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Having a hard time getting into this game. Could use some advice.
Foomerang
Member UncommonPosts: 5,628
in Guild Wars 2
Hey I picked this up on the sale and have been trying to find a class I can get into. The problem I'm having is the ranged classes all feel the same to me at early levels. It's hard finding a class that draws me in.
So I'm sure they get more diverse down the road, which is where you gw2 vets come in. I'm looking for a class that I can max out utility. Don't really care about max dps. Member and engineer seemed like they could become interesting. I'm not that interested in spammy barrel roll all the time. Any suggestions?
Comments
1) Learn to dodge, for goodness sakes learn to dodge. If you don't learn to dodge then you can only blame yourself for not enjoying the game, and there are big gaudy telegraphs to warn you .
2) Mesmer, Elementalist, and Engineer are all viable for a support/dps/heal hybrid build. It all depends on what skills you unlock, what trees you decide to spec into, and how you play...Weapon swap and weapons used change it up too!
I like dual pistol engineer with a healer pack and turrets!
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GW2 is meh at best. It was fun the first few weeks I played. Until I realized that even as a solo player, I NEVER had to talk to another npc or another player if I didn't want to. You pick up ALL but your main line quests just by wondering around and they magically appear. It's so boring.
I'm not surprised you're having a hard time getting into it.
For utility the Mesmer and engineer are great choices, but I would also consider looking at the guardian profession. They provide great group support and have a good dps spec. Plus they are heavy armor which is always a favorite of mine. I play the warrior, my only class with 2500 hours played. Love it, the play style and when I need to I can get super tanky and support for wvw. Warhorn, banners and shouts are really great.
I suggest Necro or Mesmer.
Necro cause it cleanses by putting incoming conditions on enemies which leads to "healing" and attacking at the same time.
Mesmer cause it's that big trololo class and probably what you are looking for.
Utility? Guardian or Elementalist
They can do support fairly well and in different ways.
Guardian can go symbols with Mace + off hand and Hammer in swap slot. Generate lots of protection buffs. Staff guard is also really good support.
Ele can go staff and have a huge variety of support and AoE, or it can go dagger + focus and play as auramancer procing team buffs by using auras.
That's where I'd start imo for support, although you really won't get there until you're getting traits after level 30. It's kinda messed up that the most interesting part about building classes in GW2 is takes so long to finally get into. Such is life.
I wouldnt suggest Mesmer as first character.
Good 'ol guardian, nice and staright forward can go utility/support.
And yeah, learn to dodge.
"If I offended you, you needed it" -Corey Taylor
If you go the pvp lobby area "Heart of the Mist" you can test all the skills and almost all traits and runes on moving and non-moving targets so you get a feel for it, you dont have to enter a match. Even if you dont have level 80 pve gear, it will be scaled up to level 80 in pvp areas.
You get to the pvp area by pressing the crossed swords icon at the top. In the pvp lobby area you can change you build by pressing the helmet icon at the top.
Also note that all professions can do ranged attack.
This is every game on the internet...
Anyways the game is fun, for PvE most any class will be easy to pick up, and all classes have several utility skills which help vary the feel of the class as well as weapons choices. Currently myself I run an Axe/Torch Ranger which is less pew pew, as the damage comes from applying condition damage (DoTs).
Learning to dodge while being a very important aspect, kiting is as well. After you level a character to lvl 22 you gain access to PvP where you can open all class skills with new characters, I would suggest getting that open, and then test different combinations of class skills, and weapons with new characters.
Seems many are not aware that you can actually get to PvP as soon you are able to go to one of the main starter city, for example Divinity's Reach. From starter city you travel to Lions Arch and from there to PvP area.
Tbh Mesmer wouldn't be my recommendation to any new player, as it has one of the harsher learning curves.
I'm not sure how far you've gotten into the game, but if all ranged classes are feeling the same to you I've got to wonder if you even fully unlocked each range weapon, because I can assure you they are very different from one to another.
That said, the top 3 classes in the game for utility are mesmer, engineer, and thief (in no particular order). Elementalist also has some good utility skills, but they are built as more of a 'do a bit of everything' type of class. Similar to engi, but engi skews more towards utility, and ele more towards buffs (boons) which tends to make them great supports.
If you're really determined to play a ranged utility class I'd prolly say that mesmer is your primary option. Use Greatsword for ranged damage, staff for utility / conditions, and scepter for ranged condition damage.
- A word of caution. Mesmer, Engineer, and Elementalist are probably the 3 MOST trait dependent classes in the game. By this I mean that their individual skills will feel somewhat weak compared to other classes until you have the right traits & gear to boost their effectiveness. Once that happens they sort of 'click' and become way better than you ever thought they could.
** For any other advice I'd probably have to know a bit more about what you've played so far (the highest lvl you've gotten), which weapons you've tried, and what about them makes them seem 'the same' to you.
Yea I hate how they did the early levels now, the changes suck. The game really is awesome, just stick with it. You will have to find a class that appeals to you. Engineer can be very fun and has tons of different ways to fight. Sadly you will need to stick through some crap low levels with every class until you unlock more stuff. Dumb idea for arenanet.
Since early classes suck go to Edge of the Mists as soon as you can and just run with the xp train. Buy some xp boosts off the cash shop and farm.
For what it's worth, I leveled every class to 80.....the last class was the one I finally decided on to be my "main" lol.
Thanks for the advice everyone! Much appreciated. I'm going to go straight to that PvP lobby and test out everything. I know there is a class wep combo that will grab me. Just gotta find it.
Side note; I noticed the combat feels a little floaty to me. Is that something you get used to or does it get more weight as you get more moves?
Thanks!
Such an insightful response. If only all the comments on this site would be so enlightening.
The moves have always been a bit floaty like that. GW2 attacks always lacked heft imo.
Play for fun. Play to win. Play for perfection. Play with friends. Play in another world. Why do you play?
Give you a piece of advice bind the dodge key to your middle mouse. Easiest thing on earth and you hit it as long as you can dodge you will. Easy peasy. Never had issues with combat in this game. Very easy game . Only time you might have difficulty is when you are overwhelmed or facing a champion .
Yes the combat is floaty I always found myself when I play my ranger like I am loping about easy and fun and my pet was the one doing all the work. You get used to it, it does not have any weight the combat may be if you play a melee class you might get a beefed combat but ranged is like that. My guardian had a ranged and 2 hand that I switched to. Some attacks I even threw my sword that seemed a mite dangerous when it came back. Mesmer is the most fun class. Ranger is far too easy I soloed the champ wurm with her. All I did was leave my pet and keep dodging far away then coming back . I think I exploited it. It was stationary you see.
All those utility, support, and CC skills are useless in PvE. All champs and bosses have this mechanic called Defiance which means you can't use CC on them. The support skills don't scale nearly as well as damage, hard to justify using that 450 pt heal when the boss is hitting for 10k every 2 seconds.
PvE is entirely spam dodge and max DPS. Warriors, Rangers, Mesmer, they all only use 1 skill in PvE over and over again.
There is quite a difference in playstayle between different classes and different builds within classes. For me the most fun to play is a shadow arts thief, zerker meditation guard, and then possibly a zerker ranger. I can play the same class with a different build and it is just boring (and sometimes far to effective for the low level of skill required).
Shadow arts thief is the best "ninja" type class/build in any game I have played. You are always on the knives edge- can deal great damage but are toast if you get caught. All your big damage skills require positioning and good set up, you have immense utility through shadow refuge and speed/teleports, and every fight is like playing a little strategy game (but you have to make decisions in a split second).
Zerker meditation guard has these incredible burst and high damage aoe attack chains, coupled with active blocks and condition removal. You can't just stand around pressing 1, you have to use and chain all those skills together for devastating effect then gtfo if anything is still alive, because once your active block CDs are used ur toast.
Power ranger, staff elementalist, it really depends on what you want to play. The PvE classes greatly differ from the strictly pvp builds/classes. My thief is a beast in sPvP, but in dugeons .... not so much, lol. Staff elementalist is a sick sustain at lvl 80 when it starts dropping those long term water fields and blast them properly.
Take a look at this site - http://metabattle.com/wiki/MetaBattle_Wiki - basically the best builds for everything. Of course you can tweak them and make them your own. All meta builds have hard counters, as described at the bottom of their respective articles.
You can find some great tips there, since there is a description of how a build is played and what you can swap around.
If you prefer resource management over cooldowns though, Thief is your class (and soon revenant), if its the other way around, you have variety.
Mesmers are quite versatile but I wouldn't recommend them as a first character. Why? Because they are difficult! Every weapon combination for them is great. They don't have weapons they do not use. The damage is indirect and can come from your clones (shatter mesmer), or your conditions. On raw dps you are a bit weak, but with sword blocks, you can do insane amounts of damage, proper distribution of feedback and etc.
Also double shatter mesmer is fun, in PvP whenever i spawn all my clones/illusions I try to act as a clone (basically not moving just casting the same skill over and over) .... watching my enemies confuse me with my clones is quite the show to watch
They also get some nice conditions on them when they kill my clones xD
You can click on the two crossed swords at the top of your screen and join PvP too - probably at level 1 (maybe you still need to complete the tutorial). Actually I don't even go to the PvP area on foot any more.
Yes, PvP is great for trying the skills/classes. Combat is always a bit floaty, I agree - but that helps making it more dynamic with no/few animation locks and usually - in PvP at least - people are very mobile.
All classes offers different kind of utility to an extent. Engineer is fun with devices and all with various effects, guardian is great for group utility. Necro is more buff/debuff. Elementalist provides a lot of utility through "combo fields" (google it if you don't know what they are).
Avoid maybe warrior, thief, ranger as they are more "straightforward"/DPS focused classes (all great, though, only class I do not play is ranger).
For PvE, at some point you might get actually annoyed at indirect damage since it usually takes more time to setup (e.g. condition, mesmer phantasms, etc.). Not at all bad builds, but it might be slightly slower to have to wait for your "indirect damage" or "damage over time" to take effect if you farm 10 enemies in a row (rather than cracking the enemy skull with good old direct damage). Nothing a different build cannot fix though.