Does having a lot of gold help new players progress much more easier in this game ?

[Rhodanthe.6581]

I am lost in this game. Do not know what to do, what should i aim for when i start playing this game. Want to seek you guys advice. Thank you.

[K THEN.5162]

Thankfully, our beloved anet overlords haven't made this game pay to win as end game gear (ascended gear) is actually quite easy to acquire compared to other mmos. I would personally just play through the areas, do some heart quests and story missions (the shiny green symbol) just get a grip on the game's mechanic and learning your class. Due to the relative ease (but not too much ease) ambient creatures won't be too tough to take down regardless of what type/level of gear you have so you shouldn't really worry about optimizing your character until level 80. Once you do reach level 80, then you should start thinking of what type of damage you want to deal (damage over time which is marked as condition damage or power damage). Once you've done that, use the gold you have acquired throughout your journey to buy the corresponding exotic gear off the trading post (if the stats you want are core Tyria stats). Thankfully, exotic gear pretty much has only a 2% stat difference from ascended gear is quite reasonably priced on the trading post and once you have a full set then you can start working towards ascended gear in your game mode of choice (pve, pvp, or wvw all have options to acquire ascended gear). Additionally, if you have bought an expansion, I would not recommend using the level 80 boost as it will throw you into the end game with no training and I guarantee it will not enjoyable experience (I've seen many friends do this). I would also like to welcome you to this game and I wish you the best of travels throughout the world of Tyria!

[Khisanth.2948]

Depends on the type of help you mean.

Help with gameplay? Not really.

Help with dressing up your character? Absolutely yes.

[Danikat.8537]

Short answer: No, having a lot of gold will not help you. It's more important to have a build (skills, traits & stats) which works and which you know how to use and to learn how the game works.

Long answer:

Equipment: This isn't like some RPGs where how good your character is depends entirely on how good your equipment is. Good equipment is widely available, but also not the most important thing. There's 2 things which determine how high the stats on your equipment are: The level requirement and the rarity (text colour). Level is simple - higher numbers mean higher stats, but you can only wear equipment at or below your characters level, so if you're looking to upgrade you should look for equipment at your level. There are 7 tiers of item rarity: Common (white), Fine (blue), Masterwork (green), Rare (yellow), Exotic (orange) and Ascended (pink/purple) with each one having higher stats than before. (There are also legendary items - those have the same stats as ascended, but fancier skins.) All equipment with the same level requirement and rarity has equally good stats. A level 80 exotic sword dropped from a random enemy will be just as powerful as one from a dungeon or raid or crafted by a player.

What is important is which stats (attributes is the official name) you have on your equipment. There are 4 primary and 5 secondary stats and whilst all characters can use all of them some will be more useful for you than others. You can read all about them here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Attribute

Lower level equipment will only increase 1 stat, later on it's 2 and then 3 and at level 80 it's possible to get equipment which increases 4 (and one set which increases 7). So ideally you should pick 3 or 4 stats which are most useful to you and whenever possible choose equipment with those ones. The tricky part is knowing which ones you want.

Builds: This is literally how you build your character - the combination of stats, skills and traits you choose for them. There's no universally agreed right or wrong way to do it and a lot of debate about how to do it and which builds are best. Probably the easiest way is to decide what's most important to you and then fit everything else around that.

For example if you're playing an engineer and you really want to use two pistols that means your weapons don't do much direct damage but do cause a lot of conditions. So you'll want to pick equipment with the condition damage stat. If you don't want to have to pay full attention and time your movements and attacks perfectly you might want to pick the defensive stats - toughness (armour) and vitality (health) so you can absorb more damage. If you're making a character to play with your friends and you've agreed to be the 'healer'/support character you'll probably want more healing power. (Although you'll also want to make sure your friends are aware this isn't a 'holy trinity' based game and they can't just stand still in damage and expect you to out-heal it, you can help but you can't do all the work of keeping them alive while they hammer away at a boss without thinking about incoming damage.)

There's also lots of information about builds on this forum, and suggested or recommended builds all over the internet. Or if you want specific information you can always ask and someone will know the answer.

Other mechanics: Related to the above another thing which will help massively (maybe more than getting the best equipment you can with good stats) is to learn how combat works in this game and some of the 'tricks' all characters can use to help. Probably the most important are that you can almost always move while fighting and it's often very important to do so. Even with full defensive stats you'll need to move out of range of some big attacks (shown with red/orange circles on the ground) to stay alive and dodge enemies most powerful hits.

Make sure your dodge button is one you can reach easily at all times and practice using it. Wurms are good practice because they have a very obvious 'wind-up' to a relatively slow moving projectile, and don't do a lot else. So you can stand in front of one and let it fire rocks at you while you practice dodging at just the right moment to get out the way.

Take your time: Honestly that's the best thing you can do when you're new to the game. Don't try to rush to level 80, you'll only end up (more) lost and confused. Pay attention to what the game is telling you - both how things work and where to go next. But don't be afraid to break away from that and explore or experiment yourself if you want to. You'd have to do something truly impressive to completely mess things up for yourself. You will get more than enough hero points to unlock all your skills and traits, good equipment is cheaply and widely available (with lots of options besides spending gold), you can get back to your home city (or to a number of other places) from anywhere in the world in a few minutes, and almost everything is repeatable so if anything goes wrong you can try again.

And if there's anything you don't understand you can always ask, either on here or in map chat in game or in your guild when you get one. Most people are pretty friendly and will try to help you. There's also the Wiki, which has a lot of information on pretty much everything.

(Told you it was a long answer. But it was a pretty broad question so I was trying to cover everything I thought might be relevant.)

[Josif.2015]

@Rhodanthe.6581 said:I am lost in this game. Do not know what to do, what should i aim for when i start playing this game. Want to seek you guys advice. Thank you.

Gold doesn't always help you out to progress much easier. It can help you with gear, but for the most part it's better to save that gold and if you're not the farming type of person to spend that gold on materials you can use to craft much better gear.

[Zaraki.5784]

Obviously, like any other game around, more gold=more buying power.

[Sephylon.4938]

what do you want to get into, pvp, wvw, or pve?

[Sephylon.4938]

@"Zaraki.5784" said:Obviously, like any other game around, more gold=more buying power.

what "power" do you buy in this game?

[windbliss.3158]

The only real good benefit of carrying gold around is to purchase materials being posted in the Trading Post. However, most of the endgame equipment you will find are either found or crafted. Being able to purchase lacking materials will help only most of the time. In terms of ascended equipment, most materials (raw ascended mat components like lumps of mithrillium, elonian cord, etc.) are timegated to 1/day. However, the majority of the items you can craft or otherwise purchase (excluding legendaries -- though you can find precursors to legendaries rarely) can be found.

To iterate and agree with some of the posters: it's not about the gear, but also how well you can play the character to fill in a role, whether it be raids, fractals, open-world PvE, competitive PvP or WvW. In this game, it's not about the gear's stats, but how the stats will work with your style.

(Also, legendaries are just ascended items with benefits. They aren't required -- Ascended equipment is your goal, but a lot of the game can be done in full-exotic.)

[Zaraki.5784]

@Sephylon.4938 said:

@"Zaraki.5784" said:Obviously, like any other game around, more gold=more buying power.

what "power" do you buy in this game?

For real? Can't you figure it out yourself?Meh, for exemple if you have lots of gold you can buy legendary/ascended weapons and armors or the materials to craft them, you can buy gems to get additional useful items like bank tabs and whatever, you can also buy fractal and raid runs nowadays and much more, like almost all the game can be cleared by buying stuffs.

[Holykitten.3064]

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:Obviously, like any other game around, more gold=more buying power.

what "power" do you buy in this game?

For real? Can't you figure it out yourself?Meh, for exemple if you have lots of gold you can buy legendary/ascended weapons and armors or the materials to craft them, you can buy gems to get additional useful items like bank tabs and whatever, you can also buy fractal and raid runs nowadays and much more, like almost all the game can be cleared by buying stuffs.

And that makes you a better player... How? You can buy as much as you like, but you’d still suck at playing. Kind of defeats the object, no?

[Zaraki.5784]

@Haleydawn.3764 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:Obviously, like any other game around, more gold=more buying power.

what "power" do you buy in this game?

For real? Can't you figure it out yourself?Meh, for exemple if you have lots of gold you can buy legendary/ascended weapons and armors or the materials to craft them, you can buy gems to get additional useful items like bank tabs and whatever, you can also buy fractal and raid runs nowadays and much more, like almost all the game can be cleared by buying stuffs.

And that makes you a better player... How? You can buy as much as you like, but you’d still suck at playing. Kind of defeats the object, no?

Topic doesn't only count "becoming a better player", topic says general progression so all the things you can buy count as progresses.Of course you'll gain experience the much you play the game and you'll grow as a player but that counts for the knowledge-part of the game, on equal grounds, better equipment will make a better player (at least in pve and often in wvw too). Moreover the title say "Does having a lot of gold help new players PROGRESS much more easier in this game?" and the answer is simply yes.lol I feel like I'm I'm explaining obvious facts here, how can you not get it?

[Linken.6345]

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@Haleydawn.3764 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:Obviously, like any other game around, more gold=more buying power.

what "power" do you buy in this game?

For real? Can't you figure it out yourself?Meh, for exemple if you have lots of gold you can buy legendary/ascended weapons and armors or the materials to craft them, you can buy gems to get additional useful items like bank tabs and whatever, you can also buy fractal and raid runs nowadays and much more, like almost all the game can be cleared by buying stuffs.

And that makes you a better player... How? You can buy as much as you like, but you’d still suck at playing. Kind of defeats the object, no?

Topic doesn't only count "becoming a better player", topic says general progression so all the things you can buy count as progresses.Of course you'll gain experience the much you play the game and you'll grow as a player but that counts for the knowledge part of the game, on equal grounds, better equipment will make a better player (at least in pve and often in wvw too). Moreover the title say "Does having a lot of gold help new players

PROGRESS

much more easier in this game?" and the answer is yes.lol I feel like I'm I'm explaining obvious facts here, how can you not get it?

It really dont help you progress at all.It helps you get the skins you might want easier tho.

[Zaraki.5784]

@Linken.6345 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@Haleydawn.3764 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:Obviously, like any other game around, more gold=more buying power.

what "power" do you buy in this game?

For real? Can't you figure it out yourself?Meh, for exemple if you have lots of gold you can buy legendary/ascended weapons and armors or the materials to craft them, you can buy gems to get additional useful items like bank tabs and whatever, you can also buy fractal and raid runs nowadays and much more, like almost all the game can be cleared by buying stuffs.

And that makes you a better player... How? You can buy as much as you like, but you’d still suck at playing. Kind of defeats the object, no?

Topic doesn't only count "becoming a better player", topic says general progression so all the things you can buy count as progresses.Of course you'll gain experience the much you play the game and you'll grow as a player but that counts for the knowledge part of the game, on equal grounds, better equipment will make a better player (at least in pve and often in wvw too). Moreover the title say "Does having a lot of gold help new players

PROGRESS

much more easier in this game?" and the answer is yes.lol I feel like I'm I'm explaining obvious facts here, how can you not get it?

It really dont help you progress at all.It helps you get the skins you might want easier tho.

Ok, you're right, you can progress as fast as one player with thousands of gold, have fun playing the game with that belief, it's not my work to educate you.

[Sephylon.4938]

It lets you progress fashion wars, that's about it. Won't make you any better at playing the game.

[Holykitten.3064]

@"Zaraki.5784" said:Topic doesn't only count "becoming a better player", topic says general progression so all the things you can buy count as progresses.

This is kind of true, but if we look at it in the context of "does a lot of gold help a new player progress faster in the game". No it doesn't, because skins aren't really progress, they don't help you level up, or get anywhere, or kill something. They're just nice things to have.

Of course you'll gain experience the much you play the game and you'll grow as a player but that counts for the knowledge-part of the game, on equal grounds, better equipment will make a better player (at least in pve and often in wvw too).

Hmm, there's been many a thread of new players using the 80 boost, getting free Exotic gear, and not being able to pass the first story step of Path of Fire. More so for the Eater of Souls fight half way through the PoF story. There's also been a lot of players 'owning it' in WvW with upleveled toons or just in 80 Exotics. So this point is misinformed at best.You can kit yourself out with Ascended and 150 AR, it does not mean you will faceroll Fractals t4 does it? It wont play your profession/build for you to provide might/buffs/healing/boon strips will it?

So let's go back to the topic of 'Does having lots of gold help new players progress?' No. it doesn't. It will help you buy gear, skins or what have you, but you wont learn how to play. So you don't need all the gold in Tyria, or to be 'rich' to be a good player.

To answer the real question the OP asked;

what should i aim for when i start playing this game

You should aim to have fun. Do what you like and get stuck in.

[Khisanth.2948]

Putting it another way GW2 is not a game where the gear can carry you through content unlike some other games. Not saying GW2 is unique in that regard but for the price increase going from exotic to ascended the power gained is much less than the than the price increase.

[Eramonster.2718]

@Khisanth.2948 said:Putting it another way GW2 is not a game where the gear can carry you through content unlike some other games. Not saying GW2 is unique in that regard but for the price increase going from exotic to ascended the power gained is much less than the than the price increase.

Depends on how one judge the worth of an item (ascended). A small upgrade is still an upgrade and ascended is practically the best atm. Unless there a specific reasons to get ascended (eg. For infusion purpose), exotic is fine in most casual cases.

Having alot of gold does help to get stuff easier (non gated items), in a way it does effect 'progress' big or small.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

In the long run, gold makes a difference. Mostly in quality of live. Gold allows you to buy more and larger bags and storage (gems) and useful items like unlimited harvesting tools and salvage kits. This makes the game quite a bit more enjoyable and efficient.

For gear, Gold helps a lot but for a beginner it does not matter. As long as you're leveling you will keep getting new and better items with quest, mission and level-up rewards so I cannot recommend buying weapons and armor sets below level 80. By then you should have enough gold to just buy a set of exotic items off the trading post to have a solid Level 80 character build. After this, things can get expensive, especially if you want to go for exclusive skins and legendary items. Even the at-stat-cap Ascended items tend to be very expensive to craft, but nowadays you can also save for them in PvP and WvW if you like these game types.

Also, if you want to play Fractals of the Mists on higher levels you will need quite a bit of money and other resources for the +9 agony infusions.In short: You can play the game just fine with little gold and be competitive as well, but if you want to get everything out of the game and enjoy the more exclusive items, you will need a lot of gold.

[Vayne.8563]

@Zaraki.5784 said:

@Sephylon.4938 said:

@Zaraki.5784 said:Obviously, like any other game around, more gold=more buying power.

what "power" do you buy in this game?

For real? Can't you figure it out yourself?Meh, for exemple if you have lots of gold you can buy legendary/ascended weapons and armors or the materials to craft them, you can buy gems to get additional useful items like bank tabs and whatever, you can also buy fractal and raid runs nowadays and much more, like almost all the game can be cleared by buying stuffs.

So you can get it faster. The thing is, you don't "need" that power to do pretty much anything. For example, you can use cash to buy ascended accessories. Legendary accessories you can craft have the same stats. That goes for weapons and armor.

Gold will speed up what you can get, it'll let you get it faster. It's not the same as buying power.

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

@Eramonster.2718 said:

@"Khisanth.2948" said:Putting it another way GW2 is not a game where the gear can carry you through content unlike some other games. Not saying GW2 is unique in that regard but for the price increase going from exotic to ascended the power gained is much less than the than the price increase.

Depends on how one judge the worth of an item (ascended). A small upgrade is still an upgrade and ascended is practically the best atm.

Ascended armor is absolutely the best, and by design, is the final tier of power from gear we will ever see. New sets of stats will show up, but there will not be "better" armor than ascended. (Legendary is identically equal to ascended in stat counts, etc. It simply has "free" stat swapping.)

[Biff.5312]

No. I've always has more gold than I could possibly need. First, don't spend on things you don't really want/need. Don't buy expensive gear you're going to have to change when you level up in 20 minutes. Second, don't do any crafting while levelling. Instead, father all mats (ore, lumber, veg) and sell it all. Your gold will pile up, so by the time you're lvl 80 and will actually need to spend some money for gear or cosmetics, you'll have it.

As for what goals to pursue - it's really up to you. You may want to follow the storyline, or you may want to explore. You may try to level quickly or take your time. Eventually you'll hit lvl 80 and at that time there's lots of choices - map completion, gear upgrades, pvp, wvw, raids, fractals. For now just have a look around and see what you like doing. The whole idea of the game is that you can experience it differently than other people according to what you like doing.