Anyone have tips for picking a profession?

[jimmy valmer]

Well there must be some relevance between the two?

[Somebodyelse]

I've always been indecisive, in wow I have every class to 85. I've always had a hard time picking things out, yet there's people who are able to play the same thing over and over even in different games. How do you people do it? Is there anything in particular you look for when selecting such things?

I thought I was content on engineer but then after this last stress test, that went down the drain... I just don't get how people just decide almost instantly what they're going to play. I see a elementalist, and I think it's awesome they can do so many cool spells and blow crap up with aoe. I see a thief and I think it's awesome how they can shadowstep to their target and have abilities to jump over their enemey. I thought turrets were awesome with engineer, but after this last stress test they turned out kind of meh for pvp which I didn't like. But even then there's still many ways to play engineer that I think are awesome.

Everything is awesome! And I hate it! Because it makes it so I can't decide on anything!

It's really simple...It's a matter of knowing what you like and what you expect from a character...

[Gildarts]

I just played pvp with all of them and counted my adrenaline rushes, the one where I get the most wins.

mesmer won for me

[Ticktox]

Sorry man, but the similarities are pretty sparse. I mean, they do wear plate, and use melee weapons sometimes, but that's about it. Especially the guardian-pally comparison, they are really nothing alike at all.

The general idea is still there, and that's what I'm looking at. A guardian is still the noble knight that has many defensive abilities. A warrior is still the berserker who wears heavy armor and wants to ravage your face, just in GW2 they happen to have some range capabilities.

And those are the ideas that I'm just not really into. Now throw a dark/death knight at me. I'll take that class. Or a dragoon. Those are the types of heavy armor wearers that I'd play.

[worprz]

Well I actually chose the Thief since it was first announced but before that I chose the Guardian. But when I go about picking a profession usually I first look at how the profession visually looks. Since armor is not profession specific I decided on which armor type looked the best. I really like how the Medium and Heavy armors looks. So based on that I could choose Thief, Engineer, and Ranger for the Medium armor. I could also choose Warrior or Guardian for the Heavy armor. Next I look at gameplay and feel of the profession, I really like defensive Guardians and Thieves. I ended up going with the Thief since I like the idea of escaping into stealth as a defense.

[Deleted]

I decided on Guardian on the feeling playing the class. I like a class to be a flashy type with a lot of skilled tricks. I feel guardian is the right one with all their walls and teleports.

[Deleted]

I ask myself 3 things when deciding a role I want to play.

1.Ranged or Melee?
If Ranged:
-Can it kite well? If Yes:Proceed / If No:No Deal-->Other Ranged.
-Can the ranged profession be build for alternative roles? such as melee/CC focused/Support or others? If Yes:Proceed/If No: Other.
-Does it look decent on higher level armor? If Yes: Potential Main found! / If No:Other.

If Melee:
-Can it stay on target? Can it be mobile to get to distant foes? If Yes: Proceed / If No:Other Melee.
-Is it diverse? Range utility / Ranged combat/ Support available? If Yes: Proceed / If No:Other.
-Does it look appealing with higher level equipment? If Yes: Potential Main found! / If No: Other.

Since at this point, I made my mind about the professions I'd like to play, I then ask myself more to thin down the list.

2.Is the profession I picked effective?

May sound like a generic question but it's not. Usually in other games there are balance issues.
One class may be stronger in its role in PvE/PvP than other roles. Take for example frost mage in WoW. Compare it in PvP to an Elemental Shaman.
Both are casters, dispellers, CCers. Look how one performs and how another. The difference is pretty big and can be noticed even by the inexperienced.
And now thats where this question comes in. Is your pick a strong pick? If it's not you might want to reconsider.
I know for game such as GW2 things might be a lot different and balanced than WoW, but the potential danger lurks. The game is not out yet, we can't know yet anything. This question might be better asked after you played your first character though ^^.

3.Is the profession you picked enjoyable in terms of graphics? Do you like what you see when you play it?

Mostly speaking about spell animations.
This is mostly a matter of personal preference, but do not play a class which you dont find appealing.
Because in the long run, you will regret it because it's highly possible you might take a shine into other professions looks.
Meaning a reroll, a change of 'main' which in turn could translate to a possible waste of time.

Hope this helped. Good luck with your pick.

[DrakeWurrum]

Part of the problem with that, Ecstatic, is that there are no melee or ranged professions. :P

[reckoner04]

Are some professions more susceptible to lag than others? Usually it's mostly the melee archetype, but I don't know how it is in GW2.

[Deleted]

Part of the problem with that, Ecstatic, is that there are no melee or ranged professions. :P

It's not a matter of profession.
It's a matter of gameplay.
If you want to play the ranger as melee, sure go ahead, count him as melee.
It all boils down to what you wish to play.
You have to make up your mind if you want melee or ranged combat regardless of profession.
Thing is, you cant expect a performance of same quality when playing both ranged and melee in same build.
You might want to, for diversity and other reasons, but a specialized melee or ranged build will be more effective on what it does.

Are some professions more susceptible to lag than others? Usually it's mostly the melee archetype, but I don't know how it is in GW2.

I played warrior in the last BWE and Stress Tests after that, and my internet is quite crappy (downloads with 600-700 kbps - data rate ~7000), but it is stable.
I noticed no problems in terms of performance. It's all about the tools you have. If you play a melee you NEED a stun/root skill to lay down the burst/kite to escape.
Besides that, I had no issue staying on targets without the CC tools.

[Ynna]

Well there must be some relevance between the two?

They're similar archetypes, but that's about it.

The general idea is still there, and that's what I'm looking at. A guardian is still the noble knight that has many defensive abilities. A warrior is still the berserker who wears heavy armor and wants to ravage your face, just in GW2 they happen to have some range capabilities.

Like I said above, they're similar archetypes, but that's where it ends. The Guardian is more than a knight with defensive abilities. They can be a great supporter with the Staff, do ranged damage with a Scepter, beat face with the Hammer or Greatsword, zip around the battlefield with teleports. The role they can fulfill range from Soldier, Captain, Mystic, Knight, Cleric...

With the Warrior there's also more nuance than what you make from it. You can go the berserker route, but also a leader with shouts and/or banner, or a disciplined soldier.

[Deleted]

For me, in general, the concept grabs me more than anything...I'm still feeling very iffy about the mesmer, but - the concept of the class still fascinates me.

I played so many hours on the mesmer during betas...then switched to something else and breathed a sigh of relief...but would be back playing the mesmer again within a few hours. I don't enjoy playing the class as much as others...but...I'm finding it impossible to turn my back on it - purely because the ideas are cool.

[DrakeWurrum]

You might want to, for diversity and other reasons, but a specialized melee or ranged build will be more effective on what it does.

Not always. There's plenty of situations where it's superior to be able to switch between the two.

[VibrantViolet]

I have a hard time deciding, too. I was set on Necromancer, then Mesmer, now I'm on the fence. I'm also an altaholic. I am sure I will fill my character slots very fast.

[Repefe]

In short, with every class having access to every role and damage type, it's actually hard for me to pick a class knowing that I'm always just one patch away from my role, damage type, weapon set, etc being eviscerated or just being outclassed by every other profession.

You can still pick class that is more inclined to do what you want. For example if you want melee class, you don't pick a elementalist or mesmer (sadly) with just 1 melee-ish option, you pick something that has 2-3-4-5 melee weapons to pick from. Same if you want something tanky, do pick one of the classes that can wear shield, daa ...

Still if you can't decide (like me) going for 3 different archetypes may be an alternative. You pick one tanky prof (war, guard), one dps oriented prof (necro/hunter/thief/mesmer) and one support capable prof (mage or engi) . Then you take 3 interesting races (norn, charr and and and and .... hm ... human or asura or sylvari) and paid them with 1 of each archetype and go have fun.

paid = pair I think

[aevitas]

Trying them helps a lot..

Before BWE1 I was dead set on warrior and necromancer as alt.... Although I liked it, I tried guardian and was dead set on Guardian. Then I tried necromancer but it didnt quite 'catch' me, so I dropped it. Thief, ranger and engineer didnt catch me so nothing changed there.

Then I tried elementalist and LOVED it, then in BWE3 I decided to try mesmer as it was the only one I hadnt played with zero interest in that class, turned out to be amazingly fun.

So now it'll be mesmer, elementalist and guardian. Ill probably play all classes eventually though.

[Dudejoss]

i have always played the healing class in mmo's so picking is a major pain for me personally i like the support classes but not really found what i am looking for it just seems to be dps dps dps

[Ynna]

I have always played the healing class in mmo's, so picking is a major pain for me. Personally I like the support classes but not really found what I am looking for it just seems to be dps dps dps

Ynna to the rescue!
If all you're seeing is DPS DPS DPS, you're doing it wrong (don't worry, I was like you at the start).
It's true that you (unfortunately) can't actually play a Healer in this game, but that doesn't mean that you can't help your allies, because that's what's healing is ultimately about. You'll still do damage, but your focus is more on making sure your friends are doing more damage or dying less often.

To accomplish this, I picked a Guardian, but most other professions can do an equally good job, they just go about it differently. An Elementalist is also often mentioned, because they have the closest thing to a direct heal.

And to end with a tip: Look at the secondary effects on attacks. Some grant Protection or healing or improved damage to your allies, others make sure the enemy has a harder time to damage you and your allies.

[Deleted]

No idea, to be honest. Haven't done any of the BWEs and all that crap. Why? Because I don't want to spoil it, plus, every time I tried to discuss something I dislike about the game I get a lot of bashing and flaming so... I'd rather wait for it to come out, try it for 'reals' and then either reinforce my criticism or retract my previous statements. :P

Yet, more on topic, I honestly don't know... I played an Elementalist/Mesmer back in GW if I recall correctly (can't go back because fucking NCSoft can't get me my account back so fuck you NCSoft) but I don't really feel like going as a Caster again... I'l probably try a thief or a ranger or whatever the fuck sounds cooler during character creation, I guess.

[Lanarchy]

I didn't get far enough into the BWEs to even invent an item, so I'm still completely unsure.