Guild Wars 2

Hi guys! I’ve istalled GW2 and now i’m waiting the files download.
It’s a long wait, so i’m wondering… what kind of profession I will choose?
I was pretty attracted by the elementarist, i love ranged magic classes and the elementarist seemes pretty nice… and the stances thing seems cool.

But, i’m afraid to choose the worst profession for me. I mean, it’s not the weakest, but i’ve read around and the elementarist seems to be the most difficult and at the same time the most underpower.
I’ve played frost mage in wow wotlk and i don’t wont again to play a class that is powerful if you are extremely skilled and weak if you are a “normal skilled” player.
The mesmer seems less cool, all that purple stuffs… XD and it’s all clone based, really weird. But it’s still a ranged magic class and i’ve readed that it’s pretty strong in pvp and for sure is easier than the elementarist.
What do you think about the mesmer, do you consider it a funny profession or it’s boring?
Thank you, and sorry for the bad english!!

I think Mesmers are a really unique proffesion, a proffesion that some what rewards a player based on their skill.

Both proffesions are quite versatile in terms of support and damage, but an elementist has more of a direct damage approach, where as the mesmer, the enemy pays for the mistakes it makes against the mesmer.

You sound like you won’t like either of the two proffesions

From what you’r saying I’d say go play warrior instead of torturing yourself

Elemental is more AOE.

Mesmer is more single target.

I have little experience with the Elementalist, but the Mesmer is decent.

It can take a while to kill mobs because you have to get the clones spawned and Mesmers lack decent AOE skills compared to most classes in the game. Mesmers are also reliant on having a mob selected to attack unlike a lot of classes and are one of the slowest classes in the game movement wise (many classes have decent movement buffs but not the Mesmer).

If you want a good all around class, I would pick Engineer. My first level 80 character is an engineer and she is great. I player her mainly for end game.

Engineers are mainly a ranged AOE class. You have everything from point blank range (bombs) to short to medium range (flame thrower), medium to long range (pistols) and extreme long range (grenades and Mortars).

They also can summon turrets.

End game, when you are stuck farming mobs and trying to tag them before they die in 0.5 seconds of spawning, you will regret ever choosing a Mesmer and kick yourself for not playing a class that can AOE tag everything like an Engineer.

By the way, I only play Mesmer because they look cool. I’m not a fan of the Mesmer playstyle… I keep thinking it will get better but it hasn’t.

If you enjoy playing an elementalist, then play an elementalist. It is my main and I am loving it. Professions will get buffed and nerfed over time, but if you enjoy a certain playstyle then in my opinion it is best to stick with that. I don’t think elementalist is that difficult. You will get used to using the 4 attunements. If you are a normal skilled player you will master it (I did as well).

Also, it might be a challenge playing a completely new game with dynamic combat and dodge system where you can feel squishy. But that goes for any profession in this game. If you really enjoy the class stick with it and try different builds and learn to dodge.

Having said that, I do think playing a mesmer is fun too. They are completely different from anything I have seen in any game before. Because of that alone they are already worth a try, but I find them more challenging as Onza already pointed out, you get a benefit from the mistakes the enemy makes.

The engineer seems cool but it’s not magic, i don’t find it so attractive. But anyway thank you for your explanation, maybe i will use it as 2° pg.

So the main difference is: mesmer single target and more elusive, elementarist aoe and more direct.
Well, single target always works good in my experience, but also aoe plus cc it’s a good choise!

Yeah maybe i should choose element and try it

What about a Necromancer?

Esya pretty much nailed it. IMO the elementalist feel much more active than the mesmer because of attunement dancing. In large encounters, you really feel like you’re single handedly whipping up a storm and throwing fireballs everywhere.

Mesmers are very unique to GW2. I started one because I like their weapon types (swords, pistol, torch) but it does feel a bit static compared to my ele.

In a game like this though, there’s NO reason not to start one of both. Even if you make them both the same race you can have a different storyline and gameplay experience.

You may also want to jump into structured pvp as one of the first things you do in world. It bumps you up to 80 and unlocks all of your skills so you’ll get a taste of what’s to come if you develop that profession.

I don’t think elementalist is particularly hard to play.

It does play very differently depending on which weapons you equip. I play dagger/dagger sometimes toss in a scepter or focus. It’s quick and mobile, short range.

My S.O. also plays an elementalist. She goes staff usually, big AoEs at long range, doesn’t move around so much. If you put our two characters together, a casual observer would think we’re different professions.

With mesmer IME they take a while before they really come together for pve. Extremely strong for pvp and wvw. But they do a lot better with a full utility bar and traits.

Most people I know who play an elementalist have a hard time with it. Simply because an elementalist is very fragile. It requires you to move more. I’d say it gets better at higher levels but even though it requires more movement the elementalist doesn’t get weapon swapping. Also you need to invest in traits to make elements better and you can’t go full out in all 4 of course.
So I find the lack of weapon swapping a bit of a shame but it is cheaper.

Mesmer is just a very unique class. Don’t really see something like it in other games. It can be tricky to play right though. Personally, my main is a mesmer, I find it interesting and especially in dungeons and pvp you move a lot, no matter which class really. Still, mesmer would not by definition be the easiest class to figure out when you’re new to GW.

Mesmers take a little work to be good, elementalists take near perfection to not die every other second. Should be a pretty easy choice to be honest.

thank you all, now i’m playing an elementarist… by now it’s pretty funny.

I also came to GW2 hoping to roll a mage, like I did in WoW, Warhammer online and countless other games.

But GW2 has no mage, elementalist is a deceptive name for “the hybrid class”. You know, most MMOs have their hybrid classes and they are permanently plagued by issues, bugs, then one day they are nerfed in everything because 2 players in the world figured out a way to align all the stars and achieved an totally specific OP combo.

I can say GW2 has been well worth my money, elementalist is a fun class but it’s no real mage and this will push me out.

I just started an ele this weekend and I’m really enjoying it. I rarely play casters in any game, but this class is a lot of fun. Though it takes a awhile to open up all the weapon / weapon combos since you have to do it four times each for each element.

But…I probably wouldn’t have stayed with the ele if it had been my first toon. It was my 6th toon and I was pretty ccomfortable with the game mechanics by then.

Ele’s are a bit squishy compared…well, to most anything else.