Guild Wars 2

Hey fellow Mesmers! I was just looking at my alts (deleted a few because I realized I disliked the profession) and was wondering what you would rank each of the other professions at based on FUN FACTOR only. I’m just intrigued to find out why you like or dislike professions (Mesmer included).

I’ll start! I’m listing these in order from most fun to least fun/liked.

1. Mesmer: In-combat mobility and control, distraction, dazes, PURPLE. BUTTERFLIES., extremely useful utility in groups, that ability to really kitten up a team’s fighting capabilities using a couple skills (Moa, Feedback, Portal, etc.)

2. Thief: MOBILITY (imo, the king of it, and I love zipping in and out of combat more than anything*), stealth, backstabs, BLINDS, ability to control the opponent and sort of instill a fear of an ambush, ability to turn a fight to their advantage very well, great group support if played right,
* = I would put Thief #1 because of this but for the fact that I am a Mesmer at heart

3. Elementalist: versatility in multiple roles, team utility, ability to move in and out of combat with great defensive skills, ELEMENTAL MAGIC (<3 water magic), high burst, conjure weapons, only downside being that they are hard to master as far as combos and skill order goes

4. Engineer: highly versatile and can fill any role in any group, provides perhaps the best SUPPORT of any class, high damage, ROCKET BOOOOOOOOOTS, ability to use elixirs/alchemy, but never kept my attention for very long due to lack of efficient condi cleanses

5. Necromancer: Death Shroud, Dagger/Dagger skills are great, provides good self sustain. Downsides are that I despise how little mobility they have and how selfish they end up being in group play. I would love a decent power ranged option (might play this then).

6. Warrior: My least favorite profession in GW1 because it was so simple. I have never felt a draw to play one (ever) except because Longbow is literally the coolest weapon skill set in the game.

7. Ranger: I despise pet classes, and really just don’t like anything the Ranger has to offer besides mainland Sword. And even then, that weapon isn’t for everybody. I guess spirits are cool? Not very fun in group play (with little to offer in dungeons).

8. Guardian: GOD I wanted to like this profession in GW2. I really really tried to like it. But despite Staff making me feel like Gandalf, I hate their entire kitten nal of weapon skills. If they were similar to Ritualists, I might be using this profession. But as-is, there is literally nothing about it that draws me in.

So what are your opinions on why you like/dislike professions?

Cheers!
-Juxt

I won’t mention Mesmer because it’s obvious.

2. Melee Power Ranger – specifically using GS and Sw/D, because I think the melee
animations are some of the best in the game (better than Mesmer GS animations) – hilt bash + maul on am asura is just so sexy. Really need to use an asura for maximum acrobatic animations!

3. Conjure weapon Ele – I’ve never been a fan of the attunement swapping on an ele, because I would prefer the ability to specialise in one or two elements. However conjure weapons – especially lightning hammer builds are just awesome. It is a shame it is completely useless in pvp, otherwise you can be sure I’d play this often!

4. Thief – first character I played, love p/p, the mobility and stealth – however weapon choices are a little boring for me, and the weapon animations and sound effects are not exactly amazing – especially when compared to Mesmer, ranger, ele, guard and warrior.

5. Guardian – love the theme, but really don’t like the mechanics in practice. The GS animations for example are really quite stupid to me. Ranger and Mesmer GS are 10 times more awesome to use. A shame because I like the concept of medi/dps guardian, especially fighting against one, but I find the weapon animations so silly to look at that I can’t bring myself to play it seriously. Best thing about guard is the hammer, although a little awkward to use in combat.

6. Warrior – I like the self sufficient theme with many weapons available. But again GS animations on ranger are far cooler – I guess you can tell by now that I love good GSs!
Not really a fan of the mechanics though – I’d love to play a full physical utility build (kick, etc) but you pretty much have to take certain utilities to be effective in pvp… :/

7. Engi – never felt the vibe tbh – too many buttons to press, too much ground targeting. I like some of the skills, but don’t enjoy playing for the most part.

8. Necro – don’t like the theme, don’t like the mechanics – think it’s boring, slow, ugly and just not fun to play.

After Mesmer:
1.) Evasion or Trickery-specced P/P Thief.
2.) Power or Hybrid Ele (Usually Staff or ?/D)
3.) Engi (power turrets(or gadgets)/rifle; condi P/? and kits)
4.) Condi BM Ranger (dual Axe, S/D; Jaguar main)
5.) Well- or Terrormancer Necro
6.) Condi or hybrid Guard
7.) Warr. (still need to get his behind to level 80 …)

(Basically; after running Mesmer for so kitten long, I’ve developed a love for running the ‘wierd’ class-specs. Sure, I’ll go more “meta” for dungeons, but the fun of experimentation is what keeps me logging back in. Otherwise, my usual preference in (MMO)RPGs is caster or tricky/acrobatic characters.)

redux.1502:

7. Ranger: I despise pet classes, and really just don’t like anything the Ranger has to offer besides mainland Sword. And even then, that weapon isn’t for everybody. I guess spirits are cool? Not very fun in group play (with little to offer in dungeons).

-Juxt

Not to troll, but I think its ironic that you hate ranger for being a pet class, but like mesmer… which is even worse of a pet class imo, although prettier and more graceful doing it?

And ranger offers plenty in dungeons. After the next patch it’ll have roughly 10% more DPS, and everyone loves a good frostspotter. Plus everyone always forgets about axe 5, which is a handy extra reflect in situations where 100% reflect uptime is needed.

Behind Mesmer.. Staff Ele because I can play a legitimate healer and their staff attacks are boss.

Everything else is .. Meh.

nearlight.3064:

redux.1502:

7. Ranger: I despise pet classes, and really just don’t like anything the Ranger has to offer besides mainland Sword. And even then, that weapon isn’t for everybody. I guess spirits are cool? Not very fun in group play (with little to offer in dungeons).

-Juxt

Not to troll, but I think its ironic that you hate ranger for being a pet class, but like mesmer… which is even worse of a pet class imo, although prettier and more graceful doing it?

And ranger offers plenty in dungeons. After the next patch it’ll have roughly 10% more DPS, and everyone loves a good frostspotter. Plus everyone always forgets about axe 5, which is a handy extra reflect in situations where 100% reflect uptime is needed.

But I don’t really classify clones/phantasms as pets for the Mesmer in this game. If you ever played WoW, I just think of them like Shadow Orbs for Shadow Priests. Charges that can be useful, but are mostly (by me) used to power up/activate certain key abilities.

redux.1502:

nearlight.3064:

redux.1502:

7. Ranger: I despise pet classes, and really just don’t like anything the Ranger has to offer besides mainland Sword. And even then, that weapon isn’t for everybody. I guess spirits are cool? Not very fun in group play (with little to offer in dungeons).

-Juxt

Not to troll, but I think its ironic that you hate ranger for being a pet class, but like mesmer… which is even worse of a pet class imo, although prettier and more graceful doing it?

And ranger offers plenty in dungeons. After the next patch it’ll have roughly 10% more DPS, and everyone loves a good frostspotter. Plus everyone always forgets about axe 5, which is a handy extra reflect in situations where 100% reflect uptime is needed.

But I don’t really classify clones/phantasms as pets for the Mesmer in this game. If you ever played WoW, I just think of them like Shadow Orbs for Shadow Priests. Charges that can be useful, but are mostly (by me) used to power up/activate certain key abilities.

I understand that logic. And lol I layed WoW until the free trial ran out when I was 12!

To me though, illusions are the only way a mesmer can really do damage or survive. Whereas the ranger is more self sufficient at doing damage and survivng without his pet, although, both phantasms and ranger pets are nullified for the most part by AoE spam I’m afraid

1- Mesmer. Despite my necro being my main, I simply find mesmer being more “fun”. Flashy skills, ability to stealth (nearly) at will, and illusion spawning are all interesting. For me, as cliched as it is, the concept of using a melee weapon as a caster’s focus (greatsword) is especially appealing— it’s a welcome breath of fresh air to me. Also there’s nothing quite as entertaining as watching a target start attacking a clone instead of you.

2- (close behind) Necromancer. GW2’s Death Shroud is an intriguing interpretation of the Soul Reaping line which was unique to necromancers in GW1, in that you’re harvesting the dying moments of everything around you for your own use. The concept of being a melee caster is a neat concept to me, and the melee weapon/caster’s focus idea applies here as well (axe). What’s most fun about being a necromancer for me is being able to turn my opponent’s advantage into his weakness (Consume Conditions, Well of Power, Corrupt Boon/Well of Corruption).

3- Elementalist. It’s flashy like a mesmer in its own right, but there’s that primal nature of being attenuated to the elements which is appealing. While it is fun being able to swap attunements on the fly (as opposed to committing to one in GW1), having to do so gets old quickly for me. In addition, where as the ele’s predecessor would be able to fulfill support or damage roles from any element, GW2’s elementalist seems to have its roles furrowed into certain elements: fire & earth for damage, air & water for support (generally speaking).

4- Guardian. For me, it hits that perfect mix of smiting monk from GW1 and retribution paladin from WoW that other MMO. What makes this profession fun for me is it’s relative simplicity: you’re not going to stack a ton of conditions on your target and you’re not exactly stacking a lot of boons, either. In my experience as a guardian, liberal applications of burning and retaliation have been rather enjoyable.

5- Ranger. Now it starts going downhill. I really enjoy the addition of melee weapons to the ranger’s weapon inventory from its GW1 counterpart (aside from playing an R/A dagger ranger, there wasn’t much of a choice back then). Sword & greatsword are fairly fun and add an “it’s personal now” aspect to combat when you swap to them, but thats where the fun ends for me. Pet micromanagement and the sheer number of pets available turned me off from this class after playing it a while.

6- Thief. Obnoxious amounts of mobility and the initiative system just don’t appeal to me. As for the former, while having the mobility is always a plus, I tend to be more of a “stand and fight” type of person. Having to jump in and out of combat just to be effective isn’t fun for me. In addition, it seems GW2 has enough thieves running around anyways.

7- Warrior. You run to target, you hit it, it dies. Rinse, repeat. While it supports the stand and fight mentality as before, it’s too bleating simple. Just like the thief, I believe there are too many warriors running around as well.

8- Engineer. I’m probably going to catch hell for this, but I can’t stand engineers. The weapon kits, elixirs, turrets and other goodies the engineer has are all great on their own in my opinion, and any one of those would’ve made an excellent core mechanic for a class. Being able to do them all just cheapens it for me. It makes the engineer appear to do virtually everything in the game, and while all professions are supposed to be self-reliant, the engineer just seems to be “more so” than the others.

1) Mesmer (shatter)
2) Ranger (Both Power and Condi regen)I just like all the on demand evades.
3) Glass Staff ele
4) S/D thief. (S/P and D/D can also be a good time)
5) Well Powermancer
6) Engi (2 or 3 kit, Power)
7, 8.) Logging off.

Like a lot of us I recently put my mesmer away and tried a couple of other classes. I could not be happier with my thief. I will go so far as to say that anything a mesmer can do (except portal obviously), a thief can do better.

The variety of builds available is pure joy. I can go noob perma stealth, condi or power, and there are possibilities for lockdown that must drive warriors nuts.

The combination of stealth up time and mobility means my survivability on my thief is almost troll level. I can actually outrun most zergs. I should have made this change sooner, rather than put up with all the nerfs and bugs in the mesmer class.

1. Mesmer – of course. Best class of them all in terms of fun.
2. Necro – Prior to GW2, I was a necro at heart (still am a bit). Well-bombing is especially nice. I don’t care for the pets. I always play mine without them.
3. Guardian – I love melee that uses magic.

…every other class seems dull, but the worst is Ele. Total yawnfest of a class (for me).

Besides my mesmer, I play:

DS Necro: At least in my eyes the most fun way to play open world, feels greatly OP compared to mesmer.

D/D Ele: If I need some distraction I tend to play the ele. Completely different playstyle, still very active.

All other classes just bore me to death.