torvon.6534

Hello.... I am not technical minded so forgive me if I leave stuff out or don't say it correctly. I have an iMac with Mojave 10.14.6 which is the highest I can go before losing the ability to play any 32 bit games. Mojave plays both. I purchased my iMac in 2014 and it runs nicely with no problems. It does have Intel processor. So, after reading all the 'what to do' threads, I couldn't understand much. I do know if I go with Catalina 10.15 O/S or Big Sur which is O/S 11 plus, I wouldn't be able to play nor use many of my applications and games.

I called an IT person who came to my house. It's his third trip since 2014. He set up my computer, then helped me out when I had a lot of viruses due to the protection program not doing what they were suppose to do.

Anyway, he set me up with Parallels since he felt it was easier for me to use than if he went bootcamp with windows. I am not familiar with windows. Anyway, Parallels did not work well, GW2 froze, was jerky and took long times to enter zones even if I was in a zone, went elsewhere then came back to the original zone. It still was jerky and took a while. That didn't bother me so much since I am not a big fighter. I stick with PVE and usually non-fighting stuff and only fight if I have to do so. I'm not a good clever fighter and am slow to respond. Been playing GW2 since inception in 2012 and before that I played GW original, Rift, WoW and EQ and EQ2.

Then my IT person decided it would be better to use bootcamp. So now I'm typing this in bootcamp while GW2 is slowly downloading. in Windows 10. 64 bit. I think bootcamp is best for me. I've already played GW2 under windows 10 bootcamp and it was without any freezing and jerkiness or slowing down. The only time it took a while was when I first had to install GW2 and download part of the game before the play button lit up for available playtime.

My only problem now is trying to understand windows. It keeps shutting down - I think it sleep mode because it wakes up when I press my mouse or keyboard button. I haven't figured out how to change that setting. It is annoying as it takes a lot longer for downloads from GW2 to complete for play time. I play to only use bootcamp to play GW2. The rest of my computer time is on my iMac side of things. I did find out that Parallels is a very good program for Macs in the work arena or for lighter games, but it isn't very good for high end MMORPGs like GW2, WoW, EQ, Elder Scrolls and many others.

Hope my experience helps someone considering Parallels or bootcamp. I do play to play GW2 for many more years as it allows me to play and do things that I can do and accomplish. After 9 plus year, I have 5 characters who are all now at level 77. Each one has totally completed all zones up through 20. And I've managed to take a couple of them to some higher level 25 zones. All of them craft and the highest level crafter is now just hitting 300. I'm happy about what I have accomplished and the game is very challenging but still fun for me to explore.

Thank you Infusion.7149. I did read and re-read the Official GW2 site. I understood very little of that. Much didn't make sense to me at all. I presume the names berserker, harrier, minstrel for guardian pertain to the names of the weapons and clothing (equipment?) I get from killing a mobster or in a chest as a reward. Am I correct in understanding they have statistics that work better for what the guardian does than for other professions such as my mesmer or necro, etc?

I solo only because I do not do well in groups or in fighting (I'm too slow in figuring out what to do). I do not do dungeons or any other special group things like fractals. I have managed to help out with a few 'world' aka zone bosses - a warm and a fire eater and a purple monster in a swamp. I died mostly, but later when I tried again, those zone bosses died so fast I didn't have time other than hitting one or two skill buttons. Rewards for those bosses were not much, so I haven't bothered with them.

Mainly I stick with the explorations. I fail at any jumping puzzles including the so-called easy ones. I did get credit for a couple of them when someone 'transported' me to the finish line. That wasn't fun, nor did I feel like I accomplished something. So, I stick with the views, hearts, waypoints and points of interest. I like to try to find those goggles for diving into water.. I have vertigo, so I don't look after I hit the jump button. When I'm in an area, I walk around and check out every cave or building I can enter. If more than 3 monsters attack me, I usually die, but sometimes I surprise myself and do survive. Wish I could remember what I did to make that happen. I don't use hot keys, just the buttons on each side of the red health meter. As for hero points, I just click on each line starting from the first one until it fills up, then the next one, etc.

I see the picture of the "build template" - now I understand what I see with specializations. So each of those lines are specializations. I'd rather mix them up if I could. Some aren't helpful at all such as the Neco pets. I tried them and they only attack what I'm attacking. I'd rather have them attack something else while I'm fighting the other mobster. So, I don't like them at all. They really don't kill very fast if at all. I tried letting them kill a mobster and I didn't do anything other than target that one mobster. I could kill that mobster faster. LOL

The second line - unofficial wiki link is a lot easier to read and understand. Thank you very much for that. I shall study and re-read it and try out the information the best I can. I'm not sure about 'roles'. I guess my role is what ever I make up.

I appreciate your time and effort to assist me in learning more about GW2. :)

Ok, I hope this works...... Uh, can I please have a printed reference as to how these build templates and build storage works? Now, I'm a dummy.... i just use what even ArenaNet puts on my bar to fight. I have 5 characters. So far in 8 years I've managed to get to 65-70ish doing zones 1 through 15, and 3 zones 15-25 and part of the personal stories on each of my 5 ladies. But I can not figure out this build thing. What am I building? How do I build what ever it is I'm suppose to build. The game keeps asking me for a specialization but I haven't a clue what that is except maybe it is some build for all my characters. I have a guardian, ranger, mesmer, necro and elementals - one from each city if that makes a difference.

So, someone, please give me a printed reference (NO VIDEO) on what this build thing is. Thank you in advance to whomever helps me. Have a fun day in Tyria or in real life.

Dear Gaile Gray.6029

I read your wonderful article "Welcome to the New Guild Wars 2 Forums". I'm not sure if writing here is appropriate or not, but I am lost as to how to do things computer wise. I love that drawing of the quaggan on a hammock next to a plate of fish that was depicted in your article.

I would love to have a wallpaper of this drawing so I can put it on my iMac. A small jpg just doesn't do it. When I blow it up, all I see are pixels - very annoying. I hope you can assist me in my goal to add quaggan to my wallpaper on my computer. Much of the wallpaper GW2 offers is kinda 'dark' and violent. I would prefer something light and fun.

Thank you for all that you do.

torvon

In past games I've played that required mounts, I had severe problems in using them. So, when I had to hop on some mount because there was no other way to traverse the territory, i.e. an ocean, I closed my eyes. If I had to fight while in the air, I closed my eyes and hopefully I was far enough when I died I ended up in the zone I wanted to be. Jumping, flying, going too fast for me tends to make me very light headed and unfocused aka dizzy.

So, mounts are not for me.