Guild Wars 2: NEW PLAYER GUIDE

During your first 20 levels in Guild Wars 2, you'll learn how to control your character, get comfortable moving around the world, and start discovering your playstyle. Use our guide to find your way as you set out on your adventures!

Getting Started

This guide can also be found on the Guild Wars 2 website[www.guildwars2.com].

Home World

The first time you log in, you'll be asked to select a home world. Choose any world you like. You can play with friends on different home worlds if your worlds are on the same regional server (North America or Europe).

Your home world determines which team you'll fight for in World vs. World, a player vs. player game mode for level-80 characters.

Creating Your Character

The character-creation screen will guide you through setting up your first character and choosing their race, profession, and appearance.

You'll also define their background and personality. These choices will set you down different initial story paths, but there are no wrong decisions--pick what sounds most interesting to you!

Names are unique to each character. If the given name you want is taken, try adding a last name or prefix to make it truly yours.

Movement

Control your character using your keyboard and mouse. To move in any direction, use the [W], [A], [S], and [D] keys. To attack with your weapon and use your skills, press numbered keys from [1] through [9].

To rotate your camera view, hold down the right or left mouse button and move your mouse.

A list of keys and the functions they're bound to can be found in the Control Options tab of the Options panel. You can customize the default key bindings to suit your comfort and your hardware.

Tutorial Instance

Your story kicks off with something big happening. To learn what you should do, check the content guide in the top-right corner of your screen. It'll provide information on your next steps and point you in the right direction.



Green stars and circles appear on your compass minimap in the lower right-hand corner to show you where to go to continue your story. Follow your compass to find them!

The tutorial instance is a good place to practice moving around and using your weapon skill. Enemies here are easy to defeat, and you can take down the final boss with help from the story characters.

Combat

Target an enemy to see information about them at the top of your screen. This includes their portrait, their health bar, and a hint about their special abilities.

You'll use skills to battle enemies. The skills are arranged on a bar at the bottom of your screen, and you can use them by pressing the keyboard keys they're bound to (displayed in white in the upper-left corner of the icon). After using a skill, its icon will display a countdown until you can use it again.

When a new skill is added to your bar, move your mouse cursor over it to see a tooltip full of information. You'll learn how much damage the skill does, what resources it requires, and whether it has any extra effects on enemies, such as stunning or freezing them.

Avoiding Damage

In Guild Wars 2, it's possible to avoid many enemy attacks by staying out of range. If you see an ogre lift its club, stand back! If you can't get out of the way in time—or an archer or mage has a long-range attack lined up with your name on it—try dodging. Tap one of your movement keys twice, and you'll roll in that direction out of harm's way. Performing dodges depletes the yellow endurance bar above your health indicator.

Dodging and avoiding attacks takes practice. As you fight different enemies, you'll learn to identify their most powerful attacks and time your dodges to avoid them.

Healing

Every profession has a way to heal damage. You can find your healing skill in the sixth slot on the skill bar. If you're taking too much damage, heal yourself by pressing [6] on your keyboard.

Into Tyria

After you defeat the tutorial boss, you'll be just outside your race's capital city in your starting map. Your compass will guide you to nearby activities.

Exploring

You're encouraged to explore the vast world of Tyria. Every area is full of secrets, surprises, and people to discover, and you'll earn experience points for your character no matter what you do. Set out in any direction and see what you find!

World Map

Feeling overwhelmed? Check your world map by pressing [M].

You can clear the fog from your map by exploring it. When you discover a new area, check your map for new hearts, waypoints, vistas, hero challenges, and points of interest.

RENOWN HEARTS

A nonplayer character (NPC) needs help. Fill the bar on the upper-right side of your screen by doing tasks in the area around the heart. After you've filled the heart, you'll find rewards in a chest above your compass, and you can visit the NPC to purchase items with a special currency called karma.

VISTAS

Interact with these icons to see incredible views of the area. You might have to do a little jumping and climbing to get to them, and some are more challenging to reach than others!

POINTS OF INTEREST

These icons indicate landmarks, such as towns or natural phenomena. They're hotspots for activities, events, mysterious circumstances, and unusual characters.

WAYPOINTS

Unlock a waypoint by getting close to it, and you can instantly travel there in the future by opening your world map and clicking on it. Teleporting to a waypoint costs a small fee unless you're in a city. If enemies attack an area near the waypoint, the waypoint may become temporarily unavailable.

HERO CHALLENGES

Hero Challenges require you to complete different tasks, from defeating a boss to channeling power in a dangerous area. After reaching level 11, spend the hero points you earn in the Training tab of your Hero panel to learn new skills.

Events

Life in Tyria is always on the move. If you see a character doing something interesting, try following them. If enemies are attacking a defenseless camp, pitch in and help! You'll probably find an event. These special activities reward experience points and coin. Sometimes success will also net you items, access to a secret area, or a new event to join.

Orange circles and markers on your compass show you where an event is taking place.

Adventurers flock to events to lend a hand, so they're a great way to meet other players. Following along with groups of fellow players is also a perfect way to find new events!

Your Story

Every ten levels, you'll be able to complete another chapter of your character's personal story. Completing them will lead you to new areas and reward you with equipment and items. You'll also make friends with important characters and learn more about the world of Guild Wars 2.

Leveling Up

Almost everything you do in Tyria grants experience points. If you like playing in an area, you can stay there for as long as you like and keep earning EXP. As you level up, you'll unlock new skills and features. Sometimes you'll also be awarded a choice of equipment and other gifts.

Equipment

Common vendors sell some armor and weapons, but more powerful equipment can be found by fighting enemies, unlocking karma merchants by completing renown hearts, and working on your personal story.

Equipment with a colored name contains attribute boosts. If you have a choice of items and aren't sure which attributes to pick, lower-level characters can all benefit from the power attribute. This strengthens your attacks even if you have only a few skills unlocked.

Gear Progression

Basic Equipment (White)

• Defense: 9

Fine Equipment (Blue)

• Defense: 15
  
• +3 Power
  
• +2 Ferocity
  
• Required Level: 5

Masterwork Equipment (Green)

• Defense: 51
  
• +12 Power
  
• +16 Healing Power
  
• Required Level: 45

Advanced Combat

Equipping New Weapons

Every profession can choose from a variety of weapons. The first five skills on your bar are your weapon skills and change only when you equip a different weapon.

You can equip weapons from your inventory by right-clicking one and selecting Equip from the list of options. To see all your weapons and other equipment, open your Hero panel by pressing [H]. Select one of the slots next to your character's portrait to view all the items you can add to that slot, and then choose the one you want to equip.

As you level up, you'll gain access to more skills. Most of the skills you'll use early on are determined by your weapon, so try equipping different types of weapons to find a fighting style you enjoy.

Fight to Survive and Reviving Allies

Your character's health is displayed in a red circle in the middle of your skill bar. If your health is depleted by an enemy, don't count yourself out yet! You'll enter a downed state and have one last chance to fight for survival. The skills you have access to in this state aren't as powerful as your combat skills, but they may be enough to finish off a weakened enemy or hold out until another player revives you.

Defeat an enemy while downed and you'll rally, gaining some health and rejoining the fight. If you're downed again a short time after rallying, you'll have less time to save yourself before being defeated.

You'll be defeated if your health bar is fully depleted while in a downed state. In this state, you can open your map using M to select a waypoint to travel to, or you can wait for another player to revive you.

Anyone can revive players who have been downed or defeated. Downed players will have a blue marker over their heads to let their allies know they need help. Try to revive them if you can do so safely! They'll be back in the fight in no time.

Each time you're defeated, your armor becomes less durable. Repair merchants and anvils are found in friendly outposts and cities, providing free repairs whenever you need them.

Your Inventory

Open your inventory by pressing ( I ). You'll always have one bag equipped, and you can purchase more from vendors. Learning the crafting disciplines of tailoring, leatherworking, or armorsmithing will allow you to craft your own bags.

• Sell items with a gray name to vendors for extra coin.
  
• Check all the equipment you find to see if it improves your defense rating, power, or other attributes. If so, equip it!
  
• Buy a salvage kit from a vendor and break down equipment you can't use. Save the materials you get back to use in crafting, or sell them to other players on the Trading Post.

To access the Trading Post:

• Click the Black Lion icon at the top of your screen or press [O]
  
• Choose the balanced scales icon from the sidebar.

Players with Play for Free accounts can buy and sell a limited selection of items. Deposit crafting materials straight to your bank by tapping the gear icon in the upper-right corner of your inventory panel and choosing "Deposit All Materials." The next time you visit a bank, you'll find them in your Material Storage.

Gathering

Earn extra experience points while stocking your bank with useful materials! Once you reach level 10, purchase sets of Copper Harvesting Sickles, Copper Logging Axes, and Copper Mining Picks from a common vendor. Equip them and look for gathering nodes on your compass minimap as you explore. When you find a node, interact with it to gather.

Each gathering action uses up a tool, so you'll need to restock when your stack of tools runs out. Higher-level materials require higher-level tools to gather.

Community

Joining a Guild

One of the best ways to make friends with other players and learn about the game is to join a guild. Guild recruiters often advertise in map chat in major cities like Divinity's Reach.

If you're feeling lost or have questions, our community is friendly and helpful! Visit the official forums[en-forum.guildwars2.com] and try searching for keywords related to your question. Chances are very good that someone has asked it and gotten an answer.

YOU'RE NOW READY TO PLAY GUILD WARS 2

Good luck on your adventures in Tyria and have fun!