Guild Wars 2

Hey folks!

As some of ya might have noticed, I’m fully addicted. No hope for the near future.

So… I rolled a Ranger and I’m havin’ fun with it (still lvl13, so basically nothing) and I’ll stick to it since I like the playstyle.

But I wanted to try a caster. I read a lot around here and Elementalist is definitely not for me.

I’m sexually attracted by the Mesmer and the Necromancer.
The Mesmer seems challenging and inspiring in terms of gameplay, but since I’m mostly a “solo PvE casual guy” (not that I refuse guild cooperation, but I mostly wonder and kill stuff, exploring, reading lore…) it seems not to be good for solo activities and Necromancer seems to feet more an OK alternative to my sexy ranger…

BUT, I can choose to spare my time and stick to my Ranger as my “main solo” and create a “group focused” build, so the Mesmer is still doable.

Considering I’m not a “full meta” kinda guy and like experimenting Self Found builds, what do you advice?

Thanks for your time and patience!
Take care.

Since you are a beginner (if i’m not mistaken), i say Necromancer. It’s a lot easier compared to a Mesmer. With Necro you get tons of AoE skills that allow you to fight solo against multiple enemies, and a second life bar (Death Shroud) that makes you more durable.

EDIT: Oh, and you can also summon up to five minions.

Mesmer feels much more of a caster than Necro, especially once you go into elite specs. Reaper is an in-your-face slow wind up big hit powerhouse. Chronomancer, like the base Mesmer, plays time and mind tricks with lots of flashy bursts of light. Both are currently viable and even desired for group content.

Reaper, on the other hand, is amazing solid fun. You can just wade into a pile of enemies and go to town; death can happen but not nearly as easily as on other professions.

I’d wait just a tad, though. The big balance patch could hit any time today, or perhaps next week. Even though you are not a meta player ( /cheers mightily ) there may be some changes that affect the feel of the two professions.

For a beginner player who wants to try out a caster? I would have to say go with Reaper. The class’s mechanic is very straight forward, and there is a lot of room for play in build diversity (of course not all will fall under meta). It also feels like a pretty fleshed out class from the start feeling like it gets “enhanced” with each new skill and trait rather than feeling dependent on those traits or skills. The Elite Spec, Reaper, makes you feel like a death knight/juggernaut being able to dish out some very respectable damage and still be able to walk away unscathed.

Mesmer, on the other hand, relies heavily on traits and skills more so than the average class so you might find the class lackluster upfront. Though, once you hit level 80, the class is extremely versatile for casual players and can mimic (no pun intended) the skills /roles of other classes. Mesmer can also be a very reactive class with their generous access to interrupts, blocks, evades etc. So, if you’re looking for a class that keeps you on your feet this is a great class to choose. Their Elite Spec, Chrono[mancer], is the manipulator of time thematically. Mechanically, the e.spec adds a huge margin for imagination with its Continuum Split mechanic effectively being a giant “checkpoint/reset” button. Just set your checkpoint, and you have a few seconds to toggle its reset. Took massive damage? Reset. Just blew a huge cooldown on a skill? Reset. Just jumped on a cliff? Reset.

Elementalist, for the sake of information, plays closer to your typical caster in regards to pew pew but with a twist. Effectively, each of the 4 elements your control adhere to a certain theme. From a bird’s eye perspective Fire provides you access to some of your highest damaging skills, Water provides you with recovery and healing skills, Air provides control and debuffing skills, and Earth provides you with defensive skills in regards to both personal and battlefield. Each element also has a Specialization counterpart to “flavor” your Elementalist. E.G. An ele that specializes in Fire will do more damage while attuned to fire but will also cause burning on critical hits from while in ANY attunement. Air Specialists will move faster while attuned to Air but will cause inflict more damage to enemies that are stunned. (to name a few). The gimmick to the class is knowing when to camp an Element or when to swap to another. Depending on your build there may be incentive to swap or camp. The Elite Spec, Tempest, doesn’t necessarily introduce anything new but rather builds on top of the core class. For one, camping a certain element unlocks an Overload skill that unleashes an overcharge attack. Fire unleashes a burning fire tornado, Water creates a Healing field the recovers health and removes conditions, Air generates a lighting storm, and Earth creates a mobile earth spire that grants protection to allies while debuffing enemies.

Hi!

Well, that clears up lots of perspectives. Still i’m kinda puzzled since both the NecroGasm and MesmerSpam charm me.

I guess the Mesmer is philosophically more my thing, but necro seems a bit more playable for my needings… As a Souls player I’ll obviously choose the difficult way lol

Jokes aside… I’m kinda confused with the Elite stuff.. If every profession as only an Elite class… Where’s the choice? Is it actually a choice just stick to the main? I.e. I can avoid being a Druid with my ranger or is it actually mandatory?

And… Any hints about weapons? The basics seem to advice “bow for ranger, staff for X, sword for Y” but as I read some “self finders” around it seems like even akward choices can be viable.

ArtemisEntreri.8450:

And… Any hints about weapons? The basics seem to advice “bow for ranger, staff for X, sword for Y” but as I read some “self finders” around it seems like even akward choices can be viable.

Learn all the weapons your profession wields. Different weapons work better with different builds against different content. Over all, knowing all the weapons your profession can use means you have a better understanding of how that profession works. On top of that there might be an “awkward choice” that you find most fun to play, or meshes best with your play-style… you won’t know until you test ’em all out.

~EW

Each profession currently has only one elite spec line (must go in third trait bar). Elites come with expansions, sadly, so we must wait to the next expansion to get any more.

Meanwhile, it varies from profession to profession, but rule of thumb is that the Elite tends to be more fun and more viable than the base profession, with the trade off that you then get only two base trait lines.

The Reaper elite is just really solidly designed, the skills and utilities flow intuitively together. Chronomancer took me a while to grok the special mechanic since my instinct is to save my F keys for when my skills and utilities are on cool down, but you want to hit F5 -before- firing off your long cd things as they will refresh when F5 wears off.

For weapons, get a cheap one of each type the profession can use and go clear a map using the same setup the whole way. Repeat in a new map with a new weapon. You’ll figure out which ones you enjoy the most and even if they aren’t “meta” they’ll make you keep playing that alt a lot longer. (Go to maps that down scale you so you aren’t in over your head, lest you conflate dying a lot with the weapons in hand rather than the challenge of the map).

IMO, depending on the builds you use, Mesmer is more group oriented, while necro can basically solo the kitten out of everything.

And nooow that we are here (waiting for the “new build” to install), a couple of general advices/questions:
- any way to “retrain” spent hero points?
- let’s say I’m a ranger (that is real): I’m focusing on signets, but I’d like to try even some BM skills… Any drawback in doing that?

I don’t get if the flexibility of having tons of skills is there to adapt yourself or if there is any other counstructive way to invest HP.

Thanks a LOT for your patience.

You can change traits at any time out of combat. You cannot undo HP allocations, but you’ll earn more than you’ll need. At 80 you’ll have everything in the base game unlocked. My advice is to unlock whole traitlines instead of piece by piece. Pick a traitline that synergises with utilities you enjoy using. If you’re not sue what’s what, use the wiki. You can type /wiki subjectiwanttoknowabout to open a browser to the relevant wiki page from in game chat.

You don’t need to fully focus on say, signets alone for a workable build, although you get a bit more out of traits that buff them. A good build covers your needs (have a stun breaker, condiclears, etc) maximises dps (for that build; a more survivable build should still find ways to optimise damage) and synergises traits and skills.

Necromancer is more of a light Warrior than a mage with more capability at short range. Its easy-mode is minions.

Mesmer looks more of a caster and creates duplicates of itself for its own easy-mode.

Elementalist also has a caster type aesthetic and has elemental summons.

All professions in GW2 tend to reward melee combat with higher outgoing damage and have options for defensive, support, ranged, and melee play so you could build a “caster” out of anything, even a guardian, though the aesthetic may not fit your desires.