Guild Wars 2

[PC Master Race]

So, I'm finally getting back in the game, after a long period of inactivity and lack of interest, and after forcing myself to unlock the dragon mount in the game, to make my life easier (at least with moving around).

My plan for Guild Wars 2 is going to be as follows, for all of my characters...

---

MAJOR DLCs :

- Heart of Thorn : Any character of mine that has not started this expansion, I'm completely skipping it. Both the main story and the explorable maps. I've done the story 3 times already, and I'm too burned out trying to grind for achievements. The maps are awful to navigate (FUCK the Tangled Depths !), and the hero challenges awfully hard to fight (they're usually at CHAMPION rank). I've fully trained the masteries "Gliding" and "Ancient Magic", which can be used outside Heart of Thorn areas, so I can safely put this expansion off my list for good.

- Path of Fire : Any character of mine that has not started this expansion, I'm skipping the story (not really for me anymore), but I'll still fully explore the maps to get the hero points to train the elite specializations. The hero challenges here are way easier, with the enemies usually only at veteran.

- End of Dragon : Haven't finished the full story yet, but so far actually pretty good to keep me going forward (also, the Asian theme is enjoyable). The maps are rather fun, and the hero challenges are OK for me to get the points. Also, gotta get the turtle mount.

- Secret of the Obscure : Fully completed story once, with my Untamed (Ranger). Doesn't really get me looking forward as it progresses like in End of Dragon, but still pretty good, and not too long, so I think I can handle it 8 more times...

- Janthir Wilds : I haven't bought this yet, so I can't say for sure. Although, I'm more for the on-land spear weapon and the warclaw mount (basically an armored cat), than the actual story, at this point...

---

LIVING WORLDS :

- Season 1, 2 and 3 : Same reason as Heart of Thorn, I'm just going to completely ignore all of them. I'm too burned out from the damn achievements.

- Season 4 and 5 : Also skipping them, since the areas have no hero challenges for me to get points, and I don't really care much for the story here.

---

OTHERS :

- Ascended and Legendary equipment : I MIGHT get to this at some point, but not now.

---

And that's for the expansions. As I mentioned, I plan to fully train all 3 elite specializations for every of my 9 characters, and I do plan to try and practice with them too.

I can safely say that my Reaper (Necromancer) is my solid pick for the entirety of the game, for now. Extremely tanky, decent raw damage and health-siphon damage, and a ton of AOE attacks. Capable of clearing mobs and solo-ing big bosses with little to no issues, unless the bosses have weird mechanics and/or there's a timer.

Also, JoJo pose with me (left) and my son (right) ! I'm playing as my Scrapper (Engineer) on the left, he's playing as a Deadeye (Thief) on the right.

 

[Icepaw]

It's quite the fun game, latest DLC gave us housing too so..I'll need to dabble with that at some point. I just wish the last two waves of story would of had the female charr voice lines as now to hear my character I gotta use one of my guys lol

 

[PC Master Race]

It's quite the fun game, latest DLC gave us housing too so..I'll need to dabble with that at some point. I just wish the last two waves of story would of had the female charr voice lines as now to hear my character I gotta use one of my guys lol

My son is still getting into the game, but he is really enjoying the game and is super excited for the latest DLC (mainly for the housing), so I hope he doesn't get disappointed~

As for the lack of voice acting in the new episodes, that's one reason I wait until the full DLC is out before I buy it.

Though, I'm more concerned about on-land spears. What's your take on them ?

 

[Icepaw]

Every class plays differently with spears, Rangers throw them but I quite like how they work for elementalist especially with the hero spec of Weaver. I've not tried spear with everyone despite having a charr of every class but engineer's spear is very...electric I suppose. I unlocked a ascended spear that's like a fiery meteor shard forged into a spear and my elementalist uses it. Honestly it's now my elementalist's weapon of choice as it's quite fun but weaver elementalist makes it even wilder and god I could play that gal forever but I've sadly not had time to log in lately. They also opened up new weapons to each class and I think one of the expansions opened up the ability to use the weapons of hero specs without being them which I've also not dabbled with too much but I did hear hammer mechanist engineer is wild fun.

Player housing meanwhile is given to you as part of the story in Janthir, once unlocked every character can open the gate to pop by the personal house. It grants you a special crafting skill to build the furniture but it uses materials from a lot of different things, fancier the furniture the more exotic the parts needed but also seems to require a lot of Janthir stuff too. There's a guy in the special housing zone that I think sells you trophies for a part from world bosses you can place anywhere you like. The housing zone is more than just the house but all your personal instance stuff moves to the personal house and kinda sorts itself. You unlock more rooms of the house using the homestead mastery system but the last part of that isn't a room expansion it's to let you auto loot all of your mines and such. They also allow warclaws outside of WvW and there is a mastery tree for them too, one to basically appease the kodan as well but I think it's the first part of the kodan tree that unlocks land spear. I've unlocked my whole house but I'm at a loss for what to put in it, got a free table decoration from the deluxe bundle and it gave me the recipe to make more of the table. The first chunk of Janthir's story is voiced but the latest chunks they've yet to get female sylvari and female charr voices so..I guess I'll drag my guardian guy through things. I love hearing them speak, it immerses me in the story and I don't miss dialog that way too but...my mechanist gal being mute kinda bummed me out so i took a vacation from the game to not burn out and hopefully get her voice back but...no luck thus far.

I've got a charr of every class, done every story combo for Charr...I really kinda fell in love with the cats I couldn't rationalize not doing so. My guardian and ranger are guys..rest are ladies. Outside them I rolled two extras of other races to experiment with them some...an asura engineer who may become a phase smith as I'm enjoying the shield with engineer as they really pissed me off with how secondary pistols are pointless outside of two moves, and I rolled a Norn ranger as well... they're able to become beasts at one point and there was just more appeal than humans. I've honestly got no desire to ever roll a normal human as...well their story is too depressing for my taste, that and well Path of Fire shedding light on the reason behind why their gods left didn't help. I just couldn't get a personality for one together as their story is really depressing I mean wow... the writers really can write a sad story. Charr don't care for gods, we killed those trying to call their self our gods and that just sounded wild and had me hooked. Norn worship spirits of nature and are granted boons depending on which one favors them and that I could get behind too, Asura... kinda grow on you if you like the nerdy behavior they have although I could do without them possibly killing each other over inventions and ideas. I got into the game when an old friend suggested it, even got me into a furry guild called the Tail Swishers...I think they were called...wonderful people even if the former friend turned crude towards me randomly they're quite welcoming and they don't boot people for absence unlike the crud you get in other games

 

[PC Master Race]

Every class plays differently with spears, Rangers throw them but I quite like how they work for elementalist especially with the hero spec of Weaver. I've not tried spear with everyone despite having a charr of every class but engineer's spear is very...electric I suppose. I unlocked a ascended spear that's like a fiery meteor shard forged into a spear and my elementalist uses it. Honestly it's now my elementalist's weapon of choice as it's quite fun but weaver elementalist makes it even wilder and god I could play that gal forever but I've sadly not had time to log in lately. They also opened up new weapons to each class and I think one of the expansions opened up the ability to use the weapons of hero specs without being them which I've also not dabbled with too much but I did hear hammer mechanist engineer is wild fun.

Haven't really got the hang of it with Elementalist. My biggest issues are... underwater combat, and enemies that can reflect projectiles. I'm probably gonna need a ton of practice with elementalist (especially since each weapon with each element result in different attacks) before I can really decide for myself.

Engineer, I've fully trained Scrapper since it seems pretty simple and straightforward. I use rifle, bomb kit and some other explosive skills ; decent enough to get me through some areas, and enough crowd-control for me to quickly break enemies' defiance bar, but otherwise he's kinda so-so. I'm trying out pistol mechanist that focuses on condition damage, using toughess / vitality / condition damage, and it's far better to me. Pistol for long-range, bomb in case of being surrounded, and with my jade mech having conditon attacks, things look pretty nice. I just wish I could use the mech underwater, instead of just calling for a barrage, it feels lackluster for me. And I WISH the grenades were not ground-based... overall, engineer could seriously use some rework in my opinion.

Regarding the new weapons for each class : yeah, with Secrets of the Obscure, you can use weapon types without equipping the elite specializations, in addition to one more weapon type outside the specializations. So far, my favorite is Necromancer longsword and Guardian pistols.

Player housing meanwhile is given to you as part of the story in Janthir, once unlocked every character can open the gate to pop by the personal house. It grants you a special crafting skill to build the furniture but it uses materials from a lot of different things, fancier the furniture the more exotic the parts needed but also seems to require a lot of Janthir stuff too. There's a guy in the special housing zone that I think sells you trophies for a part from world bosses you can place anywhere you like. The housing zone is more than just the house but all your personal instance stuff moves to the personal house and kinda sorts itself. You unlock more rooms of the house using the homestead mastery system but the last part of that isn't a room expansion it's to let you auto loot all of your mines and such. They also allow warclaws outside of WvW and there is a mastery tree for them too, one to basically appease the kodan as well but I think it's the first part of the kodan tree that unlocks land spear. I've unlocked my whole house but I'm at a loss for what to put in it, got a free table decoration from the deluxe bundle and it gave me the recipe to make more of the table. The first chunk of Janthir's story is voiced but the latest chunks they've yet to get female sylvari and female charr voices so..I guess I'll drag my guardian guy through things. I love hearing them speak, it immerses me in the story and I don't miss dialog that way too but...my mechanist gal being mute kinda bummed me out so i took a vacation from the game to not burn out and hopefully get her voice back but...no luck thus far.

Warclaw can be used outside WvW, I learned that by accident, when I got into WvW section... because I don't have the Janthir DLC yet, but I can already use the mount. As for the house, I suppose I'll wait and see for myself... personally I'm not really into house building, but my son is super hyped for it, so I guess I should take a look too.

I've got a charr of every class, done every story combo for Charr...I really kinda fell in love with the cats I couldn't rationalize not doing so. My guardian and ranger are guys..rest are ladies. Outside them I rolled two extras of other races to experiment with them some...an asura engineer who may become a phase smith as I'm enjoying the shield with engineer as they really pissed me off with how secondary pistols are pointless outside of two moves, and I rolled a Norn ranger as well... they're able to become beasts at one point and there was just more appeal than humans. I've honestly got no desire to ever roll a normal human as...well their story is too depressing for my taste, that and well Path of Fire shedding light on the reason behind their gods left didn't help. I just couldn't get a personality for one together as their story is really depressing I mean wow... the writers really can write a sad story. Charr don't care for gods, we killed those trying to call their self our gods and that just sounded wild and had me hooked. Norn worship spirits of nature and are granted boons depending on which one favors them and that I could get behind too, Asura... kinda grow on you if you like the nerdy behavior they have although I could do without them possibly killing each other over inventions and ideas. I got into the game when an old friend suggested it, even got me into a furry guild called the Tail Swishers...I think they were called...wonderful people even if the former friend turned crude towards me randomly they're quite welcoming and they don't boot people for absence unlike the crud you get in other games

I'm actually pretty OK with Engineer off-hand pistol, myself. I actually don't think I can get the hang of shield, funny enough. And the reason I keep either pistol or rifle as main weapon for engineer is because, if enemies have projectile-reflection, I can switch to bombs or even the wrench. I will use the goddamn wrench as my melee weapon instead of the elixir gun as my long-range weapon, because my goodness is the elixir gun so god-awful, I can never get around it. And flamethrower ? I feel like I'm blowing warm air instead of actual flame, so pass. Grenades ? Way too slow for my taste, because I have to keep aiming at the ground... but, maybe if I use it in place of utility skills, perhaps not too bad. I'll have to try it later.

Regarding races : I've only played as charrs, no other races, because furries (lol). I have 9 of them, one for each class, and I don't think I have enough time or energy for anymore... as far as I'm concerned, the asura is nerdy but also kinda condescending and arrogant, not really my type. Norns are OK in my book. Humans, meh. Sylvary, also meh. It all comes down to charrs for furries (lol).

I play the game largely solo, or with my son. I've never, and I mean NEVER really felt like joining a guild. Heck, I've never even bothered to look for group either. Yes, I've missed out big content like fractals, strike missions, raids and so on, but I'm more a casual player and just wanna explore the world, instead of doing hardcore stuffs...

 

[Icepaw]

I'm probably gonna need a ton of practice with elementalist (especially since each weapon with each element result in different attacks) before I can really decide for myself.

That's why I love the weaver spec for them as it lets you mix and match elements, like with water I believe there was a combo that healed me and hurt my foes then there is shielding combos... it let me be more creative with things. Ability 1 & 2 are one element like I think prior one then 4 and 5 is next with 3 being the combo and with spear it got wild but I loved how it flowed for me when i understood the combos. Land spear moves are different than under water but yeah under water combat is annoying.

Janthir lets people unlock warclaw without WvW but it was also needed for the area i suppose, lot of jumps although I've used my dragon to get the mastery points scattered about. Was a pain to unlock prior to secrets but it feels more dear to me having raised it and gone through hell for it. The housing stuff is better experienced than spoken of as there's a lot to it but the basic materials for it like special lumber and such you can acquire in that area by trading in foraged lumber at the lumber mill they give you. There's a stable where you can see and pet all your mounts and your boat from end of dragons appears along the waterway you get but it's more for looks you can't really cruise too far. It's...massive as you can even decorate the land..it's like a personal guild hall in a way just without your guildmates making the strangest things. One of mine keeps making jumping puzzles in the guild hall out of furniture...take some thinking to finish but to each their own.

As for secondary pistol I used it a lot before myself, originally wanted to be a gunslinger engineer but the second pistol only being for spitting glue or fire bothered me, Engineers really got shafted on options at first but I like the robot I got following me around as it's like I got help should I need it. When it dies it heals back to full as a satellite and bombs people from the sky for me and any signet ability I use I never lose the passive benefits even if I use the active. I grew quite fond of mechanist real quick although idk how many of the end of dragons hero specs I'll use on other characters. I never was any good with the hammer, mace is alright but the hammer idk. My warrior uses the rifle and the berserker hero spec as well..yes it wants me to use the torch but I mainly took it as I liked my moves charged with fire...never was fond of torch. Shield for engineers has a thing that reflects projectiles and can be thrown at people like captain america which breaks the defiance bar some... didn't realize this till I ran experiments with it as the asura. I also make sure that if I got the gems I snag all the wolf skins for the jackal as they're wonderfully done.

I play it mostly solo, guild only helps me with advice or gets involved if I need the support. Used to have a friend who'd travel around and kill stuff with me but..he again turned really vile out of nowhere and he's not on the guild roster anymore so I guess the guild agreed with me on that but who knows. Guilds in the end are optional, unless you take the scribe crafting skill which is a guild related crafting skill that requires you be high enough rank to use the crafting forge for furniture in the guild hall... didn't know that but luckily for me my guild liked me enough to promote me so I could build that up, I try to make them some nice furniture now and then as thanks but it's the one crafting skill I don't got the maxed out backpack for yet. Mainly play Charr as I like the beastial races more than other ones in games...but yeah boils down to furries in a way... I only made an asura as they looked like they may be naked mole rat people but idk for sure...thought rabbit as well but they're just odd creatures all the same

 

[PC Master Race]

I will say this, though. Mesmer is everything you need for JoJo (lol). Chronomancer is pretty much all main bosses' time-controlling power, and Virtuoso throws knives so much you'd probably yell MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA MUDA like no tomorrow.

Jokes aside, I used to take the Nightmare Tower (Living World season 1) to determine which class is best for me to invest in... it was basically : if I can fight my way through them all, from bottom all the way to the top floor, then the class is OK for me. However, I realized that it was a horrible method, because the enemies' respawn rate was annoying, so I decided to just heck it and run past them all. The enemies in Lion's Arch are more tolerable than in that tower ; at least I didn't have to avoid the toxin or the satellite nuke, meh.

So, I'm just gonna practice the elite classes when not under pressure (that is, in Path of Fire areas, and not all hell on earth like Heart of Thorn because we don't talk about Heart of Thorn), to slowly get the hang of them. At the moment I'm grinding for my Mechanist, and I'm having fun with it. Dual pistol, bombs, grenades, jade mech ; condition damage and explosives, all packed together. But yeah, Engineers could really use some rework to be stronger. I get it that they're jack of all trades, but everything they do feel lackluster.

I might go for Elementalist next, and see how the class goes. For me, however, I don't think I can play Weaver, mixing and matching like that (there's already way too many weapon skills to try out, to begin with !). I prefer to focus on one at a time, so I think Tempest is the better option for me. Never tried Catalyst so I can't say for sure...

 

[PC Master Race]

I think Mechanist is gonna be my main focus for the time being, until I fully finish all 3 elite specializations.

Rifle, tool kit and bomb kit, combined with Jade Mech shooting at long-range, is hella fun. Probably even more enjoyable than condition-damage pistol Mechanist for me. This build I'm going for has a lot of explosives, so I guess you could say, I'm having a blast with it~ (I'm not sorry)

Despite my Reaper being the first one to explore Cantha (the Asian-themed DLC), I think I'll dedicate and fully complete this DLC with my Mechanist instead. This DLC is more modern and technology-based than all others, so I think it's only fair that my Mechanist gets to spend his time learning the new techs here first (starting with this Jade Bot thing), before my other characters follow.

Compared to previous DLCs and Living World seasons, this one certainly doesn't hold back the language, as far as I've seen. I was actually pretty surprised when I see NPCs saying 'ass' and 'crap' and other similar words. Things like, "She works her ass off...", or "Any asshole can 'master' that !", you get the idea. And, you know what ? I like it.

Also, I had some good chuckles during the story so far...

Spoiler: Gorrik is a gem

"After Amnoon, I swore I'd never go back in. One time, unfortunate misunderstanding. Two times, I start to question myself."

"Prison changes you..."

"I'm not built for hard time, Commander. There's still so much to learn ! So much science to be done... !"

"Never even got a chance to tell... I won't die in this cell, you hear me ? I won't ! Jail my body, but my mind is free !"

"Okay, okay. Calm down, everyone. Think..."

"Scrap metal ! If we find some, we can hone it into a, whatisit, a "shiv". We have to establish dominance."

"And the biggest, most intimidating inmate - and stab him ! In the carotid artery ! In front of the whole cafeteria !"

"Oh, but- if we do, then what have we become ? Are we...monsters, Commander ? And were we, all along ?"

"Maybe prison doesn't change you. Maybe it reveals you..."

"No. We do what we must to stay alive. In the insect world, there is no morality. Only the strongest survive."

"And so shall we. We must be as ruthless as the beetle. As deadly as the mantis. As resilient as the roach."

(During his whole monologue, I think my character is wondering if he has watched too many corny action movies in his free time for his own good...)

Spoiler: Bureaucracy, am I right ?

(So my character has to deal with some paperwork, and has to wait for number 153...)
"Number nine. Serving number 9."

"About time ! I've been waiting all morning ! I oughtta complain to your manager !"

"So sorry ! Let me help you process your paperwork, and then I'll help you file a customer complaint !"

"Hmph."

"Okay! Number 43. Step right up !"

"I just moved and was told to file a change-of-address with the Ministry of Transit."

"Oh, so sorry ! This appears to be the olive-green form. The change-of-address form is more of a line-green, or chartreuse."

"Please, I've been here for hours !"

(The scene cuts to black. My character gets so bored he literally falls asleep, until...)

"Number 153 ! It's your turn. Please step forward."

(I can't even describe to you how painfully and hilariously accurate this is in Vietnam. The waiting in queue, the number of forms needed for the paperwork... yikes.)

Spoiler: Take That, Bureaucrats !

(So, when it's my character's turn to fill in the application for a permit, I have options to just fuck it up with the information. Now, I like to avoid troubles and be an upstanding, law-abiding citizen in a foreign country, so...)

The first of these fields asks for you to enter your name : “Commander”
The next field on the travel papers asks you to fill out your race : “Tyrian”
The last field on the travel papers asks you to declare your purpose for travelling : "Saving the world from catastrophic entropy and chaos."

(And the officer is not amused.)

"Hm, well, okay. I'm sure you wouldn't lie on a government document."

(Suck on that !)

 

[Icepaw]

My mesmer is still around I think level 30 but the Virtuoso did seem interesting, no clue for my ranger's hero spec. Honestly I like that there are options, not every hero spec is going to work for everyone after all although my necromancer did go reaper. Idk about the path of fire one for necromancer but I might try the pistol wielding one at one point, I do like pistols in the game I just wish they didn't suck on some of the classes. I think guardians can dual wield them now but last I heard it was all buff related like how mesmer's rifle tends to be buffs and heals which...seems really weird. I already got a hero spec in mind for my thief in that they're going dead eye for the sniper kinda thing. Heart of Thorns though...yeah I hate it too, I was a Eir fan and well... she didn't deserve the pain she endured. Worse having to fight her to get at the dang dragon...my god I hate that fight as you can't hurt her unless you beat up her dog and that alone really bugs me. You knock it out and she insta rezzes it and yeah no add in her son's worthless in almost everything he does... I've never slain the forest dragon even once as I can't get past Eir....I've put every other one of the corrupted dragons down but Mordremoth and it bugs me. Seeing the elder dragons of ice and fire crush each other was wild but I started wishing the ice dragon infusion wasn't a pain to acquire as I actually liked how it looked, if there was a ice legion outfit or a Svanir's chosen outfit I'd snag it in seconds.

Cantha was a real relaxing and fun DLC, I actually manged to catch it when it came out rather than how path of fire had wrapped up before I was able to resume Guild Wars 2. So many nice skins for the boat, Mechanist was the thing that I wanted to try most and after figruing out the basics of it it did not disappoint, it also helped me essentially relearn the game as I'd enver known about the defiance bar before. Gorrik is an amusing little guy, I also managed to break out of the jail cell on one character but it really does end up soemthing you just gotta know how to do as the window for it isn't terribly long. I only completed End of dragon's entire story on my engineer and Guardian and well guess my guardian will be going into the obscure as while you can skip expansions the story feels weird at times doing so (despite the fact I always skip Heart of Thorns as fuck Maguuma) One fight from path of fire I hate is the sniper battle... god that one drives me nuts I doubt I'll ever get the achievement for beating it without getting shot but seeing what happens to Joko never fails to make me laugh at him as that smug guy deserves every moment of it lol