7 replies to this topic

[AetherMcLoud]

Oh no, not another "help me choose a profession" thread...

Anyway, hi.
After having a really hard time trying to size down the selection of professions I would like to play from everything but Warrior, to Mesmer-Ele-Engineer-Guardian, I still can't decide which of those 4 I should make my first (I'll surely have alts) character.

I plan on doing WvWvW most of the time with sPVP in between. But PVE leveling should be fun too of course.

What I look for most in a profession:

• Versatility and Flexibility: I want lots of viable builds and lots of viable skills so I don't have to run around having the exact same build all the time with maybe changing a few skills some times.
  
• Skill Ceiling: When I die in PVP (when not overwhelmed) I want to die because I didn't use my available skills to the fullest, not because the opposing class was simply a bad matchup and destroying me. I want a complex class that I can master.
  
• Control and Mobility: The most important skills in PVP are controlling your opponents and being able to move swiftly around the battlefield IMHO.

Alas, I never had time to play in the BWEs (had personal commitments) and only got to check out all the skills from these classes in the mists training area in yesterdays stress-test. But here are my pro's and con's that I know of these 4 classes:



PRO Guardian:

• I generally prefer melee combat
  
• Lots of Group Support
  
• Big selection of weapons, I like pretty much all besides staff
  
• Lots of Control skills
  
• Mobility with Teleport and Leaps
  
• Ability to Burst

CONTRA Guardian:

• I'm not to keen on the whole "Knight in Shinging Armor" style reminiscent of Paladins
  
• Class Mechanic extremely boring
  
• Probably expected to be complete support+heal in PVE dungeons?
  
• Don't like most utility skills besides the meditations (Teleports yay!)
  
• Summoned Weapons look cheesy (not sure if they are good but don't like their style)

PRO Engineer:

• I'm an Engineer in real life so I dig the style
  
• Medium armor pretty much has the best looking armor sets from the screenshots I've seen
  
• Flexibility with Kits and Toolbelt skills
  
• Lots of Control
  
• Lots of Conditions

CONTRA Engineer:

• Most Kits suck IMHO (Mines, Elixir Gun, Tool kit), I really only like Flamethrower and Grenade Kits. Don't dige the style of Mines, Elixir Gun, Tool kit, I don't know if they are any good in PVP.
  
• Tiny Weapon Selection (though pistol and rifle are cool)
  
• Not sure about their mobility, though seems limited
  
• Not sure about Turrets which make up a huge amount of Utility skills (probably ties into the low mobility argument)
  
• Don't think they can really burst

PRO Elementalist:

• Love the style and class concept (Avatar!)
  
• Attunement is an awesome class mechanic (love having 20 weapon skills at the ready at all times)
  
• Conjured Weapons look awesome and give even more skills
  
• Nice selection of utility skills (I like the cantrips, conjurs and arcane stuff, though conjures = bad from what I read)
  
• Good mobility
  
• Good amount of conditions and control skills
  
• Can be bursty
  
• Lots of self-combos

CONTRA Elementalist:

• Conjured Weapons are really underpowered from what I read?
  
• Long cooldown on most weapon and utility skills
  
• Not much weapons to choose from, and I only really like double daggers and maybe, maybe a combination of dagger+focus or scepter

PRO Mesmer:

• Love the whole class concept with Illusions, distractions, "Mind tricks" and Mesmer was the most interesting class in GW1
  
• I like pretty much all their weapon selections. Greatsword and Sword+Pistol are really badass for a caster
  
• Stealth skills. I love stealth. Would have rolled a thief if they didn't suck in melee and would be more flexible in their gameplay.
  
• Has the most dazes/interrupts of all classes
  
• Good amount of conditions
  
• Really cool selection of utility spells, I like pretty much all of them

CONTRA Mesmer:

• Class mechanic is - while flashy and cool - really bad from what I read?
  
• Not much control as far as I know?
  
• Can't really burst or has to setup their burst with (slow) illusions first?
  
• Bad in WvWvW?
  
• Not sure about their mobility, probably low?

That's pretty much it from what I know about these classes. Thanks in advance to whomever reads this (neatly formatted) wall of text and offers their opinions.

Edited by AetherMcLoud, 10 August 2012 - 12:28 PM.

[Gregor Sabetin]

I think you should go either for ele or engineer. More skills = more versatility in theory. But (in my humble opinion) the ele is the most achieved profession at this time and it seems you appreciate it: Love the style and class concept (Avatar!)

Go with your gut! I strongly doubt somebody can make a bad choice by choosing the ele. Your contra toward it aren't strong also (nobody have to use the conjured pets; there are traits to reduce cooldown; you only hate 2 sets out of 5, that leaves you still 3 available ^^)

[Merryem]

I would recommend the Mesmer or the Engineer.

It seems to me like your main gripe with the Mesmer is that it "seems" underpowered. Underpowered ain't an issue, just play what you like the most. If a single class just seems to appeal to you more, choose that class.

[Zenh]

• Most Kits suck IMHO (Mines, Elixir Gun, Tool kit), I really only like Flamethrower and Grenade Kits. Don't dige the style of Mines, Elixir Gun, Tool kit, I don't know if they are any good in PVP.

No kits suck, you're just playing at the skill floor. Everyone is. I firmly believe the best engineer PvPers in 3 months will have a kit in every utility slot (I include toolbelt with kits). It's going to be incredibly challenging to play Engineer at the ceiling, because you'll have 20 weapon skills (main weapon + 3 kits) along with 5 toolbelt skills to juggle. Add in medkit, that's 5 more skills, and then of course your elite skill. Around 31 skills total I think at your disposal.

• Tiny Weapon Selection (though pistol and rifle are cool)

This is why I believe if you're not using kits, you're not playing Engineer to its fullest. The profession does feel somewhat broken in this regards, because if you're using kits then all the other utility skills and elixir-synergy feels wasted.

• Not sure about their mobility, though seems limited

This depends too much on kits and traits. If you're using rifle + elixir kit + toolbelt your mobility should be fine.

• Not sure about Turrets which make up a huge amount of Utility skills (probably ties into the low mobility argument)

Turrets to me feel more like a PvE skill. They're great as tank decoys for NPCs.

• Don't think they can really burst

Rifle engineers say hi. Then there's also Elixir U.

Edited by Zenh, 10 August 2012 - 02:50 PM.

[AetherMcLoud]

Thanks for your answers. I now tried those classes in the stresstest, ruled out Guardian pretty much after half an hour (don't like the mechanics at all). Mesmer also was really underwhelming with the clones.

Which leaves Engineer and Elementalist, both which I found freaking awesome. Engineer has more survivability I think, but Elementalist has the better class mechanic - I really dig switching the 4 attumenments all the time, more so than engineer kits (which are cool too, especially grenades).

Well, at least 50% of my previous choices are gone now

[Draxas]

AetherMcLoud, on 11 August 2012 - 02:59 AM, said:

Thanks for your answers. I now tried those classes in the stresstest, ruled out Guardian pretty much after half an hour (don't like the mechanics at all). Mesmer also was really underwhelming with the clones.

Which leaves Engineer and Elementalist, both which I found freaking awesome. Engineer has more survivability I think, but Elementalist has the better class mechanic - I really dig switching the 4 attumenments all the time, more so than engineer kits (which are cool too, especially grenades).

Well, at least 50% of my previous choices are gone now

By some coincidence, this is exactly the choice I'm looking at between my mains, so here are some of my thoughts on it.  Let's talk about WvW first.  Both of these classes are top notch at it, Ele for their Staff and Engineer for the Grenades mainly.  

Ele can rain down unmatched destruction on a large area, but their higher cooldowns make the most deadly combinations something you do every 30 or 40 seconds.  If the zerg lines are shifting backwards or forwards, you really have to hold back with Meteor Shower or find it wasted.  That being said, you can really dictate where the lines are drawn more than most, and God help anyone coming after you at a choke point.  On the other hand, if you're part of a smaller roaming group going after supply camps and NPC camps and such, or when the fighting disperses into a skirmish across a wider area, you are going to find it harder to put out meaningful damage compared to the Engineer.  People just don't stand still in your AOEs long enough, or move erratically, and as people get better at the game this will be more apparent.  You have very good CC to help with this but it's on a substantial cooldown.  Also of note is the trait Elemental Attunement; the buffs from this could be well utilized in bolstering your side.  Very good support potential here overall.

Engineers can keep up a steady shower of explosives on the enemy zerg, with very short cooldowns and lots of conditions going around.  They can do this at a traited range of 1500, which is a really big deal.  With careful movement, the only things that (I think) will be able to hit you are longbow Rangers and siege equipment, plus incidental AOEs.  This adds up to some very consistent and unchecked pressure over time.  Do watch out for Guardians using Shield of Absorption, or especially Wall of Reflection.  Because of the way in which grenades are lobbed, it seems that you can hit people below you while on the walls from some angles, without exposing yourself to direct damage.  AOEs will still be able to hit you though.  You can also drop a Mortar from your elite skill for allies to use.  Not everyone has great wall defending weapons, so this is almost like contributing double.  When one side is routed and things break down into a skirmish, you have the Rifle or Pistol for excellent single target damage to chase people down.  I'm a really big fan of Rifle in particular for the Net Shot, leading into a Jump Shot on top of them, Blunderbuss to the face and then sending them back toward your chasing allies with Overcharged Shot.

Personally I'm going to roll both, it's just a question of which to level first.  I'm kind of leaning toward Engineer right now for easier PvE leveling (WvW leveling is slow as hell at the moment).  Having all the mobs constantly scattering out of the Ele's ground targeted stuff annoys the hell out of me.  They react instantaneously, and I can't drop down AOE CC with every Lava Font, you know?  With Grenades, they stay nice and bunched up.

There's so many little nuances of differences between the classes, I could go on but it would turn into almost an article.  Feel free to bring up specific points for further discussion or PM me.

[Tomme]

I will only answer about the Engineer as I know the most about them.

• Most Kits suck IMHO (Mines, Elixir Gun, Tool kit), I really only like Flamethrower and Grenade Kits. Don't dige the style of Mines, Elixir Gun, Tool kit, I don't know if they are any good in PVP.

Tried the Bomb kit? Love it so much, but seriously though the kits work very well, and they are great for combo fields, drop down a Fire Bomb then jump into the fire with your rifles Jump Shot and gain lovely Fire Armour, great opener. Example of a 3-kit Engi in sPVP https://www.youtube....h?v=UrJVkjPr9Sw

• Not sure about their mobility, though seems limited

Engi mobility is one of the best in the game, lots of good ways to get out of CC, long range and of course if traited right and use the right kit you basically have permanent Swiftness.

• Not sure about Turrets which make up a huge amount of Utility skills (probably ties into the low mobility argument)

Turrets are a bit "meh" at the minute, I like them in PvE as they can tank some damage and offer knockbacks but yes I feel they are just missing something to make them mroe useable.

• Don't think they can really burst

If you can learn to kit juggle well and use your toolbelt abilities right then you can get some serious burst out but it is not as easy as other classes to do.

[AetherMcLoud]

Thanks for all the answers!

I'll now roll an engineer, had lots of fun with all the kits in the last two stresstests. Also todays I've just realised that engineers can doe AOE stealth combos with smoke bombs which is incredible.