Returning player, what to play as? Advice needed.

[Odokuro.5049]

Hey all! Returning player here, looking for some advice as to what to play/main as GW2 is right now.A few things to help those who wish to help out.

1. Farming: I like to farm events, do things such as Silverwastes, Istan Farm, Leather Farm, ect. So tag ability along with staying up with the group is important.
2. WvW: I mostly enjoy small group or roaming playstyles, I was never a fan of being in a Zerg and spamming #1 on my keyboard, unless it suited my needs. (Taking a Keep for WP.)
3. sPvP: I like playing Stronghold, it feels much more purpose driven to me, and faster paced in some regards.
4. Raiding: I would like to actually get into Raids, they seem interesting to me, so being a Viable spec for most of the content would be good.
5. Fractals: I enjoy these too, I mostly just do the dailies though.
6. Aesthetics: I like looking like a badkitten and my attacks looking cool, so since a big part of GW2 is "Fashion Wars", I would like a spec/race that pulls off a sense of style, and nice looking animations.

I don't mind learning a hard to master spec, challenge is part of any game, and I would like to test myself.

Thanks in advance to those people who share their thoughts and advice!

Have a GREAT Day!!!

[Operator.2590]

Honestly this is kind of a hard question to really answer. By design, any class can be built to fit any and all of those notes. I'm sure you can get some people to answer what they like to use for all of this, but again--that's what they like. In any other MMO, perhaps it would be easier to answer (like WoW, or FFXIV, which have set roles). But in GW2, you can pretty much just make whatever you want, and then build it to fit the style you're looking for.

I used to try and "optimize" what I played, and the turning point for me was just realizing that there wasn't really a right answer to anything (aside from, specifically, super tryhard high-tier challenge mode raiding).

So, I know it's probably not helpful to you, who's seeming to be searching for a specific answer--but my answer to you is probably just to focus on your final point, number 6. Find a race/class combo you like to play, that feels and looks cool to you, so that you actually have fun playing it. The rest will come naturally because you'll want to make it fit those needs--and it will, because they all can.

[Fenella.2634]

You seem to have played quite a bit already and know what you want from the game. What classes did you play and like before? Do you still have your old characters?Do you have any elite specs unlocked already?If you have PoF and the mounts, mobility is not so much of an issue anymore for any class.

Honestly, if you are still interested in your old main, try that again and just tweak it a little to fit whatever you want to play at today. :) Pretty much all classes can do something in the content you mentioned.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"Odokuro.5049" said:Hey all! Returning player here, looking for some advice as to what to play/main as GW2 is right now.A few things to help those who wish to help out.

Any profession will suit you, except Mesmer which is not suited for farming (although, with all the mechanics the game has to offer, farming is unnecessary in GW2 to get you gold; playing the right content will make you rich, not going places and kill mobs).

2. WvW: I mostly enjoy small group or roaming playstyles, I was never a fan of being in a Zerg and spamming #1 on my keyboard

That's not what zergs are about, unless you are a noob. Zerg fights are won by strategic movement, good timing and the right target placement as well as well-timed support.

Anyway, for roaming I can recommend Ranger, although other professions have good roaming builds as well: https://metabattle.com

[Eros.6801]

@"Odokuro.5049" said:Hey all! Returning player here, looking for some advice as to what to play/main as GW2 is right now.A few things to help those who wish to help out.

1. Farming: I like to farm events, do things such as Silverwastes, Istan Farm, Leather Farm, ect. So tag ability along with staying up with the group is important.
   • Thief with Daredevil - Shortbow with sigil of stamina hands down the fastest farmer or you could play Flamethrower scrapper for easy dps threshold and the best mob tagging ability.
2. WvW: I mostly enjoy small group or roaming playstyles, I was never a fan of being in a Zerg and spamming #1 on my keyboard, unless it suited my needs. (Taking a Keep for WP.)
   • Thief with Daredevil or Deadeye for sniping is great, Holosmith is also great but if it happens you run into a large scale fight, Holo/Scrapper is better.
3. sPvP: I like playing Stronghold, it feels much more purpose driven to me, and faster paced in some regards.
   • I don't play PvP but the answer probably the same as above.
4. Raiding: I would like to actually get into Raids, they seem interesting to me, so being a Viable spec for most of the content would be good.
   • Both Thief and Engi are viable in raid, Thief is easier to play with and still be able to pull off high dps while as an engi you will have to master very complex rotations but fun.
5. Fractals: I enjoy these too, I mostly just do the dailies though.
   • Same as #4.
6. Aesthetics: I like looking like a badkitten and my attacks looking cool, so since a big part of GW2 is "Fashion Wars", I would like a spec/race that pulls off a sense of style, and nice looking animations.
   • In term of Fashion i would say Holosmith hands down the best, it has gorgeous vfx, animations and there are many High-Tec looking armor pieces out there and during my playtime, not many players running around with futuristic theme. As for Thief, their animation kinda simple but you can make yourself legendaries.

I don't mind learning a hard to master spec, challenge is part of any game, and I would like to test myself.

• Both are using the same armor type and surprisingly using 3 or 4 weapons aswell, so it you can't pick why not just be both ?Thanks in advance to those people who share their thoughts and advice!

Have a GREAT Day!!!

• You too !! Welcome back and Have Fun

[necromaniac.7629]

Just pick mesmer,the aesthetics are enough to keep you addicted :D

[necromaniac.7629]

@Eros.6801 said:

@"Odokuro.5049" said:Hey all! Returning player here, looking for some advice as to what to play/main as GW2 is right now.A few things to help those who wish to help out.

1. Farming: I like to farm events, do things such as Silverwastes, Istan Farm, Leather Farm, ect. So tag ability along with staying up with the group is important.
   • Thief with Daredevil - Shortbow with sigil of stamina hands down the fastest farmer or you could play Flamethrower scrapper for easy dps threshold and the best mob tagging ability.
2. WvW: I mostly enjoy small group or roaming playstyles, I was never a fan of being in a Zerg and spamming #1 on my keyboard, unless it suited my needs. (Taking a Keep for WP.)
   • Thief with Daredevil or Deadeye for sniping is great, Holosmith is also great but if it happens you run into a large scale fight, Holo/Scrapper is better.
3. sPvP: I like playing Stronghold, it feels much more purpose driven to me, and faster paced in some regards.
   • I don't play PvP but the answer probably the same as above.
4. Raiding: I would like to actually get into Raids, they seem interesting to me, so being a Viable spec for most of the content would be good.
   • Both Thief and Engi are viable in raid, Thief is easier to play with and still be able to pull off high dps while as an engi you will have to master very complex rotations but fun.
5. Fractals: I enjoy these too, I mostly just do the dailies though.
   • Same as #4.
6. Aesthetics: I like looking like a badkitten and my attacks looking cool, so since a big part of GW2 is "Fashion Wars", I would like a spec/race that pulls off a sense of style, and nice looking animations.
   • In term of Fashion i would say Holosmith hands down the best, it has gorgeous vfx, animations and there are many High-Tec looking armor pieces out there and during my playtime, not many players running around with futuristic theme. As for Thief, their animation kinda simple but you can make yourself legendaries.

I don't mind learning a hard to master spec, challenge is part of any game, and I would like to test myself.

• Both are using the same armor type and surprisingly using 3 or 4 weapons aswell, so it you can't pick why not just be both ?Thanks in advance to those people who share their thoughts and advice!

Have a GREAT Day!!!

• You too !! Welcome back and Have Fun

Saying Holosmith "hands down the best" for fashion is honestly triggering me lol no offense, but i guess its your opinion.

[Odokuro.5049]

I have both expansions, and I have played both Engineer(Holosmith), Guardian(Firebrand), and Warrior(Berserker). I wanted to see if Ranger(Soulbeast) would be a good option? I would most likely be going with a Condi Build.

[Eros.6801]

@"Odokuro.5049" said:I have both expansions, and I have played both Engineer(Holosmith), Guardian(Firebrand), and Warrior(Berserker). I wanted to see if Ranger(Soulbeast) would be a good option? I would most likely be going with a Condi Build.

• Well ranger is perfectly fine but if you want to play as a condi Soulbeast it going to be a bit harder for tagging mobs in general due to damg threshold and everything tend to die before your condi can deal any harm. However Axe/Torch and Shortbow with piercing trait plus viper gear should be fine since axe main-hand can stacks up mights. There isn't much to say about WvW because every time i roam 8 out of 10 cases it going to be a ranger, most of them are power, rarely seen a condi spec running around but that doesn't mean its bad, still can't find a good way to deal with them myself so i ended up losing whenever i ran into one.
• They are good in raid but just in case you might want to prepare a healing set, condi dps is good as well so no worries.
• Just visit gw2style.com/index.php and find your own fav race, its really hard to suggest anything because everyone has their own sense of fashion.