New to GW: Important Question

So, I've been doing a bit of research about GW before buying the game itself, and as far as I can see, Prophecies seems to be the best one to get, right?

But then comes a tricky question: Which profession should I choose? I looked at all of them, but I really can't make a decision.

In my most recent tabletop D&D game, I played an evil sorceress, with a focus on things like suggestion and fire spells (fireball, magic missile, etc).

But I'm not sure if that sort of character is going to be feasible within GW. So, I'm going to ask all of you guys: based on what I've said, is there a particular profession that you recommend picking as my main prof?

For fire spells go for an Elementalist and load it up with flame skills,Eles are also one of the easier professions to play.For suggestion I would go for a Mesmer.

4 character slots. The only way to know for sure is to try each and see how they are for yourself.

As Buzzer said, you will always have a minimum of 4 character slots, so you can create multiple characters and see which profession you like the most. Spend a bit of time experimenting in the newbie area until you find a profession that suits you

What's the difference between a Mesmer and an Elementalist, aside from the outfit?

Elementalists usually deal raw damage, while Mesmers are more of a shutdown character. They excel and disrupting the other classes.

Elementalists deal in direct damage (fireballs, lightning bolts, earthquakes etc); things that everyone can see happening.

Mesmers deal in indirect damage and manipulation. Creating illusions that rob the target's strength, making the enemy take damage as a result of doing a common action (like swinging a weapon or casting a spell), siphoning energy (mana) out of enemies to make it harder for them to use their skills (and replenishing your own energy reserves). Normally, the only people who can see this happening are the Mesmer and his unlucky target.

The two professions also have different primary attributes. An Elementalist has Energy Storage, which gives them larger energy reserves to draw from. A Mesmer has Fast Casting, which allows them to cast any spell or signet in less time.

ah. thank you. ^_^

You might give Curses necromancer a try - somewhat similar to mesmer but where most mes skills only affect the target there are a variety of curses skills that affect the target + adjacent enemies. Nice thing about both mes and nec hexes is that they are not line-of-sight, i.e. they aren't blocked by walls/solid objects, whereas many ele direct damage attacks are line-of-sight; eles also have a greater number of area-of-effects attacks.

"I played an evil sorceress"

In GW, players are the "good guys" and monsters/enemies are the "bad guys" - there's no good/neutral/evil allignment, as in D&D.

In the end, it is what you feel most comforable with.
Since you are asking, I have found necro to be the most rewarding, though I have not tried all of the professions.
The necro Minion Master can reduce the need for tanks, and take pressure off any tank or tanks that you may have.
The curses necro (SS) can spam damage like crazy.
The blood necro can quickly suck the life out of most enemies.
The battery necro can drain and give health.
The BiP necro can be a great addition to certain missions; though I have not used this much.

With the hero set up in Nightfall, I almost always run a three necro group, using myself as the blood, and the heros as SS and MM. (Competing two MM's has not worked out well for me. Also an AI MM is often more effective at MM; mine can keep 8 minions alive much longer than I can. )

Also, Nightfall is my favorite. Though I have spent many pleasurable hours in Prophecies.

My first character was a necromancer/monk. It was a great profession for me when i just started out. As others have posted above, necros also have some very good potential once you get the hang of the game.

For a first chracter choice i would choose monk because as ive learned people are always looking for monks in prophecies. And by people i mean the ones that dont have heroes, or there heroes suck. Its more or less the quickest way to get thru the game. I remember being stuck in a town because my party could not find a monk the henchies sucked.

im on to trying my third character and that is monk and i love it you just have to try it out and see.

I've been playing for over two years now, and I've played every profession. I must say, while the sheer power of an Ele and Necro are tempting, and the subtle Mesmer is enjoyable, being a warrior always puts a smile on my face. One of my favourite memories was in PvP, with 4 or 5 Hexes and tons of conditions on me and walking up to the person who caused this and beating his... behind... down. Melandru's Resiliance and Dolyak Signet ftw. As others have said, try stuff out. You've got nothing to lose, but a bit of time.

If you like being the center of attention, a monk works. Everyone will beg you to join their group as there aren't enough monks out there.

Rangers and warriors are solid classes. Can't go wrong with them.

Mesmers are not a good class to start with. I struggled with my mesmer when I first started playing and gave up at like level 10. Then I played the game extensively with my monk, rit and ele before I tried my mesmer again (like a year later).

My mesmer is definitely my favorite now. If you dig the game, buy factions next and try a ritualist. Sweet, sweet class. Imagine playing a class that can nuke, heal, spike and out damage everyone with spirit bombing. Rits can make alot of people do a doubletake, especially when they are played well.

if you make a monk , it will be the most difficult profession to play..

the easyest is the elementaist .. just bring some fire skills and watch ur enemys die

yes. get prophecies.
and it sounds like you want a Ele or necro.
I would start with ele. pretty straightforward damage dealer to introduce you to the game.
then a curses necro. then any other class that looks like fun.

I would advise you to stay away from making a mesmer primary. They are underpowered and hated by a large portion of the PvE community. thats not to say that a mesmer secondary is bad, just mesmer primary. the skills are good but the primary attribute sucks.

also it dosnt look like anyone has linked you to http://gw.gamewikis.org/wiki/Main_Page yet. this is the guild wars bible. If you have questions about the game, always look there before asking here from now on.

You should definitely try a monk if you hate having to wait for a group or something for a mission all the time. And as some one said, they are the centre of attention. Especially when you get sweet looking armor

necro is definately the way to go if you like more "evil" style armor choices.

But really, all the spell caster professions play somewhat (though not enitrely) similarly. Try a necro, a mesmer, or an ele. If you like any of them, there is a good chance you'll also like the play style of one of the other 2 professions as well.

Out of the Prophecies professions, my Elementalist, Ranger, Warrior, and Necromancer have seen the most play. The commentary really isn't that complete, but it should be a start.

Read a bit on the professions to choose what you want. Personally, I think that the Elementalist or Warrior are probably the easiest starting classes.

E - The sheer firepower makes things easier, particularly since it makes a bigger difference if you're running around with henchmen. Cynn isn't particularly strong.

W - The tank is usually pretty straightforward. You'd usually be expected to be in the front line soaking up damage, but there's enough space to deal some damage too.

R - You really have to appreciate utility and being able interrupt. Rangers also have many choices in what they can do, probably more than the others, since they can take advantage of Expertise.

N - I'm not sure how to describe it. It can be pretty amusing, though. I'm not sure that it'd be as fun for a first time player, since it was my first character, but I enjoyed it more as time went on.

Mesmer - This is probably one of the harder classes to play when first starting out. It (usually) isn't as direct (role it plays) as other classes, so people often don't notice the effects. If you try to find a group, Mesmers usually aren't sought out that often. Also, the Mesmer skills in Prophecies seem a bit lacking at times. If you eventually get Factions and/or Nightfall, though, there are fun skills there.

Monk - It can get pretty boring (for me, at least) when you're usually expected to heal/protect. It's sometimes fun, but it's never been as fun for me as the others. It can be nice for farming, but when you're first starting out, that really shouldn't be the main focus.