45 replies to this topic

[HandSoap]

I'm not all that sure if this is the right forum to post this on.
But I am having all the trouble in the world deciding a class. I've played through each one and it has it's own distinct quality that I enjoyed. I was hoping for a more detailed explanation/suggestion about the classes so I could have a better understanding the classes and maybe I could finally decide on one! Thanks!

Mod Edit: Moved to Vigil Academy

Edited by Kamatsu, 10 December 2012 - 07:49 AM.

[Coren]

It would be really helpful if you could narrow down what you like in RPGs.


Are you more of a heavy, medium or light armor person. Ranged, magical, technology, melee, mobile etc...

In theory all professions are equally useful, so it's really down to what kind of character you like, the... Flavor as it were.

[Xunlai Agent]

I would honestly try as many of them as possible because that is likely a better basis for any decision than the recommendations of others!

[HandSoap]

I've tried each and every class, The problem is a matter of choice and preference, I like each class for it's own features .But I've always favored as much versatility as possible while in combat, I always love changing the flavors of gameplay while it happens. I like Technology and Magic, As well as stealth.

Edited by HandSoap, 10 December 2012 - 08:26 PM.

[dawdler]

HandSoap, on 10 December 2012 - 07:52 PM, said:

I like Technology and Magic, As well as stealth.

Isnt the answer simple then? Theif. You got some technological stuff (like pistols), you got plenty of magical-esque skills and of course, you got stealth. There are other classes with stealth, but none with as much control over it. Magic users have little in the way of technology and stealth, while a class like the Engineer got little to no magical and stealth attributes.

[HandSoap]

dawdler, on 10 December 2012 - 08:05 PM, said:

Isnt the answer simple then? Theif. You got some technological stuff (like pistols), you got plenty of magical-esque skills and of course, you got stealth. There are other classes with stealth, but none with as much control over it. Magic users have little in the way of technology and stealth, while a class like the Engineer got little to no magical and stealth attributes.

I'll definitely take that into consideration. But through my play through as thief (Till level 10) It didn't really have much of a strong magic feel, The stealth was fun. But although not the kind of stealth that I enjoyed (Popping in and out of stealth frequently) But I had fun with the massive damage that pistols dealt. Although it doesn't really feel that Thief can fulfill much more roles that DPS, So in general it doesn't really contain that Versatility I want. But It's on my potential List for sure

Edited by HandSoap, 10 December 2012 - 08:56 PM.

[Loperdos]

The other choice that I see, besides the thief, would probably be a mesmer.  They have a magic~y feel to them, have stealth (though not 100% sure how viable it is to be using on a consistent basis) and has a lot of utility when it comes to changing the dynamic of a fight.  You will be squishy and not a huge technological feel to it (though they can use pistols in off-hand), but you've got the stealth, magic and versatility components to it.

[HandSoap]

Loperdos, on 10 December 2012 - 09:15 PM, said:

The other choice that I see, besides the thief, would probably be a mesmer.  They have a magic~y feel to them, have stealth (though not 100% sure how viable it is to be using on a consistent basis) and has a lot of utility when it comes to changing the dynamic of a fight.  You will be squishy and not a huge technological feel to it (though they can use pistols in off-hand), but you've got the stealth, magic and versatility components to it.

That does actually make sense. I'll roll mesmer and see how it goes. Thanks.

[Coren]

Flexibility and tech? Engineer is for you then. They're the most balanced profession available so far. They don't excell at any role but are good at All.

[HandSoap]

Coren, on 10 December 2012 - 09:23 PM, said:

Flexibility and tech? Engineer is for you then. They're the most balanced profession available so far. They don't excell at any role but are good at All.

It seems I'm going to have to juggle mesmer and Engineer then... Oh dear...

I suppose I'm going to have to make a decision between the two....

Edited by HandSoap, 11 December 2012 - 01:21 AM.

[HandSoap]

Alright, So apparently Engineers DO have quite a bit of versatility and I love their Kits. But I also love the Mesmers capability to practically if not literally TROLL enemies in the most hilarious way possible. I WISH I COULD JUST SMASH THE CLASSES TOGETHER AND MAKE MESINEERS D:

[Coren]

HandSoap, on 11 December 2012 - 02:59 AM, said:

Alright, So apparently Engineers DO have quite a bit of versatility and I love their Kits. But I also love the Mesmers capability to practically if not literally TROLL enemies in the most hilarious way possible. I WISH I COULD JUST SMASH THE CLASSES TOGETHER AND MAKE MESINEERS D:

Well I use both:) both are fully equipped and I love both equally. I agree that they are quite appealing but for different reasons.

[Ritualist]

As always in these threads, I suggest soldiers. Especially the guardian.
They just seemed to be the best designed classes for PvE - they can take a lot of beating, they dish out even more of it, they have nice weapon variety and super vanity variety.

[Thaddeuz]

Well soldier are really not the best designed professions for PvE. They all have they strenght. But soldier are good choice for your first character as they heavier armor allow you to stay alive even if you'r still trying to learn the games mechanics or when you make bad mistake.

This is only true for solo questing. If you run dungeon to leveling your character, my experience showed me that the leveling Warrior is the one that get kill the most before reaching the level 45-50. Simply because people want to melee with their warrior and at this point, they didn't have trait that boss your heal. After that, warrior don't really anymore ; ).

[Heart Collector]

HandSoap, on 11 December 2012 - 02:59 AM, said:

Alright, So apparently Engineers DO have quite a bit of versatility and I love their Kits. But I also love the Mesmers capability to practically if not literally TROLL enemies in the most hilarious way possible. I WISH I COULD JUST SMASH THE CLASSES TOGETHER AND MAKE MESINEERS D:

They're both awesome classes.

Engineers have so many toys to play with it's silly, you get bored of grenades so what, slap on a flamethrower. Tired of bbqing, try being a turreteer. Don't like turrets? Try elixirs. The class has more flavors than Haagen-Dazs

And Mesmers have this really unique feel and playstyle. They may have less variety than Engis, but there's quite a lot to play with within its more "limited" (for lack of a better word) arsenal.

I'd say keep both classes and alternate between them when you start feeling bored with one or the other.

[Nabuko Darayon]

Go Asura Mesmer, they have what you need

[Thaddeuz]

Warrior are also versatile because of the number of weapons they can equip. Still the engineer kit give you really different experience that not only change your weapons skill.

The Elementalist is versatile in combat. With your 4 attunement you got 20 weapons skills + your utilities skill. The engineer could have also 20 weapons skills, but you would have to sacrifice your utilities skills. I found my Elementalist the more combat versatile since i can do so much thing with her in dungeon. Teleport, Mist Form, Arcane Shield allow you to do insane thing in dungeon for exemple in AC i can pass the Queen Spider, the Traps and the Scavengers in the corridor or i can get all the 5 specter piece by myself. Those things i can do them with my other characters even my guardian.

Original Play style : Messmer
Combat Versatility : Elementalist
Play Style Versatility : Engineers

FYI i also played the Guardian and Rangers but not the Thief, Warrior and Necro so keep that in mind my opinion don't cover all the professions.

[HandSoap]

Is it true that engineer turrets deal near to NO damage at all? Like, Barely any significant damage?

[dawdler]

HandSoap, on 11 December 2012 - 07:48 PM, said:

Is it true that engineer turrets deal near to NO damage at all? Like, Barely any significant damage?

They do deal damage, especially the rocket turret is quite decent.

But lets phrase it this way: an engineer pistol, a rifle turret and a rocket turret will probably deal about the same damage as a single Warrior hammer attack. And the hammer will attack like 3 times more until the entire mentioned combo has fired again (well the pistol will get off a couple of shots more).

Turret damage is really secondary, they are more usefull to simply distract the mobs.

[Coren]

Real issue with turrets are their squishyness. With the enormous amount of red circles they're always taking damage. I have more use with turrets and gadgets in spvp and wvw. Kits and elixirs are better in PvE IMO.

[Xanthe]

The most versatile class I've played, by far, is the elementalist, as far as combat versatility goes. The others (with the exception of engineer which I cannot speak of because I have not played one) don't even touch it IMO. The one class I have NOT dabbled with yet is the engineer, so it very well may be up there too.

[CepaCepa]

Every profession can be played "upbeat" and requires lots of switching along with attention, so you'll get different people suggesting different things to you, and likely, you will like them all once you can get into their mechanism.

Personally, for "versatility within combat" I'd say elementalist. Other than the fact that they can't switch weapons within combat, they can switch between direct damage, condition damage, knockdown/knockback/stun, crowd control conditions, healing/support, self survival, or even running away fast any second in the fight. But once you've chose an attunement, you need to stay in that "mode" for about 10 second, which I think is what most people meant by "versatility" --- Been able to adapt to a different role on the fly, which does NOT mean able to do all things at all times.

Engineers are very versatile as well, but it depends on which kit you're equipping, hence sometimes you need at least a break between combat to adjust your kit. I actually think that an engineer can "focus" more than an elementalist in combat, due to the fact that kit swap has no CD while attunement swap does. This means that for an engineer, everything can be optimized in the tightest fashion possible, for example spamming grenade and switching back to rifle for #3 + #5 and switch to grenade again immediately, resulting in higher dps. Engineers do not HAVE to put the kit in the utility slot for "situations", instead they can do so as an "optimization", and doing so has high payback. The problem is, if you're doing that, you obviously can't just be "ready to adapt to all situations" in one single combat. So I say elementalist win out for versatility within combat, but engineer can probably choose more playstyles once you have the chance to re-arrange your kits outside of combat.

The mesmer is "versatile" on a "grand scale", for example portal, feedback, nullfield, time warp, mass invisibility, these powerful but often situational skills require to be switched on and off of your utility bar depending on what your team needs. In combat, I wouldn't say mesmer is "versatile", it is definitely very "dynamic" and very "unique" but since often you don't have control over what happens, I wouldn't call that "versatile". You need to focus a lot on what's going on and often it's more of an reaction than an action to optimize dps/survival within each battle, even though those are YOUR illusions and those are YOUR spells.

And thief, since someone mentioned it, is versatile simply due to the initiative system, which means no CD. You can spend that initiative on whatever you'd like depending on the situation, be it running away, supporting allies, bursting the enemy, applying conditions, ect. Both the thief and mesmer play a bit like "opportunists" whereas the elementalist and engineer often feel like "trying to control the battle field", more so for elementalist and depends on the playstyle of the engineer.

These four professions also have the other qualities that you've mentioned: Elementalist is obviously very magic-y, along with mesmer, they're "casters". Mesmer and thief both have stealth. Thief can feel a bit technology-ish especially with double pistol, and Engineer is of course king of technology.

Edited by CepaCepa, 12 December 2012 - 08:27 PM.

[Nonlinear]

Short Answer:  Anything but Ranger or Necro.

Notice all the love in this thread, then notice how there aren't any posters in this thread saying how much they love either of the two classes listed above.

[HandSoap]

CepaCepa, on 12 December 2012 - 08:19 PM, said:

Every profession can be played "upbeat" and requires lots of switching along with attention, so you'll get different people suggesting different things to you, and likely, you will like them all once you can get into their mechanism.

Personally, for "versatility within combat" I'd say elementalist. Other than the fact that they can't switch weapons within combat, they can switch between direct damage, condition damage, knockdown/knockback/stun, crowd control conditions, healing/support, self survival, or even running away fast any second in the fight. But once you've chose an attunement, you need to stay in that "mode" for about 10 second, which I think is what most people meant by "versatility" --- Been able to adapt to a different role on the fly, which does NOT mean able to do all things at all times.

Engineers are very versatile as well, but it depends on which kit you're equipping, hence sometimes you need at least a break between combat to adjust your kit. I actually think that an engineer can "focus" more than an elementalist in combat, due to the fact that kit swap has no CD while attunement swap does. This means that for an engineer, everything can be optimized in the tightest fashion possible, for example spamming grenade and switching back to rifle for #3 + #5 and switch to grenade again immediately, resulting in higher dps. Engineers do not HAVE to put the kit in the utility slot for "situations", instead they can do so as an "optimization", and doing so has high payback. The problem is, if you're doing that, you obviously can't just be "ready to adapt to all situations" in one single combat. So I say elementalist win out for versatility within combat, but engineer can probably choose more playstyles once you have the chance to re-arrange your kits outside of combat.

The mesmer is "versatile" on a "grand scale", for example portal, feedback, nullfield, time warp, mass invisibility, these powerful but often situational skills require to be switched on and off of your utility bar depending on what your team needs. In combat, I wouldn't say mesmer is "versatile", it is definitely very "dynamic" and very "unique" but since often you don't have control over what happens, I wouldn't call that "versatile". You need to focus a lot on what's going on and often it's more of an reaction than an action to optimize dps/survival within each battle, even though those are YOUR illusions and those are YOUR spells.

And thief, since someone mentioned it, is versatile simply due to the initiative system, which means no CD. You can spend that initiative on whatever you'd like depending on the situation, be it running away, supporting allies, bursting the enemy, applying conditions, ect. Both the thief and mesmer play a bit like "opportunists" whereas the elementalist and engineer often feel like "trying to control the battle field", more so for elementalist and depends on the playstyle of the engineer.

These four professions also have the other qualities that you've mentioned: Elementalist is obviously very magic-y, along with mesmer, they're "casters". Mesmer and thief both have stealth. Thief can feel a bit technology-ish especially with double pistol, and Engineer is of course king of technology.

Thank you VERY much. This has been incredibly helpful to me.
And I think elementalist sounds promising due to the attunements.  engineer and mesmer also sound equally interesting. I'll probably try all three over the week and then make my final decision.

Edited by HandSoap, 12 December 2012 - 10:24 PM.

[Craywulf]

I say don't chose one, continue to play them all equally.....eventually you'll find the profession you are most comfortable with naturally. Sometimes we make decisions without trying.

[HandSoap]

Craywulf, on 12 December 2012 - 10:36 PM, said:

I say don't chose one, continue to play them all equally.....eventually you'll find the profession you are most comfortable with naturally. Sometimes we make decisions without trying.

I didn't really consider that. .-. Back to point blank XD. I suppose I'll find what I am comfortable with. Eventually...

[Gorwe]

Tell me your favourite MMO/MOBA classes/characters and I'll tell you what to play...

If you tell Guild Wars 1 proffesions it only makes things easier...

[HandSoap]

Gorwe, on 13 December 2012 - 12:37 PM, said:

Tell me your favourite MMO/MOBA classes/characters and I'll tell you what to play...

If you tell Guild Wars 1 proffesions it only makes things easier...

I've never played GW1.

[Gorwe]

How about other MMOs?

League of Legends/Defense of the Ancients/Heroes of Newerth styled games?

General RPGs Like Diablo/The Elder Scrolls/Neverwinter Nights/Dragon Age/Baldur's Gate?

Like policemen would say, say EVERYTHING-for you don't know what could be important(or could end up being important)...

Edit: I am here to help you make a good choice.

Edited by Gorwe, 13 December 2012 - 08:37 PM.

[HandSoap]

Gorwe, on 13 December 2012 - 08:34 PM, said:

How about other MMOs?

League of Legends/Defense of the Ancients/Heroes of Newerth styled games?

General RPGs Like Diablo/The Elder Scrolls/Neverwinter Nights/Dragon Age/Baldur's Gate?

Like policemen would say, say EVERYTHING-for you don't know what could be important(or could end up being important)...

Edit: I am here to help you make a good choice.

WoW
Skyrim
Fallout
Probably a bunch others I've forgotten .-.