Guild Wars 2

Main is an engie, luv that class. Saw the new Sky Pirate armor and want to roll a class that would utilize it. I’ve played each class a bit in sPvP, breakdown is as follows (games – % of total games):

Elementalist (265 – 5%)
Mesmer (168 – 3%)
Necromancer (77 – 1%)

So I understand the gameplay of them all and equally, they’re fine. I guess my question is more geared towards overall (wvw, sPvP, open world pve, dungeons/fractals) which class contributes more. I’d really like to get into wvw but my only 80 and an engie and in zvz I get retal’d to death, what class offers more to the zerg. The meta for dungeons is 4 wars and a mesmer, do ele’s and necros offer much? Is leveling any of these 3 classes a chore, I remember reading ele leveling was terrible. I would be leaning towards necro but the SOTG has me fearing a nerf and every class’s community complains that their class is beyond broken and should be scrapped.

TL;DR – What are your personal opinions on each class.

Ele’s are great all around, in wvw they typically run D/D and focus on mobility and melting their target(s) down, in sPvP/PvE it’s pretty much the same thing, but in PvE most use staff to stay at a fair distance from the mobs, in dungeons/fractals most go ranged support with a staff, either focusing on dmg or full out supportive heals, ect.

Mesmers in wvw are great roamers, they way they can produce clones/illusions/phantasms is unreal, they have few widely used builds for wvw but most focus on shatter dmg. sPvP they either stick with the shatter dmg. spec or focus on conditions such as confusion, and specing into traits that allow their c/i/p’s to inflict conditions when they die. PvE it’s pretty much power builds that work out very well, with some even going into CC (Crowd Control.) builds such as cripple/chilled or builds focusing on keeping your c/i/p’s alive so they can inflict as much dmg as possible before going poof.

Necromancers in wvw are focusing on conditions mostly due to the new torment, ect. that was released last patch, some still go with laying down wells, ect. but condition builds seem to reign supreme for these guys/gals. sPvP I have been noticing people using minion-centered builds, for keeping spots held, and killing field bosses with ease. dungeons/fractals, the necro’s I party with use wells mostly, they can inflict great damage and allow the necro to stay out of harms way, and they also tend to be great at laying down their wells then pulling dungeon mobs into them, fun fun!

If your looking for a class that has a lot at it’s disposal as in, builds, skills, ect. (Such as your kits.) I would go with Ele because attunement switching and ability to be great in cqc/mid/far ranges makes them very useful.

If your looking for a total role switch go with either Mes/Necro.

My choice: Necro
Reason: Their skills and roles they can fit, match up great with my playstyle.

Hope this helped, and good luck!

Great answer man! Excellent overview, confirms some of my current thoughts and gives me other ideas.

Keep em coming.

I don’t think one can guess what will be popular long-term, people being fickle with flavor of the month professions. Look more to what you find fun.

That being said, I have an 80 necro, an 80 mesmer, , a fifty-five necro (I wanted sylvari cultural armor … and jeeze, the numbers 5 and 5 after the letter a get felined) and a 30 or so elementalist. The two necros have RP keeping them going, the ele had Rp but not in my main guild so she sort of withered, plus felt far too squishy, and the mesmer got to 80 without any rp at all because I couldn’t get enough of playing her once I figured out how to keep clones and phantasms up near nonstop save when detonating them on purpose. I am pure PvE, btw, I’ve done some WvW on my thief but not to the point of understanding strategy beyond following guildies who know what they’re doing.

I have to say mesmer has hands down been the most fun. Plus my mesmer guildies turn dungeons into smooth sailing (partly from being good players, though, not just because of being mesmers. Mesmer takes practice and attention to detail). Future bright? Who knows? Their present is very bright indeed!

I guess I need to practice w/ my mes…