content tho so saying the build can do that is not supporting that the build is ok soloing the high end game content.

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@Linken.6345 said:

@mindcircus.1506 said:The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

I don't have any decent way to reliably record video, I'm not into that kind of thing so I never learned nor had any interest in how that kind of software works nor how to edit it appropriately to save time and cut down upload speeds.Besides Gw2 is unreliable atm and im not actively playing much because of the lag issues, nothing I could record right now would be good enough because I can't play the game like I normally would be able to.

Anyway I was not advising OP play soldiers gear, I was only defending and noting the potential merits of Soldiers gear based on my own long time experience of using it just because others wrote it off so easily, that is unfortunately a common attitude a number of people tend to have about the set and personally I believe it to be an unfair one.. hence the defence.

All the main advice I give to the OP about their situation was above any comments I made defending Soldier's Gear.I also specifically said this as well:

@Teratus.2859 said:"that for some classes it's one of the best all rounder stat sets you can have
providing you know how to build a good/reliable build
around the set."That directly ties into the advice I give the OP about first learning how to play their class and how the build system works.A new player just adopting a tanky soldier build would be equally as harmful as them adopting any meta build and rolling through content, I even said as much:@Teratus.2859 said:It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.

it's funny how you don't quote yourself saying:perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.Seriously... what are you actually soloing in Soldier's Gear that constitutes "the games toughest PvE content"?Explorable dungeon paths?... t4 fractals?What have you
actually
solo'ed in this gear set?Can't take a video?.... that's fine... a few screenshots with your combat log up will suffice.You want to "defend the stat set"?... cool.... lets see some data/proof.Because I have serious doubts, despite your claims, that you could personally solo a desert bounty within the ten minute timer wearing Soldier's gear.Desert Bounties are not the "games toughest PVE content".... shouldn't be too hard.I would happily be proven wrong.@Hannelore.8153 said:Reaper can kill vets in 5sec on Soldier's due to traits. Stats don't matter and never have, only build matters in this game.Veteran trash mobs huh?Super impressive.

Its not meant to impress anyone, so your reply is somewhat confusing. I'm just stating what most long-term players already know; the power and strength of your builds come from the build itself, especially the runes, sigils, and traits, and your gameplay; how well you dodge, etc. You can increase or reduce your stats all you want, it won't change anything in most fights.

Step out of perfectly scripted raid and step into WvW for a change, stats won't help you. They barely help even in instanced PvE content, their only function increasing damage which while seemingly impressive to hit big numbers like 30-40k DPS, is completely unnecessary since all content is outmanned with just regular groups, even raids which can be done with half a squad or in just greens showing this.

There's a speedrun guild which kills Chak Grrent in a few mins only with just random PUGs, having perfected the encounter.

Impressing others by doing bounties just shows my point; having to challenge yourself to do "group content" as one player. And even then, it doesn't come down to your stats, besides maybe Power or Condition Damage, but to the build, timing & usage of skills, and dodging.

The 'zerker meta that was optimal for the first few years of the game didn't exist because it was a cool stat combination, it existed just so players would wear something in content that made wearing almost anything unnecessary.

Sets like Berserker and especially Marauder can even give diminishing returns depending on build, due to capping crit chance, and the already very-high base critical damage of 150% which doesn't increase very much with Ferocity (average is 200%, which is only 33% more, and on crits only). Majority of damage in the game comes from +Power relative to enemy defense and %damage modifiers.

And even though Power is a stat, being provided by Might stacking, and some aura effects means that even full support healers go into fights with around 2k Power, matching the average defense of 1.9-2.2k.

There's some exceptions like how Ele and Thief need some +Vit to have 15k HP and not get one-shot, but that's about it. Even increasing support stats rarely matters; most encounters are overhealed with just a single healer due to dodging and damage mitigation; many boons can be overstacked with little or no Boon Duration, depending on party composition, as well.

You should try not to confuse min/maxing with "viable" or "useful". Champion/Legendary soloers play the game in a way not intended (though still scripted), so of course they need the extra benefit, but otherwise its an edge case.

A veteran is not high end game content tho so saying the build can do that is not supporting that the build is ok soloing the high end game content.

The OP and the thread were about OW, so it's "high-end game content" in the context of this discussion.

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@Hannelore.8153 said:

@mindcircus.1506 said:The games toughest PVE content....In Soldiers gear?I would really like to see you or @Randulf.7614 to post a video soloing truly challenging content in Soldier's gear.You don't have to do the real hard stuff even....a video of you soloing a desert bounty (doesn't have to be Legendary) in soldier's gear will suffice.

I think the two of you are offering this new player absolutely awful advice.Post a video.Prove me wrong.

I don't have any decent way to reliably record video, I'm not into that kind of thing so I never learned nor had any interest in how that kind of software works nor how to edit it appropriately to save time and cut down upload speeds.Besides Gw2 is unreliable atm and im not actively playing much because of the lag issues, nothing I could record right now would be good enough because I can't play the game like I normally would be able to.

Anyway I was not advising OP play soldiers gear, I was only defending and noting the potential merits of Soldiers gear based on my own long time experience of using it just because others wrote it off so easily, that is unfortunately a common attitude a number of people tend to have about the set and personally I believe it to be an unfair one.. hence the defence.

All the main advice I give to the OP about their situation was above any comments I made defending Soldier's Gear.I also specifically said this as well:

@Teratus.2859 said:"that for some classes it's one of the best all rounder stat sets you can have
providing you know how to build a good/reliable build
around the set."That directly ties into the advice I give the OP about first learning how to play their class and how the build system works.A new player just adopting a tanky soldier build would be equally as harmful as them adopting any meta build and rolling through content, I even said as much:@Teratus.2859 said:It's very easy to get stuck in your ways when playing a build you got off some website and never learning how to build your own builds because of it.

it's funny how you don't quote yourself saying:perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.Seriously... what are you actually soloing in Soldier's Gear that constitutes "the games toughest PvE content"?Explorable dungeon paths?... t4 fractals?What have you
actually
solo'ed in this gear set?Can't take a video?.... that's fine... a few screenshots with your combat log up will suffice.You want to "defend the stat set"?... cool.... lets see some data/proof.Because I have serious doubts, despite your claims, that you could personally solo a desert bounty within the ten minute timer wearing Soldier's gear.Desert Bounties are not the "games toughest PVE content".... shouldn't be too hard.I would happily be proven wrong.@Hannelore.8153 said:Reaper can kill vets in 5sec on Soldier's due to traits. Stats don't matter and never have, only build matters in this game.Veteran trash mobs huh?Super impressive.

Its not meant to impress anyone, so your reply is somewhat confusing. I'm just stating what most long-term players already know; the power and strength of your builds come from the build itself, especially the runes, sigils, and traits, and your gameplay; how well you dodge, etc. You can increase or reduce your stats all you want, it won't change anything in most fights.

Step out of perfectly scripted raid and step into WvW for a change, stats won't help you. They barely help even in instanced PvE content, their only function increasing damage which while seemingly impressive to hit big numbers like 30-40k DPS, is completely unnecessary since all content is outmanned with just regular groups, even raids which can be done with half a squad or in just greens showing this.

There's a speedrun guild which kills Chak Grrent in a few mins only with just random PUGs, having perfected the encounter.

Impressing others by doing bounties just shows my point; having to challenge yourself to do "group content" as one player. And even then, it doesn't come down to your stats, besides maybe Power or Condition Damage, but to the build, timing & usage of skills, and dodging.

The 'zerker meta that was optimal for the first few years of the game didn't exist because it was a cool stat combination, it existed just so players would wear something in content that made wearing almost anything unnecessary.

Sets like Berserker and especially Marauder can even give diminishing returns depending on build, due to capping crit chance, and the already very-high base critical damage of 150% which doesn't increase very much with Ferocity (average is 200%, which is only 33% more, and on crits only). Majority of damage in the game comes from +Power relative to enemy defense and %damage modifiers.

And even though Power is a stat, being provided by Might stacking, and some aura effects means that even full support healers go into fights with around 2k Power, matching the average defense of 1.9-2.2k.

There's some exceptions like how Ele and Thief need some +Vit to have 15k HP and not get one-shot, but that's about it. Even increasing support stats rarely matters; most encounters are overhealed with just a single healer due to dodging and damage mitigation; many boons can be overstacked with little or no Boon Duration, depending on party composition, as well.

You should try not to confuse min/maxing with "viable" or "useful". Champion/Legendary soloers play the game in a way not intended (though still scripted), so of course they need the extra benefit, but otherwise its an edge case.

A veteran is not high end game content tho so saying the build can do that is not supporting that the build is ok soloing the high end game content.

The OP and the thread were about OW, so it's "high-end game content" in the context of this discussion.

Yes and there is higher enemies then veterans in the open world aswell.I do recall seeing both elites and champions.

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@Hannelore.8153 said:You should try not to confuse min/maxing with "viable" or "useful". Champion/Legendary soloers play the game in a way not intended (though still scripted), so of course they need the extra benefit, but otherwise its an edge case.

That was not your claim though. Your exact claim was:

@Hannelore.8153 said:Stats don't matter and never have, only build matters in this game.

Which is absolute rubbish and complete nonsense.

Stats are not the single defining factor, and boons, build and gameplay all have their share in a players performance, but stating that stats have no part in it is strair up incorrect. Even more when we deduct the boons part, given that most players do not have a pocket set of supporters trailing them at all time.

On the similar build of Daredevil, stats made up around 40% of the performance, having all boons was another 40% and actually executing the rotation was around 20% of total damage done (and mind you DD is a very autoattack heavy build). So if we subtract the boons, given they are not present at all times, do the math of how important stats are. You are free to try this out on the golem yourself as I did months ago.

That's without even getting into the discussion of power versus condition damage for open world. There is a reason I linked Lord Hizen's channel and his trailblazer open world builds.

Please either be more precise in your arguments, or invest proper research before making them. This is the Players helping Players forum and most new players will have a hard time distinguishing between trolling nonsense and actual information. The last thing you want is someone walking out of here thinking stats make no difference.

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Regarding Soldier gear, it's not absolutely terrible because it has Power as a Primary stat. All stat combinations with Power as a Primary are decent enough for most content, especially open world, because Power is the main driving force for damage in this game. Power provides a higher damage boost than Precision and Ferocity combined, so compared to any stat combination without Power as Primary, Soldier is better. Meaning you can do worse, but of course you can do better too. Obviously talking about strictly Power builds, not condition damage builds.

When it comes to the expansions though, the most important part for me is that expansion mobs have lower health pools than core Tyria mobs, while also dealing more damage. It's like HOT/POF mobs "wear" berserker gear, while core tyria mobs "wear" nomad gear. This mean, having a higher damage output increases your survivability, because you will kill the mobs faster. In core Tyria it doesn't matter, the only reason to go for higher damage gear is to not fall asleep because even level 80 Cursed Shore mobs hit like a wet noodle. On the other hand, in the expansions, killing a mob before it has the chance to hit you means you will survive longer. For veteran/elite/champion mobs going for higher damage, but complimenting the higher output with defensive abilities (vigor, aegis, protection, healing, block, invulnerability) will allow you to kill them while you still have active defenses available.

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You guys are theory crafting in a thread from a completely new player. A Mordrem Sniper is probably a challenge for him, a veteran Smokescale is a boss. Play the game, learn the basics.About gear and build. I'll try to give some beginner tips.There are 2 types of dmg sources; direct dmg and condition dmg.Direct dmg is when you hit a mob with skill and does dmg (white dmg). Direct dmg can critically hit which increases the dmg. The stats you are looking for when you do primarily direct dmg are power (direct impact on dmg), precision (increases chance of critical strikes), ferocity (increases the bonus dmg of a critical hit). Power is the most important.Then you have condition dmg. This comes from condition effects like bleeding, burning, poison... The stats that impact condition dmg are condition dmg (direct impact on dmg) and expertise (increases the duration of conditions, not just the ones that do dmg but also stuff like chill, slow, blind).As a new player, I would recommend you focus on direct dmg thus power. Why? Direct dmg is immediate and in open world stuff die fast. Now someone will come with a certain burn guardian burst build that is super duper and better for soloing some mob. Sure but that is imo a bit advanced for a completely new player.It is also much easier to get power gear. Exotic gear is very cheap on the trading post.When you choose your traits, you will want to focus on one type of dmg. You don't want to mix and match.It is also very important you pick the correct weapon. Check the skills of a weapon. If it does a lot of bleeding, burning effects it is a condition type weapon. If it does only direct dmg it is power. For a warrior if you go with power (which I highly recommend) you will want to use greatsword or axes. Greatsword does a little less dmg but has some great mobility skills which are great in open world. Also for a open world you will want a secondary ranged weapon. Both rifle or bow will do. Playing through the base game which is much easier is a great way to test different weapons and see how they suit you.

Regarding defences. In general, GW2 relies on active defences. As you noticed stuff hit hard. That is why you will need to learn to avoid dmg. Most dmg can be avoided by simply moving and dodging properly. That is why defensive stat like toughness is questionable (getting killed in 2 instead of 1 hit is not much of an improvement). You will want to learn to not get hit and here is where practice comes in. Take a look at your utility skills. All classes have utility skills that will help you survive.Also sometimes attack is the best defence. For example, your warrior has a lot of crowd control (cc) skills. If you stun the enemy, throw him to the ground and make him crippled he won't be much of a threat. Some tougher enemies can't be controlled (means crowd control skills won't work on them). Some will have a blue bar under their hp bar. We call that a break bar. Crowd control skills work differently on monsters with blue bars. You can't directly control them but hitting them with crowd control skills will reduce the blue bar. Once the blue bar is depleted (broken) the enemy will go to a special state where he will be stunned or take more dmg or some other beneficial effect. There are some very rare monsters where you have to break the blue bar, but mostly it is just beneficial to break it but not required.

I went through my first Hot on a staff Elementalist on foot in a mix of random yellow and orange gear. That is a combination that gets one hit by pretty much everything. At the start, I died a lot. But when I got through I knew how to avoid all dmg. Next run was with a ranger with some proper gear. It felt like a walk in the park.

Also right now is a Halloween event. It is a very popular event. Other places might be a bit emptier as usually because everyone is playing the event.

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@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Hannelore.8153 said:You should try not to confuse min/maxing with "viable" or "useful". Champion/Legendary soloers play the game in a way not intended (though still scripted), so of course they need the extra benefit, but otherwise its an edge case.

That was not your claim though. Your exact claim was:

@Hannelore.8153 said:Stats don't matter and never have, only build matters in this game.

Which is absolute rubbish and complete nonsense.

Stats are not the single defining factor, and boons, build and gameplay all have their share in a players performance, but stating that stats have no part in it is strair up incorrect. Even more when we deduct the boons part, given that most players do not have a pocket set of supporters trailing them at all time.

On the similar build of Daredevil, stats made up around 40% of the performance, having all boons was another 40% and actually executing the rotation was around 20% of total damage done (and mind you DD is a very autoattack heavy build). So if we subtract the boons, given they are not present at all times, do the math of how important stats are. You are free to try this out on the golem yourself as I did months ago.

That's without even getting into the discussion of power versus condition damage for open world. There is a reason I linked Lord Hizen's channel and his trailblazer open world builds.

Please either be more precise in your arguments, or invest proper research before making them. This is the Players helping Players forum and most new players will have a hard time distinguishing between trolling nonsense and actual information. The last thing you want is someone walking out of here thinking stats make no difference.

I hope the OP sees your responses, they are pretty helpful and as a vet player myself I recommend your advice here. I've browsed a few of your comments in the past and you often tend to write whatever my thoughts are without even having to post it. +1

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@"mindcircus.1506" said:it's funny how you don't quote yourself saying:

perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.Seriously... what are you actually soloing in Soldier's Gear that constitutes "the games toughest PvE content"?Explorable dungeon paths?... t4 fractals?

T3 fractals are the highest I attempted and beat but it took a long time and it was years ago I did that, things have changed there since then so I don't know if I'd do it now.. T1 and T2 stuff though sure, I'd still run those solo.Some explorable dungeons but again long and not worth it other than to prove to myself that I could.The only solo dungeon benefit I'd really recommend soldiers for now would be the story modes if you're interested in playing them on your own, they can be soloed by other gear sets too though, personally done mulitple solo story modes with Marauders and Zerkers gear builds as well.

For the most part when I say toughest PvE content I mean open world stuff, group events, legendary enemies, bounties and stuff designed for groups.I don't mean Raids if that's what you were getting, and I don't regard raids as PvE content anyway.. it's it's own thing in my book.

What have you actually solo'ed in this gear set?

Tons of things over the years, most recently the only solo attempts i've done are the Viscount and upgraded Lab Horror.Viscount is much easier to solo than previous years but the Horror is much stronger now, but every attempt i've tried has been ruined by other people interfering so no solo kills yet.I've gotten the Viscount down to 30% solo and the Horror down to around 47% solo so I know I can still kill them both.In previous years I would take them both on at the same time solo and kill them but with Horrors new upgrade that isn't something i'm going to be doing anymore.

Since you asked for specific names though these are some I remember killing.Bandit executioner, and several of the champ bandits.One of the legendary Forged bountys I forget which one exactly and tons of the champ bountys.Mai Trin.Molten Alliance bosses, original LW1 and fractal version.Starcaller.Queen Yidaxu.The Wyvern Patriarch.The Chak Crown.Risen Megalodon, hardly difficult now but pre expansions this one was much harder to solo.Bloodstone crazed Arctodus .Before world bosses had timers on them I killed the Fire Elemental, Jungle wurm and Golem Mk 2 solo as well.I think I also got OG Tequatl too before his big upgrade but I don't remember that one very well.. I know I at least attempted to kill him solo but it was so long ago and ultimately it's pointless now anyway since it obviously cannot be done anymore.

Because I have serious doubts, despite your claims, that you could personally solo a desert bounty within the ten minute timer wearing Soldier's gear.

The timer isn't the problem, the main problem is getting the right Unstable Magic buffs on them.If the bounty spawns with heavy healing buffs it's not worth fighting it.Main ones I look for are Exploiter and Spinning Laser as those are really easy kills and the boss can't stall with healing which is the biggest problem soloing bounties with Soldiers gear.

Since your curious about how I get my damage on soldiers though i'll tell you.Necromancer doesn't need any stat investment in precision to get some crits thanks to traits, they can also get a nice chunk of ferocity from traits as well.It's still low end damage with soldiers gear, nobody's arguing that but I will argue it's not as low as many think it is.The other factor is minions, minion damage is static and doesn't change based on the Necromancers stats, so they hit just as hard on a Solder Stat build as they would on a full glass canon build which makes them useful for patching in some extra overall damage, I personally tend to have around 10-11 minions in most combat situations, all doing damage, feeding me health and taking condis from me.

Desert Bounties are not the "games toughest PVE content".... shouldn't be too hard.I would happily be proven wrong.

No they're not, but they're on the higher level for open world stuff if you're going to take them on alone.And like I said I don't count raids as PvE content if that's the scale of difficulty you are thinking on, Soldiers might work for tanking there but outside of that I wouldn't recommend it for that content.It's fine for all tiers of Fractals though so long as you bring some kind of support to the group to cover from the lower damage you'll be doing, Bloodmagic I find to be good there.

@"Hannelore.8153" said:Impressing others by doing bounties just shows my point; having to challenge yourself to do "group content" as one player. And even then, it doesn't come down to your stats, besides maybe Power or Condition Damage, but to the build, timing & usage of skills, and dodging.

Agreed, the soldier stats alone are not what make my build so difficult to kill, the sustain I get is what mostly keeps me alive and all of that comes from my skills and traits.The Stats just give me a nice big health pool, help me stay in shroud longer and help me tank damage, but without that sustain I wouldn't be able to solo half the stuff I have.And yeah the only reason I solo stuff is exactly as you said it's just a personal challenge that I enjoy in the game.. i'm just making my own fun that's all. ^^

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@Teratus.2859 said:

@"mindcircus.1506" said:it's funny how you don't quote yourself saying:

perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.Seriously... what are you actually soloing in Soldier's Gear that constitutes "the games toughest PvE content"?Explorable dungeon paths?... t4 fractals?

T3 fractals are the highest I attempted and beat but it took a long time and it was years ago I did that, things have changed there since then so I don't know if I'd do it now.. T1 and T2 stuff though sure, I'd still run those solo.Some explorable dungeons but again long and not worth it other than to prove to myself that I could.The only solo dungeon benefit I'd really recommend soldiers for now would be the story modes if you're interested in playing them on your own, they can be soloed by other gear sets too though, personally done mulitple solo story modes with Marauders and Zerkers gear builds as well.

For the most part when I say toughest PvE content I mean open world stuff, group events, legendary enemies, bounties and stuff designed for groups.I don't mean Raids if that's what you were getting, and I don't regard raids as PvE content anyway.. it's it's own thing in my book.

What have you
actually
solo'ed in this gear set?

Tons of things over the years, most recently the only solo attempts i've done are the Viscount and upgraded Lab Horror.Viscount is much easier to solo than previous years but the Horror is much stronger now, but every attempt i've tried has been ruined by other people interfering so no solo kills yet.I've gotten the Viscount down to 30% solo and the Horror down to around 47% solo so I know I can still kill them both.In previous years I would take them both on at the same time solo and kill them but with Horrors new upgrade that isn't something i'm going to be doing anymore.

Since you asked for specific names though these are some I remember killing.Bandit executioner, and several of the champ bandits.One of the legendary Forged bountys I forget which one exactly and tons of the champ bountys.Mai Trin.Molten Alliance bosses, original LW1 and fractal version.Starcaller.Queen Yidaxu.The Wyvern Patriarch.The Chak Crown.Risen Megalodon, hardly difficult now but pre expansions this one was much harder to solo.Bloodstone crazed Arctodus .Before world bosses had timers on them I killed the Fire Elemental, Jungle wurm and Golem Mk 2 solo as well.I think I also got OG Tequatl too before his big upgrade but I don't remember that one very well.. I know I at least attempted to kill him solo but it was so long ago and ultimately it's pointless now anyway since it obviously cannot be done anymore.

Because I have serious doubts, despite your claims, that you could personally solo a desert bounty within the ten minute timer wearing Soldier's gear.

The timer isn't the problem, the main problem is getting the right Unstable Magic buffs on them.If the bounty spawns with heavy healing buffs it's not worth fighting it.Main ones I look for are Exploiter and Spinning Laser as those are really easy kills and the boss can't stall with healing which is the biggest problem soloing bounties with Soldiers gear.

Since your curious about how I get my damage on soldiers though i'll tell you.Necromancer doesn't need any stat investment in precision to get some crits thanks to traits, they can also get a nice chunk of ferocity from traits as well.It's still low end damage with soldiers gear, nobody's arguing that but I will argue it's not as low as many think it is.The other factor is minions, minion damage is static and doesn't change based on the Necromancers stats, so they hit just as hard on a Solder Stat build as they would on a full glass canon build which makes them useful for patching in some extra overall damage, I personally tend to have around 10-11 minions in most combat situations, all doing damage, feeding me health and taking condis from me.

Desert Bounties are not the "games toughest PVE content".... shouldn't be too hard.I would happily be proven wrong.

No they're not, but they're on the higher level for open world stuff if you're going to take them on alone.And like I said I don't count raids as PvE content if that's the scale of difficulty you are thinking on, Soldiers might work for tanking there but outside of that I wouldn't recommend it for that content.It's fine for all tiers of Fractals though so long as you bring some kind of support to the group to cover from the lower damage you'll be doing, Bloodmagic I find to be good there.

So the only class you would advice soldier on is Necromancer then since thats the only one you speak of here?

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@Linken.6345 said:

@"mindcircus.1506" said:it's funny how you don't quote yourself saying:

perfect for soloing the games toughest PvE content and many of it's strongest bosses.Seriously... what are you actually soloing in Soldier's Gear that constitutes "the games toughest PvE content"?Explorable dungeon paths?... t4 fractals?

T3 fractals are the highest I attempted and beat but it took a long time and it was years ago I did that, things have changed there since then so I don't know if I'd do it now.. T1 and T2 stuff though sure, I'd still run those solo.Some explorable dungeons but again long and not worth it other than to prove to myself that I could.The only solo dungeon benefit I'd really recommend soldiers for now would be the story modes if you're interested in playing them on your own, they can be soloed by other gear sets too though, personally done mulitple solo story modes with Marauders and Zerkers gear builds as well.

For the most part when I say toughest PvE content I mean open world stuff, group events, legendary enemies, bounties and stuff designed for groups.I don't mean Raids if that's what you were getting, and I don't regard raids as PvE content anyway.. it's it's own thing in my book.

What have you
actually
solo'ed in this gear set?

Tons of things over the years, most recently the only solo attempts i've done are the Viscount and upgraded Lab Horror.Viscount is much easier to solo than previous years but the Horror is much stronger now, but every attempt i've tried has been ruined by other people interfering so no solo kills yet.I've gotten the Viscount down to 30% solo and the Horror down to around 47% solo so I know I can still kill them both.In previous years I would take them both on at the same time solo and kill them but with Horrors new upgrade that isn't something i'm going to be doing anymore.

Since you asked for specific names though these are some I remember killing.Bandit executioner, and several of the champ bandits.One of the legendary Forged bountys I forget which one exactly and tons of the champ bountys.Mai Trin.Molten Alliance bosses, original LW1 and fractal version.Starcaller.Queen Yidaxu.The Wyvern Patriarch.The Chak Crown.Risen Megalodon, hardly difficult now but pre expansions this one was much harder to solo.Bloodstone crazed Arctodus .Before world bosses had timers on them I killed the Fire Elemental, Jungle wurm and Golem Mk 2 solo as well.I think I also got OG Tequatl too before his big upgrade but I don't remember that one very well.. I know I at least attempted to kill him solo but it was so long ago and ultimately it's pointless now anyway since it obviously cannot be done anymore.

Because I have serious doubts, despite your claims, that you could personally solo a desert bounty within the ten minute timer wearing Soldier's gear.

The timer isn't the problem, the main problem is getting the right Unstable Magic buffs on them.If the bounty spawns with heavy healing buffs it's not worth fighting it.Main ones I look for are Exploiter and Spinning Laser as those are really easy kills and the boss can't stall with healing which is the biggest problem soloing bounties with Soldiers gear.

Since your curious about how I get my damage on soldiers though i'll tell you.Necromancer doesn't need any stat investment in precision to get some crits thanks to traits, they can also get a nice chunk of ferocity from traits as well.It's still low end damage with soldiers gear, nobody's arguing that but I will argue it's not as low as many think it is.The other factor is minions, minion damage is static and doesn't change based on the Necromancers stats, so they hit just as hard on a Solder Stat build as they would on a full glass canon build which makes them useful for patching in some extra overall damage, I personally tend to have around 10-11 minions in most combat situations, all doing damage, feeding me health and taking condis from me.

Desert Bounties are not the "games toughest PVE content".... shouldn't be too hard.I would happily be proven wrong.

No they're not, but they're on the higher level for open world stuff if you're going to take them on alone.And like I said I don't count raids as PvE content if that's the scale of difficulty you are thinking on, Soldiers might work for tanking there but outside of that I wouldn't recommend it for that content.It's fine for all tiers of Fractals though so long as you bring some kind of support to the group to cover from the lower damage you'll be doing, Bloodmagic I find to be good there.

So the only class you would advice soldier on is Necromancer then since thats the only one you speak of here?

If I had to pick just one then yes, Necromancer is definitely the class i've gotten the best results using Soldiers gear on.But I wouldn't rule out the potential on other classes, I expect there are other builds out there on other classes that could work well with Soldiers Gear too.

There's probably a lot of stat sets out there that people don't use very often that might work well with some classes and builds.I made a Daredevil with Zealot stats a little while ago and that is really fun to play, it has great self healing sustain providing you play it right, squishy dead thief if you don't though lol

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@"Teratus.2859" said:You can skip over all that learning and just adopt someone else's "meta" build etc but this again is something I would strongly not recommend either as it could deprive you of learning various other elements of your class and cause you problems down the road if you find your build doesn't work for you in certain content and you don't really understand how the build system and your class works.

It doesn't really matter if you use your own build or use one from someone else. What does matter if learning why the various choices are made. Partly because no build will work for everything and you will need know what the purpose of each part is for in order to adapt appropriate.

The difference is just the order that you do the learning. In one you learn how the parts work and try to build something out of it while in the other you use a prebuilt thing and try to learn how it works.

The key point is actually spending time learning how and why things work rather than just following a list of buttons to press which happens to do a particular thing for specific situations.

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@Khisanth.2948 said:

@"Teratus.2859" said:You can skip over all that learning and just adopt someone else's "meta" build etc but this again is something I would strongly not recommend either as it could deprive you of learning various other elements of your class and cause you problems down the road if you find your build doesn't work for you in certain content and you don't really understand how the build system and your class works.

It doesn't really matter if you use your own build or use one from someone else. What does matter if learning why the various choices are made. Partly because no build will work for everything and you will need know what the purpose of each part is for in order to adapt appropriate.

The difference is just the order that you do the learning. In one you learn how the parts work and try to build something out of it while in the other you use a prebuilt thing and try to learn how it works.

The key point is actually spending time learning how and why things work rather than just following a list of buttons to press which happens to do a particular thing for specific situations.

That's pretty much what I was getting at, just not in so much detail.What I find tends to happen is people get too comfortable when something just works so they roll with it and never really take the time to understand how it works.That's the big negative of just copying someone else's builds, specially if it can faceroll through most content.. it's how we end up with people going into HoT who don't know how to dodge or use CC properly, a big part of that is because they never had to use them before. >.<

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@Teratus.2859 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:You can skip over all that learning and just adopt someone else's "meta" build etc but this again is something I would strongly not recommend either as it could deprive you of learning various other elements of your class and cause you problems down the road if you find your build doesn't work for you in certain content and you don't really understand how the build system and your class works.

It doesn't really matter if you use your own build or use one from someone else. What does matter if learning why the various choices are made. Partly because no build will work for everything and you will need know what the purpose of each part is for in order to adapt appropriate.

The difference is just the order that you do the learning. In one you learn how the parts work and try to build something out of it while in the other you use a prebuilt thing and try to learn how it works.

The key point is actually spending time learning how and why things work rather than just following a list of buttons to press which happens to do a particular thing for specific situations.

That's pretty much what I was getting at, just not in so much detail.What I find tends to happen is people get too comfortable when something just works so they roll with it and never really take the time to understand how it works.That's the big negative of just copying someone else's builds, specially if it can faceroll through most content.. it's how we end up with people going into HoT who don't know how to dodge or use CC properly, a big part of that is because they never had to use them before. >.<

Defiance stacks before HoT also made CC useless in many cases.

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@Khisanth.2948 said:

@Teratus.2859 said:You can skip over all that learning and just adopt someone else's "meta" build etc but this again is something I would strongly not recommend either as it could deprive you of learning various other elements of your class and cause you problems down the road if you find your build doesn't work for you in certain content and you don't really understand how the build system and your class works.

It doesn't really matter if you use your own build or use one from someone else. What does matter if learning why the various choices are made. Partly because no build will work for everything and you will need know what the purpose of each part is for in order to adapt appropriate.

The difference is just the order that you do the learning. In one you learn how the parts work and try to build something out of it while in the other you use a prebuilt thing and try to learn how it works.

The key point is actually spending time learning how and why things work rather than just following a list of buttons to press which happens to do a particular thing for specific situations.

That's pretty much what I was getting at, just not in so much detail.What I find tends to happen is people get too comfortable when something just works so they roll with it and never really take the time to understand how it works.That's the big negative of just copying someone else's builds, specially if it can faceroll through most content.. it's how we end up with people going into HoT who don't know how to dodge or use CC properly, a big part of that is because they never had to use them before. >.<

Defiance stacks before HoT also made CC useless in many cases.

Very true, in fact the only time I found CC useful in Gw2 before HoT introduced breakbars was during the times I tried to solo champs and stuff.Back then you could hit these creatures with CC effects and they would gain a little defiance buff after it that you'd have to remove with additional CC attacks.It kind of added a bit of strategy, actively choosing which CC effect you wanted to inflict on something and managing your attacks so you could hit them with the right one.

It stacked with players too so the more people involved in the fight the more stacks of CC you'd need to apply before the boss could be hit with a CC effect again which was a disaster in normal play since there would always be that one player who lands a knockback or fear or something that would screw up the stack and smack mentality most people had back then xDAhh fun times lol

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As so many others have said, new players need to take time to memorize all of the skills available and how they interact. The same is true for trait selections and equipment stat's. It takes quite a while to learn even one profession. Then there is the problem of equipment you need to replace your default L80 boost equipment, which is more suited for casual WvW introduction.

I recommend taking the longer road and explore core Tyria while experimenting with builds you can find on the internet and your own creations while gathering gold and materials. The personal story is a sequence of solo challenges you can use to assess your combat skills. WvW and PvP are also good tests of skills and equipment but going up against veteran players can be disheartening once you realize how much of a skill-gap there can be. Do not be discouraged. Keep learning and enjoy the experiences.

HoT also has confusing and exceptionally dangerous maps that still get me killed after years of playing so just expect that will happen. There are often squads formed in the LFG tool to help characters through them but the tend to move quickly. There is virtually no penalty for dying so just resurrect at a waypoint and go back to finish the job.

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  • 1 year later...

Now, you see one of this game's many problems.  You'll never get anyone to agree on any how to spec a profession, but warrior is one of the difficult ones.  It's still not quite a bad as elementalist, but it's still very frustrating.  There's really no right answer to this problem as it depends on which part of the game you're in, which game mode you're playing and which enemies you are fighting.  There is no one build to rule them all, sadly.  I spend most of my time in PvE in the open world.  There are levels of difficultly for these areas.  Central Tyria is the easiest, Path of Fire is harder, and Heart of Thorns is the hardest.   There are many levels of mobs from easiest to hardest they are: Ambient creature, Normal, Veteran, Elite, Champion, Legendary, and Epic.  Every mob has different abilities.  Solider gear can keep you alive, but it is extremely frustrating to use on the warrior most of the time, because when you are in single combat or fighting small groups of normal difficulty mobs, it takes too long to kill them.  The issue is that you don't have any critical strike ability.  You'll need to add precision and ferocity to adjust that.  The easiest step up from soldiers gear that accomplishes that is marauder gear.  I'd recommend that it be exotic (orange) gear.  You can add a Superior Rune of the Warrior to all six pieces of armor to help compensate for the reduction in health.  You might also wish to put a Superior Sigil of Accuracy and Superior Sigil of Force on your weapons to increase critical strike chance and improve damage done.  This will be a power build, and it works well with warriors.  Personally, I like double axes for melee weapons, and I have a bow for the backup weapon for range, but you could also use a rifle.  Note, this is a build for new players, and I can't guarantee you'll like it, but it sounds like you need step up from soldier's gear, and this will work for that.  As you continue through the game, you will develop different needs, and you will inevitably want to have more or different gear.   A lot of people have multiple sets of gear for different parts of the game.  For example, if you decide you want to play fractals, you'll eventually need ascended gear to deal so you can add agony resistance to your gear.  If I had to sum up Guild Wars 2, I would say it is wildly inconsistent and too complicated.

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