Just some small questions

[Beetlezombie.1283]

Hello everyone,

 

It has been a long time since I played GW2. Played maybe until a year after launch. So here goes:

 

1- Are there new tier grinds for gear? I totally wasn't interested in grinding back in the day so I'm sure not interested in it now. My Engineer is wearing an orange gear set (rampagers'?) and my rifle is Zenith Rifle. Is this still decent?

 

2- I'm planning on purchasing both expansions. HoT really seems interesting and full of content. However, I still haven't done most of the world (67% completion). Can I just hop into the HoT content?

 

3- Crafting? Is it necessary? My bags are overflowing with gathering and crafting parts. Do you need maxed out crafting professions in order to make a legendary?

 

Sorry for the probably stupid questions, but damn this game right now is making me feel old and confused :-p.

 

[Tommo Chocolate.5870]

> @"Beetlezombie.1283" said:

> 1- Are there new tier grinds for gear? I totally wasn't interested in grinding back in the day so I'm sure not interested in it now. My Engineer is wearing an orange gear set (rampagers'?) and my rifle is Zenith Rifle. Is this still decent?

 

There's one new tier of gear, Ascended (pink). It's only really needed for high-end instanced PvE, and possibly WvW. Ascended armour is a hassle to get, since you either need to craft it, or get it as a drop (incredibly rare outside of the aforementioned high-end instanced PvE). Ascended trinkets are easier to get, since you can buy them for laurels (log-in reward currency) or for various map-specific currencies from Living World Season 3 and 4 maps.

 

When you say "gear set", does that include trinkets? (Amulet, rings, accessories, and backpack?) Because most of you stat bonuses come from those, so that will make a difference. I've never used Rampager's gear, but it looks like it should be decent for condition builds. Since rifle is primarily a power weapon, it might not go so well with that - though with Engineer it depends a lot on what kits you're using.

 

> 2- I'm planning on purchasing both expansions. HoT really seems interesting and full of content. However, I still haven't done most of the world (67% completion). Can I just hop into the HoT content?

 

If you're level 80, you can hop into the HoT content without doing world completion or completing the personal story. However, the step up in difficulty is quite noticeable, so it would probably be worth refamiliarising yourself with the game first. I'd recommend playing Living World Season 2 first, if you have it - it's harder than the core game but easier than HoT, so bridges the difficulty gap quite nicely. If you don't have it unlocked, you can still go to the open world zones it introduced (Dry Top and The Silverwastes).

 

> 3- Crafting? Is it necessary? My bags are overflowing with gathering and crafting parts. Do you need maxed out crafting professions in order to make a legendary?

 

Crafting is necessary for certain stat combinations. The main one is Viper's, which is the most commonly used combination for condition builds; it can only be crafted, and requires HoT. Crafting is also the most reliable way to get Ascended armour and weapons, and you need to max out the relevant crafting discipline for it. I'm not sure about crafting a legendary, since I've never done it.

 

You can deposit up to 250 of each crafting material in the material storage section of the bank - either right click on the item and click "deposit material", or click the cog icon at the top of your inventory and "deposit all materials" if you want to deposit everything.

 

> Sorry for the probably stupid questions, but kitten this game right now is making me feel old and confused :-p.

No need to apologise, they were sensible questions!

 

 

[Shailyn Slay.7234]

1) There is a 'new' highest tier of gear (asencended quality, pink), but its only ~5-10% better and therefore *not required* for anything but the absolute endgame (raids & high level fractals, which need the AR infusion slots). It's kind of grindy to get though, since it crafting it is time gated and other methods are very expensive.

The "orange" gear (exotic quality) you have is perfectly fine for almost all content, you could even do raids with it if people aren't to uptight about it (you'll probably need to use other stat combinations though, to play the most efficient meta build).

 

2) The only requirement for both HoT & PoF is a lvl 80 character (you don't even have to finish the core storyline), so you can probably jump right in. Be aware though that especially HoT has much tougher enemies, so you might want to get familiar with combat in one of the core maps for a bit first.

 

3 ) The legendaries from core/vanilla have always required to (2 weapon specific) crafting professions at 400 (max level back then, now it's 500 due to ascended gear). With HoT the possibility to craft precursors (often quite expensive, potentially more than buying from TP) was introduced which does require crafting at 450-500 and is also the only way to acquire precursors for the newly introduced 'generation 2' legendaries.

Crafting is also the easiest way to obtain your first set of ascended gear, but I wouldn't recommend to rush that - its a long term goal (and requires huge amount of materials compared to exotic gear).

[rng.1024]

1. Orange (exotic) work just fine. Like the others have said there is a new tier, but it's mostly about these extra little slot in them called "infusion slots" which you will only need for high level fractals. You can either wait for ascended gear to drop: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Zojja%27s_Armor_Chest

Or you can manually craft them, which will require you to only max out the crafting profession that makes armor of that class. (Armorsmith for heavy, Leatherworker for medium and Tailor for light). Keep in mind this is a huge time and gold sink.

 

2. Yes you can, although the story might seem a little weird of you never played through your personal story in the core game. Plus the enemies are alot more punishing.

 

3. Crafting isn't actually necessary at all, most equipment can now be bought easily or comes as drops. Ofc if there is a specific item you need, that needs to be crafted, then you will need to level that crafting discipline. Use this so you don't waste gold: http://gw2crafts.net/weaponcraft_400.html

 

As for you crafting materials - do a full purge. Sell everything in your inventory and bank on the trading post for a massive boost in gold. These materials build so fast and you only need a select few when crafting something. And even then they can be bought if you come up short. As a general rule, sell every material you don't use in your current crafting project. This way you get more gold to spend on the mats you need so you can finish your crafted item faster.

 

Welcome back :)

[Beetlezombie.1283]

Awesome. Thank you all for the much needed information. I'm so glad I don't have to go hunting for new gear. Actually it's quite remarkable that the stuff my character had on all those years ago is still relevant.

 

First I'm going to finish the personal story and Season 2, and then hop into HoT.

[Danikat.8537]

> @"Beetlezombie.1283" said:

> Awesome. Thank you all for the much needed information. I'm so glad I don't have to go hunting for new gear. Actually it's quite remarkable that the stuff my character had on all those years ago is still relevant.

>

> First I'm going to finish the personal story and Season 2, and then hop into HoT.

 

This is one of the things I love about GW2. It's really nice knowing that once I get to level 80 and get a set of exotic equipment I'm good to go for almost everything in the game and can focus on what I want to do rather than the few things which are appropriate for my level and gear or what I need to do to get better. I am _very_ slowly working on getting my main character full ascended equipment, but I like that I can take my time with it.

 

I don't mind the leveling and gearing process in RPGs, but mainly because I largely ignore it in most games - I use the best of what I find and don't worry about if it's the best I could possibly get or not. My favourite games are those which allow you the freedom to do what you want regardless of your character progression rather than restricting you to a set path.

[Beetlezombie.1283]

I've dabbled a bit in HOT, just to unlock the masteries system. And damn is the difficulty increase noticable. In fairness, i've died more times due to bad timing and poor positioning in combat and falling to my death of a cliff...

 

I'm trying to obtain hero points for my Scrapper Engineer, but they are hard to find in these jungle maps. Also going from flamethrower engineer to melee hammer style is kinda hard.

 

I like the hammer time, but it sure isn't 'Can't touch this' for me.

[Tanner Blackfeather.6509]

> @"Beetlezombie.1283" said:

> I've dabbled a bit in HOT, just to unlock the masteries system. And kitten is the difficulty increase noticable. In fairness, i've died more times due to bad timing and poor positioning in combat and falling to my death of a cliff...

>

> I'm trying to obtain hero points for my Scrapper Engineer, but they are hard to find in these jungle maps. Also going from flamethrower engineer to melee hammer style is kinda hard.

>

> I like the hammer time, but it sure isn't 'Can't touch this' for me.

 

If you're still hunting HPs, I'd suggest to *not* equip Scrapper yet, as you'll be playing with only a partial trait line. Fully train Scrapper, *then* equip it!

[Beetlezombie.1283]

> @"Tanner Blackfeather.6509" said:

> > @"Beetlezombie.1283" said:

> > I've dabbled a bit in HOT, just to unlock the masteries system. And kitten is the difficulty increase noticable. In fairness, i've died more times due to bad timing and poor positioning in combat and falling to my death of a cliff...

> >

> > I'm trying to obtain hero points for my Scrapper Engineer, but they are hard to find in these jungle maps. Also going from flamethrower engineer to melee hammer style is kinda hard.

> >

> > I like the hammer time, but it sure isn't 'Can't touch this' for me.

>

> If you're still hunting HPs, I'd suggest to *not* equip Scrapper yet, as you'll be playing with only a partial trait line. Fully train Scrapper, *then* equip it!

 

Doh!!

Why didn't I think of this??