Guild Wars 2

Hi there, I am new GW2 and these forums. Coming off of a 1 year WoW break I have decided to check out GW2. My question to community is somewhat hypothetical in nature but I wanted to ask it as it may help steer me in the direction of the character/profession I run with.

Assuming my skill at my profession is on par with above average players and I have run the dungeons enough times to know the ins and outs, than I ask the question;

What professions is the most sought after or is the group the happiest to see in a dungeon run?

The reason I ask is in WoW I was very proficient in tanking warrior and healing priest and would often be recruited for multiple runs. Now I know the MMO Class Trilogy doesn’t exist in GW2 but if I am going to pick a class to explore all aspects of this game with and certainly dungeons is a big part of that I want to select a class that PUG’s, Guilds and groups are happy to have me play.

Any thoughts and I apologize for the Noobish questions…

Guardians outside of CoF.

CoF = Warriors/mesmers only sadly.

Necros, Engis and rangers all the way!

Ranger and Mesmser, too bad most are kittening terrible.

If you are ‘above average’ and know the fights, I wouldn’t care what profession you were as long as you weren’t a doosh. A good player can contribute no matter what class he’s playing.

I cry when the last guy is a ranger or a thief.
I cry when I see the elementalist spamming Fireball and nothing else.
I cry when I realise the necro is condition dmg.
I cry when I see 5 signets icons over the warrior’s head.
…

Basically I care more about the personnal skill rather than the profession.
You can do plenty of things with Guardian and Mesmer while Warrior will enhance the group’s DPS by themselves and by using For Great Justice! Others professions are a lot less useful to PVE than these 3.

You can never have too many warriors/guards in a group. Whilst a variation is good you’re guaranteed an easy run with all heavies.

Ill take anyone, everyone brings something to the table. Mostly people only know how to cheese with heavies so of course that is the current favored path of least resistance.

I care more about how well a person can play their class than the said class they chose.

Guardians are most useful, as you have to assume a pug doesn’t know how to play… a pug that doesn’t know how to play any class will at least provide some protection (aegis) automatically without doing anything as a guardian.

You should first lvl a guardian. It’s useful everywhere. After you get more proficient at the game and/or you have a dedicated team, lvl a warrior. Reason being, warriors commonly fill 3 spots in a party comp.

Guardians are more pug friendly. Warriors are not really because if you have no party support, you’re going to have a rough time staying up.

1. Warrior. 2.Guardian

But then, if your saying your skill level is well above others, I might go for the thief.

I wouldn’t play a thief in PvE. They just don’t have enough cleave options to even be suitable for proficient dungeon running.

Bullwinkel.7839:

I wouldn’t play a thief in PvE. They just don’t have enough cleave options to even be suitable for proficient dungeon running.

Venom sharing. You’re welcome.

Nodeninja.5321:

If you are ‘above average’ and know the fights, I wouldn’t care what profession you were as long as you weren’t a doosh. A good player can contribute no matter what class he’s playing.

^This.

Most people have already listed the favourites but really that will only matter if you’re pugging a lot, and are pugging with elitists who want nothing but what they consider the best class. Play what you will enjoy.

1 guardian 1 thief 2 warriors and a mesmer, basicly my dream party.

If you were a good tank in WoW I would definatly recommend the guardian, you will never have trouble getting a group, It is very easy to learn, and pays of big if you master it.

And you can definatly tank to some degree, even in higher level fractals.

Just a moderate skilled player and i´m fine with every class.
Done CoE with almost every possible PUG setup and never have to give up, some take longer some are faster but always was fun.

As a Warrior, I always get a jolt out of partying up with a Guardian.

You know you’re going to have a good time then.

warrior/guardian/mesmer . thats what i “want” to see.
not that i mind any other class much though..

It depends on which role you enjoy most. As it has been pointed out, most PUG enjoy having a couple of Guardians or Warriors in the group, it makes it easier for everyone.

However, generally speaking, the roles are generally this :
- Mesmer for the unique abilities (faster kills with “time warp” elite, portals, group stealth) and support (reflection + confusion, clones that takes some of the damage away from players) with decent DPS it bring in the group (My main is a Mesmer ;-) ),
- Guardian for support via boon sharing and tanking,
- Warrior for survivability and point-blank DPS,
- Elementalist for the DPS and the best party healing skills it provides,
- Thief has great DPS bursts, stealth skills (refuge is great for rezzing a downed player),

I don’t know these classes as well (feel free to correct me, fellow forumers), but I guess :
- Ranger for ranged DPS and control skills via traps,
- Necromancer has great survivability, good DPS and decent healing,
- Engineer for DPS and some mix of support and mob control.

Dolan.3071:

Bullwinkel.7839:

I wouldn’t play a thief in PvE. They just don’t have enough cleave options to even be suitable for proficient dungeon running.

Venom sharing. You’re welcome.

for 300 range ? really ?, while boon skills have 600+ ?,
and still hits only 5 targets as others, you have to tie your group with shackles for it to be effective. and because most pugs run as headless chickens…. not useful much
(or doing the cantabrian circle)

DanH.5879:

Dolan.3071:

Bullwinkel.7839:

I wouldn’t play a thief in PvE. They just don’t have enough cleave options to even be suitable for proficient dungeon running.

Venom sharing. You’re welcome.

for 300 range ? really ?, while boon skills have 600+ ?,
and still hits only 5 targets as others, you have to tie your group with shackles for it to be effective. and because most pugs run as headless chickens…. not useful much
(or doing the cantabrian circle)

This.

While it’s great when it works, the range is way too freaking small. There’s been encounters where i swear I’m standing right next to everyone and they still don’t all receive my buffs.

you should try in water, when ppl are on top of you and they don’t receive
funny, isn’t it ?

Lol simple: anyone i notice who is not biased by other professions. I’d rather go with a ranger and a necro and 3-man the entire dungeon before i take another guardian/warrior/mesmer that drops on first alpha or lupicus attack, blaming the others for various reasons.

Best thing about this game is that it really doesn’t matter. I can go with 4 other light armour dudes of my guild and still die waaaay less than with 4 guardian pugs who don’t know how to play.

Actually i noticed that pug warriors tend to go down first since every single pug warrior runs a berserker build going all out and drop at the first graveling scavenger….

Try to spot good people who you meet in pugs and invite them to your friend list. Then go with a team of experienced players and have fun while playing. Way more important than discrimination by profession

I find a ‘diverse’ party to be the best and most fun to play with. Too many of any one class and the run may go smooth and fast, but just doesn’t seem as fun. Everyone tends to bring a different skill set to the table and I enjoy a well rounded party.

I’ve played in a party as an engineer with 4 warriors. They facerolled everything, but their method of doing so made me feel so unproductive. I couldn’t facetank everything like they did. I contributed, sure, but the method in which we proceded was vastly different than if the party was a different composition.

1) Assume every players are decent, it doesn’t matter.
2) Assume every one isn’t decent, I want heavy armor class in my PUG. Do I need to explain that?

I have a very memorable moment one late night 1AM PST, I (as a war) pug w/ another 4 wars for CoF. We all laughed once we saw our party. They all are very decent players and we just annihilated everything so fast in p1,p2 that we had to wait for spawns. It was too late or we would go for p3.

Depends greatly on the dungeon. I prefer to have at least one warrior or guardian, one ele, and one of the other professions.

I dislike having multiple anythings, other than warriors

Warrior, Guardian, Ele, one mesmer. A good thief is accepted as well. Don’t want rangers — they’re bad outside gimmick self rez in fractals (I own a ranger). Don’t want necros in dungeons, since they do no damage.

Non engy, thief, necro, or ranger. I know it seems hypocritical (Given I’m a jawesome engineer), but most PUG engineers you find will be using flamethrower and pistols. Thief damage is severely limited in what it can do, and their group support is pretty much nil (Their shortbow is very nice though if someone else has a fire field to bring along – drop a ring of fire on the mobs, let the thief go point blank and pop off 3-4 blast finishers, hnnngh). Necros have nodamage bar condition setup, and even then engineers do it better for PvE (SURPRISE, it uses grenades just like raw damage builds). Rangers have nodamage and nosupport, except that 15 second water field. Spirits need a serious buff, they’re not even a shadow of what they were in GW1. I suppose this could extend to all classes though – if I see a mace warrior or.. uh.. uh.. okay every guardian weapon is pretty much good except torch. Or a staff ele! I’m just gonna have that same expression of discontent I have with a flamethrower engineer, that can be summed up as ‘learn your class’.

What I want to see:

Warrior = great DPS / Tankiness
Guardian = great Support / Tankiness
Mesmer = great DPS / Support

What I DONT want to see:

Necro (Guardians clear conditions faster, and condition damage takes a while to build up)
Engineer (Not really good for anything at the moment in my opinion)
Ele (They can dodge around with them two daggers all they want, but their damage is lower and their support is not the best either.)

Neutral:

Thief (Usually they die too fast, but if played right they can do great DPS)
Ranger (Can be good DPS as well too if played right)

Havana.8625:

Ele (They can dodge around with them two daggers all they want, but their damage is lower and their support is not the best either.)

With a Staff, Elementalists are awesome though.

Mesmer, Guardian, Warrior, Warrior, Warrior.

I cry shrug when the last guy is a ranger or a thief.
I cry when I see the elementalist spamming Fireball and nothing else.
I cry when I realise the necro (or any class) is condition dmg.
I cry when I see 5 signets icons over the warrior’s head.

I cry when mesmers dont know how to use their focus (re: 1000hrs playing mesmer not using focus thread in mesmer forum)
To a lesser degree, when I see mesmers use shatter builds in pve in general and/or dont shatter at certain bosses (dredge for eg).

anyone who doesn’t suck.

also people who switch utilities for specific encounters.

Things I Would like to see:

1.) Rangers that weapon and pet swap, and don’t camp SB skill 1.
2.) Guardians using their kitten virtues and dont use multiple signets.
3.) Mesmer actually doing something other than standing around GS skill 1 and TW every so often.
4.) Ele actually attunement swapping ( yes, you can do that!)
5.) Warrior without 5 signets.
6.) Thief not camping Shortbow.
7.) Engineer not using a racial skill for their elite ( yes I have actually seen this alot)
8.) Necro not using all minions utilities.

All of the above is depressing.

Khal Drogo.9631:

I cry shrug when the last guy is a ranger or a thief.
I cry when I see the elementalist spamming Fireball and nothing else.
I cry when I realise the necro (or any class) is condition dmg.
I cry when I see 5 signets icons over the warrior’s head.

I cry when mesmers dont know how to use their focus (re: 1000hrs playing mesmer not using focus thread in mesmer forum)
To a lesser degree, when I see mesmers use shatter builds in pve in general and/or dont shatter at certain bosses (dredge for eg).

Although focus is a good weapon when traited. It still kidda of a situational weapon. Shatters are hard to master. I am still learning when to shatter at the same time learning how to use weapon skills. Because if I get good at shatter, my weapon skill deteriorate and then vice versa

some PUGs i’ve been a part of either in my guardian main or elementalist have been very unconventional, to say the least.

2 guard, 1 war, 2 mes = ultimate fractals face-rolling
3 rangers + 2 others = managed well
3 thieves + 2 others = managed well
3 eles (2 staff and 1 dagger [me! lol])+ 2 others = managed well
need to try 3+ mesmers, engineers or necros one day

in the end, since everyone can be multi-role, your choice of profession should depend more on your playstyle and the role you like to play. since you tanked and healed in wow i’d say guardian for you, but note that aggro and healing work very differently in gw2, and any class, depending on build, could tank and support at the same time to various degrees of success.

i found ele to be very versatile and fun after maining on guardian for a while.

warrior alt has been relatively boring so far but dishes out the dps.

also depends on what you want to do in dungeons. speed-runs and farming groups almost invariably involve flavour-of-the-month dps warriors and have player-imposed requirements which i find a bit tiresome, but if you’re out for a challenge and just play for fun, then once again, its your preference. casual PUGs generally don’t prefer certain classes except for the occasional EQ-challenged person.

edit: and what Folk said

Nodeninja.5321:

If you are ‘above average’ and know the fights, I wouldn’t care what profession you were as long as you weren’t a doosh. A good player can contribute no matter what class he’s playing.

^this

though all ele parties are fun =D

Kamahl.3621:

and their group support is pretty much nil (Their shortbow is very nice though if someone else has a fire field to bring along – drop a ring of fire on the mobs, let the thief go point blank and pop off 3-4 blast finishers, hnnngh).

Actually i’d love to come across an initiative specced combo finisher thief in my party
Might stacking, heal spamming, Aoe blinding on packs .. could be awesome, but good luck finding a thief playing that way …

Now back to the topic :

Any class as long as the player is a bit smart( like the ones that get away from red circles), knows his class and can adapt to the situation ( like bringing condition removal utilities when fighting heavy DoTing bosses or like using immobilize skills against CoF path 2 assassins or Dredge Boss fractal ect … not obvious to everyone sadly …)

It doesn’t matter really to me who is in the group aslong they know how to play and contribute to the group. I have to admit though, thief is the class i got the worst experiences with. So if i join a group with 2 thiefs in it, I usually leave it right away. No offense to thiefs, and some are really good at playing them, but atleast 80% simply suck at playing dungeons it seems.

My perfect group setup would be….
1 Guardian (support)
2 Warriors (Damage)
1 Elementalist (Damage and Fields)
1 Mesmer (Timewarp and fields)

after playing a ranger, i think people underestimate the dmg they can put out. not as high as warrior, but much higher than i ever got on guardian.

most of the time i don’t care what classes i see as i’ve done fractals with all lights classes fine. it depends on how good they are.

for dungeons, i usually get cautious when i have a party full of light armors, as usually they die very quickly.

and in the end,
rangers, thieves and engies can go play another game, because they are not liked in parties, just because they are next to useless

prove me wrong !
i want you to tell me a 5 thief party can do fotm lvl 49 as easy as 5 guards.

iHungeri.4096:

need to try 3+ mesmers, engineers or necros one day

I did a 4 mesmer + 1 ele run in TA a while ago, and had a lot of fun.
4 synchronized TW of the Nightmare Tree + the ele meteor rain was just awesome.

DanH.5879:

and in the end,
rangers, thieves and engies can go play another game, because they are not liked in parties, just because they are next to useless

prove me wrong !

^has never played any of those classes

Varzon.9483:

Necros, Engis and rangers all the way!

quoted for truth!!!

its about the player, not the class,
the issue with guardians is that even dumb players like me are useful via passive group support.

Min-Maxing, played perfectly, Warrior/Guardian/Mesmer mix is top dog. However, when pugging things going perfectly is rare, so I’m happy when people are playing their class well and following the basic directions/tactics required to win a fight (like going melee when the boss requires it and not clinging to their ranged weapons because that is all they have ever known, and the other way around too).