How to choose your ideal profession

Having played nearly every profession, I still find myself returning to just one character. Now I know that part of the reason is because it is the most developed, most time invested, etc. But I also realized I actually enjoyed that characters style of play more than any other. I began to ask myself, why was I destined to play a monk? Why do I not enjoy the others as much?

Let me preface this discussion by saying that it is purely and observation-based opinion (OBO), but as with all opinions some will find it useless. I'm also certain that others can improve upon it, and I invite anyone to disagree with me and suggest other things. And finally, I in no way claim that this will hold true for every person, but certain people that would like to match their personality with their profession may find this helpful or, at the least, thought-provoking.

The monk style of play requires good management, awareness, strategy, and planning. Things that hurt the monk are aggression, mano-a-mano, and an inability to focus on multiple things at once. The monk is one of the most mental professions. I am not a very physical person, but I love to strategize and "flex" my brain. I started noticing that the things that make a good monk match who I am. My second favorite profession? MM necro, which require a very similar style of play.

Here are some thoughts on some of the other professions or builds:

Warrior:
Pros - aggression, determination, confidence, big sibling mentality
Cons - timidity, over-thinking, a love of mending

Elementalist (Nuker):
Pros - aggression, management, mind-over-matter
Cons - Army of one mentality, toughness, ego

Interrupter (Ranger or mesmer):
Pros - awareness, agility (got to get those clicks in fast), management
Cons - aggression, impatience

Assassin:
Pros - quick-thinking, "cowardice" (disable, get away, let the others finish), agility
Cons - over-confidence, arrogance, aggression, ownership

Paragon:
Pros - leadership, team player, selflessness
Cons - individualism, anti-social disorder

Dervish:
Pros - self-reliance, passive-aggression
Cons - dependency

Ranger (trapper):
Pros - wit, passive-aggression, sadism
Cons - impatience

Feel free to add on or suggest alternatives. I haven't done ritualist, necro, or other builds. What is your story on how your personality affects your preferred profession/build? Have fun

I'm confused... is this a joke?? Are you being serious or not?

Yea I don't get the point of this...

Unless this has discussion potential it doesn't belong here.

Some of them could probably be a little better organized, and different words thrown in. Aggression is mentioned in all of them. Dervish, self-reliance, but dependency?

I like support type classes. I usually don't go for the "Haha, I am god, look how fast I killed them!"....I go for the "Yeah, you killed them that fast because of the damage boost I gave you". Not sure how that would fit into your chart. I don't like being relied on, but I like boosting the effectiveness of the people who are relied on.

As such...
Love Paragon as defensive support with a little bit of offensive support.
Love Necromancer with offensive support, and a little bit of defensive support.

HATE Elementalists, besides Water in PvP.

Not a huge fan of Warrior or Dervish

Actually like Assassin quite a bit, which varies from the supportive role.

Like Monking too, but that also slightly varies from the support not reliance.

Mesmer, I would love to love, but I just cannot make myself play them.

Ranger...meh, it is ok.

Ritualist, really like the Channeling/Restoration builds, but SUCK at multi targeting.

I dissagree with the OP. Monking is different to MM necro. MM necro needs no thought Monking requires you to look at party window and still be aware of where the other red spots are. My opinion? Monking requires skill, MM necro doesn't.

Not that I like playing either, I prefer a curses necro despite the fact that most of the game's easier to play with a MM necro.

How to choose your ideal profession with only one question:

Do you ever want the chance to PuG?

If yes; Warrior, Monk, Elementalist, Necromancer.

If no; all classes are ideal.

I think this is a joke post...

there we go i think that is better

I don't think you were thinking hard enough when you posted that tripe.

Yes, somedays I sit silently with my henchies and feel nostalgic for the halcyon days of penises on the radar and homo-xeno-hygienophobic ragequitters. Sad, indeed, is the fate of rangers, mesmers, assassins, ritualists, dervishes and paragons, for they shall never enjoy the sweet embrace of a pug.

Ahh, the one good thing that came out of this thread.

Reminded me I needed to decide between making a Rit or a Nec...

Dunno why I like Elementalist (I play Air Spiker), I guess I just like the ease of the role of being in the back, dealing high armor penetrating damage. I don't have to keep much of an eye on others health bars unlike other support classes, and I'm not going to be attacked as often as a melee class.
I didn't want to be an elementalist though.

I really wanted to be... a lumberjack!

I find contrary to the OP's view that playing only one type of character is boring, I like to do different things on different days....I am a multi-tasker and need lots of input to keep me happy. As such I think that I like the casters the best, ele, rit, mesmer, smiting monk, and curses necro (mm is bleh). The ones I like the least are: sin, warrior, dervish and paragon. I guess I am just not a melee type person...oh well.

Leaping from tree to tree, as they float down the mighty rivers of British Columbia.

The Giant Redwood.

The Larch.

The Fir!

The mighty Scots Pine!

The lofty flowering Cherry!

The plucky little Apsen!

The limping Roo tree of Nigeria.

The towering Wattle of Aldershot!

The Maidenhead Weeping Water Plant!

The naughty Leicestershire Flashing Oak!

The flatulent Elm of West Ruislip!

The Quercus Maximus Bamber Gascoigni!

The Epigillus!

The Barter Hughius Greenus!

I always thought people pick the profession that appeals most to them!

Seems my approach was too simplistic!

Someone is thinking about guildwars a little too hard!

i kind of understand what the op is getting at. kind of like a profession psychological evaluation kind of thing.

one thing i didnt like.. "cowardice" on assassin pros? see me an my daggers here, we dont like being called cowards. my left one wants to stab a monk in his baby soft belly, and the right one wants to stab him in his neck.

(i dont play monks)

Of course, we all have some idea that we like. For some of us we need to see that large numbers appear above the heads of our enemies, for others we need to see the life bars never drop below 50%. I think that there could very well be an interesting topic for a psychology paper (in fact, my bet is that there is one someplace - and if not then why not?).

I've never really been a support character - it always feels like I am a bystander. My favorite classes have always been the nukers, the up front in your face classes generally are not my type. There are exceptions - GW being one of them.

Further I would add that our perceptions of classes also fit into that idea, for example your description:

it is interesting that they are both self reliant *and* dependent (how can one be so). Of course, seeing as how you are obviously one that likes to watch life bars (and I am one that likes to see the numbers floating above an enemies head) I can see how. Bad Dervishes die quickly and are dependent, good ones are self reliant. While in that two sentence structure you have a paradox, it is probably because you are a monk that you have noticed both cases. Another class probably only noticed the ones that died.

My favorite class is a Dervish. Prior to the release of Nightfall it could be evenly split between a SS necro or a Ele in general and I would have to give the nod to my Ele. The Necro and Ele have completed roughly the same percentage of all three games but my Dervish has (by far) the most accomplishments (and I have several 2 year mini-pets). After nightfall I would have to say Dervish 100%. They were the perfect combination of tank, nuker, and up front damager - what I always envisioned a "battlemage" to be. Lots of nice big numbers above my enemies head, lots of ability to absorb damage, and about half physical and half spell based. I have found VERY few games that truly captured what i view a battlemage to be and I always enjoy them when I find one.

*shrug* I'm not experienced enough in that filed to write a whole lot, my education is in Mathematics and Computer Science. I found areas outside of the harder sciences to be too "squishy" (that is, they aren't necessarily right or wrong). But, it seems to me that there should be a few publications in there. But then, those areas of research have always seemed to be more about perception that original research anyway and is why I avoided them.

you rly must hate assassins

hmmm warrior...

im on my third one

None, it's a bloody game. What's my personality got to do with anything?

I think we all just pick our profession of choice from how cool we think they look.

Meh...

I'm an Assassin player through and through.... but that said, I'm certainly not a PvP Sin player (jump in, spike, jump out); I'm a Moebius + Death Blossom Assassin Player.

I'm an Eversor of the Officio Assassinorum.
I'm a killing machine hyped up on combat drugs, thrown head-first into the enemy group to wreak havoc and then disappear, leaving only bodies in my wake (and strangely enough, I've got the hang of surviving now, much to the ire of the critics).


Well... that and I watch too many Kung Fu films....
That and Muay Thai... if you count Ong Bak. Tony Jaa is a hard-impact dose of pure awesome to the face.




And why don't I play a Warrior?
There isn't enough urgency... simply put. Warriors just don't have that feeling of "I have to kill everything before they kill me"... plus they don't dual-wield... plus they don't combo.... Assassins are just cooler, and more agile.... and more lithe....
Everybody SO hates me. =P

Which brings the taste of those who play bald male warriors more than a bit into question.

I see, and other classes don't?
Then the perfect team for you must be 8/8 monks.

I find that which profession I want to play on any given day depends on my mood. Most days, I take my warrior out and bash things; it helps relieve the buildup of frustration with real life. My mesmer serves the same purpose in a different manner; she allows me to damage foes with less obvious methods.

My dervish can almost serve the same purpose as my warrior, but seems to take more concentration to play. My necro runs curses; she's never made a minion. My monk is still in Maguuma Jungle. My Canthan ranger hasn't quite finished Factions. My rit (over a year old) hasn't done Vizunah Square yet. My ele has never left Kamadan. I've never made an assassin or paragon.

Overall, I think that most people have more than one facet to their personality and psychological makeup. I haven't found any ONE profession that satisfies all needs.

Which... I suppose.... is why I will play my other characters occasionally when I'm not feeling quite so Psychopathic.

I see the discussion potential here is 0

Closed.