Guild Wars 2

Ok here is the deal I have looked over all of the professions and I have played around with most of them to about level 12. I don’t have a clue if race makes a difference as well at any point.

I know in the end all of this is going to be my choice to decide but I honestly am not sure what to pick every forum seems like people complain about this or that and I just want some help without getting flamed to death hopefully.

What I would like to do is play a character that I can do some melee in your face with on occasion just for fun but mostly ranged dps. I have friends that would like to do a 50/50 mix of PvE and WvWvW. I also tend to like to do some of my questing and gathering solo.

I know it’s a mmo but sometimes it’s nice to play something that you don’t go squish when don’t have your friends with you.

Any help at all would be much appreciated. Thank You if you read all of this.

Ranger.
Short bow is great, Greatsword is great.
Pretty good selection of pets and skills.

I can’t see a problem if you want to dabble in both. The class is meant to range, but that doesn’t mean they can’t dish out some melee damage.

If you really want a more melee-centric build, I’d say Warrior with a Rifle / Greatsword setup. Nice heavy armor and survivability with burst damage when needed. It’s not a traditional ‘tank’ warrior either. They hurt a lot.

I was figuring it would probably end up being for what I wanted a… Ranger, Thief, or a Warrior. I just was afraid I would get laughed out of a group if I came in as a warrior and didn’t go melee during a dungeon.

warriors are masters of all weapons… not just melee weapons, why would you be laughed at ?

Guess I have just played to many MMO’s as of late where if you are a warrior they call you a master of all weapons but really your ranged weapons are just for pulling targets to you.

Warriors with longbows are like rangers with shortbows. High condition damage, medium range. Warriors with rifles are like longbow rangers, only shorter range. With melee weapons, one or two handed, and any offhands, warriors are the standard to which everyone else is compared.

Rangers, if you want to do ranged most of the time, but occasionally melee, might be for you. Personally, I love the ranger, it’s my favorite. As a greatsword/longbow ranger, I’ve got 11 seconds of crowd control, 8 seconds of quickness, high damage, high survivability. Long range, and short range, and a leap that covers everything in between.

Elementalists can do pretty good in melee and ranged. I’ve had no trouble as an earth elementalist, fire elementalist, or air elementalist, in melee or ranged. I haven’t tried water though.

Thieves can do some good range with pistols/shortbow. And they can do melee too. They don’t have the really long range, but it’s better than nothin’.

Mesmers also have melee and ranged options, and do pretty good at both. I use a sword/pistol and staff for my mesmer, but you could change it up as you wish.

Everyone else can do both melee and ranged, and isn’t squishy depending on how you build them. I haven’t personally played the rest to 80, but there’s only one thing I’d tell you to avoid, and that’s the Guardian.

warrior’s ranged abilities are very good, and by design the class is not as effective as a guardian at tanking (although if you choose defensive traits, it would certainly help).

i had a very similar dilemma when choosing between guardian or warrior. i went with the warrior because it has good ranged abilities but is ultimately melee focused (80% of the time ill be using a rifle, but that doesnt mean that my sword/shield isnt the true centerpiece of my build).

i really like having the choice of kiting or melee’ing, there’s a great variety of roles/builds to choose from in the class

Sounds like you want a warrior. Rifle is amazing single target, lonbgow is great for aoes, and I love their GS. You might also be interested in a mesmer. I don’t think they have many aoes, but the GS works as a range weapon and you can do fun stuff in W3 with portals =).

Right now I’m enjoying the theif for the good sbow skills, aoe and the ability to get stealth in, slice some people up with daggers, and get the hell out.

Thanks guys I really appreciate the feedback so far.

For a Warrior, the best description of the Longbow is that it’s like a shotgun. At very close range, it can be brutal. However it gets weaker when your target is further away from you (do to all x3 attacks of the Longbow #2 spread not hitting the target and your Longbow #3 explosion not being next to you for the purposes of triggering AoE Might stacks from your F1 fire field). While I’ve really grown to love the Longbow, I almost feel like it’s more of a melee weapon than a ranged weapon (if you want to maximize your AoE dps output).

If you’re looking to keep mostly at range, the Ranger’s pets (aka Bears) make great pseduo-tanks for soloing. Also specific pets have AoE condition removal or AoE heals, which can provide support in group settings. While I haven’t played a pet spec Ranger yet, it is on my list for future characters.

I think I will try a Ranger First I really appreciate all the help!

Professions that can effectively melee & range: warrior, thief, ranger

Vishana.3196:

I was figuring it would probably end up being for what I wanted a… Ranger, Thief, or a Warrior. I just was afraid I would get laughed out of a group if I came in as a warrior and didn’t go melee during a dungeon.

I will laugh at anyone who does not adjust their skills for the group and dungeon they are in. However that said I have muddle through to the end in every group I was in regardless of build and weapon. Some runs just go smoother then others.

Seras.5702:

Professions that can effectively melee & range: warrior, thief, ranger

Hey you forgot engineers…. they have to fight at time from melee range. That’s gotta count right?