Things i SHOULD know before buying this game.

[Maleborgia]

Hello GW2 Community

I've been thinking about buying this game for some time now and i've been reading up about it.

Most of the info i've collected is from beta and have been reading the forum posts for a while even tho most of them are whine posts :P

Anyways i'm an ex WOW player and have heard mostly positive things about gw2.

I don't expect it to be a perfect game.

Anyways here's some of the things i want to know:

Are there talent trees? i know u can change weapons to get new skills but are there actual talent trees to make myself tankier or more supporty? Is the respec free (even if i have to use ingame cash) or do i need to buy them with RL money (like in allods)

Are there any Cash only necessities or is the cash shop similar to the LoL model where the cash items are for looks only?

Are there any instanced dungeons or is it all open world?

Are there any rewards for doing a lot of pvp and pve even if its just for looks. (like 2200 weapons or High warlord title in wow)

Is there a point in completing all the quests in the world? a title or armor or something? even if its just for looks.

Do i need to create a new character to change classes or is there a class change system? Can i switch from guardian to necromancer on my leveled toon or do i need to start a new one from scratch?

Are there fun items like the savory deviate delight or non combat pets in wow?

Can i solo the entire game or is grouping obligatory for some parts?

Thanks in advance to anybody who gives me non troll answers. I'll keep looking around to see if i can answer some of these on my own.

[Rukh]

There's not talent trees. Each level you get some points to put in new skills and a list that works a bit like talents. It's not a tree, but you can increase one of 5 lists. Each of these lists gives bonus to a specific 2 stats and some passive skills at each level. So, there's a lot of customization, just no talent trees. You're not going to have an assassination thief or a subtlety thief, but each thief will probably pick a few different abilities.

There's nothing you need to buy from the cash shop. You can also get enough gold to make gems and buy some nice things like upgraded bank slots purely by in-game farming if you choose.

There are instanced dungeons. They generally each have multiple wings.

I haven't done a ton of pvp but from what I've heard, people feel the pvp rewards are somewhat lacking.

Completing the world gets you a star by your name and you get loot for each zone you complete.

You would create a new character for different classes. You cannot change a character's class. However, the game really has been set up for people to try different characters.

There are fun items. You should have seen all the halloween costumes.

You can solo most of the level range. You will want groups mainly for dungeons. You will do things with other people all the time without grouping though. Just run up to events and there's probably going to be other people there. Moreso at higher levels than mid, but generally a couple people still show up sooner or later at mid levels.

[Aceda]

Are there talent trees? i know u can change weapons to get new skills but are there actual talent trees to make myself tankier or more supporty? Is the respec free (even if i have to use ingame cash) or do i need to buy them with RL money (like in allods)

Are there any Cash only necessities or is the cash shop similar to the LoL model where the cash items are for looks only?

Are there any instanced dungeons or is it all open world?

Are there any rewards for doing a lot of pvp and pve even if its just for looks. (like 2200 weapons or High warlord title in wow)

Is there a point in completing all the quests in the world? a title or armor or something? even if its just for looks.

Do i need to create a new character to change classes or is there a class change system? Can i switch from guardian to necromancer on my leveled toon or do i need to start a new one from scratch?

Are there fun items like the savory deviate delight or non combat pets in wow?

Can i solo the entire game or is grouping obligatory for some parts?

Thanks in advance to anybody who gives me non troll answers. I'll keep looking around to see if i can answer some of these on my own.

I'll give you what I got from playing to about level 40. The game was fun, I haven't stopped playing it, but the fact that there's no sub has given me the option to go back and forth from playing like I do with all games.

There are not talent trees, but they do have a skill system that allows you to pick 5 skills outside of the ones they give you for each weapon type. The skills can add passive or useable buffs that can affect you or your entire party. Respeccing is free, you just drag and drop your skills into the setup. The skills do cost skill points which you get across the map and from leveling up.

From what I saw, the cash shop is mostly exp boosts and cosmetics. I didn't see anything in there that really gave you an advantage.

There are a few instanced dungeons, but a lot of the content is open world.

I do not know about the rewards aside from the vendors that everyone has access to.

When you complete a map by exploring it for each of the points on it, you get a chest that gives you some gold and some very good equipment for your level. I do not know about the title aspect, but I can't imagine it wouldn't give you one at the end. I got about 14% world map completion by level 40.

You will need to create a new character for each class that you want to play, and unfortunately I saw a 5 character limit per server when there're 8 classes to choose from.

I do not remember any cosmetic fun items like that.

You can solo up to level 80, and while grouping does provide a small exp boost to the entire party, it's nowhere near neccessary. There are some world events that occur in most of the maps that do work as world bosses that get difficult to solo if you're not decked out.

[Dezerte]

Hello GW2 Community

I've been thinking about buying this game for some time now and i've been reading up about it.

Most of the info i've collected is from beta and have been reading the forum posts for a while even tho most of them are whine posts :P

Anyways i'm an ex WOW player and have heard mostly positive things about gw2.

I don't expect it to be a perfect game.

Anyways here's some of the things i want to know:

Are there talent trees? i know u can change weapons to get new skills but are there actual talent trees to make myself tankier or more supporty? Is the respec free (even if i have to use ingame cash) or do i need to buy them with RL money (like in allods)

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ play around with this to get a feel for the skill system.

Traits is the equivalent of the talent tree in WoW. You'll have 70 points to spend at level 80.

Re-specs costs in-game currency and scales with your level, but it's fairly cheap to do.

Are there any Cash only necessities or is the cash shop similar to the LoL model where the cash items are for looks only?

Cosmetics, various boosters (XP, Crafting, etc) and some QoL services such as increased bank/bag space. Keep in mind that there is an in-game exchange store for trading in-game currency for Gems (which is the paid currency), so it's possible to buy these things without spending a dime (although it would require you to grind a bit).

Are there any instanced dungeons or is it all open world?

There are some, they also scale you down in level so they'll always be relevant.

Are there any rewards for doing a lot of pvp and pve even if its just for looks. (like 2200 weapons or High warlord title in wow)

I think that is the main gear treadmill in this game, looks. So, yes to both.

Is there a point in completing all the quests in the world? a title or armor or something? even if its just for looks.

There's a title involved, and you'll also receive a chest of goodies for every zone you've completed.

Do i need to create a new character to change classes or is there a class change system? Can i switch from guardian to necromancer on my leveled toon or do i need to start a new one from scratch?

No class change

Are there fun items like the savory deviate delight or non combat pets in wow?

Yes, usually found in the Gem store but they can be obtained normally as well.

Can i solo the entire game or is grouping obligatory for some parts?

You won't be doing any PvE instances, but other than that it's a rather solo friendly game. Keep in mind that everything is shared (xp, loot, resource nodes) even if you're not grouped, so technically you are grouped whenever there's people nearby doing the same thing as you.

[Deleted]

Some zones are quite barren however.
So leveling is much harder than it was at the beginning when you had 25+ at your side the whole time.

[Beazy]

There is something you need to know, coming from WoW.

There is no meaningful endgame PvE. This game is primarily a PvP game. If your looking for things to do at end game that will advance your character, stick to WoW. If you want to Siege castles all day and pwn the shit out of other players, stick with GW2.

I have no doubt, in the future, ArenaNet will add meaningful PvE endgame, they have taken a step in the right direction by adding the fractals of the mists dungeon. Its worlds beyond the original dungeons that shipped with the game, with clear and responsive boss mechanics. I only see ANet moving forward with this idea in the future.

[Karizee]

Hello GW2 Community

I've been thinking about buying this game for some time now and i've been reading up about it.

Most of the info i've collected is from beta and have been reading the forum posts for a while even tho most of them are whine posts :P

Anyways i'm an ex WOW player and have heard mostly positive things about gw2.

I don't expect it to be a perfect game.

Anyways here's some of the things i want to know:

Are there talent trees? i know u can change weapons to get new skills but are there actual talent trees to make myself tankier or more supporty? Is the respec free (even if i have to use ingame cash) or do i need to buy them with RL money (like in allods)

Are there any Cash only necessities or is the cash shop similar to the LoL model where the cash items are for looks only?

Are there any instanced dungeons or is it all open world?

Are there any rewards for doing a lot of pvp and pve even if its just for looks. (like 2200 weapons or High warlord title in wow)

Is there a point in completing all the quests in the world? a title or armor or something? even if its just for looks.

Do i need to create a new character to change classes or is there a class change system? Can i switch from guardian to necromancer on my leveled toon or do i need to start a new one from scratch?

Are there fun items like the savory deviate delight or non combat pets in wow?

Can i solo the entire game or is grouping obligatory for some parts?

Thanks in advance to anybody who gives me non troll answers. I'll keep looking around to see if i can answer some of these on my own.

Greetings!

GW2 has a trait/build system rather than talent trees. There are a total of 70 trait points to spend at max level and 5 lines where you can put up to 30 each. Each 5 points in the tree gives you a passive trait and at 10 points you select 1 of 12 attributes that can increase damage, buff condition durations, reduce cds ect. You can go more tankier or more support and what makes it interesting is the synergy between the lines themselves and the weapons you choose to use. It gets pretty deep.

That is in addition to the skill points you recieve for performing certain tasks that you can "spend" on specific abilities. Again, a good build will tie in to your selection.

Cash items are for convenience or vanity only.

There are instanced dungeons in addition to the open world events. You are downscaled to the level of the dungeon so all content remains current. There are meta world events which would be like open world raiding - not super challenging but loads of fun.

There are significant vanity rewards for completing content (dungeon armors/pvp hero armors) in addition to some crazy ass legendaries. My fave legendary is the Flameseeker Prophecies shield with the book on it, the book flips pages!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9dfpQhL9k

There is no option to change your class (called profession in GW2), but you can experience a toon at max level immediately by going into the pvp lobby area where you will be scaled to 80 and have free access to all skills, traits, gear, runes, sigils, etc. When you leave the pvp lobby area your level will return to normal.

Tons of fun items! Artificers can create potions which turn you into creatures, fun gun items can be purchased from Karma vendors (another type of currency), trebuchets and siege golems can be built in WvW, and there are currently 66 mini-pets in the game.

You cannot solo dungeons at all. It would be difficult to find any meta events to solo since so many people show up for them. Grouping happens naturally as breathing, you should not be concerned on this front. Nodes and spawns are shared, eliminating ninja looters/kill stealers.

Hope that helps!

[Maleborgia]

Thank you all for the answers it's been a big help and i'm super excited now to buy this game.

One small question tho, i've heard about conditions but don't really know what they are exactly. Are they the equivalent of debuffs like thunder clap/demoshout/hamstring OR are they DoTs or does everything share that name?

[Valeron]

Conditions are all those things you mentioned. Basically anything negative that lasts for a time is a condition (a debuff or a damage over time). A buff or a heal over time is called a boon.

[Paleolf]

Go to the GW2 wiki and look up boons and conditions. Boons are good things, conditions are bad things to the person/mob that has them on. They can be on player or mob. The wiki has a very good overall descriptions of how they work, and detail on each one.

[raptorak]

Some zones are quite barren however.
So leveling is much harder than it was at the beginning when you had 25+ at your side the whole time.

This is so true! Rolling alts, I find it easier to level through WvW than I do through questing, just because there's more people around. I can't count the number of times I've died while questing or wasn't able to complete "tasks" without waiting on people to start logging in after work/school.

[Odeezee]

Some zones are quite barren however.
So leveling is much harder than it was at the beginning when you had 25+ at your side the whole time.

i like the "hardmode" PvE (soloing the low level zones) because it really tests your knowledge of your profession, how your skills/traits interact and how well you have mastered your current build. finding out that you keep getting rocked by PvE change utilities/spec/strategy. it also gets you ready for PvP if you choose to partake.

There is something you need to know, coming from WoW.

There is no meaningful endgame PvE. This game is primarily a PvP game. If your looking for things to do at end game that will advance your character, stick to WoW. If you want to Siege castles all day and pwn the shit out of other players, stick with GW2.

the absence of "meaningful endgame PvE" is debatable, but it is one of the greatest draws for people who are tired of the perpetual gear treadmill in games like WoW, which in my opinion is not meaningful progression as your skills at executing your role/profession do not generally tend to increase but what does increase is your buffer (through gear) to make more mistakes while trying to do so.

[nightshark]

This is so true! Rolling alts, I find it easier to level through WvW than I do through questing, just because there's more people around. I can't count the number of times I've died while questing or wasn't able to complete "tasks" without waiting on people to start logging in after work/school.

I currently have 6 characters at level 80 and I totally disagree. I have tried levelling in WvW many times. A lot of WvW is dead time where you are not getting rewarded for anything - time spent running around, running back somewhere for 10 mins after getting killed, bashing on a gate for 10 minutes, collecting supply, etc.
PvEing is pretty fast and constant exp. Often you'll simulatanously complete hearts + DEs netting you a good 40% of a level or so.. in 5 minutes. Completing the story as you level up gives you nearly half a level each time you complete a step.

My last character (thief) took roughly 40 hours to level 80 and a lot of that was dead afk time. 2 crafts to 400 + ~35% map completion + personal story up to 63 or so (at which point the instance bugged out unfortunately).