warrior or ranger?

[klinda.9375]

Hello i am starting fresh with guild wars 2 and trying to decide what to level up. What is better or easier to play in PVE warrior or ranger? My only focus will be PVE and wont ever participate in PVP I have always been a warrior in other games but might want to change things up. I only have the free to play account right now so im trying to see which class is better for the core game.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Are you sure you don't have a paid account?  As Play4Free accounts can't post on the forums.

(Play4Free Members have 'Free Members' instead of 'Members' under their avatar, as well.)

Edited May 10 by Inculpatus cedo.9234

[klinda.9375]

My mistake, this is an old account that i am returning to after many many years. I dont have any of the expansions though.

[Inculpatus cedo.9234]

Well, I love my Ranger; been playing it for nearly 12 years.  I like my Warrior, as well.  Create one of each and see which you like best. 

[Rumpus.1234]

34 minutes ago, klinda.9375 said:

What is better or easier to play in PVE warrior or ranger?

Agreed with above, try both.

If you're starting very fresh, I think ranger will be easier to begin with. You can run longbow with an auto attacking pet (guaranteed damage) to tank for you. At level 10, which you'll reach very quickly, you can weapon swap in combat. Add a melee weapon, probably greatsword, it's good all around, but every set has its advantages. The only problem is, while leveling any profession you want to focus on +power stats, and half of ranger's options rely on condition damage.

Leveling warriors scale better with +power, but their ranged options are not great while leveling and without a pet you need to be comfortable in melee, dodging close attacks and moving around. Might take some practice.

[RavensSorrow.6128]

Hi and welcome back to GW2. As a Ranger main I may be a bit biased. However, Warrior was the last class I made and actually regret that as Axe spin is so satisfying!

Might I suggest Mukluklabs as a source for guides. He has a "Stronger Start" video that goes into the classes and explains their elite Specs (Expansion talents) as well that may give you some idea what to go for Longterm. Hope that helps!

[Lucy.3728]

I started as a ranger and while a pet is nice when it distracts enemies, my ranger took quite a bit of damage when the enemies came to me. I had to dodge more. Fight with more foresight. I gave up my ranger when I got to HoT. The damage curve was too steep, the enemies too annoying. I switched to revenant (heavy armor class). You won't have it (HoT class).
Later in PoF I tried again with my ranger, and it was difficult at times in areas with high respawn rates. So I tried warrior, and it was chill compared to my ranger.

I recommend the warrior if you ever plan on buying an expansion. Otherwise, it doesn't matter. The main maps are simple. Play whichever you like better in terms of playstyle. I can't see any difference in difficulty between ranger and warrior if only the main maps are played. Each has its advantages and disadvantages.

I had fun with both.

[RoseofGilead.8907]

Either one, or both. Both are great classes to learn the game, and both are really good for fairly easy leveling. Personally, I liked warrior more for leveling, but I still had fun with ranger. Necromancer is another good one for easy leveling, for the record.

[AliamRationem.5172]

Ranger is very easy to play and quite versatile and powerful.  Although I would highly recommend the expansions as the elite specs are much better than core ranger.  

If you do end up buying the expansions, my current favorite pick for ranger is Untamed.  It's a ton of fun in open world with crazy damage, great sustain, and a variety of ways you can play it.  It's also very easy to get great damage out of it in raids/strikes/fractals.

[evilcat.6817]

It is hard question, as bot of them are good. They are like the easiest classes to level up, maybe necro is somewhere near.

Warrior is good since shake it off solves problems with condition/stuns, and after that you can play around with abilities, or run full signet. Fair selection of melee weapons is nice, Weapon effects are easy but also easy to remember. The drawback is that Rifle (ranged option) has too many close combat skills so ranged could feel lacking.

Ranger - You have pet as distraction, and you can pick your pets for special skills which adds layer of customization. You actually have some option with melee like GS or 1H Sword.

[Alaskan Druid.7384]

I was ranger many years ago when I was curious about GW2 coming from the WOW camp. They do not play similar as a hunter.. at .. all.. (I think that was 10 years of suffering/playing ranger) 🙂 However, about 3 days ago, I discovered the immortal minionmancer necromancer. That changed everything as I love the minionmancer playstyle across all mmos. 

If that isn't your jam and you are restricted to those two choices... I couldn't get in to my warrior.. so Ranger, I suppose.

Edited May 11 by Alaskan Druid.7384
ranger != hunter