Guild Wars 2

Just started playing. Trying to figure out what profession i want to play. I went with guardian. Paladin was my favorite class in wow. I like the tough last man standing type with healing and defense. But so far im not really having fun. I like the idea of the guardian but im struggling to enjoy the play style. Combat is kinda slow. Alot of abilities seem to be geared towards benefiting others. And i dont really like melee classes. Ranged is my preference. Its nice to sit back and throw abilities vs walking up to enemies and wacking them. With dodging i can see staying in range and having to chase people down being both annoying and difficult. Cast and dodge seems more efficient. So right now im kinda torn between what class i want to play. Thief and warrior aren’t for me. Engineer isnt my thing. Mesmer looks cool. Creating clones and blowing them up sounds fun. Never seen a class like it so it should be interesting to play. Necromancer is normally my favorite caster class. Dark arts and minions are always cool. Saw a video of a necromancer with 5 minions. Should be fun questing with a small army. Ranger pets are cool but bow and arrows are kinda plain and boring. Elementalist looks awesome. The abilities are really flashy and shiny. I like flashy and shiny. Throwing fire and commanding the elements sounds awesome. Lots of aoe. Summons elemental guardians. Saw a fire phoenix that looks tight. Elementalist and mesmer seem like my favorite play style. But necromancer is an old favorite. And i have a really hard time letting go of the guardian cause i like being the tough guy as much as i like shiny spells. Cant make up my mind here. What class do you guys enjoy playing the most?

First, I recommend taking a “blank slate” approach with GW2 as it’s different from WoW (no trinity). Understand that all classes are both melee and range. The current best DPS on range is elementalist. I’d say pick a class that quite good depending on what you wanna do end game: dungeon, open world, wvw, etc.

I personally rotate between warrior, guard, mesmer, and ele. Ele is probably the most fun, but I have to be awake playing with 11-12k hp. Warrior is easiest class to play. Mesmer dps is situational. Guard when you need reflect, perma protection with pretty good dps too.

I play warrior because my GW1 main was a warrior too. I gave the other classes multiple chances, but I stick to it, I like smashing skulls and cleaving enemies.

The problem is, I have fun with all of them (I don’t have a thief yet). I really don’t have a favorite. For the longest time, my warrior was my least favorite, but now with some exotic gear, it has become fun. Same thing for the necromancer. I have a blast (no pun intended) with the engineer… that’s the one I used in the nightmare tower.

I think the most balanced for healing and fighting is the guardian. The most dps I get is from the warrior. The best ranged is the ele, with the ranger coming in a close second. The others have their own unique styles that are fun.

I love playing a necromancer, but sadly it feels like the development team does not share that love. Especially lately.

Mine would be my engineer, having multiple kits to play with makes the class seem fun with lots of ways to play, similar to how I enjoy my warrior because it has access to a wide variety of weapons when I want to mix things up. But engineer since guns and gadgets were pretty shiny back then, and they boast one of the longest range dps out there with grenades. Been enjoying leveling my ranger though.

@OP I started with Guardian (hence my name) and wanted the same things you did. I also felt a little let down by Guard and went on an Alt binge/identity crisis. Ended up getting frustrated and giving the game a break. I came back a few months ago, played everything all over again and found myself stuck on Mesmer.

I play a phantasm mesmer in PvE and WvW. Its EXACTLY what I want. I can range or melee if I want to. I can reflect damage easily and have great utility. My DPS is better these days, but I think all the practice helped. I roll Sword/Focus Scepter/Sword for right now and swap around as I need to.

The trick for me to having a blast with this character, beyond game mechanics, is the fact I make clones of myself, so detailing my character became much more important.

1. Pick your race based on what you want to see in your clones/phants. Do you want to see a bunch of rabid asurans beating the kitten out of something or a pack of gentlemanly char? I personally ran with Norn because I like the voice and manly demeanor.

2. Pick a spec that works really well for what you want to do. I personally roll 10/20/0/25/15 (I think.. will have to check). Knights/Zerk w/ MoR, Feedback, Decoy, Phant Defender and Moa morph (mob about to unleash hell? Think again, mutha-clucka!) Centaur runes give me constant swiftness uptime (while sharing that swiftness with everyone around me) and condi removal with MoR. I’m no min/maxer, but I have a kitten ton of fun and look for ways to improve my game without scrapping every last little bit of DPS from the bottom of my jar.

3. Pick your style based on a theme. That theme may be defined by a legendary you want to work towards. Note: if you prefer, you can make your Mesmer look like just about any other class out there. There are leathery and shiny metalic choices for different pieces and the best combos are the ones NOT from the same set. Head to the PVP lobby (HotM) and find the wardrobe if you want to find your perfect look.

4. Keep learning. The worst thing I did before I left last time was thinking I knew everything about the class and closed off what it could be for me. I probably heard someone say “Oh, X class is so kitten it can’t even pull Y dps!” and I let what they said devalue whatever I wanted to play. Some classes do have aspects I wish worked better, but instead of trying to make the class do what everyone considered the best, I chose the class that best suited what I wanted it to do and made it mine. I may swap to something else later down the road if there’s a change or bug thats glaring to me, but for now, I’m quite satisfied with my little mesmer.

Most of all, have fun! Relax. Take things easy and wade into the content. If there’s something you want in the LS, hit those before they leave. Otherwise, its all good.

ps. - check out some of the “fashion” forums like Lyssa’s mirror on GW2 guru for some ideas for inspiration on “interesting” themes. I, myself, happen to be a discening gentleman who enjoys long walks in the forest, meeting people on weekend getaways and killing absolutely every last one of them.

Happy Friday the 13th!

Nice picture Guardian.5142!!!!

Looks really original!

As i see there is not love for thief here . . . i love thief.

Ele, engis are fun also . . . respect . . . i love any profession that is hard to play, more adrenaline xD.

Ele>Warrior>Thief/Necro/Mesmer tied for third

The other two are meh, but Guards are useful in parties. Totally boring to play, but good skills.

Thief.

Mobility > all

I’ve been reading in the class forums. Just finding out there are no tanks or healers. All classes can heal and DPS. No official tank specs. That kinda messes with my guardian play style. Im starting to think guardian is more of a group support class than a real tank. Thats fine and all but since im a new guy i have a feeling im going to solo more than group. I want to head out in the world by myself for a bit and explore. I know the guardian is tough and all but if the focus is group support not sure if guardian is what i want. Having a bunch of abilities that focus on group buffs when your going solo seems like a waste.

Lots of people say elementalist are in a bad spot right now due to lack of love from the developers. I normally dont pay no attention when people QQ about a class but there is so much elementalist disappointment its hard to ignore. The funny thing about it though is even though people arent happy with the state of the class they still love it. Heard tons of people say i have 5 classes but i keep coming back to elementalist for fast pace flashy instant aoe casts. I also hear its the hardest class to play due to low health and constantly switching weapons and elements. All that sounds intriguing.

I hear mesmirs can be deadly if played right. All the clones are good for confusing people and pulling aggro away from you. And then when your low on HP they blow you up. Sweet. Besides pets and drain life still not sure what necromancer is about. And surprisingly thief sounds a little tempting. Hear alot of QQ from thief victims about huge crits dead players in less than 5 seconds and constantly resetting fights with stealth. Sounds like fun. I played a rogue in wow. They are so annoying if your good and stun lock. I liked being that over powered backstabbing b@stard everybody hates. Only problem is they are mainly a PVP class and i want to solo for now. Maybe later for thief.

Man, this is gonna be another wow type game with so many choices no matter how much you read you will never know what class is for you until you play it. My first toon on wow was lock then hunter paladin rogue DK. I enjoyed them all but paladin tank pounding through solo dungeons refusing to die in BG and rogue PVP gank and vanish ended up being my favorite. Since this is free to play i have a feeling im probably gonna end up trying a bunch of classes before i figure out which i enjoy the most.

Actually, that’s a good thing, misterDEAN.

Elementists are fun if you like flashy magiks. think Wow Mages, but not as “spec cast” into one weaponset/one element. You essentially get 4 actionbars of 5 elemental attacks per weapon, so 20 things to click with a cooldown between swaps. You can also summon elemental weapons with charges, like lightning hammer and flame sword. Elemental pets… yeah… you can do a TON, but you need to know what every little thing your class CAN do in case you need to do it situationally. That’s 20 attacks/skills per weapon set. Also, learn what a combo field is and practice that kitten. HUGE benefits.

Elementalist soloing a fractal boss (consider them 5-man hardmodes that keep getting harder the more you do them) – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jWc5nKLejU

Mesmers are fun if you like petbombs, temp pet attackers (one per target, so if it dies, so do they)… oh, and they look as awesome as you do. (the pink butterflies grow on you). It plays differently than any other class I’ve played except one… The Theurgist? (from DAoC). The one where you cast elemental spell-pets that ran over and attacked your enemies for a duration and then died. GW2 really expands on that idea and sorta went more “mentalist” with it.

GS mesmer w/ twilight – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IL96RhYohqI

Necros are the condition kings/queens. They do have some life-draining skills, but mostly its about condition addition and condition manipulation. Think affliction lock from WoW, except its got a “death shroud” state that acts as a buffer life bar in emergencies, so there’s some added cushion if someone jumps you. Fear, targetting wells/marks to lay curses on the ground that affect people that step on them. Pets are fun too, in fact you can roll minion master, but the pet AI is sorta “meh” and you don’t get active controls for them all.

Necro being BA with incinerator. – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YFYgZcj2iZg

OH… and before you give up on thief – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EN-imkQMcKw

Troll Youtube for some great vids with legendary weapons and folks that know what they’re doin!

You might also want to bookmark these too, as they’ll help you keep straight which thing does what, even when its not in front of you in game.

http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Main_Page – Quick Reference

http://en.gw2skills.net/editor/ – Spec/Skill calculator (its set to PvP gear, but the skills/specs/runes/etc all work to build out your char.