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Originally posted by Soki123
Guardian and ele

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You played a Guardian and you spent most of the weekend dead? Yes, you were probably doing something wrong. My guardian died three times (not counting a downing or two I recovered from on my own), and the third time was in the closing event, and I am by no means a good player. The dodge mechanic is ok, but so much more important is strafing left or right and making sure you know what you are getting into and when to run away.

In all likelihood this is the same combo my wife and I will be playing in live, so I hope the experience will not be the same.

Couple of things to note, which I figured out on alts, when you are defeated you get a little "skull" icon on you meaning you come back with lower health. When you die again before that clears the skull changes color, eventually to red; kill lower level stuff until the skull clears off. Crafted gear is your friend. I noticed the weapons, armor, and jewelry I made were much better than the white gear or drops. Harvesting and crafting are worth the time, especially armor smithing which levels fast since you are filling 6 slots on yourself every 5 levels (had hardly any grind to level).

I have no doubt you'll get the hang of it, if I can do it, anyone can. =)

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Originally posted by niceguy3978

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Originally posted by Soki123 We didn t get very high in levels, we were trying all classes. That said, does it get better later in the game, as far as deaths go, in just general pve. We would be taking down a mob, then boom dead. Also, why is it, when I would be in a downed state, the mob continues to attack me, and not the others that are obviously, doing alot more damage. Then I get revived, and boom dead. I know theres no real tank etc, but I m suprised the mob would instantly beat me down, once I get revived.

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I died a lot more playing a guardian than I did any other class.  I think part of the problem was that melee just seems harder to play because you are usually in the middle of chaos, and have a much harder time seeing the "tells" of a mob getting ready to attack.  Or at least that was what it seemed like to me.  I don't really like this because I like playing melee characters but it was just too hard to tell what was going on all the time. 

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In a big DE against a boss, being a melee in this game is kind of painful. I end up staring at a screen of so many white and blue and purple flashes that I can't even see the mob I'm suppose to be hitting, let alone tell what it's doing or who it is attacking or what direction it is facing. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at the controls, but I definitely hope there is a graphic slider for spell effects/particle effects.

This game does have the kind of "random death" element when fighting boss mobs or when faced with fast respawns...

Even if you dodge perfectly, a boss mob will sometimes turn around and instantly do an ability that ends up with you in the downed state.

However, the key is then to keep ressing each other, that seems to be the single most important thing when faced with tough encounters in PvE.

I do agree that being in the downed state for prolonged amounts of time is very frustrating however, especially after level 20 I had some encounters where I was either downed or ressing others 90% of the time.

With Ele, the main thing is just run a lot, dodge at the right time and keep switching elements to maximize options. You might think you got the health pool to just stand still for a couple of hits, but you never know what's gonna happen: You might get a spawn and the two will burn you down real quick 

I like playing the hit-and-run casters in MMOs, and with the ability to cast on the run the Elementalist is a good class for that. :)

Excuse my ignorance as I haven't played this yet. I've been reading about the dodging and I was wondering... is there any blocking at all? Or just dodging? I know that there is not a "tank" role, but are you ever able to use a shield or block an attack with a weapon?

Thanks, 

Originally posted by Praetalus

Excuse my ignorance as I haven't played this yet. I've been reading about the dodging and I was wondering... is there any blocking at all? Or just dodging? I know that there is not a "tank" role, but are you ever able to use a shield or block an attack with a weapon?

 

Thanks, 

Yes the warrior has blocks I beleive the guard does also but it has a cooldown like the rest of your abiltites. It's not a twitch ability like Tera's block for examble.

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Originally posted by Praetalus
Excuse my ignorance as I haven't played this yet. I've been reading about the dodging and I was wondering... is there any blocking at all? Or just dodging? I know that there is not a "tank" role, but are you ever able to use a shield or block an attack with a weapon?

 

Thanks, 

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A few classes also have weapon abilities that allow you to block (or repost) the next incoming melee attack or shield from ranged attacks. I didn't spend a lot of time with this, but a warrior with a mace in main hand and sword in offhand gave him a block one melee attack and repost one melee attack (with a damage effect to the mob). While it's not a lot, I like it better than the abilities in other games where you can only do something on a trigger event.

Also, while the dodge mechanic uses it's own power supply, which runs out fairly quickly, strafing left or right is free and a good way to avoid a lot of front facing attacks, although you do have to learn what abilities of your own you interrupt by moving (there are a few).

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Originally posted by Soki123
Another thing my wife mentioned. She felt alot of the pve was a chaotic mess. I see her point, but like I said maybe if we got higher, it would be different. We love the game, and are obviously going to play it, but I think it being beta weekend, and alot of people not having a clue what they re doing didn t help in that feel she got. I got it too, bit not to the extent she did.

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Yes, it is. That is one thing I actually like about it. After 15 years of playing a tank and preferring structure, I can now let my hair down (well, not that there is any) and be a chaotic spazzy DPS.

You need to gear for toughness and vitality.  Heavy Armor classes can get away with not gearing for toughness, but you still need loads of vitality.  Glass cannon builds do not work in Guild Wars 2 at all, for both PvP and PvE.  Be sure to add gems and runes to your gear that increase your survivability.

Make good use of your skills.  I see a lot of people running around with Greatswords which are not defensive weapons on any class.  The weapons you use are just as important as your profession.  If you want to be in the fray "tanking" as much as possible as a Ranger for example you need to use a one-hand sword and evasion tank with it while taking appropriate utilities and traits (Lightning Reflexes for more evasions, protection on dodge roll, Signet of the Wild for regeneration, Signet of Stone for toughness).  You can make use of high damage output weapons like Greatswords, but only if you pair it with a ranged or defensive weapon and swap between those.  If this is the case your partner is going to have to step up and tank and you'll have to effectively swap between the role as one gets low and needs to heal up / wait on cooldowns.

For Guardian you'll want to use either sword / shield or mace / shield for defense.  You can heal up very well if you use mace / shield or better yet mace / focus if you want more damage output, but that involves lots of trading.  Use your Aegises at the proper time to increase your and your group's survivability.  Elementalists needs to make use of all their attunements especially Earth for tanking and Water to heal up in order to be effective and not die.

Thanks for the responses guys. I'm looking forward to giving this one a go!

Originally posted by drakaena

You really only need to dodge at the right moment if you want to become immune to a burst range attack. Since you can't actually move out of the way of a range attack. Like most MMO's they are heat seakers. Otherwise strafe kiting and circle strafing will cut down on incoming damage by a lot. If you don't know how to properly range strafe and melee strafe I'd suggest finding a good tutorial on youtube. There are plenty. 

Originally posted by Soki123

Guardian and ele

as an ele, strafe is your friend

Originally posted by Atlan99

Originally posted by seridan

Although Guardians can't tank in the traditional MMO way they can still mitigate much damage, using Aegis (defensive) and Blind (offensive) skills properly. You can essentialy kill mobs while taking very little damage, even without moving much. Combine with careful dodges when the other skills are on CD and you take zero damage from normal mobs. Dodging is important but knowing your skills is equaly important

You would have to specialize your guardian to tank as well. Stacking Toughness and Vitality. Along with keeping your gear current. Picking the right traits as well.

For Elite mobs you would have to dodge big attacks or use cooldowns. Much like you would in raiding in other PvE games.

If you do all of the above you should be able to tank most PvE mobs in the open world.

^ This!!!  If you didnt notice just because you are level 20 does not mean you fight like you are level 20.. EFFECTIVE LEVEL, is very important to pay attention to, and upgrading gear and skills keeps your effective level up where it should be.

In most MMO's...the outcome of a fight is more or less decided before it starts.  (For example) If there is one MOB that is your level...you will win.  If there are two MOBs your level or higher...you will lose.  Some MMO's let you do kiting and stuff to change this, but typically a fight is just a mathematical inevitability.

GW2 is not like this.  If you play poorly, you can get beat by a single MOB your level.  On the other hand, if you play intelligently, you can beat SEVERAL MOBs your level.  It all comes down to tactics and twitch.

Originally posted by fundayz

Originally posted by drakaena

You really only need to dodge at the right moment if you want to become immune to a burst range attack. Since you can't actually move out of the way of a range attack. Like most MMO's they are heat seakers. Otherwise strafe kiting and circle strafing will cut down on incoming damage by a lot. If you don't know how to properly range strafe and melee strafe I'd suggest finding a good tutorial on youtube. There are plenty. 

 

Umm ranged attacks do NOT home in on targets. They didn't in GW1 and they dont in GW2 either. What they do is lead moving targets so that they can hit; however, quickly switching directions will allow you to avoid projectiles without having to use your dodge.

 Hmmm...I have my doubts about this.  I have seen ranged attacks clearly miss my character visually, but still "hit" him in game terms.

Melee attacks definitely use collision to determine a hit, because if I just walk away, I don't get hit.  But many ranged attacks do seem to "home."

Originally posted by Creslin321

Originally posted by fundayz

Originally posted by drakaena

You really only need to dodge at the right moment if you want to become immune to a burst range attack. Since you can't actually move out of the way of a range attack. Like most MMO's they are heat seakers. Otherwise strafe kiting and circle strafing will cut down on incoming damage by a lot. If you don't know how to properly range strafe and melee strafe I'd suggest finding a good tutorial on youtube. There are plenty. 

 

Umm ranged attacks do NOT home in on targets. They didn't in GW1 and they dont in GW2 either. What they do is lead moving targets so that they can hit; however, quickly switching directions will allow you to avoid projectiles without having to use your dodge.

 Hmmm...I have my doubts about this.  I have seen ranged attacks clearly miss my character visually, but still "hit" him in game terms.

Melee attacks definitely use collision to determine a hit, because if I just walk away, I don't get hit.  But many ranged attacks do seem to "home."

Some do, some do not. Confirmed repeatedly. If the ability's animation actually changes course to hit you, it homed. There are few that do that. You can still dodge roll through them or block by other means (and tehre are many other means)

If the animation went by you and still hit, it was probably a latency/animation issue.

Without going through all the other suggestions I  have this to say....learn how to run! :) My son and I played, he was an elementalist and I was a warrior. I know its a cruddy suggestion but the idea is to be like a boxer and jab and move if you are melee. I know it's a weak suggestion but I'm kind of a solo player in most mmorpgs, and have learned when I need to run away like Sir Robin in Monty Python! :O

Originally posted by Soki123

I know alot of people will say, learn your skills, dodge at the right time etc. Damn it got annoying, fighting 1 mob or 10 mobs it didn t make a difference. Is there something I m really missing in the combat, because my wife and I spent almost the whole weekend, dead.

well the only prob was not how to kill mobs but their fast respawn ..!

cause with 1 mob its ok, against 2 mobs hard, against 3 and above is hell and you just try to survive running away ..!

when you are 2 ppl then i dont get why you shall have problem against 3-4 mobs and bellow ..