Guild Wars 2

Hello fellow beings of Tyria,

I seem to have a Major dilemma at hand. I cannot seem to focus on playing one profession and sticking to it. Ive had Guild Wars 2 since Nov’2012. Ive mained a Mesmer for about a year before taking a break from the game. Ive played a Elementalist, Guardian, Ranger, necromancer, Engineer, and a Thief now. All in that order, because I do NOT like having ALTs, for the reason that Iam a purist and I like to focus on only one character. It allows me to have a special bond and commitment to that character. But I can never stick to one chr, which leads me to deleting most and starting over again.

I deleted my mesmer after coming back to GW2, and I regret it mostly. I love Mesmers the most in this game, both from a gameplay point of view and lore-wise. Human Mesmers are so elegant, graceful, charming, and fashionable. But even now I have trouble making one and keeping it. Im trying to find inspiration and excitement in the Profession like I once had. Im a pure Spellcaster at heart, and even though I main a Thief now, I feel like Iam not staying true to who Iam. So everyone, I need your help to decide what class I should choose.

Elementalist- I like the idea of them, but they remind me to much of Elemental Benders from Avatar series, than actual spellcasters. If I were to play one, id only use a staff as it makes the elementalist seem more “Mage-like.”

Necromancer- I like the idea of them as well to a point, but they do not appeal to me as much as Mesmers, or Elementalist, However their Wells and death shroud are very cool, oh and so is plague, If I were to play one, Id use a Staff and Scepter/dagger since that combo seems more Witch like as well.

Mesmer- My favorite profession, they connect with me more than any other, but they are lacking something that I cannot pin point. Staff, Scepter, Torch, Sword are all weapon sets I like since they are all weapon sets most mages will use…. But Greatsword? Sorry but Im a mage, and Ive never heard of a mage using a giant sword. Maybe daggers and swords for the spell sword feel, but thats it, however I still dont mind the GS look to much, just others I favor more. I really enjoy the unique way they use their magic. They arent your typical MMO class, and their magic is so different. By using illusions, manipulating reality, while gracefully teleporting around the battle field, who wouldnt want that right?

Everything Else- Glad I tried out all the other professions besides Warrior,( never ever will play a warrior no matter what MMO lol) ~~~~~ Engi, was fun they gave me this alchemist type of feeling, Guardian Allowed me to feel what its like to use magic from the light, Rangers allowed me to experience magic from nature, and Thieves allowed me to experince magic from the shadows. However, none of those classes were spell casters like the scholar professions.

I love Guild Wars 2 so much, specially the exploration ( do not have World Completion yet ), and I love to Role Play, But sometimes I feel like its missing something, or maybe… Im not playing the right Profession. So, with that said, someone please give me mature, intelligent advice on what I should do regarding which profession to play.

Thanks,
-Purecura

• Elementalist : playing staff can be ok but is generally preferred only if there’s another ele might stacking. Be aware that it is most likely the hardest class to play and could be frustrating to learn, especially if it’s your first serious character. That being said it is probably the most effective dungeon class of all.

• Necromancer : the light armored class that I love the most because if its aesthetics. Its current PvE state is quite sad since it can’t bring proper offensive support unlike every other profession. It’s good access to weakness can make it desirable in high level fractal though. The condition aspect of the profession is probably the best of any class but it is currently an inefficient aspect in PvE but things might change with the new mordrems (some of them are really weak to conditions). If you intend to play PvP I think the class is doing fairly well but I have no first hand experience since I don’t play PvP.

• Mesmer : mesmer is in an okay-ish state. You can bring a lot of reflects as well as boon stripping to a party, doubling boons through inspiration signet is also a possibility. This makes the class desirable to a party even though it is sometimes suboptimal (the less projectiles the less mesmer utility afaik). The profession has a long history of suffering from critical bugs because (for the most part) of the AI involved in its skills. I used to love the class but I have more and more trouble appreciating it : the burst skills being the phantasms feels less satisfying to me especially with those cast times that make them feel so slow.

On another note I have done exploration with every character and I feel like mesmer is probably the class I consider the worse to explore with : monsters in explorable area are so weak that casting a single phantasm on them is almost a waste which means that you’re very slow compared to classes that can simply burst from a couple of monsters to another group.

Exploring as an elementalist is okay if you’re already familiar with the class. If you try using your weapon skills like other classes (using burst skills then auto attack) you will probably be very slow unless it is fire staff. Another issue is that your character is very fragile which is sometimes frustrating in personal story or events where you can get downed very quickly sometimes.

Exploring as a necro is okay as far as I remember (it’s one of the characters I finished pretty soon). Either condi and zerk are reasonably effective to explore with decent damage and aoe potential and the class is quite resilient.

Last note regarding exploration : speed boost. It really matters when exploring a lot. Mesmer does not have a natural speed boost (only class in that case with guardian) which make it even less pleasant to explore as a mesmer. The only way to compensate is to use a set of traveller’s/speed rune. Mobility skills are also helping as an additional form of speed boost but all three casters are quite limited in that regard (most mobility skills they have are long cooldowns).

I hope it was helpful

It sounds like you really want to play a mesmer, OP. You should give it another shot. Condi mesmer is getting stronger over time, though it still needs work. It fully embodies the staff-wielding mage archetype you are looking for. If you want to be meta, you should go for a sword/sword + sword/focus phantasm build. They are a spellsword playstyle that has some of the strongest DPS of the class (if you can keep the phantasms alive). GS mesmer is for shatter builds. Shatter is fun and powerful for general use, but it’s not the only way to play, and it’s actually the worst way to play in dungeons.

For exploring I recommend using a pure shatter build with centaur runes and a focus. You can maintain swiftness easily, and a shatter build bursts down enemies like no one’s business in open world. Don’t run phantasm for open world. Phantasm is for longer fights because the damage builds up over time. Phantasm does tons of damage over a long period, wherekittenter does a lot of damage right away. The phantasm damage adds up to more over time, but it takes a lot longer to get there. In the open world all you need is a good shatter bomb.

8 players will give you 8 answers. This is mine.

Warrior: Massive damage, great survivability. The best mix of firepower, protection and mobility. Since the game is all about combat, this is probably the easymode choice.

Guardian: High functionality and survivability, but sacrifices mobility and range.

Engineer: Great for functionality and support, not great for outright damage. My personal favourite. Jack of all traits master of none.

Thief: Focuses on single target damage and sneakiness which doesn’t help a whole lot in PvE but is apparently great for PvP. Low armour, high mobility class.

Ranger: More recent changes turned this from the nearly man to the MvP, it seems. Annoying pet mechanics and you can’t get rid of it permanently. Fine for DPS, with great mobility. Possibly the next easymode after Warrior.

Elementalist: Very weak defence, meh mobility, but if specced right can nuke entire crowds. One of my least fave classes, with a high skill curve and low survivability.

Necromancer: Closest thing you will find to a tank in GW2. Damage output is focused on broken condition damage mechanics, but can survive almost anything. If I wanted to level to 80 with no deaths, necro is how I would roll.

Mesmer: Clone clone clone shatter phanta phanta phanta ad infinitum. I find this boring to play, but some people rave about them.

For me, if I had to nuke all my characters and roll only one, I would go for Engineer every time. No other class plays like it with its Kit mechanics, even if you will be picked last for dungeons.

OP: "Ive never heard of a mage using a giant sword. "

No kidding?

Ah, but Protoss*… I mean Mesmer… doesn’t actually swing a sword, it uses it to focus its Void Ray laser.

*Cmon, its obvious. That laser sword attack, Sentry hallucinations, Stalker’s Blink… Mesmer is SO Protoss :p

If you’re a spellcaster at heart, go with either an elementalist or a mesmer. My wife is the same, coming from other mmorpgs, she has almost always played a wizzy or a healer.(no true healers in this game, so….) She plays her alts a lot, but the first character she started was an ele, as that was most true to what she usually plays…..and she has always loved that character.

If you want to play a true nuking squishy, go wizzy…..if you want something sort of wizard-like with a bit more survivability and bit more versatility……go mesmer.

And experiment with the specs on each until you find something that suits your playstyle the best. Best of luck!

I have a similar problem. At the moment I’m alternating between up to 5 professions (Guardian, Engineer, Thief, Mesmer & Necromancer). Partly because I want to have the options to experience 5 completely different playstyles when I get bored with my main but it does prove to be a little too tempting to get changing my mind.

My approach was to rule out the professions I didn’t like. Elementalist were out of the running because I didn’t like the idea of how the traits lines were linked to specific Attunements. I would have rather there be trait lines that focused on AoE, conditions, boons, etc… exclusively. Don’t like how you had to pick between mastering Air, Water, Fire and Earth.

I also ruled out the Ranger. As much as I’m a collector (so the idea of collecting pets appeals to me) I’m not a fan of pet based combat. I ruled out the Warrior because it didn’t have the ‘quirks’ of the others and was more straightforward in combat.

So that left me with 5, of which I also linked to a specific race (Mesmer for Sylvari, Thief for Asura, Engineer for Charr, Necromancer for Norn and Human for Guardian). Those combinations appealed to me, and also helps direct me to picking a main. The Engineer Charr and Guardian Human are fun to play, but I found myself playing more the other 3.

So from that 3, it was really a matter of who I felt I was better at playing objectively. I love the idea of thieves, but I admit they are too agile for a player like me. The Necromancer surprised me in terms of how much I actually liked it (I hate the minions, but spectrals and corruptions are really fun). But ultimately I just resonated with the Mesmer. It’s something I just keep coming back to because it’s the perfect combination of unique gameplay, a decent ranged condition based profession and that it works quite nicely with the lore I based around that Sylvari.

For me I found process of elimination to be the best way to find my main. You just have to be brutally honest in eliminating professions that deep down you know don’t suit you. The wide range of choices can be tempting but you just need to go with what you are drawn to. Sometimes there is a logic to it, but other times it can just be purely subjective. It seems like you, like me just really like the Mesmer. I say use that as your main, but also feel free to have one alternate main that is different to the Mesmer, so that it gives you a different perspective.

Thanks everyone for your replies. I have finally made a final decision. It was between Elementalist or Mesmer.

I’m going to aim to play a Mesmer again. I vision my Mesmer as a Spellblade. Mesmers seem to fit the spellblade idea easily and I actually like spellblades. (RedMage FTW lol)