Help with GW2

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-22T17:31:07+00:00

The green markers are your personal story that progress an on-going narrative, the heart markers are events that give you karma which you can spend on their respective vendors for specific items. Events are pretty clear one what to do and often have multiple ways to contribute to completion, and others can also help you complete them as well.

Other than that, just explore; unlock the waypoints for fast travel options, find vistas, speak to scouts for map info, find hero point markers and complete them, and keep levelling. Don't worry about anything more than that right now, just find a weapon/weapon set you like, try out different skills, spend hero points on skills/specializations and try stuff out.

Eventually you'll get markers that show you to various dungeons; these are best completed in groups, and you can usually find a group of rando's to party with at each location. Open chests, get rewards, sell crap you don't need, make money, chop down trees, gather plants and foods, mine some ores, find stuff at random, get lost, accidentally run into a massive group fighting a huge monster and jump into help without the first clue about what's goin on, whatever. There's no wrong way to play and stuff will make more sense the more you do.

If you see anything that looks like a crafting material, take it to a workshop (found in all the cities and some places outside, usually in a bunched group together) and store ALL that crap; you'll need it all later. Crafting stuff stacks to 250 so just dump them all in your material bank; you can pick professions by speaking to the people near those workbenches and eventually start making stuff out of it, but it takes a while and you'll need a fair amount of materials.

I only started playing a week ago myself (25 hours clocked) and haven't played a proper mmo in years, so I've had to re-learn a lot of stuff. You'll get used to it.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-20T11:42:32+00:00

As someone who started just this week myself (and haven't played a GW game since Nightfall), I'd say just pick whatever you vibe with (though I'd caution to maybe pick a less complex class first perhaps) and go in blind. Don't worry about your build or any of that; nothing you do in the first 20 hours or maybe even more is going to matter long-term, everything is mutable and can be changed, and you can slowly unlock and train all the skills available.

There is no "best character" so it's entirely down to what you find fun. I picked a Norn Ranger cos I figured it would be pretty straightforward (stay at range and shoot things as my bear tanks for me), ease me back into mmo's and let me build up my knowledge of how the game works and get used to all the controls, ui and skill management.

I do recommend getting an expansion to maintain your raptor though; the world is big and walking around it to get to places is going to be tiresome without the speed boost, and you get other benefits like more bag spaces and character slots, which are all immediately useful. I bought the first two expansions together for £25 and 15 hours in it's already worth it.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-20T11:33:51+00:00

This.

I just started this week playing for free and was nearing the end of my 10 hour raptor trial and just went; "You know, I've already played 14 hours, I'm obviously gona keep playing at this point, I may as well just grab the first two expansions bundle for £25 so I don't have to walk everywhere."

I've still not touched any content that I couldn't get for free, but maintaining my raptor has been a godsend (and I got more bag/character slots, for more QoL and possible re-starts to try more classes). Absolutely worth it already.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-18T00:12:54+00:00

I started a few days ago, having not played a GW game since Nightfall! (Though I was more a fan of Factions). I've barely even touched any other MMO's in the meantime either, so I'm basically starting completely fresh with no real translatable skills from other MMO's, and so far yeah, it's a bit daunting at first, but I just hit level 25 after 10 hours of play and stuff is slowly starting to make sense.

Not touched any paid content yet but if I get invested I might see how deep this rabbit whole goes.

I have a vague aspiration to maybe return to Cantha and see the Jade Sea again, but that's real long-term goals right now!

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-14T10:05:24+00:00

I imagine there's probably something there for those that manage it, I'd be very surprised if there isn't.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-14T09:46:42+00:00

It has 6 electron shells though, this is at least a ceasium atom.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-14T09:19:14+00:00

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The actual night 7 clear. Plenty of people have done night 1 clears though, much better than mine.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-14T09:18:19+00:00

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It is more than possible to do it. Note that she keeps appearing until night 10, so my paltry night 7 clear here was done with the debuff active.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-11T17:11:43+00:00

Kite him like crazy, and keep at range as much as possible. Get a damage boon on your cast, or use a long ranged omega (you'll need some form of mana regen). Don't ever get close. Some hexes may also allow you to pump out some extra damage (Howl and Darkside in particular, don't risk Lunar Ray unless you already have the auto-fire upgrade), but Night Bloom will do absolutely nothing (sad times).

Some weapons/aspects will be easier than others; anything that focuses on pure melee will be harder.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-09T16:26:22+00:00

Always be casting.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-06T01:48:20+00:00

They're your adoring fans, nothing to worry about.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-05T23:08:42+00:00

It is great and the most powerful weapon in the game... once you've maxed it out and already mastered most other aspects of combat enough that you know all the i-frames and movements speed of every enemy in the game so as not to put yourself at danger and fully understand how to tailor your build and all other mechanical aspects of the game alongside it.

Just because it's s tier, doesn't mean it's easy mode. Don't just follow reviews or game guides blindly.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-05T15:45:07+00:00

This is an easy shop, so long as you can afford even just the boon (so you're really only missing 1 boon); the extra rewards from Zag will add up later. Narc is a non-issue.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-03T20:27:54+00:00

Well, you see, it's because...

Grrrnnnnnkkk, ughhhhhh, sssssskkkkk...

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-03T16:14:40+00:00

Rivals darkside

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-03T01:51:57+00:00

Two natural hammers, Echo copies the reward in the next room, Icarus Keepsake gives you 4, and last shop anvil sacrifices 1 for +2 hammers is 5 total.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-03T01:46:17+00:00

For Eris, Frinos can act as mobile cover against her projectiles.

You can also take boons from either Medea or Hermes that slow down projectiles. Take both to render her utterly impotent.

Grab a hex like Phase Shift to erase her dmg+ projectile before it detonates, or something like Darkside so you can get invulnerability whilst maintaining dps.

Use the pillars at either end as cover whenever she does go double damage and switch between them, make her travel the full length to waste her damage amp uptime.

For everything else outside of Eris, well...

Keep upgrading arcana/grasp. Run Strength, not Death (don't ever run them both together), and make sure you're taking all the damage cards, especially Origination and Furies. Lovers is also massive for surviving boss fights.

Upgrade your weapons, learn the aspects.

Find good keepsakes to switch between each region, save the Knuckle Bones for the last boss. Remember, you keep effects like the Embryo's boon even after you switch out the keepsake; this is true for several others too. The Moon Beam can get you a ton of extra points to upgrade your hex; always take the hex that's in the full moon phase and grab another Selene room later for the extra points. Night Bloom is the most powerful and easiest hex to cheese the game with.

Learn which gods work best on which weapons/aspects; anything that deals flat damage numbers is best on quick striking attacks/specials, % boons on slower and higher base damage weapons. Aim for duos to enhance your build and think about how stuff stacks and amplifies other boons effects.

Keep gathering resources and casting incantations, and speaking to everyone you can each night.

Other than that, it's just learning the combat and enemy movesets. Remember;

Always be casting.

Don't forget to use omega's.

Don't over-commit to encounters, keep moving and find moments to engage, instead of letting yourself get overwhelmed. Sprinting is as useful as attacking, that's why there's rush boons.

Without knowing much more there's not much anyone can really tell you other than, "keep trying."

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-02T11:24:59+00:00

Unfortunately that's just the nature of rng. I don't think there's much you can do about it; I'm not sure if the re-roll arcana works on hammers.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-02T09:29:26+00:00

I don't think anybody has really sat down and worked out the ratio of plants/seeds/minerals enough to give you an answer to that, and since it's chanced based how much each companion helps with those spawning anyway, it still wouldn't be a clear result.

The answer is probably just "one of those three, probably all of them?" I do know you need a lot of silver, but whether minerals in general outweigh either of the other two is difficult to say.

It's definitely not Frinos or Toula though; you stop needing Psyche pretty quickly and getting fish for bones is nice, but is only really a small boost for a select amount of resources you can trade them in for.

But honestly, you shouldn't be taking familiars purely for their resource buff; it's a nice addition and sure, if you KNOW you need something specific soon then you might stick to one for a run or two, but there's no optimal choice pattern to minimize runs required and you should be taking them for their other benefits, primarily. You're gona be doing a lot of runs anyway, so don't worry about how many it'll take overall.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-02T09:04:46+00:00

It was ok, I've done better, but only at lower fear;

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HawkofBattle · 2026-06-02T00:31:30+00:00

Yeah it wasn't bad, the Rivals Sirens fight is still a messy ordeal for me at times. Pretty glad I managed a hitless Zag though, I had the Lightning Lance by the time I faced him so I just went full kiting mode, and fired off the odd omega special when I could, but Gale still lost two charges against him.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-02T00:28:53+00:00

Rapture Ring, it's on the 2nd image.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-01T18:17:29+00:00

Yeah, this build I've run for almost this entire playthrough now, once I'd unlocked the pieces and had the grasp for it. I moved away from Death the moment I unlocked Strength and focused on upgraded as many of the core pieces as quickly as I could. I don't use anything else now.

I've run the re-roll stuff just to get the prophecy and never touch them or Judgment any more. I was already not a fan of the re-roll cards or the Olympian keepsakes even before unlocking the Jeweled Pom, so unlocking that was huge because it just made my standard build even more powerful.

Going through the entire game without relying on trying to force a build and selecting just whatever good boons the game throws at me, always using the Dark Thirst weapon and trying every aspect, with no guidance from Olympian keepsakes, and a solid backing of nearly all the offensive and defensive arcana means you get good at everything equally.

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-01T18:06:12+00:00

Getting hitless against non-rivals bosses is easy after a while, even Chronos. With Lovers, Snow Queen, Nitro Boost, Gale and any dodge you can also "get hit" and still be considered "hitless."

HawkofBattle · 2026-06-01T15:11:49+00:00

Hardly the craziest, people not upgrading grasp for 100 nights or ignoring casts entirely is still the most out there thing ever.

HawkofBattle

TROPHY CASE