Guild Wars 2

So, I am new and currently (impatiently) patching the game, and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all the class options. I am sure I am not alone in coming into this as a WoW veteran, and while I am excited about the unique twists on class design, I really don’t know what to expect.

I do prefer ranged/casting classes (or at least I did in WoW – that might be different here!) but the quick profession descriptions on the website likely do not paint a full picture of what each profession is really like.

So what are your favourites, which do you hate – and why?

Check out wiki , top of the page thats the best option for research

you cant go wrong playing a Guardian atm, they excel in every field.

Engineer is worst.

He’s UP and the playstyle is hard to pickup.

Some people like a unique playstyle, but the elementalist is similar and also doesn’t suck.

I’ve been browsing the profession forums a little bit, but just like every other game there is a great deal of “my class is the worst class” and “this class needs to be nerfed!”

Elementalist looks fun, but I was also curious about Mesmers. I just can’t imagine what the play style is based on the description.

The game is very biased to ranged/kite n dodge if this helps make your choice

Lorana.2468:

you cant go wrong playing a Guardian atm, they excel in every field.

Not exactly. Their mobility really isn’t that great and their best ranged weapon(damage-wise) is only really reliable at a range of around 600 or so. (Despite the max range being 1200.)

With that said, I wouldn’t really put any profession on a list from best to worst. Each profession has their ups and downs.

Leon Derge.5239:

Lorana.2468:

you cant go wrong playing a Guardian atm, they excel in every field.

Not exactly. Their mobility really isn’t that great and their best ranged weapon(damage-wise) is only really reliable at a range of around 600 or so. (Despite the max range being 1200.)

With that said, I wouldn’t really wouldn’t put any profession on a list from best to worst. Each profession has their ups and downs.

our mobility is fine, and generally isnt a requirement for the majority of the game.

Sword is a handy weapon in pvp because of it’s low cooldown instant teleport, you really dont need such mobility in other area’s of the game other than Swiftness, which we have.

yes the ranged weapons are bad, but you should only be using them if your forced to, you excel in melee and should be building as such.

Personally I think the best ranged caster in this game is a shortbow thief.

Riot.5210:

So, I am new and currently (impatiently) patching the game, and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all the class options. I am sure I am not alone in coming into this as a WoW veteran, and while I am excited about the unique twists on class design, I really don’t know what to expect.

I do prefer ranged/casting classes (or at least I did in WoW – that might be different here!) but the quick profession descriptions on the website likely do not paint a full picture of what each profession is really like.

So what are your favourites, which do you hate – and why?

I play warrior and mes in pvp, with a lvl 43 ele, 21 ranger for fun/wvw
I however have 1 of each class so i do play all classes in pvp (@ rank 21 some 500-ish matches and a ‘few’ tournaments)

dungeon ranks:
1. Guardian, after talking to guardians and watching them in action and so on they are very clearly at the time without question.
2. Mesmers, the utility, and distractions via clones make them very hard to beat <my personal favorite by far
3. Warrior, damage… (can be moved up to #1-2 for certain dungeons, Eg. AC)
4. Theif, party support/stealth combined with damage is extremely good
5. Necro, aoe, minions, conditions (which benefits other classes that sort of have some conditions, but ignore them in favor of another stat) and survivability
6,7,8. engi/ele/ranger just don’t notice much effect from them

General pve:
1. warrior everything basically gets 1 shotted
2. theif, less survivability, more damage than guardian
3. necro, good survivability lacks damage of theif
4. guardian op as kitten, but doesn’t kill as fast as others
5. ele, great potential damage, often wasted though
6. ranger all rounder pet makes it nice, not as much kill tagging capability as ele
7. engi, actually tied with range due to aoe , i’ve not much experience with them..
8. mes. low damage, next to zero kill tagging

pvp.
1. Mes, only by a narrow margin.
2. Necro, can often kill mesmers, MM’s are scary, wells are deadly as hell when used in the right hands
3. Theif, VERY VERY close second/third great utility and party-support, stealth makes them hard to kill, they can apply pressure and often assassinate key targets with relative ease
4. Eles, they make great bunkers and great roamers lots of damage, lots of survivability, and utility to spare, easy to target however, unlike theives (due to stealth), mesmers (due to clones) and necro’s (due to minions or their natural positioning within groups)
5. guardian, meditation is the only way to go from my perspective, those who try for bunkers tend to be absolutely terrible at everything and fail hard, meditation provides great mobility and just keeps you in ur opponents face all of the time
6. Warrior, excellent burst damage, if you can catch someone, they will die.. keyword being… if
7. Rangers, recently with alot of sword-based builds they’ve started to show up in tournaments and play excellently, i was tempted to say 8
8. engi’s generally unwieldy, they’re not discounted they’ll still destroy alot of the other classes in several area’s, they’re just seemingly weaker than one would expect

wvw:
1. ele dat aoe finally gets used to it’s fullest potential
2-3-4. theif/necro/ranger all have great range and aoe, theif you will almost always see near your spawn point where they will be picking off lone players, necro’s and rangers just finally get to use their range/survivability and aoe to their fullest potential
5-6-7-8 engi/mes/war/guardian, guardian’s i’ve heard are amazing, but i just don’t see it, warriors have excellent single target damage i myself frequently pick off lone players with the rifle (12k+ kill shots anyone?), engi’s similar to guardians, heard they’re good, i’ve not witnessed it, mes’s were absolutely amazing until the phantasm line of sight nerf… they suddenly became next to useless in my opinion, i’ve heard they’re still amazing particularly reflection-based, but again.. not witnessed.

personal favorite class: mesmer, they’re absolutely baller
least favorite class: engi, i’m apparently very very good at it, but they’re horridly uncomfortable, and seem to just stand out as a “wtf are these doing in this genre”

RaGe.9834:

dungeon ranks:
1. Guardian, after talking to guardians and watching them in action and so on they are very clearly at the time without question.
2. Mesmers, the utility, and distractions via clones make them very hard to beat <my personal favorite by far
3. Warrior, damage… (can be moved up to #1-2 for certain dungeons, Eg. AC)
4. Theif, party support/stealth combined with damage is extremely good
5. Necro, aoe, minions, conditions (which benefits other classes that sort of have some conditions, but ignore them in favor of another stat) and survivability
6,7,8. engi/ele/ranger just don’t notice much effect from them

General pve:
1. warrior everything basically gets 1 shotted
2. theif, less survivability, more damage than guardian
3. necro, good survivability lacks damage of theif
4. guardian op as kitten, but doesn’t kill as fast as others
5. ele, great potential damage, often wasted though
6. ranger all rounder pet makes it nice, not as much kill tagging capability as ele
7. engi, actually tied with range due to aoe , i’ve not much experience with them..
8. mes. low damage, next to zero kill tagging

pvp.
1. Mes, only by a narrow margin.
2. Necro, can often kill mesmers, MM’s are scary, wells are deadly as hell when used in the right hands
3. Theif, VERY VERY close second/third great utility and party-support, stealth makes them hard to kill, they can apply pressure and often assassinate key targets with relative ease
4. Eles, they make great bunkers and great roamers lots of damage, lots of survivability, and utility to spare, easy to target however, unlike theives (due to stealth), mesmers (due to clones) and necro’s (due to minions or their natural positioning within groups)
5. guardian, meditation is the only way to go from my perspective, those who try for bunkers tend to be absolutely terrible at everything and fail hard, meditation provides great mobility and just keeps you in ur opponents face all of the time
6. Warrior, excellent burst damage, if you can catch someone, they will die.. keyword being… if
7. Rangers, recently with alot of sword-based builds they’ve started to show up in tournaments and play excellently, i was tempted to say 8
8. engi’s generally unwieldy, they’re not discounted they’ll still destroy alot of the other classes in several area’s, they’re just seemingly weaker than one would expect

wvw:
1. ele dat aoe finally gets used to it’s fullest potential
2-3-4. theif/necro/ranger all have great range and aoe, theif you will almost always see near your spawn point where they will be picking off lone players, necro’s and rangers just finally get to use their range/survivability and aoe to their fullest potential
5-6-7-8 engi/mes/war/guardian, guardian’s i’ve heard are amazing, but i just don’t see it, warriors have excellent single target damage i myself frequently pick off lone players with the rifle (12k+ kill shots anyone?), engi’s similar to guardians, heard they’re good, i’ve not witnessed it, mes’s were absolutely amazing until the phantasm line of sight nerf… they suddenly became next to useless in my opinion, i’ve heard they’re still amazing particularly reflection-based, but again.. not witnessed.

I’m sorry but these are horribly wrong and probably biased views. If you want an insight on the professions you should experiment for yourself.

Nayru.4537:

RaGe.9834:

dungeon ranks:
1. Guardian, after talking to guardians and watching them in action and so on they are very clearly at the time without question.
2. Mesmers, the utility, and distractions via clones make them very hard to beat <my personal favorite by far
3. Warrior, damage… (can be moved up to #1-2 for certain dungeons, Eg. AC)
4. Theif, party support/stealth combined with damage is extremely good
5. Necro, aoe, minions, conditions (which benefits other classes that sort of have some conditions, but ignore them in favor of another stat) and survivability
6,7,8. engi/ele/ranger just don’t notice much effect from them

General pve:
1. warrior everything basically gets 1 shotted
2. theif, less survivability, more damage than guardian
3. necro, good survivability lacks damage of theif
4. guardian op as kitten, but doesn’t kill as fast as others
5. ele, great potential damage, often wasted though
6. ranger all rounder pet makes it nice, not as much kill tagging capability as ele
7. engi, actually tied with range due to aoe , i’ve not much experience with them..
8. mes. low damage, next to zero kill tagging

pvp.
1. Mes, only by a narrow margin.
2. Necro, can often kill mesmers, MM’s are scary, wells are deadly as hell when used in the right hands
3. Theif, VERY VERY close second/third great utility and party-support, stealth makes them hard to kill, they can apply pressure and often assassinate key targets with relative ease
4. Eles, they make great bunkers and great roamers lots of damage, lots of survivability, and utility to spare, easy to target however, unlike theives (due to stealth), mesmers (due to clones) and necro’s (due to minions or their natural positioning within groups)
5. guardian, meditation is the only way to go from my perspective, those who try for bunkers tend to be absolutely terrible at everything and fail hard, meditation provides great mobility and just keeps you in ur opponents face all of the time
6. Warrior, excellent burst damage, if you can catch someone, they will die.. keyword being… if
7. Rangers, recently with alot of sword-based builds they’ve started to show up in tournaments and play excellently, i was tempted to say 8
8. engi’s generally unwieldy, they’re not discounted they’ll still destroy alot of the other classes in several area’s, they’re just seemingly weaker than one would expect

wvw:
1. ele dat aoe finally gets used to it’s fullest potential
2-3-4. theif/necro/ranger all have great range and aoe, theif you will almost always see near your spawn point where they will be picking off lone players, necro’s and rangers just finally get to use their range/survivability and aoe to their fullest potential
5-6-7-8 engi/mes/war/guardian, guardian’s i’ve heard are amazing, but i just don’t see it, warriors have excellent single target damage i myself frequently pick off lone players with the rifle (12k+ kill shots anyone?), engi’s similar to guardians, heard they’re good, i’ve not witnessed it, mes’s were absolutely amazing until the phantasm line of sight nerf… they suddenly became next to useless in my opinion, i’ve heard they’re still amazing particularly reflection-based, but again.. not witnessed.

I’m sorry but these are horribly wrong and probably biased views. If you want an insight on the professions you should experiment for yourself.

says the man in in a very quick (and probably biased opinion with absolutely no reasoning) ok good sir, care to state your opinions?
(noting that mine was very clearly an opinionated piece, with the noteable exception of pvp, that’s tried and true)

I play a mesmer and get a ton of kill tagging.

a) I go melee— sword/anything will do.
b) I put a superior fire rune on one of my weapons. (An aoe blast on crit every some-odd seconds.)
c) I am traited to turn myself into a clone.
d) rush in, spamming #1, as well as f1, f2 and f3 (and f4 in an OSHI moment, of which you will have many). Run around like you’re deranged. Use #2 in tight clusters of mobs. Use blink if you can.

Doing this, I do die every now and then, but the ground is covered in sparkles. Ranged, I never tagged anything, but as sword #1 is now an AOE cone, by hitting it and fkeys (even without any clones up as long as you are traited) you will tag everything around you for enough damage to get credit.

This is in, say, Orr. I’ve never had an issue in dungeons getting credit, either, but I shatter a lot and so tag a lot of things. That is too slow (at least with my slight lag) for event farming, though.

you can see for urself u have some special circumstances and a specific build, i’m not saying they have 0 i’m just saying it’s far more difficult to get kill tagging in there, you said yourself, sword and sup fire rune to get kill tags, ranged doesn’t work, its harder to get kill tags than other classes… to a very notable degree

RaGe.9834:

you can see for urself u have some special circumstances and a specific build, i’m not saying they have 0 i’m just saying it’s far more difficult to get kill tagging in there, you said yourself, sword and sup fire rune to get kill tags, ranged doesn’t work, its harder to get kill tags than other classes… to a very notable degree

The build I use for farming is the build I use for everything. 20 dom, 20 dueling, 30 illusions is pretty standard, I just trait to be a clone instead of, say, precise wrack or illusionary elasticity (I use GS as my main weapon when I am not farming Orr).

It’s no harder to tag anything than any other melee class (which the mesmer is, as well as ranged). You really should take my word for it.

I just picked up a yellow sword for this and dropped the rune on it, and rares are not expensive. My pistol has luck runes, but one could use power or whatever instead. I picked up the rune of fire idea from a non-mesmer— guardian or something, I forget. It comes in handy in other circumstances since folks don’t tend to expect that from a mesmer.

I mean sure, if you consider any alternative to pewpewing from ranged as too difficult, this may be beyond you, but otherwise ‘run in and mash fkeys and 1 and 2’ is not rocket science.

Nayru.4537:

RaGe.9834:

dungeon ranks:
1. Guardian, after talking to guardians and watching them in action and so on they are very clearly at the time without question.
2. Mesmers, the utility, and distractions via clones make them very hard to beat <my personal favorite by far
3. Warrior, damage… (can be moved up to #1-2 for certain dungeons, Eg. AC)
4. Theif, party support/stealth combined with damage is extremely good
5. Necro, aoe, minions, conditions (which benefits other classes that sort of have some conditions, but ignore them in favor of another stat) and survivability
6,7,8. engi/ele/ranger just don’t notice much effect from them

General pve:
1. warrior everything basically gets 1 shotted
2. theif, less survivability, more damage than guardian
3. necro, good survivability lacks damage of theif
4. guardian op as kitten, but doesn’t kill as fast as others
5. ele, great potential damage, often wasted though
6. ranger all rounder pet makes it nice, not as much kill tagging capability as ele
7. engi, actually tied with range due to aoe , i’ve not much experience with them..
8. mes. low damage, next to zero kill tagging

pvp.
1. Mes, only by a narrow margin.
2. Necro, can often kill mesmers, MM’s are scary, wells are deadly as hell when used in the right hands
3. Theif, VERY VERY close second/third great utility and party-support, stealth makes them hard to kill, they can apply pressure and often assassinate key targets with relative ease
4. Eles, they make great bunkers and great roamers lots of damage, lots of survivability, and utility to spare, easy to target however, unlike theives (due to stealth), mesmers (due to clones) and necro’s (due to minions or their natural positioning within groups)
5. guardian, meditation is the only way to go from my perspective, those who try for bunkers tend to be absolutely terrible at everything and fail hard, meditation provides great mobility and just keeps you in ur opponents face all of the time
6. Warrior, excellent burst damage, if you can catch someone, they will die.. keyword being… if
7. Rangers, recently with alot of sword-based builds they’ve started to show up in tournaments and play excellently, i was tempted to say 8
8. engi’s generally unwieldy, they’re not discounted they’ll still destroy alot of the other classes in several area’s, they’re just seemingly weaker than one would expect

wvw:
1. ele dat aoe finally gets used to it’s fullest potential
2-3-4. theif/necro/ranger all have great range and aoe, theif you will almost always see near your spawn point where they will be picking off lone players, necro’s and rangers just finally get to use their range/survivability and aoe to their fullest potential
5-6-7-8 engi/mes/war/guardian, guardian’s i’ve heard are amazing, but i just don’t see it, warriors have excellent single target damage i myself frequently pick off lone players with the rifle (12k+ kill shots anyone?), engi’s similar to guardians, heard they’re good, i’ve not witnessed it, mes’s were absolutely amazing until the phantasm line of sight nerf… they suddenly became next to useless in my opinion, i’ve heard they’re still amazing particularly reflection-based, but again.. not witnessed.

I’m sorry but these are horribly wrong and probably biased views. If you want an insight on the professions you should experiment for yourself.

The hilarity of calling someone’s opinion wrong and biased, based on your opinion.

Well, he’s wrong about mesmers in general PvE.

Thief, thief, thief … best and the worse

RaGe.9834:

Nayru.4537:

RaGe.9834:

dungeon ranks:
1. Guardian, after talking to guardians and watching them in action and so on they are very clearly at the time without question.
2. Mesmers, the utility, and distractions via clones make them very hard to beat <my personal favorite by far
3. Warrior, damage… (can be moved up to #1-2 for certain dungeons, Eg. AC)
4. Theif, party support/stealth combined with damage is extremely good
5. Necro, aoe, minions, conditions (which benefits other classes that sort of have some conditions, but ignore them in favor of another stat) and survivability
6,7,8. engi/ele/ranger just don’t notice much effect from them

General pve:
1. warrior everything basically gets 1 shotted
2. theif, less survivability, more damage than guardian
3. necro, good survivability lacks damage of theif
4. guardian op as kitten, but doesn’t kill as fast as others
5. ele, great potential damage, often wasted though
6. ranger all rounder pet makes it nice, not as much kill tagging capability as ele
7. engi, actually tied with range due to aoe , i’ve not much experience with them..
8. mes. low damage, next to zero kill tagging

pvp.
1. Mes, only by a narrow margin.
2. Necro, can often kill mesmers, MM’s are scary, wells are deadly as hell when used in the right hands
3. Theif, VERY VERY close second/third great utility and party-support, stealth makes them hard to kill, they can apply pressure and often assassinate key targets with relative ease
4. Eles, they make great bunkers and great roamers lots of damage, lots of survivability, and utility to spare, easy to target however, unlike theives (due to stealth), mesmers (due to clones) and necro’s (due to minions or their natural positioning within groups)
5. guardian, meditation is the only way to go from my perspective, those who try for bunkers tend to be absolutely terrible at everything and fail hard, meditation provides great mobility and just keeps you in ur opponents face all of the time
6. Warrior, excellent burst damage, if you can catch someone, they will die.. keyword being… if
7. Rangers, recently with alot of sword-based builds they’ve started to show up in tournaments and play excellently, i was tempted to say 8
8. engi’s generally unwieldy, they’re not discounted they’ll still destroy alot of the other classes in several area’s, they’re just seemingly weaker than one would expect

wvw:
1. ele dat aoe finally gets used to it’s fullest potential
2-3-4. theif/necro/ranger all have great range and aoe, theif you will almost always see near your spawn point where they will be picking off lone players, necro’s and rangers just finally get to use their range/survivability and aoe to their fullest potential
5-6-7-8 engi/mes/war/guardian, guardian’s i’ve heard are amazing, but i just don’t see it, warriors have excellent single target damage i myself frequently pick off lone players with the rifle (12k+ kill shots anyone?), engi’s similar to guardians, heard they’re good, i’ve not witnessed it, mes’s were absolutely amazing until the phantasm line of sight nerf… they suddenly became next to useless in my opinion, i’ve heard they’re still amazing particularly reflection-based, but again.. not witnessed.

I’m sorry but these are horribly wrong and probably biased views. If you want an insight on the professions you should experiment for yourself.

says the man in in a very quick (and probably biased opinion with absolutely no reasoning) ok good sir, care to state your opinions?
(noting that mine was very clearly an opinionated piece, with the noteable exception of pvp, that’s tried and true)

Ignore him, I agree with mostly what you’ve said. Though to the OP, I truly think you should consider playstyle more than “current most OP best profession”. I personally play guardian and love it while my thief… even though it’s very good in wvw it just wasn’t the profession for me.

Worst profession at the moment appears to be grenade engineers due to their uncalled for nerf at the cost of being able to use sigils lol.

Guys don’t bother with Nayru, for some reason he always posts like that. He belittles someone/something, quickly dismissing him/it as wrong, then adds nothing constructive or meaningfull. Kinda an obvious troll.

Back on topic (kinda):
I wouldn’t suggest you to pick a class based on their strenght, as they can and will change with every balance patch. GW2 also has 3 really different environment : WvW, structured PvP and PvE. So unless you state what part of the game may interest you more, I’m not going into more detail (don’t have much time, sorry about that). For now, -IMO- :

Structured PvP:
1. Mesmers
2. Guardians
3. Necromancers/Elementalists
4. Thieves/Warriors
5. Rangers/Engineers

PvE (dungeons):
1. Warriors
2. Guardians
3. Elementalists/Thieves/Rangers
4. Engineers/Necromancers
5. Mesmers

WvW:
1. Mesmers (portal, nuff said)
2. Warrior/Guardians
3. Thieves
4. Everyone else.

Feel free to ask me about playstyles anytime
P.s. I only play Guardian, Necro and Engi so my take on playstyles of other classes is based on observations and people I talk to.

calculated from the damage that you do, survivability and versatility.

for PVE:

from best to worst:
warrior
guardian
ranger
mesmer
thief
engeneer
elementalist

PVP:
mesmer
thief

warrior
guardian

engineer
ranger
elementalist

IE: OP should play the class they mesh best with.

For me personally the list would be like this.

Best:

1. Engineer, Guardian, Mesmer, Necro, Ranger, Warrior
2. Thief (havent played it much besides sPvP)
8. Elementalist (I just dont like the way the class is built)

Engineer: Many people claim Engineers have no damage, no this, no that. While they shine at whatever they do if specced and geared for it. If you want to deal damage, then you can spec for it, if you want a more tanky sustained damage build at close range then you can do just that. The only spec that has taken a blunt hit to the head with a nerfbat would be grenades. Engineers also have massive control. Going pure damage you will do massive amounts of damage, you wont throw around group buffs, but you will control the targets, even bosses. You have some debuffs and some healing for your group in the form of medpacks you can put on the ground, aswell as condition cleansing.

Memser: Also another ranged class with great damage, both in PvP and PvE. Here it is also a matter of knowing your spec and picking the right gear. Personally I run a build balanced between shatter damage and phantasm damage. Mesmers have great utility. Some of it being straight up godly on bosses.

Guardia: Has great damage. Utility and help towards your group depends on specs. They get everything from blinds to buffs depending on spec. I run a 1h spec, sword+shield and scepter+torch, great damage with both sets. Lots of blinds, constantly buffing my team with fire attacks. My utility is a bit selfing as I run a meditation self heal spec, so only my 3rd+my elite skill have real group utility, but the elite is godly when needed, a lifesaver.

Necro: Also nice, great DoT damage, aswell as alot of debuffs and condition removals for you and your team. Amazing AoE DoT damage. They can also take a decent beating before going down if you go with toughness. I have no idea really about their non-condition specs as I’ve been condition specced on my necro since beta. The only thing necros lack is some form of extra endurance regen (dodge juice). Amazing elite skill for saving your group if you pull too many mobs (plague+auto attack on skill2 and every mobs goes blind each second).

Ranger: Nice damage, nice group buffs, pets (that actually work now). Longest range in game with their Longbow (1500 yards, enginner grenades can reach as far, but have long travel time). Good mid ranged and melee options aswell.

Warrior: Can be specced for massive damage or for soaking it up/supporting your group. Shout heals are lifesavers for your group. I play in a group with an amazing tanky warrior that runs a nice shout setup. Stay close to him and never die. Warriors also have nice ranged option with rifle and longbow (I prefer Longbow). Highest base healthpool along with necros.

Thief: Great damage both from range and melee, downside is their range is only 900 yards and cant be upgrades like other classes. Can spec for sick opening burst with daggers. Lowest base healthpool in game along with elementalists. Can spec for 100% crit chance when stealthed, so if you build for a heavy stealth spec centered around backstabbing you can ditch crit for vitality if you want more survival.

Elementalist: Not sure what to say, This profession is just not for me, not in PvP atleast. I might roll one for PvE support. It’s not a bad class, but it doesnt fit my playstyle one bit. They are great to have in groups when played by people who know how to play them. I’ve never been a mage class kinda guy, not in any game. I always go with the other caster classes.

And regarding all of the classes above, even if you run a full dps spec you will have great defense through endurance regen on all classes except necro. On the necro you should mix dodge along with your deathshroud form to avoid heavy hits. Even if specced for conditions, deathshroud is a lifesaver even if its damage is low. Pop in before an attack hit, pop a fear and stay in form if it looks like you are about to get hit. Dont drain it too much, better to be able to pop in again when the CD on it is reset (15sec).

Also, never listen to negative nancys when it comes to discussions if classes are good or bad. If they dont give good reasons that seem impartial, dont bother taking their advice. There are pros and cons with all classes, there are no real OP or UP classes, it all depends on if they fit the players style or not.

Happy new year! And welcome to the game.

It’s Warrior and Guardian, then everything else.

my ranking is this:

mesmer
thief
guard
warr/necro
ele
ranger
engi

RaGe.9834:

Riot.5210:

So, I am new and currently (impatiently) patching the game, and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all the class options. I am sure I am not alone in coming into this as a WoW veteran, and while I am excited about the unique twists on class design, I really don’t know what to expect.

I do prefer ranged/casting classes (or at least I did in WoW – that might be different here!) but the quick profession descriptions on the website likely do not paint a full picture of what each profession is really like.

So what are your favourites, which do you hate – and why?

I play warrior and mes in pvp, with a lvl 43 ele, 21 ranger for fun/wvw
I however have 1 of each class so i do play all classes in pvp (@ rank 21 some 500-ish matches and a ‘few’ tournaments)

dungeon ranks:
1. Guardian, after talking to guardians and watching them in action and so on they are very clearly at the time without question.
2. Mesmers, the utility, and distractions via clones make them very hard to beat <my personal favorite by far
3. Warrior, damage… (can be moved up to #1-2 for certain dungeons, Eg. AC)
4. Theif, party support/stealth combined with damage is extremely good
5. Necro, aoe, minions, conditions (which benefits other classes that sort of have some conditions, but ignore them in favor of another stat) and survivability
6,7,8. engi/ele/ranger just don’t notice much effect from them

General pve:
1. warrior everything basically gets 1 shotted
2. theif, less survivability, more damage than guardian
3. necro, good survivability lacks damage of theif
4. guardian op as kitten, but doesn’t kill as fast as others
5. ele, great potential damage, often wasted though
6. ranger all rounder pet makes it nice, not as much kill tagging capability as ele
7. engi, actually tied with range due to aoe , i’ve not much experience with them..
8. mes. low damage, next to zero kill tagging

pvp.
1. Mes, only by a narrow margin.
2. Necro, can often kill mesmers, MM’s are scary, wells are deadly as hell when used in the right hands
3. Theif, VERY VERY close second/third great utility and party-support, stealth makes them hard to kill, they can apply pressure and often assassinate key targets with relative ease
4. Eles, they make great bunkers and great roamers lots of damage, lots of survivability, and utility to spare, easy to target however, unlike theives (due to stealth), mesmers (due to clones) and necro’s (due to minions or their natural positioning within groups)
5. guardian, meditation is the only way to go from my perspective, those who try for bunkers tend to be absolutely terrible at everything and fail hard, meditation provides great mobility and just keeps you in ur opponents face all of the time
6. Warrior, excellent burst damage, if you can catch someone, they will die.. keyword being… if
7. Rangers, recently with alot of sword-based builds they’ve started to show up in tournaments and play excellently, i was tempted to say 8
8. engi’s generally unwieldy, they’re not discounted they’ll still destroy alot of the other classes in several area’s, they’re just seemingly weaker than one would expect

wvw:
1. ele dat aoe finally gets used to it’s fullest potential
2-3-4. theif/necro/ranger all have great range and aoe, theif you will almost always see near your spawn point where they will be picking off lone players, necro’s and rangers just finally get to use their range/survivability and aoe to their fullest potential
5-6-7-8 engi/mes/war/guardian, guardian’s i’ve heard are amazing, but i just don’t see it, warriors have excellent single target damage i myself frequently pick off lone players with the rifle (12k+ kill shots anyone?), engi’s similar to guardians, heard they’re good, i’ve not witnessed it, mes’s were absolutely amazing until the phantasm line of sight nerf… they suddenly became next to useless in my opinion, i’ve heard they’re still amazing particularly reflection-based, but again.. not witnessed.

personal favorite class: mesmer, they’re absolutely baller
least favorite class: engi, i’m apparently very very good at it, but they’re horridly uncomfortable, and seem to just stand out as a “wtf are these doing in this genre”

……. did….. did you just put mesmers in the bottom tier in WvW?

1-7. Not Engineer
8. Engineer

I would say that guardian is, at the moment, a bit superior of everyone else.

Generalizing:

Guardian – Good at everything really. Only flaw is some problems at range but even that can be specced and respectable.

Warrior – Pve/Dungeons nothing beats him imo. Wvw/sPvp can still be a destructive force but relies on the player on the other side of the spectrum. Still think overall dmg is OP even though I main one toghether with a Thief.

Mesmer – Honestly I think it’s a class oriented towards pvp and quite possibly the best pvp class in the right hands. Pve not that shiny.

Necromancer – Same as the mesmer. Best pvp tank ingame imo. Pve it lacks badly.

Thief – Nice tricks, good at surprising people in pvp. best burst ingame. Pve wise, aside from some cool abilities that allow you to bypass several parts of dungeons I think it lacks standing power.

Engineer – Can be a good bunker in pvp. Support wise there are better classes. For pve I really haven´t found a place for them as tanking with bombs is kinda mehhhhh and their overall dps and healing isnt that great.

Hunter- No idea. never played one enough to give an opinion.

Elementalist – Played a bit but I don’t really have a formulated opinion on them. Seems they are great support though and probably with all those great aoe’s should be quite good for wvw.

As a mainly engi PvE player I’d say engi is somewhere at the bottom of professions.

Despite some people calling it “ok”, it is not.

While a really good engi can deal DPS (and I really mean sustained damage per second, not the burst spike) comparable to really slacking warrior or thief, it comes at a cost of neglecting everything else. So much for versatility.

Engi can permanently stack a lot of vulnerability. So it is an ok choice for dungeons. We’re kinda somewhere along necros, but more focused on direct damage rather then conditions. Like some pretty little sidekicks, living only to make numbers of Holy Warrior even bigger.The problem is, it is still a bad balance.

In WvW engi is in a good spot, methinks. A lot of CC+stun breakers+position control, a decent kit for a crafty player.

Don’t know much about sPvP.

As for the other professions, the holy trinity of GW2 in PvE is:
1. Guardian;
2. Warrior;
3. Mesmer.

With thief, necro and engi sharing a spot of ocassionaly usefull profession.

With ranger not wanted by any dungeon group ever.

Chances are high that any list you get here will be wrong since there is no true “best” class, only what’s best for you. Even when not taking into consideration the IMO most important thing -what you enjoy the most- there are individual things like if you’ve got good reflexes and can benefit from a more twitchy build or if you’re good at keeping an overview over your group and can play a support class very effectively.

I have a lvl80 of 7 professions (ranger is still at lvl37) and I’ve enjoyed playing them all. Certain ones get less use because I feel that they are less suited for my play style (e.g. grenade engineer, it does good aoe damage even after the nerf (although I still think the nerf was way over the top) and can stack vulnerability at an incredibly fast and sustained rate. I don’t like the amount of clicking though so it’s mostly on stand by for some WvW these days). All of them have various aspects though and don’t be fooled by what their counterparts in “traditional MMOs” are, an elementalist can be a very effective tank/bunker and a warrior can be good support.

Isslair.4908:

Don’t know much about sPvP.

As for the other professions, the holy trinity of GW2 in PvE is:
1. Guardian;
2. Warrior;
3. Mesmer.

With thief, necro and engi sharing a spot of ocassionaly usefull profession.

With ranger not wanted by any dungeon group ever.

And then you run into the folks who rage that Mesmer is garbage for PvE, totally useless etc etc, had a few holler at me before even grouping.

It’s really subjective, OP!

Well though its nice to have some utilities in dungeons like the mesmer does what hampers him is the best condition the mesmer has is confusion imo. And confusion isn’t that good in pve.

Sylv.5324:

And then you run into the folks who rage that Mesmer is garbage for PvE, totally useless etc etc, had a few holler at me before even grouping.

I dunno where is that coming from lol.

From talks with high-tier dungeon runners, they all agree that mesmer is a really nice addition to almost any group. The thing is, his tricks work in PvE as effectively as in PvP (unlike the engi’s CC for example). And mesmer has some really nice team-oriented utility skills.

On the other, I’m rarely seeing a msmer in dungeons. Most of them are playing PvP only, so I guess people just don’t know what to expect from mesmers.

Agenteusa.6380:

Well though its nice to have some utilities in dungeons like the mesmer does what hampers him is the best condition the mesmer has is confusion imo. And confusion isn’t that good in pve.

We’re very good at cleansing, buffing friends and debuffing enemies, reflecting boss attacks back on each other, and giving the party ten seconds of massive haste, among other things.

Not to mention dazing/stunning/blinding/bleeding/crippling. Or propagating buffs from ourselves to our allies.

To the dude above me: see the guy I quoted, yep.

I tend not to run too many dungeons because I get edgy when people rage. Since I am not in a big guild, that means that I mostly just know AC and some CM.

Depend of area. In PvP the best is thief, in PvE – elementalist. In both guardian and mesmer are very good. Guardian is most balanced profession. Elementalist is best damage dealer. Mesmer and thief are very imbalanced and in fact bugged. In WvW depend on style. If you play alone best are thief and mesmer, warrior is not so bad too. If you play in group best are elementalist and guardian.

@Ikcen.7518

Elementalist is best damage dealer

Although I don’t play the ele that well , I have friends who I know for sure that master the elem (this is always debatable I know but I’m pretty sure of what I’m saying) and the elementalist is not the best damage dealer. Not even a close 2nd.

And why do you say the thief is the best in pvp. That’s a little vague, it’s the best against people who don’t know how to handle them imo. And then you say they are imbalanced and bugged? Care to explain?

@Sylv.5324

We’re very good at cleansing, buffing friends and debuffing enemies, reflecting boss attacks back on each other, and giving the party ten seconds of massive haste, among other things.

Not to mention dazing/stunning/blinding/bleeding/crippling. Or propagating buffs from ourselves to our allies.

Well you can do that, but so can other classes that bring more dps to the table. As a warrior I can heal myself and others, I can remove conditions , i can keep close to 10 stacks on every party member while keeping most of the times 25 on me, not mentioning stacking vuln. Debuff wise only thing I find very useful to have is (not negating the more the merrier) Weakness .

This is just my POV. I’m not saying mesmers are totally flawed for dungeons. I just think their best abilities are designed for pvp.

Riot.5210:

So, I am new and currently (impatiently) patching the game, and I’m feeling a little overwhelmed by all the class options. I am sure I am not alone in coming into this as a WoW veteran, and while I am excited about the unique twists on class design, I really don’t know what to expect.

I do prefer ranged/casting classes (or at least I did in WoW – that might be different here!) but the quick profession descriptions on the website likely do not paint a full picture of what each profession is really like.

So what are your favourites, which do you hate – and why?

Best way to find a class for yourself is to create few( I recomend all) classes that are apealing to you and level them to around lvl 10 at least(you can do it very fast) trying every weapon they can equip, or/and taking those classes to Heart of the Mists where you have all skills unlocked and can see for yourself what each clas sis capable of, what skills and builds they have etc.

Some classes might be a bit OP or UP but it changes with time and patches. Most important thing is to find a class that YOU enjoy as all classes have diferent gameplay, mechanics and dynamics.

My main character was Engineer. I also tried all other classes beside Elementalist. Didnt even bother to create one cos I never liked “caster” type professions in other mmos. Ddditionally for first 2-3 months there was a lot of whining on forums about how bad and UP Elemantalists are. And gues what? A month ago i decided to finally tried out Elementalist as i got a bit annoyed of my engi being nerfed, and I fall in love with it. Barely touching my Engi lately.

So my advice is, dont listen ot anybody. Dont ask what is OP/UP or most fun. Just try them all for yourself and you will find something that YOU enjoy the most.

You said you like ranged/casting classes? Every class has access to ranged weapon(s) and can be more or less succesfully build/specced into ranged. For starters maybe try Necro and Elementalist, but I would reccomend trying all the classes as soon as possible! You never know what you will like the most. It wont take long to try them all and you wont regret it.

Argentusa, your attitude is why I don’t do many dungeons, since I have to deal with people who are bad at mesmering telling me that I’m a drag on the group (before we even get into the instance).

Sylv.5324:

Argentusa, your attitude is why I don’t do many dungeons, since I have to deal with people who are bad at mesmering telling me that I’m a drag on the group (before we even get into the instance).

lol “bad as mesmering” yeah right. Mesmers are only useful in wvw.

Nayru.4537:

Sylv.5324:

Argentusa, your attitude is why I don’t do many dungeons, since I have to deal with people who are bad at mesmering telling me that I’m a drag on the group (before we even get into the instance).

lol “bad as mesmering” yeah right. Mesmers are only useful in wvw.

That is because you are bad at PvE mesmering, not because we aren’t useful.

I’ve been playing this class since the first beta, it’s a lot better than you two are claiming. If you find it to be underperforming, then you are gearing and traiting incorrectly, and playing it incorrectly.

Nayru.4537:

Sylv.5324:

Nayru.4537:

Sylv.5324:

Argentusa, your attitude is why I don’t do many dungeons, since I have to deal with people who are bad at mesmering telling me that I’m a drag on the group (before we even get into the instance).

lol “bad as mesmering” yeah right. Mesmers are only useful in wvw.

That is because you are bad at PvE mesmering, not because we aren’t useful.

I’ve been playing this class since the first beta, it’s a lot better than you two are claiming. If you find it to be underperforming, then you are gearing and traiting incorrectly, and playing it incorrectly.

No, mesmers are useless in PvE.

No wonder you have trouble with this game.

Just don’t compare any other profession in PvE to Guardian and Warrior, they are currently god-tier.

And people wonder why Mesmers shrug off dungeons. There’s always that one dude who doesn’t get the class, so he just tries to make others feel bad.

O.o What attitude?

Sorry If I offended you, it wasn’t my intention and I gladly run with mesmers cause any party (provided you have a tanky character) will achieve almost anything in GW2.

That said I only mentioned mesmers are not a BiS class for dungeons imo as they don’t bring to the table what others do.

pvp wise they are the most powerful in the right hands like I mentioned as their skills and abilities synergize much better with player targets.

I like mesmers but we have to be real about it. Full party with guards/warrs can rule evry single dungeon as no other party can imo. And it saddens me but I found this to be quite accurate.

And yet I have to res them just as often as everyone else.

Well we aren’t talking about player skill, we’re talking about class potential.

Agenteusa.6380:

Well we aren’t talking about player skill, we’re talking about class potential.

And that is why my advice to the OP is to play the class he clicks with, because a player who really gets a class will always find a way to excel and be of benefit to his group.

Sylv.5324:

Agenteusa.6380:

Well we aren’t talking about player skill, we’re talking about class potential.

And that is why my advice to the OP is to play the class he clicks with, because a player who really gets a class will always find a way to excel and be of benefit to his group.

And yet you will still be playing an ineffective profession

Nayru.4537:

Sylv.5324:

Agenteusa.6380:

Well we aren’t talking about player skill, we’re talking about class potential.

And that is why my advice to the OP is to play the class he clicks with, because a player who really gets a class will always find a way to excel and be of benefit to his group.

And yet you will still be playing an ineffective profession

I have never heard complaints about my performance DURING and AFTER a dungeon, though I’ve heard silly folks like you say my class is useless BEFORE one.