Returning player; Any advice?

[Jce]

Greetings. I'm downloading a heap of patches as of right now, so I thought I'd ask some questions to the GW2 community. How's the game now? I can't really say how long I haven't played for, I'd say at least a year, maybe year and a half. I didn't really make it that far, maybe to about level 27 or around there so I have yet to grasp the full concept of the game. The reason I turned my back on the game in the first place is both due to WoW and the game itself. Some features of the game, like the whole "explore the whole map to level", kind of turned me off at the time. Since WoW is really the only MMO that I made it really far into, I've become accustomed to its play style and how things work within the game. I guess what I'm trying to ask is: how does GW2 work? I get that for leveling you explore a whole zone that's appropriate to your level until you're ready to move on, but past that I don't really know anything else. What else should I be doing? How do dungeons work? What is the first thing I do when I reach max level? What about crafting? How does gearing up work? There are so many things about this game that I want to know about, but I'm sure that some of you know that changing to a new MMO is confusing and, such as my case, turn you away from the game. Is there a site dedicated to all of the info I want to know?

Thanks for taking the time to read my half-wall of text, and thanks to anyone who can provide some clarification.

TL;DR: I know almost nothing about this game except how leveling works. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

[Karizee]

Welcome back~

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/wiki/newplayers

http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/wiki/guides

[Fencers]

The Guild Wars 2 wiki should be the first place you seek info.

The game itself is largely open ended; there are no goals except those you set yourself for the most part.

[Jce]

Good lord, you hit spot on. Practically a section for all of my questions. Thank you

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The Guild Wars 2 wiki should be the first place you seek info.

The game itself is largely open ended; there are no goals except those you set yourself for the most part.

I kind of had that idea, but I just don't really understand how things in the game itself work. Like crafting and gearing and such. Thanks for pushing me in the right direction.

[Deleted]

Funny enough last week they have made some changes to the leveling system. There is some discussion going on if it's good or not, but after leveling a while I must say it really helps leveling and makes it more enjoyable. They teach you about the game step by step. It may also give you answers to your questions like gearing up.

GW2 basically 'works' simply as 'you decide'. What I mean by that is that there are many many ways to level up, things to do etc etc. And it is up to you, how you would like to do it. You set the goals, not the game.

For your other questions I would suggest to join a guild. They can really help you with anything you need to know. There are also guilds around like the [NOOB] guild, who helps new players finding their way. I have heard they are really helpful.

Also Reddit has a great page with basic information, maybe this can help you as well: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/w...turningplayers
Or this page, which is basically for new players, but it may have some answers you are looking for: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/wiki/newplayers

Welcome back and good luck.

[lawow74]

Keep an eye out on release dates for the new Living Story chapters. They're no longer temporary releases, it's all permanent. If you login during its release window, it's unlocked for free. Ones you've missed(like the four chapters we've seen so far of Season Two)can be bought in the Gem Store for 200 Gems each. So if you wanted to catch up on all of them, that would be 800 Gems. If you're leery of spending RL cash for that($10 worth of gems would get them), save up enough gold to buy the first one and try it(an easy way to do this is to complete your Daily category each day and spend your Laurel on a Heavy Crafting Bag, open it and sell the mats you get on the TP. Completing the Monthly awards 10 Laurels). If you like it, get the others.

To catch up on everything that happened in Season One, you really wanna read this.

[Gray_Matter]

As someone who used to play WOW, one of the biggest differences is the way goals are set. GW2 gives the articifical goal of getting to 80 (which shouldn't even be there in the first place, IMHO) but that's it. There are a few minor goals along the way like the hearts, map completion and skill points. I don't think that's what the game is about, it's misleading. The game is all about you deciding what you want to do. You can start off with the getting to 80 or something like that but what I think you really need to do is try out the various things that are available (Dungeons, Fractals, Jumping puzzles, Personal Story, Living story, map completion, World bosses, collections, WvW, PVP, etc) and see what things you like to do and the set up some goals around those things. To seek out brave new worlds, to boldly go where.... Ok, I digress.

I have enjoyed the recent changes a bit more than I thought I would. Collections are nice and minis are now usable. I really like the new zone Dry Top although the LS2 stuff has slowed down a lot of late. I often find myself going through phases. WvW for a bit, then world boss train for a bit then exploring or alts or finding and doing some jumping puzzles. My advice is that you shouldn't let the game or anyone else dictate to you what you should be doing, do what you want to do,