Which class would you prefer to someone...
I’m really a thief. Stealthy most of the times, but I deal heavy “damage” when I backstab into fight.
They redid the forums, there is no more class balance forum any more, that’s closed to new posts.
Anyway…
Ranger is a good one if you’re not looking to do dungeons. They have good options for range, and two good weapons for melee. Greatsword is easier to use, but does less damage, sword does more damage but the dodges and movements are built into the skills and takes some getting used to. Both look and feel impressive, though. Plus, pets! Once you have several to choose from, you can easily adjust your build just a bit by changing which pets you have. Bears to tank for you, birds for glass cannons, or one of the more in-between choices such as cats and wolves. There’s even a few pets that have a special skill that’s a buff instead of an attack.
delicate, brick-like subtlety.
I think mesmer fits the bill for you. It has get-out-of-fights skill thanks to invisibility and distracting clones, but can do ranged or melee quite well and quite interchangeably with the right weapon swaps. I’m no min-maxer and tend to stick with a build and maybe swap out one utility to fit situations, but I find my mesmers do great all ’round (I have 3 at 80).
I find the best all-purpose class to be Warrior. They come with a fair amount of support, do decent damage, and survive better than most classes (which is good for diving into unfamiliar content). They melee well and switch to range without much trouble.
Guardian could also work, especially on the melee/range divide. They get plenty of tools for all ranges.
“I’m finding companies should sell access to forums,
it seems many like them better than the games they comment on.” -Horrorscope.7632
I’m just curious, but what makes you say that thief is a very situation class? Are we talking about PvE or PvP/WvW?
I agree that warrior is probably what you want to try with it having so many options. It is pretty fun as a high dps melee with the hammer and greatest, but you can also have quite a bit of fun with the bow or rifle for ranged. Depending on what you feel like doing, there are many skills that let you be the hero and lead a charge into a zero ball on wvw or sit in the back lines with ranged support. You can even be a healer with some shout builds.
As someone who has mained a warrior, I can say for sure that it is a great class that can do pretty much anything you feel like. It also is the class with the largest amount of usable weapons which makes it very versatile.
Overall a very good choice.
Guardian could also work, especially on the melee/range divide. They get plenty of tools for all ranges.
No. Guardian is right up there with thief on the “highly melee-centric” list. They have one single, slow-casting ranged weapon and a close-range weapon. You really don’t want to have to range things with a guardian.