Class Roles in WvW?

[Lilly32]

started playing GW2 again and loving some WvW. But what are class roles in WvW especially in large scale zerg fights. I usually play Warrior, Mesmer, or Elementalist and while warrior is pretty easy to figure out the other 2 seem a lot harder. With my warrior I just run into the middle of them using Hammer. Seems to do a ton of damage and also has CC. Also found sword+Axe a very fun weapon switch.

Elementalist is an easy role to understand what I need to do but actually doing it can be kinda hard. I mostly run with staff and I know Fire is good AoE damage and gives might. Water is good for healing. I guess Earth and Air for CC. But its kinda overwhelming considering I have to use twice as many cooldowns with just 1 weapon compared to other classes swapping. 16 abilities not counting autoattacks to keep track of and know when to use compared to only 8 for everyone else. Also if a Warrior makes it to me its game over most of the time. Also a lot of times my AoEs dont even land because they seem to have a delay in the damage so either they are already dead or have been pushed back.

I dont have much time on my mesmer and leveled it mostly through crafting since it was brutal to level when I first started the class. But when Im facing a lot of people it doesnt seem like Im contributing a whole lot and certainly dont see the damage spam that I do on my Warrior or Ele. My AoE is very Meh. Clones arent going to do anything in a zerg cause they will just get AoEed down. Feedback seems like nice utility but the tooltip says it stops projectiles. When 90% of the players are Guardians and Warriors that seem pretty useless. Stealth is nice but then am I only useful every 90 seconds and only for the 5 seconds it lasts? I guess the only thing I bring in a zerg fight is Null Field?

[zed zebes]

I'm trying to parse a question or discussion, so I'll respond to what I think there are questions about.

Ele: Staff Ele relies on comboing Earth Attunement 2's blast finisher into Fire or Water fields. So earth is not just CC. You are mostly support, and in battle you switch between fire for damage, and water for heals, but running into battle you need Air Attunement ready to drop that Static Field.

Mes: In group battles, if you are squishy, hang to the edges and pick off people at the edge. Focus on other squishies and keep them occupied. Have veil and portal ready if called upon. When attacking walls, have focus pull ready. A lot of Mes go roaming. I do both roaming and large battles, and I do solo.

And you are right that null fields are useful. Enemies stacking for a push? Drop null field on their path in to your group. Hammer train group? Drop Null Field at their point of attack and stay spread, out at the edges, and ready to escape. Strips are important towards de-clustering the WuvWuv cluster. Null Field and Well of Corruption are key in doing this. Drop them in the right place and it can really turn the battle. When I see a guild I known likes to cc/hammer train, (as mentioned in your War play), then I spread out and don't worry about tagging and doing damage. I strip their boons and drag them apart.

[Lilly32]

ok Im done with Ele. Just too much crap going on with all the ability juggling and when to use what. Gonna stick to easy mode Warrior.