Guild Wars 2

Hi all I just recently bought GW2, coming most recently from WoW but also have played EQ1, DAOC, Vanguard, CoH, FFXI.

I decided I want to play a Mesmer, and tried a few different races so far, I haven’t experienced much of the game yet just trying to get a feel for each starting area, and what the races are like. I think I’d like to play a Norn Mesmer, but I’ve read that when I select my Spirit (wolf, bear, raven, leopard) it’s the basis of a later transformation ability I’ll unlock later.

Do any of the 4 mesh with other mesmer skills better than the others, or any to avoid?

Also it looks like I have one set of Armor from buying the game that can apply to 1 character only? Is this a powerful set of armor I should “save” or should I just go ahead and use it on whatever character, regardless of if it’s going to be my “main” or not?

Thanks for your help.

The set of armor you get is not powerful in any sense, it is cosmetic. You will be able to apply the look of it to armor with whatever stats you decide on.

I believe norn can all transform into the same three forms, though I’m not 100% on that. My necromancer can transform into bear, raven and one other. I don’t tend to have those skills on my bar, as time warp is usually more effective at high levels.

Be cautious about the size of your norn. I’d save the armor for the time being. You can preview stuff with right click, by the way.

Welcome!

The armor you received has been available to players from the start using gems. I would also recommend saving the armor, but worst case and something happens, it is possible to get again.

And norn are by far my favorite race! I have four of them, and the spirit totem you pick in the beginning does not alter game play, at most some NPC dialogue in Hoelbrak. You can still transform into any of the four spirits, but you will likely never use them unless you RP or something. Racial elite skills are sub-par compared to class ones, Anet did this on purpose to not make one race superior to others.

I have a charr Mesmer. Honestly, whats scarier than a charr with four clones and Warband Support?

All norn have access to all 4 transform abilities, no matter what spirit you pick so you don’t need to worry about that. Also you’ll more likely be using one of your profession specific elite skills because they tend to be more useful.

(Although in open-world PvE where you don’t need to worry about it so much I often use whatever skills I think are most fun.)

Ignore the spirit skills since they are still bugged. I wouldn’t waste my elite slot for that since there are better skills that you should be using for your class. Therefore it wont matter which race you’re picking, all of the races have different race specific skills but barely any people are using them.

The armor you’re getting is as mentioned just a skin, you can use it for pve or pvp. I suggest you keep it till 80 and then make the decision if you apply it to pve or pvp gear. It’s only useable once (for free at least), otherwise you will have to use transmutation stones/crystals, which are purchasable from the Black Lion Store or a hassle to get for free (map completions, storyline, black lion chests), every time you plan on switching your gear. very annoying at lower level lol

Race is purely for cosmetics and lore.

Just pick the one you like most, profession skills are better than race skills in most cases.

Hint: you cant go wrong with a sylvari mesmer, or human female