Learning curve of classes

Hi all

I'm pretty new to the game and currently at the point where I am looking for one class that can be used in all content (PvP/PvE/WvWvW). Just so I can get used to 1 specific class.Been looking at metabattle/forums and the qtfy site for builds and what is in the current "meta", as I've read that playing one of these classes/specs will just make it alot easier to get into groups / ...

Now what I was wondering was, do you think playing mesmer as a first "Serious" character is a mistake as a friend of mine (Who's been playing this game for a long time already) is always discouraging me of picking f.e. Mesmer or Engi due to their higher skillcap / need of game knowledge.

Atm I'm in a pickle between Mesmer / Rev.

How would you guys advice new friends on the matter of choosing a class in GW2 ?

On a sidenote I think of myself as being quite a good player who loves to read up on his class/ get the most possible out of it (In World of Warcraft).Considering I'm completely new GW2 I still have alot to learn ofc.

Thanks in advance for all the insight.

• In open world PvE any class with almost any build is playable. This means you can pick whatever class and build you actually like to play and do not have to play it because it is currently meta
• If you start to look at PvE raids only top dps builds/classes or few very specific builds are welcomed
• I do not know anything about PvP
• In WvW it depends what you want to do. Solo or small group roamers have completely different classes, builds and playstyles then zergs or guild groups

Meta builds change little with every patch, sometimes, like releasing new expansion, they change a lot. Yet, lots of the meta builds rely on having fully ascended gear with exact stats, exact foods, trinkets etc. Every time something gets patched you could face another upgrade to your gear with cost of hundreds of gold. It is quite boring, and endless cycle.

2 classes that to me are very easy to play both in PvE and WvW, are Guardian and Necro. But this is mostly personal matter.

Rule of the thumb: anything works in pve.Raids: there is always those 1-2 classes that every group needs (e.g. mes). As far as raids go, i would check guides for raid encounter, meta changes a bit but usually it is tank + 1/2 healers and rest top deeps.WvW: anything works in zergs (but thieves, you will get kicked from groups if you join as one). Roamers: mes/thieves were always kings there.PvP: meta changes a lot. Today the class is OP, next day completely useless.

Now to learning curve (mind you, it is personal opinion and can be very biased):warriors: low skillfloor, low skillcap. Good pick in every game mode. It is a good "first" class for a new player and always a good investment to have one.guards: low skillfloor, low skillcap. Ok pick in pvp, must have in wvw, raids - not so much.rev: medium skillfloor, high skillcap. Pretty weak atm in pvp, not wanted in raids (last time i checked), ok in wvw.ele: medium skillfloor, medium-high skillcap. Almost always wanted in all three modes.engi: high skillfloor, high skillcap. Pvp ok, wvw/pve ok/not so much.mes: high skillfloor, high skillcap. WvW: meh; pve - must have; pvp - if you are good, everyone wants you. If you are bad/mediocre = you are a dead weight.Necro: low skillfloor, low skillcap. WvW: much needed, pve: depends on meta; pvp: atm still OP but everyone wants you dead very fast otherwise you eat entire team for breakfast.Ranger: low skillfloor, medium skillcap. WvW: meh; pve: yeah ppl want you; pvp: decent pick.Thief: high skillfloor, high skillcap. WvW: can only roam, zergs will kick you. PvE: depends on meta, there are better dps - you bring nothing to group. PvP: godly thieves are wanted, everyone else should not even bother logging in (according to pvp community). DO NOT play thief if you can't handle constant verbal harassment (especially in pvp/wvw) - a lot of players hate the class for various reasons.

I am going to preemptively disagree with any other posts like the above that try to list skill ceilings. There are some classes that are definitely easier to play if you want to play them in a brain dead manner, but the skill ceiling is nearly unlimited on all of them.

One of the best examples of this is necro, which is widely regarded as one of the simplest classes, and yet one of the best pvp players in the game mains it and runs circles around the "higher skill ceiling" opponents.

Basically play what you want and if an occasion arises where that no longer works, like raids, make an alt.

I think the best thing you can do is to jump into PvP with a custom build because of the following

1. You are instantly lvl 80 and get access to all skills and traits
2. The games are fast and fast paces so you learn your profession mechanics and weapons very quickly
3. When you start playing around with builds you familiarize yourself with the profession and know what will work and what will not
4. It is so much fun and reward tracks are also great for tomes of knowledge to stack up until you pick your class and then can start it off with a few levels
5. You will familiarize yourself with boons, conditions, and most importantly combos(combo fields and finishers) which new players never really figure out until late levels

It depends a bit on who you ask and what sort of answer you want to hear. The common opinion spread over the past years was"play what you like, every class is easy and works fine"This answer is nice and encourages new players to play as they want. I absolutely agree with that statement and I can repeat it for another 4 years.

However things change over the years. The newbies of today first check metabattle and qtfy or get directed there long before they even have a clue what they like to play. They have a solid idea of what they want to achieve in the game. Big group of them is still from WoW, so raiding is on many wishlists. When these players ask for guidance, they do not care about our old beleive in a perfect world, where every class serves its purpose. They want an exact answer to an exact question. The more frustrated they are, when they get the same "useless" answer over and over. Imagine you are at the station, asking a random for the time and get an answer like this _"Time is something valuable, you should spend with things you do enjoy." _That is true, but does not help.

When I come across next-gen newbies, I usually give the oldfashioned stereotype answer as well, but also add the exact answer they are looking for. So in our case here:"Play what you like to play. There is no difficult class in this game. Just some require a little more attention in the beginning, but nothing is impossible or only designed for skilled people."

And:Personally I do not recommend to start with Mesmer, Elementalist, Revenant and Engineer as first class to play. They are all fun to play, but their core mechanics appear to be strange and confusing at first. With some experience gained from other classes, it is way easier to get started with them. If you want to look for a decent class to start with, try Warrior or Guardian for closer range combat, or Ranger for distance combat. If you have already made your choice with one of the others, make sure to find a mentor. A person who is highly experienced in that class and can help you with getting arround and explain how the mechanics work - in simple words.

I mained thief and necro but I did the whole shadow stepping dodges on thief. I got good at kiting.

Necro was easier as it was just spam minions and wait for reaper shroud.

Now I'm moving more towards mesmer because I love portals lol so I'm learning mesmer from my friend who got to plat on mesmer

@Fluffball.8307 said:I am going to preemptively disagree with any other posts like the above that try to list skill ceilings. There are some classes that are definitely easier to play if you want to play them in a brain dead manner, but the skill ceiling is nearly unlimited on all of them.

One of the best examples of this is necro, which is widely regarded as one of the simplest classes, and yet one of the best pvp players in the game mains it and runs circles around the "higher skill ceiling" opponents.

Basically play what you want and if an occasion arises where that no longer works, like raids, make an alt.

Lol best post here. I'm glad I didn't gear up necro for raids

@Cynz.9437 said:

WvW: anything works in zergs (but thieves, you will get kicked from groups if you join as one).

Thief: high skillfloor, high skillcap. WvW: can only roam, zergs will kick you.

What? You know Thief can be played as very low skilfloor/skillcap too, depends on your build and weapons: It's not all about d/p or s/d Thieves. There are builds super easy to learn: D/D condi, P/P Power (probably the easiest to learn weapon set in the game), Staff is also not hard at all and finally, why would anyone want to kick a Thief from WvW zerg? I have never been kicked as d/d + SB condi thief. Also Rifle is a must have in any zerg.Just reminds you that Thief is not only d/p or s/d :)

To op: it's not the class, it's the weapon/build choice that makes class hard or easy. But there are some classes with more base health like Necromancer and Warrior which allows you to make more mistakes.The only 2 classes which are super hard to learn (read not begginer friendly) are Elementalist and Engineer. No matter what weapon you go for as ele you always need to put so much effort in it. For example: lets take ele's Scepter, one of the hardest to master weapons in the game. If you want to do nearly as much dmg as p/p Thief which only needs to spam #3, you need to put in 500000% more effort to make it work. It's not worth it.

Thanks for all these helpfull answers guys, I took the oldschool advise and went with a revenant even thought it might be harder than other classes I just really love the way they play :)

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@Jebza.5627 said:Thanks for all these helpfull answers guys, I took the oldschool advise and went with a revenant even thought it might be harder than other classes I just really love the way they play :)

There ya go. To be honest, this game is pretty alt-friendly anyway. I started the game focusing hard on Mesmer, back in the early game when nobody actually liked or wanted Mesmer around. In the five years since, I’ve slowly gone through and leveled at least one of every class in the game. Eventually I may care enough about maxxx statzzz to bother wasting lots of time and money on crafting, but right now my in-game goal is to unlock the griffin as well as new spec skill for every one of my characters, as well as continue to slowly upgrade my private guild base.

@Fluffball.8307 said:1111111111111111111111111111111111111111111

Good suggestion. If you want to do this play daredevil thief.

@Sifu.9745 said:

@Cynz.9437 said:

WvW: anything works in zergs (but thieves, you will get kicked from groups if you join as one).

Thief: high skillfloor, high skillcap. WvW: can only roam, zergs will kick you.

Just because it doesn't happen to you, doesn't mean it doesn't happen in general. On my server it is a rule to kick thieves from zerg - waste of spot supposedly.Surely d/d and p/p are rather braindead but i can find even more braindead builds on other classes. Point was, thief is not exactly noob friendly.And as i said it is personal opinion based on my experience. Btw, i don't find ele THAT hard to learn. Ele/engi in raids is definition of "put blanket on keyboard and roll your face over and over".

@Cynz.9437 said:rev: medium skillfloor, high skillcap. Pretty weak atm in pvp, not wanted in raids (last time i checked), ok in wvw.

Renegade Rev is meta for condi bosses.