Guild Wars 2

I’m trying to decide what to do for my 4th toon. I currently have a Thief, Elementalist, and a Warrior at 80 (still working on full elites). I’m not really liking the Warrior that much comparatively though. The warrior is too stationary and too much of the gameplay is autoattacking or stand-and-deliver with locking animations (ie Greatsword 2).

Now, since I want to get the last 2 crafting disciplines I haven’t done yet leveled up on this new toon (Huntsman and cooking), I would prefer to use a profession that makes use of those. Therefore I am primarily looking between Engineer and Ranger for this character (if ranger, name will absolutely not include any variation on ‘Drizzt’). Given my existing preferences, which do you think would be a better choice? Or should I just forget it and do a different class?

Boogiepop Void.6473:

I’m trying to decide what to do for my 4th toon. I currently have a Thief, Elementalist, and a Warrior at 80 (still working on full elites). I’m not really liking the Warrior that much comparatively though. The warrior is too stationary and too much of the gameplay is autoattacking or stand-and-deliver with locking animations (ie Greatsword 2).

Now, since I want to get the last 2 crafting disciplines I haven’t done yet leveled up on this new toon (Huntsman and cooking), I would prefer to use a profession that makes use of those. Therefore I am primarily looking between Engineer and Ranger for this character (if ranger, name will absolutely not include any variation on ‘Drizzt’). Given my existing preferences, which do you think would be a better choice? Or should I just forget it and do a different class?

To be honest it doesnt sound like you played much hot content or group content if you think the warrior is stationary, also why are you only using those few weapons? Lots of weapons are viable on warriors give it a shot, also you may really enjoy them in pvp.

If your use to more versatile classes like ele and warrior then I dont recommend a ranger unless you want to only do one build endgame.

There was a similar post on this a month ago, where (roughly) engineer is fun to play but hard to master, ranger is easy to play and good for OW PVE roaming.

I main a ranger and can say we have 3 main build types DPS, Condi, heal. And then subtle variations within like a trap, shout, spirit, PvP and so on.

I have filled out my 5 slots and now wish for a Mesmer for helping friends with portals or, Golden Lost Badge hunting etc….. So I wish I had an extra slot now.

I never said I was only using those few weapons. I use all the weapons (except the mace. Have yet to have any success with the mace). But the most effective combination I have found is Greatsword for damage and sword+horn for quick OW traversal, and the most effective combat in general involved getting everyone to group up and then spamming Greatsword autos, 2, and F1 on multiple targets. The thing that most bugs me even aside from the repetitiveness is that GS2 locks out dodging; you have to manually break the skill, then dodge, which in practice means break the skill, get hit, then dodge a bit late.

Boogiepop Void.6473:

I never said I was only using those few weapons. I use all the weapons (except the mace. Have yet to have any success with the mace). But the most effective combination I have found is Greatsword for damage and sword+horn for quick OW traversal, and the most effective combat in general involved getting everyone to group up and then spamming Greatsword autos, 2, and F1 on multiple targets. The thing that most bugs me even aside from the repetitiveness is that GS2 locks out dodging; you have to manually break the skill, then dodge, which in practice means break the skill, get hit, then dodge a bit late.

Nearly all the weapons are most effective, you just need to learn go use then and some are condi dps.

If you’re already ruling out Druid (I’m assuming that’s what you mean when you say “Drizzt”), you’d best go Engi. I think it’s a fun and frantic class.
Just be aware, if you want to be any good, you should expect a steep learning curve.

onevstheworld.2419:

If you’re already ruling out Druid (I’m assuming that’s what you mean when you say “Drizzt”), you’d best go Engi. I think it’s a fun and frantic class.
Just be aware, if you want to be any good, you should expect a steep learning curve.

Drizzt Do’Urden is an extremely popular ranger from fantasy fiction (google RA Salvatore). There is an overwhelming tendency for rangers in MMOs to have names that are variations of his. It has nothing to do with Druids.

The thing that most concerns me about engineer is the limited weapon selection. I know they have kits too, but due to the unlocking-skills-with-level system I will be in for quite a bit before I can say if I like this or not, at which point I will be really kittened if I don’t. How does this mechanic compare to the classes I am familiar with?

Rangers/Druid tend to be more wanted in more content if you are a PvE player. Their heals are nice to have in fractals and necessary in the Raids. You shouldn’t be kicked or turned away for playing a druid (so long as you stay away from camping longbow and always using a bear). There’s a bit of equipment juggling at the moment for the profession, depending on your group…you might need more healing or more dps/utility buffs.

Engies have a bit harder time being accepted, as most of the community doesn’t know what they do exactly and they are more of a jack of all trades but master of none profession. They can easily be replaced by an Ele and not be missed at all, where as the same really can’t be reversed.

Ah ok, I’ve learned something today.

When you first start with Engi, you are somewhat limited by the unlock mechanic. However if you’ve got 3 lvl 80s, you should also have enough tomes and /or level up scrolls to circumvent a good deal of it.

In terms of mechanic, imagine an ele with summoned weapons that are so good that you would use them as much, if not more, than your regular weapons. Their best skills are spread between several kits, so you’d want to be swapping often.

I think my main issue with Engineer is that since I don’t remap skill keys, I have to keep reaching way over to 7-8-9-0 to swap out what’s on my 1-5 keys. The base skills for Engie weapons aren’t that fun for me (I do like Scrapper hammer), so I have to bounce my fingers all over the keyboard to do my swaps and then I also have to be using F1-F5 as appropriate — and what those keys do is contingent on what utilities I have in 6-10 (eg having Flamethrower Kit in slot 7 means that F2 will make my next attack of any sort inflict burning, but if I have Flamethrower in 8 then F3 does that). It gets hard to remember what does what and effectively use it.

You don’t have to use up your tomes just to test it at 80. You can go to the Mists (crossed swords icon in your UI upper left brings up the panel) where you will be 80 with full unlocks and can go attack golems to test what your skills do.

Boogiepop Void.6473:

The thing that most concerns me about engineer is the limited weapon selection. I know they have kits too, but due to the unlocking-skills-with-level system I will be in for quite a bit before I can say if I like this or not, at which point I will be really kittened if I don’t. How does this mechanic compare to the classes I am familiar with?

Since you play Elementalist I would say Engineer should be no problem. Instead of your swaps being on F 1-5 (Attunements) they’ll be in your utility keybinds (Kits). Don’t let the limited weapon selection and skill unlocking bother you. You’re gonna have that issue anywhere (skill unlocking that is).