Guild Wars 2

I’ve been reading for the last six hours or so and the tug of war between the classes has been pretty even. Guardian, Warrior, and Ranger seem to be the most prominent but others seem to get in there as well. Problem is that most of the comments are from a year or more ago so they don’t necessarily reflect the current game. Choosing a class in a game is always hard for me, I like to focus on one or two characters and don’t like to constantly re-roll and level through the same areas just because I can’t decide what to play. I try to figure it out as best I can in advance, saves me a lot of grief in the long run. Opinions?

To give as much detail as possible:
I plan to be solo 95% of the time
I have zero interest in raiding
I have almost zero interest in dungeons
I have almost zero interest in PvP (might dabble in WvW sometimes, but that’s it)
I want to be able to solo pretty much anything in open world, including champions (at least the ones that aren’t 100% impossible to solo, assuming there are any) Map completion will also be a factor but I don’t mind if the class lacks a speed buff, that just makes things faster, not easier.
I love to craft (not that I think this matters, but I’ll put it out there anyway)

No idea if this will help, but more details tend to be useful, right? Thank you in advance for any ideas. And yes, I know “all classes are good” and stuff like that but that really doesn’t help me figure out what to play. The class itself isn’t that important, what it can actually do for soloing, however, is.

Go Ranger; god-like solo experience. And, your pet can heal you!

This game is not about soloing open world things. Btw you can solo almost everything with any profession. Open pve is easy and just something what fill the place between boss events and dungeons

Thanks for the ideas, hoping to hear some more, but thank you for what’s been said so far.

Another day of reading, a little bit of experimenting in game finally, it does look like I’m going to end up with either Bowbear Ranger or GS Berserker Warrior. Yea, I know, Bowbear doesn’t teach you how to play the game but I have no interest in grouping with my ranger, I’ll save that for another character, so maybe Ranger is the way to go for my solo? I’ve had zero trouble soloing champions so far (granted I’m level 12, so…yea) but I’ve definitely had some trouble with multiple mobs at once. No deaths but fighting 3+ enemies at a time can get hairy and enemies seem really good at smacking me out of stealth just as I try to go into it.

Warrior, on the other hand, I’ve had zero trouble with smashing everything…except Champions. They out damage my personal healing even when I manage to dodge their big “you should feel bad for breathing in my presence” powers. Of course my warrior loves groups of 3+, just melt them into little puddles of death.

Bowbear has some pretty sad damage when not using rapid fire but it’s pretty safe for the most part. Is their DPS always so low? Maybe I’m just bad but Longbow only appears to have a single DPS power, then it’s just auto attack and situational powers. Warrior wrecks for damage, even at this level, but isn’t quite as safe to play. No deaths on warrior yet either but I’ve had to run a few times when I ended up in the middle of a centaur or bandit swarm by accident.

Not really sure which class will serve me better as my main solo, definitely looking for more ideas here. Thanks in advance.

Planning another character also, will likely be running a duo with my fiance. Pretty much guaranteed I’ll be using a Guardian for that one, so my group friendly character is accounted for now. Just need to work on my soloer.

Also, how does Necro stack up against Ranger/Warrior for soloing the world? No idea if I really want to play a Necro at all but it can’t hurt to ask.

Necro can be squishy early on until you get to mid levels where it’s high health pool starts to kick in. One possibility is to use minions to soak aggro. That said, I never liked the minion play-style. When I leveled Necro, the melee minions would not attack some of the time, preferring to watch me do it. no idea if this is still an issue. Instead of having lots of active defense, Necro has its profession mechanic, Death Shroud. This is a second life bar that can be used whenever you like — though one use is to save it for when your health is low and you can use it to extend life while waiting for your heal to recharge.

Purely for leveling, I found my 1st Necro easier after I slotted some defensive stats on gear. However, after the trait revamp in April 2014, I did another one to L51 or so, went all glass and had no trouble with much of anything. One thing to note, a Direct Damage Necro in defensive gears kills quite slowly. I tried condition damage on the second one, but abandoned it around L20 as I found the play style boring. Ymmv.

As to your Bearbow, if you’re sending El Bruin in to soak aggro at the start, you can slot all glass gear — for longbow you’ll want Power, Precision and Ferocity, in that order. Also, make sure you’re using the #1 attack at at close to max range, as that is when its damage is best.

Good luck and have fun.

best class for solo everything is ranger
get a bear and he do all tanking for you you just pew pew in the distance

ad lvl 80 and beast master ad max your bear have so 53k hp
with all good traits in beast master he heal more back then he get damage

ultimate tank ^^

Thanks for the info. I just got 100% Queens on my ranger, had zero issue outside of some centaur raids where I ended up with 8 enemies or so at once.

Considering trying another class through queens to see how they compare to Bearbow (I didn’t even know Bearbow was a thing, I just ended up liking bear and longbow…woops?). In-game was basically suggested thief, warrior, and potentially necro as possible better soloers than ranger. Any truth to it or should I just murder the world on ranger?

Also, going to start a duo with my fiance soonish. Guardian would be good in a duo I figure, what about Engineer? Those are the two I’m considering right now.

I hate my ranger (gw2’s idea of a ranger anyway), while I can solo most any pve content with my thief. I only leveled ranger because I wanted to understand all the classes for wvw. Actually I think I can solo most any openworld pve content with any class… it’s all very casual-ised now. Especially with it all event scaling and all that, this game really isn’t a solo thing in the end, not when you can be with other players and force events to spawn high level mobs that drop good loot. Solo I’ll play skyrim or X3:TC, but here it pays off to try out non-solo stuff and see how it goes, especially since it goes better here than in most games.

I’d say warrior from your choices, the class is forgiving especially to new players, and sounds like you like it which is good for that class. imo thief takes dedication to be good if you like that commitment. Both usually easily get into groups, but rangers are often not wanted. Not uncommon to see them turn on lfg and stand there alone for 10m while others fill groups fast doing the same content.

Really it just comes down to what class you want to play rather than what is good for what content. Like other games for me, I play/played bounty hunter, assassin, ranger, arcane archer, rogue, covert ops, force recon. For me here d/d stealth thief is the obvious choice. Just playing the easiest class for some content, well will prolly just burn you out. But lb ranger is a good choice for that, lots of lazy rangers in this game sitting at their safe spots collecting loot chests as they randomly point blank your hit contribution awayhehe.

Guards and engi’s are nice, most classes are. Just gotta figure out what best fits your play style, then run with it.

I tried non solo stuff already but no since i can make alot more profit in open world than in dun and other grp content ( not fractal ) it’s fun but not everyone like it and i’am one of them.

Ranger clearly no.1 choice for you i did map completion on both my war/ranger and yeah ranger is more stable and take control better than war in some bad situations came up during the adventure, ranger got alot of hate in this game but who care when it came to solo content first class i want to take is alway ranger don’t let bad cmt about ranger get in your way you can alway re-roll after your ranger hit 80.

Warrior yes this class is strong and one of my favorite but i tread him like a tool not as my main char cuz war are good in group play stay 2nd place in solo content ( but if solo dungeon it will be placed at 1st ) strong def/regen/damg but will not stay alive better than ranger in some emergency situations.

Guard like war but low hp pool make thing a bit harder in some way and more deffensive than war.

War strong def / high hp pool / very nasty regen ( about 600hp – 700hp per sec ) / very high damg / boring gameplay / poor animation / can’t have both regen and big heal at the same time.

Guard strong def / low hp pool / good regen /good damg / interesting gameplay and animation / can have big heal and regen at the same time / utility skill make this class more survival than war.

Ranger good def / medium hp pool / nasty heal over time skill / better damg come from melee / best survival ( pets ) / feel like true adventurer.

One more thing in solo it’s not about the damg ppl said kill thing faster than it kill you yeah they were right but for me it’s about how well you can control your battlefield now i mainly play mesmer but nothing can touch me or bring me down in solo content it will take longer fight but i enjoy the way i control my enemies and ranger can do the same nothing in open world content can bring you down….well may be there are some but just a small chance.

Btw stay away from engi/ele/thief those classes is not for you they are fun yeah i agreed but seriously don’t.

Ranger or Warrior. Is your best bet on starting out. Once you’ve gotten a feel for the game, try out some other professions. Engi and ele have the highest learning curve. But have some of the best rewards in terms of playing.

McWolfy.5924:

This game is not about soloing open world things. Btw you can solo almost everything with any profession. Open pve is easy and just something what fill the place between boss events and dungeons

Um… what? That’s a rather… weird… thing to say. I mean, isn’t the entire point of the game to have fun? And if you enjoy solo PvE, then that’s what you should do. Why recommend PvP to someone who sated he had very little interest in it?

OP: My advice? Try every class to level 20ish, to see how you like them. All classes are quite doable in solo PvE. Some are a bit more difficult than others, but nothing you need to worry about. Just learn how to play (by having fun and testing new weapons and skills), and you’ll be fine. Plus, McWolfy did have a good point. While you can solo PvE all the way up, you will find plenty of reasons to join other players. Not necessarily in groups, but if two players beat up the same enemy, you both get XP for it. If ten players, none in a group, do a dynamic event together, you all get XP and loot for it. Grouping isn’t all that useful in this game, but sticking around other players just might be.

As for the crafting bit, I suggest a crafting profession that matchers your combat profession. For instance, my warrior is an armor- and weaponsmith. That way, I can make my own armor and weapons. My mesmer is a tailor and artificer, so she can make her own armor and some weaponry.

Also, keep in mind you can donate crafting materials directly to the bank from your inventory, and you can use them directly FROM the bank when crafting. You can even place things in your bank through the crafting stations. This way, it can be useful to have an alt standing near a crafting station. My weapon smith can make new daggers for my elementalist, simply by making the daggers and placing them in the bank through the crafting station. My elementalist will then simply pick them up through her own crafting station, or through the very useful bank-express golem you get when you start the game the first time. (too bad it’s only for a limited time, though. But by the time it expires, you’ll have plenty of waypoints to and from crafting stations anyway.)

BattleCat.2098:

McWolfy.5924:

This game is not about soloing open world things. Btw you can solo almost everything with any profession. Open pve is easy and just something what fill the place between boss events and dungeons

Um… what? That’s a rather… weird… thing to say. I mean, isn’t the entire point of the game to have fun? And if you enjoy solo PvE, then that’s what you should do. Why recommend PvP to someone who sated he had very little interest in it?

Because he’s right, it’s just the mechanics of the open world system. Sure you can solo stuff, even meta events and static champs. But open world is primarily about meta events, and those scale up depending on how many players are in the area. It’s the difference between spawning a few trash mobs on up to armies of vets and champs, and “You can never have too much treasure.”.

Thanks for all the advice.

Currently messing with my Bearbow still pre-20 but I don’t really level very fast, I see no reason to rush to 80. I ran around and got all the capitals/lions to 100% for fun (not sure I would actually call doing that in one shot fun though, never again) and have just been meandering around. I am still noticing some issues with large groups of enemies, especially since they sometimes like to attack me instead of my bear. Situations like that were where my warrior laughed and just cleaved them into tiny pieces. On the other hand, it’s lots of fun beating up veterans and champions with basically zero threat on the ranger where my warrior has to roll around like an acrobat the entire fight.

Still unsure which I prefer, I may keep leveling both but I feel like I’m wasting time when I split focus between multiple low level characters. I would like to make SOME kind of progress after all. It’s certainly nice that all the classes are good at solo PvE but picking the right one is still making me crazy. Can’t help it, when it comes to soloing I like to use the best class for it, always have. For any other game content I’m fine but my main tends to get min/maxed badly and aimed specifically at soloing the world.

I have nothing against tagging along in world events if they happen to have a group nearby, I just never tailor my main towards group play.

Duo is potentially looking like Guardian/Elementalist but who knows, not really ready to roll that group up yet until I figure out my main.

At low lv ranger kinda lack of skill when you hit at least 31 run full power/precision/ferocity ( third stat will appear at 6x call berserker ) gears with full traps utility with Troll Unguent healing, use LB/GS or LB/Axe/Torch or GS/Axe/Torch you can skill a group of mobs with no trouble – don’t depend too much on your pets and use dps pet instead of tank one.https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/List_of_pet_locations

Prefer Jugar, Lynx, Devourer for Aquatic combat use Armor Fish and Shark btw ranger is really good at underwater fighting.

Thing will go different at high lv where

Still unsure if I want to leave Ranger as my main. It’s fairly easy picking up one or two dailies in WvW just roaming around and PvE has been fairly easy so far (picked up the poison bear, it’s ugly as sin but it’s nice until I can get a black bear) but it can get pretty nasty if something decides to ignore my pet and just stomp me in melee. Not sure what causes it, sometimes my pet just can’t seem to hold agro to save my life, even 1v1. Not that it’s a game breaking problem or anything, I can dodge as needed, but it seems random. Ranger is ~26 now and still enjoying it at least.

Still need to level my warrior some more and try that out, see how it compares to Ranger as far as soloing goes. Maybe try out thief as well although from what I’ve read they aren’t quite as good (close though) as Ranger or Warrior. Guardian is apparently up there also but a bit harder since they have longer cool downs and more weapon juggling? At least that is what I heard. Dunno, I dislike the idea of leveling too far and sinking time into classes that won’t end up as my main, but it’s not like anything (mostly) binds to characters so it’s still benefiting the entire account. I would certainly like to make some progress though. Not that I’m in a rush to 80 or anything but constantly leveling characters means I’m only seeing the same zones/events, that does get a little old if you have to do it too often.

don’t pick warrior that class is so kitten boring

Honestly, a class being boring has never bothered me as long as it’s the best at what it does. DK in WoW was fairly boring back when I played it (blood spec only needed ~3-4 buttons and you basically solo’d the entire game) but I loved it because it was the undisputed solo king for a good long time.

CalamityO.2890:

Ranger or Warrior. Is your best bet on starting out. Once you’ve gotten a feel for the game, try out some other professions. Engi and ele have the highest learning curve. But have some of the best rewards in terms of playing.

Ele and engi have the highest learning curve?

As many have said, picking a class is very personal choice. All the classes can solo anything in this game. The game has some easily exploitable ai, very few creatures can pose any threat if you understand how to fight them. (I just soloed a lvl 8 vet wolf, along with 5 wolves chasing me, each summoning extra wolves. This was done on a level 6 ele with only 2 skills and 2 atunements. Truly, understanding mob ai is all it takes)

For choosing a class, I would watch some videos of skilled players with each class. Once you have found a few you find interesting, try them out in heart of the mists (pvp zone); you don’t fight other players, but they have npc classes to practice on and some boss creatures there too. Try killing these npcs with the classes you are trying out (spend at least 1-2 hours on each class you want to explore). I know this sounds like a lot of time (if you are interested in 4-5 classes), but its totally worth it. You’ll learn how the classes feel for pve, without the hassle of leveling. Then, once you’ve found the class that interests you the most, start leveling.

I myself was interested in ele, mes, guardian, engie, thief and ranger, and now I have a max level of each (except guardian), they all bring something special, but you have to start somewhere. Choose your favorite and go to town, you’ll enjoy soling more if you connect to your character (theme, feel, and abilities). All classes are balanced. Although its true that ranger has the easiest time soling, he can’t walk into a group of 10 mobs and blow them all up like an engie, ele, or necro can. He can’t sneak past anything like a thief can or move as quickly while still maintaining easy soloing. It is all trade off, and you have to decide what you prefer.

Ranger: great at keeping himself alive, can have super long ranger, mostly single target dmg, and plays always with a companion which can be fun or not to you.

Engineer: versatile, lots of explosions, good aoe, no melee (for now), very utility focused (only 3 weapon combinations, but have more attacks skills than most with kits (kits are utilites that act like weapon sets)

Thief: Mostly single target, but has some functional aoe, teleporting, lots of stealth access, squishy, access to a lot of evasion uptime (can dodge a lot), and some utilities can almost single handily save you from almost any situation. Even better at staying alive than ranger when trying to stay alive, but can’t keep up pressure in doing so)

Necro: beast, super tanky, however low sustain, like a walking tank, slow, but can really mess things up, and can build for lots of minions to protect him.

Mesmer: slipery, subterfuge, can be extremely high burst, mostly single target, decent stealth uptime, extreme utility (groups will love you)

Elementalist: versatile, can be highly complexe to learn, tons of aoe, can do anything in the game awesomely. Hard to describe, but its a really strong class, but is very squishy by default, however most builds have good sustain, so if you can avoid going splat, you can recover.

Warrior: Excellent sustain, can have great mobility, versatile (but more in that there are many builds available), mostly single target, very tanky.

Guardian: excellent sustain, can have okay mobility in combat (better than necro), good single target/aoe hybrid weapons. (not as strong as lets say thief in signle target, but a lot of attacks hit extra targets, but nothing like necro, ele or engie in aoe) can be squishy (least of the three squishies :thief, ele, guard) Solid profession can when mastered can do amazing things. (like an ele, engie)

Those are just some quick descriptions, but they should help you a see where your interests lie. Good luck choosing a main (it took me years and I still keep changing, but now I have a bunch of max levels so its easy to switch)

Also, don’t forget, you can easily change how your character looks, but can never change your race.

Thanks for such a great response. In regards to your very last point, trust me, race is tormenting me almost as much as class Kind of. I know I’m doing human or norn, so not nearly as much to worry about.

I did not know about the mists training, I’ll have to mess around in there. As far as video’s, I’ve done that, and done that, and done that. I’ve been working on deciding my character for a couple days now, I’ve read (most likely) every single thread on every single forum about soloing at least five times, had dozens of tabs up for comparing classes, and watched enough video’s about the classes to likely put me somewhere around the star wars trilogy in time sunk.

I know it sounds crazy to most people, it’s just how I am. I need to research, I need to know things, I can’t stand just diving in. I actually have less fun if I don’t have a game plan before I go into the game itself. Maybe I’m broken, who knows? It’s the reason I always hunt down as many opinions as I can, eventually when you pile enough of them together you wind up with an answer. I know it even sounds crazier to think that I enjoy classes based on their solo “rank” so to speak but that’s always been how I am. For groups or fun I can play pretty much anything but my main always has to be the best for soloing regardless of the class. The fact this game has so many different kinds of “best” is great, I applaud them for having such good balance, but they are definitely making me a little crazy

Also have to say, I applaud this forum in general. Lots of good responses instead of the general trolls or insults. Very nice surprise, that alone could end up keeping me around the game just for the quality of players.

sutasafaia.4872:

Thanks for such a great response. In regards to your very last point, trust me, race is tormenting me almost as much as class Kind of. I know I’m doing human or norn, so not nearly as much to worry about.

I did not know about the mists training, I’ll have to mess around in there. As far as video’s, I’ve done that, and done that, and done that. I’ve been working on deciding my character for a couple days now, I’ve read (most likely) every single thread on every single forum about soloing at least five times, had dozens of tabs up for comparing classes, and watched enough video’s about the classes to likely put me somewhere around the star wars trilogy in time sunk.

I know it sounds crazy to most people, it’s just how I am. I need to research, I need to know things, I can’t stand just diving in. I actually have less fun if I don’t have a game plan before I go into the game itself. Maybe I’m broken, who knows? It’s the reason I always hunt down as many opinions as I can, eventually when you pile enough of them together you wind up with an answer. I know it even sounds crazier to think that I enjoy classes based on their solo “rank” so to speak but that’s always been how I am. For groups or fun I can play pretty much anything but my main always has to be the best for soloing regardless of the class. The fact this game has so many different kinds of “best” is great, I applaud them for having such good balance, but they are definitely making me a little crazy

Also have to say, I applaud this forum in general. Lots of good responses instead of the general trolls or insults. Very nice surprise, that alone could end up keeping me around the game just for the quality of players.

It was no problem. I’m the same way so I can understand it, I always spend a lot of time doing research. (I’m also a scientist, so my job fits perfectly)

It has taken me years to dedicate to a class, and its never stuck until map completion…. But at this point, I’ve realized what each class is good for, and while I only play them one at a time (main), I will often switch mains every few months (5-6).

If you only found the warrior and ranger interesting based on your research, give them a go in heart of the mists. Both classes have lots of different builds, so it will take time to pin down if you enjoy the class. However, if your focus is pve solo, I’d focus more on power damage than condition damage. It is generally more useful damage type in pve. (however, there are exceptions)

For the Ranger, I can recommend you try the longbow, greatsword, short sword, dagger, war horn, and axes and torch in that order. These weapons (longbow especially) is the cornerstone for most good open world ranger builds. Greatsword and short sword are usually the second weapons, and with the shortsword it can be accompanied by any offhand for different effects. Also, if you want to make great use of the shortsword, you’ll need to disable the auto-attack (crtl click on the first skill in your action bar) and learn how to “about face”. This button in your keybinds turns you around instantly. With it you can use the mobility of the short sword to its fullest. Also, disable auto-target enemies in options. It will cripple your performance.

I’m not as familiar with the warrior, but greatsword, rifle, hammer, mace, and axe are all the power weapons (shield is utility). So try those out and see how you do. I’ve leveled a few rangers to 80, but no warriors (34 is my highest) So you’ll know more about the class than me in no time. I just know how to kill them.

Good luck, and I hope you move onto pvp at some point. It’s lots of fun. In fact, most game modes have their fun aspects. (I really used to like wvw when I was in a havoc guild)

It isn’t that I only found warrior and ranger interesting, it’s that from what I’ve been reading it’s that they are neck and neck as far as being the best soloer for PvE.

For my Ranger I’ve been using the LB and been torn between the GS and SS. I like the GS better in general, even though I love the jump back on the SS. I’ve gotten very good at jumping backwards straight into other wandering enemies though Hi guys! Ranged characters seem (in my opinion) to have an advantage in PvE since many of the worst attacks that bosses throw around seem to be PBAoE powers. Based on my roaming in WvW that seems to be far more balanced since human players will actually use gap closers/wideners where as NPCs just sort of sit there watching their health bar dwindle. I could be wrong of course, but so far Ranger has been far easier than Warrior for soloing PvE, with the exception of getting jumped by the occasional roaming band of centaur where my pet was simply unable to pick up the agro from all of them and I ran out of dodge. Wow that’s a long sentence.

Ranger just seems to be a good combination of DPS and not so squishy (most of the time) and I get the bonus of avoiding almost all nasty AI attacks.

The more I look into things the more I’m likely to re-roll a Ranger and keep it. The problem then becomes race…which will likely slow me down almost as much as picking a class >.> Yay indecisiveness! Unless something spectacular shows up and convinces me that Ranger isn’t the best for soloing, at least. Which it might.

=/

My brain hurts.

Rangers are the best at soloing, if by that you mean can stay alive the easiest while picking guys off one at a time or a few at a time. Rangers have lots of innate survival mechanisms. A good thief would finish the maps faster. Same with warrior. But the ranger would probably have the least issues dying if you are new to the game.

Generally, yes. It isn’t speed I’m concerned about, its practicality. I’ve seen lots of video’s with Ranger’s, Thieves, and Warriors (and to some extent, Guardians) doing some fairly crazy things but it always seems to be the Ranger that never dies. Unless they get piled on, of course.

I guess that really does just leave race choice. I know that this is mostly aesthetic but I’m still unsure here as well. Human or Norn is most likely since I plan to play an Asura with a friend, not really fond of the catbears looks or the Sylvari. Of course human and norn are just bigger versions of each other mostly, but…=/

As a side question:
I know with the new wardrobe system you can wear other races cultural armor, but can you purchase a different armor type than the class you are? Could a guardian purchase a rangers cultural armor (and not use it, of course, but just purchase it).

Re: buying cultural armor of a different weight class: yes you can.

I think rather than finding the easiest profession to solo open world PvE content, maybe OP should consider choosing a profession you find most fun to play with.

I am pretty sure if you spend a bit of time getting adapt to the mechanics for most open world mobs you can solo with any class.

For race, it mostly comes down to aesthetics. Norn have a cool racial ability for running away in wvw or getting some stealth. Otherwise, you could also make silly builds with summoned pets.

Humans on the other hand have a decent melee elite (grenth) which will chill and poison anyone around you. And hounds of balthazar which deal some good damage (single target).

However, racial skills will almost never be used, as they are tuned to be weaker than any class skills. There are a few situations where they would be useful.

So…been playing Ranger for a couple days now. Leveling slowly, taking my time, only got my new one up to ~22 now (yea, I re-rolled my other Ranger for a new race). Loving Ranger, no real complaints, plenty of fun to solo. I get a bit hurt by huge groups but so far I’ve only gone down once (got jumped by ~8 ghosts in the bearcat zone) but I haven’t actually died yet.

Decided to try and play another class for a while, shake things up a bit. Since Ranger starts with pet it feels like a Ranger to me all the way from level 1, the other classes don’t seem to feel at all like their class though. Warrior and Guardian is ok but all the other classes just feel like “generic character #86” since all they get is a weapon and a heal and nothing class defining at all it seems. Obviously this changes as you level them up but wow is it painful to level. Rangers get spoiled starting with their toy from first level.

Anyway, I tried out guardian and warrior, not honestly sure I really enjoy either of them at this point. Once again, likely being spoiled by ranger, fighting vets and higher ranked enemies is just no fun in melee. You get smushed way too easily to me, especially for characters who are supposed to be tanky. Obviously they don’t play the same way in this game as in other MMOs, I’m fine with that, doesn’t mean it isn’t an incredibly jarring experience to get used to.

So, as a change of pace from ranger, any suggestions? I’m leaning more and more towards trying to stick to range in this game, melee feels more like a chore so far. Maybe I just need to get used to the mechanics but for the time being I think I would rather just not get my face torn off. I’m sure I’ll get around to really trying out melee at some point but for now I’ll stick to practicing on my ranger with a melee weapon since I can have a pet as backup while I inevitably fail at my practicing. Are there any other classes that can stay at range the way a Ranger can?

Try engineer. Different mechanics from ranger, but still mostly based from range. A bit of a compromise between ranger and melee people, since engineer has a lot of mechanics where they work well from far away but work even better mid-to-close range, which might be a way for you to ease into melee if you ever decide to.

Thanks, I’ll give them a shot, see if I can figure them out since I hear they’re fairly complicated to play. I certainly plan to get into melee at some point, it’s not like I want to avoid that entire aspect of the game, I just wasn’t ready for there to be such a vast difference in how it performed compared to…well…every other game.

Engineer is complicated at high levels and/or if you want to really get the most out of the class, but for leveling/casual play you can get away with fairly straightforward gameplay. They have one of the best burst heals in game & a bunch of block/invulnerability abilities, as well as some blinds which help mitigate damage when you find yourself in trouble.

If a few hours down you decide engie really isn’t your thing, you may also consider elementalist – staff ele is the other big range user that has good damage and is pretty easy to play other than being super fragile, with room to get more close and personal by using different weapon sets such as dagger/focus or scepter/dagger.

Rolled another warrior to try and give melee another chance, worst case scenario she can gather dust in a city between bouts of trying to learn melee properly.

In the mean time I’ll roll up the engineer, and maybe the elementalist, and see how they pan out. I was doing some research on engineer and apparently their turrets are bad? Kind of a shame, I wanted to drop a ton of turrets. Guess flame thrower could be a close second or something :P

sutasafaia.4872:

Rolled another warrior to try and give melee another chance, worst case scenario she can gather dust in a city between bouts of trying to learn melee properly.

In the mean time I’ll roll up the engineer, and maybe the elementalist, and see how they pan out. I was doing some research on engineer and apparently their turrets are bad? Kind of a shame, I wanted to drop a ton of turrets. Guess flame thrower could be a close second or something :P

Turrets aren’t terrible in all formats. (I still use them when in pvp) However, the old turret builds don’t work well anymore. (I play a zerker bunker down turret build. Lots of damage, and rage when 1v1; although rangers make me cry) It’ll be a long time before you reach the skill level to talk about what is viable and not. At the low level, everything is viable and learning rotations, and understanding your oponents and fully utilizing your build will take time. So, just experiment with things. The matchmaking should place you against players who also don’t fully optimize their builds. If you wanted to use turrets in pve, they are really weak, even weaker with the recent nerfs. However, if you want to finish a guard X event, drop your turrets and elite supplies, and go make a sandwich. It still works sometimes.

Engineer is lots of fun. Elementalist is super fun to level if you know what you are doing. I just killed 2X centaurs solo all at once with some skilled play and lots of aoe. I got downed a few times, but rallied at each enemy death. I’ve always enjoyed leveling classes with aoe more. I just love to see how many I can pull and take out. Engie can do this too.

Good luck again, and feel free to add me to friends in game. I’ve been playing for years and don’t mind helping you out in game. I’m even leveling a new elementalist (23 so far). However, I have over 80 leveling tomes, so I don’t know how long I’ll be low level… XD

When you refer to matchmaking you talk about PvP, yes? I have zero plans to ever step foot in PvP. I always avoid it in pretty much all its forms in any game I play. The only thing I may do is roam around in WvW and attempt to do the PvE portions of it.

Solo PVE is my primary interest too, and I as well chose a ranger as my first profession to take to 80. I found once I reached level 80 I grew both bored and frustrated with the ranger for soloing. You are primarily a single target dps which makes taking down mobs a pain bc it takes a bit. Where you can just run through mobs and explore easier in lower level areas you cannot do that in the higher level ones, requiring you to slowly pick off NPCs one at a time. I switched to Mesmer and I LOVE IT for soloing. It was slower to level initially but once I was at level 30 I could intentionally pull large mobs and take them out so much quicker and easier than I did with my ranger. This could just be me, and one day I’ll dust my ranger off and see, but so far, I find the mesmer much more fun and effective to run around with. The clones/illusions can also act your “meat shields” so to speak taking a bit of the heat off you which I appreciate, though you still need to be adept at dodge/rolling.

Just a small update, got Ranger to 39, definitely enjoying it so far. Finding my ability to survive larger mobs is getting better as well now that I’m getting used to things. Still interested in trying a second class out for when I don’t feel like playing my Ranger though. Considering waiting on Engineer until I save up enough xp scrolls and insta-levels to bypass the lower level nonsense of being an engineer without any real engineering powers though.

Also finding my ability to play any class without a passive move speed is getting harder. Feels like I’m walking through waist deep mud after getting used to waltzing around the map on the ranger.

Anyway, fairly sure Ranger is my concrete main at this point after being able to stand and basically pew pew down an elite enemy without ever taking a point of damage other than a few stray ranged attacks, thanks for the tons of suggestions and ideas. Could definitely use some ideas for a primary alt though. Of course I know Warrior can still out-solo a ranger (at least from what people say) but I can’t imagine how it could possibly be safer than ranger.