Guild Wars 2

Hello! Thanks for taking your time to drop by!

I just purchased GW2 with 2 of my friends, and we are planning to play the game together. My friends picked Mesmer and Necro. I was wondering, which class should I pick out of Guardian, or Elementalist?

Thanks for your time!

DennyBoy

Both plus a thief
Each is a sufficiently different experience and you may be surprised which one you end up liking the most. I started with guardian and have no regrets about it, but my main is an ele.

Thanks for the reply Neko!

Is the ele class hard to play? I am fairly new to mmo (only played Rift piror to gw2) Im afraid i wont be able to get the hang of it I read some comments saying it is one of the most difficult classes to grasp.

Elementalists have a little steeper learning curve, but not so much that the class is unplayable by a beginner. As long as you remember that it is not a race and you can take your time to get to know all the skills. In addition, you will be with 2 other players, and between the three of you, you’ll be very okay in PvE regardless of what class you pick.

People always have the tendency to play “the easiest class” first, but you won’t find happiness until you find the class whose mechanics and skills / playstyle you enjoy the most.

My first character was an engineer, the other class with a “steeper learning curve”, and I did okay.

Ele can be frustrating at the early levels. I died a lot when I was just starting out and that was before they changed the trait system. I understand things have gotten more difficult since then. You learn quickly to keep moving all the time if you can. I think if you give it enough time you will get the hang of it just as easily as any other class. Just don’t let it bother you when you get downed.

i’d say start as a warrior if your entirely new to mmos, warriors are a very easy class to play because their high defense and hp lets them shrug off most attacks, on top of that you get a skill called healing signet that basicly heals you over time as well as a trait that allows your shouts to heal you for a significant amount

all those benefits mean that you have a lot of room for error when playing in a group, which is great for someone who’s just beginning to play mmos

if you had to pick from the two classes you listed though, i’d go with guardian, they don’t have as much health as a warrior, but they do have heavy armor, a lot of healing skills, a fair bit of defense, and several skills that will remove debuffs from you, it’s not as forgiving as a warrior would be but you do have the benefit of having more burst dps than a warrior, as well as the ability to support your allies by removing their conditions as well

i would not recommend elementalist at all if your new to mmos, elementalists have a very low health pool as well as an extremely low amount of defense and they also rely a lot on switching between a class mechanic called “attunements” for damage, it is a VERY unforgiving class for a new player since you have to deal with the stress of constantly dodging attacks, switching attunements for damage and knowing how to manage your skills properly, this doesn’t mean the class is bad by any means, in fact it has an amazing amount of aoe attacks and provides amazing support in parties, it’s just that it’s a very difficult class to play

Warrior is generally considered the “easiest profession for beginners”, but in my opinion this is not entirely true. In my opinion, the Warrior is easiest for “beginners who have played other MMOs before”, because the Warrior playstyle is the most friendly to the generic tactic in other games (i.e. you stand next to an enemy and trade blows).

This playstyle is generally a bad idea in Guild Wars 2, though, because in this game, you are expected to use dodging to avoid the hardest hits (regardless of profession). Many professions have extra skills that provide dodges, but the Warrior has very few.

If you are new to MMOs in general, just pick whatever profession seems the most interesting to you. The steeper learning curves may not be so steep if you don’t have to unlearn things you learned in other games.

About the elementalist, I can say that I learned to play the game with an elementalist. The most challenging aspect of the elementalist is that you can toggle between 4 different skillbars, and thus have about double the number of skills available to you compared to other professions. Many of these skills can be used to created skill combos, which is a part of the game that is underadvertised. (If you want to know more, look up the words “fields” and “finishers” on the wiki.)

The downside of the elementalist is that you are relatively fragile compared to other professions, especially in the range of level 20-45 or so. This can be countered by knowing how to use your skills effectively, instead of just randomly cycling through them. (You don’t actually have to know or use them all, but it helps.) Some skills get much better under certain conditions, while others require preparation or maneuvering in order to be used effectively.

Guardian Pros / Cons
Pros: Survivability, easy to learn, always welcome in dungeon runs, “boon” master
Cons: Limited range, limited health (more focused on mitigation), not the highest damage class

Elementalist Pros/Cons
Pros: High DPS / AOE, Fire fields awesome in groups, Fiery Greatsword
Cons: Squishy, harder to solo with until mid to high levels, harder learning curve

I recently leveled my second ele and this time build him the same way i found out to fit my style the best on my lvl 80 and this time it was soo much easier, since the first one was built after a guide of somebody else.

So my tip : go Scepter / Dagger with lightning hammer and use at least 50% defense stats on your gear. So the first levels maybe 50/50 str/vit .. or str/toughness

At 55 : buy as fast as you can a full set of knights armor and jewlery

Later you can think about mixing berserker in, but if you have problems with dying stay mostly with knights.

If you guys play together I’m sure you will pretty much roll over everything you encounter (open world PvE). If you guys are good friend for example and you will share loot among you – Mesmer and Necro are already two light armour classes, Ele would be another but Guardian is a heavy armour class.

Just a different angle, have fun.

Elementalist is fundamentally much more complex (due to Element swapping mechanic), but you are likely to learn the mechanics of combat much better. Now that’s assuming you don’t play “lazy” and run a build that hardly ever swaps elements…..(that’s certainly a viable option, but ignores the full potential of the class).

Guardian is quite fun and has some potential group mechanics that are quite interesting and beneficial. In terms of general survival, the Guardan is superior (but note that there ARE Ele builds that can out survive a Guardian if played correctly).

IMO, it is MUCH easier to play a good Guardian than a good Elementalist.

I have to disagree with purchasing ANY items until your reach 80. Maybe spend a little karma on a few Rare weapons, but save your gold until you can actually use it on some final equipment. Either craft or wear what drops (Jewelry is an exception simply because it does not drop).

Awesome! Thanks everyone for there advice and comments Im starting to lean more towards Guardian, just because my 2 friends are going a more Range approach to the game. Anyone else have any other advice?!

Since your friends are both going with light armor professions I would recommend guardian over elementalist as your first (although after mesmer they are both some of my favorites). Since you have already received much good advice I’ll only add one thing: don’t feel stuck with your first choice, either you or your friends. You have 5 character slots. If your first choice just doesn’t seem to be fun try another profession. Keep in mind though that most professions become more fun as you level up and start to understand how to play them.

From my experience: hammer was the most fun, greatsword was the most practical. One handed sword feels like a ranged weapon to me. Torch is a little redundant since we set things on fire anyway, but the animations are cool. I always have one weapon set for close melee and one for range:GS and staff currently. Eating pie makes you hard to kill.

Rouven.7409:

If you guys play together I’m sure you will pretty much roll over everything you encounter (open world PvE). If you guys are good friend for example and you will share loot among you – Mesmer and Necro are already two light armour classes, Ele would be another but Guardian is a heavy armour class.

Just a different angle, have fun.

This is practical advice and absolutely true ^

DennyBoy.7984:

Awesome! Thanks everyone for there advice and comments Im starting to lean more towards Guardian, just because my 2 friends are going a more Range approach to the game. Anyone else have any other advice?!

In GW2, all classes have the option to range or melee, and realistically, most players will switch between melee and range (by swapping weapons or, in the case of engineers, swapping to different kits) based on the situation they’re in.

Seriously, just pick whatever class you feel like playing. The rest will sort itself out.

Pixelpumpkin.4608:

Seriously, just pick whatever class you feel like playing. The rest will sort itself out.

This right here ^

There are no ranged/melee classes in this game, everyone has access to weapon swapping after level 7 (iirc) and weapons available which fill both roles.

There are no tanks, everyone has ways to avoid damage partially or entirely with dodge, block, blind, aegis (boon which blocks one attack), projectile reflection/destruction, crowd control (crippling/chilling/immobilizing/stunning enemies).

There are no dedicated healers, but every player can heal themselves and others. Simply reviving a downed ally with the “interact” key is a 50% health heal.

Every class (called professions here) can play every role, the ways they do it vary in effectiveness to some degree, but generally any profession can handle any situation with a swap of traits/skills/weapons/gear.

For example: a guardian can block ranged damage with shields, blind enemies to make them miss attacks, buff allies with boons to protect against damage and restore lost HP and cure them of poison/bleeding/burning/etc…. an Elementalist can do all those things too, just using different skills.

Play whatever seems most fun, and try at least 3-4 different professions. If you like PvP you can enter that area and be leveled to max with nearly all skills and traits available to try out what a profession plays like at endgame (pvp builds are not identical to pve but very close, all the skills work the same other than minor balance differences, but the stat spread is less customizable to keep balance).

I’d go Guardian. Your friends both rolled light armor classes, so jazz things up with a heavy armor. Plus, you can share drops if you’re super friendly. Also, guardian is a great party support class, so your friends will benefit from the defensive boons you’ll be throwing out.

Elementalists can hit really hard. Unfortunately, they’re also very squishy and one of the 2 most complex classes in the game. If you’re planning on rolling with a group of friends, you’ll have an easier time, but if you’re planning on rolling solo often, I’d pick guardian to start. More forgiving. Also, I’m not a fan of how incredibly trait dependent Eles are; and you don’t get those until level 30.

Welcome to Tyria and good luck.

DennyBoy.7984:

Awesome! Thanks everyone for there advice and comments Im starting to lean more towards Guardian, just because my 2 friends are going a more Range approach to the game. Anyone else have any other advice?!

i am new to GW2 also and started with ele. I find it to be super versatile. since then ive made a thief and necro, but have a hard time adjusting to those professions because of the lack of skills(at least for what ive unlocked so far!)

if you guys want a fourth to party up with you lmk! i been looking for low level friends to play with!