Identity Crisis...

Hey everyone,

Hopefully you guys can help a bit here. I am an old time player but have been away from the game for a while cause of work. I ended up building up an assassin, rit, derv, and a Paragon to go into massive damage mode in the PVE environment once upon a time. I did fairly well with all of them but I like them all and can't decide which one to use to actually do stuff with in the expansion/nerfs/buff ups now that I am back. With the expansion in mind, can people help me with the pros and cons of the classes from your point of view. Which one them seem to have a bigger problem/bonus soloing these days? Which one of them have a bigger problem/bonus in groups? I am a bit indecisive here and I am sorry about that. Would just like other people's opinion on this.

Thanks in advance.

I would play with all of them through a few missions or vanquishing runs then pick the one I have the most fun with. Nothing sucks more than putting a lot of effort into a character and then realizing that you really love to play another.

One thing I really like about Paragons and Ritualists is that they're both so versatile and can be offensive or defensive when they need to be. I don't know what nerfing has done to Paragons because it's been a while since I've played one in PvE, but Ritualists are great for PvE and massive damage.

If you enjoy them all equally the simple answer is go paragon if you want to have fun and just be able to relax. Even if you don't use the oft mentioned Imbagon build you can still make some fine builds that will see you though just about all the campaigns, dungeons and whatnot even with just you, heroes and henchmen. (Which I assume you mean by soloing.)

But to be honest, they are all fun in PvE, just the para with the two para heroes is the one that you can take just about anywhere easily.

Awaits the inevitable "This is PvE, you can use anything and do it with ease"

And someone to quote that and say, "Well, you can."

You'll get more out of a profession you like playing rather than something thats just abusively powerful, so let that guide you first.

If, for some reason you didn't care about how fun it was (kind of defeats the purpose, but meh), then you should just take a Para, grind your lux/kurz and be an Imbagon for the rest of your GW life.

You didn't say anything about PvP so I won't talk about that. I have played all 10 professions enough to beat all 3 campaigns with each of them, and this is what i think:

Assassins have very good single-target damage output and can tank very well if they use their PvE skills. They can easily farm/run with Shadow Form and they usually have problems getting in a group (because they're more difficult to play than a Warrior). Oh yeah, and teleporting is a lot of fun

Dervishes have decent damage output if they use their PvE skills and excellent tanking skills. They can farm with some efficiency, they're good runners with Vow of Silence, and they can get into a group just as easily as a Warrior. Maintaining Avatars all the time is really fun

Ritualists are very versatile; they have excellent single-target and Area-of-Effect damage, plus they can replace a healing Monk. They are good at farming with Vengeful Was Khanhei, but bad at running. You can easily get into a group if you are Restoration healer but, otherwise, it will depend on the party leader. As effective as they are, Spirits take a long time to cast which I don't find very fun.

Paragons can do one of 2 things: deal good single-target damage with spears while helping allies do more damage as well OR they can be God Mode (spamming Save Yourselves and There's Nothing To Fear) which can replace any Monk or Ritualist in a party of 6 or 8. They're not really good at farming nor at running, they work best in a team. They have a decent time getting in a pug but, if the leader knows you can play God Mode, he/she will BEG you to join their group. When you get better at using the God Mode build, you'll feel extremely important to your party and you'll do most Hard Mode stuff with greater ease than any other profession.

I know exactly how ya feel, all my friends tell me i'm real indecisive because i went out and picked up half of derv obby on a whim, and now am not sure if I should finish his set (making him my main toon). Reason why I'm like this is because I want to be able to get into the non-ursanway groups for elite areas such as fow and such, and i'm afraid people wont accept my derv. So I'm not exactly sure which profession to make my main either. =\

I just wanted to say thanks for the advice so far guys. For you Shiro's Prophet, I never really jumped into a group with my Derv, but here is what I used. Don't know if it works that well now but before the expansion it would mow through hoards and hoards of badguys with realtive ease. Again I don't know how it works now but try it out in the normal areas and see how you like it.

[build prof=Dervish/Monk][Mystic Regeneration][Vital Boon][Mystic Vigor][Heart of Fury][Zealous Renewal][Heart of Holy Flame][Avatar of Lyssa][Rebirth][/build]

The thing does not do as well with one on one battles, but when you are surrounded by 6 guys trying to use skills on you it gets funny to watch them explode. Lyssa's Bedlam, 16 Myst, 11 earth, and 9 scythe and you end up with a 95 second avatar doing +53 damage to everything around you using a skill on top of the two other AOE's you have listed here. This is not the 100% right place to put this but I wanted to give you something to use Shiro. Again don't know if this will work in the expansion stuff, but you get the idea. Good for a hero/solo party but don't know how real people party friendly this is also, so that's why I didn't consider this to be used.

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