Guild Wars 2

I was wondering, lore wise, about the non-combat aspects of the various professions. I understand that inn a game about combat, it’s not exactly at the forefront of development for professions, but i’m just curious, what can the various classes really do that’s not combat oriented lore wise?

As far as I know (and please correct me if i’m wrong):

Human necromancers can communicate with the dead (this is probably the iffier thing of the two, but i remember reading about it somewhere)

Elementalists can be traditional healers (if i recall correctly, priests of dwayna were elementalists) and perhaps guardians can fit in this category.

and that’s about it that i recall. Have there been indications that perhaps rangers take care of failing crops? or that mesmers use their abilities for investigative purposes?

EDIT: I kind of forgot the engineer and the numerous examples of them atleast creating certain items like sonic rifles, the ghostbore charr weapon etc. though the ghostbore is more race specific than class specific.

There are several non combat aplications of professions (maybe not warriors, though, since well… they are warriors)

Mesmers dabble in entertainment

necromancer, as you suggested, talk to the dead (we have some in the PS) or create bridges (Majory in LS2)

Elementalists can do a lot. For example they use their skills to travel. Your Priory guide in the PS is able to fly using her air magic.

Actually many can just do their “job”. Rangers hunt, tame or guard.
Warriors and Guardians have their duties.
Engineers build stuff.
etc…

Jaken.6801:

There are several non combat aplications of professions (maybe not warriors, though, since well… they are warriors)

Well… I wouldn’t be so sure about that. I mean I can see warriors working in construction or working as miners, lumberjacks, armorsmiths, weaponsmiths, bouncers, guards, gladiators, treasure hunters, bounty hunters and so on. They might also be quite proficient at various sports ranging from athletics to mountain climbing to wrestling.

Jaken.6801:

There are several non combat aplications of professions (maybe not warriors, though, since well… they are warriors)

Mesmers dabble in entertainment

necromancer, as you suggested, talk to the dead (we have some in the PS) or create bridges (Majory in LS2)

Elementalists can do a lot. For example they use their skills to travel. Your Priory guide in the PS is able to fly using her air magic.

Actually many can just do their “job”. Rangers hunt, tame or guard.
Warriors and Guardians have their duties.
Engineers build stuff.
etc…

It never occurred to me that mesmers could dabble in entertainment (assuming some sort of role as a jester of sorts). Suddenly the harlequin masks make a lot more sense.

castlemanic.3198:

It never occurred to me that mesmers could dabble in entertainment (assuming some sort of role as a jester of sorts). Suddenly the harlequin masks make a lot more sense.

The risen jesters do seem to be mesmers, maybe mixed with ele. In GW1 mesmers were also quite often actors, and I even feel like they’d be inclined towards music, although I’ve no solid examples there.

I could see warriors as potential trainers, like for martial skills and weapon proficiency.

castlemanic.3198:

It never occurred to me that mesmers could dabble in entertainment (assuming some sort of role as a jester of sorts). Suddenly the harlequin masks make a lot more sense.

For people that played GW1 this is no revelation considering the first mesmer we meet has her own stage just outside Ascalon City. There’s also the emphasis on masks and stylish clothing.

Aaron Ansari.1604:

In GW1 mesmers were also quite often actors, and I even feel like they’d be inclined towards music, although I’ve no solid examples there.

Gwen liked playing her flute. Is that too far of a stretch?

Elementalists can conjure water for crops.

Rangers it seems have some talent with medicine and healing.

Well, we have mesmer summoned dancing moas in the PS, haven`t we?

First off why are the soldier professions missing from the list. This is because as their traitlines show, they lack talents that are not related to combat. Their job as a soldier is combat, not auxiliary to it. Any out-of combat skills can probably just be inferred. The closest I could think of is that they are probably strong swimmers. The ones on record though like master strategists are related to combat.

Engineer: Asuras, and the profession as a whole have been the forefront of advancing Tyrian society.
Explosives: designing explosives used in mining.
Firearms : the actual design of weapons, they are responsible for Mesmer gaining pistol, as well was the variety of firearms that exist in the game today.
Inventions: not only firearms they also gave us Asura Gates, and waypoints.
Alchemy: replicating the effects of magic so that people not of that profession can perform them.
Tools: some engineers are more proficient with technology than others.

Ranger:
Marksmanship: N/A
Skirmishing: N/A
Wild. Survival: being able to survive in the wilderness is not just about hack and slash capabilities, it also requires survival knowledge, all the stuff a boy scout would know a ranger probably knows. Such as expertise at navigating wild landscapes.
Nature Magic: botany, terraforming, agriculture, some healing skills related to use of natural energies.
Beastmastery: animal husbandry, zoology, veterinary science.

Thief:
Deadly Arts: Precise knowledge of poisons and their procurement. If they mess up they or their allies die.
Critical Strikes: Knowledge of racial anatomy as it concerns pressure points and weak spots. Huge amounts of dexterity in their hands.
Shadow Arts: Ancient arts that combine magic with physical prowess. Ninja stuff.
Acrobatics: More ninja stuff. While rangers may be experts at navigating wild landscapes, the urban landscape is thief’s jungle.
Trickery: Masters of espionage, spy, other secret ninja stuff.

Important quote

All scholars are practitioners and students of magic, an ancient art many are gifted with, and which varies from control over life and death to manipulation of others and command over forces of nature itself.

Elementalist: Okay so basically anything you have seen in Avatar The Last Airbender, elementalists can do, barring all the Avatar State stuff. The difference is they can summon these things.
Fire Magic: creating fire/lava, extinguishing fire/lava, walking on lava
Air Magic: controlling the weather,
Earth Magic: terraforming,
Water Magic: summoning water to drink, healing allies, walking on water
Arcana: ancient magics, no idea what they are, but they are ancient

Mesmer:
Domination: Mesmers can manipulate others to a degree, they are masters at the dispelling of magics
Dueling: N/A
Chaos: Mesmers can manipulate other magic, not necessarily their own, to gain benefit.
Inspiration: Mesmer’s can manipulate reality itself to enhance themselves and allies, the level that reality is altered seems to confined to an area which size is influence by the strength of the Mesmer.
Illusions: Masters of espionage

Necromancer
Spite: N/A
Curses: They have a good knowledge of dark magics, you can bet that the people trying to deal with the foefire were necromancers and mesmers
Death Magic: talking to the dead peoples, summoning the dead peoples, doing stuff with dead peoples, they can feel death around them.
Blood Magic: they know dark rituals that cross the boundary between death and life.
Soul Reaping : some have a better sense of death than others, some can even sense the death inside of living things.

Jaken.6801:

Well, we have mesmer summoned dancing moas in the PS, haven`t we?

I did not believe you until i googled it and found this video

that is amazing.

@daniel handler First of all thanks for that list. It helps put the various classes into their perspective non-combat roles.

Secondly i’m sure the guardians are at least somewhat specialised in healing, though true it might mostly be tied to combat but regardless i somehow feel like they’re healers.

Also, just as a general post, what non-combat roles could be theorised for revenants? It’s been posed by Anet officially that some revenants are scholarly (from the hidden arcana post for revenant roleplay). Perhaps the picture might get clearer with the eventual reveals of the last two legends and the elite specialisation, but for now, any ideas on what they might be able to do outside of combat? I might have said that they potentially don’t have combat roles before the ventari legend reveal.

For me, it seems like revenants could (like necromancers) deal with dark or even demonic magic with their ties to mallyx, perhaps leadership qualities from jalis (who was king in times of peace as well as war), and perhaps healing and maybe even agriculture with their ties to ventari. As for their mist magic specifically, could that possibly open doors to shaman-like abilities? maybe not as powerful as norn shaman, but something akin to that?

castlemanic.3198:

Jaken.6801:

Well, we have mesmer summoned dancing moas in the PS, haven`t we?

I did not believe you until i googled it and found this video

that is amazing.

@daniel handler First of all thanks for that list. It helps put the various classes into their perspective non-combat roles.

Secondly i’m sure the guardians are at least somewhat specialised in healing, though true it might mostly be tied to combat but regardless i somehow feel like they’re healers.

Also, just as a general post, what non-combat roles could be theorised for revenants? It’s been posed by Anet officially that some revenants are scholarly (from the hidden arcana post for revenant roleplay). Perhaps the picture might get clearer with the eventual reveals of the last two legends and the elite specialisation, but for now, any ideas on what they might be able to do outside of combat? I might have said that they potentially don’t have combat roles before the ventari legend reveal.

For me, it seems like revenants could (like necromancers) deal with dark or even demonic magic with their ties to mallyx, perhaps leadership qualities from jalis (who was king in times of peace as well as war), and perhaps healing and maybe even agriculture with their ties to ventari. As for their mist magic specifically, could that possibly open doors to shaman-like abilities? maybe not as powerful as norn shaman, but something akin to that?

I would assume they gain the non-combat abilities of the legend they channel. They also equally have the combat roles of the legends they channel.

Priests of Dwayna are monks. The ‘monk’ class is simply not playable in GW2.

So something i just remembered. In one of the living story season 2 missions, you get stuck with your group underground in the mordremoth infested caves of some place.

Marjory was able to sense the life essence of the other group members using her necromancy.

Kasmeer lit up the impossibly dark cave that only the mordremoth could see in using mesmer magic

and rox was able to deal with overgrown vines and have them retreat using ranger magic

(and braham was able to keep those giant mordremoth hounds down, which isn’t really a non-combat thing but worth mentioning i guess).

castlemanic.3198:

So something i just remembered. In one of the living story season 2 missions, you get stuck with your group underground in the mordremoth infested caves of some place.

Marjory was able to sense the life essence of the other group members using her necromancy.

Kasmeer lit up the impossibly dark cave that only the mordremoth could see in using mesmer magic

and rox was able to deal with overgrown vines and have them retreat using ranger magic

(and braham was able to keep those giant mordremoth hounds down, which isn’t really a non-combat thing but worth mentioning i guess).

Yep. Anything you think your class should be able to do based on in game abilities is about right. (Necros have life force in game, and they take it at range sometimes from enemies. Therefore Marjory should be able to feel life force in her allies).

Game mechanics don’t accurately showcase what a class CAN do at times.

Example, we know Mesmers can summon massive illusions (Either single items or huge numbers of people). Such effort actually harms the Mesmer most of the time (The one was blinded for a while summoning an illusion of the Eye of the North, and when she summoned an illusionary horde of soldiers, she later wandered back to the Ebon Vanguard and fell over dead.)

We know Necromancers can summon many minions, yet mechanics limit us player to a handful.

Guardians likely could be very good healers like heavily armored monks (IIRC, a style of monk magic is in the mix of guardian), but we can’t exactly go pure healing monk GW1 style :P.

So yes, outside of combat there is plenty of stuff the classes could do that would be helpful or non-destructive.

Kalavier.1097:

Game mechanics don’t accurately showcase what a class CAN do at times.

Example, we know Mesmers can summon massive illusions (Either single items or huge numbers of people). Such effort actually harms the Mesmer most of the time (The one was blinded for a while summoning an illusion of the Eye of the North, and when she summoned an illusionary horde of soldiers, she later wandered back to the Ebon Vanguard and fell over dead.)

We know Necromancers can summon many minions, yet mechanics limit us player to a handful.

Guardians likely could be very good healers like heavily armored monks (IIRC, a style of monk magic is in the mix of guardian), but we can’t exactly go pure healing monk GW1 style :P.

So yes, outside of combat there is plenty of stuff the classes could do that would be helpful or non-destructive.

game mechanics illustrate the bare minimum. storytelling illustrates the assumed maximum.

Well, in RP here are what my alts with day jobs do:

Human Thief — helps run a noble house, but that’s after years of evading responsibility by acting on stage with a roving troupe, studying stage magic, and entertaining via juggling and acrobatics. All while running complex conman schemes on the level of The Great Train Robbery. (A wonderful Sean Connery movie, please watch it, it’s fun).

Human Guardian — kicked out of the Seraph, makes a living bodyguarding rich nobles who aren’t actually in danger. So he just stands around and looks pretty. Or pretty ridiculous, they tend to require costumes to fit the themes of the parties he’s guarding.

Human Necromancer — Ok, here she’s not using necro skills. But she runs a general miscellany shop with her parents in the Commons when she’s not studying Grenth matters and doing oddball tasks her Karate-Kid-style mentor demands.

Human Warrior — muscle for a thuggish gang.

Sylvari Necromancer — engaged in a years-long study of rot and decay in plant materials, with an eye to preventing or curing it.

Sylvari Mesmer — left a scholarly hermit lifestyle to join the Whispers. Took on two cover identities: the foppish bright colored sapling who couldn’t possibly do anything serious, and the masked adventurous rescuer of people in danger. Basically the Scarlet Pimpernel.

Norn Engineer — Architect, traveling to find ideas for his planned arcology meant to dwarf Hoelbrak.

mesmers could be excellent spies, not only entertainer or jesters, that is just a cover!