[GW2] Some questions: Dungeons, Salvaging, Gear, etc.

[Ultima]

Hey, so I've been playing Guild Wars 2 on and off since I got it in December but playing it fairly full on this month. I am now level 69 (Warrior).

Here are some questions which I'd love for your help on:

• Is there any point in doing dungeons which are not really my level range while leveling? I think I can make more than 70% of my total level in experience within that time. The rare item seems nice, but I take it that it would not be boosted to my level range like other things in the game - right?
• Is there an unspoken rule when ressing in dungeons? Is it always best to res during a boss, or power on through? Or should we just use gut instinct, depending on the health left and the player's ability?
• What is worth salvaging? At the moment, I salvage blues and whites (as well as salvage items) in order to reach my Monthly Quest (I think I have 200 salvages to go).
• I don't really get upgrades while leveling, I just buy a new set of gear every ten levels. There's a question in there somewhere.
• Any point looking at PvP before max level? Basically, is the exp any good or should I just hold off?
• Laurels. Suggestions on what to spend them on please!
• Shall I bother looking at tier culture gear?
• What's up with profession leveling? Am I doing something wrong and making it hard on myself? I have 109 Armorsmithing and 49 Weaponsmithing. Would it be worthwhile leveling those to get experience instead? Do I need/ want max professions?
• Where's the best place to find advice on Warriors? I want to ask about builds, weapons (I have searched and read the thread on this forum), shouts/ banners/ signets and such.
• Ah, another one - Fractals of the Mists, what's all this "lvl10 FoTM LF1M stuff? I thought they were max level dungeons that require special gear?

Thanks for reading and further thanks for any responses.

[Zilong]

Hey, so I've been playing Guild Wars 2 on and off since I got it in December but playing it fairly full on this month. I am now level 69.

Here are some questions which I'd love for your help on:
[list][*] Is there any point in doing dungeons which are not really my level range while leveling? I think I can make more than 70% of my total level in experience within that time. The rare item seems nice, but I take it that it would not be boosted to my level range like other things in the game - right?

I don't really know what you mean here? When I played I did the dungeons every 10 levels or so following the story. (lvl 30, 40, 50, 60 and so on, the last ones are a bit closer). If you are talking about Fractals? You can do them but I would focus on them after level 80. If you are talking about explorable modes I think you should also wait for level 80 so you can decide in a gear you like the most. Other than that I dont really think I understand your question.

[*] Is there an unspoken rule when ressing in dungeons? Is it always best to res during a boss, or power on through? Or should we just use gut instinct, depending on the health left and the player's ability?

Hmm, we can't keep rezzing in combat now, so the rule "changed" a bit. I think it's important to always help someone who's on downed state. If the person dies I would ONLY rez IF I couldn't make the boss/mob without the person or if the boss just started (meaning one less dps is going to make the fight super long). So yeah...I think using logic is the best way to go.

[*] What is worth salvaging? At the moment, I salvage blues and whites (as well as salvage items) in order to reach my Monthly Quest (I think I have 200 salvages to go).

While leveling I should have sold EVERYTHING. If you are doing the Monthly sure, salvage what you can. But other than that I think it's good to sell everything pretty much untill 80. After 80 I follow the rule: Rare/Unwanted Exotics = Salvage, White = Salvage, Green and Blue = Sell on TP if good price otherwise Sell it.

[*] I don't really get upgrades while leveling, I just buy a new set of gear every ten levels. There's a question in there somewhere.

Eh, don't really mind upgrades until max level. I never upgraded anything nor bought gear while leveling. All from drops/dungeons and maybe some karma vendor heart npc.

[*] Any point looking at PvP before max level? Basically, is the exp any good or should I just hold off?

If you don't already know: sPvP always will take you to the max level, make every "gear" (Weapon, Amulet, Upgrades,Runes) free and you can just pvp as much as you want. So basically it doesn't matter when you go to PvP (as it doesn't give you exp). If you are talking about WvW, the higher your level/gear the best you will perform (but mind there will be some lvl 80s there too). In this case WvW gives loot and Experience usable on Pve Setting, unlike sPvP.

[*] Laurels. Suggestions on what to spend them on please!

If you want something cute, just save to get the cute stuff. If you don't want something cute but rather "power" consider buying the Amulet for 30 laurels.

[*] Shall I bother looking at tier culture gear?

Eh, I can't help you with this question. Personal. You will bother with Culture gear if you like it. If you don't like how it looks or anything, then you don't.

[*] What's up with profession leveling? Am I doing something wrong and making it hard on myself? I have 109 Armorsmithing and 49 Weaponsmithing. Would it be worthwhile leveling those to get experience instead? Do I need/ want max professions?

Well, that's debatable. For the first character usually you should let go of crafting and sell most the stuff you get. You will end up with more money. And then if you want to craft at max level it's still beneficial (and you can run all around getting mats). I've never found it hard to level, pretty much got mine to 350 without buying mats and while leveling. I would sometimes use the exp to close some gaps for personal story. The main thing is that you need to level it up by discovering new recipes, doing that it's pretty easy.

[Larynx]

You will down scale to the dungeon, so it's worth doing Ascalon as a level 70. If you mean higher level, then I don't think it's worth the burden you'll put on everyone else. As for ressing, unless they're in the middle of an AoE or something else that will kill you as well, or the boss is at like 1%, I don't think it's possible to go wrong ressing downed people.

I personally salvage whites and blues, and sell everything else. Yellows will salvage for the same white materials as a blue.

Getting 400/400 in a discipline (crafting) gives you a total of ten levels by the end. They increase the higher you get. So 300-400 might be worth 4 levels, but 0-100 would be worth less. At least, I believe so. But yes, crafting is definitely worth it. It's the fastest way to level.

For culture armor, only if you like the aesthetics. They're pretty overpriced for their stats.

For warriors, go to reddit, the official forums, or gw2 guru generally. MMOC isn't really an oasis of intelligent theorycrafting. If you just want basic advice, warriors do very well at raw damage. Greatswords or axes are usually the best pure DPS weapons. While leveling, I don't think it's really worth it to use anything else unless you want a ranged weapon for kiting.

In case you can't find it, this is the GW2 subreddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/Guildwars2/

[Fencers]

- As long as you have enough HP, dodge well and can walk in the door; you can do dungeons while leveling. They only scale down, btw.

- They changed it recently so that you can't respawn while anyone is in combat. Non factor. Rezzing other people is okay if you can do it safely.

- Salvage anything that doesn't sell on the AH. Vendor blues and greens unless they are fetching a more agreeable price in the AH.

- If you don't know your question, I certainly don't.

- SPVP will auto level and gear you. Do anything you like. WvW is meant to be unbalanced. Xp and income are supposedly quite good.

- Ascended stuff or stuff that can be converted to gold.

- If you like the looks, sure.

- Don't need max crafting professions. They are a waste of money- their only true benefit is speed leveling. Everything else is cheaper than what you can craft and easier to obtain.

- Official forums or Guild Wars Guru.

- Fractals are just mini dungeons. Can do them at any level. At some point the debuff mechanic becomes burdensome and Ascended items are needed to off set this effect. Nothing to it.

[Meledelion]

Hey, so I've been playing Guild Wars 2 on and off since I got it in December but playing it fairly full on this month. I am now level 69 (Warrior).

Here are some questions which I'd love for your help on:

• Is there any point in doing dungeons which are not really my level range while leveling? I think I can make more than 70% of my total level in experience within that time. The rare item seems nice, but I take it that it would not be boosted to my level range like other things in the game - right?
• Is there an unspoken rule when ressing in dungeons? Is it always best to res during a boss, or power on through? Or should we just use gut instinct, depending on the health left and the player's ability?
• What is worth salvaging? At the moment, I salvage blues and whites (as well as salvage items) in order to reach my Monthly Quest (I think I have 200 salvages to go).
• I don't really get upgrades while leveling, I just buy a new set of gear every ten levels. There's a question in there somewhere.
• Any point looking at PvP before max level? Basically, is the exp any good or should I just hold off?
• Laurels. Suggestions on what to spend them on please!
• Shall I bother looking at tier culture gear?
• What's up with profession leveling? Am I doing something wrong and making it hard on myself? I have 109 Armorsmithing and 49 Weaponsmithing. Would it be worthwhile leveling those to get experience instead? Do I need/ want max professions?
• Where's the best place to find advice on Warriors? I want to ask about builds, weapons (I have searched and read the thread on this forum), shouts/ banners/ signets and such.
• Ah, another one - Fractals of the Mists, what's all this "lvl10 FoTM LF1M stuff? I thought they were max level dungeons that require special gear?

Thanks for reading and further thanks for any responses.

1. You get 70% of a lvl for doing one dungeon. If you have a leveling guild you should be able to run AC/CM/... well within 45min. I doubt you can gain more than 70% of a lvl "questing".
2. Depends on the fight and how you define rezing. Rezing from death (hardrez) is usually a big nono. Rezing from downed should be done if the downed person is in AoE (so you keep him alive) or if there's no way of rallying (killing mobs).
3. Blues and whites.
4. It's the most efficient way but not really needed you'll be fine with just going with rewards from personal story and drops.
5. from sPvP you don't get any xp, for WvW you can level pretty fast if you run with a group of people and just do all events (kill dolyaks/sentries/sup camps/...)
6. Keep'm for when you're 100% sure on what toon you want them. You might like your class now but maybe you prefer the next class you level.
7. Your call, people buy them for the looks not stats.
8. AS and WS are pretty costly, if you're looking at efficiently leveling those try this guide http://gw2crafts.saladon.net/#
9. This forum has a couple of people who can help you with questions, gw2guru has some guides although not all are great and basically just tailored around doing some specific thing which may or may not be your liking.
10. FotM is an "elite" dungeon where things get harder the further you go. You get upscaled to 80 but you'll be a burden on your team if you're not in full exo gear and have all skillslots/traits unlocked.

[Deleted]

Hey, so I've been playing Guild Wars 2 on and off since I got it in December but playing it fairly full on this month. I am now level 69 (Warrior).

Here are some questions which I'd love for your help on:

• Is there any point in doing dungeons which are not really my level range while leveling? I think I can make more than 70% of my total level in experience within that time. The rare item seems nice, but I take it that it would not be boosted to my level range like other things in the game - right?
• Is there an unspoken rule when ressing in dungeons? Is it always best to res during a boss, or power on through? Or should we just use gut instinct, depending on the health left and the player's ability?
• What is worth salvaging? At the moment, I salvage blues and whites (as well as salvage items) in order to reach my Monthly Quest (I think I have 200 salvages to go).
• I don't really get upgrades while leveling, I just buy a new set of gear every ten levels. There's a question in there somewhere.
• Any point looking at PvP before max level? Basically, is the exp any good or should I just hold off?
• Laurels. Suggestions on what to spend them on please!
• Shall I bother looking at tier culture gear?
• What's up with profession leveling? Am I doing something wrong and making it hard on myself? I have 109 Armorsmithing and 49 Weaponsmithing. Would it be worthwhile leveling those to get experience instead? Do I need/ want max professions?
• Where's the best place to find advice on Warriors? I want to ask about builds, weapons (I have searched and read the thread on this forum), shouts/ banners/ signets and such.
• Ah, another one - Fractals of the Mists, what's all this "lvl10 FoTM LF1M stuff? I thought they were max level dungeons that require special gear?

Thanks for reading and further thanks for any responses.

1. dungeons are not neccesary while leveling, but they can be fun though, especially when you do them with friends. dungeons also contain some story elements, so that makes at least the story mode worth running once.
2. you can't graveyard zerg anymore, but that was already mentioned before, I believe. Guidelines on ressing others is to ress them asap when they get downed. If someone in your party is defeated, don't bother unless you really need him/her or unless someone else can distract the mob long enough for two or three people to ress (which isn't adviced, but still, a possibility).
3. I salvage anything that isn't worth a lot of gold on the AH. This includes white, fine, masterwork and sometimes rare/exotic armor (rare/exotic only if the price is well below the price of globs of ectoplasm). If you really want the monthly, than salvage what you can!
4. I usually try to use some of the gear I've crated to update my armor, but karma items work as well. Don't forget though, you can't sell or salvage karma armour IIRC
5. haven't really done any PvP, but I have visited the Heart of the Mists (the PvP lobby) on most of my characters. In the Heart of the Mists you unlock all your traits, as well as options for lvl 80 armor (at least stat wise) and superior runes/sigils. This means that you can experiment all you want with stats/traits/runes/sigils and try out the build you want to use without spending massive amounts of gold.
6. just browse through the laurel merchants list of goods and decide what you think they're worth spending on. personally I'm saving up for the ascended amulet, but you might want to decide for yourself. One hint though, don't spend it on gear boxes, they're not worth it (could just as well buy the unidentified dyes and sell those to pay for your gear).
7. you could look at cultural gear if you have the money for it. However, don't expect to get tier 3 without forking over a whole lot of gold. Anyhow, if you like the look of a set and you can afford it, you could buy it and later transmute the looks onto your level 80 gear. You could always look on the armour page of the GW2 wiki to find an armour set you like.
8. Are you using the discovery tab? Because that is where the real experience lies. Even if your just crafting random weapons, it's always best to use the discovery tab instead of just making 20 weapons of the same type. Try to discover every recipe for every weapons (starting with the cheap one first ofcourse). and if that doesn't work, try to experiment with mats or look up recipes to consumables online (worked wonders for my artificing). Max crafting disciplines aren't neccasary, but you can use them to make rare/exotic gear for yourself (which you would otherwise have to buy).
9. The official forum provides guides and threads for every major profession, so you could visit the warrior forum there if you need some help with your build. You could also visit www.guildwars2guru.com, since they have both a PvE and PvP forum for every profession. You could ask your friends or guildmates if they could help you with your build.
10. Fractals is a level 80 dungeon, but it scales in difficulty based on how many times a player has visited it before. So fractals level 10 means that you need at least a difficulty scale of 10 to join that group (three mini-dungeons have to be completed in a row to gain a difficulty level). Fractals of the mists is not exclusive to level 80 though, everyone visiting it gets upscaled to level 80, so you could try a run with friends, if you dare.

I hope this helps