Guild Wars 2

While I have only been playing a month, it seems in addition to breaking the holy trinity of profession roles, this game also breaks the mold of archetyped gameplay. For example, I’ve seen warriors and thieves staying at range with their guns and elementalists and rangers fighting up in melee. I’m trying to compile a list of alternative playstyles to help myself choose alts as well as help my friends see what makes this game different. I appreciate any feedback in terms of things I’ve missed or options that aren’t actually legitimate playstyles.

Melee:
Warrior, Thief, Guardian – Obvious
Elementalist (Daggers)
Ranger (GS, Sword/Dagger)
Mesmer (Swords)
Necromancer (axe and daggers?)

Ranged
Elementalist, Necromancer, Mesmer, Ranger – Obvious
Engineer (Not a standard archetype)
Thief (pistols)
Warrior (rifle and bow)
Guardian (scepter and staff)

I also thought about breaking this into melee, mid-range, and long-range. However, I don’t think I know all the profession’s weapon styles enough to differentiate. There does seem to be a big difference between a guardian’s staff and scepter or an engineer’s pistols and rifle in terms of style due to the range difference.

Excellent, i hope more people start to get involved in something like this; adding links to builds/videos as well. I’m currently researching this myself. When i get more solid information I will surely post it here first

One thing I’ve found is that EVERY class can be a ranged combat monster. OR a melee monsters.

An elementalist with twin daggers is death walking into short range…and not his or her death. And a thief can go from twin pistols for double tap precision at mid-range, to deathblossoming twin dagger build in as long as it takes to switch weapons. No time at all. And the warrior that switches from rifle to hammer in the blink of an eye just turned that group of warriors bumrushing him into PASTE.

And that is one thing I LOVE about Guild Wars 2. So many ways to play the way you want to, not the one way that other people say you should play. Heck. The first guy to level 80 did it via CRAFTING…

LOL

Good idea! Thieves also use Shortbow for ranged. I’d argue that Shortbow is used more than pistols, actually.

Good effort!

The game is designed so that any class can perform the role of inflicting damage (either directly or over time, up close or at range), survive damage, enact crowd control, or support other players. And they all can, though some may be more effective in one area than others.

“I’m trying to compile a list of alternative playstyles to help myself choose alts as well as help my friends see what makes this game different.”

What I did to distinguish each of my alts (or all my mains, as I like to think of them) was to choose one specific playstyle for each. So my Warrior is a melee damage dealer and my Ranger a ranged glass cannon. My Guardian “tanks” (so much as it exists in this game) through defense, blocking, and health regeneration while my Thief “tanks” through constant dodging and evading. My Necromancer specializes in damage over time and the infliction of conditions.

In doing this I’ve managed to make each character feel uniquely different from the rest. This allows me to switch characters whenever I feel the need to freshen things up.