Can't figure out what class to play

I'm kind of a returning player. I've played the game a few times before, but never REALLY got into it. I'm really looking forward to it this time though, and I just bought both expansions. So I have two boosts and I can't decide what classes to use them on.

I was thinking elementalist, but I keep seeing conflicting information on each class. At first I was reading that ele performed really well and was really desired, but now it seems I'm only finding things that say it's really difficult and underperforming.

Basically I want to do PvE as well as PvP, but I don't want a class that's insanely difficult with meh rewards for it. I've been looking at ele, thief, and necro the most, but I'm definitely open for any suggestions. Thanks!

Alright so: DON'T USE THE BOOSTS. At least not yet. Please, do yourself a favour and learn how to play your chosen class before you boost. There have been a ton of newish players who used the boosts, quickly got overwhelmed by all the skills and traits, entered HoT areas and got eaten alive by the mobs there and then quit the game and never came back. Expansion content, especially HoT, is MUCH harder than Core Tyria. Boosts are nice when you are a veteran, already know how most things work and just want to try out some builds without the hassle of leveling.

Seriously, this game is pretty bad at introducing you to high level concepts such as break bars and what do stats actually do. Pick a class, get it to level 80 by hand, don't rush, enjoy! If you really feel the need to skip a few levels and if you have any of your old characters they probably got birthday gifts. These gifts include experience scrolls which get you to higher levels and let you skip the most introductory phase of the game (seriously, at this point I can't imagine starting a new character without at least level 20 scroll, first levels have way too many mechanics locked out) and celebration boosters which can speed up your leveling. Right now there is also the Halloween event running, which means Mad King's Labyrinth, which means a good opportunity to power level. I still don't recommend using just these ways to get to 80 because you still won't learn much, but it's better than the boost.

Also the gear you get from the boost is kinda crap.

And now, the class. Honestly, you probably should just try out a few of them and decide what you enjoy the most. Different classes for different people - some people love Guardians and swear by Warriors, I hate them both and mostly play Mesmers and Thieves.So my opinion (obviously biased):Mesmers are very fun, good at PvP, Chronomancers (HoT elite spec) are the backbone of every raid (very expensive to gear tho and have one of the hardest rotations in the game). Mirage (PoF spec) is good in the open world and it's a decent condi dps spec. Leveling a mesmer from scratch is a bit of a pain due to their relative lack of AoE and cleave and focus on single target damage, but they are still my favourite class. Pink butterflies ftw!Thieves are a nice jack-of-all-trades type of deal. They are valued in most situations, especially Daredevils (HoT elite spec). They are great for solo exploration due to their mobility, although they are very squishy and you have to be on your guard constantly. With a thief you're going to be jumping all over the place and feeling good about it. Daredevil also has a very easy damage rotation for endgame content and is easy to gear (it uses power gear which is easy to acquire).Eles are mostly the glass cannon archetype - lots of damage, die easily. Their specs and weapons support most playstyles, they even have a way to be dedicated healers in raids (although that spot is usually taken by Druids (HoT ranger spec)). They definitely have a bit of a learning curve to them, but if you take your time to master them they can be amazing.Necro... necro is in a bit of a difficult spot right now. It's a great class for solo play, very survivable and fun, but currently not useful in endgame group content due to nerfed damage and lack of utility. It's fun, just at the moment not super useful. New balance patch is coming soon though, so if you want to try necro go for it, it might be in a better spot in a few days!(Also if you're in EU feel free to message me, I'm not a pro player but I'll help wherever I can)

Hey!

To be fair, there is not really a suggestion on which class you should Play, because every Person individually considers some classes fun - some not, and vice versa. I can tell you simply what I enjoy, and why. But I had to figure it out myself too, by trying several classes until I found what I enjoy most.

I started to Play as a mesmer, and it is up till now my main, I didn't use a boost back then but did map exploration, lvling, up till 80 with a friend. I'd suggest you to do that as well, because it really makes a difference when you played a class a certain amount of time and get used to it. Mesmer is also used in Fractals/Raids and it is therefor the class I also use in that content, cause firstly I am most confident on my main character, and secondly it's meta.

For WvW I have a Guardian which I created a few weeks back and was trying out until I actually got the hang of it and enjoyed it. Asking people or friends / guildies for suggestions on builds which I then tried out and chose what I considered most fun, was what I did.

But then I have a few other classes which I Play from time to time in PVE open world, but not too much because I consider the survival Kind of hard, and it would take me practice and getting used to it until I could walk around in pve content without constantly getting knocked down and killed. (Elementalist/Thief) but after all it's all something you can practice, you gotta try out and see what you enjoy most!

Elementalist is really nice for PvE and WvW but in my opinion, way too fragile for PvP.If you don't use boosts and just level the old-fashioned way to 80 you will learn your class and get the time to try the different weapons. Ele is a fairly versatile class with both good ranged as close combat options. The major drawback is its survivability. Ele is the most squishy class. This can be somewhat mitigated by using Celestial stats which boost your armor and healing power at the cost of some DPS. Using celestial I tend to survive well during battles with legendaries and champions in PvE while I rez many others who apparently did not survive. (Not just Ellies die here :p)

I play scepter/dagger which is fairly uncommon but I found this a good compromise between the safety of ranged combat (staff) and the quickness of dagger/dagger close combat. When needed I can equip a staff to nuke arrow staff on tower walls in WvW.

PvP has been a valley of tears to me, because lack of survivability in combination with my mediocre responsiveness to sudden attacks. For some reason that only Dwayna knows, I still play it.

My apologies guys, I completely forgot to check back up on this post haha.

Just an update: I did end up boosting my ele after doing tons of research, asking guildies, and playing for a while at 80. And I'm absolutely loving it. I've beaten PoF now, started HoT to get the glider and stuff. Probably gonna go back and finish my personal story now.

I've decided I'm gonna start leveling a thief now just to help me get used to the aspects of the game that I missed from boosting. I really appreciate the advice you guys gave, so thank you. And I've gotta say, I'm absolutely loving the game. I'm beyond addicted. I kept quitting because I was getting bored of leveling, so I think boosting one character was the right decision for me. Now that I've seen endgame and everything, I'm really motivated to go back and level other classes. They all seem so fun.

Again, thanks a bunch guys!