Checking Out Living World Season 1 | Journey And Experience

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Guild Wars 2 has been a fun time for sure. I'm definitely looking forward to seeing more of the game as I continue onward!

[@mannyonaleash2222]

Originally, the final fight in the OG story was impossible to solo, it did require a party to complete. but after the expansions and the bulk of the game population moved on, it was increasingly difficult to find a party to finish the original story, getting to the point it was impossible. So they changed it to make it possible to solo that whole sequence from Gates of Arah to Zhaitan.

[@christophersmith8316]

For your enemy that knocks you down, try and see if you have a skill or weapon effect that gives "stability". You might be able to cast that just before and you can't be knocked down. Engineers using the flamethrower can select a skill that gives stability all the time, very handy.

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

I'll definitely have to take a look to see then. Thanks for the tip!

[@AlaiaSkyhawk]

Aye Season 2 is a jump in difficulty. Base game you can mostly just smash stuff, but Season 2 onwards you need to start paying attention to what enemies you're facing and their abilties. Which are the most dangerous to you on your chosen build, and learning to prioritise taking those down (make sure you carry a stunbreak skill while you're learning, or skills that grant stability). Also once you finish base game, get yourself a set of exotic gear either by crafting, buying certain stat sets from one of the Temples in Orr, or getting them from the tradepost. It's relatively cheap to get your initial gear. I'd recommend you also always have a ranged weapon in one of your weaponsets for professions that have weaponswap. Being able to back up, take cover, and pop your head out to plink at things while you get your health back is a lifesaver in many situations. There's two stat types I'd recommend for learners on their first exotic set if they're struggling to stay alive. Valkirie's gear for builds running a focus on power damage, and Carrion gear for builds running condition damage. Both types have Vitality as a minor stat, and a full set of gear in these will up your health by around 40% above base health while only costing you around 10-15% dps loss compared to a fully damage-focused gearset. This additional health will make a world of difference for learners (Vitality is better to aim for as it helps vs enemies with both power damage and those with condition damage, while taking Toughness only helps vs power damage). Once you really start to get to grips with the combat, and build knowledge of how to deal with certain enemy types, you can then start swapping out piece-by-piece for gear that will improve your damage further :)

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Oh interesting! I figured toughness was a defense stat but didn't know it only affected Power damage. I have a full set of orange, I think that's exotic. Still some more things I need to figure out as my damage still pales in comparison to others I've seen doing the same fights. After having a lot of trouble on the fights, I was curious to see how I stacked up compared to others lol Yeah, I like the sword and gun moveset, but adding the rifle back in will likely help a lot too lol Thank you! ^^

[@AlaiaSkyhawk]

@@MegaMadVladMMO Yup, toughness does nothing vs condi (condi damage bypasses your armor completly) so Vitality covers both bases as it were. Bladesword is definitely fun, but the need to stand still to channel your big attacks can be very punishing when you're still learning about enemy types and their attacks. Since the impulse will be to hammer the attack out the moment you can, which can land you in hot water in cases where a more experienced player would wait a few moments, bait out a dangerous enemy attack and only then bring out the channelled attack. (note Bladesword also has a short-range teleport on that F1 weaponset, but it's short enough and with enough of a cooldown that you need to be smart with it. It does you no good if you sat down to channel the big hit right in the middle of a huge AoE). If you want something easy to get into on Warrior, that hits like a truck even in inexperienced hands while still getting to grips with the combat, I highly recommend checking out the "Core Power Warrior" openworld build on Metabattle (keep the axe/axe set on, and swap out the mace/sheild set for ranged if you want a ranged option equipped). That build is the epitome of "Spin to Win" funzies. On accounts with expansions, where you have access to gear types with the points spread between 4 stats instead of 3, the build works very well with Marauder's gear (think Berserker's gear but with some points sacrificed and put into Vitality instead). Hope you find this useful ^_^

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

@@AlaiaSkyhawk Alright, thank you so much for the info! I'll be screenshotting this for future reference when I go looking into proper stuffs lol ^^

[@Lazarus_ReSpawn]

Every class has a Stability buff option to make you immune to knockdowns and such. For Warrior it is a Dolyak Signet

[@Lazarus_ReSpawn]

Your 7 8 and 9 skills are your mistake, even a veteran would struggle in combat using your selection. Opt for either 7 or 8, not both, meaning you should take just one slot for Kick/Charge/Stomp. The use of these is to CC regular mobs AND break the blue Defiance bar on bosses, the blue bar under the boss's HP bar. Having Hammer as a secondary weapon plus one such skill in 7/8/9 will guarantee you being able to break that bar solo. The Dolyak Signet that gives you Stability is a must on either slot 8 or 9, and once you cover that you can add whatever you prefer. However, Signet of Might is what most of us go for, because it gives you passive increase of Power stat. A veteran's optimal choice for core Warrior would look like this: Sword main hand + Axe offhand, Hammer as your secondary weapon. "To the Limit!" heal on 6, Kick/Charge/Stomp on 7, Signet of Might on 8, Dolyak Signet on 9 and most commonly Signet of Rage on 0 as your ult. This would be a best, most efficient default skillset to use. You can experiment more once you become better at the game, but if we're talking about close'n'personal Warrior - this is it.

[@VirtuesOfSin]

As someone who played GW2 since launch and played the Living Story on release - 5:00 - There is a reason why people have Stunbreak skills in their PvE rotation. For a Warrior, I'd recommend Shake It Off! (5s cooldown, 2 Stacks). Dolyak Signet is pretty good too for increased toughness, but has a super high cooldown and you loss the passive effecti while it's on cooldown. You can play without them and you can play with berzerker stats, but it'll lead to more often then not getting 100->0 due to a chain lock.

[@LeNaSmileyStar]

aaah, thnx! this was a fun montage 😁👍👍 Thank u for making me laugh 🤩 And yeah, it helps to be part of a good guild, pve or wvw, specially if entering wvw. Ps. I'm normally a head on fighter, and I figured warrior was the way to go.... But NOPE, not here... I now use her only for fractals. My absolute favorite all round classes was Ranger (not soulbeast) w 1 set long range and 1 close combat for the longest time. But then came Heart of Thorns and the Revenant... ooooh LOVE it! (exept Herald... :P ) But for me, I've found out, when it comes to solo champs in story etc... my favorite has been engineer /Scrapper. Anyways... looking forward to more from u in a not so distant future! HF 👋👋

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

lol Thank you! ^^ Since I made 2 videos before this one with my Warrior, I've pretty much committed to running them through the main story lol May have issues in future content because of that, but it's still been fun. Season 2 will be up next! Going through everything in order. Was originally planning on this being Seasons 1 and 2 but 1 took much longer than expected xDDD

[@SeeHang]

herald is sort of amazing to play. just gotta get used to it. herald can provide a lot of support but i find in pve is very amazing for taking down mobs and providing a lot of combos to wear down a boss’s shield. most people are not used to the energy mechanic with herald. but herald also provides a lot of boons for the group which is amazing for group survival

[@jeremysmith7176]

5:15 look for skills labeled stun breaks. They will break you out of stuns and knockdowns.

[@battlebots1]

Been really enjoying your playthrough!

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Thank you! ^^ The next part should be up by this weekend!

[@christophersmith8316]

My first character was before Season 1 was re-released and I didn't have Season 2 purchased yet so I went directly to Heart of Thorns with no glider, no pets, and no or very few exotic armor or weapons. Lots of running away and dying, but I chipped away and got more gear, and got enough to equip my many alts after that so they have an easier time of it.

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

I've noticed with most games, after you do something once, you tend to know how to make it easier for other playthroughs of the same content lol

[@galgamekthegreatlord4823]

You need to use defensive spells to break crowd control lol

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Still stuff I’m learning about in the game lol

[@henseltbrumbleburg3752]

Honestly it's pretty easy to get a group together you don't need to have friends who play the game (or at all ;P) A lot of people are usually down to group up to do content. Most things I've needed a group for I can get one. The more niche the scenario the longer the wait, but you can. In this case 5:10 stun break is your friend.

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Group content in MMOs are always a lot of fun lol But when you find people willing to talk, that’s when it’s great. For the most part though, I was expecting to be able to solo the Season 1 story like the base game. While technically possible, I’d also probably still be working on the video now if I didn’t grab help xDDD

[@SeeHang]

pro tip for many new players in gw2, learn to kite. even if you’re melee or range kiting is a big part of strategy on how to fight on top of avoiding aoe fields and the actual boons and condition. having more access to other players is a multipler because other players can provide boobs or conditions or provide resurrection if you’re down or dead. however mastering your basics with timing and understanding of the mechanics is key for your progression. the more you truly understand how your character works the better player you will be in most situations. a lot of gw2 content can be solo unless recommendations point you to groups. but often a solo king will rise from a group and often can carry people. usually it’s due to experience. but master your basics like kiting.

[@Woryen]

Awesome video, your production quality is top-notch! ^^ Just a few comments: 7:00 - "Can you solo Tower of Nightmares?" Sure you can. It may take a while, it may not really 'worth' your time, but I too often like to challange myself, and kill group-content solo, just for the sake of it. For a good example on this and on playing Bladesworn, search on YT for "Guild Wars 2 : Tower of Nightmare's Solo ( Clear Time 47m )" by Lord Hinzen. And I advise you to browse Lord Hinzen's videos, because he is a Solo-God, and has awesome build-guides for all of the warrior Elite Specializations. And here we touch onto something, that GW2 really differs from FF: BUILD-CRAFTING. With Exotic Gear (Orange) you can pretty much solo everything (except higher-tier Fractals); (and you can buy Exotics on the Trading Post for a few golds). Ascended gear (Pink) will make you like ~7% stronger than Exotic, and in certain cases it matters, but GW2 is not a gear-grind game. You knowledge, your skills and your build matters magnitudes more. Lord Hinzen is kindof on the same playing field as you, but still makes ~10x your damage, heals himself consistently and reliably, and takes much less damage (by dodging, using Aegis, and by having the right defensive traits). Hinzen shows a general solo build for Bladesworn. But there is no "One greatest solution", in every situation there will be a slightly better tuned build that will be more efficient. Gw2's true progression is really about Gettin' Gud; understanding the million build-possibilities, understanding the situations, (the Pro players even bind hot-keys to instantly swap to the right build), and knowing how to pull off that specific build. First step is to just learn 1 general build, like Hinzen presented, and enjoying the synergies it has. Then branching out slowly. 4:50 - The mobs in LWs1, and their CC spamming is controversial; it is frustrating for other players as well. I can present to you what was in the head of the Development team: So, GW2 is a PvP game in it's core; Arenanet was always focused on making good PvP games. Nowadays, Gw2 is not famous for its PvP scene, but the design philosophy seeps through the game nevertheless. - In PVP, you have to use a "Finisher" to finally kill an enemy, and this is reverberated with the Krait in LWs1, as even if you get their HP to 0, a second "dimmed" HP bar appear, and you will need to Finish them. - In PVP, enemy players will constantly CC you, and will spam you with Conditions (debilitating effects), like the Immobilize effect (5:07). And every decent player will equip plenty of Stunbreak abilities, Stability to prevent CC, and a lot of Condition-Cleanse (in pvp). The PvP scene really revolves around these core mechanics. LWs1 is really pronounced in its PvP-PvE duality, but later Arenanet abandonden a little this philosophy and PvE got its own design direction... In newer content, most players perfectly get by with 1 stunbreak, and no condi-cleanse. But keep in mind, that LWs1 was Anet's first end-game focused patch, their first try in making an enjoyable Horizontal-progression MMO. edit: Sorry, i'm not sure how deep you have unlocked Bladesworn's traits and abilities. Without fully unlocking it, sure it's frustrating and slow :/

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Thank you! ^^ While I did say that in a joking way, I honestly had no idea you could ACTUALLY solo the Tower of Nightmares lol Based on my experience and seeing the bosses just down everyone. Interesting to know though! By the end of LWS1 I have a full set of exotic gear. Armor, weapons, and accessories. Pretty much all Berserker gear but the damage still feels lower than others and I'm definitely squishier now lol I'll definitely have to look up Lord Hinzen then, thank you for the recommendation! ^^ Yeah, there is A LOT of cc'ing going on in Season 1 for sure lol Considering my only experience with post game content is with Season 1, I definitely wouldn't have known if the future content held the same design philosophy or not. It's definitely a bit more reassuring to me now that you said it isn't lol Season 2 and onward might be a bit smoother because of it now lol Bladesworn is still at the beginning due to lack of hero points. Something I'm going to have to invest some time into to upgrade lol I got it because it sounded cool and then found out it does better DPS than my main weapons so I stuck with it. It's fun, has risk/reward gameplay, and still trying to get better at dealing with the various enemies lol Thank you so much for the comment here, it's very informative and easy to navigate! ^^

[@Woryen]

@@MegaMadVladMMO ^.^ It's so nice to chat with you, glad if I can help. I'd LOVE to see more content from you, and I'd like to give you some encouragement and a heads-up for the upcoming story chapters: Narration: As you noted at 8:43 the side-by-side story narration is gone, and it's gone for good. Only the base-game has that, and the majority of the playerbase likes that it was replaced. But the narrative design also improves slowly but steadily! I personally utterly hate the core game's story, I find it boring, and the characters (like Trahearne) extremely shallow and unlikable. The playerbase I think agrees it's the lowlight of the game overall. LWs1 and LWs2 is not much better either. It gets much-much better with Heart of Thorns, BUT Path of Fire and LWs4 is the absolute pinnacle!! EoD is also really amazing. Difficuly: Anet learned from the annoyance of LWs1 mobs, so they will CC less in later content, but the damage will remain. Heart of Thorns is the most difficult content, so much so, that it's a constant outcry in GW2's reddit. Not just the mobs, but simply travesring through the jungle is a challange itself. In this aspect too, Path of Fire again perfects the difficulty; it is much better tuned for freshly dinged-lvl-80 new players, and Path of Fire will unlock most of the mounts for you, which can help traversing Heart-of-Thorns much easier later. I know that it's sacrilegious to not follow the story chronologically, and if you really like a challange, and you have time, and the story made you interested so far, then that's the best route. But my humble self actually started Path of Fire (instantly after hitting lvl-80), and I regret nothing. It was a much smoother transition, and the awesome narrative design actually made me interested in the World/Lore/History/Story of Tyria (which is not actually the stronghold of the MMO genre, and usually I just skip them altogether, as I have a limited time to play), so I went back to LWs2 and HoT being actually invested in the world, wanting to learn more about what's happening. I see some players and content creators give up with the base game, claiming that the story it's not really interesting; or with HoT claiming that the combat/world-design is just too complicated. Long story short: I don't really know how you stand with the game, and how will your opinion change in the coming chapters... But whatever happens to you, please try to Not miss Path of Fire and LWs4, it's just too good.

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

@@Woryen I'm definitely not one to give up on a game that's hard in difficulty thankfully lol I'm absolutely going to be continuing ^^ Now you've given me some more things to look forward to seeing lol My plan is to go in content order still for the series here. I'm absolutely looking forward to getting to (Griffinriding?) at some point xDDD All in all, even with the tough sections in this game, it's nothing that grabbing a friend or two can't help out in the end lol There's A LOT of group content I haven't played yet so it's just more I have to look forward to ^^

[@Woryen]

@@MegaMadVladMMO I'm thrilled to hear it :) I wish you a pleasant journey, now with one more subscriber ;)

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Lol Thank you! ^^

[@danielp8433]

for solo stuff you need a versatile build, not the grp meta builds, at least not at the start. they are made with boons by team anyway

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

lol I was using whatever build felt fun for me. Of course, this was also before really trying out a lot too

[@TheCludo]

if it looks like enemys lock you on the ground you need to use different skills, as a warrior you have like 2 or 3 skills that give you stability and push you back on the feet. The reason why you had such a hard timein the season one story missions may be that you do not know what all your skills are capable of. when you actualy know what your charackter can do, you run through these story instances solo with no sweat

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Oh I'm sure there's still quite a few things I need to learn about the combat. The main point of that was to say that people, like myself, that breezed through the base story will have a tougher time in the future content.

[@TheCludo]

@@MegaMadVladMMO oh yeah, sadly the main Story does a Terrine job to teach you about combo fields (like when you place a Flame wall all your attack that go through there do adittion also fire damage) , breaker Bars (let's just say having a hammer with you makes this part massive easier) and the skills you have. Tutorials about that have been added with the latest addon end of dragons, sadly those are located in this addons first area

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Were they expecting a lot of people hopping straight into End of Dragons? I’m working on everything in story order so seeing that tutorial will be a while lol

[@TheCludo]

@@MegaMadVladMMO I guess so, the Player count has trippled when EoD launched. Also when you go into eod you instantly got the glider from HoT and the raptor from Pof unlocked wich made me feel like this Was made for New players who skipped the first two expansions

[@thebytewarrior8384]

The only one who can solo everything in gw2 is Lord Hizen..

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

So I’ve been told lol Gonna have to see their videos soon to see what everyone means

[@thebytewarrior8384]

@@MegaMadVladMMO well you can start with his soloing tower of nightmare video 😁

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

@@thebytewarrior8384 lol Fair enough!

[@danielp8433]

i met hizen at drakkar, chilling till us mortals were finished xD

[@Kitabake]

It was hard and you were not playing thief like me :) hehe. Warrior is easy mode xD They really beefed up ls1 enemies man :P

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Oh I do have a thief as well lol Still plenty I need to learn about this game. Even with full exotic gear, my damage still pales in comparison to others I’ve seen running LWS1

[@Kitabake]

@@MegaMadVladMMO dmg in gw2 is multiplicative, so long time it is bad and if you have everything inested in dmg it becomes very big dmg. Note sigils, runes and food.

[@generalerica4123]

If you think this is difficult, wait till you get into HoT-Territory. I'm afraid of that place and I've been walking this iteration of Tyria for the past almost 11 years. :D

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Lol I just finished LWS2 so Heart of Thorns is next on the list

[@danielp8433]

thats when it starts to get really gooooood, welcome

[@kampfkeks6619]

You have to understand the difficulty spike comes from lw1 in it’s origin not being a story that you jump into right after the main story. They expected you to be playing fractals, world bosses and such so you have gear and mechanics down. And honestly if someone hits a wall after strolling through the base game I think they should branch out and not quit. Challenging content is good

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

I agree that challenging content is good for the playerbase. I also did know that LWS1 launched some time after the base game so naturally OG players were better geared by the time it dropped. However, the Trading Post does exist to let players buy Exotic gear, which is what I did. That essentially skips the process of the slower grind. I mostly did that to help get the video out in a more timely manner as there’s only so much time in the day lol

[@GravitySlam]

tough

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Indeed it was lol

[@GravitySlam]

@@MegaMadVladMMO wonder how the xpac will be

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

@@GravitySlam Only one way to find out lol

[@MusPuiDiTe]

In my opinion the only living world season that rivals season 1 is season 4: you'll see 😉

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

Guess I’ll find out when I get there lol

[@mormegil231]

Probably did not help that you chose the bladesworn to start with. It is a high risk, high reward class, you need to know what to do and how to make the build correctly, good positioning, good condi cleansing etc to have an easy time. Any other Elite Spec would have been way easier.

[@MegaMadVladMMO]

After I leveled up Bladesworn a little further, it got so much better overall. Making it so all but 1 normal skill was ranged, as well as adding in a block and short teleport ability when charging for the big dps strike. If I had those while working on that content, I have no doubt I would've had an easier time overall. As of this moment I have Bladesworn completely maxed out, so now I'm leveling up Berserker on the side with the extra Hero Points I get

[@mormegil231]

@@MegaMadVladMMO Yeah indeed. Bladesworn is only really getting its full potential when it is completely unlocked. Berserker is not like that as it is additive to the core specs. Also probably much easier to a new player as it is basically a warrior with high burst damage going full offense.

[@user-dt9wm5iz2z]

Just goes to show how lazy and incompetent ANet devs are.