Choose My First Toon

jasno

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2008

Hello everyone, I am new here and just bought the Guild Wars Platinum Edition. I played a ton of Wow and have 5 lvl 70s but got bored with the game. So here I am. (WoW classes favorite > least favortie - Hunter, Mage, Rogue, Shadow Priest, Warrior, (i have had enough of healing classes for a while)

Lets play a little game. Pretend you just bought the game and are about to create your first toon. What do you choose and why?

I know from other RP-MMOs that character creation is paramount and the more you know BEFORE you make your toon the better.



THANKS A TON, you could be saving me a lot of time with your knowledge!

Hodgie

Hodgie

Lion's Arch Merchant

Join Date: Nov 2006

On A Chair

Rise Of Corruption

Mo/

Ele ftw =]

Really easy toon to play and very versitile. All round fun to play =]

Hodgie

slaximus

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Feb 2008

W/Mo

First character I made during the GW betas and release, warrior
First character I made during WoW betas, warrior.
Every RPG game I make, warrior (heavy armour, shield/axe/mace)

I just find warriors are so versatile in GW, and all round fun to play

llsektorll

llsektorll

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Toronto, Canada

R/

unlke wow you will get a chance to play ALL professions.... so take your time... for now play something easy as guild wars can easily be a more complicated game due to its battle system...

Try one of these two professions as they are the easiest....
Elementalist
Warrior

Hard to play professions:
Monk
Mesmer -- just stay away from this unless you really know what you are doing... this profession is one that can only be played proficiently only after you have a good understand of a majority of the game's skills.
Assassin

moriz

moriz

??ber t??k-n??sh'??n

Join Date: Jan 2006

Canada

R/

the best advice i can give you is to take your traditional notions about how an online RPG ought to be, and throw them out the window. GW is NOTHING like most RPGs. this will become more evident the more you play.

jasno

Ascalonian Squire

Join Date: Apr 2008

I think I am leaning towards a Elementalist. I enjoy 'Mage' type classes, and magic users in general. Warrior type classes and healers are probably my least favorite right now.

Is the Ranger like a Hunter in Wow? How would rate this class for a noob?

Tyla

Emo Goth Italics

Join Date: Sep 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by llsektorll
Hard to play professions:
Assassin 'Sins, are infact the easiest profession to play in the game. Rolling your head against the keyboard isn't skill. Plus 'Sins degenerated positioning via Shadowsteps.

[distracting shot] is enough reason why I play my Ranger.
However, things like Elementalists have things like Gale, and Blinding Surge. Gale being an extremely versatile unconditional KD, and Blinding Surge being a spammable anti-melee skill.

AshenX

Frost Gate Guardian

Join Date: Jan 2008

Orange County, CA.

Black Flag

R/

Both Warrior and Elementalist (generally) have very straightforward roles in a party and are easy to pick up. I have never played WoW so I can't say how a Ranger compares to a Hunter. On the other hand I think you will find Rangers to be a very versatile class.

In general a ranger's damage per second will not compare to that of a warrior but the ability to spam poison, interrupts, crippling and to use very nice defensive stances/speed buffs are all very nice. A ranger is a very versatile class but don't get discouraged if you aren't seeing huge damage numbers right out of character creation.

buddhakl

buddhakl

Academy Page

Join Date: Mar 2006

Northern NY

Ladies' Rhythm and Movement Club [MOVE]

W/Mo

From the types of characters you listed, here's their (rough) Guild Wars equivalent with a link to the official Guild Wars Wiki for each so you can do more info gathering:

Hunter -----------> Ranger
Mage ------------> Elementalist
Rogue -----------> Assassin (you need Factions to get this)
Shadow Priest ----> Monk (using Smite skills, or) with Necromancer secondary
Warrior ---------->
Warrior

They also have a
Guide to Character Creation which gives some more basic info and links for more details. Guild Wars also has your characters choose a secondary profession a little ways into the game, giving you access to abilities from a character-type other than your main one. And if it turns out you don't like your secondary, in Prophecies you'll eventually get quests whose rewards allow you to switch your secondary to another one when you want. But really, it's all dependent on how you like to play, so if you list more of your preferences/play style the posts here will likely be more helpful to you.

llsektorll

llsektorll

Desert Nomad

Join Date: May 2005

Toronto, Canada

R/

Quote:
Originally Posted by Tyla
'Sins, are infact the easiest profession to play in the game. Rolling your head against the keyboard isn't skill. Plus 'Sins degenerated positioning via Shadowsteps.

[distracting shot] is enough reason why I play my Ranger.
However, things like Elementalists have things like Gale, and Blinding Surge. Gale being an extremely versatile unconditional KD, and Blinding Surge being a spammable anti-melee skill. lol for a noob learning how each combination works in succession and how to not die because they are not tanks... requires time and skill.... thanks for gloating though.

Tyla

Emo Goth Italics

Join Date: Sep 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by llsektorll
lol for a noob learning how each combination works in succession and how to not die because they are not tanks... requires time and skill.... thanks for gloating though. I can press roll my head against the number keys too. Does that mean I'm skillful?
It doesn't take a rocket scientist to look at Lead -> Off-hand -> Dual.
And if you're dying in PvE, get better Monks.

Taisayacho

Taisayacho

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Jan 2007

England (GMT)

The Imperial Guards of Istan [TIGI]

R/

Ranger is definitely an easy class to start on, the basic principles are, well, basic. My first was a ranger and I still use him. Ele is also good, was my second, and once again, fairly easy class to get the basics on (most of the time, it's a lot of spell + spell + spell = kill)
(yes, I know eles can be very complicated and all that stuff, don't flame please)

Songbringer

Songbringer

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Aug 2007

EastCoast

E/Me

Ele was my first class I made. Then I deleted as it became boring. Made a Warrior who i got 4 sets of 15k armor beat every game(through nightfall) Then a bastard friend of mine got jealous at my house and I left myself logged in and he deleted. Then I retried the Ele and loved it and haven't stopped playing it since. Don't get me wrong I have all lvl 20 chars and they are all played and such but my ele the most.

I just want to say. Gale isn't unconditional kd. You have to have over 4 air magic for it to be succesful 100% of the time.

netniwk

netniwk

Desert Nomad

Join Date: Mar 2005

Bellgium

W/E

Necro:lot's of roles(both PvE and PvP,unlike some proffesions),overpowered,wanted

Tyla

Emo Goth Italics

Join Date: Sep 2006

Quote:
Originally Posted by Songbringer
I just want to say. Gale isn't unconditional kd. You have to have over 4 air magic for it to be succesful 100% of the time. There is no condition for the KD to actually occur, though.
I'll be surprised if anyone even runs Air Magic below 4 to be honest...

Grim Aragorn

Grim Aragorn

Wilds Pathfinder

Join Date: Oct 2005

A/

wow u people have no idea how to play an assassin lol.....

Jenn

Jenn

Resigned.

Join Date: Sep 2006

I think, with the exeption of the mesmer and monk, all other core classes (ele, necro, warrior, ranger) are great tools to begin learning on, but they are all different from each other.

I'm going to tackle this slightly different than others are. I don't feel that telling you which class to play is the most important thing to say, because they are all relatively simple in their own right. Alot of people are oversimplfying the role of some of these classes, like the elementalist. Sure, it's easy to put a few skills in the bar and say my job is to blow things up, but unfortunately, the average player (imagine a pug you'd pick up for a mission) doesn't take this into consideration:

- Positioning: hiding behind structures so that enemies like rangers can't hit you (arrows don't go through walls?)

- Environment awareness: This goes with positioning. Watching where you stand, and where the enemies are traveling. Can anyone say: BACK AGGRO?

- Skill Usage: I'll use an Elementalist as an example. You can't just hit the buttons and watch stuff blow up. Believe it or not, there is rhyme and reason to skill casting order, and where you cast your spells. Some spells are "Area of Effect" and last for a 5-10 second duration. Sadly, I've seen PuGs cast these types of skills on single enemy targets instead of a stationary mob of enemies that are not likely to run out of the damage.

What I'm trying to say is, just pick whatever you think you will enjoy, because the real difficulty of playing the game typically does not lie in the class you choose, but rather how, and if, you think when you play.