hey there folks I am the caffeinated dad
content creator for Guild Wars 2 if you
watching this video you were looking to
get started on your Guild Wars 2 journey
and I mean to make that a little bit
easier on you I will explain your basic
entry into the game covering all the
details of classes and race combinations
how to navigate your UI the story and
the leveling experience as well as some
tips and tricks I've learned along the
way lastly I will cover the endgame of
Guild Wars 2 and what you can look
forward to so sit down grab a cuple
coffee and let's teach you something
about Guild Wars 2 so the first thing
that you will be greeted with is your
server selection now in Guild Wars 2
servers mean significantly less when
compared to other games such as World of
Warcraft just about every bit of content
can be accessed regardless of what
server you are on and joining with
groups on across different servers is
not gated to server specific guilds the
only place that server selection really
does make a difference is a PV p p
versus environment game mode called
World versus World this is where the
server divisions truly become important
as for the most part you can only play
with the server that you are a part of
or paired with for that specific time
period but I will cover that more when
we get into endgame content next you'll
be tasked with picking your character's
race now you have five selections here
human Azura norn svari or Char now to be
frank the race doesn't really matter as
much when you compare to say your class
the races do however determine your
character's model their personal
backstory and a handful of other unique
race-based skills really here just pick
the race that you think looks the most
cool honestly so here is arguably the
most important choice that you can make
in Guild Wars 2 there are a total of
nine classes and each one of those nine
classes has three sub classes called
Elite specializations first we have the
war Warrior which is your typical melee
specialist with breathtaking anger
issues then the guardian which is a
well-balanced class mixed with both
supportive capabilities and offensive
power then we have the Revenant which
offers an incredibly unique style of
gameplay by channeling the historic
Legends of Ty's past to gain power for a
short time then we have the ranger which
is a fantastic solo class as it has
access to a Pet Companion who assists it
in combat then we have the thief which
is of course the more stealthy assassin
style of gameplay being able to
eliminate foes and confuse them with
Shadow stepping the engineer is very
unique in its own right as it uses
Contraptions bombs and other various
explosives to do their Dirty Work The
Necromancer is a light armor Caster that
summons Unholy minions and curses foes
to get the job done whereas the
Elementalist uses the powers of Earth
Fire Water and Air to devastate foes
lastly we have the Mesmer which is
another incredibly unique class as it
uses mental manipulation and Illusions
to cause immense damage and trickery
I've included a video in the description
that goes in depth with all nine of
these classes so that you can make a
better informed decision with picking
your class your first login is going to
be this screen let's cover what you have
here first in the top left you have your
basic menu panel your top right will
feature your main story quests local
features or even seasonal events your
bottom left is your chat box and your
bottom right is your mini map the center
is your main hub for skills you have a
total of five weapon skills one heal
skill three utility skills and one Elite
skill the center bubble is your HP and
this feature above your weapon skills
this changes depending on which class
you have pick over in this section is
where you will see any Buffs or debuffs
which we call Boons and conditions
respectively in Guild Wars 2 all right
so let's jump back up and review this
menu at the top the first thing on this
list we have is your game menu that
opens up your main panel options edit
Account Support log out and exit to
desktop basically this is the same for
every game but I'd suggest checking out
the options as here you can edit some of
your key binding amongst other things
next is's your contacts and looking for
group this shows you not only your
particular tag which is important as it
allows you to share this information
with other players so that you can join
groups join guilds and even add friends
but this first panel also shows you your
current friends list underneath of this
is the looking for group panel this is
an excellent way to find and join groups
in various forms of content across the
entire Board of all players you can
break it down to even specific zones
that you are looking for assistance in
so make sure to use this well below that
is your followers panel if you have
anyone following you in game and lastly
is the blocked account panel this shows
you a list of players that you have
blocked because you don't want to talk
to them after that is your hero panel
now this I will cover immediately
following this section as it is quite
lengthy next we have your inventory
which is just that showing you your bag
space and how many items you can handle
also at the top there are specific
shared inventory slots that are shared
amongst all other characters on your
account inventory management is
incredibly important in this game so
this is something I I would suggest you
frequently take a look at this button
right here will definitely help you out
this takes all of your current crafting
materials in your inventory and stores
them automatically in your account
storage section and you don't have to do
a thing other than press the button this
next tab is your mail Library every time
that you receive a piece of mail from
either other players or from the in-game
NPCs it will populate here you can send
items gold and other various things this
way after this we have our Guild panel
which after you join a guild this will
populate information here including
those who were online those who are
offline amongst other things you can be
a part of multiple different guilds all
at the same time and choose which one
you wish to represent here this also has
a feature for your particular Guild's
Guild Hall if they have already accessed
it and added it to that specific Guild
the next panel is the World versus World
panel this will show you the current
match the different areas of World
versus World that you can join as well
as if there's any cue for joining that
specific Zone think of World versus
World as the wild west of player versus
player now I'll cover this later in the
endgame mode section the next panel
below shows you the Skirmish details
letting you know the current score of
the game of the match that is happening
as well as where each server group is at
you can also view your rewards your
reward track which progresses
automatically as you are participating
in World versus World lastly this button
will show you your current rank as well
as where you have allocated all of your
current Talent points at I recommend of
course going for the warclaw and War
gliding masteries to start just as a tip
and a few other things typically just
getting started I'd suggest you check
out the few links that I've included in
the description below about World versus
World as this will hopefully get you a
better idea of this game mode the next
panel is your PVP tab this is
specifically structured player versus
player structured player versus player
is an equalized 5 versus 5 game mode
that allows you to compete against enemy
players this main tab here will show you
how to enter the heart of The Mists
queue up for unranked player versus
player matches or ranked matches if you
are the appropriate level this main
panel will also show you your stats over
time which a current rank is as well as
your win loss record I will talk about
this game mode later down the road but
just know that this is a great place to
join in and do some testing the PVP
Lobby is a great place to artificially
boost your character to max level and
test the class for all of its
capabilities that you have on your
account these buttons over here will
show you your current season ranking the
available upcoming tournaments as well
as your PVP reward track which feels
again like World versus World out as you
participate in matches this button here
will show you your list of Miss
Champions this really only applies to
the Stronghold map which is only
available in unranked mode these are
summoned depending on if you capture
specific nodes within that particular
match lastly the game browser which
shows you all active custom games that
other players have created that you can
join now the next panel is very
important as this is your Wizard's Vault
this is essentially your daily system
you can complete various tasks that
award you with astral Acclaim the astral
Acclaim then can can be spent on all
items in the vault some of these can
only be purchased once While others can
be purchased multiple times there are
daily weekly and special tasks to
complete to earn the astral claim now if
you like a specific game mode such as
player versus player World versus World
or just PVE you can change your
preference to what you want to focus on
for your dailies which is pretty neat
lastly there is the black line trading
post this is essentially the in-game
player-driven auction house players can
purchase and sell various items here for
gold in game everything from actual
weapons to weapon skins and more now you
can also exchange some in-game gold for
gems here gems are the cash shop
currency which is typically spent on
purchasing Cosmetics as well as
convenience items for your account I'll
cover this a bit later let's get into
the hero panel so when you open up your
hero panel you were met with a number of
different buttons and tabs so let's go
ahead and review them all the equipment
tab essentially covers what character
customizations and gear outfit will look
like there are multiple different tiers
of items and essentially there are blue
green yellow orange pink and purple
playing the core story all the way
through you will more likely than not
have a few pieces of orange gear called
Exotics and mostly yellows which are
rares the pink gear is a bit more
difficult to come by it is ascended gear
which offers the highest stat values
available in game and then of course
purple gear is Legendary Legendary gear
have the same stats as ascended so the
highest values that you can get but you
can change their stats appearance as
well as the ins slotted items for free
at will crazy crazy crazy amounts of
convenience for most content however you
will only ever really need exotic gear
to participate I've included a link in
the description to cover the specific
gear stat choices for those who need
more information the equipment subtab
manages all your inventory for your
particular gear this can be a great way
to filter out specific items by clicking
on the current equipped piece of gear
for example your gloves and then only
showing items in your inventory that can
augment that specific gear slot on this
panel you will also see your various
stats power toughness Vitality Precision
ferocity condition damage expertise
concentration and Agony resistance the
power stat increases your on hit damage
your toughness stat reduces your
incoming hit damage Vitality increases
your overall health Precision increases
your Critical Strike chance ferocity
increases your Critical Strike damage
condition damage increases your damage
overtime effects expertise makes your
conditions last longer concentration
increases the duration of your Boons or
or you may know them as Buffs from other
various games and Agony resistance which
is specific to an endgame mode that I
will cover later the panel directly
below that is your wardrobe this allows
you to change the appearance of any item
that you currently have equipped at the
cost of a transmutation charge these are
farmed from various forms of content but
I'll be honest I mainly get mine from
player versus player also again as a
note legendary gear can change their
appearance for free at will legendary
gear also once earned is available for
every character on your account who can
utilize that particular piece of gear so
if you unlock a legendary sword every
character that can use a sword on your
account can have access to that if your
account has access to any outfits they
can be equipped here on any character
typically these are very well put
together and tend to look very very nice
and typically these are only ever
purchased from The Gem Store dyes are
found in a number of different pieces of
content and once unlocked are available
ailable across your account you can
change the different color schemes of
your gear mounts and even your skiff for
free as long as you have access to that
die color you can make it look whatever
way you want next are your glider skins
this is tied mainly to the heart of
thorns expansion and these glider Skins
are mainly found in the cash shop purely
cosmetic next are your mounts now these
are mainly tied to the path ofier
expansion with some exceptions you can
see all the different mounts you have
currently onine locked and their
specific skins that there are tied to
your account and again mostly cosmetic
here then we have the fishing tab which
is just simply shows the pole bait and
lore that you have equipped this is
specific to the end of dragon's
expansion next we have the ski tab also
related to the end of dragon expansion
this allows you to view and purchase
different skiff skins from the cash shop
the next tab is Novelties these are
non-c combat related items earned in
game that make your character do a
number of well odd things like sitting
in a chair flying a kite turning into
The Monkey King then we have the Jade
bot now this is again related to the end
of dragon's expansion the Jade bot has a
number of open world features that make
it incredibly useful to have and if you
own the end of dragon expansion this
might be one that you should go and get
you can also purchase Jade bot skins
here as well minis are just that non-c
combat companions that appear next to
your character and typically represent
characters from in game then we have
finishers finishers are specific to
finishing either a down player or rarely
a down enemy mob this tab shows you all
the different finishers you currently
have earned as well as which ones you
can have access to and again these are
purely cosmetic you can get a number of
these from either reward tracks in
player versus player or World versus
World or just participating in player
versus player lastly we have mail
carriers which are just custom ways to
make your mail come in fancier moving on
to the build tab this shows you
different builds that we have have
specked into and your specific build
paths that you currently have equipped
these buttons here can show you the
different skills that your weapons will
have once you have equipped them next to
that is your utility skill slots
including your heal skill your utility
skills as well as your Elite skills the
next is your different trait lines that
you have access to and lastly is the
build storage that if you have set up
basically allows you to press one button
to swap entire build the next button
here is your training tab as you level
and acquire hero points this will
populate here for you to unlock skills
as you go towards the bottom this also
covers your Elite specializations which
require quite a bit of hero points to
fully unlock these Elite specializations
are unique ways to change how your
character's class plays and are
typically tied to expansions except for
of course secrets of the Obscure below
that is the story Journal this allows
you to view all the different stories
that your character has access to in
their account including expansions as
well as Living World seasons you can
jump from one story part to the next
here by collecting the story aspect you
wish to cover next is the crafting tab
which shows you your different crafting
disciplines as well as the items that
you can craft crafting can be incredibly
useful to create great gear as you were
leveling and even eventually when you
are max level the main use of crafting
after you've gotten decent gear is to
assist on Legendary Journeys however I
will stress that is a whole other video
on its own next is the achievement tab
basically doing anything in game can
earn you achievements and some of these
achievements once earned once unlocked
offer gear titles and currencies there
are a metric ton of achievements to
complete in this game so take your time
looking through all this also once you
hit certain achievement Point threshold
you get pretty cool care packages just
drop to you that's pretty awesome lastly
this is your masteries tab masteries are
an additional way to level up your
character after hitting Max these
typically don't do much more than assist
you in open world content such as
improving your mounts gliding or even
unlocking unique vendors for your
troubles you can select which Mastery
path you wish to work on but be warned
you will also need Mastery points which
are found out in the open world as well
as tied to specific achievements and
other various forms of content so happy
Hunting okay so now let's talk about the
rest of your UI depending on your weapon
or weapons you will have five weapon
skins SKS two-handed weapons are granted
all five a main hand weapon and an
offhand weapon will have three and two
skills respectively now each weapon
skill set will be different depending on
the class that you play if you are using
a great swword as Warrior you will have
five completely different weapon skills
when compared to a guardian who have
their own five unique weapon skills the
healing skill is slotted next and they
each have some unique options depending
on your build same with your utility
skills that can be customized to choose
any three abilities that you would like
this is also where you might find some
of those racial skills that I had
mentioned earlier lastly the elite skill
which is usually significantly more
powerful than the other skills and
typically has a longer cooldown for of
course greater effect on either side of
your action bar you have these little
popup menus including mounts which are
off to your right if your account of
course has access to them cosmetic and
Novelty items and then over here is your
expansion specific features such as
Skiffs fishing and Rift exploration
this button right here is your weapon
swap now this is only available for
every class except for the Elementalist
or the engineer those two have their own
Unique Mechanics essentially while you
were in combat every other class can
swap weapons for a brand new set of
weapon skills that can be used then
after a short cool down you can swap
back into your other weapon set okay so
in your first experience of the Guild
Wars 2 game will greatly depend on what
race you choose to start as the tutorial
instance will have you fight a big boss
as a start now as you move through this
it is fairly simple meant to teach you a
bit of the basics and of course
beginning your taale once you have
finished this first instance you are now
popped into the real world of Guild Wars
2 this means you can interact with all
the ambient players around you not just
the new characters that were created in
your opening scene your starting zone is
meant to get you used to the open world
here this game has a great portion of
beauty that comes just from the open
World Experience lots of Vistas to see
renowned Hearts which are basically
quests in this game to complete hero
Point challenges to take on as well as
other points of interest to see your
remaining levels up until the level 10
will focus on this aspect purely and
we'll have a heavy emphasis on the
exploration now once you hit Level Two
you will get a popup of new features
unlocked as well as what your next
couple of levels will unlock for you I
suggest taking your time reading each
one of these points as they will teach
you critical things about the game the
game play and other various mechanics
also as a note you can press M and you
can see the entirety of Gil Wars 2 in
all of its Glory but I also want to make
mention that you have access to the
other starting areas meaning if you
rolled a Char and your buddy rolled a
svari you can teleport to calan Forest
to meet with them and explore together
now once you hit Level 10 you begin your
personal story as mentioned this is
specific to your choices made during
your character's creation this will be
very specific instances tied to your
combination of choice and influence the
storytelling of your character the green
arrow will pop up and usually ask you to
go somewhere nearby to start the
instance and move on from there I will
also stress that while I recommend you
doing your story as it helps set up the
entirety of the guil Wars 2 Universe
please know that the story is not
mandatory but I would be remiss to say
that that it does offer a mess of
experience and can level you up pretty
quickly so keep that in mind speaking of
max level your journey from here will
emphasize each of the zones that you
choose to explore now technically you
can gain experience to level up from
each Zone you are in even if you vastly
outlevel that specific Place Gil Wars 2
does a great job of changing your
current level to match that specific
area so the content is always relevant
as you level I also
go for the zones that are specific to
your current level as I feel that they
give a little bit more experience and a
bit more of a challenge to keep things
interesting you will also get a new set
of story missions every 10 levels and I
of course always recommend to do those
to move your character story as well as
Grant you a ton of experience for very
little time there are many different
paths and zones you can explore and
there is no one right way to do it and
that is the beauty of go Wars 2 and what
it does great go and explore have an
adventure and figure figure it out on
your own so getting to max level which
is level 80 is where the true player
experience begins you can literally go
into a thousand different directions
depending on the different styles of
content that you want to get involved in
and of course that also depends on what
you have access to so the expansions In
Living World seasons which are basically
DLC mini expansions are all available
only for level 80 that means that you
can now jump ship and start any of the
other content your character has access
to while this is great this can also be
a bit daunting so I stress take your
time and figure out what you want to do
you will also be able to access your
Elite specializations which for all
intents and purposes are one of the
crowning features of the expansions and
the game I'll take this time now to
cover endgame activities so you can make
a better decision of what you want to
invest your time in so Gil Wars 2 offers
a variety of endgame content that you
can spend endless amounts of hours on
here progressing in this game first
let's cover open world content as
mentioned with all the different
expansions and even the cerion
experience there is lots of open world
content that you can spend your time on
the big ones that players love
especially in open world is the open
world boss metas that features a buildup
to massive bosses that take dozens of
players to bring it down these have
their own mechanics hard-hitting
abilities and cool theatrics to say the
least this does not limit the open World
Experience however you can go into many
different Maps maps and even have a
smaller map-wide meta that features
either a unique fight Gathering or what
have you but just know that there is
always something going on even when
you're exploring the open world and many
of the major boss fights that you have
are actually featured in the core Tyrion
experience not just the expansions next
is the PVE endgame content and there are
a few ways that PVE can be engaged the
first one is the one that you may have
seen during leveling which are dungeons
these are specific group setting content
that are very similar setup and scripted
basically however I will say that
dungeons are not done quite as often
when compare to other forms of endgame
content and technically dungeons can be
done before hitting max level so just
keep this in mind next when you hit
Level 80 you will gain access to a whole
library of other endgame content so
let's go ahead and talk about the
fractals of The Mists fractals of The
Mists are small instant style dungeons
consisting of groups of five players
these dungeons have certain story
elements that must be completed to
finish and typically end with a boss
fight also just note some are simply the
boss fight and that's it now depending
on the level of the fractal they scale
in difficulty upwards to level 100 the
scaling adds certain aects that make the
instance run much more challenging major
scaling modifier however is Agony which
is essentially a damage overtime effect
that deals percent Health damage the
higher the agony the higher the percent
damage you will take now to combat this
we slot ascended or legendary Gear with
Agony infusion that add resistance to
this damage overtime effect this reduces
the scaling damage you take from Agony
into bite-sized pieces making it
significantly more manageable typically
you get an Agony debuff from taking
damage from the various things inside
each fractal I always recommend getting
into fractals as a start as they are a
fantastic way to get gear and gold in
game next we have raids raids are 10-man
instance boss combat that feature a
specific Wing these require a good
amount of coordination as well as decent
amounts of skill to complete these
bosses usually have multiple phases and
interesting mechanics that truly offer a
challenge and raiding in Guild Wars 2
also offers a fantastic way to get
ascended and legendary gear to make
rating also more accessible on a
rotation there is a feature called the
emboldened mode this gives up to 100%
more Health up to 50% more damage and up
to 50% increased healing output which
builds up after every failed attempt on
a boss in that particular Wing once that
boss is defeated then the stacks are
then reset until your group fails
against one of the following bosses to
get started I'd suggest searching for a
raid training groups within the guil
Wars 2 communities many offer
educational ways to get your foot in the
door also as a note raids are included
mainly with the heart of thorns and path
of Fire expansions finally the last
major piece of PVE content is Strike
missions which are single boss
encounters a decently complex fight from
the story of Guild Wars 2 and makes it
into a repeatable 10-man instance again
requiring coordination and skill these
strike missions typically can offer
currencies for Unique gear and other
various items something also to note as
well is that some of the raid bosses
feature challenge modes as well as many
of the strike missions offer challenge
modes
which are basically harder versions of
those particular bosses strike missions
are also exclusive to the ice brw Saga
The Living World DLC the end of dragon
expansion and the secrets of the Obscure
expansion moving on to PVP there are
essentially two different modes
structure PVP and World versus World
structure PVP or SVP is a typical five
versus 5 capture and hold type style of
contest in structured PVP you have two
sub modes either ranked or unranked
unranked is just that non-season
recorded matches versus ranked which
keeps a record of how well you do each
season now to join ranked PVP you do
also need to be PVP level 20 to get
started but the seasonal rewards for
ranked can be a great way to get gear
all the way up to Legendary structured
player versus player is also equalized
meaning that if you join a match at
level two you will be boosted to max
level and have all of the account-wide
features Available to You including any
access to Elite specializations on that
specific account your gear is
essentially chosen through this amulet
along with your Relic runes and sigils
anyone can join structure player versus
player and participate and I always
recommend to give it a go especially if
you want to see what your class can do
the other major PVP mode is World versus
World and this is widely one of the most
popular endgame modes in game this is a
player versus player versus environment
style of game essentially the wild west
of player versus player content you walk
into the mists with whatever gear you
have on and essentially good luck you
were tasked to capture Towers keeps and
camps with the help of other players on
your server and it can be incredibly fun
especially if you join in with those
other players this is the limiting
factor however even if you are in a
guild with lots of players as it stands
you can only join groups with other
world V World players from your specific
server or the server that you are joined
with on that rotation if you you intend
on playing World versus World with a
friend or a small group of players I
suggest you join a server that they are
located to maximize the fun as it is
quite challenging to get into worldview
world without any friends World versus
World also can be a great way of getting
gear including legendary gear as well as
the exclusive warclaw Mount other
endgame modes include but are not
limited to achievement hunting legendary
crafting role playing Mount racing and
map completion just to name a few the
best part about Gil Wars 2 is that even
if you're on working on one of these
features you're still progressing your
character so no worry about a wasting
time currently there are four expansions
available for Guild Wars 2 as well as
quite a bit of DC the heart of thorns
expansion being the first expansion has
your character traversing the Muma
jungle to hunt down mamoth the jungle
Dragon this expansion includes gliding
as its major feature as well as the
aforementioned rating this expansion
also includes the first set of elite
specialization ever introduced into the
game next we have path of fire which is
the second expansion introduced to guil
Wars 2 and this takes you to the elonian
desert to hunt down a disgraced human
God the major feature of this expansion
is the mounts that were introduced this
expansion will grant you just about all
of the mounts with the exceptions of the
roller Beetle the skyscale or the turtle
this expansion also has the second set
of elite specializations that all have a
hint of desert flavor tied to them end
of dragons is the third expansion for
gilor 2 and this expansion crosses the
sea to the ancient lands of cantha to
find out what the hell all these Earth
shaking disturbances are the major
features of this expansion are the
fishing skiff riding which is your boat
as well as the Jade bot the expansion
also includes the latest set of elite
specializations that emphasize the use
of canthan powers to augment their
classes the secrets of the Obscure
expansion is the fourth and most recent
one that takes us to the Northwestern
section of the Muma jungle where we
discover the secrets of a long obscured
order of interdimensional wizards this
expansion's major features are the use
of the skyscale rift hunting and then
the weapon Master training which allows
all class builds to be able to utilize
each of the elite specializations
weapons this is also the most current
form of content so if any additional
content is included in the game you will
also get this as it comes out now the
Living World seasons SE the stories of
the major expansions together and each
in their own individual right offer a
great story new maps and some pretty
long lasting features for example Living
World season 4 can offer the roller
beetle in the skyscale mount as well as
a legendary amulet not to mention the
best bit of Storytelling in game that's
that's just me these are great to have
but I wouldn't say that they're
absolutely necessary so Gil waru has an
in-game cash shop that offers a ton of
different items in cosmetics however
they are just that convenience and
Beauty many of the items here increase
bag space all for faster travel amongst
other things now you purchase these
items using gems now gems can be used
with real life currency or they can be
exchanged from gold in game so if you
earn enough in game you can exchange
them for gems to purchase other features
that you may like as I wrap up this
beginner guide I want to include some
tips that I have learned in my time
playing this wonderful game first Guild
Wars 2 is meant to be a casual game many
features of this MMO emphasize taking
your time and taking breaks so don't try
to rush it you won't have a good time
second Gil Wars 2 mostly is a game that
features horizontal progression that
means a lot of what you earn on one
character is shared with other
characters and there really isn't much
of a gear treadmill essentially you earn
gear that holds its value forever
incentivizing working on ascended and
legendary gear as an optional Quest not
a major pushing feature but even then
their effectiveness isn't that much more
between exotic gear and ascended and
legendary lastly there is no one right
way to play this game this is a
customization gold mine for many
different players not just talking about
the builds and game but what you spend
your time on many things do not need to
be completed but you do reap the reward
if you do if all you want to do is play
player versus player you can do that if
all you want to do is just open world
events go ahead have a great time truth
be told that's the most beautiful thing
about this game it's just you can do
whatever you want and you're still just
as valid now this was all quite a bit
and I hope that it does help if you want
to see some other new player mistakes
that I have made in my guil Wars 2
journey click this video here as always
stay caffeinated
[Music]
folks