Guild Wars 2

Hey there folks – I’ve been playing GW2 since near launch, but very, VERY casually, so my highest pair of characters are lvl 36, and I’m currently struggling to decide on a “main” character – a character that I’ll focus my efforts on, leveling, crafting gear for, and etc

I enjoy playing alts, and this game is quite alt friendly, but it helps me…focus, I guess, if I pick one to prioritize

but, I’m bouncing between my three favorites, bouncing back and forth between their playstyles, survivability and offensive capability, and I’m wondering if people that have reached level cap can give me an idea of what to expect, so that I can better choose the class that’s most likely to give me the game experience I want by the time I hit endgame

my three contenders are Thief, Guardian, and Warrior. My criteria are…
SURVIVABILITY – so far, my thief seems to be the squishiest, not unexpectedly – my warrior is also, currently, surprisingly fragile at level 20, although that could be as much a low level and gear issue – my guardian, on the other hand, is almost disgustingly survivable, to the point where I find myself not even really trying to avoid incoming attacks most of the time

ACTION!! – I like very active character types, and that’s the kind of activity I’m looking for endgame. The Thief seems to be the most active by necessity – self heals are fairly limited, so I have to stay mobile to stay alive – but it’s hard staying that hyper all the time. My guardian is a little boring, honestly, to play, so far – I focus mostly greatsword and…no, pretty much just greatsword, and while I’ve tried all the other weapon setups, and they’re certainly versatile, the greatsword just seems to be so…reliable. My warrior I’m having a much harder time with, as he has so many different weapon combos – my current favorites are twin swords, and greatsword, with some longbow thrown in, but dual axes, and sword/axe + shield seem to work nicely as well – I even enjoy the hammer

I HATE tech, purely as an aesthetic thing, so I want a class, ultimately, that does it’s best activity without guns (pistols or rifles) – I can use them when I need to, or when I get bored and need a switch, but if pistol or rifle is a primary build choice for the class, I’d rather go with something else

so far, my guardian is the most reliable, but frankly, a little boring, to play

my thief was initially going to be my main, but with a painfully limited weapon/skill set, even more limited by my disgust with firearms in a fantasy setting, and the relative knife’s edge of survivability (great survivability as long as you’re on top of every stealth/dodge, dead when you miss a step), i’m leaning away from my thief at the moment

for awhile, the warrior sounded like the place to be, with a great range of weapon/skill sets, and all the heavy armor options like the guardian, but my current warrior doesn’t seem to hold up well under fire – course, like I said, he’s only lvl 20, and not geared particularly well, so that could be an issue

so, after all that, I’m wondering if anyone is willing to pass on, given the above interests, what my endgame experience might be like for the Thief, Guardian, and warrior, and if any of my above concerns carry over onto endgame, or get better with skills, traits and gear

please keep in mind that I am NEVER going to have the time or money to blow on top end gear – I’m gonna be going with the stuff that people can pick up with reasonably casual gameplay over time – so if a class needs top tier gear to fit my criteria, again, I might be better off going with something else

in the end, if no one can help, I’ll eventually figure it out on my own – but you could save me a significant amount of time and effort, if you’re willing to pass on some of your endgame experience, and I’d appreciate it greatly

thanks to anyone that takes the time to answer…constructively

Ultimately, it’s always a matter of preference. You already indicate that in your own post.

I’m going to say Guardian, because it’s the most forgiving, has good dps if you don’t fall for the tanky ways and is the least ‘tech’ of them all, relying on preservation magic for a part.

As for the more active play. I suggest you try a sword/(focus/shield/torch) setup. Sword guardians are not only very active, with teleports and heavy reliance on blinds from skills and virtues, but they are also top dps builds.
Sceptre is also very strong and useful ranged weapon which complements the sword greatly.

Sword/Focus + Sceptre/Shield is pretty much an all-purpose setup.

Well, the problem is that the most “active” classes tend to be -for the most part- the ones who use multiple skills in rapid succession. Which is a win for Thief, especially Evasion-specced Thief. But, yea … Thief’s a squishy guy. So you’re left with Guard, out of those three.
Now, if you wanted to try something other than those three classes, I’d actually suggest Mesmer or Elementalist. Both are very active in combat, especially with certain setups. (Not Staff or Focus for Ele, those are best for pure support/bunker, try
S/D or D/D for Ele or Shatter Mesmer).
Both pack multiple options for enhanced movement (teleports, gap closers), and defensive options (invulnerability, Defensive Boons). However, both classes really only tend to shine around level 40 or so, once you start to get Master-level Traits.

Hi! Since it’s on topic, I’d like to ask for assistance on creating a quiz/test that will help new guys find their class! If you want to help, please head to the following link:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/game/players/Help-me-make-a-profession-personality-test/first#post2774773

This is the “evolution” of my already existing test that can be taken at
http://quizilla.teennick.com/quizzes/24275927/what-guild-wars-2-profession-suits-you-best
If you want you can take this one and see if it helps you choose your main character!

thanks for the couple of responses so far – I’m still struggling between Warrior, Guardian and Thief.

My warrior is…surprisingly…fragile. I did not expect that. I’ve been moving through the warrior forums looking for advice on survivable builds, and although several people mention survivable warriors, they don’t seem to go into much detail about how – but based on inference, it sounds like warrior survivability hinges on killing your opponents very quickly, rather than actually taking damage well

so, I’ll be bouncing back and forth between my Guard, War and Thief, and we’ll see which one wins out in the end – again, if anyone can offer their gameplay experiences with these classes at the near-endgame level, I’d appreciate a heads-up!

Warrior is everything you need. Trust me, with good gear at higher levels you’ll have great survivability. I have my build posted in the warrior section. I’m sure it’s not as high as a guardian, but to me it’s way more fun. The thing is, with all classes you still need to learn how to kite and dodge and use your weapons to your advantage (know when to swap and use skills, etc), as well as learn how to trait for your build. This may sound rather complicated at first but a little reading on the forums will help a lot.

I hope you have fun no matter which one you go with!

You need to state what you mean by endgame, because a Guardian is played very differently in WvW, sPvP and PvE.

Based on your description I’d guess that you’re a PvE player so far. A greatsword is indeed ideal there, but in other modes it’s quite less so. sPvP favors a hammer with another weapon of choice. WvW is more flexible.

It is possible to make a more mobile Guardian, although his usefulness would depend on what you want to do with him.

decent point antigw – yes, I’m talking primarily about the pve experience – I enjoy the pvp side of gw2, but it’s not a priority for me

I’m also talking about a particular playstyle during pve, that I mentioned above, but summarized, mostly boils down to…

I prefer hth over ranged, but can do both
I hate using guns (rifles and pistols)
I like up front, active playstyle (lots of hitting and dodging)
I would like at least moderate survivability (assuming reasonably well played)

I’m wondering what the endgame experience is like for Guardian, Thief and Warrior based on the above criteria, assuming anyone plays those classes like that near endgame (i.e. near lvl 80)

If you spec a PvE Guardian into a boon machine, you can do pretty amazing stuff with him, although it can get pretty hectic to manage all that. I’m not sure if that is the active playstyle you’re looking for.

For example, one of my guildmates was constantly generating an insane amount of AoE Might in a dungeon, in addition to other boons. I had 25 stacks on me at one point.

Basically, a Guardian is not just about running up to a mob with a greatsword and pressing 2.