Thinking of playing Guild Wars 2 as a WoW veteran? Here are some tips to get you started

I remember the refrain “GW2FL” filling the comments section of nearly every article in the days leading up to the release of Guild Wars 2. Entrenched in World of Warcraft, I skipped the game at launch, but a friend heard me pining for Tinker Gnomes/Goblins and told me about the GW2 Engineer class. During one of WoW‘s content droughts, I checked out Guild Wars 2, and I’ve been playing it casually ever since.

If you’re a WoW veteran planning on doing the same, here are some tips and things to know as you begin your adventures in Guild Wars 2.

Which aspects of GW2 are very similar to WoW?

To begin your GW2 experience, you’ll run a standard character creation process choosing from a wide selection of races and classes. The gnome-like Asura seemed a good fit for my Engineer. The game also features the Elf-like Sylvari, the Tauren-like Charr, and the Vyrkul-like Norn. GW2 also has humans, if that’s your bag.

GW2 uses the term Professions instead of Classes. My interest in Guild Wars 2 was centered on playing an Engineer. With their turrets, mines, and guns, they play like what I had always envisioned my Tinker to be. Engineer is one of the few Professions without a World of Warcraft analog, despite the similar WoW profession name.

Each Profession has a slight twist on the trope, but the general ‘class fantasy’ is the same. GW2 Warriors are like their World of Warcraft counterparts. Paladins in GW2 are Guardians, and Rogues are Thieves. What you know as a Hunter is a Ranger. Warlocks are Necromancers, and Shamans are Elementalists. Mages are most closely associated with Mesmers in GW2, but it’s the most stretched of the analogs.

Once you have your chosen race and class, you venture forth into the world where you’ll defeat bad guys using skills and spells from various hot keys on your bar. You’ll gain levels, open up talent trees and assign Hero Points to specialize in certain aspects of your class. You’ll find five player Dungeons and a second five player mode called Fractals, which has increasing difficulty levels somewhat reminiscent of Torghast.

Which aspects of GW2 are a little different from WoW?

Gearing

Guild Wars 2 uses colors differently from World of Warcraft. Green (Masterwork) gear is better than blue (Fine). Purple gear is Legendary, and the best of all gear you can get, even better than orange (Exotic). Legendary gear is max level only, and you won’t see any Exotic gear until your 60s. Rare gear (yellow) sits between Masterwork and Exotic. You can see that as early as level 30.

Downleveling

Down leveling is automatic in Guild Wars 2 — you don’t have to go talk to an NPC like Chromie. Whenever you enter an area, the game will display your effective level, a down arrow, and your real level.

Death

Guild Wars 2 handles player defeat in a way I haven’t seen before. When your hit points reach zero, you don’t die. You hot bar changes to some basic skills and you ‘fight for your life’. You get a couple of attacks to finish your enemy. If you can, you’ll survive and the out of combat regeneration will heal you. If you don’t, you die, and I’m honestly not sure what happens at that point as I haven’t actually died in the first twenty levels.

Questing (Hearts, Events, and Campaign)

Questing in Guild Wars 2 centers on Hearts, Events and the Campaign. They give you a few breadcrumb quests to go talk to NPCs who will show you the Hearts in the area. Alternatively, you can just explore around and when you encounter a Heart, your UI will inform you of what you need to do to complete it. The tasks are usually something like killing monsters, or gathering some important material. They remind me of Bonus Objectives in World of Warcraft.

Events are like Hearts, but they appear for a limited time and then disappear. These Events including taking down a powerful monster, or escorting a key NPC through a dangerous area. They remind me of a World Boss, or a Greater Rifts in Diablo 3. Events usually require multiple players are working together. There’s no need to group up, though. As long as you’re in the area and contributing to the Event, you get credit.

The Campaign is the main story progression in Guild Wars 2. As you hit certain milestone levels (level 10, level 20, etc.), a new chapter of the Campaign will open. This usually involves some travel to an instanced story moment. Though it is an instance, this is just to get you away from any other players. These are more like Star Wars: The Old Republic story instances. The story is decent and even has a couple of decision points. The writers did a good job of not making an obvious ‘good’ choice or an obvious ‘bad’ choice. I have seen no real impact from the choices I’ve made, so, again like SW: TOR, it might be the illusion of choice than an actual choice. It feels like the campaign is race-based, but it may be class-based. I’m not sure.

Which aspects of GW2 differ completely from WoW?

One of the biggest adjustments I have to make every time I play Guild Wars 2 is not standing still. You can cast every spell and every ability on the move. Channeling? Keep moving. Casting? Keep moving. It gives the game an active feel — but you have to be careful to not run into another mob (or seven). Spells and abilities in Guild Wars 2 also move both you and mob around more than I’m used to seeing in World of Warcraft. My Engineer has a shot that pushes the enemy back and one that launches him backwards, a little like Disengage.

The major difference most World of Warcraft players have to wrap their minds around in Guild Wars 2 is the lack of roles, or what some MMORPG gamers call the Trinity (Tank-Healer-DPS). There are no dedicated tanks, healers, or DPS in Guild Wars 2. Every class has access to self-healing, but damage avoidance through the Dodge mechanic is the way many players keep themselves alive. Double tapping your movement key allows you to Dodge, and can get you away from a damaging attack.

On my Engineer, I can spec into a Healing Elixir and a turret that pulses out healing. I can also spec into a turret that pulses out threat or damage. It’s up to me to decide. Turret builds aren’t meta in Guild Wars 2, but that’s what I like to play, and thus far, no one has given me a hard time about it — but I am pretty low level. I’ve heard there is some social pressure at the ultra-top end of progression for some players to max out their healing aspects.

Guild Wars 2 also awards the explorer type of player with a mechanic called Vistas. I’ve yet to see its like in World of Warcraft. These are special places that require the player complete various difficulties of jumping puzzles to access them, but provide incredible views of the surrounding area. You get a bonus if you visit all the Vistas in a zone.

Other tips and tricks

Every character comes with the Guild Wars 2 equivalent of a Reagent bank so be sure you’re using the button to send all your crafting materials there. This eased most of my bag space issues, but you can get an extra bag slot if you purchase the expansion.

When you have the choice of multiple pieces of gear, choose the one with the Power stat. Some gear lets you assign its stats after you get it. Here again, go with the combination that includes Power.

I’ve found the Guild Wars 2 community to be helpful, but also respectful. You don’t get bombarded with Guild invites the moment you spawn into the starting area. If you ask questions, most of the time someone will give you a hand. The game has been solo and casual-friendly to this point.

Guild Wars 2 uses a buy-to-play model, but also offers a free account, which is what I’ve been using. There hasn’t been anything I couldn’t do or access yet on my free account, but to get into the meat of the higher level stuff you need to buy the expansions.

So far, it’s been a robust and fun diversion for me. I’d recommend you give it a shot, if you’re so inclined (and yes, that is an Engineer turret pun).