First Impressions

[Evildrider]

I'd just like to say even with this "flat leveling curve" it's going to take me longer to hit max level then it did in TOR.

[Sky]

Ok, went and looked them up. I guess reading is fundamental  

[Zetor]

I just hit 49, and the asura story's been staying consistently good so far... in fact, the last mission (red alert) was just as crazy amusing/fun as one of the 'good' TSW missions. No real balance problems either - there was one mission where I got downed a few times by a golem zerg until I figured out the trick to avoid fighting them. There's still time to (re)roll asura, everyone!

If it matters, my major choices so far were synergetics, weather machine, the priory, and grawl... though I'm fairly sure that at 30+ your race doesn't matter anymore and the story branches depending on the main faction you select (priory, vigil, whispers).

[Fordel]

Remember that popping the virtue turns off its passive effect while it is on cooldown, so actually not popping them is often the right answer.

And yeah, greatsword just seems far and away better than other options.

The aegis virtue is one I pop as soon as I see the mob start up an ability even if I am not tanking the mob. The heal I use when I shield or dodge if my main heal is down. I never pop the burner. 

One of the traits you can get will refresh your burner after every mob death. That seems like it could be a lot of fun on AE fests.



In General the Guardian is basically GW2's version of the good old Warrior/Monk combo from GW1.

[Amaron]

Finally got my ele up to 30.  Not sure how much I like it so far.   Attunement switching seems powerful at first but I'm not sure it's worth losing weapon swapping.  Then again I have lighting hammer which seems to be freaking OP.   Tried to do catacombs but the server was choking on even letting my group in.

[Venkman]

I'm constantly switching weapons between fights. I appreciate the idea of not putting weapon switching on eles, but all it really means I am double clicking in my inventory a lot between scepter/focus and staff. I can't do it mid-fight, but so far I either have a sense of what to bring to the fight, or even with weapon switching I'm dead anyway

Really wish we had custom chat channels though. The Represent button (for Inf) seems to work only occasionally, and that's the only way to switch guildchat channels.

[kildorn]

Finally got my ele up to 30.  Not sure how much I like it so far.   Attunement switching seems powerful at first but I'm not sure it's worth losing weapon swapping.  Then again I have lighting hammer which seems to be freaking OP.   Tried to do catacombs but the server was choking on even letting my group in.

If needed, you can use the weapon summons to fill gaps in your setup (like bringing frost bow on a dagger ele to handle sudden ranged requirements), but for the most part you should always have an attunement that can handle the current need. Scepter is the only one I'm fuzzy on, since I didn't play that very often.

[Amaron]

If needed, you can use the weapon summons to fill gaps in your setup (like bringing frost bow on a dagger ele to handle sudden ranged requirements), but for the most part you should always have an attunement that can handle the current need.

That's true in PvE.  In PvP though I'm often wanting to switch weapons mid combat.  The difference between a staff and a dagger is far larger than between attunments.

[Ingmar]

I should hit thirty in another week or two!

Ingmar, do you mean signets? Even so, good to know.

Signets and virtues both. If you pop your virtue that does the little group heal, your regen buff turns off until the cooldown is over. Same with the 'next hit does burning virtue' and the 'aegis every 40 seconds' virtue. Knowing when your next aegis is due to come up is handy for timing that one.

[Maledict]

If needed, you can use the weapon summons to fill gaps in your setup (like bringing frost bow on a dagger ele to handle sudden ranged requirements), but for the most part you should always have an attunement that can handle the current need.

That's true in PvE.  In PvP though I'm often wanting to switch weapons mid combat.  The difference between a staff and a dagger is far larger than between attunments.

That's the nature of elementlaists really. Their attunements give them a huge range of skills per weapon, but locks them into a particular style. Staff using elementalists have a vast array of fields and AE, but that's all they have - unlike other classes they don't get to switch weapons and roles on the fly.

I like the idea of this, but in practice have enjoyed my mesmer a lot more with weapon switching even fi the class does feel only half as powerful.

[Mattemeo]

Up at 10:30am GMT to see if I can transfer... all but three American servers are on FULL status, the three that aren't are at High. This is crazy - not only because it's obvious that Anet severely underestimated demand (though to be fair, I doubt they want to repeat Bioware's mistake of opening 100+ servers within the first month to have to shut down 75% of them 6 months later and they HAVE suspended their own digital sales) but because the majority of EU servers are open at this hour...
Which begs the question: why aren't any of you fuckers going to bed ?  

[KallDrexx]

Which begs the question: why aren't any of you fuckers going to bed ?  

I have a feeling full isn't "too many players online right now on this server, try again later" but "we have the max number of accounts registered to this server, find another".

[Lantyssa]

It's always been users online before.

We're not going to be because the game is awesome.  Keep trying.  Also check when you get up, if you can.  3 am for you is late prime-time for us.

[Khaldun]

I've crashed out three times now in crowded public quests, which I'm guessing is a server load issue. In some ways I almost prefer crashing out than being slowed to a slideshow unless the quest is ALMOST done.

[Nebu]

I've crashed out three times now in crowded public quests, which I'm guessing is a server load issue. In some ways I almost prefer crashing out than being slowed to a slideshow unless the quest is ALMOST done.

It's REALLY fun when that happens in WVW.   

[WayAbvPar]

Up at 10:30am GMT to see if I can transfer... all but three American servers are on FULL status, the three that aren't are at High. This is crazy - not only because it's obvious that Anet severely underestimated demand (though to be fair, I doubt they want to repeat Bioware's mistake of opening 100+ servers within the first month to have to shut down 75% of them 6 months later and they HAVE suspended their own digital sales) but because the majority of EU servers are open at this hour...
Which begs the question: why aren't any of you fuckers going to bed ?  

There doesn't seem to be any limit to inactivity- you can stay logged on all night if you walk away from the PC and go to bed while logged in. In a game with all kinds of overflow/server availability issues it really is an unforgivable oversight.

[Tyrnan]

There doesn't seem to be any limit to inactivity- you can stay logged on all night if you walk away from the PC and go to bed while logged in. In a game with all kinds of overflow/server availability issues it really is an unforgivable oversight.

I've been logged out several times for being AFK. There's even a popup window when you come back telling you why.

[ffc]

Similar to the elementalist not being able to switch weapons, the thief shares initiative between weapons and it is creating a problem for me. After using a ranged weapon and then switching to a melee weapon I have to wait for initiative to build up to use any melee abilities. I guess that's part of the trade-off for having no cooldowns but I find this restriction unfun.

[WayAbvPar]

There doesn't seem to be any limit to inactivity- you can stay logged on all night if you walk away from the PC and go to bed while logged in. In a game with all kinds of overflow/server availability issues it really is an unforgivable oversight.

I've been logged out several times for being AFK. There's even a popup window when you come back telling you why.

How long does it take? I wonder if that was recently added in one of their poorly documented updates, since I had a buddy who was gone for probably a couple of hours who remained online. I couldn't figure out why he wasn't responding to my whispers so I texted him and found out he was at his kid's dentist office 

[01101010]

Similar to the elementalist not being able to switch weapons, the thief shares initiative between weapons and it is creating a problem for me. After using a ranged weapon and then switching to a melee weapon I have to wait for initiative to build up to use any melee abilities. I guess that's part of the trade-off for having no cooldowns but I find this restriction unfun.

Well that would be a bit of a balance issue if you could just refresh initiative just by weapon swapping. And it is not that long a wait before the second and third ability pop up. Usually a dodge and reposition's worth of time and I can drop a death blossom.

[tazelbain]

Similar to the elementalist not being able to switch weapons, the thief shares initiative between weapons and it is creating a problem for me. After using a ranged weapon and then switching to a melee weapon I have to wait for initiative to build up to use any melee abilities. I guess that's part of the trade-off for having no cooldowns but I find this restriction unfun.

I agree about the thief, but I am not sure the elementalist thing, it feels to me that I have 4 weapons.  I am always switching elements either to move to a more advantageous one for an encounter or for long boss fights to cycle through them all to set up as many combo fields as possible. I am never waiting for my spells to recharge like I was waiting initiative to recharge with the thief.

[Amaron]

I am always switching elements either to move to a more advantageous one for an encounter or for long boss fights to cycle through them all to set up as many combo fields as possible. I am never waiting for my spells to recharge like I was waiting initiative to recharge with the thief.

This feels like the complete opposite for me.  In any given situation one element is so superior that switching seems outright dangerous due to the 15s cooldown.  Lighting and Earth in particular often feel useless too.

[Venkman]

My playstyle is similar to Tazelbain's. On single-mob fights, yea, I basically stick with dagger/focus for mid-range/damage if the fight is going to be a long one. But in general, I decide what to use right before the fight, and often what I use between waves of a fight (like a swarm or caravan DE). Since the DE waves seem to change both quantity and power of mobs between waves depending on group size, I am glad for this flexibility.

The 15s timer only applies to the skill you just switched out of. So yea, you can't necessarily insta-swap between Fire for DPS and Earth for protection. But generally I'm not doing that. More like I'm going to water for heals, air for CC and then back to fire for DPS.

Still only 21, still haven't tried PvP, just learned last night my summoned weapons have their own set of freakin skills*, and the amount I am spamming keys vs consciously deciding what to use in sequence still balances towards spam. So yea, everything I know now could be something I laugh about a week later.

* I have at 21 access to more abilities than I did on my Mage at 80 in WoW, with roughly the same ratio between useful-to-me vs toy/useless. The UI so deceptively hides the level of complexity in the ability sets.

[01101010]

Still only 21, still haven't tried PvP, just learned last night my summoned weapons have their own set of freakin skills*, and the amount I am spamming keys vs consciously deciding what to use in sequence still balances towards spam. So yea, everything I know now could be something I laugh about a week later.

* I have at 21 access to more abilities than I did on my Mage at 80 in WoW, with roughly the same ratio between useful-to-me vs toy/useless. The UI so deceptively hides the level of complexity in the ability sets.

I noticed this last night on engineer with the grenade pack. I was shooting something and decided to see what the grenade thing did... then scrambled around for a bit while I dealt with the newness. At least they are all unlocked.

[Nebu]

I got killed the first time I went underwater because of this.  I was like "Why don't my buttons do what I tell them to do?"

[Venkman]

At least they are all unlocked.

That was a nice surprise yea when I summoned my first Frost Bow. Thing was pretty powerful. Kinda felt a bit like this though

[kildorn]

I am always switching elements either to move to a more advantageous one for an encounter or for long boss fights to cycle through them all to set up as many combo fields as possible. I am never waiting for my spells to recharge like I was waiting initiative to recharge with the thief.

This feels like the complete opposite for me.  In any given situation one element is so superior that switching seems outright dangerous due to the 15s cooldown.  Lighting and Earth in particular often feel useless too.

This changes with Arcane traits, where you will gain buffs/buff nearby players for switching. You wind up looking more at how you're going to rotate to exploit fields and finishers to do silly things. Open with a field, pop into a finisher attunement, then roll into a basic damage attunement.

I sat in fire/earth for most of 1-20, and around 30 I was an attunement hopping madman with my beta Ele.

[Tyrnan]

There doesn't seem to be any limit to inactivity- you can stay logged on all night if you walk away from the PC and go to bed while logged in. In a game with all kinds of overflow/server availability issues it really is an unforgivable oversight.

I've been logged out several times for being AFK. There's even a popup window when you come back telling you why.

How long does it take? I wonder if that was recently added in one of their poorly documented updates, since I had a buddy who was gone for probably a couple of hours who remained online. I couldn't figure out why he wasn't responding to my whispers so I texted him and found out he was at his kid's dentist office 

Around 20-30 minutes from what I can tell. Are you sure your friend was actually online at the time or just showing as online? I've had times where I've shown as online to my friends despite me being stuck trying to log into the game for an hour or more. Usually happens when I log out for an update and I only recently discovered that resetting my router seems to get the game to realise I'm not actually logged in any more.

[Zetor]

Yep, as staff I switch attunements all the time (20 arcane is mandatory for staff because of the increased AOE trait). In a really trivial fight I'll sit in fire and use my autoattack, lava font, flame burst, and maybe my summoned lesser elemental to kill the mob for me... but that's really rare.

If it's one tougher target I'll switch between fire and earth - fire to lay down those 2 AOEs, then earth to place the delayed AOE, then root, place the slow zone between me and the mob, and use magnetic shield (if mob is ranged), then switch back to fire. If it's multiple targets I'll do the same thing with the AOEs, but drop into air for the aoe stun to drop on them after they're out of the slow zone. Also use the swiftness buff from air, and maybe the blind, then switch to water for another slow zone, maybe some healing, and repeat. In general I try to switch as often as possible for the buffs (2 sec of fury, 6 sec of might/regen/swiftness/protection).

If at any point I need healing I'll go water, drop my two healing water fields on me and use Arcane Wave to get additional healing (it's a blast finisher, so you get a big heal if you use it in a water field) and dodge around a bit, maybe switch back to fire to use burning retreat for extra avoidance / gap making.

[Paroid]

Similar to the elementalist not being able to switch weapons, the thief shares initiative between weapons and it is creating a problem for me. After using a ranged weapon and then switching to a melee weapon I have to wait for initiative to build up to use any melee abilities. I guess that's part of the trade-off for having no cooldowns but I find this restriction unfun.

Well that would be a bit of a balance issue if you could just refresh initiative just by weapon swapping. And it is not that long a wait before the second and third ability pop up. Usually a dodge and reposition's worth of time and I can drop a death blossom.

There actually is a Thief trait that gives some 5 or 6 initiative after a weapon swap.  I noticed that when I was researching thief briefly.

[Severian]

◦  Added NVIDIA Control Panel ambient occlusion support for Guild Wars 2

I tried out this feature from the most recent beta drivers, it did not work out. It gave me strange, distracting texture transparencies whenever my camera got close to a surface. But it's fine if you don't manually enable that occlusion.

[Tannhauser]

Can't figure out why my laptop keeps shutting off.  It's not heat, not a virus.  I swear it does this every other patch.  I played yesterday for 5 hours and now can't stay on for 5 minutes.  I've got a four day weekend and I can't play.  It's fucking infuriating.  Off to try to update my drivers.  

Edit:  Grammar

[Evildrider]

Can't figure out why my laptop keeps shutting off.  It's not heat, not a virus.  I swear it does this every other patch.  I played yesterday for 5 hours and now can't stay on for 5 minutes.  I've got a four day weekend and I can't play.  It fucking infuriating.  Off to try to update my drivers. 

Well at least you could log in!   

[KallDrexx]

Ok, I think half of the coolest shit about this game is hidden.

My guildmate accidentally came to a cave not near any waypoint or POI.  I met up with him and we checked it out.  Inside

[OandA]

I managed to actually get gold participation on a tower cap today. It gives you twice the amount of rewards as a normal PvE dynamic event would give you at the same level.

Btw, do rewards increase all the way until 60, I got my ranger to 25 now and I still seem to get more xp per heart/event each level.