Guild Wars 2

Hi,
I recently started playing the game and I am looking for suggestions from experienced players on what profession a newbie, like me, should choose. I want a profession that is simple enough for someone who is not very familiar with the game but strong enough so that we may be able to hold our own in PvE, PvP, and WvW.

I’ve been reading posts about the professions and was very interested in the Elementalist, but was saddened to find out that it’s damage isn’t up to par with the rest of the professions because ArenaNet “nerfed” it. Is this true. Would anyone still recommend an Elementalist?

I would also like to note my interest in Mesmer and Ranger.

Everyone seems to complain that every class has been nerfed too much, so don’t put too much stock into those. That said, Elementalist is one of the more complex professions out there and may be more than you want as an introduction.

Ranger is the easy choice to start, of those you’ve listed. Very good for general PvE world exploration. Downside is it doesn’t contribute much in group content compared to other classes.

Guardian is probably the go-to class for both easy solo play and group utility. It’s maybe not a huge contributor in a WvW setting (at least not in some of the more specialized roles) but it can hold its own everywhere.

You can make just about any class work in just about any setting though, once you get leveled enough to settle on a given build. What matters more is that you can get comfortable with the class’s mechanics.

Elementalist is one of the hardest classes to play. For example, using the scepter with finesse makes a lot of difference. They are very good in both WvW and PvP, but not top-notch in PvE. Anyways, I don’t suggest you listen to the complaints in the classes sub-forum: people always like to think that their class sucks, while all the others are OP.

Also, a good player in a good build will always be able to hold his own, no matter the class.

With that out of the way, I’d suggest you:
Guardian
- Simple to learn
- Effective in every game mode (limited to defensive builds in PvP)

Warrior
- Simple to learn
- Effective in WvW and PvE, kinda weak in PvP.

Ranger
- Simple to learn
- Effective in PvP, kinda weak in PvE/WvW

Mesmer I heard are not really easy to level up and take some micro-management so I would stay away from them right now :p

As previous posters said, the class forums are full of whine and should always be taken with several grains of salt. Kind of surprised they’re whining about damage of all things, since I don’t recall any recent cuts to ele’s DPS, but shouldn’t expect sense in the first place…

Anyway, I main an ele (have done so since three days past launch) and have never had issues with getting a party, bringing down bosses, solo questing, etc. A well-built and well-played ele will bring a lot to a party, be it permanent-fury-and-25-stacks-of-might, lots of defensive boons and healing, or just lots of AoE. They are quite useful in WvW, being able to both roam and support zergs with AoE damage and healing and a variety of combo fields. I haven’t played them much in sPvP, but from what I know, they can hold their own.

Also, regarding ele’s entry difficulty… my personal advice would be to try the classes you want to try first regardless of how hard they are- just don’t get discouraged if you have trouble at first. If it’s too much trouble, you can play another, more forgiving profession as the other posters listed until you get a hang of the game, at which point you can choose to stick with that profession or move back to a harder one. The most important thing is not to get discouraged, and to ultimately play a class you enjoy.

I had an elementalist for my second character at launch. She is still 30 due so squishiness.

I thought I’d -never- want to play guardian. I tried it. Omg. Simple but versatile and the opposite of squishy! (not high dps though, but hey, if you outlive the enemy it’s a win even if it takes a tad longer).

Elementalist is very fun to play, much more interesting than say a guardian.

The damage is fine, they can be very tanky as well.

Donari.5237:

I had an elementalist for my second character at launch. She is still 30 due so squishiness.

I thought I’d -never- want to play guardian. I tried it. Omg. Simple but versatile and the opposite of squishy! (not high dps though, but hey, if you outlive the enemy it’s a win even if it takes a tad longer).

Ele actually has survivability on par with a guardian at 80 when built for it- I’ve soloed my share of group events, champions, and TA explorable bosses. The main issue is that they’re hard to play early on without traits, and that a lot of their defenses are active rather than passive.

I think a guardian would be perfect for you to start off…

I have a 80th level Ele and am constantly disappointed in the lack of damge/how easy I die…

Ele is hard to level, a lot of skills to unlock and very squishy, a lot of fun at higher levels though. Ranger is quite fun and pretty easy in open world pvp, less wanted for dungeons, though they can still do alright. Quite good at pvp.
I love mesmer, so much fun to play, but again it does take getting up in some levels to really make good use of the class.
Necro is pretty easy to level and quite fun, but can run into problems with condition stack max in large group events or if there are multiple condition builds in a dungeon.
Personally I find guardian and warrior boring, but they are fairly easy to level up.

Good luck!

All right, I’m going to share more of my experiences here.

I leveled an ele in the early days of GW2, when people had little experience with the class and thought it inferior because of its low health and armor. Common consensus then was that an ele could not solo anything, and its rightful place was at the back of a group with a staff; and even then, eles got told to reroll a guardian or ranger.

I believed them at first. I didn’t even look at my other weapon choices- I went right for staff because I thought it was the “right” weapon for a caster. I put all my trait points in fire because hey, if I’m a backline fighter, why should I care about defending myself? I sat in fire attunement all day hoping to kill stuff before it killed me and also didn’t kite properly, just backpedaling and dodging at the wrong times. I died a lot.

Then one day, I switched over to daggers and decided also to rework my traits by putting points into water and earth. To my great surprise, I found that I not only survived well (I could kill groups of enemies where I previously died to one) but killed much faster. It was freeing, and I decided to see what else I could do. I fought a lot of enemies just for the sake of fighting, and enjoyed it, and learned a little more from each battle. I figured out how to cycle my slows to keep enemies from reaching me and learned to move in battle.

Then, at level 45, I did what people kept saying was impossible for an ele- I soloed a champion. I was wandering around Ebonhawke when I saw the Separatist Leader break out. There wasn’t anyone else around, so I thought, What the heck? It can’t hurt, and maybe I’ll learn something. There were a few rough patches at first, but I killed him. With no help and no deaths.

I’ve had a defiant streak ever since then. Shortly after killing that champion, I killed three more in the same map. In one case (and in many cases after that), I had another class race in to help, only to get flattened in seconds. I decided to learn everything I could and spent time just reading over my skills and thinking of situations I could use them in. A month before daphoenix posted his thread about the infamous bunker D/D ele, I came up with the same build on my own. Later, I soloed AC story, the Champion Nightmare Vine and a horde of silver spiders in TA while the rest of my team was still running back from the waypoint, and many other challenges.

A few months after I reached 80, I decided to try a guardian. Right from the beginning, the class lacked the thrill that ele had, but I stuck with with it, telling myself it was just because I was new to it. I made myself stick with it all the way to 80, telling myself things would get better once I had all of my traits to play with. It didn’t. I got twitchy, felt horribly slow, got bored of leveling and avoided fights I would have chased as an ele. I dropped my guardian once she hit 80 and instead leveled another ele.

The point of that wall of text is not to brag that I’m a godly player- quite the opposite, as I’ve screwed up countless times and still have a lot to learn. Nor is it to say that ele is the best class- it has its limitations, and there are classes who will, while weaker in one category, outperform it in another. The point is to play a class that you love.

You know how people always say to get a job you like, rather than the one that makes the most money? It’s the same principle here, only the playing ground is more even and you don’t have to worry about starving to death. Find the class that inspires you, that makes you want to learn everything you can and try every challenge. Play the class that makes you enjoy tough fights and the game itself. And if there isn’t a class that inspires you, then play a class you just enjoy playing.

If that class happens to be a warrior or guardian rather than an ele, more power to you.

If you play an ele, like it, and then try a guardian, absolutely love it, and decide to switch, more power to you.

If you play an ele and think to yourself, “I like this class, but its damage is a tad too low for me. I think I’ll check out some others,” then more power to you. What matters is that you make the decision, because you want to. Just please, please do not force yourself to play a class you don’t enjoy just because someone else said it was better or easier, and make the game nothing but a rat race to get a bunch of pixels faster than the other person.

I’m writing this post not only for the OP, but for every new player who asks what class they “should” play. When I say the best class is the class that you like best… I essentially mean everything I say in this post, condensed into a single line. I can tell you which classes have the highest damage, which classes are easiest on beginners, which classes excel at such-and-such field… but ultimately, only you can tell what class fits you the best.

Here’s the skinny. In PvE every class is viable and it comes down to how you play.

Guardians have low base health but have a great class mechanic, respectable damage, and high survivability in solo and group play.

Necros have high base health, a “second healthbar” class mechanic, and variety in skills and weapon combos that can keep things interesting. Excellent solo play and undervalued in groups. Necro also have a movement speed signet that speeds up playing significantly. You realize exactly how much if you try to play a Norn Mesmer afterwards.

I would suggest those to start learning the game, it’s mechanics, lore, and geography.

The reasons I wouldn’t choose the other characters…

Mesmers and Eles are good end game, but can be painful at lower levels. They have the most complicated class mechanics. Elementalists have to attunement dance and Mesmers have to keep rotating through a clone factory. Those things can be a blast (no pun) and really engaging, but they could frustrate someone with zero experience with combat and movement.

Thieves (my personal favorite class) are made of paper and a new player could get really put off by frequent deaths, always feeling out numbered, always feeling like there was no way to survive a situation. When you don’t know the game, three seconds of stealth seems useless. When you do know it, three seconds is all the time in the world. Once everything clicks and you know the class there is a magical transition from everything killing you, to you killing everything and rarely being touched. But from a complexity standpoint, I think its a horrible place to start.

Engineers can get boring for new players. They have limited weapon options and in the early game players tend to pick a kit and stick with that one until they are quite literally, forced to switch. When you did into the kits, utilities, traits and combos, the class gets pretty meaty. But that stuff isn’t open to you until later levels so it can seem monotonous. A good second, or third play through character when you have your leveling process streamlined and an idea of how to manipulate the mechanics in general. But not a great starter.

Rangers can get dull early on and liven up later when the game stops letting you get away with standing in one place and shooting everything with a bow while your pet holds aggro.

I dont like Warriors.

Hiya and welcome to Guild Wars 2, First of all i would like to say from what i have read over the last 3 weeks EVERY class has pros and cons.

The trick is just to go with the flow and try a few classes and see what style you like. I first went with the Ele purely because i like casters, Ele are certainly not weak using staff and d/d they are pretty awsome but can be a little squishy at times.

The only reason i stopped playing Ele was becuase the amount of spells/skills they could use was or seemed to be vastly greater than other classes. So i rolled a Mesmer, not being into confusion and all that stuff i was very very suprised how great they was, i seemed to die a lot less often than an Ele and i think they are just as powerfull If you use them right.

I say go for the class your not thinking about let it suprise you…or just go Mesmer

If you build it right, an elementalist can be exceptionally dangerous.

I main an ele, damage is sometimes a problem for me, but only because I don’t normally spec for it.

When I was leveling it, as it was my first class, it was difficult, fun, and rewarding. The attunement dance was actually really fun for me, and really taught me how to play a game, since gw2 was essentially my first (i had always played games ultra casually). Elementalist has so much potential, and is a great all round class. You can do PvE, WvW, and PvP, so you’re never going to run out of stuff to do.

This all being said, when I’m tired and not feeling like trying very hard I take out my guardian or warrior to mindlessly kill things and relax. With ele, I’m much more on my toes!

Warrior

• you dont have to kite much due to high armor, damage is also very high.
• going from open world to dungeon has a harsh learning curve, you wont be able to tank everhthijg anymore.
• the greatsword is basically the best weapon, youcan stay with it through yur whole leveling experience, theres not much point trying the others out as the greatsword is superior.

Guardian

• same as warrior

Mesmer

• the definition of awesome.
• very weak without traits, you wont really be powerfull until lvl 40.
• you can try all weapons, theyre all usefull!
• as youre really squishy, you actually have to use defenses instead of tanking everything, which is in my oppinion more fun.

• Guarfian and warrior are the easiest to play, you can tank everytjing and still win.
• Necromancer, ranger and engineer are medium, you have to learn to kite as you cant tank much damage.
• mesmer elementalist and thief are probably the hardest, you dont have much ealth and armor, so you have to use active defenses.

Im not saying its really hard though, you just have to put some more effort in then “just stand there and press 1 to win”

That said, you should just choose the one which aestetbically appeals the most to you, even if its a difficult profession, it will be worth it ^__^!

Alissah.9281:

Guardian

• same as warrior

I’m not sure this is at all true. Even a little true. Guardian has aspects that are akin to warriors, melee damage/greatsword being a very good weapon. But Guardian has the ability to be a true support class, with its powerful healing tome (which iirc is important in high level fractals and other places…) and consecrations/meditations. Guardian is more “magey” than warrior, which makes it exceptionally different.

The rest of the stuff you said seems fair though, but I dislike mesmer. (Probably because my mesmer is a human and I only like Asura so I can’t get into playing it)

Ele is the compromise class – they can do a little bit of everything but you have to spec for something to make it powerful. Also, they take a lot more work and strategy than some of the other classes. I dived into ele as my first class and love it, but it’s kind of tiring to play.

Warrior and Guardian are good first choices.

Thief is also squishy and I haven’t gotten the hang of its mechanics. My thief is my trading mule at this point.

Ranger is a lot of fun! But you do have to be careful in PvE.

Haven’t really tried mesmer or engineer.