18 replies to this topic

[Lablamb]

I am curious on which class I should play.  I am torn between the engineer and guardian.  What I played in the past games are healer and support classes.  It seems like these are the best built for those roles.  I will be mainly for PvP.  Is there another class that is supportive or like a healer?  I know there are no real roles, but some classes are better at roles than others.

Edit: I've made up my mind to play an Engineer.

Edited by Lablamb, 26 July 2012 - 05:05 AM.

[K0tY]

Every class have some build for tank/heal/dps, there is no real specializations that are classes bound to, every class have some.

Engie, in my opinion, a really good support class with loads of buffs/cleans, also Guardian is more "Meele Healer" so, its only on you   (Best pure heal class is Elementalist in Water).

[Xrux]

In a  way all professions have support/heal skills

An interesting one is Necromancer f.e. with heal well. So it all depends a bit on flavour, playstyle you like

Nice (advantage) is the elementalist that can switch and support different skills. Bit complex playstyle with f1-f4 and some cooldown.

Its also kind of a weapon choice within all professions and option of weapon swap. Engineer is bit more complex with no weapon swap but those kits. But interessting also throwing grenades for conditions , swap to heal turret , swap to bombs if tehy get to close.

[Adzaell]

I noticed that you can make a mesmer with a healing build, that every time you shatter applies regeneration to nearby allies.

I think pretty much every class can heal if they want to.

[Tevesh]

Pretty much all of the classes have strong support capabilties, although they vary widely. Some examples:

1. Support guardian - brings a lot of defensive buffs and active blocks/shields, best at protecting from direct damage
2. Support necro - wells that provide aoe buffs and condition manipulation skills - best at negating enemy condition damage by removal or transfer
3. Support ranger - has several spirits that provide aoe buffs and some supportive weapons too - provides huge dps gains to the group
4. Support engineer - elixir/turret builds - provedes above average crowd control and also a variety of multi-purpose buffs
5. Support ele - staff/elemental builds - provides substantial healing and CC capabilities as well as many combo fields and finishers
6. Suppor thief - can use traits to buff allies with venom procs - adds a variety of debuffs and soft cc to the group as well as some stealth-based utilities
7. Support mesmer - phantasm/glamours builds - well-rounded support builds that provide some buffs, healing, condition manipulation, distraction, stealth and combo fields when needed
8. Support warrior - a lot of aoe buffing capabilities by using banners and shouts.

Some types of skills are shared by many or all classes like instant ally revival skills, condition removal or some CC. Still every class has it's own style and utility that is also reflected in support builds.

[Fiery Lily]

Pick the class you like, any class can support in different ways, as Tevesh said. Be sure to like the core mechanic of the class though, that's the big deal.

[Lablamb]

I have thought about a Mesmer.  I'll read more on each class.

[Adakias]

As Lily stated, it's really up to you. Every profession can play a support role (except maybe thief, that seems lacking). If you want to be a healer though, there really isn't an option besides a support ranger. It doesn't seem there are many roles that have heal options for teammates, as much as there are boons, and condition removal of teammates. And even a support ranger it's not direct heals, they just have really good constant regeneration for teammates.

Guardian is great support for boons, control, and reviving teammates. No class is better at reviving than a guardian, which imo is one of the most important support roles in pvp.

I have yet to play engineer as an elixir support role, but my spec is much more focussed on control. I provide support with a few boons, but the ability to knock people around, keep them out of capture points, and keep them off of reviving/finishing is huge to me.

So, it's completely up to you.

[Tevesh]

Support ele has a much better hps output due to the elementals. Really, support ranger has nothing compared to ele to heal ppl with. Little direct healing, problems with regen uptime, no secondary regen effect, nothing.

Also thief is better than guardian at reviving in most situations. Quickness + stealth on both of you trait.

Edited by Tevesh, 27 July 2012 - 12:31 AM.

[AzylynneN]

Lablamb, just wanted to clarify...

PvP as in...

sPvP - Structured PvP meaning 5v5 in a closed battleground setting with 10-15 minute long games?

OR...

WvW - World vs. World vs. World kinda open world PvP contained on four specific maps allowing up to 166 players/server per map?

[Lablamb]

AzylynneN, on 27 July 2012 - 12:39 AM, said:

Lablamb, just wanted to clarify...

PvP as in...

sPvP - Structured PvP meaning 5v5 in a closed battleground setting with 10-15 minute long games?

OR...

WvW - World vs. World vs. World kinda open world PvP contained on four specific maps allowing up to 166 players/server per map?

WvW mainly.

Edited by Lablamb, 27 July 2012 - 08:54 AM.

[Mugen]

This really depends on how you like to play. If you want more of a healer/prot class, the closest you will get to that would be with a Guardian, Elementalist or Engineer. While you won't be able to keep red bars up all the time, a well speced player of the professions I mentioned before could lay down some nice healing and protection at critical times. Most other classes support via party buffs, crowd control and minor healing when traited. I'd personally go with the guardian if I were in your situation.

Edited by Mugen, 27 July 2012 - 10:23 AM.

[Alex Dimitri]

Both classes are awesome and very fun to play, if i had to choose i would pick Guardian as more of a versatile class (offense/defense) which will depend on current situation your server has on WvW !

[Lablamb]

Alex Dimitri, on 27 July 2012 - 10:37 AM, said:

Both classes are awesome and very fun to play, if i had to choose i would pick Guardian as more of a versatile class (offense/defense) which will depend on current situation your server has on WvW !

This only issue that I have with Guardian is their abilities seemed to not be as versatile or diverse as Engineer which get new abilities for each toolkit while Guardians do not (other than weapons -- which Engineers have).  What I will end up doing is leveling an Engineer and a Guardian as an alt.

[Alex Dimitri]

Sure why not both classes are great i played a lot of last BWE3 with Engineer it`s a fun class, yes utility skills are more fun on them and all the gadgets, but thats why Guardian uses way more weapons and has that "tanky" capabilities.
Anyway you want make a mistake whichever class you roll, that is why i love GW2 so much all classes are fun and nice to play which gives us players so much options.

[AzylynneN]

Lablamb... that's for clearing it up.  So WvW eh???

Well, it seems like you've made your decision already, but regardless, whatever class you pick for WvW, you should have a lot of fun playing.

Things to remember...

Once you finish the initial tutorial section, I would recommend buying White Grade weapons from a weapon vendor (can do it nearby or in your starter city or in Lion's Arch, or even in WvW maps) that your class can use.  You probably can get enough of them for your class with whatever money you do have.  If not, at the LEAST pick up ONE ranged weapon.

Having ranged in WvW helps a lot...  Guardians may be a bit gimped for ranged though, so be wary of that.

You probably should do a few PvE DEs or Heart Quests to unlock some powers that you think will be very beneficial to your profession.  Research and learn the powers first and ahead of time.  Like for me, I try to get Dagger/Dagger (4) as a Thief so at the least I get in a cripple attack at range, which is vital to my playstyle.

Another thing to note for is that Engineer weapon bundles (Utilities) are unlocked via Skill Challenges.  You will need to get a number of these done to reach the good stuff, especially since they implemented the tiered skill slot system.  Certain ones down the tree will cost a heck of a lot more than the beginning ones and you still need to unlock the earlier tiers to get to later tiers.  You get one Skill Point per level, I think, and one per skill challenge.  If you spend most of your time in WvW, remember you get three skill challenges per Borderlands map and four for Eternal Battlegrounds.  I would recommend getting quite a few in PvE also just to get to the good stuff you may want.

And...lastly, no weapon swaps since Engineers rely on their utlities for weapon bundles.

Anyhow, hope this helps a little for WvW oriented Engineers.

[Lablamb]

AzylynneN, on 27 July 2012 - 01:22 PM, said:

And...lastly, no weapon swaps since Engineers rely on their utlities for weapon bundles.

Anyhow, hope this helps a little for WvW oriented Engineers.

Thank you for the information.  I would say that Engineers can swap weapons but they only have the pistol, shield, and rifle.  The shield has a projectile reflect and knock back.  The dual wield pistols are popular.  The rifle which I used in the beginning beta tests which seems to need a buff compared to the pistols.  I knew about the types of quests, but I know I should purchase more gear than I did during the beta.  I have always played a group-oriented class and enjoyed Dark Age of Camelot's Realm vs Realm more than any other player combat event which ArenaNet is using.

[AzylynneN]

Lablamb, on 29 July 2012 - 06:07 AM, said:

Thank you for the information.  I would say that Engineers can swap weapons but they only have the pistol, shield, and rifle.  The shield has a projectile reflect and knock back.  The dual wield pistols are popular.  The rifle which I used in the beginning beta tests which seems to need a buff compared to the pistols.  I knew about the types of quests, but I know I should purchase more gear than I did during the beta.  I have always played a group-oriented class and enjoyed Dark Age of Camelot's Realm vs Realm more than any other player combat event which ArenaNet is using.

Aye, lemme clarify,  What I meant by weapon swap was the (~) button which you get at lv7.  It's the ability to swap between two sets of weapons DURING combat.  I can be wrong, but I think Engineers (like Elementalists) cannot swap their basics weapons during combat unlike the other professions.

Regardless, glad you are a Daoc player!  I was Midgard Guin, and got my feet wet playing RvR types games from there.  I was a lot more active in WAR, but I really did miss the Daoc days.  Have you found a server to game on yet?  There are a few that ex-daocers/War vets are slowly gathering on.  Let me know!

[Lablamb]

AzylynneN, on 29 July 2012 - 09:45 AM, said:

Aye, lemme clarify,  What I meant by weapon swap was the (~) button which you get at lv7.  It's the ability to swap between two sets of weapons DURING combat.  I can be wrong, but I think Engineers (like Elementalists) cannot swap their basics weapons during combat unlike the other professions.

Regardless, glad you are a Daoc player!  I was Midgard Guin, and got my feet wet playing RvR types games from there.  I was a lot more active in WAR, but I really did miss the Daoc days.  Have you found a server to game on yet?  There are a few that ex-daocers/War vets are slowly gathering on.  Let me know!

No I have not found a server.  I was debating between MMO-Champion's server, but knowing that it is public there will be a lot of bad players.  I may join Gensis, but not 100% sure yet.  Do you know of any DAOC fan guilds?

Edit: I just checked out how many abilities an Engineer can possibly have.  Since all others (except Elementalist) can switch between two weapon sets, engineers can swap between their designated weapon, and up to three kits giving them an extra 15 (20 if you include Med Kit), but they do lose the 3 spots.  In short, all but Engineers and Elementalists pick between two sets of 5 abilities plus the healing ability, the three universal abilities, and the one elite ability making it 5+5+1+3+1 = 15.  Elementalists get to switch between four schools of magic (5 each), a healing ability, three universal abilities, and one elite add up to 5+5+5+5+1+3+1 = 25.  Engineers can have your weapon set, up to three universal kit abilities, one healing kit, and a universal ability (5+5+5+5+5+1 = 26).  So technically Engineers have 1 more ability than Elementalists.  I have debated between these two classes.  I'll study the abilities and which would go better with my friend's Necromancer.

Edit: Elementalist looks amazing.  They actually get more than Engineers through their universal abilities granting a new weapon (Lava Axe, Frost Bow, etc).

Edited by Lablamb, 06 August 2012 - 05:33 PM.