Guild Wars 2

A quick straw poll: What’s your favourite specialization so far?

Why? For which game type? What builds are you thinking of playing with?

I’m looking at the specializations and I’m very uncertain which I will play first – I’m intrigued what others are thinking.

Please try to avoid this becoming a qq negative thread, I’m only interested in what people are looking forward to

Far and away the Daredevil. Reaper has a really distant 2nd. The others don’t interest me since all the other elites (except Daredevil — even though it was it seems to be the best one so far for PVE) seem to be designed with 5v5 PVP in mind instead of PVE… which, surprise, is the only game mode I play.

Daredevil, mostly because I already love very evade based thief, it just makes S/D better and staff looks really interesting. Also best elite skill ever.

Daredevil. And I’m not even a huge thief fan. The reason why is simply because it is the ONLY elite spec so far that (to me) feels like it is a completely new/different playstyle. I thought that elite specs were supposed to feel this way, and so far, the majority of them have just been buffed versions of their core profession.

Daredevil encourages a shift AWAY from stealth based builds while still providing synergies should you choose to go that way with the spec anyway.

No other spec feels this fresh. Continuum Shift was a nice idea that could have felt this way in concept, but it is so skill reliant and short in duration that what it becomes is an elite CD management utility. Ultimately it plays almost identically to the current mesmer (which I ‘main,’ but am getting bored of… I am honestly thinking of changing when HoT launches).

The same can be said of the other Elite specs. In MY opinion, they just don’t feel like new gameplay. I’m hoping Forge (?) and Druid are different.

Don’t get me wrong, I will probably play all the new elite specs (because they ARE good)… but Daredevil is the only one that actually feels like how I thought elite specs were supposed to feel.

Daredevil and chronomancer, without a doubtI just love everything about the staff and the physical skills (not to mention the dodge mod traits) and Chrono is just amazing, no explanation needed (yes i am a mesmer main :p )

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Far and away the Daredevil. Reaper has a really distant 2nd. The others don’t interest me since all the other elites (except Daredevil — even though it was it seems to be the best one so far for PVE) seem to be designed with 5v5 PVP in mind instead of PVE… which, surprise, is the only game mode I play.

that’s because those other classes lacked something in the area which the elite specs are hopefully making up for.
since you can run berzerker’s gear in almost every mode for pve, i use the term ‘lacking’ for that game mode sparingly.

Reaper, because I haven’t had a chance to try Daredevil yet.

Chronomancer: I need to travel a lot more on the learning curve on this. I’m handy enough on mesmer but I haven’t internalized Chrono utilities or how to employ the F5 yet. So I don’t feel effective.

Dragonhunter: It was fun enough and not hard to figure out, but it’s annoying to have to convince foes to run over the traps, which I have to put down at my feet even though I want to LB at range. I feel the traps and LB don’t have synergy, so I’ll need different builds to make this spec work.

Tempest: I haven’t tested it. My Eles are my least played and I don’t see that changing with the elite, so I wanted to focus on what I use most (Mesmer, Guardian, Thief) plus Revenant.

Reaper: It’s so much visceral fun. The shroud saved my butt numerous times, both when it auto-deployed and when I deliberately triggered it for extra oomph. I generally enjoy Shouts for their instant gratification. I loved the look I put together for my Reaper, enough that I might just have to make a Norn Necro now (I already have human, sylvari, and asura). I really like all the animations and visuals.

I’ll try out Herald and Daredevil this coming weekend for sure. I’m keeping my Reaper, and I’ll use my Revenant to test Herald, so I may delete the Chrono and DH to add in Daredevil and Tempest. We’ll see. I might want to stay focused mostly on one thing this time.

Daredevil could well become my favorite. It suits my Thief’s style so well. I’ll have to see how easily I slide into the mechanics of it.

edit: Revenant isn’t a spec but it is a new thing, so I’ll mention that it’s another learning curve one for me thanks to having to juggle all the weapon/legend combos and keep in mind which one of what I’m using moment to moment. It feels more stance dancey than Elementalist now!

Lightsbane.9012:

TheFantasticGman.9451:

Far and away the Daredevil. Reaper has a really distant 2nd. The others don’t interest me since all the other elites (except Daredevil — even though it was it seems to be the best one so far for PVE) seem to be designed with 5v5 PVP in mind instead of PVE… which, surprise, is the only game mode I play.

that’s because those other classes lacked something in the area which the elite specs are hopefully making up for.
since you can run berzerker’s gear in almost every mode for pve, i use the term ‘lacking’ for that game mode sparingly.

Well, don’t believe they succeed with that on the Ele or Thief… because it’s just more of the same. Thief class mechanic didn’t even change. Then again, it was what they were lacking in PVP, not PVE… and since I don’t PVP I have no idea what they were lacking there… which is why the elites are lackluster to me.

Daredevil and Berserker look the most fun but they’re also the most likely to be toned down before launch.

It’s interesting seeing the posts from others here.

I’m very excited about the daredevil – those acrobatic animations look amazing and I love the idea of evade based play. But I felt the same way about the Berserker last week I’ve played Warrior most and condi warrior seems to be more viable in WvW and PvP with Berserker.

I’m thinking that my new main will be Revenant when HoT launches. For now I will keep testing the elite specs as much as possible in the remain BWEs to decide which one I want to focus on. I suspect the it will take a fair bit of time to “unlock” an elite spec so I really want to know ahead of time what I should be investing in.

I don’t think it’s going to take much time at all. As far as we know, all you need are the hero points to unlock the associated skills and traits. It’d be nice if there was a story explanation for your character’s sudden growth, but I don’t see this happening. I’d be happy if it did, but it just doesn’t really seem like something ANET will want to set a precedent for since they will be releasing (hopefully) many more specs down the road.

not judging by traits,skills etc but by what they look and feel like

i like most of them.

Tempest feels a little unfitting, the rest is good so far

soakman.7539:

I don’t think it’s going to take much time at all. As far as we know, all you need are the hero points to unlock the associated skills and traits. It’d be nice if there was a story explanation for your character’s sudden growth, but I don’t see this happening. I’d be happy if it did, but it just doesn’t really seem like something ANET will want to set a precedent for since they will be releasing (hopefully) many more specs down the road.

Well if that is true it means I don’t have to rush a load of testing on the BWEs… I’m away working for a lot of the weekends so it’s a relief!

I guess I’ll just get 60 hero points on each prof. in preparation.

I main a mesmer, but my favorite specialization so far is, by far, the Reaper. It really feels fun to play.

Mesmer, feels the most op and useful.

Tempest!

said no one ever…

I really like the looks of Chrono the best. Probably becasue Mes is my main. But I also feel a lot of excite for Zerker and DD. Can’t wait to add Druid to my list after they reveal. ;3

Altair.8402:

Tempest!

said no one ever…

Lol

Druid. Hands down.

Chronomancer, with Reaper and Daredevil tied for second.

Berserker. #comeatmebro

soakman.7539:

I don’t think it’s going to take much time at all. As far as we know, all you need are the hero points to unlock the associated skills and traits. It’d be nice if there was a story explanation for your character’s sudden growth, but I don’t see this happening. I’d be happy if it did, but it just doesn’t really seem like something ANET will want to set a precedent for since they will be releasing (hopefully) many more specs down the road.

Well if that is true it means I don’t have to rush a load of testing on the BWEs… I’m away working for a lot of the weekends so it’s a relief!

I guess I’ll just get 60 hero points on each prof. in preparation.

Jim.9532:

soakman.7539:

I don’t think it’s going to take much time at all. As far as we know, all you need are the hero points to unlock the associated skills and traits. It’d be nice if there was a story explanation for your character’s sudden growth, but I don’t see this happening. I’d be happy if it did, but it just doesn’t really seem like something ANET will want to set a precedent for since they will be releasing (hopefully) many more specs down the road.

Well if that is true it means I don’t have to rush a load of testing on the BWEs… I’m away working for a lot of the weekends so it’s a relief!

I guess I’ll just get 60 hero points on each prof. in preparation.

Actually there is a datamining on reddit which sais that you will need 170 hero points to unlock all skills and traits of the new elite spec. If you want to unlock the whole line (there are 2 items left after the first 170 hero points) you will need to spent 250 points instead. So you’re 60 hero points won’t be enough by far. ^^

I’m only “counting” the ones I’ve actually played, at the moment.

And with that in mind, my fave is the Reaper. Which is funny, because it was the one I was least excited about based on the previews, but after playing it myself its just so much fun. Love dashing around the battlefield in Reaper Shroud and swinging that huge scythe, and I very much enjoy the overall playstyle of the GS. That’s actually the main reason I’m not really basing anything on the previews, since it took me playing Reaper to get me to love it.

I want Tempest to shine a bit more. I had fun on the bwe, but it wasnt strong enough to dislodge my hybrid build.

Berserker will prob be adopted by one of my warriors, so thats top for me atm.

Chrono and reaper are close behind, but i was underwhelmed by some aspects of Reaper. Ill see how the changes play out.

The others dont really interest me