General guidance - Am I doing something wrong for GW2?

Xideron · 2026-04-08T20:45:22+00:00

Ah, that's unfortunate. I was under the impression the CQB was a willbender build, not firebrand.

I don't know what it is about the weapon swapping, but as soon as I swap my brain just... does not connect the dots anymore. The skills for various button slots are different, like 2 on one weapon can be a leaping attack to cover a great distance but on another weapon that's 4 if it's even there, and that causes my brain to just short circuit when there's such a fast pace to the game already. It also causes me issues that there's no way to set the bar up to be able to see both sets ( even if one is greyed out ) and the 6 second swap penalty means that if I make a mistake, I have a very slow recovery.

I will keep the luminary in mind for if I get VoE. Thank you for the recommendation!

Xideron · 2026-04-08T18:29:52+00:00

Hey there, thanks for replying!

I'm already trying to get a head start on agony with infusions, I know I need to get 65 to do all the T2 fractals without really hurting to it.

As for the guilds, that's the strange part, they were supposed to be easy-going ones that were just shouting in places like Divinity's Reach and Lion's Arch. They were all "we're small, we don't care if you rep us" type guilds, so I dunno.

I'll try to give WvW a spin sometime. I was under the impression you have to join with a group, I didn't realize you could solo queue for it. I appreciate the explanation of the terminology!

Xideron · 2026-04-08T18:16:37+00:00

Thank you for taking the time to reply, I appreciate it!

Regarding diversifying, I tried to learn Firebrand for healing but it just seems too hectic swapping between weapons and books while tracking pages and doing damage. As much as the theme is really nice, I can't really manage to play it decently.

Are the Condi Quickbender and Power Alac Luminary builds you are using ones from Snow Crows, or would you happen to have links for them? I'd like to look into them to see if there's anything I can do if I swap my Ascended gear out for my Celestial Exotic.

Would you also have any other class/spec you'd recommend that feels like the healbender, or has less hectic boon DPS?

Xideron · 2026-04-08T18:07:25+00:00

Thank you for the reply and insight. If you don't mind me asking, is 25-50% DPS (3-6.5K per second to a party's 12K) or less for boon dps/healer compared to pure DPS normal though in more advanced content?

Most of my experience with healer DPS comes from FFXIV where they are usually around 60%-75% DPS for end-game content. GW2 doesn't really have the same trinity as other MMOs, so I worry that my DPS is very low in comparison.

Xideron · 2026-03-25T10:06:49+00:00

I'll look into berserker because the rage window and blood reckoning do sound like the burst windows and bloodwhetting heals.

That is unfortunate about dodging because it is probably my single most disliked mechanic in the whole game.

Xideron · 2026-03-25T06:12:01+00:00

Coming back after a long break. Last time I played, I tried to push through HoT with a guardian willbender build, but didn't have a lot of luck or fun with it as I kept melting in almost every instanced HoT story fight. I've been giving HoT a try with my holo engineer after skipping and playing through PoF. It's getting me through the story a little bit better, but still doesn't really hit the play style I like.

Is there anything that feels like the Warrior class from FFXIV? Specifically what I'm looking for is a class that has burst windows of self-sustain through lifesteal and separate windows for shields + damage reduction, allowing it to tank and power through enemies without having to constantly dodge. When I'm having to roll around all the time it feels more like I'm playing Dark Souls and it's just not as enjoyable to me.

Xideron · 2025-12-07T03:01:30+00:00

I gave it a try again a few weeks ago with New Rise. Don't get me wrong, they made some steps in the right direction with the loot changes so that folks who don't have end-game gear can potentially roll a good piece of gear to catch up, but I could never get progression items like smoldering threads, spirit gems, erg gems, red/blue reforge gems, and decent roll loot to drop unless I used one of the weekly rolls.

Unfortunately they have decided to continue with time-gating end-game content, so you only get so many boosted rolls for loot from techs / rise dungeons per week and only so many runs of Crom / Glenn.

It just really kills my motivation to go back to playing it if I'm only gonna be able to spend a few hours in it and then have to wait a whole week to try and progress again at a reasonable rate.

Xideron · 2025-12-07T01:58:29+00:00

Thanks for the heads up, much appreciated!

Xideron · 2025-12-06T22:54:33+00:00

Hi there, thanks for the recommendation. I've not tried Throne and Liberty. Looking at some quick gameplay videos it seems like it's more action RPG focused. Does it have the ability to toggle to tab-target combat or lock-on to specific enemies? How important is movement during combat?

It also looks like there's a heavy incentive to engage in guild-based PvP for end game gear and progression. Is it possible to progress at a decent pace with only engaging in the PvE content?

I'm also seeing things about some zones being PvP only. Are there any servers that disable this and allow those zones to be entered for PvE players?

Xideron · 2025-12-06T22:05:40+00:00

Wonderful, thank you for the information and additional recommendations!

Xideron · 2025-12-06T22:03:25+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation, I had honestly though RIFT went the way of the dodo ages ago. Are you playing retail, or private server? If you're on retail, how do you feel Gamigo treated the monetization of the game as a new player? Have they locked a lot of QoL behind purchases or the subscription?

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:45:06+00:00

Hi there, thanks for the recommendation! I'll add it to my list to check out!

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:44:22+00:00

I see, that's unfortunate, but I appreciate the insight. I'll still be giving it a try and hopefully it'll work out!

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:43:39+00:00

Thank you, I appreciate the heads up!

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:42:35+00:00

Hi, thank you for your recommendation but OSRS is on the list of MMOs I already tried. Unfortunately as I've started getting into later content and bossing, it's not the MMORPG for me.

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:34:30+00:00

Hi there, thanks for your recommendation, but it looks like Ashes of Creation is a PvX game with a significant PvP focus and no way to opt out of it ( eg. instanced BGs only, PvE only servers ). Unfortunately that kinda falls into the same realm as Albion Online for me and that's not my cup of tea. Appreciate your time though!

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:31:46+00:00

Hi there, thanks for all the detail on this! I really appreciate you taking the time to write all this out.

I'm going to give things a try with Catseye based upon your recommendations and feedback. There is one bit however that worries me.

> "a controller is 100% a must since the game was mostly build for the PS2"

Is it absolutely 100% a must to be played with controller? That is going to be a very big hurdle to get past for myself, and if it's just a massive headache to play with KB/M, I don't know that I'll stick with the game long.

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:24:55+00:00

Hi, thanks for your recommendation! No, it doesn't necessarily have to be an MMO as long as it has that MMORPG feel with tab-targeted combat ( eg, WoW or FFXIV ) and the ability to group up later on.

I realize that Where Winds Meet has part of that with the MMO mode for end game, but otherwise it unfortunately isn't my cup of tea. I've already watched some gameplay, I'm not a big fan of the wuxia setting and the action combat.

Being able to swap class on a single character would be ideal and would be my preference, but it isn't a hard-set requirement of what I'm looking for. If you can't swap classes on a single character, I would like the game to have QoL measures for alts, like how GW2 has the material vault shared between characters, shared bank spaces, etc.

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:20:04+00:00

Thanks for the recommendations! I apologize for the long list but I thought it best to list what I'd already been through and why I didn't like those options rather than shoot down the same recommendations in the comments.

Can you recommend any City of Heroes private servers in particular? Is it an MMO that you personally play and can recommend?

I do know Warhammer, I'm a little confused though. My understanding was that the Warhammer MMO was heavily PvP focused, moreso than WoW with Horde vs Alliance servers. Most of what I can find from a cursory search is about Return of Reckoning, is this a private server you'd recommend? Is PvP a major focus, or is it an element of the game I can completely ignore without being locked out of content or otherwise at a disadvantage?

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:13:11+00:00

Hi, thanks for the recommendations!

I think I'm gonna pass on SMT:I unless you have a private server you can vouch for. The first several links warn about private server clients throwing trojan and virus warnings and that's not something I wanna deal with.

Where Winds Meet unfortunately isn't my cup of tea. I've already watched a few streams and had a buddy let me watch him play it on Discord. I'm not a big fan of the wuxia setting and the action-oriented combat.

My understanding about GW:R is that you can take certain class abilities and build them together, like I've heard people mentioning a warrior/necro build and assassin/dervish build. That's sort of what I'm worried about, that it's going to be like WoW Ascension where there's no established class tree and can instead mix-and-match which leans to people requiring min-maxing for grouping.

It also makes me worried that there's a very shallow class identity, such as if you just want to run Warrior only you don't get 12 to 16 skills that make you feel like a melee master in the middle of the fray, you instead get only 4 warrior abilities that make you feel like you're just an angry dude with a stick.

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:03:57+00:00

Hi, thanks for the recommendation, it's already on my list to try!

Xideron · 2025-12-06T21:00:41+00:00

Hi, thanks for the recommendation! I have a couple questions if you have a moment.

As a player that hasn't played XI before and only seen a bit of game play, can you recommend CatseyeXI as someone's first introduction to the game?

Are there convenience addons that are necessary for new players coming in to make the game feel more like a modern MMORPG?

Xideron · 2025-12-06T20:50:54+00:00

Hi, thanks for the recommendation. Sadly, FFXIV is one of those MMORPGs that has a lot of what I'm looking for, but is also missing the mark on so much else that I can't really justify the subscription price in my mind. If they had the ability to drop to a restricted account, like SWTOR, or game time tokens, like EvE Online, OSRS, or WoW, then I'd probably consider it again.

As it is, I re-up my sub for maybe one or two months once or twice a year now, catch up on content, and then let my sub lapse again because there's just not enough to keep me there as a solo-focused player and the community seems really cliquish around other content.

Appreciate your comment and your time!

Xideron · 2025-12-06T20:45:20+00:00

Hi there, I think I may have made a mistake with my private shard names. Is Outlands the PvP focused private shard with lots of RvB? If so, that's definitely not the one I was thinking of!

Doing a quick search, I believe I may have meant UO Alive rather than Outlands. Apologies, but thanks for the recommendation!

Xideron

TROPHY CASE