Guild Wars 2

Hey all,

Long story short I started as an Engineer but over time have started to hate playing it thus can’t get passed level 58…

I’ve been looking at what class would more suit how I like to play…

I’m not entirely sure which class would perform better, I understand it’s fairly balanced.

First and foremost I want to hit 80 ASAP so which is the quicker option for that?

Second, i do everything… Solo, team, pvp, wvw, fractals, dungeons, pve, the whole lot. So which is more ideal in grneral for all? I’m more of a damage player but i do love my control/support also. So i’m not TOO bothered about either.

Any tips, opinions and/or advice? Thanks!

Craft should be the fastest way, but it costs alot of coin. You can take any class and level fast too in Edge Of The Mists (just follow commander). Any of the 3 classes you mentioned should be good enough for all game types (ranger can be harder to understand on PvE, especially dungeons, but still viable). However you might need different builds for that, for example Warrior if you are doing PvE: a full zerk warrior is the most effective, on PvP it seems to be the shoutbow or hambow builds the most effective.

As far as which would be the quickest I would argue the Warrior class would meet that. Warriors have less of an initial learning curve, and their skills tend to flow more intuitively. In PvE and Fractals they bring offensive support to boost damage. In PvP they can range from bunker, support, and strikers so they have lots of options there. WvW, they are excellent front liners when zerging and have great roaming potential due to their disengages/chasers.

Guardians have an initial learning curve so they may not be the best if you’re wanting a quick leveler. Guardians are naturally more squishy and require a bit of know-how in fights/instances to know when to use your skills to stay alive (Active defense vs passive defense). They are the defensive counter part to a Warrior in that they often bring mitigation/support skills to keep a team alive. They are jokingly referred to as the Carry Class due to their superior defensive skills and access to key boons even when fully traited and geared for dps. They primarily focus on bunker or striker builds in WvW and PvP as support is generally built into the class regardless of spec. Similar to Warriors, Guardians are frontliners in a zerg.

I’ll let someone else describe the ranger class as I’m not too practiced with it. All I remember is pet management could end up killing you or saving you.

Thank you so much for the input! I think for sure i’m more of a Warrior/Guardian playstyle. How decent is the Guardian dps set? Is it widely required for it’s support more than it’s dps? Would u ever select it for a dps?

Warrior sounds agile, powerful and entertaining. Thats what i love in a class. Fast gameplay, decent combos and lots of build variety!

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Thats what i love in a class. Fast gameplay, decent combos and lots of build variety!

Have you considered elementalist?

I tried elementalist yeah but i couldnt get into it at all. Enjoyed warrior and guardian however

In PvE you would normally opt for a guardian for its support: reflects, aegis/blocks, protection, etc. That’s not to say that the class has terrible DPS (they actually have very good sustain dps), but its default behaviour even when fully traited and geared in berserker equipment will still allow for high level support. In high level fractals they fit a very well received role.

In WvW, there are effectively two builds. The more popular one is the Zerg frontliner which, as the name implies, has the Guardian spec’d for a more traditional tanky role. The goal of the build is to be the last one standing while buffing your allies and applying moderate control against the opposing threat. The other variation, the Medi Guard, fulfils more of the striker role. The goal of this build is to blink in and strike with high burst damage.

PvP has similar builds. The striker build is more or less the same, but the frontliner transitions to more a bunker build. Bunkers have virtual no threatening damage but they are built to hold a point or at least be able to hold out long enough for reinforcements to arrive.

Overall, Guardians’ support is desired in a team because it is very proactive compared to what other classes are capable of. Rather than healing up or cleansing after the fact Guards excel at the harm not reaching the team to begin with.

Ele’s are a different type of beast that I could go into. TL;DR verison: Their learning curve revolves around cooldown and attunement (“weapon swap”) management. builds can vary wildly.

First and foremost I want to hit 80 ASAP so which is the quicker option for that?

The fastest way to level is probably through PvP, because of the Tomes of Knowledge you get. Other options in order of effectiveness include: Crafting (actually very effective, but expensive), Edge of the Mists, Dungeons (swapping at the cutscene), WvW, Map Completion.

All classes can level pretty much at the same speed, but depending on what activity you choose, some classes could be more efficient.

General PvE: Ranger/Warrior
Why: High mobility, strong solo
Why Not: Guardians have bad mobility and their DPS is good but not the best of the 3.

Dungeons: Warrior/Guardian
Why: high in demand and fairly resistant due to their armor class, they can easily jump in any party and improve the odds.
Why Not: Rangers have some good qualities, but are generally hated in dungeons, which makes it difficult to join parties.

Fractal: Ranger/Guardian
Why: The ranger’s range is a very powerful asset in fractal, as well as their high HP pool. The Guardian is always welcome as well because of their support skills and they considerably improve the party’s survivability.
Why Not: Warriors are not a bad option, but it can be harder to play warrior in fractals if you’re going to be melee all the way, but they can definitely bring a lot to a party.

WvW: Guardian/Warrior
Why: both classes are always in demand for zerg parties, especially Guardians, because of the new meta. Warriors are also very much in demand because of their resilience and Banners, but they can also roam very efficiently.
Why Not: although Rangers are very good at sniping and are very resilient, they don’t bring as much to the zerg as the other 2 classes, but they are definitely better suited for roaming than the Guardian.

PvP: Warrior/Ranger
Warriors are very powerful in PvP because of their high HP pool, armor and many cc’s. Rangers are just as powerful too because of their resilience and high HP.
Why Not: Guardians are very strong in PvP, but sometimes their low HP pool can make it a bit harder. Not a bad choice though.

Second, i do everything… Solo, team, pvp, wvw, fractals, dungeons, pve, the whole lot. So which is more ideal in grneral for all? I’m more of a damage player but i do love my control/support also. So i’m not TOO bothered about either.

All around these 3 classes are very resilient and are all good choices for most activities. But given that you like DPS, control and support, you might want to opt for Warrior or Guardian. Since Warrior is better suited for most formats, it would be a likely choice.

They have everything you might want with almost no cons:

• High Mobility;
• High DPS;
• High HP;
• High Armor;
• Good support skills;
• Access to a large range of weapons for different gameplays.

The only thing they don’t have access to is stealth, which the other 2 classes don’t have much of anyway, except Ranger a bit.

FYI I do not main Warrior, Guard or Ranger, but I do have 2 of each, therefore I am very impartial I think. I main Thief.

Hope this helps.

^ that was a pretty awesome reply thank you very very much!

I’m almost certain i’m now going to level my Warrior for my main class as my Asura which is already level 32, i’ll then level up a Guardian afterwards as more of a support class. Warrior for damage/control, guardian for support.

I have to say after looking into Guardian I really am stumped at which to “main” which class has the more viable builds? Seems warrior mobility vs guardian support is the question. Or typical melee standard skills vs the “magica” battletank skills haha

Warriors have more weapon combinations, therefor more build options (although alot of sub-optimal builds). Almost as fast as thieves. Which are fastest in game. Highest armor and health ingame. Viable with power AND condition builds.

Guardians will and are always wanted everywere due to their active and passive defences they can maintain even with full damage builds. Very slow, but some say better burst of dmg. Highest armor and lowest health ingame. Viable with power builds.

^ thanks for that Noha. I think I need to try both ingame to make a decision.

Ill likely only pick warr or guard then look for a “caster” as an alt… How ARE Necros…??? For mostl casual pve/pvp/roam, are they fun and strong? other option is Mesmer but i like the look of necro to be honest…

But yeah as far as guard and warr.. I like the “spell” style of the guard, the skills are more magical, feel like a battlemage almost. I know its slow however so its the fun side of it va the low health and poor speed which the warr has. Fun guard with low health, slow speed or semi-fun/boring warr with high health fast speed…! Also like how guard is always wanted in groups, makes LFG alot easier.

Warrior is fastest. When I moved to leveling my warrior a couple years ago, was just amazed by the leveling speed. Generally hammer for me, anything with aoe is usually fastest and in swarms of mobs. Run speed is a necessity. I have nothing left to level, but yes EOTM seems a popular choice now since it’s introduction. Certainly much faster compared to when I leveled my engi primarily in borderlands early on.

For sure Warrior will be stupidly fast to level. im going to use the boost on a Guard to try him out. Obviously it will be slower than the Warrior but the style of it still has me thinking it might be a better more fun option. But ill play both then make a decision for sure.