Another class choosing thread? I'm completely lost...

[Antrix.4512]

I'll start by saying that this is the most amazing game (not just as an MMO) I've played and it has given me a lot more emotions in the last three weeks than any other game in the last 10 years. The game with the most amazing community. I don't like to create such topics, instead I try to figure it out on my own by studying forums, reddit, etc. . I joined to GW2 community a long time ago (I mean account creation time), but only relatively recently I started playing the game on a "full-time" basis. And recently, I've hit a dead end.

 

Yes, I know that there is no usual healer/tank/dps here, each class can do a little bit of everything. But still, no matter how much the developers would like to adhere to this position, the distribution of roles will still be. I'm not a fan of alts, I'm used to having one main character and a maximum one/two alts just as storage and for crafting what my main character can't. I am also a very casual player, because I devote almost all the time to work and my family, and there is also a full-scale war going on in our country, so there can be no talk of any raids, raidtimes and other things, this is excluded and is not even considered for the future. But I do not exclude LFG from time to time.

 

What does a casual person need for a comfortable casual game? Choose a more or less self-sufficient class, but which would suit this person in style. From what I have already seen and played with these classes - I liked Revenant, Mesmer and Neromancer a little (very little, cuz he has a very ugly pets, and this is probably the only thing that repels me so far from it). I would also like my class to be able to heal. And this is where the crux of the problem begins. Specifically, I'm completely confused.

 

I have read dozens of topics, threads, hundreds of messages, posts, various wikis, builds, more than a hundred videos, reviews, tier lists and other things... and everywhere there is completely different information. Some people say that all classes can heal well, others say that only Guardian and Druid can. Third say that the Revenant and Mesmer can heal and Revenant can heal better than Guardian, the fourth that only the Revenant (of those two) and only a very small group, and the fifth say that the Revenant can generally heal only himself, and other players get such a meager heal that they need a Revenant only for buffs. In one topic, everyone unanimously says that the Necromancer and Thief are excellent healers, and in another topic, the opposite - Necromancer is needed only for resurrection and the Thief is only for situational buffs. It's the same with self-sufficiency, survivability and solo play. Absolutely the same, just replace the word "heal" with "self-sufficiency" or "survivability".

 

I can't figure out what's true and what's not. Unfortunately, no matter how wonderful and awesome this game is, I will not be able to devote enough time to it that I would have enough time to study all the classes, all the mechanics and then choose one of them. They are all interesting, absolutely all. Unless stylistically I never liked the Engineers (yes, I saw that they are now one-button).

 

Maybe now everything will be about the same, but still I hope that you can help me with the choice of a class for my main, which can combine such attributes as self-sufficiency, survival, a good heal for the group and, probably... interesting? For now, I'm looking at Revenant and Mesmer, but I don't mind trying other classes (except Engineer). Revenant seemed to me more active in terms of abilities and more or less survivable if you know what to do, while Mesmer (tried condi for now) is a bit slow in damage, but more survivable due to the fact that enemies are aggroing clones.

 

Thanks to everyone who read this wall of text and sorry for another thread like this 😞

Edited September 19, 2022 by Antrix.4512

[Urphen.2857]

Since endgame isn't your goal

for open world (the casual part of the game) I would say full healer aren't rly needed there and rev/mesmer could bring enough healing.

fracs/raids/wvw (endgame) the answer would change.

Rev was a long time ago a good healer but nowadays it isn't used anymore as such thanks to nerfs and better options.

mesmer never was a healer beside the self heal/Tank build what was niche, there will pop up another guy telling you mesmer is a good healer because of reasons no other understand but the reality is that mesmer isn't taken as healer in endgame content.

Nekro was no real healer it was more a barrier+rezz bot.

If you are searching a good solo class all 3 are good, mesmer and necro both are good solo and have both dps and support builds for endgame pve.

Can't say much about rev because its long time since I played him.

For healing Guardian engineer druid and ele would be the best choices.

But like I said if you only plan doing open world and the more casual things you can play what you want and heal a bit with mesmer or rev.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Urphen.2857

[Rokeb.3815]

Welcome to GW2!  As you've said, GW2 isn't as big on dedicated roles like 'healer' than other games.  Healing gets wrapped up in the broader role of 'support'.  

This includes obvious things like healing damage of other players, but also things like removing conditions (like damage over time such as burning or cripple that slows you down).  It also includes 'stability' - the buff that stops you being stunned in the first place along with 'stun breaks' that remove the stun effect (that annoying thing where your character gets knocked down and can't do anything at all).

 

Support also includes 'buffs' - effects that make yourself or other characters better in some way - like quickness (your actions are faster), alacrity (your skills recharge faster), might (more damage) etc.

 

If you want one character than can do (almost) all that and roam around the world effectively killing monsters all at the same time, then Firebrand (a Guardian elite spec) is for you.  

 

The main reason you hear about Firebrand being over powered is the simple fact that it gets three extra sets of weapon skills for free in addition to normal weapon attacks and utility skills.  Everyone wants a firebrand in their group for all the benefits it brings to everyone else.

The first set (F1 key unlocks these) are all big area of effect fire skills - great for killing groups of monsters.

The second set (F2 key) are all Healing skills.  

The third set (F3) are all skills to buff your allies.

 

Additionally, lots of your other skills are helpful for those around you - granting quickness, stability, breaking stuns etc.

 

There are lots of different ways you can play this - but I'd suggest for anything other than raiding, a full set of celestial gear with an axe and torch for your main weapons and you'll be good to go.

 

[Antrix.4512]

@Urphen.2857 @Rokeb.3815 Thank you very, very much for your replies. That is, for me (rather my playstyle) Guardian will suit the most? How can you generally characterize the roles of these classes (Mesmer, Revenant, Necromancer and Guardian) and evaluate their self-sufficiency and ease of playing solo from 1 to 10? I think this will make it a little clearer for me.

[Fueki.4753]

Rather than aiming for the most efficient options, you should aim for what's the most fun.

To find what's fun to you, there's no choice other than to try out multiple professions.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Fueki.4753

[Urphen.2857]

1 hour ago, Antrix.4512 said:

@Urphen.2857 @Rokeb.3815 Thank you very, very much for your replies. That is, for me (rather my playstyle) Guardian will suit the most? How can you generally characterize the roles of these classes (Mesmer, Revenant, Necromancer and Guardian) and evaluate their self-sufficiency and ease of playing solo from 1 to 10? I think this will make it a little clearer for me.

There are coming a few Patches that can change things so have this in mind.

Thanks to e-spec Classes can have different roles.

Guardian personally I find it not as good in solo play like the other options but I have to say I don't have played Willbender enough to rank it, other than that for grp play Guardian has everything you want with Firebrand as Healer/Quick support and Dh/Willbender as dps, but it's Firebrand that let's Guardian be strong and Meta.

Mesmer has access to roles like quick (Chronomancer) or alac (Mirage) support.

Mirage is a strong (if not the strongest) solo spec and with its staff/staff build easy to play.

Virtuoso is a strong ranged dps in grp play.

So while Mesmer seems a good choice I need to say many mesmer mains (me including) aren't happy with the state of mesmer but this goes mostly in the direction of competitive play (pvp/wvw).

Revenant I will pass, like I said its long time ago that I have played him actively.

Necromancer ist a strong solo spec too, Reaper is fun to play, Scourge brings good Condi dps and can be barrier/rezz, before eod it was the carry spec, can't say much how it is yet.

Harbinger gives necro another strong Condi dps or a quick support.

Necromancer is a good class for wvw too.

Ranking them is difficult because e-specs can change how easy or hard a class is to play.

I think I'm not the best person to do this since I stopped playing a few months ago but I hope i could help a bit.

Guardian: DH Power Dps, Firebrand Condi dps and healer/Quick support, willbender Condi dps

Mesmer: Chronomancer Power dps and quick support, Mirage Condi dps and alac support, Virtuoso dps

Necromancer: Reaper Power dps (there was a time Condi dps existet too), Scourge Condi dps and barrier/rezz bot, harbinger Condi dps and quick support

Edited September 19, 2022 by Urphen.2857

[draxynnic.3719]

Part of the inconsistency is that people have different criteria, both in what they're looking for and in what power level the consider to be adequate. Like many MMOs, too, the balance also shifts over time.

If you're considering going into endgame stuff at all, then broadly speaking the meta is for a party or subsquad of five to include three DPS players, one offensive support (who provides an important boon like quickness or alacrity but is otherwise DPS-oriented) and one healer (who also provides whichever of the two boons that the offensive support doesn't). There is a tendency for the healer to be the alacrity provider, but this could be the other way around. DPS can also be conditions or power - it's useful to have both.

If you're solo, offensive support builds (particularly quickness offensive support) are often good choices, since providing yourself with an important boon generally leads to better overall performance when solo.

Considering the options you've brought up:

Mesmer has pretty much never really been a serious healer. It can do just about everything else, though: power damage, condi damage, condi/alacrity offensive support, and in theory it can do quickness offensive support, although those builds are  still in balance flux.

Revenant can do condition DPS or quickness offensive support. Builds for other roles aren't quite there at the moment for endgame...but they might not be far off (in particular, revenant used to be known as the prime alacrity support, but it's just not competing with the alternatives at the moment). I would recommend, if you're thinking of healing with rev, getting some practice in with the Ventari tablet and seeing how it feels to use it. If you don't like how it works, it's probably better if you don't regard rev as a potential healer.

If you really want to be a healer, you're probably looking at firebrand, druid, tempest, and engineer elite specs at the moment. Scourges and spectres can help with keeping allies up, but they're generally not going to be the primary healers. Sounds like you've already eliminated engineer, so let's look at ranger, guardian, and elementalist.

Elementalist is complicated as heck to run. Given your criteria, let's just eliminate it now.

Ranger is pretty versatile nowadays, although it can't provide quickness. Its rotations tend to be somewhat complex, but generally not where elementalist tends to be. Druid's healing methods can be a bit awkward, though (you might consider trying it out in the PvP lobby and see what you think of it) Ranger is very much the epitome of easy to learn, hard to master: you can generally get away with running around in open world with fairly low intensity play, but endgame expectations can get complex, especially since rangers tend to be called on for boss-specific roles.

Guardian is relatively easy to run. It has a condi DPS build (and normally at least one power DPS build, but guardian power DPS took a big indirect hit a few months ago - it's still perfectly suitable for open world and solo, though). It has a good condi quickness offensive support and a quickness healer. Theoretically it can offensive support with alacrity, but alacrity willbender is awkward and doesn't currently perform well enough to justify the awkward.

So if you don't mind not having a healer role, mesmer covers pretty much everything else.

If you really want to be able to be a healer, go with guardian and prioritise unlocking firebrand. It's worth noting that guardian has a lot in common with both mesmer and rev, so if you enjoy both of those, you'll probably enjoy guardian. Weakness in endgame power damage is hopefully going to be addressed in the next few months, and if it isn't, condi firebrand is bursty enough that it might well do the job anyway.

Rev is...serviceable, and fairly strong solo, but in terms of aspiring to endgame, it's a bit of a gamble. There's little demand for it at the moment in endgame content at the moment unless people really want a lot of projectile hate, but it might only take a few buffs in the right places to make it as versatile as engineer. Just do make sure you're comfortable with the tablet before committing to maining revenant if you want to be a healer.

With those caveats, any of the three could work.

That said, one possible curveball is that maintaining multiple builds on different professions might not require much more investment than multiple builds on a similar profession. The game is very alt-friendly and throws a lot of material like experience tomes that can allow you to quickly level a second or third (or beyond!) character to 80, and additional sets of gear will still cost you the same regardless of which character it's on. So, assuming balance stays the same, you could consider unlocking virtuoso and mirage on mesmer for DPS and alacrity roles, herald on rev for quickness, and firebrand on guardian for a healer, and have a lot of versatility for not much more investment than trying to get as much as you can out of only one profession. It also makes you more proof against future balance changes, since if one build gets dumpstered by nerfs, you're more likely to be able to switch to something else that does the same job.

[chronometria.3708]

Longbow druid with a jacaranda pet - build it with celestial stats and you can do good damage while throwing heals here and there. White tiger too, for aegis.

Edited September 19, 2022 by chronometria.3708

[Antrix.4512]

@Rokeb.3815 @Urphen.2857 @Fueki.4753 @draxynnic.3719 That's what I said about the GW2 community! You guys are amazing! I got pretty comprehensive information from all of you on all of my questions.

 

Since I don't like any of the "real" healers by playstyle, I'll take yours and in particular @draxynnic.3719's advice - I decided to stick with Mesmer though, because he covers all other aspects. Yes, he's slower than Revenant (at least for now, and I can't judge yet due to very little experience with the game), but his style, mobility, and overall set of abilities - suits me very well. I like Revenant a lot too, but I was pretty disappointed with him because of the "No valid path to target!", it was just a horrible experience 😄 I couldn't take Necromancer because of the look of its pets and constant resummoning. 

 

I also closed my first solo dungeon with Mesmer (yes, it was in story mode, but that's just the beginning) ☺️

 

I hope that in the future I'll be able to make time to create an alt and give him enough time, because overall - in this game all classes are interesting in their own way and this is the first game I can say that about.

 

Once again I want to thank all of you, I'm very surprised at the detailed responses I received. My question can be considered closed. I have a lot of undiscovered and interesting things ahead of me 🙂

[Mell.4873]

9 hours ago, Antrix.4512 said:

Some people say that all classes can heal well, others say that only Guardian and Druid can. Third say that the Revenant and Mesmer can heal and Revenant can heal better than Guardian, the fourth that only the Revenant (of those two) and only a very small group, and the fifth say that the Revenant can generally heal only himself, and other players get such a meager heal that they need a Revenant only for buffs. In one topic, everyone unanimously says that the Necromancer and Thief are excellent healers, and in another topic, the opposite - Necromancer is needed only for resurrection and the Thief is only for situational buffs. It's the same with self-sufficiency, survivability and solo play. Absolutely the same, just replace the word "heal" with "self-sufficiency" or "survivability".

Don't listen to the other players to much since most have been in the game so long their perspective is based of what works in an end-game raid setting.

To be perfectly honest play them all and find what you enjoy since that is what matters. I often play Support DPS in end-game content and that is the most fun; everything can do it outside a few Specializations.
An example is you could run Power Mesmer (Chronomancer) and slot is Quickness on Shatters plus Inspiration Traitline and you can be a pseudo healer + quickness support. You wont have 100% quickness uptime but it will still help any Open World group.

PS: Persistence of Memory + Protected Phantasms means you will have a lot of Self Aegis.

Edited September 19, 2022 by Mell.4873

[Buran.3796]

   Necro and Mesmer share the same armor tier (light), so once you get ascended gear you can swap it from one to the other (albeit the usability could difer based on the role). Then later, if you go for a legendary armor set (you should) you could entirely adjust their stats at will. At the moment, Necro and Mesmer had both utterly strong solo builds (Scourge and Mirage, suing trailblazer stats) and the Necro has also a very strong support build (albeit not exactly a healer).

   On the other hand, Revenant and Guardian share the heavy armor tier (the same can be said). For solo builds both have strong choices (Renegade and Willbender); for team content Rev can share quickness and alacrity, whereas the Guardian can share quickness but has a huge array of utility tools (mostly in the Firebrand spec). Both have good healing builds but at the moment are overshadowed by the Engie, and yeas you hate it but the Mechanist builds are currently good at everything, some of them at different roles at the same time.

   I've mained Warrior (4 months), then Guardian (3 years) then Revenant (until now), but those are my preferences. In terms of gameplay I enjoy Herald the most, then Willbender, Renegade and Firebrand. You should try out all the classes & specs and for your own ideas, which can change along the time (and is fine!).

[draxynnic.3719]

No worries!

When it comes to mobility, the mirage elite specialisation adds a lot of mobility, so that can be something to look forward to. I've had raids where I used condi mirage over condi virtuoso explicitly because mirage's access to frequent teleports made it a lot easier to deal with certain movement-oriented mechanics. Something to be aware of if and when you get to the point where it matters is that while double staff alacrity mirage's ideal build uses a few hard-to-get Ritualist pieces, it still works fairly well with the same armour and trinkets that condition DPS mirage uses. (Which is, incidentally, the same armour that condition scourge uses, to address the point @Buran.3796 made about swapping ascended gear between characters. It's worth noting, too, that while most exotic gear will become soulbound and attached to a specific character, there are some exotic pieces that are account-bound and can therefore be swapped between characters. Personally, though, I generally found it easier for each character to have their own gear at the exotic level.)