So many more questions

[TOAD.4718]

Sorry for all the questions lately but I want to learn everything lol. So here goes a few more:

 

1. I’m 80 and on my last story quest before expansion. Is it safe to switch over to Druid specialization after that quest or will I find doing the expansion stuff in my starter WvW healer setup too rough?

 

2. For Crafting. Do I need alts or say if I take Leatherworking and Artifice… once I get done making my end game staff can I replace Artifice with say cooking? Or do I need to make an alt?(Not a big alt guy)

 

3. After I finish my class story will I need to go somewhere to trigger the first expansion content or does it pretty much immediately start via mail message or in game quest arrow ect…?

 

Ty for your time.

 

 

[Sobx.1758]

57 minutes ago, TOAD.4718 said:

1. I’m 80 and on my last story quest before expansion. Is it safe to switch over to Druid specialization after that quest or will I find doing the expansion stuff in my starter WvW healer setup too rough?

When you learn the specialization traits/skills, you don't somehow permanently switch to that espec. To play druid, you need to equip druid traitline. If you don't equip any espec traitline, you can still play core specs same way you did before.

57 minutes ago, TOAD.4718 said:

2. For Crafting. Do I need alts or say if I take Leatherworking and Artifice… once I get done making my end game staff can I replace Artifice with say cooking? Or do I need to make an alt?(Not a big alt guy)

You can keep replacing disciplines and the craft level is saved, but each time you swap it (by talking to crafting npc), you'll pay a small amount of silver. Although not sure how much exactly, because I'm just using 2 crafting disciplines per character and relog if needed.

57 minutes ago, TOAD.4718 said:

3. After I finish my class story will I need to go somewhere to trigger the first expansion content or does it pretty much immediately start via mail message or in game quest arrow ect…?

Press H -> "Story journal" (4th tab) -> pick Heart of thorns (or living world s1 🤔) -> press the button starting the story.

[TOAD.4718]

25 minutes ago, Sobx.1758 said:

When you learn the specialization traits/skills, you don't somehow permanently switch to that espec. To play druid, you need to equip druid traitline. If you don't equip any espec traitline, you can still play core specs same way you did before.

You can keep replacing disciplines and the craft level is saved, but each time you swap it (by talking to crafting npc), you'll pay a small amount of silver. Although not sure how much exactly, because I'm just using 2 crafting disciplines per character and relog if needed.

Press H -> "Story journal" (4th tab) -> pick Heart of thorns (or living world s1 🤔) -> press the button starting the story.

Ty. I understand how to equip the new Druid skills and trait lines. What I mean is can I solo content with it.

[Randulf.7614]

Story progression should be mailed, but here is the order
 

- Core/Personal Story

- Season 1 (just returned,helps to play it for story but gameplay is a mixed bag. It’s arguably skippable)

- Season 2 (bridging season 1 and hot, with s1 recaps)

- Heart of Thorns (leads direct from the end scene in season 2)

- Season 3 (the after effects of hot and 6 new maps across the world)

- Path of Fire (dealing with the revelation in season 3)

- Season 4 (the after effects of PoF and 6 new maps in Elona)

- Season 5 (3 maps. Pulls together story so far for slightly new story. Lots of group stuff)

- End of Dragons (finale for the ten year story arc. Has threads from all other seasons)

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by Randulf.7614

[Sarius.9285]

26 minutes ago, TOAD.4718 said:

Ty. I understand how to equip the new Druid skills and trait lines. What I mean is can I solo content with it.

you can, but druid is not made to go solo, so it will be alot harder

[Rogue.8235]

1 hour ago, TOAD.4718 said:

1. I’m 80 and on my last story quest before expansion. Is it safe to switch over to Druid specialization after that quest or will I find doing the expansion stuff in my starter WvW healer setup too rough?

 

Most of what makes a build viable in expansion content is your mastery over that particular build.  One thing that is generally true is that you'll want balanced builds for expansion-level open world content.   A build that specializes too much on a single thing, like healing, may be too difficult. 

One thing you can do is ignore the story for a bit and just wander in the expansion map with your current build.  Be especially attentive to what makes a particular engagement difficult, what skills are working and what aren't, and what kinds of mobs are proving to be difficult to handle.  Don't be afraid to die and push your limits to get a good idea of how your build is handling things.  Also, be aware of how you, personally, are piloting the build.  A playstyle that works for you in one aspect of the game, like WvW, may not work for you in other parts. 

After gathering that data and likely dying a lot, fine-tune your build to implement skills and traits to cover your weaknesses.  You may also need to start from scratch and make an entirely new build, which is not a problem.  Use the second build tab and second equipment tab for your PvE ranger.  Remember, you only need exotic level (orange) gear for open world.  Don't worry about ascended until you're sure that is the build for you.  

Another note, a good rule of thumb for open world builds is to have one condition cleanse skill and one stun break skill on your skill bar at all times.  

 

[Silent.6137]

2 hours ago, TOAD.4718 said:

Sorry for all the questions lately but I want to learn everything lol. So here goes a few more:

1. Refer to MetaBattle for good solo build. Druids are support class so better to use Power Ranger or Power Soulbeast.

2. Having all crafting professions on your main is very convenient but it requires paying every time you need to switch. And it cost lots of gold to level all professions. I do have all on my main but if I would to do it again, I would just limit it to 4 professions. Best is to have each alt have two or three professions so there's no need to waypoint your main from a specific map or switch professions.

3. As mentioned above, go to Hero Panel>Story Journal. You can start and play in any order. Or quit anywhere to start on another story, if you so desired. When you go back to the former story, you'll just continue from the last checkpoint/chapter of the episode.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

9 hours ago, Randulf.7614 said:

Season 3 (the after effects of hot and 3 new maps across the world)

I believe you mean 6 new maps:  https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Season_3#Open_world_zones

[Randulf.7614]

4 minutes ago, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

I believe you mean 6 new maps:  https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Living_World_Season_3#Open_world_zones

Yeah, late night typo on my part. I’ll edit

[Zyreva.1078]

17 hours ago, TOAD.4718 said:

1. I’m 80 and on my last story quest before expansion. Is it safe to switch over to Druid specialization after that quest or will I find doing the expansion stuff in my starter WvW healer setup too rough?

WvW healers usually use minstrel's gear - which has zero offensive stats and therefore absolutely garbage dmg, which makes it terrible for soloing stuff.

Generally druid has rather low dmg output, but is is still fine for solo open world as long you don't want to speedrun things. The great sustain is has (and the pets that can serves as "tank" from time to time), makes it actually a fairly easy to play choice.

I'd recommend celestial gear as starting point, it is great for soloing open world PvE/story, viable for almost any PvE grp content and also pretty useful in WvW, since it doesn't only allow you to support in zergs just fine (with just a minor loss in healing output compared to minstrel), but also let's you get stuff done solo in case there is no zerg active or you want to try out something different.

Unfortunately cele gear is pretty expensive (and so is minstrel's), but there are few ways to get some gear for cheap or even free.

If you still have a lvl 80 boost and don't mind "wasting" it on a lvl 80 char, you can use it to get a full set of exotic cele gear for free - which is good enough to get you through the majority of content in this game (the gear is character bound, so you can't use the booster on another char and transfer the gear to your ranger).

Unlocking the druid specialisation will grant you an exotic staff with the option to choose minstrel's stats and if you finish the associated collection, you will get an ascended staff with the same stat options (so i'd not recommend to craft an ascended minstrel's staff). Playing the HoT expansion (the first map in particular) will get you access to fully stat selectable exotic armor for very cheap. WvW also grants a stat selectable exotic armor piece per week and you can get additional exotic gear from reward tracks, tho you probably want to focus on unlocking the warclaw first.

Also if you check the trading post for certain gear, always filter for stats, not name, because there can be named items that are way cheaper than the crafted version (eg there is an exotic cele shortbow named "Stardust" aviable for less than 50s, while the crafted version - with the exact same stats! - costs more than 10g).

There are certainly other options for cheap or free exotic and ascended gear, unfortunately i'm not very well versed in regards to this topic, but maybe someone else can add more useful information.

 

Edited November 29, 2022 by UmbraNoctis.1907

[TOAD.4718]

1 minute ago, UmbraNoctis.1907 said:

WvW healers usually use minstrel's gear - which has zero offensive stats and therefore absolutely garbage dmg, which makes it terrible for soloing stuff.

I'd recommend celestial gear as starting point, it is great for soloing open world PvE/story, viable for almost any PvE grp content and also pretty useful in WvW, since it doesn't only allow you to support in zergs just fine (with just a minor loss in healing output compared to minstrel), but also let's you get stuff done solo in case there is no zerg active or you want to try out something different.

 

Unfortunately cele gear is pretty expensive (and so is minstrel's), but there are few ways to get some gear for cheap or even free.

If you still have a lvl 80 boost and don't mind "wasting" it on a lvl 80 char, you can use it to get a full set of exotic cele gear for free - which is good enough to get you through the majority of content in this game (the gear is character bound, so you can't use the booster on another char and transfer the gear to your ranger).

Unlocking the druid specialisation will grant you an exotic staff with the option to choose minstrel's stats and if you finish the associated collection, you will get an ascended staff with the same stat options (so i'd not recommend to craft an ascended minstrel's staff). Playing the HoT expansion (the first map in particular) will get you access to fully stat selectable exotic armor for very cheap. WvW also grants a stat selectable exotic armor piece per week and you can get additional exotic gear from reward tracks, tho you probably want to focus on unlocking the warclaw first.

Also if you check the trading post for certain gear, always filter for stats, not name, because there can be named items that are way cheaper than the crafted version (eg there is an exotic cele shortbow named "Stardust" aviable for less than 50s, while the crafted version - with the exact same stats! - costs more than 10g).

There are certainly other options for cheap or free exotic and ascended gear, unfortunately i'm not very well versed in regards to this topic, but maybe someone else can add more useful information.

 

So I’m guessing having an Open World build and a WvW build would be a useful use of my two build/equipment tabs?

[Zyreva.1078]

2 minutes ago, TOAD.4718 said:

So I’m guessing having an Open World build and a WvW build would be a useful use of my two build/equipment tabs?

Definitely. Generally different content and roles require different builds, especially when it comes to traits and skills equipped (luckily changing those is just a matter of a few mouse clicks at most). Regarding gear i'd just go with cele, it works pretty much everywhere.

[Jukhy.2431]

Looks like all questions are covered here so I'll just add some info about crafting.

For cheap and fast crafting guides see https://gw2crafts.net/ page. The most expensive to train by far is scribe but it is mostly used for guild hall decorations and things like that.

You can also choose to buy Additional Crafting License from the gem store (when it's available). Four active crafting professions per toon is the max so you can use two of these. I've bought one from a discount so I have all nine crafting professions active between three toons. The one I sometimes train on rest of my toons is chef since it adds a cooking station (access to bank & material storage) in the home instance. To unlock it you need to finish the Gourmet Training achievement on your account but only once - other toons get the station just by leveling cooking.