Guild Wars 2

Hello all i just got the game and was hopping i could get a little help choosing a profession before i waste a bunch of time and figure out the profession i picked dosent match my play style..

I usually like to play support characters who are very active around the battle field. I enjoy playing the “thinking mans” classes in most games and really enjoy crowd control and buffs/debuffs.

I usually like to take part in all aspects of the games i play so a class that can be helpful in pve, dungeons, and pvp would be great. after a little while i always seem to gravitate to pvp more then pve but enjoy both.

what i usually shy away from is tank types and primary healers. I dont mind a more secondary healing role with other duties as well, just dont like to heal full time. I am not opposed to dealing damage either but usually want to help the team more then be the guy putting up huge numbers.

any suggestions on what would fit my play style would be greatly appreciated

thanks for the help
GeekyFatKid

Hello there.

First of all i think you should introduce yourself with the game before choosing that specific profession. Thats because there isn’t tanks, healers and dps professions here. Every class can be high dps, good tank, or good support(that includes heals, cc, shields, etc.) – there isn’t pure healer like in most games, nor tank.

But from what you described i think its closest to the Guardian. Its a basic support class, it has high amount of shield abilities that are useful not only for defending your team, but it can be used with the same efficiency to cc enemies. Its one of the few professions in game that can actually heal allies and it has good control over buffs. So its one of the best CC and support classes ingame. As for the damage, as guardian its quite decent, but you must not expect to match up to thiefs or warriors. One of the things it lack tho is mobility – limited as most of the professions ingame.

In total the Guardian is really good for Dungeons and SPvP(TPvP), average for open world PvE and average for WvW(not good for solo, really good in team).

But i highly recommend to check out the others, all of the professions have something special in them. And to choose – it must fit your game-play style.

id recommend guardian as its easy to learn and fast to level, although hellissane mentioned any class can fill any role (except healer there is no class that can heal through damage taken) some classes are much better at different roles than others, for example guardian is by far the strongest support class to the point that no other class can even get close to the amount of damage mitigation a guardian can provide

Engineer, so many kits, so many abilities and a few different type of build, that all require thinking whilst on the battlefield oh yeah and you get a flamethrower and grenades, woo!

Guardians are awesome, but are definitely very much tank characters. But are also general support with boon generation (buffs to people around you). In WvW, the guardian is generally a front line fighter who leads the charge against the enemy, pushes through the enemy zerg. Here is a build that explains one play style.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAg49ziVUqM

Elementalists can play a similar role, are are the best healers in the game (which really doesn’t say much, everyone is pretty much responsible for their own health.) Elementalists can play close up with D/D or more at range with Staff. But because you can’t swap weapons in combat you have to pick one or the other.
Staff Elementalist video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=riNQA8NDfU4
Dagger / Dagger elementalist video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGhPRMbmdA0

See if any of these look interesting to you.

It’s also worth mentioning that with your five character slots and free character deleting, you can easily make one of each, play for a few levels and see what appeals to you.

GeekyFatKid.7263:

I usually like to play support characters who are very active around the battle field. I enjoy playing the “thinking mans” classes in most games and really enjoy crowd control and buffs/debuffs.

Elementalist requires the situational awareness to switch to the right attunement. Fire attunement is raw damage/dot, Water is support/cc, lightning is burst/cc, earth is dot/tanky. You will never be expected to primary heal or primary tank in PvE or WvW. There are bunker eles in PvP but that is only one option out of many.

So you could level up a elementalist to 20 or 30 and use his attunements as a benchmark to decide which support style you like most in GW2. Then you could roll a class that more closely resembles that style or keep the ele.

The Guardian is another class I think you’d like, it is more on the supportive side but can still pack a punch. Emphasis will be on boons (buffs), cc, and protection. And some holy righteous fiery destruction.

You can go in the PvP lobbey and practise with level 80 characters in full exotics/full skills/traits to see which you prefer yourself…

My personal advice is Guardian, great at everything…