The best way to start with fractals?

[Luthan.5236]

What is the best way to start with fractals - if you never played them?

I'm a player that played GW2 from release until end 2013. Then from 2019 until now again. Mainly PvE story, map achievements and open world events. Some PvP and WvW. Though I'm bad at it ha ha. Only lower skill tier. And I don't like the huge zergs in WvW. Better the small to mid-scale combat. The idea of strike missions ... I liked that. (Though I have only tried the one at wintersday since still doing story stuff in order and not at the point where the other usual PvE strike missions got introduced.)

As playstyle I don't like too much focuse don full dps. (I guess it needs more skill to not get killed too quickly if fully focused on dps.) My main is engineer which I fully played for most of the time. (Except some exceptions when leveling other classes but not really gotten into them.) Playing core engineer cause I like it in PvP, WvW and I haven't tried Holo at all. In PvE I liked the scrapper soo far. Feels a bit better with sustain and does better AoE damage with tha hammer than engineer that only has rifle and pistols as weapons. (Used to the toolkit though which I like in PvE for pulling from magnet for tze lulz.)

Sooo ... how is it in lower tier fractals? Can I just join a group from lfg and try with my random build ... then trying to make changes slowly - and learning the mechanics slowly? Adapting to some "meta" build (or changed version of meta that fits to my style ... I usually like my own style and some stuff is hard ... if you have like requirements where it needs you to equip 2-3 toolkils and quickly change between them for engineer ... that might be a huge gap in playstyle/skill - at most I play with 1 weapon + 1 toolkit so far).

Or do players even at lower tier directly require you to have read about a "meta" build and have read about the mechanids, etc. already?

I'm just interested in the cat (lol I have all the other cats for home instance so far), in the community rewards (and maybe 100 of that stuff you can trade in for on older potion from one older rush event I'm missing). And of course looking if that fractals might be fun for me. (Of course I would not expect to be able to run them at higher tier and constantly - after the fractal rush - without effort.)

I just fear that players might require you to play fully dps and stuff from the beginning. (In WvW and PvP I enjoyed bringing CC and doind the rezzing and stuff that makes rezzing faster. So it is not that I dislike group play. More that I find full dps "boring" and I think I'm not too skilled to use something like full berzerker cause I need a bit of sustain in the gear as well I guess.)

[kharmin.7683]

You may want to check out the Fractals forum https://en-forum.guildwars2.com/categories/fractals-dungeons-raids

[Luthan.5236]

Oh I see. Forgt about that. Maybe a moderator can move this thread to there. (I'm just too just by using this forums cause also regarding other stuff people are using it - even when other stuff might actually fit in another forum. This one here gives lots of responses and people reading it.)

[Danikat.8537]

Players in the lower tiers will not expect you to know how everything works or have a dedicated build. If you start or join a group via the LFG menu you're likely to get a mix of other people who are new to Fractals and just want to figure it out, people who want to do it for the dailies using whatever build they happen to have and people who need to do a specific Fractal for an achievement. Any of all of them may be new to Fractals or may not have done that one before.

In a group like that by far the most important thing is to show everyone else the same courtesy you're hoping for by not expecting any of them to suddenly step into a teaching role and show you what to do, being prepared to figure it out by trial and error or waiting for someone to read the Wiki if none of you knows what to do in advance and accommodating other people's priorities - like if they say they need to go off down some random side path or need to be the one to do/not do something. (For example a common request is for one person to sit out the first part of the Swamp Fractal, so they can get the achievement for not triggering any traps).

Also in GW2 generally a pure DPS build in the sense other games use the term is very rare. Lots of builds still recommend beserker gear, where the stats are focused on boosting your damage (although many are starting to branch out into other choices), but even then a build or player which literally provides nothing except direct damage isn't much help. CC skills are useful and expected in at least some group content, as is things like rezzing downed players. (Sometimes an organised group will assign person to be responsible for that, but then it's usually one of the DPS because a few seconds of less damage is less likely to cause more problems than if your healer or the person who has to keep AoEs away from the group stops doing their role.) Since the game requires you to have a healing skill you're also expected to use it when necessary, ignoring it in favour of a second or two of additional damage and expecting someone else to keep you alive isn't a sensible choice in this game.

[Cuks.8241]

The best way to start fractals is to just open LFG and start them. Tier 1 is suitable for almost anyone and now is the perfect time because everyone is doing them from new people to old veterans who just came back for the event. No one will care about your build or your performance in tier 1.There are some specific mechanics that you will need to execute and some also require working together as a group but this you will learn as you go. Just don't ignore chat, don't run by yourself and ask. There are some jumping parts but don't worry too much about them, they are not hard and I see people fall often in tier 1.Get some agony resistance as soon as possible (I think 15 or 20 is enough for 20-25) because many groups will do all dailies which will often include 20-25. It is possible to do them without AR but why make it hard for yourself and the group.Fractals are fast, fun and tier 1 is easy. Just do it.

[titje.2745]

Entering the fractal portal ?