Guild Wars 2

Heyo beautiful people,

I need some help picking a class. I recently came back from a long hiatus and I want to try and get back into the game. I usually play healers or ranged DPS.. but since this game has no trinity I am sort of lost as to what to play.

I would like a class that can do well (or reasonably) in sPvP, WvW, roaming and PvE since I like to experience all aspects of the game.

Please halp!
Thanks,
Argy

Well to be honest Id wait till the 15th if i were you loads of changes comming with the patch. You might pick something now just to find out something else might be more fun then.

Are there really that many class changes coming? Have they posted the changes somewhere and I’m just blind?

You can check out the official vid on youtube gives you all the info on whats comming.

Osculim.2983:

Well to be honest Id wait till the 15th if i were you loads of changes comming with the patch. You might pick something now just to find out something else might be more fun then.

That could still happen if he tried it now.

Oh, and OP if you like healers and ranged try a ranger. They can do well with what you can manage with healing in this game as well as getting your bow fix.

Is there like a condensed written version of the patch notes anywhere? 2 hours is a bit long haha..

The only thing about rangers is that for PvE their maximum DPS build invoves sword + offhand.. which is kinda meh :< Plus pet AI seems prettttyyy wonky.

The pets can take a bit of getting used to but they aren’t really too bad. I have three rangers to 80 and don’t have any trouble with them. And sword can still be crap if you don’t trait right. Read up on traits, armour stats, and runes. It can be fun putting it all together

Otherwise, just try each class for a couple of days and decide then. A couple of them are a bit rough at early levels (looking at you mesmer!) but played right they’re all not bad.

Shyhalu.4891:

I would like a class that can do well (or reasonably) in sPvP, WvW, roaming and PvE since I like to experience all aspects of the game.

Mesmer would be the best fit for all 4. Extremely strong in a 1v1 encounter (roaming/spvp), extremely useful utility/support for dungeons and WvW and all classes perform equally well in open world PvE

There is a reason some people call this game Guild Warrior 2 now. And the bigger the bandwagon, the more likely that any nerfs the class gets will just be wrist-slaps.

Shyhalu.4891:

Is there like a condensed written version of the patch notes anywhere? 2 hours is a bit long haha..

The only thing about rangers is that for PvE their maximum DPS build invoves sword + offhand.. which is kinda meh :< Plus pet AI seems prettttyyy wonky.

Yes:
http://dulfy.net/category/gw2/feature-pack/

Warrior – Whack Whack, Banners
Mesmer – Reflects, Illusions, Portal, Stealth
Ranger – Pets, Spirits
Necromancer – Death Shroud, Marks, Summons
Elementalist – Conjured Weapons, Elemental Combo Fields
Guardian – Buffs, Buffs and more Buffs
Engineer – Grenades, Bombs, Flamethrower, Dual pistols, Turrets
Thief – Stealth, Traps, Reflects, Sharable Venoms

I recommend engineer. They’re very versatile and have their own mortar canons and utilities that mean you can pick how you play. They’re also great at soloing champions and bosses if you need it even if they’re not necessarily always top on the damage meter.

My only hesitation with engineers comes from the fact that they primarily do condition damage (from what I understand) which is lackluster in PvE.. and I wonder if their toolkit swapping makes them clunky feeling..

I am fairly certain there are some tools/weapons that don’t use conditions. It should depend on your skills and traits. The conditions have never bothered me because I enjoy juggling turrets and healing moreso than the damage portion so I may be biased. If you wish to do everything I suggest the engineer or you could try mesmer or guardian.

I just wish I loved one of the classes. I see some people who are just so passionate about one class – one that fits them well. There just isn’t that for me :P Kinda sad.

Shyhalu.4891:

Heyo beautiful people,

I need some help picking a class. I recently came back from a long hiatus and I want to try and get back into the game. I usually play healers or ranged DPS.. but since this game has no trinity I am sort of lost as to what to play.

I would like a class that can do well (or reasonably) in sPvP, WvW, roaming and PvE since I like to experience all aspects of the game.

Please halp!
Thanks,
Argy

I hesitate to give folks exact advice on classes, I usually recommend experimenting in the PvP lobby in the Heart of the Mists to get a feel.

Given your intersection of SPvP, WvW /Roaming and PvE, for once I will break my own rule and say: try a Necro.

Very good AoE in WvW (I’ve played both Necro and Ele there among other classes), well suited for Roaming, well suited for SPvP (depends on build and playstyle) and with the right build can do very well in Explorables and Fractals.

I run with a 4-man swat team in WvW of 2 Eles and 2 Necros. We take keeps/towers and sometimes run with the zerg. This same 4-man team runs Explorables (farm status) and Fractals. One of my guildmates also SPvP’s with a Necro.

Both Necros in our 4-man team are basically Wells-speccd with protection (custom builds for individual playstyles). You can actually heal with one. And “tank”. One of my guildmates is a 15 year tank / healer player who enjoys “tanking” quite well in Explorables with dagger/warhorn. The other Necro “tank” uses dagger/dagger.

Those are just ideas.

My real advice, again, is to experiment in the PvP lobby, and as another poster said, understand that the world is gonna change with the huge April 15th patch.

Good luck.

Let us know how it goes.

I have a level 80 necro actually which I really enjoyed.. I am just not sure about having to go power in PvE and I sort of feel like I don’t bring very much to groups. I can’t give boons or much in the way of heals.. or like.. might stacks.. or blast finishers.. :/

Hi Shyhalu,

I’m a guildmate of goldenwing’s. In the core PvX group that we use to, among other things, 4-man explorables, fractals, and even some lightly (player) defended towers and keeps in WvW on Blackgate we run with a pair of what I’ll call “power/well/tank/dps/support” necros. We’ve discovered ways to use a combination of spec, gear/stats, particular weapons, and wells that we’ve found can deliver very compelling offensive and defensive support simultaneously. I’m personally a very large fan of wells, dagger/warhorn, and staff.

Among my other mains I have a guardian and a warrior. Both are very heavy buff-providing classes, my warrior particularly is a long-boon-duration sword/sword/longbow build that uses healing shouts.

I’ve found the necro, specced and played with finesse, outperforms the warrior (offensively, defensively, DPS, durability, and overall contribution to the group) by a nontrivial margin, but requires a great deal of skill and practice to fully leverage.

Not all of the ways to support a group necessarily look like stacks of might from blast finishers. There are plenty of ways to make a necro shine (well, in that dark and scary kind of way. )

I might call your attention to using the healing well, as well as some traits that modify wells.

Good luck!

Necros may not bring might stacks or buffs, but they can provide fears, debuffs, cleanses, heals and protection. I used to tank champions in the Orr zones with a dagger/dagger Necro while out-healing the guardian in my group.

PS: sorry to spam the thread.

There is one value that our guild has had for as long as we have played games on-line.

It’s a value shared by a lot of WvW players:

Play what you love. You will be more effective that way.

Mesmer or Guardian will do well, Ele or Thief if you can play above the reset, Warrior if you want to easymode and don’t think you can play very well.

Shyhalu.4891:

I just wish I loved one of the classes. I see some people who are just so passionate about one class – one that fits them well. There just isn’t that for me :P Kinda sad.

I’m the same way and have one of each profession that I all play more or less off, depending on what I like to do atm. If I should sum up how I use them it would be like;

Guardian: Everything
Mesmer: Fractals, WvW, PvP
Warrior: Fractals, Dungeons, PvP
Ranger: World bosses, PvP
Elemental: World bosses
Thief: Champ farm
Necromancer: PvP
Engineer: Pack mule

I am half tempted to try and level a thief just because it is so far outside my comfort zone.. maybe I’d fall in love.. or something. Never really melee’d in a game, so it’d be an adventure.. and a half.

Shyhalu.4891:

I am half tempted to try and level a thief just because it is so far outside my comfort zone.. maybe I’d fall in love.. or something. Never really melee’d in a game, so it’d be an adventure.. and a half.

There ya go!

I have played several games where it took me years to find “the class” I wanted to play. Usually it was because the class I really wanted was not in the game at release.

Came close to that in GW2. Took me about a year and a half to finally settle on a main and if ANet actually added another profession, I’d be experimenting to see if maybe that could be the one.

Hang in there, the important thing is to have fun!

If you’re on Blackgate you should add me

goldenwing.8473:

PS: sorry to spam the thread.

There is one value that our guild has had for as long as we have played games on-line.

It’s a value shared by a lot of WvW players:

Play what you love. You will be more effective that way.

Just like he/she said
I’m playing the Elementalist because i love it (i have 3 character that are elementalist) and for me is good in every aspect of the game. But i don’t do a lot a sPvP or WvW

The way I chose was looking up information about all the professions on the wiki and seeing what the skills looked like by watching gameplay videos. I fell in love with Whirling Wrath, and guardian was my first character and my only main since playing~

Guardian is kind of an all-around player. The ranged DPS is lacking but with a greatsword you likely won’t feel like you’re missing much. I usually play clerics and ranged DPS too and I quickly fell in love with guardian.

Also ranger might not be a bad option for some WvW and PvE roaming, especially after the April 15th update. There’s supposed to be a trait that makes longbow arrows fly twice as fast and pet skills (F2) will be automated, meaning they’ll be usable even if your pet is disabled or otherwise being an idiot.

As a ranger main, I am quite happy for those changes to ranger – anyway. Going to try bearbow again if I can use Shake It Off! on a whim.

I think the answer is always ‘it depends’.

Your requirement of " sPvP, WvW, roaming and PvE" is so broad. Almost all classes can do ‘well’ in those areas (which doesn’t answer your question but lends to the difficulty of the decision).

for sPvP and tPvP only the mesmer is in a poor position. Though there seems to be group comps that can work with it, if you follow some of the other PvP threads, the thief has pretty much taken over the spot for the mesmer. Again situational and really depends on the group composition. Likely you’ll find a warrior, guardian, or thief in a team. Frequent are Necros and Engineers. Occasionally they’ll work with Eles and Mesmers, though Eles tend more to the Frequent compared to Mesmers. Of course this really depends on rank as well.

for WvW/roaming, everyone has a roll in a group composition. You might want to look at your friends and guildies to see if you wouldn’t mind picking up a class to compliment them.

PvE open world is open. If you’re just farming and tagging then pretty much anything with decent mobility and AOE.

PvE Dungeons can be further broken down into casual runs/pugs which anything works and if you’re just having fun then go ahead and play the fun class!

PvE organized Dungeon runs, depending on the dungeon are mainly Warriors and Eles for the damage and buffs, Guardians for protection/stability/aegis/reflects, Mesmers and thieves for stealth and to help skip. I seldom see Engs and Necros in these organized compositions. Rangers have a place in certain organized group parts for the dps buff as well, though generally not liked in dungeons. Not that they can’t work, but again there are others that can do their job better in a group.

But, as someone pointed out, pick something you can enjoy. No point spending your time in game if you’re just working at a class and not really enjoying the class.

Thanks for all the advice <3