Guild Wars 2

Ok, so I have been playing gw2 since the 3 day head start, and a few very terrible stress test (3fps)

I need help due to my indecisive nature, selecting a primary characters’ profession…
My choices include;

Thief- Only iffy about it due to low fps most of the time, which won’t be fixed until march of next year, and it seems that isn’t a good class for lag spikes and low fps, being hit by regular attacks when I THINK I’m in stealth, over using heartseeker, draining my initiative, thinking it hasn’t worked yet, then I bounce off 5 times…

Necromancer- Love the class to The Underworld… But fear a nerf of a very awesome skill; Epidemic… I have gotten several kills quickly, by a well timed BiP and Epi…. Also hate the minions, they seem useless… kinda brain dead… haha slaps knee….

Engineer- Only level 6, but love the idea of it, and how versatile it can be, but seeing so many complaints about its low damage, and low survivability… I’m not exactly a noob to playing high skill cap professions, I think I am an awesome ele and mes in gw1… Is high damage/survivability actually obtainable with the engi? If so, an example please?

Elementalist- Discouraged by how over played it is, but less discouraged by how many elementalist are dropping the profession, because it seems the skill required is null for lower levels, but at higher levels requires more than pressing skills as soon as they are done with CD…

I want something versatile, can adapt to any situation, without feeling totally helpless in PvE or PvP/WvW, I don’t mind learning new tactics, as long as a goal of survivability with damage is achievable. I usually play alone, but from time to time, I play with a select few friends… I also don’t like being something incredibly common… Basically, I am seeing this as a poll, in a way, as to what I should play… Although if viable evidence of an engineer doing decent damage, and not dying every 5 seconds, I will certainly stick with it, provided it isn’t 1 skill reliant.

Personal note- I have tried them all, but none to 30 yet, enjoy them all, other than reasons mentioned.

TL;DR Can’t choose between; Thief, Necro, Engi, Ele, need suggestions, and pros and cons.

Well, the things I would not take into consideration when chosing a class are:

- It is overpowered or underpowered. Buffs and nerfs come and go and this balance keeps moving.

- How many other people play a class. This also relates to the first point, as quite a few go with the flavour of the month. But in the end when you enjoy playing a class there is no need to be bothered by the fact that others play it as well.

So I think engineer and elementalists are your best bet as they are versatile. As you don’t want to be a dime in a dozen for now I would say engineer. They are very versatile with all the toolkits they can equip unlocking new weapon skills. I do not play one myself (well, level 9 but too low level to give solid feedback), but what I see from my boyfriends engineer is that you can go so many ways with it.

I have a 54 Ranger, 34 guardian, 14 necro, 11 Thief, 8 Warrior, 6 mesmer, 6 Engineer, and 8 elementalist.

I also cannot decide which on to get to 80 first. I am trying to stick with the ranger as so far thats the class I am best with, but am getting a little bored with it.

I mainly PvE with some WvW thrown in for a change, and I find that in WvW I have a lot to learn ;p. (I tend to run out alone and get squished by zergs. Dont do that hehe)

The game is very fast paced imo (which I dont really like but can deal with it) so until I REALLY know ALL the skills of a class I dont do very well, so in addition to finding one I absolutely love, I need to memorize all the skills before I can play it effectively, which makes it hard to choose a main.

Good luck, I hope you find one you love!

Thank you, Esya. Is there any chance your boyfriend can either give you some damage and survivability info, or can tell me himself? I know dodging will play a big part in living, that’s fine, as it keeps me interested… Standing there spamming 1 skill or 2, will burn me out.

ADDED: I don’t require omgwtheck damage, but simply enough to leave a dent in a large hp pool…

I will see if I can channel his attention to here, but at the moment he has quite a glass cannon build as far as I can judge. Anyways, he should have a better knowledge about the traits and skills than me. You could also post/browse on the engineer forum with this question and see if people have ideas for builds.

Have you considered guardian?

My usual choice as a first toon on any game is a warrior, for me it’s usually the easiest class to learn and explore the game with and gw 2 was no exception, had I understood the guardian better I probably would’ve chosen it though.

My first thought on guardian was “Tank, can survive against lots of mobs but needs to because they struggle to kill one” this was sheerly my own ignorance.

Survivability: Well heavy armour for a start, plus there are healing and buff skills that usually also damage enemies. Sword and shield for a more aggressive fight, mace and shield for defensive fighting

Damage: two handed weapons that so far has compared to my warriors attack (guardian is still low level so not sure how that gets affected higher up)

Versatility: Fed up swinging the sword? pop a sceptre and torch/staff on and your an armoured spellcaster.

I’ve been having fun with the guardian and I didn’t think I would, might be worth having a look, but above all, pick the one you have the most fun with