Guild Wars 2

Hello!

My girlfriend would like to share her time with me in Guild Wars 2. Color me ecstatic!

However, we are having a touch decision on which class she should roll. She has never played a game in her life (but wants to be expose to it via GW2), so we need a class that is simple yet enjoyable. Something she can easily pick up and understand, cause trust me, WASD keys alone confuse her.

To give further background, I currently play a full zerk Guardian at 80. I would like to start a new character to leveling alongside her, so we may share our experiences. Any ideas on what I should roll?

Many thanks in advance!

- Ivan

Warrior is very simple and effective. Just smash stuff.

P.S. you’re lucky. She’s definitely a keeper.

I would have her choose among warrior, guardian, or ranger for her first character. They are the classes with the easiest to understand class mechanics, and with you watching her back, she won’t need to have the best build so she can take the weapons and skills that appeal to her.

In my opinion, your first time out should be more about liking how your character looks and how the skills work than about being really good. After she’s hooked, her second character will be more about progressing and being effective

hands down warrior. in every group theres at least 1 warrior. most newbies tend to roll one too.. its probly the easiest class to play and understand.

I started out with the Necromancer class (and yes, WASD keys confused me too!). Necro is very forgiving – not as fast as Warrior, admittedly, but I liked the light armour look better and found the caster types more interesting. Warrior is pretty cool, but I don’t find it captures my imagination as a class. Necro also has Death Shroud, so she’ll have a second health bar, effectively, to cushion her a little, and it has some awesome skills.

People say that Necro is a selfish class to play, but I find it synergises well with just one other player (and I assume you’ll be playing as a duo more than in a full party to start at least). Chill skills and other conditions can be spammed from a distance, while you go in and melee, or she can run daggers for melee but gives her some space (skill 2 and 3 main hand, and both skills off hand do not require you to be in melee range).

Generally, I just find the class relatively straightforward, tankable if you’re nervous, and more interesting than Warriors, Guardians and Rangers. But I have all of them, so none of them are boring! It’s just my personal opinion (from a girl gamer who was totally new to MMOs with GW2, and PC gaming in general).

I’d say easiest is warrior, but it all really depends on her. Maybe melee-up-in-your-face gameplay is not her thing. The only way to find out is to test them all, and that can take time.

You could try and present all classes to her, there are tons of vids on youtube. A look at the armor galleries would also help. After all, she is a girl…

Let her look at the aesthetic of each profession. Seems like a good idea.
Guardian is easy and has a ton of free defense. Necromancer is tough and fairly straight forward, and so is a Ranger aswell.

Okay, your guardian is a heavy armor class so speed can be an issue, if you are roaming PvE and she’s in medium or light armor, you’ll get left behind so I would suggest the same armor class as you. This means warrior though I would suggest not using a Charr or Norn for her first toon, they are blocky and the camera view is a little funky. I would say Asura or human as the race. Warrior also has a lot of weapon choices.

Armor type doesn’t effect movement speed

Warrior and Guardian would probably be easiest. Ranger is pretty easy in the open world but alot harder to be skilled at. Necromancer is also a good choice

As a girl who got into the game when my hubby got it, I found that I was far mire into aesthetics…. Which is why I ran an ele. Even though I was bad at first, a year later I’m decent and still looking good. Your gf might like the armor aesthetics of light armors best, if she’s girly like myself, if she’s not then warrior would be easier to learn for sure, but doesn’t look half so good while leveling xD

Keep your girl from melee, a dead GF can be frustrating. That means: Ranger or Necro.

Battledoll.1803:

Keep your girl from melee, a dead GF can be frustrating. That means: Ranger or Necro.

I have a hard time believing warriors can die, in any range xD

But yeah, necromancer might be a good choice, if she likes things a bit macabre. Also, for race, I’d recommend an Asura, because jumping is so much easier with them (so while you are mapping with her she won’t get as frustrated? Maybe?)

Lilith Ajit.6173:

As a girl who got into the game when my hubby got it, I found that I was far mire into aesthetics….

My husband and I play a lot of games together, and I’ll tell you aesthetics just aren’t for girls. He spends way more time making sure he likes the look of his characters (and their names) than I do :P

I agree though that for a first time gamer that’s playing with someone experienced, the focus should be on what they like and not necessarily what’s easy. At the lower levels with someone to help you, GW2 really isn’t that difficult, so I think the best route would be for her to spend some time in the character creation screens going through the different races and professions and see what appeals to her.

Once she’s exposed to the game, she’s got plenty of additional character slots to try something different if she doesn’t like her choice.

Thank You everyone for taking time and sharing their thoughts!

Seems like Necro is a good starting point!

Pandemoniac.4739:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

As a girl who got into the game when my hubby got it, I found that I was far mire into aesthetics….

My husband and I play a lot of games together, and I’ll tell you aesthetics just aren’t for girls. He spends way more time making sure he likes the look of his characters (and their names) than I do :P

That’s why I said later that aesthetics are important to me cause I’m somewhat girly… But that a girl who doesn’t care… Blah blah.

I’m aware women are different and have different preferences, lol.

And my hubby doesn’t care about aesthetics at all…. He has crafted armor on his Asura necro.. And doesn’t want to equip the final rest I got him because he prefers his toy staff………….. It all depends on the person. Some people get more enjoyment when they have eye candy, others just want to play.

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Pandemoniac.4739:

My husband and I play a lot of games together, and I’ll tell you aesthetics just aren’t for girls. He spends way more time making sure he likes the look of his characters (and their names) than I do :P

That’s why I said later that aesthetics are important to me cause I’m somewhat girly… But that a girl who doesn’t care… Blah blah.

I meant it sort of tongue in cheek, which doesn’t come across well in a forum post. I like teasing him sometimes about how much effort he puts into it

Pandemoniac.4739:

Lilith Ajit.6173:

Pandemoniac.4739:

My husband and I play a lot of games together, and I’ll tell you aesthetics just aren’t for girls. He spends way more time making sure he likes the look of his characters (and their names) than I do :P

That’s why I said later that aesthetics are important to me cause I’m somewhat girly… But that a girl who doesn’t care… Blah blah.

I meant it sort of tongue in cheek, which doesn’t come across well in a forum post. I like teasing him sometimes about how much effort he puts into it

Lol, and I can’t understand why mine doesn’t put more effort in.

People are strange, lol

Just level another Guardian and let her pick whatever profession because you’re going to be her knight in shinning armor making sure she’s healed, protected, shielded, etc.

Just make sure you carry a shield at all times when playing with her. Also the Guardian Shout skills (“Hold the Line”, “Retreat!”) and Consecration skills (Purging Flames, Sanctuary) are awesome at carrying new players. Healing Breeze is a great group heal and you can also trait for Battle Presence to share your Virtue of Resolve (plus more healing due to 30pts in Honor).

First time playing an MMO here, and I picked necromancer as it seemed the most fun.

I’m still struggling a little with directional and weapon buttons. But after taking time to map them to the most comfortable, (left hand for weapons, right hand for direction. I have the weapon skills set 1-5, and magic sills on q-t.), I’ve found I’m using skills and moving for easier. So you might want to try and see, how she moves easiest, what she has trouble with, and work out a mapping that suits her.

I had never played anything with so much button pressing, but training with a friend, who would save me when I was getting trapped, or revive me when I died, really helped.

So I wouldn’t worry about “easiest” to play, but the one she likes best, as you’ll be there to “save her”.

I’d suggest and asura race as general consensus is they’re good for jumping puzzles. (and she might enjoy those, they’re one of my fav. things in the game)

depends on what she likes to play I imagine. Tho if you ask me one of you should be the “knight” and the other “range/support” Make a nice round team

Exploring the world with a friend is AWESOME ^ ^ its what I did and I loved it. I started with a engi, and I havent touched a second character till very late last year..
Depending on how much she enjoys its, she might be the same

Sarah

Let her pick a class except elementalist because that could be to hard for a firtst timer. You make a mesmer to level with her. If, like you say, wasd is already confusing, then some vista’s are gonna be a lot fun for her.
If they are easy enough for you, you can portal her up. That saves a lot of frustation on her part.

before GW2 I really hated playing games that used wasd. ButI got used to it in no time.

Something I did in the beginning a lot and helped me a lot was to practise when ‘idle’. Say you just started your characters in Queensdale and you, as an experienced player, are doing some stuff on the TP. Get her to practise. The bridge there is ideal to practise. jump up the rail at the side of the bridge, try to follow that. Also when going from a to b, practise. don’t take the normal route, but challenge yourself. It is the best way to train yourself in the gw2 movement controls

Get a warrior for her. The easiest few are warr, necro, guardian and ranger, but guards attract too much aggro for their damage potential so inexperienced players may die, necros aren’t that useful in PvE applications, and rolling rangers as a first class leads to picking up some very bad habits that may be difficult to unlearn later on.

On your end support her warrior with an elementalist. Should enable you to basically plow through everything with her except some world bosses, WvW and PvP. Plus, raising her damage and keeping her alive as a support-type elementalist (ie, ‘bringing out the best in her’), is always a bonus.

Yes just have her roll a warrior because thats something you should experience once in MMOs anyway.. As in most cases they are the jack-of-all-trades, while not necessarily for this game because most any class can fulfill any role. The warrior class in GW2 is very simple to figure out and actually fun to lvl. As others have said elementalist is on the other end of the spectrum in terms of difficulty, they are probably the most sophisticated class to figure out but also more rewarding in the end. They also have shinier visual effects especially with use of AoE blasts and conjured weps. Though warriors will be more wanted for endgame PvE content such as dungeons, unfortunately.

I don’t think that making portals to the top of vistas is a good idea unless shes the sort that likes the easy way out. I still remember my favorite vista, the breached wall one in DP.. while it took me like an hour to figure out I also had lots of fun with it. Best way is to just let her learn and have fun rather than focusing on making a ‘savior’ class just to always save her kitten . Not saying it doesn’t help though.

Lots of excellent tips above.

It can also make things less enjoyable for the newer player if they feel they’re always struggling to keep up. This can happen if, for example, one of you likes to stop and gather but the other is more goal-oriented.

I’m someone who is easily distracted.. by shiny stuff.. and mature herbs.. and young herbs.. and butterflies.. and frogs.. My partner is a very experienced gamer and all about efficiency, and has helped me to level through several games, including GW2.

If you’re like us, it really helps to make sure the distractible person will have access to speed boosts (swiftness) at an early stage too.

Ranger is by far the best profession for a newbie to play, as far as just being survivable goes. Those who say warrior over and over again are dead wrong. Plenty of people who aren’t good at this game die repeatedly as a warrior. It’s not the best profession for a person who isn’t well known to MMOs.

The thing is, the ranger pet gives her some extra benefits. It does take some aggro off her, it does give her something to collect, and if she goes down the 3 skill can rez her and see her safely off if she gets in over her head.

Necros are a good choice for people who have a bit more experience. Rangers are a better choice for people who have never really played an MMO before.

Vayne.8563:

Ranger is by far the best profession for a newbie to play, as far as just being survivable goes. Those who say warrior over and over again are dead wrong. Plenty of people who aren’t good at this game die repeatedly as a warrior. It’s not the best profession for a person who isn’t well known to MMOs.

The thing is, the ranger pet gives her some extra benefits. It does take some aggro off her, it does give her something to collect, and if she goes down the 3 skill can rez her and see her safely off if she gets in over her head.

Necros are a good choice for people who have a bit more experience. Rangers are a better choice for people who have never really played an MMO before.

While true (as an opinion and I understand your points), I have to note that the Ranger has a higher skill ceiling if you want to be really good at it unless you intend to bearbow or play a more static MMOARPG. Warriors can introduce her to being mobile and have the armour and HP, along with ranged weapons and user-friendly melee options to gently let her into the game.

PS: As clarification because reading through what I wrote on rangers it seemed like I think them a bore, that is not true. I think rangers are pretty fun (though not my thing.). It’s that melee options for rangers are a wee bit less newbie friendly when compared to the warriors. Jumping off cliffs is bad, and teaching a complete newbie about invulnerability frames is probably headache inducing.

Rolling rangers means you don’t have to learn to stay alive. It’s precisely because it’s too survivable at the start which is why it should never be a first class.

Many rangers roll that as their first, get to 80, then get stuck. Rerolling other classes, esp thief and ele, lead to a string of deaths, whereby they give up and continue with the 80 ranger. They normally end up as bearbows permanently.

Definitely warrior, it’s VERY simple a 5 year old could play it & do a decent job

As a chick gamer I know how nice it can be to talk to other girls or couples, especially if she is new to the genre. Not that I dont enjoy the company of you gents, but after being in a guild of all men I realized having gamer girlfriends are refreshing. So if you guys want an easy going couple to play around with, hit me up! We do pretty much everything in this game from spvp (or I do at least) to tequatl to jumping puzzles to drinking the game’s alcohol.

Honestly I’d say let her play whatever she finds interesting. That is more then being super effective.

Heck, even if she wants to roll a Ele she can. She won’t be alone and you can back her up in the process. Though I will admit the ability to be effective with an Ele may be a long shot for her if she still struggles with WASD currently.

But also, if she does like a class you consider hard and don’t think she can handle it yet. Just suggest a similar class to play so she gets the hang of the controls/game and then she can graduate to whatever she was really wanting to try.

The basic “starter” classes have already been suggested so I don’t need to repeat those.

Good luck though, it can be a bit frustrating teaching someone that isn’t too fluent with games at first, but you’ll enjoy your time together. And thats all that matters.

Just get her off WASD and teach her how to hold both mouse buttons in to move- that leaves her left hand free for skills.
It is also a lot more intuitive for someone who is not used to WASD in the first place

Added bonus is that she won’t have to unlearn being a keyboard turner.

Let her play any class she wants- it is more important that she has fun- you can go along for the ride if she gets into sticky spots- and she will in the beginning