22 replies to this topic

[mattidore132]

Which of the 2 professions: guardian and warrior. Would be the easier profession to play in terms of weapon/skill set changing? I want to change weapon sets as little as possible :P

[Diovid of the Land]

mattidore132 said:

Which of the 2 professions: guardian and warrior. Would be the easier profession to play in terms of weapon/skill set changing? I want to change weapon sets as little as possible :P

In that case you should play an Elementalist since they can't change weapon sets during a fight, although then you have the same problem with switching attunements.

Switching weapon sets increases your power and versatility by a lot so you're really limiting yourself.

That said, I think the Warrior will be easiest to learn (but not necessarily easiest to master or the weakest mind you).

[Bismarck]

Just in terms of learning the basics of playing the class, I would say warrior.

That said, there is a big difference between the difficulty in the basic learning of a profession, and the difficulty of playing it very well.

[BaconSoda]

I think Eric sad early on in development that the Warrior was a good learning class for people who do not know anolything about MMOs. With greater overall toughness and not so team oriented mechanics, I would definitely say the same. Depending on the circumstances, a Guardian may fine himself switching between his sets quite often to be effective. A Warrior set out for a similar set of jobs should rely on his utility skills a bit more and have to switch sets less while still doing a pretty good job.

That said, set switching may prove to be a very important mechanic which would be good to know. It seems rather painless, so I'm sure that adlfter those first few dizzying times you'll be fine with doing it. ;)

[Kasama]

Both professions can be simple or complicated to play, it depends on how you play them. I don't see any profession working well with only one weapon set though, besides the Elementalist of curse.

[Bismarck]

I think the "simpler" professions are simple just in the way that chess is "simple". It doesn't take long to learn the rules of the game and how each piece can move.

Of course, the fact that it is easy to learn how to play chess does not make it an easy game. The easy to learn rules create a gigantic world of nuance and strategy. It's the epitome of "easy to learn, difficult to master"

[Moogic]

Maybe if you were camping on rifle on a warrior or dual axe/sword and be a damage whore.  Guardian has more support skills thus requirement for map awareness.

But that being said you would be losing a lot of utility and won't be able to support your team when required ending in a possible wipe.

But how is it to hard press the weapon change hotkey anyway? o_O

[mattidore132]

Moogic said:

Maybe if you were camping on rifle on a warrior or dual axe/sword and be a damage whore.  Guardian has more support skills thus requirement for map awareness.

But that being said you would be losing a lot of utility and won't be able to support your team when required ending in a possible wipe.

But how is it to hard press the weapon change hotkey anyway? o_O

haha true, but i just have a feeling ill be cbf trying to change hotkeys while trying to dodge and strafe and mash attack buttons.

but on a more serious note, a dual axe/sword or hammer warrior, will only have to change between those 2, to do maximum dps + rifle from long range? that sounds pretty simple to me.

[Bismarck]

In WvW big battles I think it will be necessary for warriors to have rifle or longbow as their second set. Once you start getting into 5v5's, though, there might be some advantage to having the warrior take two melee sets, each of which has skills that perform different functions (and using traits that maximize this flexibility, like the one to lower the cooldown on weapon swaps).

[metalspoon60]

Warrior is much simpler

[Auxiliary]

I believe we don't have nearly enough information to determine which classes are easier to play than others. In other mmo's people quite often say that a certain class is far easier to play than others, but most of the time those statements are extremely simplified and hardly just. Saying which class is the easier before we even had the time to play both is extremely premature.

[TalysAlankil]

I'd say each is equally simple, but yeah, warrior seems simpler if you look more closely. A warrior's weapon skills are usually a lot about damage, the rest is bonus and/or optional (not wounting the shield and warhorn here) ; while the guardian is more about positioning yourself correctly (thinking of the symbols, that are/include weapon skills, for instance). However I'd say some guardian weapons are just as easy to use as the warrior's.

Really, however, I believe (based on many interviews) the way Anet is designing the game is so that you don't have to worry about a profession being easier of harder than another and just play the one that looks better to you.

[Hokkou]

This question (kinda, "which is the easiest profession to play for a beginner" or something) was asked in the PAX East Panel video. They answered without hesitating that Warrior is the "go out and smash heads"-kinda profession. This doesn't mean that Warriors can't be complicated to play, but that the basic mechanics of the Warrior is the most beginner friendly.

[raspberry jam]

In GW1, warrior was the most skill-demanding profession, hands down. In GW2... We don't know yet.

[scurvycrow]

Having played the demo at PAX, I'd say warrior.  Guardian requires a lot out of the player to recognize and watch the flow of battle.  I'm definitely going to have my load out as Sword and Board with Greatsword as second weapon, so I can activate faithfull strike to quickly move to a higher priority target.

I think the warrior is a more aggressive play style while the guardian is a more reactive play style.

This is just my 2cents however.

[Turambar]

scurvycrow said:

Having played the demo at PAX, I'd say warrior.  Guardian requires a lot out of the player to recognize and watch the flow of battle.  I'm definitely going to have my load out as Sword and Board with Greatsword as second weapon, so I can activate faithfull strike to quickly move to a higher priority target.

I think the warrior is a more aggressive play style while the guardian is a more reactive play style.

This is just my 2cents however.

chipping another 1cent to the above... the comment by Eric Flannum that the Elementalist, Warrior and Ranger professions will be in a sense *key word* more user-friendly to begin with.

I don't know where the Guardian fits in, I do know the Thief is trickier however. One give away is the Warrior is tough as nails compared to eg the Thief will help (heavy-armour). The Guardian involves more skills that support, context aware than the warrior. So in consideration Warrior little easier than Guardian in very general terms (more autonomous?). Maybe someone will find they fit Guardin easier and turn that on it's head, but I'd guess the above, generally.

Edited by Turambar, 18 May 2011 - 03:39 PM.

[Mordakai]

I think the bigger issue will be warrior survivability...

from the demos I've seen (disclaimer:  I have not played the demo), it looks like the guardian is a pretty easy solo character.  They have a nice self heal, protective bubbles, etc.


But, warriors have banners and self-heals too, so I can't really say without playing both.

[Sard]

is it too naive to say that each profession is equally accessible, durable and effective to an extent and that to go beyond this into the realm of excellence (in whatever category), boils down more to player skill and ingenuity than it does to profession design or ability?

Edited by Sard, 18 May 2011 - 07:07 PM.

[Doomsday cookie]

Warrior from what I've seen.
But warriors have so many weapons choices and intersting combinations that I find it hard to believe to be reluctant on exploring them.
You shouldn't be intimidated by weapon switch, it's really straightforward.

[Zoom]

IMO the warrior is simpler. They said the guardian can't be played like a warrior, but with the heavy armor and everything its going to be pretty tempting to get in someone's face like a war. At least in my case, anyway :p.

[ensoriki]

Warriors are easier to pick up, though they'll probably both be difficult to play well.

[wandering vagabond]

Diovid of the Land said:

In that case you should play an Elementalist since they can't change weapon sets during a fight, although then you have the same problem with switching attunements.

Switching weapon sets increases your power and versatility by a lot so you're really limiting yourself.

That said, I think the Warrior will be easiest to learn (but not necessarily easiest to master or the weakest mind you).

Yes, but remember that the Elementalist has to switch attunements. They only have one weapon available while in combat, but four different spell trees for that weapon which they have to toggle intelligently. In this way, the Elementalist actually has a lot more switching involved, it's just superficially different in that you are not changing a "weapon" but an "attunement", but at the end of the day, you're still actively changing things in order to access a new set of abilities.

[Dartus]

"You mean warrior's?"