Guild Wars 2

Well I have my game a downloading. I have my thumbs a twiddling now what should I make? I have been struggling between Elementalist and Necromancer for awhile now and I just can’t pick. Are Elementalist good for those who have no idea how to play? Or is there a better class for those who have never attempted this sort of game before?

Make a War. Get some combination of power/prec/crit dmg gear whenever possible while lvl’ing up. War is probably the most forgiving class if you’re new to GW2: huge health pool, heavy armor, incredibly useful in endgame once you’ve figured stuff out. You’ll probably end up making a War anyway (virtually everyone does), so might as well start with it. It’s far easier to lvl up than Ele, and is very straight-forward gameplay. I think it’s a snooze-fest, but I still play my War anyway since it usually helps the group more than Ele. Only need 1 Ele per group, but there’s usually 2 or 3 Wars.

My husband is making a thief so having a heavy hitter would not be a bad idea.

madamred.1463:

Well I have my game a downloading. I have my thumbs a twiddling now what should I make? I have been struggling between Elementalist and Necromancer for awhile now and I just can’t pick. Are Elementalist good for those who have no idea how to play? Or is there a better class for those who have never attempted this sort of game before?

The elementalist is one of the most challenging professions in the game, if not the most challenging. If you like that go ahead and try it (you can always create a new char). Keep in mind that you need to press a lot of buttons compared to other professions to be effective.

I’m not a huge necro fan tbh since they feel very slow imo. It’s nice for some relaxed PvE or WvW though.

I would try both for like 1h and decide then.

madamred.1463:

Well I have my game a downloading. I have my thumbs a twiddling now what should I make? I have been struggling between Elementalist and Necromancer for awhile now and I just can’t pick. Are Elementalist good for those who have no idea how to play? Or is there a better class for those who have never attempted this sort of game before?

I have a Ele, Warrior, Mesmer, Necro, and Thief. I would say out of those that Ele was the hardest to learn to play effectively with thief after that. You can get by on basics but if you want a extra level of depth once you learn the game I would say stick with Ele or go engi.

Personally I find my other characters a bit boring once you figure them out. Warrior I find fun because it has alot of different weapon combinations.

For a straight easy answer I would say go Warrior. If you play any other type of games like fighting games, FPS and such and are thinking of something to play once you learn the basics Ele and Engi I think have that extra layer to keep you interested.

Also depends on what you want to get into if it is strictly PvE then Warrior is simple and easy to learn and do well there. Ele can do well there too and has damage to match warriors but it requires a bit more thinking with combo fields etc. sPvP/WvW warrior does great in sPvP currently Ele not so much for top tier competitive play. In WvW both are good.

Thanks for all the information! All of them seem so awesome usually in MMO’s or RPG I go for Casters, but I think it would be a wonderful change to try something new. Like you guys said if I get bored I can make a new character. I see myself playing this game for a long time to come so I can try them all. Warrior it is then I think.

Elementalist (together with the engineer) is simply the hardest to play class. It has very low hitpoints and armor and every attack that deals damage requires you to set it up first (for example stunning your enemies so your delayed damage actually lands). And don’t think you get anything special for all that effort. The damage numbers are about the same for all classes, but elementalist is just harder to play.

Necromancer is pretty easy to play and can tank a lot of damage but cannot be specced to deal as much damage per second as the other classses so it is not rated highly in standard PvE content. The class is also not that great at stacking offensive boons.

As a beginner you should really listen to Anierna’s advice and create a warrior. Warriors are very easy to play, deal a lot of damage, can be geared and specced for almost everything and are the most forgiving class for newer players. It is definitely the most well rounded class in guild wars at the moment. You will also find that a lot of dungeon groups look for warriors only, simply because they know that warrior works.

yawn only at 47% I have been loading this for 5 hours now lol how long does it normally take?

yeah think warrior will be my first choice this time I can always play around with other classes later

Ya it usually takes 7-8 hours

If you want to learn anything, don’t play a warrior first, you’ll always be stuck comparing everything to it. If you don’t mind an up hill learning curve then try an Ele, you’ll learn how to avoid damage, how most combo fields work and you can be supportive of your husband if he’s playing a thief.

Necromancer is a fairly safe bet too, as well as a mesmer (they sound cheesy on paper but are solid) furthermore if you wear the pants in the relationship then maybe a warrior or guardian.

I went Ele first and will never regret it.

we share the pants lol We both get one leg. I think anyone compares their other characters to their first one right? At least I did in other games. I have played a Shammy in WOW as my main and was very good at it, but that is my only comparison.

Welcome madamred!

There is a lot of good advice in this thread, but the decision ultimately comes down to your preferences. The Elementalist is a very challenging class to play because the line between triumph and defeat can seem very blurry at times. What I mean is it can be difficult to pinpoint what exactly caused the failure or triumph after the battle.

My first 80 was a Thief. I got tired of how squishy that was so I made a Guardian next and loved it! My third 80 was an Ele and she quickly became my favorite. After that my next two 80’s were also Eles (I know, I’m obsessed). Now, I have trouble playing anything other than my Eles because nothing else is as engaging.

What I’m trying to say is be careful with Eles — they are addictive!

No matter what profession you land on there are lots of great guides (on these forums/reddit/youtube) that will help you learn the ropes quickly.

Happy hunting!

The elementalist is normally challenging to play. You can make it A LOT simpler by putting 10 points into fire magic for conjurer and primarily using Lightning Hammer.

Da Beetus.1275:

No matter what profession you land on there are lots of great guides (on these forums/reddit/youtube) that will help you learn the ropes quickly.

Guides are good, but only if you follow the “Meta” guides. Following other guides is a bad idea, since you’ll get into very bad habits (think bearbow ranger or staff guard spamming AA – yuck!). These guides usually assume you’re already at max lvl (at least mine does); what you need to do is play the game for a few days to understand the terminology, then read a meta guide, then finish lvl’ing up your toon while keeping in mind the playstyle you will be using at lvl 80. (eg. Warriors will be using axe/mace + GS, so you ought to practice with those weps while lvl’ing up.)

The War meta is axe/mace + GS, 30/25/0/0/15. Nike from [DnT] made a guide for this.
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The elementalist is normally challenging to play. You can make it A LOT simpler by putting 10 points into fire magic for conjurer and primarily using Lightning Hammer.

If you choose to start with Ele (I did, but in hindsight, I recommend War), use the Lightning Hammer. The various meta builds for Ele are in my guide (link’s in my sig). The LH simplifies life AND does fantastic dmg while preserving utility (keeps might/fury/vuln stacking options open, and provides blinds and AoE). Play the game for a bit to get a handle on the technical terms before reading my guide though, or you’ll quickly get lost in the theory-crafting.

look at all classes, read about them and check out the playstyles. don’t listen to what others tell you (omg rangers suck, elementalists are weak, etc etc). pick what you like and go with it. my ele is my fourth char and i’ve been enjoying him massively.

Make a warrior. Has always been overpowered and since this game is now out for over a year and anet hasn’t done anything in terms of balance to change that, you probably won’t get nerfed in the future. LFG messages are still something like “speedrun, zerk warrs only” and always when the group needs damage, people raise the question who can log onto his warrior.

So make a warrior, get happy with it and enjoy the game. Oh, and welcome to GW2.

yep would really caution against making an Ele unless you’re slightly masochistic.

One thing to keep in mind if you do start with an ele: ele at very very low levels is extremely fragile, so the learning curve is much steeper compared to more durable professions such as warrior or guardian. If you find yourself struggling but you like the ideas around the gameplay style, keep pushing on! Starting out as an ele raw myself definitely helped me in mastering the game.

Also, while leveling I highly recommend that you stay on top of your gear and at very low levels go for stats that give you vitality and toughness to help give yourself some survival. If you find yourself getting frustrated, go ahead and roll another class: GW2 leveling is very quick and getting another character to max level (or catching up to your partner’s character) is fairly easy.

My friend and I did thief raw and ele raw respectively from the first beta, and while we struggled a bit both being squishy we had a whole lot of fun zipping around and killing things.

i played ele as my first class in GW2… then i switched to mesmer because ele was just too hard and mesmer could do the same much easier after i got some skill in this game, especially in pvp, i switched back to ele and it felt much better, its a lot about moving, dodging etc and it can be hard for a raw begginer as you say so imo ele isnt good choice for a raw begginer, for group pve its ok, but solo or pvp you will struggle

Anierna.6918:

Guides are good, but only if you follow the “Meta” guides.

That only works if you never want to learn to think for yourself. Ultimately, you can look to guides for advice but you’ll want both meta and non-meta guides just to see what’s possible. A (fictive) ‘earth auto-attack spam ele’ guide may not be the best way to play but it can give you all sorts of pointers of how you can use your earth skills effectively.

Anierna.6918:

If you choose to start with Ele (I did, but in hindsight, I recommend War), use the Lightning Hammer. The various meta builds for Ele are in my guide (link’s in my sig). The LH simplifies life AND does fantastic dmg while preserving utility (keeps might/fury/vuln stacking options open, and provides blinds and AoE). Play the game for a bit to get a handle on the technical terms before reading my guide though, or you’ll quickly get lost in the theory-crafting.

worst advice ever

If you want to learn how to play an elementalist, don’t start with a gimmick. Instead, learn how to play and then use the lightning hammer build where it works well. Starting with the lightning hammer build won’t teach you WHY it works.

Play which every class you want to. Builds don’t work when your low lvl, if your going to play an ele learn how to use combo fields because you can use them at low lvls and they are a skill you will need at max lvl. If you run staff the easiest one is earth 2 > fire attunment > fire 2. Usually it would be combo field first but the timing of earth 2, its better to lay down the finisher first and put the combo field on top of it.
Here is a chart of ele combos… http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Table_of_elementalist_combo_skills

By all means read guides but take them with a grain of salt as they just set out 1 way of playing and don’t care how you are going to play.

My first character that I got to 80 was an Ele and it’s still my main and by far my favourite class. If you like the class you like the class and you’ll be fine. The fact that Ele can be a little harder than other classes until higher levels you won’t really notice if it’s your first class as you have nothing to compare it with. xD