New player problems

[Angel.3916]

I was thinking about quitting guild wars 2. I started my account a week ago and enjoyed guild wars 2, so i bought the 2 expansions.

There is a lot of things that bother me. The game is fun (guild wars 2 is fun) but i think that for a new player, there are things that guild wars 2 can improve on.

So first off, i have to craft my ascended gear in order to get it or depend on lucky drops. No matter which mode i go in - WvW, Raids, SpVP , Fractals etc etc - basically it seems like i have to craft ascended armor.I thought you could win pvp tickets and cash them in for ascended armor. or cash in shards of glory or pristine fractal relics and get armor that way. But i have to craft in order to get ascended armor.I already have 30 gold and i can easily make more gold by farming. But crafting is a gold sink and i don't want to waste gold on crafting when i have to buy pets, dyes, skins, and other stuff for completion. Yes i know crafting has achievements but i feel like this is lazy game design trying to get me to buy gold.I do buy gems, but so far i only get tools, a colorful wing skin, and the copper salvage machine oh and also an account thingy with bank and bags.I am used to a traditional gear grind, and while i don't mind having ascended as the highest armor tier, i feel it's really bad for new players to have to use crafting.

ALSO i noticed in wvw everyone has mounts. WvW is not new player friendly and it seems like WvW is more for people who already have hours and achievements in this game.Also i think that this game is not very new player friendly and might have a poor new player retention rate.

I think they should help new players by putting them in areas before they get their war claw or before they have ascended armor. I think it's one of those - if you weren't here early, you must suffer with a horrible climb to get to their level.I think crafting is awful for getting gear instead of a badge system or a point system. I like season 3 heart of thorn's daily maps with the blood gems and other daily items. That makes for good gameplay.

Any ways, this game seems to lack a new player friendly treadmill on all it's gameplay. I know i can be hardcore and go on discord and buy gold as well as complete the achievements and get to their level, but for the health of the game, it's not very good for other new players. Any ways, i hope this sheds some light on the new player experiences, I think new players have it really hard, especially if they come from world of warcraft or final fantasy.

Any ways thanks all for hearing my feedback. I think i am going to take a break from guild wars 2 for awhile and relax for a bit. Thanks.

(EDIT: sorry my paragraphs are disorganized. I was thinking how best to write this.)

[Randulf.7614]

Just for reference, ascended armour is only a requirement for Fractals and a recommendation for raids. It is otherwise not needed. I have been here since day one and have yet to deck out a toon in full ascended.

Ascended is a long term, largely optional goal. It isn't new player friendly, because, well it isn't meant to be anything other than a long term goal.

[Turkeyspit.3965]

Crafting in this game is painful to level, no question, unless you just buy the mats off the trading post.

But there is no requirement for Ascended armor until you are trying to get into Tier 2 fractals. Everything else in this game: open world metas, world bosses, dungeons, Tier 1 fractals, raiding and WvW can all be done effectively wearing only Exotic class gear, which can either be crafted, earned as rewards/achievements, or purchased directly from the TP (depending on which stats you need).

As a new player, you need to crawl, then walk, then run...

For WvW, you are correct, and those objections were raised the very week the Warclaw was released; to date, nothing has been addressed. But you still can participate in the game mode without the Warclaw, it's just more of a struggle to keep up with other players.

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

Angel, take your break. Then come back to the game and give it some more time. Two weeks is NOT enough time to determine that GW2 is not the game for you. Especially as you have experience with other MMOs. GW2 is not the same.

I have 14 level 80 characters across two accounts. I have a handful of ascended weapons and one legendary weapon. NONE of my characters are currently running any ascended armor. ALL of them are running exotic armor and exotic weapons where they aren't ascended. And I've been in the game since December 30, 2015. About the only time I don't solo PvE is when I'm helping a friend. Find a build, buy the exotic armor for your build on the trading post. The game is completely accessible in 100% exotics.

The mount in WvW is easy to get. Yeah, you do have to run around on foot a bit, but look up how to get the warclaw on the wiki. I have the warclaw on both accounts, and my alt account is only like maybe level 5.

Oh, and you can run PvP naked - your armor means nothing in PvP.

[Widmo.3186]

@Angel.3916 said:

So first off, i have to craft my ascended gear in order to get it or depend on lucky drops. No matter which mode i go in - WvW, Raids, SpVP , Fractals etc etc - basically it seems like i have to craft ascended armor.WvW - > you can be perfectly fine with exotic gear, just run with zerg (big groups of ppl led by someone with tag icon, also can be seen in map) and dont go anywhere alone until you git gud.sPvP - > you gain all equipment you need by default, you dont use your normal gear here (that makes PvP more fair)Raids, Fractals - > enjoy elitist club, lulI thought you could win pvp tickets and cash them in for ascended armor. or cash in shards of glory or pristine fractal relics and get armor that way. But i have to craft in order to get ascended armor.I already have 30 gold and i can easily make more gold by farming. But crafting is a gold sink and i don't want to waste gold on crafting when i have to buy pets, dyes, skins, and other stuff for completion. Yes i know crafting has achievements but i feel like this is lazy game design trying to get me to buy gold.I do buy gems, but so far i only get tools, a colorful wing skin, and the copper salvage machine oh and also an account thingy with bank and bags.I am used to a traditional gear grind, and while i don't mind having ascended as the highest armor tier, i feel it's really bad for new players to have to use crafting.Just buy exotics that are on TP that are posted for 1-2g (or little bit more) each and start doing your things. Ascended boost is not so big for casual playingALSO i noticed in wvw everyone has mounts. WvW is not new player friendly and it seems like WvW is more for people who already have hours and achievements in this game.Also i think that this game is not very new player friendly and might have a poor new player retention rate.Thats true, but game needs to go forward, right? You need to catch up to old players, not the other way. And trust me, Warclaw is not so hard to get, just play game and you'll get it faster than you think.

If you come from WoW then you should know that back in the days (maybe still, dont know BfA situation) you also needed to grind stuff in open world first, then low dungeons, then higher dungeons and at last raids. Here in GW2 you dont need to grind anything except for gold which can be made in many ways (and one of the easiest is by just playing game and doing easy as kitten dailies). <50g and you can start your adventure with fractals and WvW (you get 2g solely from daily, so cmon).

Trust me, compared to games like BDO where player is overwhelmed by amount of things he needs to learn, grind and settle, gw2 is reeeeally casual friendly. Might look hard at first, but after some weeks you'll understand 75% of basics knowledge that veterans possess. Tricks & treats comes later.

[Derdzvero.7051]

It always astonishes me how many people come to a game with 150+h content in terms of story&instances, leveling up and exploration. And guilds add another, let's say 30h.. So far PvE only, we're not even talking about wvw and pvp.Yet, the first thing they do is to get some char boosted, equip something shiny and... click next-next-skip-skip and quit. Or get angry at others, who don't type gg at the right place in an instance and thus they can't skip some dialogue/scenery. Preposterous, I know.Guess very few are used to see games with content nowadays. :(

[maddoctor.2738]

@Angel.3916 said:No matter which mode i go in - WvW, Raids, SpVP , Fractals etc etc - basically it seems like i have to craft ascended armor.

sPVP doesn't require ascended gear, gear means nothing in sPVP, they just added a way to get ascended/legendary armor from sPVP for players that enjoy multiple game modes. Gear stats are irrelevant in sPVP you only need an Amulet which contains all your stats.

[aspirine.6852]

Wow impatient much?I have not crafted ascended gear and I have been in this game since the beginning. It is not needed per se. One thing is that I find crafting boring as shit but that is different for everyone.Why are some people so in a hurry to get to the end and skipping parts of the game where you can explore a whole new world??

[Aaralyna.3104]

@"Turkeyspit.3965" said:Crafting in this game is painful to level, no question, unless you just buy the mats off the trading post.

When I just started I simply stored all mats I got (gathering what I passed by) and did not sell them. And ofcourse salvaging everything. By the time I was lvl 80 I started crafting 2 crafts and barely had to buy anything from the trading post. I levelled both crafts in 1 go to max without any issue. The only painfull craft would be scribing.

Ascended items are not needed unless you do fractals above tier 1. Open world can drop ascended items (rare chance), achievements (spec ones give you ascended weapons), Living world season 3 maps give you ascended trinkets and backitems. Some achievements give you ascended items like backitems (mawdrey, mark golem one from sandswept isles, pof main story give banners as well). Fractals give you trinkets and armors too (either drop or purchased with fractal currency).

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ascended_armor

[phs.6089]

What can be more new players friendly to gear up, when exotic armor costs a few gold on TP and couple of days farming LW maps can get you set of ascended trinkets?Dundeoning and praying your armor will drop?Then perhaps doing mount of dailies that take you 3-4 hours per day to get mats to enchant/awaken that gear?70% of content in game will never ask you to be ascended. Running with zerg in WvW without mount is not a big deal, if you like wvw that much you would have already finished warclaw, its like 6 hours of play.

[Puma.3645]

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[pinguadoido.6581]

You don't need exotic. Just do Tequatl The Sunless daily (everyday at 20:00 ET) - that's a good chunck of karma right there. Then you can buy exotic gear with the karma you gained. Or you can do Dungeons (there are always experienced people doing them) and get level 80 exotic armor from it. Both ways, no money spent.

Tequatl: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Tequatl_the_SunlessExotic Karma Gear: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Temple_armorDungeon armor: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Dungeon_armor

The main thing is, for new players, is the amount of content. It can be overwhelming to understand what to do, where to go, and how to get. Sometimes it seems impossible to achieve certain things.

When I crafted my first ascended set, it was 3 years into the game, and it took me over a month to do so. Now, I managed to complete the last ascended one in under a week. It's all about knowing your stuff.

Therefore, patience and study are necessary in order to pursuit your goals. Give it time to sink in, you will get there someday.

[Shikaru.7618]

I think the misconception you have here is that ascended armor is a prerequisite for you to do any end game content and that's just plain not true with the exception of fractals. The difference between exotic and ascended is 5% in stats and no fight is tuned so finely that 5% will make or break it. Exotic gear functions perfectly fine for all content that actually need gear. Ascended gear is the reward for doing end game, not a barrier into it.

[Danikat.8537]

Wow, I think when I was 2 weeks into playing GW2 I was facing the dilemma of whether to finish exploring Queensdale or follow my level 20 story to Kessex Hills. It was 6 months before I needed to think about what stats I wanted on my level 80 exotic equipment, and literally years before I had a set of ascended armour. I know I play slowly, but it sometimes surprises me just how drastic the difference can be.

However thanks to that experience I can confirm that you really don't need ascended equipment for the majority of this game. Things I did without it include all of the personal story, 100% map completion, most of the dungeon paths (and the ones I didn't do until later are just as easy, I just didn't get around to them), and things I did with only ascended trinkets include Fractals up to level 20 (you can get much higher, but I don't do them much), lots of WvW, unlocking the warclaw and other mounts and my first raid.

Like other people have said GW2 is different to other MMOs. This isn't one of those games where until you're "caught up" with a max level character in best-in-slot equipment and all the other upgrades you can't really do anything. Even getting to level 80 isn't necessary for a lot of stuff, although it will happen sooner or later because everything gives XP. But there's no need to feel like you have to put off what you actually want to do until you have ascended equipment, it's purely an optional goal. The only thing in the game which actually requires ascended equipment is high level Fractals, and (not at all by coincidence) Fractals is also, along with raids, one of the main places ascended equipment can drop, so if you want to do that you'll likely have the equipment you need by the time you need it.

Alternatively you can play everything else in the game, whatever you enjoy, and save up the gold and the materials you'll get to craft ascended equipment. I understand not enjoying crafting but I recommend giving it a go because it does come in useful for a lot of things, and personally I find it much less annoying in this game than most RPGs I've played. In particular there's no RNG - you always know exactly how many raw materials it will take to make the finished product and every item is made by a specific recipe which has 1 guaranteed outcome (even the ones you need to 'discover' by combining different mats - it won't tell you what it will make but the outcome is always assured, and you can look them up on the Wiki if you want to know in advance) and there's no chance of failing to craft the item you want.

[FANY.6524]

As others have mentioned, you don't need ascended gear if you're not going to be doing higher lvl fractals. There's also a useful guide (gw2crafts.net) if you want to have a guide that is constantly updated with the most optimal way to get your crafting professions maxed. I've used it for every profession, and it has been incredibly useful for me and many others.

At the end of the day, everyone was where you are right now at some point in time. I've been playing this game since beta, but I had to take a break from WvW because of school and am now back with no mount. shrug In two hours, I had completed everything but the reward track for the mount. So, it's not difficult and it's definitely doable. Does it suck that everyone is way faster than you? Sure, but you can't expect it all to be equal between a player who has poured months and months into the game and someone who has only been around for a few weeks.

[Crystal Black.8190]

As an additional note if you still want ascended gear oneday. The grandmaster tokens that are required to buy ascendedgear canbe crafted, but are also handed out as part of the pvp pip rewards, i guess the same is true for wvw. Buying ascended gear with raid currency doesnt even require them and fractals drop it often enough that you dont need to buy it from the vendors, but there might be a way for them to be aquired in fractals without crafting too. I dont know that, because i rarely do fractals.

[Excursion.9752]

To ascend or not to ascend that is the question. Most times the answer is to not ascend. Its best to take time and figure out what you class you like best. Then figure out what you actually need to level up for that classes armor type. No need to waste your time on trying to do all the different crafts. Its a waste of your time and materials. As the echo travels back down the halls of this topic "Only really need it for high end fractals and raids".

I used to do T4 fractals everyday and received enough ascended armor boxes to gear all my characters. Just make the one set and the rest will follow. Plus there is a bit of gold to be found in fractals.

[IndigoSundown.5419]

As far as the WvW Warclaw mount goes ... last Friday, I was with a guild group in WvW. A new player joined the guild. It was his very first foray into WvW. Members talked him through choosing the Warclaw track. After less than an hour of play, the new person had a Keep, Tower, Camp, the drop from guards and was 33% of the way into the reward track. Getting the Warclaw is not that hard.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

@"Shikaru.7618" said:I think the misconception you have here is that ascended armor is a prerequisite for you to do any end game content and that's just plain not true with the exception of fractals. The difference between exotic and ascended is 5% in stats and no fight is tuned so finely that 5% will make or break it. Exotic gear functions perfectly fine for all content that actually need gear. Ascended gear is the reward for doing end game, not a barrier into it.

This.

One thing the game really could use is some way of clearly telling people with MMO experience that "yes, Ascended and Legendary gear exist, but pretend they don't for at least your first few months, you don't need them."

[Rasimir.6239]

@"IndigoSundown.5419" said:As far as the WvW Warclaw mount goes ... last Friday, I was with a guild group in WvW. A new player joined the guild. It was his very first foray into WvW. Members talked him through choosing the Warclaw track. After less than an hour of play, the new person had a Keep, Tower, Camp, the drop from guards and was 33% of the way into the reward track. Getting the Warclaw is not that hard.I've had similar experiences, both in guild and even with wvw events where the commander would "ground" the whole event zerg until the newcomer was able to catch up and get their own mount. If you want the warclaw, ask nicely in wvw team chat if anyone on your server pairing would be willing to help you, both with taking objectives/gaining reward track experience and with helpful hints and tips about wvw in general and the warclaw aquisition specifically.

The last couple of times we had a guildie without warclaw we went through the whole thing with just a group of 3-5 players (including the person trying to get their mount) and had a lot of fun on the way. Depending on your match-up you might need to jump in when a larger zerg takes a keep, but the rest can all be done in a small group if you just have one experienced person at hand.

[Odinens.5920]

One of the main draws for this game is the fact there is no gear treadmill. Yes, if you want to get ascended gear in a "timely" fashion you will need to be able to craft it, however, leveling crafting is fairly quick and easy (some good guides out there), AND, as others have pointed out already, you are perfectly fine in exotics for everything except higher level fractals, and probably PvE raids (guessing at that one, since I don't do them).

[Cristalyan.5728]

@Angel.3916 said:I was thinking about quitting guild wars 2. I started my account a week ago and enjoyed guild wars 2, so i bought the 2 expansions.

There is a lot of things that bother me. The game is fun (guild wars 2 is fun) but i think that for a new player, there are things that guild wars 2 can improve on.

I already have 30 gold and i can easily make more gold by farming. But crafting is a gold sink and i don't want to waste gold on crafting when i have to buy pets, dyes, skins, and other stuff for completion. Yes i know crafting has achievements but i feel like this is lazy game design trying to get me to buy gold.I do buy gems, but so far i only get tools, a colorful wing skin, and the copper salvage machine oh and also an account thingy with bank and bags.I am used to a traditional gear grind, and while i don't mind having ascended as the highest armor tier, i feel it's really bad for new players to have to use crafting.

ALSO i noticed in wvw everyone has mounts. WvW is not new player friendly and it seems like WvW is more for people who already have hours and achievements in this game.Also i think that this game is not very new player friendly and might have a poor new player retention rate.

You started the game one week ago. For how many weeks do you intend to play? Or, with other words, in how many weeks do you think you will complete all the achievements/content in the game?

Relax, this is a loooong game. You will have time to learn the crafting / equip your toons (by crafting or by drops or both). One week was enough to learn your class well? If YES, then the ascendand should not bother you. You will be able to do any content (except high level fractals, where the ascendant is mandatory due to the AR slots). But if NO, then no ascendant gear will save you.

You don;t have to buy pets/dyes/skins. These are only optional. You may buy or may not buy. No influence in your performance. THIS is a goldsink. The crafting is useful. Not as useful as in other games, but you will need it.

In WvW you should play for your mount. It may sound crazy, but every single mount owner spent the same amount of time on the reward track for the mount. The number of hours in WvW or the achievements did not influence the reward track lenght.

My suggestionis to question yourself if you want to play this game more than a month. If the answer is YES, then I suggest you to create another character and to start from lvl1 in your racial city. Do a map completion in Tyria on that character. During this trip you will have no problems regarding the equipment. And you will gather some material to start a crafting discipline.

Be patient. And play. One week means nothing. Can you tell us a game in which you achieved the max level gear / the mounts / the max crafting discipline / completed the raids / won the PvP world (sPvP and WvW) in one wek?

[Blanger.3162]

No offense intended here....

@Angel.3916 said:I was thinking about quitting guild wars 2. I started my account a week ago and enjoyed guild wars 2, so i bought the 2 expansions.

How in one week could you have possibility explored everything GW2 has to offer just in maps alone..... I'm going to assume you have already leveled a toon to 80 by using boosters, if so you missed a lot of content that you really need to experience at least once, when your on your 4, 5, or 10 toon that's the time to short cut to level 80.

ALSO i noticed in wvw everyone has mounts. WvW is not new player friendly and it seems like WvW is more for people who already have hours and achievements in this game.

If you think that's a big deal wait till you want a Griffon.

Any ways thanks all for hearing my feedback. I think i am going to take a break from guild wars 2 for awhile and relax for a bit. Thanks.

I have over 6+ years invested in GW2, I have very little ascended stuff (across 9 different toons) and what I do have came from drops in WvW, I have crafted a few ascended weapons but as anyone else will tell you they are not necessary for 95% of the content in GW2.Best advice I can give you is to pace yourself, slow down, do the personal story (on at least one toon), and enjoy the content, find a friendly like minded guild to join and have fun...

Best of luck and Welcome to GW2

[Valgar.9576]

Well the best way to get ascended gear for me is doing the pvp league. By the time you finish all the chests, you have basically made almost 150 gold, you get plenty dyes, and you get 3 marks you can use to purchase a light, medium or heavy ascended armour. The added bonus is that the ascended armour acts as a precursor to legendary armour which is not too difficult or expensive to get in relation to the other legendaries. As you do league you can go for the league achievements which will ultimately allow you to get a legendary backpack, and if you dont want to spend your cash, you'll at least get an ascended backpack. AND you will also get rewards from whatever reward tracks you use (potential ascended rings drop from them, i've gotten like 5).

The only downfall is...if you hate PvP. The ranking system is pretty broken when trying to matchmake so a lot of the time it is a lottery with your team. But anyway, that will keep you busy for a long time and make you rich quick.

[ProtoGunner.4953]

People who say they play long and still haven't ascended gear I go like hmmmmm dafuq? I have a couple of sets but ofc it took time. I play since the beginning, so it happened all naturally though. I never thought about it as a chore. Just go step by step. This is an MMO and MMOs want to give you long term goals. Also, as many mentioned, in 95% of the content you don't need any ascended gear and then again it is pretty easy to get a full set of ascended trinkets.