Guild Wars 2

I’ve had GW2 for a while, but never played much until now for various personal reasons. But I’m ready to go, and I plan on leveling with a warrior. I’ve narrowed my class choice down to elementalist, mesmer, & necromancer.

Any advice on which class? If so, what’s the reason behind that choice? Just want to make sure I get a good understanding of the class synergy and the pro’s/con’s of the duo, strategy, etc. Thanks in advance for anyone who assists.

Honestly, Warriors work best with other warriors, boosting their might and fury ad infinitum.

That said, generally mesmers are taken along with a group of warriors for the time warp elite, good condition cleansing and lots of projectile reflects.
Elementalists can throw down lots of combo fields.

Necro’s don’t do that much synergy in the way of direct support, but have nice ways of setting up foes for easier kills.

Btw, this is a very crude representation. And finally, the game is so easy solo, you can level along with a wet paper towel and still have an easy time.
….mmm, wet paper towel, I guess that’s elementalist then!

If you were picking from those 3 that I listed, which would you personally pick and why? From your your post, I was thinking mesmer, but wanted to make sure.

Well even though all are casters, they play vastly different. I can tell you my first pick, but that means little of the playstyle of that profession does not appeal to you.

Let me say this first, in terms of difficulty, from easy to hard:
Necromancer -> Mesmer – - – - – - – - – - – - -> Elementalist

I’d pick a Mesmer because they are wanted in end play. That means your first lv80 would not be locked out by the occasional elitism. Keep in mind that Mesmer is rather underwhelming until you hit level 40 and you can start playing with Master traits and really shines after level 60 when you have your Grandmaster traits. Whereas a Warrior will keep up a pretty steady effectiveness over the levels.

Then I’ll rule the necro out, because I definitely want a challenge with the class. It keeps me from getting bored. What makes the ele such of a more difficult class to learn?

Elementalist is a very, very active class to play. Basically you have to form a sequence of skills over several attunements, while staying on the move at all times.

The “problem” with elementalists is that they have both he lowest vitality (hit points) and toughness (defense) in the game. That makes for an incredibly squishy class. The class itself covers that with defensive skills, but most of those can’t be used very effectively at lower levels.

The result is that new players will die, a lot. If you already have experience with dodging, boons, movement and enemy patterns, it becomes less of an issue.

Elementalists do make for some of the most varied and challenging experiences in the game though.

I appreciate all of the advice. I’ve decided to give elementalist a shot. I just have a few questions about it before I get ready to start (if you don’t mind):

1) What build should I use? I know there are different ones for PvP, but looking for one for PvE, keeping in mind that I’m duo’ing with a warrior. I’ve seen different builds, but not sure at all which to use.

2) With the weapons to that build, do I buy one from the trading post, or will I get one from quests leveling? I guess the same question would apply to the other pieces of my gear as well.

3) Crafting – Which crafting professions should I take? And, do I start on them from the start? I’ve seen some people say wait until level 70 since crafting gives you levels, but I wasn’t sure if they would help me with gear while leveling if I started on them early.

1.) Elementalist is one of the hardest classes to play in my opinion, and especially so when levelling up. I personally recommend the lightning hammer levelling build, just look it up and there are many posts about it. It doesnt really make you feel like an Ele, bit it is powerful and efficient.

2.) Ive levelled over 10 characters past 50 minimum, and ive never bought weapons from the trading post. Just use the gear you find from levelling, and also after completing a heart, go to the golden heart on the map and that personwill sell you stuff for Karma. Often this stuff is really good.

3.) Just choose whatever crafting you want. Weaponsmith is pretty good, and crafting to 400 gives you 10 levels worth of XP, so if youre at a tough spot in levelling consider crafting, but it costs a lot.

Remember to do your daily as it gives great XP and Karma and Laurels, also try to do your monthly and do exploration if you get stuck.

1) Most builds won’t be of any use to you until you unlock the higher tier traits. I wouldn’t worry about that so much at the start. Personally I very much enjoy sceptre/dagger on elementalist. You have nice fire field combo’s to boost both your and your partner warrior’s damage.

2) Just update every so now and then from cheap blues on the TP. On elementalist I suggest updating your gear often, especially at lower levels. You’re so flimsy, every point counts.

3) As you usually have to gather the materials for a piece of crafted gear in the same or higher level zones, you usually run behind when crafting for yourself. I wouldn’t really bother. The most useful during your actual levelling is jeweller imho.

Buy yourself some food and maintenance oils and always have those on. They give you an additional 20% experience for all kills. You can boost that up even more with exp-boosters.

msg me in game sometime.