I'm one of the players that are returning to the game. I started playing at release and played pretty much up to the HoT release. Then checked in for maybe 2 weeks after PoF came out because Nightfall was my favourite campaign back in the day. But I never played the HoT content and I have more or less no expierience with the elite specs.Now I'm back, played a bit during Dragon bash and I plan to play again for a longer time (at least to complete both expansions in PVE and then let's see. Probably fractals. Maybe raids and WvW to some degree. I don't think I will have the nerve to go into sPVP at any point. But who knows). Now I'm very undecided which Profession I should pick. I know that GW2 is really alt-friendly but I'm older now and with my personal stuff, relationship and everything going on in my daily life I simply don't have the time to play through the content multiple times with various professions. Therefore I would like to settle on one (or 2 at max). So I would like to pick a class that has at least some viability in all game modes. I just can't decide what to pick. Here's what I gathered so far with a little bit of research. Ele: Ele was my main up until I left before the HoT release so I have one at 80. I loved the D/D playstyle even if double dagger wasn't very effective back then as core ele. As far as I read online Ele is still in a good spot with Tempest and Weaver in pretty much all the game modes. It would be the obvious choice. But I always felt that I had to work twice as hard as an Ele to be effective while huging the dirt after the slightest hit immidiately and I'm not so sure if I'm willing to learn god damn complexe rotations again only to be on par with other stronger professions. But that might be a choice.Guardian: Played one to 80 once. Didn't klick for me (I can't even point the finger at the reasons why). Deleted it.As it seems Guard is the do-it-all class now with it's specs. They can support as they should be able too, they can heal and according to Snow crows they hit some of the highest benchmarks of all professions on large hitboxes. It seems like the obvious choice. But I'm pretty sure I still wont like Guard and during the last two weeks of playing it felt as 50% of the other players I ran into ingame ar either Dragonhunters or Firebrands. I don't now if Guard is overtuned but it seemed extremely disproportional.Mesmer: Alacrity is obviously a thing now. An important thing as it seems. But I fricking hate the clone gameplay. I hated it 2012 and I will hate it now. So definitely no.Warrior: Have one at 80. Actually enjoyed Warrior quite a lot. Played a bit of Spellbreaker in the two weeks after PoF release. Put them to rest because greatsword is just boring to play but was the most effective weapon in the open world for eternity now (coming from the highly mobile DD ele I felt like a slug with spamming hundred blades).Ranger: Seems to be in a good spot with a lot of versatility. But I just played core Ranger and that doesn't scratch an itch for me actually. Maybe Druid or Soulbeast would on the other hand.Thief: Have one at 80. Always enjoyed the Thief gameplay. Daredevil looks very interesting since I mained a Dervish back in the day and DD might bring back that Dervish feeling with a scythe skin for the staff. Would be my pick for sure if there wasn't the problem with group utility. Thief doesn't bring much to the table for the group except DPS (where it still get's outshined by other professions). For open world that's not a problem. But I'm pretty scared that playing a Thief will make it harder to play group content because everyone can do damage while still providing something for the group. I'm also afraid that everything that is just remotely effective with thief will get nerfed into oblivion because... well... it's Theef and that's what always happened in the history of GW2.Engi: Have one at 80. Don't really like core Engi or a lot of Kit play. Holo is fun to play (used it the last two weeks for Dragon bash). Scrapper might be the possibility to play with a hammer that doesn't suck (didn't try it). Also seems to be in a good spot. But feels pretty one dimensional on the other hand. As Holo you have the forge. But more or less no weapon choices if you don't want to switch to other kits (which I don't really like). It seems like a profession I might log in to from time to time to have some fun but not something I would like to play on a regular basis.Necro: The class I actually don't know much about. Never even leveled one to 80. The only thing I read was that the Necro still get's not much love from Anet and is still not very wanted in PVE group play. Pretty much a blank page for me. So I don't know. Maybe I should try it now.Rev: Actually another class I don't know since it wasn't even released yet back when I left. But the whole "fixed skill bar" thing with it's stances doesn't really appeal to me. But who knows if I would like it. Seems to be meta to some degree at least. So the top contestants would be Thief (with the fear of being useless to the group), Ele (my fingers will hate me for it) or maybe Engi...But I'm also open for all other professions except Mesmer or Guard. But I would like to hear some input beyond "play what you like to play" from some of you guys who have more expierience with the state of the professions and the whole game as it is now.
