Guild Wars 2

Hello Guild Wars 2 community! I am a returning player to the game and was looking to start completely fresh. Back when I played, I had an Elementalist, Mesmer, Ranger, and Guardian at 80, but split my time between them so evenly I never really took the time to get into any of them too deeply. I want to change that this time around, actually explore the maps, enjoy the story, and not just gungho a bunch of classes to the endgame, but at the same time still enjoy PVP, WvW, and endgame content.

To that end, I want to start a new character (whether I have played the class or not) that I really want to delve into, but I need help choosing a class. I enjoy:
-Being versatile
-Fast paced melee combat
-Supporting allies
-Deep Customization (Class that has more variety in its builds than cookie cutter, “best to use in most situations” ones)

I would also appreciate being filled in on what has changed with the game. Suffice to say, the announcement of Heart of Thorns is what is bringing me back, but I left about 2-3 months after Fractal of the Mists was introduced, so anything important that has been added since would be much obliged.

Aside from the deep customization you are looking at Warrior, Elementalist (D/D), or Guardian. I suppose you could argue a Thief supports through Invis, but not much else there really.

From your description you might be interested in playing engineer.

It’s the jack-of-all-trades profession with a huge variety of utilities/skills to choose from, involves a lot of juggling actions to optimize damage but is top tier DPS, with some great support abilites and the ability to fill in most gaps in party composition. The only thing that’s kind of lacking is the ‘melee combat’ part, but only kind of because while most of the engineer’s weapons and kits are technically ranged they actually do the most damage at medium-to-melee range (think shotgun instead of rifle, basically – technically a gun, but if you want maximum kaboom you gotta be up in the enemy’s face).

Also worth noting that the expansion is going to let engineers use hammer, which might fill in what aggressive in-your-face melee playstyle we’re currently lacking.

jackaljag.8637:

From your description you might be interested in playing engineer.

It’s the jack-of-all-trades profession with a huge variety of utilities/skills to choose from, involves a lot of juggling actions to optimize damage but is top tier DPS, with some great support abilites and the ability to fill in most gaps in party composition. The only thing that’s kind of lacking is the ‘melee combat’ part, but only kind of because while most of the engineer’s weapons and kits are technically ranged they actually do the most damage at medium-to-melee range (think shotgun instead of rifle, basically – technically a gun, but if you want maximum kaboom you gotta be up in the enemy’s face).

Also worth noting that the expansion is going to let engineers use hammer, which might fill in what aggressive in-your-face melee playstyle we’re currently lacking.

I think I’m gonna give it a shot, sounds pretty awesome, thanks!

AzureHunter.6079:

jackaljag.8637:

From your description you might be interested in playing engineer.

It’s the jack-of-all-trades profession with a huge variety of utilities/skills to choose from, involves a lot of juggling actions to optimize damage but is top tier DPS, with some great support abilites and the ability to fill in most gaps in party composition. The only thing that’s kind of lacking is the ‘melee combat’ part, but only kind of because while most of the engineer’s weapons and kits are technically ranged they actually do the most damage at medium-to-melee range (think shotgun instead of rifle, basically – technically a gun, but if you want maximum kaboom you gotta be up in the enemy’s face).

Also worth noting that the expansion is going to let engineers use hammer, which might fill in what aggressive in-your-face melee playstyle we’re currently lacking.

I think I’m gonna give it a shot, sounds pretty awesome, thanks!

You do realize you can do any level content on any level character?

I mean, new alts are awesome. But you can have fun exploring zones with your existing characters. In some ways I find that more fun, because I don’t have to keep an eye on my leveling with my 80 characters.

Gilosean.3805:

You do realize you can do any level content on any level character?

While it is technically possible to fully explore Orr with a sub-level 10 character, I… wouldn’t recommend it.