Road to Level 10

Shrapnel_Magnet was kind enough to provide us all with a look at the long march from Olde Ascalon to Lion's Arch. And we're kind enough to provide him with a thread for the discussion of it. Give the article a read here and be sure to let Shrapnel_Magnet know what you think.

Thanks for putting it up... hope it helps someone out there... lol.

Also, I'd like to thank Ensign for some of the info that I had in there, he was very helpful when I had a few specific questions about various things. And, of course, Saus, for showing me where it was lacking and some suggestions on how to fix it.

Actually I was just talking about this kind of guide in the site suggestions. Not that I need it but there have definatly been a lot of questions about what to dof rom new players. Especially those who had joined the Acadamy befor they were ready on the last BWE.

A lot of info good job

I disagree with the 'Each and every character profession/class is good.' line. If you choose 'Necromancer' at the character creation screen, you have failed, and your character is crippled for life. I also disagree that you will regret not learning the Resurrection Signet. I think you will be doing handstands and backflips every time you go to change skills and don't have to scroll past that particular steaming pile in your skills list.


Skills are not crucial in the early parts of the game. You can easily survive off of, say, Flare and Orison of Healing on your march to Lion's Arch. Skill power fluctuates greatly early on - Conjure Phantasm is insane, for instance, and Flare isn't the colossal waste of energy that it turns into later.


I disagree on trading. Don't even bother trying to buy, sell, or otherwise interact on the secondary market as a low level character. You'll spend five minutes trying to sell ten iron for 15 gold instead of 10, and in those 5 minutes you would have gotten the extra 5 gold anyway, on top of progressing further in the game. Once you get halfway through the game you'll be getting 5 iron from a single salvage, and pulling down as much in 10 minutes as you did in an hour as a level 1 character. If you want to make money, get to where it's time efficient to do so quickly.


A bit more advise - in the newbie area, *everyone* is a melee character. I don't care if you're a Monk, grab the best sword and shield you can find, and hit things with them. At level 1 every class is the same, and swords/axes just kill faster than everything else available. The shield also provides a bit of defense to make your hit points last that much longer. Once you get to around level 5 or so you can start to consider switching to other options if your attributes support it, but until then it's all sword/shield work.


Be sure to gather the Skale Fins for the collector right outside of Ascalon City - he'll give you a belt pouch for five, easily the best investment you'll make in the entire game. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother with the collectors unless you just happen upon one that you have the materials for. You need to free up inventory space by selling / salvaging what you find, and +2 AL to a single piece of armor just isn't worth the effort - you'll be crafting better stuff as soon as you pass the academy, anyway.


Stockpile dyes like no one's business. These are your ticket to wealth in the outside world. While just about everything else you'll find is worth one, maybe two gold if you really fight for it, a single dye can sell for 50+ gold easily. Don't squander it, don't use 'em. Just sit on it until you get to Lion's Arch - there you can sell the dyes you've accumulated for a few hundred gold pieces, which should be plenty to get you going economically.


Peace,
-CxE

lol when i started reading it, theres were no post, now theres 3 well this is a great guide, it helps you along the way, but doesnt give yo much away, i played last BWE and asked my guildmates alot of questions and yet you still gave me basic information that i did know. i think this is an awsome guide, just what i needed a month ago good job shrapnel!!

Very cool..actually found that quite useful. most of the time I was in ascalon (seared) only ran into people trying to buy/trade/sell..or doing dance parties..(bleh) couldn't get any information about anything. Thanks shrapnel .. having spent most of last beta solo..that was quite helpful to read

Is this really true? I thought henchies took some drops too....

Nah, they leave items alone... but if you have 2 henchman and you try to pick up 3 gold... you'll only get 1 for yourself, Dirty thieves.

My understanding of things is that henchies do indeed get their share of items, just as they get a share of gold, and a share of xp, too. It's just you don't see the items they get actually drop, so you don't notice them actually picking them up, they just get whisked into the ether whenever they're created. That didn't use to be the case so just be thankful that you're spared the outrage of watching your henchmen pick up that rare max damage sword with no upgrades that you've been looking for while you happen to get your twelfth Rusty Scimitar...

They do, it's just... sort of invisible. Essentially, the more henchmen you have, the less drops appear overall.

err.. I stand corrected then, lol.

Ensign, I think that if you want to enjoy the game, one level at a time, Trading is not a bad investment of time. It familiarizes you with the trading system in place and you get can make a little cash. I don't think that it's such a bad thing to sell off some crafting materials... there are usually plenty of people lazy enough to buy them, rather than searching for them. I dunno, I've always had success when I do a little trading in Ascalon. Sure, I could probably make the same amount of money faster doing something more "productive", instead of interacting with other players... but on the whole, it's really a personal decision.

I do agree that once you've come close to Lion's Arch, the value of Iron and that Wood has all but dissapeared.

I also think that you have a personal hate on for the Res Signet. During PvE with random groups it's nothing short of essential. Even in the Ascalon Arena, I saved my team plenty of times. I would usually res the first fallen character if we didn't have a monk... since I wasn't usually tied up in Melee Combat or Healing. Sure, it resurrects a character who can be killed almost immediatly, but it's a skill that can't and shouldn't be overlooked.

I had to make due without it, this past event, as I forgot to look for it (assuming we could buy it later, which we should) and I lost a few missions because of it... wasted time, as you seem so strongly against. :P

Oh, it isn't a bad thing to go and familiarize yourself with the trading interface - it's just that wasting your time on iron and wood is, well, wasting your time. You can sell them to the merchants for 1 gold each - you can get ~1.5 each if you try to sell them to other players. That's just not a good time investment.

Now, dyes, those are good time investments. Why? They're somewhat rare, and you can get good deals because people are cash starved. You can and will get dyes for half of what they'd run you in Lion's Arch, because people need the money and materials on their characters *now*. Buying a green dye for 5 gold and 10 iron isn't all that hard, and you've made a nice investment in the process. Think of dyes like savings bonds - you invest a bit of gold and junk in one now, and you can get a whole lot more later on when you can actually spend the money on something useful.

I'd also seriously consider buying unidentified rare armors and weapons. You can crack a rune or upgrade out of one of them once you get to Yak's Bend. Any rings that pop up, obviously, you should throw money at early and often.

But, in general, everything you're going to be dealing with in Ascalon City is going to be junk, so unless you're trying to become the king of junk you should be focusing upon moving on, not getting the best prices on your iron.


You've got that right. It's a skill that should never be on the bar of a competitive character.

I don't think I need to explain what's so bad about it. I think I'll just drive in the final nail.

Assume, for a moment, that you're in a situation where you might want to use Res Signet - on an arena team without a monk, or a PvE team where the monks have been wiped out.

How badly do you want to spend another ten minutes of your life playing with this team?

If my PvE team can't keep the monks alive, it's time to go back to the staging area and get a new team. If my arena team doesn't have any sort of monk, I'm going to try and solo the other team, and if I can't I'll just roll the dice on a new team.

Carrying Resurrection Signet is conceding a defeat of sorts, making a statement that I feel that my team is too incompetent to get the job done. If you feel that way about a team, it's time to re-evaluate why you're a part of it.

Peace,
-CxE

Saus, you are correct about that, yes. We did remove the notification (for the reason that you mention -- it's sad to see the rares go to some bloomin' henchie! ) but the items are still divvied up amongst all in the party, player character of NPC.

P.S. I have to say that I disagree with Ensign about the Res Signet, but to each his/her own.

Res signet is useful in PvE, at least in my opinion. It's not a skill that I'd generally want to take, but I've seen many missions where you're almost to the end of the game, and half the party gets wiped, including the monks. With some of the missions, this isn't necessarily due to a bad party- some creatures(wind riders are probably my worst nemesis) are extremely destructive, and bad situations due to patrol routes or unlucky spawns can be difficult to overcome. If you have 2 people without monk secondaries that survive, and neither of them have a resurrection signet, you get to start the mission over- even if you've spent 30+ minutes getting to that point. With a resurrection signet, you can be back on your feet and through the mission in another 5-10 minutes. I personally prefer getting through the mission- it's not like that one skill your sacrificing on your Warrior/Ranger is going to make a huge difference in whether or not your team succeeds in finishing the mission, whereas Resurrection Signet can.

Shrapnel

I wouldn't consider myself a n00b but don't think I'm anywhere near educated enough on this game! Love it to death and appreciate your in-depth look at the level 1-10 build. Great insights and very useful. Now... if I can just start playing the game and putting your advice to use!

I try never to go into PvE without the res signet.

I've had it save my group more than once. It's the only good skill for when your only monk croaks. I suggest that at least half your group take it. Now in PvP, it's a waste, but in PvE it's a savior sometimes.

The obvious question is what were your Monks doing getting killed in the first place? PvE isn't PvP they shouldn't - outside of low-levels where, as Ensign says, they should grab a sword/axe+shield and bang away like everyone else - be up in the front lines so they can take a pounding. If they're a dedicated healer they should be hanging back, letting their tanks and other party members screen them from damage and they should be ready to retreat at the first sign of trouble. As you say, it's not necessarily winning the battle, it's surviving the mission, so your characters with rezzes should be panicky little guys who'll bug out then return to revive everyone else when the danger's passed. You can work off the DP as you go along, the important thing is to be able to go along. If you're in a party where your Monk or healer with that effective, more than one use rez, catches a case of the deads, you're doing something wrong.

In PvE, you'll want that rezzing power on the character least likely to die. Oddly enough, that means you'll waste it putting it on your Wa/Mo and other non-healing */Mo because they should be concentrating on battling the enemy, therefore they'll be the most likely to get hurt and die, even if they are tanks. And you'd want it on your dedicated healers who'll be the last ones to enter the fight. That's the opposite of PvP play where a rez on a dedicated healer isn't going to see much play as they're going to be a primary target and go down quickly and, at the same time, every second they spend on those long casting time rezzes is another second they spend away from pumping out healing/defense. So, you stick your rezzes on your WaMo or your RaMo because they'll be among the last targeted by the opponent, in an ideal setting.

That said, the rezsig is important. Just at low-levels. In those first few missions, you should be bringing it. You won't have enough skills yet to crowd it out and the people you're playing with will likely still be learning their roles so there's a lot more chance of half the party dying. As you go along, though, your healers should start knowing how to do things and should be able to handle the rezzing all by themselves, giving you an extra slot to use. Since you only get eight each one is precious and while there's something to be said for the "panic button" there's also an argument to be made for making sure each of those slots is something you'll need to use a lot, something that reinforces your central strategy rather than something to let you recover from a bad situation.

Shrapnel_Magnet, good article thank you.

Having done some extensive navigating through the missions and quests I can only imagine how cool the "real" game expierence is going to be.

You get it [res sig] by talking to the female monk on the left just outside the gate and then going back and getting a partner. (1st coop quest)
Takes 1 minut, max.

If you know the pre searing map you can probably make the fastest levels just by running around doing the quests up till level 5 at least.
250, 500 exp for running a bit talking to someone and teleporting back... that counts for a lot on the exp-bar in early levels. And the "try a second prof." quest are really fast and easy.

Now this will mean you are a bit overleveld for the first missions during post searing but... you'll quickly catch up to the proper missions.

Wish I had known about the collector wanting scales for the belt tho - the one I talked to wanted 5 "worn belts" and I never got a single worn belt drop in pre-searing

Doing every single mission in the newbie area is not to be understated. You can do most of 'em quickly, and they kick out experience regardless of your level - so hitting level 6 before entering the academy should be a non-issue. It's a pretty fun map, as far as PvE goes, and entering the academy when you're higher level than everyone else makes getting that win a bit faster (do you move on in the academy even if you lose the arena match? Can't say I have any experience with that...)

Saus pretty much summed up the Res Signet issue. If you're taking hits as a Monk in PvE regularly, you're doing something wrong. Everyone else takes hits, you keep them alive. It's a completely different mindset from what you have to do in PvP, but is that all surprising given how different the two gametypes are?

I actually think that Res Signet is *more* useful in PvP than PvE. Why? Because fast resses are much more valuable in PvP. A Wa/Mo casting Restore Life is a Power Drain waiting to happen, while Res Signet casts a full 3 seconds faster and doesn't get destroyed by every Mesmer with half a brain. I still wouldn't run it, but at least it has a place. In PvE I'd just slap Rebirth on a necklace or something.

(Assuming this isn't a level 6 group or whatever where each character has like two useful skills. May as well bring Res Signet, it isn't like you have something useful to do with that slot. But that's a different design problem.)

Peace,
-CxE

Don't buy skills from the traders just because you can. Each skill
costs money, and the more you buy, the more expensive they get.
So, it's best to only buy the skills that you want. A correlary is to
only buy the 'minimum necessary' skills in a given line if you intend
to change to another line later. For example, if there arn't enough
'Earth' skills, and eventually you want to be an Earth Elementalist,
don't go buying up every Fire skill... it will make buying Earth skills
later far more costly.

very informative to any new player. and pretty useful to me too (i hadn't seened much of pre-seared ascalon... i was too busy GvGing)

I think you do move on (I won my only match so this is second hand info). I brother lost his match and still moved on to the PvE protion of the Academy.

Seems to me that in Olde Ascalon the goal should be to get as many skills as possible. Regardless of whether the Rez skill is usefull, it sure is easy to get...so you should get it. I was collecting as many skills as possible since they were free.

So my question is... Did anyone get more than 6 primary and 4 secondary skills plus the Rez. that was the point were I entered the academy but was still unsure of whether I left something behind.

Harley

Ah, like so many others, I would have greatly benifitted from this "overview" prior to my first BWE last month. My first BWE this past February was great, but had I had even half of the info, I might not have found myself a Level 6 Ranger with no skills or secondary profession in seared Ascelon, wondering what to do with 26 load stones and trading my dye for planks to have a customized bow built that I ended up throwing away after five minutes of play. Ok, It wasn't THAT pathetic...but I was level 6, no skills until I finally outted myself as a noob and asked where to find a trainer...With only a week away (give or take) from the next, I plan on starting with a slightly different strategy thanks to you, Shrapnel Magnet. Now, if I could only get someone to teach me those illigal ninja moves that the government controls, then I'd have skills...oddly enough, I am pretty good with a bow staff....

Thanks to Shrapnel_Magnet (and other contributors) for the good read. I've played in two BWEs and the WPE as well, and still found some great information. Especially about the PvP Arena in Ascalon. I'm almost embarrased to admit that I haven't ever gone there, just stuck with my PvE play for all the events so far. I think it is partly because I wasn't sure what was going on in there, and partly because I hate losing (which I'm sure is inevitable the first time I go in...).

I'll throw in my two Gold Pieces as well on the Res Sig--found it quite useful for bringing a monk back (especially when we were close to the end of a mission and I didn't want to do the whole thing over again, which happened once when I had already rezzed the monk once, but I digress). Ensign brings up a good point, the monk shouldn't be dying in the first place. But remember that we're still in "noob" territory, and a good monk is hard to find anywhere in the game (unless you're running with guild mates). With so few good skills on hand at this stage of the game, grab it! It only takes thirty seconds anyway, so just do it (a noob monk will thank you for it later).

Ciao,
CT

I was just looking at this site because I am going to pre-order GW this afternoon, and came across this.

You've done an excellent job, I loved reading it and have printed it for when I get started in the game.

Thanks a lot!

I have now played two BWE's starting in Pre-Searing Ascalon more than twice and your guide still taught me a couple of things. Thank you, it was informative but not overwritten or dull.

I enjoyed the line about laughing at me if I had a crappy cape.

Assuming it's not altered, I'll certainly be keeping in mind the salvage kit suggestion. That will help save me some gold. I got through salvage kits like nothing else.


As for the semi-Monk bashing earlier in this thread and Resurrection Signet, it's not a skill I've ever been keen to have (but I am usually a Monk of some sort), I have to defend us/them especially in Borlis Pass Mission (the latest mission I've ever reached). The plethora ranger creatures really make staying alive as a monk a hazard. It was almost as though it was PvP and the PvE creatures had learned the "KILL THE MONK!!" mentality (a strategy of which I cannot deny the logic but still resent. ) and a resurrection signet would have been helpful for one of the two remaining members of our party. I am unclear as to whether they used a signet or were a Monk secondary (both front-line fighters).

The signet certainly has its place and while I see both sides, I'd say it's a personal choice.

Maybe you haven't noticed, or my group is just special. But whenever we would engage a group of enemies in PvE, our healer would get targetted by several creatures right off the bat.

And in PvE the resurrection signet was God. At least, with my party. But half the time I was travelling with my friend who was a monk/elementalist (myself a warrior/elementalist). And generally we could handle everything.
With missions, though, we usually rolled for a henchman, or we convinced our friend (a level 17 Ranger/Mesmer) to join us - which he did gladly several times.
And still, the Ressurection signet was great, as our token monk would still get killed, even though he could defend himself most of the time.



Great guide, Shrapnel, I wish I had read it before the last beta (my first one). lol. Oh well, I'm making a new character to help a few more of my friends who are starting. Yes, this one-beta person is now acting as a guide. Scary eh?

Thanks for the help everyone. I will keep all this in mind when I start out. I preorderd yesterday with another friend of mine soon Im sure all my friends will be playing, hehe we stick together. Anyways Thanks for the Advice.

My noob lvl 6 (10 by the end) team made it all the way from ascalon to lion's arch on foot in about six hours with only the four of us with a ele/monk healing and I had res signet. I probably used the thing at least six times and we only had two team wipes in spite of having only four of us. Being the hardiest warrior (one with two self-heals), it came in very handy and it was a wonderful experience. I know some uber-gamers would've given up on the team quickly, but that's because when all factors come into play they don't appreciate a fun challenge, but would rather have victory come because of technicality and twinking. I quickly ditch such whiners as they both ruin gameplay and ninja loot. I'm sorry, Ensign, but optimizing teams ad nauseam is only for PvP.

Hmm. I do not like to hear this. What I do not like even more, is that nobody commented on it, almost as if it was accepted as fact...

I only made it to level 9 with my N/Me, but I was doing great up until that point. I like the Necro's spell choices, and I was able to do alot better with him than I could with my R/Mo. Are you honestly saying that at level 20 Necros are useless? I thought this game was about using different strategies with different characters, and find it hard to believe that a successful Necro is impossible to build. At least I hope so, because Necros are probably my favorite class so far. Not that I don't believe you, but was just wondering if you're talking about end-game or what the reasoning is that "you have failed" if you pick a necro.

BTW, definitely a nice beginners guide.

EDIT: Oh man...what did I get myself into. I've read a few other posts now, and I feel a serious onslaught coming from Ensign/many other people...Ok, I see all the reasons...But, what about Blood Spells? They seem to do good damage, give you a constant source of life, constantly drain life from enemies. Is there no place for a "skilled"(makes the best use of skills possible) Blood Necro?

Not to try to open the discussion that should be kept i other threads *hint*, but yes many people don't think necro'es are worth anything in pvp. This is of course a too strong statement, they don't have a spot as a primary character in every build, but that doesn't mean they have their own importent role. Pretty much every balanced build (meaning not one trick builds) in alpha include atleast a secondary necro if not a primary necro, they are mainly used for their curses, but blood also comes into the picture sometimes. This is in guilds that fight in the top 10 of the ladder so far, in competition on the lower part of the ladder the exact build you use is not near as importent.

If you think about pve, necro'es that use minions are actually pretty good characters. If you are only interested in pve there is no problems at all, in pvp you will not be the most wanted character outthere, but there are still room for you.

I think that they've fixed the Salvage Kit bug. This last BWE I noticed that everytime you used the kit it's value dropped by 2g. So a salvage kit with 1 use left is worth 2g. Sorry guys, you'll have to get your gold the hard way.

OOPS! I forgot to add: Nice beginners Guide!

Thanx for the 'Road to Level 10' Guide. It was well written, humorous and informative.
I only got to play about 3 hours in the final beta weekend, so while not new to mmorpgs, I am very new to GWs. Now I have a better grasp of what to expect on the 27th and maybe now my learning curve wont be so rough.
thx again.

In PvE the only harder combo might be Mes/Nec. Why? Too many of your skills are situationals and if you are a DoT/life stealer you lose a lot of effectiveness at level 20.

Not good to hear that primary necro's are useless. I've been building a necro with elementalist second to combine curses with firepower. I like pyromancy, what can I say.


...And why didn't I go elemental primary and necro second instead? Character vanity. You want chicks to play online, ya gotta play up to their avatar-vanity. I just plain do NOT like the enchantress looks and prefer the necro look. Neither class get's tanking armor so it shouldn't make much difference there.

Necro primary is not useless, even if it isn't the strongest choice in PvP it can still be fun to play. Especially in PvE.

Ensign, You mentioned rings and neckles's in your posts(all on this topic)

What? Are there still rings and such? I could just be low lvl(12) but the only place ive seen those is in the Old BWEs could you explain?

CM

Thanks for the guide. It proved useful.