Guild Wars 2

I’m in a strange situation and was wondering if anyone’s been in a similar boat and what worked for them. (This is PvE centric btw)

I have mained Thief in PvE since release, but started playing a Norn guardian last year and have steadily been playing that more. Now, however, I’m in a weird spot where I don’t feel fully committed to either as a “main”.

What I mean by “main” is the character I spend the most time with, gear up first, use for doing the first runs at LS content etc. I don’t mind having alts but I do feel like I need a character I most identify with. I also have charr warr and human mesmer but they are definitely only alts.

This is such a GW2 version of a “first world” problem, but it’s been nagging me more than I’d have liked.

How have others dealt with this? Ignore it? Flip a coin and just go with it? Thanks!

I was in a similar situation for a long time and the way I dealt with it was to just wait and see what happened. Each time I logged in I’d just play whichever character I felt like playing, without worrying about whether they were my ‘main’ or should be doing things first.

Over time I found I was spending more time with one particular character than the others, so she became my main.

But it’s still a pretty arbitrary distinction in my case. If I have an item which could go to two characters and she’s one of them she’ll get it, and when I first decided I wanted a legendary weapon I made sure it was one she could use, but other than that it doesn’t make a big difference to me.

I don’t believe in having a main. Each character fills a different gaming role for me, so I play whichever one I’m in the mood for. The idea of a main (to me) is very limiting, and I don’t feel the need to constrain myself unnecessarily with it.

I also will sometimes set up particular characters for specific game modes. Like having a character that is made for fractals specifically as opposed to one for WvW. Typically one that fits my playstyle for the particular game type.

I notice that you’ve only mentioned 4 characters so far, which means there’s still room for one more. If you don’t feel that you like any of the classes you’ve done so far, you could always try again fresh with a new character, perhaps a sylvari ranger or an asura elementalist. Experiment a little, and see which class you feel most comfortable with. Or just go with one of the other classes you already have and see if you have more fun with them. GW2 is pretty unique in that it almost encourages you to make alts, level them up, and do all the story lines at least once. There are so many interconnecting bits scattered in the early story that your average player completely misses because they either exclusively play one story line, or only did the personal story on one or two characters. For instance, in the charr story Honorless Gladium, your father recovers a Balthazar relic that is later used during the Priory defense quest; or the various NPCs that you meet early on that come back, like the asura who uses a giant hologram to fight.

1) Get 9 character slots
2) Create one of each class

Its that easy and well worth the investment (if nothing else just for storage space). GW2 isnt a place where you need to play a main class to compete. Its built for alts.

I find that race-based skill animation actually affects how much I enjoy playing a character. Maybe you could experiment with classes and races, perhaps in the pvp lobby. I love the asura animations, but the trade off is gear that looks really tiny, so details can’t be seen as easily.

You might also consider the “meta-roles” of each class to see what each class excels at, and decide based off your ideal role (e.g. mesmer give good access to reflects and quickness and alacrity with a rotation that has you pressing many things; condi engineers feel like playing a piano; condi ranger is a mix of support/damage, etc.).

I like having options available to me, usually I have my norn necromancer as my de facto, but I’ve been switching between engineer and warrior as of late. That being said, you shouldn’t be shoehorned into having a “main” especially if you like to change pace once in a while.

A matter of perspective, if you ask me; I used to, but I don’t see a point so I’m over several Lv.80s just to change pace.