Guild Wars 2

Well I did play during opening week and beta however I left for another game(s) I did come back and levelled a warrior to 29 and a guardian to 27 they are fun but eh.. I have been gaming since the rock and stick days… So here is my question: I am MMO lazy burnout who just wants to run wvw trains, and plink plink stuff, I was thinking engineer, but at the same time it seems getting stuck alone they are quite vulnerable. I haven’t levelled them to far do the get better after Lvl 30? Or would a ranger be a better choice? Or scratch them both and go elementalist? Everyone says play what you like but after twenty years of MMO’s it’s almost a redundant question….

It really doesn’t matter what class you play, you are going to get caught out, particularly if you are alone unless you are well prepared with the correct build and gear setup. If you’re not level 80, you are going to struggle either way in WVW. So i would suggest joining EOTM and running the train in there for leveling your characters as well as help you get a better grip on your classes.

Having said that, Warrior is probably the most forgiving to play currently, though to your original point i have seen many Rangers and Engineers that roam solo or in small groups acquit for themselves very well. I have a level 80 engi myself and roam regularly on it. You just need to get used to the class, its mechanics and abilities.

You should play what you like

Thank you for the great response it is much appreciated :-D

If you want to play wvw pick either Guardian, Warrior, Elementalist or a Necromancer.

These professions together are called “GWEN” and they are the most powerful part of any wvw blob. Rangers, Thieves, Engineers and Mesmers are all good in roaming and small group fights but aren’t really at their best in +20 vs +20 fights. For example ranger and thief are mostly focused on single target damage and lack survivability that is needed in huge fights.

Elementalist can be a bit difficult to play efficiently, but is very rewarding when you learn it. In blobs you most likely want to use a staff and in roaming something else.

Necromancer isn’t too cool in roaming since you cannot bail any fights in you get outnumbered, but in blobs you can do huge damage and survive easily.

Guardian is great for supporting your allies in blobs. Most guardians just spam staff #1 and shout and get a lot of loot In roaming you need to use a different build entirely. (Maybe something like Meditation build with zerker stats)

Warrior is good in roaming and in blob fights. Its IMO easiest profession to pick and gets some results fast. Many people say that a warrior is a noob profession that is easy to play and just facerolls people, but I really must disagree on that one. Warrior is at least for me very fun to play in both roaming and blobbing.

I have all professions lvl 80 and played mostly wvw (rank 870).

While i greatly enjoy my ranger, if you want to avoid unnecessary greif (often unwarrented, but present none the less) go with one of Coinhead’s recommendations.

In organized WvW, the GWEN classes are indeed the best, but thieves and mesmers are also viable too, albeit in smaller numbers. You won’t get as much loot but mesmers provide veil tactical support and can help the thieves with gank, which is basically protecting your squishies while trying to kill the enemies squishies.

I have been trying different classes and when I did have my old guardian I didn’t give any thought to the staff and greatsword combo for weapons also he was a giant Norn, for me in wvw it made it harder getting around some of the terrain, but now revisiting the guardian class I am really enjoying staff/greatsword, mind you I’m human and only Lvl 5 but I have unlocked all the weapon traits, from the other classes aside from warrior, it is quite enjoyable. Their is one thing I hope that Guardian isn’t a FotM, in which case they get turned into umm canon fodder later Lol!!

Sanrio.1453:

I hope that Guardian isn’t a FotM, in which case they get turned into umm canon fodder later Lol!!

For 2+ years, there has been very slight changes to the guardian WvW “blob builds”. Staff/Hammer, followed closely by Staff/Greatsword, usually(if I remember right 0/0/6/6/2 or 0/0/6/4/4) with shouts and soldier/sentinel gear has always worked just fine and dandy this whole time, so you are safe on the “flavor” part.

Pavel.8531:

Sanrio.1453:

I hope that Guardian isn’t a FotM, in which case they get turned into umm canon fodder later Lol!!

For 2+ years, there has been very slight changes to the guardian WvW “blob builds”. Staff/Hammer, followed closely by Staff/Greatsword, usually(if I remember right 0/0/6/6/2 or 0/0/6/4/4) with shouts and soldier/sentinel gear has always worked just fine and dandy this whole time, so you are safe on the “flavor” part.

Whew!

Rangers just got “promised” a list of massive QoL buffs. Among them, ability to finally use signets without using GM trait, and more DPS on greatsword AA (10% increase on one of the AA rotations for PvT/knights armor that equals 55-70 more base damage on skill).

Full list of changes that was previewed in todays live stream can be found here:
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/professions/ranger/Unofficial-Upcoming-Patch-Notes/first#post4237217

Rangers are your “light frontline” trooper. Thanks to evade on GS AA you can stay alive for WAY much longer then most others. Sure it is a little “RNG” but sometimes you can evade whole hammer stuns just from AA spamming. GS also got mobility, it got pretty decent DPS, it cleaves and can burst (in extreme burst builds) for over 32k damage.

Ranger LB + GS always works in WvW. GS for the melee train and LB to decimate things ontop or below the walls. If you trait properly, you can provide solid AOE buffs (spotter) to other frontliners, and perhaps the BEST “if i die” trait ever – Circle of Life. Which basically is a Ranger Healing spring triggered upon getting downed (30 sec CD) but unlike normal healing spring, this one lasts longer, and heals allies. So, even if your ranger is getting downed, it will drop a condi cleansing water field as a last “hurra”. Not many professions can actually be useful even when rallybotting.

With the new might stacking on Axe AA, while it is cumbersome in zergs, i used to run GS + Axe Warhorn. Axe is GREAT for anti cannon/anti siege attacks as it will bounce between seige-user-siege. Dealing damage several times, or sometimes even hitting people behind siege user. With a Cavalier + knights build, iv’e been able to produce constant 1.6k damage bounces. Doesnt sound like much, but if one attack does 3x 1.6k, then you realize, the DPS is not half bad. Now if you are good at swapping targets fast while in combat, axe is great zerg weapon. Does a lot of “cleave” damage, has solid range, and some ok CC.

Warhorn also grants you blast finisher for your healing spring(s).

Well in response to the original post, I would first say…get to level 80 first. I mean I’m not someone who’s like “ERGGGKJHFJHGS NO UPLEVELS IN WVW”, but I will say you’ll be better able to stay alive and such once you hit 80, and you’ll probably have more fun then anyways. Warriors, guardians, necros, eles are all really popular classes, but you really can play whatever you want. I’d suggest that if you really want to get involved in WvW, find a guild on your server and get advice from then, run with them, also use teamspeak if your server uses it.

I really found WvW a lot more fun once I got a guild to go with and started using teamspeak, because you really start to better understand everything that’s going on. Plus it’s just fun to have a good group of people to play with, and they can help you if you need any help with builds or questions about anything.

And in response to people discussing rangers here..Ranger is and has always been my main, and I’ve been using it in WvW a lot. Yes lol rangers get a ton of grief, and maybe it’s because it’s the only class I’ve really played, but I don’t quite understand what the problem is. You guys are all talking about single-target power builds, but there are other options too. I run a condi trap-based build that has a lot of toughness and condi damage, and I like it. I have a lot of aoes, so not single-target, and ranger has access to a lot of conditions. Plus I can get extra condis like from that sigil that does torment? And stuff like that. I’ve got combo fields, immobilizes, chills, damage….And if you work on it, you can find ways to make your pet useful in WvW too. Personally I’m still experimenting with pets in WvW to see what I find the most useful and durable, but idk. I think you can find a way to make any class useful if you just try, so play what you want.