Need help deciding what profession to roll as main

[PanDemonAeon.6412]

Hello GW2 players,

I have little bit of a problem regarding which profession to play as main. I have been playing this game since it became F2P but I never reached the end game at all because of constant creating-deleting the character. I have tried talking to players on Discord and in-game. Did little bit of research of each class and I tried most of the classes so I pretty much know what are game mechanics but still I cant stick to one class at all (I think the maximum level I have ever reached in-game was around 50). I would love to if there are some sites, youtube channels and basically anything that will help me to gather enough information so I could stick to one character (ofc if the information about each class is up to date) because its getting little bit boring going through same areas all over again. Information for newbies could help a lot as well, how to play each class, how to progress in the game the right way, farming different types of currencies.

There are few question that I would like as much as possible from you all that will see this thread to answer because it will help a lot:

1)Which is smarter? Sticking to one character or alting with others?2)Using MAX-BOOST before reaching end game leveling normally?3)Having multiple characters with different crafting professions or to have one character and buy slots for crafting professions?4)Are classes here ping dependent? For example in most of the games for rogue classes its usually required to have lowest ping as possible but for casting low ping rule doesn't apply that much.5)How to prioritize what to do in the game? I know this is a sandbox game and by that I can do anything I will make progress in the game, but still in my opinion there should be some kind of path that I need to follow, so basically, when to events, when to world bosses, when to do hearts, when to focus on pvp (things like that)?6)When I ask people regarding certain class some people are saying for example "Thief is useless in PVE but great in PVP" while others are saying "Thief is good in PVP and PVE you just need to learn how the profession behaves".

I hope you will all be able to help me with this and I hope I did not give you some kind of a homework to do but these information would help a lot regarding playing this.

Kind regards.

[Oglaf.1074]

1) Having one powerful lvl 80 main to help support your alts is the way to go. A lot of endgame equipment is accountbound so you can farm it with you main so it is ready for your alts when they can use it.

2) What do you value more: experiencing the core game as it was intended/fully in terms of map exploration, progress, story and all that or getting into endgame content ASAP? Just make sure you are absolutely sure of which character you do use it on.

3) Depends. Personally, I really only play my main so I decided to get extra crafting slots on him. If you intend to run many alts, spread them out - especially since leveling a crafting discipline can be used as a leveling method of a character. And alts are free, extra slots are not.

4) Not really a PvP person so wouldn’t know.

5) Once you hit lvl80, GW2 is very much a game of make-your-own-adventure. You do indeed mostly set your own goals to tackle.

6) When people say “useless in PvE” they really just mean “not top class in the current Raid meta”. Don’t worry too much about it. :wink:

[RabbitUp.8294]

Rerolling is a big mistake in this game. Having a level 80 allows you to support your future alts much easier. You get Tomes of Knowledge from multiple sources, which grant an instant level-up when consumed, and ascended gear, which is the best gear you can get, are all account bound and can be shared among your characters, although for armour, they would have to both wear the same type of armour (light, medium, heavy).

I will make a follow-up post later, when I'm on my pc.

[InsaneQR.7412]

I break everything down on you how each profession behaves currently.I just assume that at some point you wnat to buy the expansions so i list the e-specs too.

Warrior: Easiest heavy class, good in all game modes. Welcome bannerslave in group content, had high condi DPS with berserker and high Power with core or spellbreaker. Spellbreaker for in PvP and WvW.

Guardian: Intermediate difficulty. Good DPS in group content. DH has good cleave and dmg against big bosses, firebrand has good condition dmg and is in the WvW meta and one of the best PvP supports.

Revenant: Most difficult heavy class. Jack of all trades, very versatile but a bit lackluster in build diversity (i know it sounds contradictory ) . On tuesday we get an overhaul on the herald elite spec so i cant say how it will perform. Renegade is a high condition DPS spec and a good offmeta healer (thus elitists dont want that).

Ranger: Easiest Medium class to play.Has an aggro drawing pet thus total chill during leveling. Has fantastic support with druid e-spec and good DPS in all regards with soulbeast. Its core mechanic is a bit whack though and 90% of pets really are there more for flavour than performance (yeah, you may notice the main char bias here).

Thief: Very DPS oriented. As mentioned above very prominent in PvP and WvW roaming. Not so prevalent in PvE BUT top tier dps atm in raids on small bosses and decent good DPS in fractals.

Engineer: Most difficult medoum class to play. Very versatile. Has absolute condi hate. Is a good tank spec withd crapper and thus a very good open world faceroll class, not so prominent anywhere else sadly. Holo is good dps and CC and easier to play than core or scrapper.

Necromancer: Easiest light profession.Has faceroll open world builds with minions and is very strong in PvP due to boon corrupt. Scourge is especially good at that and also has a place in group content as a offmeta healer and a decent DPS against certain bosses.Reaper is fantastic on open PvE due to high burst but lacks sustained DPS in groups.

Mesmer: Probably the best light class atm. Good core class, fabtastic boon support tank with chrono (yes all at once) and very good duelist and DPS with mirage. High variety and meta/great in all modes. Prone to nerfs atm though.

Elementalist: Most difficult light class. Very versatile good dps, decent offmeta support for raids with tempest and fantastic support in fractals with the same. Dynamic gameplay and can ajust on the fly. Weaver is especially tricky to learn but very impactful fast paced sword gameplay.

Personally i think ranger, thief, warrior and mesmer are your main choices here if you wanna have a place in a group anytime.Choose the one you like the most. Thief is rather one dimentional though atm with his DPS rotation.

[RabbitUp.8294]

@"PanDemonAeon.6412" said:2)Using MAX-BOOST before reaching end game leveling normally?

Levelling normally during your first playthrough would be best. You get a chance to learn the general game mechanics, as well as the particular intricacies of your chosen profession. You can still use the lv80 boost as a trial feature, since the game puts you in a level 80 zone in the same gear and build you will get if you go through with your choice, but until you confirm your decision, you are free to experiment and revert as many time as you want with many different classes. Or you can go to the pvp lobby, which is a similar thing.

3)Having multiple characters with different crafting professions or to have one character and buy slots for crafting professions?

Multiple characters. As said before, the game actively motivates you to level up alts. Plus, all the experience you get from crafting makes levelling alts even easier. Remember to use an exp booster (you get them from levelling rewards) and a crafting guide to save money.

Buying more crafting slots is a waste of gold/money in general. The way the system works is that you can level up any number of crafting disciplines on the same character, but you can only have 2 of them active at a time. You can switch them at any time by talking to a master crafter and paying a fee depending on the level of the craft you are switching into (at max level 500, that fee is 50 silver). So, all those crafting slots do is increase the number of crafting disciplines you can have active at the same time, and avoid that negligible fee.

Now, as for what crafts to choose, maxing the armour discipline corresponding to your character's armour type (tailor for light armour, leatherworker for medium, or armorsmith for heavy) is a must. But the second choice isn't as easy, or even something you need to particular focus on right away, because most classes tend to use weapons from many different crafting disciplines, and you can get ascended weapons from other sources anyway. Chef is a decent choice, but you can also buy food from tp. And just avoid jeweller and scribe, as the first has very limited use and the second is only for guilds and guild halls, and even then only 1 person per guild needs to level scribe.

4)Are classes here ping dependent? For example in most of the games for rogue classes its usually required to have lowest ping as possible but for casting low ping rule doesn't apply that much.

Some rotations might be harder with high ping, and I've seen some people complain about some specific movement skills failing to work occasionally with high ping (or moving you a smaller distance), but from my experience playing with 300+ ping, I don't find any particular profession more prone to ping issues.

5)How to prioritize what to do in the game? I know this is a sandbox game and by that I can do anything I will make progress in the game, but still in my opinion there should be some kind of path that I need to follow, so basically, when to events, when to world bosses, when to do hearts, when to focus on pvp (things like that)?

That's a tricky question. I don't want to give you the same "do what you enjoy best" answer, but generally, during the levelling process, there's not really an optimal path, so it's you chance to actually do what you enjoy. Just exploring maps and doing any event you encounter is efficient enough. As you probably already know, you get a new chapter of your personal story every 10 levels, starting from level 10, and finishing that is worth 2-3 levels every time, so it's good to do these as you unlock them. Plus you get some low level gear to equip.

Now, when you do reach level 80, your first course of action should be to get good gear. Feel free to contact me if you need specific advice, as there are many shortcuts and ways to save gold.

After that, the endgame in pve revolves around fractals (5-man group content) and raids (10-man). Raids are more straightforward, there are several raids wings with multiple bosses each. You get rewards the first time you kill them, which reset every week. However, it can be hard to get into raid groups, although there are training guilds you can join to get started. Fractals are more complicated, but they are the endgame the majority of pvers play. They come in 4 tiers, getting harder as you progress, and have a unique agony system, which is damage you need to gear up to protect yourself against. To do so you have to get ascended gear and slot agony infusions, all of which you will have an easier time getting as you do more low tier fractals. There are several different fractals, but each day there are 3 daily fractals that can be completed at any tier, and 3 recommended ones (1 from each of the first 3 tiers). Finishing the dailies at a high tier also gives you the reward for the lower tiers, so the typical endgame fractal runs involve doing the 3 daily tier 4s (getting all rewards for 1-4) and the 3 recommended at their set tiers. This can net you around 20g and you can do it every day. You also have a chance at getting ascended gear as loot, which can go towards gearing your alts, or making more builds for your main.

Competitive game modes (pvp and wvw) are more of a preference. If you enjoy them, you can get some exclusive rewards (mostly fashion related). You can start pvp at level 1, since you will have access to all skills and traits, and your normal gear doesn't matter in pvp. You only need to equip the weapons you want to use, but the quality of those weapons doesn't matter, so you can buy some trash weapons from a weapon vendor for a few coppers. You also equip an amulet, a rune set and sigils for your weapons, all of which are not standard gear, but are chosen from a drop-down menu in the build panel. Something to keep in mind is that you only get access to elite specs if you own the expansions, so that is the only thing that might put you at a different footing from someone else. The rest is skill.

Wvw is a different beast, though. It works like pve, your gear, weapons, food, etc, all count, so it's something for level 80 characters to invest in. It mixes pve elements (fighting guards and taking castles) with large scale fights and sieges. Or you can be a roamer, scouting the enemy's movements and killing isolated targets.

6)When I ask people regarding certain class some people are saying for example "Thief is useless in PVE but great in PVP" while others are saying "Thief is good in PVP and PVE you just need to learn how the profession behaves".

No class is so bad in any game mode that you wouldn't want to play it. But balance changes all the time and especially expansion releases add new elite specs that greatly swift the meta. As a matter of fact, right now, thief with the deadeye elite spec is one of the highest dps builds in pve, if not the highest. That shows that it's not really worth making a choice based on the state of balance at the time you would roll your character. Just stick to the class you enjoy the most, as there's not really a bad choice.

[starlinvf.1358]

Heres something I've established over the years......

1. The game is Alt friendly, so learn to advantage of that. If you're one of those people who only want to deal with one thing (ever), then this game won't support that kind of content consumption rate. But if you're the type that can adapt to multiple classes, it opens a huge amount of variety that you can swap on a dime if things get boring or abnormally frustrating.
2. Theres no need to gear EVERY character is top tier gear. Just gear for purpose, and only invest expensive (see Ascended/Legendary) if you're positive that you can get good mileage out of the investment. I started using more exotic gear on experimental builds to either test them out or wait on the meta to commit further, and what I've found is I actually don't need Asc beyond Trinkets unless you're aiming for T4 fractal farms. And after awhile, you get so much passive AR buffs, you don't even need a full set of infusions on your alts. Even for raids, all the support classes cap out on certain stats quickly, so getting away with exotic armor is possible. And if you WvW, you can get an endless supply of cheap exotic armor that you can toss out every balance patch if the meta shuffles too much.
3. The game's format is Hack and Slash, more like Diablo then any of the older MMOs, and similar to only a hand full of current gen MMOs. This is another thing people have trouble getting over, as the game has much higher dynamic in its combat. But its also very limiting in how "optimal" strategies are established, and much of the end game content isn't actually designed to take proper advantage of its own combat system, and spent a few years chasing and acclimating "WoW players" and their inability to adapt to a different reward structure.
4. For Alt juggling, you only need to level 1 character normally (a practice character) just to get acclimated to the game's combat system. Augmenting that process is Tomes of Knowledge and Writs of experience to speed up the leveling process. The leveling process is only a tad slower then the game's basic learning curve, but jumping straight to lvl 80 without first getting used to how Active defenses work is a fast track to suicide. That's why people recommend Warrior, Guardian, Ranger, or Necro as starter classes, as their mechanics are the easiest to work with, and they all have very good self-sustain options. I would mark Guardian as Guildwars 2's master thesis for its buildcraft and combat, because it seamlessly combines multiple concepts into a coherent, easy to understand setup. If you're struggling with the guardian, then you're likely struggling with the game at a conceptual level. But once you've got the game's shared combat mechanics down, learning how to use other classes is just a matter of understanding how they manipulate those shared mechanics. The more you learn about different classes, the better you can take advantage of them being around you in group settings (even world bosses/group events).
5. I would also argue sticking to one main (only minimal use of alts) is a huge disadvantage to yourself as a player. Being able to know what another class is doing at a glance is extremely powerful in all areas of the game. While in openworld its the least utilized, knowing which players are using support skills (and sticking close to them) will substantially increase your combat performance. Or even knowing what another player is running just by looking at what they're doing, and setting up or capitalizing on that behavior. Every class is designed to mesh with others via a number of common mechanics, and understanding this helps you understand how 2-3 players can casually wreck everything around them, while 10 selfish players can get their ass handed to them by one AOE attack from one decently strong vet. What may come most surprising is that players don't even need to specialize in support to make this work.... they just need to know how to use those skills and think to use them. Guardians generate so much group support, its almost impossible for them to have a completely selfish build without hurting their overall performance.
6. Once you have a level 80, and learned how to navigate the reward system and economy, you can auto level alts pretty easily, or speed them through alternate personal story paths for AP and collections. If you're like story, and are the type that pays attention to the world, nearly every personal story path is intertwined with the Open World and heart quests that only gets explained properly IF you had gone down a particular story path. Like the Infinity Ball being the cause of an entire race of mobs, or how Trahearne's inclusion only really makes if you played certain sylvari paths. And believe me.... this was a big hate train back at launch.

To answer the specific questions.....

1. You'll want to have all 5 character slots in use for various reasons. The primary benefit is having a character geared and ready for a particular game mode that you can swap to on demand, or re-gear with minimal effort. Most classes can recycle the same gear for the majority of damage builds without having to change anything except traits and weapons, while a few may only need a something minor like different rune set or stat shuffle. Full re-gear only really an issue when you're having to do an entirely different roll from your current setup. So like a Ranger could run Power or Condi with any of their especs as a damage build, but full support Druid needs a full set of Harriers thats essentially useless for anything else. In my case, my Chrono is geared in a way that I can go either Raids (as support slot) or T4 Fractals without having to change anything except traits. My Guard is Celestials for PvE, but carries a set of minstrel's trinkets for WvW. My Necro has 2 complete sets of gear; one for Power Reaper, and one for Cele Scourge. Both my thief and ele have one set of Zerks gear, and just change weapons and traits as needed. As you can see, the gearing process is only a pain in getting setup- but once figured out, running different builds is just a matter of carrying extra gear (in an invisible bag) that you can change into as needed.
   1b. A secondary benefit is distribution of tasks. Spreading crafting disciplines across them, or parking my Mesmer at a jumping puzzle (for portals) if I haven't used it for other things in awhile. I once kept my thief at a flax farm for a few weeks after the first Deadeye nerf, because I was waiting on the next balance patch to see which direction it would go. My Ranger has Hunstman and Leatherworking, and log on to it to do daily ecto crafting without switching. I have 12 character slots now, and 3 are dedicated to throw away jobs such birthday farming, key farming, and champ bag opening. Not really needed, but saves me effort.

2. I would save Max boosting for classes you only intend to do WvW or Raid on, and only if you need it in a hurry. I only used one Lv80 Booster on my Rev, because I only needed it for WvW, and didn't see anything particularly unique about it that I wasn't able to learn on the fly.

3. Multiple characters, so you don't have to pay the switching cost. You have enough characters slots by default to cover all 8, so the crafting license is only for convenience. Though I would recommend having a weapon and armor pair on at least one character, so you can do daily ecto crafting without switching characters.

4. Its not any better or worse then any of the other classes. I would have sit down and explain the entire skill queuing system and server loop to point out why specific skills behave certain ways.... but for the most part, Ping doesn't a make functional difference until your 300+; and even then, only certain skills are affected.

5. This question and its advise can only be quantified in how much of a completionist you are. The game's basic premise only demands you be lvl 80 and understand how to put together a build with appropriate stats. Beyond that, everything essential to game play is hyper efficient to prevent you spending too much time "trying to get gear" instead of actually using the gear for its intended purpose. WoW's approach to gear grind is grossly counter-intuitive in terms of usefulness, because the gear is obsolete faster then most people can get their hands on it. This shifted that game's focus from making preparations for a fight, to repeating the same fight over and over until you can "speed clear" it, because you literally have no other tangible goal in the game's reward system.
   5b. With GW2, the grind is purely self-inflicted; and there are pros and cons to that. The biggest Con is that Goal oriented players don't know how to manage themselves- so they expect the game to hold a reward as ransom, and assign them a job to complete. A huge flaw in this is how its turned into an Efficiency puzzle for players, which they will break at every opportunity. Thats why you get the complaints about an "aimless feeling" if not assigned something, because their objective is this ill defined sense of "fulfillment" for doing things. So if they're unable to set their own goals, because they don't know what they want, they have no idea what they are working toward... only the understanding that "something needs to be worked toward". On the Pro side, if you're into Fashion Wars, AND you love grinding, theres a lot of skins you can dump huge amounts of material and monetary wealth into, just to feel a little bit more special then the guy standing next to you. Pick something with a long, convoluted collection and/or crafting process, and you've got something that will tie you up for months on end.

6. The people that make these type of responses usually don't understand any of the things they're claiming, and are only aware of those notions from parroting the Meta. The Meta itself looks for the most efficient paths to particular goal, and when it comes to build craft, its been boiled down to "idiots can win game mode X, with class Y", and those same idiots will immediately claim everything outside of that is "a bad build". Its myopia, because meta is the shortest path, and thats the furthest they bother to think about it. Raid meta in particular could have a wide variety of builds, but most will insist you need a specific core comp of 2 Chronos, 1 Druid, 1 Warrior, and the rest DPS, because its the one comp where the least amount of people have to be competent in order to succeed.

For the thief argument specifically, that stigma came about because different game modes value radically different things. Raids value DPS over everything else, and thus only all the support roles exist to protect and sustain DPS generating builds (in fact, this is the whole purpose of the trinity comp in MMOs). sPvP values 2 things equally: the ability to shut down and spike damage a target, and the ability to counter shut down and spike damage against yourself. At its core, Thief very narrowly fills this archetype, because it has skills geared toward specifically toward disabling and killing a target, at the effective HP scale of a player, in less then 2 seconds. The majority of its skills and mechanics are made to set up this killing blow, and its intended counter is its dependency on this specific set up to succeed. Outside of this, the class is pretty bad at nearly everything else. Whats changed over time is the Especs giving Thief avenues of sustained damage over time, and while also trying to maintain that narrow design of its core as a pure damage dealer, with a defensive strategy thats meant to be a hard counter to everything except "making a mistake". So whenever people erroneously use the term "useless", what they're actually saying is the class lacks a build that eclipses other builds in a given game mode. Tons of builds are perfectly viable for various things.... but only a few can be "the best possible" in a category. And thus, thats how that narrow minded argument perpetuates itself..... "why bother using anything that isn't best/optimal?".

[ButcherofMalakir.4067]

Hello. Without expansion you cannot play raids but you can play fractals (other end game pve). If this is what you might enjoy then I suggest to go for warrior since it is only top tier pve build that doesnt require expansions. This build isnt that hard mechanicaly but require some knowlage about the game to perform at best level (room to improve). With one class in high fractals you can support all your alts very well.

If you dont enjoy pve content based on party then It doesnt rly matter. All classes are more then playable in open world.

As what to prioritize: do whatever you want. Do you enjoy story -> go for story and so on. I for example run dungeons, fractals and raids 95% of the time.