Guild Wars 2

Hi there, I’m coming back to Guild Wars 2 after several protracted absences. I arrived finding that I had a little item that gives me an instant level 80. I’d like a profession that excels at completing all of the solo PvE challenges (but I’d like to be able to help out in impromptu groups and dungeons.) Additionally, I’d like to be able to participate in WvW zerging or roaming. I’m not going to be raiding or doing any activity that really requires a lot of coordination (my raiding and competitive days ended with WoW.) I’d like a profession that is at least fine in normal dungeons and possibly low end fractals if those can be done without voice chat. I’m not interested in a monumentally complex profession – that’s why I’m shelving my 80 Engineer (unfortunately, I just don’t have the dexterity or desire to practice the sort of rotations I’ve seen the Engineer require.)

Thank you all for your time!

Reaper, if you have HoT. It’s a beast. Also all the skills and utilities flow beautifully together without needing rapid complicated rotations; it’s actually a somewhat slow hitting class that feels faster thanks to the instant shouts. I won’t say I never die on my reaper in the HoT maps, but I sure die a lot less, I even get downed a lot less, than on any other profession I use. If I hadn’t set up my mesmer/chronomancer to be my dungeons and fractals main I’d have a reaper in that role. It’s just so satisfying to wade in and beat things up.

I can’t say it for sure works great in WvW since I haven’t done WvW since before the now-gone desert borderlands arrived but zerg fighting is probably much like dinosaur/mordrem pack fighting in HoT. Ask actual WvWers for confirmation

Necromancer/Reaper.

- awesome theme
- amazing sustain when played right
- great power builds that can dish heavy damage while keeping reasonable defenses (due to getting massive crit chance from traits, freeing up precision points)
- top of the pack at fighting vs condition heavy enemies
- serious cc ability
- eats boon spamming professions and mobs alive with massive amount of boon corrupting skills
- best kitten reviver out there if traited for it.
- complex to build, but not complex to play once in a fight.
- has one of the best access to varied conditions
- powerful, “under the radar” skills that few remember about, but make necro viable in dungeons (projectile blocking aoe, shout that makes all of his attacks unblockable for a certain time, might for party with “blood is power”)

And all of this in versatile, fun package that won’t get dull and boring 3 days in, like let’s say a warrior or guardian.

I’d say warrior. Very easy to play. No stance or button dancing. Do not rely on combos. Conquer every content with just berserker gear while still remaining though enough to survive. Good mobility.

That’s two (compelling posts) for the Reaper and one for the Warrior. I do like that the reaper seems to have a lot of survivability without being complex. The Chronomancer/Mesmer was mentioned – is it only good in raids and fractals? How is it in casual play?

I haven’t played a Chronomancer myself, but I think it has a lot of useful utilities and can be quite capable if played by the right person. However, I always found base mesmers to be too fiddly and rotation-based and quite complex, so if Chronomancers stick to that trend, you might find them kind of irritating to play. Or not, depending on what you like.

If you’re trying to chose between Warrior and Reaper, just know that Reapers have a crazy amount of sustain. If you trait it right, you can outlive almost anything. Warriors on the other hand, are quite straightfoward, pretty easy to survive with as well, and can pack a pretty big punch. Also, if you trait toward a Beserker, you can set everything on fire all of the time.

I’m currently maining a Beserker right now, and my husband plays a Reaper. We both do well in PvE. Try experimenting a little bit with both. The Level 80 boost allows you to demo the class in the Silverwastes for as long as you want without commiting. So you’re free to try it out first.

The downside to it, however, is that you can’t really equip elite specs while trying it out, so the PVP lobby may be better for getting a feel for the fully equipped class.

Daredevil. Yeah, it’s squishy. But you hit like a truck and you can dodge endlessly. I actually find this to be my most survivable class for solo open world due to all the evasion and the ability to take down enemies before they have a chance to deal much damage in return.

I also agree with reaper or chronomancer. Chrono is a bit weak on damage, but the survivability and utility makes up for it and then some.

reaper is good I play a lot of power necro in wvw and zerk is good for PVE. The meta for raids and high level fracs is condi atm (super strong) so if you decide to get into that you just need to get another set of gear then you can do anything.

Wari and herald are also good options. easy to play, good in wvw and good in pve with cookie cutter zerk builds. only thing is a lot of people play these in pve and you often don’t need 2 revs or PS’s in a party. these guys are good but can be a bit boring.

another fun/different option could be a druid. good in wvw (bunker support), you can go hybrid builds for pve so you still dmg and can support aswell then you have the option to go full heal if you wana raid or high frac. I find healing really fun.

PS, the condi engi isn’t that bad the rotation isn’t always essential to be 100% completed once you become familiar with it you will find you change it up a lot for different stuff but it becomes 2nd nature changing through kits etc.

o and I forgot ele, you have the potential to do the highest dps in game and you also have so much utility. changing weapons and traits massively changes how you can play and what your role is, can be a little hard to play if your new and often feels squishy if still learning but once you learn it you will find you have so much utility that makes it easier to survive.
I guess you can make anything work (Im not really answering your question anymore haha) so maybe look into actual class lore / skills to see what you find the most interesting. I think a lot of people would suggest necro because a lot of people liked the idea of necro but use to find it a bit lacking but now with HoT reaper is really good so now people are like o hell yeah necro is nice.
PS2, imo the raids are the best content anet has done in ages so I would highly suggest checking them out

Folks are starting to suggest all their faves, but remember, the OP asked for something simple to play as his Engineer is annoying in complexity. Ele/Tempest isn’t going to be any different. Daredevil is also going to need constant attention to use the dodging and mobility properly.

OP, you asked about chronomancer. I do like it, the wells do some fun things, but I can’t for the life of me get the F5 skill figured out because it requires using before you do other things, it’s not a key you build up to pressing as I am used to in my F skills, you have a split second to select what things to press while under its influence, and you need to remember you’re going to get ported back to where you were when it wears off. Still, it’s my main for dungeons and fractals, I just sorta waste all the F5 potential.

I simply don’t get tired of playing reaper. I have 4 of them now, one of whom is my HoT main for metas and for helping other people get HP or PS completion. I find my warriors to be squishier as a rule. (I have not statted Berserker on my reapers, I like fiddling with the condi side of them, so maybe they’d feel squishy with pure dps stats. But I doubt it).

Thank you all for the posts! I wanted to mention something:

Donari.5237:

Folks are starting to suggest all their faves, but remember, the OP asked for something simple to play as his Engineer is annoying in complexity. Ele/Tempest isn’t going to be any different. Daredevil is also going to need constant attention to use the dodging and mobility properly.

Donari definitely gets where I’m coming from. Here’s the thing – I know that I kinda suck at games, especially games that require twitch reactions and complex key combinations. In WoW, this one guy gave me some good advice: “I don’t play complex classes because I can’t play the piano and focus on the bigger picture at the same time.” So that’s what I did too.

I watched this video of an Engineer DPSing and just constantly swapping kits and weapons and hitting buttons and watching cooldowns, and I was thoroughly impressed, and then there were comments like “Mediocre, you missed X, Y, and Z in the rotation.” I know I can’t do that – I’ll leave that to people who are way more awesome than I am. So I want to make sure that whatever I play, I can play the way it needs to be played to be effective. A lower skill-cap for a lower skill player.

OP, you asked about chronomancer. I do like it, the wells do some fun things, but I can’t for the life of me get the F5 skill figured out because it requires using before you do other things, it’s not a key you build up to pressing as I am used to in my F skills, you have a split second to select what things to press while under its influence, and you need to remember you’re going to get ported back to where you were when it wears off. Still, it’s my main for dungeons and fractals, I just sorta waste all the F5 potential.

I simply don’t get tired of playing reaper. I have 4 of them now, one of whom is my HoT main for metas and for helping other people get HP or PS completion. I find my warriors to be squishier as a rule. (I have not statted Berserker on my reapers, I like fiddling with the condi side of them, so maybe they’d feel squishy with pure dps stats. But I doubt it).

I think I will go with the Reaper. I actually have a higher level Necromancer that I might just level up the old-fashioned way so that I don’t have to use the level 80 boost on her (probably silly, but I’d rather use it on a character that I don’t already have 50+ levels invested in.) I fooled around with the Reaper in the PvP lobby (per a suggestion above) and it seemed very cool. I just don’t want to use a boost on a 50+ when I could use it on character I haven’t played at all. Blargh. Guaranteed that this boost will never be used because of too-good-to-use syndrome.

I feel you on that! I finally made a second Revenant just to get that boost out of the shared slot so I would have room for a set of infinite tools. Also so I could start collecting norn heavy T3

Don’t let the paralysis of choice get you. It’s easy enough to get to 80 in various ways, and there are some nice goodies even if you use it on an alt already 80. Including a ceremonial dye pack, so then you get more paralysis of choice.

From your requirements, any profession really. But if you just want to be the best at killing pocket raptors and not die to vets, I would go reaper

EDIT: ranger is also a great choice if you want some extra WvW-solo-useability. see post below

If you’re running HoT metas you can take what you want in which case if you want a mesmer, make one. Make 3 illusions, point them at a mob, explode them. Fun!
Plus some other stuff but mostly just splodey fun!

I’d add a vote for Reaper. Rise, Well of blindness, reaper form, chill out whilst the rest of the zerg catches up with you.

Find myself mostly playing my Guardian however. Berserker stats with a bow, ogre runes, speed boost, sigil of extra power and a couple of traps. And if all that isn’t enough you can switch to greatsword and chop things to bits. All very gratuitous.

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Optional Vordrax glaze!
Get them while they are hot!

5g each!

Highly recommend warrior. Greatsword is super fun, HIGH mobility, great sustain with Adrenal Health (spend adrenaline to gain a powerful hp regen). Full zerker gear.