Guild Wars 2

I have a preference to caster based characters in games and have tried the elementalist but the close combat kinda tuned me off. Admittedly it has been a while and I am sure much has changed but what classes play more like mages, warlocks, priests in WoW. I am not into hunter type characters with guns and bows, definatley more magic based.

I to get back into this game but not really sure where to start. Thanks for any help.

You can try Conidtion Necro, I play’d WoW just a little so I don’t really know what you want

i’m sorry. I mean more like a ranged magic caster, I know ele can use a staff and cast from afar but I am reading it isn’t so great for solo play (Leveling)

Ye, now that is kind of hard. Most of ppl use melee/short range weapons for PvE ,because of better DPS. I would recommend Necromancer or Mesmer.
But I didn’t play’d PvE for very long time, so the tactics and builds have been change there.
With Necro you can play MM and use staff and s/d [it is not really effective atm, but in it is almost patch / rebalancing time]

don’t know if this helps, but here goes anyway…..

Play the elementalist and level dagger/dagger. When you hit a decent level, change to staff if the play style suits you better. The reason i suggest this is the difference from WoW. GW2, to me at least is a much more dynamic, involved game. You cant stand back and not get hit, you cant stand next to a boss and tank, you dont have the trinity roles etc etc.

by playing a squishy cloth elementalist in melee, you will, by the necessity of survival, learn more about the game, learn to dodge, duck and move, where and when to lay down your spells and the style of game you want to play. Then when you get to the dungeons, fractals and wot not, you will be much more involved in the game play and your survival rate will increase.

OP you might want to try Mesmer. The profession is great with Greatsword or Staff pew-pew-ing from a distance while spawning clones to distract the enemies.

As someone mentioned, GW2 has a very different combat mechanics from traditional MMO. I also usually go for caster class in other MMO I played, especially mages, that can throw big damages from a distance, bringing down fire and brimstone. But in GW2, standing and casting stuff like a stationery artillery does not work. Hence the popularity of the D/D in-your-face elementalist.

ok ty all for your help! I will be working on my ele as advised!

The thing with ele is that you shouldn’t play it as a traditional caster (no light armor class btw). Both in groups as solo you will get agro and you will need to support yourself.

The top one mistake starting ele’s make is standing still. Always be on the move.
I disagree with the d/d fanatics. d/d is very nice for mostly direct damage and nuking. But personally I prefer scepter dagger cause it is more balanced insupport. So while for endgame the d/d is excellent if thats your style, for leveling having a bit more balance on the protective site is a big difference imo.

Staff is only nice in my opinion in big groups as an AoE support role. (big DE’s and WvW-zergs)