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  1. #1

    Explain the classes please

    I ordered Guild Wars 2 last night because all my clan are playing it so havent had much time to read much about it, I downloaded it last night and I have to get ready for college now so just a quick request this morning, really, could someone explain all the classes to me using terms from other popular MMO's as examples to compare too and so on for me to understand better when possible please
    Hopefully I can get home later this afternoon and choose a class asap to jump right into the game!


    If its any help

    I liked Enhancement Shamans in WoW, Assassins in SWTOR, the blinking Melee soul in Rift etc.... Usually prefer Melees who do sick damage with two 1 handed weapons, but have to look awesome while doing so :P

    I do like spell casters aswel, mainly Shadowpriests and fire mages are kinda awesome too but hey thats just getting confusing, stick to the melee I think :P

    Hopefully someone can pin point me a class

    Thank you!

  2. #2
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    if you like melee, mesmer with 2 1h swords is very fun, its like a mix between caster and melee. its a bit hard to match some of the classes up with ones from WoW, due to there being no dedicated tanks or healers, its all hybrid.

    warrior is obviously like a warrior from WoW, you can go big 2h weapon and smash stuff up, dual wield or 1h + shield. sort of basic hack and slash class i think.
    Guardian is like a paladin, a lot of defensive and healing buffs/attacks. very good tank.
    thief is like a rogue, dual wield 1h weapons, bit of a glass cannon.
    Necromancer is probably most like warlock, shadow spells, self healing.
    elementalist is a mage, basic mage class, fire/earth/ice/air spells, high damage, low survivability i think.

    i think thats all i can really match up.


    i would suggest mesmer to you, its a caster class mostly, but with a 1h sword you can be melee. at level 7 you get weapon swapping, so you can have a staff to be a caster and 2 1h swords for melee.


    this is probably mostly wrong, the only class i really have experience with is mesmer :P
    Last edited by mmocef2fdcc82b; 2012-09-17 at 06:52 AM.

  3. #3
    Hmm thats interesting! So mesmer!
    Sounds like it going to either be Mesmer or Thief then. Yeah im sure Warrior wouldnt disappoint, they are what they are, but thats the problem. Anyone else find Warriors always kinda boring and basic in most games? Could be wrong in GW2, im sure alot of GW2 warriors are gona bash me right now but yeah :P Hehe

    Cheers fella

  4. #4
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by DStrux View Post
    Hmm thats interesting! So mesmer!
    Sounds like it going to either be Mesmer or Thief then. Yeah im sure Warrior wouldnt disappoint, they are what they are, but thats the problem. Anyone else find Warriors always kinda boring and basic in most games? Could be wrong in GW2, im sure alot of GW2 warriors are gona bash me right now but yeah :P Hehe

    Cheers fella

    i havnt tried warrior properly in gw2, but in most games its a boring class, usually just basic charge, hit and kill thats geting boring quickly.

  5. #5
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by DStrux View Post
    Hmm thats interesting! So mesmer!
    Anyone else find Warriors always kinda boring and basic in most games? Could be wrong in GW2, im sure alot of GW2 warriors are gona bash me right now but yeah :P Hehe

    Cheers fella
    When I started playing WoW I got told....."Warrior easy class to play, very difficult to master" and I still agree with that now.
    In GW2 group events I find I'm having the same problem with melee classes that I had in Cata dungeons straight afer release, lots of melee busting AoE damage.
    I found in this game I am making lots of characters a lot more quickly than I have in other MMOs, I think that is because you can go into PvP and be max level so you get to feel what a max level character of that profession is like. The temptation to do this for all professions it just too great for me

  6. #6
    Deleted
    Mesmer is probably one of the most complicated classes to play mind you - they are quite fragile (cloth armor) and the best builds all focus around staff and greatsword (ranged) and shattering your illusions. Most damage comes from shattering and from the phantasms you summon. If you like a challenge and don't mind being ranged quite often it could be for you. Mesmers do have the best looking spells.

    But then again every class can be melee. Elementalists with daggers do sick damage, as do rogues but both are glass cannons. Guardians are pretty amazing and can take more of a beating but more centered around slow big hits. Necros are more about the dots and minions (though they tend to pull everything in your vicinity and die quickly) but do have a viable melee set with daggers/life drain.

  7. #7
    Banned Lucas Ashrock's Avatar
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    Noone of you got the point of the OP. He just want a direct comparison. For example : Do a Necromancer, it's a WoW ranger with 5 pets. Something stupid like this.
    Talking about MMO generalizations

    And my answer is: to be honest, i cannot compare any class to any MMO. Because of the dynamic battle gameplay with dodge, because of the zerg as a main way to play, no need to even read around a build at all, because of the lack of a real skillbar, your first 5 skills are bound to the kind of weapon you're using, not what you think it's the best for your class, freely. Etc etc etc.

  8. #8
    Memser is a very nice class with alot of cool little tools. Like you can drop a portal on the ground between two places and every friendly can use it. I'm sure it will not disappoint, they are very slippery in PvP and can throw down a lot of dmg as well.

  9. #9
    I can only recommend you to check out https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/ and see what appeals to you.

    It it very difficult to make generalisations/comparisons, because many things work a bit different in gw2. For example, Necromancer is a caster but he has one of the highest HP pools in the games and can be extremely tanky. A Guardian has lots of abilities to avoid damage, but they can also deal lots of damage. A Warrior is.. well, a warrior, but it can do good damage with both melee and ranged weapons while being rather tanky as well. Mesmer is a particularly difficult to compare profession, as it relies on clones to confuse the opponent - they can be very annoying in PvP, because with a good Mesmer you often have no idea which one of 10 identical guys shooting at you is actually the real one.

    BTW, based on your description of preferences you should try out the guardian with one handed sword. Very flashy (blue effects FTW!), teleports, great damage.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by Swoopeh View Post
    Elementalists with daggers do sick damage, as do rogues but both are glass cannons.
    Thiefs, are only glass cannons if you build them like that. My Thief is currently speccing 18 precision, 15 toughness, 5 vit and carries 3/5 Power/Vit and 2/5 Power/precision gear, with 5/5 power/precision ' runes'.

    I can tank quite a few hits @ lvl 49, even though I normally get in and out without being hit. Some mobs have special abilities that circumvent "blind" and it's those hit I need to be able to soak. Or the damage from ranged adds/spawns.

    I personally found that, ever since respecced into toughness instead of power, having toughness really, really matters.

  11. #11
    Deleted
    The Thief "class" also have good mobility. The shortbow "shadow-step" allows you to pick and chose your fights. Stealth is more dynamic than it was in wow.

    Engineer is the shaman of GW2, with turrets as totems. Tho the engineer weapon arsenal is ranged, they can equip melee weapons like wrench, flamethrower and bombkits.

    However I think melee Mesmer or Thief will be to your liking. I surgest making one of each and testing them out in the mist.
    To enter the mist, complete your tutorial quest, press H, pick the pvp pane and enter the mist. Complete the mist tutorial (you only have to to this once). In the mist you have access to target dummies and training NPCs that fight back. That way you can test out what style of weapons suits you.

  12. #12
    Bloodsail Admiral Riavan's Avatar
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    As someone who has played both classes since vanilla and has an 80 engineer, I'd say it's more like a druid.

  13. #13
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    Dagger/Dagger elementalists can put out some pretty sick burst damage in melee range. Then again you're essentially a glass cannon.

  14. #14
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    Quote Originally Posted by Vespian View Post
    Thiefs, are only glass cannons if you build them like that. My Thief is currently speccing 18 precision, 15 toughness, 5 vit and carries 3/5 Power/Vit and 2/5 Power/precision gear, with 5/5 power/precision ' runes'.

    I can tank quite a few hits @ lvl 49, even though I normally get in and out without being hit. Some mobs have special abilities that circumvent "blind" and it's those hit I need to be able to soak. Or the damage from ranged adds/spawns.

    I personally found that, ever since respecced into toughness instead of power, having toughness really, really matters.
    Yeah sorry, thieves not rogues lol, can't get rid of the WoW terminology :P
    Good to hear toughness helps a lot, I've only leveled a thief at low levels and found I died a lot (but the damage was sweet). Two friends of mine play guardian and warrior and have both spent a lot of points in toughness and vit and that seems to help them a lot as well - first AC run we did the guardian was pretty much constantly dead, after that specced into toughness and didn't die once

    And for the OP, as far as comparisons go:
    - Warrior = warrior
    - Guardian = Ret pally
    - Thief = rogue
    - Necromancer = warlock/death knight
    - Elementalist = mage/shaman
    - Ranger = hunter
    - Engineer = what happens if you take the pets and nature hippie stuff away from a hunter and replace it with guns, cannons and bombs :P
    - Mesmer = sort of shamany rogue pally mage in pink and voilet colours :P

    But in general it's hard to compare because the game is completely different.

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by Swoopeh View Post
    Yeah sorry, thieves not rogues lol, can't get rid of the WoW terminology :P

    And for the OP, as far as comparisons go:
    - Warrior = warrior
    - Guardian = Ret pally
    - Thief = rogue
    - Necromancer = warlock/death knight
    - Elementalist = mage/shaman
    - Ranger = hunter
    - Engineer = what happens if you take the pets and nature hippie stuff away from a hunter and replace it with guns, cannons and bombs :P
    - Mesmer = sort of shamany rogue pally mage in pink and voilet colours :P

    But in general it's hard to compare because the game is completely different.
    There is a problem here...

  16. #16
    all classes have ranged and melee options. Except engineers, but then again some consider a flame throw the melee option or the answer to melee attacks that is. (THE BEST OPTION)

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by 1001 View Post
    There is a problem here...
    Not to those that can read more than 1 post.

    A comparison is rather hard, since a profession in GW2 can greatly differ in itself. A staff guardian is vastly different from a sword/shield one.

  18. #18
    Quote Originally Posted by Swoopeh View Post
    Mesmer is probably one of the most complicated classes to play mind you - they are quite fragile (cloth armor) and the best builds all focus around staff and greatsword (ranged) and shattering your illusions. Most damage comes from shattering and from the phantasms you summon. If you like a challenge and don't mind being ranged quite often it could be for you. Mesmers do have the best looking spells.
    This is fairly misleading. First of all, there is actually very little difference between the defense values of the different armor types in GW2. Plus, survivability largely depends on skill choice and your ability to avoid damage, not armor type. Mesmers can be quite "tanky" if you put your mind to it.

    Second, while I'm not (yet) sure how viable a sword mesmer is in dungeons, they work fine in open world PvE and in PvP.

    Obviously, as always, you will have to work a bit harder for your survivability as melee, but that goes for any class. But cloth armor does not have anything to do with it.

  19. #19
    I am Murloc! Ravenblade's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Riavan View Post
    As someone who has played both classes since vanilla and has an 80 engineer, I'd say it's more like a druid.
    Gameplay-wise not really. Upon switching kits the gameplay doesn't really change at the same scale as it does for Druids when switching forms. Engineers don't also try to mimic aspects of other classes as their kits are very distinct and unique to the class. I'd say it's closer to Shaman than Druids. The only thing which might resemble Druid feeling is the fact that you can adapt to every situation easily since you are a walking Swiss knife but many classes seem to share that feeling in a way and thanks to certain skills and traits you may end up being a slippery eel.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tenjen View Post
    all classes have ranged and melee options. Except engineers, but then again some consider a flame throw the melee option or the answer to melee attacks that is. (THE BEST OPTION)
    Engineers also have a toolkit with the option to hit people with a wrench but only the most daring engineers are using that one I think. I wouldn't use it against an incoming helicopter (whirlwinding melees) zerg either.
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  20. #20
    Immortal SirRobin's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by mafao View Post
    I can only recommend you to check out https://www.guildwars2.com/en/the-game/professions/ and see what appeals to you.
    Pretty much this.
    Sir Robin, the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot.
    Who had nearly fought the Dragon of Angnor.
    Who had almost stood up to the vicious Chicken of Bristol.
    And who had personally wet himself, at the Battle of Badon Hill.

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