Guild Wars 2

I’ve played the game today(bought it yesterday) and have played each of the classes for a bit. Problem is… I LOVE ALL OF THE CLASSES. I can’t really choose.
I’ve narrowed it down to a few:
Engineer
Guardian
Thief

Can anyone give me advice? I want to stick to one and level it to 80. Also list pros and cons.

Maaan, I’m in the same position as you.

Recently got game. Don’t have much time to play it, but loving ALL classes.

Narrowed down to these three:

Elementalist (lvl10)
-what I’ve been hearing: complex and involved class to play, still haven’t mastered attunement swapping, low damage, very squishy, have to move around a lot, but very fun with lots AoEs
Ranger (lvl10)
-easiest time solo pveing, feels natural to me, but worried about getting bored with the easy-breezy nature of the class, like the pew pew pew and pet management is easy, strong single target, some trouble with multiple mobs
Guardian (lvl4)
-least experience, but liking very well so far. Strong support, very survivable unlike Ele and tanky. Biggest pet peeve is little to no range. I LOOOVE staying at range, that is why elementalist and ranger are my top choices.

I too want to stick with one till 80 and do everything with him. Also, I like to have cool-looking armor. So far, I see that the Heavy armor available to Warriors and Guardians simply looks better than light armor or even medium armor. Anet really needs to step it up a notch with medium, light, and cultural armors, I think.

I’ve played all three and really I can’t make a reccomendation without knowing your play style. Really it’s going to be seeing which falls most in line with how you like to play.

—Engineer—
The Engineer is one of the most versitile classes in the game. You’ll almost never find yourself in a situation where you don’t have a tool to deal with it. You can do great AoE damage, support a group, kite enemies into next week, and more with a swap of a kit. Also each utility skill gives you a secondary toolbelt skill that can at times be stronger than it’s base, giving you more ways to deal with enemies. You’re a swiss army knife. You won’t have the biggest blade, but you have a corkscrew and everyone loves booze.

The downside, a lot of this requires some forethought to equip the right abilities for the situation you’re going into. You also don’t get a weapon swap, so unless you use a utility slot for a kit, you’re pretty much stuck with your primary weapons. Also the engineer’s elite skills are pretty lackluster, and situational at best, but I often found I didn’t really need them. Turrets have stupidly long cooldowns.

—Guardian—
The guardian is a brick wall. Despite a low health pool you’re pretty defensive. Some fights you might not even see your health move, and you can bash things in the face with a hammer. Virtues are like permanent signets and can save you and friends when used right. You can hit things in the face with a hammer. Many of your abilities inflict burning and/or blindness, blindness especially, when applied repeatedly (And you CAN apply it repeatedly) can really make the difference in a fight. You can deny enemies access with wards or reflect projectiles with walls. Did I mention you can hit things in the face with hammers?

The downside. Sometimes you feel a little too defenseive, and it feels like a lot of your potential is wasted without several allies around. If you want to really tear into something your traits are going to be fairly narrow without much wiggle room. Heal skills are on long cooldowns, and your ranged combat is pretty much reliant on the scepter, and sometimes the staff for midrange.

—Thief—
I didn’t care for the thief myself, but you’re not me. It can really output the damage when it wants too, and when using daggers you’ll have the endurance to keep up the dodging. You have some fairly cool utility skills to keep things interesting, traps, caltrops, shadow refuge, and a signet that gives a passive 25% movement speed boost, and more. The class doesn’t really have a high skill cap, so if you’re new to the game you’ll find you can do well at it without being an MMO pro, and can really be nasty when you get more experience with the game. If you ever get overwhelmed you can stealth and get away from combat.

The downside. The class feels terribly one-dimensional(to me). Realistically you’ll only be using one or two weapons sets almost always with a shortbow as your secondary. Pistols suck. Each weapon set will have only one or two moves you’ll actually use, but you can spam them thanks to the class functioning on iniative rather than cooldowns. Pistols are kind of lame. The steal abilities is a bit like a dice roll, you don’t always get an item that’s particuarly helpful. Also, you are squishy, dodging is vital even at low levels, but this eventually becomes true for everyone so it’s best you get comfortable with it early on. Team support is on the limited side without investing traits. Also I should probably mention pistols are terrible so if you want to pretend you’re in a John Woo flick, try the engineer.

Hope this helps.

Having played none of those classes myself, I can’t really give you any advice directly related to any of them. What I would suggest though is this:

1. Set up a character of each of those classes.
2. Complete the tutorial portion of the story for each one.
3. Take each one to Heart of the Mists.
4. Come up with some build ideas for each one (you can use tools such as http://gw2skills.net/editor/en/ and http://www.gw2db.com/skill-builds to start getting some ideas of what direction you might like to go).
5. Play around with those characters for a bit in Heart of the mists and take them up against the different classes of NPC sparring partners there as well as the target dummies and the full enemies (like Svanir). Get a feel for each one.
6. Make tweaks to each build as you feel is warranted.
7. Take the characters back to the PvE world and play them there. Keep all three and feel free to play each one whenever you feel like it.

You might eventually find that you enjoy playing one of them more than the others, and when that finally happens, there is your main character to take to level 80. And you can keep the others around so that when you get a little burned out on your main you have another option for a small break. On the other hand, you may end up like me (I can never decide if I like Ranger best or Elementalist best, so I play both regularly). Something to try at least.

Drake Phoenix, I feel like I’m like you, can’t decide between Ranger and Elementalist, but I’m afraid I don’t have enough time to play both, unfortunately

Could you help me sway towards either one or the other? What about Ele you like best that keeps making you come back? How about the Ranger?

Akukai.9035:

Drake Phoenix, I feel like I’m like you, can’t decide between Ranger and Elementalist, but I’m afraid I don’t have enough time to play both, unfortunately

Could you help me sway towards either one or the other? What about Ele you like best that keeps making you come back? How about the Ranger?

Elementalist will keep you engaged in combat, the class has one of the higher skill caps between being the squishiest class in the game (both lowest health and armor) and so-so damage, so there is no real face rolling on an elementalist. Whether you live or die is entirely based on how well you played it. I find this to be the draw for many elementalist players, myself included, though at the same time there’s the fact that other classes can do what the ele does with less effort, which can lead to a player becoming a bit jaded.

Basically the way I see it, if you’ve ever gotten a new piece of tech and said to yourself, “Gee I wish this idiot proofed piece of garbage would just let me do what I need to do, instead of trying to do it for me” you might be an elementalsit player.

As for the ranger, yeah it does get boring. You manage your pet, shoot arrows, maybe hit something with a greatsword every now and again. Mostly the experience of being a ranger boils down to using ‘Rampage as One’ then running and jumping circles around something while you auto-attack shortbow 1, yelling “WOOSH!” until the neighbors bang on the wall because it’s 2 a.m. and they have work in the morning but they’re not the boss of you— and really, if you didn’t stop for the cops what chance do they have?— and if it’s an AoE event then do the same with an axe and warhorn, but replace yelling “Woosh!” with vocalizing the synthesizer in the introduction to “Sunglasses at Night” by Corey Hart, which your neighbors will complain less about for some reason.

NOW THEN, the utility skills are a bit mediocre, almost feels like you can get away with not bothering with them, whereas on the ele you almost NEED them to live. It does get dull, you have to work a bit to make it fun, if you hadn’t picked that up from the above rambling. Again though, that’s just me. They are going to be patching the ranger in the future from what I hear, so if you go with the ranger I recommend you stick with it at least until then if you get bored of it.

Addendum: You got to figure a class is simplistic when almost every botter runs ranger teams.

I’ll tell you guys what I love of each class.
Engineer:I love the range and the cool abilities, but the damage hasn’t been to epic yet.
Thief: Good damage, not so squishy, and it feels like I’m playing Assassin’s Creed. PLus he has some range.
Guardian:I like it’s paladin-like feel with the heals and the defense.
Also, I’m going to be doing a lot of PvP when I hit the level cap. But for the most part, I’m leveling through PvE.
Also, how long does it take to hit 80?

Do you guys have any leveling tips as well? When I finish the first heart quest, I’m still not the right level for the story quest.

Also guys, in other MMO’s, I’ve played things like the shaman, hunter and warrior in WoW. As well as rogue.
I like being versatile but still standing a chance(lol shaman)
I’ll be leveling solo as well, so take that into consideration.

I did the Heart of the Mist thing and to be honest, I only liked the engineer and thief.

Heart of the Mist is a funny place. None of the gear has stats on it it so you’re only seeing the class in a raw form. It’s good to get an idea but that’s not 100 how things will be. However from the sound of it dealing a lot of damage is important to you. This is of course possible with most classes with the right traits but what’s more important is that, and I stress this, —are comfortable with the class’s abilities-- Knowing your bag of tricks and how to use them is far more important than how fast you kill something. If the numbers are good but the fit isn’t the awkward feeling doesn’t go away.

Now, If thief and engineer feel best to you, go with those. Both are good classes, and both can solo easily with the right skills.

As for leveling, just run around and do some events, or go to an area you haven’t been to and do some of the hearts. If that gets stale you get XP also from crafting. When you make some progress in craft, you can purchase recipies with karma from the trainer to make insignias for exotic weapons/armor. The discovery XP from this is insane, the material cost is heavy but the XP gain could be close to a half a level. It’s not uncommon for me to spend a short session burning mats and leveling a skill and come away with a level or two.

Thief. You get 4-5 tricks you can pull in just a few seconds, i’ve worn out my mouse pad and have onset of carpel tunnel doing a 180 to backstab MY PREY. But watching a health bar just go woooooooooooosh & drop is worth it. Also , hyena you need to move into house man.

I love this class, I’ve always liked the idea of being stealthy/covert….w/e you wanna call it….gettin sneaky behind enemy lines, doing massive amounts of damage & then seeing how long I can survive….I play LOTS of pvp/ world vs world btw….giggle…..

One of the best pvp moves a thief can do is pop ur invisiblity spell, (this is only when battling a choke point), run a bit thru the enemy, pop dagger storm spinny dizzy thing spell, and work u way back to your side….maaaaaaaaaaan, you should see the enemies drop & that will many times make a difference in the flow of the fight.

I don’t think you can really tell, solely from doing the mists trick.
But whatever. I think the Guardian is awesome, because there ARE
ways to become that unstoppable THING that helps everyone. You can
really build in such a way as to output a lot of damage with a Guardian, while
stil being such a great force multiplier ^^.

I hate elementalists. I hate the name, the way they look when they play etc. That’s just me ^^.

Akukai.9035:

Drake Phoenix, I feel like I’m like you, can’t decide between Ranger and Elementalist, but I’m afraid I don’t have enough time to play both, unfortunately

Could you help me sway towards either one or the other? What about Ele you like best that keeps making you come back? How about the Ranger?

I really like the versatility of the Ele, as well as the challenging fast-paced paly style. I don’t like the squishyness, and the damage output doesn’t really make up for it, and I’m hoping that will be addressed in future patches. For both classes I like the fact that they are ranged. I hate melee classes, they just don’t work for me… I’m a hit-and-run sort of player, and really wish that I could get Thief-level fast damage output with a ranged character. In both classes I like having distraction targets (pets for rangers and elementals for the elementalist). Mesmers get distraction targets too, but they disappear when your target dies and I don’t like the cooldowns for resummoning them. Rangers can be rather versatile if you set up their utility skills and traits right. I personally run a trapper build for added AoE capability. I also like the fact that Rangers are not very squishy at all (bear pets plus medium armor and medium HP combine to make a fairly survivable class). Another thing I like about rangers is that I have always loved the mental and visual concept of a character with a good bow and a loyal companion.

But getting back to the original poster’s issue… CommanderPC, from what you posted about 8-9 hours ago, it sounds like Engineer might be the way to go for you. If I’m understanding you correctly, you seem to want ranged options even if not strictly a ranged build, you seem to want versatility and decent damage output, and you seem to want some good survivability. In other words, you want something of a jack-of-all sort of thing, if I’m understanding you right. While I haven’t played an engineer, I have looked at some of their abilities, and some of the builds that people have posted, and I’ve seen them played here and there, and my limited understanding of the class is that they rather fit everything you seem to be looking for. That’s the way I see it at this point, anyway.

As to those who say that the HotM trick isn’t that great… I want to point out that I also recommended playing the classes in the full PvE world as well. I also wish to point out that it is meant as a way to get a feel for the general play style and abilities of a class, and in that respect it is useful as a sort of “snapshot” of what a class can be like. I never said it would give the OP a full perspective on each class. But it can be helpful for people who are having trouble deciding, as they can play around with different builds and different classes without having to level up halfway through the game or more. Basically, it is a potential time saver. Will it give you an idea of exactly what the character would be like in PvE at level 75 or 80? Certainly not. But that isn’t the point. The point is that it will give you a fair idea of what the character could be like for the last 40 levels or so, without having to level up to level 40+ to find out.

I’ve played each to around 10. Thief and engineer are a really close tie. I love the flashiness of the thief and versatility of the engineer. Still unsure.. :/

Keep racial skills in mind. You can’t play with them in the mists but they’re not something to be ignored. Check them out in the wiki. Those few extra abilities might fill in a gap you might feel a class has. For example, if you don’t like a class’s heal skills playing as a human or sylvari opens an extra option each for healing skills.

Check especially for the engineer. Sometimes the toolbelt skill from a racial is better than your normal utilities, and can really make the difference. My engineer for example is a charr, and toolbelt skill of hidden pistol (Hidden PistolS, lol) is essentially a pistol barrage that, for me, added a nice offensive punch when I needed it, added to the parent skill providing a nice evasive attack move, if I was soloing it was ALWAYS on my bar

@OP: It looks to me like you would prefer Engineer more, but that’s my 2 cents from what I’ve gathered from this thread.

Oh you were a shammy in WoW? I too was a shaman in WoW – I was mostly ele and resto, so Elementalist is more fitting with spells like Healing Rain. If you were an enhancement shaman, than Warrior, Thief, or even Ele with daggers may work. At the same time, some people have compared the Engineer with his guns/kits to WoW shaman with his totems/elementals.

And same as you OP, both my Ranger and Elementalist are lvl10 right now. Time to choose and not look back, until 80. After 80, we can always level the other class

@Hyena: I hear ya man. I don’t know why but I’m drawn to difficult and UP classes all the time (ele shammy in wow). I can see how Ranger may become boring. Also, I’ve read that recent piece “Bot Crisis” on Gamespy about ranger bot trains. Yeah, from what I see, most popular classes are Warriors, Rangers, and Guardians. Not too many Eles, Engis, Necros, Mesmers… at least on my server running about

@Drake Phoenix: I’ll definitely max both my Ranger and Elementalist eventually. The question is who first lol. Btw, thanks for your take on my questions.

I played elemental shammy and resto. I played the ele but he’s too squishy for my taste. Resto shammy with earth shield could at least survive more.
I compare the shammy to the engie because of the kits. I was playing with the grenade kit and it was so fun. Plus I feel like I’m playing Gears of War with it. It’s enhanced from the awesome flips and dynamic events.
But yeah I don’t know which of the two to keep leveling. I love both of them. I was considering just flipping a coin because I enjoy both, so I wouldn’t be tired of one or the other.

CommanderPC.8609:

I love both of them. I was considering just flipping a coin because I enjoy both, so I wouldn’t be tired of one or the other.

That isn’t a bad idea at all. If you really don’t feel you have the time to play both regularly, and you can’t decide because both are a lot of fun for you, then it shouldn’t much matter which one you choose to level up first, and flipping a coin would at least make the choice for you. I suggest not using a dime though (assuming you’re American, nor a similarly small coin if you aren’t American), as they can sometimes be hard to find again if you happen to drop them

Akukai.9035:

@Drake Phoenix: I’ll definitely max both my Ranger and Elementalist eventually. The question is who first lol. Btw, thanks for your take on my questions.

I’ve found, as both my characters get higher in level, that I enjoy the Ele a bit more most of the time. This is opposite of how things were at earlier levels. As I said, I really love the concept of the bow ranger with pet, and I didn’t want to let go of that, and at earlier levels it was good enough. But at higher levels I find myself wishing for greater damage potential, as I find big and/or fast damage numbers to be fun. I also find the ranger to be not as fast-paced as I would prefer, though still a far cry better than in most other games (my WoW Hunter was an aweful lot of "send in pet, hang back, stand in one place, and use a macro for main attack sequence, while soloing at least, and GW2 offers a little bit more). But the Ele is more fast-paced with the action, because the elementals (if you use them) aren’t that powerful, and aren’t likely to hold aggro too well, so you have to be very active at kiting and dodging to stay alive. Also, while I do change weapon sets in combat on occasion with my ranger, especially up against champions (as I like to stack vuln from Hunter’s Shot plus poison and bleeds from the shortbow), with the elementalist, in order to really make the best use of their skills, you really need to do attunement swapping fairly regularly, and it is best to do it with some strategy in mind (rather than button mashing). The ele’s versatility makes them a bit more adaptable to changing combat dynamics than the ranger is really capable of, and I enjoy that more and more as my characters get to higher levels.

So for me, while my ranger is the higher level character at the moment, I find myself playing the ele more and more, and catching up in levels. At this point I mostly use the ranger if I want to see more valuable loot drops (from higher level kills), or if I’ve died a few times on the ele and gotten frustrated with the squishyness so need a break with something more survivable.

From what you’ve said so far, and since it sounds like you enjoyed your resto/ele shaman in WoW, I’m thinking the ele might be the better choice for you. You could check out some posted builds at http://www.gw2db.com/skill-builds/elementalist?sort=-rating to see if there is anything there that might appeal to you for the long term, or that you could use as inspiration for designing your own build. If you like playing the healer sort of role, then I suggest taking a close look at water magic skills, especially with staff, and also look at the traits in the water magic line.

Hope that helps you decide

Why have a main? I’ve got two characters at 80 so far and six slots filled. I play whatever I feel like at the time.