Guild Wars 2

Hello everyone,
Thanks for taking a minute to check out my post! So I have recently started doing some WvW and am really enjoying myself but am wondering what class some of the veterans would recommend to me based on what I like to do. I am looking for a class that is viable solo/roaming, I like going back and capping camps that enemies have taken in a small group or by myself, I don’t mind running with the zerg but its not my number one choice, I don’t mind playing defense either. I guess I kinda I like doing a little but of everything so which class is the most “jack of all trades”? Thanks for you help.

What kind of fighting style are you into? Do you like melee or ranged? Are there roles you don’t like to play? Do you want to be able to hold your own in a 1v1 situation? Do you like easy classes or more complex classes? Do you like fotm classes or being more unique? Many classes can be a jack of all trades or close to it, but do it very differenly.

Based on what you said,
Ranger…..not great at a lot of things although with beastmaster it makes taking camps simple as the pet can tank for you.
Warrior, or thief also. thief has a hard time with camps (mine does but I suck as a thief) although the thief is a great roamer. My brother also has a good time of it with his engineer.
My guardian is to slow at killing to be truly viable, but she is set up to heal mainly.

Bailey.6892:

Based on what you said,
Ranger…..not great at a lot of things although with beastmaster it makes taking camps simple as the pet can tank for you.

QFT, I was going to suggest the same thing.

Rangers are great for roaming groups or solo. Lots of good builds available.

Thieves are great too, but barrier of entry is higher.

Elochai.1280:

What kind of fighting style are you into? Do you like melee or ranged? Are there roles you don’t like to play? Do you want to be able to hold your own in a 1v1 situation? Do you like easy classes or more complex classes? Do you like fotm classes or being more unique? Many classes can be a jack of all trades or close to it, but do it very differenly.

Well I would like to be able to hold it down in a 1v1 as I have encounter that situation a lot when trying to re cap camps and roaming without the zerg. I really don’t have a preference when it comes to melee or ranged to be honest. Additional I would say I like the mid lvl classes in terms of complexity, I don’t feel I play enough to truly master a complex class. As far as “fotm” its not a priority as long as it fits my play style I’ll be happy.

Hickeroar.9734:

Bailey.6892:

Based on what you said,
Ranger…..not great at a lot of things although with beastmaster it makes taking camps simple as the pet can tank for you.

QFT, I was going to suggest the same thing.

Rangers are great for roaming groups or solo. Lots of good builds available.

Thieves are great too, but barrier of entry is higher.

What do you mean barrier of entry is higher?

If you want a jack of all trades, you want to be a Mesmer. Trust me when I say we have the most build diversity out there. We can be as tanky as a guardian or as damaging as a thief. We do suffer from being slow compered to the rest of the other classes.

Kaamau.5341:

If you want a jack of all trades, you want to be a Mesmer. Trust me when I say we have the most build diversity out there. We can be as tanky as a guardian or as damaging as a thief. We do suffer from being slow compered to the rest of the other classes.

Sorry to hijack, was wondering if you could send a link or two over. Have a friend who is coming back to the game, got 80 then quit playing and is a meser. I know nothing about them so any help would be great.

I concur with the above poster. Mesmer is a great fit for what you’re looking to do. I spend most my nights back capping camps solo with mine.

Dobro.7140:

Hickeroar.9734:

Bailey.6892:

Based on what you said,
Ranger…..not great at a lot of things although with beastmaster it makes taking camps simple as the pet can tank for you.

QFT, I was going to suggest the same thing.

Rangers are great for roaming groups or solo. Lots of good builds available.

Thieves are great too, but barrier of entry is higher.

What do you mean barrier of entry is higher?

Playing a thief (and staying alive) is a lot harder. People QQ because they get killed by thieves, but those thieves have largely done their time and learned a class that’s truly not easy to play. You have to grind on thief for a while to become “good” at it.

wayneericgouin.9371:

I concur with the above poster. Mesmer is a great fit for what you’re looking to do. I spend most my nights back capping camps solo with mine.

This is also a good call. I didn’t think of that.

Thanks everyone for the input. Since a thief seems the most squishy out of the major suggestions I think it is out. Based on that I think it falls between the Mesmer and Ranger. How are these classes in relation to one another? I know the Mesmers are pretty popular right now but what is their play style like? Is it difficult to learn/master? Which has better utility, survivability? If anyone would b willing to give me a little compare/contrast or pro/con that would be great!

Pick engineer
Seriously…
Now
We need moar ppl

Necro is extremely versatile, high utility, easy to learn, and can do well on their own. Soloing camps, roaming, keep/tower takes and defense, and helping groups. They are not necessarily the best in any one category, but they are up there in all of them. The only downside is you may need to change sets depending on what you are wanting to do. Because no one necro spec/set does all of the above. It can be done with one spec, but in order to do the best, it requires you to buy 2 or 3 sets of armor and hit the retrainer before heading out.

Ranger pros
-taking camps is easy if you run BM because your pet can take all the damage from the mobs. It may take some time clearing it though.
-condi trap ranger can do very well in both roaming/WvW but if you’re going that way why don’t you just roll necro?
-spirit ranger excels against most 5v5’s
- Can be fun to stand at the side of a zergvzerg rolling power ranger and hitting people with the longbow.

cons
- Rangers have this annoying, broken “friend” designed to “help” them. The pet.
-spirits die so easily in WvW especially in zergs. Reroll
- Necro is better than trap ranger. Reroll
-Rangers don’t bring anything to the table in group play that other classes could do loads better. Reroll
- Power ranger damage is laughable compared to other classes. Warrior KS rofl. Reroll.

A few things I’ve learned from a year of playing ranger.

Kaamau.5341:

If you want a jack of all trades, you want to be a Mesmer. Trust me when I say we have the most build diversity out there. We can be as tanky as a guardian or as damaging as a thief. We do suffer from being slow compered to the rest of the other classes.

I want to add to this that Mesmer is a specialist profession. You can’t make a balanced build that does a bit of everything.

However…

The best Mesmer builds “specialise” in several things at the same time, and keep 100% effectiveness in both. Other professions make 60/60 builds, we make 100/100 ;). (Dont quote me on that though >:o)

For example, phantasm builds do the higest dps Mesmers can achieve, but you also have alot of support options, due to the damage trait being in the support tree.

For roaming I really recommend a shatter build. You can shatter to instantly (under 1 second) down upleveled and berserker players. You have insane survivability through mobility and active defense, such as blinks and blurred frenzy.
Blink allows you to quickly gy on top of higher terrain, whih makes it impossible for an enemy, or group of enemies to follow you, unless they do the same and actually notice where you went!

Here is an wxample of what a shatter build can do in roaning. Dont know if its a good example, because i cant wath it on mobile :P.

If you want me to link some example builds, including traits and all ear, feel free to send me a PM :D

Dobro.7140:

I am looking for a class that is viable solo/roaming, I like going back and capping camps that enemies have taken in a small group or by myself

Definitely ranger!

Proof of concept:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HRFszeYiXWg

:-)

For solo roaming theif because the biggest threat to solo roaming is getting zerged and they are the best at hiding and one of the most mobile professions. solo camps is a little easier with ranger but it should be possible with theif too.

Your server’s ranking / population is a factor too

https://leaderboards.guildwars2.com/en/na/wvw

High Tier / rank servers means busy maps and lottas people around / guarding objectives. Low rank servers = PvE encounter vs the NPC guards.

I would say Thief. I have mained a Thief since beta and it’s a joy to roam with! The Thief is squishy, but when you learn how to stay alive it’s really not a problem any more. Thief is very strong in 1v1 and can easily solo camps and sentries.

The key is to know when to engage. Since we’re squishy we have to select our fights with caution. We also have the ability to escape zergs, surf zergs and we can slip out of combat if needed.

I’m don’t like zergs either, so I tend to avid them. But if I find myself running with one I’ll be the one who assassinate the enemy commander or kill the ranged damage dealers. We are excellent scouts due to our insane mobility and our ability to stay alive and unseen. For sieges we can’t do that much except for slipping through choke points and taking out siege weapons. We don’t have any longer range than 900, so defending a keep can be a bit boring..

I am just adding that you should keep Movement Speed outside of combat in mind in while making your decision. Your primary preference of play involves a lot of travel around a map and, naturally, you would want to be able to accomplish this task efficiently and with the lowest amount of frustration.

The fastest Movement Speed that any profession can accomplish outside of combat is 33% which is through 100% uptime on Swiftness. Some professions even have means to leap, teleport, or move faster periodically and some professions are even way better at that than others. Some Professions also have options to move at 25% Movement Speed through traits and all Professions can take advantage of the 6 piece Rune of Speed set, but using either of those alternatives limits your character’s build by replacing other useful traits, abilities, or runes.

Movement Speeds do not stack. Only the highest Movement Speed buff on your character is considered at any given time and aside from the Engineer’s Super Speed and the Thief’s Fleet Shadow, Swiftness is the fastest Movement Speed buff in the game at 33%. Of course you will have to sacrifice to achieve 100% uptime on Swiftness, but you would also have to sacrifice for other movement speed buffs as well. That is why 100% uptime on Swiftness out of combat is important, because it is the best deal for your sacrifice.

That said, I would just like to rebute the claims that Mesmer is the Profession for you. A Mesmer only has two reliable paths to achieve 100% uptime of Swiftness outside of combat and no other choices for increased movement speed beyond runes. Both paths for a Mesmer to reach 100% Swiftness uptime rely on a massive investment of Boon Duration (upwards of at least 50%), which is not a stat that you would want to rely on as a roamer, or the investment of Boon duration AND the use of runes. Sure, a Mesmer can solo really well and is great for adapting to changing situations, but so are some other Professions that can achieve ideal movement speed with FAR less investment than a Mesmer can. The best builds for Mesmers are notoriously slow at moving around a map by themselves and they rely on the Swiftness Boons granted by other Professions to get around efficiently.