Guild Wars 2

Hi All,

I hope I’m posting in the right area (my apologies if I am not).

I main a level 80 condition thief and mostly do PvE and dungeon runs. While there are many things I like about the thief, the lack of a lot of AoE options (yes there is DB and 2/4 skills on the shortbow) made me jealous of other classes that can just lay waste to a mob with AoE skills and spells. Also, thief doesn’t really bring a lot of utility to a group in terms of boons and healing, etc, so I want to create an alt toon that has pretty good support abilities as well as AoE DPS.

Which class do you guys recommend (and pls point me to a particular build). Since I’m mostly going to do PvE adequate survivability is also a must.

In short, which class has:
1. Great AoE skills that ideally does a lot of damage
2. Good utility in teams to offer allies boons and whatnot
3. Not TOO squishy, I’m not looking for a glass cannon.

Thanks!

Ranger: Longbow, Greatsword, Axe, Torch, and traps.
Mesmer: Staff, sword if you’re in to point blank.
Elementalist: Almost every weapon set, depending on attunement.
Warrior: Greatsword, Longbow, Hammer, Axe/Mace.

That’s just to get you started, look at some, and see how you like ‘em. There isn’t really any way to do exactly what you want, as party support and utility doesn’t come with great AoE and lots of damage.

You can specialize in AoE damage, but you’ll have to give up the utility, and be a bit squishy. You can specialize in the utility and give up on the damage and be a bit squishy. You can specialize in not being squishy, and lose the utility and AoE damage. You can’t have all three though, no matter how hard you try, you just have to find the right balance for what you want to play.

You forgot Necromancer.

You’re absolutely right Nels, you can’t have it all, but since I am gathering data at this point before committing I’m casting a wider net before deciding on what to sacrifice =).

I was thinking about ele’s but upon visiting the ele forum and reading the massive outcry upon repeated nerfs, general pain and misery of ele players, I started having second thoughts lol. Although I’m not sure if the outcry is over a steep learning curve (but you get better and the builds become more viable as you gain experience) or if the class is just messed up. I’ll look into it, I was really looking forward to having an Ele… I’m a bit disappointed now.

Necros I’d rather avoid, i don’t know much about that class but a lot of their abilities seem condition based and since I already run a condition thief I want to branch out and try something different.

I guess the options are down to war/guard, mesmers, and rangers (I guess ele’s too if y’all know a way that ele’s fit my needs). Ok.

I defn want high DPS, or at least slightly better than avg I’ll take that too lol.
Survivability and support, in that order, or the next 2 priorities (obv it makes no sense to have high dps and support when u die every 2 secs). I’m not looking to be tanky per se, but playing the thief I get a lot of practice dodging and kiting, so as long as there is a way to survive.

Forget it, executive decision time!!! I want either an ele or a mesmer, which one of the two is more fun to play lets keep it simple!

Also, which build in particular.

It sounds like you just listed Elementalist to a T. That said, don’t go Ele, go Warrior…they contribute more than any other class.

Silver.4798:

Forget it, executive decision time!!! I want either an ele or a mesmer, which one of the two is more fun to play lets keep it simple!

Also, which build in particular.

they are so different, so yeah I find mesmer fun but that doesn’t mean you would as well, so that is kind of a subjective question

Don’t base your decision on what you read in a profession specific forum – the majority of the posts in them cry ‘nerf’ and ‘broken’ – I’m not saying all of this is unfounded, balancing always seems to lead to something not working the way you want it to or were used to it doing.

I main an ele and I love it, it was my first character and although I have alts at level 80 my ele is my trusted go to for pretty much everything the game has to offer. I’ve changed my build/traits or skills round on occasion to negate a change in the profession – but that just keeps the gameplay interesting for me. If you like the sound of playing an ele, do it, and see for yourself if its what you want.

Btw – Mesmers are also lots of fun