Guild Wars 2

Hey friends!

Although I leveled necro, mes and engi + I tried every other class too I’m still interested in classes comparisons. I have the same in every other mmo game. I mean, even after I’m experienced in certain games I still love reading about which class has adventage over others.

So here I am. I was really undecided at start which class to pick. Guardian/war soon became too boring (just a personal opinion), I also hate rangers (not because there’s something wrong with them, I don’t like idea of pets/robin-hood-like class in every game, I’m not into archers simply).

I started playing engi, leveled him quite fast up to 75. Loved it’s complexity at first, but then I realized that it’s hard to play engi and how many buttons you have to press doesn’t show that engi is a hard class. (I’m playing on razer naga + razer orbweaver so I didn’t feel that using so many buttons was hard).

So, the final battle! Necro vs mesmer.

Pve (dungeons/open world): I don’t care. Really, I have some in-game friends so I don’t experience those dungeon necro hatings. Mesmer – I felt quite useless. I know reflects and all the stuff, but I think other classes can bring much more. But still, I don’t care.

WvW/PvP: I’ve tried both necro and mesmer here. Mes seems to be very unique class, while necro is more straightforward. Necro is said to be very underpowered, mesmer is said to be in quite a good spot (ok, maybe qithout bugs it’d be much better). The thing that surprised me was that I couldn’t find mesmer in, for example, tol2 NA winning team, but they had 1 necro. When I looked at winning teams I could rarely see mesmer, necro was quite common.

I’m not newbie, I’m not very experienced too. I’m playing both mesmer and necro. They will be soon 80s, so it’s a gearing time. I’m not poor, but I’d rather spend my money on one class to have the best possible gear. I want to avoid situation, when I’ll have 2 classes geared ‘quite good’ only.

So, any ideas which class would be better? Mesmer vs necro.

In dungeons and pve Mesmer is far superior to Necro. Mesmer brings a lot more utility where it lacks in straight damage (reflects, groub stability, short stealth, boon transfer in signet of inspiration, portal to skip parts and arguably the best elite skill in the game in time warp). Necro is very greedy as a class. It does not provide many boons to the group nor does it have much in the area of reflects. It does however provide some nice group condition removal which in most groups probably is not necessary but the option is there for some more difficult fights. It does have more straight up damage than the mesmer though.

In WvW and PvP it comes down to playstyle. Mesmer is very unique and has many different builds based on your playstyle. Necro is great at condition builds and can put a ton of conditions on classes at once. It is also a little easier to pick up then Mesmer. All in all though it comes down to playstyle.

Hope that helps!

Thanks for response!

In my opinion the whole pve (open world + dungeons) are easy enough that as far as you have some friends or guild it doesn’t matter what you pick (at least id you don’t you care about speedruns).

Pvp/wvw: The best answer is always: ‘pick what you enjoy the most’, however sometimes it’s not true. You will have some hard times trying to beat some classes built specially for certain situations. Example: if you enjoy condi build and you will have to face anti-condi builds most time it doesn’t matter how much you love your char – you will hate it one day.

On gw2 forums you can read that:
1. Even after buffs ranger isn’t very good
2. Warrior is now weak
3. Engi is a joke
4. Guardian isn’t meta nowadays
5. Mesmer’s dmg/survivability is just meh + it’s used only for some utilities
6. Necro – I won’t comment on this, necro is just a trash

BUT on the same forums you can read that:
1. Ranger is op after buffs
2. Warrior is a must have, you only have to lear how to play it after those LITTLE nerfs
3. Engi is the most op class now, unbeatable, 2 engies in tol2 winning team, must have everywhere
4. Guardian is ‘still ok’ (as always)
5. Mesmer hits like a truck, usefull everywhere, portals and all of this stuff
6. Necro – bad in pve, but deadly in 1vs1 and core in every pvp/wvw team

Because of that I feel really confused. I’m lvling guardian, engi, mesmer, necro. I feel unable to pick only one. Not because I don’t know what I like, but because gw2 has really unique classes. I do love them equally. I know that I don’t care about pve. I just need someone to talk with about picking my class (yea, it sounds weird).

I don’t need class which is good everywhere. I’d like to have one specialised in one/two things. Fighting against other people is what I enjoy the most. Small/big teams, solo roaming, whatever. I’ve read every topikittenerally every topic on this forum and I’m confused as never.

Any help would be appreciated!

Problematically, more than half of the people on the forum have absolutely no idea what they are talking about. To determine the theoretical effectiveness of different classes on a particular role, there are certain calculations you can make. Damage per second, effective heal per second, effective HP, conditions removed by second, % time under invulnerability/evade effects etc. Then more importantly, to determine the actual effectiveness of a class in your hands, you have to actually try it out, because there is nobody that can possibly achieve the maximum theoretical values all the time.

To compare two classes accurately, it is compulsory to first master both, because you’d obviously have a skewed opinion if you’ve a lot of experience in one and have barely touched another. To compare eight classes accurately, it is compulsory to master all eight.

Trust your performance during gameplay, or trust your calculations. Don’t rely on the forums for high level performance theorycrafting, or you’ll never get the answer you need – because the people you’re reading normally don’t possess the answer in the first place.

What the forums ARE useful for, however, is to learn from others tricks you can perform in the classes those players are good at. While the number of players that are good at all classes is remarkably small, the number of players that are good at at least one class is actually quite large.

Looking at the ToL top 4 team composition can give you an idea of how well classes perform in team PvP. This has nothing to do with the efficiency of the same class in hotjoin PvP (the meta is completely different).

In WvW, the meta is still (IIRC) the good old GWEN meta for zerging. The changes are relevant if you belong to a havoc team or doing solo roaming (I don’t know this area of the game well so I won’t give any advice).

In general PvE, take whatever you want, everyone can shine. The only place where classes are relevant is the speed clear niche gameplay.

The forums are useful for 3 things :
– looking for pinned guide threads. These are very well done. Don’t look at the “post your build” threads, they are confusing as hell.
– asking for tips (and only tips)
– whining, which is the prevalent activity of the Internet.