Does the Lunar New Year festival seem kind of gross to anyone else? Like, here, let's borrow the most stereotypical trappings of Chinese culture, divorced from all cultural context.
Its standard fare for video games. As awkward as the premise sounds, it still tests well across the waters.
Most video game holiday celebrations are pretty divorced from cultural context really. There's not really an explanation of Christmas during Wintersday or Halloween during Mad King. And absolutely no context when WoW did 4th of July events either.
Anyone of Asian descent that has family at all familiar with the occasion has all the context they need really and related in game events can be read as really being a nod to them/us (I have no idea what pronouns to use when I'm part of the demographic I've been referring to in third person) and that's enough to enjoy it. They/we/whatever don't necessarily require it also be educational for people not familiar with it.
Is there any way to buy speed boosters anymore? I'm leveling an Engi, and it'd be nice to have a boost while running about. I hate investing my first spec just to get mecha legs.
Hi all,
We’re wrapping up work on Episode 4 of Living World Season 3 and expect to launch it in February, hitting our normal cadence of a new episode every 2~3 months. I want to give a quick heads-up here on a few topics that I know the community is anticipating, things that will and won’t be bundled with this episode.
This release will include the promised fix to AB multi-looting. The fix is simple: you can loot each of the great and grand chests once each time you complete the meta, once per map cycle.
This release will also include a new, challenging group-farming spot for leather.
This release won’t include legendary armor. We’re getting close to completion, though, and may be able to ship legendary armor with the Ep5 release.
This release won’t include a skill balance update. As we did last time, we’ll ship the next skill balance update off-cycle from Living World releases.
Mo
So I've come and gone from this game several times over the years and, try as I may, I struggle with the weapon-swapping and rotations and combos. I find myself focusing on a single attack and ultimately mobs become too hard to solo.
My current character is an Elementalist and I'm having problems wrapping my head around changing attunements and rotations.
Is there a guide out there somewhere that goes into some detail on how to properly do rotations and combos and such? I really want to like this game, but the combat is so different from what I'm used to and I feel stupid for not getting it.
So I've come and gone from this game several times over the years and, try as I may, I struggle with the weapon-swapping and rotations and combos. I find myself focusing on a single attack and ultimately mobs become too hard to solo.
My current character is an Elementalist and I'm having problems wrapping my head around changing attunements and rotations.
Is there a guide out there somewhere that goes into some detail on how to properly do rotations and combos and such? I really want to like this game, but the combat is so different from what I'm used to and I feel stupid for not getting it.
First of all, it's worth noting that you normally don't need to be swapping your weapons/attunements as soon as all your skills are on cooldown. Pretty much only Engineers have to do that (Mesmers too I think, but I only sorta know how they play at raids and fractals, so can't be 100% sure of that. Ele too I think depending on your specific build), and even then if you are doing something like T4 fractals or raids where you need to get every bit of dps or support you can get. Generally speaking, most content, even dem fractals, having you mainly using 1 weapon, swapping to the other for either 1-2 skills or in situations where the first one simply won't do (like a ranged or AoE focused weapon)
As for elementalist itself, @Leandriell knows way more than I do, but a simple rotation I know of that works for most PvE content is Staff, just stick to Fire and use 2 and 5 (and sometimes 3) as soon as they're off cooldown. Don't need to swap attunements unless you need something specific (like Water's healing or Air's hard CC) or because you're using Glyph of Storms, IIRC the Air version of that is considered the best.
So I've come and gone from this game several times over the years and, try as I may, I struggle with the weapon-swapping and rotations and combos. I find myself focusing on a single attack and ultimately mobs become too hard to solo.
My current character is an Elementalist and I'm having problems wrapping my head around changing attunements and rotations.
Is there a guide out there somewhere that goes into some detail on how to properly do rotations and combos and such? I really want to like this game, but the combat is so different from what I'm used to and I feel stupid for not getting it.
A few classes swap weapons as a part of their rotation but for many it's situational. For example, condi-necro swaps its offhand to warhorn if it needs CC beyond what Reaper form provides but otherwise sticks with offhand dagger.
For elementalist, a rough rule is that earth is used for CC and defensive stuff when you need more than what you'd get out of other attunements, water is healing and support, while fire and air are damage. When you spend time in each depends on what weapon you're using.
Without Tempest unlocked, you're likely looking at a staff build along the lines of this: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Staff
As the rotation guide says, you mostly stick in fire attunement after the initial opening and only switch if something requires stuff besides damage.
With Tempest unlocked, dagger/warhorn becomes a stronger option against things not big enough to eat multiple hits from meteor storm http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Tempest_-_Fresh_Air_DPS
This time you mostly stick with air outside of quick breaks to go into Fire to get a crit with a few big abilities to refresh air.
For Eles, there's also an awesome hybrid in tempest between standard staff and Fresh air D/W, which is better in certain circumstances: http://qtfy.enjin.com/elementalist "Fresh Air Staff" With this, you use various tricks to get into air, overload and get back to fire, covering downtime with conjoured weapons. Useful for smaller hit boxes (Metor Shower doesn't shine as much), but need some niche things from staff. (I mostly use it in open world as it's fun, and Trio when raiding).
While levelling, have a play with Ice Bow and Lightning Hammer - they're useful in lots of niches, and if they're suddenly new to you at 80 you will get confused! Also worth knowing even on an alt as you can pick them up from other's casts.
If you really want to play with combos, S/D or S/F is the way to go, though this is massively underpowered nowerdays (It used to be my favourite build). In this, you concentrate on using lots of blast finishers in fire fields to get lots of might and fury to everyone. Lightning hammer can be swapped to after initial might stack for extra blasts and higher autoattack dps.
It's also worth playing with auramancy and deciding if you like it, but you can't do this til 80 as you need tempest. In this, you send heals to everyone by sharing auras. Good for harder fractals and raid healing on certain encounters.
For Eles, there's also an awesome hybrid in tempest between standard staff and Fresh air D/W, which is better in certain circumstances: http://qtfy.enjin.com/elementalist "Fresh Air Staff" With this, you use various tricks to get into air, overload and get back to fire, covering downtime with conjoured weapons. Useful for smaller hit boxes (Metor Shower doesn't shine as much), but need some niche things from staff. (I mostly use it in open world as it's fun, and Trio when raiding).
While levelling, have a play with Ice Bow and Lightning Hammer - they're useful in lots of niches, and if they're suddenly new to you at 80 you will get confused! Also worth knowing even on an alt as you can pick them up from other's casts.
If you really want to play with combos, S/D or S/F is the way to go, though this is massively underpowered nowerdays (It used to be my favourite build). In this, you concentrate on using lots of blast finishers in fire fields to get lots of might and fury to everyone. Lightning hammer can be swapped to after initial might stack for extra blasts and higher autoattack dps.
It's also worth playing with auramancy and deciding if you like it, but you can't do this til 80 as you need tempest. In this, you send heals to everyone by sharing auras. Good for harder fractals and raid healing on certain encounters.
Right now, however, I'm just looking for the best way to level my char. I'm only like 15 so I have a ways to go before I even start thinking about Tempest stuff.
I just want to have some fun, be efficient and (hopefully) not feel like all I do is stand there and spam the same spell over and over until something dies.
I just want to have some fun, be efficient and (hopefully) not feel like all I do is stand there and spam the same spell over and over until something dies.
Gonna be honest with you: Elementalist kind of does that while leveling up. You'll sometimes swap into other attunements, especially water, during open world events when you want to support a group but ele is just so efficient at burning things to death you don't have a complicated rotation dealing with the easy to kill base game open world enemies since almost everything dies after 2 lava fonts and the staff autoattacks between those 2 casts.
The interesting bits are more about how to survive with such light armor and the lowest health total (shared with Thief and Guardian but with less armor than either). You're pretty fragile so things get interesting when things don't die quickly but because of the limited range on boon sharing you'll want to be up close with melee players on group bosses if you can safely do so but you don't have anywhere near the variety in buttons to press you'll get when you unlock Tempest. That said, even if it's not strictly required when burning down mobs while leveling, I'd suggest learning to fight up close and using Burning Retreat as a dodge to better prepare you for the content more enthusiastic about killing you.
Is the Elementalist more of a solo target class? I have a few aoe spells, but how do I keep stuff off me? I figure I'm gonna solo my way to max level.
Nothing is really a solo target class in the game. Everyone gets to hit multiple targets with their melee autoattack chains on top of skills usually hitting multiple targets (or in the case of condi-necros being able to spread single target conditions to multiple targets)
Your staff autoattack in fire attunement bounces between multiple targets for pretty hefty damage. You mostly can deal with multiple enemies just by killing them quickly en masse.
If you do need to slow enemies, water staff has a skill than can chill enemies and earth has stuff that can lock down enemy movement as well. Lightning Hammer also has some knockback too. But you also can play keep away a bit with burning retreat on staff to put distance between you and an enemy while laying down fire to burn them if they beeline at you.
Ele is leveled by Meteor Storming everything, waiting until its on top of you and then teleporting away, casting Meteor Storm again, rinse repeat until map is dead, or your 80. Expansion leveling is more solo based due to one-hit fuck you's
Is the Elementalist more of a solo target class? I have a few aoe spells, but how do I keep stuff off me? I figure I'm gonna solo my way to max level.
Kite all the things! Learning to kite numerous mobs while dpsing them is something you end up learning quickly Fireball/Lava Font, swapping to water/earth if needed for heals and cripples ==> repeat Throw in blinds from air if you want some variety
So basically just go around and spam fire stuff till things die?
Seems kinda boring, but I guess I can manage. Guess I'll have to get another staff. I swapped mine for a dagger/focus.
When I get a bunch of ranged mobs on me (like archers) that don't really group up, is there a good way to make sure I don't immediately get destroyed (same for melee mobs that get all up in my grill because they have too much hp for me to burn down from afar)?
So basically just go around and spam fire stuff till things die?
Seems kinda boring, but I guess I can manage. Guess I'll have to get another staff. I swapped mine for a dagger/focus.
When I get a bunch of ranged mobs on me (like archers) that don't really group up, is there a good way to make sure I don't immediately get destroyed (same for melee mobs that get all up in my grill because they have too much hp for me to burn down from afar)?
Sorry for all the questions.
You should be able to burn down those melee mobs by continuing another set of AoE skills right on top of you and then dodging/evading what few attacks they can pull off before dying. Archers at your level also aren't much of an issue since your basic ranged attack is so much stronger than their attack even before you start adding in lava fonts.
So basically just go around and spam fire stuff till things die?
Seems kinda boring, but I guess I can manage. Guess I'll have to get another staff. I swapped mine for a dagger/focus.
When I get a bunch of ranged mobs on me (like archers) that don't really group up, is there a good way to make sure I don't immediately get destroyed (same for melee mobs that get all up in my grill because they have too much hp for me to burn down from afar)?
Sorry for all the questions.
Staff is the most faceroll way to play, but Dagger/Focus can be just as effective if you want something more involved, especially once you unlock Fresh Air. I'm kinda like Lea though, wished that Scepter was still good, because that's honestly the Ele weapon I enjoy the most.
For defense as Ele, Arcane Shield is a useful standby (There is a trait in Arcana that gives you a free casting of it when your health drops too low) Also Obsidian Flesh (Earth Focus 5) or Mist Form for oh shit buttons, as they both make you completely invulnerable. For ranged mobs, Earth Staff 3 gives you magnetic Aura, which reflects, and Air Focus 4 destroys projectiles for about 6s (Earth Focus 4 also has a reflect, but it's 3sec duration means you need a bit of timing to get the most use out of it). For tougher melee mobs that hit too hard for you to stand close, Air and Earth usually have one or two skills that cripple, immobilize, stun and/or push back enemies. "Always Fire or Air" is usually the ideal, in practice your going to be swapping to water and Earth fairly regularly to help survive, especially when on your own.
Once you've got the hang of it, lightning hammer will make grinding much quicker at the expense of you better be good at dodging.
Cool thanks.
Why Lightning Hammer over the fire summon?
Also, is crafting really worth it? I'm following a guide for tailoring, but I can already craft stuff I'm not capable of wearing due to being too low a level. I like that crafting awards xp but am I screwing myself by getting xp that way versus doing it in the world?
Either way, I need to get to 21 asap (currently 16) so I can get the conjurer trait to increase my weapon summon charges.
Once you've got the hang of it, lightning hammer will make grinding much quicker at the expense of you better be good at dodging.
Cool thanks.
Why Lightning Hammer over the fire summon?
Also, is crafting really worth it? I'm following a guide for tailoring, but I can already craft stuff I'm not capable of wearing due to being too low a level. I like that crafting awards xp but am I screwing myself by getting xp that way versus doing it in the world?
Either way, I need to get to 21 asap (currently 16) so I can get the conjurer trait to increase my weapon summon charges.
Lightning hammer packs a bigger punch and gives better CC. The fire axe is generally seen as inferior because of the range attack damage tax, and its overall damage output doesn't compete with just using your standard fire attunement skills. At least unless you need range, at which point frostbow is better for all intents and purposes anyways. It can create combo fields, but so do most fire ele weapons.
Crafting doesn't give enough gear to compensate for its price compared to finding the gear in the open world. If you craft, don't do it for that. The exp is worth looking at though, and if you're going without guides it can be fun to play the discovery game; otherwise head to whatever replaced gw2crafts.net as the best crafting speedguides from 0-400, and sort out which professions are cheapest to level (hint: check cooking and artificing). If you have the coinage, then each profession leveled from 0-400 will give you 8 levels.
EDIT: to be clear, the advice on crafting is an either or. Don't craft for its exp if you're planning on discovering recipes yourself, else you may blow a lot of cash that'd be better spent saving for when you hit higher levels. Suffice to say if it costs you more than a few gold, probably just give it a pass and sell those crafting mats instead.
Once you've got the hang of it, lightning hammer will make grinding much quicker at the expense of you better be good at dodging.
Cool thanks.
Why Lightning Hammer over the fire summon?
Also, is crafting really worth it? I'm following a guide for tailoring, but I can already craft stuff I'm not capable of wearing due to being too low a level. I like that crafting awards xp but am I screwing myself by getting xp that way versus doing it in the world?
Either way, I need to get to 21 asap (currently 16) so I can get the conjurer trait to increase my weapon summon charges.
You're not really missing out on anything by getting crafting exp due to the way scaling works in the world. But definitely don't do it as a way to level.
It can be well worth it as it makes getting the highest tier armor and weapons a lot easier than other methods. Note that you don't NEED those things to do most of the content in the game effectively but having a consistent method of acquisition is good if you decide you really like high level fractal runs.
Ok, so I got Lightning Hammer last night and it's pretty badass.
I got 100% completion on the first human zone (Queensdale?) which awarded me gear I couldn't use. Go figure.
I'm a completionist, so I think this game is going to kill me.
Absolutely wrong. Thats the backwards way of thinking about it. GW2 is so wonderful because it allows you to be a completionist but in so many different aspects and with so many different options. You can complete the world map, complete outfits, complete different objectives. The most amazing thing is that ALL of it will contribute to maxing out your character. Getting crafting experience levels your character, getting experience from exploring levels your character. And once you're 80 and capped out, with exotic (at least gear) there is absolutely nothing to stop you from doing this.
Everything you want to complete in this game is available to you within minutes to days of hitting max level. You want to start working on the story and getting achievements in there? Nothing stopping you but the effort, once you've got the basic gear at 80. You want to get more hero points, progress your character? Nothing stopping you. You want to start doing dungeons and working towards completing that specific outfit you want? Nothing stopping you.
Thats why I feel even using the instant 80 isnt a huge detriment on a first character. Getting to 80 is great, and fun, but it is literally just the key that unlocks the ability to do whatever else you want. I love helping people, because it gives me more objectives to work for.
If you get off on Completing objectives that you set for yourself? You have a shitton of time and things to do ahead of you.
CorriganX on
CorriganX on Steam and just about everywhere else.
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mojojoeoA block off the park, living the dream.Registered Userregular
lore nerds - arent humans an endangered species in this world? cant recall.
They are, but I think the whole reason they're endangered is BECAUSE their cities tend to get blown up a lot. Like that's the Human's thing apparently, people love blowing up their stuff.
They're blowing up a city that ISN'T Lion's Arch for once! Woo!
playing the busting up a city card again.
lore nerds - arent humans an endangered species in this world? cant recall.
They are definitely the race on the decline, at least in Tyria.
Very beginning of Prophecies, (like, the time of the tutorial area) was pretty much humanity's zenith. Then you have the Searing, the sinking of Orr, the White Mantle, Shiro in Cantha, Abaddon, Destroyers... and that's just the terrible shit that happened in GW1.
Between the two games, Lion's Arch, then Kryta's capital, was destroyed for the first time by Zaitan awakening, Adelbern set off the Foefire, destroying what was left of human Ascalon save Ebonhawk, Elona was conquered by Palawa Joko (who you freed to fight Abaddon in Nightfall. Nice work) Cantha might still be off alright, but the last news before sea travel became impossible was they're under the thumb of the xenophobic Ministry of Purity and have no interest in dealing with the outside world.
Also, FA's kicking ass in WvW Mojojeo, you should hop on and relieve some of the good ol' days.
They're blowing up a city that ISN'T Lion's Arch for once! Woo!
playing the busting up a city card again.
lore nerds - arent humans an endangered species in this world? cant recall.
They are definitely the race on the decline, at least in Tyria.
Very beginning of Prophecies, (like, the time of the tutorial area) was pretty much humanity's zenith. Then you have the Searing, the sinking of Orr, the White Mantle, Shiro in Cantha, Abaddon, Destroyers... and that's just the terrible shit that happened in GW1.
Between the two games, Lion's Arch, then Kryta's capital, was destroyed for the first time by Zaitan awakening, Adelbern set off the Foefire, destroying what was left of human Ascalon save Ebonhawk, Elona was conquered by Palawa Joko (who you freed to fight Abaddon in Nightfall. Nice work) Cantha might still be off alright, but the last news before sea travel became impossible was they're under the thumb of the xenophobic Ministry of Purity and have no interest in dealing with the outside world.
Also, FA's kicking ass in WvW Mojojeo, you should hop on and relieve some of the good ol' days.
Hmm. Is there a lore/history page somewhere I can read that details the story (GW1 + GW2, preferably)? I don't know much about the storyline as I came into GW2 late, but I love reading about that kind of stuff and knowing who the main players are.
Once you've got the hang of it, lightning hammer will make grinding much quicker at the expense of you better be good at dodging.
Cool thanks.
Why Lightning Hammer over the fire summon?
Also, is crafting really worth it? I'm following a guide for tailoring, but I can already craft stuff I'm not capable of wearing due to being too low a level. I like that crafting awards xp but am I screwing myself by getting xp that way versus doing it in the world?
Either way, I need to get to 21 asap (currently 16) so I can get the conjurer trait to increase my weapon summon charges.
Lightning hammer packs a bigger punch and gives better CC. The fire axe is generally seen as inferior because of the range attack damage tax, and its overall damage output doesn't compete with just using your standard fire attunement skills. At least unless you need range, at which point frostbow is better for all intents and purposes anyways. It can create combo fields, but so do most fire ele weapons.
Crafting doesn't give enough gear to compensate for its price compared to finding the gear in the open world. If you craft, don't do it for that. The exp is worth looking at though, and if you're going without guides it can be fun to play the discovery game; otherwise head to whatever replaced gw2crafts.net as the best crafting speedguides from 0-400, and sort out which professions are cheapest to level (hint: check cooking and artificing). If you have the coinage, then each profession leveled from 0-400 will give you 8 levels.
EDIT: to be clear, the advice on crafting is an either or. Don't craft for its exp if you're planning on discovering recipes yourself, else you may blow a lot of cash that'd be better spent saving for when you hit higher levels. Suffice to say if it costs you more than a few gold, probably just give it a pass and sell those crafting mats instead.
Crafting has been basically useless in most mmos I've played. Unfortunate that gw2 is the same.
DarkMecha on
Steam Profile | My Art | NID: DarkMecha (SW-4787-9571-8977) | PSN: DarkMecha
Don't know about one big page, but I can do a race-by-race synopsis:
Humans:
Humanity is non-native to Tyria. While that definitely means Tyria the continent, i.e. the locations of GW2 (They originally hail from the west Cantha, i.e. fantasy Asia with also some Eastern Europe and Greek cultures) there is strong, all-but-saying-it suggestions that they are not from Tyria the planet either; earliest humans in Cantha came from... someplace else, and their lore says that their gods either created or brought them to Tyria, and several ancient races, like the dwarves and jotun, have relics that predate humanity anywhere, so it can't be create. At one point they ruled pretty much all of the Tyria you can play in now, save the Shiverpeaks (belonged to the Dwarves to the south, norn to the north) Ascalon north of the Wall (Charr territory, though there are/were several human settlements that were founded (and lost) there either before the start of GW1 or after the Searing) and most places west and south of Brisban (claimed by centaurs or uninhabited until the asura showed up)
And then everything went to shit. at the start of GW1 Prophecies, Ascalon was a pretty nice place to live, ruled by King Adelbern (a hero of the last titular Guild War, and the closest you ever get to them) and Prince Ruik, and the first line of defense against the Charr, held to the north by the Wall. Kryta was ruled by it's king, and Orr was still around. Your character is one of the latest to join Ruik's elite force, and by luck does so on what happens to be the day of The Searing, when the Charr use a Cauldron of Cataclysm to summon flaming blue crystal meteors to destroy the Wall, turn Ascalon into a charred wasteland and open a way to invade human lands. After the timejump at the end of the tutorial, Ascalon is fighting a losing war, and Orr had sunk while it was invaded by the charr. Kryta managed to fight off it's charr invasion, but was now ruled by the White Mantle, who took over when Kryta's king fled. While starting out as nice guys, you find out that they've been sacrificing people on a Bloodstone (ancient magic-trapping artifact that can be used to trap the souls of those killed on it) and that they're gods, the "Unseen Ones" are a race of beings called the Mursaat, who are using the White Mantle to save their own skin from a doom portended in the Flameseeker Prophecies. By the end of the campaign, the Mursaat are all but wiped out (with one notable exception...) and the Shining Blade drive out the White Mantle and place the former king's last heir, Salma, to the throne in some added EotN content meant to bridge the gap between GW1 and GW2. Unfortunatly, that's about all the better it got; couple of decades after GW1, Elder Dragons start waking up, and when Zhatain awakes, he raised Orr from the depths, causing a tsunami that destroys Lion's Arch, which would eventually be reclaimed by prirates of all races. Adelbern, about to lose everything and mad with grief about his son dying during Prophecies, uses his magical flaming sword to unleash the Foefire, a cataclysm that killed thousands of charr and humans, turning the later into ghosts that are cursed to eternally defend Ascalon from any living person. At the start of GW2, Kryta, now centered at Divinity's Reach, is fighting a hard war against the centaurs, and dealing with bandits and interal political infighting between the queen, Jennah, and the ministry lead by Legate Minister Caudecous, and you find pretty strong hints during Human personal story missions (confirmed in the latest LW story) that all of these are connected, knowingly or not, but some other force...
Humans worship the Six Gods; Dwayna, goddess healing, Balthazar, God of Fire and War, Grenth, God of Ice, Death and Necromancy, Lyssa, the twin goddess of beauty and illusion, Milandru, the goddess of earth and Nature, and Kormir, the once-human, now goddess of knowledge and truth.
Charr:
Charr are the race on the ascendant. Massive bipedal horned cat people, they originally controlled all of Ascalon until humans showed up from Orr. Fighting between the two races pretty much started five seconds after they first met, and might have gone against humans if not for two things, one, the magic of the humans, which they believe was given to them by their gods, and two, the ultimate leader and original unifier of the charr, the Khan-Ur, wasn't murdered (by whom, noone knows) and the charr legions devolved into infighting trying to figure out who should take his place. Eventually, after losing pretty much all of modern Ascalon, they decided that the problem was that they had no gods of their own, and eventually found the Titans, who among other things, gave the the Cauldron of Cataclysm used in the Searing.
When the events of Prophecies and Nightfall ended, and the charr learned that their gods were not only fallible, but the minions of a long-forgotten human god, they... did not take it very well. A charr by the name of Pyre Firceshot (who is a companion in the Eye of the North campaign) eventually starts a rebellion that overthrows the shamans of the then-ruling Flame Legion, kills off the remaining titans, and begins and industrial revolution that brings equal rights to male and female charr to boot (seriously, females were told to stay in the kitchen because battle was too good for them when one questioned whether they should be worshiping the titans) Right now, it's peace between Humans and the Charr, with a final treaty between the remnants of human Ascalon at Ebonhawke and the charr of the Iron Legion being hammered out (for the last four years...) because the elder dragons are awake, and now is not the time to bicker about who killed who.
Asura:
Most technologicaly advance race, the Asura once lived underground in massive cities called Ratas connected by warp gates. Then the minions of the Elder Dragon Primordous started to wake up and drove the Asura out of their homes and onto the surface. Eventually they settled in Rata Sum, and decided in a world where everything was at least twice as big as you, the best way to survive in this bright new world is to be indispensable, creating and maintaining the warp gates between each of the capitals, offering their assistance in pursuits that interest them (no asura can resist the urge to show off how smart they are) because hey, if society can't function without you, doesn't that mean you control society?
Norn:
The giantkin race of the Shiverpeaks, they're appearce as massive 7-8ft tall humans is said to be a quirk of evolution, as they have no common ancestor, plus humans can't shapeshift into animal forms. They love fighting, boasting about their victories and fighting, and worship the Spirits of the Wild, totems spirits of the many animals of Tyria. They used to live much farther north, but the awakening of Jormag force them down south to where the dwarves once lived, before they all turned to living stone to fight a final battle against Primodous.
Sylvari:
The youngest race in Tyria. All sylvari are born from the Pale Tree, a city-sized tree in the Maguma jungle planted during the time of GW1. They come from the Tree's pods, fully grown and aware as adults. All sylvari are aware of the Dream, a sort of collective subconscious that they all experience before Awakening into the normal world, which is why even though your sylvari character is, if you made them day 1 on launch, about five years old (with the oldest sylvari, the Firstborn in their mid-to-late twenties) they can function as an adult. Apparently immune to dragon corruption, they... well, last parts of Living World Season 2 and Heart of Thorns goes into pretty good detail about the true origins of the Pale Tree and the sylvari, and that might be spoilers for you if I say it now.
Hmm. Is there a lore/history page somewhere I can read that details the story (GW1 + GW2, preferably)? I don't know much about the storyline as I came into GW2 late, but I love reading about that kind of stuff and knowing who the main players are.
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Most video game holiday celebrations are pretty divorced from cultural context really. There's not really an explanation of Christmas during Wintersday or Halloween during Mad King. And absolutely no context when WoW did 4th of July events either.
Anyone of Asian descent that has family at all familiar with the occasion has all the context they need really and related in game events can be read as really being a nod to them/us (I have no idea what pronouns to use when I'm part of the demographic I've been referring to in third person) and that's enough to enjoy it. They/we/whatever don't necessarily require it also be educational for people not familiar with it.
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I'ts kind of like a few people are always on, but not alot on at once usually from what I've seen.
I am around daily though not while I'm at PAAAAAAAX
I am currently playing Elder Scrolls Online, but if you want to do something specific I can hop on
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
My current character is an Elementalist and I'm having problems wrapping my head around changing attunements and rotations.
Is there a guide out there somewhere that goes into some detail on how to properly do rotations and combos and such? I really want to like this game, but the combat is so different from what I'm used to and I feel stupid for not getting it.
First of all, it's worth noting that you normally don't need to be swapping your weapons/attunements as soon as all your skills are on cooldown. Pretty much only Engineers have to do that (Mesmers too I think, but I only sorta know how they play at raids and fractals, so can't be 100% sure of that. Ele too I think depending on your specific build), and even then if you are doing something like T4 fractals or raids where you need to get every bit of dps or support you can get. Generally speaking, most content, even dem fractals, having you mainly using 1 weapon, swapping to the other for either 1-2 skills or in situations where the first one simply won't do (like a ranged or AoE focused weapon)
As for elementalist itself, @Leandriell knows way more than I do, but a simple rotation I know of that works for most PvE content is Staff, just stick to Fire and use 2 and 5 (and sometimes 3) as soon as they're off cooldown. Don't need to swap attunements unless you need something specific (like Water's healing or Air's hard CC) or because you're using Glyph of Storms, IIRC the Air version of that is considered the best.
A few classes swap weapons as a part of their rotation but for many it's situational. For example, condi-necro swaps its offhand to warhorn if it needs CC beyond what Reaper form provides but otherwise sticks with offhand dagger.
For elementalist, a rough rule is that earth is used for CC and defensive stuff when you need more than what you'd get out of other attunements, water is healing and support, while fire and air are damage. When you spend time in each depends on what weapon you're using.
Without Tempest unlocked, you're likely looking at a staff build along the lines of this: http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Elementalist_-_Staff
As the rotation guide says, you mostly stick in fire attunement after the initial opening and only switch if something requires stuff besides damage.
With Tempest unlocked, dagger/warhorn becomes a stronger option against things not big enough to eat multiple hits from meteor storm
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Tempest_-_Fresh_Air_DPS
This time you mostly stick with air outside of quick breaks to go into Fire to get a crit with a few big abilities to refresh air.
If fighting huge mobs or stuff that has phases you can't safely melee, staff Tempest becomes preferred:
http://metabattle.com/wiki/Build:Tempest_-_Staff_DPS
Not much difference in skill use compared to the non-Tempest staff, just different talents and the overloads thrown in.
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https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
While levelling, have a play with Ice Bow and Lightning Hammer - they're useful in lots of niches, and if they're suddenly new to you at 80 you will get confused! Also worth knowing even on an alt as you can pick them up from other's casts.
If you really want to play with combos, S/D or S/F is the way to go, though this is massively underpowered nowerdays
It's also worth playing with auramancy and deciding if you like it, but you can't do this til 80 as you need tempest. In this, you send heals to everyone by sharing auras. Good for harder fractals and raid healing on certain encounters.
They're blowing up a city that ISN'T Lion's Arch for once! Woo!
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
Cool, thanks! (You too @Steel Angel )
Right now, however, I'm just looking for the best way to level my char. I'm only like 15 so I have a ways to go before I even start thinking about Tempest stuff.
I just want to have some fun, be efficient and (hopefully) not feel like all I do is stand there and spam the same spell over and over until something dies.
Gonna be honest with you: Elementalist kind of does that while leveling up. You'll sometimes swap into other attunements, especially water, during open world events when you want to support a group but ele is just so efficient at burning things to death you don't have a complicated rotation dealing with the easy to kill base game open world enemies since almost everything dies after 2 lava fonts and the staff autoattacks between those 2 casts.
The interesting bits are more about how to survive with such light armor and the lowest health total (shared with Thief and Guardian but with less armor than either). You're pretty fragile so things get interesting when things don't die quickly but because of the limited range on boon sharing you'll want to be up close with melee players on group bosses if you can safely do so but you don't have anywhere near the variety in buttons to press you'll get when you unlock Tempest. That said, even if it's not strictly required when burning down mobs while leveling, I'd suggest learning to fight up close and using Burning Retreat as a dodge to better prepare you for the content more enthusiastic about killing you.
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Nothing is really a solo target class in the game. Everyone gets to hit multiple targets with their melee autoattack chains on top of skills usually hitting multiple targets (or in the case of condi-necros being able to spread single target conditions to multiple targets)
Your staff autoattack in fire attunement bounces between multiple targets for pretty hefty damage. You mostly can deal with multiple enemies just by killing them quickly en masse.
If you do need to slow enemies, water staff has a skill than can chill enemies and earth has stuff that can lock down enemy movement as well. Lightning Hammer also has some knockback too. But you also can play keep away a bit with burning retreat on staff to put distance between you and an enemy while laying down fire to burn them if they beeline at you.
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Kite all the things! Learning to kite numerous mobs while dpsing them is something you end up learning quickly
Seems kinda boring, but I guess I can manage. Guess I'll have to get another staff. I swapped mine for a dagger/focus.
When I get a bunch of ranged mobs on me (like archers) that don't really group up, is there a good way to make sure I don't immediately get destroyed (same for melee mobs that get all up in my grill because they have too much hp for me to burn down from afar)?
Sorry for all the questions.
You should be able to burn down those melee mobs by continuing another set of AoE skills right on top of you and then dodging/evading what few attacks they can pull off before dying. Archers at your level also aren't much of an issue since your basic ranged attack is so much stronger than their attack even before you start adding in lava fonts.
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Staff is the most faceroll way to play, but Dagger/Focus can be just as effective if you want something more involved, especially once you unlock Fresh Air. I'm kinda like Lea though, wished that Scepter was still good, because that's honestly the Ele weapon I enjoy the most.
For defense as Ele, Arcane Shield is a useful standby (There is a trait in Arcana that gives you a free casting of it when your health drops too low) Also Obsidian Flesh (Earth Focus 5) or Mist Form for oh shit buttons, as they both make you completely invulnerable. For ranged mobs, Earth Staff 3 gives you magnetic Aura, which reflects, and Air Focus 4 destroys projectiles for about 6s (Earth Focus 4 also has a reflect, but it's 3sec duration means you need a bit of timing to get the most use out of it). For tougher melee mobs that hit too hard for you to stand close, Air and Earth usually have one or two skills that cripple, immobilize, stun and/or push back enemies. "Always Fire or Air" is usually the ideal, in practice your going to be swapping to water and Earth fairly regularly to help survive, especially when on your own.
Yep. Just get Lightning Hammer, the trait to increase the charges on summoned weapons and then auto-attack for the rest of the game.
The blind on attack 3 of your auto-chain is pretty much perfectly timed with most enemy attack patterns.
Cool, I'll keep buying them daily - although I think I'm currently a few days behind, so I'll be adding a bunch later today.
Cool thanks.
Why Lightning Hammer over the fire summon?
Also, is crafting really worth it? I'm following a guide for tailoring, but I can already craft stuff I'm not capable of wearing due to being too low a level. I like that crafting awards xp but am I screwing myself by getting xp that way versus doing it in the world?
Either way, I need to get to 21 asap (currently 16) so I can get the conjurer trait to increase my weapon summon charges.
Lightning hammer packs a bigger punch and gives better CC. The fire axe is generally seen as inferior because of the range attack damage tax, and its overall damage output doesn't compete with just using your standard fire attunement skills. At least unless you need range, at which point frostbow is better for all intents and purposes anyways. It can create combo fields, but so do most fire ele weapons.
Crafting doesn't give enough gear to compensate for its price compared to finding the gear in the open world. If you craft, don't do it for that. The exp is worth looking at though, and if you're going without guides it can be fun to play the discovery game; otherwise head to whatever replaced gw2crafts.net as the best crafting speedguides from 0-400, and sort out which professions are cheapest to level (hint: check cooking and artificing). If you have the coinage, then each profession leveled from 0-400 will give you 8 levels.
EDIT: to be clear, the advice on crafting is an either or. Don't craft for its exp if you're planning on discovering recipes yourself, else you may blow a lot of cash that'd be better spent saving for when you hit higher levels. Suffice to say if it costs you more than a few gold, probably just give it a pass and sell those crafting mats instead.
It can be well worth it as it makes getting the highest tier armor and weapons a lot easier than other methods. Note that you don't NEED those things to do most of the content in the game effectively but having a consistent method of acquisition is good if you decide you really like high level fractal runs.
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I got 100% completion on the first human zone (Queensdale?) which awarded me gear I couldn't use. Go figure.
I'm a completionist, so I think this game is going to kill me.
Absolutely wrong. Thats the backwards way of thinking about it. GW2 is so wonderful because it allows you to be a completionist but in so many different aspects and with so many different options. You can complete the world map, complete outfits, complete different objectives. The most amazing thing is that ALL of it will contribute to maxing out your character. Getting crafting experience levels your character, getting experience from exploring levels your character. And once you're 80 and capped out, with exotic (at least gear) there is absolutely nothing to stop you from doing this.
Everything you want to complete in this game is available to you within minutes to days of hitting max level. You want to start working on the story and getting achievements in there? Nothing stopping you but the effort, once you've got the basic gear at 80. You want to get more hero points, progress your character? Nothing stopping you. You want to start doing dungeons and working towards completing that specific outfit you want? Nothing stopping you.
Thats why I feel even using the instant 80 isnt a huge detriment on a first character. Getting to 80 is great, and fun, but it is literally just the key that unlocks the ability to do whatever else you want. I love helping people, because it gives me more objectives to work for.
If you get off on Completing objectives that you set for yourself? You have a shitton of time and things to do ahead of you.
CorriganX on Steam and just about everywhere else.
playing the busting up a city card again.
lore nerds - arent humans an endangered species in this world? cant recall.
They are, but I think the whole reason they're endangered is BECAUSE their cities tend to get blown up a lot. Like that's the Human's thing apparently, people love blowing up their stuff.
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/
They are definitely the race on the decline, at least in Tyria.
Very beginning of Prophecies, (like, the time of the tutorial area) was pretty much humanity's zenith. Then you have the Searing, the sinking of Orr, the White Mantle, Shiro in Cantha, Abaddon, Destroyers... and that's just the terrible shit that happened in GW1.
Between the two games, Lion's Arch, then Kryta's capital, was destroyed for the first time by Zaitan awakening, Adelbern set off the Foefire, destroying what was left of human Ascalon save Ebonhawk, Elona was conquered by Palawa Joko (who you freed to fight Abaddon in Nightfall. Nice work) Cantha might still be off alright, but the last news before sea travel became impossible was they're under the thumb of the xenophobic Ministry of Purity and have no interest in dealing with the outside world.
Also, FA's kicking ass in WvW Mojojeo, you should hop on and relieve some of the good ol' days.
Hmm. Is there a lore/history page somewhere I can read that details the story (GW1 + GW2, preferably)? I don't know much about the storyline as I came into GW2 late, but I love reading about that kind of stuff and knowing who the main players are.
Crafting has been basically useless in most mmos I've played. Unfortunate that gw2 is the same.
Humans:
Humanity is non-native to Tyria. While that definitely means Tyria the continent, i.e. the locations of GW2 (They originally hail from the west Cantha, i.e. fantasy Asia with also some Eastern Europe and Greek cultures) there is strong, all-but-saying-it suggestions that they are not from Tyria the planet either; earliest humans in Cantha came from... someplace else, and their lore says that their gods either created or brought them to Tyria, and several ancient races, like the dwarves and jotun, have relics that predate humanity anywhere, so it can't be create. At one point they ruled pretty much all of the Tyria you can play in now, save the Shiverpeaks (belonged to the Dwarves to the south, norn to the north) Ascalon north of the Wall (Charr territory, though there are/were several human settlements that were founded (and lost) there either before the start of GW1 or after the Searing) and most places west and south of Brisban (claimed by centaurs or uninhabited until the asura showed up)
And then everything went to shit. at the start of GW1 Prophecies, Ascalon was a pretty nice place to live, ruled by King Adelbern (a hero of the last titular Guild War, and the closest you ever get to them) and Prince Ruik, and the first line of defense against the Charr, held to the north by the Wall. Kryta was ruled by it's king, and Orr was still around. Your character is one of the latest to join Ruik's elite force, and by luck does so on what happens to be the day of The Searing, when the Charr use a Cauldron of Cataclysm to summon flaming blue crystal meteors to destroy the Wall, turn Ascalon into a charred wasteland and open a way to invade human lands. After the timejump at the end of the tutorial, Ascalon is fighting a losing war, and Orr had sunk while it was invaded by the charr. Kryta managed to fight off it's charr invasion, but was now ruled by the White Mantle, who took over when Kryta's king fled. While starting out as nice guys, you find out that they've been sacrificing people on a Bloodstone (ancient magic-trapping artifact that can be used to trap the souls of those killed on it) and that they're gods, the "Unseen Ones" are a race of beings called the Mursaat, who are using the White Mantle to save their own skin from a doom portended in the Flameseeker Prophecies. By the end of the campaign, the Mursaat are all but wiped out (with one notable exception...) and the Shining Blade drive out the White Mantle and place the former king's last heir, Salma, to the throne in some added EotN content meant to bridge the gap between GW1 and GW2. Unfortunatly, that's about all the better it got; couple of decades after GW1, Elder Dragons start waking up, and when Zhatain awakes, he raised Orr from the depths, causing a tsunami that destroys Lion's Arch, which would eventually be reclaimed by prirates of all races. Adelbern, about to lose everything and mad with grief about his son dying during Prophecies, uses his magical flaming sword to unleash the Foefire, a cataclysm that killed thousands of charr and humans, turning the later into ghosts that are cursed to eternally defend Ascalon from any living person. At the start of GW2, Kryta, now centered at Divinity's Reach, is fighting a hard war against the centaurs, and dealing with bandits and interal political infighting between the queen, Jennah, and the ministry lead by Legate Minister Caudecous, and you find pretty strong hints during Human personal story missions (confirmed in the latest LW story) that all of these are connected, knowingly or not, but some other force...
Humans worship the Six Gods; Dwayna, goddess healing, Balthazar, God of Fire and War, Grenth, God of Ice, Death and Necromancy, Lyssa, the twin goddess of beauty and illusion, Milandru, the goddess of earth and Nature, and Kormir, the once-human, now goddess of knowledge and truth.
Charr:
Charr are the race on the ascendant. Massive bipedal horned cat people, they originally controlled all of Ascalon until humans showed up from Orr. Fighting between the two races pretty much started five seconds after they first met, and might have gone against humans if not for two things, one, the magic of the humans, which they believe was given to them by their gods, and two, the ultimate leader and original unifier of the charr, the Khan-Ur, wasn't murdered (by whom, noone knows) and the charr legions devolved into infighting trying to figure out who should take his place. Eventually, after losing pretty much all of modern Ascalon, they decided that the problem was that they had no gods of their own, and eventually found the Titans, who among other things, gave the the Cauldron of Cataclysm used in the Searing.
When the events of Prophecies and Nightfall ended, and the charr learned that their gods were not only fallible, but the minions of a long-forgotten human god, they... did not take it very well. A charr by the name of Pyre Firceshot (who is a companion in the Eye of the North campaign) eventually starts a rebellion that overthrows the shamans of the then-ruling Flame Legion, kills off the remaining titans, and begins and industrial revolution that brings equal rights to male and female charr to boot (seriously, females were told to stay in the kitchen because battle was too good for them when one questioned whether they should be worshiping the titans) Right now, it's peace between Humans and the Charr, with a final treaty between the remnants of human Ascalon at Ebonhawke and the charr of the Iron Legion being hammered out (for the last four years...) because the elder dragons are awake, and now is not the time to bicker about who killed who.
Asura:
Most technologicaly advance race, the Asura once lived underground in massive cities called Ratas connected by warp gates. Then the minions of the Elder Dragon Primordous started to wake up and drove the Asura out of their homes and onto the surface. Eventually they settled in Rata Sum, and decided in a world where everything was at least twice as big as you, the best way to survive in this bright new world is to be indispensable, creating and maintaining the warp gates between each of the capitals, offering their assistance in pursuits that interest them (no asura can resist the urge to show off how smart they are) because hey, if society can't function without you, doesn't that mean you control society?
Norn:
The giantkin race of the Shiverpeaks, they're appearce as massive 7-8ft tall humans is said to be a quirk of evolution, as they have no common ancestor, plus humans can't shapeshift into animal forms. They love fighting, boasting about their victories and fighting, and worship the Spirits of the Wild, totems spirits of the many animals of Tyria. They used to live much farther north, but the awakening of Jormag force them down south to where the dwarves once lived, before they all turned to living stone to fight a final battle against Primodous.
Sylvari:
The youngest race in Tyria. All sylvari are born from the Pale Tree, a city-sized tree in the Maguma jungle planted during the time of GW1. They come from the Tree's pods, fully grown and aware as adults. All sylvari are aware of the Dream, a sort of collective subconscious that they all experience before Awakening into the normal world, which is why even though your sylvari character is, if you made them day 1 on launch, about five years old (with the oldest sylvari, the Firstborn in their mid-to-late twenties) they can function as an adult. Apparently immune to dragon corruption, they... well, last parts of Living World Season 2 and Heart of Thorns goes into pretty good detail about the true origins of the Pale Tree and the sylvari, and that might be spoilers for you if I say it now.
Yes!
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/The_Movement_of_the_World
This mostly covers the time BETWEEN GW1 and GW2, but it still covers a lot. I will try to find something that has more GW1 infos.
*edit*
Here's a timeline of GW1 events:
https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Timeline
And GW2 events:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Timeline
For both of those, start from the bottom and work your way UP.
Oh. Okay wow yes. Here is the Lore page:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Lore
That should cover... most things.
https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Lore
https://wiki.guildwars.com/wiki/Storyline
https://podcast.tidalwavegames.com/