Beginner’s Guide: Character Creation

Beginner’s Guide: Character Creation

By: DjThunder | Guide,Lore,Professions

Introduction
In this section of our Beginner’s Guide, we will cover everything that happens in character creation.  There is often a tendency for people to just rush through and make random decisions here, because in other MMOs doing so doesn’t really have that much of an impact on the game.  Guild Wars 2 wants your decisions to matter, however, and the story told by these choices clearly reflects this design philosophy.

Races
In the original Guild Wars, you could only play as a Human, really at the height of their power in Tyria. While many other races existed and you interacted with them, their backstories weren’t well fleshed out.  In Guild Wars 2, we have a wide variety of races to choose from with rich and well developed backgrounds and personal stories for each of them.
Human

Destiny’s Edge has every race represented by its members.

The humans are mostly what you’d expect – they are human looking.  However, don’t be taken in by the typical MMO trope of the human race being boring.  They are anything but.  The Human race has a lot of back-story from the original Guild Wars game.
Humans are relative newcomers to the world of Tyria.  They were brought here, from somewhere we don’t know about, by the Six Gods of Tyria, who themselves only pre-date humans by a small margin of time.  Once on Tyria, they spread rapidly and as they spread, they pushed out the current residents of the land: the Charr.  This conflict was a major setting in the original game.
In modern day, the humans find themselves weakened, fighting multiple enemies and no longer in the favor of the Six Gods.  Though fallen from their previous heights, they are enduring and faithful.  You will find the story of the humans immediately engaging and exciting.
You can read more about the Human Lore in the original Guild Wars Wiki as well as the Guild Wars 2 Wiki, and check out the New Krewe article Meet the Humans.
Charr
The Charr originally lived in the area known as Ascalon before the arrival of the Humans to Tyria. A highly militaristic people, they divided themselves into four legions, though infighting between those legions quickly began to take its toll.  While the actions of human King Adelbern created a zero-sum game for the Charr, essentially meaning they could never truly take the area of Ascalon City, they have re-conquered the rest of the territory, save for the one Human stronghold of Ebonhawke.
The Four Legions of the Charr are:

• The Blood Legion: The ground-pounder and the infantry, the Blood Legion is made up of those Charr that fight on the front lines.
• The Ash Legion: Infiltrators and assassins, the Ash Legion specializes in covert tactics.
• The Iron Legion: The engineers and builder of the Charr warmachines, this legion is the creator and ‘ruler’ of the Black Citadel.
• The Flame Legion:The Flame Legion has been since cast aside by the other three legions. They continue to have the greatest number and best quality shamans of all the Charr legions. They worship Gaheron Baelfire as a new god.

You can read more about the Charr at the Guild Wars Wiki and the Guild Wars 2 Wiki, as well as a more in-depth article from the New Krewe, Meet the Charr.
Norn
The Norn look a bit like large humans with an alcohol problem.  They would most likely argue it was only a problem if they ran out.  They are a race of Nordic-like hunters who have strong connections with the Animal Spirits of the Wild. The Norn existed in the original Guild Wars but were not a playable race.  Currently, they are in exile from their homelands due to the Elder Dragon, Jourmag, awakening in the Northern Shiverpeaks.
 They still live for the glory of hunting, but now they are determined to find a champion capable of killing Jourmag and reclaiming their home. And did I mention they can turn into half-man half-animal creatures with special abilities? Yeah, they are that cool.
Jeff Grubb, one of the lead Lore Writers for Guild Wars 2, claims he loves the Norn race.  To read more about this amazing race of extra tall humans check out the New Krewe article Meet the Norn.
Asura
While the Asura may appear as though they are the obligate miniature race for comedic effect, I can assure you they are not.  Asurans are amazing engineers and architects.  During the original Guild Wars, they were forced to the surface from their natural underground habitat.  They not only adapted to this life but thrived.  Their presence and their technology spread throughout all Tyria.  They live to research and experiment – this can even been seen in their racial skills, which include the ability to summon Golems to fight alongside them.
You can find a more exhaustive history of the Asura in the Guild Wars Wiki and the current Guild Wars 2 Wiki articles. You can also go to our New Krewe article on the Asura here.
Sylvari
It’s the attack of the Pod People!  Oddly, this is a close description.  The Sylvari are a new race to Tyria that look a lot like humans but are made from plants.  When I say new, I don’t mean they didn’t exist in previous lore. I mean the entire race is only 25 years old.  They are born from a massive sentient tree called The Pale Tree.  The Sylvari, before they are born, exist in a dream realm called the Dream of Dreams, which shows them a number of visions that will have an impact on their life.  The dream has been invaded by a shadow, which the Sylvari interpret as the awakening of the dragons. They view it as their duty to kill and gather other races to kill them as well.
The Dream Realm gives each new Sylvari a kind of basic education, allowing them to speak and obtain a working knowledge of the world.  Once out in the world, each Sylvari’s experience is sent back to the Pale Tree to influence the Dream of Dreams and teach the next generation about the world.
When the first few Sylvari were released into the world, the first sentient race they happened upon were the Asura, who promptly captured and experimented on them. Once the Asura realized they were sentient, they profusely apologized and released them, but this has left a mark on the Sylvari as a whole when dealing with the Asura.
In general, the Sylvari are somewhat naive about the world when they are first “born”.  The way they view their world is starkly different from their human counterparts.  For instance, it tends to baffle them that humans find the job of a grave digger as undesirable, to them it’s like planting a seed they know will never bloom.
More information about the Sylvari can be found on The Guild Wars 2 wiki and an in depth interview with Ree Soesbee on the GWI Podcast. We also have a New Krewe post covering them, which can be located here.

Professions
Necromancer

The Necromancer has its roots in the original Guild Wars.  You have access to minions created from the flesh of the dead, but they are not a simple pet class.  Necromancers fight using heavy condition damage, spells that are imbued with the undead realm, and finally they have access to a unique resource: Life Force.  Life Force allows you to access Death Shroud, which transforms you into a specter of Death with unique abilities such as draining the life from those around you.
Warrior

The Warrior is the classic master of arms.  They are able to use a mind-boggling 19 possible weapon sets, including several ranged weapons.  The Warrior is a lethal opponent but is also capable of defending their allies as well as enhancing their abilities through the use of banners.  The Warrior’s special mechanic is Adrenaline, which builds up through attacks to release a burst ability that is unique to each weapon.
Guardian

The Guardian is a Soldier profession, similar to the Warrior, but with a focus on magic instead of pure martial skill. The core mechanic of the Guardian are the three Virtues – Resolve, Courage and Justice. Each of these provide powerful passive buffs to the Guardian, which can be sacrificed in order to share those same buffs with his allies. While considered a support class by many, the Guardian is still a capable offensive threat. While it has the lowest health of almost any profession, it compensates this with mitigation abilities like Aegis, which automatically negate an incoming attack and responds with several means of health regeneration, condition removal and healing.
Elementalist
Elementalists are able to use their weapons as mediums to wield each element: fire, water, air (lightning), or earth.  You have access to only one element at a time by attuning yourself to it.  Once in an attunement, you gain access to a skill set unique to that element.  You can switch to different attunements in the middle of combat, giving you the widest range of potential abilities in the game.  With these attunements, you are able to be a jack of all trades, filling in to support your allies, control enemies, and do damage.
Thief

The Thief focuses on mobility, high single target damage, stealth, condition damage and hit-and-run tactics. Unlike other versions of Assassins or Rogues, the Thief does not have access to long-duration stealths, though the Profession does have access to a number of ways to apply stealth to themselves and others nearby.  The class’s signature ability is Steal, which allows you to Shadowstep (essentially teleport) to an enemy and steal a random, useful item from them. They also have access to an ability known as Shadowstep, which allows them to teleport around the battlefield quickly.
Ranger

At first glance, the Ranger looks like the obligate pet class.  However, they are a strong and diverse class that doesn’t rely solely on their pets and long range attacks to do their damage.  Dual wield axe Rangers are some of the most feared players in sPvP.  The Ranger utilizes a number of traps to slow, cripple, or put a number of other conditions on enemies, and they have access to spirit beasts that create powerful passive buffs to your allies as well as a secondary set of spells each beast has.
Mesmer

The Mesmer is a scholar profession dating back the original Guild Wars.  They specialize in deceiving the minds of their enemies.  They create powerful illusions of themselves that deal devastating damage or clones that are exact copies of themselves to confuse the enemy. Mesmers also can create Mantras, which basically ques up a long-cast spell and prepares it for use before a battle.  Once charged, Mantras can even be used in the middle of casting another spell.
Engineer
Master of machines, elixirs and explosives, the Engineer is one of the more unique professions.  The Engineer, wearing medium armor, has one of most limited number of weapons with access to only pistols, shields, and rifles.  However, Engineers have access to a series of powerful toolkits that open up more Engineer-only weapons, such as a flamethrower.  Engineers are amazing at group support and control, and they are especially adept at holding on to control points in sPvP.

Personal Story Choices
The final sections of character creation are a series of questions that deal with your past, ways you handle situations and an assortment of information from which God you worship to which spirit beast do you feel a calling from.
 You may be tempted to quickly skip over this or make random choices here, as it appears like meaningless roleplaying flavor text, but I can assure you that’s not the case.  These are the elements that make up your Personal Story in the world of Tyria.  Each choice has an impact on the path your Personal Story takes, so resist the urge to randomly click on a choice.  Spend the time to read the descriptions and make a choice that fits you or your character the best.  I assure you, you will be well rewarded for your diligence in this leg of character creation.
If you ever want to replay a race, you can choose different options and take a completely different path in the game, and that’s only for each race. With five races, the possibilities within the Personal Story are seemingly limitless.

The next guide section will cover your characters entrance into the world of Tyria.  We will cover all of your “firsts” in Guild Wars 2 on your journey throughout the world.

Why Movement Matters

Why Movement Matters

By: DjThunder | Editorial,Guide,PvE,PvP,The New Krewe

One of the most noticeable things about Guild Wars 2’s combat is your ability to move out of the way of incoming attacks. I know, I know, its not radical, but stick with me. You can move out of the way of dangerous attacks in Guild Wars 2 through two different actions. First, normal movement can actually get you out of the way of things, but more regularly you will use an evasive dodge roll.
But why dodge?
As a new player, this is the single most important concept to wrap your head around. In other MMO’s movement is only really important for the ‘Big Attacks’. Giant area effect of Fire? Probably want to get out of that. Maze of Toxic Venom? I wouldn’t suggest touching those green walls.  Other than those instances though, there wasn’t much of a reason to move around. However, Guild Wars 2 takes things a step further. For the most part, attacks hurt, and I mean every attack, a lot.  There are certainly still attacks that enemies will telegraph rather obviously, and for the most part these will put you into a downed state almost immediately. While this doesn’t mean you’re out of the game, it certainly makes you less effective.
A very wise forum member once summed up the entire idea of mobility and dodging in one perfect sentence; “Being able to instantly close distance…and immediately follow that by instantly opening distance [is] an unbeatable tactic”. As I see it, movement really is the key to success.  Damage output, good skill use, and gear are all important, but movement still seems far more important than it ever has been. It deserves your attention.
Most of the abilities in Guild Wars 2 that you’ll have at your disposal can actually be used while moving. This means, you should be moving! Different professions are going to accomplish this in slightly different ways. Thieves for instance tend to roll in and out of combat, dealing a spike of damage, then moving away before they can be hit. Warriors would be more likely to stand their ground, but should still be ready to move out of the way of big attacks.
Dodging is the most obvious way to avoid attacks. By either pressing the dodge button, or double tapping a movement key, if you have that option enabled, you’ll perform an acrobatic and quite impressive looking dodge. Dodging uses 50 points from your endurance pool, which is located just above your Health meter. Initially, you have enough endurance to perform two dodge rolls before running out. Don’t worry though, endurance regenerates pretty quickly over time, and many classes have a means of increasing their regeneration or otherwise gaining more endurance. While you are performing a dodge roll, you are essentially immune to damage, which is represented by the quality of Evasion. It is an invaluable tool for staying alive, getting out of the so called ‘fire’, and moving around the battlefield.
There are two conditions which prevent dodging: Chilled and Immobilize. Having a way to remove these conditions can be an important part of keeping yourself mobile. They are relatively easy to notice, but you should take particular note of enemies who are able to bring these to bear against you.
Now there is another side to movement in Guild Wars 2. Most classes have at their disposal, melee and ranged abilities. These different attacks vary widely in range. Thus, we might consider every battle in Guild Wars 2 to have different fields of combat. The closer your field of combat is to the enemy, generally the greater damage output, as well as a greater chance of being hit by powerful enemy attacks. The further away you are, the less damage you are likely to do (except if we are talking about siege weapons of course…). Yet, consider this: an enemy, be they NPC or enemy PvPer, can only attack in one way. The attack they use may be an area of effect, and sweeping strike with a greatsword, or a single rifle shot, but if you can move out of that arch or circle of attack, you are all the better.
So move! Strafe, dodge, walk, zigzag even. It doesn’t matter, just move. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve avoided an attack simply by walking as I fired into an enemy. Using Weapon Skills and Utility Skills to move around the battle, dipping in and out of the range of combat is an invaluable skill to learn. It may take you a little while, but stick at it. Soon, it’ll be the greatest tool you have at your disposal.

The New Krewe: Barbarians At The Gate

21

Aug 2012

The New Krewe: Barbarians At The Gate

By: DjThunder | Editorial,Guide,GW2 News,PvP

World versus World is an incredible amount of fun, and is absolutely the most robust, balanced and well-executed world PvP system I’ve experienced in a MMO. It can be a little daunting the first time you step into the Eternal Battlegrounds, with all of those keeps, towers and supply camps just waiting to be pillaged, it’s hard to know where to start. The goal of this article is to help you get your bearings with some basic defensive tips. Consider these the rules of engagement.
BE PREPARED. ALWAYS CARRY SUPPLY.
As I said in my article about going on the offensive in WvW, the first thing you need to do in WvW is grab supply from the nearest depot. Every fortified objective, from Stonemist Castle all the way down to your basic supply camp, will have a little stack of crates and barrels marking their supply stores. You can carry a maximum of 10 supply at a time, and you should have 10 on you whenever you are in WvW.
Supply is the fuel of combat in WvW. Without it, you are extremely limited in your effectiveness. Your general goal should be to protect your supply chain at all times while denying the enemy theirs. Even the mightiest gate can’t hold forever if it’s unable to be repaired. Likewise, your keep assaults will be long and frustrating and mostly end in failure if you don’t bring supply and the siege equipment necessary to make short work of enemy fortifications.
FIGHT SMARTER, NOT HARDER. BRING SIEGE EQUIPMENT.
So far, this has been the same exact advice I gave for going on the offensive, but it applies to defense just the same. After launch, we’ll see a much different WvW than we did in beta. It’s only a matter of time. You can have the greatest offensive strategies in the world, but if you can’t keep what you take, then it’s all for nothing. In order to mount an effective defense, you can’t simply rely on the standard defenses. You need upgrades.
Some of these upgrades can be found within the towers and keeps themselves. Cannons, Mortars and Boiling Oil are all weapons you can add without needing blueprints. (Mortar wiki link is unavailable at the time of publishing.) These are available from the same vendor you’ll find inside your fortification, along with other personnel and structural upgrades. Personnel upgrades can be just as vital to your defense, adding more guards and guard patrols to your position, but for the purpose of this article, we’re going to focus on structural upgrades, and defensive siege equipment.

The cost of this equipment is subject to change between now and launch. In addition, the pricing and availability varies based on defensive fortification. The table on the official wiki is fairly large and cumbersome, and it does include other fortification upgrade costs for things like reinforced walls and doors. Reproducing it here in its entirety would be redundant. What we will do is compare average costs with the costs and ranges of traditional siege equipment.

Siege Equipment	Range	Supply	Cost (in silver)
Ballista	3,000	30	10
Arrow Cart	2,500	30	6
Boiling Oil	600	50	5
Catapult	4,000	50	12
Trebuchet	10,000	100	24
Siege Golem	225	100	100
Cannons	3750	250	10
Mortars	10,000	500	15

What you’ll start to see is a quick cost/benefit analysis or “bang for your buck.” You may not need blueprints for Oil, Cannons and Mortars, but their costs in both supply and coin are higher than their traditional counterparts. Oil may not have a true alternative, but a Mortar takes FIVE TIMES more supply than a Trebuchet! In light of this, what I prefer to do is take the cheaper/faster way out and use Cannons for medium range defense and build a Trebuchet inside my defensive perimeter for long range defense. This is easy to do for towers and keeps that have an elevated position available. The tower at Veloka Slope, for example, has a grass area by the Keep Lord that extends up and alongside the keep walls leading to a vista. By building a Trebuchet here, you can cover long range defense of Veloka Slope, Anvil Rock Hill and Anvil Rock Overlook all with the same piece of equipment, and at a fraction of the cost of a single mortar!

“BY OGDEN’S HAMMER! WHAT SAVINGS!”

Any siege equipment your Cannons can’t reach, your Trebuchet can. Anything that comes inside your Trebuchet’s range comes in range of your Cannons. The best thing about this if you’ve been protecting your supply chain and carrying supply yourself, you can build these sorts of defenses fairly quickly and operate them with a minimum number of people.
A FEW CAN STAND AGAINST MANY
Most defenses are really just buying you time for reinforcements to arrive. If a force is large enough and organized enough to cut off your supply chain by capturing your adjacent camps, then your dwindling amount of supply is a ticking clock. That doesn’t mean you’re helpless. If you’ve fortified your holdings and added siege equipment prior to the assault, you can use your supply reserves to repair walls, gates and equipment without having to spend time and resources building anything. Going by my previous example, if you already have a Cannon/Mortar or Cannon/Trebuchet in place, then even just a few defenders can rain down fire upon attackers and have a decent shot at breaking anything less than a determined and organized horde.
Long-range artillery strikes aside, there are other things that you can do defensively in a small group.
Back-capping supply camps is essential. Since almost no one on an attacking force wants to be left on guard duty at a captured supply camp, the only thing you’ll need to concern yourself with most of the time is NPCs. If you can manage to get a group of 3 players together, and have them each grab supply and a Ballista or Arrow Cart blueprint, then you can not only take back your supply camp, you can hold it against superior numbers. You may not be able to escort your caravan to your keep or tower, but this can serve to divide forces and weaken the main assault. The more people they send at you, the less they have attacking your fortification.
If your enemies invest in building extremely expensive siege equipment like Trebuchets, a small strike force of even 2-3 players can rapidly flank their position and build a Ballista within range of the Trebuchet. Ballista do significant damage to other siege equipment, and if you’re lucky (and sneaky), you may be able to get a few shots off before you’re even noticed.
If the worst happens and your walls crumble and gate splinters, you can still fight to the bitter end. Another of my favorite tactics involves building Arrow Carts behind the Keep Lord. In the event of a breach, you can wait till the guards and the Keep Lord are engaged and then rain arrows upon the assailants. I’ve happily solo-wiped an attacking force of upwards of 15 players using this method. Trust me, few things in this game are as satisfying as running up and finishing off a handful of downed players, and then charging out and destroying their siege equipment before they return.
Ballista are fantastic for piercing enemy forces. A single shot can maim or kill multiple opponents if you can get them to line up. If you have a Guardian who can drop a Line of Warding in front of a breach as enemies try to pour in, a well-timed Ballista shot is the perfect greeting. If you can build an Arrow Cart on an elevated position  to cover both the breach and the Ballista’s location, like a Queen guarding a Bishop in chess, it can be brutally effective. The more planning you’ve done ahead of time, the fewer people are needed to pull this kind thing off.
Defense may not be as popular as offense when it comes to WvW combat, but it can be just as much fun. If you manage to crush a larger attacking force, you’re in for an epic victory that’s almost unparalleled in other MMOs.
The tactics I’ve listed here are extremely basic, and I fully expect that some of you out there may have your own ideas on how to mount an effective defense. If so, please leave comments below or stop by our official forums! We’d love to hear from you!
Until then…
Remain vigilant.

Beginner’s Guide: Your Character’s Beginning

Beginner’s Guide: Your Character’s Beginning

By: DjThunder |PVE GUIDE

Starting Zone
As with almost all MMOs, and even regular games, there is a starting area that serves like tutorial zone.  Not much can happen, and it typically feels like the much dreaded line at the Department of Motor Vehicles to get to the fun of driving.  Guild Wars 2 definitely shatters this stereotype, as the starting zones are very fun and really give you a good feel for the world you are in.
In this guide, we go over the starting zone, how it works, and why it’s so important in Guild Wars 2.

Your First “Quest”

Starburst guy looks lonely, you should go and talk to him!

When I say “quest,” keep in mind that I’m using it in the loosest sense of the word. When you first zone into the world, you will see someone with a green starburst over their heads. You walk to them and they will either give you very brief description inside of a cutscene on what to do, or they’ll just tell you what to do. It may be to get people to a safe location from the centaur attack or to kill a beast and take a trophy to demonstrate your worth.
This is the very first leg of your Personal Story that will continue all the way through the leveling process, on to the end of the game.
You may also notice the area on the mini-map has striped lines around it. This indicates that you are currently in an instance separated from the normal world of Tyria, even though the map may be in an area you can access normally. If you happen to be leveling with a friend, do not be off put if you are not in the same special instance, you will rejoin each other once you finish this initial leg.

The starburst is where you need to go. The red is where you don’t.

Your First Skill and Weapon
Your character will start off with a basic set of armor and a weapon with one spell you have access to. The starting weapon will vary from class to class, but it will typically be a one-handed weapon. The skill you have access to can be auto-cast whenever you start attacking an enemy. Find an enemy in the area and target them by left clicking on them. Press your 1 key (don’t click the icon) and you will begin attacking the enemy.

Two Skill Unlocking

You will notice with each kill that you will begin to have part of the next spell for that weapon highlighted. As you continue using this weapon, or any weapon with unlocked skills for that matter, you will gain access to new skills. If you hover your mouse cursor over it, you will see how much of this skill you have unlocked. You unlock it only by killing creatures while you have this weapon actively equipped.
You may also notice that you have a rather handy little skill hanging out to the right of your health orb (positioned next to your weapon skills). This is a healing skill. Every profession gets a healing skill to start with, and they can later invest in others using skill points. There is no dedicated healing profession, so everyone must look after their own health and ultimately take responsibility for failing to do so. At the beginning, you will rarely use this healing skill, but within five levels you will be relying on it quite a bit.
Your First Cutscene

Less chit-chat, more killing.

After you finish the very first leg of your Personal Story, you will find another person with the green starburst above their heads. Once you talk to them, a cutscene will start with your character talking to them and receiving the next leg of your Personal Story. These cutscenes are not mandatory and can be skipped, but I highly discourage that since the voice acting is very high quality and the story told through these scenes greatly enhances the gameplay.
Your First Boss Fight

Nothing says boss like Giant Skeletal Hands!

Eventually, you will come across a large boss that must be defeated to move forward. This Boss fight is an open world boss that anyone can participate in as long as they are in the same special instance of the world as you are. You will probably have access to a few abilities now, and you will be well equipped to handle the boss. However, it isn’t like the typical boss you may be familiar with in other MMOs, where the boss will focus on one player and mercilessly pound on them until they die. Instead, you will have the aid of at least one powerful NPC, potentially some soldier NPCs, and other players. The boss will randomly attack points on the ground and/or swipe at a large area rather than focus on one player.
The boss and any minions he summons will hit hard, and you must actively avoid attacks either by moving out of the way or using the dodge ability (which by default is triggered by double-tapping any movement key. You can rebind this in the Options menu). If you are hit, you can heal using the heal skill you received when you first started playing. If you happen to lose all of your health, instead of dying you will go into a downed state where you will have access to four abilities that includes an attack and a bandaging ability, but you will be unable to move from this location. You will continually lose health in this state unless another player comes and revives you or an enemy you have been attacking nearby dies, after which you will rally with about a third of your health. Your best bet if you find yourself in this situation is to target a nearby minion or enemy with low health and repeatedly attack them with the [1] skill until they die and you rally.
The boss will have multiple points that you can target and attack. Keep attacking the boss until all targetable boss parts are completely dead. You will then get a nice cutscene, and your very first boss encounter will be over.
In the next part of the guide, we will cover the all important game mechanics and some esoteric knowledge that allows players to become nearly immortal – DODGING!

A Beginner’s Summary: Currency In GW2

21

AUG 2012

BY:  | Dahool GUIDE,PVE,PVP

With Guild Wars 2 looming in the distance, many have been wondering what sort of currency is found in the game and more importantly, what is it used for and how to get it.

This guide goes into brief detail about the eight currency options in Guild Wars 2: coin, gems, tokens, influence, karma, skill points, glory and supply.

In total, there are exactly eight forms of currency. For the most part, these all have different uses for the player, but a few can work as a substitute.

COIN

First off is coin. Coin works how you think it would in most other games and is broken down in three tiers: bronze, silver and gold. You acquire coin by completing events, looting corpses, opening chests, selling items to vendors, trading with players and completing maps.

Coin is also used for repairing items, buying goods from vendors/players, teleporting to a waypoint, resetting trait points, purchasing keep-upgrades in WvW and, finally, as one of two means for buying gems.

GEMS

Gems, on the other hand, are used exclusively for buying items, bonuses, and account services like server transfers from the game’s internal cash shop. Gems can be exchange into coin, and vice versa.

For every $1.25 in U.S. dollars, a player will get 100 gems. If you live in Europe, then every 1.0625 pounds will equal 100 gems. The Euro works similar to the U.S. ratio. Gems can be purchased only in specific quantities.

TOKENS

Next we have tokens, which players will receive while running through dungeons. These can be used to buy armor and weapons from dungeon vendors.

INFLUENCE

We then have a guild-centric currency called influence. Influence is gained by guild members doing events, PvP, inviting new members, doing solo content or buying influence from a guild promoter while representing their guild.

The influence gained is then used to improve the guild in four categories, each with their advantages.

KARMA

Karma, a non-tradable currency that players use to buy useful high end items, is another form of currency players actively gain while playing the game. Players receive karma by completing events, assisting players with personal stories or completing parts of your own, and completing renowned hearts.

Keep in mind that armor sets requiring karma can also require an event to have been completed locally for the armor to be available to a player.

SKILL POINTS

Skill points, which are unlocked by achieving skill challenges, leveling up after level five, and leveling past 80 with experience points, allow players to unlock abilities and skills that will complement a player’s play style.

Furthermore, skill points can be used to buy in-game items from some vendors, such as the Bloodstone Shard, an item that gives players access to build legendary items.

Lastly, the two remaining currencies deal with structured PvP and WvW.

GLORY

Glory is gained during structured PvP. Players earn at least five glory for each kill and three for every hit landed with a trebuchet. Glory is also unlocked for completing a number of different objectives in sPvP.

Players use glory to upgrade the look of their PvP gear or to unlock reward chests that contain PvP-centric rewards. Keep in mind, glory can’tbe traded with other players.

SUPPLY

Supply, harvested by NPCs in WvW, allows players to upgrade and maintain keeps, towers and build siege weapons for attack or defense.

Players get supplies from a supply depot their world controls, but in order to get these supplies, they have to ensure a network of supply caravans reach each outpost to continue a steady source of supplies. Players can carry 10 supply at a time to repair or build structures and equipment.

Guild Wars 2 certainly has many different forms of currency to keep in mind, and this peek into the inner workings should have shed light on the dark areas.

Let us know in the forums or comments below if you have any questions!

LMFAO Guild Wars 2!

With the dances going live tonight, some of you might have recognized the human dance. For those needing a reminder or a clue, we submit this video, brought to you by YouTuber KotRFFXIV.

New Content Added To Extended Stress Test

BY: dahool | GW2 NEWS

A stress test was scheduled today from 12 to 4 p.m. (pacific time) this afternoon, during which a wealth of additional content was waiting to be toyed with or added as the test was extended, in the end by a total of two hours.

The test ended tonight at 6 p.m. pacific time.

Now, on to the new stuff! First up, dance moves have been added. The dances are unique to each race but, they are not unique to the gender or profession. All members of the humans, for example, will perform the same moves whether a female thief or a male elementalist.

How many can you identify? 

For more stress test goodness, follow the break!

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