So completely lost, need advice if possible.

[Nightbreed Gaming.4320]

New to the game, Logged in maybe a couple times like a year ago, then try playing a few hours  off and on since then. (have less than 50 hours total played for context I think)

So, after hearing about the game for so long, and one of my fave streamers playing Gw2 all the time, I decided to buy HoT and PoF and it came with the lvl 80 boost. 

In other games, I mainly stay ranged classes, so Ele seemed kinda up my alley. (was Ele or mesmer for choices) but I'm so completely lost, and frustrated like all the other times I tried playing and had to log an hour or two later to keep from just uninstalling.  I WANT to love the game, there's a lot of things I really like about it. But I could use some advice if possible about what I'm apparently doing wrong. 

 

I'm in the full celestial gear that lvl 80 boosts are given, but either my dps is non existent, or every mob in the game is a damage sponge with the health of a raid boss. It takes forever to kill anything, and then if it's a veteran type, forget it. I may as well go put on a movie and afk randomly tapping my attacks till the thing is dead. This is with both the staff they give you as well as the scepter and focus weapons. I prefer fire, but I've tried earth a few times just for survivability, but I'm still doing something wrong it seems. 

 

I see people talking about their talent builds, and they say things like D/D 10,2,5,7 and a string of numbers, but I have no idea what that means or when they say "Core". I get elite specializations, I see that talent tree but I've not touched it yet because I didn't want to mess something up even worse I figured. I don't understand why they call classes "professions" as to me, profession is like armorsmith or something. Not say.. revenant or Guardian. I just know when I press H and open up my talents, I get fire, air, earth, arcane. and there's always 3 bars "active" and I can switch one out for the 4th thing that is "inactive" but when someone says "make sure you have X as your active set" I don't get that because all 3 of these things look active, it's not like I can just highlight one and ignore the other two. and those 3 bars don't change regardl;ess of if I am in fire, water, arcane etc. 

 

I've seen a couple ppl say to switch the celestial for berzerker. But I only have like 20 gold (it's been slow and few along the way!)  so I can't buy that, they said you can buy it for Karma in... Orr? but the merchants charge 42k a piece and I have 44k total. So that's out too. But I'm tired of getting squished solo, Just as an example, I used the "beta" and made a lvl 80 mesmer and sent it to the same place in the auric basin that my Ele is, and attacked the same mobs. And melted them in like 5-6 seconds instead of giving myself carpal tunnel and almost dying repeatedly on my ele before the thing dies. 

 

Also, I'm trying to finish the main storyline in HoT, and it's really frustrating that I needed glider mastery to a certain pt to get exalted whatever, before I could get mushroom bouncing, so that I could get nuhoc body part gathering etc etc just to finish the questline. That's kind of absurd to make a player level up so that they can even accept the quests, but then work even more just to get to the quests via leveling up every mastery in the expansion. PoF didn't do that, all I had to get was raptor mastery to canyon jump and PoF is complete already. Not sure why HoT needs so much extra work. 

Sorry for rambling, I'm just completely lost with gear and dmg, how to finish HoT so that I can play the ice expansion and just enjoy the game, but working to be able to do some work, and taking forever to kill anything while almost dying repeatedly is super frustrating. Especially with the survivability of the mesmer test run. 

Is Ele just that squishy solo and every mob really a damage sponge?

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

You might consider creating another character and leveling it normally.  Pay attention to the tips provided with each level-up.

No need to finish Heart of Thorns to play The Icebrood Saga, but it will require a Gem outlay as it is a Living World Season.

Elementalist is often considered one of the more difficult Professions to master. 

Welcome to Tyria, and good luck.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/new-player-guide

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Extended_Online_Manual

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page

[RavensSorrow.6128]

Hi friend and welcome back to the game. I'm sorry you are frustrated. GW2 is a bit different than other MMOs in it's Combat, Stats, and Gear. Some general tips:

1) Stay mobile. Guild Wars lets you attack and move with most abilities in the game and most attacks against you only have a certain area of effect. If you can stay out of a monster's attack radius, you'll take a lot less damage. You probably won't avoid it all but you should see a great reduction if you keep on your feet. Also look at your skills and talents. If you are having trouble, try switching these around. Nothing here is permanent and can be swapped anytime out of combat. It's a perk of the game being able to adjust to your playstyle or to the scenario you are in.

2) Celestial great is great at nothing but good at everything if that makes sense. If you are lacking damage, try to go for some more Power (strike) or Condition (Overtime) Damage* items. Also, if you are dying quickly some Vitality could also help. Searching on the Trading Post (TP) for just Berserker or Viper gear may end up yielding more expensive results. Try looking up just the stats you want using the search function. Searching for "Power, Percision, Ferocity" would still show Berserker items but also cheaper items that have those stats but have different naming conventions. I know guides will often stay use Berserker, or whatever, items but keep in mind Berserker doesn't have Vitality on it. If you are doing solo content, you won't have other people there to keep you alive. It's never wrong to keep some items with Vitality on your character if you are feeling squishy as you say. Gear is very situation dependent. As a new and solo player, I wouldn't switch full berserker right away. Use the extra vitality to recover from mistakes and learn the monster's attack patterns.

3) HoT: yes the masteries take a bit to complete. It's kind of a relic of it being the first expansion. The other expansions do it better. Still it shouldn't take too long to get through them. Hang out in HoT zones and do events, especially the big group ones. Verdant Brink has the Night bosses which can be fantastic exp and loot. While Auric Basin has the Octovine and all the quests leading up to it.

4) I can't speak for Ele has a whole. It is one of my least played Professions**. Though I am sure there are some guides or fellow forum posters who can give tips. When looking for guides my favorite place is Mukluklabs. His New Player and Fresh 80 guides are great. He also has "Low Intensity" (LI) builds, these are great for learning a class while still dishing out damage. There are many other sites that use these kinds of builds too. Good to look for when trying something new.

5) Don't be afraid to try the elite specs. There are enough skill points in the game to get them all unlocked. You won't trap yourself. Try new weapons too. Each weapon you equip changes your first 5 abilities. So try new things maybe you'll enjoy a different set. 

Hope any of that helps. My account name is at the top so feel free to send me an in game mail with questions or if you need help. I don't play every day, but I always enjoy helping!

*This depends on your weapon and what kind of damage it does. Strikes are just hitting things while conditions are focused on Burns, Bleeds ect. Some do just one while other weapons can mix it up and that's were celestial can shine.

**Don't worry about the terminology. GW is just trying to be different from other games.

[sambal.6038]

I hated gw2 for many years. Now i play everyday, so i can say i'm new in the game even though i bought it many years ago. My first and only tip: try every class and build and experiment. I never played necro in games and here i loved necromancer and the reaper is the fighter i wanted to play from the beginning 🙂 I also tried every recommended build for the reaper and ended up with my own - not the best one, but the best for me.

Nothing in this game is static - don't forget that. You can and you should change gear and skills to the situation or boss and you should use it all while in combat. I played on celestial gear some time and died often - changed it for what i needed and BOOM - killing machine.
Remember - there's no vertical progression here, so You build not a character but everything around it. Unlock all basic mounts and glider with all masteries, than train masteries around what you like most - areas or content (for example fractals). Make your own goals. It will give you motivation and content. For most ppl it will be gear, but it can be something else - for me it was recently griffon mount.

Game is fun, but very confusing, so you need 2 monitors - one for game and one for wiki 😄 And - once more - try other classes - in gw2 nothing is what it looks like and specs mix it up even more (do not forget new expansion 😉

Sorry for bad english.

Edited July 4, 2023 by sambal.6038

[DoomNexus.5324]

On 7/3/2023 at 11:19 PM, Nightbreed Gaming.4320 said:

This is with both the staff they give you as well as the scepter and focus weapons. I prefer fire, but I've tried earth a few times just for survivability, but I'm still doing something wrong it seems. 

I see people talking about their talent builds, and they say things like D/D 10,2,5,7 and a string of numbers, but I have no idea what that means or when they say "Core". I get elite specializations, I see that talent tree but I've not touched it yet because I didn't want to mess something up even worse I figured.

I've seen a couple ppl say to switch the celestial for berzerker. But I only have like 20 gold (it's been slow and few along the way!)  so I can't buy that, they said you can buy it for Karma in... Orr? but the merchants charge 42k a piece and I have 44k total. So that's out too. But I'm tired of getting squished solo, Just as an example, I used the "beta" and made a lvl 80 mesmer and sent it to the same place in the auric basin that my Ele is, and attacked the same mobs. And melted them in like 5-6 seconds instead of giving myself carpal tunnel and almost dying repeatedly on my ele before the thing dies.

Also, I'm trying to finish the main storyline in HoT, and it's really frustrating that I needed glider mastery to a certain pt to get exalted whatever, before I could get mushroom bouncing, so that I could get nuhoc body part gathering etc etc just to finish the questline. That's kind of absurd to make a player level up so that they can even accept the quests, but then work even more just to get to the quests via leveling up every mastery in the expansion. PoF didn't do that, all I had to get was raptor mastery to canyon jump and PoF is complete already. Not sure why HoT needs so much extra work. 

Is Ele just that squishy solo and every mob really a damage sponge?

As an ele you need to constantly switch between elements to be effective. If you are just sitting on fire or earth you won't get done much. The elite spec "Weaver" takes this to the extreme as you have to weave through all the elements (to benefit most from its utility skills and traits) but this applies to all ele specs to some degree. And try different weapons, maybe look up some builds for open world on metabattle and see what you like best. -> If your fire skills are on cooldown swap to another element, if that is on cooldown but your fire skills are still not all reset (you need to know cooldowns) you should switch to a third element and so on.

D/D refers to the weapons Dagger/Dagger. I'm not quite sure what 10, 2, 5, 7 would refer to tho. My guess would be that if it is 3 digits (or 3 sets of 3 digit numbers) then it refers to the major traits. So 3,1,3 for example would be the third adept, first master and third grandmaster trait of that specialization (Arcane for example).
You should really use the traits (talents) tho, you can't mess anything up anyway as you can unlock everything and change them around as much as you like without resetting or anything. This is also part of the builds you'll find on sites like metabattle. I'd suggest just roll with whatever they write for now and maybe get used to the gameplay before trying to theorycraft your own builds. But just use them, you'll be much weaker if you don't and there's no risk in picking something.
Guild Wars 2 is very forgiving as you can't make a wrong choice that will permanently affect your character (maybe just waste gold on sigils/runes/equip with a stat combo you won't need in a new build but that's it).
"Core" in this context btw refers to just not using elite specs. So only specializations that were available in the "core" game. Using Weaver or Tempest would therefore not be a core build.

Berzerker stats make you a glass cannon so I wouldn't recommend taking it for now tbh. Celestial is very good on ele and with Zerker you may struggle with sustain and die quickly.
Yea, HoT is a weird expansion in several aspects. They intentionally made mobs way harder than in the base game and fortunately ditched the idea in PoF again. Mobs there are just way tankier and deal a ton of damage. The masteries for gliding and stuff are also intentional so you will continuously be unlocking more and more "secrets" and content in areas you already know the more you progress. I personally don't think that's an issue (backtracking is a core part of a few genres, Metroidvania for example) but you are welcome to disagree. In any case, it's the way the expansion has been designed so I guess just roll with it for that part of the game.

Maybe ele and mesmer are also just not the right classes for you. I personally don't really like the playstyle of both. As for caster I vastly prefer necro and if you like just ranged/hybrid classes in general maybe check out ranger, engineer or the Dragonhunter elite spec from Guardian, the Renegade elite spec from Revenant or Deadeye elite spec from Thief - I like pistol/pistol on thief a lot (which is available in a core build but synergizes a lot better with Deadeye traits and its Steal-replacement).
The next expansion in August will also remove the elite spec requirement for added weapons, so you will be able to play with longbow on any guardian spec or with shortbow on any rev spec afterwards.

It's beneficial to have at least 1 level 80 character of each class imo anyway so just test around and see what you like most.
Some tips on leveling up quickly: Crafting and world exploration is a good way to gain XP relatively quickly without a lot of grind and unlocks character progression that's useful for your entire account (having every crafting job at max level - maybe except for Scribe - is extremely useful). Crafting costs a lot of gold tho, if you have to buy everything, but gathering also brings XP and cuts down crafting costs, so maybe just farming mats and crafting can be a good way to add a bit of variety to your game play.
If you aren't opposed to competitive game modes I'd definitely recommend playing WvW for a while. For me it's one of the most enjoyable game modes atm as you can either roam on your own or just join a zerg if one's running around somewhere. It gives a decent amount of loot and gold over time and WvW skirmish tickets can come in quite handy for endgame goals too. Additionally, you'll progress through the reward track which also gives foliages that let you level up instantly. Same applies to sPvP btw and doesn't require any gear or being a certain level as you get treated like Lv 80 with (almost) everything unlocked and standardized (Stronghold is more fun than Conquest imo).

Edited July 6, 2023 by DoomNexus.5324
typos and additions for leveling

[Danikat.8537]

This might sound odd but going by a lot of the wording in your post you seem to be trying to play GW2 exactly like whichever MMO you played most recently, insisting that any system which seems similar is the same and then wondering why it doesn't actually work the same way. That's a common problem among MMO players for some reason, and likely to cause even more confusion in GW2 than a lot of games because this one is deliberately different in some subtle but important ways.

I agree with @Inculpatus cedo.9234 that the best approach would be to make a new character (keep the one you've got) and level them normally, paying attention to the level up notifications and other info the game gives you because that will explain how a lot of things work and give you time to get used to your skills. Alternatively I assume you've gone straight into one of the expansions and that's why you're finding enemies so hard to deal with, in which case another option would be to go back to where your character started and experiment with builds there. (That might be what people meant by 'core'. That refers to the base game stuff that everyone has access to, usually the maps - core Tyria - and specialisations. They were probably either telling you to focus on core maps or explaining that you won't have as many options if you don't have an elite specialisation unlocked and need to look up builds which only use the core ones.)

Also don't worry about messing anything up. Once you've unlocked a skill or trait it's unlocked permanently and you'll get more than enough hero points to unlock all of them. Once they're unlocked all you can do is swap them around and then all you need to do is swap them back, which you can do for free any time you're out of combat. So feel free to experiment with builds to find one that works for you.

Also I don't recommend getting beserker equipment right away. That's a pure glass cannon build - it does a lot of damage but has no defensive attributes (stats) so you'll need to rely entirely on active defences like dodging and kiting to stay alive. It can be done but it's a lot harder and probably not something you want to deal with when you're still trying to get used to your character.
 

11 hours ago, Nightbreed Gaming.4320 said:

I don't understand why they call classes "professions" as to me, profession is like armorsmith or something. Not say.. revenant or Guardian.

It's a lore thing/hold over from GW1. They're called professions to signify that this isn't some inherent thing your character was born to do, it's a set of skills they learned. Like being a web designer or a teacher or engineer in real life. It was more relevant in GW1 because a big part of that game was unlocking new skills, including unlocking the ability to have a secondary profession so emphasising that all your skills and traits were learned meant there was no distinction between the ones you started with and ones learned later.

[Endaris.1452]

There are very few classes in the game able to go true ranged and elementalist specifically plays more as a mid- to closerange spec.

Staff as a ranged weapon exists but realistically if you try to place your AoEs on enemies at range they'll just run at you out of those (unless ranged too) and you'll deal very little damage. It's still a good weapon when playing together with others but for soloplay it's a bit meh.

One major trick for elementalist is that you can switch attunement during cast without interrupting the cast. So you could cast long casting skills like Meteor Shower or Drake's Breath and then already switch after starting the cast so you can go back into that attunement earlier as the cooldown starts on swap.

 

[Urud.4925]

A lot of good suggestions, so I'll make it short:

- numbers refer to the choices that you have in your skill tree. For example here:

https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQyuS3siX7H62iXlnfjNSi-DatpXc4LbH2iK8pAI-3016ZSpf8BizMlr7BZaBSvKxdJzMU&usqp=CAU

this would be described as Fire 1, 2, 3, which means that in your Fire skill tree, you selected the first trait (the upper one) in the first vertical selection, then the second one (middle trait) in the central vertical bar, then 3 (the bottom trait) in the last selection. The others would be Earth 3, 1, 2  and Catalyst 2, 2, 1

- Elementalist is considered a difficult class for new players, that's why it has 3 dots out of 3 as difficulty, in the character selection. If you found the mesmer much easier (it is), I suggest you to create a mesmer and play with that, while you get more acquainted with the game.

- the celestial gear is a good gear for elementalist, so don't think that if you change it, things will magically improve

[kharmin.7683]

On 7/4/2023 at 4:37 AM, sambal.6038 said:

Sorry for bad english.

Your English is just fine, friend.  😉

[SlayerXX.7138]

On 7/3/2023 at 11:19 PM, Nightbreed Gaming.4320 said:

is Ele just that squishy solo and every mob really a damage sponge?

Yes and no. Ele needs to be played and built in a specific way to be powerful. Least beginner friendly class. I did the exact same mistake with my level booster. My Ele is a bank character:).
Also to play ele I think it really helps to have a Mouse with extra buttons so you can key bind your elements to them. Pressing F1 buttons is pretty bad default key-bind.

If you want a real ranged class maybe try a thief, equip 2 pistols, press 3 and enjoy.

Edited July 6, 2023 by SlayerXX.7138

[Khisanth.2948]

On 7/4/2023 at 5:20 AM, Danikat.8537 said:

That's a common problem among MMO players for some reason

That is a common problem among people in general. 🙂

Something that goes along the lines of

"new person starts working at a place"

A: "why are you doing X like that?"

B: "That is how we did it at my previous job"

A: "Well THIS is how we do it around here"

Another common one is how people celebrate holiday. IIRC in one of the Nordic countries they have a particular fish for Christmas and from the description it is very much an acquired taste. Imagine someone from there making Christmas dinner for people from other countries. 🤣

We are creatures of habit.

On 7/3/2023 at 5:19 PM, Nightbreed Gaming.4320 said:

Is Ele just that squishy solo and every mob really a damage sponge?

No and no but I've been playing ele since beta so I have a bit of experience with ele but also very important is knowing how the mobs behave. That combines with knowing what your skills do. The most frequent ele build I play is a relatively lazy Fresh Air tempest. Zap everything near me while I am running around them. Anything without a defiance bar is going to be nearly permanently blind. For things with a defiance bar they will get hit with Comet and Gale. Things shooting at me? Swirling Winds/Magnetic Wave(also Magnetic Aura via Earth Overload).

One of the best examples of knowing your enemy are the mordrem thrashers which comes in leeching and vile varieties. The vile version always moves in a line and they have slight wind up before they move so they are easily avoided. Leeching version you are completely safe by walking up to them when their tentacles are in the ground however if you are standing near them and there aren't any other ranged targets around they will use their PBAoE leeching field. One way you can take advantage of that is to walk back out as they are withdrawing their tentacles from the group and bait the tentacle attack. Then you can just walk back and attack without any risk. Of course the simpler option is to just knock them over and kill them before they get up but that requires having enough damage.

47 minutes ago, SlayerXX.7138 said:

Also to play ele I think you really need a Mouse with extra buttons so you can key bind your elements to them. Pressing F1 buttons is pretty bad default key-bind.

A gaming mouse is useful but for attunement swaps specifically it is not necessary.  ZXCE works very well in place of F1,2,3,4.

[Cuks.8241]

Celestial is good on ele with proper build. Very good. Berserker gear will make you hit the floor much faster. 

You need to unlock traits first but then slot them. You cant mess up, you can change them anytime at will. 

Staff on ele is a support weapon or artilery. Scepter with focus or dagger will serve you much better. 

If youre lost its recomended you start from scratch. You just skipped everything and straight to endgame. 

[SlayerXX.7138]

22 hours ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

A gaming mouse is useful but for attunement swaps specifically it is not necessary.  ZXCE works very well in place of F1,2,3,4.

I swear to god, every MMO player is a washed up Pianist. 15 Buttons are a lot, if they are all combat relevant. Mouse with 2 extra buttons + a shift modifier is huge!

22 hours ago, Khisanth.2948 said:

No and no but I've been playing ele since beta so I have a bit of experience with ele but also very important is knowing how the mobs behave. That combines with knowing what your skills do. The most frequent ele build I play is a relatively lazy Fresh Air tempest. Zap everything near me while I am running around them. Anything without a defiance bar is going to be nearly permanently blind. For things with a defiance bar they will get hit with Comet and Gale. Things shooting at me? Swirling Winds/Magnetic Wave(also Magnetic Aura via Earth Overload).

One of the best examples of knowing your enemy are the mordrem thrashers which comes in leeching and vile varieties. The vile version always moves in a line and they have slight wind up before they move so they are easily avoided. Leeching version you are completely safe by walking up to them when their tentacles are in the ground however if you are standing near them and there aren't any other ranged targets around they will use their PBAoE leeching field. One way you can take advantage of that is to walk back out as they are withdrawing their tentacles from the group and bait the tentacle attack. Then you can just walk back and attack without any risk. Of course the simpler option is to just knock them over and kill them before they get up but that requires having enough damage.

Literal gibberish. Op is working out how a traitline works and you start talking about "lazy fresh air tempest" like that means anything. Would it kill people to explain something without assumed knowledge or writing multiple paragraphs.

Edited July 6, 2023 by SlayerXX.7138

[Khisanth.2948]

34 minutes ago, SlayerXX.7138 said:

Literal gibberish. Op is working out how a traitline works and you start talking about "lazy fresh air tempest" like that means anything. Would it kill people to explain something without assumed knowledge.

That was an example not a suggestion. If the description piqued anyone's interest they could just ask for details. There is no need to do an info dump at every opportunity.

[Buran.3796]

On 7/3/2023 at 11:19 PM, Nightbreed Gaming.4320 said:

I've seen a couple ppl say to switch the celestial for berzerker. But I only have like 20 gold (it's been slow and few along the way!)  so I can't buy that, they said you can buy it for Karma in... Orr? but the merchants charge 42k a piece and I have 44k total. So that's out too. But I'm tired of getting squished solo, Just as an example, I used the "beta" and made a lvl 80 mesmer and sent it to the same place in the auric basin that my Ele is, and attacked the same mobs. And melted them in like 5-6 seconds instead of giving myself carpal tunnel and almost dying repeatedly on my ele before the thing dies. 

   Don't replace your celestial stats. Even in exotic quality they are perfectly fine to solo most of the open world PvE content and absolutely murder the story mode.

   The reason why you're bitting the dust is because you don't known how to fight, which weapons and skills to use and how to combo them to deal damage and protect you or recover from damage received, cleanse conditions, etc.

   That has to be learned, and you'll learn it in two ways: reading the skills, using them and recording your fights and viewing them and practicing fighting against bosses, chanmpions, Hero Points and bounties to learn what they do and how to endure against them, exploit tehir weakness and beat them. 

   "Core" means the basic class without any specialization. Each class (profession as are called here) can equip up to 3 traitlines of 5 and chose which traits to have active, and swap them at will at no cost evry time is out of combat or outside a PvP match. Ele traitlines are  Fire, Erath, Water, Air and Arcane, and the specialization allow to swap the third traitline for a new one (Tempest, Weaver or Catalyst).

   I'm not an Ele main and can't give as much advice as other fellows here, but recently I rised manually a core Ele in Open World and was running this build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGwAgihlZw8YbsMGJOKPXLPA-zxIY1orvMyMCKtAcYAA-e

   The basics were simple: in Air attunement use Updraft to cc a foe followed to Ride the Lighting to close the gap, then swap to Earth and use Earthquake to cc in AoE, then Churning Earth to deliver big AoE damage, then wap to Fire  to use Ring Of Fire, Burning Speed and other attacks. Use Armor of Eath to gain Protection and Stability to prevent being interrupted, Lightning Flash for positioning and Signet of Air to breack stuns. Use the elite to summon elementals to tank for you, and remenber that your signet heals you every time you cast an spell, so do it oftenly.

   That just some basics, when you get better at the game you'll be soloing bounties, believe me.  

 

[Nightbreed Gaming.4320]

On 7/3/2023 at 5:50 PM, Inculpatus cedo.9234 said:

You might consider creating another character and leveling it normally.  Pay attention to the tips provided with each level-up.

No need to finish Heart of Thorns to play The Icebrood Saga, but it will require a Gem outlay as it is a Living World Season.

Elementalist is often considered one of the more difficult Professions to master. 

Welcome to Tyria, and good luck.

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/new-player-guide

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Extended_Online_Manual

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page

Thank you, I had read a few people saying that sometimes using a boost is the most detrimental thing you can do, because you miss a lot of the nuances of character abilities and so on. And I really do get that, but giving me 100 hrs of playtime with a character vs the 50+ I have now isn't really going to make enemies less of a damage sponge, or me less of a glass cannon is it?

[Nightbreed Gaming.4320]

On 7/3/2023 at 8:33 PM, RavensSorrow.6128 said:

Hi friend and welcome back to the game. I'm sorry you are frustrated. GW2 is a bit different than other MMOs in it's Combat, Stats, and Gear. Some general tips:

1) Stay mobile. Guild Wars lets you attack and move with most abilities in the game and most attacks against you only have a certain area of effect. If you can stay out of a monster's attack radius, you'll take a lot less damage. You probably won't avoid it all but you should see a great reduction if you keep on your feet. Also look at your skills and talents. If you are having trouble, try switching these around. Nothing here is permanent and can be swapped anytime out of combat. It's a perk of the game being able to adjust to your playstyle or to the scenario you are in.

2) Celestial great is great at nothing but good at everything if that makes sense. If you are lacking damage, try to go for some more Power (strike) or Condition (Overtime) Damage* items. Also, if you are dying quickly some Vitality could also help. Searching on the Trading Post (TP) for just Berserker or Viper gear may end up yielding more expensive results. Try looking up just the stats you want using the search function. Searching for "Power, Percision, Ferocity" would still show Berserker items but also cheaper items that have those stats but have different naming conventions. I know guides will often stay use Berserker, or whatever, items but keep in mind Berserker doesn't have Vitality on it. If you are doing solo content, you won't have other people there to keep you alive. It's never wrong to keep some items with Vitality on your character if you are feeling squishy as you say. Gear is very situation dependent. As a new and solo player, I wouldn't switch full berserker right away. Use the extra vitality to recover from mistakes and learn the monster's attack patterns.

3) HoT: yes the masteries take a bit to complete. It's kind of a relic of it being the first expansion. The other expansions do it better. Still it shouldn't take too long to get through them. Hang out in HoT zones and do events, especially the big group ones. Verdant Brink has the Night bosses which can be fantastic exp and loot. While Auric Basin has the Octovine and all the quests leading up to it.

4) I can't speak for Ele has a whole. It is one of my least played Professions**. Though I am sure there are some guides or fellow forum posters who can give tips. When looking for guides my favorite place is Mukluklabs. His New Player and Fresh 80 guides are great. He also has "Low Intensity" (LI) builds, these are great for learning a class while still dishing out damage. There are many other sites that use these kinds of builds too. Good to look for when trying something new.

5) Don't be afraid to try the elite specs. There are enough skill points in the game to get them all unlocked. You won't trap yourself. Try new weapons too. Each weapon you equip changes your first 5 abilities. So try new things maybe you'll enjoy a different set. 

Hope any of that helps. My account name is at the top so feel free to send me an in game mail with questions or if you need help. I don't play every day, but I always enjoy helping!

*This depends on your weapon and what kind of damage it does. Strikes are just hitting things while conditions are focused on Burns, Bleeds ect. Some do just one while other weapons can mix it up and that's were celestial can shine.

**Don't worry about the terminology. GW is just trying to be different from other games.

Thank you so much, I'll check out that website you mentioned.  So far I've tried the staff the started me with, and well as the scepter and focus. I heard a lot of ppl talking about daggers though so I got one of those to try out. As far as gear, I had looked at berzerker sets but, a lot of their stats were lower than my celestial set and they were pretty expensive since I'm rocking a whopping 25 gold so I passed. I just finished heart of thorns, and jumped into end of dragons (playing long enough to get my skiff, and maybe the jade bot) and then going to go back and do icebrood. I've already finished path of fire, and then I'll go back to wrap up End of Dragons.  I'm just so lost and feel like I am dying way too much or everything is taking way too long to kill, I've seen a lot of ppl talk about the elite specs (but they are all a foreign language to me) and how much dmg elementalist can do, and I have to ask myself if there is another elementalist and I  just picked the wrong one or something. XD

[Nightbreed Gaming.4320]

On 7/4/2023 at 4:37 AM, sambal.6038 said:

I hated gw2 for many years. Now i play everyday, so i can say i'm new in the game even though i bought it many years ago. My first and only tip: try every class and build and experiment. I never played necro in games and here i loved necromancer and the reaper is the fighter i wanted to play from the beginning 🙂 I also tried every recommended build for the reaper and ended up with my own - not the best one, but the best for me.

Nothing in this game is static - don't forget that. You can and you should change gear and skills to the situation or boss and you should use it all while in combat. I played on celestial gear some time and died often - changed it for what i needed and BOOM - killing machine.
Remember - there's no vertical progression here, so You build not a character but everything around it. Unlock all basic mounts and glider with all masteries, than train masteries around what you like most - areas or content (for example fractals). Make your own goals. It will give you motivation and content. For most ppl it will be gear, but it can be something else - for me it was recently griffon mount.

Game is fun, but very confusing, so you need 2 monitors - one for game and one for wiki 😄 And - once more - try other classes - in gw2 nothing is what it looks like and specs mix it up even more (do not forget new expansion 😉

Sorry for bad english.

I Feel ya, I am looking at the griffon just because I want to actually be able to sightsee and go where I want to.  But griffon and skyscale seem pretty daunting to get. I was considering the boost I got from purchasing EoD on a necromancer because it's kinda familiar from stuff I have played in other games, and also it's supposedly incredibly survivable. A lot of ppl talk about soloing group content on it relatively easily. So I am hoping that means I can do my quests/events and actually live through them!. 

[Nightbreed Gaming.4320]

On 7/4/2023 at 5:19 AM, DoomNexus.5324 said:

As an ele you need to constantly switch between elements to be effective. If you are just sitting on fire or earth you won't get done much. The elite spec "Weaver" takes this to the extreme as you have to weave through all the elements (to benefit most from its utility skills and traits) but this applies to all ele specs to some degree. And try different weapons, maybe look up some builds for open world on metabattle and see what you like best. -> If your fire skills are on cooldown swap to another element, if that is on cooldown but your fire skills are still not all reset (you need to know cooldowns) you should switch to a third element and so on.

D/D refers to the weapons Dagger/Dagger. I'm not quite sure what 10, 2, 5, 7 would refer to tho. My guess would be that if it is 3 digits (or 3 sets of 3 digit numbers) then it refers to the major traits. So 3,1,3 for example would be the third adept, first master and third grandmaster trait of that specialization (Arcane for example).
You should really use the traits (talents) tho, you can't mess anything up anyway as you can unlock everything and change them around as much as you like without resetting or anything. This is also part of the builds you'll find on sites like metabattle. I'd suggest just roll with whatever they write for now and maybe get used to the gameplay before trying to theorycraft your own builds. But just use them, you'll be much weaker if you don't and there's no risk in picking something.
Guild Wars 2 is very forgiving as you can't make a wrong choice that will permanently affect your character (maybe just waste gold on sigils/runes/equip with a stat combo you won't need in a new build but that's it).
"Core" in this context btw refers to just not using elite specs. So only specializations that were available in the "core" game. Using Weaver or Tempest would therefore not be a core build.

Berzerker stats make you a glass cannon so I wouldn't recommend taking it for now tbh. Celestial is very good on ele and with Zerker you may struggle with sustain and die quickly.
Yea, HoT is a weird expansion in several aspects. They intentionally made mobs way harder than in the base game and fortunately ditched the idea in PoF again. Mobs there are just way tankier and deal a ton of damage. The masteries for gliding and stuff are also intentional so you will continuously be unlocking more and more "secrets" and content in areas you already know the more you progress. I personally don't think that's an issue (backtracking is a core part of a few genres, Metroidvania for example) but you are welcome to disagree. In any case, it's the way the expansion has been designed so I guess just roll with it for that part of the game.

Maybe ele and mesmer are also just not the right classes for you. I personally don't really like the playstyle of both. As for caster I vastly prefer necro and if you like just ranged/hybrid classes in general maybe check out ranger, engineer or the Dragonhunter elite spec from Guardian, the Renegade elite spec from Revenant or Deadeye elite spec from Thief - I like pistol/pistol on thief a lot (which is available in a core build but synergizes a lot better with Deadeye traits and its Steal-replacement).
The next expansion in August will also remove the elite spec requirement for added weapons, so you will be able to play with longbow on any guardian spec or with shortbow on any rev spec afterwards.

It's beneficial to have at least 1 level 80 character of each class imo anyway so just test around and see what you like most.
Some tips on leveling up quickly: Crafting and world exploration is a good way to gain XP relatively quickly without a lot of grind and unlocks character progression that's useful for your entire account (having every crafting job at max level - maybe except for Scribe - is extremely useful). Crafting costs a lot of gold tho, if you have to buy everything, but gathering also brings XP and cuts down crafting costs, so maybe just farming mats and crafting can be a good way to add a bit of variety to your game play.
If you aren't opposed to competitive game modes I'd definitely recommend playing WvW for a while. For me it's one of the most enjoyable game modes atm as you can either roam on your own or just join a zerg if one's running around somewhere. It gives a decent amount of loot and gold over time and WvW skirmish tickets can come in quite handy for endgame goals too. Additionally, you'll progress through the reward track which also gives foliages that let you level up instantly. Same applies to sPvP btw and doesn't require any gear or being a certain level as you get treated like Lv 80 with (almost) everything unlocked and standardized (Stronghold is more fun than Conquest imo).

Thank you, I did try out mesmer with the beta thing that popped up for a few days and it seemed like a lot of fun. And the same mobs I was struggling with in Auric basin on my elementalists, well.. my mesmer melted them before they could hit me. It was glorious! But I am not entirely sure how much was just the "ooo, what does this pretty light shower do?" or not. So I am still kinda deciding between mesmer or necro for al alternative character.  You mention renegade, is that an elite spec of Revenant? 

[Nightbreed Gaming.4320]

On 7/4/2023 at 5:20 AM, Danikat.8537 said:

This might sound odd but going by a lot of the wording in your post you seem to be trying to play GW2 exactly like whichever MMO you played most recently, insisting that any system which seems similar is the same and then wondering why it doesn't actually work the same way. That's a common problem among MMO players for some reason, and likely to cause even more confusion in GW2 than a lot of games because this one is deliberately different in some subtle but important ways.

I agree with @Inculpatus cedo.9234 that the best approach would be to make a new character (keep the one you've got) and level them normally, paying attention to the level up notifications and other info the game gives you because that will explain how a lot of things work and give you time to get used to your skills. Alternatively I assume you've gone straight into one of the expansions and that's why you're finding enemies so hard to deal with, in which case another option would be to go back to where your character started and experiment with builds there. (That might be what people meant by 'core'. That refers to the base game stuff that everyone has access to, usually the maps - core Tyria - and specialisations. They were probably either telling you to focus on core maps or explaining that you won't have as many options if you don't have an elite specialisation unlocked and need to look up builds which only use the core ones.)

Also don't worry about messing anything up. Once you've unlocked a skill or trait it's unlocked permanently and you'll get more than enough hero points to unlock all of them. Once they're unlocked all you can do is swap them around and then all you need to do is swap them back, which you can do for free any time you're out of combat. So feel free to experiment with builds to find one that works for you.

Also I don't recommend getting beserker equipment right away. That's a pure glass cannon build - it does a lot of damage but has no defensive attributes (stats) so you'll need to rely entirely on active defences like dodging and kiting to stay alive. It can be done but it's a lot harder and probably not something you want to deal with when you're still trying to get used to your character.
 

It's a lore thing/hold over from GW1. They're called professions to signify that this isn't some inherent thing your character was born to do, it's a set of skills they learned. Like being a web designer or a teacher or engineer in real life. It was more relevant in GW1 because a big part of that game was unlocking new skills, including unlocking the ability to have a secondary profession so emphasising that all your skills and traits were learned meant there was no distinction between the ones you started with and ones learned later.

Ah, that makes sense about the "professions" name.  I actually did complete my whole personal story first, as soon as I boosted. and started working through some of the base game, but admittedly got bored and jumped into path of fire, because that was how you get skimmer and springer mounts etc. Went back to the base game and played a little more, and was still a bit bored. So then I just went and cleared out Heart of thorns. 

 

I do get what you're saying though, it's a subconscious thing. I see things in here and think of the last (as an example) 10x I have seen that thing, and because the other 10x  y=y I assumed it meant that here too. Which I am learning really isn't the case. Gw2 takes what you're use to in practically every other MMO or even rpg, and then changes it just enough that you may think you know exactly what something means, but you don't in here. It's like a new dialect of a language you're use to. Some stuff may be the same, but there are nuances that changes everything else. 

[Nightbreed Gaming.4320]

On 7/6/2023 at 6:34 PM, Buran.3796 said:

   Don't replace your celestial stats. Even in exotic quality they are perfectly fine to solo most of the open world PvE content and absolutely murder the story mode.

   The reason why you're bitting the dust is because you don't known how to fight, which weapons and skills to use and how to combo them to deal damage and protect you or recover from damage received, cleanse conditions, etc.

   That has to be learned, and you'll learn it in two ways: reading the skills, using them and recording your fights and viewing them and practicing fighting against bosses, chanmpions, Hero Points and bounties to learn what they do and how to endure against them, exploit tehir weakness and beat them. 

   "Core" means the basic class without any specialization. Each class (profession as are called here) can equip up to 3 traitlines of 5 and chose which traits to have active, and swap them at will at no cost evry time is out of combat or outside a PvP match. Ele traitlines are  Fire, Erath, Water, Air and Arcane, and the specialization allow to swap the third traitline for a new one (Tempest, Weaver or Catalyst).

   I'm not an Ele main and can't give as much advice as other fellows here, but recently I rised manually a core Ele in Open World and was running this build:

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGwAgihlZw8YbsMGJOKPXLPA-zxIY1orvMyMCKtAcYAA-e

   The basics were simple: in Air attunement use Updraft to cc a foe followed to Ride the Lighting to close the gap, then swap to Earth and use Earthquake to cc in AoE, then Churning Earth to deliver big AoE damage, then wap to Fire  to use Ring Of Fire, Burning Speed and other attacks. Use Armor of Eath to gain Protection and Stability to prevent being interrupted, Lightning Flash for positioning and Signet of Air to breack stuns. Use the elite to summon elementals to tank for you, and remenber that your signet heals you every time you cast an spell, so do it oftenly.

   That just some basics, when you get better at the game you'll be soloing bounties, believe me.  

 

I have read all my abilities, LOTS. But yes, I am still a bit confused on stuff like when it says combo finisher or with fire specifically it says "combo: fire area". so I do agree there's some combat mechanics I do still need to get the hang of. a few of my abilities when they say combat finisher, it mentions things I don't even have (that I've found yet anyway) so maybe I just need to keep switching talents around till I find something that makes more sense to me. But also, maybe elementalist just doesn't "click" with me either so I'm not getting it. I was really intrigued by switching elements, since it kinda reminded me of being able to use multiple things like when I had an elemental shaman in WoW, but this is vastly different.  And I know I am not swapping elements enough. I mean if fire isn't working on an enemy I've gone to earth or lightning sure, but not switching elements between each ability cast or anything like it appears is being suggested. So it's something I'm totally unuse to and probably a big part of why I am struggling to understand it. 

[phaserBanks.7386]

From what I understand any of the professions can do quite well. Success depends on the player. In your case, you can succeed as well even with your existing character. What I always do with any character I create is start from scratch. Since you already have a character, I would start with the all Level 1 maps first, complete all the renowned hearts, complete the hero challenges, etc. and get 100% map completion working your way up to the level 80 maps, eventually getting 100% world completion. Along the way you'll be completing the masteries too plus you'll improve your skills. A lot of these can be achieved by simply participating in events with lots of players. The original base game never had mounts so you can complete the original world map without them. You can even try out Fractals and WvW if you choose. By this point you should be experienced and happy with your progress.

Edited July 10, 2023 by phaserBanks.7386

[SlayerXX.7138]

1 hour ago, Nightbreed Gaming.4320 said:

I'm just so lost and feel like I am dying way too much or everything is taking way too long to kill, I've seen a lot of ppl talk about the elite specs (but they are all a foreign language to me) and how much dmg elementalist can do, and I have to ask myself if there is another elementalist and I  just picked the wrong one or something.

Elite specs is an upgrade to your base Profession. After unlocking it you can change your 3rd Traitline with an Elite one. That gives you an new weapon, 5 more utilities and changes how your profession plays. You unlock them by collecting Hero Points from Hero challenges and spending them in the training section of the Hero Panel. They are the Yellow Symbols on the map. Probably boosts your dps by 25%+.

56 minutes ago, Nightbreed Gaming.4320 said:

But yes, I am still a bit confused on stuff like when it says combo finisher or with fire specifically it says "combo: fire area". so I do agree there's some combat mechanics I do still need to get the hang of. a few of my abilities when they say combat finisher, it mentions things I don't even have (that I've found yet anyway)

Because GW 2 tricks you:).
Combo Field + Blast finisher = Area.
Combo Field + Whirl finisher = Bolts.
Leap finisher and Projectile finisher in a combo field are less uniform. Leaps often time give Auras. So leaping through a Fire Fields gives a Fire Aura.
Not the most important thing to get into for now.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

1 hour ago, Nightbreed Gaming.4320 said:

I have read all my abilities, LOTS. But yes, I am still a bit confused on stuff like when it says combo finisher or with fire specifically it says "combo: fire area". so I do agree there's some combat mechanics I do still need to get the hang of. a few of my abilities when they say combat finisher, it mentions things I don't even have (that I've found yet anyway) so maybe I just need to keep switching talents around till I find something that makes more sense to me. But also, maybe elementalist just doesn't "click" with me either so I'm not getting it. I was really intrigued by switching elements, since it kinda reminded me of being able to use multiple things like when I had an elemental shaman in WoW, but this is vastly different.  And I know I am not swapping elements enough. I mean if fire isn't working on an enemy I've gone to earth or lightning sure, but not switching elements between each ability cast or anything like it appears is being suggested. So it's something I'm totally unuse to and probably a big part of why I am struggling to understand it. 

The Wiki (link above) is a great resource for all things Guild Wars 2.

For instance:  https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combo

[AliamRationem.5172]

Celestial gear is a great option for ele.  Definitely don't change that if you're struggling.  However, understand that despite it having all stats, your primary form of damage as celestial ele is going to be condition-based, mostly burning.  Also, your primary damage stats are low with celestial, so you want to be sure you can generate a lot of the might boon to compensate.  Fortunately, ele is pretty good at stacking might, so this shouldn't be a problem.

If you want to go with ranged damage, your best bet is scepter.  I'd stay away from staff.  Use focus for your offhand as it is a very powerful defensive weapon and has some good ranged CC to compliment scepter.

Here's a build I would recommend for you:  http://gw2skills.net/editor/?PGwAs23lZwWYXsGGJOKPntVA-zxIU1olvUQlLIByJECsA0cWW0ZDqA-e

Tempest is the easiest elementalist spec to play because of its relatively slower pace and similarity to the core spec.  This build is extremely powerful defensively as you'll have permanent protection at 40% damage reduction in addition to the extra defensive stats from celestial.  You'll also have access to more projectile block/reflect than you'll ever need, making you practically impervious to most ranged attackers.  But you won't give up much in the area of damage output to get all of this.  If you have a full stack of might and corruption just quickly unloading your utility skills will apply over 40k condition damage on up to 5 targets!  From there you still have your weapon skills to keep the burn and bleed rolling!  Enemies will melt in no time!