Guild Wars 2

First, let me apologize for the forthcoming wall of text and give my thanks to those of you are willing to read through this and give me your guidance. I have been away from the game for several months now and only returned a few days ago. I always enjoyed GW2 but I never really settled on a class to play as. My end goal is to find a class that can be effective as a roamer (effective meaning that they can do decent damage while still being able to escape if necessary) and also being able to provide decent support/damage for the all so common zerg. Again, I apologize if any of the comments I make below are way off as I’ve forgotten much of how the game was in WvW.

After you read through my experience with these classes, can you please tell me where I’m wrong and give me some ideas on what I should try? Also, if you could please let me know what class best fits what I’m trying to do or where I can change things around to make it fit better that would be great! Thanks so much for your help!

THIEF (lvl 80 D/D + SB or P/P). I created this character because I got sick and tired of being completely destroyed by them and wanted to know how they worked. I typically go with D/D and then will change around the SB to pistols just because… well, they look good. I was using this character for roaming and while she does well at 1v1 or 1vX, I don’t feel like she has much of a place in the whole zerg concept as let’s face it, the SB is just boring as hell. Outside of small teams, I’m not sure what else I can do to help in WvW. /sadface.

ELEMENTALIST (lvl 80 D/D). This was my most favorite class to play because it was just so darn fast and never felt boring. With the changes made to RTL, it now feels slow and doesn’t really seem to be all that effective anymore. When I logged in last night, I only saw 1 D/D Ele and he really sucked! Is this spec just not viable anymore? When I played her, she was great at roaming and did a ton to help out the group. /another sadface.

MESMER (lvl 80 GS + S/S or S/P). Ok, I don’t have the gold to buy these new traveler armor upgrades so roaming in my Mesmer just flat out sucks! The GS is a ton of fun to play and appears to work great in a zerg but when I’m 1v1 or 1vX, I feel like I just die in seconds. I tried playing those shatter and condition builds and while they were very effective, they were so boring that I often found myself sniffing dry-erase markers just to stay entertained. It’s sad because she’s got some pretty amazing gear too. Perhaps I just suck as a DPS Mesmer? Oh, and this Mesmer is why I created a thief – they just eat me alive…

GUARDIAN (lvl 39 GS + Staff). I had planned to level this character as a full zerker Guardian but after leveling 3 characters to 80, I don’t think I could do it again. I’ve seen how well they help in zergs and have fought some insanely long battles against them while roaming. Sadly, it seems really easy to kite them and outside of a zerker build, I’ve never fought one on my Mesmer or Thief that would survive on it’s own. Still looks like a much needed class though.

I never really played any of the other classes beyond level 20 so I don’t know much about them to comment here. The Warrior looked pretty fun though but I’ve heard they don’t last long in WvW.

Anyways, these are my thoughts so far and if you could, please let me know what you think? I’d really like to get back into the game again but if I’m not having fun, then what’s the point? It’s too bad my old Ele just feels so gimpy now as I probably would never have left the game.

Personally, I find my thief the most fun in WvW. I can switch specs between a high damage zerg spec and a solo roaming condition spec and both are very fun and effective.

In other games I have played, it was possible for one great player to have an effect on battles to such a degree that you simply couldn’t ignore their impact. I find GW2 and its lack of a trinity, offering everyone the ability to heal/dps/cc, makes players less distinguishable for their individual play.

The long and short of it is:
Working well as a group is much more important than one person playing one profession well, pick a class you enjoy playing and play it. Be a good commander for maximum battlefield impact.

PM me if you would like some specifics on specs.

If you’re looking for group play level a bunker guardian with staff/hammer. Shout build with condi removal AOE/Stabilty AOE. Also group play staff ele is amazing and a must have, not enough of them around (at least in the lower tiers).

If you’re looking for roaming Staff Mesmer, Into scepter/pistol is a good run. GS is simply dps, No survivability imo. You can run your thief as well, Been seeing a ton of glass cannon thieves recently, Dont run that. They just kill themselves on my retal then run when you get the upper hand. Condi thief with venoms and a p/d into a p/p (Yes p/p loads out damage fast on top of your condis to get the extra burst to finish a guy if needed)

FinalPatriot.8034:

The Warrior looked pretty fun though but I’ve heard they don’t last long in WvW.

30k hp, 3k toughness, soldier runes, shouts, dogged march, -40 con duration food, mobile strikes and you run inside enemy zerg laika big fat norn boss. You are probably last alive even if you push random buttons like i do.

Banzie.5248:

Condi thief with venoms and a p/d into a p/p (Yes p/p loads out damage fast on top of your condis to get the extra burst to finish a guy if needed)

It’s sad but I’ve never really tried a condition thief before in WvW as I read awhile back that conditions were not all that effective. Unload is a ton of fun to mess with and being as I leveled up to 80 as a condition thief, I’d love to give it a shot. It sucks though because all my gear is centered on either zerker or valk for that “glass cannon” concept. What type of gear are you using and what build do you suggest?

Junkpile.7439:

30k hp, 3k toughness, soldier runes, shouts, dogged march, -40 con duration food, mobile strikes and you run inside enemy zerg laika big fat norn boss. You are probably last alive even if you push random buttons like i do.

I saw a video today of a warrior using GS + Rifle and he was pretty much killing people in a matter of moments. Granted he was using food and had some amazing great but it looked really fun and exciting to play. 19K kill shot? Um… wow!? I wish I had it in me to level another character though as I’d really like to try this some. I did get to play around with a warrior for a bit and liked ever moment of the class it’s just that another trip from 1-80 is costly and time consuming.