If anyone still plays, please let me know.

First and foremost, this is by far the most complex game I have ever come across, which is what makes this game so exciting but could ultimately lead to the games downfall.  Within the next couple months, you will start seeing the more skilled players pull away from the average casual player and this discrepancy could easily discourage PVP.

So the question becomes, how can I stay at pace with everyone else? 

Work with what you got.

1. This is probably the best advice I can give to any new player.  Up to now, I have no idea about other weapons, skills, combos, crafting, traits, and other things that affect your abilities.  For now, knowing they exist is all the information you need.  Instead, I look at my skills and abilities at my disposal.  Not only memorizing keyboard bindings, but carefully examining each ability is of the utmost importance.  Take careful note of the Cast Time, Travel Time, Range, Animation, CD and Radius. 
2. Kiting, another important skill in PVP is going to separate the good from the bad players.  I know we can all just stand still and cast a sequence of spells, but is that really going to help you once you step foot into sPVP or WvW? Practice kiting PVE mobs and learn how to utilize your abilities to the fullest.  Memorize different sequences of spells, more importantly take note of the CD’s between switching attunements.  For example, go find a high level mob and don’t cast any offensive spells.  Instead, learn how to manage your CD’s while creating distance between you and your target.  I guarantee by the time you are 80 and ready to PVP, you will be way ahead of the curve. 

 Remember, this game has a lot to offer and can be very overwhelming.  Keep it simple!

As with any game, it will take some time for people to realize who are the key targets to eliminate.  More importantly, it will take me some time to realize my limitations.  I always wish I started blogging during the height of Warhammer so people could see first hand what an organized guild can really do roaming the worlds, at times taking on 4 times our numbers.

With that said, things will be quite challenging in the next couple months.  First of all, I have only had 5 hours of play, level 11 at the moment and way behind everyone else.  Combined with the limited amount of hours dedicated to gaming and the steep learning curve of GW2, you can expect to not see any narrative playbacks and articles for quite some time as I will spend most of my time understanding everything this game has to offer.

First impressions:  Very impressed!

1. The “Wizardly” classes of Guild Wars 2 are:  Elementalist, Necromancer, and Mesmer. The Elementalist is basically your Brightwizard from Warhammer, the Necromancer is pretty much your Necromancer from Rift, and I would say that the closest thing that I can compare the Mesmer to is the Dominator based mages in Rift, with a side of Mentalist/Sorcerer from DAoC.  I pretty much assume you are going either Elementalist or Necromancer and its a tough choice between them.  The Necro is more DoT / Debuff based (What we call a coni or condition based class in GW2) where the Elementalist is AoE and Direct damage burst.

2. Guild Wars 2 is a very strategic game that relies more on how and when you use the abilities you choose rather than what gear you have achieved.  It is a very visual-based game where you will make decisions on what to do based on what your target is doing at the time.
The most basic of examples is the dodge mechanic of the game.  Dodge allows you to become completely immune to all damage and effects for a very short time (from when you start the roll until you finish it).  You have enough “Endurance” for two consecutive dodges, but after that you will need to wait for your endurance to regenerate to do it again.  As it isn’t something you don’t want to waste, you will need to become familiar with all the classes in the game and get to know what abilities that you will want to dodge.  That means you will have to look for the visual cues of those abilities or get a feel for when those abilities would be used in order to use Dodge to max effect.
Another example would be Daze effects … Daze interrupts currect actions and puts all actions on a cooldown usually for 1 – 2 seconds.  Most of the time I save this to interrupt channeled attacks or heals, but like Dodge you are going to need to pay attention and learn the visual cues of other classes abilities to use it to max benefit.

3. There are two different forms of PvP in GW2 … sPvP and WvW.
sPvP is basically warzones/battlegrounds from other games, except that everyone is made equal level and given the same equipment. They basically turned it into Nascar in that they tried to remove all advantages and tried to focus it more on player skill than anything else.  There are two different types of sPvP play … open “pug” 8v8 games and 5v5 Tournament play.  Tournaments require you to have a pre-determined team and you need to purchase and use tickets to play in tournaments. You can get these tickets in the cash shop or as rewards in the open 8v8 games.  Tournaments are going to be an eSport and there will be private cash prize tournaments going on in the future.
WvW is basically RvR from DAoC.  You are bolstered to max level, but only have what abilities and gear that you had when you entered.  There are keeps, towers, supply camps, NPC mercinaries, siege equipment, ect … all the stuff you are used to from your time in Warhammer.  Pretty much the same strategies too.  The major difference is that you are paired with two other servers and this pairing is changed every two weeks.  It uses a ladder-based system and will pair you against other servers of equal WvW performance to keep the challenge level at competitive levels. So not only does it have the 3-realm mechanic of DAoC to keep RvR/WvW dynamic, but it keeps a side from becoming demoralized to the point where they just stop playing/quit because in two weeks they are paired with people more at their level.

With the release of Guild Wars 2 approaching fast, I think it may be time to start educating myself on the game.  As of now, I don’t even know the different classes.  Someone please educate me on what “wizardly” class I will be playing?  And most importantly, enlighten me on some of the key differences in this new MMO.

18 Lightning / 23 Madness

This video talks about my current build, specific abilities, overall awareness and positioning.

I used http://www.swtor-spy.com/datacrons/ to see all the available datacrons and searched YouTube for help on specific ones.

After staring at my gear in between warzone pops, I noticed most of my newly acquired Centurion and Champion PVP Force-Master armor contains Alacrity, which reduces the time needed to activate or channel abilities, so they can be executed more quickly.  At first, I thought a 10% reduction to cast times was an ideal stat to stack until further examination and consideration.

• Reduction to activation times from Alacrity come after any other ability that reduces activation times.  Let’s assume we are at a 10% reduction to activation times from Alacrity.  Now, take a look at Dark Infusion and Dark Mending.  2 Ranks of Dark Mending reduces activation time of Dark Infusion by 0.5 seconds.  I was curious to know whether the 10% came off the original 3 second cast or the new cast time of 2.5 seconds from Dark Mending.  According to my tests, the 10% reduction came after Dark Mending’s 2.5 second cast time resulting in a 2.25 second cast opposed to the 2.2 second castime I was hoping for.  The difference was just 0.05 seconds, which was really negligible, but could be higher with more Alacrity.
• The main reason Alacrity does absolutely nothing for me is the fact that almost all of my spells are instant or proc’d to become instant.  I see no reason or advantage to having any Alacrity for my particular build, 23 Lightning / 18 Madness.  Other builds may reap the benefits from Alacrity, but one should carefully examine their spell rotation and calculate just how much they really would benefit.

I have been pulling out the enhancements out of certain Champion Force-Master Armor, and replacing them with  Advanced Battle Enhancement 22.  I am aiming for higher critical chance and surge.

• Champion Force-Master’s Boots
• Champion Force-Master’s Lower Robe
• Champion Force-Master’s Vestments
• Centurion Force-Master’s Gloves (still dont have Champion Force-Master’s Gloves)

Ideally, you would want to get duplicate pieces of Champion Force-Master’s Gloves or Champion Force-Master’s Headgear and use those enhancements to put in the above Champion pieces.  This is what I am doing this until I start receiving Battlemaster Armor.

23 Lightning / 18 Madness

• No Force Issues
• Highly Mobile
• Procs - Wrath, Lightning Barrage and Lightning Storm
• Excellent AOE - Force Storm, Death Field and Instant Chain Lightning (Proc from Wrath)
• Excellent Single Target From Range - Shock and Lightning Strike (Extra 5 Meters from 4 Piece PVP Armor Bonus and Lightning Spire)
• Superb Crowd Control – Instant Whirlwind (Suppresion), Backlash, Overload