Returning player after 8 years of being away!

[Masteryodi.8149]

I am a returning player coming from FFXIV. I haven't played GW2 in 8-9 years and have a lvl 80 MEsmer and 46 Elementalist. I don't know where to start at. I am totally lost on the game mechanics and how to get more Karma points. 

[Silent.6137]

4 minutes ago, Masteryodi.8149 said:

I am a returning player coming from FFXIV. I haven't played GW2 in 8-9 years and have a lvl 80 MEsmer and 46 Elementalist. I don't know where to start at. I am totally lost on the game mechanics and how to get more Karma points. 

Do the story. If you have all the expansions and Living Worlds, try to do them in order. The game will teach you the basic game mechanics as you progresses. Seeing as the game is horizontal progression after you reach max level, you'll catch up fairly quick. There are tons of contents. Don't try to rush. Enjoy each game mode as they unfold.

As for karma, they are not hard to obtain. Check the links and go the the Acquisition section. If you do farm very often on Living World S3 or S4 maps, max out the Karmic Retributions on those specific maps. You can purchase those from vendors. And before you know it, you'll be swimming in them.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Create a new character, and take advantage of the New Player Experience.  You will soon catch up.

Welcome return, and good luck.

[RavensSorrow.6128]

1 hour ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

Create a new character, and take advantage of the New Player Experience.  You will soon catch up.

Welcome return, and good luck.

 

This is not a bad idea. The leveling speed has been increased slightly with new character specific achievements. These serve as a bit of a tutorial as well.

Otherwise I suggest just taking your old characters for a spin. Do world bosses (type "/wiki ET" in game to see the Event Timer that shows which ones are coming up). Maybe take a look at some videos for new players on youtube to refresh yourself or find fun builds to try and learn. Find a guild or discord community to chat in and ask questions. There are a lot of resources out there to help you pick up where you left off.

Also what are your goals? What content do you enjoy?  The more you tell us the more specific we can be with advice.

For Karma, it comes from everywhere. Do events, hearts fractals, whatever. You'll stack it up. Unless you are rushing for something just play and you'll get it.

[Masteryodi.8149]

54 minutes ago, RavensSorrow.6128 said:

 

This is not a bad idea. The leveling speed has been increased slightly with new character specific achievements. These serve as a bit of a tutorial as well.

Otherwise I suggest just taking your old characters for a spin. Do world bosses (type "/wiki ET" in game to see the Event Timer that shows which ones are coming up). Maybe take a look at some videos for new players on youtube to refresh yourself or find fun builds to try and learn. Find a guild or discord community to chat in and ask questions. There are a lot of resources out there to help you pick up where you left off.

Also what are your goals? What content do you enjoy?  The more you tell us the more specific we can be with advice.

For Karma, it comes from everywhere. Do events, hearts fractals, whatever. You'll stack it up. Unless you are rushing for something just play and you'll get it.

I want to do fun events, endgame whenever i get a grasp for the game, and crafting. The specializations is what is throwing me off so far. Im far from wanting to rush just dont want to make any costly mistakes that I can't undo.

[RavensSorrow.6128]

On 9/5/2022 at 10:54 PM, Masteryodi.8149 said:

I want to do fun events, endgame whenever i get a grasp for the game, and crafting. The specializations is what is throwing me off so far. Im far from wanting to rush just dont want to make any costly mistakes that I can't undo.

You don't have to worry. Specializations can be change around at any time. All it takes is some time getting the points to unlock everything. With expansions hero challenges giving 10 points and a lot of them are repeatable (for loot only*) daily you can get the points needed fairly quick (look for hero point trains in lfg).  You won't Turn your elementalist into a catalyst, find you don't like it and get stuck. Just the other day I turned mine from a catalyst into a Weaver (super fun by the way) and that took me all of an hour or 2 to get the points needed with a good train. He also has a tempest build set up and ready to swap to if I should want to go back to that quickly.

All the specializations do is take up the third slot in your specialization section. So you get 2 core specs and 1 elite. These are so free and easy to move I unlock them all on my characters. Just pick the one that sounds the most fun first. As for what's viable at the end game pretty much everything depending how deep you go. The harder content you push the more people will care about the meta builds. For all the normal mode stuff it's more about building a cohesive build. I.e. don't take poison talents if your weapons only do strike damage or don't say you'll tank but have no toughness on your gear. That kind of thing. As long as you can dodge, follow a good commander, and understand what your role is supposed to do you'll get through a good chunk of content.

Edited September 7, 2022 by RavensSorrow.6128
clarification

[Urud.4925]

On 9/6/2022 at 4:54 AM, Masteryodi.8149 said:

I want to do fun events, endgame whenever i get a grasp for the game, and crafting. The specializations is what is throwing me off so far. Im far from wanting to rush just dont want to make any costly mistakes that I can't undo.

For crafting, it's quite important to follow some guide, as you can indeed waste some gold. This is still probably the best source: https://gw2crafts.net/   Compared to FF14, since you played it, the good thing is that here you won't craft useless items: most of them can be reused to craft something else, and eventually, finally, sold to the trading post. But it's not something you MUST do, especially at the beginning, so take your time.

About specializations, on the other hand, you don't risk to regret anything: at level 80, you will have enough hero points to unlock all the core traits of your class, so there is no reason to wait and don't spend them until you understand more the game (something that I always do when I play a new MMO). You can change specialization at any time, once you unlocked them (and you will do it).

The statistics of the end game gear (the ascended one, pink) can also be changed with few money (around 1 gold), so choosing the wrong stats it's not a terrible mistake. The orange/yellow gear (Exotic) on the other end, can't change stats, but it costs very few silver, so don't feel any pressure to make mistakes.

The core elementalist is a fun class to play, but quite hard for a new player/returning players after many years. I suggest you to do some map completion with your lv80 mesmer, or start a new character, if you feel like. Keep in mind that the crafting you level up, is bond to the character. But yeah, overall, the game is not easy to understand, there is basically no tutorial, but there are very few mistakes that you can do (level up crafting without a guide is one of them).

[Silent.6137]

On 9/5/2022 at 11:18 PM, RavensSorrow.6128 said:

With expansions hero challenges giving 10 points and a lot of them are repeatable daily

Just want to point out that this statement may cause confusion. All hero points can be obtained from any challenges only once per character. Some hero challenges are repeatable but they'll only give XP and loots., or can be used as a source of power.

Edited September 7, 2022 by Silent.6137

[RavensSorrow.6128]

1 hour ago, Silent.6137 said:

Just want to point out that this statement may cause confusion. All hero points can be obtained from any challenges only once per character. Some hero challenges are repeatable but they'll only give XP and loots., or can ve used as a source of power.

 

Appreciate the correction.

[Bilgato.8034]

On 9/5/2022 at 7:54 PM, Masteryodi.8149 said:

I want to do fun events, endgame whenever i get a grasp for the game, and crafting. The specializations is what is throwing me off so far. Im far from wanting to rush just dont want to make any costly mistakes that I can't undo.

Endgame starts the minute you turn 80, you can do pretty much anything at any time and go anywhere you want, your mind and any expansions you don't have are your only limit...the only costly mistake you can really make is blowing all your gold on expensive minis.