Guild Wars 2

Hey there, so I’m returning to guild wars 2 after playing a bit at launch. I’m currently in US East and I’m mostly interested in PvE with PvP occasionally. I used to play a Pally tank in WoW for BC and WoTLK. Any suggestions for at starting realm and a staring class?

Realm won’t matter (beyond a US one) unless you want to play World v World, which you didn’t mention. If you do, you will want to get on a high pop realm.

Beyond that, I would say one of the heavy armor classes, most likely Guardian, with Warrior a close second. Revs don’t have good tank builds imo.

I have two bits of advice, based on what I learned the hard way after coming here from WoW:

The first one is, forget trying to play either a tank or a healer. Just don’t do it. They don’t exist, or work, the way you will expect them to from WoW. It’s easier to just not even go down that path.

Second, classes are radically different not just to WoW, but to pretty much every other MMO out there. I normally love paladins, but … guardian is the same archetype in GW2, and I just can’t stand them. (sorry, guardian players, y’all nice, but y’all wrong!)

So … don’t assume that just because the class looks similar to what you like in WoW, you will like it in GW2 — even if that is true from WoW to pretty much every other MMO out there.

PS: tanking is mostly done by mesmers, or thieves, occasionally necromancers, all medium and light armor professions. It’s basically “someone attracts attention and avoids damage during a very specific mechanic”, 99 percent of the time the boss isn’t focused on the quote-tank-unquote at all, and that’s the way you want it.

I actually agree that guardians are not paladins, and that’s why I like guardians. Can’t stand paladins in pretty much every game they’ve ever existed in. shrug

The trinity does exist if you are doing raiding, where roles are more defined. So if you want to tank in a raid, mesmer is your best bet.

I will have to agree with Slippy….not only are Professions different in Guild Wars 2 than other games, they are different than they were even in Guild Wars (One)! I hated Warriors in GW, but I rather like my Warrior in GW2. Mesmer and Elementalist (I had 4) were my favorites in GW, and I don’t really like them in GW2. Never even leveled a Ranger to max in GW, and I have 2 Ranger mains in GW2. Weird, no? Just goes to show how different the Professions are in this game.

Welcome return, and good luck. =)

bearshaman.3421:

I actually agree that guardians are not paladins, and that’s why I like guardians. Can’t stand paladins in pretty much every game they’ve ever existed in. shrug

The trinity does exist if you are doing raiding, where roles are more defined. So if you want to tank in a raid, mesmer is your best bet.

I’d say that even in raids, it’s way, way less “trinity” than in, say, WoW.

(and FWIW I like the lore of guardians way more than traditional paladins, I just can’t stand the gameplay. which makes me really sad.)

SlippyCheeze.5483:

bearshaman.3421:

I actually agree that guardians are not paladins, and that’s why I like guardians. Can’t stand paladins in pretty much every game they’ve ever existed in. shrug

The trinity does exist if you are doing raiding, where roles are more defined. So if you want to tank in a raid, mesmer is your best bet.

I’d say that even in raids, it’s way, way less “trinity” than in, say, WoW.

(and FWIW I like the lore of guardians way more than traditional paladins, I just can’t stand the gameplay. which makes me really sad.)

agreed on the trinity stuff. Another reason I like GW2.
What aspect of the gameplay, if I may ask? (i tend to be flexible on gameplay, one of the reasons I have most professions at 80 with elite specs unlocked.)

bearshaman.3421:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

bearshaman.3421:

I actually agree that guardians are not paladins, and that’s why I like guardians. Can’t stand paladins in pretty much every game they’ve ever existed in. shrug

The trinity does exist if you are doing raiding, where roles are more defined. So if you want to tank in a raid, mesmer is your best bet.

I’d say that even in raids, it’s way, way less “trinity” than in, say, WoW.

(and FWIW I like the lore of guardians way more than traditional paladins, I just can’t stand the gameplay. which makes me really sad.)

agreed on the trinity stuff. Another reason I like GW2.
What aspect of the gameplay, if I may ask? (i tend to be flexible on gameplay, one of the reasons I have most professions at 80 with elite specs unlocked.)

So, keep in mind that this is about how I feel about the gameplay, and I don’t think guardian is “broken” or anything. It just isn’t good for me — which is fine, there are other classes I enjoy, and no doubt people feel the same way about them.

I had three big complaints about guardian, which I did play a bunch at 80 including full elite, etc.

The first one is that aegis is a great defensive tool, but I have close to zero control over it. I can’t “save” it for a specific mechanic, because it pops up on a timer, and is eaten the first time anything does damage. (eg: random add pops the shield with a ranged attack, suddenly I’m defenseless against the champion I’m fighting.)

The second is that so many of the attacks feel slow, while also feeling weak. Part of that is damage output, but part of it is also just the animation and sound effects not quite doing what they should for me.

The third is that I just didn’t enjoy the hammer-sigil model, or the greatsword, or the bow. They all felt like they had two or three useful buttons, and several that were just a waste of time. Most other classes there might be one utility that’s not frequently used, but most stuff seems like it has value somewhere. Guardian, not so much.

So, that’s what did it. I think I’d probably have been OK with the second two if I had more control over aegis, so that it felt more like an active defense than a random, uncontrolled damage reduction that was better ignored than payed attention to.

SlippyCheeze.5483:

bearshaman.3421:

SlippyCheeze.5483:

bearshaman.3421:

I actually agree that guardians are not paladins, and that’s why I like guardians. Can’t stand paladins in pretty much every game they’ve ever existed in. shrug

The trinity does exist if you are doing raiding, where roles are more defined. So if you want to tank in a raid, mesmer is your best bet.

I’d say that even in raids, it’s way, way less “trinity” than in, say, WoW.

(and FWIW I like the lore of guardians way more than traditional paladins, I just can’t stand the gameplay. which makes me really sad.)

agreed on the trinity stuff. Another reason I like GW2.
What aspect of the gameplay, if I may ask? (i tend to be flexible on gameplay, one of the reasons I have most professions at 80 with elite specs unlocked.)

So, keep in mind that this is about how I feel about the gameplay, and I don’t think guardian is “broken” or anything. It just isn’t good for me — which is fine, there are other classes I enjoy, and no doubt people feel the same way about them.

I had three big complaints about guardian, which I did play a bunch at 80 including full elite, etc.

The first one is that aegis is a great defensive tool, but I have close to zero control over it. I can’t “save” it for a specific mechanic, because it pops up on a timer, and is eaten the first time anything does damage. (eg: random add pops the shield with a ranged attack, suddenly I’m defenseless against the champion I’m fighting.)

The second is that so many of the attacks feel slow, while also feeling weak. Part of that is damage output, but part of it is also just the animation and sound effects not quite doing what they should for me.

The third is that I just didn’t enjoy the hammer-sigil model, or the greatsword, or the bow. They all felt like they had two or three useful buttons, and several that were just a waste of time. Most other classes there might be one utility that’s not frequently used, but most stuff seems like it has value somewhere. Guardian, not so much.

So, that’s what did it. I think I’d probably have been OK with the second two if I had more control over aegis, so that it felt more like an active defense than a random, uncontrolled damage reduction that was better ignored than payed attention to.

The closest thing to an active defense that is more targeted is blind, which is the condition form of aegis, and I don’t know that we get much of it, but yeah I can definitely understand your point on that one. If we had easier access to reapplying it, without devoting half your traits to it, it would be a little better.

I had the same impression when I first started playing it in terms of the speed. Hammer AA is really slow, and the whole class feels slow because of a lack of access to swiftness. I know a lot of people haven’t liked it for that reason alone.

Utilities are definitely a problem. The spirit weapons we’ve been promised a rework, but nothing so far. Meditations are decent if selfish, Consecrations work well in group content, so those two kinda balance each other there. And traps… I’ll be honest, I’m hoping the next elite spec is better cuz personally I hated DH. I’m looking to play a support guardian at this point, so speed isn’t as much of an issue, and I can focus on what I do like about the class.

But no, all valid points and I completely understand why you feel the way you do. Hope you’re enjoying some other class at least.