Getting Back Into It

[Liyka]

Hello MMO Champers

Am looking to get back into playing Guild Wars 2 for a variety of reasons, but namely cause I'm bored, so I figured that I should ask a few questions about it first since I got a few on my mind but first some info on when I last played and why I stopped.

Last time I played Guild Wars 2 it was with a friend around the time Heart of Thorns launched and I played Guardian, mostly with a greatsword I believe it was called, which to me felt like somewhat of a poor choice since all their elite skills to the best of my knowledge were all or at-least seemed to be defensively based and just felt really lackluster in what they did.

The main reason I stopped playing my Guardian and thus the game itself is because the friend I was playing it with just stopped because of the grindy nature of Heart of Thorns but I want to get back into it since I love the story of the game, the atmosphere and have read two out of the three interlude books Ghosts of Ascalon and Edge of Destiny (have Sea of Sorrows as well I just haven't read it yet) to do with the game which I presume will help me grasp more of the lore, locations and so on.

I have tried like I said Sylvari Guardian with my friend, a Human Engineer and a Sylvari Elementalist which I think was my first char ever and the one I think I progressed and explored on the most.

The thing stopping me from playing it by myself is probably the mindset of that to really enjoy Guild Wars 2 I need to play it with a friend or just play it with someone I know which at this point is well no-one since I know no-one that has the game.

So with that somewhat long-ish intro out the way the questions finally:

1) Like I said I played Guardian with my friend but I dabbled a bit on an Engineer, who I didn't get out of the Human starting area, so what is Engineer like in terms of gameplay, enjoyability with their various kits and so on ?

2) If not an Engineer then what class would you people suggest to have a bash at for someone that hasn't played in a while ?

3) Again on my Guardian I bought a few things from the Gem Store like a few outfits and the parts of the Living Story that I missed out on from my various stoppages of the game. Would I need to buy the Living Story and outfits again at all or are they an account-wide unlock ?

4) This one might sound like a rather stupid question but with the mindset I described before I'd imagine it would be best for me to find a guild to enjoy the game with if I start playing it again or should I try the solo way for a while to see if I enjoy it enough to find a guild ?

Hmm I thought I'd have more questions than that but I don't since I guess those are the four biggest ones that I can think of right now.

So if any of the Guild Wars 2 players here can answer the questions then said answers would be appreciated a lot

[Rivellana]

1) I've actually just made my first engineer myself about a week or so ago and I've been having an absolute blast on it, but it's really subjective as far as fun is concerned. Some people like having a lot of different options they can swap to, some people would rather just have two weapon sets and do a ton of damage, etc. From what I gather from the official forums and in game, engineers aren't all that popular right now and I've seen far less of them lately than I used to. If you think you'd like it, I don't see the harm in trying it out and finding out for sure.

2) I'd suggest playing more on your elementalist if you like having a lot of options and doing a lot of damage. I have also had fun with druid ranger, and I think mesmers might be a good choice. I believe the "most wanted" classes in high end PvE right now are elementalists, druid rangers, and chronomancer mesmers. Other than that...maybe reaper necromancer?

3) They're account-wide unlocks if you've already purchased them once (both stories and outfits).

4) That's up to you, really. There are a lot of guilds recruiting, you'll see them often recruiting out in map chats, especially during/after large meta events. I play by myself a lot but I still have a few guilds I really enjoy being in if only to chat with guildies while I'm doing other things. You can get a lot done on meta maps with pugs if you use the LFG system efficiently for map hopping around meta times.

[Liyka]

Thanks for the info Rivelle you were quite thorough with your answer which I appreciate

The reason why I said about Engineer being one I'd like to make is cause I've always loved their idea for the class being able to make kits and use them to help people out and such and to obviously kill things, but also because the word Engineer to me says versatile in both move-set and gameplay not sure why though and cause of coming from WOW I always loved the Engineering profession on there being able to make things so an Engineer class on Guild Wars 2 surely has to be even better.

The thing with my Elementalist is that I didn't find her boring at all cause because of the combo of things you can do on one is just amazing but I think that's what also sort of put me off her at the same time simply cause there's just so much to that one class plus well I think if I wanted to go back onto my Elementalist and play her I'd probably end up making another Elementalist anyway to get to grips with how they work whilst leveling and such.

Ah yeah the unlocks I just went on and checked for myself and it does seem as if they are account-wide unlocks both the outfits and the bits in the Story Journal.

Believe it or not but my chars are apparently still in the same guild that I was last in over a year ago which kind of surprised me really since I thought they'd be guildless by now really. Seeing as both my Elementalist and Guardian are still in the same guild I think I'll try and stay in it since well I'm already in one so why leave unless it's not really that active anymore.

[LilSaihah]

Engineer is as you say it is; it's a very versatile class which can fill a lot of roles. There is one issue that I found with it; it's one of the slower starting classes as it needs utilities to get its kits to become interesting. However I'd definitely say it's one of the more fun classes.

If you want to play supporting then Engineer is a very good option once you get to the Scrapper elite spec. Scrappers can start summoning Gyros which can do a bunch of stuff. The first Gyro you get is a baseline ability; every 20 seconds you can send out a Gyro which either starts reviving a friendly downed player or stomping an enemy.

[Gray_Matter]

I play engineer as my main and I love it. I don't think it's very highly in demand for things like raiding but for regular play, I love the kits. For events where there are lots of people and mobs, I just whip out my flamethrower. There is nothing like the smell of Napalm in the GW2 morning

[StationaryHawk]

Believe it or not but my chars are apparently still in the same guild that I was last in over a year ago which kind of surprised me really since I thought they'd be guildless by now really. Seeing as both my Elementalist and Guardian are still in the same guild I think I'll try and stay in it since well I'm already in one so why leave unless it's not really that active anymore.

It's worth noting that guilds are account-wide, and you can be in multiple (I believe five?) at one time. The guild you choose to represent is character-specific, and as far as I can remember changes who you earn rewards for and whether you can participate in guild missions. You can still speak in the guild chat even if you're not representing that guild.

[PACOX]

It's worth noting that guilds are account-wide, and you can be in multiple (I believe five?) at one time. The guild you choose to represent is character-specific, and as far as I can remember changes who you earn rewards for and whether you can participate in guild missions. You can still speak in the guild chat even if you're not representing that guild.

Repping a particular guild only affects you earning guild mission credit and the use of certain stuff from/in guild halls.

[Deleted]

Last time I played Guild Wars 2 it was with a friend around the time Heart of Thorns launched and I played Guardian, mostly with a greatsword I believe it was called, which to me felt like somewhat of a poor choice since all their elite skills to the best of my knowledge were all or at-least seemed to be defensively based and just felt really lackluster in what they did.

Mostly yes; but there's always "Feel my Wrath!", an offensive shout buffing you and 4 others significantly for a shorter period of time. (+50% haste for 5s +20% crit for 10s)

[barackopala]

Mostly yes; but there's always "Feel my Wrath!", an offensive shout buffing you and 4 others significantly for a shorter period of time. (+50% haste for 5s +20% crit for 10s)

To futher put the point into perspective:
Yes feel my wrath is a good offensive elite skill BUT it does not shape the guardian into a pure dmg spec, if you wanna go raw big deeps spec you'd ideally want scepter-focus/hammer over GS, GS does have some nice burst but not much outside of it, some groups might want you to run the elite trap more than the shout if they have good quickness uptime (as in 2 chrono setup)

[Othraerir]

i've also thought about playing it again, will i have to get all the expansions (i only have the base paid version), and do they cost anything?

[Kazgrel]

i've also thought about playing it again, will i have to get all the expansions (i only have the base paid version), and do they cost anything?

Base game is free; you have to purchase Heart of Thorns, though. That's the only xpac for GW2 so far.

Unless they've changed it, purchasing HoT lets you upgrade a character to level 80 right out of the gate, if you choose to do so.