Guild Wars 2

I just logged in and the game gave me a “Free level 80 boost”, and since i’m the kind of person who will try to get one of every class to max level, I was wondering which class is the most frustrating to level up 1-80?

They’re not that hard to level, there are just some classes that are easier because they have higher DPS and AoEs to finish stuff quickly, like Ele’s lava font or War’s hundred blades.

With that said, probably mesmer would be the slowest, more tedious to level because the lack of AoE’s and the niche utility they have.

Mesmer by far. They are so dependant on traits that their leveling process is far and away the most monotonous. It gets much easier (not that it’s hard per se) once you get most of their potential unlocked, but getting over that hump can be mind numbing for a while.

I decided to use it on my warrior because even though their mechanics make them easy to level I find them boring to play, so I’d probably have never finished it.

But I wouldn’t worry too much about it, you’ll get tomes of knowledge from login rewards and can get more from PvP, WvW and other places so if you do decide later on you would rather have used it on another profession you can still level them up quickly.

Tman.6349:

Mesmer (…) can be mind numbing

Heh.

Leveling mesmers seems to take the longest to level from 1-80 in my experiences. However, I enjoy combat with that profession so it wasn’t really a frustrating journey to max level…it just took a bit longer than others for me.

However, with the engineer, despite my opinion that it technically levels faster than mesmer, combat with it is mind-numbingly boring to me and not all that fun (again, to me). So, as I dislike combat with the engineer, despite my opinion being that it technically levels up quicker than mesmer, I was more aware of time passing between those levels due to it not really being all that fun to me. Because of this, it actually seemed to take longer to level than mesmer and was not nearly as enjoyable as the journey with a mesmer.

My opinion: Engineer is the one I find most frustrating to level (or even to play at all).

I recommend playing each profession for a few levels and see which one you personally find unenjoyable and then use the item for that profession.

However, I’d urge you to reconsider using it on a profession you may not enjoy combat with and instead save it in the event you want to make another of a profession you do enjoy combat with, but perhaps of a different species or gender.

The profession you least enjoy playing.

StinVec.3621:

My opinion: Engineer is the one I find most frustrating to level (or even to play at all).

Ironically engineer is my absolute favorite and I find it a ton of fun to level with. But based on the results probably going to use the boost on a mesmer.

I have to say, in the long run, its really whichever class you enjoy most vs least. I LOVED my mesmer, never had an issue with leveling him. Hated my guardian, I only leveled him to have one of each class, and it was teeth grating.

I think leveling a mesmer was the hardest for me. That doesn’t mean I didn’t have fun leveling her, though.

Linthenius.3704:

StinVec.3621:

My opinion: Engineer is the one I find most frustrating to level (or even to play at all).

Ironically engineer is my absolute favorite and I find it a ton of fun to level with. But based on the results probably going to use the boost on a mesmer.

:D A friend of mine loved his engineer and really only ever played that profession. He would constantly mess with me and tell me how awesome it is. I tried to like it, I really did, I just can’t. I end up doing nothing but using the flamethrower kit at all times. I’ll give it another shot though and try to level one using everything but a flamethrower.

That’s cool that you choose mesmer to use it on, but I do recommend giving mesmer a try for a few levels before using it on it as you may find you actually enjoy combat with it. And if you don’t after a few levels and find you hate how mesmer plays, use it then.

Morfedel.4165:

I have to say, in the long run, its really whichever class you enjoy most vs least. I LOVED my mesmer, never had an issue with leveling him. Hated my guardian, I only leveled him to have one of each class, and it was teeth grating.

Oh, thanks for reminding me! I forgot guardian even was a profession because I disliked it so much. I never even consider playing my midway-leveled one, let alone making another one. Heh. Oops.

For me it was engineer. It was the last class I got to 80 (at least before revenant was added later). It’s also the only one out of the original classes that I have not done map completion. Maybe it’s just a mismatch for my preferred playstyle – I prefer DPS roles, not support, and it seems like engineer needs a lot of kit swapping to make it effective at anything. As a result, I found it cumbersome to do even general PvE content with the engineer.

I can understand some people finding mesmer to be difficult to level up. However, I found a few mesmer builds that provided enough DPS that weren’t overly reliant on weapon-swapping or combos, and it wasn’t that hard to level up that toon.

As a person who loves Mesmer and Chronomancer.

Mesmer without any traits is horrid. And Open world stuff with mesmer in general before chronomancer is horrid.

I find ele and thief the most tedious. If I’m ever going to use the booster its going to be for one of them. Except I don’t need another of either.

DeanBB.4268:

The profession you least enjoy playing.

This and imo only this. They all level fast. For me it is the Guardian.

Mesmer without a doubt imho.
i hope you like resummoning your illusions for every freaking mob you fight!
plus hardly any aoe outside of swinging away with sword in melee XD

i wish they’d change how illusions work, make them persistent and follow you.

I guess it depends how you want to level. If you’re going to do it by completing maps and doing renowned hearts, then for me the hardest was Mesmer as well. Although I will point out that it could also depend on what build. I found a ‘DPS’ mesmer harder to level than my Condi mesmer.

Close second was Engineer.

Well looking back at classes I found
- warrior easy to level (facetank the world) healing signet, YOLO! Last long the once
- ranger easy to level (LB & Pet) (well as long as you do not move in to eat the blows you’ll kill anything. the only real probelm is your standoff doesn’t work in instances…
the infamous longbow camping bear wielding ranger is not a welcome sight, well most of the times)
- necro pretty easy to level (MM build) your private army!
- guardian okay to level (depends most on DPS (power) or support build… (healing/toughnes) support tends to be slow and thus it feels slow, you never die but slow…)
- thief okay to level (sword/pistol and pistol/pistol is pretty easy.)
- elementalist a bit difficult to level
(yes you get squished now and then, which is mostly dumb positioning, ele’s are no warriors, or necros or other melee characters… even with dagger they should not be closest…)
- mesmer a bit difficult to level, my condi build
(the plain rabid) was way easer then the 2 dps builds I levelled, you also have a private army but it tends to shatter at inopportune moments

As for the 2 missing ones:
- engineer a pain, and I didn’t click with the proffesion, my engineer is my ring collector.
Just do not have the feel, scrapper felt unwieldy and awkward.
- revenant probably the most boring to level. Have not found any joy in it, he will collect rings as well in the (near?) future. Spamming 1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1,1 with the facet of nature, fury and regen is not my cup of tea. Didn’t like the proffesion mechanics.

And levelling isn’t a real problem…

Might be different now, but engineer was hardest to level for me. Engineer is depandant on kits, traits to do strong auto attack damage (pistol is really weak!) and even full condi focussed weapons at low levels produced very low condi damage, resulting in engineer having a long time needed to kill mobs.

Yeah as others have mentioned it might be different levelling now as opposed to couple years back but I remember Mesmer being ungodly to level up due to their nature of using clones, AI and if you just hack and slash away at things it really didn’t feel as awesome or “DPS” heavy such as warrior.

Other than that… I found thief a bit squishy to level through but at the same time challenging in a good way if that makes sense. I think for those classes I learn them 100% better if they are full level 80 so I have access to everything up front instead of slowly churning through and unlocking the lame traits/skills etc first.

Up to you!

For me personally, it would be Engi. I have tried, and deleted, too many Engis to count. I watch my husband’s bounce around in HoT and throwing out turrets and kits, etc… and I think “oooh.. maybe I’ll try one again.” Yeah, nope.

I deleted my 80 Rev because while it was fun to level with my husband’s, it was very boring at 80 to play.

Those are the only 2 profs that I do not have 80’s of atm. Considering one was boring to level to the point of deletion, I am probably going to Insta my Eng, level the Rev with Tomes and roaming the world, and then park both at the VB flax farm with the rest of my collection of alts.

PaxTheGreatOne’s list aligns with my overall sentiments for levelling up the different classes, with a few minor deviations:

Well looking back at classes I found
- necro pretty easy to level (MM build) your private army!

I found Necro to be the easiest class to level, but I didn’t use any minions besides Summon Flesh Golem. Instead, I used a power necro build with dagger/warhorn and wells, and the PvE stuff just melted. It actually seemed too easy while levelling and mapping, and I actually got rather bored with this class as a result. (Fortunately, Reaper has made it fun again for me.)

- thief okay to level (sword/pistol and pistol/pistol is pretty easy.)

Thief might be a bit harder to level than some of the classes, but it is easier to do mapping with stealth. Thus, I consider it in the top tier of easy classes to advance in PvE. As for build, Dagger/Pistol + Shortbow seemed to work well for me.

- elementalist a bit difficult to level
(yes you get squished now and then, which is mostly dumb positioning, ele’s are no warriors, or necros or other melee characters… even with dagger they should not be closest…)

I initially tried to level ele with scepter/focus but it was a pain, Ele leveling became relatively easy with Staff. It also helped teach me to kite, and to make judicious use of escape skills like Fire #4. The AoE helps clear dense areas of mobs quickly, resulting in quicker exp gain in certain areas.

Agree with engineer and revenant being at the bottom of classes for easy leveling, and for the same reasons. (Engi is a pain, revenant is boring)

StinVec.3621:

Morfedel.4165:

I have to say, in the long run, its really whichever class you enjoy most vs least. I LOVED my mesmer, never had an issue with leveling him. Hated my guardian, I only leveled him to have one of each class, and it was teeth grating.

Oh, thanks for reminding me! I forgot guardian even was a profession because I disliked it so much. I never even consider playing my midway-leveled one, let alone making another one. Heh. Oops.

LMAO my pleasure

So far:
Revenant (s/a + hammer, later s/s + hammer), Ranger (gs+ lb, later s/wh + lb; my second Ranger will be a gs/staff Druid at 80), Necromancer (d/d + staff, later gs + axe/wh) – Faceroll. Ranger and Necro are great for newbs, but still more fun than Rev.
Warrior (axe/axe + lb), Guardian (gs + sc/t), Thief (d/d + p/p or sb) – Fairly easy, but some squishiness involved. In the case of the Warrior, I’m pretty sure that’s due to my questionable weapon choice, but I don’t think there’s anything better than whirling into battle like a boss!
Mesmer (tried s/s and s/p + gs) – so hard, I just deleted my (level 60) Mesmer in favor of an Ele. I see how Mesmer/Chrono is useful in raids and PvP because alacrity, but sometime around level 40, I realized it totally sucks.

Haven’t leveled:
Elementalist – Mine is still new, but I’ve already triple- or quad-queued with some guildies in Unranked, running a sc/f non-Tempest Fresh Air build, and done reasonably well. I don’t really like support (I prefer solo PvE) so I don’t plan to run Tempest unless I decide to start raiding.
Engineer – I wanted to make a p/p condi Engi to match a specific pistol skin, but I was told that condi Engi is even harder to play than Mesmer. And as a devoted Fashion Warrior, I find rifle and hammer skins very hard to work with :P. I think I’ll be waiting for another elite spec (at least) to play this one.