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Coming back after long absence - totally kicking my butt

RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383
Ok so I played GW2 a bit after release. Had some decent items, killed a few dragons. Didn't quite make it through any of what are now the Chapters in the living story though. Had about 75% map completion across a couple of different classes before I got bored and kinda dropped out. I would not by any stretch of the imagination call myself good - I would say I'm your average casual player.

So, now, a few years later. Someone here reminded me there had been a few expansions released, and I haven't been playing anything except Factorio, so figured it would be a good time to jump back in.

Bought both XPacs. Decided to jump right in.

Holy Crap. HoT is utterly kicking my butt. What am I missing here?

Do I need to go back and catch up on the chapters first? Should I do PoF first? Half the time I feel like it's not even a fair fight. A tentacle knocks me down, and I'm gangbanged by 3 dinosaurs before I can move. Or a frog assassin just two shots me before I can't even get a hit in.

Is this a matter of just getting good, and I just haven't figured it out yet? Is it a gear disparity? Are the masteries/elite specs pretty much required? Is this just not solo content and I should be looking for a party?

If i go back to original content and work on map completion, that's still as easy as I recall. HoT though, utterly different level and right now it's mostly just die, WP, run back, repeat. THe content is interesting and I'm enjoying the exploration with gliding, but the story and combat it really discouraging, to say the least.
dandy230

Comments

  • GruntyGrunty Member EpicPosts: 8,657
    You lasted way longer than I did.  I took my big eared midget to elf land and immediately lost interest.  Never liked cities built on platforms in trees.  The game wasn't holding my attention very well either.
    Ridelynn
    "I used to think the worst thing in life was to be all alone.  It's not.  The worst thing in life is to end up with people who make you feel all alone."  Robin Williams
  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,000
    I'd do PoF first it's worth it for the mounts which make doing HoT a little better.  Ranger and Necro were the easiest for me to do content with.  HoT remember you can guest to a more crowded server to see if groups are running around to help with some content.  The maps and dead-ends in HoT are very confusing.  I've seen guilds do zerks through the content and it helps to follow them.  Or join a guild that's doing content for awhile.  Good luck and enjoy.
    Ridelynn[Deleted User]maskedweasel

    "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey

  • Tyr216Tyr216 Member UncommonPosts: 168
    You might want to look at how your character is built. If you're wearing full DPS gear, you might want to swap some of it out for gear with stats like Toughness and Vitality on it until you get back into the swing of things. Look at what weapons and utility skills you're using too. Maybe you need more ways to interrupt, etc so you're not just relying on dodging. HoT is challenging, but so is PoF. Look at what you can change with your character and stick with it. You'll eventually learn how to counter every type of mob until it feels easy.
    Ridelynn[Deleted User]

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  • Grunt350Grunt350 Member UncommonPosts: 57
    edited May 2018
    I recommend you to go with groups in Hot if you don t have a elite spec or a build that can make you do the solo content, bc pretty much the content is very hard to solo if you don t use the rigth class. Also AVOID the pockets raptors for the love of everything.
    PS: try to go with a hero points train if you want to get your elite fast in Hot.
    Ridelynn[Deleted User]Xoph
  • DakeruDakeru Member EpicPosts: 3,802
    Some of the comments here are pretty spot on.
    DPS gear and then you get surrounded by tentacles can get as nasty as some high quality Hentai movie.

    If you don't care so much about story then following the advice to do PoF first for mounts is decent.
    It makes navigating the jungle a lot easier.

    Alternatively try to get out of the first jungle map as quick as possible (it has the highest mastery demand) and do meta events in map 2 by using the group finder to join an organized instance.

    I assure you you will like that a lot better than trying to solo the first map.
    Ridelynn[Deleted User]
    Harbinger of Fools
  • Octagon7711Octagon7711 Member LegendaryPosts: 9,000
    In GW2 I've always gone with survival builds that have lots of Toughness and Vitality.
    Ridelynn[Deleted User]

    "We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa      "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  SR Covey

  • MadFrenchieMadFrenchie Member LegendaryPosts: 8,505
    HoT has some of the toughest content for solo players in the game.  As Dakeru mentioned, I'd aim to jump on trains if you wanna do that content.  Also, the mounts do make it a bit easier.  Watch out for Pocket Raptors!
    [Deleted User]Octagon7711Ridelynn

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  • zimboy69zimboy69 Member UncommonPosts: 395
    edited May 2018
    PoF is way easier than HoT

    easier content to follow  
    the maps are not as confusing 
    the  mobs are not as tough 
    ive pretty much  done all the story in PoF and Hot
    And  i found  HoT  a slogg  I can imagine what a nightmare it was without a mount 

    but now ive a griffin mount  flying over  the mobs makes the job a lot easier
    [Deleted User]Ridelynn

    image

  • maskedweaselmaskedweasel Member LegendaryPosts: 12,173
    PoF first for the mounts, do yourself the pleasure of getting the Griffin mount. It will make your life much better, and the entire game more enjoyable

    It's also easier to solo many things, HoT is exceptionally tough especially for new players.

    If you're just coming back, you have a lot to catch up on, you have specializations to unlock for PvE.. that's a lotta work.

    What class are you?  Class builds are extremely important.  Some take a little bit more .. not skill necessarily but lets say, time to learn than others, because there are a lot of ability synergies and little tricks, such as runes to add to your gear that can really turn a good build into a frickin' fantastic build.

    You can always go to metabattle and pick up a build, but it's best you find something that you enjoy playing and play well,  but I'll be happy to chat about it with you!
    [Deleted User]Ridelynn



  • RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383
    I have prior L80 Guardian and Mesmer. 

    As far as specs, I used to play 2HS/Hammer on Glad, and Staff/2HS on Mesmer, but playing around with other options. I had enough Hero Points (not sure where those got added, I don't recall them exactly) to unlock first elite spec on both, and nearly have Firebrand capped on Gladiator.

    I have a couple of the L80 tokens, and Necro, Engineer, Warrior, and Thief up to around L20.
    [Deleted User]maskedweasel
  • maskedweaselmaskedweasel Member LegendaryPosts: 12,173
    Ridelynn said:
    I have prior L80 Guardian and Mesmer. 

    As far as specs, I used to play 2HS/Hammer on Glad, and Staff/2HS on Mesmer, but playing around with other options. I had enough Hero Points (not sure where those got added, I don't recall them exactly) to unlock first elite spec on both, and nearly have Firebrand capped on Gladiator.

    I have a couple of the L80 tokens, and Necro, Engineer, Warrior, and Thief up to around L20.
    For mesmer you're pretty good with staff and greatsword, though staff isn't really made for power, it's a great utility and survivability spec.  They did nerf mesmers chronomancer line a little this past go round' but you won't notice it much unless you PvP.

    Guardian, dragonhunter trap spec is really good for PvE, makes you tough to kill. Most of the time people would swap Long Bow for the Hammer. I personally like using scepter and focus and sword and shield as it gives me a little more survivability, but greatsword will do a ton of damage, and it's very good for mobility.

    If you bought the game around launch, and you had all of those characters made around that same time, you'll likely have some XP scrolls to get them to around 40 or 50.   
    Warrior is always a solid choice, lots of opportunities for builds.

    Engineer is probably the most diverse in terms of viable builds, especially in PvE, lots of kits to use, and even turrets work pretty well in many cases.

     Necro is very strong now, and I am still personally a fan of the Reaper. Pet necro does very well in solo PvE.

    Thief, if you get put in the work on the elite specializations you can be extremely strong, but probably the biggest learning curve.


    The others... well.. I would say, don't toy with the revenant.. it's a class that has few build options, and that makes it feel stale after a while.   Ranger is a solid choice, the one I'm most enamored with right now due to my super OP build.  Elementalist is a bunch of fun, but will take some work to get the flow of combat if you're playing spellweaver. 




    If you want to really solo HoT, you can do it on Guardian and Mesmer, but it would be a bit harder on Guardian as you don't have the ability to break aggro as easily as you do on Mesmer, with stealth and clones.
    Ridelynn[Deleted User]



  • MikehaMikeha Member EpicPosts: 9,196
    This game is done. :|

    I hope Guild Wars 3 is a true open world pvp mmo where Guilds actually form alliances through politics and fight for territory control. 


    Reverielle
  • maskedweaselmaskedweasel Member LegendaryPosts: 12,173
    Mikeha said:
    This game is done. :|

    I hope Guild Wars 3 is a true open world pvp mmo where Guilds actually form alliances through politics and fight for territory control. 


    The closest you'll get to that is WvW, and yeah WvW isn't very good right now, but it doesn't seem likely that even in GW3 they would go a completely different route.  They tried to make that all happen in WvW, but it turns into a zerg v zerg "take my castle please" scenario in most cases. 

    They have at least one more expansion on the way so I don't think they're close to being done yet. 
    Ridelynn



  • RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383
    I know a lot of people enjoyed GW1 for the WvW and PvP.

    I could care less about it, I pretty much just enjoy PvE, and the story in GW2 is not too bad.  
    maskedweasel[Deleted User]Grunt350DakeruReverielle
  • DakeruDakeru Member EpicPosts: 3,802
    Can't have a single GW2 thread without someone joining in with their "hurr durr GW2 dead!" nonsense...
    maskedweaselRidelynn
    Harbinger of Fools
  • RidelynnRidelynn Member EpicPosts: 7,383
    Thanks for all the comments. I went over to PoF with my Guardian. Having fun with Firebrand and Axe at the moment.

    Still a ways from unlocking the Griffon, but this content feels much better. For the most part it's challenging without feeling overwhelming or hopeless. The story comes off a bit disjointed, but I guess that's what you get jumping around in content.
    [Deleted User]
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