Classes doesn't seem very interesting

[nameuser]

Yes, there's a lot of potential variety within a single class. The issue is that you can do all that on any other class as well, and the playstyles are even pretty similar.

Thats right

Not only that, but I can think of countless things you couldn't do at all unless you played a certain class in wow. It was important to give the classes a sense of uniqueness

[Zilong]

I still strongly believe that mesmer clones doesn't give you an unique combat style, it gives you an unique ability (or several).

I'm sorry but that's coming from someone who barely even gotten more than 10 levels? You have to understand that whatever you are asking for, in your own words you are setting yourself in a trap again and again.

As you point again and again, having a mage with slow cast and high crits are no different than a warlock, other mages, druids, priests even. There is no unique combat style in other games as well. It's usually stop, cast, cast, cast, move. Gw2 changes it a bit to move while your casting. The flavor is in the ice/fire/arcane of mage, the shadowy stuff of priests, the "nature" of druids and demonishness of warlocks.

It's fine if you believe that. But I think you are picking your own pocket here, saying other games have something they don't and claiming you are not finding them on this.

Thats right

Not only that, but I can think of countless things you couldn't do at all unless you played a certain class in wow. It was important to give the classes a sense of uniqueness

I don't agree with that or what Bov said, and if you can think of countless things you should be able to voice them here for us. It's true you can customize your character how you like which might think "Then why am I a warrior? if other people can cause blunt damage?" But in reality this is really absurd to ask, the flavor is in the theme of the class in all games all classes play VERY VERY similar to each other, with one mechanic that makes them different plus the theme (holy for priest, nature for druid and so on). Since WotLK bliz came up with the bring the player not the class? Where do you think that went? We have more classes with Bloodlust, we have countless other stuff that were more class specific spread around.

Like a warrior can be a condition damage, the elementalist be one. They all play different as someone said above. Not to mention there is focus inside that, I've seen a nice poison condition damage build for ranger, elementalist can be bleed for earth, burning for fire. and more. They all have condition damage builds, doesn't remotely means they play the same...I can even name 2 bleeding builds for war that are different. Sword + sword, or Sword+warhorn that play differently.

[nameuser]

As you point again and again, having a mage with slow cast and high crits are no different than a warlock, other mages, druids, priests even.

fyi I am talking about vanilla/TBC. The main theme of mages is casting magic bolts (nuke spells with slow casts). Warlocks could do that as well but they focused mainly on dots/demons. Druids only have starfire and priests have 0 heavy nuke spells.

I don't agree with that or what Bov said, and if you can think of countless things you should be able to voice them here for us.

Hunters was able to solo stuff no one else could (which includes countless quests), Mages could jump down from great heights with slow fall, which also allowed them to get places no one else could. I could go on...

the flavor is in the theme of the class

I made a necromacer as my first character because I liked the "evil caster" style, but got bored because as I said they didn't feel any different from any other class. Having self healing for example isn't exiting when everyone else have it.

[rhandric]

You're mixing up 2 different things here. First, you say you want there to be a distinguishing between profession play styles, dot vs high damage or w/e...there is that, though every profession can have multiple play styles, with overlap. However, a dot-based warrior and a dot-based elementalists don't play or feel the same. So that part's already prevalent, despite your protests.

You also keep throwing in (and then dismissing when it suits your purpose) out of combat capabilities. Sure, you can't conjure food, or make portals to distant locations, or cast water walking/breathing...but those are just fluff. Mesmers can summon portals (entrance and exit). That's probably the main out-of-combat ability (usable in combat as well, but it has key uses both in and out of combat) that I can think of offhand. That said, professions are designed around what they do in combat. With 10 abilities, there's no room for fluff. Sure, you may hate it, but it's the way the franchise is.

[rhinomatic]

fyi I am talking about vanilla/TBC. The main theme of mages is casting magic bolts (nuke spells with slow casts). Warlocks could do that as well but they focused mainly on dots/demons. Druids only have starfire and priests have 0 heavy nuke spells.

The problem here is that you're going back to a romanticized version of a game that doesn't exist anymore. Even Blizzard acknowledged that "uniqueness" and "flavor" was bad design due to the balance problems they cause and have moved away from it.

Remember, it was that uniqueness that had mages sitting out of Sunwell groups, that had warriors as the only tank class, that wasted a raid spot or two for shamans just for bloodlust.

GW2 has that uniqueness too, in a few spots. Mesmers have their portal. Thieves have their stealth abilities. Want to guess what the two most complained about things in PvP are?

The problem remains that you didn't get far enough into a class to see what it can do. I think I was 60 when I finally got the ability to turn into a tornado on my elementalist, and that was really sweet. How many other classes can turn into a tornado?

[WarpedAcorn]

I made a necromacer as my first character because I liked the "evil caster" style, but got bored because as I said they didn't feel any different from any other class. Having self healing for example isn't exiting when everyone else have it.

The problem is that there is no "evil caster". Everyone is the good guy.

The story of the game does not care what class you are. This I don't like.

The group you are joining doesn't care what class you are. You can build for support, durability, damage, or a mixture. This I like.

While you might dislike that classes are ultimately interchangable, I love it. Do you remember how much is sucked back in Vanilla WoW to not get into a group because "we already have too many of that class" or "BIGBADBOSS-A isn't friendly for melee, we're taking another ranged class" or "Mobs have limited number of debuffs, so you can't use your DoT spec". All of those things suck [in my opinion]. I do like the variety within each class. Each class has a different feel, but if the argument is that each class should do something crucial that no one else can...then I am glad they went in the direction they did. In that case, GW2 is not the game for you.

[nameuser]

You're mixing up 2 different things here. First, you say you want there to be a distinguishing between profession play styles, dot vs high damage or w/e...there is that, though every profession can have multiple play styles, with overlap. However, a dot-based warrior and a dot-based elementalists don't play or feel the same. So that part's already prevalent, despite your protests.

You also keep throwing in (and then dismissing when it suits your purpose) out of combat capabilities. Sure, you can't conjure food, or make portals to distant locations, or cast water walking/breathing...but those are just fluff. Mesmers can summon portals (entrance and exit). That's probably the main out-of-combat ability (usable in combat as well, but it has key uses both in and out of combat) that I can think of offhand. That said, professions are designed around what they do in combat. With 10 abilities, there's no room for fluff. Sure, you may hate it, but it's the way the franchise is.

Sure they don't feel the same. Neither does today's classes in wow despite all the homogenization. But classes in gw2 are what classes in wow have become today. Homogenized. Thats what I hate. classes in gw2 and WoW today are nowhere near as unique as they were in vanilla/TBC. Thats why I no longer play wow, thats why I got bored of gw2.

Non-combat abilities matters little to a veteran player, but that was some of the favorite aspects of the classes when I started with wow. Tell me portals wasn't awesome. That used to be my favorite part of being a mage.

[namelessone]

No, I disagree. Classes in GW2 are quite unique. What they miss is some cool out-of-combat utility of WoW like summoning, portals, water walking, travel forms etc.

[nameuser]

The problem is that there is no "evil caster". Everyone is the good guy.

The story of the game does not care what class you are. This I don't like.

The group you are joining doesn't care what class you are. You can build for support, durability, damage, or a mixture. This I like.

Agreed with the first point, that is also a problem. The second, I dislike. I want my class to be useful for something others aren't. I guess you're right.. gw2 isn't the game for me.

[Karizee]

Everytime I go into WvW there's someone calling out in mapchat asking for a mesmer for the jumping puzzle.

Why mesmer you ask?

Because mesmers are the only class that can portal a player up if they fall in the puzzle.

[namelessone]

I made a necromacer as my first character because I liked the "evil caster" style, but got bored because as I said they didn't feel any different from any other class. Having self healing for example isn't exiting when everyone else have it.

Meh, I care nothing if anyone else has an ability with a similar mechanic, it doesn't stop me from enjoying the class. Furthermore, I'd hate if the only reason people would want to play with me was that my class can do something others can't.

[Deleted]

The biggest problem with gw2 for me is the classes/abilities. It just seems very uninteresting. I never got any class past lvl 10 because I get bored so fast. Why? Because every class I've tried barely feels any different. It doesn't seem like my class can do something no one else can. I mean, in wow each class was very unique. Warlocks was the Dot class. Mages was the high crit class with slow casts. Priest had the best heals. Hunters was the pet class. Warriors had high melee dmg with plate armor. Paladins never died.

Can anyone tell me what's unique about each class in gw2? Who can do something others can't? It gets better at higher lvls?

The lack of auto-attacks means you'll be spamming around 1 attack most of the time and just hit anything else when it's off cooldown or when you can switch weapons. Yes, you are right, it is boring. The classes lack something that makes them interesting. For a reason I can't really put my finger on, they all feel somewhat the same.

[Zilong]

You're mixing... snip.

True. That's what I've been saying. We are chasing with solid arguments and when answered or debated, instead of a more in-depth analysis we get a change of subject. That's why he is coming across as something else....

The problem is that there is no "evil caster". Everyone is the good guy.

The story of the game does not care what class you are. This I don't like.

The group you are joining doesn't care what class you are. You can build for support, durability, damage, or a mixture. This I like.

I'll agree with you, but nothing is perfect . I wanted my thief to be very good, and my necro to be very evil. Can't do that. But to be honest few games this big would let you very much, you are usually put in a Hero position, with MAYBE different dialogues to show some evilness but you end up always helping lol. Or with most of the games, separate in 2 factions making one look "more evil" than the other...and put the players against each other hahah. I wish they did an evil side, that would rock...maybe in the future.

Sure they don't feel the same. Neither does today's classes in wow despite all the homogenization. But classes in gw2 are what classes in wow have become today. Homogenized. Thats what I hate. classes in gw2 and WoW today are nowhere near as unique as they were in vanilla/TBC. Thats why I no longer play wow, thats why I got bored of gw2.

Non-combat abilities matters little to a veteran player, but that was some of the favorite aspects of the classes when I started with wow. Tell me portals wasn't awesome. That used to be my favorite part of being a mage.

And they have become such way for a reason. It doesn't work otherwise. We are talking about a huge social global experience, programmed by numbers to emulate a living world. But despite the best effort and more, it's quite impossible to balance and do everything we ask for, maybe one day haha. I think that the out of combat stuff is cool, and I would like to see that maybe? But please remember that we have a bunch of mini-games around that are actually fun to do! Have you ever tried Keg Brawling? Have you never picked up something from the ground and changed all your skills? Be it a hoe, a combat rifle, claw? skull? Even a boulder. I mean, they aren't class specific but they add a nice flavor for the whole game without excluding. Class mass uniqueness is bad design cause it won't work. That's why it feels when you say about uniqueness is a ranged fireball from a elementalist = a shooting arrow from a ranger. Omg they are both ranged and shooting! Must be the same...

Agreed with the first point, that is also a problem. The second, I dislike. I want my class to be useful for something others aren't. I guess you're right.. gw2 isn't the game for me.

That's where you are wrong. You haven't barely even played the game o.0... of course that due to the lack of holy trinity you can customize your character to be more tanky, but no one can really tank. A bit more dps, everyone does that. A bit more support, each class has their range of support in their OWN way. But! People still ask for a strong bunker guardian for holding a node in pvp, because literally they rock at that. They do ask for a mesmer to go where the crowd is because literally, they create alot of confusion, or even portal kill the guild lord. They still ask the thief to be the "breaker" because they have such a huge mobility so they can break from teams and go quickly help another. I could list more stuff here...

What sorcery is this? It's class uniqueness! But how could you know? You didnt even go past lvl 10.

And in PvE, not that you actually seen in the game, but the DE's have a huge immense inexplored capability. We could have dungeons and events that will break into lower teams, and each team would have a different task to do. And by having some class help you do that even quicker! The classes and differences are already in the game, but (and this is criticism) the needs on them are not 100% displayed yet.

And why aren't we talking about combo fields? Might not be 100% exclusive to the class, but they sure are very well spread....

I could go on haha.

The lack of auto-attacks means you'll be spamming around 1 attack most of the time and just hit anything else when it's off cooldown or when you can switch weapons. Yes, you are right, it is boring. The classes lack something that makes them interesting. For a reason I can't really put my finger on, they all feel somewhat the same.

Idk how much you played the game. And I do think that the usage of first attack can be seen "overuse". But if everyone would do that, they would be playing it wrong. Everyone even knows that some builds just works if you don't use the 1 too much. The usage of 2-4 on CD is bad stuff, they are situational and what defines if you know how to play. It's a more fast paced reaction game, rather than stay around on fixed CDS soaking up dmg, dodge matters and all. So I disagree with what you said.

[rhandric]

Meh, I care nothing if anyone else has an ability with a similar mechanic, it doesn't stop me from enjoying the class. Furthermore, I'd hate if the only reason people would want to play with me was that my class can do something others can't.

Exactly. While this is from the community manager of a different game, "bring the player, not the [profession]". Play a profession because you enjoy it, not because it's OP/most needed/whatever other extrinsic reason. If you only enjoy having something no one else doesn't, well, the game is designed around something else.

[melodramocracy]

Everytime I go into WvW there's someone calling out in mapchat asking for a mesmer for the jumping puzzle.

Why mesmer you ask?

Because mesmers are the only class that can portal a player up if they fall in the puzzle.

Shush, this thread is no place for facts. :P Next you're going to tell us that mesmers can blink.

[MrSerious]

I still strongly believe that mesmer clones doesn't give you an unique combat style, it gives you an unique ability (or several).

that unique style is called confusion. Took me a while when fighting a mesmer to watch all the clones movements and work out which is the real mesmer. A bad mesmer would move (like backpedalling) as soon as he casts his clones allowing me to work out which one he is, a good mesmer stands still so he blends in.

The best thing about GW2 is each class can change their style to suit. i.e. As a hunter in WoW you kite and use your pet and all specs do this - BM, MM and Survival. GW2 hunters can use their traits and utilities to make and equivalent BM build allowing their pets to do a lot of the damage. They can go longbow + shortbow combo and spec as a MM type with piercing shots and high bow damage. They can also spec into traps and go Survival. Not only that they can use swords, warhorns and greatsword and become a melee class as well so you are fighting with your pet face to face with your opponent. If only you spent less time in here not knowing and more time understanding what your class can do. My friends ingame are constantly respecing and trying different builds with their toons.

You have unique abilities, but also allow to play the class how you want (to a point, you can't tank like a guardian/warrior, or use stealth like a thief, or confuse like a mesmer)

I here too much of this, "I played to level 10 for an hour and all classes feel the same.. this game sux"

[nameuser]

And they have become such way for a reason. It doesn't work otherwise.

Of course it works. TBC was miles more balanced than wow right now. Or at any point during cata. Blizzard started homogenizing because people want more. Rogues want self heals. Palas want interrupt. etc. But in the end, you only realize that no one is unique any more.

The question is, do you prefer to be able to do everything with your class or do you like being unique.

[PACOX]

In GW2 you play builds as much as you do a profession. The best quick and dirty way to get the feel of class? Go into the Heart of the Mist and play around with different builds. You have access to all weapons, all skills, all traits, all different kind of stat layouts on items.

[Socram]

The question is, do you prefer to be able to do everything with your class or do you like being unique.

Good question! The answer for me is pretty clear: I want to be recognised as someone who has mastered his profession to a certain level; I do not want to be invited into groups because my class has some unique ability.
GW2 gives me that, and even Blizzard was wise enough to go away from that "bring the class, not the player" scheme it had in Vanilla/TBC and which you glorify. It's main problems are balance and group building.

Good luck in finding a MMO that satisfies your needs

[nameuser]

It's main problems are balance and group building.

Then why is balance worse now?
I had no problems with finding groups in TBC. For example, Shamans didn't have CC, but they had good support to make up for it.

The only argument you use FOR homogenization is also flawed. You say you want to be invited because people recognize you as a good player, but what if someone else got invited instead of you, because they are better? In a sense, you are told that you suck, along with everyone else who didn't get invited. Is that so fun?