Guild Wars 2

Since the patch came out just curious what they are?

Advanced Arrow Carts

guardian and warrior are the top 2.

Guardian is tanky, and able to actually protect party members with a plethora of reflection skills. A good guardian can trivialize even the toughest fights. They’re also able to group up trash monsters with absolute ease (thank you binding blade) speeding up any dungeon that has a lot of them.

Warriors have incredible damage, and serious natural tank. They dont bring a whole lot of utility, but it’s often not needed.

The 3rd place is probably either mesmer or elementalist. Mesmers bring timewarp, feedback, clones (which tank slightly) and respectable damage. Elementalists dont have as much damage, but their utility is probably one of the highest. Reflection (party wide if traited for it) gobs of AOE damage, plenty of might stacking for party members, large AOE heals, and respectable tankiness if they’re specced for it. The elementalist almost always has some skill that works really well for your current encounter, regardless of what it is. They’re held back by their lackluster DPS against single targets, and difficulty in terms of play (relying on combo fields to garner the best effects can be complicated to frustrating based on your own ability and your teammates)

Probably the best class is the one played by someone who understands how to maximize their build, regardless of class.

Player skill aside, some classes may simply have an advantage in certain circumstances, and make them preferred for some runs.

Skill, experience and build (traits & grear) trump class almost always. Some classes can make up, in some degree, for a lack in those, but won’t carry alone.

^^^^^^
Yeah if the game had a slight illusion of PVE balance

reality:
3-4 zerker warriors and 1-2 guardians (the second zerker too)

Are so OP that seems another game.

There is no athird class because its so distant that don t need to be named.

Have to agree with Mourningcry. Done dungeons with various party setups and usually without any problems. Personal skill level and team synergy is far superior to the “One ultimate PvE setup” so often preached. What use are the zerker warriors if they don’t know how to dodge/whirlwind at the right time, just aimlessly flail around with their greatswords and end up downed in most encounters?

My favourite quote, which I sadly can’t recall the origin for, is “You can’t dps when you’re dead.”

I’ve been personally doing most dungeons lately on my necromancer, I have all other professions at 80 and geared up, too, including a zerker warrior and a guardian, but something still draws me towards my necro (could be the fact that he is my main).

So, the top 3 ends up being a personal choice.

Aireroth.7596:

My favourite quote, which I sadly can’t recall the origin for, is “You can’t dps when you’re dead.”
.

works for most mmorg but not this…
Common mistake done by people that still needs to get how GW2 PvE works

You are not meant to tank nor survive..
You have short invulnerability skills during wich you have to dps as much as you can….

If you don t get rid of threats fast things become excessively hard.
Or even worse there are mechanics that outright kills you if you don t get rid of your enemy before a given time.

If you can burst you get rid of most opponents before they are a threat
If you can burst you have less chances to be downed
If you can burst you can rally and help your party to rally

If your burst is actually sustained damage…its easy mode.
You kill things to avoid their Attacks because they have OP Attacks at a very slow rate.

If PvP is all about bunkers, PvE is all about zerkers….

There are many mechanics that makes fights interesting like rooting bosses and stuff…none of that can compare with the easy WAR dps.

LordByron.8369:

snip

I agree with you in general. Yes, PvE mobs in general pose a threat if you let the fight drag along. Yes, killing stuff before they kill you is essential.

However, my problem with the current PvE meta, if you will, is the preaching of “You must have X and Y, otherwise you are doomed to fail.”, which in turn generates a lot of new unexperienced warriors who go on about preaching this. Yes, some of them learn and adapt well and are actually beneficial to have in a group. Sadly, one part of this group will end up being a one-trick-pony (currently, CoF 1). I know a couple people who are warriors, since it is the most efficient way to farm it. I avoid these people like the plague when it is my time to do dungeons, because if you take them out of their context, they are just plain bad.

Now, I’m not saying all warriors should be ignored. One of my real life friends, who has been maining a warrior since pre-release, is a really good player, knows the profession and in general knows what the profession can and cannot do. And I have no question with him in the party.

Since I’m starting to derail a bit, I’m just a bit cautious with the “top 3” approach, as it will impact a part of the community and usually in a negative way. Getting kicked from parties due to your choice of profession or your level or running the wrong gear is wrong in my opinion, especially before the run.

My personal approach, which I try to enforce in my guild as well, is that profession chauvinism is not tolerated. If you think someone could perform better, you communicate, hint, give advice. Instead of “Stop running an useless profession!”. I’m not pointing at anyone. I’m just worried about the effect it has on the community and its members.

if you needs 2 hours to finish arah instead of 30 min

Isn t it a failure?

I never get Booted i know how to play more than most pve players i meet…
I run a melee/short range ele in almost full zerker.
I have 3 armor sets and all weaponsets when i go dungeons.

I know mechanics really well….then it happens to play with mediocre guardians and warriors….
I could go afk.

If you get good one your run length is outright halved along with effort needed.

Notice how i was and i am against classism.
Yet anet enforced the need and the disparity of builds.

There are only 2 classes and 1 armor set in this game

P.S. if you want proofs…
Next time you see a thread asking for HARD MODE….check his profile to see his profession….
Ahh the epiphany

Aireroth.7596:

What use are the zerker warriors if they don’t know how to dodge/whirlwind at the right time, just aimlessly flail around with their greatswords and end up downed in most encounters?

This is addressing the player, not the class. If you play a ranger or necro (or a tank build warrior, for that matter) in dungeons and you can mitigate damage correctly by dodging and using weapon/utility skills:

1) switch to zerker warrior
2) apply the damage mitgation skills you have learned to this class+build
3) watch your dungeon run times plummet
4) ????
5) profit

This is why zerk warrior is seen as superior in pve. In the hands of an equally skilled player, they outperform.

Weird how this thread completely avoided mentioning Mesmer as one of the top three, aside from one person saying it was a toss-up between Mesmer and Elementalist.

Anyway, current “meta” says 1 Mes/1 Guard/3 War for the general case, with slight changes (usually to the number of Guardians) depending on specific instances. Mind you, that should really be seen as a very rough guideline, because most of the game really comes down to knowing the mechanics of your class and of the encounters. Or at least, that’s all it takes to win a fight. If you’re trying to speedrun, yeah, the meta and its variants come into play. . .

matbe because mesmer is the most overrated PvE professions?

Also PvE is not THAT deep as some players claim it to be…

Its really the opposite…
The game difficulty is based around increasing damage and stats…..
Arriving to a point that makes damage so high that it ignore all defense….

Then its all about DPS

There’s really only 2 reasons… 2.5 reasons why a mesmer is used over another warrior.

- Time Warp
- Gather / Pull
- Signet of Inspiration ( this is fairly meh, but let’s include it )

Time warp is fairly obvious. At its very core, TW is a damage enhancer. Guardians do have might stacking abilities, however since 4 warriors can easily get up to 25 might by themselves, it’s not as useful as TW which bypasses the might cap. Should note that, the longer a fight is to 180 seconds but not over, the less statistically useful it is compared to another warrior.

Gather and pull is what I would classify as skills that drag mobs together. Also popularized by CoF1 but used in SE and CoE to drag mobs to walls so that warriors can use more of their skills more effectively. Guardians do not have skill as useful as this and are only barely better than having a warrior use fear me on bosses for the same effect. Mostly used to get to a boss rather than the boss itself.

Signet of Inspiration is only somewhat used in CoF. I can be elitist and say it’s only used in half decent to good parties but suffice it to say, most parties can go without it and function the same. For all intents and purposes, it’s used to quicken the speed to obtain 25 might and stack fury. All other boons are nice but never really the intention.

Is Mesmer overrated in PvE? Maybe, I could probably make a compelling enough argument that if warriors had a more effective pulling skill, speed run parties would either turn into 5 warriors or 4 warriors and 1 guardian for projectile heavy events. Either way, no other class could fit the role over mesmer for the spot of #3 and that includes Elementalists. Why have support if you could just increase DPS and reduce the time you’re in danger! Har har >_>

LordByron.8369:

matbe because mesmer is the most overrated PvE professions?

Also PvE is not THAT deep as some players claim it to be…

Its really the opposite…
The game difficulty is based around increasing damage and stats…..
Arriving to a point that makes damage so high that it ignore all defense….

Then its all about DPS

I would actually argue that Warrior is the most overrated class, simply because it has so few detractors. Guardian and Mesmer would be running neck and neck for a close second, though. As you say, the game is based around dealing and mitigating damage. We all know that, barring reflect skills, Warrior is the preferred class, but that doesn’t mean it’s actually the best class. And we all know that for reflect skills and mitigation, it’s Guardian followed by Mesmer, but even they aren’t the be-all, end-all of support classes.

Basically, the “top three” are only the top three because it’s so easy to throw them together to great effect. You can get comparable results using a number of other professions, though. . .

LordByron.8369:

matbe because mesmer is the most overrated PvE professions?

Also PvE is not THAT deep as some players claim it to be…

Its really the opposite…
The game difficulty is based around increasing damage and stats…..
Arriving to a point that makes damage so high that it ignore all defense….

Then its all about DPS

This is so true in my playing of the game. More DPS = shorter encounters & less defense needed. I’ve been trying to get that into the heads of my friends/guildies and so far have been unsuccessful.

Why gear defensively for a boss that requires you to do a lot of dodging and damage mitigation when you can gear beserker and take him down in 20 seconds?

If anyone still remembers levels 1-10, there are mobs that do actually dodge out of attacks. For some reason mobs at level 80 forget this. You see archers and mage type mobs stay in melee range, only 1-2 will bother using knockback.

Imagine how hard certain encounters would be if bosses blinked away from fights, dodged out of 100 brades, dropped lava fonts and so on.

Kirbyprime.2645:

If anyone still remembers levels 1-10, there are mobs that do actually dodge out of attacks. For some reason mobs at level 80 forget this. You see archers and mage type mobs stay in melee range, only 1-2 will bother using knockback.

Imagine how hard certain encounters would be if bosses blinked away from fights, dodged out of 100 brades, dropped lava fonts and so on.

Sometimes I wonder if people are playing the same game as me or just choose to ignore some content because they don’t run it.

In my opinion, there are no top classes. It is not about the class, rather it is about the player. If they know how to play their class then there is no problem. I play a necro and have absolutely no problem getting dungeon runs/staying in a party and running dungeons. I have had extremely fast dungeon runs with groups that have consisted of a mixture of classes.

Danni.4390:

In my opinion, there are no top classes. It is not about the class, rather it is about the player. If they know how to play their class then there is no problem. I play a necro and have absolutely no problem getting dungeon runs/staying in a party and running dungeons. I have had extremely fast dungeon runs with groups that have consisted of a mixture of classes.

Yes, but when I swap from an Ele to a Guardian, the run is faster, smoother, and easier for everyone. It’s still the same player behind the keyboard, but I get better results from a different class. (And I’ve played the Ele for twice as long as the Guardian).

It’s true that you can have a group of ‘sub-par’ classes do a dungeon quickly if everyone knows what they are doing, but if the same players got on a different character, the dungeon would be even easier.

Which is why everyone says Guardian, Warrior, and Mesmer are the top 3 classes.

My Top dungeon Crew (assuming doing all story/explorable paths for every dungeon):
Guardian, Warrior, Mesmer, Elementalist, Thief

Guardian : party support, and moderate damage.
— Blind (area), Binding Blade, Regen/Protection/Retaliation, Condition Removal, Light/Fire fields
Warrior : massive melee damage / moderate survivability, good party support utilities
— Vulnerability, For Great Justice & Warbanner, also can use combo fields effectively
Mesmer : additional party support
— Feedback & Time Warp
Elementalist : party support (buff stacking), or massive area damage
— Flaming Greatsword, Fire/Water fields
Thief : conditions
— Bleed, Poison, Stealth, makes good use of combo fields

Optional changes might be,
Thief <→ Necromancer, I consider Necromancer a BETTER condition job, however the single target, area burst and stealth that thief can provide I think out shines Necromancer on most content you would experience. I’m fairly sure that Thief also takes much better advantage of combo-fields compared to Necromancer.
Mesmer <→ Engineer, as long as the party has the guardian… there shouldn’t be a huge need for feedback, and you never “need” Time Warp. Engineer can help stack/maintain vulnerability along with providing positive party support allowing the gaurdian to focus less on party maintenance.

As far as meta is concerned though 1 Guardian is pretty much all a party needs, while more can be helpful (fractals) it’s not the be-all end-all class once you’ve got one working for you, aside from being (fairly) easy to play.

I also would have a hard time wanting to swap out the Mesmer and Warrior for another class. Mostly because while they don’t fill “niche” roles like the guardian, there are no other classes that perform equally in their roll, without stepping on toes of how other party members would be playing.

I don’t mean to hate on Ranger so much, but their skills don’t match up well for a condition build, nor does “their” damage hold up for a self build. This being on dungeon content where pets are likely to be wiped out, or they have to sacrifice most of their traits to prevent it.

TL;DR
Guardian, Warrior, Mesmer are the top 3. That’s a pretty agreed upon consensus. For some content the support of the Guardian isn’t needed. For most content there is little/no need for more than 1 Mesmer.
Meta: Guardian/Warrior x3/Mesmer or Warrior x4/Mesmer
Mine: Guardian / Warrior / Mesmer / Elementalist / Thief

Danni.4390:

In my opinion, there are no top classes. It is not about the class, rather it is about the player. If they know how to play their class then there is no problem. I play a necro and have absolutely no problem getting dungeon runs/staying in a party and running dungeons. I have had extremely fast dungeon runs with groups that have consisted of a mixture of classes.

Anyone can do anything in this game, but if you were warrior it would be faster.

Im not saying an engineer team cant clear CoF p1, but warrior will be faster.
Im not saying a necro cant do fotm 50+ but warriors/guardian will be faster.
Im not saying an ele cant do dps, but a warrior will be faster.

Its not about “Cant” But Whats the most efficient/fastest/easiest.

1. Guard (if he knows how to properly use wall of reflection, bubble and so on).
2. War (if he isn’t just a zerker wanna be and doesn’t face-plant every 10 seconds).
3. Mesmer (same as guard – if one knows how and when to use portal, time warp etc) .