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New to GW2... what profession should I choose?


Wraith.8127

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I've toyed with a couple of them, but with all the end game specializations and masteries, etc... just not sure which way to go. I like playing the engineer in early game, but when I look at endgame content its like they become completely different playstyles from the base. I like the rangers, but It seems like the pet always has a mind of its own. I've played both of those classes up to 13-15.So I guess my question is what is a good profession to choose if you want an effective Rangy endgame playstyle. I like to do stuff from a distance because i'm playing on a mac book pro and the small keyboard has sort of limited how effective I am at movement, particularly when fighting multiple mobs.

Any help is welcome.

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@Wraith.8127 said:I've toyed with a couple of them, but with all the end game specializations and masteries, etc... just not sure which way to go. I like playing the engineer in early game, but when I look at endgame content its like they become completely different playstyles from the base. I like the rangers, but It seems like the pet always has a mind of its own. I've played both of those classes up to 13-15.So I guess my question is what is a good profession to choose if you want an effective Rangy endgame playstyle. I like to do stuff from a distance because i'm playing on a mac book pro and the small keyboard has sort of limited how effective I am at movement, particularly when fighting multiple mobs.

Any help is welcome.

Play ranger and unlock soulbeast. merge with ur pet and solve the pet AI issues, get extra stats from the pet u merged with, imo best ranged dps aside from DE but imo DE kinda boring in pve as stealthing thru braindead ai enemies loses its charm fast plus is far less versitile than soulbeast.The rest of the ranged specs/builds like dh bow and rifle warrior etc are kinda niche one dimensional type builds.

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Serious endgame will always be more effective if you can enter melee. That’s where boons and heals are from teammates, and damage on these weapon types is higher.

With that said, maybe look into Mesmer. This class is very easy in PvE as clones and Phantasms draw agro, and you generate them constantly. Greatsword is good for power damage on both Core, Mirage, and Chronomancer. Practice melee with Sword/Focus on weapon swap.

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Ohaio, it could be good idea to make the sellection easier based on armor class. I would say for middle class try to stick with ranger, its fun for exploration:) You wont regret warrior for heavy, it can use rifle too(and later youll have berserker and spellbreaker, nice variability) , and elle for light-u can combine magic for range skills.

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Stay away from mesmer.Your gonna be the focus of irrational rage from everyone and be nerfed over it.Then they nerf about every active damage tool you have and take it away.You'll adapt.

Then people will complain and say your class is too passive even tho i just used like 2 jaunts a blink ambush pistol 4 pistol 5 and like 15 autos to get your to 40% hp and complain about that too.

They gonna take away all your tools then laugh at you.That elusive mind nerf..That vindication that that change was stupid.

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Thanks for the suggestions. I went with Necro last night and went up to 16... Working with staff, and axes. The shroud spec is cool. Its just so easy for my hands to slip to the wrong keys and suddenly I'm just swapping weapons back and forth as I try to run away. That's just a flaw of playing on the Mac book that Im going to have to live with. Wouldnt be so bad if I didn't have to look at my wife's set up, with her two 27 inch monitors, and ergo keyboard, with all her, "Im a CPA, Im working.. blah blah blah." pfft. How does that compare to the need for fingertip reliability between turning in place and strafing. How! sigh.

Thanks again for the help.

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Lets start with a bit of explaining, dh is dragonhunter(guardian elite especialization ) , sb is short bow or could also be soulbeast (context tells you wich one), lb long bow , mh is mainhand and oh is offhand , sw is sword (i explain this because you said youre new and maybe you dont know this kind of stuff (i had this problem once))Now for a ranged class.

  1. All classes have ranged and melee weapons (the engineer y the ele only get melee with skills or elites i think) so you can play any class as ranged but the weapons and skills will differ from class to class
  2. Talking about endgame is a bit difficult because you have pve in fractals and raids and pvp or wvw but what i can tell you is that you shouldnt worry about it now , just play something you like and learn
  3. The best classes in my opinion for starters would be either ranger , necromancer or mesmer because you have ranger pet , nigro minions or mesmer clones to tank for you and it is easier to learn , also they all have various ranger weapons so its more probable that you like one.
  4. Now with all that said you should search for the class you like the most and ingame im sure people will solve any doubt you have.

Pd the ranger pet can be put in a stance were it will only attack when you order it to do so (in the screen click the pet comand that has 2 swords crossed and it should change to that stance)

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Just pick whatever you find the most fun thematically really regardless of the racce/class combo.

Anyway that being said I think thief could do you well if you like to play from a distance, since you'll also have the option to spec into deadeye later on if you want to continue with your long range play style. Also randomly if if you're having trouble targeting mobs at all you could always turn on auto target on skill use in the options menu.

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  • 2 weeks later...

my main is a Necromancer, I play as condition damage minion master, I use staff as my main to tag mobs from a distance and scepter/warhorn on my swap. I regenerate health pretty easily and death shroud regenerates very quickly. I can stand in a bad situation without taking too much damage. I've been playing Necro since Gw1, it's my absolute favorite. ???

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@nomak.8693 said:

@Dralor.3701 said:Necro is terrible don’t pick that..

Mesmer or ranger is probably what you want. Ele if you are okay with higher apm.What you talking about? O.oNecro (reaper especially) is the God of PvE content. Mesmer and ele are both not that easy for new players.

Did you even read his post? He said he wants to play a ranged build. Reaper is fine but it is melee...

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  • 4 weeks later...

@Wraith.8127 said:I've toyed with a couple of them, but with all the end game specializations and masteries, etc... just not sure which way to go. I like playing the engineer in early game, but when I look at endgame content its like they become completely different playstyles from the base. I like the rangers, but It seems like the pet always has a mind of its own. I've played both of those classes up to 13-15.So I guess my question is what is a good profession to choose if you want an effective Rangy endgame playstyle. I like to do stuff from a distance because i'm playing on a mac book pro and the small keyboard has sort of limited how effective I am at movement, particularly when fighting multiple mobs.

Any help is welcome.

Best piece of advice I can give you is this.Don't worry about elite specs all that much right now, in the early game just focus on trying the different classes and figuring out which ones you like best.Once you get to endgame stuff and expansions then you can try out the specs and see if they add to your playstyle or not.

You don't have to use Elite specs at all if you don't want to, I use them on some characters but my main character has never used an elite spec.Not because they're bad on his class or anything but simply because they don't add anything significant enough to the build and playstyle that I prefer to use on that character.Elite specs will always force you to give up a core traitline to use and it's entirely up to you if you are willing to make that trade on your build.. if you're not then you can stick with the core build and still experience the full game perfectly fine ^^

As for your request on effective rangy endgame playstyle, there are a few that can do this well but it sounds like Ranger is definitely more your thing.You'll get used to the Pet system after a while (I know how annoying it can be at first hence why my Jungle Stalker was named Leeroy for years.. a name he well and truly earned through the many.. many deaths he cause me to suffer in the early years of this game xD)

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If you want to play mostly at range Necro and Ranger would be the best choices; Mesmer had some strong ranged builds also, but I'm not sure about how well they do at the moment after the huge February patch.

My only complain about ranged play (which usually does less damage than mele to balance the fact tha is usually safer) is that in general the bows in the game are very bad (outside the Ranger's longbow, but Ranger uses a pet and is not a pure archer). Not a single class can be properly called "archer": thief's bow is just a mobility tool with some cleave gainst rezzing; Dragon Hunter's long bow is slow and weak, Warrior's long bow is condition based, not terrible, not great, Renegade's short bow is full of useless, clunky skills and is just an auto attack device devoid of any fun. Long bow and short bow from Ranger are nice, but the class has to share the dps between the skills and the pet (which you don't have a full control over), so the game in general lacks a pure bow based class which can be played across all the content (you can use what is given, but bows are generally sub-par).

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The truly viable range DPS is Staff Elementalist. Great DPS and great AOE. Also can now summon army of pets to tank for you. Very little moving for the most part, yet provides good mobility and escape options when needed (i.e. teleport, knockback, stun, immobilize, etc.).

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If you want a REALLY EASY Ranged DPS class to play with, i recomend you play as a Thief and go for Deadeye elite spec later in the game.

Along with necromancer, this is one of the easiest classes to play in the game and deal really high damage with barelly no effort. Take a look, i bet you'll like it! And while you can't get it, thieves also have short bow and pistols as a weapons, so you can still play safe on Open World content!

By the way, i've read you liked to play as Engi, and as an Engi main, i can asure you that it's a VERY versatile class! Give it a try on condition damage builds (burn, poison, bleed) using double pistols, and maybe the flamethrower too!

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