I really liked Warrior this time around. They have absolutely DEVASTATING melee attacks, and they have ranged options as well.
I did some sPvP with my warrior and I had no issues with tearing people up in melee range. I even had one build with made/sword and greatsword. I would build up some adrenhaline with mace/sword, then use my F1 attack that would stun for 2 seconds. Then I would switch to greatsword and unleash my "2" attack that does TONS of damage but keeps you stationary. They would normally take almost the full brunt of this attack and lose like half their health.
It's also extremely versatile. You can be an extremely mobile face masher with weapons like greatsword, or you can actually go pretty defensive with mace/shield. I mean, with mace/shield you get a block->counter AND a fairly decent duration block. Couple this with utility skills like Endure Pain and the Juggernaut elite, and you are tough to take down!
i really enjoyed all the classes. what surprised me most was that when playing a warrior, i actually felt like a warrior. all those weapons that are available. and they weren't just fluff or pull weapons. i could easily hold my own with any of them. i also found this true of the thief class. being able to move from ranged stalker to in your face dual wield (double daggers or sword and dagger) was terrific.
options! i love it! finally someone's gotten around to removing the old staid boundaries that have kept certain classes locked up.
I played a lot with thief in the first BWE, and I love that class as well. It's extremely flexible because you can just spam one ability over and over until you run out of action points (or whatever they are called). So I would go into WvW with my bow, and basically be able to escape almost anything by doing two quick infilitrator's shots (shadow step) with the bow.
And when fighting thieves, I noticed that they did really seem "slippery." You would be whaling on them, and then "POOF!" they're gone. You look around in consternation, only to get an arrow in the face 1 second later.
I've tried Guardian, Thief (gun wielding) and Necro..
Gun Wielding thief was a bit too squishy at times when no one was around, IE during personal story. In my experience kinda like elementalists/mesmer thief needs someone else to bare the brunt of attacks so they can fire away at a safe distance... It ended up with A LOT of running making battles last quite a bit too long for my liking..
Necro, I only got 4 levels in, and seemed like in a group this class can be quite powerful.... I may play it at release but not as my main.
Guardian, THIS is my class, what I just can't decide is which weapon I like best.. Right now, I'm thinking I may have to change my healing build and go with the Greatsword, as that was the most fun I had this past weekend. The Mace/Shield combo has a decent group heal, but it just wasn't as fun as the Greatsword.....
Mesmers are a great concept, and even with bugged clones, I had lots of fun with it. Necro is also quite good, but I still must find a build I feel comfortable with.
Mesmers are a great concept, and even with bugged clones, I had lots of fun with it. Necro is also quite good, but I still must find a build I feel comfortable with.
i was actually surprised to find out that mesmer was bugged tbh. while i found the class difficult to play, i enjoyed that. and as far as survivabliity there were a number of scenarios where i was able to outlast what would have been the end for any of my other class choices.
"There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play." Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Although I knew there were still problems with the Mesmer, I decided to try one and had a blast! They need to fix the clones "not getting agro", and the non-stealth "steath-clone" (lot's of bugs they are aware of).....but I see a lot of potential for this profession.
I also had a lot of fun with the ranger who was suprisingly quite fun in the rogue/melee mode (pets still need work). It's gonna be hard to choose which will be my first one on game release (hope the mesmer gets fixed for next BWE!).
i really enjoyed all the classes. what surprised me most was that when playing a warrior, i actually felt like a warrior. all those weapons that are available. and they weren't just fluff or pull weapons. i could easily hold my own with any of them. i also found this true of the thief class. being able to move from ranged stalker to in your face dual wield (double daggers or sword and dagger) was terrific.
options! i love it! finally someone's gotten around to removing the old staid boundaries that have kept certain classes locked up.
I played a lot with thief in the first BWE, and I love that class as well. It's extremely flexible because you can just spam one ability over and over until you run out of action points (or whatever they are called). So I would go into WvW with my bow, and basically be able to escape almost anything by doing two quick infilitrator's shots (shadow step) with the bow.
And when fighting thieves, I noticed that they did really seem "slippery." You would be whaling on them, and then "POOF!" they're gone. You look around in consternation, only to get an arrow in the face 1 second later.
its one of the things i loved about sword and dagger was the ability to set a spot on the ground and then to shadow step from it and then return to it again if you chose. this kept me from being too squishy as placement in position to the opponent does actually count for something in this game.
"There are at least two kinds of games. One could be called finite, the other infinite. A finite game is played for the purpose of winning, an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play." Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
This is the hardest question of all times for me! I loved my Guardian which i rolled so i dont spoil engineer for myself but i love ranger as well. God this is hard :P.
So far, I really liked the warrior, the mesmer and the engineer. Elementalists are also great. Thieves are a fun class in concept but they are bit underwhelming compared to other classes, especially at low levels.
One of the first 3 is definitely going to be my main. Although I tend to play rogue classes in MMOs so if ArenaNet finally figures out what they want to do with the thief, I may create a thief as my main.
I already pretty much locked down my classes from BWE1, but I tested out others and I really came to like the Guardian. Tried out a bunch of combinations and as a norn got to bear form elite which is a LOT of fun XD
I played a Guardian, Ele, Mesmer, and a Necro, but my favorite is definitely the thirf. I just love the ranged pewpew with the auto-weapon switch to shadowstep and stabbystabby. Lots of options, and I've only barely touched the surface. Good stuff.
Played just about every class since the pre-order beta's started.
The two most enjoyable classes I have found were the Guardian and the Elementalist.
They offer multiple play styles and their skills really offer multiple options for unique builds. On the flipside they are also a bit harder play in my opinion.
The worst class to play was the Engineer. Boring boring and more BORING. The skills and the mechanics for the class are not very much, much less very good. They feel like a total support class with no actual class. The options were lackluster. I found the best build to be with the flamethrower, you wont need to switch out of it unless to do some healing things.
The Mesmer was unique as well, I felt it was fun but at the same time it felt like there was not enough in the way of diversity in play style. The constant pink butterflies start to get annoying, especially if you dont want to be seen as that kind of character. Would be great if they could add some choices as to what fruity or non fruity particles appear from playing the Mesmer. Expect to do a lot of dodging with this class.
Ranger, thief and warrior didnt stand out in a good or bad way.
Necromancer feels fun at first but slowly goes down hill. I found it along with the Engineer is one of the less viable classes over all. Could use some buffage.
All this is my opinion however. I would hate to see a large number of players all playing Guardian and Elementalist, but I also cant bring myself to not let people know those two classes are probably the best designed and fun to play.
Tough call.....my main will still be mesmer (love that class!), but I found the necro a lot more fun this time than last BWE. I still want to spend a bit more time on engineer - don't feel I've really done the class justice with my goes at it thus far.
Edit : Should say, I found the necro more fun when going with a staff/scepter-dagger setup and focussing on wells....got a bit more used to the crowd control options, which was fun, and also toggling death shroud. The previous time I went with axe and tried minions (not so fun for me)
I lvled every class to at least lvl 10 this weekend lol. Out of them all My top 3 include the Guardian, Elementalist, and tied for third the Engineer and the Necro. lol I cannot decide which I want to roll come grand opening. The only thing I am sure of is I am going to roll an Asura!!! They looks so cool!
Lvl 18 engineer -loved it, so much variety and a nifty flamethrower which rocks!!
Had grenade kit, flamethrower, mine kit - which has uber powerful combos ( stealth anyone ;-) ), elixir B, elixir S, rifle turret, flame turret, thumper turret, Med kit, med turret. Used 2 pistols most times, or pistol shield, also tried rifle but not for me.
Had so much fun in PvE and WvW. Some ppl think the engineer is underpowered BUT when i read their reasons I find them lacking in real substance. The engineer is not supposed to have each utility be very powerful but the combination of their skills and kits together is how your supposed to play this class which makes it one of the hardest IMO, the mesmer is also tricky to get good at.
Grenades get complained about BUT some ppl aren't playing the game properly - IF you want to throw them off a keep wall jump up onto the edge otherwise they hit the top edge of the wall... this is the same for most of the weapons. Obviously the keep walls have edges to stop you from falling off too easily. If you want to attack ppl on a keep wall go to the edge and lob them up - grenade barrage does well here.
The Mesmer was unique as well, I felt it was fun but at the same time it felt like there was not enough in the way of diversity in play style. The constant pink butterflies start to get annoying, especially if you dont want to be seen as that kind of character. Would be great if they could add some choices as to what fruity or non fruity particles appear from playing the Mesmer. Expect to do a lot of dodging with this class.
I hear you. Not really a fan of the pink and butterflies...but at the same time wouldn't it suck to be killed in pvp by the pink butterfly guy?!
Played guardian all weekend and got it to lvl 30, and to be honest at the end I really didn't enjoy it. At the moment I have no idea what I'm going to play because none of the classes are really meeting my play style.
The Mesmer was unique as well, I felt it was fun but at the same time it felt like there was not enough in the way of diversity in play style. The constant pink butterflies start to get annoying, especially if you dont want to be seen as that kind of character. Would be great if they could add some choices as to what fruity or non fruity particles appear from playing the Mesmer. Expect to do a lot of dodging with this class.
I hear you. Not really a fan of the pink and butterflies...but at the same time wouldn't it suck to be killed in pvp by the pink butterfly guy?!
Hey, it takes a REAL MAN to rock some pink sparkly butterflies. I said the same thing too when it was announced, but I loved my sparkly froufrou mesmer in GW1, and I love it MORE in 2.
Tolbooth, what kind of playstyle are you looking for? also keep in mind weapon selections make a huge difference.
I hear you. Not really a fan of the pink and butterflies...but at the same time wouldn't it suck to be killed in pvp by the pink butterfly guy?!
Hey, it takes a REAL MAN to rock some pink sparkly butterflies. I said the same thing too when it was announced, but I loved my sparkly froufrou mesmer in GW1, and I love it MORE in 2.
Tolbooth, what kind of playstyle are you looking for? also keep in mind weapon selections make a huge difference.
haha, mesmers had more or less the same issue in GW1. Which, is one of the reasons I LOVED that class. Also love it in GW2. Call me elitist, but it's one of those classes in which everyone assumes sucks, because they can't figure it out. Then you have people who actually do figure it out, and next thing you know it's lots of "godd@Mn mesmers!" all over the place, lol. It's definitely going to be one of those classes that are significantly less common than the others, but are also significantly more valuable to have on your team. The boon / condition swapping alone makes this true, but I also love some of the diversity you're able to pull off w/ the class. Melee Mesmer in this game is pretty awesome, I've gotta say. The only 2 things that really bug me about the class are 1) I don't like that clones have to run up to the target to be shattered. It should be instant. and 2) I think clones in WvW should be identical to the caster. Other than that, they are a lot more powerful than people are giving them credit.
Absolutely loved my Mesmer. People keep saying they underperform, but I was by far and away out-classing everyone and dominating in PvP. I'm used to functioning outside of the box from playing GW1 mesmer and other more subtle classes, so maybe that's why, but my condition stacking and spike damage DoTs were obliterating, and anyone who survived was so slowed and disabled that they were easy pickings for everyone else. Not to mention throwing a reflection dome over ranged enemies, player and npc alike, and watching them kill themselves never stops being hilarious.
In some ways I almost hope Anet buffs mesmers even more to compensate for those unable to reach their higher skill ceiling. I shall enjoy facerolling everything even faster.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
I have only played 2 classes past 10 (guardian-14 and Thief-11) and farted around with 3 others (Mesmer, Necro and Hunter). Not enough time yet to get a full impression of any of the classes enough to dismiss or claim one as my main, so I will wait for release probably to play the warrior and elementalist.
I picked gaurdian as the best right now because its just what I am most familar with at this time. I had more fun playing the guardian than the theif, for one I always play either a healer or tank in just about all MMO's I have ever played. GW2 doesnt have these roles though so I chose a guardian for the sword and board. What I soon came to find out though as you need to use the full arsenol of weapons your class can use to actually play correctly, which is pretty fun.
I think I'm going to like all the classes in their own way really, Im not to fond of the hunter or necro but maybe with time I will. They might get the devotion in the next BWE, though the mesmer was fun for the little time I gave it any attention. I really have no plan to play the engineer, but who knows I might give it a try. Doenst seem like my play style.
I continued playing Elementalist, Guardian, and Warrior. Elementalist (mostly using staff this time) was by far my favorite of the three classes -- I really enjoyed the flexibility I had swapping between the four attunements.
"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo." - H. G. Wells
Comments
I really liked Warrior this time around. They have absolutely DEVASTATING melee attacks, and they have ranged options as well.
I did some sPvP with my warrior and I had no issues with tearing people up in melee range. I even had one build with made/sword and greatsword. I would build up some adrenhaline with mace/sword, then use my F1 attack that would stun for 2 seconds. Then I would switch to greatsword and unleash my "2" attack that does TONS of damage but keeps you stationary. They would normally take almost the full brunt of this attack and lose like half their health.
It's also extremely versatile. You can be an extremely mobile face masher with weapons like greatsword, or you can actually go pretty defensive with mace/shield. I mean, with mace/shield you get a block->counter AND a fairly decent duration block. Couple this with utility skills like Endure Pain and the Juggernaut elite, and you are tough to take down!
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
I played a lot with thief in the first BWE, and I love that class as well. It's extremely flexible because you can just spam one ability over and over until you run out of action points (or whatever they are called). So I would go into WvW with my bow, and basically be able to escape almost anything by doing two quick infilitrator's shots (shadow step) with the bow.
And when fighting thieves, I noticed that they did really seem "slippery." You would be whaling on them, and then "POOF!" they're gone. You look around in consternation, only to get an arrow in the face 1 second later.
Are you team Azeroth, team Tyria, or team Jacob?
I've tried Guardian, Thief (gun wielding) and Necro..
Gun Wielding thief was a bit too squishy at times when no one was around, IE during personal story. In my experience kinda like elementalists/mesmer thief needs someone else to bare the brunt of attacks so they can fire away at a safe distance... It ended up with A LOT of running making battles last quite a bit too long for my liking..
Necro, I only got 4 levels in, and seemed like in a group this class can be quite powerful.... I may play it at release but not as my main.
Guardian, THIS is my class, what I just can't decide is which weapon I like best.. Right now, I'm thinking I may have to change my healing build and go with the Greatsword, as that was the most fun I had this past weekend. The Mace/Shield combo has a decent group heal, but it just wasn't as fun as the Greatsword.....
Mesmers are a great concept, and even with bugged clones, I had lots of fun with it. Necro is also quite good, but I still must find a build I feel comfortable with.
i was actually surprised to find out that mesmer was bugged tbh. while i found the class difficult to play, i enjoyed that. and as far as survivabliity there were a number of scenarios where i was able to outlast what would have been the end for any of my other class choices.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
Although I knew there were still problems with the Mesmer, I decided to try one and had a blast! They need to fix the clones "not getting agro", and the non-stealth "steath-clone" (lot's of bugs they are aware of).....but I see a lot of potential for this profession.
I also had a lot of fun with the ranger who was suprisingly quite fun in the rogue/melee mode (pets still need work). It's gonna be hard to choose which will be my first one on game release (hope the mesmer gets fixed for next BWE!).
its one of the things i loved about sword and dagger was the ability to set a spot on the ground and then to shadow step from it and then return to it again if you chose. this kept me from being too squishy as placement in position to the opponent does actually count for something in this game.
"There are at least two kinds of games.
One could be called finite, the other infinite.
A finite game is played for the purpose of winning,
an infinite game for the purpose of continuing play."
Finite and Infinite Games, James Carse
This is the hardest question of all times for me! I loved my Guardian which i rolled so i dont spoil engineer for myself but i love ranger as well. God this is hard :P.
So far, I really liked the warrior, the mesmer and the engineer. Elementalists are also great. Thieves are a fun class in concept but they are bit underwhelming compared to other classes, especially at low levels.
One of the first 3 is definitely going to be my main. Although I tend to play rogue classes in MMOs so if ArenaNet finally figures out what they want to do with the thief, I may create a thief as my main.
I already pretty much locked down my classes from BWE1, but I tested out others and I really came to like the Guardian. Tried out a bunch of combinations and as a norn got to bear form elite which is a LOT of fun XD
I played a Guardian, Ele, Mesmer, and a Necro, but my favorite is definitely the thirf. I just love the ranged pewpew with the auto-weapon switch to shadowstep and stabbystabby. Lots of options, and I've only barely touched the surface. Good stuff.
Played just about every class since the pre-order beta's started.
The two most enjoyable classes I have found were the Guardian and the Elementalist.
They offer multiple play styles and their skills really offer multiple options for unique builds. On the flipside they are also a bit harder play in my opinion.
The worst class to play was the Engineer. Boring boring and more BORING. The skills and the mechanics for the class are not very much, much less very good. They feel like a total support class with no actual class. The options were lackluster. I found the best build to be with the flamethrower, you wont need to switch out of it unless to do some healing things.
The Mesmer was unique as well, I felt it was fun but at the same time it felt like there was not enough in the way of diversity in play style. The constant pink butterflies start to get annoying, especially if you dont want to be seen as that kind of character. Would be great if they could add some choices as to what fruity or non fruity particles appear from playing the Mesmer. Expect to do a lot of dodging with this class.
Ranger, thief and warrior didnt stand out in a good or bad way.
Necromancer feels fun at first but slowly goes down hill. I found it along with the Engineer is one of the less viable classes over all. Could use some buffage.
All this is my opinion however. I would hate to see a large number of players all playing Guardian and Elementalist, but I also cant bring myself to not let people know those two classes are probably the best designed and fun to play.
Tough call.....my main will still be mesmer (love that class!), but I found the necro a lot more fun this time than last BWE. I still want to spend a bit more time on engineer - don't feel I've really done the class justice with my goes at it thus far.
Edit : Should say, I found the necro more fun when going with a staff/scepter-dagger setup and focussing on wells....got a bit more used to the crowd control options, which was fun, and also toggling death shroud. The previous time I went with axe and tried minions (not so fun for me)
I lvled every class to at least lvl 10 this weekend lol. Out of them all My top 3 include the Guardian, Elementalist, and tied for third the Engineer and the Necro. lol I cannot decide which I want to roll come grand opening. The only thing I am sure of is I am going to roll an Asura!!! They looks so cool!
I dabbled with a few classes this past weekend but stayed with ranger for the most part.
My favorite combo was a either sword and dagger or sword and torch. For ranged I used longbow.
Looking forward to the next BWE
Lvl 18 engineer -loved it, so much variety and a nifty flamethrower which rocks!!
Had grenade kit, flamethrower, mine kit - which has uber powerful combos ( stealth anyone ;-) ), elixir B, elixir S, rifle turret, flame turret, thumper turret, Med kit, med turret. Used 2 pistols most times, or pistol shield, also tried rifle but not for me.
Had so much fun in PvE and WvW. Some ppl think the engineer is underpowered BUT when i read their reasons I find them lacking in real substance. The engineer is not supposed to have each utility be very powerful but the combination of their skills and kits together is how your supposed to play this class which makes it one of the hardest IMO, the mesmer is also tricky to get good at.
Grenades get complained about BUT some ppl aren't playing the game properly - IF you want to throw them off a keep wall jump up onto the edge otherwise they hit the top edge of the wall... this is the same for most of the weapons. Obviously the keep walls have edges to stop you from falling off too easily. If you want to attack ppl on a keep wall go to the edge and lob them up - grenade barrage does well here.
I hear you. Not really a fan of the pink and butterflies...but at the same time wouldn't it suck to be killed in pvp by the pink butterfly guy?!
Played guardian all weekend and got it to lvl 30, and to be honest at the end I really didn't enjoy it. At the moment I have no idea what I'm going to play because none of the classes are really meeting my play style.
Hey, it takes a REAL MAN to rock some pink sparkly butterflies. I said the same thing too when it was announced, but I loved my sparkly froufrou mesmer in GW1, and I love it MORE in 2.
Tolbooth, what kind of playstyle are you looking for? also keep in mind weapon selections make a huge difference.
haha, mesmers had more or less the same issue in GW1. Which, is one of the reasons I LOVED that class. Also love it in GW2. Call me elitist, but it's one of those classes in which everyone assumes sucks, because they can't figure it out. Then you have people who actually do figure it out, and next thing you know it's lots of "godd@Mn mesmers!" all over the place, lol. It's definitely going to be one of those classes that are significantly less common than the others, but are also significantly more valuable to have on your team. The boon / condition swapping alone makes this true, but I also love some of the diversity you're able to pull off w/ the class. Melee Mesmer in this game is pretty awesome, I've gotta say. The only 2 things that really bug me about the class are 1) I don't like that clones have to run up to the target to be shattered. It should be instant. and 2) I think clones in WvW should be identical to the caster. Other than that, they are a lot more powerful than people are giving them credit.
Absolutely loved my Mesmer. People keep saying they underperform, but I was by far and away out-classing everyone and dominating in PvP. I'm used to functioning outside of the box from playing GW1 mesmer and other more subtle classes, so maybe that's why, but my condition stacking and spike damage DoTs were obliterating, and anyone who survived was so slowed and disabled that they were easy pickings for everyone else. Not to mention throwing a reflection dome over ranged enemies, player and npc alike, and watching them kill themselves never stops being hilarious.
In some ways I almost hope Anet buffs mesmers even more to compensate for those unable to reach their higher skill ceiling. I shall enjoy facerolling everything even faster.
"Forums aren't for intelligent discussion; they're for blow-hards with unwavering opinions."
I have only played 2 classes past 10 (guardian-14 and Thief-11) and farted around with 3 others (Mesmer, Necro and Hunter). Not enough time yet to get a full impression of any of the classes enough to dismiss or claim one as my main, so I will wait for release probably to play the warrior and elementalist.
I picked gaurdian as the best right now because its just what I am most familar with at this time. I had more fun playing the guardian than the theif, for one I always play either a healer or tank in just about all MMO's I have ever played. GW2 doesnt have these roles though so I chose a guardian for the sword and board. What I soon came to find out though as you need to use the full arsenol of weapons your class can use to actually play correctly, which is pretty fun.
I think I'm going to like all the classes in their own way really, Im not to fond of the hunter or necro but maybe with time I will. They might get the devotion in the next BWE, though the mesmer was fun for the little time I gave it any attention. I really have no plan to play the engineer, but who knows I might give it a try. Doenst seem like my play style.
I find a necro with a 2 hd staff really kick arse. with the ao heals and pets it was easy to take on 4 to 5 mobs without dieing
So far engineers and necromancers
I continued playing Elementalist, Guardian, and Warrior. Elementalist (mostly using staff this time) was by far my favorite of the three classes -- I really enjoyed the flexibility I had swapping between the four attunements.
"Moral indignation is jealousy with a halo." - H. G. Wells