Basic guide for new players

[AngryPancake]

Hello everyone,
Since GW2 is releasing on steam on 23rd, I am going to write here a little guide with the basic stuff, that a new player might need to know or could be confused about. So here we go:

Part 1: Free to play vs Buy to play
If you decide to play as a free to play player, you will have access to everything in the base game. That means everything except content introduced with expansions. You will be able to reach max level 80 and play every profession (class) excel for Revenant which was introduced in Heart of Thorns expansion.
There will however be certain restrictions for free to play accounts, that are aimed towards countering bots adwertising third party services such as selling gold. Some of these restrictions are:
- You will not be able to use map chat
- You can only whispper to players who are in your friends list without restriction or to the players who are in the same map as you once every 30s
- You cannot leave starting zone until you are level 10
- You cannot enter Lions Arch (main city hub) until you are level 35

Part 2: Race / Class selection
Picking your race in GW2 is purely cosmetic and does not affect your gameplay in any way.
There are 9 classes in GW2 to choose from. Eventually at level 80 if you purchase an expansion, these classes can choose an Elite specialization (subclasses). Each of these coresponds with a specific expansion. I will not go into details here, because that would very long. Instead I will link a post to a youtube video explaining each one. These classes / subclasses are:
Warrior - Berserker / Spellbreaker / Bladesworn
Guardian - Dragonhunter / Firebrand / Willbender
Revenant - Herald / Renegade / Vindicator

Ranger - Druid / Soulbeast / Untamed
Thief - Daredevil / Deadeye / Specter
Engineer - Scrapper / Holosmith / Mechanist

Necromancer - Reaper / Scourge / Harbinger
Elementalist - Tempest / Weaver / Catalyst
Mesmer - Chronomancer / Mirage / Virtuoso

Each of the elite specializations are tied to their respective expansions in the following order - Heart of Thorns / Path of Fire / End of Dragons
Here you can see all of them explained by Kyosika: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y4D2dqG0eoE&ab_channel=Kyosika

Part 3: Options
So you have finally made it into the game. Before you go off on an adventure, press ESC and click Options. Here you want to adjust some gameplay / graphicals settings.

In the general options tab:
- make sure you have checked Show All Usable Object Names
- uncheck Double-Tab to Evade (bind it to a key of your preference in key bindings- default is V)

In Graphics Options tab:
- change Reflections to None (this option is not exactly optimized and is being processed even when it shouldnt be)
- check Effect LOD (this will limit the particle effects of AoE and other players attacks so you are actually able to see what the hell is going on in a group)
- there are also two special options called CHaracter Model Limit and Character Model Quality. Whenever you are at a big event with 50 or a 100 players around. Your FPS will drop like a rock. Changing both of these options to Lowest will drasticly improve your performance at big events. So when you are at a big events drop these to Lowest and then when the event is over put them back on whatever you prefer. This will easily give you +30 FPS on those events.

Part 4: Action Bars
In GW2 Your action bars are separated into multiple different sections.
Weapon skills - These are skills from 1 through 5 and these skills depends on your class and a weapon you are currently using. For example a Warrior using a Greatsword will have different abilities than a Warrior using a Hammer. At the same time a Guardian using a Greatsword will have different abilities than a Warrior using a Greatsword.
Healing skill - Skill slot number 6 is a designated healing skill. Every class will have a healing skill in this slot.
Utility skills - Skills numbers 7, 8, 9. These are generally your smaller cooldown skills that you can choose specificaly and do not depend on your weapon.
Elite skill - Skill slot number 10. Elite skills are generally (but not exclusively) very powerful abilities with longer Cooldown than other abilities.

You can unlock healing, utility and elite skills in your training tab. Open Hero panel in the top left (or press H) go to Training tab and spend the hero points you have collected to unlock new abilities. Do not worry you will unlock everything by the time you reach level 80.

Part 5: Map Icons
When you open your map, you will se several icons in there. These Icons will either be hollow of filled. Hollow icons mean you have not explored them yet, while filled icons mean you have already explored them.
Waypoints - have a diamond shape on a map. Waypoints are used as a fast travel options in GW2. Simply open your map and double click on any waypoint you want to instantly teleport to.
Hearts - Hearts are the closest thing GW2 has to a Quest. You simply get to the area and in the top right corner of your map it will show you what to do in order to fulfill the Heart. Upon completion you will get XP. There is no need to talk to any NPC.
Vistas - Represented on map as two red triangles, Vistas are a place, that generaly requires some figuring out how to get to it and when you do you can interact with it to play a short cutscene showing you the surrounding area.
Hero Challenges - Reperesented by a white Arrow on map. Doing hero challenges gives you 1 hero point, which you can later spend to unlock utility skills and specializations
Points of Interest - Represented by a small square. These are simply places you go to and get a little bit of XP.

Part 6: Items and Itemization
In Guild wars 2 there are 8 types of item quality each of them having its name in specific collor. Those are:
Gray < White < Blue < Green < Yellow < Orange < Pink = Purple
Also know as:
Junk < Common < Fine < Masterwork < Rare < Exotic < Ascended = Legendary

The only factors in how good an item is are the level it requires to be equiped and its rarity. There is no hidden item level. A level 80 Ascended item will always have the same stats as any other level 80 ascended item of the same slot and same stat combination. Speaking of stat combination:
In GW2, stats on gear are not randomly rolled. Instead there are specific stat presets that the item can have. For example an item can have a berserker preset. That means, that the item will allways have Power, Precision and Ferocity as its stats. You can see all possible stat combination in the link below:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Attribute_combinations

You will sometimes encounter an Item, that has no stats at all. When you get this item, simply right click on it and select "Customize". This will let you select any stat combination from the pool available. This choice is permanent (only exception to this are legendary items, which can have their stats changed whenever you want)

Part 7: Stats
Speaking of Stats, what do they do? Here is a quick explanation of all stats in the game. These stats are universal for all classes and do the exact same thing on any of them.

Power - Increases your alpha damage. The more power you have the bigger number you see when you swing your sword.
Precision - Increases your critical strike chance
Toughness - Damage resistance. More tougness means you take less damage.
Vitality - Increases max HP
Concentration - Increases duration of Boons you apply (see part 8 for boons / conditions explanation)
Condition damage - Increases damage you deal with damage over time effects such as bleeding, burning or torment
Expertise - Increases the duration of Conditions you applly (see part 8 for boons / conditions explanation)
Ferocity - Increases critical strike damage
Healing power - Increases your healing output

Part 8: Boons / Conditions
Boons / Conditions are basicly Buff / Debuffs you can see in other MMOs. They are however a bit different. In GW2 Boons / Condition usually last very short amount of time, however they are very powerful. I will not go into each and every one of them as you will eventually figure them out on your own and for most of them, their names are quite self explanatory. You can see more info about them using the links below:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Boon
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Condition

Part 9: Builds
This part is very important. Because as Arena Net said themselves. The difference between a player with a good build and a player with a bad build can be, that the player with a good build can do up to 10 times more damage.
You can see your build in your Hero panel (press H) click on the second tab called Build. Here you can see 3 specialization slots which will unlock upon reaching certain levels. These basicly represent talents from other MMOs. Each class has 5 specializations + 3 Elite specializations. You can choose to have 3 specializations active at a time. This means either 3 basic specializations or 2 basic specializations + 1 elite specialization (which can only be used in the bottom slot)
You can look up some builds for your class for any content in the game via the link below. However I strongly recommend you do not look at this before reaching level 80 as this will take away from the initial enjoyment from the game. But definitely check it out at level 80.
https://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

Part 10: Abbreviations
In GW2 there are tons of Abbreviations, that are unique to the game. If you sometimes see players saying stuff you do not understand, such as "T4 + Recs p+f HFB", you can consult the link below explaining most of them:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Abbreviations

Part 11: Usefull tips
1) When you have full inventory. Click on the Cube with Arrow Icon in the top right of your inventory. This will deposit all crafting materials you have in your inventory directly into a special Crafting material storage. Instantly freeing you some space
2) When you encounter an Item in the game, that you do not know what it is for, you can type /wiki [item_name] ... this will open up your browser and direct you to a wiki page about that item. For example you can type /wiki Glob of Ectoplasm
3) Typing /wiki et will open up a page that shows all major events in the game and what times they become active.
4) do not sell gear you do not need. Instead buy Salvage kits and salvage those items into crafting materials


Are you still with me? If you made it all the way down here. You are an absolute CHAD and I wish you a great time in this awesome MMORPG.

[Amac]

The /wiki function is incredibly helpful. More MMOs need something like this.

[Sychon]

Originally posted by Amac:

The /wiki function is incredibly helpful. More MMOs need something like this.

Not many MMOs have such a well-maintained and extensive wiki. Not in my experience, anyway.

[AngryPancake]

Just bumping for the launch. Lets keep it at the top so new players can see.

[Guyver]

Part 10: Abbreviations
In GW2 there are tons of Abbreviations, that are unique to the game. If you sometimes see players saying stuff you do not understand, such as "T4 + Recs p+f HFB", you can consult the link below explaining most of them:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Abbreviations

See, this is why the English language is being bastardised.

[Tiberius]

Op needs to knw there's a guide section for this kind of thing on steam

[AngryPancake]

Originally posted by Tiberius:

Op needs to knw there's a guide section for this kind of thing on steam

Most people will never go to the guide section.

[Tiberius]

Originally posted by AngryPancake:

Originally posted by Tiberius:

Op needs to knw there's a guide section for this kind of thing on steam

Most people will never go to the guide section.

Better than the chance this thread gets buried under gazzilion other threads. Also the prospect of this thread gets locked because some jackass derail the thread. 🤧