Guild Wars 2

With all these new updates coming, I hope they take a serious look at which classes are working – Warrior/Guardian/mesmer..which are ok but need some improvements – Ele/thief and those which are bad Ranger/Engi – to those that are utterly dreadfull Necro..imo

How could they have got the necro..one of the core classes and most powerful from GW 1 so wrong? Awful awful minions….terrible dull weapon skills and the only build worth playing ie conditionmancer now in danger of suffering massive nerfs through this upcoming aoe revision.

Currently the top four classes Warrior/Guardian and Mesmer with possibly DD eles seem the only ones worth playing. What do you think?

Have you ever watched some of those sick thief vids?

Engi is still viable but requires more skill to use properly.
I agree that Ranger and Necro are just completely no viable for any real use that other classes can’t perform better.

Horheristo.3607:

Have you ever watched some of those sick thief vids?

Engi is still viable but requires more skill to use properly.
I agree that Ranger and Necro are just completely no viable for any real use that other classes can’t perform better.

Yeah I was thinking more of from a pve point of view…Thieves are good in pvp but no one really wants them in a dungeon group for example..and people actively KICK rangers..which is just really sad imo

The Minstrel. I have yet to see him so far.

Mitch.4781:

Horheristo.3607:

Have you ever watched some of those sick thief vids?

Engi is still viable but requires more skill to use properly.
I agree that Ranger and Necro are just completely no viable for any real use that other classes can’t perform better.

Yeah I was thinking more of from a pve point of view…Thieves are good in pvp but no one really wants them in a dungeon group for example..and people actively KICK rangers..which is just really sad imo

Not true either, since Shadow refuge combined with swiftness, helps quite a bit in skipping content safely, that wouldn’t be possible for the party otherwise.

When I farmed my gift for Quip, I was lucky enough to party with a thief every time in CM, skipping quite a bit with Refuge, which made the runs faster.
We did the same to rez party members in tight spots.

I do think it’s their only redeeming value in a dungeon though…

Ranger, Engineer, and Necromancer will be your typical answers. Rangers pets are bad and Rangers themselves don’t do anything outstanding especially after losing their Greatsword damage and Shortbow speed. Engineers are buggy as hell (but it’s okay because Engineers are supposed to be glitchy by design see Rocket Boots harr harr) and are constantly getting nerfed without being equally buffed. Necromancers rely on either pretty weak power attacks or strong conditions which are too limited in their function to consider them viable compared to pure damage. I also think Thieves need a good, hard look.

Horheristo.3607:

Mitch.4781:

Horheristo.3607:

Have you ever watched some of those sick thief vids?

Engi is still viable but requires more skill to use properly.
I agree that Ranger and Necro are just completely no viable for any real use that other classes can’t perform better.

Yeah I was thinking more of from a pve point of view…Thieves are good in pvp but no one really wants them in a dungeon group for example..and people actively KICK rangers..which is just really sad imo

Not true either, since Shadow refuge combined with swiftness, helps quite a bit in skipping content safely, that wouldn’t be possible for the party otherwise.

When I farmed my gift for Quip, I was lucky enough to party with a thief every time in CM, skipping quite a bit with Refuge, which made the runs faster.
We did the same to rez party members in tight spots.

I do think it’s their only redeeming value in a dungeon though…

Exactly..you’re having to pinpoint a particular circumstance..even then..warriors can mass speed buff, so can mesmers + mass invis….eles with air swiftness group buff..guardians…Thief isn’t offering anythign extra to the group that these classes haven’t already covered.

I also think its HILARIOUS how you can basically outrun staff 1 on a necro..I mean really..REALLY???

Elementalists need more builds, right now only 1 viable that 80% of eles are using (including me ^^)

Thief needs rebalancing due to their 1shot burst damage. Ele needs more builds, was happy when I read that they might consider allowing Ele using greatsword. Engineer needs more builds too. Guardian need more unique skills not some same skill with different animation.

Ranger could use a good looking into.

FateZero.8536:

Thief needs rebalancing due to their 1shot burst damage. Ele needs more builds, was happy when I read that they might consider allowing Ele using greatsword. Engineer needs more builds too. Guardian need more unique skills not some same skill with different animation.

Greatsword would be interesting, but I think first they should buff / tweak the staff and scepter builds. D/D is fine, D/F is also fine (people don’t use it as much, synergy not as good as D/D but still fine). S/F is sad, and staff is only useful in certain circumstances.

I don’t think ele needs whole overhaul. I think they just need to make peace with what the class is so we don’t get these ‘oh – nerfing AOE lololol’ bombshells dropped when 90% of the class skills are AOE.

All but warrior and guardian.
Genuinely.

Engineer mechanic is fine. They need some buff to make their builds solid but not revision. Ele need some buff and nerf on different builds too, but again mechanic is fine and it doesn’t revision. Ranger, however, do need a revision. The existing mechanic simple does not work well. No matter what you try, it would not be “useful”, even underpowerly “useful”. I don’t play nerco. Due to the amount of bugs they have, I would say we can start talking about them after most of bugs are fixed.

Engineers aren’t horrible. They just have a lot of bugs and some quality of life issues that need to be addressed. Biggest problem with Engineer IMO is that it doesn’t really match the description. It’s not a very flexible profession at all.

It’s very good at applying conditions, and surprisingly good at removing them as well (assuming you spec for it) but your role is determined by your spec, which ties you to a particular kit or two, rather than being able to fluidly change roles based on kit, and having your spec determine the one(s) that you’re actually good at.

If you don’t go 30 points into explosives and take grenadier, then you shouldn’t use a grenade kit, period, but if you do, then grenade kit should be 80% of what you do.

If you want to be bursty single target, you spec into tools and firearms and use a rifle. You’re not going to swap mid fight to any other kind of role.

Worst to me are ranger (honestly don’t know what their purpose is or what they do that’s valuable and can’t be done better by some one else).

Second worst are Necros. More than one condition based character in a group ends up being overkill often, and minions just have weird and buggy AI, and are hard to control. But if minions could be controlled like ranger pets then that would be a slap in the face to rangers.

nethykins.7986:

All but warrior and guardian.
Genuinely.

This on the 4689745th power. How can the game be so broken, is beyond me…

Call me insane. But I quite like playing as Engineer. Its not perfect, but I can survive a whole lot longer than my Warrior.

Ranger, Necro and Engineer all need serious work. Not just number balancing, but real changes. Way too many weapons are dysfunctional. Trait lines are messes. Riddled with bugs etc. etc. etc.

Mesmer, Ele and Thief need number balancing, up and down here and there, but they are generally workable. Don’t need any HUGE revisions.

Guardian and Warrior are generally fine, though some changes can also be made, they need it the least.

THM.2036:

Call me insane. But I quite like playing as Engineer. Its not perfect, but I can survive a whole lot longer than my Warrior.

Really??

- Ranger
- Engineer
- Ele
- Necro

That order. The rest is fine

FateZero.8536:

Thief needs rebalancing due to their 1shot burst damage. Ele needs more builds, was happy when I read that they might consider allowing Ele using greatsword. Engineer needs more builds too. Guardian need more unique skills not some same skill with different animation.

Could you provide a source on the Ele Greatsword? I would main a GS Ele in a heartbeat.

Most if not all, to be brutally honest. =/

Just Ranger and Necro for PvE imo.

Duke Blackrose.4981:

FateZero.8536:

Thief needs rebalancing due to their 1shot burst damage. Ele needs more builds, was happy when I read that they might consider allowing Ele using greatsword. Engineer needs more builds too. Guardian need more unique skills not some same skill with different animation.

Could you provide a source on the Ele Greatsword? I would main a GS Ele in a heartbeat.

Afaik all ANet said was we may see added weapons for professions in the future, Ele GS was just used as an example.. but then again I only read the manuscript not watched the video.

And on topic I strongly believe thief is horribly designed and needs to be completely redone in the image of the Assassin from GW which uses combo’s with lead, off and dual attacks but I know that’ll never happen so.

Rukia.4802:

Duke Blackrose.4981:

FateZero.8536:

Thief needs rebalancing due to their 1shot burst damage. Ele needs more builds, was happy when I read that they might consider allowing Ele using greatsword. Engineer needs more builds too. Guardian need more unique skills not some same skill with different animation.

Could you provide a source on the Ele Greatsword? I would main a GS Ele in a heartbeat.

Afaik all ANet said was we may see added weapons for professions in the future, Ele GS was just used as an example.. but then again I only read the manuscript not watched the video.

And on topic I strongly believe thief is horribly designed and needs to be completely redone in the image of the Assassin from GW which uses combo’s with lead, off and dual attacks but I know that’ll never happen so.

Thief needs to be redesigned – slightly – because it doesn’t fit the GW2 paradigms. It’s a burst class in a game built around skill-intensive fights with self-sufficient characters. It performs poorly in most PvE content (except with specific builds) because it lacks in support (with the exception of AoE stealth and weak venoms) and is generally outclassed by other options. In PvP, on the other hand, the class’s balance status is questionable because of its absurd damage potential, low skill floor, and easy access to stealth.

Coming from a guy who has a few 80s..

Necro, Ranger and Engineer

IMO, the disparty b/w Ranger/Necro and Thief/Mesmer in WvW is very noticeable. Not saying Thief/Mesmer are OP or anything, they are both just very solid classes, as are Warriors/Guardians/Eles (well played Eles anyway).

Each class has a few great things, but they definitely need to look at them.

With the upcoming AoE nerf, it will be really sad if they nerf epidemic, which is one of the Necros best abilities.

It will also speak volumes to me if they can’t even be bothered fixing the Necro minions in the next patch.

They have pets that proc off runes or sigils that have more solid AI than the Necro – I don’t understand this.

It’s a class mechanic that’s not working – still in beta phase if you will. The Necro forums are saturated with requests/complaints/prayers and no response to this issue at all.

Engineers in WvW are fine, its just a matter of working out some of the classes mechanics, although in PvE they are less than stellar.

Thieves in WvWvW need nerfs. Perma stealth, highest burst, fastest run speed. Not even remotely balanced.

After the aoe nerf and ANet destroys the bunker spec that IS the only really viable and non-boring ele spec, Ele will be in worse shape than engi.

At least engi has survivability.

Rukia.4802:

Afaik all ANet said was we may see added weapons for professions in the future, Ele GS was just used as an example.. but then again I only read the manuscript not watched the video.

And on topic I strongly believe thief is horribly designed and needs to be completely redone in the image of the Assassin from GW which uses combo’s with lead, off and dual attacks but I know that’ll never happen so.

Could you link that source a guildie told me the same thing but I find it believable yet hard to believe at the same time.

Engineer
Ranger
Necromancer
Elementalist (Survivability needs addressing,especially low levels)

Its the 3 weakest character classes, which are:-

1 Engineer
2 Nercro
3 Ranger

What do those 3 have in common?

They all have summons of one sort or another, Rangers (pets), Necro (minions) and Engineers (turrets). The summons however don’t make up for the individual loss of power in one form or another.

Basically, Anet just can’t do any class with summons, they fail every time.

CHEN.3645:

Rukia.4802:

Afaik all ANet said was we may see added weapons for professions in the future, Ele GS was just used as an example.. but then again I only read the manuscript not watched the video.

And on topic I strongly believe thief is horribly designed and needs to be completely redone in the image of the Assassin from GW which uses combo’s with lead, off and dual attacks but I know that’ll never happen so.

Could you link that source a guildie told me the same thing but I find it believable yet hard to believe at the same time.

http://dulfy.net/2013/01/17/gw2-dev-livestream-jan-17-transcript/

He means this. It’s really vague.

Columba.9730:

Thieves in WvWvW need nerfs. Perma stealth, highest burst, fastest run speed. Not even remotely balanced.

1. There is no such thing as permanent stealth, even with culling which is ridiculously exaggerated.
2. Thieves don’t have the highest burst and the Backstab combo is so easy to counter that you have to be logged in while AFK to be killed by it (or just terrible at PvP… lol).
3. The fastest that a Thief can run is at 33% speed with the Swiftness buff which they have less access to then most classes and the Signet of Shadows only gives 25% speed buff (like every other speed signet now). Also, Thieves are supposed to be mobile, complaining about that is like complaining that Elementalists can use magic.
4. Please, stop spamming the forums about how unbalanced Thieves are; it’s ridiculous.

From heavy affected to perfect healthy :
1) Engineer
2) Necro
3) Ele
4) Ranger
5) Mesmer
6) Guardian
7) Thief
8) Warrior

Rangers are terrible. I hugely regret going for a ranger main but I’ve put so much into it I can’t really re-roll now. However at the same time, I just don’t want to play on it any more. The pets are vile, the damage and utility is bad, they’re very limited in their options and after getting other classes to higher levels the ranger just feels useless and boring. Not only that, but there’s discrimination against rangers from other players. I wish I’d stuck with my beta plan of making a mesmer main.

As the OP asks class rather than classes, I’ll limit it to the one that is furthest away from the alleged design and that is engineer.

In tPvP it is probably the least played class, as there is it is outperformed in any role by at least two other classes, nor does it have the all roundness of say a mesmer (let alone the utility).

I don’t PvE much, but from what I hear it is not exactly in demand.

In WvW it is not great either, it is outshone by other classes when it comes to support, it doesn’t provide any key utility like mesmer portal/timewarp or ele whirly thing to protect siege, grenade spam is useful sometimes, but then again you also see teh short comings, need to hit something a bit away from the wall, get an ele with meteor storm, your grendes can’t hit it. Nor is its damage or survivability anything to write home about, its mobility has indirectly got worse has they have buffed other classes speed signets.

Overall the class utterly fails to live up to its versatile design premise, the trait system does not fit an all round class well, neither does the idea of kits being crammed into the utility slots, more than any other class I play the engineer struggles to get okay levels of condi removal, DPS & survability (including stun/immob breakers) on a single build, something I can easily do on say my thief and as an all round, versatile class my mesmer is far superior.

And all that is without even goign into the bugs (the only class in the same ball park for this is necro), unfinished mechanics (like weapon stats not counting on a kit when you use a kit in PvE or WvW).

I hear it was the last class added (to a game already rushed out the door before it was finished), it shows.

All of them, the UI, more skills, and some energy(mana) lots of it. Yeah, I want downtime and maybe some “holy trinity”. Oh, almost forgot about content that is actually challenging. Inb4 this post being deleted by a moderator.

Engineer and necromancer.

Definitely Ranger.

I never could find a ranged build worth playing or that fit my play style. My level 80 Ranger runs a melee-centric build that actually flows pretty well, even if it still feels a bit less capable than my other level 80s (Elementalist, Thief, Mesmer).

Nothing wrong with a non-ranged Ranger, but there definitely needs to be a lot more viable builds and all Ranger weapon skills really need review, because the common trend for ranger weapon skills is that they seem to have much poorer synergy/flow than most other profession weapon skills in the game. (Sometimes it feels like they developed the ranger skills first, then just randomly distributed them between the weapons).

Necro can however be tanky like no other class. But of course a little more damage wouldn’t be bad

Classes that need to be fixed in this order:
1) Engineer-need weapon stats and an actual slot to place one kit, why are they forced to give up a utility slot. They also need to make kits make more sense. For example they need to make grenades and wrench kits all condition based damage and make flamethrower and bombs all power based. Same things need to happen with rifle/pistol..need to remove the bleed from rifle for more DMG, increase the condition to power ratio on pistols to reflect conditions builds.
2) Ranger- pets are lacking
3) Necro- class is aweful
4) Ele- needs survivability
5) Mesmer- Balanced
6) Warrior- Balanced
7) Guardian- Balanced, but maybe give some various utilities. Still owned the Mesmer and Warriors though.
8) Thief- Nerf the insane burst damage….no reason people are dying in 3 seconds.

Goloith.6349:

Classes that need to be fixed in this order:
1) Engineer-need weapon stats and an actual slot to place one kit, why are they forced to give up a utility slot. They also need to make kits make more sense. For example they need to make grenades and wrench kits all condition based damage and make flamethrower and bombs all power based. Same things need to happen with rifle/pistol..need to remove the bleed from rifle for more DMG, increase the condition to power ratio on pistols to reflect conditions builds.
2) Ranger- pets are lacking
3) Necro- class is aweful
4) Ele- needs survivability
5) Mesmer- Balanced
6) Warrior- Balanced
7) Guardian- Balanced, but maybe give some various utilities. Still owned the Mesmer and Warriors though.
8) Thief- Nerf the insane burst damage….no reason people are dying in 3 seconds.

Warriors have the same burst as the Thief with higher defensive bases and better crowd control. Both the Warrior and the Thief are easy to counter. The only thing that needs drastic nerfing for the Thief is culling in WvW.

Guardians are the best class in the game, hands down. Not exactly “balanced.”

The classes that most need a look: in order:

Thief – this profession needs more innate survival without being crutched on buggy stealth and a “kill them before they kill you” burst damage gimmick that does NOT work with the insane health pools in pve and damage flying everywhere in pvp. They need to be made less gimmicky and more devious.

elementalist – this profession needs more innate survival without having to crutch on the extra vitality and healing of 30 water. Everyone specs D/D bunker because its the only thing they have, and they have to tank it up because their damage rewards for sacrificing that survival (in both aspects of the game) are simply not up to par.

Necro – this class is a MAJOR snoozer to play, it’s the first profession I tried, and I kept retrying it because I like the image behind it, but its just BORING.. to TEARS.. it makes me want to watch campaign ads from the whole 2012 election over and over.

Engineer: This profession needs more dynamic gameplay, just like the necro. It should be moved in the direction of D/D elementalist attunement swapping.

Incurafy.6329:

Columba.9730:

Thieves in WvWvW need nerfs. Perma stealth, highest burst, fastest run speed. Not even remotely balanced.

1. There is no such thing as permanent stealth, even with culling which is ridiculously exaggerated.
2. Thieves don’t have the highest burst and the Backstab combo is so easy to counter that you have to be logged in while AFK to be killed by it (or just terrible at PvP… lol).
3. The fastest that a Thief can run is at 33% speed with the Swiftness buff which they have less access to then most classes and the Signet of Shadows only gives 25% speed buff (like every other speed signet now). Also, Thieves are supposed to be mobile, complaining about that is like complaining that Elementalists can use magic.
4. Please, stop spamming the forums about how unbalanced Thieves are; it’s ridiculous.

^ Constantly hear the kvetching bout perma stealth (teach me how please) and fastest run. Yet have players flying away from me on a streak of fire, or other escape stuff all the time. Can barely keep up with Infiltrator Arrow. I smell feces. Dunno bout burst. Not the build I’m on. Not sure what build gonna settle on. Fun is my reason for a build/playing, not some holy grail of most efficient dps/survivability. Playing as a clone of everyone else is pointless. May as well call it clone wars then.

Classes as a whole that need to be completely rebuilt from the ground up? I’d say the Ranger and Engineer are the only two so broken right now that they simply make no sense in this game.

Classes that have so many bugs holding them back that the class feels worthless? On top of the two listed above, I’d add Necromancers here because the class is built somewhat well, it’s the bugs that have been reported and ignored for months that are getting in the way.

Now that said, a lot of classes in this game have absolutely terrible trait trees and skills that limit the class’ options. This would bring Elementalists into the list with the above classes.

When all is said and done, the only classes that seem to be functioning at all in this game with actual build diversity and weapon options are the Thief, Guardian, and Warrior. And while these classes aren’t without their issues, they certainly aren’t teetering on the line between being useful and useless like the above.

First things first, I think they need to offer more skills for the same weapon. So for the utility skills you can mix and match you should be able to change the weapon skills a bit providing many more different builds and making classes such as engineer and necro more powerful because they could go all aoe skills or something.

Meglobob.8620:

Its the 3 weakest character classes, which are:-

1 Engineer
2 Nercro
3 Ranger

What do those 3 have in common?

They all have summons of one sort or another, Rangers (pets), Necro (minions) and Engineers (turrets). The summons however don’t make up for the individual loss of power in one form or another.

Basically, Anet just can’t do any class with summons, they fail every time.

So basically you’re saying:

Up the scaling and AI of minions in general, and you’re fixing 3 professions at once?

Guess that might not be the worst idea

The Thief would be my first priority. The way the Thief’s stealth is currently working is ridiculous. It was meant as a tool to keep the Thief alive for a short period, but now it has turned into an almost permanent thing, making the Thief next to impossible to catch in a fight, or predict an attack from. Basically, the Thief has turned into an Assassin, which was exactly what it shouldn’t be. I would love to see the “old” Thief return again, that relied on movement and speed, rather then hiding in stealth. The Thief also desperately needs some more support abilities to help allies.

The Ranger also needs a great overhaul. The pet is still not where it needs to be, as it still has problems reviving with Lick Wounds, the F2 abilities are still not sharp and reactive, and AoE is still a major issue. Traits are also a mess. They are basically a mixture of useless or unimpressive effects. Some more support skills would also be nice here.

I recently began playing a Necromancer, about a weeks ago, because I’d read it was hard to play, and I enjoy difficult classes. But to my surprise it wasn’t so much hard to play because the Necromancer is a complicated professions, it’s simply just next to impossible to make a working build. Playing with the Necromancer in sPvP, I just feel like I never deal any worthwhile damage. There’s a lot of fun skills there, but none of it feels very useful when you can’t defeat any players. Playing the Necromancer, it feels like it’s too much work, for too little gain.

I don’t play Warrior, Guardian, or Elementalist, so I can’t really comment on them. However, when playing against an Elementalist or Guardian, they do seem way too strong when it comes boons. It’s feels like I’m trying to bring down a brick wall with a baseball bat sometimes; it hurts me more then it hurts them. The Mesmer feels really balanced to me, although shattering seems way too powerful when it comes to burst damage. I play a stealth/clone Mesmer, though, so it’s not something I notice unless I’m playing against it, which is why the Mesmer seems balanced to me. The Engineer I haven’t played for a while, I need to pick that up again. I hope it’s not going to feel like playing the Necromancer..

This is obviously a “my class first” thread, so buff mesmers for PvE.
Seriously, give us some more options than just shatter cannon…