Advice on starting a new char?

I havn't played for a long time and I was considering doing a new character to get back in the swing of things a bit.

I'd be soloing mostly at first so I was curious if anyone had any tips on maybe a particular subclass/skills to pick that would make things go faster and any other tips anyone might have?

I don't have my heart set on any specific class (other than it not be a warrior main which I already have) so specific class combos are welcome suggestions too.

Also I have both factions and prophecies in case that's relevant. Thanks for any help or directions you can point me in for more info.

I would also say Mesmer or Ritualist...or even both together! I have an Me/Rt which is very fun to play. Domination ftw and it has an awesome farming build. I also have a rit and if you want to get into a PuG fairly quickly you can advertise yourself as a healing ritualist and generally, open minded people, will take you. Some people still believe, however, that monks are the only people who can heal but that is not the case. Ritualist also has some good offensive skills, and also channelling so if you wanted to deal damage on your own they have that capability, which is better than monk smiting skills imo.

Hmm, mesmer can be a bit of a challenge at first but it is fun...in either case my suggestion is Rt/Me or Me/Rt.

I will take a different angle on this try a Ranger / any or an Elementalist / Ranger.

Reasons for my choice:

Elementalist / Ranger

All attack skills are Elementalist (Fire Storm / Flare / Bed of Coals / Lava Arrows ETC...)
All defensive skills and healing are Rangers (Whirlwind-you get 75% chance to evade attacks for 8 seconds with no attribute points used and Trolls Unguent is a great health generator) Plus you can have a pet (Charm Pet / not always needed but still an option)

Personally I liked using bed of coals and following the Warriors in to attack. Hit them with Burning Coals / firestorm then get away and us flare or wand till they recharge.

OR

Ranger / Any-
1. Versatile Character with decent skills
2. Ranged attack for decent damage
3. Good Interrupt skills
4. Great Defensive skills like Whirlwind / Lightning Reflects
5. Great healing skill Trolls Unguent
6. Not targeted first (On average Casters are the first targeted)
7. Pets you can have them

Again this is my own opinion

Well...playing as a monk primary, I do agree that with a monk you can play solo or in a party but when it comes to one of the tougher missions...unless you're attacking yourself, the henchies just....don't have enough AI to fight the same target and well...it just takes alot longer when you're a monk and just focusing on healing =P

I'd suggest something like a E/Me but hey, the above suggestions aren't bad either =P

I'd advise a Necromancer/Monk. The monk mainly for resurect skills, if you run around with henchies you will need to resurrect them quite often

Necromancers are very powerful. In the beginning minions help with keeping the aggro of your back, since they'll be in the front meleeing. As long as you have bodies, you have minions, and if (one of) your henchies dies, you'll have even more minions You can still resurrect the henchie after the fight.
I found that the problem with soloing (with hencies) quite often is getting mobbed, if you have several minions, you can even the numbers a bit.

Later on, you can change to blood magic if you want, which can deal a lot of damage in a very fast time. It stops you from getting bored of the same build, and it means that when you run into an area with enemy necros or monsters that don't leave a body (elementals, skeletons) you can still do a lot of damage. The healing wells are nice as well, and help keep your henchies alive.
Some Blood magic spels require oiu to sacrifice some of your own health, which I was not comfortable with at low levels, but at higher levels it seems to matter less. Make sure you have some health stealing or self healing skills to offset it though.

Both with minions and with bloodmagic you'll be clearing out areas pretty fast, in certain areas all I have to do is spawn my minions and then I sit back, watch them clear the area and pick up the loot after them With bloodmagic I can sometimes kill enemies of the same or higher levels within seconds.

I am still new too GW (300 hours into the game now, 60 with my Ne/Mo) but this has been my experience so far. I am usually playing by myself because I can be on at strange times, but I do team up with guildies as well. I found these builds working in both cases, and most important:I'm having fun with this class combo.

I agree with Sorcha. While all the professions offered here have a certain appeal to them, for PVE "soloing" or going out with a minimal hench team, the N/Mo is a really great choice. And it can be re-rolled for Blood, Curses, Healing, Smiting, Protection and 55 farming, to fit just about any solo or group situation.

Each profession has a "farming" option for solo play, but usually requires a very specific set of skills, armor and items to pull it off, and only works against certain types of creatures. The N/Mo Minion Master can solo just about anywhere in PvE where corpses drop, which covers a lot of territory; and without the need for extreme configuration or overt energy management.

I just can't say that about my Mesmer, Ranger, Ele, Rit or Monk.

Whats your preference, melee, caster/ranger or support character?

We will all suggest different things, because that is what we like. My first main char was a necro. I had played around with the others but settled on necro, why waste all those bodies?

I could not get on with melee fighters, that was until factions. When factions came out I went for an assassin. This was a good move for me as I now have a better game style! I have also now built my warrior and I have a couple of farming builds (still the only reliable way to make money, to pay for all those glittery things!). No matter what character I now fight with, I use the lessons I learnt from my assassin.

So for me, my favourite char was my necro and gave me a good start through GW, then it was my sin. I still play my sin in lots of areas with guildies. At the moment though, I'm trying to earn money for my glittery bits! Going to hold off on my next armour purchase until I see the new stuff from NF. Still need to save for it though ;(

If you're interested in playing with hench, I also recommend Mesmer. I've found that I can hench missions pretty easily with one, I can shut down the enemies and then just let the hench beat on them. There's been a number of missions that have sucked to hench with other classes, but that went super fast with a Memser (for me, anyway; your milage might vary).

Make it a warrior. Preferably with monk secondary. It's a great combo, noone will think you're retarded and you'll get into any group easily

/sarcasm