Pre-Searing character guide!

Yes, I was so peeved that they bothered patching that "trick". I mean, how does it help really? So you can level opponents, big deal :P

As to the hitting 16 fast thing; I can't imagine how long it would take; I need to find someone willing to do relatively quick runs to kill just the bosses I guess; I can't solo too well (maybe it's just my playstyle?) as the hunter groups just hit too hard - my nightmare groups are 2 shaman/2 hunters (shudder) - Warriors are a cakewalk, nothing like a frenzying Charr in a symbol of wrath to make you feel good. Any advice on tactics to take on hunters would be great, given that I'm also a ranger I need to be able to shoot them; I have managed to position so that their shots hit a hill while mine get them just over the curve, but it can be tough to do.

Maybe my strategy is wrong; you seem to advocate leaving the warriors till last, while I tend to try to get them to follow me, preferably into cover from the others, then plant symbol of wrath, bane signet one, and begin shooting to finish them off (R/Mo) this typically drops 2 warriors in about the 5 seconds Symbol of Wrath takes to run it's course, unless there are 2 shaman and I mistime the bane signet. It's the darned ranger/caster groups that I find tough, because I don't have much non-LoS damage and thus I typically end up having to present a target to them. My wolf is a decent tank, but he's a dire wolf and the health penalty hurts him a bit, even though he does great damage as a result.

I know the 2 Hunter, 2 Shaman groups, they're definitly the strongest. The Hunters deal all the damage, so you want to get them down as fast as you can, though, you can't win of 2 Shamans healing the same Hunter. It's not that bad with a high damage axe, but with a sword, it's really hard as a Warrior.

I regret buying that 6-18 Hand Axe though. An axe is great, because it has AOE damage that deals extra damage, and you have Executioner's Strike, wich is simply insane with high Axe Masteery, though, the sword skills are great too. I'm probably going to try combining them today. Getting Adrenaline before the fight, Gashing and Server Artery'ing the enemy, switching to axe, and killing them, then do it again on the next enemy. I'm afraid it won't work though. Probably getting a high damage axe soon

What's the highest damage sword out there (other than the ascalon razor)

The W/R is nice because you can bleed them and have the pet attack them while you're healing. It's not the fastest way but you can tank through just about anything. It's usually Troll's, attack 4x, sever, Sig, Trolls, attack 4x, sever, gash, dead. When there are just a couple left you can chuck in frenzy to finish them off more quickly.

Ascalon Razor? Don't you mean the craftable Rinblade, 10-14 Damage?

Anyway.. My old axe was and 11-15 Brute Sword, not sure if that's the maximum though, there's probably a higher damage sword out there.

I did a ranger up to level 16. The only quest I took was the first one from Artemis for 500. I needed to do that in order to acquire the ranger skills. Took about 90 hours I think. I had the advantage of having an Ithas bow though. I spent a lot of time on my sniper hill next to the charr fire stand. From the top of the hill, I stand next to the little tree, and I can shoot a long long ways. Hitting a charr shaman for 100+ down hill as the opening salvo is quite nice

I agree that the 2 hunter + 2 shaman group is the worst one. The axe/sword ones are actually not that bad. When they frenzy up, they go down real fast.

Whoever this girl/guy is says you can

yes we all know about God Antipowers...

I knew about him when he was only lvl 16. :P

You can still lvl up any bad guys you want in pre-sear as long as its next to a spawn point. it will still take a long time, but you can still reach lvl 20 in pre.

Nah, it's way too hard to get to lvl 18 or higher unless I haven't find the right way yet. I hope ANet "un-nerfs" this leveling method, otherwise, I still hope for a good reason.

And God Antipowers is well known, since he's the only lvl 20 in all the American and Europe Pre-Searing servers (Korean probably has 5000 of lvl 20 character..). There's also a W/Mo that's lvl 19, but he's a real bitch, whispering him with nice things like "Great! You're lvl 19!" or "Do you mind telling me how you got your boots?" or whatever, it doesn't matter, he thinks he's god because he's lvl 19, and ignores everyone that isn't equal to him. Lame!

It's not just the level nerf that was changed, it's also the drops that are considered to be nerfed. Finding a bow that's over 10-15 damage in pre is nearly impossible now where around 3 months ago anything under 11-18 damage dropped from time to time. I also noticed that now many more 8-11 no-req bows tend to drop now...
Many of the very high damage weapons that exist in pre now are in fact weapons that date from the pre nerf age

In descember I found a 6-16 axe and a 12-19 bow. Maybe more rare but not gone.

Do the drops get any better after you level the Charr? For example, if you level them to 15, do they drop goodies as a level 15? Could you in theory get good items then, but simply leveling them enough? After all, in theory God Antipowers or another level 20 could level opponents to 26, and then get very reasonable drops one would expect.

i still have my pre-sear longbow thats 12-18

DreamCatcher might be right, drops have been far worse for me too. My best axe was 6-15, my best bow was 10-17, my best sword was 10-13 and my best hammer 13-20.

And Epinephrine, from my knowledge dropped items or not based on level, with my level 18 Mesmer back in the old days I never had anything far above avarage drop, even though, I've killed level 20 and 21 Charr quite some times with that character. I think it's just decided when you enter a zone, and it doesn't change when they level up.

And a question from me:
What's the best bow you've ever found without requirements? Since having a no requirements Longbow for pulling is great, and I wonder my 9-13 Longbow is the best I can get.

Damn. I can't wait till Guild Wars: Factions is buyable! An Assassin Pre-Searing character, ZOMG!

I don't know what the best in presearing is, but the best bow without requirements I've seen is the Candy Cane Bow that does 15-15 damage...

I've always wondered that too. I've seen some recent posts that strongly suggest that the critters actually spawn with and use the gear they drop, so I suspect not.

I've seen 9-13 bows as the highest no req bows for sure. I have once gotten a 9-14 no req bow once...I think. I should have a screenshot of it if I am remembering this correctly but eh.....I kinda have many screenshots and I'll go look for that screenshot later.

But 9-13 is most likely the best no req bow you'll find. try finding a no req bow with some good mods on it.

Best no req wand/rod I've seen damage wise is I think 6-10, best no req shield is ofcourse 8 armor. Best no req sword I can remember I had recently was a 7-10 butterfly sword. Best no req axe is 5-10 for sure. Can't remember a better no req one right now.

I'm reasonably positive about the 9-14 damage bow though but it was a shortbow, so not realy good for pulling anyway

Guess I'll be fine with my Longbow, 9-13, +10% damage (while health is above 50%) Hehe. A 9-14 would still be awesome though

So what is the use for the Tapedstry Shred? I did a quick search in the forums but didnt find anything. Is it a quest object for post searing or what? Thanks for any help you guys can give.

lol, your quote says "which has no use, for now" and you ask what the use of the Tapedstry Shred is? Strange..

So again, it has no use for now, it's not part of anything, it's a useless easter egg, but it might be of use in a later chapter/update.

It would ROCK if at some point they took that Shred out of the game and then made it the key to getting a cool quest item. You all had your chance to be nice to Gwen..