Guild Wars 2

So I bought this game around the week it got released and played it only up till lvl 19…
I didn’t really found it all that intresting but i’m concidering to give it another chance.

I’m just not sure which class to play and how to find a matching race.
Which is one of the reasons, why I found it hard to get going the first time i tried.
(Sidenote: I never played Guild wars 1)

If i look around at the classes that interest me i see:

Elementalist – I’ve always found mages cool classes with their nice animations and high damage. Altho I hate how vulnerable they are. But to me, it seems they are very hard to master (switching between weapons / elements / …)

Guardian – I enjoy playing the support/healer/tank… Yet everywhere i look I hear complaints of low damage and warrior being the better choice?

Necromancer – They seem very appealing to me, they have the high survivability (due to high hp pool) and still the “mage”-like skills. This is also the class i played up till lvl 19 the first time around.

Thief – In games like Hitman I always try to keep the stealthed mode going. Quick & clean kills, in and out before they know etc. It seems a really fun class.

Now i’m looking for some player opinions on how the 4 above classes are for new players. (are they hard to master / how useful are they in pve and in pvp? / do they have any chance of getting picked up by guilds or are the servers already too full with them / how do i pick the most optimal race for these classes?)

Sorry for the long wall of text.
If you do manage to read through it and reply, thanks in advance!
you are really helping me out

Elementalist will be the hardest class to master, and do well with when you first begin. Pretty much have to play the keyboard like a piano. But it is fun, and a challenge. Most fragile profession learn to dodge is a must.

Guardian- Lots of heals and boons. Heavy armor, not the worst damage but of course warrior will be better. guardian is like a defensive knight, while warrior is an offensive berzerker. And of course guardians use the foefire magic while warrior uses no magic.

Necro – Lots of health + deathshroud. Very good in PvP because mainly condition focused class. Not the greatest for dungeons and the like, but there are some power builds that can be alright.

Thief – My first profession. Good damage in pve, and can group stealth the party for skipping content. Very fun WvW class because of stealth. Decent all around I would say. Pretty fragile so better learn to dodge.

Oh for races I would personally go:
ele-asura/human
guardian- human/norn
Necro- human/charr/asura
thief – human/asura

This is all opinion. Race is just pretty much all cosmetic. I do not like the walking salads all that much, but you might. Oh most armors do not look that good on charrs either, because stretched and clipped.

Well I’d actually recommend making a character for every class you may be interested and take them into the heart of the mists you should be able to get there at about level 2 where you can try out all your classes skills on the golems around there.

Hmm, to be honest I don’t really think the race you choose matters all that much besides aesthetics wise and the early part of your personal story. While they do have access to some race specific skills like you can find here http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Racial_skill it’s pretty rare that you actually use them in whatever build your running. It’s better that you have a race whose look you like since you’ll be looking at it for quite a long time.

I’d say elementalists is the hardest class to master out of the ones you’ve chosen since you’ll have access to more skills and swapping than other classes. you are a nit squishy but once you get down your skills and dodge rolls that won’t be a huge problem, D/D ele at least is a very mobile class.

Guardian is probably the class I played the most out of those that you listed (Though I main a warrior) and I think it tends to bring a lot to a group in pretty much any situation, when I do WvW I love having a shout guardian in my group for the stability and condi removal they provide. Their other boons are great to have around as well. their lines of warding and walls of reflection come in handy as well.
While they don’t have the damage out put of the warrior, I’d still say they bring a lot to a party.

I’ve never really played a necro so I can’t speak to much to that. Kinda the same with theif, though I do find them pretty fun to play and the stealth does come in handy a lot when running past trash.

This is for the most part just my opinion though.