[Survey] What's the class with the worst reputation and why?

Something that's been bothering me for a long time...I recently got another idea for a character again. I have all the backstory stuff, designs, trivia etc. already done and concepted in my mind but there's a problem. I still don't know which class to give it. Allthough I play every profession already in multiple variations as I have 35+ characters which of course ends up in having multiples of a class I'm a very anxious and paranoid player who always tries to apply to the meta and what classes are wanted even if I rarely participate in group content like raids (Last time I raided was before wing 2 came out which was when my original group bisbanded and later completely abandoned the game).So I'd consider myself solo most of the time as my current guild isn't as active as supposed to be and the few friends I have either become inactive for half a year or don't come back at all. I'm always afraid people could judge me based on the profession of the current character and I hate it. And trust me, I've been playing for years and know everything that I do very well. As for myself the enjoyment I had with the game once is gone for quite a long time now ever since HoT and raids came and I'm a bit sad that I can't play how I enjoy it the most. Hell, I can't even use certain skins which actually fit the character and their backstory but being forced to use all the flashy, shiny legendary stuff just to show off that I'm a veteran like everyone else does. It bothers me and makes me very sad for some reason what this game had become. My current three mained classes (Yes, three because I like diversity and because these are the three I'm unbeatable with) are one of each armor tier even though it can sometimes vary depending on which I use the most at certain moments or how I feel about it.These are Guardian (even if I also tend to play a lot of Warrior but I like the mechanics for guards more most of the times. Warrior is the main I always use in WvW for example if Guardians are no problems atm in the squad which tends to happen rarely and only at certain hours), ~~Ranger ~~ (Or Druid as I'd say simply because of the healing abillity and because it's the one I've used in raids mostly. I love to heal and help out my teammates no matter what game) and Necromancer (even if Mesmer seems to replace necro soon. I just love the whole theme for the class and I've always been either a tank, healer or necromancer in games).
The problem that I have is beeing labeled only because of my choices which makes creating new characters dreadful.So this is why I made this post: Simply to express my concerns and to get insight of the community's opinions. And maybe to gain some confidence from some.

I could have made this a poll but I don't feel comfortable with this as I'd see it more like a discussion and as an exchange between people.

Thank you for your time. Have a nice day/evening.

Most of the horror story you wrote is just you. I do master tier fractals on my reaper/scourge just fine. He may be full legendary armor geared, but it's fully skinned to look tribal. No one knows what i'm actually using, and i never had ppl demand a gearcheck from me in fractals.

He's my main and i do open world, fractals, spvp on him. I'm hugely offmeta and don't give a flying you-know-what about what people expect. Got a brain of my own and i do things (successfully) my way!

The reason you're feeling your fun is sapped is because you're trying to be what they want you to be, instead of what you wanna be. I can't count how many fractals i've cleared beacuse i middle fingered meta builds and used crusader necro to provide my team with a ressing tank. If i was running pure zerk i'd be downed with rest of them.

Or when i go swamp fractal slotting flesh wurm and spectral walk works wonders. Heck i can even get my necro to be chill immune, or at least vastly resistant to chills and cripples.

The fun and experimentation are there. They are just waiting for your to use your own brain instead of constantly installin bs you think others expect you to.So stop being afraid, get to understand that this is your game, to be played your way and start being awesome!

@ZeftheWicked.3076 said:Most of the horror story you wrote is just you. I do master tier fractals on my reaper/scourge just fine. He may be full legendary armor geared, but it's fully skinned to look tribal. No one knows what i'm actually using, and i never had ppl demand a gearcheck from me in fractals.

He's my main and i do open world, fractals, spvp on him. I'm hugely offmeta and don't give a flying you-know-what about what people expect. Got a brain of my own and i do things (successfully) my way!

The reason you're feeling your fun is sapped is because you're trying to be what they want you to be, instead of what you wanna be. I can't count how many fractals i've cleared beacuse i middle fingered meta builds and used crusader necro to provide my team with a ressing tank. If i was running pure zerk i'd be downed with rest of them.

Or when i go swamp fractal slotting flesh wurm and spectral walk works wonders. Heck i can even get my necro to be chill immune, or at least vastly resistant to chills and cripples.

The fun and experimentation are there. They are just waiting for your to use your own brain instead of constantly installin bs you think others expect you to.So stop being afraid, get to understand that this is your game, to be played your way and start being awesome!

wanna put out there that you've got to know your class if you want to do this.

Who are you trying to impress? As far as I noticed you are mostly doing solo content anyway, so both optical and skill choices do not really matter. For group content, raiding in particular, there are special rules to prove that you are experienced. If you want to dress like a pink fluffy rabbit, just go for it. And skill wise ... we do not have to play the meta. It is the most efficient way of playing a certain class under certain circumstances IF you manage to do the rotations exactly as required and stay alive and your party is made of the exact classes and they also work like 100 % machines. Then it works as it should. Other methods do exist. Most groups do not really care if you play 100% meta or not, stay alive and deal enough damage = know your class. And that does not seem to be your problem anyway.

The visuals say nothing about the player behind the character-image. A lot of stuff can be purchased, including raid-runs. LI and KPs can also be acquired with little to no skill, if your pocket has the correct size. And making money is a joke here. The amount of skill required to farm SW is ridiculous, but enough to afford everything that can be bought with gold. If you want to be seen as an experienced player, act like one. Veterans should be relaxed, with enough distance to the game to not take everything 100 % blood-seriously. If you know your classes as good as you claim, there should not be a real problem to perform well with any build. No one expects peak performance. There are a few toxic jerks that measure damage with a calculator and a magnifying glass, but the rest just wants to have fun and get the dailies done.

Sometimes I feel a little weird to point it out, especially to Veteran player, but: Guildwars 2 is a game. The purpose of all this is to come here when we are done with our RL tasks, have fun with like-minded people and enjoy traveling around a fantasy-world. Creating a character of your personal likes is big part of it, dressing and gearing it to meet your personal requirements is intended. It would be horribly boring if all Veterans would have to dress with their legendary armors, just to show off their skill. It would be a huge problem for me, because I do not own one. I started working on it recently, but according to my calculations ... June 2023 ^^ - if the servers are still running and nothing in my Life drastically changes.

Sometimes we get discussions on the forums and ingame about Account Value. One of the most stupid things you can guess, but people seem to care about that. The Account Value is an imaginary stat calculated by GW2 efficiency. My account is almost 6 years old, thousands of hours of playtime, but I have a value of ~ 30,800 gold. That is horribly low for a Veteran. I do not like farming. I've spent hundreds of hours in Jumping Puzzles and exploring, while others farmed the hell out of SW, Tarir and Istan.

Numbers do not say anything. Fancy gear does not say anything either. Just pick a class you like, gear it like you want and dress it as you feel comfortable. Play it. Have fun and just enjoy the game. If you run into an obstacle, you can still adapt to the situation. As a Veteran player you will do that anyway. There is no need to predict everything, or fit to any other player viewpoints. Life is too short to be anxious about everything and everyone. There are jerks out there, but the biggest part of the community are normal people like you and me.