Class Confusion - Honest Opinions Needed

Okay,

I've been going back and forth between three classes -- mesmer, monk and elementalist -- on one character slot for about 2 months now, and I'm getting fed up with deleting and re-creating them.

Every time I start a monk, I get fed up because I can't decide which build I want. Every time I start a Mesmer I get bored because I suck with them in PvE and my computer's too slow for PvP, and every time I make an Elementalist, I have absolutely no idea what I'm doing, and get disgruntled when reading about all these edits to the game whereby the elementalist has been rendered 'powerless' -- whether that is true or not, I've never taken the time to find out.

So, what I'm asking you, and quite randomly [I appologize] is for some of your opinions.
Which class would you recommend, and why? How about 2nd professions to match?
I do mostly PvE due to the lack of ... speed ... in my computer, but I try PvP/GvG every so often for kicks. So, a well rounded class would be most appropriate, and apparently Monks are as such, but I can never seem to get into them. If I do, I get too caught up in healing that when it comes to doing solo work, I fail, because I spend so much time healing myself that I don't do much damage to mass mobs (if any).

Usually, if I make one of the three classes, they turn out to be either a Mo/Me Boon Prot attempt, failed attempt at an Invincimonk due to lack of funding to support the build, or ... a Mo/W ass-bandit.
Either that, or I make an E/Me Echo nuker (never even gotten around to getting the damn skill yet I keep making the character), or either Me/Mo something-or-other or a Me/N for some unknown reason as well.

I do nothing but sit and read builds and people's opinons on all of these classes (including Rangers because I used to think I was destined to be one a couple months ago as well), and yet I find my efforts wasted because the peoples' opinions are so varied that it's hard to come to a final conclusion on one class or another.

If it helps, the best characters I've ever made are my two warriors who are still holding strong, a W/E and a W/Mo, and a Ranger who I just recently deleted. New to my favourites however, is my A/W who I'm still struggling to understand when it comes to defenses ...
So, maybe knowing my strengths as a player are in the Warrior build, someone can assist me in choosing an appropriate class.
I understand going from a Warrior to a Caster is something quite different, and that's what I hope to experience -- change -- but with all this deleting/re-creating I'm getting nowhere and wasting time and money on characters I never even keep.


This was also ridiculously long and un-called for, but regardless, honest opinions would be greatly appreciated on the matter.
Staring at this empty character slot is making me mildly depressed, and staring at the other two slots containing a 4 month old half-levelled Necromancer and a newbie space-filler Ritualist doesn't make it any less frustrating.


Cheers.

my elementalist kick ass in pve even though they are the so called "powerless" class, its just like with the movies, people can tell you that X movie sucked, but until you see that movie (in this case, until you play with the class) you will never know.

play with the elementalist, its a fun class and always needed for pugs.

mesmers are fun, specially in pvp, in pve they are mostly ignored.

monks are a challenge, but are fun.

most of my chars for pve are X/mo, so that they can have a reusable res (rebirth), just while doing pvpve (fort aspenwood) i change them to /N to deal with MMs.

What's your ele's secondary? Monk as well?

You know you can change secondaries?

if you like warrior and its just pve, honestly all i ever see is W/Mo lol...my main is a boon prot monk, which i love...because monks get the most love (i fluctuate btwn lack of love and too much love by signing on my assassin then my monk...its crazy!)...it doesnt sound like you want to really play a caster class though - so go warrior if thats what you're good at

For PvE Warriors, Eles and monks are always in high demand, though that's not to say that Mesmers, Rangers and Necros are unwanted. Even with a slow comp, you can use mesmer hexes well, it's just that trying to use a mesmer as a disrupter would be a waste. Necros have age long casting times, but you might find their spells (especially their hexes) are potent enough to more than make up for it. As for the "Eles are powerless" thing, I don't see much evidence supporting it because I've always found them to be extremely capable of dealing massive amounts of damage when I try them out (or more often when others try them out on me =P). Rangers are (as is often said) probably the most versatile of all classes, and if you want to work solely on spirits + stance + spam barrage no ammount of lag is gonna hurt you. I don't need to say much about warriors and monks as you seem to have tried both out extensively. For mesmers, concentrate on domination magic and watch as the opposing caster's life drops faster than he ever thought it could =P. In support of rangers and mesmers, they probably have the best energy management in the game thanks to expertise/inspiration magic. For Necros once again, I don't need to tell you about Minion Masters... You mentioned secondary classes, but if I were you, I'd choose any that looks the best to you at first and then if you feel like you want to change, change it in the desert, at least if you have prophecies... I don't have factions so I don't know about assassins and ritualists, except what I've seen in pvp.

I hear ya man I do the same exact thing. I'm just a little farther ahead with the same problem lol.

I switch between my:
ranger/necro: often a touch ranger (vampire) switching to trapper at times.
warrior/monk: had to see what all the fuss is about. not the funnest class but effective at killing and staying alive. Also a great money maker.
necro/ritualist: minion master. fun to play but I can't picture them being any good in pvp. pve they're great.

those are my 3 main character and I switch between them often. But I get bored like you and I have a ritualist/mesmer who is 15 but I haven't made the decision to buy her good armour and continue on with her or just delete her.
Also have an assasin in same dilema. Is he worth buyin all that armour for I don't know.

The one thing you'll notice is it's a very hard choice because all the character are good it's not like your making a bad choice in picking any class it's just what's your style of play?

warrior runs in and absorbs damage and dishes it out while also supporting his team if needed with shouts
ranger barely get's hit if using a bow and does nice damage
monk is a health bar watcher
mesmer is a situational killer. can plan for any mission but need knowledge of all skills to be effective.
elementalist I've never really tried as I just don't see them as the damage dealers there made out to be. never the less they apparently hit hard and have good area attacks so they look fun and I might make one!
necro can get descent 70 al armour with increased holy damage making him near as strong as a ranger and control an army of 10 minions that are often even stronger than a full team when you have your flesh golem.
ritualist is best as a support healer/damage reducer, but can hit quite hard with offensive spirits and painful bond..rit's just take a little more time setting up than others to cast spirits. I've seen good builds without any spirits though.
assasin can kill 1 opponent very quickly. I see them as pure damage dealers. I'm sure they can be made to be not as flimsy as people make them out to be.

I should just stop typing lol.. honestly if pve is your main thing the minion master won't let you down. A few changes in skills and you can compete in pvp. I recommend either n/rit or n/mo or possibly even n/me for minion master. Or try an e/me I think I'm gonna make one. If your like me you have more fun reading about builds then actually making them for some reason.

It seems to me that you're actually asking for too much advice. Now, before you take that the wrong way, hear me out . I began as a monk (still my favorite class, Mo/Me all the way) when GW was new and before everyone had their 2c to put in on which was the most "uber" build. I learned the skills, I looked at the combos, and I played what I felt most comfortable with. Every player in guild wars has a different playstyle. I've used other people's builds, cutouts, 55's, boon prot, etc, but I've never had as much fun with them as I have with my own builds that I am comfortable with. You can put the skills on your bar but if you don't get the jive of what they do and how to use them, it's no fun.

My advice to you is to start, don't force any kind of build on yourself, try out combinations and see what YOU like best, whether it be a monk, mesmer, warrior, etc. I have a feeling people might suggest against this because it takes more time, but I think it'll relieve your feelings of frustration and allow you to enjoy the game if you can just take your time and figure out things for yourself.

I hope this helps you, and good luck!

Lyanna

That's pretty good advice. I sorta did that with my Me/N (a very good combo for hexing/degen) I played with a few skills in a few different Attributes while I was in the lower areas (of prophecies) and once I got a basic skill set down, I looked over the forums to see what other builds were out there. It was easier for me to learn the skills first so i could better understand how they would work as a skill-set.

With my Mo/R, working up through propecies, I played a healer when working with PUGs and I'd switch to Smiter when using Henchies (works great against the undead!) - and let Alesia take care of the healing.

LOL.
Yeah, pretty much.
I find reading other people's opinions on builds of all kinds interesting.
It's also funny to see how one person says that a certain build works, and it may for them, and then another person pipes up and refutes their build idea because it 'sucks'.

I guess that goes with Lyanna's post, about finding your own grove and stuff. I did that with my first warrior for a bit, originally he was a W/E, and I hated him because I didn't know enough about the Elementalist's skills to play the class right, so I switched to W/Mo and made him strictly a farming build, and soon I'm going to try out FoW because I've never even seen the place.
My second warrior, W/E again, only he's staying W/E for PvP purposes as a hammer warrior (Stonehammer), and I can still do pretty well with him PvE wise, except .. right now I'm in a slump what to do in Factions.

Alas.

I think I might sit and try an Elementalist for once.
I started one, got him to level 3, and deleted him to start a monk, whom I also just deleted at level 2.
All three classes -- mesmer, monk and elementalist -- strike me as interesting, I just don't know which one I'd have more fun with, and which one (if it came to a matter of making money) would be more beneficial.


Thanks for the responses thus far from everyone though.

I have loads of characters on the go at the moment,and I`ve not even gotten to the end of the game,got a long way mind you almost at the end.
I just love making new characters though,and trying them out.
Dont forget it is about having fun .

I started with a E/Mo at first, sometimes I found it hard to play her,and I knew I was doing something wrong.So I looked at the builds on Guildwiki,to give me ideas as to the best combination of skills,and I found that a great help.
Now she kicks butt,and is a force to be reckoned with.
You most likely know this,but I`ll say it anyway.if you want to make an E/?
dont forget to concentrate her on 1 of the elements,and not all.

I have a W/Me.N/R,and have just started a R/Mo,and a Me/N,I also have a A/Mo,and a Ri/Mo.
Lots of people in my guild found the sin very hard to play,and by what I`ve read on here ,and other forums,they have said the same.
TBO I find him a lot of fun,he is only to be used on loan targets,and it is important that when using a sin that you use the right combos.
This I did not know about until reading about the sin in guildwiki.
Once you get use to using the combos,he becomes deadly at getting in striking,then getting out.
Hope this helps.

warrior/ranger is good for running in the way I run stuff with her, and is good at withstanding conditions, add in antidote signet, you can remove poison, blindness and disease, common conditions in pve and pvp.
as for a ele, here's what I use, the aoe is still good with it
elemental atunement, immolate, fireball, rodgort's invocation, meteor shower, glyph of lesser energy, glyph of elemental power, res skill[monk or ritualist]
necros are kind of fun too, once you gather enough armor parts you can swap out for pvp to pve changes

I personally love my monk, mesmer and ranger.

Monk Secondaries are either Mesmer or Warrior depending on the build I am, and it changes daily from protection, smiting, healing, 55ing, etc. The variety is there.

Mesmer Secondaries are either Monk or Ele. Depending on my mood, but it's mainly a PvP character and any build can be played on it.

Same as Ranger - tried secondaries Warrior for bunny thumper in pvp, mesmer, Monk. All changing depending on what builds you run or I run, whichever.

monk FTW

theres those place where its limited amount of classes that can go in, in specific team builds.

guess what? monk class is the ONLY class that is NEVER EVER EVER banned of a group build.

i use my ranger and my ele more then my monk, but for some missions, people want a very strict class, and even if they want eles the place is overflooded with them. so i go monk and get in any mission i want with no prpblems

and anouther advantage: people are not as strict with your build. normally you are kindly asked to take 1 special skill and rest is up to you. they are just happy toi have a monk. now... when i play my ele i have to read my skill bar (almost) everytime and god-forbid to go with no Meteor shower. dont get me wrong, i LOVE my ele but i hate the fact that most people think that eles are just made of 2 skills....

and mesmer... you will have a hard time finding groups in PVE, but when you get into 1 you get to do whatever you want, because nobody is sure of what the mesmer is doing. but first...good luck to find a group!

Reading that you have two warriors and yet you can't bare much to play the others only lead to me thinking you prefer character who can steam roll things.

If that is the case, you want to make a necro. Necro are the god of PvE.

You can use dark aura + aura of the lich and those shadow touch skills to oblierate your enemies in mobs, or choose to go minion master and steam roll, and with things like price of failure and reckless haste would destroy your opponent too. While that, you still can play the typical SS necro that general party would sometimes prefer over MM. Even when you don't do any of the things mentioned just now, you still can be support with BiP or OoV/OoP/OoA/etc.

It is possible to make a necro look cool. http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...ost+your+necro

So... go finish your necro.

Haha ... yeah. I keep thinking about getting back on working with him, but I'm committed to exploring with my assassin at the moment. I just ran her from LA to Ascalon which was, surprisingly, really really easy.
So once I get her around the map a ways, and finish some missions, I'll get back on my Necro, and as for the last character slot I'm still debating between Ele or Monk. I think I may end up going with Monk, just because they're always needed. But I dunno if, PvP wise, my computer will be fast enough to make sure I heal everybody on time. Unless I just become a smiter ... then I wouldn't have to worry about healing anybody but myself ...
I never see anybody looking for smiters in basic missions though.

Ranger .

Ranger is the one for you my friend. From what I've read, you don't like Monk, Mesmer or Elementalist. You may think you do, but your just kidding yourself into playing them, for example, you said "I may end up going with Monk, just because they're always needed." So go with Ranger! Trust me, you will love it!

<3