Guild Wars 2

So I decided to give GW2 a second try with a friend (I played GW1 quite a bit, was in GW2 beta and played it when it came out but quit pretty early, I only played up to lvl 23 back then).

I mostly enjoy PvP although I plan on doing PvE to 80 still to learn the class more slowly and see the environment. I played ele and a bit of necro when the game came out. I’m mostly hesitating between Warrior, Thief, Ele, Necro, Mesmer. I’m a bit curious about Guardian. I don’t think Ranger or Engeneer appeal much to me.

I’ve read the forums and wonder if people complain because they’re bad at the game or if Mesmers and Ele are truly that dominant ATM to the point where you can’t do anything about it. I usually rank in the top 5-10% in PvP in the games I play so I can play above average even though I have almost everything to relearn right now.

1-Is it true that warriors are awful right now?

2-Can’t thieves destroy casters easily with high burst? I thought that was their main purpose like the Assassin in GW1.

3-Are necro minion builds almost useless in PvP due to the mob’s AI attacking random targets? Are necros viable and not just pigeon holed into one build (I read about signet builds being a counter to ele)?

4-Can Ele still burst really hard (I remember dropping some sort of flame rock on top of people with great burst fire combos, I forget the name of the ability, I think it was with a wand) or are they mostly just about DoTs now?

5-What is Mesmer’s main weakness?

6-Are guardians good for anything in PvP or they can’t kill anyone and still end up dying, just slower?

I find mesmer does look fun to play with all the illusions but I’m worried that I’d make one, reach 80 and then that they’ll get nerfed to the ground if they’re OP like people claim them to be.

7-Finally, I’m not sure that I understand the new elite specializations for the next expansion. Is it one more talent tree? Just new abilities you can get or does it truly change the way the class plays?

IMO

1- warriors are ok, not bad or good

2- thieves can do great things for teams if they know how to play. This is the hardest class for people to ajust to.

3- you have to be new, necro is elite player in todays pvp. All necro builds are solid atm and most counter the mesmer and ele.

4-ele is perfect where its at. There the 2nd best class in the game atm

5-mesmers have no weaknesses atm, they are on god mode right now. Ele can be beat by other classes. If your a really good mesmer the only class you will lose to potentially is necro.

6-this is a silly question, i would say go in and play guardian before just saying a class is ueseless.

7- Mesmers are enjoying there time as the best class, why not enjoy while you can? Also no one has the expansion atm so no on truly knows how it works. We can only assume how they will exactly work.

Just play mes

They arent super strong but i think the nerf bat didnt hit them hard enough to hurt their pub play. They are versatile, have clutch potential solid teamfighting,1v1 and can stack well (2 rogues is bad for a team, two mes can be forced to work)

Ele is top tier atm but the nerf bat is hunting them so u may not want to pick them now.

Ranger on the other hand is very sleeper. Their 1v1 with powerbuilds is actually good and they wont get nerfed for a long time.

Regardless, get 20 matches in each class unranked to learn their basics, and play 100 matches with a class before judging its strengths. Use metabattle for cookie cutter builds then custimize ur build as u feel out the class

As for guardian you have to spec for dps. Their dps build counters a few classes and is tanky vs condis. Bunker spells heal allies and being immortal helps for rezzing

Welcome back to Guild Wars 2, most people tend to complain about classes for a couple of reasons.
1) They do not understand how their class works
2) They refuse to learn how to counter them (I say about 60% of the time it’s this)
3) A class is legit broken mechanic wise (I say about 35% of the time)

You should never pick a class based on the current flavor of the month. Last month (Early July) Rangers were the class that everyone was playing, the month before that it was Turrent Engie, the month before that it was DD Ele.

1- Warriors are not awful right now, they are shoe horned into an elite but they are not awful in comparison to other classes.

2- Thieves can destroy any class with high bursts, but there is a trade off… one mistake and they are dead. With high damage comes low survivability.

3-Not at all, I have a Necro that runs Minionmancer and She is my 2nd favorite. You have to learn to position your self behind your minions and aid them instead of playing the tank….

4-Eles can burst really hard, but again… high damage trade off is low survivability or in Eles case… you need to be quick to switching to water to heal back up.

5- Mesmers have a few issues:
if you interrupt them they are screwed
if you cast a reveal on them like “Sic Em” they become very easy to focus
if you are able to apply tons of continual condi you will have a down fight

6- Guardians are very good at applying tons of Burning and Blinding. Meditation guardian is still a thing. Again remember, high damage = low survivability.

7- Elite Specializations are a new trait line that when equipped will change the way you are treated in game by NPCS and how you are able to play your class. You will be given a new skill set to play (traps, wells, etc) a new weapon your class couldn’t use before (staff, warhorn, etc) and to my understanding, your class icon and name in hero panel will change to show the specializations name instead. You will NOT be able to use your new weapon, skillset and special abilities with out having that trait line equipped.

The best bit of advice I can give you since you’re a GW1 veteran is to dig through the Guild Wars 2 wiki and do some quick research. See what appeals to you and do a couple of Practice (formally known as Hot Join) matches and see how you like them.

Guild Wars 2 PvP, your armor, weapons, levels do not matter since they are auto scaled. Everything in your PvP Build Manager is what matters. That can be accessed in the Heart of the Mists by clicking the helmet icon at the top of your screen.

Remember, DO NOT PLAY A CLASS BECAUSE IT’S CLAIMED TO BE OP… YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOUR SELF OUT ANY BY DOING SO… JUST SHORT TERM GRATIFICATION WITH LONG TERM DISSAPOINTMENT.

I disagree with wolfey on the list of things mesmer have for weaknesses.

1- if you interrupt they are screwed is very vague since they have stun breakers as well as distortion. With the ability to cast blinds at will and hide behind clones. Interrupting them opens a small window to do some dmg.

2-sic em is a ranger only skill and also it doesnt make them easier to kill from the other ways they can hide around walls, teleport to a different area or simply portal.

3-isnt that just a basis to winning fights for a condi class build? Im playing condi so im gonna to apply as much condi as i can to win the fight?

Also you can pvp at level 3 and be auto scaled to 80. Just get to level 11 though, ecause if you go into pvp nude you wont get any scaling. Make sure your armor slots are full (level 11 u can get shoulders by pressing o and using market)

1. Rampage was nerfed but many top teams will continue to run DPS warriors regardless as the rest of the kit wasn’t nerfed. Tanky warriors aren’t as common prepatch though.

2. If the thief is very good and their target is either low on health or in a compromised position, then yes. If no, the thief will probably die. Thief requires you to be cold, calculating, and decisive in your bursts, and not every mentality can pull that off effectively (I know I can’t).

3. Minion Builds are okay, but I don’t suggest that a newcomer play them because they will keep you from getting better at the game. Any build when you spam AI and don’t manage real cooldowns will keep you from improving. Yes necromancers are viable, and celestial signets is considered to be the optimal necro pvp build right now.

4. Yes they can with a fresh air scepter/focus build, but its not optimal compared to D/D builds which are bruisers. D/D ele deals good sustained damage and high damage over time from fire skills, while swapping to water as much as possible to heal off any damage it takes and earth to maintain protection, meaing that good eles are very difficult to kill while dealing good physical damage and damage over time and supporting teammates.

5. It depends on build. PU zerk is weak to conditions, but immosible to lock down. Inspiration/mantra zerk has very high cleanse to conditions and generally high CC, but that build was nerfed and is easily to lockdown. Overall player skill will determine the outcome of a mesmer fight 1v1, but ele and necro (with full DS) are probably the best choices right now, but good thieves or trap rangers stand a fair chance as well.

6. Guards are good at suuport. They run shout builds that cure condis for allies and heal them and give boons while providing rezzes and stomps with CC and quickness. The damage builds deal a ton of damage but are bit outclassed by mesmer.

7. Elite specs provide some new change/or addition in class mechanic to the class and gives them an option of taking a new weapon choice at the cost of a base class traitline. We’ll know how great it works out after next week’s beta.

kdaddy.5431:

I disagree with wolfey on the list of things mesmer have for weaknesses.

1- if you interrupt they are screwed is very vague since they have stun breakers as well as distortion. With the ability to cast blinds at will and hide behind clones. Interrupting them opens a small window to do some dmg.

2-sic em is a ranger only skill and also it doesnt make them easier to kill from the other ways they can hide around walls, teleport to a different area or simply portal.

3-isnt that just a basis to winning fights for a condi class build? Im playing condi so im gonna to apply as much condi as i can to win the fight?

Keep in mind those are General Statements made about general game play that the general public tends to play those general classes.

1) If you interrupt a mesmers, generaly they aren’t going for their stun breaker they panic and do something stupid. Good mesmers don’t panic and they are able to stun break and move on.

2) I never stated that Sic Em was for every class so thank you for pointing out that it was ranger only. And it actually does make them easier to kill lol
A) They can’t stealth, there is no quick disappearance when they pop clones or illusions, you are able to keep perpetual focus on them till reveal wears off.
B) Sic Em:
Your pet rushes at your foe, revealing them and dealing increased damage.
40% DAMAGE 40% MOVEMENT SPEED
If traited with Timbre:
1,300 Heal on Regen
33% Movement Speed on Swiftness
Radius is now 360

3) to re-state, if you apply a lot of condis…. you have a greater chance of putting a burst Mesmer in a down state with you. Most classes can go toe-toe with a Mesmer in a down state.

Please include counter points and weaknesses for Mesmer as the OP instructed.

Thank You

Thanks a lot for the answers. Yea, I’m not looking to pick an OP class (I’m actually afraid of picking one of them and then the class getting nerfed hard by the time I hit 80). I know that I can play all the classes in hot join but there is just so much to learn, how to equip, what weapons, the rotations, the different builds, etc. that I feel like I’d just get lost and it’d take me forever before I’d get started on something. I just wanted to make sure that the other classes outside of Mesmer/Ele could stand a chance if you’re skilled. Necro might appeal to me if minions can also be used in PvP (it offers completely different playstyles within the same class). Thief and Mesmer are also interesting though (my friend plans on playing Ele so I should probably pick a different class than his).

Wolfey.3407:

Welcome back to Guild Wars 2, most people tend to complain about classes for a couple of reasons.
1) They do not understand how their class works
2) They refuse to learn how to counter them (I say about 60% of the time it’s this)
3) A class is legit broken mechanic wise (I say about 35% of the time)

…

Remember, DO NOT PLAY A CLASS BECAUSE IT’S CLAIMED TO BE OP… YOU ARE NOT HELPING YOUR SELF OUT ANY BY DOING SO… JUST SHORT TERM GRATIFICATION WITH LONG TERM DISSAPOINTMENT.

Thus has it always been for every PvP game ever. Great tips in the rest of the post, too.

D/D ele. You CANNOT go wrong on D/D celestial ele with FIRE WATER ARCANA.

To my mind, thinking about class mechanics first is actually backward. Play the class you like and want to play. If you start there, you can make any current class in the game work one way or the other.

If you choose a class you like, you’re more likely to stick with it and become good with it.