Guild Wars 2

Ok, so I’m incredibly contested when it comes to picking (and STICKING with) a profession. I have played every profession to at least 20, but it seems shortly after 20 I either become disappointed with some aspects of my profession or interested in aspects of another profession.

So I’m down to two .. the Ranger and the Mesmer.

Ranger

Why it appeals to me –
> Ranger feels like a warrior that’s slightly offset from the standard.
> The shouts are great and I love the ability to use both melee and ranged weapons.
> The greatsword feels powerful and the axe is fun and useful.
> Bows are pretty neat as well although I find myself not using them as much.
> I love the traps.. they add some nice utility and on-command combo fields.
> I haven’t really used the spirits to much extent, but the idea of building a spirit build later in the game appeals to me.

Why I’m conflicted –
> That pet. I don’t know why, but that pet REALLY bugs the hell out of me. I know I don’t really need to manage it. I could theoretically just let it die all the time and it wouldn’t be much different… but there’s something about it that bothers me. Imagine you’re playing as a warrior. You go out and start killing stuff but no matter where you go, there’s a little creature following you and attacking your stuff. You just wanna go solo and do your own damage, get your own kills but this thing just keeps FOLLOWING you. There’s nothing you can do about it. It is so annoying that it actually makes me hate the ranger. But I love the other aspects so much that I keep coming back. Also, so many of the traits are focused around the pet if you were to ignore them your trait choices are much more limited. There’s also a few utility skills that ONLY affect the pet.
> Ranger’s aren’t really desirable late game.

Mesmer

Why it appeals to me –
> I like the concept of it. It’s not a straightforward “mage” profession.
> I like that the clones can perform as a ‘ramp up’ before exploding them for good effect.
> There’s lots of damage, control, and support.
> Mesmer can use a wide variety of weapons, although I usually find myself sticking with staff/gs.
> They have a lot of utility skills that can benefit the group and make them pretty desirable later in the game (so I hear).

Why I’m conflicted –
> Firstly.. there’s quite a few mesmers out there. This could be said of every profession, I’m sure, but .. there’s a lot of mesmers. I know I shouldn’t let that bother me, but it does a little.
>I do tend to find some of the weapons to be flat out un-interesting to the point where I end up staying in staff all the time because it’s such a well done weapon.
>I find managing illusions to be tedious at times.
>The F skills.. I really only use F1. F2 for confusion almost never seems worth it (better to use 3 clones as 3 free blocks than get 3 stacks of confusion, it seems), F3 for daze is in the same boat, and F4 for invulnerability for a couple seconds.. well if I leave the clones up that’s 3 free blocks so I’m not getting hit anyways. I realize some of these mechanics will change with traits.
> Many of the utility skills are just plain boring for PvE. I feel like I just use the 2-clone one and put signets on the rest. The phantasms aren’t worth using for PvE. The glamours aren’t really PvE focused… or the manipulations, for that matter. The mantras are kinda neat, but I feel like I just try to use them to put SOMETHING different on my bar because.. I don’t really have anything else.
> Ties in with the one above, mesmer seems very PvP focused.. and I enjoy PvE as much if not more than PvP.. so it’s nice to have some neat stuff to do there.

Overall, I like many aspects of both, but I’m unsure of which one I should continue with. I tend to like professions that are an offshoot or derivation of another profession. I tried Guardian for the same reason, I’ll probably play it more later but it got kinda dull.

If you could perhaps counter some of my points, point out mistakes, try to push me one way or the other, I would greatly appreciate it. As stated above, I enjoy both PvP and PvE, but probably more PvE. Both professions are about 20 now, and I just keep going back and forth.

I realize the futility in “What should I do?” threads, but .. what should I do?

Thanks for reading
Mongo

I roll a Ranger and Mesmer, its not as costly to have two mains. I had my ranger first, and i farmed AC tokens enough to get a complete set for my mesmer.

They have thier uses, I mainly use my ranger for PVE and WvWvW for the range it has on its long bow., and 2nd skill to kill downed players.
Farming seems to be easier with the ranger due to its AOE,’s and piercing arrowws and traps…I always had trouble with it in dungeons cuz of the pet AI, which is why I rolled a bunker/healer mesmer.

Mesmer i mainly use for dungeons and FOTM

Just decide on your play style, I suggest focus on one first start farming with the ranger until you can afford to completly exotic gear both.

I don’t think you can truly evaluate any profession by level 20. Why not just play both of them as your mood dictates. The playstyles of each are different enough that you shouldn’t get too bored.

While there may be a lot of mesmers in pve….there is a definite shortage of them in WvW.

Raf.1078:

I don’t think you can truly evaluate any profession by level 20. Why not just play both of them as your mood dictates. The playstyles of each are different enough that you shouldn’t get too bored.

While there may be a lot of mesmers in pve….there is a definite shortage of them in WvW.

Well I’m playing with a friend who has no issues sticking with his elementalist. Up to level 20 I’ve been able to find enough time here and there to keep them both leveled, but I’m working more hours and I’m not going to have that option shortly. I gotta pick one and leave the other in the dust (for now).

I’d go for the Ranger in that case. Pets aren’t that hard to manage. If you don’t like them, set it up so all they do is run at your side and not draw aggro or help out. The owl or eagles are pretty inconspicous.

Raf.1078:

I’d go for the Ranger in that case. Pets aren’t that hard to manage. If you don’t like them, set it up so all they do is run at your side and not draw aggro or help out. The owl or eagles are pretty inconspicous.

Hmm, that’s true. I am using a pretty massive drake currently. The only part I like about it is it seems to do this spin once in a while in my fire trap which gives area might but .. yeah, maybe I just need to change out my pets. I think I could also tolerate a devourer who will just sit back and ping enemies from afar.

That pet. I don’t know why, but that pet REALLY bugs the hell out of me. I know I don’t really need to manage it. I could theoretically just let it die all the time and it wouldn’t be much different… but there’s something about it that bothers me

Actually, that pet accounts for like 40% of your damage. You really need to keep it alive. In open world, there’s not much you have to do. In dungeons, you’ve got to recall it & swap often. In PvP you’ll probably want to trait into it.

This is gonna be a long one. Fair warning!

Mesmer is my main, but I’ve also played around with a Ranger quite a bit. Both are quite capable in the right hands. While I won’t say which you should definitely pick, I’ll just address your conflicting points and maybe that can help you decide. (Keep in mind that I mostly do PvE)

For the Ranger, if the pet is the biggest concern, you could try using a ranged pet. While they will still follow you around, it may help as far as not needing to manage it quite as much. Or perhaps try equipping the smaller, less distracting pets. You never know, after you use them for a bit you may become accustomed to them and start experimenting with all of the pets. Just keep in mind that even though you don’t have to build around it, pets can still offer some great utility and should not be taken for granted.

As far as being desirable in end-game goes, I can’t offer a ton of input. I’m working on going through all of the dungeons right now, and while I’ve never turned away a Ranger, I have seen both good and bad ones. But the same can be said for all professions, so I don’t think it’s really all that fair to single them out.

I seem to recall a lot of negativity towards Engineers too, but I ran through AC with 2 of them in my party recently and I only had to rez one of them, and only once.

For the Mesmer:

A lot of the issues you have can be addressed as you level your Mesmer. There is a major trait that produces a clone when you dodge, so managing clones is much less involved as you can easily have 3 up at any time.

A lot of the utilities are not extremely useful right off the bat, but as you encounter stronger enemies, they will use tactics that Memsers will have specific counters for. I personally swap utilities all the time depending on who I’m facing. I don’t use Mantras a lot, but I will occasionally equip them if it works best at the time.

You are right about the F1-F4 Skills. I use F1 constantly, sometimes F2 if the enemy attacks frequently, but rarely use F3 of F4. But it’s nice to have them there if you need’em.

As far as weapons go, (and this can be said for any profession) the important thing is to figure out what the purpose of that weapon is. For Mesmer, you can equip a close range sword. Which sounds weird since you’re in light armor. Why put yourself in harm’s way, right? But if you look at blurred frenzy, you can see that you can be invulnerable while laying out some heavy damage. Then if you look at you’re #3 skill, you can send a clone out to cripple you’re enemy if they try to get away. But wait! Once your clone has reached it’s target, press 3 again and you’ll swap places with him and immobilize anyone adjacent to you, possibly setting up multiple enemies for blurred frenzy.

Whew! That’s enough for now! Hope it helps!

Yeah, it bugs me that warriors get traits that boost damage for unused adrenaline.. why can’t rangers get traits that boost damage for unused pets? Well, whatever.

I’m leaning towards rangers, I’ll try out a raven and devourer or something rather than the drake/bear, maybe it will help downplay it.

Yeah. Hope it works out for ya! I personally don’t mind the pets, but I do find myself stowing them now and then when I’m not in combat. Especially if I’m using the bear.

Mesmer can be very frustrating to level. They are a late-blooming profession, with great ability in all aspects of end-game PvE and are extremely useful in WvW, but until you unlock certain trait lines, every battle with mobs at lower levels will feel like a fight for your life.

The opposite is true for Ranger. Along with Warrior, Ranger is one of the most fun and easiest to level classes out there. However, you bring a good point about being limited in end-game content like high level Fractals or dungeons speed-runs. A well-played Ranger can have a very high upside though, especially in WvW.

Bottom line, if you go with Mesmer, you’ll have some tough times getting him up, but you have greater ceiling. Ranger has less of a learning curve, but it’s much harder to play well. Play them both I’d say, and test out both of their max level gameplay in Heart of The Mists against some sparring partners.

I ended up going through all the ranger and mesmer skills and traits and tallying up all the ones I liked (not necessarily in terms of damage but liking the mechanics). Mesmer got 58, Ranger for 59. So I’m gonna stick with ranger.

Thanks for all the input guys. With any luck I’ll stick with ranger for .. at least a couple days before re-considering haha.

Edit: I realize this makes me sound quite insane. And I will not argue against that.

Insane? I say more power to you! Show all those Ranger haters what for!

Ranger! You’ll get used to the pet and you can actually find ways to use them to your advantage.

I actually like playing with Greatsword and having my pet beating away at stuff next to me, and all the different pets with different special abilities make it fun and diverse.