Guild Wars 2

Yes, I have ready several posts already throughout the forums and also searched Google for this. Yes I know it is about personal preferences, but if everyone does not mind, I will still like to create this post for more suggestions, advice, and opinions.

Thanks!

I would LOVE to hear everyone’s suggestions, advice, and opinions on the best professions for PvE. I have a few choices of my own, but I CANNOT decide, lol. When it comes to making decisions for MMO, it takes me hours, maybe even days before I can decide, unless I can get help from others.

As I searched more and more into this, I found and thought about more things, like… Mobility to move from core to core to farm materials, the ability to tag in DE, the ability to solo, the ability to do dungeons. I just can’t decide what I want to do the most.

Sooo…

Which profession do you’ll think would be best for farming in PvE (Dungeons, WvW, Dyanmic Events, Etc)? Please explain why and what type of farming you do more with your choice of profession.

Warrior from what I have seen, they seem to be the best at almost anything. :}

Warrior probably has the easiest time but it is also IMO (having all classes at lvl80 and playing them in dungeons and wvw) the most boring one. I’d recommend elementalist, they are just as good in dungeons and at DE farming (well, better probably) but level a bit slower. It just feels like they’ve got more variety at lvl80 and while it requires a bit more attention it also keeps it from feeling stale.

I will cheat and put my top 3 picks, but I still want others to continue giving their view.

Guardian > Elementalist > Ranger

I even started thinking about Thief because of the great mobility it has, which would be nice for traveling throughout the map while farming materials.

@Rainu You say Elementalist is good at dungeons? How so? Is this Solo or with other players? I am not that social, unless someone initiates first, so most of the time I will be playing solo.

Well first off, there is no best profession. Some are better than others are earlier levels, but it all matters when you hit 80. No matter which profession you pick you’re probably going to have those tough times while leveling.

That being said, I think ranger would be a nice fit.
Pros:

• Good at soloing various creatures.
• Capable of long range and melee with good damage.
• Signet that grants 25% increased movement speed all the time to you and your pet. The abilities tooltip says 25%, but when it’s on it’s 10%. Might be a bug or something, but it still gets you around the world. (Unlocked at level 10 with three skill points)
• Good at gathering; Most the time the enemies will attack my pet and not me, so you’re not slowed.
• Tagging enemies is pretty easy. With the various traps and aoe that the short bow and long bow have, you can tag large groups.

Cons:

• In my opinion, they need to change some things to make rangers a bit more wanted in dungeons. Right now spirits have a lot of complains—I haven’t used them much myself. It seems other than spirits, Healing Spring seems to be the only group oriented ability. Maybe I just haven’t messed around with their support capability, but that’s my opinion.
• Weapon choices are nice, but some need to be looked at and possibly add more variety (this could be said for any profession). The short bow is nice for solo and kiting enemies around. It shoots fast, but also lacks in some damage, which I would like to see possibly buffed a little. The long bow does great damage, but the mechanic with it is: The farther you are, the more damage you do. I feel this should be removed as well.
   
   
  If you don’t like the sound of this profession, then I would suggest a warrior or guardian. They both have good capability with tagging enemies and survivability.

This is my opinion and people will tell me I am wrong but:
1. Mesmer
- They are orientated to sPvP. But they are also strong in PvE because of Aoe Damage dodge abilities/interupts. Decent high AoE damage solo. And lots of fun.
- Good in Dungeons and Boss fights because of our Condition Damage and Phantasm’s.

2.Ranger
-Great in PvE and PvP.
- With a loyal pet by your side you can easily do PvE events and such
- Good in dungeons using Traps pets and making it rain. Not to mention your pet can revive people.

3. Guardian
-Tanky dps good in PvE. You’ll be able to take all the damage while dealing it all back at them literally.
-With the Greatsword and combination of 2 other weapons ie Mace or sword/shield you can do work.
- Better with groups to get full advantage of kit.

PvE Farming/WvW: Necromancer. They have some of the best AOEs and survive an annoyingly long time. You can tag almost everything in events and while you’re zerging with your server in WvW. The downside is that they aren’t that desirable in dungeons

Dungeons: Warrior/Guardian. They can take a beating and dish out a beating. Warriors have great support between shouts, banners, etc, so having multiple in a party is great. Guardians also have amazing support with aegis and healing, but don’t quite dish out the same damage warriors do

Everything: Eles/Mesmers. D/D ele is arguably OP right now. They are extremely versatile and are loved for their combo fields and conjure weapons. Ice bows wreck inanimate objects like burrows. Mesmers give some good support and are loved for their boon sharing/Time warp. They are also utilized in WvW for their tactical portals

PvE leveling: Rangers. That’s about it though, very easy to level with. The only place they are wanted in parties is underwater level in FoTM lol.

There have been lots of debates in the dungeon forum on what the best team composition is. For FoTM and most dungeons people seem to side with 2 warriors, 1 guard, and 2 fillers. The 2 fillers are best to be eles/mesmers.

Warriors are the best PvE class because of simple mechanics and access to all major roles. It is easy to tailor your warrior to control/damage/support. You may not be the best at any one, but you can do all three very well. Banners are great for zipping around the map, tons of combo finishers exploit the combo fields your allies are sure to drop. In short, it is hard to be a bad warrior.

Guardians are the best because of their peerless support capabilities. Condition removal, projectile reflection/absorption, regeneration, protection, stability… guardians help a team focus on what is important. The tradeoff is that while you always have strong support capabilities, your control and damage aspects are weaker than those of a warrior—but the efficiency you give a group easily compensates for the difference.

Engineers are, despite the rantings of several outspoken community members, the best class because they are a very versatile option. They don’t have to choose between roles before the fight, they bring them all to the fight and change on the fly. An engineer can react to a changing situation better than any other profession.

Elementalists are the best profession because their wide variey of combo fields provide a group with far more utility than they have without. Tanking, healing, condition damage, direct damage… elementalists can do it all.

Necromancers are the best class because their survivability lets them work through anything. It is hard to kill a good necromancer, and they will whittle down their foes in a war of attrition.

Rangers are the best class because they have a never-ending stream of pets ready to soak hits to spare the party the pain. Coupled with decent mobility and long-range damage, rangers provide a steady stream of damage while taking pressure off the rest of the party.

Mesmers are the best class because they are difficult to kill, distract enemies with illusions, portal you to the end of jump puzzles, reflect projectiles, and strip buffs from foes and conditions from allies. Mesmers are great at turning an enemy’s strength against them, or just depriving your enemy of its strength.

Thief is the best class because their melee spike damage is is through the roof. They fade into the shadows and strike hard before fading back. A variety of poisons and similar effects provide support conditions—weakness, poison, and chill that mitigate the damage your foes can cause to your less-stealthy comrades.

Summary
I’ve played them all and, while there are some bugs that keep classes from meeting the ideal, they are all very viable choices. All can solo, all can farm, all can tag in DEs well, all can contribute to dungeons… all can do anything they want.

No class is bad, they just might not play quite the way you want them to. The best class is the one where you instinctively play to its strengths and the worst is where your playstyle pits you against its weaknesses at every turn.

I can’t deny the strengths of the mesmer, however it is not my cup of tea. I’m more of a guardian-engineer-elementalist player. I make a passable warrior but it doesn’t excite me.

Warriors hands down. Tons of hp and damage so you can facetank. Hundred blades hits like a motherkittening truck. There’s a reason why speedrunning dungeons involves 4 warriors and 1 mesmer for the best results.

Someone said mesmers are one of the best for pve. Just lol. They are pretty bad.

Oh, and my necro had an easy time leveling as well. Pulling mobs of over 10 easily. Just kiting and dropping marks of staff.

PvE open world and PvE dungeons and PvE dynamic events are all slightly different enough to warrant different answers.

open world and dungeons, i would say guardian/warrior, although any class works just fine, these are the most sought after classes, with very specific instances of people looking for a mesmer, mostly just to cheap their way past something.

dynamic events is anything with multiple AoE abilities that actually do substantial damage, anything works fine here, I do hear alot of complaints from mesmers about DE contribution, but I also hear the opposite, so imo it’s probably just a playstyle/weapon choice/traits issue.

Bottom line is, play what you find fun or it does not really matter what you can do for a group or contribution if you are gnashing your teeth together from not playing a class you really wanted to play. Having said that, the most requested classes for dungeons are guardian/warrior and sometimes mesmers. pretty much in that order.

Ranger for pve soloing. If me n my bears can’t kill it, I can outrun it with a 25% speed signet, warhorn and elite “rampage as one skill”. My main explorer toon. Pretty easy to level.

Thanks for all the replys

vinceftw.5086:

Warriors hands down. Tons of hp and damage so you can facetank. Hundred blades hits like a motherkittening truck. There’s a reason why speedrunning dungeons involves 4 warriors and 1 mesmer for the best results.

Someone said mesmers are one of the best for pve. Just lol. They are pretty bad.

Oh, and my necro had an easy time leveling as well. Pulling mobs of over 10 easily. Just kiting and dropping marks of staff.

I know its trollbait. I’m at work and bored, so I’ll bite.

Hundred blades does 0 damage if you can’t hit your target. Being immobilized and constrained to melee range has its drawbacks. Facetanking is great as long as you can kill your target before they kill you. Mediocre heals and avoidance have their drawbacks.

Marks are target-capped at 5 like other AEs, so pulling 10 is needless; you should be pulling 5…. and make sure they are all melee, because otherwise kiting won’t work so well.

A guardian, on the other hand, can round up a group of melees and/or ranged and pound them down quickly while avoiding taking damage and staying in melee range (people that have problems with adds in Orr while kiting take note), ranged enemy or no.

A mesmer may not have the flashy numbers that a warrior does, but that doesn’t mean that confusion, projectile reflection, chaos fields, and buff/condition transfer/stripping aren’t good.

Not every problem is solved by brute force. The mesmer is far less intuitive than a warrior (warriors are the simpelst class out there) but this only means it is comparatively easier to play a bad mesmer. A good mesmer can run circles around a warrior, while killing it and not taking damage.

No one class is better than another in an abstract sense—in specific applications, possibly, but player skill, spec, gear, etc. all come into play. Some classes have affinities for different content, and the varied resource mechanisms also cater to different playstyles, but rest assured that all are good. If you geniunely beleive that mesmers are bad at PvE, you’ve never seen a decent one, let alone a good one. I’ve seen both, and they are an asset unlike any other—the same could be said of a good representative of any other class.

For PvE? I’d suggest Guardian – Warrior – Ranger – Elementalist – Thief…. you do get 5 character slots after all. Each class has things they’re good at, bring the one that will do what you want.

Sometimes I get in a group full of very tanky guardians on a dungeon and I think: ‘This group is going to have a boat load of survivability and not as much DPS… time to haul out my warrior.’ Other times I think: ‘The dungeon path we’re headed down is a bear…. I want to be a bit more of a support / tank… grab my guardian.’ I reserve my thief for mostly open world play because I can leverage the mobility more and I like CB spam for event tagging.

I know people tend to have a ‘main’ but honestly, play what you like and bring what you need to the table Hitting lvl 80 doesn’t take too long once you’ve done it once, and gearing out in exotics doesn’t cost much. After that, spoil your ‘main’ with cosmetics, but let everything else be functional.

Thanks for all the advice