Guild Wars 2

Hmm, I played on my friend’s account, Human Warrior, and liked it pretty much. I got to lvl 70 and only played PvE, which I liked.
Now I’ve bought the game and thinking of Elementalist or Guardian (mostly PvE!)
Also I wondered what race who’d fit.
- Is the Guardian “bad” if you doesn’t play with friends or together with someone?
I’m a kind of person that likes both middle-range and close range, so both the Staff and Great Sword.

thanks

Make both….. you will regret it if you don’t

If you want to play staff, pick elementalist. Staff is a terrible weapon for guardian in PvE aside from niche situations like, using #3 for swiftness or clearing the poison blossoms in the dungeon TA on trash skips, for example.

However, staff ele is the highest aoe DPS in the game, so there’s that.

I would try playing both classes, at least to a certain extent.
A guardian is always nice to have in any group – as long as he knows what he’s doing.
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The Ele is more difficult to get a hang on and really understand the class, I would take that into account.
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Anyways, both classes are fun to play, try both and find out which suits you best

Question always come down to whether or not you want a long ranged option (currently).

Ele Staff gives you a 1200m range if you want it. Guardian doesn’t have an option. This comes into play on encounters like Tequatal where you can sit back at 1200m with relative safety and only have to avoid some of the mechanics or man-mode it up with a Guardian and get in there like a beast and have to pay attention to all mechanics.

(Side story: This is actually why I love my Ranger when I go world boss farming, cause I can sit back at 1500 and ignore all mechanics on most fights haha)

Both staff options are great for farming events in PvE and there’s reason why Guardians call their staves “Loot Stick” haha For dungeons both classes are great in high end PvE groups (the serious peoples) and just about any class can do anything else to be honest.

The “currently” part is that it’s rumored and heavily speculated that the Guardian will be getting a Long Bow with Heart of Thorns which would finally give them a 1200m range option as well but it’s not confirmed.

hem well, guardian allready got scepter 1 and 2 at 1200m :/ and 2 is quite a nice spamable aoe dmg. And gives diversity on offhand.
Somthing i like a lot on guardian is being able to switch range and melee, and beeing effective in both aspects.

Dahlern.1708:

Hmm, I played on my friend’s account, Human Warrior, and liked it pretty much. I got to lvl 70 and only played PvE, which I liked.
Now I’ve bought the game and thinking of Elementalist or Guardian (mostly PvE!)
Also I wondered what race who’d fit.
- Is the Guardian “bad” if you doesn’t play with friends or together with someone?
I’m a kind of person that likes both middle-range and close range, so both the Staff and Great Sword.

thanks

With your “I like” part I’d definitely suggest Elementalist. However it’s a tougher play, Starting with a guardian might be a bit easier as it’s a bit more strait forward. If you’re confident in your play ability, Elementalist is awesome, D/F is a nice closer range build, lots and lots of fun, Staff is your long range option, however you don’t have a weapon swap so it’s one or the other, you can and should play staff close range most of the time anyways though so always have the option to back out if needed but there’s actually benefits to being in melee range still with it. But, if you’re not confident in your play it’s far easier to become decent with guardian than it is Ele,

I will have to disagree. For me, Guardian is the hardest profession to play properly. And is nothing to do with rotations…is just the knowledge that it demands. You forgot your wall? Congrats, you are responsible of the wipe.

Altaholic here. My first 80 was a Guardian. My second was a warrior, my third was a Norn elementalist, and my fourth was an Asura elementalist.

I don’t touch my guardian. It was trying to recapture my favorite character from WoW, a retribution paladin, and it never really clicked. The class mechanics are easy to get a good grip on, and then you’re focusing all of your energy on trying to keep four suicidal maniacs alive. Every wipe is your fault, whether they tell you or not. Some people love having that support role, but for me it was less than satisfying.

Elementalist is a lot more engaging, and you’re spending the time on improving your own game, which for me was a lot more fun.

Honestly, just play both to level 20 and see what you like better. Just a word of warning: Until you get your full kit, elementalist is much harder to play at lower levels.

As for race: I swapped from Norn to Asura because:

1. Norn was annoying to do jumping puzzles with.
2. My other characters (Guardian, warrior, ranger) were also Norn, and I wanted something different to stare at.
3. I felt like I had a big fat bullseye on my when I waded into PvP.
4. I had 120 tomes and a bunch of gold, so ‘switching’ was almost completely free.

That said, it’s a matter of what you like to play most. However, if you’re trying to min/max based on race, then elementalist is definitely the class for you.

Ryn.6459:

I will have to disagree. For me, Guardian is the hardest profession to play properly. And is nothing to do with rotations…is just the knowledge that it demands. You forgot your wall? Congrats, you are responsible of the wipe.

Haha reminds me of my Mesmer. Half the time I enter a dungeon or fractal and people are like, “Why are you still standing here go portal us to the boss!” and I’m like “Uh what….” haha.

Ryn.6459:

I will have to disagree. For me, Guardian is the hardest profession to play properly. And is nothing to do with rotations…is just the knowledge that it demands. You forgot your wall? Congrats, you are responsible of the wipe.

Retreat/WoR then last one is Purging/Hallowed/SotA, with that you’re pretty much always covered without really having to know what’s ahead as much.

Either way, yeah to be a great Guard it’s certainly a high skill level, just saying being acceptable on guard is at least IMO easier than being acceptable on Ele.

Haha, I don’t really think understanding dungeon mechanics is really the way to pick a starting class.

Personally I preferred my Guardian for starting off in the game. There is a lot more room to learn about how the game works. Though I will say that I find my Elementalist to be much more engaging now that I have been playing for a while.

Leveling wise I would say Guard is a bit more straight forward. Your weapons make more sense and the use of skills are more straight forward. Long-range, grab a scepter. Projectiles, grab a wall. Etc.

Ele, on the other hand, can be a bit more difficult to understand at first. For one, it took me a while to grasp the concept of a dagger being a range weapon (ele was my first toon). The idea of having 20 weapon skills plus more if you conjure is a little overwhelming at first. That, and some of our skills/traits are attunement dependant (much like weapon dependant on other classes) so while dodging in fire creates a fire blast of sort dodging in water makes a cleansing splash (this was me having an epiphany upon reaching level 60 back in the day)?

So the initial grasping of the character I would argue tends to be faster on a Guard over the Ele.

Excelling/optimizing the two classes tends to be turn the tables around. Guards have quite a few weapons, and nearly each of them will see their use on the playing field (sorry shield). Traits also have a better synergy on a Guard as well. E.G. Deal more damage to foes with conditions. Burning is a condition. F1 Burns. F1 renews at each kill. F1 grants might and retaliation. F1 can be traited to blind. Blinds can be traited to cause vulnerability.

That’s one of the more extended examples. Other traits tend to be wepon specfic, and Guards should be switching out based on the content that are facing. Skills and traits also tend to rollover to your team as well so while we’re looking out to Save Ourselves (heh, get it) we shouldn’t be selfish with our capabilities to defend others. While there are rotations for Guard they are generally the ones expected to break their rotatations in the case that they can mitigate it. This will require a bit of research on other classes to know what they can and cannot do to if you want effectively help them. E.G. A warrior without endurance doen’t necessarily mean he can’t evade an attack.

With an Ele, overcoming the inital learning curve is the most difficult part. Beyond that it’s a matter of choosing the right weapon set for the job and bringing the right utilities/conjures to the group. Nearly every ele on the group is going to be tasked with keeping uptime on fury and might (might responsibility slowly transitioning out with the influx of PS Warriors). Rotations are a bit stricter but can generally go uninterrupted unless you need to dodge or pop a particular utility. Traits are more straight forward and are generally bound to a particular attunement or skill/action activation.

Granted when I play my Ele it’s because I want to see big damage numbers. When built correctly they have amazing spike damage and as equal sustained damage. Guards on the other hand have decent sustained damage but can deliver a boom every now and then.

In DnD terms are you looking to play more of the Paladin or the Blaster Wizard?

I agree with the sentiment of Guardian being easier to grasp initially. It was my first toon, and I’m slowly getting used to the Elemental.

I enjoy both. different playstyles. Elemental feels more free moving with all their movement options. Guardian has one basic speed boost on a medium CD, that’s it. Elemental is much busier, and also if your not on your game, much squishier. Ele relies allot on movement and effective skill use to stay alive, whereas my Guard is a bit more the “stand there and take it”. Don’t get me wrong….in a high end group situation, you need to move on your guard too…but playing solo on my guard I never really worry about extra mobs. I have to pay attention to those extra mobs on my Ele or I’ll die fast.

Ele = light armor, so you’ll spend most your time in dresses and gunny sacks. Heavy metal is the Guardian’s province, so that element (looks) can make a difference too.

But Elemental has suprised me…I’m rarely the magic user player (prefer the heavy metal in your face classes), but it’s such a unique approach to your typical wizard class…more like a naruto style assassin/mage/thing. very fun. But At the same time, I miss being able to leap into the midst of a group of mobs and lay them out with my big hammer/sword Like i can on my Guard.

…Think I’ll vote on doing both. thankfull Anet gives you plenty of character slots to start off with.