Guild Wars 2

Hello Folks!

I’m new to the game and looking to find a good class to
start with, so I was wondering if you could give me a hand with that.

Necessary Criteria:

- Ranged DPS -
I prefer my damage to be single target and sustained.
It can be DoT or direct. An aoe or 2 would be nice =)

On a side note, I’ve learned that heals I have to target are also acceptable, but this only counts if I have to target via the game environment.
I don’t like to watch bars or heal by clicking them. It breaks immersion.

- Survivability -
For groups, the class needs to be able to pull threat and either live via some mechanic or take at least one punch in the face while the tank recovers it. I hate running away.
For solo, I need to either have a pet or reliably face tank.
I prefer steady grinds over burst kills with downtime.
Again, I hate running away, so I prefer not to kite
unless it’s on a big nasty “you shouldn’t be able to solo this” kind of monster.

Things I prefer in a class but aren’t vital:

- Health/mana control -
I like to have control over my personal health and mana bars.
This can be either through health to mana or mana to health conversions, or via abilities that I can use that replenish either my health or mana. Preferrably an ability for each.

- Utility -
This is not to be mistaken for support. I define utility as some ability that I can use situationally to change an outcome or make life easier. This can be any number of things including crowd control, wipe recovery, party teleports, et cetera. Support on the other hand, has to do with the application of buffs or debuffs. I feel neutral about buffs I can provide, and I downright hate applying debuffs.

I really appreciate you taking the time to read this and help me.
I’m eager to hear what you suggest.

P.S. I know I could research this information, but I’m trying to start the game knowing as little as possible to make it more exciting.

I think you are coming at this wrong a MMO perspective and that’s not really the best approach as there is no tank.

So here some little things you should know.
There are no healer, tanks, or DPS per se. Each class does it’s own thing.
Aggro is determined based on factors such as proximity, damage, and armor. There are no taunt skills.
The game focuses more on positioning and active dodging for damage mitigation.

I recommend you roll a warrior first. They are a solid performer and are good in both PvE and PvP play. Ranged is never the best choice in this game, but the longbow is a solid ranged weapon (ignore the rifle).

Huh, maybe I am =)
Well, that being said, role and “best” aside, do any classes get access to the other things that I enjoy?
Classes that can control their mana or health?
Ways to solo without kiting or melee etc?

As you get 5 character slots at the start I’m gonna be a bit off the wall and suggest a few based on your criteria

apheluhu.3169:

Necessary Criteria:

- Ranged DPS -
I prefer my damage to be single target and sustained.
It can be DoT or direct. An aoe or 2 would be nice =)

I’m gonna suggest Engineer for this one. Grenade kit pretty much does what you want here.

apheluhu.3169:

- Survivability -
For groups, the class needs to be able to pull threat and either live via some mechanic or take at least one punch in the face while the tank recovers it. I hate running away.
For solo, I need to either have a pet or reliably face tank.
I prefer steady grinds over burst kills with downtime.
Again, I hate running away, so I prefer not to kite
unless it’s on a big nasty “you shouldn’t be able to solo this” kind of monster.

As pointed out above there’s no tank in this game but I’m gonna suggest Warrior or Guardian here. Warrior has solid defences and health (and certain skills provide you with a block), Guardian has access to Aegis which provides you and your team with a free block.

apheluhu.3169:

- Health/mana control -
I like to have control over my personal health and mana bars.
This can be either through health to mana or mana to health conversions, or via abilities that I can use that replenish either my health or mana. Preferrably an ability for each.

No mana or healers. Each class has it’s own self heals and group heals are poor at best, but for here I’m going to suggest Engineer or Elementalist.

apheluhu.3169:

- Utility -
This is not to be mistaken for support. I define utility as some ability that I can use situationally to change an outcome or make life easier. This can be any number of things including crowd control, wipe recovery, party teleports, et cetera. Support on the other hand, has to do with the application of buffs or debuffs. I feel neutral about buffs I can provide, and I downright hate applying debuffs.

All classes can provide CC to some extent or other. All can apply buffs and debuffs (and generally will whilst attacking). Party portals are done by Mesmer’s so for this one I’ll suggest Mesmer.

There is no mana in the game. Every class can range in this game, some being more viable than others. There is no single class that can dish out crazy dps while being tanky at the same time, you pick one or the other. As far as ranged dps usually it’s not as high as melee. Top ranged dps classes are Elementalist, Mesmer, Ranger and Necro(not in any particular order). All of the classes can melee as well l, it really depends on what weapons you are using as they determine the skills you get.

Thank you all for your suggestions =) obviously I asked the question incorrectly but you tried to answer. I suppose I’m too old school, and as such can’t really grasp the concept of there being no trinity of heal/tank/dps. I can’t even imagine a dungeon run without it. All I can picture is a solo game where you happen to be in the same area as others lol. To help, perhaps I should ask… If classes can all heal themselves, all do good damage, all melee, and there are no tanks, what makes each one different? Just visual aesthetic?

BTW, they’re not called classes in GW2, they’re called Professions. And yes, all Professions can pretty much do everything, but it depends on the weapon you’re wielding. I enjoy playing a Rifle Warrior as Ranged, while others like a Greatsword Warrior as Melee.

apheluhu.3169:

Thank you all for your suggestions =) obviously I asked the question incorrectly but you tried to answer. I suppose I’m too old school, and as such can’t really grasp the concept of there being no trinity of heal/tank/dps. I can’t even imagine a dungeon run without it. All I can picture is a solo game where you happen to be in the same area as others lol. To help, perhaps I should ask… If classes can all heal themselves, all do good damage, all melee, and there are no tanks, what makes each one different? Just visual aesthetic?

No they all bring different things to the table. A couple of examples -

The condition blind causes the next outgoing attack to miss. The Thief has some of the best blind skills in the game and can help to prevent party members from being hit whilst also doing damage.

Guardian, Mesmer and to a lesser extent Engineers offer reflection. This nullifies all incoming projectile based damage and reflects it to the originator. Once again protects party members and causes damage.

You’ll understand it all a bit more when you get in the game and have played through for a bit.

apheluhu.3169:

Ways to solo without kiting or melee etc?

While it’s certainly possible, TRYING to play this game without learning proper movement skills is a recipe for disaster in higher level combat. WANTING to play that way is just asking to be frustrated in numerous ways.

You can certainly find a class that does not melee, but kiting, dodging and constant movement is what will keep you alive (you cannot TANK for any extended period of time).

I think maybe this has gotten a bit derailed, and I think I offended some people somehow lol.
Let’s try again.
In guild wars 2, what criteria do you use to determine a good profession for yourself?

Do whatever and don’t worry about it..My first choice was a Thief. Got that to level 60, and I now main a Ranger and Warrior instead..

They are all fun. Try them all.

Cakemeister.5792:

They are all fun. Try them all.

This advice right here.

I’m going to suggest Mesmer, mostly based on your criteria.

It has good single target damage, though it suffers from a lack of aoes. It has a lot of different tools to approach situations from, in fact some of its skills are downright mean-spirited. It has access to proxies in the form of up to three illusions that you summon using various means that can easily distract mobs while dealing damage, or even be sacrificed for different effects. If you want teleports, ways to control the battlefield, you’ve got them. Be warned though, it does have something of a learning curve.

Personally, I would suggest for a first class, ranger, warrior, guardian, and maybe engineer

classes I would say to stray away from would be mesmer and elementalist, thief, and maybe necro

Reason being that, no offence intended, but you don’t really sound like you fully understand how guild wars 2 works, and certain classes are better starting points. if you pick the wrong profession you could get frustrated and think the game is bad. once you get to around level 40-60, you should then try out every class in case you find something you enjoy much more. it’s super easy to level anyways (I started off as an ele but I just didn’t feel it, but now that I play a ranger I’m loving the game)

and while it’s said that this isn’t your standard mmo, it might help if you say what role you play on other mmos (if you do). even though there isn’t any trinity, there are somewhat muddified roles classes play (e.g. elementalists could be thought as healers in wvw as they are popular for their water fields in large groups)

You should play ranger:
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Ranger

You get really good range and sick aoe. And pets help tank for you.

Roll whichever class looks interesting, and don’t be surprised if you reroll. Your expectations may be completely off.

I tried Engineer first since I have always enjoyed and specialised in hybrid/weird/utility classes (i.e. enhancement shaman) but by level 10 I knew it was going to be a chore for me. Tried a Guardian on a whim and found it much more enjoyable… with scepter as my main weapon. Never imagined I’d be a heavy armor melee class using a magic stick!

From your first post, the words ‘ranged’ and ‘pet’ certainly narrowed down the field enough for you to make an educated guess on which class to choose.
But, as has been already stated, roll ’em all and see which one fits.

apheluhu.3169:

Let’s try again.
In guild wars 2, what criteria do you use to determine a good profession for yourself?

Which fantasy archetype(s) do you like?

Personally, I love all things ranger (Ranger profession), and I also love being the stylish fighter-caster (Mesmer profession). After that, I also enjoy burning everything to bits with a huge sword (Guardian profession).

So, which fantasy archetype(s) do you like?

apheluhu.3169:

In guild wars 2, what criteria do you use to determine a good profession for yourself?

Good question … and one that I have yet to find an answer to, unless you consider all of them a viable option .

The one thing I love about this game is the versatility of the classes. Depending on what weapons you wield, what utility skills you equip and what traits you choose, you will have a radically different gameplay experience with a single class.

I have a few classes at 80 (ranger, warrior, elementalist and two mesmers, with a guardian at 70+ and everything else on the way up), and actually have two or even three different sets of armour and trinkets, and pretty much one or more of each usable weapon on every max-level character (the others level too quickly and get new equipment every 5-10 levels anyway).

Of course there are weapon, skill and trait sets that I prefer to others, sometimes because of the utility in a given situation (like ranged staff aoe on my elementalist for zerg-like content and melee dual daggers on the same character for solo adventures), sometimes simply because the combination of character and equipment make me smile (Asura warrior wielding a candycane hammer ).

For me, there’s really no way to know in advance if I enjoy playing a particular combination or not, or if the class/weapon I enjoy today won’t be eclipsed by another combination tomorrow.

From what you’ve written in this thread, ranger may actually be your best bet to get into the game. To get started, get your hands on a couple of bows (by level 7 you will open up the ability to swap between two weapon choices in combat, so making a ranger with a combination of shortbow and longbow is viable), find some kind of bear to tame (if I’m not mistaken, there’s one in the Norn starter city somewhere) so you’ll have a decent tanking pet, and check out the world. As a “bearbow” ranger you won’t have much need to kite, much less to dodge, so you can gradually get involved in the combat system.

Once you are comfortable, try out different weapon sets (I really enjoy the ranger as a melee character with greatsword, sword/warhorn or axe/warhorn) and different classes. Like someone above said, there’s nothing stoping you from using all five character slots to experiment with different classes and races. You may even want to play some of them to level 30, both to get a feel for the class and to experience the personal story, which up to level 30 is different for each race.

Most of all: have fun! If you find a particular character not fun, try to change things (weapons, utility skills, traits once you get them), or just try another character. This game may seem a bit counter-intuitive if your ‘mmo thinking’ is heavily influenced by other games, but as long as you go at it with an open mind, I’m sure you’ll find something fun to do!

My only online game experience before GW2 was Diablo, D2 and D3, where I enjoyed rogue and sorcerer so I started with a ranger and an elementalist here. My 3rd was a mesmer because I wanted something different. It quickly became my favorite.

Decided to try a warrior even though I never liked melee before. Love it in this game. I melee with a greatsword on my ranger when mobs close in. I use FireyGreatsword and Lightening hammer on my staff elementalist. Also like to use double dagger with her. Love my sword on my mesmer. Greatsword on her is ranged, love it too.

I’ve got at least 1 of every profession. The only professions I don’t have at level 80 yet is necromancer and engineer. They’re around 50. So far my least favorites are necro, thief and engineer but that may change as I learn new builds or weapon combos, etc.

What is different about GW2 from another MMO I tried recently is that the skills for a profession are limited and tied to the weapons used and the choices made to fill the utility slots. Every profession, besides engineer and elementalist, can have two sets of weapons on the ready for easy swap after they reach level 7. Each of these two sets can be a two-handed weapon or a main-hand/off-hand combo. While in combat those weapons choices and utility skills are locked in. Out of combat they can be changed. Elementalist have 4 elements that they can cycle through for the one weapon slot they have on the ready. Engineers can choose utility packs in the utility skill slots that when equipped will offer 5 different weapon skills.

GW2 is all about making choices from a wider range of options in weapons (and therefore weapon skills), utility skills and later traits. That means that there are many different ways to play each profession and for any profession there is diversity, unless you choose to make yours like someone else’s.

Ranged DPS? Engineer. Every other class’ ranged option is abhorrent DPS.