Just as a quick guide to the UI and such, and to add images to explain my last post.
Map of part of Lion's Arch
On that map you can see on the top left the various amounts of locations I've explored, and have left to explore. On the map itself you can see which ones are filled, and which are grey still. All pretty simple stuff.
http://i.imgur.com/7qVUG.jpg
Okay, basic overview of the UI.
The
yellow box shows your main 5 skills. These vary with whatever weapons you're currently using. I have a greatsword equipped, and as it's a 2h weapon, all the skills are therefore GS skills. (In case you were curious, 1 is a basic attack which also helps me evade, 2 is an AoE which bleeds, 3 is an AoE charge, 4 is a block+retaliate, and 5 is a stun+daze). Attacks in the game can be used at any time from any distance, and even without a target (no 'you're not close enough' nonsense). If you aren't close enough, you'll just miss. All attacks are 'AoE' to an extent, in that you'll hit everything in your frontal arc, so even basic attacks can easily hit multiple mobs. As Ronin was saying, you start with the first attack, and unlock others as you kill things. I found the higher level you are, the quicker you unlock the remaining skills (to the point at which when I was around 20 and used a speargun for the first time, each kill unlocked me the next skill).
If I were using a main hand and an off hand, my main hand skills would be 1-3 and my offhand would be 4-5. In this way, you can really customise which skills you want to have at any one time. You also have a second set of weapons which you can quickswap to (it's a 10s CD I believe). This allows you to change out in combat if you wish. I tend to switch between a longbow and my greatsword.
The
red box shows your utility skills. You unlock the utility slots as you level up, the last one unlocking at 20. For me as a Ranger, these are skills like traps (which can have any number of status effects {conditions}), summoning spirits which have % buff chances for allies, or signets, which have a passive effect, and can be used to activate a secondary effect. Your 6 button is your heal. There are no dedicated healer classes, everyone has their own ability to heal. The three which I have are a straight up heal for myself and pet; a HoT for us both; and the third is a healing circle HoT centred on myself, which heals allies also. Ressing in the game is just a matter of standing next to someone who's down, and channelling them via the standard interaction key. (For completion's sake, my 7 is a spike trap which bleeds; 8 is a signet which gives me additional run speed, and makes my pet do extra damage on use; and 9 is another signet, but this one increases mine and my pet's toughness, and makes my pet immune to damage when activated).
The
purple box is my pet stuff, pretty standard there. Pets can be swapped out during combat on a relatively short CD, so you don't need to worry about ressing pets all the time. Each pet has a unique ability, which is its F2.
The
blue box is my active buffs, and you can see my two passive signet effects on there, as well as a buff I have from my traits.
The red circle in the middle is obviously health, and the orange bar above it is endurance. Endurance allows you to evade attacks (double tapping the direction in which you wish to evade) and is the only way in which you can actively dodge attacks in the game. There are no dodge/miss/hit %s you'd be used to from other MMOs. Your endurance comes back pretty quickly, but you can't just spam ninjarolls everywhere.
The (currently for me) locked slot on 0 is for an elite skill, which is something you unlock at 30. Like your utility skills, you unlock elite skills with skill points, which you get 1 of when you level up, and 1 of when you complete the various Skill Challenges found in each zone.
