Guild Wars 2

I settled on Guard for my main at launch.

Having seen it whittled away patch by patch to the point it is so much less fun to play I just want to ask -

Would you have a friend take Guard for a main?

Maybe it is just that I paly so seldom now. Perhaps I need to make different ascended gear and / or go DH.

Is Guard just a path to DH now?

Would You buy this class again? Building up a decent level 80 alt is not trivial and I want to give good advice.

If not Guardian then Which? My friend is really new with only a small amount of MOL play time.

Dragonhunter is in a fairly good spot right now whilst core guards are still the preferred frontline choice in wvw.

Guards are currently unwanted in T4 tier fractals but very welcome anywhere else. Everyone hates them and their traps in Spvp due to the way it dispatches unwary players with ease but falls short in higher tiers.

I was a guard main before I moved onto thief this year, and I’d say it really depends if he wants to buy HoT. Core guard has been fairly left in the dust whilst DH revolves around 1-2 builds.

Would I recommend this class to your friend? As a starting class, definitely. It’s very different to any other mmo classes which I’ve played and forces one to learn active defence and proactive playstle. It’s not as mechanically demanding as other classes and is definitely not weak.

In WvW guard is one of those classes that excels in group play though can be fairly vulnerable on their own/ feels a bit limited in solo play. See how it goes, and ask them what they enjoy doing most.

EDIT: If I really was to choose a class in this current environment for an all rounder, It’d be a warrior. All they need is marauders armor, zerker trinkets and self choice of runes and can pretty much rock every game mode without criticism. They are meta choice since the dawn of the game in PVE. They are one of the stronger roamers, they can frontline with minimal investment runes, their condi variant is freely played in Spvp. You basically cannot go wrong with choosing one at the moment.
Second which comes to mind is reaper though a second set of armor/ Trinkets may be needed for that class in varying game modes.

Guardian is realy a good choice for casual players. I also don´t have huge amouts of playtime and stiked to one main class to be competative (in my case elementalist). My daughter is even more casual and she mains mesmer in PvE for map completion and guard for WvW + sPvP if in the mood. And the difference was huge. While much more playtime on mesmer she got slaughered in pvp with it, but with guard after a few matches she startet to actually win fights … I like her two chars combination. Her mesmer build is exceptional comftable to play PvE and the guard effektiv in the other modes.
Basically in pvp it´s a varaint of meditrapper.

http://gw2skills.net/editor/?vVAQJASTn8cCVDhlDBWkittendilEiSe5j+rPL/+wA8aZDgEA-TpBFABCcIAkb/h/LDQwFA4hHAAAHBAA

For other classes it also depends on PvE or PvP. Staff elementalist is great in PvE to run with a friend. Both mesmer and ele are not recomended for beginners in PvP.
Als already said. Warrior is quite easy. Big hits, good sustain.

Basiacally i would say get clear of how you/he wants to play, so playstyle. Then pick a class and build for that playstyle and your skill. While not all builds will be top tier it´s more important that you can handle it and have fun. It´s easier to recomend a class/build if we know what is enjoyable. Recomending a top bunker if prefered playstyle is agressive kiter makes no sense :-)

I would recommend my friends play a class they enjoy .. because if they don’t, they won’t like the game.

In otherwords, the class people play should not depend on how they hear those classes perform. If you’re just PVEing stuff, any class can work.

JakHammer.7094:

Would you have a friend take Guard for a main?

Yes, if they enjoy playing it. You should always enjoy your class.

Is Guard just a path to DH now?

Not as much as many other classes. Guard is one of the 3 professions that don’t explicitly need their ESpec to be viable. However, it certainly does bring more options.

Yannir.4132:

JakHammer.7094:

Would you have a friend take Guard for a main?

Yes, if they enjoy playing it. You should always enjoy your class.

Is Guard just a path to DH now?

Not as much as many other classes. Guard is one of the 3 professions that don’t explicitly need their ESpec to be viable. However, it certainly does bring more options.

while im being biased on players vs player situation….
I got a diferent opinion, others classes have alot of low CD damage skills, that it is mandatory to have that wall F3, and a few other good stuff from DH traitline.

I got my DH and i dont use traps nor bow…, as example, dulled sense criple players u knock back, via hammer or shield, not only bow, block condition removal, those small aegis that will heal and remove condi etc.
Theres quite of ublockable high dmage skills (gunflame 12k on 4k armor with prot.. 5xCoR 5k from several sources while on frontline….each with no animation visible), when the damage is easy to make, some stuff on DH is really mandatory to at least reduce the damage on you, and if possible try to make nearby allies takes less damage.

Try something, stack on siege that is being hit by AC shower and use guardian F3 ive found interesting situations.

Still would be so cool if guardian domes absorved CoR damage Ç_Ç, since skill animation gets borked alot of times….

I dont enjoy actually play DH with traps, i feel carried when i play damage classesbuilds on this game, some more than other.

I bough HoT just because of virtues and a few traits…
If i could buy a class or unlockit via gemstore i would bough only the DH class.

Thanks for replies.

My spouse basically has no experience or preferred playstyle. She played a perma-pre Ele in GW 1 just to help me farm a bit many years ago. This was before the change to get to max level in pre. So that alt is still like Lvl 16. She picked Ele cause the outfit was cute. I leveled the alt for her.

So I suspect the advice to go Warrior is correct, at least as a learning tool.

Since I have over 3,000 hours on regular guard I could teach that best, but I do have a lvl 80 Warrior that was my second main for a bit, so I can probably pick that up again although he is unplayed in like two years.

eh this sounds more like pick druid or ele if a but more challenging :-). Just what looks and feels best. Both play very well in a team. Warrior is about damage.

Warrior is better at everything, unless you want to do group oriented stuff, I guess.