Guild Wars 2

I main a ranger right now, but at this point, I’m ready to devote some time to an alt. I just can’t decide which class to go for. I want something versatile and fun, with a myriad of different potential playstyles. I’ve explored ranger inside and out: ranged, melee, bunker, power, condi, spirits, traps, signets, even a beast master build. I’ve really enjoyed the many ways to play it, but I feel like I need to try something new. I’ve considered warrior, but it seems too OP and honestly, cliched. I tried elementalist but I didn’t really enjoy it. It’s just too squishy, and that’s not how I like to play. Right now, I’m kind of between mesmer, guardian, necro, and thief. I’d appreciate any thoughts.

Stay with ranger my dearest soulmate :x We are the uncrowned kings and queens of this game!

Anyway, Guardians seem to be good load of fun in every aspect of the game. PvE, PvP and WvW. Solid choice to get involved in everything.
Variety in playstyles? Well every profession has lots of different playstyles. But 90% sticks with the meta for certain aspects of the game.

I say Necro. Other than guardian, it’s the most forgiving. Mesmers are very squishy (though have access to invulnerability & stealth, on a few skills) and so are thieves. I honestly dislike thieves in almost every aspect of the game other than dungeons and PvP/WvW. So if that’s your cup of tea, maybe a thief.

Necros, however, are very build dependent. There are a lot of niche builds out there for PvP, a couple for PvE, and DeathShroud is both fun and a life-saver when caught in a sticky situation.

Now, I personally would avoid minions, but it’s another build to try to master. It has seen a lot of play in PvP lately.

Guardians are boring. Excellent, but boring. If you don’t think you would like a warrior, you probably wouldn’t like a guard. The only difference is guards trade banners for utility like Aegis and Reflect.

Priority:
1. Necro
2. Mesmer
3 & 4. Guardian/Thief (depending on what game modes you like)

Guardians are not boring …

I mained a ranger for a long time before deciding on my first alt and went with a guardian. Never regretted it. Although current build diversity is not that great anymore, running a zerker/dps guard is a lot of fun.

My second alt was a mesmer. A pain to level, but once at 80 you have a few options. I went for a shatter mesmer, and this is the best ranged class in the game. You will never use your ranger for ranged combat situations again after running a mesmer.

Third alt was a condition necro, specifically to deal with champ husks at the Triple-Headed Wurm event. This is all I use the necro for, I don’t like minions, and have no interest in a zerk/dps necro because all my other alts are zerk/dps builds and do this much better.

My fourth and last alt is a thief. I like this class for the amazing damage output and evades. Run your squishy thief solo in PvE with sword/pistol and dagger/dagger and nothing will touch you. You will melt though mobs before they can hit you.

Lots of great input! Bri, sounds like we have the same inclinations.

So, now I’m thinking maybe Mesmer should be my second alt when I have some tomes saved up. Sounds like it’s loads of diverse fun… at high levels. (Or is that a cheap shot?)

I’m kind of leaning toward necro. Is there a reason you hate minions, bri?

Guardian seems like a good option, too. How’s the AoE damage?

And Xerion, don’t worry, Ranger will always be closest to my heart! But it’s a big wide world out there. ^^

Now that I reread your original post, if you are looking more for build variety and interesting mechanics over just being more forgiving, mesmer probably would suit you better. Again, it is nearly as squishy as ele but has more range (less AOE except maybe shatters).

I still think you would enjoy necro as well, and I always promote that people give them a try as they are much less common than most professions (the holy trinity is warrior/guardian/mesmer). And as I said, they are much more forgiving as well.

Minion AI is bad mostly because they aggro whatever they want whenever they want, and they are just too fragile for difficult mobs (particularly dungeons here). The elite minion Flesh Golem is resilient, but you don’t want to trait an entire build for minions if you’re only going to use one.

Still necros are better and more fun than people give them credit for. They are also more versatile than people give them credit for.

Lastly, guardian have great aoe. But you’ll want to stick to melee cleaves over trying to AOE with “ranged” weapons. Their range weapons are very very poor (and you’ll probably have to carry a scepter on you at all times just to have access to SOME range for pulls etc, but it is not really an ideal weapon).

darksilklips.3165:

So, now I’m thinking maybe Mesmer should be my second alt when I have some tomes saved up. Sounds like it’s loads of diverse fun… at high levels. (Or is that a cheap shot?)

Yeah, not much fun at lower levels, The way I dealt with leveling my mesmer was by using one of those 0 to lvl 20 scrolls,, leveling tomes, maxing 2 crafts and opening wp’s in low-level maps. I did the old Queensdale champ train for a bit as well. Once you get to the 60’s it is not so bad, although with the new leveling changes, this might not be true anymore ..

Check the Mesmer sub-forum for more info and guides. The best shatter mesmer guide I found was Kai’s Lazy Mesmer guide, also a fun read!

As for being squishy, I run full zerker, and when necessary my mesmer can hold her own in melee with sword/focus vs single or 2 targets. More than that, particularly if there is a lot of AoE around, can be a problem, but as long as you can generate clones you have escape options. Knowing how and when to dodge is the most critical thing about being successful with this class. If you cannot dodge properly, you will have a difficult time with a shatter mesmer.

darksilklips.3165:

I’m kind of leaning toward necro. Is there a reason you hate minions, bri?

The minion AI is even worse than the ranger pet AI, if you can imagine that!
Also the character models for the minions are horrible. If I want a pet, I will play my ranger ..
Bottom line on necros is that they fine in PvP and great in WvW if built properly. In PvE they are still meh. Fun factor aside, you still need to do damage and contribute something, particularly in dungeons. Necros do lots of condition damage and the way condition damage works in PvE is not in the nerco’s favour.
Yeah, you can try building a zerk/dps necro for PvE, but it means going melee dagger/warhorn, dagger/focus. Your only range option with this build is axe/focus, and this is not great. However, if this seem fun to you, then go ahead.

darksilklips.3165:

Guardian seems like a good option, too. How’s the AoE damage?

AoE damage is fine, guardians have a few AoE utility skills plus staff auto attack and #3 for AoE. Again. check out the guardian sub-forum for builds. I run a full zerk with scholar runes guardian with greatsword and staff. I do Tequatl daily with my guild on my guardian. My main role is to do high damage and provide reflects, might, and stability on turret/battery defense.
Keep in mind, guardian range options are pretty bad with only scepter. Fortunately, the situations where you must go ranged are not that many ..

So, I still have a ways to go for the massive achievement chest (5k achievement points). Guess I’ll make that my goal and shoot for mesmer when I have the experience scroll (and save up tomes and gold for crafting on the way).

I’m probs going to roll guardian then, so I can have all three armor types. It’s kind of arbitrary, but I’m on the fence.