Guild Wars 2

I am making my very first character and wanted to make it Ausra. I am curious what proffesion I should Make my character. I play other MMO’s and am usually the low HP mele thief but in this game i want 2 keep to be ranged but have the options to be more of a high DPS melee any ideas.

If I said anything that sounds stupid just tell me :P. Im new to this game so i could use guidence

You can still be a thief and be ranged in this game, either with a short bow or dual pistols. And if you don’t like ranged combat, a quick switch to double daggers or sword/daggers and you have a very powerful, if fragile, melee character.

We really don’t have much of a “Holy Trinity” here in this game, a character, no matter the profession, and be pretty much built however you want it. Sure it might be a bit of a long stretch for some, but it can be done.

Pretty much all classes can play both a ranged, or melee role. There’s a few exceptions though.

Engineers can only use pistols, rifles, and shields, meaning that without kits, they’re going to be stuck with ranged attacks.

While elementalists have both long, and short range weapondry, they can’t weapon swap, meaning they’re mostly limited to one range while in battle.

Guardians are just flat out unreliable at range.

Other than that, all classes have decent ranged, and melee options open to them at the same time.

I recommend you make a few different characters of different classes, move into the heart of the mists via the PvP tab, and play around with them there. You’ll have access to all class skills, and traits, allowing you to test out what the class will play like at max level with whatever build pleases you. It’ll go a long way for finding what class you enjoy playing.

Thank you very much. Im currently waiting for it 2 download IT TAKES FOREVER. any1 elese have it take so long???

The game took for me no real time to download, since I had the disks. But the updates will take a while, and I’m still very confused why ArenaNet has the percentage of the updates calculated by the amount of files updated instead of the actual percentage in size done.

But yeah, Thief can do heavy melee damage, and has fairly reliable ranged damage with the shortbow and pistols.

Engineer is mainly ranged, but with some of the kits, particularly the Flamethrower, can work quite well close range. Just remember that the kits do not scale from your stats if I recall correctly, making them not so good later on. They’re still fun ;D

I have 3 asuras
1 necromancer
1 guardian
1 engineer
The necro Is my main with the other 2 being made for variety
The guardian hammer is awesome as the hits are huuugee
The necro is quite reliable as it can have many different builds
e.g. A condition damage guy
A life steal guy
Melee/short range (axe main hand dagger off hand)
or a minionmancer (learn all the minion skills and have like 5 or 6 other guys fighting with you)
My necro is a mix of condition manner and minionmancer as he has 2 minion skills and the rest condition damage
Hope this helps

Like others have said, you can take on several different roles with the various classes. I’ve taken 4 characters to 80 so far. They’re Asura Ranger and Mesmer, and Norn Warrior and Necromancer. Of those characters the Mesmer and Necromancer are my favorites and are the only two I continue to play after they’ve reached the cap.

My necromancer is a staff/well spec that is up close and personal more often than not. I traded damage for HP and Toughness, but my attack rating is still sitting at 2700 thanks to my condition damage and having power in my gear. I use a Staff most often and have a scepter and dagger as my off-weapoins for extra conditions. He’s sitting at 29k HP and is built to be as much of a tank as anybody can really be in this game.

My Mesmer is the exact opposite of my Necromancer. All of his points are spent to maximize damage. I carry a Greatsword and either dual swords or sword/pistol depending on my mood. He is built to spike damage and confuse enemies. He does spend a lot of time jumping in and out of melee combat as I switch between greatsword, which for Mesmers is basically a rail gun, and melee swords in fights.

There are so many different ways to play characters that you really should just try as many as you’re interested in and test out different ways to play them until you find the ones that suit your playstyle best. Ask 100 different people and you’ll get 100 different builds and suggestions. Whatever you end up with, just remember that dodge is your friend and staying mobile is a must.

Rottaran Owain.6789:

Engineers can only use pistols, rifles, and shields, meaning that without kits, they’re going to be stuck with ranged attacks.

While technically correct, it is more of a skirmish range than real range for the majority of the skills, so you are most of the times (unless you use longer range kits) be relatively close, without being all way into the face though