(edited by Zayhne.4763)
Classes and PvE strength
Necromancer – (Dun: B+, Lev: A-, Tag: A+) Necromancers are surprisingly tanky, and can build for lots of dps (and still be tanky). I’ve played around with both condition build and power/crit build, and I find (although I have limited experience) Power/Crit is incredible for leveling. Between death shroud and staff + axe/dagger you keep putting out huge damage in both single target and aoe, with plenty of health (due to death shroud). Dungeon wise, they provide good dps (again power/crit) while being tanky. I’m not the biggest fan of conditionmancers, as I find conditions a bit lackluster. Wells are very powerful throughout, providing good damage and utility. Their tagging is by far the best of any class due to their marks. They can pre-emptively place these suckers where the mobs spawn and BAM gold. Of the three casters, the easiest to use.
Elementalist – (Dun: B, Lev: B, Tag: A) Elementalist provide great dps, but they are as squishy as can be. Thus their leveling is great in that they can nuke a group down fast..but they are just as likely to die. They are also not really noob friendly, having to master 4 attunements to maximize their potential. In dungeons, their damage is good, but its their support that really shines. With their constant heals and might buff they make dungeon runs incredibly smooth and efficient. Their tagging is bested only by Necromancers due to having to somewhat react to mobs spawning as opposed to just using marks. Hard to use well.
Thief – (Dun: B-, Lev: C+, Tag: B+) While they absolutely shine in PvP, their PvE lifestyle isn’t as glamorous. They struggle to level for quite some time, as they can just about tank nothing. It’s only when you get a few talents to reduce initiative that you can start killing things before they can react. But even then, sustained dps is a struggle (important for random respawns of mobs). In dungeons, they put out huge dps…but die quite easily. This becomes an issue as mobs tend to take a while to put down (especially bosses). They can’t survive in melee range (from what i’ve seen). Their tagging is good due to their bow. The AoE and automatic ricochet makes tagging quite easy. Medium difficulty, requires a lot of finesse to play well.
Ranger – (Dun: ?, Lev: ?, Tag: ?) I don’t know enough about this class, but I tend to think of them as decent. I would like to think their leveling is quite strong, as they have a capable tank (in their pet), while pew pewing safely from afar. Their dungeon ability is probably similar. Tagging should be fine with ranged aoe. But in sum: 1. I don’t know the class well enough to comment, 2. Their PvP is somewhere between mediocre and horrendous, it kind of clouds my judgement a bit. 3. There aren’t that many of them around. As far as I can tell, easy to use.
(edited by Zayhne.4763)
Mesmer – (Dun: ?, Lev: C, Tag: F) Oh my lord they are bad at tagging. Good luck there. As for leveling, also not very good, they can’t tank very well, and they don’t have the best aoe damage around. While FABULOUS at PvP, their PvE is pretty darn weak. Having said that, their WvW is incredible due to top tier dueling and overpowered utility spells (mesmer pull, mesmer portal). I don’t really know about their dungeon prowess but I don’t see that much potential. Perhaps they are decent on boss fights due to their strong single target dps from range. Hard difficulty.
Engineer – (Dun: ?, Lev: ?, Tag: ?) I see about one of these a day, I have no ability to form an opinion of them in PvE either. They put boxes down, turrets, and shoot stuff. Medium difficulty to play well with the varying kits i think…
I guess you never seen an ele with a lot of toughness/vitality gear and going dagger dagger. Traiting into water/earth makes a beefy ele.
Mesmers do not have a lot of AoE but the do have debuffs , buffs condition removal.
Deflects ranged…. Time Warp!!!!!! a good mesmer is soo awesome in a dungeon.
My buddy has an engineer all apothecary gear , he heals/tanks… only probably conditions >.< but other people in group can help cleanse him. He doesnt do a lot of damage… but he doesn’t die from being beat on either.
but anyways over all it was a good read and some nice points
I disagree about the Thief part (don’t know about the others).
I leveled from 1 to 80 and did all the personal quests in solo without any issue, while my friends seem to be struggling with their other classes. Heck, most of the time I even had equipment 20 to 30 levels below my current level.
And in dungeons I always seem to be the last man standing when something goes awry. Of course avoid the glass canon build, a condition/power/vita build will grant you more dps over time (instead of a single spike of damages every now and there) and more survivability (more hp + the usual thief “finesse” that lets you dodge most damages).
For my ele I go dagger/dagger in solo PvE and keep two earth elementals (one lesser one regular) out to absorb damage. I don’t have a lot of problems with that setup, but I’m also only level 40 (altoholic here, I need to keep all my alts at an even level… and all 8 are level 40).
Mesmer is very very squishy solo and a very terrific backup, so they shine their most in a group imo. Stacking conditions and buffs plus time warp… generally if I’m on my mesmer in a group I’ll be the last one standing if everyone gets wiped.
As someone who has only extensively played an Engineer:
The different specs of the Engineer class influence their ability in the different areas greatly, maybe more so than any other class (though, of course, haven’t played much of the other classes, so I don’t know for sure). For example, a Kit Engineer has more skills available than probably any other class in the game, aside from Elementalist, with each kit granting five weapon skills and one toolbelt skill, for a total of something on the order of thirty skills, which is comparable in sheer number, at least, to what the Elementalist can use, though the skills available with each kit vary widely. The Gadget Engineer is more a master of control, the Elixir Engineer a gambler with wildcard-in-a-bottle potions (honestly kind of a pain in the donkey, I think, but that’s just my opinion), and the Turret Engineer is able to stand against several enemies fairly well, if set up right, due to multiple sources of damage and control.
As I just about exclusively play a Turret Engineer (when I do play), I’d rate the Turret Engineer as follows:
Dun: C Mooks in dungeons can typically take out turrets in one or two hits – the hounds in Twilight Arbor can even take out groups of turrets in one AoE blast. Combined with inordinate amounts of aggro (seriously, no idea why things hate me so much in dungeons – even if I don’t have a single turret out, they all hate me to the point where other party members became a little unnerved, and would even split off from a combat to assail me as soon as I reentered the room after respawning.)), dungeons are…less than fun. If enemies are focused on other targets (only ever happened when the group had a Thief), then Turret Engineer’s dungeon experience will be much more pleasant, with the variety of autonomous control, damage, and healing sources coming in handy.
PvE Lev: A (As I haven’t done PvP, I can’t speak to the effectiveness of this build in non-PvE situations.) With the variety of turrets, there’s rarely a true dearth of options in a fight, aside from the cooldown issues most turrets suffer from – and their lack of mobility. That aside, the turrets are an excellent means of dealing with the aggro issues, as you can usually kite even boss or champion enemies through your turret field over and over again (I’ve solo’d a Champion Jungle Troll, three-manned a Champion Frost Troll, and two-manned a Champion Ice Wurm, generally keeping their attention the whole way through)…as long as the enemy can’t teleport to you or deal substantial amounts of hard-to-dodge ranged damage, allowing them to bypass your mookfield. If they can do that, well, that’s a problem.
Tag: B Turrets generally leave a bit to be desired, power-wise, but they aim at whatever hostile target is in range, several have an AoE effect, and all non-Elite turrets will continue to function as long as you remain on the same map as them. It’s entirely possible, therefore, to get participation points in several different events simultaneously, though the lack of turret mobility is still to be considered. Engineer non-Kit weaponry also includes several AoE/chain effects, most of which deal additional condition damage, from the Rifle’s Hip Shot (Piercing), Blunderbuss (Cone, I think?) and Jump Shot to the Pistol’s Explosive Rounds (Explosive, duh), Poison Dart (volley of five unsteadily-aimed shots), Static Shot (chain lightning on up to four enemies in sequence) and Blowtorch (Jet of flame dealing quite a decent bit of damage to…up to three enemies, at last checking), and even the Shield’s two abilities allow for tagging – either through hurling of the shield or reflecting attacks.
RANGER:
PvE and PvP Leveling: Really fun. Fast. and has really good “Control/Support” skills such as Knowckback, Swiftness, Cripple, Stun/daze and such. Damage is decent but thats mainly because this class has excellent with “Controls” though when ur pet is dead, it requires lots of movements. The pet makes it easy for staying in “Control” without taking damage but there are times you’ll end up agro with more than 1 so the pet cant help u forever. The LongBow and ShortBow happens to be my favorite Combo with some nice utility traps to slow enemies down.
Dungoens:
Pretty darn good!! Again, the Pet helps with extra damage and tanking while ur in a distance, but since ur fighting more enemies at once, this helps reduce the trouble a lot. The weapon Skills+ Utilities make up for Control when pet dies. With a good team to help you coordinate Control and Support, you’ll always succeed regardless of class setup.
ENGINEER:
PvE/PvP leveling: A
OMG… Super fun! I enjoy the Utility Skills and the 3 weapon choices you get when building different strategies. It has a good Damage rate but like, Amazing “Control” and “Support” skills. I love this class to death. They have amazing Net Skills, Push Skills, Knowckback skills, for Control and some really sick Support skills that compliments them. The Damage again is decent like Ranger, but a bit stronger than Ranger. Still fun though. =)
Dungoens: A
Well, This class seems to have the right tools for the right job! After all, its how you use the kits that determines their usefulness!
MESMER:
PvE/PvP lvling: A
We all know how Mesmer is kick kitten when it comes to PvP. But I find it super fun in PvE as well. as a mesmer in PvE, The enemy has a hard time fighting me since the skills I get really messes them up a lot. I have used tons of different weapon combos and utility combos to build verias different strategies for different PvE situations. and I gotta say, Mesmer never gets boring. Very effective class when played right.
As for the “Damage”, it’s not a powerful class with regarding “Damage” rate, but the clones and skills it has to build solid strategies makes up for this. I recomend it for those who are into it.
Dungoens: “A”
Its just purely freakin good. It’s an asset when played right by the right players.
But its a NIGHTMARE when playing with players who just spam skills and expect their clones to take agro alone. Doesnt work that way. It’s again, how you use your weapon skills and utilities that determines it’s usefulness. Anyone can spam skills, not everyone can learn how and when to use them while on the Move+dodge.
WARRIOR: A
THis class has some seriously well thought out “Damage/Control/Support” skills.
Well, some of it’s “Support” skills could use some work, like “Shake it Off” should at least allow u to cure 3 conditions under 10 or 20 seconds instead of 1 Condition. But still, pretty darn well.
The thing with Warrior is, Specially with Meele class, You need to be more on your toes to evade attks while fighting. Its tough but once u master it, you’ll be in good hands.
Dungoens: A or F
Depends on the Player… If a Player is good and the Dungoen is not soo scramped, you’ll be fine. If the player is new, and you are fighting in small areas, you’ll die a lot wondering “WHY!?” lol
ELEMENTALIST:
PvE/PvP lvling:
The BEST Magic class I have ever played in an MMORPG PERIOD!
Always on the Move+Dodge. Having the right skills for the right attunoments.
Hardly taking damage. Seriously well thought out “Support/Control” skills. I’m being dead serious!!!
This Class is diffuclt to master but super fun once mastered. There hasnt been 1 skill I dislike about the Elementalist. The “Damage” rate is decent. But the entire Control/Support skills really makes up for it in combat.
Dungoens: A
… Yeah. Call me a fanboy but this just happens to be one of the main classes I enjoy playing for a Dungoen. But don’t think of yourself as a “Healer”. Hellz no!
Sure you got skills to help you heal and Support, But you are nobodies Babysitter.
If people in ur team dont coordinate Control/Support. If people dont support and contribute in Control and damage then get a new party. Play as a team, but dont do all the work for people because they are lazy to do the work themselves.
Well, those are all 5 of my main classes and my take on them.
=) dont have experience in the other 3.
Warrior and guardians are awesome class, but i will be honest they have a huge drawback in my book for pve, you need to go tanky spec if you really want to go wuper good with them and if you want to maintain a high dps, you’ll need to stay out of mf gear. As a necro for example i have a bunch of mechanism that let me do great dps, tank as well as the 2 other class if you play well (because it is mechanism based rather than stat based), and i can just not give a crap about toughness, and not much either about vit and precision. Naturally it all depend on builds too, so this is probably subject to discussion, but the base is there imo. I think ele and thief share the same kind of advantage when it come to pve, they can survive a lot, dps a ton and still have room for a “useless” stat …. caugh caugh “MF”. But if you want the easy road, war and guardian are probably better choices.
Warrior and guardians are awesome class, but i will be honest they have a huge drawback in my book for pve, you need to go tanky spec if you really want to go wuper good with them and if you want to maintain a high dps, you’ll need to stay out of mf gear.
I disagree with this.
I can go Naked with no armor/traits and be freakin GOOD at Warrior.
Cant speak for Guardians since I dont have that class, But I do play 5 other classes and I have proven that Armor/Traits are not required to be fully effectiant playng the class.
tank spect? Do you expect to take hits? I evade all attks from simple “Movement” and “Dodge” 90% of the time, if not., More.
In this game, u want to rely on Weapon Skills and Utility Skills.
Not spam it up for DPS. Remember ur not a damage dealer or a tank. You are playing the combat based on Damage/Control/Support which all Classes do.
Came back to this thread with some thoughts on Necro.
I had been playing a minion Necro for the most part and had some difficulty leveling… switched to well and holy moly is there a difference. Dual dagger+wells is my current build and it can seriously melt huge mobs with ease if you manage to keep moving/dodging. I put Flesh Golem for my elite skill mostly to create a diversion while wells are recharging. Secondary weapon set is scepter+warhorn (speed buff and condition stacking for particularly tough mobs). Necros can also stack really long speed buffs (warhorn 2 + shadow walk + warhorn 2 = 50 seconds straight of swiftness, with only a small cooldown before shadow walk is available again) so it’s my favorite class for running around (especially for WvW map completion since being quick is a good thing). A tanky necro can melt faces fairly easily and if traited for 50% extra damage when downed you’d have to get mobbed really hard to not be able to rally. My current new favorite PvE class. Haven’t done a dungeon on this class yet so I can’t really say anything about that.
I have done dungeons on my Mesmer though and I have to say it’s my favorite class for running fractals. All around useful and versatile, can go back to portal people left behind, can really speed things up in the swamp fractal, and lots of fractals have small closed spaces for fighting so Time Warp can reach nearly everyone simultaneously.