Useful Information for GW

[Pikachu]

wiki.guildwars.com

Read this shit. It is useful. You can...

1. Browse through skills available in game.
2. Find out where mobs are.
3. Get strategies for finishing quests.
4. Look through elite armor sets.
5. Figure out any functional information you'll need in game. If you are ever confused about any system in the game (Daily missions, PvP, Guilds, etc.) you look it up here first.

However, the wiki doesn't post too many builds to get the brain juices flowing...


pvx.wikia.com

This is a place to show some builds for all classes. Do not assume that only builds listed on this site work, but these are builds that people care enough to share with the community. Some are meh, some are quite good. Use it as a source of inspiration if you wish. I'd encourage people to try them out not as a substitute for thought, but as an experience to see how different skills synergize with each other.

[Pikachu]

Money

Get Money, Get Paid. - Mr. ChiCity

I've been asked how to make money before. Some are easy, some take investment. Overall, money isn't hard to come by if you know where to find it.

What's been easy for me has been selling materials and runes.

Materials

Beginning with materials, the common ones that sell well are:

1. Feathers
2. Granite
3. Plant Fibers
4. Iron
5. Scales

The prices fluctuate from time to time, but generally, selling a full stack of 250 to a player can get you a decent amount of money. If you're not sure about a fair market price, pull up the party member screen (pressing 'P' by default) and check the WTS people. I'd advise doing this in Kamadan, as lots of people are always there. Use several players as a gauge so you can find a good average.

You'll notice, however, that the above materials aren't common like cloth, tanned hide (which can sometimes sell), or planks. The key to being able to get these materials is in knowing what trophy drops to salvage.

It may come as a surprise that you've been jacking yourself of lots of money. Let's say you drop a Mandragor Root, from one of the 490289758237405 Mandragors you find in Nightfall. They normally vendor for 20 gp. However, if you salvage it (investing around 4gp for the use of your salvage kit) you can get around 4-5 plant fibers. Now, even if you don't sell to a player, and sell it to a Material Trader (stacks of 10 only, though), the 4-5 plant fibers goes towards a stack of 10 that can sell for anywhere between 250-400gp. That means your Mandragor Root should not be sold for only 20gp, when it can actually pull in an average of 150 gold.

Further good news is that these materials won't be falling in demand anytime soon. They are used for things such as elite armor and consumables from Eye of the North.

Keep your materials in mind, and think of the kind of mob you drop it from (Is it a plant? Scaly? Feathery?) and pay attention to the icons. You'll soon learn to discern what you should get. The wiki also shows sources for these things as well.

This is the first money-maker to keep in mind... the money you DIDN'T make.

Runes & Insignias

Insignias are prefixes to your item, Runes are suffixes. Each piece of armor can have one insignia and one rune attached to it.

Check the Rune Trader to see runes for individual classes (don't forget to click the blank icon at the end.. that's the section for runes/insignias usable by all classes). This will tell you which ones are big money and which ones are worthless.

Worthless ones should not be salvaged from the item. They should be sold attached onto the item. Sometimes, I might get a gold salvage drop that I can vendor for a few hundred gold, with a rune that I can only sell for 25 gp to a vendor (and no player will buy). In other words, if I salvage it out (which means I invest 5gp from the Expert Salvage Kit), and sell it to a vendor for 25 gp, I only net 20 gp profit, instead of selling it for the couple hundred gold.

The lesson to take from this is knowing when to salvage and NOT to salvage.

As a quick (but NOT comprehensive) list to know what to watch for, here are a few common ones that sell consistently because everyone wants them (500 - 1000gp):

1. Survivor Insignias
2. Radiant Insignias
3. Any Vigor Runes (Minor sells for a plat-ish, I think, Major sells for several plat, Superior sells for 20)
4. Rune of Attunement
5. Dervish Minor Scythe mastery, Minor Mysticism, Windwalker's Insignia
6. Necromancer Minor Soul Reaping, Minor Death Magic, Bloodstained Insignia (note: sometimes the Minor Soul Reaping goes for 2.5 plat)
7. Warrior Knight's Insignia
8. Assassin Minor Dagger Mastery, Minor Critical Strikes

As you'll note, most of the popular ones are minor runes. Superior Runes are sometimes in demand (I think Monk ones are). I also remember some Ritualist and Paragon runes being cool, but I don't remember off the top of my head. If you are ever unsure, check the Rune Trader!

[Pikachu]

Secondary Quests

Secondary Quests can get you good money, especially in later areas. Clearing these out will net a lot of platinum... unless you're doing them in Prophecies (though this does not mean you can't make $$ in Prophecies).

One of the easiest methods of making quest money is in Factions' Wajjun Bazaar. There's a quest you can take in Kaineng City where you befriend the Am Fah temporarily to go undercover, undermining these bad guys. During this quest chain, the Am Fah in the Bazaar become friendly to you, which means certain sections of the city are safe enough to just waltz through.

Even better, there are a whole bunch of quests in this area that you can run back and forth to finish effortlessly and netting several plat in the process. Some are from NPC's native to the area, and some are from Kaineng City, asking you to talk to a whole bunch of people and getting money for it. Check the wiki for routes and information on this, as it'll take too many paragraphs to explain the procedure in detail where a map would be more useful.

Otherwise, finish side quests in Vabbi, the Desolation, etc.

Zaishen Dailies

Every day, you can accept a daily mission, bounty, and pvp task (and keep up to three quests in each category in your quest log). These are all randomized on each day, and reward players accordingly for completion of the task.

The missions are a random mission from anywhere in the GW game. Sometimes, they are more difficult (Gate of Pain). Sometimes, they are laughable (Chabek Village). Completion of these missions can get you money, and anywhere from 20-30 Zaishen copper coins (I'll explain these in a sec), with extra reward for completing the mission in a manner that gets you the Master rating. Yet more reward is heaped onto you for doing this in Hard Mode (HM).

The bounties are just that: a bounty on a random boss in the game. Rewards are given according to difficulty or how "late" they are in a game. Go kill it if you have access to the area, return for a quick cash in (sometimes a half plat for just that kill).

PvP tasks require you to win a set number of fights in a PvP arena. The more you win, the more you coins you get, as well as Balthazar Faction (which is cashed in at the Priests of Balthazar to unlock, not buy, heroes, skills, and runes).

Zaishen coins start from copper coins, which then are crafted into silver coins, and then crafted into gold coins. Copper coins offer... well.. not much, and that's the currency given out for quest completion. Silver offers a very small 5 slot equipment pack, and basic class tomes as rewards. Gold offers larger equipment packs and elite tomes, as well as Zaishen keys (used for opening chests in pvp zones when you win).

The coins themselves are not transferable between accounts, but you can store them. Start a stack in your stash today between your characters!

As a side note, having multiple characters is huge for dailies, especially on days where they are easy.

[Pikachu]

Treasure Chests

In Nightfall, there are treasure chests that you can open once every 1-2 months for lots of money. Some of the chests in earlier areas get you 250-500 gp. The ones in the Sulfurous Wastes and Nightfallen Jahai get you 3.5 plat. Wiki gives you the precise information.

I'll stop here before going into farming Underworld, Fissure of Woe, or collecting Sapphires/Rubies from Vabbi. Just as a note: Don't use your Trade Contracts (read: reward tokens) from Vabbi frivolously, as they can be traded in for gems worth a lot of money. Trade Contracts are received from secondary quests in Vabbi.

[buhwhyen]

Armor rating (AC)

This is just the basic version of how armor works, but its useful to know.

AC is not added between pieces of armor, that is if you have 5 pieces of armor that has 60 AC, you do not have 300 AC. AC is applied to each individual piece of armor and each piece has a % chance to be hit, and that piece of armor is used to calculate damage taken.

Note: AC from shields and shield/focus/weapon inscriptions are applied globally (to all pieces armor). So a paragon with 80 AC on all of his armor while using a 16 AC shield will have an effective AC of 96 on any hit (of non armor ignoring damage), plus whatever bonus to AC from runes/inscription/skill.

Chance to hit:
Body = 3/8
Legs = 2/8
Head = 1/8
Hands = 1/8
Feet = 1/8

*Max base Armor ratings* (without runes/inscriptions/etc)
Warrior/Paragon = 80
Dervish/Assassin/Ranger = 70
Monk/Necro/Mesmer/Elementalist/Ritualist = 60

Damage reduction from armor is base 60. Meaning if you have 60 AC, you take 100% of the listed damage (fireball that lists damage at 100 will do 100 damage). Every 40 AC above the base 60 gives a 50% damage reduction. So at 100 AC, a fireball that does 100 damage will only do 50. Simiarly, 140 AC => 25 damage (1/4 of what 60 AC takes).

Armor Rating Bonuses

These can come from:
-class specific armor bonuses
-runes/inscriptions
-skills

Class specific armor bonuses vary. Warriors, for example, get +20 AC against physical damage on all pieces of armor. Rangers get +30 AC against elemental damage. Every other class gets a combination of: +energy regen/+health/+max energy instead.

Each piece of armor can have both a rune and an inscription (prefix and suffix, like in Diablo 2). You can choose to get +armor, +energy, +health, +skills. Note that the bonuses from runes/inscriptions on armor are not global, they are applied to whichever piece they are attached to.

Bonuses to AC from skills, Earth armor, Sliver armor, Defy Pain, etc, are applied globally to your AC (to all pieces of armor). The max +AC benefit you can get from skills is either:
1. A max of +25 AC from multiple skills
2. The +AC from any single skill (if one skill gives more than +25 AC on its own)

Whichever gives a greater benefit is what you get. So for example, warriors have defy pain which adds 20 AC. They also have a skill called Dolyak signet, which adds 40 AC. If both are used, the result will be +40 AC (the +40 AC from dolyak signet alone is greater than the +25 that's possible from multiple skills). However, if you had something like Conviction, which gives +24 AC, and Defy Pain, which gives +20 AC. The resulting bonus would be +25 AC because neither defy pain nor conviction alone gives greater than +25 AC.


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Aggro

The way aggro works in this game is completely different than other games (read: WoW). It's a collective effort rather than the just the tank's responsibility to gain/keep aggro. This means that everyone should abandon their pre-existing notions of how aggro works from WoW, DAoC, or where ever else because it is not the same, and not realizing this makes things more difficult overall.

In general, there are 3 main factors that contribute to aggro. Who gets "aggro" is a combination of these 3 things.

1. Armor rating (AC). Mobs tend to attack players who have the least AC. Meaning, if my warrior stands next to Jon's monk (assuming we have equal everything except AC), the mob will always attack Jon's monk over my warrior.

2. Current health. Mobs target the player with the least health. If you're at 100% hp, and I'm at 80% hp (again assuming same everything else: distance, AC, etc.), then the mob will attack me.

3. Proximity/distance. Obviously closer targets generally get aggro first. However, you should realize that standing directly, or not too far behind the tank will probably still result in you getting aggro, assuming you are not also in 80 AC armor with a shield.**

**A side note on proximity and aggro. If you look at your mini map, you'll see a translucent circle around the dot that represents your character. This circle is essentially your aggro bubble. It is also roughly the same as "earshot" range. People within this circle have much higher aggro due to distance. What this means is, if you don't want to get aggro early, make sure the tank is at the edge/out of your aggro bubble at the beginning of a pull, and preferably even during the actual fight (This will make Jon less angry).


How to not get Aggro
Simple solution is to not charge in with the tank while pulling. In fact, if you have the tank in your aggro bubble during the pull YOU are too close. There is no sure fire way for the tank to get aggro if other people are near him during the initial pull, so if you are tired of getting warrior/assassin/dervish mobs running straight towards you at the beginning of every pull. Stay back until aggro has settled on the tank (the mobs are no longer running around).


What to do when you have aggro

This point is actually somewhat similar to other MMOs and I really don't think any of this is actually necessary to say, but I'll include it for completion's sake.

Do Not run away from the group. This should be common sense to everyone - the tank cannot help pull aggro off of you if you run away from him and the healer cannot heal you if you run out of range. Furthermore, the chances of you aggroing another set is hella high, particularly in later areas (domain of anguish). Try to avoid splitting up all the mobs (clumped mobs = dead more faster). Never run mobs towards your healer. Do not sit there and continue to cast (trying to dps the mob down faster than you die) and in the process split the dps between the focus/main target and whatever mob is attacking you.

Do (not men) use any AC buffing skills you have, and or skills that increase block chance or survivability in general. Try to move the mob back towards the tank/melee/other mobs. Continue to add dps/hexes/etc on the focus target (if possible, but not at the expense of uhh, you dying). Say something. Seriously. If there are mob(s) that you cannot get rid of in the back lines and they're causing problems, say something so the melee can run back and everyone can reposition accordingly. Also note that knockdown can reset the aggro of a mob.

[buhwhyen]

Some useful Hero comps/builds that I use for soloing. The template codes are so you can just copy and it loads the skills and skill points for you. Do this by opening the skill window (k) and clicking on the floppy disk/save icon. Pick template code (the last option) and paste the code into the template code field. You need to have all the skills unlocked otherwise it won't equip the skills you do not have unlocked on your account.

I most commonly run: (<template code>)
-Channeling/Restoration Ritualist (OAWkMIhqITiz1scWNHmSzJn18iB)
-Communing Ritualist (OACjAyhDJPWTs538sFtfcWvLGA)
-Prot Monk (OwUTMwHD15S3FDI316RFJDE3AA)
-Healing/Prot Hybrid Monk (OwUUMw2+SIOakNS94uO9rIdx4GA)
-Minion Master Necro (OANDUshvSANbhKgoBVB3VBExEA)
-Domination Mesmer (OQlkAoC8AaKTI001E0AEhMQOAHD)
-Searing Flames Elementalist (OgljowMrpNj1mGdDZsLwF44dMA)

Note: for the Minion master you can switch out the prot spells for just about anything you feel you need (interrupts/hex removal/enchant removal/etc). Particularly for normal mode the extra prots are unnecessary. And for the SF Elementalist, you can switch out the res for interrupts if you think you need more in your group. The dom Mesmer I tend to run psychic instability (knockdown on interrupt), but stolen speed/panic works well too. The channeling Ritualist can take splinter weapon instead of painful bond if you actually attack with your character.

In the case if you don't have Ritualist heroes, you can just use more searing flames Elementalists or put the same (ritualist) skills on a Necro hero.

I use +1 runes only on my heroes (except for +3 death for minion master) simply because I like my heroes having a lot of health. So similarly I put whatever extra survivor/vitae/vigor runes on them as well as putting health mods on their weapons.

Some warrior builds I use:
Hammer - Earthshaker (OQATE1JXRSsQ8JsIxR0jn4qQVEA)
Sword - Dragon Slash (OQATEVKXRaxZqxvAwQ0jn4qQVEA)
Axe - Cleave (OQATEVJXR6pYvSpIqQ0jn4qQVEA)

The best warriors builds are knockdown hammer builds. However, hammer builds are really only useful if you have Earthshaker (aoe knockdown) or possibly backbreaker (single target knockdown) and renewing smash/auspicious blow. Without those skills you might as well just use sword/axe because its probably better damage. Sword builds really only come in 2 varieties, Dragon Slash and Hundred Blades. Personally I dislike Hundred Blades, but its a choice of single target damage (Dragon Slash) vs aoe (Hundred Blades). Axe builds are all around solid dps that is the least conditional of all weapons (hammers require knockdown, sword typically needs "for great justice" shout to maintain damage output or target needs to be bleeding to apply deep wounds). There's also more useful axe elite skills than other weapons (Eviscerate/Cleave/Triple chop/Whirring axe).

Axe vs Sword.
Sword is better short term spam damage than axe, but axe is better sustained dps. For 20 seconds you can mash Dragon Slash for a consistent 80-120 depending on target's armor. But after that it slows down considerably and you also have to choose between having no deep wounds or no aoe damage to speak of. Axe allows you to both apply deep wounds and have some aoe damage (which is nice, but not necessary) and also can apply deep wounds to non-fleshy targets (golems/statues/etc). I usually use axes because I don't have to pay as much attention to order of my attacks (don't have to apply bleed before my deep wounds skill, have for great justice up before I dragon slash, etc). But it's about the same either way, so whatever you have the skills/weapons for is fine.

[buhwhyen]

Easy but somewhat tedious title to max is the cartographer title(s). But there's a 3rd party program to make it a lot simpler, it's called textmod. Google "guild wars cartographer textmod." You need the program and also the mappacks for each campaign. It's essentially just an overlay on your world map that shows dark shaded areas that are unexplored. The only caveat is you have to be running Guild Wars on 1024x768 resolution (because that's the size of the overlay maps).

EDIT:
guildwars.incgamers.com/forums/showthread.php?460805-Cartography-with-TexMod-FAQ