Guild Wars 2

Hey all

So I’m wanting to start a new character (I’m a bit of an altaholic at the moment) and I have one character slot left – not buying a new one for the time being. I don’t currently own HoT, but I’m planning to buy it in the near future.

I have a Warrior, Ranger, Elementalist and Necromancer.
- Warrior bores me a bit because it’s just a bit cookie-cutter I guess, but it’s always a useful class to have for group content and when when I’m not feeling the ranged caster life.
- Ranger same as warrior, but I definitely want to spec her as a druid when I get HoT to have a healer character.
- Elementalist is my DPS caster and I enjoy the mechanics when I’m in the mood for an active playstyle.
- Necromancer is my overall favourite because I love the skillset and I just find it the most fun to play.

I’m stuck between starting a Guardian or a Mesmer, because I want to level a support character of some sort that can still handle their own in PvE. As said above, the playstyle of warrior and ranger bores me a bit, and elementalist is sometimes a bit too complex, so I’m looking for something in between mechanics-wise.

Really I just want to cover all the bases, so I guess the main aspects I’m looking for is:
- Fits well into the character composition I currently have (i.e. adds something new)
- Provides a good amount of utility to a team, but also does well for solo PvE content
- Is fun to play, but not overly complex, but not too plain either (my preferred playstyle is somewhere in between)

I guess another option would be to have both of them and get rid of one of my current characters (except for Necro, he’s my baby) if they would do a better job. Recommendations for that setup are also welcome.

Based on these bits of info, which would you recommend I pick up? Thanks in advance!

RipJaw.6791:

Hey all

So I’m wanting to start a new character (I’m a bit of an altaholic at the moment) and I have one character slot left – not buying a new one for the time being. I don’t currently own HoT, but I’m planning to buy it in the near future.

Honestly, I would not start a new character when you haven’t tried elite specialisations. Those alone will keep you on your toes for you current characters.

That being said, I’d probably recommend guardian. Not sure if you play fractals, without HoT you definately are not playing raids. Mesmer is quit complex and a tad more tricky open world wise compared to guardian.

I’d advise against deleting characters. The cost of getting an extra slot is minimal and you lose all your age on the existing character as far as birthday gifts go.

Hmm, maybe I’ll have to give HoT a go as soon as possible then… Thanks for the advice.

Regarding deleting characters, are birthday gifts that valuable though? I mean the lvl 20/30 boosters I have received thus far are quite useful especially in cases like these when I’m creating new toons, but I’m not sure whether they are worth the £8.50 that a new character slot costs. That’s the only reason I haven’t bought any more slots yet really.

RipJaw.6791:

Hmm, maybe I’ll have to give HoT a go as soon as possible then… Thanks for the advice.

Regarding deleting characters, are birthday gifts that valuable though? I mean the lvl 20/30 boosters I have received thus far are quite useful especially in cases like these when I’m creating new toons, but I’m not sure whether they are worth the £8.50 that a new character slot costs. That’s the only reason I haven’t bought any more slots yet really.

Well it depends on what you find valuable. From a pure gold value perspective, yes the birthday gifts are worth it because the dyes alone you can get from them are worth more then the gold or gems it takes to buy them.

The thing about brithday gifts is, the older the character, the better they get (at least that’s how GW1 handled them). In GW2 we’ve mostly seen improved level up scrolls, new dyes and more boosters (the exact gifts you get can be read up on here: https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Birthday_Gift).

I would definately give the elite specialisations a go before deciding on what to delete. Good thing with getting HoT is, you can use the instant level 80 boost to try different classes out before deciding if you enjoy them or not.

Really difficult to say, tbh. Depends both on your play style and what you’re going to actually be doing. If I were going to be running around solo in PvE a lot, I’d probably pick Mesmer over Guardian simply because I’d enjoy it more myself. Guardian right now seems just plain hard work solo (I’ve been levelling one for the last few weeks, as it happens; mid 70s now, but I can’t say I’m enjoying it that much); on the other hand, when I get together with a group of 3 friends for fractals, a L80 Guardian I already have both keeps me busy and seems to make a big difference to the party (and for mob farming when you’re zerging with others, staff Guardian still seems hard to beat). In fractals, my Mesmers are rather more “squishy” – but I almost always enjoy playing them, whatever I’m doing; lots of opportunities to be creative. But then again, a friend who really likes Elementalist (which I’m so-so on) took a long time to get into the Mesmer at all, and still isn’t greatly enamoured of it. To each his own.

Bottom line, I doubt anyone can really tell you accurately which YOU’ll prefer. As Cyninja said, though – the HoT booster is really useful for taking unfamiliar professions for a test drive (about the only real use for it, in my opinion, in fact).

One thing I’d say, though: do a little prep. In particular, you’re unlikely to fully enjoy the Mesmer if you don’t understand the profession mechanism, and it’s not the most intuitive at first. But there are a number of videos out there that do a good job of explaining the profession (this one might be quite helpful, for example; watch the whole thing if it grabs you, by all means, but just the first 7 minutes or so will at least give you the basics of Mesmer illusions). Even if you then decide you don’t fancy the profession, at least you’ll be making the decision from a position of knowing what it’s about.

With regard to the supportive role of a character, I’d recommend a mesmer for PvE. Right now, they’re the kings of relevant support (quickness, alacrity, various useful forms of CC, projectile counters) and no other class comes close to that versatility. To use all the potential, you’ll have to follow a rotation that’s rather complex.

However, mesmers pay for those capabilities by being uniquely bad at damage. The illusion mechanics are a severe restriction in almost all cases and your own attacks cannot compensate for that, so leveling or doing other stuff solo in PvE is a pain. At least it was when I leveled my mesmer and much later played her through the HoT story, but since the mechanics are still the same, there’s likely no difference.

So if you want to be good on your own, I’ll recommend the guardian. With a proper build, it packs quite a punch while survivability still is rather good compared to, say, an elementalist. It lacks the mesmer’s offensive support but brings more defensive one, has slightly weaker CC options and isn’t as good at countering projectiles, but the support skills you have will still be helpful in many situations. It’s mostly raids where guardian support becomes rather irrelevant.

CptAurellian.9537:

However, mesmers pay for those capabilities by being uniquely bad at damage. The illusion mechanics are a severe restriction in almost all cases and your own attacks cannot compensate for that, so leveling or doing other stuff solo in PvE is a pain. At least it was when I leveled my mesmer and much later played her through the HoT story, but since the mechanics are still the same, there’s likely no difference.

So if you want to be good on your own, I’ll recommend the guardian. With a proper build, it packs quite a punch while survivability still is rather good compared to, say, an elementalist.

Weird. Maybe it’s my builds, or my play style, but I’ve levelled multiple mesmers, and I find it the other way around – even when they’re not in vogue or by no means meta, GS/shatter/power builds have always been a solid, and enjoyable, fall-back for levelling. Whereas my guardians can usually take the damage, but rarely dish it, and are just a grind.

(I’ve 43 characters over 2 accounts; I’m working towards filling the matrix of race/profession combinations. 4 left to go – I acquired a couple of extra mesmers along the line, for purely pragmatic reasons. Some were power-levelled to fill a need, and 4 aren’t 80 yet, but the majority I did the hard way, and I usually look to see what sorts of builds people are currently using, and give them as much of a try as the constraints of levelling allow. So I’m no expert on squeezing the last out of a profession – but I know what I find enjoyable, and at least it’s fair to say that, if I’m not enamoured of a profession, it’s not for want of trying 8-) )

I honestly have no idea how it is possible for a guardian to deal less damage than a greatsword mesmer, unless you play full nomad staff guard.