Guild Wars 2

I’m pretty new to GW2 and really having a blast. My biggest challenge really is picking a main profession (and maybe a main alt as well). Currently I have:

Guardian – 80
Revenant – 80
Ranger – 80
Warrior – 50-something
Elementalist – 50-something

I solo and duo a lot, so I need to be very self sufficient and capable on my own. When I duo it is often with one of my kiddos so I have to carry the group.

I like classes where the mechanics and skill come more from positioning and paying attention to surroundings rather than complicated button combinations/management.

I was very disappointed in dragonhunter. I just didn’t dig the bow abilities and I find traps kinda annoying.

I have enjoyed Revenant but I’m worried the stance dancing might become a little too button-management-ish for long term. Though the theme and style of the class is amazing. I also feel a tad squishier than I’d like.

Ranger has been amazing so far. I keep reading that ranger falls off, that pets suck, etc. but so far it seems really fun and strong. The longbow is excellent and when I swap to greatsword I deal out massive punishment to finish things off. I haven’t even played around with sword/axe that most people say is the “best” melee combo.

Warrior looks cool but when I read specs that depend on managing your endurance bar and keeping it < 100%, that looked really obnoxious.

Elementalist was fun but again, the stance dancing was getting a little too button mashy and I read that eventually you go tempest there’s overloading to do which is even more stance swapping.

Anyway, given what I’ve said about my preferences, what do you all think is a good class choice?

Does ranger stay solid long term or does it become weak like I’ve read so many places?

Thanks!

I tend to have similiar issues with professions. i tend to solo a lot but also like the ability to benefit a group when my friends are online.

With some practice Herald is my favorite for party buffing. I dont really feel its a lot of button mashing really. You just switch legends when your energy gets too low while managing the facets.

For something that really helps support but easy to manage, I would say hammer Dragonhunter/Guardian. You can pretty much just auto attack.

That all being said, Im currently maining a ranger/druid. The buff off of Grace of the Land, warhorn, spirits and pet abilities have been helpful to not only myself but my teammates.

Out of those three (from my experience) the one that benefits the most from positioning and knowing the layout of surroundings has been Ranger. Unfortunately this is this perception that core Ranger is weak compared to the other professions. I think this is fueled a lot by the fact that we are the only ones that didnt get an offensive Elite spec so still using the same tactics. For anything above low level fractals and general pve there is a push to go Druid for party support. So thats something to look into if you wish to bother with it.

Hopefully you can find something you enjoy and works for you.

I agree with your Ranger decision.

i have every class lvled to 80 and geared and done all content with…

i do not do raids so cannot comment on that. but aside from that ranger is solid, its my main. use for everything from general roaming/farming/events/world bosses etc. i love the pets… and i can change up my play style from full ranged, to melee, axe/sword/torch/horn condi or power dmg. etc. its also easy to lazymode PVE with if ur just chattin on TS with friends. great survivability. and plenty of damage. YES, other classes can pump out more damage than you, but it’s PVE, noone cares. u also have a trait in druid that gives perma 33% speedbuff.. and i cannot stand slow toons anymore after this (im lookin at you guardian, (yes they have speed but u have to manage the skill rotation).

but i will tell u to take another look at elementalists. i did not like ele in GW1, and i never liked them in gw2 since beta, but a friend of mine she plays only one toon.. an ele.. so i started learning the class (i liked the skills i like the staff or dagger/dagger or horn/focus).. you can pump out so much might stack and damage, and the skill rotations are not that difficult to learn. and it is alot of fun.

in the end… play what u enjoy the most… since beta launch ive rotated mains a few times, but im still on ranger… and ele…. 90% of the time..

My main is a ranger and it’s a great class for solo/duo play, exploring, farming resources. The pet can really help out if it turns into a “crap I didn’t mean to hit that champ, RUN.”

I have multiple classes at 80 as well, and ranger is a pretty good class for soloing. it’s good at all ranges, the pets have a wide range of abilities and can tank/distract for you. pretty versatile in terms of builds and roles too.

The Mesmer is the master of positioning.

Have you considered necromancer? I main a necromancer and it is much more complex to play masterfully than you’d think. There is minion management to consider, as well as how to time your death/reaper shroud so it will not run out at an inopportune time, as well as stun breakers, condition utilities, just a very versatile profession. You can tank with a reaper if you play with another person. It is the most solo friendly class there is, high survivability built into it.

I have a revenant and a mesmer at level 80, and the mesmer is fun for farming, but she is a bit too squishy for solo play (at least mine is). I like my rev as well, but I made him as a possible raiding alt. I am just starting to level a ranger and I actually like her a lot, for the same reasons I like necromancer, I like pets and minions. It adds complexity and dimension to my play. She won’t replace my reaper, but she is definitely lots more run than I thought she’d be

I main Tempest but over the past few days levelled a Mesmer to 80. I quickly learned that you can solo bosses that you definitely shouldn’t be able to. (Around level 75 I was doing level 80 hero challenges/veterans and not taking damage)
There’s just a lot of kiting involved and you feel like you’re a lot better at the game than you are. I use Greatsword!

Ranger is nice for open world content and when playing solo

just for effective dungeon runs ranger doesnt have a top spot in the meta
if you just plan on playing casually you will be fine with ranger too
and if properly equipped and properly played the damage difference to other classes is not big
(you can check the builds metabattle.com for the current suggested top builds for your class and the game part you want to play in (PvE / PvP / WvW and more specific places within these)

Elementalist is my personal favorite for PvE
in open world it can destroy hordes of enemies easily with the strong AoE dmg that it has access to
Elementalist also deals the highest possible damage to big targets with a large hitbox where every hit from skills like Meteorshower, Icebow 4, Lightning Storm, etc. hits
I have to say that i too didnt like Elementalist at first and i sticked to playing Warrior as a main for a long time before starting to like Ele… once you get used to the Attunement swapping and know exactly what which skill does it is a really nice class though

Anyway.. unless you really want to go for the 100% best setup and have optimal dungeon / fractal runs etc it doesnt really matter which class you chose so just chose what you like playing the most
And remember you can start playing another class at any time if you feel like it