Guild Wars 2

Hey All,

I am pretty new to Guild Wars 2. I’ve played a lot of MMO’s, but coming into Guild Wars 2 is definitely a breath of fresh air. The way the game plays, and especially the player base have been blowing me away. Everyone i’ve met in world has been so friendly and funny to. The way the explore and quest system has really made me smile. I am pretty sure that I found the standard that all online games should be setting the bar at. I mean really, where has Guild Wars 2 been all my life.

before I started playing, and even now I have been having trouble deciding on my class. I’ve been trying out all of the classes, and I really am blown away by the versatility. I’ve been sticking to my beast master up to 25 which is a lot of fun, but he dies if anything even looks at him funny lol. I did try shortbow thief but it was the same thing, he died way to easy. I love jumping around and having a lot of quick attacks. It’s funny though my normal play style is tradtional healer priest. I am thinking a staff guardian, or a water elementalist would be good. I haven’t looked at mesmer, but I am open to any suggestions anyone has. I think I am going to have to spend more time on the build simulator.

Thanks all ahead for the suggestions everyone has, Jaeger

Firstly, welcome to the game. I am glad that you are enjoying it. I started at release and I am still having fun with it so hopefully it will have some longevity with you too.

Jaegeraug.2750:

snip……
It’s funny though my normal play style is tradtional healer priest. I am thinking a staff guardian, or a water elementalist would be good.

Like you, I was use to playing a cleric before I started GW2 and, as a consequence, I decided to start an ele as my first character as the description of them and their skills appeared to be the closest thing to a cleric. However, after having tried all the classes, I think guardian is the closest thing to playing a “support” class in GW2 as they have great utility for group content. Keep in mind though that there is no trinity, its just that some classes are a little better equipped than others for certain roles. Thus, it really comes down to whatever class appeals to you most and how you choose to build it. In regards to your comment about playing a staff guardian, you will not want to use staff very often. It is a VERY situational weapon used mainly for just tagging mobs to get loot or for providing your party with speed and might when you are not in combat.

If you had perhaps more specific criteria to base your decision on, I am sure people could offer some further insight to help you find what you are after. In any case, good luck and have fun.

Thanks a lot, this does help me. I think I am really gonna grind a bit with both classes, and see which one that I like better. The guardian also has the better armor, so it looks like it has more sustain in a fight. Thanks again, Jaeger.

I think the thing you may be encountering is the lack of a traditional Trinity and the need for active defenses in GW2 compared to other MMOs.

Read up on GW2 combat before you go any further especially before settling on “Staff Guardian” or “Water Elementalist”.

Think you need to rethink a bit. There are no healers in this game and if you come in to it presenting your self as a healer and will stay on water through a dungeon, people will go awkward with you. Elementalist are not healers. They are a awsome class with lots of support but they also do good damage and cc, so no ele should focus on healing. They can support with water fields, but those are useless unless noone blasts them, and even so a ele should only briefly pass the wateratunament if it really really is needed and switch again asap.

So when you decide what class to pick dont make the choice out of a role you have in mind, make it from what you prefer playing. If you die to fast then you should rather focus on why this is and fix the build, check with other within the same class, what they do when under heavy fire, what they use and how they get away.

The meta battle webside explain each build very well and you can pick up advice there that works even if you don’t exactly pick the build you read up about. http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

Leaa.2943:

Think you need to rethink a bit. There are no healers in this game and if you come in to it presenting your self as a healer and will stay on water through a dungeon, people will go awkward with you. Elementalist are not healers. They are a awsome class with lots of support but they also do good damage and cc, so no ele should focus on healing. They can support with water fields, but those are useless unless noone blasts them, and even so a ele should only briefly pass the wateratunament if it really really is needed and switch again asap.

So when you decide what class to pick dont make the choice out of a role you have in mind, make it from what you prefer playing. If you die to fast then you should rather focus on why this is and fix the build, check with other within the same class, what they do when under heavy fire, what they use and how they get away.

The meta battle webside explain each build very well and you can pick up advice there that works even if you don’t exactly pick the build you read up about. http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

How factual is this though? Is this just a mentality thing? Why cant someone play mostly support with some light dps and cc?

Ryou.2398:

Leaa.2943:

Think you need to rethink a bit. There are no healers in this game and if you come in to it presenting your self as a healer and will stay on water through a dungeon, people will go awkward with you. Elementalist are not healers. They are a awsome class with lots of support but they also do good damage and cc, so no ele should focus on healing. They can support with water fields, but those are useless unless noone blasts them, and even so a ele should only briefly pass the wateratunament if it really really is needed and switch again asap.

So when you decide what class to pick dont make the choice out of a role you have in mind, make it from what you prefer playing. If you die to fast then you should rather focus on why this is and fix the build, check with other within the same class, what they do when under heavy fire, what they use and how they get away.

The meta battle webside explain each build very well and you can pick up advice there that works even if you don’t exactly pick the build you read up about. http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

How factual is this though? Is this just a mentality thing? Why cant someone play mostly support with some light dps and cc?

I think you need to read up on GW2 combat.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combat

More specifically the GW2 rolls of damage, support, and control.

You can’t sit back and cast targeted (don’t exist) or AE heals on players while doing minimal if any damage and expect that to be a meaningful contribution. Not only that, but whatever contribution you do make is null if you haven’t done enough damage to warrant getting a drop/reward since that’s how participation is calculated AFAIK.

Sagramor.7395:

Ryou.2398:

Leaa.2943:

Think you need to rethink a bit. There are no healers in this game and if you come in to it presenting your self as a healer and will stay on water through a dungeon, people will go awkward with you. Elementalist are not healers. They are a awsome class with lots of support but they also do good damage and cc, so no ele should focus on healing. They can support with water fields, but those are useless unless noone blasts them, and even so a ele should only briefly pass the wateratunament if it really really is needed and switch again asap.

So when you decide what class to pick dont make the choice out of a role you have in mind, make it from what you prefer playing. If you die to fast then you should rather focus on why this is and fix the build, check with other within the same class, what they do when under heavy fire, what they use and how they get away.

The meta battle webside explain each build very well and you can pick up advice there that works even if you don’t exactly pick the build you read up about. http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

How factual is this though? Is this just a mentality thing? Why cant someone play mostly support with some light dps and cc?

I think you need to read up on GW2 combat.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combat

More specifically the GW2 rolls of damage, support, and control.

You can’t sit back and cast targeted (don’t exist) or AE heals on players while doing minimal if any damage and expect that to be a meaningful contribution. Not only that, but whatever contribution you do make is null if you haven’t done enough damage to warrant getting a drop/reward since that’s how participation is calculated AFAIK.

This does not explain why all this saids is you should dps and not use support.

Ryou.2398:

Sagramor.7395:

Ryou.2398:

Leaa.2943:

Think you need to rethink a bit. There are no healers in this game and if you come in to it presenting your self as a healer and will stay on water through a dungeon, people will go awkward with you. Elementalist are not healers. They are a awsome class with lots of support but they also do good damage and cc, so no ele should focus on healing. They can support with water fields, but those are useless unless noone blasts them, and even so a ele should only briefly pass the wateratunament if it really really is needed and switch again asap.

So when you decide what class to pick dont make the choice out of a role you have in mind, make it from what you prefer playing. If you die to fast then you should rather focus on why this is and fix the build, check with other within the same class, what they do when under heavy fire, what they use and how they get away.

The meta battle webside explain each build very well and you can pick up advice there that works even if you don’t exactly pick the build you read up about. http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

How factual is this though? Is this just a mentality thing? Why cant someone play mostly support with some light dps and cc?

I think you need to read up on GW2 combat.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combat

More specifically the GW2 rolls of damage, support, and control.

You can’t sit back and cast targeted (don’t exist) or AE heals on players while doing minimal if any damage and expect that to be a meaningful contribution. Not only that, but whatever contribution you do make is null if you haven’t done enough damage to warrant getting a drop/reward since that’s how participation is calculated AFAIK.

This does not explain why all this saids is you should dps and not use support.

Why is because you can support and heal while still doing meaningful other things and that’s the intended design of the combat in game. Sure, you can sit back and just cast heals and support buffs, but someone else can do that and still do damage or provide other useful things. Essentially, it’s not that you CAN’T do it, its just that other people can do that + more and you are essentially limiting yourself then.

Bezerker.2379:

Ryou.2398:

Sagramor.7395:

Ryou.2398:

Leaa.2943:

Think you need to rethink a bit. There are no healers in this game and if you come in to it presenting your self as a healer and will stay on water through a dungeon, people will go awkward with you. Elementalist are not healers. They are a awsome class with lots of support but they also do good damage and cc, so no ele should focus on healing. They can support with water fields, but those are useless unless noone blasts them, and even so a ele should only briefly pass the wateratunament if it really really is needed and switch again asap.

So when you decide what class to pick dont make the choice out of a role you have in mind, make it from what you prefer playing. If you die to fast then you should rather focus on why this is and fix the build, check with other within the same class, what they do when under heavy fire, what they use and how they get away.

The meta battle webside explain each build very well and you can pick up advice there that works even if you don’t exactly pick the build you read up about. http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki

How factual is this though? Is this just a mentality thing? Why cant someone play mostly support with some light dps and cc?

I think you need to read up on GW2 combat.
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Combat

More specifically the GW2 rolls of damage, support, and control.

You can’t sit back and cast targeted (don’t exist) or AE heals on players while doing minimal if any damage and expect that to be a meaningful contribution. Not only that, but whatever contribution you do make is null if you haven’t done enough damage to warrant getting a drop/reward since that’s how participation is calculated AFAIK.

This does not explain why all this saids is you should dps and not use support.

Why is because you can support and heal while still doing meaningful other things and that’s the intended design of the combat in game. Sure, you can sit back and just cast heals and support buffs, but someone else can do that and still do damage or provide other useful things. Essentially, it’s not that you CAN’T do it, its just that other people can do that + more and you are essentially limiting yourself then.

Ohhh hehe I meant more of the idea that we can spec for more support to increase its effectiveness and sacrifice some dps, I did not mean not using all the classes tools at their disposal.

I’d suggest you, if you haven’t decided yet, to wait till HoT, because I feel you might want to fit in lfg groups, what, sad but true, is usually for strict meta players. Wait till hot and decide, in expansion you’ll have guard, revenant and ranger as supports.
And btw, this game has trinity. But damage-support-control instead of tank-damage-heal

I do enjoy being in groups but I do have a mesmer so it should be ok for now thanks for the advice.