Profession choice when there's no trinity?

[Deleted]

Hello fellow gamers!

I am fairly certain that I'm not the only one spending too much of the ol' spare time on the GW2 site and watching youtube clips trying to figure out what profession to play in this upcoming blockbuster =) Personally I have always chosen my profession (class) based on archetype or major role to play in the multiplayer elements of the game, which usually boils down to DPS, tank, healer or buffer or the odd hybrid with a mix of the before mentioned.

My question then for you my friends is;
How do you approach the profession choice in GW2 where these factors are, mostly, obsolete? Which factors or aspects do you value highest?

Please speak your minds freely, any thoughts, ideas or just information of any kind will be highly appreciated!

Best regards,
Algor

[masterpiece]

I think you should choose a class based on what fits your playing style. There are many options such as what range you would like to play at as there are short medium and long range classes. Secondly, and more importantly, I would consider the Unique abilities of each class and see which of those you like the best. The Mesmer can make clones, the ranger has a pet, the necromancer has deathshroud.. exct. Lastly, nothing is stopping you from playing them all and seeing which fits you the most.

[Laste]

It’s really just a personal preference. Since every profession is able to glide freely between ranged and close combat, the only big thing that makes profs different from one another are their armor types and available weapons. Ask yourself which class sticks out to you and seems like the most fun to play. I really enjoy playing my elementalist in GW1, and plan on recreating her in GW2. I realize mechanics and abilities won’t be quite the same, but from what I’ve seen, eles look ridiculously fun to play. And they have the prettiest clothes! Haha.

[masterpiece]

Since every profession is able to glide freely between ranged and close combat

I could be wrong about this, but I believe Guardian does not have ranged capabilities.

[Deleted]

Well somewhere in there in their talk about no trinity there is a little lie, its quite obvious that a guardian with a shield and alot of protective
spells and skills should be in the front taking dmg(tank), and the elementalist for example should be further away doing dmg (dps)

[pharaum]

I could be wrong about this, but I believe Guardian does not have ranged capabilities.

it does. one handed mace does shocky balls and idk what but iv seen a spelll where u unleash a barrage of light blades at a target

[Exerionx]

I'm really tempted to go Thief now -.-.

Probably rolling them all for achievements :P

[Laste]

I could be wrong about this, but I believe Guardian does not have ranged capabilities.

While a guardian has either a scepter or a staff (There may be other weapons too) equipped they will be endowed with ranged abilities.

I'd leave a link to a skills tool so you could check it out for yourself, but I'm not allowed to post links yet.

[Ynna]

I could be wrong about this, but I believe Guardian does not have ranged capabilities.

Guardians do have ranged capabilities with the Scepter and to a lesser extent with the Staff, but they're more limited than other professions.

Well somewhere in there in their talk about no trinity there is a little lie, its quite obvious that a guardian with a shield and a lot of protective spells and skills should be in the front taking dmg(tank), and the elementalist for example should be further away doing dmg (dps)

Sorry, but no. There's no aggro, so you can't force mobs to attack you and mobs have enough mobility to get in the back. And with Earth attunement an Elementalist can take quite some damage as well.

@OP: There are plenty of factors that can lead to the decision of which profession you want to play. Archetypes, fighting styles, profession mechanics. And different classes perform the three roles (damage, support, control) in a different way.
I've already decided on a Guardian, since they have the most baseline options for support. I've got a friend who'll play an Elementalist, because he likes the Archetype, and another who'll play a Fighter because he wants to swing big two-handed weapons. Another still will go with an Elementalist, because of the flexible playstyle.

[Deleted]

While a guardian has either a scepter or a staff equipped they will be endowed with ranged abilities.

I'd leave a link to a skills tool so you could check it out for yourself, but I'm not allowed to post links yet.

Here you go!
http://gw2.luna-atra.fr/skills_tool/

Euhm, remember to change language to english (upper right corner).

[Deleted]

I actually have an easier time choosing a profession without the holy trinity, because I don't have to keep in mind what roles I can fulfill later on or what the guild I'm in might be lacking, what may be in high demand (healers), etc.

I like playing casters, which narrows it down. I don't like being a glass cannon (although I don't think any of the GW2 classes really fit this term) and I like darker characters. Necro was a pretty easy choice for me, compared to other games.

[Laste]

Here you go!
<Snip>

Euhm, remember to change language to english (upper right corner).

Thanks mister!

[Deleted]

Sorry, but no. There's no aggro, so you can't force mobs to attack you and mobs have enough mobility to get in the back. And with Earth attunement an Elementalist can take quite some damage as well.

Oh okay, i admit i was wrong about this one then

[Deleted]

I agree that this makes the choice that much harder cause suddenly you have much more options to choose from ;]. There are few things that need to be considered. First, no class is absolutely "useless" in any area. Take a warrior for example, in most of the MMOs out there he is more than useless at range (just few CDs to let him catch someone), in GW2 warrior have very viable ranged options. Considering you always have 2 weapon sets available witch can be instantly changed there is a lot of possibilities.

So.. it all goes down to your personal playstyle. You like magic? Pets? Hit&run tactics? Blow things up? Those are the questions that are crucial here.

Personally, after 6years of playing as a druid, I have "I've got this" syndrome. Using many different abilities in sometimes really strange yet effective way was my signature. Although I was mostly main tanking, I was still able to contribute in many ways through creative use of "ordinary" abilities and in the end "saving the day". At first, I was interested in guardian, but when I went through Engineer's material I knew my choice could be only one =].

Engineer has everything I wanted, adapts easily to any situation and just screams "fluid combat". Plus, I love theorycrafting (I had made several spreadsheets which had quite a following ;] ) , so after latest engineer's update about toolbelt it was like nerdgasm ;p. All classes are pretty easy to "start with", but engineer has the potential of having the highest skill ceiling.

[masterpiece]

Oh ok i just read "While being in the unique position of both a caster and melee fighter the Guardian must make the tradeoff of losing his ranged combat ability." from theThread: GW2: good bye static rotation, welcome active battles! and figured they couldn't do ranged.

[Marn]

How do you approach the profession choice in GW2 where these factors are, mostly, obsolete? Which factors or aspects do you value highest?

Well when all that was available were sort of the archetypal descriptions and a few of their skills, you could go off what seemed the coolest and what would most likely fit your playstyle. It also might make the game more enjoyable if you put thought into your character(s), and think about the personal storyline, how you want to progress through it; maybe roleplaying per se isn't why you're going to play GW2 but it is looking like a really fun and immersive feature.

While pretty much all classes function more or less to a decent degree at all range modes, your personal preferences for how often you prefer to be in melee range rather than at range will probably go a long way towards your profession choice. Arenanet said that they want pistol thieves and melee rangers to be generally as effective as their more traditional bow ranger and dagger thief counterparts, and you can play a longbow warrior too, and of course the elementalist has spells that you can cast at all varying ranges, and so on.

http://gw2.luna-atra.fr/skills_tool/?lang=en

This skills tool should help you figure out the sorts of skills available from your allowed weapons and that might help you decide how you want to play, though Arenanet has said they want to stress player flexibility, so the best players will not sit in one weapon stance every fight, they will change weapons in combat. And before combat even begins they choose what weapon sets they want to have available to them.

Personally for melee I like the warrior and thief, but not the guardian. For casters I like the necromancer, but not the mesmer or elementalist (though almost no information has been released for the mesmer). I like what they are doing with ranger pets, because it looks much more interesting than how Blizzard designed hunters in Wolrd of Warcraft. But what I really like is the engineer and his ability to equip a FLAMETHROWER hahahhahahahahaa!! That weapon kit is making me consider whether my main character should be a warrior as I originally planned, or just burn everything on an engineer.



TLDR make lots of alts, play the profession you enjoy the best out of all of them (or play the roleplay character you are most attached to regardless of what their class ends up being); all professions are equally viable in dungeons.

[Deleted]

Whatever profession you play is completely up to personal preference.
I'm going to play a guardian or a thief because they seemed fun to play (from the video's I've seen).
I'm also going to choose a different profession than my friends, because I want some group diversity (despite the fact that it doesn't really matter anyways ).
You have much more freedom to play what you want in GW2, so play whatever you want in GW2, instead of narrowing it down to roles.

One more bit about the guardian: guardians do have ranged abilities, but mainly in short-medium range, not long range. The guardians can perform ranged attacks with their scepter, staff and sword and if I remember correctly, they can also do leap of faith, which brings them closer to their enemy.

[Verazh]

I choose my "main" based on play style, immersion and feel, and yet I still have a very hard time deciding.
I like the play style of the warrior, it suits me, yet I love the feel of the necromancer!

[Marn]

Forgot to add, Arenanet wants people to have fun without having to stress over the trinity, after all it is supposed to be a fun game, instead of having to wait for that very specific group composition to do what you want. Therefore, without the trinity being forced on you, your profession choice boils down essentially to what you will enjoy actually playing the most/with whom you'll have the most fun! I definitely agree that provides a layer of freedom you don't normally get to see, and that it is going to end up being a very good design decision on their part, letting them focus on the classes and making them feel unique and different from each other.

[Zeek Daniels]

Im going to play thief first because i have always loved assassin type classes and i cant get enough of the dual wielding pistol. I will also play elementalist because i am fond of elemental classes ( played elemental shaman in WoW as my main since i started in BC) and i play a warrior or engineer after that. Engineer just because it looks interesting. WHo doesnt want flamethrowers.