Hi, Depending on the game mode (PvE(open, Dungeon/Fractals), PvP(SPvP, WvWvW)) your strategy may need to change a little so if you could inform on what your looking for may be needed.
The rest i recommend visiting the official forums, where the community can provide guides and more insightful responses
Welcome to Tyria
now: GW2 (11 80s). Dark Souls 2. future: Mount&Blade 2 BannerLord. "Bro, do your even fractal?" Recommends: Guild Wars 2, Dark Souls, Mount&Blade: Warband, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
Originally posted by Ludwik Foomerang, they all feel the same because they all are the same.
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.
Except for the fact that you are clearly trolling.
If you managed to get hit with a 10k Skill every 2 seconds you are clearly a worthless terrible player and no amount of healing could save you from being a noob.
Obviously, what I said above isn't applicable to you because you have never actually played the game before.
Originally posted by Ludwik Foomerang, they all feel the same because they all are the same.
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.
Your post is a remarkable display of how little you know about the game. I would enlighten you, but I'm sure you will never play the game anyhow. Still, thanks for sharing, we're all enthused that you did.
Foomerang;
Each class has a measure of utility in it, and how you want it to play out is helpful for us to recommend a path for you. I use my necro with a utility build for stripping boons off mobs and AoE heals on the party.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
Originally posted by Ludwik Foomerang, they all feel the same because they all are the same.
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.
Except for the fact that you are clearly trolling.
If you managed to get hit with a 10k Skill every 2 seconds you are clearly a worthless terrible player and no amount of healing could save you from being a noob.
Obviously, what I said above isn't applicable to you because you have never actually played the game before.
Well, he could just really suck.
Of course could my warrior beat a boss using a single attack over and over but it would take me several times what it would normaly and a level of dodging and moving that is incredible hard.
If however you just fight easy normal mobs it is easy(in lower level zones, still takes some skill in Orr) but so is it in any MMO.
So anyways: OP, don't take advice from noobs. Support skills are important, particularly in dungeons. I think the Ele and Guardian are the easiest support (kinda) classes to learn, but it is very important, particularly for the ele, to learn how to move and dodge right.
The best way to learn the ropes is the same as in any MMO: join a noob friendly guild and they will help you learn the group dynamics. And there are group dynamics even though some people seems to have missed that (and I bet they tend to die a lot in dungeons and fractals).
Originally posted by eyelolled Originally posted by Ludwik Foomerang, they all feel the same because they all are the same. 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.
Your post is a remarkable display of how little you know about the game. I would enlighten you, but I'm sure you will never play the game anyhow. Still, thanks for sharing, we're all enthused that you did.
Foomerang;
Each class has a measure of utility in it, and how you want it to play out is helpful for us to recommend a path for you. I use my necro with a utility build for stripping boons off mobs and AoE heals on the party.
Thanks! Lots of great suggestions. Can't wait to get home and try them all out.
If you like support I would recommend elementalist, because they have some of the best support/utility in the game. There's plenty of builds you can use, though their effectivesness would depend a lot on whether you are using them for pve or pvp. In general, if you pve, berserker armor is what you want to use (unless you're unsure about your ability to dodge; then feel free to use knights/soldier/cavalier or whatever you want that has some toughness to it). For pvp, it depends on what kind of trait setup you want to use.
If the idea of massive pvp interests you, I highly recommend trying World vs. World at any level, since you are upscaled to level 80. The only problem is that your weapon damage and defense isn't really scaled well, so you may die a lot if you get hit. But the best thing I can recommend if you do go into World vs. World is to find a guild that is willing to train and help new players level. Also, make sure you find out whether or not they use an external voice chat program (in my experience most servers do), and that will help you when people are commanding because you can hear what is needed right in the moment.
Don't worry if the language of the game seems to be over your head at first. If you hang out with the right people, you will learn a lot about the game: combo fields, combo finishers, effective builds, and more.
And don't be afraid to experiment and find out what works for you, when it comes to your character build. There are a lot of effective ones out there, and most have been tested/tried, but I always like the idea of people creating builds tailored to their own playstyle, instead of copying someone else's.
Hope to see you in Tyria!
P.S.: Basically, every class can have some form of support, whether it be by healing, buffing, or applying conditions to others. I named elementalist because it's my favorite, but every profession can provide support to their allies in some way or fashion. But I leave that up to you to find out how.
Mesmer, Thief, and Ele can be the most difficult to start with as they are weak at the start. Necro, Engineer, Guardian, Warriors, and Rangers are beasts. I found Necro and Ranger has high survivability. I'm a altoholic, so I jumped from class to class while leveling.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I got 3 people bashing me for my opinion. Do anyone you actually play the game or are you shills?
You go into a dungeon, you stand in the corner, you pull the boss to you and you spam one hundred blades with an occasional dodge. 75% of the dungeons are done like this, don't lie to the guy and tell him otherwise.
Guardian and Ele utility skills are marginally useful and by marginally I mean one is useful. Guardian reflect lets you stand in the corner without taking damage and Ele might stacking increases group output damage. But again, it all revolves around you standing in a corner and spamming your damage skills.
It's completely different in PvP. I actually think they did a really good job with SPvP. Classes feel and play far differently even different builds within a class play differently.
But yeah, GW2 PvE is God awful. You can take their opinion or mine, frankly I don't care. You're going to try it out anyway. And not that it matters but I hold the Arah P2 speed record so f'em.
I got 3 people bashing me for my opinion. Do anyone you actually play the game or are you shills?
You go into a dungeon, you stand in the corner, you pull the boss to you and you spam one hundred blades with an occasional dodge. 75% of the dungeons are done like this, don't lie to the guy and tell him otherwise.
Guardian and Ele utility skills are marginally useful and by marginally I mean one is useful. Guardian reflect lets you stand in the corner without taking damage and Ele might stacking increases group output damage. But again, it all revolves around you standing in a corner and spamming your damage skills.
It's completely different in PvP. I actually think they did a really good job with SPvP. Classes feel and play far differently even different builds within a class play differently.
But yeah, GW2 PvE is God awful. You can take their opinion or mine, frankly I don't care. You're going to try it out anyway. And not that it matters but I hold the Arah P2 speed record so f'em.
That sums up dungeons in every game. Whats yer point?
Speedruns, exploits, glitching and just cheesing happened in EVERY game ive ever played, and in gear based MMOs you even get to outgear dungeons in like a week so you just push random buttons to power-speed through, you dont even hae to stand "in the right spot" any more rofl
Originally posted by YashaX 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.
That thief sounds pretty fun. I messed around with subtlety rogue in wow, had a lot of fun. I'll try it out, thanks for the info! I am leaving towards member though mainly because so far, the damage seems indirect. Which I think is pretty cool.
Its would be really good if you get into the spvp area because you will then be able to try out every class with most of the traits and amulets etc unlocked. You don't even have to actually do spvp if you don't want to because there are some npcs/monsters to fight/practice against.
Btw, I don't do much pve, but what I have done I thought the fights were quite challenging and required me to intelligently use all my skills. Something like ranger is a lot easier in pve of course because the pet can take ur agro, but overall the combat is clearly different and more interesting than the usual tab-targeting found in many other mmos. From time to time I read people saying they just press autoattack and win against mobs, but that certainly hasn't been my experience. Maybe they had really good gear/fighting lower level mobs, or maybe they are just hating on GW2 for some reason, not sure.
If you give the thief a try and get to heart of the mists (spvp area) try this ninja build:
This works well in pvp and probably would be fine in pve with some fine tuning. You get stealth by shooting black powder with pistol then doing heartseeker through it, or from stealing, or shadow refuge. Using two daggers instead of pistol is good as well, but you lose your blinds (good protection) and an interrupt (good to stop major skills or heals), and you have to hit something with your dagger to stealth.
Originally posted by Malabooga Originally posted by Foomerangok I try to click on the pvp icon at the top and it says this feature will be unlocked at level 22 guess i will go with mesmer and just grind to 22 so i can see the other stuff
You have to go to Lions Arch and enter the portal to the mists.
You get to Lions Arch by going to the starting city of your race and using portal to Lions Arch.
You get convenicence of just clicking icon at lvl22. Its account wide unlock.
Oh nice. Thank you! It's weird I asked about this in game and got crickets.
Been leveling mesmer and I gotta say it's a lot easier than some of you made it out to be. My 2nd ability is a free block. Add that to my two dodges and I never get touched. Plus the mobs attack my mirrors half the time anyway so I pretty much just stand there spamming my main attack. 3rd ability is an aoe confuse which only adds to the turret factor.
Been leveling mesmer and I gotta say it's a lot easier than some of you made it out to be. My 2nd ability is a free block. Add that to my two dodges and I never get touched. Plus the mobs attack my mirrors half the time anyway so I pretty much just stand there spamming my main attack. 3rd ability is an aoe confuse which only adds to the turret factor.
General PvE is easy as mesmer. Dungeons/fractals, world bosses and PvP - not so much. It requires knowledge of the game and good positioning.
Also the guy suggesting thieves guild as elite instead of basi venom has something wrong with their head.
A lot of players like Asura because they are small and some say harder to hit. Norn are shape shifters and have an elite snow leopard skill that grants stealth. Join a good guild as it makes leveling, pvp, and getting better gear a lot easier. Or join several guilds until you find one you like as you can be a member of multiple.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
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?
My favorite is the Guardian, they have lots of utility and support. I found their skills to be the most fun. The downside to the game's current New Player Experience is it takes a lot longer to get the feel for the class. The Weapons and Utility skills don't come until later so you're left wondering when you'll get the full feel.
As for Mesmer - eh. I'm leveling one right now and only staff and greatsword really speak to me. It's kinda cool to trick enemies with illusions, but it's a very indirect class. Engineers are very scrappy and utility heavy, i have one about at 30.
I remember seeing a pvp video on youtube where this mesmer was using his illusions. He was playing so well but you are right about positioning. He sort of melded with his illusions. Very cool class and I think you might think that the class is easy but knowing when to shatter and make full use of all the skills is one of the more difficult classes to master. This and the elementalist are one of the two best examples of mastering difficulty.
Originally posted by kitarad I remember seeing a pvp video on youtube where this mesmer was using his illusions. He was playing so well but you are right about positioning. He sort of melded with his illusions. Very cool class and I think you might think that the class is easy but knowing when to shatter and make full use of all the skills is one of the more difficult classes to master. This and the elementalist are one of the two best examples of mastering difficulty.
Originally posted by kitarad I remember seeing a pvp video on youtube where this mesmer was using his illusions. He was playing so well but you are right about positioning. He sort of melded with his illusions. Very cool class and I think you might think that the class is easy but knowing when to shatter and make full use of all the skills is one of the more difficult classes to master. This and the elementalist are one of the two best examples of mastering difficulty.
Well I look forward to mastering it then:)
Also a pro tip.
Bind a key to sheath your weapon. Then use that on a skill that doesn't root you and has long cast. You can thank me later when you find how useful this is in PvP to bait your enemies to dodge :P
Also LordHelseth is one of the best mesmers atm (if not the best). Look him up at Twitch. There is a lot to learn from this guy. http://www.twitch.tv/thelordhelseth
The game plays so different when you dont rush anything..
i follow the personal story leads, and just go from there, exploring the world as i am on the road, a lot of the times by just following or talking to NPCs you get to start open worl events.. I dont think there is a single pve based MMO where exploring is more rewarding and fun then this game..
As you get to highse levels combat be omes more fun, the system is very strategical and tactical compared to for example ESO.. I love my crowd controlling engineer that despite only having ranged weapons turned int a close quarter fighter... But also with other classes the skills are connected and many can be used as part of several different tactics...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
In this game classes feel vastly different just by switching builds. Example: Had a 60 Necro for like two years that was focused on useing minions and I could not get into her. Finally I recently looked up a new build on metabattle.com and what a difference it has made. Now she takes all those wonderful boons that guardians like to use and turns them into conditions... crippling their ability to stay alive. It's f-ing awesome man. Overall here are my favorites:
1. Guardian - Support build - tons of healing, tons of boons, staff/greatsword. so fun.
2. Necro - Death Shroud debuffer - hard as hell to kill and deadly to boon builds
3. Mesmer - No Current Build - Most time played but I've lost touch with her. Need a new direction to take her actually. ps: feedback is awesome.
4 Thief - Very special class, this is the most fun I've had playing this archetype. No bs, very hard to master class, like the mesmer, but man when you do it right... my god its amazing. I play dagger/dagger - shortbow, useing a stealth bomber build of sorts. Drop in... f em up, gtfo, repeat. Don't die.. it's exhilarating.
I can't get into warrior, engi, ranger or ele as much, but thats a matter of still not finding a build that clicks with me. Also you will find combat feels a little weird at first, but after some time spent getting used to it and learning new builds and stuff, you may feel that it's the best combat you've played in an mmorpg. Thats just my opinion though.
I've been in the mist trying out everything. I feel like I'm playing a top down shooter, like Raiden or Gradius. Some really fun weapon/ability loadouts. Still in the process of checking everything out. I'm going to reserve judgment.
Comments
Hi, Depending on the game mode (PvE(open, Dungeon/Fractals), PvP(SPvP, WvWvW)) your strategy may need to change a little so if you could inform on what your looking for may be needed.
The rest i recommend visiting the official forums, where the community can provide guides and more insightful responses
Welcome to Tyria
now: GW2 (11 80s).
Dark Souls 2.
future: Mount&Blade 2 BannerLord.
"Bro, do your even fractal?"
Recommends: Guild Wars 2, Dark Souls, Mount&Blade: Warband, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.
the thing i loved the most in Gw2 is jumping puzzles , do all of them , they are awesome
i would love to play a game just based around that , too bad pc isnt the target for that type of games :_(
Except for the fact that you are clearly trolling.
If you managed to get hit with a 10k Skill every 2 seconds you are clearly a worthless terrible player and no amount of healing could save you from being a noob.
Obviously, what I said above isn't applicable to you because you have never actually played the game before.
Your post is a remarkable display of how little you know about the game. I would enlighten you, but I'm sure you will never play the game anyhow. Still, thanks for sharing, we're all enthused that you did.
Foomerang;
Each class has a measure of utility in it, and how you want it to play out is helpful for us to recommend a path for you. I use my necro with a utility build for stripping boons off mobs and AoE heals on the party.
All of my posts are either intelligent, thought provoking, funny, satirical, sarcastic or intentionally disrespectful. Take your pick.
I get banned in the forums for games I love, so lets see if I do better in the forums for games I hate.
I enjoy the serenity of not caring what your opinion is.
I don't hate much, but I hate Apple© with a passion. If Steve Jobs was alive, I would punch him in the face.
Well, he could just really suck.
Of course could my warrior beat a boss using a single attack over and over but it would take me several times what it would normaly and a level of dodging and moving that is incredible hard.
If however you just fight easy normal mobs it is easy(in lower level zones, still takes some skill in Orr) but so is it in any MMO.
So anyways: OP, don't take advice from noobs. Support skills are important, particularly in dungeons. I think the Ele and Guardian are the easiest support (kinda) classes to learn, but it is very important, particularly for the ele, to learn how to move and dodge right.
The best way to learn the ropes is the same as in any MMO: join a noob friendly guild and they will help you learn the group dynamics. And there are group dynamics even though some people seems to have missed that (and I bet they tend to die a lot in dungeons and fractals).
Foomerang;
Each class has a measure of utility in it, and how you want it to play out is helpful for us to recommend a path for you. I use my necro with a utility build for stripping boons off mobs and AoE heals on the party.
Thanks! Lots of great suggestions. Can't wait to get home and try them all out.
If you like support I would recommend elementalist, because they have some of the best support/utility in the game. There's plenty of builds you can use, though their effectivesness would depend a lot on whether you are using them for pve or pvp. In general, if you pve, berserker armor is what you want to use (unless you're unsure about your ability to dodge; then feel free to use knights/soldier/cavalier or whatever you want that has some toughness to it). For pvp, it depends on what kind of trait setup you want to use.
If the idea of massive pvp interests you, I highly recommend trying World vs. World at any level, since you are upscaled to level 80. The only problem is that your weapon damage and defense isn't really scaled well, so you may die a lot if you get hit. But the best thing I can recommend if you do go into World vs. World is to find a guild that is willing to train and help new players level. Also, make sure you find out whether or not they use an external voice chat program (in my experience most servers do), and that will help you when people are commanding because you can hear what is needed right in the moment.
Don't worry if the language of the game seems to be over your head at first. If you hang out with the right people, you will learn a lot about the game: combo fields, combo finishers, effective builds, and more.
And don't be afraid to experiment and find out what works for you, when it comes to your character build. There are a lot of effective ones out there, and most have been tested/tried, but I always like the idea of people creating builds tailored to their own playstyle, instead of copying someone else's.
Hope to see you in Tyria!
P.S.: Basically, every class can have some form of support, whether it be by healing, buffing, or applying conditions to others. I named elementalist because it's my favorite, but every profession can provide support to their allies in some way or fashion. But I leave that up to you to find out how.
ok I try to click on the pvp icon at the top and it says this feature will be unlocked at level 22
guess i will go with mesmer and just grind to 22 so i can see the other stuff
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
I got 3 people bashing me for my opinion. Do anyone you actually play the game or are you shills?
You go into a dungeon, you stand in the corner, you pull the boss to you and you spam one hundred blades with an occasional dodge. 75% of the dungeons are done like this, don't lie to the guy and tell him otherwise.
Guardian and Ele utility skills are marginally useful and by marginally I mean one is useful. Guardian reflect lets you stand in the corner without taking damage and Ele might stacking increases group output damage. But again, it all revolves around you standing in a corner and spamming your damage skills.
It's completely different in PvP. I actually think they did a really good job with SPvP. Classes feel and play far differently even different builds within a class play differently.
But yeah, GW2 PvE is God awful. You can take their opinion or mine, frankly I don't care. You're going to try it out anyway. And not that it matters but I hold the Arah P2 speed record so f'em.
Do what the other guy said then, go to Lion's arch and jump into the PvP portals. It takes a minute and works.
PvP is not level gated in GW2 (AFAIK, I don't think it's different for new accounts).
That sums up dungeons in every game. Whats yer point?
Speedruns, exploits, glitching and just cheesing happened in EVERY game ive ever played, and in gear based MMOs you even get to outgear dungeons in like a week so you just push random buttons to power-speed through, you dont even hae to stand "in the right spot" any more rofl
You have to go to Lions Arch and enter the portal to the mists.
You get to Lions Arch by going to the starting city of your race and using portal to Lions Arch.
You get convenicence of just clicking icon at lvl22. Its account wide unlock.
Its would be really good if you get into the spvp area because you will then be able to try out every class with most of the traits and amulets etc unlocked. You don't even have to actually do spvp if you don't want to because there are some npcs/monsters to fight/practice against.
Btw, I don't do much pve, but what I have done I thought the fights were quite challenging and required me to intelligently use all my skills. Something like ranger is a lot easier in pve of course because the pet can take ur agro, but overall the combat is clearly different and more interesting than the usual tab-targeting found in many other mmos. From time to time I read people saying they just press autoattack and win against mobs, but that certainly hasn't been my experience. Maybe they had really good gear/fighting lower level mobs, or maybe they are just hating on GW2 for some reason, not sure.
If you give the thief a try and get to heart of the mists (spvp area) try this ninja build:
Deadly Arts III
Shadow Arts IV, VIII, XI
Trickery V, VII, XII
Weapons: dagger/pistol, offhand: shortbow
Heal: withdraw
Utilities: Shadow refuge, Shadow step, Shadow trap
Ultimate: thieves guild
Amulet:zerker
runes: fire and air (burst damage on crit)
This works well in pvp and probably would be fine in pve with some fine tuning. You get stealth by shooting black powder with pistol then doing heartseeker through it, or from stealing, or shadow refuge. Using two daggers instead of pistol is good as well, but you lose your blinds (good protection) and an interrupt (good to stop major skills or heals), and you have to hit something with your dagger to stealth.
You get to Lions Arch by going to the starting city of your race and using portal to Lions Arch.
You get convenicence of just clicking icon at lvl22. Its account wide unlock.
Oh nice. Thank you! It's weird I asked about this in game and got crickets.
Been leveling mesmer and I gotta say it's a lot easier than some of you made it out to be. My 2nd ability is a free block. Add that to my two dodges and I never get touched. Plus the mobs attack my mirrors half the time anyway so I pretty much just stand there spamming my main attack. 3rd ability is an aoe confuse which only adds to the turret factor.
General PvE is easy as mesmer. Dungeons/fractals, world bosses and PvP - not so much. It requires knowledge of the game and good positioning.
Also the guy suggesting thieves guild as elite instead of basi venom has something wrong with their head.
"We all do the best we can based on life experience, point of view, and our ability to believe in ourselves." - Naropa "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are." SR Covey
My favorite is the Guardian, they have lots of utility and support. I found their skills to be the most fun. The downside to the game's current New Player Experience is it takes a lot longer to get the feel for the class. The Weapons and Utility skills don't come until later so you're left wondering when you'll get the full feel.
As for Mesmer - eh. I'm leveling one right now and only staff and greatsword really speak to me. It's kinda cool to trick enemies with illusions, but it's a very indirect class. Engineers are very scrappy and utility heavy, i have one about at 30.
Also a pro tip.
Bind a key to sheath your weapon. Then use that on a skill that doesn't root you and has long cast. You can thank me later when you find how useful this is in PvP to bait your enemies to dodge :P
Also LordHelseth is one of the best mesmers atm (if not the best). Look him up at Twitch. There is a lot to learn from this guy. http://www.twitch.tv/thelordhelseth
The game plays so different when you dont rush anything..
i follow the personal story leads, and just go from there, exploring the world as i am on the road, a lot of the times by just following or talking to NPCs you get to start open worl events.. I dont think there is a single pve based MMO where exploring is more rewarding and fun then this game..
As you get to highse levels combat be omes more fun, the system is very strategical and tactical compared to for example ESO.. I love my crowd controlling engineer that despite only having ranged weapons turned int a close quarter fighter... But also with other classes the skills are connected and many can be used as part of several different tactics...
Best MMO experiences : EQ(PvE), DAoC(PvP), WoW(total package) LOTRO (worldfeel) GW2 (Artstyle and animations and worlddesign) SWTOR (Story immersion) TSW (story) ESO (character advancement)
Dear OP,
In this game classes feel vastly different just by switching builds. Example: Had a 60 Necro for like two years that was focused on useing minions and I could not get into her. Finally I recently looked up a new build on metabattle.com and what a difference it has made. Now she takes all those wonderful boons that guardians like to use and turns them into conditions... crippling their ability to stay alive. It's f-ing awesome man. Overall here are my favorites:
1. Guardian - Support build - tons of healing, tons of boons, staff/greatsword. so fun.
2. Necro - Death Shroud debuffer - hard as hell to kill and deadly to boon builds
3. Mesmer - No Current Build - Most time played but I've lost touch with her. Need a new direction to take her actually. ps: feedback is awesome.
4 Thief - Very special class, this is the most fun I've had playing this archetype. No bs, very hard to master class, like the mesmer, but man when you do it right... my god its amazing. I play dagger/dagger - shortbow, useing a stealth bomber build of sorts. Drop in... f em up, gtfo, repeat. Don't die.. it's exhilarating.
I can't get into warrior, engi, ranger or ele as much, but thats a matter of still not finding a build that clicks with me. Also you will find combat feels a little weird at first, but after some time spent getting used to it and learning new builds and stuff, you may feel that it's the best combat you've played in an mmorpg. Thats just my opinion though.
I've been in the mist trying out everything. I feel like I'm playing a top down shooter, like Raiden or Gradius. Some really fun weapon/ability loadouts. Still in the process of checking everything out. I'm going to reserve judgment.