Guild Wars 2

Not really a “what should I play topic”; but rather a general inquiry. When did you connect and in know your character was right for you? I have tried every class as a mesmer… for some reason I really want to like mesmer but can only seem to make it to level 12 before giving up due to lack of connection. When did you know your character was right for you?

Played GW1. I swapped through lots of classes until I settled on Paragon. Quit, and came back. Paragons sucked, so I swapped through lots of classes. Made a Mesmer and fell in love with it to the extent that I said “I’m playing Mes in GW2”. BWE2: I make a Mesmer. I do Sword auto attack chain. Fall in love with animation. I use Greatsword. Fall in love with animation.

GW2 comes out: I make a Thief.

Wait what?

When your playstyle matches your character.

I’ve been playing thief since beta, using all sorts of weapons. But untill I mixed sword with withdraw, roll for initiative and shadowstep, I didn’t really feel connected.

But right now, playing a different spec or profession feels like eating soup with a fork.

I’ve had “Bubbles” (my Elementalist) since Diablo 2. I wasn’t going anywhere without her, and I’ve always loved wizards/spellcasters.

It’s my Charr that surprised me. When I began following the plans for GW2, I didn’t want to play a Charr. I had played Guild Wars 1 since the early betas, and Charr were the bad guys.

But while eagerly awaiting GW2, I jumped on every YouTube video I could find. The first time I saw the Charr’s 4-legged running animation, I was hooked. I know some people can’t stand it. They say it feels “slow” (even though all characters move at the same speed). But I just love it. In fact I get kind of peeved when I am running through an area and a critter hits me and makes me slow down to combat speed and hop up on my hind legs. Even re-stowing my weapon doesn’t return me to my 4-legged running stance until I am once again out of combat.

Sometimes you just feel like playing something, it’s unexpainable. Generally, I bring ele/guard for group dungeons, guard/thief for casual solos, warrior for buisness solos, thief and mesmer for roaming, ele for zerg, engi for pvp… etc, depends a lot.

During beta testing. Charr Warrior with a hammer. That first leaping boomquake… Instant love.

Which is odd, because I’m normally a ranged/pet dps kinda guy, and I hated Ranger when I started.

First beta test. I made a dark skinned norn with a goatee… kind of like the real life me, and made him an engineer who loves wearing purple clothes.

The rest, as they say, is history.

Bel Geode- THE Purple Norn has now become a household phrase…… well…. in my household anyway.

I had gotten intrigued by the norn during their introduction in Eye of the North. Ranger has always been one of my favorite class archetypes through several games (especially the old PnP varities).

Maybe I just got lucky, but I hit it off with my very first norn ranger. From the moment she loaded up at the start of the Great Hunt, it fit so very perfectly.

Honestly, for me, connecting to the character visually is more important then its profession. I can do well enough, and adapt to, any profession—but if my character looks like barf, I won’t have an interest in playing it.
I spend a lot of time tweaking the details of my character’s appearance. I try to portray their personalities through their looks—each one has a certain “vibe”, and because of that, they all feel different when I play them. That way, when I get bored with one character type, I can switch to something very different.
At any rate, the first time I connected with my character was long before launch. I was so excited for the game, I took a lot of time designing her and sketching her. When I got the opportunity to participate in betas and bring my design to life, the connection was solidified. Nyoka Gorefell, charr warrior, my main to this day

I think it was when they were releasing information on each class.
In GW1 I played Warrior and I tanked like crazy.
No need for someone in the group to take the damage, I’ll do it.
Even in LOTRO I’ve played Guardian-like characters.

Then comes the information on Guardian.
The colors seem to be a soft blue and grey, burning with the fires of magic to protect your allies.
Throw boons around like Santa with presents, mitigate your friend’s damage, stand on the line of combat and shout “Come on now!”

So I sat back, thought up a name for my first character, and Guardian became my main.

I’ve always played as a male human ranger in just about every fantasy-themed game (MMO or otherwise) I’ve ever played, and the GW series is no different.

In fact, my GW2 character is the direct descendant of my GW1 character and even has the same last name, not to mention the same profession.

Never. To many limits on personal/world back story plus limits on free looks eliminates any chance for me to connect to my character in any thing but a profession standpoint.

Sorry, I came from City of Heroes where the world is a sketch, customization of total look at creation time and freedom to write your own backstory. There I could connect to my character(s). Here I’m orphan/circus human female thief #54349. Same set of skills available as every other thief.