Which class should I choose?
Try them out for a bit (of course until around 30 gameplay might change radically, but with trying out all weapons and maybe around level 10 you get basic image. ) and choose which one fits best for you.
yeah mesmer, elementalist or necro would be the casters to choose from. Specially necro requires lots of skill since no one has yet mastered necros death shroud even devs have said it is OP. They are my favourite though but elementalist are fun too and mesmers have their good stuff though they seem to be late bloomers, but are great help in www.
Mesmer and elementalist sound like good options. I play a dual daggers elementalist and it’s wonderfully hectic – you have to be in the thick of things with short range spells, but you can do some cool stuff! Elementalists are great for laying down combo fields (which other players can do things with). Mesmers are hard to explain (especially since I haven’t played much of the GW2 mesmer). They’re basically illusionists, they can create clones of themselves to confuse enemies (in PvP too if you’re clever!), manipulate conditions, and a bunch of other stuff.
As above, I’d recommend making one of each and playing them for 10 levels or so, to get a taste of the style. Be sure to try out a few different weapons too (they can be quite different style). Hope you enjoy it!
First of all to add on Curuniel’s post. A mistake I made at start was that I thought that dagger/dagger means that you would be a melee range caster. all caster class weapons are ranged ones. Elementalist are traditionally the nukers. Keep in mind however that the holy trinity in this game doesn’t exist (there are no longer things like tanks, healers, midline, backline, etc).
You might also want to consider the engineer. Although it is nog tyipically a caster, it is a ranged profession with medium armor (instead of light with the true casters). You use a riffle, two pistols or a pistol and a shield as your main weapon. Besides that you can put up turrets (stationary machines that shoots or heals or stuns), wich are also used for dividing agro (mobs can and will pick on those instead of you). Last of all you can use powerfull kits like a flamethrower or a bombkit wich feels to me as real nuker. I played a caster all my life, but wanted to give the engineer a try and I’m now hooked. In the end, does it matter if your shooting firebolts from your wand or from your big gun??
Arise, opressed of Tyria!
You can simply complete the tutorial and then go to the Heart of the Mists (it’s the last tab in the Hero panel). There you’ll be instantly level 80, have access to the best armor, weapon and upgrade in the game and can test it via some NPCs or other players.
Some professions have a totally different feel at level 40+ or 60+ because at that time they unlock their Master respectively Grandmaster traits so playing one only until level 10 or 20 may give you a distorted impression of said profession.
Also make yourself clear that no Scholar follows the mage concept of many other RPGs, meaning there is no long-range nuker in this game; if you make an Elementalist because you want to play one you properly will be majorly disappointed. This misconception is also the main reason why many players see the Ele as UP.