Guild Wars 2: The One Thread

[Val the Moofia Boss]

How much will I miss out on if I go guildless in a game that has "Guild" in the title?

Not much. Just ask for an invite to a casual guild, open the guild panel, represent that guild (required to get the buff), port to the guild hall, go into the tavern, and turn on the 10% EXP buff. Port out. Open guild panel, turn off representing that guild, and then forget all about guilds for the rest of your life.

The name "Guild Wars" is a holdover from an early iteration of GW1. That game was supposed to be entirely PvP focused, with the PvE stuff being a tutorial. During development, more and more focus was placed on the PvE side and the PvP thing became more of a side mode. Eventually the name "Guild Wars" just refers to a historical event that takes place in the backstory of GW1, and has no bearing on the plot or anything going on in the game you actually play.

[Ragu4]

I love GW2 and have been playing it sporadically since its launch, sometimes for long periods, but I could never figure out the "endgame". I know there's fractal dungeons, but since gear seems to hit a cap at ascended, and its all crafted. I got a few ascended guardian weapons made before I stopped. I do need to play the new xpac someday tho.

Lost Ark has been my game of choice right now. May be an utter grindfest and possibly pay 2 win garbage, but I love isometric ARPG's lol.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I love GW2 and have been playing it sporadically since its launch, sometimes for long periods, but I could never figure out the "endgame".

Once you've completed the story, the question to ask yourself is: do I like doing PvP or WvW over and over? If not, then you should probably log off until the next content drop. Doing arbitrary grinds for legendaries or doing fractals over and over for minor stat boosts... for what purpose? Just a waste of time IMO when you could be playing other games or doing other things.

[VMSmith]

turn on the 10% EXP buff. Port out. Open guild panel, turn off representing that guild, and then forget all about guilds for the rest of your life.

Is this of benefit at max level? I see I still have some kind of xp bar, but I have no idea what it's doing.

Once you've completed the story, the question to ask yourself is: do I like doing PvP or WvW over and over? If not, then you should probably log off until the next content drop. Doing arbitrary grinds for legendaries or doing fractals over and over for minor stat boosts... for what purpose? Just a waste of time IMO when you could be playing other games or doing other things.

I've tried WvW once and it was neat, still need to learn more about it. But it sounds like this is a good game to pick up and do some stuff for awhile, then set it aside until you're ready for something new with it. And that's fine with me, I'm no longer interested in having a game that demands my daily devotion for years on end.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Is this of benefit at max level? I see I still have some kind of xp bar, but I have no idea what it's doing.

Once you reach max level and you own an expansion, you can start earning mastery exp, which you need to level up essential masteries like Gliding or Mounts, as well as map specific masteries like being able to breathe poison gas in HoT maps or spiderman swinging in Draconis Mons. Or quality of life stuff like auto-looting.

If you don't own any expansions, then leveling up just gives you Spirit Shards, a currency that isn't very useful.

[VMSmith]

Once you reach max level and you own an expansion, you can start earning mastery exp, which you need to level up essential masteries like Gliding or Mounts, as well as map specific masteries like being able to breathe poison gas in HoT maps or spiderman swinging in Draconis Mons. Or quality of life stuff like auto-looting.

If you don't own any expansions, then leveling up just gives you Spirit Shards, a currency that isn't very useful.

Ok, I did recently get the two expansion bundle and have a mount, so I'm guessing it'll be useful for that. Not sure I want to deal with a guild for a 10% boost, but at least I know it's there. Thanks!

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Not sure I want to deal with a guild for a 10% boost

There are many casual guilds that never ask anything of you, and you can be in 5 guilds at once. I've been a part of two guilds and never once had to talk to anyone, and if I came back and found I was kicked out of one, no biggie, I can just port to the other's hall to get the buff back again, or join another casual guild and get it. Literally just ask in Lion's Arch's map chat for an invite and there you go.

The 10% boost helps quite a lot for completing the Core Tyria masteries, as you can't easily farm exp from adventures there.

[Edge-]

Doing arbitrary grinds for legendaries or doing fractals over and over for minor stat boosts... for what purpose?

Because you enjoy the content. Because you want to earn achievements/rewards from it. Because you want to earn gold you need for other things.

I mean, I still go back to Drizzlewood regularly because I absolutely love the events in those zones.

[Geckoo]

If you come into Gw2 with a WoW mentality you won't have a good time and you'll end up doing things like buying gold with gems.
The game is all about playing what you enjoy and farming as a way to keep doing what you enjoy in a more comfortable way.

[Ghost of Cow]

If you come into Gw2 with a WoW mentality you won't have a good time and you'll end up doing things like buying gold with gems.
The game is all about playing what you enjoy and farming as a way to keep doing what you enjoy in a more comfortable way.

I'd buy into that if the game didn't require that farming to do the things you enjoy.

Also, I don't know what "WoW mentality" means other than some kind of weird game vs. game way of dismissing opinions.

[PACOX]

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/l...ves-next-week/

Next week:

Second batch of the S1 episodes - focus on Mai Trin if you want some EOD backstory

Third Strike CM - I've enjoyed the previous CMs but the rewards are trash. Hoping they get better.

First Gen 3 legendary variant.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

Old Lion's Arch should be the default LA players go to until they progress the story.

I'd imagine it would be hard for its destruction to be impactful if players only spend a few minutes there in story instances and hang out in completely different version of it that is unrecognizable.

[Arewn]

I'd buy into that if the game didn't require that farming to do the things you enjoy.

Also, I don't know what "WoW mentality" means other than some kind of weird game vs. game way of dismissing opinions.

The game's content is all very accessible, requiring very little grind to get into.
Reaching level cap isn't very time consuming, and certainly isn't difficult. Plus they throw level boosters at you all the time, including a level 80 booster with each expansion purchase.
And there's no gear treadmill, so you can just slap on a set of full exotic gear and be ready to go for pretty much everything, forever. A few days of dailies will net you enough gold to buy a full set off the trading post. And it's only slightly inferior to ascended gear (the best stats), perfectly useable even in raids.

There's plenty of grind in the game, to be sure, but it almost never bars you from playable content. The exception I guess would be a few of the mounts.

[Rennadrel]

I picked up Guild Wars 2 for free via Nvidia's GeForce NOW program recently so I've been digging into the base game a bit. Only level 20 as I haven't had a ton of time to play up until this week but I have to say that the game plays so much like I remember the OG Guild Wars game being like.

I guess I can't get a mount any time soon, walking everywhere feels like a bit of a chore but the amount of fast travel points definitely makes getting around much quicker.

[Val the Moofia Boss]

I guess I can't get a mount any time soon, walking everywhere feels like a bit of a chore but the amount of fast travel points definitely makes getting around much quicker.

If you don't have Path of Fire, then you want to have your class' 25% movement speed signet equipped at all times.

If you have Path of Fire but don't want to do the story out of order/spoil yourself just so you can obtain the raptor mount, then you can grind in WvW for 10 hours to get the Warclaw mount, which can be used in PvE. Switch to a ranged build and just follow your team's zerg.

[Rennadrel]

If you don't have Path of Fire, then you want to have your class' 25% movement speed signet equipped at all times.

If you have Path of Fire but don't want to do the story out of order/spoil yourself just so you can obtain the raptor mount, then you can grind in WvW for 10 hours to get the Warclaw mount, which can be used in PvE. Switch to a ranged build and just follow your team's zerg.

I don't have access to anything other than the Living World updates from the base game. I guess you can buy all of the expansions in a bundle so I'll do that at some point when I've progressed further into the game.

[PACOX]

I don't have access to anything other than the Living World updates from the base game. I guess you can buy all of the expansions in a bundle so I'll do that at some point when I've progressed further into the game.

If you have Amazon Prime or look on the GW2 discord you'll be able to nab a -50% code for the PoF/HoT bundle. I think it makes the price ~$10-15. I believe EOD gives people access to to the first two mounts and glider, but you have to skip most of the story to access them and theres no way to get the other mounts without buying the PoF/HoT bundle, its also a lot less content for someone starting out. So if you had to only pick one expac, I owuld got with the PoF/HoT bundle.

Bit of an side not: they are currently testing trial mounts with their A/B tests (basically live beta tests). New players (new accounts) are randomly granted trial access to raptors. Probably something the are playing with for their Steam release.

[Rennadrel]

It doesn't look like Amazon Canada offers the expansions as a bundle. In fact, the only purchase of Guild Wars 2 is the Standard Edition or the Gem Pack. The Heart of Thorns expansion apparently is just a CD and doesn't come with the actual code (seems like a scam on Amazon's part to be even allowing such a product to be sold). I'll have an ask on the Discord server though.

[PACOX]

It doesn't look like Amazon Canada offers the expansions as a bundle. In fact, the only purchase of Guild Wars 2 is the Standard Edition or the Gem Pack. The Heart of Thorns expansion apparently is just a CD and doesn't come with the actual code (seems like a scam on Amazon's part to be even allowing such a product to be sold). I'll have an ask on the Discord server though.

I mean Prime Gaming/Twitch.

[PACOX]

https://www.guildwars2.com/en/news/t...dow-and-death/

Brief look at how the gen 3 legendary variants will work. Apparently they anticipate people will be able to craft all the legendaries without enough effort. Hopefully that means some of the timegates (they are soft timegates) will be eased in the future.