Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone,

I posted on the ranger forum last night (and a sincere thanks to all of those who responded)

After a two week tour of classes, I was sort of looking at ranger or engineer… But this is with only having leveled each class up to level 10.

The responses I received seemed to indicate that both of these classes may be challenged in one way or another at the top end of the game.

So I’m hoping I can set some parameters on what I’m interested in and ask for some general advice / opinions.

WHAT I WANT (END GAME)
- I’m usually better at ranged, but like melee… So something that can do both is nice, but if I have to pick one over the other, I’ll choose what I’m generally better at.

- I want to do PvE and PvP/WvWvW

- I like being useful beyond DPS

- I’m tolerant of pet classes and will play them… But I typically prefer non pet classes

- My most recent preferred roles in games with “the trinity” have been healer and tank

I realize that is a bit of a disjoined laundry list… But based on it, what would you folks recommend (beyond “play what you like”) and why?

Thanks in advance for responses.

Warrior will fit you best.

Good dps, can go tanky and has a very good ranged set of skills for PvE DPS.

You could try Guardian, as they can run very good support builds, but from what you wanted I’d asume a more focused class is much better for you.

One thing you can do that will give you a feel for any profession at max level is take a brand new character into the Heart of the Mists (crossed sword icon) where you will be boosted to 80 with access to all traits/skills/stats/weapons and jump in a hot join pvp match or practice against a golem.

You can run almost any class as they are all viable in melee and range, excluding the engineer. I’m not sure if they have a true melee weapon, but I think the flamethrower kit got an okay buff last patch.

PvE I would say the top 3 requested for dungeons are warrior, guardian, and mesmer right now.

WvW is pretty open to whatever you want, especially in a zerg. Almost all classes have some role or utility they can provide.

sPvP or small party WvW will be a little directed to want you want to do. sPvP, if you want to bunker and hold a point, guardian, ele, tanky mesmer are pretty good. If you want to roam people usually recommend thief. WvW, if you want to take camps or slap dolyaks I would recommend thief.

To your original dilemma of ranger or engineer, in my opinion I dislike both. The pet is a drag on the ranger, and the only interesting weapon is the sword which is kinda buggy. I don’t have much experience with the engineer but I know they are kinda “Jack of all trades, master of none”

You have 5 slots to experiment with. I personally really like ranger but then I don’t have any pre-concieved notions about what it should be like never having played one before. For me the trip really fleshes out what you know about the various classes. If you power-level using crafting or only pvp you may miss out some tricks or abilities since you have not used the class much.
If you do want to see how they behave at max without going through the PVE environment take a starter toon to the mists and play with the setups. You can use the various target in the waiting area or join a pug sPVP group. WvW does not really give a good indication of the benefits or drawbacks of a class since you are mostly surrounded by lots of others and your contribution gets lost in the noise.
Bottom line is if you like it play it.

Try elementalist they can do anything

Every class can do all the things you mentioned as long as they are geared correctly. But since you mentioned that you liked playing healer an tank in other games involving the trinity, I recommend you play guardian, the healingtank of gw2

I think you would love Guardian.

I would say stick with ranger. They do have some serious issues, and ArenaNet appears to hate them for some reason…but with the right mindset they can be great fun and really effective at max level.

My own humble opinion (take it for what it’s worth) is that you shouldn’t think of the ranger as a pet class. Instead, think of a very mobile, very slippery character that has a bunch of extra utility skills to choose from (your pets’ passive and active abilities can be a great toolbox). Make sure to look at ALL the abilities each pet uses, not just the one you get to use on demand. As a quick example, the dogs will knock down an opponent first thing when you hit attack…so hold them back until you need a knockdown or interrupt and then send them in. You can do very high damage quickly from a long way off, and you can be very hard to hit in melee range. If you spec for speed and mobility and damage, you’ll probably love to play a ranger once you get the hang of it.

Warrior would be my other suggestion. They are just plain old powerful. Great melee and ranged options, and tons of survivability. Charging into the fray and watching people scatter is great fun. Much less utility than some other classes, I feel…so pretty simple to play…but pretty darn satisfying.

As someone who is in your exact same shoes, I will say the ranger is more ‘fun’ than the Warrior, but the Warrior is infinitely more productive than the Ranger. I honestly don’t know what it is about the Warrior’s ranged play style versus the Rangers as you’ll notice real quick all you do with the Ranger is strafe in circles around your target while spamming auto-attack all day. But it feels more fluid on the ranger than on the Warrior.

But that said, the Warrior does more damage, has real melee options, has more useful utility, and is a stronger class in normal PvP (WvW) and PvE. Problem comes with sPvP (which is like battlegrounds in WoW if you played it) where most argue the Warrior is one of the weakest classes in the game and Rangers are one of the strongest. Problem is the ‘strong’ ranger spec isn’t something you’ll probably enjoy playing.

I switched from Ranger to Warrior a long time ago and have no regrets, until Anet does a lot of work on the Ranger you are better off avoiding it and leveling a Warrior.
Warrior gives you a lot of options and you’re actually wanted for dungeons/fractals.

Ethics.4519:

You can run almost any class as they are all viable in melee and range, excluding the engineer. I’m not sure if they have a true melee weapon, but I think the flamethrower kit got an okay buff last patch.

Bomb Kit is melee.
Grenades have one of the longest range(possibly THE longest) but they still work very well in melee range. The problem with grenades is that is can get very tiring to play since there is not auto attack option on land and the lack of auto attack can make it harder to fight and kite at the same time. Learning to play with fast ground targeting is also a must for grenades but this is a useful skill to have anyway.

To your original dilemma of ranger or engineer, in my opinion I dislike both. The pet is a drag on the ranger, and the only interesting weapon is the sword which is kinda buggy. I don’t have much experience with the engineer but I know they are kinda “Jack of all trades, master of none”

I <3 sword on ranger! That being said, attempting to use the normal dodge is nearly impossible if you have auto attack enabled, you have to use 2 instead. The choice of pets is also extremely important. For me that is a brown bear and a black bear. They have enough survivability to not explode on contact with the enemy and they provide AoE weakness and condition removal.

Choice of kits is as important to an engineer as choice of elements and pets is to elementalist and ranger. I really didn’t like my engineer with grenade/rocket turret/elixir c but just switching the rocket turret for elixir gun felt like a huge improvement. With P/P, grenades and elixir gun you can layer on plenty of conditions while still packing a punch with direct damage, even more so if you go 25/30 points into Explosives.

Read my profession selection guide
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Profession-Selection-Guide/first#post1557692

I may get yelled at for this but if you want a ranged class that can melee, is worth more than just dps and is good in dungeons/wvwvw I would suggest mesmer. Granted it will take you getting to around lvl 20-30 before you start to be dangerous and lvl 40 to really shine mesmer is the most fun i’ve had so far and I look forward to hitting 80. anyway hope you find something that works

Elementalist all the way.

I have alts of every profession. Our play styles are different, but it’s pretty obvious that ele is for you.

Ele has strong range and can melee with dagger/dagger build. You also have water attunement for group support at all times. Also great DPS. Ele is great in WvW, PvE, PvP and dungeons.

Mesmer is also a good option, but if you go Mesmer it will be all about spamming clones and shattering them (which is fine, I love playing my mes more than ele). Mesmer also has elite skill Time Warp which is great for dungeons, and portal which is great for WvW.

You can find a quick break down of professions, their strengths and weaknesses here:

http://www.guildwars2hub.com/features/editorials/profession-review-march-2013

From what I’ve seen, I would suggest trying a guardian. Warrior is more DPS oriented and a little easier to play, but if you enjoyed playing healer and tank, then Guardian is more your play style.
Some people hate the Guardian’s ranged options, basically only scepter, but it can be pretty powerful. I enjoy it. The staff is not really super ranged and is definitely more support.

My first char in beta and during the headstart was a Ranger. I got bored around lvl 50 and switched to Mesmer. Mesmer is an incredibly fun and versatile class, but very difficult to understand right off the bat.
Guardian and Warrior are a little bit more simple and easier on a new person. You have a lot of things to help keep you alive and quite a few different playstyles to experiement with. They are also some of the most popular classes in dungeon running, so it wouldn’t be tough to get into a group.

I’ve also played elementalist and their only real melee option is double dagger. You really have to know what you’re doing with that one because, as an ele, you are super squishy. Plus, you have all of the elements to switch between. It’s fun, imo, but also quite a learning curve. If you’re up to the challenge, they are INCREDIBLY fun, but again, steeeeeep learning curve.

A few points made previously, you do have 5 character slots. If you get to lvl 50 and realize you’re bored, just start a new character slot. Also, the mists will autoscale you up to lvl 80 and give you all the skills and trait points. It’s a fun area to experiment with classes and try out some builds you find online.
I took my engie (still a baby lvl 20) into the mists and now I just want to get her to 80 and hit everything with a wrench! (toolkit is AMAZING)

Welcome to the game! Good luck choosing a class and happy adventuring! Also, some of the BEST advice is to find an awesome guild. They’ll help you out and point you towards things you might not have even though of.