Guild Wars 2

Ok!

I’m half new to the game and I want a class that can be viable on pve stuff like soloing most of the time, fractals and future raids. I know raids aren’t yet deployed but anyways…

A solid pve choise with “low” cons, if it’s good or decent for WvW, better.

Thief its so much fun, but they are really squishy and I dislike the low or no support for teamplay. I’m not sure if they are good in pve content…

Guardian feels awesome, but with lower dps… I don’t kill as fast as others. But still great. Maybe imrpoves at high levels??? DH are awesome in sPvP, don’t know in pve honestly.

Warriors seems a bit generic, but powerfull and stronger. But the real question: they are good and solid for pve?

Necromancer, oh boy I love it. Reaper it’s amazing, but the class it’s something like Thief in terms of utility for the team, and I found Dagger a bit boring, while minions and staff are so good. Selfsustain and pretty tought, but are they good for pve content???

Thanks guys, I appreciate any answer that can help me to decide!!! I may be wrong with my statements so feel free to enlight me, please.

Warrior and Necro are both new-player friendly particular because their class mechanic is straight forward, and they both have a very high health pool that is very forgiving of mistakes.

Thief and Guard both have the lowest health pool and rely on both passive and active defenses/reactions to stay alive so they’re not the most friendly to newer players.

End-game though Guardians and Warriors are both highly valued in a team setting as they provide defensive and offense buffs/boons respectively that make clearing instances much easier for everyone. However you get frowned upon if you bring anything other than the “go-to” builds for these classes.

Uniquely, Necros provide a lifesteal boon as well as doing some tricky things to those in Downed State. Thieves are generally sought after due to their high stealth and smoke field capabilities as well as their single-target Striking capabilities. Otherwise, both of these classes don’t get as much screen time as other classes are able to quasi-replace then (if not overshadow their utility entirely) so they lose appeal due to others being able to "get the job done better.

Ultimately, it goes down to player choice. The play styles of the 4 mentioned classes are pretty unique from one another, and we can’t really decide what’s best for you to play.

Personally I like warriors and necros.

People who say necros are not good or not as good as other classes show an extreme ignorance of what the class can do in PVE.

A properly built necro can out preform a lot of the “go to” classes. Especially as a reaper.

Warriors are cool too as they are simple and fun. Who does not like smashing things 24/7. I do just find them a little blah though. They 1 button smash monkeys.

Guardians are your typical paladin goody two shoes. and the dragon hunter subclass is bamf.

I am not a fan of thieves. I never liked rogue classes in any mmo. I just dont. Maybe I should level one anyway next to get a better feel for them.

So the thing about PvE is that basically anything is viable, especially with the new emphasis on group events in the HoT maps and the buffs on conditions. In fractals and dungeons it’s nice to have DPS, especially if you’re just out for quick runs. Didn’t get a chance to test out raids in the beta, so I’m not sure how different classes and if healing/utility builds will be more appreciated there.

It all depends on your build, tbh. You can build a beautiful thief that gives permablind but take it into the Dredge fractal and you’re useless. You can have a zerk warrior that cranks out 40k damage with the hundred blades, but the right enemy can oneshot you. They’re all viable in PvE, and so long as you know how to attack the enemy and not die (and you aren’t building, like, nomads armor or some nonsense like that) you’ll be accepted in the average pug. And in open world, anything goes.

I don’t have much to say on the elite specs for these guys but here’s my opinion on the base class

With Necros, vulnerability and bleeding stacking on necros can get INSANE and do truckloads of damage and some of the wells are nice for team play. Minions can be good, but they also tend to aggro things you don’t want aggroed and/or keep you in combat at the most inconvenient times, so be careful with them. Personally, not a fan, but maybe I just don’t like the playstyle. Thinking of trying out reaper to see if that’s any different.

Thieves are great if you don’t mind being a little squish. I don’t even have a full build on my thief yet and I can regularly crit for well over 9k. Great for certain fractals (and dungeons even though dungeons are “dead” now) because stealth. You can lay down a smoke field and shortbow some area stealth, plus shadow refuge. Stealth also comes in handy when running past mobs you just don’t want to deal with. Great dps, stealth is amazing, not much utility (except for blind), but everyone needs a dps class. They’re not really fun until you hit 80 though.

Guardian is a lot of fun. True, not as much DPS as some other classes, but lots of survivability and utility. Condition cleansing, area regen + aegis + burning, and if you are looking for a cheaper build, just use runes of the flame legion instead of scholar because your target is basically always on fire. You can still crank out quite a bit of damage and bonus you don’t die as quick once you learn to time your blinds and aegis. One of my favorite classes.

Warrior is pretty straightforward. Smack things with greatsword. Lots of DPS, buffs with banners, etc. A little bit of survivability, but the zerk meta, especially with warriors, means you’re super squish. But if you can learn to dodge and use your skills right you can be pretty valuable. Gameplay gets pretty dull though because it’s so straightforward.

My personal preference goes Guardian > Thief > Warrior > Necro

but like I said. All viable with right build, anything goes for open world, do some DPS for pugs