Guild Wars 2

So with eye-catching heading, my question is more specifically this:

I’m relatively new to the game and have played all of the classes to 20 or so. I like the guardian and elementalist, the former more. My concern is whether the Guardian is expected to be the “leader”? I’ve played other MMOs and there are usually mechanics in PvE and PvP that you only understand with experience. Most of the time, the tank is the leader. If I’m the Guardian in the party, I don’t want to let people down if I don’t know what to do the first (or second, or third) time I run a certain boss, for example.

I wonder if Elementalist might be better in that I can stand back, just dps, and learn the game first? Or am I overthinking things?

You can sit back and support as a Guardian. Just make sure to ask if the party needs anything specific for a fight (Condition Removal, Reflects, etc) before going in. If nobody says anything, you can sit back with a Staff + Scepter/Shield and just buff allies and add a little bit of DPS with your Scepter.

Staff4 (Empower) and Shield4 (SomethingtodowithProtection) are both really useful skills in most cases. Empower should let the group carry you as long as you can pull that off before being deadweight.

Don’t worry about it too much!
Some parties will expect you to know what’s going on; however they usually advertise for ‘exp people only’.
If you say it’s your first time in a dungeon, or vs a boss, or you weren’t sure about the mechanics: ask. A lot of people are most willing to help and to give advice.

A Guardian is not a leader, he’s the character that is usually still standing while everyone else is dead.

He is also the character that usually supports and defends the other party members, by giving them boons, removing conditions, and blocking the damage they are taking.

Just play the game, you’ll see yourself what you can do.

There are no dedicated tanks or healers in GW2. Everyone can heal themselves, each class has ways to stay alive, and each class contributes to damage. Everyone is responsible for their own survivability.

That isn’t to say there’s no way to support, either, and guardian is a very strong support class. But it’s not a tank in the usual sense of the word, since there’s no way to control aggro and tanking in the traditional manner (standing still and praying someone else heals you) will get you killed. In addition, every class has a way of supporting others or controlling enemies- an elementalist who only stands back and does damage instead of rotating their support and control skills along with doing damage isn’t reaching their full potential.

For more info, I suggest reading https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/GW2-Combat-system-101-Guide/first

As for my personal experience, the person who heads into battle first generally doesn’t matter too much, since, as mentioned earlier, there’s no way to control who the enemy aggros. In my groups, the leader varies depending on whimsy and who’s in the party. My warrior friend, when I run with him, tends to be leader, but it’s due to his experience with dungeons rather than his class; when he’s thief or mesmer, he also leads. I have also, as an elementalist, led groups where I was the most experienced member of the party.

In short, don’t worry about being expected to lead dungeons you’re not familiar with, and don’t be afraid to let people know if you’re new.