Guild Wars 2

Just curious as to how people rank professions in viability in WvW. I have played nothing but TPvP and SPvP and I know how classes rank there, just not sure about WvW. Any thoughts? And for the random people that will say “they are all equal, just play what you like”, can I join you in your dreamworld where perfect balance exists?

My main reason for asking is: I want to play melee but my buddy swears that you can’t melee in WvW.

Thoughts?

1. Mesmer
2. Rest.

You can melee in WvW, but you better be a thief.

had a warrior slap me silly yesterday. and i mean silly. made me feel like a noob.

You can play melee in smaller engagements, and depending on your build you can initiate and try to gain ground. You’re much safer at range, though.

The fights that matter are bigger scale. A flame ram does the damage (or other siege) while you keep it safe.

In terms of unique contribution, mesmer for certain.

If you’re actually in melee range, chances are it really doesn’t matter. One team is going to win, plunder, and revive their dead. The other team will flee and/or release to waypoint.

Just a bit of a clarification here. People mention Mesmer mostly because of a few tricks it can play from time to time. These tricks are actually fully dependable on how good the opponent is (much like the profession itself). As players are more aware of these tricks, the viability rapidly declines (or vanishes).

Mesmer lacks a spammable AoE which is a serious handicap both in PvE and in WvW.

I lack experience with other professions to rank zerg professions, but Thief is the best roaming profession.

PS: You will notice even in the forum a rather casual approach to WvW. Not the usual “min-maxing” one can see elsewhere. When people talk about best farming professions, they go more in depth. When they discuss sPvP, they go more in depth. Unfortunately, for WvW majority goes with “bigger zerg wins anyway” mentality or “better nightcapping wins anyway”. While this does have merit, there is still imbalance present, and some professions always end up being better for something.

I have 4 80s. In basically the same gear. I’ll only comment on them.

1) Ranger. The top 1% will complain about the low skill cap and people will complain the it doesn’t bring unique skills to the table but it is amazing well rounded and balanced. You can pretty much do anything. Long range, support buffs, mass tagging, killing NPCs. Good at everything.
2) Ele. You are so fast. You rain fire from the sky. Top damage, top support, so many skills with combo fields. Excellent range, AoE, tagging machine.
3) Mesmer. One of the best PvZerg classes with glamours (reflects, mass cleanse / cancel, mass confusion) . Cannot actually kill anything in a spec that’s good for 1200 range / PvZerg.
4) Guardian. I get frustrated with melee as well. It’s extreamly gear dependent. But melee (guardian / warrior / thief) absolutely destroy people in the open fiend. If you’re sitting there range gatehopping or sitting on the walls of a keep, either build arrow carts or hit another target. again, these are absolutely top classes but you need to play to their strengths and not just sit on top or a wall waiting for the door to come down.

The reason mesmer is mentionind is because they are the only class that can destroy catapults behind gates / out of sight arrow carts also the utility portal brings is insane and the clones in a zerg make it difficult / time consuming to find a real player to hit.

These three reasons are why mesmers are overpowered in World v world v world.

NatashaK.9418:

I have 4 80s. In basically the same gear. I’ll only comment on them.

2) Ele. You are so fast. You rain fire from the sky. Top damage, top support, so many skills with combo fields. Excellent range, AoE, tagging machine.

Not sure what Ele in what game you are playing but I need to play that one!

But on a serious note.. Top damage? Are you serious with that one? I agree with everything else but honestly Top damage is probably the furthest from the truth, more like severely lacking damage even when fully spec’d into it.

>>Mesmer lacks a spammable AoE which is a serious handicap both in PvE and in WvW
^^^^
This!

The majority of people who complain about Mesmers being OP have not played them. Sure the portal trick can be fun but it requires a pretty specific set of facts to be in place (recently captured tower, failure to properly clear by attackers, available allies nearby who can and will actually USE the port (dont know how many times I’ve put one down to have people look at the funny purple circle on the ground and not USE it… sigh)).

The lack of a spammable AoE, indeed the paucity of ANY AoE, makes a Mesmer fit a fairly narrow niche in Wv3.

As a Commander in Sea of Sorrows, I’ll offer my thoughts on profession viability within a “Zerg” environment. These are my views and they will differ depending on unique tactics and style.

1. Mesmer- The utility they bring in unparalleled. Not only by setting up portals but I well placed “Time warp” can turn tides.

2. Guardian- Lots of AoE supporting and healing, their ability to pull enemies is always good for a laugh. The virtues are also invaluable.

3. Ranger- This is an overlooked class, but a full glass cannon Ranger is something to rival. Immense range and damage are needed when seiging and keeping defenders of the walls. Or even dropping fleeing enemies.

4. Warrior- SO MANY OPTIONS. A sensible warbanner warrior overshadows even the guardians buffs. Or give them greatsword an frenzy. Oh my… They can lock down enemies with bolas and charges. I love seeing a vanguard of warriors in m Zerg.

The rest are all about even. Yes, even the ele. A healing speced ele is very useful, and lots f AoE is amazing in seiging. The other professions all bring unique aspects into a Zerg, but I find the others more suited in other situations.

Hope it helped- And don’t think it you play any of those listed classes you will be imba. I main Mesmer and have 450+ hours, it takes a long time to know your class. So basically expect a hard few months until you know what your doing.

I’m quite shocked that Engineers don’t make this list. I may be biased as I play an Engineer, but the sheer utility that they bring to the group is staggering.

Have a buddy (or your favorite Guardian) who has a lackluster ranged weapon? We have a Mortar for that (seriously, this Elite is 10 times better than people give it credit for). Need a perimeter established, or a choke point held when that enemy zerg comes knockin? We have Grenades for that problem too! And the Elixir Gun. Oh the shenanigans when you want to support your favorite zerg! Again, I’m biased as it’s a class that I LOVE and have a setup for almost any challenge I may meet in WvW. But IMHO a well played Engineer can make a huge difference in a battle.

That being said: Mesmer is fantastic. Ele is friekin great, and Warriors are the backbone of any good group!

I actually find that your average PUG mesmer is a waste of space. It takes a lot of coordination to do a portal jump, and all their other skills are nothing more than annoyances. I would much rather have that person be any other class (even a necro) specced for AoE damage at 1200 range which is what wvw is all about.

If you belong to a coordinated guild then you get fancy with creative builds and melee.

Nabarue.3290:

I’m quite shocked that Engineers don’t make this list. I may be biased as I play an Engineer, but the sheer utility that they bring to the group is staggering.

Have a buddy (or your favorite Guardian) who has a lackluster ranged weapon? We have a Mortar for that (seriously, this Elite is 10 times better than people give it credit for). Need a perimeter established, or a choke point held when that enemy zerg comes knockin? We have Grenades for that problem too! And the Elixir Gun. Oh the shenanigans when you want to support your favorite zerg! Again, I’m biased as it’s a class that I LOVE and have a setup for almost any challenge I may meet in WvW. But IMHO a well played Engineer can make a huge difference in a battle.

That being said: Mesmer is fantastic. Ele is friekin great, and Warriors are the backbone of any good group!

Elixir U + Grenades = crazy AoE burst destruction

My alt loves to make use of that combo

Definitely need more love for Engineers. Grenades are absurd during sieges and are the best long range AoE attacks you can get from any profession.

Sophora.1436:

Definitely need more love for Engineers. Grenades are absurd during sieges and are the best long range AoE attacks you can get from any profession.

We have an ENTIRE kit dedicated to AoE skills. And it includes 4 different conditions (vulnerability and burning if you are specced makes 6), and not to mention combo fields! Add in Static Discharge and your zerg gets an AOE machine with the range of a Ranger. Why this class gets so little love in the “best of WvW” threads is just baffling.

That’s very true. I have little to no experience with Engineers though, and I 10000% agree with the Mesmer comment. When I WvW I take 3 mesmers from my group and get them to portal the Zerg around because I can trust them.

In my eyes the Mesmer holds the highest skill cap, and this the lowest bottom cap.

But for sure ill look into Engineers. A few guilders re-rolled onto them.