Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Class Customization and Roles
Irus
Member Posts: 774
So since I'm bored I was spending some time thinking up what race/class I want to roll at release (yeah, I know, very far away). Thread is kinda personal but keeping the title open ended.
I've settled down somewhere between a Charr Warrior, Asura Engineer, and a Charr Ranger. But, I'm having a lot of trouble deciding between them because there are many shared roles between the classes and I'm getting confused about what the classes really represent and whether or not a given class will let me do what I want to do with it. I'm pretty bad at rushing things, so the BWE's won't help very much in that regard. I wasn't even able to find all the weapons my class could use.
I wanted to make a character that is specialized in killing stuff before it gets to my character, especially in terms of setup/stationary preparations. This would mean a lot of slowing down the enemy and trying to wither them down before they get to me. It seems the three classes above kinda sorta fill that niche but I am getting lost on the differences between them and hearing some things made me make a double take. There's also some info missing in the builders/wiki's.
Warrior
So what is this class supposed to be? I admit I'm very used to the melee warrior archetype. Warrior using ranged weapons is a bit weird to me, and it sort of makes this class less defined in my eyes. It's a class in heavy armor... that uses weapons... maybe.
With the Warrior, I would use a Rifle, with Aimed Shot to Cripple, and other stuff to stack some vulnerability and probably specialize in critical hits and condition damage. I would take some other stuff to give myself faster speed so I could continually kite foes. This is a build I came up with: http://www.gw2builds.org/create/bwe_1/warrior#3.0.6.4-1.2.9.11.1-0.30.10.0.30-9.4.8.11.2.3.1 (yes, I'm bad at building, don't look at me like that)
From what I heard, the Warrior can dish out decent damage with the Rifle. I suppose being heavy armor and everything the warrior can take a bit more damage than other classes, so has less ways to prevent it. I was also wondering if I should just grab a Longbow as my second weapon. Does switching weapons refresh cooldowns or anything? For instance, can I use Pin Down with my Longbow and then switch to my Rifle and immediately use all the Rifle skills? Similarly, can I use the speedup on the Warhorn and then switch to the Rifle? There are also no range indicators on most of the cripple/immobilize skills so I don't even know if they're usable at long range (besides the melee ones, of course).
Engineer
I was originally quite excited about the Engineer because they reminded me of a WAR class I really liked that could set up a turret that would fire at everybody. So the moment I saw the Engineer I was all like "turrets, turrets, turrets". And I was wondering if I could specialize in turrets and put down 3 turrets everywhere and invite enemies from afar. Obviously I would use another long range weapon like a rifle or pistols to help with the damage. Maybe replace a turret and mix in some mines in there.
There are quite a few turrets in there. Rifle Turret, Rocket Turret, what's the difference? How far do these shoot? How far does the Net Turret shoot? Do turrets distract enemies? Can a long-range engineer be a thing? Again, I'm bad at builds / missing information, I was thinking of something like this: http://www.gw2builds.org/create/bwe_1/engineer#0.0-1.7.6.9.1-0.30.30.10.0-12.10.6.7.11.9.4
I have been hearing, though, that the Engineer doesn't deal much damage and is mostly a support class. Being that I like to be independent, that's worrysome.
Ranger
With the Ranger I'm iffy because I don't want to do a pet class. I don't really have anything against pets and even had a Hunter in WoW, but I kinda don't really want to do that right now. Nevertheless, the Ranger seems to have the stuff I'm looking for: long-range weapons and traps. Got to use Spike Trap in the stress test, was really fun.
Particularly, I really like Long Range Shot, and the whole idea behind it. Longbow would definitely be the weapon of choice (perhaps Shortbow on the swap because of Crippling Shot and random bleeds, and maybe for tight areas). And I don't know how this game works, exactly, but I presume there will be some "don't attack me, attack my pet" kind of management going on? I figure there are tough pets, pets who can slow enemies down, etc.? Can a pet fight far away from me?
What's Opening Strike?
I also recall having some timing issues with traps in the stress test, can traps remain on the ground for a decent amount of time?
What are these Spirit things? If they can't usually move with you (there's a trait for that), what do they do? Why is there a "traps are on ground" trait?????
Rangers are confusing. I'm not even going to bother setting up a build there. I don't know how much I should concentrate on pets or how half the mechanics (traps, spirits) work. Pet swaps, I don't even.
OK, I'll try: http://www.gw2builds.org/create/bwe_1/ranger#1.0.2.0-1.5.16.15.3-30.0.25.5.10-5.3.12.7.4.2
------------------------------------------------
Basically, I'm kinda wondering what is the generalized role of each of these classes. I presume there's this sort of mixing among other classes, especially the guardian and necromancer. There seems to be a tremendous amount of variety in weapon skills and traits alike and classes sort of flow into each other. Kinda overwhelming.
Generally, I don't need to know how a class works straight away, I can feel that out in the process, but I need to know a bit more about the classes before I actually pick one, so I don't end up in some "Oh, I'm support? Crap" situation. The Warrior really seemed like the simplest class in that regard, but I was wondering if its simplicity will make it pretty bad for the role I was thinking of.
Comments
You can certainly do well with Warriors and Engineers with a ranged build.
Warriors deal good damage with Rifles, trading some effects for raw damage and range. Engineers can deal very respectable damage if you manage to use the turrets well, but they are exactly like WAR Magus/Engineer turrets: sustained damage, not a burst damage tool (with the exception of the Mortar, maybe, but that's more for strategic PVP use than PVE or casual PVP).
But, in the end, it will all depend on you build, items, Sigils and such. Investing in a glass cannon build, full of Power, and maybe some Precision, will net you much more damage, at the expense of your staying power. That's not personally an approach I'd use, but to each his own.
The real depth of the classes is, I think, not in the Weapon Skills, but in the class skills and how you set up your items and such.
I know nothing of Rangers, besides the fact that the Bow build can deal good damage (felt it first hand) and that GS was kinda broken =P
One thing to keep in mind is that EVERY class can play EVERY role, at least situationally. Every class has self heals, every class has substantial buffs/debuffs, every class has tanky abilities, control abilities, and damage. healing others is the one thing not every class has equally well, but you'll fast find that the strongest among them (water ele,medkit engi) are probably deilitating themselves if they try to stay in that "role". That said, let's look at your class questions.
1) Warrior: Burst damage, high mobility, and control. Warrior has the widest number of tank-type abilities, a heavy number of stuns/lockdowns, is probably the master of bleeds, and has major alpha strike power in tis f1 adrenaline moves. It also brings some strong buffs and an aoe rally to the table, which is pretty handy. I've heard from many your comments about rifle, though I didn't play it myself. Longbow was pretty strong. Personally I spent most of the BWE */Shield...usually axe/shield. Axes are amazing. Mace has great control and sword great mobility. GS is juggernaut in a can. No experience with hammer, but I heard good things. It's Damage, Control, Mobility. Oh, and any ability works at any range up to its maximum. So you can use any ranged ability at point-blank with no penalty, unless you count a sword sticking out of your face a penalty.
2) Engi: One of the classes I got the least time with, and pretty polarizing from what I heard. Turrets I understand to be subpar. Mines are popular in pvp. Medkit is popular EVERYWHERE. Don't count out pistol/shield though, as engis get some nice shield powers. Of all the classes save perhaps mesmer, Engis are the most "jack of all trades". How you skill this one really determines what role(s) you can play in the field, but it can do nearly anything. They are a ranged class. Turrets have a ariety of attack speeds and damage rates as well as some status effects, but as I mmentioned are apparently kinda undertuned.
3) Ranger I can't say much. I did not play one at all. My girlfriend however played quite a bit of one and enjoyed it. From the way I hear it, Rangers are not a "pet" class in the traditional sense. More like a ranged or melee class what happens to have some additional damage in the form of a pet. From what I hear pet aggro control is a little iffy, like most aggro control in this game. with no real hard taunts, aggro is often a pingpong game. There are different types of pets, although I'm not sure if they make much of a difference, aside from health pools. I've heard damage is consistent among them. They do have unique abilities; not sure how much of a part those play. One of the cool things is once you tame multiple pets you can hotswap between a couple in combat. I can't speak for traps, Spirits without the trait are basically buff/debuff auras.
"I wanted to make a character that is specialized in killing stuff before it gets to my character, especially in terms of setup/stationary preparations..."
Ranger is your choice
You are right. There are so many role options it can be confusing trying to pick a profession just based on a list of skills and traits. I've played five professions so far and to me they all have their own unique feel to them. I think if you narrow down your list, as you have, to three professions, you might want to try all three before making a choice. With a prospective build or two for each, you can narrow your focus and see how those particular weapon skills feel for you.
Engineer and Ranger are two of the professions I haven't tried yet, but I did play Warrior during the stress test. I got to level 10 and enjoyed using Rifle as my primary weapon, with melee weapons for close up combat on things I didn't kill before they reached me. Both Rifle and Long Bow felt pretty powerful to me and I think anyone wanting a non-magic centric ranged profession other than Ranger may find Warrior a nice match.
As far as weapon swaps, there is a short cooldown after you switch before you switch back, but your skills cooldowns continue to tick on the previous weapon, so swapping does allow you to juggle cooldowns between weapons. It's usually a good idea to swap if one weapon is mostly on cooldown. Ranged weapons can be used point blank. Some skills are noted as doing more damage the farther away the target is, but otherwise damage is the same at any range. If you enjoy kiting, you could have Rifle and Long Bow as your weapon swap and really focus on ranged combat. (Rifle seemed to be better vs. single targets, while Long Bow has some multi-target skills).
I think we are all going to need some play time and experimentation to find the perfect profession, but each is so versatile that many professions should make a good match, even if they aren't a perfect match. If you are in no rush to level a character to the cap, I think taking your time to really learn a few professions before deciding on which one to max first is a good approach, one I will probably adopt myself if I can't get enough of a taste during beta to make a decision for launch.
Want to know more about GW2 and why there is so much buzz? Start here: Guild Wars 2 Mass Info for the Uninitiated
http://www.gw2builds.org/create/bwe_1/warrior#3.0.4.0-2.20.11.3.1-0.30.20.0.20-9.2.4.8.4.2.6
This is a balanced Rifle build.
30 Arms: Focus on rifle and bleed skills
20 Defense: Shrug it off and last stand add a large amount of defensive capability. Very hard to lock down a warrior with these two traits.
20 Discipline: Added crit chance and faster burst skill recharge (spike dmg).
Ranged: Use rifle skills with Kill Shot (One of the longest ranged attacks in the game). Crit with the right gear will be near 40% or more when Adren maxed (Burst skills over 50% crit chance).
If someone closes range,
Swap to axes, bulls charge, eviscerate, pop frenzy, Whirling Axe... (Should be around 5 - 10 stacks of bleed, near death, and close to full adren for Eviscerate when it pops again).
I will avenge you can be really handy if there are downed allies or you need some extra healing.
(30% dmg boost and 100% crit on first attack after weapon swap sigils on your axes make eviscerate down right lethal)
-Atziluth-
- Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.
I have good news. You will never pick a class and feel like you are stuck in a role that you don't really want to play. What you should look for is what playstyle you want to play.
I also have bad news. You won't be able to make a build that kills things before they get to you (reliably), but you will be able to make a build that is capable of avoiding the damage in many different ways with all the classes.
Personally, I think the best bet for your would be either necromancer with minions, engineer (but only after you get past the first few levels and get certain utility skills), or guardian (tough, good at keeping things away, good melee abilities)...though, these options may be influenced by my personal preferences.
Because you were already looking at engineers, I would suggest looking at the highly offensive exposive kits like bomb kit and mine kit. These allow you to kite constantly while littering the area around you with mines that knock things away from you. Good stuff.
I used to TL;DR, but then I took a bullet point to the footnote.