Guild Wars 2!

[huttj509]

I had a friend ask me what the GW2 endgame was. My answer?

"Pretty Princess Dress-Up, and it's Awesome!"

If you want a shiny weapon, you can get it. If you want a particular look, you can do that. If you want stronger and more powerful gear? Not so much, really.

I personally like exploring and experimenting with builds, occasionally doing some pvp (I'm really not a pvper in games in general, MUCH prefer co-op against AI or something. I hate feeling like i'm holding my team back.).

[Derjuin]

Can't say I particularly knew that, as I never played GW1. I only grabbed GW2 because my best friend told me about the game and how fun it was, and I've been looking for a new MMO to play. So far, the PvE content is quite fun, and more then enough to keep me playing long after I hit 80, I'm just a bit upset/irritated/depressed/annoyed/etc/etc that if I do eventually want to go for the best stuff, I'll have to participate in things that I honestly don't enjoy. I've not participated in any form of PvP since the original Diablo and starcraft, neither of which I've played in the last 8 years or so. It's just not my thing.

Just a note: Legendaries are not better than Exotics. Not until Ascended weapons come out - and when they do, they will not be better than Ascended weapons. Ascended weapons will likely be available through Laurel vendors (or some new currency vendor), Fractals of the Mists runs, or tossing tons of mats into the Mystic Forge. Therefore, legendaries aren't the best. 0 pvp is needed to attain any armor or weapon you want, with the exception of legendaries. In fact, Badges of Honor (pvp tokens) are only used for: pvp gear, siege weapon blueprints (that can only be used in pvp), and for purchasing the Gift of Battle, which is only necessary for a legendary.

[mucco]

By the way, I'm betting that Ascended stuff won't stray outside of jewelry, at least for the whole 2013. And possibly forever.

[GenericMook]

Nah. Anet's said on more than one occasion that they'll be adding Ascended weapons and armor.

Whether or not they arrive in 2013 or not might be seen. It doesn't really take that much effort to implement accessories, but new models and textures for gear might take some time.

[mucco]

Oh, really? Care to find the source for me?

[Turalisj]

http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/11...ded-item-tier/

http://www.gamebreaker.tv/mmorpg/are...d-speculation/

[GenericMook]

There are more sources than that, but they basically say the same thing: Starting with Ascended rings/backs, and gradually introducing other Ascended items.

Lo and behold, we now have Ascended amulets.

[Starwulf]

Dredgehaunt cliffs is officially my most disliked area in the game >< I"ve died so many times due to massive amounts of dredge just randomly popping up the moment I start fighting a mining suit. At least 6 deaths can be attributed to that situation. And by massive amounts, I mean 5-7 dredge will pop up all at once the moment I start fighting a single mining suit that had NOTHING near it beforehand.

Also hate it because it's going to be a massive pain in the rear to reach the vista/point of interest in the lowest left-hand corner, due to the fact that it's literally a war-zone with dozens of mortar shots going off every second. Though I think I may have figured a way around that, need to log in and test my theory first though.

[Astrella]

The thing I dislike the most about Dredge is that most their hearts take about twice as long to complete and other ones. I'm looking at you, Diessa!

[Toastkart]

Dredgehaunt cliffs is officially my most disliked area in the game >< I"ve died so many times due to massive amounts of dredge just randomly popping up the moment I start fighting a mining suit. At least 6 deaths can be attributed to that situation. And by massive amounts, I mean 5-7 dredge will pop up all at once the moment I start fighting a single mining suit that had NOTHING near it beforehand.

Dredge mining suits can spawn more dredge. And it sucks. I'm with you on disliking dredge.

Also hate it because it's going to be a massive pain in the rear to reach the vista/point of interest in the lowest left-hand corner, due to the fact that it's literally a war-zone with dozens of mortar shots going off every second. Though I think I may have figured a way around that, need to log in and test my theory first though.

It's not that bad once you find the starting point. I found it to be a surprisingly enjoyable climb compared to some of the others.

[Turalisj]

I absolutely hate the dredge fractal.

[mucco]

Oh man I love that fractal instead. It's super long but with a good group it's tons of fun! And the loot, man. Those bags are awesome. I usually get at least a core out of them, or you can sell them for excellent money.

It helps that with a necro I can tag everything because AoE is fun.

[huttj509]

Oh man I love that fractal instead. It's super long but with a good group it's tons of fun! And the loot, man. Those bags are awesome. I usually get at least a core out of them, or you can sell them for excellent money.

It helps that with a necro I can tag everything because AoE is fun.

The only part I really hate is the bombs, and that's because every group seems to have different assumptions about when to charge and how much to pull when, so my warrior's left hanging back doing massive bow aoe so I don't suddenly find myself isolated on the front lines.

[GenericMook]

I hate the end boss of that Fractal. Every time I do it, my group ends up coordinating pretty well, and then something goes wrong.

Suddenly, half the party is dead, and the mining suit/elemental regenerates a ton of its health.

[Starwulf]

So, here's a question: How do you get the benefits of armor that says "Minor rune of whatever(0/2)? I thought it meant you needed to put the actual runes it states on the armor, but I did that, and nothing happened. I have a nice pair of shoulders I got for karma, and a great helm that I got as a reward for completing Dredgehaunt cliffs just now(it has 0/4 on it for the rune thing), but I have no idea how to activate those bonuses.

[Karen Lynn]

I would like to know as well. My thiefy vampiry runes need to reach their potential!

[Turalisj]

You need that many pieces of armor with the same rune attached to get to that level. So 6 superior runes = full set.

[mucco]

I'll add that two types of the same rune (Major+Sup Vampirism) do not stack, so if you want to get all 6 effects from a superior rune you will need 6 superior runes.

[Shadow]

Yeah, that (0/2) or (0/4) or (0/6) is a counter.
It counts how many of them are equipped.
If you have multiple pieces of armor with the same type of rune on them, you activate all cumulative bonuses up to the number of appropriate runes worn.

Example:
Superior Rune of the Mesmer (because it's simple).
If 1 is worn: +25 power
If 2 are worn: +25 power, +15 precision
If 3 are worn: +25 power, +15 precision, +50 power (totaling +75)
If 4 are worn: +25 power, +15 precision, +50 power (totaling +75), +35 precision (totaling +50)
If 5 are worn: +25 power, +15 precision, +50 power (totaling +75), +35 precision (totaling +50), +90 power (totaling +165)
If 6 are worn: +25 power, +15 precision, +50 power (totaling +75), +35 precision (totaling +50), +90 power (totaling +165), +33% daze duration

edit:
as mucco said, only the same *exact* type of runes are counted, so a Superior and a Major do not stack.
And for the record, Rune choices are usually made for their special abilities, not chosen because of any stat bonuses given. The stats added are so minor in the grand scheme of things that the special abilities of the runes are far more important. The Mesmer Runes I used as an example were used only because they were simple to explain and understand. They are actually a pretty terrible set of Runes.

[Karen Lynn]

OK, so if I have six 'Superior X' runes, where x can be any combination of runes, so long as they're all superior, I will get all the benefits?

Edit: Ah. They all have to be the same rune.

[Toastkart]

Also keep in mind for when you get superior runes, that when you're underwater, your helmet is replaced by your aquabreather. So, if you want to keep that 6th rune bonus, you'll need a 7th on your aquabreather.

[Starwulf]

So, I gotta ask, am I ever going to find a use for my Karma points besides using it on harvesting tools at the various heart places? I'm sitting on over 100k of them now, and still haven't found a decent use for them, and I'm level 60 now.

On another note, I'M 60!!! Woot! Lol. Finally caught back up on my storyline after having vastly outleveled it, I've done nothing but storyline stuff for the last 2 1/2 days, last time I touched it, I was doing stuff with a level cap of like 30. Now I've caught up and just finished doing a level 60 cap storyline, got to kill a dragon in the process, which I have to say was pretty freaking amazing!

[Turalisj]

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Karma

[Starwulf]

In other words, it is pretty much useless until you hit 80, at which point in time you can get some exotic equipment with it. thrilling!

[Turalisj]

You can buy recipes and items with it from various karma vendors.

Level 80 is when the game truly opens up, because that's when everything in the game becomes available.

[Derjuin]

You can buy recipes and items with it from various karma vendors.

Level 80 is when the game truly opens up*, because that's when everything in the game becomes available.

*And becomes the most exciting game of Pretty Princess Dress Up ever!



In legendary news, I am now about 50% done with the Icy Runestones, which means i'm pretty close to being 50% done with the item itself. Still need the precursor though, which I'm imagining is going to be the worst part...

[Astrella]

In other words, it is pretty much useless until you hit 80, at which point in time you can get some exotic equipment with it. thrilling!

There's tons of Karma Vendors out there. Quite a few cooking ingredients are only karma bought and every heart person turns into a karma vendor selling armor / weapons or recipes or special stuff after you complete the heart.

[mucco]

Not to mention Legendaries, and cultural weapons.

[Starwulf]

Ahh, just had a great run in my Artificing crafting. went from 114 to 319 in one go. Literally gained 5 1/2 levels, putting me at level 73 right now.

A quick tip to ANYONE that is interested doing artificing. Buy jugs of water from the artificing vendor, and buy large quantities of the various dusts. Don't bother with ANY other recipies except refining ores and wood. Craft the potions, they are worth BIG crafting exp and just as big actual exp. You will usually gain 3k-7k crafting exp + nearly the same actual exp when it triggers on crafting the potions, often gaining you 2 crafting levels at a time, even at 300. Find the cheapest one to make(seems to be the dredge potions) and just spam the hell out of them. I'd probably have a lot more crafting materials if I had realized that pre-200. Once I hit 200 it finally hit me how much exp I was gaining, and from then on I spammed the potion recipies and skyrocketed up the ranks. Of course, feel free to discover the other potion recipies as well, first time discoveries are worth huge amounts of exp.

[Astrella]

I'm completely stuck in my jewelcrafting grind myself. I'm at 390 now, but Jewelcrafting doesn't get new recipes at 375, so I'm forced to grind 350 recipes cause I've discovered everything already... :/ Well, there's Exquisite Mythril Jewels and the assorted Trinkets but those need Globs of Ectoplasm and those are going 30 silver a piece right now. Guess it's time to start salvaging my rares instead of selling them.