Which class should I play as a beginner

[Nillawatt.6509]

Hello all. I’m new to this game and I’m overwhelmed with these classes and specializations. 
 

I want to play a class that is good all around that can change into different roles. Since this game is new to me, I want to able to try different aspects of the game and see where I fit in. 
 

Guardian and Ranger looks fun but maybe they all are. 
 

thanks in advance. 

[Lan Deathrider.5910]

Your best bet is to play them all.

 

That said, what kind of content are you interested in? PvP, WvW, PvE? Raids? Fractals?

 

Some classes are best in some game modes and not others. So help us help you by letting us know what floats your boat gameplay wise.

 

Also, welcome to the game and forums!

[Nillawatt.6509]

Thank you. 

Right now is just map to map kind of pve to get my gears rolling. If this is actually something I’m interested in, I would probably get into dungeons and raids. 

Edited May 17, 2021 by Nillawatt.6509

[Stx.4857]

Every class can do open world pve easily enough, for that just play what you enjoy.

 

I think overall, Guardian and Ranger are great picks to start with.

[Nillawatt.6509]

I'm trying Guardian. pretty fun.

 

Thanks all.

[Jski.6180]

Guardian is the best class to start with in gw2 both early game and for the long run. Stay away from ele until your established and you just want to try out something for fun the class is going no where and it more of a trap class for new ppl. I cant stress this enofe for new ppl.

[Janinu.5623]

im suprised no ones said Necromancer.

 

With it being able to be a Pet hoarder which is great in open world content, it has a Healing/support build and has multiple DPS builds.

 

Necromancer as far as i can tell is regarded to be the easiest choice avaliable.

[Armen.1483]

Guardian is definitely a good class to start with. It is the most versitile class now in GW2. However for the long run the startiing class doesn't matter much, as you'll be earning enough gold to make yourself a new fully leveld and geared character every few months. The difficulty is also very subjective. Everyone around says that mesmer and elementalist are hard to play, but I find them the easiest to play persoanally, while after so many years I still have trouble dealing good damage with Dragonhunter. So pick a class that you like most aestetically.

Oh another thing: if you are going to play guard I would suggest starting gearing a dps condi firebrand before other specs and builds. Just wait a lil till builds get updated on the internet before you make your 1st ascended gear set or PM me on forums I'll send you the build.

[aaron.7850]

Easy: Guardian

Normal: Ranger, Necro, Revenant, Thief, Warrior, Mesmer

Hard: Elementalist, Engineer

[Puck.3697]

16 hours ago, aaron.7850 said:

Easy: Guardian

Normal: Ranger, Necro, Revenant, Thief, Warrior, Mesmer

Hard: Elementalist, Engineer

I'd question the engineer choice. 

 

Core engineer is definitely hard to play, however each additional elite has been easier. Holosmith is pretty kitten easy to play

 

And as we can rely on core engineer never being viable it's pretty cemented at that point. Engineer got simplified alot over time. 

 

 

 

[Sobx.1758]

On 5/18/2021 at 7:01 PM, Jski.6180 said:

Guardian is the best class to start with in gw2 both early game and for the long run. Stay away from ele until your established and you just want to try out something for fun the class is going no where and it more of a trap class for new ppl. I cant stress this enofe for new ppl.

Just for the sake of new players not getting baited by this person's posts. This is false, ele is fine. IF there's an ""issue"" in regards of new players picking it up, it's that it might require more key-presses than the new players are ready for to squeeze the class to its limits. Other than that, you don't need optimal rotations and piano fingers to be effective. His claim about "the class going nowhere and is a trap class" is false and it stems from the fact that this guy constantly tries to bait for buffs for the only class he plays. Which is ele, of course. 🙃

 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Sobx.1758

[Jski.6180]

22 minutes ago, Sobx.1758 said:

Just for the sake of new players not getting baited by this person's posts. This is false, ele is fine. IF there's an ""issue"" in regards of new players picking it up, it's that it might require more key-presses than the new players are ready for to squeeze the class to its limits. Other than that, you don't need optimal rotations and piano fingers to be effective. His claim about "the class going nowhere and is a trap class" is false and it stems from the fact that this guy constantly tries to bait for buffs for the only class he plays. Which is ele, of course. 🙃

 

 

It realty is a trap of an class because it plays very different then any thing else in the game. It is truly a fun class to play but its the one class in the game know as the weakest. If you play ele and its your first class you will be unable to play any other class and you will run into a massive max min wall due to the lack of very strong boons and very strong dps effects (not dps it self but means of making your dps hit better).

[Sobx.1758]

26 minutes ago, Jski.6180 said:

It realty is a trap of an class because it plays very different then any thing else in the game. It is truly a fun class to play but its the one class in the game know as the weakest. If you play ele and its your first class you will be unable to play any other class and you will run into a massive max min wall due to the lack of very strong boons and very strong dps effects (not dps it self but means of making your dps hit better).

No, it's not. You're free to be as biased as you want, you can keep avoiding facts, reading partial patch notes to pretend you're being oppressed by the devs through the only class you play even when you're not. But stop lying to new players.

 

The bit about "not being able to play any other class after ele" is also laughable and straight up wrong. You keep repeating "max min wall(??)", but apparently you don't understand what "min-maxing" even mean. Or even "wall". You keep saying it lacks dps, but it very clearly doesn't. Just stop lying to new players. 

(oh wait, "it doesn't lack dps", but... "the means of dps hitting harder". I... um... WHAT? You want to complain so hard that you don't even care if there's nothing to complain, you'll just make something up as you go, eh? )

 

 

Edited May 22, 2021 by Sobx.1758

[Jski.6180]

21 minutes ago, Sobx.1758 said:

No, it's not. You're free to be as biased as you want, you can keep avoiding facts, reading partial patch notes to pretend you're being oppressed by the devs through the only class you play even when you're not. But stop lying to new players.

 

The bit about "not being able to play any other class after ele" is also laughable and straight up wrong. You keep repeating "max min wall(??)", but apparently you don't understand what "min-maxing" even mean. Or even "wall". You keep saying it lacks dps, but it very clearly doesn't. Just stop lying to new players. 

(oh wait, "it doesn't lack dps", but... "the means of dps hitting harder". I... um... WHAT? You want to complain so hard that you don't even care if there's nothing to complain, you'll just make something up as you go, eh? )

 

 

"Free" as in you cant stand to see any one suggest any thing different form your point of view. Oddly you say that i have been person gone after by the devs hehe.

 

Ele lacks powerful effects only by stacking dmg mod effect though traits from more then one line you can do high dmg but its an all in build where you NEED to be locked into traits and gear types to do this higher dmg most ppl are talking about. There also a very much atument lock of roll sadly your water effects are mostly healing your fire are mostly dmg. You only get burning and bleeds (bleeds that anet forgot about being a condi type in the game) in fire and earth only.

 

If you want to tell less then truths about the ele class your not helping new ppl your only giving them false promise of game play for the class.

[Puck.3697]

52 minutes ago, Jski.6180 said:

It realty is a trap of an class because it plays very different then any thing else in the game. It is truly a fun class to play but its the one class in the game know as the weakest. If you play ele and its your first class you will be unable to play any other class and you will run into a massive max min wall due to the lack of very strong boons and very strong dps effects (not dps it self but means of making your dps hit better).

 

your in the meta quite ltiterally, ur among some of the fastest runs in the game.. and considered almost mandatory in fractal content by meta design.

 

your Lies are unfounded and tbh i'd question if ur problems are more down to a l2p issue... we wonder why devs dont readf forums.. this is a good example of why.. everyone just wants to be OP.. and they'll Screech til they get it.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Daddy.8125

[Jski.6180]

 

2 minutes ago, Daddy.8125 said:

 

your in the meta quite ltiterally, ur among some of the fastest runs in the game.. and considered almost mandatory in fractal content by meta design.

 

your Lies are unfounded and tbh i'd question if ur problems are more down to a l2p issue... we wonder why devs dont readf forums.. this is a good example of why.. everyone just wants to be OP.. and they'll Screech til they get it.

Why do you need to go so fast though your destroying the fun of the game by just speed running though content. It comes down to being an elitist point of view that dose not let ppl even suggest a different view on balancing because a class can play ONE roll slightly better then other classes with out the utility.

 

New ppl are not of that mind set and realty no one should be ele is an trap of an class where your always going to be held back by missing out on power creep balancing because you do dmg to test golmes.

[Puck.3697]

16 minutes ago, Jski.6180 said:

 

Why do you need to go so fast though your destroying the fun of the game by just speed running though content. It comes down to being an elitist point of view that dose not let ppl even suggest a different view on balancing because a class can play ONE roll slightly better then other classes with out the utility.

 

New ppl are not of that mind set and realty no one should be ele is an trap of an class where your always going to be held back by missing out on power creep balancing because you do dmg to test golmes.

 

what?. im not lol

 

I gave u a example which dissproves you trying to say "weavers bad"... when perceptionally considered one of the best by leading players in the game?.. Weaver is a very difficult proffession to play at that level Its very obvious a large majority of Ele players wont reach those numbers and its going to "look bad" because of that.

 

but thats the thing with a MMORPG. u can balance the game based on Difficulty. u will alienate players doing so, ur basically playing a class which is Equal to easier options.

 

didnt mention golems.. im talking Raids and Fractals. where Weaver is very much meta.. and lets not ignore

 

ele has boon Tempest which is now very strong.

 

to the OP, i wouldnt come to forums regarding balance and take what u read with a pinch of Salt.. imho the reality isnt what people like to depict.

 

Soulbeast 34k, Reaper 30k, Renegade 41k, Weaver 45k..

 

if ur looking to be a Pure DPS Weaver is basically ur best choice. but do be warn, it'll take some serious practice.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Daddy.8125

[Sobx.1758]

19 minutes ago, Jski.6180 said:

"Free" as in you cant stand to see any one suggest any thing different form your point of view.

 

No, free as in literally what I wrote, you're very clearly biased which was pointed out and explained by multiple people, multiple times, over multiple threads to the point where you straight up look like you don't understand what you read OR intentionally dodge what people write for the sake of repeating the same thing over and over again for the sole reason of pretending the single class you play is somehow bad and targeted by anet.

At this point you're free to stay in your "I'm so oppressed" bubble, but stop trying to lie to new players. Which is what I wrote, just a bit shorter.

19 minutes ago, Jski.6180 said:

Oddly you say that i have been person gone after by the devs hehe.

...what? See, I doubt you're pretending.  -you ACTUALLY don't understand what you read. "hehe", oof.

19 minutes ago, Jski.6180 said:

Ele lacks powerful effects only by stacking dmg mod effect though traits from more then one line you can do high dmg but its an all in build where you NEED to be locked into traits and gear types to do this higher dmg most ppl are talking about. There also a very much atument lock of roll sadly your water effects are mostly healing your fire are mostly dmg. You only get burning and bleeds (bleeds that anet forgot about being a condi type in the game) in fire and earth only.

 

If you want to tell less then truths about the ele class your not helping new ppl your only giving them false promise of game play for the class.

No, ele doesn't lack powerful effects and has strong dps, stop lying to new players.

[Jski.6180]

1 minute ago, Daddy.8125 said:

 

what?. im not lol

 

I gave u a example which dissproves you trying to say "weavers bad"... when perceptionally considered one of the best by leading players in the game?.. Weaver is a very difficult proffession to play at that level Its very obvious a large majority of Ele players wont reach those numbers and its going to "look bad" because of that.

 

but thats the thing with a MMORPG. u can balance the game based on Difficulty. u will alienate players doing so, ur basically playing a class which is Equal to easier options.

 

didnt mention golems.. im talking Raids and Fractals. where Weaver is very much meta.. and lets not ignore

 

ele has boon Tempest which is now very strong.

Calling any one "bad" in this game pve is not "fun" or a good mind set. There should be room for all skill types in all game moods. By making ele (we realty are just talking about weaver because core and tempest are no where able to compete) an all in dps only with very complex game play and skill play for only minume higher dps is not good for balancing choose as well as chose for what class to play.

 

Most bech marks of dps numbers are build off of golem test targets. Its not good use to tie them to real game play. Not so much you whom i am responding to but what a new player must think about.

 

Ele has only minum boons that rune set give out the same effect. Tempest is very much lacking.

[Puck.3697]

8 minutes ago, Jski.6180 said:

Calling any one "bad" in this game pve is not "fun" or a good mind set. There should be room for all skill types in all game moods. By making ele (we realty are just talking about weaver because core and tempest are no where able to compete) an all in dps only with very complex game play and skill play for only minume higher dps is not good for balancing choose as well as chose for what class to play.

 

Most bech marks of dps numbers are build off of golem test targets. Its not good use to tie them to real game play. Not so much you whom i am responding to but what a new player must think about.

 

Ele has only minum boons that rune set give out the same effect. Tempest is very much lacking.

 

Do u speak english. i didnt call anyone bad.

 

Not being able to excel at elementalist doesnt make u a "bad player". and my context was u saying the class itself is bad. and no its VERY BALANCED.

 

because u have the CHOICE. and CHOICE should exist, u should have both Easy and hard classes to play, every MMORPG has them and in all honesty i find it very unlikely anyones walking into ele not knowing that realistically, that knowledge is basically plastered to every media you could possibly look at regarding this game.

 

And no it isnt. Tempest isnt lacking at all. the problem is, the quantity of healing tempest offers. top level players Dont need so its Wasted potiental, however in new player runs of raids and learning and more tempest is REALLY useful for the amount of healing output the build has.

 

We're NOT TALKING BENCHMARKS.

 

GW2 hjas LOGS from actual RAID AND FRACTRAL fights. u can LITTERALLY REVIEW THE DPS OF EACH CLASS THERE.

 

read

 

and finally the truth comes out, regaerding "weaver should do more DPS for being harder to play". no it shouldnt, lol.

 

the reward for getting good at Ele is being better at playing ele then other players, thats the competition. in a mmorpg when u are looking at ur progression u compare urself to other players of the same class, not of other classes. No. no one should do more DPS based on a difficulty factor.

 

Elementalist exists for those who find it FUN to play a complex specc, not to alienate the playerbase and drive the entire meta to revolve around it through some sorta "entitlement" what that means is every player will roll ele. majority of them wont wanna learn elementalist. and u end up with a Dead game.

 

u cant cater your game to the minority capable of utilising a Specc like Elementalist and be successful. thats 110% So Elementalist cannot be Out DPSing other Pure DPS Speccs. because of this. ur in a MMORPG. not a FPS.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Daddy.8125

[mindcircus.1506]

Ya'll are truly showing what a great community this game has to a new player.

10/10 peepee contest.

[Jski.6180]

2 minutes ago, Daddy.8125 said:

 

Do u speak english. i didnt call anyone bad.

 

Not being able to excel at elementalist doesnt make u a "bad player". and my context was u saying the class itself is bad. and no its VERY BALANCED.

 

because u have the CHOICE. and CHOICE should exist, u should have both Easy and hard classes to play, every MMORPG has them and in all honesty i find it very unlikely anyones walking into ele not knowing that realistically, that knowledge is basically plastered to every media you could possibly look at regarding this game.

 

And no it isnt. Tempest isnt lacking at all. the problem is, the quantity of healing tempest offers. top level players Dont need so its Wasted potiental, however in new player runs of raids and learning and more tempest is REALLY useful for the amount of healing output the build has.

 

We're NOT TALKING BENCHMARKS.

 

GW2 hjas LOGS from actual RAID AND FRACTRAL fights. u can LITTERALLY REVIEW THE DPS OF EACH CLASS THERE.

 

read

The point is you cant balance the game or chose a classes purely base off of what the best players are doing. Ele numbers and videos (click bate as they are) are not good example of what ele can do as a class. The mind set that ele is balanced because of these things is not good for the game and not good for new players. That why its a TRAP of a class.

 

We are talking about a new class to play for a new player and what it means in both the short run vs the long run. Ele caps out for its usefulness but it keeps getting harder to play. Its not a good class to start the game out with.

[Puck.3697]

12 minutes ago, mindcircus.1506 said:

Ya'll are truly showing what a great community this game has to a new player.

10/10 peepee contest.

 

the OP has already gone.. he made his choice and rolled guardian.

 

The issue is.. the moment u have someone posting on every new player thread telling them to "stay away from  X class" on spam, it immediately makes the game look meta centric in regards to what people will and wont accept into groups. Promoting such a notion immediately Puts the Damage down.

 

Taking away new players options by telling em "u aint going anywhere if u do that" is immediately gonna make the community look toxic.

 

and theres no peepee contest, neither of us are calling each other bad, or stating we're better.. its a Simple debate based on the viability surrounding a Class.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Daddy.8125

[Puck.3697]

10 minutes ago, Jski.6180 said:

The point is you cant balance the game or chose a classes purely base off of what the best players are doing. Ele numbers and videos (click bate as they are) are not good example of what ele can do as a class. The mind set that ele is balanced because of these things is not good for the game and not good for new players. That why its a TRAP of a class.

 

We are talking about a new class to play for a new player and what it means in both the short run vs the long run. Ele caps out for its usefulness but it keeps getting harder to play. Its not a good class to start the game out with.

 

Ofcourse u do lol.

 

If they didnt, every class would do 120k DPS To cater to the fact the majoirty of players dont even reach 40 percentile fights.

 

Classes have to be balanced based on What the class can do. not based on the player using it. Like people fail to play necro ALL THE TIME in raid enviroments.. u wanna buff necro til they can play that too?..lol. this problem exists across the board. not just elementalist.

 

The vast majority of EVERY Classes Population cannot maximise their classes DPS potiental. thats factual.. so u wanna ramp all the classes up til that dont matter?. go watch twitch. go watch youtube, u'll see the vast majority cant reach above 20k DPS With any class. this isnt a Elementalist only problem, this is across the board. thew Skill floor of the game itself is very high so this comes aswell.

Elementalist like every class, requires you to get comfortable with its rotation. and lets face it its exactly that. Elementalist in PvE is Rotational. u could write it down. and providing u can do it in the right order u will maximise it.

 

if Eles top DPS is 100k, and ur only doing 50k DPS.. ur gonna get rejected just as Fast as if Ele does 50k DPS and u only do 25k.

 

pushing the number up doesnt fix the game for "new players who cant maximsie the class". it doesnt help anything. because u end up pushing every other class up with it.

 

the problem is LIKE EVERY CLASS IN THE GAME, u have to do that while actively dodging and avoid mechanics and doing Mechanics. which is what most fail to do. which means every class takes a DPS hit from those mistakes.

 

and i'd argue agfainst ur theory.

 

Most of Class learning is to do with Muscle memory, the faster u main what u wanna play the faster u build that muscle memory.. playing a "easy class" to experience the game prior the actual class u wanna play. actually plays against you.

 

your likely to become Muscle memory building around the wrong things. and adapt to a playstyle u shouldnt be wit hthe  class ur gonna main afterwards. Coming into the game the game is the Best time to go elementalist.  because ur going in with No bad habits.. and your muscle memory will build around Elementalist. Learning hte game from the angle u want to play long term is very important to ur own progression.

 

never choose a class based on Difficulty.. ALWAYS Choose the class that ur passionate about and want to make that effort with.. dont walk into a game with a defeatist attitude.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Daddy.8125

[Jski.6180]

2 minutes ago, Daddy.8125 said:

 

Ofcourse u do lol.

 

If they didnt, every class would do 120k DPS To cater to the fact the majoirty of players dont even reach 40 percentile fights.

 

Classes have to be balanced based on What the class can do. not based on the player using it. Like people fail to play necro ALL THE TIME in raid enviroments.. u wanna buff necro til they can play that too?..lol. this problem exists across the board. not just elementalist.

 

The vast majority of EVERY Classes Population cannot maximise their classes DPS potiental. thats factual.. so u wanna ramp all the classes up til that dont matter?.

If your class is only doing dmg and that all you can bring to a fight then you should be doing crazy dmg as the other classes bring more to a fight then just dmg.

 

No balance should be based off the avg. game play not the high end or low end. I want to see all classes have the ability to do every thing in a fight base off of there build but the builds them self become factors on what they can no longer do. If you go all in dps you should be able to chose that for ANY class and be able to do it but by choosing this high dps you MUST lose uititlyes boons. Right now the game is not that way so you have classes that can do "ok" dmg and bring uititly boons that over all out preforms classes that are locked into only doing dps rolls. Ele is that trap of a class that is traped into a roll that you can not pull away from in both ppl mind set and balancing.

 

Class population should have nothing to do with balancing or anet chose only the ability for that class to chose there roll in combat. If a class cant chose its roll then there is something wrong with the balancing.