Help getting out of the Beginning rut.

Well I made a Ranger/Elementalist, who is level 12 right now.

I did all Ascalon quests and missions, and am now sitting in Yak's Bend.

I got here completely by using Henchman to run through the areas.

I use all Ranger skills, nothing allocated to Elementalist, because I really don't have a good variety of Elementalist skills (except Earth ones - but their all primary Elementalist almost, and Ranger doesn't have enough energy to handle them). I run 3 basic bow attacks (dual shot, hunter's shot, penatrating shot), Rez sig, Read the wind, Troll Unguent, Favorable Wind, and Distracting Shot (for interupting). My attributes are like 2 Wilderness, 10 marksmanship (3 are from runes and mask), and like 7-8 Ex. (cant remember). I would like to test out being a trapper ranger, but I haven't gotten any trap skills.


All I want to know is where to go from here. Guilds usually dont take noobie PvE characters (low skill variety being the main reason).

Also where can I make some money...I have found out fast that you'll need alot of money, and I haven't gotten more than about 1000 gold at any time..which I hear is nothing. Just going outside and killing everything doesn't work that much..since the monsters here drop garbage that sells to the market for like 10-20 gold. Salvaging things ends up lossing money most of the time since theres nothing decent to salvage here (or very little).

EDIT IN: Is there a good guide or other source that tells me where and when I learn certain skills (I found the skill trainer guide - but I mean from quests or anything). Would give me a good timeline as to when I can expect to get better skill wise.

I can't help you with Ranger skills, since I have yet to get a Ranger out of pre-Searing.

Grab all the quests in Yak's Bend. In your Quest Log one will be classified as "Primary Quest", which means it'll lead you to the next mission area.

As for gold, don't worry too much about it. Just sell what you pick up doing quests and missions to the merchant and you'll be fine.

It takes a long time to get traps, so you'll have to be patient about that.

I have an R/E also. Later on, when you get a conjure element skill or two, you will be able to use them in conjunction with a bow. For example if you have a Fiery Short Bow, and you Conjure Flame while using it, you will do extra damage.

In PvE I haven't used many elementalist skills (yet), but in PvP, the spare points I had in beastmastery went into earth for Armor of Earth = very handy defensive skill. It's all about choices in attribute point distribution. If you are worried about energy management, put more into Expertise.

As for money: the only things you should have spent your money on thus far are upgraded armor from Ascalon City (don't bother in Yak's Bend or Lion's Arch), and ID and salvage kits. That is all. When you get to the jungle, you will be able to upgrade your armor by taking items to the collectors for FREE armor that is just as good as any you can buy.

You will be finding better bows, runes, etc, along the way so don't spend your money buying weapons from other players until you are more comfortable.

EDIT: The Primary Quest from Yak's Bend will be to get to Borlis Pass, which is the next mission town to continue the story.

Thx yall, and a few more things I'll add to this thread.

Is there a good guide or other source that tells me where and when I learn certain skills (I found the skill trainer guide - but I mean from quests or anything). Would give me a good timeline as to when I can expect to get better skill wise.

When you get to Nebo Terrace you will be able to buy 'Apply Poison' preparation. This will help you immensely.

My advice is to do any quests in Yaks that pertain to your skills, then do you 'Primary Quest'. This will bring you to the next mission area. If you do the next couple of missions you will end up in Beacon's Perch. I can't remember for sure, but I think there are a couple skills quests here. Even if not, when you do the primary mission in Beacon's it will take you to the Kryta region where you can start getting better skills.

North Shiverpeaks can be a difficult area for a new player because the mops are much more difficult but you still don't have a decent skill set. At your current level they don't offer very good experience either.

Try and work your way to Kryta. I think the area is really cool.

I don't know how much I will be playing in the next few days, but I can try and help you get to Kryta if you get stuck. I have a new monk in Beacon's right now and I have a ranger I can bring as well.

Unless you have a crappy bow or want to buy a run to Droknar's Forge I'm not sure why you would need a bunch of money.

Well I have a 13-23 Shortbow (10 mark. req) that I bought off a guy for 50 gold. No other Modifiers on it... But even without stuff like "+10% dmg" on it - its hitting higher than any other bow I have.

I guess money isn't making such an annoying thing in the game as I'd imagined. All the good runes for my character are like 100 gold ea (even the major runes of marksmanship and such), and bow mods don't go up that high (I see the "change damage to said element" strings for conjuring go for 600-1k). only things that tend to get inflated are the health ones (vigor runes, and fortitude grips).

As far as Runs go - I wouldn't want to pay a runner (ones that demand payment there and then usually scam), And I can sit in a city and see plenty of lvl20s come along and say "running to -whereever- on tips". Droks is probably the exception..I dont know whats there past people being proud that they have "Droks armor" but its obviously good..

Droknar Forge sells the highest AL armor in the game - 1.5K per piece plus crafting materials. This is why people get rushed to Drok's Forge, to equip themselves with the best armor.. so they can go back and do the missions with basicaly no worries about dying (since the critters can't touch em).

so yeah, when you see someone saying they have "Drok's Armor", it means they paid a runner to take them to Droknar Forge to get the highest AL armor available in the game. Of course it's "good" as you say, since no armor is better (the 15K armor's and Fissue of Woe armor's have the same stats, just different "looks").

http://users.on.net/~telarin/SkillList.htm

i think there is a more updated version at guildwars wiki, dont know the link thou. you should focus on getting all the skill quests done and probably some high xp quests. as for money, they are hard to come by when you are low lvl and at a low lvl area. u could use collector armours for now to save up on money, and look at salvaging for raw materials instead of buying them. for a ranger u will need leather and wood for druids armour. can start saving up now.

http://users.on.net/~telarin/SkillList.htm

i think there is a more updated version at guildwars wiki, dont know the link thou. you should focus on getting all the skill quests done and probably some high xp quests. as for money, they are hard to come by when you are low lvl and at a low lvl area. u could use collector armours for now to save up on money, and look at salvaging for raw materials instead of buying them. for a ranger u will need leather and wood for druids armour. can start saving up now.

http://users.on.net/~telarin/SkillList.htm

i think there is a more updated version at guildwars wiki, dont know the link thou. you should focus on getting all the skill quests done and probably some high xp quests. as for money, they are hard to come by when you are low lvl and at a low lvl area. u could use collector armours for now to save up on money, and look at salvaging for raw materials instead of buying them. for a ranger u will need leather and wood for druids armour. can start saving up now.

http://users.on.net/~telarin/SkillList.htm

i think there is a more updated version at guildwars wiki, dont know the link thou. you should focus on getting all the skill quests done and probably some high xp quests. as for money, they are hard to come by when you are low lvl and at a low lvl area. u could use collector armours for now to save up on money, and look at salvaging for raw materials instead of buying them. for a ranger u will need leather and wood for druids armour. can start saving up now.

lol, quadposter!

The link you are looking for is http://www.guildwiki.org
They have the lists of armors, skills, skill quests, items, etc etc.

As far as the conjure element skills is concerned, you can just use ignite arrows (bow preparation) with conjure flame for the extra damage, without wasting money on a string. There are better strings anyways, zealous would be the best for a shortbow, poisoning is good once you get apply poison, and sundering is also a good bow string.

The easiest way to make money is to sell every non-crafting non-quest item you get from creatures. Every weapon/shield/focus you pick up, use the ID kit on it, no matter what color it is. Even white items will increase in sell price when IDed. If you ID armor and it has a rune on it, only expert salvage it if its a rune you need or a rune that will sell for more than base price. Don't buy anything from players until you have an abundance of money. You will need most of your money for skills. Collector armor in the maguuma jungle and desert areas is as good as droknars forge armor, and weapons from collectors in the desert and southern shiverpeaks are maxed.

Drop PvE, play PvP. The rewards system makes it so you don't have to grind PvE just to compete and experiment in PvP.

yah thats a new one hehe.

But couple points to add here to the OP...

~not every skill is gotten from a quest. About 15-20 skills you will have to buy, and then the elites, which in essance you buy as well.

To buy 20 skills/cap sigs, it will cost you almost 9 plat total. From there, each one is 1 plat. So, your looking about 45-50 plat per char to unlock all your skills and capture elites.

You thought you needed gold before.

P.S. Do ALL the quests and missions and salvage everything you find. Sell everything else. Once you get past Kryta, each mission alone will net you 1plat +.

Uh, it's an accident Got a bit impatient waiting for the page to load so i clicked on the submit button a few more times... (it's not normal, it's really taking a long time to load)