Guild Wars 2

(Sorry in advance for any grammar error, i’m Italian)
Hi, i’m returning to the game after a very long time and i would like to start a ranger or a guardian, wich are my favorites professions, but this elite specialization thing kinda scares me.
I love the Ranger for the use of Longbow, but going elite i would trade off that for the staff (because using Longbow and Staff in slots feels not very versatile) and going “healer”, wich i’m not new as a concept but spending time leveling till 80 with a certain playstyle and then changing it drastically it’s not cool for me.
Same goes to Guardian: as i said i already played as a healer and in fact the supporting guy is my favorite role, and even if in gw2 there is not a “trinity” i still could be a “jolly cooperation Guardian”, but then again, using the bow of the Dragon Hunter will turn me from a supporter/defender to a pure ranged dps?
So, my question is: are core specializations still viable for a good build without elites or are these necessary to be “competitive”? And if so, there are elites wich don’t go too off from the original concept of their profession?

Would go with the guardian.

To be competitive in PvP the elite spec are necessary, imo.

I play both professions and would say the staff ranger is a far bigger jar than the bow guardian – which feels very ranger like. Additionally the elite spec for guardian is much more handy as the profession never really had a ranged option with the core spec – something than is extremely handy in HoT. The guardian also makes great use of traps a feature I never made great use of with me ranger – usually because of the pet dynamics.

Guardian works well, staff ranger is still a bit iffy to my mind.

You don’t have to use the elite specialisations. I don’t know what builds most people use (because I never pay attention to that) but I can tell you its still possible to do everything in PvE using just the regular specialisations.

Especially ones like Druid which is very specific – it’s almost a pure healer specialisation which means it’s only really useful in group content that is difficult enough that everyone needs extra healing. In other words only in raids. Everywhere else it has very limited use.

But you also don’t have to use the entire thing. My ranger uses the Druid trait line and one of the new Glyph skills but her weapons are shortbow and sword/torch. I never use a staff. Alternatively you could use the weapon but none of the new skills.

You have to use the trait line unfortunately because the skills and weapon are locked unless you do. But you can choose which other parts you make use of.

Sometimes the elite specialization’s skills have some utility, but by no means are you forced to use the associated weapon or the elite spec itself. I’ve seen reapers that don’t use the greatsword (but use the shouts), dragonhunters that still use scepters or even melee (and use the traps), but that’s more or less on the PvE standpoint. If it’s not part of your playstyle, you’re not obligated to use it.

Elite specialization is just than a specialization which you can swap into or out of while not in combat for free. Of course if you don’t have it as one of the three specializations in the build you lose the elite weapon.