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Posted by: Toolbox.9375

Toolbox.9375

I’ve just recently started getting into WvW, and it seems like a ton of fun. However, my current character seems completely ineffective for it. I’m using a turret Engineer, with a few traits set up for the Grenade Kit. My thought is that, later in, I might be able to lay down my turrets behind big fights, and “snipe” with grenades.

However, I’ve heard many, many, many bad things about Engineer, particularly the turrets (which are the main reason I wanted to use the class in the first place), and my experience so far reflects that. I’m not sure if that’s just due to only being level 48-ish, or if it’s because of the class itself.

A few of the other classes/builds I like are summon-focused Necromancer, weapon-summoning Elementalist, and banner/rifle Warrior… I also get quite giddy when I see Mesmer portals, but I can’t for the life of me come up with a build that’d be able to use those to good effect while also being capable of normal PvE. Sorta liked the idea of having a lot of stealth abilities on the Mesmer, but that just further divides it from PvE content, to my knowledge.

Anyway, would any of those be at all capable in WvW? To be honest, if I could get some kind of assurance that the Engineer would be usable and potent towards the end, that’d be the best outcome. I really love turret-based playstyles in all the games I play. But if that approach is doomed to fail, which of the other setups above might work? Or am I setting myself up for disappointment no matter which route I take?

The class is always greener on the other side.

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Posted by: Nuzt.7894

Nuzt.7894

Ele, or Warr would do the trick, Guardian can also be fun and have spirit weapons if thats your thing.

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Posted by: Toolbox.9375

Toolbox.9375

And that’s with the build focuses I mentioned, or just in general? Unfortunately, I have a teammate that uses Guardian with Spirit Weapons, and I’d rather not step on his toes. X)

The class is always greener on the other side.

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Posted by: Rhyis.7058

Rhyis.7058

Ultimately you want to play what you think will be fun.

But if you just want to FotM, Mesmer/Guardian/Elementalist/Thief are among the most useful classes in both large group play and small group play for WvW.

Mes has portal and time warp, both invaluable. And one of the strongest 1v1 classes in the game.
Guard has bubble, heals, support, and is very tanky.
Ele is able to destroy siege on the battlements better than any other class. Also one of the strongest 1v1 classes in the game.
Thief is able to stealth a group. Also one of the strongest 1v1 classes in the game.

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Posted by: Slamz.5376

Slamz.5376

Play for fun, not “usefulness”, unless the usefulness of a class is sufficient fun in itself.

For engineer, I personally made a “flamethrower shocktroop” build that I think is pretty awesome. There are a lot of variations you can use but build for juggernaut and alchemy-line survival traits, then aim power/toughness/vitality with some precision (e.g., on upgrade slots). Be sure to pick up automatic elixir S (I forget the trait name).

I play on the frontlines with the flamethrower and use my survival traits and toughness to retreat and recover as needed.

For utilities I like:
Elixir U — the secondary ability is a throwable wall that will either be reflection (awesome), smoke (good enough — blocks projectiles), or some etheral one that gives you invis if you step through it, which is still useful enough in that it makes enemies lose you as a target. Throw it in front of you when the fighting is heavy or if you need to run away.

Slick Shoes — The secondary ability is awesome. The primary purpose of it is that when you get snared, you hit it and you’re pushed back up to the speed cap so you can get out of there. The primary ability is an oil slick that knocks people down, and then you can figure-8 over them to knock them down a couple more times. It’s great on heartseek-spammer thieves. Also handy for making an escape.

And then, of course, the flamethrower.

Elite ability → supply drop just because all the other ones are junk (and in particular do not mesh well with this build).

Heal ability is debatable. I use the elixir because I picked up the trait that cleanses one condition when you use an elixir, so between the drink and the F1 throw, that’s two conditions cleansed.

This is an “AE DPS with survivability” not a “utility build”. I think it’s tremendous fun.

Camelot Unchained – from the makers of DAOC
A game that’s 100% WvW
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13861848/camelot-unchained

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Posted by: TeamBattleAxe.3901

TeamBattleAxe.3901

Or am I setting myself up for disappointment no matter which route I take?

Actually, quite the opposite. All professions are useful, and most builds can be made viable at least for situational play. You just have to figure out not only which skill/gear combinations synergize well with the idea you’re building around, but also what type of playstyle (sieging/roaming/defending/capping/etc) your build is strong and weak against. You don’t have to feel locked in to a flavor-of-the-month build in order to be successful. Part of the fun (at least for me) is coming up with weird builds and finding ways to make them work.

Just roll up a few characters, test out some build ideas in PvP to see what you like, then start leveling in that direction for WvW. The re-trait vendor is very cheap, even at high levels, so it’s easy to fine-tune your ideas without regret.

Here’s an engineer video I found. It’s not a turret build, but looks pretty fun if you want to be mobile. http://youtu.be/PgEyg769cDc

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Posted by: Liquid.9672

Liquid.9672

The problem with the Engineer right now is that the profession has to work harder than other professions to do the same thing, and often does it worse. In other words, it’s common to see worse results with more effort. Also, turrets are pretty bad overall. They just don’t provide enough benefit for stationary objects on cooldowns that are just too long.

The video linked above is about the only overly viable build in WvW right now if you want to min/max your effectiveness, which is a glass cannon static discharge build, but it’s mostly a single target burst build, and of course Thieves do that far better with far greater suvivability via steath and escape. The tool kit brings some neat utilities in WvW with a block, a magnet pull, box of nails and crowbar, but it’s still a bit gimmicky albeit neat side tools. The biggest thing for me is lack of synergy of traits and skills. The profession is just a mess from that standpoint.

I ran an Engineer since release, and primarily participated in WvW that past 3 months, and for me, the 30% Grendaes 1 skill nerf was the straw that broke the camel’s back. I had settled into a nice build with Grenades and really felt I was helping my team out on the field rather than being just a body. The nerf crushed that, and no sigils working with kits was not a sufficient trade off in my opinion.

Anyways, I’ve since rolled an Elementalist, which is the other “hybrid”, and I’ve been having a ton of fun with it. I’ll probably be running staff for AE DPS and support, but there are some fun small team and 1vX options with the D/D bunker style play.

Zend(ario/imas/iana/ango) – Engi/Ele/Necro/Guardian
[KnT] – Blackgate

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Posted by: Haworth.4561

Haworth.4561

I think you should stick with engineer if you like the class.

They can be really powerful too, with very strong aoe damage.

Piken Square – Unofficial EU roleplaying server.

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Posted by: insanemaniac.2456

insanemaniac.2456

grenades are potent at making zergs back off and really good at walls (either attacking or defending)

however, since were pigeonholed into 30 explosives to make grenades worth using… you lose out on a survivability trait line… so you really need to stick to a fairly large group. any dedicated roamers can kill you fairly easily. and unfortunately the only large template aoe a grenadier has is ice grenades so you really only have a shot at killing poorly placed siege, unlike thieves and eles.

i wasnt able to fit turrets in anywhere. i liked them for the first month or so of playing the game, before i really tried my hand at kit dancing. net turret is justifiable in wvw. but the toolkit pull accents the zergling role too well imo (and gear shield for diving past a zerg to get in a tower), and the last slot is grenades every time so there just isnt room for more than 1 turret.

as for being useful in wvw in general… you just have to find the right niche. classes were designed so you can more or less do anything with any class.

and finally, just want to say that nothing confines you to using the same utilities in pve as in wvw. dont leave portal on your mesmers bar in pve. use something else. you need to break the paradigm that the skills currently on your bar are there permanently. especially to play engineer (or any class) well across dungeons, pve, wvw, and pvp.

JQ: Rikkity
head here to discuss wvw without fear of infractions

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Posted by: Relentliss.2170

Relentliss.2170

And that’s with the build focuses I mentioned, or just in general? Unfortunately, I have a teammate that uses Guardian with Spirit Weapons, and I’d rather not step on his toes. X)

More guardians on one team the better.

We don’t need to make mandatory gear treadmills, we make all of it optional

Anet lied (where’s the Manifesto now?)

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Posted by: Dyno.9467

Dyno.9467

I found WvW quite hard with my engineer, I usually go in with my Ele

“And now, to destroy you”

Asura – Desolation

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Posted by: Toolbox.9375

Toolbox.9375

Thanks for the answers so far, y’all.

I’d definitely like to play for fun predominately, but being useful does indeed lend itself to that for me. XD Engineer turrets are a prospect that I adore, but they just can’t do a heck of a lot. Most use I can get out of them is setting a Flame Turret on the other side of a wall or door, where it can hit the enemies due to its piercing area-of-effect. And I’m not even sure that’s still how it works.

And yeah, Insanemaniac, I didn’t intend to keep the skills the same between PvE and WvW. What I do want, however, is to not have to change which trait lines I have selected between the two. I like the idea of a Mantra Mesmer, but the traits I’d want to use are hard to pin down, and I can’t see much that could be done with it when I want to use non-Mantra abilities.

The class is always greener on the other side.

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Posted by: Lalnuir.4957

Lalnuir.4957

Grenade engineers are amazing in WvW, there really should be more of them. 6 AoE skills on one weapon? Pretty awesome even with the nerfs to nade damage over the past. Nadegineers also work really well with mesmer/guardian pull.
Crit builds averaging ~4 stacks of vuln per grenade is amazing and each grenade skill has 3 chances to proc omnom berry pie combined with elixir R or S and you have decent survivability.

Also even having one nadegineer can make killing camp supervisors with the righteous indignation buff so much faster.

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Posted by: Gaiawolf.8261

Gaiawolf.8261

And yeah, Insanemaniac, I didn’t intend to keep the skills the same between PvE and WvW. What I do want, however, is to not have to change which trait lines I have selected between the two. I like the idea of a Mantra Mesmer, but the traits I’d want to use are hard to pin down, and I can’t see much that could be done with it when I want to use non-Mantra abilities.

Mantra builds are rather specific, and you really have to find the right fit for each situation to use them effectively. That means changing trait lines often.

Better matches for you would be a support/glamour build or burst/shatter build. Both work great in wvwvw and dungeons, especially glamour builds, without messing around with traits too much.

Some condition/shatter builds work fairly well in PVE and amazingly well in wvwvw, but they can harder to find the right fit in some dungeon scenarios. Once you find your sweet spot they kick serious kitten tho,

Lone Wolf Mesmer | Warrior | Engineer | Thief
Dissentient [DIS] ~Tarnished Coast

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Posted by: Nuzt.7894

Nuzt.7894

I personally did not enjoy my Engineer, don’t get me wrong they have their uses, but it wasn’t my thing. I enjoy my guardian the most out of my Engi, Mesmer, and Guard that are 80.

Play what you like all classes have their thing they are just great at, ask yourself this, do you want to blow things up fast, do you want to have insane survivability with mediocre damage, do you want to support player, do you want to zerg surf, do you want to solo, or lastly do you want to run in small groups. Answering those will narrow down the classes for you.

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Posted by: Liquid.9672

Liquid.9672

Grenade engineers were amazing in WvW, there really should be more of them.

Fixed that for you. Now they’re okay, with not many alternatives to fall back on in WvW. The thing you may not realize is how hard it can be to hit people with those grenades sometimes due to the red circle indicator and travel time. The damage the #1 skill did made up for the high miss chance, but the 30% damage reduction just went too far to make Grenades as effective. Sure they buffed the damage of the other grenade skills, but now we’re dealing with cooldowns and the numerous different condition removal skills.

So in the end Grenade Engis have basically turned in Vuln stack providers, some condition spreading and a bit of area denial. And for all that I still get carpel tunnel. No thanks.

Zend(ario/imas/iana/ango) – Engi/Ele/Necro/Guardian
[KnT] – Blackgate

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Posted by: Xavi.6591

Xavi.6591

Flamethrower melts thieves.

Fantasme Bloodwen [R.I.P. Mesmer] | Andi Runi [Warrior] | Bonedoggle [Necro] | Zooerasty [Ranger]
Angry Intent [AI] | Yak’s Bend |

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Posted by: Saweth You Him.9047

Saweth You Him.9047

I have an 80 warrior,guardian,mesmer,necro,ranger and of them I’d say necro and guardian are the best at WvW. Guardians have retaliation shout, 1200 range non- projectile knockdown and 1200 range non-projectile immobilize to make overextenders suffer. 1200 range smite can be brutal on stuff that can’t move. Plus they have aoe protection on their shield.

The necro has a boatload of base hp and their staff skills all do an aoe condition if used right(except 1) and can be spammed one after another. Their pets take up space and are additional hp the enemy has to burn down. They can convert all boons on the enemy into conditions. They have a trait that puts a mark of blood on the ground everytime they dodge roll. If you want be nasty you can use the 1200 range pull and the immobilize on the dagger to bring a ranged glass cannon to your front line. If traited and geared right the bleeds on from the scepter can burn through an enemys hps and you will have over 30k hp to boot.

so sayeth the great innuendo

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Posted by: Lalnuir.4957

Lalnuir.4957

Grenade engineers were amazing in WvW, there really should be more of them.

Fixed that for you. Now they’re okay, with not many alternatives to fall back on in WvW. The thing you may not realize is how hard it can be to hit people with those grenades sometimes due to the red circle indicator and travel time. The damage the #1 skill did made up for the high miss chance, but the 30% damage reduction just went too far to make Grenades as effective. Sure they buffed the damage of the other grenade skills, but now we’re dealing with cooldowns and the numerous different condition removal skills.

So in the end Grenade Engis have basically turned in Vuln stack providers, some condition spreading and a bit of area denial. And for all that I still get carpel tunnel. No thanks.

I do realize how hard landing grenades can be, I did take mine into WvW.
I would never try to hit someone who is actively working to dodge your grenades but

An allied guardian/mesmer pull people into a nice clump for you? Aw how sweet
See some enemies ressing? Sitting ducks.
Ele standing around meteor shower or ranger using barrage? Easy targets

Also in large group fights you end up with red circles every where and hitting someone becomes pretty easy even if it wasn’t the person you where originally aiming at.

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Posted by: Raincrow.1840

Raincrow.1840

Agree with the guy above me ^

I find Grenade spec Enginner to be one of the most useful classes / builds in the game. One of the best at clearing walls and defending towers as well.

My only problem with it, is the constant spamming of abilities. 5,4,3,2,1,1,1,1,1, repeat, which gets old pretty fast.

Crystal Desert; The Viking Server
When are people going to figure out there’s a war going on?

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Posted by: Toolbox.9375

Toolbox.9375

Ooh, Engineers do sound like they’re somewhat viable still. At least the grenadey types… Not so much turret-users, sadly. :\

Anyway, here are specific builds that I was thinking of. I apologize for using a bizarre character builder tool, I know it’s not the one that people usually link here. You can change it to English at the top right of the page.

Engineer is right here. The builder is a little outdated, so the second trait in Inventions should actually be the self-repairing turrets trait. Second Explosions trait could be switched out for having the explosive turrets trait, instead. Would also be able to convert the Inventions traits to Stabilized Armor, Energized Armor, and Elixir-Infused Bombs, for healing and an overall increase in personal effectiveness.

Mesmer was set up for summoning Phantasms… Dunno if that’s at all viable. x_X

Warrior has a ton of banners. My thought was to throw those around in giant wars to give a big edge to the entire team, and then sit back and pick off weakened enemies with the Rifle.

Elementalist was set up to be able to stack up one stat at a time via Attunement and the various summoned weapons. Kinda doubt the amount of each stat given is enough to make any sort of difference, though.

Finally, Necromancer is totally focused on summons. I’m not sure that they can last any decent length of time, however. Especially in giant wars.

Dunno, can any of those work, or should I get some lessons in build creation?

The class is always greener on the other side.

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Posted by: Zynthetic.2954

Zynthetic.2954

After getting my Ele to 80, it really does seem the most useful in WvW for actually accomplishing objectives.

I’ve got necro, ele, engi, guardian and ranger all 80, 43 warr, 36 mesmer and 15 thief.

Necro seems meh, bleeds are a lot of fun, and a good outbreak is devastating, but the 900 range and poor ability to kill siege is problematic.

Ele, especially glass cannons, just kitten all over siege. 1 good meteor storm and a siege weapon just lost 1/3 of its health, never mind the other aoe abilities you have. Combine that with the water healing fields for combos, and the control from earth and air, and it really does feel to be the most useful class. Oh, and blocking treb shots seems gamebreakingly OP. Love it.

Engi, other then nades just feels useless in the grand scheme, and even then the grenade radius is that small they can’t hit anything over then ballistas or poorly placed siege. Still good for attacking stationary zergs though.

Guardians are great at control using the hammer, great at area denial with wall of reflection and their wardings, have great healing output when specced for it, and all while taking a decent beating.

Ranger’s have 1500 longbow when traited, which is useful if noone else can hit that thing that’s just out of range. Barrage is also useful, but that’s about it.

Warriors are great at killing stuff, and a banner regen build is awesome. Building bunker with a few friends and jumping headfirst to break the zerg, and watching them all run, is awesome.

Mesmer damage I have nfi about, but every commander should have a mesmer with them whenever they’re leading for portals. Not only is portalbomb pretty much required, but you can use it for added mobility, or to avoid the enemy. This coupled with feedback, veil for aoe stealth, and time warp for aoe quickness makes them required for organised WvW. Clones are also annoying as kitten to the untrained.

I haven’t played much on my thief, but they are for the most part, a solo class. Shadow Refuge is great if you need to get away or get into something unnoticed. Killing the person that strayed to far from the zerg is a great way at slowly but surely whittling away at enemy numbers. Shortbow’s clusterbomb has good damage, and that it shoots up, rather then forward, allows you to bypass obstacles that other classes can’t.

Just my experiences in WvW thus far. Thought I’d write a big wall of text since there wasn’t any class by class breakdown.

TLDR, Warrior or Thief for killing stuff, Ele for killing siege and just generally being useful, Guard or Mesmer for WvW support. But of course, play what you think is fun above all else.

On a side note, do engi grenades even work on destructible walls yet? Or do they still just despawn and not explode?

Tarnished Coast - Principality of New Katulus [PiNK]
Commander Zynergise – 80 Hammer Guardian

(edited by Zynthetic.2954)

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Posted by: blurps.2340

blurps.2340

In higher tiers of WvW with plenty of players about the servers seem to have a major problem with the travel time on Engineer grenades. I often don’t hit anything even if aiming right into an enemy zerg.

My well Necro is much better at doing reliableAoE damage.

( This is in EU T1-2 mostly, so pretty much at the very top. )

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Posted by: lcc.9374

lcc.9374

To me, WvW is the place where mostly any kind of build or playstyle will work. Many many builds are situationally good and as long as you stick to your builds strengths and play accordingly, you will always be useful in someway.

Like my main the guardian.

While its cookie cutter mainstream build is to go tanky and support. There are other more niche builds which do something else better.

AH, meditation tank builds are best as frontliner

but there are other builds too

Like, spirit weapon builds, concecration dedicated builds for walls and shieldss
….lol resser builds for ressing. Burst judgebomb builds. Soloer roaming 1 on 1 builds.
Full-support major healing boon stacking builds etc.

Your cookie cutter build is best for tanking
But your support build is better for support
your solo build is best for small skirmishes
Your judgebomb build lets you play lieke a backstab thief
and your wall builds are good gimmicks for zergs

I can not say that one playstyle or build is more valuable then the other in a team setting. Especially when its so zergy in WvW freeing up more people to not go with the most standard builds.

Most of the QQ in WvW amounts to people trying to do what their build doesnt allow them. Its a give and take. There is no BEST build.

Like fighting a thief.

Youll survive better with bunker. But glass cannons finish them much easier.

Balanced builds are jack of all trades. Support is good team player. But sucks major solo. Glass cannon ranged classes excel in a 20 man zerg or in siege defense. But are terrible in small skirmishes.

There is no build that could do everything. Its all about finding your niche.

And i would also say that most of the builds you listed would be viable. You just have to stick to your strategy and not to do something you are not built to do.

Ill list why most of them would be useful in its own way and their strong points.

Turret engineer. I dont agree that grenades are the only way to go. As a guardian Net turrets are one of the most threatining stuff on the other side more than anything. Its auto lock meaning everytime i charge itll hit me. Also picks up theives who dont render too. The immobolise is the difference of killing that meelee charging into your zerg and letting him walk away. TLDR. Net turrets are great anti-meelee. Healing turrets i suppose would also be good support. And i see no reason that you cant mix turrets with grenades.

Phantasm mesmers are like the hardest class to kill in a zerg. It also has the effect of making your zerg look bigger. And blocks attacks for your team since many people tab target and waste their attacks on you phantasms.

I dont know about banner warriors on the other side. But every time i see a banner warrior on my zerg im happy. Cos i know im a bit stronger.

…………………Summon weapons elementalist………….
bah…..maybe this wouldnt work…….but its flashy

Summon necromancer. Id say you would prob be more useful applying mass conditions on the other team. But i guess your minions would make good distractions in a zerg fight along the same vein as Phantasm mesmers.

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Posted by: Thundar.3910

Thundar.3910

Play whatever class you would like, with any spec you enjoy, however you enjoy it, as long as you have 10-15 supply, you are useful and an asset to your team.

Keep Calm and Conquer
When you are out numbered, and the situation is hopeless, you have no option-you must attack

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Posted by: TeamBattleAxe.3901

TeamBattleAxe.3901

Play whatever class you would like, with any spec you enjoy, however you enjoy it, as long as you have 10-15 supply, you are useful and an asset to your team.

I feel this should be bolded, underlined, and turned into a welcome message that displays the first time you log in to WvW.

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Posted by: Thenoob.1480

Thenoob.1480

Play whatever class you would like, with any spec you enjoy, however you enjoy it, as long as you have 10-15 supply, you are useful and an asset to your team.

Incorrect.
Mesmer for portal bombs or just ease of travel(speed up supply trains etc).
Any class that can create a shield to eat projectiles for siege defense.
Engineer and Necromancer for -1 points.

Fun Police – Sea of Sorrows

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Posted by: grandjudge.4129

grandjudge.4129

Nisha the Medicat, WvW Engineer Extraordinaire

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Posted by: Toolbox.9375

Toolbox.9375

Oh, wow, that guy’s impressive! o_o

Icc, thanks for the in-depth information! You seem to have prior experience with Phantasm Mesmers; any chance you could give some more information as to what they’re capable of, in regards to WvW? What Phantasms work well as far as weapon-made ones go? Do Clones come anywhere near their effectiveness? Gonna look up that info in the Mesmer boards as well, but WvW-specific knowledge would be handy.

The class is always greener on the other side.

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Posted by: Allen.1620

Allen.1620

try necro absolutely w/o any summons :p, imho i have a ranger 80 3 sets of gears, guardian 80 same, war thief all 80 just making a mesmer and mage but in wvw i wouldnt go anything unless i just need a change its my necro omfg try one condt build n then see 4 urself,

I usually use any char but within 15 mins am on to my necro ….. thieves cant kill me unless they r 2, use all ya condt bop spread the conditions while defending anything then sit bk 15 sec go out loot the badges,

if u use foods potions u can have all stats like close to 2000 and hp 30k, theres very few necro but try fight 4 necro against 25 zerg, if the necros have ts n sprades condt……. its hardly 20 sec all the 25 zerg will be either dead or running in stealth,

I have 12k kills so i know a lil over 3k achievements also, frm SFR, ING > Allen got bow, allen toxic, sriya, rage in demand, Namaste Pkers, ohh i forgot to mention my necro have the worst gear of all my chars am goin to fix it asap i get golden title

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Posted by: Thenoob.1480

Thenoob.1480

try necro absolutely w/o any summons :p, imho i have a ranger 80 3 sets of gears, guardian 80 same, war thief all 80 just making a mesmer and mage but in wvw i wouldnt go anything unless i just need a change its my necro omfg try one condt build n then see 4 urself,

I usually use any char but within 15 mins am on to my necro ….. thieves cant kill me unless they r 2, use all ya condt bop spread the conditions while defending anything then sit bk 15 sec go out loot the badges,

if u use foods potions u can have all stats like close to 2000 and hp 30k, theres very few necro but try fight 4 necro against 25 zerg, if the necros have ts n sprades condt……. its hardly 20 sec all the 25 zerg will be either dead or running in stealth,

I have 12k kills so i know a lil over 3k achievements also, frm SFR, ING > Allen got bow, allen toxic, sriya, rage in demand, Namaste Pkers, ohh i forgot to mention my necro have the worst gear of all my chars am goin to fix it asap i get golden title

Am I having a stroke?

Fun Police – Sea of Sorrows

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Posted by: Allen.1620

Allen.1620

try the necro n tell me ?

the last week before we came to t1 me and VOTF commander in durios door down we went in took both server + the lord, one by one both servers small zerg came, i was in front the engi pro VOTF commander was behind me, i was downed max times,

after the fight he just said it was his best fight in wvw and he didnt have video of it, it was 2 vs 10 or 15 then 2 vs 10 + the lord, we laughed like crazy while looting the bags asking how the f they couldnt kill us,
Anyway just try a necro and ask me i will tell what spells i use whats traits i use, try it n then insult me

anyway i use 0,30,20,20, 0 traits………. always have pain inverter asura race skill as utility, while solo roaming or when am rdy 4 thieves i dont use stun breaker, i use well of suffering or BOP, or well of darkness when i feel like it,
while defending bop, well of suffering, pain inverter/epidemic

elite plague most times

P:S. try this get 4 necro in ts use staff 2 n 3 bop + whatever condition u can on a enemy n use epidamic, 4 of u do the same, wait 15 sec then come post here

(edited by Allen.1620)

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Posted by: Tulisin.6945

Tulisin.6945

Play whatever class you would like, with any spec you enjoy, however you enjoy it, as long as you have 10-15 supply, you are useful and an asset to your team.

Incorrect.

No, Thundar is right, enjoyment should be your number one concern when choosing a profession not just because that makes sense in the context of playing a game but because players that enjoy what they’re doing are more motivated and more likely to play WvW. A mesmer is completely useless in WvW if they don’t log on when they hate the play style because they didn’t choose a profession they enjoyed.

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Posted by: Ranc.7192

Ranc.7192

If u want god mode and never dieing. Just do what everyone is doing…..roll a thief


Rexir-80 Guardian
Guild- [EMP]
Server-Jade Quarry

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Posted by: Victory.2879

Victory.2879

Play what feels right to you, but remember wvw is meant to be a team game and generally you will be most effective when using a team build in a team-i’m still amazed at how few thieves in the lower tiers will use their spinning attack against a zerg and will be running backwards trying to pew pew with a bow when they could turn the zerg.

You will also realise that depending on the tier you play on, will determine what you like to play as well, as the general level of play etc will influence your decision quite a lot.

Victory, Beings Lost On Borderlands (BLOB), SFR & Gandara (inactive)

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Posted by: Slamz.5376

Slamz.5376

Problem with a “turret build” is that there is no such thing. There aren’t any really good turret traits. There’s a big difference in an engineer with grenades and an engineer that has traited for them, and the same goes for the flamethrower, rifle and pistol.

There’s very little difference between an engineer spec’d for turrets and one that’s not. Turrets also just don’t fare well in a mobile WvW setting.

Camelot Unchained – from the makers of DAOC
A game that’s 100% WvW
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/13861848/camelot-unchained

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Posted by: zen.6091

zen.6091

I regret spending so much money for gear on my engi for WvW thinking it would ever be good. They can be very useful in sieges with nades and flamethrower, and move around fairly quick with speedy kits or centaur runes + med kit, but leave so much to be desired in combat. Condi builds with pistols are basically inferior to P/D thieves and necros in every way, while power rifle type builds can’t even come close to a warrior. You will die basically every time when downed without immediate help (and still die to immediate stealth stomps).

Fact is WvW is mostly about quick, cheap kills and / or survivability…neither of which engi does particularly well. I hope there is a day when all classes are more or less equal in WvW so you don’t have to re-roll or can play multiple alts for variety, but we are nowhere close to that now.

(edited by zen.6091)

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Posted by: fenim.2395

fenim.2395

Depends on your playstyle in WVW. If you want to take on zergs with turrets then your practically useless and WVW is zerg based 70% of the time.

A turret engineer can do pretty kitten well though being stationary defending points against small numbers. (Which usually zergs come to cap).
Pro: Defending/attacking against 1-2 at a stationary locale
Cons: Not viable with zergs because of mass aoe destruction of turrets , Slow cooldowns so make sure you dont move from turrets. Mobility restrictions.

The TankCat build(Potions, Shields, Utility) is awesome for tank + Retaliation and makes the enemy kill themself.
Pro: Good Survivability, Good damage if they attack you and have high dps.
Cons: Your damage is terrible without retaliation , Tank Vs Tank is long fight

Nades and Flamethrower are your AOE so if you spec into these you will most likely be useful against zergs since its all about blasting mobs of people. Spec Accordingly.
Pro: Depends on Spec dmg/survivability/crits/utility/mobility
con: Depends on Spec dmg/survivability/crits/utility/mobility

If you know how to use your tools and spec into them properly and know when you will not be useful and when you will be, then you will have no trouble in WvWvW.

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Posted by: morrolan.9608

morrolan.9608

Flamethrower melts thieves.

Yep on my engy I look for thieves, especially those in daggerstorm, they are a great counter class. Take plenty of toughness so you can survive their burst then with the juggernaut trait and the flamethrower – thief melting time.

Jade Quarry [SoX]
Miranda Zero – Ele / Twitch Zero – Mes / Chargrin Soulboom – Engi
Aliera Zero – Guardian / Reaver Zero – Necro

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Posted by: Toolbox.9375

Toolbox.9375

Does the Flamethrower work well against any other classes/builds? I’ve heard that it had issues with targeting, is that still a problem?

Fenim, with point defense against single targets or really small groups, do the turrets actually provide much extra power, to your knowledge? Do you know if three turrets with just your normal weaponry for damage-dealing is a viable combination?

Zen, what does an Engineer need to do with the Grenades/Flamethrower to be good with sieges? Or, rather, Flamethrower. Grenade is pretty obvious, but Flamethrower is such short range that you need to be right in the mix of things, and I couldn’t see surviving that. And is that when sieging, or defending AGAINST a siege? Or both?

You’re right, Slamz, unfortunately. ;-; 30% damage reduction doesn’t mean much when it just takes effective HP from 3000-or-so to 4000-or-so, the self-repair is only a few hundred in very infrequent bursts, and the 15% extra damage is on a DPS of about 400… (Going off of memory.) I like the Toughness and Healing in the Inventions Trait line, but yeah, I guess sacrificing other Traits for the turrets just isn’t wise at all. :\

Victory, turrets are what feel right to me. XD I use turret classes in eeeverything. TF2, Borderlands, and a slew of other lesser-known games. I don’t suppose the Healing Turret is effective at supporting the team, at all? I know that the immediate self-heal is pretty good, combined with it intercepting certain projectiles and providing a few other helpful tricks, but I’m not sure the Regeneration it offers is potent enough to be of any use to allies. Isn’t its Healing boosted only by the Healing stats received through Traits, and not through equipment?

Ranc, I actually just made a Thief lastnight to try it out! It’s definitely incredibly potent… I was killing enemies more quickly at level 8 with the starter gear than my Engineer does at level 52 with 50+ Yellow-named gear. :\ The Initiative system is pretty neat, I like the lack of cooldowns. The traps are also kinda neat, though I’m sure there’s no way whatsoever to build around traps specifically. I went into WvW with the Thief at level 12 out of boredom, and was actually able to help out a bit via Scorpion Wire and sheer damage from Dagger/Dagger, plus the poison fields from the Shortbow. Granted, it was the first time in half a week that Stormbluff actually had a decent zerg-group going, so that was likely a big part of what made it effective.

Tulisin, I unfortunately sometimes feel like I’m just taking up a possible slot for another player, making myself more of a hindrance by being there than someone that isn’t playing due to a dislike of their class. X) If that makes sense. But I definitely (and obviously) want to use a class and build that I enjoy. :P Just having trouble finding that, really, as nothing stands out as something I’d use. As I said above, I use turrets in pretty much EVERY game I play, and having them be so cripplingly lackluster in Guild Wars 2 is kinda shocking, in a way. And when I don’t use turrets, I instead go for the super-versatile characters that can switch between doing each thing really well, in the middle of battle. Which I doubt is possible, here, really.

Allen, Necromancer definitely does seem potent with Conditions, particularly with a Plague Signet/Signet of Spite/Epidemic combo. XD Though I don’t know that I’d like such large cooldowns on the backbone powers of a character. (Ironic giving the turret love, but my love for robotic guns outweighs my timidity regarding downtime. :P) A Well build kinda interests me, but the cooldowns combined with the relatively tiny durations is a big putoff. At least turrets are technically permanent!

Sorry I’m being so difficult, y’all. Honestly, at this point, it’s just a big discussion. Which is still insanely helpful, I’m getting a lot of insight! But I’m starting to wonder if I should just wait until Arena Net gets on the ball and makes turrets worthwhile. XD

The class is always greener on the other side.

(edited by Toolbox.9375)

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Posted by: Richard Nixon.6573

Richard Nixon.6573

Well, illusions aren’t exactly turrets, but I think you might like playing a mesmer similar to mine in WvW. You mentioned that you have a Guardian teammate- I used to run with a Guardian teammate, and the two of us had a ton of fun. Basically, he did all the damage while I used cc to keep his targets in range to get their heads bashed in. I used a combination of swap (for cripple and immobilize), temporal curtain (to speed boost us or pull the enemy), chaos storm for possible procs of chill/cripple, signet of domination for 1 second stun, and moa morph to disable the person’s stunbreakers/heals.

It’s a funky, non-meta build that most people will probably scoff at, but its a ton of fun for me and might be fun for you too. Let me know if you’re interested, and I can give you more details

-1-800-GUILD-WAR? They can’t have my ’Brand… I have special eyes.
-Look, look with your special eyes!
-My Dragonbrand!

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Posted by: Elochai.1280

Elochai.1280

All classes can be useful in more than one way. I’d say try each in sPVP as it will give you a good representation of the class at cap with equally geared foes. While this is not the scenario you will be in in WvW being that it’s small scale, you can still gain a lot of insight into what classes you like or would want to play. Be sure you spend plenty of time with a class too. If you find you really like a class but aren’t sure take some time with it and try out a lot of builds. There’s a lot of things that people don’t realize your class can do and there’s a lot of combinations.

Elochai Rendar 80 Warrior/Anskar Rendar 80 Necromancer/Rylea Rendar 80 Thief/Kento Rendar 80 Ranger
Commander

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Posted by: Toolbox.9375

Toolbox.9375

Richard, that’d be helpful! Even if I don’t end up using the build, or even anything like it, it might give me some ideas on synergy.

Elochai, I’ll try that, thanks. XD Shall try every possible turret-focused approach I can think of. Gotta make SOMETHING work!

The class is always greener on the other side.