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GW2 for Beginners: Tips & Hints
Arathir86
Member UncommonPosts: 442
Hello all,
If youre like me youre eagerly awaiting the next Beta Weekend and eventual release of GW2, but I have seen a lot of complaints or misconceptions arise from the last event that I thought it would be good idea to provide some helpful tips for people who havnt been following GW2 or are looking to get into it.
1. Dodging
Dodging is a major part of GW2's Combat System and it will take some getting used to in regards to timing and what you should be dodging.
First of all, go into the Options and turn off 'Double Tap to Dodge', This is of course up to personal preferrence but I find that double tapping WASD is a very inefficient and unreliable way to use Dodge. Now bind your Dodge to a easy to reach Key, such as X, C, or V.
Now you will be able to Dodge at the stroke of a Key in whichever dirrection you are moving.
2. Movement
Movement (just like dodging), is also a big part of combat. I suggest rebinding A & D Keys to strafe, This will also open up your Q & E keys for binding alternative skills.
It will also make circle-strafing a lot more comfortable to use while holding right-click to manuever the Camera.
For those who dont know what circle-strafing is, It is the act of strafing around your target in a (surprise!) circlular fashion, Because hitting a moving target is always harder than hitting a stationary one.
Note: Some people may also prefer using the ESDF movement set up, this opens up more keybinding options around your hand, but it may feel too alien for some and re-adjusting may take some time.
3. Keybinds
We've covered some basic keybinding already, but if you want to be competitive in PvP you'll need to be able to fire off your abilities in a split second, and using your 5 - 9 keys just isnt going to allow you to do that.
Personally I use a Razer Naga mouse, which allows me to easily use numbers 1 - 6 on my mouse without having to contort my thumb to extremes. But for those not using one, I suggest leaving your 1 - 4 as is, because they are easy to reach with your ring and index fingers, then rebinding your 5 - 9 abilities to keys close to your movement hand such as Q, E, R, T, Z, X, C, V, and G.
Unfortunately GW2 didnt have support fo Modifier Keys during the last Beta Weekend, but hopefully they will be adding functionality for it in the future so we can make use of Shift and Alt key combinations.
4. Find your Playstyle!
This may sound like an obvious thing to do, but I have seen so many people roll a certain class/profession because they thought it would fit their preferred playstyle, only to reach a certain level and get frustrated with their characters, or worse; continueing to play the character because theyve invested so much time into it already and then find themselves getting 'burned out' and sick of the game.
Luckily for us GW2 allows us to instantly hop into the Heart of the Mists, where your characters are max level and all skills are unlocked for you to use.
Also, when I say Instantly, I mean instantly: Create your Character, Press H and go to the PvP tab at the bottom, click the "Play Now" button, and as soon as you are in a game, go into your PvP tab again and hit the "Be in the Mists" button, which will bring you to the Heart of the Mists. You dont even need to complete the starting zone, Huzzah?!
Once you are in the Heart of the Mists, Swap around your Weapons/Traits/Utilities etc and test to your hearts content!
5. Become a Stalker
You read right. Become a Stalker.
A lot of the complaints I heard about GW2 from the last event were about Dynamic Events being too static and easy, what they dont realise is that they were doing Reknown Hearts, which are different to Dynamic Events.
Reknown Hearts are repeatable events which are denoted by the Hearts on your Map, these are static and will never change and they reset fairly regularly.
Dynamic Events on the other hand are events which go through a series of chains, meaning that players can fail them which will make the event branch into an entirely different set of objectives than if they had suceeded at them.
A lot of these Dynamic events can be found or heard about from NPC's that pepper the landscape.
One such event I encountered was retrieving some Ale for monks from the roadside, unfortunately I couldn't retrieve the Ale in time because the Centaurs had taken it before me, now I was tasked with going into the Centaur Camp and retrieving the Ale from enemy territory.
Another good example of such an event can be seen in this Video.
6. Help thy Neighbor
GW2 embraces the act of charity and rewards you for it. There is no Kill Stealing here, if you hit a mob and do significant amount of damage to it, you will get loot and XP from it, regardless of whether another player was already killing it.
Also, ressurect your fellow players. It doesnt take long to heal your allies and you even get experience for doing so!
Thats all I have for now, but I hope this is helpful for some people who may have been confused or having trouble with GW2, and I hope to see you in the next Beta Event.
Also, if you havnt found a guild for Guild Wars 2 yet, come check out the Ascension Alliance Community: EDGE Gaming | Team Legacy | Pain Train
"The problem with quotes from the Internet is that it's almost impossible to validate their authenticity." - Abraham Lincoln
Comments
Good list!
There is a good list of tips at the following link with some more specifics.
A few specific tips for the next Weekend Beta Event
This is the list, but the site has the specific tip details:
Your biography at character creation determines how your personal story plays out
Learn to Kite/dodge attacks
Downed state and death
Auto-attacking
Show cooldown timers on your ability bar
Fast-Cast Ground Targeting
Auto-loot
Easy way to tell if an ability is within range
Waypoints, PoIs, skill ups, and tasks
Scouts & Tasks
Check your mail for rewards from tasks!
Dynamic events and Karma
Effective Level
Joining your friends that play other races
Weapon abilities and their unlocking
How to check if you are in the overflow
Three layers of maps
Aquatic weapons
High Res Screenshots & 3D screenshots
Gathering & its benfits
Upgrade slots & salvage kits
Armoring dyes – change your dyes anytime, anywhere
Deposit Collectible for crafting materials!
One bag and auto bag sorting
Bank is shared accountwide
PvP: Structured vs WvW
No trading with other players, mail it to them!
Auction house, accessible and no need to wait for buyers/sellers
Boons and Conditions
Offline mode & friend list
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
Good list, disagree on the Razr Naga however. I bought one last year and it was so god awful to get used to. 14 years of Muscle Memory cannot be changed for some of us. I'm hoping that Modifier keys are implemented soon as its the only negative thing I dislike about the game currently.
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You don't really need a lot of keybinds anyway. Only 10 skills at any given time.
Personally, I would use 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, Q, E, R, T, V.
Very good advice. Especially the dynamic events. I'd also recommend playing WvW with the next beta. Lots of fun and puts a different perspective on the game.
I'll second that. Especially for older people, who are VERY used with certain setups, adding a product like that is cumbersome and clunky. It is for me, and there is no force on the planet that will make me change from my Logitechs MX518.
But apparently the amount of shortcuts in this game is quite limited, so it shouldn't be very difficult to find a layout that works for you without special hardware.
If you are young and spry, then go for it, if you think it would help.
The 518 is the best mouse on the face of this planet. I've had it for years and it still works flawlessly.
I bought 3 of them when my last mouse failed. Several years ago (5? 7?). I still have 2 unopened boxes in my closet, because the one I started using is still going strong, even after all these years of abuse, children manipulation and minimal maintenance.
It is the kind of mouse you can flail people skinless with, and it will still work. Only roaches and 518s will survive the nuclear holocaust.
I would also add:
EXPLORE
This game is extremely friendly to people who like to explore. While stalking is a good tip (following other players to see what random events you can stumble upon), there's still a lot of stuff that is hidden around the world, that you are likely to miss, if you just follow what everyone else is doing.
Some examples: (spoilers)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWqLp5wcMxs - Hidden Garden
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6X_q48ldaY0&NR=1&feature=endscreen - Observatory
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=81mwQ4i_AwE&feature=related - WvW 3keys puzzle
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pEsNIBgBF_M&feature=related - Demongrub pits
Sometimes the rewards are actually kinda good, sometimes not as much. Anyway, if you are trying to experience as much of the game as you can, I've found it's best to save the lvl grinding for release. You'll have pleanty of time to hit 80 then, and the game doesn't really change much from lvls 10-80 (aside from traits & skills). You just get a whole lot more content to experience.