Top 3 Least Popular Classes

I think they are Ritualist, Paragon, and Mesmer. D: I never see them!

i'd agree with that, though i play both mes and rit. Never really see them outside of their home continents

Ritualist.
Ritualist.
Ritualist.

They're super bad.

I never liked the ritualist because I don't think its really original. Its pretty much a necromancer/mesmer gone wrong...

I hope they are cut in GW2 because they are so unpopular now and we have enough spellcasters.

I've never played ritualist, I was interested in trying but I am so in love with my elementalist. I used to play strictly warriors. Mostly for RP. But of all of the classes I have tried... I think the Paragon is most boring, the only thing I like about them, would have to be the dances.

I have a Mesmer and I actually consider him my 2nd favorite next to my Necromancer.

Still... least popular...

In no particular order:
For males:
- Elementalist
- Paragon
- Ritualist

For females:
- Ranger
- Necromancer
- Ritualist

Ironically those are some of the most powerful classes. @Kagome: Ritualists are completly unique, nothing in common with mesmers, and hardly anything in common with Necromancers, They're unpopular because they're more complex then other classes. Not like your traditional spell caster, even though their channeling spikes are fairly potent, they're more like a support class. They probably have the most in common with Paragons (Being near spirits/being in earshot). My ritualist, can single target heal for 110 with [Mend Body and Soul] while removing up to three conditions (I usually have [Recuperation], [Recovery], and [Life] up), Plus +30 per second, not removable weapon spell [Spirit Light Weapon], add to that 6 health regen (If not taking damage) and shortened conditions, on top of that a full party heal (Once Life dies) for 140 (If it stays alive it's full duration and is pretty easy to do with [Summon Spirits]

Mesmers are also an incredible class, also very deadly, and also difficult to master. They can essentially turn any sort of abilities that their enemy has against them. Like the Ritualist, complicated to master.

Paragons, No clue why these were brought up, I see TONS of them. Not only do they have incredible shouts with numerous effects, most of which are instant-1.5 second cast, they affect everyone in earshot (which is usually the whole party) Plus shouts stack. In a lot of team farming builds they are essential, my paragon can provide the whole team with ridiculous armor, healing, and energy regeneration, while at the same time I dish out some decent damage and gain energy for my shouts.

Even though the Mesmer and Ritualist might be somewhat uncommon, they are not at all in any way bad classes, they're just somewhat difficult to master.

agreed.

Rit is the jack, master of none.

name the good and most prominent rit builds, we'll stick with pve ones to be simple here:
spirits strength volley splinter.
spirits strength sin
supportive heals and spirits.



in the end they are just trying to do a job that's already been fufilled by someone else on the team.

and the job that's supposed to be "unique" to them, is weapon spells and spirit spamming, something a necro does a million times better on any given day.

=useable but functionally useless in when compared to other classes that do the same job.

I bolded the parts that gave me a giggle, and will address them in order

1. Rits are completely unique eh? whats the two rit only kindof jobs, the two things rit brought to the game: weapon spells, check, supportive non-ranger spirits, check.

Unique? hmm lets see, weapon spells are generally used to reduce damage yes? prot monk anyone?

yes weapon spells are non-removable, which is gravy, but lets face it, NECROS ARE DO THE SAME THING BETTAR.

2. more complex than other classes? "mkay i'm learning a rit here bob"

"alright, i place the spirits in range, not clustered and out of danger spots, but in range"

"alright, got it bob"

"alright now i be learning the weap spealz, apply them, done, oh i'mma mix it up with an offensive weapon spell like splinter...apply to melee class, done"

3.not removable weapon spells. well, you got me there, necro still does it better though.

4. mesmers are hard to master, hmm, hexes, check, intterrupts, check, anti caster, check, anti melee, check, priority targets, check.

i wouldn't call ANYthing in this game difficult to master, but i guess for a starter player or someone whose only been around a year, i guess i can agree with you there. gotta know all the game mechanics to play one efficiently, you got me there.

5. back to the difficult to master thing eh?


the part about paras, yes, greatly agree, paragons own.

this isn't an attack on you, but simply why i agree or disagree with your statements and isn't meant to be personally offensive in any way.

Ritualists and mesmers rule wtf you guys talking about

The only thing a necromancer has over a ritualist is energy, which means nothing with [Boon of Creation], Most healing ritualist spells are so light that you don't really need Soul Reaping since your energy will go up, plus one heal with a ritualist with a build such as the one I described should be sufficient. Most of the the time, when your party needs heavy healing, your party members are probably not killing anything which means Soul Reaping is borderline useless. Now as far as heroes go, N/Rt is probably better then Rt/X because of the AI. Also, seen that type of barrager, never seen the spirits strength thing and I don't know why anyone would use it with the Ritualist's weak armor and runes that don't really support melee, spirit spammers, nukers, and offensive support is what your missing.

thing with ritualists are, it takes forever to summon a spirit. even though i know they're crazy good once they're up.

i don't understand mesmer and para hate either. its probably because it takes some brains to play as :P

VoR should have made it popular, but guess not


/agree

only 3?

in no order:
dervish
paragon
ritualist
assassin

yeh slowerpoke, and it makes no sense, because three of the four you listed, no matter how unpopular do have a place in pve or pvp in which they excell, the only exception is the rit, it's terrible anywhere.

before i get reamed for my opinion any further, i'd like to make it well known, that I USED to be a primary ritualist, back before anet completely maimed the class.

So, yes i'm bitter, but for good reason, which is supported by the fact that many other people don't dig the rit any longer for the same reasons.

I would guess Paragon and Mesmer are generally unpopular with the majority.
I don't think there is a third class anywhere as disliked as those two.

Sadly people don't know what they are missing when it comes to mesmer.


When Factions came out I was told 2 things

Don't play a Ritualist all their skills take forever to recharge and only an idiot would choose to play an Assassin over a Warrior.

With Nightfall the classes were actually liked at first, Dervishes were the new running class and had a number of builds that were popular.
With the paragon it was nothing but praise for the class and the skills.

Time marches on

Ritualists are popular now people actually know how to play them and in some eyes have almost replaced Monks and Necros.
Assassins are almost essential for some tasks and if you have some eye of the north skills are very good indeed.
Paragons are down the drain due to skill nerfs or so some say.
Dervishes still popular but not as much as they used to be.

I still think its because firstly many still don't know how to use the new classes and secondly the game is perfectly playable with the core classes.
However much some want change and new classes they are really much more comfortable with what they know best.

However given that we are told that pve is just so easy and people want more of a challenge maybe playing with a character class you consider not as good could be that challenge.

If this is PvE only then id have to say its the ritualist in the top slot, then dervish, and finaly mesmer.

Each are good etc bla bla bla, however in order of most FAVOURED classes, warriors are the general tank, eles blow stuff up, rangers have broad head arrow/splinter volley, monks heal, necros minions & ss is godly, assassins have MB/DB, paragons have imbagon.

The reason I put dervish up there is because I dont see dervish's anywhere used in party's really. The only derv build really used is orders from what i can tell.

EDIT: Why the hell do people keep mentioning paragons... those things are among the MOST favoured amongst high ends. Imbagons has IMBA in its name for a reason

rits, para's and mes's well for pve anyway.

Well, that is an opinion you can have, but I don't think you have anything real to base it on. I really enjoy playing my Rit and she kicks ass in spite of your comments. When I play a healer build it works perfectly fine especially since you can combine healing with damage reflection giving you an offensive edge at the same time. When I play my Ritu as a splinter barrager for example I prefer using her over my Ranger as she does it better. Even a straight channeling build can do massive lightning damage, especially since all the big spells can hit multiple targets and there are excellent e-management skills in that line as well.

If you really want to talk about a class that has very little use anymore, then take the warrior. Other than perhaps the terra tank build, which actually for most area's can be done better by earth ele's anyway there is nothing a warrior can do that other classes can't do better. I find I only really use my warrior for running people in Tyria anymore. It didn't use to be that way but with the dervishes and sins and the added earth spells for the ele, the warrior has become basically an unnecessary class. And yet, it's still one of the most popular classes out there. When I go in PvE area's with henchies and heroes I find I rarely use a warrior anymore...I really only use Jora but not cause she is a warrior

I suppose most people like the simple and straightforward classes and builds and that automatically puts Rits, Para's and Mesmers in the difficult corner but for a good number of people that makes them more interesting. They certainly are for me and therefore are my fave classes.

My least favourite classes to play, although I do have them, are the ranger, ele and warrior, because, well, they bore me more easily. It's more of a been there done that feeling really. The ele is good at being a Nuker for example. It's functional but not really fun.

Still, I know other people love them and that's fair enough. I think the diversity is great so more people can get into different things they like. Just too bad that because people don't get certain classes they are not easily accepted in pve groups.

But even yesterday we played Ring of Fire with 2 Rit healers, me being one of them and we got the mission and bonus perfectly fine. When I play my Rit healer in pvp it works great. Sure, in some situations monks work better but that's a good thing isn't it?

Ranger
Ritualist
Assassin

I think this is a very limited view... dragon slash/save yourselves has great damage, party support, and can hold aggro. Warriors are not limited to tanks, hell tanks are about the worst use a warrior can have. As well as this there is insane AoE that can be done using Axe, Triple Chop, Cyclone and Whirlwind are all pretty good. Earth Shaker spam is also bloody brilliant as well. AoE Knockdown is pretty good no matter what you think. Finally axes are still good, and eviscerate is still sick.

Have u read Racthoths guide about the imbagon... its basically use skills 1-6 on recharge, and use battle standard of honor assuming dark fury is up. Rits theres nothing to them really. Channeling is a weak ele wannabe. Communing is long dead. Restoration Magic is better used by a necro. But still its easy. With spirits, put them up not mobbed so that aoe wont kill em all, with resto its basic heals, monks are better. Finally communing... its dead, dont go there.

Ranger is not boring, its so versatile. Can have really nice damage output, superb shutdown, tank, either itself or through a pet, use any other weapon in the game effectively, trap, spirit spam better then a rit (oath shot), the list goes on. Ele i agree, is boring. Warrior I appreciate their usefulness, and their fun, but i simply cbf to grind one through pve.

In pve anything works, even in HM. With careful aggro and smart players of course its gonna work. Does that mean its better then a monk... not really. The other problem with rits is that weapons spells can only have one up at a time, and also only 1 spirit. Which means that the utility of the rits is limited, eg if ur elite is spirit light weapon, the other cant really bring weapon of warding because they cancel each other out. Well, not cant its just rather clumsy.

Well, I don't see as many Rits as I once did. One of the two classes I don't have.

Mesmer, played one for about two years, marginal in PvE with heroes and hench, find it most useful in PvP.

Paragon and Ranger are my mains. The good old days of Paragons are forever gone, but if you happen to have all the skills, you can still put together effective builds.

That is only true if you play straight focused single-role builds.

People tried that in early factions days and indeed they failed at outhealing monk and outdamaging ele. Which is not suprising because Rts were not designed to do that, they were designed to multitask.

But ritualists are kings of hybrids. I'd say caster version of paragon.

I play a rit quite a bit and I tend to agree for the most part that it a a jack of all trades, master of none class.

However is there anything in the game(under certain conditions) that can generate as much damage as a bow wielding splinter/barrage rit? I think not.

Ele is one of the BEST classes....

For some solid objective statistics on nearly 60,000 GW players and their characters look here:

http://www.gwchars.de

Here you can seen that out of 58680 characters:

3622 are Ritualist (6.5% of characters)
3382 are Mesmers (6.1%)
2896 are Paragon (5.2%)

BTW the most popular are:
Monk (14.9%)
Warrior (14.1%)
Elementalist (13.9%)

Remember, popularity doesn't mean good or bad character. mesmer, rit and para are just as goos as all other characters, they just require a bit more thinking/learning to appreciate their skills. I could imagine, and this is speculative, that a mojority of the popular classes are played by the younger players, whereas the ones on the bottom of the list are played by mature players. Unfortunately www.gwchars.de doesn't give statistics on the age of the players

I would say

Mesmers
Ritualist
Assasins


The reason is,
can you think of starting party with having 4 or more of the same of those, and enter a unknown mission or area -in order to beat it?
sorry uw assasin team wouldnt be my choice for beating a new mission/challenge. Even though it is effective.

all the other proffesions I can,

yall are crazy hatin on rits. theyre terrfic supporters. take out the rit in gw, and u can say goodbye to sabway.

though its true that theyre not so common.

mesmers own in pvp. enough said

the rest r pretty common. paragons are good to me, but also a good class thats not common

. i hate dervs, absouletly hate em

Well i quite like my Rit but its not the best for Pve

other than that
Paragon
Mesmer
and Sin (if farming isnt counted)

I would say
Ritualits
Dervishes
Paragons

However I am quite surprised with not so many people playing paragons. I think it is much easier to play paragon than for example warrior.

just repeating

mesmers own in pvp

i dislike paragons and dervish.

dervish easily interupted and enchant removal hurts
btw warrior owns them

ritualist best support i would say. the damage dealing is a lil trickier

1 of each spirit at a time... still works great.

when did warriors get hard to play?

Agreed.

Pity really.

Played a few times with an offensive rit ages ago and they can blow stuff up.Maxed out channeling being thrown at frontline melee in PvE is teh sex.

I think he's talking popularity man.Imbagon is all good but how many Paragon's do you see running around on a day to day basis?

So did anyone bother to read the title of the thread? this is least POPULAR, not whats under/overpowered

quite true, the responses made me laugh.

Anyway, its quite a simple answer IMHO.

Its perm any 3 of the 4 types from the additional chapters ie Sin, Rit, Derv or Para - basically coz you can only make those if you purchase the specific chapter but can make the original 6 from any chapter.

From personal choice, my least popular is in order:-
War (I hate warriors..lol)
Derv (War with enchants woopee)
Para (just never really get into playing mine)

Where it is written it is hard? Paragons are easier but it does nor mean warriors are not easy. I played 2,7k hours on warrior and 2,5k hours on Paragon and I see the difference...

Is this personal, or in game as a whole? I'd agree with what most of what the others are saying, but my personal least favourites are assassin, paragon and Dervish.

I LOVE mesmers.

wow i didn't expect to see the ritualist on the bottom of the list. It is one of the only classes i found that can fit most roles quite effectively as far as basic parties are structured.
By far one of the best classes imo, perhaps a bit complex for some i see? But that's cool, we have warriors for you guys

I suppose you're after what the general body think are popular rather then my personal thoughts?

I think paragons are the least popular class, specially when it comes to PvP.
Dervishes can't be overly popular in my eyes, they have a handful of decent builds and over all they do what other classes do better.
And although mesmer is one of my favourite classes, i feel it's not overly popular in the eyes of the masses.

I hate Dervishes for that WS crap.
I hate sins for that Shadowstep crap.
I hate Paragons for that Irremovable buffs crap.
I have balls of steel.

I love Mesmers.

it really depends on what the word 'popular' means in context. does it mean the most favored or the highest amount? it seems that imbagons while highly favored are very rare. meaning high popularity in one context and low in another. MS/DB sins, SY sins and imbagons are all high level builds you won't find milling about in common areas. they're all out doing elite missions - which is why you never see them (low in populace). but almost every high level team has at least 1, making them quite popular (favored).

mesmers are generally considered a pvp only class.

and ritualist skills are not useless, i think the point is ritualist primaries are useless. for any spirit considerations, necros are better. boon of creation is fine. . . but it's like a ritualist is now a 7 skill necro. furthermore, you have to spec into spawning to make it effective, meaning it's a 7 skill necro with 150 attributes. and then there's the problem that it's creatures you create- whereas soul reaping will glean from what others have created as well. or simply enemies dying. ritualist healing is sufficient in some areas, but it tends to get outhealed in high pressure areas, dependant on several clauses (ie for spirits to be present or holding an item), can't be stacked, no protections etc. ritualist damage isn't much compared to most nuke builds.