Andaran atish'an, or should I say: Hello!

I'm a returning player who first played Guild Wars 2 a few years back. At some point, I lost access to my original account, got frustrated because I had just bought the DLCs and some cosmetics, and walked away from the game for a while. Eventually, I came back through the Steam version — and let me tell you, it was absolutely worth it. Plus, with it being on Steam now, I won't be able to lose it anymore. Yay!


If you're interested in a more detailed breakdown of my thoughts, feel free to check out my full review. But if you just want the short version: I love this game. Guild Wars 2 has a special charm — it's beautiful, engaging, and full of small design choices that make playing feel effortless and rewarding.



I originally put this guide together for a friend, but also because I genuinely believe that you don't need to stress too much when starting out — or even in general. There aren't a hundred systems to memorise or a perfect path to follow. Just hop in, explore at your own pace, and enjoy yourself. Also, adjust your gear whenever you see new green numbers — green numbers make your brain go brrr and are good.

Whether you're here for the story, the world design, or the combat, Guild Wars 2 is, in my opinion, one of the best MMORPGs out there.

So take your time. There's no rush, no pressure — just a world waiting for you to discover it.

When you first launch Guild Wars 2, you're immediately introduced to character creation — a visually rich but potentially overwhelming experience filled with choices you likely won't understand yet. Don’t worry: the good news is that none of these early decisions can break your gameplay.

From here, you can approach character creation in one of two ways: you can go purely based on what looks cool to you, or you can dive in from a roleplay or lore perspective. Both are perfectly valid, and neither will hurt your experience.

Each race in Guild Wars 2 comes with its own distinct starting zone, origin story, a few race-exclusive abilities, and access to race-specific cosmetics. There are no gameplay limitations or advantages tied to your race. You won't be locked out of professions, skills, or story arcs beyond your personal story — but even then, you can join other players' personal stories. Mechanically, every race is equal, so you're free to play what you want without fear of missing out.


That said, if you're looking for a race that naturally aligns with the feeling of being new to the world, starting with a sylvari makes a lot of sense. In the game's lore, the sylvari race has only existed for 25 years. Your character is one of the newer sprouts from the Pale Tree, and early on you even get to meet the oldest living sylvari in Tyria. This fresh perspective is a great match for players who are also new to the world. Importantly, your sylvari character isn't written as naive — they're as competent and informed as anyone else. But the lore allows you to roleplay your own journey of discovery in a way that feels organic.

A general hint for anyone, but especially sylvari players: You have the option to turn off the light and remove your armour while creating your character. Sylvari in particular also have the ability to glow at night, so feel free to adjust the glow's brightness.


After selecting your race and customising your character's appearance, you'll make several choices that define your personal story. You'll choose a background, a personality, and a starting item. The personality system doesn't really affect gameplay and is there mainly to add flavour to your character's dialogue and interactions. Starting gear is also purely cosmetic at this stage — you'll be replacing it quickly as you level up, so just go with whatever catches your eye in the moment.

Your background choice, however, is a little more important. This determines your early story path, key events, and which characters you'll meet. These choices can shape the tone of your early experience and affect which NPCs become important to you. For example, an asura who chooses to have invented a VAL-A golem will unlock a specific character and storyline early on, as will a sylvari who believes in the teaching of "Act with wisdom, but act". Still, my recommendation is to go with whatever choice resonates most with you. If you really find yourself in a position where you are completely unhappy with your origin story, you can always start another character.


One of the most reassuring things about character creation is that most aspects of your character can be changed later on. If you decide you don't like your character's look or name, you can use items like Total Makeover Kits or Name Change Contracts to completely revamp your character. These kits even come with exclusive hairstyles, colours, and customisation options, and they also allow you to change your character's gender. The only thing that is truly permanent is your personal story. Once you've picked your background path, it can't be redone or altered on that character. That's why it's the one decision I suggest you take a little time to consider.

When it comes to names, Charr usually have Greco-Roman first names, sometimes with cat puns, Norn have Nordic, Viking, or Dutch names, Asura have short names which often feature a set of double letters, and Sylvari tend to have Celtic, Irish, or Welsh names without surnames. As for Humans... you pretty much know what a human is.


Ultimately, Guild Wars 2 is designed to be replayed and not to make you grind. You're encouraged to create multiple characters and explore different storylines, races, and classes. So your first character doesn't need to be perfect. Just pick what feels fun or interesting to you and dive in.

In Guild Wars 2, playable classes — called professions — are grouped into three categories based on their armour types: Soldier (heavy armour), Adventurer (medium armour), and Scholar (light armour). This categorisation not only determines what armour they wear but also, broadly speaking, reflects their relative difficulty to play.

Soldiers can generally be considered the most accessible for new players due to their durability and straightforward combat styles.

Guardian: The easiest class overall. Guardians blend melee combat with strong defensive and supportive abilities, making them both resilient and useful in group content. The guardian is the only profession that cannot normally wield the same weapon type in their main-hand and off-hand.

Warrior: The second easiest class; also beginner-friendly and heavily melee-focused. Warriors excel in dealing damage and soaking up hits, though they tend to have fewer support tools compared to guardians. You're likely already pretty much familiar with warriors from other games.

Revenant: Not available to free-to-play accounts (it requires... I think any of the first three expansions, but Heart of Thorns for sure), but for context, it's a more complex soldier class that sits in the middle in terms of difficulty due to its unique energy system and legend-swapping mechanics.

Adventurer classes offer more versatility but come with added complexity compared to soldiers.

Ranger: The most approachable adventurer class. With a long-range bow, a tanky pet, and a simple gameplay loop, rangers are a solid choice for new F2P players who want a bit more flexibility. Do not worry about your pet choice — there are no exclusive pets and you can get others later on. Just pick whichever you like!

Thief: A fast-paced, stealth-based class that rewards quick reflexes and good timing. Thieves can be challenging due to their low health and reliance on evasion and mobility, though if you're playing with a friend, you probably won't even need to worry about that.

Engineer: Considered one of the more difficult professions to master, as in, one of the three hardest classes. Engineers cannot swap weapons during combat and instead rely on kits and tool belts to access new skills, requiring careful planning from your end.

Finally, scholars are among the most difficult professions you can start off with, as they may tend to have higher damage potential but also more complex mechanics, often making them harder for beginners.

Necromancer: The most forgiving of the scholars and quite viable for F2P players. Necromancers have a large health pool and can summon minions, making them a strong solo option with decent survivability.

Mesmer: A highly unique class that creates illusions and clones to confuse enemies. While powerful, mesmers have a steep learning curve and often require experience to play effectively, or at the very least a co-op player that can help you.

Elementalist: Arguably the most difficult profession in the game. On one hand, elementalists are the Avatar, master of all four elements and vast skill variety — but on the other hand, managing these rotations while staying alive is no small feat. Like engineers, they also can't swap weapons in combat, further increasing the challenge.

As for weapons — they're tied to your professions (and later specialisations), rather than overall groupings. If weapon type matters to you, I'd suggest either looking it up, or going by vibes, as you can generally guess which profession is likely to use which weapon. The only one I'll note here is that rangers can use any type of bow, warriors can use longbows, and thieves can use short bows.

Don't worry, you don't have to keep all of this memorised — the game will remind you of the professions' difficulties. If you're up for the challenge, it's probably easier to start with a difficult class and get used to it than to start with an easier class and get too comfortable with it. Mileage may vary.

As a new player in Guild Wars 2, one of the most helpful things you can do is keep an eye on the upper right corner of your screen. This area acts as your personal guide, showing your current objectives and gently directing you toward what to do next.



In this same corner, you'll also find something called the Adventure Guide: Volume One. This is an achievement-based tutorial that walks you through a series of tasks designed to introduce you to the game's core systems. It's absolutely worth following, though you'll likely complete it without even noticing. Not only does it reward you with a generous amount of experience, helping you level up quickly, but it also teaches essential mechanics. Through these tasks, you'll learn how to use waypoints to fast travel, revive fallen allies, defeat enemies, and complete renown hearts, which are a key type of quest unique to Guild Wars 2.

Beyond that, the best advice is to just play naturally and follow your curiosity. Guild Wars 2 is designed to reward exploration and spontaneity. You'll gain experience for doing just about anything: exploring new areas, gathering crafting materials, watching scenic vistas, and participating in dynamic world events that pop up as you move through the world.

Leveling in this game tends to happen organically — you rarely need to grind or focus solely on XP. So relax, enjoy the world, and let your adventures unfold at your own pace.

Your personal story begins at level 10, with new chapters unlocking every ten levels after that. The story unfolds in three main arcs. It starts with a race-specific origin, giving you a glimpse into your character's background and culture. As you progress, you'll be drawn into the larger conflicts of Tyria by joining one of the three major factions known as the Orders. Eventually, your journey culminates in a high-stakes battle to save Tyria itself.

What's interesting about the personal story is that while your choices shape the experience, all potential paths are canon to the game's lore, at least to some extend — just with the detail that you may or may not have been the one directly involved. In other words, the events happened either way, but depending on your choices, your character may have played a central role or left it to someone else in the story.

That doesn't make your involvement feel any less significant, though. Many quests offer you the chance to change outcomes, influence characters, and guide the tone of your journey. Think of it as shaping your destiny — the world is on a set course, but your decisions can bend that path and shape your character's legacy within it.

In Guild Wars 2, skills are designed to be dynamic, fluid, and adaptable. The first set of skills you'll notice are your weapon skills — these are located on the left side of your skill bar (slots 1 to 5). The specific skills you get depend entirely on the weapon you're using and your profession. These are your core combat abilities; different weapons mean different skills. You unlock all basic weapon skills by level 10-12, as long as you experiment with different weapon types.

Note: Elementalist and Engineer have more complex weapon mechanics and don't follow the standard "swap weapon, get new skills" model.


The right side of your skill bar (slots 6 to 10) is where you'll find healing, utility, and elite skills. These are chosen by you and offer powerful ways to support your playstyle.
Slot 6: Healing Skill — Each profession has a few healing options, and you can choose which one fits your needs best — some heal over time, others provide a burst of healing or additional effects like condition removal.

Slots 7-9: Utility Skills — unlocked between levels 11 and 20. These skills offer mobility, buffs, debuffs, summons, crowd control, and more. You'll need to spend Hero Points (earned through leveling and exploration) to unlock them.

Slot 10: Elite Skill — unlocked at level 31. These are high-impact abilities with longer cooldowns, usually used for turning the tide in combat or providing strong utility. Like utility skills, they must be unlocked with Hero Points.


Once you reach level 11, you start earning Hero Points. These are used to unlock new skills and traits from a profession-specific skill tree. You typically will earn enough Hero Points to unlock all of your core skills and trait lines.

Please note that as a free-to-play player, you will lose access to your mount after 10 hours of gameplay (per character). The game is still fantastic without any mounts, but it can bother some.

You can also choose to take up various crafting disciplines, such as Chef, that let you create valuable and practical items to support your journey. However, if you're playing on a free-to-play account, it's worth keeping an eye on your available inventory space. Crafted items like food can pile up quickly, and without the extra storage options available to paid players, your bags may fill before you realise it. This can leave you with little choice but to either eat as much of the food as possible immediately or destroy it to free up space.


You will also unlock traits; passive abilities that enhance your character's performance and playstyle. They are part of the specialisation system and play a major role in how each profession can be customised. For free-to-play players, traits are limited to the core specialisations, since elite specialisations are locked behind expansions. I'd like to leave a reminder here that Guild Wars 2 uses the Buy-to-Play model, so there are no subscriptions, just one time purchases of your expansions.

Trait slots unlock progressively as you invest points in them. In each slot, you choose one trait from a set of three, allowing you to shape your character's strengths. Traits can influence many aspects of gameplay, such as increasing damage, improving defence, enhancing condition effects, reducing cooldowns, or modifying specific skill interactions. Traits work in the background and do not require manual activation.

Renown Heart quests are one of the most seamless and player-friendly quest systems. You don't need to pick them up or activate them manually — instead, they unfold naturally as you explore the world. More often than not, you'll find yourself already making progress on a heart quest without even realising it.

Maybe you're helping out in a group event that just happened to pop up nearby. Maybe you're curious about something in the environment and interact with it. Or maybe you're just defeating enemies in the area because they looked at you funny. Whatever it is, chances are it's already contributing toward a heart quest.

You'll notice a golden heart begin to fill, and once it's complete, you'll get a little thank-you message for your efforts, and some helpful rewards — experience points, karma, and sometimes access to a heart vendor who sells useful or interesting items tied to that region.

It's a system designed to reward exploration and curiosity rather than checklist-style gameplay. You're not chasing objectives so much as naturally stumbling into them, so just keep playing, follow your instincts, and you'll find the world rewarding you without ever needing to grind.

Don't worry about the different currencies too much. For the most part, you can simply see them as money to be spent, albeit in different circumstances. There does not seem to be a cap for the amount of karma you can have. Also, currencies are typically account wide.


Other icons to look out for:

This icon represents fallen allies — other players who require your help. If YOU are the fallen ally and know that others are nearby, don't teleport away — generally speaking, people will try and help you, unless they don't notice you. If you see someone has fallen, and you are able to help, go and revive them. Keep in mind, however, that sometimes the best solution is to teleport away, especially when you have completely fallen and others are merely downed. It takes much longer to revive a dead ally than one that is simply downed. Situational awareness is important for dungeons and raids (available if you buy DLC), as they can make or break the experience, so it's best to consider your options early on.

This icon represents hero challenges with which you can gain skill points. They also tend to be either fun (combat) or funny (eat meat).

This icon represents your waypoint, or rather a contested waypoint specifically. While you can normally teleport to waypoints, one with swords means that it's currently under attack. If you are able, you can help and free it, otherwise, you will have to teleport somewhere else.

Unlike waypoints, Points of Interest are not capable of being teleported to. Instead, they simply give you an idea where you are in relation to other places on the map. You'll see them quite often in cities.

Vistas are also often in cities — though you'll find them anywhere on the map. When you find one, you'll unlock a little (skippable) cutscene that shows you the area.

Starting at level 30, you'll unlock access to your first dungeon: Ascalonian Catacombs, which focuses on Eir Stegalkin (norn) and Rytlock Brimstone (charr) — two members of Destiny's Edge. Once eligible, you'll receive an in-game mail inviting you to join. To get there, look for the dungeon gate icon on your map and use a nearby waypoint to travel.

Dungeons are 5-player group instances filled with unique enemies, boss encounters, and narrative-driven content. Each dungeon has a story mode, available after specific points in your personal story, and explorable paths that unlock after completing the story once.

The story content in dungeons ties directly into the larger plot of Guild Wars 2, particularly the history of Destiny's Edge. If you're interested in the lore, consider mentioning in the Looking for Group (LFG) tool that you'd like to watch cutscenes — many players skip them unless asked otherwise.

A key piece of advice: dungeons are not designed to be completed solo. Once you're in a group, make sure everyone's on the same page. Do you want to take your time and enjoy the story? Rush through? Skip cutscenes or watch them all? A quick message like "Hi, first time here!" can go a long way toward setting expectations.

Before entering, clear out some inventory space — you'll be getting loot, and running out of room mid-run can be overwhelming. Also, revive downed allies quickly; teamwork is essential, and staying together makes things smoother for everyone.

Most importantly, have fun, enjoy the experience, and don't forget to thank your team when you're done!

Thank you for reading this.

While this isn't the first guide I've ever written, it's the first guide for an MMORPG, or even a game that is not OneShot (fantastic game, by the way). If you think I should include something else, please feel free to let me know. As it stands, I think this is about all a new player should worry about when starting out; I'm more than willing to add something else as well, however.

I've often seen people wondering in the map chat which expansion they should get — and I think that, to this day, going with Heart of Thorns and Path of Fire (the first two expansions that come in a bundle nowadays) is the best way to go. Alternatively, you can always pick the most recent expansion.


Feel free to befriend me in-game. You can find all my characters (European server) here, and my review here. Images are either my own, from the wiki, or from soulbeastdragon on tumblr.

We also have a guild meant specifically for new players (or those who want to help new players) that focuses on casual chats, roleplaying, and having a good time. No discord, no pressure.