Dodge fail

[Fhi]

Any tips on how to learn dodging? I am so bad at dodging. I know that I'm supposed to look for some obvious "power-up" animation, but either I don't really see them (save for a few like ettin smash) amidst all the chaos, or they are so frequent I can't tell which one stands out. Every time I dodge, it's because it's been a few seconds since I dodged and I feel like I should dodge, but I have no idea why. I've been spending the last couple of days at the Mists area just dueling the NPCs there trying to improve.

This is for pve only - pvp is just going to demolish me if I don't learn to dodge.

[Valeron]

What profession are you using? Although it doesn't really matter for this. Use a ranged weapon and then find one of the big wurms to fight (the ones that spit rocks or whatever at you). Practice on that. It's a great way to learn how to dodge. Once you get the hang of it there then look for harder mobs to practice against.

Also have you rebound the dodge key? I bound mine to one of my mouse buttons, makes it a whole lot easier.

[Fencers]

I am fairly against a dedicated key for dodge. Double tap is ideal [if falling off ledges due to double tap, one is playing video games poorly]. As most dodging should be done as part of the normal flow of movement; circle strafing. One should never drive in an MMO with anything except the mouse either.

Once you figure out proper controls, there are only a handful of schemes which are respectable, the process of playing GW2 is almost exactly the same as any other 3rd person action game. Sans the trend of QTEs, grr.

Merely a matter of getting used to the pacing. GW2 uses hotkeys but isn't traditionally a hotkety based MMO. It is more in-line with ARPGs and games in classical Arcade style.

Just like... um, move.

[vian]

Double tap is ideal [if falling off ledges due to double tap, one is playing video games poorly].

Pure bullshit, I mean CRYSTAL clear.

[Kelesti]

Unlike Fencers, I am perfectly for a dedicated dodge key and permanently disable double-tap. My dodge key currently is bound to "Q", so it doesn't matter which direction I'm headed in, it's something I can push without more than shifting a finger but never even releasing the button.

Not releasing the button > releasing the button to doubletap, both in total movement speed, as well as activation time.


As far as when to Dodge? Learn a melee skillset on something that's not a warrior. Personal recommendation is sword Mesmer or dagger Necromancer. You'll learn a rythym with their abilities, and a feel for what sort of damage intake is okay and what damage isn't. Then you can start weaving defensives in to mitigate big hits, and when you run out of those, then dodge.

It becomes a learning excercise, both for your chosen profession and for the rythym of combat itself. I'd suggest doing combat first because once you have that, picking up a new profession is easy. (Just stay away from Warrior when learning. Far too easy to just kill stuff, yes, but that's counterproductive to learning ins/outs under these circumstances).

[Fhi]

I have a dedicated key - same key as the combat roll in Mass Effect. Double tap is just annoying for me. I "accidentally" dodged too many times, so I assigned a key to it. I can circle strafe, I'm actually pretty pro at circle strafing. It never occurred to me to do that though because of the way combat works in GW2. In WoW pvp, I'm that annoying one that jumps around like a bunny around casters. I should try that out.

And yeah, I play a warrior. My friends and I did our first dungeon, and none of them play melee, hence I picked warrior for diversity, plus I'm just a melee person. All of us are new, it was hilarious how many times we got wiped. Although we completed the dungeon successfully, I learnt quite a bit about playing in dungeons, and that's where I realized I (we all, really) need to learn to dodge. I'm going to try out a new class for that (thanks Kel!) because there is not much danger out in the open world for a warrior. Tried a mesmer once, didn't like how much I was dying, but it'd be a good lesson to pick up dodge skills.

[Vespian]

Double-tap is the bane of video-gaming. It's ridiculous, because it expects the player to have the exact same type of keyboard (not brand, but mechanical) as the ones used for internal testing. On cheap keyboards, double-tap is horrible, because the response times within the keyboard are too slow, or the double-tap doesn't properly register, or, or, etc.

There's no reason not to use a keybind for dodging, because it makes sure you actually dodge. About dodging itself, I've done a few PQ's where the entire, entire!, ground was covered with red, so I lowered my ears and put my tail between my legs. And died.

[Binaris]

Middle mouse key works very well for me on this. Fencers, just no. Please don't tell people they are bad because they don't play like you. It is uncalled for.

OP, for the most part, you are right, most of the telegraphs happen very often and dodging them all isn't going to happen. Practice is all you can really do here. But for the bright side, practice will come with leveling and normal gameplay. As you level up, if you haven't already, you will notice the same types of mobs through most of the zones, and they have the same types of attacks. You will learn which types of attacks are easier to dodge and will simply get better through the normal flow of leveling.

Secondly, dungeons hurt, especially if you are the only melee. Never be the only close thing to swing at. 4 ranged and 1 melee is a composition issue in which you will be the one getting rolled on while they are running at the ranged. The mobs will barely break stride.

Lastly, those big attacks where the whole ground is red, that is more about timing then anything else. Timing the dodge will really help. And good timing comes with practice and... well.... dieing.

Lesson

Practice practice practice. Practice what you should dodge and when you should dodge it simply by playing. Wvw npcs wont help you. Variety will.

Side note, warrior doesn't have much other than dodge. I leveled a warrior first and am currently working on a guardian. While less dps, I would recommend messing with one, I'm running sword focus/ greatsword for leveling, and managing aegis + blind + dodge is a very active way of mitigation I find really fun compared to the warrior.

[rhandric]

Another thing to keep in mind is that while you might be tempted to try to dodge everything, that's impractical and impossible. It's important to learn (mostly trial and error/experience) what abilities should be dodged, and which you should just suffer through (or strafe/kite and hope to avoid)

[Maarius]

yeah, a dedicated key is the only way dodging works for me.

It's not always easy to see the telegraphs. The thing it's very useful for is dodging over/out of the red rings. It works also pretty good as gap-closer for melee players or an escape-mechanic as well.

There are also certain traits for most professions which have a useful utility when dodging. The elementalist, for example, has evasive arcana which creates a attunement based spell effect (the earth one counts as blast finisher), very useful. The guardian has a heal on dodge which scales quite well with the +healing power stat and thieves can throw caltrops when dodging.

[Valeron]

biggest issue I've had with dodging in big events (like the temple events) is that I cannot see the tells (or telegraphs, whatever you want to call it) from the mob (such as the priests) due to all of the spell effects. I end up just going to range in those cases.

[Fencers]

Fencers, just no. Please don't tell people they are bad because they don't play like you. It is uncalled for.

One probably is though. Double tapping and falling off a ledge is a matter of control and precision. Or lack of.

If mistimed double tap dodging results in failure consistently from a goal, then that is poor play. Otherwise you would succeed, no?

[Lassy]

One probably is though. Double tapping and falling off a ledge is a matter of control and precision. Or lack of.

Nope.

You said it yourself. "As most dodging should be done as part of the normal flow of movement", you don't want to interrupt your movement to dodge. A dedicated key is the only way to go. You should not have to stop moving for a fraction of a section just to dodge, it can and should be part of your movement. Arguing FOR double tap is just silly. GW2 doesn't use a lot of keybinds, you have plenty of space available for a convenient bind.


For the OP: it's a learning process. Rome didn't learn to identify when to dodge in a day, don't get annoyed with yourself if you can't either.

[Binaris]

One probably is though. Double tapping and falling off a ledge is a matter of control and precision. Or lack of.

If mistimed double tap dodging results in failure consistently from a goal, then that is poor play. Otherwise you would succeed, no?

There are many valid ways to adjust for playstyle and allow better control and precision. Not just what Fencers likes. You are not better for using doubletap. You are not worse. The only bad player is one who do not use the tools to try and improve. You have brought nothing constructive to the conversation as your posts can be summed up by saying "learn to play like me"

[Fhi]

OP, for the most part, you are right, most of the telegraphs happen very often and dodging them all isn't going to happen. Practice is all you can really do here. But for the bright side, practice will come with leveling and normal gameplay. As you level up, if you haven't already, you will notice the same types of mobs through most of the zones, and they have the same types of attacks. You will learn which types of attacks are easier to dodge and will simply get better through the normal flow of leveling.

Another thing to keep in mind is that while you might be tempted to try to dodge everything, that's impractical and impossible. It's important to learn (mostly trial and error/experience) what abilities should be dodged, and which you should just suffer through (or strafe/kite and hope to avoid)

This does make me feel slightly better. So basically I just need to accept that dying to things is a way to learn to recognize what I should dodge out of, and what I should eat. I'm not used to dying so much and I take it as a personal failure - I tend to be competitive with myself.

Secondly, dungeons hurt, especially if you are the only melee. Never be the only close thing to swing at. 4 ranged and 1 melee is a composition issue in which you will be the one getting rolled on while they are running at the ranged. The mobs will barely break stride.

Can't really do much about it. They don't like playing melee, so it's up to me to be melee. We actually 4-manned it because none of us wanted to pug. Mobs don't necessarily beat on me first though, the aggro system is weird. I haven't figured out how the mobs decide who to chase. I'd say we all got chased equally, so it wasn't like I was the only one taking a beating. None of us are good at dodging yet, so every trash was a challenge until we figured out how to handle each pack. At least it wasn't just me always asking for a rez.

Thank you, really, for the wonderful tips so far.

[lanerios]

I am fairly against a dedicated key for dodge. Double tap is ideal [if falling off ledges due to double tap, one is playing video games poorly]. As most dodging should be done as part of the normal flow of movement; circle strafing. One should never drive in an MMO with anything except the mouse either.

Once you figure out proper controls, there are only a handful of schemes which are respectable, the process of playing GW2 is almost exactly the same as any other 3rd person action game. Sans the trend of QTEs, grr.

Merely a matter of getting used to the pacing. GW2 uses hotkeys but isn't traditionally a hotkety based MMO. It is more in-line with ARPGs and games in classical Arcade style.

Just like... um, move.

To summarise a mod here:

If you don't do it MY! way, you fail at the game..

I get that they are just fans of the game as well, but such blind arrogance is just pathetic to watch, and I expected more from mods here.

[Svifnymr]

Can't really do much about it. They don't like playing melee, so it's up to me to be melee.

Not really, there's no real "requirement" for melee. There's no minimum range either, so not like you can't be nose to nose with bad-guy and still fighting with your bow.

[rhandric]

This does make me feel slightly better. So basically I just need to accept that dying to things is a way to learn to recognize what I should dodge out of, and what I should eat. I'm not used to dying so much and I take it as a personal failure - I tend to be competitive with myself.

Can't really do much about it. They don't like playing melee, so it's up to me to be melee. We actually 4-manned it because none of us wanted to pug. Mobs don't necessarily beat on me first though, the aggro system is weird. I haven't figured out how the mobs decide who to chase. I'd say we all got chased equally, so it wasn't like I was the only one taking a beating. None of us are good at dodging yet, so every trash was a challenge until we figured out how to handle each pack. At least it wasn't just me always asking for a rez.

Thank you, really, for the wonderful tips so far.

When it comes to aggro, mobs tend to have different things that cause them to attack someone. Some go after low health, or low armor, or high damage, or proximity. There are probably other factors, and the weighting of factors differs from mob to mob, but this should at least give you some idea of what's going on.

[Svifnymr]

When it comes to aggro, mobs tend to have different things that cause them to attack someone. Some go after low health, or low armor, or high damage, or proximity. There are probably other factors, and the weighting of factors differs from mob to mob, but this should at least give you some idea of what's going on.

And the troll in Queensdale will only go after me, even after I'm dead and come back at the nearby waypoint, he still smells me.

[rhandric]

And the troll in Queensdale will only go after me, even after I'm dead and come back at the nearby waypoint, he still smells me.

Oh, that? That's him smelling your blood