Welcome to the Penny Arcade Guild Wars 2 Community Thread!
- New to GW2? Check out the FAQ or the official Guild Wars 2 site for more information on the game.
- New to Heart of Thorns? Check out GW2 Wiki for more information.
- Free Trial? Go here (not always active): http://register.guildwars2.com/trial/
- Returning player? The Guild Wars 2 Official Wiki has both a summary of the Living Story plot and the features from each release. There’s also a list of permanent changes since launch.
- Where to buy GW2? Official Site, Amazon, Greenmangaming
Next Content Update: Heart of Thorns Expansion
- Release Date: Unknown
- Cost: Unknown
- New Classes: Revenant, heavy armor focused on channeling past Guild Wars legendary characters
- New Zones: The Heart of Maguuma, regions focused on verticality, open areas, and biomes
- New Activities: Adventures, repeatable, on-demand challenges with leaderboards. New events/storylines. New boss battles.
- New Group Content: Unknown exactly what, but said to contain challenging group content
- New Progression System: Masteries, used to progress character past level 80 by pointing points in various tracks to unlock tiers and new abilities, like learning new languages, unlocking precursors, learning hang gliding, etc
- New Traits: Specializations, a rework of the current traits that introduce a new Elite specialization for each progression that unlocks new weapons, traits, skills, and profession mechanics.
- Ranger - Druid Elite Specialization (staff)
- Necromancer - Unknown Elite Specialization (greatsword)
- Mesmer - Chronomancer Elite Specialization (shield)
- Engineer - Unknown Elite Specialization (hammer)
- Guardian - Dragonhunter Elite Specialization (longbow)
- Elementalist - Tempest Elite Specialization (unknown)
- Thief - Unknown Elite Specialization (unknown)
- Warrior - Unknown Elite Specialization (unknown)
- Revenant - Unknown Elite Specialization (unknown)
- New PvP Mode: Stronghold, evolution of classic Guild vs Guild gameplay, inspired by MOBA games
- New WvW Map: New Borderland, where each keep has it's own distinct theme, and holding objectives gives abilities
- New Guild Functionality: Guild Halls, guilds can claim and grow a hall where players can gather, organize, build, and progress
What A Nice Guild [NICE]
The Penny Arcade Community guild in Guild Wars 2 is called What A Nice Guild [NICE]. We plays on the Fort Aspenwood server, although guilds are cross-server and we have members who play on other servers. It is easiest to participate in guild activities if FA is your home server, but you can join in most activities via guesting (with the exception of World vs World pvp). To permanently switch servers, you have to pay for a transfer or delete all your characters. Fort Aspenwood is a North American server, but we have plenty of people from other regions including Australia and Europe playing with us on FA, so don’t let that dissuade you if you’re located in another region.
Commanders:
@Geod (Geod.5024, Geod)
@Ky13 (kyonethree.9814, Teldra)
Officers:
@Draygo (Draygo.9473, Delarme)
@Enig (Ansatz.6498)
@Lagnar (Lagnar.9281, RichardRears)
@Leandriell (kalzana.3192, Leandriell)
@Kylindra (Kylindra.1794, Sage Persephone)
@mojojoeo (MojoGroove.8253, Mojojoeo)
@naengwen (Sharkey.9805, Sharkey)
@Psyfer (Psyfer.1026)
@TolerantZero (TolerantZero.4305)
@Vivixenne (Vivixenne.3465, Vivixenne)
To join the guild:
You can ask for an invite by posting your account name (<name>.####) in this thread, and one of the officers will invite you. Alternately, you’re welcome to whisper in game one of the leaders or officers above. Anyone from the PA community may join the guild, along with any friends and family. Being active on the forums is encouraged but not required. Guild policies are loosely based on the PA forum rules – don’t be a dick. If you have any issues with anyone, please contact a guild officer.
Guilds are limited to 500 members, so occasionally we have to cull inactive members. If you find yourself removed, just ask for an invite again.
Teamspeak 3 Server
The guild has a Teamspeak 3 server, thanks to Draygo. Download TS at http://www.teamspeak.com. Even if you don’t have a mic, just listening will help greatly for coordination.
Server IP: 66.135.55.177:9999
Password: pa
Admins: Draygo, Enig, Geod, Teldra, Sage Persephone, Vivixenne, Lagnar, Mojojoeo, Psyfer
The below spoiler contains the Penny Arcade Guild Wars 2 Teamspeak FAQ, written by Draygo for everyone's convenience. Please refer to it for any queries regarding the GW2 PA TS3 setup. Server seats 100+ people and everything you want to know about it can be found below or by asking Draygo, as he put it together and has been hosting these servers for years.
Spoiler
Q) Where do I get it:
Download teamspeak here: http://www.teamspeak.com/?page=downloads
You can get teamspeak for windows, mac, and linux. As well as your Ithing and your android, if you so prefer.
Q) Cool, I installed it, now what?
Now you must connect to our totally awesome server. In order to do that you must first run teamspeak. Then hit Connections at the top. Select Connect.
Now you must enter the server details:
Server Address: 66.135.59.185:9999
Nickname: Your forum or In Game Name
Password: pa
Q) What does the banner in the top right do?
The community thread banner when clicked on will open the most recent guild wars 2 thread on penny arcade.
Q) How do I add a class or race icon next to my name?
You do this by right clicking yourself, put your mouse over server group, then left click any of the categories named with the race or class you want to choose. You can uncheck them at any time to remove the icon.
Q) So is there a skin/theme for this?
Yes and you can download it from our lobby. Right click the lobby, and select open file browser. You will see the installer file at the top. Download and run that file to skin your client.
In order to activate the theme/skin you need to go to settings->options, and click design on the left.
Then select Theme and change it to PA Guild Wars 2.
Q) Who made the theme?
Draygo did.
Q) How do I change my name?
Right click yourself and select change nickname. You can do this at any time. Do not change your name to impersonate an admin.
Q) What rules can I expect?
Don't be a dick. No personal attacks except 'silly goose', forum rules apply. If it is not appropriate on the forums, it is also not appropriate in teamspeak.
Q) Someone is breaking the rules, or is being disruptive, but no server admins are online. How do I complain.
First, I hope you can all be nice and resolve disputes by yourselves. If someone is being a dick, you can fill out a complaint. Right click someone and click make a complaint. Do not abuse this feature. If 5 people complain about one person in a short amount time, that person will be temp banned from the server. Do not abuse this. Admins will see the complaints that lead to the temp banning and will be unhappy to fix it.
Q) Can I make my own channels?
Yes!
Teamspeak is setup that you can make your own channels in any of the major channels (Except Admin HQ, Lobby, and Afk, for obvious reasons) First enter the channel you want to make the sub-channel in. Right click the parent channel and select, create sub channel. You can enter a name, even a password, as well as set any description you want. After you create the channel, make sure the Audio Codec selected is high enough audio quality.
Right click the channel you created and click edit channel. Click the audio tab and increase the Quality slider. Also decrease the latency slider to reduce lag time. Quality 7, latency 1 are the recommended settings.
These channels are temp only, when the last person leaves them they are automatically cleaned up.
The person who created the channel is the op of the channel and can kick people from the channel (not server). So if you created your own channel and want to remove someone, you can password protect it and remove the troublesome individual.
Q) Is there an overlay plugin?
Yes. There is a built in overlay plugin. To enable it, select settings then plugins. Check the teamspeak overlay plugin and then click settings on the bottom to configure it. Here you can configure any color of each of the elements, as well as transparency settings. I recommend you change the input settings to enable mouse polling, and change the initialization mode to minimal. Minimal mode only displays the one person who is talking, the other mode displays everyone in your channel even those that are talking.
Q) Does teamspeak work with my G15 keyboard.
Yes. There is a plugin for that. Pretty easy to configure again settings->plugins, and enable the G15 keyboard.
Q) I’m seeing graphical glitches when I use the overlay. How do I fix that?
Here's how to get the overlay working without graphical glitches:
1. Go to Settings->Plugins in TS3.
2. Select GW2.exe in the Profile dropdown.
3. Uncheck all the Direct3D options, except for Direct3D 9 (which is what GW2 uses).
4. Switch to Input tab
5. Check "Enable Mouse Poll" and "Use in-game" cursor
6. Switch to extended, and check "Used ID3DDevice:Present hook..." (This is what fixes the animations not showing in GW2)
Guild Schedule
The guild runs various activities together on a regular basis. A schedule can be seen below, and is also in the Guild Message of the Day (MOTD). All times are Pacific. WvW events are sometimes also held, but there’s no recurring event at the moment.
Guild Missions
Saturday 7pm PST; Sunday Noon PST
Guild Wars 2 has activities designed for large groups called Guild Missions. These missions include Bounty, Puzzle, Challenge, and Rush. Rewards for participation include commendations, rares, gold and chances at a precursor or other exotic items. Each night that we run guild missions, we’ll make one attempt at each mission type, although we don’t always win. You can earn personal credit (rewards) for participation once a week, so you only need to show up for one of the scheduled runs each week for maximum rewards. Credit resets every week on Saturday at daily reset time, so the Saturday night run is the most popular. Here’s a guide for missions written by Vivixenne.
Guild Competition Events
Occasionally, the guild will also host a guild competition for prizes. These events are scheduled by officers at various times, and have included jumping puzzle races, or scavenger hunts.
[NICE] Guild Resources
Guild Tumblr Blog
We use this thread for most of our coordination, but we also have a Tumblr site that Vivixenne created to post guild information, builds, and other guides. http://gw2nice.tumblr.com/
Guild Bank
Vivixenne manages the guild bank, and has the following rules for using it. If you have used, intend to use, or think you may be interested in using it, please read this section by Vivixenne all the way through.
Spoiler
- WHY THE GUILD BANK EXISTS -
It is basically a guild storage for hard-to-find, useful items that people have generously donated to the Guild Bank instead of selling them. It is not a place for you to stick stuff (food) you’ve made but don’t want and can’t sell.
I cull stuff that is not meant to be there, keep the Bank tidy, and keep track of how often people withdraw as opposed to how often (and what) they deposit.
I don’t keep lists or databases. But if I check the log and see that you’ve withdrawn a lot of items and have not deposited anything within a few days after that, you may receive a message from me just as a friendly note that I HAVE MY EYE ON YOU.
- WHAT TO DEPOSIT -
Stuff that is appropriate to deposit are hard-to-find or useful items.
Hard-to-find is any piece of equipment that is rare exotic legendary (if you are just MADE of money)
Useful is the following: crafting materials sigils (major+) runes (major+) potions (highest level potion only) dyes gold jewelry or better (for alts and just-turned 80s)
Please note that all Major Sigils or Major Runes will be stuck into the Mystic Forge to try to generate Superiors. We are no longer accepting Crests, Talismans, or Seals.
Useful is also any food containing the following buffs: Gold Find Magic Find Karma Boost Downed Health Critical Chance or Damage
- WITHDRAWING -
You are free to withdraw from the free-access parts of the Guild Bank (Deep Cave, Treasure Trove).
Stash items are by request only, but you will generally be able to get whatever you request from the Stash. This is purely to prevent people joining the guild and grabbing a bunch of stuff and bailing - not likely to happen, but a possibility I would like to avoid.
To withdraw something from the Stash, you will have to go through me - via /g, /w, or in-game mail. If I am not online and you absolutely NEED that item RIGHT NOW and it can’t wait until the next time I log, you may approach another officer.
Exceptions will be high-cost Superior Runes or Sigils (anything that costs more than 2g in the Trading Post). These will not just be given because you ask - you must request to buy them from the Guild at a discount. The price fluctuates every day, so when you ask for such an item I will reply letting you know how much you need to send me before I will give it to you. You are free to decline the offer.
Also note that in order to prevent compromised accounts from raiding the guild bank, anyone who has been gone from the game for an extended period will have their status set to “Inactive”. If you find yourself set to Inactive and you would like to be set back to Comrade, just ask an officer.
- RULES AND PENALTIES -
If you fill the Bank with trash that I have to tidy up, you will lose access to the Bank for as long as I think is appropriate - usually scaled to how annoyed I am at you.
If you withdraw something, you HAVE to be doing so to use it yourself - not to sell or pass on to a friend that is not in the guild. If you are caught, you will lose access to the Bank. Maybe worse, like a kick from the guild. I haven’t decided because this hasn’t happened yet - it may go to a case-by-case in consultation with the other officers.
It is basically a guild storage for hard-to-find, useful items that people have generously donated to the Guild Bank instead of selling them. It is not a place for you to stick stuff (food) you’ve made but don’t want and can’t sell.
I cull stuff that is not meant to be there, keep the Bank tidy, and keep track of how often people withdraw as opposed to how often (and what) they deposit.
I don’t keep lists or databases. But if I check the log and see that you’ve withdrawn a lot of items and have not deposited anything within a few days after that, you may receive a message from me just as a friendly note that I HAVE MY EYE ON YOU.
- WHAT TO DEPOSIT -
Stuff that is appropriate to deposit are hard-to-find or useful items.
Hard-to-find is any piece of equipment that is rare exotic legendary (if you are just MADE of money)
Useful is the following: crafting materials sigils (major+) runes (major+) potions (highest level potion only) dyes gold jewelry or better (for alts and just-turned 80s)
Please note that all Major Sigils or Major Runes will be stuck into the Mystic Forge to try to generate Superiors. We are no longer accepting Crests, Talismans, or Seals.
Useful is also any food containing the following buffs: Gold Find Magic Find Karma Boost Downed Health Critical Chance or Damage
- WITHDRAWING -
You are free to withdraw from the free-access parts of the Guild Bank (Deep Cave, Treasure Trove).
Stash items are by request only, but you will generally be able to get whatever you request from the Stash. This is purely to prevent people joining the guild and grabbing a bunch of stuff and bailing - not likely to happen, but a possibility I would like to avoid.
To withdraw something from the Stash, you will have to go through me - via /g, /w, or in-game mail. If I am not online and you absolutely NEED that item RIGHT NOW and it can’t wait until the next time I log, you may approach another officer.
Exceptions will be high-cost Superior Runes or Sigils (anything that costs more than 2g in the Trading Post). These will not just be given because you ask - you must request to buy them from the Guild at a discount. The price fluctuates every day, so when you ask for such an item I will reply letting you know how much you need to send me before I will give it to you. You are free to decline the offer.
Also note that in order to prevent compromised accounts from raiding the guild bank, anyone who has been gone from the game for an extended period will have their status set to “Inactive”. If you find yourself set to Inactive and you would like to be set back to Comrade, just ask an officer.
- RULES AND PENALTIES -
If you fill the Bank with trash that I have to tidy up, you will lose access to the Bank for as long as I think is appropriate - usually scaled to how annoyed I am at you.
If you withdraw something, you HAVE to be doing so to use it yourself - not to sell or pass on to a friend that is not in the guild. If you are caught, you will lose access to the Bank. Maybe worse, like a kick from the guild. I haven’t decided because this hasn’t happened yet - it may go to a case-by-case in consultation with the other officers.
Guild Custom sPvP Server
The guild funds and runs a structured PvP server. The server is administered by Teldra and Lagnar and is named “[NICE] Persephone Exists, Nothing is Sacred.” The server is used for running sPvP nights, as well as tournaments and events. It is also available at other times for dueling and casual play.
To enter the custom arena, bring up the PvP Browser interface, either by clicking the PvP icon in the upper-left-hand corner of your screen or by goingto the Heart of the Mists and looking for the NPC marked PvP Browser (the same NPC you talk to for hot join games). In the PvP Browser interface, use the Search Owner/Name bar on the left and type in Teldra. Once you find the arena, right click to mark it as a favorite so you can find it again later more easily.
Guild Wars 2 Resources
General
Guild Wars 2 Official Site
Guild Wars 2 Wiki
Patch Notes
Dulfy Guides
GW2 Subreddit
NICE Guild Links
NICE Tumblr
Guild Bounty Spreadsheet
Guides
Guild Mission Guide by Vivixenne
Making money guide by Sage Persephone
WvW Guide by Yougottawanna
Combo Field and Finishers by Vivixenne
Primer on Leveling Up by Vivixenne
Other Resources
Gw2spidy (Trading Post Data)
World Event Timers
Dynamic Crafting Guide
Dungeon Guide
WvW Matchups
Into the Mists (Build Guides)
Armor Gallery
Class Guides
Elementalist
Mesmer
Necromancer
Ranger
Thief
Warrior
FAQ
What should I salvage and what should I sell?
Salvage most white, blues, and greens. Blues and greens give you luck, which can be consumed to increase your account magic find. Generally don’t salvage leather items, since leather is worth very little. Salvage any rares above lvl 68 for ecto with a master/mystic salvage kit, except for high-value weapons like greatswords and staves. Sell exotics on the TP, unless the sigil/rune on them is worth a lot of money, in which case you’d use a black lion salvage kit to remove the upgrade and sell it.
Guild boosts? What are those?
Every time you log on, or complete events are part of the guild, the guild gains influence. The influence is spent on guild missions, and also guild boosts. Guild boosts are guild-wide buffs that are given to everyone representing the guild and include karma boosts, magic find, reduced waypoint costs, and reduced repair costs, not to mention others. We typically run Magic Find and Gathering all week, and add Gold and Karma on the weekends.
Why do people keep saying I should make sure to log in once every two weeks?
The recent introduction of the Story Journal lets players have access to living world events they missed out on when they were current! So far, only the new season (Season 2) is available, but there is a possibility they may someday add support for replaying Season 1 as well. If you log in during the release window of a new chapter of content, you unlock it for FREE in the Story Journal! if you miss it completely, you can still get it, but it will cost a small gem fee. Gems can be purchased with either in-game gold or with real money. And don’t worry, the unlock is only for the story and the elite achievements. Everyone gets permanent access to all the open world additions, including new zones, events, and regular achievements!
What should I do after I get to level 80?
- World Completion
- Build your character how you want with armor/weapons/skills
- Collect Wardrobe looks
- Achievements
- Dungeons
- World Events
- Legendary Weapon
- Crafting
- Personal Story and Living Story
- sPvP
- WvW
- Jumping Puzzles
- Make up your own goals - ie, get all dyes, get all minis
- Create an alt
- Have fun!
I see a lot of people in the guild with "Von Kraken" or "Copper" in their names. What's up with that?
We decided near launch of the game for some of our characters to be in the same "family." So Human Nobles will have their names with a von Kraken tag, like '<player name> Von Kraken.' Similarly, with Charr characters we've decided to form the Copper warband (cause copper, like in a penny. Get it?). Your Charr character can be named with Copper as the prefix or suffix of your name. For instance, 'Geod Copperstone' or 'Rysk Coppercrusher' or whatever you like. Feel free to join in with the naming fun if you'd like!