Single Main Class?

[Eliam.3716]

So given the new EoD E-Specs and changes, which class would you says has the better setup for being able to have a good and valid spec for both PVE OW//Strikes//WvW?  I prefer to play a single main character with maybe one backup, just my style.  I am NOT interested in Guardian, just not my thing.  I do like to play less common classes though but understand that sometimes just doesn't align

 

Which class would be a good candidate for that single main? 

Engineer, Necro and Rev are what come to mind but what about Mes, War or Thief?

[anbujackson.9564]

Necro, especially scourge. Easy to play and 90% ranged, still easy to survive. Good damage, good cleave, good utility.

Next would be engineer because it can do literally anything now except aegis and stability.

Next would be rev and after thief.

Mesmer isnt as useful anymore, a shadow of its former glory. Virtuoso is good damage for PvE but you wont be happy with mesmer in WvW and in general you got much better options now for what it can do. 

Warrior is an ok Allrounder for PvE (mostly only thanks to banners) with berserker, not so much as bladesworn. Spellbreaker is used in WvW for one skill. I would say out of the 5 you mentioned, warrior is probably the "worst" pick.

 

[Telgum.6071]

The best ones are still Guardian, Necromancer and Revenant, in that order. You don't like Guardian and the poster above already mentioned Necromancer, so...

For PvE, Revenant has as much damage as you want, specially on condition builds. For instanced content alacrity is still a must and while Engineer is a very good contender for that role, I say it won't remove Revenant from the meta.

For WvW Revenant is probably the top #2 DPS class in zergs, only outclassed by Dragonhunters in perfect scenarios. And once the new specializations fully settle on the game, Vindicator with Viktor would possibly have a good spot in zergs. Just possibly.

For roaming in WvW Revenant is not as strong as it used to be, but is still very good.

Edited March 21, 2022 by Telgum.6071
Typo

[Eliam.3716]

ok thank you, what I was figuring was going to be the answer but thought I would ask.

[Spie.5024]

On 3/21/2022 at 5:12 PM, anbujackson.9564 said:

Necro, especially scourge. Easy to play and 90% ranged, still easy to survive. Good damage, good cleave, good utility.

Next would be engineer because it can do literally anything now except aegis and stability.

Next would be rev and after thief.

Mesmer isnt as useful anymore, a shadow of its former glory. Virtuoso is good damage for PvE but you wont be happy with mesmer in WvW and in general you got much better options now for what it can do. 

Warrior is an ok Allrounder for PvE (mostly only thanks to banners) with berserker, not so much as bladesworn. Spellbreaker is used in WvW for one skill. I would say out of the 5 you mentioned, warrior is probably the "worst" pick.

 

 

On 3/21/2022 at 6:06 PM, Telgum.6071 said:

The best ones are still Guardian, Necromancer and Revenant, in that order. You don't like Guardian and the poster above already mentioned Necromancer, so...

For PvE, Revenant has as much damage as you want, specially on condition builds. For instanced content alacrity is still a must and while Engineer is a very good contender for that role, I say it won't remove Revenant from the meta.

For WvW Revenant is probably the top #2 DPS class in zergs, only outclassed by Dragonhunters in perfect scenarios. And once the new specializations fully settle on the game, Vindicator with Viktor would possibly have a good spot in zergs. Just possibly.

For roaming in WvW Revenant is not as strong as it used to be, but is still very good.

I still don’t understand why people advice necro over engineer for this type of question? 
Is it because of wvw? Cause if it’s for pve only I’m assuming engineer is more versatile right now than necro as it can do alacrity? 

[lysico.1297]

Tempest

 

 

 

[Telgum.6071]

1 hour ago, Spie.5024 said:

 

I still don’t understand why people advice necro over engineer for this type of question? 
Is it because of wvw? Cause if it’s for pve only I’m assuming engineer is more versatile right now than necro as it can do alacrity? 

Necro can go quickness with minor investment if you already have Viper gear, heal scourge and EPI, which is still being requested for Desmina and some CMs, not to mention being overall way easier to play that Engineer.

[Puck.3697]

51 minutes ago, Telgum.6071 said:

Necro can go quickness with minor investment if you already have Viper gear, heal scourge and EPI, which is still being requested for Desmina and some CMs, not to mention being overall way easier to play that Engineer.

is it easier to play then machinist??... i wouldnt make that statement so easily tbh.

holosmith went quite a distance in making engineer easier to play, and mechanist REALLY lowered the skill curve Dramatically, i think people cling to Necros "Ease to play" Because of how popular it is compared to Engineer so its simply more prominent.

however.

Machinsit is the easiest Specc in the game as of current imho. however i do agree. i'd recommend engineer over Necro

Edited March 23, 2022 by Daddy.8125

[Puck.3697]

i just want to add this:

People say Mesmer isnt of any value anymore however isnt strictly true.

On ALOT Of metas, Mesmers are beloved primarily because they offer portals which offer Lots of Ways to speed up Kill times via using portals (I.E Drakkar porting through the portals to Stop other players getting the debuff) and even in the End of Dragons metal it has its uses.

in Strikes, Mesmers are one of the best tanks in the game because of Role Compression.

It can offer Quickness Chrono, and Alacrity Mirage.

Open world Wise, it has 2 fully ranged builds Which defintly have its Uses, Virtuoso and Mirage, Mirage is a Very strong solo choice realistically, althoug hthe torment runes nerf will of hit it to a degree it still does very well.

Where Mesmer Falls off Entirely will be WvWvW. it isnt very useful in WvWvW At all, i think you'll find some get some success out of roaming builds, but they arent the easiest to play, nor are they a top choice realistically, when u reach zergs mesmers get even less useful realistically. in SPVP they kinda work? Depending on the level of play your looking to do in SPVP, (Weather ur just looking to be average in Rank queues or Intend to climb)

Engineer with Machinist is prolly your best bet for alot of the catagories, very easy Solo build. Very easy to play in SPVP, offers a great support build in strikes / fractals with Alacrity + Barrier builds. It offers good WvWvW options via its other speccs, u'll see lots of funny videos of Nade bombing but they are capable of more then just then.

Secondary would be Necromancer, Necromancer Has harbinger as a Quickness build or Scourge as a Support build, i think the Sustain nerfs punched Reaper very hard so i'd stick with one of those 2, they offer good flexibility into support / offensive Support and Pure DPS Builds. Primarily conditional based Damage. Necromancer is a King among WvWvW Content with scourge espically. and in SPVP Harbinger can be some fun one shots. i think reaper is still doing ok in SPVP i dont see many of them though.

third up Revenant, Revenant has a Alacrity build via Renegade. thats about as far as its flexibility will go realistically here, Vindicator is struggling to lift off and has weird mechanics with dodge being a DPS Function which makes it abit more irritating. Herald has no PvE use, in SPVP Herald is ur best option as a Roamer although some Vindicator builds can be scarey also. renegade sees ALOT less use in SPVP lately realistically though.

Fourth up, Mesmer. Mesmer has Portals which prove very useful in open world content. it has a Leading build in solo meta which is Mirage, it offers Playstyles that are very easy to play, but also very hard to play options aswell. It has Good Power and Condi DPS options. it can provide Alacrity and Quickness.. its Mirage build can extend into offering 25 Might and a form of Aegis uptime for the party to stack. Quickness Chrono can role compress as a Tank in Strikes also. Mesmer drops off compared to the above 3 in competitive modes however.. Mirage being pushed into a 1 dodge specc due to nerfs Leaves it boxed into only 1 or 2 functional build within its Capability. Side Node Mirage will defintly cut it for Average ranked Queues, however the proffession as a whole drops off the face of the earth in terms of ATs / MATs and Really high level play. its Not unplayable. we've seen people pull it off.. but be warned Mesmer SPVP / WvWvW Wise isnt going to be your strongest option.

Fifth up Thief. Thief got some Flexibility added to it throguh spectre. however due to its niche use and its playstyle conflicting with the games UI in PvE its unclear to exactly how good its going to end up being. it has a Alacrity build and it can build into a strong condi build. however i'd say PvE Wise. thief has the Least roles avaliable to it realistically, likely conjoined with Revenant here. however Rev atleast has some non-meta choices, Herald having a boon build which is very easy to play (primarily oly uses auto attacks). thief you will see generally doesnt run alot of builds.. However this proffession is LEAPS Above Mesmer in SPVP / WvWvW Roaming options. so remember this. Although mesmer has More PvE builds, its severely behind Thief in terms of Competitive modes.

Sixth up, Warrior. Warrior is basically Banner slave. it has no other role realistically, you just wouldnt take oen for another role. its getting a rework upcoming. to what degree isnt known yet. in SPVP Bladesworn has proven to be actually a great option, however its Litterally the only pro its got going for it in SPVP.. given the fact this specc only has 1 VIable Specc in PvE and 1 Viable specc in SPVP i'd say this one ranks the Absolute Lowest in terms of flexibility. Bladesworn has offered it a very strong open world build. but its forced to be strictly Melee which in some circumstances will make it Weaker comparitively to something like Mirage.

I'd Rank these

SPVP - Thief --> Revenant --> Necro --> Engineer --> Warrior --> Mesmer.

WvWvW - Necro --> Thief --> Engineer --> Revenant --> Warrior / Mesmer both pretty bad here.

PvE - Engineer --> Necro --> Revenant --> Mesmer --> Warrior thief Is a awkward one to place here. in some fights due to stolen skills it can be REALLY overpowered. on some others not so much. Thief is Strong in PvE, but its generally Underrated in alot of pug content. so although very capable and used even in Speed Clears. the Average Masses generally dont look at them to be very strong.

you will struggle to find 1 clear winners whos gonna be meta in every game mode, so effectively where you compromise is uptoo you... as a Overall winner. i'd like put Engineer or Thief there. but Thief will be a Less known one. as it can be Really strong, the issue is most Will not agree with that statement and Most thiefs Dont demonstrate it can be good.

for the best recommendation i'd say maybe look at what ur looking at getting from every Mode.

in SPVP - Do u want to be a Meta choice, or are u just looking at enjoying some silver/gold gameplay in Ranked every now and then

in WvWvW do u primarily want to Roam, or Are u wanting to Zerg with a commander.

in PvE content... are u primarily looking at fractal or Raid Content.

in OW are you after a Leading performer, or just soloing story content etc etc.

As this can massively influence the choices here depending where ur wanting the most flexibility i. as Bnack to my Example Mesmer. Mesmer has ALOT of Strike builds, which are very strong. it has Plenty of use in Open world meta events and offers a Leading Solo build, HOWEVER. its not the strongest alacrity provider, in fractals u dont use a tank. so chronos Role compression is Less Strong here and its builds become HEAVILY limited in SPVP enviroments and only get stricter the more u intend to climb.

Edited March 23, 2022 by Daddy.8125

[Eliam.3716]

thank you for that post @Daddy.8125 was very well written and on point.
 

I currently have an Engineer and a Necro that I switch between, Machinist is very easy to play and tough as nails in OW, boy I fear the nerf bat with him though and seems to be a mech around every corner these days lol

 

Necro has been fun, mainly playing as Harbinger, found Reaper in OW to be too squishy for my taste.  Have not tried Scourge yet.

 

I definitely enjoy playing the classes or builds most do not but at same time not looking to try to force a square peg into a round hole.  Mainly play OW, Strikes, light raiding and light Zerg WvW.  For Strikes and WvW I prefer support specs for sure and for OW want something sturdy to do content.  Engineer Machinist aligns so very well to my criteria but still fear nerf bat.

 

So leaning towards Thief as main in DD and Spectre with Harb support as backup and keep Engineer going and see what comes.

[Spie.5024]

5 hours ago, Telgum.6071 said:

Necro can go quickness with minor investment if you already have Viper gear, heal scourge and EPI, which is still being requested for Desmina and some CMs, not to mention being overall way easier to play that Engineer.

Engineer can also go quickness with barely any investment from the berserker gear that works for holosmith or bomb kit 1 holo spam? Go scrapper and slap on diviner rings and maybe amulet and you are good to go and it’s super easy to play as you just smash gyros off cooldown? 
 

Epidemic is indeed a niche for SH but and MO (statue) but that doesn’t make it as a whole the most flexible in the game.

 

Difficulty wise, condi holosmith or core condi engineer were indeed hard to play / piano builds.

Power holo is not that hard, heal mech not so hard either, condi mech not too hard either. 
 

Edited March 23, 2022 by Spie.5024

[ZeftheWicked.3076]

3 hours ago, Eliam.3716 said:

Necro has been fun, mainly playing as Harbinger, found Reaper in OW to be too squishy for my taste.  Have not tried Scourge yet.

Only real thing you found here, is that your understanding of necro is very poor. Else you would be complaining about reaper being too easy and not getting any real challenge save soloing really tough champs.

Necromancer has layers upon layers of defenses both active and passive. If you keep on dying that's mostly you having a bad build or being very bad at operating your necro which is near impossible as it is an easy profession to use.

[Telgum.6071]

1 hour ago, Spie.5024 said:

Engineer can also go quickness with barely any investment from the berserker gear that works for holosmith or bomb kit 1 holo spam? Go scrapper and slap on diviner rings and maybe amulet and you are good to go and it’s super easy to play as you just smash gyros off cooldown? 
 

Epidemic is indeed a niche for SH but and MO (statue) but that doesn’t make it as a whole the most flexible in the game.

 

Difficulty wise, condi holosmith or core condi engineer were indeed hard to play / piano builds.

Power holo is not that hard, heal mech not so hard either, condi mech not too hard either. 
 

I mean, I don't even have to press keys to play Harbinger, I just have to enter shroud and use 2+1 once and the thing will autoattack alone, same with Reaper. I remember leaving the PC while the toon was autoattacking and didn't drop below 25k dps. I won't say Engi is hard to play, but I doubt is easier that Necro, which has a well deserved fame of being the easiest class of the game.

[RabbitUp.8294]

Guardian gets suggested too often, but in reality, it's horrid to play in open world if you don't want to invest in dedicated gear for it. You are almost as squishy as ele, and when you go down, you can't just mist form to the feet of a group of players that will instinctively rez you. Ele also gets pets that people often ignore, but they make for excellent aggro magnets.

In group content, guardian is indeed very versatile and in demand, same for wvw, but let's be honest, the average gw2 player spends most of their time in story and open world.

 

[RabbitUp.8294]

On 3/21/2022 at 6:12 PM, anbujackson.9564 said:

Next would be engineer because it can do literally anything now except aegis and stability.

Engi could already do aoe stability with a couple tool belt skills and now mechanist can do both with Crisis Zone.

[Kichwas.7152]

Right now I would say Engineer. The new elite spec is way overtuned though - so do expect it to get nerfed at some point.

 

That said, even if they nerfed Engineer I think it would still be a good choice due to the kits design. You can swap around your playstyle quite a lot by just picking a different utility / elite / heal skill kit.

 

The core class is all ranged, and all 3 elites where melee - but any of them also work with a ranged weapon. That said, I recommend using an elite spec with it's intended melee weapon, and at least one utility skill that is ranged (on my engineer I use the elite mortar). That gives you the ability to switch up playstyle, and swapping into and out of the kit is faster than normal weapon swap so you can almost spam swap in combat if for some reason you wanted to. One of the kits is even melee - so back before elite specs came out I use to use the 'wrench kit' with pistols or a rifle to still be able to switch up my play a lot.

 

Without any nerf, the Mechanist is so powerful you can often take on content 'way above your skill level', and you can get away with things like glass cannon gear without being good at dodging. If it ever gets a nerf, what remains of the class is still so dynamic that I'd recommend Engineer even if it was 20-30% weaker than it is now to someone looking for a 'main'.

 

(Obviously if it was nerfed, it wouldn't be a recommendation for someone looking for a meta for 'content X' - but people looking for 'the meta for this or that' don't stick to a main.)

 

Edited March 28, 2022 by Kichwas.7152

[Valisha.8650]

Mechanist. Solid support and condi dps option. Avoid power dps, though.

[Spie.5024]

21 hours ago, Valisha.8650 said:

Mechanist. Solid support and condi dps option. Avoid power dps, though.

Power holosmith is fine though? 
Quickness scrapper is also decent

[Sahne.6950]

Since you wrote that you like to play what not everybody is playing i could suggest Elementalist to you.

Alot of people will say its bad and i will probably farm "Confused" for saying this but it can be viable in any gamemode. For me what makes playing Ele so satisfying is that even after multiple years of playing it you still feel like you are improving everyday. The class has alot of depth and alot of room for personal improvement.

You have a nice Openworld build with Weaver. Weaver can also be good in EndgamePvE but it lacks sustain if you play the highest dps builds. Weaver is also a good sidenoder in pvp and Tempest a good support. For WvW You can never go wrong with a Starfireroamer with Runes of Speed. and You can swap to PowerStaffWeaver for Zergcontent.

You dont see alot of Eles right now but in the right hands a Elementalist is VERY deadly. Altho you have to be able to "play piano" if you want to play alot of the Builds i suggested xD

Edited April 6, 2022 by Sahne.6950

[Sunshine.5014]

On 4/6/2022 at 4:05 AM, Sahne.6950 said:

You dont see alot of Eles right now but in the right hands a Elementalist is VERY deadly. 

That's Survivor's Bias. Many people switched off Ele in the last couple years. The ones still playing Ele are naturally more fluent at playing the class. That doesn't mean Ele is very deadly. On an average player, the class is severely lacking compared to other meta classes.

[Puck.3697]

2 hours ago, Sunshine.5014 said:

That's Survivor's Bias. Many people switched off Ele in the last couple years. The ones still playing Ele are naturally more fluent at playing the class. That doesn't mean Ele is very deadly. On an average player, the class is severely lacking compared to other meta classes.

That's because elementalist is quite a muscle memory intensive choice with how large it's rotations are. Ontop of that a more complicated choice so in the average players hands ofcourse will stick out further. 

BUT. In the average hands every meta choice follows the same problems. 

90% of the playerbase could not manage 10k DPS on the a auto attack build. 

Why? Because people die left right and centre. Struggle to retain uptime while dodging mechanics and generally run really bad builds or incorrect sigils / runes. 

When the bar is this low currently. The average aren't gonna manage anything. 

Elementalist is a very hard to play proffession alone. Let alone if someone intends to play multiple proffessions. The vast majority could not just pick elementalist up time to time and perform with it. Which will make it unpopular in the game which is realistically built for players who want to play multiple characters. 

This isn't a negative either. It's important complex and difficult proffessions exist just as much as easy to play ones do. 

They will always be less popular ofcourse but that's perfectly fine every mmorpg has these. 

There is a reason why people like teapot broadcast smashing dragons fall with 0 prep and any comp while the vast majority cannot do the event even after several nerfs. 

Don't base proffession capability on the average. Because the average of this game is REALLY REALLY low. Likely the lowest in the genre in all honesty. 

Gw2 has done a job of never requiring anyone to ever improve.

This means players on average never get better, they never learn rotations, they never get to a point of using correct set ups, not nothing. 

Which means the average player keyboard turns and clicks skills using 0 hotkeys with a very low reaction rate. 

You cannot base a proffessions performance on that, the reason so many deny things like firebrand being overpowered is because in the vast majority of players hands it never was. 

I watch raiders. You have raiding Firebrands who don't even know they can provide quickness. 🤦

This isn't a insult or a personal attack on anyone. No one has to learn the game or become a min maxer, but at the same time the idea of balancing proffessions based on the average is such a flawed idea in the long terms of the game. 

Because the truth is catering to these players would require to make all options easier to play.. that's the only fix that would solve this problem 

Increase the GCD to allow the rotation to be done at full speed at a skill clickers base, slow down animations so keyboard turning is no longer a downfall, prime almost all proffessions damage into auto attacks. Delete boons and ram the damage into proffessions at base. The problem would be ofcourse trying to make the average good at your game would make this game almost a AFK simulator. 

Tempest ironically did make ele alot easier to play but even then most couldn't do it. 

Edited April 7, 2022 by Daddy.8125

[Mik.3401]

Necro/Engineer/Revenant/Guardian are all good everywhere

[otto.5684]

On 4/7/2022 at 2:17 PM, Daddy.8125 said:

That's because elementalist is quite a muscle memory intensive choice with how large it's rotations are. Ontop of that a more complicated choice so in the average players hands ofcourse will stick out further. 

BUT. In the average hands every meta choice follows the same problems. 

90% of the playerbase could not manage 10k DPS on the a auto attack build. 

Why? Because people die left right and centre. Struggle to retain uptime while dodging mechanics and generally run really bad builds or incorrect sigils / runes. 

When the bar is this low currently. The average aren't gonna manage anything. 

Elementalist is a very hard to play proffession alone. Let alone if someone intends to play multiple proffessions. The vast majority could not just pick elementalist up time to time and perform with it. Which will make it unpopular in the game which is realistically built for players who want to play multiple characters. 

This isn't a negative either. It's important complex and difficult proffessions exist just as much as easy to play ones do. 

They will always be less popular ofcourse but that's perfectly fine every mmorpg has these. 

There is a reason why people like teapot broadcast smashing dragons fall with 0 prep and any comp while the vast majority cannot do the event even after several nerfs. 

Don't base proffession capability on the average. Because the average of this game is REALLY REALLY low. Likely the lowest in the genre in all honesty. 

Gw2 has done a job of never requiring anyone to ever improve.

This means players on average never get better, they never learn rotations, they never get to a point of using correct set ups, not nothing. 

Which means the average player keyboard turns and clicks skills using 0 hotkeys with a very low reaction rate. 

You cannot base a proffessions performance on that, the reason so many deny things like firebrand being overpowered is because in the vast majority of players hands it never was. 

I watch raiders. You have raiding Firebrands who don't even know they can provide quickness. 🤦

This isn't a insult or a personal attack on anyone. No one has to learn the game or become a min maxer, but at the same time the idea of balancing proffessions based on the average is such a flawed idea in the long terms of the game. 

Because the truth is catering to these players would require to make all options easier to play.. that's the only fix that would solve this problem 

Increase the GCD to allow the rotation to be done at full speed at a skill clickers base, slow down animations so keyboard turning is no longer a downfall, prime almost all proffessions damage into auto attacks. Delete boons and ram the damage into proffessions at base. The problem would be ofcourse trying to make the average good at your game would make this game almost a AFK simulator. 

Tempest ironically did make ele alot easier to play but even then most couldn't do it. 

I know I am late to this party. I would fall in the higher skill ball park. I find ele to be the weakest in open world. It is not an issue of low health pool or armor (though they do not help), but you are heavily forced in melee with limited sustain, outside water. Water burns too much time in which you are barely dealing damage. None of ele heals are strong enough. Compared to the three main classes I play, rev, guardian and mesmer, ele is really lacking in its ability to maintain damage and sustain.

 

[Puck.3697]

2 hours ago, otto.5684 said:

I know I am late to this party. I would fall in the higher skill ball park. I find ele to be the weakest in open world. It is not an issue of low health pool or armor (though they do not help), but you are heavily forced in melee with limited sustain, outside water. Water burns too much time in which you are barely dealing damage. None of ele heals are strong enough. Compared to the three main classes I play, rev, guardian and mesmer, ele is really lacking in its ability to maintain damage and sustain.

 

Yeah it being melee forced is defintly a downfall in some situations. I wouldn't quite put it at weakest though. Remember warriors also lack any decent ranged options and so does revenant unless your renegade only. 

Celestial weaver however as shown by aliems videos can quite literally facetank damage without a problem the issue is unlike multitudes of builds it requires these very precise sets to be any good at soloing. Where most proffessions can just use dps gear and solo the vast majority of solo content perfectly fine. 

Ele is a decent solo choice but when it comes to soloing things such as bounties the more punishing ones against pure melee kits defiantly make life difficult on the elementalist it's not alike mech or spectre which defiantly are better options. 

And yeah the moment you don't have these sets such as celestial or trailblazer. Soloing even story based content can feel like a headache. 

Edited April 23, 2022 by Daddy.8125

[Lily.1935]

On 3/21/2022 at 11:20 AM, Eliam.3716 said:

So given the new EoD E-Specs and changes, which class would you says has the better setup for being able to have a good and valid spec for both PVE OW//Strikes//WvW?  I prefer to play a single main character with maybe one backup, just my style.  I am NOT interested in Guardian, just not my thing.  I do like to play less common classes though but understand that sometimes just doesn't align

 

Which class would be a good candidate for that single main? 

Engineer, Necro and Rev are what come to mind but what about Mes, War or Thief?

Currently, Necromancer IF you don't want to roam in WvW.

But balance is a turbulent thing and Scourge has been looked at quite a bit for nerfs over its entire life for WvW.

But the others you've listed are all good too in one way or another. Honestly, play the one you like the most because picking what's currently best now isn't always going to work out for you. You need to pick what is most fun for you.