GW2 Characters number whatever

The typical "here's my characters again" post, because I just did a couple recustomizations that I am quite fond of! And also just because I love my tiny Sylvari army.
Maybe someday I'll play something besides Sylvari, but I doubt it. The color options are wonderful, and the hair options are so quirky and nice. Someday I want a nice-looking Sylvari with the mushroom hat-hair.

Keiana Xiphium, my Chronomancer, and my only character to have a piece of Ascended equipment (I just bought a Laurel necklace!). I just recustomized her since I was getting sick of the White + Celestial combo, so I put her back to her original green-blue and gave her a pretty blue haircolor with the long vine hair.

Dahlia Strelitzia, my Reaper. Nothing's changed here, except that she's still my only character that's beaten Hearts and Minds, so she's the one doing LS3 right now.

Iris Fay Flora, my Ranger. I really didn't like how she looked before, so I recustomized her again. I accidentally made her look kind of elven, so I decided to just run with it and dyed her clothes to match. I really like that new hairstyle that they just added, but it looked awful with most of the skin tones and hair colors, in my opinion. I really like its glow effect too!
Maybe someday she'll be a Druid...

Cordelia Thyme, my Guardian, who has the honor of being pretty much being leveled purely with whatever Tomes of Knowledge I get. I can't remember the last time I actually played her. I just want a Dragonhunter, but I don't like the base Guardian playstyle...

Lucinda Strelitzia, my Revenant. I was messing with her a bit the other day, but just wasn't feeling like playing her. I didn't have enough money for another recustomization, but if I did have one I would redo her for sure. I like her hair well enough, but her body just seems out of proportion. It doesn't look too bad in this picture, but her head is just too small for the rest of her body. I think it has to do with the hairstyle.

My new Elementalist, Lucia Snapdragon. I could have recustomized her, but I decided that I really liked the way she looked even with default hair and face options. I also opted for no glow on her since it just didn't look right with the tree hair.

Urgh

So, I tried playing GW2 today (I am apparently playing allll the MMOs this month?).

I am mildly frustrated.

I decided that I really wanted to focus on my Mesmer. Reason being that I don't like the playstyle that is currently advised for Necro, but the Mesmer one sounded okay. I like being utility better than pure DPS anyway. Plus, I love Mesmer in WvW, but did not like Necro in WvW.

I haven't seriously messed with my Mesmer since HoT's release. I remember that I'm stuck on Hearts and Minds (I'll probably finish that up this week regardless), and was grinding Hero Points to max out Chronomancer, as well as finishing up map completion.

So, anyway, because I haven't played her since HoT's release, all my gear is left over from the old all-Berserker meta, when I'm seeing that I need to be in Assassin's gear with Berserker weapons/trinkets. Great.
I look up where to get Assassin's exotics. No karma vendors. No dungeon gear. My only option appears to be crafting it myself or buying it. Buying it is out of the question, since each piece appears to be about 11G each. I had about 20G to my name. I was able to level up my Tailoring considerably today; I'm about 350 tailoring now, which I don't think is high enough to craft my own Exotics yet, and my gold supply is dwindling too quickly. I have about 11G now.

My gear right now looks like the following:

All armor is full Berserker exotics
Weapons are all Berserker. I have two exotic swords, and exotic staff, and exotic shield, as well as rare focus, pistol, and greatsword.
Accessories/trinkets vary widely. Rare Berserker backpiece with Exquisite Ruby Jewel. Exotic Berserker accessory with Exquisite Charged Ambrite Jewel. Exotic Soldier's accessory (I kept dying in HoT...), Ascended Berserker amulet, and then bad not-even-rare rings (one Soldier's, one Berserker).

So, basically, my gear is kind of bad. I need to make money to get better gear. But I feel like I need better gear in order to make money. I think I could probably get by with my Berserker gear for some dungeons / low level fractals, but I'm not sure about those rings...Or that one Soldier's accessory...

How do I make gold? D:
Also, I'm too nervous to enter fractals or dungeons, so that is problematic and makes me question what I'm even working on this for in the first place...I don't know, the thought of entering some sort of content, maybe...

Edit:
Well, poo. All that work for nothing. I got my Tailoring up to level 400 and unlocked all the recipes I need to craft myself some exotics, but with the price of materials...I'd only be saving 1G by crafting it then by buying it outright. Grand total of about 61G.

I guess...I could make a couple pieces, and then try to run a dungeon or a fractal or something. Maybe. Or I could use some of my remaining gold to upgrade my rings at least.

I'm going to go wallow for a few minutes and then find something to cheer myself back up again!

Another character

I just deleted my Elementalist, Lucia Snapdragon, because she seemed a little bland compared to my other characters and I could never find dyes that looked nice with her coloring. Also, it seemed weird to have 3 light armor characters, 2 heavy, and only 1 medium.

Sooo, I made a Thief instead!

And I think she looks really, really, really nice, despite the fact that I don't have a customization kit for her yet. I did splurge and buy $10 worth of gems to buy a new outfit though. It left me with 100 gems leftover, so if I just sell some more stuff in-game I'll have enough to get a customization kit again. Soon, soon!

Although...I'm not sure I if I want one for her. I think she looks nice the way she is. If I get one, it'll probably be to adjust my Revenant since she's kind of wonky looking at the moment (her head seems too small compared to her body?).

Lucia Snapdragon Version 2.0

Also, can we talk about how pretty the Crystal Savant outfit is? Because it's gorgeous. It dyes beautifully with some dyes, although with others it seems a little too light. The back of it is so pretty, and the necklace thing kind of glows along with the shoulder crystals. The back also glows a bit. It's so pretty. Red is gorgeous on it. I also have Keiana using it right now, in white and yellow; it still looks nice, but not nearly as nice as it looks on Lucia here.  I don't like using basically the same color scheme as I do on my Reaper, but I was kind of going for an autumn theme. It's awfully green outside, so I wanted to make an autumn-themed Sylvari.

And I know, I know, I never like Thieves. But I don't know, it's actually pretty fun this time. I think it's because I have stuffed myself into Dagger/Dagger, and I'm instead using Sword/Pistol, which is way more fun. I still find Shortbow really clunky though.

Also, I am making good progress on my Mesmer again. I've been grinding Hero Challenges today, and I think I need 95 more points total (which is a big improvement over earlier today) before I have Chronomancer maxed out.

I'm hoping that once I have my Chronomancer stuff all sorted out that maybe I'll feel better and more confident and could try to do a dungeon for once? I've never done one in GW2 because I've heard bad stories about the community in them, and the party finder is difficult for me to use. I like when games have a proper LFG system where it automatically puts you in random parties. It's easier on my anxiety. I am absolutely dreading using GW2's party finder, where it is far more personal in my opinion. It would be extremely difficult to get myself to use. I am in a guild, so I would ask for help, but I can't get myself to speak up and ask, and whenever I feel like I can, something sabotages me (either they'll log off and I won't get a chance to ask, or I do ask and they either don't see / ignore it or something). I think I'm a decent Mesmer, and I would really like to do content, but I'm just too terrified to with a random group! At least for the first runs. I feel like once I've done even one dungeon I'll feel better, like with FFXIV.

I can't quite figure out what it is about FFXIV that makes me somewhat comfortable with being in a group. I don't know. Usually if someone comes up and talks to me in-game, I'll immediately just log off in panic, but when I'm in a dungeon I can talk to people. I can lead the group, I can answer questions, I can make small talk. I'm wondering if it's because healing has more of a leadership position to it with people heavily relying on you that makes me comfortable? I know that's part of what makes me uncomfortable trying GW2's dungeons. I can't hide behind being the healer. I'm not a very good DPS, and honestly, I should be working on grinding Hero points with my Ranger instead so I can Druid heal. But I don't know, I like Mesmer thematically way more. If sometime in the future they make a healing specialization for Mesmer, I'll play it in a heartbeat.

Sorry, went off on a tangent there. I've just been getting very mopey about playing MMOs by myself all the time. I want to be sociable and actually play the game with people, but I can't get myself to no matter how much I try. I'll be okay though.

GW2 characters!

Time for another update on my GW2 character appearances! I feel like they're overdue. I just think the GW2 character models are gorgeous, and so I like to share mine far more often than I like to share my characters from other games. My GW2 characters are my best looking ones aside from maybe my FFXIV character.

Keiana Xiphium, my Chronomancer.



Dahlia Strelitzia, my Reaper.

Iris Fay Flora, my new boosted Ranger.

Cordelia Thyme, my level 55 Guardian.

Lucia Snapdragon, my level 32 Elementalist.

Lucinda Strelitzia, my level 23 Revenant.

I'm really happy with my decision to use my level 80 boost on my new Ranger. I've had that Timekeeper (is that what it's called?) bow skin for a while now but no characters that use bows, and I like the idea of making her a Druid. I wish the picture of her wasn't a nighttime one, because I love what she looks like during the day more. She's pretty with the hood of her outfit off too, it just doesn't go well with her outfit as much, and doesn't look as good at night. When I catch her in the daytime I'll take a new screenshot.

Not really back at GW2 and not really not either. I'm kind of feeling between games at the moment, and testing the waters of GW2 again. Honestly, I came back to GW2 just to use my 80 boost, and now I'm deciding if I want to stick around for a while or not. I'm also playing WoW very occasionally. I made a gnome with my dad's guild and I've been playing with them a bit every so often, but it's not like that takes up much of my time, and I'm on vacation now (just turned in my final a couple days ago). I will undoubtedly be back to WoW in July or so, or whenever the fire festival is because I always end up being into WoW during that particular festival and it annoys me because I've never done any other in-game festival in WoW besides that one, because my interest in it just doesn't line up at those times. It's when I first started playing in 2008, and I always manage to return during it. Why I never feel like playing during any other festival time, I don't know. Kind of like how I always feel like playing FFXIV around Christmas, and never during the summer or something.

Guild Wars 2 just kind of squeezes in whenever I'm in-between games because it's free, but I tend to gravitate towards it at Halloween.

Current GW2 Characters

I just realized that I haven't posted my GW2 characters recently, and they've changed a lot since the last time I posted them, I think. I've been selling my crafting materials lately, since I don't have much need for Ascended gear at the moment because I can't get myself to enter a Fractal or Dungeon. This means I've had lots of gold and was able to buy lots of Makeover Kits. So yeah.

Keiana Xiphium, my level 80 Mesmer

Dahlia Strelitzia, my level 80 Necromancer

Cordelia Thyme, my level 52-ish Guardian

Lucia Snapdragon, my level 32 Elementalist

Lucinda Strelitzia, my level 20-something Revenant

My last slot isn't filled yet because I can't decide between Ranger, Thief, or Engineer. I don't really like any of the medium-armor classes all that much, but I don't want to do a Warrior either because I want to have at least one medium-armor character.

GW2 Heart of Thorns First Impressions

I've been up since 7AM EST playing Heart of Thorns, and I just thought I would type out my impressions of it for those who maybe haven't gotten to play it yet for whatever reason.

I'm going to try and remain spoiler free, but there's a couple things I do want to touch on, but I will be vague so as to not spoil things. Hopefully. Spoiler warning anyway.

---------------------------------------

Revenant is fun, I think. Maybe. I'm actually not sure what I think about it yet. I'm quite enjoying mine at the moment. I'm using Staff and Hammer. I've seen people complaining about the Hammer, but I like it. I want to be a supportive-ey Ventari Revenant, and Staff / Hammer seems good. I love Staff, and I wanted to use Hammer because I refuse to not have one ranged weapon, and since that's the only one, I'll learn to love it regardless.

Maguuma itself is rather tedious. The events are okay. Gliding is fun. Exploring Maguuma is fun, but getting masteries seems too slow. I don't mind working for things, but I don't know, the amount of experience needed to get a mastery seems a bit excessive to me, but I'll end up doing it anyway, I'm sure. Gliding is too fun to pass up!

The story is good. I have to admit that one part actually terrified me. Without really spoiling anything, a character gets corrupted and you have to escape from them in a chase-obstacle-course thing, and you die instantly if they touch you. The corrupted version of that character creeped me immensely, and I hate when things in games chase me, so I was actually really scared during that story step. That said, I hope that is not the last we see of that character because I kind of expected more from their story. Seemed kind of anti-climactic.
Still on the topic of that chase bit though. That was hard. There was one part that I just couldn't figure out how to do until I looked it up. If you're stuck there, use 1 and then glide across. If you're at that part then you'll know what I'm talking about. I died so many times until I read to do that. And I mean a lot of times. All my armor broke and I completed it with a nude Sylvari! That hasn't happened to me since The Dragon's Reach Part 2!

I feel like I'm playing Mass Effect, what with the voice actress for female Sylvari player characters, and all the NPCs saying "Commander" at me constantly. Oh, and hey, Mordrem Husks. And indoctrina-- I mean corruption.

It seems like Maguuma is probably much more fun if you have friends to play with. I don't have friends to play with, so I wouldn't know, but it seems well suited for it.
That said, plenty of content is fine solo too. And currently everything is so crowded, so there's no lack of people at events. At least not in Verdant Brink. The later places are trickier since not that many people are up to that point yet.

Berserker gear feels very, very, very ultra squishy for this content. I suspect we'll be seeing a change in the most popular stats soon.

If I think of anything else I'll add it in!

Well then!

I've been playing Guild Wars 2 since launch day...
How is it that I only find out today that you can have two aquatic weapons equipped?
REALLY?
HOW DID I NEVER NOTICE THAT YOU COULD SWAP WEAPONS UNDERWATER.
ALL THIS TIME I HAVE BEEN USING ONLY ONE AQUATIC WEAPON AND COMPLAINING THAT I WISHED I COULD SWAP WEAPONS IN COMBAT UNDEREWATER.
IT TURNS OUT I COULD HAVE DONE THAT THE WHOLE TIME.
I AM DUMB.

Pictures of my GW2 characters!

I can't remember if I ever posted pictures of my GW2 characters post-makeover, so I'm doing it (again?)!


First, my main: My Mesmer Keiana Xiphium. Greatsword / Sword + Focus

My Necromancer, Dahlia Strelitzia. Dagger + Focus / Dagger + Warhorn. She's my second highest, at level 44.

Lucia Snapdragon, my level 31 Staff Elementalist

Camellia Orchid, my level 17 Engineer. Not my favorite class, I have to say, but spending real money on a customization has a way of making you keep your characters.

And finally, my level 14 Guardian, Lucinda Strelitzia. Greatsword / Mace + Focus



 

Back to GW2!

I'm back to GW2 at the moment, after playing Wildstar for a week (I would keep playing Wildstar but my computer is apparently boycotting the influx of new players, since it will not allow me to play). So, back to GW2.

I'm on the last step of Living Story Season 2 now, and having a whole lot of trouble. I'm doing the Shadow of the Dragon step in Point of No Return, and I think my full-Berserker Mesmer is just too squishy to do this bit on her own. Phase 1 is fine. I can kill the tendrils fine, and light the fires fine, and damage the head fine. It's Phase 2 that's the problem, when he start spawning the Shadow things. When I'm trying to light the fires, first of all, he's attacking me very often and I end up being knocked back while trying to light the fires, which eventually kills me. And while I'm busy trying to rally, the Shadow comes over and extinguishes the fire I lit! And I just can't seem to survive lighting the fires so I can be alive to extinguish the Shadows. It's frustrating!
I need a second person, I think. I think I specifically need a Guardian. Someone with support skills that can grant Stability and barriers and such, and that can survive more than two hits.
Or maybe I need to adjust my build or something? I can't afford a new set of gear, so I'm stuck with Berserker, but I could adjust my weapons or build.

My set-up is like this:
Weapons = Greatsword / Sword + Focus. I also have a Pistol to swap to Sword + Focus, a second Sword, and a Staff, all Berserker.
Build = Domination 221 (Empowered Illusions, Blurred Inscriptions, Imagined Burden) / Dueling 131 (Phantasmal Fury, Fencer's Finesse, Harmonious Mantras) / Illusions 122 (Compounding Power, Phantasmal Haste, Master of Fragmentation)
Healing Skill is Signet of the Ether
Utilities are Mantra of Pain, Blink, and Feedback
Elite is Time Warp

My equipment is full Berserker Aurora gear except the shoulders, which are berserker Carapace.
My weapons are Berserker's Iron Longblade of Air (transmuted), Berserker's Pearl Sabre, and Berserker's Krait Star.

Any tips?

EDIT: I read into it more, and people say things like "Don't play Berserker if you can't dodge attacks." I can dodge attacks. I got this far, didn't I? And I've been in full Berserker since I hit level 80 and splurged on a Masquerade set before I got my Aurora set with Karma. And until level 80 I was still using all Power items. The problem is the attacks that he puts directly on you constantly during Phase 2 fires. I tried waiting for him to do, say, 3 of his claw attacks before trying to light the fires, but he still gets me, and I end up running out of dodges + Blink being on CD. I'm confused :(

EDIT 2: Let's try this again. I didn't get the chance to grab my Staff since I wanted to rush back up before the Skritt tunnels closed again. But I adjusted what I could with what I have on me. I switched my Focus out for my Pistol. Swapped Signet of the Ether out for Ether Feast for increased base healing (I can't benefit from Signet of the Ether's passive during the parts that give me trouble since there's nothing to target and build clones off of). Switched Mantra of Pain out for Mantra of Concentration, and switched Time Warp out for Signet of Humility (to reduce duration of stun). As for traits, I swapped Dueling to 323 (Duelist's Discipline, Evasive Mirror, Deceptive Evasion) and Illusions to Chaos 213 (Illusionary Defense, Mirror of Anguish, Bountiful Disillusionment).
Hopefully, I can do it this time. My goal is basically just to have the slightest bit more survivability, hopefully make it through Phase 2 fires, and just take things slowly.

EDIT 3: Success! My strategy worked, although I maintain that it would have been easier with Staff instead of Sword + Pistol, if only because then if I accidentally swap weapons it wouldn't be the end of the world because I could still attack at a range, rather than flail madly wondering why I'm not doing any damage. Ether Feast was definitely better than Signet of the Ether for this, since it seemed like it recharged faster and did more healing when I needed it. And I also had more of an idea of what to expect this time, which made it much better. I was only downed once and I had already killed the Shadow, so I could take my sweet time getting up without losing any fires.

So...now what do I do? I have no gold, don't play well in groups because I get stressed...I guess I'll go run around Silverwastes or something. Definitely not Dry Top. I hate Dry Top. Silverwastes is fine and manageable. I would do the Mawdry crafting thing, but I need money to do that since I need the Foxfires and the Clay Pot. I already did the Thaumanova Reactor matrix cube key thing though, so at least that's out of the way.

GW2 New Lion's Arch Vista: Farshore Ward

This one's kind of tricky, if only because you do not expect how to get there.
As a note, if you've done this one before in the previous incarnations of Lion's Arch, you already know how to do this one.
The closest waypoint is the Farshore waypoint.

So, you can't see the vista because it's hidden. But the important thing here is the windmill. Head up there, and around until you see some hay bales.

These hay bales, specifically. Jump up the ones to the right.

Then jump down into that little area there with the hay bales.

Turn to your right after getting down there, and look at this bush. Now walk through the bush. Just trust me here. Walk through it.

You'll come out in this grassy area. Jump up this little hill here.

When you get up here, walk through another bush that's up against the wall, and kind of run to the left too, because it's not exactly straight through.

Head up to these rocks, and then go up to the one to your left that is flat and leads up.

At the top, turn around and climb up this one last rock, and you'll have reached the vista!


As an added note, if you go past the vista up there you'll reach the entrance to the Sharkmaw Caverns jump puzzle. Which I'm not writing a guide for because jump puzzles are hard. Go look a guide up. There's tons.

GW2 New Lion's Arch Vista: Postern Ward

This one's pretty simple.
Closest waypoint is the Guild Bluff waypoint.

See the big black rocks?
Climb them.

And there you go.

GW2 New Lion's Arch Vista: Inner Harbor

Here's the Inner Harbor Vista! If I remember correctly, this one is identical to a Vista from the original and destroyed Lion's Arch. It looks like it's pretty much right in between two waypoints, so either should work. Gate Hub Plaza waypoint or Guild Bluff waypoint.

It's down on a rock in the middle of the water. No, you can't simply jump down there. Sorry.

Take note of the asura sitting right near you here. Talk to him, and he'll give you a gun with a single attack: a ground targeted jump.

Maneuver your ground target over to the rock where the vista is, and use that ability!

And there you go, you have the vista.

GW2 New Lion's Arch Vista: Eastern Ward

I don't really know what to call this one, but "Captain Theo Ashford Memorial Bridge Vista" seemed way too long and it's not even really over there anyway. The closest landmark is the Inner Harbor, but there's another Vista that is very clearly the real Inner Harbor Vista, so I'm calling this one Eastern Ward Vista. The closest waypoint is the Gate Hub Plaza waypoint.

Okay, so you can't see the Vista here, but you can see it on my map, and this is where you need to go to start the Vista.

Head through that archway and down some steps until you see the Vista itself.

Climb up onto the tallest box, and then jump across to the Vista.

You may miss this jump because it is rather far. If you do, just warp back to the waypoint. It's really not far, so it's not a big deal if you miss.

 

GW2 New Lion's Arch Vista: Grand Piazza

Waaaay long ago I attempted to make a completion guide for Lion's Arch, and I got bored and stopped doing it. And then Lion's Arch got destroyed. And now it's been rebuilt.

So, let's try and do that guide again, shall we?

Let's begin with the Grand Piazza Vista.

So, here we are, looking at the Vista. The closest Waypoint is probably the Gate Hub Plaza waypoint. Or Trader's Forum waypoint. They look about the same distance, honestly.

Now this one is actually kind of misleading because it looks like you can totally just jump up that stack of boxes to get up to it. Well, you can't, because that last box that it's sitting on is too high up to jump up to. So you have to find an alternate route.

That alternate route can be found on that rather large boulder to the left of it, behind that lamp thing.

 

Climb  up to the top of the boulder and then jump across onto the top of the lamp.

And then jump from the top of the lamp onto the box.
This might take a couple tries if you misjudge the distance.

Then just jump up onto the barrel that the vista is sitting on, and you have it.

I caved in and bought Total Makeover Kits in GW2

Just thought I'd share my updated characters. Oddly enough, I did not alter Keiana Xiphium at all because I think she was already perfect. Nothing else looked right for her.

So first off, here's Keiana Xiphium. I used some of the Transmutation Charges I'd been saving up from map completion to change her armor because I was kind of sick of Masquerade armor. It's all Cabalist except for the Seer Mask. And I changed her greatsword to a Glyphic Greatsword too. Didn't change her Staff because I don't care about her Staff.

This is my second highest level, Lucia Snapdragon, who is a level 26 Elementalist.

My level 9 Necromancer, Dahlia Strelitzia.

And my level 2 Guardian, Lucinda Strelitzia.

I figure that spending real money on them will keep me from deleting them.

I don't know what to do with that last slot. I just can't get into Ranger, Thief, Engineer, or Warrior.

I'll make a Revenant when it comes out because I really like the concept of the Ventari's Tablet's supportive abilities, plus heavy armor has always been my favorite armor type in games (even if I naturally gravitate towards lightly armored character classes...), so it seems like it might go well for me.

Very busy!

So, our puppy, Pacha, arrived yesterday, and I've been wicked busy with him. He's very sweet and not at all a troublemaker, but he is very clingy, specifically to me. He is also luckily very easily distracted. He is very excitable and active when he first gets up, but soon wears himself out and is sleepy the rest of the day (which the rescue center representative said is typical for Chihuahuas). So the problem isn't that he's trying to get into everything, it's more that he only wants to sit on my lap no matter what I'm trying to do!

Also yesterday, my beloved twelve year old cat was diagnosed with liver cancer. They didn't give us any sort of timeline, but he's on homeopathic medicine for now to ease the pain and hopefully make him feel a bit better. I'm absolutely heartbroken, and yesterday was a weird day because I was excited about the puppy, but also feeling like I was going to cry all day for my cat. This cat has been my best friend for so many years, and it's heart-rending to see him in pain, and to know that it's approaching the end.

Gaming-wise, I'm switching my time between FFXIV and GW2 because I am still enjoying FFXIV, and one of my close friends was begging me to play GW2 with him. So yeah, splitting my time.

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?

GW2 Characters for now

 Just some screenshots and build concepts. I don't like to follow builds I find online to the letter because it feels like there is so much room for creativity, and I don't plan on being a serious dungeon-goer anyway.

This is Keiana Xiphium, my level 34 Mesmer. I love her. Using Scepter/Sword and Staff.  I was initially looking at a build of 5/0/2/3/4 because I wanted a focus on Shatters, but as I level I am finding myself not Shattering much at all, and I'm finding that Glamours are my one true love for Mesmer mechanics. So I'll probably rework the build to have a higher focus on support and Glamour-spamming. Glamours = love. She's a Member of the Vigil because I like the Vigil light armor.

This is Seiga Nyan Nyan my Necromancer that I made on a whim when I realized that Seiga Kaku is a Necromancer, but the name Seiga Kaku was already taken, so I have Seiga Nyan Nyan instead. Need to save up for a customization kit so I can make her hair blue because she looks dumb with black hair. Looking at a build of 5/0/0/6/3 and weaponsets of Dagger/Dagger and Axe/Warhorn. I want to focus on condition mitigation and attrition. I don't know if that's a good idea or not. Just toying with the idea because from what I understand, Necros aren't very welcome into dungeon groups anyway, so why not? Besides, I'm sick of Staff Necro because I've played it for too long and I'm really enjoying Axe right now for whatever reason. Planning on having her join the Durmand Priory.

This is Tansy Thyme, my Ranger. I love her. I've never tried the Gourd-hair before, but I love it. Thinking of a build of 6/0/4/0/4 with weaponsets of Long Bow and Sword/Warhorn. Focus on just straight damage, I think. Going to have her join the Order of Whispers because I like the chestpiece.

This is Delphinium Bluebell, my Guardian. I love Torch for Guardians, so I'm going with that. More specifically, Greatsword and Mace/Torch. Thinking of a build of 4/0/4/4/2. Focus on support, I think. I'm going to have her join the Vigil because the heavy armor for Vigil is amazing.

And finally, this is Lhalla, my Elementalist. I really like the Elementalist Glyphs, so I'm focusing on those. Looking at a build of 6/4/0/0/4. Elementalist Talents confuse me immensely. Going to have her join the Durmand Priory.