Guild Wars 2

So I have been playing GW2 for about a month now and just finished hitting 80 on my second character (rolled an Elementalist and a Ranger). They were both enjoyable to play but I would have to say I prefer the Ranger of the two. For the most part I have spent my time leveling and participating in the large scale world boss events to build up some coin.

Given that I enjoyed playing both classes I have played to date, what would people recommend I use my level 80 upgrade token on? I am intrigued at the thought of playing a tank (Sentinel?) or possibly a thief. Let me hear your suggestions and logic, thanks.

You didn’t provide much information, but I’m gonna go ahead and suggest guardian to you. It offers a very intriguing playstyle that will be somewhat different to your current classes, it’s very versatile and allows for many different roles. Usually people will want you to do damage and provide some buffs or reflects, but you can also tank if you wish to (keep in mind though that tank is rarely useful in the game). Guardian will be good for the type of content you do (open world events), because you can tag stuff easily for loot, move around reasonably quickly and take some beating thanks to its heavy armor and multitude of blocks.

The superior class for tanking would be mesmer, but the way it’s done is probably different from what you’re expecting. Instead of building up passive defenses (toughness, vitality) and completely ignoring dodges or boss mechanics, mesmers take advantage of active defenses and require very skillful play and familiarity with the particular enemy. Because of that, they’re in high demand for raids, they have unfortunately very little use outside of them though.

Thief is a pretty good class. Does very high damage, has decent survivability (again thanks to active defenses like dodges) and can move around really quickly. You won’t have any decent range option and will have to use melee weapons all the time. Easier to play than elementalist, but still not as easy as guardian or revenant.

Thanks for the thoughtful response, I appreciate it.

N

Thief/Daredevil is more fun for regular PvE.

But I did use my level 80 boost for a guardian, as the guardian class is slower than molasses. Once you get to become a dragonhunter it really picks up and gives you options.

I’m a new player as well and hope it is ok that I tag onto this post (seems like helpful people here – and there are lots of posts like this).

for 80 boost, I’m choosing between revenant, elementalist, and warrior.

I’ve leveled each to between 15 and 28 to get a feel for each class. But, I’m fairly lost on how to interpret the meta game – there are many skills and boxes listed that i don’t have yet. I like to pvp to dailies and to level, so i do have some sense of level 80 stuff, but can’t form a vision of what a true level 80 geared out toon will perform. I’d say that i understand the revenant the least – i’m pretty clear at least on the play style for the others.

so, if you were picking from rev, ele, and war and wanted a toon where you felt you could contribute to teams fastest without embarrasing yourself, what would you pick for your 80 boost.

You know you can boost all of them and try them at 80 right? Before making a final decision. You can run around in silverwastes with as many 80 you want before finalizing a boost, you just won’t have access to the elite spec.

If I were you I’d pick necro

It uses summons like ranger
it’s naturally tanky and can tank if needed (tho usually chrono tank is preferred)
it’s newbie friendly and easy to play
It’s used a lot in late game fractals and raids
A bonus is that you get a full set of exotic rabid armor from booster wheras almost all the other classes get soldier (other exception is thief that gets valkyrie I think)

6AB542C9-4925-485E-B5C2-15BA7972AF72:

I’m a new player as well and hope it is ok that I tag onto this post (seems like helpful people here – and there are lots of posts like this).

for 80 boost, I’m choosing between revenant, elementalist, and warrior.

I’ve leveled each to between 15 and 28 to get a feel for each class. But, I’m fairly lost on how to interpret the meta game – there are many skills and boxes listed that i don’t have yet. I like to pvp to dailies and to level, so i do have some sense of level 80 stuff, but can’t form a vision of what a true level 80 geared out toon will perform. I’d say that i understand the revenant the least – i’m pretty clear at least on the play style for the others.

so, if you were picking from rev, ele, and war and wanted a toon where you felt you could contribute to teams fastest without embarrasing yourself, what would you pick for your 80 boost.

Revenant and warrior are similar in that they’re slightly more tanky, making them easier to play than elementalist. Elementalists have much higher damage, but it comes with a cost of being too squishy. The rotation is about equally difficult for all 3 classes in my opinion. It’s fairly easy once you get the hang of it.
So if you’re worried whether you’re gonna perform well, I’d suggest either warrior or revenant. They’re both amazingly similar in what they do, so just pick the one you like the best.

Tarasicodissa.7084:

The superior class for tanking would be mesmer, but the way it’s done is probably different from what you’re expecting. Instead of building up passive defenses (toughness, vitality) and completely ignoring dodges or boss mechanics, mesmers take advantage of active defenses and require very skillful play and familiarity with the particular enemy. Because of that, they’re in high demand for raids, they have unfortunately very little use outside of them though.

Most mesmers are not any good at tanking, it takes a lot more skill to do that well on a mesmer than most players I have met can pull off. If you can do it then yes you are an incredible tank. But I haven’t met many mesmers that can do it well

tanks really have no use outside raids(sometimes not even used), and frontline wvw zerg fights.

you didn’t prove a whole lot of info at all, so i can’t say what type of game you like while playing gw2, i noticed that you like world boss events, but thats about it, basing on that i’d say keep playing ranger as its best for it. But as far as you wanting to use your level 80 tome, i can’t help you as I don’t have much info as what else you are trying to enjoy in the game.

Neurik.1624:

So I have been playing GW2 for about a month now and just finished hitting 80 on my second character (rolled an Elementalist and a Ranger). They were both enjoyable to play but I would have to say I prefer the Ranger of the two. For the most part I have spent my time leveling and participating in the large scale world boss events to build up some coin.

Given that I enjoyed playing both classes I have played to date, what would people recommend I use my level 80 upgrade token on? I am intrigued at the thought of playing a tank (Sentinel?) or possibly a thief. Let me hear your suggestions and logic, thanks.

I enjoy thief. But as all I know about you is that you enjoy ranger and elementalist, it’s difficult to predict whether or not you will enjoy thief.

Pros:
High mobility, high speed, high damage, superior evasion, access to stealth, strong self-healing on offense.

Cons:
Low health, low armor, low group utility, very little in the way of passive damage reduction/avoidance.

Description:
Thief isn’t particularly complex. You have fewer abilities to work with than most other classes. However, thief plays FAST. You generally want to stay in motion, dodge frequently, and use leaps or teleports (depending on weapon set) to move yourself out of danger and close gaps quickly. You can’t take hits as well as other classes, so the goal is often to get in, take down your target(s) quickly, and get out again before the hammer falls. Restoring health on offense is an integral part of this strategy, as it will allow you to hang in just that little bit longer to finish off your enemies.

While stealth is useful in many scenarios, not all thief builds require it. For instance, PvE staff thieves that don’t run DA or SA in their builds probably use very little stealth. Meanwhile, a d/d build running those traits probably spends much of their combat time stealthing. So how critical stealth is to your thief can vary greatly depending upon your choices.