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Old Player back - what do I play


Merlin.4058

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Thinking of coming back to this for a bit. Other MMOs are starting to get stale. But here comes the problem. What the heck to play?

This was something I never really settled on when I first played when it first came out. I tried a few classes but always found the leveling to be kinda 'eh'? I never really found it fun on most professions. Nerco was kinda dead around launch on it's abilities, and Warrior was fun just charging in and bashing things but also found out what I was destined for (Hello Banner slave). I eventually settled on Engineer which was fun with it's guns but I can't recall most abilities that I found fun other than the nade/bomb kit and that was mostly for WvW(Though I got it to level 60, wait I had a level 60 character?)

Now I'm weird. I'm not good at playing MMOs on a keyboard but at the same time don't want a profession that just kinda plays itself. And then there's the question of "What do you want to do?". I honestly don't know. I know nothing about Dungeons and Raids, Fractals is something entirely new that I don't recall. And I'm not skilled enough with the controlls to be little more than part of the Zerg when it comes to PVP.

Ideas on what to play or maybe Guild Wars 2 just isn't for me.

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Leveling to 80 is a small part of the game, since most content requires you to be level 80. With expansions, you dont get elite specs until 80 so think of leveling up as the intro to the game. All professions can have very active, fun playstyles, but if you are looking for something easy to get into i would recommend ranger, warrior, guardian, or necro. Most content released in the last few years has been casual open world and solo pve. Dungeons and low level fractals arent very difficult and are easy to try out. Dont worry about raids yet. If you really want to do wvw, guardian and necro are very strong in squad play. Ranger is fine for anything casual/solo, but some squads dont like having rangers in their group.

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My money would be on soulbeast if you were planning on buying the expansions. Rangers don't have to be played with a bow. You can keep a long bow in one hand and a great sword in the other while leveling and swap between them. Greatsword will give you your melee fix, and if you get into trouble, dodge away and use your bow. Best of both worlds.

Soul beasts do decent damage, they're able to buff, and they're just fun to play in general.

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@Merlin.4058 said:Thinking of coming back to this for a bit. Other MMOs are starting to get stale. But here comes the problem. What the heck to play?

This was something I never really settled on when I first played when it first came out. I tried a few classes but always found the leveling to be kinda 'eh'? I never really found it fun on most professions. Nerco was kinda dead around launch on it's abilities, and Warrior was fun just charging in and bashing things but also found out what I was destined for (Hello Banner slave). I eventually settled on Engineer which was fun with it's guns but I can't recall most abilities that I found fun other than the nade/bomb kit and that was mostly for WvW(Though I got it to level 60, wait I had a level 60 character?)

First off, don't look at endgame pve meta builds when you do not intend to participate in that content. By not intending to participate I am specifically refering to how you are describing yourself as unskilled for pvp ot with the controls. The fact that warriors might come along as bannerslaves for challenging group content is of absolute 0 consequence to you. Nor is any class which might be used as dedicated healers or supports. You will never enter this content.

Should you at any point be about to enter this content, you'd be far past the point where making another character and getting that character to 80 within minutes is possible.

What you should concern yourself with right now is this: which class do you enjoy or think you might enjoy while leveling and playing.

If you need recommendations on classes which are easier to manage and require less twitch reactions, then you should go with warrior, necromancer or ranger.

@Merlin.4058 said:Now I'm weird. I'm not good at playing MMOs on a keyboard but at the same time don't want a profession that just kinda plays itself. And then there's the question of "What do you want to do?". I honestly don't know. I know nothing about Dungeons and Raids, Fractals is something entirely new that I don't recall. And I'm not skilled enough with the controlls to be little more than part of the Zerg when it comes to PVP.

Ideas on what to play or maybe Guild Wars 2 just isn't for me.

No one can tell you what to do, that's something you kind of have to discover for yourself.

One approach some players take is leveling to 80 and playing through the entire story line as a start. That alone will take a very long time if you go through all of the original campaign, living world season 2, Heart of Thorns, living world season 3, Path of Fire and living world season 4.

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Two people brought this up;

I mean, if the trip up to level 80 isn't fun, why does it suddenly become fun when the difficulty and expatiation is ramped up? I'm not going to play all that time in a class that isn't fun to suddenly be told "Oh it's fun now if you know what you're doing with this high end build that you surely followed to the letter".

I want a Profession that's fun to play for the trip not the ending grind that I'm probably not going to stick around for.

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I find running meta events in Verdant Brink, Auric Basin and Tangled Depths a lot more fun than leveling was.

I think you're closing yourself off to a lot of options though. For example, thinking warrior is fun... until you find out people use them for banners in Fractales and Raids. So you decide against warrior - even though, let's face it, you were never going to seriously raid or run fractales in the first place.

So what was the point of dropping warrior over a playstyle you weren't even going to do anyway?

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@"Irensaga.6935" said:I find running meta events in Verdant Brink, Auric Basin and Tangled Depths a lot more fun than leveling was.

I think you're closing yourself off to a lot of options though. For example, thinking warrior is fun... until you find out people use them for banners in Fractales and Raids. So you decide against warrior - even though, let's face it, you were never going to seriously raid or run fractales in the first place.

So what was the point of dropping warrior over a playstyle you weren't even going to do anyway?

Because I don't want to get to that point, level up and gear up and do all that work, and get told "No you can't do this your build is going to ruin everything, get out you're wasting your and our time".

Do I want to do that content? I'm unsure, I've never tried it. But to be turned away from the word go the moment I get there is a a worry. Yes I would prefer a profession that's fun on the way there but if I'm instantly stonewalled into having to restart for a 'proper' build to do any of the end game at all, I'll ask what's the point of end game anyway? Like do I like warrior? I mean I did, I haven't kept up with the patch notes so I'm unsure how they do but they've always been the low end it seems, always "Play banner or get out". I don't want to be instantly locked out of content because of what I've played. Serious raider? No but I'd like to at least stick my head in to see how it compares to other games. Sure I have fun with Whatever Warrior I make but then I get to max level and told "Nope, this game isn't for you, go restart" where's the fun to be had then?

And don't tell me this doesn't happen or won't. I recall back in a year of launch it was "Full Power" meta or so, and even for dungeons it was "Full power or get out" from what I saw. Were they correct? Maybe, I tried one dungeon, only one, and we couldn't clear cause it was a mix of 'non meta builds'. But it took me so long to actually get a group to do a dungeon in the first place that I don't know if Dungeons are FUN for me.

Is Warrior fun to me? I'd have to play it again to figure that out. But if I'm required to play an unfun style just to actually get to TRY end game stuff, what's the point?

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@Merlin.4058 said:

@"Irensaga.6935" said:I find running meta events in Verdant Brink, Auric Basin and Tangled Depths a lot more fun than leveling was.

I think you're closing yourself off to a lot of options though. For example, thinking warrior is fun... until you find out people use them for banners in Fractales and Raids. So you decide against warrior - even though, let's face it, you were never going to seriously raid or run fractales in the first place.

So what was the point of dropping warrior over a playstyle you weren't even going to do anyway?

Because I don't want to get to that point, level up and gear up and do all that work, and get told "No you can't do this your build is going to ruin everything, get out you're wasting your and our time".

I think you are vastly overestimating what gearing up and leveling up means in this game. If you still have your original account and the characters, some of them should be hitting the 5th or 6th or even 7th year birthday by now. The 5th and 6th give level 50 and 60 scrolls respectively, which level a character immeridately to 50 or 60 (with other birthdays having similar scrolls).

Level up tomes are rewarded regularly (base 10 per month for loging in), crafting professions give levels too and some are rather cheap to level. Both expansions come with an instant level 80 boost. Regular leveling to 80 is also rather vast compared to pretty much every other MMORPG.

Berserker gear is dirt cheap as exotic on the trading post and makes for excellent damage gear for pve content.

That's why I said, by the time you decide to actually engage in any challenging content, getting gear and characters to 80 is a non issue if invested in the game. In order to be able to make that choice though, you actually have to start playing the game and enjoy it.

@Merlin.4058 said:Do I want to do that content? I'm unsure, I've never tried it. But to be turned away from the word go the moment I get there is a a worry. Yes I would prefer a profession that's fun on the way there but if I'm instantly stonewalled into having to restart for a 'proper' build to do any of the end game at all, I'll ask what's the point of end game anyway? Like do I like warrior? I mean I did, I haven't kept up with the patch notes so I'm unsure how they do but they've always been the low end it seems, always "Play banner or get out". I don't want to be instantly locked out of content because of what I've played. Serious raider? No but I'd like to at least stick my head in to see how it compares to other games. Sure I have fun with Whatever Warrior I make but then I get to max level and told "Nope, this game isn't for you, go restart" where's the fun to be had then?

And don't tell me this doesn't happen or won't. I recall back in a year of launch it was "Full Power" meta or so, and even for dungeons it was "Full power or get out" from what I saw. Were they correct? Maybe, I tried one dungeon, only one, and we couldn't clear cause it was a mix of 'non meta builds'. But it took me so long to actually get a group to do a dungeon in the first place that I don't know if Dungeons are FUN for me.

Is Warrior fun to me? I'd have to play it again to figure that out. But if I'm required to play an unfun style just to actually get to TRY end game stuff, what's the point?

I don't think you'll stick with the game with your approach. You are basically already thinking about how to divide up the cake when you haven't even shown up to the table.

If you really want to get invested properly and get the most out of the game:A.) play a class you enjoyB.) join a guildC.) stop worrying about things which are far at the horizon

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@"Merlin.4058" said:Two people brought this up;

I mean, if the trip up to level 80 isn't fun, why does it suddenly become fun when the difficulty and expatiation is ramped up? I'm not going to play all that time in a class that isn't fun to suddenly be told "Oh it's fun now if you know what you're doing with this high end build that you surely followed to the letter".

I want a Profession that's fun to play for the trip not the ending grind that I'm probably not going to stick around for.

Because elite specs can completely change the way you play a class. For example i hate playing core necro and core engi, but the reaper and holosmith elite specs are really fun and feel completely different to play. And as i said before, most content exists after you reach level 80. The leveling process shouldnt take too long. But really just play what you want. If you find a class fun right away then play that one.

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@"Merlin.4058" said:Two people brought this up;

I mean, if the trip up to level 80 isn't fun, why does it suddenly become fun when the difficulty and expatiation is ramped up? I'm not going to play all that time in a class that isn't fun to suddenly be told "Oh it's fun now if you know what you're doing with this high end build that you surely followed to the letter".

I want a Profession that's fun to play for the trip not the ending grind that I'm probably not going to stick around for.

You're operating on misconception. Most games tend to operates on a linear power progression, usually entirely vertical. Guildwars 1 and 2 is designed mostly around Tournament PvP, so the leveling process is incredibly fast, and power designed to plateau once you hit level 80 (which has NEVER been raised, nor the lvl 20 cap from the first game). The entire Core Content block for PvE was created as a way for players unwind between PvP competitive season, and used generate resources for WvW guilds. PvE was never its main focus, but intentionally made expansive and interesting enough to keep players busy either solo, or with guildmates. But one major benefit of how the loot system works, fosters an environment of general cooperation and a lot of Ad-Hoc grouping. This dismantled the problem of kill stealing, and actually benefits everyone when events scale up. Its these factors that ended up causing Open World PvE to explode in popularity, while Anet's Esports aspirations died on the vine due to how they managed it.

The reason I bring this up is because this explains the entire class system design premise, and the majority of its quarks in PvE specifically.

With the pre amble out of the way, the first thing you have to understand about classes and the Especs is that each are design around facilitating certain play styles FIRST, and role fulfillment Second. Core Specs (baseline class) have the capacity to fit any role a team might ask for, but their specific play styles are what create the massive performance gaps. Guardian and Elementalist had dominated the Pre-HOT metas because of how much built-in self sustain and group buffing they had baseline access to, giving them natural force multiplication. Engineer and Memser had strong group utility, but lacked the natural damage output of the above 2. While every other class had most of their power focused internally, but only averaged the same damage output with none of force multiplication, and huge variations in the level of self-sustain. Most classes had a niche they could excel in..... but Speed Dungeons and Open world farming was were the real money was being made. So while Thief could gank in PvP, and Rangers Pet-Tank in open world roaming, if you didn't have access to Front loaded AOE damage, you were severely under performing in the long run.

All of that can be attributed to how poorly PvE enemies perform, and the huge reliance on HP/Damage scaling to make them threatening. We know for a fact that the AI can support a hand full of "intelligent" behaviors- but were all canned in beta testing because play testers couldn't handle (and were getting frustrated with) enemies that moved around, made use of defensive skills, moved out of AOE damage, targeted support heavy players, and ran when getting their ass kicked. What was left is the brain dead AI behavior we have today, and is the foundation for a problem seen in nearly every other game where enemies are easy to bunch up and AOE to death.

Adding to the situation is the game's build system is heavily weighted on multiplicative power amplification, along with a number of steep mechanical advantages. Where this creates issues during leveling is the massively inconsistent value of individual skills, traits and stats, verses a fully synergistic build. The problem is that a lot of classes have their build defining traits in the Grandmaster tier, and requires at least 2 fully unlocked trait lines (along with complimenting utility skills) to have any form of cohesion. Without that, most classes perform extremely poorly, and immediately struggle at the difficulty spikes at lvl 35 and 60, with no clear external indicators as to whats happening. But the difficulty spike is only frustrating due to it being unexpected; and once players finally master dodging, the majority of that threat is marginalized.

Its been quoted by the devs that their internal metrics show that the performance difference between an average player and a competent player is easily a factor of 5 or higher. With a skilled player, this gap increases to a factor of 10. A lot of this comes from being able to run riskier builds without dying, keeping attack rotations going while maneuvering around damage, or being able to shut down/counter an opponent by knowing a given vulnerability. Since specific skills or traits are what enable these strategies and builds to operate, players that understand buildcraft tend to be ahead of the power curve, while players who don't (or stuck in mind sets developed from other RPGs) tend to get frustrated by being far behind it.

Meta builds focus on end game content because its the only part of the game that demands it for a pay off. Its actually less strict then it looks;- But the cultural ignorance that surrounds the Wiki-Warrior (IE people who copy builds or guides on the internet like instruction manuals, but put no effort into understanding the underlying reasoning in HOW it works) is what contributes to the toxic "speed clearing" culture typically seen every MMO's End-game content block. GW2 isn't free of this either; but because the game doesn't actively funnel players into things like Raids and Dungeons as the only path for advancement, a lot players never bother with it. However, because meta builds are specifically focused on end-game content, and meta builds being the only easily found resource on buildcraft, this has convinced a significant chunk of the community that its a divisive line between good and bad. If its not obvious yet.... that notion is false.

With all this in mind, it is absolutely TRUE that most classes don't actually make sense until everything is unlocked at level 80, where you have access to all your skills, traits, and can directly craft/buy a complete gear set with a properly aligned stat block. On your way up to level 80, if you pick skills, traits and drop/karma gear haphazardly (or picked only on face value), any class will perform very clunky. But with a proper build, meta or non-meta, not only is the performance much higher, but mechanics suddenly start to make functional sense. And its almost always universally more fun to play, because being able to properly understand what you're doing, and being able to adapt on the fly, creates a huge amount of Agency in combat.

Building on this further..... the reason you see this sentiment with the Xpac being kind of divisive, calls directly to what I've trying out line across this whole post. Core Tyria, which is the original Open World maps and Personal Story, have extremely easy enemies. Insultingly easy. It was made this easy for general accessibility.... and has been nerfed to be even easier on at least 5 different occasions, because the playerbase's lowest common denominator still doesn't know theres a dodge key. Most casuals are not "that" bad.... but its still pretty bad. The Xpacs takes off the kid gloves immediately; to where even the preamble to Heart of Thorns (the Dry top and Silverwaste maps, which technically part of Core), will absolutely destroy any unprepared player within 100m of leaving Camp Resolve. But any half way competent player with a decent build only has to worry about getting severely outnumbered. But its in the Xpac maps that things get serious. Enemies are far more varied, and readily compliment each other in combat. AOE attacks and Defensive abilities become more common, the game introduces mobs with specific counters, or can directly counter types of player attacks, everything hits harder, hits more often, and almost always attack in groups.

In order to simply not die, much less kill things, players need a strong understanding of several core game mechanics (such as dodging, debuff conditions, CCs, and Boons), a competent build that gives them the damage and defensive options necessary to be in the fight, exploiting enemy weaknesses while compensating for their own, what order to fight things when they gang up on you, and doing all of this while avoiding ground AOE, heavy hitters, enemy CCs, and not accidentally positioning yourself in spot where they can get chain going on you. Succeed in that environment, and its a thrill of a well earned victory. But if you die, most people would feel cheated and frustrated, not understanding (or even wanting to understand) why their getting their ass handed to them.

The way Especs play into this is how they change the class's MO. In core, each class has some kind of limitation that their play style has difficulty with. Core Necro for instance is very spotty when it comes to fighting groups of mobs, as they don't have a lot of consistent front loaded damage. However, the vast majority of Especs are designed to cover down a class's inherent weakness, either working around it, or directly giving them a solution to that problem. Necro's Reaper spec is a front line brawler with melee cleave, front loaded damage, and a much more consistent attack rate.... things core necro lacks or struggles with. Dragon Hunter addressed Guardian's poor mobility by giving them tools to deal with Kiters, and be able to Kite themselves. Dare Devil gives Thief a versatile melee kit with defense options that don't revolve around stealth. Some simply double down on a class's existing strengths, such as Weaver's increased damage bonuses or Mirage's mobility. Some specs are even drastic changes to a play style... like Druid being a straight up healer, or Holosmith being incredibly streamlined for damage.

I'd argue that the Especs offer so much to build diversity, that game doesn't even really start until you have access to them. And even if you hate the way a Core class works, one of the two especs can potentially be your favorite out of the whole class line up. We're looking at whats effectively 27 classes, with at least 2 viable builds for each.

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@"Cyninja.2954" said:I don't think you'll stick with the game with your approach. You are basically already thinking about how to divide up the cake when you haven't even shown up to the table.

No I want to get to the table and find out what 'foods' I like but what's more than likely going to happen is that "Hey go back and dress up properly to sit at this table".

Meaning I could have fun playing whatever but the end game(or community) tells me "No restart, your fun isn't going to work here".

@"starlinvf.1358" said:Whole lot of stuff

So what am I to take from this? That the game doesn't actually count until 80? That to have fun I need all the expansions right now? That I need to instantly be thinking about what to build because that's how the game is designed? And that one needs a Meta build to actually enjoy the game(regardless of how toxic that is)

If so, thanks. I do realize now this game isn't for me. I'd prefer to play a game that lets me build and play with a "This works for me" than "Hey this works for everyone so why aren't you doing it you baddie?" . I'd like to play the game, not consult with a spread sheet but the game and community seem to expect that from players.

Could have just lead with "This game isn't for you" and saved some time though.

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@Merlin.4058 said:

@"Cyninja.2954" said:I don't think you'll stick with the game with your approach. You are basically already thinking about how to divide up the cake when you haven't even shown up to the table.

No I want to get to the table and find out what 'foods' I like but what's more than likely going to happen is that "Hey go back and dress up properly to sit at this table".

Meaning I could have fun playing whatever but the end game(or community) tells me "No restart, your fun isn't going to work here".

@"starlinvf.1358" said:Whole lot of stuff

So what am I to take from this? That the game doesn't actually count until 80? That to have fun I need all the expansions right now? That I need to instantly be thinking about what to build because that's how the game is designed? And that one needs a Meta build to actually enjoy the game(regardless of how toxic that is)

If so, thanks. I do realize now this game isn't for me. I'd prefer to play a game that lets me build and play with a "This works for me" than "Hey this works for everyone so why aren't you doing it you baddie?" . I'd like to play the game, not consult with a spread sheet but the game and community seem to expect that from players.

Could have just lead with "This game isn't for you" and saved some time though.

And you can totaly do that in 90% of the game mate, play what ever way you want.The last 10% fractal cms and raids you will have to play/work with others tho.

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I starting playing GW2 when it came out in 2012. I played for years. Loved it and have several characters leveled 80. As it goes with most games for me I got bored and moved on. I've been playing FFXIV for the past year and now I'm interested in checking out the new expansion packs. What do you think? Are the expansions worth paying the money and coming back for?

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@Merlin.4058 said:

@"Cyninja.2954" said:I don't think you'll stick with the game with your approach. You are basically already thinking about how to divide up the cake when you haven't even shown up to the table.

No I want to get to the table and find out what 'foods' I like but what's more than likely going to happen is that "Hey go back and dress up properly to sit at this table".

Meaning I could have fun playing whatever but the end game(or community) tells me "No restart, your fun isn't going to work here".

and for the 3rd time, leveling and gearing is insignificant in this game for it to not matter. It's far more important to enjoy the game and make social connections on the way.

But you do you, you seem way more concerned with what could happen in an endgame you will likely never see (and failed to see the last time you played) and advice resistant enough for no one here to change your mind.

Good luck in your next game.

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@Nymi.4751 said:I starting playing GW2 when it came out in 2012. I played for years. Loved it and have several characters leveled 80. As it goes with most games for me I got bored and moved on. I've been playing FFXIV for the past year and now I'm interested in checking out the new expansion packs. What do you think? Are the expansions worth paying the money and coming back for?

Path of Fire now comes with Heart of Thorns for free. As such, all you would need if you want access to both expansions is 1 purchase of PoF to get started. Value wise it's a great deal.

As alternative you could just start playing since the game has no subscription and you can still access all vanilla content.

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@"Cyninja.2954" said:and for the 3rd time, leveling and gearing is insignificant in this game for it to not matter. It's far more important to enjoy the game and make social connections on the way.

But you do you, you seem way more concerned with what could happen in an endgame you will likely never see (and failed to see the last time you played) and advice resistant enough for no one here to change your mind.

Good luck in your next game.

Maybe because I've played games that sell themselves on "OH look at how many options you have" and then you get to the end of the game it's "Congrats. Did you pick one of 5 meta flavors? No. Too bad so sad, restart again".

And while I didn't see end game last time, I saw the Community group think for dungeons. Not even late dungeons, the first dungeon I gained access too. "Full power or get out". So excuse me if I don't want to waste time to get to max level and told "Nope. Restart.". What could happen? No I'm pretty certain it will happen. Go on, see if a Warrior that isn't Banner focused is allowed at end game.

I want a fun class on the climb up to 80 and one that's hopefully flexible enough to at least let me TRY end game. How is this hard to get across? No wait, the game and community isn't set up that way, you have to follow a guide from level 1. "27 classes" someone above said but you'll only actually play 5 of them because the community demands you too. I want to play a healer, guess what Druid Ranger is shoved at me even if I don't like it. I want to play Warrior, Banners are shoved at me, no question about what I would LIKE to play just "Oh Warrior. Well here's your banner build".

But hey. You do you. Keep telling people to enjoy the game up till the point you tell them what to play because it's the meta thing to play. Oh they don't like it? Too bad.

Thanks for the info in this thread. This isn't the game for me at launch(only picked it up as all my friends did and they quickly put it down, hmm wonder why) and it's still not.

@Nymi.4751 said:I starting playing GW2 when it came out in 2012. I played for years. Loved it and have several characters leveled 80. As it goes with most games for me I got bored and moved on. I've been playing FFXIV for the past year and now I'm interested in checking out the new expansion packs. What do you think? Are the expansions worth paying the money and coming back for?

Go back. That's what I'm doing.

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@Merlin.4058 said:

@"Cyninja.2954" said:and for the 3rd time, leveling and gearing is insignificant in this game for it to not matter. It's far more important to enjoy the game and make social connections on the way.

But you do you, you seem way more concerned with what could happen in an endgame you will likely never see (and failed to see the last time you played) and advice resistant enough for no one here to change your mind.

Good luck in your next game.

Maybe because I've played games that sell themselves on "OH look at how many options you have" and then you get to the end of the game it's "Congrats. Did you pick one of 5 meta flavors? No. Too bad so sad, restart again".

And while I didn't see end game last time, I saw the Community group think for dungeons. Not even late dungeons, the first dungeon I gained access too. "Full power or get out". So excuse me if I don't want to waste time to get to max level and told "Nope. Restart.". What could happen? No I'm pretty certain it will happen. Go on, see if a Warrior that isn't Banner focused is allowed at end game.

I have over 7.5k hours in this game, over 40 full sets of ascended, am running in a full clear sub 4 hour raid static, have 5 full legendary armors, over 30 characters, etc.

When I tell you that you have no clue what you are thinking about, and that you are worrying about things which do not matter as far as endgame is concerned, I know what I am talking about.

Also as far as warrior, banner warrior currently puts out almost as much damage, sometimes more, then best in slot damage dealers (banner warriors benchmarks at 32-33k, while most damage dealers benchmark at 35-36k with often more difficult rotations). Warrior damage builds (not banner) are top tier and have very simple rotations (and benchmark at 35-36k).

EDIT: for reference, here is a link to the discretize website (a speedrun, meta fractal guild), where they have a setup of builds which they recommend: https://discretize.eu/builds. You might notice, 6 classes are represented in the meta section with the remaining 2 classes in the great builds section and the last one in the good builds section. That's also only their recommended builds, the actualy variety on builds which can perform is far greater and this is for highest tier 5 man group content, not even dungeons or regular T1-4 fractals.

@Merlin.4058 said:I want a fun class on the climb up to 80 and one that's hopefully flexible enough to at least let me TRY end game. How is this hard to get across? No wait, the game and community isn't set up that way, you have to follow a guide from level 1. "27 classes" someone above said but you'll only actually play 5 of them because the community demands you too. I want to play a healer, guess what Druid Ranger is shoved at me even if I don't like it. I want to play Warrior, Banners are shoved at me, no question about what I would LIKE to play just "Oh Warrior. Well here's your banner build".

Druid, firebrand, renegade, tempest, heal scourge, boonthief are all meta healers on different core classes. Your knowledge is way outdated.

The only relevant question here would be: do you want to support, or play a damage dealer, or both. Because that is the only limitation that might come up. As far as damage dealer, all classes can perform good enough to not have issues in any content.

@Merlin.4058 said:But hey. You do you. Keep telling people to enjoy the game up till the point you tell them what to play because it's the meta thing to play. Oh they don't like it? Too bad.

I tell people to enjoy the game because that should be the main objective. This game is casual enough and the leeway in performance is big enough that unless you plan on running in top tier 1% groups, like I am, it makes no difference which class you play since all of them can bring the 90th percentile performance. Unless you specifically want to play a certain support build.

If you actually want to perform in the top 1 to 10%, you are required to multi-class anyway, at which point the entire issue of creating 1 class becomes a non-issue.

@Merlin.4058 said:Thanks for the info in this thread. This isn't the game for me at launch(only picked it up as all my friends did and they quickly put it down, hmm wonder why) and it's still not.

I wouldn't know, all I can answer and give advice to is this issue at hand. I am neither in control of how people take that advice and make use of it, or what transpired in their social circle which made people stop playing.

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@Cyninja.2954 said:I have over 7.5k hours in this game, over 40 full sets of ascended, am running in a full clear sub 4 hour raid static, have 5 full legendary armors, over 30 characters, etc.

When I tell you that you have no clue what you are thinking about, and that you are worrying about things which do not matter as far as endgame is concerned, I know what I am talking about.

Yes the person that has it made clearly understands my worries.

So you'll take me into a dungeon with some off brand, slapped together, "I found this to be fun" build or will you look at it and go "This is wrong redo it"? Because my experience has always been the second one in this game.

@Cyninja.2954 said:I wouldn't know, all I can answer and give advice to is this issue at hand. I am neither in control of how people take that advice and make use of it, or what transpired in their social circle which made people stop playing.

And you have. That nothing has changed from launch. The game or the community apparently.

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@Merlin.4058 said:

@Cyninja.2954 said:I have over 7.5k hours in this game, over 40 full sets of ascended, am running in a full clear sub 4 hour raid static, have 5 full legendary armors, over 30 characters, etc.

When I tell you that you have no clue what you are thinking about, and that you are worrying about things which do not matter as far as endgame is concerned, I know what I am talking about.

Yes the person that has it made clearly understands my worries.

So you'll take me into a dungeon with some off brand, slapped together, "I found this to be fun" build or will you look at it and go "This is wrong redo it"? Because my experience has always been the second one in this game.

PvE balance has greatly improved since launch, primarily due to raids and high level fractal content.

To answer the question:No one cares which class you play in:

  • open world
  • dungeons
  • fractals tier 1-4
  • any content which is not challenge mode or raids

Higher performance groups for fractal challenge modes and raids expect certain classes but we are talking speedrun groups at the top end. There is a ton of more casual and successful groupd which are more lenient.

@Merlin.4058 said:

@Cyninja.2954 said:I wouldn't know, all I can answer and give advice to is this issue at hand. I am neither in control of how people take that advice and make use of it, or what transpired in their social circle which made people stop playing.

And you have. That nothing has changed from launch. The game or the community apparently.

That tends to happen when one comes to a forum asking for help with preconceived expectations, starts arguing with people who tried to provide help, then gets upset that the own believes are not mirrored.

Nobody likes a know it all, we all provide help on a voluntary basis here and most actually have ingame experience to base their recommendations on.

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Look dude - don't play. Go download Azure Lane or play BDO or something. Or take up woodcarving. But you obviously don't want to play this game and keep making excuses why you don't want to play it.

No one is telling you what you can't play except yourself. If you like warrior, then just play it and quit whining about being a banner slave.

If you just came here to complain and argue with everyone trying to give you advice, you're wasting everyone's time - and more importantly your own.

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@Merlin.4058 said:

@"Cyninja.2954" said:I don't think you'll stick with the game with your approach. You are basically already thinking about how to divide up the cake when you haven't even shown up to the table.

No I want to get to the table and find out what 'foods' I like but what's more than likely going to happen is that "Hey go back and dress up properly to sit at this table".

Meaning I could have fun playing whatever but the end game(or community) tells me "No restart, your fun isn't going to work here".

@"starlinvf.1358" said:Whole lot of stuff

So what am I to take from this? That the game doesn't actually count until 80? That to have fun I need all the expansions right now? That I need to instantly be thinking about what to build because that's how the game is designed? And that one needs a Meta build to actually enjoy the game(regardless of how toxic that is)

If so, thanks. I do realize now this game isn't for me. I'd prefer to play a game that lets me build and play with a "This works for me" than "Hey this works for everyone so why aren't you doing it you baddie?" . I'd like to play the game, not consult with a spread sheet but the game and community seem to expect that from players.

Could have just lead with "This game isn't for you" and saved some time though.

You are asking people for conflicting advice. You say you are a returning player who doesnt even know what class to play, and that you arent great at using mouse/keyboard. People then suggest some of the easier classes/builds to play that are good in most areas of the game, and you immediately start questioning late game viability and the roles of the raiding meta.

The vast majority of content in this game can be completed with any class and any build. Gw2 is an incredibly casual, alt friendly game, and has some pretty amazing build diversity for each class. A lot of veteran players still have fun experimenting and making their own builds. The other people commenting are telling you to play what you want and not worry about the endgame meta.

Once you are ready to even attempt end game raiding, wvw etc. Leveling to 80 and getting gear will be a trivial experience.

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@Cyninja.2954 said:

@Nymi.4751 said:I starting playing GW2 when it came out in 2012. I played for years. Loved it and have several characters leveled 80. As it goes with most games for me I got bored and moved on. I've been playing FFXIV for the past year and now I'm interested in checking out the new expansion packs. What do you think? Are the expansions worth paying the money and coming back for?

Path of Fire now comes with Heart of Thorns for free. As such, all you would need if you want access to both expansions is 1 purchase of PoF to get started. Value wise it's a great deal.

As alternative you could just start playing since the game has no subscription and you can still access all vanilla content.

I'm a returning player too. Confused about expansions etc. I started playing on release, got a couple of characters in the 50s, and haven't played since a couple of months after release.Now I'm going to start from scratch with a Ranger just for fun to re-learn the game.What am I missing out on if I level to 80 without the expansions? Can I play to 80 then decide if I want to buy the expansions?Also another poster mentioned anniversary level up scrolls. Can these be transferred between characters?

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