whats the best class for my first toon?

i am doing a warrior now, but it seems kinda boring sitting next to my girlfriend and hearing her blasting the crap out of things

i wanna try a ranger, but if other games i'v played are any hint it would be the most overplayed class in this game

any suggestions for a first time player?

Warrior's and Elementalists are probably the easiest characters to play, at least in my opnion. However, if you want to play a character that will always be in demand, and you dont mind not killing things, try a monk. That was my second character, and I find it loads of fun, even after playing my first 400 hours as a warrior. Rangers are not the most overplayed class however, i would say that there's more warrior/monks than there are Ranger/anything in Guild Wars.

Iginte arrows is fun to hear in use, LOL But now matter how much or how little damage it's doing, the explosion sound is the same.

If you're still using a hammer as a warrior, you may want to switch to Axe or Sword, since the attack speed of those is much faster, and much less dull than the slow thump....thump....thump of a hammer.

Go ahead and make a Ranger, too. They're fun to play, not over-played, and very versatile in how they're played. When GW first came out, there were tons of Rangers running around. Having a pet was a huge draw. Now, the Ranger population isn't a problem.

what about these mesmer things, i am trying one now, looks cool once i figured out how to take off the fruity mask

are they any good?

i read rangers were pretty low dps so i decided against playing one

Mesmers in my opinion are one of the harder classes to play. If you are wanting your Mesmer to be an anti-spellcaster interrupter for instance, it will take a little practice to be able to recognize your targets spells and interupt important spells, that would otherwise give target/target's allies an advantage

You can "take off" the mask via your inventory... on the right side you will see your 5 armorpieces with mask on top. Just left from mask there is a kind of icon (i do this by head) that allows you to show/not to show your mask...

Anyway, i think every class has pros and cons. My favorite char is my ranger, so i would suggest that to you. However i think it is good to try every profession, play for a few hours and stick to the one you liked best... i also suggest to buy some extra skills for every class as those skills will be marked as 'unlocked' and therefor can be used by your heroes (i assume you picked nightfall)...

Mesmers take a lot of practice to learn to play. However, once you get used to them they're a lot of fun to play with. My first character was a Mesmer, and he's still running around spreading chaos

The thing about Mesmers is that pretty much everything they do will either be very effective or totally useless depending on the opponents you're going up against and how they act and react in combat. Though they're unmatched for getting a crash course in game mechanics, not to mention managing to look absolutely fabulous no matter what they're wearing

Mesmers are lots of fun to play. My main character is a Mesmer. They take a bit more thought in the use of skills, but you also learn really fast what skills the other classes use. Many times, it's a hard lesson.

The sad thing is, that many people don't / can't / won't appreciate the value of Mesmers in PvE. So getting into PUG groups may present a problem for the Mesmer - the upside is, that PUGs that take Mesmers have a much higher success rate than those that don't. (That's been my experience) On the other hand, Mesmers are very well respected in PvP.

Mesmers totally pwn in PvE, contrary to what the average moron PUG leader may think.

Necros are the easiest PvE class IMO.

Try an elementalist : it is always fun, some says the beginning is easy, and when you progress in the main quest you will leanr different ways, more difficult, more subtile, it's a well balanced class which is very hard to play if you want to let no chance to the treacherous mesmer in front of you
No really try an elementalist, it's versatile, powerfull, easy or difficult function of what element you play

In order to master the mesmer, you must be willing to put in the hours. The mesmer is, in my opinion, the most difficult class to learn and play. You'll feel the reward though in future when you see all the ragequitting monks who are annoyed by your handywork.

<3 Mezzie.

Most PvE noob pug leaders are too stupid to realise the advantage that a Mezzie would give over picking up a stupid wammo with defensive stances and +3 Mending regen. Power Block that SF boss, and it's "gg, die now please."

mesmers arent that great in pve. contrary to what a few forum-posters may think. sure they can take out bossed pretty fast, but they cant do anything to mobs.

mesmers can be pretty good, though I don't play one, got some friends that do, they're pretty good.

Rangers are fun for the pets

Since we are talking your first character here if you pick from a Ranger, Monk, Elementalist or Necromancer you should do fine. The other classes require more knowledge of the game mechanics to play well, so avoid them until you have completed a campaign.

My advise is to play a monk for a bit so you know how hard they are to play, and what kind of things other players can do to help them, like staying in range when you want them to heal you.

I'm pretty sure that warrior is the easiest class for beginners and actually, if you read some literature on the game, the devs from A-net actually recommend the warrior to beginners. Personally I suggest the warrior as a first character, then either an elementalist, ranger, or necromancer for the second character, and then a monk for the third. I strongly believe that every GW player should have a pve monk because it is infact the most important possition in GW and its a very easy and fun way to get into groups.

my personal opinion would be an ele as a first char. It does not matter really if they die and you get to do alot of dmg. They are good to start with simply because you can do alot of dmg and have fun to start with. Plus with an ele you can easily blow the crap out of things like your girlfriend at a low level =P

Hmmm...my first character that I actually played through with was a Ranger. Since then I've cleared both Prophecies and Nightfall with it, with Factions finishing shortly. Rangers are somewhat all-rounded, with decent DPS (though not as good as the spellcasters), plus plenty of other things that allow Rangers to fill the majority of roles in a party (not well, but they still can ). And by that, I mean something like 51% of the roles...examples are (p.s.: some of these may or may not have been rendered obsolete)
- Bunny Thumper (Tank)
- Touch Ranger (PvP DPS)
- Interrupt (self-explanatory)
- Cripshot
- Runner (faster than a frenzied warrior!)

...like I said, some of those builds may be obsolete. In the end though, it's up to you.

Okay, there is a difference between "easy to use" and "easy to master". Warrior is sure easy to use, but to play it well is definitely not that easy as it seems (Mending wammos are the testaments to this). I recommend elementalist and necromancer for starters, as their roles are pretty much the same all the time. And they requires little modifications to their builds to be effective everywhere(SF, anyone?).

warrior/anthing are the most common type then probably rangers but warriors have awsome armour ther wepons arnt that good exsept hammers ther max dmg is like 30+? or summit nd ther skills add to that and also nock down oponents which interupes like your mesmer

i sont realy like mesmers ther skills dont do that much dmg but they can be usefull

i think ranger is that best for builds and has an awsome verity or armours

interupter(skills to interupt) stops enemys launching high dmg attacks

trappers(trap skills+serpents quickness)deals alot of dmg and weaknesses to enemys in that area

pet people(simply pet skills)there is a few runing, self protection, pet protection, pet attacks, pet rituals

archers(marksman skills)this affects dmg with bows and has good skills chains like barrages(elite) + favorable winds(ritual) = alot of dmg to alot of enemys

there arnt realy alot of mesmers and even less good mesmers i dont like the mesmer armour at all but there is a max dmg armour that looks awsome i think it is kurzick armour not 15k that is to expencive


hope ive helped you chouse a profetion u will like nd enjoy *(cough ranger)*

There is no best, it all comes down to personal preference.
Try all classes for a couple hours, and then pick the one one you had the most fun with.

Just a few facts:
In early game, elems deal insane damage, but that is thanks to weak enemies armor. Damage shown in skill descriptions is as applied to a 60 armor rate, -40 armor means double damage, +40 armor= half damage.

Warriors can seem underpowered first, but when they get their hands on max damage personalised weapons and meet the requirement, they outdamage anything.

Mesmers are fun to play, but you need to recognize quickly foes' professions and hex them accordingly.