Profession/Classes question

[gaymer77]

Can someone explain to me the difference in the different professions/classes for the game? Like how is an engineer different than a ranger, necromancer different than an elementalist or mesmer, or guardian different than a warrior or reverant? I tried looking on their website and it doesn't really explain the differences other than like a mesmer makes clones but so does a necromancer (well sort of since necromancers summon undead which is similar). Reverant isn't even on their profession listing and the description of both warrior & guardian doesn't say that they are a "tank" or "dps" class just that they are strong in using weapons.

[zito]

https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Profession

It's a quick run down

Just like to note that necromancer can not summon clones and necros minions having ZERO relations to clones. Also there are no specified roles in GW2 meaning there is no tank, dps, support profession. However all professions if build right can do any of those roles if you want. Meaning you can build a tanky necromancer or a healing revenant.

[Gob]

Gw2 doesn't really do classic tank/healer/dps roles, but you can build to be more durable, do more damage, and/or support/heal.

Each profession has themes, similar to WoW's classes. Elementalists are akin to mages, Guardians are kinda like Paladins, Rangers are similar to hunters with a little bit of druid), etc.

Mesmers like to summon fragile illusions to help them attack their enemies, and they can constantly be summoning and destroying them.
Necros on the other hand have the option to summon undead to help them attack their enemies, but they are sturdier with longer cooldowns.
Besides these aspects, Mesmers and Necros have many other options that further differentiate them. Mesmers for instance have a couple invisbility skills, apply the Confusion debuff, and can teleport themselves and others. Necros have more options for dots and debuffs, self-healing, and keeping themselves in the fight.

Elementalists have fewer weapon options, but they weapons they do have can be used in four times as many ways, because they change depending on which of the four elemental "stances" they are in. Elementalists are stance-dancers.

Rangers and Engineers differ greatly. Rangers have a permanent pet (with one major exception). while engineers can place small turrets. Rangers can give their pets many commands, while Engineers can use their own unique weapon sets (grenades, bombs, a flamethrower, medkit, etc) and switch them at any time, as well as activate unique abilities from their "tool-belt" depending on which skills they have slotted.

Warriors are weapon masters and survivors. They have unmatched choice in weapon usage. They also have the option to put down banners, which are kinda like WoW's shaman totems.

Guardians on the other hand are much more support-focused. They use magic to burn their enemies and shield their allies. I cant say much more for them because I don't play guardian.

Revenants play with more advanced, GW2-specific mechanics.

[PACOX]

Its kind of hard to give an honest overview of the classes without just pointing you the GW2 class pages. A classes gameplay can vary greatly depending on which talent trees you take (you're free to swap them as you like) and the weapons you use. Example, an elementalist can be a melee support class or a ranged nuke for instance.

[gaymer77]

Yeah I've been noticing that as I've been playing the guardian that I made my spells changed when I would change up weapons. I was actually quite surprised to see how much healing they have in their hero points skills. I guess I'm going to have to mess around with a few lower level characters and delete/remake until I find what I like lol. Another question, are there dungeons/raids in this game where other people join & if so how do you go about doing them and grouping up for them?

[zito]

Yeah I've been noticing that as I've been playing the guardian that I made my spells changed when I would change up weapons. I was actually quite surprised to see how much healing they have in their hero points skills. I guess I'm going to have to mess around with a few lower level characters and delete/remake until I find what I like lol. Another question, are there dungeons/raids in this game where other people join & if so how do you go about doing them and grouping up for them?

There's an in game lfg system but the first dungeon starts at 30 and there every 5 levels after that. Then at 80 you got a new type of dungeon which are called fractals and if you have HoT or PoF you can do raids.

Classic world dungeons each have 3 paths to choose from which mix up how the dungeon plays. There's also an advanced version of each dungeon at higher levels.

Fractals are endless randomly generated dungeons from a select pool of unique dungeons.

Fractals are considered the far superior dungeons over the classic world dungeons. Just better rewards and better boss fight mechanics. Though classic dungeons do have their own exclusive gear (for transmoging) and specific consumables for crafting (like legendary gear) and classic dungeons come with more story than fractals which those do have storys but it's more like flash back stuff.

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Also just letting you know about stats. Toughness while reducing damage you take also increases your aggro so unless you plan on tanking avoid it if your looking for more survivability and grab vitality instead (increases max hp)

Edit: and yea it's prob best to either look up videos or play around with each class for like the first 20 levels. I think necromancer or elementalist is prob closer to a priest. Once you unlock scourge from the expansion you can shield people ala disc priest or just run conditions (dots).

Mesmer is getting a TOTAL rework today, so I would wait til the patch to play it.

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Also (yea more edits) I would like to point out that the game encourages exploration. If you suspect something is hiding somewhere there is probably something there. Jumping puzzles are a big part of the game, there like hidden away puzzles you go through revolved around jumping. There's also less common mini dungeons.