Guild Wars 2

So now that the new wing is out and the others have been ran quite often, where do Raid builds stand? It seems to me that in order to raid you need 1 of each spec as people keep going on about stacking Ele’s for Gorse and Guardians still have no love and all those fun things you hear if you try and pug.
I run a Herald and Reaper but like many others I do have an Ele,Thief,Guadrian, etc. “just in case”.
Problem is that if you are always swapping toons it seems you are always somewhat stifled by not playing your “main”.
So my question…if one was to stick with say just 2, and play them well, which is more viable for raids and progression? Of course I am looking at Herald/Reaper but if it means more raiding then I would look into another of course.
Just seems that so many all have their own opinions/experiences that does it really matter? Reckon I just do the age old tip of playing what you like and go from there?
It is sad that Raids require you to “toon hop”, or is that perhaps only an issue on my server?
Gets a bit disheartening to level and gear a toon, practice on said toon then be ask to bring your Elemental….lol.
Again, all my woes could simply be bad luck with pugs and such and if so then great, I’ll just stick it out and hopefully ANET has some love for Revs down the track!
Thanks for reading and any input you all have!

The only two classes that seem to be universally accepted are Chronomancer and Druid. For obvious reasons.

Herald, PS Warrior, and Tempest for DPS are next on the list.

For DPS, and depending on situations, all of the rest are accepted. Necros if condition damage is needed, or for clearing conditions. Dragonhunter for reflects or protection (matthias/slothasor). Daredevil if all other utility is accounted for. Engineer for CCs or just DPS.

Hopping professions is necessary depending on the encounter and the composition required or suited for that encounter. The four slots that are typically fixed in any composition is: Herald, Chrono, Druid (Tempest staff healer or Auramancer can be viable in some fights), 1 PS. Sometimes, a Chrono doesn’t need a Herald to reach 100% boon duration, but it’s still valuable to take a Herald for other reasons (apparently it’s better overall DPS with a Herald and Chrono regardless of the Chrono’s ability to reach 100% boon duration).

Raids aren’t about people playing what they want. Many players are in the same situation where they have to play something they’re not used to. Raids are about being adaptable – the more you are, the more valuable you are for your group. Unless you play a Herald or Chrono to the point where you’re irreplacable.

If you want to play what you want (Herald), find a static group that has players in fixed roles (with some players swapping depending on needed classes for a fight). I’m currently a Herald for at least two groups (one static, and the other semi-static). Even in those groups, I’ve sometimes had to swap to Daredevil (I’ve proven to them that I can do reliable DPS) or Tempest (starting to branch out into and gaining more confidence with it).

Char swapping to reach optimal party comp is not a thing exclusive to raids, good players have been practicing that in dungeons/FotM for years. It’s just these gamemodes are overwhelmed with terrible/lazy people now that majority of decent players have moved over to raids and you don’t see that anymore.
If you get a reliable static group and clearly define who’s bringing what, you’ll very rarely have to swap chars. Herald is good for everything and necro is good almost everywhere (depending on the rest of the group). Otherwise, when you pug, you will have to wait for a group looking for whatever you feel like bringing.

Thanks for the replies guys! Something to ponder on and Rashy…. this
“Raids aren’t about people playing what they want. Many players are in the same situation where they have to play something they’re not used to.”
just seems like a wipe waiting to happen and if you don’t play for fun then to me not worth it. But thanks again for the feedback.

Yes and no. I don’t normally play Tempest in raids, but the times I have, I’ve been able to stay alive long enough to defeat the boss. I wasn’t playing at my best, but what I brought to the fight was still good enough. If I were completely new to Tempest, I’d be absolutely terrible and won’t contribute much. I usually take professions I’m not used to on “training” runs where I get to learn how to play a new profession in an already familiar encounter, and not worry too much about succeeding.

Short version: it depends on the player.

I personally consider the challenge of learning a new profession (especially one as hard as Tempest) fun. Part of the reason I spent so much time on Daredevil before raids was, I was told I’d be terrible as a Thief in dungeons and fractals. I took that upon myself as a challenge and performed better than players in my guild (we did Fractals daily) who played the more “survivable” builds/classes.

The only thing I play is ele, and I have had no problems.

If you were to only play two classes, I’d say ele and chrono. You will have a spot in every group.

Herald + reaper is alright. You should be ok with that, but you won’t get into every group.

What about DragonHunters?
Are they still looked upon as the “red-headed step child” or are they becoming viable what with prot and some cc and knockbacks?
And yea, several of our more serious raiding Guildies are telling folks to roll an Ele and never look back but kitten ed if I cant get past being so squishy. Maybe dust her off and practice dodging for life…lol?
Thanks again for input guys, much appreciated and gives me food for thought.

Joxer.6024:

What about DragonHunters?
Are they still looked upon as the “red-headed step child” or are they becoming viable what with prot and some cc and knockbacks?
And yea, several of our more serious raiding Guildies are telling folks to roll an Ele and never look back but kitten ed if I cant get past being so squishy. Maybe dust her off and practice dodging for life…lol?
Thanks again for input guys, much appreciated and gives me food for thought.

DHs are somewhat dicey in pug groups, in terms of practical damage they’re up next to eles/thieves because of how simple their rotation is with less movement than thief and less micromanagement than ele. Some groups realize the value of prot, others get angry at the group for not staying alive enough and some people know how to not stand in red circles, in most cases a dh is always useful to bring. Especially if you pull off really sneaky aegis’ at gors or sabetha, most groups won’t even realize they aren’t getting knocked back by gors’ smash saving the group precious seconds when they’re at the end of the enrage timer.

Though I’d always recommend ele, I hate thief/guard rotations because they’re less complicated.

Joxer.6024:

And yea, several of our more serious raiding Guildies are telling folks to roll an Ele and never look back but kitten ed if I cant get past being so squishy. Maybe dust her off and practice dodging for life…lol?

Just grab some marauder. You won’t notice any difference in damage (except maybe an increase from being alive more). Full zerker is for chumps. I raid with 15k health.

But yes, ele has good ability to avoid damage. You shouldn’t be getting hit too much.

Staff ele has the most boring dps rotation in the game though imo.
but maybe that’s just me. I don’t like rotations

I’m attracted to high dps. But for some reason I just can’t get myself into playing ele. I dunno what it is coz I love ranged. I think it was how squishy I felt. Is it worth trying to learn for general world pve/raids? Currently trying to dps on guard and warr hahah

Adjust.6903:

I’m attracted to high dps. But for some reason I just can’t get myself into playing ele. I dunno what it is coz I love ranged. I think it was how squishy I felt. Is it worth trying to learn for general world pve/raids? Currently trying to dps on guard and warr hahah

BINGO!!! I feel the same, always trying to squeeze the most dps I can out of a toon (silly ANET and no dps meters!) and I am not against ranged having played a Elemental Shaman in WOW (but main was tank) but like you its the squish factor that gets me.
From what I have read and been told though its really more a matter of L2P as once you get moving and dodging down you will own. So maybe I go back and give her a go for a bit and see what happens. If not, Rev is still in demand somewhat so I am safe for now I reckon.

Positioning is more important than dodging on an Ele, iirc. You don’t have as many dodges as Thief, and some of your abilities lock you in place, so timing and positioning really helps to avoid damage. Save your dodges for the more important attacks that need to be dodged (Gorseval’s ground pound, Slothasor’s shaking/tantrum, etc).