GW2 Beginner Dos and Don'ts.

Because it seems like there's probably / probably will be an influx of new players onto GW2 due to the announcement of the expansion, I wanted to write a newbie guide. I've been meaning to get around to it for a while, and it's possible in the works right now, maybe. But I thought I might start off by writing out a quick Dos and Don'ts list. Just a quick rundown. Maybe I'll polish this up later and just have this be my newbie guide. Not sure yet. Haven't planned that far ahead.

DO

• Do pick up a class that looks / sounds interesting to you. If you have no interest in a Warrior, don't play a Warrior. If you get into the game and see a whole bunch of other Warriors and it looks like fun, then make a Warrior and try it out.
• If you've played any other MMOs, think about what classes you liked to play. Using WoW as an example, the best equivalents I can think of are Paladin = Guardian, Warrior = Warrior, Mage = Mesmer, Shaman = Elementalist, Warlock = Necromancer, Rogue = Thief, Hunter = Ranger, and Engineers also have some similarities with Shamans because Totems = Turrets.
• Do Gather out in the world. It does not waste any time because you gain experience from it (and not gathering experience, actual player level experience), and you'll need all the materials you can get.
• On that note, do pick up two useful Crafting abilities. They are somewhat tedious, but they can help level up your character, and they are very valuable a max level. There's plenty of people who have gotten to max level just through crafting, so it does give you pretty decent experience.
• Do try out all the possible weapons for your class. Find one that you love and the game will be more fun for you. For example, I love Scepter for Mesmers; I find it incredibly fun, and even better when paired with a Sword.
• Do purchase cheap Food off the Black Lion Trading Company. There's a whole lot of Food that can be bought for less than 10 Copper. Just go to Trading Post > Buy Items > Other > Food Effects, and then find where it says Price and click on that to filter by Price, with the cheapest Foods being at the top. While leveling, don't worry about which foods you buy so much because you only really need them for the exp bonus from Nourishments. Actually useful stat bonuses will come at max level.
• Do complete all your Vistas, Skill Challenges, Hearts, and all other Map Completion. I know, I know, it can be tedious, but it gets you exp and free Transmutation Charges. And doing it as you're going through the area is so much easier than coming back to do it later.
• Do pick a race that you like. The benefits of the racial utilities aren't worth not liking the race itself.
• That said, do look at the customization options or each race. I thought I would only like Humans until I really looked at the Sylvari customization options, and now my Sylvari characters far outnumber my Human ones!
• Do save all crafting materials, even if they aren't applicable to your current crafting abilities. You can store them in your crafting storage and use them on a different character (Hint! In your inventory, click on the little cog wheel and then Deposit All Materials to deposit any materials in your inventory to the crafting storage automatically).
• Do salvage everything you can. Armor and weapons that you can't use (wrong armor/weapon type, lower stats than your current gear, etc) are commonly salvageable. There's also some items that you pick up out in the world that can be salvaged into crafting materials.
• If you find an interesting item, do check out the Black Lion Trading Company to see how much it is worth so you can weigh your options. Salvage or sell?
• Do look over the common viable builds for your class. This information can be found easily on the official forums. For PvP, look in the PvP forums for a thread called "New to PvP? Start here!". For PvE, check your class forums (listed under Professions). For specific thread titles: Elementalists should look for "Zelyhn's Advanced D/F" and "DPS Elementalist for PvE." Engineers should check "The Engineer Handbook." Guardians get three; "Guardian 101 - A Beginner's Text," "DPS Guardian for PVE," and "Guardian - Frequently Asked Questions." Mesmers should check out "Find your Mesmer Builds & Guides," "Lyssa's Grimoire: The Mesmer Handbook," and "How to Mesmer in Dungeons." Necromancers should look for "DPS Necro for PvE." Rangers need "New to Rangers? Looking for guides? CLICK ME!". Thieves should look for the "Guide to Thief Guides." And Warriors apparently don't have a guide, so check out the "Post Your Build Thread" for some inspiration, I guess...
• On that note, check out your class forums every so often; they are often filled with valuable information as to how your class is doing in all facets of the game, as well as how to improve your own playstyle.
• Do mess around with builds and Utilities in the PvP Lobby. To get there, click on the crossed swords on the top left of your screen, and click Enter PvP Lobby. Here, your effectively level 80 and so have access to all Talents and Utilities. There's training dummies for you to mess with your build and get a feel for it as well.
• Do learn how to dodge properly. I find practicing in underwater combat to be a bit easier than practicing out in the world because there are more ways to avoid attacks underwater and get used to dodge timing.
• Do learn how to switch weapons/kits/attunements strategically. If you are commonly using only one of your weaponsets (attunements for Elementalists), then you are probably doing something wrong. The exception for this is sometimes Engineers because Engineers are weird and are often built specifically for a certain kit.
• Do complete any nearby events with the exception of anything with the word "Toxic" in it. Events give you experience and items, and can sometimes give you credit towards Heart completion as well. Toxic events should be avoided at early levels unless there are a ton of players doing it, as they are generally more difficult (with the exception of Toxic Spider Queen because there's almost always other players there and/or you can call for help and people will almost always come).
• If you've never played an MMO, then do try out PvP and PvE. You may enjoy one over the other, and both are viable ways of leveling up and obtaining gear.
• Do try out World versus World. It can be a fun thing to do if you get into it.
• Do carry a weapon or equip a utility that allows you to give yourself Swiftness.
• Do learn about your Utilities and the best times to use them.
• Do keep Nourishment up on yourself whenever you will be killing enemies. You can get Nourishment by eating Food.
• Do open Black Lion Chests when you obtain Black Lion Keys. 1 Key = 1 Open Chest. You cannot sell Keys so this is their only purpose. If you don't have any chests, they can be bought on the Black Lion Trading Company for about 30 Copper or so.
• Do learn how to play your chosen class. Check out your class forums for this.
• Do use your 5 character slots to try out different classes. You don't have to keep all the characters, but it's good to try things out.

DON'T

• Don't pick a class just because it's supposed to be the "best." For MMOs, the best class is never permanently the best. The "best" classes change with every balance patch. It is best to pick a class that you enjoy many parts of, and that you feel like you can stick with no matter what happens balance-wise. Added onto this, every class has its niche. Necromancers may be terrible in dungeons right now, but they are very good in PvP and WvW. Also, who knows what will happen in the expansion, what with he class Specializations being thrown into the mix! Best to pick something you enjoy rather than the "flavor of the month."
• Don't pick professions that aren't useful to you. Armorsmithing on a Mesmer isn't really useful, but Tailoring is. Likewise, Tailoring is near useless on a Guardian, but Armorsmithing is useful.
• Don't forget to replace your Gathering equipment and Salvage kits every once in a while! Those things are limited-use, you know!
• Don't box yourself in to a single set of weapons. All classes except for Elementalists and Engineers can switch between two sets at any time, and you can always carry more weapons in your inventory for situational equipping.
• Don't attempt Jumping Puzzles until you have perfected the art of jumping. If you don't know what these are yet, then don't worry about it until you can get up to Vistas without an issue. Once you're confident in your jumping abilities, look them up. Attempting them without being good at jumping will only cause many, many deaths for your poor character.
• Don't pick your race based on Racial utility skills. They aren't worth it for a race that you don't like.
• Don't feel boxed into the "meta" build. Meta builds are best for speed-running dungeons, but it is possible to find a dungeon group that will accept any build. Or, you could make your own group!
• Don't feel like you have to follow a build to the letter. There is generally some wiggle-room unless you really have your heart set on the Meta build.
• Don't make nonsensical builds either though. An Elementalist that only uses a Staff will not benefit from a trait that increases the attack power of Daggers. A Mesmer that never uses Mantras will not benefit from Mantra Traits. Things like that. Use common sense, basically.
• Don't stay still if an enemy is obviously charging an attack. If an enemy looks like they're about to strike, dodge, guard, counter, or otherwise try your best to avoid damage. This game is very movement-reliant and almost all damage can be avoided. For that matter, if you have an ability/utility to do so, remove any Conditions that have been applied to you.
• Don't stand in red circles on the ground. This goes with the above, except for one difference: If you don't dodge a normal attack in time people will not be as frustrated with you as they would if you didn't avoid the very visible red circle of death under your feet.
• Don't be afraid to skip Events if you really need to get somewhere else, or if you just seem to be running into events everywhere you go to the point where it's obnoxious. That's happened to me before, and sometimes it's a bit more productive to just continue on rather than be aggravated by doing the same event over and over again.
• Don't feel pressured into playing all the game modes. So long as you find one that you like, then it's good!
• Don't sell non-junk items to NPCs. So long as it is not soulbound, it an probably be salvaged, crafted with, or sold on the Black Lion Trading Company.
• Don't forget that Utilities/Heals/Elites are not permanently decided. You can swap them out whenever you need to, so long as you are out of combat. Almost all of them are completely situational, and what works for one fight won't work for another. Look at your class guides/forums to check on things like this.
• Don't bother eating Food to get the Nourishment buff if you know you aren't going to be actively killing enemies / completing hearts. If you know you're going to spend 30 minutes crafting or doing map completion, you should probably save it because the experience buff only applies to kills.
• Don't feel like you have to be perfect at your class from the very beginning, especially in PvE situations. You have 80 levels to perfect your technique, plus some time to adjust to dungeon. In general, don't join dungeon groups looking for a speedrun, join ones that are listed as "anyone welcome," or things like that, and once in, let them know that you are new. Most people will help you along and show you the ropes. You will, of course, run into some jerks who will kick you because of it, but don't take it personally. There are tons of nice people on the game who will help you. If nothing else, ask around in guild.
• On the topic of guilds, don't forget that you can join multiple guilds at once. You can only represent one at once, but you can join quite a few. Guilds are also account-wide, so if you join a guild with one character, all of your other characters are automatically members as well. Guilds can be found for nearly any interest, and there are even race or class specific guilds to be found as well. Finding a class specific guild for the class of your choice may be handy because people there will definitely help you out, and will be more willing to teach you how to master that particular class.
• Don't forget that one character can technically learn all crafting skills, if that's the way you'd like to go. Only two crafting skills can be active at once, but you can deactivate them at any time and keep all of your progress in the craft.
• Don't go after anything labelled "Champion," or "Elite," on your own. You will die. Things labelled "Veteran," can be okay if you're decent at your class. Or a Mesmer with Scepter + Sword so you can spam Illusions out that hold aggro for you.
• Don't be afraid to make multiple characters to try out the classes. I recommend getting to level 10 and definitely messing around in the PvP lobby with traits, skills, weapons, utilities, and the training dummies and such before making a decision. Look up builds. Do your research. You might find that you hate the Meta build, but love one of the more obscure ones. Or, you may find that you just can't stand the class, and that's okay too. I know I can't stand Thieves. I've tried a bunch of builds, but I can't get into it. Same goes for Engineers, to some extent. I think I would really like Elixir Gun Engineer, but I don't know if I can bear the leveling process to get to the Elixir Gun.
• Don't worry about sticking with a specific build while leveling. Builds really only matter in organized environments like dungeons, PvP, and WvW. No one cares what build you use when you're playing by yourself. While leveling, do what feels comfortable and simple to you. As an example, many Necromancers use raised minions to level up, but switch to a different build at higher levels, although some will stay with a minion-based build. That said, at around level 40 or so you may want to consider at least switching over to the weapons for your chosen build so you can get used to the rotation, and then slowly faze in the Utilities and such as you gain the Talents to support them.

I hope this was useful to someone. Just got the idea while leveling today and felt like I had to write it out. And even if no one finds it helpful, it was worth it for me because I found it fun to write. So that's something, right?