first time 80, long time noob.

[KingBacon.2150]

hey all, just recently got my Charr warrior to 80. ive been an on and off again player since original game release but more off than on, so needless to say ive got no clue about the endgame since i missed 2 expacs and the vanilla end game.

im not really looking for help as to what to do because i know that with gw2 you can end game pretty much any way you want, im going to start off finishing the personal story, joining a guild for the first time and getting my skillpoints up to train beserker,probably world explore too. after that fractals, crafting, world v world and raids seem like a good time.there are a few questions i have about some of the end game content that confuses me:

• can someone explain fractles? like are they replacing normal dungeons for level 80 and should i be alot more geared and knowlageable before i jump in

•how do raids work and how long does it take to get raid ready/what will i need to focus on

•gear progression ie should i be trying to rush to get the best gear for my toon or just have fun building sets.

•should i gear for world v world before jumping in and if so whats the best way to gear.

• whats the benifits of playing through HoT area and how do the masteries work (i only own HoT but plan on getting PoF)

•whats the deal with living story seasons and should i be keeping up to date with them, or can i just do them whenever ive got the time

if there are any other tips anyone can give it would be much apretiated! i know i can read up on the end game but i really have no clue where to start! thanks so much for the read and any advice given!

[Strider Pj.2193]

Lots of questions there. And good to see you playing.

I might take a moment if I were you to find a PvX guild. The parts of that guild that do the different areas could help you along.

Also, for raids /fractals/dungeons, there is a specific forum section that may be more helpful. Same for WvW.

And welcome back!

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

You could use the Wiki (link above) to answer some/all of your questions.

Welcome return, and good luck.

[Donari.5237]

@"KingBacon.2150" said:• can someone explain fractles? like are they replacing normal dungeons for level 80 and should i be alot more geared and knowlageable before i jump inFractals are not exactly a replacement, just an alternate form of dungeon. Very short explanation: The first 19 fractal levels do not require special gear, but you need either to have someone show you the ropes so you know the instances or to make it clear in your LFG that you are new. At fractal 20, the "Agony" mechanic begins, which does ticks of damage to you at set points in the instance and can be ignored if you have ascended gear with Agony Resistance slotted in it, the more AR you have the higher the level of fractal you can do without being one-shotted. Check the wiki entry on Fractals for a nicely detailed explanation of just how they work.

•how do raids work and how long does it take to get raid ready/what will i need to focus onI can't really answer this, I've only ever killed one raid boss and it was the easiest one. Check the LFG forum below, or maybe in the Raid forum, to find a raid training guild. Focus will be on setting up a build and gear that suits your intended role, then finding groups that will teach you the fancy dance steps of the fights.

•gear progression ie should i be trying to rush to get the best gear for my toon or just have fun building sets.Just have fun, imo. "Best" is subjective. All exotic tier has similar stat spreads, all Ascended likewise with a bit of a boost in numbers over Exotic. If you want to raid, you'll probably want to work on making Ascended gear once you know your desired build.

•should i gear for world v world before jumping in and if so whats the best way to gear.No idea. I get the notion from various forum posts that WvW and PvP favor more defensive gear rather than glass cannon in terms of stat allocation. It probably depends on whether you intend to roam or zerg or defend or whatever all goes on in there.

• whats the benifits of playing through HoT area and how do the masteries work (i only own HoT but plan on getting PoF)Many benefits! You get the story, achieve points, mats, and gliding. There are some awesomely fun metas. Masteries short form: Pick the line you want to train from those you have unlocked (either by entering the appropriate map to start new categories or by training the previous level in the category). Activate it by clicking on the left of its name in the Mastery panel. Get xp in HoT maps until your xp bar is full. Also gather Mastery Points along the way (by doing achievements, by communing with MP light beams that are just like Hero Point communes, by opening various lockboxes for the first time). When your xp bar fills on a line you're training, go back to the panel and click on the right end of the line to spend the points. (For PoF masteries it is pretty much the same, but you need to xp up in PoF maps and use PoF MP). When you have trained a line, double check which line you are next training. You can train core map and HoT and PoF all at once, ie have a line picked for each one, but you only advance them in the relevant maps.

•whats the deal with living story seasons and should i be keeping up to date with them, or can i just do them whenever ive got the timeDepends how much you like story and/or want the achieve points and rewards from the episodes. As long as you have logged into the game (fully loaded in) at least once while an episode is active, you have it free on your account for when you get around to it. You do need to own HoT to play LS3 and PoF to play LS4, but you own them even before you buy the expansions. LS1 is not available, so if you care about the story and how you met the NPCs in the first place, there is an over 3 hour video showing most of LS1's content. Also the wiki has a superb written summary. Story order is core>LS1>LS2>HOT>LS3>POF>LS4.

Enjoy!

[KingBacon.2150]

awsome thanks guys all commets were really helpful! the forum post was definitely to save some time but going to the other threads is probably a good idea to further more the knowlege i atmit. but i cant wait to get into it all! definatly not as timid to just try alot of the end game out like i have been since 80 ding. thanks heaps again :)

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

Fractals are 5 man pve content. There are 4 tiers, each more dificult and more rewarding. To open higher fractal levels you need to do previous levels. For higher tiers you need agony resistance to combat dot. That beeing said first levels are easy and dont need any agony so you can hop in right now (use lfg and tier 1)

Try to get good exotic gear (berserker for power. Viper for condi but it is accoundbound so you need to craft it/get it from story or find replacement (dire/rabid...))

To get raid ready try to get ascended weapons (check knight of thorns achievment and specialization collections) and ascended trinkets (season 3/4 maps, laurel vendors, fractals....). Most training guilds/discords doesnt require ascended armor so exotic (but with right stats) is more then enough.

The true lock on raids is knowlage. Once you want to try raids try to read about basic strategy and squad compositions. You might get an idea from fractals. Remember that some raids are harder then hardest fractals (and others only slightly easier) so dont try to rush to them. You can join some training discord and ask there for guidence.

For guides on specific build check mettabattle (everything) or snowcrows (raids but works well in all party pve) websites

Good luck and have fun

Edit: raids require 10 players. Composition is more strict since it is harder content then fractals. They are separated to wings (5 now) and each wing to encounters (3-4). Once you finish encounter you get rewards. All raid rewards are only once per week (reset on monday mornings). Most encounters are bosses and one boss kill takes usualy less then 10 minuts for succesful try.

[maddoctor.2738]

@KingBacon.2150 said:• can someone explain fractles? like are they replacing normal dungeons for level 80 and should i be alot more geared and knowlageable before i jump inFractals are dungeons with multiple tiers of difficulty. The lowest tier is very well done by players that are not even level 80 yet, you get upscaled to 80 (like in WVW) if you join at a lower level. The T1 fractals, difficulty 1 up to 25, are really straightforward and much easier than dungeons. There are no elite mobs (silver ones) only veterans that on those difficulties die as quickly as other general open world veterans. Dungeons and especially the higher level ones, require better gear to play.In order to get higher into fractals you must acquire ascended gear and get agony resistance, which is a new type of defense that prevents you from getting killed by a new condition called Agony. At the highest tier you must have near full Ascended gear to get the maximum amount of agony resistance in order to survive.But for lower tiers, you can go with masterwork or rare gear just fine.

•how do raids work and how long does it take to get raid ready/what will i need to focus onTry joining a guild that has a raid team because in order to get raid ready for random groups it's gonna take a very long time.

•gear progression ie should i be trying to rush to get the best gear for my toon or just have fun building sets.If you want to Raid or run the highest tiers of Fractals you'd need the best gear. If you don't plan on doing that then just play whatever you like really.

•should i gear for world v world before jumping in and if so whats the best way to gear.You can jump in World v World as a level 1 (like fractals you get upscaled), so as a fresh level 80 you can jump to world v world at any point you like. However, if you do that, it's probably a good idea to find a commander tag and follow a huge blob around. If you want to roam you'd need to get a proper build first, unless you like getting killed repeatedly.

• whats the benifits of playing through HoT area and how do the masteries work (i only own HoT but plan on getting PoF)Heart of Thorns will give you new mastery abilities. Mastery abilities are account bound, so you unlock them once and they are available to all your characters. They unlock as you gain experience after level 80, so only use your level 80 character if you want mastery progression. The more experience you get, the more mastery experience you get.

•whats the deal with living story seasons and should i be keeping up to date with them, or can i just do them whenever ive got the timeYou should LOGIN at least once when an episode is out to unlock it. Then you can return whenever you have time to play it, no rush. But if you don't login at all during the release of an episode and before the next one is out, you will have to unlock it by paying gems. So fire up the game once, unlock the episode, then logout and don't play until you have actual time to play.

[starlinvf.1358]

To build on this, some short history.

• can someone explain fractles? like are they replacing normal dungeons for level 80 and should i be alot more geared and knowlageable before i jump in

Fractals were an attempt to give Dungeons more Raid-like qualities, so people who wanted grinding could have something to do. To put their own spin on it, Anet made each Fractal akin to a single Dungeon path, and themed it as a literal "Theme park" being developed by the Consortium (if you were around for the South Sun Crisis, its those same guys). Canonically, Fractals are tiny pockets of the mists which formed as an echo/memories of major events in Tyrian history. However, due to the unstable nature of the Mist's Ether, Fractals kind of pop in and out of existence or become corrupted when exposed to strong energy sources.... including the ones caused them to form. Your job as a mercenary/explorer is neutralize the source of the instability (typically the level's boss), to make it safe for research teams to do their thing.

There was a whole story event released when they came out...... which is why Dessa features prominently as your Operator, and occasional actor, when playing in Fractals. The Mistlock Observatory is her home base, and 4 of the fractals are directly related to the original story event, and a follow up event for when the Fractals were expanded from the original 50 difficulty. On average, fractals can be cleared in 5-10 minutes, and used to be run as a series of 3 plus a Boss Fractal at the end; pulled from a pool of around a Dozen individual levels. As the difficulty level was increased, the mobs stats would increase, as would the chest rewards at the end.

To compliment this new level grinding setup, they introduced Ascended Gear. Themed after the Agony/Ascension event from the original Guildwars, Ascended gear has slots to infuse agony resistance- a new gating mechanism which mitigates an Environmental Effect that kill undergeared players. This also doubled as a Material sink, as constructing Ascended Armor uses a metric butt load of mid-tier crafting mats that had no other use outside of Leveling crafting. At 10 times the cost normal armor, and trinkets and infusions coming exclusively from Fractals, the system was made to perpetuate itself for several months. The Devs also had plans to expand fractals over time, since the short story and linear format required less complicated level design.... thus could be released more frequently, and piece meal. Unfortunately that plan fell through in less then a year, and fractals went on back burner. A bunch of stuff happened.... then they eventually revisited Fractals. Multiple changes were made to expand the frame work, fractals could be done one at a time, ran in a fixed sequence upward, the cap raised to 100, instabilities were made to mix things up, and has a new story bit go along with it.

Today, Ascended gear is the new top tier in terms of gear stats, offering a 5% bonus over the base line Exotics. They still cost 10 times more to make; but with the new slew of rewards from dailies to event farms, this cost isn't as daunting as it used to be. If you have heart of throns, the Living story chapters also give you the ability to trade for Asc trinkets outside of Fractals. That said, Ascended gear isn't needed outside fractals, and the stat difference isn't substantial if you aren't aiming for a completely optimal build. However, they are still worthwhile long term investment, since you can move them between characters of the same armor Weight, and change stats at a fairly low cost..... especially with Rare stats from the Expansions, which have more complicated crafting requirements at the exotic level.

•how do raids work and how long does it take to get raid ready/what will i need to focus on

Raids are a lot closer to typical MMO content. The only requirements is a Competent build that can fit into proper Group Composition, and the ability to use it. While most Raiders will try to push the idea that Raids are about Optimal builds.... but thats a load of elitist Skritt, since its mostly mechanics driven with a DPS check laid over it. Optimal builds are pushed because people want an easy/lazy win; which is ironic considering the majority of players in Raids aren't even hitting optimal benchmarks. Padding stats does help, but isn't a replacement being able to your build well.

The bigger barrier to getting into raiding is the Community itself. Most groups want already experienced raiders..... but you can't get experience without doing the raids. So the only way to really ease into raids is to find a Training group or Training Guild to teach you what you need to beat them. Though you still want to avoid any group that emphasizes DPS numbers before they've taught you mechanics.

As for the Raids themselves, they vary greatly due to the strong emphasis on level mechanics and group management. Surprisingly, GW2 raids rarely cheese by throwing mobs during a boss fight...... only ever doing that when the mobs play directly into the boss's counter play. Splits are pretty regular, so group comp is more important for its distribution of needed skills then trinity requirements. Overall the fights are extremely fun. But again, the bigger issue is the community. Players who are only in it for speed clears get easily frustrated with mistakes or failures.... and its from this most of the toxicity arises. Even friendly groups lose their patience faster, once they've done a wing enough times to get bored with it. If I had to give any advise.... avoid groups that only raid (as in only login to the game to raid), focus on full/speed clears every week, make rigid demands on what classes/builds they want you to play, or have strict schedules.

On the preparation side of things- you'll need the ability to obtain certain types of gear sets, and be willing to build a dedicated raid set if needed. The Expansions are mandatory to access Raid content (one of the selling points), and you'll want both Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire for the resources it gives you access to. HoT gives you access to Vipers, the main go-to Condition damage set, and it should be noted that most of the top DPS type builds are condition based. HoT Elite specs also make up the bulk of meta team comps, along with more accessible DPS type builds. And of course access to HOT related Raid wings. You'll also want the Living Story Season 3 bundle from the Gem store, because those maps have fairly easy access to ascended trinkets with HOT exclusive stats. I believe Rev is also exclusive to HOT owners, and doesn't come with Path of Fire. Path of Fire gives you the PoF exclusive stats, the PoF Raids, and the PoF elite specs, but isn't any different as far as raids are concerned.

If you're just starting to get into raids, power based DPS build are your easiest option, as all the gear you'll need you can get from Core maps and areas, and berserker gear is cheap in comparison to Vipers or any of the Support stats. You can start with all exotic gear, and save up money you need to make the jump to Ascended gear. Its highly advised that if you are wanting to run any of the HoT or PoF stats, that you skip the exotic versions and go straight to Ascended. This is mostly because the way they are obtained or crafted are extremely inconvenient and expensive. Ascended gear on the other hand can be recycled and stat changed for fairly low cost one made. If you don't want to craft them, you can also use the shard currencies you get from raids to buy pieces of Asc armor and weapons, and convert their stats to the ones you want. Trinkets on the other hand are still an issue; but better options exist outside raids to get them.

For build advise, most recommend Metabattle and Snowcrows websites. Metabattle is a repository of popular builds, and makes a good place to check for build archetypes. Just don't takes those builds too seriously, or them to be "the best", as their performance is based assumptions don't always line up with reality. Snowcrows is more dedicated raids, and has more information about their testing methods and practical application. But I wouldn't take it as a hard set of instructions either, since their primary goal is high bench mark performance. In practical raids there is significant leeway with alternative options, particularly in high cost areas such as food and infusions; so don't get too worried about it, unless your team is going for a benchmark run (in which case, theres a good reason to max out everything you can).

..........

[starlinvf.1358]

•gear progression ie should i be trying to rush to get the best gear for my toon or just have fun building sets.

During the level process it doesn't matter as much, since gear in each level band is only good for a couple of days to a week at most. If anything, put effort into playing around with build concepts to learn how synergy in the game works. If you're a vet trying out a new class, use that time to get familiar with class mechanics. The majority of classes don't function completely until around lvl 70, where you have most of your traits and skills unlocked. Core Tyria is also extremely forgiving in terms of difficulty. Post-80 you want to focus on getting a competent build together based what mode you want to play in. Like I said earlier, Max gear isn't crucial to any area of the game, save for a few specific cases. Messing with gear sets is also difficult, because they're too dependent on Skills and Traits syncing up to get performance out of, and almost always cost gold/tokens/resources to change later on. I'm excluding legendary armor, because its upfront cost is over 1000g; enough to afford 3 complete sets of gear (weapons, armor, trinkets) in Asc tier.

From a Cost efficiency perspective, its best to start with Power builds and Exotic gear, and save up enough to make a full ascended set for a non-zerk stat build (typically a condi DPS build). That second set is for what ever game mode specific build you want to run. Once you get established in those game modes, you'll start gaining additional resources you can use to gear up another character later on, or build a 3rd set for your main.

Overall I wouldn't recommend experimenting with Gear set.... rather experiment with various builds using cheap alternative stats, or "close enough" stats for gear you already have. If it seems like a good idea, then go all in a proper gear set. There certain event metas in open world, achievements, and collections that give or grant access to choosey-stat exotic gear boxes. These are great for getting experimental gear sets, or exotic versions of hard to get stats to test out new builds at little to no cost. Trinkets are still, by far, the hardest to get in particular stats....but the asc versions can be easily reused between characters if you want to test something out.

•should i gear for world v world before jumping in and if so whats the best way to gear.

WvW is tricky because the builds there are vastly different from anything in the PvE umbrella. While PvE, Fractals, Raids and open world overwhelmingly favor offensive stats (often chastising defensive stats in all but 2 use cases), WvW demands mixture of Defensive stats in the majority of builds, due to the sheer scale of incoming damage seen in that game mode. Because of this, most WvW players will dedicate separate gear set to a WvW build. The only builds that can logically run Glass Cannon (which is what the majority of PvE builds are) are backline damage (Ele, Rev, and Ranger), Spike builds (Pwr DD and Deadeye), and Builds that get their sustain purely from Traits (SpellBreaker, Nike Warrior, Legacy DH). Primarily, most will run Mauraders or Mixed Mauraders over Pure Zerks, due to how valuable that small HP buffer is.

If you to mitigate the cost, you can try to find builds that are mostly compatible with your current gear set, and don't require different runes (or where the runes are largely inconsequential to the build). This is easiest with Power builds, since most are designed around Trait/Skill based defenses as to not lose practical damage potential. Condi and Support is a lot harder, due to how both have limited range to be most effective, and thus tend to be front line (where defense stats are most needed).

• whats the benifits of playing through HoT area and how do the masteries work (i only own HoT but plan on getting PoF)

If for no other reason.... T5 Gliding. Its just so damn useful/convenient to not have at this point. Other benefits include excess skills points (since Core doesn't have enough to fully unlock an Espec), better meta rewards then is currently available in Core Tyria, the recipes needed to make HoT stat Insiginas/Inscriptions (which you will need if you want Vipers gear), and of course Legendary weapons, Legendary armor (Raid version), and a butt load of Achievement points. If you complete the story, you also unlock a mission for Caladbalg, which nets you a fairly cheap Asc weapon that has choosey stats AND you can reset or even change its weapon type at low cost. Despite some limitations, its still a good investment for classes that can use the weapon types it can pick.

[starlinvf.1358]

•whats the deal with living story seasons and should i be keeping up to date with them, or can i just do them whenever ive got the time

Living Story are content blocks released between expansions. Story wise they're used to bridge events between major releases, and come complete with additional story missions, rewards and achievements. From Season 3 onward, they also function as vehicle to release additional maps, farming events, and adding additional sources of Ascended gear. This is kind of a big deal, because both PoF and HoT are terrible when it comes to obtaining trinkets on release; and they've been using LS maps to fill in for that gap.

They unlock for free if you login while the chapter is active (time varies with their release schedule), or you can unlock past ones you've missed via the Gemstore. For the purposes of trinkets, you'll want at least 2 from each season...... which 2 depending on how their reward selections are spread out. You can skip LS2 entirely, unless you need more AP or Tyrian Mastery points. The LS maps also have extra MP for their content block, so they're also really good for finishing mastery tracks without having to do some of the harder achievements.