Returning player - profession suggestion

[Tenofas.6098]

Hi to everyone.

I just returned to GW2 after many years (I left when HoT came out).

I remember very little of the game and I am now trying to learn it again from scratch.  I found three characters ready at lvl 80:  a thief (my first one, I used it for a while and did some PvP), a warrior (my second one, I played it a lot but no PvP, just PvE and WvW) and last a guardian (I guess this one was the last one I created but the one I played the most before I left:  it has full ascended armor/weapons).

Now, the builds are very old and the equipment also is outdated for all of them.  And i don't remember how to play any of them.

So the question is:  which one would you pick to return to the game?  I will be focused mainly on WvW and the Living story, maybe some PvP...   I read on the forum (and on other website) that Warrior is the worst profession now, while guardian could be very useful and it's a lot of fun.  I am not sure I would like to start a new profession, and maybe the thief is not the best way to start as it's a little harder to play than a guardian or warrior.

So... any suggestion? 

Thanks

Tenofas

[Yukondokne.4967]

I had/have much the same problem. I wa a thief main, was gone for a long time, came back, and i have decided to change it up. now im playing Necro reaper. 

honestly just play a class that intrigues  you. none are incapable of doing content.  

[Buran.3796]

6 hours ago, Tenofas.6098 said:

So the question is:  which one would you pick to return to the game?  I will be focused mainly on WvW and the Living story, maybe some PvP... 

   If you'll playing as a roamer my advice would be to use a power Willbender, since does plenty of AoE damage, has good cleanses and a lot of mobility. Alternatively a Thief has even better mobility but usually much more limited AoE damage and is harder to play. Warrior would be in the middle but the best mobility tools are oftenly linked to weapons and those weapons affect your builds. As example: a hammer + dagger & shield Spellbreaker can be very good at 1 v 1 and small scale fights due the cc chains, but will have less mobility than tha same SB running a greatsword.

   If you'll playing in zergs then support core Guardian/Firebrand or some Warrior builds would be the best choices.

[Kaltyn of Torbins Deep.294]

Whatever you do, don't delete any of your existing characters!  Birthday presents are per character until you get up into the 8th or higher year, in which case the presents are still per character but they threw in some per account ones too.

Ascended armor and weapons can be stat swapped in the mystic forge - requires the item you want to change stats on, 5 ecto, 1 anthology of heroes (bought from the mystic forge attendant), and the EXOTIC inscription or insignia of the stats you want to swap to.  So, if you think your gear is outdated, updating is much cheaper and easier than creating an all new set.

[Tenofas.6098]

Thanks for all your suggestions and ideas!

I need to learn all over again... did not even remember that ascended gear's stats che be changed!

Probably I will stick to my warrior for the moment, as it's the one that has done more of the Living Story and the world map.

Thanks

[Luthan.5236]

Not the thief. I have played from rlease until end of 2013. Came back in June 2019. And I had a lot to catch up on. (Still tons of small and grindier achievements left.) Now you played until around HoT ... but we have had more stuff that came out (EoD with also new elite specs ... not SotO - no elite but still new content) ... might be a bigger thing to start now as a returner after a long break or as a new player.

Personally I have a char of each of the 9 professions - leveled manually to level 80 and through the core personal story (and a bit core map completion - towards Orr). Ele and thief always felt "hardest" to play. Since they feel squishy and are meant to have a good optimized build and useage of a lot of stuff ... "keyboard acrobatics" required to actually use all the skills while the warrior/guardian seemed easier. (I have not tried the elite specs though. Thief seems to get a special mode with the EoD elite spec - similar to Necro's shroud. Maybe this acts like an "additional health bar" which the Necro's bar in shroud often is called.)

Guardian has good passive heal and contition cleanse - if needed. (Heavy armor weight but low health pool.) The warrior has heavy armor and high health. If you liked the guardian ... why not use it again? Warrior is nice as well of course.

Also maybe to get into the game (if you feel like you need it) ... leveling another char slowly - might be nice. I found the pet classes (engineer got a "pet" with the latest elite spec but I have also experienced core ranger) also not too bad - pet can be used a bit for tanking/melee while you range. Making it feel easier to kill mobs without having to train until you are a keyboard acrobatics expert. 😄

[starlinvf.1358]

Roll mesmer and level it to 80. once at lvl 80 you unlock “appreciation for how every other class is more straight forward”.  

no matter what class you play after, it’ll feel easy to understand.  also, starting over to relearn basic mechanics is preferable to jumping on a lvl 80, where its assumed you already know how it works, and the game throws the big boy mobs at you