M/S Guard or Sw/Sh chronomancer if you want to run with the zerg. The guard qualifies for everything you said except the sword part. The chrono is skill-intensive and can be a game-changer, but doesn’t fit in much stylistically.
Otherwise you’re pretty restricted to roaming/small-scale. Sw/Sh rev and chrono are good for this, but you’re better off playing them both as damage dealers with some degree of supportive elements.
I’m gonna second this. Give Mace/Shield Guardian a look.
Sounds like a plan. Resist the urge to follow guides/tips initially, and as someone else said just follow your nose.
A surefire way to take the fun out of a game real fast is to start by following a guide. Once you’re at a point where you’re trying to maximize builds, craft a certain item, figure out how to get to that last vista then I would say to delve into guides (google is your friend).
One tip I will give you is that you can type “/wiki ______” in the chat box in game to look anything up.
Having been a Disc Priest main myself for quite some time I would say neither. The GW2 equivalent of how I remember Disc Priest play style (mostly spamming PW: Shield in my day (stopped playing shortly after Cata)) would be to put out the most mitigation in the form of Protection, Aegis, Blocks, Reflects, etc. possible with some healing on the side. That would lead me to suggest Guardian with Mace+Shield and Hammer/Staff.
This probably goes without saying, but if you know which WvW server you would like to be on for any reason (e.g. IRL friends) play there from the start to avoid having to transfer later.
I’m pretty sure Zerker Greatsword/Hammer Warrior(Berserker) is meta in WvW.
I’ve seen a few more people playing Necro(Reaper) with GS lately, but if I remember correctly people shied away from it because it’s a rather slow weapon.
If you want more burst at the cost of utility you could swap out Staff for GS in the standard Mesmer(Chrono) build.
A few simple things:
Stop playing a while before you need to get to sleep (1hr+).
Reduce the blue light (especially after sunset) with a program like f.lux.
Take off-screen breaks.
I would say something along the lines of the build Jerus posted is more of where you probably want to be with your build than your current setup.
As for killing your bad habit of clicking step 1 is to unbind keyboard turning and use M1+M2 togather as Jerus said. Step 2 is going to be a process. You need to rebind keys so that you can function most efficiently. I took a pretty minimal approach (only rebinding 6-0 to Q, Z, X, C, E) keeping the base layout and only rebinding the worst offenders.
GW2 combat system is based on 3 combat mechanics: Damage/Control/Support.
Every class has the responsibility to deal Damage while taking Control and Supporting themselves when they need too during actual combat. During group plays you need to coordinate Control with your team while Supporting each other as you contribute in dealing Damage while Moving and Dodging from incoming attack. The lack of trinity is what I like about this game. If you miss Tanking, you should play another game with a Tank class and come back to GW2 whenever you want to play something different again.
=) Good luck.
/This
Whoever’s complaining about lack of a traditional MMO trinity in GW2 is playing the wrong game.
I loved playing the support/healer role (and the occasional tank) in traditional MMOs as well, but this is not one of those games. And I don’t miss it while playing GW2 because it’s not something I feel is missing.
Those 4 stat sets can be used in any power build with the weapons and trinkets defining the build overall.
Soldier’s is good as well for roaming in WvW. Like a double melee bruiser build.
How would you build a double melee bruiser these days?
I haven’t really touched my Ranger since HoT, but I used to play a GS + A/A build (mostly zerk/cav) with WS/NM/SK and TU/SotH/SotW/LR/SotP in WvW back then. It worked pretty well for solo and small scale roaming (we never really hard zergs on BLs in T8). Haven’t unlocked Druid yet since I blew a lot of Proofs oh Heroics on unlocking two other elites plus two sets of Durability runes. I really liked the playstyle, but I’m having a hard time replicating due to trait changes since I last played it.
I’m biased since I had an Engineer main from day one. I also mainly play WvW. That being said it took me 3 separate attempts to level a Guardian past 35 or so. I finally powered through to see what all the hubbub is about. I played a few different builds then went back to my Engineer after the newness wore off.
Revenant and Guardian both have their places in all game modes if I’m not mistaken (and I may very well be). If you had more specific questions I (and hopefully others) would be glad to answer them, but if your question is simply “Guard or Rev?” then I’m going to stand by my original response.
OK, thanks! I looked at my account and it appears I do have Heart of Thorns. How hard would it be for someone with my issues to get to level 80 on Engi? Someone asked for more specifics on my limitations. Basically, I have slow reaction times which limits dodging, and I have trouble moving and attacking at the same time. I understand that I will be limited in what PvE content I can do. I don’t PvP at all.
You should be able to get by alright with a tanky Bomb/Flamethrower Engineer, and graduate to Scrapper (w/ Hammer) if you like.
As for trouble with moving and attacking at the same time you could experiment with using the mouse to move more than keys if you haven’t already. And possibly using the double-tap to dodge option instead of having dodge on a separate key.
You shouldn’t have too much trouble completing story quests with any profession. Pick one that you like thematically and mechanically so you’re less likely to get bored playing an “easy” profession.
There have been a number of threads like this over the years. I’m not going to suggest anyone attempt to search for those threads, but maybe give us a little more info on what your specific needs are.
Is it mostly reaction time? (not being able to dodge in time)
Or perhaps dexterity? (movement + skills + dodgning)
Would having double-tarp to dodge be an option?
Do you prefer to sit at range and pew pew, or is mid/close range preferred?
Are ground targeted abilities off the table?
Would you prefer mostly targeted abilities?
Would you like a cleaving/free-cast autoattack?
Any additional info would go a long way especially with the Elites now changing the way some professions play significantly (e.g. Necro/Reaper) on top of just adding more options.
You could try and run something like this for roaming, but with resistance and boon share being a thing now I’d hesitate to bring a condition build to a zerg. Haven’t ran any Condi builds on any of my toons recently, so maybe someone else has a better insight on how they play on a zerg.
So I am going to suggest a different route, get really good at one, decent at one or two others, and some understanding of all the rest. Just pick your favorite and don’t try to get too hung up on what the professions can do.
I main an Engineer so I’m biased, but I’d have to say Engineer. Especially since you like a learning curve.
I have an 80 of each prof aside from Mesmer. I’ve taken plenty of breaks to play other professions, but I always come back to Engi. That’s the trick to keeping it fresh. Take a break and play something else for a while when you think you might be getting bored or burned out.
So main that Engi, but don’t completely stop playing or worse delete those other toons.
W = forward
A = strafe left
S = back
D = strafe right
Q = heal
E = elite
1-5 = weapon skills
Z, X, C = utilities
V = dodge
F1-F5 = profession
~ = weapon swap
M3 (scroll wheel click) = stow weapon
M4 (rear side-button) = run toggle
M5 (front side button) = target nearest enemy
R = about face
F = interact
T = target target
CTRL-T = assign target
Space = jump
I really should map something reasonable to “look behind”.
The alternative is, if it were to revert back to an auto-target, the projectile must be changed to a free-air projectile rather than traveling on the ground. In trade for losing directional control, the gain would be doing things such as pulling enemies from the top of keeps and cliffs.
Also what is it about swapping weapons and using your profession mechanic (F1-F5) that you have such an aversion to? You’re intentionally not using a significant portion of your abilities.
Edit: You don’t need an MMO mouse or a gamepad. Just a reconfiguration of keybinds.
I see in the build posted you’re running LB and SB. Do you have a preference? I ask because SB is a hybrid/condition weapon (you never mention LB in your narrative) and you have traps slotted with the trap trait. If you’re running Berserkers gear then you’re not getting your money’s worth out of SB or Flame Trap.
It should not be taking you “10 years” to kill anything with any profession. As for taking too much damage are you just standing there and eating damage (aside from red circles which you mentioned)? Are you using active defenses, e.g. block, evade, blind, weakness, protection, stealth, etc. and kiting when necessary?
You say you don’t like any professions but Ranger due to squishiness. You can build any profession as tanky or glassy as you want for the most part. What is it specifically that draws you to Ranger as not squishy? And why the hate on Greatsword? You get an evade on auto attack 3, heavy hit on #2, evade/leap/movement on #3, block/knock back/ranged cripple on #4, and hard CC on #5.
They have much more important things to be spending resources on like bugs, balance, etc., and I’d rather not have dev time taken away from important things because hitting stow weapon periodically is too much of an inconvenience for some people.
