Information overload in crafting or gold making

[Katelynn.6593]

So I'm planning ahead for ascended or legendary equipment. I'm a very new player, 100 hours across all alts. So I googled how to make gold, went into metabattle, some of the links took me to the Guild Wars 2 wiki. Okay so far so good. Except ... one page can have say 6 different links I don't understand, so I click those links to find out what it is. Those pages lead to other links I don't understand. Which leads to more links. Once I've read through the links, in some cases I don't really know how to convert the information into a plan of action.

Right now I'm just doing world map completion and my personal story, gather resource nodes on the way and participate in events. Keeping things simple for now.

I'm kind of hoping that just doing the more A to Z stuff will help things make sense later on. Im hoping that the information that I barely know what to do with now, will make a lot more sense and be easier to use in future, if I just go with the flow. Complete this map. Do this achievement. Unlock this elite skill. Do this mastery path. Complete this story line. Basically the things that come on a list or the kind of stuff the navigator tells you about.

I'm sorta just hoping it starts making sense through normal play. I'm hoping that my information confusion is through lack of in game context and experience and hopefully not because I am below average at working with information.

Sometimes I'll come across forum posts in this forum of people who have asked questions what is the best way to make gold? What about getting (resource name)? There are so many different responses to their questions. That I wonder which one is the best method for me. I can't intuitively tell which would be the best method for me, because I've got no clue what people are going on about. It's like people are speaking a different language of jargon I'm unfamiliar with, because I haven't come across what those people are talking about in game. I haven't experienced it myself. Whilst the wiki does kind of help, I also don't have enough in game context for some of the information on the wiki to click into place.

Anyway I'm kind of hoping that just by playing the way I love playing, sooner or later things will just start making sense. Hopefully I will find out the best method for me in terms of gold farming and rare crafting items farming through natural play.

Hopefully I will understand and figure out how those methods work just through natural play.

I really hope this isn't a me only problem. Otherwise I'm basically going to struggle more than the average player. I hope that when all of you were new and decided to google how to get this or that (for future reference) you were also thinking 'I have no idea what these people are talking about, but I hope I stumble across it on the way.' I also hope you did stumble across it on the way, and that the possibility will also be there for me.

I'm willing to read bits of information here and there. But I'd rather just play the game normally, so these guides and helpful information from more experienced GW2 players will make sense because I have more in game experience to know what to do with the information.

Anyway sorry for the long post. I guess I just want people to give me hope that everything will start working out if I just keep playing.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

No need to plan ahead for Legendary or Ascended equipment. Take your time and enjoy your journey. There's plenty of time for all that later, if you even decide you want to pursue those goals, as they aren't necessary.

I suggest you just learn your Profession(s), and follow the Personal Story (if you are into the Story). Again, it's not necessary. We were all new once, and didn't know this from that. If you are sure you will want to craft, save your mats; if you want Gold right away, sell your mats. Sell on the TP, rather than a Vendor. Don't worry about builds or equipment too much until you hit L80. It doesn't really matter.

Here's a couple of guides that might be useful: https://manual.guildwars2.com/en and https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Extended_Online_Manual

Welcome to Tyria, and good luck!

[Katelynn.6593]

Thanks! I'm now hopeful that it will all work out :)

[Jimbru.6014]

Something I have always found annoying about gold guides is that most of them tell you, "Grind X meta event and you'll make Y gold per hour," but they don't tell you how to actually convert your loot to gold. Do you salvage all the stuff you get and sell the mats? Sell directly to vendor? What do you do to actually get the Y gold per hour? Insufficient data, please clarify...

[Katelynn.6593]

I don't even know what a meta event is lol. So you're ahead of me.

[Oogabooga.3812]

Also, join a guild that is friendly to new players. I waited too long to join one, thinking I had to learn the game before looking for a guild. When I finally joined one, I learned the game so much faster with all their help.

A friendly guild will help you every step along the way. This game is not meant to be played solo.

[Cuks.8241]

Yeah no need to really plan ahead for gear. Exotics are just fine and you won't really notice a difference at start. Actually most of us don't really notice the difference because skill >>>>> small ascended stat increase. Exotics you can just buy off TP at relatively low cost.
Remember having the proper runes and sigils is more important than having ascended gear. Also even more important is to know your character and which stats are best for what you want to achieve. Gear quality means nothing if you have chosen wrong stat combination.

Once you will be familiar with the game and actually know what you want to do with your character you can go for the ascended. If you want to craft them (and I would recommend picking up crafting anyway) it will take some time to get to max crafting level but after that it is pretty easy to start getting ascended pieces.

Sell mats that you don't need if you need gold but don't just sell them automatically because you are losing on the TP fees. Store them for later.

Legendary gear... forget about it for now. Play the game. There is no advantage beside the looks and quality of life stat change. Legendary gear is a long term for veterans that have played for years. The amount of resources needed for legendaries is insane compared to ascended and is not for everyone. And making one is not only pure crafting, it requires completing collections and participating in different play modes. You can also buy some of them if you have a few thousands of gold. Could be an easier option.

GW2 is not your typical mmorpg where you are always in the process of gear progression. You can get geared for 99 % of the content within days )if new player otherwise within hours) with a few gold that you can get by just selling some materials you acquired along the way. Discover the world, discover different game modes and play what you enjoy. (Tip: get mounts early by starting pof story)