Guild Wars 2

I’ve searched the forums and read everything I could find, even from years back, about certain classes and the input of the community. I’m a veteran MMO player who has typically focused on PvP, but I like all aspects of games. I just don’t have the time to dedicate to MMOs like I used to, with real life adult responsibilities.

I liked GW1 so I have been giving GW2 a try due to no monthly subscription and the possibility of slightly more casual play still being rewarding. So far, I’m really enjoying it. I have played around with a few classes; 30 Ranger, 20 Warrior, 20 Guardian, 27 Thief, 22 Necro. Tinkered with Ele and briefly Engi in PvP. Haven’t tried Mesmer.

I’m looking for guidance on what class I should main. I’ve had a feel for most of them through PvP, but I’m torn between a few classes because I also want a decent PvE experience. I don’t have time to have too many alts.

What I am looking for in a class is this:

1. I want to primarily focus on roaming, getting into 1v1, 1vX, smaller team fights. Zergball karma train seems like fun from time to time but I don’t think that will be my main focus. I also want to be able to casually play sPvP and still feel like I don’t rely completely on my team to have a good time (don’t have time to get too overly competitive for ranked in this game).

2. I would like to be able to experience the dungeons in this game somewhat casually, but not be limited to the lowest possible tier groups in the future. I don’t need to be top tier meta… but I don’t want to not be able to find groups for dungeons ever, except for groups so bad they can barely complete it.

3. I mostly play alone so I need to be able to effectively solo the vast majority of the content in the game without putting a ridiculous amount of effort into my build, specific rotations, etc. I would like to be able to jump in and faceroll PvE content with little thought (warrior style?) BUT I don’t mind taking a more thoughtful and calculated approach either (guardian style?) as long as every little thing I do doesn’t require a huge amount of setup and movement (engineer style?)

4. I would prefer to have high mobility, though this isn’t a top priority. But if I can’t escape or chase, I tend to get frustrated in open PvP environments because fights start to feel like they are on the other guy’s terms. I like to be in control if I can.

5. I want to be able to have a SOMEWHAT high skill ceiling available to me, but not a ridiculously high skill floor either. I would like to be able to be effective without having to be really great, so if I’m off I can still have fun… but I would like to know that when my skills develop I can really make a difference instead of just going through the same stupid rotation and being limited by my class.

So I know that’s a lot of specifics but I don’t think general blanket statements can ever be made on class selection. I think every person has a class that best fits their needs based on how they want to play the game. So I know if you’re a Guardian main you may be biased towards that, or whatever, but if you more experienced players could tell me what you honestly think I would enjoy most in the long run based on what I’m looking for, I’d really appreciate that.

I think my main thing is I want to get into fights and stay relevant throughout. I don’t want to necessarily just do a ton of burst then get squished and have to haul my way back to wherever I was… I want to get in people’s faces, give them a hard time, get some kills, and stay alive… whether that’s by mobility or sustainability. Nobody likes to die constantly.

Any help greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

To go through it point by point:

1: Mesmer, necromancer, thief and engineer are good roaming classes. But the others can do it well too.

2: reading fora it seems there is a lot of elitism bout dungeons, but there really isn’t that much. Class discrimination is very rare and all classes have a good chance of getting into a group. Necromancers experience a bit more classdiscrimination then others, but again, not much.

3: Most content doesn’t require to be in a group.-There is content that require a larger group of players, but no need to group up for them . e.g. when soloroaming, and you see your zerk capping a keep, you are free to join in just for that.

4: most mobility imo is the thief and the mesmer. They can cloack and use that to escape a fight.

5: only rangers and warriors have a somewhat solid skillceiling. The rest can excell, while also being viable at lower skills.

Most important though is not too worry too much. All classes are good and viable. Reading between the lines I think thief is best for you, but it is not as set in stone as you might think.

I have 13 level 80s, you can pretty much faceroll any profession in PvE and win with the right build.

If you’ve played this game a bit, then you should have already figured out that this game is designed so that you can play just about any roll on any of the professions. Instead of looking for the right party/profession composition for dungeons and raids its more about looking for the right player comp, a competent party can just about do anything as well as a nice profession comp.

The meta relies heavily on Warriors, Elementalists, Guardians and Thieves to fill certain rolls though, ie. might stacking, cleansing, boons and stealth. Though, almost all the other professions (except Necromancer) can fill these rolls pretty easily, so long as the player knows what they’re doing.

So just pick a profession you like in PvP and roll with it, you can’t really go wrong, it’s PvE.

Just a little tid-bit:

• Guardians and Necromancers have almost NO mobility when roaming in WvW
• Elementalists and Thieves have the lowest health pool in the game
• You can faceroll Mesmers in PvE and do fine, but don’t try that in PvP or WvW

I’d probably recommend Thief or Engineer, seeing how they have a nice learning curve, you can still faceroll, the have mobility, only a little bit of utility/party support, and they can both AoE stealth (the Mesmer fit what you’re asking too, just with a larger learning curve)

Thank you both for your input. You both mentioned Thief and I did quite enjoy that, though recently I have been playing Warrior in sPvP and finding myself quite successful with that. Granted, it’s supposed to be the easiest class in the game, so perhaps I would be much better with another class once I actually learn it. Still, I find the combat very satisfying for my personal play style. I like being extremely aggressive and sticking to my target like glue, dealing decent damage but sustaining myself through the duration of the fight.

Now what I’m not sure about is when I develop my skills and knowledge of the game, will something like Engineer, Thief, etc. give me that same feeling? I do realize Thief plays the in and out game, guerrilla tactics and has to play very thoughtful. I’m used to that in other games as well, though with the resource mechanic of the Thief I do get the feeling that its sustain is limited. As for Engineer, I haven’t given it a fair shake yet. I’m concerned with the lack of weapon choices, but I understand kits make up for that. Also, if Engineer does get the hammer in HoT that will be really nice. I enjoy using Hammer on both Guardian and Warrior (though I use it much more effectively on Warrior).

So is it just that I haven’t refined my skills yet that I don’t get the feeling of in-your-face visceral combat with decent sustain on classes like Guardian and Thief, or is Warrior really best suited for that type of gameplay?

Also, the mobility definitely doesn’t hurt on Warrior… but on the Thief if I want to escape I’m gone for sure. Guardian on the other hand… I’m in for the long haul. That really is one major drawback I can see for WvW roaming.

Thieves in PvE are pretty much “in-your face” but in WvW or PvP they are what you described, in and out of fights chipping away until they get them low enough to burst them down in one go. In PvP or WvW you shouldn’t be committed to any one fight; if you need to bail, then bail because leaving your team outnumbered for 20 secs is worst than keeping 2-3 enemies occupied for 20 secs.

Now that I think about it, Engineers are kind of “in-your face” but with projectiles/ranged. Engineers can tank easily if they’re traited and have enough crowd controls and heals to make up for their low armor. And so most Engineers welcome the fight, unless they’re going full zerk, then they’ll run, but they have mobility too. Tough call.

Guards don’t have mobility. I wouldn’t solo roam on a Guard. Period.

Warrior is a good choice, I’d have told you to go Warrior or Ranger if you didn’t have any experience in this game at all, but you said you did so didn’t. Right now, the meta Warrior build is ShoutBow, but they have plenty of viable variations; HamBow, PS+EA, Mace, Condi, etc. You can go classic GS/Hammer. That’s what makes Warriors so attractive, the sheer number of viable plays you can go with.

Oh there’s Acrobatic Thieves, they’re pretty much in your face the entire time, they have so many dodges that its almost impossible to hit them if they don’t want to be hit.

From what you wrote, I think engi would suit you most. The negative side of engi is that some people believe the class is not good in pve (it’s awesome btw) so they might lfg “no necro/ranger/engi” for dungeons (it’s like 1 no engi lfg per 50 no necro/ranger).

The class is very versatile and fun to play. It has pretty high skill ceiling but you don’t need 1000s of hours of gameplay to play decently.

I love my ranger and find I can solo things pretty well. In fights my pet can get up close while I stand back with a bow (or come nearer and start swinging a greatsword).

Other people is a plus, but the other day I almost entirely cleaned out a fort in the SW. I only say ‘almost’ because some people came in and tagged the final 3 monsters I was killing.

The reason I said warriors has a skillcieling is indeed that they are easy to play and to master. That also means there is lil need to excell in your tactic and in your type of play. The way the health recovery works and how the burst system works means you have lil variation to being succesfull. So overall it is easy to be great, but almost impossible to excell as a warrior.

engineer is a bit of an oddball. The reason I didn’t advice it to you is cause it lacks movement a lot. The main reason is turrets. They are pretty powerfull and among the more powerfull skills, but it is what it is. Once placed, it doesn’t move so you are then stuck to the radius of the turret. It got therefor more room for excelling. The “art” of finding good placement for turrets is almost endless. As you mentioned yourself. don’t worry bout the lack of weapons. worry bout the lack of quality in the weapons. Kits are superior and cause they take a utilityslot, most people don’t want to use more then 1 kit. The weapon itself is of limited use. It is something I hope is going to be fixed with the engineers specialisation in the upcoming update. So if that and the lack of mobility is not so much an issue for you go ahead, but had to warn you bout it cause it where things you described.

mercury ranique.2170:

engineer is a bit of an oddball. The reason I didn’t advice it to you is cause it lacks movement a lot. The main reason is turrets. They are pretty powerfull and among the more powerfull skills, but it is what it is. Once placed, it doesn’t move so you are then stuck to the radius of the turret. It got therefor more room for excelling. The “art” of finding good placement for turrets is almost endless. As you mentioned yourself. don’t worry bout the lack of weapons. worry bout the lack of quality in the weapons. Kits are superior and cause they take a utilityslot, most people don’t want to use more then 1 kit. The weapon itself is of limited use. It is something I hope is going to be fixed with the engineers specialisation in the upcoming update. So if that and the lack of mobility is not so much an issue for you go ahead, but had to warn you bout it cause it where things you described.

This is complete misinformation and I honestly can’t see how anyone familiar with playing engineer could say anything like it with a straight face.

Firstly: while turrets engineer can be seen in low-to-mid tiers of PvP and hold up pretty well due to them a pretty cheesy build, they become pretty obsolete once faced with people who know what to do against them (namely: avoid the point and 5v4 the enemy team on the other 2 points). Turrets are in absolutely no way “among the most powerful skills”, and considering they’ve recently been nerfed to allow for conditions to work on them (one of their strength before being that condi builds were relatively powerless against them) this isn’t likely to change for the better.

“Kits are superior and cause they take a utilityslot, most people don’t want to use more then 1 kit” This is also pure BS – 3kits setups are PvE dungeons meta for maximum damage and there are several variants running around sPvP and WvW using 2 or more kits, and knowing how and when to use your kits is an essential part of being a good engie, the reward for which is amazing damage and versatility.

And the fact is, engineers currently have extremely good mobility – perma-swiftness is accessible with just an adept trait and regular kit-swaps, high vigor upkeep with another adept trait, rocket boots and several leap skills, so I’m not sure what the point there was either.

Every class has their pluses and minuses, especially since you want multiple modes (PVP and PVE). It sounds like you are on the right track: roll several classes that seem interesting and see which you like more. At least until you get to 80 I would recommend trying to play them equal in time as much as possible. At 80 you can solely work with one character and keep the others in reserve.

When leveling I figured about 2 levels/day with a character (your numbers may vary but a couple hours is plenty of time per level once you get used to things). Do not forget tomes either as they will increase you by a level, with them alone and assuming you take the monthly one as the 6 tomes you could level a character in 5 months (you get 16 tomes/month) without doing anything else (if you do it is MUCH faster). I generally start using tomes at 10 or 20 as the initial levels go fast.

Seems to me your a Melee/ Tank if you like being up close and personal – That’s Warrior/ Guardian. Both are great but for shear mobility the Warrior is king and Guard’s are loved by every LFG for heals and condition removal.

Ranged toons are the Mez/ Ele – stand back and dodge out of the way. DPS kings and queens of the dungeons and PvP. Power builds and WvW gankers … the perfect Roamers imo.
The Ranger is awesome ranged but difficult to play well in Melee .. not my bag and I never played an Engi.

Thief is great in PvE but in WvW its all about the ‘back stabbing’. Personally I hate them! you cant find them to duel and I don’t think I could really enjoy the game if no one gets to fight back .. but hey .. that’s me

One thing you may want to consider before you put all your eggs in any class is the new expansion progression tracks, this may change your mind if your profession ends up with a option you don’t like. Don’t forget your gonna spend hours and hours grinding for gear you may not be able to swap to other toons later.

I have tried all and am looking forward to getting back some of the Mezmer magic we were striped of when the nerfed Confusion, but then I am a Caster in virtually all the other MMO’s I’ve played.

From all you have written I would recommend engineer. Though to be honest every profession fits your requirements in one degree or another, depends very much on who and how they are played.